are perfect works, each of them testifies to an act, and the act testifies to a Name, and the Name to an attribute, and the attribute to a quality, and the quality to the Essence. Thus, just as singly they testify to the necessary existence of the All-Glorious Maker to the number of creatures and indicate His oneness, so altogether they form an ascension in Divine knowledge as strong as the chains of beings. They form a proof of reality in continuous sequence which no doubt can pierce or penetrate.
So now, O wretched, heedless denier! With what can you smash this proof which is as powerful as the chain of the universe? With what can you close this latticed window with its innumerable spaces through which shine rays of truth to the number of these creatures? Which veil of heedlessness can you draw over it?
Nineteenth Window
According to the meaning of the verse:
The seven heavens and the earth and all within them extol His limitless glory, and there is nothing but it extols His limitless glory and praise,1
the All-Glorious Maker has attached innumerable meanings and instances of wisdom to the heavenly bodies so that it is as if, in order to express His glory and beauty, He has adorned the heavens with the words of the suns, moons and stars. To the beings in the atmosphere also He has attached instances of wisdom and meanings and aims, as if to make it speak through the words of the thunder, lightning, and drops of rain, and give instruction in the perfection of His wisdom and beauty of His mercy.
He causes the head of the earth to speak too with its meaningful words known as animals and plants and displays the perfections of His art to the universe. Then He makes the plants and trees speak, all words of that head, through the words of their leaves, flowers, and fruits and again proclaims the perfection of His art and beauty of His mercy. Their flowers and fruits, too, He makes speak, through the words of their seeds, and gives instruction to the aware and conscious in the subtleties of His art and the perfection of His dominicality. And so, out of these innumerable words of glorification, we shall lend our ears and listen to a single shoot and a single flower and their manner of expression, and learn the way in which they testify.
Yes, all plants and all trees describe their Maker with numerous tongues in such a way that they leave those who study them in amazement,
Qur’an, 17:44.