The Eighteenth Word
- Putting the carnal self in its place
- Whatever God creates is good
- Love of God requires following the Prophet
In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate.
Do not reckon those who rejoice in what they have thus contrived and love to be praised for what they have not achieved—do not reckon them secure from punishment; rather, there is a painful punishment for them. (3:188)
Three points
FIRST POINT: A chastening slap for my evil-commanding soul. O foolish soul delighted with self-pride, enamored with fame, fond of praise, and peerless in egotism. If it is a just claim that a tiny seed is the agent of all the fruit on a fig tree, or it is a dry branch of the vine which produces bunches of grapes on it, and that those who benefit from them must respect and praise the branch and the seed, you might have the right to be proud and conceited about the gifts given to you. But in reality, you deserve only to be chided constantly because you are not like the seed and the branch even. Since you have free will, you reduce these gifts’ value through your pride, damage them through your conceit, nullify them through your ingratitude, and usurp them by appropriating them to yourself. Your duty is being thankful to God, instead of taking pride in yourself. What is fit for you is not fame, but humility and feeling shame (for your deficiencies). Your right is not praise, but repentance and seeking forgiveness, and your perfection lies not in self-centeredness but in attributing every good to God.
O my soul, you in my body resemble nature in the world. Both of you were created to receive good and be the thing to which evil is referred. You are not the agent and the origin, but rather the recipient and the means, the ground or the scene. You are effective only when you cause an evil by refusing to accept the good coming from the Absolute Good. You and natural causes were created as veils, so that apparently ugly things, the beauty of which is not visible, should be attributed to you, and so that you should be the means of the All-Holy Divine Essence being acknowledged as free of defect. But you have assumed an attitude completely contrary to your duty of creation. Although due to your incapacity you to change good into evil, you act as though you were a partner to your Creator. That means those who so adore themselves and nature are extremely foolish and serious wrongdoers.
Do not say: “I am an object of manifestation. One who receives and manifests beauty becomes beautiful.” For that beauty has not assumed a perpetual form in you, and so you can reflect it for only a short time. Do not say: “Among people, I was chosen. All of these results, all the works I have produced, are shown through me. That means I have some merit.” No! Rather, they were given to you first because you are more bankrupt and needy of them, and more afflicted with shortcomings, than anyone else.
SECOND POINT: This point explains one meaning of: (He) who makes excellent everything that He creates (32:7). Even the things that appear to be the ugliest included, everything has an aspect of true beauty, and is either beautiful in itself (beautiful by itself) or beautiful on account of its results (beautiful through others). Some occurrences are apparently ugly and confused but, beneath that apparent veil, there are most radiant instances of beauty and order.
For example, beneath the veil of spring’s stormy rains and muddy soil are smiles of innumerable beautiful flowers and well-ordered plants. Behind the veils of autumn’s harsh destruction and mournful separations are amiable small animals (friends of delicate, shy flowers) being discharged from their duties and preserved from winter’s blows and torments, which manifest instances of Divine Majesty. Under the veil of winter, the way is pre pared for a new and beautiful spring. Beneath the veil of storms, earth quakes, plagues, and similar events are numerous hidden “immaterial flowers” that unfold. Seeds of many potentialities that have remained undeveloped sprout and flourish due to such apparently ugly events. It is as if upheavals, revolutions, and general changes function as “immaterial” rain.
However, being superficial and self-centered observers inclined to judge by outward appearances, we consider only the external and consider such events ugly, reason according to the result we desire and so consider them evil. But in reality, if one of the aims in things and events relates to us, many others are directly connected with their Maker’s Names. For example, we may consider thorny plants and trees harmful and meaningless, even though these great miracles of the Creator’s Power are “well-equipped, heroic guards” of plants and trees. God’s causing hawks to harry sparrows is apparently incompatible with Mercy. But such things cause sparrows to develop their potentialities. We might consider snow to be cold and unpleasant, but under those veils are such warm purposes and sweet results that they are indescribable.
As our judgments are based on outward appearance and our own interest, we suppose that many things that are perfectly polite and compatible with well-mannered behavior are contrary to good manners. For example, in our view, the discussion of our private parts is shameful. But this veil of shame only relates to us. Whereas from the perspectives of creation, art, and their aims and purposes, and when considered with the eye of wisdom, they are perfectly correct. Some expressions of the Qur’an, the source of good manners and right conduct, should be viewed from these perspectives. Likewise, beneath the faces of apparently ugly and useless creatures and events are many beautiful and purposeful instances of art, as well as aspects of beauty concerning their creation. They are connected with their Maker. Many beautiful veils which conceal instances of wisdom, and many apparent instances of disorder and confusion are, in reality, the most well arranged examples of sacred Divine composition.
THIRD POINT: “If you love God, follow me so that God may love you (3:31).” Since the universe contains an observable beauty of art, it certainly requires Muhammad’s Messengership, for such beauty demonstrates that its Fashioner wills to make beautiful and to adorn. This shows that the Maker has a sublime love and sacred inclination toward the perfections of His Art He displays in His creatures. This love and inclination must primarily be directed toward and concentrated on humanity, the most enlightened and perfect being, the conscious fruit of the Tree of Creation. A tree’s fruit is its most comprehensive and furthest part. The person with the most comprehensive view and universal consciousness can be a most elevated and brilliant individual. Such a person will meet with and be addressed by the All-Beautiful Maker, and will use his universal consciousness and comprehensive view to worship his Maker, appreciate His Art, and give thanks for His bounties.
Here two spheres appear. One is a most magnificent sphere of Lordship and a most finely fashioned, bejeweled tablet of Art. The other is a most enlightened and “flower-adorned” sphere of worshipful servanthood, and the broadest and most comprehensive tablet of reflection, appreciation, thankfulness, and belief. This second sphere acts with all its strength in the name of the first sphere. See how closely this second sphere’s leader—Prophet Muhammad—is connected with the Maker, how he serves the purposes of the Maker’s artistry, and how beloved and esteemed He is in His eyes.
Could the Bounteous Fashioner of these fine creatures, Who loves His Art and even considers all the tastes of their mouths, remain indifferent to His most beautiful creature? This most beautiful being, who through his worship in an outpouring of appreciation and admiration causes the Divine Throne and the earth to reverberate and, in a chant of thanks and exaltation, brings the land and the sea to ecstasy, is constantly turned toward Him. Would He not speak to him and want to make him His Messenger, to be imitated by others in his praiseworthy conduct? It is impossible that He would not speak to him and not make him His Messenger.
Surely, the religion with God is Islam. (3:19)
Muhammad is the Messenger of God. Those who are with him... (48:29)
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi