Malfuzat - Volume IX — Page 117
29 JANUARY 1907 117 The True Spirit of Kalimah Tayyibah [the Credo of Islam] I (Qādī Muhammad Akmal of Goleki) submitted: Your Holiness, is there also a spiritual reward in the repeated recital and remembrance of: لا إله إلا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَّسُوْلُ اللَّهِ ]There is none worthy of worship except Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah']? The Promised Messiahas said: Only if there is a relationship with God in one's heart. On request for further elaboration of this point, the Promised Messiahas said: The fact of the matter is that lip service is not my way. There are many errors in these methods. The true spirit of all these ways of remembering [Allah] lies in acting upon them. Once the revered Companionsra [of the Holy Prophetsas] were uttering 'Allah' loudly. The Prophetsas said, 'Your God is not deaf. Thus, since the meaning of the Kalimah is to establish in Tauhid [the Oneness of God] and to obey His Messenger, so this should be the aim. Therefore, spiritual reward lies in giving precedence to Allah over all matters, and to have full faith in Allah; not to say or act contrary to His attributes, so much so as to not even have such a thought. The statement by Almighty Allah: رِجَالُ لا تُلْهِيهِمْ تِجَارَةٌ وَلَا بَيْعٌ عَنْ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ also means this same thing, that they do not forget My com- mandments even while they are engaged in their worldly affairs. Observe that even now I am not repeating invocations 1. Men whom neither trade nor commerce makes oblivious of the remembrance of Allah (Sūrah an-Nūr, 24:38). [Publisher]