Ghazzali's Alchemy of Happiness. 



117 



if there is any trace of the love of God remaining in their 

 hearts, and when they are about to leave the world, they 

 forget it and never more yearn towards it. In that case 

 they also are saved from the tribulations of the grave. A 

 picture of this class is found in the person who also has a 

 house in each of two cities, and as long as he is living in 

 the one, he has no longings for the other. But at last 

 some necessity compels him to quit his first house, and to 

 go and reside in the second. After a few days residence, 

 the love he had for the first house dies away from his heart 

 and it appears better to him not to return thither. This 

 class suffer torment in the grave up to the point where they 

 forget the world, but after familiarizing themselves with 

 the mansions of the future world, they are freed from their 

 pain. Those, however, whose hearts were immersed in the 

 pleasures and cares of the world, and whose hearts bore no 

 trace of the love of God, or of thoughtfulness for the future 

 world, and who preferred this world to the other, will 

 never be delivered from torment. 



There is not a person in the world who will admit that 

 he does not love God, or but that will pretend that he does 

 love God. But this pretention can be brought to a touch- 

 stone and standard and found out by experiment. Just 

 look at his actions and 'conduct, and see whether he will 

 do a thing which has the holy approbation of God, or 

 whether he will abstain from doing a thing which has not 

 the divine approbation, notwithstanding the strong oppos- 

 ing inclinations of his soul, and thus show his reverence 

 for the Holy Law. If he does thus oppose the desires of 

 his soul, he is correct when he affirms, " I love God." But 

 if he is following the inclinations of his soul, and is only 

 saying with his tongue that he loves God, his declaration 

 is a lie. When a person in this state of mind utters the 

 confession, " There is no God but God," a voice from God 

 addresses him saying, "You are a liar, for your actions 



