THE SEVENTY-EIGHTH DISCOURSE On the people devoted to spiritual struggle and self-examination and the masters of resolve, explanation of their virtues

There should be ten characteristics of those who are engaged in spiritual struggles and in self-inspection and are determined to attain the spiritual goal to which they must stick. When by the permission of God they have established themselves in these and have made themselves firm, they have attained to a high position. The first characteristic is that the servant should not swear by Him whether truthfully or falsely, intentionally or by mistake, because when he consolidates in himself this practice (of not swearing by Allah), and makes his tongue habituated to it, this practice will raise him to a position where he will be able to give up swearing either intentionally or by mistake. When he becomes practised in this, God will open for him a door of His lights. He will recognise the benefit of this in his heart and will find exaltation in his rank, and strength in his determination, and patience, and will find praise in the midst of his brethren, and dignity in the midst of his neighbours, so much so that whoever recognise him will pay him respect and whoever sees him will be afraid of him. The second characteristic is that he should avoid (speaking of) untaithfiil things seriously or jokingly, because if he practices this and makes it firm in his own self and makes his tongue habituated to it, God will open with it His heart and will clarify his knowledge with it in a manner that it will appear as if he doesn't know falsehood, and when he hears it from others he will regard it as a great blemish and will be ashamed of it in his own self, and if he prays to God to remove it there will be a reward for him. * The third characteristic is that he should be careful that when he promises anything to anyone he should not break his promise, or he should not make any promise at all. For surely this will be a (source of) great strength for his affair and a very balanced course for him to follow, since breach of promise belongs to the category of falsehood. So if he does so, the door of munificence will be opened to him and the rank of modesty will be allotted to him and he will rise in the minds of men of truth and he will be raised in the sight of God. The fourth is that he should refrain from cursing anything in the creation, nor should he cause any harm to anything, not even to an atom or anything less than that, because this quality is among the virtues of the good, the truthful. Acting on this principle, a person gets a good end of life under the protection of God in this life together with what God has kept reserved for him in the form of his spiritual ranks, and He saves him from falling into destruction, and protects him from the harm of people and bestows on him mercy for the servants of God and nearness of Himself. The fifth is that he should refrain from praying for any harm to anyone people, even if he has been treated unjustly. So he should not retaliate either by tongue or by action but bear it patiently for God and should not take revenge either by word or by action. Surely this trait raises its possessor to high ranks. When a person gets trained in this he attains a noble position in this world and in the hereafter, and love and affection in the hearts of all people who accept the truth, both near and distant together with the acceptance of prayer and exaltation in goodness and honour in this world and in the hearts of believers. The sixth characteristic is that he should not affirm his evidence on polytheism and unbelief and hypocrisy of one of those who follow the same qiblah (direction in prayer). This trait constitutes the perfection in the following of the Sunnah (practice of the Holy Prophet) and is very close to His pleasure and mercy. Thus it is an honourable and glorious door to God the Exalted, who grants it to His believing servant as a reward for his mercy to all people. The seventh characteristic is that he should refrain from looking at anything of a sinful nature both outwardly and inwardly and should restrain his organs of the body from it because this is an action that is the quickest in bringing reward to the heart and the organs in the immediate worldly life together with what God has kept in store of the good things in the hereafter. We pray to God that He may do all of us the favour of granting the power to act on these traits and take away worldly desires from our hearts. The eighth characteristic is that he should avoid putting any burden on anyone whether it be small or big. On the contrary, he should lift the burden from all people whether he is asked or not. Surely this constitutes the pinnacle of honour for the servants of God and the cause of nobility for the men of piety, and it also provides strength to a man to admonish people to do good or forbid them to do evil. This constitutes the whole honour and dignity of God's servants, and of pious men, and enables them to enjoin good and forbid evil. At this stage the whole creation appears to them on the same level. When a man is at this stage, God transforms his heart into a state of needlessness and certainty and reliance on God, and God does not raise anyone while he is tied up with his worldly desires. The whole of creation to such a man possesses equal rights, and it should be firmly believed that this is a door of honour for the believers and of dignity for the righteous and it is a door very close to sincerity. The ninth characteristic is that he should be free from all expectations from men, nor should he feel tempted in his heart by what is with them. Surely it is a great honour and pure needlessness and great kingdom and glorious pride and clear certainty and clear and healthy reliance on God; and this is a door from among the doors of reliance on God, and one of abstemiousness and one which enables one to attain fear of God, and imparts perfection to one's religious practices and it further constitutes a sign of complete and exclusive attachment to God. The tenth characteristic is humility, because it is with this trait that the station of the servant is raised high, and his position made lofty, and his honour and eminence made perfect in the sight of God (glory be to Him) as also in the sight of people^ and he is given power over what he desires from among the affairs of the world and of the hereafter. This is a trait which forms the whole root and branch and the perfection of obedience and with its help the servant of God is made to attain the position of the righteous people who are pleased with God in ease as well as in difficulties and it is the perfection of piety. Humility consists in that the servant of God does not see anyone from among the people but sees in him superiority over himself and he says: "Perhaps this person is better than I am in the sight of God and higher in position." If he is a small person, the servant of God says: "This man has not offended God and I have offended Him; so undoubtedly he is better than I am." And if the person concerned is a great man, he will say: "This man has served God before I have done so." If the person he sees is a learned man he will say: "This man has been given what has not reached me and he has obtained what I have not, and he knows what I am ignorant of and he acts with knowledge." And if the person concerned is an ignorant man he will say. "This man offended God in his ignorance and I have offended Him in spite of my knowledge, and I do not know what sort of end I shall meet and what kind of end he will meet." If this person is an unbeliever, he will say: "I do not know; it may be that he will become a Muslim and will end his life with good deeds and possibly I will become an unbeliever and will end my life with evil deeds." This is the door of affection and fear and it is a thing of which the accompaniment should be preferred and the final thing which will abide with the servants of God. Thus, when the servant of God becomes like this, God will keep him safe from all calamities and will make him attain the position of the companionship of God, the Mighty, the Glorious, and he becomes among the chosen ones and friends of God and he becomes an enemy of Iblis who is the enemy of God. This state constitutes the gate of mercy with the attainment of which the door of pride becomes closed, and the rope of selfconceit is cut asunder, and the sense of superiority in his own self in matters religious and worldly and spiritual becomes discarded, and this is the very essence of servitude and the cause of abstemiousness and is a sign of devotion to God; so there is nothing better than this. With the attainment of this state, his tongue should cease mentioning the people of the world and what is vain, and no work of his will attain completion without this step; and malice and conceit and trespassing of limits will be expelled from his heart in all his conditions, and his tongue (i.e. talk) will be one and the same secretly as well as openly; and his purpose will be one in secret as well as in the open and so will be his words; and the people will be one in his sight in regard to admonition. He will not admonish by mentioning anyone from among the people with an evil reference, or bring any of his actions as an illustration, nor will he like that anyone should be mentioned with a bad reference because this weakness constitutes a calamity for the servants of God and hardship for the devotees, and will lead to the ruin of the ascetic except such of them as are helped by God with His mercy to keep their tongue and heart secure.