Addendum to the Tenth Phrase
of the Twentieth Letter
In His Name, be He glorified!
And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
For verily, in the remembrance of God hearts do find their rest.(13:28) * God sets forth a parable: A man belonging to many partners [all of them] at variance with one another.(39:29)
Q u e s t i o n : You have said in many places that in divine unity there is an infinite facility and in multiplicity and associating partners with God, endless difficulties; that there is such ease in divine unity that it is necessary and such difficulty in associating partners with God that it is impossible. Whereas, the difficulties and impossibilities that you demonstrate are also present with unity. For example, you say that if particles were not officials, it would be necessary for either all-encompassing knowledge or absolute power or innumerable immaterial machines and printing-presses to be present in every particle. This of course is completely impossible. Even if those particles were divine officials, it would still be necessary for them to bear the same qualities so that they would be able to accomplish their endless orderly duties. Could you unravel this problem for me?
T h e A n s w e r : We have expounded and proved in many Words that if all beings are attributed to a single Maker, they become as easy and effortless as a single being. If they are attributed to numerous causes and to nature, a single fly becomes as difficult and arduous as the heavens, a flower as the spring, a fruit as a garden. Since this mattter has been proved in other Words, we refer you to them and here only explain three comparisons, by means of three indications, which will reassure the soul and set the mind at rest in the face of that truth.
First Comparison: For example, a tiny transparent glistening speck cannot of its own accord situate itself within a light the size of a match-head even, and neither can it be the source of it. It is able to have as much light, in its own right, as a tiny particle, in accordance with its capacity and to the extent of its own mass. But if the speck is connected to the sun, if it