In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
From Him we seek help.
In the Name of God.
KNOW, O FRIEND, that everything says, either verbally or via the tongue of disposition or potential: In and with the Name of God. It does so because, despite its essential impotence, everything that exists, without exception, performs astonishing tasks of which, on its own, it could not perform even the smallest part. This shows that it does them by the Strength of an All-Strong, All-Mighty One, and that it undertakes those tasks in and with the Name of the All-Powerful, the All-Wise One.
Despite its complete ignorance, it does those tasks so wisely and orderly and in such a beneficial and fruitful way. However, on its own it cannot do even the smallest part of any action. This shows that it assumes those purposeful tasks in and with the Name of an All-Tremendous, All-Wise One. Every object works for the use of living creatures in and with the Name of an All-Merciful, All-Compassionate One, and on behalf of an All-Knowing, All-Munificent One.
See how each seed results in a tree or a plant. Look at trees and their fruits, at micro-organisms and other animals, and the tasks they do. When you see a private gathering people in a certain place and dispatching them to different places to do certain tasks, you conclude that he is working on behalf of the king or government and enjoys its authority.
In the same way, one with knowledge understands that those impotent, ignorant creatures can perform their tasks so wisely, orderly, and fruitfully only in the Name of an All-Powerful, All-Knowing One. They act on behalf of an All-Mighty, All-Wise One, offering the fruits of their tasks in the Name of an All-Merciful, All-Compassionate One. Whatever task a creature does and produces fruits thereby is such that the universal Divine Mercy gives a particular pleasure in return for it. It is like the pleasure a mother takes in her compassion for her children, the delight a bee has in obeying the Divine inspiration to do what it does, or the pleasure in sexual intercourse. It is like the pleasure every living organism takes in eating, drinking, and resting, or the pleasure a creature takes in putting its potential into effect, as in the germination and growth of plants. The All-Wise Creator, All-Munificent Owner, assigns such pleasures as wages for the services rendered and as appetites urging their actions.
NOW, O BEARER OF THE SUPREME TRUST! Why do you not obey a law encompassing all things from the Supreme Throne to the tiniest creature? Why do you rebel against a principle of the One Who subjugated the sun and moon and employs stars and particles in His service?
KNOW, O FRIEND, that the difference between belief in Divine Unity and atheism and heresy is like that between Paradise and Hell, between what is absolutely necessary and what is [or should be] inconceivable. Consider the following: Belief in Divine Unity attributes all things to One Being, thereby decreasing the difficulty and expenditure of everything’s creation, for, in relation to that Being’s Power, there is no difference between one thing and another.
Also, belief in Divine Unity unveils the many purposes of their Maker in creating them. One purpose is that a thing manifests the Creator’s Names as if it were a comprehensive word bearing the meanings and pointing to the Names. But heedless and misguided people attribute a thing’s existence to other things, to impotent and lifeless elements, and to deaf and blind forces and laws. They make the existence of things so difficult that it is equally difficult for one or all things to be created. They consider things only with respect to their benefits for people, which is only one of their purposes.
An atheist and a believer are like two people who see a date-palm seed. The believer says: “It is an index of innumerable other indexes called seeds. It reveals the meaning and essence of the tree destined to grow from it, and describes the life-history of the tree that produced it. It is a map showing the nature of the tree’s potentials and functions as a sort of machine weaving a date-palm.” The atheist says: “All of the date-palm’s parts and leaves have gathered together to make and equip this seed with what it needs. But it is of no use, for the tree’s only purpose is to produce this seed, which will finally be eaten by an animal or rot in the soil.”
All things occur with great ease despite their abundance. Despite their intermingling, each thing can be distinguished easily, and an all-embracing order prevails in the universe. This being so, how can you attribute even one thing to lifeless causes? Most things that exist cooperate for that single thing, which is a sample of all things, to exist. Was a pomegranate created only for eating?
Universal wisdom has assigned many tasks to a person’s head and the senses it contains. If each assigned task required a different mustard seed-sized instrument, your head would be as big as Mount Sinai. Consider your tongue and its tasks. Tasting and measuring the contents of all treasures of Divine Mercy is only one of its tasks. Has this universal wisdom (which charges a thing, however small, with numerous duties) assigned only one purpose to that pomegranate, a miraculous work of art—your eating it in a moment of heedlessness? Can something the size of your head yield a fruit as large as a mountain, or something as large as a mountain yield a fruit like your head? If you answer “yes,” it means that you see no difference between wisdom and futility and absurdity, that you see infinite wisdom as identical with infinite futility and absurdity. In reality, like all fruits, that pomegranate contains a long poem on the Divine Beautiful Names, explaining their meanings. Glorified be Him in Whose work minds are amazed.
The following is a blossom of the tree of: The seven heavens and Earth and all that is in them glorify Him. There is not anything that does not glorify Him with praise (17:44). The meaning of this verse was unveiled to me when trees blossomed in the spring. I went into ecstasies and reflected on their glorification. The following lines occurred to me:
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In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
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 King 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.112
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.
LOOK AT EARTH AND SAY: God is the Greatest. Look at the universe and say: God is the Greatest, He is All-Creating and All-Acting, All-Opening and All-Knowing, All-Giving and All-Diffusing, All-Mighty and All-Wise, All-Munificent and All-Compassionate.
To know the meaning of God is the Greatest, look at the universe. It consists in shadows of His Lights, results of His acts, lines of the Pen of His Decree and Destiny, embroideries of His Names, and mirrors of His Attributes.
KNOW AND SAY: God is the Greatest. Look at the worlds. They are held in the grasp of His Knowledge and Power, Justice and Wisdom, and are well-ordered, measured, harmonious.
He orders the universe and determines the measure, for order and measure are two handfuls of the All-Merciful, and the titles of two chapters from the Manifest Record and the Manifest Book. This Book and that Record are titles of the Knowledge and Power of the All-Able and All-Knowing, All-Just and All-Wise. Nothing is outside this order and measure. This shows that nothing in space and time is excluded from the All-Merciful’s disposal.
LOOK AND SAY: God is the Greatest. He is All-Just and All-Ruling, All-Wise and All-Independent, Single and One. He dispenses justice and acts wisely, for He created the universe by measuring with the rule of Will and the ordering Wisdom. The principles of His Wisdom link everything that exists.
He distinguished all things and beings as individuals by the principle of His Decree and the law of Destiny (His Determining), which appoint all distinguishing lines. He ordered the universe and its creatures by the principle of His way of acting and the law of His practicing. He does what He wills, and decrees what He wills in the heavens and Earth with Mercy’s grace and Favoring’s kindness. He adorned the universe by Mercy’s laws and Favoring’s principles, in which all beauty seen in creatures has its source. He illuminated the universe by manifesting His Names and Attributes, which form the lamps of creatures in the heavens and Earth.
UNDERSTAND THIS AND SAY: God is the Greatest. He is the All-Knowing Creator, All-Wise Maker. The world and this normo-world (humanity) are works of His Power, inscriptions of His Determining. He created the world and made it a place of worship; He created men and women and made them worshippers. He constructed the former (His property) and built the latter (His servants). His art in the former was manifested as a book, and His painting in the latter appeared as speech. His Power manifested on the former displays His Might and Honor, and His Mercy in the latter arranges His bounties. His stamp in the former is visible on wholes and parts, and His seal on the latter on the body as a whole and on its parts.
LOOK AND SAY: God is the Greatest. He is All-Able and Enduring, Originator and All-Knowing, All-Subtle and All-Munificent, All-Loving and All-Compassionate, All-Beautiful and Tremendous, and Designer of the universe. The universe consists of parts, each of which is a sample of the whole. It also consists of worlds that, both as wholes and parts representing wholes, are lines and inscriptions of His Decree, pictures of His Determining.
Then limits are appointed according to dimensions, and with the ruler and compasses of Destiny, the Power individualizes forms according to each thing’s purposes. Considering benefits with respect to each testifies that each thing’s particular, distinguishing lines are drawn by the Pen of an All-Knowing, All-Wise One. After individualization, Favoring adorns the forms with Its shining hand and in the best way conceivable. This shows that adornment and beauty are works of His Grace, signs of His Munificence.
After adornment, His Munificence embellishes and makes beautiful to show that the All-Munificent wills to be loved by His creatures. He displays His desire to be known by humanity and jinn. All beauty and kindness originate from His will to be loved and known, which is why He made all of His works beautiful. The All-Able shows His desire to be known by embellishing His works. After the will to be loved comes His Mercy, which sends bounties and maintains His creation. He spreads His tables for the pleasure of living beings. The Creator’s Mercy is apparent in His works, and the All-Providing shows His Pitying in His fruits.
To sum up: This world consists of the lines and inscriptions of His Determining (Destiny) and embroideries of His Pen, embellishments of His Munificence, and flowers of His Kindness. For believers, it consists of the fruits of His Mercy and gleams of His Beauty, manifestations of His Majesty and mirrors of His Perfection. All that is seen in the name of beauty and displayed in the name of perfection are moving and changeable mirrors, shadows of His Light, signs of His Perfection, and point to His works’ perfection.
A perfect work testifies to a perfect act, which points to a perfect title, which indicates a perfect attribute, which shows a perfect essential quality or potential, which points to the Being Who is the Manifest Truth and then establishes the degrees and raising by them—the Creator of the universe. This shows that the beauty apparent on things does not belong to them.
Mirrors disappear and creatures decay, but Divine Names and Attributes continue to manifest themselves and create new creatures. This is one of the clearest, most articulate proofs of the absolute Beauty and ever-renewed gifts of the Necessarily Existent, All-Permanent, All-Loved One.
KNOW AND SAY: God is the Greatest. He is All-Creating and Great, All-Acting and All-Powerful. Worldly objects and earthly adornments, heavenly bodies and pearl-like stars in the garden of the universe are miracles of His Power, witnesses of His Wisdom, and proofs of the One and Unique, All-Able and Eternally-Besought-of-All.
Glory be to Him Who has made the garden of Earth display His art. Blooming plants and fruit-bearing trees, adorned animals and beautiful birds are marvels of His art, witnesses of His Knowledge, evidence of His Kindness. The smiles of flowers, ornaments of fruits in these orchards, display the will of the All-Merciful to be loved, the desire of the All-Benevolent to be known by jinn and humanity, spirits and animals, and the compassion of the All-Pitying toward them.
Flowers and fruits, grains and seeds are miracles of Wisdom, gifts of Mercy, evidence of Unity. They are presents offered in this world to give the good tidings that their likes will be given in the next. They are truthful witnesses that their Maker has full knowledge of all things, is powerful over all things, and that He embraces all things with mercy and knowledge, kindness and prearrangement (of all necessities for their lives). The sun or a tiny particle, a star or a flower, Earth or an egg—nothing is difficult for Him to create and maintain, to preserve and shape, to make and equip.
UNDERSTAND THIS AND SAY: God is the Greatest. He is the eternal Sovereign, Ruler of eternity, everlasting Lord. Look at the sky’s face. You will see silent peace and purposeful movement, splendid radiation and smiling ornaments, and a perfect, inviolable order. The glittering of its stars proclaims the eternal Sovereignty. These luminous objects and revolving planets are radiant evidence and light-diffusing witnesses proclaiming the Divine Grandeur’s might and dignity, displaying the majesty of the Lord’s Sovereignty, revealing His Power’s magnificence and vastness, and pointing to His all-comprehensive Wisdom.
BELIEVE AND SAY: God is the Greatest. His is the grandeur in the heavens and Earth, and He is All-Mighty, All-Wise. Glory be to You, O One for Whose Necessary Existence and Unity there are two witnesses in everything, for Whose Oneness and being the Eternally-Besought-of-All there are two signs in everything, and Whose stamp is placed on the forehead of creatures as a truthful witness and an articulate evidence.
Look at His works. You will see as bright as morning an absolute abundance in absolute order. In the creation and administration of all things, you will see absolute order and balance despite absolute ease; absolutely beautiful art despite absolute speed; absolute firmness despite absolute abundance; absolute ease despite absolute value; absolute mingledness despite absolute distinguishment; absolute agreement despite absolute distance; and absolute perfection despite absolute multiplicity. This shows you that the Truth is One, having absolute Power, absolute Knowing.
THINK ABOUT THIS AND SAY: There is no creator but He... There is none other than He, Who originates each thing with its own specific nature.
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Said Nursi
112 They pervade existence or manifest themselves through light (light conveys them). The thrones to follow should be taken in the light of this explanation. (Tr.)