Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part IV — Page 255
Footnote Number Eleven 255 1 ٗهَنٰحْبُس َو ىٰلٰعَت اَّمَع َنْوُفِصَي What we mean by this third type of progress is that the devotee becomes so lost and consumed in his love of God, and the Peerless and Timeless Being approaches so close to him with all His perfect attributes, that the manifestations of Divinity overcome his personal desires and draw him towards themselves to such a degree that a complete estrangement and intrinsic enmity is generated against his selfish desires, and even against anyone who is a slave of their selfish inclinations. The difference between this and the second type of progress is that even though com- plete accord is also established with the will of one’s Lord in the sec- ond type and any pain from Him appears as a bounty, his relationship with Allah is not such as to charge him with personal enmity towards everything besides Allah, and from which the love of Allah should not merely be the goal of the heart but should become the very nature of his heart. In short, in the second type of progress, accord with God and opposition to all besides Him is the goal of the devotee and he attains pleasure by achieving that goal; however, in the third type of progress, complete accord with God and enmity towards others becomes an integral part of his very nature from which he cannot depart under any circumstances; for, stripping something from its own self is impossible. On the contrary, such stripping is possible in the second type. So long as the wal a yat [being a friend of God] of a wal i [friend of Allah] does not reach the third type, it is not permanent and is not secure against dangers, the reason being that so long as the love of God and enmity to all besides Him does not become a part of the nature of man, some traces of darkness linger in him because he has still not fully discharged his obligation to rub u biyyat [providence] as it was required and still 1. Holy is He and exalted far above what they attribute to Him! ( S u rah al-An‘ a m, 6:101) [Publisher]