The Short Words

The Eighth Word

Moreover, that unfortunate man has wronged himself. Through his shortsightedness, he has turned a truth as clear as day and a state as pleasant as daylight into a dark and gloomy delusion, and has thus fallen into a hellish condition. He neither deserves pity nor has the right to complain. For example, if a person in summer, in a beautiful garden among his friends, is not content with the enjoyment of a pleasant festive meal, but uses filthy intoxicants so that he imagines himself hungry and naked in the middle of winter among wild beasts and then begins to scream and wail, it will be understood that such a person does not deserve others’ pity. For he has wronged himself and has insulted his friends by seeing them as wild beasts. Indeed, the state of that unfortunate man is like that of this person. The happy man, however, perceives the truth, the real aspect of the events around him. Truth is indeed beautiful. And because he understands this, he shows reverence for the perfection of the Ruler; thus he becomes deserving of His mercy.

Indeed, this reveals the secret behind the following Qur’anic judgment: “Know that evil comes from yourself and good comes from Allah.”

If you weigh the other differences in the same way, you will understand that the heedless man, because of his nafs-i ammāra, has fallen into a hellish condition, while the happy brother, through his good intention, optimistic way of thinking, good nature, and good thoughts, has attained a great favor and happiness, a radiant grace, and abundant blessings.

O my nafs, and you who listen to this story together with me! If you do not wish to be like the heedless one but like the happy brother, then listen to the Qur’an, obey its laws, cling to it, and act according to its commands. If you have understood the truths behind this parable, you can apply them to religion, the world, the human being, and īmān. I shall explain the most important of them; you may try to unveil the details yourself.

One brother represents the believers and the pious; the other represents the unbelievers and the sinners. The right road is the road of the Qur’an and īmān; the left road is the road of disobedience and denial. The garden on that road refers to the transient social life within human society and civilization, in which good and evil, virtue and vice, the pure and the impure appear together. The one who is wise will act according to the principle

خُذْ مَا صَفَا دَعْ مَا كَدَرْ

and continue his way with a peaceful heart.

The wilderness symbolizes the world. The lion refers to death and the appointed hour. The well represents the human body and the course of life. Its depth of sixty meters points to the average human lifespan of sixty years. The tree represents the lifespan and life of the human being. The black and white mice symbolize night and day. The dragon symbolizes the initial stage of the Hereafter and is the road to the ālam-i barzakh that begins at the grave. Yet the mouth of the dragon, that is, the grave, serves for a believer as a gate from a prison opening onto a garden. The vermin represent worldly adversities. But for a believer, they are pleasant Divine warnings and a grace from the Merciful One.

The fruits on the tree are the worldly favors which the Absolutely Generous One has granted as indications, foretastes, and examples of His favors in Paradise, by which He awakens the longing of His guests for them and invites them to Paradise. The production of many different fruits from a single tree points to the manifestations of the power of as-Samad, of His rubūbiyya, and of His sovereignty.