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1. of the Addendum

   A question with respect to resurrection.

   Verses of the Qur'an, such as the oft-repeated, It will be naught but a single cry,50 and, The command of the hour of resurrection will be like the glance of the eye,51 show that the supreme resurrection will take place in a single instant, without the passage of any time. Our narrow intellects require some tangible parable to enable us to accept and assent to this infinitely miraculous and unparalleled statement.

   The answer to the question: There are three Matters concerning the resurrection: Spirits will return to their bodies, and bodies will be reanimated, and bodies will be resurrected.

   THE FIRST MATTER: A parable for the return of spirits to their bodies is the following. The soldiers of a highly disciplined army, having dispersed in all directions in order to rest, are summoned together with a loud re-echoing blast on the trumpet. Now the Sur, the trumpet of Israfil, is certainly no less powerful than that army's trumpet, and the spirits of men while still in the world of post-eternity and the realm of the particle, which heard the address of "am I not your Lord" coming from pre-eternity and answered, "indeed Thou art," are more obedient, disciplined and submissive than the soldiers in that army. It was proven, moreover, in the Thirtieth Word, with the firmest of proofs, that not only the spirits but all particles, too, form the obedient members of a Divine Army.

   THE SECOND MATTER: A parable for the reanimation of bodies. Just as in a great city, on a festive night, a hundred thousand lamps may be lit from a single power station, in a single instant, without the apparent passage of any time, so too it is possible to switch on a hundred million electric lamps all over the globe from a single power station. If a creation of God Almighty such as electricity, a servant and a candleholder in His hospice, can manifest this property through the lesson of training and discipline it has learned from its Creator, then resurrection may also take place in a fraction of a second, within the framework of the orderly laws of Divine Wisdom, which thousands of luminous servants, like electricity, represent.

   THE THIRD MATTER: A parable for the instant resurrection of bodies. In reality, there is not one parable for the resurrection of human bodies on the day of resurrection; there are thousands of parables. Some are the following: the fashion in which all the leaves of all trees are restored in the most perfect form, almost identically to those of the preceding spring, within a few days at the beginning of each spring, even though the trees are a thousand times more numerous than all the members of the human race; the way in which all the flowers and fruits of all trees are re-created just like those of the preceding spring, as swiftly as lightning; the sudden awakening, unfolding and coming to life of all those countless seeds, kernels and roots that are the origin of spring; the way in which trees, resembling erect skeletons, are suddenly caused to receive the manifestation of "resurrection after death"; the animation in most wondrous form of the countless members of all the classes of little animals; especially the resurrection of the flies in their tribes, and in particular the raising up, reanimation and resurrection in the course of a few days every spring, together with other tribes, of the members of this tribe, more numerous than all the sons of the human race, from the time of Adam down to the present, who constantly teach us ablution and cleanliness by constantly cleansing their faces, eyes and wings, and always caress us.

   Now this world is the realm of wisdom, and the hereafter is the abode of power. In this world, therefore, in accordance with the requirements of Names such as All-Wise, Arranger, Disposer, and Nurturer, the creation of things is to some degree gradual and extends over time. This is required by Dominical wisdom. But since in the hereafter power and mercy are more manifest than is wisdom, things are created instantly without leaving any need for matter, time or delay. The Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition decrees, in allusion to the fact that matters that require here in this world a whole day or a whole year will be completed in the hereafter in an instant, a flash: The command of the hour (of resurrection) will be like the glance of an eye, or briefer.52

   If you wish to understand with full certainty that resurrection will come just like next spring, pay good attention to the Tenth Word and the Twenty-Ninth Word, both of which deal with resurrection. If you then still do not believe in it like the coming of the spring, then come and insert your finger in my eye!

   THE FOURTH MATTER: The death of the world and the coming of resurrection. If a planet or comet collides with this globe we inhabit like a hospice by the command of God, it may destroy our home, just as a palace that took ten years to build may be destroyed in a single minute.

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2. We will indicate, by way of being a measure, four out of the innumerable proofs of this fact, that belief in the hereafter is the very basis and foundation of all the social and individual life of man, and the fundament of all bliss and accomplishment:

   THE FIRST PROOF: Children, who comprise one fourth of the human race, can endure the death and decease that appear to them so awesome and tragic only by means of the idea of Paradise. Only by this means can they find some spiritual strength in their weak and delicate bodies, and find some hope permitting them to live joyfully, despite their vulnerable spiritual disposition that swiftly gives way to tears. Thinking of Paradise, the child will, for example, say: "My little brother or friend has died, and become a bird in Paradise. He is playing there, and leading a life finer than ours." Otherwise, the constant impact upon the anxious gazes of those poor little ones of the death of children and adults all around them, would overwhelm their powers of resistance and inner strength, and would cause not only their eyes but all of their inner faculties – spirit, heart, and intellect – so to weep that they would either be destroyed or become like crazed and wretched animals.

   THE SECOND PROOF: Old people, who make up another fourth of humanity, can support the proximity of the grave only by means of the afterlife. Only by this means can they find some consolation for the approaching extinction of the worldly life to which they are so bound and the closing off to them of this fair world. Only through the hope of eternal life can they confront the painful and awesome despair that arise from the anticipation of death and separation, despite the vulnerability of their spirits and temperaments that approaches that of children. Otherwise, all those venerable aged beings deserving of pity, all those anxious mothers and fathers, greatly in need of tranquillity and assurance of heart, would experience such distraughtness of spirit and disturbance of heart that the world would appear to them as a dark dungeon and life too as grievous torment.

   THE THIRD PROOF: It is only thought of Hell that enables young men -the source and fundament of all social life- to restrain their turbulent feelings and tempestuous souls and passions from committing transgression, oppression and destruction, and to make them serve instead the purposes of social life. Were there not the fear of Hell, those intoxicated youths would follow the principle, "might is right," and running after their passions would turn the world into a hell for the weak and the feeble; they would bring down humanity to a lowly and bestial state.

   THE FOURTH PROOF: The most comprehensive centre of the human race in its worldly life, its most fundamental resource, its paradise, refuge and stronghold of worldly happiness, is the life of the family. Everyone's home is like a small world for him. The vitality and happiness of his home and his family depend upon earnest, sincere and devoted respect, upon true caring and self-sacrificing compassion. This in turn depends on an eternal friendship, an everlasting companionship, an immortal bond, and the belief in the existence of paternal, filial, fraternal and friendly relations that are to exist for an infinite period and in a life everlasting. One will say for example:

   "This wife of mine will be my permanent life's companion, in an eternal world and an eternal life. If she has now become old and ugly, it does not matter. For she has an eternal beauty that will manifest itself in the future, and it is on account of such eternal companionship that I now make sacrifices and show her compassion."

   He will thus treat his aged wife with as much love, compassion and care as if she were a beautiful Houri. Otherwise, a companionship that ends in eternal separation after a few hours' of bodily marriage would be without doubt superficial, temporary and unfounded. It would be nothing more than the sexual instinct of animals, other interests and powerful feelings would arise and, defeating that respect and concern, turn the worldly paradise into a worldly hell.

   One of the hundreds of consequences of belief in resurrection relates, then, to the social life of man. If the numerous other aspects and benefits of this single consequence are deduced by analogy with these four, it can be understood that the occurrence of the verity of resurrection is as certain as the sublime truth of humanity and its universal need. It will be even more manifest than the proof provided for the existence of food by the existence of need in men's stomachs. If the consequences of the verity of resurrection are subtracted from the human state, the essence of humanity – important, exalted and vital humanity – will descend to the state of carrion, a corpse fed on by microbes.

   Let the sociologists, politicians and moralists who concern themselves with the administration of humanity, with morals and human society, pay close attention! How do they intend to fill this vacuum, and with what will they cure these deep wounds?

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3. The Gate of Messengerhood and Revelation,

   and the Manifestation of

   "In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate."

   Is it at all possible that errant doubts, no stronger than the wing of a fly, could close the path to the hereafter and the gate to Paradise that have been definitively opened by the Most Noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with all of his might, relying upon the power of his thousand certified miracles as well as the thousands of decisive verses of the All-Wise Qur'an, a book miraculous in forty different ways – that Prophet whose words are affirmed by all of the other prophets, relying upon their own miracles, whose claim is affirmed by all of the saints, relying upon their visionary and charismatic experiences, and to whose veracity all of the purified scholars bear witness, relying upon their investigations of truth?

   * * *

   From the previous truths it has become apparent that resurrection is so firmly rooted a truth that not even a power capable of lifting up the globe, breaking it and casting it aside, could shake it. For God Almighty Himself affirms this truth in accordance with the meaning of all His Names and Attributes; His Most Noble Messenger confirms it with all of his miracles and evidences; the All-Wise Qur'an establishes it with all of its truths and verses; and the cosmos itself bears witness to it with all the creational signs it contains and all the wise processes that take place within it. Is it at all possible that the Necessary Being (God) should unite with all of His creation (excepting only the unbelievers) on this question of resurrection, and doubts feebler than a whisker and satanic insinuations should shake and uproot that exalted and firmly-rooted truth which resembles a mountain? No, by no means!

   Beware, do not imagine that the proofs of resurrection are restricted to the Twelve Truths we have mentioned. The All-Wise Qur'an alone, that instructed us in these Twelve Truths, indicates thousands of other aspects of the matter as well, each aspect being a sign that our Creator will transfer us from this transient realm to an eternal one.

   Again, do not imagine that the Divine Names which logically require the existence of resurrection are only those we have discussed – Wise, Generous, Merciful, Just, Preserver. On the contrary, all the Divine Names manifest in the ordering of the cosmos logically require the existence of resurrection, indeed make it imperative.

   Do not imagine, either, that the creational signs indicating resurrection are confined to those we have mentioned above. On the contrary, in the majority of beings, there exist different aspects and qualities that are like curtains opening to the right and the left: one aspect bears witness to the Maker, and the other aspect indicates resurrection. For example, the beauty of man's being, fashioned as he is in the fairest of forms, demonstrates the existence of the Maker, while at the same time the fact that together with his comprehensive abilities, lodged in that fairest of forms, he soon declines and dies, demonstrates the existence of resurrection. Sometimes, if one looks at the same aspect in two different ways, one sees that it demonstrates the existence both of the Maker and of resurrection. For example, if one looks at the wise ordering, the just balance, the gracious adornment and the merciful favour inherent in most things, they are seen to demonstrate that they proceed from the powerful hand of a Wise, Generous, Just and Merciful Maker. So too, if one looks at the brief and insignificant life of the transient beings that are the manifestations of these qualities, despite their power and infinitude, the hereafter appears before one. In other words, all things silently recite and cause others to recite "I believe in God and the Last Day

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4. The Gate of Humanity, and

   the Manifestation of the Name of Truth

   Is it at all possible that God Almighty, He Who is worshipped by right, should create man within creation as the most significant of all of His servants with respect to His absolute Dominicality and with respect to His universal Dominicality in all of His realms; that He should make him the most thoughtful recipient of His glorious address, the most comprehensive mirror to the manifestation of His Names; that He should create him as the most beautiful miracle of His power in the fairest of forms, in order to receive the manifestation of the Greatest Name, as well as that quality of the Greatest Name inherent in the other Names, in order for him to assess and perceive the contents of His treasuries of mercy; that He should make him an investigator of secrets equipped more than any other creature with balances and instruments; and He should make him the most needy of all creatures with respect to His infinite gifts, the one suffering most from annihilation and the one most desirous of immortality; that He should make him the most delicate, the poorest and neediest of animals, most wretched and subject to pain in his worldly life but most sublime in disposition, in the highest of forms and characters – is it possible that God Almighty should do all this with man and not send him to the Eternal Realm for which he is suited and fitted and for which he is longing? Is it possible that He should thus negate the whole essence of humanity, act in a manner totally contrary to His own veracity, and perform an act of injustice that the eye of truth must deem ugly?

   Again, is it at all possible that He Who rules justly, Whose Mercy is absolute, should bestow on man such a disposition that he took up the Supreme Trust, from which the heavens and mountains both shrank, in order to measure and know, with his slight and petty measures and crafts, the all encompassing attributes, the universal workings, and the infinite manifestations of the Creator; that He should create him as the most delicate, vulnerable, weak and powerless of beings, while yet entrusting him with the regulation of all the vegetal and animal life upon earth, and causing him to intervene in their modes of worship and glorification of God; that He should cause him to be a representation in miniature of His cosmic processes; that He should cause him to proclaim His glorious Dominicality to all beings, in word and deed; that He should prefer him to the angels and give him the rank of vicegerent – is it at all possible that God should bestow all of this on man and not give him eternal bliss, the purpose, result and fruit of all of these duties? That He should cast him down to low degree, as the most wretched, illfortuned, humiliated and suffering of all His creatures; or that He should make of intelligence, a gift from His own wisdom and a most blessed and luminous tool for the attainment of happiness, an inauspicious and somber tool of torment for that wretch, thus acting in total contradiction to His absolute wisdom and in opposition to His absolute mercy? No, it is by no means possible!

   In short: Just as we saw by looking at the identity papers of an officer in our comparison that his rank, duty, wage, instructions and equipment prove that he exists not for the sake of some temporary battlefield, but rather that he is proceeding to some permanent kingdom, for the sake of which he is exerting himself – so too those to whom truth and certainty have been unveiled are unanimously agreed that the subtleties inscribed in the book of man's heart, the senses written down in the notebook of his intellect, the equipment contained in his essential character, are all turned towards Eternal Bliss; they have been given to man and fashioned in accordance with this ultimate goal.

   For example, if one servant and illustrator of the intellect called "the imaginative power," is told that "you can have a million years of life and rule over the world, but in the end you shall become nothing," it will react with sorrow instead of pleasure, unless deceived by vain fancy and the interference of the soul. The greatest of transient things cannot, then, satisfy the smallest faculty of man.

   It is, then, this disposition of man – his desires extending to eternity, his thoughts that embrace all of creation and his wishes that embrace the different varieties of eternal bliss – that demonstrates he has been created for eternity and will indeed proceed to eternity. This world is like a hospice for him, a waiting room for the hereafter.

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5. Is it at all possible that infinite generosity and liberality, inexhaustible riches, unending treasures, peerless and eternal beauty, flawless and everlasting perfection, should not require the existence of grateful supplicants, yearning spectators and astounded onlookers, all destined to stay an eternity in an abode of bliss, a place of repose? Yes, adorning the face of the world with all these objects of beauty, creating the moon and the sun as its lamps, filling the surface of the earth with the finest varieties of sustenance and thus making it a banquet of bounty, making fruit-trees into so many dishes, and renewing them several times each season – all this shows the existence of infinite generosity and liberality. Such unending liberality and generosity, such inexhaustible treasures of mercy, require the existence of an abode of repose, a place of bliss, that shall be everlasting and contain all desirable objects within it. They also require that those who enjoy such bliss should remain in that abode of repose eternally, without suffering the pain of cessation and separation. For just as the cessation of pain is a form of pleasure, so too the cessation of pleasure is a form of pain, one that such infinite generosity is unwilling to countenance. It requires, then, the existence both of an eternal paradise and of supplicants to abide in it eternally.

   Infinite generosity and liberality desire to bestow infinite bounty and infinite kindness. The bestowal of infinite bounty and infinite kindness require in turn infinite gratitude. This necessitates the perpetual existence of those who receive all the kindness so that they can demonstrate their thanks and gratitude for that perpetual bestowal and constant bounty. A petty enjoyment, made bitter by cessation, and lasting for only a brief time, is not compatible with the requirements of generosity and liberality.

   Look too at the different regions of the world, each like an exhibition where God's crafts are displayed. Pay attention to the Dominical proclamations in the hands of all the plants and animals on the face of the earth10 and listen to the prophets and the saints, the heralds of the beauties of Dominicality. They unanimously display the flawless perfections of the Glorious Maker by demonstrating His miraculous arts, and thus invite the gazes of men.

   The Maker of this world has, then, most important, astounding and secret perfections. It is these He wishes to display by means of His miraculous arts. For secret, flawless perfection wishes to be manifested to those who will appreciate, admire and wonderingly gaze at it. Eternal perfection requires eternal manifestation. Such eternal manifestation in turn requires the perpetual existence of those who are to appreciate and admire it. The value of perfection will always sink in the view of its admirer if he is devoid of perpetual existence.11 Again, the beauteous, artistic, brilliant and adorned creatures that cover the face of the globe, bear witness to the fairness of a peerless, transcendent beauty, and indicate the subtle charms of an unparalleled, hidden pulchritude, just as sunlight bears witness to the sun.12 Each manifestation of that sacred, transcendent beauty, indicates the existence of countless hidden treasures in each of God's Names. Now so exalted, peerless and hidden a beauty, just as it desires to view its own fairness in a mirror and to behold the degrees and measures of its beauty in an animate reflection, desires also to become manifest, in order to look on its own beauty through the eyes of others. That is, it wishes to look at its own beauty in two ways; firstly, by beholding itself in mirrors of variegated colour; secondly, through the gaze of yearning witnesses to itself, of bewildered admirers of its beauty.

   In short, beauty and fairness desire to see and be seen. Both of these require the existence of yearning witnesses and bewildered admirers. And since beauty and fairness are eternal and everlasting, their witnesses and admirers must have perpetual life. An eternal beauty can never be satisfied with transient admirers. An admirer condemned to irreversible separation will find his love turning to enmity once he conceives of separation. His admiration will yield to ridicule, his respect to contempt. For just as obstinate man is an enemy to what is unknown to him, so too he is opposed to all that lies beyond his reach, and love that is not infinite will respond to a beauty that deserves unending admiration with implicit enmity, hatred and rejection. From this we understand the profound reason for the unbeliever's enmity to God.

   So endless generosity and liberality, peerless fairness and beauty, flawless perfection – all these require the existence of eternally grateful and longing supplicants and admirers. But we see in this hospice of the world that everyone quickly leaves and vanishes, having had only a taste of that generosity, enough to whet his appetite but not to satiate him, and having seen only a dim light coming from the perfection, or rather a faint shadow of its light, without in any way being fully satisfied. It follows, then, that men are going toward a place of eternal joy where all will be bestowed on them in full measure.

   In short, just as this world, with all its creatures, decisively demonstrates the existence of the Glorious Maker, so too do His sacred attributes and Names indicate, show and logically require, the existence of the hereafter.

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6. The Gate of Wisdom and Justice,

   the Manifestation of the Names of Wise and Just

   Is it at all possible9 that the Lord of Glory, Who demonstrates His Dominical sovereignty in the wisdom and order, the justice and equilibrium that pervade all things, from the atom to the sun, should not bestow favour on those believers who seek refuge beneath the protective wing of His Dominicality, who believe in His Wisdom and Justice, and whose acts are for the purpose of worshipping Him?

   Again, is it possible that He should not chastise those rude and discourteous men who disbelieve in His wisdom and justice, and rebel against Him in insolence? Now not even a thousandth part of that wisdom and justice is exercised with respect to man, in this transient world; it is rather deferred. Most of the people of misguidance leave this world unpunished, and most of the people of guidance leave it unrewarded. All things are, then, postponed for a supreme tribunal, an ultimate bliss.

   Yes, it is apparent that the Being Who controls this world does so in accordance with an infinite wisdom. Do you require a proof? It is the preservation of interest and benefit in all things. Do you not see that numerous wise benefits are intended in all the limbs, bones and veins of man, even in the cells of his brain and in every particle of his body? Do you not see that from certain limbs wise benefits are to be had as numerous as the fruits of a tree? All of this shows that matters are done in accordance with infinite wisdom. The existence of the utmost regularity in the making of all things is a proof of the same truth.

   The compression of the exact programme of development of a beautiful flower into a minute seed, the inscription on a small seed by the pen of destiny of the scroll of deeds of a tree, its life-history and list of equipment, show that a pen of utmost wisdom is at work.

   The existence of a high degree of fine artistry in all things proves that there exists also the impress of an infinitely Wise Maker. Further, the inclusion within the minute body of man of an index of all being, of the keys to all the treasuries of mercy, and of the mirrors of all the Divine Names, demonstrates the existence of wisdom within that infinitely fine artistry. Now is it at all possible that the wisdom that thus permeates the workings of Dominicality should not wish eternally to favour those who seek refuge beneath the wing of Dominicality and who offer obedience in faith?

   Do you wish for a proof that all things are done with justice and balance? The fact that all things are endowed with being, given shape and put in their appropriate place in accordance with precise equilibrium and in appropriate measure, shows that all matters are done in accordance with infinite justice and balance.

   Similarly, the fact that all things are given their rights in accordance with their disposition, that they receive all the necessities of their being and all the requirements of life in the most fitting form – this too is the sign left by a hand of infinite justice.

   Again, the fact that answer is always given to every petition and request made by the tongue of disposition, and of natural need or necessity, demonstrates the existence of infinite justice and wisdom.

   Now is it at all possible that the justice and wisdom that hasten to relieve the pettiest need of the smallest of creation should fail to provide immortality, the greatest need of man, the greatest of creatures? That it should fail to respond to his greatest plea and cry for assistance? Or that it should not preserve the dignity of God's Dominicality by preserving the rights of His servants? Man, whose life is so brief, cannot experience the true essence of justice in this transient world; it is for this reason that matters are postponed for a supreme tribunal. For true justice requires that man, this apparently petty creature, should be rewarded and punished, not in accordance with his pettiness, but in accordance with the magnitude of his crime, the importance of his nature and the greatness of his function. Since this passing and transient world is far from manifesting such wisdom and justice for man, who is created for eternity, of necessity there will be an eternal Hell and everlasting Paradise of that Just and Awesome Possessor of Beauty, that Wise and Beauteous Possessor of Awe.

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7. The Gate of Generosity and Mercy,

   the Manifestation of the Names of Generous and Merciful

   Is it at all possible that the Lord of this world, Who in His works demonstrates infinite generosity, infinite mercy, infinite splendour and infinite glory, should not give reward in a manner befitting His generosity and mercy, and not punish in a manner befitting His splendour and glory? If one looks at the disposition of affairs in this world, one sees that all animate beings – from the weakest and most powerless to the most powerful – are given some fitting form of sustenance.7 Indeed, the weakest and most powerless are given the best form of sustenance. This largesse and bounty is distributed with such lofty generosity that a hand of infinite generosity is manifestly at work.

   For example, in the spring, all the trees are garbed in clothes as fine as silk, just like the Houris in Paradise; they are encrusted with flowers and fruits, as if with jewels, and caused to offer us numerous varieties of the choicest fruits, on branches delicately outstretched like the hands of a servant. Similarly, we are given wholesome and sweet honey to eat, from the hand of the bee with its sting; we are clothed in the finest and softest of clothes by means of an insect that has no hands; and within a small seed a great treasure of mercy is preserved for us. It is self-evident that all of this is the effect of a most beauteous generosity, a most delicate sense of mercy.

   Then, too, the fact that, with the exception of man and certain wild animals, all things, from the sun, the moon and earth to the smallest of creatures, perform their functions with the utmost exactitude, do not overstep their bounds by an inch, and observe a universal obedience in a spirit of great awe – this shows that they act by the command of a Possessor of great glory and dignity. It is also apparent that the fashion in which all mothers, in the vegetable, animal and human realms, succour their weak and powerless infants with the delicate nurture of milk, in tender compassion, is a manifestation of God's all-embracing mercy.8

   Since the master of this world has, then, such infinite generosity, mercy, splendour and glory, it follows that His infinite glory and splendour require the chastisement of the discourteous; that His infinite generosity requires infinite bounty, and His infinite mercy requires a bestowal of favour worthy of itself. Now in this transitory world and brief life, only a millionth part of all this, like one drop from the ocean, establishes and manifests itself. There must therefore be a realm of blessedness appropriate to that generosity and worthy of that mercy. One would otherwise have to deny the existence of the mercy that is visible to us, and this would be like denying the existence of the sun that fills every day with its light. For irrevocable death would transform compassion into disaster, love into affliction, blessing into vengeance, intellect into a tool of misery, and pleasure into pain, so that the very essence of God's mercy would vanish.

   There must in addition be a realm of punishment appropriate to God's glory and dignity. For generally the oppressor leaves this world while still in possession of his might, and the oppressed while still subjected to humiliation. These matters are therefore deferred for the attention of a supreme tribunal; it is not that they are neglected. It sometimes happens too that punishment is enacted in this world. The torments suffered by disobedient and rebellious peoples in previous centuries show that man is not left to his own devices, and that he is always subject to the blows that God's splendour and majesty may choose to inflict on him.

   Is it at all possible that man should have the most important duty in all of creation and be endowed with the most important capacities; that man's Sustainer should make Himself known to him with all His well-ordered works, and man should then fail to recognize Him in return by way of worship – or that God should make Himself beloved of men through the numerous adorned fruits of His mercy, and man should then fail to make himself beloved of God through worship – or that God should demonstrate His love and mercy to man through His variegated bounties and man should then fail to respect Him with thanks and with praise – is it at all possible that man should remain unpunished, left to his own devices, or that that powerful Possessor of splendour and glory should not make ready for him a realm of requital?

   Is it at all possible, on the other hand, that He should not prepare a realm of reward and eternal bliss for those believers who respond to the Merciful and Compassionate One's making Himself known by recognizing Him in faith; to His making Himself beloved by loving Him in worship; and to His mercy by offering thanks and veneration?

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8. Fifth Part

   of the Addendum

   The hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets, who are according to explicit prophetic tradition the choice part of humanity, have unanimously and with one accord reported, partly on the basis of direct vision and partly on the basis of absolute certainty, that the hereafter exists and that all beings will be taken to the hereafter as the Creator has firmly promised.

   Similarly, the one hundred and twenty-four million saints who confirm the reports of the prophets through unveiling and witnessing, give testimony to the existence of the hereafter in the form of certain knowledge, and also bear testimony to the existence of the hereafter. All the Names of the All-Wise Maker of the cosmos also necessitate the existence of an eternal realm through the manifestations they display in this world.

   The existence of the hereafter is furthermore necessitated by the infinite Eternal Power, the unlimited and exact Everlasting Wisdom, that revives every spring the countless dead trees scattered all over the earth with the command of 'Be!', and it is, thus making of them manifestations of "resurrection after death," and that resurrects three hundred thousand different species of the various groups of plant and nations of animals, as hundreds of thousands of specimens of the supreme resurrection.

   The existence of the hereafter is also necessitated by an Eternal Mercy and Permanent Grace that sustains in wondrous and solicitous fashion all animate beings that stand in need of nurture, and that display each spring, in the briefest of periods, infinite different varieties of adornment and beauty. Finally, there is the self-evident proof and indication given by the intense, unshakeable, and permanent love of eternity, yearning for immortality and hope of permanence that are lodged in man, the most beloved creation of the Maker of the cosmos, and whose concern with all the beings in the cosmos is the greatest.

   All of the foregoing so firmly prove that after this transient world there will be an eternal world, a hereafter, a realm of felicity, that we are compelled to accept the existence of a hereafter as indisputably as we accept the existence of this world.63

   One of the most important lessons taught us by the All-Wise Qur'an, is, then, belief in the hereafter. This belief is so firm and contains within itself so powerful a hope and a consolation that if a person be assailed by old age hundred thousandfold, the consolation derived from this belief will be fully enough. Saying, "Praise be to God for the perfection of belief," we old people should rejoice in old age.

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9. Happy Eid day from the depth of right & left ventricles,
   wrapped with the ribbons of purkinje fibers and sealed in pericardium.
   Decorated with SA and AV nodes with a glitter topping of pericardial fluid
   and cusps of mitral and tricuspid valves.
   In short EID MUBARAK 🙂

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