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THE
NATURE OF THE HUMAN LIFE
Briefly,
those are the aims of your
life. As for the nature of
your life, it can be
summarized as follows:
It is an
index of wonders originating
in the Divine Names, and a
measure to consider the
Divine Attributes, and a
unit to know the worlds in
the universe, and a
catalogue of the macrocosm,
and a map of the universe
and its fruit or compressed
form. It is a bunch of keys
with which to open the
hidden treasuries of the
Divine Power, and a most
excellent pattern of the
Divine perfections reflected
in creatures and manifested
through time.
The
following is to describe the
apparent, observable form of
your life and its meaning:
Your life
is a word inscribed, a
wisdom-displaying word
written by the Pen of Power.
Observed and sensed, it
points to the Divine
Beautiful Names.
DOES
LIFE CONSIST IN CONFLICT
OR MUTUAL
ASSISTANCE AMONG ALL PARTS
OF CREATION?
Among the
principles of the line of
Prophethood concerning the
fundamental conditions of
social life are mutual
assistance, magnanimity and
generosity. These are
functioning in the
reciprocal co-operation of
all things-from the sun and
the moon down to even
particles-plants help
animals, for example, and
animals help human beings,
and particles of food help
the cells of the body. By
contrast, materialistic
philosophy names conflict as
the fundamental condition of
social life. In fact,
conflict springs from the
misuse of their innate
dispositions by a number of
tyrants, brutish men and
savage beasts. Indeed, this
principle of conflict is so
fundamental and general to
the philosophers' line of
reasoning that they have
absurdly claimed: ‘Life
consists in nothing but
conflict.’
IS LIFE
AS SWEET AS TO BE SOUGHT
AFTER?
O my
wretched soul, sunk in
heedlessness, which sees
this life as sweet and, in
oblivion of the Hereafter,
seeks it only. Do you know
what you resemble? An
ostrich! It sees the hunter,
but cannot escape by flight,
so sticks its head in the
sand so that the hunter may
not see it. However, its
huge body remains in the
open, so the hunter does see
it. Only, its eyes are
closed in the sand, and it
cannot see him.
O my
soul, consider the following
comparison, and understand
the reality!
Considering
only this world changes a
great pleasure into a
grievous pain. Suppose there
are two men in this village.
Ninety-nine out of every
hundred of the friends of
one of them have immigrated
to Istanbul, where they are
living happily. Only one has
remained here, and he too
will go there. For this
reason, the man longs for
Istanbul and thinks of it;
he desires to join his
friends. When he is told
that he can go there too, he
will be overjoyed and go
happily. As for the second
man, ninety-nine out of
every hundred of his friends
have departed from here. He
thinks that some of them
have perished and the others
have entered places where
they neither see nor are
seen. He imagines that they
have all gone to utter
misery. This hopeless man
seeks consolation in the
friendship of the single
remaining friend who is also
about to go. He wants to
compensate for the heavy
pangs of separation through
him.
O my
soul! God’s Beloved above
all, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh),
but also all your friends
are on the other side of the
grave. One or two remain
here, but they too will
depart for there. So do not
be afraid of death, fearful
of the grave, nor avert your
attention from it! Look at
the grave bravely, and
listen to what it seeks.
Laugh in the face of death
manfully, and see what it
wants. Beware, do not be
heedless and resemble the
second man.
O my
soul! Do not say, “The
times have changed, this age
is different, everyone is
plunged into this world and
adores this life. Everyone
is openly committed to the
struggle for livelihood.”
But death does not change;
separations do not end and
become eternal unions, nor
become eternal
companionships. Man’s
intrinsic impotence and
poverty do not change,
rather they increase. Man’s
journey (from the World of
Spirits to the Hereafter
through this world and the
grave) is not cut, it
becomes faster.
Also, do
not say, “I am like
everyone else.” For
everyone befriends you only
as far as the grave. The
consolation coming from
sharing the same misfortune
with everyone else will be
of no benefit to you on the
other side of the grave.
Also, do
not suppose yourself to be
free and independent. For if
you look at this guest-house
of the world with the eye of
wisdom, you will see that
nothing is without order and
without purpose. How then
can you be left to yourself
outside the order and
without purpose? Know that
events in the universe like
earthquakes are not random
games of chance.
You see
that, for example, the earth
is made to wear extremely
well-designed and finely
embroidered clothes, one
over the other, one within
the other, with the variety
of species of animals and
plants adorned and decked
out from top to bottom with
very important purposes.
Also you know that the earth
revolves like an ecstatic
Mawlawi dervish in perfect
order for most exalted aims.
The recent earthquake may be
understood as the earth’s
shaking off itself the
weight of certain forms of
heedlessness of which it
disapproves in mankind, and
especially from the
believers. How is it, then,
that there are people who
suppose the essential,
death-bringing events in the
earth like the earthquake to
be without purpose and the
result of chance? How is it
that there are people who,
by showing the grievous
losses of all those affected
by such events as
unrecompensed, as having
gone for nothing, they so
throw them into a dreadful
despair? Such people are
committing both a great
error and a great wrong.
Such
events happen at the command
of One All-Wise and
All-Compassionate, in order
that the worldly property of
the believers which has been
lost because of them might
become as worthy of reward
as alms and thereby gain
permanence. That loss is
also an atonement for the
sins arising from
ingratitude for Divine
bounties.
A day
will come when this
subjugated earth will see
the works of mankind, which
adorn its face, to be
tainted with associating
partners with God and devoid
of necessary gratitude: it
will disapprove them.
Finally, at the Creator’s
command, it will wipe them
off its entire face and
cleanse it. At God’s
command, it will pour those
who associate partners with
God into Hell, and say to
the thankful, “Come and
enter Paradise!”
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