The Second Word

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

اَلَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ1

If you want to understand how great happiness and ni’mah and how great pleasure and ease are to be found in îmân, look and listen to this short story in the form of a comparison:

One time, two men went on a journey for both pleasure and trade. One is self-centred and unfortunate; he entered in one direction; the other one is fortunate; he knows Allah and sees haqq and haqiqah; he entered in another direction, and they went.

Since the self-centred man is both self-conceited and pessimistic and just worries about himself, in his view, he falls into a very bad country as a punishment for pessimism. He sees that the impotent unfortunates exclaim, “Ah, and alas!” due to the fearsome despot men and their destruction everywhere. He sees such a sorrowful, excruciating situation in all the places he travels. The whole country has taken on the form of a general house of mourning. To not feel this excruciating and dark situation, he cannot find any way apart from drunkenness because everyone appears to be an enemy and foreign to him, and all around, he sees fearsome corpses and orphans weeping despairingly. His conscience remains in torment.

The other man, who knows Allah and sees haqq and haqiqah and performs ‘ibâdah to Allah, and whose concern is the haqq, had fine morals that he fell in a very beautiful country in his view. Thus, this good man sees a general cheerfulness in the country he enters. All around rejoicing, a festival, and the places for dhikr of Allah within rapture and merriment...  Everyone appears to be a friend and relative to him. Throughout the country, he sees a celebration of the general demobilisation with cheers and thanks. He also hears the rejoicing sound of a drum and melody due to the enlistment of soldiers with "Allahu Akbar!" and "Lâ Ilâha Illallah!" While the first unfortunate man grieves at the pain of both himself and all the people, this fortunate man is pleased and merry, both at his and all the people’s joy. Furthermore, he obtains a profitable trade. He offers shukr to Allah.

Later, he returns and comes across the other man. He understood his condition and said to him, "You have become mad. The ugliness within you must have been reflected in your exterior, so that you imagined laughter to be weeping and demobilisation to be robbery and pillage. Come to your senses and purify your heart, so that this calamitous veil can rise from your view, and you can see the haqiqah. For the country of an infinitely just, compassionate, powerful and tenderly kind sultân who cherishes his subjects and nurtures order, a country that, in front of the eyes, demonstrates works of progress and achievement to such a degree cannot be in the form that your wahm has shown you."

Then, that unfortunate man comes to his senses, repents and says, "Yes, I have become mad due to drunkenness. May Allah be pleased with you that you saved me from a state like Jahannam."

O my nafs! Know that the first man is a kâfir, or a ghâfil fâsiq. In his view, this world is a house of general mourning; all living beings are orphans, weeping at the blows of separation and death. As for the animals and men, they are forlorn, disordered civilians ripped apart by the talons of the appointed hour of death; great beings like the mountains and seas are terrifying corpses without rûh. Many painful, overwhelming and terrifying wahms like these originate from his kufr and dhalâlah and inflict him with torment in a ma’nawî manner.

As for the other man, he is a mu’min. He recognises and affirms Janâb Al-Khâliq. In his view, this world is a place for the dhikr of Rahmân, a place of learning for man and animal and an arena of examination for man and jinn. As for all the deaths of animals and men, it is demobilisation. Those who have completed their duties of life go rejoicingly from this transient realm to another ‘âlam, which is without tempests, so that the places can be opened for new officials, and they can come and work. As for all the births of animals and men, it is the enlistment in the army, the call to arms and the start of duty. Each of all living beings is a rejoicing regular soldier and a mustaqîm contented official. As for all voices, they are either dhikr and tasbîh at the start of the duty, shukr and gladden arising from the end of their shift, or melodies arising from the joy of working. In the view of that mu’min, each of all beings is a companionable servant, a friendly official and a pleasant book of his Sayyîd, Who is Karîm, and Mâlik, Who is Rahîm. Many more subtle, exalted, pleasurable and sweet haqiqahs like these manifest and emerge from his îmân.

It means that îmân bears the seed of a ma’nawî Tûba-Tree of Jannah, while kufr conceals the seed of a ma’nawî Zaqqûm-Tree of Jahannam.

It means that salâmât and security are only in Islam and îmân. In that case, we should continually say, اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ عَلَى دِينِ اْلاِسْلاَمِ وَ كَمَالِ اْلاِيمَانِ2.