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risalei-nur · 20 hours
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 45
THIRTY-THIRD WINDOW
Praise be to God, Who has revealed to His servant the Book, and has allowed no crookedness therein. (18:1) * Alif. Lam. Ra. A Book which We have revealed to you, in order that you might lead mankind out of darkness into light. (14:1)
Think of all the Windows we have mentioned as being a few drops from the ocean of the Qur’an, then you will be able to compare how many lights of Divine unity like the water of life the Qur’an contains. But even if the Qur’an, the source and origin and fountain of all those Windows, is considered in an extremely brief and simple manner, it still forms a most brilliant, luminous, comprehensive Window. To see how certain and shining and luminous this Window is, we refer you to the Treatise on the Miraculousness of the Qur’an, the Twenty-Fifth Word, and to the Eighteenth Sign of the Nineteenth Letter. And beseeching the Merciful Throne of the All-Glorious One, Who sent us the Qur’an, we say:
Oh our Sustainer! Do not take us to task if we forget or unwittingly do wrong! (2:285) * Oh our Sustainer! Let not our hearts deviate now after You have guided us! (3:8) * Oh our Sustainer! Accept this from us; indeed You are the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing! (2:127) * And turn unto us; for You are the Oft-Returning, Most Compassionate. (2:128)
NOTE
God willing, this Thirty-Third Letter of Thirty-Three Windows will bring to belief those without belief, strengthen the belief of those whose belief is weak, make certain the belief of those whose belief is strong but imitative, give greater breadth to the belief of those whose belief is certain, lead to progress in knowledge of God –the basis and means of all true perfection– for those whose belief has breadth, and open up more brilliant vistas for them. You cannot say, therefore, that “One window is enough for me,” because if your reason is satisfied, your heart wants its share as well, and so will your spirit want its share. Your imagination will also want its share of the light. The other Windows are also necessary, therefore, for each contains different benefits.
In the Treatise on the Ascension of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), it was primarily the believer who was addressed, while the atheist was in the position of listener. But in this treatise, it is the denier who is addressed, while it is the believer who is in the position of listener. This should be taken into consideration when looking at it.
Unfortunately, due to an important reason, this letter was written with extreme speed. It has also remained in the state of the first draft. There will certainly therefore be some irregularities and defects in the way it is expressed, which are due to me. I request of my brothers then that they look at it with tolerance, and correct it if they are able, and pray for my forgiveness.
Peace be on those who follow Guidance, and may those who follow their own desires be censured.
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed You are All-Knowing, All-Wise. (2:32)
 O God, grant blessings and peace to the one whom You sent as a Mercy to All the Worlds, and to his Family and Companions, and grant them peace. Amen.
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risalei-nur · 5 days
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 44
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 heav- en of Messengership, indeed, the sun of suns, upon him be peace and bless- ings. 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 win- dow, namely the world of Islam. Hundreds of thousands of pure, truth-seek- ing 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.
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risalei-nur · 6 days
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 43
THIRTY-FIRST WINDOW
SECOND POINT
This points to an important mystery of Divine oneness. It is like this:
The relationship between man’s spirit and his body is such that it causes all his members and parts to assist one another. That is, man’s spirit is a commanding law from among the laws pertaining to creation –the manifestation of Divine will– which has been clothed in external existence, and is a subtle dominical faculty. Thus, in administering the parts of the body, and hearing their immaterial voices, and seeing their needs, they do not form obstacles to one another, nor do they confuse the spirit. Near and far are the same in relation to the spirit. They do not veil one another. If the spirit wishes, it can bring the majority to the assistance of one. If it wishes, it can know, perceive, and administer through each part of the body. Even, if it acquires great luminosity, it may see and hear through all the parts.
In the same way, And God’s is highest similitude (16:60), since the spirit, a commanding law of Almighty God, displays this ability in the body and members of man, who is the microcosm, surely, the boundless acts, the innumerable voices, the endless supplications, the uncountable matters in the universe, which is the macrocosm, will present no difficulty to the all-embracing will and absolute power of the Necessarily Existent One. They will not form obstacles to one another. They will not occupy that All-Glorious Creator, nor confuse Him. He sees them all simultaneously, and hears all the voices simultaneously. Close and distant are the same for Him. If He wishes, He sends all to the assistance of one. He can see everything and hear their voices through everything. He knows everything through everything, and so on...
THIRD POINT
Life has a most important nature and significant function, but since it has been discussed in detail in the Window on Life [the Twenty-Third Window] and in the Eighth Phrase of the Twentieth Letter, we refer you to those, and here only make the following reminder.
The impresses in life, which, intermingled, boil up in the form of emotions, point to numerous Names and essential Divine qualities. They act as mirrors reflecting the essential qualities of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One in most brilliant fashion. But this is not the time to explain this mystery to those who do not recognize God or do not yet fully affirm Him, and so we here close this door..
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risalei-nur · 9 days
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 42
THIRTY-FIRST WINDOW
We have created man in the best of forms. (95:4) * And in the earth there are signs for those who are certain * And in your own selves; will you not then not see? (51:20-1)
This Window is the Window of man, and it is concerned with man’s self. For more elaborate discussions of it in this respect, we refer you to the detailed books of the thousands of learned and scholarly saints, and here only point out a few principles we have received from the effulgence of the Qur’an. It is like this:
As is explained in the Eleventh Word, “Man is a missive so comprehensive that through his self, Almighty God makes perceived to him all His Names.” For the details we refer you to the other Words, and here only explain three Points.
FIRST POINT
Man is a mirror to the Divine Names in three aspects.
The First Aspect: Like the darkness of the night shows up light, so through his weakness and impotence, his poverty and need, his defects and faults, man makes known the power, strength, riches, and mercy of an All-Powerful One of Glory, and so on... he acts as a mirror to numerous Divine attributes in this way. Even, through searching for a point of support in his infinite impotence and boundless weakness in the face of his innumerable enemies, his conscience perpetually looks to the Necessarily Existent One. And since he is compelled in his utter poverty and endless need to seek for a point of assistance in the face of his innumerable aims, his conscience in that respect all the time leans on the Court of an All-Compassionate One of Riches and opens its hands in supplication to Him. That is to say, in regard to this point of support and point of assistance in the conscience, two small windows are opened onto the Court of Mercy of the All-Powerful and All-Compassionate One, which may all the time be looked through.
The Second Aspect of being mirror-like is this: through particulars like his partial knowledge, power, senses of sight and hearing, ownership and sovereignty, which are sorts of samples given to him, man acts as a mirror to the knowledge, power, sight, hearing, and sovereignty of dominicality of the Master of the Universe; he understands them and makes them known. For example, he says: “Just as I make this house and know how to make it, and I see it and own it and administer it, so the mighty palace of the universe has a Maker. Its Maker knows it, sees it, makes it, administers it.” And so on..
The Third Aspect of being mirror-like: man acts as a mirror to the Divine Names, the imprint of which are upon him. There are more than seventy Names the impresses of which are apparent in man’s comprehensive nature. These have been described to a degree at the start of the Third Stopping- Place of the Thirty-Second Word. For example, through his creation, man shows the Names of Maker and Creator; through his being on the ‘Most Excellent of Patterns,’ the Names of Most Merciful and All-Compassionate, and through the fine way he is nurtured and raised, the Names of All-Generous and Granter of Favours, and so on; he shows the differing impresses of different Names through all his members and faculties, all his organs and limbs, all his subtle senses and faculties, all his feelings and emotions. That is to say, just as among the Names there is a Greatest Name, so among the impresses of those Names there is a greatest impress, and that is man.
O you who considers himself to be a true man! Read yourself! You may otherwise be either animal-like or inanimate!
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risalei-nur · 12 days
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 41
THIRTIETH WINDOW
If there were in the heavens and the earth other gods besides God, there surely would have been confusion in both. (21:22) * Everything will perish save His countenance; His is the command, and to Him shall you return. (28:88)
This is the Window of the scholars of theology (kalam), based on contingency and createdness, and their highway for proving the Necessarily Existent One. For all the details, we refer you to the scholars’ great books like Sharh al-Mawaqif and Sharh al-Maqasid, and here only demonstrate one or two rays which spill on the spirit from the effulgence of the Qur’an and this Window. It is as follows:
It is the requirement of dominion and rulership not to accept rivals; they reject partnership; they repudiate interference. It is because of this that if there are two headmen in a village, they will destroy its tranquillity and order. Or if there are two chief officials in a district, or two governors in a province, they will cause chaos. Or if there are two kings in a country, they will cause complete and stormy confusion. Since a pale shadow and petty example of dominion and rulership in impotent human beings needy for assistance does not accept the interference of rivals, opponents, or peers, then you may compare how fully a rulership which is in the form of absolute sovereignty and a dominion at the degree of dominicality will enforce that law of the rejection of interference in One Possessing Absolute Power. That is to say, the most definite and constant necessity of Godhead and dominicality are unity and singleness. The clear proof and certain testimony to this are the perfect order and beautiful harmony in the universe. There is such an order from the wing of a fly to the lamps in the heavens that the intellect prostrates before it in wonder and appreciation, declaring: “Glory be to God! What wonders God has willed! How great are God’s blessings!” Had there been an iota of space for partners to God, and had there been interference, as the verse,
If there were in the heavens and the earth other gods besides God, there would have been confusion in both (21:22)
indicates, the order would have been destroyed, the form changed, and signs of disorder would have appeared. But as the verses,
So turn your vision again: do you see any flaw? *Then turn your vision a second time; your vision will come back to you in a state dazzled and truly defeated (67:3-4)
famous twelve categorical proofs called ‘the ladder argument,’ and demonstrated causality to be impossible. They cut the chains of causes and proved the existence of the Necessarily Existent One.
And we say this: it is more certain and easier to demonstrate a stamp peculiar to the Creator of All Things on everything than causes being cut at the extremities of the world with the proofs refuting causality. Through the effulgence of the Qur’an, all the Windows and all the Words are based on this principle. Nevertheless, the point of contingency possesses an infinite breadth. It demonstrates the existence of the Necessarily Existent One in innumerable respects. It is not restricted to the way of the scholars of theology – cutting the chains of causes, which in truth is a mighty and broad highway; it opens a path to knowledge of the Necessarily Existent One by ways beyond count. It is as follows:
We see that in its existence, its attributes, and its lifetime, while hesitant among innumerable possibilities, that is, among truly numerous ways and aspects, each thing follows a well-ordered way in regard to its being in innumerable respects. Its attributes also are given it in a particular way. All the attributes and states which it changes throughout its life are specified in the same fashion. This means it is impelled on a wise way amid innumerable ways through the will of one who specifies, the choice of one who chooses, and the creation of a wise creator. He clothes it with well-ordered attributes and states. Then it is taken out of isolation and made part of a compound body, and the possibilities increase, for they may be found in that body in thousands of ways. Whereas among those fruitless possibilities, it is given a particular, fruitful state, whereby important results and benefits are obtained from that body, and it is made to carry out important functions. Then the body is made a component of another body. Again the possibilities increase, for it could exist in thousands of ways. Thus, it is given one state among those thousands of ways. And through that state it is made to perform important functions; and so on. It progressively demonstrates more certainly the necessary existence of an All-Wise Planner. It makes known that it is being impelled by the command of an All-Knowing Commander. Body within body, each has a function, a well-ordered duty, in all the compounds that one within the other themselves become components of larger compounds, and has relationships particular to each, in the same way that a soldier has a function and well-ordered duty in his squad, his company, his battalion, his regiment, his division, and his army, and a relationship particular to each of these sections, one within the other. A cell from the pupil of your eye has a duty in your eye and a relationship with it, and has wise functions and duties in your head as a whole and a relationship with it. If it confuses these the tiniest jot, the health and organization of the body will be spoilt. It has particular functions with regard to each of the veins, the sensory and motor 718 nerves, and even the body as a whole, and wise relations with them. That specified state has been given it within thousands of possibilities through the wisdom of an All-Wise Maker.
In just the same way, each of the creatures in the universe testifies to the Necessarily Existent One through the particular being, the wise form, the beneficial attributes given it among numerous possibilities. So too when they enter compounds, those creatures proclaim their Maker with a different tongue in each compound. Step by step till the greatest compound, through their relations, functions, and duties, they testify to the necessary existence, choice, and will of their All-Wise Maker. Because the one who situates a thing in all the compounds while preserving its wise relations, must be the Creator of all the compounds. That is to say, it is as though one single thing testifies to Him with thousands of tongues. Thus, from the point of view of contingency, the testimony to the existence of the Necessarily Existent One is as numerous, not as the number of beings in the universe, but as the attributes of beings and the compounds they form. O heedless one!
One who does not hear this testimony, these voices which fill the universe, must be dead and unreasoning, is that not so? Come on, you say...
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risalei-nur · 15 days
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 40
TWENTY NINTH WINDOW
And there is not a thing but extols His limitless glory and praise. (17:44)
 One spring I was setting out on a journey, a stranger, and deep in contemplation. While skirting a hill, a brilliant yellow buttercup struck my eye. It immediately brought to mind the same species of buttercup I had seen long before in my native land and in other countries. This meaning was imparted to my heart: whoever this flower is the seal of, the stamp of, the signature of, the impress of, all the flowers of that species throughout the earth are surely His seals, His stamps.
 After this notion of the seal, the following thought occurred to me: just as a seal stamped on a letter denotes the letter’s author, in the same way, this flower is a seal signifying the Most Merciful One. And this hillock which is inscribed with the impresses of these species and written with the lines of these plants so full of meaning, is the missive of the flower’s Maker. This hill too is a seal. This plateau and plain have taken on the form of a missive of the Most Merciful One. After this thought, the following fact came to mind: like a seal, everything ascribes all things to its own Creator; it proves each is the letter of its own Scribe. Thus, all things are windows onto Divine unity in such a way that each ascribes all things to a Single One of Unity. That is to say, there is an impress so wonderful, an art so miraculous in each thing, and especially in each living being, that the one who makes it and inscribes it so meaningfully can make all things, and the one who makes all things is certainly Him. That is to say, one who cannot make all things cannot create a single thing.
O heedless one! Look at the face of the universe! See the pages of beings one within the other like letters of the Eternally Besought One, each letter stamped with innumerable seals of Divine unity! Who can deny the testimony of all these seals? What power can silence them? Whichever of them you listen to with the ear of the heart, you will hear it declaring: “I testify that there is no god but God!”
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risalei-nur · 17 days
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 39
TWENTY EIGHTH WINDOW
And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the variations in your tongues and in your colours; verily in that are signs for those who know. (30:22)
We look at the universe, and we see that a wisdom and ordering embrace everything from the cells of the body to the totality of the world.
We look at the cells of the body, and we see that through the command and according to the law of one who considers what is beneficial for the body and administers it, there is a significant management in those miniscule cells. One the one hand a sort of sustenance is stored up in the stomach in the form of fat and expended at the time of need, and on the other in those tiny cells there is a regulation and storing up.
We look at plants, and a most wise planning and nurturing are apparent.
We look at animals, and we see a rearing and nurturing which are generous to the utmost degree.
We look at the mighty elements of the universe, and we see a majestic government and illumination following momentous aims. We look at the universe as a whole, and we see a perfect ordering for exalted instances of wisdom and elevated aims, as though it was a country, a city, or a palace.
As is described and proved in the First Stopping-Place of the Thirty-Second Word, from minute particles to the stars, not the tiniest place is left for associating partners with God. All beings are in effect so interrelated that one who cannot subjugate all the stars and hold them in his hand, cannot make a particle heed his claims to be its lord and sustainer. It is necessary to own all the stars in order to be the true sustainer of a single particle.
Furthermore, as is described and proved in the Second Stopping-Place of the Thirty[1]Second Word, one not capable of creating and arranging the heavens cannot make the individual features on the human face. That is to say, one who is not Sustainer of all the heavens cannot make the distinguishing features on a single human face.
Thus, this is a window as large as the universe, which, if looked through, the following verses will also appear to the mind’s eye, written on the pages of the universe in large letters:
God is the Creator of all things, and of all things He is the Guardian and Disposer * His are the keys of the heavens and the earth. (39:62-3.)
One who does not see these has either no mind or no heart. Or he is an animal in human form
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risalei-nur · 23 days
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 38
TWENTY SEVENTY 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 insignifi- cant thing to exist. Thus causes are only a veil, for there must be one who brings effects (things) into existence. Out of innumerable creatures, consid- er 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.”
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risalei-nur · 24 days
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 37
TWENTY SIXTY WINDOW
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 perpetu- al sun’s rays, the rays of beauty glittering on creatures traveling in the flow- ing 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 them- selves 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 illu- sions, 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.
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risalei-nur · 25 days
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 36
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 hun- dreds 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.
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risalei-nur · 26 days
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 35
TWENTY FOURTH WINDOW
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 atten- tion 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 force- ful, 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.
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risalei-nur · 29 days
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 34
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 dis- cussed 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 crea- tures 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.”
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 33
TWENTY - THIRD WINDOW
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.
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 32
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 manifes- tations 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’ manifesta- tions causing it to have many attributes. Some of these attributes develop through senses and become distinct. Most of them, however, make them- selves 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 uni- verse. 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.
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 31
TWENTY - SECOND WINDOW
Have We not made the earth a cradle, * And the mountains as pegs, * And created you as pairs? (78:6-8) So behold the signs of God’s Mercy, how He raises to life the earth after its death. (30:50.)
The globe of the earth is a head with a hundred thousand mouths. In each mouth are a hundred thousand tongues. On each tongue are a hundred thousand proofs, each one of which testifies in numerous ways to the necessary existence, unity, sacred attributes, and Most Beautiful Names of an All-Glorious One. Yes, we consider the first creation of the earth and we see that rock was created from matter in a fluid state, and that soil was created from rock. If that substance had remained fluid, it would not have been habitable, and if after becoming rock, the fluid had become hard as iron, it would not have suitable for use. So what gave it its state was surely the wisdom of an All-Wise Maker Who saw the needs of the earth’s inhabitants. Then the layer of soil was thrown over the pegs of mountains so that the earthquakes arising from internal upheavals could breathe through the mountains and they would not cause the earth to be shaken out of its motion and duties, and so that the mountains would preserve the earth from the encroachment of the sea, and all would be storehouses for the vital necessities of living beings, and would purify the air from noxious gases so allowing living beings to breathe, and so that they would accumulate and hold water reserves, and would be a source and mine for the minerals necessary for living creatures. Thus, this situation testifies most clearly and powerfully to the necessary existence and unity of a Possessor of Absolute Power, an All-Wise and Compassionate One. O geographers! With what can you explain this? What chance could make this dominical ship full of these wonderful creatures into an exhibition of marvels, and spin it at a speed whereby it covers a distance of twenty-four thousand years a year while not allowing a single of the objects arranged on its face to fall off? Consider also the strange arts on the face of the earth. How wisely the elements are employed in their functions! How well they attend to the guests of the Most Merciful One on the earth through the command of that All-Wise and Powerful One, and hasten to serve them!
Also look at these embroidered lines within strange and wondrous arts on face of the earth, multicolored and full of strange wisdom! See how the brooks and streams, seas and rivers, mountains and hills have all been made dwellings and means of transport suitable for His various creatures and servants. See how with perfect wisdom and order He has then filled them with hundreds of thousands of varieties of plants and animals, and given them life and made them rejoice, and how regularly minute by minute He discharges the creatures and empties those dwellings with death, and then once again in orderly fashion refills them in the form of ‘resurrection after death.’ This testifies with hundreds of thousands of tongues to the necessary existence and unity of an All-Powerful One of Glory, an All-Wise One of Perfection. In Short: The earth, the face of which is an exhibition of marvels of art, a display of wonders of creation, a place of passage for the caravans of beings, and a mosque and dwelling for the ranks of worshippers, is like the heart of all the universe; it thus displays the light of Divine unity to the same degree as the universe. O geographer! If the head of the earth has a hundred thousand mouths and with the hundred thousand tongues in each it makes known God, and still you do not recognize Him and plunge your head in the swamp of nature, then ponder over the greatness of your fault! Know what a grievous punishment it makes you deserve! Come to your senses and extract your head from the swamp! Say, I believe in God in Whose hand is the sovereignty of all things.
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 30
TWENTY-FIRST WINDOW
And the sun runs its course to a place appointed, that is the determining of the Almighty, the All-Knowing. (36:38.)
The universe’s lamp, the sun, forms a window onto the existence and unity of the universe’s Maker that is as brilliant and luminous as the sun itself. Indeed, despite their great differences with regard to size, position, and speed, the twelve planets including our globe known as the solar system are in motion and revolve with perfect order and wisdom and perfect balance without a second’s confusion, and are bound to the sun through a Divine law known as gravity, that is, they follow their leader as though in prayer. This demonstrates on a vast scale the tremendousness of Divine power and the unity of their Sustainer. Those lifeless bodies, those vast unconscious masses, are rotated and employed within the utmost order and wise balance, in various forms and over varying distances and in varying motions, proving the degree of the power and the wisdom; you compare for yourself. If chance was to interfere the tiniest amount in this vast and complex matter, it would cause an explosion so great it would scatter the universe. If it was to arrest the motion of one of them for a minute, it would cause it to leave its orbit and would open the possibility of its colliding with another planet. You can understand how awesome would be the collision of bodies thousands of times larger than the earth.
Now we shall refer to the all-encompassing knowledge of God the wonders of the solar system, that is, the twelve planets which are the sun’s followers and fruits, and consider only our own planet, the earth, which is here before our eyes. We see that our planet is made to travel on a long journey around the sun by a dominical command as its most important duty –as is described in the Third Letter– in a way that demonstrates the grandeur of dominical majesty and the loftiness of the sovereignty of the Godhead and the perfection of His mercy and wisdom. It has been made a dominical ship filled with the wonders of Divine art, and a travelling dwelling like an exhibition, for God’s conscious servants to gaze on. And the moon has been attached to it with precise reckoning for mighty instances of wisdom, like being an hour-hand for telling the time. The moon too has been given various mansions through which to journey. Thus, these aspects of this blessed planet of ours prove the necessary existence and unity of a Possessor of Absolute Power with a testimony as powerful as the globe of the earth itself. You can make an analogy with the rest of the solar system from this.
Furthermore, the sun is made to turn on its own axis like a spinning-wheel, in order to wind into a ball the immaterial threads called gravity and tie the planets with them and set them in order. So too is it impelled together with its planets at a speed that cuts five hours’ distance a second towards, according to one estimate, the Constellation of Hercules, or towards the ‘Sun of Suns’. This most certainly occurs through the power and at the command of the All-Glorious One, the Monarch of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity. It is as though He makes the solar system perform these manoeuvres like a platoon of soldiers under orders, and so demonstrates the majesty of His dominicality.
O you astronomers! What chance can interfere in these matters? The hands of what causes can reach them? What force can draw close to this? Come on, you say! Would an All-Glorious Monarch such as this display impotence and permit others to have a role in his sovereignty? Would He give to other hands living creatures in particular, which are the fruit, result, aim, and essence of the universe? Would He permit another to interfere? Especially man, would He leave him to his own devices, the most comprehensive of those fruits, the most perfect of the results, vicegerent of the earth, and His mirror-like guest? Would He refer him to nature and chance and reduce the majesty of His sovereignty to nothing; reduce to nothing His perfect wisdom?
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The Words - The Thirty-third  Word - Part 29
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 dif- ferent 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.
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