Old Age: Consoling Hopes

The Third Hope

When I awoke one day from the slumber of the night of my youth into the morning of my old age, I looked at myself and saw that my body was hastening towards the grave, as though descending a slope. As Niyazi-i Mısrī says:

“Each day, a stone falls from the building of my life; Yet the soul lies heedless, unaware that its dwelling has fallen into ruin.”

So too was my body, the dwelling of my soul, passing away, as though a stone were falling from it each day. The hopes and desires that had bound me so firmly to the world began to loosen. I felt that the moment of separation from my countless friends and loved ones was drawing near. I sought a remedy for this deep spiritual wound, which seemed incurable, but could find none.

Then I said, as Niyazi-i Mısrī had said:

"Though my heart longs for eternity, the Divine Will has decreed the transience of my bodily existence. I have fallen prey to an incurable pain; alas, even Luqmān knows nothing of its remedy."

Suddenly, the wound I had regarded as incurable and beyond all hope was soothed by the light and intercession of the Noble Prophet (saw), and by the guidance he brought to humanity as a gift of mercy. He, the herald, exemplar, and representative of Divine Mercy, became for me a healing balm, transforming my dark despair into radiant hope.

We are journeying towards the grave; there is no use deceiving ourselves. Even if we close our eyes to this reality, the Divine law will not allow us to remain here. There is a journey to be made, a passage to be crossed.

The ālam-i barzakh, which appears as a dark abode of separation through the darkness of heedlessness and, to some extent, the false imaginings of the people of misguidance, is in reality a land of reunion with our friends. It is the realm in which we shall be reunited with all our loved ones, foremost among them our intercessor, the Beloved of Allah (saw).

Indeed, we are going to a world belonging to him (saw), who for more than thirteen centuries has been the Sultan of hundreds of millions of people in every generation, the nurturer of their souls, the teacher of their intellects, and the beloved of their hearts.

Every day, according to the principle that “the one who is the cause of something is like the one who performs it,” the reward for all the good accomplished by his ummah is recorded in his book of deeds.

He is the centre of the exalted purposes of creation and the cause of the elevation of the worth of all beings. When he came into the world, he cried out, “My ummah, my ummah,” as confirmed in reliable narrations and authentic kashfiyyāt.

And at the Great Gathering on the Day of Resurrection, when everyone will cry out, “Myself, myself,” he, with the most sacred and exalted self-sacrifice, will instead say, “My ummah, my ummah,” and hasten to the aid of his ummah through his intercession.

Thus, we are going to a world where that sun dwells, surrounded by countless stars among the asfiyā and awliyā, who have received their light from him.

Truly, the way to receive his intercession, partake of his light, and be delivered from the darkness of the ālam-i barzakh is to follow his Sunnah.