The Three Supreme, Universal Realities

There is no god but Allāh, the Necessary Being. All of the mountains

and deserts, along with all that is in them and on them, demonstrate

the necessity of His unitary existence by the testimony of the sublimity

of the all-encompassing realities of conservation, direction, the dispersal

of seeds, protection, measures of governance, and prudence that are

witnessed as being vast, universal, orderly, and perfected.

Even as this traveller was, through contemplation, roaming in the mountains and the deserts, the world of trees and plants opened up to his thought. They called him inside, saying ‘Come! Travel in our circle too, and read our writings as well!’ He entered, and saw that they had formed a great, ornamented gathering of litanies of Lā ilāha illallāh لا إله إلا الله ‘there is no god but Allāh’ and tawhīd (Divine unity), as well as a circle of remembrance (dhikr) and gratitude to the Divine (shukr).

From the language of the states (lisānu’l-ḥāl) of each species of tree and plant, he discerned that they seemed to say لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ هُو (Lā ilāha illā hū) all together. For he had indeed seen three supreme universal realities, that both proved and witnessed that all fruit-giving trees and plants bear witness, glorifying, saying Lā ilāha illallāh all together, in the languages of their perfectly proportioned and eloquent leaves, and through the remarks of their ornamented, lucid flowers, as well as the words of their, harmoniously ordered and articulate fruits.

The first of the three supreme, universal realities: Just as through each plant and tree the meaning and reality of the conscious bestowal of blessings and generosity and of voluntary beneficence and graciousness are sensed in an extremely manifest form, 

so too do they appear, just as the light of the sun when it appears, in the aggregate of all plants and trees.

The second of the three supreme, universal realities: The meaning and reality of conscious, wise distinction and differentiation, and voluntary, compassionate depiction and ornamentation are seen as clear as day through these endless species and individuals, and this can in no way be ascribed to chance. All of this reveals that these are the effects and inscriptions of a Wise, Artful Maker (Aṣ-Ṣāni‘u’l-Ḥakīm).

The third of the three supreme, universal realities: It is a truth brighter than the sun that the varied styles and forms of a hundred thousand species are opened and disclosed from simple, inanimate, limited, and almost identical seeds and kernels. All of these artful creations of Allāh are limitless, different in sort and appearance, yet surpassingly balanced and consistent.

That the forms of each individual of those two hundred thousand species are opened and disclosed, with differentiation, consistency, difference, balance, vigour and wisdom, and without oversight or error. The traveller knew that there are as many pieces of evidence establishing these realities as there are flowers, fruits, leaves, and creatures of spring, and so he said الحمد لله على نعمة الإيمان ‘Praise be to Allāh for the blessing of faith’.

In order to express this meaning, the following was mentioned, in ‘The Sixth Level’ of ‘The First Station’:

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ الوَاجِبُ الوُجُودِ الَّذِي دَلَّ عَلَى وُجُوبِ وُجُودِهِ فِي وَحْدَتِهِ اِجْمَاعُ

جَمِيعِ أَنْوَاعِ الأَشْجَارِ وَالنَّبَاتَاتِ المُسَبِّحَةِ النَّاطِقَةِ بِكَلِمَاتِ أَوْرَاقِهَا

المَوْزُونَاتِ الفَصِيحَاتِ وَأَزْهَارِهَا المُزَيَّنَاتِ