So Said The Promised Messiah (as) — Page 2
he adopts Taqwa (fear of God). The mystics have termed this change as 'death'. (Malfoozat Vol. 1, p. 2) SINCERE INITIATION It is mentioned in the Traditions of the Holy Prophet, sallallaho alaihi wa sallam, that if a man asks for the forgive- ness of his sins with fervent prayers, he is ultimately told that he has been forgiven and from then on he might do whatever he likes. Of course, this means that his heart has been changed and he would find an aversion for sin. Just as if one sees a sheep taking the dirty one would not like to start doing the same. This man who has been forgiven his sins, will not like to commit sins any more. The Muslims, by nature, hate the pork, although there are many other undesirable things that they do quite freely. In this, we have a lesson that God has given us hatred for evil things as a symbol (so that we can hate the other evils also). He who is committing sins and thinks that he has gone too far in it, should not desist from praying to God for the forgiveness of his sins. Prayer is like an elixir. If he continues praying, he will find that sin has become undesirable to him (he has started hating sin). The people who commit sins and then do not turn to God for the forgiveness of their sins, ultimately reject the prophets and their spiritual influences. This is the truth about repentance and it also makes clear why it forms a part of the Initiation. The fact is that man is engrossed in negligence. When he gets himself initiated at the hancis of the one whom God has granted a change, he is, as 'if, grafteq and thus changes himself altogether. He begins to be blessed and becomes enlightenetl (he receives the blessings and the enlightenment that is posse~ed by the one at whose 2