The Twenty-Third Flash

Risale On Nature

[While it was the Sixteenth Note of the Seventeenth Flash, it became the Twenty-Third Flash due to its importance. It kills the thought of kufr arising from nature in a way that will not revive and turns the foundation stone of kufr upside-down.]

A Warning

In this Note, through Nine Impossibilities comprising of at least ninety impossibilities, it has been declared how unreasonable, ugly and to what degree superstitious the inner face of the way taken by the denier group among the Naturalists is. Since those impossibilities have been partly explained within other risales, some steps have been skipped due to being very succinct here. Therefore, it suddenly occurs to the mind how those famous intelligent philosophers have accepted such an apparent and manifest superstition and still follow that way. Yes, they could not see the inner face of their way. Also, the truth of their way and its necessary consequence and requirement are these; through self-evident and conclusive arguments, to whoever has doubts, I am ready to explain and prove in detail the ugly, disgusting and unreasonable {Note: The cause of this risale being written is the attacks being made on the Qur'an by basing irreligiousness on Nature, saying ‘superstition’ tothethings their corrupt minds can not reach and vilifying the haqiqahs of îmân in an extremely aggressive and ugly fashion. Since the attack gave fervent anger to the heart, it gave fervent and harsh slaps to the mulhids and to the followers of bâtil schools who turn their faces away from haqq. Otherwise, the way of the Risale-i Nur is pure, kind and of mild expression.}  gist of their schools — which is explained at the end of each Impossibility that was written — is the necessary consequence and requirement of their way.

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

قَالَتْ رُسُلُهُمْ اَفِى اللّٰهِ شَكٌّ فَاطِرِ السَّمٰوَاتِ وَاْلاَرْضِ1

With istifham inkârî2 , saying: “There cannot and should not be any doubt about Janâb-i Haqq”, this noble âyah shows that the existence and wahdâniyyah of Allah are at the degree of being self-evident.

A warning before the explanation of this mystery:

I went to Ankara in 13383 . Within the strong thoughts of the people of îman, who were intoxicated with the victory of the army of Islam over the Greeks, I saw an extremely terrifying idea of zandaqa was deceptively working to enter, destroy and poison their thoughts. “Alas!” I said, “This dragon is going to attack the pillars of îman.” At that time, since this noble âyah explains at the degree of being self-evident the existence and wahdâniyyah of Allah, I sought assistance from it; in an Arabic risale, I wrote a powerful conclusive argument taken from Al-Qur'an Al-Hakîm to a degree that will dispel the head of that zandaqa. I have printed it in Ankara at the Yeni Gün Press. But unfortunately, those who knew Arabic were few and those who considered it seriously were rare, therefore, that powerful conclusive argument in an extremely concise and abbreviated form did not show its effect. Unfortunately, that idea of irreligiousness both spread and gained strength. Compulsorily, I will declare that conclusive argument in Turkish to an extent. Since certain parts of it have been entirely explained in certain risales, it will be written here briefly. Numerous conclusive arguments, which have been divided into other risales, partly unite in this conclusive argument; each becomes a part of it.

Introduction

O, man! Know that there are terrible words that are spoken by people and reek of irreligiousness. The people of îmân use them unknowingly. We shall declare three of the most important of them.

The First: “أوجدته الاسباب ” That is: “Causes create this thing.”

The Second: “تشكّل بنفسه ” That is: “It is formed and comes into existence on its own; it comes to an end on its own.”

The Third: “اقتضته الطبيعة ” That is: “It is natural; nature necessitates and creates it.”

Yes, since beings exist and cannot be denied. Also, each being comes into existence with art and hikmah. Also, since each is not uncreated but newly comes into existence. In any way, O mulhid! This being, for example, this animal, you will say either that the causes in the universe create it, that is to say, it comes into existence through the gathering of causes, or it is formed on its own, or it comes into existence through the effect of nature as a requirement of nature, or it is created through the qoudrah of a Qadîr Zuljalâl. Since, by reason, there is no way apart from these four ways, if the first three are definitely proven to be inconceivable, void, unfeasible and impossible, the way of wahdâniyyah, which is the fourth way, necessarily and self-evidently will be proven without a doubt.

AS FOR THE FIRST WAY:

It is the formation of things and the existence of creatures through the gathering of the causes in the universe. We mention only three of its many impossibilities.

First: In a pharmacy, there are hundreds of jars and bottles filled with extremely various substances. A living compound is demanded to be made by using those medicaments. Making a wondrous living panacea by using them is also requested. We came and saw most of the ingredients of that living compound and panacea in the pharmacy. We examined each of the compounds. We see that the components have been taken in various amounts from each of the jars and bottles with an appropriate measure, one or two ounces from this, three or four from that, six or seven from the next, and so on... If one ounce more or less is taken from one of them, that compound cannot possess life and cannot display its special quality. We also examined that living panacea. A substance has been taken from each jar in an appropriate measure that if it was an ounce more or less, the panacea would lose its special quality.

While the number of the jars is more than fifty, as though having been taken from each jar with a different measure, their components have been taken with different amounts. I wonder, is it in any way possible that, those various amounts that were taken from each of those bottles — only those amounts — may spill, go together, gather and form the compound due to the bottles and jars having been knocked over by the impact of a strange coincidence or stormy wind? I wonder, is there anything more superstitious, impossible and void (bâtil) than this? If a donkey rises twofold in being an ass and then becomes a human being, it will run away by saying: “I do not accept this idea!”

Thus, like this example, each living being surely is a living compound and each plant is like a living panacea composed of numerous components and various substances that have been taken with extremely precise measures. If they are attributed to causes and elements and it is said: “Causes created it”, it is unreasonable, impossible and void (bâtil) a hundred times over, just as the compound in the pharmacy coming into existence due to the bottles being knocked over.

In Short: The substances needed for life in this great pharmacy of the ‘âlam, which are taken with the measure of Qadar and Qadhâ4 of the Azalî Hakîm, can only come into existence through a boundless hikmah, infinite ‘ilm and an irâdah encompassing everything. The unfortunate person who says “They are the work of universal elements and causes and nature, which are blind, deaf and boundless and which stream like a flood” is fooler than a crazy, delirious, drunk fool who says: “That wondrous panacea has been formed on itself due to the bottles being knocked over.” Indeed, such kufr is to talk nonsense in a stupid, drunken lunatic way.

Second Impossibility: If everything is not attributed to Qadîr Zuljalâl, Who is Wâhid Al-Ahad, but attributed to causes, it necessitates many of the elements and causes in the universe to intervene in the existence of each living being. Whereas, gathering various causes, which are opposed to and distant from each other, in a tiny creature’s body like a fly, with perfect order, extremely precise measure and complete accord is such an obvious impossibility that anyone who possesses consciousness as much as a fly’s wing would say: “This is impossible; it can not be!”

Yes, the tiny body of a fly is connected to the majority of the elements and causes in the universe; it is rather a summary of them. If it is not attributed to the Azalî Qadîr, it is necessary for those material causes to present themselves beside the fly’s body; it is rather necessary to enter into its tiny body. Rather, it is necessary for them to enter a cell of the fly’s eye, which is a minute sample of its body. Because if the cause is material, it is necessary for it to be present beside and inside of the effect that it caused. In this case, it necessitates accepting that the pillars of the universe and elements and natures are physically present within that minute cell in which two flies’ fingers like a needle tip cannot be situated and work as a master inside of it.

Here, even the foolest of the Sophists shame such a way.

Third Impossibility: Through the established rule اَلْوَاحِدُ لاَ يَصْدُرُ اِلاَّ عَنِ الْوَاحِدِ “If a being has unity (wahdah), surely it can originate from a single being (wâhid), from one hand.” Particularly, if that being is within a perfect order and precise measure and is a place of manifestation for a comprehensive life, it self-evidently demonstrates that it did not originate from numerous hands, which are the cause of disagreement and conflict but rather originated from a single hand that is extremely Qadîr and Hakîm. Despite this, attributing such a well-ordered and well-balanced being that has unity (wahdah) to the jumbled hands of boundless, lifeless, ignorant, transgressive, unconscious, utterly disordered, blind and deaf natural causes — although, amidst the ways of infinite possibilities, the blindness and deafness of those causes increase through gathering and intermingling — is as unreasonable as accepting a hundred impossibilities all at once. Now then, leave this impossibility aside, the effects of the material causes surely occur through touch and contact. Whereas, the contact of those natural causes is with the exterior of living beings. Whereas, we see that the interior of that living being, where the hands of those material causes can neither reach nor touch, are ten times more well-ordered, subtle and perfect from the aspect of art than its exterior. Although tiny living beings and tiny animals, in which material causes can in no way settle by their hands and instruments or even touch their exterior completely, are more strange from the aspect of art and more wonderful from the aspect of creation than the largest creatures, attributing them to lifeless, ignorant, crude, distant, large, deaf and blind causes, which are opposed to each other, can only be due to being blind a hundredfold and deaf a thousandfold.

AS FOR THE SECOND MATTER: It is “تشكّل بنفسه ”. That is: “It is formed on its own”.

Here, this phrase too has many impossibilities; it is void (bâtil) and impossible in many aspects. We declare three of its impossibilities as an example.

First: O, obstinate denier! Your ananiyyah has made you so stupid that you judge to accept a hundred impossibilities at once.

Because you exist. And you are not a simple substance and lifeless and unchanging. Rather, being constantly subjected to renewal, you are like an exceedingly well-ordered machine and a wonderous palace continually changing. In your body, particles are constantly working. Your body has a connection and trade with the universe, particularly in relation to rizq and especially regarding the perpetuation of the species. The particles working in your body are careful not to spoil that relation nor to break that connection. So precautiously they take their step. As though they look to the whole universe. They see your relations within the universe and take their positions accordingly. By your external and inner senses, according to the wonderous position of those particles, you benefit.

If you do not accept that the particles in your body are tiny officials or an army of the Azalî Qadîr moving by His law or the nibs of the pen of Qadar, each particle is the nib of a pen or they are points of the pen of Qoudrah or each particle is a point, then, each particle working in your eye must possess such an eye that will see the entire universe with which you are connected while seeing all sides of your whole body, and such a mind as much as a hundred geniuses that will know and recognize the sources of all your past and future, your descendants and ancestors and elements and mines of your rizq should be attributed to each particle.

Attributing the knowledge (‘Ilm) and consciousness as much as a thousand Plato’s to a single particle of a man like you, who does not possess a mind as much as an iota in these matters, is a thousandfold lunatic superstition.

Second Impossibility: Your being resembles a wondrous palace with a thousand domes; in each dome of it, stones repose upon each other without pillars and are left in suspension. Even your being is a thousand times stranger than such a palace. Because the palace of your being is continually subjected to renewal with perfect order. Besides the rûh, heart and ma’nawî subtle faculties, which are extremely wonderous, only each member of your body resembles a place with a single dome. Like the stones in that dome, by reposing upon each other with perfect balance and order, the particles display a wondrous building, an extraordinary art and a strange miracle of Qoudrah like the eye and the tongue.

If each of these particles is not an official subjugated to the command of the master of this ‘âlam, while each particle is both the absolute ruler over all the other particles in the body and absolutely subjected to each of them, both equal and opposed to each other in the point of dominance, both the origin and source of the majority of the attributes particular only to Al-Wâjib Al-Wujûd and extremely restricted and in absolute form, anyone who has an iota of consciousness would understand what an obvious impossibility it is to attribute an extremely ordered single (wâhid) work of art to infinite particles, which can only be the work of a Wâhid, Who is Ahad, due to the mystery of unity (wahdah), rather a hundred impossibilities.

Third Impossibility: If your body is not a written thing with the pen of the Azalî Qadîr, Who is Wâhid Al-Ahad, and if it is a natural thingrelated to nature and causes, then, it is necessary to present the moulds of nature from a cell in your body to the number of thousands of compounds like the circles within each other. Because, for example, if the book in our hand is a written thing, a single pen writes all of it by relying on the knowledge of its writer. If it is not a written thing and is not attributed to the pen of its writer and if it is said that it has come to existence on its own or is attributed to nature, then, like a printed book, a different iron pen for each letter will be necessary so that it may be printed.

Just as in a printing press, pieces of iron letters to the number of letters are present then those letters come into existence; instead of a single pen, pens to the number of those letters become necessary. Among those letters — as it sometimes happens — if with a fine script, a whole page is written within a large letter with a small pen, thousands of pens become necessary for a single letter. If by entering into each other, they take a form like your body with an orderly state, moulds in each circle become necessary for each component to the number of those compounds.

Now then, if you say that this way within which a hundred impossibilities are present, is possible, in order to make these well-ordered artful iron letters and perfect moulds and pens if again they are not attributed to a single pen, in order to make those iron letters, there should be pens, moulds and letters to the number of those pens, moulds and iron letters. Because they, too, have been made and they, too, are artful and well-ordered. And so on, it will continue in a never-ending chain.

Here, you too understand! It is such an idea that impossibilities and superstitions are present within it to the number of your particles. O, obstinate denier of Allah! Shame on you too, give up such a dhalâlah!

THE THIRD WORD: “اقتضته الطبيعة ” That is: “Nature necessitates it; nature makes it”. Here, this judgement has many impossibilities. We shall mention three of them as examples.

First: If the art and creation exist through seeing and with hikmah, which are seen in beings, especially, in living beings, are not attributed to the pen of Qadar and Qoudrah of the Azalî Sun but rather attributed to blind, deaf and mindless nature and force, for creation, it becomes necessary that nature possesses infinite ma’nawî machines and printing-presses in everything or inserts in everything a power (qoudrah) and hikmah that will create and administer the universe.

For, just as the manifestations and reflections of the sun are seen on all tiny fragments of glass and droplets on the face of the earth. If those reflected and exemplar tiny suns are not attributed to the single sun in the sky, it becomes necessary to accept natural suns to the number of the particles of pieces of all glasses, by accepting the external existence of a natural and fitrî sun possessing the qualities of the sun, apparently small but profound in ma’nawî aspect, in a tiny fragment of glass that a match-head cannot settle within it. Exactly like this example, if beings and living beings are not attributed directly to the manifestation of the Names of the Azalî Sun, it becomes necessary to accept, in each being, especially in each living being, a nature, a force or quite simply a god (Ilah) that possesses a boundless power (qoudrah) and will (irâdah), and infinite knowledge (‘ilm) and hikmah. This style of thought is the most void (bâtil) and the most superstitious impossibility of the universe. It shows that a man, who attributes the art of Al-Khâliq of the universe to imaginary, insignificant, unconscious nature, is surely an animal than an animal and less conscious than it a hundredfold.

Second Impossibility: If extremely well-ordered, well-measured, artful beings with hikmah, are not attributed to the One, Who is infinitely Qadîr and Hakîm, but rather attributed to nature, it becomes necessary that, in every piece of soil, nature possesses machines and printing presses to the number of all the factories and printing-presses in Europe so that each piece of soil, which is the place of origin and workshop of innumerable flowers and fruits, can be the means of the growth and formation of those innumerable flowers and fruits. For, a piece of soil’s ability, which can form and shape very different shapes and forms of all flowers, the seeds of which are sown by order within a bowl of soil performing the duty of being a pot for the flowers, is actually apparent. If it is not attributed to Al-Qadîr Zuljalâl, such a state cannot come into existence unless that bowl of soil does not possess a ma’nawî, a different and natural machine for each flower in it.

Because, like nutfah and eggs, the substances of seeds are the same. That is to say, although they consist of an orderless, formless mixture of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen like a dough and air, water, heat and light also are each simple, unconscious and they go against everything in a flood-like manner, those infinite flowers being emerged from the soil in different and extremely well-ordered and artful forms self-evidently and necessarily requires that ma’nawî printing-presses and factories in a small measure but in meaning as big as Europe are present in that bowl of soil so that it can weave such living fabrics and thousands of different embroidered textiles.

Thus, compare that to what degree the thought of kufr of the Naturalists deviated from the sphere of the mind. And, although the stupid drunks in the form of human beings, who suppose nature to be the creator, claim that they are versed in science and are intelligent, see how distant they are from the mind and science, and how they have accepted an impossible superstition that is in no way possible as a way for themselves. Laugh and spit!

If you say: If beings are attributed to nature, such strange impossibilities and difficulties at the degree of unfeasibility occur; I wonder, how do those difficulties disappear when they are attributed to the One Who is Ahad and Samad? And how does such an arduous unfeasibility transform into such an easy necessity?

The Answer: Just as it is explained in the First Impossibility, although the manifestation of the sun's reflection conveniently displays its faydh and effect with perfect ease through the tiny samples of the sun from the smallest particle of glass to the face of the greatest sea with extreme ease, if its relation with the sun is severed, then it becomes necessary to accept the external existence of a natural sun itself present in each tiny particle with a difficulty at the degree of unfeasibility. In the same way, if each being is attributed directly to the One, Who is Ahad and Samad, everything necessary for each being can be conveniently conveyed to it through a relation (intisâb) and manifestation with ease at the degree of being wâjib. If that relation (intisâb) is severed, those official duties transform into irregularity and each being is left to nature and its own. Then, with a hundred thousand unfeasible and arduous difficulties, it becomes necessary to suppose that the blind nature, which creates the extremely wonderous body-machine — that is a tiny index of the universe — of a living being like a fly, the blind nature within it possesses a power (qoudrah) and hikmah that can create and administer the universe. This is impossible not just once but thousands of times over.

In Short: Just as the sharik or like of Al-Wâjib Al-Wujûd One is impossible and unfeasible, so is the meddling of others in His rubûbiyyah and the creation of things impossible and unfeasible like the shariks in His essence.

As for the difficulties in the Second Impossibility, as is proved in many risales, if all things are attributed to Al-Wâhid, Who is Ahad, all things come to existence easily and conveniently like a single thing. It has been proved with numerous and decisive proofs that if they are attributed to causes and nature, a single thing comes to existence as difficult as all things. A summary of one proof is as follows:

Just as, if a man becomes related to a sultân in terms of being a soldier or an official, by the strength of that relation (intisâb), that official and that soldier can be a means of the works a hundred thousand times more than his individual strength. He may even capture sometimes a king in the name of his sultân. Because he himself does not carry the equipment and the power of the services and works he performs, nor is he obliged to carry them. Due to that relation (intisâb), the sultân's treasuries and the army, which is a point of support behind him, carry that power and equipment. That means the services he performs can be imperially like the action of a sultân, and the works he displays can be wondrous like the work of an army.

Just as the ant destroys Pharaoh's palace in terms of being an official. The fly kills Nimrod through that relation (intisâb). And through that relation, a seed of pine like a grain of wheat nurtures all the equipment of a huge pine tree. {Note: Yes, if there is the relation (intisâb), that seed receives an order from Qadar of Allah; it becomes a place of manifestation for those wondrous works. If the relation (intisâb) is severed, the creation of that seed necessitates much more equipment, power and art than the creation of the huge pine tree. Because it becomes necessary for the pine tree on the mountain, which possesses a solid body and is the work of Qoudrah, to be present with all its parts and equipment in the ma’nawî tree within the seed, which is the work of Qadar. Because the factory of that huge tree is the seed. The tree of Qadar within it manifests in the material and visible world through Qoudrah; it becomes a physical pine tree.} If the relation (intisâb) is severed and he is discharged from being an official, he will be obliged to carry the equipment and the power of the services he will perform on his back and his wrist. He can then perform services according to the amount of power within his tiny wrist and to the number of ammunition on his back. If the services that he performed with extreme ease in the first situation are required from him in this situation, it becomes necessary to load an army's strength on his wrist and to load the military equipment factory of a sultân on his back. Even laughingstocks, who tell strange tales and superstitions to make people laugh, are ashamed of this delusion.

In Short: There is an ease to the degree of being wâjib in attributing all beings to Al-Wâjib Al-Wujûd. And, regarding creation, to attribute them to nature is difficult to the degree of unfeasibility and outside the sphere of mind.

Third Impossibility: Two examples declared in certain risales that will explain this impossibility:

The first example: An extremely savage man has entered a palace that had been established and built in an empty desert and perfected and adorned with all the works of civilization, and looked into it. He has seen thousands of well-ordered artful things. Due to his savagery and stupidity, by thinking: “No one from the outside has interfered in this; one of the things from inside of the palace has made this palace and all of its contents”, he started to investigate. Whatever he looked at, even his savage mind did not deem possible that those things were being made by the thing he saw.

Then, he saw the programme of the palace's construction, the index of the beings and a notebook in which the laws of its administration were written. Although the notebook, too, which had no hand, eye or hammer, like the other things in the palace had no ability to construct and adorn the palace. But, since, compared with the other things, he saw that the notebook was related to the whole palace in terms of being the title of the laws of science, by being compelled, he necessarily said: “Here, it is this notebook that has constructed, ordered and adorned this palace, and has made, attached and set these things”; he transformed his savagery into nonsense talk of fools and drunks.

Thus, exactly like this example, a savage man, who bears the thought of naturalism leading to the denial of ulûhiyyah, enters this palace of the ‘âlam, which is infinitely more well-ordered, more perfect and overall full of miraculous hikmah than the palace in the example. Not thinking that it being the work of art of Al-Wâjib Al-Wujûd One, Who is outside the sphere of contingency (imkân)5 , and turning away from Him, within the sphere of contingency, he sees an index of Rabbânî art and a collection of the laws of 'Âdâtullah, which is the tablet of Qadar of Allah for writing and erasing and which can be a changing and transforming notebook for the execution of the laws of Qoudrah of Allah and extremely mistakenly and erroneously given the name 'nature'. And he said: “Since these things require a cause and nothing else seems to have a connection like this notebook has. Although the mind can in no way accept that this notebook with no eye nor consciousness can make this creation, which is the work of an absolute rubûbiyyah and which necessitates infinite qoudrah. But since I do not accept As-Sâni’, Who is Qadîm, then the most appropriate thing is to say that this notebook has made it and makes it.” We, too, say this:

O, drunk stupid who becomes stupid due to the most stupidness of the stupidity! Lift your head out of the swamp of nature and look at your back! See a Sâni’ Zuljalâl to Whom all beings from particles to planets testify with different tongues and indicate with their fingers! And see the manifestation of the Azalî Embroiderer (Naqqâsh), Who makes that palace and writes its programme in that notebook; look to His decree; listen to His Qur'an and be saved from those nonsense talks!

Second Example: An extremely savage man enters a spectacular military barrack. He sees the general training of an extremely orderly army together and their well-ordered actions. He observes a battalion, a regiment and a division rise, sit and march and open fire by a command of a soldier. Since his crude and wild mind does not understand and denies the command of a single commander through the law of a sultân and the order of a government, he imagines that the soldiers are attached to one another with strings. He thinks about how wonderous the imaginary string is and is filled with astonishment.

Then, he goes to a magnificent masjîd like Aya Sophia and enters it on the day of Jum’â. He observes that by the voice of a man, the jamâ’ah of Muslims rise, bow, perform sajda and sit. Since he does not understand the Sharî'ah, which consists of all ma’nawî and samâwî laws, and the ma’nawî principles of the Owner of the Sharî'ah arising from His commands, he imagines that the jamâ’ah is bound to one another by physical strings, those strange strings have captured them and caused them to move. He leaves with a ridiculous idea that will cause even the wildest brute animals in the form of a human to laugh.

Here, exactly like this example, a denier bearing thought of nature, which is pure savagery and denial, enters this universe, which is a spectacular military barrack of the infinite soldiers of Azalî and Eternal Sultân and a well-ordered masjîd of that Azalî Ma’bûd. It is savagery a thousand times lower than the savage man in the example, through considering the ma’nawî laws of the universe’s order arising from the hikmah of the Azalî Sultân to be a physical matter, and imagining the ma’nawî rules and principles of the great Sharî'ah of fitrah of the Azalî Ma’bûd, which are the theoretical laws of the sovereignty of rubûbiyyah and only have an existence in the form of knowledge, to be a being externally exist and a physical matter, to establish those laws arising from the ‘Ilm and Kalâm and possessing only existence in the form of knowledge in place of the qoudrah of Allah, and to attribute the creation to their hand and then to attach the name Nature to them and to accept the force, which is only a manifestation of the qoudrah of Ar-Rabb, as an independent possessor of power (qoudrah).

In Short: The thing, which is imaginary and lacks a real being and which naturalists call Nature, if it possesses an external real being, can be an art at most; it cannot be the artist (Sâni’). It is an embroidery; it cannot be the embroiderer (Naqqâsh). It is a gist of laws; it cannot be a lawmaker (Hâkim). It is a Sharî'ah of fitrah; it cannot be the legislator of the Sharî'ah (Shâri’). It is a created veil of dignity; it cannot be the creator (Khâliq). It is a passive creation (fitrah); it cannot be a creator agent (Fâtir). It is the law, not a power (qoudrah); it cannot be the possessor of power (Qâdir). It is the scale; it cannot be the source.

In Short: Since beings exist. Since, as stated at the beginning of the Sixteenth Note, through the division made by the mind, another way apart from the four mentioned ways cannot be imagined in the existence of beings. Through three clear Impossibilities of each, three of those four ways are decisively proved to be void (bâtil). Surely, necessarily and self-evidently the way of wahdah, which is the fourth way, is conclusively proved. As for the fourth way, the âyah at the beginning, 6 اَفِى اللّٰهِ شَكٌّ فَاطِرِ السَّمٰوَاتِ وَاْلاَرْضِ , without any doubt or uncertainty, self-evidently demonstrates the ulûhiyyah of Al-Wâjib Al-Wujûd One and that everything emerges directly from the hand of His Qoudrah and the samâwât and the earth are under His hand of disposal.

O, the unfortunate man who performs ‘ibâdah to causes and worships nature! Since the nature of each thing is created like all things; because it is artful and newly comes into existence. Also, like all effects, their apparent causes are, too, works of art. And since everything's existence is in need of many tools and equipment. In that case, there is an Absolute Qadîr Who brings that nature into existence and creates that cause. And what need does such Absolute Qadîr have that He may associate impotent intermediaries to His rubûbiyyah and creation? Hâsha! Indeed, by directly creating cause and effect together, in order to demonstrate His hikmah and the manifestation of His Names, by establishing an apparent causality and associating two things with each other (Iktiran) with an arrangement and order, He made causes and nature a veil to the hand of His qoudrah in order to make them a source to which apparent faults, mercilessness and defect in things are referred; in this way, He has preserved His dignity.

I wonder, is it easier if a watchmaker makes the cogwheels of a clock and then arranges and orders the clock with the cogwheels? Or is it easier if he makes a wondrous machine within those cogwheels and then leaves the making of the clock to the lifeless hands of that machine so that he may make the clock? I wonder, is it not out of the bounds of possibility? Come, you say with your unfair mind; you become a judge!

Or a scribe has brought ink, pen and paper. Is it easier if he writes a book himself with them? Or is it easier if he creates a writing machine within that paper, ink and pen, which is particular for that single book and more artful and difficult than the book, and then says to the unconscious machine: “Come on, you write it!” and does not interfere himself? I wonder, is it not a hundred times more difficult than writing?

If you say: Yes, creating a machine that writes a book is a hundred times more difficult than that book. But, maybe there is ease present in it due to that machine being the means of writing many copies of the same book?

The Answer: The Azalî Embroiderer (Naqqâsh), through continuously renewing the infinite manifestations of His Names by His infinite qoudrah, in order to display them in different ways, He has created the identities and special lineaments in things in such a manner that no letter of As-Samad and no book of Ar-Rabb can be the same as any other book. In any case, each will have a different lineament, in order to express different meanings.

If you have eyes, look at the human face and see! It is definitely established that from the time of Âdam until now, indeed, until eternity, in this small face, together with the unity of the essential organs, each face — in comparison with all the other faces — has a distinguished sign. Therefore, each face is a different book. Just for arranging the art, different writing sets, different arrangements and different compositions are required. And, in order to both bring and place its materials and to include everything necessary for the body, a completely different workshop is required. Let’s take for granted an impossibility, we look to nature as a printing press. But apart from the ordering and printing that belong to a printing press, that is, apart from moulding its defined order, creating and bringing the substances present in a living being's body — which the creation of them is a hundred times more difficult than that of the ordering — from all sides of the ‘âlam with a specific measure and particular order, and giving them to the hands of that printing press, it still needs the qoudrah and irâdah of the Absolute Qadîr, Who creates the printing-press. That means this possibility and supposition of the printing press is a completely meaningless superstition.

Thus, like these comparisons of the clock and the book, As-Sâni’ Zuljalâl, Who is Qadîr over all things, has created causes; He creates effects as well. Through His hikmah, He ties the effect to the cause. Through His Irâdah, He has determined a manifestation of the Ilahî great Sharî’ah of fitrah, which consists of the laws of ‘Âdâtullah concerning the ordering of the universe’s movements, and determined the nature of things, which is only a mirror and a reflection to that manifestation on things. And through His Qoudrah, He has created the face of that nature, which is the place of manifestation for the external existence, has created things on that nature and has mixed them one within the other. I wonder, is it easier to accept this haqiqah, which is the conclusion of infinite extremely rational proofs? Is it not a necessity to the degree of being wâjib? Or is it easier to give the tools and equipment that are necessary for the existence of each thing to the lifeless, unconscious and simple materials that are created with art, which you call causes and nature, and to make them perform themselves the works performed through seeing and with hikmah? Is it not out of the bounds of possibility to the degree of unfeasibility? We refer to your unfair mind’s fairness!

The denier who performs ‘ibâdah to nature says: “Since you are inviting me to be fair, so I say that I confess that the way we have erroneously followed up to the present is a hundred times impossible and also extremely harmful and infinitely ugly. Anyone who possesses an iota of consciousness would understand from your investigations above, to attribute the creation to causes and nature is impossible and unfeasible. And to attribute all things directly to Al-Wâjib Al-Wujûd is wâjib and necessary. By saying “Alhamdulillahi ‘alal îmân”, I came to îmân.

Only, I have one doubt. I accept that Janâb-i Haqq is the Creator (Khâliq). But, what harm do some insignificant causes’ interfering in the creation of insignificant things and gaining a little praise and acclaim give to the sovereignty of His rubûbiyyah? Does His sovereignty become deficient?”

The Answer: As we conclusively proved in certain risales, the mark of rulership is to reject interference. To such a degree that the most ordinary ruler and an official do not accept the interference of their son within the sphere of their rulership. While being a Khalîfah, some religious sultâns murdering their innocent sons due to the wahm of interference in their rulership demonstrates how fundamentally this law of the rejection of interference dominates the rulership. From two governors in a village to two sultâns in a country, the law of prevention of participation, which is a requirement of independence in rulership, has shown its strength in the history of mankind through very strange turmoils.

See the rejection of interference to such a degree in a shadow of commandment and rulership among impotent mankind in need of aid, the prevention of interference of others, the rejection of participation in one’s rulership and the striving to preserve the independence in one’s rank with extreme zeal, then, a Zuljalâl One Whose absolute rulership is at the degree of rubûbiyyah, the absolute commandment is at the degree of Ulûhiyyah, the absolute independence is at the degree of ahadiyyah and the absolute istighnâ at the degree of absolute qâdiriyyah, compare if you can, to what degree the rejection of interference, the prevention of participation and the repulsion of partners are necessary requirements and wâjib necessities for such rulership.

Yet the second part of your doubt: If some causes become a source to which ubûdiyyah of some particular beings is referred, what deficiency occurs in the ubûdiyyah of creatures from particles to planets, which are directed towards Al-Wâjib Al-Wujûd One Who is the Absolute Ma’bûd?

The Answer: This universe’s Khâliq, Who is Hakîm, has created the universe like a tree and made the conscious beings its most perfect fruit, and among conscious beings, He made man its most comprehensive fruit. And man’s shukr and ‘ibâdah, the most important result of his creation, the purpose of his fitrah and the fruit of his life, would such Absolute Hâkim and Independent Âmir, Al-Wâhid Al-Ahad, Who created the universe to make Himself loved and known, give man, who is the fruit of the universe, and his shukr and ‘ibâdah, which are the most exalted fruits of the man, to other hands? In an entirely contrary manner to His hikmah, would He let the result of creation and the fruit of the universe be in vain? Hâsha and Kallâ!7

Also, would He signify approval for giving the ‘ibâdah of the beings He created to others in a way that will cause His hikmah and rubûbiyyah to be denied, would He ever permit this?

And although He boundlessly demonstrates making Himself known and loved through His actions, would He cause His exalted purpose in the universe to be denied by causing Himself to be forgotten through giving shukr and gratitude, love and ubûdiyyah of His most perfect creatures to other causes? O friend who has given up performing ‘ibâdah to nature! Here, you say!

He says: “Alhamdulillah, together with these two doubts of mine having been solved, you have shown so brilliant and powerful two proofs concerning the wahdâniyyah of Allah and His being the True Ma’bûd and nothing other than Him being worthy of ‘ibâdah; to deny them is arrogance like denying the sun and the day.”