Forty Gems of Beauty — Page 49
49 mean merely keeping silent and entertaining a passive feeling of disgust at heart. The Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has used the words “transforming or preventing through the feeling of the heart” which cannot be fully implemented by a mere passive feeling of disgust. It means, in fact, a heartfelt prayer which is a proven means of reformation. The Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) means to say that in the event of a man being unable to prevent evil by the strength of his arm or even by means of word of mouth, he should at least make an effort at reformation through his heartfelt prayer. The observation of the Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be on him) that the effort to reform through a feeling of the heart is the weakest variety of faith means that it is a weak line to leave the matter solely to prayer. The true soldier of God is one who, in addition to his prayer, makes use of the other available means created by God. One who is contented with prayer and does little else to checkmate evil through practical measures has in fact not understood the philosophy of the reformation of the human self. Prayer has, undoubtedly, a great power. But effective prayer is one accompanied by visible practical effort, so that one may be the recipient of God’s grace, not only through oral activity but also through practical action. All true Muslims should, therefore, follow this august saying of the Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). If they see some of their relations or friends or subordinates commit a wrong, they should prevent them by their hand, and if one whom they cannot so prevent by means of their hands is going wrong, or there is the fear of the use of hands in his case leading to trouble, they should prevent him through verbal advice and counselling. But, if, because of their own lack of courage or because of fear of trouble, it is not possible for them to act in either way, they should at least fight the evils through