Second ray

We discussed in the Twelfth and other Words to what extent human philosophy is inferior to the Qur’an’s wisdom. Here we will compare them from another perspective.

Philosophy and science view existence as permanent and discuss creatures’ nature and qualities in detail. If they mention their duties toward their Creator at all, they do so only very briefly, as if they discuss only the designs and letters of the Book of the Universe and ignore its meaning. But since the Qur’an views existence as transient, moving, illusory, unstable, and changing, it mentions all creatures’ nature and outward, physical qualities rather briefly and spends a great deal of time elaborating the duties of worship with which their Creator has charged them, the ways they manifest His Names, and their submission to the Divine laws of creation and operation of the universe. Thus, in order to distinguish truth from falsehood, we should see the differences between human philosophy and Qur’anic wisdom related to summarizing and elaborating.

However unmoving, constant, and static a clock outwardly appears, it is in a state of continuous movement in essence and inwardly. Likewise the world, which is a huge clock of the Divine Power, rolls or revolves unceasingly in continuous change and upheaval. Its two “hands” of night and day show the passage of its seconds, and its “hands” of years and centuries show the passage of its minutes and hours. Time plunges the world into waves of decay and, leaving the past and future to non‑existence, allows existence for the present only.

The world also is changing and unstable with respect to space. Its atmosphere changes rapidly, filling with and being cleared of clouds several times a day and displaying weather‑related changes. Such activity corresponds to the passage of seconds. Earth, the world’s floor, undergoes continuous change through cycles of life and death and in vegetation and animals. Such cycles correspond to the passage of minutes and demonstrate the world’s transience.

Such cycles can be found in Earth’s interior, where convulsions and upheavals cause such events as earthquakes and the emergence and subsidence of mountains. These are like an hour hand showing the world’s mortality. The movements of heavenly bodies in the sky (the world’s roof), the appearance of comets and new stars while some others are extinguished, as well as solar and lunar eclipses, demonstrate that it is not stable and therefore is making its way toward a final ruin. However slow its changes are, they also show that the world is mortal and moves to its inevitable end.

The “pillars” upon which this world was built shake it continually. When considered with respect to its Maker, whose movements and changes are the results of the movements of the Divine Power’s Pen writing the Eternally‑Besought‑of‑All’s missives, this world and its transformations function as ever‑renewed or ever‑polished mirrors reflecting the Divine Names’ manifestations in all different aspects. Thus, when considered with respect to itself and being a material, created entity, the world continually convulses and moves toward decay and death.

Although the world moves like flowing water, heedlessness has frozen it and (philosophical) naturalism has solidified it so that it has become a veil that conceals and makes one forget the afterlife. Philosophy is nourished by modern scientific thought and supported by corrupt modern civilization’s alluring amusements, as well as the intoxicating desires it arouses in people. Such things make the world more turbid and increase its solidity, which causes people to forget the Creator and the afterlife.

Through such verses as: The calamity. What is the calamity? (101:1‑2); When the inevitable event befalls (56:1); and By the Mount, and a Scripture inscribed (56:1‑2), the Qur’an shatters this world and cards it like wool. Through such verses as: Have they not considered the dominion and inner aspect of the heavens and Earth? (7:185); Have they not then observed the sky above them, how We have made it? (50:6); and: Did not the unbelievers know that the heavens and Earth were of one piece, then We parted them? (21:30), it gives that world a transparency and removes its turbidity. Through its bright, light‑diffusing “stars” like: God is the Light of the heavens and Earth (24:35) and: The life of this world is but a play and amusement (6:32), it melts that solid world.

Through its threatening verses that recall death, such as: When the sun is folded up (81:1), When the heaven is cleft asunder (82:1), When the heaven is split asunder (84: 1), and The Trumpet is blown, and all who are in the heavens and on Earth fall down senseless, save those whom God wills (39:68), it destroys the delusion that the world is eternal. Through its thunder‑like blasts, such as: He knows all that enters Earth and all that emerges therefrom and all that comes down from the heaven and all that ascends therein. He is with you wherever you may be. God sees all that you do (57:4) and Say: “Praise be to God, Who will show you His signs so that you shall know them. Your Lord is not unaware of what you do”·(27: 93), it removes heedlessness, which gives rise to naturalism.

Thus those Qur’anic verses concerned with the universe follow the principle outlined above. They unveil the world’s reality and display it as it is. By showing the world’s ugly face, it turns us away from it; by pointing out its beautiful face, which is turned toward the Maker, it turns our face toward it. It instructs us in true wisdom and teaches us the meanings of the Book of the Universe, with little attention to its letters and decorations. Unlike human philosophy, it does not give itself over to what is ugly and, causing people to forget the meaning, lead them to waste their time on such meaningless things as the letters’ decorations.