In the sight of Allah the Exalted, a saint and a man of blessings is one who develops such passion. God desires for His glory to be manifested. In the Prayer, one repeats سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْعَظِيمِ (Holy is my Lord the most Great) and سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْأَعْلَى (Holy is my Lord the most High). This is also an expression of the desire that God’s glory should shine forth and that His greatness be manifested in a manner that has no parallel. In the Prayer, when a person glorifies Allah and extols His Holiness, the same sentiment is expressed; and through these words, God encourages man to realise that he ought to demonstrate through his works and efforts—with a natural fervour—that nothing which goes against the greatness of God can dominate him. This is an exalted form of worship. Those people whose passion is aligned with the will of God are the ones who are known as divinely supported and it is they who receive blessings. Those who do not possess a fervour for the greatness, glory and holiness of God, the Prayers that they offer are disingenuous and their prostrations are futile. Until a person possesses a fervour for the sake of God, these prostrations are nothing more than futile incantations, by which they desire to attain paradise.
Bear in mind that anything physical in nature that is empty of spirit cannot prove beneficial. For example, just as the meat of sacrifices does not reach God, your bows and prostrations do not reach Him either, until they are performed with a true spirit. God desires the essence. God loves those who possess ardour for His honour and greatness. People of this nature tread a fine path on which others do not have the strength to follow them. Until the essence is present, a human being cannot progress. It is as though God has sworn to not grant a person any pleasure until they possess a zeal for His sake.
Every human being possesses desire, but a person cannot become a believer until they give precedence to the greatness of God over all of their desires. The Arabic word wali means a near one or a friend. Therefore, a person is referred to as a wali (or a saint) when they desire what their Friend, i.e. God, desires. Allah the Exalted states:
وَمَا خَلَقۡتُ الۡجِنَّ وَالۡاِنۡسَ اِلَّا لِيَعۡبُدُوۡنِ
And I have not created the Jinn and the men but that they may worship Me.
An individual ought to possess a zeal for the sake of God and if they do, they shall outstrip their fellow man and become among those who enjoy the nearness of God. One must not be like a dead corpse—when something is put in from one side of the mouth, it comes out of the other. In the same manner, when someone is in a wretched state, nothing good can go inside. Remember that no worship or charity is accepted until one possesses a sincere fervour for the sake of Allah Almighty—a fervour that is free from traces of selfishness or personal motive. It ought to be such that even a person himself is unable to explain why they possess this fervour. There is a dire need for such people, but nothing is possible without the will of God.
(Malfuzat [English], Vol. 2, pp.109-110)
