and he said: It is by hoping for the greatness of the reward. I asked: How does one attain warning (of punishment)? He replied as follows:
It is achieved by remembering and contemplating the final outcome (āqibat). For Allah, Exalted is He, knows that since He is unseen (ghayb) to this servant, in the matter of what He has warned and given hope about, that servant will not fear or hope by any means other than dhikr (remembrance of God) and fikr (reflection). The unseen (ghayb) is not seen with the eye, but with the qalb (the heart) that has attained the certainties of reality (yaqīn). When the servant becomes heedless and inclines toward worldly (dunyā) affairs, a veil comes between him and the Hereafter, and he neither fears nor hopes. These two principles (fear and hope) remain only on his tongue. This is neither a khawf (fear) that distances one from behaviors displeasing to Allah and becomes bitter to the self, nor is it a rajāʾ (hope) that compels one to do things the nafs (the lower self) dislikes in the manner Allah wills. Nor is there (true) rajāʾ in matters where the influence of the desires of the nafs continues. Khawf and rajāʾ in accordance with Allah's will are, again, only by His grace and generosity; through dhikr, fikr, tanbīh (admonition), and Allah's khawf-rajāʾ in the Hereafter.