Aslam

At this time the questioner began to entertain doubt and the reply did not give him satisfaction. He said : I have passed many stages and everyone attributed responsibility on others artd everyone gave satisfactory answer, but you say : The pen writes on me. The pen is a reed only, tablet is a plank only and light is but a fleak of fire. I heard in this stage light> writing, pert etc. But I don't see them. It is a wohder to me that I hear their sound, but do not see them. Then knowledge said to him :
If what yotl say is true, the reason is that your provision is little and your conveyance is weak. Know that there are injurious things in the path which you wish to tread. It is better to leave the way. What has been created for a man has been made easy for hirrt. KhoW that there are three hurdles in this path-material world, spiritual or unseen world and world of power and strength. Paper, ink, pen and hand appertain to this material world. The spiritual world will come after me. When you will go there in advance of me, you will reach that world.
The third is a world of strength lying between this material and spiritual world. You have crossed three stages of this wbrld-strength, will and knowledge. This World is intermediary or means between the material and the spiritual world. The material world is easier for the path and the spiritual world is more difficult. He who walks upon the ground walks upon the material world. He who takes a boat and embarks upon it, errtbafks Upon the World of strength. He who walks Upon water without the help of a boat or any conveyance walks in the spiritual World. If the belief of certainty enters your mind, you

. Vol-IV THE BOOK OF CONSTRUCTIVE VIRTUES 203

enter upon that stage as the Prophet said : Had his sure faith increased more, he would have sojourned in the air. Once a man asked Jesus Christ : Did Jesus Christ walk upon water ?
the Prophet replied to the above effect.

He (who treads the path of religion) asked again : I am tired of this affair, I fear the path you showed me. I know not whether I can cross it, Is there any sign of it ? Knowledge said : It has got its sign.
Open your eye and confine your eye sight towards me. If at this, the matter of pen is made clear to you wherewith the tablet on the heart is written, you will be fit for the path. He who knocks at the door of the spiritual world after crossing the world of Zabarut or strength, will find the affairs of the pen. Don't you see that the affairs of the pen were disclosed to the Prophet in his early stage ? God revealed for the first time : read and your Lord is the Almighty, who taught with the pen, Who taught what man knew not — 68 : 1.