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Have
We not made the earth a cradle,
and the mountains masts? We have
created you as pairs.
(78:6-8) Look at
the works of God’s Mercy, how
He revives the earth after its
death!
(30:50)
The
earth is like a head which has
hundreds of thousands of
mouths. In each mouth are
hundreds of thousands of
tongues and each tongue has
hundreds of thousands of
proofs, each of which
testifies in numerous ways to
the necessary existence and
Unity of an All-Majestic One
Who is powerful over all
things and knows everything,
and His sacred Attributes and
Beautiful Names.
Considering
the beginning of the creation
of the earth, a liquid matter
was made into rock and out of
rock, earth was created. Had
it remained as fluid, it could
not have been habitable. If it
had remained as rock, hard
like iron, it would not have
been suitable for use. So it
is certain that the Wisdom of
an All-Wise Maker, Who is
aware of the needs of the
earth’s inhabitants, gave it
its present form.
Also,
the stratum of earth was laid
over the feet of the masts of
mountains so that the earth
could find an outlet through
them from its internal quakes
and continue its duty and
movements without any
diversion. Mountains also save
the face of the earth from the
invasion of seas.
Additionally, they serve as
treasuries for the vital
necessities of living
creatures, and combing out the
air, they purify it of harmful
gasses. Furthermore, they
store up waters, and are
sources of other minerals
necessary for living beings.
Thus,
with all these and other
duties and aspects of theirs,
mountains decisively and
strongly testify to the
necessary existence and Unity
of an Absolutely Powerful and
All-Wise, Compassionate One.
Also,
consider the wonderful kinds
of art on the face of the
earth! How wisely elements
have been charged with duties!
How beautifully they look
after the All-Merciful One’s
guests on the earth at the
command of a Powerful, Wise
One, and hasten to serve them!
Also,
among unique and wonderful
works of art, consider those
lines of embroidery on the
multi-colored face of the
earth displaying striking
instances of wisdom, and see
how He has made brooks and
streams, seas and rivers,
mountains and hills serve as
both a dwelling and a means of
transport appropriate to
certain varieties of His
creatures and servants. Then,
populating the earth with
hundreds of thousands of
species of plants and animals
with perfect wisdom and order
and causing it to prosper with
life, and after discharging
those inhabitants in regular
cycles from their duties
through death, re-filling it
again regularly in the form of
‘revival after death’,
testify to the necessary
existence and Unity of an
All-Powerful One of Majesty,
an All-Wise One of Perfection,
in hundreds of thousands of
tongues.
In
short: since the earth, whose
face is a place of exhibition
of wonders of art and an
assembly arena of exquisite
creatures and a thoroughfare
for the troops of creatures
and a place of worship and
dwelling for the ranks of His
servants, is like the heart of
the whole of the universe, it
shows a light of Divine Unity
as broad as the universe.
He
has created death and life.
(67:2)
Life as a most
brilliant miracle of God
Life
is the most luminous and most
beautiful of the miracles of
Divine Power and the most
brilliant and strongest of the
proofs of Divine Unity. It is
also the most comprehensive
and most polished of the
mirrors to the manifestations
of the Eternally
Besought-of-All.
Life
makes known by itself the
Ever-Living and
Self-Subsistent One with all
His Names and qualities. For
life is a light compounded of
the manifestations of many of
the Divine Attributes
together. Just as the seven
colors are present compounded
in light and various medicinal
substances in natural
confections, so too life is a
reality compounded of many
Divine Attributes. Some of
those attributes develop
through feelings and become
distinct, while most of them
make themselves felt through
sentiments and emotions. They
make themselves known by ‘boiling’
in life.
Life
also comprises providence,
mercy, grace and wisdom, which
are the most substantial
elements in the maintenance
and administration of the
universe. It is as if life
brings them along with itself
wherever it goes. For example,
when life enters a body, the
Names the All-Wise also
manifests itself therein, and
builds and arranges that ‘nest’
of life with wisdom
appropriately. The Name the
All-Munificent and the
All-Compassionate manifest
themselves at the same instant
and furnish and decorate that
dwelling of life in accordance
with its needs and bestow on
it all kinds of favors for the
continuation and perfection of
life respectively. Further,
the Name the Provider is also
observed to manifest Itself in
supplying life with all
material and spiritual
nourishment necessary for its
maintenance and flourishing,
and It stores up a certain
amount of that nourishment in
its body. This means that life
is like a focus where various
Names or Attributes meet or,
rather, are united into one
another to form a single
entity. It is as if life is
entirely knowledge; yet it is
power at the same time, as it
is also wisdom and mercy, etc.
So, on account of its so
comprehensive nature, life is
a mirror to the Eternally
Besought-of-All reflecting the
qualities of the Essence of
the Divine Being. It is
because of this that the
Necessarily-Existent One, Who
is the Ever-Living and
Self-Subsistent, creates life
in the greatest profusion and
abundance and exhibits it. He
also concentrates all things
around life to make them serve
it, for life has a very great,
important duty.
Indeed,
it is not something easy and
an ordinary duty to be a
mirror to God as the Eternally
Besought-of-All. The
innumerable new lives and
spirits, the essences or
identities of lives, which we
constantly witness being
brought into existence all
instantly from nothing, show
the necessary existence,
sacred Attributes and
Beautiful Names of the
Necessarily-Existent,
Ever-Living and
Self-Subsistent One, as rays
of light show the sun. Just as
if one did not recognize the
sun and admit its existence,
one would have to deny the
light pervading daytime, so
too the one who does not
recognize the Sun of Oneness,
Who is the Ever-Living and
Self-Subsistent, and the Giver
of Life and the One Causing to
Die, should deny the existence
of the living beings filling
the face of the earth from the
beginning of time to its end.
One should therefore admit
himself to be like an
unconscious, most ignorant
being.
There
is no god but He. All things are
perishing except His “Face;”
His is the sovereignty and unto
Him you are being returned.
(28:88)
Death as a strong
evidence of God’s Oneness and
Permanence
Death is a proof
of Divine Lordship to the degree of
life and an extremely strong
evidence of His Oneness.
According to the
meaning of the verse, He has
created death and life (67:2),
death is not total non-existence or
extinction, nor absolute
annihilation or decay without one
who authors it, rather as is pointed
out in The First Letter, it is a
discharge from worldly services by
an All-Wise Author, and a change of
place and renewal of body, and being
freed from duties and a release from
the prison of the body, and a
pre-determined and well-ordered work
of wisdom.
Just as the
lively face of the earth and
creatures and animate beings on it
testify to the necessity of an
All-Wise Maker’s existence and His
Unity, so too, those living
creatures bear witness through their
death to the Oneness and Eternity of
an Ever-Living, Permanent One.
Living beings
testify through their lives to the
existence of a Necessarily-Existent
One and through their death they
bear witness to the Eternity and
Oneness of an Ever-Living Permanent
One. For example, the face of the
earth is a living thing and shows
the Maker through all its features
and orderliness. When it dies, that
is, when winter covers that dead
face with its white shroud, it
distracts the views of mankind from
the earth. Or, attention is diverted
through this wintry corpse of spring
into the past and a broader
spectacle appears to the eye. That
is, all the past springs, each of
which was a miracle of Divine Power
covering the face of the earth, urge
the conviction that a new spring
will come and the face of the earth
will be revived and filled with
living creatures once more. All the
springs past and the face of the
earth (which has been experiencing
the 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, Permanent One, so
brilliantly, so strongly, and on so
vast a scale, and present proofs so
clear, that one could not help but
proclaim: I have believed in God,
the One, the Single.
In short:
According to the meaning of He
revives the earth after its death,
as this lively earth testifies to
the Maker through spring, it
attracts attention through its death
to the miracles of Divine Power
arranged on the two wings of time,
the past and future. In place of a
single spring, it shows thousands,
and points to thousands of miracles
of Power in place of a single one.
The testimony of all of those
springs is more decisive than that
of this present one. For the springs
that have passed away into the past
have gone together with their
apparent causes, and been replaced
by new ones like themselves. This
means that the apparent causes mean
nothing. An All-Powerful One of
Majesty creates them and dispatches
them. However, He makes them
dependent on certain causes due to
His Wisdom. As for the lively faces
of the earth arranged in sequence in
time to come, they bear witness more
forcefully. For, while there is yet
no sign of them, yet they will be
made, each originally and, after
being sent to perform definite
duties, each will be removed.
Just
as relativity shows absoluteness, so
does contingency shows necessity
A beaten one
points to the one who beat. A work
of art necessarily 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 such as these
which exist in relation to each
other and require the existence of
each other, the contingency in the
particulars of the universe as well
as in it as a whole-that is, it is
equally possible for something to
come into existence or not-shows
necessity. The being or becoming or
the being acted upon observed in the
particulars and in the universe as a
whole show activity. Their being
created shows the activity of
creating. Multiplicity and
composition observed in all of them
necessitates unity. Necessity,
acting, doing, creating and unity
necessarily and evidently demand the
attributes necessary, active,
creative and one, which are not
contingent, passive, multiple,
composed and created. That being so,
all contingencies, actions and
formations, creations, and all
multiplicities and compositions in
the universe testify of a certainty
to a Necessarily-Existent One, One
doing whatever He wills, the Creator
of all things, One and Single.
In short: Just as
contingency shows necessity, and
being or becoming evidently points
to an act of doing or making, and
multiplicity to unity, so too, being
created and provided as observed in
existence certainly point to the
existence of the acts of making,
creating and providing. These of a
necessity and evidently point to the
existence of a Compassionate Maker,
Who is the Creator and Provider.
This means that through the tongues
of the hundreds of attributes it
has, each creature bears witness to
hundreds of Beautiful Names of the
Necessarily-Existent Being. If these
testimonies are not admitted, then
all such qualities must also be
denied.
Beauties
being refreshed and renewed after
their disappearance
show the Eternal
Beauty
The beauties and
comeliness observed on the faces of
creatures for a fixed period and
then renewed and refreshed after
their disappearance, show that they
are the reflections of some kind of
the manifestations of an Eternal
Beauty. Just as the sparkling of the
troops of bubbles on the surface of
a river one after the other under
the sun shows that the bubbles are
the mirrors of the rays of a
perpetual sun, so also the rays of
beauty glittering on the creatures
traveling in the flowing river of
time point to a Permanent Beauty.
They are the signs of some kind of
that Beauty.
Also, the earnest
love inherent in the heart of the
universe shows a Never-Ending
Beloved One. As is pointed out by
the fact that something that does
not exist in the nature of a tree
has no place in its fruits, the
solemn, transcendent love existing
in man who is the most sensitive and
delicate fruit of the tree of
creation shows that in the whole of
the universe there is true love,
though in different forms and of
different kinds. So, that true love
in the heart of the universe shows
an Eternal, Beloved One.
Also, the
attractiveness and attractions and
attachments manifesting themselves
in the bosom of the universe in many
different forms show the hearts
alerted and aware that they all
issue from the attractiveness of an
attractive, eternal truth.
Also, relying on
their illuminations and visions,
saintly people and those capable of
unveiling hidden truths in creation,
who form the most sensitive and
enlightened group of beings,
unanimously report that they receive
the manifestations of an
All-Beautiful One of Majesty and are
aware through their illuminations
and visions that that majestic,
Beautiful One makes Himself known
and loved. This decisively testifies
to the existence of a
Necessarily-Existent One, 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, manifestly shows the
beauty of the Names of that pen’s
Owner.
Thus, with the
beauty on its face, the love in its
heart, the attraction in its bosom,
the illumination and vision in its
eyes and the decoration and
loveliness in it as a whole, the
universe opens up a pleasant, clear
window through which it shows
intellects and hearts, alerted and
awake, a Beautiful One of Majesty, a
Never-Ending Beloved One, an Eternal
Object of Worship, all of Whose
Names are Beautiful.
God
is the Creator of all things, and He
is a Guardian, a Watcher over all
things.
(39:62)
Causality is only
a veil
Looking at
visible things, ‘causes and
effects’ in the universe, we see
that even the greatest cause by
itself is not enough for the
existence of even the most
insignificant thing. This means that
causes are only a veil; there is one
who brings ‘effects’-things-into
existence. Out of innumerable
creatures, we consider as a simple
example the faculty of memory
situated in a place the size of a
grain of mustard seed in the head of
man, and see that it is so
comprehensive a book or, rather,
library, that the whole of his
life-history is recorded in it.
What cause can
you put forward as the origin of
that miracle of Divine Power? The
entangled nerves of the brain? Or
simple, unconscious parts of cells?
Or the winds of chance? Whereas,
that miracle of art can be the work
of such a One, a Wise Maker, that in
order to remind man in the Place of
Gathering in the Hereafter of all he
did while in the world, He makes a
copy of the register of his deeds
and gives it to the hand of his
intellect.
Compare to man’s
faculty of memory all eggs, seeds
and fruit stones and also compare to
these tiny miracles of Power all
other effects. Whatever effect or
thing you look at, you will see that
it contains such a wonderful
artistry that if, let alone its
ordinary, particular cause, all
causes were gathered together, they
would display their impotence in
front of it. For example, supposing
the sun, which is described by some
as a huge cause or agent, to be
conscious and possessed of
will-power. If you were to ask it
whether it could make the body of a
fly, it would evidently answer: ‘Thanks
to my Creator’s grace, there is
much light and heat and a lot of
colors in my shop. But in the body
of a fly are things such as eyes and
ears and life which do not exist in
my shop, nor are within my capacity.’
Also, just as the
extraordinary art and decorations
contained in a thing refuse causes
(as accounting for its creation) and
point to the Necessarily-Existent
Being, Who is the Producer of All
Causes-according to the meaning of
Unto Him is returned the whole of
the affair (Hud, 11.123)-and
acknowledge Him as the true
originator of all things and events,
so too, the results, purposes and
benefits connected to things
evidently show that they are the
products (of the acts) of an
All-Munificent Lord, a Compassionate
Wise One, Who is acting behind the
veil of causes. For it is evident
that unconscious causes cannot work
in pursuit of a purpose. Whereas we
see that every creature comes into
existence not for a single purpose
but for many definite purposes and
benefits and according to many
instances of wisdom. This means that
an All-Wise and All-Munificent Lord
brings them into existence. He makes
those benefits the reason for their
existence.
For example, rain
comes. Everybody knows that the
apparent causes of rain are
infinitely for from having any
consideration or concern for
animals. Therefore, rain is sent to
the aid of animals through the
Wisdom of a Compassionate Creator,
Who creates animals and undertakes
their provision. Rain is called ‘mercy’.
Since it bears numerous results of
mercy and brings many benefits, it
is as if mercy has been embodied in
rain, in drops, and is falling in
drops.
Also, the show
and embellishment in all adorned
plants and animals, which smile at
all creatures, evidently point to
the necessary existence and Unity of
a Majestic Being, Who, behind the
veil of the Unseen, wants to make
Himself known and loved through that
art of adornment and embellishment.
That is, the adornment, show and
beauty of things certainly point to
the qualities of making oneself
known and loved, which, in turn,
testify evidently to the necessary
existence and Unity of a Known,
All-Loving and All-Powerful Maker.
In short: Since
causes are infinitely ordinary and
impotent when compared to the
effects-things-which are extremely
full of art and valuable, they can
have no real part in creation. Also,
the benefits of things and purposes
pursued through them and for them
deny causes any real role in
creation and attribute their
existence to an All-Wise Maker
absolutely. Furthermore, the
decorations they have and the skills
apparent in their coming into
existence point to an All-Wise
Maker, Who wants to make known His
Power to conscious beings and Who
desires to be loved.
O helpless one
who ‘deifies’ causes! With what
can you explain these important
realities? How can you deceive
yourself? If you are rational
enough, rent the veil of causes
apart, and proclaiming, He is One,
there is no partner with Him, be
saved from innumerable illusions.
Among
His signs are His creation of the
heavens and the earth and the
difference of your tongues and
colors. Surely in this are signs
for those who know, for scientists.
(30:22)
Looking at the
universe, we see an all-inclusive
wisdom and ordering from the cells
of the body to the world as a whole.
On looking at the cells of the body,
we see a significant organization
and arrangement in them by the
command and law of the One Who sees
and governs all the functions and
needs of the body. Just as some
nourishment is stored up in the body
in the form of fat to use in case of
need, so too there is the same kind
of storage facility in the cells.
When we look at
plants, we see an extremely wise
organization, cultivation and
nursery, and when looking at
animals, we observe an extremely
generous subsistence and breeding.
We look at the pillar-like parts of
the universe and witness a majestic
management and illumination for
important purposes. On looking at
the world in its entirety, we see it
has been perfectly planned and
ordered as a country or a city or a
palace for certain sublime instances
of wisdom and exalted purposes. As
is explained and argued in the First
Station of the Twenty-second Word,
this leaves no room for associating
partners with God in any part of the
universe from the tiniest particles
to the largest stars. They are
intertwined and interrelated with
one another in such a way that the
one who does not subjugate and
manage stars cannot dominate over
even a single particle. In order to
truly be a lord over a particle, one
has to own and control all of the
stars. Also, as is explained and
argued in the Second Station of The
Twenty-second Word, the one who is
not able to create the heavens and
put them in an exact order, cannot
give anyone his individual,
particular countenance. That is, the
one who is unable to be a lord over
all the heavens, cannot inscribe the
heavenly mark on the face of an
individual which forms his
distinguishing feature.
All this forms a
window as large as the universe so
that, if we look through it, we can
see clearly and also with the eye of
the mind that the verses, God is the
Creator of all things and He is a
Guardian, a Watcher, over all
things. His are the keys of the
heavens and the earth... (al-Zumar,
39. 62-3) are inscribed on the pages
of the universe in capital letters.
Since this is so, the one who does
not see them has neither eyes nor a
heart, or is human only in
appearance.
There
is nothing that does not glorify Him
with praise.
(17:44)
One who is unable
to make all things cannot create a
single thing.
Once in a
springtime I was traveling amid
thoughts and feelings of loneliness.
While walking along the foot of a
hill, I caught sight of a wild,
yellow flower. It reminded me of the
flowers of the same kind which I had
seen in the past in my home-town and
other places. It then struck me
Whose stamp that flower bore, Whose
seal and inscription it carried. All
the flowers of the same sort on the
face of the earth are evidently His
stamps and seals.
Thinking of that
brought to my mind the notion that
as the seal on a letter tells of the
one who wrote and sent the letter,
so also that flower is a seal of the
All-Merciful One, and that hill too,
which has been worked with such
sorts of inscriptions as those and
the ‘lines’ of meaningful
plants, are a letter of that flower’s
Maker. Further, that hill is itself
a seal with that plain ahead of it
being a letter of the All-Merciful
One.
These thoughts
caused the following truth to occur
to me: being like a seal of the
Lord, each thing attributes all
things to its Creator, and prove
that they are the letters of its
Author. So, each thing forms such a
window onto the Divine Unity that it
submits all things to the ownership
of a Single One of Unity. That is,
each thing, each living thing
especially, contains such a
wonderful design, such a miraculous
art, that the One Who makes it so
and designs it so meaningfully, is
also able to make all things and it
will certainly be He Who has made
all things. The one who is unable to
make all things cannot create a
single thing.
O you who are
unaware of the reality of things!
Look at the face of this universe!
Who can deny the testimony of the
pages of creatures that are like the
innumerable letters of the
Eternally-Besought-of-All, one
within the other, and these seals
put on them are the seals of Divine
Unity? What power can silence them?
If you listen to any of them with
the ears of the heart, you will hear
it pronounce, I bear witness that
there is no god but God.
Had
there been gods in them (the
heavens and the earth) save God,
they would surely go into disorder.
(21:22) All things perish
except His “Face.” His is the
kingdom and unto Him you are
returning. (28:88)
Authority and
sovereignty do not accept rivalry
and reject partnership and
interference
This window is
the one pertaining to all the
theologians who have based their
arguments on the facts that all
things are contingent-that is, it is
equally possible for them to come
into existence or not; their
existence is not absolutely
necessary-and that they have come
into existence in the course of
time. It is the highway they follow
in proving the existence of the
Necessarily Existent One. Referring
their detailed explanation to
voluminous books of exacting
scholars such as Sharh al-Mawaqif
and Sharh al-Maqasid, we will
only try to reflect a few rays
coming to the soul from the light of
the Qur’an through that window:
Authority and
sovereignty do not accept rivalry
and reject partnership and
interference. It is because of this
that, if there were two headmen in a
small village, they would destroy
the order and peace in it. Likewise,
were there to be two governors in a
district or town, they would cause
great confusion there. Two kings in
a country would cause turmoil. Since
a pale shadow and a petty sample of
the shadow of absolute authority and
sovereignty enjoyed by powerless men
in need of assistance categorically
rejects rivalry and the intervention
of its opposite, you may compare to
what degree and how substantially
sovereignty in the form of supreme,
absolute kingdom and authority at
the degree of Divine Lordship
enjoyed by an Absolutely Powerful
One rejects interference and
partnership. That is, the most
indispensable and constant
requirement of Divinity and Lordship
is Oneness and Singleness with no
partners. The perfect order and most
beautiful harmony in the universe
are a most clear proof and certain
testimony of this. From the wing of
a fly to the lamps of the heavens,
such an order prevails in the
universe that in the face of it the
mind cannot help but exclaim in
amazement and admiration, Glory be
to God! What wonders God has willed!
God bless it!, and fall prostrate.
Had there been the slightest room
for associating partners with God to
interfere with Him, according to the
meaning of the verse, Had there been
gods in them save God, they would
surely go into disorder, order would
be destroyed and the form and shape
of the universe would change.
Whereas, as is stated in the verses,
Turn your sight (to the heavens)
whether you can see any flaw and
fissure. Turn again your sight a
second time so that your sight will
return to you dimmed and dazzled, in
a state worn out (67:3-4), however
hard man’s sight strives to see a
flaw in creation, it will come back
to the eye in utter exhaustion and
say to the fault-finding reason: ‘I
have been exhausted in vain, there
is no flaw.’ This shows that the
order is most perfect. This means
that this perfect order is a
decisive testimony to God’s
Oneness.
As for the
fact that the universe came into
existence in the course of time
and therefore it is not eternal,
theologians argue:
The world is
subject to change. Anything subject
to change has a beginning, it came
into existence at a point in time.
Anything which came into existence
at a point in time has someone who
brought it into existence. That
being the reality, this universe has
an Eternal Creator.
We say: The
universe certainly has a beginning;
it came into existence in the course
of time. It is because we see that
in every century, rather, in every
year, in every season even, a world
goes and a new one comes. This means
that there is an All-Powerful One of
Majesty, Who invents, creates, a new
world every year, rather, in every
season or every day even, and after
showing it to conscious beings, He
replaces it with a newer one. He
makes these’ worlds’ succeed one
another, attaching them to the
string of time in a series. It is
certainly the Power of an
All-Powerful One that creates the
worlds in this way one after the
other in succeeding seasons of
spring, each of which is itself a
renewed world. Most evidently, the
One Who creates continuously worlds
within the world and exchanges them
with new ones, has created this
universe, too. He has made this
universe and the face of the earth a
‘guest-house’ for those mighty
guests.
As for the issue
of contingency, theologians argue:
Contingency means
equality between two possibilities.
That is, if it is equally possible
for something to come into existence
or not, there must be one who will
prefer either possibility, one who
will create in case of his
preference of existence. For
contingent beings cannot create each
other to continue in succession. Nor
can they go back to eternity in
cycles with the former having
created the latter. Since this is
so, there is a Necessarily Existent
Being Who creates all. Theologians
have rendered null and void the
chain of creative cause and effect
or the notion of successive creators
with twelve decisive arguments, some
of which they call ‘argument in
ascension’ and ‘argument is
steps’, and breaking the chain of
cause and effect, proved the
existence of the Necessarily
Existent Being.
We say: Rather
than demonstrating the impossibility
of the chain of cause and effect in
creation or the cycle of successive
creators to prove the necessary
existence of a Creator Who has no
beginning and has created all
things, it is better and easier to
show the stamp on everything
belonging to the Creator of All
Things. Through the enlightenment of
the Qur’an, all the Windows and
all the other Words follow this
principle. The subject of
contingency embraces a very broad
range of arguments to demonstrate
the existence of the Necessarily
Existent Being in innumerable ways.
However, the subject need not be
restricted to the way theologians
treat it-however broad that way
is-namely, that the cycle or the
chain of cause and effect must stop
at one point, where the realm of
Divine Creativity must begin.
Rather, it opens up innumerable ways
to knowledge of the Necessarily
Existent Being. For example:
While with
respect to its being, features,
qualities and life-span, each thing
hesitates over which of numerous
possible ways it could follow, we
see that it chooses a well-ordered,
well-established way to have a
definite, most appropriate body. It
is equipped with qualities exactly
suitable to its existence and all
the states and conditions it
undergoes and the features it adopts
during its life-span are cut out
specially for itself. This is
obviously through the will of One
Who assigns to everything its
specialties, through the choice of
One Who chooses, through the
creation of a wise Creator Who
directs it for wise purposes along a
particular way among countless
others. He clothes it in features
and qualities befitting it and makes
it a part of a composite entity.
This causes the possibilities before
it to increase, for it is equally
possible for it to have a place in
that entity in any of thousands of
ways. However, it is positioned in a
way just appropriate for it so that
it should perform the fruitful and
purposeful duties expected of it in
that entity. Subsequently, that
entity is made a part of another
larger entity. This multiplies
possibilities still further for it
may have a place in it in any of
even more thousands of ways. It is
positioned in any of those ways and
made to carry out important duties.
And so on. All this demonstrates the
necessary existence of an All-Wise
Director more and more accurately
and decisively and explains that
things are directed through the
command of an All-Knowing Authority.
A private has
certain duties and specially
determined services to perform in
relation to his squad, company,
battalion, regiment, army-corps and
army, and wisely arranged relations
particular to each. Likewise, a cell
in the pupil of your eye has a
certain relation to your eye, then
to your head, and then to your veins
and nervous system and finally to
your body as a whole, and it also
has duties apportioned to it wisely
in relation to each. Were it to fail
the least in doing its duties, you
would become ill, the body would
suffer. So, just as through its
being and features, and through the
body it is clothed in, and the form
and attributes it is given out of
numerous possible ones, each
creature in the universe testifies
to a Necessarily Existent One, so
also it proclaims its Maker in other
tongues when it is positioned in
different composite entities. With
respect to its services and duties
in each of those entities up to the
largest one, it bears witness to the
necessary existence, Will and Choice
of the All-Wise Maker. For it can
only be the Creator of all those
composite entities, Who positions a
thing in them in a way to maintain
all the wise relations between them.
This means that a single thing has a
position where it will testify to
Him in thousands of tongues. Thus,
testimonies to the existence of the
Necessarily Existent Being
accumulate not to the number of the
creatures of the universe
themselves, but to the number of the
possibilities for them to have each
of their qualities, features, forms
and positions, and the duties
assigned to each, and the relations
they maintain in the composite
entities in which they are.
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