When I first saw you, I reckoned that you would be fair-minded and just although we had not met, and am therefore explaining to you before anyone else a fact about which I am concerned. It is up to you, and is your duty, to inform the relevant authorities about it. The matter is this:
My present circumstances have been unheard of in history. Living in total isolation, forbidden to have contact with anyone even the congregation at the mosque, elderly, ill, and in deprivation, it suddenly occurred to my heart that since I too am a son of this land, I am obliged to work for its happiness. I have nothing to contribute materially, so I permitted some of my brothers to print in the new letters The Fruits of Belief (Meyve Risalesi) and The Conclusive Proof (Hüccetü'l-Bâliğa), which I have written about what I have understood from the Qur'an. The relevant Ankara authorities, the committee of experts, and Denizli Court could find nothing reprehensible in those two treatises after scrutinizing them for two years, and they returned them to us officially. I also sent a reply requesting that they show them to the censor and to leading writers, and then print them. It is also customary to present copies to twelve departments of government after they have been printed. The Treatise on Sincerity (İhlas Risalesi) and Treatise on Frugality (İktisad Risalesi) were subsequently added at the end of the former two treatises and printed in the new letters. I declare to you in all certainty that my purpose in printing these works was to preserve this blessed nation and country from moral and material anarchy, to assist public peace and security, to erect a moral barrier against the flood of an external current that incites lawlessness, and to try to dispel the objections and accusations of the Islamic world against us and to attract their love and brotherhood. But alas! Since I have no connection with the world, and do not meet with members of government, and know nothing of the state of the world, and because I have been subject to illegal assaults, certain persons who for a long time past have covertly opposed me hostilely, seized the opportunity and raised suspicions about me with the police and judiciary.
In Short: I heard by a strange coincidence that, on a train, detectives had seized four of my treatises and copies of all the letters I have written these last two years. Two of those treatises were on sincerity. It's true they are a bit confidential, but both the court and the Ankara experts' committee considered them harmless and returned them to us. They had also been sent to Istanbul to show the censor and to leading writers. As for the Treatise on
Frugality, it is essential for everyone at this time. And as for the Eighteenth Flash, The Wonder-working of 'Ali (Keramet-i Aleviye), it had evidently been sent to them by mistake together with the other treatises. I allow only my very closest students to read it, let alone having it printed. It anyway is not concerned with this world. Moreover, the experts' committee and the court studied it and returned it to us.
Also, ten years ago at a most distressing time in Eskişehir Prison when I was truly in need of a solace, some good news of a spiritual nature occurred to my heart and I wrote it down. It was not a question of printing and publishing it together with those treatises and the copies of the letters I had written these last two, rather four or five, years; it was sent together with them at the request of one or two close friends of mine who had wanted to read it. The reason I wrote the letters was in order to console some friends who were suffering the wretchedness of prison because of me, and to converse with them and exchange ideas about the Risale-i Nur, which for the last twenty years has been most beneficial for the lives in this world and the next of this nation and country. There may also have been some letters I had written both to yourself and to the authorities in Ankara among the works that were seized. This, then, is what the letters and treatises that were seized by the detectives consisted of. I am explaining these facts as they may possibly have reached you by now or will do so. I am hopeful that out of your devotion to duty and your seriousness you will not permit illegal harassment of me due to groundless fears, adding to the severe difficulties I am suffering at this time.
My Dear Brothers!
His are all praise and blessings! In all its might and awesomeness a moral victory of the Risale-i Nur was witnessed yesterday in Istanbul. A society and its press organs which want to spread absolute unbelief throughout the world and especially in the Islamic world, and their printing presses and libraries, were stormed and ransacked and protested against verbally and by action by the very youth and students of the secular schools they supposed they had made into communists. They were cursed and execrated. Their society suffered thousands of liras of material damage
and millions of liras of non-material harm. And a collective personality close to our hearts and spirits, shouted out to our unhappy selves: O Nurjus! Don't be saddened at the present lack of material means! The Risale-i Nur's conquests continue over a wide field and general victories are being won! And so and so forth.
This is from the grace of my Lord!
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
A strange and meaningful event related to the Risale-i Nur students and the wonder-working of The Supreme Sign and the worldly's intention to molest the Risale-i Nur: a fire in one of the local government offices opposite me burned for three hours at the very coldest time of the night with an extraordinary brilliance I had never before seen. Immediately next to it were the large shops belonging to two brothers, and to one of the Çalışkans who is a Risale-i Nur student, which held the greater part of young Ceylan's capital. There were only two small shops between their shops and the fire. The fire was spreading in all its fury towards their shops when the unfortunate Ceylan came to me crying: "Our shops are on fire, we're finished!" Two days earlier I had told him to bring me some of the printed copies of The Supreme Sign which were in the shop, but he had not brought them. That is to say, they remained there in order to extinguish the fire. For my part, taking the Risale-i Nur and The Supreme Sign as intercessors, I exclaimed: "O my Lord! Save them!" In three hours that raging fire destroyed the large local government office and completely burnt out the shops that were under it and adjacent to it. But through the protection of the Risale-i Nur and Supreme Sign, the fire did not touch their shop at all, and the shop under it belonging to the student also remained intact. Only, the people broke its windows. There would have been no damage if they had not done so, to remove the goods.
Thus, there were instances of the Risale-i Nur's wonder-working, both when the Isparta carpet shop caught fire and the two houses of the two brothers of the person who assigned their villa for readings of the Risale-i Nur were saved from the conflagration although they were right next to it; and in Kastamonu, just like in Emirdağ, the house of the Nur student Hâfız Ahmed was saved in extraordinary fashion from the fire opposite me that broke out in the house adjacent to him, and both the life and the jewelry of his sister on the third floor were saved through the blessings of the Risale-i
Nur; and here too three brothers from the Çalışkan family, all hardworking students of the Risale-i Nur, and four people altogether were saved from the fire. Both I myself, and themselves, and our other brothers felt certain that all these were wonders of the Risale-i Nur and The Supreme Sign. If there had been even the slightest wind, which usually blows continuously here, most of the shops in the market might well have been burnt down. In fact, the owners of five or ten shops after the Supreme Sign shop, emptied them of goods and fled quite a distance.
Certains signs were apparent when they interfered with me and the Risale-i Nur, and seized my new letters in Sandıklı and between Afyon and Kütahya. They received slaps with those incidents, and with the incidents in Istanbul. Now they have received this blow as the penalty for intending to molest me, God willing, it has made them give up the idea, and has scared and silenced them.
My brothers! Your intelligence and precautions leave no need for my advice concerning your solidarity. But recently I have felt that they are trying to make the Risale-i Nur students suspicious of one another in order to break their solidarity and blame one another, or accuse such-and-such a student of being a spy so that they fall into dispute and disagreement. Be careful! Even if you see such a thing with your own eyes, don't break their cover. Respond to evil with good. But be extremely cautious and don't give away any secrets. Anyway, we don't have any secrets, but there are suspicious people in abundance. If such a thing should happen and one of the students is an agent, try to reform him. Don't rend the veil and break his cover. Your cohesion, especially that of the Isparta School, has acquitted both the Risale-i Nur, and its students, and this country. Also, your unanimity, enthusiasm, and endeavour are of the greatest importance since they encourage others everywhere to work at the Risale-i Nur. May Almighty God grant you persistence and success in this service of belief. Amen. Amen.
I send greetings to each and every one of all the groups of my brothers, and offer prayers for them and request their prayers.
We are absolutely certain about what our Master has written about the fire; we saw it with our own eyes.
My Dear Brothers!
I appreciated your letters, but the journalists and directors do not yet appreciate those truths. Also, the Risale-i Nur never beseeches; it is they who should beseech and seek it. It only accepts their assistance when they understand its worth and become customers for it.
Furthermore, I reckon it is appropriate at the present time not to attract attention towards the Risale-i Nur students. But this brother of yours' views should not be asked concerning this matter, since for seven years he has taken no interest in the World War and for twenty-five years has read no newspaper nor listened to one being read. The people who really know these matters are yourselves and the select Risale-i Nur students and its meticulous publishers; consulting one another, especially those in Isparta, you will do what is best. I have included this fine letter of yours in The Additional Letters. Feyzi and Emin have won an important place in those Letters; how are they? Are they managing to act in conformity with that important position? Are they feeling upset? Also, how are Taşköprülü Sadık and Hilmi and İhsan, who strove so courageously and devotedly in prison and made me indebted to them by their assisting me personally for ten years? I can't forget my brothers there, especially those in İnebolu; they shouldn't worry about me. Sometimes and in some places, the Risale-i Nur unobtrusively makes conquests most effectively and importantly, despite being halted. They shouldn't worry and should continue to write, steadfastly and single-mindedly at the same time as being circumspect and cautious.
I send greetings to all and offer prayers.
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
Firstly: I congratulate you on embarking on the work for The Staff of Moses (Asâ-yı Mûsâ), the primary duty for the Risale-i Nur, and with all my spirit applaud your Isparta for its advancing in religion and Islamic mores, and its not regressing.
Secondly: The verses by the Denizli Husrev, Hasan Feyzi, about the Risale-i Nur, and about the Qur'anic truth and mystery of belief and depiction of the light of Muhammad (UWBP), which are the Risale-i Nur's origin and basis, reflect a perfect sincerity and firm conviction and belief; and also although as a scholar and especially as a teacher he does not quickly accept things or bow to them without proof, he has described sincerely and
even remarkably the truth of the Risale-i Nur both in his own name and on account of the collective personality of his companions around there. We therefore deem it appropriate for the verses to be written out at the end of The Ratifying Stamp of the Unseen and at the end of the pieces taken from The Additional Letters, and for them to be added to The Additional Letters; and like these, for the last piece describing the Risale-i Nur written by Halil İbrahim to be also added at the end of The Ratifying Stamp of the Unseen. For so powerful and sincere a conviction may be a sign of and hint to the validity of the allusions of the The Ratifying Stamp.
Thirdly: We send many greetings to all our brothers there mentioned in Hasan Feyzi's letter, and we congratulate them. Their prison is a Nur study centre, as the province of Denizli will also become a Medresetü'z-Zehrâ, God willing. He is the pride of many people, has endeavoured to deliver the Risale-i Nur from oppression, and has given us gifts by giving the gifts of the Risale-i Nur treatises to all its students, even greater than those given to himself. This Risale-i Nur congratulation is a token and souvenir from all those who are indebted to him, a token of justice whose recompense has been received a hundred times over.
Fourthly: According to the signs, two situations confirm the predictions that the Risale-i Nur would be completed in [thirteen] sixty-four.
The First: Points of the greatest importance occur to one, yet there is nothing prompting one to compose a treatise.
The Second: I used to request sufficient life to work at protecting and disseminating the Risale-i Nur, and to accompany and preserve it. But endless thanks be to Almighty God, numerous young Saids perform those duties in place of this one, wretched, elderly Said. Especially the Husrevs, Feyzis, Ahmeds, Mehmeds, and many like my nephew Abdurrahman, and so on. Just as they make Hâfız Ali rejoice in his grave, so they will fill me with joy in my grave, God willing.
I send greetings to each and every one of all my brothers, and the different groups including the innocent children, the unlettered, and the sisters, and we pray for them. Through the blessings of the Risale-i Nur, the Çalışkans suffered no loss from the fire, and they send you their respects and greetings and kiss your hands.
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
The plots they have been hatching against me these last few months have been uncovered, and thanks to divine protection, the calamity was reduced twentyfold.
I used to go the mosque when it was empty. Then without my knowledge, the students made a small cubicle for me in the mahfel so that I should not catch cold. For four or five days I decided not to go there. But then, using that well-known policeman, they removed the cubicle and sent me an official order saying that I could no longer go to the mosque. Without reason they made a mountain out of a molehill and caused a stir. But it is of no account, so don't worry. I reckon that their disparaging me on empty pretexts is to destroy public regard for me on all sides, which is anyway greater than my due. They think of what I used to be like and suppose I shall be unable to abide it. Whereas on condition no harm comes to the well-being and spread of the Risale-i Nur, I offer thanks to God even if I am treated with contempt and tormented a thousand times over. I give no importance to it, and the students here are not shaken at all. Through divine grace, this long-awaited incident caused little harm.
I send greetings to each of all our brothers and offer prayers.
... ... ...
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
I received a powerful reminder to restate a matter of the greatest importance, which I had previously explained to you briefly. It is as follows:
There have been signs around here that because the covert assaults of hostile dissemblers and their exploiting the judiciary, politics, and government for open irreligion came to nothing, they have abandoned their former intrigues against the triumphs of the Risale-i Nur and are hatching an even more devious and underhand plot which would leave even Satan in astonishment. The chief part of their plan is to deter our select, devoted brothers and make them slack, and if possible, give up the Risale-i Nur altogether. They employ such extraordinary lies and intrigues that as with the heroic students of the Rose and Light Factories in Isparta and that region, steadfastness, loyalty, and resolve are imperative in order to withstand them. Some of them appear in the guise of friends, and if it is possible to intimidate people, make molehills into mountains and arouse
groundless fears in them. They try to make the weak ones give up, saying: "Watch out! Don't approach Said! The government's watching him." They even set young girls on some of the young students in order to enflame their passions. They also point out some of my personal faults to the leading Risale-i Nur students (erkân), and referring to some apparently religious well-known innovators, they say: "We're Muslims too; religion isn't restricted to Said's way." They exploit those simpleminded hojas and men of religion on account of the atheists and anarchists who have covertly formed a front against us. God willing, these plots of theirs will remain fruitless too. You should say the following to such wretches:
"We are students of the Risale-i Nur, and Said is a student like us. The Risale-i Nur has the Qur'an as its source, mine, and basis. Despite twenty years of unprecedented investigations and inquiries, it has proved its value and superiority to its most obdurate enemies even. Whatever Said does, who is its interpreter and servant, even if - I seek refuge with God - he were to turn against it, our loyalty and attachment to it would not be shaken, God willing o"
Saying this, you should shut that door. But you should busy yourselves with the Risale-i Nur as far as is possible, and write it out if you have the opportunity, and attach no importance to exaggerated propaganda, and be cautious and circumspect as before.
I send greetings to every one of our brothers and offer prayers.
Those who exploit politics for irreligion and covertly inculcate absolute unbelief with the intention of breaking the good will of the Islamic world, and its zeal and brotherhood, which are the most powerful strengths of the nation in this land, have deceived the government and twice confused the judiciary saying: "The Risale-i Nur students exploit religion for politics and may possibly disturb public order." Whereas the Risale-i Nur is a source of physical and spiritual blessings, and performs exceptional service for this country, and comprises truths connected to all the Islamic world, as is shown by the allusions of thirty-three Qur'anic verses and Imam 'Ali's (May God be pleased with him) three predictions and the certain news of Gawth al-A'zam, and it has no connection with politics. But because it has smashed absolute disbelief, it refutes anarchy, which underlies it, and absolute despotism, which overlies it. The Risale-i Nur ensures public security
and peace and freedom and justice; it may not be attacked on the pretext of its harming the country and government. They can no longer induce anyone to believe such a false excuse. But changing their tactics, behind the screen of religion and employing sly tricks, dissemblers may attempt to use some simple-minded hojas or supporters of the innovations or egotistical sufistically inclined people against the Risale-i Nur, as they did two years ago in Istanbul and Denizli. God willing, they won't be successful.
My Brothers!
It has now become clear that their insulting me and treating me contemptuously was a secret strategy contrived officially in order to destroy public regard for me. They are trying covertly to make my friends look coldly on me and to intimidate them. The Ratifying Stamp of the Unseen, however, overturns all their propaganda. It's true that their insulting me on account of irreligion is somewhat annoying and irritates a few remaining veins of the Old Said, but in the face of the wondrous victories of the Risale-i Nur and its students being met with respect and kindness by the people of reality (ehl-i hakikat) and the angels and spirit beings, my person being treated contemptuously has the importance of not even a mosquito's wing. In so far as those despicable wretches destroy the respect in which, in regard to religion, the religiously minded and religious scholars are held, they are being contemptuous towards Islam and are execrated by the angels, spirit beings, believers, and people of reality; they win only the applause of one or two louts or atheists. As though by insulting me they are lessening the Risale-i Nur's influence; by attacking my person supposing it to be the source of the Risale-i Nur, they foolishly imagine it will fall.
So I say this: You wretches who insult me contemptuously on account of irreligion! I tell you with complete certainty that on condition you don't repent, the executioner of the appointed hour will hang you on the gallows of an eternal death sentence from which there is no escape. Your evil spirits will be condemned to everlasting solitary confinement and you will win the disgust and curses of the believers and spirit beings. But because I know that as long as you don't repent, my revenge will be taken on you many times over, I feel not anger at you, but pity.
Even if people like you who don't have the importance of a fly try to eclipse the Risale-i Nur, they cannot curb its influence, for through it hundreds of thousands of people have saved their belief, so they esteem and
love it with all their lives and spirits. As for the effects of my person, I can tell definitely that although I feel annoyance and vexation for a minute or two, I then find such consolation that even if your insults were to increase a thousandfold, they could not negate it. For according to the certain disclosures of the Risale-i Nur and as we have explained with thousands of proofs which confute the philosophers, all those who assault us on account of irreligion will be abhorred in everlasting torment and solitary confinement and eternal execution, while the students who save their belief through the Risale-i Nur will receive their release papers with death and their vouchers for eternal happiness and they will be honoured with everlasting esteem, kindness, and bestowal.
Also, unlike the Old Said, the New Said is completely against being esteemed and held in high regard and seeking fame and renown, and in no way accepts such things, and has therefore preferred to live in seclusion for twenty years. So if you are doing all this to destroy his influence and discredit him in the public view on account of public security and government, you are making a grave error. This is shown by the fact that three courts in two years could find absolutely nothing in twenty years of my life and my one hundred and twenty works or among the one hundred and twenty thousand Risale-i Nur students, that might lead to a disturbance of the peace or was incriminating or against the country and nation, so they acquitted us and returned all the parts of the Risale-i Nur. I declare to you with total certainty that you who oppress us on account of irreligion, persecute me and cause unrest on account of foreign interests to the detriment of this country and nation and public peace and security; encouraging anarchy, you seek that foreign current's intervention. In consequence, I attach not the slightest importance to your scorn and humiliation, and I have decided to endure it in patience for the sake of public order and security.
Of a certainty, this world is not permanent and its events are stormy and in constant flux. Several hours of crimes produce the results of endless torments in this world and the next. You shall then lament to no avail. So I say to you wretches as as I said to the authorities and the officials concerned with us: With the Risale-i Nur we are endeavouring to repulse the two gravest dangers threatening this country and its future, and we have in part proved this in fact with many signs, and even in court,
The First Danger: Anarchy, against which we form a barrier, is trying with all its strength to infiltrate this country from outside.
The Second: The disgust of three hundred and fifty million Muslims, which we transform into brotherhood, thus ensuring the strongest point of support for this country.