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"Indeed, each of us is a miracle of the Single and Unique One's power, a well-ordered fruit of the tree of creation, an illuminated proof of unity; each of us is a dwelling place, aeroplane and mosque for the angels, and a lamp and sun for the lofty worlds, and a witness to the sovereignty of dominicality; and each of us is an ornament, palace, and flower of space, and a shining fish in the heavenly seas, and a beautiful eye in the face of the sky.7
"Furthermore, throughout us as a whole there is a silence within tranquillity, a motion within wisdom, an adornment within majesty, a beauty of creation within order, and a perfection of art within symmetry.
"And although we are thus and proclaim our Glorious Maker and His unity, oneness, eternal besoughtedness, and His attributes of beauty, glory and perfection to the whole universe with innumerable tongues, you still accuse us utterly pure, clean, obedient and subservient servants of being confused, disorderly, and without duties, and even of being without an owner. You therefore deserve a truly punishing slap."
And one star, like the stone hurled at Satan, delivered such a mighty slap at the claimer's face that it flung him from the stars to the very pit of Hell. And it cast nature,8 which was together with him, into the valleys of delusion, and chance into the chasm of non-existence, and those things ascribed to God as partners into the darkness of impossibility, and the philosophy that is hostile to religion down to the lowest of the low. All the stars recited this sacred decree together with that star:
Had there been in heaven or earth any deities other than God, there surely would have been confusion in both.9 And they proclaimed: "There is nothing, from a fly's wing to the lamps in the heavens, nothing, even the size of a fly's wing, in which those things ascribed to God as partners could interfere."
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise!10
O God! Grant blessings and peace to our master Muhammad, the Lamp of Your Unity in the multiplicity of Your creatures, and the Herald of Your Oneness in the exhibition of Your creation, and to all his Family and Companions.
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7. This means, we are indications observing and contemplating the wonders of God Almighty's creation and causing others to contemplate them. That is, just as the heavens are seen to be observing the wonders of Divine art on the earth with countless eyes, so like the angels in the skies, the stars watch the earth, which is an exhibition of wonders and marvels, and they cause conscious creatures to observe it with attention.
8. But after its fall, nature repented. It understood that its true duty was not to act and to have an effect, but to accept and be passive. And it recognized that it was a sort of notebook of Divine Determining, but a notebook capable of change and transformation; that it was a sort of programme of dominical power, was similar to the body of the rules of creation laid down by the Ail-Powerful One of Glory, and was a collection of His laws. It assumed its duty of worship with perfect submission acknowledging its utter impotence, and thus acquired the title of Divine creation and dominical art.
9. Qur'an, 21:22.
10. Qur'an, 2:32. Double click for meaning of the world. | |
