The universe is a vast, constantly working factory and the globe of the earth a hostel and guesthouse which is continually filled and emptied. Generally, factories, hostels and guesthouses which are thus used become much dirtied and soiled with filth, debris and rubbish, and putrid matter accumulates in all parts of them. They cannot be occupied unless they are kept with care and cleaned and swept; human beings are overwhelmed by the dirt. The factory of the universe and guesthouse of the earth, however, are totally pure, clean and spotless, and completely unsoiled, untainted and fresh; there is nothing unnecessary, nothing without benefit, not a random piece of dirt to be found. Even if there is apparently, it is quickly thrown into a transformation machine and cleaned.

This means that the One who looks after this factory does so very well. Its Owner is such that He sweeps and cleans and orders the vast factory and extensive palace as though they were small rooms. Considering the size of the huge factory, there is no dirt or rubbish remaining from its filth and debris. Indeed, its cleanness and tidiness are remarkable.

If someone does not wash himself and clean his small room for a month, they will become extremely dirty and soiled. That is to say, the cleanliness, purity, and luminosity in this palace of the world arise from a continuous, wise, and diligent cleaning. If it were not for this cleaning, sweeping and careful tending, in one year all the hundred thousand animal species would have been choked on the face of the earth.

Also, the debris of the globes in space and the heavens, which manifest life and death, and of satellites and stars, would have smashed not only our heads and those of the other animals, but also the head of the earth itself and of our world. They would have rained down on our heads rocks the size of mountains and driven us away from our homeland in this world. However, for a long time past, if as a warning a few meteorites have fallen as a result of destruction and reconstruction in those lofty worlds, they have not broken any heads.

Furthermore, the corpses of a hundred thousand animal species and the debris of two hundred thousand plant species each year on the face of the earth resulting from the alternation and struggles of life and death would have so utterly filthied the land and the sea that conscious creatures, rather than loving and delighting in the face of the earth, would have felt disgust and aversion at such ugliness and fled to death and non-existence.

Just as a bird cleans its wings with ease and a scribe his pages, so too the wings of the aircraft of the earth and the birds of the heavenly bodies and the pages of the book of the universe are cleaned and made beautiful. So much so that people who do not consider the infinite beauty of the hereafter and think with belief become lovers of this cleanliness and beauty of the world, they worship it.

That is to say, this palace of the world and factory of the universe display a greatest manifestation of the divine name Quddus (Most Holy) whereby it is not only the carniverous cleaners of the seas and the eagles of the land which obey the commands proceeding from that sacred cleansing, but also its cleansing officials which gather up corpses, like worms and ants. Like the red and white blood-corpuscles flowing in the body obey those sacred commands and do the cleaning in the body’s cells, so does breathing purify and clean the blood.

And as eyelids obey the command to clean the eye and flies to brush their wings, so the extensive atmosphere and the clouds obey it. The air blows upon the pieces of dust and soil settled on the surface of the earth and cleans it. The sponges of the clouds sprinkle water on the garden of the earth and dampen the dust and soil. Then, so as not to dirty the sky, the air quickly collects the earth’s rubbish and withdraws and hides itself with perfect orderliness. It displays the beautiful face and eye of the skies as swept and polished, all sparkling and shining.

And as the stars, elements, minerals, and plants obey the command to clean, all particles and atoms obey it: they pay attention to cleanliness within the astonishing upheavals of change and transformation. They never congregate anywhere unnecessarily and get in the way. If they do become soiled, they are quickly cleaned. They are impelled by a hand of wisdom to acquire the cleanest, neatest, and most shining states and the most beautiful, pure and subtle forms.

Thus, this single act, that is, making clean, which is a single truth, is a greatest manifestation of a greatest name, the name of Quddus, which shows itself in the maximum sphere, that is, throughout the universe. Like the sun, it shows directly to eyes that are far-seeing and broad-sighted the divine existence and unity together with the most beautiful divine names.