FIRST VOLUME, 228th LETTER

Due to the great distance between the time in which we live and the luminous and blessed time of Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’, and the time of Doomsday being rather closer, unbelief and heresies (bid’ats) have spread far and near. The entire world is suffused with their gloom. The Sunnat of the Messenger of Allah, [i.e. his path, the commandments and prohibitions of the Sharî’at,] has been forgotten. The nûrs (lights, haloes) of the Sharî’at have disappeared. Try to revitalize the Sharî’at and to promulgate Islam’s teachings! This work is atop all the other deeds that will please Allâhu ta’âlâ. It is this work which will be most prolific in attaining the shafâ’at (intercession) of the Messenger of Allah. It is stated as follows in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “A person who recovers one of my forgotten sunnats will be rewarded with thawâb equal to the amount of the thawâb that will be given to a hundred martyrs.” [Sunnat in this context means one of the commandments of the Sharî’at.] To recover a sunnat, (i.e. a commandment of the Sharî’at,] you will first have to practise it yourself, and then publicize it so that others also should practise it.

You write that you feel deep anxiety about how you will be at the time of death, (i.e. whether you will be able to retain your îmân and die as a Believer.) No one has been immune from that anxiety. You say that you do not believe you have attained a state with which Allâhu ta’âlâ is pleased. Only in the era of Wahy (revelation of the Qur’ân al-kerîm) was it possible for a person to be invulnerable to that feeling of uncertainty. What the times that followed it could afford were no more than facsimiles and analogues of the original Glad Tidings. Because of the uncertainty of the result, anxiety cannot be helped. You say that you suffer for want of hope as to whether your acts of worship will be accepted (by Allâhu ta’âlâ, and that the absence of hope sometimes transforms into laxity in your acts of worship. Acts of worship have been enjoined on us. Therefore, it is our primary duty to do the acts of worship. Regardless of whether we know that our worship will be accepted, we have to perform the acts of worship, say (the prescribed phrase of apology called) istighfâr for our faults during the performance, and beg Allâhu ta’âlâ to accept our worship. Thereby, there will be more probability of our worship being accepted, less zulmat

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(darkness, gloom, obscurity) (caused by our faults), and more luminosity. Worship is our essential duty as slaves. Anything else is a misgiving infused by the devil. You ask if I am pleased with you. The affection that you feel for us is the fruit of the affection that we have for you. Whatsoever appears on the branches of a tree comes from the trunk. It is declared in the Mâida sûra: Allâhu ta’âlâ loves them, and they in turn love Him.” “Allâhu ta’âlâ is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him. He states His love of them and His being pleased with them before stating their love of Him and their being pleased with Him.

No one do I blame, for myself I shed tears,
Anxious about my future, trembling with fears!