And in Allah is my trust and reliance.

And in Allah is my trust and reliance. The Path Of Knowledge And The Way To Paradise At the outset, it should be known that the sciences are absolutely divisible into two kinds. One of these is the worldly sciences, whose ultimate purpose is to achieve worldly aims. The other is the sciences of the Hereafter, whose ultimate purpose is attainment of malakuti stations and degrees and reaching the otherworldly stations.

Earlier it was pointed out that the distinction between these two kinds of sciences depends for the most part on the distinction between intentions and purposes (behind their pursuit), although they in themselves are divisible into the two kinds. From the viewpoint of appropriateness, the effects described in the noble tradition in relation to the pursuit of knowledge and the learned evidently correspond to the second type of knowledge, the knowledge of the Hereafter.

It was also mentioned earlier that all the sciences of the Hereafter are included in three categories. They either pertain to the knowledge of God and doctrines ( ma’arif ) , or to spiritual instruction and wayfaring towards God, or to the laws and precepts of servitude.

Now we say that the development ( ta’mir ) of life in the Hereafter depends on these three aspects, and hence there are three kinds of paradise: the Garden of Essence, which is the ultimate goal of the knowledge of Allah and the divine doctrinal truths; the Garden of attributes, which is the goal of self-purification and the disciplining of the soul; and thirdly, the Garden of acts, which is the (other-worldly) form of the observance of the duties of servitude as well as its result.

Moreover, these gardens are not in a developed state (at the beginning). Hence, the ground of the Garden of acts is a plain land, like the ground of the soul at the beginning. Their development is subject to the cultivation and flourishing of the soul.

Therefore, should the soul in its Hidden aspect be not developed by the means of the divine teachings and the Hidden attractions of the Essence ( jadhadt al-ghaybiyyeh-ye dhatiyyeh ) , man shall not attain to the Garden of the Essence and the Paradise of Tryst ( jannat al-liqa’ ) .

Should the inner self be unrefined and the soul be unadorned, should the will and determination be not strengthened and the heart not receive the radiance of the Names and the Attributes, man will not attain to the Garden of the Names and the Attributes, which is the middle paradise.