Fifteenth Word
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
وَلَقَدْ زَيَّنَّا السَّمَاۤءَ الدُّنْياَ بِمَصَابِيحَ وَجَعَلْناَهَا رُجوُماً لِلشَّياَطِينِ
We have adorned the lowest heaven with lamps and made them [missiles] for stoning satans… (Qur'an, 67: 5)
“O You the schooled gentleman whose mind is narrowed down by the spiritless matters of astronomy, intellect has descended to his eye, and who cannot fit the tremendous secret of this verse in his narrow mind! The firmament of this verse can be climbed with a ladder with seven steps. Come, we will climb together.”
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ROUGH TRANSLATION from the RISALE-I NUR
translated by Dr. Mustafa Tuna
A rough translation of the section that is being discussed is posted below. This is a work in progress and should not be considered a finalized translation. It is only meant to help with understanding the recorded discussion.
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
وَلَقَدْ زَيَّنَّا السَّمَاۤءَ الدُّنْياَ بِمَصَابِيحَ وَجَعَلْناَهَا رُجوُماً لِلشَّياَطِينِ
We have adorned the lowest heaven with lamps and made them [missiles] for stoning satans… (Qur'an, 67: 5)
O You the schooled gentleman whose mind is narrowed down by the spiritless matters of astronomy, intellect has descended to his eye, and who cannot fit the tremendous secret of this verse in his narrow mind! The firmament of this verse can be climbed with a ladder with seven steps. Come, we will climb together.
First Step
Reality and wisdom demand that the heavens should have fitting inhabitants just as the earth does. In the language of the Shari’a, those various species are named “angels and spiritual beings.”
Yes, reality entails such, because that the earth is filled with living and conscious creatures, then it is emptied from time to time and livened up again with conscious beings despite its smallness and lowliness points out, rather, clarifies that these heavens that are in effect adorned fortresses with magnificent constellations are also filled with conscious creatures who have comprehension. Like people and the jinn, they too are spectators of this palace of the realm, careful readers of this book of the cosmos, and proclaimers of this lordly royal power. Because, it is known with intuitive clarity that His beautification and adornment of the cosmos with boundless and innumerable adornments, beauties, and embroideries demand the gazes of reflecting, admiring, and marveling appreciators.
Yes, of course beauty demands a lover. As for food, it is given to the hungry. Yet, in the face of this unlimited duty, sublime task of viewing, and broad worshipful slavehood, humans and the jinn can fulfill only one out of a million. In that case, these unlimited and variegated duties and worships require unlimited types of angels and species of spiritual beings.
It can be said according to what some narrations point to and according to the wisdom that the realm’s orderliness entails that some flying objects, from the planets all the way to raindrops, are the mounts of some angels. With divine permission, they mount on these and spectate the seen realm traveling through it. Furthermore, it can be said that some animal bodies, from paradisiacal birds named “ṭuyūrun khuḍrun” (green birds) in the prophetic tradition all the way to flies, are the airplanes of some types of spiritual beings. They enter these with the command of the Real and travel around the physical realm, spectating the physical miracles of innate nature through the windows of the sensory faculties of those bodies.
Of course, the Creator who creates subtle life and luminous possessors of comprehension from dense earth and turbid water, of course, has some conscious creatures made from this sea of light and even the sea of darkness as befits spirit and life. In fact, He has them in multitudes. In one of my treatises titled “Dot” and in the “Twenty Ninth Word,” the existence of angels and spiritual beings is proven with the certainty of two plus two equals four. If you wish, consult that.
Second Step
The earth and the heavens are related to one another like two lands under the administration of the same government. There are significant connections and important transactions between them. Things like light, heat, blessing, and mercy are coming from the heavens, that is, they are being sent. According to the consensus of all heavenly religions, which rely on revelation, and the broad authentication of all people of openings, who rely on observations, the angels and spirits come to earth from the heavens.
It is understood from this with a definitive immediate apprehension, which can almost be perceived by the senses, that there is a pathway for the inhabitants of the earth to rise to the heavens. Yes, as everybody’s intellect, imagination, and sight reach the heavens at all times, in like fashion, the spirits of prophets and saints who leave their weights behind and the spirits of dead people who strip their corpses off go there with divine permission. Since those who attain lightness and subtlety go there, of course some inhabitants of the earth and the air whose corpses are made of similitudes and who are light and subtle like spirits can go to the heavens.
Third Step
The silence, tranquility, orderliness, regularity, vastness, and luminosity of the heavens show that its inhabitants are not like the inhabitants of the earth; in fact, its entire population are obedient. They do whatever they are commanded. There is no cause for confrontation and dispute. Because, the land is vast, their [the inhabitants’] innate natures are pure, they are innocent, and their stations are stable.
Yes, the opposites have congregated on earth, the evil ones have blended with the good ones, dispute has started among them. Oppositions and sufferings have come out of this. Trials and competitions have been obligated. And from this have arisen progress and regress. The wisdom in this reality is this:
The human being is the fruit that comes as the last part of the tree of creation. It is well known that the fruit of a thing is its most comprehensive, most delicate, and most significant part. Therefore, because the human being, who is the fruit of the realm, is the most comprehensive, the most peerless, the most important, the weakest, and the subtlest miracle of power, compared to the heavens, despite its material smallness and lowliness, the earth, which is the human being’s cradle and place of habitation, has become from the point of view of metaphysics and artistry the heart and center of the entire cosmos, the display house and exhibit of all miracles of artistry, the locus of appearance and the focal point for all the manifestations of divine names, the place of assembly and reflection for endless lordly activity, the locus and the marketplace of boundless divine creativity and especially of the generous act of bringing into existence among the many small species of plants and animals, the sampling place at a small scale for the artifacts of the vast realms of the Hereafter, the fast-working loom of eternal tapestries, the fast-changing place of imitation for the perpetual sceneries, and the narrow and temporary yet fast-blossoming field and place of nurturing for the tiny seeds of continual gardens.
It is due to this metaphysical tremendousness and artistic significance of the earth (side note) that the Wise Qur’an holds the earth, which, compared to the heavens, is in effect a small fruit of a great tree, equal to the heavens. It puts the earth on one side of a scale and the heavens on the other. Repeatedly, it says: رَبُّ السَّمٰوَاتِ وَاْلاَرْضِ (the Lord of the heavens and the earth).
Moreover, the fast transformation and continual transmutation of the earth that issues from these wisdoms that are mentioned above entail that its fruits should also be subject to transformation accordingly.
Moreover, it is because this limited earth is the locus of appearance for boundless miracles of power that the capacities placed in the innate nature and creation of the humans and the jinn, as the earth’s most important inhabitants, have not been limited, and thus, they are subject to unlimited progress and unlimited regress. A long arena of testing has appeared for them beginning with the prophets and saints and extending all the way to the Nimrods and satans. Since that is the case, of course, the satans who have become pharaohs will cast stones to the heavens and its inhabitants with their evildoings.
Side note: Yes, the globe of the earth can correspond to the heavens despite its smallness. Because, as a continually flowing fountain can be considered to be bigger than a lake without any inflowing water; or with the produce that has entered it and exited and thus passed through it, a measuring container used to measure something to transfer to another place can appear in balance with a mountain-like object that is thousands of times bigger than it in appearance… In the same way, the Sublime Real has created the globe of the earth in effect as a display house for His artistry, a place of assembly for what He brings into existence, a locus of concentration for His wisdom, a locus of appearance for His power, a flower bed for His mercy, a cultivating field for His Paradise, a measuring container for the boundless cosmos and realms of creatures, and a fountain flowing into the seas of the past and the realm of the unseen. Take into consideration all those ever-renewing realms that he pours into the realm of the unseen, by changing their layered and multiple layers of shirts woven in a hundred thousand ways from the artifacts and by depositing them into the past, and the earth’s various shirts. That is, assume its entire past to be present, then compare it with the heavens which are to some extent monotonous and plain. You will see that even if the earth is not more, it will not be less either. So, understand the secret of رَبُّ السَّمٰوَاتِ وَاْلاَرْضِ (the Lord of the heavens and the earth).
Fourth Step
The Majestic Entity Who is the Lord, Administrator, and Creator of all realms has many appellations, titles, and beautiful divine names each with a separate rule. For instance, whichever divine name and title entail that He sends angels to fight in the lines of the companions of the Prophet against the disbelievers, it is that name and title that entail the existence of an ongoing battle between angels and satans and a confrontation between the good inhabitants of the heavens and the evildoers of the earth. Yes, the Majestic All-powerful One Who holds the disbelievers’ souls in His grip of power is not destroying them simply with one command or a single blast. With His title of general lordship and His names the Sovereign and the Administrator, He opens an arena of testing and confrontation.
May there be no mistake in representation, we see, as an emperor has many titles and names with respect to the different departments of his rule… For instance, the department of justice refers to him with his name the Just Sovereign. The department of the military knows him with the appellation the Tremendous Commander. The department of religious affairs mentions him as the Caliph. The department of public affairs knows him as the Sultan. Obedient folk call him the Merciful Emperor. Rebellious people call him the All-Compelling Sovereign… And so on, you think in comparison to these. Sometimes, that exalted king who holds the entire population in his hands does not execute an impotent and debased rebel with a command. Rather, he sends him to the court with his name Just Sovereign. Furthermore, he knows that a faithful official merits being favored. But he does not limit his favor to his private knowledge, calling the official on a private line. Rather, with the sublimity of his royal power and his title pertaining to government administration, he opens an arena of competition to demonstrate the official’s worthiness of being rewarded. He commands his vizier to invite the people to watch. He organizes an official welcoming ceremony and gives his favor to the official in a high place of gathering, following a lofty examination, and proclaims the official’s merit. Compare other aspects to this.
Thus, وَ ِللهِ الْمَثَلُ اْلاَعْلٰى (And to God is the highest similitude (Qur’an, 16: 60), the Sultan of pre-eternity and post-eternity has many beautiful divine names. He has many conducts and titles with majestic manifestations and beautific appearances. His name, title, and characteristic conduct that entail the existence of light and darkness, summer and winter, Paradise and Hell demand that the law of confrontation be publicized to some extent, like the law of reproduction, the law of competition, and the law of mutual assistance. This entails the extension of this law all the way from the confrontation of inspirations and obsessive whisperings surrounding the heart to the confrontation of the angels and satans on the horizons of the heavens.
Fifth Step
Since there is coming and going from the earth to the heavens, descent from and ascent to the heavens take place, important necessities of the earth are being sent from there, and since good spirits travel to the heavens, of course, vile spirits will also attempt to travel to the land of the heavens in imitation of the good ones; for they have bodily subtlety and lightness. And without a doubt, they will be expelled and rejected, for they have an evil and ominous quiddity.
Moreover, without dubiousness and doubt, that important transaction and metaphysical confrontation will have a mark and sign in the realm of witnessing. Because, the wisdom of the royal power of lordship entails that He puts a sign and leaves a mark on the important ones of the unseen disposals for the conscious beings and especially for the human being whose most important duty is to observe, witness, proclaim, and oversee. (In the way that He has placed rain as a sign for the unlimited miracles of spring and made apparent causes a mark of the wonders of His artistry.) So that He holds the inhabitants of the realm of witnessing as witnesses, and in fact, draws the careful sights of all denizens of the heavens and all inhabitants of the earth to that amazing spectacle. That is to say, He makes them contemplate the sublimity of His lordship by displaying the entire heavens like a fortress with adorned towers and surrounded by guards or in the image of a city.
Since the proclamation of this lofty confrontation is required by wisdom, of course there will be a sign for it. However, none of the atmospheric and heavenly events appear to be suitable for this proclamation. There is nothing more suitable than this. Hence, it is understood with intuitive clarity that these astral events that resemble catapult projectiles or signal flares shot from the secure towers of high fortresses fit the pelting of Satan most suitably. And no other wisdom is known to suit that event other than this wisdom and purpose. Other events are unlike this. Moreover, this wisdom has been well-known since the time of Adam and has been witnessed by the people of reality.
Sixth Step
Because the humans and the jinn have an aptitude for unlimited evil and denial, they can act with unlimited obstinacy and transgression. It is because of this that the Wise Qur’an censures people and the jinn against rebelliousness and transgression with such miraculous eloquence, such exalted and encompassing style, such rich and obvious representations and examples that it causes the entire cosmos to tremble. For instance, pay attention to the tremendous warning, dreadful threat, and harsh censures pointing to the example of “O people and the jinn! If you do not obey my commands, then go ahead, exit the boundaries of my dominion if you can.” in the verse:
يَامَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ وَاْلاِنْسِ اِنِ اسْتَطَعْتُمْ اَنْ تَنْفُذُوا مِنْ اَقْطَارِ السَّمٰوَاتِ وَاْلاَرْضِ فَانْفُذُوا لاَ تَنْفُذُونَ اِلاَّ بِسُلْطاَنٍ۞ فَبِاَىِّ اٰلاَۤءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّباَنِ۞ يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُماَ شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ وَنُحَاسٌ فَلاَ تَنْتَصِرَانِ
O Jinn and people, if you can pass beyond the regions of heaven and earth, then do so: you will not pass without Our authority. // Which, then, of your Lord’s blessings do you both deny? // A blaze of fire and bronze will be released upon you and no one will come to your aid (Qur'an, 55: 33-36).
how it breaks the utterly vainglorious obstinacy of people and the jinn with such incapacitating eloquence. It proclaims their impotence. It shows how impotent and helpless they are in comparison to the vastness and tremendousness of the royal power of lordship. It is as if it says with this verse and the verse of وَجَعَلْناَهَا رُجُومًا لِلشَّيَاطِينِ (…and made them [missiles] for stoning satans… (Qur'an, 67: 5)):
“O the jinn and people who are vainglorious and obstinate within their insignificance and drunk and stubborn within their weakness and poverty! How dare do you oppose with your rebelliousness the commands of an esteemed King Whose commands the stars, the moons, and the suns obey like obedient soldiers.
“Also you are confronting with your transgression such a majestic Ruler Who has such obedient and tremendous soldiers that if, as an assumption, the satans had the capacity to tolerate this, those soldiers could stone them with mountain-like cannonballs.
“Also you are rebelling with your denial of blessings in the land of such a majestic Owner Who has such slaves and soldiers that, not tiny and impotent creatures like you but, assuming the inconceivable, if you were disbelieving enemies as big as mountains and the earth, they could cast stars as big as the earth and mountains, burning pieces of iron, and blazing pieces of bronze on you, and thus, they would disperse you.
“Also you are breaking such a law by which such beings are bound that if the necessity arises, they can slap your earth on your face and rain stars as big as your earth on you like cannonballs.”
Yes, there are some important exhortations in the Qur’an that are not there due to the strength of the enemy. Rather, they are meant for purposes such as exposing divine sublimity and displaying the hideousness of the enemy.
Furthermore, sometimes the Qur’an calls forth the greatest and most powerful causes against the smallest and weakest thing to show the perfection of orderliness, utmost justice, uttermost knowledge, and the strength of wisdom; it does not let these [principles] fall, it does not allow their violation. For instance, look at this verse:
وَاِنْ تَظَاهَرَا عَلَيْهِ فَاِنَّ اللهَ هُوَ مَوْلٰيهُ وَجِبْريِلُ وَصَالِحُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمَلٰئِكَةُ بَعْدَ ذٰلِكَ ظَهِيرٌ
[If you (the two wives of the Prophet ﷺ) repent to God—for your hearts have deviated – (all will be well);] if you collaborate to back one another against him (the Prophet ﷺ), God is His patron to back him after that, so is Gabriel, so are all righteous believers, and so are the angels (Qur'an, 66: 4).
How much respect is in this for the right that belongs to the Prophet (ﷺ), and how much mercy is in it for the rights of the wives? This important exhortation is only to express mercifully the tremendousness of the respect that is due to the Prophet (ﷺ) along with the significance of those two weak ones’ complaints and of the observance of their rights.
Seventh Step
Like angels and the fish, the stars have many varieties among them. Some are quite small, and some are quite big. This is so much so that everything that shines on the firmament can be called a star. So, the majestic One Who creates from nothing, the beautiful Artful Maker has created one species of this genus of stars as ornamented adornments of the delicate face of the heavens, as luminous fruits of that tree, and as glorifying fish of that sea, and He has made them places of spectacle, mounts, and homes for His angels. And he has made a small species among the stars an instrument to stone satans.
So, these shooting stars that are cast to stone the satans can have three meanings:
First: It marks and is a symbolic indication that the law of confrontation is taking place even in the broadest circle.
Second: There are vigilant guards and obedient inhabitants in the heavens. It proclaims and is a sign that there are soldiers of God who do not like the intrusion and eavesdropping of the earthly evil beings.
Third: It is the rejection and expelling from the gates of the heavens of those spying satans, which are the vile representatives of the earth’s gaudy filth, with those shooting stars, like catapult projectiles or signal flares shot to scare shameless spies, so that the heavens, which are clean and are the dwelling place of those who are clean, are not contaminated and that those satans do not spy on behalf of vile souls.
Hence, o you the gentleman astronomer who relies on the firefly-like flashlight of his head and closes his eyes to the Qur’an’s sun! Look at the realities to which these seven steps point all at once. Open your eyes, leave the flashlight of your head, see the meaning of this verse in the light of miraculousness that is clear like daylight. Take a star of reality from the heavens of that verse, cast it on the satan in your head, stone your own satan. We too should stone and join in to say:
رَبِّ اَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ هَمَزَاتِ الشَّيَاطِينِ
…O Lord, I take refuge with You from the goadings of satans (Qur'an, 23: 97)
فَلِلّٰهِ الْحُجَّةُ الْبَالِغَةُ وَالْحِكْمَةُ الْقَاطِعَةُ
To God belongs the eloquent proof and the definitive wisdom.
سُبْحَانَكَ لاَعِلْمَ لَنَاۤ اِلاَّ مَاعَلَّمْتَنَاۤ اِنَّكَ اَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ
Glory be to you. We have no knowledge other than that which you have taught us. Indeed you are All-knowing, All-wise (Qur’an, 2: 32).