When God created Adam, He made him in such a way that Adam saw more within than without. When he looked outward, he saw gardens and birds, rivers and waterfalls, the bulbul hopping from one branch to another, the call of the cuckoo, the cooing of the dove, the chirping of sparrows, and the fragrance of flowers in full bloom. The scent of youth and the perfume of blossoms filled his soul with delight. Adam would become lost in a state of rapture. Graceful paths lined with swaying flowers, tall trees, and umbrella-shaped canopies met his gaze, yet despite all this beauty, a pang rose within him, for he was alone.
He longed for a companion of his own kind. When exhaustion and sorrow broke him from within, he saw, among his scattered fragments, the reflection of his own kind. The image appeared before his inner eye, a luminous face, smiling lips, graceful neck, soft form, and a fragrance that enchanted him. When Adam beheld this reflection within himself, he became enamored. As his mind focused upon this image, intention was born. With that intention came motion, and in that inner motion, the image blinked, and at that moment, the radiant point already present in Adam’s heart burst open. A flash of light and brilliance occurred, and from within Adam, the image came forth.
When Adam took one step forward, the image took two steps toward him. When the two met, they became one. Adam surrendered himself completely to her, and she, gathering all his strength and energy, embraced him within herself. Their union pleased Nature. Nature stretched and awakened, and in response to her restlessness, instinct cast off its garment and joined with her. Nature and instinct became one soul in two forms.
When Adam and Eve united, the universe descended in joy, and thus began the cycle of descent and ascent. A universal law was formed that when two forms merge, a third is created. From this law, one image gave rise to another, and from two images came a third. From the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve, the earth became populated, and villages grew into cities.
In one such city lived a father and his four sons. The father raised them in such harmony that the four brothers were like one soul in four bodies. There was selflessness among them, love among them, and each helped the other. They all carried the blood of one mother. The earth beneath their feet seemed to expand in joy as they walked. Truly, the earth is the greatest mother. When her children tilled her soil, she transformed her womb into fields of plenty.
When the four sons began to feel the heat of desire within, they remembered the lesson of their father Adam. In time, they took on the forms of Adam and Eve. Two brothers went away with their wives, while two remained together. The elder brother thought that his younger one was still weak and said to himself that it was his duty to help him. Every day, he took from his own storehouse of grain enough wheat for his brother’s daily needs.
The younger brother thought that his elder brother had grown old and weary and said to himself that it was his duty to serve him. So he too began to take the same amount of grain from his storehouse and place it into his brother’s.
A year passed, then another, and then three years. Their home was peaceful and filled with blessings. When the fourth year came, the elder brother’s wife began to remove twice the amount of grain her husband placed in his brother’s store.
The younger brother’s wife thought that her husband’s earnings were being spent on the elder, so she began to remove four times the amount he placed in his brother’s store. Before the year had even ended, both brothers became poor.
By Beloved Khawaja Shamsuddin Azeemi RA, Booklet: Beloved in My Arms