The Seventeenth Flash

One seed, for example, grows into a fig tree and begins to display the favours of the Fātir-i HakīmAllah, Who creates all things from nothing with perfect wisdom.. Through its branches, it extends those favours toward us.

We also see two other seeds resembling the seed of the fig tree. One blossoms into a sunflower and the other into an orchid. They display themselves before us, smile upon us, and thereby win our affection.

Still other seeds germinate and grow into trees that offer us their fruits. With their delicious tastes, pleasant fragrances, and attractive forms, those fruits awaken our appetite and invite us to benefit from them. They sacrifice themselves for us, passing from the plant kingdom into the bodies of living beings.

These are only a few examples. By analogy, you may consider the rest.

Thus, that single handful of seeds develops in such a way that the place where they were sown is transformed into a garden filled with many kinds of trees and flowers, without defect or disorder, offering a clear example of the mystery of the verse:

فَارْجِعِ الْبَصَرَ هَلْ تَرٰى مِنْ فُطُورٍSo look again. Do you see any flaws? — The Qur’an 67:3

Through the manifestation of the Name al-HafīzAllah, the Preserver, who safeguards, protects, and preserves all things., every seed perfectly preserves the inheritance of its parent and origin and displays it anew.

Indeed, the fact that the One Who brings about such countless instances of preservation does so with such perfection is a clear indication that He will certainly display the supreme manifestation of His preservation in the Hereafter, at the resurrection.

Moreover, such flawless and perfect preservation even in simple and transient things constitutes a compelling proof that the actions, deeds, words, good works, and evil deeds of human beings—who possess immense importance, bear great responsibility, and serve as vicegerents upon the earth—are preserved with perfect accuracy, and that they will be called to account for them.

Does the human being imagine that after death he will simply be left to himself? Certainly not. He proceeds toward eternity and is destined either for everlasting happiness or everlasting torment. He will be called to account for all his deeds, whether small or great, few or many, and will receive either reward or punishment.

In short, the proofs confirming the supreme manifestation of preservation indicated by

فَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ ۞ وَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُSo whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it. And whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it. — The Qur’an 99:7–8

are countless.

The proof presented here is only a tiny part of a far greater whole—like a drop from an ocean or an atom from a mountain.

سُبْحَانَكَ لَا عِلْمَ لَنَٓا اِلَّا مَا عَلَّمْتَنَٓا اِنَّكَ اَنْتَ الْعَلٖيمُ الْحَكٖيمُGlory be to You. We have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed, You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. – The Quran 2:32