The Twenty-sixth Word

Divine Destiny and Decree and human free will

Conclusion

This consists of Five Paragraphs which silenced the Old Said’s obstinate, proud, and conceited soul, and compelled it to submit.

FIRST PARAGRAPH: Since things exist and have been made with skill, a Supreme Maker must exist. If everything’s existence is not ascribed to One Being, the existence of a single thing would become as difficult as the existence of all things. But if everything is ascribed to One Being, the creation of all things becomes as easy as the creation of one thing. Since One Being has created the earth and the heavens, for sure that All-Wise and Skillful Creator would not allow disorder to arise by allowing others to create and administer living beings, who are the fruits and aims of the heavens and the earth, and so He would not mock His Divine purpose for creation. He would certainly not give others their worship and thanks.

SECOND PARAGRAPH: O my haughty carnal soul! You are like a grapevine. The vine itself has not attached the bunches of grapes; someone else has attached them, so do not boast.

THIRD PARAGRAPH: O my ostentatious carnal soul! Do not be proud of your services to God’s religion. As stated in a Prophetic Tradition, God may strengthen this religion by means of a dissolute person. You are not pure, so regard yourself as that dissolute person. Purge yourself of self-admiration and pride by considering your service and worship as thanksgiving for God’s past favors to you, a duty required by your humanity and a consequence of your being God’s work of art.

FOURTH PARAGRAPH: If you want to acquire knowledge of the truth and true wisdom, try to attain knowledge of God. For all truths and realities of creation consist in the rays of the Divine Name of the Ultimate Truth and Ever Constant and the manifestations of His Names and Attributes. The reality of each human being and every existence, whether material or spiritual, substantial or accidental, originates in the light of one of His Names. Otherwise they would be mere forms without any substantial reality and truth.

O my carnal soul! If you are attached to this temporary worldly life and try to flee from death, know that life is the present moment. The past and what existed therein have passed away, and the future and what will exist therein is still non-existent. Thus the material life upon which you rely is of momentary duration. Some truth-knowing scholars even say that life consists of an instant. For this reason, some saints believe that the world is non-existent on account of itself. As this is the reality, abandon the corporeal, carnal life and rise to the level of life of the heart, spirit, and innermost faculties. See what a broad sphere of life they have. The past and future, which are dead for you, are living for them; they are existent and full of life. Given this, O my carnal soul, shed tears like my heart, and cry out and say:

I am mortal, so I do not want the mortal.

I am impotent, so I do not desire the impotent.

I surrendered my spirit to the All-Merciful, so I desire none else.

I want only one who will remain my friend forever.

I am but an insignificant particle, but I desire an everlasting sun.

I am nothing in essence, but I wish for the whole of creation.

FIFTH PARAGRAPH: This paragraph occurred to me in Arabic and so was written in Arabic. It expresses one of the 33 stations of reflection upon “God is the All-Great” (Allahu Akbar).

God is the All-Great: He is the All-Powerful, the All-Knowing, the All Wise, the All-Munificent, the All-Compassionate, the All-Beautiful, the Eternal Inscriber. The truth and reality of these worlds, in whole and in parts, and in “sheets,” and layers, as well as the truths and realities of these beings as a whole and individually, and in their existence and continuation, are but:

• the lines drawn by the Pen of God’s Decree and Destiny, and His ordering and determining with knowledge and wisdom;
• and the skillful inscriptions made with the compasses of His Knowledge and Wisdom, and forming and arranging, with art and favor;
• and the embellishments of the shining “hand” of His Art, Favor, decorating, and illuminating, with grace and munificence;
• and the flowers of the subtleties of His Favor and Munificence, and making Himself known and loved, with mercy and bountifulness;
• and the fruits of the effusions of His Mercy and Bountifulness, Pitying and Affection, with grace and perfection.
• and the radiations of the manifestations of His Grace, Beauty and Perfection, as attested to by the disappearance of mirrors (of beings) and the flux of objects despite the permanent manifestation and constant reflection of the transcendent, eternal Grace and Beauty throughout all seasons, centuries, and ages, and by the perpetual bestowal of bounties throughout the passage of creatures, days, and people.

Indeed, a perfect work points, for an intellectual one, to a perfect act; a perfect act points, for an intelligent one, to a perfect title; a perfect title self-evidently points to a perfect attribute; a perfect attribute necessarily points to a perfect capacity; and a perfect capacity certainly points to the perfection of the Essence, the Agent, in a way proper for that Essence, Who is the Most Evident Truth.

The mortality of mirrors (wherein manifestations are reflected) and the decay of creatures, despite the perpetual manifestation (of the Titles, Attributes, and acts) in utmost abundance, is a clear sign and convincing argument that the manifest beauty does not belong to those on whom they are manifested. This is a most eloquent explanation and evident proof of the abstract Beauty and ever-renewed Benevolence, of the Necessarily Existent and the All-Loving, Permanent One.

O God. Bestow blessings on our master Muhammad from past eternity to future eternity to the number of things encompassed by Divine Knowledge, and on his Family and Companions, and bestow peace on peace.

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi