when he looks with belief, he sees it in the form of a ship of the Most Merciful One ploughing its course around the sun under the command of God Almighty, with all its food, drink, and clothing on board, for the pleasure of mankind. So he starts to declare with great feeling: “All praise be to God!” for this great bounty which springs from belief.

Front Aspect: If a person who indulges in philosophy looks at this aspect, he sees that all living creatures, whether human or animal, are disappearing group by group and with great speed towards it. That is to say, they are going to non-being and ceasing to exist. Since he knows that he too is a traveller on that road, he goes out of his mind with grief. But for a believer looking with the eye of belief, men journeying to that aspect are not passing to the world of non-existence, they are being transferred from one pasture to another like nomads, and migrating from a transitory realm to an everlasting one, and from a farm of service and labour to the wages office, and from a country of hardship and difficulty to one of plenty and ease. The believer meets this aspect with pleasure and gratitude.

Difficulties which occur on the road like death and the grave are sources of happiness by reason of their results. For the road which leads to the luminous worlds passes through the grave, and the greatest happiness is the result of the worst, most grievous disasters. For example, Joseph (PUH) attained the happiness of being ruler of Egypt only by way of being thrown into the well by his brothers and cast into prison at the slanders of Zulaikha. In the same way, a child coming into the world from his mother’s womb only reaches the happiness of this world as a result of the excruciating, crushing difficulties he experiences on the way.

Back Aspect: That is, since one who looks at those who have remained behind with the view of philosophy can find no answer to the question: “Where have they come from and where are they going, and why did they come to the land of this world?”, he naturally remains in a torment of bewilderment and doubt. But should he look through the spectacles of belief, he will understand that men are observers, sent by the Pre-Eternal Sovereign to contemplate and study the wonderful miracles of power displayed in the exhibition of the universe, and that after receiving their marks and ranks in conformity with the degree they have grasped the value