Second Aim
The Second Aim is about the resurrection of the dead, the end of the world, and the life of the hereafter.
It consists of four fundamental points, and an introduction which is in the form of a comparison.
Introduction
If someone was to claim about a palace or a city: “This palace or city will be destroyed, and will then be repaired and reconstructed so that it is intact,” six questions would surely arise in the face of his claim.
The First: Why should it be destroyed? Is there a reason or something to necessitate it? If the answer is “Yes,” he would have to prove it.
The Second: A question such as the following would arise: “Does the builder who would destroy and then reconstruct it possess the power to do so? Would he be capable of it?” If the answer is “Yes,” he would have to prove it.
The Third: The following such question would arise: “Is its destruction possible? And, is it going to be destroyed in the future?” If the answer is “Yes,” and if he proves both the possibility of the destruction and its occurrence, the following two further questions would arise:
“Is it possible for this strange palace or city to be reconstructed from scratch, I wonder?
If it is possible, will it be reconstructed?”
If the answer is “Yes” and he proves these as well, then in no aspect or corner of this matter can a gap or chink remain through which any doubt, misgiving or suspicion might enter.
Thus, like in the comparison, there are facts necessitating the destruction and reconstruction of the palace of the earth and city of the universe. Its author and builder is powerful enough; its destruction is possible, and will occur. Its reconstruction is possible, and will occur. These matters will be proved after the First Fundamental Point.
First Fundamental Point
The human spirit is definitely immortal. Almost all the indications in the First Aim which point to the existence of the angels and spirit beings also point to the immortality of the human spirit, which is our topic here. In my opinion, the matter is so certain that further explanation would be profitless. Indeed, the distance between us and the caravans of innumerable immortal spirits who are waiting to go to the hereafter in the Intermediate and Spirit Worlds is so fine and slight that there is no need to demonstrate it with proofs.
Numberless saints and people of illumination getting in touch with them, and those who discern the secrets of the grave seeing them, and even a number of ordinary people communicating with them, and the mass of people forming relations with them in true dreams, have formed a mass of unanimous reports and have quite simply become part of the commonly accepted knowledge of humankind. However, because materialist thought has stupified everyone this age, it has been able to implant doubts in their minds concerning even the most evident matters.
In order to remove these doubts, therefore, we shall set forth an introduction and four sources from the numerous sources springing from the heart’s intuition and the intellect’s insight.
Introduction:
As is proved in the Fourth Truth of the Tenth Word, an eternal, everlasting, and peerless beauty requires the eternity and permanence of mirror‑bearing enraptured admirers. A faultless, eternal, and perfect art seeks the perpetuation of thoughtful heralds. A boundless mercy and beneficence require the continued ease and happiness of needy ones to thank it.
And the foremost of those mirror‑bearing enraptured admirers, those heralding thoughtful ones, those needy thankful ones is the human spirit, in which case, it will accompany that beauty, that perfection, that mercy on the endless road to eternity; it will be immortal.
As is also proved in the Tenth Word, in the Sixth Truth, not only the human spirit, but also the simplest levels of existence have not been created for extinction; they manifest a form of immortality. Even an insignificant flower, which has no spirit, manifests a sort of immortality in a thousand ways when it quits its external existence. For its form is made permanent in countless memories. And being perpetuated in its hundreds of seeds, the law of its formation continues. Since the flower’s law of formation, the model of its form, which resembles a tiny fragment of spirit, is made permanent by an All‑Wise Preserver; and since it is preserved throughout turbulent transformations with perfect order in its tiny seeds and made permanent; you should understand the degree to which the human spirit, which has an extremely comprehensive and elevated nature, and has been clothed with external existence, and is a conscious, living, and luminous commanding law, most certainly manifests immortality and is tied to eternity and connected to endless time; if you do not understand this, how can you claim to be a conscious human being?
Can it be asked of an All‑Wise One of Glory, an Imperishable Preserver, Who includes and preserves in the tiny dot-like seed of a mighty tree the programme and law of its formation, which to some degree resembles a spirit, “How can He preserve the spirits of the dead?”
First Source:
This is subjective. That is to say, if anyone studies his own life and self, he perceives an immortal spirit. Indeed, despite changing bodies as many times as the years it lives, the spirit self‑evidently remains constant. In which case, the body’s ephemerality does not affect the spirit’s permanence, nor spoil its nature, even though the spirit is completely naked at death. However, in the course of life, the spirit gradually changes its body-clothes, and at the time of death, it is suddenly undressed.
It has been established by virtue of certain intuition, indeed, as a result of observation, that the body subsists though the spirit; in which case, the spirit does not subsist through the body. Rather, since the spirit subsists and is dominant of itself, the body may be dispersed and gathered together again as it wishes; it will not infringe the spirit’s independence. In fact, the body is the spirit’s house, it is its home; it is not its clothes. What clothes the spirit is a subtle, fine sheath, something which may be likened to a body, is to some extent constant, and is ethereal and appropriate for the spirit. At the time of death, then, the spirit is not completely naked, it leaves its home dressed in its wraithlike sheath.
Second Source:
This is objective. That is to say, it is a sort of empirical judgement which has arisen due to repeated observations, numerous occurrences of events, and relations on many occasions. Indeed, when it is understood that a single spirit continues to exist after death, this necessitates the continued existence of all spirits as a category of being. For according to the science of logic it is certain that if an intrinsic quality is observed in a single individual, the existence of that quality may be assumed in all individuals. Because it is intrinsic. If it is intrinsic, it will be present in each individual.
Whereas the indications based on not one observation but on observations beyond calculation and count and the signs pointing to the immortality of spirits, are so definite that we can in no way doubt their existence. Just as for us there is a place called the New World, that is, America, and we cannot doubt that human beings are found there. In the same way, it is unacceptable to doubt that the spirits of the dead are now present in great numbers in the World of the Inner Dimension of Things and in the Spirit World, and that they have relations with us. Our immaterial gifts go to them and their luminous emanations come to us.
Moreover, one may perceive intuitively and certainly with one’s conscience that a fundamental aspect of human beings continues after death. And that fundamental aspect is spirit. As for spirit, it is not subject to destruction and dissolution. This is because it is simple and uncompounded, it has unity. As for destruction, dissolution, and decomposition, they are the function of complex and compound substances. As we explained above, life ensures a form of unity within multiplicity; it causes a sort of permanence.
That is to say, unity and permanence are fundamental to spirit, from which they spread to multiplicity. The mortality of the human spirit would occur either through destruction and dissolution, whereas unity provides no opportunity for these, and its simple nature disallows decomposition; or it would be through annihilation. But the limitless compassion of the Absolutely Generous One would not permit annihilation, and His boundless munificence would not allow that He should take back from the human spirit the bounty of existence which He has bestowed on it, which it ardently desires and of which it is worthy.
Third Source:
The human spirit, which has been clothed in a living, conscious, luminous external existence, is a comprehensive and veracious commanding law disposed to acquiring universality. Even the weakest commanding laws manifest stability and permanence. For if considered carefully, it will be seen that present in all species which are subject to change, is a constant truth that, revolving within the changes, transformations, and stages of life, causes the outer forms of things to change, and yet living and not dying, is permanent.
Thus, while being an individual, the human person resembles a species owing to the comprehensiveness of his nature, his universal consciousness, and all‑embracing imagination. A law that governs and is in force in the species is also in force in the human individual.
Since the All‑Glorious Creator has created man as a comprehensive mirror, for universal worship, and with an exalted nature, even if the spirit-truth which is present in each individual causes his outer form to change hundreds of thousands of times, with the Sustainer’s permission it will not die but will continue, departing as it came. In which case, at Allah the Most High’s command and with His permission and through His making it permanent, the human individual’s spirit, which is the conscious element and living part of him, is immortal.
Fourth Source:
Consider the laws that govern in species, for they resemble the spirit to a degree: they issue from the World of the Divine Command and Will and so by virtue of their source they are to some extent appropriate for the spirit. But if only the laws governing in species that lack sensory perception are observed and studied, it will be seen that if those commanding laws were clothed in external existence, each of them would become the spirit of one of those species. Moreover, the laws are always permanent; they are perpetual and constant. No change or transformation affects their unity, or spoils them. For example, should a fig tree die and be dispersed, the law of its formation, which is like its spirit, will persist in its tiny seeds; it will not die.
Therefore, since even commonplace and weak commanding laws are thus connected to permanence and continuance, the human spirit must be connected not only with permanence and immortality, but with all eternity. For according to the Qur’an’s glorious decree of: Say: The Spirit (comes) by command of my Sustainer, spirit too is a conscious and living law which proceeds from the World of the Divine Command and which pre‑eternal power has clothed with external existence.
That is to say, just as the unconscious laws which proceed from the divine attribute of will and the World of the Divine Command are always, or mostly, enduring, so it is even more definite that the spirit manifests immortality, for it is a sort of brother to them and like them is a manifestation of the attribute of will and comes from the World of the Command. It is also more worthy of it, because it is existent, it has an external reality. And it is more potent, more elevated, because it possesses consciousness. It is also more enduring than them, and more valuable, because it is living.
Second Fundamental Point
There are matters necessitating eternal happiness, and the All‑Glorious Agent is capable of bestowing such happiness. Also, the destruction of the universe and death of the world are possible, and they will occur. And the resurrection of the world and the Last Judgement are possible, and they will occur. We shall explain all these six matters briefly and in such a way as to satisfy the reason. In fact, in the Tenth Word, arguments are presented which raise the heart to the level of perfect belief, while here, we shall discuss them in the manner of the Old Said’s explanations in his treatise called Nokta (A Point), which convince and silence the reason only.
There are matters which necessitate eternal happiness. A decisive argument proving those matters consists of an intuition filtered through ten sources and central points.
First Point: If observed carefully, it will be seen that a perfect and intentional order embraces the whole universe. Traces of choice and flashes of purpose are to be seen in every aspect of it. What strikes the eyes through the testimony of their fruits is that in every thing is a light of intention; in every function, a flash of will; in every motion, a gleam of choice; in every composite whole, a blaze of wisdom. Thus, if there were no eternal happiness, this authentic order would merely consist of a weak and futile form. It would be a false, baseless order, not a true order. Connections and relations and immaterial things, which are the spirit of order, would be lost and come to nothing. That is to say, what gives order to order is eternal happiness. In which case, the order of the universe points to eternal happiness.
Second Point: Total wisdom is apparent in the universe’s creation. Indeed, divine wisdom, which is the representation of pre‑eternal providence, proclaims eternal happiness with the tongue of the observance of benefits and following of purposes demonstrated by the universe in its entirety.
For if there were no eternal happiness, it would be necessary, out of pride, to deny the wisdom and benefits that are self‑evidently constant in the universe. The Tenth Truth of the Tenth Word demonstrates this truth as clearly as the sun, so we shall content ourselves with that and cut short the discussion here.
Third Point: The absence of futility and absence of waste in the creation of beings, established by the testimony of reason, wisdom, induction, and experience, indicate eternal happiness. The sign of there being no waste and nothing vain in creation is the All‑Glorious Maker’s choosing and preferring the shortest way, the closest point, the lightest form, and the best manner in the creation of everything, and His sometimes imposing a hundred duties on one thing, and His attaching a thousand fruits and aims to a slight being.
Since there is no waste and nothing in vain, there will surely be eternal happiness. For non‑existence and no return would make everything futile; everything would be a waste. The absence of waste in all creation, and in man for instance, which is established by the sciences of physiology and anatomy, demonstrates that his limitless innate faculties, and infinite hopes, ideas, and desires will not be wasted either.
In which case, man’s deep‑rooted desire to be perfected points to the existence of a perfection, and his desire for happiness proclaims that he is definitely destined for eternal happiness. If it were not so, contrary to other beings, which are all made wisely and purposefully, those authentic immaterial faculties, those elevated hopes, which constitute man’s true nature, would go to waste and be futile; they would wither up and go for nothing. Since this truth is proved in the Eleventh Truth of the Tenth Word, we cut the discussion short here.
Fourth Point: In each of many different things, in night and day and winter and spring, in the skies, and even in the human person and in the bodies which he changes throughout his lifetime, and in sleep, which resembles death, is a different sort of resurrection resembling the resurrection of the dead; they all tell of and allude to the realization of Resurrection Day.
For example, the day, year, lifetime of man, and revolution of Allah the Most High’s great clock known as the world resemble the dials of a weekly clock of ours that tell the seconds, minutes, hours and days; each the forerunner of the following, they give news of one another; they turn and function. Just as they show morning after night and spring after winter, so they intimate that after death the morning of the resurrection will appear from that instrument, that vast clock.
There are many varieties of resurrection that a person experiences during his lifetime. He sees the signs of the resurrection by dying in a sort of way every night and being reborn every morning; it is agreed that he undergoes what resembles a resurrection every five or six years by changing all the particles in his body; and he even undergoes a gradual resurrection twice a year. Also, every spring he witnesses more than three hundred thousand sorts of resurrection and rising to life in the animal and plant species.
So many signs and indications and marks of resurrection most certainly point to the great resurrection of the dead as though they were droplets of it. An indication of a personal resurrection of the human being within the general resurrection may be the fact that an All‑Wise Maker causes a sort of resurrection in the animal and plant worlds, that is, He raises to life exactly the same plant roots and some animals in the spring, and restores other parts of them, such as their leaves, flowers and fruits not exactly the same but similarly.
For the human being resembles a species in comparison with the other species, and the light of the human mind has given such a breadth to man’s actions and thought that they encompass the past and the future. If he consumes the world even, he is not satisfied. In the other species the individual being’s nature is particular; its value is personal; its view, restricted; its qualities, limited; its pleasure and pain, instantaneous. Whereas man’s nature is exalted; his value, most high; his view, universal; his qualities, limitless; his immaterial pleasure and pain in part unceasing.
In which case, the various resurrections which are repeated in the other animate species self‑evidently tell of and point to human beings being resurrected individually and restored to life exactly the same in the great resurrection of the dead. Since it is proved with the certainty of twice two equalling four in the Ninth Truth of the Tenth Word, we cut short the discussion here.
Fifth Point: Those who have looked closely into the realities of creation consider that the unlimited potentialities included in the essence of the human spirit, and the unlimited abilities contained in those potentialities, and the endless desires arising from those abilities, and the infinite hopes resulting from those endless desires, and the limitless thoughts and ideas born of those infinite hopes to be hands stretched out towards eternal happiness, which is beyond this Manifest World, and eyes gazing at it; that they are turned towards it.
Thus, human nature, which cannot lie, and the definite, intense, unwavering desire for eternal happiness in human nature inspire the conscience with certainty concerning the realization of eternal happiness. This fact is demonstrated as clearly as daylight in the Eleventh Truth of the Tenth Word, and so we cut this short here.
Sixth Point: The mercy of these beings’ All‑Beauteous Maker, the All-Merciful, All-Compassionate, points to eternal happiness. Yes, since such mercy makes bounty bounty and saves it from causing distress, it is in its nature not to withhold eternal happiness from man, for it delivers beings from the anguish of eternal separation. For if eternal happiness, the head, chief, aim, and result of all bounties, is not given, and if after dying the world is not resurrected in the form of the hereafter, all bounties would be transformed into torment. And such a transformation would necessitate denying the existence of divine mercy, which is self-evident and necessary and according to the testimony of the whole universe, unquestionable and manifest. It is an established truth more brilliant than the sun.
Look and take note of the bounties of love, compassion, and reason, some of the manifestations and subtle traces of mercy. Suppose that eternal separation and unending parting are the outcome of human life; you will see that tender love becomes a great calamity; sweet compassion, a great misfortune; luminous reason, a great tribulation. That is to say, mercy (because it is mercy) cannot confront true love with eternal separation. Since the Second Truth of the Tenth Word has demonstrated this fact quite beautifully, we cut this short here.
Seventh Point: All the exquisiteness, all the virtues, all the perfections, all the attraction, all the yearning, all the compassion known and seen in the universe are meanings, significations, immaterial words. They necessarily and self‑evidently show to the heart and thrust in the mind’s eye the manifestations of the All-Glorious Maker’s favour and kindness, benevolence and munificence.
Since there is a truth, a reality, in this world, most certainly there is true mercy. And since there is true mercy, there will be eternal happiness. The Fourth Truth of the Tenth Word, and also the Second Truth, have illuminated this fact as clearly as daylight.
Eighth Point: Man’s conscience, which is his conscious nature, looks to and points to eternal happiness. Yes, if anyone listens to his own awakened conscience, he will hear a voice crying: “Eternity! Eternity!” Even if the whole universe were to be given to such a conscience, it could not satisfy its need for eternity. That is to say, the conscience is created for eternity.
That is to say, the fact that the conscience is attracted and drawn in this way is possible only because it is attracted by a true aim and captivating truth. The conclusion of the Eleventh Truth of the Tenth Word demonstrates this fact.
Ninth Point: This is the message of Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who was truthful, veracious, and trustworthy. Indeed, his words opened the doors of eternal happiness; all that he said are windows opening onto everlasting bliss.
In fact, he held in his hand the consensus of all the prophets (Upon whom be peace) and the unanimous agreement of all the saints, for after divine unity, all their calls and efforts were concentrated on the resurrection of the dead and eternal happiness. Is there anything that could shake such a strength? The Twelfth Truth of the Tenth Word demonstrates this truth self‑evidently.
Tenth Point: This is the certain news of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, which has preserved its miraculousness in seven respects for thirteen centuries and as is proved in the Twenty‑Fifth Word, is a miracle through its forty sorts of miraculousness.
Yes, this news of the Qur’an is the revealer of bodily resurrection, and the discloser of the enigmatic talisman of the world, and the key to the wisdom in the universe. Also, the certain rational proofs contained in the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, which it lays before the eyes commanding that they be pondered over are thousands in number.
In short, the Qur’an presents for human beings to study a great many verses and great many telescopes revealing eternal bliss, such as the following. Say, “He will give them life Who created them in the first instance,” and, Seeing that He has created you in successive stages, which comprise a comparison and analogy, and, Nor is your Sustainer ever unjust to His servants, which points to evidence of justice.
We explained in our treatise entitled Nokta (The Point) the substance of the comparison and analogy in, Seeing that He has created you in successive stages, and, Say, ‘He will give them life Who created them in the first instance’, which the Qur’an makes clear through other verses. It was as follows:
On passing from stage to stage, the human body undergoes wondrous and orderly transformations. From sperm to a blood‑clot; from a blood-clot to flesh and bone; from flesh and bone to a new creation, that is, the transformation into human form; it follows extremely precise rules. Each of these stages has such particular laws, such determined order, such regular development that it displays the manifestations of a purpose, will, choice, and wisdom as though through glass.
Thus, the All‑Wise Maker, Who creates the body in this way, changes it every year as if it were clothes. For the body to be changed and for its continuance, a compound is necessary so that new particles appear that will work and fill the place of the parts that are dissolved. Since the body’s cells are destroyed through an orderly divine law, it requires a subtle matter, known as sustenance, to repair it, again through an orderly dominical law. The True Provider allots and distributes the sustenance through a particular law in relation to the different needs of the body’s members.
Now, consider the behaviour of the subtle matter which the All‑Wise Provider sends: you will see that while the matter’s particles are dispersed through the air, soil, and water like a caravan, they suddenly gather together in a way that suggests a deliberate action, as though they had suddenly received the order to move. They collect together in orderly fashion as if each particle of them were entrusted with a duty and ordered to proceed to a specified place.
Also, it is apparent from their conduct that they are being propelled through a particular law of a being who acts and has choice, and from the realm of the inanimate are entering the animal kingdom. Then they enter a body as sustenance through a particular rule and with a determined order and in a regular process, and after being cooked in the four kitchens of the body, undergoing four amazing transformations, and being strained through four filters, they are apportioned through regular laws and the beneficence of the True Provider according to the all‑different needs of the members and are circulated to every part of the body.
Thus, whichever of these particles you consider with the eye of wisdom, you will see that blind chance, lawless coincidence, deaf nature, and unconscious causes can in no way interfere with it; it is impelled in a discerning, orderly, hearing, and knowing fashion. For whichever stage each of them enters from the surrounding element to the body’s cell, it acts as though voluntarily through the specified laws of that stage. It enters it in an orderly fashion. To whichever level it journeys, it steps with such order that it appears self‑evidently to be proceeding at the command of an All-Wise Mover.
In this way, it gradually advances from stage to stage, and level to level until, at the command of its Sustainer, without deviating from its aim and object, it reaches its appropriate position, for example the pupil of Tevfik’s eye, where at the divine command it establishes itself and works.
This situation, that is, the manifestation of dominicality in sustenance, demonstrates that first the particles were determined; they were appointed to the task, they were designated to those positions. It is as if the existence of an arrangement and order, like “This will be the sustenance of so‑and-so’s cells” being written on the forehead of each of them, points to each person’s sustenance being written on his forehead by the pen of divine determining, and his name being written on his sustenance.
Is it at all possible that the All‑Glorious Maker, Who nurtures and sustains with boundless power and all-encompassing wisdom, Who has absolute disposal over all beings from minute particles to the planets and spins them with order and balance, should not bring about the last creation, or that he should be unable to do so?
Thus, many verses of the Qur’an present to mankind’s view this wise first creation; comparing the last creation at the resurrection of the dead and Great Gathering to the first, it removes doubt and uncertainty. It says: Say, He will give them life Who created them in the first instance. That is, the One Who created you from nothing in so wise a form is He Who will bring you to life again in the hereafter.
And it says: And it is He Who begins [the process of] creation, then repeats it; and for Him it is most easy. That is, “Your return and being raised to life at the resurrection is easier and more trouble‑free than your creation in this world.” It is easier and more trouble-free than forming a new regiment from scratch for the soldiers of a regiment who have dispersed to rest to regather under the regimental flag at the sound of a bugle. Similarly, according to reason, it is easier and more possible than the first creation for the fundamental particles of a body, which are intermingled and familiar and connected with one another, to regather at the trumpet-blast of the angel Israfil (Upon whom be peace) replying to the All-Glorious Creator’s command with, “Here we are, O Lord!”.
Anyway, it may not necessary for all the particles to regather. It may be that sufficient as a basis of the second creation will be the fundamental parts and essential particles, which resemble nuclei and seeds and in a Hadith are called the root of the tail (the coccyx). The All‑Wise Creator may construct the human body on them.
The following is a summary of the judicial comparison indicated by verses like this third one: Nor is your Sustainer ever unjust to His servants.
We often see in this world that tyrannical, sinful and cruel men pass their lives in ease and comfort, while the oppressed, upright and religious live under great difficulties and in degradation. Then death comes and makes the two equal. If this equality was endless and not finite, an injustice would be apparent. However, since divine wisdom and justice are free of all injustice as is established by the testimony of the universe and could in no way accept such tyranny, they self‑evidently require a final assembly where the former will be punished and the latter will receive their reward. Then disorderly, wretched men may receive punishment and reward in conformity with their potentialities, be the means of absolute justice, manifest dominical wisdom, and be the elder brother of all the beings in the world.
For sure, the realm of this world does not allow for the blossoming of man’s limitless potentialities contained within his spirit. This means he will be sent to another world. Man’s essence is indeed mighty, so he is designated for eternity. His nature is exalted, so his crimes are great. He does not resemble other beings. His order is important, too. He cannot live without order. He cannot live aimlessly. He cannot be made in vain. He cannot be condemned to absolute extinction. He cannot escape to pure non‑existence. Hell has opened its mouth, and awaits him. And Paradise has opened its graceful embrace, and watches him. Since the Third Truth of the Tenth Word has demonstrated these two examples most beautifully, we shall here cut the discussion short.
By way of example, you may make analogies and study other verses from the Qur’an similar to the two above, which contain many subtle and rational proofs. Thus, these Ten Sources and Central Points result in a certain intuition and a decisive proof, and just as this sound intuition and powerful proof are decisive evidence for the cause and necessity of the resurrection and Day of Judgement, so do most of the Glorious Maker’s most beautiful names, such as All‑Wise, All-Compassionate, Preserver, and All-Just, require the coming of the Last Day and resurrection, and the existence of everlasting bliss; they point clearly to the realization of eternal happiness – as is clearly proved in the Tenth Word.
That is to say, the matters necessitating the resurrection of the dead and Day of Judgement are so powerful as to leave no room at all for any doubt or uncertainty.
Third Fundamental Point
The Agent possesses the power. Without doubt, the matters necessitating the resurrection of the dead exist. Also, the One Who will bring it about is powerful to the utmost degree; there is no deficiency in His power; the greatest things and the smallest are the same in relation to His power; it is as easy for Him to create the spring as to create a flower. Yes, One so powerful that this world together with all its suns, stars, worlds, particles, and substance bear witness to His sublimity and power with endless tongues. Does any doubt or misgiving have the right to consider bodily resurrection remote from such a power?
It is plain to see that every century within this world an All‑Powerful One of Glory creates a new and orderly world. Every year even He creates a new, travelling, orderly universe. Indeed, He makes a new, well-ordered world every day. He perpetually creates and changes with perfect wisdom transient worlds and universes one after the other on the face of the heavens and the earth. He hangs on the string of time regular worlds to the number of the centuries, years, indeed, days, and through them demonstrates the tremendousness of His power. He attaches to the head of the globe the huge flower of spring which he adorns with a hundred thousand embroideries of resurrection as though it were a single flower, and through it displays the perfection of His wisdom and the beauty of His art. Can it be said of such a One, “How can He bring about the resurrection of the dead, and how can He transform this world into the hereafter?”
The verse, Your creation and your resurrection is but like a single soul proclaims the All‑Powerful One’s perfect power, that nothing at all is difficult for Him, that like the smallest thing, the greatest presents no difficulties for His power, and that it is as easy for His power to create innumerable individuals as to create as a single one.
We have explained the verse’s essential meaning briefly in the conclusion to the Tenth Word, and in detail in the treatise entitled Nokta (A Point), and in the Twentieth Letter. In connection with the discussion here, we shall elucidate a part of it in the form of three matters, as follows:
Divine power is essential, in which case, impotence cannot intervene in it. Also, it is connected to the inner dimensions of things, so obstacles cannot become interpenetrated with it. Also, its relation is according to laws, due to which particulars are equal to universals and minor things become like comprehensive ones. We shall prove these three matters.
First Matter:
Pre‑Eternal power is the necessary inherent quality of the Most Pure and Holy Divine Essence. That is to say, it is of necessity intrinsic to the Essence, it can in no way be separated from It. Since this is so, the Essence which necessitates that power clearly cannot be affected by impotence, the opposite to power. For if that were the case, it would entail the combining of opposites. Since impotence cannot intervene in the Essence, self-evidently it cannot intervene in the power which is the inherent quality of that Essence. And since impotence cannot intervene in that essential power, clearly there can be no degrees in it. For the degrees of existence of a thing occur though the intervention of its opposites. For example, the degrees of heat come about through the intervention of cold, and the degrees of beauty through the intervention of ugliness; further examples can be made in the same way.
Since in contingent beings such qualities are not true, natural, inherent and necessary, their opposites may enter into them. Then with the existence of degrees, diversity, variance, and change arose in the world. Since there can be no degrees in pre‑eternal power, those things that are subject to it will necessarily be the same in relation to it. The greatest will be equal to the smallest, and particles the same as the stars. The resurrection of all humankind will be as easy for that power as the raising to life of a single person; the creation of spring as easy as the giving of form to a single flower. Whereas if attrib-uted to causes, the creation of a single flower is as difficult as the spring.
It has been proved in the footnote to the last section of the Fourth Degree of Allah is Most Great in the Second Station of this Word, and in the Twenty‑Second Word, and in the Twentieth Letter and in its Addendum, that when the creation of beings is attributed to the Single One of Unity, all things become as easy as one thing. Whereas if they are attributed to causes, the creation of a single thing becomes as difficult and problemat-ical as the creation of all things.
Second Matter:
Divine power is related to the inner face of things. Yes, the universe has two faces like a mirror. One is its external face, which resembles the coloured face of the mirror, the other is its inner face. This latter resembles the mirror’s shining face.
Its external face is the arena of opposites; it is where such matters appear as beautiful and ugly, good and evil, big and small, and difficult and easy. It is because of this that the All‑Glorious Maker has made apparent causes a veil to the disposal of His power, so that the hand of power should not appear to the mind to be in direct contact with matters that on the face of it are insignificant or unworthy. For majesty and dignity require it to be thus. Nevertheless, He did not give true effects to causes and intermediaries, for the unity of oneness requires that they have none.
As for the face of beings which looks to its Creator, in everything it is shining, it is clean. The colours and distortions of individuality do not intervene in it. This aspect faces its Creator without intermediary. There are no chains or dispositions of causes in it. Cause and effect cannot intrude on it. It contains nothing contorted or askew. Obstacles cannot interfere in it. A particle becomes brother to the sun.
In Short: Divine power is both simple, that is, non‑composite, and infinite, and essential. The locus of divine power’s connection is without intermediary, stain, or rebellion. Within the sphere of divine power, therefore, great has no superiority over small. The community has no primacy over the individual. Universals cannot expect more from divine power than particulars.
Third Matter:
Divine power’s relation is according to laws. That is to say, it regards many and few, great and small as the same. We shall make this abstruse matter easier to understand with a number of comparisons.
In the universe, Transparency, Reciprocity, Balance, Order, Disengagedness, and Obedience are all matters which render many equal to few, and great equal to small.
First Comparison: This explains the Mystery of Transparency. For example, the sun’s image and reflection, which are the effulgence of its manifestation, display the same identity on the sea’s surface as in every drop of the sea. If the globe of the earth were composed of varying fragments of glass and exposed to the sun without veil, the sun’s reflection would be the same in every fragment and on the whole face of the earth, without obstruction or being divided into pieces or being diminished. If, let us suppose, the sun acted with will and through its will conferred the radiance of its light and image of its reflection, it would be no more difficult for it to confer its radiance on the whole surface of the earth than to confer it on a single particle.
Second Comparison: This concerns the Mystery of Reciprocity. For example, let us suppose there is a vast circle composed of living beings, that is, of human beings, each holding a mirror. At its centre is one person holding a candle. The radiance and manifestation reflected in all the mirrors surrounding the central point will be the same, and its relation will be without obstacle, fragmentation or being diminished.
Third Comparison: This concerns the Mystery of Balance. For example, there are an enormous set of scales which are extremely accurate and sensitive. Whichever of two suns or two stars or two mountains or two eggs or two particles are placed in its two pans, it will require the same force to raise one pan of those huge sensitive scales to the sky and lower the other to the ground.
Fourth Comparison: This concerns the Mystery of Order. For example, a huge ship can be turned as easily as a tiny toy boat.
Fifth Comparison: This concerns the Mystery of Disengagedness. For example, a nature disengaged from individuality regards all particulars from the smallest to the greatest as the same and enters them without being diminished or fragmented. The qualities present in the aspect of external individuality do not interfere and cause confusion; they do not alter the view of a disengaged nature such as that. For example, a needle‑like fish possesses a disengaged nature the same as a whale. Or a microbe bears an animal nature the same as a rhinoceros.
Sixth Comparison: This demonstrates the Mystery of Obedience. For example, a commander causes a single private to advance with the command “Forward march!” the same as he causes an army to advance.
The truth of the mystery of this comparison about obedience is as follows: As is proved by experience, everything in the universe has a point of perfection, and everything has an inclination towards that point. Increased inclination becomes need. Increased need becomes desire. Increased desire becomes attraction, and attraction, desire, need, and inclination are each seeds and kernels which, proceeding from the essences of things, conform to the creative commands of Allah the Most High. The absolute perfection of the true nature of contingent beings is absolute existence. Their particular perfections are an existence peculiar to each which makes its abilities emerge from the potential to the actual.
Thus, the obedience of the whole universe to the divine command “Be!” is the same as that of a particle, which is like a single soldier. Present within the obedience and conformity of contingent beings to the pre‑eternal command of “Be!” proceeding from the pre-eternal will are inclination, need, desire, and attraction, which are also manifestations of divine will. The fact that when subtle water receives the command to freeze, with a refined inclination it may split a piece of iron demonstrates the strength of the mystery of obedience.
If these six comparisons are observed in the potentialities and actions of contingent beings, which are both defective, and finite, and weak, and have no actual effect, it will doubtless be seen that everything is equal in relation to pre‑eternal power. For it is both infinite, and pre-eternal, and post-eternal, and creates the whole universe out of pure non-existence, and being manifested through the works of its tremendousness leaves all minds in wonderment. Nothing at all can be difficult for it. Such a power cannot be weighed on the small scales of these mysteries, neither are they proportionate. They have been mentioned to bring the subject closer to the understanding and to dispel any doubts.
The Result and Summary of the Third Fundamental Point
Since pre‑eternal power is infinite, and is the inherent, necessary quality of the Most Pure and Holy Essence; and since the stainless, veilless inner aspect of everything is turned to it and faces it, and is in balance with respect to contingency, which consists of the equal possibility of being and non-being; and since this inner face is obedient to the order of creation and the divine laws of the universe which form the Greater Shari‘a, the Shari‘a of Creation, and it is disengaged from and free of obstacles and different characteristics; certainly, like the smallest thing, the greatest cannot resist that power, nor expect more from it than the smallest.
In which case, the raising to life of all beings with spirits at the resurrection will be no more difficult for divine power than raising a fly to life in the spring. Thus, the decree of: Your creation and your resurrection is but like a single soul, is no exaggeration; it is true and correct. And our claim that “the Agent possesses the power” has been proved true in decisive fashion; there is nothing to prevent it in this respect.
Fourth Fundamental Point
Just as there are things necessitating the resurrection of the dead and Great Gathering, and the One Who will bring it about possesses the power to do so, so the world possesses the potential for the resurrection of the dead and Great Gathering. There are four matters in this assertion of mine that “this place is possible.”
The First is the possibility of this worldly realm’s death.
The Second is its actual death.
The Third is the possibility of the destroyed, dead world being reconstructed and resurrected in the form of the hereafter.
The Fourth is its actual reconstruction and resurrection, which are possible.
First Matter:
The universe’s death is possible. For if something is included in the law of evolution and being perfected, there is bound to be growth and development in it. And if there is growth and development, that thing is bound to have a natural lifespan. And if it has a natural lifespan, there has to be a time for its natural death; it is established by inductive reasoning and extensive investigation that it cannot save itself from the claws of death.
Indeed, just as man is the microcosm and he cannot be saved from destruction, the world too is the macroanthropos; it cannot be saved from the clutches of death either. It too will die and will then be resurrected, or it will lie in repose and then open its eyes in the morning of the resurrection.
Also, just as a living tree, which is a miniature copy of the universe, cannot save its life from destruction and dissolution, so the chain‑like universe, which has branched out from the tree of creation, cannot save itself from destruction and dispersal in order to be repaired and renewed.
If, with the permission of the pre‑eternal will, some external disease or destructive event do not befall the world before the time of its natural death, or its All-Wise Maker does not demolish it, for sure, according to scientific reckoning, a day will come when the meanings and mysteries of the verses:
When the sun is rolled up; ❋ When the stars tumble; ❋ When the mountains are swept away; ❋ When the she‑camels, ten months with young, are left untended; ❋ When the wild beasts are herded together; ❋ When the oceans boil over; will become manifest with the permission of the Pre‑Eternal All-Powerful One, and the death agonies of the macroanthropos which is the world will commence; it will fill space and make it reverberate with an appalling death-rattle and devastating sound; roaring, it will die. Then, at the divine command, it will return to life once more.
A Subtle, Allusive Matter: Just as water freezes to its own detriment, and ice melts to its own detri‑ment, and a kernel gains strength to the detriment of the shell, and a word becomes coarse to the detriment of the meaning, and the spirit weakens on account of the body, and the body becomes finer on account of the spirit.
So too this world, the dense world, becomes transparent and refined with the functioning of the machine of life on account of the hereafter, which is the subtle world. The fact that creative power sprinkles the light of life on dense, lifeless, extinguished, dead objects with an astonishing activity is a sign of power that it dissolves, burns, and illuminates this dense world with the light of life on account of the subtle world, and strengthens its reality.
No matter how weak reality is, it does not die; it is not annihilated like a form. Rather, it travels in particular objects and forms. Reality grows, develops, and gradually expands, while the shell and the form wear out, become finer, and break up. They are renewed in a better form so as to become suitable to the stature of the stable and expanded reality. In regard to increase and decrease, reality and form are in inverse proportion. That is to say, the more substantial form grows, the weaker reality becomes. The less substantial form becomes, to that degree the reality grows stronger. This law encompasses all things included in the law of evolution or being perfected.
It means that a time is certain to come when the Manifest World, which is the shell and form of the mighty reality of the universe, will break up with the permission of the All‑Glorious Creator. Then it will be renewed in a better form. The meaning of the verse: That day the Earth will be changed into a different Earth will be realized.
In Short: The death of the world is possible. Moreover, there can be no doubt that it is possible.
Second Matter:
This is the actual death of the world. The proof of this matter is the consensus of all the revealed religions; the testimony of all sound natures; the indication of all the changes, transformations, and alterations in the universe; the testimony to the number of centuries and years through their deaths in this guesthouse of the world, of all living worlds and mobile worlds to the death of the world itself.
If you want to imagine the death agonies of the world as the Qur’an’s verses show them to be, see how the parts of the universe are bound to one another with an exact, exalted order. They are held with such a hidden, delicate, subtle bond and are so bound within an order that on a single one of the lofty heavenly bodies receiving the command: “Be!” or, “Quit your orbit!”, the world will go into its death agonies. The stars will collide, the heavenly bodies reel, a great din will strike up in infinite space like the devastating sound of millions of cannonballs and great guns the size of globes. Clashing and colliding with one another, sending out showers of sparks, the mountains taking flight, the seas burning, the face of the earth will be flattened.
With this death and those agonies the Pre‑Eternal One of Power will shake up the universe. He will purify the universe, and Hell and the matters of Hell will draw to one side, and Paradise and the matters appropriate for Paradise draw to the other, and the world of the hereafter will become manifest.
Third Matter:
The return to life of the world, which will die, is possible. For, as is proved in the Second Fundamental Point, there is no deficiency in divine power, and the things necessitating it are extremely powerful. The matter is within the realm of the possible. And if a possible matter has something extremely powerful to necessitate it and there is no deficiency in the power of the agent, it may be regarded not as possible, but as actual.
An Allusive Point: If the universe is studied carefully, it will be seen that within it are two elements that have spread everywhere and become rooted; with their traces and fruits like good and evil, beauty and ugliness, benefit and harm, perfection and defect, light and darkness, guidance and misguidance, light and fire, belief and unbelief, obedience and rebellion, and fear and love, opposites clash with one another in the universe, they constantly manifest change and transformation. Their wheels turn as though they were a workshop producing the crops of some other world. Of a certainty, the branches and results, which are opposites, of those two elements will continue into eternity; they will become concentrated and separate out from one another. Then they will be manifested in the form of Paradise and Hell.
Since it is out of this transient world that the permanent world will be made, this world’s fundamental elements will certainly go to eternity and permanence. Indeed, Paradise and Hell are the two fruits of the branch of the tree of creation that stretches, inclines, and goes towards eternity; they are the two results of the chain of the universe; the two storehouses of this flood of divine activity; the two pools of beings, which flow in waves towards eternity; and the place of manifestation, the one of divine favour, the other of divine wrath. When the hand of power shakes up the universe with a violent motion, those two pools will fill up with the appropriate matters.
The essential meaning of this Allusive Point is as follows:
As eternal benevolence and pre‑eternal wisdom necessitated, the Pre-Eternally All-Wise One created this world to be a place of trial, an arena of examination, a mirror to His most beautiful names, and a page for the pen of divine determining and power. Now, trial and examination are the cause of growth and development. And growth causes dispositions to unfold. And this unfolding causes the abilities to become apparent. And this emergence of abilities causes the relative truths to become evident. And the relative truths’ becoming evident causes the embroideries of the manifestations of the All-Glorious Maker’s most beautiful names to be displayed and the universe to be transformed into a missive of the Eternally Besought One.
It is by virtue of this mystery of examination and the mystery of human accountability that the diamond‑like essences of elevated spirits are purified of the coal-like matter of base spirits, and the two separated out from one another.
Thus, since it was for mysteries such as these, and for other subtle and elevated instances of wisdom which we do not yet know of that the Pre‑Eternally All-Wise One willed the world in this form, He also willed the change and transformation in this world for those instances of wisdom. With wisdom He mixed together opposites for its change and transformation, and brought them face to face. Combining harm with benefit, including evil with good, and mingling ugliness with beauty, He kneaded them together like dough, and made the universe subject to the law of change and mutation and the principle of transformation and perfection.
A day will come when this assembly of examination is closed and the period of trial is finished, and the divine names have carried out their decree, and the pen of divine determining has completed writing its missives, and divine power completed the embroideries of its art, and beings have fulfilled their duties, and creatures accomplished their acts of service, and everything has stated its meaning, and this world produced the seedlings of the hereafter, and the earth has displayed and exhibited all the miracles of power of the All‑Powerful Maker and all the wonders of His art, and this transient world has attached to the string of time the tableaux forming the panoramas of eternity.
For the eternal wisdom and pre‑eternal providence of the All-Glorious Maker necessitate such truths as the results of the examination and trial, the truths of those divine names’ manifestations, the truths of the missives of the pen of divine determining, the originals of those sample-like embroideries of art, the aims and benefits of the duties of beings, the wages of the acts of service of creatures, the truths of the meanings that the book of the universe’s words stated, the sprouting of the seeds of innate disposition, the opening of a supreme court of judgement, the displaying of the sample-like panoramas taken from this world, the rending of the veil of apparent causes, and the surrendering of everything directly to the All-Glorious Creator. Since the All-Glorious Maker’s pre-eternal wisdom and providence necessitate these truths, they require the purification of those opposites in order to deliver the world from the turmoil of change and transience, transformation and extinction, and to separate out the causes of change and the matters of conflict. Most certainly they will bring about the resurrection and purify those opposites in order to obtain these results.
Thus, as a result of this purification Hell will take on its eternal and dreadful form and its inmates will manifest the threat: And get you apart this day, O you sinners! While Paradise will assume its everlasting and majestic form, and its people and companions will manifest the address of: Peace be upon you! Well have you done! Enter here to dwell for ever. As is proved in the Second Question of the First Station of the Twenty‑Eighth Word, through His perfect power, the Pre-Eternally All-Wise One will give the inhabitants of these two houses eternal and permanent bodies which will not be subject to dissolution, change, old age, or decline. For there will be no causes of change, which are the cause of decline.
Fourth Matter:
This is possible, it will occur. Indeed, after dying, the world will be resurrected as the hereafter. After being destroyed, the One Who made the world will repair and reconstruct it in an even better form, and will convert it into one of the mansions of the hereafter. The proof of this is foremost the agreement of the Holy Qur’an together with all its verses comprising thousands of rational proofs and all the revealed scriptures; while the attributes of the All‑Glorious One pertaining to His might and those pertaining to His beauty, and all His beautiful names, clearly indicate its occurrence. So too did He promise in all His heavenly decrees which He sent to His prophets that He would create the resurrection and Great Gathering. And since He has promised, He will most certainly bring it about. You may refer to the Eighth Truth of the Tenth Word for this matter. Also, just as foremost Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace), with the strength of his thousand miracles, and all the prophets and messengers, and the saints and the righteous have agreed on its occurrence and given news of it, so does the universe together with all its creational signs tell of its occurrence.
In Short: The Tenth Word with all its truths, and the Twenty‑Eighth Word with all its proofs in the ‘Especially’s’ in its Second Station, have demonstrated with the certainty of the sun’s rising in the morning after setting the previous evening that after the setting of the life of this world, the sun of truth will appear once more in the form of the life of the hereafter.
Thus, seeking assistance from the divine name of All‑Wise and benefit-ing from the effulgence of the Qur’an, from the beginning up to here our explanations have taken the form of four Fundamental Points in order to prepare the heart for acceptance, the soul for surrender, and to convince the reason. But who are we that we should speak of this matter? What does this world’s true Owner, the universe’s Creator, these beings’ Master, say? We should listen to Him. Can others dare to interfere officiously while the Owner of this domain speaks?
We must listen to the All‑Wise Maker’s pre-eternal discourse which He delivers addressing all the ranks of people in each successive century in the mosque of the world and place of instruction which is the earth, with thousands of decrees like, When the Earth is rocked with a great convulsion ❋ And the Earth casts out its burdens ❋ And man cries out: “What is happening to it?” ❋ On that Day it will relate what all those upon it have done. ❋ For so your Sustainer will have commanded it. ❋ On that Day men will go forth in groups to the Judgement, to receive requital for their former deeds. ❋ Then anyone who has done an atom’s weight of good, shall see it. ❋ And anyone who has done an atom’s weight of evil, shall see it, which causes the universe to shake, and, But give glad tidings to those who believe and do good works that theirs shall be Paradises beneath which flow rivers. Whenever they are given fruits therefrom as sustenance, they will say: “This is what we ate before as sustenance,” for they shall be offered it in a form resembling that of this world. And they shall have there women pure and good, and they shall dwell there for ever, which fills all creatures with joy and eagerness. We must give heed to these decrees of the Possessor of All Dominion, the Owner of This World and the Next, and we must say, “We believe in it and we affirm it!”
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed You are All‑Knowing, All-Wise.
O our Sustainer, do not punish us if we forget or do wrong.
Allah, grant blessings to our master Muhammad, and to the Family of our master Muhammad, as You granted blessings to our master Abraham and to the Family of our master Abraham; indeed, all praise is Yours, all splendour.