The Essence of Islam – Volume II — Page 428
428. Essence of Islam II leaning towards God whereby he is bestowed a delight and joy and thus his heavenly life begins in this very world. [Malfūzāt, vol. III, pp. 155-156]: وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَشْرِي نَفْسَهُ ابْتِغَاءَ مَرْضَاتِ الله والله ر: وف بالعباد 1948. That is, of the people there are those of such exalted spiritual station who surrender themselves to the pleasure of Allāh. They sell their lives and buy the pleasure of. Allāh. These are the people who are the recipients of. Divine mercy. Similarly, one who has attained the exalted spiritual station sacrifices himself in the path of. God. . In this verse God Almighty says that it is the one who sells his soul in order to win the pleasure of God who finds deliverance from all suffering. Such a one gives proof by his devotion that he belongs to God and conceives himself to have been created for the obedience of the Creator and the service of His creatures. He performs all good actions that are related to every faculty with such eagerness and sincerity of heart as if he beholds the. True Beloved in the mirror of his obedience, his will conforms to the will of God Almighty and all his delight is in obedience to Him and righteous action proceeds from him not by way of labour, but on account of its delight and attraction. The paradise that a spiritual person finds immediately and that which will be bestowed upon him in future are a reflection of this life which will be personified physically in the other world by the power of. God. 194. Al-Baqarah, 2:208 [Publisher]