Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V — Page 318
B AR Ā H Ī N-E-A H M ADIY YA — PART F IV E 318 permanent nearness of the Lord of Honour, as Allah the Almighty has said about this stage: 1 َو َنْيِذَّلا ْمُه ىٰلَع ْمِهِتٰوَلَص َنْوُظِفاَحُي Meaning that the perfect believers are those who are granted such per- petual presence before God that they guard their Prayers themselves. This indicates the condition that a believer of this stature deems Prayer to be essential for his spiritual survival; he acknowledges it to be his sustenance without which he cannot survive. This station cannot be achieved without the Spirit, which descends upon a believer from God Almighty. When a believer surrenders his life for the sake of God Almighty, he deserves to be granted another life. This entire discussion reveals that, according to sound reason, these six stages lie in the path of the believer who seeks the perfection of his spiritual existence, and everyone can understand with a little reflec- tion that a believer must pass through six conditions during the course of his spiritual journey. The reason is that, until a person succeeds in establishing a perfect connection with God, his imperfect self loves five wretched conditions, and to repel the love of each condition, a motive is needed that can overcome that love and that the new love may break the hold of the previous love. Accordingly, the first condition which a person loves is one of heedlessness in which he is absolutely estranged and distant from God Almighty. His soul is in a state of a kind of disbelief, and the veils of heedlessness pull him towards arrogance, carelessness, and callousness. There is not even a trace of humility, empathy, meekness and lowliness. He loves this condition and regards it good for himself. When the favour of God Almighty designs his reform, his heart is impressed by the grandeur and majesty and power of God Almighty with the occur- rence of some event or the descent of some calamity. As a consequence, 1. S u rah al-Mu’min u n, 23:10 [Publisher]