extolling, and testifying to a single Most Holy Being through all these tongues demonstrate a Necessarily Existent One as light shows the sun, and point to the perfection of His Godhead.
Fourteenth Window
Say: who is it in whose hands is the governance of all things?1 * And there is nothing but its treasuries are with Us.2 * There is not a moving creature but He has grasp of its forelock.3 * Indeed my Sustainer watches over and records all things.4
According to the meaning of these verses, all things are in need of a single All-Glorious Creator in everything, in all matters and circumstances. Indeed, we look at the beings in the universe and we see that there is the manifestation of an absolute force within an absolute weakness, and the traces of an absolute power are apparent within an absolute impotence; like, for example, the wonderful states and stages plants display when the life-force awakens in their seeds and roots. There is the manifestation too of an absolute wealth within an absolute poverty and dryness; like the poverty of trees and the soil in winter and their glittering wealth and riches in the spring. The sprinklings of an absolute life are also apparent within an absolute lifelessness; like the transformation of the elements into living matter. There is, moreover, the manifestation of an all-encompassing consciousness within an absolute ignorance; like everything, from minute particles to the stars, acting consciously and conforming to the order of the universe and to the demands of wisdom and requirements of life.
Thus, this power within impotence, and strength within weakness, and wealth and riches within poverty, and life and consciousness within lifelessness and ignorance necessarily and self-evidently open up windows on every side onto the necessary existence and unity of a Possessor of Absolute Power and Absolute Strength, a Possessor of Absolute Riches, an Absolutely Knowing, All-Living and Self-Sufficient One. In their totality they point to a luminous highway on a vast scale.
And so, O you heedless one who has fallen into the swamp of nature! If you do not quit nature and recognize Divine power, you have to accept that in everything, in every minute particle even, reside an infinite force and power, a boundless wisdom and skill, and the ability to see, know, and administer most other beings.
Qur’an, 23:88.
Qur’an, 15:21.
Qur’an, 11:56.
Qur’an, 11:57.