In short, to cleanse and purify this House of God from idols, a jihad is required. I am to show you the way of this jihad and I assure you that if you act upon this, you will crush these idols. The way I show you is not of my own improvisation; in fact, God has commissioned me to inform you of it. What is the way? Obey me and follow me. This voice is not a new voice. To purge Mecca of its idols, even the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
قُلۡ اِنۡ کُنۡتُمۡ تُحِبُّوۡنَ اللّٰہَ فَاتَّبِعُوۡنِیۡ یُحۡبِبۡکُمُ اللّٰہُ
‘‘Say, ‘If you love Allah, follow me: then will Allah love you.’’’
In the same manner, if you follow me, you shall grow able to break your inner idols and purify your breast of the multitude of idols that fill it. There is no need for 40-day retreats in order to purify your soul. The Companionsra of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, did not engage in such retreats, or perform the Sufi “invocation of the saw” [dhikr-e-arra], or engage in meditative practices of “negation and affirmation” [nafi-o-asbat], and so on.
Quite the contrary, they had something entirely different at their disposal. They were engrossed in obedience to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. The divine light that the Holy Prophetsa possessed was carried to the hearts of the Companionsra through the arteries of obedience, and would crush all thoughts that were besides Allah.
Instead of darkness, their breasts would be filled with divine light. Bear well in mind that even today, the same state of affairs is applicable. Until your heart receives the divine light which is conveyed through the channel of the Divine, your soul cannot be purified. The breast of man is the place where divine light descends and this is why it is referred to as the House of Allah, as it were. The important task is none other than to shatter the idols that sit within it, until nothing but Allah, and Allah alone remains. It is narrated in a hadith that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
اللہ اللہ فی اصحابی
“Nothing but Allah, and Allah alone resides in the hearts of my companions.”
Allah being the sole entity that resides in one’s heart does not imply that a person ought to subscribe to the concept of Oneness of Being (wahdat-ul-wujud), suggesting, that every dog and donkey in the world is Allah, God-forbid. The actual intent is to allude to the fact that in every action of man, the pleasure of Allah Almighty ought to be the sole objective that is sought, and nothing else. This rank can never be attained without the grace of Allah Almighty.
بر کریماں کار ہا دشوار نیست
“No task is difficult for the valiant.”
(Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas, Malfuzat, Vol. 1, pp. 195-196)