Undated

Auspiciousness Lies in Giving Precedence to God Almighty Over Everything

The Promised Messiah (as) said:

What kind of faith can a person be said to have if he gives preference to some object or some human being over God? Unless and until God is given precedence over everything, it is called shirk [associating partners with God]. You see, I experienced it on two occasions. Once, at the time of the death of Maulawi Abdul Karim when, after praying for him extremely vigorously, I received the revelation:

إِنَّ الْمَنَایَا لَا تَطِیْشُ سِہَامُہَا

[‘The arrows of death do not miss.’]

And then, when I persisted with prayers, I received the revelation:

یٰۤأَیُّہَا النَّاسُ اعۡبُدُوۡا رَبَّکُمُ الَّذِیۡ خَلَقَکُمۡ

Meaning, ‘O mankind, worship your Lord who has created you.’

Then, this same revelation came at the time of the death of Mubarak Ahmad, that:

إِنَّ الْمَنَایَا لَا تَطِیْشُ سِہَامُہَا

[‘The arrows of death do not miss.’]

And then, I received the revelation that,

یٰۤأَیُّہَا النَّاسُ اعۡبُدُوۡا رَبَّکُمُ الَّذِیۡ خَلَقَکُمۡ

Meaning that this person is sure to die and worthy of worship is indeed only the One who brought you into being.

That is to say, He alone is the One who is to live forever; set your heart on Him alone. So faithfulness really is that a special relationship be maintained with God and everything else should be considered insignificant in comparison to Him. And the person who holds his children or his parents, or something else so dear to him that he constantly worries about them, he is also an idol worshipper.

Idol worship does not just mean to grab hold of a statue like the Hindus, sit with it, and prostrate before it. Excessive love and adoration is, in fact, also worship. I realized this point from my childhood. Even now that my son, Mubarak Ahmad, has passed away—and if in place of one Mubarak there were to come a 100,000 Mubaraks and God Almighty states, ‘Go to them or come to Me’, I swear by God that the thought of going to Mubarak Ahmad and not to Him would never cross my mind for a single minute or a second or even one thousandth of a second.

What does progeny amount to? A mother sacrifices her life for them from birth, but it is seen that upon growing up many sons disobey their mothers and treat them with contempt. And even if they are obedient, at the time of her grief or discomfort they cannot remove these from her. Even if she suffers a little pain in her stomach, everyone becomes helpless—neither the son nor the husband or the mother or any other relative can be of much use. It is only God who proves to be of help.

So, what good is so much love and adoration for them that would count as shirk? God Almighty says:

اِنَّمَاۤ اَمْوَالُکُمْ وَ اَوْلَادُکُمْ فِتْنَۃٌ1

Children and wealth are a trial for man. Look, suppose God were to tell someone that He would bring back to life all his children who have died but then he would have no relationship with God—would a wise person even consider opting for his children?

In conclusion, the good fortune for man is verily in him giving precedence to God over everything. The person who becomes disgruntled over the death of his children is also a miser as he is reluctant to return what was given to him by God as a trust. For a miser, it is mentioned in a hadith that even if his worship were to equal the rivers in the wilderness, he would not enter Paradise.2 Thus, the worship, Prayer, Fasting, etc. are of no use to a person if his love for anything is greater than his love for God.

Exemplary Patience of Prophet Job, Peace Be Upon Him

Consider the example of Prophet Job (as) —look how patient he was! God Almighty has mentioned it in the Holy Quran that he is a patient servant of Mine. His account is mentioned in detail in the previous scriptures that once Satan said to God Almighty that why shouldn’t Job (as) be patient, You have given him wealth and riches, slaves and servants, wife and children, and health?

God Almighty said that he could put Job to the test. Upon this, first his sheep and goats died and then the larger animals [that he owned] died too. But still Job (as) remained steadfast. At this, Satan said he still has wealth and slaves and children, why wouldn’t he be steadfast? Thereupon, all his slaves died, but he remained steadfast. This continued so much so that everything perished. Only he and his wife were left. Even then, Satan said that he still had his health. He then came down with leprosy but he still remained steadfast. In this way, when he proved himself to be steadfast and sincere, God Almighty bestowed upon him even greater wealth, riches, slaves, maids, and children than before and God restored his health as well.

Thus, when man shows patience and endurance, he gets to have everything. Whatever a person does, it should be according to the pleasure of God. How wonderful is the saying of Sheikh Sa‘di, which means that:

کہ بے حکم شرع آب خوردن خطا است
اگر خون بہ فتویٰ بریزی روا است

Meaning that, even if you drink water against the will of Allah, it is a sin, although it is permissible to even shed blood in obedience to His command.

So I tell you very truly that if man desires something besides God, he neither gets that nor does he get God because everything besides God is doomed to end. However, the person who chooses God, he finds God and he gets other things too and whatever he desires certainly comes to be fulfilled. I have now said what I had wanted to say for the sake of God. You should guard your faith.3