The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 138
PREFACE ESSENCE OF ISLAM 137 people also continues and the physical senses keep functioning as nor- mal, but this fruit or drink is also simultaneously consumed, and its taste and sweetness continues to be enjoyed in full. Indeed, that taste is far superior. It is certainly not some illusion or unfounded theory. Rather, God, who possesses the eminent quality of: بِكُلِّ خَلْقٍ عَلِيمُ 0 demonstrates the spectacle of a certain type of creation. Thus, when we have an illustration of this kind of creation in this very world, and when we have the continuous testimony of the enlightened individuals throughout the ages in support of these phenomena, why should an intelligent person be surprised that a similar new creation and birth will occur in the Hereafter, and that the scales upon which actions are to be weighed will be visible, and that the pul-şirāț [a bridge the right- eous will traverse to Paradise while the wicked would stumble into Hell on the Day of Judgment] and many other spiritual matters will be seen as having assumed an embodied form? Is it beyond the ability of Him who has depicted allegorical illustrations of this kind of creation to the spiritually enlightened people in this world to also manifest such creation in the world of the Hereafter? In reality, such similitudes are most appropriate for the world of the Hereafter; for, when those who have attained purification can experience creation of this kind here in this world which is not a place of perfect spiritual detachment— why should it not be possible to see such things in the world of the Hereafter, which is a place of complete and perfect detachment? It should be fully borne in mind that all those wondrous matters are disclosed to an enlightened person through visions in this very world, which a person lacking insight reads as though they were mere stories in the verses of the Noble Quran that speak of life in the Hereafter. Such 1. He knows every kind of creation full well (Surah Yā Sin, 36:80). [Publisher]