Desire and piety

 

Desire and piety

 

Among the faculties of humans are desire and piety.  To do whatever one wishes to do is desire and to abandon one’s wish and will and be as per the wish of Allah Most High is piety.  The way humans came into existence when Hadhrat Adam and Hadhrat Hawwa (May peace be upon them) met, in the same way, when Iblees and the material world meet in one’s heart, desire is born.  Such a person acts on his own wishes and does not want to act as per the wishes of Allah Most High.  That person’s state is that if it is beliefs, they are as per his own wish, be it deeds, they are as per his own wish, etiquette and manners, they are as per his own wish.  Alas, there is nothing in him which conforms to the wishes of Allah Most High and His Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).  A person’s heart does desire to offer Salaat, but does not want to come to the mosque and offer it with congregation.  He does not ever think that not coming to the mosque and offering Salaat in the house is his own wish or the wish of Allah Most High.

 

Someone else does not want to offer Salaat at all.  He does not think whether this is his wish or the wish of Allah Most High.  In spite of knowing that whatever that person is doing, it is his own wish, he still persists on his desires.  How can such a person be included among the pious?

 

My friends!  Think deeply.  If you travelling for a few days and after that, you have to go to some other place and stay there forever.  There is no other place where you could stay.  There is none else in whom you can take refuge.  You are compelled to seek help from him.  If that person is happy, then it is all good.  If that person is displeased then it is all bad.  Then will you do what that person says or not?  Apart from fulfillment of needs, if there is a relation of love with that person and that beloved says: We will meet you in that world in a special garden, but only those people who wipe out their desires and follow ours.  Now ask that lover.  Will he follow his own desires or abandon his desires and follow the wishes of the beloved?

 

Gentlemen!  You are also travelers in this world.  Even a traveler can undertake the journey for as long as he desires, but we don’t have even that authority.  We are helpless.  As long as someone keeps us in the journey, we remain.  When we are taken away, we go.  We cannot say that we will stay for 2 more days.  Leaving this world, we have to stay forever in the hereafter.  There is no other abode apart from it.  In the hereafter, we will meet our Lord Almighty.  If He is pleased with us, we will be in solace and luxury.  If He is displeased with us, then we have to face every type of difficulty.  Now, there is no other way out other than acting upon the wishes of Almighty Allah and acquiring piety.

 

You might have known that with these words:  ‘Those who believe are stronger in love for Allah, Almighty Allah has included all believers and has declared:  O lovers of Allah, We will meet you unveiled in paradise, provided when you abandon your own wishes and act upon the wishes of Almighty Allah.  After hearing this, we Muslims should never act upon our wishes.  We should follow the wishes of Almighty Allah and become pious.  Our becoming pious will return us many times over and provide solace to us.  Otherwise be warned!  Following our own wishes does provide comfort in this world, but in the hereafter, it will come back to us in various torments and punishments.

 

We are doing whatever our heart desires.  This will only come back to us in the form of a python, some other thing in the form of a serpent and some others in the form of scorpions.  There is no end to one’s wishes.  Thus, the depth of the pit of hell is also unfathomable.

 

[Excerpted from Kitaab Ul Muhabbat of Hadhrat Muhaddith-e-Deccan]