beauty, which are the causes of acclaim, and everything that gives rise to praise, are His, they belong to Him. Indeed, as the Qur’an indicates, worship, glorification, prostration, supplication, and praise and laudation rise continuously, unceasingly, from all beings to the divine court. The following is a comprehensive proof which sets forth this truth affirming divine unity.
When we look at the universe, it appears to us in the form of a park set with gardens, its roof gilded with lofty stars, its ground inhabited by ornamented beings. When we see it thus, we observe that the orderly, luminous, lofty heavenly bodies and purposive, ornamented earthly beings in this park are all saying, each in its particular tongue: “We are the miracles of power of an All-Powerful One of Glory; we testify to the unity of an All-Wise Creator, an Omnipotent Maker.”
Then we look at the globe of the earth within the park of the universe and we see it in the form of a garden in which uncountable varieties of multicoloured, beautifully adorned flowering plants have been laid out and through which innumerable species of animals have been scattered. In this garden of the earth, all these adorned plants and decorated animals proclaim through their well-ordered forms and balanced shapes: “We are each of us a miracle, a wonder of art, created by a Single All-Wise Maker; each of us heralds His unity and is a witness to His unity.”
Moreover, looking at the trees in the garden, we see fruits and flowers in various forms which have been made knowingly, wisely, generously, subtly, and beautifully to the utmost degree. And they are proclaiming unanimously: “We are the miraculous gifts of a Compassionate One of Beauty, a Merciful One of Perfection; we are wondrous bounties.”
Thus, the heavenly bodies and beings in the park of the universe, and the plants and animals in the garden of the earth, and the blossom and fruits on its trees and plants, testify and proclaim in an infinitely resounding voice: “Our Creator and Fashioner, the All-Powerful One of Beauty, the Peerless All-Wise One, the All-Generous Granter of Favours, who bestowed us as gifts, is powerful over all things. Nothing at all is difficult for Him. Nothing at all is outside the bounds of His power. In relation to His power minute particles and stars are equal. A universal is as simple as a particular, while a particular is as valuable as a universal. The largest is as easy as the smallest in relation to His power, and the small is as full of art as the large; indeed, as far as art is concerned, the small is greater than the large.
“All the occurrences of the past, which are wonders of His power, testify that that Absolutely Powerful One is also powerful over the wonders of