The Essence of Islam – Volume II — Page 393
The Soul 393 makes them fall madly in love with God. They become so devoted to God that they are ready to sacrifice everything for His sake. It is truly a wonderful relationship which is far above one's relationship with father and mother. . If souls are self-existent, as is alleged by the Āryās, then how has this relationship been established and who has invested souls with the faculty of love for and devotion to God? This is worthy of reflection and is the key to true comprehension. [Chashma-e-Ma'rifat, Rūḥānī Khazā'in, vol. 23, p. 167]. As God has called man to Himself, He has invested him in advance with faculties suited to worship and love. . These faculties that are bestowed by God hear His voice. . As God desired that man should develop comprehension of God, He invested the human soul with the faculty of comprehension in advance, for if it had not been so man would have lacked comprehension of God. Whatever the human soul possesses is from God and is a reflection of. Divine qualities. No one of those qualities is evil, their misuse makes them evil. Someone may object that man suffers from evil qualities like envy or rancour, etc. , which cannot be bestowed by God. The truth is, as we have already stated, that all human qualities are a reflection of Divine qualities, as the human soul is from God, but excess or misuse gives them a repulsive appearance in men. For instance, envy is a repulsive quality whereby a person desires that another may be deprived of a bounty and it might be bestowed upon him, but at bottom envy means only that a man does not desire that another one should be his partner in any excellence that he has acquired. In its essence this is a Divine quality by virtue of which God is One without associate. The misuse of