…a seal of unity on the face of the universe… on the face of the earth… on man’s face
Mustafa SOYLU
Senior Engineer & Environmental Auditor at Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change
THE FOURTH POINT
The Divine Name Single
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Say: He is God, the One and Only.(112:1)
[One fine point of this verse and a manifestation of the divine name of Single, which is a greatest name comprising the names of One and Unique, or one of the six lights comprising the greatest name, appeared to me in Eski?ehir Prison in the month of Shawwal. Referring the details of that greatest manifestation to the Risale-i Nur, we shall here explain extremely briefly in seven short Indications the true affirmation of divine unity which the name of Single demonstrates through its maximum manifestation.]
FIRST INDICATION
The Twenty-Second Word and Thirty-Third Letter have shown in detail that through a greatest manifestation, the greatest name Single has placed a seal, a stamp, of divine unity on the universe as a whole and on each realm of beings in it, and on each individual being. Here, we shall point out only three stamps.
F i r s t S t a m p : The manifestation of divine singleness has placed a seal of unity on the face of the universe whereby it has made it an indivisible whole. One who does not have power of disposal over the whole universe cannot be the true owner of any part of it. The seal is this:
Like the finest machinery in a factory, the beings and realms of beings in the universe assist one another and work to complete each other’s functions. With their solidarity and co-operation, their answering each other’s requests and hastening to assist to each other, their embracing each other and being one within the other, they form a unity of existence according to which, like the members of the human body, they cannot be separated from each other. A person who controls one of its members yet does not have control over all of them, will not have true mastery over the single member.
Thus, this co-operation, solidarity, mutual response, and embracing one another forms a most brilliant supreme seal of divine unity.
S e c o n d S t a m p : Through the manifestation of the name Single, so brilliant a seal of divine oneness and stamp of unity has been placed on the face of the earth and face of the spring that it proves that one who does not administer all the living creatures on the face of the globe together with all their members and attributes and states, and who does not know and see them all together, and cannot create them, cannot interfere in anything in respect of creation. The stamp is this:
Disregarding the truly orderly, yet hidden, stamps of the mineral substances, the elements, and inanimate creatures of the earth, consider the following stamp consisting of the woven threads of the two hundred thousand animal species and two hundred thousand plant species: we see with our own eyes in the spring on the earth that all things with their different duties, different forms, different sustenance, different members are given everything they need, without confusion and without error, with complete distinction and differentiation, with extremely sensitive balance, without difficulty, at exactly the right time, from unexpected places despite their being one within the other and all mixed up together. This situation, this planning, this administration forms such a seal of divine unity and stamp of oneness that one who cannot create all those creatures at once from nothing, cannot interfere in anything at all in respect of dominicality and creation. For if something had interfered, the equilibrium of that utterly vast administration would have been spoilt. However, man apparently serves the smooth application of those laws of dominicality, at the divine command.
T h i r d S t a m p : This stamp of divine oneness is on man’s face, indeed, is man’s face: one who does not hold in his gaze all the human beings who have come and will come from the time of Adam till the end of the world, and cannot place a distinguishing mark on each of their faces, indeed, hundreds of distinguishing marks, can have no part in respect of creation in the stamp of unity on the face of any single one of them. Yes, the one who places that stamp on man’s face must surely hold within his view and encompass with his knowledge all the members of the human race, for although the basic members of the human face resemble one another, each face possesses points of difference. All the members of the face, such as the eye and ear, resembling each other forms a stamp of unity testifying that humankind’s Maker is One; similarly, the many wise differences – unlike other species – distinguishing one from the other so they are not confused and to preserve the rights of all of them, are both subtle stamps of divine oneness, and denote the Maker of unity’s will, choice, and volition. They show that one who cannot create all men and animals, indeed, the universe, cannot apply that stamp.
SECOND INDICATION
The worlds, species, and elements of the universe are so intertwined and interwoven that any cause that does not possess the universe as a whole cannot have true disposal over any of its elements. The manifestation of unity proceeding from the name of Single has included the whole universe within a unity so that everything proclaims it. For example, the universe’s lamp, the sun, being one indicates that the whole universe belongs to one, so too, the sponges of clouds which water the garden of the earth being the same, and the rain which comes to aid of all living creatures being the same and falling everywhere, and most of the animal and plant species spreading freely over the earth and their species and habitats being the same, are most certain signs and testimonies indicating that all those beings, as well the places they are found, are the property of a single being.
Following this analogy, the realms of beings in the universe are so interwoven they have made the universe into a totality which is indivisible in respect of creation. A cause that does not have rule over the whole universe can govern nothing at all in respect of dominicality and creativity; it cannot make a single particle heed it.
THIRD INDICATION
Through its greatest manifestation, the name Single has made the universe into innumerable missives of the Eternally Besought One whereby each displays seals of divine oneness and stamps of unity to the number of its words – as though printed – and points to its Scribe to the number of those seals.
Yes, all flowers, all fruits, all grasses, and all animals even, and all trees are seals of divine oneness and stamps of divine unity, which, together with the places they are found, which take the form of missives, are like signatures showing the one who wrote the place. For example, a buttercup in a garden is like a seal of the garden’s inscriber. Whosever seal the flower is, all flowers of the same sort on the face of the earth indicate clearly that they are his words and that the garden too is his writing. This means that all things ascribe everything to the One who created them, pointing to a maximum affirmation of divine unity.
FOURTH INDICATION
In addition to being clear as the sun, the greatest manifestation of the name Single is so reasonable as to be necessary and can be accepted with infinite ease. Numerous proofs demonstrating that the association of partners with God, the opposite and opponent of that manifestation, is infinitely difficult and infinitely far from reason, indeed, impossible and precluded, have been explained in various parts of the Risale-i Nur. For the present referring the details of the points of those proofs to those treatises, we shall here expound only three Points.
T h e F i r s t : We have demonstrated with certain proofs, briefly at the end of the Tenth and Twenty-Ninth Words and in detail at the end of the Twentieth Letter, that in relation to the power of the Single and Unique One, the creation of the greatest thing is as easy as the smallest. It administers a large tree as comfortably as a small fruit. Whereas if referred to numerous causes, each fruit becomes as difficult and expensive as a tree, and a flower as difficult and troublesome as the spring.
Yes, if the equipment of an army is made on the orders of a single commander in a single factory, it is as easy as making the equipment of a single soldier, whereas if the equipment of all the soldiers is made in different factories and the army’s administration passes from a single officer to many, then each soldier will require factories to the number of the army’s soldiers. In just the same way, if everything is ascribed to the Single and Unique One, the innumerable members of an entire species become as easy as a single member. While if attributed to causes each becomes as difficult as the whole species.
Yes, both unity and singleness come about through everything being connected with the One of Unit y, and through reliance on Him. And this reliance and connection may become a boundless power and strength for the thing. Through the strength of the reliance and connection, that small thing may perform works far exceeding its individual strength, and produce results. While something very powerful that does not rely on the Single Unique One and is not connected to Him can perform small works in accordance with its individual strength, and the results diminish accordingly.
For example, a strong, bold man who is not a regular soldier is compelled to carry his own ammunition and provisions himself, and so can hold out only temporarily against ten enemy. For his individual strength is limited. But a soldier who by belonging to the army is connected to and relies on the commander-in-chief, is not compelled to carry his own sources of strength and provisions; his connection and reliance become an inexhaustible strength for him, like a treasury. Through the strength of his connection, he may capture a field marshal of the defeated enemy army, together with thousands of others.
That is to say, in divine unity and divine singleness, through the strength of the connection, an ant may defeat a Pharaoh and a fly defeat a Nimrod and a microbe a tyrant, and a seed as tiny as a chickpea may bear on its shoulders a pine-tree as majestic as a mountain. Yes, a commander-in-chief may send an army to the assistance of one soldier and assemble an army behind the soldier so that he has the moral support of the army behind him and through that strength may perform great works in the commander’s name. Similarly, since the Pre-Eternal Monarch is Single and One, He has no need of any sort. If to suppose that He did have need, He would send all things to the assistance of everything and assemble the army of the universe behind one thing and everything could rely on a strength as great as the universe and in the face of everything, all things – to suppose that He did have the need – could become like the Single Commander’s strength. If there were no divine singleness, everything would lose all this strength and become as nothing; their results too would dwindle to nothing.
Thus, the appearance of these truly wondrous works out of most insignificant unimportant things which we all the time observe with our eyes self-evidently demonstrates divine singleness and divine oneness. If it were not for them, the results, fruits, and works of everything would decrease to the substance and strength of each thing; they would be reduced to nothing. Nothing of the infinite abundance and infinite inexpensiveness of the extremely valuable things we see around us would remain. A melon or pomegranate that we now buy for a small sum, we would not be able to procure for a fortune. Yes, all the ease, all the abundance, all the inexpensiveness in the world arise from divine unity and testify to divine singleness.
S e c o n d P o i n t : Beings are created in two ways; one is creation from nothing called origination and invention, and other is the giving of existence through bringing together existent elements and things, called composition and assembling. When in accordance with the manifestation of divine singleness and mystery of divine oneness, this occurs with an infinite ease, indeed, such ease as to be necessary. If not ascribed to divine singleness, it would be infinitely difficult and irrational, difficult to the degree of impossibility. However, the fact that the beings in the universe come into existence with infinite ease and facility and no difficulty at all, and in perfect form, self-evidently shows the manifestation of divine singleness and proves that everything is directly the art of the Single One of Glory.
Yes, if things are ascribed to the Single One of Unity, they are created from nothing through His infinite power, the immensity of which is perceived through its works, like striking a match. And through His all-embracing, infinite knowledge everything is appointed a measure like an immaterial mould. The particles of all things are situated easily in the mould existent in knowledge, in accordance with the form and plan of everything in the mirror of knowledge and they preserve their positions in good order.
If it is necessary to gather together particles from round about, the particles are bound together in regular fashion like the soldiers of an obedient army in accordance with the comprehensive principles of power and laws of knowledge. Driven by power in accordance with knowledge, they come, enter the mould existent in knowledge in accordance with the measure of divine determining, which encompasses the thing’s existence, and with ease form its being. Like the reflection in a mirror being clothed in external existence on paper by means of a camera, or the invisible writing of a letter appearing when it is spread with a special substance, with the greatest ease power clothes with external existence the essences of things and forms of beings present in the mirror of the Single One of Unity’s pre-eternal knowledge; it brings them from the World of Meaning to the Apparent World, and shows them to us.
If beings are not ascribed to the Single One of Unity, it would be necessary to gather together the being of a fly from all round the earth and from the elements, quite simply sifting the face of the earth and the elements and bringing from everywhere the particles particular to its being. And in order to situate them in proper order in its being so full of art, a physical mould, indeed moulds to the number of its members would be necessary. Then too the senses in its being, and its fine, subtle immaterial faculties like spirit, would have to be drawn from the immaterial worlds in a particular measure.
Thus, the creation of a fly in this way would be as difficult as that of the universe. The difficulties would be multiplied a hundred times, indeed, would be a compounded impossibility. For as all the people of religion and scientists are agreed, nothing apart from the Single One can create from nothing and non-existence. In which case, if referred to causes and nature, everything may be given existence only through being gathered together from most things.
T h i r d P o i n t : We shall explain briefly two or three comparisons which are elucidated in other parts of the Risale-i Nur, showing how, if ascribed to a Single One of Unity, all things become as easy as a single thing, whereas if referred to causes and nature, the existence of a single thing becomes as difficult as that of all things.
For example: If the positions and administration of a thousand soldiers are referred to one officer, and that of one soldier to ten officers, to command the one soldier will be ten times more difficult than commanding a battalion. For those who command him will form obstacles to one another, and in the resulting disorder, the soldier will have no peace. Whereas if to obtain the desired result and situation a battalion is referred to a single officer, he can achieve the result easily, without difficulty, and give it that situation. If to obtain the result and situation, it is referred to the soldiers without a chief, leader, or sergeant, they will only be achieved with much dispute and difficulty, in great disorder, and deficiently.
Second Comparison: For example, if a master builder is appointed to give the stones in the dome of a mosque like Aya Sophia their suspended position, he may do so easily. But if it is referred to the stones themselves, they will all have to be both absolutely dominant and absolutely subject to each other in order to support each other in that suspended position. For the work the master builder performs easily to be carried out, work a hundred times greater, of a hundred builders, will have to be carried out, only then may such a position be achieved.
Third Comparison: For example, since the globe of the earth is an official, a soldier, of the Single One of Unity which heeds that single One’s single command, such results are obtained as the change of the seasons, the alternation of day and night, the lofty, majestic motions of the heavens, and the changes in the cinema-like celestial scenes. On receiving the single command of that Single One, in rapturous joy at its duty, a single soldier like the earth rises to revolve in two motions like an ecstatic Mevlevi dervish, and is the means to those splendid results being achieved. It is as if the single soldier is commanding magnificent manoeuvres on the face of the universe.
If not ascribed to a Single One whose rule of divinity and sovereignty of dominicality encompass the whole universe, and whose command and rule cover all beings, those results, heavenly maneouvres, and earthly seasons could only be obtained by millions of stars and globes a thousand times larger than the earth travelling the long distance of millions of years every twenty-four hours and every year.
Thus, those results being obtained through the two motions – in its orbit and on its axis like an ecstatic Mevlevi dervish – of a single official like the globe of the earth, is an example of the infinite ease there is in divine unity. While their being obtained through endlessly long ways millions of times more difficult than the motion described above is an example of just how difficult, indeed, impossible is the way of associating partners with God and unbelief, and just what impossible, absurd things are found on it.
Consider the ignorance of those who worship causes and nature through the following example: you can understand how far from reason it is and how ignorant to suppose that after preparing in orderly fashion through his wondrous art the parts or machinery of a wonderful factory, or marvellous clock, or splendid palace, or fine book, a person does not himself assemble the parts easily and work them, but with protracted and high expense makes each part, each mechanism, and even each sheet of paper and pen into extraordinary machines in order to make the parts themselves construct and work the factory, palace, and clock, and write the book instead of the craftsman. And he refers to them the art and craft, which is the means of displaying all his arts and skills, which he has great desire to exhibit.
In just the same way, those who attribute creation to causes and nature fall into compounded ignorance. For above nature and causes are extremely well-ordered works of art, and they too are artefacts like other creatures. The one who makes them thus, makes their results too and displays them together. The one who makes the seed, also makes the tree above it. And the one who makes the tree, is the one who makes the fruits above it. Otherwise further well-ordered natures and causes would be necessary for other, different natures and causes to come into existence. And so on, ad infinitum. One would have to accept the existence of an infinite, meaningless, impossible chain of illusory fancies. This would be the most extraordinary ignorance.
FIFTH INDICATION
We have demonstrated with decisive proofs in many places that the most fundamental characteristic of rulership is independence and separateness. Even the weak shadow of rulership in impotent men vehemently rejects the interference of others and does not permit others to meddle in its duty, and in this way preserves its independence. Many kings have mercilessly put to death their innocent children and loved brothers on account of this rejection of interference. That is to say, independence, separateness, and the rejection of the interference of others are the most basic characteristics of true rulership, and are its inseparable necessities and perpetual essentials.
It is because of this characteristic that divine rulership, which is at the degree of absolute dominicality, most vehemently rejects the association of any partners and the participation and interference of others. The Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition too, insistently, repeatedly, and sternly, indicates divine unity and rejects with severe threats the association of partners with God.
Thus, the divine rulership in dominicality necessitates divine unity and indicates a most powerful motive and necessitating cause for it. So too the infinitely perfect order and harmony on the face of the universe, apparent from the totality of the universe and the stars, and the plants, animals and minerals to particulars, individuals, and minute particles, form an indubitably veracious witness to and clear proof of that singleness and unity. For if others had interfered, this most sensitive balance, order, and regularity of the universe would have been spoilt and signs of disorder would have been apparent. In accordance with the meaning of the verse,
If there were in the heavens and the earth, other gods besides God, there would have been confusion in both!,(21:22)
this wondrous, perfect order of the universe would have been thrown into confusion and been spoilt. Whereas, according to the verse,
So turn your vision again; do you see any flaw?,(67:3)
from minute particles to the planets, from the ground to the divine throne, there is no sign of fault, defect, or confusion. Thus the order of the universe and of creatures and the balance of beings, demonstrate most brilliantly the greatest manifestation of the name of Single and testify to divine unity.
Moreover, since, through the mystery of the manifestation of divine oneness, the tiniest living creature is a miniature sample of the universe and a small index of it, only the One who holds the whole universe in the grasp of His power can lay claim to it. And since, in regard to creation, a seed is not inferior to a tree, and a tree is a small universe, and all living beings are like small universes and small worlds, this mystery of divine oneness has made the association of partners with God impossible.
By virtue of this mystery, the universe is not only an indivisible whole, but is also by its nature, a universal whose division and being broken up into parts is impossible and which does not accept participation and numerous hands in its creation. Thus, since each part of it is a particular and individual part, and the whole also is a universal, it precludes the participation of others in it. It proves to the degree of being self-evident the greatest manifestation of the name of Single, the reality of divine unity, and this mystery of divine oneness.
Yes, since the realms of beings in the universe are interwoven and interbonded and the functions of each look to all, it has made the universe, in respect of dominicality and creation, like an indivisible whole. So too, the all-encompassing general acts in the universe are interwoven and interpenetrated. For example, the acts of nurturing and giving of sustenance are apparent at the same instant within the act of giving life. And the acts of ordering and decking out the living creature’s body are observed at the same time within those acts of nurturing and giving of life. And at the same time the acts of giving of form, raising, and regulating strike the eye within those acts of nurturing, giving life, ordering, and decking out. And so on, since such all- encompassing and general acts are interpenetrated and one within the other and blended together like the seven colours in light, indeed, are united; and since each of those acts encompasses and embraces most beings and are a single act and by nature are the same; and since the one who performs the acts must be the same; and since each of them pervades the whole universe and unites with the other acts in co- operation and assistance; it has made the universe into an indivisible whole. Similarly, since all living creatures are like seeds, indexes, and samples of the universe, it has made the universe from the point of view of dominicality like a universal whose division and breaking into parts is impossible. That is to say, the universe is a totality so that to be Lord and Sustainer of a part of it is only possible by being Lord and Sustainer of the whole. And it is a universal so that each part of it has become like a single member; to make any one single member submit to His dominicality is only possible by subjugating the universal.
SIXTH INDICATION
Dominical singleness and divine unity are the means and basis of all perfections,(*) and the source and origin of the purposes and wisdom in the universe’s creation. They are also the source and sole means of attaining the wishes and desires of conscious beings and rational beings, and particularly of man. If not for divine singleness, all man’s wishes and demands would be extinguished. The results of the universe’s creation would also decline to nothing, and the majority of existent, certain perfections would be annihilated.
For example, man has an intense, unshakeable, passionate desire for immortality. Only One who through the mystery of singleness holds the whole universe in His grasp and can close down this world and open up the hereafter as easily as shutting up one house and opening another can satisfy this desire. And like this one, man’s thousands of desires which stretch to eternity and are spread throughout the universe are tied to the mystery of singleness and the reality of divine unity. If not for divine singleness, they would not be, they would be fruitless. And if not for the Single One who through divine unity has disposal over the entire universe, those desires could not be satisfied. And even supposing they were, they would be so very deficiently.
It is because of this mighty mystery that the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition repeatedly and fervently and with elevated eloquence teaches divine unity and singleness. Similarly, all the prophets, purified scholars, and saints found their greatest pleasure and happiness in the profession of divine unity, “There is no god but God.”
SEVENTH INDICATION
Just as Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) taught, proved, and proclaimed most perfectly the true affirmation of divine unity in all its degrees, so his messengership was established as surely and certainly as divine unity. For since he taught divine unity, the greatest reality in the sphere of existence, together with all its truths, it may be said that all the arguments proving divine unity indirectly though decisively prove his messengership, the authenticity of his duty, and the rightness of his cause. Yes, a messengership that discovered and truly taught divine singleness and unity, which bring together those thousands of elevated truths, is most definitely necessitated and required by that singleness and unity; they certainly require it.
Thus, Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) carried out that duty to the letter. Now, we shall explain by way of example, three out of numerous evidences and causes that testify to the importance and elevatedness of his collective personality, attesting that it is a sun in the universe.
T h e F i r s t : In accordance with the rule “The cause is like the doer,” the equivalent of all the good deeds performed throughout the centuries by all his community has passed to the book of good deeds of Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace). So too, by thinking of the certain acceptance of the salawa\t prayers for the Prophet (UWBP), which every day all his community recite for him, and the station and degree that those endless prayers necessitate, it may be understood that the collective personality of Muhammad (UWBP) is a sun in the universe.
T h e S e c o n d : Think of Muhammad’s (Upon whom be blessings and peace) spiritual progress: his essential being was the source, seed, life, and means of the mighty tree of the world of Islam: it arose from his performing with his extraordinar y capacity and faculties the sacred worship and glorifications which form the spiritual aspects of the world of Islam, perceiving all their meaning; so understand how much more elevated than other sainthoods was the sainthood of Muhammadan (UWBP) worship, by which he rose to the rank of God’s beloved.
At one time, a single glorification was unfolded to me in one of the prayers in a manner close to how the Companions of the Prophet perceived them, and it appeared to me as important as a month’s worship. I understood the Companions’ high worth. It meant that in the early days of Islam, the effulgence and light proceeding from the sacred words had a different quality. Their newness imparted a different flavour, subtlety, and freshness that with the passage of time have become obscured and have diminished through neglect. With his wondrous capacity Muhammad (UWBP) received them new and fresh from their original source, the Most Pure and Holy Essence, and absorbed and assimilated them. He could therefore receive the effulgence from a single glorification that others could receive only from a years’ worship.
From this you may understand the degree Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) progressed through the degrees of perfections, which are without bound or limit.
T h e T h i r d : Since mankind is the pivot of all the Creator’s purposes in the universe; and since with his superior understanding man has received the addresses of that Glorious One; and since Muhammad (UWBP) was the most famous and renowned of mankind, and as his works and achievements testify, its most perfect and magnificent individual; that Single One of Glory took Muhammad (UWBP) as His addressee in the name of mankind, indeed, on account of the whole universe; He made manifest in him boundless effulgences and endless perfections.
There are numerous points like these three that prove conclusively that just as the collective personality of Muhammad (UWBP) is the spiritual sun of the universe, so is it the supreme sign of the mighty Qur’an known as the universe, and the greatest name of that Supreme Distinguisher between Truth and Falsehood, and the mirror of the greatest manifestation of the name Single. We beseech the Single, Unique, Eternally Besought One that blessings and peace to the number of particles of the universe multiplied by the seconds of the minutes of all time descend on Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) from the infinite treasury of His mercy.
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.(2:32)
***
(*) In fact, divine unity is the clearest proof and most powerful evidence for the existence of endless divine perfections and beauty. For if the universe’s Maker is known to be the Unique One of Unity, all the perfections and beauty of the universe are known to be the shadows, manifestations, signs, and distillations of the sacred perfections and beauty present in that Maker of Unity. Otherwise the universe’s perfections and beauties would have pertained to creatures and causes, and the eternal treasury of divine perfections would have remained unknown for the human mind, and without a key.