THE FIFTY-THIRD DISCOURSE On the commandment to seek contentment with Allah and annihilation in Him

Ask from God pleasure with His decree, or the ability to be merged in the action of the Lord because in this lies great comfort and unique high heaven in this world and it is also a big gate of God and a means to the love of God for the believing slave. So whomever God loves, He does not chastise him in this world nor in the hereafter. In these two virtues lie contact with God, union with Him and an intimate connection with Him. Do not be engrossed in your efforts for the pleasures of this life and for such shares as are either not allotted to you or are so allotted, So if they are not allotted, it is foolishness and stupidity and ignorance to make efforts in obtaining them and it is also the greatest of all punishments as it has been said: "Among the greatest of punishment is to strive for what is not allotted by Providence." 'If it is allotted, it is nothing but greed and divided loyalty in the matter of servitude and love and truth to be engrossed in its pursuit, because engrossment in anything which is not God, the Mighty, the Glorious, is polytheism. One who strives for worldly pleasures is not sincere in his love for and friendship with God, so whoever adopts with God anything other than Him, is a liar. Similarly, one who looks forward to any return for his action is insincere. Sincere is he who serves God just to give rabubiyya, that is, the attribute of God that controls and nourishes the universe, its due. Such a person serves Him on account of His mastership and deservingness in as much as God, the Mighty, the Glorious, is His owner and it is incumbent on him to perform virtuous deeds and be obedient to Him, since that he wholly belongs to Him together with his movements and restful states and all his various efforts and struggles. The servant and all that he possesses belong to his Master. How can it be otherwise? For, as we have already stated elsewhere, all acts of servitude are a blessing of God and His favour on His servant because it is He Who gives him the power for their performance and has given him power over them. So, to be busy with the expression of gratitude to Him is better and preferable to asking for returns and rewards from Him on account of such actions. Then how can you get engrossed in striving for the pleasure of the world when you have seen how a large number of people, whenever pleasures of worldly life multiply in their possession, and the enjoyments and the worldly comforts that are allotted to them come in incessantly and without any break, how their resentment towards their Lord and their disgust and ingratitude in respect of the blessings increase, and their grief and anxiety and neediness for things not allotted to them and consequently not in their possession, multiply? Their own share of worldly things which is with them appears paltry and small and loathsome, and the worldly things which belong to others appear great and beautiful to their hearts and eyes and they begin to make efforts to obtain them in spite of the fact that they are not allotted to their share. In this way their life passes away and their powers become exhausted, and they become old and their wealth disappears and their bodies become tired, and their foreheads sweat and the records of their life become darkened by excess of their sins and by their commission of big offences in pursuing things which are allotted to others and by their negligence to the commandments of their Lord. So they do not succeed in getting these things and make an exit from this worldly life as poor men, neither being one way nor the other, losers in this life and in the hereafter, not thanking their Lord for what He has allotted to them of their share and therefore not seeking His assistance on account of them in acts of obedience to Him. They do not obtain what they strive for from the share of others but only waste their worldly life as well as the one in the hereafter; so they are the worst of people and most ignorant and vilest in intelligence and insight. Had they become pleased with the decree of Providence and remained contented with His gift and been obedient to Him in the best manner, their own share of this worldly life would have come to them without any effort and anxiety; then they would -have been admitted in the neighbourhood of God, the Exalted, and would have received from Him all that they desired and wished for. May God make you and us among those who have become pleased with His decree, and who have made this their prayer, as also that they may merge in His will and acquire safety of their spiritual health and strength to do what He likes and is pleased with.