* 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,

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 everything 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, lightning, 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,

light-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-Determining.

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-Illuminating.

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,

All-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, and 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 enlivening 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.

 

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

* From The Seedbed of Light / The Twelfth Treatise (An Important Topic)