O Son !

An act of worship performed without ikhlâs will not yield any
benefit or thawâb. Ikhlâs means to do everything for the purpose
of pleasing Allâhu ta’âlâ. Ikhlâs is a natural fruit of not loving
anything but Allâhu ta’âlâ and loving Allâhu ta’âlâ alone. The
heart’s loving Him alone is called the heart’s tasfiya (purification)
or the heart’s itmi’nân (tranquility) or Fanâ Fillâh. [1] The twentyeighth
âyat of Ra’d Sûra declares that the only way to follow so
that the heart will attain itmi’nân is to always remember Him and
to meditate on His Greatness and His blessings. The human nature
embodies three different forces: ’aql (mind, wisdom), heart, and
nafs. ’Aql and nafs dwell in man’s brain. And the place of heart is
(the piece of flesh which also is called) heart. The ’Aql is busy
thinking of useful things such as schooling, scientific knowledge,
calculations of art, owning a property, and earning the Hereafter.
To think of them or not is its choice. It devolves on the ’aql to
attain these thoughts and on man to attain this choice. In fact, it
yields plenty of thawâb. It is very harmful for thoughts that are
harâm to infiltrate the heart. The nafs always thinks of harâms and
of doing harmful things. The heart has no thoughts inherent in it.
The ’aql’s and the nafs’s thoughts of harâm things that incubate in
the five senses reach the brain and thence the heart, infiltrating it
and undermining its health. It is difficult to liberate the heart from
such thoughts. It will remember and think of Allâhu ta’âlâ if these
thoughts do not come to it. That is, the heart will not stay without
thoughts. The heart’s remembering Allâhu ta’âlâ is (a blessing)
attainable by pronouncing His Name very frequently or by seeing
a Walî. If a Walî cannot be found, you read a biography of a Walî
you have heard of and thereby know and love that Walî. You
practise râbita with him. In other words, you always think of him.
It is stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf that seeing a Walî will cause one to
remember Allâhu ta’âlâ. (For details in this subject, please see the
twenty-fifth chapter of the fourth fascicle, and also the chapter
with the same number of the sixth fascicle, of Endless Bliss.)
There is a book of three volumes entitled Maktûbât and
written by Imâm Rabbânî Mujaddid elf-i-thânî Ahmad Fârûqî
Serhendî Hindî. There are three hundred and thirteen (313) letters
in the first volume, ninety-nine (99) letters in the second volume,
and hundred and twenty-four (124) letters in the third one. A
letter from the first volume translates into English as follows:
[1] Please see the sixth chapter of the sixth fascicle of Endless Bliss.
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