The Light of the Holy Qur'an — Page 142
T HE L IGHT OF T HE HOLY Q U R’AN—NUM BE R T WO T HE L IGHT OF T HE HOLY Q U R’AN—NUM BE R T WO 142 1 ٭ ِئٓاَتْيِا يِذ ىٰبْرُقْلا , the details of which are that when a person con - tinues to behold the favours of God for a prolonged period with- out attributing them to physical causes, and continues to worship Him while considering Him to be Omnipresent and the Direct Benefactor, then, the ultimate effect of this thought and visuali- zation is that he develops a personal love for His Majesty. This is so because enduring observance of unrelenting favours inevitably engenders this effect within the heart of a grateful person to the point that he gradually gets saturated with the personal love for the One whose unlimited favours have encompassed him. In such a state, he does not worship Him only because he is thinking of His favours, but His personal love comes to dwell within his heart, just as a child has personal love for its mother. Thus, at this level, he does not only behold God when worship- ping Him, but, like true lovers, derives pleasure also by behold- ing Him. All his mundane wants are effaced, and a personal love is born within him. This is the level which God has referred to by the phrase ِئٓاَتْيِا يِذ ىٰبْرُقْلا and has alluded to in the verse: 1. ٭ Note: The rank of ِئٓاَتْيِا يِذ ىٰبْرُقْلا [treat with grace] results from ob- serving the continuous favours. At this stage, the love for the being of God Almighty develops in the heart of the worshipper to perfection, and all the residual mundane desires are totally eliminated. The truth is that there are only two things that form the core and source of per- sonal love. (1) First is studying in abundance the beauty of someone and recalling his features, the silhouette, and qualities in one’s mind all the time and visualizing them over and over again. (2) Second is visualizing the continuous favours of someone profusely and to keep recalling his varied favours and benefactions and to realize the grandeur of those favours. —Author