Malfuzat – Volume X — Page 354
Malfuzat - English translation of Urdu Volume 10 354 purified merely by verbal acknowledgement, is the idea of those who have not heard or seen reformation. The Stages of Purification are Very Distant Remember that the stages of purification are very distant and beyond such conjectures. To achieve purity and truly save one’s self from minor and major sins is the achievement of those who constantly keep God in the forefront of their eyes. Only they can be like the angels. Look, if you stand a goat before a lion, it would forget even about eating and drinking, let alone that it should stray into the fields and eat out of the crops grown by people with hard labour and great efforts. So the same is the case of man. If he is convinced that he is seeing God or, at the least, that God is watching him, then how would it be possible for him to com- mit sin? Of course not! This is a natural rule that when one is convinced and has definitive knowledge that to put one’s foot at a certain spot would result in death—would he do it? Or would he insert his finger in a hole which has a black snake in it and he has himself seen it? Or can he venture into a jungle without any arms where he knows that a bloodthirsty lion roams? Of course not! Thus, it is human nature that he avoids and stays away from the place if he is convinced of its peril. The essence of faith is elusive and has not been understood until his cognizance of God reaches this level and until he gets convinced that sin and disobedience of God is a consuming fire or that it is a lethal poi- son. Faith is incomplete without such perfect conviction and understanding. What use is faith and what can be its benefit if it has no impact on his actions or which cannot produce even a trivial change in the condition of man!