The Fountain of God’s Unity — Page 21
They are like a patient who is gripped by a severe disease but avoids all forms of treatment for it. The physician gives him medicine, but the patient simply laughs at the physician, considering himself to be in perfect health. Unfortunately, had he been granted the deep insight, he would have realised that instead of laughing at the physician, he ought to be crying about his situation. Thus, the only way to safeguard oneself from this form of shirk is to have complete trust in God and to pray with the utmost humility and fervency saying: 'O Lord! Save me from this fatal disease. ' This type of shirk takes many forms; for example, a person neglects their prayers out of fear of their employer; or if a person thinks that if their employer removes them from their job, they will be left without any hope [or provisions] and will suffer severe distress; or when a person thinks that if such-and-such person does not help them then their problem will remain unresolved; -21-