THE FIFTY-FIFTH DISCOURSE On giving up life’s pleasures

The enjoyments of life are discarded thrice: in the beginning, the servant of God goes on in the darkness of his ignorance and in a distracted condition, acting freely by the urges of his nature in all the various circumstances of life without any attitude of service towards his Lord, and without any rein of religious law to control him, and without any limits as to where to stop by His order. While he is in this state, God looks to him with the eye of mercy, so He sends towards him an admonisher from among the people, one who is a righteous servant of His, and a counterpart of his admonishers is also found in his own self. So both these admonishers become victorious over his self and nature, and admonition produces an effect on his mind. Then the defect of what is in him, such as his riding the conveyance of his own nature and his opposition to truth ~ becomes manifest, so he inclines towards the law of God in all his activities. - Thus the servant of God becomes a Muslim, standing by the law of God, vanishing from his own nature, and giving up the unlawful things of the world as also those that are of doubtful nature and from the help of people. So he takes to true permissible things and things made lawful by law in all questions of food and drink, and dress and marriage, and residence and all other affairs; and all this is unavoidable in protecting the foundations of physical health and in deriving strength for obedience to God, so that one may receive in full the share allotted to him and beyond which one cannot go — and there is no getting away from this worldly life without having access to it and obtaining it. So he travels on the conveyance of permissible and lawful things in conditions of his life so much so that this conveyance takes him to the height of wilayat, and gives him an entry into the company of the verifiers of truth and chosen people possessed of firm resolution who are desirous of the reality which is God. So he eats with His order, then he (the pilgrim) hears a voice from God within himself, saying "Discard your ownself and come: Discard enjoyments and the creation if you want the Creator and put off both your shoes of this world and of the hereafter and be empty of all existences and of things which will be created in future and of all desires. Be devoid of all and vanish from everything. Be happy with the unity of God and the discarding of polytheism and with the sincerity of purpose. Then enter the vast expanse of Divine nearness with your head bent low out of reverence and do not look right towards the life hereafter nor left towards the worldly life nor yet towards the people nor yet still towards enjoyments." After he attains this stage and his arrival there becomes an established fact, he receives the robe of honour from God and is covered with lights of honour and various kinds of favour. Then it is said to him, "Dress yourself with blessings and favours and do not be ill-mannered so as to reject and discard desires because the rejection of the gifts of the king amounts to putting pressure on him and slighting his august power." Then he becomes wrapped up in His favour and allottment without his playing any part in the matter. Before this, he used to be covered in his desires and urges of the self. So it will be said to him, "Cover yourself with the blessings and favours of God." For him, therefore, are four states in attaining the enjoyments and allotments. The first state is that of the urges of nature-and this is unlawful. The second state is of the law and this is permissible and lawful. The third state is that of inner commandment and this is the state of wilayat and the discarding of desires. The fourth state is that of Divine favour, and this is the state of disappearance of purpose and attainment of badaliyyat, and of being the (Divine) objective, standing by the decree of Destiny, which is the act of God; and this is the state of knowledge and of being possessed of the quality of righteousness and no one can be called really righteous unless he has attained this position. This accords with the word of God: Surely my friend is Allah, Who revealed the Book, and He befriends the righteous (7:196). So he is a servant who is restrained from utilizing anything of use and benefit to himself, and from rejecting anything that harms and causes mischief to him. He becomes like a suckling babe in the hands of its nurse and like a dead body that is being washed by one who is giving it a funeral bath. So the hand of providence undertakes his upbringing without his having any choice in the matter and without any effort on his part, his disappearing from all these things, and not having any state nor any position nor yet any purpose but standing by the decree of Destiny, who sometimes puts him in restraint, and at others .makes him feel at ease, and sometimes makes him rich and at other makes him poor. He makes no choice nor does he entertain any desire for the passing of any state and change in it. On the contrary, he shows abiding pleasure and eternal concord. This is the last point of spiritual state which is obtained by the abdal and awliya.