Life of Ahmad — Page 360
THE ESSENCE OF ISLAM as 360 forgetfulness of self, complete extinction of desire, and perfect surrender of will. As soon as this stage is secured, the stage of Baq a begins, and is fully realised, when this state becomes quite permanent, when complete submission to God becomes a natural propensity, when the green and blooming offshoots of obedience sprout from the heart like a natural growth, when all that is looked upon as ours becomes God’s, when the sweetest pleasures consist in his adoration and remembrance of God, and when personal desires give place to the will of God. Now begins the third stage. The second stage being fully realised and secured, the third condition enters into the very flesh and bones of the spiritual wayfarer and becomes part and parcel of his nature. A light descends from heaven and Divine luster illumines everything. A most sweet and pleasant love which we never before experienced sweetens the heart. Coolness, tranquility, joy and delight fill the heart as if a very dear friend, long separated from us, had suddenly come and embraced us. Words of God, lucid, delicious, blessed, delightful, rhetorical, fragrant and cheerful, begin to descend upon the holy man while standing, sitting, sleeping or waking, and it appears as if, a cool, gentle and fragrant morning breeze has come from over a garden,