IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MERCIFUL, THE COMPASSIONATE
All praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds,
and blessings and peace be upon our master Muhammad, and on all his Family and
Companions.
[Brother! You wanted a few words of advice from me, so
listen to a few truths included in eight short stories, which since you are a
soldier, are in the form of comparisons of a military nature. I consider my own
soul to need advice more than anyone, and at one time I addressed my soul at
some length with eight Words inspired by eight verses of the Qur'an from which
I had benefited. Now I shall address my soul with these same Words, but briefly
and in the language of ordinary people. Whoever wishes may listen together with
me.]
Bismillah, "In the Name of God," is the start of
all things good. We too shall start with it. Know, O my soul! Just as this
blessed phrase is a mark of Islam, so too it is constantly recited by all
beings through their tongues of disposition. If you want to know what an
inexhaustible strength, what an unending source of bounty is Bismillah, listen
to the following story which is in the form of a comparison. It goes like this:
Someone who makes a
journey through the deserts of
My proud soul! You are
the traveller, and this world is a desert. Your impotence and poverty have no
limit, and your enemies and needs are endless. Since it is thus, take the name
of the Pre-Eternal Ruler and Post-Eternal Lord of the desert and be saved from
begging before the whole universe and trembling before every event.
Yes, this phrase is a
treasury so blessed that your infinite impotence and poverty bind you to an
infinite power and mercy; it makes your impotence and poverty a most acceptable
intercessor at the Court of One Ail-Powerful and Compassionate. The person who
acts saying, "In the Name of God," resembles someone who enrolls in
the army. He acts in the name of the government; he has fear of no one; he
speaks, performs every matter, and withstands everything in the name of the law
and the name of the government.
At the beginning we said
that all beings say "In the Name of God" through the tongue of
disposition. Is that so?
Indeed, it is so. If you
were to see that a single person had come and had driven all the inhabitants of
a town to a place by force and compelled them to work, you would be certain
that he had not acted in his own name and through his own power, but was a
soldier, acting in the name of the government and relying on the power of the
king.
In the same way, all
things act in the name of Almighty God, for minute things like seeds and grains
bear huge trees on their heads; they raise loads like mountains. That means all
trees say: "In the Name of God," fill their hands from the treasury
of mercy, and offer them to us. All gardens say: "In the Name of
God," and become cauldrons from the kitchens of Divine power in which are
cooked numerous varieties of different foods. All blessed animals like cows,
camels, sheep, and goats, say: "In the Name of God," and produce
springs of milk from the abundance of mercy, offering us a most delicate and
pure food like the water of life in the name of the Provider. The roots and
rootlets, soft as silk, of plants, trees, and grasses say: "In the Name of
God," and pierce and pass through hard rock and earth. Mentioning the name
of God, the name of the Most Merciful, everything becomes subjected to them.
The roots spreading through hard rock and earth and
producing fruits as easily as the branches spread through the air and produce
fruits, and the delicate green leaves retaining their moisture for months in
the face of extreme heat, deal a slap in the mouths of Naturalists and jab a
finger in their blind eyes, saying: "Even heat and hardness, in which you
most trust, are under a command. For like the Staff of Moses, each of those
silken rootlets conforms to the command of, And We said, O Moses,
strike the rock with your staff,1and splits the rock. And the
delicate leaves fine as cigarette paper recite the verse, O fire he
coolness and peace2 against the heat of the fire, each like
the members of Abraham (UWP).
Since all things say: "In the Name of God,"
and bearing God's bounties in God's name, give them to us, we too should say:
"In the Name of God." We should give in the name of God, and take in
the name of God. And we should not take from heedless people who neglect to
give in God's name.
Question: We give a price to people, who are like
tray-bearers. So what price does God want. Who is the true owner?
The Answer: Yes, the price the True Bestower of Bounties
wants in return for those valuable bounties and goods is three things: one is remembrance, another
is thanks, and the other is reflection. Saying,
"In the Name of God" at the start is remembrance, and, "All
praise be to God" at the end is thanks. And perceiving and thinking of
those bounties, which are priceless wonders of art, being miracles of power of
the Unique and Eternally Besought One and gifts of His mercy, is reflection.
However foolish it is to kiss the foot of a lowly man who conveys to you the
precious gift of a king and not to recognize the gift's owner, it is a thousand
times more foolish to praise and love the apparent source of bounties and
forget the True Bestower of Bounties.
O my soul! If you do not wish to be foolish in that
way, give in God's name, take in God's name, begin in God's name, and act in
God's name. And that's the matter in a nutshell!
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1 Qur'an,2:60.
2 Qur'an, 21:69
