and give thanks to Him. To Him you will be returned.”

Allah Most High also says:

“If Allah helps you, none can overcome you; but if He forsakes you, who can help you after Him? So let the believers put their trust in Allah.”

And He says:

“Do not lose heart or grieve, for you will have the upper hand if you are believers.”

This is a vast subject about which I have written extensively, and which I have come to know through knowledge, inward experience, and practical experience.

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In short, the blessings Allah has bestowed upon me while I am in this place are greater in worth and more numerous than any account can convey. What I miss most is my companions. I wish for them to attain such pleasure, joy, and bliss as will delight their eyes, and to have such opportunities opened to them for knowing Allah, obeying Him, and striving in His cause that they may reach the highest ranks.

I make the value of this known to most people, though it can only be truly known through direct experience and inward feeling. Yet every believer has some share of it, and from the little he experiences he can infer the abundance beyond it, even if he cannot appreciate its immense worth.

I know the conditions of people, their various kinds, and their pleasures. Yet how can pearls compare with dung? How can fālūdhaj (a sweet confection) compare with syrup? How can angels compare with a beast—or beasts? But I know that the wisdom of