THE SEVENTY-THIRD DISCOURSE On a party of saints whom Allah makes aware of the faults of others

Sometimes God informs His walis about the faults and falsehood of another person and his false claims about his actions and words and thoughts and intentions. So the wait of God is made to feel jealous in respect of his Lord and His Prophet and His religion. The inner anger and then also the outer anger are intensified with the thought. How can comfort be claimed in face of the existence of disease, both internal and external, and how can the faith in the unity of God be claimed in face of polytheistic tendencies which amount to unbelief and which take a man away from nearness to God and lead him to adopt an attitude belonging to the enemy, the devil, the accursed, and to the hypocrites who are sure to be flung and hurled into the lowest of hell and are sure to remain there forever? The mention of the faults of such a person and his evil actions and his insolence together with his big claims and his presumption to possess the spiritual state of the siddiqs, and his attitude of competition towards those who have annihilated themselves in the decree, and his thus assuming the role of the finished object of God — are made to come out from the tongue of the wali. This is done sometimes on account of the jealousy for the glory of God, the Mighty, the Glorious, and at others for the refutation of such a false man and as a sort of admonition for him; and still at others for the predominance of the act of God, the Mighty, the Glorious, and His purpose and His intensity of wrath over the false man who gives lie to the truth of the wali. So the wali is accused of backbiting the person concerned and it is asked, "Is the wali permitted to backbite anyone while he is forbidden to do it? Can he speak of anyone, absent or present, concerning things which are not known to the rank and file of people?" The fact is that such a denunciation on their part falls under the purview of the word of God: Their sin is greater than (heir advantage (2:219). Apparently it (such criticism of the wali) is the denunciation of a disobedient man, but in truth, it is rousing the wrath of God and taking exception to His act. The condition of such an objector is bewilderment; it is his duty to remain silent under such circumstances and to offer submission and to try to find out its permissibility in the Law and not to raise objection to the work of God and his wali who makes these biting remarks on account of the false claims of the pretender. If he assumes this attitude it may result in the uprooting of the evil in him and be regarded as his repentance and return from his ignorance and bewilderment. So it will be a sort of attack on behalf of the wali and will thus benefit the selfconceited man who is on the verge of ruin, on account of his conceit and disobedience; and God guides whomever He likes to the right path.