This letter was written to Mulla Alî Kashmî. It says that a slave should give up his own wishes and adapt himself to his Owner’s wishes. Also, it informs with diseases that are inherent in man and those which come from outside:
What a slave wishes should only be his Owner and his Owner’s wish. He should have no wishes besides his Owner’s wishes. If not so, he has cast off the shackles of slavery and escaped from being a slave. A slave who always pursues his own wishes is a slave of his own wishes. He is a slave of his nafs. He always does the commands of the accursed Devil. The blessing of being a slave to Allâhu ta’âlâ is attained only after reaching the grade of Wilâyat-i khâssa. Becoming such a Walî falls to one’s lot only after a complete fanâ and a perfect baqâ.
Question: The Walîs who are so have wishes, desires, too. For, they want various things. Also, the leader of Prophets, the Sultan of Walîs, Hadrat Muhammad, liked cool, sweet sherbets. The Qur’ân informs of the fact that he used to toil for the good of his Ummat. What is the reason for the existence of such wishes in the great?
Answer: Many wishes are the requirements of natural laws. So long as man is alive he cannot get rid of these wishes. When it is hot the body wants to get cool. And in cold weather appears the
desire to get warm. The body’s desire for the things indispensable to live is not contrary to being a slave. Such desires are not the desires of the nafs. They have nothing to do with the nafs. The Sharî’at has not prohibited these desires which are the outcomes of natural laws. Having these desires does not mean following the nafs. It is mubâh to satisfy such desires. The nafs wants the mubâhs more than needed. The mubâhs more than indispensably needed are called fudûl. Or, the nafs wants dubious things and things that are harâm. Those things that are indispensably necessary for living do not have anything to do with the nafs. As it is seen, to follow the nafs, to do evil things, means to desire and do those things that are fudûl.
For, the mubâhs more than necessary are close to the harâms. If one, deceived by the Devil, goes a little further, one will fall down into the harâms. For this reason, mubâhs should be done as much as necessary. A little over-indulgence in doing so will cause you to slip and fall down into the fudûls. And if you slip as you enjoy the fudûls, you will end up in the harâms.
Many inclinations do not exist in man. They come to man from without. Allâhu ta’âlâ, who is very compassionate, sends man the useful ones of them. It is declared (in a long hadîth): “Allâhu ta’âlâ keeps a preacher in every man’s heart.” The harmful ones are sent by the Devil. The Devil always incites men to do evil and enmity. The hundred and twentieth âyat of Nisâ Sûra purports, “The Devil promises man many things and reminds him of many things. All the things which the Devil promises are lies.” One day during my imprisonment in the fortress of Ghuwalyar, this faqîr (Hadrat Imâm-i Rabbânî means himself) sat down silently after the morning prayer as it was customary on this path. Useless thoughts suffused me, so much so that I felt very uneasy. I could not collect my heart in any way. After some time, I managed to control myself with the help of Allâhu ta’âlâ. I saw that the thoughts were gone like the dispersing of clouds. What had brought them to my heart went away together with them, leaving my heart free and pure. It was realized that those thoughts and wishes had come from the outside, that they had not originated from the inside. If they had originated from the inside, the case would have been incompatible with being a slave. In brief, the evil issuing from the nafs-i ammâra are man’s own diseases. They are fatal poisons and are incompatible with being a slave. Those diseases coming from the outside are among the transient diseases, though they are caused by the Devil. They can be cured
with a little medicine. The seventy-sixth âyat of Nisâ Sûra declares: “The Devil’s deceit is certainly weak.” Our greatest enemy is our own nafs. Our mortal enemy is this ferocious friend of ours, who is always with us. Our enemy outside attacks us with the help of this enemy within us. He wounds us with his help. Of all beings, man’s nafs is the most ignorant. For the nafs-i ammâra feels hostility against itself. It always desires things which will annihilate itself. Its every wish is something which Allâhu ta’âlâ has prohibited. Its every deed is somehow a revolt against Allâhu ta’âlâ, its owner and the owner of everything. It always follows the Devil, its own mortal enemy.
It is very difficult for man to distinguish his own disease from the transient disease coming from the outside. It is very difficult to distinguish the evil inside from the evil coming from the outside. An ignoramus thinks of his own disease as the transient disease coming from the outside, thus becoming self-respecting and thinking of himself as perfect. And thus he may roll down into perdition. Frightened by this thought, I could not write about this subtle piece of information. I found it not right to explain it. I did not write about it for seventeen years. For, I had been confusing the evil inside and the evil coming from the outside with each other. Yet now Allâhu ta’âlâ has separated the right from the wrong. For this and for many such blessings of His may hamd and thanks be to Allâhu ta’âlâ! Another reason for explaining this secret piece of information is that it is intended to prevent short-sighted people, who see that desires coming from the outside exist in perfect people, from thinking that those great people are low. Those who think so cannot benefit from the barakats of those great people. Disbelievers’ being deprived of the honour of following prophets were because of the existence of such attributes in these great people. An âyat in the sûra of Taghâbun purports, “They said, ‘Are other men supposed to guide us?’ Thus they became disbelievers.” Our superiors said, “When an ârif’s own wishes are annihilated, Allâhu ta’âlâ bestows on him a will and option from Himself.” I will, inshâallah, explain these words of mine at some other place. May Allâhu ta’âlâ bless the travellers of the right way with salvation! Âmîn.