Remembrance of Allah — Page 17
Importance of the Subject 17 of which the Prayer is not accepted. However, for the person who also offers the Naw a fil together with the obligatory Prayers, if some Prayer of his is not accepted, then the Naw a fil can come in handy and may fulfil that deficiency. The example of this is just like the case of someone who goes to take a test for which he needs just fifty marks to pass, so he goes and solves just that many questions as are worth fifty marks, walking away believing that he has passed. This would be a mistake on his part because it is possible that some question that he attempted may have been answered incorrectly and, thus, he may be unable to secure the fifty marks and he may end up failing. It is for this very reason that the students who are smart and intelligent do not do this, but rather they attempt the questions that they know, and even the ones that they don’t. They try to solve all of them thinking that perhaps the marks combined may help them to pass. Similarly, if a traveller embarks upon a journey and takes just enough money with him as he expects will be needed, it some- times occurs that his estimate turns out to be wrong and he ends up enduring extraordinary hardship. It is for this reason that shrewd and intelligent people begin their journey taking with them more than what they think is needed so that if they end up facing any unexpected expenses, they won’t have to face any difficulties. So, Naw a fil are like the unexpected expenses and are most essential. Accordingly, special attention needs to be paid to offering them. The second reason for why the people of our Jam a ‘at do not pay full attention to Dhikr-e-Il a h i is the following. The Promised Messiah as has written a lot to refute the so-called sufis [mys- tics] born in this age, who spread many kinds of innovations.