Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V — Page 323
APPE N DI X to B AR Ā H Ī N-E-A H M ADIY YA — PART F IV E 323 of his journey come to an end. His progress, through his effort and striving, reaches its climax and human efforts complete their oper- ation up to their ultimate point. Thereafter, only the operation of the bounty and grace (of God) remains, which pertains to the other creation. This fifth stage is even more difficult than the fourth stage. In the fourth state, the believer only has the challenge to discard unlawful pas- sions of the self but in the fifth state, he has the challenge to surrender his self altogether and to restore it to God Almighty as a trust which had been committed to his care. Devoting his self to the work of God, he should put it into service, resolve to spend his self in the cause of God, and strive to annihilate his self altogether; for, as long as the self persists, temptations to sin which are opposed to righteousness, also persist. Besides, so long as the self persists, it is not possible for man to tread the narrow paths of righteousness or to discharge fully the trusts and covenants of God or His creatures. However, just as miserliness cannot be discarded without trust in God and faith in His providence, and deliverance from illicit carnal passions cannot be achieved without the realization of the awe and grandeur of Allah, and spiritual delights; in the same way, this grand rank—where the self is abnegated and all trusts of God Almighty are restored to Him—can never be attained until a fierce windstorm of the love of God begins to blow and makes a person pursue it with utter devotion. These are, in truth, the lot of those who are intoxicated and inebriated with the love of God—these are not the pursuits of the worldly wise. د ی ش ك وتناتسن اامتن ابر آامسں زددن د�ی واہن نم انبم افل ٴ رقہع The heavens could not bear the burden of the trust — The lot fell on a madman like me. Almighty Allah points towards this by saying: