The Sixth Degree of the Luminous VerseFor Us Allah Suffices
At a time my old age was warning me of my own departure amid the events of the end of time, which in turn give warning of the end of the world and departure of all beings, my innate passionate love of beauty and fascination by perfection developed to an extraordinary degree, and I observed with extreme clarity and sorrow that death, transience, and non‑existence were continuously causing the destruction of beings and their separation, and were pounding this beautiful world and its creatures, breaking them up and spoiling their beauty.
Seeking consolation as that metaphorical love in my nature rebelled violently against this situation, I again had recourse to the verse. It told me: “Recite me, and study my meaning carefully!” So I entered the observatory of the Light Verse in Sura al‑Nur and trained the telescope of belief on the farthermost levels of the verse For us Allah suffices, and turned the microscope of the insight of belief at its most obscure mysteries. I saw that:
Just as mirrors, shining objects, fragments of glass, and even bubbles, reveal the various sorts of concealed beauty in the sunlight; and with their different capacities and their change and renewal, renew its beauties; and by reflecting and refracting the light, make known the hidden beauties of the sun and the seven colours in its light;
So, without cease, in order to act as mirrors to the sacred beauty of the All‑Beauteous One of Glory, the Sun of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, and to the everlasting beauties of His infinitely lovely most beautiful names, and to renew their manifestation, these fine creatures, these lovely beings, these exquisite artefacts, come, then depart. As is explained in detail in the Risale‑i Nur supported by powerful proofs, all the shades of beauty that are to be observed on them are not theirs, but are the hints, signs, flashes, and manifestations of an eternal, sacred and transcendent beauty which desires to be perpetually manifested and visible. Here, three of those proofs shall be alluded to briefly.
First Proof:
The beauty of a finely worked object points to the beauty of the craftsmanship. The beauty of the craftsmanship points to the beauty of the name that was the source of the craftsmanship. The beauty of the name of the craftsman’s art points to the beauty of the craftsman’s attributes manifested in that art. The beauty of his attributes points to the beauty of his talent and abilities. And the beauty of his abilities points self‑evidently to the beauty of his essential self and his reality.
In exactly the same way, the beauty in all the fine creatures which fill the universe, all exquisitely made, testifies decisively to the beauty of the acts of the All‑Glorious Craftsman. And the beauty of the acts points indubitably to the beauty of the titles, that is, names, that look to those acts. And the beauty of the names testifies certainly to the beauty of the sacred attributes that are the source of the names. And the beauty of the attributes testifies to the beauty of the essential qualities and abilities that are the source of the attributes. And the beauty of the essential qualities and abilities testifies self-evidently to the beauty and sacred perfection of the Essence which is the source of the acts and is qualified by the names and attributes, and to the holy beauty of His reality.
That is to say, the All‑Beauteous Maker possesses an infinite beauty and loveliness that are fitting for His Most Sacred Essence, one shadow of which has beautified all beings from top to bottom; He possesses a transcendent, sacred beauty a single manifestation of which has endowed with beauty the whole universe and has adorned and illuminated with its flashes the entire sphere of contingency.
Yes, just as a crafted work cannot have come into existence without an act, so an act cannot occur without the performer of the act. And just as it is impossible for there to be names without the one they signify, so attributes cannot be without the one they qualify. Since the existence of a work of art self‑evidently points to the act which crafted it, and the existence of the act points to the existence of the worker of the act and his title, and to the existence of the attribute and name which gave rise to the work; the perfection and beauty of the work of art point also to the beauty and perfection particular to the act which crafted it, and they point to the beauty particular to and fitting for the name of the performer of the act, and, with knowledge of certainty, to the beauty and perfection of his essence and reality, which are fitting for and appropriate to them.
In just the same way, since it is impossible for the constant activity under the veil of the works of art in the universe to occur without the causer of the activity, and the names whose manifestations and inscriptions are visible on creatures to exist without the one they signify, and such attributes as power and will which are almost visible to exist without the one they qualify; with their limitless existences, all the works of art, creatures and artefacts in the universe point decisively to the existence of their Creator, Maker, and Doer, and to the existence of His names, and to the existence of His attributes, and to the existence of His essential qualities, and to the necessary existence of His Most Pure and Holy Essence. Similarly, all the different varieties of beauty, perfection, and loveliness to be seen in creatures testify with complete clarity – but in a way particular to and fitting for their sacredness and necessity – to the infinite, unlimited, multifarious beauties and perfections of the acts, names, attributes, qualities, and Essence of the All‑Glorious Maker; they point most decisively to their beauties, which far surpass those of all beings.
The Second Proof
Contains five points.
First Point:
Relying on their illuminations and unveilings, the chiefs of the people of reality have believed and stated unanimously – despite their paths and methods differing greatly from one another – that the instances of beauty in all beings are the shadows, flashes and manifestations of the sacred, hidden beauty of the Necessarily Existent One.
Second Point:
All beautiful creatures appear caravan after caravan, and not stopping, disappear; they come one after the other in succession, then depart. Yet an elevated and unchanging beauty displays itself in the mirrors of those creatures, demonstrating certainly through the continuity of its manifestation that the beauty does not belong to the beautiful creatures, to those mirrors. Rather, like the beauty of the sun’s rays is to be seen on the bubbles floating on the surface of running water, they are the lights of an eternal beauty.
Third Point:
It is clear that just as light comes from something luminous, the giving of existence from something existent, bounty from riches, munificence from wealth, and instruction from knowledge, so the giving of excellence is from the excellent and the bestowal of beauty is from the beautiful; it could not be in any other way.
It is in consequence of this truth that we believe that all the beauty in the universe comes from the beauty of the Beauteous One Whom the constantly changing and renewed universe describes and defines through all its creatures and the tongues of their mirror‑like beings.
Fourth Point:
Just as the body relies on the spirit and subsists through it and is animated by it, and a word looks to the meaning and is illuminated by it, and form relies on reality and acquires value through it;
so this corporeal and material manifest world is a body, a word, a form which rests on the divine names behind the veil of the Unseen, receiving life and vitality from them; it looks to them and is beautified. All the instances of physical beauty proceed from the non‑physical beauties of their own realities and meanings; and as for their realities, they receive effulgence from the divine names and are shadows of them of a sort. This truth is proved decisively in the Risale‑i Nur.
This means that all the varieties and sorts of beauty in the universe are the signs, marks, and manifestations – by means of names – of a faultless, transcendent Beauty which is manifested from beyond the veil of the Unseen. However, since the Necessary Existent’s Most Pure and Holy Essence resembles absolutely nothing at all and His attributes are infinitely superior to the attributes of contingent beings, His sacred beauty also does not resemble the beauties of creatures and contingent beings, and is infinitely more exalted.
Certainly, an everlasting beauty one manifestation of which is vast Paradise together with all its exquisiteness and beauty, and one hour’s vision of which makes the inhabitants of Paradise oblivious to it cannot be finite, nor have any like, equal or peer.
It is clear that the beauties of a thing are in accordance with the thing itself; and there are thousands of sorts of beauties which all differ according to the different sorts of beings. For example, beauty perceived by the eye is not the same as something beautiful heard with the ears, and an abstract beauty comprehended by the mind is not the same as the beauty of food relished by the tongue; so too, the beauties appreciated and perceived as beautiful by the external and inner senses and the spirit are all different.
For example, the beauty of belief, the beauty of reality, the beauty of light, the beauty of a flower, the beauty of spirit, and the beauties of form, compassion, justice, kindness, and wisdom. Similarly, since the utter and infinite beauties of the most beautiful names of the All‑Beauteous One of Glory are all different, the beauties in beings also differ.
If you want to observe one manifestation of the beauties of the All‑Beauteous One’s names in the mirrors of beings, take a sweeping look with the eye of the imagination at the face of the earth supposing it to be a small garden; you will see that terms like mercifulness, compassionateness, wisdom, and justice allude to both the names, and acts, and attributes, and qualities of Allah the Most High.
Observe the sustenance of foremost human beings and of all living creatures, which arrives regularly from behind the veil of the Unseen, and see the beauty of divine mercifulness.
Then consider the miraculous sustenance of all young, and the two pumps of milk hanging over their heads on the breasts of their mothers, as sweet and pure as the water of Kawthar, and see the captivating beauty of divine compassion.
Then observe the peerless beauty of divine wisdom, which makes the whole universe into a mighty book of wisdom every letter of which contains a hundred words, and every word of which contains a hundred lines, and every line of which contains a thousand chapters, and every chapter of which contains hundreds of small books.
Then see the imperious beauty of a justice which holds the whole universe and all its beings in equilibrium; and maintains the balance of all the heavenly bodies, lofty and lowly; and supplies symmetry and proportion, the most important elements of beauty; and causes everything to acquire the optimum state; and gives the right to life to living beings, and ensures that their rights are preserved; and halts and punishes aggressors.
Then consider the inscription of man’s life story in his memory, as tiny as a grain of wheat, and the programmes of the second lives of all plants and trees in their seeds; and the members and faculties necessary for the defence of living beings, for instance bees’ wings and their poisonous stings, and the small bayonets of thorned plants, and the hard shells of seeds; and see the subtle beauty of dominical preservation and protection.
Then consider the guests at the table of the earth of the Most Merciful and Compassionate One, Who is absolutely Munificent, and the pleasant smells of the numberless different foods prepared by mercy, and their beautiful and various colours, and their delicious and differing tastes, and the organs and members of all living creatures which assist their pleasure and enjoyment; and see the exceedingly pleasant, sweet beauty of dominical bestowal and munificence.
Then consider the meaningful forms of foremost human beings and of all living creatures, which are opened up from droplets of fluid through the manifestation of the names of Opener and Giver of Form, and the attractive faces of the flowers of spring opened up from seeds and tiny nuclei; and see the miraculous beauty of divine opening and giving of form.
Thus, by analogy with these examples, each of the divine names has a sacred beauty particular to it a single manifestation of which makes beautiful the vast world and innumerable species of beings. You may see the manifestation of a name’s beauty in a single flower; the spring is also a flower; Paradise is a flower yet unseen. If you can visualize the whole of spring and see Paradise with the eye of belief, you may understand the utter majesty of everlasting Beauty.
If you respond to that Beauty with the beauty of belief and worship, you will be a most beautiful creature.
While if you meet it with the boundless ugliness of misguidance and loathsomeness of rebellion, you will be both a most ugly creature and will in effect be loathed by all beautiful creatures.
Fifth Point:
In accordance with the law that all fine arts and crafts and accomplishments want to display themselves and have themselves appreciated, a master of hundreds of arts and crafts who possessed endless perfections and beauties made a wondrous palace in order to describe and reveal all his arts, crafts and accomplishments, and his hidden beauties. Anyone seeing the miraculous palace would immediately think of the virtues, arts and perfections of its master and maker. Believing in them and affirming them as though seeing them, he would declare: “A person who was not beautiful and skilled in every way could not be the source, creator and originator of a work so beautiful. It is as though his immaterial beauties and perfections are embodied in this palace.”
In exactly the same way, so long as his mind and heart are not corrupted, anyone who sees the exhibition of wonders and beauties of the magnificent palace of this world, that is, the universe, will realize that the palace is a mirror, decorated the way it is in order to show the beauties and perfections of another. Yes, since there is nothing similar to the palace of the world from which its beauties could have been imitated and copied, certainly, its Maker possesses the necessary beauties in Himself and in His names. It is from these that the universe is derived and according to them that it was made. It was written like a book in order to express His beauties and names.
The Third Proof
Consists of three points.
First Point:
This is a truth explained in detail with powerful proofs in the Third Stopping‑Place of the Thirty-Second Word. Referring detailed discussion of it to that Word, here we shall consider it only with a brief allusion.
We look at creatures, and especially animals and plants, and we see that governing them are a constant adorning, which points to intention and will and makes known knowledge and wisdom, and an ordering and beautifying it is impossible to attribute to chance.
There is in everthing an art so delicate, a wisdom so fine, an adornment so elevated, an organization so compassionate, and situation so sweet that it is clearly understood that behind the veil of the Unseen is a craftsman who wants to make his art appreciated, attract the gazes of the attentive, and please his artefacts and observers; who wants to make himself known and acquainted and loved through displaying numerous skills and perfections in each work of his art, and to make himself praised and applauded.
He bestows on conscious creatures in order to please them and make them happy and friends of himself, every sort of delicious bounty from unexpected places in a way it is impossible to attribute to chance.
Also to be observed are a generous treatment, a mutual acquaintance and friendly dialogue with the tongue of disposition, and a compassionate response to supplication which make perceived a profound compassion and elevated mercy.
That is to say, the bestowal of bounty and giving of pleasure which are observed behind the making known and loved, which are as clear as the sun, arise from a genuine wish to be compassionate and powerful desire to be merciful.
And this powerful desire in One Absolutely Self‑Sufficient Who has no need of anything demonstrates certainly an utterly perfect pre-eternal, everlasting, peerless Beauty the nature and reality of which necessitate its wanting to be manifested and to see itself in mirrors. In order to display and see itself in various mirrors, this Beauty has taken on the form of compassion and mercy; then in the mirrors of conscious beings has assumed the state of bestowal and munificence; then has taken the form of making itself known and loved; and then bestowed the light of adorning creatures and making them beautiful.
Second Point:
Humankind’s genuine, intense, and powerful love of Allah the Most High, and especially that of its elevated classes and of innumerable persons whose paths are all different, points self‑evidently to a peerless beauty; indeed it testifies to it.
Yes, such a love looks only to such a beauty and necessitates it; such passion demands such loveliness. Indeed, all the praise offered by beings verbally and through the tongue of disposition looks to that pre‑eternal Beauty and goes to it. In the view of lovers like Shams-i Tabrizi, all the attraction, captivation, ecstasy, and drawing truths in the universe are signs of a pre-eternal and post-eternal truth of attraction. While the ecstatic motion and rotations which cause the heavenly bodies and all beings to dance and spin like moths and Mevlevi dervishes are the passionate and dutiful responses to the imperious displays of the sacred beauty of that captivating truth.
Third Point:
All the scholars who have researched into reality have agreed that existence is pure good and light, while non‑existence is pure evil and darkness. The chiefs of the people of reason and the people of the heart have agreed that in the final analysis all instances of good, beauty, and pleasure arise from existence, and that all evils and bad, calamities, suffering, and even sins are attributable to non-existence.
If You Say: The source of all beauties is existence, yet also in existence are disbelief and the egotism of the soul?
The Answer: Disbelief is non‑existence because it is denial of the truths of belief. The existence of egotism, however, is a form of non-existence which has acquired the colour and form of existence due to a wrongful claim to ownership, not knowing the nature of man’s mirror-like being and assuming the imaginary to be actual.
Since the source of all beauties is existence and the source of all evils is non‑existence, a Necessary Existence and Pre-Eternal, Everlasting Being, which is the firmest and most elevated and shining existence and the one most distant from non-existence, will demand the beauty which is the most powerful, and the most elevated and shining and free of any blemish; it will rather express such a beauty; indeed, it will be such a beauty. Like all-encompassing light is necessitated by the sun, so the Necessary Existent necessitates an eternal beauty; he gives light through it.
All praise be to Allah for the bounty of belief
Our Sustainer! Do not call us to task if we forget or do wrong.
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All‑Knowing, All-Wise.
Note: Nine degrees of the luminous verse For us Allah suffices were going to be written, but due to certain circumstances three degrees have been postponed.
Reminder: Since the Risale‑i Nur belongs to the Qur’an and is a commentary based on proofs proceeding from it, it contains necessary, purposeful, indeed, essential and beneficial repetitions, the same as the Qur’an contains subtle, wise, and necessary repetitions which cause no boredom. Also, since the Risale‑i Nur consists of proofs of the profession of divine unity, which does not cause tedium but is repeated with pleasure and zeal, its essential repetitions are not a fault, and do not and should not cause boredom.