Malfuzat - Volume VIII — Page 221
26 December 1905 221 in] the unseen; however, in accordance with ىًدُه َنْيِقَّتُمْلِّل۠ ىًدُه َنْيِقَّتُمْلِّل۠ [ hudal-lil muttaq i n —a guidance for the righteous], that blindness of his is removed should he attain guidance, and he advances from this stage. And that progress through this Word is that such a one will reach from the stage of believing in the unseen to the stage of shah u d , which is indeed the guidance for him. The Next Stage after Establishing Prayer The second attribute of a righteous person is َنْوُمْيِقُي َةوٰلَّصلا َنْوُمْيِقُي َةوٰلَّصلا [ yuq i muna s - S al a t ] meaning they make their Prayer ‘stand’. A righteous person tries to keep his Prayer upright howsoever he can. That is to say, sometimes his Prayer ‘falls’, and then he makes it upright again. In other words, the righteous person fears God and tries to establish his Prayer. In this state, various types of doubts and apprehensions arise, obstructing his pres- ence before God and causing his Prayer to ‘fall’. Nevertheless, he tries to maintain his Prayer standing even in the time of this struggle with the self. Sometimes his Prayer ‘falls’, but he makes it stand up again. He continues in this state, labouring and taking great pain to keep his Prayer standing until Allah the Exalted guides him through His words. What is the guidance that He gives? 1 At that time, instead of َنْوُمْيِقُي َةوٰلَّصلا َنْوُمْيِقُي َةوٰلَّصلا their condition becomes that they escape this life of struggle and apprehensions. And Allah the Exalted grants them that position through this Book, about which He has said that some people become so perfect that Prayer becomes like food for them. They find such pleas- ure and delight in Prayer as is experienced when drinking cold water at the time of great thirst because he consumes it avidly and becomes well satiated upon drinking his fill, or that is 1. Al- H akam, vol. 10, no. 2, p. 4, 5, dated 17 January 1906