“Life is:

• the most important aim of the universe, and
• its greatest result, and
• its most brilliant light, and
• its subtlest and most pleasant leaven, and
• a pure extract distilled from it, and
• its most perfect fruit, and
• its most elevated perfection, and
• its most beautiful countenance, and
• its most beautiful adornment, and
• the secret of its unitary nature, and
• the bond of its unity, and
• the source of its perfections, and
• something that has spirit and which is most extraordinary in respect of art and nature, and
• a miraculous reality that makes the tiniest creature like a universe, and
• a miracle of Divine Power which, as though serving as the means of the universe being situated in a tiny living creature, shows in that creature some sort of index of the huge universe, and connects the creature to other things and beings; and
• it is a wonderful Divine art which makes a tiny part as great as the whole and some part of a whole represent the whole itself, showing that in respect of the Lordship over it the universe is an indivisible whole or a universal entity interconnected with all its parts and which allows no participation; and
• life is the most brilliant, the most decisive, the most perfect of proofs testifying to the necessary Existence and Oneness of the All-Living and Self-Subsistent One; and
• among Divine works of art life is both the most hidden and the most apparent, and the most valuable and the most inexpensive, and it is the purest, most shining, and most meaningful embroidery of the Lord’s Art; and
• life is a graceful, refined, delicate manifestation of the Mercy of the All-Merciful which makes other beings serve itself; and
• it is a most comprehensive mirror of the essential Qualities that are indispensable to His Essence; and
• it is a wonder of the Lord’s creation that comprises the manifestations of numerous All-Beautiful Names, such as the All-Merciful, the All-Providing, the All-Compassionate, the All-Munificent, and the All-Wise, subjecting to itself many realities like provision, wisdom, grace, and mercy, and it is the source and origin of all the senses like sight, hearing, and touch; and
• life is such a transformation machine in the vast workshop of the universe that it continuously cleans and purifies everywhere, allowing progress and illuminating. And it makes living bodies, which are its dwellings, guesthouses, schools, or barracks for the caravans of atoms so that they may be refined and brought up to perform their duties. Quite simply, through the machine of life, the All-Living One, the Giver of Life, beautifies, makes pleasant, and illumines this dark, transient, lowly world, and gives it a sort of permanence, preparing it to go to another, everlasting world; and
• both of the two faces of life, that is, both its outer and inner faces, are bright, sublime, and unsoiled and without defect. It is an exceptional creature in the creation of which the direct operation of the Divine Power has not been veiled by physical causes, so that it can clearly be shown that it has emerged directly without veil or means from the hand of the Lord’s Power; and
• the reality of life relates to the six pillars of belief, supporting them in meaning and indirectly. That is to say, it is a luminous reality which relates to and proves the absolutely necessary, eternal existence of the Necessarily Existent One, the Hereafter and eternal life, and the existence of angels, and other pillars of belief;
• also, just as life is the purest essence of the universe, distilled from all of it, so too is it a mighty mystery generating thanksgiving, worship, praise, and love, which are the most important Divine purposes for the existence of the universe and the most important results of the world’s creation.”¹⁾

• “Since there is life in this world, certainly those who understand the mystery of life and do not misuse their lives will be favored with eternal life in the abode of eternal permanence and everlasting Paradise.”²⁾

• “… just as life is a pure extract distilled from the universe, just as consciousness and sense perception are extracts distilled from life, and intellect is an extract distilled from consciousness and sense perception, and spirit is the pure essence of life—indeed, it is life itself, stable and autonomous—so too is the physical and spiritual life of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, the most refined extract distilled from the life and spirit of the universe. The Messengership of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, is the purest extract distilled from the sense perception, consciousness, and intellect of the universe.”³⁾

• “As the life in Knowledge is a light from the Sun of the Eternal Life, life cannot be restricted to the visible or physical world, this present time, or the observed, external existence. Rather, each world receives a manifestation from that light in accordance with its capacity, and the universe is alive and illuminated through it with all its worlds. Otherwise, as the misguided imagine, with the exception of this apparent, temporary (physical) life, each world would have been a vast and terrible corpse, a dark ruin.” ⁴⁾

• “As for the perfection of your life in happiness, it is to perceive and love the lights of the Eternal Sun pictured in the mirror of your life, to display ardor for Him as a conscious being, to be enraptured with love of Him, and to establish His Light’s reflection in the center of your heart.”⁵⁾

• “The perfection of existence is through life. In fact, 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, so too, life unveils creation. Life causes qualities and natures to be manifested and realized. It makes the particular universal and the universal concentrated in a particular. Life also causes existence to attain all its perfections; it causes countless things to come together to achieve unity and thereby the rank of having a soul. Furthermore, life is the manifestation of unity in the levels of multiplicity; it reflects the essential oneness of existence 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: ‘The earth is my garden; my marketplace where I do business.’”⁶⁾

• “The true life is the one lived at the spiritual level. Those whose hearts are alive, conquering the past and the future, cannot be contained by time. Such people are never excessively distressed by sorrows of the past or anxieties of the future. Those who cannot experience full existence in their hearts, and thus lead banal, shallow lives, are always gloomy and inclined to hopelessness. They consider the past a horrifying grave, and the future a fathomless well. It is torment if they die, and it is torment if they survive.”⁷⁾

• Death
• The Grand Purpose of Life

• M. Fethullah Gülen, “Our Philosophy of Life”

• Türkçe