Chapter VIII: Self-Examination and Self-Accounting
(9) The great sage Ibn Samah went to see the saint Daud Tai when he died and lay in his room. He said: O Daud you have imprisoned your lower self before you have been imprisoned. You have given punishment to your self before you have been punished. You will soon see the rewards of that for which you have done this. (8) It is reported of Hazrat Omar that he used to whip his feet every night and say: What action have you done today? (10) It is reported of saint Mojma that while he was looking at a roof, his sight fell on a woman. Then he promised that he would not look at the sky during his life-time. He fulfilled his promise. (11) The great sage Wahab once had a greed for something but he did not satisfy his greed. As a result, he uprooted some of hairs of his chest by way of punishment and said: Woe to you! I want your good but you want my evil. (12) Once Ibn Bashr saw the saint Daud Tai breaking his fast with bread without salt and said: It would have been better if you had taken bread with salt. He said: My self is telling me to take bread with salt for one year. Daud did not take salt till his life.
The above few examples will show how the pious and saintly persons used to give punishment to themselves. It is matter of wonder that while you give punishment to your servants and slaves and your sons and daughters for some bad conduct of theirs fearing that unless you give them punishment they would go out of your control, you overlook your worst enemies and rebels against you. The harm that is caused to you by your
Vol-IV MEDITATION AND INTROSPECTION 347
rebellious self is more than the harm caused to you by the members of your family, because their object is to gather provision for you in this world, but the object of soul is to gather next worldly provision. Had you had intelligence you must have known that the life in the next world is the real life and there is eternal bliss of God. So to give punishment to it is more necessary than to give punishment to them.
(5) Fifth Stage-Mojahadah (efforts). Mojahada is to conduct oneself against the dictates of the lover self, in other words, it is to fight against it. When you take account of yourself, you will find that you have gone far from sins. So punish yourself for past sins, bind yourself with more duties when you are bound to do your duties. The great sages of past ages used to do this. Below are some examples of this self inflictment of punishment.