The Eighth Word

The Eighth Word

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

God, there is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsistent.(2:255; 3:2)

Verily, the religion before God is Islam. (3:19)

If you want to understand this world, and the human spirit within the world, and the nature and value of religion for man, and how the world is a prison if there is no true religion, and that without religion man becomes the most miserable of creatures, and that it is “O God!” and, “There is no god but God” that solve this world’s talisman and deliver the human spirit from darkness, then listen to and consider this comparison:

Long ago, two brothers set off on a long journey. They continued on their way until the road forked. At the fork they saw a serious-looking man and asked him: “Which road is good?” He told them: “On the road to the right one is compelled to comply with the law and order, but within that hardship is security and happiness. However, on the left-hand road there is freedom and no restraint, but within its freedom lie danger and wretchedness. Now, the choice is yours!”

After listening to this, saying, “I place my trust in God”(11:56), the brother with a good character took the right road and conformed to the order and regulations. The other brother, who was immoral and a layabout, chose the road to the left just for the lack of restrictions. With our imaginations, we shall follow this man in his situation, which was apparently easy but in reality burdensome.

Thus, the man went up hill and down dale until he found himself in a desolate wilderness. He suddenly heard a terrifying sound and saw that a great lion had come out of the forest and was about to attack him. He fled. He came across a waterless well sixty yards deep and in his fear jumped into it. He fell half-way down it where his hands met a tree. He clung on to it. The tree, which was growing out of the walls of the well, had two roots. Two rats, one white and one black, were attacking and gnawing through them. He looked up and saw that the lion was waiting at the top of the well