THE THIRD TRUTH: Certain amazing facts of creation

 

 

This is the creation of beings, particularly plants and animals, with absolute speed and in absolute abundance, and yet with absolute orderliness; it concerns the creation of all things with absolute ease and yet at the same time with extreme skill, talent, accuracy, precision and order; it concerns the bestowing of existence on all beings with great value and distinction, despite the extreme abundance and intermingling of all created entities.

To produce beings in absolute abundance and with extreme rapidity, and yet most skillfully and artistically; and with incredible facility and yet with the utmost care and order; and to produce them with extreme value and distinction despite abundance and intermingling, without any form of confusion or deficiency—this can only be through the Power of a Unique One for Whom nothing is ever difficult. For that Power the creation of stars is as easy as the creation of atoms, the creation of a whole species is no more taxing than the creation of a single member of that species, the bringing into being of a tremendous and comprehensive universal is the same as the bringing into being of the most minor of particulars. For It the revival of the whole earth is no more onerous than the revival of a single tree, the creation and nurturing of a single tree is no more difficult than the creation of a seed the size of a fingernail. All of these deeds He performs before our eyes.

And so by discovering this significant mystery of this rank of the manifestation of Divine Unity, this third truth or the word of Divine Unity— namely the fact that for Divine Power the greatest universal is like the smallest particular and the most abundant is no different from the least; by discerning this talisman or riddle beyond the reach of the intellect, this most significant foundation of Islam, this most profound source of faith, this greatest basis of belief in the Divine Unity—by doing this, the talisman of the Qur’an is solved and the most secret riddle of the creation of the universe—a riddle which human philosophy is unable to comprehend— becomes known. Thanks and praise one hundred thousand times the letters of the Risale-i Nur be to my All-Compassionate Creator that the Risale-i Nur has solved this amazing talisman. Especially toward the end of The Twentieth Letter, where “He is the All-Powerful over everything” is discussed; in the discussion entitled “The One Who will bring about the Resurrection is able to do so” in The Twenty-ninth Word; and in the section devoted to the explanation of the degrees in understanding Divine Power entitled “The ranks of God is the All-Great” in The Twenty-ninth Gleam, it has been explained clearly. Referring readers who desire a more elaborate explanation to those parts of the Risale-i Nur, it was my intention here to set out briefly the foundations and proofs that solve this talisman and to elucidate thirteen mysteries in thirteen steps. However, while I have been able to discuss the first two mysteries, two powerful obstacles—one material, the other immaterial—have caused me to abandon the rest.

The first mystery: If something originates in an essence and is therefore essential in itself, its opposite cannot have access to the essence in which that thing originate: to do so would mean the union of two opposite essences in the same single essence, which is inconceivable. Given this, since Divine Power originates in the Divine Essence Itself and is essential to Him, for sure, impotence—the opposite of that Power—cannot in any way gain access to that All-Powerful Essence.

Furthermore, the existence of degrees in a thing is because of the intervention in it of its opposite. For example, strong and weak degrees of light result from the intervention of darkness; high and low degrees of heat come from the intervention of coldness; and greater and lesser amounts of strength are due to the intervention and opposition of resistance. It is therefore impossible that degrees should exist in the Divine Power, Which is essential, or in one respect identical, to the Divine Being. He creates all things as if they were but a single thing. And since degrees do not exist in the Power essential to the Divine Being, and since weakness or deficiency cannot have access to It, no impediment can in any way obstruct It; nor can the creation of anything cause It difficulty. Since, then, nothing is difficult for Divine Power, He creates the supreme Resurrection as easily as spring; He creates spring with the same ease as a single tree; and He creates a single tree with the same facility as a single flower. Similarly, He creates a flower as artistically as a tree; a tree as miraculously as a spring; and a spring as comprehensively and extraordinarily as a resurrection. All  of this He accomplishes before our eyes.

It has been proven in the Risale-i Nur with many decisive and strong arguments that were it not for Divine Unity, the creation of a flower would be as difficult as a tree or even more difficult, and the creation of a tree would be as hard as a spring or even harder. Furthermore, they would also lose their value and their artistic quality. A living being that now takes a minute to produce would be produced with great difficulty in a year; in reality, of course, we know that it would and could never be produced.

It is because of this truth that these fruits, flowers, trees and animals, all of which are of the highest value despite their abundance and multiplicity, and which are of the highest artistry despite the swiftness and ease of their creation, appear in an absolutely orderly fashion and set out to fulfill their tasks. When they fulfill their duty of proclaiming God’s Glory completely, they depart, leaving behind their seeds in their stead.

The second mystery: Just as, on account of its light, the transparency of the objects on which it shines, the manifestation of its essential power and the obedience of the whole universe to the same laws, a single sun is reflected in a single mirror with its light, so too, through Divine command and on account of the extensive activity of its unrestricted power, it is also able to reflect with its light and heat quite easily in innumerable mirrors, shining objects and droplets. The many and the few are the same before it: there is no difference between them with regard to the sun’s reflection in them.

Similarly, just as a single word can enter the ear of one person without difficulty, thanks to the infinite comprehensiveness of boundless Creativity, it may, by Divine permission, enter a million ears with the same ease: a single listener and a thousand listeners are equal. Also, thanks to the infinite comprehensiveness of Divine Activity embodied in the manifestation of mercy, a single eye or a single luminous being such as Archangel Gabriel may, through Divine Power, look at, enter, or be present in thousands of places at the same time, as easily as they look at, enter or are present in a single place: there is no difference between the many and the few.

Similarly, since the eternal Power of God’s Essence is the most subtle and purest of lights—the light of all lights—and since the natures, essences and inner dimensions of all things are luminous and lustrous like mirrors; and since all things, from the atom, the plant, and the living creature to the moon, the sun and the stars, are wholly obedient and submissive to the command of that Power of the Divine Essence, it is clear that He creates countless things as easily as a single thing, and is omnipresent beside each of them. No task prevents Him from doing another. Great or small, many or few, particular or universal—all are the same for that Power: nothing is difficult for It.

As discussed in The Tenth and Twenty-ninth Words, through the connections or universal realities of orderliness, balance, obedience to command and confirming to or following the order, a child is able to steer a great ship as big as a hundred houses as easily as he moves his toy with his little fingers. Also, just as a commander sends a single private into battle with the order of “March!”, he is also able to send a whole obedient army into the fray with the same single order.

Let us also suppose that two mountains are weighed on a large and extremely sensitive scale. Just as a single walnut placed on one of the pans of the scale in which two eggs are being weighed can cause that pan to drop and the other to rise, so too, through a law of wisdom, can the same walnut produce the same result with the scale upon which the mountains are being weighed: it would cause one pan with its mountain to rise and the other to fall.

So, since there is also inherent in God’s absolute, infinite, luminous, essential and perpetual Power an infinite Wisdom, Which is the origin, source and basis of all order, balance and harmony in creation, and an infinitely sensitive Divine Justice; and since all things, be they universal or particular, great or small, are subservient to the command of that Power and submissive to Its operations—it follows that through the order based on wisdom, He causes the stars to revolve and to move as easily as He directs and moves the atoms. Just as in spring He brings to life a single fly easily with a single command, so too, through the wisdom and balance inherent in His Power, He restores to life with the same ease and the same command the whole fly species, as well as all of the innumerable plants and animals, and then sends them forth onto the plain of life.

In the same way that He swiftly revives a tree in spring and endows its seemingly dead trunk and branches with vitality through His wise, just and absolute Power, He also restores to life in spring the corpse of the vast earth as easily as He revives a tree, thus bringing about hundreds of thousands of different examples of the Resurrection. Just as He restores the earth to life with a single creational command, as stated in the verse It is but one single blast, and see, they will all have been (raised and) arraigned together before Us (for judgment) (36:53), all humankind and jinn will be brought forth in His Presence on the plain of the Supreme Resurrection with but a single command. Again, as declared in the verse … the matter of the Hour (of Doom) is (in relation with the Divine Power) but the twinkling of an eye, or even quicker (16:77), destroying the world and bringing about the Resurrection will take no longer than the blink of an eye, or even less. Also, the verse Your creation and your resurrection are but as (the creation and resurrection) of a single soul (31:28), shows that the creation and resurrection of all humankind are as easy for His Power as the creation and resurrection of a single soul. The three verses mentioned above declare that God will bring all humankind and jinn, all animals, spirit beings and angels to the field of the Supreme Gathering and place them before the Supreme Balance with a single command and with the same ease. One task will not impinge on the fulfillment of another.

(The remaining mysteries, from the third to the thirteenth, have had to be postponed to another time.)

Said Nursi