Ch 26 — Strong Believer, Weak Believer

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

Strong Believer, Weak Believer p. 60

God is All-powerful and man is completely helpless. This helplessness is the meeting point between God and man. Acknowledging one’s helplessness make one deserving of God’s succour being granted to him. p. 60

Among human beings there are those who are strong and those who are weak, mentally as well as physically. This difference is also found among the believers, in the way they have been created. There are some who are strong believers and others who are weak believers. Referring to this difference, there is a Hadith which says: “To God, the strong believer is better and more loving than the weak believer, but there is goodness in both.” (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 2664) Now the question arises as to what is meant by goodness in both kinds of believers. The truth is that the goodness in both has two different meanings. The goodness of the strong believer is that God has created him with greater capability, and the goodness of the weak believer is that, due to his lesser ability, God has compensated him with more divine succour. It is obvious that, divine succour ranks higher than human capability. That is why, the weak believer, if he is sincere in his faith, can also, thanks to special divine succour, perform greater tasks than the strong believer. This is without doubt a good tiding for the weak believer. p. 60original + quote

Weakness is the cause of helplessness, a state in which man cannot stand by himself. God is All-powerful in the complete sense: the power of God encompasses this universe to the ultimate extent. No place is beyond His power. In such a situation, in this world man can stand only at one place, and that is one of helplessness, the level at which man’s relation with God may be established. Helplessness is the meeting point between God and man. It is only when the weak man acknowledges his helplessness that he can become deserving of God’s succour being granted to him. p. 61