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| gencnurCom | THE
TWENTY-THIRD FLASH On
Nature [First
written as the Sixteenth Note of the Seventeenth Flash,
this part of the Risale-i Nur was later designated as the
Twenty-Third Flash because of its importance. For it puts
naturalistic atheism to death with no chance of
reanimation, and totally shatters the foundation stones
of unbelief.] A
Reminder This
treatise explains through Nine Impossibilities,
themselves comprising at least ninety impossibilities,
just how unreasonable, crude and superstitious is the way
taken by those Naturalists who are atheists. In order to
cut short the discussion here and because these
impossibilities have been explained in part in other
sections of the Risale-i Nur, and some steps in the
arguments have been skipped. It occurs to one, therefore,
how is it that those famous and supposedly brilliant
philosophers accepted such a blantantly obvious
superstition, and continue to pursue that way. Well, the
fact is they could not see its reality. And I am ready to
explain in detail and prove through clear and decisive
arguments to whoever doubts it that these crude,
repugnant and unreasonable impossibilities are the
necessary and unavoidable result of their way; in fact,
the very gist of their creed.1 ____________________ 1.
What occasioned the writing of this treatise were the
attacks being made on the Qur’an by those who called
everything that their corrupted minds could not reach a
superstition, who were using Nature to justify unbelief,
and were vilifying the truths of belief in a most
aggressive and ugly fashion. Those attacks stirred up in
my heart an intense anger which resulted in those
perverted atheists and falsifiers of the truth receiving
vehement and harsh slaps. Otherwise, the way generally
followed by the Risale-i Nur is a mild, polite and
persuasive one. The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.233 In
the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Their
prophets said: “Is there any doubt about God, Creator
of the heavens and the earth?”2 By
declaring through the use of a rhetorical question that
there cannot and should not be any doubt about God
Almighty, this verse clearly demonstrates the Divine
existence and Unity. A
point to be mentioned before our discussion: When
I went to Introduction O
man! You should be aware that there are certain phrases
which are commonly used and imply unbelief. The believers
also use them, but without realizing their implications.
We shall explain three of the most important of them. The
First: “Causes create this.” The
Second: “It forms itself; it comes into existence
and later ceases to exist.” The
Third: “It is natural; Nature necessitates and
creates it.” Indeed,
since beings exist and this cannot be denied, and since
each being comes into existence in a wise and artistic
fashion, and since each is not outside time but is being
continuously renewed, then, O falsifier ____________________ 2.
Qur’an, The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.234 of
the truth, you are bound to say either that the causes in
the world create beings, for example, this animal; that
is to say, it comes into existence through the coming
together of causes, or that it forms itself, or that its
coming into existence is a requirement and necessary
effect of Nature, or that it is created through the power
of One All-Powerful and All-Glorious. Since reason can
find no way apart from these four, if the first three are
definitely proved to be impossible, invalid and absurd,
the way of Divine Unity, which is the fourth way, will
necessarily and self-evidently and without doubt or
suspicion, be proved true. THE
This
to imagine that the formation and existence of things,
creatures, occurs through the coming together of the
causes in the universe. We shall mention only three of
its numerous impossibilities. First
Impossibility Imagine
there is a pharmacy in which there are hundreds of jars
and phials filled with quite different substances. A
living potion and a living remedy are required from those
medicaments. So we go to the pharmacy and see that they
are to be found there in abundance, yet in great variety.
We examine each of the potions and see that the
ingredients have been taken in varying but precise
amounts from each of the jars and phials, one ounce from
this, three from that, seven from the next, and so on. If
one ounce too much or too little had been taken, the
potion would not have been living and would not have
displayed its special quality. Next, we study the living
remedy. Again, the ingredients have been taken from the
jars in a particular measure so that if even the most
minute amount too much or too little had been taken, the
remedy would have lost its special property. Now,
although the jars number more than fifty, the ingredients
have been taken from each according to measures and
amounts that are all different. Is it in any way possible
or probable that the phials and jars should have been
knocked over by a strange coincidence or sudden gust of
wind and that only the precise, though different, amounts
that had been taken from each of them should have been
spilt, and then arranged themselves and come together to
form the remedy? Is there anything more superstitious,
impossible and absurd than this? If an ass could speak,
it would say: “I cannot accept this idea!”, and would
gallop off! Similarly,
each living being may be likened to the living potion in
the comparison, and each plant to a living remedy. For
they are composed of matter that has been taken in most
precise measure from truly numerous and truly various
substances. If these are attributed to causes and the The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.235 elements
and it is claimed, “Causes created these,” it is
unreasonable, impossible and absurd a hundred times over,
just as it was to claim that the potion in the pharmacy
came into existence through the phials being knocked
over; by accident. I
n S h o r t : The vital substances in this vast
pharmacy of the universe, which are measured on the
scales of Divine Determining and Decree of the All-Wise
and Pre-Eternal One, can only come into existence through
a boundless wisdom, infinite knowledge and
all-encompassing will. The unfortunate person who
declares that they are the work of blind, deaf and
innumerable elements and causes and natures, which stream
like floods; and the foolish, delirious person who claims
that that wondrous remedy poured itself out when the
phials were knocked over and formed itself, are certainly
unreasonable and nonsensical. Indeed, such denial and
unbelief is a senseless absurdity. Second
Impossibility If
everything is not attributed to the All-Powerful and
All-Glorious One, Who is the Single One of Unity, but is
attributed to causes, it necessitates that many of the
elements and causes present in the universe intervene in
the being of every animate creature. Whereas that
different and mutually opposing and conflicting causes
should come together of their own accord in complete
order, with the finest balance and in perfect concord in
the being of a tiny creature, like a fly, is such an
obvious impossibility that anyone with even an iota of
consciousness would say: “This is impossible; it could
not be!” The
tiny body of a fly is connected with most of the elements
and causes in the universe; indeed, it is a summary of
them. If it is not attributed to the Pre-Eternal and
All-Powerful One, it is necessary for those material
causes to be themselves present in the immediate vicinity
of the fly; rather, for them all to enter into its tiny
body; and even for them to enter each of the cells of its
eyes, which are minute samples of its body. For if a
cause is of a material nature, it is necessary for it to
be present in the immediate vicinity of, and inside, its
effect. And this necessitates accepting that the
constituents and elements of the universe are physically
present inside that minute cell, a place too small even
for the tip of its antenna, and that they work there in
harmony like a master. A
way such as this, then, shames even the most foolish of
the Sophists. Third
Impossibility It
is an established rule that, “If a being has unity, it
can only have issued from a single being, from one
hand.” Particularly if it displays a comprehensive life
within a perfect order and sensitive balance, it
demonstrates The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.236 self-evidently
that it did not issue from numerous hands, which are the
cause of conflict and confusion, but that it issued from
a single hand that is All-Powerful and All-Wise.
Therefore, to attribute a well-ordered and well-balanced
being which has unity such as that to the jumbled hands
of innumerable, lifeless, ignorant, aggressive,
unconscious, chaotic, blind and deaf natural causes, the
blindness and deafness of which increase with their
coming together and intermingling among the ways of
numberless possibilities, is as unreasonable as accepting
innumerable impossibilities all at once. If we leave this
impossibility aside and assume that material causes have
effects, these effects can only occur through direct
contact and touch. However, the contact of natural causes
is with the exteriors of living beings. And yet we see
that the interiors of such beings, where the hands of
material causes can neither reach nor touch, are ten
times more delicate, well-ordered and perfect as regards
art than their exteriors. Therefore, although tiny
animate creatures, on which the hands and organs of
material causes can in no way be situated, indeed they
cannot touch the creatures’ exteriors all at once even,
are more strange and wonderful as regards their art and
creation than the largest creatures, to attribute them to
those lifeless, unknowing, crude, distant, vast,
conflicting, deaf and blind causes can result only from a
deafness and blindness compounded to the number of
animate beings. THE
SECOND WAY This
is expressed by the phrase “It forms itself.” It too
involves many impossibilities and is absurd and
impossible in many aspects. We shall explain three
examples of these impossibilities. First
Impossibility O
you obstinate denier! Your egotism has made you so stupid
that somehow you decide to accept a hundred
impossibilities all at once. For you yourself are a being
and not some simple substance that is inanimate and
unchanging. You are like an extremely well-ordered
machine that is constantly being renewed and a wonderful
palace that is undergoing continuous change. Particles
are working unceasingly in your body. Your body has a
connection and mutual relations with the universe, in
particular with regard to sustenance and the perpetuation
of the species, and the particles that work within it are
careful not to spoil that relationship nor to break the
connection. In this cautious manner they set about their
work, as though taking the whole universe into account.
Seeing your relationships within it, they take up their
positions accordingly. And you benefit with your external
and inner senses in accordance with the wonderful
positions that they take. The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.237 If
you do not accept that the particles in your body are
tiny officials in motion in accordance with the law of
the Pre-Eternal and All-Powerful One, or that they are an
army, or the nibs of the pen of Divine Determining, with
each particle as the nib of a pen, or that they are
points inscribed by the pen of Power with each particle
being a point, then in every particle working in your eye
there would have to be an eye such as could see every
limb and part of your body as well as the entire
universe, with which you are connected. In addition to
this, you would have to ascribe to each particle an
intelligence equivalent to that of a hundred geniuses,
sufficient to know and recognize all your past and your
future, and your forbears and descendants, the origins of
all the elements of your being, and the sources of all
your sustenance. To
attribute the knowledge and consciousness of a thousand
Plato’s to a single particle of one such as you who
does not possess even a particle’s worth of
intelligence in matters of this kind is a crazy
superstition a thousand times over! Second
Impossibility Your
being resembles a thousand-domed wondrous palace in which
the stones stand together in suspension and without
support. Indeed, your being is a thousand times more
wonderful than such a palace, for the palace of your
being is being renewed continuously in perfect order.
Leaving aside your truly wonderful spirit, heart and
other subtle faculties, each member of your body
resembles a single-domed part of the palace. Like the
stones of a dome, the particles stand together in perfect
balance and order demonstrating the eye and the tongue,
for example, each to be a wondrous building,
extraordinary work of art, and miracle of power. If
these particles were not each officials dependent on the
command of the master architect of the universe, then
each particle would have to be both absolutely dominant
over all the other particles in the body and absolutely
subordinate to each of them; and both equal to each and,
with regard to its dominant position, opposed; and both
the origin and source of most of the attributes that
pertain only to the Necessarily Existent One, and
extremely restricted; and both in absolute form, and in
the form of a perfectly ordered individual artefact that
could only, through the mystery of unity, be the work of
the Single One of Unity. Anyone
with even a particle of consciousness would understand
what an obvious impossibility this is; to attribute such
an artefact to those particles. Third
Impossibility If
your being is not ‘written’ by the pen of the
Pre-Eternal and All-Powerful One, Who is the Single One
of Unity, and is instead ‘printed’ The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.238 by
Nature and causes, there would have to be printing-blocks
in Nature not only to the number of cells in your body,
but to the number of their thousands of combinations,
which are arranged in concentric circles. Because, for
example, if this book which we hold in our hand is
written, a single pen may write it relying on the
knowledge of its writer. If, on the other hand, it is not
written and is not attributed to its writer’s pen, and
if it is said that it exists of its own accord or it is
ascribed to Nature, then, as a printed book, it would be
necessary for there to be a different iron pen of each
letter so that it could be printed. In a printing-press
there have to be pieces of type to the number of letters
in the alphabet so the letters in the book come into
existence by means of them; pens to the number of those
letters being necessary in place of a single pen. As
may be seen, sometimes a whole page is written in a
single large letter from among those letters with a small
pen in fine script, in which case a thousand pens would
be necessary for one letter. Rather, if it took the form
of your body, with all its components one within the
other in concentric circles, there would have to be
printing-blocks in each circle, for each component, to
the number of the combinations that they form. Now,
see, if you claim this, which involves a hundred
impossibilities, to be possible, then again if they are
not attributed to a single pen, for those well-ordered,
artistic pieces of type, faultless printing-blocks and
iron pens to be made, further pens, printing-blocks and
letters to the same number as themselves would be
necessary. And they too would have to have been made; and
they too would have to have been well-ordered and
artistically fashioned. And so on. It would carry on in
succession ad infinitum. There,
you too understand! This way of thinking is such that it
involves impossibilites and superstitions to the number
of particles in your body. O denier of God! See this, and
quit the way of misguidance! THE
THIRD WAY “Nature
necessitates it; Nature makes it.” This statement
contains many impossibilities. We shall mention three of
them by way of examples. First
Impossibility If
the art and creativity, which are discerning and wise, to
be seen in beings and particularly in animate beings are
not attributed to the pen of Divine Determining and Power
of the Pre-Eternal Sun, and instead are attributed to
Nature and force, which are blind, deaf and unthinking,
it becomes necessary that Nature either should have
present in everything The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.239 machines
and printing-presses for their creation, or should
include in everything power and wisdom enough to create
and administer the universe. The reason for this is as
follows: The
sun’s manifestations and reflections appear in all
small fragments of glass and droplets on the face of the
earth. If those miniature, reflected imaginary suns are
not ascribed to the sun in the sky, it is necessary to
accept the external existence of an actual sun in every
tiny fragment of glass smaller than a match-head, which
possesses the sun’s qualities and which, though small
in size, bears profound meaning; and therefore to accept
actual suns to the number of pieces of glass. In
exactly the same way, if beings and animate creatures are
not attributed directly to the manifestation of the
Pre-Eternal Sun’s Names, it becomes necessary to accept
that in each being, and especially animate beings, there
lies a nature, a force, or quite simply a god that will
sustain an infinite power and will, and knowledge and
wisdom. Such an idea is the most absurd and superstitious
of all the impossibilities in the universe. It
demonstrates that a man who attributes the art of the
Creator of the universe to imaginary, insignificant,
unconscious Nature is without a doubt less conscious of
the truth than an animal. Second
Impossibility If
beings, which are most well-ordered and well-measured,
wise and artistically fashioned, are not ascribed to One
Who is infinitely powerful and wise and instead are
attributed to Nature, it becomes necessary for there to
be present in every bit of soil as many factories and
printing-presses as there are in Europe so that each bit
of soil can be the means for the growth and formation of
innumerable flowers and fruits, of which it is the place
of origin and workshop. The seeds of flowers are sown in
turn in a bowl of soil, which performs the duty of a
flower-pot for them. An ability is apparent in the bowl
of soil that will give shapes and forms which differ
greatly from one another to all the flowers sown in it.
If that ability is not attributed to the All-Glorious and
All-Powerful One, such a situation could not occur
without there being in the bowlful of soil immaterial,
different and natural machines for each flower. This
is because the matter of which seeds, like sperm and eggs
for example, consist is the same. That is, they consist
of an orderless, formless, paste-like mixture of oxygen,
hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen. Together with this, since
air, water, heat and light also are each simple,
unconscious and flow against everything in floods, the
fact that the all-different forms of those flowers emerge
from the soil in a most well-ordered and artistic fashion
self-evidently and necessarily requires that The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.240 there
are present in the soil in the bowl immaterial, miniature
printing-presses and factories to the number of presses
and factories in Europe so that they could weave this
great number of living fabrics and thousands of various
embroidered textiles. Thus,
you can see how far the unbelieving thought of the
Naturalists has deviated from the realm of reason. And
although brainless pretenders who imagine Nature to be
creator claim to be “men of science and reason,” see
just how distant from reason and science is their
thought, so that they have taken a superstition that is
in no way possible, that is impossible, as a way for
themselves. See this and laugh at them! I
f y o u a s k : If such extraordinary impossibilities
and insurmountable difficulties occur when beings are
attributed to Nature, how are those difficulties removed
when they are attributed to the Single and Eternally
Besought One? And how is the difficult impossibility
transformed into that easy necessity? T
h e A n s w e r : We saw in the First Impossibility
that the manifestation of the sun’s reflection displays
its radiance and effect through miniature imaginary suns
with complete ease and lack of trouble in everything from
the minutest inanimate particle to the surface of the
vastest ocean. If each particle’s relationship with the
sun is severed, it then becomes necessary to accept that
the external existence of an actual sun could subsist,
with a difficulty at the level of impossibility, in each
of those minute particles. Similarly,
if each being is ascribed directly to the Single and
Eternally Besought One, everything necessary for each
being can be conveyed to it through a connection and
manifestation with an ease and facility that is at the
level of necessity. If the connection is severed and each
being reverts from its position as an official to being
without duties, and is left to Nature and its own
devices, it then becomes necessary to suppose that, with
a hundred thousand difficulties and obstacles that reach
the degree of impossibility, blind Nature possesses
within it a power and wisdom with which to create and
administer the universe so that it might bring into
existence the wonderful machine of the being of an
animate creature like a fly, which is a tiny index of the
universe. This is impossible not just once but thousands
of times over. I
n S h o r t : Just as it is impossible and precluded
for the Necessarily Existent One to have any partner or
like in respect of His Essence, so too is the
interference of others in His dominicality and in His
creation of beings impossible and precluded. The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.241 As
for the difficulties involved in the Second
Impossibility, as is proved in many parts of the Risale-i
Nur, if all things are attributed to the Single One of
Unity, all things become as easy and trouble-free as a
single thing. Whereas if they are attributed to causes
and Nature, a single thing becomes as difficult as all
things. This has been demonstrated with numerous,
decisive proofs and a summary of one of them is as
follows. If
a man is connected to a king through being a soldier or
an official, by reason of the strength of that
connection, he may perform duties far exceeding his own
individual strength. He may, on occasion, capture another
king in the name of his own king. For he himself does not
carry the equipment and sources of strength necessary to
carry out the duties and work he performs, nor is he
compelled to do so. By reason of the connection, the
king’s treasuries, and the army, which is behind him
and is his point of support, carry his equipment and
sources of strength. That is to say, the duties he
performs may be as grand as the business of a king, and
as tremendous as the actions of an army. Indeed,
through being an official, an ant destroyed Pharaoh’s
palace. Through the connection, a fly killed Nimrod off.
And through the connection, the seed of a pine the size
of a grain of wheat produces all the parts of a huge
pine-tree.3 Were
the connection to be severed and the man discharged from
his duties as an official, he would be compelled to carry
the equipment and sources of strength necessary for his
work himself. He would then only be able to perform
duties in accordance with the sources of strength and
ammunition that he was able to carry. If he was to be
required in this situation to carry out his duties with
the extreme ease of the first situation, it would be
necessary to load on his back the sources of an army’s
strength and the arsenals and munitions factories of a
king. Even clowns who invent stories and superstitions to
make people laugh would be ashamed at this fanciful idea. I
n S h o r t : To attribute all beings to the
Necessarily Existent One is so easy as to be necessary.
While to attribute their creation to Nature is so
difficult as to be impossible and outside the realm of
reason. ____________________ 3.
Yes, on there being this connection, the seed receives an
order from Divine Determining and displays those
wonderful duties. Should the connection be severed, the
creation of the seed would require more equipment, power
and art than the creation of the mighty pine-tree. For it
would be necessary for the pine-tree out there on the
mountain, which is the work of Divine power, to be
physically present together with all its limbs and parts
in what is only the potential tree within the seed and is
the work of Divine Determining. For the mighty tree’s
factory is the seed. The determined, potential tree
within it becomes manifest in the external world through
Divine power, and becomes a physical pine-tree. The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.242 Third
Impossibility The
following two comparisons, which are included in other
parts of the Risale-i Nur, explain this impossibility. A
wild savage entered a palace which had been built in an
empty desert, and completed and adorned with all the
fruits of civilization. He cast an eye over its interior
and saw thousands of well-ordered and artistically
fashioned objects. Because of his boorishness and lack of
intelligence, he said: “No one from outside had a hand
in this, one of the objects from inside must have made
this palace together with all of its contents,” and
started to investigate. However, whatever he looked at,
even his untaught intelligence could not fathom out how
it had made those things. Later,
he saw a notebook in which had been written the plan and
programme of the palace’s construction, an index of its
contents and the rules of its administration. For sure,
the notebook too, which was without hand, eye, or
implement, like the rest of the objects in the palace,
was completely lacking the ability to construct and
decorate the palace. But, since he saw that in comparison
with all the other things, the notebook was related to
the whole palace by reason of its including all its
theoretical laws, he was obliged to say: “There, it is
this notebook that has organized, ordered and adorned
this palace, and has fashioned all these objects and set
them in their places.” He transformed his uncouthness
into ludicrous jabber. Thus,
exactly like this comparison, a boor who subscribed to
Naturalist thought, which denies God, entered the palace
of the universe, which is infinitely more well-ordered,
more perfect and everywhere full of miraculous instances
of wisdom than the palace in the comparison. Not thinking
that it was the work of art of the Necessarily Existent
One, Who is outside the sphere of contingency, and
shunning that idea, he saw a collection of the laws of
Divine practice and an index of dominical art, which are
like a slate for writing and erasing of Divine
Determining in the sphere of contingency, and like a
constantly changing notebook for the laws of the
functioning of Divine power, and are extremely mistakenly
and erroneously given the name ‘Nature’, and he said: “These
things require a cause and nothing else appears to have
the relationship with everything like this notebook has.
It is true that reason will in no way accept that this
unseeing, unconscious and powerless notebook could carry
out this creation, which is the work of an absolute
dominicality and requires infinite power. But since I do
not recognize the Eternal Maker, the most plausible
explanation is to say the notebook made it, and makes it,
so I shall say that.” To which we reply: The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.243 O
you mistaken unfortunate! Your foolishness exceeds
anything imaginable! Lift your head out of the swamp of
Nature and look beyond yourself! See an All-Glorious
Maker to Whom all beings from particles to planets
testify with their different tongues and Whom they
indicate with their fingers! Behold the manifestation of
the Pre-Eternal Inscriber, Who fashions the palace and
Who writes its programme in the notebook! Study His
decree, listen to the Qur’an! Be delivered from your
delirious raving! Second
Comparison: A rustic bumpkin entered the bounds
of a splendid palace and saw there the uniform actions of
an extremely orderly army carrying out its drill. He
observed a battalion, a regiment and a division stand to
attention, stand at ease and march, and open fire when
commanded as though they were a single private. Since his
rude, uncultured mind could not comprehend, so denied,
that a commander had been given command by the
country’s laws and by royal decree, he imagined that
the soldiers were attached to one another with strings.
He thought of what wonderful string it must be, and was
amazed. Later,
he continued on his way till he came upon a magnificent
mosque like Aya Sophia. He entered it at the time of
Friday prayer and watched the congregation of Muslims
rising, bowing, prostrating and sitting at the sound of
man’s voice. Since he did not understand the Shari’a,
which consists of a collection of immaterial, revealed
laws, nor the immaterial rules proceeding from the
Lawgiver’s command, he fancied the congregation to be
bound to one another by physical string, and that this
wonderful string had subjected them and was making them
move like puppets. And, coming up with this idea, which
is so ridiculous as to make the most ignorant roar with
laughter, he went on his way. Exactly
like this comparison, an atheist who subscribed to
materialist thought, which is denial and pure
brutishness, entered the universe, which is a splendid
barracks of the Monarch of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity
for His innumerable forces, and a well-ordered mosque of
that Pre-Eternal All-Worshipped One. He imagined the
immaterial laws of the ordering of the universe, which
proceed from the Pre-Eternal Monarch’s wisdom, each to
have material and physical existence; and supposed the
theoretical laws of the sovereignty of dominicality, and
the rules and ordinances of the Greater Shari’a, the
Shari’a of Creation, which are immaterial and exist
only as knowledge, each to have external, material and
physical existence. But to set up in place of Divine
power those laws, which proceed from the Divine
attributes of knowledge and speech and only exist as
knowledge, and to attribute creation to them; then to
attach the name ‘Nature’ to them, and to deem force,
which is merely a manifestation of dominical power, to be
an independent almighty possessor of The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.244 power,
is a thousand times more low-fallen ignorance than the
ignorance in the comparison. I
n S h o r t : The imaginary and insubstantial thing
that Naturalists call Nature, if it has an external
reality, can at the very most be work of art; it cannot
be the Artist. It is an embroidery, and cannot be the
Embroiderer. It is a set of decrees; it cannot be the
Issuer of the decrees. It is a body of the laws of
creation, and cannot be the Lawgiver. It is but a created
screen to the dignity of God, and cannot be the Creator.
It is passive and created, and cannot be a Creative
Maker. It is a law, not a power, and cannot possess
power. It is the recipient, and cannot be the source. T
o C o n c l u d e : Since beings exist, and as was
stated at the beginning of this treatise, reason cannot
think of a way to explain the existence of beings apart
from the four mentioned, three of which were each
decisively proved through three clear Impossibilities to
be invalid and absurd, then necessarily and
self-evidently the way of Divine Unity, which is the
fourth way, is proved in a conclusive manner. The fourth
way, in accordance with the verse quoted at the
beginning: Is
there any doubt about God, Creator of the heavens and the
earth?4 demonstrates
clearly so that there can be no doubt or hesitation the
Divinity of the Necessarily Existent One, and that all
things issue directly from the hand of His power, and
that the heavens and the earth are under His sway. O
you unfortunate worshipper of causes and Nature! Since
the nature of each thing, like all things, is created,
for it is full of art and is being constantly renewed,
and, like the effect, the apparent cause of each thing is
also created; and since for each thing to exist there is
need for much equipment and many tools; there must exist
a Possessor of Absolute Power Who creates the nature and
brings the cause into existence. And that Absolutely
Powerful One is in no need of impotent intermediaries to
share in His dominicality and creation. God forbid! He
creates cause and effect together directly. In order to
demonstrate His wisdom and the manifestation of His
Names, by establishing an apparent causal relationship
and connection through order and sequence, He makes
causes and Nature a veil to the hand of His power so that
the apparent faults, severities and defects in things
should be ascribed to them, and in this way His dignity
be preserved. Is
it easier for a watch-maker to make the cog-wheels of a
clock, and ____________________ 4.
Qur'an, 14:10. The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.245 then
arrange them and put them in order to form the clock? Or
is it easier for him to make a wonderful machine in each
of the cog-wheels, and then leave the making of the clock
to the lifeless hands of those machines? Is that not
beyond the bounds of possibility? Come on, you judge with
your unfair reason, and say! And
is it easier for a scribe to collect ink, pen and paper,
and then using them proceed to write out a book himself?
Or is it easier for him to create in the paper, pen and
ink a writing-machine that requires more art and trouble
than the book, and can be used only for that book, and
then say to the unconscious machine: “Come on, you
write it!”, and himself not interfere? Is that not a
hundred times more difficult than writing it himself? I
f y o u s a y : Yes, it is a hundred times more
difficult to create a machine that writes a book rather
than writing it out oneself. But is it not in a way
easier, because the machine is the means for producing
numerous copies of the same book? T
h e A n s w e r : Through His limitless power, the
Pre-Eternal Inscriber continuously renews the infinite
manifestations of His Names so as to display them in
ever-differing ways. And through this constant renewal,
He creates the identities and special features in things
in such a manner that no missive of the Eternally
Besought One or dominical book can be the same as any
other book. In any case, each will have different
features in order to express different meanings. If
you have eyes, look at the human face: you will see that
from the time of Adam until today, indeed, until
post-eternity, together with the conformity of their
essential organs, each face has a distinguishing mark in
relation to all the other faces; this is a definite fact.
Therefore, each face may be thought of as a different
book. Only, for the artwork to be set out, different
writing-sets, arrangements, and compositions are
required. And in order to both collect and situate the
materials, and to include everything necessary for the
existence of each, a completely different workshop will
be required. Now,
knowing it to be impossible, we thought of Nature as a
printing-press. But apart from the composition and
printing, which concern the printing-press, that is,
setting up the type in a specific order, the substances
that form an animate being’s body, the creation of
which is a hundred times more difficult than that of the
composition and ordering, must be created in specific
proportions and particular order, brought from the
furthest corners of the cosmos, and placed in the hands
of the printing-press. But in order to do all these
things, there is still need for the power The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.246 and
will of the Absolutely Powerful One, Who creates the
printing-press. That is to say, this hypothesis of the
printing-press is a totally meaningless superstition. Thus,
like these comparisons of the clock and the book, the
All-Glorious Maker, Who is powerful over all things, has
created causes, and so too does He create the effects.
Through His wisdom, He ties the effect to the cause.
Through His will, He has determined a manifestation of
the Greater Shari’a, the Shari’a of Creation, which
consists of the Divine laws concerning the ordering of
all motion in the universe, and determined the nature of
beings, which is only to be a mirror to that
manifestation in things, and to be a reflection of it.
And through His power, He has created the face of that
nature which has received external existence, and has
created things on that nature, and has mixed them one
with the other. Is
it easier to accept this fact, which is the conclusion of
innumerable most rational proofs-in fact, is one not
compelled to accept it?-or is it easier to get the
physical beings that you call causes and Nature, which
are lifeless, unconscious, created, fashioned and simple,
to provide the numberless tools and equipment necessary
for the existence of each thing and to carry out those
matters, which are performed wisely and discerningly? Is
that not utterly beyond the bounds of possibility? We
leave it to you to decide, with your unreasonable mind! The
unbelieving Nature-worshipper replied: “Since you are
asking me to be fair and reasonable, I have to confess
that the mistaken way I have followed up to now is both a
compounded impossibility, and extremely harmful and ugly.
Anyone with even a grain of consciousness would
understand from your analyses above that to attribute the
act of creation to causes and Nature is precluded and
impossible, and that to attribute all things directly to
the Necessarily Existent One is imperative and necessary.
I say: ‘ALL PRAISE BE TO GOD FOR BELIEF,’ and I
believe in Him. Only, I do have one doubt: “I
believe that Almighty God is the Creator, but what harm
does it do to the sovereignty of His dominicality if some
minor causes have a hand in the creation of insignificant
matters and thereby gain for themselves a little praise
and acclaim? Does it diminish His sovereignty in some
way?” T
h e A n s w e r : As we have conclusively proved in
other parts of the Risale-i Nur, the mark of rulership is
that it rejects interference. The most insignficant ruler
or official will not tolerate the interference of his own
son, even, within the sphere of his rule. The fact that,
despite being Caliph, certain devout Sultans had their
innocent sons murdered on the unfounded apprehension that
the sons would interfere in their rule The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.247 demonstrates
how fundamental is this ‘law of the rejection of
interference’ in rulership. And the ‘law of
prevention of participation,’ which the independence
intrinsic to rulership necessitates, has shown its
strength in the history of mankind through extraordinary
upheavals whenever there have been two governors in a
town or two kings in a country. Thus,
if the sense of rulership and sovereignty, which is a
mere shadow in human beings, who are impotent and in need
of assistance, rejects interference to this degree,
prevents the intervention of others, does not accept
participation in its sovereignty, and seeks to preserve
the independence of its position so jealously, then, if
you can, compare this with an All-Glorious One Whose
absolute sovereignty is at the degree of dominicality,
Whose absolute rulership at the degree of Divinity,
absolute independence at the degree of Oneness, and
absolute lack of need at the degree of absolute power,
and understand what a necessary requirement and
inevitable necessity of that rulership is this rejection
of interference, prevention of participation, and
repulsion of partners. Concerning
the second part of your doubt, you said: “If some
of the worship of some insignificant beings is directed
towards certain causes, what deficiency does this cause
to the worship of all beings, from particles to planets,
which is directed towards the Necessarily Existent One,
the Absolute Object of All Worship?” T
h e A n s w e r : The All-Wise Creator of the
universe made the universe like a tree with conscious
beings as its most perfect fruit, and among conscious
beings He made man its most comprehensive fruit. And
man’s most important fruit, indeed the result of his
creation, the aim of his nature, and the fruit of his
life are his thanks and worship. Would that Absolute
Sovereign and Independent Ruler, that Single One of
Unity, Who creates the universe in order to make Himself
known and loved, give away to others man, the fruit of
the whole universe, and man’s thanks and worship, his
most elevated fruit? Totally contrary to His wisdom,
would He make vain and futile the result of creation and
fruit of the universe? God forbid! Would He be content to
give away the worship of creatures to others in a way
that would deny His wisdom and His dominicality? And
although He demonstrates through His actions that He
wishes to make Himself known and loved to an unlimited
degree, would he cause His most perfect creatures to
forget Him by handing over to causes their thanks and
gratitude, love and worship, and cause them to deny the
exalted purposes in the universe? O
friend who has given up the worship of Nature! Now it is
for you to say! To which he replied: The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.248 “All
praise be to God, these two doubts of mine have now been
resolved. And your two proofs concerning Divine Unity
which demonstrate that the only True Object of Worship is
He, and that nothing other than He is worthy of worship
are so brilliant and powerful that to deny them would
require as much arrogance as to deny the sun and the
day.” Conclusion The
person who gave up atheistic Naturalism and came to
believe said: “All praise be to God, I no longer have
any doubts, but there are still a few questions about
which I am curious.” FIRST
QUESTION “We
hear many lazy people and those who neglect the five
daily prayers ask: ‘What need has God Almighty of our
worship that in the Qur’an He severely and insistently
reproves those who give up worship and threatens them
with such a fearsome punishment as Hell? How is it in
keeping with the style of the Qur’an, which is
moderate, mild and fair, to demonstrate the ultimate
severity towards an insignificant, minor fault?” T
h e A n s w e r : God Almighty has no need of your
worship, nor indeed of anything else. It is you who needs
to worship, for in truth you are sick. As we have proved
in many parts of the Risale-i Nur, worship is a sort of
remedy for your spiritual wounds. If someone who is ill
responds to a compassionate doctor who insists on his
taking medicines that are beneficial for his condition by
saying: “What need do you have of it that you are
insisting in this way?”, you can understand how absurd
it would be. As
for the severe threats and fearsome punishments in the
Qur’an concerning the giving up of worship, they may be
likened to a king, who, in order to protect his
subject’ rights, inflicts a severe punishment on an
ordinary man in accordance with the degree that his crime
infringes those rights. In
the same way, the man who gives up worship and ritual
prayer is violating in a significant manner the rights of
beings, who are like the subjects of the Monarch of
Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, and is in fact acting
unjustly towards them. For the perfections of beings are
manifested through the glorification and worship
performed by that aspect of them which is directed
towards their Maker. The one who abandons worship does
not and cannot see this worship. Indeed, he denies it.
Furthermore, beings occupy an exalted position by reason
of their worship and glorification, and each is a missive
of the Eternally Besought One, and a The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.249 mirror
to the Names of its Sustainer. Since he reduces them from
their high positions and considers them to be
unimportant, lifeless, aimless, and without duties, he is
insulting them, and denying and transgressing their
perfections. Indeed,
everyone sees the world in his own mirror. God Almighty
created man as a measure and scale for the universe. And
from the world He gave a particular world to each person.
This world He colours for him in accordance with his
sincere beliefs. For example, a despairing, lamenting,
weeping person sees beings as weeping and in despair,
while a cheerful, optimistic, merry person sees the
universe as joyful and smiling. A reflective man given to
solemn worship and glorification discovers and sees to a
degree the certain, truly existent worship and
glorification of beings, while a person who abandons
worship through either neglect or denial sees beings in a
manner totally contrary and opposed to the reality of
their perfections, thus transgressing their rights. Furthermore,
since the one who gives up prayer does not own himself,
he wrongs his own soul, which is a slave of its True
Owner. His Owner delivers awesome threats in order to
protect His slave’s rights from his evil-commanding
soul. Also, since he has given up worship, which is the
result of his creation and the aim of his nature, it is
like an act of aggression against Divine wisdom and
dominical will, and he therefore receives punishment. I
n S h o r t : The abandoner of worship both wrongs
his own soul, which is the slave and totally owned
property of Almighty God, and wrongs and transgresses the
rights of the perfections of the universe. Certainly,
just as unbelief is an insult to beings, so is the
abandonment of worship a denial of the universe’s
perfections. And since it is an act of aggression against
Divine wisdom, it is deserving of awesome threats, and
severe punishment. Thus,
it is to express this deservedness and the above facts
that the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition chooses in a
miraculous way that severe style, which, in complete
conformity with the principles of eloquence, corresponds
to the requirements of the situation. SECOND
QUESTION The
person who had given up Naturalism and come to believe
next asked: “It
is indeed a vast truth that each being is dependent on
Divine will and dominical power in every aspect; in all
of its functions, qualities and actions. By reason of
this vastness, our narrow minds cannot The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.250 comprehend
it. However, the infinite abundance that we see around
us, and the boundless ease in the creation and formation
of things, and the infinite ease and facility in the way
of unity, which was established through your proofs
above, and the infinite ease that verses of the Qur’an
like the following clearly demonstrate and expound, Your
creation and resurrection is as a single soul,5 and, The
matter of the Hour shall be but as the twinkling of the
eye, or even closer6 show
this mighty truth to be a matter that is most acceptable
and rational. What is the wisdom and secret of this
ease?” T
h e A n s w e r : This matter was elucidated in a
most clear, decisive and convincing fashion in the
explanation of, And
He is powerful over all things, which
forms the Tenth Phrase of the Twentieth Letter. In
particular, it was demonstrated even more clearly in the
Addendum to that Letter that when attributed to the
Single Maker, all beings become as easy as a single
being. If they are not attributed to that Single One of
Unity, the creation of a single creature becomes as
difficult as that of all beings, and a seed as
problematical as a tree. When they are ascribed to their
True Maker, the universe becomes as easy and trouble-free
as a tree, a tree as easy as a seed, Paradise as easy as
the spring, and the spring as easy as a flower. We shall
now point out briefly one or two evidences that have been
explained in detail in other parts of the Risale-i Nur
out of the hundreds which explain the underlying reasons
for and instances of wisdom in the conspicuous, boundless
abundance and profusion of beings, the ease of the great
number of individuals in each species, and the fact that
well-ordered, artistically fashioned and valuable beings
come into existence with immense speed and ease. For
example, if the command of a hundred soldiers is given to
one officer, it is a hundred times easier than if the
command of one soldier is given to a hundred officers.
And if to equip an army it is assigned to one
headquarters, one law, one factory and the command of one
king, it quite simply becomes as easy as equipping a
single soldier. In the same way, if to equip one soldier
it is referred to numerous headquarters, numerous
factories and numerous commanders, it becomes as
difficult as equipping an army. Because in order to equip
a single soldier, it would require as many factories as
are necessary for a whole army. ____________________ 5.
Qur’an, 31:28. The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.251 Again,
since by reason of the mystery of unity, the vital
necessities of a tree are provided through one root, one
centre and according to one law, it produces thousands of
fruits as easily as a single fruit. This is plain to see.
If unity changes to multiplicity, and all the necessities
vital for each fruit are provided from different places,
to produce each fruit becomes as difficult as to produce
the tree. And to produce a single seed, even, which is a
sample and index of the tree, becomes as difficult as the
tree. Because all the necessities vital for the tree’s
life are necessary for the seed. Thus,
there are hundreds of examples like these which show that
it is easier for thousands of beings to come into
existence through unity than for a single being to come
into existence through multiplicity and ascribing
partners to God. Since this truth has been proved with
absolute certainty in other parts of the Risale-i Nur, we
refer you to those and here only explain a most important
reason for this ease and facility from the point of view
of Divine knowledge, Divine Determining, and dominical
power. It is as follows: You
are a being. If you attribute yourself to the Pre-Eternal
All-Powerful One, He creates you at a command through His
infinite power out of nothing in an instant, like
striking a match. If you do not do this and rather
attribute yourself to physical causes and nature, then
since you are a well-ordered summary, fruit, and
miniature index and list of the universe, in order to
make you, it would be necessary to sift with a fine sieve
the universe and its elements, and to gather in precise
measure from all the corners of the universe the
substances of which your body is composed. For physical
causes only gather and join together. It is confirmed by
people of reason that they cannot create out of nothing
what is not present in them. Since this is the case, they
would be compelled to collect together the body of a tiny
animate being from every corner of the cosmos. Now
understand what ease there is in unity, Divine Unity, and
what difficulties lie in misguidance and attributing
partners to God! Secondly,
there is an infinite ease also with regard to Divine
knowledge. It is like this: Divine Determining is an
aspect of Divine knowledge; it determines a measure for
each thing, which is like its particular and immaterial
mould; the determined measure is like a plan or model for
the thing’s being. When Divine power creates, it does
so with extreme ease in accordance with the determined
measure. If the thing is not attributed to the
All-Powerful One of Glory, Who possesses all-embracing,
infinite and pre-eternal knowledge, as was described
above, not only thousands of difficulties appear, but
hundreds of impossibilities. For if it The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.252 was
not for the determined measure which exists in Divine
knowledge, thousands of material moulds with external
existences would have to be employed in the body of even
a tiny animate being. So,
understand one reason for the infinite ease in unity and
the endless difficulties in misguidance and ascribing
partners to God. Realize what a veracious, correct, and
exalted truth is stated by the verse, The
matter of the Hour shall be but as the twinkling of the
eye, or even closer. THIRD
QUESTION The
former enemy and now rightly-guided friend then asked:
“Philosophers, who have made many advances these days,
claim that nothing is created out of nothing, and nothing
is annihilated and goes to nothing; there is only
compostion and decomposition, and this makes the factory
of the universe run. Is this correct?” T
h e A n s w e r : Since the most advanced
philosophers who did not consider beings in the light of
the Qur’an saw that the formation and existence of
beings by means of Nature and causes was so difficult as
to be impossible -in the manner proved above-, they
diverged into two groups. One
group became Sophists; abdicating reason, which is
exclusive to human beings, and falling lower than
mindless beasts, they found it easier to deny the
universe’s existence, and even their own existences,
than to follow the way of misguidance, which claims that
causes and Nature have the power to create. They
therefore denied both themselves and the universe and
descended into absolute ignorance. The
second group saw that in misguidance, according to which
causes and Nature are creator, the creation of a fly or a
seed, even, entails innumerable difficulties and requires
a power unacceptable to reason. They were therefore
compelled to deny the act of creation and to say:
“Nothing can exist out of nothing.” Seeing total
annihiliation also to be impossible, they declared:
“What exists cannot go to nothing.” They fancied an
imaginary situation in which combining and decomposition,
gathering and dispersion, occur through the motion of
particles and the winds of chance. Now,
see! Those who consider themselves to be the most
intelligent are the most profoundly ignorant and stupid.
Understand just how ludicrous, debased, and ignorant
misguidance makes man, and take a lesson! The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.253 Indeed,
a Pre-Eternal Power created the heavens and the earth in
six days, every year creates four hundred thousand
species simultaneously on the face of the earth, and in
six weeks every spring constructs a living world more
full of art and wisdom than the world itself. Thus, it is
more foolish and ignorant than the Sophists, the first
group above, to deny the act of creation and deem it
unlikely that, like a chemical that when applied shows up
invisible writing, Pre-Eternal Power should give external
existence to beings, which, though externally
non-existent, exist as knowledge, and whose plans and
measures are determined in the realm of a Pre-Eternal
Knowledge. These
unfortunates are absolutely impotent and have nothing at
their disposal apart from the faculty of will. Although
they are inflated like Pharaohs, they can neither
annihilate anything nor create anything from nothing,
even a minute particle. And so, although nothing comes
into existence out of nothing at the hand of causes and
Nature on which they rely, out of their stupidity they
say: “Nothing comes from non-being, and nothing goes to
non-being.” And they even extend this absurd and
erroneous principle to the Absolutely All-Powerful One. Indeed,
the All-Powerful One of Glory has two ways of creating: The
First is through origination and invention. That is,
He brings a being into existence out of nothing, out of
non-existence, and creates everything necessary for it,
also out of nothing, and places those necessities in its
hand. The
Second is through composition, through art. That is,
He forms certain beings out of the elements of the
universe in order to demonstrate subtle instances of
wisdom, like displaying the perfections of His wisdom and
the manifestations of many of His Names. Through the law
of Providing, he sends particles and matter, which are
dependent on His command, to these beings and employs the
particles in them. Yes,
the Absolutely All-Powerful One creates in two ways: He
both originates, and He composes. To annihilate what
exists and to make exist what does not exist is most
simple and easy for Him. It is one of His constant and
universal laws. The man, therefore, who says: “He
cannot give existence to what does not exist” in the
face of a power that in one spring makes exist out of
nothing the forms and attributes of three hundred
thousand animate creatures, and, besides their particles,
all their conditions and states, such a man should
himself be obliterated! The
Flashes / The Twenty-Third Flash / On Nature - p.254 The
person who gave up Nature and embraced the truth said:
“Praise and thanks be to God Almighty to the number of
particles in existence for I have attained to complete
belief. I have been saved from delusion and misguidance.
Not one of my doubts remains. “ALL
PRAISE BE TO GOD FOR THE RELIGION OF ISLAM, AND COMPLETE
AND PERFECT BELIEF!” All
glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which
You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.7
**** ____________________ 7.
Qur’an, 2:32. |
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