Malfuzat – Volume X — Page 506
Malfuzat - English translation of Urdu Volume 10 506 1 ُلَثَم ِةَّنَجْلا ْيِتَّلا َدِعُو َنْوُقَّتُمْلا ُلَثَم ِةَّنَجْلا ْيِتَّلا َدِعُو َنْوُقَّتُمْلا This is an example and not to be taken literally. It is apparent from these words of the Holy Quran that Paradise is actually something altogether different. It has also been clearly men- tioned in the traditions of the Holy Prophet s as that the comforts of Paradise should not be compared with the palpable material, worldly experiences because it is something that no eye has ever seen nor any ear has ever heard, etc. 2 Yet the examples given to illustrate the comforts of Paradise are things that we do see and hear. At one place in the Holy Quran, Allah the Exalted says about Paradise that : 3 َو ِرِّشَب َنْيِذَّلا اْوُنَمٰا َو اوُلِمَع ِتٰحِلّٰصلا َّنَا ْمُهَل ٍتّٰنَج ْيِرْجَت ْنِم اَهِتْحَت ُرٰهْنَاْلا َو ِرِّشَب َنْيِذَّلا اْوُنَمٰا َو اوُلِمَع ِتٰحِلّٰصلا َّنَا ْمُهَل ٍتّٰنَج ْيِرْجَت ْنِم اَهِتْحَت ُرٰهْنَاْلا In this verse, faith and good deeds are likened to Paradise and streams; meaning that, Paradise results from faith, and the streams therein result from righteous deeds. Thus, just as a gar- den would perish quickly without streams and water and would not last long, similarly faith without righteous deeds is not of much benefit. Then, at another place, faith has been likened to trees and it is said that the faith to which Muslims are called is akin to trees, and righteous deeds irrigate these trees. In short, the more one ponders, the more insight he accu- mulates. Just as it is required of a farmer to sow the seed, so is faith similarly necessary and obligatory for the one who wishes to harvest spiritual advances, as this amounts to sowing the 1. A description of the Garden promised to the righteous ( S u rah Mu h ammad, 47:16). [Publisher] 2. Sunan Ibn M a jah, Kit a buz-Zuhd, B a b S ifatul-Jannah, Hadith 4328 [Publisher] 3. And give glad tidings to those who believe and do good works, that for them are Gardens beneath which flow streams ( S u rah al-Baqarah, 2:26). [Publisher]