Reply to a Mockery — Page 106
106 come to know of some other filth or defilement, but God, on the other hand, will shower His bounties upon you, which shall be perpetual. You do not have menstruation, but you do have a child—a child who is at the status of the children of God. In other words, menstruation is something impure, but a child’s body grows out of it. Similarly, when man surrenders to God then all the filth and defilement, which is part and parcel of human nature, is transformed into a spiritual body. This menstruation becomes the cause of human progress. This is the basis for the saying of the mystics: ‘Had there been no sin, human beings could have made no spiritual progress. ’ The same was the cause of Adam’s progress. This is why every Prophet, keeping in view the hidden shortcomings, kept invoking istighf a r [seeking forgiveness], and the same fear has always been the cause of all kinds of progress. God says: 1 َّنِا َهّٰللا ُّبِحُي َنْيِباَّوَّتلا َو ُّبِحُي َنْيِرِّهَطَتُمْلا Thus, every son of man inherently contains the impurity of menstruation within him, but that very menstruation pre- pares the body of a pure and clean child for the one who sincerely turns to God. This is why those who lose them- selves in God are called the children of God. However, this does not mean that they are literally God’s sons. It 1. Allah loves those who turn to Him and loves those who keep them- selves clean ( S u rah al-Baqarah, 2:223). [Publisher]