THE FIFTY-FOURTH DISCOURSE On those who wish to attain to the contact with Allah, an explanation of the nature of that contact

Whoever desires the life hereafter it is incumbent on him to be indifferent towards the world, and whoever desires God it is incumbent on him that he should be indifferent towards the life hereafter. Thus he should discard his worldly life for the sake of his Lord. So as long as any desire from among the desires of this world continues to exist in his heart, and any relish from among the relishes of it, and any effort for comfort from among the comforts of it in regard to various things of food and drink and dress and marriage and residence and conveyance and rulership and chieftainship, and advancement in his knowledge of various branches of learning and of jurisprudence in preference to the five times of worship and to the narration of Hadith (i.e. reported sayings and acts of the Holy Prophet) and the recitation of the Qur'an with its varied readings and syntax and lexicography and rhetoric, as also the desire for the disappearance of poverty and the appearance of affluence, and the departure of calamity and the coming of comfort, and in everything the removal of difficulty and the coming of benefit — if such desires linger in the mind of a person he is certainly not a pious man, because in every one of these things there is relish and pleasure for the self of man and harmony with the desire of the flesh and comfort of the mind and love for it, and these things constitute worldly life in which one loves to remain for ever and with which one tries to get composure of mind and satisfaction. It beseems one to strive for the expulsion of all these things from the heart and to prepare oneself to remove all these and to root them out of the mind, and to cultivate pleasure in annihilation and abiding poverty and neediness so that there does not remain in his heart even as much as the pleasure of the sucking of the stone of a date, so that his abstemiousness in worldly life may become pure. So when he has perfected it, all grief and sorrow from his heart and all anxiety from his mind will disappear, and there will come to him comforts and goodly life and intimacy with God, as has been said by the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Indifference towards the world brings happiness to the heart and body." But so long as there remains in his heart any attraction for this world, sorrows and griefs and fear and apprehension will have a standing abode in his heart and abasement will be a necessary concomitant for him as also the state of being veiled from God, the Mighty, the Glorious, and from His nearness, by a veil thick in several folds. All these will not be removed except through the complete disappearance of the love of this world and by the cutting asunder of all connection with it. Next, he should be indifferent towards the life hereafter so as not to wish for ranks and high grades, and beautiful maidens and handsome boys, and houses and mansions and conveyance, and suits of clothes and ornaments and articles of food and drink and other things of this kind from among what God, the Great, has kept prepared for His believing servants. So he should not try to get any recompense and reward for his action from God, the Mighty, the Glorious, at all in this world or in the hereafter. It is only then that he will find God giving the full measure of his account as an act of grace from Himself and as a kindness. He will draw him near to Himself and will lavish His kindness on him and He will make Himself known to him with various kinds of kindness and acts of goodness, as it is His practice with His prophets and messengers and with His awliya and His favourites and friends, possessed of knowledge of Him. So the servant becomes every day more and more improved in regard to his affairs throughout his life and then he is transferred to the abode of the hereafter to experience "what no eye has seen, no ear has heard and what has not occurred to any human mind," a condition which in fiict surpasses all understanding and which no explanation suffices to cover.