This letter, written to Sayyid Mîr Muhibbullah, informs that in the world it is necessary to do what will be useful to the Hereafter.
Praise and thanks be to Allâhu ta’âlâ! May Allahu ta’âlâ keep you and us on the right way of your ancestors! As the alms of His beloved Prophet, the Highest of Mankind, may He accept our prayer! The states and the matters of the faqîrs being here have been all right. We always offer our hamd and thanks to Allâhu ta’âlâ, and we pronounce our infinite benedictions and salâm over His Prophet. I pray to Allâhu ta’âlâ that you may keep on being in safety, in good health, on the right way, and make progress. My dear and merciful Sir! The time of earning has been going past. Each moment past has been subtracting from your life, the time of death is approaching. If we do not pull ourselves together today, we will obtain nothing but sighing, wailing and repenting tomorrow. In this few-days’ time of
health, we should try to live suitably with the brilliant Sharî’at! In this way only are we hoped to get saved. Worldly life is the time of work. The time of comfort and pleasure is further ahead. The rewards of what is done in the world will be obtained there. To spend the time of work amusing oneself is like a farmer’s eating his seeds, thus depriving himself of the harvest which he will get later on. I hesitate to write any more lest I cause your head to ache. May Allâhu ta’âlâ make you attain the blessings of this world and the next!
This letter, written to Mulla Badraddîn, gives information on âlam-i arwâh, âlam-i mithâl and âlam-i ajsâd, and explains the torment in the grave:
Thanks be to Allâhu ta’âlâ. Salâm to those people distinguished, loved by Him! You say that the soul was in the âlam-i mithâl before it was united with the body. “After leaving the body it will go back to the âlam-i mithâl. Torment in the grave, therefore, will take place in the âlam-i mithâl. The sorrows, pains in the âlam-i mithâl will be felt like feeling them in dreams. Furthermore, this information has various branches. I will write you much about this subject if you allow me to,” you say.
Answer: Know that such illusions, rootless words are so far from being correct. I am afraid that such thoughts may lead you
out of the right way. Though I hardly have time, I will force myself to write a few words on this subject. Allâhu ta’âlâ, alone, makes men attain to the right way.
My dear brother! The world of mumkînât, that is, creatures, have been classified in three groups: âlam-i arwâh, âlam-i mithâl and âlam-i ajsâd. The âlam-i mithâl has also been called âlam-i barzah. For, this âlam is between the âlam-i arwâh and the âlam-i ajsâd. This âlam is like a mirror. The real beings and meanings in the other two âlams are seen in fine figures in this âlam. For, a figure, a shape which is suitable with each real thing, each meaning in the two âlams exists in this âlam. This âlam does not contain any real thing, any substance, any meaning that
exists in itself. The figures, the shapes being here are all appearances which are reflected from the other âlams. There is not a figure or a shape in a mirror. When a figure appears in a mirror, this appearance comes from some other place. So is the case with the âlam-i-mithâl. When this is realized well, we say that the soul also was in its own âlam before getting attached to the body. The âlam-i arwâh is higher than the âlam-i mithâl. When the soul is united with the body it falls in love with the body and descends into this âlam. It is not related with the âlam-i mithâl. As the soul has no relation with the âlam-i mithâl before it gets attached to the body, so it has no relation with the âlam after the cessation of its connection with the body. Only, at times when Allâhu ta’âlâ wishes, some states of the soul are
seen in the mirror of this âlam. This helps understand if the states of the soul are good or bad. Kashfs and dreams happen in this manner. Another event which has happened many times is that man has seen the figures in the âlam-i mithâl without losing his senses. When the soul parts from the body it goes up if it is high. If it is low it gets down. There is no connection between it and the âlam-i mithâl. The âlam-i mithâl is an âlam in sight. It is not an âlam of beings. There are two âlams of beings. The âlam-i arwâh and the âlam-i ajsâd. In other words, the world of substances are the âlams of beings. Things being in these are not only appearances. They themselves exist, too. But there is no being in the âlam-i mithâl. Only, it is like a mirror for the beings in the âlam-i arwâh and the âlam-i ajsâd. When dreaming,
the sorrows, the pains, the troubles in the âlam-i mithâl are seen. This is seeing the appearance, in the âlam-i mithâl, the torment deserved by the one who sees it. It is shown to him in order to wake him up from unawareness so that he will pull himself together.
Torment in the grave is not seeing the visions in the âlam-i mithâl when dreaming. Torment in the grave is unlike dreams. Torment in the grave is not the appearing of torment. It is the torment itself. Moreover, even if it should be said that the pain, the torment which is seen when dreaming is the torment itself, it is still like worldly torment. But the torment in the grave is one of the torments of the next world. These are unlike each other. For, worldly torments are nothing when compared to torments in the next world. May Allâhu ta’âlâ protect us against those torments! If a spark of the torments in the next world came to the world, it would burn, annihilate everything. To think that torment in the grave is like the torment seen in dreams results from not knowing, not understanding the
torment in the grave. It originates from mistaking the torment itself and its vision from each other. This wrong thought may also be because of thinking that torment in the next world and worldly torment are the same. It is quite wrong to think so. It is obvious that it is wrong, corrupt.
Question: The forty-second âyat of Zumar Sûra declares: “As man dies, Allâhu ta’âlâ parts his soul from his body. Before he dies, He parts his soul as he sleeps, too.” As it is understood from this âyat, as man’s soul parts from him as he dies, so his soul parts from him when he goes to sleep. Accordingly, how could it ever be correct to deem the torment in dreams as one of the worldly torments while deeming the torment in the grave as one of the torments in the next world?
Answer: The soul’s parting from the body when asleep is like a person’s leaving his own country smilingly, with pleasure, in order to go on a journey or on a picnic; he will return to his home happily. The place where the soul will travel is the âlam-i mithâl. There are interesting, sweet things to be seen in this âlam. Not so is the case with the soul’s leaving the body when dying. This leaving is like that of a person who leaves his country because his country has been demolished, his houses, apartment houses have been destroyed. It is for this reason that there is no trouble or pain in its leaving the body when asleep. On the contrary, there is happiness and comfort. But there are many pains, hardships in its leaving the body when dying. The sleeping person’s country is the
world. They practise on him the same exercises as those in the world. But the dead person’s world has been demolished. He has migrated to the next world. They practise on him excercises pertaining to the next world. Therefore, a hadîth [reported by Daylamî] declares: “When a man dies his Doomsday has come.”
Mind you, do not dissent from the belief taught by the savants of Ahl as-sunnat wa ’l-jamâ’at by being deceived by the kashfs happening in the imagination and the things seen in the âlam-i mithâl! May Allâhu ta’âlâ plentifully reward those great savants for their work! Do not believe in dreams, illusions! For, unless this Madhhab of salvation is followed escaping torment in the next world cannot be thought of. Those who want to be saved in the next world should give up their own opinions and do their utmost to follow those great people. A messenger’s duty is to say what he knows. Seeing the slackness in your writing, I feared much that you might fall for your illusions and fall into the calamity of abandoning the good luck of following the great, that you might be seized by the current of your own kashfs. We trust ourselves to Allâhu ta’âlâ against the evils of our nafs and the corruptness of our deeds. The Devil is our arch enemy. You should be on the alert so that it will not make you deviate from the right way! It is not even a year that we have not seen each other, and yet what happened to your strictness in following Rasûlullah’s Sunnat, [that is, the way shown by the savants of the Ahl as-sunnat] and to your works showing that the only way to salvation is to cling to the way of those great people? How soon they were forgotten! You have been rolling behind your illusions. I understand that we will probably meet at a rather late date. You should regulate your daily life in such a way that the hope of saving yourself will not perish! O our Allah! Pity us! Bless us with good deeds! We send our salâm to those who are on the right way.