The fifth proof:
The Divine Name the All-Wise
Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom (16: 125).
One aspect of the meaning of the above-mentioned verse and one manifestation of the Divine Name the All-Wise, 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 in the holy month of Ramadan. In order to indicate it, the following five points have been written in haste.
First point: The Divine Name the All-Wise has made the universe into a magnificent book
As pointed out in the Tenth Word, the all-embracing manifestation of the Divine Name the All-Wise has made the universe into such a book that hundreds of books have been written on every page of it, and hundreds of pages have been included in every line of it, and there are hundreds of lines in every word of it, and every letter of it contains hundreds of words, and a short index of the book is to be found in every point. The book’s pages and lines, down to the very points, demonstrate its Inscriber and Author in hundreds of respects with such clarity that an observation of that book of the universe establishes the Existence and Unity of its Scribe to a degree that is hundreds of times greater than the proof of the book’s own existence. For if a single letter exhibits its own existence to the extent of a letter, the same letter exhibits its Scribe to the extent of a line.
One page of this macro-book is the face of the earth. As many books as there are plant and animal species can be seen to be written on this page in the spring one within the other, together, at the same time, without error, and in the most perfect form.
One line of the page is a garden. We see with our eyes that on this page well-composed ode to the number of flowers, trees, and animals in the garden are written all together, one within the other, and without error.
One word of the line is a tree which has blossomed and put forth its leaves in order to yield its fruit. This word comprises meaningful passages that laud and praise the All-Wise One of Majesty to the number of its orderly, well-proportioned, adorned leaves, flowers, and fruit. It is as if, like all other trees, this tree too is a well-composed ode, singing the praises of its Inscriber.
It is also as though the All-Wise One of Majesty wants to look with thousands of eyes on His wonderful, venerable works, thus displaying them in the exhibition of the earth.
And it is as though the bejeweled gifts, decorations, and uniforms accorded to the tree by that Eternal Monarch have been made with such incredibly adorned, well-proportioned, orderly, and meaningful forms in order that they might be presented to His view in the spring, the tree’s particular festival and parade, that each of these gifts, decorations, and uniforms—the flowers, leaves, and fruits—bears witness to the Existence and Names of the Inscriber in numerous ways and with many proofs, one within the other.
For example, each blossom or fruit displays a perfect organization and balance. The balance is maintained through an unceasing and ever-renewed act of ordering; the act of ordering follows perfect art and decoration, and this art and decoration is combined with exceptional scents and purposeful tastes. Thus, each blossom indicates the All-Wise One of Majesty to the number of the blossoms on the tree.
The tree, which itself is a word, grows from a seed, which is a letter. This letter is a small coffer containing the future content and program of the entire tree. And so on. To continue the same analogy, the manifestation of the Name the All-Wise not only makes every page of the book of the universe, but it also creates its lines, words, letters, and points, as miracles; thus even if all the causes—living or non-living—should gather together, they would not make the like of a single point, nor could they dare to compete with it.
Since each of the creational signs of this mighty Qur’an of the universe displays miracles to the number of its points and letters, then surely, purposeless chance, blind force, aimless, anarchic, unconscious nature can in no way interfere with that wise, insightful, and particular balance or most sensitive order. If they were able to interfere, some traces of confusion would certainly have been apparent. However, no trace of disorder is to be observed anywhere.
Second point: Perfection without any partner
This consists of two matters.
First matter: As expounded in the Tenth Word, it is “natural” and “inevitable” that an infinitely perfect beauty and infinitely beautiful perfection tend to observe and manifest themselves. It is because of this basic universal rule or tendency that the Eternal Inscriber of the mighty book of the universe makes Himself known with His Grace and Perfections, and makes Himself loved through the universe, through all its pages, lines and even letters and full stops.
So, O heedless human! While the All-Wise One of Majesty and Grace wants to make Himself known to you and loved by you through each of His creatures in such brilliant and endless ways, if, in return, you do not recognize Him with belief or you do not make yourself loved by Him with your worship, you should know just what a bottomless, compounded ignorance this is and what a loss it will be; so, come to your senses!
Second matter: There is no room for partnership in the dominion of the All-Powerful and All-Wise Maker of the universe. For, as an infinitely perfect order prevails in everything, it cannot admit partners. For, if many hands intervene in one matter, they will confuse it. If there are two kings in a country, two governors in a town, or two headmen in a village, disorder will reign in all matters in the country, town, or village. Moreover, the fact that even the most minor official does not accept the interference of others in his duties shows us that the most essential characteristic of dominion and sovereignty is independence. This means that order necessitates unity, and sovereignty requires independence.
If such a temporary shadow of sovereignty, manifested on powerless humans who are in need of assistance, rejects interference, then certainly absolute sovereignty, enjoyed by an absolutely Powerful One at the degree of Lordship over the entire universe, will certainly reject interference with all its might. If there were even the most minuscule interference, the order would be spoilt.
However, the universe has been so created that the creation of a seed requires as much power as is needed to create the entire tree. And in order to create a tree, there must be as much power as there is to create the entire universe. And if there were a partner who interfered in the universe, they would have to have a part in the existence of the tiniest seed. For the seed is a sample of the universe. So, two different Lordships, for which there is not the least room in this vast universe, would have to find room for themselves in a seed, or even in a minute particle. This is the most inconceivable and meaningless of impossibilities and false conceptions. Unbelief and associating partners with God mean attributing impotence to the absolutely
Powerful One, Who holds and maintains the entire universe in all its states and circumstances, in the balance of His Justice and the order of His Wisdom, even down to the creation of a single seed. Know from this what an infinitely compounded opposition to the truth, (what an unforgivable) error, and (what monstrous) falsehood are unbelief and associating partners with God, and what an infinitely compounded truth and reality is Divine Oneness and belief in it. Know this and say, “All praise and thanks be to God for belief!”
Third point: The All-Wise has included numerous well-ordered worlds in this world
Through His Name the All-Wise, the All-Powerful Maker has included thousands of well-ordered worlds in this world. Among those worlds, He has created humanity as a center and pivot in which His instances of Wisdom and the purposes behind the existence of the universe are concentrated. The most important of these instances of wisdom and purpose relate to humanity; He has made provision the focal point of the human sphere. Most of the purposes that are followed and the instances of wisdom in the human world relate to provision and are manifested through it. Consciousness in humanity and the pleasure provision gives display a manifestation of the Name the All-Wise in a brilliant fashion. And each of the hundreds of sciences invented by means of human consciousness describes one manifestation of the Name the All-Wise in one aspect of existence.
For example, if the science of medicine were to be asked, “What is the universe?”, it would certainly reply, “It is an extraordinarily orderly and perfect vast pharmacy. All remedies are prepared and stored in it in the best and most proper way.”
And if the science of chemistry were asked, “What is the earth?” it would answer, “It is a perfect, exceptionally ordered chemist’s shop.”
And the science of engineering would reply, “It is a perfect factory with no faults.”
And the science of agriculture would reply, “It is an infinitely productive, well-ordered field and garden which produces all kinds of crops just in time.”
The science of trade would reply, “It is an extremely well-arranged exhibition, orderly market, and shop full of the most artistic wares.”
The science of economics would reply, “It is an outstandingly well ordered warehouse containing every kind of goods.”
The science of dietetics would reply, “It is a kitchen built and prepared by the Lord and a cauldron made and filled by the All-Merciful in which hundreds of thousands of the most delicious types of food are cooked all together in the most orderly fashion.”
The science of military affairs would reply, “The earth is a military camp. Although every spring in that army there are hundreds of thousands of different nations newly armed with their tents pitched on the earth, they are given their rations, uniforms, weapons, training, and discharges, all different and particular for each nation, in perfect order, with no confusion and none being forgotten, through the command, power, and compassion of a single Commander in Chief, from His treasury; they are all administered in the most regular fashion.”
And if the science of electricity were to be asked, “What is this world?” it would certainly reply, “The roof of this magnificent palace of the universe has been adorned with innumerable, exceptionally well-made and arranged electric lamps. There is such an extraordinary order and balance in their composition and arrangement that although all these heavenly lamps, primarily the sun, which is a thousand times larger than the earth, unceasingly burn, they do not spoil their balance, nor do they explode or cause fires. Their expenditure is boundless, so where does their income or fuel come from? Why do they not consume their source? Why is the balance in their burning not destroyed? A small lamp goes out if it is not tended regularly. Consider the Wisdom and Power of the All-Wise One of Majesty, Who makes the sun, which astronomy tells us hundreds of thousands of times is larger than the earth and hundreds of millions of years older, continuously burn without being extinguished,13 and say, ‘All-Glorious God is!’ Say to the number of the seconds of the sun’s age, ‘What wonders God wills!
Whatever and however He wills is! How well God does it, and how blessed and supreme He is! There is no deity but He!’ and reflect: These heavenly lamps are in a wonderful order, and they are tended with the greatest care. It is as though the boiler of these huge, numerous masses of fire, these light diffusing lamps, is a Hell whose heat is never exhausted; it supplies them with lightless heat. While the machinery and central factory of those electric lamps is an everlasting Paradise; it supplies them with light; and through the broadest manifestation of the Name the All-Wise they continue to burn in orderliness.”
And so on. As hundreds of sciences like these certainly testify, the universe has been adorned with innumerable instances of wisdom and usefulness, and purposes within a faultless, perfect order. And through His all encompassing Wisdom, He pursues the same instances of order and wisdom as He has pursued for the whole of the universe in seeds and the tiniest living creatures in small measures. It is obvious that there is a purposeful choice or will and intention in pursuing certain aims, purposes, instances of wisdom, or benefits. Therefore, these intended purposes, instances of wisdom, and blessings can never be the work of unconscious causes or nature, which lack will, choice, and purpose; neither can they interfere in them.
Consequently, it cannot be described how most ridiculously ignorant it is not to recognize or how foolish it is to deny that the All-Wise Maker, the One Who does whatever He wills, and Whom the universe requires and demonstrates with all the endless instances of order and wisdom observed in all the creatures it contains. Indeed, if there is anything that we can say is the most shocking thing in the world, it is such denial. For while the most perfect order and endless instances of wisdom in all the creatures of the universe testify to His existence and Unity, even the most infinite in ignorance and blindness understand what blindness and ignorance it is not to see or recognize Him. I might even say that among the people of unbelief, the Sophists, who are regarded as foolish because they denied the universe’s existence, are the most intelligent. For since they saw that it was not possible to explain the existence of the universe without believing in the Existence of God, the Creator of the universe, they denied the universe’s existence. They denied themselves as well. Claiming, “There is nothing that exists,” they abdicated their intelligence, and saved themselves from the boundless irrationality—under the guise of rationalism—of the other deniers; in one sense they drew close to rationality.
Fourth point: The All-Wise Maker’s wisdom in the existence of things requires the Resurrection
As pointed out in the Tenth Word, no one with consciousness can accept that a wise master builder carefully pursues hundreds of instances of wisdom in each stone of the palace he builds, but then he fails to construct the palace’s roof, allowing it to fall into ruin and thus losing all the innumerable purposes and instances of wisdom. Similarly, it is not possible for an exceptionally wise one to pursue hundreds of benefits and purposes in a tiny seed and then to allow all the expenditure they have made on the tree to go waste by obtaining a single fruit from it, thus following a completely wasteful way that is contrary to wisdom.
In just the same way, the All-Wise Maker attaches hundreds of instances of wisdom to each of the beings in the palace of the universe, and equips them with hundreds of duties, assigning every tree instances of wisdom and duties to the number of its fruits and blossoms. So, His not bringing about the Resurrection would mean rendering countless instances of wisdom and duties as meaningless, useless or fruitless and allowing them all to go to waste, thus imputing absolute impotence to His absolute, perfect Power, infinite futility and purposelessness to His perfect Wisdom, total ugliness to His absolute and perfect Beauty and Grace, and boundless injustice to His Justice. This would be paramount to simply denying the wisdom, mercy, and justice which everyone observes in the universe. This is the most bizarre inconceivability, containing endless fallacies. So, let the people of misguidance come and see just what a terrifying darkness there is in their misguidance and what kind of nest of vipers and scorpions it is, exactly as their graves will be. So, let them know that belief in the Hereafter is a way that is as beautiful and luminous as Paradise, and thus embrace belief.
Fifth point
This consists of two matters.
First matter: As a manifestation of His Name the All-Wise, the All-Majestic Maker follows the lightest way, the shortest path, the easiest fashion, the most beneficial form in everything. This shows that there is no wastefulness, futility, or absence of benefits in the nature of things. As wastefulness is contrary to the Divine Name the All-Wise, the manifestation of this Name requires economy, which is one of its fundamental principles.
O wasteful human! Know how contrarily to the truth you act by not following economy, which is one of the most basic principles in the universe! And understand what an essential, comprehensive principle is taught by the verse, Eat and drink, but do not be wasteful (7: 31).
Second matter: The Name the All-Wise obviously points to and necessitates the Messengership of the noblest Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings.
Indeed, since a most meaningful book requires a teacher to teach it, and an exquisite beauty requires a mirror to see and reflect itself, and a most perfect art requires a herald to announce it, certainly there will be a perfect guide, a supreme teacher among humankind, which is addressed by the mighty book of the universe, in every letter of which there are hundreds of meanings and instances of wisdom. This teacher will show and teach the sacred and true wisdom the book contains, and he will be the means of the appearance, or even the realization, of the Lord’s purposes for the creation of the universe. He will also mirror and make known the perfect art of the Creator and the beauty of His Names, which He particularly wills to be displayed throughout the universe.
And since the Creator wants to make Himself loved through all His creatures and wills His conscious creatures to respond with love and worship, one from among them will certainly respond with comprehensive worship in the name of all of them in the face of the manifestations of the all encompassing Lordship. Through a resounding manner of making known and glorification, which will bring the land and sea to ecstasy and cause the heavens and earth to reverberate, he will also turn the gazes of these conscious creatures to the Maker of all these creatures that are full of art. Again, He will turn the attention of all beings with reason to Him through a sacred instruction and teaching. The noblest Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, did all this through the Qur’an of mighty stature, as well as demonstrating in the best way the purposes of that All-Wise Maker (for the existence of the universe and humanity). He responded in the most perfect way to the manifestations of all His instances of wisdom and of His Grace and Majesty. In short, the existence of such a one is as necessary, as essential for the universe as the existence of the sun. This being the reality, all the wisdom in the universe necessitates the Messengership of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, as much as the sun necessitates light, and the light, the day.
Just as through their most comprehensive manifestations, the Name the All-Wise necessitates the Messengership of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, to the maximum degree, so too, through their broadest manifestations observed in the universe, do many of the All-Beautiful Names like God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate, the All-Loving, the Bestower of bounties, the All-Munificent, the All-Gracious, and the Lord necessitate the Messengership of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, to the maximum degree and with absolute certainty.
For example, the all-embracing mercy which is the manifestation of the Name the All-Merciful manifests itself, first of all, through the one who was sent as “a mercy to all the worlds,” upon him be peace and blessings. And God Almighty’s will to make Himself known and loved as a manifestation of the Name the All-Loving gives fruit through that Beloved of the Lord of all the worlds, and finds response in him. And all instances of beauty, which are the manifestation of the Name the All-Beautiful and Gracious, that is, the beauty of the Divine Essence, the beauty of the Divine Names, the beauty of His Art, and the beauty of creatures, are seen and displayed in the mirror of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings. And the manifestations of the magnificence of the Lordship and sovereignty of Divinity are known, become visible and understood, and are confirmed through the Messengership of Muhammad, the herald of the dominion of Lordship, upon him be peace and blessings. And so on. Like these examples, each of the majority of the All-Beautiful Names is a shining proof for the Messengership of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings.
To sum up: Since the universe exists and cannot be denied, then surely, observable realities such as wisdom, munificence, mercy, beauty, order, balance, and adornment, which are in effect the colors, embellishments, lights, arts, lives, and bonds of the universe, can in no way be denied. Since denying these attributes and acts is not possible, certainly the Necessarily Existent One, the All-Wise, the All-Munificent, the All-Compassionate, the All-Beautiful and Gracious, and the All-Just, the One Who is signified by these attributes, and Who is the Performer of these deeds, and the Sun and Source of these lights, can in no way be denied. And certainly the Messengership of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, who is the supreme guide, the most perfect teacher, the most eminent herald, the solver of the enigma of existence, the mirror of the Eternally Besought-of-All, the beloved of the All-Merciful, and the means of these attributes and acts being manifested, indeed of their perfection, and even of their being realized, can in no way be denied. Like the lights of the world of reality and of the reality of the universe, his Messengership is the most brilliant light of the universe.
Blessings and peace be upon him and his Family and Companions to the number of seconds of the days and the particles of the creatures.
All-Glorified are You. We have no knowledge save what You have taught us. Surely You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi
13 Let it be reckoned just how much fuel would be necessary for the stove or lamp of the sun, which heats and illuminates the palace of the world. According to astronomy, piles of wood equal to a million earths and thousands of oceans of oil would be required for it to burn every day. Now think and say, “All-Glorious is God! What wonders God wills! Whatever and however He wills is! How well God does it, and how blessed and supreme He is! to the number of the sun’s particles in the face of the Majesty, Wisdom, and Power of the All-Powerful One of Majesty, Who makes it give light continuously.