I have been the target of an injustice that has been unprecedented in history on the face of the earth, and cruelty and oppression that are illegal in ten respects. It is as follows:
How does it profit you to inflict the police on an extremely weak elderly seventy-one-year-old who is severely ill from being poisoned as a result of a conspiracy; is alone in piteous exile; impoverished to the extent that he had to sell his sack coat, vest, and slippers to secure his needs; a solitary recluse who for twenty-five years is able to meet with only one completely loyal person out of a thousand; an innocent man whose life and works of twenty years have been ruled by three courts and the Ankara experts' committee to be beneficial, not harmful, for the country and nation; a son of this land who performed important services in the Great War; a patriot who has striven with all his strength with his effective works to save this nation
and country from anarchy and the corruption of foreigners; and as has been testified to by seventy witnesses in court, has not read a newspaper for twenty-five years nor been curious about the news; has taken no interest in the Second World War, nor has asked about it nor known about it; and as is proved in his works has completely cut all his ties with politics, and as has been admitted officially by your judiciary, has not interfered in your world? How does it benefit you to set foremost yourself, the Interior Minister, and the governor of Afyon and the Emirdağ police on this wretched Said, who flees desperately from public regard lest harm should come to his life in the hereafter and his sincerity, and dislikes and shrinks from his brothers' good opinions about him and their praise; what profit is there in making him suffer in one day the torments of a month's solitary confinement, compelling him to remain all alone and solitary in anguish? I ask, What law permits this ghastly cruelty? and I declare the above to the Interior Minister by way of the Ministry of Justice, which protects the rights of the public.
My Dear, Loyal Brothers and Osman, Mehmed, and Hasan Efendis, who are as true to me in my exile as kith and kin!
In connection with the extraordinary concern of Hasan Feyzi and the other students for the Çalışkan family, which is immediate recompense for your unforgetable and earnest services for myself and the Risale-i Nur, and their broadcasting your good name throughout the country and causing the people of reality to look on you as friends, you are obliged in my place to be extremely circumspect and completely loyal and most careful in order to protect and defend the Risale-i Nur and its students more than myself and to save them from the intrigues of the politicians and the enemies who poisoned me. For even the smallest mistake will discredit not only myself, but also thousands of innocent students and your own good name, which is now shining. My situation and the difficulties inflicted on me are illegal in six respects, so in order to absolve themselves from future responsibility, those who torment me unjustly and illegally, are searching for a pretext for themselves and an excuse. So you have to be extremely careful,
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
Firstly: Part of the conversation with the Interior Minister was sent to you a couple of days ago so that you might take it as a model and when necessary refer to it when presenting a petition to the minister or to the court. Our brothers too should defend themselves against the dissemblers accordingly. It seems that it was him who up to now has spitefully caused this torturous distress to be visited on me. However ... you consult among yourselves and do whatever is necessary. But you must act with caution and without fussing and causing a commotion.
Secondly: I have received by way of the timid mufti of this place, whom I have not met, Hulûsi's letter from Kars and a letter from my nephew Nihad. In truth, that brother of ours preserves his staunch, extraordinary loyalty and his close concern with the Risale-i Nur. It is a meaningful coincidence that although he did not know it, I had said in the piece for Sabri due to the possibility of Nihad being there, that if he was in Kars he would meet with Hulûsi. Just at the time I had said this here and then written it to you, they both wrote letters to me although both had hitherto been silent.
Thirdly: Another subtle and happy coincidence was the letter from our brother Re'fet which demonstrated his complete loyalty and concern and that he is a Nur commander like Hulûsi, arriving at the same time I received Hulûsi's letter. Both should be added to The Additional Letters. Re'fet's teaching the Qur'an to the innocent children and his being preoccupied with writing out and reading Lem'alar (The Flashes), and those innocents praying that my illness should be cured, soothed it like a salve and cheered me up.
And Fourthly: Many times I had sorrowfully and regretfully wondered whether or not Yâkub Cemâl, whose writing resembles that of Âsım, was alive and if he was alive, he was working at the Risale-i Nur with his fine pen. Then endless thanks be to God, I received a letter from him showing both that he was alive, and that he was serving the Risale-i Nur, and that he persisted in loyalty. I exclaimed: All praise be to God!
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
More than a hundred times, a truly valuable truth related to belief has appeared to me, But because the period of composition has finished, I have been unable to capture it, however much I tried. I have waited so that I might express it and communicate it clearly, but I have not been successful.
Now, with the briefest of indications, I shall speak of that very extensive and lengthy truth. The Hadith, "God created man in the form of the Most Merciful" is both a condensed, comprehensive statement, and a figurative (müteşâbih) Hadith. When reading the Hulâsatü'l-Hulâsa (Ar. Khulasat al-Khulasa) and the Jaushan al-Kabir, a truly significant and universal point concerning it became clear to my heart. So in order not to lose that strange and beautiful point, I jotted down signs and allusions to it between the Seventeenth Degree of the Hulâsatü'l-Hulâsa, which is the testimony of the Qur'an's tongue, and the Eighteenth, which is the testimony of the universe's tongue:
There is no God but God, the Necessarily Existent, the One, the Unique, through the tongue of the truth of humanity, through the words of its life and senses and disposition, and its being a measure and standard, and its humanness; and through the words of humanity's attributes and morality and vicegerency, and being index-like, and the nature of its 'I', and through the words of its comprehensive creation and diverse forms of worship and its multiple needs and its boundless poverty, impotence, and faultiness, and its unlimited potentialities.
Here, I am going to explain and elucidate this brief indication, again very briefly and in code. You can add it as an addendum to the Hulâsatü'l-Hulâsa.
Yes, when I read the Hulâsatü'l-Hulâsa, I see the vast universe as a circle for the remembrance of God. But since the tongue of each realm of beings is very extensive, to comprehend the divine names and attributes at the degree of the knowledge of certainty the intellect has to work excessively by way of reflective thought. Only then does it see them completely. But when the intellect considers the human reality, it confirms those names and attributes in that reality's comprehensive measure, tiny map, tiny true sample, tiny sensitive balance, and responsive egoism, with a conscience, assurance and belief which are utterly certain, direct, and assented to mentally. It acquires certain affirmative belief most easily, in its mirror that is present with it, without needing a lengthy journeying in thought; it comprehends a true meaning of "God created man in the form of the Most Merciful." Because, since form is precluded in respect of Almighty God, what is meant by form (T. suret; Ar. sura) is character, morality, and attributes.
Yes, followers of the Sufi path travelled two paths in gaining knowledge of God (marifet-i Ilâhiye), in the inner and outer worlds, the shortest, easiest, surest, and most powerful of which they found to be the journey through man's inner self (enfüsî); that is, the silent remembrance of God in the heart. Similarly, the lofty people of reality (ehl-i hakikat) proceeded down two highways, not in experiential and ideational knowledge of God (marifet ve tasavvur), but in the much higher and more valuable belief and affirmation (iman ve tasdik).
One of these highways, like The Supreme Sign and Hizbü'n-Nûriye and Hulâsatü'l-Hulâsa, is by pondering over the book of the universe to behold the outside world (âfâk).
The Other is by reflecting on the map of the human reality, index of human egoism, and the nature of man's self with the conscience and senses (vicdanî ve hissî) and to an extent, vision (şuhûdî), to rise to a degree of belief that is free of doubt and scruples and is the most powerful degree, that of absolute certainty, which looks to the mystery of divine immediacy and the legacy of prophethood. Reflective thought on the inner self in attaining belief has been explained in part in the Thirtieth Word on the 'I' and 'I'ness (ene ve enâniyet), and in the Windows on Life and Man in the Thirty-Third Letter, and in part in other pieces of the Risale-i Nur.
This may added to both The Additional Letters, and The Ratifying Stamp of the Unseen, and the Hulâsa.
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
Don't be offended that, because of my indisposition, I am answering your numerous letters with one, single, wretched letter.
Firstly: Our secret enemies have employed every stratagem to gain a hold over several high-ranking government officials and by needling my most sensitive points and harassing me to incite an incident resembling the Menemen or Shaykh Said incidents. But they realised that the Old Said is no more, and that the New Said endures everything, so they switched plans to other plans; in short, to poisoning me. But divine preservation foiled that one too. Now those dissemblers are officially utilizing black propaganda to scare the people away from me and induce them to give me up. However, don't you worry about this at all. Divine providence continues; the Risale-i Nur's victories are gradually spreading.
Secondly: Hasan Feyzi's new eulogy and Halil İbrahim's of a week ago,
showing their extraordinary good will towards my person, and their sincere and sorrowful poems of farewell, have been accepted with a few modifications for three reasons:
The First: They wrote them not on account of my person, but on account of my being a servant of the Qur'an and belief and the Risale-i Nur; they were looking to that sacred duty.
The Second: Their descriptions, which far exceed my due, and those of our sincere brothers in that region whom they represent, are a sort of earnest prayer, and an auspicious omen (tefe'ül), and an elevated desire for good, and a reflection of their abilities, their belief, and their most serious concern for the Risale-i Nur.
The Third: In so far as in their view I am the representative and exemplification of the collective personality of the Risale-i Nur and its students, there would be no benefit in slighting that wondrous good will of theirs and breaking their morale. I send thousands of greetings to both of them and their friends, particularly Ahmed Feyzi and our brothers in Denizli Prison and those striving for justice for our sake.
Thirdly: I cannot find the time to extract key passages from each of Husrev's many letters, which have so often soothed my difficulties and which I keep with me, and add all of them to The Additional Letters. God willing, I shall study them when the occasion arises. Ahmed Nazif's letters, written in the name of the İnebolu students and showing that he shared in Halil İbrahim's heart-rending eulogy, dispelled my worries about my steadfast brothers in that region. May God be pleased with them!
Fourthly: Our old and new brothers whose names are mentioned in the letter from Ahmed from the village of Çoban İsa are working at the Risale-i Nur and getting their children to work at it and at the Qur'an, which is indeed a noteworthy service for the Risale-i Nur. May Almighty God grant them success. Amen!
Fifthly: Perhaps twenty times, Jaushan and Awrad-i Qudsiyya-i Shah-i Naqshband have saved me from losing my life due to the physical and spiritual poison of my dissembler enemies, but regretfully, due to their cruelty I suffer such effects, tension, grief, and revulsion in my nerves, and such sensitivity and strain, that I can't endure having even my truest friend and most loyal brother with me for an hour; my spirit cannot abide it. I feel distress if one of them merely looks at me, The unsociableness that I used to suffer from slightly, has become very severe due to the cruel maltreatment of those oppressors and their surveillance. It is as though I have died to social life before dying my death; it is on account of this truth and mystery that my select brothers are writing their eulogies.
Also, the climate here abrades my nerves and irks me terribly. One winter day here weighs on me and distresses me more than the whole winter I spent in Denizli Prison.
However, I can tell you in all certainty that just as the eye cannot endure the weight of a hair; so too, although my spirit is pained by a hair's weight, it takes on itself and endures gratefully and patiently mountains' weight of oppression and difficulties for the well-being of the Risale-i Nur and its students and in their place. But since my powerlessness and weakness and sorrow are excessive, instead of increasing my load with their praising me, my select brothers should lighten it with their prayers and compassion, and help me with their saintly influence and pity. It is a manifestation of divine grace that this severe sickness of unsociability that I suffer reduces to nothing the solitary confinement the tyrants inflict on me; it pleases me in a way, rather than tormenting me.
My Dear Loyal Brothers and Efficacious Consolation and Heirs in this Dreadful Age!
Evidence that your superhuman efforts and enterprise have transformed Isparta and its environs into an extensive Medresetü'z-Zehrâ and al-Azhar University is your sending to this semi-literate brother of yours more than twenty perfect copies of The Staff of Moses which show the coincidences (tevâfuk) and left even the printers in astonishment. May the Most Merciful of the Merciful bestow a thousand instances of His mercy on you, on those who write out copies, and on those who help them, for each word, and thousands of fruits of Paradise, and have written in the books of your good deeds hundreds of merits. Amen! Amen! Amen!
I considered them and this occurred to my heart: Can it be that these champions have no present recompense? Then it suddenly came to me that by writing out this collection, first and foremost they read attentively its powerful lesson in belief, which silences the philosophers and induces them to believe, and so gain a spiritual treasury.
Moreover, the copies they write will save the belief of many other people or they will come to believe. There is a Hadith which says: "A single person coming to believe through you is better than a plain-full of red sheep." Also, with their blessed pens, they perform the sacred duties of
the great mujahid heroes of early Islam. The future will most certainly applaud them and the Nurjus.
Secondly: It is appropriate that the passage at the beginning of The Staff of Moses Collection which is underlined, be written out. Anyone who wishes may write it together with the beginning part of this letter.
The Twenty-Eighth Flash and Eighth Ray have proved satisfactorily that in his ode, Jaljalutiyya, Imam 'Ali (May God be pleased with him) foretells powerfully and almost explicitly with the same number the Risale-i Nur and its main treatises, In Jaljalutiyya, with the line: «And with the name of Moses' staff, the darkness is dispelled,» he gives news of its final treatise.
A couple of years ago, we supposed that The Supreme Sign was its final treatise, whereas now, the writing of the Risale-i Nur being completed in [thirteen] sixty-four and the above lines of Imam 'Ali giving news of a treatise that would dispel the darkness and scatter light like the staff of Moses, breaking their spells; and both The Fruits section of this collection being a sort of court defence and scattering the dark injustice that descended upon us, and The Proofs section dispelling the darkness of the philosophy that formed a front against the Risale-i Nur and compelling the Ankara experts' committee to submit and appreciate it; and its containing numerous indications that it would disperse darknesses in the future; and like the staff of Moses (Upon whom be peace) caused twelve springs to flow from the rock, this collection with its Fruits and their eleven luminous topics and its Conclusive Proof of God and its eleven decisive proofs, all afforded us the conviction that with those lines, Imam 'Ali (May God be pleased with him) was looking directly to the collection called The Staff of Moses and was giving news of it appreciatively.
Thirdly: Sabri, who is the Nur Power Station and some of whose pieces are included in the Twenty-Seventh Letter, has sent another eulogy. We have added it to The Additional Letters, and have also sent it to you. And Hâfız Mustafa - who is one of the blessed people and has performed many services in spreading the Risale-i Nur - his blessed, innocent grandson wrote out the Sixth Ray when seven years old and wrote me a letter, which will awaken an interest in the Risale-i Nur among the innocents here. He should be called Said Nurî; the name Nursî, referring to the village, is meaningless. The 's' should be left out and just the 'î' remain, to show his attachment to the Risale-i Nur. I was going to write many other things, but I've been obliged to cut it short due to the many duties and jobs I have to do.
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
Firstly: Your sending the good news that those who have completed the first duty are beginning the second, The Miracles Collection, prompted me to offer endless thanks to the Most Merciful of the Merciful, who has bestowed such true brothers on me in this work for religious belief. Proceeding from its use of the Qur'anic script, the first duty displayed a wonder on the opening, in the centre, of a course for the Qur'anic script. God willing, the second duty will display an even more miraculous wonder.
Secondly: It will be more beneficial and appropriate if Konyalı Sabri communicates with me through you, because for the most part you can do what he wants in my place. For instance, since the scholars can assist to the fullest extent by doing corrections, the corrections should be done there by them. You can send them some of the copies I have corrected previously. Truly, the question of corrections is most important. Sometimes an error in a letter or a point even, can cause a valuable meaning to be lost. First of all, those who write out copies should compare them thoroughly, then give them to the correctors. Mâshâllah, there are very few errors in the Staff of Moses collections that have reached me recently, and they have been corrected to an extent. May God be pleased with both those who wrote them out and those who corrected them. Amen!
Thirdly: The Tunisian Hoja Haşmet, who lives in Yozgat and is interested in the Risale-i Nur, heard firstly that I had died and then that I was alive, and sent two sincere letters here; send him my greetings.
Fourthly: We have made Rüştü's heroic brother, Burhan, a partner in our spiritual gains since he has for a long time performed valuable services for the Risale-i Nur in times of need despite being unlettered. Including him among the select students, we mention him by name in our prayers every day.
It is a meaningful coincidence that just when describing my wide-ranging anxieties at the non-arrival of Husrev's and Sabri's letters, numerous letters arrived in unexpected fashion, which dispelled all those comprehensive worries.
I send my greetings to all my brothers.
My Dear, Loyal Brothers, and True Friends on the Way of Truth and Eternity!
The private letters that have arrived here from the Kastamonu villagers and champions of the Risale-i Nur and the devotees of Safranbolu deserve replies, but neither my situation nor my time permits this, so they should not be offended if I send a short reply via yourself.
Firstly: The letters of Hilmi, ihsan, Emin, and Taşköprülü Sadık filled me with joy. In truth, these brothers performed in nine months in prison nine years of service for the Risale-i Nur and came shoulder to shoulder with the Isparta champions. I shall never ever forget all they did for my welfare, for the unity and co-operation of our friends in the prison, and for the new parts of the Risale-i Nur, May God be eternally pleased with them and with you! Frequently I travel eagerly in the imagination to those times and to the places we used to make excursions to in Kastamonu and Barla. I sit down there and weep, and gaze at those friends of mine in the imagination.
Mustafa Osman and Hıfzı (May God have mercy on him) wrote a short letter that resembled the powerful expressions and fine handwriting of the hero Sadık, and sent the greetings of the Safranbolu students. I wondered if Sâdık had gone there or whether they had gone to him, or was there another brother called Sâdık?
More than anyone else, it is the duty of the loyal people of Barla to work with all their strength at writing out the Risale-i Nur. For Barla has won the honour of being the first Risale-i Nur School, so it is not permissible to leave it without students. God willing, it will again be filled. May God's blessings be upon those who are working, and may He grant them success. Amen!
Secondly: The two letters of Osman and Ahmed, two of Safranbolu's loyal students, show their extraordinary loyalty and attachment to the Risale-i Nur. Mâshallah, Osman has in a short time both learnt the Qur'an, and has written out pieces of the Risale-i Nur, and is now writing out The Staff of Moses. He is a true brother of the devoted Mustafa Osman and Hıfzı, and Ahmed is truly devoted as well. There are deficiencies in the writing of the letter, and I couldn't make out what he was saying. I send many greetings to them and to my brothers in Safranbolu and Kastamonu and around there, and I offer prayers for them, and request their prayers. I send greetings to each and every one of our brothers of the Medresetü'z-Zehrâ in Isparta and the region, and pray for their peace and well-being.
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
I was worrying because I hadn't received Husrev's letter written by himself; and no reply had arrived concerning the collections I had sent to Konya; and because our enemies and foremost the Minister of the Interior together with the anarchists were all pressurizing me; and because some of the dissemblers here had learnt from certain simple-hearted friends of ours that I had sent books to both Eskişehir and Konya and had received The Staff of Moses collections. Then suddenly in unprecedented fashion in this season, one and a half metres of snow fell and there was a terrible blizzard and cold spell. I wondered if such anger and wrath could be connected with the Risale-i Nur and its students, like the four earthquakes and drought last year. I asked if the calamity was general or just limited to the provinces of Afyon and Eskişehir, and they replied that it was limited to them. So I exclaimed: "All praise be to God! That means there is no general attack on the Risale-i Nur and its students; only on myself and the treatises I have with me." I had reckoned that Eskişehir, which I so trusted, would be a Nur School like Denizli, but it remained ten degrees below Denizli, the reason for which was the situation scaring them, like with Afyon and Emirdağ. Anyway, don't worry; just like with the Istanbul secular schools, God willing, this weather incident has caused the covert Masons to give up the new assault they were intending. Divine providence is protecting us.
Secondly: This time I received seven or eight letters. My situation, pen, and time do not permit me to write personal replies, so don't be offended. We added the letters from Mehmed Feyzi and Emin to The Additional Letters without touching them. I did not interfere with them since both of them have served me personally for eight years, and their descriptions which far exceed my due are a sort of prayer and source of encouragement and contentment, and a sign of good will and loyalty towards their Master in so far as he is the interpreter of the Risale-i Nur, and of their belief and attachment. And it is appropriate that Feyzi's description of his mother's beautiful, luminous death due to the lessons of the Risale-i Nur, a shining example of how it comes to the aid of its students at the time of death and other times of difficulty, should be included among The Additional Letters.
An immediate reply to Halil İbrahim's letter asking numerous questions about the whys and wherefores of divine decree and determining, would allow us to strive to perform good works, and would attract everyone's attention to the Risale-i Nur and get them to read it. But since it would call to mind some sort of objection to divine decree and determining, it would
be inappropriate for general circulation in The Additional Letters. However, the sections and invocations at the end of the letter taken from Jaushan al-Kabir are very fine.
Thirdly: Husrev's letter telling of the eager services for the Risale-i Nur performed by Lame 'Ali of Atabey and Kâzım of Eğirdir prompt even spirit beings to praise and applaud them. And the letter to me of fourteen-year-old Mustafa Yeşil of Ali Köyü and his father, describing their services for both the Qur'an and the Risale-i Nur, and all the innocents of that village working for the Risale-i Nur through the efforts and endeavours of the three 'Ali's, drove not only myself but all the Nur students to applaud them and offer thanks.
Fourthly: Abdurrahman Salâhaddin's belated condolences at the end of the letter Feyzi wrote on the occasion of his mother's death, and his writing in a postscript that he did not accept that I had died, and that in some way Gawth al-A'zam's protection had passed to The Staff of Moses, made me weep for joy. Also, the Safranbolu heroes participating in the epics of Mehmed Feyzi and Emin; and a general course for the Arabic script and letters being inaugurated in the centre of government and this being a sign of The Staff of Moses' conquests and its wonderworking, and good tidings, caused me the greatest joy and reduced to nothing all the distress I had suffered this winter.
Molla Mehmed of Tavas, one of Denizli's devoted hardworking people, has sent letter which is short in words but long in meaning, from which I understood that he did not believe that I had died either, and that he attributes to me much greater worth than is my due.
I send many greetings both to him, and to my brothers whom I met in prison, and to Feyzi and Hâfız Mustafa and their friends.
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
Firstly: We included in The Additional Letters in the name of all the innocents and champions of Sava this fine sincere piece of Ahmed, one of the old innocents of the Nur School, Mâshallah! It shows that Haji Hâfız Mehmed has a valuable grandson who closely resembles him.
Secondly: I was exceedingly pleased that the two grandchildren of one
of the leading Nur students in Safranbolu, Hıfzı, one aged ten and the other eight, are writing out The Staff of Moses Collection and that they wrote a letter telling me they were about to finish it.
Thirdly: One reason for the grievous difficulties inflicted on me this winter was that they isolated me from everyone so that I should not assist in the liberal parties' smashing the absolute tyranny of the people from Salonica. But the Risale-i Nur speaks with thousands of tongues in my place, and demolishes disbelief and apostasy, and defeats anarchy.