mosque known as the abode of this world, they carried out the obligations and duties of their lives, and assumed “the finest of forms.” They ascended to a rank above all creatures by which, through the auspiciousness of belief and assurance and the Trust, they became trustworthy vicegerents of the earth. And after this field of trial and place of examination, their Munificent Sustainer invited them to eternal happiness in recompense for their belief, and to the Abode of Peace in reward for their adhering to His religion of Islam. There, He bestowed on them out of His mercy bounties so dazzling that no eye has seen them, nor ear heard them, nor have they occurred to the heart of man [^2] – and so He does bestow these on them, and He gives them eternity and everlasting life. For the desirous, mirror-bearing lovers of an eternal, abiding beauty who gaze upon it will certainly not perish, but will go to eternity. The final state of the Qur’an’s students is thus. May Almighty God include us among them, Amen!
[^2]:Bukhārī, Bad’ al-Khalq, 8; Tafsīr al-Sūra, 32:1; Tawḥīd, 35; Muslim, Īmān, 312; Janna, 2-5; Tirmidhī, Tafsīr al-Sūra, 32:2; l54:1; Ibn Māja, Zuhd, 39.
As for the other group, the sinners and the wicked, when they entered the palace of this world at the age of discretion, they responded with unbelief to all the evidences of divine unity, and with ingratitude towards all the bounties, and by accusing all creatures of being valueless, insulted them in an unbelieving manner. And since they rejected and denied all the manifestations of the divine names, they committed a boundless crime in a short time and became deserving of endless punishment. For the capital of life and the human faculties were given to man for the duties mentioned above.
O my senseless soul and foolish friend! Do you suppose your life’s duty is restricted to living the good life according to the requisites of civilization, and, if you will excuse the expression, to gratifying the physical appetites? Do you suppose the sole aim of the delicate and subtle senses, the sensitive faculties and members, the well-ordered limbs and systems, the inquisitive feelings and senses included in the machine of your life is restricted to satisfying the low desires of the base soul in this fleeting life? God forbid! There are two main aims in their creation and inclusion in your essential being:
The First consists in making known to you all the varieties of the True Bestower’s bounties, and causing you to offer Him thanks. You should be aware of this, and offer Him thanks and worship.
The Second is to make known to you by means of your faculties all the sorts of the sacred divine names’ manifestations displayed in the world and to cause you to experience them. And you, by recognizing them by experiencing them, should come to believe in them.