My master, Sīdī Aḥmad al-Tijānī — may God be pleased with him — said:

“What I sincerely advise you is this: all that you are enamored of in seeking sainthood and lofty stations will bring you nothing but weariness. You shall gain nothing of substance thereby. For indeed, all affairs are in the Hand of God — Mighty and Majestic — and His decree and apportionment concerning them were set in motion before the creation of the worlds. You shall receive only that which was allotted to you before the worlds were brought into being; and that which was not decreed for you, there is no path to it, nor will any stratagem avail in its pursuit.

The true matter is this: that you worship God solely for His sake. Blessedness and goodness lie in your continual recitation of Ṣalāt al-Fātiḥ li-mā Ughliq, with presence of heart, intending thereby the glorification of God, Mighty and Majestic, and the honoring of His Messenger — may God bless him and grant him peace. The essential condition that perfects it is presence of heart: to imagine, at the time of recitation, that you stand before him — peace be upon him — sending blessings upon him as though he were present with you.

If you persevere in this, together with a regular litany of remembrance of God, goodness will flow toward you in abundance. And may the blessings of God be upon our master Muḥammad, his Family, and his Companions, and may peace be upon them all.”