13 - Allahu ta'ala gives favors, blessings, gifts that is, His kindness reach everybody every moment, no matter whether he is good or evil. Without discriminating, He sends everybody property, children, food, the right way to Islam, guidance, safety, and every goodness.

The difference is in the way people accept and receive Allah's gifts, or in their not being able to receive them. It is declared in the thirty-third Ayat of Surat-un-Nahl:

"Allahu ta'ala does not torment or do injustice to His born servants (men). They treat themselves cruelly and torment themselves with their own evil thoughts and loathsome deeds that draw them to torments and sufferings."

As a matter of fact, while the sun shines over the laundryman and over the linen in the same manner, it tans the man's face, while whitening the linen.

[By the same token, though it shines over the apple and over the pepper in the same manner, it reddens and sweetens the apple, yet it reddens and makes bitter the pepper. Though the sweetness and the bitterness are caused by the rays of the sun, the difference between them is not from the sun; it is from themselves. Because Allahu ta'ala pities all people very much, more than a mother's mercy upon her child, He has declared in the Qur'an al-karim how every person, every family, every society and every nation, all over the world, in each century should act in each of their undertakings, in which way they should run their activities, and what they should abstain from in order to be comfortable in this and the next worlds. The Ahl as-sunnat scholars learnt all these with their keen insight, and, writing millions of books, they communicated them to the whole world. This means to say that Allahu ta'ala has not left people free in their actions. Consequently, there is not a place left on the earth where Islam has not been conveyed. Islam cannot be separated from worldly affairs. Attempting to do so means to strive to destroy Islam and the Muslims from the earth?]

The reason why people will not attain the blessings of the hereafter is because they turn away from Him. He who turns away will certainly get nothing. A container with a covered brim will certainly not get April's rain. Yes, many people who have turned away still seem to live with worldly blessings and so they are considered as not being deprived. But these are given to them as a reward for their struggling for this world. However, things that are regarded as worldly blessings are, in actual fact, the seeds of torment and calamity. They are disasters which Allahu ta'ala deceptively gives their owners by misrepresenting them as blessings. As a matter of fact, it is declared in the fifty-sixth ayat of Surat-ul-Muminun, "Do disbelievers presume that we are doing them a favor or are helping them by giving them property and many children? Do they say that we are rewarding them because they disbelieve my Prophet and dislike the Islamic religion? No, it is not so. They are wrong. They do not understand that these are not blessings, but disasters." Then, the worldly things that are given to those whose hearts have turned away from Allahu ta'ala are all desolation and calamity. They are like the sweetmeats given to the diabetic.

[The heart is a force existing in the piece of flesh which is (also) called heart (qalb). As for the soul; it occupies the whole body. When a heart wants to follow his nafs and commit disbelief or sins, if Allahu ta'ala pities that person, He does not will him to commit disbelief and sins. So he cannot do them. If He does not pity him, He wills him to commit the sins and creates them, and then punishes him. Therefore, the reason why a man is drawn to torments and disasters is due to his own behavior; that is, he follows his nafs.

Question: If Allahu ta'ala did not create the nafs, then people would have been free from being deceived. Nobody would have committed bad deeds and all would have gone to Paradise. Would it not be better?

Answer: The creation of the nafs is intended for man's living, multiplying and working in the world, and for their earning thawab of Jihad for the Hereafter. Allahu ta'ala created the nafs for many reasons. On the other hand, pitying all men, He created 'aql (reason, wisdom) in them. He also sent down commands and prohibitions so that everyone could stop following his nafs, control it, avoid its harms, and thereby live in comfort. The 'aql is a power which examines and distinguishes the good and bad influences coming from the brain, satan, and the nafs. During this process, if it can choose the good, it is called ''Aql-i salim'. Allahu ta'ala, by means of sending prophets, also informed His born servants of what is good and useful, what is bad and harmful, and that all the desires of the nafs are bad. The aql can discriminate between the desires of the nafs and the things which were determined to be useful by the Prophets, and communicate this realization to the heart. If the heart prefers the thoughts which came from the aql, the desires of nafs are not fulfilled; that is, you will not let your limbs do that action. If one prefers and wishes to do the deeds which are said to be good according to the Shariat, one will attain happiness. The process of preferring and wishing good or evil with the heart is called 'Kasb.' Human limbs of movement depend on the brain, and the brain depends on the heart. They act compatibly with the orders of the heart. The heart is a center wherein all the influences coming from the sense organs, the spirit, the nafs, and Satan are accumulated. Therefore, if the heart follows the 'aql, creation of the nafs will not prevent people from attaining eternal blessings.].