Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part IV — Page 193
Footnote Number Eleven 193 name. When they turn to God in genuine humility and servitude, His support joins in their affairs. In short, beginning every magnificent enterprise with a prayer seeking help with the name of that Source of every grace, who is رحمٰن [ Ra h m a n ] and رحیم [ Ra hi m ] , is a way of extreme reverence, servitude, self-negation, and indigence. It is such a vital way that the first step of Tau hi d in one’s actions begins with it. By strict adherence to it, a per- son acquires a childlike humility and is purified of the arrogance with which the hearts of the haughty wiseacres of the world are filled; and, by being convinced of his own weakness and the effectiveness of divine help, he partakes of that cognition, which is granted especially to the men of God. Certainly, the more a person adopts this way and the more he considers it his duty to act upon it, and the more he realizes that departing from it spells his ruin, the clearer becomes his belief in Tau hi d and the more he is cleansed of the grime of pride and self-con- ceit. Accordingly, the soot of artificiality and affectation is washed off his face and it begins to radiate in the light of innocence and simplicity. Thus, this is the verity that leads a person gradually to the stage of fan a fill a h [self-annihilation into Allah] until he finds that he has nothing of his own and he receives everything from God. Whenever someone adopts this path, at the very first step he begins to perceive the perfume of Tau hi d and his heart and mind begin to be suffused with it, pro- vided his [spiritual] faculty of smell is not damaged in any way. In short, a sincere seeker must, in the pursuit of this verity, confess his own utter insignificance and worthlessness, and testify that Allah the Glorious is the Absolute Controller and Source of all grace. Both of these matters are the objectives of seekers of the Truth [i. e. God] and an essential condition to attain the state of fan a. 1 A simple simili- tude should suffice to convey the concept of this necessary condition: Even when there is widespread rain, it falls only on the one who takes his stand at the place where rain is falling. In the same way, only those 1. See footnote for fan a on page 112. [Publisher]