The Seventh Ray

Eighteenth Degree of the First Station

The guest and traveller of life — who knew that îmân is man’s most precious capital that causes a poor man to gain not just a transient and temporary field and house but rather the immense universe and an eternal property as vast as the world, provides everything a transient man needs for eternal life, delivers from eternal annihilation a helpless man waiting on the gallows for the appointed time for the end of his life and opens an eternal treasury of everlasting happiness — said to his nafs:

"Onward! In order to gain a further degree from among the infinite degrees of îmân, we should turn to the totality of the universe and listen to what it says. We should complete and illumine the lessons we have received from its pillars, components and parts."

He looked through the broad and comprehensive telescope he had taken from the Qur'an and saw that the universe is so meaningful and orderly that it appears as an embodied book of As-Subhân, a material Qur'an of Ar-Rabb, an adorned palace of As-Samad and an orderly city of Ar-Rahmân. Just as the constant change and alternation with hikmah and meaningful removal and replacement of all the surahs, âyahs and words of that book of the universe, even its very letters, chapters, divisions, pages and lines, unanimously and clearly describe the existence of Al-‘Alîm of all things, Al-Qadîr over all things, an Author, an Embroiderer (Naqqâsh) Zuljalâl and a Scribe (Kâtib) Zulkamâl, Who sees everything in all things, knows the relationship of everything with all things and pays attention to them. In the same way, all the pillars, species, components, particulars, inhabitants, contents, inflows and outflows of the universe, and all the beneficial changes and the renewal with hikmah that occur in them unanimously make known the existence and wahdah of an exalted Craftsman and a peerless Sâni’, Who works with limitless qoudrah and infinite hikmah. The testimony of Two great and vast Haqiqahs that is appropriate to the immensity of the universe proves this supreme testimony of the universe:

The First Haqiqah contains the haqiqahs of hudûth1 and imkân2 that the genius ‘ulamâ of Usul ad-Dîn and ‘Ilm al-Kalâm and the philosophers of Islam saw and proved with countless proofs. They have said:

“Since there is change and transformation in the ‘âlam and everything, it is, indeed, transient, newly comes into existence and is formed and cannot be eternal and uncreated. Since it came into existence and was formed recently, there is, indeed, a Sâni’ Who creates and forms it. And since, if there is no cause, in the essence of all things, their existence and non-existence are equal; they certainly cannot be wâjib and azalî. And since it has been proven with decisive proofs that it is not possible to create each other through the continuous causal chain — a notion that is bâtil and impossible — the existence of a Wâjib Al-Wujûd becomes necessary such that the existence of anything like or equal to Him is impossible; everything apart from Him is contingent and all that exists besides Him are His creatures.”

“Yes, the haqiqah of hudûth dominates throughout the universe. Most of it is seen by the eye; the rest is seen by the mind. For every autumn, such an ‘âlam dies in front of our eyes that hundreds of thousands of species of plants and tiny animals, each of which has infinite members and is a living universe, die with that ‘âlam. It is, however, a death so orderly that in the spring, in their places, they leave behind seeds, cores and eggs, which are the miracles of Rahmah and Hikmah, wonders of Qoudrah and ‘Ilm and the source of their resurrection, sprouting and spreading. They hand their book of deeds and programme of their duties to those seeds, cores and eggs and entrust them to the protection and hikmah of Al-Hafîdh Zuljalâl, and then they die. And, in spring, as a hundred thousand examples, samples and proofs of the great arena of rising from the dead and assembling for judgement, those dead trees, roots and some tiny animal species are given life and revived, just as they were. As for another group, as a replacement, the similars and identicals of the members of those species are created and given life. And the beings of the past spring demonstrate an example of the âyah 3 وَاِذَا الصُّحُفُ نُشِرَتْۙby publishing and spreading the pages of the deeds and duties they performed, like a proclamation.

Furthermore, from the aspect of the state of the totality of the universe, each autumn and each spring, a great ‘âlam dies, and a fresh ‘âlam comes into existence. Such death and hudûth occur so orderly, and so many species die and come into existence by perfect order and balance amidst such death and hudûth that it is as if the world is a guesthouse, where living universes become guests in it, travelling ‘âlams and wandering worlds come into it, fulfil their duties and depart. Thus, it appears to the minds clearly, like the sun, the necessary existence, boundless qoudrah and infinite hikmah of the Zuljalâl One Who, in this world, creates such living worlds and employed universes, with perfect ‘ilm, hikmah, equilibrium, balance, order and regularity, and brings them into existence, and Who employs them with His rahmah and qoudrah for Rabbânî purposes, Ilahî aims and Rahmânî services. We close this discussion by referring the matter of hudûth to the Risale-i Nur and the books of the muhaqqiqîn of ‘Ilm al-Kalâm.

As for imkân, it too dominates and embraces all over the universe. For we see that all beings, universal or particular, big or small, from the ‘arsh to the earth, from the particles to the planets, are sent into the world with a particular essence, a specific form, a distinct identity, exclusive attributes, qualities full of hikmah and beneficial equipment. Whereas,

• giving to that specific essence and individual the things particular for it from among the infinite possibilities,
• clothing it with an embroidered, distinguished, appropriate and specific form from among the possibilities and probabilities to the number of forms,
• assigning a worthy and distinguishing identity for that being while it is shaken within the possibilities to the number of members of its species,
• placing exclusive, appropriate and beneficial attributes on that artful being, which is formless and wavering amidst the possibilities and probabilities to the number of varieties and degrees of attributes,
• attaching and equipping qualities full of hikmah and equipment full of ‘inâyah to that aimless creature, which wanders and strays amidst the infinite possibilities and probabilities of existing in countless different ways and modalities.

Indeed, indications, proofs and evidences — to the number of all the contingent beings, whether universal or particular, and to the number of the possibilities of each contingent being’s essence, identity, totality, form, attribute and situation — of the necessary existence, boundless qoudrah and infinite hikmah of a Wâjib Al-Wujûd, Who is the specifier, chooser, determiner and creator, and that nothing and no shuûn can hide from Him, nothing is difficult for Him, the greatest thing is as easy as the smallest thing for Him, and He can create a spring as easily as a tree and a tree as easily as a seed; indications, proofs and evidences arise from the haqiqah of imkân and form one wing of this great testimony of the universe. Since the various parts of the Risale-i Nur, especially the Twenty-Second and Thirty-Second Words and the Twentieth and Thirty-Third Letters, fully proved and explained the testimony of the universe, with its two wings and two haqiqahs, we refer the matter to them and cut short this extremely long matter.

As for the Second Haqiqah that proves the second wing of the great and universal testimony arising from the totality of the universe:

Second Haqiqah: Among the beings striving to preserve their existence and service, and if they are living beings, their life, and to fulfil their duties amidst continuous waves of change and transformation, a haqiqah of mutual help far beyond their capacities is seen.

For example, numerous examples of the haqiqah of mutual help — such as the elements helping living beings, the clouds aiding the plants, the plants assisting the animals, the animals helping mankind, breastmilk, like kawsar, nurturing the infant and the needs and rizq of living beings being given to their hands from unexpected places far beyond their power to obtain, as well as the particles of food running to the restoration of body cells through subjugation by Ar-Rabb and employment by Ar-Rahmân — demonstrate the universal and compassionate rubûbiyyah of Ar-Rabb of all ‘âlams, Who administers the entire universe like a palace.

“Lifeless, unconscious helpers, devoid of compassion, yet behave towards each other compassionately and consciously, are certainly hastened to help by the power, rahmah and command of Ar-Rabb Zuljalâl, Who is Ar-Rahîm and Al-Hakîm.

To the extent of their vastness, the great haqiqahs — such as, the mutual help that exists and in force throughout the universe, the universal balance along with the encompassing preservation that exists and in force in everything in perfect order from the planets to the members, limbs and particles of the body of living beings, the adorning that moves the pen over everything, from the gilded face of the samâwât to the adorned face of the earth and the beautified faces of flowers, the ordering that prevails over everything, from the Milky Way and solar system to the fruits, such as corn and pomegranates, and the assigning that employs everything, from the sun and the moon to the elements and the clouds, to honeybees — prove and constitute the second wing of the testimony of the universe. Since the Risale-i Nur has proved and explained this great testimony, we suffice with this brief indication here.

Here, as a brief indication of the lesson of îmân that the world traveller received from the universe, the following was said in the Eighteenth Degree of the First Station:

لاَ اِلهَ اِلاَّ اللّٰهُ الْوَاجِبُ الْوُجُودِ الْمُمْتَنِعُ نَظِيرُهُ اَلْمُمْكِنُ كُلُّ مَاسِوَاهُ الْوَاحِدُ اْلاَحَدُ الَّذِى دَلَّ عَلَى وُجُوبِ وُجُودِهِ فِى وَحْدَتِهِ هذِهِ الْكَائِنَاتُ الْكِتَابُ الْكَبِيرُ الْمُجَسَّمُ وَ الْقُرْآنُ الْجِسْمَانِىُّ الْمُعَظَّمُ وَ الْقَصْرُ الْمُزَيَّنُ الْمُنَظَّمُ وَ الْبَلَدُ الْمُحْتَشَمُ الْمُنْتَظَمُ بِاِجْمَاعِ سُوَرِهِ وَ آيَاتِهِ وَ كَلِمَاتِهِ وَ حُرُوفِهِ وَ اَبْوَابِهِ و فُصُولِهِ وَ صُحُفِهِ وَ سُطُورِهِ وَ اِتِّفَاقِ اَرْكَانِهِ وَ اَنْوَاعِهِ وَ اَجْزَائِهِ وَ جُزْئِيَّاتِهِ