Chapter II: Patience and Gratefulness
CLASS OF FEAR: Fear is good, specially God-fear with which He guides His servants to knowledge and action, so that they may attain nearness of God. As a lower animal requires a stick, so also a boy. So fear has got increase, decrease and middle state and the middle state of fear is the best. The fear which is weak can be called modesty. Too much fear leads to despair and prevent actions. It grows disease, weakness, senselessness, loss of intellect and memory. The object of fear is to give encouragement to actions. The Prophet narrated the causes of hope, as excessive fear leads to despair. The benefits of fear is to take care, to give up unlawful things and doubtful things, to make efforts for divine service and to engage in Zikr, Fikr and such other things which take one near God.
Fear generates avoidance of undesirable things which are of different classes. One kind of undesirable thing is naturally an object of dislike such as fire. Another kind of undesirable thing leads to dangers and sorrows. A patient does not like fruits as they may lead him to death.
Of all the fears, the greatest is the fear of ultimate end as it is the greatest object of thought and above all fears. What is in fate is known only to God and it is the result of Taqdir. For instance a king has written an order. Nobody knows whether the order is
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for killing him or for giving him rewards. So until he receives the order, he keeps himself busy with thought. The Prophet once stood on a pulpit and said after catching his right hand: This is God's book wherein all the names of the dewellers of paradise and the names of their fathers have been written. Then he caught his left hand and said: This is God's book. Therein the names of the dewellers of Hell and the names of their fathers have been written. The fortunate sometimes will do the works of the unfortunate till the people will say: They are included within the unfortunate people. Before their death, they will be rescued by God even though for a short while. The unfortunate will do the works of the fortunate till the people will say: They appertain to the fortunate ones but God will take them out of fortune even though for a short while. The fortunate are those whose names were recorded as fortunate in the original record of deeds and the unfortunate are those whose names were recorded as unfortunate in the original records deeds. Action will be judged by the condition of the ultimate end.