The Essence of Islam – Volume IV — Page 246
246 Essence of Islam-IV all your faculties may become the means for the manifestation of pure intentions and thoughts and passions and your heart's desires, so that your good actions may attain perfection. For that which springs up in the heart and remains confined to the heart will not lead you to any worthy status. Establish the great- ness of God Almighty in your hearts and keep His Glory before you eyes. Remember that there are ap- proximately five hundred commandments in the Holy Qur'an. God has prepared a spiritual banquet for you with reference to your every limb, faculty, form, age, every stage of your intelligence, your nature, your ef- fort in His path, and your individual and collective conditions. Accept the invitation to this banquet with gratitude and eat of all the dishes that have been pre- pared for you and derive benefit from all. I tell you truly that he who evades a single one of these com- mandments will be accountable on the Day of Judgement. If you seek salvation, adopt the ways of the humble and carry the yoke of the Holy Qur'an with meekness. The wicked will be ruined and the re- bellious will be hurled into hell. But he who bends his neck humbly will be saved from death. Do not wor- ship God Almighty on the condition of worldly benefits, for there is a pitfall in the way of such think- ing. Worship Him in the conviction that it is an obligation which you owe to your Creator. Worship of God should become your very life, and the purpose of your good deeds should be that the true Beloved