Malfuzat - Volume VII — Page 184
184 MALFUZAT - ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF URDU VOLUME 7 24 APRIL 1905 Remedy for Doubts A person submitted: 'My heart is currently not experiencing pleasure and passion in Prayer and I remain in great agony on account of this. Willing or unwilling, doubts keep arising. Even though I try hard to shun them, these Satanic whisperings do not go away. ' The Promised Messiahas said: It is also by God's grace and favour that man is not overwhelmed by such evil whisperings. This is also a state that earns spiritual reward. There are three states of the self. One is nafs-e-ammārah [the self that incites to evil]. A person in nafs-e-ammārah is not even aware of what evil is. The second is nafs-e-lawwāmah [the reproving self] which perpetrates evil but constantly remains distressed, ashamed of the evil, and keeps on repenting. Such a person is not enslaved by the self, and to a certain extent-it is vital to be in this state. One should not be disheartened at this because there are great spiritual rewards to be earned from it, and eventually Allah the Exalted Himself sends down spiritual light and tranquil- lity. The time for God's mercy does come and a pacifying effect takes over, and that condition evaporates. Man should not tire. In prostration, recite this prayer a lot: يَا حَبُّ يَا قَيُّوْمُ بِرَحْمَتِكَ أَسْتَغِيْثُ ['O Ever-Living, Self-Subsisting and All-Sustaining God! I seek help with Your mercy'], but remember that haste is dangerous. In Islam, a person ought to become brave. Eventually after years of striving and toil, Satanic attacks become weak, and he runs away. ¹ 1. Badr, vol. 1, no. 4, p. 8, dated 27 April 1905