Gems of the Promised Messiah & Imam Mahdi (as) – The Capacity to be Influenced & the Cure for Spiritual Maladies

It should also be borne in mind that listeners are influenced according to their capacity in a manner that is commensurate with the nature and power of the teacher himself – so long as their capacity has potential. Those people who have a greater affinity with God Almighty and have a fear for Him will be influenced more than others. The proof of this is that the soul makes haste and races uncontrollably towards God Almighty so that it may be purified. If one has a stronger connection with the soul that incites one to commit evil and is ruled by it, the disposition feels an anxiety, strain and aversion to listening to the words of a divine reformer. Such people do not feel comfortable sitting with them and listening to their words, and even feel disturbed. When an individual feels such restlessness and discontent in listening to the words of a divine preacher, it is crucial for them to begin worrying about their soul, for such a soul has reached the edge of the pit of destruction. 

What could be more destructive in this world than feeling an aversion or distaste in listening to God’s teachings? What is the cure to such feelings? The cure is to seek forgiveness from Allah and to turn towards God, and pray for one’s sins to be forgiven, and then to continue in this without fail. If this remedy is employed, I can say with surety that their displeasure will turn into a pleasure and their distaste will turn into a liking. Then, the same soul that would flee from God’s presence and was averse to listening to God’s teachings, will race towards Him in the likeness of a rolling ball. 

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), Malfuzat – Volume II (Farnham, Surrey: Islam International Publications Ltd., 2019), 117-118.