Malfuzat - Volume VII — Page 153
27 March 1905 153 I have been suffering from illnesses for some time, and still feel- ing their residual effects. I wished to pen a response to your let- ter myself, but due to my illness, I was unable to do so. From what I recall, the summary of your earlier letter was that you. . . 1 had conveyed the message on behalf of the Jam a ‘at concerning me that there is much extravagance when it comes to spending money, and that I should not hold on to the money, rather it ought to be entrusted to a committee to be spent according to need. It was also mentioned that a few gardeners were being provided food from these funds. Similarly, there was reference to many other extravagant expenses which, in my opinion, you wrote about with good intentions. I do not feel it necessary to write a rebuttal to this. I want to adjure you in the name of God Almighty, an oath on Whose name is mandatory on a believer to fulfil and the violation of which is a sin, that you make the entire Jam a ‘at of. . . and espe- cially those people in whose hearts this objection has risen, understand very clearly and fully that after this I am stopping the donations of. . . and it is forbidden for the rest of their life, and absolutely forbidden like the flesh of swine, for a member [of the mentioned community] to send even a grain of seed to support any of my works. I also exact the very same oath from anyone else who hides such objections in their heart. This work is from God Almighty and I carry it out as He directs in my heart, regardless of whether, in the eyes of oth- ers, it appears right or wrong, correct or incorrect. Therefore, anyone who taunts me of being extravagant after offering some help, is attacking me, and such an attack cannot be tolerated. The truth is that I do not care what anyone thinks. If all members of the Jam a ‘at unanimously decide to stop their dona- tions, or turn away from me, God, who has made a promise to 1. The person to whom the letter was addressed was not disclosed. (Compiler)