Life perfects a thing's existence, for life is the real basis and light of existence. Consciousness, in turn, is the light of life. Life constitutes the foundation of everything and appropriates everything for each living thing. Only through life can a living creature claim that everything belongs to it, that the world is its home and the universe its property conferred by the Owner. Just as light causes (concrete) things to be seen and, according to one theory, is the real cause of color, life may be said to unveil creation. Life causes qualities to be realized and archetypes to gain material existence, thus making the particular universal and the universal concentrated in a particular.

First aim

Confirming the existence of angels is a pillar of belief. This First Aim contains four fundamentals:

First fundamental:

Life perfects a thing's existence, for life is the real basis and light of existence. Consciousness, in turn, is the light of life. Life constitutes the foundation of everything and appropriates everything for each living thing. Only through life can a living creature claim that everything belongs to it, that the world is its home and the universe its property conferred by the Owner. Just as light causes (concrete) things to be seen and, according to one theory, is the real cause of color, life may be said to unveil creation. Life causes qualities to be realized and archetypes to gain material existence, thus making the particular universal and the universal concentrated in a particular.

Life causes existence to attain perfection and achieve the rank of having a soul by making countless factors unite into a whole to become a sentient, percipient being. Furthermore, life is the manifestation of oneness in multiplicity, the reflection of unity in plurality. See how lonely even a mountain-sized object is without life. Its interactions are restricted to its location, and all that exists in the universe means nothing to it, for it is unconscious of other existents. But as such a minute living being as a honeybee can have close interactions with the universe, particularly with plants and flowers, it can say that Earth is the place where it does business. Through the unconscious instinctive senses that enthuse and motivate it, as well as its outer and inner senses, a bee has close relations and familiarity with most species.

If life's effect upon this small creature is so great, how much greater will it be upon humanity, as it expands into our consciousness, reason, and intellect! Through reason and consciousness (the light of life), we travel through the higher worlds of corporeal and spiritual existence as easily as passing from one room to another. Just as conscious and living beings may visit those worlds in spirit, those worlds come as guests to our mirror-like spirit by being reflected there.

Life is a clear evidence of God's Unity, the greatest source of His bounty, a most subtle manifestation of His Compassion, and a most hidden and delicate embroidery of His art. Life is so mysterious and subtle that even the life of plants (the simplest level of life) and the awakening of the life-force in seeds (the beginning of its life) are still not understood fully. Although it is something common to us, it has remained a mystery since the time of Adam, for no person has ever grasped its nature.

In its outer (material) and inner (immaterial) aspects, life is pure. Divine Power creates life without the participation of causes, while It uses natural causes to create everything else. God operates behind the veil of natural causes while creating that which is not life so that ignorant people, unable to discern Divine Wisdom in some events, will not make their punishment more severe by blaming these things on Him. This is yet another example of His Mercy toward humanity.

In short, inanimate things cannot be regarded as existent or as substantially different from non-existence. Life is the spirit's light, and consciousness is life's light. Since life and consciousness are so important, and a perfect harmony prevails over all creation, the universe displays a firm cohesion. As our small rotating planet is full of countless living and intelligent beings, those heavenly castles and lofty constellations must have conscious living inhabitants unique to themselves. Just as fish live in water, those spirit beings may exist in the sun's heat. Fire does not consume light; rather, fire makes light brighter. We observe that Eternal Power creates countless living beings from inert, solid substances and transforms the densest matter into subtle living compounds by life. Thus It radiates the light of life everywhere in great abundance and furnishes most things with the light of consciousness.

From this, we can conclude that the All-Powerful, All-Wise One would not make such subtle forms of matter as light and ether, which are close to and fitting for the spirit, without life and consciousness. He creates countless animate and conscious beings from light and darkness, ether and air, and even from meanings (conceived) and words (uttered). As He creates numerous animal species, He also creates different spirit creatures from subtle forms of matter. Some of these are angels, various spirit beings, and jinn. Consider the following parable if you are not convinced.

An uncivilized nomad and a civilized person went to Istanbul. In a remote corner of that well-ordered and magnificent city, they saw an old building containing a factory full of miserable workers. The local people lived on either vegetables or fish. While watching them, they had a vision of huge workshops among palaces and castles. They could see no inhabitants in that area, for they either had defective sight or the inhabitants were hiding. As there was no comparison between the two living conditions, the bedouin concluded that no one lived there. The other man said:

You can see that this poor, dilapidated factory is inhabited by workers—somebody very powerful and wise is employing and then replacing them with new ones. Also, there is no empty space around the factory, for every spot is being used. How could those palaces and castles be unoccupied? They must be inhabited by beings who have different conditions of life. You can't see them because they're hiding. Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Earth, although much smaller than other heavenly bodies, is so densely inhabited by living creatures that even an insignificant part of it contains many living things, such as micro-organisms. This shows that those infinite firmaments, with their numerous stars and constellations, are inhabited by conscious, living beings created from fire, light, air, ether, and other subtle forms of matter. The Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad call such beings angels, jinn, and spirit entities. They have their own kinds, just like earthly creatures. For example, the angel in charge of a raindrop is certainly different from the angel in charge of the sun.

In conclusion, and as may be established empirically, matter is not essential. Therefore existence is not subject to or dependent on it. Rather, matter subsists by means of a meaning, and that meaning is life, is spirit. As may be established through observation, existence does not serve matter and thus everything does not have to be ascribed to it. Rather, matter exists so that it may perfect a reality: life. Spirit is the foundation of life.

As matter does not rule existence, perfections do not have to be sought from it. Rather, it is dominated, subject to the decree of a fundamental, and fashioned according to that decree's dictates. That fundamental is life, spirit, consciousness. Matter is not the unchanged essence of existence and the source of perfections; rather, it is a form and outer covering subject to disintegration. A micro-organism has acute senses: It hears its mate's voice and sees its food. This shows that as matter becomes more refined, life's effects become more manifest and the spirit's light grows brighter. It is as though the more closely matter resembles the Realm of Spirit and Consciousness, the more ethereal it becomes. This causes life's light to be manifested more brightly.

Given this, how could the inner World of Existence not be occupied with conscious living beings while the reflections of life and consciousness continue to be manifested upon the veil of matter? Besides, is it possible that the countless manifestations and reflections of meaning, spirit, life, and consciousness in the corporeal world could be ascribed solely to matter and its motion? On the contrary, they indicate that the corporeal world is only a lace veil over the World of the Spirit and the inner worlds.

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