The Thirty-third Word

Thirty-three windows opening on God’s Existence and Unity from the universe and humanity

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

We will show them Our manifest signs in the horizons of the universe and within their own selves, until it becomes clear to them that it (the Qur’an) is indeed the truth. Is it not enough that your Lord is a witness over all things? (41:53)

QUESTION:  We would like a brief, concise explanation of how humanity (the microcosm) and the universe (the macrocosm) point to God’s necessary Existence and Unity, as well as His Lordship’s characteristics, attributes, and acts, which the two parts of the comprehensive verse above denote.

ANSWER: The thirty-two Words written so far are thirty-two drops from the ocean of the truths poured out by that verse. Your question is answered therein. The following only points to the droplets of a drop from that ocean.

If a miracle-displaying person wants to build a large palace, first he lays the foundation firmly according to his purpose for building it. Next, he divides it into apartments and rooms skillfully and then furnishes and deco rates them. After that, he illuminates the palace with electric lights. Then, in order to show his other skills and ever-renewed bountifulness, he makes additions, changes, and transformations in every floor, wing and apartment. Furthermore, he establishes a communication system linking every apartment and room, and opens windows in every room so that his rank and true identity may be displayed and the inhabitants of the palace may contact him.

Similarly—The highest comparison is (and must be put forth) for God— the Maker of Majesty, the Originator, Who is beyond compare and called by one thousand and one holy Names, such as the All-Wise Ruler and the All-Just Judge, willed to make that palace of the universe, that tree of creation, which is the macrocosm. He laid the palace’s (and tree’s) foundations in six “days” and built the main body with the principles of His Wisdom and rules of His eternal Knowledge. Dividing it into higher and lower levels and branches, He ramified and elaborated it with the principles of His Decree and Destiny. Then He formed and organized creatures in groups, families, and species and ordered the life of each with the principles of His Art and Favoring. After that, He adorned each thing and world in a unique way. For example, He adorned the sky with stars and the earth with flowers. He manifested His Names in those vast arenas where His universal laws and all-inclusive principles are in force and illuminated them. Following that, by manifesting His Names the All-Merciful and the All Compassionate, He came to the aid of each individual creature, which cried at the pressure of those universal laws. That means that He has, with in His universal and all-inclusive rules or laws, special favors and help, as well as particular manifestations, that encourage every being to turn to Him at any time and ask Him to meet any of its needs. Also, in order to make His Existence and Unity evident, He opened windows on Himself from all apartments, all levels of creation and worlds, all groups of existence and individuals, and all things. Furthermore, He left a phone in every heart.

Now referring those innumerable windows to the all-comprehensive Divine Knowledge, the discussion of which is beyond our capacity, in a happy correspondence with the thirty repetitions of the phrases of glorifying and praising God, and of affirming His Greatness after each prescribed Prayer, and under the title of The Twenty-third Word, we will be content with a brief allusion to thirty-three of them originating from the Qur’an’s verses.

Thirty-three windows

FIRST WINDOW: We clearly observe that all things, particularly living ones, have many different needs and demands. They are properly met on time from somewhere unknown and unexpected. Unable to reach their objects by themselves, they cannot meet even the least of their needs. For example, consider yourself: consider how many needs you have to satisfy your outer and external senses and organs, which you are unable to procure. Extend this comparison to all other living beings. These needs and demands, as well as their gratification, point singly and as a whole to an Absolutely Necessary Being’s Existence and His Oneness. Like the sun’s light pointing to the sun, they show Him to the mind behind the veil of the Unseen with His Names the All-Munificent, the All-Compassionate, the All-Training and Upbringing, the All-Organizing the All-Providing. How can you explain this universal reality displaying wisdom, awareness, and compassion? Can you explain it by attributing it to deaf nature, blind force, random coincidence, or lifeless and powerless causes?

SECOND WINDOW: While on the way to existence and individualization things and beings have an infinite variety of potential forms, each is given, all at once and wisely and with perfect wisdom, a particular, distinct and extremely well-ordered individuality and countenance equipped with outer and inner senses with perfect wisdom. This countenance bears a unique mark that distinguishes the individual from all other members of its species. Thus one’s countenance is a very brilliant stamp of Divine Oneness and Uniqueness displayed especially by His purposeful choice and preference. Just as each face bears witness in countless ways to an All-Wise Maker’s Existence and points to His Oneness, that stamp of Oneness displayed by all faces as a whole shows to the mind’s eye that it is a seal belonging to the Creator of all things.

To what workshop can you attribute those stamps that cannot be imitated, and the brilliant seal of God’s being the Eternally Besought that they form as a whole?

THIRD WINDOW: The huge army of countless plant and animal species on the earth are each given with perfect measure and order, and without any confusion and forgetfulness, a particular form and garment, and a particular provision and weaponry; and each species is trained and demobilized in a unique way.181 This is a stamp of Him Who is the One and the Unique, a stamp as brilliant as the sun and thus beyond doubt. Who but the One with limitless Power, all-encompassing Knowledge, and infinite Wisdom can dare to share in that infinitely wonderful administration? If one who could not administer and train all these species and races together, which exist inter mixed, were to interfere with one of them, confusion would certainly arise. However, we read: Look yet again, can you see any rifts? (67:3). As there is no sign of any void or confusion, no one could have a part in creation.

FOURTH WINDOW: Seeds pray in the tongue of their disposition and potentiality, animals pray in the tongue of their natural needs, and all who are in straitened circumstances in the tongue of compulsion or utter need and constraint. Each prayer is answered. As each answered prayer bears witness to and points to God’s necessary Existence and Unity, all of them self evidently point to an All-Compassionate, All-Munificent, and All Answering Creator as a whole and on a larger scale.

FIFTH WINDOW: We see that things, especially living ones, apparently come into existence as if all at once. Given this, we would expect them to be simple, coarse, and without any art. Instead, they are so finely created that many skills are required, embellished so carefully and delicately that a long time is demanded, ornamented so artistically that many tools are needed, and made so elaborately that a great amount of material is necessary. So, just as the beautiful form given to each and all things simultaneously, as well as the wonderful artistry manifested on them, testify to an All-Wise Maker’s necessary Existence and point to His Lordship’s Unity, so too, as a whole they point in a most brilliant fashion to a Necessarily Existent Being Who is infinitely Powerful and Wise.

How do you explain this? Can it be attributed to ignorant nature? Can you call that All-Holy Maker “nature” and ascribe the miracles of His Power to it? Will it not be a greatest mistake, and mean regarding something utterly impossible as possible?

SIXTH WINDOW

Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day (with their periods shortening and lengthening), and the vessels sailing in the sea with profit to people, and the water that God sends down from the sky, therewith reviving the earth after its death and dispersing therein all kinds of living creatures, and His disposal of the winds, and the clouds subservient between sky and earth—surely there are signs for a people who reason and understand. (2:164)

This verse, which demonstrates God’s necessary Existence and Unity, is an extremely large window through which one of God’s Greatest Names is seen. Briefly, all worlds situated at the universe’s higher and lower levels point to the same result in different tongues: the Lordship of a single All Wise Maker. It is as follows:

• Well-organized and systematic movements in the heavens for extensive results show an All-Powerful One of Majesty’s Existence and Unity and His Lordship’s perfection.
• Likewise, the tremendous seasonal and other changes on the earth resulting in utterly comprehensive benefits show the necessity of that All-Powerful One of Majesty’s Unity and His Lordship’s perfection.
• All land and water animals are fed through perfect mercy, given forms with perfect wisdom, and equipped with senses and faculties through perfect Lordship. As each of them testifies to that same All-Powerful One of Majesty’s Existence and points to His Unity, as a whole, they demonstrate His Divinity’s grandeur and His Lordship’s perfection on a large scale.
• Similarly, all well-formed plants in gardens and orchards and their ornate flowers, the well-proportioned fruits that replace the flowers, and the rich embellishments displayed by the fruits bear witness to that All-Wise Maker’s Existence and point to His Unity individually. Collectively, they show His Mercy’s grace and His Lordship’s perfection in a splendid way.
• All drops sent from the atmosphere and charged with important purposes, necessary consequences, and benefits show to their number that All-Wise Maker’s necessary Existence and Unity and His Lordship’s perfection.
• In the same way, all mountains and minerals of great variety deposited in them for various purposes show, as firmly as mountains, that All-Wise Maker’s Existence and Unity and His Lordship’s perfection.
• All beautiful flowers decorating hills and plains attest, individually, to an All-Wise Maker’s necessary Existence and point to His Unity. Collectively, they show His Sovereignty’s majesty and His Lord ship’s perfection.
• Likewise, all well-proportioned shapes and positions of herb and tree leaves, as well as their rapturous and systematic movements, show to the number of the leaves that All-Wise Maker’s necessary Existence and Unity and His Lordship’s perfection.
• All growing bodies are equipped with various members and systems during their growth, and begin to move in an ordered manner and are directed toward yielding fruits. Each one testifies to that All Wise Maker’s necessary Existence and points to His Unity. As a whole, they demonstrate His Power’s comprehensiveness, His Wisdom’s inclusiveness, His Art’s beauty, and His Lordship’s perfection on a very large scale.
• Establishing souls and spirits in all animal bodies with perfect wisdom, equipping them with appropriate systems with perfect order, and mobilizing them for unique services and purposes with perfect wisdom—all of this bears witness, to the number of animals, indeed to the number of their faculties, and points to that All-Wise Maker’s necessary Existence and Unity. Collectively, these acts show His Mercy and His Lordship’s perfection in a most brilliant fashion.
• All Divine inspirations that instruct humanity in all sorts of knowledge and truth, as well as teach animals how to procure their needs, suggest the Existence of an All Compassionate Lord and point to His Lordship.
• Also, like the rays of light coming from the eye and collecting together all the “flowers” in the garden of the universe before eyes, all outer and inner senses function each as a key to a different world. This demonstrates, as brightly as the sun, the necessary Existence of that All-Wise Maker, All-Knowing Originator, All Compassionate Creator, All-Munificent Provider, and His Unity and Lordship’s perfection.

Thus a huge window is opened through the twelve windows mentioned above. It shows through a twelve-colored light of truth the Oneness or Uniqueness of God Almighty and His Lordship’s perfection. How can you close that window, which is as wide as the earth or even its orbit around the sun? How can you extinguish that source of light, which is as bright as the sun? Behind what veil of heedlessness can you hide it?

SEVENTH WINDOW

• Countless kinds and species of creatures come into existence easily and resemble each other in many ways. They are spread on the earth with perfect order and show a perfect proportionateness and equipment. This demonstrates an All-Wise Maker’s necessary Existence and Unity and His Power’s perfection on a broad scale.
• Likewise, the creation of innumerable and unique well-composed compound beings out of simple lifeless elements also testifies to that All-Wise Maker’s necessary Existence and points to His Unity. As a whole, these beings show His Power’s perfection and His Unity in a most brilliant way.
• Also, there is an infinite degree of differentiation and compounding within infinite profusion in the composition, dissolution and reformation of beings. For example, while seeds and roots exist under ground in very confused positions, they are amazingly distinguished in growth. Like food particles entering the body in confusion and then separated and shared among organs and tissues with perfect measure and wisdom, the substances entering trees in confusion are distinguished and distributed among leaves, blossoms, and fruits. This shows the necessary Existence of that absolutely Wise, Knowing, and Powerful One, as well as His Unity and His Power’s perfection.
• It also demonstrates the necessary Existence of that same All Powerful One Majesty and the Maker of Perfection, His Power’s perfection, and His Lordship’s grandeur and perfection that He makes the world of atoms into a boundless, vast field and then sows and harvests it every moment with perfect wisdom. He obtains fresh crops of different worlds from it and causes those unconscious, powerless, and ignorant atoms to perform innumerable systematic functions, just as if they were extremely learned, conscious, and capable.

Thus a large window is opened onto knowledge of God through these four ways, and they display an All-Wise Maker to the mind on a large scale. If you do not want to see Him through this window and recognize Him, rid yourself of reason so as to become like an animal and be saved!

EIGHTH WINDOW: The testimony of all Prophets, upon them be peace, (those people with luminous spirits), based on their manifest and evident miracles; the testimony of all saints (those distinguished with illumined hearts), relying on their wonder-working and spiritual discoveries; and the testimony of all purified scholars (those with enlightened minds), relying on their research and quest for truth, all testify to the necessary Existence and Unity of One, the Creator of all things, and His Power’s perfection. They form a vast and enlightening window through which His Lordship—sustaining, training, raising, etc.—shows Itself continually.

Who do you rely on so that you do not heed those people? Or, by closing your eyes in the daytime, do you imagine the world to be in darkness?

NINTH WINDOW

• The worship of all beings shows an Absolutely Worshipped One. As testified by those who penetrate the world of spirits and the inner dimension of things, where they meet with angels and spirit beings, all angels and spirit beings worship an Eternally Worshipped One in perfect obedience. We all observe that all living beings perform duties in perfect order in a manner resembling worship, and that all inanimate things render services with perfect submission in a like manner. All of this shows the necessary Existence and Unity of an All-Worshipped One, Who is absolutely worthy of worship.

• This is also the case with the true knowledge of all saints knowing Him (which bears the weight of consensus), all thankful people’s fruitful thanks, the blessed recitations of those who regularly recite God with His Names and Attributes, the praises (which increase Divine bounties) of those who praise God, the pronouncements and descriptions of Divine Unity (based on decisive proofs) of those who believe in it, the true love of all lovers of God, the true will and desires of those who seek Him, and the earnest searching and inclinations of those who turn to Him. All of this shows the necessary Existence and Unity of that Eternally Worshipped One, the One Who is the All-Recognized, the All-Mentioned, the All-Praised, the All-Beloved, the All-Desired, and the All-Sought, as well as His Lordship’s perfection.
• Also, the acceptable worship and supplications of perfected people, as well as their spiritual radiance, visions, and illuminations resulting from their worship, demonstrate that Everlasting and Eternally Worshipped One’s necessary Existence and Unity and His Lordship’s perfection.

These three aspects open up a broad, light-giving window onto Divine Unity.

TENTH WINDOW

God is He Who has created the heavens and the earth, and sends down water from the sky with which He brings forth fruits for your provision; and He has made the ships serviceable for you, so that they run upon the sea by His command; and He has made the rivers serviceable for you. And He has made the sun and the moon constant in their courses, (and so) serviceable for you; and He has made the night and the day of service to you. He has granted you from all that you ask Him; were you to attempt to count God’s blessings, you could not compute them. (14:32-34)

The mutual helping and solidarity of beings and their responding to each other’s call for assistance shows that all creatures are trained by one Instructor, administered by one Director, controlled by one Disposer, and serve one Master. Through a universal law of mutual helping, the sun cooks, by the Lord’s command, that which is needed by the earth’s living creatures to continue living. The moon acts as a calendar; light, air, water, and sustenance hasten to help animate beings; plants hasten to help animals; animals and plants hasten to help human beings; bodily members hasten to help each other; and food particles hasten to help cells.

This most wise and generous cooperation among unconscious beings, their responding to each other’s needs and supporting each other under a law of munificence and grace, a law of compassion and care and a principle of mercy, show that they are the servants, officers, and creatures of a Unique One of Unity, a peerless, Eternally Besought One, an Absolutely Powerful, Absolutely Knowledgeable, Absolutely Compassionate, Absolutely Munificent, and Necessarily Existent One. How do you, O follower of materialistic philosophy and scientism, respond to this mighty window? Can chance have a hand in this?

ELEVENTH WINDOW

Be aware that it is only in the remembrance of and whole-hearted devotion to God that hearts find rest and contentment. (13:28)

Only through recognizing their One Creator can all spirits and hearts be delivered from the distress and confusion of misguidance, and from the spiritual pains arising from that distress. Attributing all beings to a Maker of Unity allows them to find salvation, and they find rest and contentment in the remembrance of One God. For, as proved in The Twenty-second Word, if all those innumerable beings are not attributed to a Single Being, one thing must be ascribed to numberless causes. In which case, the existence of a single thing becomes as difficult as the whole creation; a fruit becomes as difficult as the universe, indeed, more difficult. Consider this: If one soldier is commanded by a hundred officers, a hundred difficulties will arise. But if a hundred soldiers are commanded by one officer, they will be as easy to command as one soldier. This also is true in the case of creation, for creating one thing by multiple causes would face as many problems as there are causes. Given this, belief in the Creator’s Unity and knowledge or recognition of God will deliver us from the endless distress arising from the curiosity and desire to find the truth, which is inherent in our nature.

Unbelief and associating partners with God engenders so many difficulties and pains that they clearly cannot contain any truth. In contrast, we see how easily things and beings come into existence in great variety and multiplicity and yet with utmost beauty and artistry. This ease of creation can be explained only by ascribing all of creation to One God. As there is infinite ease in the way of believing in One God, it is certainly necessary and the truth itself. See how dark and distressing is the way of misguidance. Why do you take it, when you can see how easy and pleasant is the way of belief and affirming Divine Unity? Take that way and be delivered.

TWELFTH WINDOW: As declared in:

Glorify the Name of your Lord, the Most High, Who creates and fashions in due proportions; and Who determines (a particular life, nature, and goal for each creature), and guides (it toward its own way and the fulfillment of that goal). (87:1-3)

all things, especially living ones, have a form and well-measured proportions according to their functions, as if they have emerged from a mold of wisdom. Each has been given a unique shape, with curves and twists according to its appointed benefits and uses. Their resulting outer and inner changes and renewals proceed according to certain measures and purposes determined for their lives. All of this shows that the shapes and proportions of these innumerable creatures are planned within the frame of an all-inclusive Determining or Destiny of an All-Powerful One of Majesty, an All-Wise One of Perfection, and they are given forms and bodies in the workshop of the Divine Power. All this points to His necessary Existence and bears witness in endless tongues to His Unity and His Power’s perfection.

Look at your own body and its parts. Reflect on the uses and benefits of each one’s curves and twists, and see the perfection of the Power embedded in perfect Wisdom!

THIRTEENTH WINDOW: As stated in: There is nothing but it glorifies Him with His praise (17:44), each thing mentions and glorifies its Creator in its own tongue. These glorifications, whether vocal or in the tongue of their lives and dispositions, show a single All-Holy One’s Existence.

The testimony of disposition or nature is not rejected. The proof produced by practical life, especially when it issues from many aspects of that life, cannot provoke doubt. See how well-ordered forms of these creatures, which exhibit countless testimonies of creation and disposition, and bear witness in the language of their lives and manners, and which all turn to a single center like concentric circles, are each an expressive tongue. Their well-proportioned structures and organizations are tongues of testimony, and their well-organized lives are tongues of glorification. As convincingly argued in The Twenty-fourth Word, these glorifications and exaltations testify to a single All-Holy Being, demonstrate His necessary Existence as certainly as light shows the sun, and point to His Divinity’s perfection.

FOURTEENTH WINDOW

Say: “In whose hand is the absolute dominion of all things?” (23:88)

There is nothing but the stores (for its life) are with us. (15:21)

No living creature is there but He holds it by its forelock. (11:56)

Surely my Lord keeps watch and record of all things. (11:57)

These verses state that everything, in all circumstances and aspects of its life and existence, needs a single Creator of Majesty. Looking at creatures, we see the manifestation of an absolute force within absolute weakness and the impressions and inscriptions of an absolute power in absolute impotence. For example, the awakening of the life-force in plant seeds and roots is extraordinary.

There also are manifestations of absolute wealth within absolute poverty and sterility, like the poverty of soil and trees in winter and their glittering profusion in spring. Sparks of absolute life are observed in absolutely life less matter (e.g., the transformation of mineral elements into living entities). Manifestations of all-encompassing consciousness are seen in absolute ignorance, as when everything from stars to atoms acts as if consciously conforming to the universe’s order, life’s principles, and wisdom’s demands. All these manifestations—power within impotence, force or strength within weakness, richness within poverty, and life and consciousness within lifelessness and ignorance—open windows onto the necessary Existence and Unity of One Absolutely Powerful, Strong, Wealth, and Knowing, as well as Living and Self-Subsistent. In their totality, they point to a luminous highway (the way of believing in God and His Oneness) on a large scale.

If you ascribe creativity to nature and accept it as self-originated instead of recognizing Divine Power, you must acknowledge that everything contains an infinite force and power, wisdom and skill, and the capacity to see, know, and direct most other things.

FIFTEENTH WINDOW: As declared in: He Who makes excellent everything that He creates (32:7), everything is clothed in existence and a form tailored to its nature’s receptivity with perfect measure and order, assembled with the finest art, and by the most direct method, in the best shape and the easiest manner, and with the most practicable features. Look at the “dress” of birds and see how easily they can ruffle up and continually use their feathers. Giving things bodies and dressing them in forms in so wise a manner as mentioned and without waste and futility bears witness, to the number of those things, to an All-Wise Maker’s necessary Existence and points to an Absolutely Powerful and Knowing One.

SIXTEENTH WINDOW: The order and organization in the creation and management of creatures, recruited every season on the earth, show a universal purposiveness and wisdom. Since an attribute cannot be without the one it qualifies, that universal wisdom shows a Wise One. The wonderful adornment within that veil of wisdom shows an all-embracing grace, which shows an All-Gracious Creator of Munificence. The all-encompassing favoring and benevolence within that veil of grace show an all-encompassing mercy, which shows an All-Merciful, All-Compassionate One. The sustenance and provision of all living creatures on that veil of mercy, all perfect and appropriate for their needs, show an upbringing and training providence and a compassionate lordship. That training and administering show an All Munificent Provider.

Each creature raised with perfect wisdom, equipped and adorned with perfect graciousness, favored with perfect mercy, and nurtured with perfect caring and compassion, bears witness to the necessary Existence of an All-Wise, Munificent, Compassionate, Providing Maker and points to His Unity. Consider the all-encompassing wisdom manifested on whole of the earth and which clearly shows a purpose and will; the perfect grace encompassing all creatures in accordance with wisdom; the extensive mercy comprising both grace and wisdom and embracing all creatures; and the most generous providing and nurturing comprising the mercy, wisdom, and grace, and embracing all living creatures. Just as the seven colors form the light and the light illuminating the earth shows the sun, so too that grace within wisdom, mercy within grace, and providing and nurturing within mercy show brilliantly, and on a vast scale and at a high degree, the Unity and Lordship of an All-Wise, All Munificent, All-Compassionate, All-Providing, and Necessarily-Existent One.

How can you explain this wise as well as compassionate, generous, providential sustaining and raising; this extraordinary, wonderful, miraculous state of affairs before your eyes? By random chance and coincidence, blind force, deaf and mute nature, or by powerless, lifeless, and ignorant causes? By giving the name of “nature,” which is infinitely impotent, ignorant, deaf, blind, contingent, and helpless, to the All-Majestic One, Who is infinitely Powerful, Knowing, Hearing, and Seeing? Do you want to commit such a serious mistake? How can you extinguish a truth as brilliant as the sun? Under what veil of heedlessness can you hide it?

SEVENTEENTH WINDOW

Surely in the heavens and the earth are signs for believers. (45:3)

Consider the following points:

• During spring and summer we see in the creation of things an infinite generosity and absolute liberality, which could be expected to cause disorder and confusion, within an infinite order and harmony. See all the plants adorning the earth’s face.
• The absolute speed in creating things, which normally would result in imbalance and loss of decorum, is observed within a perfect equilibrium and proportion. See all the fruits decorating the earth’s face.
• The absolute multiplicity and variety, which normally would bring about triviality and even ugliness, is apparent within art’s perfect beauty. See all the flowers gilding the earth’s face.
• The absolute ease in creating things, which normally would cause simplicity and lack of art, is seen within an art, skill, and attention of infinite degree. See all the seeds, which are like tiny containers and programs of all plants and trees, and also like small cases containing their life-histories.
• The great distances, which normally would necessitate difference and diversity, appear within an absolute correspondence and conformity. See all the varieties of cereal grains sown throughout the world.
• The utter intermingling, which normally would cause confusion and mess, is seen within perfect differentiation and separation. Consider how seeds, cast into the ground all mixed together and resembling each other with regard to their substance, are perfectly differentiated when they are about to sprout. See how the various substances entering trees are separated perfectly for leaves, blossoms, and fruits, and how the foods entering the stomach all mixed together are separated perfectly for the body’s members and cells. Consider all this and see the perfect power within perfect wisdom.
• The infinite abundance and profusion, which normally would cause triviality and worthlessness, are seen to be most valuable and most worthwhile in regard to the earth’s creatures and art. Among all those innumerable wonders of art, consider only the varieties of mulberry, those sweets of Divine Power, on the table of the All Merciful One on the earth, and observe the perfect mercy combined with the perfect art.

Just as daytime shows light and light shows the sun, the great value despite infinite profusion; within infinite profusion, the infinite differentiation and separation despite boundless intermingling; within infinite differentiation and separation, the infinite conformity and resemblance despite the great distances; within infinite resemblance, the infinite care and attention in the making despite infinite ease and facility; within the most beautiful making, the infinite equilibrium, balance, and lack of waste despite absolute speed and rapidity; within the utmost lack of waste, the highest degree of beauty of art despite the utmost abundance and multiplicity; within the highest degree of art, the absolute order and harmony despite the utmost liberality—all of these bear witness to the necessary Existence, Unity, and Oneness of an All-Powerful One of Majesty, an All Wise One of Perfection, an All-Compassionate One of Grace and Beauty, and His Power’s perfection and His Lordship’s grace and beauty. They demonstrate the meaning of: His are the All-Beautiful Names (20:8).

So, unfortunate, obstinate, and heedless one! How can you interpret this mighty truth or explain this infinitely miraculous and wonderful state of affairs? To what can you attribute these truly extraordinary arts? What veil of heedlessness can you draw across this window as broad as the earth and then close it? Where is your chance and coincidence? Where is your unconscious companion on which you rely and call “nature,” your friend and support in misguidance? Is it not utterly impossible for chance and coincidence to have a hand in these affairs? Is it not inconceivable to attribute to nature even a minute fraction of ordering these things? Or does lifeless, ignorant, unconscious nature have machines and printing presses within each thing, made from each, and equal in quantity to the number of individual things?

EIGHTEENTH WINDOW

Do they never consider the inner dimension of the heavens and the earth and God’s absolute dominion over them? (7:185)

Consider the following comparison explained in The Twenty-second Word:

A perfect, well-designed and artistic construction like a palace points to a perfect act, that is, an act of construction. A perfect, well-performed act points to a perfect actor, to a skillful master-builder. The title of a skillful master-builder points to a perfect attribute, to an artistic ability. A perfect attribute, a perfect competence in an art points to the existence of a perfect capacity. A prefect capacity or potentiality points to the existence of a noble spirit, an exalted being.

Likewise, the ever-renewed, refreshed, and replaced works filling the earth’s face and the universe show acts of perfect degree. Those acts, occur ring in an infinitely wise and well-ordered system, show an agent or an actor with perfect titles and names. For it is clear that well-arranged and wise acts must have someone doing them. Infinitely perfect titles point, in turn, to that agent’s infinitely perfect attributes. This is also a rule of gram mar—according to the (Arabic) grammar, the origins of nouns are adjectives. Perfect attributes point to perfect personal potentialities, and perfect potentialities point to the one with a limitless degree of perfection.

Thus, since each work of art and all creatures in the universe are perfect, and since each bears witness to an act, the act to a name, the name to an attribute, the attribute to a potentiality, and the potentiality to a being, then—as well as all of them testifying to a single Maker of Majesty’s necessary Existence and Unity to their number—as a whole they constitute a stair way of knowledge of God, which leads to Him in a form as strong as the chain of creatures, and a proof of truth in series that cannot be doubted.

So, O poor, heedless unbeliever, can you break this proof as strong as the chain of beings? Can you shut up this window that has as many openings as the numbers of creatures to show the rays of truth? What veil of heedlessness can you draw across it?

NINETEENTH WINDOW

The seven heavens and the earth and all in them glorify Him. There is nothing but it glorifies Him with His praise. (17:44)

According to the meaning of this verse, the All-Majestic Maker has attached so many instances of wisdom and meanings to heavenly bodies that, as if to express His Majesty and Grace, He has adorned the heavens with suns, moons, and stars. He has also attached such instances of wisdom and meanings to the creatures in the atmosphere as if to make the atmosphere speak in words like lightning, thunder, and raindrops. He also teaches the perfection of His Wisdom and the beauty of His Mercy.

Just as He makes the earth speak in meaningful words like plants and animals, and thereby shows His Art’s perfection to the universe, He also shows His Art’s perfection and His Mercy’s beauty by making plants and trees speak in their words of leaves, flowers, and fruits. By making flowers and fruits speak in words of seeds and pollen, He teaches the subtleties of His Art and His Lordship’s perfection to conscious beings. Among these countless words of glorification, we will consider the manner in which a flower or an ear of wheat expresses its glorification and discover how it bears witness:

Each plant and tree shows its Maker in numerous tongues in a way that amazes observers and causes them to say: “All-Glorified is God, how excellently it bears witness.” Each plant’s glorifications when it blossoms and grows ears or spikes—the time when it speaks in smiles—are beautiful like itself and evident. For the order or system displaying the wisdom or purposiveness expressed in all flowers’ speaking, in the tongues of well-formed spikes or ears, and in the words of well-proportioned seeds and well-made grains, is perfectly measured and balanced, which visibly points to knowledge. The balance or measure is in a design of art, which indicates skill in art, and the design of art is in an adornment showing grace and munificence. The adornment is in pleasant fragrances showing mercy and benevolence. These meaningful states of things, one within the other, form such a tongue of testimony that they define their All-Majestic Maker with His Names, describe Him with His Attributes, exemplify His Names’ manifestations, and express His being loved and recognized.

Hearing such a testimony from a flower, if you can hear the voices of all flowers in all of the Lord’s gardens on the earth’s face and how powerfully they announce the All-Majestic Maker’s necessary Existence and Unity, how can you have any remaining questions, doubts, and hesitations?

Look at a tree and see its fine expressiveness—how in spring its leaves appear all regularly, its blossoms open all proportionately, its fruits grow and ripen in wisdom and mercy, and itself dances at the blowing of breezes. Then consider the exact balance in the wise order expressed through the leaves becoming green by a hand of munificence, and the tongue of the blossoms smiling with a joy of grace, and the words of the fruits smiling with a display of mercy. Also, consider the delicate arts and designs within the balance demonstrating the exact measure; and the different tastes and pleasant fragrances within skillfully made designs and ornaments showing mercy and benevolence, and the seeds and stones, each of which is a miracle of Power, in pleasant fragrances and sweet tastes. See how such facts show most clearly the necessary Existence and Unity of an All-Wise, All Munificent, All-Compassionate, All-Benevolent Maker, the Bestower of bounties, All-Beautifying, One Making Excellent, and His Mercy’s beauty and His Lordship’s perfection. If you could hear all the tongues of all trees, you would see what beautiful gems there are in the treasury of: Whatever is in the heavens and the earth glorifies God (61:1).

So, O unfortunate heedless one who supposes yourself to be left to your own devices in ingratitude! If you do not want to recognize an All Munificent One of Majesty, Who makes Himself known to you and wills to be loved by you in such innumerable tongues, then these tongues should be silenced. But since they cannot be silenced, you should listen to them. Just closing your ears will not make you able to escape from them, for the universe does not stop speaking and creatures are not silenced. As testifiers to Divine Unity, they cannot be silenced; for sure, they will condemn you.

TWENTIETH WINDOW182

All-Glorified is He in Whose hand is the absolute dominion of all things. (36:83)

There is nothing but the stores (for its life) are with Us, and We send it not down but with a due, determined measure. We send the winds to fertilize, and so We send down water from the sky and give it to you to drink; it is not you who are the keepers of its stores. (15:21-22)

Just as a perfect wisdom and the beauty and grace of art are apparent in particulars, results, and details in creation, so also universal elements, which seem to be in confusion as well as random and coincidental, assume positions dictated by wisdom and art. Thus, as indicated by its otherwise duties, light shines to show and expose God’s creatures on the earth by the leave of its Lord. That is to say, light is employed by an All-Wise Maker; He uses it to make His unique arts visible in the market of this world.

Consider the winds: as seen by its other great and wise benefits and functions, they run to carry out numerous, vital duties. Thus, their wave like movements show that they are employed, sent, and used by an All Wise Maker. They move in order to speedily carry out the Lords’ orders.

Now consider springs, streams, and rivers! Their gushing forth from the ground and mountains is not by chance. Rather, their benefits and uses, all of which are works of Divine Mercy, their storage in mountains according to need, and their being sent according to wisdom show that an All-Wise Lord has subjugated and stored them and causes them to gush forth in obedience to His commands.

Now consider stones, jewels, and minerals of great variety! They have wise specific purposes and benefits and are arranged to meet human and animal needs. This shows that an All-Wise Maker has decorated, arranged, organized, and fashioned them, and given them their particular, beneficial properties.

Now consider the flowers and fruits! The smiles, colors, tastes, beauties, embroideries, and scents that each species are given specific for them and different from those of others are in effect an invitation to and menu on the table of an All-Munificent Maker, an All-Compassionate Bestower of bounties.

Now consider the birds! A decisive proof that their twittering and chirping is due to an All-Wise Maker’s making them speak is the amazing way in which they relay their feelings and express their intentions to each other with these sounds.

Clouds are also amazing. The sound of falling raindrops, as well as the noise of thunder and lightning, are not meaningless; rather, creating these strange atmospheric events in space, milking from clouds raindrops like the water of life and making living creatures on the earth needy of and longing for them suckle them—all this shows that that pattering and crashing are most meaningful and full of purposive wisdom. At an All-Munificent Lord’s command, the rain calls out to those longing for it: “Good tidings! I am coming!”

Look at the sky, particularly the moon among the innumerable bodies in it! The important instances of wisdom attached to it in connection with the earth—which are discussed elsewhere in the Risale-i Nur—demonstrate that it moves at the command of an All-Powerful and All-Wise One.

These universal elements from light to the moon open a vast window. They proclaim and show a Necessarily Existent One’s Unity, His Power’s perfection, and His Sovereignty’s grandeur. So, O heedless one, if you can silence this voice resounding like the crashing of thunder, as well as extinguish this light as brilliant as the sun, forget God. Otherwise, come to your senses and say: All-Glorified is He, Whom the seven heavens and the earth and all within them glorify.

TWENTY-FIRST WINDOW

The sun runs the course appointed for it for a term to its resting-place for the stability of it(s system). This is the measured determining of the All-Glorious with irresistible might, the All-Knowing. (36:38)

The sun, the universe’s lamp, is a window onto the Maker of the universe’s Existence and Unity, which are as brilliant and radiant as itself. Despite their great differences in size, position, and speed, the twelve plan ets183 move and revolve with perfect order, wisdom, balance, and without confusion, and are bound to the sun through a Divine law known as gravity, that is, they follow their leader. This shows on a large scale the Divine Power’s grandeur and the Lord’s Unity. Just imagine and compare how tremendous must be the Power and Wisdom Which rotate those lifeless bodies, those vast, unconscious masses, in infinitely perfect orderliness and with infinitely wise balance and in various forms and over varying distances. If any degree of chance were to interfere in this vast and complex event, it would cause such a great explosion that the universe would be ripped apart. If it were to stop a planet’s motion for even a minute, that planet would leave its orbit and collide with another planet. Imagine the awesome collision of bodies thousands of times larger than the earth.

Referring the wonders of the other planets to God’s All-Encompassing Knowledge, we consider only our own earth. As discussed in The Third Letter (in The Letters), it is caused to make a long journey around the sun at the Lord’s command to carry out a most important duty and in a way showing the grandeur of the Lord’s imperial Power and Majesty, the loftiness of Divine Sovereignty, and the perfection of His Mercy and Wisdom. Being a ship belonging to the Lord, it has been filled with God’s wonderful creatures and made like a moving place of recreation for His conscious servants. The moon has been attached to it with precise reckoning for mighty instances of wisdom like being an hour-hand telling the time, and it has been given various mansions through which to journey. These aspects of this blessed plan et prove an All-Powerful One’s necessary Existence and Unity with a testimony as strong as the earth itself. You can make an analogy with the rest of the solar system from this.

Moreover, the sun is made to turn on its own axis like a spinning-wheel in order to wind the immaterial threads called gravity into a ball and tie the planets to it with them and set them in order. One theory says the sun is driven together with its planets at a speed of 20 km/s toward the constellation Hercules. This self-evidently occurs by the All-Majestic One’s Power and Command, the Sovereign of Eternity. It is as if He makes the solar system move like an army of soldiers under orders, thereby showing His Lordship’s majesty.

So, O astronomer, can chance have a hand in these affairs? Tell me what causes can reach them, what force can draw close to this! Would such an All Majestic Sovereign display impotence and give others a share in His Sovereignty? Would He give this, especially living beings, which are the universe’s fruit, result, aim, and cream, to other hands? Would He permit others to interfere? Would He leave us to our own devices, while we are the most comprehensive fruit, the most perfect result, His guest and vicegerent on the earth (one who must rule according to His laws), and serve as a mirror (reflecting His Names)? Would He leave us to nature and chance, thereby reducing His Sovereignty’s majesty and His perfect Wisdom to nothing?

TWENTY-SECOND WINDOW

Have We not made the earth a cradle, and the mountains masts? And We have created you in pairs. (78:6-8)

Look at the imprints of God’s Mercy, how He revives the earth after its death! (30:50)

The earth is a head containing innumerable mouths with innumerable tongues, each of which has innumerable proofs testifying in innumerable ways to an All-Majestic One’s necessary Existence and Unity, to One Who is All-Powerful over all things and knows everything, and to His sacred Attributes and All-Beautiful Names.

We consider the first creation of the earth: a rock stratum was created from matter in a fluid state and the layer of soil was created from rock. If it had retained its fluid form, it would have been uninhabitable. If it had remained as rock, hard like iron, it would not have been suitable for us. And so we know that an All-Wise Maker’s Wisdom, One Who is aware of the needs of the earth’s inhabitants, gave it its present form.

Afterwards, mountains were driven into the earth like masts in order to stabilize it or made to burst out from the interior of the earth so that they might provide an outlet for its internal quakes and so it could continue its duty and movements without diversion. Mountains also protect the earth’s surface from the oceans’ invasion. Furthermore, they are treasuries for the vital necessities of living creatures, air filters that purify the air of harmful gasses, store water, and are sources of necessary minerals. All these facts testify to an Absolutely Powerful, All-Wise, All-Compassionate One’s necessary Existence and Unity.

So, O geologist, how do you explain this? Could chance have made this Divine ship a display of wonders, full of wonderful creatures? Can chance cause this ship to travel at an incredible speed without losing any thing arranged on its surface? Look at the wonderful kinds of art on the earth’s face. See how wisely elements [chemical substances and the universal elements of air, water, soil, and fire] have been charged with duties, how beautifully they look after the All-Merciful One’s guests here at the command of the All-Powerful, All-Wise One, and hasten to serve them!

Among unique and wonderful works of art, consider those lines of embroidery on the earth’s multicolored face that display striking instances of wisdom. See how He makes brooks and streams, seas and rivers, mountains and hills serve as dwellings and means of transport for His creatures and servants. In addition to these, populating the earth with countless plant and animal species with perfect wisdom and order, and causing it to prosper with life; and discharging those inhabitants in regular cycles from their duties through death, and regularly refilling it and reviving it after its death in a way analogous to the Resurrection are innumerable tongues that testify to an All-Powerful One of Majesty’s necessary Existence and Unity, to an All-Wise One of Perfection.

In short, the earth’s face exhibits the wonders of His Art, is an assembly arena of exquisite creatures, a thoroughfare for the troops of creatures, and a place of worship and dwelling for His servants. Being like the universe’s heart, the earth shows a light of Divine Unity as broad as the universe.

So, O geographer! If you do not recognize God while the earth makes Him known via innumerable mouths containing infinite tongues, and if you submerge your head in the swamp of naturalism, consider the extent of your error. Becoming aware of the severe punishment you will thereby deserve, come to your senses. Raise your head from the swamp and say: “I believe in God, in Whose hand is the absolute dominion of all things!”

TWENTY-THIRD WINDOW

He has created death and life. (67:2)

Life is the Divine Power’s most luminous and beautiful miracle, the Divine Unity’s most brilliant and strongest proof, the most comprehensive and polished mirror reflecting the Eternally Besought One. Life makes known the All-Living and Self-Subsistent One with all His Names and essential Characteristics, for it is a compounded light formed by the manifestations of many Divine Attributes together, just as the seven colors are com pounded in light and various medicinal substances in natural confections. Similarly, life is a reality compounded of many Divine Attributes’ manifestations causing it to have many attributes. Some of these attributes develop through senses and become distinct. Most of them, however, make themselves felt through sentiments, feelings and emotions and are manifested as a result of life’s “boiling.”

Life also comprises providence, mercy, grace, and wisdom, which are the most substantial elements in maintaining and administering the universe. It is as if life brings them along wherever it goes. For example, when life enters a body, the Divine Name the All-Wise also shows Itself therein and builds and arranges that “nest” of life with perfect wisdom. The Names the All-Munificent and the All-Compassionate become manifest at the same instant, furnishing and decorating that nest in accordance with its needs, and, respectively, bestowing on it all kinds of favors to continue and perfect that life. And, the Name the All-Providing manifests Itself by sup plying life with the material and spiritual nourishment necessary for its maintenance and flourishing, as well as by storing a certain amount of that nourishment in its body.

This means that life is like a focal point at which various Names or Attributes meet or, rather, are united into each other to form one entity. It is as if life is entirely knowledge while simultaneously being power, wisdom, mercy, and so on. Due to its comprehensive nature, life is a mirror to God’s being the Eternally Besought that reflects the essential Characteristics of the Divine Being’s Essence. For this reason, the Necessarily Existent One, the All-Living and Self-Subsistent, creates and shows life in the greatest profusion. He also concentrates all things around life to make them serve it, for life is entrusted with a very important duty.

It is not easy to be a mirror to God as the Eternally Besought One. The innumerable new lives and the spirits, which the essences or identities of lives, that we constantly witness being brought into existence instantly and from nothing show the necessary Existence, sacred Attributes, and All Beautiful Names of the Necessarily Existent, All-Living and Self Subsistent One, just as gleams of light show the sun. If you do not recognize the sun and admit its existence, you have to deny the light pervading daytime. In the same way, if you deny the Sun of Oneness, the All-Living and Self-Subsistent, the Giver of life and the One causing to die, you have to deny the existence of all living beings on this planet from their appearance to the earth’s final destruction. You would have to admit to yourself that you are like the unconscious, most ignorant beings.

TWENTY-FOURTH WINDOW

There is no deity but He. All things are perishable except His “Face;” His is the sovereignty and to Him you are being brought back. (28:88)

Death is a proof of Divine Lordship to the degree of life, a very strong evidence of His Oneness. According to the meaning of: He has created death and life (67:2), death is neither total non-existence or extinction, nor absolute annihilation or decay without one who authors it. Rather, as discussed in The First Letter, it is a discharge from worldly service by an All Wise Author, a change of place and bodily renewal, a freeing from duties, a release from the body’s prison, a well-ordered work of wisdom. Just as the earth’s lively face, as well as its creatures and animate beings, testify to an All-Wise Maker’s necessary Existence and Unity, so do those living creatures bear witness through their death to an All-Living, All-Permanent One’s Unity and Eternity. As such matters were explained in The Twenty second Word, we will explain here only the following subtle point.

Through their lives, living beings testify to a Necessarily Existent One’s Existence; through their death, they bear witness to an All-Living Permanent One’s Eternity and Unity. For example, the face of the earth, which is an alive entity, shows the Maker through all of its features and orderliness. When it dies during winter and is covered with a white shroud, our view of its face is distracted or this wintry corpse of spring diverts our attention to the past and brings a broader spectacle to our eyes. In other words, all past springs, each a miracle of Divine Power covering the earth’s face, urge the conviction that a new spring will come and that earth’s face will be revived and refilled with living creatures. Thus, all past springs, as well as the earth’s face [which has experienced cycles of life and death for millions of years] bear witness to the necessary Existence, Unity, Permanence, and Eternity of an All-Majestic Maker, an All-Powerful One of Perfection, a Self-Subsistent, All-Permanent One, so brilliantly and strongly and on such a vast scale, and present such clear proofs, that one cannot help but proclaim: “I believe in God, the One of Unity, the Unique.”

According to the meaning of: He revives the earth after its death, just as this lively earth testifies to the Maker through spring, it also attracts attention to the Divine Power’s miracles arranged on the two wings of time— the past and the future—through its death. In place of one spring it shows thousands. It also points to thousands of Power’s miracles in place of just one. The testimony of one of those past springs is more decisive than that of the present spring, for all past springs have disappeared, together with their apparent causes, and been replaced by new ones like themselves.

This shows that apparent causes mean nothing, for an All-Powerful One of Majesty creates and dispatches them. However, He makes them dependent on certain causes due to His Wisdom. As for the earth’s lively faces arranged in sequence in time to come, their witness is also more forceful, for they will be made while there is yet no sign of them. Each one will be original and, after being sent for definite duties, will be removed.

So, O heedless one about to drown in the swamp of naturalism, how can something without a wise and powerful hand reaching all past and future interfere with the earth’s living face? Can chance and nature, which mean nothing like you [with respect to creating, sustaining, and causing to die) have a hand in this? If you want to be freed from this swamp, say: “Nature is no more than a notebook of Divine Power, and chance is the veil of a hid den Divine Wisdom that hides our ignorance,” and draw close to the truth.

TWENTY-FIFTH WINDOW: A work of art shows an artist. Something born requires the existence of something giving birth. Being below implies being above. And so on. Like all relative things or qualities in pairs existing in relation to each other and requiring the existence of each other, the contingency of all that exists, whether the particular or the whole, shows necessity, for it is equally possible for something to exist or not exist. The being or becoming or being acted upon observed throughout the universe show activity. Their being created shows the activity of creating. Their observed multiplicity and composition necessitate unity. Necessity, acting, doing, creating, and unity demand the attributes of being necessary, active, creative, and one, all of which are not contingent, passive, multiple, composed, and created. Given this, all contingencies, actions, formations, creations, multiplicities, and compositions in the universe testify to a Necessarily Existent One, One doing whatever He wills, the Creator of all things, One and Unique.

In short, contingency shows necessity, being or becoming points to the act of doing or making, and multiplicity points to unity. In the same way, being created and provided, as observed in existence, point to the existence of the acts of making, creating, and providing. These, in turn, point to the existence of an All-Compassionate Maker, Who is the Creator and the All Providing. This means that each creature, through the tongues of its hundreds of attributes, bears witness to hundreds of the Necessarily Existent Being’s All-Beautiful Names. If this is not admitted, then all such qualities also must be denied.

TWENTY-SIXTH WINDOW184: The beauties and comeliness observed in creatures in the universe appear for a fixed period and then are renewed and refreshed after they disappear. This shows that they are some sort of shadows of an Eternal Beauty’s manifestations. Just as sparkling troops of bubbles on a river’s surface show that the bubbles are mirrors of a perpetual sun’s rays, the rays of beauty glittering on creatures traveling in the flowing river of time point to and are the signs of an All-Permanent Beauty.

The earnest love inherent in the universe’s heart also shows a Never Ending Beloved One. As something that does not exist in a tree’s nature has no place in its fruits, the solemn, transcendent love existing in humanity, the tree of creation’s most sensitive and delicate fruit, shows that the universe contains true love, though in different forms and of different kinds. Such a true love in the universe’s heart shows an Eternal, All-Beloved One.

The attractiveness, attractions, and attachments manifesting themselves in the universe’s bosom show all alert and aware hearts that they issue from the attractiveness of an attractive, eternal truth. In addition, saintly people and those who can unveil hidden truths in creation, who form the most sensitive and enlightened group of beings, unanimously report that they receive an All-Beautiful One of Majesty’s manifestations and are aware, through their illuminations and visions, that the All Beautiful One of Majesty makes Himself known and loved. This testifies to the existence of a Necessarily Existent One, an All-Beautiful One of Majesty, and to His making Himself known by human beings. Also, the Pen of beautification and decoration working on the face of the universe and creatures shows the beauty of the Names of that Pen’s Owner.

Thus the universe, through the beauty on its face, the love in its heart, the attraction in its bosom, the illumination and vision in its eyes, and the beauty and decoration it has as a whole, opens a pleasant, clear window. To the intellects and hearts that are alert and awake, it displays an All Beautiful One of Majesty, a Never-Ending Beloved One, an Eternal All Worshipped One—all of Whose Names are Beautiful.

So, O heedless one struggling in the darkness of materialism and illusions, in suffocating doubts and conjectures, come to your senses! Ascend in a way befitting humanity and look through these openings. See the grace and beauty of Oneness, obtain perfect belief, and be a true human being.

TWENTY-SEVENTH WINDOW

God is the Creator of all things, and He is the Guardian (with power of disposition) over all things. (39:62)

Looking at visible things as causes and effects in the universe, we see that the greatest cause—by itself—cannot cause even the most insignificant thing to exist. Thus causes are only a veil, for there must be one who brings effects (things) into existence. Out of innumerable creatures, consider the human faculty of memory, located in a mustard-seed-sized place in a person’s head. Despite its tiny size, it is so comprehensive that it contains a book, or rather a library, in which his or her entire life-history is recorded.

What cause can you present as the origin of that miracle of Divine Power? The brain’s entangled nerves? The cell’s simple, unconscious atoms or particles? The winds of chance? In reality, that miracle of art can only be the work of such a One, an All-Wise Maker that, in order to remind us in the Hereafter’s Supreme Place of Gathering of what we did in this world, He copies our deeds’ register and gives it to our intellect as memory.

Compare all eggs, seeds, and fruit pits to our memory, and then compare all other effects to these tiny miracles of Power. Whatever effect or thing you look at, you will see that it contains such a wonderful artistry that if not only its own cause but all causes were gathered together, they would display their impotence in front of it. For example, supposing the sun, thought by some to be a huge cause or agent, were conscious and had willpower, if you asked it to make a fly’s body, it obviously would answer: “Thanks to my Creator’s grace, my shop contains a great deal of light and heat and several colors. However, a fly’s body contains eyes, ears, life, and other things that are not in my shop or within my capacity.”

A thing’s amazing art and decoration refute causes (as accounting for its existence) and point to the Necessarily Existent Being, the Producer of all causes—according to the meaning of: To Him alone is the whole of the affair referred (11:123)—and acknowledge Him as the true Originator of all things and events. Similarly, the results, purposes, and benefits connected to things show that they are products (of the Acts) of an All-Munificent Lord, an All Compassionate, All-Wise One acting behind the veil of causes.

Since unconscious causes cannot pursue a purpose, how can we explain the fact that every creature comes into existence for many definite purposes and benefits, and according to many instances of wisdom? The only answer is that an All-Wise and All-Munificent Lord brings them into existence, and makes those benefits the reason for their existence.

Consider the coming of rain. Rain’s apparent causes have no consideration or concern for animate beings. Therefore it is sent to help animate beings through the Wisdom of an All-Compassionate Creator Who creates and then provides for them. Rain is called “mercy,” for it bears many results of mercy and brings many benefits. It is as if mercy is embodied in raindrops and falls in drops.

The show and embellishment in all adorned plants and animals, which smile at all creatures, also point to an All-Majestic Being’s necessary Existence and Unity and to the One Who, behind the veil of the Unseen, wills to make Himself known and loved through that adornment and embellishment. All of this points to the qualities of making known and loved, which, in turn, testify to the necessary Existence and Unity of One All Known, All-Loving, and All-Powerful Maker.

In short, causes are infinitely ordinary and impotent when compared to effects (things), which are full of art and valuable. So how can they have any real part in creation? Also, the benefits of things and the purposes pursued through and for them deny causes any real role in creation, for they attribute their existence to an All-Wise Maker. Moreover, their decorations and the skills apparent in their coming into existence point to an All-Wise Maker Who wills to make His Power known to conscious beings, Who wills to be loved.

O helpless one who deifies causes! How do you explain these important realities? Why do you deceive yourself? If you are a rational being, tear the veil of causes apart and, proclaiming: “He is One, without partner,” be saved from innumerable illusions.

TWENTY-EIGHTH WINDOW

Among His signs are the creation of the heavens and the earth and the variety of your tongues and colors. Surely in this are signs for those who know. (30:22)

We see an all-inclusive wisdom and ordering in the universe, from a body’s cells to the entire creation. When looking at a body’s cells, we see a significant organization and arrangement by the command and law of the One Who sees and governs all bodily functions and needs. Just as some nourishment is stored up in the body in the form of fat to use in case of need, so there is the same kind of storage facility in the cells. We also see a wise organization, cultivation, and nursery in plants; a generous subsistence and breeding in animals; and a majestic management and illumination in the universe’s pillar-like parts, each of which serves important purposes. We see the entire universe to have been perfectly planned and ordered as a country or a city or a palace for certain sublime instances of wisdom and exalted purposes.

As explained and argued in the First Station of The Twenty-second Word, these facts make it impossible to associate any partners with God. From the tiniest particles to the largest stars, everything is intertwined and interrelated in such a way that one who does not subjugate and manage stars cannot dominate a particle. In order to dominate a single particle, one must be able to subdue and manage all of the stars. Also, as explained and argued in the Second Station of The Twenty-second Word, one who cannot create the heavens and put them in an exact order cannot give anyone a unique face. One unable to be a lord over all the heavens cannot inscribe the heavenly mark on the face of an individual which distinguishes him or her from others.

All of this forms a window as large as the universe so that, if we look through it, both the person’s and the mind’s eye see clearly that the meanings of: God is the Creator of all things and He is a Guardian (with power of disposition) over all things. His are the keys of the heavens and the earth... (39:62-63) are inscribed on the pages of the universe in capital letters. Those who do not see them have no eyes or heart, or only appear to be human.

TWENTY-NINTH WINDOW

There is nothing but it glorifies Him with His praise. (17:44)

Once during spring, I was traveling amid thoughts and feelings of loneliness. At a hill’s base, I saw a yellow wild flower that reminded me of similar flowers I had seen in the past in my hometown and other places. It then struck me whose stamp that flower was, whose seal and inscription it was, all similar flowers on the earth’s face were His stamps and seals. This thought led to the idea that just as a letter’s seal announces the one who wrote and sent it, so is that flower a seal of the All-Merciful One, and that hill, which has been worked with such inscriptions and “lines” of meaningful plants [and sealed with that flower], a letter of that flower’s Maker.

The hill in itself is also a seal, and the plain ahead of it is a letter of the All-Merciful One [sealed with it]. These thoughts led to the following truth: Each thing, being like a seal of the Lord, attributes all things to its Creator and proves that it is a letter of its Author. Thus each thing forms such a window on Divine Unity that it submits all things to a Unique One of Unity’s ownership. This is especially true of living things, each of which contains such a wonderful design and miraculous art that the One Who makes it so and designs it so meaningfully is also the One Who makes all things. This means, one who cannot make everything cannot create one thing.

O you who are unaware of the reality of things, look at the universe’s face! Who can deny the testimony of the pages of creatures, all of which are like innumerable letters of the Eternally Besought, one within the other? Who can deny the testimony of the seals put on them to Divine Unity? What power can silence them? If you listen to any of them with your heart, you will hear it say: “I bear witness that there is no deity but God.”

THIRTIETH WINDOW

Had there been deities in them (the heavens and the earth) other than God, both would certainly have fallen into ruin. (21:22)

All things are perishable except His “Face;” His is the sovereignty and to Him you are being brought back. (28:88)

This window is the window of all theologians who base their arguments on the facts that all things are contingent (not absolutely necessary) and have come into existence over time. They follow this way in proving the Necessarily Existent One’s Existence. Referring their detailed explanations to such voluminous scholarly books as Sharhu’l-Mawaqif and Sharhu’l Maqasid, we will try to reflect a few rays coming to the soul from the light of the Qur’an through that window, as follows:

Authority and sovereignty do not allow rivalry, partnership, or interference. If a village had two headmen, its order and peace would be destroyed. A district or town with two governors would experience great confusion, and a country with two kings (or governments) would be in constant turmoil. Since these pale shadows of absolute authority and sovereignty enjoyed by powerless people who are not self-sufficient reject rivalry and the intervention of their opposite, consider how strongly true Sovereignty, in the form of supreme, absolute Kingdom and Authority at the degree of Divine Lordship enjoyed by an Absolutely Powerful One, rejects interference and partnership. This means, Oneness and absolute Independence without partners is the most indispensable and constant requirement of Divinity and Lordship.

The universe’s perfect order and most beautiful harmony testify to this. There is such a perfect order in the universe from a fly’s wing to the heavens’ lamps that our minds prostrate before it in amazement and admiration, declaring: “All-Glorified is God! What wonders God has willed! God bless it!”

If there were any room for associating partners with God to interfere with Him, according to the meaning of: Had there been deities in them (the heavens and the earth) other than God, both would certainly have fallen into ruin (21:22), order would be destroyed and the universe’s form and shape would change. But, as stated in: Look yet again: can you see any rifts? Then look again and yet again, your sight will fall back to you dimmed and dazzled, and awed and weakened (67:3-4), however hard we look for a flaw in creation, our gaze will return exhausted and inform our fault-finding reason: “I have exhausted myself in vain, for there is no flaw.” This shows that the order is perfect, which means that this perfect order testifies to God’s Oneness.

Given that the universe came into existence contained in time and so is not eternal, theologians argue:

The world is subject to change. Anything subject to change has a beginning and came into existence within time and is time-bound. Anything that came into existence within time has someone who brought it into existence. That being the reality, this universe has an Eternal Creator.

We say:

The universe certainly has a beginning, for it came into existence within time. For we see one world replaced by a new one every century, every year, even every season. Thus there is an All-Powerful One of Majesty Who invents and creates a new world every year, every season, or even every day.

After showing it to conscious beings, He replaces it with a newer one. He makes these worlds succeed each other, attaching them to the string of time in a series. It is surely the Power of an All-Powerful One Which creates this series of renewed worlds in this way. The One Who does this obviously created the universe. He has made this universe and the earth a guest-house for those mighty guests.

As for contingency, theologians argue:

Contingency means equality between two possibilities. That is, if it is equally possible for something to come into existence or not, there must be one to prefer either possibility, one to create according to this preference, for contingent beings cannot create each other one after the other. Nor can they go back to eternity in cycles with the former having created the latter. Given this, there is a Necessarily Existent Being Who creates all.

Theologians have disproved the chain of creative cause and effect, as well as the notion of successive creators, with twelve decisive arguments, some of which they call “argument in ascension” and “argument in steps.” Breaking the chain of cause and effect, they have proved the Necessarily Existent Being’s Existence.

We say: Rather than showing the impossibility of the chain of cause and effect in creation or the cycle of successive creators to prove the necessary Existence of a Creator Who has no beginning and has created all things, it is better and easier to show the stamp on everything belonging to the Creator of all things. Through the Qur’an’s enlightenment, all the Words and the Windows in this Word follow this principle. Even though the subject of contingency embraces a broad range of arguments to display the Necessarily Existent Being’s Existence in innumerable ways, the subject does not need to be restricted to the way theologians treat it. Rather, it opens up innumerable ways to knowledge of the Necessarily Existent Being. For example, when each thing hesitates amidst innumerable possibilities concerning its existence, being, features, qualities, and lifespan, we see that it follows a well ordered, well-established way so that it acquires the most appropriate body, and that it is equipped with the qualities necessary for its existence, as well as for all the state, conditions, and features it will experience during its life. This is through the will of One Who assigns to everything its specialties, through the choice of One Who chooses, and through the creation of a wise Creator Who directs it for wise purposes along its unique way.

He then clothes it with befitting features and qualities and makes it a part of a composite entity, which increases the possibilities before it, for it is equally possible for it to have a place in that entity in thousands of ways. However, it is positioned in the most appropriate way so that it can perform the fruitful and purposeful duties expected of it. The entity then becomes part of a larger entity, which multiplies possibilities still further. Just like before, it is positioned so that it can carry out its important duties. This accurately and decisively demonstrates an All-Wise Director’s necessary Existence and shows that things are directed through an All-Knowing Authority’s command.

A private has certain duties and specially determined services to perform in relation to his squad, company, battalion, regiment, corps and army, and wisely arranged relations specific to each. Likewise, a cell in your eye’s pupil has a certain relation to your eye and then to your head, veins, nervous system, and body as a whole. It also has duties apportioned to it wisely in relation to each. If it did not perform its least duty, you would become ill and the body would suffer.

Thus, just as each creature proclaims a Necessarily Existent One via its being, features, body, form, and attributes, each one also proclaims its Maker in other tongues when positioned in different larger and larger composite entities. With respect to its services and duties in each entity, it bears witness to the All-Wise Maker’s necessary Existence, Will, and Choice. For only the Creator of all composite entities, Who positions a thing in such a way that the wise relations between them are maintained, can do such things. This means that one thing testifies to Him in thousands of tongues. As a result, such testimonies of the Necessarily Existent Being’s Existence far surpass the number of the creatures in the universe. In fact, they reach the number of possible qualities, features, forms, positions, and duties assigned to each, as well as the relations they maintain in the composite entities in which they are located.

So, you who are unaware, just how deaf do you have to be not to hear this testimony filling the universe? What do you say?

THIRTY-FIRST WINDOW

Surely We have created humanity of the best stature as the perfect pattern of creation. (95:4)

On the earth there are signs for those who seek certainty, and also in your own selves. Will you not then see (the truth)? (51:20-21)

This window is the window of humanity and opened from the inner aspect of its being. As detailed explanations are available in the books of numerous saintly scholars, we will mention only a few fundamentals we have obtained from the Qur’an’s enlightenment. As explained in The Eleventh Word and others, each human being is such a comprehensive copy (of existence) that God Almighty makes all of His Names perceived by the individual through his or her self. Referring the details to other Words, here we will discuss only the following three points:

FIRST POINT: Human beings are mirrors to the Divine Names in three aspects:

First aspect: Just as the night’s darkness suggests light, humanity points, through its weakness and impotence, destitution and neediness, imperfection and defects, to an All-Powerful One of Majesty’s Power, Force, Wealth, Mercy, and so on. Thus each person becomes a mirror to many of God’s Attributes. Moreover, searching for a point of support against countless obstacles and hostilities in our infinite weakness and impotence, our conscience is always turned toward the Necessarily Existent Being. Besides, our infinite destitution and neediness compel us to look for a point of seeking assistance in order to realize our innumerable aims, and so our con science has recourse to the Court of an All-Compassionate, All-Wealthy One, and we petition Him for our needs. Thus, with respect to our need for a point of support and a point of seeking assistance, two small windows open from each person’s conscience onto the All-Compassionate All Powerful One’s Court of Mercy, through which we can look to Him.

Second aspect: Each of us has a specific God-given knowledge, power, sight, hearing, ownership, and sovereignty. As a result, we function as a mirror to the (Attributes of) Absolute Knowledge, Power, Sight, Hearing, and Ownership of the universe’s Owner and His Lordship’s sovereignty. Each per son understands them and makes them known. For example: “I built this house and know how to build it. I own, see, and manage it. So this huge palace of the universe must have a builder who knows, sees, and administers it.”

Third aspect: Each person functions as a mirror to the Divine Names inscribed upon him or her. As stated at the beginning of the Third Station of The Thirty-second Word, the inscriptions of more than seventy Divine Names are apparent in our comprehensive nature. For example, our creation manifests the Names the Maker, the Creator, and the Giver of form. By being of the best stature as the perfect pattern of creation, we demonstrate the Names the All-Merciful and the All-Compassionate. Our good sustenance and upbringing display the Names the All-Munificent and the All-Gracious. All our bodily systems and parts, members and organs, faculties and features, and senses and feelings display different inscriptions of different Divine Names. Just as there is the Greatest Name among the Divine Names, the greatest among the inscriptions of the Names is humanity.

If you know yourself to be human, read yourself. Otherwise, you may remain human only in appearance.

SECOND POINT: This relates to a significant mystery of God’s Oneness—His being One as displayed by the concentrated manifestations of His certain Names on individual beings. It is as follows:

Each person’s spirit has a unifying function in regard to his or her body, that it causes all bodily members and parts to help each other. In other words, the spirit, a conscious law of Divine Command issuing from Divine Will and a faculty breathed into each of us by God and clothed in a perceptible existence, is not confused by the signals coming from all bodily elements and meeting their needs simultaneously. Distance or nearness are irrelevant, and bodily organs do not prevent each other from communicating with it. When necessary, the spirit can send most bodily elements to help a single one or move all bodily parts at once. It also can know, perceive, and govern through any of them. If it has refined and purified itself, thereby acquiring sufficient luminosity, it can see and hear through any bodily part.

Seeing that the spirit, a law of Divine Command, displays such abilities in our bodies—The highest comparison is (and must be set forth) for God— the Necessarily Existent Being cannot be confused by countless actions, sounds and voices, invocations and deeds in the universe, which is the macrocosm. His universal Will and absolute Power deal with all of them all at once and without confusion, for the All-Majestic Creator sees all things and hears all sounds and voices. As distance has no meaning for Him, He can send, if He wills, all things to help one thing.

THIRD POINT: Life has a very significant nature and important duty. Since this has been detailed in the Twenty-third Window as well as The Twentieth Letter’s Eighth Phrase, we recall here only the following point: The interwoven embroideries that life has profusely in the form of complex senses, feelings and sentiments point to many of God’s Names and function as clear mirrors to the All-Living, Self-Subsistent One’s essential Characteristics and Acts. Since it is not appropriate to discuss this matter before those who deny God and belief in Him, we stop here.

THIRTY-SECOND WINDOW

He it is Who has sent His Messenger with the Divine guidance and the Religion of truth that He may make it prevail over all religions. God suffices for a witness. (48:28)

Say: “O humankind! Surely I am the Messenger of God to you all, for Whom is the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth; there is no deity but He. He gives life and causes to die.” (7:158)

This window is formed of the Prophet Muhammad, the sun of the heaven of Messengership, indeed, the sun of suns, upon him be peace and blessings. Having explained this most brilliant, large and light-diffusing window in great detail in the Nineteenth and Thirty-first Words, as well as in The Nineteenth Letter, we discuss only the following point:

On the wings of Messengership and sainthood, that is, equipped with a power formed of the absolute consensus of all Prophets preceding him and the unanimous agreement of all saints and pure scholars to come after him, Prophet Muhammad, himself an articulate proof of Divine Unity, pro claimed and demonstrated Divine Unity throughout his life with all his strength. He opened up onto knowledge of God a broad and radiant window, namely the world of Islam. Hundreds of thousands of pure, truth-seeking and truthful scholars like Imam al-Ghazzali, Imam ar-Rabbani, Muhyid Din ibnu’l-‘Arabi, and ‘Abdu’l-Qadir al-Jilani look through this window and point others to knowledge of God through it. Is there a veil to draw across such a window? Can one who criticizes this window and does not look through it be considered sensible? You give the answer.

THIRTY-THIRD WINDOW

All praise and gratitude are for God, Who has sent down on His servant the Book and has allowed therein no crookedness. (18:1)

Alif Lam Ra. A Book which We have sent to you so that you may lead humankind forth from all kinds of darkness to light. (14:1)

Consider that all the previous Windows are a few drops from the ocean of the Qur’an and try to understand how many lights of Divine Unity, like water of life, there are in the Qur’an. Even if you have a simple, superficial look at the Qur’an, which is the source and mine of all those previous Windows, still it is a most shining, luminous, comprehensive Window. To understand how brilliant and luminous that Window is, you may refer to the Treatise of the Qur’an’s Miraculousness, which is the Twenty-fifth Word, and the Eighteenth Sign of the Nineteenth Letter. Supplicating the Throne of Mercy of the All-Majestic Being, Who sent us the Qur’an, we say:

Our Lord, take us not to task if we forget or make mistakes! Our Lord, do not let our hearts to swerve after You have guided us! Our Lord! Accept from us, surely You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. Accept our repentance, surely You are the One Who accepts repentance and returns it with liberal forgiveness, the All-Compassionate.

A note

I hope this Thirty-third Word with thirty-three windows may help an unbeliever to accept belief, and that it may strengthen the belief of one whose belief is weak, and lead one with strong belief based on imitation to have substantial belief, and then to expand that substantial belief. I hope that it may lead one with expanded belief to progress in knowledge of God, which is the source of all kinds of true progress and evolution, and open up before him more luminous, more brilliant scenes. For this reason, you should not regard one window to be sufficient for you, because even if your mind has received its share and obtained conviction, your heart will also demand its share, as will your spirit. Even the imaginative faculty will demand its share from that light. It is because of this that each window has benefits of its own.

The Treatise on the Ascension of the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, primarily addressed the believer, while the materialist was in the position of listener. But this treatise addresses the denier, and the believer is in the position of listener. This should be considered when studying it.

Unfortunately, because an important reason, this letter was written very speedily and has remained in the state of the first draft. Therefore, there will certainly be some flaws of expression, which are due to me. I request my brothers to look at it with tolerance, and correct it if they are able, and pray for my forgiveness.

Peace be upon those who follow the true guidance. May those who follow their whims and illusions receive what they deserve.

All-Glorified are You. We have no knowledge save what You have taught us. Surely You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

O God, bestow blessings and peace upon him whom You sent as a mercy for the worlds, and upon his Family and Companions. Amin.

 

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

181 Among those species are some whose numbers in a year exceed all people who have ever lived, and who ever will live, from the time of Adam to the end of the world.

182 The truth in this Twentieth Window occurred to me at one time in Arabic as follows:

The radiance of light is through Your illuminating

and making things known through it;

The movements of winds in waves is through Your dispatching and

employing them so that they serve His commands to be carried out swiftly.

All-Glorified are You, how mighty is Your Rule!

The gushing out and flowing forth of rivers is through

Your storing them up and subjugating them.

The formation and decoration of all kinds of stones and minerals is through

Your arranging and fashioning them.

All-Glorified are You, how unique and splendid is Your Wisdom!

The smiling of flowers is through Your adorning and beautifying them.

The emergence of fruits in splendor is through Your bestowal and favoring.

All-Glorified are You, how beautiful is Your Art!

The singing of birds is through Your making them

speak and communicate with each other.

The hymning of rain is through Your sending it down, Your bestowal.

All-Glorified are You, how vast is Your Mercy!

The motion of moons is through Your determining, arranging, directing, and illuminating.

All-Glorified are You, how brilliant are Your proofs, how clear Your Sovereignty!

 

183 In 12:4, the Qur’an alludes that there are twelve planets. (Tr.)

184 This Window concerns people of heart and love.