Malfuzat - Volume VIII — Page 51
26 October 1905 51 we offer someone’s funeral [Prayer]. Do whatever you can do now. When the time of death comes, it cannot be postponed. A person who does good deeds in advance can hope to become purified. Strive to effect a change in your soul. Supplicate in your S al a t. Join 1 َو َنْيِذَّلا اْوُدَهاَج اَنْيِف َو َنْيِذَّلا اْوُدَهاَج اَنْيِف [those who strive in Our path], by offering charity and by every other means. Just as a sick person visits a doctor, takes medicine, takes a laxative, gets blood drawn, gets hot or cold compress treat- ment, and takes every kind of measure to get well; similarly, make every effort to remove your spiritual ailments. Not just with the tongue, but with all the methods of striving that God Almighty has mentioned—employ them all. Give charity. Go to the jungles and pray. If you need to travel, do that too. Some people take money and go around giving it to chil- dren so that they may perhaps attain inner enlightenment in this way. When the inner self is locked shut, no benefit can be gained. Allah the Exalted loves the one who tries all sorts of strategies; so when a person employs all strategies, one or the other hits the target. 2 1. S u rah al-‘Ankab u t, 29:70 [Publisher] 2. Badr, vol. 1, no. 34, p. 3–4, dated 8 November 1905