Malfuzat – Volume II — Page 133
133 beneficial and favourable for them. For example, if an innocent child fearlessly desired to take hold of a snake, considering it to be a soft and beautiful thing, or asked its mother to hand over a burning piece of coal, considering it to be bright and attractive, is it possible that the mother—no matter how utterly foolish she may be—would ever approve of her child taking hold of a snake, or would will- ingly put a bright, burning piece of coal in her child’s hand? Of course not. For she knows that these are a threat to her child’s life. Hence, how can Allah the Exalted, Who is the Knower of the unseen, and in fact the Knower of all things, and Who is more gracious and kind than even a mother, and Who is the very Be- ing who instilled this love into the hearts of mothers, bear to accept immediately the prayer of a dear servant of His who has, out of his human weakness, error and ignorance, asked for something that is harmful for him? Not at all. God rejects such requests and grants His servant something better in return. The supplicant is able to understand with certainty that a certain something in their life is the effect and result of a previous prayer, and then the servant learns of his own error as well. Therefore, it is absolutely incorrect to say that even certain prayers of the righteous are not accepted; nay, their every prayer is accepted. Of course, if on account of their weakness and ignorance, they happen to pray for something that will not bring positive results in their favour, Allah the Exalted grants them a bet- ter alternative for what they had originally requested, as a return for their prayer. Who Are the Righteous? After this, I now return to my actual objective and proceed to tell you about the definition of a righteous person. In actuality, there are magnificent promises for the righteous. What could be more than the fact that Allah the Exalted is a friend of the righteous? Those who claim to enjoy the nearness of Allah, without being righteous, are liars; in fact, such people lead a life of sin and transgression. They commit an immensely grave injustice when they claim for themselves the rank of sainthood and nearness to God, because Allah the Exalted has stipulated that one must be righteous in order to attain these ranks. Divine Succour Another condition that Allah the Exalted has stipulated in this context, or rath- er—one could say—a sign of the righteous as stated by God, is as follows: