Ghazzali's Alchemy of Happiness. 



113 



things may be revealed to him which are revealed to oth- 

 ers alter death. It is sometimes permitted, after he returns 

 from that state to the sensible world, that all he has seen 

 should remain in his memory, or that if he does not remem- 

 ber it, traces of it should remain in his mind. If he saw 

 hell, he will retain traces of despondency, sadness, heavi- 

 ness of spirit, suspicion and melancholy. If in the trea- 

 sury of his imagination he has preserved these traces, it is 

 lawful for him to communicate them to others. . . . 



The torments of the grave, seeker after the divine 

 mysteries, are of two kinds: one kind is spiritual and the 

 other is material torment, and they have been repeatedly 

 explained. 



The spiritual torment cannot be understood, until a per- 

 son is acquainted with his own soul and spirit. His soul 

 exists in its own individuality : it is not dependent upon 

 form or mould : it has neither hand or foot, nor eye or ear. 

 The external senses which it possessed were dependent 

 on the body, and remain inactive and useless after death, 

 and all the enjoyments resulting from them become en- 

 tirely null. Wife, children, friends, property, slaves and 

 domestics, equipage, cattle, estates and fields were form- 

 erly sources of enjoyment to it. And if he were a lover of, 

 and a seeker after these things, so that he had been always oc- 

 cupied with them, the torment of separation from them will 

 make a deep impression upon his soul, and he will be most 

 certainly the subject of sorrow and lamentation. But if his 

 heart was untrammeled by these delights, and was inclined 

 towards the future world and was always awaiting death, 

 if the enjoyments of the world were distasteful to him, 

 while he was always occupied with the wants of the soul, 

 which are to find out God — then, in the event of death, 

 he will have attained his longing and his love, and have 

 reached rest, joy and happiness. 



Trans, viii.'] 15 



