3rd Ramadhan 1430H (Ramadhan Tausiyah by Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani)

Bismillah.

There is no escape from trial and tribulation, especially for those who make pretentious claims. Were it not for tribulation and trial, many people would lay claim to saintship (wilaya). This is why a certain wise man said: "Tribulation has been put in charge of saintship, so that it cannot be pretended" One of the marks of the saint (wali) is his patience with the insults of creatures and his tolerant attitude toward them. The saints (awliya) turn a blind eye to what they see people doing, and they turn a deaf ear to what they hear from them. They make them a present of their honor and dignity. "Your love of the thing that makes you blind and deaf."

They love the Lord of Truth so they are blind and deaf to any but Him. They relate to creatures with pleasant speech, friendliness and courtesy, although they are sometimes angry with them out of zeal for Allah and in accord with His anger. They are physicians, who are aware that for every sickness there is a remedy. The physician does not treat all sick people with the same medicine. As far as their hearts and inner contents (ma'ani) are concerned, in the presence of the Lord of Truth they are like the Companions of the Cave (ashab al-kahfi). In the case of the latter, it was Gabriel who turned them this way and that, while in the case of these others, it is the hand of power and mercy and grace that turns them. The hand of love turns their hearts and conveys them from state (hal) to state. They leave their interest in this world to seekers of this world and their interest in the hereafter to seekers of the hereafter, while their Lord belongs to them. They are not stingy with anything. If worldly things are sought from them, and they happen to have them, they give them freely. If they are asked for the reward of the hereafter, they give it freely. They give worldly goods to the poor among them, and give the reward of the hereafter to those who fall short in seeking it. They leave the created (Muhdith) for themselves. They leave the shell, because everything apart from the Lord of Truth is a shell, while the quest for Him and nearness to Him is the kernel.

Note: Extracts from lectures given by Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani in Ramadhan 545 A.H. Reference: The Sublime Revelation (Al-fath ar-Rabbani) Translated from the Arabic by Muhtar Holland.