Chapter IX: Meditation
and on, love will increase. Obaid said: Inform me of a wonder which you have seen of the Prophet. At this, Hazrat Ayesha began to weep and said: All his works are wonderful. He came to me in his appointed night, even my body touched his body. Then he said to me: O Ayesha, leave me, will you worship my Lord? He then went to a water skin, performed his ablution ^nd began to weep in his prayer, so much so that the tears wetted his beard. Then he prostrated so much that the ground underneath became wet. Thereafter he laid on one of his sides. Bilal came to call him for Fazr prayer and saw that he was weeping. He asked: O Prophet of God, why do you weep? Your past and present sins have been forgiven. He said: Woe to you, O Bilal! Who will prevent me from weeping? God revealed this verse this very night: In the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the changing of nights and days, there are surely signs for the intelligent - 3 : 1 90. Then he said: Woe to him who reads this verse and does not ponder.
The great saint Hasan Basari said: To ponder over good for an hour is better than prayer for one whole night. The saint Fazil said: To think good is like a mirror which shows you virtue and vice. The great saint Ibrahim was once asked: Why do you think for long? He said: To think of good is the brain of wisdom. The saint Sufiyan used to repeat the following poems:-
When human mind tries to think of good, For him, there is lesson in everything.
The great saint Talis said: The disciples of Jesus Christ once asked him: O Spirit of God, is there anybody like you in ihe earth at present? He said: Yes, one whose words are uttered in remembrance of God, whose silence is preserved in the thoughts of good, whose every sight gives lesson, is like me. The great saint Hasan Basari said: Talk which does not contain wisdom is frivolous, silence which is not of good thought is misguidance and the look which does not give lessons is a mere sport and play.
God says in the Quran: Soon I shall turn the minds of those from My signs, who walk upon the earth haughtily. Hazrat Hasan explained this verse and said that God restrains their hearts from good thoughts of His affairs. The Prophet said: Give your eyes a share of your divine service. They asked: O Prophet
372 THE BOOK OF CONSTRUCTIVE VIRTUES VoI-IV
of God, what is the share of eyes in divine service? He said: To look towards the Quran to ponder over it, to seek advice and to take lessons from its wonderful matters.