The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 147
146 Ā'ĪNA-E-KAMĀLĀT-E-ISLĀM―DĀFI‘UL-WASĀWIS make myself a servant of all the worlds, just as He is the Lord of all the worlds, and that I should become devoted completely to Him and to His path. So, I have turned over to God Almighty my entire being and all that belonged to me; now, nothing belongs to me—all that is mine is His. AUTHOR'S MARGIN NOTE Reply to the misgiving as to whether any earlier scholar ascribed such meanings to this verse The misgiving as to who the earlier among scholars has ascribed such meaning to the verse containing the words zalum and jahul or who from among the [Arabic] linguists gives this interpretation to the word zulm—may be answered as follows: We require no authority besides the Word of Allah. Certain passages of the Divine Word elucidate others. Thus, considering that Allah Almighty has referred to some of the righteous also as zālim, and has also identified the initial stage of the three levels of taqwa [piety] as zulm, we understand with absolute conviction and certainty that the term zulm here does not refer to the zulm that is far from taqwa and is the characteristic of disbelievers, polytheists, and the dis- obedient. Rather, the zulm referred to here is the necessary condition encountered by the righteous in the initial stages of the spiritual jour- ney—namely, waging war against one's base desires and striving to diminish the darkness of human frailties within oneself. The meaning of diminishing is also ascribed to the word zulm in the verse: وَ لَمْ تَظْلِمْ -and did not diminish anything there] وَلَمْ تَنْقُصْ which means مِّنْهُ شَيْئًا from]. See Qamūs, Ṣiḥāḥ, and Ṣarāḥ, where zulm is also explained as 'to diminish, and this verse has been interpreted accordingly. Meaning. وَلَمْ تَنْقُصْ AUTHOR'S MARGIN NOTE My humble self is not alone in adopting these meanings Moreover, this humble one is not alone in positing this meaning. Eminent research- ers and scholars who were native [Arabic] 1. Surah al-Kahf, 18:34 [Publisher]