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| gencnurCom | Fruits
of Belief The First Word In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. His aid alone do we seek.. Bismillah (in the name of God) is the beginning
of all that is good. We too begin with it at the outset.
Know, O soul, that in the same way that this blessed word
is the emblem of Islam, so too it is the litany recited
by all beings through their very mode of existence. If
you wish to understand how inexhaustible a force, how
endless a blessing Bismillah is, then heed the
following parable. For one who wishes to travel in the Beduininfested
deserts of O arrogant soul! You are that traveller, and this
world is the desert. Your weakness and poverty know no
bounds. The enemies and privations to which you are
exposed are countless. This being the case, invoke the
name of the Eternal Lord and the Everlasting Judge of the
desert. Only thus will you be delivered from begging from
every being, and trembling in fear of every vicissitude. The word Bismillah is so blessed a treasure that by
binding you to the infinite power and mercy of the
Omnipotent and Merciful One, it transforms your boundless
weakness and poverty into the most heeded of intercessors
at His Exalted Court. The one who acts uttering the word
Bismillah is like one who enrolls in an army and then
acts in the name of the state, fearing no one, doing all
things in the name of the law and the state, and
persisting against all odds. We said at the beginning that all beings recite
Bismillah through their very mode of existence. How is
this? Consider, for example, a man who, arriving alone,
compels the entire population of a city to gather in a
certain place and labor on retrain tasks. You may be
certain that he is not acting on his account or with his
own strength. Rather he is a soldier, acting in the name
of the state, and relying on the strength of a king. So
too all things are acting in the name of God Almighty.
Seeds and grains, no bigger than atoms, bear huge trees
on their heads, raise weights as heavy as mountains. Each
tree says "Bismillah," and filling its hands
with fruits from the Treasure of Mercy, offers them to us
on a tray. Each garden also says "`Bismillah. "
It is a cauldron from the kitchen of Divine power, in
which are cooked countless different varieties of
delicious food. All blessed animals sue as cows, camels,
sheep and goats, also say "Bismillah. " They
are like a spring from which gushes forth the milk of the
effusion of God's mercy. They offer to us, in the name of
God the Provider, the most delicate, pure and life-giving
sustenance. Every plant and every grass with its roots
and tendrils soft as silk also says "Bismillah.
" It penetrates and passes through hard stones and
earth; saying "In the name of God, in the name of
the Compassionate One," it subjugates all things to
itself. The spreading of a tree's branches in the sky,
the unhindered diffusion of its roots in the midst of the
hard stones and earth, its spontaneous generation beneath
the earth, its delicate green leaves remaining moist for
months despite intense heat-all this is like a heavy blow
struck against the materialist. It jabs a finger into his
blinded eye and says: 'That hardness and heat in whose power you place so
much: trust is also obliged to act in accordance with
Divine command; the silken tendrils of the plant, each
like the Staff of Moses, upon whom be peace, obey the
command of: And We said, 'O Moses, strike the rock with your
staff,'' and cleave through the rock." Its paper-thin, delicate leaves, each like one of the
limbs of Abraham, upon whom be peace, recite the verse: O fire, be coolness and peace, in defiance of the flame-splitting heat. Since, then, all things are inwardly saying Bismillah,
and delivering God's bounties to us in God's name, we too
should say "Bismillah, " and give and take all
things in God's name. We should accept nothing from those
heedless men who do not give in God's name. "We pay a certain price to men for what they
bring us, even though they are only the traybearers. What
price does Allah, the true owner of this property,
demand?" That true Bestower of Bounty requires from us the
following three things in payment for His precious
bounties and goods: remembrance, thanks giving, and
reflection. To say Bismillah at the beginning of all
things is a form of remembrance, and to say, "Praise
and thanks be to God" at their end is a form of
thanksgiving. As for reflection, this is to perceive and
think of the precious and ingenious bounties we receive,
as miracles of the power of the One Eternally Besought
and as gifts received from His mercy, at all times
between the beginning and the end. If you were to kiss
the foot of some wretch who brought you a precious gift
from a king, without recognising the true sender on the
gift, what stupidity it would bet To praise and love the
apparent bestowers of bounty, while forgetting the True
Bestower of Bounty is stupidity ten thousand times worse. Oh soul! If you wish to avoid such stupidity, give in
the name of God, take in the name of God, begin in the
name of God, and act in the name of God. That shall
suffice you. * * * The Supplication of Yunus In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. THE SUPPLICATION of Hazrat Yunus ibn Matta -peace and
blessings be upon our prophet and upon him- is a most
glorious supplication, a most effective means for
obtaining answer to prayer. The gist of the celebrated
story of Hazrat Yunus, peace be upon him, is as follows. He was cast into the sea and swallowed by a large
fish. The sea was stormy, the night turbulent and dark,
and all hope exhausted. But it was in such a state that
his supplication: There is no god other than Thee, glory be unto Thee!
Verily I was among the wrongdoers, acted for him as a swift means of salvation. The
mysterious property inherent in his supplication was
this: In that state all causes were suspended, for Hazrat
Yunus needed to save him one whose command should
constrain the fish and the sea, the night and the sky.
The night, the sea and the fish were united against him.
Only one whose command might subdue all three of these
could bring him forth on the strand of salvation. Even if
the entirety of creation had become his servants and
helpers, it would have been of no avail-secondary causes
were of no effect. Since Hazrat Yunus saw with the eye of
certainty that there was no refuge other than the Primary
Cause, his supplication arising from the mystery of
Unicity and within the light of Unity, was able suddenly
to subdue the night, the sea and the fish. Through the
light of Unity he was able to transform the belly of the
fish into a submarine; and the surging sea that in its
awesomeness resembled an erupting volcano, into a
peaceable plain, a place of delight and enjoyment.
Through that light, he was able too to sweep the sky s
countenance clear of all cloud, and to set the moon over
his head like a lantern. Creation that had been pressing
and threatening him from all sides now showed him a
friendly face from every direction. Thus he reached the
shore of salvation. Beneath the gourd tree he witnessed
the grace of his Lord. Now we are in a situation one hundred times
more awesome than that in which Hazrat Yunus, upon whom
be peace, first found himself. Our night is the future.
When we look upon our future with the eye of neglect, it
is a hundred times darker and more fearful than his
night. Our sea is this spinning globe. Each wave of this
sea bears on it thousands of corpses, and is thus a
thousand times more frightening than his sea. Our fish is
the caprice of our soul, which strives to shake and
destroy the foundation of our eternal life. This fish is
a thousand times more maleficent than his fish. For his
fish can destroy a hundred-year lifespan, whereas ours
seeks to destroy a life lasting hundreds of millions of
years. This being our true state, we should in imitation
of Hazrat Yunus-upon whom be peace-avert ourselves from
all secondary causes and take refuge directly in the
First Cause, that is, our Lord. We should say: There is no god other than Thee, glory be unto Thee!
Verily I was among the wrongdoers, and understand with full certainty that it is only He
who can repel from us the harm of the future, this world
and the caprice of our souls, united against us because
of our neglect and misguidance. For the future is subject
to His orders, the world to His commands, and our soul to
His determination. What cause is there other than the Creator of the
heavens and earth who can know the most subtle and secret
thoughts of our heart, who can lighten the future for us
by establishing the hereafter, who can save us from the
myriad overwhelming waves of the world No, outside that
Possessor of Necessary Being, there is nothing that can
in any way give aid and effect salvation except by His
consent and command. This being the case, considering that as a result of
his supplication the fish became for Hazrat Yunus a
vehicle, or a submarine, and the sea, a peaceable plain;
and the night became gently lit for him by the moon so,
too, we should make the same supplication: There is no god other than Thee, glory be unto Thee!
Verily I was among the wrongdoers. With the sentence "There is no god other than
Thee," we draw the gaze of Mercy upon our future;
with the words "Glory be unto Thee," we draw it
upon our world; and with the phrase "Verily I was
among the wrongdoers," we draw it upon our soul.
Thus our future is illumined with the light of faith and
the moonlike luminosity of the Qur’an, and the awe and
terror of the night are transformed into tranquillity and
joy. Then too, embarking on the ship of the truth of
Islam, fashioned in the dockyard of the Most Wise Qur'an,
we may pass safely over the sea of this earthly abode,
where corpses unnumbered are borne on the waves of years
and centuries, of the ceaseless alternation of life and
death, down to destruction. Once aboard that ship, we may
reach the shore of salvation and fulfil our life's duty.
'the tempest and surging of the sea will appear as a
series of pleasing images on a screen, and instead of
inspiring terror and dread, will delight, caress and
illumine the reflective and the meditative gaze. By
virtue of the mystery of the Qur'an, and the effect of
that book of Discernment, our soul will no longer ride
us, but instead become our mount. As we ride it, it will
be for us a powerful means for the attainment of life
everlasting. To conclude: Man, in accordance with the comprehensive
nature of his being, will suffer from the shaking and
tremors of the earth, and the supreme convulsion of all
beings on the day of resurrection, and begin himself to
shake as if with malaria. As he fears the infinitesimal
microbe, he will also fear the shooting star that appears
among the heavenly bodies. As he loves his home, he will
also love the wide world. As he loves his little garden,
he will also love ardently infinite and eternal Paradise.
The object of worship, the lord, refuge, saviour and goal
of man must then of necessity be One in the palm of Whose
power all beings lie, to Whose command atom and planet
both will submit of necessity. Man should then constantly
say, like Hazrat Yunus -upon whom be peace: There is no god other than Thee, glory be unto Thee!
Verily I was among the wrongdoers. Glory be unto Thee! We have no knowledge save that
which Thou hast taught us; verily Thou art All-Knowing,
All-Wise. [Qur’an 2:32] * * * The Affliction of Ayyub When he called upon his Lord saying, "Verily harm
has afflicted me, and Thou art the Most Merciful of the
Merciful." Qur’an 21:83 THIS SUPPLICATION of Hazrat Ayyub, upon whom be peace,
the champion of patience, is both well- tested and
effective. We should say in our supplication, drawing on
the same verse: O Lord, verily harm has afflicted me, and Thou art the
Most Merciful of the Merciful. The gist of the well-known story of Hazrat Ayyub, upon
whom be peace, is as follows. While afflicted with numerous wounds and sores for a
long time, he recalled the great recompense to be had for
his sickness, and endured it with utmost patience. But
later, when the worms generated by his wounds penetrated
to his heart and his tongue which were the organs for the
remembrance and knowledge of God, he feared that his duty
of worship woulli suffer, and so he said in supplication
not for the sake of his own comfort, but for the sake of
his worship of God: "O Lordly Harm has afflicted me; my remembrance
of thee with my tongue and my worship of Thee with my
heart will suffer." God Almighty then accepted this pure, sincere,
disinterested and devout supplication in the most
miraculous fashion. He granted to Hazrat Ayyub perfect
good health and made manifest in him all kinds of
compassion. This flash contains Five Points: FIRST POINT Corresponding to the outer wounds and sicknesses of
Hazrat Ayyub, upon whom be peace, we have inner
sicknesses of the spirit and heart. If our inner being is
turned outward, and our outer being turned inward, we
will appear more wounded and diseased than Hazrat Ayyub.
For each sin that we commit and each doubt that enters
our mind, inflicts wounds on our heart and our spirit. The wounds of Hazrat Ayyub, upon whom be peace, were
of such a nature as to threaten his brief worldly life.
But our inner wounds threaten our infinitely Long life
everlasting. We need the supplication of Hazrat Ayyub a
thousand times more than he did himself. Just as the
worms that arose from his wounds penetrated to his heart
and tongue, so too the wounds that sin inflicts upon us
and the temptations and doubts that arise from those
wounds will-may God protect us!-penetrate to our inner
heart, the seat of faith, and thus negate faith.
Penetrating too the spiritual joy of the tongue, the
proclaimed of faith, they cause it to shun in revulsion
the remembrance of God, and reduce it to silence. Sin, penetrating to the heart, will blacken and darken
it until it extinguishes the light of faith. Within each
sin is a path leading to unbelief. Unless that sin is
swiftly obliterated by seeking God's pardon, it will grow
from a worm into a snake that gnaws on the heart. For example, a man who secretly commits a shameful sin
will fear the disgrace that results if others become
aware of it. Thus the existence of angels and spiritual
beings will be hard for him to endure, and he will long
to deny it, even on the strength of the slightest
indication. Similarly, one who commits a major sin deserving of
the torment of Hell, will desire the non-existence of
Hell with all of his spirit whenever he hears the threat
on hellfire, and he will dare to deny Hell on the
strength of a slight indication and doubt, unless he
takes up in protection the shield of repentance and
seeking forgiveness. Similarly, one who does not perform the obligatory
prayer and fulfil his duty of worship will be affected by
distress, just as he would be in case of the neglect of a
minor duty toward some petty ruler. His laziness in
fulfilling his obligation, despite the repeated commands
of the Sovereign of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, will
distress him greatly, and on account of that distress he
will desire and say to himself, "Would that there
were no such duty of worship!" In turn, there will
arise from this desire a desire to deny God, and bear
enmity toward Him. If some doubt concerning the Divine
Being comes to his hear!, he will be inclined to embrace
it like a conclusive proof. A wide gate to destruction
will be opened in front of him. The wretch does not know
that although he is delivered by denial from the slight
trouble of the duty of worship, he has made himself, by
that same denial, the target for millions of troubles
that are far more awesome. Fleeing from the bite of the
gnat, he welcomes the bite of the snake. There are many other examples, which may be understood
with reference to these three, so that the sense of: Nay, but their hearts are stained will become apparent. SECOND POINT As was set forth concerning the meaning of destiny and
fate in the Twenty-Sixth Word, men have no right
to complain in the case of disaster and illness for the
following three reasons. · The First Reason: God Most High has
made the garment of the body in which man is clothed a
manifestation of His art. He has made man to be the model
on which He cuts, trims, alters and changes the garment
on the body, thus displaying His Names in different ways.
Just as the Name Healer makes it necessary that illness
should exist, so too does the Name Provider require that
hunger should exist. · The Second Reason: It is by means of
disasters and sicknesses that life is refined, perfected,
strengthened and advanced; that it yields results,
attains perfection and fulfils its own purpose. Life led
monotonously on the mattress of comfort resembles not so
much the absolute good that is being, as the absolute
evil that is nonbeing; it tends in fact in that
direction. · The Third Reason: This worldly realm
is a field of testing, an abode of service. It is not a
place for pleasure, reward and requital. Considering,
then, that it is an abode of service and a place of
worship, sicknesses and misfortunes-as long as they do
not affect faith and are patiently endured-conform fully
to service and worship, and even strengthen it. Since
they make each hour's worship equivalent to that of a
day, one should offer thanks instead of complaining. Worship consists in fact of two kinds, positive
and negative. What is meant by the positive is
obvious. As for negative worship, this is when one
afflicted with misfortune or sickness perceives his own
weakness and helplessness, and turning to his
Compassionate Lord, seeks refuge in Him, meditates upon
Him, petitions Him, and thus offers a pure form of
worship that no hypocrisy can penetrate. If he endures
patiently, thinks of the reward attendant of misfortune
and offers thanks, then each hour that he passes will
count as a whole day spent in worship. His brief life
becomes very long. There are even cases where a single
minute is counted as equal to a whole day's worship. I once was extremely anxious because of an awesome
illness that struck one of my brothers of the hereafter,
Muhajir Hafiz Ahmad. But then a warning came to my heart,
"Congratulate him! Each minute he spends is counted
as a whole day's worship." He was in any event
enduring his illness in patience and gratitude. THIRD POINT As we have pointed out in one or two of our Words,
whenever one thinks of his past life, he will say in his
heart or with his tongue either "Ah!" or
"Oh!" That is, he will either experience
regret, or say, "Thanks and praise be to God!"
Regret is inspired by the pains arising from the
cessation of former pleasures and separation from them.
For the cessation of pleasure is a pain in itself.
Sometimes a momentary pleasure will cause everlasting
pain. To think upon it will be like lancing a wound,
causing regret to gush forth. As for the lasting spiritual pleasure that comes from
the cessation of momentary pains experienced in the past,
it inspires man to say, 'Thanks and praise be to
God!" In addition to this innate tendency of man, if
he thinks of the reward that results from misfortune and
the requital that awaits him in the hereafter, if he
realises that his brief life will count as a long life
because of misfortune-then, instead of being merely
patient, he should be thankful. He should say,
"Praise be to God for every state other than
unbelief and misguidance." It is commonly said that misfortune is long-lasting.
Indeed it is, but not because it is troublesome and
distressing as people customarily imagine but rather
because it yields vital results just like a long life. FOURTH POINT As was set forth in the First Station of the Twenty-First
Word, the power of patient endurance given to man by
God Most High is adequate to every misfortune, unless
squandered on mere fancies. But through the predominance
of fantasy, man's neglect and his imagining this
transient life to be eternal, he squanders his power of
endurance on the past and the future. His endurance is
not equal to the misfortunes of the present, and he
begins to complain. It is as if-God forbid!-he were
complaining of God Most High to men. In a, most
unjustified and even lunatic fashion, he complains and
demonstrates his lack of patience. If the day that is past held misfortune, the distress
is now gone, and only tranquillity remains; the pain is
gone and the pleasure in its cessation remains; the
trouble is gone, and the reward remains. Hence one should
not complain but give thanks for enjoyment. One should
not resent misfortune, but love it. The transient life of
the past comes to be counted as an eternal and blessed
life because of misfortune. To think upon past pain with
one's fancy and then to waste part of one's patience is
lunacy. As far as days yet to come are concerned, since they
have not yet come, to think now of the illness or
misfortune to be borne during them and display impatience
is also foolishness. To say to oneself, 'Tomorrow or the
day after I will be hungry and thirsty," and
constantly to drink water and eat bread today, is pure
madness. Similarly, to think of misfortunes and
sicknesses yet in the future but now non-existent, to
suffer them already, to show impatience and to oppress
oneself without any compulsion, is such stupidity that it
no longer deserves pity and compassion. In short, just as gratitude increases Divine bounty,
so too complaint increases misfortune and removes all
occasion for compassion. During the first year of the First World War, a
blessed person in Erzurum was afflicted with an awesome
disease. I went to visit him, and he said to me,
complaining bitterly: "I have not been able to place my head on the
pillow and sleep for a hundred nights." I was much grieved. Suddenly a thought came to me, and
I said: "Brother, the hundred difficult days you have
spent are now just like one hundred happy days. Do not
think of them and complain; rather look at them and be
grateful. As for future days, since they have not yet
come, place your trust in your Compassionate and Merciful
Lord. Do not weep before being beaten, do not be afraid
of nothing, do not give nonbeing the colour of being.
Think of the present hour; your power of patient
endurance is enough for this hour. Do not act like the
maddened commander who expects reinforcement on this
right wing by an enemy force deserting to join him from
his left, and then beings to disperse his forces in the
center to the left and the right, before the enemy has
joined him on the right. The enemy then destroys his
center, left weak with a minimal force. Brother, do not
be like him. Mobilize all your strength for this present
hour, and think of Divine mercy, reward in the hereafter,
and how your brief and transient life is being
transformed into a long and eternal form. Instead of
complaining bitterly, give joyful thanks.” Much relieved, he said, “Praise and thanks be to
God, my disease is now a tenth of what it was before.” FIFTH POINT consisting of Three Matters. First Matter True and harmful misfortune is that which affects
religion. One should at all times seek refuge in the
Divine presence from misfortune in matters of religion
and cry out for help. But misfortunes that do not affect
religion are not at all misfortunes, when properly
envisaged. Some of them are Divine warnings. If a
shepherd throws a stone at his sheep when they trespass
on another's pasture, they understand that the stone is
intended as a warning to save them from a perilous
action; full of gratitude they turn back. so too there
are many apparent misfortunes that are Divine warnings
and admonishments, others that constitute the penance for
sin, and others again that dissolve man's state of
neglect, remind him of his human helplessness and
weakness, and thus inspire in him a form of tranquillity.
As for the variety of misfortune that is illness, it is
not at all a misfortune, as has already been said, but
rather a favour from God and a means of purification.
According to a certain tradition it is said that just as
a tree drops its ripe fruit when shaken, so too do sins
fall away through the shaking of fever. Hazrat Ayyub, upon him be peace, did not pray in his
supplication for the comfort of his soul, but rather
sought cure for the purpose of worship, when disease was
preventing his remembrance of God with his tongue and his
meditation upon God in his heart. We too should make our
primary intent, when making that supplication, the
healing of the inward and spiritual wounds that arise
from sinning. As far as physical diseases are concerned, we may seek
refuge from them when they hinder our worship. But we
should seek refuge in a humble and supplicating fashion,
not protestingly and plaintively. If we accept God as our
lord, then we must accept too all that He gives us in His
capacity of Lord. To sigh and complain in a manner
implying objection to fate and destiny is a kind of
criticism of fate, an accusation Levelled against God's
mercy. The one who criticises fate strikes his head
against the anvil and breaks it. Whoever accuses God's
merry will inevitably be deprived of it. To use a broken
hand to exact revenge will only cause further damage to
the hand. So too a man who, afflicted with misfortune,
responds to it with protesting complaint and anxiety, is
only compounding his misfortune. Second Matter Physical misfortunes grow when they are seen to be
large, and shrink when they are seen to be small. For
example, a dream enters one's vision at night. If one
pays it attention, it swells up and grows; if one does
not, it disappears. So too if one attempts to ward off an
attacking swarm of bees, they will become more
aggressive; whereas if one pays them no attention, they
will disperse. Thus if one regards physical misfortunes
as great and grants them importance, they will grow, and
because of anxiety pass from the body and strike root in
the heart. 'The result will then be an inward affliction
on which the outward misfortune fastens to perpetuate
itself. But if the anxiety is removed by contentment with
fate and reliance on God, the physical misfortune will
gradually decrease, dry up and vanish, just like a tree
whose roots have been severed. I once composed the
following verses in description of this truth: Abandon, O wretch, thy lamentation; reliance on God
shall be thy refuge! Lamenting is naugth but an increase of woe; woe
itself, that is thy dirge! Find thy way to the author of woe; thy woe shall then
be pleasing as the green verge! But if thou findest him not, then is the whole world
one endless cruel image! Thou who dost suffer from a worldful of woe -why
complain from pain? Make God thy refuge! Smile thus in the face of thy woe; woe itself then
shall smile, and smiling, shrink and quite change! If in single-handed combat one smiles at an awesome
enemy, his enmity will be changed to conciliatoriness;
his hostility will become a mere joke, will shrink and
disappear. If one confronts misfortune with reliance on
God, the result will be similar. Third Matter Each age has its particular characteristic. In the age
of neglect misfortune has changed its form. In certain
ages and for certain persons, misfortune is not in
reality misfortune, but rather a Divine favour. Since I
consider those afflicted with illness in the present age
to fortunate -on condition that their illness does not
affect their religion- it does nor occur to me oppose
illness and misfortune, nor to take pity on the
afflicted. Whenever I encounter some afflicted youth, I
find that he is more concerned with his religious duties
and the hereafter than are his peers. From this I deduce
that illness does not constitute a misfortune for such
people, but rather a bounty from God. It is true that
illness causes him distress in his brief, transient and
worldly life, but it is beneficial for his eternal life.
It is to be regarded as a kind of worship. If he were
healthy, he would be unable to maintain the state he
enjoyed while sick and would fall into dissipation, as a
result of the impetuousness of youth and the dissipated
nature of the age. Conclusion God Almighty, in order to display His infinite power
and unlimited mercy, has made inherent in man infinite
weakness and unlimited dependence. Further, in order to
display the infinite variety of the impress of His Names,
He has retard man like a machine receptive to pain and
pleasure perceived from an infinite variety of
directions. Within that human machine He has placed
hundreds of instruments, and for each instrument He has
appointed different pains and pleasures, duties and
rewards. All of the Divine Names are equally manifest in
the macroanthropos that is the world, and the microcosm
that is man. Beneficial effects like good health,
salubrity and pleasure are received by the human machine,
causing it to emit thanks, and guiding it to the
fulfilment of various functions. Thus man becomes like a
factory producing gratitude. Similarly, by means of misfortune, illness and pain,
and other motion-inducing contingencies, the other cogs
of the human machine are set in motion and revolution.
The metal of weakness, helplessness and poverty inherent
in human nature is refined. Not the tongue alone, but
each limb transformed into a tongue, beings to seek
refuge and aid. Thus by means of those contingencies man
becomes like a moving pen containing thousands of other
pens within itself. He inscribes the fated course of his
existence on the page of his life, or rather on the
primordial tablet; puts forth a declaration of the Divine
Names; and becomes himself an ode to the glory of God,
thus fulfilling the purpose of his creation. * * * The Trust Given to Man Verily God has purchased from the believers their
persons and their property that Paradise might be theirs. [Qur’an 9:111] If you wish to understand how profitable a trade it
is, and how honourable a rank, to sell one’s person and
property to God, to be His slave and His soldier, then
listen to the following parable. Once a king entrusted each of two of his subjects with
an estate, including all necessary workshops, machinery,
horses, weapons and so forth. But since it was a
tempestuous and war-ridden age, nothing enjoyed
stability; it was destined either to disappear or to
change. The king in his infinite mercy sent a most noble
lieutenant to the two men and by means of a compassionate
decree conveyed the following to them: "Sell me the property you now hold in trust, so
that I may keep it for you. Let it not be destroyed for
no purpose. After the wars are over, I will return it to
you in a better condition than before. I will regard the
trust as your property, and pay you a high price for it.
As for the machinery and the tools in the workshop, they
will be used in my name and at my workbench. But the
price and the fee for their use shall be increased a
thousandfold. You will receive all the profit that
accrues. You are indigent and resourceless, and unable to
provide the most on these great tasks. So let me assume
the provision of all expenses and equipment, and give you
all the income and the profit. You shall keep it until
the time of demobilisation. So see the manifold ways in
which you shall profit! Now in you do not sell me the
property, you can see that no one is able to preserve
what he possesses, and you too will lose what you now
hold. It will go for nothing, and you will lose the high
price I offer. The delicate and precious tools and
scales, the precious metals waiting to be used, will also
lose all value. You will have the trouble and concern of
administering and preserving, but at the same time be
punished for betraying your trust. So see the manifold
ways in which you may lose! Moreover, if you sell the
property to me, you become my soldier and act in my name.
Instead of a common recruit or irregular, you will be the
honored and free lieutenant of an exalted monarch." After they had listened to this gracious decree, the
more intelligent of the two men said: "By all means, I am proud and happy to sell. I
offer thanks a thousandfold." But the other was arrogant, selfish and dissipated;
his soul had become as proud as the Pharaoh. As if he was
to stay eternally on that estate, he ignored the
earthquakes and tumults of this world. He said: "No! Who is the king? I won't sell my property,
nor spoil my enjoyment." After a short time, the first man reached so high a
rank that everyone envied his state. He received the
favor of the king, and lived happily in the king’s own
palace. The other by contrast fell into such a state that
everyone pitied him, but also said he deserved it. For as
a result of his error, his happiness and property
departed, and he suffered punishment and torment. O soul full of caprices! Look at the face of truth
through the telescope of this parable. As for the king,
he is the Monarch of Pre- and Post-Eternity, your Lord
and Creator. The estates, machinery, tools and scales are
your possessions while in life's fold; your body, spirit
and heart within those possessions, and your outward and
inward senses such as the eye and the tongue,
intelligence and imagination. As for that most noble
lieutenant, it is the Noble Messenger of God; and that
most wise decree is the Wise Qur'an, which describes the
trade we are discussing in this verse: Verily God has purchased from the believers their
persons and property that Paradise might be theirs. The surging field of battle is the tempestuous surface
of the world, which ceaselessly changes, dissolves and
reforms and causes every man to think: "Since everything will leave our hands, will
perish and be lost, is there no way in which we can
transform it into something eternal and preserve
it?" While engaged in these thoughts, he suddenly hears the
heavenly voice of the Qur'an saying: "Indeed there is, a beautiful and easy way which
contains five profits within itself." What is that way? To sell the trust received back to its true owner.
Such a sale yields profit fivefold. The First Profit: Transient property
becomes everlasting. For this waning life, when given to
the Eternal and Self-Subsistent Lord of Glory and spent
for His sake, will be transmuted into eternity. It will
yield eternal fruits. The moments of one's life will
apparently vanish and rot like kernels and seeds. But
then the flowers of blessedness and auspiciousness will
open and bloom in the realm of eternity, and each will
also present a luminous and reassuring aspect in the
intermediate realm. The Second Profit: The high price of
Paradise is given in exchange. The Third Profit: The value of each limb
and each sense is increased a thousandfold. The
intelligence is, for example, like a tool. If you do not
sell it to God Almighty, but rather employ it for the
sake of the soul, it will become an ill-omened, noxious
and debilitating tool that will burdens your weak person
with all the sad sorrows of the past and the terrifying
fears of the future; it will descend to the rank of an
inauspicious and destructive tool. It is for this reason
that a sinful man will frequently resort to drunkenness
or frivolous pleasure in order to escape the vexations
and injuries of his intelligence. But if you sell your
intelligence to its True Owner and employ it on His
behalf, then the intelligence will become like the key to
a talisman, unlocking the infinite treasures of
Compassion and the vaults full of wisdom that creation
contains. To take another example, the eye is one of the senses,
a window through which the spirit looks out on this
world. If you do not sell it to God Almighty, but rather
employ it on behalf of the soul, by gazing upon a handful
of transient, impermanent beauties and scenes, it will
sink to the level of being a pander to lust and the
concupiscent soul. But if you sell the eye to your
All-Seeing Maker, and employ it on His behalf and within
limits traced out by Him, then your eye will rise to the
rank of a reader of the Great Book of Being, a witness to
the miracles of the Lord's creation, a blessed bee
sucking on the blossoms of Mercy in the garden of this
globe. Yet another example is that of the tongue and the
sense of taste. If you do not sell it to your Wise
Creator, but employ it instead on behalf of the soul and
for the sake of the stomach, it sinks and declines to the
level of a gatekeeper at the stable of the stomach, a
watchman at its factory. But if you sell it to the Noble Provider, then the
sense of taste contained in the tongue will raise to the
rank of a skilled overseer at the treasure of Divine
compassion, a grateful inspector in the kitchens of God's
eternal power. So look well, O intelligence! See the difference
between a tool of destruction and the key to all being!
And look carefully, O eye! See the difference between an
abominable pander and the learned overseer of the Divine
Library! And taste well, O tongue! See the difference
between a stable doorkeeper or a factory watchman and the
trustee of the treasure of God's mercy! Compare all other tools and limbs to these, and then
you will understand that in truth the believer acquires a
nature worthy of Paradise and the unbeliever a nature
conforming to Hell. The reason for each of them attaining
his respective value is that the believer, by virtue of
his faith, uses the trust of his Creator on His behalf
and within the limits traced out by Him, whereas the
unbeliever betrays the trust and employs it for the sake
of the concupiscent soul. The Fourth Profit:
Man is helpless and exposed to numerous misfortunes. He
is indigent, and his needs are numerous. He is weak, and
the burden of life is most heavy. If he does not rely on
the Omnipotent Lord of Glory, place his trust in Him and
confidently submit to Him, his conscience will always be
troubled. Fruitless torments, pains and regrets will
suffocate him and intoxicate him, or turn him into a
beast. The Fifth Profit:
Those who have experienced sapiental knowledge and had
unveiled to them the true nature of things, the elect who
have witnessed the truth, are all agreed that the exalted
reward for all the worship and glorification of God
performed by your members and instruments will be given
to you at the time of greatest need, in the form of the
fruits of Paradise. If you spurn this trade with its fivefold profit in
addition to being deprived of its profit, you will suffer
fivefold loss. The First Loss: The property and offspring to
which you are so attached, the soul and its caprice that
you worship, the youth and life with which you are
infatuated, all will vanish and be lost; your hands will
be empty. But they will Leave behind them sin and pain,
fastened on your neck like a yoke. The Second Loss: l you will
suffer the penalty for betrayal of trust. For you will
have wronged your own self by using the most precious
tools on the most worthless objects. The Third Loss: By casting down
all the precious faculties of man to a level much
inferior to the animals, you will have insulted and
transgressed against God's wisdom. The Fourth Loss: In your weakness and poverty,
you will have placed the heavy burden of life on your
weak shoulders, and will constantly groan and lament
beneath the blows of transience and separation. You will have clothed in an ugly form, fit to open the
gates of Hell in front of you, the fair gifts of the
Compassionate One such as the intelligence, the heart,
the eye and the tongue, given to you to make preparation
for the foundations of life everlasting and blessedness
in the hereafter. Now is it so difficult to sell the trust? Is it so
burdensome that many people shun the transaction? By no
means! It is not in the least burdensome. For the limits
of the permissible are broad, and are quite adequate for
man's desire; there is no need to trespass on the
forbidden. The duties imposed by God are light and few in
number. To be the slave and soldier of God is an
indescribably pleasurable honor. One's duty is simply to
act and embark on all things in God's name, like a
soldier; to take and to give on God's behalf; to move and
be still in accordance with His permission and law. If
one falls short, then one should seek His forgiveness,
say: "O Lord! Forgive our faults, and accept us as Thy
slaves; entrust us with Thy trust until the time of
restitution arrives, amen!" and make petition unto
Him. * * * Proofs of Resurrection · A chapter on God's bestowal of life and death, and
on the manifestation of the Names of Eternally Living and
Self-Subsistent, and Giver of Life and Giver of Death. IS IT AT ALL POSSIBLE that the One Who gives life to
this vast dead and dry earth; Who in so doing
demonstrates His power by deploying more than three
hundred thousand different forms of creation, each of
them as remarkable as man; Who further demonstrates in
this deployment His all-embracing knowledge by the
infinite distinctions and differentiations He makes in
the complex intermingling of all of those forms; Who
directs the gaze of all His slaves to everlasting bliss
by promising them resurrection in all of His heavenly
decrees; Who demonstrates the splendor of His lordship by
causing all parts of His creation to collaborate with one
another, to revolve within the circle of His command and
His will, to aid one another and be submitted to Him; Who
shows the importance He has given to man by creating him
as the most comprehensive, the most precious and
delicate, the most valued and valuable fruit on the tree
of creation by addressing him without intermediary and
subjugating all things to him-is it at all possible that
so compassionate and powerful a One, so wise and
all-knowing a One, should not bring about resurrection;
should not gather His creatures together or be unable to
do so; should not restore man to life, or be unable to do
so; should not be able to inaugurate His Supreme Court;
should not be able to create Heaven and Hell? Nay,
indeed, by no means is any of this possible. Indeed, the Almighty Disposer of this world's affairs
creates in every century, every year and every day, on
the narrow and transient face of the globe, numerous
signs, examples and indications of the Supreme Gathering
and the Plain of Resurrection. Thus in the gathering that takes place every spring we
see that in the course of five or six days more than
three hundred thousand different kinds of animal and
plant are first gathered together and then dispersed. The
roots of all the trees and plants, as well as some
animals, are revived and restored exactly as they were.
The other animals are recreated in a form so similar as
to be almost identical. The seeds which appear, in their
outward form, to be so close to each other, nonetheless,
in the course of six days or six weeks, become distinct
and differentiated from each other, and then with extreme
speed, ease and facility, are brought to life in the
utmost order and equilibrium. is it at all possible that
for the One Who does all of this anything should be
difficult; that He should be unable to create the heavens
and the earth in six days; that He should be unable to
resurrect men with a single blast? No, by no means is it
possible! Let us suppose there were to be some gifted writer who
could write out in a single hour the confused and
obliterated letters of three hundred thousand books on a
single sheet without any error, omission or defect,
complete and in the best form. If someone were then to
say to you that that writer could write out again from
memory in the course of a single minute a book written by
him that had fallen into the water and become
obliterated, would you then say than he is unable, and
would you not believe in his ability? Or think of some
talented king who, in order to demonstrate his power or
for the sake of providing a warning example, removes
whole mountains with a single command, turns his realm
upside down, and transforms the sea into dry And. Then
you see that a great rock rolls down into a valley, so
that the path is blocked for guests travelling to attend
the king s reception and they are unable to pass. If
someone should say to you, "That exalted one will
remove or dissolve the stone, however great it may be,
with a single command; he will not leave his guests
stranded," would you then say that he will not
remove the stone, or be unable to do so Or if someone one
day should gather together a great army, and you are then
informed that he will summon its battalions together with
a blast of the trumpet after they had dispersed to rest,
and the battalions will form up in disciplined shape,
would you respond by saying, "I don’t believe
it" Were you to say any of these things, your
behavior would truly be madness. If you have understood these three parables, now look
further and see how the Pre-eternal Designer turns over
in front of our eyes the white page of winter and opens
the green page of spring and summer. Then He inscribes on
the page of the earth's surface, the pen of Fate and
Destiny in the most beautiful form, more than three
hundred thousand species of creation. Not one encroaches
upon another. He writes them all together, but none
blocks the path of another. In their formation and shape,
each is kept separate from the other, without any
confusion. There is no error in writing. That Wise and
Protecting One, Who puffiness’ and inserts the spirit
of a great tree in the smallest seed, no bigger than a
dot-is it permissible even to ask how He preserves the
spirit of those who die That Powerful One Who causes the
globe to revolve like a pebble in a sling-is it
permissible even to ask how He will remove this globe
from the path of His guests who are travelling to meet
Him in the hereafter? Again, the One of Glorious Essence Who from nonbeing
recruits anew and inscribes into His battalions, with the
command of: "Be," and behold, it is, and with utmost discipline, the troops of all living
things, the very particles of all their bodies, and thus
creates highly disciplined armies-is it permissible even
to ask how He can make bodies submit to His discipline
like a battalion, how He can gather together their
mutually acquainted fundamental particles, their
component members? You can, moreover, behold with your own eye the
numerous designs made by God as signs, similes and
indications of resurrection, designs placed by Him in
every age and epoch of the world, in the alternation of
day and night, even in the appearance and disappearance
of clouds in the sky. If you imagine yourself to have
been living a thousand years ago, and then compare with
each other the two wings of time that are the past and
the future, then you will behold similes of the gathering
and indications of resurrection as numerous as the
centuries and days. If, then, after witnessing so many
similes and indications, you regard corporeal
resurrection as improbable and rationally unacceptable,
know your behavior to be pure lunacy. See what the Supreme Decree says concerning the truth
we are discussing: Look upon the signs of God's mercy, and see how He
restores life to the earth after its death. Verily He it
is Who shall bring to life the dead, and He is powerful
over all things. In short, there is nothing that makes impossible the
gathering of resurrection and much that necessitates it.
The glorious and eternal Lordship, the almighty and
all-embracing Sovereignty of the he Who gives life and
death to this vast and wondrous earth as if it were a
mere animal; Who has made of this earth a pleasing
cradle, a fine ship, for man and the animals; Who has
made of the sun a lamp furnishing light and heat to. the
hostelry of the world; Who has made of the planets
vehicles for the conveyance of His angels-the Lordship
and Sovereignty of such a One cannot rest upon and be
restricted to the transitory, impermanent, unstable,
insignificant, changeable, unlasting, deficient and
imperfect affairs of this world. In other words, He has
another realm, one worthy of Him, permanent, stable,
immutable and glorious. He has another kingdom, and it is
for the sake a: this that He causes us the labor, and to
this :hat He summons is. All those of illumined spirit
who have penetrated from outer appearances to truth, and
have been ennobled with proximity to the Divine Presence,
all the spiritual poles endowed with luminous hearts, all
the possessors of lucent intelligence, all bear witness
that He will transfer us to that other kingdom. They
inform us unanimously that He has prepared for us there
reward and requital, and relate that He is repeatedly
giving us firm promises and stern warnings. As for the breaking of a promise, it is baseness and
utter humiliation. It cannot in any way be reconciled
with the Glory of His Sanctity. Similarly, failure to
fulfil a threat arises either from forgiveness or
powerlessness. Now unbelief is extreme crime, and cannot
be forgiven.* The Absolutely Omnipotent One is exempt
from and exalted above all powerlessness. Those who bring
us their testimony and report, despite all the
differences in their methods, temperaments and paths, are
totally unanimous and agreed on this basic matter. By
their number, they have the authority of unanimity. By
their quality, they have the authority of learned
consensus. By their rank, each one is a guiding star of
mankind, the cherished eye of a people, the object of a
nation's veneration. By their importance, each one is an
expert and an authority in the matter. In any art or
science, two experts are preferred to thousands of
non-experts, and two positive affirmers are preferred to
thousands of negators in the transmission of a report.
For example, the testimony of two men affirming the
sighting of the crescent moon at the beginning of Ramadan
totally nullifies the negation of thousands of deniers. [* Unbelief denounces retain for alleged worthlessness
and meaninglessness. lt is an insult to all of creation,
a denial of the manifestation of the Divine Names in the
mirror of bearings. It is disrespect to all the Divine
Names, and rejection of the witness borne to the Divine
Unity by al! beings. It is a denial of all of creation.
It corrupts man's potentialities in such a way that they
are incapable of reform and unreceptive to good. Unbelief
is also an act of utter injustice, a transgression
against all of creation and the rights of God's Names.
The preservation of those rights, as well as the
unredeemable nature of the unbeliever's soul, make it
necessary that unbelief should he unpardonable. The
words, 'To assign partners to God is verily a great
transgression" (Qur’an 31:13) express this
meaning.] In short, in the whole world there is no truer report,
no firmer claim, no more apparent truth than this. The
world is without doubt a field, and resurrection a
threshing floor, a harvest. Paradise and Hell are each
storehouses for the grain. * * * Manifestations of God's Presence This consists of a brief indication of one of the
thousands of general proofs of the pillar that is belief
in God, a matter which has been explained with an
infinite variety of evidence at many places in the
Risale-i Nur. In Kastamonu, a group of high school students once
came to visit me. 'Teach us concerning our Creator,"
they said. "Our teachers never mention God." I replied: "Each of the sciences you study
constantly makes mention of God and speaks to you of your
Creator in accordance with the method of its own tongue.
Do not listen to your teachers, listen to those sciences. "For example, a well-equipped pharmacy, with
vital cures and potions stored in every jar and weighed
out in wondrous and sensitive balances, demonstrates
without doubt the existence of a highly skilled chemist,
a most wise pharmacist. So too life-giving cures and
potions stored in the jars of the four hundred thousand
types of plant and animal in the pharmacy of the world-a
pharmacy far better equipped and greater than the
pharmacy in this town-also demonstrates and makes known
to the blindest of eyes the Wise Possessor of Glory Who
is the pharmacist in the supreme pharmacy of the world.
This is in accordance with the science of medicine that
you study. 'To take another example, a wondrous factory that
weaves thousands of different kinds of cloth from a
single simple material proves without doubt the existence
of a manufacturer and a skilled machine operator. So too
this revolving machine of Divine construction called the
earth, with its hundreds of thousands of workers, each
employed in hundreds of thousands of factories, being
infinitely greater and more perfect than any factory
fashioned by man, proves and demonstrates the existence
of the master craftsman and the possessor of this earth.
This is in accordance with the science of engineering you
study. "Or, to take yet another example, a depot, a
storehouse or shop, in which a thousand and one different
kinds of foodstuff have been brought together, and been
stacked and laid out in orderly fashion, proves without
doubt the existence of an owner of a11 this foodstuff, an
official or overseer in charge of it. So too this
storehouse of the Compassionate One, like a train that
each year traces out a circle lasting twenty-four
thousand years, conveys hundreds of thousands of
different classes of being and the separate kinds of
sustenance that each requires, and traverses the
different seasons on its journey, spring being like a
large wagon full of different kinds of food for those
wretches whose sustenance is exhausted in the winter-this
storehouse, then, this glorious vessel, this depot and
Divine store that contains a thousand and one kinds of
equipment and goods and canned foods, being infinitely
greater and more complete than that other storehouse,
establishes definitely the existence of the owner, the
administrator, the manager of the depot that is this
world, and makes him known and familiar. This is in
accordance with the science of economics that you study
or will study. "So too a gifted commander, whose army is
recruited from four hundred thousand nations, each
requiring different provisions to eat, different weapons
to use, different garments to wear, different
instructions to receive, different times for
demobilization, will provide all the different foods,
weapons, clothing and equipment that those different
nations require, unaided and without forgetting or
confusing anything. Then that wondrous army and its
encampment will of a certainty demonstrate the genius and
existence of that commander and inspire love for him. In
the same way, the encampment that is- the earth every
spring, with its new army of canticlers brought under
arms and recruited from the four hundred thousand nations
of fauna and flora, with each provided with its separate
clothing, food and equipment, and each being recruited
and discharged in a most perfect and regular fashion by a
single generalissimo, without any omission or confusion
this encampment, being infinitely greater and more
complete than the human army and camp mentioned above,
will make known to the reflective and intelligent the
Governor, thc Lord, the Disposer and the Most Sacred
Commander of the earth. It will make Him known by its
wonders and its invocations of His sanctity, and make Him
loved by its praise and glorification. This is in
accordance with the military science that you will study. "So too the millions of electric lights that move
through a great city illuminating it, and the power plant
that supplies them inexhaustibly make known a
miracle-working craftsman, an extraordinarily capable
electrician, who with unhesitating genius manages the
electricity, constructs the moving lamps, and establishes
the power plant and supplies it with fuel. Making him
known, they also evoke cries of admiration, affection and
congratulation for him. In the same way, in the city that
is this globe, there are stars fixed to the roof of the
world's palace, some of which, according to the science
of cosmography, are a thousand times bigger than the
earth and move seventy times faster than a cannonball.
They never leave their appointed order, never collide,
never are extinguished; their fuel is never exhausted.
Again according to the science of cosmography that you
study, liquid gas equal to the world's oceans and heaps
of wood as high as the world's mountains would be needed
every day for the sun to burn eternally and never be
extinguished, that lamp and stove in the hospice of the
Compassionate One a million times larger than the earth.
Now the electric lamps and installations in the world's
palace, in the glorious city of being, keep the sun and
the lofty stars that resemble it burning without gas,
wood or coal, never permitting them to be extinguished;
they keep them in swift rotation, never permitting them
to collide; and thus, with their fingers of light, they
indicate an infinite power and sovereignty. Hence they
are far greater and more perfect than the lights of a
manmade city, and make known the Monarch, the Illuminer,
the Disposer and the Maker of the supernal gathering,
calling the luminous stars to give witness. They arouse
love for Him with invocations of His glory and sanctity,
and inspire worship of Him. "Again, let us conceive of a book in each line of
which a separate work is minutely inscribed and in each
word of which a whole Qur'anic sura is traced out
by a delicate pen; a compendium of profound truths each
of which supports the other and demonstrates the skill
and capacity of its scribe and its author. Such a book
demonstrates and indicates, with utmost clarity, the
existence of its scribe and its author, as well as their
skills and accomplishments. It evokes sentiments of
appreciation, and exclamations of "Mashallah,
Barakallah.'" So too it is with this great Book of
Being. On the earth's face, a single one of its pages,
and in spring, a single one of its phrases, there arise
three hundred thousand species of fauna and flora, like
three hundred thousand separate books, all inscribed
without any error or mistake, without confusion or
mingling, perfectly and totally. We see a pen at work
that writes an ode in the form of a tree, one word in the
Book of Being, and draws up an index of the whole work in
the form of a seed, one dot in that book. This compendium
of being, this Supreme Cosmic Qur'an, each word of which
contains infinite wisdom and truth, being greater, more
perfect and truthful than the book mentioned above,
demonstrates the existence of the Calligrapher and Scribe
of this Book of Being, in all His boundless perfection.
Proclaiming "Allahu akbar, " it
indicates His existence; proclaiming "SubhanAllah,''
it defines Him in His exalted transcendence; and
proclaiming "Alhamdulillah, " it praises Him
and evokes love for Him. This is in accordance with the
natural sciences that you study, and the arts of reading
and writing that you practice at school, with their
encompassing scope and penetrating gaze. "Hundreds of other sciences, analogous to these,
make known the Glorious Creator of being with all of His
Names, proclaiming His attributes and perfections, by
virtue of their encompassing scope, their ability to
reflect like a mirror, their penetrating gaze and their
meditative vision. "It is in order to teach this lesson, supplying a
glorious and brilliant of the Divine Unity, that the
Qur'an of miraculous exposition constantly repeats the
verses: Lord of the heavens and the earth, and The created the heavens and the earth, thus making our Creator known to us.' It was in this fashion that I spoke to those students.
They accepted all that I said and testified to its truth,
saying, "Thanks without limit be to our Lord that we
have been given a lesson fully sacred and true. May God
be pleased with you." I then said: "Although man is like a living
machine, reacting with pain to thousands of different
kinds of pain, and with pleasure to thousands of
different kinds of pleasure; although he is exposed to
the hostility of countless enemies, seen and unseen, and
poverty without limit; although he is a pitiful creature
suffering from boundless needs, inward and outward, and
enduring the knocks and blows of constant cessation and
separation-despite all this, he may attach himself by
belief and worship to a Glorious Monarch Who shall serve
him as a support against all of his enemies and a
provider against all of his needs. If man first attaches
himself to so All-Powerful and Merciful a Monarch and
enters through worship into his service, and then turns
fate's sentence of execution into a letter of discharge,
imagine how contentedly, happily and gratefully will he
take pride in his Lord in the manner of one who takes
pride in the rank and nobility of his master!" I repeat to these unfortunate prisoners what I said to
the schoolboys: 'The one who knows and obeys Him is
fortunate, even in prison; whereas the one who forgets
Him is imprisoned and wretched, even in a palace. A
wronged but fortunate man once said to his wretched
oppressors just before his execution, 'I am not being
executed, rather I am being discharged to go to the abode
of bliss. I am amply avenged on you by seeing you
condemned to execution for all eternity.' Saying 'There
is no god but God,' he happily surrendered his
spirit." * * * Evidences of God's Sovereignty God sets forth parables for men that haply they may
remember. (Qur'an 14:25) Those are the parables We set for men that haply they
may reflect. (Qur'an 59:21) ONCE two men were washing in a pool. Under the
influence of a mysterious force, they lost consciousness,
and when they opened their, eyes again, they saw that
they had been transported to a strange world, â world
that in its perfect ordering and arrangement resembled
first a kingdom, then a city, then a palace. They gazed
around in utter amazement. Looking in one direction, they
beheld a vast world; looking in another direction, they
saw a well-ordered kingdom; looking in yet another
direction, they were met by a perfect city; and looking
in still one more direction, they were confronted by a
palace that contained within itself a splendid and
flourishing realm. Traversing the realm, they examined it
further, and saw it to be peopled by a species of
creatures with their own mode of speech. They did not
know their language, but were able to understand from
their gestures that they were performing important tasks
and fulfilling a valuable function. One of the two men said to his friend: "This
remarkable world has without doubt its orderer; this
well-ordered kingdom has its monarch; this perfect city
has its master; this finely built palace has its
designer. We should strive to make his acquaintance, for
it seems that it is he who has brought us here. If we do
not come to know him, who else will aid us? What can we
expect from those powerless creatures of whose tongue we
are ignorant and who pay us no heed? Then, too, the one
who has made this vast realm in the form of a kingdom, in
the shape of a city, in the mold of a palace, who has
filled it from end to end with miraculous objects,
decorated it with numerous adornments, and arrayed it
with impressive wonders, no doubt desires something from
us and from the others that come here. We should make his
acquaintance and discover what he wishes of us." The other man said: "I do not believe that a
person exists such as you describe, administering this
realm by himself." To which the first replied: "If we do not come to know him and remain
indifferent to him, it will benefit us nothing, and on
the contrary cause us great harm. Whereas if we seek to
know him, the effort involved will be slight, and the
benefit very great. To remain indifferent toward him is
therefore unwise." That heedless man said: "I see my whole comfort
and pleasure to lie in not thinking of him. I will not
bother myself with matters my intelligence cannot
comprehend. All that we see is the result of accident and
confusion; it subsists of itself; there is nothing else
to be said." His intelligent friend retorted, "This rebellion
of yours will cast me and maybe many others into
disaster. It sometimes happens that a whole kingdom is
ruined on account of one impudent man." The heedless one replied, "Either prove to me
decisively that this huge kingdom has a sole monarch and
maker, or desist from troubling me." His friend answered: "Since your obstinacy has
reached the point of lunacy, you are liable to bring down
wrath on us and the whole kingdom. 5o let me show to you
with twelve proofs that this world like a palace, this
kingdom like a city, has a single designer, and it is
this designer who alone administers a11 things. He
suffers from no deficiency in any respect; although
invisible to us, he sees us and all things, and hears all
that is said. All of his deeds are miraculous and
wondrous; all of the creatures whom we see and of whose
tongues we are ignorant are appointed by him to their
tasks. First Proof "Come, gaze in every direction, look closely on
all things! A hidden hand is at work in al1 of these
tasks. For one object lighter than a drachm and as small
as a seed is lifting a thousand-pound weight,* and
another without a particle of consciousness is performing
the wisest of tasks.** They cannot be operating alone;
there must be a hidden possessor of power that sets them
to work. If all things are autonomous, then all that we
have seen in this kingdom from end to end must be a
series of unconnected miracles, which would be an
absurdity. [*An allusion to the seeds that bear trees on their
heads. ** An allusion to the way in which a delicate plant
like the grapevine, which cannot grow upwards and bear
the burden of fruit by itself, casts its delicate hands
in embrace around a tm for the sake of support.] Second Proof "Come, look carefully at all that adorns these
plains, squares and dwellings. In each of them there is
something indicative of that mysterious being; each of
them indicates his existence like a seal or a coin
bearing his name. See what he fashions, in front of your
eyes, from an ounce of cotton!* See how many rolls of
broadcloth, cambric and chintz emerge from it! See too
how many candies and sweetmeats, delicious grilled meat
are produced there! Thus are many thousands of men like
us clothed and fed, and it suffices them all. See too how
they take possession of this iron, soil, water, coal,
copper, silver and gold, like a prey hunted down in the
world of the unseen, and make pieces of meat out of all
those elements!** So O foolish man, look and see! A11 of
these matters can indicate only a being under whose
miraculous power the whole country stands with all of its
elements, and to whose every wish all things submit. [*An allusion to seeds. For example, an opium seed as
small as an atom, an apricot pit as light as a drachm, or
a melon seed, will bring forth from the Treasury of Mercy
and offer to us leaves more finely spun than broadcloth,
white and yellow flowers more brightly colored than
cambric, and fruits sweeter than candy and more delicious
than grilled meat and canned food. ** An allusion to the creation of the animal body from
the elements and the bringing into being of living
creatures from sperm.] Third Proof "Come, look at these precious and skillfully made
moving objects!* Each is fashioned in such a way that it
is like a copy in miniature of this vast palace. Whatever
exists in this palace is to be found in these minute
moving machines also. Is it at all possible that one
other than the master who designed this palace should be
able to compress this wonderful palace into a machine? Or
is it at all possible that a machine no larger than a box
should function by accident or to no purpose, while
containing a whole world within it? All of the precious
machines you see with your eyes are then each like a coin
bearing the imprint of that hidden being. Indeed, they
resemble a herald or a proclamation, declaring through
their very mode of being, 'We are the work of a being
able to fashion the whole of our world with the same ease
with which he created and made us.' [*An allusion to animals and men. For the animal is
like a brief index of the world’s contents, while man
in his essence is an example in miniature of all of
creation; a specimen is present in man of whatever the
world contains.] Fourth Proof "O obstinate friend! Come, 1et me show you
something still stranger. See, all things and objects in
this country have constantly changed and are still
changing; they do not remain in one state. Look
carefully, and you will notice that the solid bodies and
insentiate boxes we see have all taken on the form of an
absolute ruler; it is as if every object were ruling over
all things. Look at the machine beside us: it appears to
be giving orders.* The supplies and materials needed for
its equipment and operation are brought swiftly from
afar. And look over there: that insentiate body appears
to be giving orders; it enrolls the greatest of bodies in
its service and employs it in fulfilling its tasks.**
Compare other things to these. It is as if everything
were subduing all the creatures of the world to its own
purposes. If you do not accept the existence of that
secret being, then you must assign all the
accomplishments, arts and perfections inherent in the
stones, the soil, the animals and creatures like man
found in the kingdom to those objects themselves. In
place of the single miracle-working being that your
intelligence rejects, you assume the existence of
millions of miraculous beings, which are both similar to
each other and dissimilar, which exist within each other
and yet must remain in harmonious cooperation. In
reality, however, if two hands sought to rule over this
realm, disorder would ensue. For if there are two headmen
in a village, two governors in a city, two monarchs in a
country, confusion will reign. How, then, could any exist
beside the infinite and absolute ruler of creation? [* The machine is an allusion to fruitbearing trees.
For such trees prepare, adorn, ripen and offer. to us
wondrous leaves, flowers and fruits, as if there were
hundreds of workshops and factories installed on their
delicate branches. By contrast, stately trees like the
pine and the cedar have set up their workshops on barreh
stone, and are condemned to working there. ** An allusion to grains, seeds and insect eggs. For
example, an insect deposits its eggs on the leaf of an
elm. The huge elm then converts its leaves into a womb
and a cradle for the eggs, a storehouse full of
nourishment like honey. It is as if that tree, while not
bearing fruit, is thus enabled to give birth to living
fruit.] Fifth Proof "O querulous friend! Come, look carefully at the
inscriptions of this great palace, regard the adornments
of this palace, see the institutions of this city, ponder
on the works of art of this world! If there were not at
work the pen of this hidden being with infinite and
miraculous power and skill, and these inscriptions were
attributed to insentiate causes, blind chance or dumb
nature, then every stone and every grass in the realm
would have to be so miraculous an inscriber, so
extraordinary a scribe, as to be able to write a thousand
books with one letter, and to compress millions of arts
into a single design. Look at the design on the stones:
each contains the designs of the whole palace, all the
ordinances of the whole city, a11 the institutions of the
whole realm.* To make those designs is therefore as
wondrous as making the whole country. This being the
case, each design and each art is like a proclamation and
a seal of that hidden being. "If a letter cannot do otherwise than demonstrate
the existence of its scribe, and an artistic design
cannot do other than prove the existence of its designer,
how could it be that the one who writes a vast book with
a single letter, and elaborates a thousand designs from a
single design, should not be known from his own book and
design? [*An allusion to man, the fruit of the tree of
creation, and the fruit of his tree, which contains, as
if were, an index to his being. For whatever the pen of
God's power has written in thc great book of the cosmos,
it has also inscribed in summary in the essence of man.
Whatever the pen of fate has written in the trunk of the
tree, as large as a mountain, it has also inscribed in
the fruit of the tree, no bigger than a fingernail.] Sixth Proof "Come, let us walk on this broad plain.* In the
middle of it a high mountain stands; let us climb it so
that we can see the land and all around. Let us take fine
telescopes with us to bring everything closer. For
strange things are afoot in this strange land. Matters
our intellects are unable to comprehend happen hourly.
These mountains, plains and cities are suddenly changing,
and changing indeed in such a way that millions of
complex and intertwined matters change in the most
orderly way. Remarkable changes take place that resemble
the interweaving of millions of different kinds of cloth.
See how all those flowers and plants, dear and familiar
to us, have disappeared and been replaced by others
resembling them in essence but separate in form. The
plain and its mountains are each like a plain on which
hundreds and thousands of different books are inscribed,
without the Least error or mistake. It is impossible to
the hundredth degree that these things should take place
of themselves. It is rather impossible to the thousandth
degree that these matters, infinitely precise and
wondrous, should take place of themselves, for they
demonstrate their maker more then themselves. The
miracle-working being that brings all this about is of
such a nature that no task is difficult for him. To write
a thousand books is as easy for him as writing a single
letter. In addition to this, look in every direction and
see how wisely he places everything in its proper place,
generously lavishes on everyone the bounties for which he
is fitted, and draws back veils and opens doors in such a
beneficent fashion that everyone's desires are fulfilled.
He provides a hospitable spread in such a liberal fashion
that a bounteous tray is presented to all the creatures
and animals of this realm, fit and appropriate to each
group, hearing the name and sign of each individual. Is
there then anything more impossible in the world than
this that all of these matters we observe should be
characterized by accident; that they serve no purpose and
be without benefit; that many hands should administer
them; that their overseeing master should not be
empowered over all things; or that all things should not
be subjugated to him So, my friend, find an argument
against this if you are able! [*An allusion to the earth's surface during spring and
summer. For hundreds of thousands of different classes of
creature are brought forth together, intermingled with
each other, and inscribed on the face of the earth. they
are changed with the utmost orderliness, without any
error or deficiency. Thousands of banquets of the
Compassionate One are spread out and then gathered up:
every tree becomes a servant bearing a tray, every
orchard becomes a cauldron filled with cooked food.] Seventh Proof "Come now, O friend! Let us leave behind these
particulars and examine instead the disposition with
respect to each other of the component elements of this
wondrous world that has the form of a palace. See how
general concerns and universal changes take place with so
high a degree of order that all the stones, the soil, the
trees, indeed everything to be found in the palace,
appear to observe the universal order of the world, as if
each were a voluntary agent, and to move in conformity
with it. Objects distant from each other hasten to each
other's aid; it is as if some wondrous caravan were
setting out from the world of the unseen, its mounts
resembling trees, plants and mountains, and each of them
carrying on its head a tray laden with provisions.* The
caravan is bringing provision for the different animals
waiting here in this world. Look again, and see that the
vast electric lamp in the dome of the heavens not only
lights the path of the caravan, but also cooks to
perfection the foods that it bears;** it is as if a rope
were attached by a hand in the world of the unseen to
suspend the food that is to be cooked in the rays of the
sun.*** Look yet again, and see how two pumps, filled
with delicate nourishment have been set up like springs
in the presence of these wretched, weak, feeble and
powerless animals;**** it is enough for any powerless
creature to place his mouth to one of these pumps. In short, all the objects of this world aid each other
and care for each other. Looking upon each other, they
extend their hands to each other. In order to fulfil each
others tasks, they strive and labor together, All that
exists conforms to this principle; innumerable instances
could be cited. Now this proves with the same certainty
that twice two is four that all things are submitted to
the master designer of this wondrous palace, to the lord
of this remarkable world. Everything works for his sake;
everything is like an infantryman awaiting his orders;
everything turns by his power; everything moves by his
command; everything is ordered by his wisdom; everything
gives help through his generosity and rushes to offer
assistance through his compassion and mercy. Now argue
against this, O friend, if you are able! [*By the caravans are meant the plants and trees that
carry provision for all animals. **An allusion to the sun. *** By the rope and the food attached to it are meant
the delicate branches and delicious fruits of the tree. **** By the two pumps are meant the breasts of a
mother.] Eighth Proof "Come, O foolish friend, who imagine yourself
wise, as does my own soul! While you do not wish to
recognize the master of this stately palace, alt things
display him, indicate him and bear witness to him. I-how
can you deny the witness of all things Why not deny the
palace also, and say, 'There is no world, no kingdom, or
even deny yourself and disappear If you do not wish to do
that, then collect your senses and listen to me. Now see:
there are uniform elements and minerals within this
palace, encompassing this kingdom.* It is as if all that
is produced in the kingdom were fashioned from those
materials. Thus it follows that to the owner of those
materials belongs also whatever is fashioned from them.
The crops that grow in a field belong to the owner of the
field, and whatever is to be found in a lake belongs to
the owner of the lake. These woven materials and
decorated spun cloth that you see are also made of a
single material. It is of a certainty the same person who
first furnishes and provides the material and then makes
it into thread, for this is not a task admitting joint
effort. Therefore all the ingenious textiles woven from
this material belong to one person. Then too every kind
of cloth that is woven and of object that is fashioned is
to be found in every area of the kingdom and is
disseminated with the other members of its own species;
they are woven or fashioned together and intermingled, in
the same fashion and at the same moment. Thus it must all
be the work of a single being; all things move in
obedience to a single command. For such conformity and
concord, in the same fashion and at the same moment, in
the same manner and form, would otherwise be impossible.
Hence each of these ingenious objects displays that
hidden being as if it were a proclamation he had issued.
Every embroidered cloth, every ingenious machine, every
delicious morsel of food, is like a coin, a seal, an
emblem and a device of that hidden being, and proclaims
through its very mode of existence, 'The chests and the
shops in which I am found being to the one who skilfully
made me.' Every design proclaims, 'The roll of cloth on
which I am imprinted belongs to the one who embroidered
me.' Every delicious morsel of food proclaims, 'The pot
that contains me belongs to the one who cooked and
prepared me.' Every machine proclaims, 'The one who made
me makes also those like unto me that are distributed
throughout the whole kingdom; he it is, too, who
maintains all of us in every part of the kingdom. Hence
he is the owner of this kingdom; and whoever is the owner
of this kingdom, this palace, is also our owner.'
Similarly, to be the true owner of a single bandoleer or
button belonging to the state, it is necessary to own the
workshops that produce them; and it is always possible to
take away and redistribute the equipment of some boastful
auxiliary soldier, reminding him that it is state
property. "In short, the elements of this kingdom are the
materials that encompass it. Their owner can be only that
single being who owns the whole country. All the
ingenious objects disseminated over the face of the
kingdom, resembling each other through the single imprint
that they bear, demonstrate that they are the work of a
being who reigns over all things. "So, O friend! In this kingdom, this stately
palace, there is a sign of unity, and a coin of unity is
in circulation. Certain things are one and all-
encompassing, while others, although multiple,
demonstrate a unity of type through their mutual
resemblance and omnipresence. Unity implies a being who
is one; and therefore the fashioner, the owner, the
master and the maker of that which is characterized by
unity must also be one. See how a thick rope is suspended
from behind the veil of the unseen, and how thousands of
lesser ropes are in turn suspended from it. To the end of
each rape has been attached a diamond, a decoration, a
gift and a present.** An appropriate gift is offered to
everyone. Do you not realize what madness it is not to
recognize and give thanks to the being that extends these
wondrous gifts and bounties from behind the veil of the
unseen? For if you do not recognize him, you will be
compelled to say, 'These ropes fashion and present the
diamonds and other gifts attached to them themselves.'
This will imply that each rope has the rank of a monarch,
whereas in reality a hand from the unseen fashions the
ropes and attaches the gifts to them in front of our
eyes. In short, everything within this palace
demonstrates that miraculous being even more than it does
its own self. If you do not recognize him, you will fall
to a rank a hundred times lower than that of the animals,
by your multiple denial of all that the world contains. [* By the elements and minerals are meant the elements
of air, water, light and earth that fulfil their
functions in disciplined form, hasten to offer assistance
to the needy by their Lord's leave, enter every comer by
their Lord's command, produce the necessities of life,
suckle a0 living beings, end are the source, origin and
cradle of the weave and design of God's creation. **The thick rope is an allusion to the fruitbearing
tree; the thousands of ropes allude to the branches; the
diamonds, decorations, gifts and presents attached to
them allude to different kinds of flower and species of
fruit] Ninth Proof "Come, O undiscerning friend! You do not
recognize the master of this palace, and do not wish to
do so, since you regard his existence as impossible and
are misled into denying his miraculous skills and his
states by the fact that they transcend comprehension. Now
that which is truly improbable, and the cause of real
problems, genuine difficulties and awesome hardships, is
indeed the failure to recognize him. For if we recognize
him, the whole of this palace, this world, will become a
place of ease and tranquillity for us; its goods will be
cheap and abundant. But if we do not recognize him and he
does not exist, then everything within the palace will
become, problematic, for everything the palace contains
is as complex as the palace itself. Its goods will be
neither cheap nor abundant, and indeed nothing of all
that we see will be accessible to us or anyone else. Look
at the cans of food attached to each rope.* If they were
not to come from the hidden and miraculous kitchen of the
master of this world, we could not obtain them for a
whole fortune, even though now they are to be had for a
few coins. "Yes, improbability, difficulties, problems,
catastrophes-all these lie in not recognizing him; indeed
it is an utter absurdity not to do so. A tree is given
life at its root, in a single center and according to a
single law. Thus the formation of thousands of fruits
becomes as easy as that of a single fruit. If the fruits
of that tree were each to be connected to a separate
center and root, according to a separate law, then each
fruit would become as complex as the whole tree. So too
if the equipment of a whole army comes from a single
factory, a single center and according to a single law,
it becomes as easy to equip an army as a single soldier.
But if the equipment of each soldier were to be
manufactured and provided in different places, there
would have to be established for each soldier as many
factories as are required for the whole army. "Just as in these two examples, when the creation
of all the objects in this well-ordered palace, this
perfect city, this flourishing kingdom, this stately
world, is assigned to one being, it becomes so easy and
light a task that the infinite cheapness, abundance and
generosity we observe in this world are the result.
Otherwise everything becomes so expensive and difficult
of access that nothing could be obtained, even if the
whole world's wealth were offered in exchange. [*The cans of food are an allusion to strength-giving
melons, watermelons, pomegranates. milk-filled coconuts
and other gifts of God's compassion.] Tenth Proof "Come, O friend! You are now beginning to
demonstrate some fairness. We have been here now for
fifteen days.* If we do not learn the laws of this world
and recognize its monarch, we will be deserving of
punishment. We no longer have any excuse. For fifteen
days none has held us responsible, as if we had been
given a period of grace. But we have certainly not been
left to our own devices. Finding ourselves surrounded by
such delicate, ingenious, symmetrical, subtle and wise
fruits of creation, we cannot rampage destructively
through them like animals; we are not permitted to do so.
The punishment exacted by the majestic king of this realm
is bound to be awesome. You may understand how majestic
and powerful a being he is by the way in which he orders
this vast world like a palace and causes it to revolve
like a wheel. He administers this great kingdom like a
household, without permitting any deficiency to appear.
See how from time to time he fills this palace, this
kingdom, this city, with the utmost order, and then
empties it with the utmost wisdom, just as if he were
filling and emptying a cup. From one end of the kingdom
to the other, different fruits are brought forth in turn
to be eaten, as if different kinds of spread were being
laid and then removed by a hand from the unseen, just
like the spreading out and gathering up of a
tablecloth.** He gathers up one and then brings out
another; this you can see, and understand then, if you
have any sense, that an infinitely bounteous generosity
is contained within that awesome majesty. See too that
just as all things bear witness to the sovereignty and
unity of that unseen being, so too all the changes and
transformations that succeed each other like an unending
series of caravans and emerge from behind the veil that
is continually opening and closing, also bear witness to
his permanence and eternity. For together with all things
that pass away the causes that produced them also vanish. "But after they have departed, those things we
had attributed to them are repeated. Therefore the
effects we observed are not theirs, but rather of one who
does not pass away. The bubbles on the surface of a river
depart, but the new bubbles that come after them shine in
the same way. Thus we conclude that the one who causes
them to .shine is an exalted and eternal possessor of
light. So too the swift changing of all things and the
taking on of the same color by succeeding phenomena may
be understood as the manifestation, the design and the
mirror of a single and eternal being. [*Fifteen days is an allusion to fifteen, the age of
legal responsibility. **The tablecloth is an allusion to the face of the
earth in summertime, when hundreds of fresh and separate
banquets are brought forth from the kitchen of
Compassion. Every orchard becomes a cauldron, every tree
a servant bearing a tray.] Eleventh Proof "Come, O friend! I will show you now a further
decisive proof, as convincing as the ten preceding ones
combined. Come, let us board a ship; there is an island
in the distance, which is our destination, for the keys
to our talismanic world are to be found there.*
Everyone's attention and expectations are focused on that
island, and everyone takes instruction from it. We travel
to the island and disembark. See the great gathering
here. All the dignitaries of the realm are assembled for
an important ceremony. Look carefully, and you will see
that this great gathering has a leader presiding over it.
Let us go closer and make his acquaintance. See what
luminous decorations he has, more than a thousand in
number!** How powerfully and convincingly he speaks! How
pleasingly he discourses! In the course of the past
fifteen days, I have learned a part of what he is saying.
Now learn it from me. See, he is discussing the
miraculous sovereign of this country. He says that that
glorious monarch has sent him, and he displays such
wonders as to Leave no doubt that he is a chosen servant
and envoy of the monarch. Be attentive, and you will see
that it is not only the creatures of the island that are
listening to his words; he is conveying them in a
miraculous fashion to the whole of the kingdom. For
everyone is straining to hear from afar the words spoken
here. Not only men, but animals too are listening; even
the mountains are heeding the commands he proclaims, for
they remain immobile in place, and the trees go
wheresoever he commands. He brings forth water wherever
he pleases, and he makes of his finger a fountain from
which the water of Paradise gushes forth, and gives men
to drink of the water of Life. The lamp in the lofty dome
of this palace is split into two at his command.*** All
this shows that all the beings in the kingdom recognize
his mission. As if knowing him to be the chosen and
veracious spokesman of a hidden and miraculous being, the
herald of his sovereignty, the uncoverer of his talisman
and the messenger entrusted with the promulgation of his
commands, they hear and obey him. Every word that he
speaks evokes acceptance from all reasonable beings
around him and exclamations that 'Yes, yes, it is true!'
Indeed, the mountains and trees of the kingdom, and the
great lamp that illumines all kingdoms,**** each bows it:
head before the commands and orders of that person and
confesses, 'Yes, all that you say is true.’ "So O distraught friend! Is it possible that
there should be any kind of error or crookedness in the
mention of miraculous being, the description of his
attributes and the promulgation of his commands, made
with all of his strength by that luminous, dignified and
most earnest of men, adorned with a thousand decorations
from the treasury of that monarch and verified by all the
dignitaries of the kingdom If any untruth should be
possible here, then one would have to deny the palace,
the lamp, and the gathering of dignitaries, and reject
both their material existence and their inward essences.
Now raise the finger of objection, if you are able, and
see how your finger, broken by the power of proof, will
instead be thrust into your eye! |