I n   S h o r t : Paradise and Hell are the two fruits of a branch of the tree of creation, which stretches out towards eternity. The fruits’ place is at the branch’s tip. And they are the two results of the chain of the universe; and the places of the results are the two sides of the chain. The base and heavy are on its lower side, the luminous and elevated on its upper side. They are also the two stores of the flood of events and the immaterial produce of the earth. The store-places vary according to the produce, the bad beneath, the good above. They are also the two pools of the flood of beings, which flows in waves towards eternity. As for the pool’s place, it is where the flood stops and gathers. That is, the obscene and filthy below, the good and the pure above. They are also the two places of manifestation, the one of beneficence and mercy, the other  of  wrath  and  grandeur.  Places  of manifestation  may be  anywhere;  the  All- Merciful One of Beauty, the All-Compelling One of Glory, situates His places of manifestation where He wishes.

As for the existence of Paradise and Hell, they have been proved conclusively in the Tenth, Twenty-Eighth, and Twenty-Ninth Words. Here, we only say this: the existence of the fruit is as definite and certain as the existence of the branch; the result is as definite as the chain; the store as the produce; the pool as the river; and the places  of manifestation  are as definite  and  certain  as the existence  of mercy and wrath.

FOURTH QUESTION

Passing (mecazî) love for things can be transformed into true love, so can the passing love most people have for this world also be transformed into true love?

T h e  A n s w e r : Yes, if a person who loves with passing love the transitory face of the world sees the ugliness of the decline and transience on that face and turns away from it; if he searches for an immortal beloved and is successful in seeing the world’s other two, beautiful,  faces, of being a mirror to the divine names and the tillage of the hereafter, his illicit passing love then starts to be transformed into true love. But on the one condition that he does not confuse with the outside world his inner fleeting, unstable world, which is bound to his life. If like the people of misguidance and heedlessness he forgets himself, plunges into the outside world, and supposing the general world to be his private world comes to love it, he will fall into the swamp of nature and drown. Unless,   extraordinarily,   a  hand   of  favour   saves   him.  Consider   the  following comparison which will illuminate this truth.

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