Malfuzat – Volume II — Page 37
37 following question posed by the Hindu ascetic. —Editor Al-Hakam Ascetic: Do you believe Parmeshwar (God) to be aakar or nir-aakar? At this point, Hazrat Maulvi Nur-ud-Din Sahib explained for the benefit of the audience that aakar means, ‘one that can be made into an idol’ and nir- aakar means, ‘a God who does not require a sculpted form. ’ The God of Islam To this, the Promised Messiah as responded: “In order to worship the God that we believe in, we neither require such meditation and exercises, nor are we in need of any idol. In our religion, there is no need whatsoever to bear such difficulties in order to attain the nearness of God Almighty and witness the displays of His power. In fact, those who truly love God and are devoted to Him, can find Him in no time at all, in a very easy manner, and I have experienced this myself. If man moves a single step in God’s direction, He moves two steps; if man walks swiftly towards Him, God races towards man and fills his heart with light. The Wisdom in God Remaining Hidden In my opinion, those who make idols of God have not understood the wisdom and secret behind God Almighty keeping Himself in a state of apparent hiding. God Almighty being hidden is the very fact that opens the pathways for all of man’s quests, searches and investigations. All the knowledge and insight that has ever been revealed to man, though present all along, at some point in time, was hidden. It was the strength of man’s struggle and effort that showed its lustre and achieved the ultimate end. The love of a true lover does not waver by the absence of their beloved, or if their beloved cannot be seen physically. In fact, physical separation results in a kind of longing, which increases the lover in their passion. How then, can some- one who searches for God through an idol claim to be a true and sincere lover, when, without the aid of an idol, a person is unable to direct their full attention towards that pure and perfectly beautiful Being? A person ought to test their love themselves. If like the passionate lover, who while sitting and standing, and in every state, whether awake or asleep, can see nothing but the countenance of his Beloved and his full attention is forever inclined to Him, then he should know