The Soul at Rest — Essence of Islam Vol. 3
Introduction
In this discourse from Essence of Islam (Volume 3), Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (AS), the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, expounds upon The Soul at Rest, presenting profound spiritual insights and scriptural verities.
Book Series: Essence of Islam (Volume 3)
Author: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (AS)
Section: Part 2: Faith, Certainty and Insight
Navigation: Book Table of Contents | « Previous: Three Categories of the Faithful | Next: A Lovely Prayer »
and manifest such devotion as is beyond the power of man. He cuts asunder from all besides Allah, and removes all intervening barriers and obstructions. He is tested and persecuted and encounters diverse types of trials and is afflicted with such calamities and misfortunes as would have destroyed mountains and darkened the sun and the moon; but he remains steadfast and endures all hardships cheerfully. Even if he is ground to dust by the mortar and pestle of calamities, no sound proceeds from him except: ‘I stand with God’. When a person arrives at this stage, he rises above the conditions of this world and is given, by way of reflection, all of the guidance and high status that were bestowed upon previous Prophets and Messengers, and he becomes their heir and their deputy.
[A’ina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 5, pp. 233-237]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 68]
The third question is: what are the spiritual states?… According to the Holy Qur’an, ‘Nafs-e-Mutma’innah’ [the Soul at Rest] is the source of spiritual states that conveys a person from the stage of a moral being to that of a godly being, as Allah the Exalted, has said:
يَـٰٓأَيَّتُهَا ٱلنَّفۡسُ ٱلۡمُطۡمَئِنَّةُ ٱرۡجِعِيٓ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةٗ مَّرۡضِيَّةٗ فَٱدۡخُلِي فِي عِبَٰدِي وَٱدۡخُلِي جَنَّتِي
“And thou, O soul at peace! Return to thy Lord well pleased with Him and He well pleased with thee. So enter thou among My chosen servants, And enter thou My Garden.” (Surah Al-Fajr, 89:28-31)
That is: ‘O Soul at Rest with thy Lord, return to thy Lord, He is well pleased with thee and thou are well pleased with Him. So join My true servants and enter My garden.’ The highest spiritual condition man can achieve in this
Faith, Certainty and Insight 69 life is to be at peace with God Almighty and all his comfort, joy and delight should be centred in God. This is the condition called the heavenly life, whereby a person is granted heaven in return for his perfect devotion and loyalty. Other people await the promised heaven but such a person enjoys heaven in this very life. Arriving at this stage, a person realizes that the worship which is prescribed for him is truly a nourishment for the soul upon which his spiritual life largely depends, and that to arrive at that condition he need not wait for another life; rather he can attain it in this very life. At this point we come to realize that all the reproof that ‘Nafs-e-Lawwamah’ [the reproaching self] administers to him on his unclean life, and yet fails to rouse fully his longing for virtue and to generate real disgust against his evil desires and to bestow full power of adherence to virtue, is transformed by this urge which is the beginning of the development of the Soul at Rest. On arriving at this stage, a person becomes capable of achieving complete prosperity. All passions of the self begin to wither and a strengthening breeze begins to blow upon the soul, so that the person concerned looks upon his previous weaknesses with remorse. At that time nature and habits experience a complete transformation and the person is drawn far away from his previous condition. He is washed and cleansed, and God inscribes love of virtue upon his heart and casts out from it the impurity of vice with His own hand. All the forces of truth enter the citadel of his heart, and righteousness occupies all the battlements of his nature, and truth become victorious and falsehood lays down its arms and is put to flight. The hand of God governs his heart and he walks under God’s shadow. God Almighty has indicated all this in the following verses:
لَّا تَجِدُ قَوۡمٗا يُؤۡمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلۡيَوۡمِ ٱلۡأٓخِرِ يُوَآدُّونَ مَنۡ حَآدَّ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ وَلَوۡ كَانُوٓاْ ءَابَآءَهُمۡ أَوۡ أَبۡنَآءَهُمۡ أَوۡ إِخۡوَٰنَهُمۡ أَوۡ عَشِيرَتَهُمۡ ۚ أُوْلَـٰٓئِكَ كَتَبَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمُ ٱلۡإِيمَٰنَ وَأَيَّدَهُم بِرُوحٖ مِّنۡهُ ۖ وَيُدۡخِلُهُمۡ جَنَّـٰتٖ تَجۡرِي مِن تَحۡتِهَا ٱلۡأَنۡهَٰرُ خَٰلِدِينَ فِيهَا ۚ رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنۡهُمۡ وَرَضُواْ عَنۡهُ ۚ أُوْلَـٰٓئِكَ حِزۡبُ ٱللَّهِ ۚ أَلَآ إِنَّ حِزۡبَ ٱللَّهِ هُمُ ٱلۡمُفۡلِحُونَ
“Thou wilt not find any people who believe in Allah and the Last Day loving those who oppose Allah and His Messenger, even though they be their fathers, or their sons or their brethren, or their kindred. These are they in whose hearts Allah has inscribed true faith and whom He has strengthened with inspiration from Himself. And He will make them enter Gardens through which streams flow. Therein will they abide. Allah is well pleased with them, and they are well pleased with Him. They are Allah’s party. Hearken ye O people! it is Allah’s party who will be successful.” (Surah Al-Mujadalah, 58:23)
وَٱعۡلَمُوٓاْ أَنَّ فِيكُمۡ رَسُولَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ لَوۡ يُطِيعُكُمۡ فِي كَثِيرٖ مِّنَ ٱلۡأَمۡرِ لَعَنِتُّمۡ وَلَٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ حَبَّبَ إِلَيۡكُمُ ٱلۡإِيمَٰنَ وَزَيَّنَهُۥ فِي قُلُوبِكُمۡ وَكَرَّهَ إِلَيۡكُمُ ٱلۡكُفۡرَ وَٱلۡفُسُوقَ وَٱلۡعِصۡيَانَ ۚ أُوْلَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلرَّـٰشِدُونَ فَضۡلٗا مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَنِعۡمَةٗ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٞ
“And know that among you is the Messenger of Allah; if he were to comply with your wishes in most of the matters, you would surely come to trouble; but Allah has endeared the faith to you and has made it look beautiful to your hearts, and He has made disbelief, wickedness and disobedience hateful to you. Such indeed are those who follow the right course, Through the grace and favour of Allah. And Allah is All-Knowing, Wise.” (Surah Al-Hujurat, 49:8-9)
وَقُلۡ جَآءَ ٱلۡحَقُّ وَزَهَقَ ٱلۡبَٰطِلُ ۚ إِنَّ ٱلۡبَٰطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقٗا
“And say, ‘Truth has come and falsehood has vanished away. Falsehood does indeed vanish away fast.’” (Surah Bani Isra’il, 17:82)
These verses mean that: ‘These are the ones in whose hearts Allah has inscribed faith with His own hand and whom He has helped with the Holy Spirit.’
‘O believers, Allah has made faith attractive to you and has instilled its beauty and grace in your hearts. And He has made your hearts averse to disbelief, wickedness and disobedience and has impressed upon your hearts the repugnance for evil ways. All this has come about through the grace and favour of Allah.’
‘Truth has arrived and falsehood has fled. How could falsehood ever stand up to truth.’
All this pertains to the spiritual states which a person attains at the third stage. No one can acquire true insight unless he arrives at this condition. The fact that God inscribes faith on their hearts with His own hand and helps them with the Holy Spirit means that no one can achieve true purity and righteousness without His help. At the stage of ‘the reproaching self’, a person repents time and again, yet he keeps falling down, and begins to despair and to consider his condition beyond remedy. He remains in this situation for a period and when the appointed time comes, a light which possesses Divine power descends upon him at night or during the day. With the descent ofFaith, Certainty and Insight 71 that light, he undergoes a wonderful change and he perceives the control of a hidden hand, and beholds a wonderful world. At that time he realizes that God exists, and his eyes are filled with a light they did not possess before. The question is, how shall we discover that path and how shall we acquire that light? Be it known that in this world every effect has a cause and behind every move there is a mover. For the acquisition of every type of knowledge there is an appointed way, called the straight path. Nothing can be achieved in this world without conformity to the rules that nature has laid down in this respect from the very beginning. The law of nature teaches us that to achieve any objective there is a straight path and that the objective in question can be achieved only by following that path. For instance, if we are sitting in a dark room, the straight path for obtaining the light of the sun is for us to open the window that faces the sun. When we do that, the light of the sun instantly enters the room and illuminates it. Thus it is obvious that for the acquisition of God’s love and real grace there must be some window, and there must be an appointed method for the acquisition of pure spirituality. That way is that we should seek the straight path which leads to spirituality, just as we seek a straight path for the achievement of all other purposes. Does that method consist in seeking to meet God only through the exercise of our reason and by following our self-appointed ways? Can the doors that can only be opened by His powerful hands yield to our logic and philosophy? Can we find the Ever-Living and SelfSubsisting God through our own devices? Certainly not. The only straight path for the achievement of this purpose is that we should first devote our lives, together with all our faculties, to the cause of God Almighty, and should then occupy ourselves with supplication for meeting Him, and should thus find God through God Himself.
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 68]
Book Series: Essence of Islam (Volume 3)
Author: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (AS)
Section: Part 2: Faith, Certainty and Insight
Navigation: Book Table of Contents | « Previous: Three Categories of the Faithful | Next: A Lovely Prayer »