Pillars of Belief – Part 4
The Seedbed of Light, The Third Treatise
The Necessity of Resurrection (page 48)
Know, O friend, that everything bears a stamp and seal particular to the One, Besought of All, and has signs testifying that He is its Maker and Owner. Out of the innumerable stamps of His Oneness and seals of His being the Eternally Besought-of-All, look at the “stamp” seen during spring.
Perfect artistry despite abundance; perfect order despite absolute ease; perfect measure, proportion, and firmness despite incredible speed; perfect individualization despite world-wide distribution; the highest price and value despite greatest economy; and perfect distinguish-ment despite absolute mixed-ness and similarity point to the One, Single Creator.
We see artistry in creation and there seems to be a contradiction in the way the order of the universe is set. That is, how can perfect artistry in creation is coming into existence with ease? Usually, when you see artists on the street, it takes them at least 7 minutes or so to draw your caricature. In creation, we are talking about time passing instantaneously one moment after another, clouds moving swiftly, birds chirping, a flower bud blossoming in different parts of the globe…etc. These are just to name a few acts of creation in the form of art. Things are changing so fast that you can easily conclude that nothing is static here. Everything is functioning purposefully. Example: there is a purpose in the existence of an illness. It is a perfect order in creation. Everything is perfectly created by a Conscious Cause bringing things into existence.
The order is out there set but the things within the order are subject to change. One’s interpretation of the order with the objects in it is one’s personal choice.
- The universe presents us with clear evidence of the Creator’s qualities manifested in it.
- The Quran also presents us with clear signs to confirm such evidences of art around are where there is no room for confusion.
We can see this contradictory nature of the creation to demonstrate that these qualities cannot come into existence by chance;
Perfect artistry ⇒ abundance
Perfect order ⇒ absolute ease.
Perfect measure ⇒ incredible speed
Perfect individualization ⇒ world-wide distribution
Highest value ⇒ economy
Perfect distinguishment ⇒ similarity
All above mentioned nature of the creation point to the Oneness and the Absoluteness of the Creator.
On Earth’s surface, we observe acts of ever-original and purposeful creation. These occur in infinite abundance together with beautiful and perfect artistry; with absolute ease and in perfect order and arrangement; at incredible speed with no loss of proportion, firmness, or substantiality; and in an infinite distribution of species together with each individual’s infinite beauty. These acts occur with the greatest economy or lowest cost imaginable, yet every individual is priceless, and unique while having the highest correspondence and similarity between and among species despite the vast distances of time and space. They are in balance with an absolute variety, a perfect individualization of characters and features through generated form similar or even the same materials, structural principles, and organization.
Everything that you observe around you is more or less created from the same elements by the same Source. What comes out is priceless. Every moment, an incredible variety of things are given existence. It is mind boggling when you reflect on it. If all of mankind were to get together, they cannot create one mango but mango is created in the best possible way using least economical materials (only sunlight, soil, water and air). What is the Cause of existence of all elements and things that we interact with? Can you really say that soil is giving existence to mango? That is what the Prophetic message encourages us to reflect on: Evidence of the Absolute Creator is within this universe.
The main Prophetic message is to bring equality and justice among people. The Prophets do not come to a people to get them to confirm something that are not experienced by their human nature, and by witnessing of the creation of the universe. The Prophets just help people to witness the truth; such ability is already within each of us. Prophets come to people who are ignorant of the truth. That is Mercy from the Creator. The message the Prophets bring is evident to human beings but we may choose not to pay heed to it. We may make excuses that we did not hear of such messages from our forefathers. The fact of the matter is that the message is plain and simple i.e. USE YOUR HUMAN QUALITIES.
- Listen to yourself and the message comes to you i.e. you understand your reality.
- Never allow for the possibility of an idea that things give existence to itself or other things because it does not make sense.
- If you reflect on rabbu’l-alameen (Lord of the universe is the One that gives existence to everything), then you are on your way to submission to the will of the Creator of the universe. That is worship i.e. obeying the order.
Here are two ways that one may take: Either worship the Lord of the universe or worship yourself/other creatures. The choice is yours!
Why do Prophets come with miracles?
Most Prophets come with miracles so that people may take them seriously as messengers of the Creator of the universe. Imagine someone walking into this room claiming that s/he received God’s revelation, would you believe him/her? Unless, they demonstrate some signs for you to witness, then you can take the person as “man of truth”.
Miracles have two aspects i.e. material form and non-material form. We are to neither deny the material side of the miracle nor take its metaphorical teaching as our main focus. The people of that time initially needed miracles to take the Prophets seriously in order to heed to the message. But you and I, we need to use our intellect to understand the completed Prophetic message and apply the teachings of those miracles to what we observe in our current conditions. That is, as demonstrated in the message of the Prophets, the universe itself is a miracle. Everything in it is a miracle pointing to its Creator. Our existence itself is a miracle. This personal endeavor enables us to eliminate the possibility of the truthfulness of the claim of Prophethood.
We need to relate the miracles with the Prophetic message, which embodies the message of the Quran. The word “aya” i.e. sign/miracle is used in different context but points to the same Source.
- aya is used to refer to the sentence of a chapter of the Qur’an.
- aya is used to describe concrete things in creation.
- aya is used to describe miracles demanded by the Prophets.
Each thing is enough to manifest the stamp discussed, for the infinite abundance together with beautiful, ordered artistry is particular to him Who has infinite power and Who is not distracted or prevented from doing many things at once. The absolute ease in perfect order and arrangement is particular to Him for Whom nothing is difficult and Who has infinite knowledge. The extraordinary speed that does not affect firmness and proportion is particular to Him to Whose Power and Command everything is submitted.
The vast distribution of species in which each individual’s infinite beauty is manifested is particular to Him Who is unconfined by space, but near everything through His Power and Knowledge. Each individual’s wonderful economy and abundance, which is of immeasurable value, is particular to Him Who is infinitely rich and disposes of inexhaustible treasures.
All creatures are different, although they may look similar to us. Example: when you see pigeons flying, they may all look the same but they are all different from each other. Similarly, each apricot is different from the other, even though they are coming from the same tree. With that, each human being is different as well, although we may have the same needs and personality traits. But at the end of the day, we all differ from each other not only in appearance but more so in our preferences and thoughts which really makes us individuals. Example: Mary and Jane are both kids at heart and totally lose themselves around kids. The kids describe them to be cool and hip. Biologically, they both have the same basic needs i.e. food, shelter, wanting to help others… Their human side also yearns for Eternity (that is if they listen to it which is another topic). Appearance wise, they look the same but Jane has a high pitched voice. Hence, there goes the difference.
- The point here is that everything is ever-original and unique in its creation. Therefore, we should not be wasting our time with making meaningless comments such as Mary is the best or Jane is better than Mary. The creation of everyone and everything is good and we cannot say that a mosquito is better than a fly.
Tags: Al-Mathnawi Al-Nuri, Miracle, Nature, Pillars of Belief Series, Resurrection, Sign, Source of Existence