heard about. As one of the shaykhs said:

“I once experienced a state in which I said: ‘If the people of Paradise experience a state like this in Paradise, they truly enjoy a pleasant life.’”

Another said:

“There are times when the heart dances with joy.”

Another said:

“Those who spend their nights in worship find greater delight in their nights than people of amusement find in their amusements.”

People stand at three degrees regarding what they have been told about the Hereafter:

The first is knowing of these things through what the messengers have told them and the evidence establishing their existence.

The second is when they see for themselves the reward and punishment, Paradise and Hell, that they were promised.

The third is when they experience these things directly: the people of Paradise enter Paradise and taste what they were promised, and the people of Hell enter Hell and taste what they were promised. Thus, people stand at these three degrees regarding both what is experienced within the heart and what exists outside it.

The same applies to worldly matters. Someone who knows of passionate love or sexual intercourse by report, without having witnessed or tasted it, has knowledge of it. If he witnesses it without tasting it, he has firsthand observation of it. If he tastes it himself, he has personal experience of it. Anyone who has not tasted something does not know its true nature, for