Malfuzat - Volume VII — Page 67
29 DECEMBER 1904 into a well and consumes poison will surely die. Such a person cannot be worthy of mercy in the eyes of the world or the eyes of Allah the Exalted. Therefore, it is necessary indeed essen- tial-particularly for our Jama'at (which Allah the Exalted has chosen as a model and wants to be an example for future gen- erations), to avoid bad company and bad habits to whatever extent possible. ¹ And apply yourselves to virtue. In order to achieve this goal, planning should be undertaken to the degree merited, and no detail should be overlooked. Remember, planning is a concealed [form of] worship- do not consider it insignificant. It verily opens the door to the path of attaining salvation from sins. Those who fail to plan and deliberate to safeguard themselves from sins become-so to speak-content with evils, and in this way God Almighty separates Himself from them. ² I verily affirm that when man remains engaged in delib- erations even in spite of being caught in the clutches of nafs-e-ammārah [the self that incites to evil], then his nafs-e-ammārah becomes [nafs-e-]lawwāmah [the self-reprov- ing self] in the sight of God Almighty. He achieves such a lofty transformation worthy of honour in that he was once [nafs-e-] ammārah which was worthy of curse, but through planning and deliberation, that very nafs-e-ammārah worthy of curse 67 1. From al-Badr: 'He should avoid those kinds of meetings, associations, com- panions, and friends that have a bad effect on his spirituality' (Al-Badr, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 10, dated 1 January 1905). 2. From al-Badr: 'Staying engaged in the search for measures to achieve taqwā and virtue is also an act of worship, and when a person remains engaged in this effort, Allah's habit is to open up some way for him. It should be under- stood, however, that the person who does not plan or strive to avoid evil and carry out good deeds, has become content with evil, and it becomes impos- sible for such a person to abandon evil' (Al-Badr, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 10, dated 1 January 1905).