THE SECOND TRUTH: Comprehensive, infinite acts of God as Lord

 

 

This is the absoluteness, comprehensiveness and manifestation in infinite form of the acts of the Lord observed at work in the universe.

It is only God Almighty’s Wisdom and Will that limit and restrict those acts, together with the inherent capacities of the objects and places in which those acts are manifested. Random chance, unconscious nature, blind force, inanimate causality and the elements that are scattered in every direction without restriction and mixed with everything—none of these can play any role in the most balanced, wise, purposeful, insightful, life-giving, orderly and firm acts of the Creator. Rather, they are used by the Command, Will and Power of the All-Majestic Maker as an apparent veil over His Power.

We will set forth three meaningful examples of this which one reads in

Suratu’n-Nahl:

The first:

And your Lord inspired the (female) bee: “Take for yourself dwelling places in the mountains, and in the trees, and in what they (human beings) may build and weave.” (16:68)

With regard to its creation and duties, the honeybee is such a miracle of Divine Power that a whole chapter of the Qur’an —Suratu’n-Nahl (Sura 16)—has been named after it. For the complete program for the fulfillment of its important duty has been inscribed in the minute head of that little honey-machine; the sweetest of foods has been placed in its tiny stomach; and it has been given a sting capable of killing certain beings without causing damage to it. Now, since all of this is accomplished with the utmost care and knowledge, with extraordinary wisdom and purpose, and with perfect orderliness, precision and balance, is it at all possible for deaf, unconscious, disorderly and discordant nature and chance to interfere or participate in any of it?

The comprehensiveness of this Divine craft, this act of Lordship, which is miraculous in the three respects mentioned—its appearance or presence in the countless bees scattered throughout the earth, with the same wisdom, the same care, the same balance, at the same time and in the same fashion—is a self-evident proof of God’s Unity.

The second verse:

And surely in the cattle there is a lesson for you: We give you from that which is within their bodies, from between the waste and blood, milk that is pure and palatable to those who drink. (2:66)

This verse is a proclamation full of wisdom and lessons. For God Almighty produces in the midst of blood and waste a substance that is the exact opposite of them—pure, tasty, nutritious white milk—but which is polluted by neither. This He places in the breasts—those milk-producing factories—of female mammals, and inspires in their hearts a self-sacrificing tenderness that is sweeter and more valuable than the milk itself. All of this requires such a degree of mercy, wisdom, knowledge, power, will and care that it cannot in any way be the work of turbulent chance, randomly mingled elements and blind forces.

The comprehensive manifestation and working of such a wise and miraculous art of Lordship throughout the earth and in the hearts and breasts of innumerable mothers of hundreds of thousands of species, in the same instant, in the same fashion, and with the same wisdom and the same care—all of this demonstrates most clearly the Unity of God.

The third verse:

And there are (among the produce that God brings forth as nourishment for you on the revived earth) the fruits of the date-palm, and grapes: you derive from them intoxicants and good, wholesome nourishment. Surely in this there is a sign for people who reason and understand. (2:67)

This verse draws one’s attention to the date and the grape, saying: “For those possessed of intellect there is a great proof of Divine Unity in these two fruits.” For the date and the grape are sources of nourishment and sustenance, yielding fruit both fresh and dry, and giving rise to the most delicious forms of food. Yet the trees that bear them stand in waterless sand and dry soil! Each of them is like a factory which produces sugar and syrup; as such they are miracles of Power and wonders of Wisdom—works of art created with such a sensitive balance and perfect order, and with such wisdom and care that anyone with an iota of intellect would have to admit that “The one who has made them in this fashion can only be the One Who has created the universe.”

For in front of our eyes each vine branch the thickness of a finger holds as many as twenty bunches of grapes, and in each bunch there are about one hundred of tiny pumps containing sugary syrup. Dressing each grape in a delicate, thin and subtly colored protective coat; placing in its soft heart seeds with their hard shells, which are like its memory, its program of formation and action and its life-history; manufacturing in its stomach a sweet like the halva of Paradise and a honey like the water of the fountain of Paradise; and creating an infinite number of such fruits over the face of the entire earth, with the same care and wisdom and wonderful art, and at the same time and in the same fashion—all of this demonstrates self-evidently that the one who fulfils these tasks can be none other than the Creator of the whole universe, and that this act, requiring as it does infinite power and wisdom, can be by His doing alone.

The blind, disorderly, unconscious, aimless, anarchic and pervasive forces of nature and causality cannot play any real role in the engendering of this most skilful art, this most sensitive balance and this most wise manifestation of order and equilibrium. Such forces are merely employed through the command of Lordship as means—apparent causes which veil the Hand of the Divine Power so that those who cannot understand the real nature and wisdom of certain seemingly unpalatable events and effects should not blame God Almighty.

Just like the three meaningful facts proving Divine Unity that are contained in the three verses above, the countless manifestations and operations of the infinite acts of Lordship testify unanimously to the Oneness of a Unique One of Unity, the All-Majestic One.

Said Nursi