Layer 1: The peel / skin:
This is the most visible part of the orange...
It is the part that draws people towards the orange or repels people from approaching the orange
It protects the whole orange... without it, the orange rots in no time...
Its benefits are numerous... can never be underestimated... but how many people buy oranges due to the skin of the orange? How many will be satisfied with just the orange skin... those who are only interested in spices might be.. but those who want to taste something special will dig further - beyond the skin... beyond the peel... into the next layer... Only those who patiently peel the orange attain the next level with satisfaction...
Layer 2: The flesh / The pulp:
This is the flesh... the pulp, where the taste of eating an orange lies... no matter how much you might like the skin, its taste is incomparable to that of the actual flesh/pulp of the orange... it nourishes... Anyone who has tasted this will only refer to this as "orange" and will simply refer to the peel as either orange peel or just peel... this is the inner dimension of the orange that the skin spends its whole life preserving... For those who have only tasted the orange peel, they would be gazing in denial at those who are eating the actual pulp and would be surprised at the ecstasy and delight seen on the faces of those consuming the pulp...
However, no matter how much the enjoyment of the orange pulp is, those who limit themselves to this will never be able to make new oranges, new tastes and will only remain on the taste and nourishment level of the orange... never to get to the innermost core of all oranges...
Level 3: The innermost core... the seed...
Those interested in this are those who are not deluded by taste - because they know that the taste of an orange doesn't determine the types of oranges that grow from the seed. They know that seeds cannot be eaten, they can only be planted in fertile lands to grow into amazing orange trees... they know that a million oranges can come from one seed... regardless of the taste of the orange... when those at this level tell others that the orange pulp and the peel they are consuming comes from a single seed, they call them idiots and superstitious people... for ignorance of a thing is the most common reason for its opposition. Most seeds are identical in shape... but the fruits that emanate from them are varied... The seed doesn't carry out the tasks of the peel... neither does it nourish like the pulp... but both the pulp and the peel owe their existence to it...
Islam has a peel, pulp and seed... Islam, Iman and Ihsan. Shariah, Tariqah and Haqiqah. All inseparable and all to be observed in their rights...
