| gencnurCom | From the Risale-i Nur Collection Reflections on the Divine Bediüzzaman SAID NURSI Table
of Contents Creation
Rejects Associating Partners With God 1 Manifestations
of Divine Names—....... 19 Everything
is an Ode of Divine Names 27 The
Colorful Page of the Book of the Universe 39 Each
Science Speaks of God in Its Own Tongue 47 He:
APoint of Divine Unity..................... 55 How
Beings Worship God...................... 61 Subhan
Allah [Glory be to God].............. 73 Al-Hamdu
Lillah [All Praise be to God] 77 AUahuAkbar
[God is the Greatest]........ 83 The
Ranks in Manifesting Allahu akbar [God
is the Greatest]............................... 87 Refuting
False Notions About the Origin of Existence... Ill
In
the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Had
there been gods in either [Earth or the heavens]
besides God, both surely would be in disorder. ( There
is no god but God, He alone; having no partner; His is
the Kingdom and to Him belongs all praise; He alone gives
life and makes to die; He is living and dies not; in His
hand is all good. He is powerful over everything, and
unto Him is the homecoming. One
night during Ramadan I mentioned that each of those
eleven statements of affirmation of Unity contained an
aspect of Divine Unity and a particular good tiding
(for believers). I explained only the meaning of without
partner in the form of an allegorical conversation.
Now, at the request of brothers at the mosque and friends
attending me, I have committed this conversation to
writing.
Imagine
someone who, on behalf of unbelievers (who attribute
everything to nature or material causes, or are
polytheists or atheists), presumes to be Lord or exercise
Lordship over some part of creation. That is, this being
alleges that he or she owns or rules, controls or
disposes, of that part. Coming upon an atom, he or she
informs it in the language or according to the
presumptions of materialistic science or natural
philosophy that he or she is its true master and owner.
The atom answers in the language of truth and revealed
wisdom:
I
perform many tasks, and work within, alongside, or upon
an infinite variety of created, ever-evolving entities.
Do you have the knowledge and power to direct me in
these tasks? I work and move in a measured relationship
with innumerable other atoms of a like constitution.1
Can you command and employ all of these? If you own,
arrange, or manage the infinite complexity of entities
of, for example, red blood corpuscles, of whose atoms I
am but one, and do so with perfect knowledge and
discipline, then presume to be my master, and only then
presume me to be attributable to any other than God. But
you cannot do so, be silent then! You do not own me and
cannot interfere in my operation, for all of my movements
and activities are so purposeful and arranged that only
One with infinite Wisdom and all-encompassing Knowledge
can run them. If any other had a hand in it, there would
be confusion. How can anyone who, like you, who cannot
even give yourself life, whose seeing and feeling are
blind to truth, who sees yourself as subject to chance
and accidents of nature, even presume to interfere in
my functioning? The
pretender responds as all materialists do: "Be your
own master then! Why do you claim to be in the service of
some other power?" The atom replies: If
I had a mind with knowledge as all-encompassing as the
sun's light and with power as intense as its heat; if I
had powers of feeling as all-embracing as the seven
colors in its light; if I had faces and eyes to turn to
every being and every place with which my being and my
place are connected; and if I had authority in and over
all these connections—then perhaps, I might have
claimed to be my own master. Yet even then, had I done
so, I only would have been as foolish as yourself. Now
get away from me, for you have no business with me! The
pretender, giving up on the atom, looks for a particular
and harmonious grouping of atoms in the cell of a living
body. Coming upon a red blood corpuscle (and thinking
he or she can grasp its nature and control its workings),
he or she speaks to it in the name of material causality
and the language of natural philosophy: "I possess
you. I am your master, and you work for me." The red
blood corpuscle answers in the language of truth and
Divine Wisdom: But
I am not alone. If you also possess all my fellows in the
blood army with whom I share the same formation
pointing to our Maker, as well as the same duties and
functions, and if you have the full and detailed
knowledge, the awesome and subtle power, as well as the
perfect wisdom to direct all the body cells through which
we move and in which we operate, there might be some
sense to your pretensions. But as you depend on blind and
deaf nature or natural forces, you can have no influence
over us, let alone mastery over me. Our order is as
perfect as it is intricate. Only One Who sees, hears, and
knows all things forward and backward in time and in
all directions of space; only He Who governs the being
and operation of all that is; only He could be our true
sovereign and master. So go your way, for I have better
and more important things to do than answer your
nonsensical pretensions! Unable
to deceive the red blood corpuscle, the pretender moves
on and comes across a larger entity they call
"cell." Addressing it in the familiar language
of natural philosophy, he or she says: "True, the
atom and the red blood corpuscle did not listen to me. I
hope you can understand me. As I can see, you are
composed of several smaller elements, like things
arranged in a room. I can have a hand in this
arrangement, and arrange and rearrange it. You can be
my creature, and I can have power over you." The
body cell answers with wisdom and in the language of
truth: Although
I am small, I perform vital tasks. I have the subtlest
and yet strongest connections with all my neighboring
cells, and with the whole organism of which I am a part.
I perform vital functions with, for example, arteries and
veins, sensory and motor nerves, electrical forces of
attraction and repulsion, and the principles or elements
determining my size, shape, and reproduction. If you have
the knowledge and power to form an entire organism, to
order and regulate the arteries and veins and nerves, and
to put to work all the diverse forces and principles
managing our form and function; if you can direct, with
irresistible power and all-comprehending wisdom, the
innumerable body cells similar to me in artistry and
quality, then show your ability. Then perhaps, you
might claim to master or make me. But
as you cannot, leave me—there are even now red blood
cells carrying nourishment for me, white blood cells
confronting diseases that might threaten me—I am
busy, so do not waste my time any further with your
vanity. No one as empty as you are of
true
understanding, of true hearing and seeing, could ever
meddle in our being. Our order is so precise, delicate,
and perfect that only One with absolute Wisdom,
Knowledge, and Power could control us.2 If it
were otherwise, our cohesion and order would not exist or
would quickly fall into chaos. Disappointed,
the pretender seeks out a still larger entity and,
confronting a human body, reiterates the argument in the
language of unenlightened nature and erring philosophy:
"I can say that you are mine, that I have a share in
owning and managing you." The human body answers in
the language of wisdom and truth and in the
"natural" tongue of its order:
Do
you have the knowledge and power to control and direct
all human bodies similar to me that manifest the same
signs of supreme power and creation? Do you have dominion
over the treasuries of light, air, and water, as well as
of all plants and animals, which are the ground and store
of my provision and sustenance? Do you have the
boundless wisdom and infinite power by which such
invaluable, immaterial entities as the mind, intellect,
and soul are so securely disposed in a narrow, bodily
envelope, such as me, and made to "worship" by
performing extremely important tasks? If you have such
power, knowledge, and wisdom, demonstrate it—only then
claim to own and manage me. But
as you cannot, be silent! My Maker is All-Pow-erful,
All-Knowing, All-Seeing, and All-Hearing—this is
testified to by the perfection with which I am
organized and by the sign of Oneness in my face. A
being as ignorant and incompetent as you could never have
the least hand in His art. The
pretender, nonplussed that all points in the . human body
reject his or her claim to have a say, moves on and
surveys humanity as a species, thinking: They live in
such diverse and complex societies—I see that the
devil finds a way to interfere in their affairs of will
and their social relations. Is there a way for me to
enter into the creation, constitution, and operation of
their bodies? If I can find such a point, I will be able
to control the body and its cells that turned me down. With
this intention, he or she addresses the species in the
familiar language of blind nature and erring
philosophy: "You appear very diverse and at great
odds. I am your master and owner or, at the very least, I
have a share in your making." To this, humanity
responds in the language of truth and reality, and in
the tongue of wisdom and order: Do
you have the power, knowledge, and wisdom to create the
rich texture covering Earth's face, woven with perfect
wisdom from varied fabrics, thousands of mineral and
plant and animal species, including humanity? Can you,
with a like wisdom, renew this texture and do so
continuously? Do you possess the all-extensive power
and all-comprehending science that manages Earth, of
which we are a fruit, and the universe, of which we are
the seed? Can you send us, from across the universe and
in measured amounts, the provisions we need for our
sustenance? Can you generate all individuals of my
kind, past and future, whose faces bear the same sign of
supreme majesty as mine? If so, you might then, perhaps,
claim mastery over me. But
as you cannot, be silent! Do not dare to say that you
have a hand in me just from remarking the diversity in
my kind, for that diversity is part of our ordering's
perfection. Diversity and multiplicity are copies made
with a perfect order from the Book of Destiny
[containing the origins of beings in a perfect order]
by Power. Our diversity of appearance is a sort of
reproducing of our forms [dictated by Destiny]—as the
perfect diversity and order of plants and animals
(which are inferior to us, under our vigilance, and
which we study) also testifies. Is
it at all plausible that the One Who weaves the diverse
fabrics spread over and through this world's texture
with great skill is other than its Maker, that the
Creator of a fruit is other than the Creator of the
tree from which it grows, and that the Creator of a seed
is other than the Creator of the fruit it yields? You
are blind, for you do not see the miracles of His
Omnipotence in my face and the wonders of His Creation in
my constitution. If you had seen, you would have
understood that nothing escapes my Maker's observation or
tasks Him capriciously. He makes the stars as easily as
He makes an atom. He creates springtime as smoothly as He
creates a flower. He has placed the vast universe's index
in my constitution with perfect correspondence. Could
anyone who is, as you are, corporeal, incompetent,
blind, and deaf have had a hand in such a Being's
artistry? So be silent, and be gone! The
pretender then turns to the widespread texture
overlaying Earth's face like an embellished cloak and
speaks to it in the name of causality and in the language
of natural philosophy: "I can manage you. I own
you, or at least have a share in you." The texture
answers in the name of truth and in the language of
wisdom3:
If
you have the skill and power to create and weave all
textures that have been hung on the line of past time,
laid, unlaid, and relaid seamlessly throughout all time,
and that will be hung on the line of future time,
according to programs and patterns pre-designed with
the greatest precision and in accordance with Destiny's
framework, each elegant, purposeful, and uniquely
adorned; if you possess immaterial hands that can reach
out from Earth's creation to its destruction, or rather,
from the eternity of no-beginning to the eternity that
is to come; if you have the power and science to create
all individuals within this texture, restoring and
renewing them in exact order and wisdom; if you can
create and possess Earth itself which is, as it were, a
model for me and puts me on like a veil—only if you
can, only then claim mastery over me—if not, leave! You
have no business here! In
my rich and harmonious diversity are demonstrated clear
signs of Oneness, and the clear stamp of His Uniqueness.
Only He Who controls the whole cosmos, Who can do
innumerable tasks simultaneously, Who can see all beings
and their actions, whether inner or outer, at the same
instant, Who is present and vigilant everywhere while
being unbounded by time, space, or dimension, and who has
infinite wisdom, science, and power—only such a Being
could ever own or have dominion over me.
The
'pretender turns to Earth, hoping to deceive it,4
and repeats the same argument in the name of causality
and in the language of mere naturalism: "I see that
you roam about idly in the universe. Certainly you can
have no master, and so I claim you." Upon hearing
this, Earth roars like thunder in the name of truth:
Do
not be foolish! How can I roam about without a master?
Have you ever seen any disorder, lack of wisdom or
skill, in the making of my dress or in any little point
or fabric of it, that you dare to say that I roam about
idly? Do you presume to own my orbit, which would take
some 25,000 years to traverse at a human being's pace but
which I complete in my annual round with perfect
discipline and precision?3 Do you claim to own
my ten fellow planets, which carry on their appointed
tasks along their individual orbits as I do? Do you claim
to have the unlimited science and power to create and
control the sun, which gathers and focuses our orbits,
orbits to which we are bound through the gravitation of
mercy, and to make me and other planets revolve around
it? Since
you cannot plausibly make such a claim, leave me, for I
have work to do. Our awesome circling, purposeful
submission, and magnificent discipline show that our
Maker is a Being to Whom all entities submit, and
submit perfectly—as a dutiful soldier submits to his
superior's orders. He is the Wise and Absolute Ruler of
Majesty, Who holds the sun and planets in their proper
order as easily as He adorns each tree with its proper
fruit. Having
failed to find a place in governing Earth, the pretender
turns to the sun in the expectation that he or she can
open a path there. Since the sun is so great an entity,
he or she hopes to use it to gain control of Earth.
Addressing the sun in the name of the way of associating
partners with God Almighty and in the language of satanic
philosophy, as sun-worshippers do, the pretender says:
"You are a monarch. You are your own master. You do
whatever you will." The
sun answers in the name of truth and reality and in the
language of Divine Wisdom: No,
indeed! How can you utter such an untruth! I am but an
obedient officer, no more than a candle in my Master's
guest-house. I could not own so much as a fly, even its
wing, for even such a small thing has such immaterial
faculties and fine, exquisite works of art as its eye and
ear. I do not have their like in any of my workshops. I
cannot make even the smallest of them. Though
rebuked by the sun, the pretender argues in the manner of
Pharaohs, arrogant creatures who promote themselves as
deities: "I claim you as mine in the name of
causality, since you are not your own master but merely a
servant." The sun replies in the name of truth and
in the language of obedience to its Creator: "I can
belong only to that Being Who has created me and all
resplendent stars like me, Who, having fixed them in
their stations with perfect wisdom, rotates them in
glory and adorns the wide heavens thereby." The
pretender then comes among the stars and thinks:
"Perhaps I can find some clients here."
Talking to them in the name of causality and its
partners and in the language of corrupt philosophy as
star-worshippers do, he says: "You must be under
the control of many different rulers, seeing that you are
situated at such vast distances from each other."
Upon this, one star, speaking for all others, answers
him: How
senseless and mindless you must be, not to see or
understand the signs of the Creator's Oneness and the
stamp of His Uniqueness in our nature. Do you not know
how absolute is our organization, how secure the laws
we obey? You think we have no order. In fact, we are
the handiwork and servants of a-Unique and Indivisible
Being Who holds the sky (our sea), the cosmos (our tree),
and the vastness of space (our wide, maneuvering field)
in His control. Like the many-colored lamps indicating
human festivities, we are luminous witnesses of His
perfect Dominion, brilliant evidence blazing across
boundless space, of His Kingdom and Lordship. Each
of us is a shining servant displaying His Majesty, near
and far, in this world and the next, and in the many
worlds beyond, within the infinitude of His Creation.
Each of us is a miracle from the Power of the One, a
perfectly ordered fruit on the Tree of Creation, a bright
manifestation of God's Unity, a home and mount and mosque
for His angels, a lamp and a sun of higher worlds, an
ornament, a flower, a palace of the celestial sphere, a
luminescent fish in the heavenly ocean, and each a
beautiful eye set in the face of the heavens.6
Throughout our vast community there exists profound
silence amidst tranquility, movement in wisdom, light
ornament with majestic grandeur, the most varied beauty
in perfect harmony, and the highest art in absolute
balance.
Since
you accuse us of disorder and empty distances, of
having no duty and no master, while we proclaim in
innumerable tongues the Unity of our Majestic Maker and
His being the Eternally-Besought-of- All,
together with His Attributes of perfection, grace, and
beauty—since you accuse us, whose purity is
unstained, whose obedience and servanthood are
perfect, you merit a slap in the face in payment for
your absurd effrontery!
The
star strikes the pretender's face in a gesture like the
stoning of the devil, and hurls him from the stars'
domain to the bottom of Hell. It also hurls natural
philosophy into the storms of uncertainty,7 and
chance into the well of non-existence. It hurls all who
arrogate to themselves some portion in the One God's
Dominion into the utter darkness of improbability and
impossibility, and every argument against true religion
into the lowest of the low. Then the stars together
recite the holy decree: Had there been gods in either
(Earth or the heavens) besides God, both would be in
disorder (
"There
is no place for any partner with God, neither in the
interstices of a fly's wing nor amid the heavens' stars
and spaces." Glory
be to You! We have no knowledge save what You have taught
us. You are All-Knowing, All-Wise. O
God, bestow peace and blessings on our master Muhammad,
the lamp of Your Unity amidst the multiplicity of Your
creatures, and the herald of Your Oneness in the
display hall of Your universe, and on his Family and
Companions.
Manifestations
of Divine Names* In
the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate God,
there is no god but He; His are the Most Beautiful
Names. (20:8) A
sovereign has different titles by which he is known and
mentioned in his government's various departments,
different designations and attributes among his subjects'
classes, and different names and signs for his rale's
levels. For example, he is the supreme judge (justice
department), chief aa^ministrator (civil service),
commander-in-chief (army), and supreme teacher
(education department). If you know the rest of his names
and titles, you will understand that he may have as many
names and titles related to his government's departments
and levels of his rule.
It
is as if, due to his public person and private system
of communication, he is present in every department.
Through his laws, regulations, and representatives, he
superintends all officials, watches all subjects, and
is seen by them. Behind the veil at every level, he
administers, executes his orders, and is watchful through
his decree, knowledge, and power. Similarly,
the Lord of the Worlds, the Sovereign of eternity, has
reputations and designations at the levels of His
Lordship's manifestations. All of these differ but
correspond to each other. His Names and marks differ in
the spheres of His Divinity, but their manifestations
are concentric with each other. In His majestic
execution of His rule, His representations and
appellations differ but resemble each other. In the
operations of His Power, His titles differ but are
linked with each other. In the manifestations of His
Attributes, He has sacred ways of disclosing Himself
that differ but point to each other. In His modes of
acting, His wise operations are many but perfect each
other. In His colorful artistry and varied works of
art, His magnificent aspects of Lordship differ but
correspond to each other. In
every world and division of beings, each of His Most
Beautiful Names is manifested individually. In that world
or sphere in which a particular Name is dominant, all
other Names are subordinate. In every level and division
of beings, regardless of size, God has a particular
display of Himself, a particular manifestation of
Lordship, and a particular manifestation of a Name.
Although the Name in question has a universal
manifestation, It concentrates on something particular in
such a way that you think It is exclusive to that thing.8 In
addition, although the All-Majestic Creator is nearer to
everything than itself, He is separated from it through
70,000 veils of light. For example, consider how many
veils are between the Name of Creator's particular degree
of creativity manifested in you and Its universal and
greatest manifestation as the Creator of the Universe.
This suggests that if you can go beyond the whole
universe, you may reach, through the door of being
created, to the highest limit of the manifestations of
the Name of Creator and draw close to the Sphere of the
Attribute of Creativity.
Since
the veils have windows opening onto each other, the Names
appear to be concentric with each other, the designations
correspond to each other, the representations are like
each other, the operations perfect each other, and
Lordship's various dispositions cooperate with each
other, then it is surely necessary for one who recognizes
Almighty God by one of His Names, titles, or aspects of
His Lordship not to deny His other titles, actions, and
aspects of Lordship. If we do not move from the
manifestation of one Name to the other Names, we are in
loss. For
example, if we do not see the All-Knowing where we see
the works of the All-Powerful and the Creator, we may
fall into heedlessness and misguidance by regarding
nature as self-originated. Thus we always should recite
"He" and "He is God," and listen and
hear from everything: "He is God, the One." In
unison with all creation, we should proclaim: "There
is no god but He." The manifest Qur'an, through the
declaration: "God, there is no god but He. His are
the Most Beautiful Names," points to these truths. If
you want to observe those elevated truths closer, ask a
stormy sea or the quaking Earth: "What are you
saying?" You will hear them repeat: "O Majestic
One. O Majestic One, O Honorable One of Might. O
All-Compelling One." Ask small creatures and
then-young who are maintained everywhere with care and
compassion: "What are you saying?" They will
hymn: "O Gracious One, O Gracious One, O Most
Compassionate
One."9 Then listen to how the heavens
sing: "O Majestic One of Grace." Listen to
Earth, which says: "O Gracious One of Majesty."
Pay attention to animals and hear them invoke: "O
Most Merciful One, O Provider." When you ask the
spring, you will hear it reciting such Names as: "O
Most Caring One, O Most Merciful One, O Most
Compassionate One, O Most Munificent One, O Gracious One,
O Affectionate One, O Fashioner, O IUuminating One, O
Favoring One, O Adorner." Ask
those who are truly human. See how they recite and
manifest all of God's Most Beautiful Names, and how they
are inscribed on their forehead. If you look carefully,
you may discern them one by one. It is as if the universe
were a huge orchestra singing the Divine Names. With the
songs sung in the least notes and tones mixed with the
highest, the universe produces a magnificent harmony. All
of the Names are manifested on humanity. However there
are many Names, and their manifestation in different
ways and degrees has caused variety in the universe, in
the angels' worshipping, and among human beings. It also
has caused It also has caused differences among the laws
of Prophets, the ways of saints, and the paths of
purified scholars. For example, the All-Powerful was more
predominant in Jesus than the other Names manifested in
him. The All-Loving One prevails in those who follow
the path of love, and the All-Wise in those who follow
the path of contemplation and reflection.
Consider
the following: Someone is simultaneously a teacher,
officer, lawyer, and civil service inspector. In each
office, that person has relations, duties, salaries,
responsibilities, promotions, enemies, and rivals. He
meets with the sovereign under many different titles, and
having recourse to him through these titles, seeks his
help in many ways. Humanity, in exactly the same way and
upon whom numerous Divine Names are manifested, has many
duties and is the target of many kinds of enmity. Thus
we seek refuge in God by invoking many of His Names. In
fact, Prophet Muhammad, the pride of humanity and the
most perfect human being, prayed to God through 1,001 of
His Names in his al-Jaw-shan al-Kabir supplication, and
sought refuge in Him from Hellfire. This is why God
commands us in Swat al-Nas to seek refuge in Him through
three of His Titles, and via In the Name of God, the
Merciful, the Compassionate, He teaches us to seek help
from Him through three of His Names.
Everything
is an Ode of Divine Names* In
the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. There
is nothing that does not glorify Him with praise. (17:44) This
consists of two topics.
First
topic: According to the meaning of There is nothing that
does not glorify Him with praise, everything has many
aspects, like windows, opened on Almighty God. All truths
contained in creation are based on the Divine Names. Each
thing owes its existence and essential nature to one or
several of God's Names. The variety of art in things and
the sciences also are based on a Divine Name. For
example, philosophy, in its true sense, depends on the
Name All-Wise, medicine on the Name All-Healing, and
geometry and engineering are based on the Names
All-De-teratining, All-Proportioning, and All-Giving of
Exact Measure. All
human arts and levels of human perfections have their
sources in Divine Names. Some exacting saintly scholars
have concluded: "A thing's reality consists in
Divine Names, and its nature is the inscription of
those realities. The manifestations of at least twenty
Divine Names can be seen in one living creature." We
will discuss this subtle and comprehensive truth
through a comparison and an analysis. When
extremely skillful sculptors want to draw a beautiful
flower and sculpt a beautiful woman, they first determine
the general lines and then, basing themselves on exact
measures and planmng, pursue their goals by using the
necessary engineering or design knowledge. With the
compasses of knowledge and purpose (or wisdom), they draw
the outer lines of the eyes, ears, and the nose, and the
leaves and seed-producing parts in a proportionate
manner, thereby displaying their art and accord with the
parts' actual functions. This shows that these
sculptors are great artists who do everything for a
purpose and put everything in its proper place. Each
sculptor attaches great importance to the work's beauty
and adornment, which greatly contributes to his or her
art. As these sculptors are benevolent and want to see
everybody happy, their works give the impression of
pleasure and happiness, which, in turn, suggest that the
sculptors are kind and gracious. These attributes
originate from their love of beings. As the sculptors
want other beings to recognize and love them so that
they might ask for help, a desire arising from the
sculptors' compassion and desire to benefit others, they
fill the woman's arms with everything beneficial and
attach jewels to the flower. The sculptors' personal
perfections and virtues cause compassion and tenderness
for others to arise in them, and they unite beauty and
love in themselves. Since their sublime feelings are so
pure that they become happy and exhilarated only when
they see others happy, they want to be known by others.
Thus they make pictures and statues that reflect all
their virtues and laudable qualities. Similarly,
the All-Wise Maker has created Paradise and the world,
the heavens and Earth, animals, jinn and humanity, and
angels and spirit beings by manifesting His Names. He
determines each according to certain measures and gives
each a certain form. This displays His Names the
All-Fashioner, All-Determining, and Giver of Measure.
Fashioning, detenruning, and giving of measure are
based on Knowledge and Wisdom, and therefore point to the
Divine Names the All-Knowing and All-Wise. By
manifesting His Names the All-Munificent and
All-Gracious, He equips His creatures with all
necessary well-proportioned parts and gives each part
many complex functions. By manifesting the same Names, He
furnishes and adorns Earth with minerals, plants, and
animals, and also provides Paradise with gardens,
palaces, and houses, each of which has a particular
beauty and functions. The
All-Wise Creator equips His creatures with the results of
showing His Names the All-Munificent and All-Gracious, as
if each embodied munificence, grace, and adornment. What
leads His Munificence and Graciousness to such a display
is His love of creatures and His will to be known by
animate beings and loved by conscious ones. Thus the
Names the All-Mvjnificent and All-Gracious exhibit the
Names the All-Loving and Recognized or Known One. He
adorns all creatures with delicious fruits and the lovely
benefits therefrom, bestowing on them all kinds of
bounties. This points to the Names the Giver of
Bounties and All-Compassionate, and shows their
manifestations from behind apparent veils. His will to
show His Mercy and Affection leads the One Who is
independent of creation to show His Munificence and
Compassion, which causes creatures to recite the Names
the All-Merciful and All-Affectionate. His Essential
Beauty and Perfection stimulate Him to manifest His
Mercy and Affection, to show the Names the All-Beautiful
with the All-Loving and All-Compassionate, which are
contained in It. Absolute beauty is loved for itself, and
the One with absolute beauty loves Himself. Therefore it
is both beauty and love. This is also true with
perfection, which is loved for itself and not because
of anything else. Therefore it is both lover and
beloved. Since
a beauty of infinite perfection and a perfection of
infinite beauty are loved to an infinite degree, they
wish to manifest themselves in mirrors according to the
mirror's capacity. As the Essential Beauty and Perfection
of the Majestic Maker, the All-Wise One of Beauty, the
All-Poweiful One of Perfection, will to show mercy and
affection, the Names the All-Merciful and All-Caring must
manifest themselves. Since the will to show mercy and
affection is associated with compassion and
bountifulness, it urges the Names the All-Compassionate
and Giver of Bounties to be manifested. Compassion and
bountifulness require and cause the Names the
All-Loving and the Recognized to manifest themselves. Being
loved and recognized incite manifestations of grace and
munificence and cause creatures to demonstrate the Names
the All-Gracious One and the Munificent One. Grace and
munificence incite the Names the All-Decorating and
All-Illuminating and show their acts via the beauty and
illumination seen in creatures. Decoration and
illumination require manifestations of the Names the
Maker and the Benevolent and demonstrate them via all
creatures' beautiful countenances. Making and
benevolence are based on knowledge and wisdom and show
the Names the All-Knowing and All-Wise via all creatures'
harmonious and purposeful organization. Demanding acts
of organizing, fashioning and forming, as well as of
knowledge and wisdom, demonstrate the Names the
Fashioner and Giver of Measure via all creatures'
general forms. In
short, the Majestic Maker has made all creatures in
such a fashion that most of them, particularly animate
ones, display most of the Divine Names. It is as if He
clothed each creature in twenty different garments, one
over the other, and inscribed several of His Names on
each one. For example, as pointed out in the above
comparison, there are many layers of loveliness in the
apparent creation of a beautiful flower and a beautiful
woman. Compare vast and universal bodies with these two
particular examples. First
layer. Their general forms and appearances, which
recite: "O Fashioner, O Giver of Measure, O
Determiner, O Organizer." Second
layer. Their form and appearance, including all bodily
members and parts, that show many Names like the
All-Knowing and All-Wise. Third
layer. The forms of beauty and adornment particular to
each bodily member and part, on which are inscribed many
Names like the Maker and the One Who Creates Subtly and
Perfectly. Fourth
layer. The detail of ornament, beauty, and elegance given
to creatures as if in the embodied form of grace and
munificence. They recite: "O Gracious One, O
Munificent One," and many other Names. Fifth
layer. The delicious fruits attached to that flower and
lovely children, as well as the laudable virtues given to
that woman as gifts, show Names like the All-Loving,
All-Compassionate, and Giver of Bounties. Sixth
layer. This layer of bountifulness and benevolence
recites: "O All-Merciful, O All-Caring," and
several other Names. Seventh
layer. The bounties given to them and the results
attached to their existence demonstrate such gleams of
beauty and grace that they deserve pure gratitude and
love kneaded with true eagerness and tenderness. This
layer manifests such Names as the All-Beautiful One of
Perfection and the Perfect One of Beauty. If
a flower and a beautiful woman display so many Names
through their outward forms, you may compare how many
Names of universal manifestation all flowers, animate
beings, and vast and universal bodies demonstrate. You
may understand how many sacred, erm^tening Names of God
(e.g., the ' All-Living, Self-Subsistent, and Giver of
Life) a person manifests through his or her spirit,
heart, reason, life, and all other senses and faculties. Paradise,
Earth's face, and sprmgtime are all flowers. Heaven is
a flower; the stars are its gilded embroideries. The
sun is a flower; the seven colors in its light are its
dyes. The cosmos is a beautiful, macro-human being;
humanity is a normo-universe. Spirit beings, angels,
jinn, and humanity have been fashioned, organized, and
created as if they were beautiful individuals. As they
collectively and individually manifest the All-Majestic
Being's Names, each one is a different mirror to His
Beauty, Perfection, Mercy, and Love. Each is also a
different and true witness, as well as a different sign,
of His Infinite Beauty, Perfection, Mercy, and Love. As
all boundless perfections are possible only in the
sphere of Divine Unity and Oneness or Uniqueness, any
perfections imagined outside of this sphere are false. The
realities of things are based on the Divine Names, or
rather they are manifestations of those Names. All things
mention their Maker in numerous tongues. Also, know one
of the meanings of "There is nothing that does not
glorify Him with praise." Say: "Glory be to Him
Who is veiled through His manifestation's
intensity." Understand the reason why He is the
All-Mighty, All-Wise; He is All-Forgiving,
All-Compassionate; He is the All-Knowing, the
All-Powerful," and similar phrases repeated at the
end of Qur'anic verses. If
you cannot see clearly the Names displayed on a flower,
ponder on Paradise, look at spring attentively, or
examine Earth's face. You can read clearly the Names
inscribed in those huge flowers of Mercy and see the
Names' distinct manifestations. *
* * The
following points to a flower from the eternal garden of
this verse (17:44): Every
tree in blossom is an ode rhythmic and well-composed,
singing the high and manifest praises of the Creator. Or
something with multiple eyes opened to watch, and
cause others to watch the wonders of
the Maker's art displayed. Or has clothed its members in
green for their festival so that its Lord may observe His
illustrious works and gifts upon it, while itself
displays in the display hall—Earth—
His Mercy's embellishments before humanity's
eyes, thereby proclaiming the wisdom in its creation, in
that significant treasuries are stored in it by the Grace
and Generosity of the Sustainer of its fruits: Glory be
to Him, how generous His
favoring, how clear the arguments for Him, how manifest
are His proofs! The
imagination sees angels clothed in bodies from the
(branches of) these trees resembling thousands of
flutes, and from these flutes are heard songs of praises
of the All-Living One. The leaves are each a tongue
reciting: "O Living One," and chanting all
together: "There is no god but He."
Say:
"O God, Master of the Kingdom, You give kingdom to
whomever You will and withdraw kingdom from whomever You
will." They
incessantly utter: "O Truth," announce: "O
All-Living One," and together proclaim:
"God."
The
Colorful Page of the Book of the Universe* Do
they not look at the heaven above them, how We have built
it and adorned it? (50:6) Look
at the sky's face, where you see a silence in restful
serenity, a purposive motion, radiance in majesty, a
smile in adornment, all combined in creation's
orderliness and art's symmetry. Its candle's brilliance,
its lamp's dazzle, and its stars' glitter manifest
infinite Sovereignty for those with insight and sound
reasoning.
The
following expounds the lines above in interpreting the
verse (50:6): The verse draws attention to the sky's
adorned and beautiful face. People who observe it with
care must notice the silence in the extraordinary
calmness and apparent rest observed there, and conclude
that the sky has assumed that form through an Absolutely
Powerful One's order and subjugation. If the heavenly
bodies roamed at random, with their enormous size and
speed of motion, the resulting noise would deafen
everybody. They also would cause such tumult and
confusion that the universe would collapse. If 20
buffaloes move together in the same area, you can guess
what great uproar and confusion they would cause.
However, according to astronomers, some moving stars are
1,000 times larger than Earth and move at a speed 70
times faster than a cannonball. Given this, from the
silence of the heavenly bodies in calmness and rest, you
may understand the extent of the Power of subjugation
belonging to the Majestic Maker and the Ail-Powerful
One of Perfection, and the degree of the stars'
submission and obedience to Him. A
purposive motion: The verse orders us to see the
purposive motion in the sky. That extremely strange and
mighty motion takes place in absolute dependence on an
extraordinarily subtle and comprehensive purpose. The
immensity and order of a factory whose wheels and
machinery turn and toil in wisdom, in perfect order and
for wise purposes, show to what extent its engineer is
learned and skillful. In the same way, with the sun in
the center and mighty planets revolving around it in a
perfect, subtle order for many wise purposes, the solar
system shows the extent of the Ail-Powerful One's Power
and Wisdom. Radiance
in majesty and a smile in adornment: The sky contains a
radiance of such majesty and a smile of such adornment
that it shows the splendid sovereignty and beautiful art
that the Majestic Maker controls. In the same way as
innumerable illuminations used on special occasions to
show the sovereign's majesty and his country's advanced
civilization, the vast heavens, with their majestic
ghttering stars, show to attentive eyes the perfection of
the Majestic Maker's sovereignty and the beauty of His
art. All
combined in the orderliness of creation and the symmetry
of art: The verse says: See
the order and balance in the sky and know how powerful
and wise the Creator is. When you see someone turning
numerous objects one round the other in a perfect order
and with a special, delicate balance for many wise
purposes, you may guess how wise, powerful, and skillful
that one is. Likewise, together with their numberless
stars of awesome size and speed, the vast heavens in
their tremendous immensity have performed their duties
for billions of years according to an established measure
and with a certain, sensitive balance. They have never
transgressed their limits, and have never caused even the
slightest disorder. This shows to attentive eyes just how
sensitive and exact is the measure according to which
their Majestic Maker exercises His Lordship. Like
similar verses in Surat al-Naba ', among others, the
verse also indicates that the Majestic Creator has
subjugated the sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies. Its
candle's brilliance, its lamp's dazzle, and its stars
'glitter manifest the Infinite Sovereignty for those with
insight and sound reasoning: Alrriighty God has hung on
the world's adorned roof a sun-like lamp that gives heat
and light. He uses this as a "pot" of light to
write the Eternally-Besought-of-All's "letters"
on the lines of day and night on the pages of the
seasons. Like
the phosphorescent hour-hands of a clock in a tall tower,
He has made the moon in heaven's dome the hour-hand of
the largest clock of time. He causes it to move through
its mansions according to a perfect measure and fine
calculations, as if He leaves a different crescent to
each night and then folds all of them in itself (making
it invisible). Furthermore, He has gilded the sky's
beautiful face with stars that glitter and smile in that
dome. All this points to His Lordship's infihite
Sovereignty and His Divinity's magnificence and invites
thinking people to believe in His Existence and Unity. Look
at the colorful page of the Book of the
Universe, and see how the golden pen of the Power has
inscribed it! No point has been left dark for those who
can see with the eyes of their hearts. It is as if God
wrote His signs with light. See what an astounding
miracle of wisdom
the
universe is! See how tremendous a spectacle the space of
the universe is! Listen to the stars and heed their
beautiful sermons! See
what is written in these luminous missives
of Wisdom! All of them are jointly delivering this
fruitful discourse: Each of us is a radiant proof for the
majestic Sovereignty of an All-Powerful One of glory. We
bear witness to the Maker's Existence • and to His
Unity and Power. We are His subtle miracles sending light
to gild the face of the Earth, and on which the angels
make excursions. We are the heavens' innumerable
discerning eyes directed to Paradise and overseeing
Earth. We are the exquisite fruits attached to the
heavenly branch of the Tree of Creation, and to the twigs
of the Milky Way, attached
by the Majestic, All-Gracious Being's hand
of wisdom. For the heavens' inhabitants we are traveling
mosques, revolving houses, and exalted homes,
light-diffusing lamps, mighty ships, planes.
We
are miracles of the Power of the AU-Powerful One of
Perfection, the All-Wise One of Majesty. Each of us is a
wonder of His creative art, a rarity of His Wisdom, a
marvel of His creation, a world of light. To the one who
is truly human, we present countless proofs in countless
tongues. The atheists' eyes, may they be blind, never see
our faces, nor do their ears hear our speech. We are
signs that speak the truth. On us is the same stamp and
seal. We obey and glorify our Lord, and mention
Him in worship. We are ecstatic lovers in the Milky Way's
widest circle, the circle reciting our Lord's Names. *** Reflecting
on God's Singleness while looking at the fruit tree in
front of my room, a series of reflections occurred to
me. I relate them below. Glory
be to Him Who has made the garden of His Earth a display
hall of His art. He uses it to exhibit His Wisdom,
manifest His Power, cause His Mercy to blossom, the seeds
of His Paradise to be sown, and His creatures to come and
depart. Adorned animals, ornamented birds, fruit-bearing
trees, and flowering plants are all miracles of His
Knowledge, wonders of His art, gifts of His Munificence,
and offerings of His Favoring. Flowers smiling because of
beautiful fruits, birds singing at the dawn breeze,
raindrops glittering on flowers' cheeks, and mothers'
compassion for their infants—all this is because the
All-Loving One wills to make Himself known, the
All-Merciful One wills to make Himself loved, the
All-Compassionate One wills to make His Compassion known,
and the All-Favoring One wills to make His Affection
recognized by humanity, jinn, angels, and other spirit
beings. Each
fruit and seed is a miracle of Divine Wisdom, a wonder of
Divine art, a gift of Divine Mercy, a proof of Divine
Oneness, and a sign of God's bounties in the Hereafter.
They are true witnesses of His all-comprehensive Power
and all-inclusive Knowledge, as well as mirrors to His
Oneness in this world of multiplicity, for in the tongue
of its being, each one says: "This elaborate tree
is included in me. Don't be absorbed in its elaboration.
All its parts and features are encapsulated in me."
A seed is like the fruit's heart, a rriiiror to Divine
Oneness. In the tongue of its being, it
"recites" in its heart the Divine Names recited
by the entire tree. Seeds
are also signs of Divine Destiny and embodied symbols
of Divine Power. Through them, Destiny indicates and
Power alludes to the fact that each elaborate tree has
grown from one seed and so points to its Maker's Oneness,
Who has no partner in its creation and fashioning.
After it has grown and elaborated itself fully, it
encapsulates all its laws, realities, and life-history in
a fruit. As all of its meaning is contained in a seed,
it shows the Majestic Creator's wisdom in His creation
and government. As in the case of that tree, Oneness also
is the source of the Tree of Creation's existence and
growth. Similarly, being the fruit of the universe,
humanity points to Unity in the multiplicity of beings,
and the human heart sees the meaning of Unity in
multiplicity with the eye of belief. These
fruits and seeds are also tablets of Divine Wisdom
through which Wisdom speaks to conscious beings like
this: This
tree's life and the efforts spent for its growth are
aimed at its fruits, which represent it and is the aim of
its growth. Its life is aimed at the seeds, because
each seed is an index bearing the tree's entire meaning.
Thus, the One Who creates the tree and the necessary
conditions for its growth aims all manifestations of
His Names concerned with the tree's life at the fruit,
the raison d'etre of its existence. Furthermore, that
huge tree is sometimes pruned to control its growth and
make it yield better fruits for many years; they cut off
some parts of it so that it may rejuvenate. Similarly,
as we are the Tree of Creation's fruit, we are the reason
for the universe's creation and existence, and the
human heart is the most illumined and comprehensive
mirror of the Maker of the universe. Because of this,
humanity undergoes frequent pruning in the form of
convulsions, revolutions, upheavals, and physical and
social change, and it will cause the destruction and
re-construction of the universe. The door of this world
will be closed and the door of a new one be opened for
its judgment.
Each
Science Speaks of God in Its Own Tongue* [Note:
The following is a brief pointer to one of the thousands
of the universal proofs of the pillar of belief in God,
many of which, together with explanations, are in the Risale-i
Nur.] In
Kastomanu, some high-school students asked: "Tell us
about our Creator, for our teachers do not speak of Him."
I replied that each science they study continuously
speaks of God, the Creator, and makes Fiim known in its
own tongue. I told them to listen to the sciences, not
their teachers, and to consider the following examples:
A
well-equipped, well-designed pharmacy has many medicines
and pills composed of different precisely measured
components. This indicates an extremely skillful and
learned pharmacist. In the same way, the pharmacy of
Earth has countless life-giving cures and medicaments
(implanted within all plant and animal species). This
shows and makes known, through medical science, that the
All-Wise One of Majesty
is the Pharmacist of the largest pharmacy on Earth. A
wonderful factory produces thousands of different
cloths woven from a simple material. This makes known a
manufacturer and skillful mechanical engineer.
Likewise, our planet is a traveling machinery or factory
of the Master. Its countless parts, each having
innumerable machines, show and make known its
Manufacturer and Owner through engineering. A
shop that serves as an organized storage place for
different provisions shows that it has a wondrous
proprietor, preparer, and distributor of provisions and
foodstuffs. In the same way, the All-Merciful One's
foodstore—Earth—is a vessel of the Glorious One that
annually traverses a wide orbit and houses innumerable
species requiring different foods. It is filled every
spring, like a huge wagon, with uncountable different
provisions which it then brings to all living creatures
whose sustenance was exhausted during the winter. The
Master's depot and shop, which holds vast varieties of
goods, equipment, and conserved food, makes its Owner,
Manager, and Organizer known and loved through
economics. Imagine
an army of tribes, each one requiring unique provisions,
weapons, uniforms, drills, and demobilization. If its
miracle-working commander meets all their needs on his
own, without forgetting and confusing any of them, the
army and camp will point to him and make him loved and
appreciated. In the same way, every spring a single
Commander-in-Chief provides a newly recruited Divine army
of countless animal and plant species with uniforms,
rations, weapons, training, and demobilizations in a
perfect and regular fashion. He forgets nothing and does
not become confused. This makes Him known, through
military science, as Earth's Ruler, Master,
Administrator, and Most Holy Commander. His perfection
causes admiration and acclaim, and makes Him loved,
praised, and glorified. Imagine
a magnificent city illuminated by millions of mobile
and fixed electric lamps with an inexhaustible fuel and
power source. This makes known a wonder-working artisan
and an extraordinarily talented electrician who manages
the electricity, makes the lamps, establishes the power
source, and brings the fuel. Such a person is admired,
congratulated, and loved by others. In
just the same way, some lamps (stars and planets) in
this palace of the world's roof, in this city of the
universe, are far larger than Earth. They move with
amazing speed, but in a very delicate order. They do not
collide with each other, become extinguished, or run
out of fuel. Astronomers say that our sun, a lamp and
stove in the All-Merciful One's guesthouse, is several
billion years old and a million times larger than Earth.
To keep burning, each day it needs as much oil as the
seas of Earth, as much coal as its mountains, or as many
logs and wood as 10 Earths. Such
lamps point with their finger of light to an infinite
power and sovereignty that, in turn, illuminates the
sun and other similar stars without oil, wood, or coal.
It does not allow them to be extinguished or collide
with each other, even though they are larger than those
lamps and are managed more perfectly. The science of
electricity and the stars' testimony make known this vast
exhibition's Monarch, inuminator, Director, and Maker.
They also make Him loved, glorified, and worshipped. Imagine
a marvelous book. A different book is finely written
within each line, and a sura is inscribed in each word
with a fine pen. This book is most meaningful and
expressive, and all of its subjects corroborate each
other. Such a book shows clearly that it is the product
of a particular artist possessed of extraordinary
perfections, arts, and skills. It makes the author
appreciated with such phrases as: "What wonders
God has willed" and "Blessed be God." The
same is true of the "macro-book" of the
universe. We can see a pen at work, inscribing on
Earth's face (a sheet) countless plant and animal species
(volumes). They are created all together, one rathin
the other, without error or confusion and so perfectly
and finely that an ode is compressed in a word like tree,
and a book's complete index in a seed-sized point. The
sciences of nature, reading, and writing make known, to
the degree that this infinitely meaningful compendium
of the universe, this macro-Qur'an of the cosmos, in
each word of which are numerous examples of wisdom and
which is greater and more perfect and meaningful than the
book in the example, the Book of the Universe's Insciiber
and Author and His infinite perfections. In the meaning
of "God is the Greatest," it makes Him known.
In the glorification of "Glory be to God," it
describes Him. Through praises like "All praise be
to God," it makes Him loved. Like
those mentioned, hundreds of sciences make the Majestic
Creator of the universe known by His Names. Through its
extensive measure, particular mirror, far-reaching
view, and searching and instructing perspectives, each
science makes His Attributes and perfections known. The
Qur'an of Miraculous Expression frequently describes
our Creator through such phrases as "the Lord of
the heavens and Earth" and "He created the
heavens and Earth" in order to teach the decisive
proof explained above (which is a magnificent and
brilliant proof of Divine Oneness). This
is what I told the students, who accepted and affirmed
it, saying: "We thank God, for we have received an
absolutely true and sacred lesson. May God be pleased
with you." I added that each of us is a living
machine subject to many sorrows and capable of knowing
many pleasures. Although wholly impotent, we have
infinite physical and spiritual enemies. Although
wholly destitute, we have infinite outer and inner needs
and suffer continual blows of decay and separation. But
we can be connected to the Majestic Monarch via belief
and worship, and find therein a point of support against
our enemies and a source of help for our needs. All
people take pride in the honor and rank of the highly
placed one to whom they are connected. Imagine that you
are connected to the infinitely Powerful and
Compassionate Monarch through belief, that you enter His
service through worship
and
thereby change the announcement of your execution into
welcome discharge papers. This lets you understand some
degree of the contentment, thankfulness, and pride you
will feel. I
gave the prisoners and the students the same message:
Those who recognize and obey Him prosper even if they
are in prison, while those who forget Him are wretched
prisoners even if they live in palaces. Once a wronged
but fortunate [due to his belief and being martyred] man
said to the wretched wrongdoers who were executing him:
"I'm not being executed; rather, I'm being
discharged from my duties and going to eternal happiness.
Moreover, as I can see you even now condemned to eternal
punishment, I'm taking complete revenge on you." He
then said: "There is no god but God," and died
happily. Glory
be to You. We have no knowledge save what You have taught
us. Truly, you are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
He:
A Point of Divine Unity* In
His Name, be He glorified. There is nothing but it
glorifies Him with praise. My
dear and faithful brothers and sisters! While reflecting
on air during a mental journey, a subtle point related to
Divine Unity suddenly became clear to me in the word He
in "There is no deity but He" and "Say: He
is God." I saw that the way of belief is so easy as
to be necessary, and that the way of misguidance and
associating partners with God is so hard as to be
inconceivable. I shall explain this comprehensive matter
briefly.
A
handful of soil serves as a flowerbed for hundreds of
flowers. If this process is attributed to nature or
causality, each handful must contain hundreds of minute
machines or factories [to produce the flowers] and an
immaterial factory [to determine and govern their lives
in place of Divine Knowledge and Destiny]. Or, each
atom must know how to make each flower's different
characteristics and living elements. Thus each atom
would have infinite knowledge and power, which are unique
to God. Each
air molecule (a conductor of Divine Will and Command) in
each gust, each shift of air making the sound He, must
have minute centers, exchanges, receivers, and
transmitters of all human means of communication so that
each air molecule can perform those countless acts at
the same time. Or, each atom or molecule must control all
relevant faculties (of mind, spirit, personality, etc.)
of all means of communication, know their users'
languages, and transmit them to other particles at the
same time. Unbelievers, naturalists, and materialists
ask us to believe this impossibility. If
attributed to the Majestic Maker, however, all air
particles become soldiers under His Command. Through
their Creator's permission and Power, their connection to
and reliance on Him, and the manifestation of their
Maker's Power, they perform their innumerable universal
duties as easily as if they were one atom with only one
duty. Their duties are performed instantly, and with the
ease of uttering He and the movement of air. And so air
becomes a "page" for the Pen of Power's
endless, wonderful, orderly inscriptions. Its particles
become the Pen's ribs, and the particles' duties become
the points inscribed by the Pen. All of this is done
with the same ease as it takes to move one atom. While
observing and studying the world of air, I saw this truth
clearly and in detail. I realized with a certainty based
on knowledge that this is so because the actual word He
and its utterance are both brilliant proofs and gleams
of Divine Unity. I understood that its meaning and
resonances contain a radiant manifestation of Divine
Oneness and strong proof of Divine Unity. Moreover, that
proof contains an indication to the identity of the One
to Whom the indefinite, third-person, singular pronoun He
refers. Icame to know that both the Qur'an of Miraculous
Expression and those who constantly recite the. Divine
Names frequently repeat this sacred word to express
Divine Unity. If
several points are jumbled around one, it is almost
impossible to distinguish that point. If you do several
jobs simultaneously, you will be confused. If a living
creature is loaded with many burdens at once, it will be
crushed. If you listen to or say many words
simultaneously, they become confused and muddled. However,
I saw with a certainty based on clear observation that
although thousands of points, letters, and words are
deposited in each air molecule—even in each atom—they
are conveyed without confusion or irregularity. Also, the
air performs its duties simultaneously and without
confusion. Each air molecule or atom bears heavy burdens
without lagging behind or displaying any weakness. Also,
I saw countless words enter ears and leave mouths with
perfect order. By performing all of its extraordinary
duties, each atom and air molecule says in the tongue of
its being and functioning, in ecstasy and perfect
freedom, and through its testimony: "There is no
deity but He" and "Say: He is God, the
One." All of them travel among ak-clashing waves
like Ughming and thunderstorms in perfect order and
harmony. Given
this, can we assert seriously that each atom or air
molecule necessarily has infinite wisdom, knowledge,
will, power, and all qualities needed to dominate all
other particles so that it can perform those functions?
Or, from a position of certainty based on knowledge,
clear observation, and personal experience, can we assert
logically that air functions here as a changing
"page" for the Pen of Power and Destiny, used
by the All-Majestic One with infinite knowledge and
wisdom, and as a signboard (the Tablet of Abrogation
and Confirmation) reflecting a changeable copy of the
Divine decrees preserved on the Supreme Preserved Tablet? Air
shows these wonders and manifestation of Divine Oneness
by transmitting sound, and shows the impossibility of
what the misguided assert. In the same way, it performs
other duties (e.g., transmitting such subtle forces as
electricity and light, attraction and repulsion) while
simultaneously transmitting sound. It also carries out
duties essential for plant and animal life (e.g.,
respiration and pollination) with perfect order and
without confusion. Air
is a very important means of conveying the Divine Will
and Command. It performs its duties without any real or
imagined interference from random chance, blind force,
deaf nature, confused and aimless causality, or
powerless, lifeless, and unknowing matter. I also
understood that each atom and air molecule proclaims in
the tongue of its being and functioning: "There is
no deity but God" and "Say: He is God, the
One." Just as I witnessed these wonders in the
physical aspect of air with the key of He, so air
itself became a key, like He, to the World of Symbols
or Ideas and the World of Meaning. Peace
be upon everybody!
How
Beings Worship God[1] Have
you not seen that before God prostrate all that is in the
heavens and in Earth, and the sun, the moon, the stars,
the mountains, the trees, the beasts, and a great number
among humanity? There are still a great number unto
whom the punishment is justly due. Those whom God scorns,
there is none to give them honor. Surely God does what He
wills. (22:18) From
the treasure of this comprehensive verse, I will discuss
only one jewel: The Qur'an states that everything in
creation prostrates, worships, praises, and glorifies
Almighty God according to their capacities and the
Divine Names that have been bestowed upon them. I
explain one type of this worship below. A
mighty lord employs four classes of workers to build a
large city or a magnificent palace. The first class,
consisting of his slaves, receives no wages or salaries
and is content with the indescribable enthusiasm and joy
coming from every action, all of which are done to please
their lord by carrying out his orders. As these slaves
praise him and enumerate his virtues, they derive more
pleasure and enthusiasm. They have no further demand
than their connection with their lord, which they know to
be a great honor. They also receive spiritual pleasure
from supervising in their lord's name all that is done in
his dominion and watching it from his viewpoint. They
feel no need for wages, rank, or promotion. The
second class consists of ordinary servants who are
unaware of the universal purposes behind their employment
and what significant results it will yield. Some imagine
that they are working for the small wage that the lord
pays them regularly. The third class comprises animals
used for certain construction-related tasks and deeds.
Since their jobs correspond to their abilities, they get
some sort of pleasure. This is why there is a certain
pleasure in all activities. Members of this class are
content with their food and the pleasure they receive as
wages. The fourth class consists of those who know what
they are doing, why and for whom they are working, why
the others are working, and what the lord's overall
purpose is. They supervise other workers and are paid
according to their rank. In
exactly the same way, the Lord of the Worlds, the
All-Majestic Lord of the heavens and Earth, the
All-Gracious Builder of this world and the next, uses
angels, animals, inanimate objects, plants, and people in
this palace of the universe, in this Realm of Causality.
He does this not out of need, as He is the Creator of
everything, but for certain instances of wisdom like
the requirements of His Might and Honor, Greatness and
Lordship. He has charged these four classes with unique
duties of worship. The
first class are angels. They are never promoted, for
their ranks are fixed and determined. They receive a
specific pleasure from the work itself and a radiance
from worship. In short, their reward is found in their
service. Humanity is nourished by and derives pleasure
from air, water, light, and food; angels are nourished by
and receive pleasure from the lights of remembrance,
glorification, worship, knowledge, and love of God. They
are created from light, and so light is sufficient for
their sustenance. Even fragrant scents, which are close
to light, are a sort of enjoyable nourishment for them,
for pure spirits take pleasure in sweet scents. Working
at the command of the One Whom they worship and for His
sake, serving in His name and supervising through His
view, gaining honor through connection with Him and being
"refreshed" by studying His Kingdom's
material and immaterial dimensions, and being satisfied
by seeing the manifestations of His Grace and Majesty
give them an elevated bliss that the human mind cannot
comprehended or perceive. One
class of angels worships and another class works (another
form of worship). Working angels have a kind of human
occupation. If one may say so, some are like shepherds or
farmers. Earth is like a farm, and an appointed angel
supervises its animal species by the All-Majestic
Creator's command, leave, power, and strength, and for
His sake. Each animal species has a lesser angel
appointed as a kind of shepherd. Earth
is an arable field for sowing plants. An angel is
appointed to supervise all of them in Almighty God's name
and by His Power. Angels of lower rank worship and
glorify Almighty God by supervising specific plant
species. Michael, one of the bearers of God's Throne of
Sustenance—an official of the highest rank whom God
employs to veil His acts related to providing for all His
creatures—superintends these angels. These
angelic shepherds and farmers do not resemble human
beings, for they supervise purely for God's sake, in His
name, and by His Power and Command. They only observe the
manifestations of God's Lordship in the species entrusted
to them, study the manifestations of Divine Power and
Mercy in it, communicate to it the Divine commands
through some sort of inspiration, and somehow arrange
its voluntary actions. Their
supervision of plants in particular consists of
representing, in their angelic tongue, the plants'
glorification made in the tongue of their being. They
proclaim in their angelic tongue the praises and
exaltations that plants offer to the Majestic Creator
through their lives, regulate and use the plants'
faculties correctly, and direct them toward certain
ends. Such services are actions done through their
partial willpower and a kind of worship and adoration.
Angels do not originate or create their actions, for
everything bears a stamp particular to the Creator of
all things, Who has no co-creators. In short, whatever
angels do is their worship and so differs from ordinary
human acts. The
second class are animals. Since animals also have an
appetitive soul and a partial will, their work is not
"purely for the sake of God" in the sense that,
to some extent, they take a share for their selves.
Therefore, since the Majestic and Munificent Lord of the
(Universal) Kingdom is All-Kind and Generous, He gives
them a wage as their share. For example, the All-Wise
Creator employs the nightingale, renowned for its love of
roses, for five aims: •
To proclaim, in the name of animal species, the intense
relationship between them and plant species. •
To be an orator of the Lord among animals, which may be
considered guests of the All-Merciful One, in need
sustenance, used to acclaiming the gifts sent by the
All-Munificent Provider and to announcing their joy. •
To announce on each plant the welcome offered to them [by
animals] in return for the help plants offer animals. •
To announce, in plants' beautiful faces, animals' intense
need for plants, a need in the degree of love and
passion. •
To offer, with a most pleasant yearning, a most graceful
glorification and in a most delicate roselike form, to
the Court of Mercy of the All-Majestic and Gracious and
Munificent Lord of All Kingdom. God
uses the nightingale for other aims and meanings. The
nightingale acts to achieve these aims and meanings for
His sake. It speaks in its own tongue, and we understand
these meanings from its touching songs. If, unlike
angels and spirit beings, it does not know exactly what
its songs mean, this does not harm our understanding, for
"one who listens may understand better than one who
speaks." A clock tells the time although it is
unaware of it; a nightingale's lack of detailed knowledge
about these aims does not mean that it is not used for
these aims. Its wage is the delight it derives from
looking on smiling, beautiful roses, as well as the
pleasure it receives from talking with them and
unburdening itself to them. In other words, its touching
songs are not complaints arising from animal grief, but
rather are thanks for the All-Merciful One's gifts. Compare
the nightingale with other small animals or insects, and
you will see that each works for certain purposes.
Through a particular pleasure, included in their duties
as wages, they serve certain important aims contained
in the Lord's creation. Like an ordinary sailor
receiving a small wage for working as a steersman on an
imperial vessel, each animal employed in its
God-assigned duty receives a particular wage. A
complementary note: Singing God's praise and
glorification in this way is not unique to the
nightingale. Most species contain one or more members
that, like the nightingale, represent its species'
finest feelings with the finest glorification in the
finest verse. The numerous and various
"nightingales" of flies and insects, in
particular, sing their glorifications in fine poetry to
other members of their species and give them pleasure. Some
are nocturnal. The poetry-reciting friends of all small
animals sing their praises and glorifications of God when
all beings enter night's peaceful silence. Each leads and
is followed by their circle of silent invocation of God's
Names in reciting and glorifying their Majestic Creator
with their hearts. Another group is diurnal. During
daytime in spring and summer, they proclaim the Most
Merciful and Compassionate One's mercy of the to all
living beings from the "pulpits" of trees with
their ringing voices, pleasant tunes, and poetic
glorifications. As though each led a circle of loud
recitation of God's Names, they arouse their audiences to
ecstasy. This causes each species to begin singing the
Names of the All-Majestic Creator in its own particular
tongue and tone. Thus
every species of beings, even stars, has a leading
reciter and light-diffusing nightingale. The most
excellent, noble, illustrious, and profound, as well as
the greatest and most honorable nightingale, is Prophet
Muhammad. His voice is the most lyrical, his attributes
are the most brilliant, his recitation of God's Names is
the most perfect and comprehensive, and his thanks are
the most universal. He has a most perfect identity and a
most beautiful form, and brings all the beings in
creation to ecstasy through his most rhythmic and most
pleasant tunes and most exalted glorification. He is
the glorious nightingale of humanity, the nightingale
with the Qur'an. May the best of blessings and peace upon
him, his Family, and his peers—the other Prophets. Thus
the glorifications and other acts of worship done by
animals, in utmost obedience to God's laws of the
universe's creation and operation, as well as the duties
required by their existence in an amazing way through
God Almighty's power, are gifts of praise offered to the
Court of the All-Majestic Creator, the Giver of Life. The
third class of workers are plants and inanimate objects
that receive no wages, for they have no free will.
Whatever they do is done purely for God's sake, by His
Will and Power, and in His Name. However, as understood
from their life cycles, they desire some sort of
pleasure from carrying out the duty of pollination and
producing fruits and seeds. But they suffer no pain,
while animals experience both pain and pleasure because
they have some degree of choice. The fact that plants and
inanimate objects have no will makes their work more
perfect than that of animals. Among animal creatures
possessing some sort of choice, the work of those like
the bee, which are equipped with a kind of inspiration,
is more perfect than those that rely on their own will. Vegetable
species pray and ask of the All-Wise Creator, each in the
tongue of their beings and potentiality: "O Lord.
Give us strength so that, by raising the 'flag' of our
species throughout Earth, we may proclaim Your Lordship's
sovereignty. Grant us success so that we may worship You
in every corner of the mosque of Earth. Enable us to grow
in every suitable region, so that we may display the
works of Your Most Beautiful Names and Your Wonderful,
invaluable arts." In response, the All-Wise
Creator equips the seeds of certain species (e.g., many
thorny plants and some yellow flowers) with tiny
"wings of hair" so they can fly away and
manifest the Divine Names on behalf of their species. He
gives some species beautiful, delicious flesh that is
either necessary or pleasure-giving for human beings.
He causes us to serve them and plant them everywhere. Others
receive a hard and indigestible "bone"-like
flesh so that animals can eat them and then disperse
their seeds over a wide area. He equips some with small
claws that grip onto whatever touches them. They spread
around and raise the "flag" of their species,
exhibiting the most precious artistry of the Majestic
Maker. To still other species, such as the bitter melon,
He gives the force of a "shotgun" so that when
the time is due, small melons fall and "shoot"
their seeds to a distance of several meters so that they
may be sown. They work so that, together with
recitation of His Names, the All-Merciful Maker may be
glorified in numerous tongues. The
All-Wise Creator, Who is the All-Power-ful and
All-Knowing, has created everything beautiful and with
perfect orderliness. He has equipped all beings with
whatever they need, directs them toward agreeable aims,
and uses them in the most proper duties. He causes them
to worship and glorify Him in the best manner. So if
you are truly human, do not deform these beautiful
things by asserting that they were created by nature,
chance, or necessity. Do not foul them thereby with
absurdity and
purposelessness.
Do not act in an ugly fashion, and do not be ugly. The
fourth class are human beings. Forming a class among the
servants, they resemble angels in their extensive
supervision and comprehensive knowledge, and in being
the heralds of Divine Lordship. Indeed, we are more
comprehensive in nature. Since we have an appetitive soul
disposed toward evil (angels do' not), we have the
potential for almost boundless advance or decline. As we
seek pleasure and a share for ourselves in our work, we
resemble animals. Given this, we can receive two kinds
of wages: one is insignificant, animal, and immediate;
the other is angelic, universal, and postponed. Such
matters have been discussed elsewhere, particularly in
the Eleventh and Twenty-third words.
Subhan
Allah [Glory be to God][2] In
the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate. We
say Glory be to God for the following reasons: •
He is Absolutely Powerful via the Power essential to
His being God, Absolutely Wealthy and free of
pqweriessness and need. •
He is Absolutely Perfect in His Being, Attributes and
acts, and has no fault or defect. His works' perfections
point to His acts' perfection, which points to His Names'
perfection. His Names' perfection indicate His
Attributes perfection, which testifies to His Essence's
perfection. All perfection and beauty are but a dim
shadow of His Perfection and Beauty. All people of
spiritual experience and discovery, as well as those
who unveil hidden truths in creation, agree that
creation is a shadow of the Necessarily Existent Being's
lights. He
is One and Single. He has no partners in His dominion,
for the work's unity points to its doer's unity; in His
being Lord and Sustainer, as indicated by the Pen's
unity ["writing" on the "page" of
time and space]; or in His Divinity, as Divinity requires
absolute independence and being unique and peerless. He
is All-Powerful and beginningless, without helpers and
ministers, as such finite contingencies would put limits
on the infinite, perfect Power. He is eternal and
beginningless, without like or equal. He
is the Necessarily Existent One, Who has no necessities
pertaining to contingencies. His
is the highest comparison in the heavens and He
is the Perpetual, Eternal One Who does not change or
alter, for these characteristics are particular to
contingent, created beings and contrary to His absolutely
necessary Existence and Oneness.
•
He is the Creator of creation and space Who has no
division and is not contained in space, for that is
incompatible with the absolute independence essential to
the Divine Being. •
He is the Eternal, Permanent One Who has no beginning
or end. •
He is the Necessarily Existent Being, free of and exempt
from whatever is not fitting for Him, such as incarnation
and union. What relation can soil or something made of
soil have with the Lord of all those who claim lordship?
Being limited means being dominated, and saying that God
begets something means placing limits on Him. He is
absolutely free of and exempt from such mistaken
beliefs and conceptions. •
He is the One Whom all angels and all that is in the
heavens and on Earth glorify through what the Pen of
Destiny has inscribed on their foreheads.
Al-Hamdu
Lillah [Ali Praise be to God][3] In
the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate We
say All praise be to God for the following reasons: •
All creatures and creations praise and exalt Him, either
verbally or in the languages of their lives and being, by
manifesting His Attributes of Perfection. In their
entirety and in the languages of their having a beginning
and being contingent, and of their need, destitution, and
purposes they serve, they praise His Majesty. In
the languages of their displayed artistry, orderliness,
balance, firmness, and perfection, and in their acts of
worship and glorification, they recite His Attributes
of Majesty and affirm that He is God, the Necessarily
Existent, Beginningless, Perpetual, Eternal, One and
Single, Peerless, Eternally-Besought-of-All,
All-Mighty, All-Compelling, Proud, andAll-Ovemhelming. They
praise Him with His Attributes of Beauty and Grace,
saying that He is our Creator, All-Merciful,
All-Compassionate, All-Providing, All-Munificent,
All-Generous, All-Loving, All-Difiusing (of blessings),
All-Gracious, All-Subtle, All-Favoring, and
All-Beautiful. They
mention Ffim with His Attributes of Perfection, saying
that He is Our Creator and Owner, All-Living,
Self-Subsistent, AU-Sustaining, All-Knowing, All-Wise,
AU-Powerful, All-Willing, All-Hearing, All-Seeing,
All-Speaking, and All-Witnessing. They also recite His
Beautiful Names manifested in the universe. The
universe praises, glorifies, and exalts Him by showing
His Attribute of Perfection. With all its chapters,
sections, pages, lines, sentences, and letters, and
with the purposes it serves and the artistry and design
it displays, this greatest book (the universe) is a whole
in itself. Everything and everyone in it are mirrors
reflecting the "lightning" of His Attribute of
Majesty, the "flashes" of His Attributes of
Grace and Beauty, the "gleams" of His Attribute
of Perfection, the "rays" of His Beautiful
Names. •
We praise Him for the existence, which is pure good, He
bestows on us; for the blessing of life, by which
existence is perfected; and for the blessing of belief,
the essence of true life and by which life attains
perfection. •
We praise Him for the light of belief that removes
darkness and iUuminates the outer world as well as our
inner worlds. Belief is a source of light that consists
of the six pillars, from which originate the Eternal
Sovereign's rays of knowledge. •
We praise Him for belief in God, for this delivers the
spirit from the darkness of annihilation, the feeling of
utter desolation in the universe, seeing all things in
existence as singing dirges, and from innumerable other
destructive sentiments. •
We praise Him for the light of belief, which shows us
Refuge, Favor, Munificence, Love, Pity, and Compassion.
Belief unveils eternal life, displays its brilliance, and
brings us good tidings of eternal happiness. It offers
us a support and source of help, teaches us on Whom we
should rely and from Whom we should seek help, and lifts
the veil of lamentation from the face of the mercy
enveloping creation. Belief also removes the pains of
separation from lawful pleasures by comparing the two
worlds, and enables the continuation of favors and
blessings by showing the everlasting tree of favors. The
light of belief shows the true nature of all things and
states thought to be controversial, strange, dead, and
fearful, and makes it clear that they are all friendly,
familiar, living, and amicable. This light embraces all
worlds and this realm and the next, which are replete
with the gifts of Mercy for believers. Thus believers
must say: "All praise be to God for whatever He has
created," and approve of and be satisfied only
with Him as Lord and Master. They must set their hearts
on Him as the only One worthy of worship and love, and
the object or goal of life. We
praise the Lord of the Worlds for His "mercy"
for the worlds, which is our master Muhammad. Through him
and his Messengership, the lights of the conception .of
Divinity, which had been extinguished under the thick
veil of corrupted philosophies and religions, were
rekindled and acquired stability and constancy. Through
his Messenger-ship, that which pleases the Lord of the
Worlds
became
clear to humanity, and through him humanity has been
guided to belief, which is the light of creation and
existence. •
We praise God for the blessing of Islam, which contains
whatever pleases the Lord of the Worlds. Islam shows us
what pleases Him and what our Lord, the Lord of the
worlds and the Lord of the heavens and Earth, wills and
approves. •
We praise Him for the light of belief, which derives
strength from In the Name of God, the Merciful, the
Compassionate. Those who praise should turn their
attention from the bounty to the act of giving bounties
so that they may perceive that the Giver of bounties
sees them, is nearer to them than they are to themselves,
and makes Himself known through giving bounties and loved
through favoring. When people become conscious of His
seeking to make Himself known and loved, they feel
compelled to be thankful to Him.
Allahu
Akbar [God is the Greatest][4] In
the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate We
say God is the greatest for the following reasons: •
He is incomparably greater than all things, for He is the
AU-Powerful, Who is powerful over all things through His
infinite Power. He creates everything, without
exception, with the same ease: Your creation and raising
from the dead are the same as creating and raising a
single soul (31:28). He can create a giant star, a whole,
and a species as easily as He can create a minute
particle, a part, and an individual. •
He is the All-Knowing, Who knows all things through the
limitless knowledge essential to FJim as the Divine
Being. Nothing escapes Him, as He is present everywhere.
The comprehensive wisdom, all-embracing favor, and
all-encompassing consciousness; the decrees putting all
things in exact order; and the fruitful ordinances and
measurements, appointed hours, regular provision, mercy
of universal diversity, firm and magnificent
organization, and exact care, all of which are
witnessed throughout the whole universe, testify to the
Almighty's all-encompassing Knowledge: Should He Who
creates notbiowl (67:14). His
Will includes all things. While there was infinite
number of probabilities for the universe and its contents
to assume a certain form, it was arranged in the present
order according to exact measures. Like a tree with
leaves, blossoms, and fruits, all well-ordered creatures
were created of simple, inanimate elements. All this
bears witness to the Almighty's all-encompassing Will and
demonstrates that whatever He wills is, and whatever He
does not will is not. He
is the Eternal "Sun," and this universe shows
only a shadow of His lights, manifestations of His Names,
and imprints of His acts. He
is incomparably greater than all things. He is the
Eternal Sovereign. All worlds are at His disposal in
absolute dependence on the order and measure He has
established. •
He is the Eternal Ruler. He ordered the universe through
the laws of His usual way of acting, the prescripts of
His Destiny and Decree, the precepts of His Will and
Wisdom, the requirements of His Favor and Mercy, and the
manifestations of His Names and Attributes. What we call
laws (of nature) are but manifestations of His
Knowledge, Command, and Will on all species. •
He is the Eternal Maker, Who has created and founded this
macrocosm (the universe) and this microcosm (humanity).
His stamp is on the foreheads of both, nay, on each
part of both. •
He is the Eternal Designer. This universe consists of the
lines of the "pen" of His Destiny and Decree,
the designs of the "compasses" of His Wisdom,
the fruits of the diffusion of His Mercy, the decorations
of the "bright hand" of His Favoring, the
flowers of the dispensations of His Munificence, and the
rays of the manifestations of His Grace. •
He is the Eternally Powerful. This universe consists of
the miracles of His Power, which testify that He is
powerful over all things. Nothing has been (or is) able
to escape His Power's dominion, in relation to which a
minute particle and the sun are the same.
He
is the Creator, Originator, and Fashioner for Whom are
the Beautiful Names. All heavenly objects are shining
proofs of His Divinity and Grandeur, and radiating
witnesses of His Lordship and Splendor. He
is the Creator of all things, the Provider of all living
beings, the Giver of bounties to all in need of bounty,
the Merciful in both worlds. Our master Muhammad and
Paradise are works of His comprehensive Mercy. He is the
Lord and Sus-tainer of all things, Who rears, trains, and
maintains all things. He
is the Fashioner of all things, the One Who has ordered
this world and controls all things. He
is exalted high above human comprehension, and absolutely
free of incompetence and defect. He
is incomparably greater than all things, for He is the
greatest, Most High, Most Beautiful, the Best because of
Himself, and the Most Grand and Most Majestic by Himself.
The
Ranks in Manifesting Allahu akbar [God is the Greatest][5] First
rank In
the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate Say:
"All praise be to God, Who has never taken to
Himself .a son, and Who has no partner in sovereignty.
Nor (needs) He any guardian due to weakness and
humiliation. Magnify Him with all magnificence."
(18:111) We
believe and are at Your command. God is the greatest,
greater than all things in power and knowledge, for He
is the Fashioner Who made humanity and the universe by
His Power, and inscribed humanity and the universe with
the "pen" of His Destiny. Like the microcosm
(humanity), this macrocosm (the universe) is something
made by His Power, "inscribed" by His
Destiny. He has made it a "mosque," while
making human beings worshippers in it. He has established
the former as an abode, and the latter as a servant
inhabiting it. His
art in the universe has been manifested as a book, while
His coloring of humanity has flourished as speech. His
Power in the universe displays His Majesty, while His
Mercy toward humanity arranges His provision. His
Majesty in the universe bears witness that He is One,
while His provision of humanity announces that He is
Single. His stamp on the universe, both on it as a whole
and in its parts, shows itself in apparent calmness in
never-ending motion, while His seal on humanity is on
each part of as well as the entire human body. Look
at His works, which are firm and well-ordered. There is
absolute order despite absolute abundance, absolute
measure and balance despite absolute speed, absolute
firmness despite absolute facility, absolute beauty of
art despite absolute heterogeneity, absolute harmony
and correlation despite absolute distance, absolute
distinction despite absolute compositeness, and absolute
worth and value despite infinite economy. This obvious
quality of existence bears witness for a sensible person,
and compels one who denies to admit that existence
belongs to One Absolutely Powerful, the absolutely
All-Knowing. Existence
can be explained with absolute ease by attributing it to
One Divine Being. If you try to explain it by attributing
it to various origins, you encounter insurmountable
barriers. If you attribute it to the One Divine Being,
the whole universe will be as easy to create as a
honeybee, and a honeybee will be as easy to create as a
fruit. If, by contrast, you ascribe it to multiple
origins, creating a honeybee will be as difficult as
creating the universe, and creating a fruit will be as
difficult as creating all trees in the universe. This
is because a single being, with a single movement, can
produce an effect and deal with a whole. If that effect
or treatment is expected of multiple beings, it will be
obtained, if at all, only with extreme difficulty and
after many controversies. Which is easier or more
difficult: managing an army by a single commander or the
soldiers, constructing a building by a architect or the
stones, having planets revolve around a single sun or
vice versa? When
existence is attributed to One Divine Being, the
connection between existence and that Being becomes
like a boundless power, and causes do not have to be of
the same power. Also, the effect produced becomes great
in proportion to the Being to Whom it is attributed.
Otherwise each cause would have to be so infinitely
powerful that it could create existence, and the effect
produced would be proportional to its own size only. When
all things are attributed to One Divine Being, they do
not have to be created from absolute nonexistence, for
creation means giving external, material existence to
things that already exist in Divine Knowledge. It is like
developing a form reflected in a rnirror, putting in
words the meaning in one's mind, or rubbing a substance
to make letters written in invisible ink visible.
However, if things are ascribed to themselves or their
causes, they have to be created from absolute
non-existence. This is impossible. The
ease with which One Divine Being does this makes the
existence of things as easy as absolutely necessary;
the difficulty in the latter is beyond measure. A living
being's existence requires that the particles forrning
it, which are spread out in the soil, water, and air,
should come together. Therefore each particle or atom
would have to have universal knowledge and absolute
will. Anything with such knowledge and will would be
independent of and have no need for any partners. Nowhere
in the universe has any sign of such things and partners
been found. Creating the heavens and Earth requires a
perfect, infinite power that has no partner. Otherwise,
this power would have to be limited by a finite power,
which is inconceivable. An infinite power does not need
partners and is not obliged to admit them, even if they
were to exist (they do not). This
Power has no partners, assistants, or ministers.
Material causes are only a thin veil before the Eternal
Power's operation, and have no creative affect in the
existence of things. Human beings, the noblest cause and
equipped with willpower, have only a very small part in
those of their actions done through free will. If we do
not have complete control over ourselves, despite our
free will, how can animals, plants, and inanimate objects
[and the lifeless, blind, and deaf laws that only have
nominal existence] be partners with the Creator of the
heavens and Earth in creating and controlling things? Obviously,
the "envelope" in which the Sovereign puts His
gifts, the "handkerchief in which He wraps His
offerings, or the "soldier" by whom He sends
His bounties cannot be partners with Him in His Kingdom.
Nature and causes, which are like "soldiers"
through whom the Absolute Sovereign sends His bounties to
us, envelopes or chests in which He stores His
offerings to us, handkerchiefs in which He wraps His
gifts for us, cannot be partners with Him or means of
creative effect in executing His commands. Second
rank God
is the greatest, greater than all things in power and
knowledge. He is the Creator, All-Knowing, Maker,
All-Wise, All-Merciful, All-Compassionate. All earthly
creatures and heavenly objects are the miracles of an
AJl-Knowing Creator's Power. The multicolored and
decorated plants and innumerable species of adorned
animals distributed throughout the garden of Earth are
the wonders of an All-Wise Maker's Art. Its smiling
flowers and bedecked fruits are gifts of Mercy from an
All-Merciful, All-Compassionate One. Everything
proclaims that their Creator, Fashioner, and Giver of
gifts is powerful over all things, knows everything, and
encompasses all things in mercy and knowledge. In
relation to His Power, everything without exception is
equal. All past events are miracles of an All-Wise
Maker's art, and bear witness that that Maker is powerful
over all future contingencies and that He can do whatever
He wills in the future, for He is the All-Knowing
Creator, All-Wise, and All-Mighty. Glory
be to Him Who has made the garden of Earth an exhibition
of His art, the assembling ground of His Creativity's
products, a place where His Power and Wisdom are
manifested, a garden where His Mercy blossoms, the field
to be sown for Paradise, and a place where creatures come
and depart in a continuous flux according to fixed
measures. Ornamented
animals, bedecked birds, fruit-bearing trees, flowering
plants—all are miracles of His Knowledge, marvels of
His Art, gifts of His Generosity, and proofs of His
Favor. Smiling flowers promising fruits, birds singing
at dawn, raindrops splashing on flowers, a mother's
compassion for her infant— all are instances of an
All-Loving One making Himself known, an All-Merciful
One making Himself loved, imprints of the Compassion of
an All-Pitying One, and the Pitying of a Most Kind One
for jinn, humanity, spirit beings, angels, and animals. Seeds,
fruits, grains, and flowers are miracles of Wisdom,
marvels of art, gifts of Mercy, proofs of [Divine]
Oneness, and witnesses of His Bountiful-ness in the
Hereafter. They proclaim that their Creator is powerful
over and knows all things, and that He encompasses all
things in mercy, knowledge, creativity, sustaining,
making, and fasMoning. In
relation to His Attributes of creating, arranging,
mamtaining, making, and fashioning, the sun is like a
seed, a star like a flower, and Earth like a grain. Seeds
and fruits mirror [Divine] Unity in the Realm of
Multiplicity, and are signs of Destiny and indications
of Power. The source of multiplicity (the universe and
its contents) is the Realm of Unity. Multiplicity
testifies to the Creator's Oneness in originating and
fashioning, and ends in Unity pointing out the Maker's
Wisdom in creating, sustaining, and mamtaining. As
the universal view encompasses and considers all
particulars, Wisdom manifests that the Creator of all
things considers the particular. If the particular is a
fruit, obviously it is the reason why the tree was
created. We are the fruit of the universe, the Creator's
most manifest purpose [in creating the universe]. The
heart is like a seed or the nucleus [of a person], and
the brightest mirror of the Maker of creation. Thus we
are the universe's pivot upon which the wheel of creation
turns, and for the sake of which the universe is
continually destroyed and changed, transformed and
renewed. God
is the greatest: O Great One! O God, You are One Whose
Grandeur, Greatness, and Majesty cannot be grasped by
intellects. All things announce in unison: There is no
god but He, continually seek: O Truth, and eternally say:
O Living One! Third
rank God
is the greatest, greater than all tilings in power and
knowledge. He is All-Powerful, All-Determining,
All-Knowing, All-Wise, All-Fashioning, All-Munificent,
All-Subtle and Favoring, All-Decorating, All-Loving, the
One Making Himself Known, All-Merciful,
All-Compassionate, All-Pitying, All-Beautiful, the One
with Absolute Beauty and Perfection, and the Eternal
Designer. The truths of the worlds (in whole and in
parts) and of creation (in whole and in parts), and
existence and maintenance all consist in the lines drawn
by the "pen" of His Decree and Destiny
according to a definite ordering, determining, knowledge,
and wisdom, and in the designs made by the
"compasses" of His Knowledge and Wisdom
according to a definite art and fashion. They
consist of decorations made by the "bright
hand" of His art, FasMoning, Decorating, and
Illustrating with favor and munificence; in the
flowers of His Favoring, Munificence, Making Known, and
Loving with mercy and bountifulness; and in the fruits of
the overflowing spring of His Mercy, Bountifulness,
Pitying, and Affection with grace and perfection. They
also consist of the radiations of an everlasting Beauty
and perpetual Perfection, as attested to by the fact that
the mirrors [reflecting those truths— that is, all
creatures] are mortal and the reflections disappear,
while manifestations of Beauty are permanent and
continue to confer bounties despite their recipients'
mortality. The
mortality of mirrors and the decay of creatures,
despite the perpetual manifestation [of Divine Names,
Attributes, and acts] in utmost abundance, is a clear
sign and convincing argument that the manifest Beauty
and flowering Perfection do not belong to those on whom
they are manifested. This is a most eloquent
explanation and evident proof of the abstract Beauty and
ever-renewed Benevolence, of the Necessarily Existent
and the All-Loving, Permanent One. Aperfect
work points to a perfect act. Aperfect act indicates a
perfect name and a perfect agent. A perfect name
betokens a perfect attribute. A perfect attribute shows
a perfect function or essential capacity. Aperfect
function or essential capacity demonstrates the
perfection of the Being through what is befitting for
that Being, Who is the Most Evident Truth. Fourth
rank May
His Majesty be exalted. God is the greatest, for He is
All-Just and the source of justice, the All- Judging,
Ail-Ruling, and All-Wise. He founded the tree of this
universe in 6 days by the principles of His Will and
Wisdom, divided it into branches by the prescripts of
His Decree and Destiny, arranged it by the rules of His
way of acting, decorated it by the precepts of His Favor
and Mercy, and iUuminated it through the manifestations
of His Names and Attributes. His creation's orderliness
and balance; His creatures' decorations; the
similarity, correct proportions, mutual assistance and
answering among them; and the firm, conscious artistry in
all things Destiny has determined for each, according to
its capacity, attest to this. There
is a comprehensive, all-inclusive wisdom in creation's
ordering; a perfect favoring in equipping each thing
with necessary parts and organs, as well as making it
good-looking and well-proportioned; an all-encompassing
mercy in gratifying each creature's needs; an
all-inclusive provision in each creature's raising and
breeding all these qualities in creation and the life
conferred on each living thing or being to make it an
exhibition of the Creator's manifestations; and the
beauties granted to it for certain purposes show that the
Creator is One. Members
of a species die but the species remains. Each feels
innate love for its Creator, Whom it adores, and an
attraction toward Him. Its coming into existence,
formation and life, and the perfect functioning of its
bodily parts, are amazing. All such qualities in
creation also show that the Creator and the Lord is One. Plants
and animals are sustained and nursed, and produce wisely
and for many sublime purposes. There is a perfect and
purposeful order in changes occurring on Earth, and
each thing has amazing, perfect artistry and beauty
despite its coming into existence as if all at once. All
of this demonstrates that the Creator and Ruler is One. Innumerable
living creatures in the universe need provision. Creation
is very diverse, and so meeting the needs of each part of
creation requires great diversity. No creature can meet
its needs. Seeing that a single grape costs almost as
much as the universe, for the co-operation of all
elements (especially the sun, soil, water, and the vine)
is required to produce it, it is clear that no creature
can fulfill even one of its needs. But the needs of every
creature are met just on time from unexpected sources.
This universal, precise provision shows that the
Creator and Provider is One. Every
creature is essentially weak and helpless. It has nothing
of its own. Whatever it has in the name of strength and
wealth is from the Creator. Its acknowledgement of its
weakness and helplessness attracts Divine help. Therefore
its strength lies in its weakness, and its power derives
from its helplessness, manimate matter and substances
are equipped and radiated with life and consciences. They
undergo numerous changes during their life-history.
Their neediness, their innate capacity, is a prayer
acceptable by God. All of this shows that the Creator
is One, Immutable and Answerer of prayers. A
conscious, living being draws close to God through its
supplications and acts of worship. Sincere, regular
worship and supplications enable one to have deep insight
and an "eye of the heart" by which one can
penetrate into the meaning of things and events, and the
Divine purposes in creation, and unveil some hidden
truths in creation and pertaining to Divinity. Regular
worship, prayer, and remembrance of God give one peace
and tranquilhty and make one a perfect human being, a
best pattern of creation—all such qualities of creation
and many others unmentioned are witnesses that this
universe is managed by a single All-Wise One; sustained
and raised by a single, All-Munificent Lord, One
Be-sought-of-All; serves a single Master; and is at the
disposal of a single Ruler. Also, the origin of
ereation is a single Power, the stamps of Whose
Oneness appear on each of Its "missives," on
each of Its "pages," and as abundantly as the
number of those missives and pages. Every
flower and fruit, plant and tree, animal and rock, sand
particle and stone is a manifest seal demonstrating that
the One Who placed it is the "In-scriber" of
this space, the land and sea, and all their contents. He
is the Designer of the sun and moon on the page of the
heavens. May the Majesty of that Designer be exalted. He
is God the greatest. Whence
the world sings in unison: There is no god but He. Fifth
rank God
is the greatest. He is the Creator, All-Pow-erful,
Fashioner, and All-Seeing. All celestial bodies and
pearl-like stars are proofs of His Divinity and Grandeur,
witnesses of His Lordship and Might. They attest to and
proclaim the splendor of His Lordship's Kingdom, the
vastness of His Rule and Wisdom, and His Power's
magnificence and greatness. Do
they not look at the heaven above them, how We have built
it and decorated itl (50:6). Look at the sky and see the
serene silence, purposeful motion, and magnificent
glittering smile with its orderly creation and
well-proportioned art. Its "lamp" shines for
the changing of seasons, its "lantern"
radiates for the world's illumination, its stars
glitter for the worlds' decoration. All proclaims the
boundless Sovereignty in the universe's organization
and maintenance. That
All-Powerful Creator knows all things and has a Will so
comprehensive that whatever He wills is, and whatever He
does not will is not. He is powerful over all things by
an absolute, all-encompassing Power essential to His
Divine Being. Just as it is inconceivable for the sun to
exist without light and heat, it is inconceivable for the
God and Creator of the heavens to be without
all-encompassing Knowledge and absolute Power. He knows
all things by an all-encompassing Knowledge essential to
His Divine Being. Nothing can escape this Knowledge, by
virtue of Its relation with all things and Its
penetrative capability and comprehensiveness. Whatever
is observed in creation (e.g., orderliness, balance, and
harmony; all-inclusive wisdom, perfect favoring,
well-established measures, well-arranged dispensation,
fruitful decrees, appointed hours, regular provision,
and pleasing care [given to all things]; and
perfect, m^tmgm^hing measurement, order and firmness, and
the absolute ease thereof) testifies to the
all-encompassing Knowledge of the Knower of the Unseen
and of all things. The verse: Should He Who creates not
know? He is All-Subtle, All-Aware (67:14), points out
that the existence of something requires knowing it. If
the beauty of art in one's work points to one's
consciousness to the extent of a small star's brightness
on a pitch-dark night, humanity's creation indicates its
Creator's Knowledge to the extent of the sun's splendor
at noon. As
He knows all things, His Will encompasses all things.
Nothing takes place without His Will. Power produces the
effect, Knowledge distinguishes, and Will apportions
and individualizes. This is how things come into
existence. There are as many witnesses of the Almighty's
Will as there are characteristics, attributes, and
states of things. Creating
and fashioning each thing with the distinguishing
character and attributes purposefully chosen for it out
of innumerable alternatives and potentialities; forming
each most delicately and with most sensitive measures in
an infinitely diverse flux; creating diverse,
well-formed living beings from simple, manimate elements
(e.g., creating humanity with its senses and all other
systems and bodily organs from a sperm [and an egg], a
bird and its bodily systems from an egg, a tree with all
its parts from a seed) witness that eveiytrring is
given its individual character and attributes by the
Almighty's Will and Choice. Glory be to Him. The
correspondence in bodily structures and basic systems
among a species' members shows that their Maker is One
and Single. However, the fact that each one is unique
demonstrates that that One and Single Maker does whatever
He wills and judges however He wishes. May His Majesty be
exalted. As
the All-Knowing and All-Willing Creator has an
all-encompassing Knowledge and all-inclusive Will, He has
a perfect Power issuing from and essential to His
Divine Being. That Power has no opposite, for that would
require the agreement or combination of two opposites,
which, by universal assent, is inconceivable. There can
be no grades in that Power, for in relation to It
everything, without exception, is equal. This is because
the Power is not material. The
transparency of the immaterial dimension of existence
with which It deals, the interrelation among things, the
exact balance in creation, the perfect order of
existence, and the utmost obedience of existence to It
testify to this. The absolute order and harmony in
creation, the absolute measuredness and distinctness
observed in it, despite the speed and ease of creation
and the created's irifinite multiplicity,
individualization, and diversity, also testify to this
fact. The
One Who has that Power can create anything, without
exception, with great ease because He is One and Single,
and because of the necessity of His existence and being
totally different from the created (He is unrestricted,
indivisible, and un-contained by space). Nothing impedes
Him; rather, whatever seems to be an impediment serves
as a means of ease, although He has no need for any help
in conducting and executing His commands. He can do so
because anything He creates, without exception, has the
same quality of art as that seen in everything else.
Whoever creates the latter creates the former. The One
Who creates a seed, which is a small-scale copy of its
tree into which the Creator has included the tree by
the principles of His Knowledge, must undoubtedly be the
Creator of the tree. It is not difficult for the Power
That brings into existence the particulars to create the
universals. Just
as the copy of the "Qur'an of wisdom"
inscribed in an atom with ether particles has the same
quality of beauty and art found in the copy of the
"Qur'an of grandeur" written on the pages of
the heavens in the ink of stars and suns, so creating a
honeybee and an ant requires no less skill and artistry
than creating a date palm. The art contained in a rose is
not less than the art contained in a pearl-like star.
While the utmost and perfect ease of creating things
causes the misguided to confuse creation with
self-formation, which requires accepting impossibilities
and superstitions that contradict sound reasoning and
judgment, it. leads people of truth to the certainty that
planets and minute particles are the same in relation to
the Power of the Creator of the universe. May His Majesty
be exalted and His Name be extolled. There is no God but
He. Sixth
rank God
is the greatest, greater than all things in power and
knowledge. He is the All-Just, All-Wise, All-Powerful,
All-Knowing, One, Single, and Eternal Sovereign. All
worlds are at the disposal of His "hands" of
order and balance, arranging and measuring, Justice and
Wisdom, and Knowledge and Power. They show His Oneness
and Singleness. Nothing is excluded from His order and
balance or His arranging and measuring, which are two
"chapters"
of
the Manifest Record and the Manifest Book,
which,
in turn, are the titles to the Knowledge and Command of
the All-Knowing and All-Wise, and the Power and Will of
the All-Mighty and All-Compassionate. The order and
balance in this Book, together with that Record,
testify that all is at the All-MerciM's disposal, the
All-Pitying's ordering, the All-Gracious' decorating, and
the All-Ruling's measuring. In
sum: The manifestations of the Divine Names "the
First" and "the Last" in creation refer to
beginning and end, origin and issue, past and future,
command and knowledge, and point to the Manifest
Record. The manifestations of the Names "the
Outward" and "the Inward" on things
connected with God's Attribute of Creation point to the
Manifest Book. The
universe is like a huge tree, and each world in it is
like a tree. The universe's creation and division into
worlds and species may be likened to a tree. A tree has
an origin (its seed) and an issue that carries on its
task after its death (the seed in its fruit). Its
beginning and end manifest "the First" and
"the Last." Through its composition and the
purposes it serves, the original seed is an index or code
for the tree's formation. Thus it manifests "the
First." The seeds in the tree's fruits manifest
"the Last." Seeds
are like mirhature chests containing the Pen of Destiny's
inscribed index and code for forming new trees that
exactly resemble the original
one.
A tree's exterior manifests the Name "the
Outward." Through its perfect, well-ordered
structure, decoration, and purposes it serves, it is like
a perfectly beautiful dress made with perfect wisdom
and favor to fit the tree. The tree's interior manifests
the Name "the Inward." Through its perfect,
amazing, organization and the way it is fed, its interior
is like an extraordinary machine or factory working in
perfect order and balance. The
tree's beginning resembles an amazing code, its end an
extraordinary index, and both point to the Manifest
Record. Its exterior points to the Manifest Book, just as
human memory indicates the Supreme Guarded Tablet. All
trees' original seeds and fruits indicate the Manifest
Record, and their exteriors and interiors symbolize the
Manifest Book. Compare with a particular tree the
"tree" of Earth with its past and future, the
"tree" of the universe with its beginning and
future, and the "tree" of a person with his or
her ancestors and descendants. Seventh
rank God
is the greatest, greater than all things in power and
knowledge. He is the Creator, Opener, All-Acting,
All-Knowing, Giver of Gifts, Distributor of Blessings,
and Eternal "Sun."[6] All worlds and their
contents are shadows of His lights, works of His acts,
colors of the embroidery of His Names' manifestations,
lines of the "pen" of His Destiny and Decree,
and mirrors manifesting His Attributes of Beauty,
Majesty, and Perfection. All of this is attested to by
the Eternal Witness—the Almighty Himself—with all His
Books, Pages, or Scrolls; by creation's signs of and the
Qur'an's verses; by Earth, with its manifestations of
absolute riches and wealth despite its essential
destitution and need; and by the Prophets, saints and
purified, exacting scholars with enlightened intellects
and illumined hearts, their investigations, spiritual
discoveries and supplications, and the blessings with
which they are favored. All
of the above, with utmost certainty, accept the testimony
of creation's signs, the Qur'an's verses, and the
testament of the heavenly Books and Pages containing the
testimony of the Necessarily Existent One. All of these
witnesses agree that all creatures are works of His
Power, inscriptions of His Destiny, mirrors of His Names,
and images of His lights.
Refuting
False Notions About the Origin of Existence[7] Know,
O friend, that those who say: "Things are formed by
themselves," "Causes have brought it
about," or "Nature requires it [to be so]"
cause much confusion, for such statements are false. You
exist. So, according to the first statement, you are your
own creature. According to the second one, [material]
causes have brought you about. According to the last one,
some unconscious, deaf, and blind laws or forces
[attributed to nature] or lifeless things called
"nature" required your existence. But the truth
is that you are a creature of God, the Almighty. As
for the first statement, things cannot be formed by
themselves, because each particle or atom forming your
body would have to have an eye to see your whole body and
all of creation, as well as consciousness [to be aware
of all requirements of life and existence]. Your
perfect composition, the perfection of art in you,
requires this, for all particles of existence are in
vital and substantial relations with each other and with
all creation. To
print a book, a printing house must have as many iron
letters or keys as needed to print it. If you made
yourself, you must contain as many molds as the number of
atoms in you, for they are in conscious relation and
communication with each other. Your composition is
uniform, meaning that all parts are in close
interrelation with each other. Therefore, like the stones
forming an arch or a dome, all your atoms or building
blocks should be both dominant over and dominated by each
other. They also should be like the manifestations of the
Names and Attributes of the One Who rolls up the
heavens like a scroll rolled up for books—both opposite
and complementary to each other. Causes
cannot create anything by themselves. For example, if
bottles containing medical ingredients fall off the
shelf and become mixed on the floor, would the desired
medicine be produced? Using the same analogy, could you
be formed by chance or random causes? How could
innumerable deaf, blind, and unconscious causes come
together and create something that has perfect order?
By coming together they only increase in deafness and
blindness. Each human being is a perfect work of art
[intelligent, conscious, and equipped with endless and
extremely complex feelings, senses, and faculties, and
feeling irrfinite need]. How can that which is deaf,
blind, and unconscious bestow hearing, sight, and
consciousness on something else? Assume
that innumerable causes come together in a most orderly
fashion and in exact measure to create a cell in your
eye. With the same amount of effort, then, the universe's
basic parts or elements, including huge heavenly objects,
should be able to assemble themselves in your palm or
in each of your cells. Why? Because if you work in a
house, this means the house contains you. All of the
universe's parts and contents are related to humanity. So
if causes created you, the entire universe should be able
to operate within each of your body's parts and be
contained by one of your cells. This is a most
inconceivable sophistry. Nature
cannot create because it is something supposed to exist,
a name bestowed by those who do not know the real facts
of the matter. However, in its true meaning, it is a
Divine art, a painting by the All-Merciful. "Natural
forces" are only manifestations of the Power of the
All-Merciful, All-Knowing, All-Aware, All-Willing.
"Chance" is only a mistaken supposition put
forward by those who are unaware of or deny the Single
Maker. In many of my treatises included in this book, I
have argued that this wonderful art [that constitutes the
essence of what they call nature] is really the work of
the Power of the All-Aware, All-Seeing, having all the
attributes of Perfection. Could
something restricted, solid, inanimate, whose existence
or non-existence is equally possible (meaning that one
must prefer its existence and create it), have woven
the universe's garment? Could a gnat have participated in
weaving these perfectly designed and adorned garments
in which those words are dressed? The only explanation
for your existence and that of creation is that
everything that has been created is a creature of an
Eternal Maker, and that they all testify to this fact. There
are other witnesses: the Qur'an and all other revealed
books; the writings of saints and believers in God's
existence and Unity; all that exists and happens in the
universe; the lord of creation and all other Prophets,
saints, and angels; Prophet Muhammad; humanity and jinn
with all their "natural" needs; and God—all
of these testify that there is no god but He (3:18). Know,
O frtend, that the falsehood of attributing creation to
things themselves, nature, or causes can be explained
through the example of a fruit-bearing tree. If you
attribute this tree to God, the One and Single, you
attribute it to its seed and to the laws of germination,
creation, and growth issuing from the Necessarily
Existent Being, the One and Single, and on which that
seed depends. The tree is dependent on the laws issuing
from a Single Creator because of the ease coming from the
Oneness of Him Who governs its germination, growth, and
life. It is just as easy for that Single Creator to grow
that seed into a large coconut palm bearing countless
fruits or into a very small one with only a few fruits. But
if you attribute a tree to itself, causes, or nature,
then each fruit, blossom, leaf, branch, and twig on it
would need whatever the whole tree does, for each part is
an epitome of a whole. Thus, whatever is needed by the
whole is needed by each part. Consider
these two alternatives. The first one, which is done by
God with perfect ease, makes creation necessary and
inevitable, whereas the second one is so unbelievably
difficult that it renders the creation of anything
inconceivable. In
short: If you attribute creation to things themselves,
you must accept that every cell of your body can
encompass the universe. If you attribute creation to
material causes, you must affirm that every cell is
like a room in which all causes operating in the
universe are included, for all cells are the same and
display the same structure. This uniformity leads you
to unity in diversity, to the interrelated-ness seen in
the universe, and therefore to the Maker's unity.
Something unified, displaying uniformity, and composed
of countless interrelated parts in a basic relationship
with each other could not have been created by more than
one Creator. How can a cell in which even a gnat's two
wings cannot be included contain the many material,
bodily causes needed for it to function? Something
having external, material existence is more established,
stable, and fixed than something having only anideal,
immaterial existence. A tiny particle of the former can
contain a mountain of the latter. [For example, a
mountain's reflection can fit into a small mirror. Since
whatever exists is contingent, its existence or
non-existence was equally possible. Its coming into
existence was the result of a preference by One having
the absolute authority of preference, the One with an
absolutely necessary existence without which nothing
could exist. Therefore,] that necessary existence is
more established, stable, and fixed than all material
existence. It is the Real Existence, and so cannot be
contained by contingent existence. Contingent
things—whatever exists other than the Necessarily
Existent One—are reflected in the mirror of the
Eternal, all-encompassing Knowledge, while their real
existence consists in their existence in that Knowledge
[as meaning]. They come into material existence through
the manifestation of the lights of Necessary Existence,
and thus show the Necessarily Existent One's existence.
Their material existence in the corporeal world, the
result of their transference from the all-encompassing
sphere of Knowledge, can never be of the same essence and
quality, or of the same existential degree, as that of
Real Existence. *
Reflect on the lines of the universe, for they are
missives to you from the High Abode. The
Book of Creation displays orderliness as clearly as the
midday sun and exhibits Power's mir- *
From TJie Seedbed of Light I The Eleventh Treatise /
Second Proof acle in every word or letter. Its
composition is so miraculous that, even supposing that
each natural cause were a free agent, each cause would
prostrate humbly before this miraculousness,
acknowledging: "Glory be to You. We have no power.
Surely, You are All-Mighty, All-Wise." This
Book's order is so subtle and delicate that inserting a
new point in its exact place requires an absolute power
that can create everything, for each letter—especially
living ones—has inner relations with sentences and a
strong connection with all other words. Thus, whoever
created a gnat's eyes created the sun, and whoever
ordered a flea's stomach ordered the solar system.
Refer to: Your creation and resurrection are but as a
single soul (31:28), and see how truthful a witness comes
from a bee's tongue, which is only one of Power's
miracles or represents a small word in this Book. Ponder
over a micro-organism that, although invisible to the
naked eye, is a sample of creation. The One Who
"wrote" it in that miraculous fashion also
"wrote" the universe. If you study it and
discern its subtle mechanisms and wonderful systems,
you will be convinced that its existence and life
cannot be attributed to lifeless, simple, natural
causes that cannot distinguish between possibilities.
Otherwise you must admit that each particle contains
the consciousness of sages, the knowledge of
scientists, and the genius of statesmen or
administrators, and that they communicate with each other
directly. Even the superstitious are ashamed of such a
claim. There
is no explanation other than to regard it as a miracle of
Divine Power, the invention of the One Who invented and
arranged the universe. If this were not so, it would be
impossible for the two most important natural causes or
laws, gravity and repulsion, to come together in an
atom. Gravity and repulsion, motion and similar
phenomena, are names of Divine principles or ways of
operating represented as laws. They may be accepted as
laws, provided they are not promoted to being the
foundation of an agent nature. Being only names or titles
or having nominal existence, they should not be
accorded real, external existence. Question:
Why do people believe in matter's eternity and attribute
all species' formation to random motions of particles
or similar things? Answer:
Reasoning or rational judgment does not always lead to
belief, as being rationally convinced does not mean
believing in God. They cannot perceive their mistake,
as their reasoning is based on a superficial view and
imitation. If they were to pursue this line of
reasoning, they would see how illogical and irrational
such a belief is. If, despite this, they still hold such
a belief, they are heedless of the Creator. Such a
strange deviation! How can those who find it hard to
accept the eternity of God, the Glorified, and
attribute creation to Him—although eternity and
creativity are among the Divine Essence's indispensable
Attributes—attribute eternity and creativity to
countless particles and helpless things? Recall
this well-known incident: Once, people were scanning the
sky for the new crescent moon to mark Ramadan's
beginning. An old man claimed he had seen it, when what
he had really seen was a downward-curving white hair from
his eyebrow. It is that hair-like thing that blinds
people to the truth. Humanity is of noble character by
creation. While pursuing truth, people sometimes
encounter falsehood and keep it in their hearts. Other
times, while digging out the truth they come across
misguidance and, supposing it to be the truth, accept it. Question:
What are those things called "nature,"
"laws," and "forces," and how are
people deceived by them? Answer:
Nature is the comprehensive Divine "Shari'a"
established for the order and harmony among everything
contained in the visible, material world. This law of
creation also is called the "way of God."
Nature is the result of all nominal laws in creation.
Forces are the principles of this "Shari'a,"
and laws are elements of the same "Shari'a."
The regularity of its principles and elements leads
people to see it as "nature" with a real,
external existence, and, after that, as an agent.
Although the human heart or mind cannot be convinced
that nature is a true agent, those who deny the
All-Majestic Creator and refuse to understand the Divine
Power's miraculous works might begin to see this blind,
ignorant nature as the origin of things. Nature
is something printed, not a printer; a design, not a
designer; an object acted on, not an agent; a rule or
measure, not an origin; an order, not an or-derer. It is
a principle without power, a set of laws without real or
external existence that issues from the Divine Attributes
of Will and Power. Suppose
a young person comes to this exquisite world from
another one and enters a beautiful, richly adorned
palace. No one to whom this building and decoration can
be attributed is seen. So this person, after seeing a
comprehensive book containing the blueprint and
irrformation on how the palace was built and furnished,
and due to his or her ignorance and obsession with the
builder, thinks that the book built the palace. In the
same way, the heedlessness of some people concerning
the All-Majestic Creator allows them to deceive
themselves into accepting the natural world as its own
originator. God
has two kinds of "Shari'a." One issues from the
Divine Attribute of Speech and regulates or orders the
acts of servants issuing from their free will. The other
issues from the Divine Attribute of Will and Power,
comprises the Divine commands of creation, and is the
result of the Divine Way of acting. The first one
comprises comprehensible laws, while the second one
consists of nominal laws, wrongly called "laws of
nature." They have no creative or inventive part in
existence, for that is unique to the Divine Power. Everything
that exists is connected to all other things; nothing can
exist or survive by itself. The one who created a single
thing created all things, and can only be the One,
Eternally-Besought-of-All. By contrast, natural causes,
to which the misguided ascribe creativity, are numerous,
do not know one another, and are blind. Attributing
creativity to them means accepting that innumerable
blind, lifeless things have come together by chance and
formed that vast, orderly universe, [the existence,
order, and harmony of which manifestly require absolute
knowledge and will, power and wisdom]. Then leave them to
plunge and play (6:91). To
sum up: The Book of the Universe's observed order and
regularity, and the manifest miraculous-ness in its
composition, are two proofs of Divine Unity showing that
the universe and its contents are works of the absolute
Power, mfrnite Knowledge, and eternal Will of God. Question:
How can the order, harmony, and regularity be
established? Answer:
Science functions as if humanity's senses have discovered
this order by deduction and induction. Each branch of
science is based upon or studies one aspect of existence.
Science's universal principles originate in this order,
harmony, and regularity. Each branch comprises the
universal principles and rules prevalent in the species
it studies. Those principles' universality and uniformity
point to the order's magnificence, for without it
universal rules could not be inferred. Scientists
discover that order tbrough science, and by it see that
the macro-human being (the universe) is as orderly as
themselves. There is wisdom in eveiything, for nothing
is purposeless or left to its own devices. The
Book of Creation, with all its systems, worlds of living
creatures and particles, proclaims Divine Unity.
Altogether they declare: There is no god but God. *
Praise be to God, Whom all things glorify with their own
visible and perceptible words. For example, lights,
rivers, and rain clouds are the words of the source of
light, water, and air, respectively. Glory
be to Him Whom praise: the source of light with lights;
water and air with rivers and clouds... earth and plants
with rocks and flowers... the atmosphere and trees with
birds and
fruits... clouds and sky with rain and moons... Light
shines by His illuminating and displaying
it. Air produces waves by His controlling and charging it
(with tasks). Water bursts forth and flows by His
subjugating and depositing it, *
From Tlie Seedbed of Light I The Twelfth Treatise (An
Important Topic)
which
is praise for the One Who determines all things and
appoints for each thing a particular nature. Stones are
adorned by His shaping and arranging them. Flowers smile
by His making them adorned
and beautiful. Fruits appear richly adorned by His favoring
and graciousness, which is a manifest, comely praise for
the One Who creates every thing with a particular nature.
Birds sing by His enabling them to speak and making them
lovely. Rain trills by His sending it down and making it
vital for beings. Moons move by His determining and
directing, which is an eloquent glorification for the
All-Determining, a luminous sign for the
All-Overwhelming. Glory be to Him Whom praise: the
heavens with constellations and light-giving objects...
the planetary systems with suns, stars, and moons... the
atmosphere with thunderbolts, hghtning, and rain... Earth
with animals, plants, and trees-Trees praise Him with
leaves and flowers, then
with well-proportioned fruits. When flowers stop
praising, fruits begin to speak with an eloquent,
Ught-diffusing praise. A seed hymns silently by heart,
full of
mysteries; a book is inscribed in it—the record of
its tree's life-history. It voices the praise of the
Splitter of grains, the Originator. All plants praise and
worship, glorify and prostrate before the
All-Detennining. The smiles of plants through their
flowers are praise manifest for one able to discern.
Their sprouts and spikes are their mouths, seeds and grains
the words of the poetry they recite... Their proportions
and orderliness are another tongue, and their design is
by the designing of the All-IUuminating.
Each is a work of art adorned by the All-Radiating. With
their being sustenance, their colors and
smells, they describe and praise the Originator. They
describe His Attributes, make His Names
known, and interpret His will to make Himself known
and loved. The grains in the ears and flowers like eyes
are "drops" of
the manifestations of the Originator... So His servants
may love Him and His creatures
may know him. A tree in blossom is an expression of praise
in verse, with many "eyes" that have opened. It
has adorned its green parts for its festive
day, in order that its Lord may watch His illustrious
works. It exhibits the gems attached to it to those with
eyes to see; and proclaims to humanity the wisdom in its
creation, with the treasury deposited in it by the
Munificence of the Lord of fruits. Glory be to Him Who
does good whatever He does: how
illustrious His proof, how clear His
explanations! Who is the All-Shaping Originator, All-Able
Creator, M-Illuminating Fashioner, Who creates each thing
with a nature particular to it. Look at His Mercy in the
season of spring to see His art: the season of spring is
a festive day for His
servants... the day when His creation—trees and
plants—adorn themselves... Each plant manifests to the
degree of its rank
the
sovereignty of its Sovereign and the gifts of its
Owner... It is ready to receive and fulfill His orders; renders
much service in His Name... It blossoms and yields fruits
by His leave, resembling a clean table for His guests...
Light and air, soil, and water are conveyors of His
commands and bearers of His Throne, publicizing His Art,
illustrating His
Wisdom. Knowledge and Wisdom: light is their throne.
Grace and Mercy: water is their throne. Preserving and
reviving: soil is their throne. Command and Will: air is
their throne. Know,
O friend, that all those elements are objects on which
His Names are manifested; they are media, not sources or
origins; they are acted on, not agents. They are
conveyors by His Strength and carry what they carry by
His leave, by His Names... they do what they do by His
Power. If
what falls to the part of things did not consist only of
being objects where His Names are manifested, being
only passive media, it would have been necessary for soil
and air, light and water to have in each of their
particles or atoms or molecules an infinite knowledge,
power, and creative ability. For example, air passes
through the atmosphere and visits the particles of all
plants destined to grow. Its passing causes countless
marvels—miracles of the art of Him Who has created the
heavens—to appear. If
it were possible for a simple, lifeless, ignorant
particle to build those trees, attach those fruits to
them, and to shape those flowers—in short, to invent
all those things—and if it were able to bear this
Earth, you would have the right to doubt the Oneness of
Him Who has no partners. Otherwise, it is beyond doubt
that only He Who holds all creation in His Power's grasp,
in His Wisdom's grasp, can claim any ownership and
dominion of things. Every
grain, drop, or particle works in the service of
plants, fruits, or flowers. If they were not employed
by the Lord of the heavens, each grain, drop, or particle
would have enough art, power, and wisdom to invent and
direct all of those creatures. Glory
be to Him Whom trees praise with their leaves, blossoms,
arid fruits... Bursting of blossoms amidst multiplicity
of leaves to
lead the way to the growth of fruits, and the growth of
fruits in the lap of the flowers— which are daughters
of trees— dancing in the hands of green branches,
moved
by ermvening breezes— all is an eloquent speech
extolling Him Who has built them, Who is One,
Overwhelming. Their mouths, letters, and words... are
leaves, flowers, and fruits. Leaves dance in delight at
mentioning the Creator-Flowers smile in gratitude to the
All-Able One for their adornment... Fruits joy in what
Mercy provides for them, singing sweet melodies,
well-ordered, well-proportioned, in shining colors...
artistically designed and embroidered, with
wonderful shape; richly adorned and marvelously painted,
delicious in the eating. The marvelous art they display,
their being in great variety and with diverse skins—
all this is in praise of the Originator and describes
the All-Able. They describe His Attributes and make His
Names known, interpreting that He wills to be loved and
manifests His Affection. The drops of the Creator's
manifestations come out of the mouths of fruits that He
wills to be known
and
loved by His servants, and manifest His Compassion for
His creatures in poverty. Glory be to Him. How clear His
proof, how vast His Power, how manifest His
Mercy. He is All-Building and All-Shaping, All-Composing
and All-Arranging, All-Spreading and All-Promising. Glory
be to Him: How gracious His Majesty, how majestic His
Grace, how great His Sovereignty.
Index
A angels,
15, 24, 29, 34, 36, 43, 45,
63, 64, 65, 67, 72, 75, animals,
7, 9, 23, 29, 30, 44, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71,
72, 91, 92, 93, 98, 125 atom,
2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 90, 104, 111, 119 B balance,
15, 41, 77, 88, 97, 101, 103,
105, 108, 109 Beauty, 31, 34, 73, 78, 95, 96, 110 belief,
ii, in, 46, 47, 52, 53, 55, 79,
80, 81, 119, 120 Book of the Universe, i, 42, 51, 123 c causality,
4, 10, 12, 14, 55, 59 cause, ii, 16, 29, 31, 36, 40, 44, 46,
89, 91,106, 111, 118 compassion,
22, 23, 29, 31, 45, 93 consciousness, 83, 102, 111, 113,
119 contentment,
53 contingent, 74, 77, 116, 117 creation, Hi, 2, 7, 8,
11, 15, 16, 22, 27, 30, 32, 36, 39, 41, 44, 45, 46, 61,
67, 69, 73, 75, 80, 81, 83, 90, 94, 95, 97, 98, 99, 101,
102, 103, 104, 105, 107,
108. 110, 111, 112, 114, D death,
108 desire, 29, 69 Destiny,
Hi, 9, 11, 45, 55, 58, 75, 85, 87, 94, 95, 97, 106, 107, 108,
110 diversity,
9, 11, 84, 98, 104, 116 E enlightenment,
106 eternal life, 79 eternity, 11, 20, 119, 120 ether,
104 evil, 72 Existence
(Divine), i, 42, 43, 74, 88, HI, 117 F falsehood,
115, 120 freedom, 58 free will, Hi, 69, 91, 122 future,
9, 10, 92, 106, ¡07, 108, 109 G grace,
16, 23, 30, 31, 33, 95 gratitude, 34, 130 H happiness,
29, 53, 79 harmony,
15, 24, 58, 88, 101, 104, 121,
123 heart, 34, 45, 46, 94, 99, 121, ¡26 heavens, 1, ¡4,
¡5, ¡6, 17, 23, 29, 41.
43, 52, 61, 63, 74, 75, 81, 90,
91, 100, 101, 105. 112, 125.
129 heedlessness, 22, 23, 122 Hell, 16 Hereafter,
45, 93 I ignorance,
ii, 122 imagination, 36 insight, 39, 42, 99 intellect, 7
intention, 8 J Jesus
(Prophet), 24 jinn, 29. 34, 45. 93, 114 justice, Hi, 19,
96 K knowledge,
2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9,17, 20, 28, 32, 53, 56, 57, 58, 63,
67, 72, 79, 83, 87. 90, 92. 93, 95, 105,108,109,119, 123,
128 L law,
6, 7, 121 life,
in, 1, 3, 6, 7, 10, 34, 45, 46, 47, 59, 69, 79, 80, 97,
98, 99, 111, 115, 118, 126 light,
3, 7, 15, 21, 34, 42, 43, 44, 50, 59, 63, 68, 79, 80, 81,
101, 124, 125, 126, 128 Lordship
(Divine), 2,15, 20, 22, 41, 42, 63, 65, 70, 72. 86,100 love,
ii, 24, 29, 30, 31, 34, 63, 66, 80, 97, 127 M' materialism,
ii matter,
6, 55. 59. 99, 113, 119 memory, 109 mercy,
12, 23, 31, 68, 79, 80, 84, 92,
93, 95, 97 Messengership, 80 mind, 3, 7, 56, 64, 90, 121
miracle, 15, 42, 45, 49, 117, 119 N naturalism,
12 necessity, 71, 104 neediness, 99 non-existence,
16, 90, 114, 116 o obedience,
14, 16, 40, 69, 103 P Paradise,
29, 30, 34, 35, 43, 44, 86, 93 partners,
13, 14, 55, 74, 90, 91, 92, 129 past,
9, 10, 92, 106, 107, 108, 109 philosophy, ii, Hi, 2, 4,
5, 7, 8, 10, 13,
14, 16, 27, 107 pleasure, 29, 62, 63, 67, 68, 70, 72
poverty, 131 prayer, 99 property, 2 Prophets,
24, 69, 110, 114 punishment, 53, 61 purify, Hi purity, 16 purpose,
16, 28, 40, 62, 94 R reality,
8, 13, 28, 107 reason, 34, 35, 46, 94 reasoning, ii, 39,
42, 105, 120 reflection, 24, 116 religion, Hi, 16
Risale-iNur, ii, Hi, 47 s saints,
24, 110, 114 science, ii, Hi, 2, 9, 11, 12, 47, 49, 50,
51, 123, 124 season,
127 self, 22, 105 separation, 52, 80 servanihood, 16 service,
3, 19, 25, 52, 63, 128, 129 SharVa, 121, 122 soul, 7, 65,
72, 83, 118 spirit, 29, 34, 45, 56, 67,,79, 93 spirit
beings, 29, 45, 67, 93 submission, 13, 16, 40 T Truth,
37, 94, 96 u unbelief,
ii Unity,
i, 1, 2, 15, 17, 35, 42, 43, 46, 55, 57, 94, 114, 123,
124 unity, Hi, 74, 116 V virtue,
2, 101 w weabiess,
58, 87, 99 willpower,
65, 91 wisdom,
2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 28, 32, 36, 40, 42,
43, 46, 51, 58, 63, 83, 95, 97, 101, 104, 109, 123, 124,
127, 129 worship,
Hi, 7, 16, 44, 52, 61, 63, 64, 65, 69, 70, 71, 77, 80,
99, 126
[1]The Twenty-fourth Word / Fourth
Branch [2] From TJie Seedbed of Light
{Mathnawi al-Nuriya) I The Fourth Treatise / First
Chapter [3]From Tlie Seedbed of Light I The
Fourth Treatise / Second Chapter [4] From The Seedbed of Light I The
Fourth Treatise / Third Chapter [5]From The Seedbed of Light I The
Fourth Treatise / Fourth Chapter / Second Section [6]
Using these Names to view the Divine acts and imprints
behind creatures, one can move to the One called by these
Names. [7]From Tlie Seedbed of Light I The
Sixth Treatise / Second Addendum |
gencnurCom |