By contrast, the opposing worldview reduces life entirely to corporeality, placing the body in dominion over human existence, enslaving us to carnal desires. Under the weight of this outlook, people’s feelings, thoughts, and spiritual capacities gradually wither away. Swept into the relentless vortex of carnality, the individual is reduced to a miserable creature whose chief concern is satisfying hunger and lust. Homes become little more than barns that shelter such lives, while societies resemble herds wandering in search of greener pastures.  

Within this materialistic outlook, the past and the future are dismissed as fairy tales. The afterlife and eternity are treated as mere fantasies, while spiritual joys are regarded as comforting illusions for the poor or the weak. Only the present moment is considered real, and life’s highest aim becomes extracting as much pleasure from it as possible by indulging bodily desires.  

Yet, we have inherited faith and determination from the past, and we look to the future when we think and act – and all of that whisper joys and beauties bigger than life. Within this faith and worldview, we discover the peace and fulfillment that the heart longs for but cannot find elsewhere. With every step we take, we experience a new reunion and witness another veil being lifted.  

In this luminous world, things that pour forth from the depths of the past and from the stream of wisdom of our forefathers are never lifeless memories or mere records confined to the pages of history. Nor is it ever a pipe dream that this ancient and noble tree of humanity will bear the fruits of a glorious future. Rather, all that we have inherited from our noble ancestors carries the echoes of their inner world, unfolding before us thousands of pages of lessons to be learned. Each serves as a torch that illuminates our tomorrows and a guide that teaches us how to prevail.   

It is thanks to this perspective that we live in hope of an enlightened future. For us, that future is the “lost paradise” for which we have long yearned; a paradise we seek to grasp with the arms of our faith, through our dreams and aspirations. It is in its heavens that we soar, it is the air we breathe, and it is there that we strive throughout our lives to find our place.  

We work hard, because ours is the fate of Prophet Adam. Our compulsory place of residence is the forlorn Serendip [1], not the joyous world prior to it. We are the victims of a materialistic world, yearning with all our might for the Gardens we did not appreciate enough and allowed to slip through our hands. After he reached for the forbidden fruit, Prophet Adam lost his home and found himself in much suffering and longing. Today, many are likewise deceived by forbidden fruits in the form of false fantasies and empty promises, falling from a noble status into a pitiful laughingstock.

For the sake of the home we lost yesterday and because of the longing and sorrow we endure today, the present generation is called to undertake the greatest acts of heroism and sacrifice, to render the greatest services with the deepest sense of love, and to rely on God while making use of the soundest means. In doing so, they will ascend once again to the lofty heights we have lost and attain the heavenly ideals they have long envisioned in their dreams.  

They should weave the timeless wisdom of the past into the fabric of the present, preserving its enduring truths while expressing them with the colors and patterns of today’s world. Otherwise, humanity’s longing will continue a while longer.  

With love and enthusiasm in their spirit, songs of eternity upon their tongues, the eyes of their hearts awakened to embrace both the wisdom of yesterday and the realities of today, these long-awaited heroes neither allow themselves to be swayed by worldly interests nor surrender to passions or challenges. As they move forward to reveal what is written in their destiny, they should be filled with such faith, love, and fervor that they inspire future generations with hope while leaving the forces of darkness in despair.

There are already many faithful generations around the world, building their blessed future with unwavering resolve. Delighting in the overwhelming beauty of God’s grace, they have no inclination toward the deceptions of temporal, corporeal desires, nor are they discouraged by the monsters that intercept their path at every turn. They continue their blessed ascent, their minds occupied with thoughts of the summit.  

These sincere souls grow stronger each day—more determined, more steadfast, and ever pressing forward. They feel their spirits taking on an eternal, angelic nature, and as they free themselves from corporeality, they never think of turning back from this enlightened state of being—they would consider such a retreat the greatest sin.

As they dash forward toward the heavenly lights and voices—or rather, toward the divine promises God has planted in their hearts—they will help us reclaim our past and restore the glorious days of a blissful age that now survive only as distant memories scattered here and there. Carried on the breezes of Heaven, they press on with joyful hope, enabling us to embrace the past and the future at once. No obstacle will hinder them. Without being held back by anything, they will advance with extraordinary agility, as though in a triumphal march, toward a world where life is happier and more harmonious. They are the ones who will usher in the sweetest of ages—ages too wondrous to be contained within our hearts, our dreams, or even our highest aspirations.

Note

1. According to tradition, Serendip is believed to be the place Adam, peace be upon him, descended on earth from the Garden of Eden. Serendip is the ancient name of Sri Lanka.

they set out for eternity

And wherever the journey led, they carried their gift of radiance.

Gleams of Beauty unfading so entranced their souls,

they heard at night in their dreams angels

singing of bliss and the music of other worlds.

More enchanted, more earnestly they searched in every place, and

yearned for their homeland

the dream of a beloved of matchless excellence, hero or saint or both.

Without pause, they strove on in high, passionate hope;

some mysteries of life they unraveled

as they journeyed apace, and at last obtained the promised happiness.

Lovers of the Light are pledged to a long journey, its end Unseen:

the very roads are proud upon which they journey:

the rhythm of their surging on is Certainty,

and their rank as slaves of the King.

Whoever disdains that rank, disdains his own good fortune,

Exchanging hope for a regret everlasting:

he shall not attain, not ever,

the further horizon of all that is.

Only passionate lovers of the Ideal,

may behold that far horizon,

eternity itself impressed upon their faces,

their names rehearsed in hymns of praise.

They desire life reborn only to be martyred again,

hearts forever surrendered to the Light,

forever remembered in our hearts.

They raise now light-filled eyes,

in their hands translucent beakers held aloft, at ease,

filled to their brim from rivers of Paradise.

Given that the entire creation bears witness to all this, here I pray:

O King of Kings, whose signs of Lordship we perceive from the collars around our necks! Make us feel and understand our servitude to You fully and execute Your decree on those who make use of Your blessings a means of getting wild and straying into evil ways.

All those endless range of shades and hues of the realm of divine mercy and blessings which are present in human consciousness quiescently and which flow into the heart with heavenly joys on different wavelengths, even before getting into the Heavens-all these endless variety of shades and hues are from the divine grace and favor which are incommensurable with any quality or quantity. Were it not for divine favor and liking for us, what difference would there be between us and the flesh in the butcher shop? He not only livens up the earth with the fluffy clouds, rain falling down to the earth in drops, running rivers, and effervescent seas, but also enlivens our inner world and faculties, opening them into eternity through the inspirations, breezes, and springtides of divine grace.

It is He who has created the soil mixed with rocks and has filled the earth with infinitesimal creatures, turning all the corners of the world into heavenly gardens. It is He who introduces the human being, which He has created with flesh, blood, and bones, to the angels and other celestial beings and has them strive as if in a race toward good works. It is He who has paved the ways from the passageways-which can also spread out to the cesspools-to Paradise and from the seventh heaven to the observation of the divine “countenance” and has shown how coal can turn into diamonds.

O King of Mercy, who restores life to the rocks and soil and with His grace brings those whose spirit is also open to devilry into the realm of angels-furnish us with endowments beyond our capacity and improve us in our endowments! Either show those who are ignorant of You, with souls as black as coal, how to turn into diamond-like souls or condemn them to punishment!

If the pulses of the faithful quicken with hope now, if their hearts beat with the excitement of future bliss, and their minds are enraptured with the beauties of the otherworld, this is because of the divine breezes we feel in our conscience and due to God’s making us aware of the divine presence at every stage. From Him is the light of the heavens and the earth; the openings to the treasuries of both this and the other world are not even like a keyhole to the door of His Kingdom. In comparison with the real worth and virtue in God’s sight, the world that we constantly run after, filled with fancies, has not as much value as even the wing of a fly before God. Even a particle of this world-which is in fact futile in its entirety, but which gains a manifest value in accordance with Divine principles-becomes great enough to pave the way to eternal bliss.

O Mighty King who brings-through His Existence-all existence out of non-existence, who endows a drop of water with the immensity of the sea, and who grants an atom the power to be the sun! Every thing and being, from the animate to inanimate, from human to animals, from the faithful to the nonbeliever, from the conscious to the unconscious, and from the fortunate to the unfortunate, subsist under Your banner-may this divine banner always fly above us and may we continue to live in the shade of Your light which emanates from Your existence! Were it not for Your special Will and turning towards them, nothing would have come into existence, humanity would not exist, faith would be unattainable, Your existence would be imperceptible, and those fortunate souls upon whom You have bestowed an endless depth of thought with faith would not excel themselves.

You are the source for all the sparkling and fading lights. We come into the world, grow up, and die, whereas You are the Necessarily Existent One beyond any time or space. You call hundreds of thousands into being at every moment, You manifest Your existence through them, You remind us of Your will and knowledge by the divine wisdom in their creation. You draw attention to Your perpetuity by evolving and transforming everything, whispering the secrets that lie behind things and events to those who are on the way to God, and talk confidentially about the glamour of the road. Your Name is the dearest thing in our conscience-may it reside in our heart constantly! Your Essence is the one and only source of light for our spirits. Our hearts, which have been seeking for an eternity on each and every horizon-as if they are programmed for an awareness of eternity-shout out the infinitude of Your Mercy. The earth cringes in servility and submissiveness to Your command and has been on a blessed journey since the very first day it was created: The heights and mounts stand in awe of You, showing their readiness for Your commands. The rivers bow down onto the ground, rapturous with the flood of Your light, flowing with vivacity and calling out Your beautiful name, the All-Living. Gardens and orchards, and birds and chicks are in a cheerful rush everywhere so that they can observe the beauty of the manifestation of Your “face.” The snow and the ice, and hail and storms accompany the composition of Your majesty and grandeur. The spring and the fall, and the night and the day make constant mention of You in their diverse languages, as they change colors, turning green, yellow, white, and black.

It is blindness not to have knowledge of You despite seeing all this, and it is ingratitude not to adore You in servitude while being blessed with Your favors in all places, at all times. It is our duty, as Your servants, to remember You all the time, and it is a need of our spirit to flee to You at every moment in every situation. What is left for us other than displaying our displeasure and taking a stand against those who deny Your mercy. It is the voice of conscience and the very requirement of being a loyal servant at Your door to not mention those people who do not mention You.

O the eternal King, even the dust of Whose doorway is kohl powder to apply in a fine line around our eyes! We are constantly on this journey since the day we achieved-or we supposed we achieved-an awareness of being on Your way, laying our head on Your doorstep. We enthuse our hearts through Your guidance and persevere to be Your guests. Your unceasing favors-which are reference to Your blessings for the future as well-give so much vitality to our hopes that we become distanced to everything and everybody, turning to You only with expectations that cannot fit even into our dreams. With the shackles of Your Messenger on our ankles and the collars from the divine will round our necks, we are zealous, determined, and bound by our oath to not let a stranger touch even one strand of hair on our head.

If we are like much-loved doves in Your private garden, then bless us with an unending breath and a tongue that never tires out in our requital for our existence and everything You have given us! We become enthusiastic only if You enthuse us and experience feelings that only You make us feel. We accept all that which is not from the Divine abode as senseless prattle and seek refuge in You from the tongue that does not mention You.

If all this is nothing but spelling out our state and situation to You, then loose any knot from our tongue, elevate our speech in the shade of Your speech, give our hearts steadfastness, and deepen and bolster our breaths with divine breaths. We cannot have anything if You do not give it to us; we can never drop a word if You do not cause us to speak. How can these poor wings of ours be capable of reaching the horizon of Your pleasure? How can this poor heart open up to the secrets of the treasury of the knowledge of You? How can this poor tongue be adequate to praise You? We are doubled up and ashamed of our withering conduct and grating talk, but at the same time we are relieved from worry due to our turning to Your immense lenience and mercy. Our sins are of the same magnitude as the revolt of those who have been sunk into the earth and our aloofness is within the borders of Your wrath; however, Your forgiveness is so immense that it will exterminate all wrongdoings and faults, and Your proximity is nearer to us than our jugular vein. Admit us not in accordance with our rebellion, but rather in accordance with Your forgiveness; treat us not with our remoteness, but with the warmth of proximity. Make us feel Your being with us, comfort our weak hearts, and foster our spirits with Your favors.

The ways ahead are difficult and steep: many evil spirits are waiting guardedly at every corner for an ostensible motive to attack, always wheeling out words of retrogression, backwardness, theocracy, and fundamentalism in their denunciatory language, holding every means and power in their hands, and a great many intrigues in their mind. O God, if we are against faith, knowledge, science, or progression in any way-as some claim-save us then from going in this wrong direction! If we are not good enough for this, take us then to Yourself and open the ways to those who are pious, refined, erudite, and progressive! If those who claim us to be as such are, however, in the wrong, then favor those among them whose spirits are open to faith and salvation with Your guidance; destroy the unity of those who obstinately persist in their deviance and who continually engage in evil! Bring their schemes to nothing and let them fall into their own traps! Leave them with unalleviated misery and sorrow! Safeguard the loyal servants of Your door and all the believers from the outrages, derision, scorn, and schemes of such evil minded, extremely wicked, and demonic people!

Upon their death, the victims found themselves in another world. Now, they tried to understand what had happened to them. First, they realized that they had been terribly deceived by the murderer. As a lesson from this unfortunate experience, they also realized that their inherent love for eternity had been abused by the murderer. Days passed, but they did not receive any word from their Lord. The burden of being away from the abode where they were in touch with Him became unbearable. They understood that where they came from was actually the land of eternity.

In later times, they would recall those past days, and they would feel an expansion and serenity in their hearts, feeling apart from the passage of time. So, they started to associate the things of this world with things from their homeland. Thus, they cherished their memories of when they were in the eternal land. Most of all, they each recognized the other as a mirror to remind them of the Eternal Beloved. So, everything they loved in this new place gained a sort of eternity with their longing for the eternal homeland and the Eternal Beloved.

Sometime later, they had children. As the children grew up, the parents related their stories to them, and talked about the homeland with their voices longing for return. The children also took on this behavior from their parents. Just like when their parents expressed their yearning for the homeland, whenever the children talked about loved things or whenever they were with people they loved, time would pass like lightning, and they would wish that those moments would not finish. As new generations followed, the expectation of eternity from the transient beloveds of this world evolved into a subconscious associating of eternity with them.

We do not know exactly how many years have passed since the time of Adam and Eve. Today, in spite of diversity in the definitions of love and the literature about it, there is a certain aspect of it which is the same for everybody who loves. Love changes our experience of time because we subconsciously associate it with eternity. Through this association, love motivates our actions. The limited time spent with the beloved seems very small compared to the human heart’s hunger for eternity. So, we strive to extend those moments-the lengthy phone calls and the long eye-to-eye gazes stretch out between lovers.

Eternity in the realm of the heart reflects itself in the form of continuity with the material world. Similar to the desire for the eternity of the beloved, we would like the continued existence of our loved ones. For example, the first experience of love each one of us feels in this world is the affection of our mothers. The initial manifestation of this love is breast milk. It not only provides the nourishment we need, but also contains the materials and the live cells that supplement our immune system. Thus, breast milk serves the continuity of our life in this world. Later on, our mothers provide intense protection and give us our first education. Both of these form the basis of our continuity in this life. And similar to our mother’s care, when we grow up, we too try to meet the needs of our loved ones in order to ensure their continuity.

In effect, we humans try to bestow continuity and eternity as a manifestation of love in accordance with the powers we are given. The love we feel is a projection of the infinite love that God has for His creation. Just as we strive for the continuity of our loved ones, God endows continuity on His creation by feeding and protecting us in this world, and granting us eternity by opening the hereafter to us. Since our existence is a temporary and dependent one, the continuity we ourselves give is also transient. However, God’s existence is eternal and He is the Self-Subsistent; therefore, the eternity He gives will be an actual one.

In this life, we realize that love bears a seed of continuity in it. We feel the beauty of eternity hidden in the lovely memories of our very first ancestors. Our visions fill with the fruits of the tree of love that fosters such long-lasting relations. However, the conditions we live in today are not coherent with those delightful sensations. When we look around, we see love affairs that last only a very short time. Many people conduct their love life by changing their partners periodically instead of remaining faithful to their spouses for all their lives. The meaning of contemporary love is being reduced to “temporary mutual interest,” obliterating the important notion of a “fellowship on the way to the Eternal Beloved.” This drastic change points to the fact that, along with the passage of time, we have forgotten the heavenly stories told by our common parents.

What is it that we need in order to re-discover the seed of eternity in our hearts? It may be that we all need to retreat to our childhood to find the pure love depicted by the naivety of children. Maybe we need to forget the turmoil of daily life, and focus on the lesson that comes at the end of virtually every one of the bedtime stories told by our beloved mothers, “And they lived happily ever after…”

Seth Mette has a PhD in Aerospace Engineering and is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at West Virginia University. He has a special interest in psychological fiction.

Notes

1. Based on the story of Adam and Eve according to the Qur’an (2:35–37, 7:19–24)
2. The reason for the choice of the word “murderer” for Satan is as follows: Death is in essence a change of residence (Nursi, S., Letters, First Letter, Second Question). One who dies in this world goes to the heavens. Similarly, one who dies in the heavens comes to this world. According to the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), death will be brought in the form of a sheep on the Day of Judgment, and will be slaughtered, which will mean that death is dead (Bukhari, Tafsir, 1, 19). This will render the people of hell totally hopeless; because until then, they will be crying for another chance in this world. The death of death will imply that return to this world is no longer possible. This explanation supports the idea that death in the heavens may be understood as coming to this world. Accordingly, since Satan is the one who is the apparent cause of the death of Adam and Eve in the heavens, hence the start of their story in this world, he is their murderer.
3. Nursi, Bediuzzaman Said, The Gleams, Third Gleam.
4. Karabuga, Veli, “How Are Babies Protected?” The Fountain, Vol. 50, Apr–June, 2005.

Nursi says that people are “connected with almost all beings” and because of this “a boundless capacity to love [these things] has been included in [our] nature[s].” However, even though individuals have the freedom to love transient things, these finite objects cannot fulfill them in the same way as the Enduring One (al-Baqi) can. What most people do not realize is that they “constantly suffer the pain of separation” because their infinite capacity for love, which has been given to them by God, is not fulfilled by things of this world. Like Rumi’s reed-flute, people yearn for a return to their reed-bed. By “misusing [their love] and spending it on transitory beings, [people have] done wrong and suffer the punishment for [this] fault through the pain of separation.” Individuals do not need to live in the state of suffering, however, and Nursi’s Third Flash offers them a way to transcend it.

The first part of the Sufi phrase calls people to sever that desire give one’s love to the finite things of this world. True, “the shadows of the shadows of the manifestation of His Most Beautiful Names” are beautiful and able to be loved in this world, but they themselves are not God and are not fit for the love that only God deserves. When people love only things of this world, they suffer; when they focus their love on the Enduring One (al-Baqi) they are brought closer to God and are fulfilled in ways not of this world. When they sever their ties to finite love, they open themselves to a Higher Love, an Infinite Love. The purpose of the first part of the Sufi phrase is to comfort people with knowledge of an Ever Enduring Love, and remind them that the love of this world pales in comparison to God’s everlasting love.

The second part of the Sufi phrase not only heals people’s spiritual wounds, but also acts to satisfy “the intense wish for immortality in [their] natures[s].” Nursi says that people long for immortality, because God is immortal and “the matter most important to [people], [their] most pressing duty is to form a relation with the Enduring One,” who is immortal. By placing their love in the finite, in loving only things of this world, people are limiting their capacities for Eternal Love and as a result they suffer. The only fulfilling love is love for the al-Baqi, the Enduring One, the Immortal and Undying Love of God. Once human beings separate themselves from the love of this world, as the first part of the Sufi phrase directs, people can then be healed by the knowledge that God is the Enduring One, and God’s love will never fade away.

Nursi insists that it is not only possible, but preferable, to live a life of infinite love in the present moment. To explain this point, he uses the illustration of the hands of a clock:

Just as the hands of a clock counting the seconds, and those counting the minutes, hours, and days superficially resemble each other, but differ in respect to speed, so too the spheres of the body, soul, heart, and spirit in man differ from each other.

Nursi says that the spiritual nature of humans is not bound by time. Yes, the physical existence of people’s pasts are extinct, and their futures not yet existent, but the present moment in which they live, in the minutes and hours that they live for the Love of God, they are immortal-“Yes, one second on the way of love, knowledge, and pleasure of the Truly Enduring One is a year.” Although it may often seem that “time flies when we are having fun,” in reality a “moment’s union for God’s sake within the bounds of the Enduring One of Glory’s pleasure is a window of union, not only for a [moment], but [permanently].” Speaking of the human perception of time and place, Nursi seems to anticipate Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity-“The broad Earth with enemies is like a drinking-glass, while the eye of a needle with friends is like a broad arena.” Understanding this imagery, a moment in God’s love can be an eternity of pleasure and fulfillment, and a moment without God’s love can seem like an eternity of suffering. It is because of this that Nursi, and the multitudes of Muslims before him and since, have prayed the five prescribed daily prayers to God. Through prayer Muslims are linked to God and are reminded of God’s Enduring Love; and through remembrance of the Enduring Love of God the transitory becomes eternal (baqi).

Sufi tradition also gives two other images for this enduring love: that of the fabric of life, and that of the “conveyor belt.” For the first image, life is seen as fabric. If during one’s life a person does nothing of merit, nothing of love for God, then the fabric remains plain, unbeautiful, and transient. If one does bad things and denies God’s love, the fabric becomes dirty and tattered and the fabric suffers. However, if one does what is beautiful and one remembers the Enduring One, flowers are embroidered on the fabric and these flowers last through all eternity, sustained by God’s Infinite Love. Likewise, the image of the conveyor belt symbolizes the transience of this world-for every deed done in this life, something goes on to the next. If one does nothing beautiful, nothing for God, then nothing is placed on the conveyor belt and nothing goes into the next life. If one does bad things or good things in this life, then these things go on into the next life, not to be seen again until death. One day, the conveyor belt stops and at that moment there is nothing left that one can do.

Similar to the Catholic Jesuit notion of Ad Meiorem Dei Gloriam (that is, living for the Greater Glory of God), Nursi’s reflections on the work of humans for God alludes to how spiritually profitable a life devoted to God can be:

Serve for the sake of God, meet with others for the sake of God, work for the sake of God; make all of your actions ‘in God, for God, and to God,’ then, all the moments of your life will become like years.

When working for the sake of God, when loving people for the sake of God, when living life for God;, a moment is like a year. Just as in our dreams a day can seem like a year, a life dedicated to and in love with God can feel like an eternity-in fact, a moment with God is an eternity, a glimpse of the Enduring Love of God.

This Sufi phrase of al-Baqi, which is formed under the name of God, ‘al-Baqi,’ calls people to cut ties with the finite love that this world offers. It also comforts human beings by reminding them that only God’s infinite love can bring us healing, fulfillment, and an everlasting union. In his Third Flash, Nursi eloquently affirms that within the Love of God there is the promise of an Enduring Love, a love that cannot be found in the worldly shadows alone.

Michael David Graskemper is a graduate student at John Carroll University, Department of Religious Studies

Reference

Nursi, Bediuzzaman Said, The Flashes Collection, Sozler Nesriyat, Istanbul: 1995, pp 29, 30.

Other contemporary Muslim intellectuals, after seeing such things as atomic bombs, mass murder, environmental pollution, and loss of moral and spiritual values, blamed these disasters on science and technology. They proclaimed the shortcomings and mistakes of the purely scientific approach in seeking the truth, as well as the failure of science and technology to bring happiness. Following the lead of their Western counterparts, they condemned science and technology outright and adopted an almost purely idealistic attitude.

However, Islam is the middle way. While it does not reject or condemn the modern scientific approach, neither does it deify it.

Science has been the most revered fetish or idol of humanity for nearly two centuries. Scientists once believed that they could explain every phenomenon with the findings of science and the law of causality. However, modern physics destroyed the theoretic foundations of mechanical physics by revealing that the universe is not a clockwork of certain parts working according to the strict, unchanging laws of causality and absolute determinism. Rather, despite its dazzling harmony and magnificent order, it is so complex and indeterminate that when we unveil one of its mysteries, more appear. In other words, the more we learn about the universe, the greater becomes our ignorance of how it functions.

Experts in atomic physics say that no one can be sure that the universe will be in the same state as it is now a moment from now. Although the universe functions according to certain laws, these laws are not absolute and, more interestingly, have no real or material existence. Rather, their existence is deduced from observing natural events and phenomena. Also, it is highly questionable whether they have a part in the creation and working of things.

For example, scientists say that a seed, soil, air, and water bring a free into existence. However, these are only causes for a free to come into existence, for the existence of a tree requires exact calculations and ratios, as well as pre-established relations among the seed, soil, air, and water. Science should also explain the beginning of this process and the diversification of seeds into different kinds. However, all it can really explain is how things take place. It thinks it has “explained” the origin of existence by attributing it to “nature,” “self-origination,” “necessity,” or “chance.”

Nature is, evidently, a design and not the designer, a recipient and not the agent, a composition and not the composer, an order and not the orderer, something printed and not the printer. It is a collection of laws established by the Divine Will, laws that humanity can grasp but which, in themselves, have no power or material reality. Attributing existence to self-origination, necessity, or chance is incorrect, for we can see that existence reflects absolute knowledge, wisdom, will, and power. Self-origination, necessity, and chance are concepts without material reality, so how can we attribute knowledge, wisdom, will, and power to them?

Despite the disasters science and technology have brought, the mistakes of the purely scientific approach in seeking the truth, and the failure of science and technology to bring happiness, one cannot condemn them outright and adopt an almost purely idealistic attitude. Although humanity has been reduced, human feelings have been diminished, and certain human virtues together with health and the ability to think have been harmed, it is wrong to ascribe all of this to science and technology. Rather, the fault lies with scientists who avoid their responsibilities, and with sciences that have been developed mainly in a materialistic and almost purely “scientific” atmosphere and then exploited by an irresponsible minority. Many worrying conditions probably would not have existed if scientists had been aware of their social responsibility, and if science had not been developed, due to Christianity’s shortcomings, as largely hostile to religion.

Nature is like a book offered to humanity to study, an exhibition to behold, and a trust from which to benefit. By studying its meaning and content, humanity is to use nature to benefit future as well as present generations. If we wish, we can call this relation between humanity and the world “science.”

Science can also be described as comprehending what things and events tell us, and what the Divine laws controlling the universe reveal to us. It means striving to understand the Creator’s purpose. Humanity, created to rule over all things, must observe, read, discern, and learn about its surroundings. Then, it must seek ways to exert influence over events and subject them to itself. When this has been done, by the decree of the Creator everything will submit to humanity, who will submit to God.

There is no reason for people to fear science. The danger does not lie with science itself and the founding of a new world in accordance with it, but rather with ignorance and the irresponsibility of scientists and others who exploit science for their own selfish interests.

If true science consists of directing one’s intelligence toward eternity without expecting material gain, making a tireless and detailed study of existence to discover the absolute truth underlying it, and following the methods required to teach this aim, then science must possess these essential points to meet our expectations. Although usually presented as a conflict between Christianity and science, the conflicts during the Renaissance were mainly between scientists and the Church. Copernicus, Galileo, and Bacon were not against religious. In fact, it may even be said that it was their religious commitment that ignited their love and thought of finding the truth.

Before Christianity it was Islam, the religious thought springing from the idea of eternity and the love and zeal arising from that thought, accompanied by the feeling of poverty and impotence before the Eternal, All-Powerful and All-Wealthy Creator, that lay behind the great scientific advance in the Muslim world for five hundred years until the close of the twelfth century. The concept of science as based on the Divine Revelation, which drove scientific studies in the Muslim world, was represented almost perfectly by illustrious figures of the time who, devoted to the thought of eternity, studied existence tirelessly with the aim of attaining eternity.

Their commitment to the Divine Revelation engendered a new concept of science in human souls. If that concept of science, approved and appropriated by the community as if it were a part of the Divine Message and pursued as an act of worship, had not been exposed to the destructive Mongol invasions and Crusades, the world would surely be more enlightened than it is at present. Its intellectual life would be richer, and its technology more wholesome. In addition, its sciences would be more promising, for sciences based on Islam have embedded in their core the aspiration for eternity, and the ideals of being useful to humanity and responsible in handling things to earn His pleasure.

The love of truth, defined as approaching existence without considering material advantage and worldly gain and as observing and recognizing truth as it really is, gives true direction to scientific studies. Those equipped with such love can reach the final destination in their studies. Those driven by worldly passion, material aspiration, and ideological prejudice and fanaticism, who cannot develop any love of truth, will not succeed. Even worse, they might divert scientific studies and make science a weapon of destruction and death.

Therefore, if intellectuals, educational institutions, and the mass media have a vital task to undertake for the good of humanity, it is this: to deliver modern scientific studies from the lethally polluted atmosphere of materialistic aspiration and ideological fanaticism, and to direct scientists toward higher human values. The first condition of achieving these goals is to free minds from ideological superstition and fanaticism, and to purify souls of desire for worldly gain and advantage. This is also the first condition of securing true freedom of thought and engaging in good science. Having fought the clergy and corrupt conceptions formed in the name of religion, and having blamed them for being backward, narrow-minded, and fanatical, scientists should not set themselves up as targets comparable accusations.

There is no difference between intellectual and scientific despotism arising from self- interest and power-seeking, ideological and “scientific” fanaticism, and restrictive reasoning due to corrupt and distorted religious conceptions and clerical domination. In numerous Qur’anic verses, Islam urges the study of nature, which is presented as a display of Divine works. It urges humanity to reflect upon the creation and the created, and to approach it responsibly. Studied without prejudice and preconceptions, one sees that the Qur’an promotes the love of science and humanity, justice and order. In the Islamic context, knowledge and the quest for it are based on the intention of discovering the meaning of existence in order to reach the Creator. They also are based on the desire to benefit humanity, indeed all creation, by joining with belief, love, and altruism. This is what we learn from the Qur’an, from the life of Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, and the conduct of many who have represented it perfectly in thought and action.

Again, there is no reason to fear science. Some planned acts based on knowledge may give bad results, but ignorance and disorganization always give bad results. Thus, instead of opposing the products of science and technology, we must use them to bring happiness to humanity. Herein lies the essence of humanity’s greatest problem: One cannot take measures against the Space Age or remove thoughts of making atomic or hydrogen bombs from the minds of some people.

Although science can be a deadly weapon in the hands of an irresponsible minority, we should adopt its products to establish a civilization in which people can achieve happiness in this world and the next. It is vain to curse machines and factories, for machines will continue to run and factories to operate. Science and its products will not cease to be potentially harmful until individuals of truth and belief direct things and events.

Sound of leaves

Beating in the ear with the force of strong, cold winds

A music of fall

The roses of poetical spring weep everywhere

Colours are plaintive

Nightingales in quiet lands lament

Single melancholy notes

Fountains are lost in thick mists of sorrow

Waters drip tenderly

Swans draw in their slender necks

In the search for spring

Plains groan in tears, hills weep in pangs of separation

Every sound is an elegy

Blue, green, pink and orange colours are in mourning

Each is groaning deeply

Like the last minutes of a life about to terminate

Every wail is a farewall

When looked to carefully, the end of the world is visible

What an alarming scene!

Spring and summer are each an enchanting memory

Lost in romantic fancies

Yet those fancies open to hopes stirring in the conscience

Diverse routes to the realms beyond

Eternity is sensed in each impression of transience,

Until man catches sight of it

Reason and logic are refined to seek out that other world

Reaching the realm of inspiration

Man feels the mysterious silence of death

Problems are resolved finally

Everyone sees the end of the way he treads

Kneels down trembling

Tongue-tied with dread of going into non-existence

Faith opens up a way to new horizons

Sobbing that his inevitable end is at last at hand

Every sends out lights

Thought falls into earth like a seed

To prepare itself for spring

It hastens to where it reaches gardens of Eden

To meet with the beloved

Without feeling pain or anguish

As treasured as a welcome bride,

One overflows with delight to feel eternity

As enrapturing as eternity itself

Fall is the sign that a new birth is on the way

Coming at the break of down

Hope resounds throughout fall without ceasing at all

Spring awaits a few steps away

From these words it should not be understood that we never can or will understand the value of this world. What I want to emphasise is that our collective customs and habits overwhelm our individual consciousness, knowledge and conscience. There are some people in this world who see our values through the prism of their refined consciousness and knowledge and feel in the vastness of their spirit pure emotions undimmed by customs and habits. They experience their own lives as passing through corridors of heaven and live like those in paradise.

Whether they be newcomers who travel on the horizon of new awareness and pleasure or old-timers in these affairs who have gained the secret of staying young and take advantage of all its benefits, they feel intoxication each day with the beauty of our world just like the exhilaration of the rising sun on a brand new day. They think about and breathe the constant faithfulness of this world and the things in it and the skies and whatever lies beyond. They stretch out their arms with love under the light waves of faith and the eternity promised by faith, and they tremble with reverence and dignity.

Almost always this realm, where the earth and skies open to one another and are at peace with each other, penetrates our spirits like the inclination of God Whom we love with all His creatures. It becomes enshrouded in such beauty that we believe these divine manifestations, which pass the limits of the physical world and can’t be contained in it, to be dreams. We tremble with concern that well awaken from this sweet dream and everything will disappear.

In fact, sometimes at moments and hours that are wrapped with a special aura that we don’t fully understand. day or night things suddenly become different. The general atmosphere becomes so enchanting that it seems to compete with the heavens. In this atmosphere of light, spirits that reach to heights beyond the physical plane and feelings that go beyond all space extend their minds beyond the boundaries that separate us from the spiritual world. They live in the shadow of the Prophet Muhammad’s miraculous ascent to heaven. This sea of dreams sometimes, in the form of a whisper of pleasure and delight, encompasses those hearts that are open to the beyond. The breasts of those who reach this vastness expand enough to hold the whole universe including the moon, the sun and the stars. They pass beyond all limits and become a shining mirror to the throne of mercy. The appreciative angels run to watch those who have become like stars scattered upon the earth. Those special ones on earth in the language of animated silence watch this delightful scene and, as if listening to the most divine poetry. go back and forth between this spectacle and pleasure. thus weaving the eternal lacework of life.

Wherever you are in this fantastic calm, the beyond and creatures of the beyond are always with you: wherever you go you gather pearls from the beyond and you always feel like they’re being showered on your head.

Yes, at home, at work, in seclusion or in the company of others you’ll see that the coloured lights are spanning your horizon just like a rainbow. You’ll feel like you’re constantly walking under a celestial arch. That special light together with love, as if filtering from a silver lantern floating in love’s union, surrounds you. Much greater than the lights of the physical and material realms, it is a flood releasing enchanting and dream-filled beams of light. Everything becomes immersed in the colour of its own wave.

For those who can always contemplate their surroundings with faith and consideration, the universe in all four directions is a marvellous exhibition adorned with spiritual pleasures. It cannot be seen with physical eyes nor heard by physical ears; it can only be sensed with conscience and vision. The universe is a song bursting with eternal notes and an encyclopedia whose every line is full of meaning that could fill books. Those who hear it seem to have awakened to heaven: those who listen to it can be said to have listened to a chorus of houris; those who read it reach the happiness of sharing the four Holy Books’ points of concurrence and accord.

The Creative Power has spread the earth before our eyes meaningfully filled with knowledge. affection and love like a breathing, animate creature changing the colours of its skirts according to the seasons. In the earth’s bosom running streams have sprung up whispering eternal melodies to our ears and quickening our hearts with murmurs of eternity. A spell has been cast on our thoughts and feelings, our heads are spinning. The heavens full of colour and light, like a magical, mysterious ball, incite us to poetical inspiration. The earth is adorned like a bridal suite, and life, without being a difficult puzzle, can be lived, breathed, smelled, and felt as a delightful, constantly sought-after enjoyment, the continuation of which is hopefully awaited, Life has been raised to a level of spiritual pleasure and tranquillity.

This magical world, as much as we have been able to see and perceive it, is an unbelievable dream world. The things in it appear like a slope of heaven with their essential beauty displayed before our eyes. With the aid of this different view and perception, in order to go beyond the limited pleasures of our temporary lives and to receive our share of the unfading beauty of all creation, we always open our perishable souls to eternity and, as if we were tasting eternity’s pleasure and hearing eternity’s dialect, we can change the fleeting seconds of our lives into years. Due to such luminous moments, every spirit can gain immortality, of course, to the extent that it can internalise such situations, and benefit generously from eternity’s inspirations.

If one day the sound of everything is silenced, if all of creation swallows its tongue and doesn’t say anything to us, or if we hear but don’t understand, still, with the traces of this temporary light that has filled our hearts, our spirits will constantly pursue those luminous moments. On every new horizon our eyes will seek those seconds of illumination and shine brightly with the torches of truth and hope burning in our hearts.

pure as rain, cool as the shade of clouds;

its colour and design address all the worlds,

unstained white like the river of milk in Paradise…

Not a transient hope, but peace everlasting,

from which begin all roads leading souls to heaven.

A source of strength for whoever affirms it,

a source of light for whoever takes refuge in it.

It unveils its wonders one after the other

To whoever enters its clime.

It draws the attention of all because of its message,

never worn out, written in the moisture of gabriel’s speech.

Its ever-green hills are pavilions where

the created meet with the Creator.

Satan is always defeated in its climate.

The greatest mystery between the Creator and existence.

Its voice is the most vigorous and enlivening;

Souls thirsty for that mystery stand before it

in utmost respect and ready to follow its way,

enveloped with the fragrant scent of afterlife.

The days it promises approach in blooms of spring;

it points to eternal existence and leads to

eternity, and along all the paths it clears

welcoming breezes blow from gardens of friends…

Through all the succeeding years, time

overflows with the pleasures it brings.

It came with the most profound of messages

and its breath holds the cure for incurable diseases.

The spirit is never heard to wail in its climate,

those burning in love are cooled with the hope of union

Though winter visits every year, those who enter it

gain immortality, suffering no autumn fall.

They advance to eternity with documents

showing their absolution from punishment..

meet with god and seek intimacy with Him

flying on wings of light that cannot tire

they pass impenetrable veils one after the other.

***

where he flounders a whole lifetime among waves of anxiety.

At every step and every station, he expects a dawn of hope to break;

Morning begins with pains, evening comes with the hopes of union.

Over and again, winds of mortality blow and are biting cold;

Lamentations as if from rejected orphans are heard everywhere.

By and by, arising from deep within his own conscience come

heavenly sounds laden with meaning and mystery.

A time comes when, like overflowing waves, he overflows

with longing to touch eternity and sails as far as the shore.

But he is stopped there, unable to move as if held in chains.

He brims over with zeal but remains in his narrow pool.

Confined within the walls of matter, man feels imprisoned

though knowing the horizons of being are of infinite breadth.

He always lives autumn in the corners of his heart

and travels through the dark pits of despair lamenting.

Those with hearts set on eternity live a honeymoon every night,

rapturous and joyful with the pleasure of endless spectacles

Observing existence with the profound intuition of their hearts,

they welcome there the music from the higher worlds beyond.

Dressed in shirts of flame, with roses between their lips,

even in the cruelest storms of the most painful days,

their spirits receive fresh life from the ardour of their hearts

and the profound contentment their conviction brings.

Every day man is washed in that ocean of purification,

and feels Him as deeply as angels, and at times

when he is utterly alone, he feels His care and nearness,

and tastes the delight of love and intimacy with Him.