Journey of the Unseen World
(Siyahat-e Sharq)

Ayatullah Sayyed Mohammad Hassan Najafi Quchani
Translated by: Ghulam Hussain

Chapter 7
The Station of Bliss and Peace

We spent the night here, and resumed our journey in the morning. Haadi had already informed me that by evening we would be cut of the land of Desire but then we would have to face the punishments due to the sins of the Tongue. The previous punishments were due to indulgence in immoral sexual pleasures and these would be due to the sins of the tongue, but these would be as harsh as those. He had. said that there would be no provision of water or food and so it would be advisable to carry some water on the horse and I should myself travel on toot. He also told me to carry my shield as it would prove very useful.

I asked, "What is this shield made of?" He replied, "This is the result of your fasts. You fasted and remained hungry and thirsty to please God and these lasts prevented you not only from immoral sexual indulgence but in fact from disobedience of all kinds. "Fasting is a shield to protect from the Fire of Hell."'

We had only just started when Darky appeared. I said, "Be gone, O cursed being?"" He said, "Why don't you yourself move away from me, instead?" So, I moved a few steps away and continued my journey with Haadi, but Darky remained alongside on the left.

On both sides various animals were visible, e.g. dogs, wolves, monkeys, rats. snakes, scorpions, sheeps etc., all of different colours. They were fighting, amongst themselves, attacking, and tearing away at each other, whenever they got the chance. Flames emerged from the ears and mouths of some of them. Sometimes they would see a mirage and would go there in hopes of finding water, but finding it dry would return dejected. Some were eating the dead carcasses of others. Some would fall in dark and deep wells and as they would 1a111 huge flames would emerge.

I asked Haadi, "Who are these wells for?" "They are meant for people who laugh at other faithful and make fun of them, whether through words, flints, gestures. making faces, eye-movements etc. This is their destination, As God has said, Hell is for the fault finders and insulters," As for those who are eating carcasses, they were the back-biters, And the ones with flaming ears, they used to listen to others backbiting. And these dogs. wolves and cats lighting each other used to curse, blame and insult each other. And those with yellow faces and two tongues were the fault-finder, liars and complainers.

Here the air was extremely hot, I kept asking Haadi for water Sometimes he would give me a little, and sometimes none. He kept saying that the journey was lengthy and our store of water meagre, which we would have to make last until the end."

(Hazrat All: "How lengthy is the journey (at the Here tatter) and how meagre our store of provisions (that is, good deeds which would help there.)

I asked him why he had taken so little to start with, and he replied, "You did not make yourself capable of taking more. I asked, "Why did the capability decrease ?"

He said, "You are yourself to blame, because you did not drink much of piety then, and so your capacity cannot increase now. The more watchful and pious you had been on earth, the more water you would have had now. Nothing can be done about it now, Haven't you read the opening verse of 'Soora-e-Mominoon', "Certainly the faithful have succeeded, who used to be fearful in their prayers and abstained from meaningless pastimes?" You neither abstained from such pastimes nor were you fearful in your prayers. Obviously you will now reap what you had sown.

"Whoever has done a grain of good shall see it and, whoever has done a grain of evil shall see it." Then he pointed in a certain direction and asked me what I could see there. Itseemed like white and black and flames all mixed together.

But when I looked carefully it was a green garden, with dense trees, full of fruits. Suddenly I realised that they were burning. Shocked, I turned to Haadi and asked, "What is happening there?" He replied that the garden had been made from the praise and remembrance of God by the faithful, but when these faithful lied or indulged in backbiting, or insulting, the garden went up in flames. That is, their. sins caused the reward of their good deeds to go waste. Had their faith been strong enough, they would have given more thought and importance to the gardens they had prepared and would not have allowed them to bum by indulging in such acts.

(The Holy Prophet once told his companions that whoever says "La ilaha illalah (there is no God but Allah) once, the angels prepare a tree for him in Heaven. They remarked, 'In that case, by now we must be having a garden each'. He replied, 'Yes, but on the condition that you abstain from sins, like conceit because it destroys the trees.')

When their owners reach here and realise what has happened, they wilt be extremely sorry, but sorrow would now be useless, That is why all the Prophets had continuously warned about the effects of good and bad deeds. as these cannot be seen whilst on earth. In the beginning only of the Quran, God linked piety to faith in the unseen: "This is guidance for the pious, those who have faith in the unseen and who stand firm their prayers.'

When we reached near these burnt gardens suddenly I felt a cool breeze which blew away the, ashes. In a little while, the garden was once more green, with lush trees laden with fruits, chirping birds and cool lakes. On earth, the faithful must have either repented for past sins or had sent fresh deeds. I Thought that if the earthlings were aware of what I had lust seen, they would die with sorrow at having ever allowed their gardens to burn. Haadi informed me that this was the first land or the Valley of Peace and here there was peace or all sides. He said, Rest your stick and your shield on the saddle and let the mount graze in the field so that he too may be rested by the time we are ready to leave."

Haadi then said that we could take a break from our journey and stay in that place for ten days in order that I might recover after the tiring travel, and regain strength which would be required in the forthcoming leg as there we would have to lace many thieves, highwaymen and pirates and, as I did not have the required strength to face them he suggested that I should visit my old home once more the coming Friday to check if my family had sent me any gifts which could prove useful.

I said, "Haadi, you yourself told me that we had arrived in the Valley of Peace. Now you expect me to believe that there are robbers and pirates in this valley? I feel that you are merely trying to dissuade me. I certainly did not expect this from you." So saying. I started crying.

Haadi said, "My friend, do not distrust me. You are not aware how dark and narrow the coming route is. Our route in the Valley of Peace lies adjacent to the Valley of Punishment where all sorts of punishments are being meted out. The slightest slip will mean a fall into that valley where even I would be unable to help you. And you are aware that Darky is constantly trying to mislead you. If you don't spend the next ten days here to recover, you might well have to spend two months in the Valley at Punishment."

I said. "Do you mean to say that I have to face the stage of the Bridge (Pul-e-Sirat) now?! This I cannot believe."

He said, "I have already told you that whatever is happening here is the similitude of the events to take place on the Day of Judgement. Consider this route to be the image of that Bridge. These stages have to be crossed and it will be good to provide for them in good time.

Anyhow, Friday night I went home once again. There I saw that my wife had married again and was busy trying to make her new husband happy. My children had separated and gone their different ways and were running individual and separate businesses. Dejected and forlorn I sat on a branch near my house. I could see that people were deeply engrossed in their worldly affairs. I thought, if only they would think of their own Hereafter even if for a moment. But no, they were busy planning their future, and their children's future. I recalled the Holy prophets tradition: "I the last ages, wives will prove to be the undoing of men: and when not wives, then children and relatives".

I was deep in such thoughts when suddenly my eyes fell on a room in my house. My sons and their wives had gathered and were sitting with their children talking with each other and eating some fruits. One of them said to the other, "The tree which bore this Fruit had been sown by our late lather. Now he is lying in a grave under mounds of Earth and we are eating its fruit." The other son replied, "How wrong you are! He must be eating tastier fruits in Heaven."

The first one said, "Yes, you are right. He used to love me a lot. To please me and make me happy. he often used to buy me gifts. May God bless him."

May God bless him . He used to buy gifts for me too. He would buy books and pens when ever I required. To be sure, he was a religious man and it was his wish that we too would become religious, me and make me happy, he often used to buy me gifts.

"He used to buy gifts for me 100. He would buy books and pens whenever I required. To be sure. he was a Religious man and ft was his wish that we too would become Religious" said the other.

They spoke well of me for sometime, then one remarked that as it was Thursday night, it would be good to recite Quran for me. One at them started reciting Soora Dukhan and the other Soora Dahr for me. I cannot describe how happy this made me. I prayed for their well being and returned to my current abode.

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