Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 62
62 soup, or vitamins ; or if someone has liver problems, they eat more vegetables , s imilarly, if your soul is weakening, then do something to strengthen it. If Sal ā t alone does not delight your soul, then indulge in the remembrance of Allah. If Zakat alone is not pleasing you, then give alms and charity. Just as the rule of filling one’s stomach is that if ten bites of food do not satisfy it, then eat five more , t he same goes for the soul. I f charity alone does not revitalize the soul, then give more charity. If five prayers fail to rejuvenate your soul , then observe six and if still your soul is not revived , then say seven. To leave off saying your prayer s will not revitalize your soul, however saying more prayers will rejuvenate it. This is one of th e nutritional aspects of the soul that I wanted you to realize. The second aspect of human life is activity. Whatever you eat provides energy to the bod y, which in turn works. If a person lies down in bed after eating and does n othing, then people around him will say that he does not have the capacity to use his body for work. Likewise , there is spiritual nutrition. After taking strength from it, a person has to work more. A person who thinks that he has said his prayers and so he is done, or that he has observed his fast and he is done, or he gives charity and thinks that he is done, is as foolish as the one who says that I have eaten food and taken water and so have fulfilled the purpose of my life. E ating and drinking is not the purpose of life, instead they are nutrition to provide strength to the body for it to work. Likewise, these spiritual acts are not the purpose of life , nor is the purpose of the physical life eating and drinking. And nor is the purpose of spiritual life to say Sal ā t or observe fasting , etc. Th is is the scaffold , one for your body and the other for your soul. One e nables your body to work and the other enables your sou l to work. When the body is provided with energy, it is able to work, engage in trade, and perform all other worldly tasks. Similarly, when spiritual energy is obtained, the soul performs different deeds. What are those deeds? Th ey are of two types. One is hidden and the kind which progresses one’s love for God Almighty. T he second is the reformation of the mind, of the thought process , and emotions. Just as the person is able to plough after eating food, engage in trade, work in industry, work as a laborer , in the same way when the body h as energy, a person is able to become a good soldier, a good lawyer, or a good teacher. Similarly, the spiritual food of Sal ā t , fasting, Zakat , Hajj , and the remembrance of Allah , provide spiritual strength. This strength helps a