And Dhu'l-Nūn, when he went forth wrathful and thought that We would not have power over him. Then he called out in the darknesses, “There is no god but Thou, glory be to Thee! Surely I am one of the wrongdoers.” So We responded to him and delivered him from sorrow. God has friends who would begin to lament from the lack of trial if for the blink of an eye the as- sistance of the army of trial were cut off from their days-just as the folk of the world grieve at the lack of blessings, they begin to wail from the lack of trial. The more they see the blows of the times and of trial, the more they are passionate for their trial. The hotter the flames of their passion, then, like moths, the more they are entranced by their trouble. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, may the pain I have never get better! This pain is right for me. When someone is in pain and content with pain, what is the reckoning? O God, my story is this that I recount. What is the answer to this poor wretch stricken by pain?” The tale they tell about the days and the state of that exalted one of the road, that chosen one of the King, Jonah the prophet, has exactly this attribute. He was a man cleansed by the crucible of trial, ground down by the millstone of tribulation, his head struck by the whip of rebuke without special favor. The more his liver was turned into kabob in the incense-burner of trial, the more he became passionate for his trial, for when he was shown the moon-like beauty of passion for the Haqiqah, he was shown it in the street of trial and the room of tribulation. The traditions narrate that “When God loves a servant, trial is poured down all over him.” Riẓwān and all the slave-boys are servants of the dust under the feet of the folk of trial. The beginningless welcome and the unseen request are prepared in the name of the folk of trial. The divine love is the food of the secret cores of the folk of trial. The lordly gentleness and mercy are trustees specific to the folk of trial.
