When he supplicated his Lord secretly. The mark of response to supplication is firm fixity in the supplication. If you are firmly fixed in supplication and you remain deprived of the response that is your portion, you will be given the eminence of the worship that is God's rightful due, and the latter step is beyond the former step. This station is greater than that station. The Prophet said, “Supplication is worship.” Know also that in supplication there must be distress, for the Real says, “He who responds to the distressed when he supplicates Him” [27:62]. There must be seeking aid, for He says, “When you sought the aid of your Lord” [8:9]. There must be pleading, for He says, “Supplicate your Lord in pleading and secret” [7:55]. There must be eagerness and dread, for He says “They were supplicating Us in eagerness and dread” [21:90]. It must be continuous, not cut off, for He says, “Those who sup- plicate their Lord morning and evening” [18:28]. There must be self-purification, for He says, “And supplicate Him, purifying the religion for Him” [7:29]. In a report has come, “God does not respond to the supplication of an inattentive heart.” There must be permitted morsels, for the Prophet said, “And his clothing is forbidden, his food is forbidden-so how should he receive a response?” The servant who has put the preconditions of supplication in place is like a caged bird whose voice is loved by the Lord of the Worlds. People have the custom of catching birds, making cages for them, and keeping them supplied with water and food so that in the morning they will sing. In the same way the Lord of the Worlds brought the worshipers and recognizers into existence, made this world their cage, and prepared benefits and wholesome things for them in this world. He set up their work and then said in the firm text of the Book, “And in the dawns they would ask for forgiveness” [51:18]. The servants lament and wail at their own incapacity at the time of dawn, and in His gentleness the Real hears and listens.