The Twenty-Third Letter

In His Name, be He glorified!

And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.(17:44)

Peace be upon you, and God’s blessings and mercy for ever, to the number of the seconds of the minutes of your life and the particles of your body!

My Dear, Enterprising, Serious, True, Sincere, and Sagacious Brother!

For brothers of the hereafter and the truth like us, differences of time and place are no obstacle to their conversing and intimacy. Even if one is in the east, one in the west, one in the past, one in the future, one in this world, and one in the next, they still may be thought of as being together and may converse. Especially those who have undertaken the same duty to achieve the same goal; they are as though united. Every morning I imagine that you are here with me, and I make over a part, a third, of my spiritual gains to you. May God find them acceptable! In my prayers you are together with Abdülmecid  and Abdurrahman.  God  willing,  you always  receive  your  share. Your suffering difficulties  in respect of worldly life saddened  me a little, for your sake. But since this world is not eternal and good may come of disasters, it occurred to me to say on your behalf: “This too will pass.” I thought of the Hadith: “True life is the life of the hereafter.”[1]  I recited the verse: “God is with those who patiently persevere.”(2:253)  I said: “To God do we belong, and to Him is our return.”(2:156) And I found consolation in place of you. If Almighty God loves one of His servants, He makes him feel disgust at the world and shows it to be ugly.[2]

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[1] Bukhari, Riqaq, 1; Jihad, 33, 110; Manaqib al-Athar, 9; Maghazi, 29; Muslim, Jihad, 126, 129; Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 55; Ibn Maja, Masajid, 3; Musnad, ii, 381; iii, 172, 180, 216, 276; v, 332.

[2] Tirmidhi, Tibb, 1; Musnad, v, 427; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iv, 207; al-Haythami, Majma’ al- Zawa’id, x, 285; al-Suyuti, Kanz al-‘Ummal, iii, 204.