Malfuzat – Volume X — Page 493
17 May 1908 493 We are thus compelled to admit that Allah is ْ رَحْمٰن [ Rahman —Gracious], and there are hundreds of thousands of such blessings of His that accompany us at all times and in all places, purely as a result of His Rahmaniyyat [Graciousness], and those bounties are not the result of any of our previous deeds. Those who believe them to be the result of some previ- ous deed of theirs do so only because of their shortsightedness and ignorance. The blessings of God and His Rahmaniyyat are for the purpose of our physical and spiritual nurturing and no one can claim that these are on account of his deeds. Ar-Rahim Rewards sincere human effort and labour. A farmer puts forth genuine effort and labour. In its response, it is the practice of Allah that He does not allow his effort and labour to go to waste, and renders it fruitful. The rare exceptions do not count. 1 The Attribute of Rububiyyat [Lordship] One of the attributes of Allah is that He is Rabb [Lord], mean- ing the One who nurtures and educates. It is indeed Allah the Exalted who has bestowed upon man all faculties, be they phys- ical or spiritual. Had He not bestowed these faculties in the first place, how could man have made any progress? For physical pro- gress as well, one should sing hymns of the grace, benevolence, 1. From Badr: It is a different issue if the crop perishes on account of some un- disclosed wisdom or bad practices on the part of the farmer. Such rare in- stances do not count ( Badr, vol. 7, no. 25, p. 3, dated 25 June 1908).