Ch 3 — The Omnipotent God and Helpless Man

Badges mark quoted or attributed material (Qur'an, hadith, another author, an opposing view). Unbadged passages are Maulana Wahiduddin Khan's own words.

Contents (44 chapters)

1. Foreword
2. Ch 1 — The Majesty of God in the Vast Universe
3. Ch 2 — The Consciousness in Human Nature of God's Existence
4. Ch 3 — The Omnipotent God and Helpless Man
5. Ch 4 — Glorification of God
6. Ch 5 — Consciousness in Nature
7. Ch 6 — Limitless Majesty of God
8. Ch 7 — Relationship with God
9. Ch 8 — Two Aspects of God-Realization
10. Ch 9 — The Importance of the Fear of God
11. Ch 10 — Loving God the Most
12. Ch 11 — Love, Obedience
13. Ch 12 — Love of God
14. Ch 13 — Closeness to God
15. Ch 14 — Two Levels of Realization (Maarifah)
16. Ch 15 — Making God One's Supreme Concern
17. Ch 16 — Submission to God
18. Ch 17 — Acknowledgement of God
19. Ch 18 — Cause of the Failure to Love God
20. Ch 19 — Praise Be to God (Alhamdulillah)
21. Ch 20 — The Source of the Love of God
22. Ch 21 — The Price of the Love of God
23. Ch 22 — Strong, Emotional Attachment to God
24. Ch 23 — Real Love, Relative Love
25. Ch 24 — Two Categories of Paradise
26. Ch 25 — Intense Love of God
27. Ch 26 — Strong Believer, Weak Believer
28. Ch 27 — People Worth Envying
29. Ch 28 — Sacred Narration
30. Ch 29 — A Case of Exceptional Mercy
31. Ch 30 — God in Our Hearts
32. Ch 31 — The Remembrance of God
33. Ch 32 — Two Lifestyles
34. Ch 33 — The Power of Helplessness
35. Ch 34 — Crying in Remembrance of God
36. Ch 35 — The Spirit of Religion
37. Ch 36 — God's Pleasure, Man's Pleasure
38. Ch 37 — Initial Hamd (Praise), Ultimate Hamd
39. Ch 38 — Thankfulness and Acknowledgement
40. Ch 39 — The High Degree of the Divine Experience
41. Ch 40 — The Feelings of Worship
42. Ch 41 — The Experience of God
43. Ch 42 — Seeking God's Pleasure
44. Ch 43 — In the Company of God

The Omnipotent God and Helpless Man p. 12

Only those men and woman have the right to live in this world who accept their position of helplessness vis-à-vis the All-Powerful God. This helplessness leads to humility and the voluntary acknowledgement of the higher truth. p. 12

The relation between God and man is not that God is the whole and man is a part of Him or God is the ocean and man is a drop in it. All such relations are wholly baseless. The truth is that the relation between God and man is that God is everything and man, in relation to God, is nothing. God is self-existing, whereas man is totally, and in every respect, a creature which has come into existence by the command of God. The special virtue of man is that it is endowed with consciousness. Man illustrates the phenomenon of conscious helplessness. And, without doubt, there is nothing greater than this. This is the real value of man. Man is a unique creature who presents another dimension of conscious helplessness as compared to conscious Power. He proves to be egoless as compared to the Divine Ego. p. 12

This conscious helplessness is man’s greatest asset. This is the greatest discovery for man. When any man or woman speaks in the language of helplessness, they are making the right use of words as compared to those men and women who speak in the language of superiority such as pride, arrogance, self-centeredness, selfishness, etc. That is when they make the wrong use of their language. In this world, only those men have the right to live who pay its price and this price is humility and helplessness. Without paying this price of helplessness, living in this world is without doubt equal to committing a crime. p. 13

Helplessness is in fact another name for accepting the highest form of reality. Helplessness is not something to be done out of compulsion. Helplessness is in fact the positive feelings which are produced by the voluntary acknowledgement of the higher truth. There is no passivity about helplessness. It is a far more active state than anything else. p. 13