Third part of the spark

 

 

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

 

KNOW, O FRIEND, that the decoration, perfection, beautiful spectacle, and majesty of Divine Lordship, as well as the splendor of Divinity, seen in the universe require an observer to observe them in amazement. When reflecting on them, such an observer must move from there to the Majesty of their Maker and Owner, and to His Power and Perfection. Human beings, despite their ignorance and tendency toward injustice, have so comprehensive a capacity that they can be considered samples of creation who have received a trust that can perceive and open the hidden treasury—Divine knowledge and the mystery of creation and human nature. As our powers or faculties have not been restricted in creation, we may have a universal consciousness to understand the splendor of the eternal Sovereign’s kingdom and His Divinity’s magnificent beauty. Just as beauty demands the beholding of a lover (to see it), the Eternal Designer’s Lordship requires the existence of those who will watch It in appreciation, amazement, and reflection. Such Lordship also necessitates permanent reflecting and bewildered observers to accompany what bewilders them on the way to eternity.

The One Who adorned the faces of flowers also created insects and birds to love them. He adorned the cheeks of beautiful things and created lovers who long for them, and made the world’s face so ornate and attractive, its eyes shining with those smiling lamps. He embroidered the world with such excellent, perfect, and exceptional beauty that it arouses feelings of love for its Maker and curiosity to know Him. Such a Creator would not leave it without lovers to be amazed by it, those who would reflect, be fascinated, and aware of the value each beauty has. With his comprehensive nature, a perfect, universal person becomes the raison d’être of the universe’s creation. Happiness and real pleasure lie in forsaking everything, including existence, for His sake. His existence is absolutely necessary. He is the absolutely Perfect One, the One of absolute Majesty, Grace, and Beauty. May whatever I have, even my whole existence and whatever exists, be sacrificed for Him.

KNOW, O FRIEND, that just as correspondence and similarities among things point to the Maker’s Oneness and Unity, orderly and purposeful dissimilarities and distinctions among them indicate that He is All-Wise, has absolute Will, and does as He wishes. For example, the similarity among human limbs and organs, particularly between pairs of organs, proves the Creator’s Oneness. The essential dissimilarity among people, each being unique, is a clear sign that the Creator has absolute Will and Wisdom.

KNOW, O FRIEND, that men and women are the most unjust of all beings. Due to their intense self-love, they value things according to how much benefit can be derived from them. They consider their fruits (as valuable) only to the degree they can benefit from them. They suppose that the aim of life is life itself, whereas every creature has wisdom, which is difficult for people to comprehend, relating to the Creator. Why should short-lived animate beings and fast-declining living organisms not be samples and examples, foundations and seeds for their wonderful likes in the intermediate worlds between this and the next, the material and the spiritual, and in the inner dimension of existence? Why should they not be manifestations or reflections and fruits in this world of the Divine Power’s control in the World of the Unseen?

KNOW, O FRIEND, that just as the eye restricts itself to what it sees or what presents itself before it, the carnal, evil-commanding self denies the existence of what it does not see, even if it is clearly evident.

KNOW, O FRIEND, that through His Power’s perfection, God subjugated all particles and compounds to His laws and commands of creation. He says to a gnat: “Be so!” and it becomes so, and says with the same ease to all animals: “Be of such features and forms, and with such length of life,” and they are as they are ordered to be. The Power that took these heavenly objects in Its hand and arranged them, just as you have set gems on your mirror’s frame, can do anything and allows nothing to interfere.

KNOW, O FRIEND, that a drop of water has the same nature as an ocean (both are water) and a river (both form from clouds). The sun’s image in a drop has almost the same identity as the sun, and a minnow belongs to the same species as a shark (both are fish). A grain of wheat is the same as a heap of wheat. This is how the Divine Name manifested on the tiniest cell comes together on the thing on which It is manifested with the Name manifested on all creation. For example, the Name “All-Knowing” manifests Itself on a cell together with the Name “Creator,” on a bee together with the Name “Fashioner,” on a fruit together with the Name “Builder,” and on an illness together with the Name “Healer.” It is inconceivable for a Name with the broadest sphere of manifestation not to be manifested on the smallest thing.

KNOW, O FRIEND, that inertia, motionlessness, inactivity, and renewal mean a kind of death or non-existence for a contingent thing, for its life and survival depend on activity and constant renewal. Non-existence is pain and evil. Activity is a great pleasure, and renewal through change brings great good. Although there may be pain and sorrow in change and renewal, such pain and sorrow are good in many respects. Being the light of existence, life is refined through sorrow, purified through pain, and measured according to how it receives and reflects the Giver of Life’s manifestations and qualities. Each life contains many aspects related to the Giver of Life, while a living thing itself has only one.

A bubble adorned with the sun’s reflection cannot oppose the sun and demand something from it. Through belief, human beings, who are like bubbles in the ocean of existence, become like transparent, shining objects and glittering stars whose lamps are lit from the rays of the Eternal Sun.

KNOW, O FRIEND, that a builder builds a huge palace and furnishes it with whatever is necessary. He or she then builds and furnishes a smaller palace from the same material. Can one say that the builder’s main aim is not to build the second palace, and that the purposes for its construction are not related to the builder? You, humanity, are that small palace, Earth is a palace, and so is the universe.

KNOW, O FRIEND, that God makes Himself known through His creatures and art, and loved through His Mercy, bounties, and provisions. He manifests almost all His Names for various reasons. Whoever understands perfectly why each Name manifests Itself and then explains it to others perfectly deserves to be addressed with the words: “But for you, I would not have created the worlds.” He is such a firm, trustworthy bond between Earth and the heavens that Earth is connected to God’s Supreme Throne by the rope woven in his heart. As a human being, he is the most honorable of creation; as a sample of humanity, he is the most perfect of living beings; and as an individual, he is the master and lord of the species honored with God’s vicegerency on Earth. He is the master of the Messengers, leader of the pious, beloved of the Lord of the Worlds—Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and his Family and Companions until eternity.

 

Said Nursi