The Twenty‑Third Letter
In His Name, be He glorified!
And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.
Peace be upon you, and Allah’s blessings and mercy for ever, to the number of the seconds of the minutes of your life and the particles of your body!
My Dear, Enterprising, Serious, True, Sincere, and Sagacious Brother!
For brothers of the hereafter and the truth like us, differences of time and place are no obstacle to their conversing and intimacy. Even if one is in the east, one in the west, one in the past, one in the future, one in this world, and one in the next, they still may be thought of as being together and may converse. Especially those who have undertaken the same duty to achieve the same goal; they are as though united. Every morning I imagine that you are here with me, and I make over a part, a third, of my spiritual gains to you. May Allah find them acceptable! In my prayers you are together with Abdülmecid and Abdurrahman. If Allah so wills, you always receive your share.
Your suffering difficulties in respect of worldly life saddened me a little, for your sake. But since this world is not eternal and good may come of disasters, it occurred to me to say on your behalf: “This too will pass.” I thought of the Hadith: True life is the life of the hereafter. I recited the verse: Allah is with those who patiently persevere. I said: To Allah do we belong, and to Him is our return. And I found consolation in place of you. If Allah the Most High loves one of His servants, He makes him feel disgust at the world and shows it to be ugly. If Allah so wills, you belong to that class of His loved ones.
Do not let the increased difficulties preventing the spreading of the Words upset you. If Allah so wills, when the amount you have distributed comes to manifest divine mercy, those light‑filled seeds will open a profusion of flowers.
You asked a number of questions. My dear brother! The majority of the Words and Letters that have been written occurred to my heart instantaneously without the exercise of will; and they turned out very well. If I reply to you relying on my will and strength of knowledge and thought like the Old Said, the answers will turn out dull and deficient. For some time now my heart has received no inspirations and the whip of my memory been broken; so I shall reply extremely briefly to each of them, so as not to leave you without an answer.