Shocks followed after shocks of the earthquake; and ‘Ārif exclaimed: “The hour of departure is at hand! See, the earth yawns for the mouthful it will make of my body. It shows signs of impatience for its food!”
He then asked: “Look! what birds are these that are come here?” His eyes remained fixed for a time on the angelic visions which he now saw. From time to time he would start, as though about to fly. The assembled disciples, men and women, wept bitterly. But he again spoke, and said—
“Sheykhs, be not troubled! Even as my descent into this world was for the regulation of the affairs of your community, so is my existence of equal advantage to you, and I will at all times be with you, never absent from you. Even in the other world will I be with you. Here below, separation is a thing unavoidable. In the other world there is union without disrupture, and junction without a parting. Let me go without a pang. To outward appearance, I shall be absent; but in truth, I shall not be away from you. So long as a sword is in its sheath, it cuts not; but, when it shall be drawn, you shall see its effects. From this day forward, I dash my fist through the curtain that veils the invisible world; and my disciples shall hear the clash of the blows.”
As he spake these words, his eldest son, Shāh-Zāda, and his own half-brother, Chelebī ‘Ābid, entered the room. Sheykh Eflākī asked him what commands he had to give for them. ‘Ārif replied: “They belong to the Lord, and have no longer a relation to me; He will take care of them.”
Eflākī now asked: “And what are your wishes with respect to me, your most humble servant?” The answer was: “Do thou remain in the service of the mausoleum. Forsake it not. Go not elsewhere. That which I have commanded thee to do, as to collecting in writing all the memoirs of my ancestors and family, that do thou in all diligence until its completion. So mayest thou be approved of the Lord, and blessed by His saints.”
All wept.
‘Ārif now recited some verses; pronounced thrice the holy name of God, with a sigh; recited some more verses; and then, between the noon and afternoon hours of worship, having recited two short chapters of the Qur’ān, he departed, in peace and rejoicing, to the centre of his existence, on Tuesday, the twenty-fourth day of Zū-’l-Hijja, A.H. 719 (5th February, A.D. 1320). Unto God be all glory, now and for ever!
He was buried on the 25th, where he had himself indicated, by the side of his grandfather. His half-brother ‘Ābid succeeded him.