The Essence of Islam – Volume III — Page 52
52. Essence of Islam-III world everyone, with the exception of the believer, is overwhelmed with grief. In this world everyone is afflicted with the agony of loss and unfulfilled desires, except a believer. . Faith! how sweet are your fruits and how fragrant are your flowers; praise be to Allah, how wonderful are your blessings and what beautiful lights shine in you. No one can reach the Pleiades unless he is inspired by you. It has pleased God Almighty that now you should arrive and philosophy should depart. Nothing can stop His grace. [Ā'ina-e-Kamālāt-e-Islām, Rūḥānī Khazā'in, vol. 5, pp. 270-273, footnote]. . Progressive Stages of Faith. It is obvious that the primary task and important step we have to undertake is to recognize God. If our recognition of God is defective, doubtful and befogged, our faith cannot be bright and shining. So long as we have no true experience of the recognition of God, through His attribute of Raḥīmiyyat, we cannot drink the fresh water of the spring of true comprehension. If we do not deliberately deceive ourselves, we will have to confess that we need our doubts and hesitations to be removed through the Divine attribute of Raḥīmiyyat, and we need our hearts to be so powerfully affected by the experience of Divine mercy, grace and power, as to rescue us from the passions that overpower us on account of the weakness of our faith, and turn us to the opposite direction. Is it not true that on arriving in this fleeting world, man becomes involved in a dangerous darkness because his heart is not illumined by the powerful rays of. Divine recognition? He is not inspired by the search for the joys of the hereafter and of true prosperity as much as he is attracted to the world and its appendages: wealth,