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the fourteenth word
in the name of god, the merciful, the compassionate.
this is a book with verses fundamental of established meaning. further explained in detail, from one all-wise and well-acquainted with all things. 1
[in order to ascend to some of the elevated truths of the all-wise koran, and of words of messenger, which are the true expound of the koran, we shall point out a number of comparisons of those truths which are like steps to assist hearts deficient in submission and obedience, and shall explain in the conclusion an object lesson and a mystery concerning divine favor. since from among those truths, comparisons of the resurrection and the day of judgment have been mentioned in the tenth word, and its ninth truth in particular, there is no need to repeat them. here we shall mention only five ‘matters’ as examples of the other truths.]
the first: for example, in order to induce certainty about the verse,
he created the heavens and the earth in six days, 2
and the elevated truth it allude to through the koranic days, which consist of a long period of time like perhaps a thousand or fifty thousand years, that man’s world and that of the animals will last six days, we draw attention to the traveling worlds, transient universes, and passing cosmos which the glorious maker creates every day, every year, every century, each of which is like a day. it is as though these worlds are all guests like man. at the all-glorious one’s command, each season the world is filled and emptied.
the second: for example, the verses,
nor anything fresh or dry but is inscribed in a record clear. 3 * and
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1. koran, 11:1.
2. koran, 7:54.
3. koran, 6:59.
of all things have we taken account in a clear book. 4 * from whom is not hidden the least little atom in the heavens or on earth; nor is there anything less than that, or greater, but it is in the record clear. 5
in order to be convinced of the elevated truth which these verses state, that, “all things together with all their states are recorded before they come into existence, when they come into existence, and after they have departed; and they are being recorded,” we point out to be observed the all-glorious inscribed including and preserving in immaterial fashion in the seeds and roots of the innumerable well-ordered creatures which he changes every season on the page of the earth, and particularly in the spring, the indexes of their beings, life-histories, and principles according to which they act; and when they die his inscribe in immaterial fashion with the same pen of divine determining those indexes, life-histories and principles in the simple seeds in their fruits; and every passing spring even his preserving them -whether fresh or dry- in perfect order in seeds like dry chips of wood and bones, limited and tiny. it is as if each spring is attached like a flower to the face of the earth in extremely orderly and balanced fashion by the hand of one all-beautiful and all-glorious, then plucked from it; each is placed on it, then removed. while the reality is this, one of the strangest forms of man’s wrong guidance is that he calls this natural writing, this inscribe full of art, this passive pattern of wisdom which is an index of religious art and only a reflection and manifestation of the preserved tablet, ‘nature’, and considers it to be the source and active and effective. can there be any comparison between the ground and the Pleiads? can there be any comparison between reality and the views of the heedless?
the third: for example, in order to ascend to the truth which the bring of sure news described concerning the bearers of the throne, the angels appointed to the earth and the skies, and other sorts of angels, stating that they glorify god with forty thousand heads, and with the forty thousand tongues in each head, and in forty thousand ways with each tongue, consider the following carefully. through verses like,the seven heavens and the earth and all within them glorify and extol him. 6 * it was we who made the hills declare in unison with him our praises. 7 * we did indeed offer the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, 8 the all-glorious one expresses clearly that even the greatest and most universal of beings demonstrate that they glorify him in accordance with their universality and in a way appropriate to their vastness. and it appears to be thus. just as the words of glorification of the heavens, which are an ocean glorifying god, are sun, moons, and stars, so the words of praise of the earth, a flying thing praising and glorifying, are the animals, plants and trees. that is to say, just as the trees and stars all perform particular forms of glorification, so does the earth and every part of the earth, and all the mountains and valleys, and the land and the sea, and the spheres of the firmament and the constellations in the heavens all perform universal forms of glorification. the earth, which possesses these thousands of heads containing thousands of tongues, certainly has an angel appointed to it who translates and displays in the world of similitude the flowers of glorification and fruits of praise it performs with each, and who represents and proclaims them in the world of spirits. |
Beauty Prays
