The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 102
PREFACE ESSENCE OF ISLAM ΙΟΙ [caller to good] appointed for every man who never separates from him and is always his friend and companion. Had God Almighty only appointed a caller to evil for man and had He not appointed a caller to good, a blemish would have tarnished the justice and mercy of God Almighty that the weak human, who is already burdened with nafs-e-ammārah [the self that incites to evil], had been vested with evil inclinations and temptations. Had God Almighty established Satan as man's eternal friend and companion who even creeps into his blood and, entering into the heart, sets the impurity of darkness loose within it, yet for the calling towards virtue, He had failed to appoint any such companion that he might also penetrate the heart and circulate within the blood, balancing both sides of the scale equally. Nevertheless, it has now been proven from Quranic verses and authentic aḥādīth that just as God Almighty has appointed Satan as the eternal companion of man for inviting him to evil, so has that Merciful and Munificent One appointed the Holy Spirit as the eternal companion of man for invit- ing him towards virtue. Moreover, in the state of baqā [revival] and liqā [communion], the evil influence of Satan virtually disappears as if he embraces Islam, and the light of the Holy Spirit ascends to its ulti- mate degree of brilliance at that time. Who, then, would dare say any- thing against this lofty and holy teaching other than that blind and foolish person who lives the life of an animal and has no share of the light of pure teachings? Nevertheless, the truth and substance of the issue is that this teaching of the Noble Quran is also a miracle from among its mir- AUTHOR'S MARGIN NOTE This teaching of the Holy Quran that there are appointed both a caller unto acles, insofar as the beauty, justice, and dig- good and a caller unto evil is nified sagacity with which this teaching has resolved the issue of why man is endowed with exceptionally strong passions for vir- in reality a miraculous teach- ing because it is based on a very fine, exalted and wise system. tue or vice, to the extent that even in the realm of dreams, their light