Guidance for Perceiving Minds — Page 16
h a d rat Mirza ghulam AHmAD as 16 a few righteous individuals. Most of them are fluttering through their selfish desires. Their wings are clipped, unable to soar into the skies. They traverse in darkness; you see them restless for the world. Their pens scream for the hospitality of this world. They seek a female-camel during its lactation, brimming with milk and devoid of harm. They try to hunt on the coast, carrying traps on their shoulders; they roam forests, barren lands, the wilderness, and the deserts, yet you do not see any of them contented unless they have obtained material gains. So, they spend their entire night in these imaginations, and their entire day composing such phrases. What relation do they have with the spiritual and divine serv- ants of Allah who are granted the sweetness and fluency of the tongue; their hearts are given insight and their eyes are endowed with divine light; they receive from their Lord two shares and two booties [of this world and the hereafter]. They are a people who have dismounted from the conveyance of their worldly desires and landed in the realm of self-annihilation. Their intentions are clear, and their negligence is minimal. They do not encounter a path in the way of Allah but that they follow it, nor a wall but that they scale it, nor a valley but that they traverse it, nor a guide but that they inquire from him. They are the lovers of the Most Gracious, intoxicated in His path. Who can disturb their peace or match their characteristics? Whoever comes against them as an opponent will be trampled like a plant beneath the hooves of an animal. They seek God in times of trouble, shedding more tears than the one who has no living child. Their likeness is akin to a tree with sturdy branches and leafy limbs, abundant with the fruits of Paradise. Whoever approaches it shall be blessed with