The First Flash

Indeed, what cause other than the Creator of the heavens and the earth could know the most subtle and hidden desires of our heart? Who could illumine the future for us by bringing the Hereafter into existence, and save us from the countless suffocating waves of the world? No; apart from that Necessarily Existent One, nothing can in any way offer help or deliverance except by His permission and command.

Since all this is the truth, and since, as a result of his supplication, the fish served him as a vehicle and a submarine, the sea became a peaceful plain, and the night took on a pleasant appearance with its moonlight, we too must make the same supplication and say:

لاَۤ اِلٰهَ اِلاَّۤ اَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ اِنِّى كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَThere is no god except You. Glory be to You! Indeed, I have been among the wrongdoers.

With

لَٓا اِلٰهَ اِلَّٓا اَنْتَThere is no god except You

we must draw the merciful gaze of Allah toward our future; with

سُبْحَانَكَou are perfect and free from every imperfection

toward our world; and with 

اِنّٖى كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمٖينَI have been among the wrongdoers

toward our nafsThe aspect of the soul associated with lower desires and negative traits., so that our future may be illumined through the light of īmānFaith; belief in the six articles of faith: Allah, His angels, His revealed scriptures, His prophets, the Hereafter, and divine decree (qadar). and the moonlike radiance of the Qur’an, and so that the fear and desolation of our night may be transformed into peace and familiarity.

In our world and upon our earth, where, according to an unbelieving gaze, the waves of years and centuries—through the constant cycle of life and death—carry countless corpses and cast them into non-existence, we must enter the truths of Islam, woven by the Qur’an and serving as a spiritual ship. In this way, we may sail peacefully across that sea until we reach the shore of safety and complete the duty of our life. Thus the storms and tremors of that sea—like scenes continually renewed upon cinema screens—will, instead of spreading fear and dread, caress, delight, and illumine the contemplative eye. Through that mystery and that disciplining of the Qur’an, our nafsThe aspect of the soul associated with lower desires and negative traits. will no longer mount and lead us; rather, it will become a mount that we ride, serving as a powerful means for the attainment of our eternal life.

In conclusion: since the human being possesses an expansive nature, he is distressed by various experiences, such as illness, earthquakes, and the great convulsion that will occur at the end of the world. Just as he fears microscopic bacteria, he also fears the comet that appears among the heavenly bodies. Just as he loves his house, he loves the wide world. And just as he cherishes his small garden, he also loves the eternal Paradise with ardent longing. Surely, the Ma‘būd, the Lord, the refuge, the deliverer, and the ultimate aim of such a human being can only be the One Who holds the entire universe—both atoms and stars—under His authority. Surely such a human being needs, in the manner of Yunus (as)Yunus ibn Matta was a Messenger of Allah who was sent to Nineveh, a city in northern Iraq with a population of more than one hundred thousand., to say repeatedly:

لاَۤ اِلٰهَ اِلاَّۤ اَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ اِنِّى كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَThere is no god except You. Glory be to You! Indeed, I have been among the wrongdoers.

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 Koran 2:32