A Short Addendum

 

Listen to the following verse:

 

Do they not observe the sky above them how We have constructed it and adorned it. (50:6)

 

Look at the sky’s face, where you see a silence in restful serenity; a wise, purposive motion; radiance in majesty; a smile in adornment; all combined in creation’s orderliness and art’s symmetry. Its candle’s brilliance, its lamp’s dazzle, and its stars’ glitter manifest infinite Sovereignty for those with insight and sound reasoning.

 

The following expounds the lines above in interpreting the verse (50:6):

The verse draws attention to the sky’s adorned and beautiful face. People who observe it with care must notice the silence in the extraordinary calmness and apparent rest observed there, and conclude that the sky has assumed that form through an Absolutely Powerful One’s order and subjugation. If the heavenly bodies roamed at random, with their enormous size and speed of motion, the resulting noise would deafen everybody. They also would cause such tumult and confusion that the universe would collapse. If twenty buffaloes move together in the same area, you can guess what great uproar and confusion they would cause. However, according to astronomy, some moving stars are a thousand times larger than the earth and move at a speed seventy times faster than a cannonball. Given this, from the silence of the heavenly bodies in calmness and rest, you may understand the extent of the Power of the All-Majestic Maker, the All-Powerful One of Perfection, as well as the degree of His subjugation and the degree of the stars’ submission and obedience to Him.

A wise, purposive motion: The verse orders us to see the purposive motion in the sky. That extremely strange and mighty motion takes place in absolute dependence on an extraordinarily subtle and comprehensive purpose. The immensity and order of a factory whose wheels and machinery turn and toil in wisdom, in perfect order and for wise purposes, show to what extent its engineer is learned and skillful. In the same way, with the sun in the center and mighty planets revolving around it in a perfect, subtle order for many wise purposes, the solar system shows the extent of the All-Powerful One’s Power and Wisdom.

Radiance in majesty and a smile in adornment: The sky manifests a radiance of such majesty and a smile of such adornment that it shows how magnificent Sovereignty and how beautiful Art the All-Majestic Maker has. In the same way as innumerable illuminations used on special occasions to show the king’s majesty and his country’s advanced civilization, the vast heavens, with their majestic glittering stars, show to attentive eyes the perfection of the All-Majestic Maker’s Sovereignty and the beauty of His Art.

All combined in the orderliness of creation and the symmetry of art: The verse says: See the order and subtle balance of the objects in the sky and know how powerful and wise their Maker is. When you see someone turning numerous different objects one round the other or directing numerous animals in a perfect order and with a special, delicate balance for many wise purposes, you may guess how wise, powerful, and skillful that one is. Likewise, together with their numberless stars of awesome size and speed, the vast heavens in their tremendous immensity have performed their duties for billions of years according to an established measure and with a certain, sensitive balance. They have never transgressed their limits, and have never caused even the slightest disorder. This shows to attentive eyes just how sensitive and exact is the measure according to which their All-Majestic Maker exercises His Lordship. Like similar verses in Suratu’n Naba’, among others, the verse indicates that the All-Majestic Creator has subjugated the sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies.

Its candle’s brilliance, its lamp’s dazzle, and its stars’ glitter manifest the infinite Sovereignty for those with insight and sound reasoning: Almighty God has hung on the world’s adorned roof a lamp—the sun—that gives heat and light. He uses this as a “pot” of light to write the Eternally Besought’s “letters” on the lines of day and night on the pages of the seasons.

Like the phosphorescent hour-hands of a clock in a tall tower, He has made the moon in heaven’s dome the hour-hand of the largest clock of time. He causes it to move through its mansions according to a perfect measure and fine calculations, as if He leaves a different crescent to each night and then folds all of them in itself (making it invisible). Furthermore, He has gilded the sky’s beautiful face with stars that glitter and smile in that dome. All this points to His Lordship’s infinite Sovereignty and His Divinity’s magnificence and invites thinking people to believe in His Existence and Unity.

 

Look at the colorful page of the book of the universe,

and see how the golden Pen of the Power has inscribed it!

No point has been left dark for those

who can see with the eyes of their hearts.

It is as if God has written His signs with light.

See what an astounding miracle of wisdom the universe is!

See how tremendous a spectacle the space of the universe is!

Listen to the stars and heed their beautiful sermons.

See what Wisdom has written in these luminous missives of It.

They are all delivering this discourse with the tongue of truth:

“Each of us is a radiant proof for the majestic Sovereignty

of an All-Powerful One of Glory.

We are light-diffusing witnesses to the Existence of the Maker,

and also to His Unity and Power.

We are His subtle miracles gilding the face of the skies,

for the angels to make excursions on.

We are the innumerable discerning eyes of the heavens

directed to Paradise, and overseeing the earth.

We are the exquisite fruits attached to the heavenly branch

of the Tree of Creation; and to the twigs of the Milky Way,

attached by the hand of wisdom of

the All-Gracious One of Majesty.

For the inhabitants of the heavens, we are traveling mosques,

revolving houses and exalted homes,

light-diffusing lamps, mighty ships, and planes.

We are miracles of the Power of the All-Powerful One of Perfection,

the All-Wise One of Majesty.

Each of us is a wonder of His creative Art, a rarity of His Wisdom,

a marvel of His creation, a world of light.

To the people who are truly human, we present

countless proofs in countless tongues;

The eyes of the materialists, may they be blind,

never see our faces, nor do their ears hear our speech;

we are signs that speak the truth.

On us is the same stamp and seal. We obey and glorify our Lord,

and mention Him in worship.

We are ecstatic lovers in the widest circle of the Milky Way,

the circle reciting our Lord’s Names.

 

Said Nursi