On November 13, 1901, during a conversation on the subject of the human soul, Hazrat Mirza stated:
“It appears as if God has placed an intermediate state (barzakh1) in everything. The intermediate state (barzakh) between plants and animals are those floras that possess beauty and consciousness. Similarly, the intermediate state (barzakh) between animals and humans are those faunas that possess some traits of human intelligence.
“Because of the inability to understand this concept of barzakh, certain people have erroneously concluded that humans have evolved from apes to their present state — this view is completely incorrect. These intermediate states are found in all created things and because they evidence the unity of creation, they provide proof of the existence of God. It is a pity that ignorant and uninformed people cannot relish this connection … Similarly, there is an intermediate state (barzakh) between God and man which is the state in which God manifests Himself to man. Accordingly, God refers to this status and dignity in the verse: “Then he drew near, drew nearer yet. So he was the measure of two bows or closer still.” (The Holy Quran, 53:8, 9).
“This is a narration of the eminent status of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) because this status can be given only to that perfect man who develops such a strong and intense relationship with God and His servants that he becomes the focal point of a circle that is bisected by its diameter into two arcs representing divinity and humanity and he removes his own desires from in between to create the mediation of a clean mirror.
“This relationship has two sides. From one side, i.e., the upper side he absorbs all the Divine illuminations and blessings and on the other side he conveys all these blessings to mankind in accordance with their abilities to absorb them. Thus as is evident from this verse, he has a connection with God on the one side and with humanity on the other. Then he drew near, that is to God; then he descended down, that is towards mankind (i.e., descended towards mankind for the propagation of Divine commandments.)
“By virtue of the close relationship that the full responsibilities of his office entail, he becomes akin to a diameter that connects the two semi-circular arcs of a complete circle and furnishes the point of contact between the two halves (one representing Divinity and the other humanity).
“In fact, he is even closer to the semi-circular arcs of Divinity and humanity (than the diameter that separates the two) because the (Arabic) term dalla is a superlative of close, and that is precisely the reason why God used this term in this verse. And this focal point, which is the intermediate stage (barzakh) between God and humanity, belongs to the person of our chief, Muhammad Mustapha, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. And because the Holy Prophet received from God and delivered to mankind, his name is also Qasim (one who distributes or shares)” (Newspaper Al-Hakam, dated November 17, 1901).
Footnotes:
- Barzakh is an Arabic word that literally means “a thing that intervenes between two things.” For this reason, the purgatory is also barzakh, being an intermediate between the life of this world and the next.
The Great Reformer 
can somebody explain to me the first part about floras and fuanas?
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Thanking you for the insightful question first. As the translator, this passage had struck me as being especially profound, and quite possibly the abstract nature of the passage is due to my lack of knowledge. Having said that, and looking up the definition each, the “regional” aspect or angle, if you will, struck me:
1. flora: the plants of a particular region, habitat, or geological period.
2. fauna: animal life, especially the animals characteristic of a region, period, or special environment
I invite others who are more learned than me to help out, thank you again.
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Hi- is your question regarding the meaning of flora and fauna? Generally speaking, these are the plants and animals of a particular place. If your question is what is meant by the concept of Barzakh or the in between plants and animals and animals and humans, then the answer, I believe is that there is a state eluded to where a being has qualities of both one type of creation and another. In this case, what is relevant is that a state exists for humans where they are between the material world and the divine. Perhaps this is the state referred to as fina fila…where a person has so surrendered themselves to the Will of the Divine that their actions are but a reflection of The Divine. In this way, that person is between humanity and divinity.
The example of the flora and fauna is an illustration of this concept from this material world. There are some plants that have characteristics similar to animals and some animals have characteristics similar to humans. So it may be observed that they exist in an in between state as humans can between humans and divinity. I believe that is what is meant by this illustration.
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