The Devotion of Life — Page 259
259 the people were to serve faith and were engaged in pleasing Allah the Exalted then the standard of the knowledge and spiritual discernment of this world would have been so lofty that the death of a valued servant of Islam would have never brought on the feelings and concern that it does now; that is, ‘What shall we do now that they have gone!’ Mir Muhammad Ishaq Sahib ra was a most extraordinary man as regards services to the Movement. The fact is, after me, none other had a concern for the Community in terms of academia like he did. It was his pastime to teach people the Holy Qur’an and Hadith day and night. In the last stage of his life he often escaped death. He would work so vehemently during Jalsa Salana that many times he caught pneumonia. At the death of such a person it is natural for people to think, what shall we do now? However, if each person of our Community had tried to be like him then maybe today this feeling would not have arisen. When each person understands his responsibility then the death of a worker does not raise the question, what shall we do now? Rather, each person understands that we are all doing the same task. The separation of a dear one or friend is indeed painful but this feeling is never raised that who will take care of the work now? It is natural to feel grief at death; however such grief does not give way to hopelessness, rather, in such an event, each person is grateful to Allah the Exalted that the departed person had taken timely care of all things. Today, Mir Sahib’s death seems a huge loss; a loss that cannot be easily filled and this is because