Gems of the Promised Messiah & Imam Mahdi (as) – Emotion, Weeping and Lamentation

Such people deem that the satisfaction and comfort of the soul lies in shedding a few tears and letting out a few cries. Often, when reading a novel, a person will reach a painful turn in the plot, and even though they know that this is a made-up tale of fiction, they are unable to control their emotions, and at times they will burst into tears. This demonstrates that mere weeping and crying also, in itself, has no value. I have heard that during the reign of the Chughtai kings, there were people who would wager on the fact that they would certainly make their audience cry or laugh. Now we have a clear example in countless sorts of novels. On reading certain novels, a person will be unable to contain their laughter, while certain others uncontrollably move a person’s heart to feel pain, even though the readers know that these are made-up stories and tales of fiction.

This evidently demonstrates that man is susceptible to deception, and this happens when a person is unable to distinguish between the cravings of the baser self and spiritual objectives. There is a very large number from among the people of this world who are bereft of the true signs of spirituality. Although their speech has nothing to do with divine insights and verities, yet they are able to make the people weep. The people do not weep because these speakers are blessed with knowledge of divine insights and verities, or because they are coloured in the hue of servitude to God, and fearful and in awe of the greatness and glory of God’s divinity when they speak. In fact, at the depth of this phenomenon is what I have just mentioned in the context of novels and stories. These people themselves are enthralled by their baser desires, and mere weeping in this manner has no benefit.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), Malfuzat – Volume II (Tilford, Surrey: Islam International Publications Ltd., 2019), 123-124.