THE TWENTY-SECOND DISCOURSE On the testing of the believer’s faith

It is a practice of God to try His believing servant in proportion to his faith. Thus if a person's faith is great and immense, his trial is also great. Thus the trial of a rasul is greater than that of a nabi, because his faith is greater than that of the latter. And the trial of the nabi is greater than that of a badal (abdal). Similarly, the trial of a badal is greater than that of a wait. Everyone is tried according to his faith and certainty. The authority for this lies in a saying of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him): "Verily, we, the community of prophets are the most tried of all people." Furthermore, God keeps the trials in continuance for these honourable leaders according to their grades, so that they may always remain in His presence and may never slacken in their wakefulness. He, the Exalted, loves them and they are the people-of love and the beloved of God and the lover never likes to be away from his beloved. Thus, the trials are the restrainers of their hearts and a kind of imprisonment for their souls and keep them restrained from inclination towards anything which is not the object of their life, and from feeling comfortable and inclined to anything besides their Creator. So, when this becomes their permanent feature and their desires get melted and their selves become broken and the truth becomes distinguished from falsehood, then their designs and purposes and will and inclination towards all enjoyments and comforts of this life and of the hereafter become withdrawn and contracted in a corner of their mind; and the solace of their mind comes to rest in the promise of God and their pleasure in His decree and their contentment in His gift and their patience in His trial and they become safe from the evil of His creation; and all this to the extent of their heart's desire. Thus will the power of the heart be strengthened and it will acquire control over all the organs of the body, because trials and calamities strengthen the heart and certainty and establishes the faith and patience and weakens the animal self and its desires. Because when suffering comes and the believer exhibits patience and pleasure and spirit of surrender to the act of God and gratitude towards Him, God becomes pleased with him and there comes to him help and abundance and strength. God the Mighty and Glorious says; If you are grateful I will give you more. (Qur'an, 14:7) And when the self of man moves the heart in search of any object of desire and any enjoyment, and the heart responds to this demand for the object and this without any command from God and His permission, the result is forgetfulness of God and polytheism and sin. God seizes them (the mind and the heart) with ignominy and calamities and subjection to people and injury and anxiety and pain and disease. The heart and the mind are affected by this suffering, but if the heart does not respond to the call of the mind in regard to its object until permission comes from God through ilham (major revelation) in the case of a rasul and a nabi, and action is taken on this revelation whether it is the bestowal of a gift or its withholding, God rewards the mind and the heart with mercy and blessing and comfort and pleasure and light and knowledge and nearness to Himself and independence from needs and safety from calamities. So know all this and remember it and save yourself from trial with extreme carefulness by not making haste in responding to the call of the mind and its desire, but wait patiently in such cases for the permission of the Master so that you may remain safe in this world and the hereafter.