Socio Political Thought Of Shah WaliAllah Rahmatullahi Alaihi

SECTION XVI
Causes for Impeachment concerning
the Methods of Guidance
13 1. A discussion of the methods of guidance and the codes of law prescribed
by God for His servants, involves the question whether reward
and punishment are given with regard to them, as they are given
on the basis of the roots of the Good and the Evil, or they are given
exclusively on the basis of what has been designated as occasions,
forms or exterior modes for them. For example, if someone leaves
the Prayers of a certain time, while his heart is overwhelmed with
submission to God, shall he be punished for having left the Prayers?
Similarly, someone who performs the Prayers of a certain time, completes
all its constituents, and fulfils all its conditions in a manner
which may relieve him of the obligation, but he does not attain any
state of humility and submission to God and it does not permeate the
interior of his heart, shall he still be rewarded for such an exercise?
The discussion here does not pertain to the precept that violation of
the methods of guidance constitutes a great corruption from the point
of view of its being a detraction from the guided pattern, its opening
the gateway to sin, its being a betrayal of the community of Muslims,
and its involving a great loss to the locality, city, and the state. For
example, a dam is erected to stop a flood, and somebody comes and
makes a hole in it: he saves himself and destroys the city. But the
present discussion concerns the good or bad results which would
envelop the individual's soul as a consequence of his own acts.
133. In this respect, people of all religious traditions hold that the methods
of guidance and the codes of law themselves bring reward
and punishment in their wake. Moreover, men of profound thinking
and those well-versed in knowledge and the disciples from amongst
the Companions df Prophets (peace be upon them), also recognize
along with it, the aspect of compatibility and relationship between