In the previous post in this series, Hazrat Inayat Khan begins to talk about five aspects of faith, the first of which he tells us is faith in our own impulses.
The second aspect is faith in reason. The success of great inventors such as Edison depends upon faith in reason. If they had not had this faith they would not have been able to create successfully, but by having it they made wonderful inventions.
The third aspect of faith is faith in one’s principle. Principle makes one strong, if only one has faith in it. There is a story of the young Prophet, who was taking care of the cows on a farm. When some young men of his own age came and said, ‘Muhammad, come along, we are going to town to have a good time!’ Muhammad answered, ‘No, I will take care of your cows and you go and have a good time, I won’t leave my cows.’
With this principle the Prophet began; and eventually the same principle made him what he was, so that thousands and millions of people for fourteen centuries have held the name of the Prophet as their strength and power.
And then there is faith in the ideal. Those who had a high ideal for the welfare of their nation, or their race, of humanity, held their lives cheap. To give their life was nothing to them; their ideal was always greater. Not every man has faith in his ideal, but it gives great power and uplift, and raises a man from earth to heaven.
Finally there is faith in God. People may say, ‘Is it not imagination to have faith in God?’ But he who really has faith in God can work wonders. Someone said to a Brahmin, ‘How foolish, O Brahmin, to worship an idol, calling it God!’ The Brahmin answered, ‘If you have no faith and you worship the God who is in heaven He will not hear you. But if I have faith I will make this God of stone speak to me.’
A preacher once told his audience, ‘When you speak the Name of God with true faith you can walk on the waters.’ There was a farmer standing there who was very pleased to hear this. He went home pondering upon it. Next day he went to the preacher and said, ‘I could not understand all the dogmas and morals you preached, but one thing impressed me very much. Will you do me the great honor of having dinner with me? The preacher accepted, and the farmer said he would come to fetch him the next day. This, the farmer did, and on their way they came to a river which they had to cross. So the preacher said, ‘Where is the boat?’ The farmer said, ‘Boat?’ You taught me that if we pronounced the name of God we could walk on the water! Therefore I did not take my boat but walked on the water, as you said.’ The preacher was very much afraid that he would have to walk on water, too, for he had never tried this. He said, ‘Will you do it, please? And the farmer did; but the preacher could not.
Such is the phenomenon of faith. We may say, ‘We have so much to do, so much to think about.’ But to have faith is beyond all this; it is something which words cannot explain, something which springs up from the heart and which elevates man, raising him from the earth to the sky.