The Fourteenth Word - Part 4

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

THE FIFTH: While the limits of the vastness of the Monarch of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity’s dominicality and the tremendousness of His Godhead stretch from,

No just estimate have they made of God, such as is due to Him: on the Day of Judgement the whole of the earth will be but His handful, and the heavens will be rolled up in His right handQur’an, 39:67

to,

And know that God comes between man and his heart,Qur’an, 8:24

and from,

God is the Creator of All Things, and He is the Guardian and Disposer of all affairs Qur’an, 39:62

to,

[God] knows what they hide as well as what they disclose,Qur’an, 2:77

and from,

[Who] created the heavens and the earth Qur’an, 7:54

to,

God has created you and what you do,Qur’an, 37:96

and from,

God has willed this! There is no power but with God Qur’an, 18:39

to,

But you will not, except as God wills,Qur’an, 76:30

what is the purpose of His stern complaints and severe and awesome threats in the Qur’an against the sons of Adam, soimpotent and infinitely weak and utterly poor and endlessly needy, who possess only partial will and have no power to create? In what way is it conformable, and how is it appropriate? In order to be convinced of this profound and elevated truth, consider the following two comparisons:

First Comparison: For example, there was a royal garden in which were innumerable fruit-bearing and flowering things. Many servants were appointed to attend to it. The duty of one of the servants was only to open the water canal so that the water could spread throughout the garden and be benefited from. But the servant was lazy and did not open the canal, so harm came to the growth of the garden, or else it dried up. All the other servants had the right to complain, not about the Creator’s dominical art and the Sultan’s royal supervision and the obedient service of the light, air, and earth, but about that foolish servant, for their duties were all made fruitless, or else harm came to them.

Second Comparison: For example, if, through abandoning his minor duty on a mighty royal ship, a common man causes harm to come to the results of the duties of all the others employed on the ship, and some of them even are made to come to nothing, the ship’s owner will complain bitterly about him in the name of all the others. And the one at fault cannot say: “I’m just an ordinary person. I don’t deserve this severity because of my unimportant omission.” For a single instance of non-existence results in innumerable such instances, whereas existence yields results in accordance with itself. For although the existence of a thing is dependent on the existence of all the conditions and causes, its non-existence, its removal, occurs with the removal of a single condition and results from the non-existence of a single particular. It is because of this that ‘destruction is much easier than repair’ has become like a universally accepted principle. Since the bases of unbelief and misguidance, and rebellion and sin are denial and rejection, they are an abandoning and non-acceptance. However positive and possessing of existence they appear superficially, in reality they are removal and non-existence. In which case they are a contagious crime. Just as they cause harm to the results of the acts of other beings, so they draw a veil over the manifestation of the beauties of the Divine Names.

The Monarch of Beings, Whose right it is to make these innumerable complaints, therefore utters awesome complaints about rebellious man in the name of those beings. And to do so is perfect wisdom. Rebellious man is certainly deserving of His severe and awesome threats; without doubt he deserves them.

BEDİÜZZAMAN

The Fourteenth Word - Part 3

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

THE FOURTH: For example, consider the elevated truth expressed by verses like:

Indeed, His command when He wills a thing, is, “Be!”, and it is.Qur’an, 36:82* And the decision of the Hour is as the twinkling of an eye.Qur’an, 16:77* And We are closer to him than his jugular vein.Qur’an, 50:16 * The angels ascend to Him in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years,Qur’an, 70:4

which is that the Absolutely Powerful One creates things with such ease and speed, with such facility and lack of trouble, that it appears and is understood that He creates with a mere command. Also, although the All-Powerful Maker is infinitely close to beings, they are infinitely distant from him. Furthermore, despite His infinite might and glory, attaching importance to them, He also sets in order the most insignificant and lowly matters, and does not deny them the beauty of His art. Thus, the perfect order within absolute ease observed in beings testifies to the existence of this Qur’anic truth. The following comparison demonstrates its meaning and wisdom. For example, And God’s is the highest similitude, the duties the sun displays through the dominical command and Divine subjugation, which is like a dense mirror to the Divine Name of Light among the All-Glorious Maker’s Most Beautiful Names, brings this truth closer to the understanding. It is as follows:

Although through its elevatedness, the sun is infinitely close to all transparent and shining things, indeed, is closer to them than their own selves, and although it has an effect on them in numerous ways like through its manifestation, its image, and power of disposal, those transparent objects are thousands of years distant from it, they can in no way have an effect on it, they cannot claim to be close to it. Also, the sun’s being as though present and seeing in all transparent particles, and wherever its light enters even, is understood through the sun’s reflection and its image being apparent in accordance with the particles’ capacities and colours. Furthermore, the sun’s comprehensiveness and penetration increase to the vast extent of its luminosity. It is because of the greatness of its luminosity that the tiniest things cannot hide or escape from it. This means that through the mystery of luminosity its immense vastness does not exclude even insignificant and tiny things; on the contrary, it takes them within the sphere of its comprehension. Moreover, if to suppose the impossible we were to imagine the sun acted with will in the tasks and manifestations its displays, with Divine permission it would function with such ease and speed and breadth in everything from particles and droplets and the surface of the sea to the planets, that it would be supposed that it performed these mighty disposals through a mere command. A particle and a planet would be equal before its command. The effulgence it would bestow on the surface of the sea, it would bestow also with perfect order on a particle in accordance with the particle’s capacity.

Thus, we see that the sun, which is a luminous bubble in the seas of the skies and a small and dense mirror to the manifestation of the Absolutely Powerful One’s Name of Light, observedly displays examples of the three principles of this truth. So we surely believe with complete certainty as though witnessing it that the All-Glorious One, Who is the Light of Light, the Illuminator of Light, the Determiner of Light, and in comparison to Whose knowledge and power the sun’s light and heat is like earth, is all-present and all-seeing and infinitely close to all things with His knowledge and power, and that things are utterly distant from Him, and that He does things with such ease and facility that it is understood He creates with the ease and speed of a mere command, and that nothing at all, great or small, particular or universal, can escape from the sphere of His power, and that His magnificence encompasses all things. And this has to be believed.

BEDİÜZZAMAN

The Fourteenth Word - Part 2

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

THE THIRD: For example, in order to ascend to the truth which the Bringer of Sure News described concerning the Bearers of the Throne, the angels appointed to the earth and the skies, and other sorts of angels, stating that they glorify God with forty thousand heads, and with the forty thousand tongues in each head, and in forty thousand ways with each tongue, consider the following carefully. Through verses like,

The seven heavens and the earth and all within them glorify and extol Him.. Qur’an, 17:44* It was We Who made the hills declare in unison with him Our praises.Qur’an, 38:18* We did indeed offer the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains,Qur’an, 33:72

the All-Glorious One expresses clearly that even the greatest and most universal of beings demonstrate that they glorify Him in accordance with their universality and in a way appropriate to their vastness. And it appears to be thus. Just as the words of glorification of the heavens, which are an ocean glorifying God, are the suns, moons, and stars, so the words of praise of the earth, a flying thing praising and glorifying, are the animals, plants and trees. That is to say, just as the trees and stars all perform particular forms of glorification, so does the earth and every part of the earth, and all the mountains and valleys, and the land and the sea, and the spheres of the firmament and the constellations in the heavens all perform universal forms of glorification. The earth, which possesses these thousands of heads containing thousands of tongues, certainly has an angel appointed to it who translates and displays in the World of Similitudes the flowers of glorification and fruits of praise it performs with each, and who represents and proclaims them in the World of Spirits.

Indeed, if numerous things take on the form of a collectivity, a collective personality comes into being. If such a collectivity fuses and becomes a unity, it will have a collective personality and a sort of spirit which will represent it, and an appointed angel who will perform its duty of glorification. As an example, consider the plane-tree in front of my room here, a mighty word of the mouth of Barla and the tongue of this mountain: see how many hundreds of tongues of smaller branches there are on the three heads of the three main branches of its trunk. Study carefully how many hundreds of words of well-ordered and balanced fruits it has, and how many hundreds of letters of well-proportioned winged seeds; just as you hear and see how eloquently it praises and glorifies the All-Glorious Maker, the Owner of the command of “Be!” and it is, so too the angel appointed to it represents its glorification with numerous tongues in the World of Meaning. Wisdom necessitates that it is so.

BEDİÜZZAMAN

The Fourteenth Word

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.Alif. Lam. Ra. [This is] a Book with verses fundamental [of established meaning]. Further explained in detail, from One All-Wise and Well-Acquainted [with all things].Qur’an, 11:1

[In order to ascend to some of the elevated truths of the All-Wise Qur’an, and of Hadiths, which are the true expounder of the Qur’an, we shall point out a number of comparisons of those truths which are like steps to assist hearts deficient in submission and obedience, and shall explain in the Conclusion an object lesson and a mystery concerning Divine favour. Since from among those truths, comparisons of the Resurrection and the Day of Judgement have been mentioned in the Tenth Word, and its Ninth Truth in particular, there is no need to repeat them. Here we shall mention only five ‘Matters’ as examples of the other truths.]

THE FIRST: For example, in order to induce certainty about the verse,

He created the heavens and the earth in six days,Qur’an, 7:54

and the elevated truth it alludes to through the Qur’anic days, which consist of a long period of time like perhaps a thousand or fifty thousand years, that man’s world and that of the animals will last six days, we draw attention to the travelling worlds, transient universes, and passing cosmoses which the Glorious Maker creates every day, every year, every century, each of which is like a day. It is as though these worlds are all guests like man. At the All-Glorious One’s command, each season the world is filled and emptied.

THE SECOND: For example, the verses,

Nor anything fresh or dry but is [inscribed] in a Record Clear.Qur’an, 6:59 * And of all things have We taken account in a Clear Book.Qur’an, 36:12 * From Whom is not hidden the least little atom in the heavens or on earth; nor is there anything less than that, or greater, but it is in the Record Clear.Qur’an, 34:3

In order to be convinced of the elevated truth which these verses state, that, “All things together with all their states are recorded before they come into existence, when they come into existence, and after they have departed; and they are being recorded,” we point out to be observed the All-Glorious Inscriber’s including and preserving in immaterial fashion in the seeds and roots of the innumerable well-ordered creatures which He changes every season on the page of the earth, and particularly in the spring, the indexes of their beings, life-histories, and principles according to which they act; and when they die His inscribing in immaterial fashion with the same pen of Divine Determining those indexes, life-histories and principles in the simple seeds in their fruits; and every passing spring even His preserving them -whether fresh or dry- in perfect order in seeds like dry chips of wood and bones, limited and tiny. It is as if each spring is attached like a flower to the face of the earth in extremely orderly and balanced fashion by the hand of One All-Beautiful and All-Glorious, then plucked from it; each is placed on it, then removed. While the reality is this, one of the strangest forms of man’s misguidance is that he calls this natural writing, this inscribing full of art, this passive pattern of wisdom which is an index of dominical art and only a reflection and manifestation of the Preserved Tablet, ‘nature’, and considers it to be the source and active and effective. Can there be any comparison between the ground and the Pleiades? Can there be any comparison between reality and the views of the heedless?

BEDİÜZZAMAN

THE AIR: A Window onto Divine Unity

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

Thus, just as the element of air demonstrates the above-mentioned wonders and manifestation of Divine unity in only the duty of transmitting sound and shows the impossibilities of misguidance, so does it perform other important duties with order and without confusing them, such as transmitting subtle forces and energy, like electricity, light, and the forces of attraction and repulsion. At the same time as conveying these, with perfect order, it carries out duties essential for the lives of plants and animals, such as respiration and pollination. It proves in decisive fashion that it is a place of maximum manifestation of the Divine will and command. I came to the firm conclusion that it proves that in no way is there any possibility of vagrant chance, blind force, deaf nature, confused and aimless causes, and powerless, lifeless, unknowing matter interfering in the writing and duties of the page of the air. And I understood that every particle and part of it says with the tongue of its being: SAY, HE IS GOD, THE ONE, and: THERE IS NO GOD BUT HE. Just as with the key of HE I saw these wonders in the material aspect of the air, so also, as a HE, did the element of air become a key to the World of Similitudes and the World of Meaning.

I saw that the World of Similitudes is all the time taking innumerable photographs without confusing them, and that each photograph contains innumerable events occurring in this world. I understood that it was a gigantic camera, and a vast cinema of the hereafter thousands of times larger than the world for showing the fruits of the transitory and impermanent states and lives of ephemeral beings in eternal theatres, for showing to those enjoying everlasting bliss in Paradise scenes from their old memories and adventures in this world. NOTE

While the faculties of memory and imagination, which are two proofs, two small examples, and two points of both the Preserved Tablet and the World of Similitudes situated in man’s head, are as tiny as lentils, within them are written in perfect order and without being mixed up as much information as may be contained in a large library. This proves decisively that large examples of those faculties are the World of Similitudes and the Preserved Tablet.

It is definite and certain with ‘knowledge of certainty’ that the elements of air and water, and the element air and water like seminal fluid in particular, are far superior to the element of earth, and are written with more wisdom and will, and with the pen of Divine Determining and Power, and that it is completely impossible for chance, blind force, deaf nature, and lifeless and aimless causes to interfere in them, and that they are a page of the pen of Power and the wisdom of the All-Wise One of Glory.

NOTE: Since the time and place and conditions do not allow this to be proven with firm proofs and arguments like clear facts, it is cut short here.

BEDİÜZZAMAN

THE AIR: A Window onto Divine Unity

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

Thus, while on my journey of contemplation prompted by the phrases THERE IS NO GOD BUT HE, and, SAY, HE IS GOD, and while observing the world of the air and studying the page of that element, I witnessed this brief truth with utter certainty and clarity, and in detail. And I understood with ‘knowledge of certainty’ that it was because there is in the word HE, in the air of its utterance, such a brilliant proof and flash of Divine unity, and also in its meaning and allusions such a luminous manifestation of Divine oneness and powerful proof of Divine unity, and in that proof an indication that since the pronoun HE is unconditional and indefinite, it suggests the question, “Who does it refer to?” that both the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition and those who constantly recite the Divine Names frequently repeat this sacred word in the station of unity.

If, for example, there is one point on a piece of white paper and two or three other points are jumbled around with it and then someone who already has numerous jobs tries to distinguish them, he will be confused; and if many burdens are loaded on a small creature, it will be crushed; and if numerous words issue from one tongue and enter one ear altogether at the same time, their order will be broken and they will be a muddle.

Despite this being the case, I saw with complete certainty that with the key and compass of HE, although thousands of different points, letters and words had been put in each molecule -and even in each particle- of the element air, through which I journeyed in my mind, neither did they become mixed up nor did they spoil their order; and although they performed a great many different duties, these were carried out without being confused in any way; and although very heavy loads were laid on each molecule and particle, they bore them in order without lagging or displaying any weakness at all. And I saw that thousands of different words of all different sorts enter and issue with perfect order from what is in effect those minute ears and tongues without being mixed up and spoilt in any way, they enter those minute ears and issue from those tiny tongues, and by performing these extraordinary duties, each particle and each molecule declares through the enraptured tongue of its being and its perfect freedom, and through the testimony and tongue of the above truth: THERE IS NO GOD BUT HE, and: SAY, HE IS GOD, THE ONE, and travels among air-clashing waves like storms and lightning and thunder without in any way spoiling their order or confusing their duties. One duty is not an obstacle to another duty. I observed this and was utterly certain.

That is to say, either every particle and piece of the air has to possess infinite wisdom, knowledge, will, and power, and the qualities for being absolutely dominant over all the other particles so that it can be the means of those functions being carried out, which is absurd and impossible to the number of particles, and no devil even could imagine it, or else, and it is self-evident to the degree of ‘knowledge of certainty,’ ‘vision of certainty,’ and ‘absolute certainty’ that the page of the air functions through the boundless, infinite knowledge and wisdom of the All-Glorious One, and is the changing page for the pen of Divine Power and Determining, and like a signboard for writing and erasing, known as a Tablet of Appearance and Dissolution, which has the function of the Preserved Tablet in the world of transformation and change.

BEDİÜZZAMAN

THE AIR: A Window onto Divine Unity

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

In His Name, be He glorified!

And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.

My very dear and loyal brothers!

My brothers, I observed in a subtle point concerning God’s unity, which suddenly became clear while studying the page of the air on a journey of the imagination and mind, that is, in the word HE (HU) in the phrases THERE IS NO GOD BUT HE, and, SAY HE IS GOD, (and that was only in its material aspect) that the way of belief is infinitely easy, easy to the point of being necessary, and that the way of misguidance and associating partners with God is infinitely difficult, so difficult as to be impossible. I shall explain that long and extensive point with an extremely brief indication.

Yes, if soil, one handful of which can act as a flower-pot for hundreds of plants in turn, is attributed to nature or causes, it becomes necessary either for there to be present in such a handful hundreds of immaterial machines, indeed, machines and factories to the number of the plants, or for each particle of that small amount of soil to know how to make all those different plants together with their different characteristics and living organs; quite simply, each would have to possess infinite knowledge and limitless power like a god.

The same is true for the air, which is a place of maximum manifestation of the Divine will and command; either there would have to be present on a minute scale in each of its molecules, in each waft of wind, each breath, and in the tiny amount air expended with the word HE, the innumerable different exchanges, centres, receivers and transmitters of all the telephones, telegraphs and radios in the world so that each could perform those innumerable acts at the same time; or else, each particle of each molecule of air exhaled with HE, and indeed of the element air, would have to possess abilities and personalities to the number of all the different telephone users, telegraphers, and those who speak on the radio, and know all their different languages, and broadcast them to the other particles at the same time. For such a situation is actually apparent, and every bit of air possesses that ability. Thus, in the ways of the unbelievers, Naturalists, and Materialists not one impossibility, but impossibilities and difficulties are clearly apparent to the number of molecules of air.

If attributed to the All-Glorious Maker, however, the air together with all its particles becomes a soldier under His command. With its Creator’s permission and through His power, and through being connected to its Creator and relying on Him, and through the manifestation of its Maker’s Power, in an instant with the speed of lightning, and with the ease of uttering the word HE and the movement of the air in waves, its innumerable universal duties are performed as easily as an orderly, single duty of a single particle. That is to say, the air becomes a page for the endless, wonderful, and orderly writings of the pen of power, and its particles become the nibs of the pen, and their duties the points inscribed by it. The air functions as easily as the movement of a single particle.

BEDİÜZZAMAN

THE SIXTH TOPIC FROM THE FRUITS OF THE BELIEF

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

“Thus, hundreds of other sciences like these make known the Glorious Creator of the universe together with His Names, each through its broad measure or scale, its particular mirror, its far-seeing eyes, and searching gaze; they make known His attributes and perfections.

“It is in order to give instruction in this matter, which is a brilliant and magnificent proof of Divine unity, that the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition teaches us about our Creator most often with the verses, Sustainer of the Heavens and the Earth,Qur’an, 6:1 and, He created the Heavens and Earth.”Qur’an, 13:16 I said this to the schoolboys, and they accepted it completely, affirming it by saying: “Endless thanks be to God, for we have received an absolutely true and sacred lesson. May God be pleased with you!” And I said:

“Man is a living machine who is grieved with thousands of different sorrows and receives pleasure in thousands of different ways; and despite his utter impotence has innumerable enemies, physical and spiritual; and despite his infinite poverty, has countless needs, external and inner; and is a wretched creature continuously suffering the blows of death and separation. Yet, through belief and worship, he at once becomes connected to a Monarch so Glorious he finds a point of support against all his enemies and a source of help for all his needs, and like everyone takes pride at the honour and rank of the lord to whom he is attached, you can compare for yourselves how pleased and grateful and thankful and full of pride man becomes at being connected through belief to an infinitely Powerful and Compassionate Monarch, at entering His service through worship, and transforming for himself the announcement of the execution of the appointed hour into the papers releasing him from duty.”

I repeat to the calamity-stricken prisoners what I said to the schoolboys: “One who recognizes Him and obeys Him is fortunate even if he is in prison. While one who forgets Him is wretched and a prisoner even if he resides in a palace.” Even, one wronged but fortunate man said to the wretched tyrants who were executing him: “I am not being executed but being demobilized and departing for where I shall find happiness. But I see that you are being condemned to eternal execution and am therefore taking perfect revenge on you.” And declaring: “There is no god but God!”, he happily surrendered his spirit.

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.Qur’an, 2:32

BEDİÜZZAMAN

THE SIXTH TOPIC FROM THE FRUITS OF THE BELIEF

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

“Another example: millions of electric lights that move and travel through a wondrous city, their fuel and power source never being exhausted, self-evidently make known a wonder-working craftsman and extraordinarily talented electrician who manages the electricity, makes the moving lamps, sets up the power source, and brings the fuel; they cause others to congratulate and applaud him, and to love him. In just the same way, although some of the lamps of the stars in the roof of the palace of the world in the city of the universe -if they are considered in the way that astronomy says- are a thousand times larger than the earth and move seventy times faster than a cannon-ball, they do not spoil their order, nor collide with one another, nor become extinguished, nor is their fuel exhausted. According to astronomy, which you study, for our sun to continue burning, which is a million times larger than the earth and a million times older and is a lamp and stove in one guest-house of the Most Merciful One, as much oil as the seas of the earth and as much coal as its mountains or as many logs and much wood as ten earths are necessary for it not to be extinguished. And however much greater and more perfect than this example are the electric lamps of the palace of the world in the majestic city of the universe, which point with their fingers of light to an infinite power and sovereignty which illuminates the sun and other lofty stars like it without oil, wood, or coal, not allowing them to be extinguished or to collide with one another, though travelling together at speed, to that degree -by means of the measure of the science of electricity which you either study or will study- they testify to and make known the Monarch, Illuminator, Director, and Maker of the mighty exhibition of the universe; they make Him loved, glorified, and worshipped.

“And, for example, take a book in every line of which a whole book is finely written, and in every word of which a sura of the Qur’an is inscribed with a fine pen. Being most meaningful with all of its matters corroborating one another, and a wondrous collection showing its writer and author to be extraordinarily skilful and capable, it undoubtedly shows its writer and author together with all his perfections and arts as clearly as daylight, and makes him known. It makes him appreciated with phrases like, “What wonders God has willed!” and, “Blessed be God!” Just the same is the mighty book of the universe; we see with our eyes a pen at work which writes on the face of the earth, which is a single of its pages, and on the spring, which is a single folio, the three hundred thousand plant and animal species, which are like three hundred thousand different books, all together, one within the other, without fault or error, without mixing them up or confusing them, perfectly and with complete order, and sometimes writes an ode in a word like a tree, and the complete index of a book in a point like a seed. However much vaster and more perfect and meaningful than the book in the example mentioned above is this compendium of the universe and mighty embodied Qur’an of the world, which is infinitely full of meaning and in every word of which are numerous instances of wisdom, to that degree -in accordance with the extensive measure and far-seeing vision of the natural science that you study and the sciences of reading and writing that you have practised at school- it makes known the Inscriber and Author of the book of the universe together with His infinite perfections. Proclaiming ‘God is Most Great!’, it makes Him known. Uttering words like ‘Glory be to God!’, it describes Him. Uttering praises like ‘All praise be to God!’, it makes Him loved.

BEDİÜZZAMAN