The Testimonies of the Atmosphere and the Atmospheric Events

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ الَّذِي دَلَّ عَلَى وُجُوبِ وُجُودِهِ فِي وَحْدَتِهِ السَّمَاوَاتُ

بِجَمِيعِ مَا فِيهَا بِشَهَادَةِ عَظَمَةِ إِحَاطَةِ حَقِيقَةِ التَّسْخِيرِ وَالتَّدْبِيرِ

وَالتَّدْوِيرِ وَالتَّنْظِيمِ وَالتَّوْظِيفِ الوَاسِعَةِ المُكَمَّلَةِ بِالمُشَاهَدَةِ

There is no god but Allāh. The heavens, along with all that they

contain, demonstrate the necessity of His unitary existence, by the

testimony of the sublimity of the all-encompassing realities of

subjugation, direction, the causation of motion, organisation,

purification, and appointment, that are witnessed as being vast

and perfected.

Then the sky, known also as the sphere of the heavens, and which is the place of assembly of many wonders, calls to that traveller and guest who came to the world, with its thunder, and roars ‘Look at me! Through me, it is within your reach to find that which you are seeking with such passion - and to find that which sent you here’. The travelling guest looks into his grave yet compassionate face, and heard his thunder that was terrifying, yet bore good tidings.

He sees that the clouds hanging in between the sky and the earth water the garden of the earth in a tremendously wise and merciful fashion. To the inhabitants of the earth they come with life-giving water. They ease the extreme heat that is, the intensity of life’s fire, and run to help each place according to their individual need. And these vast clouds, that suddenly fill the sky, fulfil many other tasks similar to these; they suddenly hide, just as a regular army, according to direct orders, vanishing and appearing once more. All of the elements of 

the clouds then incline to rest. No trace of them is seen. Within an hour, they all gather together again - or indeed, within a few minutes. Then, just as they hear the command “Ready to rain, march!”, they all gather together, and within an hour or a few minutes fill the sky. As if awaiting the orders of a commander, the clouds stand at attention.

The traveller then looks to the winds in the atmosphere. He sees that the air is used for so large a variety of tasks, with a surpassing wisdom and generosity that it is as if every unconscious atom of this inanimate air listens to, and knows the commands being issued from the Sultan of the universe.

It fulfils these commands without hesitating in performing a single one of them, through the power of that Commander, and it does so in an orderly fashion.

An unseen hand wields the air in supremely universal tasks and services, with the utmost consciousness, knowledge and regard for life. The air facilitates the breathing of every self on earth, it conveys all the necessities of living creatures, such as heat, light and electricity, it conveys sound, and acts as an intermediary in the pollination of plants.

The visitor then looks to the rain. He sees that within these elegant, twinkling, sweet and pure droplets, that are sent from nothingness and from the unseen treasury of mercy, are so large a number of merciful gifts and tasks that it is as if mercy itself descends in physical form, from the Divine treasury, in the forms of rain droplets. It is for this reason that rain is also named ‘mercy’.

He then looks to the lightning, and listens to the thunder. He perceives that they are used in very strange and marvellous services. 

He returns his gaze, and looks to his own intellect, addressing himself: ‘There is no doubt that these clouds, like fluffed up wool, that are inanimate and have no consciousness, do not know us, do not strive to help us on their own accord out of mercy. They do not appear and disappear until they have received a command - indeed, they move by the command of such a consummately Omnipotent (Al-Qadīr) and Compassionate (Ar-Raḥīm) Commander, that they disappear without leaving a trace.

They appear suddenly and begin working, filling the atmosphere, and then, from time to time, they disappear, by the command and strength of an eminently Active, Exalted, Sublime and Majestic Sultan of multifarious manifestations. He transforms them into a tablet upon which He continuously writes with wisdom and erases with dispensation, and a tablet of erasure and confirmation (maḥw wa ithbāṭ), and He turns them into an image of the Gathering (al-ḥashr) and Doomsday (the Day of Qiyāmah). The clouds ride on the winds, under the direction of a Ruling Disposer of affairs (Al-Ḥākimu’l-Mudabbir) who is immensely subtle, beneficent, supremely generous, and cherishing. And He makes the mountainous treasuries of rain mount on the winds. Just in time, they deliver it to places in need. It is as if the clouds pity them, and crying over their state, they come with their tears, and make the flowers smile. They ease the severe heat of the sun. Like sponges, they sprinkle water onto the gardens of those lands, and wash the face of the earth until it is clean.’

This inquisitive traveller again addresses his own intellect: ‘This inanimate air, that has neither life nor consciousness, is in itself in constant change, never settling, stormy, and 

characterised by restlessness, with neither stability nor purpose. Under the cover and in the outer form of this air, all of these hundreds of thousands of events, blessings and acts of assistance come into existence overflowing with wisdom, mercy and artistry. This proves self-evidently that this hardworking wind and active servant do not derive movement from their own essences.

It rather moves by the command of a commander who is supremely Omnipotent (Al-Qadīr) and Knowing (Al-‘Alīm), and immensely Wise (Al-Ḥakīm) and Generous (Al-Karīm). It is as if each particle of air knows every command and activity, understands and listens to every single one of the commands of that Commander. It listens to every Divine command issued into the air, and obeys it like a soldier.

I see that the particles of air, composed of two simple elements, nitrogen and oxygen, facilitate the breathing of animals and therefore the perpetuation of their lives, the pollination and growth of plants, the conveyance of necessities for their lives, the turning about of the clouds and their management, the sailing of fuelless ships, and especially conveying sounds, and those conversations that take place through the wireless, and the telegraph, and the radio. In addition to these universal, general services, the particles of the air are used by a hand of wisdom in perfect order, in the Divine works of art that are laid all across the face of the earth in hundreds of thousands of forms, though all those particles are the same as each other.’

He then came to a certain judgement. ‘Thus, the one who freely disposes of the winds, and uses them in endless Divine operations, is no other than the Necessary Being (Al-Wājibu’l-Wujūd), the One capable of doing all things (Qādiru kulli shay'), 

the Knower of all things (‘Ālimu kulli shay'), the Lord, Possessor of Majesty and Bounty (Ar-Rabbu Dhu’l-Jalāli wa’l-ikrām) just as is made clear in the following verse:

وَتَصْرِيفِ الرِّيَاحِ وَالسَّحَابِ المُسَخَّرِ بَيْنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالأَرْضِ (a)

He then looked to the rain, and to the fact that it contains as many benefits as there are raindrops, and as many manifestations of mercy as there are beads of rain, and wisdom to the number of its tricklings.

He saw that those sweet, elegant and blessed droplets are created in a marvellous and orderly fashion. They are sent, and descend with the same organisation and balance as the hail that comes especially in summer. The raging winds that surge and swell in storms, and cause vast things to crash into one another, are not without their own balance and organisation. The droplets are not made into harmful masses by combining with one another into larger masses. This water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, two simple, inanimate and unconscious elements that are both utilised in immensely wise matters such as these - and especially in those such as concern living beings. These elements end up being employed in hundreds of thousands of wise, conscious and multifarious services and works of art.

It means that this rain, mercy itself in physical form, is made in the unseen treasury of mercy of the Most Merciful (Ar-Raḥmān) and Most Compassionate (Ar-Raḥīm). And with its fall it physically interprets the verse:

_____

a And the turning about of the winds, and the clouds subjugated between the sky and earth. (Qur’ān: al-Baqarah, 2:164) 

وَهُوَ الَّذِي يُنَزِّلُ الغَيْثَ مِنْ بَعْدِمَا قَنَطُوا وَيَنْشُرُ رَحْمَتَهُ (a)

A little bit later the travelling guest listens to the thunder and looks at the lightning, and sees:

These two extraordinary atmospheric events are not only physical interpretations of the verses يُسَبِّحُ الرَّعْدُ بِحَمْدِهِ (b) and يَكَادُ سَنَا بَرْقِهِ يَذْهَبُ بِالأَبْصَارِ (c) but also give glad tidings to those in need, of the coming of rain.

Indeed, these phenomena, with their wise, strange states, like when the sky suddenly speaks with breathtaking thunder, out of nothing. Like the dark sky being filled with an exceptionally bright light and fire, igniting the sublime, mountainous clouds, that resemble cotton, and are like a pump of hail, snow and water. Like a gavel, they hit the heedless man’s head [and remind him], ‘Lift your head! Look at the wondrous endeavours of the Active and Mighty Essence, who wishes to make Himself known. Just as you are not left to your own devices, so too these happenings cannot be futile. Every one of them is conscripted for tasks of great wisdom, and every one of them reminds that they are wielded by a Wise Disposer of Affairs (Al-Mudabbiru’l-Ḥakīm).

This inquisitive traveller listens to this elevated and manifest testimony of the reality composed of the subjugation of the clouds in this atmosphere, the turning about of the winds,

_____

a And it is He who sends down the rain after they had despaired and spreads His mercy. (Qur’ān: ash-Shūrā, 42:28)

b 'The thunder glorifies His praise' (Qur’ān: ar-Ra‘d, 13:13)

c 'The flare of His lightning well-nigh takes away their sight.' (Qur’ān: an-Nūr, 24:43)