Reply to a Mockery — Page 108
108 We have previously explained that in Sūrah at-Ta h r i m of the Holy Quran, believers are likened to the wife of Pharaoh and Mary. At this stage the seeker is like a woman. He then progresses further and acquires the Mary-like state, or he acquires the attributes of Mary. Then when the Almighty wills He breathes the spirit into him and a new person is born. In the language of mystics this is called ‘spiritual birth’. The famous sufi, the leader of them all, Hadrat Sheikh as-Saharward i rta explained this phenomenon as follows: The disciple becomes immersed in his spiritual leader in the same way that a son is part of his father. The disciple is the spiritual son of his leader. Jesus as said that anyone who is not born twice would not enter the kingdom of God Almighty. Natural physical birth creates a link between man and this world while spiritual birth creates a link with the spiritual world. This is what is meant by this verse: َ َرْض ِ وَلِيَكُوْن َ مِن َ الْمُوْقِنِيْن ْأ َذٰلِك َ نُرِي ْ إِبْرَاهِيْم َ مَلَكُوْت َ السَّمَاوَات ِ وَال ک وَ … Pure and perfect belief comes after the second birth and with this birth man becomes a worthy successor of the Prophet. A person who is not a successor of the Prophet is not yet born, regardless of how clever and wise he may be. ( ‘Aw a riful Ma‘ a rif, Shah a b-ud-D i n Ab u H afs Umar ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abdull a h as-Saharward i rta, vol. 1, p. 45) This spiritual birth is the birth of the children of Allah. The same