Chapter V: Oneness of God and Trust in God
Answer. The medicine is to know that bad conjecture is the prompting of the devil and good thought comes from God. God says : The devil shows you fear of poverty and orders you to do evil acts, but God promises you from Him forgiveness and abundance — 2 : 268. A certain sage saidt: He who lives with bad conjecture is greedy. When cowardice, weakness of mind and other outward causes unite in him, bad conjecture prevails over him and God-reliance completely takes leave of him. It is reported that a sage used to stay in the mosque and had no means of livelihood. The Imam of the mosque said to him one day : If you earn. It would be good for you. He did not give any reply to him. Thus the Imam told him thrice. At the fourth time, the sage said to him : A Jew living by the side of the mosque promised me two pieces of loaf daily. The Imam said : If his promise is true., your stay in the mosque is good for you. The sage said : O brother Imam had you not been Imam and not waited before God and the people with defect in Tauhid, it would have been better for you, as you have put greater preference to the promise of the Jew than the promise of God. The Imam of the mosque once asked a worshiper : Where do you get your food ? He said : O Imam, turn a little, Let me revise my prayer which I prayed behind you. God is the trustee of the provision of all.
(2) It is reported that Hazrat Ibrahim Adham had a servant named'Huzaifa Marashi. People asked him : What wonderful act of Ibrahim Adham have you seen? He said : We were in a journey to Mecca for several days during which we could procure no food. We then reached Kufa and took shelter to a big mosque there. Ibrahim looked at me and said : O Huzaifa,, you are striken with hunger. I confessed it. He said : Bring me an inkpot and paper. I brought them to him and he wrote . In the name of the Most Beneficent and Most Compassionate God. Thou art our object of love in every circumstance, and the goal of everybody is Thou. Then he wrote these verses : I praise Thee I am grateful to Thee, I remember Thee, I am hungry, I am thirsty, I am without cloth. I am guarantee for the above three out of six? O Lord, Thou art guarantee for the rest three. My praise for Three is like a flame of fire. Protect Thy servant from entry into the Fire.
Then he handed over the paper to me and said : Go out with this paper, don't mind anything except God and hand over the
220 TAUHID AND TAWAKKAL Vol-IV