THE FLASHES

The Thirtieth Flash

The First Subtlety

Concerning a Subtle Meaning of the Divine Name al-Quddūs

It is fitting that this subtlety of the Name al-Quddūs should serve as a supplement to the Addendum to the Thirtieth Word.

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحٖيمِ

وَاْلاَرْضَ فَرَشْنَاهَا فَنِعْمَ الْمَاهِدُونَ

A subtle meaning of this verse, arising from a manifestation of the Name al-Quddūs — which is either the Ism-i Azam or one of its six lights — became clear to me towards the end of the blessed month of Shabān, while I was in Eskişehir Prison. It revealed the existence and unity of Allah to me with the utmost clarity. This occurred as follows:

I saw that this universe and this globe are like a vast factory in constant operation, and at the same time like an inn or guesthouse continually being filled and emptied. Yet factories, inns, and guesthouses that are so constantly in use become heavily polluted with waste, debris, and refuse, while foul-smelling substances accumulate everywhere. Without continual care, cleansing, and purification, they would become uninhabitable, and those within them would suffocate.

Yet this cosmic factory and earthly guesthouse are so pure, clean, and well maintained, so free from dirt, impurity, and foul odours, that nothing useless, no meaningless substance, and no stray waste can be found within them. Even when something appears outwardly unclean, it is immediately drawn into a process of transformation and purified.

Thus, the One Who oversees this factory tends it with the utmost care. This vast factory and magnificent palace have an Owner who keeps them swept, cleaned, and set in order as though they were a single small room. Despite the factory’s immense size, there is no corresponding accumulation of filth, refuse, or debris. On the contrary, the care devoted to its cleanliness and purity is proportionate to its vastness.

If a person neglects to wash himself and sweep his small room for a month, both he and his room become filthy. Thus, the purity, clarity, radiance, and cleanliness of this palace of the world arise from continuous, wise cleansing and meticulous purification.

Were it not for this continual purification, sweeping, and careful maintenance, the hundreds of thousands of species of animals upon the face of the earth would suffocate within a single year. Moreover, the debris of planets and their satellites, and perhaps even stars, that undergo destruction and death in the heavens would rain down upon our heads in stones as large as mountains, striking us and other living creatures, and perhaps even the earth itself, and driving us from our earthly homeland. Yet throughout the ages, only a few celestial stones have fallen from those realms above, serving as lessons for us to reflect upon the destruction and renewal taking place there, and not one has struck anyone on the head.

Likewise, through the continual alternation and struggle between life and death on earth, the carcasses of hundreds of thousands of species of animals and the remains of two hundred thousand kinds of plants would, year after year, so thoroughly pollute the land and seas that conscious beings, far from loving the world, would recoil from it in disgust and seek refuge in death and nonexistence.

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