What is the place of the motions and transformations of particles in the
formation of things?
In the name
of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Those who unbelieve
say, ‘The Hour will never come upon us!’ Say, ‘No! by my Lord, but it
is coming upon you surely—by Him Who knows the Unseen—from Whom is not hidden
even a particle’s weight in the heavens or in the earth, or less than that,
or greater, but it is in a Manifest Book.’ (34:3)
Motions of particles serve great, conscious purposes
The transformations of particles
are the vibrations and circulations that take place while the Pen of the Power
of God, the Eternal Inscriber, is writing the signs of creation in the book
of creation. They are not games of chance, not random, meaningless motion, as
the materialists and naturalists conceive it. Because, like all creation as
a whole, each particle, at the very start of its motion, says, In the name
of God, with the tongue appropriate to its disposition. It sets out with
In the name of God and so is able to bear loads that infinitely exceed
its strength. For example, a seed the size of a grain of wheat shoulders a load
the size of a huge pine tree. On completion of its duty, it says, All praise
and thanks be to God. It does so because it has successfully displayed wise,
beautiful art, meaningful, subtle ornament, which amazes the beholder, because
the work is seen as an ode in praise of the Exalted Fashioner. Look carefully
at pomegranates and ears of corn, for example.
The transformation of particles
is made up of the motion and the meaningful vibrations caused by the transcription
of words by Divine Power from the ‘Manifest Book’ onto the ‘Tablet of Effacement
and Confirmation’, which is the reality and, metaphorically, a page of the stream
of time. This transcription takes place according to the dictation and principles
of the ‘Manifest Record’. The ‘Manifest Book’, an expression for Divine Power
and Will, is composed of present time and the material world. It is at the free
disposal of God in the creation of things. As for the ‘Manifest Record’, it
is an expression for God’s Knowledge and Commands, where everything from the
World of the Unseen is arranged in respect to accidents in the past and consequences
in the generations of the future (1).
Particles act in an orderly fashion within the body organism
of all living beings
Each particle, both through
its motion and rest, displays the Divine Light as bright as sunshine, as does
the sun. If every particle were not acting under God’s authority and with His
permission, and if it were not undergoing changes within His Knowledge and Power,
then every particle must in itself have infinite knowledge and limitless power.
It must have eyes with which to see everything to establish purposeful relations
with all things. Also, it must have authority over every creature. For we observe
that each particle of elements is acting, or can act, in an orderly fashion
within the body organism of all living beings.
The order within things
and the rules of their formation differ from one to the next. If the order particular
to each is not known, acting within it will be impossible, or if we suppose
acting is possible, then acting without error would be impossible. However we
observe a perfect order and harmony in the body of each animate being. This
means either that those particles have an all-encompassing knowledge and power,
or someone with infinite knowledge and power is employing them under his irresistible
will and command.
Each particle of air can
enter the bodies of all living beings, the fruits of all flowers and the structures
of all leaves. It can act within them, although the formation of each is different
from any other and each has a particular order of its own. If a fig may be likened
to a textile mill, for example, a pomegranate to a sugar factory, and so on,
the programs of these fruits—the structures of those factories—are different
from each other. A particle of air, in spite of such structural differences,
can enter into all of them. It takes up its position in each and acts in a wise
and lordly fashion without error. On completion of its duty, it departs. A mobile
particle of air, therefore, either must know the forms, shapes, measures and
formations, with which plants and animals, and fruits and flowers, are
clothed, or must be acting under the command and will of one who has that all-encompassing
knowledge.
So too is it the case with
an apparently motionless particle of soil. It has the capacity to be the means
and place of cultivation for each seed of all flowering plants and fruit-bearing
trees. Indeed, any seed can find in a handful of soil all the equipment and
mechanisms that are necessary for germination and growth. Therefore, either
there must be, in that handful of soil, mechanisms in working order adaptable
to the number of varieties of trees, plants, flowers and fruits, or else its
particles must have a marvelously comprehensive knowledge, and miracle-working
power, that creates everything from nothing. Alternatively, those duties are
performed at the command, and with the permission, through the power and might,
of one all-knowing and all-powerful.
Suppose an untrained, inexperienced,
blind man of average ability entered an industrial city and performed so excellently
in each trade and craft that everyone was left speechless with amazement. Who,
with even the least grain of awareness, would doubt that the blind man was not
working on his own initiative but, rather, was being taught and employed by
a master of all trades and crafts? Or see it another way: the blind man, helpless
because of his disability, unable even to get up unassisted, lives in a single
little house: into that house go small fragments of stone, and bits and pieces
of material like bone and cotton, but out of it come sacks of sugar, rolls of
cloth, boxes of jewellery, finely-made clothes encrusted with jewels, delicious
foods, and so on. Anyone with a grain of intelligence must conclude that the
blind man was only the poor doorkeeper of some extraordinary miracle-working
being, and had as little share in those products as a latch on the door of that
factory of that being.
In just this way, the motion
and functions of particles of air in plants, trees, flowers, fruits, each of
which is a letter from the Eternally-Besought, a precious work of the Lord’s
art, a miracle of His Wisdom, tell us that those particles are acting under
the Command and at the Will of an All-Wise and Exalted Fashioner, a Generous
and Beautiful Creator. Likewise, particles of soil are the place and means of
cultivation for the seeds to grow into young plants and then into tall trees.
Each tree is a unique factory and workshop, a unique printing-press, a unique
treasury, a unique precious object, a unique declaration that proclaims the
Names of the Exalted Maker. It is also like a unique ode singing a hymn to His
perfections. Those particles of soil, therefore, tell us that they are acting
under the Command, and through the Power of a Maker, Who is the owner of the
command, Be! and it is , and to Whose Command everything is subject. All this
is as certain as two and two equal four.
Transformations of particles serve various conscious
purposes and demonstrate many instances of wisdom
The materialists, whose
use of their reason is limited to only what they receive through their five
senses, have, in their absurd philosophies based on insecure foundations, taken
the transformations of particles to be random, a jumble of coincidence, and
yet also the fundamental basis of all their principles. In other words, they
have supposed existence to result essentially from those transformations. Anyone
with the least intelligence will know how irrational it is to attribute to something
itself devoid of consciousness (let alone meaning and purpose) the creation
of existence which is overflowing with instances of wisdom and purpose.
According to the Qur’anic
viewpoint, the transformations of particles are based on various purposes and
functions and demonstrate many instances of wisdom. The Qur’an points to these
functions and instances of wisdom in many of its verses, such as:
There is not
a thing that does not glorify Him with praise. (36:82)
Examples of the purposes
transformations of particles serve and instances of wisdom they demonstrate
- The Majestic Creator, through His Power, makes particles
move and employs them. He takes each spirit as a pattern and renews and refreshes
the manifestations of His act of creating in order to clothe each spirit every
year in a fresh body. He miraculously transcribes with His Wisdom thousands
and thousands of different books from each book of creation and demonstrates
a single truth in ever-differing forms. He also prepares the ground and makes
ways for the beings, worlds and universes to succeed each other.
- The Majestic Lord of all dominion has created this
world, and especially the surface of the earth in a cultivable form. That
is to say, He prepared it in such a way that it would flourish and produce
ever-fresh crops so that He might sow and reap the countless miracles of His
Power. Thus, by causing the motion of particles with wisdom, and employing
them in an orderly fashion in His field of the earth, He displays in every
hour of every day of every mo nth and season
and age, through miracles of His Power, a new form of the universe and makes
His field produce ever-differing crops. He demonstrates through the motion
of particles gifts from the infinite treasury of His Mercy and samples of
the miracles of His infinite Power.
- God, the Eternal Inscriber, in order to show the infinite
signs at His disposal and to show limitless works of His art in a finite arena
so that His Eternal Names may be manifested, causes the motion of particles
with perfect wisdom, and employs that motion with perfect order.
Indeed, in essence this year‘s crops are like those of
last year, but their meanings are ever-different. Their relative determinations
being changed, they display numerous different meanings. That is to say, although
their forms, apparently the same, different in essence, are renewed each year,
and therefore seem ephemeral, their beautiful meanings are preserved and are
constant and permanent.
Since the leaves, flowers and fruits of a tree do not have
spirit, they are in reality the same every spring, and so they are in appearance.
But each spring, they are formed anew, therefore, a tree repeatedly comes
to leaf and flowers through years and yields fruit in order to show the meanings
and the functions of the Divine Names, whose manifestations are being constantly
renewed.
- The All-Wise and Majestic Creator, by causing the motion
of particles, makes the cosmos to flow and beings to circulate. By doing this,
He prepares, on this earth, things like provisions and crops, that are proper
for the broad world of the inner dimensions of things and the endless worlds
of the Hereafter, like the infinite World of Ideas. He causes from the infinite
treasury of His Power an endless flow into the World of the Unseen, and some
of it into the worlds of the Hereafter.
- He causes the motion of particles with perfect wisdom
by His Power and employs them with perfect order so as to display in the limited
field of the earth and in a short, limited time, infinite Divine perfections,
and endless manifestations of his Grace and Majesty, and countless glorifications
of His Sustaining and Cherishing. He gives existence to numerous realities
concerning the Unseen, numerous fruits for the Hereafter, and prepares for
the eternal beings their abodes, earned through their words and deeds. Therefore,
the One Who causes the motion of particles is the same Being Who manifests
these great purposes and instances of wisdom. If it were otherwise, then each
particle would need to possess a brain as large as the sun.
The absurd philosophers
suppose the transformations of particles to be aimless. They are blind to the
infinite instances of wisdom in their motion, which are not limited to the five
points above. They suppose that particles, which revolve like Mawlawi dervishes
glorifying God and reciting His Names in two ecstatic movements, one spinning
upon its axis, the other reeling around in circles, as though stunned and aimless.
It may be understood from this that their knowledge is ignorance, and their
philosophy foolishness.
Particles move in conformity
with the universal order and the rules of each place
they enter
In every particle there
are two truthful testimonies to the existence and Unity of the Necessarily Existent
Being. Despite being powerless and insentient, a particle bears decisive witness
to the existence of the Necessarily Existent Being in that it carries out important
functions as though it were conscious. Also, by its exterior and interior dimensions,
and by its conformity with the universal order in general, and the rules of
each place it enters in particular, the particle testifies to the unity of the
same Being Who is the owner of all things. Furthermore, it settles in every
place as if it were its homeland—all of which demonstrate that the One Who owns
the particle must also own all the places it enters.
Thus, since the particle
carries out extremely heavy duties incompatible with its size and weakness,
it shows that it is acting at the command and in the name of One possessing
absolute power. Also, by conforming, as though knowingly, to the universal order
of the cosmos and entering everywhere without obstacle, it demonstrates that
it acts through the power and wisdom of a single Being with absolute knowledge.
A private soldier has a
connection with his squadron, platoon, company, battalion, regiment, division,
and so on, and he has orders according to each of those connections. He knows
all the orders flowing from each of the connections and acts in conformity with
all of them. The soldier, by performing his duties, is in essence obeying a
single supreme commander, who is in charge of the whole army. It is because
the army has undergone training and instruction under military order that the
soldier complies with the rules and regulations of a single, supreme commander
who commands that military order and controls all those divisions and sub-divisions.
In just this way, every
particle is positioned in each of numerous concentric spheres. It has, with
each sphere, a different beneficial connection and a well-regulated function
which produces beneficial results. This demonstrates that the Being, in Whose
grasp the whole power of the whole universe lies, can certainly position that
particle in such a way that it will preserve all these connections and functions
in each of those spheres without taking away the beneficial results.
For example, each of the
particles in the eye has been put in the right position relative to, for example,
blood vessels, to motor and sensory nerves and so on. Further, there is a reciprocal,
purposeful connection and function between each particle with the whole face,
then with the whole head, then with the whole trunk, then with the whole body.
This also shows that only the One Who creates all the members of the whole body
will be able to position the right particle in the right place.
Especially the particles
that enter the body as sustenance make their journey in the food caravan with
an astonishing order and wisdom. On their way, they pass through modes and stages
in an orderly manner, and, progressing as if deliberately and without confusion,
they carry on until they are strained through the ‘filters’ in the bodies of
animate beings. They are then loaded on to the red blood-corpuscles so that
they can assist the members and cells that are in need of sustenance. They render
this assistance according to a law of generosity. It may be clearly understood
from this that the One Who drives these particles and makes them pass through
thousands of different stages, must, of necessity, be a Generous Sustainer,
a Com-passionate Creator, in regard to Whose Power particles and stars are equal.
Furthermore, particles act
in the closest co-operation in the realization of a work of the highest excellence,
the body of a living being. Each particle is in a position of both dominance
and subjection to every other individually, and to the rest collectively. We
can conclude from this that each particle either knows and creates that wonderful
demonstration of wisdom and art, which is definitely impossible, or that each
is assigned to its place and motion and proceeds by Decree of Divine Destiny,
by the Pen of the Power of the All-Wise Fashioner.
We see that the stones in
the structure of the dome of the Sulaymaniye Mosque, for example, are in a position
of both dominance and subjection to each other. Thus, if we do not accept that
those stones were placed in such a position by a skilful architect, then we
shall have to admit that each stone has as great a skill in the art of building
as that of a great architect, like Sinan. That is, each stone must have the
power to say to the others, ‘Come, we shall stand shoulder to shoulder in order
not to fall and collapse, and to build that dome’, and persuade them to do so.
In the same way, if the
particles in creation, which are thousands of times more skillfully fashioned,
wonderful and full of wisdom than the dome of Aya Sophia, were not dependent
upon the command of the Master of the universe, then we would have to allow
to each of them as many attributes of perfection as those of the Designer of
the universe.
Glory be to God! Since the unbelievers do not accept a
Necessarily Existent Being, they are compelled, according to their beliefs,
to accept as many false gods as there are particles. Thus, an unbeliever, no
matter how illustrious a philosopher or scholar he may be, is to the utmost
degree in the most profound and absolute ignorance.
Motions and transformations
of particles serve for animate beings to gain meaning to be fit for the construction
of the other world
One of the Divine purposes
in making particles move on in the bodies of animate beings and causing them
to pass through several transformations, is to enliven and illuminate them with
meaning so that they should be fit for the construction of the world of the
Hereafter. It is as if the bodies of human beings and animals, and even plants,
were guest-houses, or barracks or schools for inanimate particles to enter and
receive training and instruction therein to be illuminated and refined. By performing
various functions they become worthy to be particles in the world of permanence,
the real world of the Hereafter, all of whose elements are ever-living.
Answer
-
We can do so by observing
the purposiveness and orderliness in creation. Even a most particular thing
displays a universal function: it demonstrates that God’s Wisdom would not
leave without purpose the motion of particles which exhibit the greatest activity
in the flow of the universe and are the means for intricacies full of purposes.
Also, since Divine Wisdom and Sovereignty do not leave the smallest creature,
in its duties, without due wage and recompense and its proper perfection,
the most numerous and important servants of that Wisdom and Sovereignty would
not be left without light, without a wage.
-
The All-Wise Maker, by
causing the motion of the elements and using it, elevates certain particles
to the degree of minerals as if to their wage of perfection, and instructs
them in the glorification of Him peculiar to minerals. Further, He causes
inanimate minerals to acquire the degree of vegetable life through further
motion and use of particles. Also, by making vegetables the food for animals,
he confers upon them the rank of animal life. Then, He promotes the particles
that are in animals through sustenance to the degree of human life. Lastly,
by refining the particles that are in a human body through repeated filtering,
He raises them to the most delicate and subtle organs of the body, namely
the brain and the heart. From all this it may be understood that the motion
of particles is neither random nor aimless; rather, the particles are made
to hasten to a sort of perfection worthy of themselves.
-
Among the particles in
animate beings, some—like those in pips and seeds—are favored with such a
light, refinement, and quality that they are like a spirit or a king to the
rest of the particles, to a mighty tree, for example. Thus, among all the
particles of a mighty tree, for example, some are promoted to the higher rank
through performing their functions and passing through many stages in a tree’s
life-cycle. This demonstrates that through the command of the All-Wise Maker
these particles acquire a refinement, a light, and a rank in honor of the
Divine Names that are manifest in them, according to the sorts of motion determined
by their natural dispositions.
To conclude:
The All-Wise Maker has endowed
everything with an attainable perfection and a level of existence appropriate
for it. It is a function of His being the Lord of worlds, a law operative in
the realm of inanimate entities as well as in the realm of plants and animals,
that everything has the potential to attain its perfection. And He urges everything
to reach that point of perfection specific to it. Thus it is, for example, that
plain soil can become diamonds of priceless value. Therein is a demonstration
of the comprehensive law that God as the Lord (Rabb) sustains, evolves, and
trains all creatures.
The All-Generous Creator
has bestowed upon animals a particular pleasure as a reward which He uses in
the comprehensive law of reproduction. He rewards animals, like bees and nightingales,
for example, with a perfection which He also uses in the exercise of His Lordship—to
each of these He has granted a level of excellence that is a source of eager
industry and of pleasure. This reality demonstrates the comprehensive law of
His Generosity.
The reality of everything
originates in the reflection in it of a Divine Name for which the thing is a
mirror
The reality of everything
originates in the reflection in it of a Divine Name for which the thing is a
mirror. Whatever beauty appears in it is owed to the Name which requires it
to be thus. Whether the individual thing is aware of it or not, in reality,
the beauty apparent in it is there because it is desired to be so. And that
is a demonstration of the comprehensive law of Grace and Beautifying.
As is required by His law
of Generosity, the Generous Creator does not, when the life of a thing ends,
take back the rank and perfection He has bestowed upon it. Rather, the Generous
Creator makes the fruits, the real meaning and identity and, if it has one,
the spirit, of that bearer of perfection, permanent. For example, He makes permanent
the meanings and fruits of the perfections He has made manifest in this world
through man. He will even return to a thankful believer his thanks and praise
—embodied as a fruit of Paradise. And in this, the tip of a mighty law of Mercy
is apparent.
The Incomparable Creator
wastes nothing and never acts to no purpose; He even utilizes in His making
of the creatures of the springtime the material remains of those that, having
accomplished their tasks, perished in the previous autumn. For, according to
the meaning of On the Day when the earth will be
changed into another earth, (14:48)
and the indication of But, surely, the world of
the Hereafter, that is all animate, (29:64)
His Wisdom requires that the particles of the earth, which are inanimate and
unconscious yet perform important duties in this world, should be made use of
and included in some of the constructions of the Hereafter, the stones, the
trees, in short, all things some of which will certainly be animate and conscious.
For, to abandon the particles when the world has been destroyed or to cast them
into non-existence would be wasteful. And in this, the tip of a mighty law of
Wisdom is apparent.
The many fruits and consequences
and meanings of this world, and the woven pages of the actions, bodies and spirits
of those (the jinn and human beings) who are charged with performing Divine
commands while in this world, are sent to the market of the Hereafter. Certainly,
it is a requirement of justice and wisdom that, after getting their individual
perfection in accordance with the performance of their duties, the particles
which accompany and serve those meanings, will be included in the construction
of the Hereafter. That is, they will be included together with the debris of
this world after many times receiving and serving the light of life and after
being the means for the glorifications of sentient beings. And in this, the
tip of a mighty law of Justice is apparent.
Just as the spirit is dominant
over the body, so too the commands that call things into existence, written
by Divine Destiny and Decree, are dominant over inanimate matter. Inanimate
matter is able to assume a disposition and order due to the non-material writing
of the Divine Destiny. For example, the substance or matter in all varieties
of egg and sperm, and seed and grain, achieves a variety of kinds and levels
according to the commands that bring them into existence, all of which are written
differently by Destiny. The substance or matter is in each case the same— all
are compounded of a certain number of elements (like hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen,
carbon)—but it issues into innumerable different entities on account of the
difference in the non-material commands of Destiny and so achieves the differences
in kinds and levels. Most certainly, therefore, if a particle has been repeatedly
in the service of life and the glorifying of the Lord that is inherent in life,
the wisdom of the meanings it realizes must be recorded, so to speak, on its
non-material ‘forehead’ by the Pen of Divine Destiny which overlooks nothing.
That is a requirement of All-Encompassing Knowledge: in it, the tip of a mighty
law of All-Encompassing Knowledge is apparent.
In sum: The transformations
of particles—like all entities in this world—occur in a delicate balance calculated
with Knowledge, following the commands given by Power that brings things into
existence and within the bounds determined by Destiny
In sum: Beyond the visible
tip of the seven laws just mentioned, Lordship, Generosity, Grace, Mercy, Wisdom,
Justice and All-Encompassing Knowledge, and of many other laws of vast import,
the Greatest Name and the greatest manifestation of that Greatest Name is intimated.
From that intimation it may be grasped that the transformations of particles—like
all entities in this world—occur in a delicate balance calculated with Knowledge,
following the commands given by Power that brings things into existence and
within the bounds determined by Destiny. The particles are, quite simply, being
got ready for another, higher existence (2).
In that case, we should see the bodies of animate creatures as a sort of school
or barracks or temporary lodging-house for the training of those traveling particles.
That is a proposition that can be put forward with certainty.
Conclusion
All things say In the
Name of God. And so, like all creatures, all particles and all groups and
assemblages of particles say, In the Name of God with the tongue of their individual
dispositions. It is with that formula that they are in motion.
Certainly, according to
the arguments above, all particles say, In the Name of God, the Merciful,
the Compassionate, with the tongue of their individual dispositions as they
begin their motion. That is, ‘I am moving in the Name of God, for His sake,
with His permission, and through His power’. Then, like all creatures, all particles
and groups of particles say, as they conclude their motion, All praise be to
God, the Lord of the worlds. Each thus shows itself as the tip of a miniature
pen of Power tracing the embroideries of the intricately worked creatures, each
of which is like an ode of praise. Indeed, each of them can be seen as the point
of a gramophone needle turning on creatures, each of which is like a record
on a mighty, non-material Divine gramophone with an infinite number of arms;
thus the particles cause the creatures to recite odes glorifying their Lord
and to hymn their praises of God.
There they will cry out:
‘All glory be to God! And there ‘Peace’ will be their greeting. And their calling
will close with ‘All praise belongs to God, the Lord of the worlds!’
Glory be to
You! We have no knowledge save what You have taught us. Indeed, You are the
All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
O Lord! Let
not our hearts swerve after You have guided us, and grant us the gift of Your
grace, for surely You are the Giver of Gifts.
O God, bestow
such blessings on our master Muhammad as will be pleasing to You and a fulfillment
of his truth, and also on his family, his Companions, and his brothers in religion,
and grant them peace. And protect us and protect our religion. Amen, O Lord
of the Worlds!
Annotations
1.
The ‘Manifest Record’ and the ‘Manifest Book’ are repeated in several different
places in the wise Qur’an. One group of interpreters have maintained that the
phrases are identical in meaning. Others have held that they have different
meaning and connotations. Their explanations of the true meanings and contents
of the phrases have differed, but (to cut the matter short) they do agree that
both are phrases to describe Divine Knowledge. However, through the enlightenment
of the Qur’an, I have had this conviction:
The ‘Manifest Record’, which
looks more to the world of the Unseen than to the visible, material world, is
an expression for one aspect of Divine Knowledge and Commands. That is, it looks
more to the past and future than to the present. It is a book of Divine Destiny
which contains the origin, the roots and the seeds of things rather than their
flourishing forms in their visible existence.
The origins,
sources and roots, from which God Almighty shapes things with perfect order
and art, show that they are arranged according to a book of the principles contained
in Divine Knowledge. The seeds and fruits, which contain the indexes and program
of beings that will subsequently come into existence, constitute a miniature
register of Divine Commands. For example, a seed is said to be the program and
index according to which a whole tree may be formed, and furthermore, it is
the miniature embodiment of the Divine principles that cause the tree to come
into existence and which determine this program and index. In short, the ‘Manifest
Record’ is an index and program of the tree of creation as a whole which spreads
its branches through the past and future, and the world of the Unseen. In this
sense, it is a book of Divine Destiny or a register of its principles. Through
the dictation and demand of these principles, particles are employed and managed
to bring things into existence.
As for
the ‘Manifest Book’, it looks more to the visible, material world than to the
world of the Unseen, that is to say, it looks more to the present than to the
past and future. It is an expression for Divine Power and Will, rather than
for Divine Knowledge and Commands or laws and principles of creation. If the
‘Manifest Record’ is the book of the Divine Destiny, then the ‘Manifest Book’
is the book of Divine Power. In other words, the perfect art and orderliness
in the essence and existence of everything and in its attributes and functions,
demonstrate that everything is given existence according to the laws of an effective
will and the principles of an absolute power. Also, it is specifically formed
and given an appointed measure and particular shape. Therefore, this shows that
Divine Power and Will have a universal, comprehensive register of laws, a great
book, according to which a particular form and substance is determined for each
entity.
It is
curious that the people of neglect, misguidance and [corrupt] philosophy, although
they have felt the existence of God’s ‘Supreme Preserved or Guarded Tablet’
(Lawhun Mahfuz) and have seen the manifestations and reflections of that book
of Divine Wisdom and Will, they, God forbid, have named it nature, and thus
made it completely meaningless; whereas, through the dictation of the ‘Manifest
Record’, that is, through the decree and instruction of Divine Destiny, Divine
Power is employing particles in creating or manifesting the chain of beings,
each link of which is His sign, on the metaphorical page of time, which is called
the ‘Tablet of Effacement and Confirmation’. This means that particles are set
to move so that beings may be transferred from the world of the Unseen to the
material, visible world, from (the realm of) Knowledge to the (realm of) Power.
The Tablet of Effacement and Confirmation
is the ‘tablet’ on which beings are ‘inscribed’ and then removed or effaced
according to their origins in or the dictates of the Supreme Preserved Tablet
and therefore displays continuous changes. It is the Tablet of Effacement and
Confirmation which constitutes the essence of time. Time, which is a mighty
river flowing through existence, has its essence in the ‘inscription’ of Divine
Power of beings and in the ‘ink’ It uses. None save God knows the Unseen.
2. It may be observed in this agitated, lowly world that
the warmth of life is kindled and its light diffused most freely and with extraordinary
dynamism; that a fresh spark of life is rekindled over a broad expanse in the
most unpromising material, in the most decayed substances: in this way, heavy,
unpromising matter is made subtle, given a sheen by the light of life. That
clearly tells us that this agitated, lowly world is being decomposed, then refined
and made more beautiful through the activity of particles and the light of life
for the sake of another subtler, more exalted, pure and ever-living world. It
is as if it were being adorned for passage to a finer world. If those whose
minds are too narrow to admit the concept of a bodily resurrection look with
the light of the Qur’an, they will see an infinitely comprehensive and mighty
Divine law (issuing from God’s being the Self-Subsistent) which maintains the
universe and in whose vast compass all particles are re-arranged (resurrected)
like a well-ordered soldiery. That law is in force and its prevailing over the
whole creation is clearly visible.
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