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Blessed is He in Whose hand is [all] dominion, and He is over all things competent. [He] Who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed – and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving. (Al-Mulk, 67:1-2)
In the second verse of the chapter 67 of the Qur’an, it is stated that Allah Almighty created the death and life. Since “creating” means “to existentiate, to build something new”, we quickly comprehend that the life is a new creation. When it comes to the death, we only think of the creation of life after death; few of us realize the creation in death itself and the miraculous performance in it. Here, Imam Bediuzzaman explains the truth of creation in death in his book “The Letters” and explains how death is an artistic act.
Yes, just as the death is a transport to other realms, to other abodes; and it is a discharge from the duty of life and a change of place; so too it is a new (artistic) creation under the veil of collapse. Death is beautiful in terms of its results; it is also beautiful in terms of the change it causes and the performance of it. Just as it is a miracle to have life from a drop of water or from soil, so too it is a miracle to die but not to disappear. Because death is not a random disintegration and destruction. It’s not a meaningless departure.
When the plants, seeds and kernels, which are among the simplest living things, die in the soil, that dead seed becomes a flower in the future. Now, this is a beauty in terms of its result; the stages and the actions that seed is exposed to are also beautiful, wise, beneficial, and artful. That seed is not randomly disintegrated in the soil; under its apparent disintegration, it is processed separately at every stage and undergoes such amazing chemical processes that it turns into a brand new and more beautiful hyacinth. That is to say, that seed is not abandoned under the ground. It’s not idle or without a patron. It is subject to artful and wise acts that preserve, process and transform it under the ground.
Like the seeds of plants, now let’s look at the death of fruits or animals in the human stomach. In other words, how a fruit or a dead animal meat undergoes wonderful processes in the human stomach and becomes a part of the human being and comes to life, and thus obtains the degree of human life which is the most beautiful and perfect state of life. Here is the resurrection and creation in death before our eyes!
Now that in the death of ordinary plants and animals in the soil or in the stomach there are such great operations, can the death of the human being, the greatest of creatures, and the stages of that death be ordinary and simple? Never!
Let’s think carefully! While our Lord gives life, it is very artistic and beautiful; similarly His taking life by death is artful and beautiful as well.
As the kernels and seeds that enter under earth shoot forth, the human being entering the underground will shoot forth in the world of intermediary. A man’s body dies, but his spirit remains.
May Allah Almighty help us be a Muhammadan rose in the intermediary realm after our bodies fell to the ground, and shoot forth as trees of Tuba in the Paradise! Amin.
O my heart, yes the spring is beautiful, isn’t the autumn beautiful, too?
To start is good, isn’t the finish, the discharge good too?
To do your duty is good, isn’t the finishing your duty and going to get paid good?
“Do not turn your head being frightened of death and afraid of grave; look at the grave bravely, listen to what it demands. Manly smile upon the death; look what it wants. Don’t ever be heedless! ”(The 14th Word, Risale-i Nur)
“There is no deity except Him; He gives life and causes death. [He is] your Lord and the Lord of your first forefathers.” (Ad-Dukhan, 44:8)