38th LETTER

This letter, written to Hadji Muhammad Yûsuf Kashmîrî, informs that there is not even a jot of worldly thought in the hearts of men of Allah:

Hamd be to Allâhu ta'âlâ! Salâm to those slaves of His whom He has chosen! Any person who has a mote of worldly love or worldly interest in his heart, or to whose heart a mote of worldly thought comes, will not be blessed with the lot of knowing Allâhu ta'âlâ. The zâhir [the sense organs, the thoughts] of a person who is chosen in this respect is very far away from his bâtin [heart and soul]. From the next world he has come back to the world and mixed with people in order to be useful to others. There is nothing wrong with his talking on wordly affairs or holding fast to the causes of worldly matters. On the contary, it is very good. Thus, he fulfils human rights, is useful to men and benefits from them. Such a person's bâtin is better than his zâhir. He is like a person who sells wheat at a bazaar of barley-sellers. Others think of him as a seller of barley at the wheat-sellers' market, as they themselves are. And they deem his zâhir as better than his bâtin. They say that outwardly he looks like a man of Allah but his heart is with the world. As it is declared in the eighty-ninth âyat of A'râf Sûra, "Our Lord! Judge Thou between us and our people. Verily, Thou art the best judge!" I send my salâm to those who are on the right way and those who have been following Hadrat Muhammad 'alaihi wa alâ âlihissalawâtu wattaslîmât'.