“YÂ MÛSÂ! WHAT DEED HAVE YOU PERFORMED FOR ME?” (I)

Muhammad Ma’thûm Fârûqî Mujaddidî, a Walî-yi kâmil and one of the greatest scholars of India, states as follows in a passage of his twenty-ninth letter:

Allâhu ta’âlâ asked Mûsâ (Moses) ‘alaihis-salâm’: “Yâ Mûsâ! What deed have you performed for Me?” When Hadrat Mûsâ replied, “Yâ Rabbî! I have performed namâz, fasted, paid zakât, and mentioned Thine Name very often for Thee,” Allâhu ta’âlâ declared: “Performing namâz is burhân (proof, evidence, document) for you. Fasting is a shield that will protect you from Hell. Zakât will give you welcome shade in the sweltering heat of the day of mahsher (assembling of people for judgement in the world to come). And dhikr (mentioning, remembering the name of Allâhu ta’âlâ) will be a nûr (light) for you in the darkness of that day. What have you done for Me?” Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ said, “Yâ Rabbî! What is the deed which is for Thee?” Allâhu ta’âlâ declared: “Have you loved for My sake a slave of Mine whom I love? And have you looked on My enemies as your enemies as well?” Then Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ realized that the deed which Allâhu ta’âlâ loved was to love His beloved ones and to hate His enemies. As is seen, it is a symptom of love to love those who are beloved to the beloved one and to feel enmity towards his enemies. This love is not something within the lover’s willpower; nor is the concomitant animus. They are spontaneous. Other acts of worship, by contrast, necessitate wish and intention. People loved by the beloved one appear beautiful to the lover. And his enemies seem ugly. Everyone knows that the same rule applies to all the cases of worldly love. If a person says that he loves another person, he will not be believed if he does not feel hostility towards that person’s enemies. On the contrary, his claim will be interpreted as hypocrisy.