The Ninth Letter

In His Name, be He glorified!

And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.(17:44)

[Again part of a letter he sent to the same sincere student of his.]

S e c o n d l y :  Your success, endeavour, and eagerness in spreading the lights of the Qur’an are a divine bestowal,  a wonder  of the Qur’an,  a dominical (rabbânî) favour.  I  congratulate  you!  Now  that  we  have  come  to  a discussion  of  wonder- working, bestowal, and favour, I shall tell you one of the differences between wonder- working and bestowal. It is like this:

So long as there is no necessity for it, to display wonder-working is harmful. Whereas to make known bestowal is to make known a divine bounty. If someone honoured with wonder-working knowingly manifests an extraordinary matter and his evil-commanding soul is persistent, then since he relies on himself and on his soul and what he has disclosed and falls into pride, it may be that Almighty God is drawing him on by at first granting him success. If he displays a wondrous act unknowingly; for  example,  a  person  has  an  unvoiced  question  and  involuntarily  he  gives  an appropriate answer and afterwards realizes this, it increases his confidence, not in himself but in his Lord and Sustainer. He says: “I have a Preserver who is training me better than I could myself,” and this increases his reliance on God. It is a harmless sort of wonder-working. He is not obliged to conceal it but should not advertize it intentionally,  because of pride. For since it is apparently associated with the human power to act, he may ascribe it to himself. When it comes to bestowal, it is sounder than the second sort of wonder-working,  the sound sort, and in my opinion is more elevated. To make it known it is to make known a bounty. The power to act has no connection with it, and the soul does not ascribe it to itself.