“On the earth there are signs for those of inner certainty and in your own selves. Will you not then see? (Qur’an 51:20-21). “Indeed in the creation of heaven and earth and the alterations of the night and day, there are signs for those who are wise.”(Qur’an 3:190).
Nature is viewed as existentialist Qur’an. Qur’an highlights the idea that natural world is divine revelation pointing to God’s existence, wisdom and power.
The natural world is considered a trust (amanah) and humans are responsible for preserving and protecting it. While the written Qur’an provides guidance and wisdom through words, the Qur’an of creation(nature) reveals God’s existence and wisdom through the natural world. Ibn-Arabi’s concept of Wahdat–al-Wajud (Unity of Existence) underlines that existence is a single unified reality that encompasses both God and nature. In this concept God is not just the creator, but also the ultimate reality that underlies all existence. Moreover, the world is created in truth and by the truth (bi’l-ḥaqq) and not in vain. Qur’an says,
“We created not the heaven and the earth and all that is between them in play.”Surah Anbiya(XXI, 16).The study of nature therefore reveals an aspect of Divine Wisdom. “The spiritual significance of nature resides not only in conveying the message of the One through its beauty, harmony, order and the symbolism of its forms, but also in being witness to the grandeur of the One who alone abides, while all else passes away. To stand before a mighty mountain and to meditate upon its passing away before the Divine Majesty are to gain a glimpse of that Divine Face which alone subsists, while all else dies and perishes.” Qur’an says, “Everything perishes save His Face.” (XXVIII, 88)
However, this fragility of the natural order is not as immediate, as that of the world of man. Islamic spirituality emphasizes that in the span of the ordinary life of humanity, the works of man perish, while the order of nature abides. Islam has always inculcated the importance of man’s being the custodian of nature and has instructed man not to struggle to destroy it but rather to live with it in peace. Be aware that if man seeks to annihilate and subdue nature he will inevitably fail and that it is always nature that will have the final word,” writes Syed Hossein Nasr.
Since all levels of cosmic existence belong to God, all creatures also praise Him with their very existence. The Quran says, “The seven heavens and the earth and all that they contain praise Him, nor is there anything that does not celebrate His praise, though ye understand not their praise. Behold, He is clement, forgiving.”Surah Al Asrah(XVII, 44).
The Muslim mystics contemplate experiences in the bosom of nature, something of the delights of Paradise. The majestic mountains that uphold the earth, the stars that adorn the heavens and the sea that hides the treasures of creation in their infinite expanse, all are reflections of the Face of Beloved. Dhu’I-Nun finds the testimony to the “Unity and incomparableness of God in the voices of the beasts, the rustle of the trees, the splashing of water, the song of birds and the whistling of the wind.”Rumi says, “The breeze at dawn has a secret to tell you, don’t go back to sleep.” Jami says,
“From all Eternity, the beloved unveiled his beauty in the solitude of the unseen. He held up mirror to his own face. He displayed his loveliness to His own self. The Cypress gave hint of his comely nature, the rose gave tidings of his beautiful countenance, where beauty peeped out love appeared beside it, where beauty dwelt in dark tresses love came and found a heart entangled in their coils.” Fakuruddin Iraqi calls it the voice of the rose. “These perfumes musk clove …. All from hyacinthine shadows of these tresses. You think you hear a nightingale song… no it is the voice of the rose.”
There are other verses to show the way nature bows before God,”Have they not regarded all things that God has created casting their shadows to the right and to the left, bowing themselves before God in all lowliness? To God bows everything in the heavens, and every creature crawling on the earth and the angels, and they do what they are commanded. Surah AnNahl (48–50).
Being created in truth, nature reflects the Truth at its own level of reality. This Truth can be contemplated by the sage gazing upon a flower, as well as by a student of the traditional sciences studying the works of the Muslim scientists, who carried out their study of the natural order always in the light of discovering the vestiges of the Hand of the Divine Artisan. While it emphasizes that God has created the world by the truth, the Qur’an also asserts especially in the last chapters, the fragility of the created order. “A day will come when all the earth, from the mightiest mountain to the lowliest rock will be rendered unto dust before the Majesty of God. “And thou seest the mountains, which thou deemest so firm; pass away as clouds pass away.”(Surah AnNaml27:88). — To continue
—The writer is author of six books including “Islamic Spirituality and Mysticism, the Path and destination’ & ‘The Philosophy of Rumi and its relevance in the Present Times.
