Malfuzat – Volume X — Page 260
Malfuzat - English translation of Urdu Volume 10 260 excellent model and a sublime example. Look how they sacri- ficed their lives to prove this; they proved their utmost obedi- ence and caused rivers of blood to flow. Then, see how He too became well pleased with their condition. All the holy men and saints that have passed, spent their time in striving and endeavouring. Look, Baba Farid and indeed all the other Auliya and Abdal [terms for saints] reached these ranks by doing special spiritual exercises and hard spiritual labour for a significant period of time. They followed the exam- ple of the Holy Prophet s as very stringently and comprehensively. Only then did their pride, false sense of fame, and misplaced arrogance depart from them. It is as if they passed through the eye of a needle. Such people must always pass through it. Only then do they come to be bestowed the ranks that they are. It is these people whose prayers find acceptance. Just as a physician’s medicine does not work unless due precautions are observed, the same is the secret of acceptance of supplication. Supplications cannot produce any effect unless one is fully and perfectly pious, restrained. People have concocted some false tales about some of the saints. Those false stories also become a very heavy obstacle and barrier for people, and cause many to stumble. Look, there is one such concocted tale with regard to Hazrat Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani, may Allah be pleased with him, that he trans- formed a thief who came in front of him into a great saint with just with one breath. Remember it well! No one has reached any special and lofty rank without bringing a ‘death’ upon his own self and without fully following the Sunnah [practice of the Holy Prophet s as ].