Judgement Day (4/5)

I looked back at Saleh; his face was glowing with joy. Gabriel, The Trustworthy continued his conversation:

“God is boundless. His abodes are countless. In your world, these abodes cannot even be imagined. Whatever knowledge you had on Earth was very little and limited. Now, after death, your eyes have truly opened. You can now see a world, whose enchantments know no bounds.”

What I was observing was a testament to the truthfulness of Archangel Gabriel. I thought to myself, it is a great blessing of God that I did not die in a state of disobedience and rejection of the ultimate truth about him. Otherwise, my eyes would still have re-opened after death but what they would have had to see an awful and horrifying scene.

Accompanied by Archangel Gabriel, we passed through various stages and approached the bearers of God’s Throne in the Empyrean *(Arsh). Here was a beautiful and subtle blend of Nur, colour and light, the description of which was beyond the realm of words. The heads of the bearers were bowed. Their faces displayed an air of fear as well as a light of serenity. Archangel Gabriel explained:

As I listened to Saleh, my face displayed expressions of astonishment

“Every command from the Court of the Almighty descends through these angels and every act of the creatures below is presented to the Almighty via them.”

I was watching them with envy in this unique place of closeness to God. They also looked up at me and for an instance, a smile appeared on their lips. This gave me more courage. I took a few steps towards the empyrean. Every pore of my body began to sing praise for the One, whom, I had yearned to meet my entire life.

I do not know why but I began to tremble as I walked forward. The realisation of God’s greatness overcame the intense desire of meeting him. At that instant, I felt so over whelmed by his grandeur that I started to retreat in fear. The Throne was still quite far but the realisation of the magnanimity of the Master of the Throne broke my will. I felt at that moment, that my being would breakdown into countless tiny fragments and disperse into the atmosphere. Perhaps, that is what would have happened, but at that instant, I heard the voice of Archangel Gabriel in my ears, saying:

“Bow down right here Abdullah! Only the noble prophets can go beyond this place.”

Saleh and I both prostrated right there. Thus, I prostrated to the One I had prostrated to all my life without being able to see him, but today, this was after seeing him. Well, I did not really see him; I only saw the signs of his presence.

I do not remember how long and delightful was this act of prostration. The One  who bestowed the Sun with a glittering sheet of light and the Moon with a cover of brightness, the One who provided fragrance to flowers and dressed the butterflies with colours, the One who gave sparkle to the stars and jingle to the blooms, the One who granted the skies their sublime crown and to the seas the dominion of vastness, the One who blessed the soil with fertility and adorned rivers with the beauty of flowing water, and the One who endowed man with the ability to communicate and the honour of receiving the revelation of the Qur’an… every moment spent in the feet of such a being was superior to any other honour. Even owning an empire comprised of the seven continents of the world could not have surpassed this experience. However, inevitably this moment had to end. I heard the delightful voice of the Bearers of the Throne chanting:

“‘Hu Allah hu, la Illaha illa Hu’, which meant, ‘He is God, there is no deity worthy of worship except him.”

This was in fact, an announcement that the Master of the Throne was about to speak. A voice proclaimed:

“I am God and there is no one worthy of worship but me.”

The effect of this magical voice was more delightful than any melody I had ever heard before; it left my body in a state of absolute attentiveness. All my strength suddenly became focused in my ears and my sense of hearing. I wanted to hear more, but there was a pause. I realised that I was expected to say something. The first sentence that came to my trembling lips was:

“Master! This is the only truth I came to recognise in my lifetime.”

My voice was so faint that even my own ears could barely hear it. However, it reached the One who knows all, whether hidden or obvious; the One who even knows the secrets embedded deep inside hearts. He replied:

“Not everyone who knows this fact is able to reach here... do you know this, Abdullah? How come you reached here?”

This time, the magnanimous tone in the expression of my Lord had a tinge of affection about it.

“The reason is Abdullah, that you dedicated your life to informing other people about me. You spent your life warning them about the day they will meet me. You made my remembrance, and work for my causes a mission of your life… this is the reward for it.”

At that moment, I just wanted to continue to listen to the words of the Master of the skies and the Earth; this felt like the most intense desire I had ever experienced in my life. However, once again, the King of the Worlds became silent. I sensed that my Master was giving me another opportunity to speak. I said:

“Can I stay near you, over here?”

My Lord replied, “no one is far from me Abdullah, neither am I far from anyone. All my obedient servants who lived their lives in my remembrance are close to me, regardless of whether they are men or women. Anything else...?”

(Continued)