Can You Make a Concise Comparison Between the Worlds of Believers and Unbelievers?

 

The table depicting the true spirit of the world of the heedless.

Do not invite me to the world, I came, and found it evil and mortal.

Heedlessness was a veil; I saw the light of Truth concealed.

All things, the whole of creation, I saw were mortal and full of harm.

Existence, indeed I put it on. Alas! It was non-existence; I suffered much.

As to life, I experienced it; I saw it was torment within torment.

Intellect became pure retribution; I saw permanence to be tribulation.

Life was like a wind, it passed in whims; I saw perfection to be pure loss.

Deeds were only for show; I saw ambitions to be pure pain.

Union was in fact separation; I saw the cure to be the ailment.

These lights became darkness; I saw these friends to be orphans.

These voices were announcements of death; I saw the living to be dead.

Knowledge changed into whims; I saw in science thousands of ailments.

Pleasures became unmixed pain; I saw existence to be compounded non-existence.

I have found the True Beloved; Ah! I suffered much pain because of separation.

 

The table describing the true spirit of the world of the people of believers

Heedlessness has disappeared; I have seen the light of Truth to be manifest.

Existence is a proof of Divine Being. See, life is the mirror reflecting Truth.

Intellect has become the key to treasuries. See, mortality is the door to eternity.

The spark of self-attainment has died. But see, there is the Sun of Grace and Beauty.

Life has become pure action. See, eternity is pure life.

Darkness is a thin membrane enclosing light. See, there is true life in death.

All things have become familiar. See, all sounds are the recitation of Divine Names.

All the particles in creation: See, each recites God’s Names and glorifies Him.

I have found poverty to be a treasury of wealth. See in impotence lies perfect power.

If you have found God, see, all things are yours.

If you are a slave of the Owner of All Things, see His property is yours.

If you are egotist and claim self-ownership, it is endless trial and tribulation.

It is infinite torment you are to experience; it is an unbearable calamity.

If you are truly a slave of God, devoted to Him, see, it is an infinite delight.

Taste its uncountable rewards, experience its boundless bliss...

 

This article has been adapted from Risale- i Nur Collection.