Nature Or The Creator

Moreover, the person who neglects prayer wrongs himself. For he does not own himself; rather, he belongs to his True Owner. His Owner issues severe warnings in order to protect the rights of His servant from his nafs-i ammāra. Furthermore, because worship is both the purpose of his creation and the goal of his nature, abandoning it constitutes a transgression against Divine Wisdom and Divine Will. For this reason, he deserves punishment.

In short: the one who abandons worship wrongs himself, for he is a servant and possession of Allah, and he also violates the rights inherent in the perfections of the whole of creation. Just as unbelief is an insult to creation, so too is the abandonment of worship a denial of the perfection of creation. And because it is an offence against Divine Wisdom, it deserves severe warnings and serious punishment.

Indeed, it is in order to express this reality and this deservingness that the Qur’an, with its miraculous eloquence, adopts such a forceful style. In doing so, it perfectly demonstrates true balāghah—speaking in a manner entirely appropriate to the circumstances and the condition being addressed.

Second Question

The person who had abandoned Naturalism and embraced faith said:

“It is indeed a tremendous reality that all existence, in every aspect and in every action, remains entirely dependent upon the will and power of Allah. The greatness of this reality exceeds the capacity of our limited minds to fully comprehend.

Yet throughout the world we observe an infinite abundance and an extraordinary ease in the formation of created beings. The proofs presented earlier in this treatise demonstrate that this boundless ease lies on the path of Divine Unity. Furthermore, Qur’anic verses such as:

مَا خَلْقُكُمْ وَلَا بَعْثُكُمْ اِلَّا كَنَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ

and

وَمَٓا اَمْرُ السَّاعَةِ اِلَّا كَلَمْحِ الْبَصَرِ اَوْ هُوَ اَقْرَبُ

clearly proclaim that everything is brought into existence with the utmost ease. All of this indicates that the tremendous reality you describe is both highly rational and readily acceptable. What is the secret behind this ease?”

The Answer: In The Tenth Phrase of The Twentieth Letter, where the meaning of

وَهُوَ عَلٰى كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدٖيرٌ

is explained, this secret is set forth in an exceptionally clear, decisive, and convincing manner. Particularly in the addendum to that letter, it is demonstrated even more explicitly that when creation is attributed to Sāni-i Wāhid, the existence of all things becomes as easy as the existence of a single individual. But if creation is not attributed to Wāhid-i Ahad, then the creation of a single individual becomes more difficult than the creation of the entire universe. The formation of a single seed becomes as difficult as the formation of a tree.