Fountain of Christianity — Page 63
63 that love and recognition of God is the true source of sal- vation. As one progresses in Ma‘rifat , so does he progress in Divine love, for beauty and benevolence are the two things that inspire love. When man learns about the beauty and benevolence of God, and sees how beautiful He is on account of His innumerable excellences, and re- alizes how he is overwhelmed by His unending kindness, all this causes his love for God—which has been eternally ingrained in his nature—to gush forth. And since God possesses the greatest beauty and excellence, and is con- stantly Benevolent and Bounteous, His seeker, having recognized these qualities, loves Him with such a love that he considers none to be equal to Him. 40 He then testi- fies to His being One, not just verbally, but in practice also, and he falls in love with His beauty and His holy at- tributes. Although the seed of Divine love is an eternal part of man’s nature, it only blossoms when it is watered 40 True Ma‘rifat [recognition of God], as I have repeatedly stated, cannot be attained without Divine revelation and communion, and without the extraordinary signs that accompany Divine revelation and reveal God’s Divinity and Power. This is the kind of Divine recognition which seekers hunger and thirst for, and without which they are as good as dead. Now, do you really think that Islam does not provide this Ma‘rifat and that it is only a dead religion? * Nay, Islam is the only living faith which gives life to its followers. It is the only faith which shows God to us in this very world, and it is only through its blessings that I myself receive Divine revelations and am able to show great signs. All the other faiths of the world are dead; they possess no blessings, no life; they cannot grant us conversation with God, and we cannot witness God’s miraculous work through them. Will anyone compete with us in these blessings? [Author] * May Allah’s curse be upon the liars! [Publishers]