THE TWENTY-SIXTH DISCOURSE On not unveiling one’s face

The veil and screen from your self will not be removed unless you get out of the creation and turn the back of your heart against them in all conditions of life, and unless your desires vanish and then your purpose and your longings and your ego disappear from the existence of this world and of the hereafter and become like a holed vessel; and nothing remains in you of purpose except the purpose of your Lord; and you are filled with the light of your Lord and there remains no place and room in your heart except for your Lord; and you become the gatekeeper of your heart and you are given the sword of monotheism and greatness and power. Then whatever you see approaching the gate of your heart from the atmosphere of your mind, you will remove its head from its shoulder, so that there remains not for your self and your desire and your purpose and your longing of this world and of the hereafter anything with its head raised, nor any word that is listened to, nor any opinion which is followed, except obedience to the commandment of the Lord and standing by Him, and cheerful acceptance of His decree, and more than that, merging in His decree and allottment. Thus you become the servant of the Lord and not the servant of the people and their opinion. And when this becomes a permanent feature in your life, curtains of self-respect will be hung around your heart and trenches of dignity will be dug round it, and the power of greatness will surround it, and your heart will be guarded by the army of truth and monotheism. Besides this, guards of truth will be posted near it, so that people may not have any access to it through the devil, through your animal self, through passion, through purpose, through vain desires and false claims growing in the minds of people, and through misguidance growing from desires. If it is destined that people will come to you in unbroken succession, and they will be unanimous in regard to your greatness so that they may obtain dazzling light and clear signs and deep wisdom, and see evident miracles and supernatural happenings as a regular feature of your life and thereby increase in their efforts to be near God and to be obedient to Him and also increase in their effort for the service of their Lord, even when all these things happen, you will be made secure from all of them and from the inclination of your human spirit towards desire, from self-admiration and vanity and importance attendant on a large number of people coming to you and on their being attentive to you. Similarly, if it is destined that you shall have a wife, beautiful and graceful, responsible for her own self and for her own maintenance, you will be made secure from her evil and will be saved from carrying her burden and that of her retainers and relations, and she will be for you a gift of God, sufficient, blessed and harmonious in temperament and clean from insincerity and evil-mindedness and fraud and malice, and breach of trust in your absence. Thus, she will be in your subjection. Then she and her relations will make you free from the burden of her maintenance and will ward off from you any trouble on her account. And if it is destined that she will beget any child for you it will be a righteous and pure descendant who will be pleasing to your eyes. God says: And We made his wife fit for him (21:90). He further says: O our Lord! grant us in our wives and our offspring the joy of our eyes, and make us leaders for those who guard against evil (25:74). Still further He says: And make him, my Lord, acceptable to Thee. (19:6). Thus all these prayers which are in these verses will come into action and be accepted in your case, whether or not you address these prayers to God because as they are, they are meant for those who are worthy of them, and are favoured with these blessings, and are worthy of this position, and are established in this condition, and to whom the favour and nearness of God are allotted. Similarly, if it is destined that a certain thing of this world will come to you, it will not in such a case cause you any harm. Thus exactly what is your portion in it will come to you, purified for you sake by the act of God and His will and the issue of order for its reaching you. So it will reach you and you will be rewarded, provided you get it in obedience to His command, just as you will be rewarded on performing obligatory prayer and observing obligatory fast. And you will be commanded with regard to what is not your portion that you should spend it on those who deserve it from among your friends and neighbours and the deserving among the beggars and on those who deserve Zakat money according to the needs of the circumstances. The actual state of affairs will be revealed to you and you will be able to distinguish between the deserving and the undeserving ones. Hearsay reports cannot be as good as actual experience. Then, you will be white and clear in your affair on which there will be no obscurity, no ambiguity, no confusion, no doubt. Therefore, take to patience, cultivate cheerful submission, pay regard to the present, take to obscurity, remain quiet, remain composed, remain silent, remain silent! Beware! Make good your escape! Make good your escape! Make haste! Make haste! Fear God! And again, fear God! Cast down your look! Cast down your look! Turn away your eyes! Turn away your eyes! Be modest till the destiny reaches its appointed time and you are taken by your hand and brought to the forefront. Then will be removed from you all that you feel heavy, after which you will be made to plunge into an ocean of favours and kindness and mercy and will be clothed with the robe of light and Divine secrets and rare divine knowledge. Then you will be made near and spoken to, and given gifts, and made free from need and made courageous and exalted, and addressed with the words: Surely you are in Our presence today, dignified, trusted (12:54). Then guess and estimate from the condition of Joseph, the truthful, when he was addressed in these words through the tongue of the King of Egypt who was also its chief and Pharaoh. Apparently it was the tongue of the King that was speaking and expressing them but in fact the speaker was God, Who was speaking through the tongue of knowledge. To Joseph was given the material kingdom, which was the kingdom of Egypt, as also the kingdom of the spirit which was the kingdom of knowledge, spiritual and intellectual, and nearness to God, and distinction and high position before God. Thus it is that God says: And thus did We give to Joseph power in the land — he had mastery in it wherever he liked (12:56). The land here stands for Egypt. With regard to the kingdom of spirit, God says: Thus (it was) that We might turn away from him evil and indecency. Surely he was one of Our sincere servants (12:24). With regard to the kingdom of knowledge, He says: This is of what my Lord has taught me. Surely I have forsaken the religion of a people who believe not in Allah (12:37). When you are thus addressed, 0 truthful one, you are given an ample share of great knowledge and blessed with strength and goodness and power and general saintliness and an order which affects the spiritual as well as the non-spiritual things. You are also vested with the power of creation with the permission of God, of things in this world even before the coming of the hereafter. Then, in the hereafter, you will be in the abode of peace and in high paradise. The sight of the countenance of God will be an additional thing and a favour and it is an objective which has no limit and no end.