Malfuzat – Volume II — Page 67
67 Now when Allah the Exalted has taught us this supplication, He has not done so without providing us with the relevant means. Instead, on the one hand, where He has taught us this prayer, on the other hand He has also provided the means for its acceptance as well. As such, in the following chapter, He alludes to this acceptance where He states: 1 َ لِّلْمُتَّقِيْن رَيْبَ فِيْهِ هُدًى ذٰلِكَ الْكِتٰبُ لَا This is a perfect Book; there is no doubt in it. This is a spiritual feast, as it were, with all the necessary arrangements made in ad- vance. Therefore, if a person makes use of the faculties with which they have been endowed, they can most definitely become a saint. I declare with certainty that many people are born in this community who possess immense power and who are replete with light, devotion and loyalty. No one should consider themselves deprived. Has God Almighty published some list of saints, so that one should think that they cannot be among them? God Almighty is remarkably generous. His generosity is a very deep ocean that can never be exhausted. No seeker or searcher has been left deprived. Therefore, you ought to wake during the night and offer supplications and seek God’s grace. There are numerous opportunities to offer supplications in the Prayer—the bowing position, while standing and sit- ting, and in prostration, etc. There are five Prayers that are to be offered in twenty four hours: Fajr, Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha. Above and beyond these there is the Ishraq Prayer and Tahajjud. All of these are opportunities for supplication. The Actual Purpose and Essence of the Prayer is Supplication The actual purpose and essence of the Prayer is supplication and supplication is a phenomenon that accords with the law of nature established by God Almighty. You may commonly observe that when a child weeps and cries, and expresses anxiousness, a mother becomes extremely restless as well and gives the child milk. The relationship between divinity (uluhiyyat) and servitude (ubudiyyat) is similar in nature and cannot be understood by everyone. When a person falls at the gate of God Almighty with extreme humility, lowliness and meekness, and presents his circumstances before God, and requests his needs from Him, the grace that is inherent in divinity surges forth and shows mercy to such a person. 1 al-Baqarah, 2:3