The Light of the Holy Qur'an — Page 29
T H e F I r S T Pr o o F T H e F I r S T Pr o o F 29 and He alone protects and preserves against the storm of sensual passions, it absolutely behoves the righteous servants of God Almighty to seek maghfirat during every single moment from this True Guardian and Protector. If we seek an analogy of maghfirat in the physical world, we can find no better simile than maghfirat being akin to a powerful, impregnable dyke that is built to stave off storm surges and floods. Hence, since all power and all author- ity is reserved for God Almighty and man is weak and frail, phys- ically as well as spiritually, always requiring that Immortal Being to water the tree of his life, without Whose grace he just cannot survive at all; therefore, istighf a r in the above sense is an essential part of the human condition. And just as a tree spreads forth its branches in all four directions as if spreading its hands towards the spring that surrounds it, saying, ‘O spring! Help me and let me retain my verdure and save my fruits from going to waste!’—This is the very condition of the righteous. Asking for life-giving water from the Fountain of True Life in order to protect and preserve spiritual verdure or to enlarge it, is something that has, in other words, been termed istighf a r in the Noble Qur’an. Ponder over the Holy Qur’an and read it carefully and you shall discover the lofty essence of istighf a r. As I have just pointed out, maghfirat, according to the lexicon, means an act of such covering up by which the aim is to seek safety from some calamity. For example, water is an element of maghfirat in favour of trees; that is, it covers up their defects. Imagine an orchard deprived of water for a couple of years; what will it look like? Is it not true that its beauty will totally fade away and its greenery and fresh- ness will disappear without a trace? It will never bear fruit on time and will wither from within. Nor will it flower and bloom and