Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 156
156 AHMADIYY AT truly died it would have been better for him than this laughter. . . . I do not forbid you the pursuit of the commerce and industry of the world, but follow not those whose world is their all. Continue to supplicate God for strength and ability in all your works, whether they are worldly or relate to the faith. Your supplications should not be confined to your lips, but you must believe truly that every blessing descends from heaven. You will become righteous only when, before embarking upon a project, you shut your door and fall down at the threshold of the Divine, urging your difficulty and supplicating Him to resolve it by His grace. Y ouwill then be helped by the Holy Spirit and a hidden path will be disclosed to you. Have mercy on your souls and do not follow those who have cut asunder altogether from God and depend wholly upon means, so much so that they do not even say: If God so wills. May God open your eyes so that you should realize that He is the cross-beam of all your plans. If the cross-beam should fall, can the rafters continue to support the roof? In the same way, your plans cannot succeed without the help of God. If you will not supplicate Him for help and will not make it your rule to seek strength from Him, you will achieve no success and will die in sorrow. Do not wonder why other people seem to succeed while they are not even aware of the existence of God Who is your Perfect and Mighty Lord. The answer is that they have been subjected to the trial of the world on account of their abandoning God. He sometimes tries a person who abandons Him and seeks the joys of the world and runs after the riches of the world, by opening the doors of the world to him. Such a one is wholly deprived of faith and is naked on that side. In the end he dies with his mind devoted wholly to the world and is cast into eternal hell. Sometimes such a one is tried by being deprived of the world also, but this latter kind of trial is not so fearful as the former, for the one who is tried with plenty becomes more arrogant. In any case both these ways earn the wrath of God. The fountainhead of true prosperity is God. While these people are unaware of the Ever-Living and Self-Supporting God and are heedless of Him and turn away from Him, how can they attain true prosperity? Blessed is he who understands this mystery and ruined is the one who does not realize it. You should not follow the philosophers of this world, nor look upon them with honour, for they only pursue follies. The true philosphy is that which God has taught you in His Word. It is