The Creation of the Universe
In this sermon he recalls the creation of
Earth and Sky and the birth of Adam.
Praise is due to Allah whose worth cannot be described by
speakers, whose bounties cannot be counted by calculators and whose claim (to
obedience) cannot be satisfied by those who attempt to do so, whom the height of
intellectual courage cannot appreciate, and the divings of understanding cannot
reach; He for whose description no limit has been laid down, no eulogy exists,
no time is ordained and no duration is fixed. He brought forth creation through
His Omnipotence, dispersed winds through His Compassion, and made firm the
shaking earth with rocks.
The foremost in religion is the ackowledgement of Him, the
perfection of acknowledging Him is to testify Him, the perfection of testifying
Him is to believe in His One-ness, the perfection of believing in His One-ness
is to regard Him Pure, and the perfection of His purity is to deny Him
attributes, because every attribute is a proof that it is different from that to
which it is attributed and everything to which something is attributed is
different from the attribute. Thus whoever attaches attributes to Allah
recognises His like, and who recognises His like regards Him two; and who
regards Him two recognises parts for Him; and who recognises parts for Him
mistook Him; and who mistook Him pointed at Him; and who pointed at Him admitted
limitations for Him; and who admitted limitations for Him numbered Him.
Whoever said in what is He, held that He is contained; and
whoever said on what is He held He is not on something else. He is a Being but
not through phenomenon of coming into being. He exists but not from
non-existence. He is with everything but not in physical nearness. He is
different from everything but not in physical separation. He acts but without
connotation of movements and instruments. He sees even when there is none to be
looked at from among His creation. He is only One, such that there is none with
whom He may keep company or whom He may miss in his absence.
The Creation of the Universe
He initiated creation most initially and commenced it
originally, without undergoing reflection, without making use of any experiment,
without innovating any movement, and without experiencing any aspiration of
mind. He allotted all things their times, put together their variations, gave
them their properties, and determined their features knowing them before
creating them, realising fully their limits and confines and appreciating their
propensities and intricacies.
When Almighty created the openings of atmosphere, expanse of
firmament and strata of winds, He flowed into it water whose waves were stormy
and
whose surges leapt one over the other. He loaded it on dashing
wind and breaking typhoons, ordered them to shed it back (as rain), gave the
wind control over the vigour of the rain? and acquainted it with its
limitations. The wind blew under it while water flowed furiously over it.
Then Almighty created forth wind and made its movement sterile,
perpetuated its position, intensified its motion and spread it far and wide.
Then He ordered the wind to raise up deep waters and to intensify the waves of
the oceans. So the wind churned it like the churning of curd and pushed it
fiercely into the firmament throwing its front position on the rear and the
stationary on the flowing till its level was raised and the surface was full of
foam. Then Almighty raised the foam on to the open wind and vast firmament and
made therefrom the seven skies and made the lower one as a stationary surge and
the upper one as protective ceiling and high edifice without any pole to support
it or nail to hold it together. Then He decorated them with stars and the light
of meteors and hung in it the shining sun and effulgent moon under the revolving
sky, moving ceiling and rotating firmament.