There are people who obey God to gain His Favours, they act like businessmen trading with God; while there are some who obey Him to keep themselves free from His Wrath (Anger), they act as slaves; but there are a few who obey Him out of their sense of gratitude and obligation, they act as gentlemen and noblemen."
 

Source: Nahjul Balagha: Sermons, letters and saying of Hazrat Ali, Sayings of Hazrat Ali 208, p. 294

Rabbanaa 'aatinaa fid-dunya hasanatanw-wa fil-'Aakhirati hasanatanw-wa qinaa 'azaaban-Naar"
 
Our Lord! Give unto us in the world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good, and guard us from the doom of Fire

Source: Holy Quran (2:201)

"...to the extent that one is aware that one has received the abundant good embodied in the Prophetic gifts—the Qur'an itself, the wisdom of Prophetic guidance—one can pray and sacrifice, as a manifestation of one's gratitude. One no longer prays only that one might be given some good in this world, or the next, but one prays out of gratitude for what has already been given, here and now. As noted earlier, Imam 'Ali refers to this kind of worship as being the worship of those who are 'free':
 
Indeed there is a group who worship God out of desire [for something not yet attained], and this is the worship of the merchants. And there is a group who worship out of fear, and this is the worship of the enslaved. And there is a group who worship God out of gratitude, and this is the worship of the free.
 
The Prophet, upon being asked why he persisted with such long prayer vigils through the night, replied by saying: 'Am I not a grateful servant?'"
 

Source: Reza Shah-Kazemi. 2011. Spiritual Quest. Occasional Papers 3, IIS, London, pp. 91-92

"The relationship between spiritual slavehood and ordinary piety is alluded to in the distinction between the 'slaves of God' ('ibad Allah) and the 'righteous' at verses 5-6. The Ahl al-Bayt are implied as the exemplars of the 'slaves of God', for it is their actions that are described in the verses that follow, culminationg in the feeding of others in preference to themselves. While 'the righteous' drink from a cup 'whereof the mixture is of Kafur', the slaves of God drink directly from the spring itself, 'making it gush forth abundantly' (76:5-6)."
 

Source: Reza Shah-Kazemi. 2011. Spiritual Quest. Occasional Papers 3, IIS, London , p. 47

"The 'slaves' drinking directly from the fountain are empty of themselves, and 'belong' entirely to the Lord, in contrast to the 'righteous' who retain, alongside their piety, a lingering sense of self-consciousness, by which they are partly 'possessed' and thus cannot belong wholly to God as do the 'slaves'. They can only drink from a cup flavoured by the fountain, not from the fountain itself. Only those who are utterly empty of their egos, and who are thus filled by the presence of God, can drink directly from the fountain. But to be empty of one's ego is, from a relative point of view, a kind of death, from which the ordinary soul shrinks in fear: 'If ye claim that ye are friends of God (awliya' Allah), singled out apart from (all) mankind, then long for [a spiritual] death if ye are truthful' (62:6).
 
Esoterically interpreted, this challenge can be seen to underscore the relationship between spiritual extinction or fana and sanctity, or walaya. For it is the awliya, who truly 'long' for this extinction which means death to egocentricity, in accordance with the Prophetic injunction: 'Die before you die'. One must die to one's egotism before physical death comes, and only the awliya can do this, or even want to do this, knowing that in his apparent 'death' resides true life, for the effaced slave becomes transparent to the Lord, and the very duality of slave-Lord is transcended, leaving only divine oneness."
 

Source: Reza Shah-Kazemi. 2011. Spiritual Quest. Occasional Papers 3, IIS, London, pp. 47-48

"This oneness is made apparent in the following remarkable saying by Imam 'Ali, which can be read as a commentary on the fountain of Kafur, and an intimation of what happens as a result of actually drinking from this fountain:
 
'Truly, God has a drink for His friends (awliya'ihi). When they drink it, they are intoxicated (sakaru);
and when they are intoxicated, they are enraptured (tarabu);
and when they are enraptured, they are blessed (tabu);
and when they are blessed they dissolve (dhabu);
and when they dissolve, they are free (khalasu);
and when they are free, they devote themselves purely (akhlasu);
and when they devote themselves purely, they seek (talabu);
and when they seek, they find (wajadu);
and when they find, they arrive (wasalu);
and when they arrive, they are at one (ittasalu);
there is no difference between them and their beloved.'"
 

Source: Reza Shah-Kazemi. 2011. Spiritual Quest. Occasional Papers 3, IIS, London, p. 48