بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

وَ بِهِ نَسْتَعِينُ

اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَ الصَّلاَةُ وَ السَّلاَمُ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَ عَلَى آلِهِ وَ صَحْبِهِ اَجْمَعِينَ

القدوس - AL-QUDDÛS

the cleansing and cleanliness proceeding from the Name of Quddûs cleans and makes beautiful all the beings in the universe

“Al-ism al-â’dham is not the same for everyone; it differs. For example, concerning Imam ‘Ali (ra) it was the six Names of Al-Fard, Al-Hayy, Al-Qayyûm, Al-Hakam, Al-‘Adl and Al-Quddûs. And Imam al-Â’dham’s1 ism al-â’dham was two Names; Al-Hakam and Al-‘Adl. And Ghawth al- Â’dham’s2 ism al-â’dham was Al-Hayy. And Imam Ar-Rabbani’s ism al-â’dham was Al-Qayyûm, and so on; many other people considered Al-ism al-â’dham to be different Names.” The Thirtieth Flash/The Fifth Point/Conclusion

 

“Indeed, every voyager, who comes to the hospice and the realm of this world, opens his eyes and wonders who is the master of this fine hospice, which resembles a most generous banquet, a most ingenious exhibition, a most impressive camp and training ground, a most amazing and wondrous place of recreation, a most profound place of instruction that nourishes hikmah. He asks himself too who is the author of this great book, and who is the sultân of this lofty realm. There first presents itself to him the beautiful face of the heavens, inscribed with the gilt lettering nûr of the stars. That face calls him saying, "Look at me, and I shall guide you to what you seek."

He looks then and sees that: There is a manifestation of Rubûbiyyah performing various tasks in the heavens: it holds aloft in the samâwât, without any supporting pillar, hundreds of thousands of samâwî bodies, some of which are a thousand times heavier than the earth and revolve seventy times faster than a cannon-ball; it causes them to move in harmony and swiftly without colliding with each other; it causes innumerable lamps to burn constantly, without the use of any oil; it disposes of these great masses without any disturbance or disorder; it sets sun and moon to work at their respective tasks, without those great bodies ever rebelling; it administers within infinite space -the magnitude of which cannot be measured in figures should they stretch from pole to pole- all that exists, at the same time, with the same strength, in the same fashion, in the same stamp of fitrah and in the same manner and mould, without the least deficiency; it reduces to submissive obedience to its law all the aggressive powers inherent in those bodies; it cleanses and lustrates the face of the heavens, removing all the sweepings and refuse of that vast assembly; it causes those bodies to manoeuvre like a disciplined army; and then, making the earth revolves, it shows the heavens each night and each year in a different form, like a cinema screen displaying true and imaginative scenes to the audience of creation. Visible within this activity of Rubûbiyyah is a haqiqah consisting of subjugation, administration, revolution, ordering, cleansing, and employment.

This haqiqah, with its grandeur and comprehensiveness, testifies visibly to the necessary existence and wahdah of Al-Khâliq of the samâwât and to His Existence being more manifest than the samâwât themselves.” The Rays (130-131 )

 

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

وَاْلاَرْضَ فَرَشْنَاهَا فَنِعْمَ الْمَاهِدُونَ3

One manifestation of the Name of Quddûs, which is one subtle point of the above âyah, and is an ism al-â’dham or one of the six nûrs contained in al-ism al-â’dham, became clear to me in the Noble Sha'ban in Eskisehir Prison. It demonstrated with complete clarity both the Ilahî existence and wahdah of Rabb. I saw it as follows:

The universe is a vast, constantly working factory and the globe of the earth a hostel and guest-house which is continually filled and emptied. Generally, factories, hostels and guest-houses which are thus used become much dirtied and soiled with filth, debris and rubbish, and putrid matter accumulate in all parts of them. Unless they are kept with care and cleaned and swept, they cannot be occupied; human beings are overwhelmed by the dirt. The factory of the universe and guest-house of the earth, however, are totally pure, clean and spotless, and completely unsoiled, untainted and fresh; there is nothing unnecessary, nothing without benefit, not a random piece of dirt to be found. Even if there is apparently, it is quickly thrown into a transformation machine and cleaned.

This means that the One Who looks after this factory does so very well. And its cleansing Owner is such that He sweeps and cleans and orders the vast factory and extensive palace as though they were small rooms. In relation to the size of the huge factory, no dirt or rubbish is remaining from its filth and debris. Indeed, considering its size, its cleanliness and tidiness are remarkable.

If someone does not wash himself and clean his small room for a month, they will become extremely dirty and soiled. That is to say, the cleanliness, purity, and luminosity in this palace of al-‘âlam arise from a continuous cleansing by hikmah and diligent purifying. If it was not for this purifying, sweeping and careful tending continuously, in one year all the hundred thousand animal species would have been choked on the face of the earth.

Also, the debris of the globes in space of the samâwât, which manifest life and death, and of satellites and stars, would have smashed not only our heads and those of the other animals but also the head of the earth itself and of our world. They would have rained down on our heads rocks the size of mountains and driven us away from our homeland in this world. However, for a long time past, if as a warning a few samâwî rocks have fallen as a result of destruction and reconstruction in those lofty ‘âlams, they have not broken any heads.

Furthermore, the corpses of the hundred thousands animal species and the debris of two hundred thousand plant species each year on the face of the earth resulting from the alternation and struggles of life and death would have so utterly dirtied the land and the sea that conscious creatures, rather than loving and delighting in the face of the earth, would have felt disgusted and aversion at such ugliness and fled to death and non-existence.

Just as a bird cleans its wings with ease and a scribe his pages, so also are the wings of the aircraft of the earth and the birds of the samâwât and the pages of the book of the universe cleaned and made beautiful. And so much so that those who do not consider the infinite beauty of the âkhirah and think with îmân become lovers of this cleanliness and beauty of the world, they perform ‘ibâdah to it.

That is to say, this palace of ‘âlam and factory of the universe display the greatest manifestation of the Name of Quddûs whereby it is not only the carnivorous cleaners of the seas and the eagles of the land which obey the commands proceeding from that sacred cleansing but also its health officials which gather up corpses, like worms and ants. Like the red and white blood-corpuscles flowing in the body obey those sacred commands and do the cleaning in the body's cells, so does breathing purify and clean the blood.

And as eyelids obey the command to clean the eye and flies to brush their wings, so the extensive atmosphere and the clouds obey it. The air blows upon the pieces of dust and soil settled on the surface and face of the earth and cleans it. The sponges of the clouds sprinkle water on the garden of the earth and calm the dust and soil. Then, in order not to dirty the sky, the air quickly collects the earth's rubbish and withdraws and hides itself with perfect orderliness. It displays the beautiful face and eye of the skies as swept and polished, all sparkling and shining.

And as the stars, elements, minerals, and plants obey the command to clean, all particles and atoms also obey it: they pay attention to cleanliness within the astonishing upheavals of change and transformation. They never congregate anywhere unnecessarily and get in the way. And if they do become soiled, they are quickly cleaned. They are impelled by a hand of hikmah to acquire the cleanest, neatest, and most shining states and the most beautiful, pure and subtle forms.

Thus, this single act, that is, cleansing, which is a single haqiqah is the greatest manifestation which shows itself in the maximum sphere, that is, throughout the universe from the Name of Quddûs such as an ism al-â’dham. Like the sun, it shows directly to eyes that are far-seeing and broad-sighted the Rabbânî existence and Ilahî wahdâniyyah together with al-Asmâ Al-Husnâ.

It has been established with decisive proofs in many parts of the Risale-i Nur that since the act of ordering and order, which are a manifestation of the Names of Hakem and Hakîm; and the act of weighing and balance, which are a manifestation of the Names of ‘Adl and ‘Âdil; and the act of adorning and munificence, which are a manifestation of the Names of Jamîl and Karîm; and the act of tarbiyyah and bestowal, which are a manifestation of the Names of Rabb and Rahîm are each a single haqiqah and a single act, they demonstrate the necessary existence and wahdah of a Single Being. In exactly the same way, the act of cleansing and purifying, which is a manifestation and display of the Name of Quddûs, demonstrates like the sun both the existence of Al-Wâjib Al-Wujûd, and like daylight, His wahdâniyyah.

And as the wise acts of ordering, balancing, adorning and cleaning mentioned above point to a Sâni’ al-Wâhid by reason of their unity of kind in the maximum sphere, so do most of al-Asmâ Al-Husnâ, indeed, the thousand and one Names, each have such a greatest manifestation in the great sphere. And the act proceeding from that manifestation points to Al-Wâhid Al Ahad with clarity and decisiveness in relation to its extensiveness.

The self-evident haqiqahs and single acts which illuminate the face of the universe and make it smile like the universal hikmah which causes all things to conform to its law and order, the comprehensive ‘inâyah which adorns all things and causes them to smile, the all-embracing rahmah that makes all things pleased and happy, the universal providing of rizq which nurtures and gives pleasure to all things, and the life and giving of life which connects each thing with all things and makes each thing benefit from, and to some extent own, all things-these self-evident haqiqahs and single acts point to a single Hakîm, Karîm, Rahîm, Razzâq, Hayy and Muhyî as plainly as light points to the sun.

If those hundreds of extensive acts, each one of which is a clear proof of wahdâniyyah, are not attributed to Al-Wâhid Al-Ahad, each necessarily becomes impossible in hundreds of respects. For example, let alone the self-evident haqiqahs and single evidences, like hikmah, ‘inâyah, rahmah, sustaining and giving of life, if only the act of making cleansing is not attributed to Al-Khâliq of the universe, then the following becomes necessary in the way of kufr of the people of dhalâlah:

Either all the creatures connected to cleansing from particles and flies to the elements and the stars would have to have the ability to know and consider the adorning, balancing, and cleansing of the vast universe and would act accordingly, or each would have to possess the sacred attributes of Al-Khâliq of al-‘âlam, or each would have to be present at a consultative meeting the size of the universe in order to regulate the equilibrium of the adorning and cleansing of the universe and its incomings and outgoings, and innumerable particles, flies, and stars would have to be the members of the meeting; and so on. Hundreds of superstitious, nonsensical and sophistical impossibilities like these would have to occur so that the universal, comprehensive, and exalted adorning, purifying and cleansing that is to be seen and observed everywhere could exist. As for this, it is not impossible once, but one hundred thousand times over.

If daylight and the imaginary miniature suns represented in all shining objects on the earth are not attributed to the sun and they are not said to be the manifestation of the sun's reflection, it is necessary for the actual sun to be present in all fragments of glass, drops of water and snow-flakes glistening on the face of the earth, and even in all particles of air so that the universal light could exist.

Thus, hikmah also is a light; all-embracing rahmah is a light; adorning, balancing, ordering, and cleansing are each an encompassing light: they are all the rays of the Pre-Eternal Sun. So, see how dhalâlah and kufr have entered a bog from which there is no way out! See just how idiotic is the ignorance of dhalâlah! Say: Alhamdulillâhi ‘alâ din-il Islâm wa kamal-il îmân4

For sure, this exalted, universal cleansing which keeps the palace of the universe clean is the manifestation and requirement of the Name of Quddûs. And just as the tasbîhât of all creatures looks to the Name of Quddûs, so also does the Name of Quddûs require the cleanliness of all of them.{We must not forget that bad qualities, bâtil beliefs, sins and bid'ahs are all instances of ma’nawî dirt.}

It is because of this sacred connection of cleanliness that the Hadith, اَلنَّظَافَةُ مِنَ اْلاِيمَانِ 5 deems it to be a nûr of îmân. And the âyah, اِنَّ اللّهَ يُحِبُّ التَّوَّابِينَ وَيُحِبُّ الْمُتَطَهِّرِينَ 6 shows that cleanliness is a means of attracting Ilahî love.

The Thirtieth Flash-The First Subtle Point

The cleansing and cleanliness arising from the greatest (â’dham) manifestation of the Name of Quddûs clean and make beautiful all the beings in the universe. So long as mankind's dirty hand does not interfere, true uncleanliness or ugliness is not seen in anything.

So, understand, in the life of mankind, how essential principles are justice, frugality and cleanliness, which are among the haqiqahs of the Qur'an and the principles of Islam. And know to what degree the injunctions of the Qur'an are connected with the universe and spread and entwine their roots within the universe, and know that it is impossible to destroy those haqiqahs like it is impossible to destroy the universe and change its form.

The Thirtieth Flash – The Second Subtle Point

 

“Now look beyond the greatest manifestation of the Name of Quddûs renders all the beings in the universe so pure, clean, clear, beautiful, adorned and shining demonstrates that it has bestowed on the universe and on all beings the form of beautiful mirrors worthy of and fitting for reflecting the utter essential beauty of the Absolutely Jamîl and the sheer loveliness of al-Asmâ Al-Husnâ.” The Flashes (455-456 )

 

A subtle conversation with Süleyman Rüshtü, famous for his fidelity and distinguished by his sincerity of heart

It was autumn and approaching the time when flies are discharged from their duties, and because of their minor annoyance, selfish humans were employing chemicals in my prison cell in order to eliminate them. It aroused a sharp pity in me. There was a washing-line in my cell. However, in order to thwart the humans, the flies multiplied even more. In the evening those miniature birds would be lined up in most orderly fashion on the line. When he wanted to hang up the washing, I said to Rüshtü: "Don't disturb those little birds; hang it somewhere else." To which he replied, completely seriously: "We need the line; let the flies find somewhere else for themselves."

Anyhow... In the early morning, a discussion started about the very numerous small creatures like flies and ants, in connection with this joke. I said the following to him: The species whose copies are thus numerous have important duties and great value, like the copies of a book are multiplied in relation to the book's importance. That is to say, the species of flies have important duties and great value so that Al-Fâtir Al-Hakîm has greatly multiplied those tiny missives of qadar and copies of the words of Qoudrah. Al-Qur’an Al-Hakîm states:

يَا اَيُّهَا النَّاسُ ضُرِبَ مَثَلٌ فَاسْتَمِعُوا لَهُ اِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللّٰهِ

لَنْ يَخْلُقُوا ذُبَابًا وَلَوِ اجْتَمَعُوا لَهُ وَاِنْ يَسْلُبْهُمُ الذُّبَابُ شَيْئًا لَا يَسْتَنْقِذُوهُ مِنْهُ ضَعُفَ الطَّالِبُ وَالْمَطْلُوبُ

That is if those things claimed to be causes and being Ilahs by the people of dhalâlah were to gather together all Ilahs apart from Janâb-i Haqq, they would be unable to create even a fly. That is, the creation of a fly is such a Rabbânî miracle and takwînî âyah that even if all causes were to assemble they would be unable to make anything like it or to duplicate it and would be unable to dispute that Rabbânî âyah.

Flies, which form an important subject in the above âyah, defeated Nimrod, and when Hazrat Mûsa (as) complained about their bothering him, saying: "O my Rabb! Why have You so greatly increased the numbers of these irritating creatures?", the following answer came to him through ilham:

"You have objected about the flies once while the flies have asked many times: 'O our Rabb! This man has a huge head, yet he performs dhikr of You with only one tongue. And sometimes he falls in ghaflah. If you had created us out of only his head, there would have been creatures like us performing dhikr of You with thousands of tongues!'" The flies, which thus defended the hikmah of their creation against Hazrat Mûsa’s (as) complaint with a power of a thousand objections, the community which extremely maintains cleanliness, and continually clean their faces, eyes and wings as though taking wudhu indeed have important duties. The hikmah of mankind is short-sighted; it is still unable to comprehend those duties.

Indeed, Janâb-i Haqq has created a most orderly group of carnivorous beings which are sorts of public health officials; they cleanse the seas by gathering up the corpses of other sea-creatures {One fish produces thousands of eggs and thousands of young. Therefore, so that the equilibrium with the seas is maintained, sometimes from the number of young fish hatching from a roe consisting of a million eggs those that survive will equal the fish that die. Furthermore, it is a subtle manifestation of Ilahî rahîmiyyah that because of the great difference in size between the mother fish and her young, she is unable to superintend them; she cannot enter the places they hide. And so, Al-Hakîm and Rahîm promotes from among the young one to be their supervisor and employs that tiny creature in the duties of the mother.} that die every day in their millions, and prevent the sea from becoming polluted and disgusting with their corpses. If those public health officials of the sea did not carry out their extremely regular duties, the sea would not sparkle like a mirror; it would rather display a sad and touching turbidity.

Also, Janâb-i Haqq has created carnivorous and carrion-eating birds, and wild animals to be like cleansing and public health officials which collect the corpses of the wild animals and birds that die every day in their millions, cleanse the face of the earth of those putrid remains, and save other animate beings from such sad, discomforting sights. Some, like eagles for example, through a Rabbânî impulse, perceive the location of a corpse from a distance of five or six hours in a manner of karâmât, though hidden and distant, and hasten to remove it. If those health officials of the land were not extremely efficient and orderly in carrying out their official duties, the face of the earth would become such so as to make all weep.

Yes, the halal rizq for carnivorous animals is the flesh of dead animals. The flesh of living animals is haram for them. If they eat, they receive punishment. -As he said-حَتَّى يَقْتَصُّ الْجَمَّاءُ مِنَ الْقَرْنَاءِ that is, “The retaliation of hornless animal is taken from the horned on the qiyâmah”, the expression of this Hadith demonstrates that although their bodies perish, even among the animals which the rûhs of them will be eternal, there is a reward and punishment in a manner appropriate for them in the eternal realm. In consequence, it may be said that the flesh of living animals is haram for beasts.

Furthermore, ants are employed as cleansing officials to collect the corpses of tiny creatures and small particles and fragments of ni’mah. They are given duties as public health officials to preserve tiny particles of Ilahî ni’mah from waste, from being trodden underfoot, contempt and futility, and to gather up the corpses of other small creatures.

Similarly, flies are charged with duties of cleaning away poisonous substances and microbes which breed disease and are invisible to the human eye. They do not transmit microbes, on the contrary, through sucking up and imbibing harmful microbes they destroy them and cause them to be transformed into a different state; they prevent the spread of many contagious diseases. A sign that they are both health soldiers and cleansing officials and chemists and that they exhibit extensive hikmah is the fact that they are extremely numerous. For valuable and beneficial things are multiplied. {How beautifully and subtly the following lines by the celebrated Yunus Emre allude to the wonderful works of Rabbânî art that are the fly's wings and body: "I loaded a single fly's wing onto forty ox carts; Forty of them could not haul it; it remained thus decreed."} O you self-centred human being! Apart from the thousands of instances of hikmah in the creation of flies, consider the following small benefit that concerns you and leave off your hostility towards them. For just as they offer you some familiarity in your exile, solitude and loneliness, so do they also warn you against sliding into ghaflah and your thought wandering. You see flies that through their delicate manner and their washing their faces and eyes as though taking wudhu are giving you a lesson and reminding you of human duties like wudhu, salâh, action and cleanliness.

Moreover, bees, which may be thought of as a sort of fly, give you honey to eat, which is the sweetest and most delicate of ni’mahs. And since, as is stated by the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition, they have been distinguished by receiving Rabbânî wahy, to be hostile towards them while they should be loved, rather to be hostile towards creatures that suffer all sorts of difficulties in always hastening in friendship to assist man is wrongful and unjust. We may combat harmful creatures only to repel their harm. We fight wolves to protect sheep from their attack, for example.

Mosquitoes and fleas fall upon the turbid blood flowing in the veins polluted by harmful substances, indeed they are charged with consuming the polluted blood, so in hot weather when there is blood surplus to the body's needs, why should they not be fıtrî cuppers? It is possible... سُبْحَانَ مَنْ تَحَيَّرَ فِى صُنْعِهِ الْعُقُول7

At one time when I was struggling with my nafs, through supposing the Ilahî ni’mah, which it saw in itself, to be its own property, my nafs became conceited, proud and boastful. I said to it: "This property is not yours; it is in trust." So then the nafs gave up its conceit and pride but became lazy, it said: "Why should I bother about someone who is not mine? Let him perish, what is it to me?" Suddenly I saw that a fly had alighted on my hand and had started to thoroughly clean its eyes, face, and wings, which were its trust from Allah. The fly was washing itself just like a soldier cleans his rifle and uniform thoroughly, which belong to the state. I said to my nafs: "You look at that!" It looked and learned a good lesson. As for the fly, it became my conceited and lazy nafs’ teacher and instructor.

Fly excretion is not harmful medically; in fact, sometimes it is sweet syrup. For it is not distant from Rabbânî hikmah, it is indeed a function of that hikmah, that while flies contain thousands of different harmful substances, microbes, and poisons through what they have eaten, they are like tiny transforming and purifying machines. Apart from bees, there are other species of flying insects {At the end of spring there is one species of small fly which is created in the form of a black mass that becomes stuck to the branches of almond and wild apricot trees and remains there. In place of waste matter, droplets continuously flow from the flies. These drops are like honey and other species of flies gather around them suck them up.

Yet another species are employed in the pollination of the flowers of plants and some trees, like the fig. Just as the fire-fly, which is a sort of fly that flashes, sparkles, and is luminous, is worthy of observation, so do other species that are gilded and glisten like gold deserve notice. Also, we must not forget flies armed with lances, and wild bees, which are like brigands. If Al-Khâliq Ar-Rahmân had not pulled in their reins, if they attacked human beings like fleas, in the same way, that those armed species killed Nimrod, so would have they also assailed the human race and did tafsir the ma’nâ al-isharî of the âyah, وَاِنْ يَسْلُبْهُمُ الذُّبَابُ شَيْئًا لَا يَسْتَنْقِذُوهُ 8 Thus, the hundred famous species of flies like these bearing special qualities are of great importance so that this mighty âyah makes them its subject:  يَا اَيُّهَا النَّاسُ ضُرِبَ مَثَلٌ …9 } that eat various putrid substances and then continuously excrete droplets of syrup in place of the filth. Transforming those rotten, poisonous substances into a sweet and healing syrup like a confection of Qoudrah that rains onto the leaves of trees, they prove that they are machines for transmuting one substance into another. They demonstrate before the eyes what a mighty nation and group are these tiny individuals. Through the languages of their beings, they say: "Do not look at our smallness, consider the vastness of our species, and declare, Subhânallah!”

 The Twenty-Eighth Flash

 

O wasteful, wrongful, unjust.. dirty, unclean.. wretched man lacking frugality (iqtisâd)! Since you do not practice frugality, cleanliness and justice, which are the principle of the whole universe and all beings for their actions, by your opposition to all beings, you become the object of their disgust and anger in a ma’nawî manner. On what do you rely that you make all beings angry by your dhulm, imbalance, wastefulness and uncleanliness?

The Thirtieth Flash – The Second Subtle Point

 

اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ الَّذِى هَدَينَا لِهذَا وَ مَا كُنَّا لِنَهْتَدِىَ لَوْ لاَ اَنْ هَدَينَا اللّٰهُ لَقَدْ جَائَتْ رُسُلُ رَبِّنَا بِالْحَقِّ

سُبْحَانَكَ لاَ عِلْمَ لَنَا اِلاَّ مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا اِنَّكَ اَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ