Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 827
CHAPTER TWO 827 a pure diet, and they are given back what they have left behind-this is how Allah treats His sincere people. Allah looked upon them and found them clean and pure. He saw that they preferred Him to what- ever is other than Him; therefore, He accorded them preference in opposition to their opponents. He found that they were His and so He became theirs; and made them the recipients of the descent of light. This indeed has been the divine practice for the earlier people as well as the latter ones. Numerous wells are dug up so that they may be thrown into them, but God pulls them out with His own hands and assists them. The calamities they face are not meant to destroy them, but are intended to show God's miracles through them. The afflictions they encounter are not meant to annihilate them, but to prove that they are the ones receiving His succour. These are the people whom their Beloved has chosen for Himself. And God does not humiliate a people unless the hearts of these [chosen ones] are distressed because of the trouble caused by the evil ones. Such has been His practice since times immemorial, for whenever His servants turn to Him, their entreaties are accepted. And when they seek victory, the plans of every unjust and stingy [opponent] are frustrated. His chosen servants live under the mantle of His protection. You see them to be living, but they have annihilated themselves [for Him]. Do you think that such people belonged only to earlier ages and that God does not desire similar indi- viduals to be raised in the Latter Days? May your mother lose you!¹ This kind of thinking is manifest error. May Allah forgive you! You have strayed too far away from the sunnah [practice] of the Lord of all the worlds. But for the presence of such [Elect of God], the earth and its inhabitants would have fallen into chaos. This is why their being is essential until the Day of Judgment. My Lord has sent me to restrain the hands of the disbelievers from reaching you, and to prepare you for the descent of the heavenly light. 1. In the Arabic language, this phrase is used to convey a reprimand with affection. [Publisher]