Gratitude to the Lord of Honour and Glory is beyond expression,
Through whose Word [Holy Quran] we have been guided to Him.
The light that we find in this Book
Can never be found in a thousand suns.
Our hearts and bosoms were cleansed through it;
It became the very mirror reflecting His countenance.
It [the Holy Quran] bestowed upon the tree of the heart the fruit of divine cognition;
It cleansed every bosom of doubt, and transformed every heart.
It revealed the countenance of God,
Rendering futile the schemes and whisperings of Satan.
The path that reveals the Being of Honour and Glory,
The path that cleanses and purifies the heart,
The path that attracts the Beloved whom people had lost,
The path that offers the pure drink of certainty,
The path that is the solid proof of His existence,
The path that is the perfect means to attaining Him—
It has shown that very path to everyone;
It has erased all doubts and misgivings.
The constriction that had beset the bosoms was dispelled;
The darkness dwelling in the hearts was totally transformed into light.
The season of autumn was transformed into spring;
A sweet breeze began to blow through the favours of the Beloved.
The season of cold winter departed with its arrival;
The fire of the love of God permeated every single heart.
All trees that were living turned lush green,
Bearing so much fruit that they were heavily laden with it.
Its surging waves rent asunder the veils of doubts
And levelled the dunes of disbelief and sin.
The Holy Quran leads to God; it is the Word of God.
Without it, the garden of divine cognition remains incomplete.
People shivering from the frigid cold of doubt
Find wonderful warmth from this Sun [the Holy Quran].
All the clamour and corruption of [other] religions that exists throughout the world—
All are storytellers—they possess not an iota of spiritual light.
But this Word manifests the light of God;
It draws us towards Him through the splendour of Signs.
The faith that relies solely on past anecdotes
Is not a religion but a storyteller.
Truly speaking, what reliance can be placed on anecdotes?
Anecdotes contain innumerable lies and errors.
The only [true] religion is the one which is not a mere storyteller.
It shows the path of certainty through living Signs.
The only [true] religion is the one whose God manifests Himself
And shows through His own powers where He is.
The miracles you hear in the form of anecdotes
Are presented by everyone in debate and dispute.
Every sect that exists engages in this very occupation:
They go on narrating ‘miracles’ in the form of anecdotes,
But they demonstrate no Sign of their faith whatsoever,
As if the Lord of the earth and heavens is now powerless—
As though He no longer possesses might or power—
That sovereignty, that strength, and that majesty no longer remains,
Or [as if ] that mercy no longer exists in God—
The intention [of His] has changed—that kindness no longer remains.
Such thoughts are false, for His Being is Holy;
These conjectures ultimately lead to ruin.
The truth, indeed, is that these very religions have died;
There is nothing in them now, for life has departed from them.
The worldly people are fettered by such religions.
They are oblivious to the charm of the Beloved and intoxicated with the [love of the] world.
Their purpose in life is to amass worldly wealth;
They are not believers, for their ways are sinful.
You can see how their hearts are stained with rust;
The world is their sole objective—they are ashamed of religion.
What is the worth of the religion that does not guide,
Whose ‘God’ possesses no sign of Godhood?
How can it preserve the magnificence of the true path,
And what distinction can it claim for the purity of its followers?
What sign is there in it of the Light of God?
It merely possesses dry talk of Tauhid [the Oneness of God], but none of its blessings.
O people! Hearken! For the Living God is not that god
Who does not have the eternal ability to manifest His Signs.
Those who follow mere tales worship a corpse;
That is why they are beset by degradation and defeat.
Without seeing—O friends!—the heart cannot find comfort.
Indeed, how can the flawed self be purified with mere anecdotes?
Such stories are not lacking among the Jews,
Yet look how they became one with Satan.
Man stands in need of a fresh Sign every moment;
How can the ‘miracles’ narrated as anecdotes have any effect?
How can the Eternal Beloved be discovered through stories?
Should one Sign be manifested, it yields the fruit of a lifetime.
The impact of anecdotes is the complete corruption of hearts—
Faith [professed] upon the tongue, but opposition to God within the bosom.
These hearts have died due to their greed and lust for the world;
They spent their whole lives in a state of heedlessness.
O sleeping ones! Awaken, for it is the season of spring.
Now, come and look—that Beloved is at our door!
What joy is there in life if we do not find Him?
Cursed indeed is the life of estrangement from Him.
Beholding His countenance is, in fact, the real objective;
Paradise, indeed, consists only of meeting the Beloved Friend.
O lovers of worldly rank! This is not the place to dwell [permanently],
For none of the earlier people has survived.
Just go and cast a glance over their graves;
Reflect, where have your ancestors gone now?
One day, you too will go to the same place;
One day the dawn of your life will turn to dusk.
One day people will carry your bier;
Then—having buried you—will return home grieving.
O people! Enjoying worldly pleasures is not at all permanent.
Do you have no fear of death, and no thought of annihilation?
Reflect! Where have your forefathers gone?
Who beckoned them; why did they all pass away?
That day—O friends!—is destined to befall you one day as well.
Rejoice not; for the time to depart is near.
Seek the path which purifies the heart and bosom,
Which turns the baser self into dust in submission to God.
You cannot find this path—O dear ones!—through mere anecdotes.
That light comes, from time to time, through divine Signs.
Worthless is the religion that has nothing but anecdotes;
Let every blessed and noble soul stay away from them.
A hundred pities! This age relies upon anecdotes;
They base the truth of their religion entirely upon anecdotes.
But there is absolutely no trace of evident miracles.
So, this god of anecdotes is not the God of the universe.
Such anecdotes have totally destroyed the world;
By making them polytheists, imparted disbelief and disgraced them.
He who seeks to find the Omnipotent God,
For him it is forbidden to fall for the anecdotes.
It is, in fact, his duty to seek the light of God
So that all doubt and uncertainty may disappear from his heart;
So that the light of certainty descend upon his heart;
So that he be accepted in the presence of the Lord of Honour and Glory.
Will it ever be possible to attain purity through anecdotes?
Know for sure that this approach is absolutely impossible.
When was salvation from sin attained through anecdotes?
Union with God is impossible through this path.
When was there hope that the dead could grant life?
He himself cannot even walk upon the path—
That path which leads to the Lord of Honour and Glory,
That path which cleanses and purifies the hearts,
That path which finds and brings back the lost Friend,
That path which offers the holy elixir of certainty,
Those fresh manifestations of divine power that are proof of God’s existence,
Those living powers which are the way to certainty of faith.
Clearly their trace cannot be found in mere anecdotes;
The storyteller is not aware of the way to God.
It is only through [divine] Signs that the countenance of that Hidden One is manifested;
Truth be told, every proof of Godhood, lies in divine Signs.
Let someone tell us: Is it to be found in others at all?
What relish [of the Signs of God] lies in the syrup of anecdotes?
Where is this in those religions? Please show us!
Or else, do not be led astray by the extravagant anecdotes.
Ever since anecdotes became the objective in the path,
People have continually advanced in sin.
You see how virtue no longer prevails in people—
That sincerity, that purity, that righteousness [of old] have all departed.
Signs of the true believer are wanting;
The love for that Imperceptible Beloved no longer remains.
The flood of sins rages viciously,
And people do not hear anything at all due to the turbulence of evil.
Why have evil deeds grown so rampant upon the earth?
Why—O dear ones!—have all these people become blind and deaf?
Why is your heart now devoid of that truth and sincerity?
Why is there so much sin that no fear or shame exists?
Why has sinfulness permeated their way of life?
Just take a single glance—what kind of an age is this?
Indeed, the cause of this is that heedlessness has spread all over;
Love of the wretched world overwhelms the heart.
Whatever garbs of taqwa [righteousness] remained, all were rent asunder;
Whatever thoughts dwelt in hearts, they became impure.
Every moment, the heart becomes shrouded with evil and sin;
The sun of faith has vanished from their sight.
He who has no certainty of faith in the Lord of Honour and Glory—
That unfortunate one has no religion whatsoever.
But the fortunate ones who witness the Signs,
They, by meeting Him, attach their hearts to Him alone.
They have become His—through Him alone do they live.
At every moment they drink a goblet from His very hand;
They are intoxicated with the wine they have drunk.
All their opponents are powerless against them.
They are so enamoured by the beautiful countenance of the Beloved;
They never fear the onslaught of the enemy.
All of God’s works through them are miraculous.
This is because they are lovers of the Peerless Beloved.
God has granted them distinction over others;
For them the Perfect Maker manifests a Sign.
When they are harassed at the hand of the enemies,
When evildoers torment them in any way,
When they hatch schemes to destroy them,
When they come out to wage war against them—
Then does the Holy God manifest His miraculous Sign,
And through His Sign inflicts His awe upon the others.
He [God] says, ‘This is but a servant of the Most High;
Fight Me if you have the strength to fight!’
Whoever attaches his heart to that Holy Being,
Ultimately finds His mercy to be exactly like this.
Those who have the good fortune to receive a Sign from the Lord God,
Draw constantly closer towards that Holy Being.
They are so drawn [towards Him] as to become oblivious to the world;
They beheld such a light that they became solely His.
Without seeing [God], how can man be cleansed of sin?
People escape from this pit [of sin] by [developing a] longing for Him.
A picture of a lion does not scare any sheep,
Nor is there any fear of harm from a dead snake.
Therefore, from the ‘God’ who lies like a corpse,
What hope or fear can be inspired?
How can the fear of such a ‘God’ purify the heart?
How could there kindle any ardour of love for him in the bosom?
Without beholding it, how can one fall in love with a beautiful face?
How can anyone fall in love with an imaginary beloved?
If sight be not possible, some words may suffice!
Along with some traces of the comeliness and beauty of the beloved!
So long as you are unaware of the Living God,
You will remain unrestrained and defiant, without any fear [of God] in your heart.
This very union with God is the cure for a hundred maladies;
Within this bondage lies freedom from every sin.
But for the ‘God’ whose existence is not supported by any Sign whatsoever—
How could any life become devoted to such a one?
The light of God is manifest in everything,
And yet that Beloved is far away from the heedless.
He who mingles with the dust finds that Intimate Friend.
O you who experiment! Test this prescription as well.
[True] lovers are those who find the Beloved after suffering death upon death;
When dead [to their selves], they are drawn towards Him.
This is a narrow path, but it is the only path;
The Beloved watches every moment over those who die [for Him].
Impure is the life that is spent in separation [from Him];
The wall of dry piety eventually crumbles.
They alone are alive who are close to God;
Being accepted by Him, they are His dear and beloved ones.
Far from God are those who are far from taqwa [righteousness];
Every moment they are in the clutches of vanity, pride, and arrogance.
Taqwa—O friends!—is indeed this, that you renounce vanity;
Shun the habit of pride, arrogance, and avarice.
Shun the love of this transient abode;
Abandon the path of luxury for the sake of that Beloved.
This is an accursed path, so let go of this curse,
Or else give up the thought of [ finding] the Lord of Honour.
Accept a life that is arduous with sincerity
So that the angels from the high heavens descend upon you.
What is Islam? Self-annihilation for the sake of God;
To relinquish one’s own desire for the pleasure of God.
Those who die are the very ones in whose destiny is life—
In this path one does not attain life except through death.
Impertinence and pride are the traits of the Accursed Satan;
The seed of Adam is he who is humble.
O worm of dust! Abandon pride and arrogance;
Greatness only befits the Lord God, Jealous for His Honour.
Think of yourself as inferior to everyone else;
Perchance, thereby, you may enter the Place of Union.
Abandon pride and arrogance, for in this indeed is taqwa;
Become dust, for in this is God’s pleasure indeed.
The root of taqwa is humbling oneself for God,
Piety—which is the condition of faith—lies entirely in taqwa.
Those who make suspicion their habit,
Stray very far from the path of taqwa.
Their tongue carelessly maligns;
In an instant it displeases God—the Knower of everything.
With a single utterance they squander all their deeds;
And then sow the seeds of insolence every single moment.
These, our countrymen, have fallen into such a slumber
That they do not wake up, though we have adopted hundreds of strategies.
All [their] limbs have become lax—heedlessness has spread;
All their energy is concentrated in the tip of [their] tongue.
They either speak evil or they think evil;
They care not for the condition of Islam.
Even when you see evil, avoid ill-thinking,
Remaining fearful of the retribution of the God of the universe.
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Perhaps your own eye may have erred;
Perhaps he is not evil who seems evil to you.
Perhaps your own understanding is at fault;
Perhaps it is a trial from the Forgiving Lord.
You would then have destroyed yourselves through your own ill-thinking,
Bringing the wrath of the Holy God upon your own selves.
If such impertinences have left no sense of decency in you,
What then is the meaning of righteousness? Just think about it.
Even Musa [Moses] was put to shame due to ill-thinking;
Just read in the Quran what Khidr did.
There are a hundred thousand secrets of God in His servants;
You neither know, nor is their reality made known.
In short, you uttered just one word and ruined yourself,
What kind of intelligence was it that you opted for the dangerous path?
Most unfortunate of all the world is indeed he
Who uttered one thing and hurled himself into Hell.
Therefore, save your tongue from mischief;
Remain fearful of the punishment of the Lord of mankind.
Whoever safeguards two of his limbs out of fear
Will go straight to Paradise by the grace of God.
One is the tongue, the other the private parts;
This is the hadith of our Master—Sayyedul-Wara [the Leader of Mankind].
But those who call me a liar and a charlatan,
And an impostor, a disbeliever, and an evildoer—
For them should suffice this very Sign from God;
Namely, His graces that are upon me every moment.
Look, God has inclined the multitude [towards me];
Finding me unknown, [He] made me renowned throughout the world.
I was a poor man, and He gave me beyond measure.
Whatsoever I wished for, He bestowed it all.
There is absolutely nothing from among the blessings of this world
That He did not grant me through His favours.
That He should treat ‘evil’ people in this way,
Is this not something outside the practice and miracles [of God]?
Why this alliance with an ‘impostor’?
Can anyone recall a precedence of this kind of favour?
Everyone attacked me in their own way,
But they were ultimately humiliated at the end of the fray.
Everyone maligned me to their heart’s content
And all of them desired that I see the path of ruin.
They wanted to dispatch me to annihilation,
Or to destroy me by having me hanged through the rulers,
Or—at the very least—that I be imprisoned,
Or be brought down and humiliated by insults.
Or—by carrying tales—they might cause me to suffer some other calamity,
Or that some prayer [of theirs] may be heard.
So with such intentions they filed cases,
Seeking to turn my day into night.
Their efforts were such as never occurred in this world,
And so was their solidarity without parallel in the world.
In order to destroy me they all became one;
They deemed me evil and themselves as the righteous.
Ultimately, the God who is Benevolent and All-Powerful—
Who knows what is in the hearts and is All-Knowing, All-Aware—
Came down for my help, remembering [His] promise,
And they all ended up disgraced and frustrated.
Such was the grace manifested by the Lord of mankind—
Seeing which—all enemies were left bewildered.
His grace transformed a single drop of water into an ocean;
I was mere dust; He Himself transformed me into the Pleiades.
I was poor, helpless, unknown, and unskilled;
No one knew where Qadian was.
People did not look towards this direction at all;
No one knew even of my existence.
But now you see how the world has turned this way;
This very Qadian has become the rendezvous of the elect.
Even then, those whose eye is shut by prejudice—
In their sight—my condition is displeasing.
In their sight and estimation I am an impostor;
The good of the world lies in my death and decline.
The impostor is cursed in the Book of God;
Not even an iota of respect does he enjoy in His presence.
In the Torah as well as in the Glorious Word [the Holy Quran],
It has been decreed as severe chastisement,
That whoever speaks the least bit of a lie against God,
Shall be killed—that is the only punishment for this crime.
This, then, is surprising negligence on the part of the Omnipotent God
That He sees such a mischievous one,
Who has been occupied in fabricating lies for twenty-five years—
Every day and every single night this has been his occupation—
Every day he fabricates a lie from himself
And claims, ‘God said this to me last night’;
And yet He does not punish such an insolent man,
As if He does not recall what He had previously said.
Again it is all the more strange that when the ‘helpers of the Faith’
Try to kill or help bring about such a one’s murder,
He [God] does not help them at the time of their designs
So that by the killing of the ‘impostor’ the whole story may come to an end,
Whilst His own promise lay totally abandoned on the shelf,
He casts not even a glance upon the effort and exertion of others.
Is He not that God who is the God of the Furqan [Holy Quran]?
Why then should He be so faithful to an ‘impostor’?
What—after all—is this? Here is an ‘impostor’
Whom God acquits on every occasion!
When his enemies try to ensnare him with great effort—
Effort so great they almost kill themselves in the process—
Conspiring together, they fabricate allegations,
And accuse him of a hundred lies and deceptions—
Even then—they remain unsuccessful in their objectives,
And that which they say a hundred times goes to no effect.
They desire disgrace; [while] here honour is bestowed.
Is this the end that an impostor is supposed to meet?
O leaders of the nation! O ‘helpers’ of the Faith!
Think! Why does God not help you?
You have no mercy, no justice, nor piety!
So—for this reason—God is not with you.
You may well remember the time of [Henry Martyn] Clark,
When he falsely accused me of murder by way of mischief,
When you conspired with him thinking
That, with your help, you may facilitate his fight,
But the God who is the God of the humble and the meek—
He inclined the heart of the Magistrate towards me.
You were bent upon getting me killed,
And thought within your heart that this would be an easy task;
You wanted this man to be hoisted upon the cross
So that you might have this tale to exult about:
‘He was a liar, he was an impostor; wherefore, he received this punishment.’
In the end, God Himself stood up in my support.
The entire account of [my] exoneration became evident to [the Magistrate, Captain] Douglas;
|Thereupon, I was honourably acquitted from there.
I was accused of murder—a serious matter indeed!
This charge issued forth from a priest.
However many witnesses there were—they were all against me.
There was even a maulawi [religious cleric] who would boast this:
‘Look! This man will get his punishment now—
Now, he will not escape without severe punishment!
There are so many witnesses that his guilt has become evident;
One of two things is now certain—prison or the cross.’
Some even engaged in [praying for] curses with great enthusiasm—
So much prayer that their noses were worn down in prostration.
In short, they spared no effort whatsoever;
There was trickery on one side, while prayer and prostration on the other.
In the end, God delivered me from that fire;
However many enemies there were—He cared not one bit for them.
What is this [strange] kind of ‘grace’ visibly apparent from Him
That He has [now] become the Helper of an ‘impostor’!
It was His obligation that—remembering His promise—
He would Himself smite the neck of the ‘wicked liar’.
If He had fallen short of displaying His own hand,
Then at least He could have easily lent you a hand.
What happened that He remained aloof from you?
He granted you no help at all, nor heard any of your supplications.
He exonerated the one who was the ‘impostor’,
But laid to waste every endeavour of ‘His people’!
All their effort and exertion went in vain—
Whatever effort they made, was ruined.
Is not the ‘triumph of truth’ the promise of God?
Just open and see the Holy Word of the Mighty One!
Why, then, was this [promise] reversed only in my case?
Or was it that your own mantle of taqwa [righteousness] was rent asunder?
Is it not strange that despite you being [His] ‘friends’,
Everything transpires in my favour?
Again, it is not only this single instance;
At every step I am blessed with the favours of God.
Look at the man from Bheen, whose name is Karam Din—
Who even lost sleep in his fight with me—
For whose help there was great passion among the people,
Whose faults were glossed over by every enemy of truthfulness,
Who was supported by all unjust and erring people,
For whose help maulawis had come forward—
Among whom there were such who would come rushing forth,
And would display great cunning in presenting their testimonies.
The plaintiff, too, was displaying cleverness,
Fabricating hundreds of statements contrary to the facts.
He received the punishment in consequence of his evil deeds
Along with which, he was also labelled a liar.
‘Great Liar’ remained his title in the official records;
The conceited cleverness that he boasted came to naught.
O people of sense and reason! Beware!
Cleverness is useless; taqwa accomplishes the tasks.
God Himself is the Helper of the one who is righteous;
The end of the transgressors is the punishment of Hell-fire.
Piety is the root of all virtue and good fortune;
In whomsoever this root remains intact—all his deeds remain intact.
It is indeed the believers who ultimately triumph;
Exactly thus will you find in the Word of the Omnipotent One.
Now, show us any impostor in the world
Upon whom is bestowed this grace, this favour, this bounty!
The punishment of this evil deed is death, not love!
So how could God come to like this behaviour?
Was this treatment the reward for imposture?
Was this the promise given regarding an impostor’?
Why is He such a friend of an ‘impostor’?
Or is He unaware of the fault and has been deceived!
After all, there must be something which earned His friendship,
For no one loves an evildoer.
Having accused me of evil; even then you were seized.
These, too, are Signs that have been manifested.
Nevertheless, there are other Signs we possess,
Which we now set forth fearlessly with God’s favour.
The heart in which His name is saturated with love
Is itself a Sign; moreover, all its works are Signs.
What insults have I not endured from this generation—
From men as well as from the uninformed womenfolk?
In their estimation, I have become evil and wretched,
In their eyes I have become a kafir [disbeliever] and a dajjal [deceiver].
I even became an impostor in their sight;
Became faithless, corrupting the path of truth!
But may my life be sacrificed for such ‘kufr’ [disbelief ],
From which is attained God—Creator of the world and mankind.
Accursed be such a faith that is less than this ‘kufr’—
A hundred thanks that I have become the beloved of the Supreme [God].
Through this very path the Omnipotent God takes one by the hand;
How could those captivated by anecdotes know of its value?
God’s revelation is indeed obtained through this luminous path;
Through this very path is revealed the Beloved’s pristine beauty.
O accuser! The Omnipotent God is not with you;
This ‘kufr’ [of mine] is a thousand times better than your ‘faith’.
1 In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. [Publisher]