The Third Ray

 

The Treatise of Supplication

 

Introduction

THIS TREATISE PROVES DECISIVELY THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THE fundamentals of belief, such as the necessary Existence of God, His Unity and Oneness, the magnificence of His Lordship, the immensity of His Power, the comprehensiveness of His Mercy, the universality of His Sovereignty, the all-inclusiveness of His Knowledge and the all-encompassing nature of His Wisdom. Its indications of the Resurrection, especially those emphasized at the end, are also powerful.

Each of the introductory passages of this proof of belief arrives at eight conclusions, together with the evidences used to prove them.

 

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

 

Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day (with their periods of shortening and lengthening); and in the vessels which sail the seas and bring people profit; and the water which God sends down from the sky, therewith reviving the earth after its death and dispersing therein all kinds of living creatures; and in His disposal of the winds and the subjugation of the clouds between the earth and the sky—surely in all of these there are signs (demonstrating that He is the One God deserving of worship, and the sole Refuge and Helper) for all those people who reason and understand. (2:164)

 

This treatise of supplication is a form of commentary on the above verse.

 

O God, O my Lord!

I see through the eye of belief, the instruction and light of the Qur’an, the teachings of God’s noblest Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, and the guidance of the Divine Name the All-Wise that:

There is not a single movement in the heavens but it indicates Your

Existence through its orderliness;

There is not a single heavenly body but it indicates or testifies to Your Lordship and Unity by performing its duties in silence and standing without any visible support;

There is not a single star but it demonstrates or bears witness to Your Unity or the magnificence of Your Divinity through its most proportionate structure, its precisely ordered position, its bright countenance, and the stamp of its resemblance to all other stars;

There is not one of the twelve planets but it testifies to Your absolutely necessary Existence and indicates the dominion of Your Divinity through its wise movement, its subjugation to Your law, its orderly duties, and through the satellites which orbit them.

Indeed, just as each of the heavens testifies to Your absolutely necessary Existence, so too, O the Creator of the heavens and earth, all of the heavens, as a totality, clearly bear witness with utter certainty to the absolute necessity of Your Existence. O You Who govern all atoms together with the compounds they form and Who have subjugated all the planets to Your command, making them revolve with their satellites, all of these testify to Your Unity and Oneness so powerfully that the shining proofs to the number of the stars in the heavens confirm their testimony.

With their extraordinarily large bodies, which move at amazing speeds, these unblemished heavens resemble an orderly army or a royal celebration illuminated by numerous electric lamps. They indicate most clearly the magnificence of Your Lordship and the grandeur of Your Power, Which has created all things; they indicate the limitless expanse of Your Dominion, Which dominates the heavens, and of Your Mercy, Which embraces all living creatures. They testify, with utmost certainty, to the all-encompassing nature of Your Knowledge, Which penetrates and orders all of the acts and states of the heavenly creatures, and to the comprehensiveness of Your Wisdom. This testimony and indication are so clear that it is as if the stars were the words of testimony of the heavens and their embodied luminous proofs.

As for the stars, which are like obedient soldiers, orderly ships, extraordinary planes, and astonishing lamps, they exhibit the splendor of the dominion of Your Divinity. As we can see from the sun, which is a soldier in the army of stars, and the duties that it performs with respect to our earth and the other planets under its sway, some of the companion stars of the sun have a relationship with the world of the Hereafter, and may in fact be the suns of the eternal worlds.

 

O the Necessarily Existent One, O the Single, Unique One!

These wonderful stars, these breathtaking suns and moons have been subjugated, ordered, and entrusted with various duties in Your domain and in Your heavens through Your Command, Power, Rule, and Management. All those celestial bodies glorify the sole Creator, Who has created them, Who administers them, and Who makes them revolve; they magnify Him, and say with the tongue of their disposition, “All-Glorified are You!,” and “God is the All-Great.” I too declare You to be the All-Holy through their glorifications.

 

O the All-Powerful One of Majesty, hidden because of the intensity of His manifestation and veiled on account of His Grandeur!

I have understood through the teachings of the Qur’an and the instruction of God’s noblest Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, that:

Just as the heavens with all their stars bear witness to Your Existence and Unity, the atmosphere also testifies to your absolutely necessary Existence and Unity through its clouds, its lightning, its thunder, wind, and rain.

Indeed, it is only by Your Mercy and Wisdom that the lifeless and unconscious clouds send rain, the water of life, to the aid of living creatures, which are in need of it: chance has not the least part in this.

Also, being the brightest and most powerful form of electricity, urging us to benefit from it on account of its illuminating quality, lightning sheds light on Your power in the heavens.

In addition, the thunder, which gives the glad tidings of the coming of rain, makes the vast heavens speak, and the roaring voice of whose glorification resounds in the sky, declares with the tongue of its disposition that You are the All-Sacred One and testifies to Your being the Lord of the whole creation.

Again, entrusted with many duties, such as bringing living beings their vital sustenance and causing them to respire and refresh themselves, winds transform the atmosphere into a kind of “tablet for effacing and confirming or writing and erasing” on account of certain Divine purposes, thus indicating the activities of Your Power and testifying to Your Existence. Also, through its orderly words of drops milked from clouds and sent to living beings through Your Mercy, rain, which is the embodiment of Your mercy for living beings, bears witness to the comprehensiveness of Your Mercy and Your extensive Affection.

 

O the Ever-Active One Who controls everything; O the All-Transcending Bestower of abundant bounties!

While the clouds, lightning, thunder, wind, and rain testify individually to the absolute necessity of Your Existence, as a whole, they provide a powerful indication of Your Unity and Oneness through the fact that, despite their differences in nature, they exist and work together in harmony and help each other with their tasks. They also testify to the magnificence of Your Lordship, Which makes the vast atmosphere an exhibition of wonders and frequently fills and empties it; and to the greatness and comprehensiveness of Your Power, Which uses the atmosphere as though it were a tablet of “writing and erasing,” and a sponge by means of which You water the garden of the earth. They also testify to the inconceivably vast and all-encompassing nature of Your Mercy and Dominion, Which embrace and maintain all creatures under the veil of the atmosphere.

Also, the employment of the air in so many wise duties and the employment of the clouds and rain for so many benefits which require an all-embracing knowledge, make it quite clear that were it not for an all-embracing Wisdom and an all-encompassing Knowledge, they could not be thus employed.

 

O He Who does whatever He wills!

Your Power, Which performs actions such as continuously displaying samples of the Resurrection in the atmosphere, and changing summer into winter and vice versa and bringing forth a new world while sending another into the Realm of the Unseen, all within an hour, gives an indication that It will change this world into the Hereafter and demonstrate unending activity therein.

 

O the All-Powerful One of Majesty!

Air, clouds, rain, lightning, and thunder in the atmosphere are subservient and dutiful in Your domain, through Your Command and by Your Power. These atmospheric creatures, which differ in nature, sanctify their Commander and Sovereign, Who makes them obey immediate commands with rapidity, and they praise Your Mercy.

 

O the All-Majestic Creator of the heavens and the earth!

Through the instruction of Your wise Qur’an and the teachings of the noblest Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, I have come to believe in and understand what follows:

In the same way that the heavens, through their stars, and the atmosphere, through its elements, testify to the absolute necessity of Your Existence and Your Oneness, the earth also bears witness to Your Existence and Oneness through all its creatures and circumstances to the number of the existent beings it contains.

There are no transformations on the earth, nor any changes—be they universal or particular—in its plants, trees, and animals, such as the donning of new garments every year, but they bear witness to Your Existence and Oneness.

There is not a single animal but it bears witness to Your Existence and Oneness through the sustenance that is given to it compassionately and in proportion to its needs and weaknesses, and through being wisely equipped with the things that it needs to exist.

Also, there is not a single plant or animal that is resurrected or originated before our eyes every spring but it makes You known through its remarkable art, its fine component parts, its distinguishing features, and the perfect order and proportion in its composition and life.

All these plants and animals that fill the face of the earth as miracles of Your Power are created with perfect differentiation and rich adornment, and with absolutely no faults or flaws, from eggs or seeds that resemble one another and which are made up of almost the same substances. Thus, their testimony to the Existence, Oneness, Wisdom, and boundless Power of their All-Wise Maker is such that this testimony is more powerful and brilliant than the light which bears witness to the existence of the sun.

Also, there is no element in creation, such as air, water, light, fire, or soil but it bears witness to Your Existence and Oneness by performing perfect tasks that require consciousness in spite of their inanimateness, and by bringing perfectly formed fruits and crops of all kinds from the treasury of the Unseen, despite their simplicity and their seemingly random distribution over a vast area.

 

O the All-Powerful Originator, O the All-Knowing Opener, O the Ever Acting-Creator!

Just as together with all its inhabitants the earth testifies to the absolutely necessary Existence of their Creator, so too, O the Single and Unique One, O the All-Kind and All-Benevolent One, and O the All-Bestowing and All-Providing One, through the stamp on its face and the stamps on the faces of its inhabitants, and through their harmonious co-existence and mutual assistance despite being distributed widely, and through Your Names and Acts Which relate to them as Your being their Lord being the same, the earth clearly testifies to Your Unity and Oneness to the number of the creatures on it.

Also, the fact that the earth is like an army encampment, an exhibition, a place of instructions and drill, and that the hundreds of thousands of plant and animal divisions which form this global army are provided in perfect order with the exact component parts or equipment they need, demonstrates the magnificence of Your Lordship and shows that Your Power commands everything at the same time. Similarly, the fact that innumerable living creatures are compassionately and munificently provided with their sustenance at precisely the right time from simple soil, and that all of them obey the orders of Your Lordship with the utmost subservience, indicates the all-encompassing nature of Your Mercy and Dominion.

Moreover, it is only by virtue of an all-encompassing knowledge and an all-administering wisdom that it is possible for the endless convoys of creatures and all instances of life and death to follow one another on the earth in such perfect order, and for all the plants, trees, and animals to be administered with such perfection and regularity. This obviously indicates the all-encompassing nature of Your Knowledge and Wisdom.

Also, although humanity is entrusted with limitless duties, including the stewardship of all other creatures on earth, and although they are provided with capacities and potentialities so vast that it would take an eternity on earth to fulfill them, the sojourn of the human being on earth is actually a very brief one. One must therefore conclude that the importance given to humanity, the limitless expenditure provided for them, the boundless manifestations of Divine Lordship bestowed on them as the addressee of the All-Glorified One, and the infinite amount of Divine bounties showered upon them—none of these can be intended solely for this brief, fleeting, painful, and calamity-stricken life in this training-ground of the world, this temporary military encampment of the earth, this transient exhibition. Rather, since these things can only be intended for another, eternal life, an everlasting realm of happiness, they indicate, even testify to, the otherworldly bounties in the realm of Hereafter.

 

O the Creator of all things!

All the creatures of the earth are subservient to and administered by Your Strength, Power, Knowledge, Will, and Wisdom on this earth, which is Your property. And Your Lordship—Your acts of creation, maintenance, provision, nurturing, and administration—which can be observed on the earth, display such vastness and comprehensiveness, and the administration, provision, and nurturing within this Lordship are so perfect and sensitive, and Its actions and operations are replete with such unity, uniformity, and coordination that Your Lordship is clearly universal and indivisible. Also, the earth, together with all its inhabitants and through countless tongues that are more articulate than the speech of humanity, glorifies its Creator and declares Him to be the All-Sacred; through the tongue of His limitless bounties the earth praises and extols its All-Providing One of Majesty.

 

O the All-Sacred One, Who is hidden because of the intensity of His manifestation and veiled on account of His Grandeur!

With all the earth’s glorifications of You and its declarations of You as the All-Sacred, I too declare that You are absolutely exalted above any faults, impotence, or the ascription of partners, and I praise You and offer thanks to You with all their praises.

 

O the Lord of the land and the sea!

I have understood through the instructions of the Qur’an and the teachings of the noblest Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, that, just as the earth, the atmosphere, and the heavens bear witness to Your Existence and Oneness, the rivers, springs, and streams also testify clearly to the absolute necessity of Your Existence and Your Oneness.

Indeed, there is not a single creature, indeed, not a single drop of water in the seas, which are in effect our globe’s steam boilers and the source of countless marvels, but it makes its Creator known through its existence, orderliness, position, and benefits.

There is not a single one of these amazing creatures, the sustenance of which is provided through simple sand or water, not one of these sea animals, each of which is created in an extremely orderly fashion, not one of the myriad kinds of fish, each laying a million or more eggs, but it indicates its Creator and testifies to its Provider through its creation, its duties, and the way it is administered, provided for, and maintained.

Also, there is not one single precious, ornamented substance or jewel in the sea with distinguishing features but it makes You known through its subtle creation, fascinating composition, and beneficial qualities.

All of these aforementioned creatures testify to You individually. Also, although they exist in extremely great varieties and numbers, and although all are mixed with one another, the facility with which they are brought into being and the stamp of unity displayed by their creation bear witness to Your Unity. Furthermore, the earth remains suspended in space and revolves around the sun at great speed without its lands or seas mixing with one another or its seas invading the lands. Also, all of its minerals and other substances, and all of its terrestrial and marine life are well-formed and extremely varied: created from simple water or soil, all these creatures are administered and nurtured with perfect orderliness. Moreover, despite their extremely abundant existence and the fact that everyday countless numbers of them die, none of their corpses remains on the earth or in the sea for long, with the result that both the face of the earth and the seas are always clean and pure. So, the earth bears witness to Your Existence and to the fact that You are the Necessarily Existent Being to the number of its creatures. In the same way that all these creatures clearly indicate the splendor of Your Lordship and the immensity of Your all-encompassing Power, they also indicate the boundless comprehensiveness of Your Mercy and Dominion, Which embrace everything—from the extremely large stars in the heavens above to the tiny fish at the bottom of the oceans. Also, through their perfect organization and ordered existence, through the benefits they give and the instances of wisdom they display, and through their well-proportioned structure and composition, they indicate Your all-encompassing Knowledge and your all-embracing Wisdom.

You have pools of mercy for the travelers in this guesthouse of the world and You have subjugated these pools for their benefit and for their ship so that they may travel. This indicates that the One Who offers such innumerable gifts from the sea to His guests of one night in a sideway inn— the world—must certainly have eternal oceans of Mercy at His eternal domain of sovereignty, and those here are but their tiny, transient samples. Thus, the way in which the seas skirt the land in such an extraordinary fashion, and the wonderful sustaining and nurturing of the creatures that inhabit their depths all demonstrate self-evidently that they are subservient to Your Command in Your domain through Your Will, Power, and Administration. Through the language of all these facts, they declare You to be their All-Sacred Creator, saying “God is the All-Great.”

 

O the All-Powerful One of Majesty, Who has made mountains as treasure filled masts for the ship of the earth!

I have understood from the instruction of God’s noblest Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, and from the teachings of the Qur’an that just as the seas recognize You and make You known through their marvels, the mountains also recognize You and make You known through the instances of wisdom in their existence and the benefits they provide. For example, they serve the earth, keeping it solid and unperturbed by the invasion of the seas, and preserving its stability in spite of quakes and the stormy movements within it . They also purify the air of harmful gases, store and preserve water, and function as vast treasure-troves of minerals and metals that are necessary for living beings.

Indeed, there is not a single rock or precious stone in the mountains, there is not a single one of the innumerable kinds of substance that are used as ingredients for medication, there is not a single one of the extremely diverse kinds of minerals or metals that are vital for living beings in general and humankind in particular, there is not a single one from among the countless varieties of plants and trees that adorn the mountains, plains and fields with their flowers, making them prosperous with their fruits—there is not a single one of these but it testifies with utmost clarity to the absolute necessity of the Existence of an infinitely Powerful, Compassionate, and Munificent Maker through their instances of wisdom, their subtle arrangement and composition, their fine creation, their numerous benefits, and the extreme diversity of their tastes and natures, however similar they may appear to be on the surface. Also, in addition to bearing witness to the Maker through their great variety of blossoms and fruits, which show extreme variety despite the fact that they all grow in simple, uniform soil and are nurtured with the same, simple water, trees and flowers also testify to His Unity and Oneness through the similarity of their administration, maintenance, origin, habitat, creation and artistry. They also point to His Unity and Oneness through their abundance and the speed and facility with which they are created, even though each one is a unique work of art and of inestimable value.

Also, the fact that the all of the world’s mountains have almost the same composition and that all species of beings are made perfectly, without the slightest flaw, in the same way, in the shortest time imaginable, and without the creation and sustenance of one individual and species being confused with or impeding another—all of this indicates the magnificence of Your Lordship and the immensity of Your Power, for Which nothing is difficult. In addition, the mountains hold many different varieties of plants, trees, and minerals to meet the endless needs, tastes, and appetites of innumerable kinds of living creatures; they also provide the necessary medications for countless kinds of illnesses. All of this indicates the boundless extent of Your Mercy and the infinite vastness of Your Dominion. Although the minerals and the seeds of all these plants and trees lie hidden and intermingled under the ground in darkness, they are grown and prepared with perfect order by virtue of a vast knowledge and an all-encompassing sight. All of these facts indicate the comprehensiveness of Your Knowledge, Which encompasses everything, and the all-embracing nature of Your Wisdom, Which arranges everything perfectly. In addition, through the preparation of medicinal substances and the depositing of minerals and metals in them, mountains obviously indicate the beauties of Your Lordship’s compassionate and munificent arrangement and providence and the precautionary subtleties of Your Benevolence.

Again, Your creation of these huge mountains as well-made warehouses of supplies for the future needs of Your guests in this earthly caravanserai and as the perfectly arranged stores of the infinite treasures that are of vital importance for the lives of these guests testify indubitably to the fact that a Maker Who is this munificent and hospitable, this wise and caring, and this powerful and nurturing has most certainly prepared treasures of everlasting bounties for these beloved guests in an eternal world. The stars there will perform the duties of the mountains here in the world.

 

O the One Who has absolute power over all things!

The mountains are subjugated to the service of humanity in Your domain by Your Power, Knowledge, and Wisdom, as are the creatures that reside in and on them. They glorify and declare to be the All-Sacred their Creator, Who has made them subservient and dutiful in this manner.

 

O the All-Merciful Creator and All-Compassionate Lord!

I have understood from the instruction of God’s noblest Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, and the teaching of the wise Qur’an that just as the heavens, the earth, the seas, and the mountains, with all their creatures and contents, recognize you and make You known, so do all of the plants and trees on the earth, together with their leaves, flowers, and fruits, also know You and Make You known clearly.

Each leaf of all plants and trees, which commemorates its Maker through its enraptured movements, together with every flower, which describes and defines its Maker through its adornments, and every fruit, which smiles joyously on account of the manifestation of His Mercy, testifies with utmost certainty to the absolute necessity of the Existence of an infinitely Compassionate and Munificent Maker through its perfect and extraordinarily artistic formation, which is utterly impossible to ascribe to chance; it does this also through the perfect balance and proportion in its formation, and the adornment that accompanies that balance and proportion, and through the embroideries that contribute to its adornment, and the many beautiful scents and tastes that are added to its embellishments. As a totality these bear clear witness to the Unity (Wahidiya) and Oneness (Ahadiya) of the necessarily existent Maker. They do this through their mutual resemblance all over the world and their similarities in their creation, through the relationship between their growth and the way they are provided for, through the interconnectedness of the Divine Names and Acts Which relate to their existence and maintenance, and through the administration and nurturing of the countless individual members of the hundreds of thousands of varieties without flaw or confusion.

In the same way that these testify to the absolute necessity of Your Existence and Your Unity, the perfect and distinctive maintenance of countless members of the hosts of living beings on the earth, formed of hundreds of thousands of “nations,” indicates the splendor and uniqueness of Your Lordship and the immensity of Your Power, Which encompasses everything and creates spring as easily as it does a flower. Furthermore, the preparation of countless varieties of food for the innumerable animals and human beings distributed throughout the earth indicates the boundless comprehensiveness of Your Mercy. Moreover, the perfect order in the performance of all these acts of providing, administering, and nurturing, together with the subservience and obedience of everything, down to the tiniest particle or atom, to Your Acts and Commands, provides clear evidence of the all-encompassing nature of Your Dominion. Similarly, the fact that whatever relates to the existence, growth, and nurturing of every leaf, flower, fruit, root, branch or twig is based on certain knowledge and insight, with many wise purposes and benefits in mind, they each point clearly to the all-encompassing nature of Your Knowledge and Wisdom. With innumerable tongues, all of these also praise and extol the beauty of Your infinitely perfect Art and the perfection of Your infinitely beautiful Bountifulness.

In addition, through the hands of the trees and plants in this temporary guesthouse, such invaluable bounties and gifts are offered, such extraordinary expenditure is laid out, and such wonderful munificence is displayed that they clearly indicate, indeed, bear witness to this fact: the Powerful and Munificent All-Compassionate One has prepared, out of His eternal treasure of Mercy, a host of fruit-bearing trees and blossoming plants which are suited to the perpetual Gardens of Paradise, for the servants whom He will favor with eternal life in an everlasting realm. This He does because, in accordance with His will to make Himself known and loved through the bounties He bestows, He does not want His loving friends to complain, saying: “He has given us a taste of them and has now dispatched us to eternal non-existence without being able to enjoy them to the full.” Nor does He will to reduce the infinite value of the dominion of His Divinity or cause His loving friends to deny His endless Mercy, thus transforming their love to enmity. All the fruit-bearing trees and blossoming plants in this world are but examples of their eternal counterparts, and are here in this world merely on display for those who would “buy” them for all eternity.

Just as the trees and plants glorify and praise You, and declare You to be the All-Sacred through their words of leaves, flowers, and fruits, each one of these words too proclaims Your absolute sacredness. The glorifications offered by the fruits through the mute eloquence of their disposition— that is, through their attractive shapes, their many different and fascinating colors, their edible parts of infinite variety and their marvelous seeds, and through being offered to the guests of this earthly caravanserai from the hands of the trees or plants—manifest themselves as though spoken words. All of them are subjugated in Your domain through Your Power, Will, Benevolence, Mercy, and Wisdom, and they are perfectly obedient to all of Your commands.

 

O the All-Wise Maker and All-Compassionate Creator, Who is hidden because of the intensity of His manifestation and veiled on account of His Grandeur!

With the voices of all trees and plants, together with their leaves, flowers, and fruits, and to the number of all of them I praise and exalt You and declare You to be absolutely exalted above and free from defect, impotence, and having partners.

 

O the All-Powerful Originator, the All-Wise Administrator, the All-Compassionate Nurturer!

I have understood from the instruction of God’s noblest Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, and from the teaching of the wise Qur’an, and I believe that just as plants and trees recognize You and make known Your sacred Attributes and All-Beautiful Names, there too is not a single animal or human but it testifies to the absolute necessity of Your Existence and to Your Attributes. They bear witness through their perfectly and artistically made bodies, equipped as they are with extremely delicate and well functioning “instruments” that possess the finest order and equilibrium; they give evidence through all of their internal and external organs, which are made to operate with perfect sensitivity and orderliness, and through their members and senses that are arranged in their bodies with perfect balance and for extremely important purposes. For it is absolutely impossible that any random force, unconscious “nature,” or blind chance should contribute to an artistry that is so delicate and wise, or to a wisdom that requires such care and consciousness, or to a perfect balance that is so sensitive and purposeful. As for the notion that they form themselves; well, this is a hundred times more impossible and inconceivable. For their self-formation would require each of their particles or atoms to have God-like knowledge and power. Otherwise, how would each one be able to know itself perfectly and bring itself into existence, particularly since it would also have to create all of the other atoms with which it interconnects and has relations, together with all the other elements in the universe which have a part in its existence and operation?

The observable unity in their administration and maintenance as a whole, the perfect similarities among the members of each species, as well as between the species themselves, the stamp of unity that can be observed in their creation and nurturing, and the fact that each of them has eyes, ears, mouths, and so on, and is each directed toward similar goals—all of these and similar other instances of unity bear most decisive witness to Your absolute Unity. And just as all of Your Names are manifested in the universe as a whole, thus indicating Your Unity (Wahidiya), they are also manifested in each of the beings in the universe, thus displaying Your Oneness or Uniqueness (Ahadiya).

Also, like humankind, hundreds of thousands of animal species that are distributed throughout the world are equipped, trained, and obedient, like a well-organized army, and the commands of Your Lordship operate with perfect order in their kingdom. While this indicates the magnificence of Your Lordship, their extreme value despite their abundance, their perfect composition and organization despite their rapid origination, and the perfect, peerless art they contain despite the facility with which they have been created, all indicate the grandeur of Your Power. From microbes, which exist in all four corners of the globe, to rhinoceroses, and from the tiniest flies to the largest birds, the precision with which they are provided for and nurtured clearly indicates the endless comprehensiveness of Your Mercy. And each of them performs its vital duties without any shortcomings, while the earth, functioning as the parade ground for their mobilization in spring and for their demobilization in fall and winter, indicates the boundlessness of Your Dominion.

Also, every animal is like a sample in miniature of the universe. It is originated through an extremely profound knowledge and fine wisdom, without any confusion in the appointment or placement of any of its atoms, compounds or organs, one within the other, and in their complex relationships with one another. Again, every animal is given a different form and distinguishing features that have no defects, confusions, or faults. As these facts indicate Your all-encompassing Knowledge and Your all-embracing Wisdom to the number of animals in existence, the creation of each one with such artistry and beauty as a miracle of art and a marvel of wisdom also indicates the perfect beauty of Your Lordship’s Art, Which you love and will to be displayed. Again, through their delicate nourishment and the gratification of their needs and desires, all of them, and in particular their young, indicate endlessly the sublime beauty of Your Benevolence.

 

O the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate, O He Who is absolutely true to His promise, and O the Master of Judgment Day!

I have understood from the instructions of Your noblest Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, and the teaching of Your wise Qur’an the following:

Since the ultimate result of the universe is life, and the ultimate result of life is the spirit, and since the most elevated among beings with spirit are those with consciousness, and the most comprehensive among those with consciousness is humanity, and since the whole universe serves life, and living beings are sent to the world to serve those among them with spirit, and since beings with spirit are put in the service of humankind, and since human beings have a strong innate love for their Creator, Who both loves and makes Himself loved by them by every means, and since the capacities and immaterial faculties given to humanity are directed primarily toward the eternal life, and their heart and consciousness desire eternity with all their might, and their tongues entreat their Creator with never-ending prayers for everlasting life—since all this is self-evidently true, then it is clear that the One Who loves and is much loved will never distress humankind, whom He has created for eternity, by making them die only to fail to revive them again, which would thus transform their love for Him into eternal enmity. For humanity has been sent to this world to strive for and earn an eternal life of happiness in another, eternal realm. There we will be favored with the eternal manifestations of the Divine Names, Which we mirror in this short and transient life.

Indeed, the faithful friend of the Eternal One will be eternal; the conscious mirror of the Everlasting One must be everlasting.

As can be understood both from authentic Prophetic Traditions and as is required by the truth of Divine Wisdom, Mercy, and Lordship, the spirits of animals will also endure permanently. Moreover, certain members of them, such as the hoopoe which served Prophet Solomon, upon him be peace, and the ant found in the narratives concerning him, as well as the she-camel of Prophet Salih, upon him be peace, and the dog of the People of the Cave will go to the eternal world with their bodies and spirits, while each animal species will continue to exist as a single, representative body for occasional employment.15

 

O the All-Powerful and Self-Subsistent One by Whom all subsist!

All living creatures, all beings with spirit and all beings with consciousness have been made subservient to the commands of Your Lordship and entrusted with duties according to their nature in Your domain through Your Power, Will, Administration, Mercy, and Wisdom. Some of them have been put in the service of humankind—not because of any power or dominance on the part of humanity, but, rather, because of human innate weakness and impotence. By glorifying their Maker and declaring Him to be absolutely exalted above having defects, faults, or partners, and by praising and thanking Him for His bounties, both verbally and through the mute eloquence of their natures and dispositions, each performs its own particular form of worship.

 

O the All-Sacred One, hidden because of the intensity of His manifestation and veiled on account of His Grandeur!

With the intention of declaring You to be the All-Sacred through the glorifications of all beings who possess spirits, I say: All-Glorified are You, O He Who has made every living thing from water!

 

O the Lord of all the worlds! O the Deity of all those who have already come to this world and of all those who are destined to come in the future! O the Lord of the heavens and the globes!

From the instruction of God’s noblest Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, and the teaching of the wise Qur’an, I have come to understand and believe the following:

In the same way that the heavens and the earth, the atmosphere, the land, and sea, the trees, plants, and animals, with all their organs, component parts and atoms, recognize You and testify to Your Existence and Oneness, so too do living beings, which are the essence of the universe, bear witness to the absolute necessity of Your Existence, Your Unity, and Your Oneness. And in the heart of this witnessing stands humanity, the essence of living beings; among humanity are the saints, the purified scholars, and the Prophets, all of whom testify to Your Unity through the observations and unveilings of their intellects and hearts, and through their inspirations and spiritual discoveries. Indeed, their testimony has the certainty of the consensus of hundreds of different groups of scholars with true and expert knowledge, and hundreds of chains of transmitters of knowledge, whose truthfulness and reliability cannot be doubted. Furthermore, they also substantiate the information they provide with their miracles, wonders, and decisive proofs.

Not a single thing occurs to a sound heart but it draws the attention to the One Who inspires it from behind the veil of the Unseen, and testifies to the absolute necessity of His Existence, as well as to His Attributes, Unity, and Oneness. Similarly, there is not a single instance of true inspiration that focuses attention on the One Who inspires but it bears witness in the same way. Also, there is no certain creed that discovers Your sacred Attributes and All-Beautiful Names with a certainty based on experience but it testifies in a similar fashion, nor is there a pure, illuminated heart such as belongs to the Prophets and saints and which observes the lights of the Necessarily Existent One with piercing clarity, but it bears the same witness. And there is not a single enlightened intellect, such as is possessed by the truthful, pure, and saintly scholars, but it confirms with certain knowledge the signs of the necessary Existence and Oneness of the Creator of all things. Indeed, there is no occurrence, no true inspiration, no certain creed, no pure and illuminated heart, no enlightened intellect, in fact, there is nothing but it indicates or testifies to the absolute necessity of Your Existence, Your sacred Attributes, Your Unity, Your Oneness, and Your All-Beautiful Names.

In particular, there is not a single clear miracle of the noblest Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, who is the leader and essence of all the Prophets, saints, purified scholars, and those who are most advanced in truthfulness, which confirms the glad tidings he brought; there is not a single exalted truth of him which shows his absolute truthfulness; and there is not a single verse in the miraculous Qur’an, the essence of all sacred Scriptures and books of truth, which demonstrates Divine Unity; and there is not a single sacred matter or truth of belief contained in it—there is not a single one of these miracles, truths, verses, or matters but it indicates or bears witness to the absolute necessity of Your Existence, Your sacred Attributes, Your Unity, Your Oneness, and Your All-Beautiful Names.

Also, in the same way that these countless people of truth bear witness to Your Existence and Oneness with their miracles, wonder-working, and rational proofs, they also proclaim and prove with unanimity the magnificence of Your Lordship, Which has perfect knowledge of and control over all things in creation, however large or small—from the universal affairs connected with Your Supreme Throne to the most secret occurrences of the heart and its most hidden desires and prayers: they also proclaim the sublimity of Your Power, Which invents countless things simultaneously and instantly before our eyes, and accomplishes the greatest thing as easily as it does the smallest one, without one impeding the other.

With their miracles and other proofs, all these truthful ones also demonstrate and prove the limitless comprehensiveness of Your Mercy, Which has made this universe a perfect palace for beings which possess spirit, humanity in particular, and Which prepares Paradise and eternal happiness for the jinn and humanity, does not forget even the lowliest being, and gratifies the most powerless heart. These miracles and proofs also demonstrate and prove the infinite vastness of Your Dominion, Which has subjugated all kinds of creatures, from atoms to galaxies, and entrusted them with certain duties, causing them to obey Your Commands. Moreover, these miracles and proofs also testify, as one, to the all-encompassing nature of Your Knowledge, Which has made the universe a cosmic book that is composed of as many volumes as there are particles and compounds in the universe, and Which has recorded all that happens in the lives of all creatures in the Manifest Record and the Manifest Book, which are the registers of the Supreme Preserved Tablet. Your Knowledge has also inscribed completely and without error the contents and programs of all trees in each of their seeds, and the entire life histories of conscious beings in their memories. These miracles and proofs also bear witness, with utmost clarity, to the all-embracing nature of Your Wisdom, Which attaches to each creature numerous instances of wisdom, such as each tree yielding results to the number of its fruits, or placing in each living being as many benefits as it has members or, indeed, compounds and cells, or equipping the human tongue with abilities to the number of tastes it encounters, as well as entrusting it with many duties. Furthermore, these miracles and proofs unanimously bear witness to the fact that Your Names of Majesty and Grace, Whose exemplary manifestations are witnessed throughout the universe, will continue to manifest themselves in the abode of eternity in a more splendid way; that Your gifts and bounties, the compassionate manifestations and samples of which are observed in this fleeting world, will endure in the eternal realm of happiness in a more brilliant fashion; and that those who are fond of them and who discern them in this brief worldly life with pleasure and seek them in love will accompany them through all eternity.

Also, based on the countless proofs of their Prophethood, including their hundreds of evident miracles, and on hundreds of decisive evidences which exist in all the Scriptures You revealed, but primarily in the wise Qur’an, as well as on the promises and threats that You repeat in them frequently; and relying on Your all-sacred Attributes and essential Characteristics such as Power, Mercy, Favoring, Wisdom, Majesty and Grace, Which require Resurrection, and on the dignity of Your Majesty and the dominion of Your Lordship, all the Prophets with luminous spirits, including first and foremost God’s noblest Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, give both jinn and humankind the glad tidings of eternal happiness for the people of guidance, and they warn that Hell awaits the misguided, while themselves being the first to believe in and bear witness to these. And so do all the saints with illuminated hearts, who rely on their spiritual unveilings and visions, and the pure, saintly scholars with enlightened intellects, who are based on their convictions at the degree of certainty of knowledge.

 

O the All-Powerful and All-Wise! O the All-Merciful and All-Compassionate! O the All-Munificent Who is absolutely true to His promises! O the All-Overwhelming One of Dignity, Grandeur and Majesty!

Failure to bring about the Resurrection would mean contradicting so many truthful friends of Yours, breaking Your vehemently repeated threats and promises, and negating Your sacred Attributes and essential Characteristics, thereby leaving unfulfilled that which is required by the very nature of Your dominion as the Lord; it would mean rejecting and render futile the hopes and prayers for the Hereafter of Your innumerable servants whom You love, and who make themselves loved by You by confirming and obeying You; it would also mean confirming the people of unbelief and misguidance in their rejection of the Resurrection, who through unbelief and disobedience and by contradicting You in Your promises, insult Your Grandeur, attack the dignity of Your Majesty, offend the honor of Your Divinity and disparage your Lordship’s compassion. Undoubtedly You are utterly exempt from and infinitely exalted above such a failure! I declare Your infinite Justice, Grace and Mercy to be absolutely free of such unlimited ugliness and unrighteousness. I wish to recite the verse, All-Glorified is He, and absolutely exalted, immeasurably high above all that they say (17: 43) as many times as there are particles in my body. Indeed, these numerous truthful Messengers of Yours and heralds of Your dominion are absolutely correct in their testimony to Your eternal treasures of Mercy and Benevolence and the extraordinarily exquisite manifestations of Your All-Beautiful Names in the world of permanence with certainty based on knowledge, and certainty based on vision, and certainty based on experience. They also believe and teach others that the greatest ray of Your Name the Ultimate Truth, Which is the origin, sun, and preserver of all truths, is this greatest truth of the Resurrection.

 

O the Lord of the Prophets and those most advanced in truthfulness after the Prophets!

All these beloved friends of Yours have been subjugated and dutiful to You in Your domain through Your Command, Power, Will, Administration, Knowledge, and Wisdom. Through their glorification, praise, and declarations of Your Oneness, and through their profession that You are absolutely exalted above having defects, faults, or partners, they have shown this world to be the most expansive house of remembrance and the universe to be the most expansive place of worship.

 

O my Lord, and the Lord of the heavens and the earth! O my Creator and the Creator of all things!

For the sake of Your Power, Will, Wisdom, Sovereignty, and Mercy, Which subjugate the heavens with their stars, the earth and all that is in it, and all creatures with all their states, make my carnal soul subservient to me and subjugate my desires to me. Subjugate people’s hearts to the Risale-i Nur purely for the service of the Qur’an and belief. And bestow on me and my brothers and sisters perfect belief and a happy end. Subjugate hearts and intellects to the Risale-i Nur, just as You subjugated the sea to Prophet Moses, upon him be peace, the fire to Prophet Abraham, upon him be peace, the mountains and iron to Prophet David, upon him be peace, the jinn and humans to Prophet Solomon, upon him be peace, and the sun and the moon to Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings. And preserve me and the students of the Risale-i Nur from the evil of the carnal soul and Satan and from the torments of the grave and Hellfire; make us happy in the highest realm of Paradise! Amin! Amin!

 

All-Glorified are You! We have no knowledge save what You have taught us. Surely You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

 

And their invocation will close with “All praise and gratitude are for God, the Lord of the worlds!”

 

If I have erred by offering this lesson, which I have taken from al-Jawshanu’l-Kabir (“The Great Shield”), a supplication of God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, to the Court of my All-Compassionate Lord as a reflective act of worship, O my Lord, I call upon Your Mercy to forgive me for the sake of the Qur’an and al-Jawshanu’l-Kabir.

Said Nursi

15 They must be employed by the people of Paradise. For the relevant Prophetic narrations, see, al-Baghawi, Ma‘alimu’t-Tenzil, 3:154; al-Alusi, Ruhu’l-Ma‘ani, 15:226.