The blood shed by sacrificing one’s haram desires is the horizon of becoming a saint. Taqwa means to curb the fulfilling of the desires of the heart. Shed the blood of all your haram desires and all the four horizons of your heart will become red. The sun of this world rises from one horizon, that is from the east. But when the saints adopt piety by sacrificing all their haram desires and enduring grief in the path of Allah, then all the horizons of the heart become red and the sun of A...

Hadhrat Abu Uthman (Radhiyallaho anho) says: “I was once sitting under a tree with Hadhrat Salmaan (Radhiyallaho anho). He caught hold of a dry branch of the tree and shook it till all its leaves fell off. He then said to me, “O, Abu Uthman! (Radhiyallaho anho) Will you not ask me why I am doing this?” “Do tell me,” I entreated. He said, “The Apostle of Allah Sallallaho alaihe wasallam had done exactly like this before me, while I was with him under a tree. 

He Sallallaho alaihe w...