From the Risale-i Nur Collection

THE WORDS

The First Word

Bismillah, “In the Name of God,” is the start of all things good. We too shall start with it. Know,
O my soul! Just as this blessed phrase is a mark of Islam, so too it is constantly recited by all
beings through their tongues of disposition. If you want to know what an inexhaustible strength,
what an unending source of bounty is Bismillah, listen to the following story which is in the form
of a comparison. It goes like this:
Someone who makes a journey through the deserts of Arabia has to travel in the name of a tribal

chief and enter under his protection, for in this way he may be saved from the assaults of bandits
and secure his needs. On his own
The Words / First Word - p.16
he will perish in the face of innumerable enemies and needs. And so, two men went on such a
journey and entered the desert. One of them was modest and humble, the other proud and
conceited. The humble man assumed the name of a tribal chief, while the proud man did not. The
first travelled safely wherever he went. If he encountered bandits, he said: “I am travelling in the
name of such-and-such tribal leader,” and they did not molest him. If he came to some tents, he
was treated respectfully due to the name. But the proud man suffered indescribable calamities
throughout his journey. He both trembled before everything and begged from everything. He was
abased and became an object of scorn.

My proud soul! You are the traveller, and this world is a desert. Your impotence and poverty
have no lim it, and your enemies and needs are endless. Since it is thus, take the name of the PreEternal Ruler and Post-Eternal Lord of the desert and be saved from begging before the whole
universe and trembling before every event.

Yes, this phrase is a treasury so blessed that your infinite impotence and poverty bind you to an
infinite power and mercy; it makes your impotence and poverty a most acceptable intercessor at
the Court of One All-Powerful and Compassionate. The person who acts saying, “In the Name of
God,” resembles someone who enrolls in the army. He acts in the name of the government; he
has fear of no one; he speaks, performs every matter, and withstands everything in the name of
the law and the name of the government.

At the beginning we said that all beings say “In the Name of God” through the tongue of
disposition. Is that so?
Indeed, it is so. If you were to see that a single person had come and had driven all the inhabitants
of a town to a place by force and compelled them to work, you would be certain that he had not
acted in his own name and through his own power, but was a soldier, acting in the name of the
government and relying on the power of the king.

In the same way, all things act in the name of Almighty God, for minute things like seeds and
grains bear huge trees on their heads; they raise loads like mountains. That means all trees say:
“In the Name of God,” fill their hands from the treasury of mercy, and offer them to us. All
gardens say: “In the Name of God,” and become cauldrons from the kitchens of Divine power in
which are cooked numerous varieties of different foods. All blessed animals like cows, camels,
sheep, and goats, say: “In the Name of God,” and produce springs of milk from the abundance of
mercy, offering us a most delicate and pure food like the water of life in the name of the Provider.
The roots and rootlets, soft as silk, of plants, trees, and grasses say: “In the Name of God,” and
pierce and pass through hard rock and earth.
The Words / First Word - p.17
Mentioning the name of God, the name of the Most Merciful, everything becomes subjected to

them. The roots spreading through hard rock and earth and producing fruits as easily as the
branches spread through the air and produce fruits, and the delicate green leaves retaining their
moisture for months in the face of extreme heat, deal a slap in the mouths of Naturalists and jab a
finger in their blind eyes, saying: “Even heat and hardness, in which you most trust, are under a
command. For like the Staff of Moses, each of those silken rootlets conform to the command of,
And We said, O Moses, strike the rock with your staff,
1
and split the rock. And the delicate leaves
fine as cigarette paper recite the verse, O fire be coolness and peace
2
against the heat of the fire,
each like the members of Abraham (UWP).
Since all things say: “In the Name of God,” and bearing God’s bounties in God’s name, give
them to us, we too should say: “In the Name of God.” We should give in the name of God, and
take in the name of God. And we should not take from heedless people who neglect to give in
God’s name.

Question: We give a price to people, who are like tray-bearers. So what price does God want,
Who is the true owner?
The Answer: Yes, the price the True Bestower of Bounties wants in return for those valuable
bounties and goods is three things: one is remembrance, another is thanks, and the other is
reflection. Saying, “In the Name of God” at the start is remembrance, and, “All praise be to God”
at the end is thanks. And perceiving and thinking of those bounties, which are priceless wonders
of art, being miracles of power of the Unique and Eternally Besought One and gifts of His mercy,
is reflection. However foolish it is to kiss the foot of a lowly man who conveys to you the
precious gift of a king and not to recognize the gift’s owner, it is a thousand times more foolish to
praise and love the apparent source of bounties and forget the True Bestower of Bounties.
O my soul! If you do not wish to be foolish in that way, give in God’s name, take in God’s name,
begin in God’s name, and act in God’s name. And that’s the matter in a nutshel..

The Words / The Second Station of the Fourteenth Flash - p.18
The Second Station of the Fourteenth Flashes
This, which has been included here because of its relevance, concerns six of the thousands
of mysteries contained in In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
‘In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate’

NOTE: A bright light from In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
concerning Divine Mercy appeared to my dull mind from afar. I wanted to record it for
myself in the form of notes, and to hunt it down and capture it, and circumscribe the light
with twenty to thirty Mysteries. But unfortunately I was not able to do this at the present

time and the twenty or thirty Mysteries were reduced to five or six.
When I say: “Oh, man!”, I mean myself. And while this lesson is directed particularly to
my own soul, I refer it as the Second Station of the Fourteenth Flash for the approval of
my meticulous brothers in the hope that it may benefit those with whom I am connected
spiritually and whose souls are more prudent than mine. This lesson looks to the heart
more than the mind, and regards spiritual pleasure rather than rational proofs.
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
[The Queen] said: “Ye chiefs! Here is-delivered to me-a letter worthy of respect. It is
from Solomon, and is [as follows]:‘In the Name of God, the Merciful, the
Compassionate.’”
1
A number of mysteries will be mentioned in this Station.
FIRST MYSTERY
I saw one manifestation of In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate as follows:
On the face of the universe, the face of the earth, and the face of man are three Stamps of
dominicality one within the other and each showing samples of the others.
____________________

The Words / The Second Station of the Fourteenth Flash - p.19
T h e F i r s t is the Great Stamp of Godhead, which is manifest through the mutual assistance,
co-operation, and embracing and corresponding to one another of beings in the totality of the
universe. This looks to In the Name of God.
T h e S e c o n d is the Great Stamp of Divine Mercifulness, which is manifest through the
mutual resemblance and proportion, order, harmony, favour and compassion in the disposal,
raising and administration of plants and animals on the face of the earth. This looks to In the
Name of God, the Merciful.

T h e n there is the Exalted Stamp of Divine Compassionateness, which is manifest through the
subtleties of Divine beneficence, fine points of Divine clemency, and rays of Divine compassion
on the face of man’s comprehensive nature. This looks to the Compassionate in In the Name of
God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

That is to say, In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate is the sacred title of three
Stamps of Divine Oneness, which form a luminous line on the page of the world, and a strong
cord, and shining filament. That is, through being revealed from above, the tip of In the Name of
God, the Merciful, the Compassionate rests on man, the fruit of the universe and miniature copy
of the world. It binds the lower world to the Divine Throne. It is a way for man to ascend to the
Divine Throne.

The Second Word
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Those who believe in the Unseen.
1
If you want to understand what great happiness and bounty, what great pleasure and ease are to
be found in belief in God, listen to this story which is in the form of a comparison:
One time, two men went on a journey for both pleasure and business. One set off in a selfish,
inauspicious direction, and the other on a godly, propitious way.
Since the selfish man was both conceited, self-centred, and pessimistic, he ended up in what
seemed to him to be a most wicked country due to his pessimism. He looked around and
everywhere saw the powerless and the unfortunate lamenting in the grasp of fearsome bullying
tyrants, weeping at their destruction. He saw the same grievous, painful situation in all the places
he travelled. The whole country took on the form of a house of mourning. Apart from becoming
drunk, he could find no way of not noticing this grievous and sombre situation. For everyone
seemed to him to be an enemy and foreign. And all around he saw horrible corpses and
despairing, weeping orphans. His conscience was in a state of torment.
The other man was godly, devout, fair-minded, and with fine morals so that the country he came
to was most excellent in his view. This good man saw universal rejoicing in the land he had
entered. Everywhere was a joyful festival, a place for the remembrance of God overflowing with
rapture and happiness; everyone seemed to him a friend and relation. Throughout the country he
saw the festive celebrations of a general discharge from duties accompanied by cries of good
wishes and thanks. He also heard the sound of a drum and band for the enlistment of soldiers with
happy calls of “God is Most Great!” and “There is no god but God!” Rather than being grieved at
the suffering of both himself and all the people like the first miserable man, this fortunate man
was pleased and happy at both his own joy and that of all the inhabitants. Furthermore, he was
able to do some profitable trade. He offered thanks to God.
____________________
1. Qur’an, 2:3.
The Words / Second Word - p.28
After some while he returned and came across the other man. He understood his condition, and
said to him: “You were out of your mind. The ugliness within you must have been reflected on
the outer world so that you imagined laughter to be weeping, and the discharge from duties to be
sack and pillage. Come to your senses and purify your heart so that this calamitous veil is raised
from your eyes and you can see the truth. For the country of an utterly just, compassionate,
beneficent, powerful, order-loving, and kind king could not be as you imagined, nor could a

country which demonstrated this number of clear signs of progress and achievement.” The
unhappy man later came to his senses and repented. He said, “Yes, I was crazy through drink.
May God be pleased with you, you have saved me from a hellish state.”
O my soul! Know that the first man represents an unbeliever, or someone depraved and heedless.
In his view the world is a house of universal mourning. All living creature are orphans weeping at
the blows of death and separation. Man and the animals are alone and without ties being ripped
apart by the talons of the appointed hour. Mighty beings like the mountains and oceans are like
horrendous, lifeless corpses. Many grievous, crushing, terrifying delusions like these arise from
his unbelief and misguidance, and torment him.
As for the other man, he is a believer. He recognizes and affirms Almighty God. In his view this
world is an abode where the Names of the All-Merciful One are constantly recited, a place of
instruction for man and the animals, and a field of examination for man and jinn. All animal and
human deaths are a demobilization. Those who have completed their duties of life depart from
this transient world for another, happy and trouble-free, world so that place may be made for new
officials to come and work. The birth of animals and humans marks their enlistment into the
army, their being taken under arms, and the start of their duties. Each living being is a joyful
regular soldier, an honest, contented official. And all voices are either glorification of God and
the recitation of His Names at the outset of their duties, and the thanks and rejoicing at their
ceasing work, or the songs arising from their joy at working. In the view of the believer, all
beings are the friendly servants, amicable officials, and agreeable books of his Most Generous
Lord and All-Compassionate Owner. Very many more subtle, exalted, pleasurable, and sweet
truths like these become manifest and appear from his belief.
That is to say, belief in God bears the seed of what is in effect a Tuba-Tree of Paradise, while
unbelief conceals the seed of a Zakkum-Tree of Hell.
That means that salvation and security are only to be found in Islam and belief. In which case, we
should continually say, “Praise be to God for the religion of Islam and perfect belief.”

The Words / Third Word - p.29
The Third Word
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
O you people, worship...
1
If you want to understand what great profit and happiness lie in worship, and what great loss and
ruin lie in vice and dissipation listen to and take heed of the following story which is in the form
of a comparison:
One time, two soldiers received orders to proceed to a distant city. They set off and travelled
together until the road forked. At the fork was a man who said to them, “The road on the right
causes no loss at all, and nine out of ten of those who take it receive a high profit and experience
great ease. While the road on the left provides no advantages, and nine out of ten of its travellers make a loss. But they are the same as regards distance. Only there is one difference: those who
take the left-hand road, which has no rules and no one in authority, travel without baggage and
arms. They feel an apparent lightness and deceptive ease. Whereas those travelling on the righthand road, which is under military order, are compelled to carry a kit-bag full of nutritious rations
four okkas or so in weight and a superb army rifle of about two kiyyes
2
which will overpower and
rout every enemy...”
After the two soldiers had listened to what this instructive man had to say, the fortunate one took
the road to the right. He loaded the weight of one batman onto his back, but his heart and spirit
were saved from thousands of batmans of fear and feeling obliged to others. As for the other,
luckless, soldier, he left the army. He did not want to conform to the order, and he went off to the
left. He was released from bearing a load of one batman, but his heart was constricted by
thousands of batmans of indebtedness, and his spirit crushed by innumerable fears. He proceeded
on his way both begging from everyone and trembling before every object and every event until
he reached his destination. And there he was punished as a mutineer and a deserter.
____________________
1. Qur’an, 2:21.
2. 1 okka = approx. 2.8 lbs. or 1,300 grams. Kiyye, another name for okka. 1 batman = 2 - 8 okkas or 5 - 30 lbs. [Tr.]
The Words / Third Word - p.30
As for the soldier who loved the order of the army, had guarded his kit-bag and rifle, and taken
the right-hand road, he had gone on his way being obliged to no one, fearing no one, and with an
easy heart and conscience until he reached the city he was seeking. There he received a reward
worthy of an honourable soldier who had carried out his duty faithfully.
O rebellious soul, know that one of those two travellers represents those who submit to the
Divine Law, while the other represents the rebellious and those who follow their own desires.
The road is the road of life, which comes from the Spirit World, passes through the grave, and
carries on to the hereafter. As for the kit-bag and rifle, they are worship and fear of God. There is
an apparent burden in worship, but there is an ease and lightness in its meaning that defies
description. For in the prescribed prayers the worshipper declares, “I bear witness that there is no
god but God.” That is to say, he finds the door of a treasury of mercy in everything because he is
believing and saying, “There is no Creator and Provider other than Him. Harm and benefit are in
His hand. He is both All-Wise; He does nothing in vain, and He is All-Compassionate; His
bounty and mercy are abundant.” And he knocks on the door with his supplication. Moreover, he
sees that everything is subjugated to the command of his own Sustainer, so he takes refuge in
Him. He places his trust in Him and relies on Him, and is fortified against every disaster; his
belief gives him complete confidence.
Indeed, like with every true virtue, the source of courage is belief in God, and worship. And as
with every iniquity, the source of cowardice is misguidance.
In fact, for a worshipper with a truly illuminated heart, it is possible that even if the globe of the
earth became a bomb and exploded, it would not frighten him. He would watch it with
pleasurable wonder as a marvel of the Eternally Besought One’s power.

But when a famous degenerate philosopher with a so-called enlightened mind but no heart saw a comet in the sky, he
trembled on the ground, and exclaimed anxiously: “Isn’t that comet going to hit the earth?” (On
one occasion, America was quaking with fear at such a comet, and many people left their homes
in the middle of the night.)
Yes, although man is in need of numberless things, his capital is as nothing, and although he is
subject to endless calamities, his power too is as nothing. Simply, his capital and power extend
only as far as his hand can reach. However, his hopes, desires, pains, and tribulations reach as far
as the eye and the imagination can stretch. Anyone who is not totally blind can see and
understand then what a great profit, happiness, and bounty for the human spirit, which is thus
impotent and weak, and needy and wanting, are worship, affirmation of God’s unity, and reliance
on God and submission to Him.
The Words / Third Word - p.31
It is obvious that a safe way is preferable to a harmful way, even if the possibility of its safety is
only one in ten. But on the way of worship, which our matter here, there is a nine out of ten
possibility of it leading to the treasury of eternal happiness, as well as its being safe. While it is
established by the testimony -which is at the degree of consensus- of innumerable experts and
witnesses that besides being without benefit, and the dissolute even confess to this, the way of
vice and dissipation ends in eternal misery. According to the reports of those who have
uncovered the mysteries of creation this is absolutely certain.
In Short: Like that of the hereafter, happiness in this world too lies in worship and being a
soldier for Almighty God. In which case, we should constantly say: “Praise be to God for
obedience to him and success,” and we should thank Him that we are Muslims...

p.32
The Fourth Word
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
The prescribed prayers are the pillar of religion.
1
If you want to understand with the certainty that two plus two equals four just how valuable and
important are the prescribed prayers, and with what little expense they are gained, and how crazy
and harmful is the person who neglects them, pay attention to the following story which is in the
form of a comparison:
One time, a mighty ruler gave each of two of his servants twenty-four gold pieces and sent them
to settle on one of his rich, royal farms two months’ distance away. “Use this money for your
tickets,” he commanded them, “and buy whatever is necessary for your house there with it. There
is a station one day’s distance from the farm. And there is both road-transport, and a railway, and
boats, and aeroplanes. They can be benefited from according to your capital.” The two servants set off after receiving these instructions. One of them was fortunate so that he
spent a small amount of money on the way to the station. And included in that expense was some
business so profitable and pleasing to his master that his capital increased a thousandfold. As for
the other servant, since he was luckless and a layabout, he spent twenty-three pieces of gold on
the way to the station, wasting it on gambling and amusements. A single gold piece remained.
His friend said to him: “Spend this last gold piece on a ticket so that you will not have to walk the
long journey and starve. Moreover, our master is generous; perhaps he will take pity on you and
forgive you your faults, and put you on an aeroplane as well. Then we shall reach where we are
going to live in one day. Otherwise you will be compelled to walk alone and hungry across a
desert which takes two months to cross.” The most unintelligent person can understand how
foolish, harmful, and senseless he would be if out of obstinacy he did not spend that single
remaining gold piece on a ticket, which is like the key to a treasury, and instead spent it on vice
for passing pleasure. Is that not so?
____________________
1. TirmidhI, Iman, 8; Ibn Maja, Fitan, 12; Musnad, v, 231; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, ii, 76
The Words / Fourth Word - p.33
O you who do not perform the prescribed prayers! And O my own soul, which does not like to
pray! The ruler in the comparison is our Sustainer, our Creator. Of the two travelling servants,
one represents the devout who perform their prayers with fervour, and the other, the heedless who
neglect their prayers. The twenty-four pieces of gold are life in every twenty-four-hour day. And
the royal domain is Paradise. As for the station, that is the grave. While the journey is man’s
passage to the grave, and on to the resurrection, and the hereafter. Men cover that long journey to
different degrees according to their actions and the strength of their fear of God. Some of the
truly devout have crossed a thousand-year distance in a day like lightning. And some have
traversed a fifty-thousand-year distance in a day with the speed of imagination. The Qur’an of
Mighty Stature alludes to this truth with two of its verses.
The ticket in the comparison represents the prescribed prayers. A single hour a day is sufficient
for the five prayers together with taking the ablutions. So what a loss a person makes who spends
twenty-three hours on this fleeting worldly life, and fails to spend one hour on the long life of the
hereafter; how he wrongs his own self; how unreasonably he behaves. For would not anyone who
considers himself to be reasonable understand how contrary to reason and wisdom such a
person’s conduct is, and how far from reason he has become, if, thinking it reasonable, he gives
half of his property to a lottery in which one thousand people are participating and the possibility
of winning is one in a thousand, and does not give one twenty-fourth of it to an eternal treasury
where the possibility of winning has been verified at ninety-nine out of a hundred?
Moreover, the spirit, the heart, and the mind find great ease in prayer. And it is not trying for the
body. Furthermore, with the right intention, all the other acts of someone who performs the
prescribed prayers become like worship. He can make over the whole capital of his life to the
hereafter in this way. He can make his transient life permanent in one respect...

The Words / Fifth Word - p.34
The Fifth Word
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Indeed, God is with those who fear Him and those who do good.
1
If you want to see what a truly human duty and what a natural, appropriate result of man’s
creation it is to perform the prescribed prayers and not to commit serious sins, listen to and take
heed of the following comparison:
Once, at a time of general mobilization, two soldiers found themselves together in a regiment.
One was well-trained and conscientious, the other, a raw recruit and self-centred. The
conscientious soldier concentrated on training and the war, and did not give a thought to rations
and provisions, for he knew that it was the state’s duty to feed and equip him, treat him if he was
ill, and even to put the food in his mouth if the need arose. He knew that his essential duty was to
train and fight. But he would also attend to some of the rations and equipment as part of his work.
He would boil up the saucepans, wash up the mess-tins, and bring them. If it was then asked him:
“What are you doing?”, he would reply: “I am doing fatigue duty for the state.” He would not
say: “I am working for my living.”
The raw recruit, however, was fond of his stomach and paid no attention to training and the war.
“That is the state’s business. What is it to me?”, he would say. He thought constantly of his
livelihood, and pursuing it would leave the regiment and go to the market to do shopping. One
day his well-trained friend said to him:
“Your basic duty is training and fighting, brother. You were brought here for that. Trust in the
king; he will not let you go hungry. That is his duty. Anyway, you are powerless and wanting;
you cannot feed yourself everywhere. And this is a time of mobilization and war; he will tell you
that you are mutinous and will punish you. Yes, there are two duties which concern us. One is the
king’s duty: sometimes we do his fatigue duties and he feeds us for it. The other is our duty: that
is training and fighting, and sometimes the king helps us with it.”
___________________

The Words / Fifth Word - p.35
Of course you will understand in what danger the layabout soldier would be if he did not pay
attention to the striving, well-trained one.
O my lazy soul! That turbulent place of war is this stormy worldly life, and the army divided into
regiments, human society. The regiment in the comparison is the community of Islam in this
century. One of the two soldiers is a devout Muslim who knows the obligations of his religion and performs them, and struggles with Satan and his own soul in order to give up serious
misdoings and not to commit sins. While the other is a degenerate wrongdoer who is so immersed
in the struggle for livelihood that he casts aspersions on the True Provider, abandons his religious
obligations, and commits any sins that come his way as he makes his living. As for the training
and instruction, it is foremost the prescribed prayers and worship. And the war is the struggle
against the soul and its desires, and against the satans among jinn and men, to deliver them from
sin and bad morals, and save the heart and spirit from eternal perdition. And the first of the two
duties is to give life and sustain it, while the other is to worship and beseech the Giver and
Sustainer of life. It is to trust in Him and rely on Him.
Indeed, whoever made and bestowed life, which is a most brilliant miracle of the Eternally
Besought One’s art and a wonder of dominical wisdom, is the one who maintains and perpetuates
it through sustenance. It cannot be another. Do you want proof? The most impotent and stupid
animals are the best nourished; like fish, and worms in fruit. And it is the most helpless and
delicate creatures who have the choicest food; like infants and the young of all species.
For sure, it is enough to compare fish with foxes, newly born animals with wild beasts, and trees
with animals in order to understand that licit food is obtained not through power and will, but
through impotence and helplessness. That is to say, someone who gives up performing the
prescribed prayers because of the struggle for livelihood resembles the soldier who abandoned his
training and trench and went and begged in the market. But to seek ones rations from the kitchens
of the All-Generous Provider’s mercy after performing the prayers, and to go oneself so as not to
be a burden on others is fine and manly. It too is a sort of worship.
Furthermore, man’s nature and spiritual faculties show that he is created for worship. For in
respect of the power and actions necessary for the life of this world, he cannot compete with the
most inferior sparrow. While in respect of knowledge and need, and worship and supplication,
which are necessary for spiritual life and the life of the hereafter, he is like the monarch and
commander of the animals.
O my soul! If you make the life of this world the aim of your life and work constantly for that,
you will become like the lowest sparrow. But if
The Words / Fifth Word - p.36
you make the life of the hereafter your aim and end, and make this life the means of it and its
tillage, and strive in accordance with it, then you will be like a lofty commander of the animals,
and a petted and suppliant servant of Almighty God, and His honoured and respected guest.
Those are the two ways open to you! You can choose whichever you wish... So ask for guidance
and success from the Most Compassionate of the Compassionate...


The Words / Sixth Word - p.37
The Sixth Word In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Verily God has purchased from the believers their persons and their property that
Paradise might be theirs.
1
If you wish to understand how profitable a trade it is, and how honour-able a rank, to sell one’s
person and property to God, to be His slave and His soldier, then listen to the following
comparison.
Once a king entrusted each of two of his subjects with an estate, including all necessary
workshops, machinery, horses, weapons and so forth. But since it was a tempestuous and warridden age, nothing enjoyed stability; it was destined either to disappear or to change. The king in
his infinite mercy sent a most noble lieutenant to the two men and by means of a compassionate
decree conveyed the following to them:
“Sell me the property you now hold in trust, so that I may keep it for you. Let it not be destroyed
for no purpose. After the wars are over, I will return it to you in a better condition than before. I
will regard the trust as your property and pay you a high price for it. As for the machinery and the
tools in the workshop, they will be used in my name and at my workbench. But the price and the
fee for their use shall be increased a thousandfold. You will receive all the profit that accrues.
You are indigent and resourceless, and unable to provide the cost of these great tasks. So let me
assume the provision of all expenses and equipment, and give you all the income and the profit.
You shall keep it until the time of demobilization. So see the five ways in which you shall profit!
Now if you do not sell me the property, you can see that no one is able to preserve what he
possesses, and you too will lose what you now hold. It will go for nothing, and you will lose the
high price I offer. The delicate and precious tools and scales, the precious metals waiting to be
used, will also lose all value. You will have the trouble and concern of administering and
preserving, but at the same time be punished for betraying your trust. So see the five ways in
which you may lose! Moreover, if you sell the property to me, you become my soldier and act in
my name. Instead of a common prisoner or irregular soldier, you will be the free lieutenant of an
exalted monarch.”
____________________
1. Qur’an, 9:111.
The Words / Sixth Word - p.38
After they had listened to this gracious decree, the more intelligent of the two men said:
“By all means, I am proud and happy to sell. I offer thanks a thousandfold.”
But the other was arrogant, selfish and dissipated; his soul had become as proud as the Pharaoh.
As if he was to stay eternally on that estate, he ignored the earthquakes and tumults of this world.
He said:
“No! Who is the king? I won’t sell my property, nor spoil my enjoyment.”
After a short time, the first man reached so high a rank that everyone envied his state. He
received the favour of the king, and lived happily in the king’s own palace. The other by contrast
fell into such a state that everyone pitied him, but also said he deserved it. For as a result of his
error, his happiness and property departed, and he suffered punishment and torment.

O soul full of caprices! Look at the face of truth through the telescope of this parable. As for the
king, he is the Monarch of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, your Sustainer and Creator. The
estates, machinery, tools and scales are your possessions while in life’s fold; your body, spirit and
heart within those possessions, and your outward and inward senses such as the eye and the
tongue, intelligence and imagination. As for the most noble lieutenant, it is the Noble Messenger
of God; and the most wise decree is the Wise Qur’an, which describes the trade we are discussing
in this verse:
Verily God has purchased from the believers their persons and property that Paradise might be
theirs.
The surging field of battle is the tempestuous surface of the world, which ceaselessly changes,
dissolves and reforms and causes every man to think:
“Since everything will leave our hands, will perish and be lost, is there no way in which we can
transform it into something eternal and preserve it?”
While engaged in these thoughts, he suddenly hears the heavenly voice of the Qur’an saying:
“Indeed there is, a beautiful and easy way which contains five profits within itself.”
What is that way?
To sell the trust received back to its true owner. Such a sale yields profit fivefold.
The First Profit: Transient property becomes everlasting. For this waning life, when given to the
Eternal and Self-Subsistent Lord of Glory and spent for His sake, will be transmuted into eternity.
It will yield eternal fruits. The moments of one’s life will apparently vanish and rot like kernels
and seeds. But then the flowers of blessedness and auspiciousness will open and bloom in the
realm of eternity, and each will also present a luminous and reassuring aspect in the Intermediate
Realm.
The Second Profit: The high price of Paradise is given in exchange.
The Words / Sixth Word - p.39
The Third Profit: The value of each limb and each sense is increased a thousandfold. The
intelligence is, for example, like a tool. If you do not sell it to God Almighty, but rather employ it
for the sake of the soul, it will become an ill-omened, noxious and debilitating tool that will
burden your weak person with all the sad sorrows of the past and the terrifying fears of the future;
it will descend to the rank of an inauspicious and destructive tool. It is for this reason that a sinful
man will frequently resort to drunkenness or frivolous pleasure in order to escape the vexations
and injuries of his intelligence. But if you sell your intelligence to its True Owner and employ it
on His behalf, then the intelligence will become like the key to a talisman, unlocking the infinite
treasures of compassion and the vaults of wisdom that creation contains.
To take another example, the eye is one of the senses, a window through which the spirit looks
out on this world. If you do not sell it to God Almighty, but rather employ it on behalf of the soul,
by gazing upon a handful of transient, impermanent beauties and scenes, it will sink to the level
of being a pander to lust and the concupiscent soul. But if you sell the eye to your All-Seeing
Maker, and employ it on His behalf and within limits traced out by Him, then your eye will rise
to the rank of a reader of the great book of being, a witness to the miracles of dominical art, a
blessed bee sucking on the blossoms of mercy in the garden of this globe.
Yet another example is that of the tongue and the sense of taste. If you do not sell it to your Wise Creator, but employ it instead on behalf of the soul and for the sake of the stomach, it sinks and
declines to the level of a gatekeeper at the stable of the stomach, a watchman at its factory. But if
you sell it to the Generous Provider, the the sense of taste contained in the tongue will rise to the
rank of a skilled overseer of the treasuries of Divine compassion, a grateful inspector in the
kitchens of God’s eternal power.
So look well, O intelligence! See the difference between a tool of destruction and the key to all
being! And look carefully, O eye! See the difference between an abominable pander and the
learned overseer of the Divine library! And taste well, O tongue! See the difference between a
stable doorkeeper or a factory watchman and the superintendent of the treasury of God’s mercy!
Compare all other tools and limbs to these, and then you will understand that in truth the believer
acquires a nature worthy of Paradise and the unbeliever a nature conforming to Hell. The reason
for each of them attaining his respective value is that the believer, by virtue of his faith, uses the
trust of his Creator on His behalf and within the limits traced out by Him, whereas the unbeliever
betrays the trust and employs it for the sake of the instinctual soul.
The Fourth Profit: Man is helpless and exposed to numerous misfortunes. He is indigent, and his
needs are numerous. He is weak, and the
The Words / Sixth Word - p.40
burden of life is most heavy. If he does not rely on the Omnipotent One of Glory, place his trust
in Him and confidently submit to Him, his conscience will always be troubled. Fruitless
torments, pains and regrets will suffocate him and intoxicate him, or turn him into a beast.
The Fifth Profit: Those who have experienced illumination and had unveiled to them the true
nature of things, the elect who have witnessed the truth, are all agreed that the exalted reward for
all the worship and glorification of God performed by your members and instruments will be
given to you at the time of greatest need, in the form of the fruits of Paradise.
If you spurn this trade with its fivefold profit, in addition to being deprived of its profit, you will
suffer fivefold loss.
The First Loss: The property and offspring to which you are so attached, the soul and its caprice
that you worship, the youth and life with which you are infatuated, all will vanish and be lost;
your hands will be empty. But they will leave behind them sin and pain, fastened on your neck
like a yoke.
The Second Loss: You will suffer the penalty for betrayal of trust. For you will have wronged
your own self by using the most precious tools on the most worthless objects.
The Third Loss: By casting down all the precious faculties of man to a level much inferior to the
animals, you will have insulted and transgressed against God’s wisdom.
The Fourth Loss: In your weakness and poverty, you will have placed the heavy burden of life
on your weak shoulders, and will constantly groan and lament beneath the blows of transience
and separation. The Fifth Loss: You will have clothed in an ugly form, fit to open the gates of Hell in front of
you, the fair gifts of the Compassionate One such as the intelligence, the heart, the eye and the
tongue, given to you to make preparation for the foundations of everlasting life and eternal
happiness in the hereafter.
Now is it so difficult to sell the trust? Is it so burdensome that many people shun the transaction?
By no means! It is not in the least burdensome. For the limits of the permissible are broad, and
are quite adequate for man’s desire; there is no need to trespass on the forbidden. The duties
imposed by God are light and few in number. To be the slave and soldier of God is an
indescribably pleasurable honour. One’s duty is simply to act and embark on all things in God’s
name, like a soldier; to take and to give on God’s behalf; to move and be still in accordance with
His permission and law. If one falls short, then one should seek His forgiveness, say:
“O Lord! Forgive our faults, and accept us as Your slaves. Make us sure holders of Your trust
until the time comes when it is taken from us. Amen!”, and make petition unto Him.

The Seventh Word
If you want to understand what valuable, difficulty-resolving talismans are the two parts of the
phrase I believe in God and the Last Day, which solve both the enigmatical riddle of creation and
open the door of happiness for the human spirit, and what beneficial and curative medicines are
reliance on your Creator and taking refuge in Him through patience and entreaty, and
supplicating your Provider through thanks, and what important, precious, shining tickets for the
journey to eternity -and provisions for the hereafter and lights for the grave- are listening to the
Qur’an, obeying its commands, performing the prescribed prayers, and giving up serious sins,
then listen and pay attention to this comparison:
One time a soldier fell into a most grave situation in the field of battle and examination, and the
round of profit and loss. It was as follows:
The soldier was wounded with two deep and terrible wounds on his right and left sides and
behind him stood a huge lion as though waiting to attack him. Before him stood a gallows which
was putting to death and annihilating all those he loved. It was awaiting him too. Besides this, he
had a long journey before him: he was being exiled. As the unfortunate soldier pondered over his
fearsome plight in despair, a kindly person shining with light like Khidr appeared. He said to
him: “Do not despair. I shall give you two talismans and teach you them. If you use them
properly, the lion will become a docile horse for you, and the gallows will turn into a swing for
your pleasure and enjoyment. Also I shall give you two medicines. If you follow the instructions,
those two suppurating wounds will be transformed into two sweet-scented flowers called the
Rose of Muhammad (PBUH). Also, I shall give you a ticket; with it, you will be able to make a
year’s journey in a day as though flying. If you do not believe me, experiment a bit, so that you
can see it is true.” The soldier did experiment a bit, and affirmed that it was true. Yes, I, that is,this unfortunate Said, affirm it too. For I experimented and saw it was absolutely true.
Some time later he saw a sly, debauched-looking man, cunning as the Devil, coming from the left
bringing with him much ornamented finery, decorated pictures and fantasies, and many
intoxicants. He stopped before the soldier, and said:
The Words / Seventh Word - p.42
“Hey, come on, my friend! Let’s go and drink and make merry. We can look at these pictures of
beautiful girls, listen to the music, and eat this tasty food.” Then he asked him: “What is it you
are reciting under your breath?”
“A talisman,” came the reply.
“Stop that incomprehensible nonsense! Let’s not spoil our present fun!” And he asked a second
question: “What is that you have in your hand?”
“Some medicine,” the soldier replied.
“Throw it away! You are healthy, there is nothing wrong with you. It is the time of cheer.” And
he asked: “What is that piece of paper with five marks on it?”
“It is a ticket and a rations card.”
“Oh, tear them up!”, the man said. “What need do we have of a journey this beautiful spring?” He
tried to persuade him with every sort of wile, and the poor soldier was even a bit persuaded. Yes,
man can be deceived. I was deceived by just such cunning deceptions.
Suddenly from the right came a voice like thunder. “Beware!”, it said. “Do not be deceived! Say
to that trickster: ‘If you have the means to kill the lion behind me, remove the gallows from
before me, repulse the things wounding my right and my left, and prevent the journey in front of
me, then come on and do so! Show that you can and let us see it! Then say, come on, let’s go and
enjoy ourselves. Otherwise be silent!’ Speak in the same way as that Khidr-like God-inspired
man.”
O my soul, which laughed in its youth and now weeps at its laughter! Know that the unfortunate
soldier is you, and man. The lion is the appointed hour. As for the gallows, it is death, decline,
and separation, through which, in the alternation of night and day, all friends bid farewell and are
lost. Of the two wounds, one is man’s infinite and troublesome impotence, while the other is his
grievous and boundless poverty. The exile and journey is the long journey of examination which
passes from the world of spirits through the womb and childhood to old age; through the world
and the grave and the intermediate realm, to the resurrection and the Bridge of Sirat. As for the
two talismans, they are belief in Almighty God and the hereafter.
Yes, through the second sacred talisman, death takes on the form of a mastered horse, a steed to
take believing man from the prison of this world to the gardens of Paradise and the presence of
the Most Merciful One. It is because of this that the wise who have seen death’s reality have
loved it. They have wanted it before it came. And through the talisman of belief in God, the
passage of time, which is decline and separation, death and decease and the gallows, takes on the
form of the means to observe and contemplate with perfect pleasure the miracles of the AllGlorious Maker’s various, mul-
The Words / Seventh Word - p.43 ticoloured, ever-renewed embroideries, the wonders of His power, and the manifestations of His
mercy. Yes, when mirrors reflecting the colours of the sun’s light are changed and renewed, and
the images of the cinema changed, better, more beautiful scenes are formed.
As for the two medicines, one is trusting in God and patience, and the other is relying on the
power of one’s Creator and having confidence in His wisdom. Is that the case? Indeed it is. What
fear can a man have, who, through the certificate of his impotence, relies on a Monarch of the
World with the power to command: “Be!” and it is.
1
For in the face of the worst calamity, he
says: Verily, to God do we belong, and verily to Him is our return,
2
and places his trust in his
Most Compassionate Sustainer. A person with knowledge of God takes pleasure from impotence,
from fear of God. Yes, there is pleasure in fear. If a twelve-month baby was sufficiently
intelligent and it was asked him: “What is most pleasurable and sweetest for you?”, he might well
say: “To realize my powerlessness and helplessness, and fearing my mother’s gentle smack to at
the same time take refuge in her tender breast.” But the compassion of all mothers is but a flash
of the manifestation of Divine mercy. It is for this reason that the wise have found such pleasure
in impotence and fear of God, vehemently declaring themselves to be free of any strength and
power, and have taken refuge in God through their powerlessness. They have made
powerlessness and fear an intercessor for themselves.
The second medicine is thanks and contentment, and entreaty and supplication, and relying on the
mercy of the All-Compassionate Provider. Is that so? Yes, for how can poverty, want and need be
painful and burdensome for a guest of an All-Generous and Munificent One Who makes the
whole face of the earth a table of bounties and the spring a bunch of flowers, and Who places the
flowers on the table and scatters them over it? Poverty and need take on the form of a pleasant
appetite. The guest tries to increase his poverty in the same way he does his appetite. It is because
of this that the wise have taken pride in want and poverty. But beware, do not misunderstand this!
It means to be aware of one’s poverty before God and to beseech Him, not to parade poverty
before the people and assume the air of a beggar.
As for the ticket and voucher, it is to perform the religious duties, and foremost the prescribed
prayers, and to give up serious sins. Is that so? Yes, it is, for according to the consensus of those
who observe and have knowledge of the Unseen and those who uncover the mysteries of
creation, the provisions, light, and steed for the long, dark road to post-eternity may only be
obtained through complying with the commands of the Qur’an and
____________________

The Words / Seventh Word - p.44
avoiding what it prohibits. Science, philosophy, and art are worth nothing on that road. Their
light reaches only as far as the door of the grave.
And so, O my lazy soul! How little and light and easy it is to perform the five daily prayers and
give up the seven deadly sins! If you have the faculty of reason and it is not corrupted, understand
how important and extensive are their results, fruits, and benefits! Say to the Devil and that man who were encouraging you to indulge in vice and dissipation: “If you have the means to kill
death, and cause decline and transience to disappear from the world, and remove poverty and
impotence from man, and close the door of the grave, then tell us and let us hear it! Otherwise, be
silent! The Qur’an reads the universe in the vast mosque of creation. Let us listen to it. Let us be
illuminated with that light. Let us act according to its guidance. And let us recite it constantly.
Yes, the Qur’an is the word. That is what they say of it. It is the Qur’an which is the truth and
comes from the Truth and says the truth and shows the truth and spreads luminous wisdom...”
O God! Illuminate our hearts with the light of belief and the Qur’an.
O God! Enrich us with the need of You and do not impoverish us with the lack of need of You.
Make us free of our own strength and power, and cause us to take refuge in Your strength and
power. Appoint us among those who place their trust in You, and do not entrust us to ourselves.
Protect us with Your protection. Have mercy on us and have mercy on all believing men and
women. And grant blessings and peace to our Master Muhammad, Your Servant and Prophet,
Your Friend and Beloved, the Beauty of Your Dominion and the Sovereign of Your Art, the
Essence of Your Favour and the Sun of Your Guidance, the Tongue of Your Proof and the
Exemplar of Your Mercy, the Light of Your Creation and the Glory of Your Creatures, the Lamp
of Your Unity in the Multiplicity of Your Creatures and the Discloser of the Talisman of Your
Beings, the Herald of the Sovereignty of Your Dominicality and the Announcer of those things
pleasing to You, the Proclaimer of the Treasuries of Your Names and the Instructor of Your
Servants, the Interpreter of Your Signs and the Mirror of the Beauty of Your Dominicality, the
Means of witnessing You and bearing witness to You, Your Beloved and Your Messenger whom
You sent as a Mercy to All the Worlds, and to all his Family and Companions, and to his brothers
among the prophets and messengers, and to Your angels and to the righteous among Your
servants. AMEN.



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.
1
Verily, the religion before God is Islam.
2
If you want to understand this world, and man’s 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,
3
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, this 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.
____________________
1. Qur’an, 3:2; 2:255.
2. Qur’an, 3:19.
3. Qur’an, 11:56
The Words / Eighth Word - p.46
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 like a sentry. He looked down and saw a
ghastly dragon. It raised its head and drew it close to his foot thirty yards above. Its mouth was as
big as the mouth of the well. Then he looked at the well’s walls and saw that stinging, poisonous
vermin had gathered round him. He looked up at the mouth of the well and saw a fig-tree. But it
was not an ordinary tree; it bore the fruit of many different trees, from walnuts to pomegranates.
Thus, due to his lack of thought and foolishness, the man did not understand that this was not just
some ordinary matter, these things were not here by chance, and that there were mysterious
secrets concealed in these strange beings. And he did not grasp that there was someone very
powerful directing them. Now, although his heart, spirit, and mind were secretly weeping and
wailing at this grievous situation, his evil-commanding soul pretended that it was nothing; it
closed its ears to the weeping of his heart and spirit, and deceiving itself, started to eat the tree’s
fruit as though it was in a garden. But some of the fruit were poisonous and harmful. Almighty
God says in a Divine Hadith: “I am according to how my servants think of Me.”
4
Thus, through his foolishness and lack of understanding, this unhappy man thought what he saw
to be ordinary and the actual truth. So that is the way he was treated, and is treated, and will be
treated. He neither dies so that he is saved from it, nor does he live - he is in such torment. Now
we shall leave this ill-omened man in his torment and return, so that we may consider the
situation of the other brother.
This fortunate and intelligent person went on his way, but he suffered no distress like his brother.
For, due to his fine morals, he thought of good things and imagined good things. Everything was
friendly and familiar to him. And he did not suffer any difficulty and hardship like his brother, for
he knew the order and followed it. He found it easy. He went on his way freely and in peace and security. Then he came across a garden in which were both lovely flowers and fruits, and, since it
was not looked after, rotting and filthy things. His brother had also entered such a garden, but he
had noticed and occupied himself with the filthy things and they had turned his stomach, so he
had left it and moved on without being able to rest himself. But this man acted according to the
rule, ‘look on the good side of everything,’ and had paid no attention to the rotting things. He had
benefited a lot from the good things, and taking a good rest, he had left and gone on his way.
Later, also like the first brother, he had entered a vast desert, and had suddenly heard the roar of a
lion which was attacking him. He was frightened,
____________________
4. Bukhari, Tawhid, 15, 35; Muslim, Tawba, 1; Dhikr, 2, 19; Tirmidhi, Zuhd, 51; Da’wat, 131; Ibn Maja, Adab, 58;
Darimi, Riqaq, 33; Musnad, ii, 251, 315, 391, 412, 445, 482, 516.
The Words / Eighth Word - p.47
but not as much as his brother. For, because of his good thoughts and positive attitude, he thought
to himself: “This desert has a ruler, and it is possible that this lion is a servant under the ruler’s
command,” and found consolation. But he still fled until he came across an empty well sixty
yards deep. He threw himself into it. Like his brother, his hand clasped a tree half-way down and
he remained suspended in the air. He looked and saw two animals gnawing through the tree’s two
roots. He looked up and saw the lion, and looked down and saw the dragon. Just like his brother
he was seeing a most strange situation. He was terrified like him, but his terror was a thousand
times less than his brother’s. For his good morals had given him good thoughts, and good
thoughts show the good side of everything. So, because of this, he thought as follows:
“These strange happenings are connected to someone. Also it seems that they are acting in
accordance with a command. In which case, these matters contain a talisman. Yes, everything is
happening at the command of a hidden ruler. Therefore, I am not alone; the hidden ruler is
watching me, he is testing me, he is impelling me somewhere for some purpose, and inviting me
there. A curiosity arising from this pleasant fear and these agreeable thoughts prompt me to say: I
wonder who it is that is testing me, wants to make himself known, and is impelling me for some
purpose on this strange road.”
Then, love for the owner of the talisman arose out of the desire to know him, and from that love
arose the desire to solve the talisman. And from that desire arose the will to acquire good
qualities which would please and gratify the talisman’s owner. Then he looked at the tree and saw
it was a fig-tree, but it was bearing the fruits of thousands of trees. So then all his fear left him,
for he understood that for certain the fig-tree was a list, an index, an exhibition. The hidden ruler
must have attached samples of the fruits in the garden to the tree through a miracle and with a
talisman, and must have adorned the tree in a way that would point to each of the foods he had
prepared for his guests. For there is no other way a single tree could produce the fruits of
thousands of different trees. Then he began to entreat that he would be inspired with the key to
the talisman. He called out:
“O ruler of this place! I have happened upon you and I take refuge with you. I am your servant
and I want to please you. I am searching for you.” After he had made this supplication, the walls of the well suddenly parted, and a door opened onto a wonderful, pleasant, quiet garden. Indeed,
the dragon’s mouth was transformed into the door, and both it and the lion took on the forms of
two servants; they invited him to enter. The lion even became a docile horse for him.
O my lazy soul! And O my imaginary friend! Come! Let us compare the position of these two
brothers so that we can see how good comes of good and evil comes of evil. Let us find out.

The Words / Eighth Word - p.48
Look, the unhappy traveller on the left road is all the time trembling with fear waiting to enter the
dragon’s mouth, while the fortunate one is invited into a blooming, splendid garden full of fruit.
And the unfortunate one’s heart is being pounded by an awful terror and grievous fear, while the
fortunate one is gazing at and observing strange things as a delightful lesson, with a pleasant fear
and loving knowledge. Also the miserable one is suffering torments in desolation, despair, and
loneliness, while the fortunate one is enjoying himself, full of hope, longing, and a sense of
belonging. Furthermore, the unfortunate one sees himself as a prisoner subject to the attacks of
wild beasts, while the fortunate one is an honoured guest who is on friendly terms and enjoying
himself with the strange servants of his generous host. Also the unhappy one is hastening his
torments by indulging in fruits which are apparently delicious but in fact poisonous. For the fruits
are samples; there is permission to taste them so as to seek the originals and become customers
for them, but there is no permission to devour them like an animal. But the fortunate one tastes
them and understands the matter; he postpones eating them and takes pleasure in waiting.
Moreover, the unfortunate one is wronging himself. Through his lack of discernment, he is
making a truth and a situation which are as clear and bright as daylight into a dark and oppressive
fear, into a hellish delusion. He does not deserve pity, nor does he have the right to complain to
anyone.
For example, if a person at a pleasant banquet in a beautiful garden in summer among his friends
makes himself drunk through filthy intoxicants, then imagines himself hungry and naked in the
middle of winter among wild animals and starts shouting out and crying, he does not deserve to
be pitied; he is wronging himself, and he is insulting his friends by imagining them to be wild
beasts. Thus, the unfortunate brother is like this. But the fortunate one sees the truth. And the
truth is good. Through perceiving the beauty of the truth, the fortunate brother is being respectful
towards the truth’s owner. So he deserves his mercy. Thus, the meaning of the Qur’anic decree:
“Know that evil is from yourself, and good is from God”
5
becomes clear. If you make a
comparison of other differences in the same way, you will understand that the evil-commanding
soul of the first brother has prepared a sort of hell for him, while the good intention, good will,
good character, and good thoughts of the other have allowed him to receive abundant bounty,
experience true happiness and prosperity, and display shining virtue.
O my soul! And O you who is listening to this story together with my soul! If you do not want to
be the unfortunate brother and want to be the fortunate one, listen to the Qur’an, obey its decrees,
adhere to them, and act according to them.
____________________
5. See, Qur’an, 4:79.The Words / Eighth Word - p.49
If you have understood the truths in this comparison, you will be able to make them correspond
to the truths of religion, the world, man, and belief in God. I shall say the important ones, then
you deduce the finer points yourself.
So, look! Of the two brothers, one is a believing spirit and a righteous heart. The other is an
unbelieving spirit and a depraved heart. Of the two roads, the one to the right is the way of the
Qur’an and belief in God, while the left one is the road of rebellion and denial. The garden on the
road is man’s fleeting life in human society and civilization, where good and evil, and things
good and bad and clean and dirty are found side by side. The sensible person is he who acts
according to the rule: ‘Take what is pleasant and clear, and leave what is distressing and turbid,’
and goes on his way with tranquillity of heart. As for the desert, it is the earth and this world. And
the lion is death and the appointed hour. The well is man’s body and the time of his life, while its
sixty-yard depth points to the normal life-span of sixty years. And the tree is the period of life and
the substance of life. The two animals, one white and one black, are night and day. The dragon is
the road to the Intermediate Realm and pavilion of the hereafter, whose mouth is the grave. But
for the believer, that mouth is a door opening from a prison onto a garden. As for the poisonous
vermin, they are the calamities of this world. But for the believer they are like gentle Divine
warnings and favours of the Most Merciful One to prevent him slipping off into the sleep of
heedlessness. The fruits on the tree are the bounties of this world which the Absolutely Generous
One has made in the form of a list of the bounties of the hereafter, and both as examples of them,
and warnings, and samples inviting customers to the fruits of Paradise. And the tree producing
numerous different fruits despite being a single tree indicate the seal of the ower of the Eternally
Besought One, to the stamp of Divine dominicality and sovereignty. For ‘to make everything
from one thing,’ that is, to make all plants and fruits from earth, and create all animals from a
fluid, and to create all the limbs and organs of animals from a simple food, together with ‘making
everything one thing,’ that is, arts like weaving a simple skin and making flesh particular to each
animal from the great variety of foods that animals eat, is an inimitable stamp and seal peculiar to
the Ruler of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, Who is the Single, Eternally-Besought One. For sure,
to make one thing everything, and everything one thing is a sign, a mark, peculiar to the Creator
of all things, the One Powerful over all things.
As for the talisman, it is the mystery of the purpose of creation which is solved through the
mystery of belief. And the key is There is no god but God, and, God, there is no god but He, the
Ever-Living, the Self-Subsistent. The dragon’s mouth being transformed into the door into the
garden is a sign that, although for the people of misguidance and rebellion the grave is a door
opening, in desolation and oblivion, onto a grave distressing as a dungeon
The Words / Eighth Word - p.50
and narrow as a dragon’s stomach, for the people of the Qur’an and belief, it is a door which
opens from the prison of this world onto the fields of immortality, from the arena of examination
onto the gardens of Paradise, and from the hardships of life onto the mercy of the All-Merciful One. The savage lion turning into a friendly servant and a docile mount is a sign that, although
for the people of misguidance, death is a bitter, eternal parting from all their loved ones, and the
expulsion from the deceptive paradise of this world and the entry in desolation and loneliness into
the dungeon of the grave, for the people of guidance and the Qur’an it is the means of joining all
their old friends and beloved ones who have already departed for the next world, and the means
of entering their true homeland and abode of everlasting happiness. It is an invitation to the
meadows of Paradise from the prison of this world, and a time to receive the wage bestowed out
of the generosity of the Most Merciful and Compassionate One for services rendered to Him, and
a discharge from the hardship of the duties of life, and a rest from the drill and instruction of
worship and examination.
In Short: Whoever makes this fleeting life his purpose and aim is in fact in Hell even if
apparently in Paradise. And whoever is turned in all seriousness towards eternal life receives the
happiness of both worlds. However difficult and distressing this world is for him, since he sees it
as the waiting-room for Paradise, he endures it and offers thanks in patience...
O God! Appoint us among the people of happiness, safety, the Qur’an, and belief. Amen.
O God! Grant peace and blessings to our Master Muhammad, and to his Family and
Companions, to the number of all the letters of the Qur’an formed in all its words,
represented with the permission of the Most Merciful One in the mirrors of the air waves
on the recital of each of those words by all the Qur’an’s reciters from its first revelation
to the end of time, and have mercy on us and on our parents, and have mercy on all
believing men and women to the number of those words, through Your mercy, O Most
Merciful of the Merciful. Amen. And All praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the
Worlds.



The Ninth Word
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
So glorify God when you reach evening and when you rise in the morning; for all praise
is His in the heavens and on earth, and towards the end of the day and when you have
reached noon.
1
Brother! You ask me concerning the wisdom in the specified times of the five daily prayers. I
shall point out only one of the many instances of wisdom in the times.
Yes, like each of the times of prayer marks the start of an important revolution, so also is each a
mirror to Divine disposal of power and to the universal Divine bounties within that disposal.
Thus, more glorification and extolling of the All-Powerful One of Glory have been ordered at
those times, and more praise and thanks for all the innumerable bounties accumulated between
each of the times, which is the meaning of the prescribed prayers. In order to understand a little
this subtle and profound meaning, you should listen together with my own soul to the following five ‘Points’.
FIRST POINT
The meaning of the prayers is the offering of glorification, praise, and thanks to Almighty God.
That is to say, uttering Glory be to God by word and action before God’s glory and sublimity, it
is to hallow and worship Him. And declaring God is Most Great through word and act before His
sheer perfection, it is to exalt and magnify Him. And saying All praise be to God with the heart,
tongue, and body, it is to offer thanks before His utter beauty. That is to say, glorification,
exaltation, and praise are like the seeds of the prayers. That is why these three things are present
in every part of the prayers, in all the actions and words. It is also why these blessed words are
each repeated thirty-three times after the prayers, in order to strengthen and reiterate the prayers’
meaning. The meaning of the prayers is confirmed through these concise summaries.
____________________
1. Qur’an, 30:17-18.
The Words / Ninth Word - p.52
SECOND POINT
The meaning of worship is this, that the servant sees his own faults, impotence, and poverty, and
in the Divine Court prostrates in love and wonderment before dominical perfection, Divine
mercy, and the power of the Eternally Besought One. That is to say, just as the sovereignty of
dominicality demands worship and obedience, so also does the holiness of dominicality require
that the servant sees his faults through seeking forgiveness, and through his glorifications and
declaring Glory be to God proclaims that his Sustainer is pure and free of all defects, and exalted
above and far from the false ideas of the people of misguidance, and hallowed and exempt from
all the faults in the universe.
Also, the perfect power of dominicality requires that through understanding his own weakness
and the impotence of other creatures, the servant proclaims God is Most Great in admiration and
wonder before the majesty of the works of the Eternally Besought One’s power, and bowing in
deep humility seeks refuge in Him and places his trust in Him.
Also, the infinite treasury of dominicality’s mercy requires that the servant makes known his own
need and the needs and poverty of all creatures through the tongue of entreaty and supplication,
and proclaims his Sustainer’s bounties and gifts through thanks and laudation and uttering All
praise be to God. That is to say, the words and actions of the prayers comprise these meanings,
and have been laid down from the side of Divinity.
THIRD POINT
Just as man is an example in miniature of the greater world and Sura al-Fatiha a shining sample
of the Qur’an of Mighty Stature, so are the prescribed prayers a comprehensive, luminous index
of all varieties of worship, and a sacred map pointing to all the shades of worship of all the
classes of creatures.FOURTH POINT
The second-hand, minute-hand, hour-hand, and day-hand of a clock which tells the weeks look to
one another, are examples of one another, and follow one another. Similarly, the alternations of
day and night, which are like the seconds of this world -a vast clock of Almighty God- and the
years which tell its minutes, and the stages of man’s life-span which tell the hours, and the epochs
of the world’s life-span which tell the days look to one another, are examples of one another,
resemble one another, and recall one another. For example:
The time of Fajr, the early morning: This time until sunrise resembles and calls to mind the early
spring, the moment of conception in the mother’s womb, and the first of the six days of the
creation of the heavens and earth; it recalls the Divine acts present in them.
The Words / Ninth Word - p.53
The time of Zuhr, just past midday: This resembles and points to midsummer, and the prime of
youth, and the period of man’s creation in the lifetime of the world, and calls to mind the
manifestations of mercy and the abundant bounties they contain.
The time of ‘Asr, afternoon: This is like autumn, and old age, and the time of the Final Prophet
(PBUH), known as the Era of Bliss, and recalls the Divine acts and favours of the All-Merciful
One present in them.
The time of Maghrib, sunset: Through recalling the departure of many creatures at the end of
autumn, and man’s death, and the destruction of the world at the commencement of the
resurrection, this time puts in mind the manifestations of Divine glory and sublimity, and rouses
man from his slumbers of heedlessness.
The time of ‘Isha, nightfall. As for this time, by calling to mind the world of darkness veiling all
the objects of the daytime world with a black shroud, and winter hiding the face of the dead earth
with its white cerement, and even the remaining works of departed men dying and passing
beneath the veil of oblivion, and this world, the arena of examination, being shut up and closed
down for ever, it proclaims the awesome and mighty disposals of the All-Glorious and
Compelling Subduer.
As for the nighttime, through putting in mind both the winter, and the grave, and the Intermediate
Realm, it reminds man how needy is the human spirit for the Most Merciful One’s mercy. And
the tahajjud prayer informs him what a necessary light it is for the night of the grave and
darkness of the Intermediate Realm; it warns him of this, and through recalling the infinite
bounties of the True Bestower, proclaims how deserving He is of praise and thanks.
And the second morning calls to mind the Morning of the Resurrection. For sure, however
reasonable and necessary and certain the morning of this night is, the Morning of the
Resurrection and the spring following the Intermediate Realm are certain to the same degree.
That is, just as each of these five times marks the start of an important revolution and recalls
other great revolutions, so through the awesome daily disposals of the Eternally Besought One’s
power, each calls to mind the miracles of Divine power and gifts of Divine mercy of both every

year, and every age, and every epoch. That is to say, the prescribed prayers, which are an innate
duty and the basis of worship and an incontestable debt, are most appropriate and fitting for these
times.
The Words / Ninth Word - p.54
FIFTH POINT
By nature man is extremely weak, yet everything touches him, and saddens and grieves him. Also
he is utterly lacking in power, yet the calamities and enemies that afflict him are extremely
numerous. Also he is extremely wanting, yet his needs are indeed many. Also he is lazy and
incapable, yet life’s responsibilities are most burdensome. Also his humanity has connected him
to the rest of the universe, yet the decline and disappearance of the things he loves and with
which he is familiar continually pains him. Also his reason shows him exalted aims and lasting
fruits, yet his hand is short, his life brief, his power slight, and his patience little.
It can be clearly understood from this how essential it is for a spirit in this state at the time of
Fajr in the early morning to have recourse to and present a petition to the Court of an AllPowerful One of Glory, an All-Compassionate All-Beauteous One through prayer and
supplication, to seek success and help from Him, and what a necessary point of support it is so
that he can face the things that will happen to him in the coming day and bear the duties that will
be loaded on him.
The time of Zuhr just past midday is the time of the day’s zenith and the start of its decline, the
time when daily labours approach their achievement, the time of a short rest from the pressures of
work, when the spirit needs a pause from the heedlessness and insensibility caused by toil, and a
time Divine bounties are manifested. Anyone may understand then how fine and agreeable, how
necessary and appropriate it is for the human spirit to perform the midday prayer, which means to
be released from the pressure, shake off the heedlessness, and leave behind those meaningless,
transient things, and clasping one’s hands at the Court of the True Bestower of Bounties, the
Eternally Self-Subsistent One, to offer praise and thanks for all His gifts, and seek help from
Him, and through bowing to display one’s impotence before His glory and tremendousness, and
to prostrate and proclaim one’s wonder, love, and humility. One who does not understand this is
not a true human being.
As for the time of Asr in the afternoon, it calls to mind the melancholy season of autumn and the
mournful state of old age and the sombre period at the end of time. It is also when the matters of
the day reach their conclusion, and the time the Divine bounties which have been received that
day like health, well-being, and beneficial duties have accumulated to form a great total, and the
time that proclaims through the mighty sun hinting by starting to sink that man is a guest-official
and that everything is transient and inconstant. Now, the human spirit desires eternity and was
created for it; it worships benevolence, and is pained by separation. Thus, anyone who is truly a
human being may understand what an exalted duty, what an appropriate
The Words / Ninth Word - p.55 service, what a fitting way to repay a debt of human nature, indeed, what an agreeable pleasure it
is to perform the afternoon prayer. For by offering supplications at the Eternal Court of the
Everlasting Pre-Eternal One, the Eternally Self-Subsistent One, it has the meaning of taking
refuge in the grace of unending, infinite mercy, and by offering thanks and praise in the face of
innumerable bounties, of humbly bowing before the mightiness of His dominicality, and by
prostrating in utter humility before the everlastingness of His Godhead, of finding true
consolation of heart and ease of spirit, and being girded ready for worship in the presence of His
grandeur.
The time of Maghrib at sunset recalls the disappearance amid sad farewells of the delicate, lovely
creatures of the worlds of summer and autumn at the start of winter. It calls to mind the time
when through his death, man will leave all those he loves in sorrowful departure and enter the
grave. It brings to mind when at the death of this world amid the convulsions of its death-agonies,
all its inhabitants will migrate to other worlds and the lamp of this place of examination will be
extinguished. It is a time which gives stern warning to those who worship transient, ephemeral
beloveds.
Thus, at such a time, for the Maghrib prayer, man’s spirit, which by its nature is a mirror
desirous for an Eternal Beauty, turns its face towards the throne of mightiness of the Eternal
Undying One, the Enduring Everlasting One, Who performs these mighty works and turns and
transforms these huge worlds, and declaring God is Most Great over these transient beings,
withdraws from them. Man clasps his hands in service of his Lord and rises in the presence of the
Enduring Eternal One, and through saying: All praise be to God, he praises and extols His
faultless perfection, His peerless beauty, His infinite mercy. Through declaring: You alone do we
worship and from You alone we seek help,
2
he proclaims his worship for and seeks help from His
unassisted dominicality, His unpartnered Godhead, His unshared sovereignty. Then he bows, and
through declaring together with all the universe his weakness and impotence, his poverty and
baseness before the infinite majesty, the limitless power, and utter mightiness of the Enduring
Eternal One, he says: All glory to My Mighty Sustainer, and glorifies his Sublime Sustainer. And
prostrating before the undying Beauty of His Essence, His unchanging sacred attributes, His
constant everlasting perfection, through abandoning all things other than Him, man proclaims his
love and worship in wonder and self-abasement. He finds an All-Compassionate Eternal One.
And through saying, All glory to my Exalted Sustainer, he declares his Most High Sustainer to be
free of decline and exalted above any fault.
Then, he testifies to God’s unity and the prophethood of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be
upon him). He sits, and on his own account offers as
____________________
2. Qur’an,1:5.
The Words / Ninth Word - p.56
a gift to the Undying All-Beauteous One, the Enduring All-Glorious One the blessed salutations
and benedictions of all creatures. And through greeting God’s Most Noble Messenger, he renews
his allegiance to him and proclaims his obedience to his commands. In order to renew and illuminate his faith, he observes the wise order in this palace of the universe and testifies to the
unity of the All-Glorious Maker. And he testifies to the Messengership of Muhammad the
Arabian (Peace and blessings be upon him), who is the herald of the sovereignty of God’s
dominicality, the proclaimer of those things pleasing to Him, and the interpreter of the signs and
verses of the book of the universe. To perform the Maghrib prayer is this. So how can someone
be considered a human being who does not understand what a fine and pure duty is the prayer at
sunset, what an exalted and pleasurable act of service, what an agreeable and pleasing act of
worship, what a serious matter, and what an unending conversation and permanent happiness it is
in this transient guest-house?
At the time of ‘Isha at nightfall, the last traces of the day remaining on the horizon disappear, and
the world of night enfolds the universe. As the All-Powerful and Glorious One, The Changer of
Night and Day, turns the white page of day into the black page of night through the mighty
disposals of His dominicality, it recalls the Divine activities of that All-Wise One of Perfection,
The Subduer of the Sun and the Moon, turning the green-adorned page of summer into the frigid
white page of winter. And with the remaining works of the departed being erased from this world
with the passing of time, it recalls the Divine acts of The Creator and Life and Death in their
passage to another, quite different world. It is a time that calls to mind the disposals of The
Creator of the Heavens and the Earth’s awesomeness and the manifestations of His beauty in the
utter destruction of this narrow, fleeting, and lowly world, the terrible death-agonies of its
decease, and in the unfolding of the broad, eternal, and majestic world of the hereafter. And the
universe’s Owner, its True Disposer, its True Beloved and Object of Worship can only be the
One Who with ease turns night into day, winter into spring, and this world into the hereafter like
the pages of a book; Who writes and erases them, and changes them.
Thus, at nightfall, man’s spirit, which is infinitely impotent and weak, and infinitely poor and
needy, and plunged into the infinite darkness of the future, and tossed around amid innumerable
events, performs the ‘Isha prayer, which has this meaning: like Abraham man says: I do not love
those that set,
3
and through the prayers seeks refuge at the Court of an Undying Object of
Worship, an Eternal Beloved One, and in this transient world and fleeting life and dark world and
black future he supplicates an Enduring,
____________________

The Words / Ninth Word - p.57
Everlasting One, and for a moment of unending conversation, a few seconds of immortal life, he
asks to receive the favours of the All-Merciful and Compassionate One’s mercy and the light of
His guidance, which will strew light on his world and illuminate his future and bind up the
wounds resulting from the departure and decline of all creatures and friends.
Temporarily man forgets the hidden world, which has forgotten him, and pours out his woes at
the Court of Mercy with his weeping, and whatever happens, before sleeping -which resembles
death- he performs his last duty of worship. And in order to close favourably the daily record of
his actions, he rises to pray; that is to say, he rises to enter the presence of an Eternal Beloved and Worshipped One in place of all the mortal ones he loves, of an All-Powerful and Generous One
in place of all the impotent creatures from which he begs, of an All-Compassionate Protector so
as to be saved from the evil of the harmful beings before which he trembles.
He starts with the Sura al-Fatiha, that is, instead of praising and being obliged to defective,
wanting creatures, for which they are not suited, he extols and offers praise to The Sustainer of
All the Worlds, Who is Absolutely Perfect and Utterly Self-Sufficient and Most Compassionate
and All-Generous. Then he progresses to the address: You alone do we worship. That is, despite
his smallness, insignificance, and aloneness, through man’s connection with The Owner of the
Day of Judgement, Who is the Sovereign of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, he attains to a rank
whereat he is an indulged guest in the universe and an important official. Through declaring: You
alone do we worship and from You alone do we seek help, he presents to Him in the name of all
creatures the worship and calls for assistance of the mighty congregation and huge community of
the universe. Then through saying: Guide us to the Straight Path, he asks to be guided to the
Straight Path, which leads to eternal happiness and is the luminous way.
And now, he thinks of the mightiness of the All-Glorious One, of Whom, like the sleeping plants
and animals, the hidden suns and sober stars are all soldiers subjugated to His command, and
lamps and servants in this guest-house of the world, and uttering: God is Most Great, he bows
down. Then he thinks of the great prostration of all creatures. That is, when, at the command of
“Be!,” and it is,
4
all the varieties of creatures each year and each century -even the earth, and the
universe- each like a well-ordered army or an obedient soldier, is discharged from its duty, that is,
when each is sent to the World of the Unseen, through the prostration of its decease and death
with complete orderliness, it declares: God is Most Great, and bows down in prostration. Like
they are raised to life, some in part and some the same, in the spring at an awakening and lifegiving trumpet-blast from the command
____________________
4. Qur’an, 2:117, etc.
The Words / Ninth Word - p.58
of “Be!” and it is, and they rise up and are girded ready to serve their Lord, insignificant man
too, following them, declares: God is Most Great! in the presence of the All-Merciful One of
Perfection, the All-Compassionate One of Beauty in wonderstruck love and eternity-tinged
humility and dignified self-effacement, and bows down in prostration; that is to say, he makes a
sort of Ascension. For sure you will have understood now how agreeable and fine and pleasant
and elevated, how high and pleasurable, how reasonable and appropriate a duty, service, and act
of worship, and what a serious matter it is to perform the ‘Isha prayer.
Thus, since each of these five times points to a mighty revolution, is a sign indicating the
tremendous dominical activity, and a token of the universal Divine bounties, it is perfect wisdom
that being a debt and an obligation, the prescribed prayers should be specified at those times.
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed You are
All-Knowing, All-Wise.
5O God! Grant blessings and peace to the one whom You sent as a teacher to Your
servants to instruct them in knowledge of You and worship of You, and to make known
the treasures of Your Names, and to translate the signs of the book of the universe and as
a mirror to its worship of the beauty of Your dominicality, and to all his Family and
Companions, and have mercy on us and on all believing men and women. Amen.
Through Your Mercy, O Most Merciful of the Merciful!

____________________
5. Qur’an, 2:32
The Words / Tenth Word - p.59
The Tenth Word
Resurrection and the Hereafter
NOTE
[The reasons for my writing these treatises in the form of metaphors, comparisons and stories are to
facilitate comprehension and to show how rational, appropriate, well-founded and coherent are the truths of
Islam. The meaning of the stories is contained in the truths that conclude them; each story is like an allusion
pointing to its concluding truth. Therefore, they are not mere fictitious tales, but veritable truths.]
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Look, then, to the signs of God’s mercy -how He restores life to the earth after its death-
verily He it is Who quickens the dead, for He is powerful over all things.
1
Brother, if you wish for a discussion of resurrection and the hereafter in simple and common
language, in a straightforward style, then listen to the following comparison, together with my
own soul.
Once two men were travelling through a land as beautiful as Paradise (by that land, we intend the
world). Looking around them, they saw that everyone had left open the door of his home and his
shop and was not paying attention to guarding it. Money and property were readily accessible,
without anyone to claim them. One of the two travellers grasped hold of all that he fancied,
stealing it and usurping it. Following his inclinations, he committed every kind of injustice and
abomination. None of the people of that land moved to stop him. But his friend said to him:
“What are you doing? You will be punished, and I will be dragged into misfortune along with
you. All this property belongs to the state. The people
____________________
1. Qur'an, 30:50.
NOTE: The main part of this translation of the Tenth Word is by Hamid Algar, Prof. of Middle East Studies in the
Univ. of Califıornia, Berkeley, USA, and was first published in 1980. It has been slightly amended to fit the present work.
The Words / Tenth Word - p.60
of this land, including even the children, are all soldiers or government servants. It is because
they are at present civilians that they are not interfering with you. But the laws here are strict. The
king has installed telephones everywhere and his agents are everywhere. Go quickly, and try to
settle the matter.”
But the empty-headed man said in his obstinacy: “No, it is not state property; it belongs instead to
some endowment, and has no clear or obvious owner. Everyone can make use of it as he sees fit.
I see no reason to deny myself the use of these fine things. I will not believe they belong to
anyone unless I see him with my own eyes.” He continued to speak in this way, with much
philosophical sophistry, and an earnest discussion took place between them.
First the empty-headed man said: “Who is the king here? I can’t see him,” and then his friend
replied:
“Every village must have its headman; every needle must have its manufacturer and craftsman.
And, as you know, every letter must be written by someone. How, then, can it be that so
extremely well-ordered a kingdom should have no ruler? And how can so much wealth have no
owner, when every hour a train
2
arrives filled with precious and artful gifts, as if coming from the
realm of the unseen? And all the announcements and proclamations, all the seals and stamps,
found on all those goods, all the coins and the flags waving in every corner of the kingdom - can
they be without an owner? It seems you have studied foreign languages a little, and are unable to
read this Islamic script. In addition, you refuse to ask those who are able to read it. Come now, let
me read to you the king’s supreme decree.”
The empty-headed man then retorted: “Well, let us suppose there is a king; what harm can he
suffer from the minute use I am making of all his wealth? Will his treasury decrease on account
of it? In any event, I can see nothing here resembling prison or punishment.”
His friend replied: “This land that you see is a manoeuvering ground. It is, in addition, an
exhibition of his wonderful royal arts. Then again it may be regarded as a temporary hospice, one
devoid of foundations. Do you not see that every day one caravan arrives as another departs and
vanishes? It is being constantly emptied and filled. Soon the whole land will be changed; its
inhabitants will depart for another and more lasting realm. There everyone will be either
rewarded or punished in accordance with his services.”
That treacherous empty-headed one retorted rebelliously: “I don’t believe it. Is it at all possible
that a whole land should perish, and be transferred to another realm?”
____________________

The Words / Tenth Word - p.61 His faithful friend then replied: “Since you are so obstinate and rebellious, come, let me
demonstrate to you, with twelve out of the innumerable proofs available, that there is a Supreme
Tribunal, a realm of reward and generosity and a realm of punishment and incarceration, and that
just as this world is partially emptied every day, so too a day shall come when it will be totally
emptied and destroyed.
• First Aspect: Is it at all possible that in any kingdom, and particularly so splendid a kingdom as
this, there should be no reward for those who serve obediently and no punishment for those who
rebel? Reward and punishment are virtually non-existent here; there must therefore be a Supreme
Tribunal somewhere else.
• Second Aspect: Look at the organization and administration of this kingdom! See how
everyone, including the poorest and the weakest, is provided with perfect and ornate sustenance.
The best care is taken of the sick. Royal and delicious foods, dishes, jewel encrusted decorations,
embroidered garments, splendid feasts - all are to be found here. See how everyone pays due
attention to his duties, with the exception of empty-headed people such as yourself. No one
transgresses his bounds by as much as an inch. The greatest of all men is engaged in modest and
obedient service, with an attitude of fear and awe. The ruler of this kingdom must possess, then,
great generosity and all-embracing compassion, as well as, at the same time, great dignity,
exalted awesomeness and honour. Now generosity requires liberality; compassion cannot
dispense with beneficence; and awesomeness and honour make it imperative that the
discourteous be chastised. But not even a thousandth part of what that generosity and
awesomeness require is to be seen in this realm. The oppressor retains his power, and the
oppressed, his humiliation, as they both depart and migrate from this realm. Their affairs are,
then, left to the same Supreme Tribunal of which we speak.
• Third Aspect: See with what lofty wisdom and ordering affairs are managed, and with what
true justice and balance transactions are effected! Now a wise polity requires that those who seek
refuge under the protecting wing of the state should receive favour, and justice demands that the
rights of subjects be preserved, so that the splendour of the state should not suffer. But here in
this land, not a thousandth part of the requirements of such wisdom and justice is fulfilled; for
example, empty-headed people such as yourself usually leave this realm unpunished. So again we
say, matters are postponed for the consideration of a Supreme Tribunal.
• Fourth Aspect: Look at these innumerable and peerless jewels that are displayed here, these
unparalleled dishes laid out like a banquet! They demonstrate that the ruler of these lands is
possessed of infinite generosity and an inexhaustible treasury. Now such generosity and such a
treasury
The Words / Tenth Word - p.62
deserve and require a bounteous display that should be eternal and include all possible objects of
desire. They further require that all who come as guests to partake of that display should be there
eternally and not suffer the pain of death and separation. For just as the cessation of pain is
pleasurable, so too is the cessation of pleasure painful! Look at these displays and the
announcements concerning them! And listen to these heralds proclaiming the fine and delicate
arts of a miracle-working monarch, and demonstrating his perfections! They are declaring his peerless and invisible beauty, and speaking of the subtle manifestations of his hidden
beauteousness; he must be possessed, then, of a great and astounding invisible beauty and
perfection. This flawless hidden perfection requires one who will appreciate and admire it, who
will gaze on it exclaiming, Ma’shallah!, thus displaying it and making it known.
As for concealed and peerless beauty, it too requires to see and be seen, or rather to behold itself
in two ways. The first consists of contemplating itself in different mirrors, and the second of
contemplating itself by means of the contemplation of enraptured spectators and astounded
admirers. Hidden beauty wishes, then, to see and be seen, to contemplate itself eternally and be
contemplated without cease. It desires also permanent existence for those who gaze upon it in
awe and rapture. For eternal beauty can never be content with a transient admirer; moreover, an
admirer destined to perish without hope of return will find his love turning to enmity whenever
he imagines his death, and his admiration and respect will yield to contempt. It is in man’s nature
to hate the unknown and the unaccustomed. Now everyone leaves the hospice of this realm very
quickly and vanishes, having seen only a light or a shadow of the perfection and beauty for no
more than a moment, without in any way being satiated. Hence, it is necessary that he should go
towards an eternal realm where he will contemplate the Divine beauty and perfection.
• Fifth Aspect: See, it is evident from all these matters that that peerless Being is possessed of
most great mercy. For he causes aid to be swiftly extended to every victim of misfortune, answers
every question and petition; and mercifully fulfils even the lowliest need of his lowliest subject.
If, for example, the foot of some herdsman’s sheep should hurt, he either provides some medicine
or sends a veterinarian.
Come now, let us go; there is a great meeting on that island. All the nobles of the land are
assembled there. See, a most noble commander, bearing exalted decorations, is pronouncing a
discourse, and requesting certain things from that compassionate monarch. All those present say:
“Yes, we too desire the same,” and affirm and assent to his words. Now listen to the words of that
commander favoured by his monarch:
“O monarch that nurtures us with his bounty! Show us the source and origin of these examples
and shadows you have shown us! Draw us nigh to
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your seat of rule; do not let us perish in these deserts! Take us into your presence and have mercy
on us! Feed us there on the delicious bounty you have caused us to taste here! Do not torment us
with desperation and banishment! Do not leave your yearning, thankful and obedient subjects to
their own devices; do not cause them to be annihilated!” Do you not hear him thus supplicating?
Is it at all possible that so merciful and powerful a monarch should not totally fulfil the finest and
highest aim of his most beloved and noble commander?
Moreover, the purpose of that commander is the purpose of all men, and its fulfilment is required
by the pleasure, the compassion and the justice of the king, and it is a matter of ease for him, not
difficulty, causing him less difficulty than the transient places of enjoyment contained in the
hospice of the world. Having spent so much effort on these places of witnessing that will last
only five or six days, and on the foundation of this kingdom, in order to demonstrate instances of his power, he will, without doubt, display at his seat of rule true treasures, perfections and skills
in such a manner, and open before us such spectacles, that our intellects will be astonished.
Those sent to this field of trial will not, then, be left to their own devices; palaces of bliss or
dungeons await them.
• Sixth Aspect: Come now, look! All these imposing railways, planes, machines, warehouses,
exhibitions show that behind the veil an imposing monarch exists and governs.

The Words / Tenth Word - p.64
Such a monarch requires subjects worthy of himself. But now you see all his subjects gathered in
a hospice for wayfarers, a hospice that is filled and emptied each day. It can also be said that his
subjects are now gathered in a testing-ground for the sake of manoeuvres, and this ground also
changes each hour. Again, we may say that all his subjects stay in an exhibition-hall for a few
minutes to behold specimens of the monarch’s beneficence, valuable products of his miraculous
art. But the exhibition itself changes each moment. Now this situation and circumstance
conclusively shows that beyond the hospice, the testing-ground, the exhibition, there are
permanent palaces, lasting abodes, and gardens and treasuries full of the pure and elevated
originals of the samples and shapes we see in this world. It is for the sake of these that we exert
ourselves here. Here we labour, and there we receive our reward. A form and degree of felicity
suited to everyone’s capacity awaits us there.
• Seventh Aspect: Come, let us walk a little, and see what is to be found among these civilized
people. See, in every place, at every corner, photographers are sitting and taking pictures. Look,
everywhere there are scribes sitting and writing things down. Everything is being recorded. They
are registering the least significant of deeds, the most commonplace of events. Now look up at the tall mountain; there you see a supreme photographer installed, devoted to the service of the
king;
4
he is taking pictures of all that happens in the area. The king must, then, have issued this
order; “Record all the transactions made and deeds performed in the kingdom.” In other words,
that exalted personage is having all events registered and photographically recorded. The precise
record he is keeping must without doubt be for the sake of one day calling his subjects to account.
Now is it at all possible that an All-Wise and All-Preserving Being, who does not neglect the
most banal doings of the lowest of his subjects, should not record the most significant deeds of
the greatest among his subjects, should not call them to account, should not reward and punish
them? After all, it is those foremost among his subjects that perform deeds offensive to his glory,
contrary to his pride and unacceptable to his compassion, and those deeds remain unpunished in
this world. It must be, therefore, that their judgement is postponed to a Supreme Court.
____________________
4. Some of the truths indicated in this parable have been set forth in the Seventh Truth. However, let us point out
here that the figure of the "supreme photographer devoted to the service of the king" is an indication of the Preserved
Tablet. The reality and existence of the Preserved Tablet has been proved in the Twenty-Sixth Word as follows: a
little portfolio suggests the existence of a great ledger; a little document points to the existence of a great register;
and little drops point to the existence of a great water tank. So too the retentive faculties of men, the fruits of trees,
the seeds and kernels of fruit, being each like a little portfolio, a Preserved Tablet in miniature or a drop proceeding
from the pen that inscribes the great Preserved Tablet - they point to, indicate and prove the existence of a Supreme
Retentive Faculty, a great register, an exalted Preserved Tablet. Indeed, they demonstrate this visibly to the
perceptive intellect.
The Words / Tenth Word - p.65
• Eighth Aspect: Come, let me read to you the decrees issued by that monarch. See, he
repeatedly makes the following promises and dire threats: “I will take you from your present
abode and bring you to the seat of my rule. There I shall bestow happiness on the obedient and
imprison the disobedient. Destroying that temporary abode, I shall found a different realm
containing eternal palaces and dungeons.”
He can easily fulfil the promises that he makes, of such importance for his subjects. It is,
moreover, incompatible with his pride and his power that he should break his promise. So look, o
confused one! You assent to the claims of your mendacious imagination, your distraught intellect,
your deceptive soul, but deny the words of a being who cannot be compelled in any fashion to
break his promise, whose high stature does not admit any such faithlessness, and to whose
truthfulness all visible deeds bear witness. Certainly you deserve a great punishment. You
resemble a traveller who closes his eyes to the light of the sun and looks instead upon his own
imagination. His fancy wishes to illuminate his awesomely dark path with the light of his brain,
although it is no more than a glow-worm. Once that monarch makes a promise, he will by all
means fulfil it. Its fulfilment is most easy for him, and moreover most necessary for us and all
things, as well as for him too and his kingdom.
There is therefore, a Supreme Court, and a lofty felicity.
• Ninth Aspect: Come now! Look at the heads of these offices and groups.
5
Each has a private
telephone to speak personally with the king. Sometimes too they go directly to his presence. See
what they say and unanimously report, that the monarch has prepared a most magnificent and awesome place for reward and punishment. His promises are emphatic and his threats are most
stern. His pride and dignity are such that he would in no way stoop to the abjectness inherent in
the breaking of a promise. The bearers of this report, who are so numerous as to be universally
accepted, further report with the strong unanimity of consensus that “the seat and headquarters of
the lofty monarchy, some of whose traces are visible here, is in another realm far distant from
here. The buildings existing in this testing-ground are but temporary, and will later be exchanged
for eternal palaces. These places will change. For this magnificent and unfading monarchy, the
splendour of which is apparent from its works, can in no way be founded or based on so transient,
impermanent, unstable, insignificant, changing,
____________________
5. The meanings indicated in this Aspect can be found in the Eighth Truth. For example, by heads of offices we
mean the Prophets and the Saints. As for the telephone, it is a link and relation with God that goes forth from the
heart and is the mirror of revelation and the receptacle of inspiration. The heart is like the earpiece of that telephone.
The Words / Tenth Word - p.66
defective and imperfect matters. It is based rather on matters worthy of it, eternal, stable,
permanent and glorious.”
There is, then, another realm, and of a certainty we shall go toward it.
• Tenth Aspect: Come, today is the vernal equinox.6 Certain changes will take place, and
wondrous things will occur. On this fine spring day, let us go for a walk on the green plain
adorned with beautiful flowers. See, other people are also coming toward it. There must be some
magic at work, for buildings that were mere ruins have suddenly sprung up again here, and this
once empty plain has become like a populous city. See, every hour it shows a different scene, just
like a cinema screen, and takes on a different shape. But notice, too, that among these complex,
swiftly changing and multifarious scenes perfect order exists, so that all things are put in their
proper places. The imaginary scenes presented to us on the cinema screen cannot be as wellordered as this, and millions of skilled magicians would be incapable of this artistry. This
monarch whom we cannot see must, then, have performed even greater miracles.
O foolish one! You ask: “How can this vast kingdom be destroyed and re-established somewhere
else?”
You see that every hour numerous changes and revolutions occur, just like that transfer from one
realm to another that your mind will not accept. From this gathering in and scattering forth it can
be deduced that a certain purpose is concealed within these visible and swift joinings and
separations, these compoundings and dissolvings. Ten years of effort would not be devoted to a
joining together destined to last no longer than an hour. So these circumstances we witness
cannot be ends in themselves; they are a kind of parable of something beyond themselves, an
imitation of it. That exalted being brings them about in miraculous fashion, so that they take
shape and then merge, and the result is preserved and recorded, in just the same way that every
aspect of a manoeuvre on the battleground is written down and recorded. This implies that
proceedings at some great concourse and meeting will be based on what happens here. Further,
the results of all that occurs here will be permanently displayed at some supreme exposition. All

the transient and fluctuating phenomena we see here will yield the fruit of eternal and immutable
form.
____________________
6. You will find what this Aspect alludes to in the Ninth Truth. The vernal equinox is equivalent to the beginning of
spring. As for the green plain covered with flowers, this is the face of the earth in springtime. The changing scenes
and spectacles are an allusion to the different groups of vernal beings, the classes of summer creation, and the
sustenance for men and animals, that the All-Powerful and Glorious Maker, the All-Wise and Beauteous Creator,
from the beginning of spring to the end of summer, brings forth in orderly succession, renews with the utmost
compassion, and dispatches uninterruptedly.
The Words / Tenth Word - p.67
All the variations we observe in this world are then, for the sake of a supreme happiness, a lofty
tribunal, for the sake of exalted aims as yet unknown to us.
• Eleventh Aspect: Come, o obstinate friend! Let us embark on a plane or a train travelling east
or west, that is, to the past or the future. Let us see what miraculous works that being has
accomplished in other places. Look, there are marvels on every hand like the dwellings, open
spaces and exhibitions we see. But they all differ with respect to art and to form. Note well,
however, what order betokening manifest wisdom, what indications ïf evident compassion, what
signs of lofty justice, and what fruits of comprehensive mercy, are to be seen in these transient
dwellings, these impermanent open spaces, these fleeting exhibitions. Anyone not totally devoid
of insight will understand a certainty that no wisdom can be imagined more perfect than his, no
providence more beauteous than his, no compassion more comprehensive than his, and no justice
more glorious than his.
If, for the sake of argument, as you imagine, no permanent abodes, lofty places, fixed stations,
lasting residences, or resident and contented population existed in the sphere of his kingdom; and
if the truths of his wisdom, compassion, mercy and justice had no realm in which to manifest
themselves fully (for this impermanent kingdom is no place for their full manifestation) - then we
would be obliged to deny the wisdom we see, to deny the compassion we observe, to deny the
mercy that is in front of our eyes, and to deny the justice the signs of which are evident. This
would be as idiotic as denying the sun, the light of which we clearly see at midday. We would
also have to regard the one from whom proceed all these wise measures we see, all these
generous acts, all these merciful gifts, as a vile gambler or treacherous tyrant (God forbid!). This
would be to turn truth on its head. And turning a truth into its opposite is impossible, according to
the unanimous testimony of all rational beings, excepting only the idiot sophists who deny
everything.
There is, then, a realm apart from the present one. In it, there is a supreme tribunal, a lofty place
of justice, an exalted place of reward, where all this compassion, wisdom, mercy and justice will
be made fully manifest.
• Twelfth Aspect: Come, let us return now. We will speak with the chiefs and officers of these
various groups, and looking at their equipment will inquire whether that equipment has been
given them only for the sake of subsisting for a brief period in that realm, or whether it has been
given for the sake of obtaining a long life of bliss in another realm. Let us see. We cannot look at everyone and his equipment. But by way of example, let us look at the identity card and register
of this officer. On his card, his rank, salary, duty, supplies and instructions are recorded. See, this
rank has not been awarded him for just a few days; it may be given for a prolonged
The Words / Tenth Word - p.68
period. It says on his card: “You will receive so much salary on such-and-such a day from the
treasury.” But the date in question will not arrive for a long time to come, after this realm has
been vacated. Similarly, the duty mentioned on his card has not been given for this temporary
realm, but rather for the sake of earning a permanent felicity in the proximity of the king. Then,
too, the supplies awarded him cannot be merely for the sake of subsisting in this hospice of a few
days’ duration; they can only be for the sake of a long and happy life. The instructions make it
quite clear that he is destined for a different place, that he is working for another realm.
Now look at these registers. They contain instructions for the use and disposition of weapons and
equipment. If there were no realm other than this, one exalted and eternal, that register with its
categorical instructions and that identity card with its clear information, would both be quite
meaningless. Further, that respected officer, that noble commander, that honoured chief, would
fall to a degree lower than that of all men; he would be more wretched, luckless, abased, afflicted,
indigent and weak than everyone. Apply the same principle to everything. Whatever you look
upon bears witness that after this transient world another and eternal world exists.
O friend! This temporary world is like a field. It is a place of instruction, a market. Without doubt
a supreme tribunal and ultimate happiness will succeed it. If you deny this, you will be obliged
also to deny the identity cards of all the officers, their equipment and their orders; in fact, you
will have to deny too all the order existing in the country, the existence of a government in it and
all the measures that the government takes. Then you will no longer deserve the name of man or
the appellation of conscious. You will be more of a fool than the sophists.
Beware, do not imagine that the proofs of the transfer of creation from one realm to another are
restricted to these twelve. There are indications and proofs beyond counting and enumeration, all
showing that this impermanent, changing kingdom will be transformed into a permanent and
immutable realm. There are also innumerable signs and evidences that men will be taken from
this temporary hospice and sent to the eternal seat of rule of all creation.
I will show one proof in particular that is stronger than all the twelve aspects taken together.
Come now, look, in the midst of the great assembly visible in the distance the same noble
commander whom we previously saw on the island, adorned with numerous decorations, is
making an announcement. Let us go and listen. See, that luminous and most noble commander is
conveying a supreme edict, beautifully inscribed. He says:
“Prepare yourselves; you will go to another and permanent realm, a realm
The Words / Tenth Word - p.69 such that this one will appear as a dungeon by comparison. You will go to the seat of rule of our
king, and there receive his compassion and his bounty, if you heed this edict well and obey it. But
if you rebel and disobey it, you will be cast into awesome dungeons.” Such is the message that he
conveys. If you look at the decree, you will see that it bears such a miraculous seal that it cannot
in any way be imitated. Everyone apart from idiots such as yourself knows of a certainty that the
decree is from the king. Moreover, the noble commander bears such bright decorations that
everyone except those blind like yourself understands full well that he is the veracious conveyer
of the king’s orders.
Is it at all possible that the teaching of transfer from one realm to another, challengingly
conveyed by that noble commander in the supreme edict he has received, should at all be open to
objection? No, it is not possible, unless we deny all that we have seen.
Now, o friend, it is your turn to speak. Say what you have to say.
“What should I say? What can be said to contradict all of this? Who can speak against the sun at
midday? I say only: Praise be to God. A hundred thousand thanks that I have been saved from the
dominance of fancy and vain imagination, and delivered from an eternal dungeon and prison. I
have come to believe that there is an abode of felicity in the proximity of the monarch, separate
from this confused and impermanent hospice.”
Our comparison indicating the truth of resurrection and the hereafter is now complete. Now with
God’s grace, we will pass on to the most exalted truth. We shall set forth twelve interrelated
Truths, corresponding to the twelve Aspects discussed above, as well as an Introduction.

The Words / Tenth Word - Introduction - p.70
Introduction
[By means of a few indications, we refer here to several matters explained elsewhere,
that is, in the Twenty-Second, Nineteenth and Twenty-Sixth Words.]
• First Indication
The foolish man in the previous story and his trustworthy companion correspond to three other
pairs:
• The instinctual soul and the heart;
• The students of philosophy and the pupils of the All-Wise Qur’an;
• The people of unbelief and the community of Islam.
The worst error and misguidance of the students of philosophy, the people of unbelief and the
instinctual soul, lies in not recognizing God. Just as in the preceding story the trustworthy man
said, “there can be no letter without a scribe, no law without a legislator,” we too say the following:
A book, particularly one in each word of which a minute pen has inscribed another whole book,
and in each letter of which a fine pen has traced a poem, cannot be without a writer; this would be
entirely impossible. So too this cosmos cannot be without its inscriber; this is impossible to the
utmost degree. For the cosmos is precisely such a book that each of its pages includes many other
books, each of its words contains a book, and each of its letters contains a poem. The face of the
earth is but a single page in the book of the cosmos. See how many books it contains. Every fruit
is a letter, and every seed is a dot. In that dot is contained the index of the whole tree in its
vastness. A book such as this can have been inscribed only by the mighty pen of a Possessor of
Glory Who enjoys the attributes of splendour and beauty, and Who is the holder of infinite
wisdom and power. Faith, then, follows inevitably on the observation of the world, unless one is
drunk on misguidance.
Similarly, a house cannot arise without a builder, particularly a house adorned with miraculous
works of art, wondrous designs, and amazing ornaments. As much art has been put into one of its
stones as into a whole palace. No intelligence will accept that it could arise without a builder;
definitely it needs a master architect. Moreover, within the building, veritable
The Words / Tenth Word - Introduction - p.71
rooms take shape and change each hour with the utmost order and ease, just as if clothes were
being changed, or as if scenes were passing across a cinema screen. We can say even that
numerous little rooms are constantly being created in each of those scenes.
In like manner, the cosmos also requires an infinitely wise, all-knowing and all-powerful maker.
For the magnificent cosmos is a palace that has the sun and the moon as its lamps and the stars as
its candles; time is like a rope or ribbon hung within it, on to which the Glorious Creator each
year threads a new world. And within the world that He thus threads on the string of time He
places three hundred and sixty fresh and orderly forms. He changes them with the utmost
orderliness and wisdom. He has made the face of the earth a bounteous spread that He adorns
each spring with three hundred thousand species of creation, that He fills with innumerable kinds
of generous gifts. This He does in such a fashion that they all stand apart from each other, quite
separate and distinct, despite their being at the same time so close and intermingled. Is it possible
to overlook the existence of the Maker of such a palace?
Again, to deny the existence of the sun, on a cloudless day at noon, when its traces are to be
observed and its reflection is to be seen in every bubble on the surface of the ocean, in every
shining object on dry land, and in every particle of snow - to make such a denial would be to rave
like the deranged. For if one denied and refused to accept the existence of the single, unique sun,
he would be compelled to accept the existence of a whole series of minor suns, each real and
existent in its own right, as numerous as the drops and bubbles of the ocean, as countless as the
particles of snow. It would be necessary to believe that each minute particle contains a huge sun,
even though the particle is large enough only to contain itself. It would be an even greater sign of
lunacy and misguidance to refuse one’s assent to the attributes of perfection of the Glorious
Creator, even while beholding the well-ordered cosmos that is constantly changing in wise and
regular fashion, that is being ceaselessly renewed in disciplined manner. This, too, would be like the ravings of a lunatic, since it would then become necessary to believe and accept that absolute
divinity is present in all things, even a particle. For every particle of air is somehow able to enter
and work its effects upon every flower, fruit and leaf, and unless the particle be entrusted with
this task by a Creator, it must know of itself the structure and form of all the objects it penetrates
and affects. In other words, it must possess all-encompassing power and knowledge.
Every particle of soil is potentially capable of giving rise to all the different seeds that exist. If it
is not acting under command, it must contain within itself equipment and instruments
corresponding to all the various trees and plants in the world. Or, to put it differently, one must
attribute to the particle
The Words / Tenth Word - Introduction - p.72
such artistry and power that it is aware of the structure of each of them, knows the forms that
each of them is caused to assume, and is capable of fashioning those forms. The same is true with
respect to the particle and other realms of creation.
From this you can understand that in all things there are numerous and manifest proofs of God’s
Unity. To create all things from one thing, and to make all things into one thing, is a task possible
only for the Creator of all things. Pay heed to the sublime declaration: “There is naught but
proclaims His Glory with praise.” For if one does not accept God, the One and Unique, one must
accept gods as numerous as created beings.
• Second Indication
In our story, we made mention of a Most Noble Commander and said that whoever is not blind
and sees his decorations and medals will understand that he acts in accordance with the
commands of a monarch and is his favoured servant. Now that Most Noble Commander is the
Most Noble Messenger of God, may peace and blessings be upon him. The sacred Creator of so
ornamented a cosmos must of necessity have a Noble Messenger, just as the sun must of
necessity have light. For the sun cannot exist without giving light, and Divinity cannot be without
showing itself through the sending of prophets. Is it at all possible that a beauty of utter
perfection should not desire to manifest itself by means of one who will demonstrate and display
it?
Is it at all possible that a perfection of beauteous artistry should not desire to make itself known
by means of a herald that will draw men’s gazes upon it?
Is it at all possible that the universal monarchy of all-embracing dominicality should not desire to
announce its unity and eternal besoughtedness throughout the different levels of multiplicity and
particularity by means of an envoy possessing two aspects? By the two aspects, we mean that he
is both the envoy of the realm of multiplicity to the Divine Court, by virtue of his universal
worship, and also the messenger of the Divine Court to the realm of multiplicity, by virtue of his
closeness to God and being entrusted with His message.
Is it at all possible that a possessor of infinite inherent beauty should not wish both to behold
himself and to display to others, in numerous mirrors, the charms of his beauty and the allurements of his fairness? God’s Messenger is His beloved, making himself beloved of Him by
means of his worship and holding up a mirror to Him, and he is also the bearer of His message,
making Him beloved of men and demonstrating to them the beauty of His Names.
Is it at all possible that the owner of treasuries full of wondrous miracles, rare and valuable items,
should not wish and desire to display them to men’s

The Words / Tenth Word - Introduction - p.73
gaze by means of an expert jeweller, and eloquent describer, thereby revealing his hidden
perfections?
Is it at all possible that the One Who manifests the perfection of all His Names in the cosmos by
means of artful adornment for men to look upon, so that the cosmos comes to resemble a palace
decorated with all kinds of wondrous and subtle art, should not also designate a teacher and a
guide to the wonders of his creation?
Is it at all possible that the Lord of the cosmos should not solve, by means of a messenger, the
complex talisman of the aim and purpose of all the changes that take place in the cosmos, and the
riddle contained in the three difficult questions posed by all beings: “What is our origin? What is
our destination? What is our purpose?”
Is it at all possible that the Glorious Maker Who makes Himself known to sentient beings by
means of His fair creation, and Who makes himself loved by means of His precious bounties,
should not also communicate to sentient beings, by means of a messenger, what His pleasure
desires of them in exchange?
Is it at all possible that God should create mankind in a form predisposing it to suffer the
consciousness of multiplicity but also containing the ability to engage in universal worship,
without at the same time wishing to turn it away from multiplicity to unity, by means of a teacher
and guide?
There are numerous other functions of prophethood, each of which is a decisive proof that
Divinity necessarily implies messengership.
Did anyone ever appear in the world more worthy and more in possession of the abovementioned
qualities and functions than Muhammad, the Arabian Prophet, may peace and blessings be upon
him? Has time ever shown us one more fitting and suited to the rank of messengerhood and the
task of conveying God’s message? No, by no means! He is the master of all messengers, the
foremost of all prophets, the leader of all pure ones, the closest to God of all those who have
drawn nigh unto Him, the most perfect of all creatures, the monarch of all guides to
righteousness.
Quite apart from the countless indications of his prophethood deriving from more than a thousand
miracles, such as the splitting of the moon and the flowing of water from his fingers, that all
scholars unanimously confirm, the supreme miracle of the Glorious Qur’an -an ocean of truth and
a book miraculous in forty different respects- is itself enough to demonstrate his prophethood as
clearly as the sun. Since we discuss the forty different aspects of the Qur’an’s miraculousness in other treatises, particularly the Twenty-Fifth Word, we curtail our discussion of the matter here.
The Words / Tenth Word - First Truth - p.74
• Third Indication
Let it not be thought that petty man is too insignificant for this vast world to be brought to an end
and another realm to be unfolded simply for the sake of his being brought to account. For
apparently petty man bears great importance as the master of all creatures, by virtue of the
comprehensiveness of his disposition, as the herald of God’s monarchy, and the manifester of
universal worship. Also let nobody ask: “How can one earn eternal torment in the course of a
very brief life?” For unbelief seeks to drag creation, something as valuable and exalted as a letter
written by God, down to the depths of meaninglessness and purposelessness. It is an insult to all
being, since it denies and rejects the manifestations and impresses of God’s Sacred Names that
are visible in all being, and it seeks to negate all the infinite proofs that demonstrate the veracity
and truthfulness of God Almighty. Hence, unbelief is a crime of infinite proportions, deserving of
infinite punishment.
• Fourth Indication
In the story, we saw by means of twelve aspects that a king who had one realm resembling a
transient hospice must of a necessity have another realm, one eternal and permanent, manifesting
his splendour and the sublimity of his power. In the same way, it is not at all possible that the
Eternal Creator of the transient world should not create also an eternal realm. It is not possible
that the Everlasting Maker of this fine but unstable cosmos, should not create another cosmos,
permanent and lasting. It is not possible that the Wise, Powerful and Merciful Creator of this
world, which is like an exhibition, or a testing-ground, or a field, should not create also a
hereafter in which the purposes of this world shall be made manifest. Entry is to be had to this
truth by means of twelve gates, and the twelve gates are to be unlocked by means of twelve other
truths. We will begin with the shortest and simplest of them.
FIRST TRUTH
The Gate of Dominicality and Sovereignty,
the Manifestation of the Name of Sustainer
Is it at all possible that the glory of God’s dominicality and His Divine sovereignty should create
a cosmos such as this, in order to display His perfections, with such lofty aims and elevated
purposes, without establishing a reward for those believers who through faith and worship
respond to these aims and purposes? Or that He should not punish those misguided ones who
treat His purposes with rejection and scorn?
The Words / Tenth Word - Second Truth - p.75
SECOND TRUTH

The Gate of Generosity and Mercy,
the Manifestation of the Names of Generous and Merciful
Is it at all possible that the Lord of this world, Who in His works demonstrates infinite generosity,
infinite mercy, infinite splendour and infinite glory, should not give reward in a manner befitting
His generosity and mercy, and not punish in a manner befitting His splendour and glory? If one
looks at the disposition of affairs in this world, one sees that all animate beings -from the weakest
to the most powerful- are given some fitting form of sustenance.
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Indeed, the weakest and most
powerless are given the best form of sustenance. This largesse and bounty is distributed with such
lofty generosity that a hand of infinite generosity is manifestly at work.
For example, in the spring, all the trees are garbed in clothes as fine as silk, just like the houris in
Paradise; they are encrusted with flowers and fruits, as if with jewels, and caused to offer us
numerous varieties of the choicest fruits, on branches delicately outstretched like the hands of a
servant. Similarly, we are given wholesome and sweet honey to eat, from the hand of the bee
with its sting; we are clothed in the finest and softest of clothes by means of an insect that has no
hands; and within a small seed a great treasure of mercy is preserved for us. It is self-evident that
all of this is the effect of a most beauteous generosity, a most delicate sense of mercy.
Then, too, the fact that, with the exception of man and certain wild animals, all things, from the
sun, the moon and earth to the smallest of creatures, perform their functions with the utmost
exactitude, do not overstep their bounds by an inch, and observe a universal obedience in a spirit
of great awe - this shows that they act by the command of a Possessor of great glory and dignity.
It is also apparent that the fashion in which all mothers, in the vegetable, animal and human
realms, succour their weak and powerless infants with the delicate nurture of milk, in tender
compassion, is a manifestation of God’s all-embracing mercy.
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7. All licit nourishment is obtained not through the exercise of strength, but through the existence of need. The
decisive proof of this is that powerless infants enjoy the finest of livelihoods, while strong wild beasts suffer from all
kinds of deficiency, and that fish, for all their lack of intelligence, wax fat, while the cunning fox and monkey remain
thin in their quest for livelihood. There is, therefore, an inverse relationship between sustenance on the one hand and
strength and will power on the other. The more one relies on strength and will power the more difficult it will be to
sustain one's livelihood.
8. The fact that a hungry lion will prefer its offspring to itself, and give to it a piece of meat it would otherwise have
eaten; that the cowardly rabbit will attack a lion in order to protect its young; that the fig-tree contents itself with
mud while giving pure milk to its offspring, the fruit - this shows to anyone not blind that they act in accordance with
the commands of a Being infinitely merciful, generous and solicitous. Again, the fact that even unconscious plants
and beasts function in the wisest and most conscious of fashions demostrates irrefutably that One Utterly Knowing
and All- Wise has set them to work, and that they are acting in His name.
The Words / Tenth Word - Second Truth - p.76
Since the master of this world has, then, such infinite generosity, mercy, splendour and glory, it
follows that His infinite glory and splendour require the chastisement of the discourteous; that
His infinite generosity requires infinite bounty, and His infinite mercy requires a bestowal of
favour worthy of itself. Now in this transitory world and brief life, only a millionth part of all this, like one drop from the ocean, establishes and manifests itself. There must therefore be a
realm of blessedness appropriate to that generosity and worthy of that mercy. One would
otherwise have to deny the existence of the mercy that is visible to us, and this would be like
denying the existence of the sun that fills every day with its light. For irrevocable death would
transform compassion into disaster, love into affliction, blessing into vengeance, intellect into a
tool of misery, and pleasure into pain, so that the very essence of God’s mercy would vanish.
There must in addition be a realm of punishment appropriate to God’s glory and dignity. For
generally the oppressor leaves this world while still in possession of his might, and the oppressed
while still subjected to humiliation. These matters are therefore deferred for the attention of a
supreme tribunal; it is not that they are neglected. It sometimes happens too that punishment is
enacted in this world. The torments suffered by disobedient and rebellious peoples in previous
centuries show that man is not left to his own devices, and that he is always subject to the blows
that God’s splendour and majesty may choose to inflict on him.
Is it at all possible that man should have the most important duty in all of creation and be
endowed with the most important capacities; that man’s Sustainer should make Himself known to
him with all His well-ordered works, and man should then fail to recognize Him in return by way
of worship - or that God should make Himself beloved of men through the numerous adorned
fruits of His mercy, and man should then fail to make himself beloved of God through worship -
or that God should demonstrate His love and mercy to man through His variegated bounties and
man should then fail to respect Him with thanks and with praise - is it at all possible that man
should remain unpunished, left to his own devices, or that that powerful Possessor of splendour
and glory should not make ready for him a realm of requital?
Is it at all possible, on the other hand, that He should not prepare a realm of reward and eternal
bliss for those believers who respond to the Merciful and Compassionate One’s making Himself
known by recognizing Him in faith; to His making Himself beloved by loving Him in worship;
and to His mercy by offering thanks and veneration?

The Words / Tenth Word - Third Truth - p.77
THIRD TRUTH
The Gate of Wisdom and Justice,
the Manifestation of the Names of Wise and Just
Is it at all possible
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that the Lord of Glory, Who demonstrates His dominical sovereignty in the
wisdom and order, the justice and equilibrium that pervade all things, from the atom to the sun,
should not bestow favour on those believers who seek refuge beneath the protective wing of His
dominicality, who believe in His Wisdom and Justice, and whose acts are for the purpose of
worshipping Him?
Again, is it possible that He should not chastise those rude and discourteous men who disbelieve
in His wisdom and justice, and rebel against Him in insolence? Now not even a thousandth part
of that wisdom and justice is exercised with respect to man, in this transient world; it is rather
deferred. Most of the people of misguidance leave this world unpunished, and most of the people of guidance leave it unrewarded. All things are, then, postponed for a supreme tribunal, an
ultimate bliss.
Yes, it is apparent that the Being Who controls this world does so in accordance with an infinite
wisdom. Do you require a proof? It is the preservation of interest and benefit in all things. Do you
not see that numerous wise benefits are intended in all the limbs, bones and veins of man, even in
the cells of his brain and in every particle of his body? Do you not see that from certain limbs
wise benefits are to be had as numerous as the fruits of a tree? All of this shows that matters are
done in accordance with infinite wisdom. The existence of the utmost regularity in the making of
all things is a proof of the same truth.
The compression of the exact programme of development of a beautiful flower into a minute
seed, the inscription on a small seed by the pen of destiny of the scroll of deeds of a tree, its lifehistory and list of equipment, show that a pen of utmost wisdom is at work.
The existence of a high degree of fine artistry in all things proves that there exists also the
impress of an infinitely Wise Maker. Further, the
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9. The sentence "is it at all possible?" is indeed repeated many times, because it expresses a most significant mystery.
Misguidance and lack of belief generally spring from the habit of imagining things to be impossible, far removed
from the realm of reason, and therefore denying them. Now in this discussion of resurrection it has been decisively
demonstrated that true impossiblity, absurdity and irrationality pertain to the path of misbelief and the road of
misguidance, whereas true possibility, facility and rationality are characteristics of the path of faith and highway of
Islam.
In short, the philosophers tend to unbelief on account of their regarding things as impossible, whereas the Tenth
Word (discussion of resurrection), by means of the repeated sentence, "is it at all possible?" shows where
impossibility lies, and thus deals them a blow in the mouth.
The Words / Tenth Word - Fourth Truth - p.78
inclusion within the minute body of man of an index of all being, of the keys to all the treasuries
of mercy, and of the mirrors of all the Divine Names, demonstrates the existence of wisdom
within that infinitely fine artistry. Now is it at all possible that the wisdom that thus permeates the
workings of dominicality should not wish eternally to favour those who seek refuge beneath the
wing of dominicality and who offer obedience in faith?
Do you wish for a proof that all things are done with justice and balance? The fact that all things
are endowed with being, given shape and put in their appropriate place in accordance with
precise equilibrium and in appropriate measure, shows that all matters are done in accordance
with infinite justice and balance.
Similarly, the fact that all things are given their rights in accordance with their disposition, that
they receive all the necessities of their being and all the requirements of life in the most fitting
form - this too is the sign left by a hand of infinite justice.
Again, the fact that answer is always given to every petition and request made by the tongue of disposition, and of natural need or necessity, demonstrates the existence of infinite justice and
wisdom.
Now is it at all possible that the justice and wisdom that hasten to relieve the pettiest need of the
smallest of creation should fail to provide immortality, the greatest need of man, the greatest of
creatures? That it should fail to respond to his greatest plea and cry for assistance? Or that it
should not preserve the dignity of God’s dominicality by preserving the rights of His servants?
Man, whose life is so brief, cannot experience the true essence of justice in this transient world; it
is for this reason that matters are postponed for a supreme tribunal. For true justice requires that
man, this apparently petty creature, should be rewarded and punished, not in accordance with his
pettiness, but in accordance with the magnitude of his crime, the importance of his nature and the
greatness of his function. Since this passing and transient world is far from manifesting such
wisdom and justice for man, who is created for eternity, of necessity there will be an eternal Hell
and everlasting Paradise of that Just and Awesome Possessor of Beauty, that Wise and Beauteous
Possessor of Awe