The Eleventh Word

The Divine purposes for creating humanity and the world and the truth of the Prescribed Prayers

In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate.

By the sun and its brightness, and the moon as it follows it, and the day as it reveals it, and the night as it enshrouds it, and the heaven and Him Who built it, and the earth and Him Who spread it, and the soul and Him Who has formed it to perfection. (91:1-7)

If, O Brother (Sister), you want to understand something of the Divine purposes for creating humanity and the universe, and why the five daily Prayers are obligatory, consider this parable together with my own soul: A king had a vast treasury of precious stones and buried treasuries known only to him. He was well-versed in all industries, and had a vast knowledge of all artistic and scientific disciplines and countless fine arts. As anyone with perfect beauty and perfection tend to see and show themselves, that glorious king wanted to open up an exhibition and display his kingdom’s magnificence, his wealth’s splendor and extent, and the wonderful products of his artistry and skill. He so desired in order to behold his beauty and perfection with his own discerning eye and through the eyes of others.

And so he began to build a very large, magnificent palace. Dividing it into many apartments and rooms, he decorated it with his finest and most beautiful works of art, and embellished it with his precious stones. Designing it according to his artistic and scientific principles and disciplines, he furnished it with the miraculous products of his knowledge. Finally, he set up therein tables containing most delicious specific foods and drinks, and specified an appropriate table for each tribe of his subjects. He provided them so elaborately, generously, and artistically that it was as though each table had come into existence through the works of at least a hundred separate skills.

Then, the king invited all his subjects in his dominion to feast and behold the spectacle. Having taught a supreme commander he had appointed why he had built such a palace and the uses and meanings of its contents, he sent him to inform the guests about the maker of the palace—the king— and explain why he had built it, the rules they had to obey, and about the palace’s architecture, decorations, furniture, and ornaments. The supreme commander also had the duty of describing in what ways those contents of the palace demonstrate the king’s skills and perfections, and how the guests could please him.

This supreme teacher had many assistants, each of which was deputed for a certain department, while he himself stood among his students in the largest department, addressing all guests or spectators as follows:

O people! Our lord, who owns this palace, wants to make himself known to you by building it. In return, know and recognize him properly. He also wants to make himself lovable to you through these ornaments. In return, appreciate his artistry and works, thereby making yourselves loved by him. He demonstrates his love for you through these favorings of his, so love him by obeying him. His offerings display his care and compassion for you, so thank him by showing your respect for him. Through these works of his perfection, he wants to show his beauty and grace. In return, exhibit a great desire to see him and secure his attention. By setting his special, inimitable stamp on everything you see, he demonstrates that he is unique, absolutely independent and without partner, that this palace and its contents are his work and belong to him exclusively. So, acknowledge his uniqueness, absolute independence, and lack of partner.

The supreme commander or teacher continued his address. Then the audience separated into two groups.

THE FIRST GROUP: Since they were sensible and aware of themselves, on seeing the palace’s wonders, they concluded that nothing could be purposeless. They asked the supreme teacher about the king’s purposes and demands from them. They attentively listened to the answer of the teacher, accepted his instructions, and acted in a way to please the king. In return, the king, pleased with their conduct and manners, invited them to a far larger and indescribably more beautiful palace, wherein he set out to entertain them permanently in a way worthy of a generous king and fitting for such obedient, well-mannered subjects.

THE SECOND GROUP: They were morally corrupt, and devoid of sound reasoning. Defeated by their carnal souls, they took notice of nothing apart from the delicious foods. They closed their eyes to all the virtues and did not heed the directives of the supreme teacher and the warnings of his students. They concentrated only on eating and sleeping. Drinking of the forbidden beverages, which had been prepared for certain other purposes, they became drunk and bothered all other guests. They broke the glorious king’s rules. So, his soldiers put them in prison appropriate for such ill-mannered people.

O friend, who listens to this story together with me! You have certainly understood for what purposes the glorious king built the palace. The realization of these purposes depends on the following two things:

The first is the existence of the supreme teacher, for if he did not exist, those purposes would be as nothing, just in the same way that an incomprehensible book without a teacher to explain it is only a pack of sheets.

The second is that the people should heed the instructions of the teacher. This means, the teacher is absolutely necessary for the existence of the palace, and the people’s obedience is the reason for maintaining it. So, it can be said that but for the teacher, the glorious king would not have built the palace, and that when the people totally ignore the teacher’s instructions, the palace will be destroyed and changed.

O friend! Now, let us the reality which the parable conveys. The palace is this world, whose roof is the heavens illuminated with smiling stars, whose floor is the earth embellished with numerous kinds of flowers. The king is the All-Holy One, the King of all eternity, Whom the seven firmaments and the earth, along with all their contents, glorify and extol in tongues particular to each. He is such a Powerful King that He created the heavens and the earth in six days.51 “Seated” on His Throne of Lordship52, He alternates day and night like a white and a black thread, inscribing His signs on the vast sheet of the universe. He is One, All-Majestic and Powerful, to Whom the sun, the moon, and the stars are all subjugated.

The palace’s departments or rooms are the thousands of worlds, each designed, furnished, and decorated in a specific way. The finest and most beautiful works of art are the miracles of Divine Power, which we see throughout the world; the foods are the wonderful fruits of Divine Mercy that we see here, especially in summer; and the kitchen is the surface of the earth, with its fire being the sun’s heat and the fire in the earth’s center. The precious stones are manifestations of the Divine Sacred Names, and the embellishments are the well-ordered, finely made beings and perfectly proportioned inscriptions of the Pen of the Power that adorn this world and point to the Names of the Majestic All-Powerful One.

The supreme commander or teacher is our master Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings. His assistants are all other Prophets, upon them be peace, and his students are all saints and pure, saintly scholars. The servants are angels, and the invited guests are jinn and humanity, and the animals created to serve humanity. The first group of people are believers, students of the Qur’an that interprets the verses of the Book of the Universe. The second group are the people of unbelief and rebellion, “deaf and dumb” misguided people who, obeying their carnal souls and Satan, accept only the worldly life and so place themselves below animals.

The first group, comprising the happy, godly people, listened to the teacher’s message of intellectual enlightenment and spiritual well-being, the path of prosperity in both worlds. That teacher is a both worshipping servant who, in regard to servanthood, describes his Master and makes Him known to people, and is an envoy of his community in the court of Almighty God; and a Messenger who, in regard to Messengership, communicates his Master’s commandments to humanity and jinn via the Qur’an.

The happy people heeded the Messenger and the Qur’an, and so found themselves in elevated stations and invested with many subtle and pleasing duties of the Prescribed Prayer, the index of all varieties of worship:

• First: They saw the Divine works and, seeing themselves in the station of objective observers of the Kingdom of Divine Lordship’s wonders, said “God is the All-Great,” thus glorifying and extolling Him.
• Second: Seeing themselves in the station of announcing the Divine Sacred Names’ precious manifestations, they esteemed Him as the All-Holy and praised Him, declaring: “All-Glorified is God. All praise and gratitude are for God.”
• Third: In the station of tasting and perceiving with their outer and inner senses the bounties stored in Divine Mercy’s treasuries, they began fulfilling the duty of thanking and praising Him.
• Fourth: In the station of weighing and coming to know the jewels in the Divine Names’ treasuries with the scales of their mental and spiritual faculties, they set out to fulfill the duty of praising Him and declaring Him to be free of all fault and defect.
• Fifth: In the station of studying the Master’s Messages written on the lines of Destiny by the Pen of His Power, they contemplated and commended Him.
• Sixth: In the station of observing the subtle beauties and delicacies in the creation of things, as well as in the art of creation and declaring God to be free of all fault and defect, they set out to fulfill their duty of loving and yearning for their Majestic All-Originating and Gracious Maker.

Therefore, after doing all duties of worship in the stations mentioned above by observing the universe and its contents as God’s works of Art and so addressing God indirectly, they rose to the station of contemplating the All-Wise Maker’s deeds and the way He acts, they were amazed by the realization of how the All-Majestic Creator makes Himself known to conscious beings through the miracles of His art. In direct response, they proclaimed in His presence: “All-Glorified are You. We are unable to know You as the duty of knowing You requires. What makes You known are Your miracles displayed in Your creatures.”

Then, in response to the All-Merciful making Himself loved through the lovely fruits of His Mercy, they proclaimed in love and ecstasy: You alone do we worship, and from You alone do we seek help (1:5). Afterward, in response to the Real Giver of Bounties exhibiting His Care and Compassion through His decorous gifts, they thanked and praised Him, saying: “All-Glorified are You, and all praise and gratitude are for You.” In other words: “How can we thank you as You deserve thanking?  You are so worthy of thanks and praise that all Your favors in the universe praise You in the tongue of their disposition. All Your bounties arranged and exhibited in the world’s market and on the earth’s face declare Your praise and commendation. The beautiful,  well-proportioned fruits and  produce  of Your Mercy and Graciousness bear witness to Your Generosity and Munificence, and thank You before the eyes of all creatures.”

Then, in response to His displaying His Grace, Majesty, Perfection, and Grandeur in the “mirrors” of creatures constantly recruited and renewed, they declared: “God is the All-Great,” and bowed before Him in perception of His Grandeur and their own impotence. Afterward, they prostrated in humility and with wonder and love. Before the All-Wealthy One’s display of His Wealth’s abundance and His Mercy’s comprehensiveness, they showed their poverty and need by praying: From You alone do we seek help (1:5).

Then, in response to the All-Majestic Maker’s exhibition of His Art’s subtleties and wonders through animate beings, they showed their appreciation by saying: “What (wonders) God has willed,” and their commendation by saying: “How beautifully they have been made.” Continuing to observe, they said: “God bless them. How wonderfully they have been made,” and testified to Him by proclaiming their belief. In full admiration, they called everyone to witness the same: “Come and see! Hasten to (the way to) prosperity!” In response to the Eternal King’s declaration of His Lordship’s Kingdom and His Oneness’ manifestation throughout the universe, they believed in and confirmed His Unity, and showed their obedience and submission by saying: “We have heard and obeyed.” To the manifestation of the Lord of the Worlds’ Divinity, they responded with worship by declaring their impotence embedded in weakness, their poverty embedded in need, and with the Prescribed Prayer, which is the essence of worship.

While in that huge mosque of the world, they devoted themselves to these and similar duties of worship and so assumed the best pattern of creation. Above all other creatures, they became God’s trustworthy vicegerents, equipped with the blessing of belief and trustworthiness.53

After this abode of trial and testing, their Munificent Lord invited them to eternal happiness to recompense their belief and to the Abode of Peace to reward their devotion to Islam. There, out of His Mercy, He bestowed on them dazzling bounties beyond description and imagination, and eternity and everlasting life. For the observing and reflecting lovers of an eternal, abiding beauty will certainly go to eternity. Such is the end and final station of the students of the Qur’an. May Almighty God include us among them. Amin!

As for the members of the second group, those sinful and wicked ones, when they entered the palace of this world at the age of discretion, they rejected all the evidence of Divine Oneness and were ungrateful for all bounties. So, they insulted all creatures by accusing them of being worthless, and rejected and denied the Divine Names’ manifestations. In sum, they committed an infinite crime in a short time and deserved eternal punishment.

We have been given this capital of life and human faculties to spend on the duties mentioned above. Given this, our duty is not restricted to living an easy life (according to the requisites of modern corrupt civilization) and gratifying our carnal desires. Nor are our delicate senses and abilities, sensitive faculties and organs, well-ordered members and systems, and inquisitive senses and feelings included in the “machine” of our life (our body) to satisfy the base, carnal soul’s low desires. Rather, they were included therein and made a part of our nature for two reasons: First, to make us feel all varieties of the bounties bestowed by the Real Giver of Bounties, and to urge us to be grateful. So, feel them and be grateful to Him. Second, to make known and urge us to experience all manifestations of each Divine Sacred Name seen in the universe. So experience and know them, and believe. If we can realize these aims, we can gain human perfection and become true human beings.

As shown in the following parable, we were not given our human faculties only to earn our worldly sustenance: A master gave a servant 20 gold coins and told him to buy a suit of a particular cloth. The servant bought and then wore a fine suit made from the best quality of cloth. The master gave another servant 1,000 gold coins, put a written list in his pocket, and sent him to do some trade. Obviously 1,000 gold coins were not to be used for clothes. So if the second servant does not read the list, but rather chooses to imitate the other servant by buying a suit with the money given to him, and, moreover, receives a suit of the worst possible quality, will his master not reprimand and punish him severely for his stupidity?

O my carnal soul and my friend! You are not sent here to spend the capital of your life and your vital potentials on material pleasures and this transient life. If you do, you will fall to the lowest ranks, although you are far superior with regard to “capital” than the most developed animal.

O my heedless soul! If you would like some understanding of your life’s aim and nature, its form and how it performs its duty, and the perfect happiness in your life, then look! The aims of your life can be summed up in the following nine matters:

The first: It is weighing on the scales of your body’s senses the bounties stored in Divine Mercy’s treasuries and offering universal thanks.

The second: It is opening with the keys of all instruments placed in your nature the hidden treasuries of the Divine Sacred Names and recognizing the All-Holy One through those Names.

The third is consciously displaying through your life before all creation in this place of exhibition the amazing arts that the Divine Names have attached to you and their subtle manifestations in your being.

The fourth is proclaiming your worship and servanthood to the Court of your Creator’s Lordship, verbally and through the tongue of your disposition.

The fifth: In the manner of a soldier who, appearing before the king on ceremonial occasions with the decorations received from him, displays the marks of the king’s favor, you must adorn yourself consciously with the “jewels” of subtle human senses and faculties embedded in your being through the Divine Names’ manifestations and present yourself before the Eternal Witness.

The sixth: Other living beings worship and glorify their Creator by consciously or unconsciously obeying the laws He established for their lives. This is the main purpose for their creation and life. Thus you should consciously observe their obedience to Him, their worship and glorification of Him, and reflect on and testify to their worship and glorification.

The seventh: Using your defective attributes (e.g., partial knowledge, power, and will) as units of measurement, recognize the Majestic Creator’s absolute Attributes and sacred Qualities. For example, you have built this beautiful and well-ordered house by using your partial knowledge, will, and power. So, you should know that the Maker of this palace of the universe is powerful, knowledgeable, wise, and capable to the degree it is greater than your house.

The eighth: You should perceive how each being proclaims in its own language the Creator’s Oneness and the Maker’s Lordship.

The ninth: From your impotence and weakness, poverty and need you should try to infer the degrees of the Divine Power’s and Richness’ manifestations. Just as food’s pleasures and varieties are understood or distinguished according to your hunger and need, so you should understand the degrees of the  manifestations  of infinite  Divine  Power and Richness through your infinite impotence and poverty.

Briefly, those are the aims of your life, the nature of which can be summarized as follows: It is an index of wonders originating in the Divine Names, a measure to consider the Divine Attributes, a unit to know the worlds in the universe, a catalogue of the macrocosm, a map of the universe and its fruit or compressed form, a set of keys with which to open Divine Power’s hidden treasuries, and a most excellent pattern of the Divine perfections reflected in creatures and manifested through time.

As for the form of your life and how it performs its duty: Your life is an inscribed word, a wisdom-displaying word written by the Pen of Power. Observed and sensed, it points to the Divine Beautiful Names. What gives your life its meaning and specifies its function is that it is a mirror manifesting Divine Oneness and God’s being the Eternally Besought One. Through its comprehensiveness as the focal point for all Divine Names manifested in the world, it functions as a mirror that reflects God’s being the Eternally Besought One. As for the perfection of your life in happiness, it is to perceive and love the lights of the Eternal Sun pictured in the mirror of your life, to display ardor for Him as a conscious being, to be enraptured with love of Him, and to establish His Light’s reflection in the center of your heart. As a result of all this, a hadith qudsi54 expresses your highest rank in creation by saying: “(God said): I am not contained in the heavens and the earth, but I am contained in the believer’s heart.”

So, my selfhood! While your life was given to you to realize such sublime aims, and it contains such priceless treasures, how can you even think of wasting it on gratifying fleeting carnal desires and seeking transient worldly pleasures? So as not to waste it, reflect on the oaths and the truths in the verses below, to which the above parable refers, and act accordingly:

By the sun and its brightness, and the moon as it follows it, and the day as it reveals it, and the night as it enshrouds it, and the heaven and Him Who built it, and the earth and Him Who spread it, and the soul and Him Who has formed it to perfection and inspired it (with conscience) of what is wrong for it and what is right for it. He is indeed prosperous who has grown it in purity, and he has indeed failed who corrupts it. (91:1-10)

O God! Bestow blessings and peace on the sun of the sky of Messengership, on the moon of the constellation of Prophethood, and on his Family and Companions, who are the stars of guidance. Have mercy upon us and all believers. Amin! Amin! Amin!

Bediuzzaman said Nursi

51 Like the Bible, the Qur’an mentions that God created the universe in six days. However, the Qur’an never mentions mornings and evenings, and presents “day” as a relative period whose measure is changeable. See 22:47, 32:5, and 70:4: (Tr.)

52 The original word translated as “Lord” is Rabb. It denotes God as One Who brings up, trains, educates, sustains, and administers His creatures. Note: It must not be confused with the Christian understanding of “Lord,” namely, Jesus Christ. (Tr.)

53 God’s vicegerency is defined as humanity being the “means” used by God to execute His commands on the earth and ruling on it according to His laws. (Tr.)

54 A hadith qudsi is a Prophetic saying whose meaning is directly inspired in the Prophet’s heart or revealed to him by God. (Tr.)