The Fourteenth Word

Important explanations to understand the truths of the Qur’an and the Prophetic Traditions

 

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

Alif Lam Ra. A Book whose Revelations in verses have been made firm, and arranged in sequence and distinctly detailed. It is from One All-Wise, All-Aware. (11:1)

[NOTE: To help those hearts which suffer from the lack of submission and obedience in order to be able to reach some of the elevated truths of the Qur’an and the Hadith, its true interpreter, I will point out several comparisons of those truths and conclude with a lesson and a mystery of Divine favor. Since the comparisons of Doomsday and the Resurrection, which are among those truths, are found in The Tenth Word (particularly in the Ninth Truth), I will not repeat them here. Here, as examples of other truths, I will mention only five matters.]

Five matters

FIRST MATTER: The Qur’an states: (God) has created the heavens and the earth in six days (7:54). A Qur’anic day corresponds to a long period, such as 1,000 or 50,000 human years.61 This implies that the human and animal kingdoms will last “six days.” To be convinced of this Qur’anic truth, consider and reflect on the travelling, passing worlds that the All-Majestic Creator creates each day, year, and century. It is as though these worlds are all guest like humans. By the All-Majestic One’s command, they are filled and emptied each season.

SECOND MATTER: Consider the following verses:

Not a thing, fresh or withered, wet or dry, but it is in a Manifest Book. (6:59)

Everything We have written down and kept in a Manifest Record. (36:12)

Not so much as the weight of an atom in heaven and earth escapes Him, neither is anything smaller than that, or greater, but it is in a Manifest Book. (34:3)

 

These verses state that all things, as well as their life cycles, were recorded before their worldly existence; that they are recorded during their worldly existence; and that these recorded instances of their worldly existence are left behind after they die. To have a firm conviction of this great truth, observe how the All-Majestic Inscriber encapsulates and preserves the indexes of the existence of the innumerable well-ordered creatures He recruits each season, particularly in spring, in their seeds and roots, as well as of their life-histories and the principles according to which they act.

Consider how He records and preserves all things after they die in their fruits and seeds that resemble chips of wood and bones, in perfect order with the Pen of His Destiny. It is as if each spring is attached, like a flower, to the earth’s face in an extremely well-ordered and well-balanced fashion by the hand of One All-Beautiful and Gracious and All-Majestic, and then plucked. This reality manifests a reflection of the Supreme Preserved Tablet, a page upon which the Pen of Divine Destiny prerecorded everything, as well as an index of the Master’s art. And yet the misguided call this inscription of creation, this design of art, this passive mold of wisdom “nature” and consider it the originator or creator of itself. The extent of their mistake is infinite.

THIRD MATTER: There are groups of angels. Some bear God’s Throne, while others superintend the movements of heavenly bodies, as well as the lives and deeds of the earth’s inhabitants, and present to the Divine Court the praises and glorifications that these inhabitants perform in the tongue of their being and disposition. Other groups glorify and worship God comprehensively.

To grasp the Prophet’s description of some of these groups—that they glorify God each with its forty thousand tongues in each of its forty thou sand heads, and do so in forty thousand different ways—consider the following verses: The seven heavens and the earth and all within them glorify Him (17:44); We subdued the mountains to glorify (their Lord) along with him [David] (38:18); and: We offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains (33:72).

The All-Majestic One states that even the greatest and most universal of creatures glorifies Him according to its universality and greatness. Just as the heaven’s words of glorification are the suns, moons, and stars, so animals, plants, and trees are words of praise of the earth, a flying object glorifying and praising. That is, each tree and star performs a specific form of glorification, while the earth and each of its parts, each mountain and valley, the land and the sea, and the firmament’s spheres and heaven’s constellations all perform a universal form of glorification. The earth, which possesses thousands of heads in each of which are countless tongues has an angel appointed for it who translates and displays its flowers of glorification and fruits of praise in the World of Ideal Forms, and who represents and proclaims them in the World of Spirits.

If many things come together to form a collectivity, a collective personality comes into being. If such a collectivity forms a strong union, it will have a sort of collective spirit to represent it, as well as an appointed angel to perform its duty of glorification. Consider, for example, the plane tree in front of my room. It is a comprehensive word of the tongue of that mountain in the mouth of Barla. See how many twigs are on the three heads of its trunk’s three main branches. Study how many hundreds of words (well ordered and well-proportioned fruits) it has and how many letters (well designed winged seeds) there are in each fruit. Hear and see how eloquently this tree praises and glorifies its Majestic Maker, the Owner of the command of “Be!” and it is. Wisdom requires the angel appointed for it represents its glorification with numerous tongues in spiritual worlds.

FOURTH MATTER: Consider the exalted truth expressed by verses like:

When He wills a thing to be, He but says to it: “Be!” and it is. (36:82) The affair of the Hour is but the twinkling of an eye. (16:77)

We are nearer to him than his jugular vein. (50:16)

The angels and the Spirit ascend to Him in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years. (70:4)

The Absolutely Powerful One creates things with such ease, speed, and lack of physical contact that it appears as if He creates with a mere command. Although the All-Powerful Maker is infinitely near to creatures, they are infinitely far from Him. Despite His infinite grandeur, He includes even the tiniest thing in the importance He attaches to designing and fashioning creation, as well as in artistic beauty. The perfect order and absolute easy observed in things coming into existence and formations in the world testify to these Qur’anic truths. The following comparison also illustrates them.

The highest comparison is (and must be put forth) for God—the sun, in its capacity as a dense, solid mirror for the Divine Name of Light, is infinitely near to all transparent and shiny things; it is even nearer to them than their own selves and affects them in many ways, such as through its light, heat, image, and reflection. By contrast, those transparent things are millions of miles away from it, have no effect on it, and cannot claim nearness to it. Also, every transparent object which reflects an image of the sun according to its capacity, shape and color shows that it is as though the sun were present it. In addition, the extent of the sun’s luminosity increases the capacity and comprehensiveness of its penetration. Due to the greatness of its luminosity, nothing can hide or escape from it. In other words, being a luminous object, the sun’s immensity and grandeur does not cause it to exclude things from the sphere of its comprehension; rather, it includes everything down to the smallest.

The sun manifests itself in all such things with such ease and speed, and over so comprehensive an area, that if it had free will, we would have to sup pose that it did all these things through a mere command. An atom and a planet are equal before its manifestation, and it gives heat and light to an ocean’s surface and the finest particle with perfect order and in accordance with each thing’s capacity. Thus we see that the sun, which is no more than a light-giving “bubble” in the “ocean” of the heavens, a small solid mirror reflecting the manifestation to the Absolutely Powerful One’s Name of Light, displays examples of the truths expressed in the verses above. So, we believe with complete certainty, as though witnessing it, that the All Majestic One, the Light of Lights, the Illuminator of Light, the Determiner of Light, and in comparison to Whose Knowledge and Power the sun’s light and heat are as impenetrable as soil, is all-present, all-seeing, and infinitely near to all things through His Knowledge and Power. Also, all things are infinitely far from Him, and creating is so easy for Him that He seems to do it with a mere command. In addition, everything is included in the sphere of His Power, and He encompasses all things in His greatness.

FIFTH MATTER: The Eternal Monarch’s greatness of Lordship and His Divinity’s grandeur encompass a limitless area of disposal stretching from:

They have no true judgment of God , such as His being God requires, and the whole earth will be in His grasp on the Day of Resurrection, and the heavens will be rolled up in His “Right Hand” (39:67), to: Know that surely God comes between a person and his heart (8:24); from: God is the Creator of all things, and He is the Guardian over all things (39:62), to: God knows what they keep secret and what they disclose (2:77); from: He has created the heavens and the earth (7:54), to: He creates you and all that you do (37:96); and from: This is how God wills; only whatever He wills is, and there is no power save with God (18:39), to: You cannot will unless God wills (76:30).

Given this, why does the Qur’an contain severe criticisms and awe some threats directed toward humanity, which is infinitely weak and powerless, destitute and needy, and which has only partial free will and no power to create? To acquire a conviction of this profound and exalted truth, consider the following two comparisons:

FIRST COMPARISON: Imagine a splendid garden containing innumerable fruit-bearing trees and flowering plants. Many servants are charged with attending it, but only one is entrusted with opening the water canal’s valve so that the water can spread throughout the garden and benefit everything therein. If that one is lazy and does not open the valve, the garden cannot grow, and it even might begin to wither. Thus, apart from the Creator’s art, the Monarch’s royal supervision, and the humble service of light, air, and soil, all other servants have the right to complain about him, for his laziness renders their duties useless or causes them to harm.

SECOND COMPARISON: An ordinary man’s neglect of his duty on a mighty royal ship harms the crew’s work and even makes some of their work worthless. So, the ship’s owner will complain bitterly about him in the name of the others. He cannot excuse himself by saying: “I am just an ordinary person. I don’t deserve such severity because of my insignificant neglect.” For one single instance of non-existence can result in many instances of non-existence, while the existence of something is restricted to itself. In other words, while the existence of something depends upon the existence of all its necessary conditions, causes, and necessary parts, its non existence is possible through the non-existence of one condition or component. That is why “destroying is much easier than fixing” is a universally accepted principle.

Unbelief and misguidance, as well as rebellion and disobedience, mean denial and rejection, abandonment and non-acceptance. Although they superficially appear to have the marks of positive existence, in reality they are extinction and non-existence. Thus their negative effects are contagious. Just as they damage the results of other beings’ acts, they also draw a veil over the manifestations of the Divine Names’ beauties.

The Monarch of creatures criticizes rebellious humanity in the name of all those who have the right to lodge innumerable complaints against humanity. His doing so is perfect wisdom, and rebellious humanity deserves His severe and awesome threats.

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

61 A day with your Lord is like a thousand years in your reckoning (22:47). A day the measure of which is fifty thousand years (of your normal worldly years). (70:4) (Tr.)