Annual Address 27th Jan 1990

It was said to Adam, you, and your spouse, reside in Paradise and, eat and drink with delight as and from wherever you may desire.

(Arabic text) As and from where ye may desire...In this verse thing to be considered is, Allah created Paradise and ordered Adam and his spouse to reside therein and, by saying (Arabic text) 'As and from where you may desire'...that is, the entire area of Paradise...whether it is millions of square miles...each and every part of it is given under your control and command.

(Arabic text) As and from where you may desire means the entire area of paradise is a space for you but there is no restriction of time for you.

(Arabic text) In this Paradise there is a tree, and you are not to go near that tree. And, if you disobeyed and went closer to that tree you will be amongst the wrong doers.

(Arabic text) And you will be wrong doing with thyself. Here two or three things are required to be considered. When Allah Himself blessed Adam with Paradise, gave him control over the entire area of Paradise, created the forbidden tree in the paradise and forbade Adam to go near that tree. And then, also told him that if he did go near that tree, this act of disobedience will cause him to be amongst the wrong doers. And he will no longer be allowed to reside in Paradise.

I would like to submit two or three things for your consideration that I have concluded by delving into this verse of the holy Quran.

One of them is authority. God told Adam to reside in there and eat as and from where he may desire. And, when Allah admitted Adam into Paradise and authorized him to make good use of it. This authority was granted to Adam when he had entered Paradise. But besides that, it was made clear to him that this authority is subject to Adam's obedience to Allah and, if he would disobey Allah, he would be amongst the wrong doers and transgressors. Then it happened that Adam went closer to that tree, and he committed wrong. And, since the wrong doers cannot stay in Paradise, according to Allah's decree, he was expelled from the Paradise.

What this tree is? (Arabic text) The tree that was forbidden to approach. What that tree is?

According to some it's wheat, some say it was the apple tree and some think it was grape. One says one thing and the other says another. But, when we see that these are the things, which we are using here as well and they are providing energy to us in our life, which also blesses us with Allah's approval. For instance, if man won't eat bread, he will not have the energy to pray to fast or do the business and when earn and save some money give charity and zakkat. Had this tree been of wheat, man couldn't do anything good but wrong after eating wheat. And he couldn't do anything right but wrong and wrong. Same is the case with apples, we get energy and iron. Had that been the apple, it would have been wrong to have apples here too. If having an apple had been wrong, it would have been wrong here, too, and one couldn't do any good after having it. Thus, it is proved that things written in books like wheat, apple or grapes have nothing to do with this tree. There is something else which makes a man tyrant and wrong doer and, such a wrong doer who is not acceptable to Paradise and is rejected by the Paradise.

Once, in this regard, I asked Hazor Qalandar Baba Auliya. And questioned him, what this tree is? He asked me, "Do you want to see that?" I submitted, 'yes I do want to see it and understand it.' And, on that our conversation came to an end. On the same day or after some days, I don't remember exactly since it is quite an old event. But it did happen that due to his Conductive Influence, his powerful attention, and his association with me, I did see Paradise.

Since this tree had become ingrained in my mind and my mind refused to accept it as such of wheat, apple, or grape. Had it been the wheat, apple or grape, there could not have been any Prophet of Allah because prophets are free from wrongs. If that had been the wheat, apple or grapes, there couldn't have been any Auliya Allah in mankind. The legacy of prophets would not have been there. So, I couldn’t understand, how can that be wheat?

In short, after seeing that tree in Paradise, certain things came to my mind. The first thing that came to my mind was, paradise is only knowledge. It is nothing but knowledge. For instance, paradise is paradise because it is mentioned by the prophets. If paradise had not been mentioned by the prophets of Allah, knowledge about paradise would not have been transferred to us. If prophets of Allah had not mentioned paradise in their Scriptures, it would have never come under discussion. Since they mentioned paradise, it became our knowledge, therefore, it is.  They mentioned Hell and Allah made them to mention it. If Paradise and Hell had not been mentioned in the holy Quran and the Scriptures of other religions, we couldn't have the concept of Paradise and Hell. So, Paradise is knowledge.

I delved deeper and found that when Paradise is mentioned, it is associated with things that are not available in Arabia. Things that are not found in the desert are the most mentioned ones. For example, honey. There is no honey in deserts. There will be springs of sweet water. Fourteen hundred years ago, picture the situation in your mind, Arabs used to kill one another over a glass of water, due to its scarcity. There will be grapes in Paradise. There is no concept of grapes in the deserts. There will be olives. There is no concept of olive plants in Arabia, though they used it as cooking oil. Now, they have tried to cultivate olive plants. Is it possible to find figs in Arabia? Women were liked the most by the Arabs, so the Hoors will be there in paradise. Since having the concubines and female slaves had been customary and traditional. Ladies also had young male slaves, so Allah mentioned Ghilman, too. Likewise, many examples can be cited but it will only prolong the talk.

Thus, when Paradise is mentioned, primarily non-existent produced things in Arabia are mentioned. There will be canals of milk in paradise, whereas only camels and goats were found in Arabia. Then, I thought, why only those things have been mentioned in the context of paradise which were not found in Arabia. It occurred to me, had this Quran been revealed in Palestine and figs, olive and grapes would have been mentioned, people would have said, when all these are things are found here then what's so special about paradise. I had discussed this with Qalandar Baba Auliya that all those things are associated with Paradise which are not found in Arabia and, he agreed to that.

In short, thanks my association with my august mentor and his blessings, during my visit to Paradise, I went close to that tree. It's, in fact, a huge tree and, it's the characteristic of that tree that it changes its color. Besides listening to me, you please try to envision paradise. A sketch of paradise will emerge in your mind, in sha Allah. Paradise is a garden, a very beautiful garden. Very nicely kept passages are there. Beautiful flowers are there besides flowing water canals, milk canals, honey canals. Beautiful birds are there. Exotic birds. The trees are very beautiful. You might have seen the mushrooms. Tree tops are round like mushrooms. All the treetops are round as if someone has used a compass to make them round and have a spectacular beauty. Not even a single branch is outgrown or scattered. Straight trucks with a canopy like foliage and with a variety of fruits on them.

Amongst those trees is a huge tree with its changing colors. For instance, you are watching it now and its leaves appear to be green. Then, suddenly in a wink of eye, it changes into blue. And, then in a while, the tree and all its leaves transform into red. Then, again in a while it turns to be yellow. Before you could have pronounced it yellow, it turned into green. It means the tree changes its colors. When Adam and Eve saw that tree, they both saw it as blue. In a while it turned to be yellow. They both said, no it's yellow. When they said it's yellow the color changed to be green and they had to say, no it's green.

In seconds, the tree changed so many colors before them that they lost their certitude, and they became doubtful as to what color this tree would have next. Will it be yellow, red, or blue? Means their certitude was scattered by the varying colors and shattered apart. When their certitude was shattered, paradise rejected them. Because Allah has designed Paradise on a pattern of certitude. So, due to loss of certitude, paradise rejected them because people with uncertainty and dubiety cannot reside there. When where is no certitude, doubts are bound to be there. And, where there are whims and doubts, Lordship of Allah is offended, because there is no doubt in Allah. Allah is certitude. Such a certitude, when it uttered 'kun' (Be!), the entire universe came into being. Had there been any doubt in Allah's Mind, the universe could not have come into being.

The entire universe exists in the Mind of Allah. This universe, according to His Divine Grace Qalandar Baba Auliya, briefly is defined as: -

One Open and Manifested Book. This one Book contains 300 million Preserved Scriptura, and each Preserved Scripture has 80 thousand Galaxies. Such a huge and vast cosmic plan.

Look at this planet earth. Qalandar Baba Auliya has said, it is the smallest and the most backward of all planets in the universe. There are planets in the universe not in millions or trillions but more than thousands of times of our counting. Such a huge program is there in the Mind of God and Certitude is so vast and firm that when He intended it to be and said, Be! The certitude took the shape of the universe. This entire cosmos is the symbol of Allah's Certitude. There is no room for any doubt or dubiety in this universe.

So, when Adam neared that tree and saw its changing colors and was enamored by its colors, doubt crept in him. He was no longer sure of what color would be there before him, whether it would be red, blue, green, or yellow. The paradise told him to quit and leave as he was no longer able to reside there. That means, when Allah told Adam to reside in Paradise and blessed him with command over Paradise, He also told him that if there will be any doubt in him, he will be expelled from Paradise, and you will do wrong to yourself.   

 Thus, it is proved that one who has doubts in his mind is tyrant, wrong doer and, one who has certitude, in his heart and mind, is the beloved of Allah.

You might have heard of the miracle of the holy Prophet (PBUH), splitting the moon into two parts. This was the display of his certitude, when he pointed his finger towards the moon, it split into two parts. The Moon wasn't split into two due to pointing of holy Prophet's (PBUH) finger but due to the force of his certitude, the certitude that transferred to him being the beloved of Allah by his loving Allah.

According to Qalandar Baba Auliya, this tree, in fact, is the source of doubt and uncertainty. You know it well, once a doubt creeps in one's mind about someone, then it spreads and keeps on growing like a tree. He might not be thinking anything about you but, due to your doubts you infer that he must have done this or that. I have suffered a loss; he must have done something. Nowadays, 70% of people who come to me think some evil magic has been done against them by someone. Mothers-in-law complain about their daughters-in-law and daughters-in-law think their mothers-in-law have cast magic over them. Daughters think their mothers are after them and the mothers think their daughters are against them.

Look at this state of uncertainty. No matter how much you tell them that if a mother-in-law casts spells on her daughter-in-law, her grandchildren will also be affected. The only thing is we have lost the certitude. Certitude has broken down in this era.

This was the difference in the era of the holy Prophet (PBUH) and this present era. People gathered Prophet’s lights and assimilated his certitude in them.

When holy Prophet (PBUH) went on his journey of Ascension. Abu Jehal on his way, met Abu Bakar and said, your friend Mohammad (PBUH) has gone crazy and is talking like a lunatic. He is saying that he had been in the heavens and met Allah and all in journey his bed remained warm, and the door hook was still moving when he got back. Abu Bakar asked Abu Jehal, 'who told you all this?' 'I heard him saying all that,' Abu Jehal replied. (Arabic Text)"Apostle of Allah is telling the truth, was the reply of Abu Bakar. (Arabic Text). This was the certitude that when he heard even from an enemy that holy prophet has said that he testified and didn't even feel the need to reconfirm. Because he had referred to him and when the name of the holy Prophet was mentioned, he readily said, "Apostle of Allah is telling the truth."

Nowadays, certitude is not found anywhere. The verse that I have recited, Allah has described the pattern of certitude in this verse.

   Stay Blessed!