With all their plots and intrigues, the inimical secret societies which for fifty years have opposed me, have, for the last twenty-nine years, tried to incite the government and judiciary against me, and employing every device, have attracted the attention of the courts, to induce them to investigate and scrutinize my one hundred and thirty books and thousands of letters. Although five of those courts ruled for definite acquittals and the return of all the books since they contain nothing reprehensible, and although in connection with the recent Malatya Incident, our covert enemies again tried to direct the attention of the government and judiciary towards us, twenty-three courts stated that they could find nothing that constituted an offence.
Nothing was found despite there being so many hostile people searching for pretexts in the one hundred and thirty books of a person like me who has very few relations with the worldly and sacrifices nothing for a truth like the Risale-i Nur. And apart from a single matter, Islamic dress, in Eskişehir Court, it was taken to be a discretionary matter after an explanation had been given. Whereas certainly something would have been found in the ten letters of a single person like a Nur student who practises God-consciousness (takvà) if they were to be studied for ten days. Thus, the fact that the courts have been unable to pinpoint anything indictable in so voluminous a work infers that it is not devoid of two things:
Certainly, it is either divine providence and protection, which shows its mercy and compassion for the Nur students, the servants of the Qur'an, so that all the courts that have dealt with us have acted with wondrous justice
and not unjustly, and despite all the thousands of causes opposed to us, have assisted in serving that sacred Qur'anic truth. So for our part, we thank them with all our lives and spirits.
In olden times, sultans and the poor were tried side by side by the courts. In the time of the Caliph 'Umar's (May God be pleased with him) justice, he was tried together with a common Christian, and 'Ali (May God be pleased with him) was tried with a common Jew, which shows that the judicial system was the tool of nothing except right and truth. Thus, the courts that have been concerned with us - in their dealings with us - have manifested this great mystery of the judiciary's justice, It is because of this that despite the torments, imprisonment, and oppression I have suffered these last eight years, I have not felt offended at or cursed any member of the courts; on the contrary, I have sincerely felt indebted and a sort of gratitude, and have applauded them.
In His Name, be He glorified!
And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise. (Q 17:44)
Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!
My Dear, Loyal, Faithful, Devoted Brothers!
Firstly: I congratulate you with my whole life and spirit on your exceptional, luminous work for the cause of belief.
Secondly: At the Democrat Congress in Ankara, they wanted to assign me a post in the Directorate of Religious Affairs and to induce the Nur students of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ to persuade me to accept it. So I say this: I offer my thanks to the deputies who made this proposal at the meeting and to their religious friends, and I send them my greetings and pray for their success. But I am extremely weak, ill, and elderly, and at the door of the grave and wretched, and I do not have the strength to perform such sacred duties. So just as in my place and upto now the collective personality of the Nur students and of the select, sincere, true devotees of Islam have been carrying out that duty unofficially and unobtrusively; so too, God willing, they will be able to perform it officially. We refer it to them.
In His Name, be He glorified!
[Concerning the fact that belief has afforded me paradisaical pleasures in my life in this world too.]
I have not seen my kindly mother since I was nine years old and so have been unable to talk with her. I have been deprived of her respectful love, and because I have not seen my three late sisters since I was fifteen, and they have departed for the Intermediate Realm together with my mother, May God have mercy on them, I have been denied the compassion and respect of their delightful, pleasurable sisterly conversation. And because I have not seen two of my three brothers for fifty years, May God have mercy on them, I have been deprived the conversation of those two valuable, religious, learned brothers, and the joy of their respectful love and kindly compassion. However, just as the Risale-i Nur shows that a seed of Paradise is found in belief; so today, when making a trip with my four spiritual sons who devotedly serve me, a tiny part of the seed of Paradise found in belief was imparted to my spirit.
I have always remained single and have had no children in this world, but have never felt the lack of this despite being deprived of the tender pleasure and gratification enjoyed with children. In the face of these four wounds, Almighty God today bestowed a most pleasurable idea on me. It healed them in three ways.
The First: In accordance with an inner meaning of the Hadith: "Practise religion as elderly women do!" which is explained in the Risale-i Nur, in place of the pleasure of my late mother's solicitous personal compassion, divine mercy bestowed on me in general fashion the wondrous benefiting from the Risale-i Nur of thousands of mothers and elderly women and their spiritual pleasures. Similarly, in place of the caring, sisterly joy and pleasure of my three late sisters, it gave me through the Risale-i Nur hundreds of thousands of young women as sisters of a sort, and their prayers and attachment to the Risale-i Nur, and thousands of spiritual benefits in place of the three I had lost and a joyousness in my spirit. My brothers are aware of the numerous signs and evidences showing this second part to be true. Also, in place of my being deprived on my brother's death of devoted material and moral assistance in this world, and of his love and affection,
divine mercy bestowed on me instead of my two or three brothers hundreds of thousands of devoted brothers, in order, like true brothers, to assist me with true compassion, and to help me in the work of the Risale-i Nur, the capital of not only worldly life, but also of the life of the hereafter. It made up for my missing the pleasurable loving of children - since I had no children in this world - and multiplied a particular, personal kindly condition hundreds of thousands of times. For in the future hundreds of thousands of innocent children would be nurtured by the Risale-i Nur. There are numerous signs of this. In fact, those who attend on me know that the respect and attachment innocent children have shown me in Bolvadin and on the roads of Emirdağ, which is greater than what their parents show, has multiplied a particular, personal, private pleasure and kindly respect a thousand times over, and made it universal and general. There are numerous examples of this. Like some blessed spirits experience premonitions, the spirits of the innocent children had a premonition that the Risale-i Nur would train and protect them as would a worldly and otherworldly father, for they showed respect to the Risale-i Nur's servant greater than that they show their parents. In fact, a three-year-old girl whom I had never seen before and did not know came racing over thorny ground to me with bare feet. Indeed, we have so many friends in Bolvadin, we cannot escape them even though we travel swiftly in the motor car. Their everywhere showing attachment for me as they do their parents although they have never before seen or heard me prompted me to see that for myself, a seed of Paradise is found in belief, even as regards my soul, my feelings, and corporeally.
In His Name, be He glorified!
We are obliged to explain a secret, extraordinary mental state of our Master so that no offence is felt by those who come to visit him and cannot see him, and those who have to return without us letting them see him. Today, even, because we were a little inattentive, he decided to put an end to our service although he is in much need of it, but then he recalled what we are now going to write and he forgave us. It was this:
We have understood quite clearly that just as our Master has passed most of his life in solitude, so he has never accepted unreciprocated gifts and to do so makes him ill; so too, he now finds it most oppressive to be treated over-respectfully and to meet with friends. We have on many occasions
seen that shaking hands with people and having his hand kissed afflicts his spirit as though receiving a blow. And he is intensely discomforted if he is looked at and studied. We, even, cannot look at him if there is no necessity although we serve him. We have understood that the reason for this is as follows:
Since the fundamental way of the Risale-i Nur is true sincerity, at this time of egotism, conversing with people and showing excessive respect smacks of self-love, hypocrisy, and artificiality and this distresses him extremely. For he says: "If those who come here, want to see me for the hereafter and the Risale-i Nur, the Risale-i Nur leaves absolutely no need for me; each of its millions of copies are more beneficial that ten Saids. And if they want to discuss the world and worldly matters, I have renounced the world completely and cannot waste time on its meaningless affairs. And if it is about the work and dissemination of the Risale-i Nur, my true, devoted students who serve me and my spiritual sons and brothers will meet with them on my behalf; they are adequate for this and leave no need for me." So our brothers who come from afar and the others should not feel offended, because for the past ten years when reciting his invocations every morning, he bequeathes the merits to them, saying: "O Lord! Let the merits of these be written also in the books of good works of those who come here to see me but have to return without doing so!" He bequeathes them to their spirits. We are making clear for our brothers this state of mind of our Master.
[A passage from the newspaper, İleri, dated 13 April 1957]
Üstad Bediuzzaman lays the foundations of a new mosque.
Üstad Bediuzzaman Said Nursi applies the first cement to the foundations of the mosque being built for the Third Military Training Division
(From our private correspondent in Isparta)
A splendid ceremony was held in Isparta to mark the laying of the foundations of the mosque being built there for the Third Training Division, which has been formed in recent years. Üstad Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, the author of the Risale-i Nur, who is in Isparta, was invited to the ceremony. He had an enthusiastic reception and then applied with his own auspicious hands the first cement to the foundations, and offered prayers.