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The Seventh Ray

The Supreme Sign 1

AN IMPORTANT WARNING
AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

    Not everyone will be able to understand all the matters discussed in this most significant treatise, but equally nobody will remain portionless. If somebody enters a garden, he will find that his hands cannot reach all the fruit it contains, but the amount that falls within his grasp will be enough for him. The garden does not exist for him alone; it exists also for those whose arms are longer than his.

    There are five causes making difficult the understanding of this book.

    The First: I have written down my own observations, according to my own understanding, and for myself. I have not written according to the understanding and conceptions of others, as is the case with other books.

    The Second: Since the true affirmation of Divine unity is set forth in this book, in the most comprehensive form, by virtue of a manifestation of the Supreme Name, the subjects discussed are extremely broad, extremely profound and sometimes extremely long. Not everyone can comprehend these matters all at once.

    The Third: Since each matter constitutes a great and extensive truth, a single sentence will sometimes stretch out over a whole page or

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1. This translation of the Seventh Ray was originally carried out by Hamid Algar, Prof. of Middle Eastern Studies in the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and was first published in 1979. It has been been in part amended to fit the present work. [Tr.]

 

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more, in order not to fracture the truth in question. A single proof requires copious preliminaries.

    The Fourth: Since most of the matters contained in the book have numerous proofs and evidences, the discussion sometimes becomes prolix through the inclusion of ten or twenty proofs by way of demonstration. Limited intelligences cannot understand this.

    The Fifth: It is true that the lights of this treatise came to me from the effulgence of Ramadan. Nonetheless, I was distraught in a number of respects, and I wrote the book hastily at a time my body was wracked by several illnesses, without revising the first draft. I felt, moreover, that I was not writing with my own will and volition, and it seemed inappropriate to rearrange or correct what I had written, according to my own thoughts. This, too, resulted in rendering the book difficult of comprehension. In addition, a number of sections in Arabic crept in, and the First Station, written entirely in Arabic, was removed and made into a separate work.

    Despite the defects and difficulties arising from these five causes, this treatise has such an importance that Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) miraculously foresaw its composition and gave it the names “Supreme Sign” and “Staff of Moses.” He looked upon this part of the Risale-i Nur with special favour, and directed man’s gaze toward it.2 The Supreme Sign is a true exposition of the Supreme Verse,3 and it constitutes at the same time the Seventh Ray, designated by the Imam as the Staff of Moses.

    This treatise consists of an Introduction and two Stations. The Introduction sets forth four important matters; the First Station contains the Arabic portion of the exposition of the Supreme Verse; and the Second Station consists of the translation of that expostion together with the accompanying proofs.

    Too much has been explained in the following Introduction, but it was not my intention to lengthen it thus. The fact that it was written at this length indicates the existence of a need. Indeed, some people may regard it as too short, despite its length.

    S a i d  N u r s î

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2. The events that took place in Denizli fully confirmed the prediction of Imam ‘Ali concerning the Supreme Sign. For the secret printing of this book was the cause of our imprisonment, and the triumph of its sacred and most powerful truth was the main cause of our acquittal and deliverance. Thus did Imam ‘Ali make manifest his miraculous prediction, and prove the acceptance of the prayer he had uttered on our behalf: “By means of the Supreme Sign, secure me against sudden death!”

3. See page 130, footnote 7.

 

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Introduction

I created not jinn and mankind except that they might worship me.4    According to the meaning of this mighty verse, the purpose for the sending of man to this world and the wisdom implicit in it, consists of recognizing the Creator of all beings and believing in Him and worshipping Him. The primordial duty of man and the obligation incumbent upon him are to know God and believe in Him, to assent to His Being and unity in submission and perfect certainty.

    For man, who by nature desires permanent life and immortal existence, whose unlimited hopes are matched by boundless afflictions, any object or accomplishment other than belief in God, knowledge of God and the means for attaining these, which are the fundament and key of eternal life - any such object or accomplishment must be regarded as lowly for man, or even worthless in many cases.

    Since this truth has been proven with firm evidence in the Risale-i Nur, we refer exposition of it to that, setting forth here, within the framework of four questions, only two abysses that shake certainty of faith in this age and induce hesitation.

    The means for salvation from the first abyss are these two Matters:

    The First Matter: As proven in detail in the Thirteenth Flash of the Thirty-First Letter, in general questions denial has no value in the face of proof and is extremely weak. For example, with respect to the sighting of the crescent moon at the beginning of Ramadan the Noble, if two common men prove the crescent to have emerged by their witnessing it, and thousands of nobles and scholars deny it, saying: “We have not seen it,” their negation is valueless and without power to convince. When it is a question of proof each person strengthens and supports the other, and consensus results. But when it is a question of negation, there is no difference between one man and a thousand. Each person remains alone and isolated. For the one who affirms looks beyond himself and judges the matter as it is. Thus in the example we have given, if one says “The moon is in the sky,” and his friend then points his finger at the moon, the two of them unite and are strengthened.

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4. Qur’an, 51:56.

 

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    The one who engages in negation and denial, however, does not regard the matter as it is, and is even unable to do so. For it is a well-known principle that “a non-particularized denial, not directed to a particular locus, cannot be proven.”

    For example, if I affirm the existence of a thing in the world, and you deny it, I can easily establish its existence with a single indication. But for you to justify your negation, that is to establish the non-existence of the thing - it is necessary to hunt exhaustively through the whole world, and even to examine every aspect of past ages. Only then can you say, “It does not exist, and never has existed.”

    Since those who negate and deny do not regard the matter as it is but judge rather in the light of their own souls, and their own intelligence and vision, they can in no way strengthen and support each other. For the veils and causes that prevent them from seeing and knowing are various. Anyone can say, “I do not see it; therefore, in my opinion and belief, it does not exist.” But none can say, “It does not exist in actuality.” If someone says this -particularly in questions of belief, which look to all the universe- it is a lie as vast as the world itself, and he who utters it will be incapable both of speaking the truth and of being corrected.

    In Short: The result is one and single in the case of affirmation, and every instance of affirmation supports all other instances.

    Negation by contrast is not one, but multiple. Multiplicity arises through each person’s saying concerning himself, “In my opinion and view,” or “In my belief,” and leads to multiplicity of result. Hence each separate instance cannot support all other instances.

    Therefore, with respect to the truth with which we began, there is no significance in the multiplicity and apparent predominance of the unbelievers and deniers who oppose belief. Now it is necessary to refrain from introducing any hesitation into the certainty and faith of a believer, but in this age the negations and denials of the philosophers of Europe have induced doubt in a number of unfortunate dupes and thus destroyed their certainty and obliterated their eternal felicity. Death and the coming of one’s appointed hour, which afflict thirty thousand men each day, are deprived of their meaning of dismissal from this world and presented as eternal annihilation. The grave with its ever-open door, constantly threatens the denier with annihilation and poisons his life with the bitterest of sorrows. Appreciate then how great a blessing is faith, and the very essence of life.

    The Second Matter: With respect to a problem subject to discussion in science or art, those who stand outside that science or art cannot speak   

 

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authoritatively, however great, learned and accomplished they may be, nor can their judgements be accepted as decisive. They cannot form part of the learned consensus of the science.

    For example, the judgement of a great engineer on the diagnosis and cure of a disease does not have the same value as that of the lowliest physician. In particular, the words of denial of a philosopher who is absorbed in the material sphere, who becomes continually more remote from the non-material or spiritual and cruder and more insensitive to light, whose intelligence is restricted to what his eye beholds - the words of such a one are unworthy of consideration and valueless with respect to non-material and spiritual matters.

    On matters sacred and spiritual and concerning the Divine unity, there is total accord among the hundreds of thousands of the People of Truth, such as Shaykh Gilani (May his mystery be sanctified), who beheld God’s Sublime Throne while still on the earth, who spent ninety years ad-vancing in spiritual work, and who unveiled the truths of belief in all three stations of certainty. This being the case what value have the words of philosophers, who through their absorption in the most diffuse details of the material realm and the most minute aspects of multiplicity are choking and dazed? Are not their denials and objections drowned out like the buzzing of a mosquito by the roaring of thunder?

    The essence of the unbelief that opposes the truths of Islam and struggles against them is denial, ignorance, and negation. Even though it may appear to be an affirmation of some kind and a manifestation of being, it is in reality negation and non-being. Whereas belief is knowledge and a manifestation of being; it is affirmation and judgement. Every negating aspect of belief is the gate to a positive truth or the veil covering it. If the unbelievers who struggle against faith attempt, with the utmost difficulty, to affirm and accept their negative beliefs in the form of acceptance and admission of non-being, then their unbelief may be regarded in one respect as a form of mistaken knowledge or erroneous judgement. But as for non-accceptance, denial, and non-admission -something more easily done- it is absolute ignorance and total absence of judgement.

    In Short: The convictions underlying unbelief are then of two kinds:

    The First pays no regard to the truths of Islam. It is an erroneous admission, a baseless belief and a mistaken acceptance peculiar to itself; it is an unjust judgement. This kind of unbelief is beyond the scope of our discussion. It has no concern with us, nor do we have any concern with it.

    The Second Kind opposes the truths of belief and struggles against them. It consists in turn of two varieties.

 

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    The First is non-acceptance. It consists simply of not consenting to affirmation. This is a species of ignorance; there is no judgement in-volved and it occurs easily. It too is beyond the scope of our discussion.

    The Second variety is acceptance of non-being. It is to consent to non-being with one’s heart, and a judgement is involved. It is a conviction and a taking the part of something. It is on account of this partiality that it is obliged to affirm its negation.

    The negation comprises two types:

    The First Type says: “A certain thing does not exist at a certain place or in a particular direction.” This kind of denial can be proved, and it lies outside of our discussion.

    The Second Type consists of negating and denying those doctrinal and sacred matters, general and comprehensive, that concern this world, all beings, the hereafter, and the succession of different ages. This kind of negation cannot in any fashion be substantiated, as we have shown in the First Matter, for what is needed to substantiate such negations is a vision that shall encompass the whole universe, behold the hereafter, and observe every aspect of time without limit.

    The Second Abyss and the means for escaping from it: This too consists of two matters.

    The First: Intelligences that become narrowed by absorption in neglect of God and in sin, or the material realm, are unable to comprehend vast matters in respect of sublimity, grandeur, and infinity; hence taking pride in such knowledge as they have, they hasten to denial and negation. Since they cannot encompass the extremely vast, profound and comprehensive questions of faith within their straitened and dessicated intellects, their corrupt and spiritually moribund hearts, they cast themselves into unbelief and misguidance, and choke.

    If they were able to look at the true nature of their unbelief and the essence of their misguidance they would see that, compared to the reasonable, suitable and indeed necessary sublimity and grandeur that is present in belief, their unbelief conceals and contains manifold absurdity and impossibility. The Risale-i Nur has proven this truth by hundreds of comparisons with the same finality that “two plus two equals four.” For example, one who does not accept the Necessary Being, the pre-eternity, and the comprehensiveness of attribute of God Almighty, on account of their grandeur and sublimity, may form a creed of unbelief by assigning that necessary being, pre-eternity, and the attributes of Godhead to an unlimited number of beings, an infinity of atoms. Or like the foolish

 

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Sophists, he can abdicate his intelligence by denying and negating both his own existence and that of the universe.

    Thus, all the truths of belief and Islam, basing their matters on the grandeur and sublimity which are their requirement, deliver themselves from the awesome absurdities, the fearsome superstitions, and the tenebrous ignorance of unbelief that confront them, and take up their place in sound hearts and straight intellects, through utmost submission and assent.

    The constant proclamation of this grandeur and sublimity in the call to prayer, in the prayers themselves and in most of the rites of Islam,

    Allahu akbar, God is Most Great!

    God is Most Great! God is Most Great!

the declaration of the Sacred Tradition that “Grandeur is My shield and Sublimity My cloak;”5 and the statement of the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) - his most inspiring communing with God, in the eighty-sixth part of Jawshan al-Kabir:6    O You other than Whose Kingdom no kingdom exists;

    O You Whose Praise cannot be counted by His slaves;

    O You Whose Glory cannot be described by His creatures;

    O You Whose Perfection lies beyond the range of all vision;

    O You Whose Attributes exceed the bounds of all understanding;

    O You Whose Grandeur is beyond the reach of all thought;

    O You Whose Qualities man cannot fittingly describe;

    O You Whose Decree His slaves cannot avert;

    O You Whose Signs are manifest in everything

    -Be You glorified; there is no god other than You-

    Protection, protection, deliver us from the Fire!

    - all these show that grandeur and sublimity constitute a necessary veil.

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5. Muslim, Birr, 136; Abu Da’ud, Libas, 25; Ibn Maja, Zuhd, 16; Musnad, ii, 248, 376, 414, 427, 442; iv, 416; Ibn Hibban, Sahih, i, 272; vii, 473; al-Hindi, Kanz al-‘Ummal, iii, 534.
6. The famous supplication revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) which, consisting of the Divine Names, is related to possess many merits. [Tr.]

ba

 

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The Supreme Sign

The Observations of a Traveller Questioning

the Universe Concerning His Maker

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

The seven heavens and the earth and all that is in them extol and glorify Him, and there is nothing but glorifies Him with praise, but you understand not their glorifying; indeed, He is Most Forebearing, Most Forgiving.7[This Second Station, in addition to explaining the above sublime verse, sets out the proofs, arguments, and meaning of the First Station, which has been skipped.]

    Since this sublime verse, like many other Qur’anic verses, mentions first the heavens -that brilliant page proclaiming God’s unity, gazed on at all times and by all men with wonder and joy- in its pronouncement of the Creator of this cosmos, let us too begin with a mention of the heavens.

    Indeed, every voyager who comes to the hospice and the realm of this world, opens his eyes and wonders who is the master of this fine hospice, which resembles a most generous banquet, a most ingenious exhibition, a most impressive camp and training ground, a most amazing and wondrous place of recreation, a most profound and wise place of instruction. He asks himself too who is the author of this great book, and who is the monarch of this lofty realm. There first presents itself to him the beautiful

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7. Qur’an, 17:44.

 

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face of the heavens, inscribed with the gilt lettering of the stars. That face calls him saying, “Look at me, and I shall guide you to what you seek.”

    He looks then and sees a manifestation of dominicality performing various tasks in the heavens: it holds aloft in the heavens, without any supporting pillar, hundreds of thousands of heavenly bodies, some of which are a thousand times heavier than the earth and revolve seventy times faster than a cannon-ball; it causes them to move in harmony and swiftly without colliding with each other; it causes innumerable lamps to burn constantly, without the use of any oil; it disposes of these great masses without any disturbance or disorder; it sets sun and moon to work at their respective tasks, without those great bodies ever rebelling; it administers within infinite space -the magnitude of which cannot be measured in figures should they stretch from pole to pole- all that exists, at the same time, with the same strength, in the same fashion, manner and mould, without the least deficiency; it reduces to submissive obedience to its law all the aggressive powers inherent in those bodies; it cleanses and lustrates the face of the heavens, removing all the sweepings and refuse of that vast assembly; it causes those bodies to manoeuvre like a disciplined army; and then, making the earth revolve, it shows the heavens each night and each year in a different form, like a cinema screen displaying true and imaginative scenes to the audience of creation.

    There is within this dominical activity a truth consisting of subjugation, administration, revolution, ordering, cleansing, and employment. This truth, with its grandeur and comprehensiveness, bears witness to the necessary existence and unity of the Creator of the Heavens and testifies to that Existence being more manifest than that of the heavens. Hence it was said in the First Degree of the First Station:

There is no god but God, the Necessary Being, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity the heavens and all they contain testify, through the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of subjugation, administration, revolution, ordering, cleansing, and employment, a truth vast and perfect, and to be observed.

    Then that wondrous place of gathering known as space or the atmosphere begins thunderously to proclaim to that traveller come as a guest to the world, “Look at me! You can discover and find through me the object of your search, the one who sent you here!” The traveller looks at the sour but kind face of the atmosphere, and listening to the awesome but joyous thunderclaps perceives the following.

    The clouds, suspended between the sky and the earth, water the garden of the world in the most wise and merciful fashion, furnish the inhabitants

 

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of the earth with the water of life, modify the natural heat of life, and hasten to bestow aid wherever it is needed. In addition to fulfilling these and other duties, the vast clouds, capable of filling the heavens sometimes hide themselves, with their parts retiring to rest so that not a trace can be seen, just like a well-disciplined army showing and hiding itself in accordance with sudden orders.

    Then, the very instant the command is given to pour down rain, the clouds gather in one hour, or rather in a few minutes; they fill the sky and await further orders from their commander.

    Next the traveller looks at the wind in the atmosphere and sees that the air is employed wisely and generously in such numerous tasks that it is as if each of the inanimate atoms of that unconscious air were hearing and noting the orders coming from that monarch of the universe; without neglecting a single one of them, it performs them in ordered fashion and through the power of the monarch. Thereby it gives breath to all beings and conveys to all living things the heat, light, and electricty they need, and transmits sound, as well as aiding in the pollination of plants.

    The traveller then looks at the rain and sees that within those delicate, glistening sweet drops, sent from a hidden treasury of mercy, there are so many compassionate gifts and functions contained that it is as if mercy itself were assuming shape and flowing forth from the dominical treasury in the form of drops. It is for this reason that rain has been called “mercy.”

    Next the traveller looks at the lightning and listens to the thunder and ses that both of these, too, are employed in wondrous tasks.

    Then taking his eyes off these, he looks to his own intellect and says: “The inanimate, lifeless cloud that resembles carded cotton has of course no knowledge of us; when it comes to our aid, it is not because it takes pity on us. It cannot appear and disappear without receiving orders. Rather it acts in accordance with the orders of a most powerful and compassionate commander. First it diasppears without leaving a trace, then suddenly reappears in order to begin its work. By the command and power of a most active and exalted, a most magnificent and splendid, monarch, it fills and then empties the atmosphere. Inscribing the sky with wisdom and erasing the pattern, it makes of the sky a tablet of effacement and affirmation, a depiction of the gathering and the resurrection. By the contriving of a most generous and bountiful, a most munificent and solicitous sustainer, a ruler who regulates and disposes, it mounts the wind and taking with it treasuries of rain each as heavy as a mountain, hastens to the aid of the needy. It is as if it were weeping over them in pity, with

 

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its tears causing the flowers to smile, tempering the heat of the sun, spraying gardens with water, and washing and cleansing the face of the earth.”

    That wondering traveller then tells his own intellect: “These hundreds of thousands of wise, merciful and ingenious tasks and acts of generosity and mercy that arise from the veil and outer form of this inanimate, lifeless, unconscious, volatile, unstable, stormy, unsettled, and inconstant air, clearly establish that this diligent wind, this tireless servant, never acts of itself, but rather in accordance with the orders of a most powerful and knowing, a most wise and generous commander. It is as if each particle were aware of every single task, like a soldier understanding and hearkening to every order of its commander, for it hears and obeys every dominical command that courses through the air. It aids all animals to breathe and to live, all plants to pollinate and grow, and cultivates all the matter necessary for their survival. It directs and administers the clouds, makes possible the voyaging of sailing ships, and enables sounds to be conveyed, particularly by means of wireless, telephone, telegraph and radio, as well as numerous other universal functions.

    “Now these atoms, each composed of two such simple materials as hydrogen and oxygen and each resembling the other, exist in hundreds of thousands of different fashions all over the globe; I conclude therefore that they are being employed and set to work in the utmost orderliness by a hand of wisdom.

    “As the verse makes clear,

And the disposition of the winds and the clouds, held in disciplined order between the heavens and the earth,8

the one who through the disposition of the winds employs them in countless dominical functions, who through the ordering of the clouds uses them in infinite tasks of mercy, and who creates the air in this fashion - such a one can only be the Possessor of Necessary Existence, the One Empowered over All Things and Knowledgeable of All Things, the Sustainer endowed with Glory and Generosity.” This is the conclusion our traveller now draws.

    Then he looks at the rain and sees that within it are contained benefits as numerous as the raindrops, and dominical manifestations as multiple as the particles of rain, and instances of wisdom as plentiful as its atoms. Those sweet, delicate and blessed drops are moreover created in so beautiful and ordered a fashion, that particularly the rain sent in the summertime, is despatched and caused to fall with such balance and regularity

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8. Qur’an, 2:164.

 

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that not even stormy winds that cause large objects to collide can destroy its equilibrium and order; the drops do not collide with each other or merge in such fashion as to become harmful masses of water. Water, composed of two simple elements like hydrogen and oxygen, is employed in hundreds of thousands of other wise, purposeful tasks and arts, particularly in animate beings; although it is itself inanimate and unconscious. Rain which is then the very embodiment of Divine Mercy can only be manufactured in the unseen treasury of mercy of One Most Compassionate and Merciful, and on its descent expounds in physical form the verse:

And He it is Who sends down rain after men have despaired, and thus spreads out His Mercy.9

    The traveller next listens to the thunder and watches the lightning. He understands that these two wondrous events in the atmosphere are like a material demonstration of the verse,

The thunder glorifies His praise,10

The brilliance of His lightning almost robs them of their sight.11

    They also announce the coming of rain, and thus give glad tidings to the needy.

    Yes, this sudden utterance of a miraculous sound by the atmosphere; the filling of the dark sky with the flash and fire of lightning; the setting alight of the clouds that resemble mountains of cotton or pipes bursting with water and snow - these and similar phenomena are like a blow struck on the head of the negligent man whose gaze is directed down at the earth. They tell him:

    “Lift up your head, look at the miraculous deeds of the most active and powerful being who wishes to make himself known. In the same way that you are not left to your own devices, so too, these phenomena and events have a master and a purpose. Each of them is caused to fulfil a particular task, and each is employed by a Most Wise Disposer.”

    The wondering traveller hears then the lofty and manifest testimony to the truth that is composed of the disposition of the winds, the descent of the rains and the administration of the events of the atmosphere, and says: “I believe in God.” That which was stated in the Second Degree of the First Station expresses the observations of the traveller concerning the atmosphere:

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9. Qur’an, 42:28.

10. Qur’an, 13:13.

11. Qur’an, 24:43.

 

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There is no god but God, the Necessary Being, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity the atmosphere and all its contains testifies, through the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of subjugation, disposal, causing to descend, and regulation, a truth vast and perfect, and to be observed.

    Next the globe addresses that thoughtful traveller, now growing accustomed to his reflective journey:

    “Why are you wandering through the heavens, through space and the sky? Come, I will make known to you what you are seeking. Look at the functions that I perform and read my pages!” He looks and sees that the globe, like an ecstatic Mevlevi dervish with its twofold motion, is tracing out around the field of the Supreme Gathering a circle that determines the succession of days, years, and seasons. It is a most magnificent dominical ship, loaded with the hundreds of thousands of different forms of food and equipment needed for all animate beings, floating with the utmost equilibrium in the ocean of space and circling the sun.

    He then looks at the pages of the earth and sees that each page of each of its chapters proclaims the Sustainer of the Earth in thousands of verses. Being unable to read the whole of it, he looks at the page dealing with the creation and deployment of animate beings in the spring, and observes the following:

    The forms of the countless members of hundreds of thousands of species emerge, in the utmost precision, from a simple material and are then nurtured in most merciful fashion. Then, in miraculous manner, wings are given to some of the seeds; they take to flight and are thus dispersed. They are most effectively distributed, most carefully fed and nurtured. Countless tasty and delicious forms of food, in the most merciful and tender fashion, are brought forth from dry clay, and from roots, seeds and drops of liquid that differ little among each other. Every spring, a hundred thousand kinds of food and equipment are loaded on it from an unseen treasury, as if onto a railway waggon, and are despatched in utmost orderliness to animate beings. The sending to infants of canned milk in those food packages, and pumps of sugared milk in the form of their mothers’ affectionate breasts, is in particular such an instance of solicitousness, mercy and wisdom that it immediately establishes itself as a most tender manifestation of the mercy and generosity of the Merciful and Compassionate One.

    In short: this living page of spring displays a hundred thousand examples and samples of the Supreme Gathering, and is a tangible demonstration of this verse,

 

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So look to the signs of God’s mercy: how He gives life to the earth after its death, for verily He it is Who gives life to the dead, and He has power over all things.12

    Moreover, this verse may be said to express in miraculous fashion the meanings of the page that is spring. The traveller thus understood that the earth proclaims through all its pages, in fashion proportionate to their size: “There is no god but He.”13

    In expression of the meaning beheld by the traveller through the brief testimony of one of the twenty aspects of a single page out of the more than twenty pages of the globe, it was said in the Third Degree of the First Station:

There is no god but God, the Necessary Being, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity the earth with all that is in it and upon it testifies, through the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of subjugation, disposition, nurturing, opening, distribution of seeds, protection, administration, the giving of life to all animate beings, compassion and mercy universal and general, a truth vast and perfect, and to be observed.

    Then that reflective traveller read each page of the cosmos, and as he did so his faith, that key to felicity, strengthened; his gnosis, that key to spiritual progress, increased; his belief in God, the source and foundation of all perfection, developed one degree more; his joy and pleasure augmented and aroused his eagerness; and while listening to the perfect and convincing lessons given by the sky, by space and the earth, he cried out for more. Then he heard the rapturous invocation of God made by the tumult of the seas and the great rivers, and listened to their sad yet pleasant sounds. In numerous ways they were saying to him: “Look at us, read also our signs!” Looking, our traveller saw the following:

    The seas, constantly and vitally surging, merging and pouring forth with an inclination to conquest inherent in their very nature, surrounded the earth, and together with the earth, revolved, extremely swiftly, in a circle of twenty-five thousand years in a single year. Yet the seas did not disperse, did not overflow or encroach on the land contiguous to them. They moved and stood still, and were protected by the command and power of a most powerful and magnificent being.

    Then looking to the depths of the sea, the traveller saw that apart from the most beautiful, well-adorned and symmetrical jewels, there were

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12. Qur’an, 30:50.
13. A phrase repeated many times in the Qur’an.

 

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thousands of different kinds of animal, sustained and ordered, brought to life and caused to die, in so disciplined a fashion, their provision coming from mere sand and salt water, that it established irresistibly the existence of a Powerful and Glorious, a Merciful and Beauteous Being administering and giving life to them.

    The traveller then looks at the rivers and sees that the benefits inherent in them, the functions they perform, and their continual replenishment, are inspired by such wisdom and mercy as indisputably to prove that all rivers, springs, streams and great waterways flow forth from the treasury of mercy of the Compassionate One, the Lord of Glory and Generosity. They are preserved and dispensed, indeed, in so extraordinary a fashion that it is said “Four rivers flow forth from Paradise.”14 That is, they transcend by far apparent causes, and flow forth instead from the treasury of a non-material Paradise, from the superabundance of an unseen and inexhaustible source.

    For example, the blessed Nile, that turns the sandy land of Egypt into a paradise, flows from the Mountains of the Moon in the south without ever being exhausted, as if it were a small sea. If the water that flowed down the river in six months were gathered together in the form of a mountain and then frozen, it would be larger than those mountains. But the place in the mountains where the water is lodged and stored is less than a sixth of their mass. As for the water that replenishes the river, the rain that enters the reservoir of the river is very sparse in that torrid region and is quickly swallowed up by the thirsty soil; hence it is incapable of maintaining the equilibrium of the river. A tradition has thus grown up that the blessed Nile springs, in miraculous fashion, from an unseen Paradise. This tradition has profound meaning and expresses a beautiful truth.

    The traveller saw, then, a thousandth part of the truths and affirmations contained in the oceans and rivers. The seas proclaim unanimously with a power proportionate to their extent, “There is no god but He,” and produce as witnesses to their testimony all the creatures that inhabit them. This, our traveller preceived.

    Expressing and conveying the testimony of the seas and the rivers, we said, in the Fourth Degree of the First Station:

There is no god but God, the Necessary Existent, to the necessity of Whose Existence in Unity point all the seas and the rivers, together with all they contain, by the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of subjugation, preservation, storing up, and administration, vast and well-ordered, and to be observed.

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14. See, Muslim, Janna, 26. (The rivers, Sayhan, Jayhan, Euphrates, and Nile). [Tr.]

 

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    Then the traveller is summoned, on his meditative journey, by the mountains and the plains. “Read too our pages,” they say. Looking he sees that the universal function and duty of mountains is of such grandeur and wisdom as to stupefy the intelligence. The mountains emerge from the earth by the command of their Sustainer, thereby palliating the turmoil, anger, and rancour that arise from disturbances within the earth. As the mountains surge upward, the earth begins to breathe; it is delivered from harmful tremors and upheavals, and its tranquillity as it pursues its duty of rotation is no longer disturbed. In the same way that masts are planted in ships to protect them from turbulence and preserve their balance, so too mountains are set up on the deck of the ship that is the earth, as masts and stores, as is indicated by verses of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition such as these:

And the mountains as pegs,15And We have cast down anchors,16And the mountains He anchored them.17    Then, too, there are stored up and preserved in the mountains all kinds of springs, waters, minerals and other materials needed by animate beings, in so wise, skilful, generous and foreseeing a fashion that they prove that they are the storehouses and warehouses and servants of One possessing infinite power, One possessing infinite wisdom. Deducing from these two examples the other duties and instances of wisdom -as great as mountains- of the mountains and plains, the traveller sees through the general instances of wisdom in them and particularly in regard to the fashion in which all manner of things are stored up in them providentially, the testimony they give and the Divine unity they proclaim declaring “There is no god but He,” -a declaration as powerful and firm as the mountains and vast and expansive as the plains- and he too says, “I believe in God.”

    In expression of this meaning, it was said in the Fifth Degree of the First Station:

There is no god but God, to the Necessity of Whose Existence point all the mountains and plains together with what is in them and upon them, by the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of the storing up, administration, dissemination of seed, preservation, and regulation, a truth providential, dominical, vast, general, well-ordered, and perfect, and to be observed.

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15. Qur’an, 78:7.
16. Qur’an, 50:7.
17. Qur’an, 79:32.

 

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    Then, while that traveller was travelling in his mind through the mountains and plains, the gate to the arboreal and vegetable realm was opened before him. He was summoned inside: “Come,” they said, “Inspect our realm and read our incriptions.” Entering, he saw that a splendid and well-adorned assembly for the proclamation of God’s unity and a circle for the mentioning of His Names and the offering of thanks to Him, had been drawn up. He understood for the very appearance of all trees and plants that their different species were proclaiming unanimously, “There is no god but He.” For he perceived three great and general truths indicating and proving that all fruit-giving trees and plants with the tongue of their symmetrical and eloquent leaves, the phrases of their charming and loquacious flowers, the words of their well-ordered and well-spoken fruits, were testifying to God’s glory and bearing witness that “There is no god but He.”

    The First: In the same way that in each of the plants and trees a deliberate bounty and generosity is to be seen in most obvious fashion, and a purposive liberality and munificence, so too it is to be seen in the totality of the trees and plants, with the brilliance of sunlight.

    The Second: The wise and purposive distinction and differentiation, one that cannot in any way be attributed to chance, the deliberate and merciful adornment and giving of form - all this is to be seen as clearly as daylight in the infinite varieties and species; they show themselves to be the works and embroideries of an All-Wise Maker.

    The Third: The opening and unfolding of all the separate members of the hundred thousand species of that infinite realm, each in its own distinct fashion and shape, in the utmost order, equilibrium and beauty, from well-defined, limited, simple and solid seeds and grains, identical to each other or nearly so - their emerging from those seeds in distinct and separate form, with utter equilibrium, vitality and wise purpose without the least error or mistake, is a truth more brilliant than the sun. The witnesses proving this truth are as numerous as the flowers, fruits and leaves that emerge in the spring. So the traveller said, “Praise be to God for the blessing of belief.”

    In expression of these truths and the testimony given to them, we said in the Sixth Degree of the First Station:

There is no god but God, to the Necessity of Whose Existence in Unity points the consensus of all the species of trees and plants that are engaged in glorifying God and speak with the eloquent and well-ordered words of their leaves, their loquacious and comely flowers, their well-ordered and well-spoken fruits, by the testimony of the

 

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sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of bestowal, bounty, and generosity, done in purposive mercy, and the truth of differentiation, adornment, and decoration, done with will and wisdom. Definite, too, is the indication given by the truth of the opening of all their symmetrical, adorned, distinct, variegated and infinite forms, from seeds and grains that resemble and approximate each other, that are finite and limited.

    As this traveller through the cosmos proceeded on his meditative journey, with increased eagerness and a bouquet of gnosis and faith, itself like a spring, gathered from the garden of the spring, there opened before his truth-perceiving intellect, his cognitive reason, the gate to the animal and bird realm. With hundreds of thousands of different voices and various tongues, he was invited to enter. Entering, he saw that all the animals and birds, in their different species, groups and nations, were proclaiming, silently and aloud, “There is no god but He,” and had thus turned the face of the earth into a vast place of invocation, an expansive assembly for the proclamation of God’s glory. He saw each of them to be like an ode dedicated to God, a word proclaiming His glory, a letter indicating His mercy, each of them describing the Maker and offering Him thanks and encomium. It was as if the senses, powers, members and instruments of those animals and birds were orderly and balanced words, or perfect and disciplined expressions. He observed three great and comprehensive truths indicating, in decisive form, their offering of thanks to the Creator and Provider and their testimony to His unity.

    The First: Their being brought into existence with wisdom and purpose and their creation full of art in a fashion that in no way can be attributed to chance, to blind force or inanimate nature; their being created and composed in purposive and knowledgeable manner; their animation and being given life in a way that displays in twenty aspects the manifestation of knowledge, wisdom, and will - all of this is a truth that bears witness to the Necessary Existence of the Eternally Living and