Malfuzat – Volume III — Page 81
81 all the worlds), Ar-Rahman (the Gracious), Ar-Rahim (the Merciful) and Maliki Yawm-id-Din (the Master of the Day of Judgement). A Manifestation of ‘All Praise Belongs to Allah’ I have just mentioned that alhamdulillah (All praise belongs to Allah) was reflect- ed by two manifestations of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him: namely, Muhammad and Ahmad. Now our Perfect Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, not only expounded these four aforemen- tioned attributes of Allah the Exalted but demonstrated them to be true in favour of the noble companions as well. This indicates that Allah the Exalted desires to confer His attributes by way of reflection. As such, the meaning of a person being annihilated in God ( fana-fillah) is when a person is absorbed in divine attributes. A Manifestation of Divine Attributes Now observe the manner in which the Holy Prophet sa demonstrated a practical example of these four aforementioned attributes in relation to his companions. When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was born, the people of Mecca could be likened to an infant who depends on milk; that is to say, they were in need of divine providence and nourishment (rububi- yyat). For they were living a life of beasts and savages at the time. In the likeness of a mother, the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, gave them milk and nurtured them. Then the Holy Prophet sa reflected in himself the attribute of divine graciousness (rahmaniyyat) and in doing so, conferred upon them such provisions for which they had made no effort on their part. For exam- ple, the Messenger of Allah sa gave them a blessing as great as the Holy Quran and graced them with his own practical example. Then, he also displayed within him- self a manifestation of divine mercy (rahimiyyat), in that he made fruitful their endeavours, he accepted and trusted their faith, and saved them from going astray like the Christians. In fact, he granted them the ability to remain steadfast and determined. The blessing in making a sincere effort is that God makes a person steadfast. No one from among the companions of the Holy Prophet sa became an apostate, while there were thousands among the followers of other Prophets. In just one day, five hundred followers of the Messiah abandoned their Faith, and from among those in whom he had great confidence and trust, there was one who