A poor man died in a state of sin, and as he was being carried to his grave, a devout man who was passing by stood aside, saying that one ought not to pray for this man; but the following night he saw this unfortunate man in a dream in heaven, his face as radiant as the sun. In his astonishment he said to him: “My child, how have you obtained so exalted a place, you who have always lived in sin and are stained from head to foot?” He replied: “It was because of your lack of compassion for me that God showed mercy to me, whose conduct was so disorderly.” Behold the wisdom of God in the play of His love for men. He withholds or grants His mercy. In His wisdom, for example, He sends, on a night as black as a raven, a child with a lamp; then He sends a swift wind and says to it: “Rise and go extinguish that lamp.” Then He takes this child upon the road, and asks him why he extinguished the lamp. If He thus reproves this child, it is so that, on the Day of Reckoning, He may address him only with kindly reproaches.
If all men were assiduous in prayer, God would have no need to employ, in His wisdom, the play of love. Only in this manner will the unfolding of His wisdom be complete, and thus it has ever taken place. On His path there are thousands of wisdoms, of which but one small portion is an ocean of mercy. Night and day, O my child! the seven celestial spheres are employed for thee. The obedience of the celestial spirits to God takes place for thy sake. Heaven and hell are the reflection, the one of thy goodness, the other of thy wickedness. The angels have all adored thee. The part and the whole have been lost in thy essence. Look not, therefore, upon thyself with contempt, for nothing is above it. Thy body is the part of the whole, and thy soul is the whole entire. Do not, therefore, abase thyself in thine own eyes. By knowing thy whole, thy part is revealed unto thee. When thy soul hath shown itself, thy members also came forth. The body is not distinct from the soul; it is a part thereof, and the soul is not distinct from the whole; it is a part thereof. On this single path there is no number; therefore one must never speak therein of a portion or of a whole. Above thee are thousands of clouds pouring down the rain of mercy to increase thy desire. For thy sake the time comes when the rose unfolds the beauty of its garment. Whatever the angels have done, they have done for thee, as it is said in the Koran. The Creator will indeed lavish upon thee all their services, as an eternal
Abbâçah says that on the Day of Resurrection, when creatures flee in terror, the faces of the rebels and cowards will in an instant be blackened by the effect of their sins. Men who are devoid of good works will remain astonished and at the same time agitated in various ways. God, out of sheer benevolence, demanded a hundred thousand years of obedience from the angels, from the earth up to the nine heavens, and then applied it to the handful of earth from which humanity was made. A cry then rose from the angels, who said to God: “Why do these creatures obstruct our path?” But God said to them: “O celestial beings! Since I derive from you neither advantage nor harm, what I desire shall at least be accomplished by earthly beings; for bread must be given to the hungry.”