۞

« weeping intensified, he was asked, ‘What makes you weep?’ He replied, ‘How can I not weep when it is a matter of an hour and then I do not know where I will be taken.’ [56:88] Thus if he be of those brought near, By which is meant the prophets, the martyrs and the virtuous (ṣāliḥūn), of whom some are superior in rank to others. Their stations in nearness [to God] are according to the degree of proximity of their hearts to the gnosis (maʿrifa) of God, Exalted is He. [56:89] then repose and a goodly provision and a garden of bliss, in Paradise. Abū al-ʿĀliya said regarding this verse, ‘Not one of these men would leave this »