Pearls of Wisdom 323

1. Real faith is having complete trust in God. "It is the belief in the wisdom which comes from the unseen." Such certainty can only be attained through the knowledge that emerges with divine help.

2. If you devote yourself to God in this world, He will admit you among His chosen servants in the hereafter. Such devotion, however, demands sacrifice and self-denial, the two instruments that make union with God possible.

3. We cannot do away with our daily nourishment, but let us not wallow in gluttony.

4. God fills the hearts of those who love Him with peace, thus enabling them to endure afflictions with ease. And they also plead, "We shall bear torment (of this world) with joy, but never shall we be able to endure being separated from You. When Your magnificence illumines our hearts, all our pain, our sorrows seem meaningless and vanish."

4. Do not seek sustenance from people. God is the real Provider. If He wills a certain person to be the means of your livelihood, do not consider that person to be in control of your destiny. Have faith and be certain in the knowledge that your daily bread does not depend upon any mortal, but upon God who created all.

5. "I realized what was hidden within me and conversed with You in secret. Though we were united, we still were apart. Though awe hid You from my searching eyes, ecstasy brought You close to my innermost being."

6. Those who truly know God worship Him with all their resolve; they concede to His ubiquitous bounty and obey all His commandments with the utmost fervor. As their adoration grows so does their obedience, since they are aware that this world is a madhouse and its inhabitants madmen wearing shackles of lust and chains of sin. [Shaykh Ali al Hujwiri]