in Paradise will far surpass all its other delights.”(28)

Thus, these endless perfections of love only occur through the All-Glorious One’s Names and His creatures within the sphere of His unity and oneness. That is to say, those perfections that are imagined to exist outside that sphere are not perfections at all.

The Fifth Sign: The Fifth Sign consists of five Points.

First Point: The representative of the people of misguidance said next: “The world is execrated in your Hadiths and called ‘carrion.’(29) Also, all the saints and people of truth have contempt for the world, they say that it is pernicious and unclean. Whereas, you show it to be the means and proof of all Divine perfections and speak of it rapturously.”

The Answer: The world has three faces.

Its First Face looks to God Almighty’s Names; it displays their impress. It is a mirror to them, reflecting their meanings. This face of the world consists of innumerable letters or missives describing the Eternally Besought One. This face is utterly beautiful, and is worthy of love, not loathing.

Its Second Face looks to the hereafter. It is the seed-bed of the hereafter and arable field for Paradise.

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(28) Tirmidhi, Zuhd, 14; Ibn Maja, Zuhd, 3; Darimi, Muqaddima, 32, Suyuti, al-Durr al-Manthur, iii, 305-6.
(29) Ibn Maja, No:4112; al-Manawi, Fayd al-Qadir, No:4281