Way of The Seekers — Page 93
93 THE received the same reply. The same performance was repeated the third night. Now the disciple could keep silent no longer and asked the preceptor: You have been praying for the last three nights. Every time you pray, God replies that your prayer shall not be heard. Why do you persist in offering the same prayer again and again? The preceptor replied: You do not know that I have been offering the same prayers for the last twenty years and I have not lost patience. You have heard the divine answer only three times and have lost hope. My business is to pray. It is for God to accept or not to accept. He is doing His will as I am doing my duty. It so happened that on the fourth night the divine response came: All the prayers you have made so far are granted. Thus a man’s duty is to continue to pray under all conditions and never give up. Not un-often, an act of external virtue initiates an inner process which gradually wipes a person clean. Should this, too, fail to help; resolutions are made and broken, a rise is followed by a fall, every effort meets with a re- verse; it should be a fall, every effort meets with a reverse; it should be known for certain that a spiritual rot has set in and the heart needs a detailed and full remedial treatment. It should be realized that evil has triumphed. His self respect has died and he is like an animal who is led by the nose. His lower self has attained mastery over him and leads him with impunity. In such a case remedial treatment, not on a short term, but on a long term basis is needed. Before I proceed to outline this treatment, I would like to point out the hitherto current philosophy of morals among the Muslims and the one expounded from the Ahmadiyya point of view. lbn Mardweh, may Allah have mercy on him, is considered the founder of Muslim ethics. He wrote a regular treatise on the subject. After him, lbn Arabi (may Allah have mercy on him) is considered the greatest thinker on the subject. He was followed by Imam Ghazali (may Allah have mercy on him) who wrote a compendium on the subject which runs into as many