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| gencnurCom | Third
Stopping-Place In
the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. FIRST
TOPIC According
to the meaning of And there is nothing but it
glorifies Him with praise, everything has numerous
aspects that give onto God Almighty like windows. The
reality of the universe and of all beings is based on the
Divine Names. The reality of every being is based on one
Name or on many. All sciences and arts are also based on
and rely upon a Name. The true science of philosophy is
based on the Name of All-Wise, true medicine on the Name
of Healer, and geometry on the Name of Determiner, and so
on. And in the same way that all the sciences are based
on and come to an end in a Name, the realities of all
arts and sciences, and of all human attainments, are
based on the Divine Names. Indeed, one group of the most
learned of the saints stated that the Divine Names
constitute the true reality of things, while the essences
of things are only shadows of that reality. They said too
that even only apparently as many as twenty
manifestations of the impresses of the Divine Names may
be seen on a single living creature. We shall try to make
this subtle yet vast truth easier to understand by means
of a comparison, and shall analyze it by passing it
through a sieve two or three times as it were. However
long our discussion, it would still be short, but one
should not become bored. When
a very skilful portraitist or sculptor wishes to paint a
picture of a beautiful flower or to sculpt a great beauty
belonging to mankind’s fair sex, firstly he determines
the general shapes of those two objects with a few lines.
He determines these by ordering and adjusting them, by
estimating and measuring them. And this he does according
to rules and limits defined by geometry. It
is clear that this ordering and measuring is carried out
with knowledge and wisdom or purpose. That is to say, the
acts of ordering and limiting turn on the compasses of
knowledge and wisdom. In which case, the meanings of
knowledge and wisdom govern behind the ordering and
limiting. The compasses of knowledge and wisdom, then,
point to themselves and they demon ____________________ 30.
Qur'an,
The
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strate
that, within those limits, they have begun the portrayal
of small particulars like the eyes, ears, nose, leaves,
and stamens. Now
we see that the members determined by the motion of those
inner compasses are taking shape artistically and
carefully. Since this is so, the one who turns these
knowledge and wisdom compasses possesses meanings of
craftsmanship and care; it is they who command and then
display themselves. Thus,
it may be understood from this that they point to
inherent qualities of beauty and adornment. Since this is
so, what makes the craftsmanship and care function is the
will to beautify and the intention to decorate. In which
case, it is at their command that the artist begins to
adorn and illuminate. He gives a smiling and living form
to the statue and flower. And what makes this meaning of
beautifying and illuminating function is surely the
meaning of favouring and munificence. Yes,
these two meanings govern him to such a degree that,
quite simply, the flower is an embodied favour, and the
statue, embodied munificence. So now it is the meanings
of making loved and known that impel the meanings of
favouring and munificence and make them work. That is,
behind the latter two meanings, the meanings of making
himself known through his art and making people love him
govern. This
making loved and known, without a doubt arise from an
inclination toward being merciful and the will to bestow
bounties. So, since mercy and the will to bestow bounties
are governing behind them, he will adorn the statue with
all sorts of bounties and also bestow the form of the
flower as a present. Thus, he fills the statue’s hands
and pockets with precious bounties and bestows the form
of the flower as jewels. That is to say, what makes his
mercy and will to bestow function is a feeling of
gentleness and pity. That is, the meaning of pity and
gentleness impels the mercy and bounty. Furthermore,
what impels and makes manifest the meaning of pity and
gentleness within that person, who is self-sufficient and
needs no one, are the meanings of beauty and perfection.
These desire to be manifested. And as for love and mercy,
which are the sweetest and most delightful parts of that
beauty, they desire to be seen in the mirror of art and
to see themselves through the eyes of yearning admirers. That
is to say, since beauty and perfection are loved for
themselves, they love themselves above everything. They
are also both loveliness and love. The union of beauty
and love stems from this point. Since beauty loves
itself, it desires to see itself in mirrors. Thus all the
lovable bounties and beautiful fruits which were set on
the statue and on the picture bear the flashes, each
according to its capacity, of that meaning of beauty.
They display those flashes both to the owner of the
beauty and to others. The
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In
exactly the same way, the All-Wise Maker delimits, orders
and gives determined proportions and shapes to all
things, particular and universal, through the
manifestation of His Names; to Paradise and this world,
the heavens and the earth, plants and animals, men and
jinn, angels and spirit beings. By doing this, He causes
them to recite His Names of Determiner, Orderer, and
Giver of Form. He
determines the limits of their general shapes in such a
manner that He displays His Names of All-Knowing and
All-Wise. Then, through the definition of knowledge and
wisdom, He begins to form them within those limits. He
does this in such a way that He displays the meanings of
craftsmanship and care and His Names of Maker and
Munificent. Next,
with the miraculous hand of art and the brush of
munificence He gives the colours of beauty and adornment
to the members of that form, whether a single human being
or a single flower, like the eyes, ears, leaves, and
stamens. If it is the earth, He gives the colours of
beauty and adornment to its minerals, plants and animals.
If it is Paradise, He gives the colours of beauty and
adornment to its gardens, palaces, and houris. And so on.
You can make analogies for the rest, too. Furthermore,
He adorns and illuminates in such a fashion that the
meanings of favouring and munificence are predominant in
those objects. They govern to a degree where those
adorned beings, those illuminated artefacts, become like
embodied favours and incarnate munificence. They mention
the Names of Gracious and Munificent. Next,
what impels the favouring and munificence to manifest are
clearly the actions of making loved and known. That is,
the qualities of making Himself loved by animate
creatures and known by conscious ones. They cause animate
and conscious beings to recite the Names of Loving and
Known One behind the Names of Gracious and Munificent,
and for this recitation, which is performed by the very
mode of their beings, to be heard. Then,
embellishing those adorned and beautiful creatures with
delicious fruits and lovable results, He turns from
adorning to bestowing bounties, from graciousness to
compassionateness. He causes them to recite the Names of
Bestower and Compassionate and displays the manifestation
of those two Names behind the outer veils. Next,
what impels that One, Who is absolutely without need, to
manifest these Names of Compassionate and Munificent are
the qualities of mercy and gentleness, which display the
Names of Gentle and Merciful and cause them to be
recited. And
what impels the meanings of mercifulness and gentleness
to manifest are doubtless, an essential beauty and
perfection which desire to become evident; they cause the
Name of Beautiful, and the Names of Loving and
The
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Compassionate,
which are within the Name of Beautiful, to be recited.
For beauty is loved for itself. Beauty and one possessing
beauty love themselves. Moreover, it is both loveliness
and love. Perfection,
also, is loved for itself; no other cause is necessary.
It is both lover and beloved. Since a beauty that is at
the utmost degree of perfection and a perfection that is
at the utmost degree of beauty are loved and are worthy
of love to the utmost degree, most certainly will they
desire to see and to exhibit themselves through
displaying their flashes and manifestations in mirrors,
in accordance with the capacity of the mirrors. That
is to say, the beauty and perfection essential to the
All-Glorious Maker, the All-Wise One of Beauty, the
All-Powerful One of Perfection, require the qualities of
mercy and gentleness, and impel the Names of Merciful and
Gentle to be manifested. As
for mercy and gentleness, through displaying compassion
and bounty, they impel the manifestation of the Names of
Compassionate and Bestower. And
compassionateness and bestowal require the qualities of
making known and loved and impel the Names of Loving and
Known One to be manifested. Making
known and loved impel the meanings of favouring and
munificence and display them on some of the facets of
those artefacts; they cause the Names of Gracious and
Munificent to be recited amongst them. As
for the qualities of graciousness and munificence, they
impel the acts of adorning and illuminating. They cause
the Names of Adorner and Illuminer to be recited by the
tongues of the artefacts’ beauty and luminosity. And
the qualities of adorning and beautifying require the
meanings of craftsmanship and care. They cause the Names
of Maker and Bountiful to be recited by the beautiful
features of the artefacts. As
for craftsmanship and care, they require knowledge and
wisdom, and they cause the Names of All-Wise and
All-Knowing to be recited by their well-ordered, wise,
and purposeful members. And
knowledge and wisdom require the acts of ordering,
forming, and shaping. They display the Names of
Determiner and Giver of Form, causing them to be recited
by the artefact in its entirety, through its form. Thus,
the All-Glorious Maker has made all His creatures or
artefacts in such a way that He causes most of them, and
especially animate beings, to recite numerous Divine
Names. It is as if He has dressed each creature in twenty
different shirts, one on top of another or has enfolded
them in twenty veils, and on each shirt or veil He has
inscribed different Names. For
example, as was demonstrated in the comparison, there are
many The
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pages
in what is only apparent in the creation of a beautiful
member of mankind’s fair sex or of a beautiful flower.
From these two small and particular examples you can draw
analogies with other large and universal creatures. The
First Page: It is the state which demonstrates the
general shape and proportion. It mentions the Names of O
Giver of Form! O Determiner! O Orderer! The
Second Page: This is the plain and unadorned state of
the human being and flower in the comparison, which
occurs with the disclosure of the forms of all the
different members of those two creatures. Many Names,
like All-Knowing and All-Wise, for example, are written
on this page. The
Third Page: Through bestowing a different beauty and
adornment on all the different members of those two
creatures, many Names like Maker and Designer, for
example, are written on this page. The
Fourth Page: Such a beauty and adornment are given to
those two artefacts it is as though they have become
embodied favours and munificence. This page mentions and
recites numerous Names, like for example, O Gracious One!
O Munificent One! The
Fifth Page: Through attaching delicious fruits to the
flower and lovable children and a fine character to the
beautiful woman, this page recites Names like O Loving
One! O Compassionate One! O Bestower of Bounties! The
Sixth Page: On this page of bestowal and bounties,
Names like O Merciful One! O Gentle One! are recited. The
Seventh Page: Flashes of such beauty are apparent in
these bounties and results that they are worthy of a
sincere gratitude and pure love which have been kneaded
with true desire and compassion. On this page, the Names
of O Beauteous One of Perfection! O Perfect One of
Beauty! are inscribed and recited. Thus,
if the beautiful flower and human being display this
number of Names, and that only in material and apparent
form, you can conclude what exalted and universal Names
all flowers and animate creatures, as well as vast,
universal beings, cause to be recited. You
can also conclude how many luminous, sacred Names, like
Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, and Giver of Life,
man recites and causes to be recited by reason of his
spirit, heart, mind, and through the pages of life and
other subtle qualities. Thus,
Paradise is a flower. The company of houris is also a
flower. The face of the earth is a flower. The spring is
a flower. The heavens are a flower, while the stars are
their gilded embroideries. And the sun is a flower, while
the seven colours in its light are the flower’s
embroidered colours. The
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The
universe is a beautiful and huge human being, in the same
way that each human being is a miniature universe. The
company of houris, the assembly of spirit beings, the
realm of angels, the congregation of jinn, and human
kind, have all been formed, ordered, and created as if
they were beautiful individuals. Just as they all display
the Beauteous Maker’s Names through their universality,
as does each individual singly, so are they all different
mirrors to His beauty and perfection, mercy and love. All
are truthful witnesses to His infinite beauty and
perfection, mercy and love. All are signs and tokens of
that beauty and perfection, mercy and love. Thus,
this infinite number of different sorts of perfections
occurs within the sphere of Divine unity and oneness.
That is to say, what are imagined to be perfections
outside that sphere are not perfections at all. Understand
therefore that the reality of beings is based on and
relies on the Divine Names; rather, that their true
realities are the manifestations of those Names; and that
everything mentions and glorifies its Maker with numerous
tongues in numerous ways. And
understand one meaning of the verse: And
there is not a single thing but extols His glory and
praise.31 Say,
“Glory be to Him Who is hidden in the intensity of His
manifestation.” And understand one reason why phrases
like the following are repeatedly mentioned at the end of
the Qur’an’s verses: And
He is the Mighty, the Wise.32 * And He
is the Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.33 * And
He is All-Knowing, All-Powerful.34 If
you are unable to read the Names in a flower and cannot
see them clearly, look at Paradise, study the spring,
watch the face of the earth. You will be able to read
clearly the Names written there, for they are the huge
flowers of mercy. You will be able to see and understand
their impresses and manifestations. ____________________ 31.
Qur'an, 17:44 The
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The
Second Point of the Second Topic When
the representative of the people of misguidance could
find no support or basis on which to build his
misguidance and was thus defeated in argument, he said
the following: “I
consider happiness in this world and life’s pleasures,
and the progress of civilization and perfection of arts
as all lying in refusal to think of the hereafter and to
know God, in love of this world, in absolute freedom and
licence and in relying exclusively on myself. And in so
doing I have drawn most men onto this path, through the
assistance of Satan, and continue to do so.” The
Answer: We say, in the name of the Qur’an: O
wretched man! Come to your senses! Do not listen to the
representative of the people of misguidance. If you do
listen to him, your loss will be so great that your
intelligence, spirit, and heart will shudder even to
imagine it. There are two paths in front of you. The
First: The path of wretchedness laid out in front
of you by the representative of the people of
misguidance. The
Second: The path of happiness defined for you by
the All-Wise Qur’an. You
will have noted and understood numerous comparisons
between these two paths in the Words, particularly the
Short Words. So, note and understand now one of those
thousands of comparisons which is suitable to this
discussion. The
path of assigning partners to God, misguidance,
dissipation and vice causes man to fall to the lowest
degree. Afflicted with infinite pains, he is forced to
bear an infinitely heavy load on his weak and powerless
shoulders. For if man does not recognize God and place
his trust in Him, he becomes extremely weak and impotent,
needy and impoverished, a suffering, grieving and
ephemeral animal, exposed to endless misfortunes.
Suffering continuously the pain of separation from all
the objects of love and attachment, he will ultimately
abandon all of his loved ones and go alone to the
darkness of the grave. Throughout
his life, he struggles vainly, with an extremely limited
will,
The
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slight
power, a short lifespan and dull mind, against infinite
pains and hopes. To no avail, he strives to attain
innumerable desires and goals. Even
though he is unable to bear the burden of his own being,
he takes the load of the vast world onto his wretched
shoulders and mind. He suffers the torment of Hell before
even arriving there. Indeed,
in order to avoid feeling this grievous pain, this
awesome spiritual torment, the people of misguidance have
recourse to a drunkenness that is like a form of stupor
and thus are temporarily able to avoid feeling their
pain. But when they do feel it, they suddenly feel the
proximity of the grave. For whoever is not a true
bondsman of God Almighty will imagine that he owns
himself. But with his partial and limited will and his
petty power and strength, he is unable to administer and
control his being in this tempestuous world. He sees
thousands of different sorts of enemy attacking his life,
from harmful microbes to earthquakes. In an awesome state
of painful fear he looks towards the door of the grave,
that at all times appears dreadful to him. While
in this state, man will also be troubled by the state of
the world and of mankind, for as a human being he is
attached to both. But, he does not imagine them to be in
the control of One All-Wise, All-Knowing, All-Powerful,
Merciful and Generous, and has attributed them instead to
chance and to nature. And so, together with his own
pains, he suffers also the pains of the world and of
mankind. Earthquakes, plagues, storms, famine and
scarcity, separation and decease; all of this torments
him in the most painful and sombre fashion. But
such a man is not worthy of pity and sympathy, for he
himself is responsible for it. In
the Eighth Word is a comparison between two brothers who
entered a well. One was not content with a refreshing,
sweet, reputable, pleasant and licit drink at a splendid
feast with pleasant friends in a beautiful garden and so
drank some ugly and unclean wine in order to obtain
illicit and impure pleasure. He became drunk and then
imagined himself to be in some foul place in the middle
of winter surrounded by wild beasts, and trembling cried
out. But
such a man is not worthy of pity, for he imagined his
honourable and blessed companions to be monsters, and
thus insulted them. He also imagined the delicious foods
and clean dishes at the feast to be impure and filthy
stones and began smashing them. And the respected books
and profound writings there to be meaningless and banal
designs, and so ripped them up and trod on them. Such
a person is not merely unworthy of sympathy, rather, he
deserves a good beating.
The
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In
exactly the same way, a person who, through incorrect
choice and the lunacy of misguidance, is intoxicated with
unbelief, imagines this hospice of the world, which
belongs to the All-Wise Maker, to be the plaything of
chance and natural forces. He fancies the passage of
creatures into the World of the Unseen, that is in fact
renewing the manifestation of the Divine Names, to be
execution and annihilation. He supposes the echoes of
those creatures’ glorification of God, who are
accomplishing their duties with the passing of time, to
be the lamentations of death and eternal separation. He
deems the pages of created beings, which are inscriptions
of the Eternally Besought One, to be meaningless and
confused. He imagines the door of the grave, which opens
onto the world of mercy, to be the entrance to the
darkness of non-existence. And he deems the appointed
hour, which is in reality an invitation to join his true
friends, to be the onset of separation from all of them. Such
a person both brings upon himself grievous and ghastly
torments, and denies, denigrates and insults all beings
and God’s Names and His inscriptions. He is, therefore,
not only unworthy of compassion and sympathy but also
deserving of severe punishment. He is not in any way
worthy of pity. And
so, O wretched people of misguidance and dissipation!
What accomplishment of yours, what art, what perfection,
what civilization, what progress, can confront this
awesome silence of the grave, this crushing despair?
Where can you find that true consolation that is the most
urgent need of the human spirit? What
nature, what causality, what partner ascribed by you to
God, what discovery, what nationality, what false object
of worship, in each of which you place so much trust and
to which you attribute God’s works and His sustaining
bounties, which of them can deliver you from the darkness
of death that you imagine to be eternal annihilation?
Which of them can enable you to cross the frontiers of
the grave, the boundaries of the intermediate realm, the
marches of the plain of resurrection, the Bridge of
Sirat? Or can bring about your eternal happiness? But
know that most definitely you will travel on this path
for you cannot close the door of the grave. And a
traveller on such a path ought to rely on one whose
control and command embraces all this vast sphere and its
extensive boundaries. O
wretched people of misguidance and neglect! In accordance
with the principles that ‘the consequence of an illicit
love is suffering a merciless torment,’ you are
suffering a fully justified punishment, for you are
unlawfully employing your innate capacity for love,
knowledge, thanks and worship that relate properly to the
essence, attributes and Names of God Almighty, on your
own soul and the life of this world. The
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You
have lavished the love that belongs to God Almighty on
yourself. Your own soul has become your beloved and will
cause you endless suffering: you are not giving true
peace to that beloved. You are suffering constantly
because you do not hand it over to the Possessor of
Absolute Power Who is the only true beloved and you do
not trust wholly in Him. You
suffer further misfortunes because you give to the world
the love that belongs to God Almighty’s Names and
attributes and divide up the works of His art among
causes in the world. One group of those innumerable
beloveds of yours will turn their backs on you and leave
you without even saying good-bye. Another group will not
even recognize you, or if they do, they will not love
you. Or if they love you, their love will be of no use.
You will constantly suffer from innumerable separations
and farewells without hope of return. This,
then, is the essence and true nature of what the people
of misguidance call life’s happiness, human perfection,
the advantages of civilization and the pleasure of
freedom. And dissipation and intoxication are but a veil;
they temporarily block all feeling. So, say, “I spit on
the intelligence of those who follow such a path.” But
as for the luminous highway of the Qur’an, it cures
with the truths of faith all the wounds of the people of
misguidance. It disperses all the gloom and darkness of
that first path. It closes the door on all misguidance
and perdition. It
cures man’s weakness, powerlessness, poverty and need
with trust in One All-Powerful and Compassionate. For,
handing over the burden of his life and being to His
power and mercy instead of loading it on himself, man
finds ease and comfort as if he were riding on his own
life and soul. The Qur’an states that he is not a
‘rational animal’, but rather a true man and a
well-accepted guest of the All-Merciful One. It
gently cures man of the wounds inflicted on him by the
transience of the world, the ephemeral nature of things
and the love of them, and delivers him from the darkness
of delusion and fancy. It does this by showing the world
to be a guest-house of the All-Merciful One, and the
beings in it to be mirrors to the Divine Names and
ever-fresh inscriptions of the Eternally Besought One. It
shows death and the appointed hour to be the bridge to
the intermediate realm and the prelude to joining and
meeting beloved ones already in the world of eternity. It
thus cures the wounds inflicted by the notion of death as
eternal separation, as held by the people of misguidance.
It demonstrates that separation is in fact the truest
form of meeting. Further,
by establishing that the grave is a door opening onto the
world of The
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mercy,
an abode of happiness, a garden of Paradise, the luminous
realm of the All-Merciful One, it dispels man’s most
terrifying fear and shows that the apparently painful,
troublesome and unpleasant journey to the intermediate
realm is in fact the most pleasurable, enjoyable and
joyous of journeys. With the grave, it shows that the
grave is not a dragon’s mouth but is, rather, a door
opening onto the garden of mercy. The
Qur’an also says to the believer, “Since you have
only partial and restricted choice, hand over your
affairs to your Owner’s universal will. Since your
power is slight, rely on that of the Possessor of
Absolute Power. Since your life is brief, think of
eternal life. Do not fret! There is an unending life. If
your mind is dull, let the sun of the Qur’an shine on
you. Look with the light of belief, and instead of the
fire-fly of your own mind, each verse of the Qur’an
will illumine you like a star. “Since
you have innumerable hopes and pains, know that infinite
reward and limitless mercy await you. Since you have
innumerable desires and aims, do not think of them and
become disturbed. This world cannot contain them; the
proper place for them is another realm, and the one who
will grant them is one other than yourself.” The
Qur’an also says, “O man! You do not own yourself.
Rather, you are totally owned by One Whose power is
infinite, an All-Compassionate One of Glory Whose mercy
is infinite. Therefore, do not trouble yourself by
shouldering the burden of your life, for it is He Who
grants you life and administers it. “Also,
the world is not without an owner. So do not be anxious
thinking of the state of it and load that burden onto
your mind, for the world’s Owner is All-Wise and
All-Knowing. You are a guest so do not be officious and
meddlesome. “Furthermore,
creatures such as men and animals have not been left to
their own devices, rather, they are all officials with
specific duties. They are watched over by an All-Wise and
Compassionate One. Do not distress your spirit thinking
of their pains and afflictions. Do not try to be more
sympathetic and kind-hearted than their All-Compassionate
Creator. “Also,
the reins of all those things that are hostile to you,
from microbes to plagues, storms, famine and earthquakes,
are in the hands of that All-Compassionate All-Wise One.
Being All-Wise, He does nothing in vain. Being
All-Compassionate, His mercy is superabundant. There is a
form of grace and favour contained in everything He
does.” The
Qur’an also says, “This world is indeed ephemeral,
nevertheless, it produces the necessities for an
everlasting world. It is transient and fleeting, but it
yields eternal fruits, and displays the manifestations of
an Eternal The
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Being’s
eternal Names. Its pleasures are indeed few and its pains
many, but the favours of the All-Merciful and
Compassionate One are everlasting and true pleasures. And
as for the pains of this world, they too yield a sort of
pleasure by reason of the reward to be had for enduring
them. “Since
the sphere of the licit is sufficient for all the
pleasures, delights and joys of the spirit, heart and
soul, do not approach the sphere of the illicit. For one
pleasure within that sphere sometimes leads to a thousand
pains. It will also cause the loss of the All-Merciful
One’s favours, which are true and lasting pleasures. “Furthermore,
as described above, illicit pleasure on the path of
misguidance causes man to fall to the lowest of the low.
Then no civilization, no philosophy can provide a remedy
for him, and no human progress and scientific advances
can deliver him from that deep, dark pit. Whereas, the
All-Wise Qur’an elevates man, through belief and good
deeds, from the lowest of the low to the highest of the
high, and demonstrates that it does this with clear
proofs. And it fills in that deep pit with rungs of inner
development and spiritual progress. “Moreover,
it facilitates man’s long, stormy and troublesome
journey towards eternity. It shows him the means for
traversing a distance of a thousand years, or rather of
fifty thousand years, in a single day. “Also,
through making known the All-Glorious One, Who is the
Monarch of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, it confers on
man the position of a bondsman, guest and official
entrusted with specific duties. And it ensures that he
travels with the greatest ease both in the guest-house of
this world and in the stages and stopping-places of the
intermediate realm and the hereafter. “A
loyal official will travel in his monarch’s kingdom and
pass through the frontiers of each province with ease,
journeying by the fastest means, such as by aeroplane,
ship or train. So too one who forms a relation with the
Pre-Eternal Monarch through belief and obeys Him through
good works will pass with the speed of lightning or of
Buraq through the stages of this guest-house of the
world, the spheres of the intermediate realm and the
world of resurrection and the extensive frontiers of all
the realms that are beyond the grave, until he attains
eternal happiness.” The Qur’an proves this truth
decisively and points it out to those who are purified
and to the saints. The
truth of the Qur’an also says, “O believer! Do not
give your infinite capacity for love to your ugly,
defective, evil, and for you, harmful instinctual soul.
Do not take it as your object of love and its whims as
your object of worship. Take rather the One Who has
bestowed on you that infinite capacity for love. He will
also make you infinitely happy in the future, and,
through His bounties, all those to whom you are attached
and whose happiness makes you happy. The
Words / Thirty-Second Word - Third Stopping-Place - p.667
“Take
for your object of love and worship One Who possesses
infinite perfection and a beauty that is infinitely
sacred, exalted, transcendent, faultless, flawless and
unfading. The beauty of His mercy and the mercy of His
beauty are demonstrated by all the beauties and bounties
of Paradise. All of His Names are infinitely beautiful
and in each of them are abundant lights of fairness and
beauty. His beauty and perfection are indicated and
pointed to by all the fairness, beauty, virtue and
perfection of all lovable and loved objects in the
cosmos.” The
Qur’an also says, “O man! Do not squander your
infinite capacity to love, which properly belongs to His
Names and attributes, on other transient creatures. For
the works and creatures of God are ephemeral, but the
Beautiful Names, whose impress and manifestation may be
seen on them, are eternal and permanent. And in each of
His Names and attributes there are thousands of degrees
of bounty and beauty, perfection and love. Look only at
the Name of All-Merciful: Paradise is a manifestation of
it, eternal happiness, a flash of it, and all the
sustenance and bounty in the world, a mere drop of it.” Consider
carefully, then, this verse which indicates the true
nature of the people of misguidance and that of the
people of belief, with regard to their lives and duties: Verily
We have created man in the fairest of forms, then sent
him down to the lowest of the low, except for those who
believe and do good deeds.35 And
this verse that indicates their final result and outcome: The
heavens and the earth wept not over them.36 How
sublimely and miraculously they express the comparison we
have made. Since the truth expressed miraculously and
concisely in the first verse is explained in detail in
the Eleventh Word, we refer our readers to that part of
the Risale-i Nur for a discussion of it. As
for the second verse, we shall show, through a brief
indication, how sublime a truth it expresses. It is as
follows. The
explicit meaning of the verse is that the heavens and the
earth do not weep when the people of misguidance die. The
implied meaning is that the heavens and the earth do weep
when the people of belief depart this world. For the
people of misguidance, through their denial of the duties
and functions of the heavens and earth, their ignorance
of their meaning, their rejection of their value, their
refusal to recognize their Maker, are in fact acting
insultingly and with hostility toward them. So, of
course, the heavens ____________________ 35.
Qur'an, 95:4-6. The
Words / Thirty-Second Word - Third Stopping-Place - p.668
and
earth will not weep over them, but in fact curse them and
rejoice at their death. As
for the implied meaning, that the heavens and earth weep
over the death of the people of belief, this is because
they know the duties and functions of the heavens and
earth, assent to their true realities, and understand,
through belief, the meanings they express. They say,
“How beautifully they have been made, how finely they
are carrying out their duties.” They respect them and
assign them their true worth. They love them and the
Names they mirror for the sake of God Almighty. And so it
is for this reason that the heavens and earth grieve over
the death of the people of belief as if weeping. An
Important Question You
say, “Love is not voluntary. And, as a consequence of
innate need, I love delicious foods and fruits. I love my
father, mother and children, my wife, and my friends and
companions. I love the prophets and the saints. And I
love my life and my youth, the spring, beautiful things
and the world. How may I not love these things? So how
should I rather give all this love to God Almighty’s
essence, attributes and Names? What does this mean? The
Answer: Listen to four ‘Points’. FIRST
POINT Indeed,
love is not voluntary, but by means of the will love’s
face may turn from one object of love to another. For
example, when a beloved displays some ugliness or shows
that he is a veil or mirror to another beloved, who is
truly worthy of love, then love’s face may be turned
from the metaphorical to the true beloved. SECOND
POINT We
do not tell you not to love the things you enumerated,
but rather to love them for God Almighty’s sake and in
the name of His love. For example, to love delicious
foods and luscious fruits as being the bounty of God
Almighty, the All-Merciful and Compassionate One, is to
love His Names of All-Merciful and Bestower of Bounties,
and, moreover, takes on the meaning of thanks. This love
is to seek gain contentedly within the sphere of the
licit, which shows that it is not only for the sake of
the instinctual soul but is in the name of the
All-Merciful One. It is to eat thoughtfully and with
gratitude. Furthermore,
love and respect for parents, when for the sake of the
wisdom and mercy that compassionately fitted you out and
caused them to bring you up with tender care, pertain to
God Almighty’s love. The sign that this love, respect
and compassion are for God’s sake is that when they are
old
The
Words / Thirty-Second Word - Third Stopping-Place - p.669
and
are of no more use to you and bring you only trouble and
difficulty, you are even more loving, kind and
compassionate towards them. The verse, Should
one of them, or both, attain to old age in your care,
never say to them a word of contempt,37 summons
children to respect and be kind to their parents in five
degrees, and demonstrates how important are the rights of
parents in the eyes of the Qur’an, and how ugly
ingratitude towards them. A
father desires only his son, and no one else, to be much
better than himself, however, the son cannot claim any
rights over his father in return for this. That is to
say, there is no inherent cause for dispute between
parents and child. This is because dispute arises from
envy and jealousy and there is nothing of this in the
father towards his son. Or it arises from abuse of rights
and the son has no rights that he can claim against his
father. If he considers his father to be unjust, he may
not rebel against him. That is to say, one who does rebel
against his father and cause him pain is a monster, a
corrupted human being. And,
to love and protect children with perfect compassion and
tenderness because they are gifts of the
All-Compassionate and Generous One once again pertains to
God. The sign indicating that that love is for Almighty
God’s sake is patience and thankfulness should they
die, rather than crying out in despair. It is to say,
“He was a lovable little being created and owned by my
Creator, Who entrusted him to my supervision. Now that
His wisdom requires it to be thus, He has taken him from
me, taken him to a better place. If I had one apparent
share in that little creature, a thousand true shares
belonged to his Creator.” It is to submit saying,
“All authority is with God.” As
for friends and acquaintances, if they are friends of God
Almighty by reason of their belief and good works,
according to the meaning of ‘love for God’s sake,’
that love, too, pertains to God. Furthermore,
love and cherish your wife as a companionable and
gracious gift of divine mercy. But do not fasten your
love to her physical beauty, which swiftly fades. Rather,
woman’s most attractive and agreeable beauty is the
fineness of character that accompanies the delicacy and
refinement peculiar to her. As for her most precious and
sweet beauty, it is her earnest, sincere, sublime and
luminous compassion. This beautiful tenderness and
fineness of character continues and increases until the
end of her days. Moreover, that weak and delicate
creature’s rights of respect will be protected by that
love. Otherwise, when her superficial beauty fades the
poor woman will lose her rights, even when she most needs
them. ____________________ 37.
Qur'an, 17:23. The
Words / Thirty-Second Word - Third Stopping-Place - p.670 And
to love the prophets and saints as God Almighty’s most
esteemed bondsmen is to do so for the sake and in the
name of God Almighty, and from that point of view it
pertains to Him. And
to love and preserve life as most precious wealth and
capital that will gain eternal life, and a comprehensive
treasury yielding eternal perfections which Almighty God
has given to you and to all humanity, and to employ it in
His service, is, once again, in one respect, love that
pertains to the True Object of Worship. Also,
to admire, love and put to proper use the grace and
beauty of youth as being a fine, sweet and beautiful
bounty of Almighty God is a sort of licit and thankful
love. And
to love the spring thoughtfully as being the page of the
subtlest and most beautiful inscriptions of Almighty
God’s luminous Names and the most finely adorned and
glittering exhibition of the All-Wise Maker’s antique
art is to love His Names. And
to love this world as being the tillage for the
hereafter, as a mirror of the Divine Names and a missive
of God Almighty, and as a temporary guest-house, on
condition that the evil-commanding soul does not
interfere, is to do so for God Almighty’s sake. In
short: Love this world and the creatures in it as
pointing to a meaning beyond themselves, like a word. Do
not love them just for themselves. Say, “How
beautifully they have been made.” Do not say, “How
beautiful they are.” Do not give any opportunity to
other loves to enter into your inner heart because the
inner heart is the mirror of the Eternally Besought One
and pertains only to Him. Say, “O God, grant us love
for You, and love for that which will draw us closer to
You.”38 Thus,
if in this form, all the loves that you have enumerated
will give a pain-free pleasure, and, in one respect, an
unending union. Moreover, they will increase love of God.
They are licit loves. And are, furthermore a sort of
gratitude which is pure pleasure, and thought, which is
pure love. For
example, if a mighty king40 were to bestow an
apple on you, there would be two loves for that apple and
two pleasures in it. The first of these is that the apple
would be loved because it is an apple, and there would be
a pleasure peculiar to and to the extent of the apple.
This love does not concern the king. On the contrary, the
man who puts the apple to his mouth and eats it in the
king’s presence loves the apple itself and his own soul
rather than the king. It sometimes happens that the king
is not pleased with that ____________________ 38.
Kanz'al-Ummal, i, 195, Waliuddin Tabrizi, Mishkat
al-Masabih, i, 762.
The
Words / Thirty-Second Word - Third Stopping-Place - p.671
love
which nourishes the instinctual soul; in fact, he detests
it. Moreover, the pleasure that the apple gives is very
limited and passes quickly. After the apple is eaten it
is gone, only regret remains. As
for the second love, it is for the royal favour that is
demonstrated by means of the apple. One who holds the
apple precious as if it were the sample and embodiment of
a royal favour shows that he loves his king. Moreover,
the pleasure in that fruit, which is a sort of container
for the favour, is such that it is far greater than the
pleasure obtained from a thousand apples. This pleasure,
then, is the essence of thankfulness. This love is a
respectful love for the king. In
exactly the same way, if all bounties and fruits are
loved for themselves, if they are thoughtlessly delighted
in only for the material pleasures that they yield, that
love is merely love of self. Also, those pleasures are
transient and bring pain. But, if they are loved as
favours proceeding from Almighty God’s mercy and as
fruits of His munificence, and if pleasure is obtained
from them with good appetite by appreciating the degree
of kindness in that munificence and favour, then it has
both the meaning of gratitude and is a pain-free
pleasure. THIRD
POINT There
are levels in the love for God Almighty’s Names. As we
explained above, sometimes the Names are loved with a
love for finely made objects. Sometimes they are loved as
being titles of the Divine perfections. Sometimes, man is
needy and desirous of the Names by reason of the
comprehensiveness of his true nature together with his
having endless needs. It is through those needs that he
loves. For
example, if someone was to come forward and do a kindness
to all your relations, and the poor, the weak and the
needy, for all of whom you feel sympathy although you are
powerless to meet their need for help, how that
person’s favour-granting title and generous name would
please you, how you would love that person through that
title. So
too, think only of God Almighty’s Names of All-Merciful
and Compassionate. They make happy all the believing
fathers and forefathers, relations and friends whom you
love and feel sympathy for, in this world by means of all
kinds of bounties, and in Paradise by means of all kinds
of delights. They cause happiness by showing you in
eternal bliss to them, and them in eternal bliss to you.
So how deserving of being loved is the Name of
All-Merciful and the title of All-Compassionate. And you
can see for yourself just how needy for those two Names
is the human spirit. And you can understand just how
appropriate is the phrase, ‘Praise be to God for His
mercifulness and His compassionateness.’
The
Words / Thirty-Second Word - Third Stopping-Place - p.672
You
are connected to the world and as a result are afflicted
by its wretchedness, so if you consider carefully, you
may understand just how needy and desirous is your spirit
for the Name of All-Wise and for the title of Nurturer.
For the Owner of those Names orders, regulates and
sustains with perfect wisdom the world, which is like a
sort of house for you, and the creatures within it, which
are its familiar furniture and lovable decorations. And
you are altogether connected to other human beings and
grieve when they die. So, if you consider carefully, you
may understand just how needy is your spirit for the
Names of Inheritor and Resurrector, and for the titles
Eternal, All-Generous, Giver of Life, and Munificent. For
the Owner of these Names saves human beings at the time
of their death from the darkness of non-existence and
establishes them in a far finer place than this world. Thus,
since man’s nature is exalted and his disposition
comprehensive, he is, by his very nature, needy with
thousands of different sorts of needs for the innumerable
Divine Names, each of which has many degrees. Intensified
need is longing. Intensified longing is love. And
intensified love is passion. As the spirit is perfected,
the degrees of love unfold according to the degrees of
the Names. Furthermore, since the Names are the titles
and manifestations of the One of Glory, love of them will
be transformed into love of the Divine Essence. Now,
just as an example, we shall explain one of the
innumerable degrees of the Names of All-Just, All-Wise,
Truth, and All-Merciful. If you wish to see the Names of
All-Merciful and Compassionate, and Truth within wisdom
and justice to the utmost extent, consider the following
comparison. Let
us suppose there is an army in which there are four
hundred different sections. And the uniforms that each
section prefers are different, the provisions that please
them, the weapons they will carry with ease and the
medicines to cure their particular ills are all
different. Furthermore, rather than being separated into
squads and companies, they are all intermingled. If
the peerless and single king, then, out of perfect
compassion and solicitude, wonderful power, miraculous
all-embracing knowledge and extraordinary justice and
wisdom, without confusing or forgetting any of them were
himself, in person, without helper, to give all of them
their completely different though appropriate uniforms,
provisions, medicines and weapons, would you not see what
a powerful, solicitous, just and generous personage that
king was. Because, if there were individuals from ten
nations in one battalion, it would be extremely difficult
to clothe and equip them all differently. Whatever people
they were from they would of necessity have to be fitted
out in the same way.
The
Words / Thirty-Second Word - Third Stopping-Place - p.673
Similarly,
if you wish to see the manifestation of the Names of
Truth and All-Merciful and Compassionate within the
justice and wisdom of God Almighty, look at the plant and
animal armies comprising four hundred thousand
magnificent nations with their tents pitched on the face
of the earth in springtime. For those groups and sections
are all one within the other. And the uniform of each one
is different, and the provisions, weapons, way of life,
drill and demobilization are all different. Furthermore,
they do not have the power to provide for those needs and
the tongues to ask for those wishes. So, watch and see
the titles of Truth, All-Merciful, Provider,
Compassionate and Generous together with order and
equilibrium within the sphere of wisdom and justice. See
how, without confusing, obscuring or forgetting any of
them, He sustains, regulates and administers them all. Could
another hand, therefore, interfere in a matter performed
with such amazing and all-encompassing order and balance?
What, apart from the One Who is Single and Unique,
Absolutely Wise, and Powerful over all things, could even
stretch out its hand towards this art, this organizing,
this sustaining, this administering? What cause could
interfere? FOURTH
POINT You
ask: “So long as they are in the form that the
Qur’an commands, what are the results and benefits of
all my different and various loves? That is, my love for
food, myself, my wife, parents and children, my friends,
the saints, the prophets, beautiful things, the spring
and this world?” The
Answer: It would be necessary to write a thick
book in order to explain all the results. For now only
one or two results will be briefly alluded to. Firstly,
the immediate results in this world will be explained,
then those that will become apparent in the hereafter
will be mentioned. As
was explained above, loves such as those of the people of
neglect and those attached to this world, that are for
the sake of the evil-commanding soul, bring many
tribulations, and much pain and suffering in this world.
While the ease, pleasures and enjoyment they bring are
little and few. For
example, compassion becomes a painful calamity on account
of impotence. Love becomes a calamitous misfortune on
account of separation. Pleasure becomes a poisoned cup on
account of its transience. And in the hereafter, because
they were not for God Almighty’s sake, they will either
be without benefit or will be torment. (If they were
illicit.) Question:
How might love for the prophets and saints be without
benefit? The
Answer: In the same way that the love of the
Christians for Jesus (Peace be upon him), and the
heretics for ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) remain
without benefit. If that love is in the form that the
Qur’an The
Words / Thirty-Second Word - Third Stopping-Place - p.674
directs,
for God Almighty’s sake and in the name of the
All-Merciful One’s love, then it has favourable results
both in this world and in the hereafter. Now,
to return to our subject, the results in this world of
your love for delicious foods and luscious fruits will be
that they are a pain-free bounty and a pleasure that is
the essence of gratitude. Your
love of your instinctual soul. The result will be
pity it, to train it, and to prevent harmful desires.
Then the soul will not ride you, it will not make you a
prisoner of its desires, rather, you will ride it. You
will drive your soul, not to whims and fancies, but to
right-guidance. Your
love for your wife. Since it will be built on her
being a mine of tenderness, a gift of compassion and on
her fineness of character, if you have sincere love and
affection for her, she too will have earnest love and
respect for you. As the two of you approach old age these
sentiments will increase, you will pass your life
happily. But if it is otherwise, if it is love of a
pretty face and for the sake of the instinctual soul,
then that love will be quickly destroyed and so too will
be good relations. Your
love for your father and mother. Since it will be for
God Almighty’s sake, it will be both worship and the
older they grow the more your love and respect for them
will increase. If you earnestly desire and pray, with the
noblest of sentiments and most manly zeal, that they will
live far into old age, and even kiss their hands with
sincere respect and say, “Let me gain even more reward
on their account”, it will obtain for you a most
elevated pleasure of the spirit. But if it is otherwise,
and for the sake of the soul and this world, when they
grow old and approach the time of becoming a burden for
you, if you show them, with the most base and despicable
sentiment, that they are a nuisance and then wish for the
deaths of those respected people, who were the cause of
your life, it will be savage and grievous pain for the
spirit. Your
love for your children. As for love for those
lovable, friendly creatures whom God Almighty entrusts to
your supervision and upbringing, it will be a most happy
love, a most happy bounty. Neither shall you suffer too
much pain at their misfortunes, nor shall you cry out
with despair at their deaths. As was stated above you
will say, “Since their Creator is both All-Wise and
Compassionate, as far as they are concerned, that death
is happiness.” Moreover, concerning yourself, you will
think of the mercifulness of the One Who gave them to you
and you will be saved from the pain of separation. Your
love for your friends. Since it is for God’s sake,
because separation from those friends, and even their
deaths, will not be an obstacle to your conversing and
your brotherhood, you will benefit from that immaterial
love and relation of the spirit. And the pleasure of
meeting will be permanent. If it is not for the sake of
God, the pleasure of one day’s meeting will result in The
Words / Thirty-Second Word - Third Stopping-Place - p.675
the
pain of a hundred days’ separation.41 Your
love for the prophets and saints. Since the
intermediate realm, which seems to the people of neglect
to be a dark, lonely and desolate place, appears to you
as a stopping-place illuminated by the presence of those
luminous beings, the fact that you will go there will not
induce terror and fright, but, on the contrary, an
inclination towards it and a feeling of longing; it will
not drive away the pleasure of worldly life. But
if it is otherwise, if love for the prophets and saints
is of the same sort as the love of the subscribers to
modern culture for their idols and heroes, on thinking of
the death and disappearance of those perfect human beings
and of their rotting in that mighty grave known as the
past, it will add one more sorrow to lives that are
already painful. That is to say, each will say to
himself, “I too will end up in the grave, which rots
even such perfect men.” Whereas,
when they are seen from the first point of view, they are
thought of with complete ease of mind, for they have
discarded the clothes of their bodies in the past and now
their dwelling-place is the intermediate realm, which is
the waiting-room for the future. And the graveyard will
be seen as having a familiarity and friendliness. Your
love for beautiful things. Since it is for the sake
of the One Who fashioned them, it will be in the manner
of, “How beautifully they have been made.” This love
is pleasurable thought and it causes the gaze of
beauty-worshipping delight to see the more elevated and
holy and thousand times more beautiful treasures of the
degrees of God’s beauty. This love opens up a way to
these treasures because it transfers the eye from those
beautiful works to the beauty of the Divine actions. And
it opens a way from them to the beauty of the Names, and
from them to the beauty of the attributes, and from them
to the One of Glory’s peerless beauty; it opens a way
to the heart. Thus, if this love is in this form, it is
both pleasurable, and it is worship, and it is thought. Your
love of youth. Since you have loved it as a beautiful
bounty of God Almighty, you have, of course, done so in
worship, you have not drowned it in dissipation and
destroyed it. Since this is the case, the worship you
have gained during your youth is the undying fruit of
that transient state. As you grow older, because you will
have obtained the enduring fruits that are the positive
aspect of youth, you will have been saved from its harm
and excesses. Also,
in old age you will see that you have achieved success in
performing more worship, and so will be more worthy to
receive Divine mercy. Unlike the people of neglect, you
will not feel sadness for the pleasures of ____________________ 41.
Once second's meeting for God's sake is a year. Whereas,
if it is for the sake of this world, a year is second. The
Words / Thirty-Second Word - Third Stopping-Place - p.676
youth
that lasted five or ten years, then wail for fifty years,
“Alas, my youth has fled!” Neither will you be like
one of them who said, “If only my youth would return
one day, I would tell it of the woes old age has brought
me.” Your
love for finely adorned exhibitions like the spring.
Since it is in the form of contemplating Divine artistry,
when the spring ends the pleasure of the spectacle does
not fade. For the meanings that the spring delivers, like
a gilded missive, may be contemplated all the time. Both
your imagination and time are like films in the cinema,
they both cause the pleasure of that contemplation to
continue for you, and they renew the spring’s meanings
and beauties. Your love, therefore, cannot be temporary
and full of regret and pain. Rather, it will be full of
pleasure and enjoyment. Your
love of this world. Since it is in the name of God
Almighty, the formidable creatures of this world will be
like familiar friends for you. Since you love it as the
tillage for the hereafter, you will be able to find in
everything capital or a fruit that will produce benefits
in the hereafter. Neither will its disasters frighten
you, nor will its transience and ephemerality trouble
you. You will pass your sojourn in this guest-house with
the greatest of ease. But should you love it as the
people of neglect do, then as we have told you a hundred
times, you will drown and perish in a fruitless love,
condemned to a depressing, crushing and suffocating
transitoriness. Thus we have shown only one subtle point out of hundreds f |