Malfuzat - Volume VII — Page 17
27 October 1904 17 Striving is a Prerequisite for Attaining Perfection There have always been people of the type who wish to attain those excellences that are achieved through striving, but with- out any hard work, pain, effort, and striving. It is written in the accounts of the noble Sufis that some people came and asked for some such arrangement that would make them a Wal i [Friend (of Allah); i. e. Saint] just by having a breath of air blown upon them. In reply to such people they said that even for blowing air it is necessary to be close since blowing air does not reach from afar. Allah the Exalted says in the Holy Quran: 1 َسْيَل ِناَسْنِاْلِل اَّلِا اَم ىٰعَس َسْيَل ِناَسْنِاْلِل اَّلِا اَم ىٰعَس Meaning that, no person can attain perfection without effort. This is the law ordained by God Almighty. Thus, if someone wants to gain something by going against this, he seeks to break the handiwork of God Almighty and seeks to test Him, so he will remain deprived. Even in the ordinary business of the world, there is no way that blowing a breath of air can achieve anything, nor can any success be achieved without hard work and striving. Look! You started to walk from the city and reached the Upon mention of the plague, the Promised Messiah as said: ‘One sign of people’s wretchedness is that when a calamity descends upon them, instead of doing istighf a r [seeking forgiveness], they console the heart with false illusions and say that afflictions come all the time. This is a sign of atheism; that is, such people do not believe in Divine influ- ence on such matters. Then they distract from the obvious meaning by saying, “Look, it did not happen in China or London!” The thought never occurs to these unfortunate ones to worry about the reformation of their own souls; they are more concerned about China and London!’ ( Al-Badr, vol. 3, no. 41, 42, p. 10, dated 1 & 8 November 1904) 1. S u rah an-Najm, 53:40 [Publisher]