The Sixteenth Word

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.Indeed, His command when He wills a thing is, “Be!”, and it is. * So glory be unto Him in Whose hand is the dominion of all things, and to Him will you all be brought back.Qur’an, 36:82-3

[This Word was written to afford insight and understanding to my blind soul by pointing out four Rays from the light of the above verse - to dispel the darkness and afford me certainty.]

FIRST RAY

O my ignorant soul! You say, “The Oneness of the Divine Essence together with the universality of the Divine acts, the Unity of Almighty God’s person together with His unassisted comprehensive dominicality, His Singleness together with His unshared all-embracing disposal, His being beyond space and yet present everywhere, His infinite exaltedness together with being close to all things, and His being One and yet Himself holding all matters in His hand, are among the truths of the Qur’an. Yet the Qur’an is All-Wise, and that which is Wise does not impose on the reason things which are unreasonable. And the reason sees an apparent contradiction between these things. I would like an explanation of them which will impel the reason to submit.”

The Answer: Since that is the way it is and you want to be certain and reassured, relying on the effulgence of the Qur’an, we say: the Divine Name of Light has solved many of my difficulties. God willing, it will solve this one too. Choosing the way of comparison, which brings clarity to the mind and luminosity to the heart, like Imam-i Rabbani, we say:

I am neither the night nor a lover of the night;
I am a servant of the Sun; it is of the Sun that I speak.

Since comparison is a most brilliant mirror to the Qur’an’s miraculousness, we too shall look at this mystery by means of a comparison. It is as follows:

A single person may gain universality by means of various mirrors. While being a single individual, he becomes like a universal possessing general qualities. For example, while the sun is a single individual, by means of transparent objects, it becomes so universal it fills the face of the earth with its images and reflections. It even has as many manifestations as the number of droplets and shining motes. Although the sun’s heat, light, and the seven colours in its light comprehend, encompass, and embrace all the things which confront them, all transparent things also hold in the pupils of their eyes the sun’s heat, and its light and seven colours, together with its image. And they make a throne for them in their hearts. That is to say, with regard to Unity, the sun encompasses all the things which confront it, while with regard to Oneness, the sun is present together with many of its attributes in everything through a sort of manifestation of its essence. Since we have passed from the comparison to a discussion of representation, we shall indicate three of the many sorts of representation which will be a means to understanding this matter.

The First: This is the reflection of dense, physical objects. These reflections are both other than the thing reflected; they are not the same, and they are dead, without life. They possess no quality other than their apparent identity. For example, if you enter a store full of mirrors, one Said will become thousands of Said’s, but the only living one is you, all the others are dead. They possess none of the characteristics of life.

BEDİÜZZAMAN