Reflection on God through the Face of the Sky

 

Listen to the verse:

Do they not look at the heaven above them, how We have built it and adorned it? (50:6)

• Look to the face of the sky, where you see a silence in restful serenity;
• a purposive motion,
• radiance in majesty, a smile in adornment,
• all combined in the orderliness of creation and the symmetry of art.
• The brilliance of its candle, the dazzle of its lamp and the glitter of its stars manifest infinite Sovereignty for those with insight and sound reasoning.

 

Look to the face of the sky where you see a silence in restful serenity ...

The verse draws the attention to the adorned, beautiful face of the sky, so that, observing with care, people must notice the silence in the extraordinary calmness and apparent rest observed there and conclude that the sky has taken that form through the order and subjugation of an Absolutely Powerful One. If it were otherwise, that is, if the heavenly bodies were left free to roam at random, with their enormous size and speed of motion, they would make such a clamor that they would deafen everybody. They would also cause such a tumult and confusion that the universe would collapse. If twenty buffalos move all together in the same area, you can guess what great uproar and confusion they will cause. However, according to astronomers, among moving stars there are some that are one thousand times bigger than the earth and move with a speed seventy times greater than a cannon ball. So, you may understand from the silence of the heavenly bodies in calmness and rest the extent of the Power of subjugation of the Majestic Maker and the All-Powerful One of Perfection, and the degree of the submission and obedience of stars to Him.

A purposive motion,

The verse also orders us to see the purposive motion on the face of the sky. That extremely strange and mighty motion takes place in absolute dependence on a purpose which is extraordinarily subtle and comprehensive. The immensity and order of a factory whose wheels and machinery turn and toil in wisdom—in a perfect order and for wise purposes—show to what extent its engineer is learned and skilful. In just the same way, with the sun in the center and mighty planets revolving around it in a perfect, subtle order for many wise purposes, the solar system shows the extent of the All-Powerful One’s Power and Wisdom.

Radiance in majesty and a smile in adornment,

There is on the face of the sky a radiance in such majesty and a smile in such adornment that it shows the splendid sovereignty and the beautiful art the Majestic Maker disposes. In the same way as innumerable illuminations used on special occasions demonstrate the degree of the king’s majesty and how his country is advanced in civilization, the vast heavens with their majestic glittering stars, show to attentive eyes the perfection of the Majestic Maker’s sovereignty and the beauty of His art.

All combined in the orderliness of creation and the symmetry of art,

The verse says: See the order and balance on the face of the sky and know how powerful and wise the Creator is. When you see someone turning numerous objects one round the other in a perfect order and with a special, delicate balance for many wise purposes, you may guess how wise and powerful and skilful that one is. Likewise, together with their numberless stars in their awesome size and speed, the vast heavens in their tremendous immensity have been performing their duties for billions of years according to an established measure and with a certain, sensitive balance without transgressing their limits even for a second and causing even the slightest disorder. This shows to attentive eyes according to what a sensitive and exact measure their Majestic Maker exercises His Lordship.

Like similar verses in sura al-Naba’ among others, the verse also points to the fact that the Majestic Creator has subjugated the sun, moon and other heavenly bodies.

The brilliance of its candle, the dazzle of its lamp, and the glitter of its stars manifest the Infinite Sovereignty for those with insight and sound reasoning.

Almighty God has hung on the adorned roof of the world a lamp like the sun which gives heat and light used as a ‘pot’ of light to write the ‘letters’ of the Eternally Besought-of-All on the lines of day and night on the pages of the seasons. Also, like the phosphorescent hour-hands of the clocks in tall towers, He has made the moon in the dome of the heaven the hour-hand of the largest clock of time, and causing it to move through its mansions according to a perfect measure and fine calculations, it is as if He leaves to each night another different crescent and then collects them together to Himself (making it invisible). Furthermore, He has gilded the beautiful face of the sky with stars glittering and smiling in that dome. Certainly, all this points to the infinite Sovereignty of His Lordship and the magnificence of His Divinity, and invites thinking people to believe in His existence and Unity.

Look at the colorful page of the book of the universe,

and see how the golden pen of the Power has inscribed it!

There has been left no point dark for those

who can see with the eyes of their hearts.

It is as if God wrote His signs with light.

See, what an astounding miracle of wisdom the universe is!

See, how tremendous a spectacle the space of the universe is!

 

Could You Interpret The Language Of Stars?

Listen to the stars and heed their beautiful sermons,

See what is written in these luminous missives of Wisdom:

They are all delivering together this fruitful discourse:

Each of us is a radiant proof

for the majestic Sovereignty of an All-Powerful One of glory.

We bear witness to the existence of the Maker

and also to His Unity and Power.

We are His subtle miracles gilding the face of the skies,

for the angels to make excursions on.

We are the innumerable discerning eyes of the heavens

directed to Paradise, and overseeing the earth.

We are the exquisite fruits

attached to the heavenly branch of the tree of creation;

and to the twigs of the Milky Way, attached by

the hand of wisdom of the Majestic, All-Gracious Being.

For the inhabitants of the heavens, we are traveling mosques,

revolving houses and exalted homes,

light-diffusing lamps, mighty ships, planes.

We are miracles of the Power of the All-Powerful One of Perfection,

the All-Wise One of Majesty;

each of us is a wonder of His creative art, a rarity of His Wisdom,

a marvel of His creation, a world of light.

To the man who is truly human,

we present hundreds of thousands of proofs

in hundreds of thousands of tongues;

The eye of the atheist, may it be blind, never sees our faces,

nor do his ears hear our speech; we are signs that speak the truth.

On us is the same stamp and seal.

We obey our Lord and glorify Him, and mention Him in worship.

We are ecstatic lovers in the widest circle of the Milky Way,

the circle reciting our Lord’s Names.

***

 

This article has been adapted from Risale- i Nur Collection.