The Words | 32 Word - Third Stopping Place | 680
(655-683)

EIGHTH INDICATION

The result in the hereafter of thoughtful love in this world for the two beautiful faces of the world, which are the tillage for the hereafter and the mirror of the Divine Names. An everlasting Paradise will be given that is as large as the world but is not ephemeral and transient like this world. And the Names, only pale shadows of which are shown in this world, will be displayed in the mirror of Paradise in a most brilliant form.

Moreover, the result of loving the world as being the tillage of the hereafter is as follows. When the world is seen thus, that is, as a seed-bed or small place of cultivation that produces only shoots, it results in a Paradise where those shoots burgeon and blossom. For in this world man's senses and faculties are tiny shoots and in Paradise they will unfold in the most perfect form. And his abilities, which are here like tiny seeds, will be given to him there in a form that will blossom with all sorts of delights and perfections. This is proved by the indications of the Qur'an and by Hadith, and is necessitated by mercy and wisdom.

For it is not blameworthy love of the world, which is the source of every fault, but love of its two faces that look to God's Names and to the hereafter, and is for the sake of the Names and the hereafter. It is to cultivate those faces with thoughtful worship, as if taking the whole world as the means for worship. It is, therefore, most definitely necessitated by mercy and wisdom that a reward should be given that is as large as the world. And, one who through love of the hereafter, has loved its seed-bed, and through love of Almighty God, has loved the mirror of His Names, will most certainly desire a beloved like the world, and that too will be a Paradise as great as the world.

Question: What is the use of such a vast and empty Paradise?

Answer: If it was possible for you to travel with speed of imagination round all the regions of the earth and most of the stars, you would be able to say, "The whole universe is mine." The fact that the angels, other human beings and the animals share the world with you would not quash your claim. In the same way, if Paradise is thus full, you would be able to say, "Paradise is mine." The meaning of the Hadith, A five hundred year Paradise will be given to some of those in Paradise, has been explained in the Twenty-Eighth Word and the Twentieth Flash, the Treatise on Sincerity.

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