The Twenty-Fourth Letter (How can the solicitous nurturing, the purposeful and beneficial planning, the loving kindness of the Names of AllCompassionate, All-Wise, and Loving, which are among the greatest of the Divine Names, be reconciled with death and non-existence, decline and separation; and disaster and hardship, which are awesome and terrible? )
- From: dropfare <omerhtp@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 09:34:15 -0700
The Twenty-Fourth Letter
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Allah does what He wishes, and decrees what He wills.
Q u e s t i o n : How can the solicitous nurturing, the purposeful and
beneficial planning, the loving kindness of the Names of
AllCompassionate, All-Wise, and Loving, which are among the greatest
of the Divine Names, be reconciled with death and non-existence,
decline and separation; and disaster and hardship, which are awesome
and terrible?
Very well, man goes to eternal happiness, so we can tolerate his
passing down the road of death, but for the delicate, lovely species
of trees and plants, and the flowers, all living creatures, and the
species of animals, which are worthy of existence, lovers of life, and
desire permanent life - what compassion and kindness is there in their
continuously, without exception, being annihilated, in their swiftly
being despatched to non-existence without being allowed to so much as
open their eyes, in their being made to work and labour without being
allowed to so much as take a breath, in their being changed by
calamities with not one of them being left in peace, in their being
killed without exception, in their dying with not one of them
remaining, in their departing with not one of them being gratified -
what wisdom and purpose, what favour and mercy are there in this?
T h e A n s w e r : Through Five Signs which show the necessitating
cause and reason, and Five indications which point out the aims and
benefits, we shall try to look from afar at the mighty truth which
solves this question, and which is extremely broad, profound, and
elevated.
FIRST STATION
[This consists of Five Signs]
· FIRST SIGN
As is described at the end of the Twenty-Sixth Word, when making a
precious bejewelled and embroidered garment, a Skillful Craftsman
employs a poor man in return for a commensurate wage. In order to
display his skill and art, he dresses the poor man in the garment,
then measures it and cuts it, and lengthens and shortens it, and
making the man sit down and stand up, he gives it various forms. So
does the wretched man have the right to say to the craftsman ? :
"Why are you interfering with this garment which makes me beautiful,
and altering and changing it? Why are you making me stand up and sit
down, disturbing me and causing me trouble?"
In exactly the same way, in order to display the perfections of His
art through the embroideries of His Names, the All-Glorious Maker
takes the essential nature of every sort of being as a model, then He
clothes everything and especially living creatures in the garment of a
body bejewelled with senses, and inscribes it with the pen of Divine
Decree and Determining; thus demonstrating the rnanifestation of His
Names. In addition, He gives to every being a perfection, a pleasure,
an effulgence, in a way suitable to it and as a wage.
Has then anything the right to say to the All-Glorious Maker, Who
manifests the meaning of, the Lord of All-Dominion has free disposal
over His realms as He wishes :
"You are giving me trouble and disturbing me."? God forbid! In no way
do beings have any rights before the Necessarily Existent One, nor can
they claim them; their right rather is to carry out through offering
thanks and praise, what is required by the degree of existence He has
given them.
For all the degrees of existence that are given are occurrences, and
each requires a cause. Degrees which are not given are possibilities,
and possibilities are non-existent, as well as being infinite. As for
instances of non-existence, they do not require a cause. For example,
minerals cannot say: "Why weren't we plants?" they cannot complain.
Rather, their right, since they have received mineral existence, is to
offer thanks to their Creator. And plants may not complain asking why
they were not animals; their right is to offer thanks, since they have
received life as well as existence. As for animals, they may not
complain that they are not humans; the right over them rather, since
they have been given the precious substance of spirit in addition to
life and existence, is to offer thanks. And so on...
O complaining man! You did not remain non-existent; you were clothed
in the bounty of existence, you tasted life. You did not remain
inanimate, nor become an animal; you received the bounty of Islam; you
did not remain in misguidance; you have experienced the bounties of
good health and well-being!
O ungrateful one! Where did you win the right not to offer thanks in
return for the degrees of existence which Almighty God has given you
and are pure bounty (blessing). How is it that because exalted
bounties which are contingencies and non-existent and which you do not
deserve have not been given to you, you complain about Almighty God
with meaningless greed, ungrateful for the bounties you have
received?
If a man rises to an exalted degree like climbing to the top of a
minaret and finds a high station, and on every step receives a large
bounty, then does not thank the one who gave him the bounties and
complainingly asks why he could not have risen higher than the
minaret, how wrong he would be, what an ungrateful denial of the
bounties, what great foolishness it would be; as even a lunatic would
understand.
O discontented greedy, thriftless wasteful, unjustly complaining,
heedless man! Know certainly that contentment is profitable thanks;
greed is loss-causing ingratitude, and frugality, fine and beneficial
respect for bounties. As for wastefulness, it is ugly and harmful
contempt for bounties.
If you have intelligence, grow accustomed to contentment and try to be
satisfied with little. If you cannot endure it, say: "O Most Patient
One!" and seek patience. Be satisfied with your lot and do not
complain. Understand who is complaining about whom, and be silent. If
you have to complain, then complain about your soul to God Almighty,
for the fault is its.
· SECOND SIGN
As is stated at the end of the final rnatter of the Eighteenth Letter,
one instance of wisdom in the All-Glorious Creator constantly changing
and renewing beings in an astonishing and awesome fashion through the
activity of His Dominicality is as follows:
Activity and rnotion in creatures arises from an appetite, a desire, a
pleasure, a love. It may be said that in all activity there is a sort
of pleasure; even, that every activity is a sort of pleasure. Pleasure
too is turned towards a perfection; it is even a sort of perfection.
Since activity indicates a perfection, a pleasure, a beauty; and since
the Necessarily Existent One, Who is Absolute Perfection and the
Perfect One of Glory, unites in His essence, attributes, and Names
every sort of perfection, for sure, in a manner fitting for the
necessary existence and holiness of the Necessarily Existent Essence,
in a form suitable to His absolute riches and the self-sufficiency of
His essence, in a way appropriate to His absolute perfection and
freedom from defect, He has a boundless sacred compassion and infinite
pure love.
Of a certainty, there is an infinite holy eagerness arising from that
sacred compassion and pure love; and from that holy eagerness arises
an infinite sacred joy. And arising from that sacred joy, is, if the
term is permissible, an infinite holy pleasure. And from this holy
pleasure and from the gratitude and perfections of creatures which
result from the emergence and development of their potentialities
within the activity of His power, arise, if one may say so, an
infinite sacred gratification and holy pride pertaining to that Most
Merciful and Compassionate Essence; and it is these which necessitate
a boundless activity.
And that boundless activity in turn necessitates boundless change, and
transformation, and alteration, and destruction. And that boundless
change and transformation necessitate death and extinction, decline
and separation.
At one time, the benefits shown by human science and philosophy
concerning the purposes of beings appeared most insignificant in my
view. And I understood from this that such philosophy leads only to
futility. It is for this reason that leading philosophers either fall
into the swamp of Nature, or they become Sophists, or they deny Divine
knowledge and choice, or they call the Creator "self-necessitating."
At that point, Divine mercy sent the Name of All-Wise to my aid, and
it showed me the great aims of creatures. That is to say, every
creature, every artefact, is such a Dominical missive that all
conscious beings study it.
This aim satisfied me for a year. Then the wonders in the art of
beings were unfolded to me, and the former aim started to appear
insufficient. Another, much greater aim became apparent. That is, the
most important aims of all creatures look to their Maker. I understood
that this aim is to present to His gaze the perfections of His art,
the embroideries of His Names, the embellishments of His wisdom, and
the gifts of His mercy; it is to be mirrors to His beauty and
perfections. This aim satisfied me for a long time.
Then the miracles of Divine power and functions of Dominicality in the
extremely swift changes and transformations within the astonishing
activity in the art and creation of things became apparent. The former
aim too began to appear insufficient. I understood that a
necessitating cause, a motive, as great as this aim was necessary. It
was then that the causes in this Second Sign and aims in the
Indications to follow became apparent.
It was made known to me with complete certainty that "the activity of
Divine Power in the Universe and the constant flood of beings is so
meaningful that through it the All-Wise Maker causes all the realms of
beings in the universe to speak.". It is as if the beings of the earth
and the skies and their motion and actions are the words of their
speech; their motion is their speech. That is, the motion and decline
arising from activity is speech glorifying God. And the activity in
the Universe, too, is the silent speech of the Universe and that of
the varieties of its beings...
· THIRD SIGN
Things do not go to non-existence, they rather pass from the sphere of
power to the sphere of knowledge; they go from the Manifest World to
the World of the Unseen; they turn trom the world of change and
transience to the worlds of light and eternity.
pertain to the Divine Names and are their impresses andFrom the point of view of reality, the beauty and perfcetion in things
manifestations. Since the Names are eternal and their manifestations,
perpetual, certainly their impresses will be renewed, refreshed, and
made beautiful. They do not pass and depart for non-existence, only
their relative positions change; their realities, essences, and
identities, which are the means of beauty and loveliness, effulgence
and perfection, are enduring.
The beauty and fineness in Beings with no spirits pertain directly to
the Divine Names; the honour is their's; praise is due to them; the
beauty is their's; Love goes to them; they suffer no harm on those
mirrors changing.
If they are Beings with spirits but no intellect, their death and
departure is not extinction and vanishing into non-existence, it is
rather being saved from physical existence and the turbulent duties of
life. Making over to their spirits, which are immortal, the fruits of
the duties they have gained, each relying on a Divine Name, their
immortal spirits persist, attaining a happiness worthy of them.
If they are Beings possessing both spirits and intellects, their
demise is anyway a journeying to everlasting happiness, to the eternal
realm, which is the means to perfections, material and non-material,
and to the other dwelling-places of the All-Wise Maker, like the
Intermediate Realm, the World of Similitudes, and the Spirit World,
which surpass this World in beauty and luminosity. Their passing is
not death and extinction, separation and non-existence, it is
attaining perfection.
I n S h o r t : Since the All-Glorious Maker exists and He is Eternal
and since His attributes and Names are perpetual and everlasting;
certainly His Names' manifestations and impresses are renewed,
affording a sort of perpetuality; they are not destroyed and
transitory, departing for non-being.
It is clear that by reason of his humanity, man is connected with most
of the other beings; he receives pleasure at their happiness, and is
grieved at their destruction. And he is more grieved at the suffering
of living creatures, of mankind in particular, and particularly of
those possessing perfection he loves and admires; and his happiness is
greater at their happiness.
Like a fond mother, even, he sacrifices his own happiness and comfort
for their happiness. Thus, in accordance with their degree, through
the light of the Qur'an and mystery of belief, all believers may be
happy at the happiness of all beings, and at their enduring and being
saved from nothingness and their being valuable Dominical missives;
they may gain a light as extensive as the world. Everyone may profit
from this light according to his degree.
As for the people of misguidance, they are grieved at the destruction
of all beings, at their transience and their apparent despatch to non-
existence - and if they have spirits, at their suffering, in addition
to their own pains. That is to say, their unbelief fills their world
with non-existence; it empties it over their heads, causing them Hell
before they go there.
· FOURTH SIGN
As we have said in many places, a Monarch has various different
offices and departments proceeding from his titles like Sultan,
Khalifa, Judge, and Commander-in-Chief, and in the same way, Almighty
God's Most Beautiful Names have innumerable different sorts of
manifestations. The varieties and different sorts of creatures arise
from the varieties of manifestations.
Thus, in accordance with the fact that every possessor of beauty and
perfection has an innate desire to see and display his beauty and
perfection, those various Names too - since they are constant and
eternal - want to be displayed in permanent fashion on account of the
Most Pure and Holy Essence. That is to say, they want to see their
impresses; that is, to see the manifestation of their beauty and
reflection of their perfection in the mirrors of their embroideries;
that is, to renew every instant the mighty book of the universe and
the different missives of beings; that is, to constantly write them
anew; that is, to write thousands of different missives on a single
page and to display each missive to the witnessing gaze of the Sacred
Essence, the Most Pure and Holy One Who is Signified; and together
with this, to exhibit them to the meditative gazes of all sentient
beings, and cause them to read them.
Consider the following poem which alludes to this truth:
The leaves of the Book of the World are of variety incalculable.
Its letters and words, too, are of number infinite;
Inscribed on the workbench of the Preserved Tablet of Reality
An embodied meaningful word, is each Being in the Universe.
Study the lines of the Universe; they are missives to you from the
Sublime Assembly.
· FIFTH SIGN
The Fifth Sign consists of Two Points.
F i r s t P o i n t : Since Almighty God exists, everything exists.
Since there is a relation with Almighty God, all things exist for
everything. For through the mystery of Unity, through the relation
with the Necessarily Existent One, all beings become connected with
all other beings. That means, through the mystery of Unity, every
being which knows its relation with the Necessarily Existent One, or
whose relation is known, becomes related with all beings which are
related to Him. This means, from the point of view of the relation,
every being may manifest endless lights of existence. There is no
separation or death from that point of view. To live for a single
passing second is the means to innumerable lights of existence.
Whereas if the relation does not exist or is not known, the being
manifests infinite separations and deaths. For in that case, in the
face of every being with which he could have been connected, he is
exposed to a separation, a parting, a death. That is, he burdens his
own personal existence with endless instances of non-existence and
separation. Should he remain in existence for a million years even
(without connection), it would not be as much as living for an instant
being related in the former respect.
Those who have penetrated to the realities have said therefore:
"Illumined existence for even a passing instant is preferable to a
million years of profitless existence."
And it is also because of this that those who have researched into the
realities of creation have said:
"The lights of existence become apparent through recognizing the
Necessarily Existent One."
That is to say: "In that case, the Universe is seen to be full of
angels, spirit beings, and conscious beings within lights of
existence. Whereas without them, the darkness of nonexistence and
pains of death and separation encompass all beings. The world appears
in such a man's view to be an empty and desolate wasteland."
Indeed, each one of a tree's fruits has a relation with all the other
fruits on the tree, and since through the relation, each is his friend
and brother, he possesses accidental existences to their number. But
when the fruit is plucked from the tree, a separation and death comes
about in the face of all the other fruits; they all become as though
non-existent for it; a darkness of external non-existence results for
it.
In exactly the same way, in respect of being related to the Power of
the Single Eternally Besoughted One, for everything, all things exist.
lf not for that relation, there would be external non-existences for
all things to the number of things.
And so, from this Sign you may see the vastness of the lights of
belief, and the terrifying darkness of misguidance. That is, belief is
the title of the essential reality of the elevated truth described in
this Sign; and it may be benefited from through belief. In the absence
of belief, just as everything is non-existent for someone who is
blind, deaf, dumb, and stupid, so is everything non-existent and dark
for one without belief.
S e c o n d P o i n t : The world and all things have three faces: The
First Face looks to the Divine Names and is their mirror. Death,
separation, and non-existence cannot intrude on this face; there is
rather renewal and renovation.
The Second Face looks to the Hereafter and gazes upon the World of
Eternity; it is like its arable field. Enduring fruits and produce are
raised on this face. It serves eternity, and makes transitory things
as though eternal. On this face too there is no death and decline, but
the manifestations of life and eternity.
The Third Face looks to transient beings, that is, to us. It is the
beloved of ephemeral beings and those who follow the caprices of their
souls; the place of trade for the conscious; the arena of trial and
examination for those charged with duties. Thus, the salve and cure
for the pains and wounds of the transience and decline, the death and
extinction, on this third face, are the manifestations of life and
eternity in its inner face.
I n S h o r t : This flood of beings, these travelling creatures, are
moving mirrors and changing places of manifestation for the renewal of
the lights of creation and existence of the Necessarily Existent One.
.
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