Hence the difference between the felicitous and the wretched...

Hence the difference between the felicitous and the wretched, the fat and the lean, comes into existence in corporeal life ( hayat al-mulki ) , and the purpose of the creation of life is the distinction and examination of the souls. Thus the relation of trial and creation becomes clear. As to the creation of death, it has also a role in these distinctions, or rather it is the last link in the causative process (of the emergence of distinctions in the realm of actuality).

For the criterion in the realm of actuality is the ultimate forms with which man makes the migration (from mulk to malakut ) ; also, the criterion in the distinctions is the otherworldly malakuti forms that are acquired through the substantial and voluntary movements of the corporeal world. This also makes clear the relation of testing and trial to…