Let there be one community of you calling to good, that is, let there be from among you all a company of men who are knowledgeable and who pursue [good] deeds, who are knowers, upright in religion, such as the [Sufi] shaykhs of a ?arīqa; calling to good, for the one who does not know God does not know good. Absolute good is absolute perfection, that which can enable a human being, depending on the type, to know the Truth, exalted be He, and to reach Him. Supererogatory [good] is the type by which one can attain the absolute [good] or [attain] that perfection specific to each person depending on what his specific preparedness entails. Therefore, the good to which the call is being made is either the Truth, exalted be He, or the means to reach [Him]. 'Decency' (maʿrūf) is every obligatory or recommended deed in religion, by which one seeks nearness to God, exalted be He; and 'indecency' (munkar) is every prohibited or reprehensible act that distances a person from God, exalted be He, and renders the person disobedient or one who has fallen short of his duties and is blameworthy. For the one who does not affirm the Oneness and is not upright, neither the station of the call nor the station of enjoining decency and forbidding indecency have any bearing on him; the one who is not an affirmer of Oneness might call [others] to obey other than God and to one who is not upright in religion. But even if such a person were an affirmer of the Oneness, it may be that he enjoins what for him is decent but what at the same time is indecent; or that he forbids what for him is indecent but what in reality is decent. Like the one who has attained the station of union but has veiled himself with the Truth from creatures, so that he frequently deems licit what is illicit, such as certain intoxicants, or he disposes of [other] people's property and deems illicit what is licit, nay what is recommended, such as being of humble character, rewarding virtuous acts and so on; those are the successful, the ones singled out for prosperity, those for whom there remains no veil, being the viceregents of God in His earth.