Blessings of Khilafat — Page 148
148 The worldly masters who are all mortal, but the Master we believe in never suffers death. He is eternal, and He is not someone from whom we can ever break away. He is also Self-Subsisting. Can one excuse himself by saying that he had previously served a different master, and so he owes his due respect to him as well? Our God says that He is not only our God now, but He is the Lord that has existed from time immemorial, and so we are not indebted to any one besides Him. He is the God who is Everlasting and through whom everything else exists. So, we are indebted to none else but Him. The word has two connotations: firstly, Self-subsisting; secondly, Causing others to subsist. 9 One may say that though he accepts that God is one, is without associate and is eternal and that He has been our Lord in the past as well as the present; but there is a possibility that he is overpowered by slumber and falls asleep and then His courtiers replace Him and take up His business, so we should also try to cultivate good relations with them and try to please them. Almighty God has made it clear here that your Lord is in fact the one who never slumbers nor falls asleep. You must not consider Him like the worldly kings and sovereigns whose courtiers have to be flattered before you can see the kings themselves. Your Lord is not the one who can suffer any slumber or sleep. He is eternally awake, and stands guard over 9. . . slumber seizes Him not, nor sleep. . . Ibid.