The Resurrection

INTRODUCTION

With a few indications, we shall point to several matters that are also discussed in the Twenty-Second, Nineteenth, and Twenty-Sixth Words.

The First Indication

The unreasonable man and his trustworthy friend in this story symbolize:

First: the nafs-i ammāra and the heart.

Second: the students of philosophy and the students of the Qur’an.

Third: the unbelievers and the Islamic community.

The gravest misguidance of the students of philosophy, the unbelievers, and the nafs-i ammāra lies in their failure to recognize Allah.

Just as the trustworthy man in the previous parable made clear that a letter cannot be written without a writer, and a law cannot be enacted without a lawgiver, so too we say:

Just as it is utterly impossible for a miraculous book—in which, with a minutely small pen, an entire book is written within every word, and with a delicate pen, a well-ordered ode is written within every letter—to have been produced without a writer, so too it is utterly impossible for the entire universe—which is such a book, containing many books on every page, a book in every word, and an ode in every letter—to have come into existence without an artistic Creator.

The face of the earth is like a page containing many books. Each tree is like a word containing many pages. Each fruit is like a letter, and each seed like a point, within which the program and index of a vast tree are contained. Indeed, such a book can only have been written by the power of Dhāt-i Dhu’l-Jalāl, Who possesses all forms of beauty and majesty, and Who has infinite power and wisdom. Thus, after observing the universe, man can arrive at no other conviction—unless he is blinded by misguidance.

Moreover, no house can be built without a builder. This is especially true of a house adorned with wondrous works of art, astonishing decorations, and unique ornaments, in which every stone is as artistically crafted as an entire palace. No intellect can accept that such a palace could come into existence without a builder; it requires a most skilled and artistic maker. This is especially so for a palace in which real rooms are formed every hour, like images projected on a cinema screen, and are changed with perfect order, as though changing garments. Within those real rooms, numerous smaller rooms are even formed, just as scenes appear within scenes on a cinema screen.