Hundred Questions - Preface (Part 3)
Preface (Part 3)
In the Name Of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
O the True Lord! O the Omnipotent! From Your infinite mercy grant this most humble servant success and courage to recognise Your favours and to thank You for them, so that he may be able to thank You to some extent in letter, spirit and practice for the external and internal favours of Your holy religion. O Sustainer! How wondrous is the rain of Your favours which pours day and night upon the souls of mu'mins! And how miraculous is Your alchemic glance!
O my Lord! Enrich me with the hidden wealth of humility and submission! Grant me a peaceful and comfortable place in the destination of merging (manzil-i fana) of Your delightful love and open the door of the treasure of the secrets of recognition (ma`rifat) for me so that I may completely forget the torments of the world being engaged in thanking You for Your everlasting favours.
Praise belongs to Allah that the third part of Hundred Questions has now been completed and is ready to be calligraphed and printed, and God willing, the fourth part is also about to be completed very soon.
I am sure that Hundred Questions will be of great importance among my books, for it contains well grounded and satisfactory answers to selected questions of the great jama`at of a vast country like North America.
The sound and golden principle of true knowledge should be ever remembered that, if a question is answered correctly and it contains the full light of valid logic, knowledge, wisdom (hikmat) and ta'wil (i.e. esoteric meaning), and is in accordance with spiritual guidance, it solves not only the desired question, but in its light a wise person can also solve numerous other questions. Thus, it can be justifiably claimed, without the slightest exaggeration, that Hundred Questions in reality contains solutions to thousands of questions. For the concept of true knowledge is like that of a tree, which has a trunk and a few thick branches, and then by ramification of these branches, spreads into numerous other branches. Knowledge has the same order and constitution as a tree. Like the trunk and the thick branches, if the answer of a question is provided with sound and substantial knowledge, [in its light] the innumerable branches of the questions are solved automatically.
Another example of this reality that according to a wise man questions are basically interlinked, is that when an ordinary person presents a list of several questions you will realise, if you look carefully, that because of ignorance he has repeated the one basic question several times in different ways.
In any case, whatever virtues of knowledge and wisdom are contained in Hundred Questions, they belong to my Lord and Master, the Imam of the time, salawatu'llahi `alayhi wa- salamuhu, who is the fountainhead of the light of guidance and the source of knowledge and wisdom; and if there are any shortcomings in it, they belong to me. For, without his kindness, I am nothing.
Khanah-yi Hikmat and the organization of my `azizan are my Lord's precious gift to me. Hundreds of thousands of thanks are due to the Sustainer of the world, that we are endeavouring to perform the sacred and pure service of spreading knowledge with the assistance of this sacred organization. God willing, our well being in both worlds lies in this service.
Our esteemed and wise members are aware of the fact that in this world no wealth except knowledge, can reach all without paucity; and in spending it there is ever increasing reward. Indeed, it is only the wealth of knowledge, which is ever reaching as well as everlasting.
In spreading the light of knowledge, not only do mu'mins and Muslims benefit but the mental confusions of the entire humankind can also be removed, in pursuit of which the great nations of the world are conducting research. In the future this research is going to be conducted on a higher level.
Now as a result of scientific progress, distances on the terrestrial globe have shrunk next to nothing, far-flung countries have come very close to each other, and the people of the world wish to know one another in a new light. Should we sit silent in such a situation?
Each nation of the world has certain useful and specific material things, such as gold, silver, etc., and utilise them for worldly gains considering them their national capital. However, the special and tremendous thing or capital, which our jama`at has is not material, it is rather spiritual; that is, the true knowledge which is also called luminous guidance. This knowledge and guidance is our greatest capital. Therefore, it is necessary that we pay greater and greater attention to this wealth and try to gain benefit from it and let others benefit from it too.
I pray that the Omnipotent Lord, the Provider of desires, may grant success in their virtuous religious and worldly aims to all those who participate in the service of knowledge. This prayer is not confined only to the words coined by the tongue, but is also in the subtle aspirations of the heart and soul. I pray that each subject, paragraph, sentence, word and letter of this book may pray with silent language: "O God, in Your infinite mercy grant the success and eminence of both worlds to these `azizan who have participated in the cultivation of this evergreen rose garden! Amin, O the Sustainer of the worlds!"
A humble servant,
The Author.
August 5, 1978.
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