Malfuzat – Volume I — Page 195
Malfuzat - Volume I قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَنْ زَكَّهَا 195 He indeed truly prospers who purifies the soul. It is recorded in a Hadith that if the heart is reformed, the entire body is set right and repaired. Indeed, how true it is that the eyes, ears, hands, feet, tongue, etc. , in fact, all the limbs, actually follow the ruling of the heart. A thought arises and the concerned limb becomes ready at once to follow its command. Obey Me and Follow Me In short, to cleanse and purify this House of God from idols, a jihad is required. I am to show you the way of this jihad and I assure you that if you act upon this, you will crush these idols. The way I show you is not of my own improvisation; in fact, God has commissioned me to inform you of it. What is the way? Obey me and follow me. This voice is not a new voice. To purge Mecca of its idols, even the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: قُلْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ Say, If you love Allah, follow me: then will Allah love you. In the same manner, if you follow me, you shall grow able to break your inner idols and purify your breast of the multitude of idols that fill it. There is no need for forty-day retreats in order to purify your soul. The companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, did not engage in such retreats, or perform the Sufi 'invocation of the saw' (dhikr-e-arra), or engage in meditative practices of 'negation and affirmation' (nafi-o-asbat), and so on. Quite the contrary, they had something entirely different at their disposal. They were engrossed in obedience to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. The divine light that the Holy Prophet sa possessed was carried to the hearts of the companions through the arteries of obedience, and would crush all thoughts that were besides Allah. Instead of darkness, their breasts would be filled with divine light. Bear well in mind that even today, the same state of affairs is applicable. Until your heart receives the divine light which is conveyed through the channel of the Divine, your soul cannot be purified. The breast of man is the place where divine light descends and this is why it is referred to as the House of 1 ash-Shams, 91:10 Aal-e-Imran, 3:32