Malfuzat - Volume IX — Page 24
Malf uza t - English translation of Urdu Volume 9 24 You should not [deceive yourselves and] think, ‘When do we worship idols! We, too, indeed worship Allah the Exalted alone. ’ Keep in mind that it is a principle of the lowest level for man not to worship idols [made of stone]. Even Hindus who are completely bereft of verities are now abandoning the worship of idols. The understanding of ma‘b u d [that which is worthy of being worshipped] is not limited to anthropolatry or idola- try, and that these alone are deities, and this is precisely what is declared by Allah the Exalted in the Holy Quran that carnal desires and inordinate greed are also deities. The person who worships his own self or obeys its carnal desires and greed and succumbs to them, he, too is a polytheist and an idolater. This اَلَ اَلَ — l a [none] of absolute negation not only negates the exist - ence of other gods, but also negates all kinds of deities whether they are personal or universal, whether they are the idols con- cealed within the heart or visible idols. For example, if someone is entirely dependent upon material means, then this is also a kind of idol. This kind of idolatry is like tuberculosis, which kills silently. Obvious idols can easily be recognized, and it is easy to stay away from them; I see that hundreds of thousands of people have abandoned them and are abandoning them. This country which was filled with Hindus—did not all the Muslims con- vert from the midst of them? Then did they abandon idolatry or not? Even from Hindus themselves such sects are appearing that do not practice idolatry. But the meaning of idolatry does not simply end here. It is absolutely true that overt idolatry has been abandoned, but even now, man walks around carrying thousands of idols [hidden] under his armpits; moreover, those people who are said to be philosophical and logical—even they cannot remove them from within. The essential point is that these germs [i. e. internal idols]