“The heart on its journey to Allah is like a bird: love is its head, and hope and fear are its two wings.”

The image is Ibn al-Qayyim’s, from Madarij as-Salikin, and the full passage completes the anatomy: if the head is sound and both wings work, the bird flies well; cut the head and the bird dies; lose the wings and it becomes prey for any hunter. He adds that the early Muslims preferred the wing of fear to be stronger in health, and the wing of hope to be stronger when leaving this life.