The pleasure and approval of Allah Most High

 The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) says:  A strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah Most High than a weak and feeble one.  And every believer, be it strong or weak is better.  Keep striving for those things which will be of use to you and keep seeking the help of Almighty Allah if you face any sorrow or difficulty.  One shouldn’t say that if I had done so and so, this wouldn’t have happened but say that the Lord Almighty had decreed this for me and whatever He wanted, He did, because using “ifs” is to open the door to Satanic deeds.

 

A saint was asked:  How are you?  He replied:  Son!  What do you ask about that person for whom nothing that happens in the world goes against his wish!  The questioner said:  Sir!  How is that possible?  I cannot understand this.  The saint said:  For the one who has annihilated his wishes in the wishes of the Lord Almighty, nothing can happen against his wish, as obviously whatever is happening in the world happens by the will of Almighty Allah and the person whose wishes have been annihilated into the will of Almighty Allah will always be at peace.

 

Hadhrat Sahl Tustri (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) suffered from a disease and didn’t get it treated.  When people asked him, he said:  Friends, you don’t know.  This is a wound given by a Friend.  It doesn’t hurt.

 

A nail of the wife of Hadhrat Fateh Moosili (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) got plucked out and she started laughing.  The Shaykh asked her:  Doesn’t it hurt?  She said:  I am so glad about the reward that I don’t feel the pain.

 

Hadhrat Bishr Haafi (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) says:  In Baghdad, a person was given 1000 lashes with a stick and he didn’t sigh.  I asked him:  O man!  Why didn’t even a sound escape from your lips.  He said:  My beloved was standing in front of me looking at me.  I asked him:  What would you have done if you had seen the Ultimate Beloved?  He gave out a cry and died.

 

Hadhrat Shaykh Abul Ali Daqqaq (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) says:  I passed by a defunct mosque and there I saw an old man crying, from whose eyes drops of blood were falling instead of tears and the floor of the mosque had become red with it.  I went up to him and said: O old one!  Don’t cry this much and have mercy on yourself.  He turned to me and said: O young man!  What can I say?  All my energies have been exhausted in seeking the vision of Allah Most High but I couldn’t gain this felicity.  Then he related an incident that a king became displeased with a slave of his and removed him.  Somebody interceded for the slave and the king forgave his mistake.  But in spite of his sin being forgiven the slave would always be crying.  When people asked him:  Your mistake has been forgiven.  Why are you still crying?  The slave didn’t reply but the king said:  Now he wants my pleasure and approval, as he knows that without my pleasure and approval, he stands no chance.

 

The saint continued:  Son!  This is my state.  Unless and until my Lord is pleased with me, I stand no chance.  You go about your work.  I will perish in this crying.

 

When love is absolute, then the lover has no will of his own.  The wish of the beloved becomes the will of the lover.  This is the station of Acquiescence (Tasleem Wa Raza).

 

Hadhrat ‘Ashraf Ali (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) says:  Almighty Allah knows the unknowable.  He knows the conditions of the slaves.  For some, their condition demands that they should always be trained through difficulties and sorrow…..

 

Hadhrat Ibn Ata (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) says:  Acquiescence (Raza) is that one should be mindful of 2 things:  One that whatever happens, one should know that Allah Most High has decreed this for me since before time.  The second that whatever Almighty Allah has decreed for me is better and more excellent for me.

 

The king of the Shaykhs Hadhrat Nizaamuddin Auliya (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) says:  Acquiescence is that you gladly accept the difficulty that assails you and it should not be displeasing to the heart.  It should be as if there is no difficulty at all.

 

Hadhrat Abu Raazi (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) says:  For 30 years, I remained in the company of Hadhrat Fudhail bin ‘Iyaaz (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) and never saw him smiling except when his son, Hadhrat ‘Ali (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) who was very pious and ascetic, passed away.  What happened was that once when he was seated near the well of Zam Zam in Makkah, somebody recited this verse of the Holy Quran: 

 

Surah Ibraheem 49, 50

 

On listening to this verse, his son cried out and passed away.  I asked Hadhrat Fudhail (May Allah shower His Mercy on him):  What is the reason for your smiling on an occasion like this?  The Khwaja said:  Whatever Almighty Allah considers as good, I also consider it as good.  How can I be displeased with something that pleases Him?

 

Hadhrat Abu ‘Ali Shaqeeq Balkhi (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) said:  I acquired the sciences of Shariah and the spiritual sciences (Tareeqah) from many masters.  Eventually, I learned that the pleasure and approval of Allah is in these 4 things:

 

1.    To be content about one’s living

 

2.    To be sincere

 

3.    To consider Satan as one’s enemy

 

4.    To gather provision for the hereafter

 

A non-Muslim said to the Shaykh:  You claim to worship Allah Most High and also say that I rely on Allah for my sustenance.  This shows that you don’t worship Allah but worship your sustenance.  The Shaykh told his associates:  This is good advice.  Write it down.

 

Then the non-Muslim said:  You are such a great saint and indeed your religion is also the true one as there is humility and truthfulness in this religion.  If it were not the case, why would you ask that a non-Muslim’s words be written down?  Please make me a Muslim.

 

The Shaykh made him a Muslim and said:  It is a principle with Muslims that even if a pearl is lying in the mud, he (or she) picks it up, cleans it and treasures it.  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  Wisdom is like the lost treasure of a Muslim.  Wherever you find it, seek it, even though it may be with a non-Muslim.

 

[Excerpted from Mawaaiz-e-Hasana, Vol. 2]