THE SEVENTH DISCOURSE On removing the cares of the heart

Get out from your own self and be away from it and be a stranger to your sense of self Surrender everything to God and become His gatekeeper at the door of your heart and keep His commandments by admitting whomever He permits to be admitted, and honour His prohibition by keeping out everything which He forbids so as not to allow the desire of the flesh to get into your heart after it has gone out of it. And to expel the desire of the flesh from the heart one has to put up resistance to it and refuse subordination to it in all conditions; and to admit it into the heart means to acknowledge subordination to it and to make alliance with it. So, do not will anything which is not the will of God. Any will of yours which is not the will of God is a desire of the flesh, which is, so to say, the wilderness of fools and it is death for you and a cause of falling away from the sight of God and of screening Him away from yourself, if you are in this wilderness. Always guard the commandment of God 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. Thus your will and your desires and your passions are all His creations. So do not will anything nor desire anything nor indulge in any passion so that you may not prove to be a polytheist. God says: So whoever hopes to meet his Lord, he should do good deeds, and join no one in the service of his Lord. (Qur'an 18:110) Polytheism consists not merely of idol-worship. It is also polytheism to follow the desire of the flesh and to adopt anything of this world and of the hereafter in association with God. Because whatever is besides God is not God. Thus when you are engaged in anything which is besides Him you are undoubtedly associating that other thing with God. Therefore, beware and do not rest, and fear and do not feel secure, seek and do not remain indifferent; then alone will you attain to security. And 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 anyone. Because in the changing of circumstances from day to day,- the glory of God manifests itself in an ever-new aspect; and God intervenes between His servants and their hearts. It may be that the thing about which you speak may be removed from you and the thing which you think to be permanent and abiding may undergo 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 thing continues, in existence, know it to be the gift of God and ask for power to be thankful, and for an increase in the favours of God. But if the thing ceases to exist, it will bring progress in knowledge and light and wakefulness and regard. God says: Whatever message We abrogate or cause it to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or one like it. Knowest thou not that Allah is Possessor of power over all things? (Qur'an 2:106) So do not consider God to be powerless in anything and do not ascribe any shortcoming to His decree and His procedure and do not entertain doubt about His promise. In this matter, it is incombent that you should imbibe virtues of the excellent example of the Prophet of God. Verses and chapters that were revealed to him and were adopted in practice and were recited in the mosques and written in books, even these were taken up and changed and replaced by others and the attention of the Holy Prophet was directed towards these new revelations, which replaced the old ones. This happened in the external law. As for the inner things and knowledge and spiritual state which obtained between him and God, he used to say that his heart used to be clouded and he used to seek the protection of God seventy times each day. It is also narrated that a hundred times a day the Holy Prophet used to be taken from one condition to another and from this to still another and thus he would be made to attain higher and higher stages in nearness to God and stages in his faith in the unseen and the robe of light with which he was clothed used to be changed accordingly, every progressive step making the previous stage appear dark and defective in comparison, and comparatively faulty in respect of obedience to the commandments. So he used to receive instaictions for seeking protection from God because the best of all states in a servant is the state of seeking protection and turning to God. This is because in it there is acknowledgment of his sin and fault and these are the two qualities which are found in a servant in all conditions of his life and which belong to him as a heritage from Adam (peace be on him) who was the father of mankind and the chosen one of God. When the darkness of forgetfulness to the promise and covenant besmirched the clearness of his spiritual condition, and he manifested the desire to abide in the abode of peace and in the neighbourhood of the Beneficent and Benevolent Friend, and He wished for the coming of honour, angels descending on him with blessings and peace. At that time his personal desire manifested itself and the will of Adam was found mixed up with the will of God, so this will of his was smashed and the first state was made to disappear and the nearness to God then existing was taken away; and then his position slipped away from him and the light of faith that was with him was changed into darkness and the purity of his spirit was thereby darkened. Then this chosen one of God was reminded (of his fault) and was made to acknowledge his sin and mistake and was instructed to admit his fault and imperfection. Then Adam said (peace be on him): Our Lord! we have wronged ourselves and if Thou forgive us not and have (not) mercy on us, we shall certainly be of the losers. (7:23) Then came to him the light of guidance and the knowledge of repentance and the consequent knowledge of reality and the knowledge of the wisdom that was hidden in the incident before this and which could not be revealed but for this incident. Then God turned towards them mercifully so that they might repent. Then that purpose of his (Adam's) was changed for another as was his previous condition also, and there came to him the higher state of saintliness (wilayat) and he was given a station in this world and in the hereafter. Thus did this world become a living place for him and his progeny and the hereafter, the place for their return and eternal rest. Thus you should take the Prophet of God, Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be on him), who is His friend and the chosen one, and his great ancestor Adam, the chosen of God, both of whom were among the friends of God, as your example in the confession of your faults and in seeking His protection from sins and in the adoption of humility and weakness in all conditions of life.