Bounties of the Gracious God — Page 4
4 all other means are cut off and eliminated, and only Allah remains who is One and Alone. The means can lead one only up to a few steps, after which there remains only unadulterated Power of the Almighty which can neither be perceived nor observed, and His hidden treasures that know no bounds and count. And there is an endless sea and a vast desert which cannot be traversed. Has the true command been suspended and means alone continue to exist? In such a case, it would be a very unjust division. Do you not know how Allah created Adam and Jesus? You read about both of them in the Quran and then forget. Have you forgotten the story of Moses, who Allah spoke particularly with, and the splitting asun- der of the great ocean which he crossed but wherein the accursed Pharaoh was drowned? So, tell us which ship did Moses board? Hence, Allah has not related these incidents in vain. He has rather made them replete with profound verities, so that you know that Allah’s power is not dependent upon any means, and so that your faith is enhanced through them and your eyes open up and so that the veins of doubt and suspicion are cut apart and you fully realize that your Lord possesses the Perfect Power, that there is no door that is closed to Him, and that His power is boundless and inter- minable. Whoever rejects the boundlessness of His power and confines it to worldly means, on account of his own lack of under- standing, such a person will surely fall from the high summit of truth and perish, and his fall would indeed be extremely severe and fatal. Hence, do not speak ill of those who, by the command of the Beneficent Allah, turn away from some [necessary] means. Nor should you confine the Practice of Allah within a narrow and dark circle. Know that it is the [reliance on worldly] means that form the firm foundation for the unpardonable sin of shirk. And,