THE SEVENTY-SIXTH DISCOURSE On advice

I admonish you that you should associate with the rich with dignity and with the poor with humility. It is incumbent on you to adopt humility and sincerity and this latter quality amounts to perpetual vision of the Creator. Do not blame God in respect of worldly means and be humble before Him in all conditions and do not damage the right of your brother, relying on the fact that between you and him there is a friendship. You should keep company with the darveshes with humility and good manners and liberality and kill your self till you regain your life in spirituality. The people who are nearest to God, the Mighty, the Glorious, are those who are most large-hearted in their behaviour. The best of deeds is to guard one's own self from being inclined to what is besides God, the Great. You should keep on exhorting people to stick to truth and patience. And it is enough for you to keep company with the darveshes and to serve the awliya. A darvesh is he who is indifferent to everything besides God. To attack one who is beneath you is cowardice and to do the same thing with one who is above you is shamelessness; whereas to attack one who is equal to you is bad manners. To adopt the life of a darvesh and of a sufi needs an effort. Do not mix it up with anything which is in the nature of a joke. May Allah give us strength and you too. O wali\ It devolves on you to keep on remembering Allah in all conditions because it brings together all the good things and it is also your duty to adhere to the covenant of God because it wards off all injurious things. It is also a duty of yours to remain prepared to meet all the events decreed by God, because they are bound to happen. Know that you will be asked about your movements and your restful conditions so keep yourself engaged in what is most suitable for a particular time and save your organs from useless occupations. Furthermore, it is your duty to obey God and His Prophet and those who rule in the latter's place. Give them their due and do not ask of them what is due to them and pray too for them in all conditions. It is also necessary that you should think well of Muslims and bear good intentions in respect of them, and try to secure for them everything that is good and you should not spend any night while entertaining anything evil for any of them in your heart, nor any grudge nor any enmity. It is also necessary that you should pray for him who has been unjust to you and you should fear God, the Mighty, the Glorious. It is also your duty to eat only lawful things, and to inquire from people possessed of the knowledge of God concerning matters which you do not know. You should also cultivate modesty in respect of God, the Mighty, the Glorious, and keep company with what is besides God only to the extent of your requirements of the companionship of God. Give in charity from your wealth every morning, and in the night offer the funeral prayer for everyone who has died among the Muslims on that day. When you have finished your maghrib (early evening) prayer, invoke a prayer of istikhara (seeking good in one's affairs). You should repeat morning and evening seven times: Allahumma ajima minan nar, meaning: "O Allah! protect us from fire." And stick to the prayers, A 'uzubillah-is-sami-il-Alim minash Shaitan-ir-Rajim, meaning: "I seek the refuge in Allah, the Hearing, the Knowing, from Satan the accursed." Then proceed to the glorification of God with the concluding words of chapter, The Banishment (Hashr): He is Allah besides Whom there is no God; The Knower of the unseen and the seen; He is the Beneficent, the Merciful. He is Allah, besides Whom there is no God; the King, the Holy, the Author of Peace, the Granter of security, Guardian over all, the Mighty, the Supreme, the Possessor of every greatness. Glory be to Allah from that which they set up (with Him)! He is Allah, the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner: His are the most excellent names. Whatever is in the heavens and the earth declares His glory; He is the Mighty, the Wise. (59:22-24) God alone is the giver of strength and the helper, because there is no might and power except in God, the High, the Great.