The Eighth Truth

The Gate of Promise and Warning: The Manifestation of the Names al-JamīlAllah, the Infinitely Beautiful One and the Possessor of all beauty. and al-JalīlAllah, the Majestic, Whose greatness, glory, and majesty are beyond all measure.

Is it at all possible that the Creator of all beings—Who is Alīm-i MutlaqAllah, Whose knowledge is absolute, infinite, and all-encompassing. and Qadīr-i Mutlaq—would fail to fulfil His repeated promises of reward and warnings of punishment, which have been proclaimed by all the prophets and unanimously affirmed by all the siddīqīnThe truthful believers distinguished by their unwavering faithfulness to Allah and His Messenger. and awliyā(sing. walī) Those who seek the pleasure of Allah and attain elevated spiritual ranks through worship, obedience, and sincerity.? Such a failure would imply weakness and ignorance. Yet everything that He has promised as reward and warned of as punishment is exceedingly easy for His power to accomplish. It is no more difficult for Him than recreating, in the coming spring, the countless beings of the previous spring—some identically^[1] and others in similar form^[2].

The fulfillment of His promise is an absolute necessity for us, for all creation, for His own divine perfection, and for the majesty of His Lordship. To break His promise, however, would be contrary to the dignity of His power and incompatible with the all-encompassing nature of His knowledge. For breaking a promise arises only from ignorance or powerlessness.

O denier! Do you realize what an absurd crime you commit through your unbelief and denial? By surrendering to the delusions of your false imagination, your unsound intellect, and your deceptive nafsThe aspect of the soul associated with lower desires and negative traits., you deny the One Who can never be compelled to break His promise, Whose honor and majesty are utterly incompatible with falsehood and the breaking of promises, and Whose truthfulness and trustworthiness are testified to by all created beings and all events. In your utter insignificance, you commit an immeasurably great crime, and for it you undoubtedly deserve a severe and everlasting punishment. It is related in a hadithA report of the sayings, actions, or approvals of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh). that, for some of the inhabitants of Hell, a single tooth will be as large as a mountain—a measure of the enormity of their crime.

O denier! You are like a traveler who closes his eyes to the light of the sun and instead follows the delusions arising within his own mind. Like a firefly, you attempt to illuminate the dark road before you with the feeble light of your own little lamp.

Since Allah—Whose created beings are His truthful and trustworthy words, and Whose events in the universe are His eloquent signs of truth—has made a promise, He will most certainly fulfill it. He will establish the Supreme Tribunal and bestow the supreme everlasting bliss.

The Ninth Truth

The Gate of Giving Life and Bringing Death: The Manifestation of the Names Hayy-i QayyūmAllah, the Ever-Living Sustainer of all creation., al-MuhyīThe Giver of Life., and al-MumītAllah, the Bringer of Death, who causes all living beings to die at their appointed time.