In this passage Hazrat Inayat Khan speaks in an unusually ‘telegraphic’ style. The thoughts follow one another logically, but sometimes the readers must supply their own connections between them. In the first paragraph, for example there are two ways in which the Divine attracts–either actively drawing the chosen ones during their momentary life in form, or by the law of destruction, when every form is lost.
In the Bible, in the Qu’ran, in all the religious scriptures, we read that there is an attraction by which the Divine Being draws all creatures to Himself. This is in two ways. The chosen ones of God are drawn towards God during their life, consciously. And for every being there comes its destruction, when it is destroyed and is lost. Everything in the world is fani, that is, awaiting annihilation. For every rock, every tree, every being that we see, the day will come when it is destroyed.
Our body will not remain with us. Each element in it will be attracted to the like element: the fire to the fire, the water to the water, the earth to the earth. When the body is destroyed, the mind remains. In the mind also the elements are, though we cannot see them; they are in the vibrations. Anger brings heat, which makes the eyes red and all the body hot. Peace comes, the water element. The elements in the vibrations also are drawn each to its own element. If anything remains, it is the soul, the nur, the light of God.
Everything in the world wishes to live. No-one wishes to die. And if someone, under the influence of some sorrow, says, “It would be better if I were dead,” when the spell has passed, if he is asked, “Do you wish to die now?” he will say, “No.” We must see what in us is fani, to be annihilated, and what is baqi, life, what will remain with us and what will not. We realize as our self that which dies, that which is not ours, and therefore we are afraid of death. Our coat will not remain with us. It is not ours. Therefore Christ said, “If a man sue you for your coat, give him your cloak also.” Because neither is yours. The coat belonged to the sheep first and it will pass from us, and so on. We see that we are always attracted to our like, to someone who is from our country, from our race, from our school. God is that which will never die. His nature is life. Our true affinity is with Him. He is our real friend.