The fourth proof:

The Divine Name the All-Just

 

There is not a thing but the stores (for its life and sustenance) are with Us, and We do not send it down except in due, determined measure. (15: 21)

 

One aspect of the meaning of the above-mentioned verse and one manifestation of the Divine Name the All-Just, which is one of the Divine Names that have all-encompassing manifestations or one of the six lights of the All-Encompassing Name of God, appeared to me from afar while in Eskisehir Prison. In order to make it understandable, again by means of a comparison, we say the following:

The universe is such a palace that in it is a “city” which is being continuously shaken by destruction and repair. And in the city there is a “country” which is incessantly surging up in war and emigration. And within the country is a “world” which is constantly revolving amidst death and life. But such an astonishing balance, equilibrium, and act of ordering prevail in the palace, city, country, and world that it obviously proves that all the changes, incomings, and outgoings which occur in these innumerable beings are measured and weighed on the scales of a Single Being Who every moment sees and supervises the whole universe. For considering that, for example, a single fish lays a thousand eggs at one time and a single flower like a poppy produces twenty thousand seeds, if causes—all creatures—were free and unrestrained, being ever able to destroy the balance and overrun everything through the onslaught of incessant changes and the elements flowing in floods; or if they were under the control of aimless, purposeless “chance,” anarchic blind forces, or unconscious dark nature; then the balance in beings or the balance of the whole universe would have been so utterly destroyed that within a year, indeed within a day, there would have been chaos. The seas would have been filled with things in total disorder and confusion and would have become putrid; the atmosphere would have been poisoned with noxious gases and the earth would have turned into a refuse heap, slaughterhouse, or swamp. The world would have suffocated.

Thus, everything in the universe from the cells of an animate body, the red and white corpuscles in the blood, the transformations of minute particles, and the proportion and relationship among the body’s organs, to the water coming in and out of the seas, and the income and expenditure of springs under the earth, the birth and death of animals and plants, the destruction of autumn and the reconstruction of spring, the duties and motion of the universal elements and the stars, and the alternations, struggles and clashes of death and life, light and darkness, and heat and cold, is ordered and weighed with such a sensitive balance, so fine a measure that the human mind can nowhere see any waste or futility, just as human science sees and indicates the most perfect order and beautiful balance everywhere. Indeed, human science is a manifestation and interpreter of that order and balance.

So, come and consider the balanced relationship between the sun and its twelve planets. Does it not indicate as clearly as the sun the All-Majestic One Who is the All-Just and All-Powerful? And in particular our ship, that is, the earth, which is one of the planets, travels an orbit of about eighty thousand years in human distances in one year. Despite that extraordinary speed, it does not scatter or shake the things heaped or arranged on its face, nor does it throw them off into space. If its speed had been less or more to a certain degree, it would have thrown its inhabitants off into space and scattered them. And if the balance in its movement and placement were to be destroyed for a minute, or even a second, this would destroy the world. Indeed, it would crash with another body and cause overall destruction.

In particular, the compassionate balance on the earth in the births, deaths, livelihoods, and lives of hundreds of thousands of plant and animal species shows a single All-Just and All-Compassionate One as clearly as light shows the sun.

And in particular the organs, faculties, and senses of just one of the innumerable members of those species are related to one another in such a sensitive balance that it self-evidently indicates an All-Wise and All-Just Maker.

And in particular, the cells and blood vessels in the bodies of animals, and the corpuscles in the blood, and the particles in the corpuscles are so sensitively balanced and have such a fine relationship with one another that it clearly proves that they are being maintained and administered through the balance, law, and order of a single All-Just and All-Wise Creator, Who has in His hands the reins of all things, and the key to all things, and directs all things as easily as a single thing without the direction of one thing impeding the direction of others.

If someone who, deeming it unlikely, does not believe that the deeds of jinn and humans will be weighed upon His supreme scales of Justice at the Last Judgment notes carefully this vast balance which they can see in this world with their own eyes, they will surely no longer consider it unlikely.

O wasteful, unjust, dirty one, disrespectful of economy, justice, and cleanliness! Since you oppose the whole universe by not observing economy, cleanliness, or justice, which the whole universe and all other beings observe as basic principles in their acts, you have become the object of their anger and disgust. On what are you based and on what do you rely that you make all beings angry through your wrongdoing, disequilibrium, wastefulness and uncleanliness?

Indeed, the universal wisdom in the universe, which proceeds from the most comprehensive manifestation of the Divine Name the All-Wise, observes economy and lack of waste, and orders economy. And the all-embracing justice in the universe that issues from the most comprehensive manifestation of the Name the All-Just administers the balance of all things and orders humanity to justice. The word “balance” is mentioned four times in the following verses of Surat al-Rahman:

 

And the heaven—He has made it high (above the earth), and He has set up the balance, so you must not go beyond (the limits with respect to) the balance; and observe the balance with full equity, and do not fall short in the balance. (55: 7–9)

 

This indicates four degrees and four types of balance, showing its supreme importance in the universe. Just as there is no wastefulness in anything, there is no disorder or imbalance in it either. Likewise, the act of cleansing and cleanliness that issue from the Name the All-Holy cleans and makes beautiful all the beings in the universe. Unless the polluting hand of humanity interferes, there is no uncleanness or ugliness in anything in the true sense of the word.

You may therefore understand from this how fundamental the principles of justice, economy, and cleanliness are to human life; these are truths of the Qur’an and of Islamic principles. And know how closely interconnected with the universe the commandments of the Qur’an are; they have spread their firm roots everywhere and enveloped and permeated all its corners. Know that it is impossible to destroy these truths in the same way that it is impossible to destroy the universe or change its form.

Moreover, like these three most comprehensive lights, hundreds of other comprehensive realities, such as mercy, munificence, and recording and preserving, require the Resurrection and the Hereafter. Is it therefore possible that the Resurrection will not happen and the Hereafter will not be established, and so all these powerful and comprehensive realities, namely mercy, munificence, justice, wisdom, economy, and cleanliness, which prevail not only in the universe but also with all beings, change into mercilessness, injustice, a lack of wisdom, wastefulness, uncleanness, and futility?

God forbid, a hundred thousand times, God forbid! Would a mercy and wisdom which compassionately preserve the rights to life of a fly violate the endless rights to life of all conscious beings or the boundless rights of numberless other beings by not bringing about the Resurrection? And if it is permissible to say so, would the Majesty and Magnificence of a Lordship Which shows infinite sensitivity and care concerning mercy, compassion, justice, and wisdom, and the Sovereignty of a Divinity Which adorns the universe with its countless wonderful arts and bounties in order to display Its perfections and make Itself known and loved, allow the non-occurrence of the Resurrection, which would reduce to nothing all the creatures and perfections of this universe, causing the denial of these perfections? God forbid! An absolute Beauty and Grace such as that clearly would not allow such absolute ugliness.

Indeed, one who attempts to deny the Hereafter must first deny the entire world with all its realities. Otherwise, with all its realities, the world would contradict them with a hundred thousand voices, proving that they are liars a hundred thousand times over. The Tenth Word (included in The Words) proves with certain proofs that the existence of the Hereafter is as certain and indubitable as the existence of this world.

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi