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The_Savior_from_Spiritual_Error, page : 114
I had persevered thus for nearly ten years in retirement and solitude. I
had come because of necessity, from reasons which I do not enumerate,
partly immediate experience, partly demonstrative knowledge, partly
acceptance in faith, to a realization of various truths.
I saw that man was constituted of body and heart; by „heart‟ I mean the
real nature of his spirit which is the seat of his knowledge of Allah, and not
the flesh and blood which he shares with the corpse and the brute beast. I
saw that just as there is health and disease in the body, respectively
causing it to prosper and to perish, so also there is in the heart, on the one
hand, health and soundness, and `only he who comes to Allah with a sound
heart‟ (Koran 26, 89) is saved, and, on the other hand, disease, which is
eternal and other worldly destruction, as Allah Most High says, `in their
hearts is disease‟ (Koran 2, 9). I saw that to be ignorant of Allah is
destructive poison, and to disobey Him by following desire is the thing
which produces the disease, while to know Allah Most High is the life-giving
antidote and to obey Him by opposing desire is the healing medicine. I saw
too, that the only way to treat the heart, to end its disease and procure its
health, is by medicines, just as it is the only way of treating the body.
had come because of necessity, from reasons which I do not enumerate,
partly immediate experience, partly demonstrative knowledge, partly
acceptance in faith, to a realization of various truths.
I saw that man was constituted of body and heart; by „heart‟ I mean the
real nature of his spirit which is the seat of his knowledge of Allah, and not
the flesh and blood which he shares with the corpse and the brute beast. I
saw that just as there is health and disease in the body, respectively
causing it to prosper and to perish, so also there is in the heart, on the one
hand, health and soundness, and `only he who comes to Allah with a sound
heart‟ (Koran 26, 89) is saved, and, on the other hand, disease, which is
eternal and other worldly destruction, as Allah Most High says, `in their
hearts is disease‟ (Koran 2, 9). I saw that to be ignorant of Allah is
destructive poison, and to disobey Him by following desire is the thing
which produces the disease, while to know Allah Most High is the life-giving
antidote and to obey Him by opposing desire is the healing medicine. I saw
too, that the only way to treat the heart, to end its disease and procure its
health, is by medicines, just as it is the only way of treating the body.