The Fifth Luminous Degree of HasbiyyaRefers to the Qur’anic expression Hasbunallāhu wa Ni‘mal-Wakīl, meaning “Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best Disposer of affairs."

On another occasion, exceptionally severe circumstances shook my life and caused me to turn my attention to my own existence. I saw that my allotted lifespan was swiftly passing, that the Hereafter was drawing near, and that my life itself, under the strain of all I had endured, was on the verge of being extinguished.

Yet I reflected with sorrow that the important duties, great virtues, and precious fruits of life — as explained in the treatise concerning the Name al-Hayy“The Ever-Living”; one of the Most Beautiful Names of Allah, signifying that He possesses perfect, eternal life, without beginning or end, and is free from death, weakness, or dependence. — called not for a swift extinction, but for a long life.

Once again, I turned to my master, the verse:

حَسْبُنَا اللّٰهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكٖيلُAllah is sufficient for us, and He is the best Protector. — The Qur’an 3:173

It was as though the verse said to me:

“Look upon life in the light of Hayy-i QayyūmAllah, the Ever-Living Sustainer of all creation., Who has bestowed life upon you.”

I looked and saw that, while my life has only one relation to me, it has a hundred relations to Hayy-i QayyūmAllah, the Ever-Living Sustainer of all creation.. And while the fruit of my life yields but a single share for me, it yields a thousand shares for my Creator.

Thus, a single moment of life spent in a manner pleasing to Allah is sufficient; a long span of years is not required. This truth is explained in four matters.

Whoever is not spiritually dead, or whoever sincerely desires to come to life, should seek the nature, reality, and true meaning of life in those four matters, so that he may discover them and attain true life.

The essence of this truth is as follows:

When life is directed toward Hayy-i QayyūmAllah, the Ever-Living Sustainer of all creation. and īmānFaith; belief in the six articles of faith: Allah, His angels, His revealed scriptures, His prophets, the Hereafter, and divine decree (qadar). becomes its very soul, life attains eternity and bears eternal fruits. Moreover, it rises to such an exalted degree that it receives a reflection of eternity.

In such a state, whether life is long or short is of no consequence. For even if it is brief, it has, in truth, already become long.

The Sixth Luminous Degree of HasbiyyaRefers to the Qur’anic expression Hasbunallāhu wa Ni‘mal-Wakīl, meaning “Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best Disposer of affairs."

Amid the events of the End Times, which heralded the destruction of the world and the approaching universal separation, and as old age reminded me of my own impending departure, my innate love of beauty, longing for perfection, and sensitivity to goodness grew extraordinarily intense as I neared the end of my life.

I then perceived, with profound awareness and sorrow, how transience and decay, death and non-existence, were mercilessly assailing this beautiful world and its magnificent creatures, tearing them apart and causing their beauty to vanish.