Malfuzat – Volume X — Page 530
Malfuzat - English translation of Urdu Volume 10 530 belong to God’] while they believe that the soul and body, with all their attendant faculties, have an independent existence and are present, like God, since eternity and shall remain so forever? Thus, hardships are of two types only. One portion is com- prised of the commandments—in which Salat , Fasting, Zakat and Hajj, etc. are included, but in these there is room, to some extent, for excuse and evasion. Unless one has total sincerity and complete faith, man does manage to find one way or the other to evade them to some extent or create some form of relief for himself. Thus, in order to compensate for the deficiency left due to human weakness, Allah the Exalted has appointed the hard- ships of fate and destiny so that the grace of God may make up for this shortfall. The Aryas call the hardships of fate and destiny as recompense for a former life. If this is so, may we ask them: ‘What, then, is the benefit of all their worship and adoration? If heavenly adversities are the result of your earlier deeds, then why do you create another suffering for yourself by subjecting yourself to religious rigours?’ Thus, both these methods—at times by subjecting himself to the suffering by fulfilling the demands of the Shariah and at others by surrendering himself to the decisions of fate and destiny, are meant to help man achieve his perfection. It is by pointing to this that Allah the Exalted says: 1 ىٰلَب ١ۗ ْنَم َمَلْسَا ٗهَهْجَو ِهّٰلِل ىٰلَب ١ۗ ْنَم َمَلْسَا ٗهَهْجَو ِهّٰلِل meaning, ‘What is Islam ? It is indeed to surrender oneself in the way of Allah so as to win His pleasure. ’ In the difficulty of trials, when death is staring one in the 1. Nay, whoever submits himself completely to Allah ( S u rah al-Baqarah, 2:113). [Publisher]