Part 46

The first among the degrees of his happiness is to have a keen ear and heart that understands what the ear would hear, if he hears, realizes, sees the good path, sees that the majority of people are going astray, keeps to it and does not go astray. The reason behind going astray is refusing the oath, accepting it unwillingly, accept it while lacking power and determination, or failing to urge themselves to understand it, think about it, work according to it, or fulfill it. The oath was offered to them while still in their youth and observing religion as a habit and according to what they used to see their parents doing. They received the oath while feeling satisfied with what they saw from their parents and ancestors. This is not enough for whoever aims his intention and heart at understanding the oath and working according to it as if this oath applied to him alone and it was said to him: think about what this oath contains and work according to it. If he did not receive his oath in this way, he would follow his ancestors, the habits of his family, friends, neighbors, and the people of his country. He would be satisfied to take religion as a habit. If Satan seduces him and reaches his intention and determination, it would accuse him of clanship and zealotry to his fathers and ancestors and convince him that this is right and whatever disagrees with it is false; guidance would be considered evil and evil would be considered guidance. This would indeed be fanaticism, which is not based on knowledge. As he is satisfied to follow his family and nation, he will have what they have and will also have to pay what they are paying. He is far removed from guidance and Allah abandons him to whoever he took as a friend. He will see any guidance that disagrees with his nation and family as evil and false. If he has a higher intention, a more honorable soul, and a

higher worth, he would proceed to fulfill his oath and —

understand it and would know that the owner of this oath has a -

great stature that other people do not have. Through this oath -

he would know Allah. Allah will know that he knows Him, His ~

attributes, names, doings, and judgments. The servant will

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know that Allah is self-existing, enables others to exist, is in no need of anyone while all others are in need of Him. That He established Himself on the Throne above all His creatures, that He sees, hears, accepts, becomes angry, loves, hates, manages the affairs of His kingdom, orders, and forbids, sends His Messengers to every place in His kingdom bearing His words, which are heard by whoever wishes from among His creatures. He stands firm on justice, awards according to both good and bad, is the Most Forbearing, the Most Merciful, the All-Thankful, the Most Generous, and the Well-doer. He is described with all perfection and is far above all defects, and He has no equal. The servant can see the wisdom of Allah in managing His kingdom and how He foreordains matters according to His will without opposing justice and wisdom. And when there is a confrontation between the mind, law, and nature, each one of them proved the truth in and of itself. The servant understands what Allah has described Himself with in His Book from the reality of His names that were revealed in His Book. The names with which Allah was introduced to His servants remain until the minds acknowledge Him and indeed nature testifies to Him.

If the servant knew and believed in his heart in the attributes of the owner of the oath, the light of these attributes would rise within his heart and would be as if he saw them with his own eyes. He would see their connection with creation and the commands of Allah, their effects in the sensual and spiritual world, and their effect on creatures; how they prevail, favor, come near, banish, give, and prevent. He would see with his heart the examples of His justice, favor, and mercy. Allah deserves to be worshiped according to irrefutable proof, valid judgments, perfect power, complete justice and wisdom, superiority above all His creatures as well as the fact that He is thorough, simultaneous, great, lofty, glorious, violent, and revengeful and with His mercy, He is charitable, kind, generous, forgiving, and patient. The servant would see the

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irrefutable proof with valid judgments that any creature could not rebel against, and how these attributes agree with and are in harmony and prove each other. He would discover that wisdom prevails, which is the aim and end of all judgments, which are the beginning of all things, and how their divisions come back to the origins and principles of aims as if he is watching the principles of wisdom in action. He would notice how cases are based according to wisdom, justice, benefit, mercy, and charity. There is no case that deviates from that until the end of the world and all that exists and people are judged on the Day of Resurrection, which will show His justice, and wisdom, and the truth of His Messengers and what they said about Allah to mankind; including humans and jinn both believers and disbelievers. And then it would be revealed to His creatures from His attributes that which they did not know before that. Even those who knew Him best during this life would praise Him because of the perfection of His attributes and honored descriptions, which he did not know during this life. This would be shown to His creatures and the reasons would be also shown to them according to which people deviated, went astray, and became negligent. The difference between knowing the reality of His names and attributes and knowing them during this worldly life will be like the difference between Paradise and Hellfire and seeing them, and even greater than that.

It would be also understood from the oath how His names and attributes require the existence of prophethood, decrees, and not to leave His creatures live in vain, as well as requiring what is included in the forms of commands and prohibitions, and what is required in the existence of reward, punishment, and resurrection. This is necessary because of His s names and attributes as to be deemed far above all that His enemies claim. The servant would see in the oath the generality of power and its effect on all creatures, which did not even miss

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one whit and that if Allah has any other gods alongside Him, the world would be destroyed, including the heavens, the earth, and all that is between them. He will see how Islam and the faith, which all creatures have comes from these Divine attributes, and how they require reward and punishment sooner or later. He will understand that it is impossible to combine acceptance of this oath and denying His attributes, His superiority above His creatures, communicating with man through His Books, and oaths. It also includes those who refuse to take this oath and fulfill it and even whoever accepted it but did not accept it as a whole.

Chapter: The Body and Soul

The body of the son of Adam was created trom the earth and his soul from the government of Heaven and then they were joined. If he is hungry, stays awake, and keeps his body busy in serving Allah, his soul will find itself lighter and more peaceful so that it would long for the place from which it was created and miss its heavenly world. But if he secures food, blessings, sleep, and rest, the body will incline to remain at the place from which it was created and the soul would be pulled along with it and be in a prison. If it was not for the fact that it would get used to that prison, it would ask for help, as a tortured person does, to find relief from the pain resulting from the separation and departure from its own world from which it was created.

In general, the more the body is light, the more the soul will be light and seek its heavenly world, and the more the body is heavy and seeks desires and relief, the heavier the soul will be and it will come down from its heavenly world and become lower and more earthly. You may see the soul of a man in Heaven while his body is on the earth. Another person serves Allah with his body and his soul is low and wandering about in lowly matters. When the soul separates from the body, it would either catch up with its high or low place. With the high, it would

find every blessing, happiness, beauty, pleasure, and good living while with the low it would find every distress, grief, suffering, sadness, and bad and difficult thing. Allah says,

which means, "But whosoever turns away from My Reminder (i.e. neither believes in this Qur'an nor acts on its orders, etc.) verily, for him is a life of hardship." (Taha, 20:124)

"My Reminder" is His words, which He revealed to His Messenger, and "turns away" is by neglecting and abandoning working according to these words, and the majority of explanations saw that "life of hardship" is torture in the grave. Ibn Mas'tid, Abu Hurairah, Abu Sa'id Al-Khudry, and Ibn ‘Abbas agreed on that andit has a traceable hadith.

This life of hardship is in return for relieving the body and soul with pleasures, desires and relief. The more you enrich the soul, it will restrain the heart until you live a life of hardship, and the more you restrain the soul, it will enrich the heart until that heart will be delighted and relieved. Hardship in this worldly life, following piety will find its relief in partition and the Hereafter, and relief in this worldly life following desires will find its hardship in the partition and the Hereafter. You should choose one of the two: the better, more pleasant, and more lasting. You may distress the body in order to relieve the soul but do not distress the soul to relieve the body; relief and distress of the soul is greater and more lasting while relief and distress of the body is shorter and easier.

A wise man will never order people to abandon life; as they cannot leave it, but he may order them to leave sins. Leaving life is a favor for them while leaving sins is an obligatory act of worship. How can they be ordered to do a favor while they do