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“Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the world, the
first and last, outwardly and inwardly, as many times as the number
of His creations and equal to the measures of His words and to the
weight of His throne, and to the extent of His own pleasure and to
the number of all thins single and in pairs, and things that are wet
and dry, and of all that our Lord has created and spread for ever,
and in all its purity and blessedness. Praise be to Him, Who has
created and then made complete and who has made thins according to
their measure and guided them to their goal; to Him who cause death
and gives life, who makes one laugh and weep; who gives food and
drink; who gives one good and bad luck; by Whose command, the seven
strong heavens stand and the mountains are fixed like pegs, and the
spread out of the earth is staged and in Whose mercy no one can be
disappointed and from Whose planning and enforcement of order and
dignity and command, no one can escape, and to Whose service no one
can be averse, and of Whose blessings no one can be devoid of.
He is praised, because He has been loving and is offered thanks,
because he affords safety. He confers benefits on us, protects and
keeps us safe, gives us life and keeps away from us all that injures
and gives us trouble, and all these just out of His mercy and
compassion and as an act of absolute favour, and because of His will
to give us standing protection in our expressions and actions both
private and open and in our reticence and in our plight and in our
pleasure.”
“Surely he is the Absolute Doer of whatever He likes and orders
whatever He wills, and knows whatever is hidden, and is informed of
all affairs and conditions, both of sins and errors as well as acts
of obedience and states of nearness of Him, and I ears and accepts
all prayers from whomsoever, He likes and wills, without any
contentions and hesitation. His favours on his servants are in
abundance and ceaselessly at all hours of nights and day and in all
conditions, as He has said “If you enumerate the favours of Allah
you will not be able to count them” And whatever of blessings is
with you, it is from Allah.”
Blessings be then upon His chosen Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon
hum), and any one who follows what he has pronounced receives
guidance and whoever turns away from him is misguided and perishes,
the truthful Prophet of recognized truthfulness, abstainer from the
World, and seeker of the High, the one who has been, from among all
his creatures, the selected one, with whose advent the Truth has
come and with whose appearance, falsehood has disappeared and with
whose light the earth is illuminated. Blessings pure and abundant
are upon him as also on the pure among his offsprings and
companions, and his followers, together waits His favour.
“Three things are indispensable for a believer in all conditions
of life” said Hazrat Ghousul Azam. He should:
1. Keep the commandments of Allah;
2. Abstain from forbidden things; and
3. Be pleased with the decree of Providence.
“A Muslim” he said, should follow faithfully, in the footsteps
of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and should not create innovations
and remain obedient to Allah and His Prophet (peace be upon him). He
should not ascribe any partner to Him nor ascribe any evil to Him
but should maintain His truth without any doubt, and remain patient
and firm without running away.
“Apply to Allah for your needs, but do not feel annoyed; but wait.
Be united in obedience and do not be disunited. Love on another and
do not bear spite towards one another. Keep free from vices and do
not be contaminated or defiled by them. Beautify yourself with
obedience to your Lord. Do not keep away from the doors of Your
Master and do not refrain from being attentive to Him. Do not delay
your repentance but return to Him. Do not feel weary of seeking
forgiveness from your creator at any time during day and night. If
you do so, may be, mercy will be shown to you and you will have good
luck and be kept away from hell fire. Be united with Allah and enjoy
His blessings.
“The first thing which a man of intelligence should see is the
condition and composition of his own self, and then of the other
creations and inventions. Then he would infer from them the
existence of their Creator and Originator, because, creation
indicates the creator, and the underlying strong power is the
pointer to the wise Actor behind it, because all things are in
existence through Allah.”
“In every thing there is an attribute from the attributes of
Allah, and every name is a sign for one of His names. So surely you
are between His names and His attributes and works, inwardly through
His power and outwardly through His wisdom. He is manifest in His
attributes and concealed in His person. His person is concealed in
His attributes and His attributes are concealed in His works. And He
had revealed His knowledge through His will and expressed His will
in movements. And He has concealed His skill and His workmanship
through His will. So He is hidden in His invisibility and He is
manifest in His wisdom and power. There is nothing like a likeness
of Him and He is bearing and seeing.”
“Keep away from disobedience to Allah, the exalted, and the
Glorious, with utmost effort, and cling to His door with truth. And
apply all your power effort in obeying Hum with apologies and
entreaties, showing your readiness, in silence with down cast looks
not looking at people nor following your animal desires, nor seeking
any recompense, whether of this world or of the hereafter, nor yet
any promotion to higher positions or honorable stations. And know it
for certain that you are His servant, and all that the servant
possesses belongs to his Master, so that he cannot any thing against
Him.”
“Observe good manners and do not blame your Master. Every thing is
in an appointed measure with Him. What he puts forward, no one can
push back and whatever He keeps back, no one can push forward.
Nothing keeps you off from the favour of Allah and His direct
blessings, excepting your reliance on people, and means, and arts
and crafts, and earnings. Thus people become a barrier to you. Thus,
so long as you remain with people, that is, you yearn for their
gifts and favours and solicit from them with expectations at their
doors, you are then associating Allah’s creation with Him.”
“Then, when you have renounced your hopes with the people and your
associating them with your Lord, you would have thrown away
polytheism. If you have discarded your reliances on your earnings,
ability, and power, then you testify Allah that He is the Giver of
livelihood, and Creator of causes of care and of strength for
earning and Giver of power over everything good.”
“Thus you turn towards Him and throw yourself before Him, the
Mighty and the Glorious, when he lifts the veil that intervenes
between you and His favour and opens the door of sustenance by His
favour at every time of necessity, who is also a fried of the
patient as a protection from Him, the Mighty and the Glorious in
order to keep you clear from any inclination towards what is besides
Him. He thus pleases you by his favours. Thus, when he removes from
your heart every purpose and every desire and every pleasure and
every object, there remains nothing in your heart excepting His
purpose.”
“Thus He wants to bring to you your allotted share which cannot
escape from you and which is not meant for any one else from among
his creation. He will create in you a desire for that share and will
direct it to you, so it will reach you at the time of your need.
Then He will give you strength to be grateful to him and he will
direct it to you and give it to you as your sustenance so that you
may be grateful to Him and may recognise and know it. Thus this will
increase your desire for aloofness from people and distance from men
and for emptiness of your heart from whatever is besides Him.”
“Then when your knowledge has been strengthened as also your
certainty, and your heart has expanded and is illuminated, and your
nearness to Allah and your position with Him, and your
trustworthiness and worthiness in the matter of guarding His secrets
have been increased thereby, you will be given knowledge before hand
as to when your share will come to you as a sign in your favour, and
as an exaltation of your dignity. This is a favour from Him and an
act of kindness and guidance. Allah the Exalted and Glorious says
“Those who strive hard for US, we will most certainly guide them
in our ways.”
And fear Allah and He will teach you then, He will invest you with
the power of controlling the Universe, with a clear permission,
which will have no obscurity in it and with clear signs which will
be bright like the bright sun and with sweet words which will be
sweeter than all sweet things, and with true revelation without any
ambiguity and will be free from any evil suggestion of the animal
self and from the promptings of the devil, the accursed.
“O child of Adam, I am Allah, nothing deserves to be worshipped
excepting me. I say to a thing ‘Be’ it will likewise come into
being. Obey Me, I will make you so that if you say to a thing ‘Be’
it will likewise come into being.” And He has endowed this gift to
many of His Prophets (peace be upon him) and Awliyas and people
specially favoured from among the children of Adam.
Verily there is nothing excepting Allah and yourself and you are the
addresser. The self of man is opposed to Allah and inimical to Him
and all things are subordinate to Allah. The Self of a man really
belongs to Allah as a creation and as a possession and the self of
man entertains presumptions, wherefrom arises false hopes and
passions and sexual pleasure. So if you ally yourself with Truth by
opposing yourself and becoming hostile to it you will belong to
Allah said to Prophet Dawood (peace be upon him) “Dawood I am your
unavoidable Resort, so hold firmly to this Resort. True servitude
consists in your becoming inimical to your own self for my sake.”
It is then that your friendliness towards Allah and servitude to Him
will become a proved fact. And it is then that you will get your
share of things holy, wholesome, and pleasant. ; You will then
become dear and honourable and everything will become your servant
and render you homage and will be afraid of you; because all of them
are subordinate to their Allah and in harmony with Him, since He is
their Creator and Originator and they acknowledge their servitude to
Him.”
Allah says, “And there is nothing that does not glority Him with
His praises, but you do not understand their prayers.” “Do not
follow your low desires because they will lead you astray from the
path of Allah.” “Shun your low desires because there is nothing
that contends with me in my kingdom excepting the carnal desire of
man.” And there is a famous incident related to Abu Yazid Bustami
that when he saw Allah the Almighty in his dream, he asked Him “How
can one get at you?” Allah said, “Discard yourself and come to
me.” Thus all good, lies in fighting one’s self in everything
and in all conditions of life.
“Get out from your own self and be away from it and be a stranger
to your sense of self and surrender everything to Allah. Become His
gatekeeper at the door of your heart and keep his commandment by
admitting whomsoever he permits to be admitted, and honour His
prohibition by keeping away from every thing, which He forbids. Do
not will anything, which is not the will of Allah. Any will of
yours, which is not the will of Allah, is the wilderness of the
fools. It is death for you and a curse of falling away from the
sight of Allah and of screening Him away from yourself if you are in
this wilderness. Always guard the commandment of Allah and abstain
from His prohibitions and surrender to Him always in all that He has
ordered and do not associate with Him anything from His creation.
Polytheism consists not merely of idol worship. It is also
polytheism if you follow the desire of the flesh to adopt anything
of this world and of the hereafter in association with Allah.
Because whatever is besides Allah, is not Allah. Thus when you are
engaged in anything, which is besides Him, you are undoubtedly
associating that other thing with Allah.
Therefore, be aware and do not remain indifferent; seek and then
alone will you attain security. Do not ascribe any condition and
position of yours to your own self and do not claim anything among
these, for yourself. Thus, if you are placed in any condition or
raised to any position do not speak of it to any one. Because in the
changing circumstances from day to day, the glory of Allah manifests
itself in an ever-new aspect and Allah intervenes between His
servants and their hearts. It may be that the thing about which you
may speak may be removed from you and the thing, which you think to
be permanent and abiding, may under go a change so that you will be
put to shame before those to whom you spoke about them. You should
rather reserve the knowledge of this within your own self and should
not communicate it to others. Then if the things continue in
existence, know it to be the gift of Allah and ask for power to be
thankful and for an increase in the favours of Allah. But if the
thing ceases to exist, it will bring progress and light and
wakefulness and regard. So do not ascribe any shortcoming to His
decree and His procedure and do not entertain doubt about His
promise.
All good lies in being regardful of the existing condition and in
being contended with it and in warding off desires for any thing,
which is besides it. Because such things must be either one that is
allotted to you or one, which is allotted to nobody, but has been
created by Allah as a trail. So if it is destined for you, it is
bound to come to you, whether you like it or dislike it.
It is not proper, therefore, that any unmanned lines should be
manifested from you or by any greed in your desire for it, because
it is disapproved by the standards of intelligence and knowledge. If
it is destined for another man, why should your, bear ill will for a
thing, which you could not get, which is never destined to reach
your hands? It is a thing, which but to fall to the lot of any man
to whom it is only a trail. How can an intelligent person like and
approve that he should call for himself a trial and yet actively
seek for it. Thus it is proved that good and safety lie wholly in
paying regard to the existing condition. When Allah the Mighty and
Glorious gives you wealth and you are diverted by it from obedience
to Him, He screens you away, on account of it from Himself both in
this world and as well as in the hereafter. And it is also possible
that He may take away the gift from you and change you and reduce
you to poverty as a punishment for your turning away from the
Giver.
And if you engage yourself with obedience to Him and become
indifferent towards the wealth, Allah will make a free gift of it to
you and will not lesson it even by an atom. Remember wealth is your
servant and you are the servant of the Lord. Therefore, live in this
world under His loving care and in the hereafter honourably and in
the garden of Abiding residence in the company of the truthful
(Siddiq) the witnesses (Shahids) and the virtuous (Salih).
Do not ask from Allah, the Mighty the Glorious, any thing other than
forgiveness of your past sins and protection from sins in the
present and the future and the power of goodly obedience, in order
to perform His commandments and to abstain from prohibited things
and to be pleased with even the bitterness of the decree of
Providence and to be patient in the fact of abundance of comforts
and gifts and lastly to die achieving a good end of the life in
order to become united with the Prophet, Siddiques and Shahids and
virtuous men, who are a goodly band of companions.
“He has kept the knowledge of things hidden from you and He is
alone in His knowledge of good and evil of things. Allah knows what
is good and what is bad and you do not know.”
Never be proud of your own deeds. The best course for you is to give
thanks and praise to the helper and to praise Him continuously and
to ascribe your achievement to Him in all conditions of your life
unless it is evil, and sinful acts, should be ascribed to your own
self.
You should ascribe to your own self injustice and bad manners and
blame yourself for these, for it is your own self, which had
deserved these things more than any one else, since it is the seat
of all-evil is also your self. When all grants prayer of a servant
of His and gives him what he asks for, His own purpose does not
thereby become frustrated. On the contrary such a prayer is in
conformity with the object of the Lord and occurs in time. So the
acceptance of the prayer and the fulfillment of the needs take place
in due time and in accordance with a set plan which Destiny has
arranged before hand in the beginning of time which have been
marking time for fulfillment at the appointed hour.
D not say, I will not pray for anything to Allah because if the
prayed for object has been allotted to me, it will surely come to me
whether I ask for it or not. Whereas if it is not in my lot, He will
not give it to me even if I ask for it. No, You should ask from Him
all that you want and need of good things of this world and of the
hereafter, provided there be nothing in it which is forbidden and
injurious, because Allah has commanded us to ask from Him and has
urged us to do so in that respect. ; He says in Holy Quran “Call
on me, I will accept your prayers.” “Ask from Allah His favours.”
‘Ask from Allah while you are fully confident of the acceptance of
your prayers.” You should persist in your prayers to Him, so that
if it is a thing, which is allotted to you, He will send it to you
after you have asked for it, and thus increase your faith and
certainty in realising His unity. He will help you in keeping away
from soliciting from people and in diverting you to Him in all your
conditions and in enhancing your confidence that all your needs are
fulfilled by Him.
And if it is not in your lot, He will give you self sufficiency with
regard to it and will give you pleasure with Himself, the Mighty and
the Glorious, inspite of your poverty. And if you are in the midst
of poverty and illness, He will make you pleased to reconcile
yourself with such affliction.
And if it is a question of debt He will turn the heart of the lender
from an attitude of severe demand into that of gentleness towards
you; and of deferment and of provision of facility up to the time
when it is convenient for you to repay the debt or make a reduction
of it, or to a mood which will make him write off the debt. But if
it is not written off in your behalf or reduced in this world,
Allah, the Almighty, the Glorious, will give you in the life after
death a considerable amount of reward in exchange for what He has
not given you in response to your prayers in this world, because He
is generous, free from want and merciful. He will not disappoint one
who prays to Him to this world and in the hereafter. So it cannot
but bring in some benefit and acquisition, sooner or later.
A saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him) runs to the effect that
the believer will see in the record of his deeds, on the Day of
Judgement, some acts of merit which he had not performed nor was
aware of them. So he will be asked, “Do you not know where these
are from.” So it will be said to him. Surely this is in recompense
of your petitions which you made in your prayers to Allah, the
Mighty, the Glorious whom you were remembering and acknowledging His
unity, keeping things in their proper places, and giving a person
his due, and discarding the assumption of Might and power to your
own self and renouncing pride and vanity and boastfulness. All these
constitute good deeds, for which there has been a reward in the eye
of Allah, the mighty, the Glorious.
Do not say O penniless man; from whom the world and its people have
turned away their face, who is without any fame, and is hungry and
thirsty, Whose body is meager of clothing, who wanders about every
corner of the world, in every mosque and in every desolate place and
is yet turned away from every door, and who is fed up and
disappointed with all the desires and longings of his heart, that
Allah has made me so poor and deprived the world from me and brought
about my fall and has forsaken me as an enemy and made me distracted
and denied me of any composure of mind and has not given me enough
in this world and has reduced me to obscurity and has not made my
name exalted among people and my brothers, while He has given other
plenty of His blessings and made them superior to me and to the
people of my house, although both of us are Muslims and believers,
and have our common mother in Eve and common father in Adam, the
best of mankind.
Well, Allah has dealt with you in this manner because your nature is
pure and the moisture of the Mercy of Allah is to come to you
incessantly in the form of patience and cheerful surrender.
Certainty and reconcilement and knowledge and the light of the faith
and of monotheism are to be heaped on you. Then the tree of your
faith with its root and seed will be established and it will become
firm and grow and spread out shady branches, shooting forth twigs.
Thus, every day it will enlarge a will grow without need for any
manure to help its growth and development. The things which Allah
has allotted to you will come to you in due time whether you welcome
it or are averse to it. So you should not be greedy or eager for
what will be yours. And do not feel sorry for what is meant for
another person and not for you. What is in your possession must be
either of the two, yours or another person’s.
Now if it were yours it will come to you and you would be drawn
towards it and the meeting will take place very soon. And what is
not yours, you will be turned away from it and it will turn away
from you, and so there will be no meeting between your and the
thing. So be occupied in the best manner with what you are after in
the time present before you in obeying your Lord. Do not raise your
head nor pay any heed towards what is besides Him. God says in the
Holy Quran, “And do not stretch your eyes after that with which we
have provided different classes of them (of) the splendor of this
world’s life, that we may thereby try them; and sustenance (given)
by your Lord is better and more abiding.”
“So certainly Allah has forbidden you to pay attention to anything
else but that, on which He has maintained you and has given you your
provision of obedience, and has bestowed on you out of His all,
otment provisions and favour. And He has warned you that whatever is
besides possess a trait with which He has been trying them (others)
and that your cheerful acceptance of your portion is better for you
and purer and preferable. So let this be your way and resort; your
objective and longing through which you will attain every object and
reach every station to receive blessing, freshness and joy. Allah
has said in the Holy Quran, “No soul knows what is in store for
them of that which will refresh the eyes, a reward for what they
did.” So there is no deed beyond the five prescribed ways of
service, eschewing all sins. There is nothing greater and more
honourable and more liked by and pleasing to Allah than what we have
mentioned for you already. May Allah by his favour give you and us
the power to do what is liked by him and is pleasing to Him?
Therefore, cultivate patience and cheerful submission; pay regard to
the present and practice obscurity; remain quiet, composed, and
silent; Be aware; Make good your escape; Make haste, Fear Allah; And
again fear Allah; Cast down your looks; Turn away your eyes; Be
modest; till the destined reaches its appointed time and you are
taken by your hand and brought to the forefront.
Then will be removed from you all that you feel heavy, after which
you will be made to plunge in an ocean of favours and kindness and
mercy; and will be clothed with the robe of light and Divine
secretes and rare knowledge. Then you will be made near and spoken
to, and given gifts, and made free from need, and made courageous
and exalted, and addressed with the words, “Surely you are in our
presence to day in honourable and faithful one.”
Then guess and appraise from the condition of Yoosuf when he was
addressed through the tongue of the king of Egypt, its chief.
Apparently it was the tongue of the king that was speaking, but in
fact, the speaker was Allah, who was speaking through the tongue of
knowledge. To Yoosuf was given the material kingdom, namely the
kingdom of knowledge both spiritual and intellectual, and of
nearness to Allah, and of distinction and high position before
Allah. Thus it is that Allah says “And thus did we give to Yoosuf
power in the land, he had mastery in it wherever he liked.” The
land here stands for Egypt. With regard to kingdom of Spirit, Allah
says, “Thus (it was) that we might turn away from him evil and
indecency, surely he was one of our sincere servants.”
With regard to the kingdom of knowledge he says, “This is what my
Lord has taught me; surely I have forsaken the religion of a people
who do not believe in Allah.” When you are thus addressed O
truthful one, you are given an ample share of great knowledge and
blessed with strength, goodness, power and saintliness, and an order
which affects the spiritual and non spiritual matters and are vested
with the power of creation, with the permission of Allah, of things
in this world even before the coming of the hereafter. Then in the
hereafter, you will be in the abode of peace in Paradise. And the
sight of the countenance of Allah will be an additional favour,
which is an objective without limit or end.
It is a parting advice of mine that you should never complain about
any mishap that may befall on you to any one either a friend or a
foe. You should not blame your Lord for what He does to you, and for
His test of you. You should rather give publicity to what good
happens to be with you and to express your thankfulness on that
account. Who is there that is devoid of the blessing of Allah? The
mighty and Glorious says “And if you count the blessings of Allah,
you will not be able to enumerate them.” How many are the
blessings with you, but you do not recognise them, you should look
to no body else, because in nothing else is there harm of good or
appropriation or renunciation or honour or dishonour or elevation or
fall or poverty or affluence or movement or pause. Matter is the
creation of Allah, and in the hand of Allah lays the source of its
movement by His command and permission. It continues to exist up to
a time fixed by Him. And every thing exists according to a measure
so fixed by Him. Whatever He has made posterior can by any means be
made anterior and whatever He has made anterior can by any means be
made posterior. If any harm is to befall you, no one can avert it
excepting Him. And if any good is to accrue to you, no one can
withhold His favour.
Thus if you complain against Him while you are in comfort enjoying
some of his blessings in your desire for an increase of them,
shutting your eyes to what has been bestowed upon you as very poor
you will offend Allah. He will remove them from you and make your
own false complaint real and double your misery and intensify His
chastisement and anger and displeasure for you. He will make you
fall off from His sight. Therefore, beware of complaint, even if
your flesh is cut into pieces by means of scissors. Save yourself,
Fear Allah, Fear Allah, Fear Allah.
Verily most of the various calamities that befall the son of Adam
are due to complaint against his Lord. How can one complain against
Him? He is the most Merciful of the merciful ones and the Best of
all judges Patient, Aware, Compassionate, Merciful, and kind towards
His servants. He is not unjust to His servants and is like a
patient, affectionate, loving, and kind physician related to the
patient. Can any fault be found in an affectionate and kindhearted
father or mother? The holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)
has said, “Allah is more merciful towards His servants than a
mother is towards her son,” O’ poor man; show the utmost of good
manners. Exhibit patience at the time of calamity, even if you
become exhausted by patience. Hold on to patience, even if you get
exhausted through your cheerful submission to and harmony with
Allah.
In the self of a man, there are various kinds of sins, faults and
blemishes, on account of which he becomes unworthy of the company of
Allah. Unless purged of impurities of sins, no one can kiss His
threshold. None other than those who are purified from the dirt of
self-conceit can kiss His threshold just as no one can be worthy of
the company of kings, except those who are cleaned of impurities,
bad smell and dirt. Thus, calamities are atonements and purifiers.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has said, “The fever
of one day is an atonement for the sins of a whole year.”
Regard good and evil as two fruits coming out from two branches of
one single tree. One of the two branches yields sweet fruit and the
other bitter. So you leave cities and countries and their outskirts
where fruits plucked from this tree are sent, and keep away from
them and their people. But approach the tree itself and become its
guard and attendant servant, and acquire knowledge of these two
branches and of the two varieties of fruits emerging there from and
remain near the branch, which yield the sweet fruits. Then it will
be your food and your course of strength. But beware, lest you
should approach the other branch and eat the fruit thereof, because
its bitterness shall kill you. When you persist in this attitude,
you will be in ease, in security and safety from all misery because
troubles and tribulations are born of this bitter fruit. “O, you
who believe, be patient and excel in patience and remain steadfast
and be careful of your duty to Allah.” He has commanded you to be
patient, O, believer, then to see one another cultivate patience. To
be steadfast and to remain on guard and to make this incumbent on
yourself. He further warns you against discarding patience in the
words “Be careful of your duty to Allah” when referring to
discarding this virtue. Thus good and safety lie in patience. And
the holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has said, “Patience
stands in the same relation to faith, as the head stands in relation
to the body.” And it is also said “for everything there is a
reward according to a measure but for the reward of patience, its
prize has no measure.” And Allah says, “Verily the patient will
be given their reward without any measure.” |
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