| What wisdom
does it spring from, Adam (Upon
whom be peace) being expelled
from Paradise and some of
mankind, the sons of Adam, being
sent to Hell? T
h e A n s w e r : The wisdom of
it concerns the charging of
duties; Adam was sent charged
with such a duty that the
unfolding of all mankind’s
spiritual progress and the
revealing of all mankind’s
potentialities and man’s
essential nature being a
comprehensive mirror to all the
Divine Names, are the results of
it. If Adam had remained in
Paradise, his rank would have
been fixed like that of the
angels; man’s potentialities
would not have unfolded. In any
case, the angels, whose rank is
fixed, are numerous, and there is
no need for man to perform that
sort of worship. Indeed, since
Divine wisdom required a realm of
responsibility appropriate to the
potentialities of man, who would
traverse infinite degrees, he was
expelled from Paradise for his
well-known sin - sin being the
requirement of man’s nature and
contrary to that of the angels.
That is to say, just as Adam
being expelled from Paradise was
pure wisdom and pure mercy, so
too is it just and right that the
unbelievers should be sent to
Hell.
As is
mentioned in the Third Indication
in the Tenth Word, the unbeliever
only committed one sin in a short
life, but within the sin was
infinite wrongdoing. For unbelief
is an insult to the whole
universe, it reduces the value of
all beings, it denies the
testimony to Divine Unity of a11
creatures, and is contempt
towards the Divine Names the
manifestations of which are to be
seen in the mirrors of beings.
Therefore, in order to avenge the
rights of beings on the
unbeliever, the beings' monarch,
the All-Compelling One of Glory,
casts the unbelievers into Hell,
and this is pure right and
justice. For an infinite crime
demands infinite punishment.
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