propagating knowledge in the most elevated way suitably to my profession, the learned profession. The honour and esteem afforded me was far greater than my due. I was living in Çamlica, the most beautiful place in Istanbul. Everything was perfect for me. I was together with the late Abdurrahman, my nephew, who was extremely intelligent and self-sacrificing, and was both my student, and servant, and scribe, and spiritual son. But then, knowing myself to be more fortunate than anyone else in the world, I looked in the mirror and I saw grey hairs in my hair and beard.
Suddenly, the spiritual awakening I had experienced in the mosque in Kosturma while in captivity started again. As a result, I began to study the circumstances and causes to which I felt geniune attachment and which I supposed were the means to happiness in this world. But whichever of them I studied, I saw that it was rotten; it was not worth the attachment; it was deceptive. Around that time, I suffered an unexpected and unimaginable act of disloyalty and unfaithfulness at the hands of a friend whom I had supposed to be most loyal. I felt disgust at the world. I said to myself: "Have I been altogether deceived? I see that many people look with envy at our situation, which in reality should be pitied. Are all these people crazy, or is it me that has gone crazy so that I see all these worldly people as such?"
Anyway, as a result of this severe awakening caused me by old age, first of all I saw the transitoriness of all the ephemeral things to which I was attached. And I looked at myself, and I saw myself to be utterly impotent. So then my spirit declared, which desires immortality and was infatuated with ephemeral beings imagining them to be immortal: "Since I am a transient being with regard to my body, what good can come of these ephemeral things? Since I am powerless, what can I await from these powerless things? What I need is one who is Eternal and Enduring, one who is Pre-Eternal and All-Powerful, who will provide a remedy for my ills." And I began to search.
Then, before everything, I had recourse to the learning I had studied of old, I began to search for a consolation, a hope. But unfortunately, up to that time I had filled my mind with the sciences of philosophy as well as the Islamic sciences, and quite in error had imagined those philosophical sciences to be the source of progress and means of illumination. However, those philosophical matters had greatly dirtied my spirit and been an obstacle to my spiritual development. Suddenly, through Almighty God's mercy and munificence, the sacred wisdom of the All-Wise Qur'an came to my assistance. As is explained in many parts of the Risale-i Nur, it washed away and cleansed the dirt of those philosophical matters.
For instance, the spiritual darknesses arising from science and philosophy plunged my spirit into the universe. Whichever way I looked seeking a light, I could find not a gleam in those matters, I could not breathe. And so it continued until the instruction in Divine Unity given by the phrase from the All-Wise Qur'an "There is no god but He" dispersed all those layers of darkness with its brilliant light, and I could breathe with ease. But relying on what they had learnt from the people of misguidance and philosophers, my soul and Satan attacked my reason and my heart. All thanks be to God, the ensuing debate with my soul resulted in the victory of my heart. Those exchanges have been described in part in many parts of the Risale-i Nur. And so, deeming them to be sufficient, here I shall explain only one proof out of thousands in order to show one thousandth part of that victory of the heart. In this way it may also cleanse the spirits of certain elderly people which have been dirtied in their youth, and their hearts sickened and souls spoilt, by matters which though called Western philosophy or the sciences of civilization, are in part misguidance and in part trivia. And through Divine Unity, they may be saved from evil of Satan and the soul. It is as follows:
My soul said in the name of science and philosophy: "According to the nature of things, the beings in the universe intervene in other beings. Everything looks to a cause. The fruit has to be sought from the tree and seed from the soil. So what does it mean to seek the tiniest and least insignificant thing from God and to beseech Him for it?"
Through the light of the Qur'an, the meaning of Divine Unity then unfolded in the following way: like the greatest thing, the tiniest and most particular proceeds directly from the power of the Creator of the whole universe and emerges from His treasury. It cannot occur in any other way. As for causes, they are merely a veil. For in regard to art and creation, sometimes the creatures we suppose to be the smallest and least important are greater than the largest creatures. Even if a fly is not of greater art than a chicken, it is not of lesser art. In which case, no difference should be made between great and small. Either all should be divided between material causes, or all should be attributed at once to a single Being. And just as the former is impossible, the latter is necessary and imperative.
For if beings are attributed to a single Being, that is to a Pre-Eternal All-Powerful One, since His knowledge, the existence of which is certain by reason of the order and wisdom in all beings, encompasses everything; and since the measure of all things is determined in His knowledge; and since observedly beings which are infinitely full of art continuously come into existence from nothing with infinite ease; and since in accordance
with innumerable powerful evidences that All-Knowing All-Powerful One is able to create anything whatever through the command of 'Be! and it is' as simply as striking a match, and as is explained in many parts of the Risale-i Nur and proved particularly in the Twentieth Letter and at the end of the Twenty-Third Flash, He possesses unlimited power-since this is the case, the extraordinary ease and facility which we observe arises from that all-encompassing knowledge and vast power.
For example, if a special solution is applied to a book written in invisible ink, that huge book suddenly demonstrates its existence visibly and makes itself read. In just the same way, the particular form and appointed measure of everything is determined in the all-encompassing knowledge of the Pre-Eternal All-Powerful One. Through the command of 'Be! and it is' and with that limitless power of His and penetrating will, like spreading the solution on the writing, the Absolutely All-Powerful One applies a manifestation of His power to the being which exists as knowledge and with utter ease and facility gives it external existence; He displays and makes read the embroideries of His wisdom.
If all things are not all together attributed to that Pre-Eternal All-Powerful One, the One Knowing of All Things, then as well as having to gather together in a particular measure from most of the varieties of beings in the world the body of the tiniest thing like a fly, the particles which work in that tiny fly's body will have to know the mysteries of the fly's creation and its perfect art in all its minutest details. For as all the intelligent agree, natural causes and physical causes cannot create out of nothing. In which case, if they do create, they will gather the being together. And since they will gather it together-whatever animate being it is, there are within it samples of most of the elements and most of the varieties of beings, for living creatures are quite simply like a seed or essence of the universe-it will of course be necessary for them to gather together a seed from the whole tree and an animate being from the whole face of the earth sifting them through a fine sieve and measuring them with the most sensitive balance. And since natural causes are ignorant and lifeless, and have no knowledge with which to determine a plan, index, model, or programme according to which they can smelt and pour the particles which enter the immaterial mould of the being in question, so they do not disperse and spoil its order, it is clear how far it is from possibility and reason to suppose that, without mould or measure, they can make the particles of the elements which flow like floods remain one on the other in the form of an orderly mass without dispersing, for everything has a single form and measure amid possibilities without calculation or count. For sure, everyone who does not suffer from blindness in
his heart will see it. Yes, as a consequence of this truth, according to the meaning of the verse,
Those on whom you call besides God cannot create [even] a fly, if they all met together for the purpose.
if all material causes were to gather together and if they possessed will, they could not gather together the being of a single fly and its systems and organs with their particular balance. And even if they could gather them together, they could not make them remain in the specified measure of the being. And even if they could make them remain thus, they could not make those minute particles, which are constantly being renewed and coming into existence and working, work regularly and in order. In which case, self-evidently, causes cannot claim ownership of things. That is to say, their True Owner is someone else.
Indeed, their True Owner is such that, according to the verse,
Your creation and your resurrection is as a single soul,
He raises to life all the living beings on the face of the earth as easily as He raises to life a single fly. He creates the spring as easily as He creates a single flower. For He has no need to gather things together. Since He is the owner of the command of 'Be! and it is'; and since every spring He creates from nothing the innumerable attributes, states, and forms of the innumerable beings of spring together with the elements of their physical beings; and since He determines the plan, model, index, and programme of everything in His knowledge; and since all minute particles are in motion within the sphere of His knowledge and power; He therefore creates everything with infinite ease as though striking a match. And nothing at all confuses its motion so much as an iota. And minute particles are like a regular, well-ordered army in the same way that the planets are an obedient army.
Since they are in motion relying on that pre-eternal power, and function in accordance with the principles of that pre-eternal knowledge, those works come into existence in accordance with the power. And they therefore cannot be deemed insignificant by considering their unimportant individualities. For through the strength of being connected to that power, a fly can kill off a Nimrod, and an ant can destroy the Pharaoh's palace, and the minute seed of the pine bears on its shoulder the burden of the pine-tree as tall as a mountain. We have proved this truth in numerous
places in the Risale-i Nur: just as through his enlistment in the army and being connected to the king, an ordinary soldier can take another king prisoner, exceeding his own capacity a hundred thousand times, so too, through being connected to pre-eternal power, all things can manifest miracles of art exceeding the capacity of natural causes hundreds of thousands of times.
The fact that all things come into existence with both infinite art and infinite ease shows that they are the works of a Pre-Eternal All-Powerful One possessing all-encompassing knowledge. Otherwise, it would not be coming into existence with a hundred thousand difficulties, but leaving the bounds of possibility and entering those of impossibility, nothing could even come into existence, indeed, their coming into existence would be impossible and precluded.
And so, through this most subtle, powerful, profound, and clear proof, my soul, which had been a temporary student of Satan and the spokesman for the people of misguidance and the philosophers, was silenced, and, all praise be to God, came to believe completely. It said:
Yes, what I need is a Creator and Sustainer Who possesses the power to know the least thoughts of my heart and my most secret wishes; and like He will answer the most hidden needs of my spirit, will transform the mighty earth into the Hereafter in order to give me eternal happiness, and will remove this world and put the Hereafter in its place; and will create the heavens as He creates a fly; and as He fastens the sun as an eye in the face of the sky, can situate a particle in the pupil of my eye. For one who cannot create a fly cannot intervene in the thoughts of my heart and cannot hear the pleas of my spirit. One who cannot create the heavens, cannot give me eternal happiness. In which case, my Sustainer is He Who both purifies my heart's thoughts, and like He fills and empties the skies with clouds in an hour, will transform this world into the Hereafter, make Paradise, and open its doors to me, bidding me to enter.
And so, my elderly brothers who as a result of misfortune, like my soul, have spent part of their lives on lightless Western materialist philosophy and science! Understand from the sacred decree of "There is no god but He" perpetually uttered by tongue of the Qur'an, just how powerful and true and unshakeable and undamageable and unchanging and sacred a pillar of belief it is, and how it disperses all spiritual darkness and cures all spiritual wounds!
It is as though my including this long story among the doors of hope of my old age was involuntary. I did not want to include it, indeed, I held back from doing so because I thought it would be tedious. But I may say that I felt compelled to write it. Anyway, to return to the main topic:
In consequence of grey hairs appearing in my hair and beard and of a loyal friend's unfaithfulness, I felt a disgust at the pleasures of Istanbul's worldly life which was so glittering and superficially agreeable and gilded. My soul searched for spiritual pleasures in place of the pleasures with which it was obsessed. It wanted a light, a solace, in this old age, which in the view of the heedless is cold, burdensome, and disagreeable. And all praise be to God and a hundred thousand thanks, just as I found true, lasting, and sweet pleasures of belief in "There is no god but He" and in the light of Divine Unity in place of all those false, disagreeable, fleeting worldly pleasures, so too through the light of Divine Unity, I saw old age which in the view of the heedless is cold and burdensome to be most light, and warm, and luminous.
And so, O you elderly men and women! Since you have belief and since you pray and offer supplications which illuminate and increase belief, you can regard your old age as eternal youth. For through it you can gain eternal youth. The old age which in truth is cold, burdensome, ugly, dark, and full of pain is the old age of the people of misguidance, indeed, their youth as well. It is they who should weep with sighs and regrets. While you, respected believing elderly people, should joyfully offer thanks saying: "All praise and thanks be to God for every situation!"
TWELFTH HOPE
One time, I was being held in the district of Barla in the province of Isparta in a distressing captivity under the name of exile, in a truly wretched state suffering both illness, and old age, and absence from home, and in a village alone with no one, barred from all company and communication. Then, in His perfect mercy, Almighty God bestowed a light on me concerning the subtle points and mysteries of the All-Wise Qur'an which was a means of consolation for me. With it, I tried to forget my pitiful, grievous, sad state. I was able to forget my native land, my friends and relations, but alas, there was one person I could not forget, and that was Abdurrahman, who was both my nephew, and my spiritual son, and my most self-sacrificing student, and my bravest friend. He had parted from me six or seven years previously. Neither he knew where I was so that he could hasten to help and console me, nor did I know his situation so that I could correspond with him and we could confide in each other. Now in my old age, I was in need of someone loyal and self-sacrificing like him.
Then out of the blue someone gave me a letter. I opened it and saw it was from Abdurrahman, written in a way which showed his true self.
Clearly showing three instances of wonder-working, part of it has been included among the pieces of the Twenty-Seventh Letter. It made me weep, and it still makes me weep. The late Abdurrahman wrote in the letter seriously and sincerely that he was disgusted with the pleasures of the world and that his greatest desire was to reach me and look to my needs in my old age just as I had looked to his when he was young. He also wanted to help me with his capable pen in spreading the mysteries of the Qur'an, my true duty in this world. He even wrote in his letter: "Send me twenty or thirty treatises and I'll write out twenty or thirty copies of each and get others to write them."
His letter made me feel very hopeful in respect of the world. Thinking that I had found a bold student who was so intelligent as to be a genius and would assist me more loyally and closely than a true son, I forgot my tortuous captivity, loneliness, exile, and old age.
He had obtained a copy of the Tenth Word on belief in the Hereafter before writing the letter. It was as if the treatise had been a remedy for him curing all the spiritual wounds he had received during those six or seven years. He then wrote the letter to me as if he was awaiting his death with a truly strong and shining belief. Then one or two months later while thinking of once again passing a happy worldly life together with Abdurrahman, alas, I suddenly received news of his death. I was so shaken by the news that five years later I am still under the effect of it. It afflicted me with a grief, sorrow, and sense of separation far exceeding the tortuous captivity, aloneness, exile, old age, and illness I was then suffering. Half of my private world had died with the death of my mother, and now with Abdurrahman's death, the other half died. My ties with the world were now completely cut. For if he had lived, he could have been both a powerful help in my duties which looked to the Hereafter, and a worthy successor to fill my place completely after me, and a most self-sacrificing friend and consolation. He would have been my cleverest student and companion, and a most trustworthy protector and owner of the Risale-i Nur.
Yes, in regard to humanity, such losses are extremely distressing and painful for people like me. It's true outwardly I was trying to endure it, but a fierce storm was raging in my spirit. If from time to time, solace proceeding from the Qur'an's light had not consoled me, it would not have been possible for me to endure it. At that time I used to wander alone in the mountains and valleys of Barla. Sitting in lonely places amid my sorrows, pictures of the happy life I had spent in former times with my loyal students like Abdurrahman passed through my imagination like the cinema; being swiftly affected due to old age and exile, they broke my resistance. Suddenly the sacred meaning of the verse,
Everything shall perish save His countenance; His is the command, and to Him shall you return
was unfolded to me. It caused me to declare: "O Enduring One, it is You Who is Enduring! O Enduring One, only You are Enduring!", and truly consoled me.
Then, as is described in the treatise, The Highway of the Practices of the Prophet (PBUH), through this verse's meaning while in that lonely valley and sad state, I saw myself at the head of three vast corpses:
One was that I saw myself as a gravestone on the grave of the fifty-five dead Said's of my fifty-five years who had been buried in the course of my life.
The second corpse was the vast corpse of all my fellow-men who had died since the time of Adam (UWP) and had been buried in the grave of the past. I saw myself as a miniscule living creature like an ant at the head of that corpse, wandering over the face of this century, which was like its gravestone.
The third corpse was the greater world which, like human beings and the travelling worlds which every year die, would also-in accordance with the above verse-die; this was embodied before my imagination.
Then the verse,
But if they turn away, say: "God suffices me, there is no god but He; in Him do I place my trust-He the Sustainer of the Throne [of Glory] Supreme!"
illuminated with its true solace and inextinguishable light that awesome vision arising from my grief at Abdurrahman's death; it came to my assistance with its allusive meaning, stating: since Almighty God exists, He takes the place of everything. Since He is Enduring, He is surely sufficient. A single manifestation of His grace takes the place of the whole world. And one manifestation of His light gives the meaning of life to the three vast corpses mentioned above, showing that they are not corpses, but having completed their duties, have departed for other worlds. This mystery has been explained in the Third Flash, so that sufficing with the above, here I only say that the two repetitions of the phrase: "O Enduring One, You are the Enduring One! O Enduring One, You are the Enduring One!", which illustrates the meaning of Everything shall perish save His countenance [to the end of the verse], saved me from that most grievous and sad state. It was like this:
The first time I uttered "O Enduring One, You are the Enduring One!", it began a cure like a surgical operation amid the endless spiritual wounds arising from the passing of the world and of the friends in this world to whom I was attached, and from ties binding me being broken.
The second time, the phrase "O Enduring One, You are the Enduring One!" was both a salve and an antidote for all those innumerable wounds. That is to say: "You are eternal. Let those who depart, do so; You are enough for me. Since You are Enduring, one manifestation of Your mercy is sufficient in the place of all things, which are transient. Since You exist, for one who knows of the connection with Your existence through belief, and through Islam acts in accordance with that relation, everything exists. Transience and decline, death and non-existence are a veil, a renewal; like travelling through different domains." Thinking this, my painful, sad, grievous, dark, awesome, separation-stained state of mind was transformed into a happy, joyful, pleasurable, luminous, lovable, familiar state. My tongue and heart, indeed through the tongue of disposition all the particles of my being, exclaimed: "All praise be to God!"
One thousandth of that manifestation of mercy is this: I returned to Barla from that sorrowful valley and melancholy state of mind, where I saw that a young man called Kuleönlü Mustafa had come to ask me a few questions about the five daily prayers and ablutions. Although I did not accept visitors at that time, as though through a premonition, my spirit perceived his sincerity of spirit and the future valuable services he would perform for the Risale-i Nur, and I did not turn him away, I accepted him.
He truly showed that he was not only worthy of being accepted, but also worthy of the future.
*: An event confirming that Ustad's prediction that Mustafa, the first student of the Risale-i Nur, was worthy of the future:
The day preceding the eve of 'Id al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifices, Ustad was going to go out to take some air. When he sent me to fetch the horse, I said to him: "Don't you go down. I'll lock the door from the back, and go out from the wood-store." Ustad said: "No. You go out of the door." And he went down. After I had gone out, he bolted the door after me. I went out and he returned upstairs. He then slept. A while later Kuleönlü Mustafa arrived together with Haji Osman. Ustad was not accepting anyone, and he was not going to accept anyone. Especially at that hour, he would not have taken in two people together, but would have turned them away. Nevertheless, when our brother Kuleönlü Mustafa, whom we are talking about here, came with Haji Osman, it was as though the door said to him through the tongue of disposition: "Ustad will not accept you, but I'll open for you." And although it was bolted from the inside, the door opened of its own accord for Mustafa. That is to say, just as the future showed what Ustad had said about him: "Mustafa is worthy of the future" to be true, so also did the door testify to this.
Signed: Husrev.
Yes, what Husrev has written is correct and I confirm it. The door both greeted this blessed Mustafa in my place, and acceptepted him.
Said Nursi
It later became clear that Almighty God sent Mustafa to me as a
sample in place of Abdurrahman, who as a worthy successor would carry out completely the duty of a true heir in the work of the Risale-i Nur, as though saying: "I took one Abdurrahman from you, but I shall give you in return thirty Abdurrahman's like the Mustafa you see, who will be both students, and nephews, and spiritual sons, and brothers, and self-sacrificing comrades in this duty for religion."
Yes, praise be to God, He gave me thirty Abdurrahman's. So I told myself: "O weeping heart! Since you have seen this sample and through him He has healed the most serious of your spiritual wounds, you should be sure that He will heal all the rest of the wounds that afflict you."
And so my elderly brothers and sisters who like me have lost at the time of their old age a child or relative they love dearly, and who have to bear the searing sorrows of separation together with the burdens of old age! You have understood from my situation that while being much harsher than yours, it was cured and healed by a verse of the Qur'an. This being so, there are remedies to heal all your difficulties in the sacred pharmacy of the All-Wise Qur'an. If you have recourse to it through belief and make use of those remedies through worship, the heavy burdens of your old age and your sorrows will be lightened considerably.
The reason for writing this long piece was to seek more prayers for Abdurrahman, not to weary you. Also, my purpose in showing my worst wound in an extremely grievous and unpleasant way which may upset you unduly and put you off, is to demonstrate what a wondrous remedy and brilliant light is the sacred antidote of the All-Wise Qur'an.
THIRTEENTH HOPE
It is a subtle 'coincidence' that the incident of the 'medrese'* which this Thirteenth Hope describes occurred thirteen years ago.
(*) Medrese: school where religious sciences were taught. See also, note 33, page 328. (Tr.)
In this Hope I shall describe an important scene from the course of my life; it is bound to be somewhat lengthy, so I hope you will not become bored or offended.
After being saved from captivity in Russia during the Great War, service of religion in the Darü'l-Hikmet kept me in Istanbul for two or three years. Then through the guidance of the All-Wise Qur'an and spiritual influence of Ghawth al-A'zam and the awakening of old age, I felt a weariness at the civilized life of Istanbul and a disgust at its glittering social life. A feeling of longing for my native land drove me there, and thinking, since I am bound to die, let me die in my own country, I went to Van.
Before everything, I went to visit my medrese in Van, the Horhor. I saw that the Armenians had razed it during the Russian occupation, like the rest of the buildings of Van. It was right under and adjacent to Van's famous citadel, which is a great monolith like a mountain. My true friends, brothers, and close students of the medrese were embodied before my eyes. Some of those self-sacrificing friends of mine had become actual martyrs, while others had died due to that calamity had become in effect martyrs.
I could not restrain myself from weeping. I climbed to the top of the citadel which overlooking the medrese, towers above it to the height of two minarets, and I sat down. I went back in my imagination seven or eight years. Having a powerful imagination, I wandered all around that time in my mind. There was no one around to distract me from those imaginings and draw me back from that time. For I was alone. As my view of those seven or eight years expanded, I saw enough to fill a century. I saw that the town at the foot of the citadel had been completely burnt and destroyed. I looked on it so sadly it was as though from the time I had seen it before to when I was then seeing it two hundred years had passed. Most of the people of those houses had been my friends and acquaintances. The majority of them had died in the migrations, may God have mercy on them, or had gone to a wretched exile. Apart from the Armenian quarter, all the Muslim houses of Van had been levelled. My heart was lacerated. I was so affected that if I had had a thousand eyes, they would have all wept together. I had returned to my homeland from exile; I had supposed that I had been saved from exile. But alas! the most lamentable exile I experienced in my homeland. I saw that hundreds of my students and friends to whom I had been closely attached, like Abdurrahman in the Twelfth Hope, had entered the grave and that their places were all ruins.
There were some lines that had long been in my mind but I had not understood their true meaning. Now before that sad scene I understood their meaning completely. The lines were these: "If there was no separation from friends, death could find no way to our spirits so that it might take them." That is to say, what kills man most is separation from those he loves. Yes, nothing had caused me as much suffering and sorrow as that situation. If assistance had not come from the Qur'an and from belief, my grief and sorrow and suffering would have made my spirit fly away.
Since early times in their verses, poets have lamented the destruction
with time of the places they have been together with their beloveds. And I had seen this in most painful form with my own eyes. With the sorrow of someone passing by the dwellings of beloved friends after two hundred years, my heart and spirit joined my eyes and they all wept together. Then one by one the happy scenes of the life I had passed for nearly twenty years in study with my valuable students, when the places which were now in ruins before my eyes were flourishing and happy, sprang to life before me like pictures at the cinema, then died away and vanished. This continued before the eye of my imagination for some time.
Then I felt astonished at the state of the worldly, how is it that they deceive themselves? For the situation there showed clearly that this world is transitory and that human beings are guests within it. I saw with my own eyes how true the constantly repeated words of the people of reality: "The world is cruel, treacherous, bad; do not be deceived by it!" I also saw that just as man is connected with his own body and household, so is he also connected with his town, his country, indeed with the world. For while weeping with my two eyes at the pitifulness of old age in respect of my body, I want to weep with ten eyes not only at my medrese 's old age, but at its death. And I felt the need to weep with a hundred eyes at the half-death of my beautiful homeland.
It states in a Hadith that every morning an angel calls out: «You are born to die, and construct buildings that they may be destroyed.» I was hearing this truth not with my ears, but with my eyes.
Ten years later I still weep when I imagine that situation, in the same way that it made me weep at that time. Yes, the ruins of the houses at the foot of the ancient citadel, thousands of years old, and the town ageing eight years in eight hundred years, and the death of my medrese, which had flourished and been the gathering-place of friends, all indicated the vastness of the immaterial corpse of all the medrese s in the Ottoman Empire, which had died; the great monolith of Van's citadel had become a gravestone to all of them. It was as though my students who had been together with me in the medrese eight years previously were weeping in their graves together with me. Indeed the ruined walls of the town and its scattered stones were weeping together with me. I saw them to be weeping.
Then I understood that I could not endure this exile in my native land. I thought that I would either have to join them in the grave, or withdraw into a cave in the mountains and await my death there. I told myself:
"These unendurable, searing separations which break patience and resistance surely make death preferable to life. The pains of life such as this cannot be borne."
I then cast a glance over the six aspects and saw them all to be black. The heedlessness arising from my intense grief showed me the world to be terrifying, empty, desolate, and about to collapse over my head. My spirit sought a point of support in the face of innumerable hostile calamities. Its endless desires which stretch to eternity were seeking out something to satisfy them. While awaiting consolation in the face of the sorrow and grief arising from those endless separations and deaths, that endless devastation, suddenly the reality was manifested of the All-Wise Qur'an's verses:
Whatever is in the heavens and on earth-let it declare the praises and glory of God; for He is Exalted in Might, the Wise. * To Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: it is He Who gives life and death; and He has power over all things.
It saved me from that pitiful, terrible, sad, separation-stained imagining, and opened my eyes. I saw that the fruits at the tops of the fruit-trees were looking at me as though smiling. "Note us as well," they were saying. "Do not only look at the ruins." The verses' reality brought the following thought to mind:
"Why does an artificial letter written in the form of a town by the hand of man, who is a guest on the page of Van's plain, being wiped out by a calamitous torrent called the Russian invasion sadden you to this extent? Consider the Pre-Eternal Inscriber, everything's True Owner and Sustainer, for His missives on this page of Van continue to be written in glittering fashion, in the way you used to see. Your weeping over those desolate ruins arises from the error of forgetting their True Owner, not thinking that men are guests, and imagining them to be owner."
A door to reality opened up from that error, from that searing sight, and my soul was prepared to accept the reality completely. Like iron is plunged in the fire so that it softens and may be profited from, that grievous sight and terrible state were fire which softened my soul. Through the reality of the above verses, the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition showed it the effulgence of the truths of belief, causing it to accept it.
Yes, all thanks be to God, as is proved conclusively in parts of the Risale-i Nur like the Twentieth Letter, through the effulgence of belief in God, the reality of the verses gives a point of support to the spirit and
heart which unfolds in relation to everyone's strength of belief. This was so powerful it afforded me a strength that could have confronted calamities a hundred times more dreadful than the situation I saw. It uttered this reminder: "Everything is subjected to the command of the True Owner of this country, your Creator. The reins of all things are in His hands. Your relation with Him is sufficient."
On recognizing my Creator and relying on Him, all the things which had appeared hostile gave up their enmity, and the grievous things which had made me weep started to make me happy. And as we have demonstrated with certain proofs in many places of the Risale-i Nur, through the light proceeding from belief in the Hereafter, it gave such a point of assistance in the face of my endless desires that it was sufficient not only for my attachment and desire for insignificant, temporary, brief worldly friendships, but for my innumerable far-reaching desires in the world of permanence, for everlasting happiness through all eternity. For through one manifestation of His mercy, the All-Merciful and Compassionate One every spring lays on the table of that season incalculable numbers of delightful, artful bounties in order to please His guests for one or two hours. Then after providing them with these, which constitute a sort of snack or appetizer, He prepares for His servants innumerable varieties of bounties, and for an unending time fills eight permanent Paradises with them from among His everlasting dwelling-places. One who relies on the mercy of such an All-Merciful and Compassionate One through belief and knows his relation surely finds such a source of assistance that even its least degree provides for innumerable hopes reaching to eternity, and causes them to continue.
Furthermore, through the reality of the verses, the light proceeding from the effulgence of belief was manifested in such brilliant fashion that it lit up those six dark aspects like daytime. It illuminated my sorrow for my students and friends in my medrese and in the town with this reminder: "The world your friends have gone to is not dark. They have merely gone somewhere else; you will meet again." It put an end to my tears entirely, and made me understand that I would find others resembling them in this world who would take their place.
Yes, all praise be to God, He both raised to life the dead Van medrese with the medrese of Isparta, and He in meaning raised my friends there to life with the more numerous and valuable students and friends here. It also made known that the world is not empty and meaningless and that my thinking of it in the form of a country laid waste had been wrong: as required by His wisdom, the True Owner changes the artificial scenes made by man and renews His missives. Like the more the fruits of certain
trees are plucked, the more others grow in their places, death and separation in mankind also are renewal and change. From the point of view of belief, they are a renewal which produces not the grievous sorrow arising from the lack of friends, but a sweet sorrow arising from parting in order to meet again in another, better place.
The verses also illuminated the face of the beings in the universe which had appeared dark in the former ghastly situation. I wanted to offer thanks for this, and the following Arabic lines occurred to me, which described that reality exactly. I said:
"All praise be to God for the light of belief, which dispels the illusion of beings as hostile strangers, moribund and savage, as weeping orphans, and shows them to be loving brothers, living and familiar, joyfully employed in mentioning God's Names and glorifying Him."
That is to say, due to the heedlessness resulting from my grievous state of mind, some of the beings in the universe appeared to my neglectful soul as hostile and strange, others as awesome corpses, and yet others as orphans weeping at their loneliness. Through the light of belief I saw these to be all friends and brothers. As for the awesome corpses, some were living and friendly, while others had been released from their duties. And seeing through the light of belief the wailing of the orphans to be the murmuring of remembrance and glorification of God, I offered endless praise and thanks to the Glorious Creator, Who gave me belief, the source of these innumerable bounties. And seeing that it is my right to think of all the beings in my personal world, which is as vast as the world, as being engaged in the praise and glorification of God, and through intention to make use of them, it means that I say "All praise and thanks to God for the light of belief" together with all those beings, who utter it singly and as a whole through the tongue of disposition.
Moreover, the pleasures of life, which had been reduced to nothing by my heedless and dreadful state of mind, and my hopes, which had withered up entirely, and my personal enjoyment and bounties, which had been constricted within the narrowest bounds, indeed, destroyed, through the light of belief suddenly so expanded that narrow sphere around my heart that it contained the whole universe-as has been proved clearly in other parts of the Risale-i Nur-and in place of the bounties which had withered up in the garden of the Horhor Medrese and lost their taste, it made the realms of this world and the Hereafter each a merciful table of bounties. It showed not the ten or so human members like the eyes, ears, and heart, but the hundred members in the form of an extremely long arm which believers might extend each according to his degree, to those two tables of the Most Merciful, to gather in the bounties from all sides. At
that time, I uttered the following words both to express this elevated truth, and as thanks for those endless bounties:
"To my very utmost, with all the particles of my being, I offer praise and thanks to my Creator for the light and bounty of belief, for it shows me that this world and the Hereafter are overflowing with bounties and mercy, and allows me and all true believers to benefit from those two vast tables with the hands of all their senses, which develop and unfold through the light of belief and Islam."
Since belief is so tremendously effective in this world, certainly in the Eternal Realm it will have such fruits and effulgences that they cannot be comprehended with the mind in this world, nor described.
And so, you elderly people who like me due to old age experience the pains of separation from numerous friends! However much older than me in years the oldest of you is, my guess is that in meaning I am older than him. For since by nature I feel excessive pity for my fellow beings, because of that compassion, I have experienced the sufferings of thousands of my brothers in addition to my own pains and therefore feel as though I have lived for hundreds of years. However much you have suffered the calamity of separation, you have not been exposed to that calamity as much as I have. For I have no son that I should think only of him. I feel pain and sympathy in the face of the sorrows of thousands of Muslim sons, and even innocent animals, due to this excessive pity and compassion in my nature. I do not have a house of my own that I should think only of it. I am rather bound through Islamic zeal with this country and even the Islamic world, as though they were my house. I am saddened at the pains of my fellow Muslims in those two great houses, and am sorrowful at being parted from them!
And so, the light of belief was sufficient for me and all my sorrows arising from old age and the pains of separation; it gave me an inextinguishable hope, an unassailable faith, an unquenchable light, unending solace. Belief then is certainly more than enough for you in the face of the darkness, heedlessness, sorrows, and griefs of old age. In reality, the old age which is utterly black and lacking in light and solace, and the most grievous and terrible separation, is the old age and separation of the people of misguidance and the dissipated. Experiencing the belief which affords such hope, light, and solace, and its effects, is possible through adopting a consciously worshipful attitude, worthy of old age and appropriate to Islam. It is not possible by trying to imitate the young, plunging one's head into heedlessness, and forgetting old age.
Dwell on the Hadith, the meaning of which is: "The best of the youths
among you are those who imitate those of mature years, while the worst of your elderly are those who imitate the young." That is to say, "The best of your youths are those who resemble the elderly in self-restraint and abstaining from vice, while the worst of your elderly are those who resemble the young in plunging themselves into dissipation and heedlessness.
My elderly brothers and sisters! There is a Hadith which says: «Divine mercy is ashamed to leave unanswered the prayers offered to the Divine Court by elderly believers of sixty or seventy years.» Since Divine mercy holds you in such respect, you too be respectful towards this respect by performing your worship!
FOURTEENTH HOPE
The summary at the start of the Fourth Ray, on the luminous verse For us God suffices, describes how having been isolated from everything by 'the worldly', I was afflicted with five sorts of exile. Due to the heedlessness arising from distress, I looked not to the consoling lights of the Risale-i Nur which would have aided me, but directly to my heart, and I sought my spirit. I saw that an overpowering desire for immortality, an intense love of existence, a great yearning for life, together with an infinite impotence and endless want were ruling in me. But an awesome transience was extinguishing the immortality. Suffering such a state of mind, I exclaimed like the poet:
While the heart desired its immortality, Reality wanted the passing of my body;
I was afflicted with an incurable ill which not even Luqman could cure!
I bowed my head in despair. Suddenly the verse, For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs came to my assistance, summoning me to read it with attention. So I recited it five hundred times every day. The more I recited it, of its many lights nine levels of its meanings were unfolded to me, not only at the level of 'certainty at the degree of knowledge,' but at that of 'certainty at the degree of witnessing.'
The First Level of the Luminous Verse 'For us God suffices'
Because of a shadow in my essential being of a manifestation of a Name of the One of Glory and Perfection, Who, possessing absolute
perfection, is of Himself and for no other reason worthy of love, I had an innate desire for immortality, directed not to my own immortality, but to the existence, perfection, and immortality of that Absolutely Perfect One. But due to heedlessness, that innate love had lost its way, become attached to the shadow and enamoured of the mirror of immortality. Then the verse, For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs raised the veil. I saw and felt and experienced at the degree of 'absolute certainty' that the pleasure and happiness of my immortality lay exactly and in more perfect form in the immortality of Enduring One of Perfection and in affirming my Sustainer and God, and in believing in Him, and submitting to Him. The evidence for this has been explained in the Fourth Ray, the treatise on the verse 'For us God suffices,' in twelve sections which are extremely profound and subtle and will fill with wonder those with fine sensibilities.
The Second Level of the Luminous Verse 'For us God suffices'
At a time when, in my old age, exile, aloneness, and isolation, 'the worldly' were attacking me with their spies and stratagems despite the boundless impotence of my nature, I told my heart: "Whole armies are attacking a single man whose hands are tied, and is ill and weak. Is there not something from which he can seek help?" I had recourse to the verse 'For us God suffices and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs,' and it informed me of the following:
Through the document of belief, you become connected to a Ruler of Absolute Power Who every spring equips in perfect order all the plant and animal armies on the face of the earth composed of four hundred thousand different nations. In addition, He places in the 'extracts' of the Most Merciful known as seeds and grains, which are like the meat, sugar and other food 'extracts' discovered recently by the people of civilization but a hundred times more perfect, all the sustenance of the huge armies of foremost man, and of all the animals. He folds up inside those 'extracts' the instructions of Divine Determining concerning their cooking and development, and places them in their tiny protective cases. The creation of those tiny coffers is with such ease, speed, and abundance from the 'Kaf. Nûn' factory, which is governed by the command of "Be!" and it is, that the Qur'an states: "The Creator merely commands and it comes into being." Having a support such as that through the document of the relation of belief, you can rely on an infinite strength and power. As I assimilated this lesson from the verse, I found such a moral strength arising from belief that through its power I could have challenged not only my present enemies, but the whole world. With all my spirit I declared: «For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs!»
The Third Level of the Luminous Verse 'For us God suffices.'
At a time when, finding my attachment to the world to be broken due to suffering the oppression of those exiles and illnesses, belief recalled to me that I was destined for perpetual happiness in an eternal world, an everlasting realm, I gave up sighing regretfully, which caused further grief and yearning, and became cheerful and happy. However, this goal of the imagination and spirit and result of man's nature could only be realized through the infinite power of an Absolutely Omnipotent One Who knows and records the action and rest and conduct and states, in word and deed, of all creatures, and takes as His friend and addressee insignificant and absolutely impotent man, giving him a rank superior to all beings; it could only be realized through His infinite favours to man and the importance He gives him. While thinking of these two points, that is, the activity of such a power and the importance in reality of apparently insignificant man, I wanted an explanation which would deepen belief and satisfy the heart. Again I had recourse the verse, and it told me to note the «na,» "For us," and to heed who is saying «For us God suffices» together with me.
I at once looked and saw that innumerable birds and flies, which are miniature birds, and uncountable animals, and boundless plants and trees were, like me, reciting through the tongue of disposition «For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs.» They recall to everyone the immensity and majesty of a Power which before our eyes particularly in the spring creates in most abundant plenitude, with the greatest ease and on a vast scale, from eggs, seeds, grains, and droplets of fluid, which all resemble each other and whose substance is the same, the hundred thousand species of birds, the hundreds of thousands of sorts of animals, the hundred thousand types of plants, and the hundred thousand varieties of trees, without error, defect, or confusion, in adorned, balanced, well-ordered fashion, and in forms all different from one another. Through their being made in this way together, one within the other and resembling each other, in the same way, they demonstrate to us His Unity and Oneness. I understood that any interference or participation in the dominical, creative act of disposal which displays thus incalculable miracles was not possible. Those who want to understand my personality and human character, which is like that of all believers, and those who want to be like me, should look at the explanation of the 'I' in the first person plural 'us' in For us God suffices, that is, the explanation of myself. What is my apparently insignificant, wanting being-like that of all believers? What is life? What is humanity? What is Islam? What is certain, verified belief? What is knowledge of God? How should love be? They should understand and take a lesson!
The Fourth Level of the Luminous Verse 'For us God suffices'
One time when events like old age, exile, illness, and defeat were shaking my being it coincided with a period of heedlessness. Causing me grievous anxiety that my being, to which I was intensely attached and with which I was captivated, indeed all creatures, were departing for non-existence, I once again had recourse to the verse. It told me: "Note my meaning carefully and look through the telescope of belief!"
So I looked and with the eye of belief and saw that like all believers, my miniscule being was the mirror of a limitless being, and through infinite expansion, the means of gaining innumerable existences, and a word of wisdom producing the fruits of numerous permanent existences far more valuable than itself. I knew with 'certainty at the degree of knowledge' that in this connection to live for an instant was as valuable as an eternal existence. For through the consciousness of belief I understood that this being of mine was the work of art, artefact, and manifestation of the Necessarily Existent One. So being saved from the anxiety of loneliness and from innumerable separations and their pains, I formed relations and bonds of brotherhood with beings to the number of Divine acts and Names connected with beings and especially living beings, and I knew that there was a permanent union with all the beings I loved, and only a temporary separation. And so, through belief and the relations of belief, like all beings, my being gained the lights of innumerable existences untouched by separation. Even if it departed, they would remain behind it, and it would be happy as though it had remained itself.
In short, death is not separation, it is union; it is a change of abode; it is the producing of an eternal fruit.
The Fifth Level of the Luminous Verse 'For us God suffices'
Another time when my life was being shaken by very harsh conditions, it directed my attention towards life. I saw that my life was departing at speed; the Hereafter was drawing close; due to the oppression I was suffering my life had started to be extinguished. As is explained in the section of the Risale-i Nur on the Divine Name of Ever-Living, I then thought sorrowfully of how with its important functions, and great benefits and virtues, life did not deserve to be so swiftly extinguished, but to persist a long time. I again had recourse to my master, the verse, For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs. This time it told me: "Consider life from the point of view of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, Who gives you life!"
So I looked and I saw that if the aspects of my life that looked to me were one, those looking to the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One were
a hundred. And if, of its results, one looked to me, a thousand looked to my Creator. Since this is the case, to live for one instant within the bounds of Divine pleasure is sufficient; a long time is not required. This truth may be explained in four matters. Those who are not dead or who want to be alive should seek the nature and reality of life and its true rights in those four matters; they will find them and be raised to life!
A summary of it is this: the more life looks to the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, and the more belief becomes the life and spirit of life, the more it becomes perpetual and produces enduring fruits. It also becomes so elevated that it receives the manifestation of eternity; it no longer looks to the brevity or length of a lifetime.
The Sixth Level of the Luminous Verse 'For us God suffices'
At a time when my advancing years and old age were giving warning of my particular parting amid the events of the end of time, which tell of the destruction of the world, the time of general parting, the feelings in my nature of love of beauty and passion for loveliness and fascination by perfection were unfolding in an extraordinarily sensitive manner. I saw with extraordinary clarity and sorrow that transience and decline, which are always destructive, and death and non-existence, which perpetually cause separations, were tearing apart this beautiful world and these beautiful creatures in terrible fashion, and destroying their beauty. The metaphorical love in my nature boiled up and rebelled against this situation. In order to find consolation, I again had recourse to the verse 'For us God suffices.' It told me: "Recite me and consider my meaning carefully!"
So I entered the observatory of the verse in Sura al-Nur,
God is the Light of the Heavens and the Earth [to the end of the verse],
and looked through the telescope of belief to the most distant levels of the verse 'For us God suffices ', then through the microscope of the insight of belief at its most subtle mysteries, and saw the following:
Mirrors, pieces of glass, transparent things, and even bubbles, show the various hidden beauties of the sun's light and of the seven colours in its light; and through their disappearance and renewal, and different capacities and refractions, they renew that beauty; and through their reflections, they display the hidden beauties and loveliness of the sun and its light. In exactly the same way, in order to act as mirrors to the sacred beauty of the All-Beauteous One of Glory, the Pre-Eternal and Post-Eternal Sun, and to the everlasting loveliness of His Most Beautiful
Names, and to renew their manifestations, these beautiful creatures, these lovely artefacts, these exquisite beings, arrive and depart without stopping. Expounded in detail in the Risale-i Nur are powerful proofs demonstrating that the beauties apparent on them are not their own property, but the signs, indications, flashes, and manifestations of a transcendent, sacred beauty which wants to become manifest. The explanation begins by saying that three of those proofs have been mentioned briefly in most reasonable fashion. Leaving in amazement everyone of fine perception who sees the treatise, in addition to benefiting from it themselves, they find it necessary to try to allow others to benefit from it. In the second proof in particular, five points are explained. Anyone whose mind is not rotten and heart not corrupted, will appreciate, admire, and recommend them, exclaiming: «Ma'shallah! Barakallah!» All will perceive and confirm that it is a wondrous marvel which will exalt their apparently lowly, wanting beings.
FIFTEENTH HOPE
One time when I was in compulsory residence in Emirdag, on my own in what was virtually solitary confinement, I was wearied of life due to the torments they inflicted on me with their surveillance and arbitrary treatment, which I found hard to bear, and regretted having been released from prison. I longed for Denizli Prison with all my spirit, and I wanted to enter the grave. But while thinking, prison and the grave are preferable to life like this, and deciding to enter one or the other, Divine grace came to my assistance: it bestowed on the students of the Medresetü'z-Zehra, whose pens were like duplicating machines, one of the duplicating machines which had just appeared. All at once, five hundred copies of each of the valuable collections of the Risale-i Nur appeared through one pen. Their presaging new victories made me love that distressing life, causing me to offer unending thanks.
A while later, unable to endure the Risale-i Nur's victories, its covert enemies prompted the government to act against us. Again life started to
become difficult for me. Then suddenly dominical grace was manifested: the officials connected with the case, who were those most in need of the Risale-i Nur, studied the confiscated copies of it in the course of their duties most curiously and carefully, and its treatises made their hearts feel biased towards it. On their beginning to appreciate it instead of criticizing it, the Risale-i Nur circle of study greatly expanded. It produced profits a hundred times greater than our material losses, reducing to nothing our anxiety and distress.
Then, secret, hostile dissemblers directed the government's attention towards my person. They recalled my former political activities. They caused both the judiciary, and the education authorities, and the police, and the Home Affairs Office to be suspicious of me. Due to the different parties and the incitement of concealed communist anarchists, the suspicions became more widespread. They started to pressure us and arrest us, and confiscate parts of the Risale-i Nur which came into their hands. The activities of the Risale-i Nur students came to a standstill. A number of officials made false accusations which no one at all could believe. They tried to spread around the most extraordinary slander, but they could not make anyone believe it.
Then they arrested me during the most intensely cold days of winter on some trite pretext, and put me into solitary confinement in prison in a large and extremely cold ward, leaving me two days without a stove. Having been accustomed to light my stove several times a day in my small room, always having live coals in the brazier, with my illness and weakness I was only able to endure it with difficulty. While struggling in this situation suffering from both a fever from the cold, and a dreadful distress and anger, through Divine grace a truth unfolded in my heart. It uttered the following warning to my spirit:
"You called prison the 'Medrese-i Yusufiya' -the School of the Prophet Joseph. And while in Denizli, things like relief a thousand times greater than your distress, and spiritual profit, and the other prisoners there benefiting from the Risale-i Nur, and its conquests on a larger scale, all made you offer endless thanks instead of complaining. They made each hour of your imprisonment and hardship like ten hours' worship, and made those passing hours eternal. God willing, those struck by calamity in this third 'School of Joseph' benefiting from the Risale-i Nur and finding consolation will heat this cold, severe distress of yours and transform it into joy. If those at whom you are angry are being deceived and are ill-treating you without realizing it, they are not worth being angry at. And if they are tormenting you and causing you suffering knowingly, out of spite and on account of misguidance, they will in a very
short time enter the solitary confinement of the grave through the eternal execution of death, to suffer everlasting torment and torture. On account of their oppression, you are earning both merit, and spiritual pleasures, and making transient hours eternal, and performing scholarly and religious duties with sincerity."
With all my strength I exclaimed: "All praise be to God!" Out of humanity, I pitied those tyrants and prayed: "O my Sustainer, reform them!" As I wrote in my statement to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in this new incident those who in reality are guilty are the tyrants who in ten respects act unlawfully in the name of the law. They found the most extraordinary pretexts so that they showed to the fair-minded through their slanders and fabrications, which would have made those who heard them laugh and lovers of the truth weep, that they can find no way to attack the Risale-i Nur and its students in regard to the law and right, so deviate into lunacy.
For instance, the officials who spied on us for a month could find nothing incriminating, so they wrote out a memorandum saying: "Said's servants bought raki from a shop and took it to him." They could not find anyone to sign the memo, but finally arrested a drunken stranger and got him to sign it under threat. Even he said: "God forgive us! Who would sign this extraordinary lie?" So they were compelled tifeear it up.
Someone I did not know and still do not know, lent his horse so that I could go out. In the summer I would go out most days for a couple of hours, for my illness and in order to take some air. I had given my word that I would give the owner of the horse and phaeton books worth fifty liras, so as not to break my rule and become indebted to him. Is there any possibility of harm in such a thing? But then both the Governor, and the court officials, and the police asked us fifty times who the horse belonged to. As though it was some important political event affecting public security! In order to put a stop to this meaningless questioning, one person even said loyally that the horse was his and another, that the phaeton was his, and they were both arrested together with me. We watched numerous childish escapades like these two examples and laughed till we cried. And we understood that those who attack the Risale-i Nur and its students make fools of themselves.
An amusing incident from among those examples: the reason written on the paper authorizing my arrest was "disturbing public order." Not having seen the document, I told the public prosecutor: "I slandered you last night. I said to a police officer who was questioning me for the Police Chief: 'If I haven't served this country's public security as much as a
thousand public prosecutors and a thousand police chiefs-three times-may God damn me!'"
Then at that point, just when in those freezing conditions I was most in need of rest and not catching cold and not thinking of the world, I was overcome with anger and vexation at those who had sent me into this intolerable exile, isolation, imprisonment, and oppression, in a way that spelt out their hatred and ill-intentions. Divine grace came to my assistance, and the following was imparted to my heart:
"Divine Determining, which is pure justice, has a large part in the wrongful oppression which these people are inflicting on you. And you have food to eat in this prison; that sustenance of yours called you here. It should be met with contentment and resignation. And dominical wisdom and mercy have a large part, which is to illuminate those in this prison and console them, and to gain you reward. This share should be met with endless thanks and patience. And your soul has a part in it, due to its faults which you did not know about. In the face of this part, you should tell your soul that it deserved this blow, through repentance and seeking forgiveness. And some of your secret enemies have a part in it, with their intrigues and deceiving certain ingenuous and suspicious officials and inciting them to such oppression. In the face of this share, the terrible immaterial blows dealt by the Risale-i Nur on those dissemblers have taken your revenge on them completely. That is enough for them. The final part is the officials who were the actual means. In the face of this share, for the sake of their benefiting from the Risale-i Nur in respect of belief, whether they wanted to or not, which they looked at with the intention of criticizing, to forgive them in accordance with the rule,
Those who suppress their anger and forgive people-verily God loves those who do good,
is an act of magnanimity."
Due to the complete happiness and feeling of thanks I received from this veracious warning, I decided to commit some harmless offence and so incur a prison sentence, in order to remain in this new 'School of Joseph' and to help even those who were opposed to me. For someone like me who was seventy-five years old, without attachment, and out of the seventy of those he loved in this world only five remained alive, the grave was a hundred times preferable to this prison. For seventy thousand copies of the treatises of the Risale-i Nur were in free circulation and would perform my duties connected with the Risale-i Nur, and I had
brothers and heirs who would continue to serve belief with thousands of tongues in place of my one tongue. This prison too was a hundred times more comfortable and more beneficial than the unfree liberty outside subject to that tyranny and oppression. For in place of having to suffer all alone outside the arbitrary treatment of hundreds of officials, in prison, together with hundreds of other prisoners one only has to suffer the slight arbitrariness of one or two people like the prison governor and chief warder, which will secure benefits. And in the face of this, one receives the brotherly kindness and consolation of many companions in prison. Thinking that the compassion of Islam and human nature are shown as kindness to the elderly in such a position, thus turning the hardship of prison into mercy, I became resigned to prison.
At the time I attended this third trial, because of my difficulty in remaining on my feet due to weakness, old age, and illness, I sat on a chair outside the door of the court. The judge suddenly appeared and angrily asked in insulting manner: "Why isn't he waiting standing?" I became angry at this unkindness in the face of old age. Then I looked and saw that a large number of Muslims had gathered around us and were watching with complete kindness and in brotherly fashion, and not dispersing. I was suddenly warned of the following two truths:
The covert enemies of myself and the Risale-i Nur had deceived certain ingenuous officials with the intention of putting a stop to the Risale-i Nur's conquests by destroying the public's good opinion of me, which in any event I did not want, and of destroying my character in the people's view; they had prompted those officials to act contemptuously towards me in that way. See these hundred people in place of that one man's insults! In return for the Risale-i Nur's service to belief-as a Divine favour-they are kindly offering their sympathy by appreciating your service, and both welcoming you and seeing you off. Even, while in the examining magistrate's office on the second day of the trial answering the public prosecutor's questions, around a thousand people gathered in the courtyard opposite the court windows, showing their concern; they appeared to be telling them through the tongue of disposition not to pressurize us. The police could not make them disperse. It was imparted to my heart that in this dangerous age these people want a true solace, an inextinguishable light, a powerful belief, and certain good news about eternal happiness, and that they search for these by nature. They must have heard that what they are searching for is to be found in the Risale-i Nur so that they show my unimportant person much more attention than I deserve because I have performed some small services for belief.
I was reminded that in return for the ill-treatment a few contemptuous, deceived individuals inflicted on us with the intention of insulting us and destroying public regard for us, due to their unfounded suspicions of our disturbing public order, was the applause and appreciation of innumerable people of reality and forthcoming generations.
Yes, through the strength of certain, verified belief, in every part of this country the Risale-i Nur and its students halt the awesome corruption and efforts of anarchy to destroy public order under the veil of communism. They work to maintain public order and security so that these twenty years three or four related courts and the police of ten provinces have not been able to find or record any incidents involving the infringement of public order connected with the Risale-i Nur students, who areد ژry numerous and found in every part of the country. And the fair-minded police of three provinces stated: "The Risale-i Nur students are moral police. They assist us in preserving public order. Through certain, verified belief, they leave in everyone's head who reads the Risale-i Nur something that restrains them from committing misdemeanours. They work to maintain public order."
An example of this was Denizli Prison. When the Risale-i Nur entered there and the Fruits of Belief was written for the prisoners, within a space of three or four months more than two hundred of those prisoners became so extraordinarily obedient and acquired such religious and righteous conduct that a man who had murdered three or four people held back from even killing bedbugs. They became completely compassionate, harmless members of the nation. The officials were astonished at this situation and looked on in appreciation. Some youths even said before receiving their sentences: "If the Nurjus remain in prison, we shall try to have ourselves convicted so that we can be taught by them and become like them. We shall reform ourselves through their instruction."
So those who accuse the Risale-i Nur students, who are thus, of disturbing public order are surely seriously deceived, or have been fooled, or knowingly or unknowingly are deceiving the government on account of anarchy, and try to crush and repress us. We say this to them:
"Since death is not to be killed, and the grave is not to be closed, and the travellers in this guest-house of the world, convoy after convoy, enter the earth with great speed and ado, and vanish; for sure we shall part from one another very soon. You shall receive the penalty for your tyranny in awful fashion. At the very least you shall mount the gallows of death and eternal extinction, which form the discharge papers of the oppressed
people of belief. The fleeting pleasures you have received in this world imagining them to be everlasting, will be transformed into everlasting, grievous pains."
Regretfully, our secret dissembling enemies sometimes attach the name of "Sufism" to the reality of Islam, which has been gained and preserved through the swords and blood of the hundred million martyrs at the rank of saints, and heroic war veterans of this religious nation. While the way of Sufism is only a single ray of that sun, they show it to be the sun, and deceive certain lax government officials. Calling the Risale-i Nur students "Sufis" and "members of a political society"-because they work effectively for the truths of the Qur'an and belief-they want to incite them against us. We say to them, and to those who listen to them against us, what we told the just court at Denizli:
"Let us too be sacrificed for this sacred truth for which hundreds of millions of others have been sacrificed! Even if you set fire to the world around us, we who sacrifice ourselves for the truths of the Qur'an will not lay down our arms before atheism; we shall not abandon our sacred duty, God willing!"
And so, because of the sacred solace for the pains and despair of the adventures of my old age arising from belief and the Qur'an, I would not exchange this most distressing year of my old age for ten of the happiest years of my youth. Especially since each hour in prison of those who repent and perform the obligatory prayers become like ten hours' worship, and with respect to merit, each transient day spent in illness and oppression gains ten days of perpetual life. I thus understood from those warnings just how deserving of thanks are these days for someone like me awaiting his turn at the door of the grave. I exclaimed: "Endless thanks be to my Sustainer!," and was happy at my old age and pleased with my imprisonment. For life does not stop, it passes swiftly. If it passes in pleasure and happiness, since the passing of pleasure is pain, it becomes transient, passing without thanks and in heedlessness; leaving in their place sins, its departs. Whereas if it passes in prison and hardship, since the passing of pain is a sort of pleasure, and since it is considered to be a sort of worship, it becomes perpetual in one respect, and through its good fruits gains everlasting life. It becomes atonement for the mistakes that were the cause of past sins and imprisonment, and purifies them. From this point of view, those among the prisoners who perform the compulsory parts of the obligatory prayers should offer thanks in patience.
SIXTEENTH HOPE
One time in my old age, I was released from Eskishehir Prison after serving a years' sentence. They exiled me to Kastamonu, where I stayed for two or three months as a guest in the police station. It may be understood how much torment someone like me suffered in a place like that, who was a recluse, wearied by seeing even his loyal friends, and could not endure the changes in dress. And so, while suffering this despair, Divine grace suddenly came to the assistance of my old age. The inspector and police in the police station became like firm friends. They not once warned me about not wearing a peaked cap, and like my servants, used to take me for trips around the town.
Then I took up residence in Kastamonu's 'Risale-i Nur Medrese,' opposite the police station, and started to write further parts of the Risale-i Nur. Heroic Risale-i Nur students like Feyzi, Emin, Hilmi, Sâdik, Nazif, and Salâhaddin, attended the Medrese in order to duplicate the treatises and disseminate them. We held scholarly debates even more brilliant than those I had practised in my youth with my old students.
Then our hidden enemies aroused the suspicions of some officials and some egotistical hojas and shaykhs concerning us. They caused us and Risale-i Nur students from five or six provinces to be gathered together in the 'School of Joseph' of Denizli Prison. The details of this Sixteenth Hope are described clearly in the brief letters I sent secretly to my brothers while in Denizli Prison, in those sent from Kastamonu, and in the collection containing the court defence speeches. So referring the details to those letters and to my defence speech, I shall allude to it only very briefly here:
I hid the confidential and important collections, and particularly those about the Sufyan and the Risale-i Nur's wonder-working, under the coal and fire-wood so that they might be published after my death or after the authorities had come to their senses and listened to the truth. Then, when feeling easy at this, some detectives and the assistant public prosecutor suddenly raided my house. They pulled out those secret and important treatises from under the wood, then arrested me and sent me to Isparta Prison, although I was in bad health. While greatly upset and sad at the harm that had come to the Risale-i Nur, Divine grace came to our aid.
The authorities carefully and curiously began to read those important treatises which had been hidden, of which they were in much need, and the government offices became like Risale-i Nur study centres. Having started to read with the idea of criticizing, they began to appreciate them. In Denizli even, although we were unaware of it, numerous people read the printed edition of Ayetü'l-Kübra [The Supreme Sign], officially and unofficially, and strengthened their belief. This reduced to nothing the calamity of prison we were suffering.
Later they took us to Denizli Prison, and put me into solitary confinement in a stinking, cold, damp ward. I was most unhappy at my old age and illness and the difficulties visited on my friends because of me, and most distressed at the confiscations of the Risale-i Nur and the cessation in its activities, when Divine grace suddenly came to my aid. It transformed that huge prison into a Risale-i Nur 'Medrese ', proving it was a 'School of Joseph.' The Risale-i Nur started to spread through the diamond pens of the heroes of the Medresetü'z-Zehra. The great hero of the Risale-i Nur even, in those severe conditions, wrote out more than twenty copies of the Fruits of Belief and the Defence Speeches Collection in the space of three or four months. The conquests began both within the prison and outside. It transformed our losses in that calamity into significant gains and our distress into joy. It once again showed the meaning of the verse,
But it is possible that you dislike a thing which is good for you.
Then we were subject to severe criticisms because of the incorrect and superficial statements of the first Experts Committee, and in addition to the Education Minister's savage attacks, a statement was published against us. And just when according to some reports they were even trying to secure the execution of some of us, Divine grace came to our assistance. Chiefly, while expecting a severely critical report from the Experts Committee in Ankara, they sent a commendatory one. And although they found less than ten errors in five chests of copies of the Risale-i Nur, we proved in court that the points they had shown to be errors were completely correct, and that they themselves had been in error in the matters they said were wrong; we showed between five and ten errors and mistakes in their five pages of report. And while awaiting severe reprisals in the face of the Fruits of Belief and Defences Collection, which we had sent to seven government offices, and the entire Risale-i Nur which had been sent to the Ministry of Justice, and especially in return for the effective, stinging slaps dealt by the confidential treatises, they responded
extremely leniently, and like the even consoling letter sent to us by the Prime Minister, they were most conciliatory and did not attack us. This proved decisively that as a miracle of Divine grace, the truths of the Risale-i Nur had defeated them, making them study its treatises like a guide. It made those broad circles into a sort of study circle and saved the belief of numerous hesitating and bewildered people, causing us spiritual joy and profit far exceeding our distress.
Then our hidden enemies poisoned me; and the late Hafiz Ali, the martyr hero of the Risale-i Nur, went to hospital instead of me, travelled to the Intermediate Realm in my place, and made us weep despairingly. Before this calamity had occurred, on many occasions I had insisted on the mountain at Kastamonu: "My brothers, you don't give meat to the horse and grass to the lion!" That is to say: "Don't give all the treatises to everyone, lest they use them to attack us." Although Hafiz Ali (May God have mercy on him) was around seven days away on foot, as though he heard with his spiritual telephone, that same time he was writing to me: "Yes, Ustad, it is a wonder of the Risale-i Nur's that horses should not be given meat, nor lions, grass. Rather, since horses should be given hay, and lions meat, he gave that lion-like Hoja the treatise on Sincerity." I received his letter seven days later. We worked it out, and at the same time I was shouting it out on the mountain, he was writing the strange words in his letter.
Thus, just at the time that hero of the Risale-i Nur died, and we were being pressurized by the secret dissemblers who were trying to have us punished through their intrigues against us, and we were anxious that I would be sent to hospital on official orders because I was ill from poison, Divine grace came to our assistance. Through the sincere prayers of my blessed brothers the danger to my life from the poison passed; and according to powerful signs our martyr was occupied in his grave with the Risale-i Nur, and replied with the Risale-i Nur to the questioning angels; and the Denizli hero, Hasan Feyzi (May God have mercy on him), who would work according to Hafiz Ali's system, and his friends were secretly serving the Risale-i Nur effectively; and because the other prisoners were being reformed by the Risale-i Nur, even our enemies supported our being released from prison; and like the Companions of the Cave, the Risale-i Nur students turned that place of ordeal into a cave of the ascetics of former times; all this, together with their endeavours in writing out and disseminating the Risale-i Nur with easy hearts, proved that Divine grace had come to our aid.
It also occurred to my heart that since a great interpreters of the Law like Imam-i A'zam had suffered imprisonment; and a supreme mujahid
like Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal had been severely tortured in prison for the sake of a single matter of the Qur'an, and had endured it in perfect patience, not remaining silent about the matter in question; and numerous religious leaders and scholars had been completely patient and unshaken, offering thanks, despite suffering torments far greater than yours; for sure you are obliged to offer endless thanks for the very few difficulties you suffer, although the reward and gain you receive is great for those many truths of the Qur'an. Yes, I shall describe briefly a manifestation of Divine grace amid man's wrongful tyranny:
When I was twenty years old I used to say repeatedly: "Towards the end of my life I shall withdraw from the life of society into a cave or onto a mountain like those who abandoned the world and withdrew into caves in olden times." And when during the former Great War I was being held as a prisoner in the north-east, I took this decision: "I shall spend my life after this in caves. I shall slip away from political and social life. Enough now of mixing in them." At that point both dominical grace and the justice of Divine Determining were manifested. In a way far better than my decision and wish, compassionately for my old age, it transformed the caves I had imagined into prisons, places of seclusion, loneliness in places of ordeal and solitary confinement. It bestowed on me 'Schools of Joseph' and places of solitary confinement where my time would not be wasted which were far superior to the mountain caves of ascetics and recluses. It gave both the benefits pertaining to the Hereafter of the cave, and strenuous service of the truths of belief and the Qur'an. I had even determined to show myself guilty of some crime and remain in prison after my friends had been released. Solitaries like Husrev and Feyzi would have remained with me, and on some pretext I would have remained in the ward for solitary confinement in order not to meet with people and waste my time on unnecessary conversation and egotistical artificiality. But then Divine Determining and our fate sent us to another place of ordeal. In accordance with the verse,
But it is possible that you dislike a thing which is good for you;
And the saying: "Good lies in what God chooses," out of compassion for my old age and in order to make us work harder in the service of belief, duties were given us outside our will and power in this third 'School of Joseph.'
Yes, there are three instances of wisdom and important benefits in respect of the service of the Risale-i Nur in Divine grace turning-out of compassion for my old age-the caves particular to my youth, when I had no powerful, hidden enemies, into the solitary confinement of prison:
At this time it is possible for the Risale-i Nur students to gather together without harm only in the 'School of Joseph.' Outside it is expensive and causes suspicion if they meet together. Some of those who came to visit me even, would spend forty or fifty liras, then either seeing me for only twenty minutes or not at all would have to return. I would have willingly chosen the hardship of prison in order to be closer to some of my brothers. This means that for us prison is a bounty and instance of mercy.
The service to belief at this time through the Risale-i Nur has to be through advertising it everywhere and attracting the attention of those in need. Thus, attention is attracted to the Risale-i Nur through our imprisonment; it is like an advertisement. The most stubborn or those in most need find it and save their belief; their obduracy is broken and they are saved from danger, and the Risale-i Nur's circle of study is widened.
The Risale-i Nur students who are sent to prison learn from one another's conduct, qualities, sincerity, and self-sacrifice, and they no longer seek worldly benefits in their service of the Risale-i Nur. Yes, since in the 'School of Joseph' they have seen with their own eyes the ten and perhaps a hundred benefits gained for every hardship and difficulty, and the good results, and the extensive and sincere service to belief, they are successful in attaining pure sincerity, and no longer lower themselves by seeking minor, personal benefits.
A subtle but sad, yet at the same time agreeable, point concerning these places of ordeal that concerns myself only is this: I observe the same situation here that I saw in the old medrese s in my native region in my youth. For traditionally in the Eastern Provinces, a part of the medrese students' needs were met from outside. In some medrese s, they were cooked in the medrese. And there were other ways that they resembled this place of ordeal. As I watch the prison here, feeling a pleasurable regret and longing, I travel in my imagination to those former sweet times of youth, and forget the difficulties of old age.
This is the Twenty-First Letter, which, having been included in The Letters, has not been added here.
THE TWENTY-SEVENTH FLASH
This is the defence speeches from the Eskishehir trials, which have been published in the hand-duplicated editions of The Flashes, and in part in the Tarihçe-i Hayat.
THE TWENTY-EIGHTH FLASH
[This comprises some of the short pieces I wrote as consolation for my brothers who were (in the ward) opposite me in Eskishehir Prison, at a time I was forbidden to mix with them or speak with them.]
An amusing and absorbing conversation with Süleyman Rüshtü, famous for his fidelity and distinguished by his sincerity of heart
A Small Point Concerning an Important Verse
It was autumn and approaching the time when flies are discharged from their duties, and because of their minor annoyance, selfish humans were employing chemicals in my prison cell in order to eliminate them. It aroused a sharp pity in me. There was a washing-line in my cell. However, in order to thwart the humans the flies multiplied even more. In the evening those miniature birds would be lined up in most orderly fashion on the line. When he wanted to hang up the washing, I said to Rüshtü: "Don't disturb those little birds; hang it somewhere else." To which he replied, completely seriously: "We need the line; let the flies find somewhere else for themselves."
Anyhow... In the early morning a discussion started in connection with this exchange about the very numerous small creatures like flies and ants. I said the following to him:
The species whose copies are thus numerous have important duties and great value, like the copies of a book are multiplied in relation to the book's importance. That is to say, the species of flies have important duties and great value so that the All-Wise Creator has greatly multiplied those tiny missives of Divine Determining and copies of the words of Divine power. The All-Wise Qur'an states:
O men! Here is a parable set forth; listen to it! Those on whom you call besides God cannot create [even] a fly, if they all met together for the purpose! And if the fly should snatch away anything from them, they would have no power to release it from the fly. Feeble are those who petition and those whom they petition!
That is to say, if those things claimed to be gods by the people of misguidance were to gather together all causes and false gods apart from God Almighty, they would be unable to create even a fly. That is, the creation of a fly is such a dominical miracle and clear sign to the act of creation that even if all causes were to assemble they would be unable to make anything like it or to duplicate it, and would be unable to dispute that dominical sign.
Flies, which form an important subject in the above verse, defeated Nimrod, and when Moses (Upon whom be peace) complained about their bothering him, saying: "O my Sustainer! Why have You so greatly increased the numbers of these irritating creatures?", the following answer came to him through inspiration:
"You have objected about the flies once while the flies have asked many times: 'O our Sustainer! This man has a huge head, yet he praises You with only one tongue. And sometimes he neglects to do that. If you had created us out of only his head, there would have been creatures like us praising You with thousands of tongues!'"
Moreover the flies, which thus defended the wisdom in their creation against Moses' complaint with sufficent power to withstand a thousand such objections, also pursue great cleanliness. These insects continually wash their faces, eyes, and wings as though taking ablutions, and have important duties. The common view is short-sighted; it is still unable to comprehend those duties.
Indeed, Almighty God has created a most orderly group of carniverous beings which are sorts of public health officials; they cleanse the seas by gathering up the corpses of other sea-creatures that die every day in their
millions, and prevent the sea from becoming polluted and disgusting with their corpses. If those public health officals of the sea did not carry out their extremely regular duties, the sea would not sparkle like a mirror; it would rather display a sad and touching turbidity.
Also, Almighty God has created carniverous and carrion-eating birds, and wild animals to be like cleansing and public health officials which collect the corpses of wild animals and birds that die every day in their millions, cleanse the face of the earth of those putrid remains, and save other animate beings from such sad and touching sights. Some, like eagles for example, through a Divine impulse, wonderfully perceive the location of a corpse from a distance of five or six hours, though hidden and distant, and go and remove it. If these health officals of the land were not extremely efficient and orderly in carrying out their official duties, the face of the earth would take on a form fit to make all weep.
The licit food of carniverous animals is the flesh of dead animals. The flesh of living animals is unlawful for them. If they eat it, they receive punishment. The Hadith which states that: «Retaliation shall be made for the hornless sheep on the horned on Resurrection Day» points out that although their bodies perish, among animals whose spirits are immortal there is reward and punishment in a manner appropriate for them in an eternal realm. As a consequence of this it may be said that the flesh of live animals is unlawful for wild animals.
Furthermore, ants are employed as cleansing officials to collect the corpses of tiny creatures and small particles and fragments of bounty. And they are given duties as public health officals to preserve tiny particles of Divine bounty from waste, being trodden underfoot, contempt and futility, and to gather up the corpses of other small creatures.
And in just the same way, flies are charged with duties of cleaning away poisonous substances and microbes which breed disease and are invisible to the human eye. They do not transmit microbes, on the contrary, through sucking up and imbibing harmful microbes they destroy them and cause them to be transformed into a different state; they prevent the spread of many contagious diseases. A sign that they are both health workers and cleansing officials and chemists and that they exhibit
extensive wisdom is the fact that they are extremely numerous. For valuable and beneficial things are multiplied.
O you self-centred human being! Apart from the thousands of instances of wisdom in the creation of flies, consider the following small benefit that concerns you and leave off your hostility towards them. For just as they offer you some familiarity in your exile, solitude and loneliness, so do they also warn you against sliding into heedlessness and your thought wandering. You see flies that through their delicate manner and their washing their faces and eyes as though taking ablutions are giving you a lesson and reminding you of human duties like action and cleanliness.
Moreover, bees, which may be thought of as a sort of fly, give you honey to eat, which is the sweetest and most delicate of bounties. And since, as is stated by the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition, they have been distinguished by receiving Divine inspiration, to be hostile towards them while they should be loved, rather to be hostile towards creatures that suffer all sorts of difficulties in always hastening in friendship to assist man is wrongful and unjust. We may combat harmful creatures only to repel their harm. We fight wolves to protect sheep from their attack, for example.
Mosquitoes and fleas fall upon the turbid blood flowing in the veins polluted by harmful substances, indeed they are charged with consuming the polluted blood, so in hot weather when there is blood surplus to the body's needs, why should they not be natural cuppers? It is possible...
Glory be to Him at Whose art the mind is bewildered!
At one time when I was struggling with my evil-commanding soul, imagining the bounties which it saw in itself to be its own property, my soul became conceited, proud and boastful. I said to it: "This property is not yours; it is in trust." So then the soul gave up its conceit and pride but became lazy, it said: "Why should I bother about someone who is not mine? Let him perish, what is it to me?" Suddenly I saw that a fly had alighted on my hand and had started to thoroughly clean its eyes, face, and wings, which were its trust from God. The fly was washing itself just like a soldier cleans his rifle and uniform thoroughly, which belong to the state. I said to my soul: "You look at that!" It looked and learned a good lesson. As for the fly, it became my conceited and lazy soul's teacher and instructor.
Fly excretion is not harmful medically; in fact, sometimes it is sweet syrup. For it is not distant from dominical wisdom, it is indeed a function of that wisdom, that while flies contain thousands of different harmful substances, microbes, and poisons through what they have eaten, they are like tiny transforming and purifying machines. Apart from bees, there are other species of flying insects
At the end of spring there is one species of small fly which is created in the form of a black mass that becomes stuck to the branches of almond and wild apricot trees, and remains there. In place of waste matter, droplets continously flow from the flies. These drops are like honey and other species of flies gather round them suck them up.
Yet another species are employed in the pollination of the flowers of plants and some trees, like the fig. Just as the fire-fly, which is a sort of fly that flashes, sparkles, and is luminous, is worthy of observation, so do other species that are gilded and glisten like gold deserve notice. Also, we must not forget flies armed with lances, and wild bees, which are like brigands. If the All-Merciful Creator had not pulled in their reins, if they attacked human beings like fleas, in the same way that those armed species killed Nimrod, so would have they also assailed the human race and expounded the implicit meaning of the verse, And if the fly should snatch away anything from them. Thus, the hundred famous species of flies like these bearing special qualities are of great importance so that this mighty verse makes them its subject:
O men! Here is a parable set forth; listen to it! Those on whom you call besides God cannot create [even] a fly, if they all met together for the purpose! And if the fly should snatch away anything from them, they would have no power to release it from the fly. Feeble are those who petition and those whom they petition!
that eat various putrid substances and then continuously excrete droplets of syrup in place of the filth. Transforming those rotten, poisonous substances into a sweet and healing syrup like a confection of Divine power that rains onto the leaves of trees, they prove that they are machines for transmuting one substance into another. They demonstrate before the eyes what a mighty nation and group are these tiny individuals. Through the tongues of their beings they say: "Do not look at our smallness, consider the vastness of our species, and declare, 'All Glory be to God!'"
Verily, when He intends a thing, His command is "Be!" and it is.
As this verse indicates, creation is through a command. The treasuries of Divine Power are in the Kaf. and Nûn. Several of the many aspects of this subtle mystery have been mentioned in various places of the Risale-i Nur. Here, in order to make more comprehensible in this century's materialist view Hadiths about the characteristics, qualities, and material effects of the Qur'an's letters, and particularly the 'disjointed letters' at the start of some Suras, we shall illustrate this mystery with a material example.
The All-Glorious One, the Owner of the Sublime Throne, has four Thrones by which He directs the creatures on the earth, which is like a centre of the world and heart and qibla of the universe:
One is the Throne of Preservation and Life, which is earth. This is the manifestation of the Divine Names of Preserver and Giver of Life.
The Second Throne is the Throne of Bounty and Mercy, which is the element of water.
The Third is the Throne of Knowledge and Wisdom, which is the element of light.
The Fourth is the Throne of Will and Command, which is the element of air.
We see with our own eyes that from simple earth, the minerals and innumerable various plants are formed, through which are met the innumerable needs of animals and human beings-boundless multiplicity from unity with perfect order, an infinite variety of species from a simple element, innumerable regular embroideries on a plain page. And while water, and especially the sperm of animals, is a simple fluid like water, innumerable miracles of art become manifest through it in the many various animate creatures. This shows that like these two Thrones, despite their simple nature, light and air too are the places of manifestation of the wondrous miracles of the pen of knowledge, command, and will of the Pre-Eternal Inscriber, the All-Knowing One of Glory.
For now we shall leave aside the element of light, and in connection with our question here, try to unveil a little the wonders and marvels of Command and Will within the element of air, which is for the globe of the earth the Throne of the Divine Command and Will.
With the air in our mouths, we sow letters and words which at once sprout and send forth shoots. That is to say, in a instant, in no time at all, a word becomes a seed in the air, sprouting in the surrounding air. It produces the shoots of innumerable instances of the same word, great and small, in the air all around. We consider the element of air and we see that it is so obedient and subjugated to 'the command of "Be!" and it is' that it is as if like a soldier in a regular army, each of its particles is all the time awaiting its orders, demonstrating its compliance with and submission to commands manifested from 'the command of "Be!", arriving instantaneously from another particle far off.
For example, the fact that human speech may be heard in any place whatever in the air by means of radio transmitters and receivers-on condition there is a receiver-everywhere on earth, at the same moment, instantaneously, demonstrates how perfectly each particle of air obediently conforms to the manifestation of 'the command of "Be!" and it is.' In respect of sacredness and in accordance with this mystery of compliance, the letters, which have an unstable existence in the air, may manifest many external effects and material qualities.
Innumerable signs like these show that since letters, which are the beings of the air, and especially sacred and Qur'anic letters, and in particular the letters of the Divine cyphers at the beginning of some Suras, are well-ordered and infinitely sensitive, and as though listening to the instantaneous commands and acting accordingly, they surely make the particles of air submit to their material qualities and wondrous properties, which reflect the manifestation of 'the command of «Be!» and it is ' and of Pre-Eternal Will.
It is as a consequence of this mystery that sometimes the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition describes the works of Divine Power as though they proceed from the attributes of Will and Speech, meaning that apart from utter speed of creation, submission of things and subjugation of beings, they govern like power. That is to say, the letters proceeding from the creative command govern in the existence of beings like a physical force. And the creative command is manifested identically with Power and Will.
Yes, the works of Will and the creative command appear to be identical with Power in beings of this sort whose physical existence is extremely hidden, like the air, which is semi-material and semi-immaterial; indeed, they are identical with Power. It is as though the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition decrees,
Verily, when He intends a thing, His command is "Be!" and it is
in order to attract attention to beings which are 'an isthmus' between the material and the immaterial.
It is thus in keeping with the sacred letters of the Divine cyphers like Ha. Mim. Ta. Sin., and Alif. Lam. Mim. that they should each be switches among the particles of the air for causing the wires of the hidden, subtle relations to vibrate and so be the means of the immaterial sacred wireless and telecommunications between the earth and Divine Throne; it is entirely reasonable that this should be their function.
In addition to the duties of each and every particle of the air spread through all parts of the world conforming to the commands in connection with such things as wirelesses, radios, telephones, and telegraphs, and acting as receivers and conductors of subtle forces such as electricity, I conjectured, and observed even, a further duty in the blossom of my almond-tree. The state the tree acquired through the touch of the air in the blowing breeze-with its particles like receivers conforming to the same command at the same instant-and all the trees on the face of the earth like an orderly army, afforded me a conviction as certain as two plus two equals four.
That is to say, the air is a swift and agile servant on the face of the earth, tending the guests of the Most Merciful and Compassionate One. Like radio and telephone receivers and soldiers under orders, all its particles deliver the sacred commands of that Most Merciful One to the plants and animals. At 'the command of "Be!" and it is', they carry out numerous orderly duties, like being fans for those creatures, aiding their respiration; that is, after performing the duty of purifying their blood, the water of life, and kindling their bodily heat, the fire of life, they emerge from them and are the means of forming words in their mouths.
It is as a consequence of this quality of the air that when letters, the beings of the air, acquire sacredness, that is, when they take up the position of being receivers-that is, they take up the position of receivers because they are letters of the Qur'an-and become like switches, and even more so when the letters at the start of some Suras become like the sensitive central switches of those hidden relations, just as their existences in the air possess this quality, so do their existences in the mind, and even as inscriptions, have a share in it. That is to say, like physical medicines, healing cures and other aims may be achieved through reading and writing those letters.
Say: "If the ocean were ink [wherewith to write out] the words of my Sustainer, sooner would the ocean be exhausted than would the words of my Sustainer, even if we added another ocean like it, for its aid.
[This mighty verse is a vast, elevated, broad ocean. One would have to write a large volume in order to describe all its jewels. So postponing those precious jewels to another time, for now I shall explain a few rays of a subtle point in order to recall those truths. Appearing faintly to me, they struck my attention a few days ago during the tesbihat, recited following the five daily prayers, which is an important time for me. I did not write them down at that time and they gradually grew fainter. So in order to hunt down a manifestation of those points before they are lost altogether, I shall say a few words as though encircling them.]
In respect of being a Divine attribute like Knowledge and Power, pre-eternal Speech is also infinite. Certainly, if the seas were ink for something infinite, they would never be able to complete them.
The clearest and most powerful thing that makes understood someone's existence, is his speech. To hear someone's speech proves his existence as clearly as a thousand proofs, indeed, as clearly as seeing him. Thus through its allusive meaning, this verse says:
"If the seas were ink to the extent of Divine Speech, which demonstrates the All-Glorious Sustainer's existence, and the trees were pens, and they were to write His Speech, they would never come to the end of them. That is to say, just as any speech points to the existence of the one who spoke it to its own extent at the degree of witnessing, so too the extent that the above speech points to and tells of the One Who spoke it-the Single and Eternally Besought One-is beyond measure, so that if all the seas were ink they would still be insufficient for writing it."
In accordance with the wisdom of establishing, verifying, and convincing of a truth, in teaching the truths of belief to all classes of men, the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition apparently repeats the same truth. This verse is in effect an answer to the entirely unjustifiable attacks of the Jewish scholars, who were the learned People of the Book of that time, on the Noble Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and
peace) concerning this, in the face of his being unlettered and not learned. It is as follows:
The verse says: "The repetition in different and miraculous ways for numerous instances of wisdom, like verification and persuasion, of a truth containing numerous benefits and results, and, in order to establish them in the hearts of the mass of people in particular, the repetition of matters like the pillars of belief comprising thousands of truths each of which has the value of thousands, does not arise from restricted speech or intellectual deficiency or lack of capital. Indeed, the Qur'an is taken from the endless, infinite pre-eternal treasury of Divine Speech, and being turned to the Manifest World on account of the World of the Unseen, speaks with man and the jinn, spirits, and the angels, resounding in the ears of every individual. If the seas were ink, sentient beings scribes, plants pens, and particles the pens' nibs for counting the words of pre-eternal Speech, the source of the Qur'an, they would still never come to the end of them. For they are finite, while Divine Speech is infinite."
It is clear that the issuing of speech from something unexpected increases the speech's importance, making itself heeded. Especially the speech-like voices of large bodies like the clouds and the atmosphere, they make everyone listen to them. The sounds of a gramophone the size of a mountain would attract attention even more. And the heavenly voice of the Qur'an, which takes the levels of the heavens as gramophone records, pours forth to make the head of the globe of the earth listen to it. Also through the power of the radio, the molecules of air are like the receivers and transmitters of its letters. Alluding to the fact that the air molecules each become like mirrors, tongues, needle points, and ears to the All-Wise Qur'an's letters, and indicating how important, valuable, significant, and living are those letters, the allusive meaning of the verse says: "The Qur'an, which is Divine Speech, is so living and valuable that if all the seas were to become ink, and the angels scribes, and minute particles points, and plants and hairs pens to the number of the ears that listen to it and hear it, and to the number of the sacred words that enter those ears, they could still never come to the end of them."
No, they could never come to the end of them, because if Almighty God multiplies man's weak and lifeless speech millions of times in the air, for sure each word of the Peerless Sovereign of the Heavens and Earth's speech, which looks to the earth and the heavens and addresses all conscious beings in the earth and heavens, will comprise words to the numbers of particles of air.
This consists of Two Letters.
Just as the Divine attribute of Speech has words, so also does Power have embodied words and Knowledge too has wise words of Divine Determining; these consist of all beings. Living beings, and small creatures in particular, are each dominical words which point to the Pre-Eternal Speaker in a way more powerful than speech. And if the seas were ink they could never come to the end of them. That is, the verse looks to this meaning too in allusive fashion.
All the inspiration received by angels and men, and even by animals, are a sort of Divine Speech. The words of this speech are certainly infinite. It means that the verse is telling us how numerous and infinite are the inspirations and words of Divine command which the innumerable cohorts of Absolute Sovereignty continually receive.
The knowledge is with God alone. * None knows the Unseen save God.
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
And We sent down iron, in which is [material for] mighty war, as well as many benefits for mankind.
[A brief reply to a question about the above verse, which has gained great importance, and with which a person of standing who had knowledge of modern science silenced a number of hojas. ]
It is normally said that "Iron is mined from the earth," so why is it said in this verse "We sent down" or "revealed" rather than "We excavated or extracted;" this appears to be inappropriate?
Through the phrase «We sent down», the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition recalls the vast and important bounty in iron. For it does not consider iron only for itself so that it should say "extracted," it rather recalls the tremendous Divine bounty in iron and how needy mankind is for it. Its aspect of being a bounty does not come upwards from below, but down from the treasury of mercy. The treasury of mercy is certainly elevated, above, and at a high level, so the bounty descends from above; and needy mankind's level is surely below. The bestowal of bounty is superior to need, so the correct way to express the fact that bounty comes from the treasury of mercy to assist mankind's need is "We sent down;" it is not "We extracted."
Also, since the gradual extraction of iron is at man's hand, the word "extract" does not alert a heedless person to its aspects of bounty. If what is meant is iron's material substance, it is extracted in respect to its physical situation. But iron's quality of being a "bounty," which is the intended meaning here, is immaterial. This meaning looks not to physical situation, but to immaterial degree or level. Bounties proceeding from the treasury of mercy, which is a manifestation of the infinitely elevated degree of the Most Merciful, are certainly sent down from the highest level to the lowest. Thus, the correct expression is "We sent down:" it recalls to mankind that iron is one of the greatest of Divine bounties.
Yes, the source of all mankind's industries, and of its advancement and progress, and the means of its power and strength, is iron. So in order to call to mind this tremendous bounty and bestowal of favour, in lofty style the Qur'an states:
And We sent down iron, in which is [material for] mighty war, as well as many benefits for mankind.
In the same way that it declares about David's important miracle:
And We made the iron soft for him.
That is to say, it points out the softening of iron, a great miracle and great bounty for a great prophet.
"Above" and "below" are relative. They are above and below in relation to the earth's centre. In fact, something which is below in relation to us is above from the point of view of the American continent. This means the situation of substances coming from the earth's centre to its surface changes according to the position of people on the surface.
With the tongue of miraculousness, the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition states that iron contains so many benefits and such broad uses that it is not some common substance to be extracted from the store of the globe, and that it is not some natural substance to be used to meet any chance need. Rather, in order to express iron's general uses it states that it is a bounty stored up by the Creator of the Universe in the treasury of mercy and huge workshop of the universe which He sent down through His majestic title of Sustainer of the Heavens and Earth to meet the needs of the earth's inhabitants. It is as if, like rain, heat, and light, which descend from the skies, it contains such all-embracing benefits that it was sent from the workshop of the universe, not from the narrow store of the earth. It was sent having been prepared in the great treasury of mercy in the palace of the universe, and situated in the store of the globe, from which it is extracted little by little over the centuries in proportion to need.
The Qur'an of Mighty Stature does not want to express the iron which is extracted bit by bit from this small store only as being "utilized," but as being sent down together with the globe of the earth from the Supreme Treasury, as a tremendous bounty. That is to say, the thing most necessary for the house of the earth is iron, for when the All-Glorious Creator separated the earth from the sun and sent it down for mankind, He sent down iron together with it, and met most of mankind's needs with it. The All-Wise Qur'an decrees in miraculous fashion: "Use this iron in your works and try to excavate it and take advantage of it."
The verse describes two bounties; both the repulsion of enemies, and the attraction of benefits. Iron was put to important human uses before the revelation of the Qur'an, but with the phrase,
in which is [material for] mighty war
it points out that in the future, being used for travelling through the sea, air, and land, iron would subjugate the globe in wondrous and astonishing fashion, and demonstrate a wondrous death-tainted strength. Thus of its various sorts of miraculousness, it displays a flash of miraculousness predicting the future.
While discussing the above point, the subject of Solomon's Hoopoe came up. A persistent questioner from among our brothers asked: "What is the reason for the Hoopoe describing Almighty God with a relatively insignificant attribute in the sentence, Who brings to light what is hidden in the heavens and the earth, while there are more significant Divine attributes?
One aspect of eloquence is to make understood the occupation or craft with which the speaker is mostly employed. Like the nomad diviners who through their intuition wondrously discovered the places where water was to be found in the Arabian Peninsula, as a diviner from among birds and animals, Solomon's Hoopoe was a blessed bird employed in various duties who also found water for Solomon (Upon whom be peace), so it could be used. It is stating through the measure of its own art that Almighty God proves His fitness to be worshipped and prostrated before by making known the things hidden in the heavens and earth.
Yes, the Hoopoe saw it very well, for the natural inclination of the incalculable numbers of seeds and minerals under the earth is not to emerge upwards from below. Because since such beings lack life and will, they cannot go upwards of their own accord; on their own, they can only tumble downwards. Particularly a body concealed under the heaviness of the earth, it certainly could not shake that heavy load off its shoulders on its own and emerge upwards. It means that it does so through a wondrous power.
The Hoopoe understood through his divining this most hidden and important of the proofs of Divine fitness to be worshipped, so that the All-Wise Qur'an imparted a miraculousness to its statement concerning it.
And He sent down for you eight head of cattle in pairs: He makes you in the wombs of your mothers, in stages, one after the other.
This verse comprises the same point we explained in the discussion of the verse, And We sent down iron; it both corroborates it, and is corroborated by it.
By saying in Sura al-Zumar, And He sent down for you eight head of cattle in pairs, and not saying: And He created for you eight head of cattle in pairs, the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition is stating that: "Eight sorts of blessed animals have been sent down to you from the treasury of mercy, like the bounties of Paradise." Yes, those blessed animals are bounty for mankind in all their parts, for their wool or hair becomes the mobile homes and clothes of nomads, good food is made from their flesh, delicious sustenance is had from their milk, shoes and so on are made from their hides, cultivated land is nourished by their manure and men make fuel from it. It is as though those blessed animals are pure bounty and embodied mercy.
It is because of this that like rain is called "mercy" [rahma], these blessed beasts are called "bounty" [an'am]. As though just as embodied mercy becomes rain, so too embodied bounty takes on the form of goats, sheep, cattle, water-buffalo, and camels. For sure their physical bodies are created on the earth, but since the attribute of being bounties and the meaning of mercy have totally predominated over their physical beings, in accordance with the phrase And He sent down, the All-Compassionate Creator sent down these blessed animals directly from the exalted degree of His mercy and His elevated, immaterial Paradise, as gifts from the treasury of mercy.
Sometimes in material worth virtually nothing is art of high worth. Then it is not in respect of the material's value, but from the point of view of its art that value is given it, like the tiny material being of a fly and the great dominical art within it. Sometimes in valuable material worth five lira is art worth nothing; then it is the material that is dominant.
In exactly the same way, sometimes in some physical material the meaning of bounty and mercy is found to such a degree that it is a hundred times more important than the material. The physical matter quite simply is hidden, and its aspect of being a bounty is predominant. Thus,
just as the vast benefits of iron and the many products it yields conceal its material aspect, so too bounty being present in every member of the blessed animals mentioned above has transformed their physical matter into bounty. It is because of this that their immaterial attributes have been considered, disregarding their physical beings, and expressed with the phrases, And He sent down, and, And We sent down.
In addition to these two phrases stating the above-mentioned point in regard to reality, they miraculously express an important meaning in respect of eloquence. It is as follows:
Together with its extremely tough nature, and its being hidden, frequently deep underground, iron is found everywhere, bestowed with the quality of being easily softened. Everyone can therefore obtain it easily everywhere for everything. In order to express this, it states through the phrase And We sent down iron, that it is as though iron tools are sent down from a workbench above like natural, heavenly bounties, and placed in man's hand they are obtained so easily.
Furthermore, although some animal species from the mosquito to snakes, scorpions, wolves, and lions are harmful to human beings, large beasts like the water-buffalo, ox, and camel, who are important among animals, are extremely docile and submissive. So much so they may be led by even a child. In order to express the meaning of their submissiveness, the verse
And He sent down for you eight head of cattle in pairs
states that being neither wild nor dangerous, these blessed beasts do not resemble worldly animals. They are rather beneficial and harmless like paradisaical animals. They have been sent down from above, that is, from the treasury of mercy.
It is possible that some Qur'anic commentators saying that these animals have been sent down from Paradise arises from this meaning. It should not be said to be lengthy if a page is written on a single letter of the All-Wise Qur'an, for it is God's Word. It has therefore not been wasteful to write two or three pages on the expression And We sent down. Sometimes one letter of the Qur'an is the key to a treasury.
Pieces Written in Eskishehir Prison as a True Solace for the Risale-i Nur Students
My Dear Brothers!
I was exceedingly unhappy for you; I was crushed by grief. But it was imparted to me that Divine Determining and your fate have given you this prison's water to drink and bread to eat, all together. I saw that as a mark of Divine mercy and manifestation of dominical favour, your eating this bread together and drinking this water was the easiest, lightest, best, and most meritorious of ways; that this prison was a most beneficial place of instruction for the Risale-i Nur students, and a most effulgent place of ordeal; that it was a most exacting place of examination teaching just how essential it is to act prudently in the face of one's enemies. I saw it in the form of a most luminous place of study and tekke for learning and benefiting from the elevated qualities and fine characteristics of our friends here, which are all different, and to establish and renew the brotherhood between them. I did not complain about this situation therefore, but offered thanks with all my spirit. Yes, our way is thanks. And it is to see an aspect of mercy, an aspect of bounty, in everything.
Risale-i Nur students should not seek light outside the circle of the Risale-i Nur, and they cannot seek it. If they do so, they will find a lamp in place of the immaterial sun giving light through the window of the Risale-i Nur, and perhaps lose the sun.
Also, the pure and powerful 'way of friendship and brotherhood' within the circle of the Risale-i Nur, which gains numerous spirits for each individual and through the mystery of the legacy of Prophethood shows the Companions' way of brotherhood, leaves no need for seeking a spiritual guide or father outside that sphere, in a way that is harmful to them in three respects; it provides many 'agabeys' that is, elder brothers, in place of a single father. The joint compassion of elder brothers makes that of a father as nothing.
Someone who has a shaykh before entering the Risale-i Nur circle
may keep his shaykh or guide after entering it. But one who does not have a shaykh beforehand, may only seek a guide within the circle. Moreover, the knowledge of reality taught within the circle of the Risale-i Nur, which gives the effulgence of the legacy of Prophethood, 'the greater sainthood,' leaves no need for the Sufi orders outside that circle. Unless of course they be self-indulgent people who misunderstand the way of Sufism, are addicted to pleasant dreams and imaginings, lights and spiritual pleasures, desire worldly, fanciful pleasures, which are different to the virtues of the Hereafter, and want a rank where people have recourse to them...
This world is the place of work and service; recompense is commensurate with hardship and difficulty; it is not the place of reward. It is because of this that the people of reality attach no importance to the pleasures and lights of illuminations and wonder-working. Indeed, they sometimes flee them and want to conceal them.
Furthermore, the Risale-i Nur's circle is very broad, and its students, very numerous. It does not seek those who go out from it. It gives them no importance and perhaps will not again admit them. Everyone has one heart, and a single heart cannot be both within the circle and outside it.
Also, those desirous for guidance outside should not busy themselves with the Risale-i Nur students. For it is possible that they will receive harm in three respects. Just as those within the bounds of fear of God are not in need of guidance, outside it there are abundant people who do not perform the five daily prayers. To leave aside the latter and busy oneself with the former is not guidance. If such a person loves these students, let him firstly enter the circle and be not a father, but a brother, and if he is very virtuous, an 'elder brother'.
It has also become apparent from this incident that being attached to the Risale-i Nur holds much importance and has a high price. And if he is sensible, one who gives this price and takes up a position of striving against irreligion in the name of the Islamic world, will not abandon this way which has the value of diamonds, and embrace other ways.
My Brothers!
On numerous occasions I have defended the Risale-i Nur students in the manner of which they are worthy. God willing, I shall shout it out in court. And I shall make the world hear both of the Risale-i Nur, and of its students' value. Only, I remind you of the following: the condition of my retaining this mention of your value in my defence is your not feeling offended at the Risale-i Nur due to your painful experiences in this matter, nor at your Master, nor to feel disgust at your brothers on the pretext of the difficulties you suffer, nor to find fault with or accuse one another. You will recall that in the treatise on Divine Determining we have proved that there are two aspects to the wrongs that are visited on us: one is the man's aspect, the other, Divine Determining's. In the same event, man does wrong, but Divine Determining is fair and acts in justice. In this matter of ours, we should think more of the justice of Divine Determining and mystery of Divine wisdom than man's tyranny and wrongdoing.
Yes, Divine Determining summoned the Risale-i Nur students to this gathering. And the wisdom in the unfolding of their striving and struggle drove them to this truly very distressing 'School of Joseph.' Man's tyranny and pretexts were the means. So beware, do not say to one another: "If I had not done such-and-such I would not have been arrested."
I seek an important right from the Chief and Members of the Court, as follows:
In this matter it is not only my person which is under scrutiny so that with your exonerating me and becoming aware of the reality of the matter, the matter would be solved. For the collective personality of the pious and people of learning has been incriminated in this matter in the eyes of the nation, and a lack of confidence has been engendered in the government towards the pious and religious scholars, and it is necessary to know how they will avoid dangerous and harmful attempts against them. I therefore request that this last part of my defence to be printed in the new letters and distributed. Then the pious and the scholars will not be deceived by the intrigues, or embark on any dangerous and damaging
enterprises. Their collective personality will be saved from being the object of suspicion in the eyes of the nation. The government too will have confidence in the scholars and an end will be put to this misunderstanding. Incidents and misunderstandings like this, which are extremely harmful for the government and the nation and the country, will not then be repeated.
My Brothers!
If everyone, and even I, withdraw from defending and preserving the Risale-i Nur, five of our brothers should not withdraw. These are Hüseyin Usta, Halil Ibrahim, Re'fet Bey, Husrev, and Hakki Efendi. The involuntary lack of caution of the first three... because of the personal grudges of the open enemies of the latter two-the intention was to cause excessive harm to the Risale-i Nur. If it had not resulted in a great bounty like the Risale-i Nur being spread and made known to a significant degree, these brothers would have been greatly upset at having caused the unhappiness of so many innocent Risale-i Nur students. Thus, more than everyone, these five brothers must be cautious and united.
My Brothers!
It was imparted to my heart that like the Mathnawi was the mirror to one of seven truths appearing from the Sun of the Qur'an, thus acquiring a sacred illustriousness and becoming the undying guide of numerous 'people of the heart' besides the Mevlevis, so too represented together in mirror of the Risale-i Nur are the seven colours of the Qur'anic sun's light and its various, multicoloured effulgences. God willing, it will be an eternal guide and teacher for 'the people of reality,' illustrious and sacred in seven respects, as much as seven Mathnawi's.
My Brothers!
Look at the protection of the All-Glorious Preserver! Although as a coincidence with the number of treatises of the Risale-i Nur, one hundred and twenty were questioned together with their confidential documents, the fact despite the intrigues of the foreigners and the stratagems of the secret societies no matter could be found showing the connection of any Risale-i Nur student with any of the many existent associations was a most clear and brilliant instance of dominical protection, Divine preservation, and a favour of the Most Merciful corroborating the wondrous predictions concerning the Risale-i Nur of Imam Ali (May God be pleased with him) and the Ghawth al-A'zam (May God be pleased with him). The hands of forty-two of our innocent, wronged brothers raised in supplication to the Divine Court halted a missile directed at them, turned it back in effect exploding it over the heads of those who had fired it. Our losses only amount to a few unimportant minor cuts and bruises which will gain us reward. It is a marvel to be saved with such minor injury from a gun that was being charged for the past year. One should respond to such a great bounty with thanks and joy. After this our lives will not be our own, for according to the plans of the spreaders of corruption, we were to be completely wiped out. That means after this we should pledge our lives not to ourselves, but to truth and reality. We should try to always see the trace, face, and essence of mercy in things, which will cause us not to complain, but to offer thanks.
I request of my brothers that they are not offended at one another due to discomfort, or distress of the spirit, or fastidiousness, or being deceived by Satan's wiles, or at the offensive language uttered by some of them. They should not say that their honour has been insulted. I take on myself any bad words that are uttered. They should not be offended. If I had a hundred honours, I would sacrifice all of them for love and cordiality among my brothers.
My Brothers!
I have understood certainly the last two or three days that unfortunately we suffered a blow from Divine mercy. I understood even that one of the many indications of a verse concerning the people of rebellion looks to us. It is this:
But when they forgot the warning they had received.... on a sudden We called them to account.
That is, "When they forgot the instruction and advice with which we have warned them and did not act in accordance with it, We took hold of them and afflicted them with disaster."
Yes, recently we were prompted to write a treatise on the meaning of sincerity. In truth, it was a most luminous and exalted rule of brotherhood, a sacred principle which allows ten men to withstand calamities and events which normally could only be withstood with the strength of tens of thousands. But unfortunately we, and foremost myself, did not act in accordance with the warning. In accordance with the allusive meaning of the verse, according to the science of jafr, the value of We called them to account is one thousand three hundred and fifty-two. We were arrested on the same date. Some of us suffered a slap dealt by Divine compassion. Others suffered, not such a blow, but were included in these tribulations in order to be a solace to our brothers who did suffer it, and as a means of earning reward and profit.
For three months I was barred from mixing with others, but for the past three days I have been able to learn my brothers' states of mind. An unimaginable incident had occurred opposed to the meaning of sincerity involving brothers whom I had supposed to be the most sincere. I understood from this that an allusive meaning of the verse, But when they forgot the warning they had received.... on a sudden We called them to account looked to us from afar. For the people of misguidance, for whom the verse was revealed, it is punishment, but for us it is a blow from Divine compassion in order to train our souls, as atonement for sins, and so that we may increase our spiritual degrees. Evidence that we suffered this blow because we did not completely appreciate the value of the Divine bounty we had received is that we were not contented with our sacred service of the Qur'an through the Risale-i Nur, a most sacred striving in God's way which receives the effulgence of 'greater sainthood' through the mystery of the legacy of Prophethood and is a means to attaining the essence of the way of the Companions. Through my severe
warnings on several occasions, the wish to join a Sufi order was forestalled, the advantages of which are very few for us at the moment and could possibly have caused us much harm in this situation. Otherwise, both our unity would have been destroyed, and it would have caused both differences in ideas which would have reduced the value of four alifs-which through solidarity is one thousand one hunded and eleven-to four, and mutual antipathy, which would have reduced our strength to nothing.
The author of the Gulistan, Shaykh Sa'di-i Shirazi, relates: "I saw one of 'the people of the heart' in a tekke while occupied with his spiritual journeying. Several days later I saw him among students in the medrese. I asked him why he had left the effulgent tekke and come to the religious school. He replied that there everyone could save themselves-if they were successful, whereas here in the religious school these persons of high aspiration were trying to save many others besides themselves. Nobility and high endeavour were theirs; virtue and exertion were theirs; that was why he went there.
Shaykh Sa'di wrote a summary of this in his Gulistan.
So if the small matter of students parsing verbs is superior to the recitations in the tekke s, since the Risale-i Nur teaches in the clearest and most certain manner the sacred truths of belief stated in the confession of faith: "I believe in God, and His angels, and His Books, and His prophets, and in the Last Day" and silences the most obdurate atheists and obstinate philosophers, to abandon it, or cause its activities to come to a standstill, or not to be content with it, and desiring the Sufi way to enter the closed Sufi tekke s without asking permission of the Risale-i Nur, is entirely wrong and shows how much we deserve this blow of Divine compassion.
[Two short stories]
Fifteen years ago when a prisoner-of-war in the north of Russia I was being held together with ninety other officers in a large factory. Numerous arguments and disturbances arose due to the discomfort and oppressive conditions. I used to pacify them, since they all had great respect for me. I appointed four or five officers to keep the peace, telling them: "Whenever you hear an uproar, go there and help whichever
side is in the wrong." It is a fact that with this precaution a stop was put to the noise. They asked me why I helped those who were in the wrong. In reply I told them:
"Those who are in the wrong are unfair. They do not give up a single benefit for the sake of public peace forty times greater. Whereas someone who is in the right is fair. He sacrifices and waives his own right, worth little, for the advantage of his friend, which is part of the public peace and worth much. The disturbance ceases and peace is restored. The ninety people in this ward can be comfortable. If the person in the right is helped, the noise would increase even more. In communal life of this sort, the general benefit takes precedence."
And so, my brothers! In this communal life of ours, do not say: "I am fed up with my brother, for he's been unfair to me." It is a great error. If such a friend of yours has caused you a little harm, your being angry at him causes us harm of high cost. It is possible it would even cause excessive harm to the Risale-i Nur. But, praise be to God, with our friends being prevented from repeatedly going to be questioned, no harm came to our powerful and rightful defences. Otherwise like getting something as tiny a fly's wing in one's eye or a spark falling into gunpowder, brothers who are vexed with one another can cause a great deal of harm through a little pique.
There was once an elderly women who had eight sons. She gave each of them a loaf of bread from the loaves she had, but none remained for herself. So each of them gave her half his loaf. She then had four loaves, while theirs was reduced to half a loaf.
My brothers! I feel in myself half the pains of the share in this calamity of each of the forty of you. I take no notice of my own hardships. One day I felt excessively afflicted and studied my previous position wondering if I was paying the penalty of some error I had committed. I saw that I had no part at all in the fomenting and incitement of this calamity; on the contrary I had employed every possible means to avoid it. That means it is a Divine decree. It has been planned against us by intriguers over the past year, and made inevitable. It was not possible to avoid it. It was inevitable that we should be embroiled in it. A hundred thousand thanks to Almighty God that He reduced the calamity from a hundred to one.
As a consequence of this fact therefore, do not blame me saying "We are suffering this disaster because of you!" Forgive me rather, and pray for me. And do not criticize each other, saying: "If you had not done such-and-such, this would not have happened." For example, with one of our brothers mentioning two or three signatures, the plan the mischief-makers
were hatching in order embroil numerous people in a calamity, was restricted and many were saved from it. It was the cause not of harm, but of great advantage. It resulted in many innocent people being saved from this disaster.
[This piece is very valuable. Everyone may benefit from it as far as the Second Point.]
In connection with certain unpleasant situadions which come about in Eskişehir Prison, not through bad morality but because of the distress, this is aboute one point of a well-known verse which has remained obscure, and a point concerning good behaviour.
FIRST POINT
Out of His perfect munificence, compassion, and justice, Almighty God has included in good works an immediate reward and in bad actions an immediate punishment. He has included in good works spiritual pleasures that recall the rewards of the Hereafter, while in bad works are spiritual penalties which recall the torments of Hell.
For example, love between believers is a praiseworthy action for the people of faith. Included in that good work is a spiritual pleasure, a gratification, an ease of mind that recall the physical rewards of the Hereafter. Anyone who refers to his heart will feel this pleasure.
And for example, enmity and hostility between believers are an evil which cause noble spirits to feel torment of the conscience enough to overwhelm the heart and spirit. I myself have experienced it perhaps more than a hundred times: when I have felt enmity towards a believing brother I have suffered such torment that it has left me in no doubt that it was the immediate punishment for my evil deed.
And for example, to be respectful towards those worthy of respect, and compassionate to those worthy of compassion, and to assist them, are good works, good deeds. There is a pleasure and gratification in these good works so great they make felt the rewards of the Hereafter. And they increase the respect and compassion to the extent they make the person ready to sacrifice his very life. The pleasure and reward a mother receives through the compassion she feels for her child may be so great she will sacrifice her life due to it. The hen who attacks a lion in order to
save her chick is an example of this truth in the animal kingdom. This means that there is an immediate reward in compassion and respect. Magnanimous people of high aspiration feel this, and for that reason assume that heroic attitude.
And for example, in greed and wastefulness is such a punishment that, afflicting his heart and spirit, it makes man complaining and anxious, and bewilders him. And in jealousy and envy is such an immediate punishment that it scorches the one who feels them. While in contentment and reliance on God is an immediate, pleasurable reward that is such that it dispels all the pains and tribulations of poverty and want.
And for example, in pride and conceit is a heavy burden, for the proud man wants respect from everyone. And since he is despised because he wants it, he suffers constant torment. Yes, respect is given, it may not be sought.
And for example, in humility and the giving up of egotism is a pleasurable reward by which a person is saved from the heavy burden of trying to make himself liked.
And for example, in pessimism and always interpreting things unfavourably is an immediate punishment in this world. In accordance with the rule, "Whoever strikes is struck," those who think unfavourably of others are also thought of unfavourably. The actions of those who misinterpret the actions of their believing brothers are also misinterpreted, and they suffer the punishment for it.
And so on, all good and bad deeds should be measured according to this yardstick. I beseech Divine mercy that those who witness the Qur'anic miraculousness manifested at this time in the Risale-i Nur, experience these spiritual pleasures; they will not suffer from bad morals, God willing.
SECOND POINT
[The Second of Twenty-Two Points]
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
I created not jinn and mankind except that they might worship me. * No sustenance do I require of them, nor do I require that they should feed me. * For God is He Who gives [all] sustenance-Lord of Power-Steadfast [for ever].
For a long time these verses worried my mind, since according to many Qur'anic commentaries their apparent meaning did not reflect the Qur'an's elevated miraculousness. I shall now explain briefly three aspects of their extremely beautiful and exalted meanings, which proceed from the effulgence of the Qur'an.
Sometimes Almighty God attributes to Himself certain states that could pertain to His Prophet, so as to honour and ennoble him. Here also, the verses, "I created you for worship; not to give Me sustenance and feed me," have this meaning: "My Prophet does not want a wage, recompense, or reward, or to be fed in return for his duty of Prophethood and conveying to you the duties of worship;" they refer to the Noble Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace) being given food and sustenance. Otherwise it would be making known something self-evident and clear, and would be inappropriate to the Qur'an's miraculous eloquence.
Man is excessively preoccupied with his sustenance. So in order that he should not be deluded into making the obtaining of it a pretext for neglecting worship, nor make it an excuse, the verse says: "You were created for worship. The result of your creation is worship. Winning sustenance is worship of a sort, from the point of view of its being a Divine command. I have undertaken to provide your sustenance and that of your families and animals, my creatures; it pertains to me; you were not created to procure food and sustenance. For I am the Provider. I provide the sustenance of my servants, your dependents. So do not make it an excuse and give up worship!"
If its meaning is not this, it becomes a statement of the obvious, for to provide Almighty God with food and sustenance is self-evidently impossible and obvious. It is an established rule of rhetoric that if the meaning of a sentence is clear and obvious, it is not that meaning which is intended, but a meaning necessitated by it and dependent on it. For
example, if you say to someone: "You are a hafiz," it is stating the obvious. The intended meaning is this: "I know that you are a hafiz." You are informing him because he did not know that you knew.
Thus, as a consequence of this rule, the meaning of the verse, in which the prohibition of giving food to Almighty God is a metaphor, is this: "You were not created in order to produce food for My creatures, which are Mine and the providing of whose sustenance I have undertaken. Your fundamental duty is worship. But to strive to procure sustenance in accordance with My commands is also a sort of worship."
Since in Sura al-Ikhlas the apparent meaning of
He begets not, nor is He begotten
is self-evident and obvious, a meaning is intended which is necessitated by that meaning. That is to say, Almighty God states extremely clearly and self-evidently He begets not, nor is He begotten meaning: "Those with a father and mother cannot be gods," and, "pre-eternal and post-eternal," with the intention of denying the divinity of Jesus (Upon whom be peace), and Uzayr, and the angels, and stars, and other false gods. And in exactly the same way, in our example too, the verse, "The All-Glorious Provider, your object of worship, does not require sustenance for Himself, you were not created to provide Him with food," which has the meaning of: "Things with the ability to receive sustenance and food cannot be gods and objects of worship," meaning: "Beings which are in need of sustenance and being provided for are not worthy of worship."
Or while they slept for their afternoon rest.
This was written in connection with Re'fet being curious and asking about the word 'qâ'ilûn -slept for their afternoon rest-in the verse, Or while they slept for their afternoon rest and to prevent his diamond-like pen from becoming idle in prison due to the lethargy resulting from sleeping after the morning prayer like the others.
Sleep is of three sorts:
The First is 'Ghaylula '. This is from pre-dawn to forty minutes or so after the sun has risen, the time when prayer is lawful but reprehensible. Sleep at this time is contrary to the Practices of the Prophet (PBUH), since according to Hadiths, it leads to a decrease in one's livelihood and to be its being unfruitful. The time most appropriate for preparing to labour for one's sustenance is when it is cool. When this time has passed, a lethargy descends. It has been established through numerous experiences that just as this is detrimental to that day's labour and indirectly to one's livelihood, so also is it the cause of unfruitfulness.
The Second is 'Faylula '. This is from the afternoon prayer till sunset. This sleep leads to a diminution of life, that is, it makes life that day shorter and makes it pass in a state of semi-sleep due to drowsiness, thus causing a physical deficiency to life. So too in an immaterial aspect, since most of the results of that day, material and immaterial, become apparent after the afternoon prayer, to pass that time in sleep as though prevents those results being seen and makes the day as though not lived.
The Third is 'Qaylula ', which is in accordance with the Practices of the Prophet (PBUH). It is from mid-morning to just past noon. This sleep is part of the Practices since it allows a person to rise at night to pray. So also in the Arabian Peninsula to rest from work at noon when it is intensely hot is the custom of the people and of the area, so has further strengthened this Practice of the Prophet (PBUH). This sleep increases both life, and sustenance. For half an hour's qaylula sleep is the equivalent of two hours' sleep at night. That means it adds one and a half hours' to a person's life every day. It saves one and a half hours from the hand of sleep, the brother of death, and makes it live, adding it to the time of working for one's livelihood.
While reciting, "Endless blessings and endless peace be upon you, O Prophet of God!" in the tesbihat following the prayers, I saw from afar a subtle point which gradually unfolded. I was unable to grasp all of it, but shall recount one or two sentences by way of alluding to it.
I saw that the world of the night is like a newly opened dwelling of the world. I entered that world during 'Isha, the prayer at nightfall. Since man is connected to all the world, through an extraordinary expansion of the imagination, I saw the mighty world that night as a dwelling. Living creatures and men became so tiny they were invisible. I observed with the imagination that the only thing that inhabited that dwelling, and made it familiar, and filled it with light, was the collective personality of Muhammad (PBUH). Like a person greets those present when he enters a house, I was overwhelmed with the desire to say: "Endless peace be upon you, O Messenger of God!" It was as though I was greeting him to the number of all men and jinn. That is to say, I offered greetings, meaning: I renew my allegiance to you, accept your mission, submit to the laws and commands you brought, and state through the greetings that they will be safe from our assaults, and I make all the parts of my world and all jinn and men, all conscious beings, speak, offering greetings in the name of all of them.
As he illuminated my world through the Light and gift he brought, so he illuminates and fills with bounties the worlds of everyone in this world. In grateful response for the gift, I exclaimed: "Endless blessings be upon you!" That is, "We cannot respond to this goodness of yours, so we show our gratitude to you by beseeching that mercy be bestowed upon you from our Creator's treasury of mercy, to the number of the inhabitants of the heavens." I perceived this meaning in my imagination.
In respect of his worship and on account of his being turned from creation to Creator, the person of Muhammad (PBUH) requires blessings which have the meaning of mercy. While in respect of his Prophethood and being the envoy sent from Creator to creation, he requires peace. He is worthy of peace to the number of jinn and men, and we offer a general
renewal of our allegiance to their number. So too he is worthy of blessings from the treasury of mercy to the number of the inhabitants of the heavens and in the name of all of them. For it was through the Light he brought that the perfections of all things became apparent, and the value of all beings was made manifest, and the dominical duties of all creatures could be observed, and the Divine purposes in all creatures were made known. Therefore, if all things uttered verbally what they express through their tongues of disposition, it is certain that they would declare: "Blessings and peace be upon you, O Prophet of God!", and we say in the name of all of them: "Endless blessings and endless peace be upon you O Prophet of God, to the number of jinn and men, and of angels and stars!"
It is enough that Allah grants him blessings,
And assigns him peace and benedictions.
My Dear Brother!
You want an explanation of the Unity of Existence. In one of the Flashes of the Thirty-First Letter there is a very powerful and elucidating answer to Hadhrat Muhyiddin's ideas concerning this matter. For now we just say the following:
Teaching this question of the Unity of Existence to people at the present time causes serious harm. Like when metaphors and similes pass from the hands of the learned to those of the common people and knowledge passes from scholars to the ignorant, they are thought to be literally true, so too when elevated truths like the Unity of Existence pass to the heedless and to the common people plunged into causes, they are thought to be Nature, and cause three significant instances of harm.
The way of the Unity of Existence is quite simply denying the universe on account of Almighty God. So when it is adopted by the heedless common people and enters their ideas which are tainted by materialist thought in particular, it takes the form of denying the Godhead on account of the universe and materiality.
The way of the Unity of Existence rejects the dominicality of anything other than God so vehemently that it denies all
other than God and removes duality. Since it does not recognize the independent existence of anything, let alone that of evil-commanding souls, with the predominance of the idea of Nature at this time and pride and egotism inflating the evil-commanding soul and causing the Hereafter and the Creator to be forgotten to a degree, to inculcate the Unity of Existence in people whose evil-commanding souls are small pharaohs and quite simply have the capacity to take their own selves as their objects of worship, so inflates the evil-commanding soul that-I seek refuge with God-it can no longer be contained.
While the All-Glorious One is free and exempt from, pure of and exalted above all change, alteration, division, and being comprehended in time or place, it gives rise to conceptions which are not fitting for His necessary existence, holiness, and being free of all defect, and leads to false teachings. Yes, if one who speaks of the Unity of Existence rises in the mind from the ground to the Pleiades, leaves the universe behind and fixes his gaze on the Sublime Throne, ecstatically reckoning the universe to be non-existent, through the strength of belief, he may see everything to be directly from the Single One of Unity. But for one who stands behind the universe and looks at it, and sees causes before him and looks from the ground, is the possibility of becoming submerged in causes and falling into the swamp of Nature. The one who rises in the mind to the Divine Throne may say like Jalaluddin Rumi: "Listen! The words you hear uttered by everyone, you may hear as uttered by Almighty God, like natural gramophones." But if you say to the one who cannot rise as high as Jalaluddin, nor see all beings from the ground to the Divine Throne in the form of mirrors: "Listen! You will hear the Divine speech from everything," just as he will in effect fall from the Throne to the ground, he will also be afflicted by false imaginings contrary to the truth!...
Say: "God [sent it down]": then leave them to plunge in vain discourse and trifling. * Glory be to the One Whose Essence is holy above anything similar to It and Whose attributes are free of anything resembling them, and Whose signs testify to His dominicality, may His glory be exalted, for there is no god but He.
I do not have the time to weigh up the ideas of Mustafa Sabri and those of Musa Bekûf. I shall only say this much, that the one was excessive, and the other, deficient. Mustafa Sabri was right relatively to Musa Bekuf, but it is not right to denigrate someone like Muhyiddin who was a miracle of the Islamic sciences.
Yes, himself, Muhyiddin was rightly-guided and acceptable, but in all his works cannot be the guide and instructor. Since he very often proceeded in the realities without balance, he opposed the rules of the Sunnis and some of the things he said apparently express misguidance. However, he himself is free of misguidance. Sometimes, a word may appear to be unbelief, but the one who spoke it is not an unbeliever. Mustafa Sabri did not take these points into consideration; he was extreme concerning certain points of Sunni law, due to bigotry.
As for Musa Bekûf, due to being excessively in favour of renewal and because of the concessions he made to modernity in respect of his ideas, he was very much in error. He corrupts some of the truths of Islam with his false interpretations. By holding someone rejected like Abu'l-A'la al-Ma'arrî to be superior to authoritative scholars, and favouring disproportionately matters of Muhyiddin opposing the Sunnis because they suited his own ideas, he went far to excess.
Muhyiddin said: "Those who are not one of us and do not know our station should not read our books, for it may be damaging for them." Yes, at this time it is harmful to read Muhyiddin's books, especially the matters about the Unity of Existence.
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
I shall explain a matter that unfolded before the gaze of my imagination while watching from my prison window through the lens of prudence and foresight one glittering night of the festival, the laughter of mankind that would turn into tears. In the same way that the lives of those of previous ages who lie in the graveyard may be seen in the cinema, it was as though I had seen the moving corpses of those who would dwell in the graveyard in the near future. I wept for those merry-makers. All of a sudden a feeling of desolation and pity came over me. I turned to my intellect and asked of reality: "What is this imagining?" Reality replied, saying:
"In fifty years time, out of these fifty who are laughing and enjoying themselves with such joy five will be bent and stooping seventy-year-olds, while forty-five will have rotted in the graveyard. Those beautiful features and joyful smiles will have been transformed into their opposites. According to the rule of "Everything that is coming is close," since it is to some degree true that things that are going to happen in the near future are seen to have already arrived, then surely what you see is not imagination.
"Furthermore, since the heedless laughter of this world veils bitter facts that thus turn it into tears, and is temporary and subject to decline, then most certainly it is only thankful, innocent enjoyment within the bounds of the licit, which leads to awareness of God's presence and dispels heedlessness, and pleasures that will be permanent by reason of their reward that will cause joy to wretched man's eternity-worshipping heart and his spirit, which has an irresistible desire for immortality, and make them smile.
It is because of this that there are among the narrations many that strongly encourage thanks and remembrance of God at festival times, in order to prevent heedlessness from prevailing and deviation into the illicit. Then at such times this may transform the bounties of joy and happiness into thanks and make the bounty continue and increase it. For thanks increases bounty and dispels heedlessness.
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
This concerns one point of the verse,
The [human] soul is certainly prone to evil,
and the Hadith the meaning of which is, «Your worst enemy is your soul.»
One who loves himself-if his evil-commanding soul has not been purified-will love no one else. Even if he apparently loves someone, he does not do so sincerely, but only for the pleasure of it and the benefits he receives. He always tries to make himself liked. Also, he does not ascribe faults to himself; he defends and exonerates himself like a lawyer. He praises himself, exaggerating and even lying, showing himself to be free of fault, as though sanctifying himself, and according to his degree receives a slap from the verse,
Who takes as his god his desires.
His self-praise and efforts to make himself liked have the reverse effect, for he attracts contempt and is treated coldly. He also loses sincerity in his actions which look to the Hereafter and they become mixed with hypocrisy. He is defeated by the emotions and desires of the soul, which are blind to the consequences, do not think of results, and are obsessed with present pleasure; he serves a year's prison sentence because of one hour's pleasure demanded by his emotions which have lost their way. He pays ten years' penalty on account of one minute's pride or revenge. Quite simply like a silly child who sells the portion of the Qur'an he is learning to buy a single sweet, in order to flatter his emotions, gratify his senses, and satisfy his appetites, he makes his good deeds the means to egotistical pleasures like insignificant fragments of glass, and he loses out in profitable works.
O God! Preserve us from the evil of the soul and of Satan, and from the evil of jinn and men.
How can incarceration in Hell for an infinite duration in return for unbelief for a short duration be justice?
Reckoning a year to be three hundred and sixty-five days, the law of justice requires for a one-minute murder seven million eight hundred and eighty-four thousand minutes imprisonment. So, since one minute's unbelief is like a thousand murders, according to the law of human justice, someone who lives a life of twenty years in unbelief and dies in that state deserves imprisonment for fifty-seven billion, two hundred and one thousand two hundred million years. It may be understood from this how conformable with Divine justice is the verse,
They will dwell therein for ever.
The reason for the connection between these two numbers, so far from one another, is this: since murder and unbelief are destruction and aggression, they have an effect on others. A murder which takes one minute negates on average at least fifteen years of the victim's life, so the murderer is imprisoned in their place. While since one minute of unbelief denies a thousand and one Divine Names and denigrates their inscriptions, violates the rights of the universe and denies its perfections, and gives the lie to innumerable evidences of Divine Unity and rejects their testimony, the unbeliever is cast down to the lowest of the low for more than a thousand years, and "dwells" in imprisonment.
The 'coincidence' of Article 163, under which the Risale-i Nur students were charged and sentenced, and the number of deputies, one hundred and sixty-three out of two hundred, who allotted one hundred and fifty thousand liras for the medrese of the Risale-i Nur's author in effect says this: the appreciative signatures of one hundred and sixty-three deputies of the government of the Republic quashes the ruling of Article 163 of the Criminal Code concerning him.
Another subtle and meaningful 'coincidence' is this: the one hundred and twenty-eight parts of the Risale-i Nur are formed into one hundred and fifteen booklets. The number of days from when the Risale-i Nur students and its author were first arrested on 27th April, 1935 to the date on which the court passed judgement on 19th August, 1935 was one hundred and fifteen coinciding with the number of books of the Risale-i Nur. In addition the one hundred and fifteen people found guilty coincides with the number exactly, showing that the calamity visited on the Risale-i Nur students and its author is being regulated by a Hand of Favour.
The Twenty-Eighth Point of the Twenty-Eighth Flash
[So] they should not strain their ears in the direction of the Exalted Assembly, but be cast away from every side * Repulsed, for they are under a perpetual penalty, * Except such as snatch away something by stealth, and they are pursued by a flaming fire, of piercing brightness. * And We have adorned the lowest heaven with lamps, and We have made them missiles to drive away the evil ones.
An important point concerning verses like these will be explained in connection with criticisms made by the people of misguidance. It is as follows:
Spies from among the jinn and satans eavesdrop on events in the heavens, and like soothsayers, mediums, and some spiritualists, convey news from the World of the Unseen. In order that their giving information about the Unseen should not give rise to any doubts when the Qur'an was first revealed, their continual espionage was prevented to a greater extent and they were repulsed by shooting stars. The following is a brief reply to an extremely important question in three parts concerning the above verses, which are about this subject.
It is understood from verses like these that spying satans infiltrate the truly distant lands of the heavens in order to learn of some minor and even personal event in the Unseen. As though there were rumours of the minor event everywhere in those vast lands, wherever it is infiltrated by whichever satan, it will hear a confused version of the reports, and will pass it on. However, reason and science cannot accept such a thing.
Also, it is said that some of the people of prophethood and some wonder-workers as though pluck from close to the fruits of Paradise, which according to definite verses of the Qur'an, is above the heavens, and sometimes gaze on Paradise from near at hand. This matter, which concerns infinite distance within infinite proximity, is not conformable with the understanding of the present age.
Also, the unimportant situation of an unimportant person being the
subject of discussion of the Sublime Assembly in the universal, vast land of the heavens is not conformable with the wisdom of the most wise administration of the universe. Nevertheless, these three matters are considered to be among the truths of Islam.
In the Seven Steps of the treatise called the Fifteenth Word, the repulsion and ejection with stars of diabolical spies from the heavens, expressed by the verse,
And We have adorned the lowest heaven with lamps, and We have made them missiles to drive away the evil ones,
is proved so certainly with seven introductions that it convinces the obdurate materialist, silencing him and forcing him to accept it.
We shall allude to those three truths which are supposed to be far from the reason with a comparison which will bring them close to narrow minds.
For example, if a state's Army Office is in the east of the country, its Ministry of Justice in the west, its Education Ministry in the north, its Religious Affairs Department in the south, and its Civil Service in the centre, and each department and ministry communicates and is connected with the others by means of radio, telephone, and telegraph in most regular and orderly fashion, the whole country will quite simply be its Army Office the same as it is its Ministry of Justice, and will be its learned establishment as it is its Civil Service.
And for example, it sometimes happens that numerous countries and states whose capitals are different have sovereignty over a single country in different ways, through colonies, or concessions, or trade. Although the country's subjects and nation are one, through its concessions, each state has connections with them. The affairs of those states, which are distant from one another, touch on each other; they come close to each other in all the houses of the country, and they share in each of its people. Its minor matters are seen in a minor sphere in its points of contact. For each minor matter is not taken from the universal sphere. But when those minor matters are discussed, they are expressed as though they are taken from the universal sphere, since they are directly in accordance with the universal sphere's laws; they are given the form of a matter discussed in that sphere.
Thus, like these two comparisons, although the land of the heavens is extremely distant in respect of its centre and capital, it has immaterial telephones reaching the hearts of men in the land of the earth. Furthermore, it does not only look to the corporeal world, but since it comprises the
Spirit World and World of the Inner Dimension of Things, it in one respect encompasses the Manifest World.
The sphere of influence of Paradise too, which is from the world of eternity and everlasting realm, stretches out and spreads in luminous fashion beneath the veil of the manifest, despite its infinite distance. Just as although, through the wisdom and power of the All-Wise and Glorious Maker, the centres of the senses in man's head are all different, each governs the body, taking it under its disposal, so too the universe, the macroanthropos, comprises thousands of worlds one within the other like concentric circles. Sometimes the situations and events that occur in them are the object of attention in respect of their universality and particularity and insignificance and immensity, that is to say, those particulars are to be seen in particular, close places, while the universals and immense matters are seen in universal, vast stations.
However, sometimes a minor, particular event occupies a vast world. In whichever corner of the world you listen, you will hear about it. And sometimes some vast mobilization is not against the enemy's forces, but to make a show of pomp and majesty. For example, the event of Muhammad (PBUH) and sacred occurrence of the revelation of the Qur'an were the most important events in the land of the heavens, being heard in every corner of it. As a dominical sign proclaiming the degree of splendour of the Qur'anic revelation, and its glittering sovereignty and the degree of its truthfulness, which no doubt could penetrate-expressed and illustrated by the sentries posted on the distant, towering bastions of the vast heavens raining down missiles to drive off and repulse the devils-at that time there were more falling stars being cast down. The Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition interprets and proclaims that cosmic proclamation, alluding to those heavenly signs.
Yes, such a tremendous heavenly sign, and making the spying satans, who could have been blown away at the puffing of an angel, do battle with the angels were surely to show the majesty of the Qur'anic Revelation's sovereignty. Also, this splendid exposition of the Qur'an and vast heavenly mobilization is to express not that the jinns and satans possess some power which drove the inhabitants of the heavens to fight them and defend against them, but to indicate that on the long way from the heart of Muhammad (PBUH) to the world of the heavens and the Sublime Throne, there was nowhere the jinns and devils could interfere. The Qur'anic Revelation was a truth discussed by all the angels in the heavens; in order to draw close to it a little, the satans were compelled to rise to the heavens, but were not successful and were repulsed. This shows that the Revelation which came to the heart of Muhammad (PBUH), and
Gabriel who came to his presence, and the truths of the Unseen which appeared to his gaze, were sound and straight and could be pierced by no doubts. The Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition gives news of this in miraculous fashion.
As for Paradise being seen from very close despite its great distance and being part of the World of Eternity, and sometimes fruits being received from it, as may be understood from the above two comparisons, this transient world and Man٦ٔژst Realm is a veil to the World of the Unseen and Everlasting Realm. It is possible for Paradise to be seen everywhere by means of the mirror of the World of Similitudes, despite the distance of its supreme centre. So too by means of belief at the degree of 'absolute certainty', Paradise may have sorts of colonies and ministries in this transient world-there should be no mistake in the comparison-and by means of the telephone of the heart, may communicate with elevated spirits, and its gifts may come to them.
As for a universal sphere being preoccupied with a particular personal matter; that is to say, one aspect of the reality described in Qur'anic commentaries as satans rising to the heavens and eavesdropping in order to bring reports of the Unseen to soothsayers, and their bringing false, confused news, it must be as follows: it is not a question of their going as far as the capital of the land of the heavens and gathering particular news. Rather, there are certain places in the country of the heavens, which also encompasses the atmosphere, like police stations-the metaphor is not mistaken-which have relations with the country of the earth. The satans eavesdrop on particular events in those particular places. The human heart even is one of those places, where the angel of inspiration and personal devil do battle.
Also, however particular the truths of belief and the Qur'an and the events connected with Muhammad (PBUH), they are like the greatest and most universal and important events and are published in the Sublime Throne and sphere of the heavens, the most universal sphere, in-if the comparison is not mistaken-the newspapers of the appointed events of the universe. These are discussed on every corner, and since from the heart of Muhammad (PBUH) to the sphere of the Throne there is no possibility to interfere, the satans can do nothing apart from listening to the heavens. Thus, it proclaims and shows most eloquently, indeed, miraculously, how elevated and true are the Qur'anic Revelation and Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH), and that it is in no way possible to oppose them or draw close to them with subterfuge or falsehood.
THE TWENTY-NINTH FLASH
Thirteen years ago, my heart combined with my mind and urged me to the way of reflective thought which the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition commands with such verses as,
That you may consider. * Perchance they may reflect. * Do they not reflect in their own minds, did God create the heavens and the earth? * There are signs for those who consider.
The Hadith the meaning of which is «An hour's reflective thought is better than a year's [voluntary] worship» states that on occasion an hour's reflection may be equivalent to a year's worship. It also offers powerful encouragement for reflective thought. For myself, in order to preserve the extensive lights and lengthy truths which appeared to my mind and heart during the thirteen years I have followed this way, I recorded a number of phrases by way of indications, not to point out those lights, but to indicate their existence, facilitate reflection, and preserve the order. I used to recite the phrases to myself verbally in varying Arabic terms when I embarked on the reflection. On being repeated thousands of times over
this long period, neither did I become wearied, nor did the pleasure they afforded diminish, nor the spirit's need of them lessen. Because, since the reflection all consisted of flashes from Qur'anic verses, the qualities of not causing weariness and preserving their sweetness, which are a qualities of the verses, were represented in the mirror of that reflective thought.
I realized recently that the powerful source of life and brilliant lights in the various parts of the Risale-i Nur are flashes of those sequences of thought. Thinking that they would have the same effect on others that they had had on me, I made the intention to set them all down in writing towards the end of my life. Certainly, very important parts of them have been included in the Risale-i Nur, but a further power and value will be found in them in their totality.
Since the end of life is not clear, and since the conditions here of my imprisonment have taken on a form worse than death, not waiting for my life to end, on the insistence and importunity of my brothers, those sequences of thought have been written, without changing them, as Seven Chapters.
[The remaining six Chapters of this Flash have been published in the hand-duplicated editions of The Flashes, and not included here.]
We shall mention seven of its thirty-three degrees. An important part of those degrees have been expounded in the Second Station of the Twentieth Letter, at the end of the Second Stopping-Place of the Thirty-Second Word, and at the beginning of the Third Stopping-Place. Those who want to understand the reality of those degrees should refer to those two parts of the Risale-i Nur.
The First Degree
Say: "Praise be to God Who begets no son and has no partner in [His] dominion: nor [needs] He any to protect Him from humiliation: yes, magnify Him for His greatness and glory!"
God is Most Great, may His Glory be exalted! In regard to power and knowledge greater is He than everything. For He is the Creator, the Maker, the Giver of Form, Who through His power fashions man like the
universe, and writes the universe with the pen of His determining as He writes man with that same pen. For the macrocosm is like the microcosm: both are fashioned by His power, inscribed by His pen; He creates the macrocosm as a place of prostration, while He gives existence to the microcosm so that it is prostrating; He brings the former into being as a property, while He gives existence to the latter as owned and needy for the property; His art in the former displays it as a book, while His colouring in the latter shines through speech; His power in the former reveals His majesty, while His mercy in the latter arrays His bounty; His majesty in the former testifies that He is One, while His bounty in the latter proclaims that He is Single, Undivided; His stamp on the former is on all things, universal and particular, whether at rest or in motion, while His seal on the latter is on the body and on the limbs, and on their cells and particles.
Now consider His works as a whole: you will as clearly as daylight absolute profusion within absolute order and regularity; with absolute speed yet absolute balance; with absolute ease yet with absolute skill; on a vast scale yet with absolute beauty of art; over infinite distances yet with complete unity of kind; with absolute intermingling, yet absolute differentiation; with absolute lack of expense together with absolute value. This situation testifies to the mind, as it compels the foolish dissembler to accept, that this art and unity is the work of one possessing absolute power, one possessing absolute knowledge.
In unity lies absolute ease, while in multiplicity and associating partners with God are incomprehensible difficulties.
If all things are attributed to one, then the creation of the universe is as easy as the creation of a palm-tree, and the palm-tree as the fruit. But when ascribed to multiplicity, to create a palm-tree is as difficult as creating the universe and each fruit as difficult as the tree-so difficult as to be impossible. For with a single act, a single person may obtain a single result and situation for many things without difficulty and without having recourse to other means. Whereas if the situation and result are referred to many, it would be possible to obtain them only with great trouble and dispute and pursuing other means. It would be like an officer referring his duty to the soldiers, the master builder to the stones of a building, the earth to the planets, the waterfall to the drops of water, and the central point of a circle to all the points on the circumference.
Through the mystery of 'relations' an unlimited power is present in Unity. A thing or cause is not compelled to carry the sources of its strength, and the work resulting from the cause gains in greatness in relation to the thing on which it relies. But when partners are associated with God, all causes are obliged to carry their own sources of strength, and the
resulting works diminish to the extent of their own size. And it is because of this that an ant and a fly defeated tyrants, and a tiny seed bears upon it a huge tree.
If all things are ascribed to one person, there is no need for creation from absolute non-existence. Creation rather consists of transferring a being which has existence in knowledge to external existence, like transferring the image on the mirror at the back of a camera onto photographic paper, thus establishing its external existence with complete ease, or like revealing words written in invisible ink by spreading on the writing a special substance.
When things are ascribed to causes and multiplicity, it necessitates that they are created from absolute non-existence, and this is impossible, the most difficult of things. In Unity is an ease; it is so easy as to be necessary. While in multiplicity is great difficulty; it is so difficult as to be impossible.
In accordance with wisdom, with Unity, it is possible to create a being from absolute non-existence. That is, to create a being out of pure non-being instantaneously, without matter, and to pour particles into the mould which has existence in knowledge without difficulty or confusion. While as all the intelligent agree, with multiplicity and associating partners with God, original creation is not possible from non-existence. Because for the existence of a living creature, particles and elements dispersed throughout the earth have to be gathered together. And when there is no mould existent in knowledge, to preserve the particles in the body of the animate creature, all the particles have to possess all-encompassing knowledge and absolute will.
In addition, there is no need at all for those things supposed to be partners to God, just as it is impossible for them to be partners. To claim therefore that they are partners is purely arbitrary; there is nothing in beings to suggest that they have any role in their creation, no sign. For the creation of the heavens and the earth necessitates perfect, infinite power, which is in no need of partners. If there were partners, it would necessitate their limiting that infinite and utterly perfect power and bringing it to an end in infinite time, although there is no necessity for this, indeed, although the reverse is necessitated; and this is impossible in five respects. Such partners are therefore impossible and precluded. Moreover, beings in no way suggest or point to their existence.
We have expounded this matter in the First Stopping-Place of the Thirty-Second Word, showing how all things from minute particles to planets, and from the planets to individual facial features in the Second
Stopping-Place, reject the ascribing of partners with God, and pointing out the stamp of Divine Unity on all of them.
And just as He has no partners, so He has no assistants or ministers. Causes are nothing other than fine veils to the disposals of Pre-Eternal power; in reality they have no creative effect. For the highest of causes, and the one with the most extensive will, is man, and out of a hundred parts of the most obvious volitional acts like eating, speaking, and thinking, he has only one dubious part. If the true power of disposal of the highest of causes and the one with the most extensive will is thus restricted as you have seen, then how is it possible for the animals and inanimate creatures to have a part in the creation and dominicality of the Creator of the heavens and the earth? Just as the envelope in which a king sends a gift, or the handkerchief in which he wraps a present, or the retainer who brings the gift to you, cannot be partners in the king's sovereignty, so too the causes by the hands of which bounties are sent, or the coffers containing the bounties stored up for us, or the causes wrapped up as Divine gifts and sent to us as presents, cannot be partners to or assistants of God, or intermediaries which have any effect.
The Second Degree
God is Most Great, may His glory be exalted; in regard to power and knowledge greater than everything. He is the Creator, All-Knowing, the Maker, All-Wise, Most Merciful, All-Compassionate. For the beings of the earth and the lofty celestial bodies in the garden of the universe are self-evidently miracles of the power of an All-Knowing Creator; and the adorned and multicoloured plants laid out in the park of the face of the earth and the many varieties of animals displayed and spread throughout the park are necessarily the wonders of art of an All-Wise Maker; and the smiling flowers and decorated fruits in the gardens of this park are clearly the gifts of a Most Merciful and Compassionate One. These miracles of power and wonders of art and gifts of mercy testify, call out, and proclaim that their Creator, Fashioner, and Bestower is powerful over all things, and knowing of all things, that His mercy and knowledge encompass all things. In relation to His power particles and stars are equal; few and many are equal; small and great, finite and infinite are equal. All the events of the past and its strange happenings, which are miracles of an All-Wise Maker's art, testify that this Maker is powerful over all the possibilities of the future and its strange events, for He is an All-Knowing Creator, Exalted, All-Wise.
Glory be to the One Who made the earth the exhibition of His art, the gathering place of His creatures, the manifestation of His power, the
means of His wisdom, the garden of His mercy, the arable field of His Paradise, the place of passage of creatures, the place through which beings flow, the measure of His artefacts.
The embellished animals, the decorated birds, the trees made fruitful, the plants adorned with flowers are miracles of His knowledge, marvels of His fashioning, gifts of His munificence, proofs of His grace.
Blossoms smiling with the adornment of fruits, birds singing in the early morning breeze, rain pattering on the petals of flowers, mothers tenderly embracing their small young, all make known One All-Loving, make loved One Most Merciful, Most Kind and Generous to jinn and man, to spirit beings, the angels, and to animals.
Grains and fruits, seeds and flowers are miracles of wisdom, marvels of art, gifts of mercy, proofs of unity; they testify to His grace in the realm of the Hereafter. They are truthful witnesses testifying that their Creator is powerful over all things, and knowing of all things; that with His mercy and knowledge and creativity, planning, art, and fashioning He encompasses all things. In relation to His creation, planning, art, and fashioning the sun is like a tiny seed, a star like a flower, the earth like a grain.
For seeds and fruits are mirrors of Unity in every part of multiplicity; they point to Divine Determining; they are signs of power showing the Unity of the source of this multiplicity. Proceeding from that source they testify to the Unity of their Creator's art and fashioning. Then on their coming to an end in Unity they recount the wisdom of their Maker's creativity and planning.
Seeds and fruits are also allusions of wisdom indicating that the Creator of the universal looks with His all-encompassing view to the particular, then to the parts. For the fruits are the clearest aim of the tree's creation. Thus, man is the aim of the universe, and the chief aim of the Creator of beings. Man's heart is like a seed, and the most luminous mirror to the Maker of creatures. It is due to this wisdom that in the universe, insignificant man is the chief means to and reason for the resurrection of beings, and the destruction, transformation, change and renewal of the universe.
God is Most Great! O Mighty One! The mind cannot penetrate the essence of Your tremendousness!
All beings recite together "There is no god but He!"
Perpetually seeking their needs, they declare "O Truth!"
Altogether they recite "O Living One!"
The Third Degree
This is explained and elucidated at the beginning of the Third Stopping-Place of the Thirty-Second Word.
God is Most Great, may His glory be exalted! -in respect of power and knowledge greater than all things. For He is All-Powerful, the Determiner, All-Knowing, All-Wise, the Giver of Form, Munificent, Gracious, the Adorner, the Bestower of Bounties, Loving, the One Who makes Himself known, Most Merciful, All-Compassionate, Kind, the Beauteous One of Absolute Beauty and Perfection, the Pre-Eternal Inscriber. What is the reality of the universe as a whole and with its parts, and with its levels and pages, and what is the reality of beings as a whole and as individuals, and in regard to existence and permanence:
- Other than being the well-ordered, measured writings of the pen of His Determining and Decree, according to knowledge and wisdom;
- And the depictions of the compasses of His knowledge and wisdom, traced with art;
- And the adornments of the shining hand of His art and bestowal of form, His embellishing and illuminating, with grace and munificence;
- And the flowers of the subtleties of His grace and munificence, His making Himself known and loved, bounteously, with mercy;
- And the fruits of the superabundance of the spring of His mercy and bounty, His mercy and tenderness, with beauty and perfection;
- And the flashes of an eternal beauty, a perpetual perfection, testified to by the transience of the mirrors and flowing on of the places of reflection together with the continuance of the beauty's manifestation through the passage of the seasons, the centuries, and epochs, together with the continued bestowal of bounty throughout the passage of creatures, time, and beings.
Yes, the fleeting nature of the mirrors and the passing of beings together with the constant manifestations and effulgences shows with the utmost clarity that that evident beauty and shining perfection do not belong to the places of manifestation; they prove most clearly and eloquently that they belong to a transcendent Beauty, a transcendent Bestower, to the Necessary Existent, the Enduring One, the Loving One.
For a perfect work self-evidently points to a perfect act. And a perfect act necessarily points to a perfect name and a perfect performer of the act. And a perfect name doubtlessly points to a perfect attribute. And a perfect attribute without doubt points to a perfect quality. And a perfect quality certainly points in a way worthy of such a one, to the perfection of his essence. This is absolutely certain.
The Fourth Degree
God is Most Great, may His glory be exalted! For He is All-Just, the Pre-Eternal All-Wise Arbiter and Sovereign, Who established the body of the tree of the universe in six days in accordance with the principles of His wisdom and will. He divided it into sections in accordance with the rules of His Determining and Decree. He set it in order through the laws of His practices. He adorned and embellished it according to the laws of His mercy and favour. He illumined it through the manifestations of His Names and attributes. All this is testified to by the order and regularity of His artefacts, the adorning of His beings, and their mutual resemblance and harmony, their mutual assistance and co-operation, their embracing one another, and the conscious, skilful art in all things in accordance with the measure of their capacities, specified by Divine Determining.
- The universal wisdom in the order of the universe,
- and the perfect favour in its adornment,
- and the all-encompassing mercy in the grace bestowed in it,
- and the sustenance and provisions to nurture its beings,
- and through its manifesting the essential attributes of its Creator, the wondrous life and art it displays,
- and the intended beauties of its embellishment,
- and despite its transience, the constant manifestation of reflected beauty in it,
- and the true love in its heart for the One it worships,
- and the attraction evident in its ecstasy,
- and the agreement of all perfected ones in it concerning the Unity of its Creator,
- and the benefits followed in all its parts,
- and its results achieved through wise planning,
- and the generous nurturing of its living beings,
- and the perfect order in the changes in its chief elements,
- and the vast aims followed in the order of its totality,
- and its instantaneous creation with utterly perfect art, without need for either time or matter,
- and the wise individualities given to its beings hesitant amid limitless possibilities,
- and the most numerous and various needs of its beings being met at the most appropriate times in unexpected ways, and even their smallest wishes, which they themselves are unable to meet,
- and the absolute strength manifested in its weakness,
- and the absolute power manifested in its impotence,
- and the life apparent in its lifelessness,
- and the encompassing consciousness apparent in its ignorance,
- and the perfect order within its changes, necessitating the existence of another who is unchanging,
- and its glorifications like concentric circles centred on one point,
- and the acceptance of its three sorts of supplications, offered through 'the tongue of latent ability,' 'the tongue of innate need,' and 'the tongue of exigency,'
- and the invocations, and witnessings, and effulgences in its worship,
- and the order in its determining,
- and the peace found in the remembrance of its Creator,
- and the worship in it being a means of bringing together its beginning and its end, and the cause of its perfections becoming apparent and the purposes of its Maker being realized,
- and together with these, all the rest of the universe's attributes, states, and circumstances testify that all its beings are under the direction of a Single Wise Planner, and sustained by a Single Munificent Provider; that they are all the servants of a Single Master; under the disposal of a Single Disposer, and that their source is the power of a Single One the many seals of Whose Unity are apparent on all the missives of all the pages of His beings.
Yes, all flowers and fruits, and plants and trees, and animals and stones, and even particles and clods, in all valleys and on all mountains, and deserts and wildernesses, are seals between the inscriptions and the works. To those who look with care, they show that whoever made the work, is he who wrote the inscription which comprises the place. He is also the Inscriber of the face of the earth and beneath the seas. He inscribed too the sun and the moon on the face of the heavens, which contains many such missives. May the glory of their Inscriber be exalted, God is Most Great!
The world and all in it recite together "There is no god but He!"
The Fifth Degree
God is Most Great! For He is the All-Powerful Creator, the Giver of Form, All-Seeing, of Whose Divinity and Tremendousness the heavenly bodies and brilliant glittering stars are proofs; they are rays testifying to His dominicality and splendour. They testify to and proclaim His glittering sovereignty and dominicality; they proclaim the vast extent of His rule and His wisdom, and the majestic vastness of His power.
Listen to the verse:
Do they not lok at the sky above them? How We have made it and adorned it, and there are no flaws in it?
Then look at the face of the heavens, you see how it is silent in its tranquillity, how it is in motion with wisdom, how it is radiant with majesty, how it smiles with its adornment, within the order of its creation, the symmetry of its art.
The shining of its lamp, the sun, for the changing of the seasons, the stages of its candle, the moon, to illuminate the tracks, the glittering of its stars to adorn the worlds, proclaim to those who think an infinite, unending sovereignty regulating this world.
Thus, the All-Powerful Creator is Knowing of all things, His will is all-encompassing; what He wills is, and what He does not will is not. He is Powerful over all things through His essential, all-embracing, absolute power. Like it is neither possible nor imaginable for the sun today to exist without light or heat, so it is neither possible nor imaginable for a god and creator of the heavens to exist without all-embracing knowledge and absolute power. Of necessity He is Knowing of all things with all-encompassing knowledge essential to His being. Of necessity such knowledge is connected with all things; through the mystery of presence, witnessing, penetration, and luminous all-comprehension, it is not possible for anything to be separate or apart from such knowledge.
The balance and order to be observed in all beings, and the ordered proportionateness, and the universal wisdom, and the perfect bestowal, and the measured regularity, and the determined fruitfulness, and the specified appointed hour of death, and the regular sustenance, the utter excellence and precision as established by science, and the solicitous adornment, and the utterly perfect differentiation, balance, order, and skill, and the absolute ease, all testify to the all-encompassing knowledge of the One All-Knowing of the Unseen and all things.
As the verse,
Should He not know -He that created? And He is the One that understands the finest mysteries [and] is well-acquainted [with them]
indicates, the existence of a thing necessitates knowledge, and the light of existence of things necessitates the light of knowledge.
The comparison between man's fine art pointing to his intelligence and the evidence of man's creation to His Creator's knowledge, is like the comparison of the infinitesimal light of a fire-fly on a dark night and the splendid brilliance of the sun at noon on the face of the earth.
And if He is Knowing of all things, so He is Willing of all things. For it is not possible for something to be realized without it being willed. And just as power is effectual, and knowledge distinguishes, so will specifies; then the existence of things is realized.
There are evidences to the existence of the Divine will and choice to the number of states, stages, and attributes of things.
Yes, all beings being given order and appointed with particular attributes from among limitless possibilities, amid fruitless ways from among confused floods of incongruous elements, with such fine and sensitive order, and their being given balance with such fine and sensitive balance, as is to be observed; and the creation of the various well-ordered living beings from simple lifeless matter-like man and his physical systems from sperm, and birds and their limbs from eggs, and trees and their various members from seeds- show that all things are specified and determined through His will and choice and volition. Just as things of the same sort corresponding to one another and members of the same species resembling each other in regard to basic members shows that of necessity their Maker is One, Single; so too each member having a wise individuality marked by orderly distinguishing features indicates that that One, Single Maker is an Agent with Will and Choice Who acts as He wishes and commands as He wills.
And just as that All-Knowing and Willing Creator has knowledge of all things and is willing of all things, and has all-embracing knowledge and all-encompassing will and total choice; so too He has necessary, essential perfect power, proceeding from His Essence and necessary to it. The intervention of its opposite is impossible. For that would necessitate the combining of opposites, which is impossible, as all are agreed. So there are no degrees in His power. Particles and stars are equal in relation
to it, as are many and few, small and great, particulars and universals, parts and the whole, man and the universe, and the seed and the tree.
- Through the mystery of 'luminosity', 'transparency', 'reciprocity', 'balance', 'order', and 'conformity';
- According to the testimony of absolute order, absolute balance, and absolute differentiation, together with absolute speed, ease, and multiplicity;
- Through the mystery of 'the assistance of Unity', 'the facility of Unity', and 'the manifestation of Oneness;'
- Through the wisdom of 'necessity', 'total detachment and disengagedness', and 'complete otherness of essence;'
- Through the mystery of 'unrestrictedness', 'not being bound by space', and 'indivisibility;'
- Through the wisdom of the transformation of obstructions and difficulties into means for facilitation-if there was need, though there is none-like veins in human beings and metal wires for conducting electricity and subtle forces;
- Through the wisdom of particles being of no less eloquence than the stars, nor particulars of less eloquence than universals, nor parts less than wholes, nor the few less than the many, nor the small less than the great, nor man less than the world, nor seeds of less eloquence than the tree;
- According to all these, particles are equal to the stars before that power, few are equal to many, small are equal to great, the parts and equal to the whole, particulars are equal to universals, man is equal to the world, and the seed equal to the tree; it cannot be deemed unlikely that whoever creates the former creates the latter. For the beings that are encompassed are miniature samples of the universal, encompassing beings, and like tiny missives, or points distilled from them. That is to say, the thing that is encompassed has to be in the grasp of power of the Creator of the encompassing being so that the miniature sample of the encompassing being may be contained within the encompassed thing through the principles of His knowledge, and the summary of the encompassing being may be pressed out of it in accordance with the balance of His wisdom.
A Qur'an of Wisdom written on an atom in particles of ether is of no less eloquence than a Qur'an of Grandeur written on the pages of the heavens with the ink of the sun and stars. So too the creation of a bee or an ant is not of less eloquence than the creation of a date-palm or an
elephant, and the art of a rose is of no less eloquence than that of a shining star. And so on, further examples may be made in the same way.
Furthermore, the complete ease in the creation of things has led the people of misguidance to confuse the formation of things with self-formation, which necessitates superstitious impossibilities that not only the reason rejects, but from which even fancy flees in disgust, while for the people of truth and reality it proves certainly and necessarily that before the power of the Creator of the universe, stars and particles are equal.
May His glory be exalted and name be magnified; there is no god but He!
The Sixth Degree
May His glory be exalted and sublimity extolled, God is Most Great! In regard to power and knowledge He is greater than all things. For He is All-Just, All-Wise, All-Powerful, All-Knowing, One, Single, the Pre-Eternal Sovereign. All the worlds are within the grasp of His order and balance, and ordering and balancing; of His justice, and wisdom, and knowledge, and power, and under their sway. They manifest His Unity and Oneness, as may be surmised certainly, indeed, may be observed. For there is nothing in existence which is outside the bounds of the order and balance and ordering and balancing. They are the two domains of the 'Clear Record' and the 'Clear Book'. These are two titles, the former of the knowledge and command of the All-Knowing and Wise One, the latter of the power and will of that Mighty and All-Compassionate One. For the order and balance in this Book and Record are two shining proofs for those possessing reason and with two eyes in their head that nothing at all in existence and time is outside the grasp of power of a Most Merciful One, the ordering of One Most Kind, the adorning of One Most Clement, the balancing of a Requiter.
The manifestations of the Names of First and Last in creation look to the beginnings and ends of beings, and their origin and progeny, and the past and the future, and to the Divine command and knowledge; they point to the 'Clear Record'. While the manifestation of the Names of Outward and Inward in the creation of things indicate the 'Clear Book'.
For the universe is like a vast tree, and all the worlds within it too are
like trees. Thus, you may draw a comparison between the creation of a single tree and that of the universe together with all its worlds and realms. The tree has an origin and source, which is the seed from which it sprang, and it has a progeny which continues its functions after its death, which is the seed in its fruit.
Thus its beginning and end are the manifestations of the Names of First and Last. Through order and wisdom, its beginning and original seed are an index and timetable comprising all the laws of the tree's formation. The seeds in its fruits, which are its end, are the place of manifestation of the Name of Last.
The seeds in its fruit created with perfect wisdom are like small coffers in which have been placed an index and timetable for the formation of a similar tree. Inscribed in them with the pen of Divine Determining are the laws of the formation of future trees.
The tree's outer aspect is the manifestation of the Name of Outward. For its outer aspect displays perfect order and balancing and wisdom. As though it was an ornate and decorated garment with which the tree has been clothed with perfect wisdom and grace in accordance with the measure of its stature.
The tree's inner aspect is the manifestation of the Name of Inward. It displays perfect order and planning and astounds minds. It distributes the substances necessary for the tree's life to its various members with complete regularity, as though this inner aspect was a wondrous machine working with the utmost order and balance.
Thus, its origin is a wondrous timetable and its end an astonishing index, both indicating the Clear Record. While its outer aspect is a gorgeous robe full of art, and its inner aspect, a machine of the utmost regularity; both pointing to the Clear Book.
And like man's faculty of memory points to the 'Preserved Tablet' and is a proof it, so too the original seeds of all trees and their fruits, point to the Clear Record. While their outer and inner aspects allude to the Clear Book. So, comparisons may be made with this particular tree and the tree of the earth and its past and its future, the tree of the universe and its beginnings and its future, and the tree of man and his forebears and progeny. And so on.
May the glory of their Creator be exalted, there is no god but He!
Oh One Sublime! You do not guide the mind to the true essence of Your grandeur nor lead it to the substance of Your tremendousness!
The Seventh Degree
God is Most Great, may His glory be exalted! In respect of power and knowlege He is greater than all things. For He is the Creator, the Opener, the Doer, Most Knowing, the Bestower, Most Effulgent, the Pre-Eternal Sun. The universe together with its realms and beings is a shadow of His lights; they are the works of His acts, and the colours of the impresses of the various manifestations of His Names, and the lines inscribed by the pen of His Determining and Decree, and mirrors to the manifestations of His attributes, beauty, glory, and perfection.
- According to the consensus of the Pre-Eternal Witness, known through all His Books and Scriptures, and His Qur'anic verses, and creational signs;
- And the consensus of the earth with all its worlds, together with their essential and total want and need, and the absolute wealth and riches displayed on them;
- And the consensus of all the prophets, saints, and purified scholars, the people of witnessing with luminous spirits, light-filled hearts, and illumined minds, through all their researches, uncoverings, effulgences, and invocations;
- They are all agreed, from the earth to the lofty and lowly bodies with their endless certain testimony and certain affirmation, in their acceptance of the testimony of the creational signs and Qur'anic verses, and the revealed Books and Scriptures, the very testimony of the Necessary Existent One, that all beings are the works of His power, the missives of His determining, the mirrors to His Names, and the representations of His Lights.
May His glory be exalted, there is no god but He!
THE THIRTIETH FLASH
[Just as Meyve Risalesi (The Fruits of Belief) was the supreme lesson of the Denizli 'School of Joseph', and el-Hüccetü'z-Zehrâ (The Shining Proof) was a most valuable lesson of the Afyon 'School of Joseph', so too a powerful lesson of the greatest importance of the Eskishehir 'School of Joseph' is this Thirtieth Flash, which expounds six Points about the Six Divine Names bearing the Greatest Name.
Everyone will not immediately understand and appreciate the profound and extensive matters in the pieces about the Names of Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent from the Greatest Name, but they also will not remain without a share of them.]
THE FIRST POINT
[This Point concerns one aspect of the Divine Name of Most Holy. It is appropriate that it should form an addendum to the Addendum of the Thirtieth Word.]
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
And the earth We have spread wide; and how well have We ordered it.
One manifestation of the Divine Name of Most Holy, which is one meaning of the above verse, and is a Greatest Name or one of the six lights contained in the Greatest Name, became clear to me in the month of Sha'ban in Eskishehir Prison. It demonstrated with complete clarity both the Divine existence and Divine Unity. I saw it as follows:
The universe is a vast, constantly working factory and the globe of the earth a hostel and guest-house which is continually filled and emptied. Generally, factories, hostels and guest-houses which are thus used become much dirtied and soiled with filth, debris and rubbish, and putrid matter accumulates in all parts of them. Unless they are kept with care and cleaned and swept, they cannot be occupied; human beings are overwhelmed by the dirt. The factory of the universe and guest-house 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. And its Owner is such that He sweeps and cleans and orders the vast factory and extensive palace as though they were small rooms. In relation to the size of the huge factory, there is no dirt or rubbish remaining from its filth and debris. Indeed, considering its size, 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 was 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 also are the wings of the aircraft of the earth and the birds of the heavenly bodies and the pages of the book of the universe cleaned and made beautiful. And so much so that those 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 of 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 and face of the earth and cleans it. The sponges of the clouds sprinkle water on the garden of the earth and becalm the dust and soil. Then, in order 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 also 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. And 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 Most Holy, 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.
It has been established with decisive proofs in many parts of the Risale-i Nur that since the act of ordering and order, which are a manifestation of the Names of Sapient and All-Wise; and the act of weighing and
balance, which are a manifestation of the Names of Justice and All-Just; and the act of adorning and munificence, which are a manifestation of the Names of Beauteous and All-Generous; and the act of sustaining and bestowal, which are a manifestation of the Names of Sustainer and Most Compassionate are each a single truth and a single act, they demonstrate the necessary existence and Unity of a Single Being. In exactly the same way, the act of purifying and making clean, which is a manifestation and display of the Name of Most Holy, demonstrates like the sun both the existence of the Necessarily Existent One, and like daylight, His Unity.
And as the wise acts of ordering, balancing, adorning and making clean mentioned above point to a Single Maker by reason of their unity of kind in the maximum sphere, so do most of the Beautiful Names, indeed, the thousand and one Names, each have such a greatest manifestation in the maximum sphere. And the act proceeding from that manifestation points to the Single Unique One with clarity and decisiveness in relation to its extensiveness.
The self-evident truths and single acts which illuminate the face of the universe and make it smile like the universal wisdom which causes all things to conform to its law and order, the comprehensive munificence which adorns all things and causes them to smile, the all-embracing mercy that makes all things pleased and happy, the universal providing of sustenance which nurtures and gives pleasure to all things, and the life and giving of life which connects each thing with all things and makes each thing benefit from, and to some extent own, all things-these self-evident truths and single acts point to a single All-Wise, All-Generous, and All-Compassionate One, a single Sustainer, a single Ever-Living Giver of Life as plainly as light points to the sun.
If those hundreds of extensive acts, each one of which is a clear proof of God's Unity, are not attributed to the Single Unique One, each necessarily becomes impossible in hundreds of respects. For example, let alone the self-evident truths and single evidences, like wisdom, providence, mercy, sustaining and giving of life, if only the act of making clean is not attributed to the Creator of the universe, then the following becomes necessary in the unbelieving way of the people of misguidance:
Either all the creatures connected to cleansing from particles and flies to the elements and the stars would have to have the ability to know and consider the adorning, balancing, and cleansing of the vast universe and would act accordingly, or each would have to possess the sacred attributes of the Creator of the world, or each would have to be present at a consultative meeting the size of the universe in order to regulate the equilibrium of the adorning and cleansing of the universe and its incomings
and outgoings, and innumerable particles, flies, and stars would have to be the members of the meeting; and so on. Hundreds of superstitious, nonsensical and sophistical impossibilities like these would have to occur so that the universal, comprehensive, and exalted adorning, purifying and cleasing that is to be seen and observed everywhere could exist. As for this, it is not impossible once, but one hundred thousand times over.
If daylight and the imaginary miniature suns represented in all shining objects on the earth are not attributed to the sun and they are not said to be the manifestation of the sun's reflection, it is necessary for the actual sun to be present in all fragments of glass, drops of water and snow-flakes glistening on the face of the earth, and even in all particles of air, so that the universal light could exist.
Thus, wisdom also is a light; all-embracing mercy is a light; adorning, balancing, ordering, and cleansing are each an encompassing light: they are all the rays of the Pre-Eternal Sun. So, see how misguidance and unbelief have entered a bog from which there is no way out! See just how idiotic is the ignorance of misguidance! Say: "Praise be to God for the religion of Islam and complete and perfect belief!"
For sure, this exalted, universal cleansing which keeps the palace of the universe clean is the manifestation and requirement of the Divine Name of Most Holy. And just as the glorification of all creatures looks to the Name of Most Holy, so also does the Name of Most Holy require the cleanliness of all of them.
It is because of this sacred connection of cleanliness that the Hadith, «Cleanliness is a part of belief» deems it to be a light of belief. And the verse,
Indeed, God loves those who turn to Him constantly and He loves those who keep themselves pure and clean
shows that cleanliness is a means of attracting God's love.
THE SECOND POINT
And there is not a thing but its [sources and] treasures [inexhaustible] are with Us; but We only send down thereof in due and ascertainable measures.
One point concerning this verse and one manifestation of the Name of All-Just, which is a Greatest Name or one of the six lights comprising the Greatest Name, like the First Point, appeared to me from afar while in Eskishehir Prison. In order to bring it closer to the understanding, again by means of a comparison, we say the following:
The universe is a palace, but it is such a palace that in it is a city which is being constantly shaken by destruction and reconstruction. And in the city is a country which is being continuously agitated by war and emigration. And within the country is a world which is unceasingly revolving amid death and life. But such an astonishing balance, equilibrium and equilibration prevail in the palace, city, country and world that it self-evidently proves that the transformations, incomings and outgoings apparent in these innumerable beings are being measured and weighed every moment on the scales of a Single Being Who sees and supervises the whole universe.
For if it had been otherwise, if causes had been free and unrestrained, which try to destroy the balance and overrun everything, through a single fish laying a thousand eggs and a single flower like a poppy producing twenty thousand seeds, and through the onslaught and violence of change and the elements flowing in floods, or if it had been referred to aimless, purposeless chance, anarchic blind forces, and unconscious dark Nature, the equilibrium of beings and balance of the universe would have been so utterly destroyed that within a year, indeed within a day, there would have been chaos. That is to say, the seas would have been filled with things in total disorder and confusion and would have become fetid; the atmosphere would have been poisoned with noxious gases; and as for the earth, it would have turned into a refuse-heap, slaughter-house, and swamp. The world would have suffocated.
Thus, everything from the cells of an animate body, the red and white corpuscles in the blood, the transformations of minute particles, and the mutual proportion and relation of the body's organs, to the incomings and outgoings of the seas, the income and expenditure of springs under the earth, the birth and death of animals and plants, the destruction of autumn and the reconstruction of spring, the duties and motion of the elements and the stars, and the alternations, struggles and clashes of death and life, light and darkness, and heat and cold, are ordered and weighed with so sensitive a balance, so fine a measure, that the human mind can nowhere see any waste or futility, just as human science and philosophy see everywhere and point out the most perfect order and beautiful symmetry. Indeed, human science and philosophy are a manifestation and interpreter of that order and symmetry.
So, come and consider the balance and equilibrium of the sun and its twelve planets. Does this balance not point as clearly as the sun to the All-Glorious One Who is All-Just and All-Powerful? And especially our ship, that is, the globe of the earth, which is one of the planets; it travels an orbit of twenty-four thousand years in one year, not scattering or shaking the things stored up and stacked on its face, despite its extraordinary speed, nor throwing them off into space. If its speed had been increased or reduced just a little, it would have thrown its inhabitants off into the atmosphere, and scattered them through space. And if its balance was to be destroyed for a minute, or even a second, it would destroy the world. Indeed, it would clash with another body and doomsday would break forth.
And especially the compassionate balance on the face of the earth of the births, deaths, livelihoods, and lives of the four hundred thousand plant and animal species, it shows a single Just and Compassionate One, as clearly as light shows the sun.
And especially the members, faculties, and senses of a single of the innumerable members of those species, they are related to each other with so fine a balance and equilibrium that their balance and mutual proportion show an All-Wise and Just Maker so clearly as to be self-evident.
And especially the cells and blood-vessels in the bodies of animals, and the corpuscles in the blood and particles in the corpuscles, they have such a fine, sensitive, and wondrous balance that it self-evidently proves that they are being nurtured and administered through the balance, law, and order of a single All-Just and Wise Creator in Whose hands are the reins of all things, has the key to all things, for Whom nothing is an obstacle to anything else, and directs all things as easily as a single thing.
If someone who does not believe or deems it unlikely that the deeds of jinn and men will be weighed up on the supreme scales of justice at the Last Judgement notes carefully this vast balance which he can see in this world with his own eyes, he will surely no longer consider it unlikely.
O wasteful, prodigal.. wrongful, unjust.. dirty, unclean.. wretched man! You have not acted in accordance with the economy, cleanliness, and justice which is the principle by which the whole universe and all beings act, and are therefore in effect the object of their anger and disgust. On what do you rely that through your wrongdoing and disequilibrium, your wastefulness and uncleanliness, you make all beings angry? Yes, the universal wisdom of the universe, which is the greatest manifestation of the Divine Name of All-Wise, turns on economy and lack of waste. It commands frugality.
While the total justice in the universe proceeding from the greatest manifestation of the Name of All-Just, administers the balance of all things. And it enjoins justice on man. Mentioning the word 'balance' four times, these verses in Sura al-Rahman,
And the firmament has He raised high, and He has set up the balance [of justice], * In order that you may not transgress [due] balance. * So establish weight with justice and fall not short in the balance,
indicate four degrees and four sorts of balance, showing its immensity and supreme importance in the universe. Yes, just as there is no wastefulness in anything, so too in nothing is there true injustice and imbalance.
And the cleanliness and purification proceeding from the Name of Most Holy cleans and makes beautiful all the beings in the universe. So long as man's dirty hand does not interfere, there is no true uncleanliness or ugliness in anything.
So, you may understand how basic to human life are the principles of justice, frugality, and cleanliness, which are truths of the Qur'an and Islamic principles. And know how closely connected with the universe are the injunctions of the Qur'an, having spread their firm roots everywhere, and that it is impossible to destroy those truths like it is impossible to destroy the universe and change its form.
Is it at all possible that although hundreds of comprehensive truths like these three vast lights, such as mercy, grace, and preservation, require and necessitate the resurrection of the dead and the Hereafter, powerful and all-encompassing truths like mercy, favour, justice, wisdom, frugality,
and cleanliness, which govern in the universe and all beings, should be transformed into unkindness, tyranny, lack of wisdom, wastefulness, uncleanliness, and futility, through there being no Hereafter and the resurrection not occurring?
God forbid, a hundred thousand times, God forbid! Would a mercy and wisdom which compassionately preserve the rights of life of a fly violate the countless rights of life of all conscious beings and the numberless rights of numberless beings, through not bringing about the resurrection? And if one may say so, would a splendid dominicality which displays infinite sensitivity and care in its mercy and compassion and justice and wisdom, and a Divine sovereignty which adorns the universe with His endless wondrous arts and bounties in order to display His perfections and make himself known and loved, permit there to be no resurrection, which would reduce to nothing the value of creatures and all their perfections, and make them denied? God forbid! An absolute beauty such as that clearly would not permit such absolute ugliness.
Yes, one who wants to deny the Hereafter must first deny all the world and all its truths. Otherwise the world together with all its truths will give him the lie with a hundred thousand tongues, proving the compounded nature of his lie. The Tenth Word proves with certain evidences that the existence of the Hereafter is as definite and indubitable as the existence of this world.
THE THIRD POINT
Invite [all] to the way of your Sustainer with wisdom.
[One manifestation of the Divine Name of Sapient, which is a Greatest Name or one of the six lights of the Greatest Name, and a fine point of the above verse, appeared to me in the month of Ramadan while in Eskishehir Prison. This Third Point consists of Five Matters, and forms only an allusion to it, and being written in haste, has remained in the state of the first draft.]
FIRST MATTER
As is indicated in the Tenth Word, the greatest manifestation of the Divine Name of Sapient has made the universe like a book in every page of which hundreds of books have been written, and in every line of which hundreds of pages have been included, and in every word of which are hundreds of lines, and in each letter of which are a hundred words, and in every point of which is found a short index of the book. The book's pages and lines down to the very points show its Inscriber and Writer with such clarity that that book of the universe testifies to and proves the existence and Unity of its Scribe to a degree far greater than it shows its own existence. For if a single letter shows its own existence to the extent of a letter, it shows its Scribe to the extent of a line.
Yes, one page of this mighty book is the face of the earth. Books to the number of the plant and animal species are to be observed on this page in the spring, one within the other, together, at the same time, without error, in most perfect form.
A single line of the page is a garden. We see that written on this line are well-composed odes to the number of flowers, trees, and animals, together, one within the other, without error.
One word of the line is a tree which has opened its blossom and put forth its leaves in order to produce its fruit. This word consists of meaningful passages lauding and praising the All-Glorious Sapient One to the number of orderly, well-proportioned, adorned leaves, flowers, and fruits. It is as though like all trees, this tree is a well-composed ode singing the praises of its Inscriber.
It is also as if the All-Glorious Sapient One wants to look with thousands of eyes on His wonderful antique works displayed in the exhibition of the earth.
And it is as if the bejewelled gifts, decorations and uniforms given to the tree by that Pre-Eternal Monarch have been given such adorned, well-proportioned, orderly, meaningful and wise forms in order to present them to His view in the spring, its particular festival and parade, that each of its flowers and fruits testifies in numerous ways and with many evidences one within the other to its Inscriber's existence and Names.
For example, in all its blossoms and fruits is a balance. The balance is within an order, and the order is within an ordering and balancing which is being constantly renewed. The ordering and balancing is within an art and adornment, and the adornment and art are within meaningful scents and wise tastes. Thus, each flower points to the All-Glorious Sapient One to the number of the tree's blossoms.
And in the tree, which is a word, the point of a seed in a fruit, which is like a letter, is a small coffer containing the index and programme of the whole tree. And so on. To continue the same analogy, through the manifestation of the Name of Sapient and Wise, all the lines and pages of the book of the universe-and not only its lines, but all its words, letters, and points-have been made as miracles so that even if all causes should gather together, they could not make the like of a single point, nor could they dispute it.
Yes, since each of the creational signs of this mighty Qur'an of the universe display miracles to the number of points and letters of those signs, in no way could confused chance, blind force, aimless, anarchic, unconscious Nature interfere in that wise, percipient particular balance and most sensitive order. If they had interfered, some traces of confusion would certainly have been apparent. Whereas disorder of no sort is to be seen anywhere.
SECOND MATTER
As is explained in the Tenth Word, it is a most basic rule that infinitely perfect beauty and infinitely beautiful perfection want to behold themselves and show and exhibit themselves. It is as a
consequence of this basic general rule that the Pre-Eternal Inscriber of the mighty book of the universe, through the universe and through all its pages, lines and even letters and points, through the numerous tongues of all beings from the most particular to the most universal, makes known and loved the beauty of His perfection and perfection of His beauty, in order to make Himself and His perfections known, and to display His beauty and make Himself loved.
And so, O heedless man! If in the face of the Sapient and All-Wise Ruler of Glory and Beauty's making Himself known to you and loved by you by means of all His creatures in this brilliant, endless fashion you do not recognize Him with belief and you do not make yourself loved by Him with your worship, you should know just what a compounded ignorance it is and what a loss; so come to your senses!
There is no place for partnership in the dominions of the universe's All-Powerful and Wise Maker. For since in everything is infinitely perfect order, it does not accept partners. If many hands intervene in one matter, it confuses it. If there are two kings in a country, two governors of a town, or two headmen in a village, disorder will occur in all the matters of the country, town, and village. Similarly, the fact that the most minor official does not accept the interference of others in his duties shows that the most fundamental characteristic of rulership is independence and singleness. That is to say, order necessitates unity, and rulership necessitates independence.
If impotent man needy for assistance a temporary shadow of rulership rejects interference in this way, the true, absolute rulership at the degree of dominicality of One possessing absolute power will certainly reject interference with all its strength. If there had been even the tiniest interference, the order would have been spoilt.
However, the universe has been created in such a way that in order to create a seed, power sufficient to create a tree is necessary. And in order to create a tree, power sufficient to create the universe is necessary. And if there was a partner who interfered in the universe, he would have to share in the tiniest seed. For the seed is a sample of the universe. So then two dominicalities which cannot reside together in the vast universe, would have to reside in a seed, and even in a minute particle. And this is the most impossible and meaningless of impossibilities and false delusions. Know what an infinitely compounded contradiction, error, and falsehood are unbelief and associating partners with God, which necessitate the impotence-even if only in a seed-of the Absolutely Powerful One Who holds in the balance of His justice and order of His wisdom all the states and attributes of the vast universe; and know what an infinitely
compounded truth, reality and verity is Divine Unity, and say: "All praise and thanks be to God for belief!"
THIRD MATTER
Through His Names of Sapient and All-Wise, the All-Powerful Maker has included thousands of well-ordered worlds in this world. Within those worlds, He created man as a centre and pivot who of all creatures manifests and is the means to the wisdom and purposes in the universe. And the most important of the instances of wisdom and beneficial things in the sphere of the universe look to man. And in the human sphere, He made sustenance a centre; in the human world most of the instances of wisdom and benefits look to sustenance and are manifest through it. The manifestation of the Name of All-Wise is apparent in brilliant form in man through consciousness and the pleasure of sustenance. While each of the hundreds of sciences discovered by means of human consciousness describes one manifestation of the Name of Sapient in one realm of creation.
For example, if the science of medicine was to be asked: "What is the universe?", it would be bound to reply: "It is an exceedingly orderly and perfect vast pharmacy. All remedies are prepared and stored up in it in the best way."
And if the science of chemistry was asked: "What is the earth?", it would reply: "It is a perfectly ordered chemist's shop."
While the science of engineering would reply: "It is totally faultless, perfect factory."
And the science of agriculture would reply: "It is an infinitely productive, regular and well-ordered field and garden which produces all kinds of seeds at the required time."
The science of commerce would reply: "It is an extremely well-set-out exhibition, orderly market, and shop stocked with most artistic wares."
The science of economics would reply: "It is an exceedingly well-ordered warehouse containing every sort and kind of food."
The science of dietetics would reply: "It is a dominical kitchen and cauldron of the Most Merciful in which is cooked in most regular fashion hundreds of thousands of the most delicious foods."
The science of soldiering would reply: "The earth is a military camp. Although there are four hundred thousand different nations in that army in the spring, newly taken under arms with their tents pitched on the face of the earth, they are given their rations, uniforms, weapons, training, and discharges, which are all different for each nation, in perfect order, with
no confusion and none being forgotten, through the command, power, compassion of a single Commander-in-Chief, from His treasury; they are all administered in the most regular fashion."
And if the science of electricity was to be asked: "What is this world?", it would certainly reply: "The roof of this magnificent palace of the universe has been adorned with innumerable orderly and balanced electric lamps. However, the order and balance are so wondrous that foremost the sun, and those heavenly lamps, which are a thousand times larger than the earth, do not spoil their balance, although they burn continuously; they do not explode or burst into flames. Their expenditure is endless, so where do their income and fuel and combustible material come from? Why are they not exhausted? Why is the balance not spoilt with their burning? A small lamp goes out if it is not tended regularly. See the wisdom and power of the All-Wise One of Glory, Who makes the sun, which according to astronomy is a million times larger than the earth and a million years older, burn without coal or oil, without being extinguished; say: 'All Glory be to God!' Say: 'What wonders God has willed! Blessed be God! There is no god but He!' to the number of seconds of the sun's existence.
"This means there is a wondrous order in these heavenly lamps, and they are tended with the greatest care. It is as if the boiler of those huge, numerous fiery masses, those light-shedding lamps, is a Hell whose heat is never exhausted; it provides them with lightless heat. While the machinery and central factory of those electric lamps is a perpetual Paradise; it provides them with light and luminosity; through the greatest manifestation of the Names of Sapient and All-Wise, they continue to burn in orderly fashion."
And so on; through the certain testimony of hundreds of sciences like these, the universe has been adorned with innumerable instances of wisdom, purposes, and beneficial things within a faultless, perfect order. And the order and wisdom given through that wondrous, all-encompassing wisdom to the totality of the universe have been included in small measure in seeds and the tiniest living creatures. It is clear and self-evident that aims, purposes, instances of wisdom, and benefits can only be followed through choice, will, intention, and volition, not through any other
way. Just as they could not be the work of unconscious causes and Nature, which lack will, choice, and purpose, so too they could not interfere in them.
That is to say, it cannot be described what an extraordinary ignorance and foolishness it is not to know or to deny the All-Wise Maker, the Agent with Choice, Whom the universe and all its beings necessitate and demonstrate through their infinite order and the instances of wisdom they contain. Yes, if there is anything astonishing in the world, it is such denial. For the endless aspects of order and instances of wisdom in the beings in the universe testify to His existence and Unity, so that even the most profoundly ignorant can understand what blindness and ignorance it is not to see or not to recognize Him. I might even say that among the people of unbelief, the Sophists, who are supposed to be stupid because they denied the universe's existence, are the most intelligent. For since on accepting its existence, it was not possible not to believe in God and its Creator, they started to deny the universe's existence. They denied themselves as well. Saying, "There is nothing," they abdicated their intelligences, and being saved from the boundless unreasonableness-under the guise of reason-of the other deniers, they in one sense drew close to reason.
FOURTH MATTER
As is indicated in the Tenth Word, for a Wise Maker, a most wise master builder, to follow carefully hundreds of instances of wisdom in each stone of a palace, then not to construct the palace's roof so it falls into ruin and all the innumerable purposes and instances of wisdom are lost, is something no conscious being could accept. So too it is in no way possible that having followed out of his perfect wisdom tons of benefits, aims, and purposes in a tiny seed, one possessing absolute wisdom should go to the great expense of the mighty tree as vast as a mountain in order for it to produce a single benefit, a single small aim, a single fruit worthy virtually nothing, and so to be wastefully prodigal in a way entirely opposed and contrary to his wisdom.
In just the same way, the All-Wise Maker attaches hundreds of instances of wisdom to each of the beings in the palace of the universe, and equips them to perform hundreds of duties, and to all trees bestows instances of wisdom to the number of its fruits and gives duties to the number of its flowers. For Him not to bring about the resurrection of the dead and the Great Gathering and for all those incalculable numbers of purposes and instances of wisdom and infinite duties to be meaningless, futile, pointless, and without purpose or benefit, would impute absolute
impotence to that Absolutely Powerful One's perfect power, just as it would impute futility and purposelessness to that Absolutely Wise One's perfect wisdom, and utter ugliness to the beauty of that Absolutely Compassionate One's mercy, and boundless tyranny to that Absolutely Just One's perfect justice. It would be quite simply to deny the wisdom, mercy, and justice in the universe, which may be seen by everyone. It would be an extraordinary impossibility comprising innumerable absurdities. The people of misguidance should come and see just what a terrifying darkness, blackness, there is in their misguidance, just as there is in their graves; and how they are the nests of scorpions. And they should know that belief in the Hereafter is a way beautiful and luminous as Paradise, and should embrace belief.
FIFTH MATTER
This consists of two Topics.
The fact that necessitated by His Name of All-Wise, the All-Glorious Maker follows the lightest way, the shortest path, the easiest fashion, the most beneficial form shows that there is no wastefulness, futility, and absence of benefits in the nature of things. Wastefulness is the opposite of the Name of Wise, so too frugality is necessitated by it and is its fundamental principle.
O prodigal, wasteful man! Know that by not adopting frugality, the most basic principle in the universe, you have acted in a way entirely contrary to reality! You should understand what an essential, encompassing principle is taught by the verse,
Eat and drink, but waste not in excess.
It may be said that the Names of Sapient and All-Wise point to and necessitate the Prophethood of the Noble Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace) to the degree of being self-evident.
Yes, since a most meaningful book requires a teacher to teach it; and an exquisite beauty requires a mirror to show itself and see itself; and a most perfect art requires a herald to announce it; for sure among mankind, who is addressed by the mighty book of the universe, in every letter of which are hundreds of meanings and instances of wisdom, will be a perfect guide, a supreme teacher. For then he may teach the sacred and true wisdom in the book; that is, make known the existence of the wisdom and purposes in the universe; indeed, be the means of the appearance, and even existence, of the dominical purposes in the universe's
creation; and make known and act as a mirror to the perfect art of the Creator, and the beauty of His Names, which He willed to display throughout the universe, showing their importance.
And since the Creator wants to make Himself loved through all His beings and to be responded to by all His conscious creatures, one of them will respond with comprehensive worship in the name of all of them in the face of those comprehensive dominical manifestations; he will bring the land and sea to ecstasy, turn the gazes of those conscious creatures to the One Who made the art with a tumultuous announcement and exaltation which will cause the heavens and earth to reverberate; and with sacred instruction and teaching and a Qur'an of Mighty Stature which will draw the attention of all reasonable people, will demonstrate in the best way the Divine purposes of that Sapient and All-Wise Maker; and who will respond in most complete and perfect manner to the manifestations of all His instances of wisdom and of His Beauty and Glory; the existence of such a one is as necessary, as essential for the universe as the existence of the sun. And the one who did this and performed those functions in most perfect form was self-evidently the Most Noble Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him). In which case, all the wisdom in the universe necessitates the Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH) as much as the sun necessitates light, and light, the day.
Yes, just as through their greatest manifestation, the Names of Sapient and All-Wise necessitate the Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH) at the maximum degree, so too numerous Most Beautiful Names like Allah, Most Merciful, All-Compassionate, Loving, Bestower, Munificent, Beauteous, and Sustainer, necessitate through their greatest manifestation apparent in the universe, at the maximum degree and with absolute certainty, the Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH).
For example, the all-embracing mercy which is the manifestation of the Name of Most Merciful is apparent through the One sent as a Mercy to All the Worlds. And Almighty God's making Himself known and loved, which is the manifestation of the Name of Loving, gives the fruit of that Beloved of the Sustainer of All the Worlds, and finds response in him. And all instances of beauty, which are the manifestation of the Name of Beauteous, that is, the beauty of the Divine Essence, the beauty of the Divine Names, beauty of art, and the beauty of creatures, are seen and displayed in the Mirror of Muhammad (PBUH). And the manifestations of the splendour of dominicality and sovereignty of Divinity are known, become apparent and understood, and are confirmed through the Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH), the herald of the dominion of
dominicality. And so on, like these examples, most of the Most Beautiful Names are shining proofs of the Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH).
Since the universe exists and cannot be denied, observable truths like wisdom, grace, mercy, beauty, order, balance, and adornment, which are like the colours, embellishments, lights, rays, arts, lives, and bonds of the universe, can in no way be denied. Since it is not possible to deny these attributes and acts, certainly the Necessarily Existent, All-Wise, Munificent, Compassionate, Beauteous, Sapient, and Just One also, Who is the One signified by those attributes, and is the Doer of those deeds, and the Sun and Source of those lights, can in no way be denied. And certainly the Prophethood of Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who is the supreme guide, most perfect teacher, pre-eminent herald, solver of the talisman of the universe, and mirror of the Eternally Besought One, and beloved of the Most Merciful, and the means of those attributes and acts being known, indeed of their perfection, and even of their being realized, can in no way be denied. Like the lights of the world of reality and of the reality of the universe, his Prophethood is the universe's most brilliant light.
Blessings and peace be upon him to the number of seconds of the days and of the particles of creatures.
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which you have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.
THE FOURTH POINT
Say: He is God, the One and Only.
[One fine point of this verse and a manifestation of the Divine Name of Single, which is a Greatest Name comprising the Names of One and Unique, or one of the six lights comprising the Greatest Name, appeared to me in Eskishehir Prison in the month of Shawwal. Referring the details of that greatest manifestation to the Risale-i Nur, we shall here explain extremely briefly in seven short Indications the true affirmation of Divine Unity which the Name of Single demonstrates through its maximum manifestation.]
FIRST INDICATION
The Twenty-Second Word and Thirty-Third Letter have shown in detail that through a greatest manifestation, the Greatest Name of Single has placed a seal, a stamp, of Divine Unity on the universe as a whole and on each realm of beings in it, and on each individual being. Here, we shall point out only three stamps.
The manifestation of Divine Singleness has placed a seal of Unity on the face of the universe whereby it has made it an indivisible whole. One who does not have power of disposal over the whole universe cannot be the true owner of any part of it. The seal is this:
Like the finest machinery in a factory, the beings and realms of beings in the universe assist one another, and work to complete each other's functions. With their solidarity and co-operation, their answering each other's requests and hastening to assist to each other, their embracing each other and being one within the other, they form a unity of existence according to which, like the members of the human body, they cannot be separated from each other. If someone controls one of its members yet does not have control over all of them, his mastery over the single member will not be true mastery.
Thus, this co-operation, solidarity, mutual response, and embracing one another forms a most brilliant supreme seal of Divine Unity.
Through the manifestation of the Name of Single on the face of the earth and face of the spring are such a brilliant seal of Divine Oneness and stamp of Unity that it proves that one who does not administer all the living creatures on the face of the globe together with all their individuals and attributes and states, and who does not know and see all of them all together, and cannot create them, cannot interfere in anything in respect of creation. The stamp is this:
Disregarding the most orderly, yet hidden, stamps of the mineral substances, the elements, and inanimate creatures of the earth, consider the following stamp woven with the threads of the two hundred thousand animal species and two hundred thousand plant species: we see with our own eyes in the spring on the earth that all things with their different duties, different forms, different sustenance, different members, despite their being one within the other and all mixed up together, are given everything they need, without confusion and without error, with complete distinction and differentiation, with extremely sensitive balance, without difficulty, at exactly the right time, from unexpected places. This situation, this planning, this administration forms such a seal of Divine Unity and stamp of Oneness that one who cannot create all those creatures at once from nothing, can interfere in nothing at all in respect of dominicality and creation. For if they had interfered, the equilibrium of that utterly vast administration would have been spoilt. However, man apparently serves the smooth application of those laws of dominicality, through the Divine command.
This stamp of Divine Oneness is on man's face, indeed, is man's face: one who does not hold in his gaze all the human beings who have come and will come from the time of Adam till the end of the world, and cannot place on each of their faces a distinguishing mark, indeed, hundreds of distinguishing marks, can have no part in respect of creation in the stamp of Unity on the face of any single one of them. Yes, the one who places that stamp on man's face must surely hold within his view and encompass with his knowledge all the members of the human race, for although the basic members of each person's face resemble one another, they all possess points of difference. The fact that all the members of the face, like the eye and ear, resemble each other are a stamp of Unity testifying that human kind's Maker is One, so too the many wise differences-unlike other species-distinguishing one from the other so they are not confused and to preserve the rights of all of
them, in addition to showing the Maker of Unity's will, choice, and volition, are all different, subtle stamps of Divine Oneness. They show that one who cannot create all men and animals, indeed, the universe, cannot apply that stamp.
SECOND INDICATION
The worlds, species, and elements of the universe are so intertwined and interwoven that a cause which does not possess the universe as a whole cannot have true disposal over any of its elements. The manifestation of Unity proceeding from the Name of Single has included the whole universe within a unity so that everything proclaims it. For example, the universe's lamp, the sun, being one indicates that the whole universe belongs to one, so too, the sponges of clouds which water the garden of the earth being the same, and the rain which comes to aid of all living creatures being the same and falling everywhere, and most of the animal and plant species spreading freely over the earth and their species and habitats being the same, are most certain indications and testimonies indicating that all those beings, together with the places they are found, are the property of a single being.
Following this analogy, the realms of beings in the universe are so interwoven they have made the universe into a totality which is indivisible in respect of creation. A cause which does not have rule over the whole universe can govern nothing at all in respect of dominicality and creativity; it cannot make a single particle heed it.
THIRD INDICATION
Through its greatest manifestation, the Name of Single has made the universe into innumerable missives of the Eternally Besought One whereby each contains seals of Divine Oneness and stamps of Unity to the number of its words-as though printed-and points to its Scribe to the number of those seals.
Yes, all flowers, all fruits, all grasses, and all animals even, and all trees are seals of Divine Oneness and stamps of Divine Unity, which, together with the places they are found which take the form of missives, are like signatures showing the one who wrote the place. For example, a buttercup in a garden is like a seal of the garden's inscriber. Whosever seal the flower is, all the flowers of that sort on the face of the earth indicate clearly that they are his words and that the garden too is his writing. This means that all things ascribe everything to the One Who created them, indicating to a maximum affirmation of Divine Unity.
FOURTH INDICATION
In addition to being clear as the sun, the greatest manifestation of the Name of Single is so reasonable as to be necessary and can be accepted with infinite ease. Numerous proofs demonstrating that the association of partners with God, the opposite and opponent of that manifestation, is infinitely difficult and infinitely far from reason, indeed, impossible and precluded, have been explained in various parts of the Risale-i Nur. For the present referring the details of the points of those proofs to those treatises, we shall here expound only three Points.
We have demonstrated with most certain proofs, briefly at the end of the Tenth and Twenty-Ninth Words and in detail at the end of the Twentieth Letter that in relation to the power of the Single and Unique One, the creation of the greatest thing is as easy as the smallest. It administers a large tree as comfortably as a small fruit. Whereas if referred to numerous causes, each fruit becomes as difficult and expensive as a tree, and a flower as difficult and troublesome as the spring.
Yes, if the equipment of an army is made on the orders of a single commander in a single factory, it is as easy as making the equipment of a single soldier, whereas if the equipment of all the soldiers is made in different factories and the army's administration passes from a single officer to many, then each soldier will require factories to the number of the army's soldiers. In just the same way, if everything is ascribed to the Single and Unique One, the innumerable members of a whole species of being become as easy as a single member. While if attributed to causes each becomes as difficult as the whole species.
Yes, both unity and singleness come about through everything being connected with the One of Unity, and through reliance on Him. And this reliance and connection may become a boundless power and strength for the thing. Through the strength of the reliance and connection, that small thing may perform works far exceeding its individual strength, and produce results. While something very powerful which does not rely on the Single Unique One, and is not connected to Him, may perform small works in accordance with its individual strength, and the results diminish accordingly.
For example, a very strong, bold man who is not a regular soldier is compelled to carry his own ammunition and provisions himself, and so can hold out only temporarily against ten enemy. For his individual strength is limited to that. But a soldier who through membership of the army is connected to and relies on the Commander-in-Chief, is not compelled to carry his own sources of strength and provisions; his connection and reliance become an inexhaustible strength for him, like a treasury.
Through the strength of his connection, he may capture a field marshal of the defeated enemy army, together with thousands of others.
That is to say, in Divine Unity and Divine Singleness, through the strength of the connection, like an ant may defeat a Pharaoh and a fly defeat a Nimrod and a microbe a tyrant, a seed as tiny as a chickpea may bear on its shoulders a pine-tree as majestic as a mountain. Yes, a commander-in-chief may send an army to the assistance of one soldier and assemble an army behind the soldier, so then he has the moral support of an army behind him and through that strength may perform great works in the commander's name. Similarly, since the Pre-Eternal Monarch is Single and One, He has no need of any sort. If to suppose that He did have need, He would send all things to the assistance of everything and assemble the army of the universe behind one thing and everything could rely on a strength as great as the universe and in the face of everything, all things-to suppose that He did have the need-could become like the Single Commander's strength. If there was no Divine Singleness, everything would lose all this strength and become as nothing; their results too would dwindle to nothing.
Thus, the appearance of these truly wondrous works out of most insignificant unimportant things which we all the time observe with our eyes self-evidently demonstrates Divine Singleness and Divine Oneness. If it was not for them, the results, fruits, and works of everything would decrease to the substance and strength of each thing; they would be reduced to nothing. And nothing of the infinite abundance and infinite inexpensiveness of the extremely valuable things we see around us would remain. A melon or pomegranate we now buy for a small sum, we would not be able to obtain for a fortune. Yes, all the ease, all the abundance, all the inexpensiveness in the world arise from Divine Unity and testify to Divine Singleness.
Beings are created in two ways; one is creation from nothing called 'origination' and 'invention,' and other is the giving of existence through bringing together existent elements and things, called 'composition' and 'assembling.' When in accordance with the manifestation of Divine Singleness and mystery of Divine Oneness, this occurs with an infinite ease, indeed, such ease as to be necessary. If not ascribed to Divine Singleness, it would be infinitely difficult and irrational, difficult to the degree of impossibility. However, the fact that the beings in the universe come into existence with infinite ease and facility and no difficulty at all, and in perfect form, self-evidently shows the manifestation of Divine Singleness and proves that everything is directly the art of the Single One of Glory.
Yes, if things are ascribed to the Single One of Unity, they are created from nothing through His infinite power, the immensity of which is perceived through its works, like striking a match. And through His all-embracing, infinite knowledge everything is appointed a measure like an immaterial mould. The particles of all things are situated easily in the mould existent in knowledge, in accordance with the form and plan of everything in the mirror of knowledge, and they preserve their positions in good order.
If it is necessary to gather together particles from round about, in accordance with the comprehensive principles of power and laws of knowledge, the particles are bound together in regular fashion like the soldiers of an obedient army. Driven by power in accordance with knowledge, they come, enter the mould existent in knowledge in accordance with the measure of Divine Determining, which encompasses the thing's existence, and with ease form its being. Like the reflection in a mirror being clothed in external existence on paper by means of a camera, or the invisible writing of a letter appearing when it is spread with a special substance, with the greatest ease power clothes with external existence the essences of things and forms of beings present in the mirror of the Single One of Unity's pre-eternal knowledge; it brings them from the World of Meaning to the Apparent World, and shows them to us.
If beings are not ascribed to the Single One of Unity, it would be necessary to gather together the being of a fly from all round the earth and from the elements, quite simply sifting the face of the earth and the elements and bringing from everywhere the particles particular to its being. And in order to situate them in proper order in its being so full of art, a physical mould, indeed moulds to the number of its members would be necessary. Then too the senses in its being, and its fine, subtle immaterial faculties like spirit, they would have to be drawn in a particular measure from the immaterial worlds.
Thus, the creation of a fly in this way would be as difficult as that of the universe. The difficulties would be multiplied a hundred times, indeed it would be a compounded impossibility. For as all the people of religion and scientists are agreed, nothing apart from the Single One can create from nothing and non-existence. In which case, if referred to causes and Nature, everything may be given existence only through being gathered together from most things.
We shall explain briefly two or three comparisons which are elucidated in other parts of the Risale-i Nur, showing how, if ascribed to a Single One of Unity, all things become as easy as a single
thing, whereas if referred to causes and Nature, the existence of a single thing becomes as difficult as that of all things.
If the positions and administration of a thousand soldiers are referred to one officer, and that of one soldier to ten officers, to command the one soldier will be ten times more difficult than commanding a battalion. For those who command him will form obstacles to one another, and in the resulting disorder, the soldier will have no peace. Whereas if to obtain the desired result and situation a battalion is referred to a single officer, he can achieve the result easily, without difficulty, and give it that situation. If to obtain the result and situation, it is referred to the soldiers without a chief, leader, or sergeant, they will only be achieved with much dispute and difficulty, in great disorder, and deficiently.
For example, if a master builder is appointed to give the stones in the dome of a mosque like Aya Sophia their suspended position, he may do so easily. But if it is referred to the stones themselves, they will all have to be both absolutely dominant and absolutely subject to each other in order to support each other in that suspended position. For the work the master builder performs easily to be carried out, work a hundred times greater, of a hundred builders, will have to be carried out, then such a position may be achieved.
For example, since the globe of the earth is an official, a soldier, of the Single One of Unity which heeds that single One's single command, results are obtained like the change of the seasons, the alternation of day and night, the lofty, majestic motions of the heavens, and the changes in the cinema-like celestial scenes. On receiving the single command of that Single One, in rapturous joy at its duty, a single soldier like the earth rises to revolve in two motions like an ecstatic Mevlevi dervish, and is the means to those splendid results being achieved. It is as if the single soldier is commanding magnificent manoeuvres on the face of the universe.
If not ascribed to a Single One Whose rule of Divinity and sovereignty of dominicality encompass the whole universe, and whose command and rule cover all beings, those results, heavenly maneouvres, and earthly seasons could only be obtained by millions of stars and globes a thousand times larger than the earth travelling the long distance of millions of years every twenty-four hours and every year.
Thus, those results being obtained through the two motions-in its orbit and on its axis like an ecstatic Mevlevi dervish-of a single official like the globe of the earth, is an example of the infinite ease there is in
Divine Unity. While their being obtained through endlessly long ways millions of times more difficult than the motion described above is an example of just how difficult, indeed, impossible is the way of associating partners with God and unbelief, and just what impossible, absurd things are found on it.
Consider the ignorance of those who worship causes and Nature through the following example: you can understand how far from reason it is and how ignorant to suppose that "After preparing in orderly fashion through his wondrous art the parts or machinery of a wonderful factory, or marvellous clock, or splendid palace, or fine book, a person does not himself assemble the parts easily and work them, but with protracted and high expense makes each part, each mechanism, and even each sheet of paper and pen into extraordinary machines in order to make the parts themselves construct and work the factory, palace, and clock, and write the book instead of the craftsman. And he refers to them the art and craft, which is the means of displaying all his arts and skills, which he has great desire to exhibit."
In just the same way, those who attribute creation to causes and Nature fall into a compounded ignorance. For above Nature and causes are extremely well-ordered works of art, and they too are artefacts like other creatures. The one who makes them thus, makes their results too, and displays them together. The one who makes the seed, makes also the tree above it. And the one who makes the tree, is the one who makes the fruits above it. Otherwise for other, different natures and causes to come into existence, further well-ordered natures and causes would be necessary. And so on, ad infinitum. One would have to accept the existence of an infinite, meaningless, impossible chain of illusory fancies. This would be the most extraordinary ignorance.
FIFTH INDICATION
We have demonstrated with decisive proofs in many places that the most fundamental characteristic of rulership is independence and separateness. The weak shadow of rulership in impotent men even vehemently rejects the interference of others and does not permit others to meddle in its duty, in order to preserve its independence. Many kings have mercilessly put to death their innocent children and loved brothers on account of this rejection of interference. That is to say, the most basic characteristics of true rulership, and its inseparable necessities and perpetual essentials are independence, separateness, and the rejection of the interference of others.
It is because of this most basic characteristic that Divine rulership, which is at the degree of absolute dominicality, most vehemently rejects the association of any partners and the participation and interference of others. And the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition too, insistently, repeatedly, and sternly, points out the affirmation of Divine Unity and rejects with severe threats the association of partners with God.
Thus, the Divine rulership in dominicality necessitates Divine Unity in definite fashion and shows a most powerful motive and necessitating cause. So too the infinitely perfect order and harmony on the face of the universe, apparent from the totality of the universe and the stars to the plants, animals, minerals down to particulars, individuals, and minute particles, are an indubitably veracious witness to and clear proof of that Singleness and Unity. For if others had interfered, this most sensitive balance, order, and regularity of the universe would have been spoilt and signs of disorder would have been apparent. In accordance with the meaning of the verse,
If there were in the heavens and the earth, other gods besides God, there would have been confusion in both!,
this wondrous, perfect order of the universe would have been thrown into confusion and been spoilt. Whereas, according to the verse,
So turn your vision again; do you see any flaw?,
from minute particles to the planets, from the ground to the Divine Throne, there is no sign of fault, defect, or confusion to be seen. Thus the order of the universe and of creatures and the balance of beings, demonstrate most brilliantly the greatest manifestation of the Name of Single and testify to Divine Unity.
Moreover, since, through the mystery of the manifestation of Divine Oneness, the tiniest living creature is a miniature sample of the universe and a small index of it, only the One in the grasp of Whose power is the whole universe can lay claim to it. And since, in regard to creation, a seed is not inferior to a tree, and a tree is a small universe, and all living beings are like small universes and small worlds, this mystery of Divine Oneness has made the association of partners with God impossible.
Through this mystery, the universe is not only an indivisible whole, but in respect of its nature, like a universal whose division and being broken up into parts is impossible and which does not accept participation and numerous hands in its creation. Thus, since each part of it is a
particular and individual part and the whole also is a universal, there is no possibility in any respect for the participation of others in it. It proves to the degree of being self-evident the greatest manifestation of the Name of Single, the reality of the affirmation of Divine Unity, and this mystery of Divine Oneness.
Yes, since the realms of beings in the universe are interwoven and interbonded and the functions of each look to all, it has made the universe, in respect of dominicality and creation, like an indivisible whole. So too, the all-encompassing general acts in the universe are interwoven and interpenetrated. That is, for example, within the act of giving life, the acts of nurturing and giving of sustenance are apparent at the same instant. And within those acts of nurturing and giving of life, at the same time the acts of ordering and decking out the living creature's body are observed. And within those acts of nurturing, giving life, ordering, and decking out, at the same time the acts of giving of form, raising, and regulating strike the eye. And so on, since such all-encompassing and general acts are interpenetrated and one within the other and blended together like the seven colours in light, indeed, are united; and since being the same in regard to their natures each of those acts encompasses and embraces most beings and are a single act; and since the one who performs the acts must be the same; and since each of them pervades the whole universe and unites with the other acts in co-operation and assistance; it has made the universe like an indivisible whole. Similarly, since all living creatures are like seeds, indexes, and samples of the universe, it has made the universe from the point of view of dominicality like a universal whose division and breaking into parts is impossible. That is to say, the universe is such a totality that to be Sustainer of a part of it is only possible by being Sustainer of the whole. And it is such a universal that each part of it has become like a single member; to make any one single member submit to His dominicality is only possible by subjugating the universal.
SIXTH INDICATION
Dominical Singleness and Divine Unity are the means and basis of all perfections, and the source and origin of the purposes and wisdom in the universe's creation. They are also the source and sole means of attaining the wishes and desires of conscious beings and rational beings, and
particularly of man. If not for Divine Singleness, all man's wishes and demands would be extinguished. The results of the universe's creation would also decline to nothing, and the majority of existent, certain perfections would be annihilated.
For example, man has an intense, unshakeable, passionate desire for immortality. Only One Who through the mystery of Singleness holds the whole universe in His grasp and can close down this world and open up the Hereafter as easily as shutting up one house and opening another can bring about that desire. And like this desire, man's thousands of desires which stretch to eternity and are spread throughout the universe are tied to the mystery of Singleness and the reality of Divine Unity. If not for Divine Singleness, they would not be, they would be fruitless. And if not for the Single One Who through Divine Unity has disposal over the entire universe, those desires would not come about. And even supposing they did, they would do so very deficiently.
It is because of this mighty mystery that the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition repeatedly and fervently and with elevated eloquence teaches Divine Unity and Singleness. Similarly, all the prophets, purified scholars, and saints found all their greatest pleasure and happiness in the Confession of Divine Unity, "There is no god but God."
SEVENTH INDICATION
Just as Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) taught, proved, and proclaimed in most perfect form the true affirmation of Divine Unity in all its degrees, so too his Prophethood was established as surely and certainly as Divine Unity. For since he taught Divine Unity, the greatest reality in the sphere of existence, together with all its truths, it may be said that all the arguments proving Divine Unity indirectly though decisively prove his prophethood, the authenticity of his duty, and the rightness of his cause. Yes, a prophethood which discovered and truly taught Divine Singleness and Unity, which bring together those thousands of elevated truths, is most definitely necessitated and required by that Singleness and Unity; they certainly require it.
Thus, Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) carried out that duty to the letter. Now, we shall explain by way of example, three out of numerous evidences and causes which testify to the importance and elevatedness of his collective personality, attesting that it is a sun in the universe.
In accordance with the rule "The cause is like the doer," the equivalent of all the good deeds performed throughout the centuries by all his Community has passed to the book of good deeds of
Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace). So too, by thinking of the certain acceptance of the 'salawat' prayers for the Prophet (PBUH), which every day all his Community recite for him, and the station and degree that those endless prayers necessitate, it may be understood what a sun in the universe is the collective personality of Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace).
Think of the spiritual progress of Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace), whose essential being was the source, seed, life, and means of the mighty tree of the World of Islam: it arose from his performing with his extraordinary capaیَ؟y and faculties the sacred worship and glorifications which form the spiritual aspects of the World of Islam, perceiving all their meaning; then you may understand how much more elevated than other sainthoods was the sainthood of Muhammadan (PBUH) worship, by which he rose to the degree of being the beloved of God.
At one time, a single glorification unfolded to me in one of the prayers in a manner close to how the Companions of the Prophet perceived them, and it appeared to me as important as a month's worship. I understood through this the Companions' high worth. It meant that at the start of Islam, the effulgence and light proceeding from the sacred words had a different quality. Through their newness, they had a different flavour, subtlety, and freshness which with the passage of time have become hidden and obscured and have diminished through neglect. Muhammad (PBUH) received them with his wondrous capacity new and fresh from their original source, the Most Pure and Holy Essence, and absorbed and assimilated them. As a consequence of this, he could receive the effulgence from a single glorification that others could receive only from a years' worship.
Thus, from this point of view you can understand to what degree Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) progressed through the degrees of perfections, which are without bounds or limit.
Since mankind is the pivot of all the purposes in the universe of the universe's Creator; and since with its superior understanding, mankind has received all the addresses of that Glorious One; and since Muhammad (PBUH) was the most famous and renowned of mankind, and as his works and achievements testify, its most perfect and magnificent individual; that Single One of Glory took Muhammad (PBUH) as His addressee in the name of mankind, indeed, on account of the whole universe; He made manifest in him boundless effulgences and endless perfections.
Thus, there are numerous points like these three that prove conclusively that just as the collective personality of Muhammad (PBUH) is the spiritual sun of the universe, so too is it the supreme sign of the mighty Qur'an known as the universe, and the Greatest Name of that Supreme Distinguisher between Truth and Falsehood, and the mirror of the greatest manifestation of the Name of Single. And we beseech the Single, Unique, Eternally Besought One that blessings and peace to the total number of particles of the universe multiplied by all the seconds of all the minutes of all time descend on Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) from the infinite treasury of His mercy.
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.
THE FIFTH POINT
Look, then, to the signs of God's mercy-how He restores life to the earth after its death-verily He it is Who quickens the dead, for He is powerful over all things.
A fine point concerning this mighty verse, together with another about the following mighty verse,
God! There is no god but He, the Living, the Self-Subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep,
together with a manifestation of the Name of Ever-Living, which is the Greatest Name or one of the two lights of the Greatest Name or one light of its six lights, appeared to my mind in the distance in the month of Shawwal in Eskishehir Prison. I did not record it, for at the time I was unable to swiftly capture that sacred bird. Now after it has drawn away, I shall at least point out briefly by means of a number of 'Signs' a few rays of that supreme truth and sublime light.
FIRST SIGN
The index-like answer to the questions "What is life?" "What is its true nature and purpose?", which are a greatest manifestation of the Names of Ever-Living and Giver of Life, is this:
Life is:
- the most important aim of the universe;
- and its greatest result;
- and its most brilliant light;
- and its subtlest leaven;
- and its distilled essence;
- and its most perfect fruit;
- and its most elevated perfection;
- and its finest beauty;
- and its most beautiful adornment;
- and the secret of its undividedness;
- and the bond of its unity;
- and the source of its perfections;
- and in regard to art and nature, a most wondrous being endowed with spirit;
- and a miraculous reality which makes the tiniest creature like a universe;
- and in addition to its being the means of the universe being situated in a tiny animate creature, and its showing a sort of index of the huge universe in the creature, it is a most extraordinary miracle of Divine power which connects the animate creature to most beings and makes it a tiny universe;
- and it is a wondrous Divine art which enlarges a tiny part to being the greatest whole and makes a particular like a universal or world, and shows that in regard to dominicality the universe is an indivisible whole or universal that cannot be broken into parts and which accepts no participation;
- and it is the most brilliant, the most decisive, the most perfect of proofs testifying to the necessary existence of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One; and among Divine artefacts is the lightest and most apparent, and the most valuable and the most abundant, and the purest, most shining, and most meaningful embroidery of dominical art;
- and it is a graceful, refined, delicate manifestation of Divine mercy which makes other beings serve itself;
- and it is a most comprehensive mirror of the Divine attributes;
- and it is a wonder of dominical creation comprising the manifestations of numerous Most Beautiful Names like Merciful, Provider, Compassionate, Munificent, and All-Wise, which subjects to itself many truths like sustenance, wisdom, grace, and mercy, and is the source and origin of all the senses like sight, hearing, and touch;
- and life is a transformation-machine in the vast workshop of the universe which continuously cleanses everywhere, purifies, allows progress, and illuminates. And living bodies, the dwellings of life, are guest-houses, schools, barracks for instructing and illuminating the caravans of particles, enabling them to perform their duties. Quite simply the Ever-Living Self-Subsistent One makes subtle this dark, transient, lowly world, illuminates it and gives it a sort of permanence, preparing it to go to another, everlasting world;
- and life's two faces, that is, its inner and outer faces, are both shining, elevated, and without dirt or defect. It is an exceptional creature on which apparent causes have not been placed, veiling the disposal of power, in order to show clearly that it has emerged directly without veil or means from the hand of dominical power;
- and the reality of life looks to the six pillars of belief, proving them in meaning and indirectly. That is to say, it is a luminous truth which looks to and proves
- both the necessary existence of the Necessarily Existent One and His eternal life,
- and the realm of the Hereafter and everlasting life,
- and the existence of the angels,
- and the other pillars of belief.
- Also, just as life is the purest essence of the universe, distilled from all of it, so is it a mighty mystery yielding thanks, worship, praise, and love, the most important Divine purposes in the universe and most important results of the world's creation.
So consider these twenty-nine significant, valuable characteristics of life, and elevated, general duties. Then look and see the tremendousness of the Name of Ever-Living behind the Name of Giver of Life. Understand too how with these immense characteristics and fruits of life, the Name of Ever-Living is a Greatest Name.
Also understand that since life is the greatest result of the universe, and its greatest aim and most valuable fruit, life too must have a great aim and result as vast as the universe. For like the tree's result is its fruit, the fruit's result, too, by means of the seed, is a future tree. Yes, just as the aim and result of this life is eternal life, one of its fruits too is thanks to the Ever-Living Giver of Life and worship and praise of Him and love for Him. And just as this thanks, love, praise and worship are the fruit of life, so are they the aim of the universe.
Understand also from this, with what ugly ignorance and denial, indeed, unbelief, those who say that the purpose of life is "to live comfortably, enjoy oneself heedlessly, and indulge oneself in pleasure" denigrate and insult the most valuable bounty of life, gift of consciousness, and bounty of reason, and what ghastly ingratitude they display.
SECOND SIGN
To explain all the degrees, attributes, and duties of life-which is a maximum manifestation of the Names of Ever-Living and Giver of Life-mentioned in the index in the First Sign, one would have to write
treatises to the number of those attributes. So since some of them have been elucidated in various parts of the Risale-i Nur, we refer you to them for some of the details, and here point out only a few.
Thus, it was said in the twenty-third of the twenty-nine properties of life, that since life's two faces are transparent and unsullied, apparent causes have not been made a veil to the disposals of dominical power.
Yes, the meaning of this property is as follows: for sure in everything in the universe there is good and beauty, while evil and ugliness are very minor, with the function of being units of measurement and to show the degrees of good and beauty and to augment and multiply their realities. In this way the evil becomes good and the ugliness, beauty. But so that the complaints and anger arising from what are to the superficial view of conscious beings apparently ugliness, badness, disasters, and calamities should not be directed to the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, and so that the contact of sacred, pure Divine power with apparently vile and filthy things should not offend the dignity of power, apparent causes have been made a veil to those disposals of power. The causes cannot create, but have been placed in order to be the target of unjust complaints and objections and to preserve the dignity, sacredness, and unblemished nature of Divine power.
As is explained in the Introduction of the Second Station of the Twenty-Second Word, Azra'il (Upon whom be peace) supplicated Almighty God concerning his duty of seizing the spirits of the dying. He said: "Your servants will be angry with me." It was said to him in reply: "I shall place the veil of illness and calamity between your duty and the dying, then they shall fling their arrows of complaint and objection, not at you, but at those veils."
According to the meaning of this supplication, Azra'il's (Upon whom be peace) duty is a veil in the same way that other causes are apparent veils, so that the anger and complaints of those who do not see the true, beautiful face of death-beautiful for the people of belief-and do not know the manifestation of mercy on it, are not directed to the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, Yes, dignity and grandeur require that causes are curtain-holders to the Hand of Power in the mind's view, while Divine Unity and Glory demand that causes draw back their hands from the true effect.
However, since both the external and the inward, and the outer and inner faces of life are without dirt, defect, or fault, there is nothing to invite complaints and objections, as there is no filth or ugliness contrary to the dignity and sacredness of power. These faces of life, therefore,
have been surrendered directly, without veil, to the hand of the "life-giving, restoring, resurrecting" Name of the Ever-Living Self-Subsistent One. Light is the same, and so are existence and the giving of existence. For this reason, creation and the giving of existence look directly without veil to the power of the All-Glorious One. Even, since rain is a sort of life and mercy, the time of its precipitation has not been made subject to a regular law, so that at all times of need hands will be raised to the Divine Court to seek mercy. If like the rising of the sun, rain had been subject to a law, that vital bounty would not have been sought and asked for at times of need.
THIRD SIGN
It was said in the twenty-ninth property of life that just as the result of the universe is life, so are thanks and worship the result of life, the cause and ultimate reason for the universe's creation, and its desired result.
Yes, the Ever-Living Self-Subsistent Maker of the universe certainly wants thanks from living creatures in return for His making Himself known and loved through so many boundless sorts of bounties, and He wants their praise and laudation in return for His precious arts, and for them to respond with worship and obedience to His dominical commands.
And so, in accordance with this mystery of dominicality, it is because thanks and worship are the most important purpose of all sorts of life and therefore of the whole universe that with fervour, intensity, and sweetness the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition urges thanks and worship. It states repeatedly, "Worship is for God alone, thanks is due only to Him, and praise is particular to Him." It is in order to state that thanks and praise should go directly to its True Owner that verses like,
It is He Who gives life and death, and to Him [is due] the alternation of night day. * It is He Who gives life and death; and when He decides upon an affair, He says to it: "Be!", and it is. * And gives life to the earth after its death,
point out that He holds life together with all its attributes, without veil, in the grasp of His power, and reject intermediaries explicitly, and ascribe life directly to the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One's hand of power, restricting it to Him.The verses,
For God is He Who gives [all] sustenance-Lord of Power-Steadfast for ever. *
And when I am ill, it is He Who cures me. * He is the One that sends down rain [even] after [men] have given up all hope,
show that things which are the means of thanks after life like sustenance, healing and rain, which invite gratitude and thanks and stimulate a feeling of love and praise, also pertain directly to the Healing Provider, and that causes and intermediaries are a veil; that is, that sustenance, healing, and rain are particular and restricted to the power of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One. To express that they come directly from Him without veil, in accordance with the rules of grammar the restrictive pronoun, "For God is He Who" [Hu ar-Razzaq] and "He is the One that" [Hu aladhi] has been used. The one who gives medicines their properties and creates their effects, is the True Healer alone.
FOURTH SIGN
It was explained concerning the twenty-eighth property of life, that life looks to the six pillars of belief and proves them; it points to their truth.
Yes, since the most important result and fruit of the universe, and the purpose of its creation, is life, certainly that elevated reality is not restricted to this fleeting, brief, deficient, painful worldly life. The aim and result of the tree of life, the immensity of which is understood through its twenty-nine properties, is rather eternal life and the life of the Hereafter; it is life in the realm of bliss, the very stones, trees, and earth of which are alive. For conscious beings and especially for man, the tree of life, decked out with this many significant members, would otherwise remain without fruit, benefit, purpose, and reality. Then man, whose capital and faculties are twenty times greater and more numerous than that of a sparrow and is the most exalted and important creature in the universe, and the highest living being, would fall lower than a sparrow in respect of the happiness of life, and become the most unhappy, the most debased of wretches.
Furthermore, through dwelling on the pains of the past and fears of the future, the intelligence, the most precious of bounties, would continuously wound the human heart; because it mixes nine pains with a single pleasure, it would become the most calamitous affliction. This is false to the hundredth degree. That is to say, the life of this world proves decisively the pillar of belief in the Hereafter and in the spring, lays before our eyes more than three hundred thousand examples of the resurrection of the dead.
Is it at all possible that the All-Powerful Disposer of Affairs, Who prepares with wisdom, grace, and mercy in your garden and country all the things and members necessary for your life; Who makes them reach you at the appropriate time; Who knows and hears even the tiny, particular prayer for food offered by your stomach through its desire for continued existence; and gratifies the stomach, showing through innumerable delicious foods that He accepts its prayer-is it at all possible He does not see you and know you; would not prepare everything necessary for eternal life, mankind's greatest goal; and would not accept mankind's most urgent, important, universal prayer for immortality, of which it is worthy, through constructing the Hereafter and creating Paradise; that He would not hear the most powerful, general prayer, which rings out from the ground to the Divine Throne, of man, the ruler and result of the earth, and hold him as important as a stomach, would not gratify him, so make him deny His perfect wisdom and endless mercy? God forbid, a hundred thousand times!
And is it at all possible that He should hear the most secret voice of the tiniest particular of life, heed its plaint, supply its cure, answer its want, nourish it with perfect care and solicitude, cause others to serve it attentively, and make His large creatures assist it; then not hear the thunderous voice of the largest and most valuable, immortal, most delicate life? And not take into consideration its powerful plea and prayer for immortality? That He should equip and superintend a common soldier with the greatest care and disregard a magnificent, obedient army? That He should see an atom and not see the sun? That He should hear the buzzing of a mosquito and not hear the roar of thunder? God forbid! A hundred thousand times, God forbid!
And could the reason in any way accept that an All-Powerful and All-Wise One Who is infinitely merciful, loving, and compassionate, Who greatly loves His own art, makes Himself much loved, and loves greatly those who love Him, would condemn to everlasting death the life that loves Himself more than anything, is lovable and loved and by nature loves its Maker, condemn to death the spirit, the essence and substance of life; would He offend and make angry with Himself for all eternity that beloved friend of His, and wounding him in terrible fashion deny the mystery of His mercy and light of His love, and make him deny it? A hundred thousand times, God forbid! The absolute beauty which adorns the universe with its manifestation, the absolute mercy which makes happy all creatures, is most certainly exempt from such infinite ugliness, far elevated above such absolute tyranny, such unkindness.
Since there is life in this world, those who understand the secret of life and do not misuse their lives will manifest eternal life in the realm of eternity and everlasting Paradise. In this we believe!
Shining objects on the face of the earth glistening with the sun's reflection, and bubbles on the surface of the sea sparkling and dying away with flashes of light and the bubbles that follow on after them again acting as mirrors to the imaginary miniature suns, self-evidently show that those flashes are the reflections and manifestations of a single, elevated sun. They recall the sun's existence with various tongues, and point to it with their fingers of light.
In just the same way, through the greatest manifestation of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One's Name of Giver of Life, the living creatures on the earth and in the sea shine through Divine power, and in order to make way for those that follow after them, utter "O Living One!" and vanish behind the veil of the Unseen, thus indicating and testifying to the life and necessary existence of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, Who possesses eternal life.
So too, all the evidences testifying to Divine knowledge, the effect of which is apparent in the ordering of all creatures; and all the proofs demonstrating the power which has disposal over the universe; and all the evidences proving the will and volition which governs and directs the universe; and all the signs and miracles proving the missions of the prophets, the channels of Divine revelation and dominical speech; and all the evidences attesting to the seven Divine attributes-all these unanimously indicate, denote, and testify to the life of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One.
For if a thing has sight, it also has life; and if it has hearing, that is a sign of life; and if it has speech, it points to the existence of life; and if it has will and choice, it shows life. Thus, attributes like absolute power, comprehensive will, and all-embracing knowledge, the existence of which is clear and certain due to their works and effects in the universe, testify, through all their evidences, to the life and necessary existence of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, the eternal life which illuminates the whole universe with a single of its shadows, and, through a single of its manifestations gives life to the realm of the Hereafter, even its very particles.
Life looks also to the pillar of 'belief in the angels,' and proves it indirectly. For since the most important result of the universe is life; and it is living beings which are most widely spread, and because of their value, their copies are most duplicated, and who populate the guest-house of the
earth with their travelling caravans; and since the globe of the earth has been filled with this many living creatures, and for the purpose of renewing and multiplying the animate species is continuously emptied and refilled; and since life is created on it in even rotting and corrupt matter and it has become a mass of micro-organisms; and since consciousness and intelligence, the purest distilled essence of life, and spirit, its most subtle and stable substance, are created in great profusion on the earth, and quite simply the earth has been infused with life through life, intelligence, consciousness, and spirits, and inhabited in that way; since this is so, surely the heavenly bodies, which are subtler, more luminous, larger and more important than the earth, could not be dead, inanimate, lacking life and consciousness; it would be beyond the bounds of possibility. That is to say, in accordance with the mystery of life, there will surely be living, conscious inhabitants of the skies, the suns, and the stars suitable to the heavens, who will endow them with their living state, demonstrate the result of the creation of the heavens, and receive the Divine addresses; and they are the angels.
The essential nature of life also looks to the pillar of 'belief in the prophets,' and proves it indirectly. Yes, since the universe was created for life, and life is a greatest manifestation of the Pre-Eternal Self-Subsistent One, a perfect inscription of His, a most beautiful work of His art; and since the Eternal Life shows Itself through the sending of prophets and revealing of scriptures, for if there were no Books or prophets, that Pre-Eternal Life would not be known-just as it is through his speech that it is understood that a person is alive, so too it is prophets and the scriptures they bring that make known the words and speech of the One Who speaks from beyond the World of the Unseen, beneath the veil of the universe, Who commands and prohibits and utters His address-then certainly just as the life in the universe testifies decisively to the necessary existence of the Pre-Eternal Ever-Living One, it looks also to the pillars of belief the 'sending of prophets' and 'revelation of scriptures,' which are the rays, manifestations, and communications of that Pre-Eternal Life. And since the Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH) and the Qur'anic revelation are like the spirit and intelligence of life, it may be said that their truth is as certain as the existence of life.
Yes, just as life is the distilled essence of the universe; and consciousness and sense perception are distilled from life and are the essence of life; and intelligence too is distilled from consciousness and sense perception and is the essence of consciousness; and spirit is the pure, unsullied substance of life, its stable and autonomous essence; so too, the physical and spiritual life of Muhammad (PBUH) is the distilled quintessence of
the life and spirit of the universe; and the Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH) is the very purest essence distilled from the senses, consciousness, and intelligence of the universe. Indeed, the physical and spiritual life of Muhammad (PBUH), is, through the testimony of its works, the very life of the life of the universe. And the Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH) is the consciousness and light of the universe's consciousness. While the Qur'anic revelation, according to the testimony of its living truths, is the spirit of the universe's life and the intelligence of its consciousness.
Yes, yes, yes! If the light of the Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH) was to depart from the universe, the universe would die. If the Qur'an was to depart, the universe would go mad, the earth would lose its head and its reason; it would even strike its now unconscious head on a planet and Doomsday would occur.
Life also looks to the pillar of 'belief in Divine Determining,' and proves it indirectly. Because, since life is the light of the Manifest World, and it dominates it, and is the result and aim of existence, and since it is the most comprehensive mirror of the Creator of the universe and the most perfect sample and index of dominical activity, and-let there be no mistake in the comparison-is like a sort of programme, for sure, the mystery of life necessitates that the creatures in the World of the Unseen, that is, the past and the future, that is, that have been and will come, are predisposed to conform to order, regularity, being known and observed, specific individual existence, and the creative commands, which are their lives in one respect.
The original seed of a tree and its root, as well as the seeds contained in its fruit and final outcome, all manifest a sort of life no less than the tree itself; indeed, they bear within themselves laws of life more subtle than those of the tree. Similarly, the seeds and roots left by last autumn, before the present spring, as well as the seeds and roots that will be left to subsequent springs after this spring has departed-they all bear the manifestations of life, just like this spring, and are subject to the laws of life. In just the same way, all the branches and twigs of the cosmic tree each have a past and a future. They have a chain consisting of past and future stages and circumstances. The multiple existences and stages of each species and each member of each species, existing in Divine knowledge, forms a chain of being in God's knowledge, and like its external existence, its existence in God's knowledge is a manifestation of universal life that draws all the aspects of its life from these meaningful and vital Tablets of Divine Determining.
The fact that the World of Spirits-which is one form of the World of the Unseen-is full of the essence of life, the matter of life, and the spirits, which are the substances and essence of life, of a certainty demands and requires that the past and future-which are another form of the World of the Unseen and its second segment-should also receive the manifestation of life.
In addition, the perfect order, the meaningful circumstances and vital fruits and stages inherent in the existence of a thing within God's knowledge, also demonstrate the manifestation of a sort of life. Such a manifestation of life, which is the light emitted by the sun of eternal life, cannot be limited to this Manifest World, this present time, this external existence. On the contrary, each world receives the manifestation of that light in accordance with its capacity, and the cosmos together with all its worlds is alive and illumined through it. Otherwise, as the misguided imagine, beneath a temporary and apparent life, each world would be a vast and terrible corpse, a dark ruin.
One broad aspect of the pillar of 'belief in Divine Determining and Decree' is, then, understood through the mystery of life and is established by it. Just as the life and vitality of the Manifest World and existent, visible objects become apparent from their orderliness and the consequences of their existence, so too past and future creatures-regarded as belonging to the World of the Unseen-have an immaterial existence and sort of life, and a spiritual presence in God's knowledge. The trace of this life and presence is made manifest and known by means of the Tablet of Divine Determining and Decree and through all the stages and circumstances of their external lives and existences.
FIFTH SIGN
Also, it was said concerning the sixteenth property of life that when life enters a thing, it makes it like a world; if a part, it affords it the comprehensiveness of a whole; if a particular, the extensiveness of a universal.
Yes, life possesses such extensiveness it is simply a comprehensive mirror of Divine Oneness, showing in itself most of the Divine Names manifested throughout the universe. When life enters a body, it makes it a small world; like a sort of seed of the tree of the universe, containing an index of it. In the same way that a seed can only be the work of a power capable of making the tree that bears it, the one who creates the tiniest living beings has to be the Creator of all the universe.
Thus, through this comprehensiveness, life demonstrates in itself a most obscure mystery of Divine Oneness. That is, like the mighty sun is
present through its light, reflection, and seven colours in every drop of water and fragment of glass facing it, so the Divine Names and attributes which encompass the universe are manifested together in all living beings. From this point of view, in regard to creation and dominicality, life makes the universe into an indivisible whole, a universal whose being broken into parts and in which others can share is outside the bounds of possibility.
Yes, the stamp on your face shows self-evidently that the One Who creates you is the One Who creates all human kind. For the nature of man's creation is the same; it cannot be split up. Also, by means of life the parts of the universe are like the individual members of mankind, and the universe, like the species. It shows the seal of Divine Oneness and stamp of Eternal Besoughtedness on every individual the same as it shows them on the whole, thus in every way repulsing the associating of partners with God.
Also, there are such extraordinarily wondrous miracles of dominical art in life that one, a power, that cannot create the whole universe cannot create the tiniest animate creature. Yes, a pen that inscribes in a tiny seed the index of the huge pine-tree, and the programme of its life, like writing the whole Qur'an in a chickpea, can surely be none other than the pen that writes the heavens together with the stars. And the one who places in the tiny head of a bee the ability and faculties to know the flowers in the garden of the universe, be connected with most of its realms, convey a gift of Divine mercy like honey, and know on the day it comes into the world the conditions of life, can surely be none other than the Creator of the entire universe.
Life is a shining seal of Divine Unity on the face of the universe; and in respect of life all beings endowed with spirits are stamps of Divine Oneness; and the embroideries and art in every living being form a seal of Eternal Besoughtedness; and living creatures set their signatures with their lives on the missive of the universe in the name of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One to their number, and are seals of Divine Unity, stamps of Divine Oneness, and signets of Divine Eternal Besoughtedness. Similarly, just as all living beings are seals of Divine Unity in this book of the universe, like life, so too a seal of Divine Oneness has been placed of the faces and features of each.
Furthermore, just as life forms signatures and seals testifying to the Unity of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One to the number of its particulars and of animate beings, the act of raising and restoring to life also sets signatures to Divine Unity to the number of beings. For
example, the raising to life of the earth, which is a single individual, testifies to Divine Unity as brilliantly as the sun. For in the raising to life of the earth in spring, three hundred thousand species and the species' innumerable individual members are restored to life one within the other, without fault or defect, in perfect, regular order. The one who performs a single act such as that together with innumerable other orderly acts must surely be the Creator of all beings and the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, and the Single One of Unity any partnership in Whose dominicality is impossible.
For now, this small number of life's properties has been described briefly, and we refer the explanation and detailed discussion of its other properties to the Risale-i Nur and to another time.
Conclusion
The Greatest Name is not the same for everyone; it differs. For example, for Imam Ali (May God be pleased with him) it was the six Names of Single, Ever-Living, Self-Subsistent, Sapient, All-Just, and Most Holy. For Imam al-A'zam, it was two Names; Sapient and All-Just. While for Ghawth al-A'zam it was Ever-Living. For Imam-i Rabbani, the Greatest Name was Self-Subsistent, and so on; many other people considered the Greatest Name to be different Names.
In connection with this Fifth Point being about the Name of Ever-Living, as both a blessing, and a witness, and an evidence, and as a sacred proof, and as a prayer for ourselves, and as good close to this treatise, we include the following, uttered by the Most Noble Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) in a supreme supplication called Jawshan al-Kabir, which shows the extremely elevated and comprehensive degree of his knowledge of God. We shall travel in the imagination to that time, and saying "Amen" to what the Noble Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) said, shall utter the same supplication with the voice of Muhammad (Blessings and peace be upon him) as though saying it ourselves:
O You Who was living before all living beings;
O You Who shall live after all living beings;
O Living One whom no living being resembles;
O Living One Whom nothing is like;
O Living One Who needs no other living being;
O Living One Who takes no other living being as His partner;
O Living One Who causes all living beings to die;
O Living One Who provides the sustenance of all living beings;
O Living One Who restores to life the dead;
O Living One Whom death touches not-
Glory be unto You! There is no god but You! Mercy! Mercy! Deliver us from the Fire! Amen!
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.
THE SIXTH POINT
[This Point considers the Divine Name of Self-Subsistent. It is a summary of the Fifth Point concerning the Name of Ever-Living, an addendum to the Source of Light, and is also considered appropriate to be the Addendum to the Thirtieth Word.]
Both since these very important matters concerning the profound and comprehensive greatest manifestation of the Name of Self-Subsistent occurred to me as separate flashes and are therefore not well-arranged, and also since they have remained in the form of an extremely ill-arranged, speedily written uncorrected rough copy, many deficiencies and much disorderliness are bound to be apparent in the phraseology and manner of expression. You must forgive my defects for the sake of the beauties of the matters discussed.
The points concerning the Greatest Name are comprehensive to the utmost degree and also extremely profound, especially the matters concerned with the Name of Self-Subsistent, as are those of the First Ray in particular. Furthermore since these latter look to the Materialists and have penetrated the subject to an even greater degree, everyone will not be able to understand every matter in all its aspects. However, everyone will be able to grasp a part of each matter to some extent. According to the rule of 'Even if a thing is not wholly obtained, it still should be abandoned completely,' it is not reasonable to leave aside such a matter altogether, saying: "I cannot pick all the fruits in this immaterial garden." However many fruits a person can pick, that amount will be of benefit. For just as the matters connected with the Greatest Name are extensive to the degree they cannot be comprehended, so are they also subtle to the degree the mind cannot distinguish them. Everyone's mind may not reach the Fifth and Sixth Points concerning the Names of Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent, and in particular the allusions of life to the pillars of belief and particularly to the pillar of Divine Determining and Decree in the Fifth Point, but they will not remain without some share of them and in any event these matters will strengthen their belief. The importance of strengthening belief, which is the key to eternal happiness, is truly tremendous. Even an iota's increase in belief is a treasure. Imam-i Rabbani,
Ahmad al-Faruqi, said: "In my view, increase in only a small aspect of belief is preferable to experiencing hundreds of illuminations and spiritual delights."
In Whose hand is the dominion of all things. * To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth. * And there is nothing but with Us are its treasuries. * There is not a moving creature but He has grasp of its forelock.
A point concerning verses like these which allude to Divine Self-Subsistence, a greatest manifestation of the Name of Self-Subsistent, which is either the Greatest Name, or the second of the two lights of the Greatest Name, or the sixth of its six lights, was imparted to my mind during the month of Dhi'l-Qa'da. My situation in Eskishehir Prison does not allow me to explain fully that Greatest Light. However, Imam Ali (May God be pleased with him) expounded the Greatest Name in his ode Arjuza under the exalted name of Sakina, and in his ode Jaljalutiyya he considered together with some other sublime Names these six Names contained within the Greatest Name stating them to be the greatest and most important. Moreover, I have received extraordinary consolation from his discussion of them. And so, as we have with the preceeding five Names, we shall allude to the Name of Self-Subsistent, to that Greatest Light, with Five Rays in what is at the very least an abbreviated form.
FIRST RAY
The Glorious Creator of the universe is Self-Subsistent, that is, He subsists, continues, endures of Himself. All things subsist and continue through Him, they remain in existence and have permanence. If that relationship of Self-Subsistence was cut off from the universe for even the fraction of a second, the universe would be annihilated.
Furthermore, as the Qur'an of Mighty Stature decrees, together with the All-Glorious One's Self-Subsistence,
There is nothing that is like unto Him.
That is, neither in His essence, nor in His attributes, nor in his actions has He like, equal, peer, or partner. Indeed, for a Most and Holy One Who
takes the universe with its circumstances and functions in the grasp of His dominicality and Who regulates, administers, sustains and nurtures it with perfect order as though it was a house or a palace to have any like, equal, partner, or peer is not possible; it is impossible.
For sure, One for Whom the creation of the stars is as easy as that of particles, and to Whose power is subjugated the greatest thing in the same way that the most minute is subjugated, and for Whom nothing is an obstacle to any other thing and no action an obstacle to any other action, and in Whose view innumerable individuals are present in the same way that a single individual is present, and Who hears all voices simultaneously and is able to answer the limitless needs of all simultaneously, and outside the sphere of Whose will and volition is nothing, no state, as is testified to by all the order and balance that is present in the beings in the universe, and although He is in no place, through Whose power and knowledge is present everywhere, and although everything is utterly distant from Him, is able to be utterly close to all things-such an All-Glorious Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One most certainly can in no way have any like, equal, partner, deputy, opposite or peer; it would be impossible. His sacred qualities and attributes can only be considered through allegory and comparison. All the comparisons and allegories in the Risale-i Nur are of this sort of comparison and parable.
Thus, the Most Pure and Holy One is without like, Necessarily Existent, utterly remote from matter, and beyond space; His fragmentation and division is impossible in every respect as is any sort of change or alteration; His being needy or impotent is beyond the bounds of possibility. And yet, a group of the people of misguidance suppose certain manifestations of the Most Pure and Holy Essence which are manifested in the pages of the universe and in the levels of beings to be the Most Pure and Holy One Himself and ascribe the decrees of the Divinity to certain creatures; they attribute some of the All-Glorious One's works to Nature.
However, it is demonstated with conclusive proofs in numerous places in the Risale-i Nur that Nature is a Divine art, it cannot be the artist. It is a dominical book, and cannot be the scribe. It is an embroidery, and cannot be the embroiderer. It is a register, and cannot be the accountant. It is a law, and cannot be the power. It is a pattern, and cannot be the source. It is a recipient and is passive, and cannot be the author. It is an order, and cannot the orderer. It is a code of creation, and cannot be the establisher of the code.
If, to suppose the impossible, the tiniest animate creature was referred to Nature and it was told: "You made this," as is demonstrated in many places in the Risale-i Nur with decisive proofs, it would then be necessary
to provide moulds, or rather machines, to the number of the tiny creature's members and bodily systems so that Nature could carry out the work.
Moreover, although a group of the people of misguidance called Materialists perceived a greatest manifestation of Divine creativity and dominical power within the orderly transformations of minute particles, since they did not know from where the manifestation came and could not understand from where that universal force was being directed, which originated from the manifestation of the Eternally Besought One's power, supposing matter and force to be pre-eternal, they began to attribute the Divine works to particles and their motion. Glory be to God! Is it possible for human beings to be so ignorant that they attribute the actions and works that can only be carried out by One Who is both beyond space and also present in such a way as to see, know, and direct all things in the creation of all things everywhere, to particles and their motion, which are tossed around in the storms of lifeless, blind, unconscious chance that lacks will and balance? Those who possess even a jot of intelligence must see just what an ignorant and superstitious idea this is.
Indeed, because these wretches have abandoned absolute unity, they have fallen into a limitless and endless absolute multiplicity. That is, since they do not accept one single God, they are compelled to accept endless gods. Which means, since they are unable to squeeze into their corrupted minds the idea of one single Most Pure and Holy Essence and the pre-eternity and creativity that are necessary and essential to Him, they are compelled by their opinions to accept the pre-eternity, indeed the divinity, of those limitless, endless, lifeless particles.
So, come and consider this complete and utter ignorance! For certainly, the manifestation on particles has made that mass of particles into an orderly and magnificent army through the strength, power, and command of the Necessarily Existent One. If the Commander-in-Chief's command and power were withdrawn even for a second, that numerous, lifeless, unconscious mass would become like irregular soldiers, it would altogether cease to exist.
Furthermore, it is as if another group of people see even further, that is, they are even more ignorantly misguided. They imagine the matter known as ether, which is an extremely subtle, fine, obedient and subjugated page of the Glorious Maker's activities, a means for the transmitting of His commands, a flimsy veil for the exercise of His power, a refined ink for His writing, a most fine raiment for His creating, a leaven of His artefacts and a tillage for His seeds, to be the origin and the author because it acts as a mirror to the manifestation of His dominicality.
This extraordinary ignorance requires endless impossibilities because ether is matter that is unconscious, lifeless and without will and is finer than the matter of which particles consist, which drowns the Materialists, and is denser than the index of primordial matter into which the ancient philosophers thrust themselves. To attribute to this matter, which may be fragmented and divided without limit and is equipped with the qualities and duties of being passive and the ability to transmit-to attribute to its minute particles, which are far minuter than particles of other matter, the actions and works which exist through a will and power that sees, knows, and directs all things in all things is mistaken to the number of particles of ether.
The act of creation apparent in beings is such that it demonstrates it proceeds from a power and will which sees and knows most things, the whole universe even, in each thing particularly if it is animate, and which recognizes and secures the animate creature's relationship with the universe; it thus demonstrates that it cannot be the act of causes, which are material and are not all-encompassing. Through the meaning of Self-Subsistence, a particular creative act bears a mighty meaning that points to its being directly the act of the Creator of the whole universe. For example, an act pertaining to the creation of a bee demonstrates that it is peculiar to the Creator of the universe in two respects.
The fact that all the other bees throughout the world resembling that particular bee manifest the same act at the same time demonstrates that the particular and individual act is the tip of a comprehensive act which embraces the face of the earth. In which case, whoever is the author and owner of that vast act must also be the author of the particular act.
In order to be the author of the action directed towards the creation of the bee in question, a power and will is necessary that will be vast enough to know and secure the conditions for the life of the bee, and its members, and its relationship with the universe. Therefore, the one who performs the particular action will only be able to perform it thus perfectly through having authority over most of the universe.
Thus, the most particular and insignificant action demonstrates in two respects that it is peculiar to the Creator of all things.
The most remarkable and surprising thing is this: the Necessarily Existent One possesses 'necessity,' which is the firmest level of existence; 'absolute isolation from matter,' which is the most immutable degree of existence; 'absolute freedom from space,' which is the state of existence furthest from cessation; and 'unity,' which is the soundest quality of
existence and the one remotest from change and non-existence. And yet they attribute pre-eternity and everlastingness, which are the Necessarily Existent One's most particular qualities and are necessary and essential to Him, to things like ether and particles, which are matter that is material, unbounded and numerous, is the least stable level of existence and the least tangible, the most changing and the most varying and the most dispersed through space; they ascribe pre-eternity to them and fancy them to be pre-eternal; and some of them even suppose that it is out of them that the Divine works arise. It has been demonstrated through cogent arguments in numerous places in the Risale-i Nur how contrary to truth and reality, how unreasonable and absurd, is this idea.
SECOND RAY
This consists of two Matters.
Neither sleep overcomes Him nor slumber. * There is not a moving creature but He has grasp of its forelock. * To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth.
These verses point to a greatest manifestation of the name of Self-Subsistent. One aspect of the mighty truth that these and verses like them indicate is as follows:
The existence, continuance, and perpetuation of the heavenly bodies in the universe are tied to the mystery of Self-Subsistence. If the manifestation of Self-Subsistence was to avert its face for a moment, millions of globes, some of them a thousand times larger than the globe of the earth, would be scattered into the infinite void of space, and colliding with one another would crash into nothingness.
For example, the power of the Self-Subsistence of the One Who keeps thousands of stately palaces in place in perfect order and makes them travel like aircraft through space is measured through the stability, order, and continuance of those palaces in space. So too the facts that the All-Glorious and Self-Subsistent One bestows on the innumerable heavenly bodies within ethereal matter a stability, permanence, and continuance within the utmost order and balance through the mystery of Self-Subsistence; and together with upholding without prop or support in the void millions of mighty globes, some a thousand and some even a million times larger than the earth, entrusts them all with duties and causes them
to submit in perfect obedience like a majestic army to the decrees proceeding from 'the command of "Be!" and it is' are a measure of the greatest manifestation of the Name of Self-Subsistent. In the same way, the particles of all beings also exist, like the stars, through the mystery of Self-Subsistence, and are permanent and continue through it.
The particles in the body of an animate creature do not disperse but are assembled in groups and systems peculiar to each limb, and without scattering, preserve their position within the storms of the elements, which flow like floods, and remain regular and in order. Since this self-evidently does not occur through themselves but through the mystery of Self-Subsistence, and since each body is like a well-ordered regiment and each species like a regular army, these particles proclaim the mystery of Self-Subsistence with innumerable tongues in the same way that the continuance and motion of all animate creatures and their assemblages on the earth and that of the stars in the world of space proclaim it.
This station requires that some of the benefits and instances of wisdom in things connected with the mystery of Self-Subsistence are pointed out.
The wisdom in the existence of all things, and the aims of their natures, the benefits in their creation, and the results of their lives are of three sorts.
The First Sort
looks to each thing itself and to man and to man's affairs.
The Second Sort
is more important. It is the setting forth to innumerable readers the meanings of all things, each of which is like a sign, a missive, a book, an ode for conscious beings to study, a sign making known the manifestation of the Glorious Creator's Names.
This concerns the Glorious Maker and looks to Him. While the benefits and results of everything that look to the things themselves are one, those looking to the Glorious Maker are myriad. For the Glorious Maker beholds the wonders of His art Himself, He observes the manifestation of His Names in beings which He Himself has fashioned. As far as this mighty third sort is concerned, for the things to live even for a second is sufficient.
There is also a mystery of Self-Subsistence requiring the existence of all things which will be explained in the Third Ray.
At one time I was investigating the talisman of the universe and the riddle of creation, which lies in its being a manifestation, together with the instances of wisdom and benefits in beings, and I said: "I wonder why
these things display themselves in this way and then swiftly vanish and are lost? I look at their individual features; they have been attired, decked out and adorned in an orderly, purposeful fashion and sent to this display and exhibition. But then they disappear within one or two days, and some of them within a few minutes; uselessly and in vain they vanish. What is the purpose in their being seen by us for this short time?" I was most curious.
Then, through Divine favour, I discovered one important instance of wisdom in the fact that beings, and in particular animate beings, come to the place of instruction that is this world. It was as follows: each being, and especially if it is animate, is an extremely meaningful word, missive, dominical ode and Divine proclamation. After it has been studied by all conscious beings and has stated its meaning to innumerable readers, its corporeal form, which is like a letter or a word, disappears.
For about a year this instance of wisdom was sufficient for me. Then the truly wonderful and subtle miracles of art to be found in creatures, and in particular in animate beings, were disclosed. I understood that these subtleties of art which are so fine and wonderful are not only to set forth meanings for the gazes of conscious beings. For although innumerable conscious creatures may study each being, their studying is both limited, furthermore all of them may be unable to penetrate all the subtleties of art in those animate creatures. That is to say, the most important result of the creation of animate beings and the most significant purpose of their natures is to present to the Pre-Eternal Self-Subsistent One's own gaze the marvels of His art and the compassionate gifts and bounties that He has bestowed.
As for this purpose, it contented me for a long time and from it I understood the following: the wisdom and purpose of creation, which is to present the endless subtleties of art in beings, particularly in animate beings, to the gaze of the Pre-Eternally Self-Subsistent One, that is, for He Himself to behold His own art, was sufficient for that vast outlay.
Some time later I realized that the subtleties of art in the individual features and forms of beings did not continue; they were being renewed and were undergoing change at great speed; they were being transformed within an endless activity and creativity. I started to ponder over it, saying: "The wisdom in this creativity and activity must necessarily be as extensive as the activity itself." Then, the two instances of wisdom mentioned above began to appear insufficient; they lacked something. With extreme curiosity I began to search and seek for a further purpose and instance of wisdom.
All praise be to God, through the effulgence of the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition, after some time a vast and limitless wisdom and purpose became apparent at the level of the mystery of Self-Subsistence. And through it, a Divine mystery called 'the talisman of the universe' and 'riddle of creation' was understood. Since it is explained in detail in the Twenty-Fourth Letter, here we shall only briefly mention two or three points, in the Third Ray.
Look from this point to the manifestation of the mystery of Self-Subsistence: it has plucked all beings out of non-existence, and according to the meaning of the verse,
It is God Who has raised the heavens without any supports that you can see,
has caused each one of them to remain in infinite space. Bestowing on them stability and permanence, it has thus caused them all to display the manifestation of the mystery of Self-Subsistence. If there was not this support, nothing at all could continue to exist of its own accord. Everything would topple over into an infinite void and tumble into non-existence.
Furthermore, just as all beings rely on the All-Glorious Self-Subsistent One for their existence, stability, and permanence, they continue in existence through Him, so too according to the meaning of the verse,
And to Him goes back every affair,
the tips of thousands of chains or lines in the states and conditions of beings are fastened to the mystery of Self-Subsistence, which, if the comparison is not mistaken, is like the centre or central pole of telephone and telegraph lines. If they did not rely on that luminous point of support, thousands of unending sequences of causes would be necessary, which according to scholars is an impossible and false notion; in fact, there would have to be as many of these absurd unending sequences of causes as there are beings. For example, one thing (protection or light or existence or sustenance, for instance) in one respect relies on the next thing, and that on the next, and that on the next, until finally since it cannot be infinite, it has to come to an end.
Thus, the end of all such lines and sequences lies in the mystery of Self-Subsistence. But when the mystery of Self-Subsistence has been understood, the links and the meaning of each thing relying on the next in those imaginary sequences do not remain, they disappear, and everything is seen to look directly to the mystery of Self-Subsistence.
THIRD RAY
By means of one or two introductory points, we shall point out to a small degree the disclosure of the mystery of Self-Subsistence within Divine creativity and dominical activity, which verses like the following allude to:
Every day He manifests Himself in yet another way. * A sovereign doer of whatever He wills. * He creates whatever he wishes. * In Whose hand is the dominion of all things. * So look to the signs of God's mercy, how He restores the earth to life after its death.
When we look at the universe, we see that one group of creatures, which are tossed around in the flood of time and follow on one after the other convoy after convoy, come for a second and then immediately vanish. Another group comes for a minute and then passes on. One species stops by in the Manifest Word for an hour, and then enters the World of the Unseen. Some of them come and alight in the Manifest World for a day, some of them for a year, some for a century, and some for an age; they perform their duties and then depart.
This astonishing travelling and passage of beings and flow and flux of creatures is driven and directed with such order, balance and wisdom, and the one who commands them and those convoys does so with such insight, purpose and planning that even if all minds were to unite and become one mind, it would be unable to comprehend the essence of this wise direction; it would be unable to find any fault in it and so could not criticize it.
Thus, within this dominical activity, not even allowing any of those pleasing creatures that it loves, especially animate creatures, to open their eyes, the pen of Divine Determining and Decree despatches them to the World of the Unseen; not permitting them even to draw a breath, it discharges them from the life of this world. It continuously fills the guest-house of the world and empties it without the guests' consent. Making the globe of the earth like a slate for writing and erasing, through the manifestation of
He grants life and deals death,
the pen of Divine Determining and Decree ceaselessly inscribes on it writings, and renews and replaces them.
One meaning of the wisdom in this dominical activity and Divine creativity and a fundamental requirement and a motive cause of them is a limitless, endless instance of wisdom that may be divided into three important branches.
Every sort of activity, whether particular or universal, yields pleasure. Rather, there is a pleasure in all activity. Indeed, activity is pure pleasure. Or, activity is the manifestation of existence, which is pure pleasure and is the shaking off and becoming distant from non-existence, which is pure suffering.
Everyone with ability follows with pleasure the unfolding of his ability through activity. The revealing of innate talents through activity arises from a pleasure and results in a pleasure. Everyone who possesses some perfections follows with pleasure their disclosure through activity.
Since there is present in every activity a perfection and pleasure which is thus loved and sought after, and activity too is a perfection; and since there are apparent in the world of animate creatures the manifestations of a boundless love and infinite compassion which arise from a perpetual and pre-eternal life; those manifestations show that as the requirement of that eternal Life which is fitting for the Necessary Existence of the One Who thus loves and is compassionate and makes Himself loved, and is worthy of His Holiness, there are (if the terms are not mistaken) at the utmost level sacred qualities in that Most Pure and Holy Life like Divine passion, hallowed love, and sheer pleasure. And it is these qualities that continuously renew, agitate, and change the universe through endless activity and an infinite creativity.
The Second Branch of the wisdom in the limitless Divine activity which looks to the mystery of Self-Subsistence.
This looks to the Divine Names. It is well-known that everyone who possesses beauty wants to both see and display his beauty; that everyone who possesses some skills desires and loves to attract attention to his skills by exhibiting and proclaiming them; he desires and loves his skill, which is a beautiful truth and meaning that has remained concealed, to be revealed and to find ardent admirers.
These fundamental rules are in force in all things according to the degree of each. According to the testimony of the universe and the evidence of the manifestations and embroideries of the thousand and one Most Beautiful Names of the All-Glorious Self-Subsistent One, Who possesses absolute beauty, there are in every degree of each of those Names a true loveliness, a true perfection, a true beauty and a most exquisite truth. Indeed, in every degree there are endless different sorts of loveliness and innumerable beautiful truths.
Since the mirrors reflecting the sacred beauties of those Names and the tableaux displaying their beautiful embroideries and the pages setting forth their beautiful truths are all the beings of the universe, those constant and eternal Names will entirely and unceasingly renew and change the universe through their manifestations as a consequence of that sacred Divine love and due to the mystery of Self-Subsistence. In this way they will display their endless manifestations and infinite, meaningful embroideries and books both to the witnessing gaze of the All-Glorious Self-Subsistent One, Whom they signify, and to the studying gaze of uncountable numbers of conscious creatures and creatures endowed with spirits, and will display countless tableaux out of a finite and limited thing and numerous individuals out of a single individual and multiple truths out of a single truth.
FOURTH RAY
The Third Branch of the wisdom in the constant and astonishing activity in the universe.
Everyone who is compassionate is happy at giving pleasure to others; and everyone who is kind is gratified at making others happy; everyone who is loving is gladdened by pleasing others who are worthy of being pleased; and everyone who is noble-hearted takes pleasure at making others happy; everyone who is just rejoices at upholding justice and at winning the gratitude of those whose rights are vindicated by punishing those who deserve it; and every skilful craftsman takes pride in exhibiting his work, at its functioning as he imagined it would function, and at its giving the desired results.
Thus, each of the above-mentioned principles is a fundamental rule which is in force throughout the universe and the world of mankind. Three examples demonstrating that these rules function in the Divine Names have been explained in the Third Stopping Place of the Thirty-Second Word. Since it is appropriate to write a summary of them at this point we say the following:
For example, an extremely kind, generous, munificent, noble-hearted person who embarks the poor and needy on a large ship, gratifies them with banquets and bounties and sails it in the seas around the world, himself being superior to them, will watch them happily, take pleasure at those needy people's gratitude, rejoice and be pleased at their taking pleasure, and feel proud.
If one who is merely like a distribution official takes such pleasure and delight at holding an insignificant banquet, then consider the following: the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One embarks all animals and men and countless angels, jinn and spirit beings on the ship of the earth, which
is a vessel of that All-Merciful One; He spreads the face of the earth before them as a dominical table laden with varieties of foods, and with delights and sustenance for all the senses; he causes those needy, thankful, grateful and happy creatures to sail the regions of the universe, and not only makes them happy in this world with all these bounties, but also makes each of those bounties a table in the unending banquets in the Paradises of the Eternal Realm. It is therefore the meaning of dominicality alluded to by the Divine qualities arising from the thanks, gratitude, joy and delight of those creatures which look to the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, which we are powerless and also not permitted to express, like 'holy pleasure,' 'sacred pride,' and 'hallowed delight' that necessitate this constant activity and ceaseless creativity.
And for example, if a skilful craftsman builds a gramophone which requires no records and it plays just as he wishes, how proud and delighted he will be; he will say to himself: "What wonders God willed!" If an insignificant piece of art in which there is no true creation engenders a feeling of such pride and pleasure in the craftsman's spirit, then consider the following:
The All-Wise Maker creates the totality of the universe as a Divine orchestra and wondrous workshop which strikes up and gives forth countless sorts of songs and hymns praises and glorification; He displays all the species, all the worlds, in the universe through a different craft and different miracles of art; and not only does He fashion many machines in the heads of animate creatures, each like a gramophone, camera or telegraph, but He also fashions in the heads of all human beings, not only a gramophone without records, a camera without a film, a telegraph without wires, but a machine twenty times more wonderful. It is therefore meanings like 'sacred pride' and 'holy pleasure' and the exalted qualities of this sort which proceed from dominicality and arise from creating such machines, and their functioning in the required way and producing the desired results that necessitate this unceasing activity.
And for example, a just ruler takes pleasure and is gratified and feels proud at taking the part of the oppressed against tyrants in order to uphold justice, at protecting the poor against the wrongdoing of the powerful, and at giving to everyone his due. Since this is a fundamental rule of rulership and justice, then consider the following:
The Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, Who is the All-Wise Ruler and is Absolutely Just, bestows on all creatures and especially on animate ones the necessary conditions for life, which are known as 'the rights of life;' and in order to preserve their lives, He grants them the necessary abilities and members; and He compassionately protects the weak from
the evil of the powerful. Therefore, the dominical qualities and sacred meanings, which we are powerless to express, that arise from this and from the execution of the mystery of justice, which in this world is total with regard to establishing justice for all animate beings and partial with regard to punishing wrongdoers, and especially that arise from the manifestation of supreme justice at the Supreme Tribunal of the Resurrection, necessitate the constant activity in the universe.
Thus, as these three examples show, since each of the Most Beautiful Names is the means for certain sacred Divine qualities in this unceasing activity, they require unceasing creativity. And since the development, unfolding and blossoming of all abilities and faculties yield a joy, expansiveness and pleasure; and since on the performance and completion of a duty and on being released from it, everyone entrusted with such a duty experiences a great feeling of relief and gratitude; and since to receive many fruits from a single seed and to gain a hundredfold profit from a single thing is a most pleasurable trade, then most certainly the One Who causes the innumerable abilities of all creatures to unfold, after employing all creatures in valuable duties, will discharge them, but to a higher state. That is to say, He raises elements to the level of minerals; minerals to plant life; plants to the level of animal life by means of sustenance; and animals to the high level of human life, which is conscious.
It may be understood then just how important are the sacred meanings and Divine dominicality arising from the constant activity and dominical creativity which, on the demise of their external existences, cause all animate creatures to leave behind them multiple existences taken from them, like their spirits, essences, identities, forms, existences in the Worlds of Similitudes, Knowledge, and the Unseen, the sheaths of their spirits, and the bodies with which to travel around the stars, all of which are charged with duties in their places. This is explained in the Twenty-Fourth Letter.
A Decisive Answer to an Important Question
One group of the people of misguidance say that the One Who changes and transforms the universe with this constant activity must Himself be subject to change and alteration.
God forbid! A hundred thousand times, God forbid! The fact that mirrors on the ground change demonstrates not that the sun in the sky changes but on the contrary that its manifestations are being renewed. Moreover, change and alteration are impossible in the Most Pure and Holy Essence, Who is pre-eternal, post-eternal, sempiternal, in every respect absolutely perfect and absolutely self-sufficient, totally free of, detached from and beyond matter, space, restriction, and
contingency. Change in the universe points not to His changing but to his lack of change and alteration. Because, one who constantly causes change and causes numerous things to move must himself be unchanging and not move.
For example, if you spin a large number of globes and balls which have each been tied to a piece of string and cause them all to move unceasingly within an order, then it is necessary for you to remain in one place and not to change it or move, for if you did move, it would spoil the order. It is clear that one who causes objects to move with order must himself not move, and one who causes objects to change ceaselessly must himself be unchanging so that these actions may continue in an orderly fashion.
Change and alteration arise from createdness, from being renewed in order to be perfected, from need, from materiality, and from contingency. Since the Most Pure and Holy Essence is both eternal, and in every respect absolutely perfect and absolutely self-sufficient, and totally detached from matter, and necessarily existent, most certainly His changing and altering is not possible; it is impossible.
FIFTH RAY
First Matter
If we wish to see the greatest manifestation of the Name of Self-Subsistent, we may set up two telescopes in order to observe the whole universe with our imaginations. One of them will show the most distant objects, the other the most minute particles. So, if we look through the first telescope, we see that through the manifestation of the Name of Self-Subsistent and without support, of millions of globes and stars thousands of times larger than the earth, some have been made apparently stationary in the matter known as ether, which is subtler than air, while others have been made to travel apparently as their duty.
Next we look through the second telescope, which is the microscope of the imagination, so that we may see minute particles. Through the mystery of Self-Subsistence, taking up an orderly position like the stars, particles in the bodies of all animate creatures on the earth are in motion and performing their duties. We see that especially the miniscule agglomerations forming the particles known as 'red corpuscles' and 'white corpuscles' in the blood of animate beings, like the planets, move with two well-ordered motion like Mevlevi dervishes.
A summary is appropriate here in order to examine the sacred light the six Names of the Greatest Name form, blending together like the seven colours in light. It is as follows:
Look beyond the greatest manifestation of the Name of Self-Subsistent which thus upholds and gives permanence and continuity to all the beings in the universe: the greatest manifestation of the Name of Ever-Living has set aflame all animate beings with its manifestation. It has illuminated the universe. It gilds all animate beings with its manifestation.
Now look again: beyond the Name of Ever-Living, the greatest manifestation of the Name of Single includes the whole universe with all its elements and parts in a unity. It puts a stamp of Unity on the forehead of each being. It puts a seal of Oneness on each being's face. It causes them to proclaim its manifestation with endless, countless tongues.
And now consider the greatest manifestation of the Name of Sapient beyond the Name of Single: it includes each of the beings we observe through the two telescopes of the imagination, from stars to particles, whether universal or particular, from the greatest sphere to the most minute, in a fruitful order, wise regularity and purposeful harmony appropriate to each. It adorns and gilds all beings.
Then look beyond the greatest manifestation of the Name of Sapient: according to its aspect which was examined in the Second Point, through the greatest manifestation of the Name of All-Just, the whole universe with all its beings is administered with such balance, equilibrium and measure within unceasing activity, that should just one of the heavenly bodies lose its balance even for a second, that is, should it break free of the manifestation of the Name of All-Just, it would cause chaos among the stars, it would be like Doomsday.
Thus, all beings and all the different realms of beings, from the army of the stars to the army of minute particles, that is, from the largest sphere that is the vast belt known as the Milky Way to the sphere of the motion of red and white corpuscles, standing shoulder to shoulder in a manner gauged with the finest balance and measure demonstrates that all those beings are obedient and totally subjugated to the commands proceeding from 'the command of "Be!" and it is.'
Now look beyond the greatest manifestation of the Name of All-Just to the greatest manifestation of the Name of Most Holy, which was
explained in the First Point: the fact that it renders all the beings in the universe so pure, clean, clear, beautiful, adorned and shining demonstrates that it has bestowed on the universe and on all beings the form of beautiful mirrors worthy of and fitting for reflecting the utter essential beauty of the Absolutely Beautiful One and the sheer loveliness of the Most Beautiful Names.
These six Names and six lights of the Greatest Name have enwrapped the universe and all beings in ever-differing and various colours, embroideries and adornment.
Second Matter of the Fifth Ray
Just as the manifestation of Self-Subsistence in the universe is at the level of Unity and Glory, so is it in man, who is the centre, pivot, and conscious fruit of the universe, at the level of Oneness and Beauty. That is to say, just as the universe subsists through the mystery of Self-Subsistence, so too does it in one respect subsist through man, who is the most complete place of manifestation of the Name of Self-Subsistent. For, since most of the wisdom, aims, purposes, and benefits in the universe look to man, it is as if the manifestation of Self-Subsistence in him is a support for the universe. Indeed, it may be said that the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One willed man to be in the universe and created it for him. For, with the comprehensiveness of his nature, man can understand and take pleasure in all the Divine Names. In particular he can understand many Divine Names through the pleasure to be found in sustenance. Whereas the angels cannot know them through that pleasure.
As a result of this important comprehensiveness of man, the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One has given him a stomach and appetite through which He allows him to understand all His Names and to taste all the varieties of His bounty, and He has generously laden the table with endless varieties of foods for man's stomach. He has made life a stomach too, like the physical one, and before the senses, which are like the hands of the stomach of life, has spread a most extensive table of bounties. Through its senses, life offers thanks for each sort of benefit on the table of bounties.
And after the stomach of life, He has bestowed on man the stomach of humanity, which requires sustenance and bounties in a wider sphere than life. Intelligence, mind, and imagination, like the hands of this stomach, benefit from the table of mercy, which is as broad as the heavens and the earth, and give thanks.
And after the stomach of humanity, He has spread before man another table of bounties which is infinitely vast. He has made the beliefs of
Islam like an immaterial stomach requiring much sustenance and has extended its table outside the sphere of contingency and included in it the Divine Names. Thus, through this stomach and the greatest pleasure of sustenance, man perceives the Names of All-Merciful and All-Wise and exclaims: "All praise be to God for His mercifulness and His wisdom!" And so on. Man is able to benefit from limitless Divine bounties through this vast immaterial stomach. And there is a further sphere in this stomach, which is the pleasure of Divine love....
Thus, the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One has made man a centre and pivot of the whole universe; He has spread before him a table of bounties as broad as the universe, and subjugated the universe to him. The reason for this and for the universe in one respect subsisting through the mystery of Self-Subsistence manifest through man are man's three important duties:
His First Duty
All the varieties of bounties dispersed throughout the universe are put into order through man. All those things beneficial to man are strung like prayer-beads on a string and the ends of the strings of those bounties tied to man's head. Man is thus made like a list of all the varieties of the treasuries of mercy.
His Second Duty
By reason of his comprehensiveness, this is for man to be the most perfect addressee of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One; through appreciating and admiring His astonishing arts, to be His loudest herald; and through offering every kind of conscious thanks, to give praise, glory, and thanks for all the varieties of His bounties and the limitless different sorts of His gifts.
His Third Duty
Through his life, it is to act as a mirror to the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One and His qualities and all-embracing attributes in three respects.
This is to perceive through his own absolute impotence the absolute power of his Creator and its levels, and through the degrees of his impotence, the degrees of His power. It is to understand through his own absolute poverty, His mercy and the degrees of His mercy, and through his own weakness, His strength; and so on. Through his own defective attributes, it is to be a mirror which is like a measuring instrument to his Creator's attributes of perfection. In the same way that the darkness of the night is a perfect mirror for displaying electric light, the
brilliance of the light being in proportion to the darkness of the night, man also acts as a mirror to the Divine perfections through his own defective attributes.
Using the universe as a yardstick and through his own partial will, tiny knowledge, minute power, and apparent ownership, and through buidling his own house, man understands and acts as a mirror to the ownership, art, will, power, and knowledge of the Fashioner of the universe.
Man's acting as a mirror in this respect has two faces:
It is to display in himself the ever-differing embroideries of the Divine Names. To put it simply, by reason of his comprehensiveness, man is like a tiny index and miniature specimen of the universe and so displays the embroideries of all the Names.
This face acts as a mirror to the Divine attributes. That is to say, just as man points to the life of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One through his own life, so too does he act as a mirror to and make known the attributes of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, like hearing and sight, by means of his own sense of hearing and sense of sight that develop during his life-time.
Furthermore, man acts as a mirror to the sacred attributes of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One through the very numerous and responsive senses, meanings, and emotions that are present with his life, which do not develop but which boil up in the form of feelings and emotions. For example, as a result of such emotions, through meanings like loving and feeling proud, pleased, happy and cheerful he acts as mirror to attributes of that sort, on condition that they are suitable and worthy for the sacredness and absolute self-sufficiency of the Most Pure and Holy Essence.
Also, through his comprehensive life, man is an instrument which recognizes and measures the attributes and qualities of the All-Glorious One, and is an index of the manifestation of His Names, and a conscious mirror, and so on, he acts as a mirror to the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One in many respects. So too is man a unit of measurement, an index, a scale, and a balance to the truths of the universe.
For example, an extremely decisive evidence of the existence of the Preserved Tablet in the universe and an example of it is the faculty of memory in man. And a decisive evidence of the existence of the World of Similitudes and an example of it is man's faculty of imagination. And an evidence of the existence of spirit beings in the universe and an example
of them are the powers and subtle faculties in man. And so on. In a small measure man may display, in a manner that cannot be denied, the truths of belief in the universe.
Thus, man performs many important functions like the duties mentioned above. He is a mirror to enduring beauty. He is the place of manifestation announcing sempiternal perfection. He is one needy and thankful for eternal mercy. Since beauty, perfection, and mercy are everlasting and eternal, it is surely necessary and inevitable that man, who is the desirous mirror to enduring beauty, the enraptured herald of everlasting perfection, and the one thankful and needy for eternal mercy, will go to an everlasting realm in order to remain there permanently, that he will go to eternity in order to accompany those eternal qualities, and will accompany that eternal Beauty, everlasting Perfection, and ever-enduring Mercy for all eternity.
For an eternal beauty cannot be content with an impermanent admirer, a mortal lover. Since beauty loves itself, it desires love in return for its love. Transience and impermanence transform such love into enmity. If man was not going to go to eternity and remain there permanently, in place of his innate love of eternal beauty there would be enmity.
As is described in a footnote in the Tenth Word, one time a celebrated beauty expelled a lover from her presence, whereupon his love turned into enmity and in order to console himself, he said: "Ugh! How ugly she is!", thus insulting and denying her beauty.
Indeed, man is hostile to what is unfamiliar to him in the same way that he quite simply wishes to be hostile to and discover the faults of things he cannot obtain or possess. Since, as the whole universe testifies, the True Beloved and Absolutely Beautiful One causes man to love Himself through His Most Beautiful Names, which are altogether exquisite, and desires man to love Him, then most certainly He would not endow man who is both His beloved and His lover with an innate enmity and cause him to be vexed with Himself from afar; He would not endow man's spirit with a hidden enmity which would be altogether contrary to man's nature, who is by his nature the most lovable and loving creature and the most exceptional that He has created for worship. For man would only be able to cure the deep wounds caused by eternal separation from
an Absolute Beauty that he loves and whose value he appreciates through enmity towards it, being vexed with, and denying it.
It is from this point that the enmity towards God Almighty of the unbelievers arises. In which case, the Pre-Eternal Beauty will surely make manifest in man a perpetual life in a permanent realm in order to be present together with him who is an enraptured mirror to Himself on the journey to post-eternity.
Since man has been created in such a way that by his very nature he longs for and loves an Ever-Enduring Beauty; and since an Ever-Enduring Beauty cannot be content with an impermanent lover; and since, in order to find consolation from the pain and sorrow arising from some aim that he does not know or cannot attain or possess, man pacifies himself through discovering the faults of such an aim, rather, through nurturing a hidden enmity towards it; and since the universe was created for man, and man was created to know and love God; and since the Creator of the universe, together with His Names, is eternal; and since the manifestation of His Names will be perpetual, everlasting, and post-eternal; then man will most certainly go to an everlasting realm and will manifest an everlasting life.
Furthermore the Arabian Prophet, Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who is the supreme guide and perfect man, made known and demonstrated in the most perfect form in himself and in his religion the value and all the perfections and duties we have explained above concerning man. This demonstrates that the universe was created for mankind and its aim and object is mankind. So too the aim and object of mankind, and its choicest and most valuable member, and its most brilliant mirror to the Single and Eternally Besought One is Ahmed Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace).
Upon whom and upon whose Family be blessings and peace to the number of good deeds of his Community. O God! O Most Merciful One! O Most Compassionate One! O Single One! O Ever-Living One! O Self-Subsistent One! O Sapient One! O All-Just One! O Most Holy One! We beseech You through the truth of Your All-Wise Criterion of Truth and Falsehood, the Qur'an, and through veneration for Your Most Noble Beloved, and through the truth of Your Most Beautiful Names, and through veneration for Your Greatest Name, to preserve us from the evil of the instinctual soul and of Satan and from the evil of jinn and of men. Amen.
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed You are All-Knowing, All-Wise!
THE THIRTY-FIRST FLASH
This has been assigned to The Rays. The Fourteeth Ray consists of the defence speeches and letters of Afyon Court and Prison, while the Fifteenth Ray has been named Elhüccetü'z-Zehrâ( The Shining Proof), and published.
THE THIRTY-SECOND FLASH
This consists of Lemeat, the last work of the Old Said, which, itself assuming the from of poetry, was written in twenty days during the month of Ramadan. It has been included in Turkish editions of Sözler(The Words).
THE THIRTY-THIRD FLASH
This consists of the works called in Arabic Katre, Habbe, Şemme, Zerre, Hubab, Zühre, and Şule, and their appendices, the first works of the New Said, inspired in his heart from 'reality' [hakikat], Turkish translations of them having been included in Mesneviyi Nûriye, part of the Risale-i Nur Collection, and published.
A Brief Look at the Life of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, the Risale-i Nur, and The Flashes Collection
The Flashes Collection forms the third volume of the Risale-i Nur Collection, a Qur'anic commentary written in Turkish by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and inspiration of a movement for the strengthening and renewal of belief that has continued to gain momentum from the time it was written to the present. Like the first two volumes, this Collection consists of thirty-three treatises or parts, set in order by the author. On various subjects, the main purpose of the pieces is similar to that of the Risale-i Nur as a whole; that is, the expounding of various Qur'anic verses and its teachings concerning the fundamentals of belief in a way that addresses modern man's understanding and is relevant to his needs. In order to assist readers in understanding better the nature of The Flashes Collection, included here is an outline of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's life and the writing of the Risale-i Nur.
Bediuzzaman's Life
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi was born in 1877 in eastern Turkey and died in 1960 in Urfa in Turkey. Readers may refer to his biography for details of his long and exemplary life, which spanned the last decades of the Ottoman Empire, its collapse after the First World War and the setting up of the Republic, then the twenty-five years of Republican Peoples' Party rule, well-known for the measures taken against Islam, followed by the ten years of Democrat rule, when conditions eased a little for Bediuzzaman.
Bediuzzaman displayed an extraordinary intelligence and ability to learn from an early age, completing the normal course of medrese (religious school) education at the early age of fourteen, when he obtained his diploma. He became famous for both his prodigious memory and his unbeaten record in debating with other religious scholars. Another characteristic Bediuzzaman displayed from an early age was an instinctive dissatisfaction with the existing education system, which when older he formulated into comprehensive proposals for its reform. The heart of these proposals was the bringing together and joint teaching of the traditional religious sciences and the modern sciences, together with the founding of a university in the Eastern Provinces of the Empire, the Medresetü'z-Zehra, where this and his other proposals would be put into
practice. In 1907 his endeavours in this field took him to Istanbul and an audience with Sultan Abdulhamid. Although subsequently he twice received funds for the construction of his university, and its foundations were laid in 1913, it was never completed due to war and the vicissitudes of the times.
Contrary to the practice of religious scholars at that time, Bediuzzaman himself studied and mastered almost all the physical and mathematical sciences, and later studied philosophy, for he believed that it was only in this way that Islamic theology (kalâm) could be renewed and successfully answer the attacks to which the Qur'an and Islam were then subject.
In the course of time, the physical sciences had been dropped from medrese education, which had contributed directly to the Ottoman decline relative to the advance of the West. Now, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Europe had gained dominance over the Islamic world, and in efforts to extend its dominance, was attacking the Qur'an and Islam in the name of science and progress in particular, falsely claiming them to be incompatible. Within the Empire too was a small minority which favoured adopting Western philosophy and civilization. Thus, all Bediuzzaman's endeavour was to prove and demonstrate the falseness of these accusations, and that far from being incompatible with science and progress, the Qur'an was the source of true progress and civilization, and in addition, since this was the case, Islam would dominate the future, despite its relative decline and regression at that time.
The years up to the end of the First World War were the final decades of the Ottoman Empire and were, in the words of Bediuzzaman, the period of the 'Old Said'. In additions to his endeavours in the field of learning, he served the cause of the Empire and Islam through active involvement in social life and the public domain. In the War, he commanded the militia forces on the Caucasian Front against the invading Russians, for which he as later awarded a War Medal. To maintain the morale of his men he himself disdained to enter the trenches inspite of the constant shelling, and it was while withstanding the overwhelming assaults of the enemy that he wrote his celebrated Qur'anic commentary, Signs of Miraculousness, dictating to a scribe while on horseback. Stating that the Qur'an encompasses the sciences which make known the physical world, the commentary is an original and important work which in Bediuzzaman's words forms a sort model for commentaries he hoped would be written in the future which would bring together the religious and modern sciences in the way he proposed. Bediuzzaman was taken prisoner in March 1916 and held in Russia for two years before escaping in early 1918, and returning to Istanbul via Warsaw, Berlin, and Vienna.
The defeat of the Ottomans saw the end of the Empire and its dismemberment, and the occupation of Istanbul and parts of Turkey by foreign forces. These bitter years saw also the transformation of the Old Said into the New Said, the second main period of Bediuzzaman's life. Despite the acclaim he received and services he performed as a member of the Darü'l-Hikmeti'l-Islâmiye, a learned body attached to the Shaykhu'l-Islam's Office, and combatting the British, Bediuzzaman underwent a profound mental and spiritual change in the process of which he turned his back on the world. Realizing the inadequacy of the "human" science and philosophy he had studied as a means of reaching the truth, he took the revealed Qur'an as his "sole guide." In recognition of his services to the Independence Struggle, Bediuzzaman was invited to Ankara by Mustafa Kemal, but on arrival there, found that at the very time of the victory of the Turks and Islam, atheistic ideas were being propagated among the Deputies and officials, and many were lax in performing their religious duties. He published various works which successfully countered this.
Remaining some eight months in Ankara, Bediuzzaman understood the way Mustafa Kemal and the new leaders were going to take, and on the one hand that he could not work alongside them, and on the other that they were not to be combatted in the realm of politics. And so, when offered various posts and benefits by Mustafa Kemal, he declined them and left Ankara for Van, where he withdrew into a life of worship and contemplation; he was seeking the best way to proceed.
Within a short time, Bediuzzaman's fears about the new regime began to be realized: the first steps were taken towards secularization and reducing the power of Islam within the state, and even its eradication from Turkish life. In early 1925 there was a rebellion in the east in which Bediuzzaman played no part, but as a consequence of which was sent into exile in western Anatolia along with many hundreds of others. Thus unjustly began twenty-five years of exile, imprisonment, and unlawful oppression for Bediuzzaman. He was sent to Barla, a tiny village in the mountains of Isparta Province. However, the attempt to entirely isolate and silence him had the reverse effect, for Bediuzzaman was both prepared and uniquely qualified to face the new challenge: these years saw the writing of the Risale-i Nur, which silently spread and took root, combatting in the most constructive way the attempt to uproot Islam, and the unbelief and materialist philosophy it was hoped to instil in the Muslim people of Turkey.
The Risale-i Nur
As the New Said, Bediuzzaman had immersed himself in the Qur'an, searching for a way to relate its truths to modern man. In Barla in his
isolation he began to write treatises explaining and proving these truths, for now the Qur'an itself and its truths were under direct attack. The first of these was on the Resurrection of the Dead, which in a unique style, proves bodily Resurrection rationally, where even the greatest scholars previously had confessed their impotence. He described the method employed in this as consisting of three stages: first God's existence is proved, and His Names and attributes, then the Resurrection of the Dead is "constructed" on these and proved.
With these writings, Bediuzzaman opened up a new, direct way to reality (haqiqat) and knowledge of God which he described as the highway of the Qur'an and way of the Companions of the Prophet (PBUH) through the "legacy of Prophethood," which gains for those who follow it "true and certain belief." He did not ascribe the writings to himself, but said they proceeded from the Qur'an itself, were "rays shining out of from [its] truths."
Thus, rather than being a Qur'anic commentary which expounds all its verses giving the immediate reasons for their revelation and the apparent meanings of the words and sentences, the Risale-i Nur is what is known as a mânevî tefsir, or commentary which expounds the meaning of the Qur'anic truths. For there are various sorts of commentaries. The verses mostly expounded in the Risale-i Nur are those concerned with the truths of belief, such as the Divine Names and attributes and the Divine activity in the universe, the Divine existence and Unity, resurrection, prophethood, Divine Determining or destiny, and man's duties of worship. Bediuzzaman explains how the Qur'an addresses all men in every age in accordance with the degree of their understanding and development; it has a face that looks to each age. The Risale-i Nur, then, explains that face of the Qur'an which looks to this age. We shall now look at further aspects of the Risale-i Nur related to this point.
In numerous of its verses, the Holy Qur'an invites man to observe the universe and reflect on the Divine activity within it; following just this method, Bediuzzaman provides proofs and explanations for the truths of belief. He likens the universe to a book, and looking at it in the way shown by the Qur'an, that is, 'reading' it for its meaning, learns of the Divine Names and attributes and other truths of belief. The book's purpose is to describe its Author and Maker; beings become evidences and signs to their Creator. Thus, an important element in the way of the Risale-i Nur is reflection or contemplation (tefekkür), "reading" the Book of the Universe in order to increase in knowledge of God and to obtain "true and certain belief" in all the truths of belief.
Bediuzzaman demonstrates that the irrefutable truths, such as Divine
Unity, arrived at in this way are the only rational and logical explanation of the universe, and making comparisons with Naturalist and Materialist philosophy-which have used science's findings about the universe to deny those truths, show the concepts on which they are based, such as causality and Nature, to be irrational and logically absurd.
Indeed, far from contradicting them, in uncovering the order and working of the universe, science broadens and deepens knowledge of the truths of belief. In the Risale-i Nur many descriptions of the Divine activity in the universe are looked at through the eyes of science, and reflect Bediuzzaman's knowledge of it. The Risale-i Nur shows that there is no contradiction or conflict between religion and science.
In addition, all these matters discussed in the Risale-i Nur are set out as reasoned arguments and proved according to logic. All the most important of the truths of belief are proved so clearly that even unbelievers can see their necessity. And so too, inspired by the Qur'an, even the most profound and inaccessible truths are made accessible by means of comparisons, which bring them close to the understanding like telescopes, so that they are readily understandable by ordinary people and those with no previous knowledge of these questions.
Another aspect of the Risale-i Nur related to the face of the Qur'an which looks to this age, is that it explains everything from the point of view of wisdom; that is, as is mentioned again below, it explains the purpose of everything. It considers things from the point of view of the Divine Name of All-Wise.
Also, following this method, in the Risale-i Nur Bediuzzaman solved many mysteries of religion, such as bodily resurrection and Divine Determining and man's will, and the riddle of the constant activity in the universe and the motion of particles, before which man relying on his own intellect and philosophy had been impotent.
While in Barla, Bediuzzaman put the treatise on Resurrection and the pieces that followed it together in the form of a collection and gave it the name of Sözler (The Words). The Words was followed by Mektûbat (Letters), a collection of thirty-three letters of varying lengths from Bediuzzaman to his students. And this was followed by Lem'alar, the present work, and Sualar, The Rays Collection, which was completed in 1949. Together with these are the three collections of Additional Letters, for each of Bediuzzaman's main places of exile, Barla Lahikasi, Kastamonu Lahikasi, and Emirdag Lahikasi.
The way the Risale-i Nur was written and disseminated was unique, like the work itself. Bediuzzaman would dictate at speed to a scribe, who
would write down the piece in question with equal speed; the actual writing was very quick. Bediuzzaman had no books for reference and the writing of religious works was of course forbidden. They were all written therefore in the mountains and out in the countryside. Handwritten copies were then made, these were secretly copied out in the houses of the Risale-i Nur 'students,' as they were called, and passed from village to village, and then from town to town, till they spread throughout Turkey. Only in 1946 were Risale-i Nur students able to obtain duplicating machines, while it was not till 1956 that The Words and other collections were printed on modern presses in the new, Latin, script. The figure given for hand-written copies is 600,000.
It may be seen from the above figure how the Risale-i Nur movement spread within Turkey, despite all efforts to stop it. After 1950, the period of what Bediuzzaman called 'the Third Said,' there was a great increase in the number of students, particularly among the young and those who had been through the secular education system of the Republic. At the same time the number of students outside Turkey increased. It is no exaggeration to say that with its conveying the Qur'anic message in a way that addresses and answers modern man's needs, the Risale-i Nur played a major role in keeping alive the Islamic faith in Turkey in those dark days, and in the resurgence of Islam that has occurred subsequently.
The Flashes Collection
To return to The Flashes Collection, a look at its contents shows that in accordance with the Qur'anic way described above, it proves and explains the main truths of belief. At the same time, it answers criticisms of these truths and of Qur'anic verses made by atheists. Examples of this are parts of the Twelfth, Fourteenth, and Sixteenth Flashes, which were written in reply to questions put to Bediuzzaman by his students. Others of the Flashes, particularly the Twenty-Third, the celebrated Treatise on Nature, and in the Sixth Point of the Thirtieth, the discussion on Divine Self-Subsistence, refute in readily understable manner Naturalist and Materialist philosophy.
It is also in the face of attempts to substitute Islam with such philosophy and the enforced innovations that accompanied these attempts, that Bediuzzaman's stress on adherence to the Practices (Sunna) of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) may be seen. Notably in the Eleventh Flash, and his solving of one of the chief points of conflict between the Sunnis and Shi'a in the Fourth-the question of 'the Imamate.'
The Flashes Collection is also distinguished from the first two volumes of the Risale-i Nur in so far as it considers social aspects of belief to
a greater extent. For example, the Twentieth Flash, On Sincerity, demonstrates that sincerity is the means of healing the divisions in society and achieving union. The Nineteenth encourages the important Islamic principle of frugality, for which Bediuzzaman himself was the finest example. The Twenty-Fourth discusses the wisdom in Islamic dress for women. While the Twenty-Fifth addresses the sick, and the Twenty-Sixth, the elderly.
One explanation for this may be that Bediuzzaman removed from his place of exile in the isolated village of Barla in the summer of 1934 to the provincial centre of Isparta. The Flashes which include the above were written here, where the needs of the various sections of society may have impressed themselves on Bediuzzaman to a greater degree.
In addition to this, it may be noted that in the Sixth Section of the Twenty-Ninth Letter, Bediuzzaman points out that of the six main sections of society, irreligion can offer only a superficial and temporary happiness to the youth. For the sick, the elderly, the weak and the poor, the children and the pious it can offer nothing. Thus, on being moved to the more populous centre of Isparta, he wrote the above-mentioned parts of The Flashes, demonstrating how true belief and Islam answer the needs of all sections of society, affording true happiness both in this world and the next.
In April 1935 Bediuzzaman was arrested together with one hundred and twenty of his students and sent to Eskishehir Prison. Here he wrote the Twenty-Seventh Flash, which comprises his defence speeches in Eskishehir Court, the Twenty-Eighth, short pieces on various topics, some of which throw important light on Qur'anic verses, the Twenty-Ninth, which illustrates the essence of the way of the Risale-i Nur-reflective thought, and the Thirtieth, another treatise of the greatest importance, which expounds the Six Divine Names of the Greatest Name. The first two parts of The Rays, the fourth volume of the Risale-i Nur, were also brilliant fruits of this harsh twelve months of imprisonment.
Despite being written under particular constraints and in particular conditions, the Risale-i Nur and the present work expound a universal Qur'anic way and deal with universal problems in a manner that addresses the needs of contemporary man. This may be seen as the reason for its continued spread and acceptance both within Turkey and throughout the world.