Sixth Word

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the name of Allah the Merciful the Compassionate

اِنَّ اللهَ اشْتَرٰى مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ اَنْفُسَهُمْ وَاَمْوَالَهُمْ بِاَنَّ لَهُمُ الْجَنَّةَ

God has purchased the persons and possessions of the believers in return for the Garden [Heaven]

If you would like to understand how profitable of a business how honorable of a status it is to sell your soul and property to the Almighty Truth (Janab al-Haqq) and to be a slave and soldier to Him, listen to the following short allegory:

One time a sultan gives each of two men among his subjects a farm as an entrustment, which has everything such as a factory, machines, horses, and guns. However, since it is a stormy time of war nothing stays in order, either it gets destroyed or transforms and leaves. The sultan, out of the perfection of his mercy, sends a most generous assistant of his to those two men. With a highly merciful decree, He was saying to them:

Sell me my entrusted property that you hold so that I can preserve it for you [and] it is not lost in vain. Also after the war is over I will return it back to you in a better shape. Also that entrusted property is supposedly your belonging; I will give you a highly great price. Furthermore, that machine and equipment in the factory will be worked under my name and with my machinery; both the price and payment will rise from one to a thousand. I will give all of that profit to you. Furthermore, you are weak and poor. You cannot provide the costs of those great tasks. I will take on all the costs and necessities. I will give you all the earnings and benefits. Also, I will leave it in your hands until the time of demobilization. Here you are, five levels of profit within profit! If you do not sell [it] to me, you already see that nobody can preserve what is in their hands. Like everybody else, you will lose hold of it. It will both go in vain and you will be deprived of that high price. Also, those fragile precious equipment [and] scales will completely lose value for not finding the grand metals and tasks to be used for. Also, the difficulty and burden of management and preservation will fall on you. Furthermore, you will find punishment for the breach of entrusted property. Here you are, five degrees of loss within loss! Also, to sell me is to become a soldier to me and act in my name. In the place of an ordinary prisoner and irregular soldier, you will become a special [and] free military officer of a grand sultan.

After they listened to this compliment and mandate, the mindful one of the those two men said “Certainly! I will sell [it] with pride, [and] also thank a thousand fold.”

The other arrogant [one with] a soul that turned into a pharaoh, self-centered, [and] drunkard is not aware of the earthquakes and turmoil of this world, as though he were to stay in that farm forever; he said “No, no, who is the sultan?” I will not sell my property and ruin my mood.”

After some time, the first man rose to such a level that everybody was envious of his state. Receiving the kindness of the sultan, he lives happily in his special palace. The other has been caught up in such a state that everybody feels sorry for him yet say “he deserves it”. For as a result of his mistake, both his happiness and property were lost, and he suffers from punishment and torment.

Thus o soul of numerous desires! Look at the face of reality through the binoculars of this analogy. As for that sultan, He is the your Lord, your Creator Who is the Pre-eternal and Post-eternal Sultan. As for those farms, machines, equipment, [and] scales, they are your belongings within the sphere of your life and within those belongings [they are] your body, soul and heart, and within those [they are] your outward and inward tools for sense such as the eye and tongue, the mind and imagination. And as for that most generous assistant, he is the generous messenger. And as for that most wise decree, it is the Wise Qur’an which declares the great trade we mentioned with this verse:

اِنَّ اللهَ اشْتَرٰى مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ اَنْفُسَهُمْ وَاَمْوَالَهُمْ بِاَنَّ لَهُمُ الْجَنَّةَ

God has purchased the persons and possessions of the believers in return for the Garden [Heaven]

And as for that turbulent field of war, it is the face of this stormy earth which does not stop, spins, gets ruined and gives this thought to the mind of each human: “Since everything will leave our possession, it will be temporal and disappear; isn’t there a solution to transform it to eternity and preserve it? While saying [this] and pondering, suddenly the heavenly sound of the Qur’an is heard. It says “Yes there is. Moreover, there is a beautiful and comfortable solution in a form profitable in five levels.”

Question: “What is it?”

Answer: To sell the entrusted property to its true owner. Thus, in that sale there are five degrees of profit within profit.

First Profit: Perishable property becomes permanent. Because this perishing life given to The Person (Dhat) of The One of Glory Who is The Everlasting Self-Sustaining One by Whom all subsist (al-Qayyum al-Baqi) and spent in His path will transform into eternity, it will give eternal fruits. Hence, the minutes of life – virtually in the form of germs [and] seeds – will apparently perish [and] decay but will open the flowers of happiness and blossom in the eternal world and will become illuminating sweet scenes in the life of graves (barzakh).

Second Profit: A price like heaven is given.

Third Profit: The value of each organ and sense rises from one to a thousand. For example, the mind is a tool. If you do not sell it to The Almighty Truth (Janab al-Haq) but use it on your own behalf, it will be such a disastrous disturbing and weakening tool that it will cast the burden of saddening pains of the past time and frightening states of the future time on this poor shoulders of yours; it will fall to the degree of an afflicted and cursed tool. Thus it is for this that the sinful man will mostly run to either drunkness or entertainment to escape from the disturbance and harassment of the mind. If it is sold to its True Owner and you use it on His behalf, the mind will become such a talismanic key that it will open the endless treasures of mercy and buried troves of wisdom present in this universe. And with this it will rise to the degree of a godly guide preparing its owner for eternal happiness. For instance, the eye is a sense organ such that the soul observes this world with that window. If you don’t sell it to The Almighty Truth (Janab al-Haq) but use it on behalf of the self, [then] by observing some temporary [and] perishable beauty [and] scenes it will become a servant of a lowly level to lust and desires of the self. If you sell the eye to The All-Seeing Maker of the eye and use it on His behalf and within the sphere of His permission, then this eye will rise to the level of being a reader of this great book of the universe and an observer of the miracles of Divine art in this world and a blessed bee of flowers of mercy in this garden of this earth. For example if you do not sell the sense of taste in the tongue to its Wise Creator, perhaps making it work on behalf of the self in the name of the stomach, then it will sink [and] fall to the level of a doorman for the stomach’s barn and factory. If you sell it to its Generous Provider, then the sense of taste in the tongue will rise to the position of a skillful overseer of the treasures of divine mercy and a thankful examiner of the kitchens of the power of The Self-Sufficient.

Thus o mind, be careful! What a difference there is between an unfortunate tool and the key to the universe. O eye observe nicely! What a difference there is between an ordinary misleading guide and a knowledgeable observer of a divine library. And o tongue taste well! What a difference there is between a barn doorman and a factory inhibitor and an overseer to the special treasure of mercy?

And if you compare other tools and organs such as these, you will understand that truly the believer takes on a nature deserving of heaven and the disbeliever [that] appropriate for hell. And the reason for each of them to gain such a value is that a believer through faith uses the entrusted property of his Creator on His behalf and within the sphere of His permission and that a disbeliever betrays [God] using it on behalf of the commanding self (nafs-ul-ammarah).

Fourth Profit: A human being is weak; his calamities are many. He is poor; his needs are so abundant. He is impotent; the burden of life is so heavy. If he does not rely upon The Almighty Powerful One and trust Him and if he does not confidently surrender to Him, his conscience will continuously be left in pain. Fruitless misery, pain, [and] sadness will drown him. It will make him either drunk or a monster.

Fifth Profit: The people of joy and discovery and people of specialization and observation have unanimity that the worship and glorification of God of all those organs and tools and those high rewards of theirs will be given to you at a time you are most in need in the form of fruits of heaven.

Thus, if you don’t do this business [which is] profitable in five levels; other than being deprived of these profits, you will fall into five levels of loss within loss.

First loss: You will lose hold of the property and children you love so much and the self and desires you adore and the youth and life you are enchanted by; [they] will perish and disappear. Yet they will leave their sins and their miseries to you [and] hold you responsible.

Second loss: You will suffer the punishment for betrayal of the entrusted property. Because you wasted the most precious tools in the most worthless things [and] harmed yourself.

Third loss: You dropped all of those precious tools of humanity to a level much lower than animals [and] slandered and harmed Divine wisdom.

Fourth Loss: Loading that very heavy weight of life on your weak back along with your weakness and poverty, you will continuously wail under the slap of perishment and separation.

Fifth Loss: To transform beautiful gifts of divine mercy such as the mind, heart, eye, [and] tongue – given to acquire the fundamentals of eternal life and necessities of happiness of the hereafter – into an ugly form which will open the doors of hell for you.

Now we will look at selling [them]. Is it something that difficult that most run away from selling [them]? Not, no way and never! It does not have any such burden, for the sphere of permissible things (halal) is broad [and] sufficient for joy. There is no need to enter into the forbidden (haram). The obligations imposed by God, on the other hand, is little. To be a slave and soldier to Allah is such a pleasurable honor that it cannot be described. As for the duty, [it is] only to work and begin in the name of Allah like a soldier. And to give and take on the behalf of Allah. And to act within the sphere of His permission and law, to find peace. To ask forgiveness if one does wrong.

One must say “O Lord, forgive our wrongdoings. Accept us as Your slaves. Make us faithful to the entrusted property until the time of taking [back] Your entrusted property. Amen” and beseech Him.