The Eighth Word

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

اَللّٰهُ لاَ اِلهَ اِلاَّ هُوَ الْحَىُّ الْقَيُّومُ ٭ اِنَّ الدِّينَ عِنْدَ اللّٰهِ اْلاِسْلاَمُ1

If you want to understand this world, and the man’s rûh within the world and the essence and value of religion in a man, and if you want to understand that the world is a dungeon if there is no haqq religion, and irreligious man is the most miserable of creatures, and it is يَا اَللّٰهُ2 and 3 لاَ اِلهَ اِلاَّ اللّٰهُ that unlock the enigma of this ‘âlam and rescue man’s rûh from darkness, look to this short story in the form of a comparison and listen:

In olden times, two brothers went on a long journey together. They went together until the way split into two. They saw a serious man at the beginning of the two roads.

They asked him, "Which way is good?"

He told them, "On the right road, there is a necessity to follow the law and order. But within that difficulty, there is security and happiness. As for the left way, there is freedom and independence. But within that freedom, there is danger and complaint. Now, the will to choose is yours!"

After listening to this, the brother with good character went the right way by saying تَوَكَّلْتُ عَلَى اللّٰهِ4, and he accepted to follow the order and regularity. The other brother, who was immoral and a layabout, chose the left road just for freedom. With our imaginations, we follow this man as he goes along in a situation that is outwardly easy but burdensome in the ma’nawî aspect.

Thus, this man went up hill and down dale, and he eventually entered a desolate desert. He suddenly heard a terrifying sound, and he saw that a fearsome lion had come out of the forest and attacked him. He fled. Eventually, he came across a waterless well sixty metres deep. He threw himself into it out of fear. He fell until he reached half of the well, where his hands met a tree. He clung to it. The tree, which sprouted on the wall of the well, had two roots. Two rats, one white and one black, were attacking and cutting those two roots. He looked up and saw that the lion was waiting at the top of the well, like a guard. He looked down and saw that there was a fearsome dragon in it. It raised its head and approached his foot thirty metres above. Its mouth was as big as the mouth of the well. He looked at the wall of the well and saw that stinging, detrimental vermin surrounded it. He looked up at the tree’s crown and saw that it was a fig tree, but wondrously, on its crown were fruits of many different trees, from walnuts to pomegranates.

Thus, due to his false comprehension and mindlessness, this man does not understand that this is not an ordinary state. These things cannot happen by chance. There are strange mysteries within these strange states. And he did not understand that there was a great doer. Now, although his heart, rûh and mind were hiddenly crying and weeping due to this excruciating situation, his nafs al-ammarah closed its ears to the weeps of the heart and rûh by feigning ignorance as though there were nothing, and he started to eat the tree's fruit by deceiving itself like he was in a garden. But some of those fruits were poisonous and harmful. In a hadith al-qudsî, Janâb-i Haqq decreed: اَنَا عِنْدَ ظَنِّ عَبْدِى بِى That is, “I treat My ‘abd in the way that he knows Me.”

Thus, through his mindlessness and with false judgement, this unfortunate man accepted what he saw to be ordinary and the haqiqah itself, and he was treated, is treated, and will be treated in that way. He neither dies so that he can be saved nor does he live. He is suffering such torment. Leaving this inauspicious man in this torment, we will return so that we will understand the situation of the other brother.

Here, this blessed and mindful person goes on, but he does not suffer trouble like his brother because he thinks of good things and imagines good things since he has good morals. He consoles himself. He also does not suffer difficulty and hardship like his brother. Because he knows the order, follows it, and experiences ease. He goes freely in security and order. Here, he comes across a garden. There are both beautiful flowers and fruits in it, and there are filthy things too since it is not looked after. His brother has also entered such a garden, but he has paid attention to the filthy things, occupied himself with them, and caused himself to feel nauseated. He has gone out without having any rest. As for this man, he acted according to the rule, “Look at the good ones of everything,” and did not look at the filthy things. He benefited well from the good things. He rested well and went out.

Then, eventually, this one too entered a vast desert, like the first brother. He suddenly heard the roar of an attacking lion. He was afraid, but not as much as his brother, because, with his good and beautiful thoughts, he found consolation by thinking, "This desert has a ruler, and it is possible that this lion is a servant under the command of that ruler." But he still fled until he came across an empty well sixty metres deep and threw himself into it. Like his brother, his hand clung to a tree in the middle of the well; he remained suspended in the air. He looked and saw that two animals were cutting the two roots of that tree. He looked up and saw the lion. He looked down and saw a dragon. Just like his brother, he saw a strange situation. He, too, was terrified, but it was a thousand times less than his brother's fear because his good morals had given him good thoughts. As for the good thoughts, they show him the beautiful side of everything. Thus, because of this reason, he thought as follows: These strange situations are connected to each other. Furthermore, it seems that they act on command. In that case, there is an enigma within these situations. Yes, these situations happen at the command of a hidden ruler. So, I am not alone; the hidden ruler is looking at me, testing me, and inviting me by urging me somewhere for a purpose. From this pleasant fear and good thought, a curiosity arose: I wonder, who is the one who tests me and wants to make himself known to me, and who urges me to a purpose through this strange road? Then, from the curiosity to know, the love for the owner of the enigma arose, and from that love, the desire to unlock the enigma arose, and from that desire, the will to acquire a good state that would please and delight the enigma's owner arose. Then he looked at the tree's crown and saw that it was a fig tree, but there were the fruits of thousands of trees on its crown. Then his fear was completely gone, because he certainly understood that this fig tree was a list, an index and an exhibition. The hidden ruler must have attached samples of the fruits with an enigma and a miracle in his garden and orchard to the tree, and he must have adorned the tree as an indication of the foods that he had prepared for his own guests. Otherwise, a single tree cannot bear the fruits of thousands of trees. Then he began to supplicate, so he was inspired by the key to the enigma. He called out, "O ruler of these places! I came into your presence. I take refuge with you. I am your servant, and I want to please you, and I am searching for you." After this supplication, the wall of the well suddenly split, and a door opened to a wonderful, quiet and beautiful garden. Rather, the dragon's mouth transformed into the door, and the lion and the dragon wore the form of two servants; they invited him inside. The lion even took the form of a submissive horse for him.

Thus, O my lazy nafs! And O my imaginary friend! Come! Let us compare the states of these two brothers so that we can see and understand how good brings good and evil brings evil.

Look! The unfortunate traveller of the left way is waiting to enter the dragon's mouth all the time; he trembles, while the fortunate one is invited to a splendid garden full of fruits. Furthermore, the unfortunate one’s heart is shattering in painful terror and great fear, while the fortunate one is beholding and watching the wondrous things in a pleasant state of taking a lesson of warning, amid a sweet fear and a beloved ma’rifat. Furthermore, the unfortunate one is suffering torments in fear, despair and loneliness, while the fortunate one is taking pleasure amid familiarity, hope and yearning. Furthermore, the unfortunate one sees himself as a prisoner subject to the attacks of wild beasts, while the fortunate one is an honoured guest who enjoys the friendship of the wondrous servants of his Generous Host. Furthermore, the unfortunate one is hastening his torment by eating fruits that seem to be delicious but poisonous in a ma’nawî manner because those fruits are samples. There is permission to taste them so that he will strive for the originals and seek after them, but there is no permission to devour them like an animal. As for the fortunate one, he tastes them, understands the matter, postpones his eating and takes pleasure in waiting. Furthermore, that unfortunate one has committed a dhulm against himself. Due to his lack of basîrah, he has transformed a beautiful haqiqah and a brilliant state like daylight into an oppressive and dark wahm and a Jahannam for himself. Neither does he deserve compassion, nor does he have the right to complain about anyone.

For example, if a man is not content with the pleasure of a pleasant banquet in a beautiful garden among his friends in the summer and he makes himself drunk with filthy intoxicants, imagines himself hungry and naked in the middle of winter among beasts and starts to shout out and cry, he is not worthy of compassion and commits a dhulm against himself. He insults his friends by seeing them as beasts. Thus, this unfortunate, too, is like this. As for the fortunate one, he sees the haqiqah. As for the haqiqah, it is beautiful. Through understanding the beauty of the haqiqah, he respects the perfection of the haqiqah's owner. He deserves His rahmah. Thus, the mystery of the Qur'anic decree, Know that evil is from yourself and good is from Allah, becomes manifest. If you compare the other differences like these, you will understand that the nafs al-ammarah of the first one has prepared a ma’nawî Jahannam for him, while the good intention, good judgement, good character and good thought of the other one have made him honoured with great bestowal and happiness, a shining fadhîlah and faydh.

O my nafs! And O man who listens to this story together with my nafs!

If you do not want to be the unfortunate brother and want to be the fortunate one, listen to the Qur'an, obey its decrees, adhere to it and act according to its commands!..

If you have understood the haqiqahs in this story in the form of a comparison, you can compare them with the haqiqah of religion, the world, man and îmân. I will say the important ones; deduce the subtle ones by yourself.

Here, look! As for the two brothers, one is a mu’min rûh and a sâlih heart; the other one is a kâfir rûh and a fâsiq heart. As for the right one of the two roads, it is the way of the Qur'an and îmân. As for the left one, it is the way of rebellion and kufr. As for the garden on the way, it is the temporary social life within human society and civilisation where khayr and sharr, good and bad, clean and filthy things are together. A mindful person is the one who acts according to the rule, خُذْ مَا صَفَا دَعْ مَا كَدَرْ5, and goes with the salâmât of the heart. As for the desert, it is the earth and the world. As for the lion, it is death and the appointed time for the end of one's life. As for the well, it is the man's body and the time of life. As for the sixty-metre depth, it indicates sixty years, which is the average lifespan of the majority. As for the tree, it is the period of life-span and the substance of life. As for the two animals, one white and one black, they are the night and the day. As for the dragon, it is the path of barzakh and the porch of the âkhirah, the mouth of which is the grave, but for the mu’min, that mouth is a door opening from a dungeon into a garden. As for the detrimental vermin, they are the calamities of the world, but for the mu’min, they are the pleasant warnings of Allah and the favours of Rahmân in order to prevent him from falling into the sleep of ghaflah. As for the fruits on the tree, they are the worldly ni’mahs; the Absolute Karîm (Jalla Jalâluhu) has created them both in the form of a list, reminders and similars of the ni’mahs of the âkhirah and samples inviting customers to the fruits of Jannah. As for the tree giving numerous different fruits despite being a single tree, it indicates the stamp of As-Samad’s qoudrah, the seal of Allah’s rubûbiyyah and the mark of the sovereignty of ulûhiyyah, because arts like “making everything from one thing,” that is, making all plants and fruits from a single thing, earth, also creating all animals from a single thing, water, and creating all the limbs and organs of animals from a simple food, as well as “from everything making one thing,” that is, from the great variety of foods that the living beings eat, weaving a simple skin and making flesh particular to that living being, are a peculiar stamp, private seal and inimitable mark of Azalî and Eternal Sultân, Who is Al-Ahad, As-Samad. Yes, making everything from one thing and one thing from everything is an âyah and a mark peculiar to Al-Khâliq of everything and Al-Qadîr over everything.

As for the enigma, it is the mystery of creation’s hikmah that can be opened through the mystery of îmân. As for that key, it is يَا اَللّٰهُ *لاَ اِلهَ اِلاَّ اللّٰهُ * اَللّٰهُ لاَ اِلهَ اِلاَّ هُوَ الْحَىُّ الْقَيُّومُ 6. As for the mouth of the dragon being transformed into the garden door, it indicates that for the people of dhalâlah and rebellion, the grave is troublesome like a dungeon amid fear and oblivion and is a door opening to a grave, which is as narrow as a dragon's stomach, but for the people of the Qur'an and îmân, it is a door opening from the dungeon of the world into the gardens of eternity, from the arena of examination into the meadows of Jannah and from the difficulties of life into the rahmah of Rahmân. As for the wild lion being transformed into a friendly servant and becoming a submissive horse, it indicates that for the people of dhalâlah, death is a painful eternal separation from all their beloveds. It is also an exile from their own false worldly Jannah, being imprisoned and entering the dungeon of the grave amid fear and loneliness, but for the people of hidâyah and the Qur'an, it is the means of reunion with their old friends and beloveds, who have gone to the other ‘âlam. It is also the means to enter their true homeland and their eternal place of happiness. It is also invitation to the meadows of Jannah from the dungeon of the world. It is also a turn to receive the wage from the fadl of Rahmân, Who is Rahîm, in return for his service. It is also discharge from the burden of the duty of life. It is also a call to end the learning and instruction of ‘ubûdiyyah and examination.

In Short: Whoever makes the transitory life his main aim is in a ma’nawî Jahannam, even if he is apparently in Jannah. And whoever eagerly turns towards eternal life is honoured with the happiness of both worlds. However bad and troublesome his world is, since he sees his world as a waiting room for Jannah, he sees it as pleasant, endures it and offers shukr in patience...

اَللّٰهُمَّ اجْعَلْنَا مِنْ اَهْلِ السَّعَادَةِ وَ السَّلاَمَةِ وَ الْقُرْآنِ وَ اْلاِيمَانِ آمِينْ

اَللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ وَ سَلِّمْ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَ عَلَى آلِهِ وَ صَحْبِهِ بِعَدَدِ جَمِيعِ الْحُرُوفَاتِ الْمُتَشَكِّلَةِ فِى جَمِيعِ الْكَلِمَاتِ الْمُتَمَثِّلَةِ بِاِذْنِ الرَّحْمنِ فِى مَرَايَا تَمَوُّجَاتِ الْهَوَاءِ عِنْدَ قِرَائَةِ كُلِّ كَلِمَةٍ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ مِنْ كُلِّ قَارِءٍ مِنْ اَوَّلِ النُّزُولِ اِلَى آخِرِ الزَّمَانِ وَ ارْحَمْنَا وَ وَالِدَيْنَا وَارْحَمِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ بِعَدَدِهَا بِرَحْمَتِكَ يَا اَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ آمِينَ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ