192 Notice of the Ikhwiin al safd. [Aug. 



resigned, they receive the assistance of God and behold truth, (i. e. the 

 deity). This is the angelic condition of mind which is acquired after 

 fifty years of age, and which prepares man for departing from this life. 

 After this condition of mind follows the exstatic (death), the soul ascends 

 into the heavenly empire, and beholds the resurrection, judgment, and 

 the entering into paradise. To this allude the words of the Qoran 

 (89, 27.) " O thou soul which art at rest, return unto thy Lord, wel[ 

 pleased with thy reward and well pleasing unto God, enter among my 

 servants and enter my paradise." Again "place me among the heirs of 

 the delightful paradise !" Joseph alludes to it in his words (12, 102.) 

 " O Lord, thou hast given me a part of the kingdom, and hast taught 

 me the interpretation of dark sayings. The Creator of heaven and 

 earth ! thou art my protector in this world, and in that which is to 

 come : make me to die a Moslem and join me with the righteous." 

 Christ alludes to the same in his words to the apostles : " When I 

 have departed from this temple I shall stand in the air on the right 

 side of the throne before my father and your father, and I shall inter- 

 cede for you. Go to the kings in the different parts of the earth and 

 call them to God, and be not afraid of them, for I am with you, where- 

 ever you may go with help and assistance." Muhammad alludes to 

 the same in his words " you will meet me (on the day of judgment) on 

 the tank." These traditions are well known among traditionists. 

 Socrates alluded to the same fact on the day on which he had to drink 

 the poison, he said, " I separate from you, but I go to honoured bro- 

 thers who have preceded me, &c." Pythagoras says in the same sense 

 towards the end of his golden verses. " If you do what I have ordered 

 you will reside in the air." Moluhar (?) says in the same sense, " The 

 king asked to his Wazyr, who holds this theory ? He answered, " those 

 who know the empire of heaven," &c. We call the attention of all our 

 brothers to this subject, God leads whomsoever he choses on theright path. 

 Many verses of the Qoran are in this sense, viz. all the verses in which 

 paradise, its tenants and pleasures are described. The conditions for those 

 who aspire to eternal happiness are four : — first, to profess the truth of 

 it ; secondly, to meditate on this subject illustrating it by similes and in 

 other ways ; thirdly, a firm faith thereon ; fourthly, by actions which 

 correspond with this belief. A man who believes in it without meditating 

 believes blindly, and he who reflects on it without firm faith is a sceptic 5 



