THE EIGHTEENTH STEP: The totality of the universe

 

 

The traveler who is journeying through life now knows that belief is the most precious capital a human being can have, for it bestows on indigent humanity not some transient field or dwelling, but a huge universe, an eternal property that is as vast as the world. Belief also bestows ephemeral humankind with all that they need for eternal life; it delivers from eternal annihilation a wretched one who is waiting as though on a gallows for the arrival of fate, opening to humanity an eternal treasury of everlasting happiness. The traveler then says to themselves: “Onward! In order to gain a further degree from among the infinite degrees of belief, let us consider the totality of the universe and listen to what it says. We should perfect and illuminate the lessons we have received from its components and parts.”

Looking through the broad and comprehensive telescope they have taken from the Qur’an, the traveler sees that the universe is so meaningful and well-ordered that it appears as an embodied book, a created Qur’an, of the All-Glorified Lord, a finely adorned palace of the Eternally Besought One and an orderly city of the All-Merciful. Through their constant, meaningful effacement and reaffirmation, and through their wise changes, alterations, and transformations, all of the suras, verses and words of that book of the universe—even its very letters, lines, pages, chapters, and divisions— describe the Existence and Presence of One Who has absolute power over and knowledge of all things as the Author of the book—a Perfect and All-Majestic Inscriber Who sees all things in all things and knows the relationship of all things with all things.

Similarly, with all its numerous divisions, species, and particles, with all its inhabitants and contents, with all that enters it and leaves it, and with all the providential changes, transformations, and wise processes of renewal and refreshment that occur in it, the universe also proclaims the Existence and Unity of an All-Exalted Craftsman, a peerless Maker Who acts with limitless power and infinite wisdom. The testimony of the following two mighty realities, as immense as the universe itself, affirms this supreme witness of the universe.

THE FIRST REALITY: This is the reality of “coming into existence within time and space” and “contingency,” which has been established with countless proofs by gifted scholars of the principles of the Religion and the science of theology, as well as by the sages of Islam. According to these illustrious people, since change and alteration are observed in the world and in all things, the world must be ephemeral and created within time: it cannot be uncreated and pre-eternal. If it has been created, then there must be a Maker Who has created it. And if it is equally possible for something to come into existence or not and if there is no necessary or imperative cause for it to come into existence or not—a cause which essentially originates in itself, then that thing cannot be necessary or imperative and eternal in the past. It has also been proven with decisive arguments that it is not possible for things to create each other one after the other until eternity in the past; in other words, things cannot go back to eternity in cycles with the former having created the latter. Hence, the existence of a Necessary Existent One becomes necessary—One Whose like cannot exist, Whose similitude is impossible, and all other than Whom is contingent and created by Him.

The reality of “bringing or coming into existence within time and space” has permeated the whole of the universe. Many instances of this are visible to the eye, while the rest can be seen by the intellect. For in front of our eyes a whole world dies every fall; together with it perish hundreds of thousands of different kinds of plants and small animals, each member of each species being like a small universe in itself. It is, however, so orderly a death that all things leave behind in their places seeds and eggs—tiny miracles of Mercy and Wisdom, of Power and Knowledge—so that in spring they will be the means of a new resurrection and rebirth. They hand to the seeds and eggs the books of their deeds and the plans and records of the duties they have carried out, entrusting them to the Wisdom and Protection of the All-Majestic Preserver, and only then do they die.

In spring, the dead trees, roots, and some among the animals come to life again exactly as they were, thus providing hundreds of thousands of examples, specimens, and proofs of the supreme Resurrection. In the place of some others, plants and animals that closely resemble them are brought into being and life, thus publishing the pages of the beings of the preceding spring, together with their deeds and functions, just like an advertisement. Thus, they demonstrate one meaning of the verse, And when the scrolls (of the deeds of every person) are laid open (81:10). And then, each fall, a whole world dies, and each spring a fresh world comes into being.

This death and rebirth proceeds in such an orderly fashion, and the death and rebirth of so many species occur within them in such a methodical and regular fashion, that it is as if the world were a guesthouse where animate beings reside for a time, where traveling worlds and migrant realms come, fulfill their duties, and then go on their way. And so, apparent to all intellects, with the clarity of the sun, is the necessary Existence, the boundless Power and the infinite Wisdom of an All-Majestic Being Who creates and brings into existence in this world numerous animate realms and dutiful universes with perfect wisdom, knowledge, harmony, balance, order, and regularity, and Who then employs them for purposes of training, sustaining, raising, and maintaining—all for the sake of Divine aims and Merciful goals, with absolute power and compassion. We leave to the Risale-i Nur and books of theology the further discussion of matters related to the bringing and coming into existence within time and space.

As for contingency, it too prevails over and surrounds the entire universe. For we see that all things—be they universal or particular, large or small, from the highest firmament down to the ground, from the atom to the planet—have been brought into existence with a particular essence, a specific form, a distinct identity, particular attributes, wise qualities, and beneficial components. Now,

to bestow on that particular essence and nature its characteristics from amongst infinite possibilities; to clothe it in its specific, distinctive, and appropriate form from among possibilities and probabilities as numerous as the forms that may be conceived; to distinguish that being with the identity suited to it from among the possibilities as numerous as the members of the species; to give it unique, suitable, and beneficial attributes while it is formless and hesitant amidst innumerable possibilities and probabilities that are as numerous  as the varieties of the attributes and their degrees; and to bestow wise qualities and beneficial organs upon that formless creature, perplexed and aimless as it is amidst innumerable possibilities and probabilities resulting from the infinite number of conceivable paths and modalities—all of these are indications and proofs of the necessary Existence, the infinite Power, and the unlimited Wisdom of the Necessarily Existent Being: they confirm that it is He Who assigns, chooses, specifies, distinguishes, and creates the specific concrete forms and shapes, attributes and situations of all these contingent beings, whether they be universals or particulars. They indicate, too, that no object or matter is hidden from Him, that nothing is difficult for Him, and that the greatest task is as easy for Him as the smallest; they show that He can create a spring as easily as a tree and a tree as easily as a seed. All this, then, pertains to the reality of contingency, and forms one wing of the supreme witnessing borne by the universe. Since this testimony of the universe, with its two wings and two realities under discussion has been established and explained in various parts of the Risale-i Nur, in particular in The Twenty-second and Thirty-second Words, as well as in The Twentieth and Thirty-third Letters, we refer our readers to these treatises and cut short here what has been an extremely long exposition.

THE SECOND REALITY: This reality proceeds from the entire scheme of the universe, which is also the second wing of its great and universal testimony. It is as follows:

There is a reality of cooperation or mutual assistance that can be observed among beings who are trying to maintain their existence—and, if they are animate, their life—and to fulfill their duties in the midst of the constant agitation stirred up by various revolutions and transformations, an endeavor that lies far beyond their capacities.

We see that the elements hasten to aid living being: clouds, in particular, come to the aid of the plant kingdom, while the plant kingdom hastens to help the animal kingdom, and the animal kingdom rushes to help the world of humans. Milk gushes forth from breasts, like the fountain of Paradise, to provide for the young; living beings are given their sustenance and other necessities of life from unexpected places in a manner that is completely beyond their capacity; particles of food hasten to sustain and repair the cells of the body, and so on. These and many other similar examples of the reality of cooperation under the absolute control, direction, and employment of the All-Merciful Lord demonstrate the universal and compassionate Lordship of the Master of all worlds, Who runs the universe like a palace.

Indeed, objects which are solid, inanimate, and unfeeling, but which nonetheless help one another in a tender and conscious fashion, are undoubtedly caused to rush to each other’s assistance by the Power, Mercy, and Command of an infinitely Compassionate and Wise Lord of Majesty.

The universal cooperation prevalent throughout the universe; the all-inclusive balance and all-embracing preservation which prevail with the utmost order in all things, from the planets to the members, limbs and bodily particles of animate beings; the adornment whose pen glides over the entire universe, from the gilded face of the heavens and the ornate face of the earth to the delicate faces of flowers; the ordering and organizing that prevail over all things, from the Milky Way to the vegetables and fruits, such as corn and pomegranates; and the assigning of duties to all things, from the sun, the moon, the elements and the clouds, right down to honeybees—all of these vast realities offer a testimony in proportion to their vastness, and their testimony forms the second wing of the testimony offered by the universe. Since the Risale-i Nur has explained this elsewhere, we will be content here with this brief indication.

In a brief reference to the lesson of faith which the traveler through the world learned from the universe, it was said in The Eighteenth Step of The First Station:

 

There is no deity but God, the Necessarily Existent, the like of Whom can in no way exist, and all other than Whom are contingent; the Single, the Unique, Whose necessary Existence in His Unity is demonstrated clearly by the universe—that huge book clothed in a corporeal form, the supreme Qur’an incarnate, the ornate and orderly palace, the magnificent and well-arranged city—with all of its suras, verses, words, letters, chapters, parts, pages and lines, and with the agreement of its basic divisions, species, parts and particles, its inhabitants and contents, and what enters it and what leaves it. This is testified to by the sublimely comprehensive, vast and perfect reality of bringing or coming into existence within time and space, by change and contingency, and by the agreement of all scholars in the science of theology. It is a testimony which also comprises the reality of the changing of its form and contents with wisdom and regularity and the renewal of its letters and words with order and harmony. It is also a testimony offered by the greatness and all-inclusiveness of the reality of cooperation, mutual response, solidarity, interconnectedness, measure, balance, and preservation—all of which are clearly observable in all of the beings which exist within it.

Said Nursi