means for thousands of degrees of beauty. And through His bounties, in all the names are thousands of treasuries containing bounties, and He makes all those beings we love happy.
It is because of this mystery that the saints who manifested the name of Loving One declared: “We do not want Paradise. One flash of the divine love will suffice us for ever.”
It is also because of this that as is recorded in the Hadith: “A minute’s vision of the divine beauteousness in Paradise will far surpass all its other delights.” [^19]
[^19]:See, Muslim, Īmān, 297; Ibn Māja, Muqaddima, 13; Musnad, iv, 333; al-Daylamī, al-Musnad, iv, 356; al-Shāfī‘ī, al-Musnad, ii, 389.
Thus, these endless perfections of love occur only through the All-Glorious One’s names and His creatures within the sphere of His unity and oneness. That is to say, those perfections that are imagined to exist outside that sphere are not perfections at all.
#### The Fifth Sign
The Fifth Sign: The Fifth Sign consists of five points.
First Point: The representative of the people of misguidance said next: “The world is execrated in your Hadiths [^20] and called ‘carrion.’ [^21] Also, all the saints and people of truth have contempt for the world, they say that it is pernicious and unclean. Whereas, you show it to be the means and proof of all divine perfections and speak of it rapturously.”
[^20]:See, Tirmidhī, Zuhd, 14; Ibn Māja, Zuhd, 3; Dārimī, Muqaddima, 32.
[^21]:See, al-Daylamī, al-Musnad, i, 141-2; al-‘Ajlūnī, Kashf al-Khafā’, i, 492.
The Answer: The world has three faces.
Its First Face looks to God Almighty’s names; it displays their impress. It is a mirror to them, reflecting their meanings. This face of the world consists of innumerable letters or missives describing the Eternally Besought One. This face is utterly beautiful and is worthy of love, not loathing.
Its Second Face looks to the hereafter. It is the seedbed of the hereafter and arable field for Paradise. It is the flower bed of mercy. [^22] This face is also beautiful like the first one and is deserving of love not contempt.
[^22]:See, al-Ghazālī, Iḥyā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn, iv, 19; al-Sahāwī, al-Maqāṣid al-Ḥasana, 497; ‘Alī al-Qārī, al-Asrār al-Marfū‘a, 205; al-‘Ajlūnī, Kashf al-Khafā’, i, 495.
Its Third Face looks to man’s base appetites. It is a veil of neglect and a plaything for satisfying the desires of the worldly. This face is ugly because it is transient and mortal; it is full of pain and it deceives. The contempt described in the Hadith and the loathing of the people of truth, then, is for this face.
The importance and approbation which the All-Wise Qur’an demonstrates towards the universe and all beings is towards the first two faces. It