Yirmi Dördüncü Mektup/en

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

God does what He wishes, and decrees what He wills.

Question:How can the solicitous nurturing, the purposeful and beneficial planning, the loving kindness of the names of All-Compassionate, All-Wise, and Loving, which are among the greatest of the divine names, be reconciled with death and non-existence, decline and separation, and disaster and hardship, which are awesome and terrible? Very well, man goes to eternal happiness so we can tolerate his passing down the road of death, but how about the delicate species of trees and plants, and the lovely flowers, which are all living creatures, and the animal species, which are worthy of existence, lovers of life, and desire permanent life? What compassion and kindness are there in their continuously without exception being annihilated, in their being swiftly despatched to non-existence without being allowed to so much as open their eyes, in their being made to toil without so much as taking a breath, in their being changed by calamities with not one of them being left in peace, in their being killed without exception, in their dying with not one of them remaining, in their departing with none of them being gratified – what wisdom and purpose, what favour and mercy, are there in this?

The Answer:Through five ‘Signs,’ which show the necessitating cause and reason, and five ‘Indications,’ which point out the aims and benefits, we shall try to look from afar at the mighty truth that solves this question, and is extremely broad, profound, and elevated.

First Station

[This consists of five Signs]

FIRST SIGN

As is described at the end of the Twenty-Sixth Word, when making a precious garment, ornamented with jewels and embroidery, a skilful craftsman employs a poor man in return for a commensurate wage. In order to display his skill and art, he dresses the man in the garment, then measures and cuts it, and lengthens and shortens it; making the man sit down and stand up, he gives it various forms. Does the wretched man have the right to say to the craftsman: “Why are you meddling with this garment which makes me beautiful, altering and changing it? Why are you making me stand up and sit down, disturbing me and causing me trouble?”

In exactly the same way, in order to display the perfections of His art through the embroideries of His names, the All-Glorious Maker takes the essential nature of beings as a model, then He clothes them all and especially living creatures in the garment of a body bejewelled with senses, and inscribes it with the pen of divine decree and determining, thus displaying the manifestation of His names. In addition, He gives to each one of them a perfection, a pleasure, an effulgence, in a way suitable to it and as a wage.

Does anything have the right, then, to say to the All-Glorious Maker, who exemplifies the meaning of, “the Lord of All Dominion has free disposal over His realms as He wishes:” “You are giving me trouble and disturbing me.”? God forbid!

Beings have no rights before the Necessarily Existent One, nor can they claim them. What falls to them is, by offering thanks and praise, to carry out what is required by the degree of existence He has given them. For the degrees of existence that are given are occurrences, and each requires a cause. Degrees that are not given are possibilities, and possibilities are non-existent as well as being infinite. As for instances of non-existence, they do not require a cause.

For example, minerals cannot say: “Why weren’t we plants?”; they cannot complain. What falls to them is to offer thanks to their Creator for having been given mineral existence. And plants may not complain asking why they were not animals; what is due to them is to offer thanks, for they have received life as well as existence. As for animals, they cannot complain that they are not humans; what is incumbent on them, since they have been given the precious substance of spirit in addition to life and existence, is to offer thanks. And so on.

O querulous man! You did not remain non-existent; you were clothed in the bounty of existence. You tasted life; you neither remained inanimate, nor were made an animal. You received the bounty of Islam; you did not remain in misguidance. You have experienced the bounties of good health and well-being!

O ungrateful one! Where did you win the right not to offer thanks in return for the degrees of existence Almighty God has given you as a pure bounty? How is it that because exalted bounties that are contingencies and non-existent and that you do not deserve have not been given you, you complain about Almighty God with meaningless greed, and are ungrateful for the bounties you have received? If a man rises to an elevated position, such as climbing to the top of a minaret, and finds a high station, and on every step receives a large bounty, then does not thank the one who gave him the bounties and complainingly asks why he did not rise even higher, how wrong he would be! What an ungrateful denial of the bounties, what a great foolishness it would be, as even a lunatic would understand!

O discontented greedy, thriftless wasteful, unjustly complaining, heedless man! Know certainly that contentment is profitable thanks, greed is loss-causing ingratitude, and frugality, fine and beneficial respect for bounties. As for wastefulness, it is ugly and harmful contempt for bounties. If you have any intelligence, accustom yourself to being content, and try to be satisfied with little! If you cannot endure it, say: “O Most Patient One!” and request patience. Be satisfied with your lot and do not complain! Understand who is complaining about whom, and be silent. If you have to complain, then complain about your soul to God Almighty, for that’s where the fault lies.

SECOND SIGN

As is stated at the end of the last matter of the Eighteenth Letter, one instance of wisdom in the All-Glorious Creator’s constantly changing and renewing beings in an astonishing and awesome way through the activity of His dominicality is as follows:

Activity and motion in creatures arise from an appetite, a desire, a pleasure, a love. It may be said that there is a sort of pleasure in all activity; or that activity is a sort of pleasure, even. Pleasure too is turned towards a perfection; indeed, it is a sort of perfection.

Since activity indicates perfection, pleasure, beauty; and since the Necessarily Existent One, who is absolute perfection and the Perfect One of Glory, unites in His essence, attributes,and names every sort of perfection; for sure, in a manner fitting for the necessary existence and holiness of the Necessarily Existent Essence, in a form suitable to His absolute riches and essential self-sufficiency, in a way appropriate to His absolute perfection and freedom from defect, He has a boundless sacred compassion and infinite pure love. Of a certainty, there is an infinite holy eagerness arising from that sacred compassion and pure love; and from that holy eagerness arises an infinite sacred joy. And arising from that sacred joy, is, if the term is permissible, an infinite holy pleasure.

And from this holy pleasure and from the gratitude and perfections of creatures which result from the emergence and unfolding of their potentialities within the activity of His power, arise, if one may say so, an infinite sacred gratification and holy pride pertaining to that Most Merciful and Compassionate Essence. It is these that necessitate a boundless activity. And that boundless activity in turn necessitates boundless change and transformation, alteration and destruction. And the boundless change and transformation necessitate death and extinction, decline and separation.

At one time, the benefits shown by human science and philosophy(*)concerning the aims of beings appeared to me to be extremely insignificant. I understood from this that such philosophy leads only to futility. Consequently, leading philosophers either fall into the swamp of nature, or they become Sophists, or they deny divine knowledge and choice, or they call the Creator “self-necessitating.”

At that point, divine mercy sent the name of All-Wise to my aid, and it showed me the great aims of creatures. That is to say, every creature, every artefact, is a dominical missive for conscious beings to study. This aim satisfied me for a year.

Then the wonders in the art of beings were unfolded to me, and the former aim began to seem deficient. Another, much greater aim became apparent, which was that the main aims of creatures look to their Maker. I understood that it consists of creatures’ presenting to His gaze the perfections of His art, the embroideries of His names, the embellishments of His wisdom, and the gifts of His mercy; it is their being mirrors to His beauty and perfections. This aim satisfied me for a long time,

then the miracles of in the universe and the constant flood of beings are so meaningful that through them the All-Wise Maker causes all the realms of beings in thdivine power and attributes of dominicality (şuûnât-ı rubûbiyet) in the extreme ly swift changes and transformations within the astonishing activity in the art and creation of things became apparent. The former aim too began to appear insufficient.

I understood that anecessitat ing cause, a motive, was necessary as great as that latter aim. It was then that the causes in this second Sign and the aims in the Indications to follow became apparent. It was made known to me with complete certainty that the activity of divine powere universe to speak. It is as if the beings of the earth and the skies and their motion and actions are the words of their speech; their motion is their speech.

That is, the motion and decline arising from activity is speech glorifying God. The activit y in the universe is the universe’s silent speech and that of the varieties of its beings; their being made to speak.

THIRD SIGN

Things do not go to non-existence, they rather pass from the realm of power to the realm of knowledge; they go from the Manifest World to the World of the Unseen; they turn from the world of change and transience to the worlds of light and eternity. In reality, the beauty and perfection in things pertain to the divine names and are their impresses and manifestations. Since the names are eternal and their manifestations, perpetual, certainly their impresses will be renewed, refreshed, and made beautiful. Things do not vanish into non-existence; their relative determinations change; their realities, essences, and identities, from which spring their beauty and loveliness, effulgence and perfection, are enduring.

The beauty of beings with no spirits pertain directly to the divine names; the honour is theirs; praise is due to them; the beauty is theirs; love goes to them; they suffer no harm on those mirrors changing.

For beings with spirits but no intellect, death is not a departure for extinction, a vanishing into non-existence; it is to be saved from physical existence and the turbulent duties of life. The beings make over the fruits of the duties they have performed to their spirits. Relying on a divine name, their immortal spirits persist; indeed, they attain a happiness worthy of them.

For beings that possess both spirit and intellect, death is anyway a journeying to everlasting happiness, to the eternal realm, which is a spring of perfections, material and non-material, and to such other dwelling-places of the All-Wise Maker as the Intermediate Realm, the World of Similitudes, and the Spirit World, which all surpass this world in beauty and luminosity. Their passing does not lead to their death and extinction, separation and non-existence, but to their attaining perfection.

In Short:Since the All-Glorious Maker exists and He is Eternal, and since His attributes and names are perpetual and everlasting; certainly His names’ manifestations and impresses are renewed, affording them a sort of perpetualness; they are not destroyed and do not just disappear; they are not ephemeral and despatched to non-being. It is clear that by reason of his humanity, man is connected with most other beings; he receives pleasure at their happiness and is grieved at their destruction. He feel more grief at the suffering of living creatures, of humankind in particular, and particularly the people of perfection he loves and admires; and his happiness is greater at their happiness. Like a fond mother, he even sacrifices his own happiness and comfort for theirs.

Thus, through the light of the Qur’an and mystery of belief, all believers – in accordance with their degree – may be happy at the happiness of other beings, and at their continued existence and being saved from nothingness and their being valuable dominical missives; they may gain a light as extensive as the world. Everyone may profit from this light according to his degree. As for the people of misguidance, in addition to their own pains they are grieved at the destruction of beings, at their transience and apparently being despatched to non-existence – and if they have spirits, at their suffering. That is to say, their unbelief fills their world with non-existence; it empties it over their heads, causing them hell before they go there.

FOURTH SIGN

As we have said in many places, a monarch has various offices and departments proceeding from such titles of his as Sultan, Khalifa, Judge, and Commander-in- Chief. In the same way, Almighty God’s Most Beautiful Names have innumerable different sorts of manifestations. All the different sorts of creatures arise from the varieties of manifestations.

Thus, by virtue of the fact that every possessor of beauty and perfection has an innate desire to see and display his beauty and perfection, the names – since they are constant and eternal – want to be displayed in permanent fashion on account of the Most Pure and Holy Essence. That is to say, they want to see their impresses; that is, to see in the mirrors of their embroideries the manifestation of their beauty and reflection of their perfection; that is, to renew ever y instant the mighty book of the universe and the multifarious missives of beings; that is, to constantly write them anew; that is, to write thousands of different missives on a single page and to display each missive to the witnessing gaze of the Sacred Essence, the Most Pure and Holy One, who is signified; and in addition, to exhibit them to the meditative gazes of sentient beings, and to cause them to read them. Consider the following poem, which alludes to this truth:

The leaves of the book of the world are of varieties incalculable,

Its letters and words, too, are of number infinite;

Inscribed on the workbench of the Preserved Tablet of reality,

An embodied meaningful word, is each being in the world.

Study the lines of the universe; for they are missives to you from the Sublime Assembly.

FIFTH SIGN

The fifth Sign consists of two points.

First Point:

Since Almighty God exists, everything exists. Since they have a relation with Almighty God, all things exist for everything. For through the myster y of unity, through their relation with the Necessarily Existent One, all beings become connected with all other beings. This means that through the mystery of unity, every being that knows its relation with the Necessarily Existent One, or whose relation is known, becomes connected to all beings since they are connected to Him. This means that by virtue of that relation, all beings may manifest endless lights of existence. In that respect, for them there is no separation or death. To live for a single passing second yields innumerable lights of existence.

Whereas if there is no such relation or it is not known, the being or person manifests infinite separations and deaths. For in the face of every being with which he could have been connected, he is exposed to a separation, a parting, a death. That is, he burdens his personal existence with endless instances of non-existence and separation. If he were to remain in existence for a million years even (without connection), it would not be equal to living for an instant with the relation mentioned above. The people of reality (ehl-i hakikat) have said therefore: “Illumined existence for a passing instant is preferable to a million years of profitless existence.” It is also because of this that verifiers of the realities (ehl-i tahkik) have said: “The lights of existence become apparent through recognizing the Necessarily Existent One.” That is to say: the universe is seen to be full of angels, spirit beings, and intelligent beings, bathed in lights of existence. Whereas without them, the darkness of non-existence and pains of death and separation encompass all beings. In such a view, the world appears to be an empty, desolate wasteland.

Indeed, all the fruits of a tree have a relation with all the other fruits, and since through the relation they are all friends and brothers, each possesses accidental existences to their number. But if one of the fruits is plucked from the tree, it suffers a separation and death in the face of all the other fruits; they all become as though non- existent for it; it remains in the resulting darkness of external non-existence.

In exactly the same way, in so far as they are connected to the power of the Single Eternally Besoughted One, all things exist for everything. The absence of such a relation results for all things in external non-existences to the number of things.

So see from this Sign the vastness of the lights of belief (îmân) and the terrifying darkness of misguidance. That is, belief is the mark of the elevated truth described in this Sign; and it may be benefited from through belief. In the absence of belief, just as for someone who is blind, deaf, dumb, and stupid everything is non-existent, so is everything non-existent and dark for one without belief.

Second Point:

The world and all things have three faces:

The First Face looks to the divine names and is their mirror. Death, separation, and non-existence cannot intrude on this face; it rather manifests renewal and remaking afresh.

The Second Face looks to the hereafter and gazes upon the World of Eternity; it is its arable field. Here, enduring fruits and produce are raised. It serves eternit y and makes ephemeral things as though eternal. On this face too there is no death and decline, but the manifestations of life and eternity.

The Third Facelooks to transient beings, that is, to us. It is the beloved of ephemeral beings and those who follow the caprices of their souls; the place of trade for the conscious; the arena of trial and examination for those charged with duties. Thus, the salve and cure for the pains and wounds of the transience and decline, the death and extinction, on this third face, are the manifestations of life and eternity in its inner face.

In Short:This flood of beings, these travelling creatures, are roving mirrors and ever-changing places of manifestation for the renewal of the Necessarily Existent One’s lights of creation and existence.

Second Station

The Second Station consists of an Introduction and five Indications.

The Introduction

[contains two Topics.]

First Topic:

In each of the following five Indications is a comparison, written in the form of a dull, short-ranged telescope with which to observe the attributes of dominicality. The comparisons cannot contain the realit y of those attributes; they cannot encompass them and be the measure of them, but they can assist in looking at them. Any phrases or expressions in the comparisons, or in the previous Signs, unfitting for the attributes of the Most Pure and Holy Essence are the fault of the comparisons.

For example, the meanings of pleasure, joy, and gratification known by us cannot express the sacred attributes; each rather indicates an observatory and is an aid to reflective thought. Also, by showing in a small example the tip of an encompassing, mighty law of dominicality, each proves the reality of the law present in the attributes of dominicality. For example, it is said that a flower departs from existence leaving thousands of existences behind it. This demonstrates a mighty law of dominicality that is in force in all the beings of spring, indeed, of all the world.

Yes, through whichever law the All-Compassionate Creator changes and renews the feathered dress of a bird, through the same law that All-Wise Maker renews the dress of the globe of the earth every year. Through the same law, He transforms the shape of the world every century. And through the same law, He will change the form of the universe at the resurrection of the dead.

Through whichever law He impels particles like Mevlevi dervishes, He makes the earth spin through the same law, like an ecstatic Mevlevi dervish rising up to dance the sama‘. And through that law, He causes worlds to revolve, and the solar system to travel through space.

Through whichever law He renews, repairs, and dissolves the particles in your body’s cells, through the same law He renews your garden every year, making it anew many times every season. And through the same law, He renews the face of the earth every spring, drawing a fresh veil over its face.

Through whichever law that All-Powerful Maker raises a fly to life, through the same law He restores to life the plane-tree opposite your win dow every spring; and through that law, He raises the globe of the earth to life in the spring; and through the same law He will raise creatures to life at the resurrection. The Qur’an alludes to this with the verse,Your creation and your resurrection is but as a single soul.(31:28) And so on; you can make further examples in the same way. There are many laws of dominicality like these which are in force from particles to the totality of the world.

Consider the immensity of these laws within dominical activity; note carefully their breadth and see the meaning of unity within them. Understand that each law is a proof of divine unity. Yes, since all these numerous and immense laws are the manifestations of knowledge and will, and since they are both the same and all-encompassing, they offer certain proof for the Maker’s unity, knowledge, and will.

Thus, most of the comparisons in the Words show through small examples the tips of laws like these, and by doing so, point to the existence of the same law in the matter claimed. Since the existence of the law is demonstrated through a comparison, it proves the assertion as categorically as a logical proof. That is to say, most of the comparisons in the Words should be considered categorical proofs and certain arguments.

Second Topic:

As is described in the Tenth Truth of the Tenth Word, however many flowers and fruits there are on a tree, each of them has aims, purposes, and instances of wisdom to that number. These instances of wisdom are of three sorts:One sort looks to the Maker and displays the embroideries of His names.Another sort looks to intelligent and conscious beings, and in their view, things are valuable missives and meaningful words. Another sort looks to the being itself and to its own life and perpetuation; and if beneficial for man, it contains instances of wisdom accordingly.

At one time, while contemplating how all beings have such numerous aims, the following phrases occurred to me in Arabic, which, like notes forming the basis of the following Indications, allude to those universal aims:

These glorious beings are flowing places of manifestation and roving mirrors for the renewal of the manifestations of the lights of His creativity – Glory be unto Him! – through the changing of their relative determinations,

• Firstly, and by preserving their beautiful meanings and their identities in the World of Similitudes;

• Secondly, and producing truths pertaining to the World of the Unseen and the weavings of the

Preserved Tablet;

* Thirdly, and spreading the fruits of the hereafter and publishing everlasting panoramas;

* Fourthly, and proclaiming dominical glorifications  and  making  known  what  the  divine  names  necessitate;

• Fifthly, so that the divine attributes become apparent and the aspects of divine knowledge.

These five sections comprise the bases of the Indications we shall discuss below. Yes, all beings, and particularly living beings, possess on five levels different aims and instances of wisdom and purposes. Like a tree produces fruit on branches one over the other, so all living beings have five different levels of aims and purposes.

O ephemeral man! If you want your own tiny seed-like reality to be transformed into an eternal fruit-bearing tree, and to obtain the ten levels of fruits and ten sorts of aims pointed out in the five Indications, acquire true faith. Otherwise, in addition to being deprived of all of them, you will be squeezed into that seed and you will rot!

FIRST INDICATION

Firstly:through the changing of their relative determinations, and by preserving their beautiful meanings and their identities in the World of Similitudes. This section expresses the following: although a being apparently disappears into non-existence after departing from [external] existence, the meanings it has expressed are preserved and perpetuated. Its identity, form, and essential nature also are preserved in the World of Similitudes, on the Preserved Tablets, which are samples of the World of Similitudes, and in memories, which are samples of the Preserved Tablets. That is, the being loses its visible existence and gains hundreds of immaterial existences and existences in knowledge. For example, in order to print a page in a printing-press, the type is set up and arranged. Then after the page has bequeathed its form and identity on many pages when printed and after it has proclaimed its meanings to many minds, the arrangement of the type is changed. For no need remains for it and other pages have to be printed.

In exactly the same way, the pen of divine determining sets up and arranges the beings of the earth, especially plants. Divine power creates them on the page of the springtime. Then in order for them to express their beautiful meanings and for their forms and identities to pass to the ledgers of the World of the Unseen, for instance the World of Similitudes, divine wisdom requires that the arrangement be changed. In this way, the page of another, future spring may be written and its beings express their meanings too.

SECOND INDICATION

Secondly, and producing truths pertaining to the World of the Unseen and the weavings of the Preserved Tablet.

This section shows that before departing from existence, everything, whether particular or universal, and especially living beings, produces many truths pertaining to the Unseen. So too they leave behind them on the tablets and notebooks of the World of Similitudes forms to the number of the stages of their lives. Their life histories and those of their forms that are meaningful are inscribed and become objects of study for spirit beings.

For example, a flower passes from existence, but together with leaving behind its essential nature in its hundreds of seeds, it leaves thousands of its forms on small Preserved Tablets and in memories, which are small samples of the Preserved Tablets. And throughout the stages of its life it causes conscious beings to study the embroideries of the divine names and the dominical glorifications it expresses; then it departs.

Similarly, the springtime is a flower adorned with finely wrought beings in the flower-pot of the face of the earth; it apparently dies and departs for non-existence, but in its place it leaves behind in existence the truths pertaining to the Unseen it has expressed to the number of its seeds, and identities in the World of Similitudes it has published to the number of its flowers, and the instances of dominical wisdom it has displayed to the number of its beings; only then is it hidden from us. Moreover, it makes room for its friends, other springs, to come and perform their duties. That is to say, the spring is divested of an external existence, and in meaning is clothed in a thousand existences.

THIRD INDICATION

Thirdly, and spreading the fruits of the hereafter and publishing everlasting panoramas. This section states that the world is a workbench and an arable field raising crops suitable for the market of the hereafter. We have proved in many of the Words that just as jinn and men send their actions to the market of the hereafter, so too the other beings in the world perform numerous duties on account of the hereafter and produce many crops for it. It may even be said that the earth travels for them, or even that this is its purpose. This dominical ship traverses a twenty-four thousand year distance in one year, circumscribing the field of the resurrection.For example, the people of Paradise will surely wish to recall their adventures in this world and recount them to one another. They will be exceedingly curious to see the images and pictures of those adventures, and they will enjoy it immensely if they can watch them like watching a cinema screen.

Consequently, as the verse,[Joyfully] facing each other on thrones [of dignity] (15:47; 37:44)indicates, in Paradise, the realm of delight and happiness, worldly adventures and scenes of worldly happenings will be recalled, amid everlasting panoramas.

Thus, the beautiful beings of this world appearing for a moment then disappearing, and following on one after the other in succession, appear to be factories and workshops manufacturing the vistas of eternity. For example, in order to give fleeting situations a permanence and leave souvenirs for the people of the future, the people of present-day civilization record the images of beautiful or strange happenings and present them as gifts to the future by means of the cinema screen; they show the past in the present and the future, and include it in them.

In just the same way, the All-Wise Maker of the beings of spring and this world records the aims of their brief lives, which look to the World of Eternity, in that world. He records in everlasting scenes in the Eternal Realm the vital duties and the divine miracles they have performed throughout the stages of their lives, as required by His names of All-Wise, All-Compassionate, and Loving.

FOURTH INDICATION

Fourthly, and proclaiming dominical glorifications and making known the requirements of the divine names. This section states that throughout the stages of their lives, beings perform numerous varieties of dominical glorifications. They also display various situations that the divine names necessitate and require. For example, the name of All- Compassionate desires to be compassionate. The name of Provider necessitates the giving of sustenance. The name of Gracious requires the granting of favours. And so on; all the divine names require and necessitate something.

Thus, in addition to demonstrating the requirements of the names through their lives and existences, all living beings glorify the All-Wise Maker to the number of their members and faculties.For example, a man eats delicious fruits which are then dissolved in his stomach and apparently destroyed, but they both produce a pleasure and eagerness arising from activity in all the cells of his body as well as his mouth and stomach, and comprise very many instances of wisdom like nurturing his life and every part of his body and causing his life to continue. And the food itself rises from vegetable existence to the level of human life; it progresses.

In exactly the same way, when beings are hidden behind the veil of death, in addition to their very many glorifications enduring in their places, they bequeath to the divine names many of the names’ embroideries and requirements. That is to say, they depart entrusting them to an eternal existence. If, then, when a transient and temporary existence departs thousands of existences manifesting a sort of permanence remain in its place, can it be said that the thing is to be pitied, or that it was all for nothing, or why did that lovable creature depart; can it be complained about? For the mercy, wisdom, and love that look to it required and necessitated it to be thus. Otherwise thousands of benefits would have to be abandoned so that a single harm would not come about; in which case the harm would be a thousandfold.

That is to say, the names of All-Compassionate, All-Wise, and Loving One are not opposed to death and separation; indeed, they require and necessitate it.

FIFTH INDICATION

Fifthly, so that the divine attributes become apparent and the aspects of divine knowledge. This section states that on departing from visible existence, beings, and particularly living beings, leave behind them many enduring things. As described in the Second Sign, among the attributes of dominicality (fluûnât-› rubûbiyet) – in a way befitting the sacredness and perfect self-sufficiency of the Necessarily Existent Essence and in a form worthy of Him – are a boundless love, an infinite compassion, an endless pride, and, if the term is permissible, a boundless holy pleasure, a joy, and if the expression is not mistaken, an infinite sacred delight, and a transcendent happiness; the traces of which are to be observed and seen.

Yes, through change and transformation, decline and transience, beings are driven on at speed within the astonishing activity necessitated by these attributes; they are constantly sent from the Manifest World to the World of the Hereafter. Under the manifestations of the attributes, creatures are shaken up in a continual flow and flood, motion and movement, scattering to the ears of the heedless the lamentations of death and separation, and to the hearing of the people of guidance, a clamour of glorification and recital of God’s names. It is by virtue of this mystery that all beings depart leaving behind them in existence meanings, qualities, and states which will each be a means to the manifestation of the Necessarily Existent One’s eternal attributes.

Furthermore, beings depart leaving behind them the stages and states they have undergone throughout their lives – a detailed existence which represents their external existence – on the Preserved Tablet, and in the Clear Book and Clear Record, and other spheres of existence like these that pertain to divine knowledge. This means that every transitory being abandons one existence and gains thousands of permanent existences.

For example, a number of common substances are thrown into a wondrous machine in a factory; they burn up inside it and are apparently destroyed, but in those vats valuable chemical substances are precipitated. Also, through its force and steam, the factory’s machinery works: in one area of it textiles are woven, in another books are printed, while in another sweets and other rare confections are manufactured; and so on; it produces these. That is to say, thousands of things come into existence through the burning of those common substances and their apparent destruction. One common existence departs but leaves a legacy of numerous elevated existences. Can one therefore feel sorry for the common substance? Can one complain about the factory owner because he did not pity it and burnt it, destroying those affectionate substances?

Similarly, “And God’s is the highest similitude,”(16:60) as necessitated by mercy, wisdom, and lovingness, the Wise, Compassionate, and Loving Creator causes the factory of the universe to work. He makes all transient existences the seeds of numerous perpetual existences; He makes them the means for the fulfilment of the dominical aims; He makes them manifest the divine attributes; He makes them the ink for the pen of divine determining and shuttles for the weaving of divine power; and for many elevated aims and favours that we do not yet know, through the activity of His power He causes the activity of the universe; He causes particles to spin, beings to travel, animals to flow, and the planets to rotate;

He makes the universe speak, causing it to silently recite His verses, His signs, and to inscribe them. And of the creatures of the earth – with regard to His dominicality – He makes the air a throne for His command and will; the element of light a throne for His knowledge and wisdom; water a throne for His bounty and mercy; and earth a throne for His preservation and giving of life; and three of these thrones He rests on the creatures of the earth. Know certainly that the shining truth demonstrated in these five Signs and five Indications is to be seen through the light of the Qur’an and may be laid claim to through the strength of belief. Otherwise a terrifying dark ness takes the place of this enduring truth. For the people of misguidance, the world is full to overflowing with deaths, separations, and non-existence; for them, the universe is a sort of Hell. Everything has only a flash of existence and is surrounded by never- ending non-being. The past and the future are filled with the darkness of non- existence; they may find a sad light of existence only in the fleeting present. However, through the mystery of the Qur’an and the light of belief, a light of existence becomes apparent which shines from pre-eternity to post-eternity; believers are connected with that, and through it secure eternal happiness.

In Short:

In the manner of the poet Niyazi Misrî, we say:

Till this breath becomes the ocean,

Till this cage is smashed to fragments,

Till this voice is silenced,

I shall call: O Truth! O Existent! O Living One! Most Worthy of Worship!

O Most Wise! One Sought! Most Compassionate! All-Loving!

And I call out:

There is no god but God, the Sovereign, the Truth, the Evident;

Muhammad is the Messenger of God, faithful in His promise, Amen.

And believing, I declare:

Resurrection after death is true; Paradise is true; Hell-fire is true; eternal happiness is true;

God is Compassionate, Wise, and Loving; and Mercy, Wisdom, and Love encompass all things and all their attributes.

And they shall say: “Praise be to God, who has guided us to this [felicity];

never could we have found guidance, had it not been for the guidance of God; indeed, it was the truth that the prophets of our Sustainer brought to us!”(7:43)

Glory be to the One who has made the garden of the earth the exhibition of His art,

the gathering of His creatures, the place of manifestation of His power, the means of His wisdom, the garden of His mercy, the tillage of His Paradise, the place of passage of creatures, through which beings flow, the measure of artefacts; adorned by animals, embroidered with birds, made fruitful by trees, made to bloom with flowers;

miracles of His knowledge, wonders of His art, gifts of His munificence, proofs of His favour, evidences of His unity, subtleties of His wisdom, witnesses to His mercy; the smiling of the blossoms with the adornment of fruits, the singing of the birds in the breezes of morning, the pattering of the rain on the cheeks of the flowers; the adornment of the flowers, the embellishment of the fruits in these gardens;

all mothers, human and animal, are tender towards their small young, making known a Loving One, making loved a Merciful One, the compassion of a Kind One, the tenderness of One sympathetic to man and jinn, and to spirits, animals, angels, and jinn.

The First Addendum to the Twenty-Fourth Letter

In His Name, be He glorified!

And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.(17:44)

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

Say: No importance would your Sustainer attach to you were it not for your supplication.(25:77)

Listen now to five points concerning this verse.

First Point

Supplication is a mighty mystery of worship; indeed, it is as though the spirit of worship. As we have mentioned in many places, supplication is of three sorts.

The First Sort of Supplication:This is the tongue of latent ability. Through it all seeds and grains supplicate the All-Wise Creator, saying: “Make us grow! Make our tiny truths sprout and transform us into the mighty reality of a tree, so that we may display the elaborate embroideries of Your names!”

Another sort of supplication through the tongue of latent ability is this: the gathering together of causes is a supplication for the creation of the effect. That is to say, the causes take up a position whereby they resemble a tongue of disposition through which they beseech the effect from the All-Powerful One of Glory. For example, water, heat, earth, and light take up positions around a seed, and their doing this constitutes a tongue of supplication which says: “O Our Creator, make this seed into a tree!” For the tree, a wonderful miracle of power, cannot be attributed to those unconscious, lifeless, simple substances; that would be impossible. This means the coming together of causes is a sort of supplication.

The Second Sort of Supplication:This is through the tongue of innate need. It is the supplication made by all living creatures to the All-Compassionate Creator to give them the things they need and desire, which are beyond their power and will, from unexpected places, at the appropriate time. For an All-Wise and Compassionate One sends them all these things at the right time, from places they do not know. They are beyond their reach. That is to say, the bestowal is the result of supplication.

In Short:All that rises to the divine court from the universe is a supplication. Those things that are causes seek the effects from God.

The Third Sort of Supplication:This is the supplication of conscious beings, which arises from need. It is of two kinds:

If it is made at a time of desperate need, or is completely conformable with innate need, or if it is close to the tongue of latent ability, or is made with the tongue of a pure, sincere heart, this supplication is virtually always acceptable. The greater part of human progress and most discoveries are the result of this sort of supplication. For the things they call the wonders of civilization and the matters and discoveries they take pride in are the result of what is in effect supplication. They were asked for with a sincere tongue of latent ability and so were given. So long as there is nothing preventing them and they are conformable with conditions, supplications made through the tongues of latent ability and innate need are always acceptable.

The Second Kind:This is the well-known supplication and it too is of two kinds. One is by action and the other by word. For example, ploughing is supplication by action. It is not seeking the sustenance from the earth; the earth is a door to a treasury of mercy, and the plough knocks on the earth, the door to divine mercy.

We shall skip details of the remaining sorts, and explain in the following two or three points one or two of the secrets of supplication by word.

Second Point

Supplication has a powerful effect. It almost always yields results, indeed, its results are continuous, especially if it gains universality and is constant. It may even be said that supplication was one of the reasons for the world’s creation. That is to say, the supplications of chiefly mankind, and of them principally the Islamic world, and mainly the sublime supplications of Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace) were a cause of the universe’s creation. That is to say, the Creator of the World knew that in the future Muhammad (UWBP) would ask for eternal happiness and for a manifestation of the divine names in the name of mankind, indeed, on account of all beings, and He accepted that future supplicaton and created the universe.

Since supplication possesses this great importance and capacity, is it at all possible that the supplications offered all the time for one thousand three hundred and fifty years by three hundred million of mankind and by uncountable numbers of blessed beings from among men, jinn, angels, and spirit beings for the bestowal of suprem divine mercy and eternal happiness on the Person of Muhammad (UWBP), and for the accomplishment of their aims would not be accepted? Is it in any way possible that their supplications would be rejected?

Since all these supplications have acquired universality, extensiveness, and continuousness to this extent and have reached the level of the tongues of latent ability and innate need, for sure, as a result of them, Muhammad the Arabian (UWBP) has achieved such a rank and degree that if all minds were to gather together and become one mind, it could not completely comprehend it.

O Muslims! This is the intercessor you shall have on the Day of Resurrection! So if you want to attract his intercession, follow his practices (sunna)!

If you ask:Since he is God’s Beloved, what need does he have of all these blessings and supplications?

The Answer:This Being (UWBP) is concerned with the happiness of all his community and shares in the good fortune of each of its members. So too, he is disturbed by all their tribulations. For sure, the degrees of his own happiness and perfection are endless, but since he desires ardently the numberless kinds of happiness for the numberless members of his community for an unlimited time, and is saddened at the numberless kinds of their wretchedness, he is surely worthy of and needy for endless blessings and supplications and mercy.

If you ask:Sometimes supplications are offered for things that are definite; for example, the supplications in the prayers offered during lunar and solar eclipses. Also, sometimes supplications are made for things that will never come about. What does this mean?

The Answer:As is explained in others of the Words, supplication is worship. By means of it, God’s servant proclaims his powerlessness and want. The apparent purposes mark the times of the supplication and the supplicatory worship; they are not really the purpose. The purpose of worship and its benefits look to the hereafter. If its worldly aims are not obtained, it should not be said that the supplication was not accepted, but that the time for it has not yet ended.

Also, is it at all possible that eternal happiness, which all the believers have asked for at all times, continuously, with complete sincerity and yearning and entreaty, should not be given to them, and that the Absolutely Generous One, the Absolutely Compassionate One, who according to the testimony of the universe possesses boundless mercy, should not accept their supplications and that eternal happiness should not exist?

Third Point

There are two ways in which voluntary supplication by word is acceptable. It is either accepted exactly as desired or what is better is granted.

For example, someone asks for a son and Almighty God bestows a daughter like Mary. One should not say that his supplication was not accepted, but that it was accepted in a better way.Also, sometimes a person makes supplication for his happiness in this world and it is accepted for the hereafter. One should not say that his supplication was rejected, but that it was accepted in a better form.

Similarly, Almighty God is All-Wise; we seek from Him and He responds to us. But He deals with us in accordance with His wisdom. A sick person should not cast aspersions on his doctor’s wisdom. If he asks for honey and the expert doctor gives him quinine, he should not say: “The doctor didn’t listen to me.” For the doctor listened to his sighs and moans; he heard them and responded to them. He prescribed something better than what was asked for.

Fourth Point

The best, finest, sweetest, most immediate fruit and result of supplication is this, that the person who offers it knows there is someone who listens to his voice, sends a remedy for his ailment, takes pity on him, and whose hand of power reaches everything. He is not alone in this great hostel of the world; there is an All-Generous Being who looks after him and makes it friendly. Imagining himself in the presence of the One who can bring about all his needs and repulse all his innumerable enemies, he feels a joy and relief; he casts off his load, which is as heavy as the world, and exclaims: “All praise be to God, the Lord and Sustainer of All the Worlds!”

Fifth Point

Supplication is the spirit of worship and results from sincere belief. For the person who makes supplication shows that there is someone who rules the whole universe, saying: “He knows the least significant things about me, can bring about my farthest aims; who sees every circumstance of mine, and hears my voice. He hears the voices of all beings, and He hears my voice too. He does all these things, so I await my smallest needs from Him too. I ask Him for them!”

See the extensive, sincere belief in God’s unity that supplication gives, and the sweetness and purity of the light of belief that it shows! Under stand the meaning of the verse,Say, No importance would your Sustainer attach to you were it not for your supplication;(25:77) listen to the decree of,And your Sustainer says: Call on Me; I shall answer you.(40:60)As the saying goes: “If I had not wanted to give, I would not have given wanting.”(*)

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 to our master Muhammad from pre-eternity to post- eternity, to the number of things present in divine knowledge, and to his Family and Companions, grant them peace; and preserve us from harm, and preserve our religion. Amen.

And all praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds.

The Second Addendum to the Twenty-Fourth Letter

[This is about the Ascension of the Prophet Muhammad (UWBP)]

In His Name!And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.(17:44)

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

For, indeed, he saw him at a second descent; * Near the Lote-tree of the farthest limit; * Near it is to the Garden of Abode. * Behold, the Lote-tree was shrouded in mystery unspeakable! * [His] eye did not waver, nor yet did it stray; * Truly did he see some of the most profound of his Sustainer’s signs.(53:13-18)

[We shall explain in five points, the section on the Ascension in the Mevlid of the Prophet (UWBP).(*)]

First Point

Süleyman Efendi, in the Mevlid which he wrote, recounts a sad love story about Buraq, which was brought from Paradise. Since Süleyman Efendi was one of the saints and the story is based on narrations, it must surely express a truth.

The truth of the matter must be this: the creatures of the Eternal Realm are closely connected with the light of God’s Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace). For it is through the light that he brought that Paradise and the world of the hereafter will be inhabited by mankind and the jinn. If it had not been for him, there would have been no eternal happiness, and mankind and the jinn, who have the ability to benefit from all the creatures of Paradise, would not have dwelt there; in that sense it would have remained empty, a wasteland.

As is explained in the Fourth Branch of the Twenty-Fourth Word, a sort of nightingale has been chosen from each of the animal species to proclaim the intense need of the species – and passion even – for the caravans of plant species which, proceeding from the treasury of mercy, bear their provisions. The chief of these are the nightingale and the rose. The songs of these dominical orators, and the love-song of the nightingale for the rose, are a welcoming, an applause, glorifying God, before the most beautiful of the plants.

Similarly, Gabriel (Upon whom be peace), one of the angels, served with perfect love Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who was the reason for the creation of the spheres, the cause of happiness in this world and the next, and the beloved of the Sustainer of All the Worlds. He thus demonstrated the obedience and submission of the angels to Adam (Upon whom be peace) and the reason for their prostrating before him. Similarly, the people of Paradise – and some of its animals even – feel a connection with Muhammad (UWBP), and this found expression in the passionate feelings of Buraq, whom he mounted.

Second Point

One of the adventures during the Ascension concerned Almighty God’s transcendent love for His Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), which was expressed by the phrase: “I am your lover.” In its common meaning, such words are inappropriate for the Necessarily Existent One’s holiness and His essential self-sufficiency. Süleyman Efendi’s Mevlid has enjoyed great popularity; it may be understood from this that, as one of the people of sainthood and reality, his allusion is correct. Its meaning is this:

The Necessarily Existent One possesses infinite beauty and perfection, for all the varieties of them dispersed through the universe are the signs and indications of His beauty and perfection.

Those who possess beauty and perfection clearly love them. Similarly, the All-Glorious One greatly loves His beauty, and He loves it in a way that befits Himself. Furthermore, He loves His names, which are the rays of His beauty, and since He loves them, He surely loves His art, which displays their beauty. In which case, He also loves His creatures, which are mirrors reflecting His beauty and perfection. Since He loves the creatures that display them, He certainly loves the creatures’ fine qualities, which point to the beauty and perfection of His names. The All-Wise Qur’an alludes to these five sorts of love with its verses.

Thus, since the Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) was the most perfect of creatures and the most excellent of beings;

And since he displayed and applauded divine art with a clamour of glorification and recitation of God’s names;

And since he opened through the tongue of the Qur’an the treasuries of beauty and perfection found in the names;

And since, through the tongue of the Qur’an he expounded brilliantly and compellingly the evidences for the Maker’s perfection in the creational signs of the universe;

And since through his universal worship he acted as a mirror to divine dominicality;

And since through the comprehensiveness of his essential nature he was the most perfect locus for the manifestation of all the divine names;

It surely may be said that since the All-Beauteous One of Glory loves His own beauty, He loves Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace), the most perfectly conscious mirror to His beauty.

And since He loves His names, He loves Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who was the most brilliant mirror to the names, and He loves those who, according to their degree, resemble him.

And since He loves His art, He certainly loves Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who proclaimed His art to the universe in reverberating voice, making it ring in the ears of the heavens, and who with a tumult of glorification and recitation of the divine praises, brought to ecstasy the land and the sea; and He loves too those who follow him.

And since He loves His artefacts, He loves living beings, the most perfect of His artefacts, and intelligent beings, the most perfect of living beings, and human beings, the most superior of intelligent beings, and He surely loves most of all Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who as is agreed by all was the most perfect of human beings.

And since He loves the moral virtues of His creatures, He loves Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace), whose moral qualities were at the very highest degree, as is agreed unanimously, and He loves too those who, as far as they can, resemble him. This means that like His mercy, Almighty God’s love encompasses the universe.

Thus, it was because among all those innumerable beloveds, the ultimate degree in every respect of the above-mentioned five aspects was unique to Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace) that he was given the name of God’s Beloved.

This was the reason Süleyman Efendi expressed this highest rank of being God’s beloved with the words: “I am your lover.” The expression is meant to provoke thought; it is a distant allusion to this truth. Nevertheless,since it conjures up associations unfitting to the attributes of dominicality, it is best to say instead: “I am pleased with you.”

Third Point

The adventures of the Ascension cannot express those sacred, transcendent truths through allusions that we understand. Its exchanges are like observation posts, means to reflective thought, indications of profound and elevated truths, reminders for some of the truths of faith, and allusions to inexpressible meanings. They are not adventures in the sense that we know. We cannot reach those truths through our imaginations; we rather feel a pleasurable excitement in our hearts through our faith, a luminous joy of the spirit.

For just as Almighty God has no like or match or peer in His essence and attributes, so He has no like in His dominicality and its qualities. Nor does His love resemble the love of creatures, or His attributes resemble theirs. So, holding such expressions to be metaphors, we say this: In a manner that befits His necessary existence and holiness and in a form appropriate to His essential self-sufficiency and absolute perfection, the Necessarily Existent One possesses certain qualities, like love, which are recalled through the adventures in the section of the Mevlid about the Ascension. The Thirty-First Word about the Prophet’s Ascension explains and expounds its reality in the context of the principles of belief. Deeming that to be sufficient, we leave the present discussion at this.

Fourth Point

The words, “He saw Almighty God beyond seventy thousand veils”(*)express distance, whereas the Necessarily Existent One is free of space; He is closer to everything than anything else. What does this mean?

The Answer:This truth has been explained in detail and with proofs in the Thirty-First Word, so here we only say this:

Almighty God is utterly near to us, but we are utterly distant from Him. The sun is near to us through the mirror we are holding, and all transparent objects on the earth are a sort of throne for it and a sort of dwelling. If the sun had consciousness, it would converse with us by means of our mirror, despite our being four thousand years distant from it. Without drawing any comparisons, we can say that the Pre-Eternal Sun is closer to everything than anything else, for He is the Necessarily Existent, he is free of space; nothing at all can be a veil to Him. But everything is infinitely distant from Him.

This is the mystery underlying the long distance of the Ascension on the one hand, and the absence of distance expressed by, “And We are closer to him than his jugular vein,”(50:16) on the other. God’s Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) made the Ascension and traversed a vast distance, yet he returned in a single instant. The Ascension was his spiritual journeying, an expression of his sainthood. For through their spiritual journeying from forty days to forty years, the saints advance to the degree of “absolute certainty” among the degrees of faith.

Similarly, God’s Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), the lord of all the saints, opened up a mighty highway with his Ascension, which lasting forty minutes rather than forty years, was the supreme wonder of sainthood, and which he made not only with his heart and spirit, but also with his body and his senses and his subtle faculties. He rose to the ultimate degrees of the truths of faith. He mounted by the steps of the Ascension to the divine throne, and at the station of “the distance of two bow-lengths” witnessed with his own eyes with the vision of certainty belief in God and belief in the hereafter, the principal truths of faith; he entered Paradise and saw eternal happiness. Then he left open the highway he had disclosed through the door of the Ascension, and all the saints of his communit y travel on their spiritual journeyings under its shadow, with the spirit and heart, in accordance with their degrees.

Fifth Point

The recitation of the Prophet’s (UWBP) Mevlid and its section about his Ascension is a fine, beneficial custom and admirable Islamic practice. It strengthens in a pleasant, shining, and agreeable way the fellowship of Islamic social life; it is gratifying and pleasurable instruction in the truths of faith; and is an effective and stimulating way of depicting and encouraging the lights of belief, and love of God, and love for the Prophet (UWBP).

May Almighty God cause this custom to continue to eternity, and may He grant mercy to the writers of Mevlids like Süleyman Efendi, and a place in Paradise. Amen.

Conclusion

Since the Creator of the universe created in every species an outstanding individual, including in it all the species’ perfections and making it the pride of the species, He would surely create – through the manifestation of His Greatest Name – an individual who within the universe would be exceptional and perfect. Just as among His names there is a Greatest Name, so among His creatures there should be a pre-eminent individual in whom He would bring together all the perfections dispersed through the universe, and through whom He would draw gazes upon Himself.

Such an individual would surely be from among living creatures, for among the species and realms of beings in the universe, the most perfect are living beings. And among the animate species, the individual would be an intelligent being, for among living beings the most perfect are those with intelligence. And certainly, that exceptional individual would be a human being, for among intelligent beings, the one capable of endless progress is man. And among men, that individual would be Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace). For no era in history, from the time of Adam to the present, has produced his like, and cannot and will not produce such a one.

For taking half the globe of the earth and a fifth of mankind under his spiritual rule, he has perpetuated it magisterially for one thousand three hundred and fifty years, and for all who seek perfection has become a universal master in ever y sort of truth and reality. As agreed by friend and foe alike, he possessed moral qualities of the very highest order. At the start of his mission, he challenged the whole world singlehanded. The person who brought the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, which is constantly recited by more than a hundred million men, is surely that excellent individual; it could be no one else. He is both the seed, and the fruit, of this world.

Blessings and peace be upon him to the number of the species of the universe and all their beings!

You may understand then what a pleasurable, honourable, luminous, joyful, auspicious, and elevated religious entertainment it is for believers to listen to the Mevlid and Ascension of that Being whom they look on as their chief, master, leader, and intercessor; that is, to hear about the beginning and end of his progress; that is, to learn the story of his spiritual life.

O our Sustainer! In veneration of Your Most Noble Beloved (Upon whom be blessings and peace) and for the sake of Your Greatest Name, make the hearts of those who publish this treatise, and those of their companions, manifest the lights of belief, and make their pens disseminate the mysteries of the Qur’an, and set them on the Straight Path! Amen.

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

The Eternal One, He is the Eternal One!

Said Nursî

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The Twenty-Third Letter ⇐ | The Letters | ⇒ The Twenty-Fifth Letter

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