Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V — Page 286
B AR Ā H Ī N-E-A H M ADIY YA — PART F IV E 286 would never give a penny to a hungry and destitute person due to their extreme miserliness, will—under the passion of carnal desires—squan- der thousands of rupees on prostitutes, destroying their home in the process. This shows that the flood of carnal passions is so strong and fast that it can carry away even the filth of miserliness. It is, therefore, evident that compared to the power of faith that does away with miser- liness and causes man to give away his cherished possessions for the sake of God, this power of faith that saves man from the storm of car- nal passions is extremely potent, hard, and enduring in enabling one to fight Satan because its purpose is to trample underfoot the ancient python of nafs-e-amm a rah [the self that incites to evil]. Miserliness can be overcome even while in the grip of fulfilling one’s carnal desires or even at times when one is in the grip of show and ostentation, but the storm that emerges under the domination of carnal passions is a fierce and lasting tempest that can in no way be quelled other than through the mercy of God. And just as in the human body the bone is the hardest organ and endures the longest, in the same way the power of faith that can quell this storm is also very hard and enduring, so that by fighting such an enemy for a long time it can subjugate it—but only by the mercy of God, for the tempest of carnal passions is so devastating and threatening a turmoil that it cannot be calmed other than through the special mercy of the Most Holy God. This was why Hadrat Y u suf [ Joseph] had to say: 1 َو ۤاَم ُئِّرَبُا ْيِسْفَن َّنِا َسْفَّنلا ٌۢةَراَّمَاَل ِءْٓوُّسلاِب اَّلِا اَم َمِحَر ْيِّبَر Meaning: ‘I do not hold my own self to be free from weakness; the self is surely most prone to enjoin evil and one cannot be delivered from its onslaught except that God Almighty should Himself show mercy. ’ The phrase اَّلِا اَم َمِحَر ْيِّبَر [‘Except that God Almighty should Himself show 1. S u rah Y u suf, 12:54 [Publisher]