Is He Who Will Destroy the World and Re-Build it Again Capable of Doing That?

 

Just as the necessity and requirement for the Resurrection is undoubted, so the One Who will bring it into being is eminently able to do it. He is absolutely powerful over everything. The greatest things and the smallest are the same in relation to His Power. He creates the spring with as much facility as He creates a flower. He is so powerful that the whole creation with its planets, stars, worlds, particles and substance bear witness to His Power and Majesty. No one, then, has the right to doubt that He will be able to raise all the dead for the Last Judgment. His Power is such that each century He causes a new environment to come into existence; He renews the universe every year and creates a new world every day. He hangs many transient worlds upon the string of time as centuries, years or even days pass for a perfect, definite purpose. He does all these things, and He also displays the perfection of His Wisdom and the beauty of His art by causing the earth to wear the garment of spring as if it were a single flower, which He has decorated with the embellishments of hundreds of thousands of kinds of resurrection. Since He is so able, how is it possible for anyone to doubt that He will be able to cause the Resurrection to happen and to replace this world with another? The verse, Your creation and your being raised up are as but the creation and raising up of a single soul announces that the All-Powerful One is so powerful that nothing is in any way difficult for Him and the creation of innumerable individuals is as easy for Him as the creation of a single one.

The Divine Power comes from the very nature of the Divine Essence, so that no sort of incapacity can be connected with it. Besides, it is related to the inner, immaterial dimension of existence, and thus no obstacle can interfere with its operation. Also, in its relation to things, Divine Power resembles the Divine laws of nature in that a universal is as easy for it as a particular. Now, we will explain these three arguments:

 

There are no degrees in the Divine Power.

Eternal Power is essential to the Divine Essence; in other words, it is an indispensable attribute of Divinity, or the Divine Essence is in one respect identical with Divine Power. Any sort of incapacity, which is the opposite of the Infinite, Eternal Power, can by no means occur in Him. If any incapacity were to occur in Him, then it would pre-suppose that two opposites exist in the Infinite Being. Since this is impossible, and impotence cannot occur in the Divine Essence, nothing can interfere with the Divine Power. Also, since impotence cannot be involved with the Divine Power, clearly there can be no degrees in it. For the degrees of existence of a thing are through the intervention of opposites. The degrees of temperature occur because of the intervention of cold, and likewise, the degrees of beauty come about owing to the intervention of ugliness. The same is true of all qualities in the universe. Contingent things and beings contain opposites, because they do not exist essentially of themselves and no undiluted quality is essential to their existence. Because of the degrees and graduations, the world of contingents is subject to change and transformations.

Since there can be no degrees in the Eternal Divine Power, particles or galaxies are equally easy for it in respect of their existence and creation. The resurrection of the whole of mankind is as easy for it as the revival of a single man, and the creation of spring as easy as the creation of a single flower. If creation or resurrection were ascribed to causes, then a flower would be as difficult to create as the whole of spring, whilst the whole creation is as easy for One Creator to create as a single particle.

 

The Divine Power operates in the inner dimension of things.

The Divine Power operates in the inner, spiritual dimension of things, or in the metaphysical kingdom. The universe, like a mirror, has two sides, one the corporeal, which resembles the colored face of the mirror, the other the metaphysical, which is like the mirror’s shining face, and looks to the Creator. The corporeal or physical side is where the opposites occur, that is, where things whether beautiful or ugly, good or bad, big or small, difficult or easy are manifested. The Majestic Creator of the universe veils the acts of His Power behind the observed causes so that the relation of His Power to simple things should not be regarded as unbecoming to Him by men of superficial reasoning. This is required by His Honor and Majesty. Actually, He has not assigned to causes any real effect upon the creation, and this should be so because of His Oneness and Unity. As for the metaphysical world or the inner dimension of things, it is absolutely clear and transparent, and the grossness of the physical world is not involved with it. The Divine Power is directly operative in this realm, where ‘cause and effect’ has no effect, and obstacles cannot interfere at all, and the creation of a particle is equivalent to the formation of the sun.

To conclude, the Divine Power is simple and infinite, and it is an indispensable Attribute of the Divine Essence. The realm where this Power operates directly is clear, refined and transparent, and there is nothing to oppose or intervene in it. That is, in the realm of Power there is no difference between a community and an individual, the particular and universal, and the big and the small, everything being the same in this dimension.

 

The Divine Power operates like a law which has the same relationship with everything.

Divine Power operates like a law which has the same relationship with everything whether large or small, few or many. We shall try to make this subtle matter comprehensible by means of a number of comparisons or connections. Transparency, reciprocity, balance, orderliness, abstraction, and obedience are the phenomena in the universe which render many equal to few, and great equal to small.

• This concerns the meaning of transparency.

The same sun is reflected whether it is on the surface of the ocean, or in a single drop of water. Had the earth been made up of different pieces of glass, the whole of the sun would have been reflected in each of them without hindrance and without one interfering with the other. Had the sun been a conscious independent being possessed of will-power to cause its light to be reflected, it would not be more difficult for it to give light to, or be reflected in, a single particle than the whole of the earth.

• This is about the meaning of reciprocity.

Suppose a man with a lighted candle to be standing in the center of a large circle of people each holding a mirror, then the reflections will be the same in each mirror without any one hindering any other.

• This concerns the meaning of balance.

Suppose we were to weigh a pair of things, whether two suns, or two stars, two mountains, two eggs, or two particles, with a balance of very precise measurement, any extra force exerted upon either of the scales, no matter how little it is, would be enough to disturb the balance.

• This concerns orderliness.

A huge ship can be steered as easily as a small toy because it possesses an orderly system, all the parts of which are related to one another, which allows it to be steered easily.

• This concerns abstraction or incorporeality.

The size of a living creature does not have any bearing upon its real essence or nature. The essence or nature of any species, because of its being abstract and incorporeal, is the same for all its members irrespective of size. The differences in individualized forms do not cause any confusion. A minnow, for example, has the same essence or nature as a basking-shark since both are fish. A micro-organism has the same essence as a rhinoceros, since both are living animals.

• This is about obedience.

A commander moves an army as easily as he moves a single soldier by simply issuing the command ‘March!’ The reality of obedience in the universe is as follows:

Everything in the universe has its own perfection towards which it inclines. An inclination grows into a need, an increased need becomes a yearning, and an increased yearning becomes an attraction. Inclination, need, yearning, and attraction all work as Divine laws and all operate in things to realize their perfection.

The final, absolute perfection of the whole of the creation occurs when it grows into absolute existence. Their relative perfection is the relative existence which gives effect to all their potentialities. It is for this reason that the obedience of the whole universe to the Divine Command of ‘Be!’ is not different from the obedience of a single particle.

The whole of creation obeys this order ‘Be!’, which comes from the Eternal Will of the Creator by the operation of the same forces of inclination, need, yearning and attraction, and these are urged to operate on all creatures by the same Divine Will. The power of this obedience is best displayed by water, which cracks iron, or even breaks it into pieces, when it receives the order to freeze.

Seeing that contingent forces which are defective, limited, weak, and devoid of creativity, display such effects as stated above under the six connections, it is obvious that everything, big or small, complex or simple, is equally susceptible to the order of the Divine Power. This Power is infinite, eternal, absolutely perfect and able to bring the whole universe into existence from non-existence, and it is also able to manifest itself through its grand works which fascinate and astound all conscious beings. Nothing is difficult for it. We should be aware that consideration of the six connections does not pass any judgment upon the Divine Power, which would be impossible for created beings; rather they are merely to enable minds to have some grasp of the matter.

 

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