The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 66
PREFACE 65 goodwill, courtesy, perseverance, high resolve, expanse of virtue, and sympathy for Islam, Muslims, and humanity seem to have completely disappeared from their hearts. Commendable moral qualities, such as forgiveness, benevolence, sincerity, and reconciliation, have been, as it were, obliterated from within their bosoms. The minds of most of them seem to have thousands of doors open to stirring mischief, but none for exiting discord and entering reconciliation. I see that their spirituality has seriously declined on account of excessive arrogance and extensive negligence. They have a zeal for this material world and its pomp and glory, and a reluctance towards God Almighty. The reason is that they have strayed far from the purpose of that waḥy [revelation], which purifies hearts and cleanses internal impurities. They preach, but do not practice; they show the path but do not tread upon it themselves. God Almighty has therefore placed seals upon their hearts and has made their intellect and understanding dull because it is the practice of Allah that until someone performs acts of virtue with the subtlest of care, the subtlest of mysteries are not conferred upon his heart. ما Such is the plight of the ulema. But, alas! The condition of our ascetics appears to be even worse than this. [Except as Allah wills]. Only such ascetics are generally seen among our people who have maligned Islam by inventing thousands of innovations for which no valid basis can be found in the Holy Shariah. They are involved in such perverse rituals and notions as are shameful to describe. Some of them have adopted a special manner of dress, like Hindu Yogis, and live in a style very much approaching theirs. They waste their lives in extremely inappropriate and savage forms of bodily penance, which are far removed from the practice of the Holy Prophetas. Their faces dis- play extraordinary marks of the wrath of God and portray such a per- verse image that perhaps no other face upon earth evidences a greater misery. Most mendicants indulge in diverse practices which they deem to be a mark of excellence, and they prop this up as evidence that they have traversed a great distance in the [spiritual] path. However, in reality,