results of and benefits in the creation of beings are gathered together in them. In this respect, each of them therefore declares: “I am the property, act, and work of the One Who created the whole universe.”

The Second Way: Since the hearts of those particular fruits, as well as man’s memory, which in a Hadith is called “the outer heart,” [^11] are concise indexes of most species of beings, and small maps of them, and bear the meaning of seeds of the tree of the universe, and are subtle mirrors of most of the Divine Names; and since hearts and memories, which are all similar and bear the same stamp, spread pervasively throughout the universe; they look to the One who holds the whole universe in the grasp of His power, and they each declare: “I am the work and art of Him alone.”

[^11]:Bukhãrī, al-Nikãḥ, 14,25; Faḍã'il al-Qur'ãn, 22; al-Nasã’ī, al-Nikãḥ, 62

To Conclude: With regard to its benefits, a fruit looks to its tree’s owner. With regard to its seed, it looks to all the parts, members, and nature of the tree. And with regard to the stamp on its face, it gazes on all the fruits of the tree, whose stamp is the same. Together they declare: “We are all the same and we have one maker. We are the property of a single person. Whoever made one of us, made all of us.” In exactly the same way, in regard to the stamps on the faces of the living creatures at the extremities of the sphere of multiplicity, and especially the stamps on man’s face, and his index-like heart, and the results of his nature and his being a fruit, they look directly to the One Who holds the whole universe in the grasp of His power, and testify to His unity.

The Second Matter

The Second Matter Necessitating Divine Unity

This is the fact that in unity are an ease and facility which render it necessary, while in associating partners with God are difficulties to the point of its being impossible. This truth has been explained and demonstrated with brilliant and decisive proofs in many of the treatises of what Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) called The Illuminating Lamp, especially in the Twentieth Letter, in detail, and in the Fourth Point of the Thirtieth Flash, briefly. It has been demonstrated with most powerful proofs that if all things are attributed to one single Being, the creation and regulation of the universe are as easy as the creation and regulation of a tree; and the creation and making of a tree are as easy as the creation and making of a fruit; and the origination and management of the spring are as easy as the origination and management of a flower; and the admininstration and raising of a species containing numerous members are as free of trouble as the administration and raising of a single individual.

But in constrast if, on the way of associating partners with God, all