of the hundreds of his observations during his journey:
The Third Example
The traveller from the world, who wanted to know his Creator through the manifestations of His names and attributes, turned to his mind and imagination and said: “Come! Like the spirits and angels we shall leave our bodies behind and ascend to the skies. We shall question the inhabitants of the heavens concerning our Creator.” His spirit mounted his imagination, and his mind mounted his thought, and together they rose to the heavens. They took astronomy as their guide, and looked with the view of the philosophy which does not heed religion, and the currents of Those who have received Your wrath and Those who have gone astray.
He saw thousands of heavenly bodies and fiery stars, a thousand times larger than the earth and travelling a hundred times faster than a cannon ball, speeding one within the other, unconscious, lifeless, and aimless. If by chance one of them had confused its way for a second, it would have collided with another unconscious globe in that boundless, empty, infinite world, causing utter confusion and chaos, like doomsday.
Whichever direction he looked, the traveller was filled with terror and bewilderment; he was sorry a thousand times over he had ascended to the skies. His mind and imagination went utterly to pieces. They declared: “Our duty is to see and point out fine truths. We resign from observing and understanding such infernally ugly and painful things. We do not want any such thing.” Then suddenly, through the manifestation of Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth, numerous names like Subjugator of the sun and moon, and Sustainer of all the worlds, each rose like suns in the constellations of verses such as: And We have adorned the lower heavens with lamps, and Do they then not look at the heavens above them, how We have raised them and adorned them, and, Then he withdrew to the sky and formed it into seven heavens. They filled all the heavens with light and with angels, transforming it into a huge mosque or military encampment.
The traveller entered the current of Those whom You have blessed. He was saved from that of Those who have gone astray and Or [the unbelievers’ state] is like the depths of darkness in a vast deep ocean. He saw a magnificent land, as beautiful and well‑ordered as Paradise. Observing that on all sides its inhabitants were making known the All-Glorious Creator, the value of his mind and imagination was increased a thousandfold, and their duties advanced likewise.
Referring to the Risale‑i Nur the other observations of the traveller through the universe, which are comparable with these three examples out of hundreds, together with knowledge of the Necessarily Existent One through the manifestations of His names, here we suffice with these brief indications and cut a long story short. Now, like the traveller through the world, we shall try to know the Creator of the universe through the works and manifestations of only three of His sacred seven attributes: knowledge, will, and power. For details, we refer you to the Risale‑i Nur.
The following piece in Arabic is the sum and substance of the Arabic al‑Hizb al-Nuri, which I constantly recite reflectively. It expounds three of the thirty‑three degrees of the phrase “Allah is Most Great” (Allahu Akbar). This is followed by a sort of translation of the Arabic piece, consisting of brief indications, which opens up the way to acquiring belief in divine knowledge, will, and power at the degree of the vision of certainty through pointing out their manifestations in the universe, a subject which greatly preoccupied the scholars of theology and of the tenets of belief. Pointing out the manifestations of knowledge, will, and power, the following indications thus open up the way to complete belief – at the degree of knowledge of certainty – in the Necessarily Existent One’s existence and unity, and to the affirmation of that belief.
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Say: “Praise be to Allah, Who begets no son, and has no partner in [His] dominion; nor [needs] He any to protect Him from humiliation; Yes, magnify Him for His greatness and glory!
Allah is greater than everything in respect of power and knowledge, for He is knowing of all things with all‑encompassing knowledge necessary to His Essence. Nothing can be hidden from His knowledge because of the mystery of its presence and witnessing and all‑encompassing luminosity; existence necessitates universality, and the light of knowledge encompasses all the world of existence. Yes, the balanced order, and regular balances, and general, purposeful wisdom, and all-embracing, particular favours, and the orderly decrees, and fruitful determining, and specified appointed hours of death, and the regular sustenance, and the wise skills, and the adorned solicitude, and the utterly perfect order, harmony, arrangement, proficiency, and balance, and absolute distinction with absolute ease all point to the all-encompassing knowledge of the One All-Knowing of the Unseen. Should He not know, He that created? And He is the One Who understands the finest mysteries [and] is well‑acquainted [with them]. The comparison between the fine art of men, which points to their consciousness, and the fine creation of the human person, which points to his Creator, is the comparison between the tiny glimmer of a firefly on a dark night and the splendour of the sun at full noon.
Offering a concise translation of the above, we shall make brief indications to divine knowledge, this most important truth of belief, and refer detailed discussion of it to the Risale‑i Nur.
Yes, just as mercy shows itself as clearly as the sun through the wonders of sustenance and proves decisively One Most Merciful and Compassionate behind the veil of the Unseen; so too, through the wisdom, purposes, and fruits of the order and balance in things, knowledge, which is mentioned in hundreds of Qur’anic verses and In One Respect Is the Chief of the Sacred Seven Attributes, displays itself like the light of the sun, making known with certainty the existence of One Knowledgeable of All Things.
Yes, the comparison between ordered, measured art, which points to human intelligence and knowledge, and the fine creation of the human being, which indicates the knowledge and wisdom of his Creator, resembles the comparison between the tiny glow of the firefly on a dark night and the encompassing light of the sun at noon.
Now, before explaining the evidences of divine knowledge, we shall mention briefly the sacred conversation which took place during the Prophet’s Ascension. For Muhammad’s (UWBP) Ascension indicates and testifies that, through its manifestations in the universe, the sacred attribute of knowledge shows the Most Pure and Holy One most clearly. When on that night he received the divine address in Allah the Most High’s presence, since he had been sent as an envoy on behalf of all living beings and every sort of creature, instead of giving the greeting (al‑salām) of conscious beings, he said: Salutations, blessings, benedictions and supplications, and good words – all are Allah’s, thus offering to his Creator the creatures’ gifts, showing the manner they make known their Sustainer through the manifestations of the attribute of knowledge.
That is, with the four words Salutations, blessings, benedictions and supplications, and good words he was alluding to the salutations, congratulations, worship, and recognition of the One All‑Knowing of the Unseen of the four main groups of living beings which they offer through the manifestations of pre-eternal and post-eternal knowledge. For this reason, the recitation of this sacred conversation of the Ascension in its broad meaning has become an obligatory part of the tashahhud [of the prescribed prayers] for all Muslims. Referring detailed exposition of that sacred conversation to the Risale‑i Nur, we shall explain one meaning of it in the form of four very brief indications.