The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 81
80 Ā'ĪNA-E-KAMĀLĀT-E-ISLĀM―DĀFI‘UL-WASĀWIS The SECOND aspect of devoting one's life to the cause of Allah the Exalted is to devote one's life to the service of His creatures, sympathis- ing with them, alleviating their sufferings, sharing their burdens and truly assuaging their sorrows. One should be prepared to suffer pain to bring comfort to others and be ready to bear grief to bestow content- ment to others. This above discussion demonstrates that the essence of Islam is supremely sublime indeed and no human being can truly deserve the noble title of 'belonging to Islam' till he surrenders the whole of his being to God, together with all its faculties, desires, and designs and till he begins to tread along His path by withdrawing alto- gether from his ego and all that accompanies it. Thus, a person will be truly called a Muslim only when his heedless life undergoes a total revolution and all traces of the existence of his nafs-e-ammārah [the self that incites to evil], together with all its passions, are wiped out altogether and then—after this death—he is invested with a new life for the purpose of doing good, for the sake of Allah, and this pure life should consist of nothing except obedience to the Creator and sympathy for His creatures. Submission to the Creator should be such that—in order to make manifest His Honour, Glory, and Uniqueness—one should be ready to accept every dishonour and humiliation and should be eager to undergo a thousand deaths in order to uphold His Oneness. One hand should be ready to cut off the other with pleasure in obedience to Him, and love for the grandeur of His commandments and the thirst for seeking His pleasure should render sin to be so hateful as if it were an all-consuming fire or a fatal poison, or an obliterating bolt of light- ning, from which one must flee with all their ability. In short, to follow His will, one must abandon all desires of the ego; and to establish a relationship with Him, one should be ready to endure life-threatening injuries; and to provide proof of this relationship, one must break off all carnal relationships. The service of one's fellow beings should be such as to strive for