Lecture Lahore — Page 16
16 experience firsthand its property of burning. These, then, are the three stages of certainty: ‘Ilmul Yaq i n [certainty by knowledge], ‘Ainul Yaq i n [certainty by sight], and H aqqul Yaq i n [perfect certainty]. These verses teach us that our true happiness lies in near- ness to God and love for Him. The moment we turn away from Him and lean towards the world, we begin the life of hell, and everyone is bound to realize this sooner or later, even if he does so when he is at death’s door and is about to leave behind all his worldly possessions and relations. Elsewhere in the Holy Quran, God says: 18 i. e. , anyone who gives up sin in deference to the honour and majesty of God, and in dread of the day when he shall be called to account before Him, for him there are two kinds of paradise. The first will be given to him in the form of a blissful existence in this world, where he will experience a holy transformation and God Himself will provide for him. The second paradise will be the eternal one, which will be granted to him after death because he feared God and preferred Him to all things mundane in- cluding his own egoistic desires. 19 18 Al-Ra h m a n, 55:47 [Publishers] 19 Al-Dahr, 76:5-7 [Publishers]