In life...

In life, man goes around and around without stopping, as if hallucinating, but when he comes to the tawf (wall) he stops. Most of the Arabic words that sound similar but have different roots have a semantic relationship. Those who are at a loss in this world have denied the Rahman in the next world. They are in the same situation in both worlds. They move from the frying pan into the fire. Man moves from one job to another that is even worse.

He leaves one wife and enters into an even worse relationship. He does not realize it is Allah's love hitting him, urging him to stop. This life is but a short prelude to the next life. 46 And for he who fears standing before his Lord are two gardens. 47 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny? 48 Having in them various kinds. 49 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?

"And for he who fears standing before his Lord," who recognized the Lordship, who recognized that there is One entity in charge, who feared transgressing His laws and was completely in His hands, for him there are two gardens. One of them is the garden of arwah, the garden of the spirits - it is the garden of eternal bliss. The other is the garden of hearts, the garden of mushahada, eternal witnessing. These are two inner gardens.

There are many other examples of pairs of gardens: the garden of experiencing and the garden of recog­nition; the garden of wakefulness and the garden of sleep; the garden of the mashriq (east) and the garden of the maghrib (west); the gardens of the beginning and of the end. 50 In both of them are two fountains flowing. 51 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny? In the garden, there are two fountains and there are two springs that flow.

They are nourished in an invisible way, just as man's heart is also nourished. Man does not know how love is fed. When people gather together to bury someone who was loved by them, how is it that the', dead may revive the love in living hearts? It is a hidden spring, a hidden river. It reminds people of Allah, the Taker and the Giver of life. Death reminds man of his end so that he becomes less fossilized, arrogant and hard-hearted. 52 In both of them are pairs of every fruit.

53 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny? 54 Reclining on beds, the inner coverings of which are of silk brocade; and the fruits of the two gardens are within reach. 55 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny? How can man deny the bounties of Allah?