The Supplications of Yunus and Ayyūb (as)

The Supplication of Ayyūb (as)

For example, when a person secretly commits a shameful sin and would feel deeply ashamed if others came to know of it, the existence of angels and spiritual beings becomes difficult for him to bear. He may even, on the basis of the slightest indication, develop an inclination to deny their existence.

Or when a person commits a grave sin by which he deserves the torment of Hell, and does not protect himself against it through repentance, then upon hearing warnings concerning Hell he will wish with all his heart and soul that Hell did not exist. He may even, on the basis of the slightest indication and doubt, find the courage to deny the existence of Hell.

Or, for example, when a person who would be saddened if even his insignificant employer reprimanded him for a small negligence fails to perform his obligatory prayers and neglects other duties of worship, he will experience a deep unease because of his laziness before the repeated commands of the Sultan of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity. Because of this unease, he will wish that such obligations did not exist. From this wish there arises within him an inclination to deny Allah, from which a thought of hostility toward Allah awakens. If a doubt concerning the existence of Allah enters his heart, he will be inclined to cling to it as though it were a decisive proof. Thus a great door to ruin will be opened before him.

That foolish person does not realize that, through his denial, he makes himself the target of spiritual burdens millions of times more severe than the small difficulty involved in fulfilling his obligations toward Allah. In other words, he accepts the bite of a snake in order to escape the bite of a mosquito.

These three examples should be taken as a means of reflection, so that the secret behind the verse

بَلْ رَانَ عَلٰى قُلوُبِهِمْ

may be understood.

The Second Point

As was explained in The Twenty-Sixth Word concerning the mystery of qadar, people have no right to complain in the face of calamities and illnesses for three reasons.

The First Reason: Allah has made the bodily garment with which He has clothed the human being a display of His artistry. In order to show the manifestations of His various Names, He has made the human being a model upon which He cuts, alters, and shapes that bodily garment. Just as the Name Ash-Shāfī requires the existence of illnesses, so too the Name Ar-Razzāq requires the existence of hunger.

مَالِكُ الْمُلْكِ يَتَصَرَّفُ فِى مُلْكِهِ كَيْفَ يَشَاۤءُ