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Twenty-Ninth Window

And there is not a thing but extols His limitless glory and praise.36

One spring I was setting out on a journey, a stranger, and deep in contemplation. While skirting a hill, a brilliant yellow buttercup struck my eye. It immediately brought to mind the same species of buttercup I had seen long before in my native land and in other countries. This meaning was imparted to my heart: whoever this flower is the seal of, the stamp of, the signature of, the impress of, all the flowers of that species throughout the earth are surely His seals, His stamps. After this notion of the seal, the following thought occurred to me: just as a seal stamped on a letter denotes the letter's author, in the same way, this flower is a seal signifying the Most Merciful One. And this hillock which is inscribed with the impresses of these species and written with the lines of these plants so full of meaning, is the missive of the flower's Maker. This hill too is a seal. This plateau and plain have taken on the form of a missive of the Most Merciful One.

After this thought, the following fact came to mind: like a seal, everything ascribes all things to its own Creator; it proves each is the letter of its own Scribe. Thus, all things are windows onto Divine unity in such a way that each ascribes all things to a Single One of Unity. That is to say, there is an impress so wonderful, an art so miraculous in each thing, and especially in each living being, that the one who makes it and inscribes it so meaningfully can make all things, and the one who makes all things is certainly Him. That is to say, one who cannot make all things cannot create a single thing.

O heedless one! Look at the face of the universe! See the pages of beings one within the other like letters of the Eternally Besought One, each letter stamped with innumerable seals of Divine unity! Who can deny the testimony of all these seals? What power can silence them? Whichever of them you listen to with the ear of the heart, you will hear it declaring: "I testify that there is no god but God!"

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36. Qur'an, 17:44

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