In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

God, there is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsistent.1

Verily, the religion before God is Islam.2

If you want to understand this world, and man's spirit within the world, and the nature and value of religion within man, and
how the world is a prison if there is no True Religion, and that without religion man becomes the most miserable of
creatures, and that it is O God! and, There is no god but God that solve this world's talisman and deliver the human spirit
from darkness, then listen to and consider this comparison:

Long ago, two brothers set off on a long journey. They continued on their way until the road forked. At the fork they saw a
serious-looking man and asked him: "Which road is good?" He told them: "On the road to the right one is compelled to
comply with the law and order, but within that hardship is security and happiness. However, on the left-hand road there is
freedom and no restraint, but within its freedom lies danger and wretchedness. Now, the choice is yours!"

After listening to this, saying, I place my trust in God,3 the brother with a good character took the right road and conformed
to the order and regulations. The other brother, who was immoral and a layabout, chose the road to the left just for the lack
of restraint. With our imaginations, we shall follow this man in his situation, which was apparently easy but in reality
burdensome.

Thus, this man went up hill and down dale until he found himself in a desolate wilderness. He suddenly heard a terrifying
sound and saw that a great lion had come out of the forest and was about to attack him. He fled. He came across a
waterless well sixty metres deep, and in his fear jumped into it. He fell half-way down it where his hands met a tree. He
clung on to it. The tree, which was growing out of the walls of the well, had two roots. Two rats, one white and one black,
were attacking and gnawing through them. He looked up and saw that the lion was waiting at the top of the well like a
sentry. He looked down and saw a ghastly dragon. It raised its head and drew it close to his foot thirty metres above. Its
mouth was as big as the mouth of the well. Then he looked at the well's walls and saw that stinging, poisonous vermin had
gathered round him. He looked up at the mouth of the well and saw a fig-tree. But it was not an ordinary tree, it bore the
fruit of many different trees, from walnuts to pomegranates.

Thus, through his lack of thought and foolishness, the man did not understand that this was not just some ordinary matter,
these things were not here by chance, and that there were mysterious secrets concealed in these strange beings. And he did
not grasp that there was someone very powerful directing them. Now, although his heart, spirit, and mind were secretly
weeping and wailing at this grievous situation, his evil-commanding soul pretended that it was nothing; it closed its ears to the
weeping of his heart and spirit, and deceiving itself, started to eat the tree's fruit as though it was in a garden. But some of
the fruit were poisonous and harmful. Almighty God says in a Divine Hadith: "I am according to how my servants think of
Me."

Thus, through his foolishness and lack of understanding, this unhappy man thought what he saw to be ordinary and the actual
truth. And so that is the way he was treated, and is treated, and will be treated. He neither dies so that he is saved from it,
nor does he live - he is in such torment. And so, we shall leave this ill-omened man in his torment and return, so that we may
consider the situation of the other brother.

This fortunate and intelligent person went on his way, but he suffered no distress like his brother. For, due to his fine morals,
he thought of good things, and imagined good things. Everything was friendly and familiar to him. And he did not suffer any
difficulty and hardship like his brother, for he knew the order and followed it. He found it easy. He went on his way freely
and in peace and security. Then he came across a garden in which were both lovely flowers and fruits, and, since it was not
looked after, rotting and filthy things. His brother had also entered such a garden, but he had noticed and occupied himself
with the filthy things and they had turned his stomach, so he had left it and moved on without being able to rest at all. But
this man acted according to the rule, 'look on the good side of everything', and had paid no attention to the rotting things. He
had benefited a lot from the good things, and taking a good rest, he had left and gone on his way.

Later, also like the first brother, he had entered a vast desert, and had suddenly heard the roar of a lion which was attacking
him. He was frightened, but not as much as his brother. For, because of his good thoughts and positive attitude, he thought to
himself: "This desert has a ruler, and it is possible that this lion is a servant under the ruler's command," and found
consolation. But he still fled until he came across an empty well sixty metres deep. He threw himself into it. Like his brother,
his hand clasped a tree half-way down and he remained suspended in the air. He looked and saw two animals gnawing
through the tree's two roots. He looked up and saw the lion, and looked down and saw the dragon. Just like his brother he
was seeing a most strange situation. He was terrified like him, but his terror was a thousand times less than his brother's.
For his good morals had given him good thoughts, and good thoughts show the good side of everything. So, because of this,
he thought like this:

"These strange happenings are connected to someone. Also it seems that they are acting in accordance with a command. In
which case, these matters contain a talisman. Yes, they are turning at the command of a hidden ruler. Therefore, I am not
alone; the hidden ruler is watching me, he is testing me, he is impelling me somewhere for some purpose, and inviting me
there. A curiosity arising from this pleasant fear and these agreeable thoughts prompt me to say: I wonder who it is that is
testing me, wants to make himself known, and is impelling me for some purpose on this strange road."

Then, love for the owner of the talisman arose out of the desire to know him, and from that love arose the desire to solve the
talisman. And from that desire arose the will to acquire good qualities which would please and gratify the talisman's owner.
Then he looked at the tree and saw it was a fig-tree, but it was bearing the fruits of thousands of trees. So then all his fear
left him, for he understood that for certain the fig-tree was a list, an index, an exhibition. The hidden ruler must have
attached samples of the fruits in the garden to the tree through a miracle and with a talisman, and must have adorned the
tree in a way that would point to each of the foods he had prepared for his guests. For there is no other way a single tree
could produce the fruits of thousands of different trees. Then he began to entreat that he would be inspired with the key to
the talisman. He called out:

"O ruler of this place! I have fallen on your fortune and I take refuge with you. I am your servant and I want to please you.
I am searching for you." After he had made this supplication, the walls of the well suddenly parted, and a door opened onto
a wonderful, pleasant, quiet garden. Indeed, the dragon's mouth was transformed into the door, and both it and the lion took
on the forms of two servants; they invited him to enter. The lion even became a docile horse for him.

And so, O my lazy soul! And O my imaginary friend! Come! Let us compare the position of these two brothers, so that we
can see how good brings good and evil brings evil. Let us find out.

Look, the unhappy traveller on the left road is all the time trembling with fear waiting to enter the dragon's mouth, while the
fortunate one is invited into a blooming, splendid garden full of fruit. And the unfortunate one's heart is being pounded by an
awful terror and grievous fear, while the fortunate one is gazing at and observing strange things as a delightful lesson, with a
pleasant fear and loving knowledge. Also the miserable one is suffering torments in desolation, despair, and loneliness, while
the fortunate one is taking pleasure in hope, longing, and familiarity. Furthermore, the unfortunate one sees himself as a
prisoner subject to the attacks of wild beasts, while the fortunate one is an honoured guest who is on friendly terms and
enjoying himself with the strange servants of the generous host of whom he is the guest. Also the unhappy one is hastening
his torments by indulging in fruits which are apparently delicious but in fact poisonous. For the fruits are samples; there is
permission to taste them so as to seek the originals and become customers for them, but there is no permission to devour
them like an animal. But the fortunate one tastes them and understands the matter; he postpones eating them and takes
pleasure in waiting. Moreover, the unfortunate one is wronging himself. Through his lack of discernment, he is making a
truth and a situation which are as clear and bright as daylight into a dark and oppressive fear, into a hellish delusion. He does
not deserve pity, nor does he have the right to complain to anyone.

For example, if a person who is at a pleasant banquet in a beautiful garden in summer among his friends makes himself
drunk through filthy intoxicants, then imagines himself hungry and naked in the middle of winter among wild animals and
starts shouting out and crying, he does not deserve to be pitied; he is wronging himself, and he is insulting his friends by
imagining them to be wild beasts. Thus, the unfortunate brother is like this. But the fortunate one sees the truth. And the
truth is good. Through perceiving the beauty of the truth, the fortunate brother is being respectful towards the truth's owner.
So he deserves his mercy. Thus, the meaning of the Qur'anic decree: "Know that evil is from yourself, and good is from
God" becomes clear. If you make a comparison of other differences in the same way, you will understand that the
evil-commanding soul of the first brother has prepared a sort of hell for him, while the good intention, good will, good
character, and good thoughts of the other have allowed him to receive great bounty and happiness, and a shining virtue and
prosperity.

O my soul! And O you who is listening to this story together with my soul! If you do not want to be the unfortunate brother
and want to be the fortunate one, listen to the Qur'an, and obey its decrees, and adhere to them, and act according to them.

If you have understood the truths in this comparison, you will be able to make them correspond to the truths of religion, the
world, man, and belief in God. I shall say the important ones, then you deduce the finer points yourself.

So, look! Of the two brothers, one is a believing spirit and a righteous heart. The other is an unbelieving spirit and a depraved
heart. And of the two roads, the one to the right is the way of the Qur'an and belief in God, while the left one is the road of
rebellion and denial. The garden on the road is man's fleeting social life in human society and human civilization where good
and evil, and things good and bad and clean and dirty are found side by side. The sensible person is he who acts according to
the rule: 'Take what is pleasant and clear, and leave what is distressing and turbid', and goes on his way with tranquillity of
heart. As for the desert, it is the earth and this world. And the lion is death and the appointed hour. The well is man's body
and the time of his life, while its sixty-metre depth points to the normal life-span of sixty years. And the tree is the period of
life and the substance of life. The two animals, one white and one black, are night and day. And the dragon is the road to the
Intermediate Realm and pavilion of the Hereafter, whose mouth is the grave. But for the believer, that mouth is a door
opening from a prison onto a garden. And as for the poisonous vermin, they are the calamities of this world. But for the
believer they are like gentle Divine warnings and favours of the Most Merciful One to prevent him slipping off into the sleep
of heedlessness. The fruits on the tree are the bounties of this world which the Absolutely Generous One has made in the
form of a list of the bounties of the Hereafter, and both as examples of them, and warnings, and samples inviting customers
to the fruits of Paradise. And the tree producing numerous different fruits despite being a single tree is a sign to the seal of
the Power of the Eternally Besought One, to the stamp of Divine Dominicality and Sovereignty. For 'to make everything
from one thing', that is, to make all plants and fruits from earth, and create all animals from a fluid, and to create all the limbs
and organs of animals from a simple food, together with 'making everything one thing', that is, arts like weaving a simple skin
and making flesh particular to each animal from the great variety of foods that animals eat is an inimitable stamp and seal
peculiar to the Ruler of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, Who is the Single, Eternally-Besought One. For sure, to make one
thing everything, and everything one thing is a sign, a mark peculiar to the Creator of all things and the One Powerful over
all things.

And as for the talisman, it is the mystery of the wisdom in creation which is solved through the mystery of belief. And the
key is There is no god but God , and, God, there is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsistent. And the dragon's
mouth being transformed into the door into the garden is a sign that, although for the people of misguidance and rebellion the
grave is a door opening, in desolation and oblivion, onto a grave distressing as a dungeon and narrow as a dragon's stomach,
for the people of the Qur'an and belief, it is a door which opens from the prison of this world onto the fields of immortality,
from the arena of examination onto the gardens of Paradise, and from the hardships of life onto the Mercy of the
All-Merciful One. The savage lion turning into a friendly servant and a docile mount is a sign that, although for the people of
misguidance, death is a bitter, eternal parting from all their loved ones, and the expulsion from the deceptive paradise of this
world and the entry in desolation and loneliness into the dungeon of the grave, for the people of guidance and the Qur'an, it is
the means of joining all their old friends and beloved ones who have already departed for the next world, and the means of
entering their true homeland and abode of everlasting happiness. It is an invitation to the meadows of Paradise from the
prison of this world, and a time to receive the wage bestowed out of the generosity of the Most Merciful and Compassionate
One for services rendered to Him, and a discharge from the hardship of the duties of life, and a rest from the drill and
instruction of worship and examination.

In Short: Whoever makes this fleeting life his purpose and aim is in fact in Hell even if apparently in Paradise. And whoever
is turned in all seriousness towards eternal life receives the happiness of both worlds. However difficult and distressing this
world is for him, since he sees it as the waiting-room for Paradise, he endures it and offers thanks in patience...

O God! Appoint us among the people of happiness, safety, the Qur'an, and belief. Amen. O God! Grant peace and blessings
to our Master Muhammed, and to his Family and Companions, to the number of all the letters of the Qur'an formed in all its
words, represented with the permission of the Most Merciful One in the mirrors of the air waves on the recital of each of
those words by all the Qur'an's reciters from its first revelation to the end of time, and have mercy on us and on our parents,
and have mercy on all believing men and women to the number of those words, through Your mercy, O Most Merciful of
the Merciful. Amen. And all praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds.

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