Remembrance of Allah — Page 52
52 a man makes up his mind that he will absolutely not accept the influence of a certain person, then that person cannot bring him under his control. In the initial stages, therefore, at the time of doing dhikr , one must cultivate this very state of mind. 4. The fourth precaution is that at the time of doing dhikr, one should not be in an uncomfortable state. For example, if there is something jabbing you while you are sitting on the floor, or if there is some other similar type of pain, you should remove it and then engage in the. 5. Fifthly, adopt a state of mind that you will accept cheerfully whatever you are granted. Even if there is lack of concentra- tion in the beginning, a time will come at some point when the habit of dhikr will become well established in you. 6. Sixthly, perform dhikr with humility and fear of Allah. If a state of fearfulness of Allah does not develop, adopt an appearance that manifests a state of fear of Allah, because some things that are initially adopted artificially, gradually become reality. Thus, when someone attempts to develop humility and fabri- cates a state of crying and weeping, it happens that at a certain time, a state of supplication evolves in him. It is narrated that a professor was very kind-hearted, but later became very hard-hearted. The cause of this was that one day, due to his mild nature, he suffered some difficulty and so he resolved from that point on that he would be firm. So he adopted a firm demeanour, even though he still had the same kindness at heart. However, he appeared to be harsh and stern.