The first thing that came to mind is this quote by Thomas Merton.

“Nothing has ever been said about God that hasn’t already been said better by the wind in the pine trees.”
— Thomas Merton, in Love and Living, with edits.

Just pause for a while. And take it in.

To me, this epitomises the dhikr of nature. The litany of the Cosmos is heard through solitude and silence.

We’ve heard of the famous question: If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound if no one hears it? Philosophical arguments aside, perhaps the real question is, who is the ultimate witness of the falling of a great tree? Even if no other consciousness existed to observe the falling tree, even if the tree fell in a vacuum where there were no air molecules to be disturbed to create sound waves to be observed, would the Tree not witness Itself falling? If the tree falls in complete solitude and earthly silence, Allah is the All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

Yet, Allah says in a hadith Qudsi, “I was a hidden treasure; I loved to be known. Hence I created the world so that I would be known.” Allah created the Universe, and me in it, out of Love. He gave me consciousness so that I may partake in Him witnessing Himself, through Love.

This has been my contemplation lately. To fall silent and to fall in silence. To let myself be heard by the All-Hearing. To submerse into the depths of my soul and let the All-Knowing tell me what is there for me to know. And when I hear, I know, and I obey—in Love.

“Where is silence? Where is solitude? Where is Love? Ultimately these cannot be found anywhere except in the ground of our own being. There, in the silent depths, there is no more distinction between the I and the Not-I. There is the perfect peace, because we are grounded in infinite creative and redemptive Love.”
— Thomas Merton, Love and Living