Gratitude to Allah and the Purification of the Heart Through Remembrance

Discourse of Hazrat Pir Sahib (RA)

Dated: 3 December 1985

Speech No. 33

﷽

فَنِعۡمَ الۡمَوۡلٰی وَ نِعۡمَ النَّصِیۡرُ

رَبِِّ اشۡرَحۡ لِیۡ صَدۡرِیۡ وَیَسِّرۡ لِیۡۤ اَمۡرِیۡ وَ احۡلُلۡ عُقۡدَۃً مِّنۡ لِّسَانِیۡ یَفۡقَہُوۡاقَوۡلِیۡ

اَللّٰهُمَّ صَلِ عَلٰی سَیّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍوَّعَلٰی اٰلِ سَیِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍوَّعَلٰی اَصْحَابِہٖ وَعَلٰی اَذْوَاجِہٖ اَجْمَعِیْنَ وَبَارِکْ وَسَلِمْ وَصَلِ عَلَیْہٖ

All praise is for Allah.

Countless thanks to Allah Almighty, the Sovereign of all kingdoms, who has once again granted us the opportunity and privilege to gather here for His pleasure, in His remembrance, and in His love. Millions upon millions of blessings and peace be upon the Leader of all Prophets, the Beloved of Allah, Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa (PBUH), through whose noble status these countless blessings have reached us.

Respected attendees,

We shall now begin the recitation of the sacred Awrad (supplications). Before doing so, it is important to understand two or three essential points so that we may truly benefit from their spiritual blessings.

Allah Almighty created mankind, and if we reflect upon every part of this universe, we realize that everything has been created to fulfill human needs. Whether it is the sun shining above or a tiny shell lying at the bottom of the sea, each creation carries immense benefit for humanity. Allah honored mankind by appointing them as His vicegerents on earth and created them solely for His worship.

Yet, despite enjoying countless divine blessings, human beings often prove to be ungrateful. Although they witness these blessings with their own eyes and experience their benefits every day, instead of expressing gratitude to the Most Merciful and Most Generous Lord, they spend their lives in heedlessness. Whatever blessings they receive, they attribute to their own abilities and achievements. Worse still, they use those very blessings in disobedience to Allah.

To remind mankind of His remembrance, Allah sent approximately 124,000 prophets from Prophet Adam (AS) to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). He revealed heavenly scriptures and finally sent the Holy Qur’an, in which He repeatedly reminds people of His countless favors while also warning them that although He grants respite, His accountability and punishment are severe for those who persist in ingratitude.

Allah declares that if people attempted to count His blessings, they would never be able to encompass them. At the same time, He also reminds us that He is severe in punishment for those who reject His favors.

Human beings live beneath Allah’s sky, upon Allah’s earth, and continuously benefit from His blessings, yet they assume that all their success is the result of their own intelligence and effort. They remain occupied either in negligence or rebellion. The longer they are granted respite, the greater their arrogance and pride become. However, history bears witness that no arrogant person has ever escaped the grasp of Allah. The greater the delay in accountability, the greater the person’s pride becomes, and consequently, the more severe the divine punishment.

For this reason, if a person is corrected quickly through hardship after committing mistakes, it is actually a blessing. But if punishment is delayed, it may become a greater misfortune because false confidence continues to grow while Allah’s displeasure increases.

The Holy Prophet (PBUH) taught that whenever a person commits a sin, a black spot appears upon the heart. As sins continue, this darkness spreads. The darker the heart becomes, the weaker the fear of Allah becomes. Conversely, the cleaner the heart remains, the stronger one’s consciousness of Allah grows. When people exceed all limits in sin, they eventually lose the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.

If someone claims that worldly success is entirely the result of personal intelligence, knowledge, and effort, then they should answer this: Who granted them their eyes, heart, mind, hands, feet, and intellect in the first place? Everything they possess is a gift from Allah. If Allah were to remove only their intellect while leaving everything else intact, their entire life would collapse. They would destroy their own wealth, harm their own children, and lose all sense of reason. Their supposed greatness would immediately turn into complete ruin.

Every person witnesses such realities daily—within themselves, within their families, within their communities, and throughout the world through everyday events. Yet heedlessness has blinded them so completely that they can no longer distinguish between truth and falsehood. They continue doing wrong while believing themselves to be right.

Regarding such people, Allah Almighty says:

اَفَلَمْ يَسِيْرُوْا فِي الْاَرْضِ فَتَكُوْنَ لَهُمْ قُلُوْبٌ يَّعْقِلُوْنَ بِهَآ اَوْ اٰذَانٌ يَّسْمَعُوْنَ بِهَا  ۚ فَاِنَّهَا لَا تَعْمَى الْاَبْصَارُ وَلٰكِنْ تَعْمَى الْقُلُوْبُ الَّتِيْ فِي الصُّدُوْرِ

(Surah Al-Hajj, Verse 46)

Translation:

“Have they not traveled through the land so that they may have hearts with which to understand or ears with which to hear? Indeed, it is not the eyes that become blind, but the hearts within the chests that become blind.”

A person may possess healthy physical eyesight, yet if repeated sins have darkened the heart, true perception disappears. Such a person loses spiritual awareness. At that stage, only Allah’s severe warning and punishment may awaken them. Otherwise, despite witnessing the signs of Allah throughout creation and hearing His guidance through His Book and His righteous servants, they continue interpreting everything according to their own desires.

The Holy Prophet (PBUH) also taught that the black spot caused by sin should be erased through sincere Istighfar (seeking Allah’s forgiveness) before it spreads across the heart.

The greatest crime is not merely committing a sin—it is no longer recognizing sin as sinful. This is the greatest misfortune.

These prescribed supplications (Wazaif) are recited so that Allah Almighty may forgive our past sins, remove the darkness from our hearts, bless us with sincere love for His Beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and protect us from the misguidance of Satan, the evil self, and worldly influences that constantly invite us toward disobedience.

Whenever such a gathering takes place, attending it should be considered a great blessing. Missing it without valid reason is a great deprivation. Traveling, making sacrifices, and setting aside worldly responsibilities in order to attend such gatherings are themselves acts of worship. Every hardship endured for the sake of Allah is worship. In fact, it is far superior to the easy and effortless acts that Satan encourages people to perform while keeping them away from gatherings of remembrance.

Therefore, with gratitude to Allah Almighty, let us now begin the recitation of the sacred supplications.

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

The Awrad-e-Naziriyyah Sharif were then recited, followed by a concluding supplication.