Risale-i Nur

continuously for fifty years and see everywhere and learn of every event with great difficulty, or else, spending millions of liras he would have had to become the owner, like the king, of a telegraph and telephone system as extensive as that of the state so that he could write a perfect work like his friend.

Similarly, And God's is the highest similitude, if innumerable things and creatures are attributed to a Single One of Unity, then through the connection, each thing becomes a place of manifestation. Through displaying the manifestation of the Pre-Eternal Sun, it acquires a connection with the laws of His wisdom, the principles of his knowledge, and the laws of His power. Then, through the Divine strength and power, it displays a manifestation of its Sustainer by which it has an eye which sees all things, a face which looks to all places, and words which have weight in all matters. If the connection is severed, the thing will also be cut off from all other things, it will be squeezed into the smallness of its own bulk. In which case, it would have to possess an absolute Divinity so that it might perform the functions described above.

In the way of Divine Unity and belief there is such an easiness and facility that it becomes necessary, while in the way of causes and assigning partners to God are such difficulties that it becomes impossible. For one person may, without trouble, accord one situation to numerous objects and obtain one result. If the taking of the situation and obtaining of the one result are referred to those numerous objects, it would only be with great trouble and much activity that the situation could be brought about and the result achieved.

For example, as is stated in the Third Letter, every night, every year, a glittering expedition and passage glorifying God is accomplished through setting in motion the army of the stars in the field of the heavens under the command of the sun and the moon. This is the alluring and captivating situation of the heavens. And the change and alternation of the seasons and other momentous affairs are brought about; and this is the exalted and purposeful result of the motion of the earth. If the situation of the heavens and result of the revolving earth are ascribed to Divine Unity, then the Pre-Eternal Monarch may easily appoint a soldier like the globe of the earth as commander of the heavenly bodies for the situation and the result to be achieved. After it has received its order, the earth will rise up with joy at its appointment to whirl and mention God's Names like a Mevlevi dervish. With slight expense that graceful situation will be obtained and the significant result come about.

However, if it is said to the earth: "You stop where you are, do not

interfere!"; and if to obtain the result and situation, it is referred to the heavens; and if the road of multiplicity and associating partners with God is taken rather than that of Divine Unity, it would then be necessary, every day and every year, to set in motion millions of stars which are thousands of times larger than the globe of the earth and to cut the distance of millions of years into that of twenty-four hours and of a year.

CONCLUSION

The Qur'an and the believers ascribe limitless creatures to One Maker. They attribute every matter directly to Him. They travel a road so easy it is necessary, and urge all towards it. While the people of rebellion, who ascribe partners to God, by attributing a single creature to innumerable causes, travel a road so beset with dificulties as to be impossible. In which case, those on the way of the Qur'an are together with all creatures, and those on the way of misguidance, with a single creature. Or to put it another way, the issuing of all things out of one is infinitely easier than the issuing of one thing out of many. In the same way that an officer commands a thousand soldiers as easily as one soldier, if the command of one soldier was to be assigned to a thousand officers, it would become as difficult as that of commanding a thousand soldiers, it would cause chaos.

Thus, this mighty verse hurls this truth at those who assign partners to God, shattering their unbelief:

God sets forth a parable: A man belonging to many partners [all of them] at variance with one another, and a man belonging wholly to one person: can the two be deemed equal as regards their condition? [Nay] all praise is due to God [alone]; but most of them do not understand this. {[*]:}

All glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed You are All-Knowing, All-Wise. {[*]:}

O God! Grant blessings and peace to our master Muhammad to the number of the particles of the universe, and to all his Family and Companions. Amen. And all praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds.

O God! O Unique One! O Single One! O Eternally Besought One! O You other than Whom there is no god, You are One, You have no partner! O You to Whom belongs the dominion and the praise! O You Who grants life and deals death! O You in Whose hand is all good! O You Who is powerful over all things! O You with Whom all things have their end! Through the truth of the mysteries of these phrases, appoint the propagator of this treatise and his friends and companions to bliss among the perfected affirmers of Divine Unity and the strictly veracious scholars and the believers conscious of God. Amen. O God! Through the truth of the mystery of Your Oneness make the disseminator of this book disseminate the mysteries of the profession of Your Unity and make his heart a place of manifestation for the lights of faith and his tongue speak of the truths of the Qur'an. Amen. Amen. Amen.

The Twenty-First Letter

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

Whether one or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, but address them in terms of honour. * And out of kindness, lower the wing of humility, and say: "My Sustainer! Bestow on them Your mercy even as they cherished me in childhood." * Your Sustainer knows best what is in your hearts: if you do deeds of righteousness, indeed he is Most Forgiving to those who turn to Him again and again [in true penitence]. {[*]:}

O heedless one in whose house is an elderly parent or an invalid or someone no longer able to work from among his relations or brothers in religion! Study the above verses carefully and see how on five levels in different ways it summons children to be kindly towards their elderly parents. Yes, the highest truth in this world is the compassion of parents towards their children, and the most elevated rights, their rights of respect in return for their compassion. For they sacrifice their lives with great pleasure, spending them for the sake of their children's lives. In which case, every child who has not lost his humanity and been transformed into a monster honours those respected, loyal, self-sacrificing friends, serves them sincerely, and tries to please them and make them happy. Uncles and aunts, maternal and paternal, are like parents.

So understand from this how base and lacking in conscience it is to be contemptuous towards those blessed elderly people, or to want their deaths. Know what a wicked wrong and iniquity it is to want the lives to pass of those who sacrificed their lives for yours.

O you who struggles to secure his livelihood! The means of plenty and mercy in your house, and the repeller of disaster, is that elderly or blind relative of yours, whom you belittle. Beware, do not say: "My income is little, I have difficulty in making ends meet," for if it was not for the plenty resulting from their presence, your circumstances would have been even more straitened. Believe this fact which I am telling you; I can prove it most decisively and can convince you. But in order not to prolong the discussion, I am cutting it short. Be content with this much. I swear that this is absolutely certain; my evil-commanding soul and own devil, even, have submitted to it. You should be convinced of a fact which has smashed my soul's obduracy and silenced my devil.

Yes, the All-Glorious and Munificent Creator, Who, as the universe testifies, is infinitely Merciful, Compassionate, Bountiful, and Generous, provides infants with the finest of sustenance when His sends them into this world, causing it to flow into their mouths from the springs of their mother's breasts. So too, He provides, in the form of plenty, the sustenance of the elderly, who are like children though even more in need and deserving of kindness and compassion. He does not burden the avaricious and miserly with their livelihood. All living creatures, all their species, declare through the tongues of their beings the truth expressed by the following verses:

For God is He Who gives [all] sustenance,-Lord of Power and Steadfast [for ever]. {[*]:} * How many are the creatures that carry not their own sustenance? It is God Who feeds [both] them and you; {[*]:}

they state this munificent truth. In fact it is not only elderly relations, certain creatures like cats, who are a friend to man-their sustenance also comes in the form of plenty, sent within the food of the human beings. An example which corroborates this and I myself observed is as follows: my close friends know that for two to three years my appointed lot every day was half a loaf of bread, the loaves in that village were small, and very often this was insufficient for me. Then four cats came and stayed with me as my guests, and that same portion was sufficient both for myself and for them. There was frequently even some left over.

This situation has recurred so often that it has made me certain that I was benefiting from the plenty resulting from the cats. I declare most definitely that they were not a load on me. Also, it was not they who were obliged to me, but I to them.

O man! If an animal which is as though wild is the means of plenty

when it comes as a guest to the house of a human being, you can compare for yourself what a means of plenty and mercy will be man, the noblest of creatures; and the believers, the most perfect of men; and the powerless and ailing elderly, the most worthy of respect and compassion among the believers; and relatives, the most worthy and deserving of kindness, love, and to be served among the ailing elderly; and parents, who are the truest and most loyal friends among relatives, if they are present in a house in their old age. According to the meaning of, "If it was not for the elderly, bent double with age, calamities would be visited on you in floods," {[*]:} you can see what an important cause they are of disasters being repelled.

O man, come to your senses! If you do not die earlier, you too will become old. If you do not honour your parents, in accordance with the meaning of, "the punishment is similar to the act that required it," your children will not be dutiful towards you. If you love your life in the hereafter, this is an important treasury for you: be dutiful towards them and gain their pleasure. While if it is this world that you love, still try to please them, so that through them your life will be easy and your sustenance plentiful. For if you are contemptuous of them, wish for their deaths, and wound their sensitive and easily hurt hearts, you will manifest the meaning of the verse,

They lose both this world and the hereafter. {[*]:}

If you want the mercy of the Most Merciful One, be merciful towards those in your house whom He has entrusted to you.

There was someone called Mustafa ?avu-, one of my brothers of the hereafter. I used to observe that he was very successful both in his religious life and his worldly life. I did not know the reason for this. Then I later understood that the reason for his success was that he had understood the rights of his elderly parents and he observed them to the letter; due to them he had found ease and mercy. God willing, he repaired his life in the hereafter as well. Those who wish for good fortune should try to resemble him...

O God, grant blessings and peace to the one who said: "Paradise is beneath the feet of mothers," {[*]:} and to all his Family and Companions.

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.

The Twenty-Second Letter

[This letter consists of Two Topics; the First summons believers to brotherhood and love.]

Verily the believers are brethren; so reconcile then your brothers. {[*]:} * Repel evil with what is better than it; then the one between whom and yourself enmity prevails will become like your friend and intimate. {[*]:} * Those who suppress their anger and forgive people-verily God loves those who do good. {[*]:}

Dispute and discord among the believers, and partisanship, obstinacy and envy, leading to rancour and enmity among them, are repugnant and vile, are harmful and sinful, by the combined testimony of wisdom and the supreme humanity that is Islam, for personal, social, and spiritual life. They are in short, poison for the life of man. We will set forth six of the extremely numerous aspects of this truth.

{[*]:}

FIRST ASPECT

They are sinful in the view of truth.

O unjust man nurturing rancour and enmity against a believer! Let us suppose that you were on a ship, or in a house, with nine innocent people and one criminal. If someone were to try to make the ship sink, or to set the house on fire, because of that criminal, you know how great a sinner he would be. You would cry out to the heavens against his sinfulness. Even if there were one innocent man and nine criminals aboard the ship, it would be against all rules of justice to sink it.

So too, if there are in the person of a believer, who may be compared to a dominical dwelling, a Divine ship, not nine, but as many as twenty innocent attributes such as belief, Islam, and neighbourliness; and if you then nurture rancour and enmity against him on account of one criminal attribute that harms and displeases you, attempting or desiring the sinking of his being, the burning of his house, then you too will be a criminal guilty of a great atrocity.

SECOND ASPECT

They are also sinful in the view of wisdom, for it is obvious that enmity and love are opposites, just like light and darkness; while maintaining their respective essences, they cannot be combined.

If love is truly found in a heart, by virtue of the predomination of the causes that produce it, then enmity in that heart can only be metaphorical, and takes on the form of compassion. The believer loves and should love his brother, and is pained by any evil he sees in him. He attempts to reform him not with harshness but gently. It is for this reason that the Hadith of the Prophet says, "No believer should be angered with another and cease speaking to him for more than three days." {[*]:}

If the causes that produce enmity predominate, and true enmity takes up its seat in a heart, then the love in that heart will become metaphorical, and take on the form of artifice and flattery.

O unjust man! See now what a great sin is rancour and enmity toward a brother believer! If you were to say that ordinary small stones are more valuable than the Ka'ba and greater than Mount Uhud, it would be an ugly absurdity. So too, belief which has the value of the Ka'ba, and Islam which has the splendour of Mount Uhud, as well as other Islamic attributes, demand love and concord; but if you prefer to belief and Islam certain

shortcomings which arouse hostility, but in reality are like the small stones you too will be engaging in great injustice, foolishness, and sin!

The unity of belief necessitates also the unity of hearts, and the oneness of our creed demands the oneness of our society. You cannot deny that if you find yourself in the same regiment as someone, you will form a friendly attachment to him; a brotherly relation will come into being as a result of your both being submitted to the orders of a single commander. You will similarly experience a fraternal relation through living in the same town with someone. Now there are ties of unity, bonds of union, and relations of fraternity as numeous as the Divine Names that are shown and demonstrated to you by the light and consciousness of belief.

Your Creator, Owner, Object of Worship, and Provider is one and the same for both of you; thousands of things are and the same for you. Your Prophet, your religion, your qibla are one and the same; hundreds of things are one and the same for you. Then too your village is one, your state is one, your country is one; tens of things are one and the same for you. All of these things held in common dictate oneness and unity, union and concord, love and brotherhood, and indeed the cosmos and the planets are similarly interlinked by unseen chains. If, despite all this, you prefer things worthless and transient as a spider's web that give rise to dispute and discord, to rancour and enmity, and engage in true enmity towards a believer, then you will understand -unless your heart is dead and your intelligence extinguished- how great is your disrespect for that bond of unity, your slight to that relation of love, your transgression against that tie of brotherhood!

THIRD ASPECT

In accordance with the meaning of the verse:

No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another, {[*]:}

which expresses pure justice, to nurture rancour and enmity towards a believer is like condemning all the innocent attributes found in him on account of one criminal attribute, and is hence an act of great injustice. If you go further and include in your enmity all the relatives of a believer on account of a single evil attribute of his, then, in accordance with the following verse in which the active participle is in the intensive form,

Verily man is much given to wrongdoing, {[*]:}

you will have committed a still greater sin and transgression, against which

truth, the Shari'a and the wisdom of Islam combine to warn you. How then can you imagine yourself to be right, and say: "I am in the right"?

In the view of truth, the cause for enmity and all forms of evil is in itself evil and is dense like clay: it cannot infect or pass on to others. If someone learns from it and commits evil, that is another question. Good qualities that arouse love are luminous like love; it is part of their function to be transmitted and produce effects. It is for this reason that the proverb has come into being, "The friend of a friend is a friend," and also that it is said, "Many eyes are beloved on account of one eye."

So O unjust man! If such be the view of truth, you will understand now, if you have the capacity for seeing the truth, how great an offence it is to cherish enmity for the likeable and innocent brothers and relatives of a man you dislike.

FOURTH ASPECT

It is a sin from the point of view of personal life. Listen to the following four Principles which are the base of this Fourth Aspect.

When you know your way and opinions to be true, you have the right to say, "My way is right and the best." But you do not have the right to say, "Only my way is right." According to the sense of "The eye of contentment is too dim to perceive faults; it is the eye of anger that exhibits all vice;" {[*]:} your unjust view and distorted opinion cannot be the all-decisive judge and cannot condemn the belief of another as invalid.

It is your right that all that you say should be true, but not that you should say all that is true. For one of insincere intention may sometimes take unkindly to advice, and react against it unfavourably.

If you wish to nourish enmity, then direct it against the enmity in your heart, and attempt to rid yourself of it. Be an enemy to your evil-commanding soul and its caprice and attempt to reform it, for it inflicts more harm on you than all else. Do not engage in enmity against other believers on account of that injurious soul. Again, if you wish to cherish enmity, there are unbelievers and atheists in great abundance; be hostile to them. In the same way that the attribute of love is fit to receive love as its response, so too enmity will receive enmity as its own fitting response. If you wish to defeat your enemy, then respond to his evil with good. For if you respond with evil, enmity will increase, and even though he will be outwardly defeated, he will nurture hatred in

his heart, and hostility will persist. But if you respond to him with good, he will repent and become your friend. The meaning of the lines: If you treat the noble nobly, he will be yours, and if you treat the vile nobly, he will revolt, {[*]:} is that it is the mark of the believer to be noble, and he will become submitted to you by noble treatment. And even if someone is apparently ignoble, he is noble with respect to his belief. It often happens that if you tell an evil man, "You are good, you are good," he will become good; and if you tell a good man, "You are bad, you are bad," he will become bad. Hearken, therefore, to these sacred principles of the Qur'an, for happiness and safety are to be found in them:

If they pass by futility, they pass by it in honourable disdain. {[*]:} * If you forgive, pardon, and relent, verily God is All-Relenting, Merciful. {[*]:}

Those who cherish rancour and enmity transgress against their own souls, their brother believer, and Divine mercy. For such a person condemns his soul to painful torment with his rancour and enmity. He imposes torment on his soul whenever his enemy receives some bounty, and pain from fear of him. If his enmity arises from envy, then it is the most severe form of torment. For envy in the first place consumes and destroys the envier, and its harm for the one envied is either slight or nonexistent.

Let the envious reflect on the ultimate fate of those things that arouse his enmity. Then he will understand that the beauty, strength, rank, and wealth possessed by his rival are transient and temporary. Their benefit is slight, and the anxiety they cause is great. If it is a question of personal qualities that will gain him reward in the hereafter, they cannot be an object of envy. But if one does envy another on account of them, then he is either himself a hypocrite, wishing to destroy the goods of the hereafter while yet in this world, or he imagines the one whom he envies to be a hypocrite, thus being unjust towards him.

If he rejoices at the misfortunes he suffers and is grieved by the bounties he receives, it is as if he is offended by the kindness shown towards him by Divine Determining and Divine Mercy, as if he were criticizing and objecting to them. Whoever criticizes Divine Determining is striking his head against an anvil on which it will break, and whoever objects to Divine Mercy will himself be deprived of it.

How might justice and sound conscience accept that the response to

something worth not even a day's hostility should be a year's rancour and hostility? You cannot condemn a brother believer for some evil you experience at his hand for the following reasons:

Firstly, Divine Determining has a certain share of responsibility. It is necessary to deduct that share from the total and respond to it with contentment and satisfaction.

Secondly, the share of the soul and Satan should also be deducted, and one should pity the man for having been overcome by his soul and await his repentance instead of becoming his enemy.

Thirdly, look at the defect in your own soul that you do not see or do not wish to see; deduct a share for that too. As for the small share which then remains, if you respond with forgiveness, pardon, and magnanimity, in such a way as to conquer your enemy swiftly and safely, then you will have escaped all sin and harm. But if, like some drunken and crazed person who buys up fragments of glass and ice as if they were diamonds, you respond to worthless, transient, temporary, and insignificant happenings of this world with violent enmity, permanent rancour, and perpetual hostility, as if you were going to remain in the world with your enemy for all eternity, it would be extreme transgression, sinfulness, drunkenness, and lunacy.

If then you love yourself, do not permit this harmful hostility and desire for revenge to enter your heart. If it has entered your heart, do not listen to what it says. Hear what truth-seeing Hafiz of Shiraz says: "The world is not a commodity worth arguing over." It is worthless since it is transient and passing. If this is true of the world, then it is clear how worthless and insignficant are the petty affairs of the world! Hafiz also said: "The tranquillity of both worlds lies in the understanding of these two words: generosity towards friends, forbearance towards enemies."

"I have no choice, there is enmity within my disposition. I cannot overlook those who antagonize me."

If evil character and bad disposition do not exhibit any trace, and you do not act with ill intention, there is no harm. If you have no choice in the matter, then you are unable to abandon your enmity. If you recognize your defect and understand that you are wrong to have that attribute, it will be a form of repentance and seeking of forgiveness for you, thus delivering you from its evil effects. In fact, we have written this Topic of the Letter in order to make possible such a seeking of forgiveness, to distinguish right from wrong, and to prevent enmity from being displayed as rightful.

I once saw, as a result of biased partisanship, a pious scholar of religion going so far in his condemnation of another scholar with whose political opinions he disagreed as to imply that he was an unbeliever. He also praised with respect a dissembler who shared his own opinions. I was appalled at these evil results of political involvement. I said: "I take refuge with God from Satan and politics," and from that time on withdrew from politics.

FIFTH ASPECT

Obstinacy and partisanship are extremely harmful in social life.

"There is a Hadith which says: 'Difference among my people is an instance of Divine Mercy,' {[*]:} and difference requires partisanship.

The sickness of partisanship also delivers the oppressed common people from the oppressor elite, for if the elite of a town or village join together, they will destroy the oppressed common people. If there is partisanship, the oppressed may seek refuge with one of the parties and thus save himself.

It is also from the confrontation of opinions and the contradiction of views that truth becomes apparent in its full measure."

The difference intended in the Hadith is a positive difference. That is, each party strives to promote and diffuse its own belief; it does not seek to tear down and destroy that of the other, but rather to improve and reform it. Negative difference is rejected by the Hadith, for it aims in partisan and hostile fashion at mutual destruction, and those who are at each other's throats cannot act positively.

If partisanship is in the name of truth, it can become a refuge for those seeking their rights. But as for the partisanship obtaining now, biased and self-centred, it can only be a refuge for the unjust and a point of support for them. For if a devil comes to a man engaged in biased partisanship, encourages him in his ideas and takes his side, that man will call down God's blessings on the Devil. But if the opposing side is joined by a man of angelic nature, then he will -may God protect us!- go so far as to invoke curses upon him.

If the confrontation of views takes place in the name of justice and for the sake of truth, then the

difference concerns only means; there is unity with respect to aim and basic purpose. Such a difference makes manifest every aspect of the truth and serves justice and truth. But what emerges from a confrontation of views that is partisan and biased, and takes place for the sake of a tyrannical, evil-commanding soul, that is based on egotism and fame-seeking -what emerges from this is not the 'flash of truth,' but the fire of dissension. Unity of aim is necessary, but opposing views of this kind can never find a point of convergence anywhere on earth. Since they do not differ for the sake of the truth, they multiply ad infinitum, and give rise to divergences that can never be reconciled.

If one does not make of the exalted rules, "Love for the sake of God, dislike for the sake of God, judgement for the sake of God" {[*]:} the guiding principles of one's conduct, dispute and discord will result. If one does not say, "dislike for the sake of God, judgement for the sake of God" and take due account of those principles, one's attempts to do justice will result in injustice.

Imam 'Ali (May God be pleased with him) once threw an unbeliever to the ground. As he drew his sword to kill him, the unbeliever spat in his face. He released him without killing him. The unbeliever said: "Why did you not kill me?" He replied: "I was going to kill you for the sake of God. But when you spat at me, I became angered and the purity of my intention was clouded by the inclinations of my soul. It is for this reason that I did not kill you." The unbeliever replied: "If your religion is so pure and disinterested, it must be the truth."

When once a judge showed signs of anger while cutting off the hand of a thief, the just ruler who chanced to observe him dismissed him from his post. For if he had cut the hand in the name of the Shari'a, his soul would have felt pity for the victim; he would have cut it off in a manner devoid of both anger and mercy. Since the inclinations of his soul had had some share in his deed, he did not perform the act with justice.

A regrettable social condition and an awesome disease affecting the life of society, fit to be wept over by the heart of Islam: to forget and abandon internal enmities when foreign enemies appear and attack is a demand of social welfare recognized and enacted even by the most primitive peoples. What then ails those who claim to be serving the Islamic community that at a time when numberless enemies are taking up positions to attack, one after the other, they fail to forget their petty enmities,

and instead prepare the ground for the enemies' attacks? It is disgraceful savagery, and treason committed against the social life of Islam.

There were two groups of the Hasanan, a tribe of nomads, hostile to each other. Although more than maybe fifty people had been killed on each side, when another tribe such as the Sibgan or Haydaran came out against them, those two hostile groups would forget their enmity and fight together, shoulder to shoulder, until the opposing tribe had been repelled, without ever once recalling their internal dissensions.

O Believers! Do you know how many tribes of enemies have taken up position to attack the tribe of the people of belief? There are more than a hundred of them, like a series of concentric circles. The believers are obliged to take up defensive positions, each supporting the other and giving him a helping hand. Is it then at all fitting for the people of belief that with their biased partisanship and hostile rancour they should facilitate the attack of the enemy and fling open the doors for him to penetrate the fold of Islam? There are maybe seventy circles of enemies, including the misguided, the atheist, and the unbeliever, each of them as harmful to you as all the terrors and afflictions of this world, and each of them regarding you with greed, anger and hatred. Your firm weapon, shield and citadel against all of them is none other than the brotherhood of Islam. So realize just how contrary to conscience and to the interests of Islam it is to shake the citadel of Islam on account of petty hostilities and other pretexts! Know this, and come to your senses!

According to a noble Hadith of the Prophet (PBUH), noxious and awesome persons like Sufyan and the Dajjal will come to rule over the godless at the end of time, and exploiting the greed, discord and hatred amongst the Muslims and mankind, they will need only a small force to reduce humanity to anarchy and the vast world of Islam to slavery.

O people of faith! If you do not wish to enter a humiliating condition of slavery, come to your senses and enter and take refuge in the citadel of:

Indeed the believers are brothers, {[*]:}

to defend yourselves against those oppressors who would exploit your differences! Otherwise you will be able neither to protect your lives nor to defend your rights. It is evident that if two champions are wrestling with each other, even a child can beat them. If two mountains are balanced in the scales, even a small stone can disturb their equilibrium and

cause one to rise and the other to fall. So O people of belief! Your strength is reduced to nothing as a result of your passions and biased partisanships, and you can be defeated by the slightest forces. If you have any interest in your social solidarity, then make of the exalted principle of "The believers are together like a well-founded building, one part of which supports the other" {[*]:} your guiding principle in life! Then you will be delivered from humiliation in this world and wretchedness in the hereafter.

SIXTH ASPECT

Spiritual life and correctness of worship will suffer as a result of enmity and rancour, since the purity of intention that is the means of salvation will be damaged. For a biased person will desire superiority over his enemy in the good deeds that he performs and will be unable to act purely for the sake of God. He will also prefer, in his judgement and dealings, the one who takes his side; he will be unable to be just. Thus the purity of intention and the justice that are the bases of all good acts and deeds will be lost on account of enmity and hostility.

The Sixth Aspect is extremely complex, but we will cut it short here since this is not the place to enlarge on it.

Second Topic

Verily God it is Who gives all sustenance, Lord of Power and Steadfast. {[*]:} * How many are the creatures that carry not their own sustenance? It is God Who provides for them and for you; He is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. {[*]:}

O people of belief! You will have understood by now how harmful is enmity. Understand too that greed is another awesome disease, as harmful for the life of Islam as enmity. Greed brings about disappointment, deficiency, and humiliation; it is the cause of deprivation and abjection. The humiliation and abjection of the Jews, who more than any other people have leaped greedily upon the world, is a decisive proof of this truth. Greed demonstrates its evil effects throughout the animate world, from the most universal of species to the most particular of individuals. To seek out one's sustenance while placing one's trust in God will, by constrast, bring about tranquillity and demonstrate everywhere its beneficient effects.

Thus, fruit trees and plants, which are a species of animate being insofar as they require sustenance, remain contentedly rooted where they are, placing their trust in God and not evincing any greed; it is for this reason that their sustenance hastens toward them. They breed too far more offspring than do the animals. The animals, by contrast, pursue their sustenance greedily, and for this reason are able to attain it only imperfectly and at the cost of great effort. Within the animal kingdom it is only the young who, as it were, evince their trust in God by proclaiming their weakness and impotence; hence it is that they receive in full measure their rightful and delicate sustenance from the treasury of Divine mercy. But savage beasts that pounce greedily on their sustenance can hope only for an illicit and coarse sustenance, attained through the expenditure of great effort. These two examples show that greed is the cause of deprivation, while trust in God and contentment are the means to God's mercy.

In the human kingdom, the Jews have clung to the world more greedily and have loved its life with more passion than any other people, but the usurious wealth they have gained with great efforts is merely illicit property over which they exercise temporary stewardship, and it benefits them little. It earns them, on the contrary, the blows of abjection and humiliation, of death and insult, that are rained down on them by all peoples. This shows that greed is a source of humiliation and loss. There are in addition so many instances of a greedy person being exposed to loss that "the greedy is subject to disappointment and loss" has become a universally accepted truth. This being the case, if you love wealth, seek it not with greed but with contentment, so that you may have it in abundance.

The content and the greedy are like two men who enter the audience-hall of a great personage. One of them says to himself: "It is enough that he should admit me so that I can escape from the cold outside. Even if he motions me to sit in the lowest position, I will count it as a kindness."

The second man says arrogantly, as if he had some right in the matter and everyone were obliged to respect him: "I should be assigned the highest position." He enters with greed and fixes his gaze on the highest positions, wishing to advance toward them. But the master of the audience-hall turns him back and seats him in a lower position. Instead of thanking him as he should, he is angered against him in his heart and criticizes him. The lord of the palace will be offended by him.

The first man enters most humbly and wishes to sit in the lowest position. His modesty pleases the lord of the audience-hall, and he invites him to sit in a higher position. His gratitude increases, and his thankfulness is augmented.

Now this world is like an audience-hall of the Most Merciful One. The surface of the globe is like a banqueting spread laid out by His mercy. The differing degrees of sustenance and grades of bounty correspond to the seating positions in the audience-hall.

Furthermore, even in the minutest of affairs everyone can experience the evil effects of greed. For example, everyone knows in his heart that when two beggars request something, he will be offended by the one who greedily importunes him, and refuse his request; whereas he will take pity on the peaceable one and give him what he asks.

Or to give another example, if you are unable to fall asleep at night and wish to do so, you may succeed if you remain detached. But if you desire sleep greedily, and say: "Let me sleep, let me sleep," then sleep will quit you entirely.

Yet another example is this, that if you greedily await the arrival of someone for some important purpose and continually say: "He still hasn't come," ultimately you will lose patience and get up and leave. But one minute later the person will come, and your purpose will be frustrated.

The reason for all this is as follows. The production of a loaf of bread requires a field to be cultivated and harvested, the grain to be taken to a mill, and the loaf to be baked in an oven. So too in the arrangement of all things there is a certain slow deliberation decreed by God's wisdom. If on account of greed one fails to act with slow deliberation, one will fail to notice the steps one must mount in the arrangement of all things; he will either fall or be unable to traverse the steps, and in either event will not reach his goal.

O brothers giddied by preoccupation with your livelihood, and drunk on your greed for this world! Greed is harmful and pernicious; how is it then that you commit all kinds of abject deed for the sake of your greed; accept all kinds of wealth, without concern for licit or illicit; and sacrifice much of the hereafter? On account of your greed you even abandon one of the most important pillars of Islam, the payment of zakat, although zakat is for everyone a means of attracting plenty and repelling misfortune. The one who does not pay zakat is bound to lose the amount of money he would otherwise have paid: either he will spend it on some useless object, or it will be taken from him by some misfortune.

In a veracious dream that came to me during the fifth year of the First World War, the following question was put to me:

"What is the reason for this hunger, financial loss, and physical trial that now afflicts the Muslims?"

I replied in the dream:

"From the wealth He bestows upon us, God Almighty required from us either a tenth or a fortieth {(*):} so that we may benefit from the grateful prayers of the poor, and rancour and envy may be prevented. But in our greed and covetousness we refused to give zakat, and God Almighty has taken from us a thirtieth where a fortieth was owed, and an eighth where a tenth was owed.

"He required of us to undergo, for no more than one month each year, a hunger with seventy beneficial purposes. But we took pity on our instinctual souls, and did not undergo that temporary pleasurable hunger

God Almighty then punished us by compelling us to fast for five years, with a hunger replete with seventy kinds of misfortune.

"He also required of us, out of each period of twenty-four hours, one hour to be spent in a form of Divine drill, pleasing and sublime, luminous and beneficial. But in our laziness we neglected the duty of prayer. That single hour was joined to the other hours and wasted. As penance, God Almighty then caused us to undergo a form of drill and physical exertion that took the place of prayer."

I then awoke, and upon reflection realized that an extremely important truth was contained in that dream. As proven and explained in the Twenty-Fifth Word, when comparing modern civilization with the principles of the Qur'an, all immorality and instability in the social life of man proceeds from two sources:

The First: "Once my stomach is full, what do I care if others die of hunger?"

The Second: "You work, and I'll eat."

That which perpetuates these two is the prevalence of usury and interest on the one hand, and the abandonment of zakat on the other. The only remedy able to cure these two awesome social diseases lies in implementing zakat as a universal principle and in forbidding usury. Zakat is a most essential support of happiness not merely for individuals and particular societies, but for all of humanity. There are two classes of men: the upper classes and the common people. It is only zakat that will induce compassion and generosity in the upper classes toward the common people, and respect and obedience in the common people toward the upper classes. In the absence of zakat, the upper classes will descend on the common people with cruelty and oppression, and the common people will rise up against the upper classes in rancour and rebellion. There will be a constant struggle, a persistent opposition between the two classes of men. It will finally result in the confrontation of capital and labour, as happened in Russia.

O people of nobility and good conscience! O people of generosity and liberality! If acts of generosity are not performed in the name of zakat, there are three harmful results. The act may have no effect, for if you do not give in the name of God, you are in effect imposing an obligation, and imprisoning some wretched pauper with a sense of obligation. Then you will be deprived of his prayer, a prayer which would be most acceptable in the sight of God. In reality you are nothing but an official entrusted with the distribution of God Almighty's bounties among His servants; but if you imagine yourself to be the owner of wealth, this is an

act of ingratitude for the bounties you have received. If, on the contrary, you give in the name of zakat, you will be rewarded for having given in the name of God Almighty; you will have offered thanks for bounties received. The needy person too will not be compelled to fawn and cringe in front of you; his self-respect will not be injured, and his prayer on your behalf will be accepted. See how great is the difference between, on the one hand, giving as much as one would in zakat, but earning nothing but the harm of hypocrisy, fame, and the imposition of obligation; and, on the other hand, performing the same good deeds in the name of zakat, and thereby fulfilling a duty, and gaining a reward, the virtue of sincerity, and the prayers of those whom you have benefited?

Glory be unto You; we have no knowledge save that which you have taught us; indeed, you are All-Knowing, All-Wise. {[*]:}

O God, grant blessings and peace to our master Muhammad, who said: "The believer is with respect to the believer like a firm building, of which one part supports the other," {[*]:} and who said too that "Contentment is a treasure that never perishes," {[*]:} and to his Family and his Companions. And praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds.

Conclusion

In the Fifth Point of the First Ray of the First Light of the Twenty-Fifth Word, a single Qur'anic verse having the effect of discouraging and restraining was shown to induce repugnance at backbiting in six miraculous ways. It was shown too how abominable a thing is backbiting in the view of the Qur'an, and that there is therefore no need for any further explanation of the subject. Indeed, after the Qur'an has made its declaration, there is neither the possibility nor the need for anything further.

The Qur'an reproaches the backbiter with six reproaches in the verse:

Would any among you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? {[*]:}

and forbids him to commit this sin with six degrees of severity. When the verse is directed to those persons actually engaged in backbiting, its meaning is the following.

As is well-known, the hamza at the beginning of the verse has an interrogative sense. This interrogative sense penetrates all the words of the verse like water, so that each word acquires an additional meaning. Thus the first word asks, with its hamza:" Is it that you have no intelligence capable of discrimination, so that you fail to perceive the ugliness of this thing?"

The second word like asks: "Is your heart, the seat of love and hatred, so corrupted that it loves the most repugnant of things?"

The third word any a mong you asks: "What befell your sense of social and civilized responsibility that you are able to accept something poisonous to social life?"

The fourth word to eat the flesh asks: "What has befallen your sense of humanity that you are tearing your friend apart with your fangs like a wild animal?"

The fifth word of his brother asks: "Do you have no fellow-feeling, no sense of kinship, that you are able to sink your teeth into some wretch who is tied to you by numerous links of brotherhood? Do you have no intelligence that you are able to bite into your own limbs with your own teeth, in such lunatic fashion?"

The sixth word dead asks: "Where is your conscience? Is your nature so corrupt that you abandon all respect and act so repugnantly as to consume your brother's flesh?"

According then to the total sense of the verse, as well as the indications of each of its words, slander and backbiting are repugnant to the intelligence and the heart, to humanity and conscience, to nature and social consciousness.

You see then that the verse condemns backbiting in six miraculous degrees and restrains men from it in six miraculous ways. Backbiting is the vile weapon most commonly used by the people of enmity, envy, and obstinacy, and the self-respecting will never stoop to employing so unclean a weapon. Some celebrated person once said: "I never stoop to vexing my enemy with backbiting, for backbiting is the weapon of the weak, the low, and the vile."

Backbiting consists of saying that which would be a cause of dislike and vexation to the person in question if he were to be present and hear it. Even if what is said is true, it is still backbiting. If it is a lie, then it is both backbiting and slander and a doubly loathsome sin.

Backbiting can be permissible in a few special instances:

If a complaint be presented to some official, so that with his help evil be removed and justice restored.

If a person contemplating co-operation with another comes to seek your advice, and you say to him, purely for the sake of his benefit and to advise him correctly, without any self-interest: "Do not co-operate with him; it will be to your disadvantage."

If the purpose is not to expose someone to disgrace and notoriety, but simply to make people aware, and one says: "That foolish, confused man went to such-and-such a place."

If the subject of backbiting is an open and unashamed sinner; is not troubled by evil, but on the contrary takes pride in the sins he commits; finds pleasure in his wrongdoing; and unhesitatingly sins in the most evident fashion.

In these particular cases, backbiting may be permissible, if it be done

without self-interest and purely for the sake of truth and communal welfare. But apart from them, it is like a fire that consumes good deeds like a flame eating up wood.

If one has engaged in backbiting, or willingly listened to it, one should say: "O God, forgive me and him concerning whom I spoke ill," and say to the subject of backbiting, whenever one meets him: "Forgive me."

The Twenty-Third Letter

Peace be upon you, and God's blessings and mercy for ever, to the number of the seconds of the minutes of your life and the particles of your body!

My Dear, Enterprising, Serious, True, Sincere, and Sagacious Brother!

For brothers of the hereafter and the truth like us, differences of time and place form no obstacle to their conversing and intimacy. Even if one is in the East, one in the West, one in the past, one in the future, one in this world, and one in the hereafter, they still may be considered as being together and they may talk together. Especially those who have undertaken the same duty to achieve the same goal; they may all be considered to be the same. Every morning I imagine that you are here with me, and I make over a part, a third, of my spiritual gains to you. May God find them acceptable! You are together with Abdülmecid {[*]:} and Abdurrahman {[*]:} in my prayers; God willing, you always receive your share. Your suffering certain difficulties in regard to worldly life saddened me a little, for your sake. But since this world is not eternal and there is a form of good present in disasters, it occurred to me to say, "This too will pass," on your behalf. I thought of the Hadith: "There is no livelihood, save that of the hereafter." {[*]:} I recited the verse:

«God is with those who patiently persevere.» {[*]:} I said: "To God do we belong, and to Him is our return." {[*]:} I found consolation in place of you. If Almighty God loves a servant of His, He makes him feel disgust with the world, showing it to be ugly. God willing, you belong to that class of those beloved by God. Do not let the multiplication of the obstacles preventing the spreading of the Words upset you. God willing, when the amount you have distributed come to manifest Divine mercy, those light-filled seeds will open a profusion of flowers.

You asked a number of questions. My dear brother! The majority of the Words and Letters which have been written occurred to my heart instantaneously, without the exercise of will; and they turned out very well. If I reply to you relying on my will and strength of knowledge and thought like the Old Said, the answers will turn out dull and deficient. For some time now, the inspirations of the heart have ceased and the whip of the memory been broken; but so that you should not be deprived of an answer, I shall reply extremely briefly to each of them.

YOUR FIRST QUESTION

What is the best way believers can pray for one another?

It has to be within the bounds of what is acceptable, for supplications become acceptable under certain conditions; their acceptability increases as these conditions are fulfilled. For instance, when supplications are to be made, a person should be purified spiritually by seeking forgiveness; then he should recite benedictions (salawat) for the Prophet (PBUH), an acceptable prayer, for intercession; and following his supplication, he should again recite the salawat. For a prayer offered between two such acceptable prayers itself becomes acceptable; as is praying for another without their knowledge; and are the traditional supplications and prayers in the Qur'an and Hadiths. For example:

O God! I beseech You to bestow forgiveness and well-being on me and on so-and-so in religion, this world, and the hereafter. {[*]:} * O our Sustainer! Give us good in this world and good in the hereafter, and defend us from the torment of the Fire. {[*]:}

General supplications like these which are offered sincerely, and with humility and tranquillity of heart; and following the five daily prayers, and the morning prayer in particular; and in holy places, and mosques in

particular; and on Fridays, and particularly during 'the hour when prayers are answered;' and during the three months of Rajab, Sha'ban, and Ramadan, and on the well-known holy nights, such as the Prophet's birthday and Ragha'ib, and on the Night of Power in particular - it is to be strongly hoped from Divine mercy that such supplications will be accepted. The results of such acceptable prayers are either seen exactly as wished in this world, or they are accepted in respect of the eternal life in the hereafter of the one who offered them. That is to say, if what was sought does not occur exactly as wished, it may not be said that the prayer was not accepted, but that it was accepted in a better form.

YOUR SECOND QUESTION

Since the phrase, May God be pleased with him, is used for the Companions of the Prophet (PBUH), is it appropriate to use it for others with the same meaning?

Yes, it may be used, because unlike Upon whom be blessings and peace, which is a mark of God's Messenger (PBUH), the epithet, May God be pleased with him, is not a mark particular to the Companions, but should be used for persons like the four Imams, Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir Gilani, Imam-i Rabbani (Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi), and Imam Ghazali, who attained to the 'greater sainthood' known as the 'legacy of prophethood,' reaching the station of God's pleasure. But generally among religious scholars, May God be pleased with him has been used for the Companions; May God have mercy on him, for the next two generations succeeding them; May God forgive him, for subsequent generations; and May his mystery be sanctified, for the great saints

YOUR THIRD QUESTION

Which were superior, the great imams and interpreters of the Holy Law, or the 'shahs' and 'spiritual poles' of the true Sufi paths?

Not all the interpreters of the Law, but Abu Hanifa, Malik, Shafi'i, and Ahmad b. Hanbal were superior to the shahs and spiritual poles. But in some respects, some wondrous spiritual poles like Shaykh Gilani attained more brilliant stations, in particular virtues. However, general virtue was the Imams'. Furthermore, some of the Shahs of the Sufi paths were also interpreters of the Law; it cannot therefore be said that all interpreters of the Law were superior to the spiritual poles. But it may be said that after the Companions and the Mahdi, the Four Imams were superior.

YOUR FOURTH QUESTION

What is the purpose and aim of the saying,

God is with those who patiently persevere?

As required by His Name of All-Wise, Almighty God placed in all things an arrangement like the steps of stairs. An impatient man does not act with slow deliberation, and so either skips some of the steps and falls, or leaves some deficient; he cannot mount to the roof of his goal. Thus, greed is the cause of loss. Patience however is the key to all difficulties, and the saying, "The greedy is subject to disappointment and loss," and the Hadith, "Patience is the key to happiness," {[*]:} have become like proverbs. That is to say, Almighty God's grace and favour is with the patient. For patience is threefold:

The First is to patiently persevere in refraining from sin; this patience is taqwa, and manifests the meaning of the verse:

God is with those who fear Him and restrain themselves. {[*]:}

The Second is patience in the face of calamity; this to place one's trust in God and to submit to Him. It is to be honoured by the manifestation of these verses:

God loves the patient. {[*]:} * God loves those who put their trust in Him. {[*]:}

As for impatience, it amounts to complaining about God, and to criticizing His actions, accusing His mercy, and not liking His wisdom. For sure, man is weak and powerless, and weeps complainingly at the blows of misfortune, but his complaint must be to Him, not about Him. It should be like the words of Jacob (Upon whom be peace):

He said: I only complain of my distraction and anguish to God. {[*]:}

That is to say, he should complain to God, not lament saying: "What have I done that this should have happened to me?" as though complaining to other human beings about God; to excite the sympathy of impotent humans is harmful and meaningless.

The Third Sort of Patience is patient perseverance in worship, which raises a person to the station of being beloved of God. It urges a person towards perfect worship of God and servitude of Him, which is the most elevated station.

YOUR FIFTH QUESTION

The age of discretion is accepted to be fifteen. How did God's Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) worship before his prophetic mission?

He used to worship in accordance with what remained of the religion of Abraham (Upon whom be peace), which was still extant in Arabia, though in very obscure form. But this was through his own choice as a good act, not because he was obliged or compelled to in any way. This truth is lengthy, so let it remain at that for now.

YOUR SIXTH QUESTION

What was the wisdom in his prophethood commencing when he was forty years of age, which is reckoned to be the age of perfect maturity, and his blessed life continuing for sixty-three years?

There were numerous purposes and instances of wisdom in this. One of them is as follows: prophethood is a great and extremely heavy responsibility. It may be borne through the unfolding of the intellectual abilities and capacity of the heart, and through their being perfected. The time they are most perfectly developed is the age of forty. In addition, youth, the time the passions of the soul are enflamed, and the blood fiery and exuberant, and worldly ambitions are intense, is not fitting for the duties of prophethood, which are purely Divine, sacred, and pertain to the hereafter. However serious and sincere a man is before the age of forty, the suspicion that he is working for worldly renown might occur to those who themselves seek fame. He could not easily be saved from their accusations. But after the age of forty, the descent to the grave begins, and the hereafter looms larger for such a man than this world. He can be easily saved from such accusations in his actions and works, which look to the hereafter, and he is successful. And others too are saved from thinking ill of him.

When it comes to his blessed life being sixty-three years, one of the instances of wisdom in it was this: the believers are charged by the Shari'a to love and respect God's Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) to the greatest degree, to feel disgust at absolutely nothing about him, and to see every aspect of him as good. Thus, Almighty God did not leave His Noble Beloved in the difficult and troublesome years of old age after sixty-three; He rather sent him to the Sublime Court at that age, which was the average life expectancy of most of the community of which he was the leader. He took him to Himself, showing that he was the leader in every respect.

YOUR SEVENTH QUESTION

Is the following a Hadith, and what does it mean? "The best of your youths are those who resemble men of mature age, while the worst of your men of middle age are those who resemble youths." {[*]:}

I have heard that it is a Hadith. Its meaning is this: "The best youth is he who thinks of death like an elderly person, and working for the hereafter, is not one of those who become captive to the passions of youth and drown in heedlessness. And the worst of your elderly people is he who tries to resemble the young in heedlessness and passion, and follows the lusts of the soul like a child."

The correct form of the second part you saw in the piece is as follows. I have hung it above my head for the wisdom it teaches. I look it at it every morning and evening and receive instruction:

If you want a friend, God is sufficient.

Yes, if He is the friend, everything is a friend.

If you want companions, the Qur'an is sufficient.

Indeed, for in the imagination one meets with the prophets and angels in it, observes the events in which they were involved, and becomes familiar with them.

If you want possessions, contentment is sufficient.

Yes, one who is content is frugal; and one who is frugal, finds the blessing of plenty.

If you want an enemy, the soul is sufficient.

Yes, one who fancies himself is visited with calamities and meets with difficulties. Whereas one who is not fond of himself, finds happiness, and receives mercy.

If you want advice, death is sufficient.

Yes, one who thinks of death is saved from love of this world, and works in earnest for the hereafter.

I am adding an Eighth to your Seven Matters. It is like this:

A couple of days ago, a reciter of the Qur'an recited part of Sura Yusuf as far as,

Take my soul [at death] as one submitting to Your will [as a Muslim], and unite me with the righteous. {[*]:}

Suddenly, like a flash, this point occurred to me: everything concerning the Qur'an and belief is valuable; however insignificant it appears to be, its value is great. Whatever assists in eternal happiness is not insignificant. In which case, it may not be said that this point is only a small point and not worth explaining or being given importance. And certainly, the

first student and one addressed in matters of this kind, who appreciates the fine points of the Qur'an, Ibrahim Hulûsi, wants to hear this point! In which case, listen to it:

It is a fine point of the finest of stories. An elevated, subtle, happy, and miraculous point of the verse,

Take my soul [at death] as one submitting to Your will [as a Muslim], and unite me with the righteous,

which announces that the story of Joseph (Upon whom be peace), the best of stories, has reached its conclusion. It is this: the sorrows and pains of death and separation at the end of other happy stories make bitter the pleasure the listener has received from the story in his imagination, and dispel it. Especially if they tell of death and separation just when recounting the moment of perfect joy and happiness; this is even more painful and causes those listening to cry out in sorrow. However, although this verse tells of Joseph's death just at the most brilliant part of his story, when he is Ruler of Egypt, united with his mother and father, fondly meeting with his brothers, and is experiencing the greatest happiness and joy of this world, it does so in such a way as to say: Joseph himself asked for his death from Almighty God in order to experience an even more happy and brilliant state; and he did die and did receive that happiness.

That is to say, there is beyond the grave a happiness and joy greater than the pleasurable happiness of this world, so that while in that most pleasurable worldly situation, a truth-seeing person like Joseph (Upon whom be peace) wished for bitter death, so as to receive that other happiness.

So see this eloquence of the All-Wise Qur'an; in what way it announces the end of the story of Joseph. It causes not sorrow and regret to those listening to it, but gives good tidings and adds further joy. It also gives guidance, saying: Work for beyond the grave, for it is there that true happiness and pleasure will be found. It also points out Joseph's exalted veraciousness, saying: even the most brilliant and joyful situation of this world did not cause him to become heedless; it did not captivate him; he still wanted the hereafter.

The Twenty-Fourth Letter

How can the solicitous nurturing, the purposeful and beneficial planning, the loving kindness of the Names of All-Compassionate, All-Wise, and Loving, which are among the greatest of the Divine Names, be reconciled with death and non-existence, decline and separation, and disaster and hardship, which are awesome and terrible? Very well, man goes to eternal happiness, so we can tolerate his passing down the road of death, but for the delicate, lovely species of trees and plants, and the flowers, all living creatures, and the species of animals, which are worthy of existence, lovers of life, and desire permanent life-what compassion and kindness is there in their continuously, without exception, being annihilated, in their swiftly being despatched to non-existence without being allowed to so much as open their eyes, in their being made to work and labour without being allowed to so much as take a breath, in their being changed by calamities with not one of them being left in peace, in their being killed without exception, in their dying with not one of them remaining, in their departing with not one of them being gratified-what wisdom and purpose, what favour and mercy are there in this?

Through Five Signs which show the necessitating cause and reason, and Five Indications which point out the aims and benefits, we shall try to look from afar at the mighty truth which solves this question, and which is extremely broad, profound, and elevated.

First Station

[This consists of Five Signs]

FIRST SIGN

As is described at the end of the Twenty-Sixth Word, when making a precious bejewelled and embroidered garment, a skilful craftsman employs a poor man in return for a commensurate wage. In order to display his skill and art, he dresses the poor man in the garment, then measures it and cuts it, and lengthens and shortens it, and making the man sit down and stand up, he gives it various forms. So does the wretched man have the right to say to the craftsman: "Why are you interfering with this garment which makes me beautiful, and altering and changing it? Why are you making me stand up and sit down, disturbing me and causing me trouble?"

In exactly the same way, in order to display the perfections of His art through the embroideries of His Names, the All-Glorious Maker takes the essential nature of every sort of being as a model, then He clothes them all and especially living creatures in the garment of a body be-jewelled with senses, and inscribes it with the pen of Divine Decree and Determining; thus demonstrating the manifestation of His Names. In addition, He gives to every being a perfection, a pleasure, an effulgence, in a way suitable to it and as a wage.

Has then anything the right to say to the All-Glorious Maker, Who manifests the meaning of, thنord of All Dominion has free disposal over His realms as He wishes:" You are giving me trouble and disturbing me."? God forbid! In no way do beings have any rights before the Necessarily Existent One, nor can they claim them; their right is to carry out through offering thanks and praise, what is required by the degree of existence He has given them. For all the degrees of existence that are given are occurrences, and each requires a cause. Degrees which are not given are possibilities, and possibilities are non-existent as well as being infinite. As for instances of non-existence, they do not require a cause. For example, minerals cannot say: "Why weren't we plants?"; they cannot complain. Their right, since they have received mineral existence, is to offer thanks to their Creator. And plants may not complain asking why they were not animals; their right is to offer thanks, since they have received life as well as existence. As for animals, they may not complain that they are not humans; the right over them rather, since they have been given the precious substance of spirit in addition to life and existence, is to offer thanks. And so on.

O complaining man! You did not remain non-existent; you were clothed in the bounty of existence. You tasted life; you did not remain inanimate, nor become an animal. You received the bounty of Islam; you did not remain in misguidance. You have experienced the bounties of good health and well-being!

O ungrateful one! Where did you win the right not to offer thanks in return for the degrees of existence which Almighty God has given you and are pure bounty. How is it that because exalted bounties which are contingencies and non-existent and which you do not deserve have not been given you, you complain about Almighty God with meaningless greed, ungrateful for the bounties you have received? If a man rises to an exalted degree like climbing to the top of a minaret and finds a high station, and on every step receives a large bounty, then does not thank the one who gave him the bounties and complainingly asks why he could not have risen higher than the minaret, how wrong he would be, what an ungrateful denial of the bounties, what great foolishness it would be; as even a lunatic would understand.

O discontented greedy, thriftless wasteful, unjustly complaining, heedless man! Know certainly that contentment is profitable thanks, greed is loss-causing ingratitude, and frugality, fine and beneficial respect for bounties. As for wastefulness, it is ugly and harmful contempt for bounties. If you have intelligence, grow accustomed to contentment and try to be satisfied with little. If you cannot endure it, say: "O Most Patient One!" and seek patience. Be satisfied with your lot and do not complain. Understand who is complaining about whom, and be silent. If you have to complain, then complain about your soul to God Almighty, for the fault is its.

SECOND SIGN

As is stated at the end of the final matter of the Eighteenth Letter, one instance of wisdom in the All-Glorious Creator constantly changing and renewing beings in an astonishing and awesome fashion through the activity of His dominicality is as follows:

Activity and motion in creatures arises from an appetite, a desire, a pleasure, a love. It may be said that in all activity is a sort of pleasure; even, that every activity is a sort of pleasure. Pleasure too is turned towards a perfection; it is a sort of perfection even. Since activity indicates a perfection, a pleasure, a beauty; and since the Necessarily Existent One, Who is absolute perfection and the Perfect One of Glory, unites in His essence, attributes, and Names every sort of perfection; for sure, in a manner fitting for the necessary existence and holiness of the

Necessarily Existent Essence, in a form suitable to His absolute riches and the self-sufficiency of His essence, in a way appropriate to His absolute perfection and freedom from defect, He has a boundless sacred compassion and infinite pure love. Of a certainty, there is an infinite holy eagerness arising from that sacred compassion and pure love; and from that holy eagerness arises an infinite sacred joy. And arising from that sacred joy, is, if the term is permissible, an infinite holy pleasure. And from this holy pleasure and from the gratitude and perfections of creatures which result from the emergence and development of their potentialities within the activity of His power, arise, if one may say so, an infinite sacred gratification and holy pride pertaining to that Most Merciful and Compassionate Essence; and it is these which necessitate a boundless activity. And that boundless activity in turn necessitates boundless change and transformation, alteration and destruction. And that boundless change and transformation necessitate death and extinction, decline and separation.

At one time, the benefits shown by 'human' science and philosophy concerning the aims of beings appeared most insignificant in my view. I understood from this that such philosophy leads only to futility. It is for this reason that leading philosophers either fall into the swamp of Nature, or they become Sophists, or they deny Divine knowledge and choice, or they call the Creator "self-necessitating."

At that point, Divine mercy sent the Name of All-Wise to my aid, and it showed me the great aims of creatures. That is to say, every creature, every artefact, is such a dominical missive that all conscious beings study it. This aim satisfied me for a year. Then the wonders in the art of beings were unfolded to me, and the former aim started to appear insufficient. Another, much greater aim became apparent, which was that the most important aims of creatures look to their Maker. I understood that this aim is to present to His gaze the perfections of His art, the embroideries of His Names, the embellishments of His wisdom, and the gifts of His mercy; it is to be mirrors to His beauty and perfections. This aim satisfied me for a long time. Then the miracles of Divine power and functions of dominicality in the extremely swift changes and transformations within the astonishing activity in the art and creation of things became apparent. The former aim too began to appear insufficient. I understood that a necessitating cause, a motive, as great as this aim was necessary. It was then that the causes in this Second Sign and aims in the Indications to follow became apparent. It was made known to me with complete certainty that "the activity of Divine power in the universe and the constant flood of beings is so meaningful that through it the All-Wise Maker

causes all the realms of beings in the universe to speak." It is as if the beings of the earth and the skies and their motion and actions are the words of their speech; their motion is their speech. That is, the motion and decline arising from activity is speech glorifying God. And the activity in the universe, too, is the universe's silent speech and that of the varieties of its beings; their being made to speak.

THIRD SIGN

Things do not go to non-existence, they rather pass from the sphere of power to the sphere of knowledge; they go from the Manifest World to the World of the Unseen; they turn from the world of change and transience to the worlds of light and eternity. From the point of view of reality, the beauty and perfection in things pertain to the Divine Names and are their impresses and manifestations. Since the Names are eternal and their manifestations, perpetual, certainly their impresses will be renewed, refreshed, and made beautiful. They do not pass and depart for non-existence, only their relative determinations change; their realities, essences, and identities, which are the means of beauty and loveliness, effulgence and perfection, are enduring. The beauty and fineness in beings with no spirits pertain directly to the Divine Names; the honour is theirs; praise is due to them; the beauty is theirs; love goes to them; they suffer no harm on those mirrors changing.

If they are beings with spirits but no intellect, their death and departure is not extinction and vanishing into non-existence, it is being saved from physical existence and the turbulent duties of life. Making over to their spirits, which are immortal, the fruits of the duties they have gained, each relying on a Divine Name, their immortal spirits persist, attaining a happiness worthy of them.

If they are beings possessing both spirits and intellects, their demise is anyway a journeying to everlasting happiness, to the eternal realm, which is the means to perfections, material and non-material, and to the other dwelling-places of the All-Wise Maker, like the Intermediate Realm, the World of Similitudes, and the Spirit World, which surpass this world in beauty and luminosity. Their passing is not death and extinction, separation and non-existence, it is attaining perfection.

Since the All-Glorious Maker exists and He is Eternal, and since His attributes and Names are perpetual and everlasting; certainly His Names' manifestations and impresses are renewed, affording a sort of perpetualness; they are not destroyed and transitory, departing for non-being. It is clear that by reason of his humanity, man is connected with most other beings; he receives pleasure at their happiness, and is

grieved at their destruction. And he is more grieved at the suffering of living creatures, of mankind in particular, and particularly of those possessing perfection he loves and admires; and his happiness is greater at their happiness. Like a fond mother, even, he sacrifices his own happiness and comfort for their happiness. Thus, in accordance with their degree, through the light of the Qur'an and mystery of belief, all believers may be happy at the happiness of all beings, and at their enduring and being saved from nothingness and their being valuable dominical missives; they may gain a light as extensive as the world. Everyone may profit from this light according to his degree. As for the people of misguidance, they are grieved at the destruction of all beings, at their transience and apparently being despatched to non-existence-and if they have spirits, at their suffering, in addition to their own pains. That is to say, their unbelief fills their world with non-existence; it empties it over their heads, causing them Hell before they go there.

FOURTH SIGN

As we have said in many places, a monarch has various different offices and departments proceeding from his titles like Sultan, Khalifa, Judge, and Commander-in-Chief, and in the same way, Almighty God's Most Beautiful Names have innumerable different sorts of manifestations. The varieties and different sorts of creatures arise from the varieties of manifestations. Thus, in accordance with the fact that every possessor of beauty and perfection has an innate desire to see and display his beauty and perfection, those various Names too -since they are constant and eternal- want to be displayed in permanent fashion on account of the Most Pure and Holy Essence. That is to say, they want to see their impresses; that is, to see the manifestation of their beauty and reflection of their perfection in the mirrors of their embroideries; that is, to renew every instant the mighty book of the universe and the different missives of beings; that is, to constantly write them anew; that is, to write thousands of different missives on a single page and to display each missive to the witnessing gaze of the Sacred Essence, the Most Pure and Holy One Who is Signified; and together with this, to exhibit them to the meditative gazes of all sentient beings, and cause them to read them. Consider the following poem which alludes to this truth:

The leaves of the book of the world are of variety incalculable,

Its letters and words, too, are of number infinite;

Inscribed on the workbench of the Preserved Tablet of reality,

An embodied meaningful word, is each being in the world.

Study the lines of the universe; for they are missives to you from the Sublime Assembly.

FIFTH SIGN

The Fifth Sign consists of Two Points.

Since Almighty God exists, everything exists. Since they have a relation with Almighty God, all things exist for everything. For through the mystery of Unity, through the relation with the Necessarily Existent One, all beings become connected with all other beings. That means, through the mystery of Unity, every being which knows its relation with the Necessarily Existent One, or whose relation is known, becomes related with all beings which are related to Him. This means, from the point of view of the relation, every being may manifest endless lights of existence. There is no separation or death from that point of view. To live for a single passing second is the means to innumerable lights of existence. Whereas if the relation does not exist or is not known, the being manifests infinite separations and deaths. For in that case, in the face of every being with which he could have been connected, he is exposed to a separation, a parting, a death. That is, he burdens his own personal existence with endless instances of non-existence and separation. Should he remain in existence for a million years even (without connection), it would not be as much as living for an instant being related in the former respect. The people of reality have said therefore: "Illumined existence for even a passing instant is preferable to a million years of profitless existence." And it is also because of this that those who have researched into the realities of creation have said: "The lights of existence become apparent through recognizing the Necessarily Existent One." That is to say: "In that case, the universe is seen to be full of angels, spirit beings, and intelligent beings within lights of existence. Whereas without them, the darkness of non-existence and pains of death and separation encompass all beings. The world appears in such a view to be an empty and desolate wasteland."

Indeed, each one of a tree's fruits has a relation with all the other fruits on the tree, and since through the relation, each is its friend and brother, it possesses accidental existences to their number. But when the fruit is plucked from the tree, a separation and death comes about in the face of all the other fruits; they all become as though non-existent for it; a darkness of external non-existence results for it.

In exactly the same way, in respect of being related to the Power of the Single Eternally Besoughted One, for everything, all things exist. If not for that relation, there would be external non-existences for all things to the number of things.

And so, from this Sign you may see the vastness of the lights of belief and the terrifying darkness of misguidance. That is, belief is the title of the elevated truth described in this Sign; and it may be benefited from through belief. In the absence of belief, just as everything is non-existent for someone who is blind, deaf, dumb, and stupid, so is everything non-existent and dark for one without belief.

The world and all things have three faces:

The First Face looks to the Divine Names and is their mirror. Death, separation, and non-existence cannot intrude on this face; there is rather renewal and renovation.

The Second Face looks to the hereafter and gazes upon the World of Eternity; it is like its arable field. Enduring fruits and produce are raised on this face. It serves eternity, and makes transitory things as though eternal. On this face too there is no death and decline, but the manifestations of life and eternity.

The Third Face looks to transient beings, that is, to us. It is the beloved of ephemeral beings and those who follow the caprices of their souls; the place of trade for the conscious; the arena of trial and examination for those charged with duties. Thus, the salve and cure for the pains and wounds of the transience and decline, the death and extinction, on this third face, are the manifestations of life and eternity in its inner face.

This flood of beings, these travelling creatures, are moving mirrors and changing places of manifestation for the renewal of the Necessarily Existent One's lights of creation and existence.

Second Station

[The Second Station consists of an Introduction and Five Indications. The Introduction contains Two Topics.]

First Topic:

In each of the following Five Indications is a comparison, written in the form of a dull, short-ranged telescope, in order to observe the attributes of dominicality. These comparisons cannot contain the reality of those attributes; they cannot encompass them and be the measure of them, but they can assist in looking at them. Any phrases or expressions in the comparisons, or in the previous Signs, unfitting for the attributes of the Most Pure and Holy Essence are the fault of the comparisons.

For example, the meanings of pleasure, joy, and gratification known by us cannot express the sacred attributes, but each is the title of an observatory, a means of reflective thought. In addition, through showing in a small example the tip of an encompassing, mighty law of dominicality, it proves the reality of the law within the attributes of dominicality. For example, it is said that a flower departs from existence leaving behind it thousands of existences; this demonstrates a mighty law of dominicality which is in force in all the beings of spring, indeed, of all the world.

Yes, through whichever law the All-Compassionate Creator changes and renews the feathered dress of a bird, through the same law that All-Wise Maker renews the dress of the globe of the earth every year. Through the same law, He transforms the shape of the world every century. And through the same law, He will change the form of the universe at the resurrection of the dead.

Through whichever law He impels particles like Mevlevi dervishes, He makes the earth spin through the same law, like an ecstatic Mevlevi dervish rising up to dance the sama'. And through that law, He causes worlds to revolve, and the solar system to travel through space.

Through whichever law He renews, repairs, and dissolves the particles in your body's cells, through the same law, He renews your garden every year, making it anew many times every season. And through the same law, He renews the face of the earth every spring, drawing a fresh veil over its face.

Through whichever law that All-Powerful Maker raises a fly to life, through the same law He restores to life the plane-tree before your window

every spring; and through that law, He raises the globe of the earth to life in the spring; and through the same law will raise creatures to life at the resurrection. The Qur'an alludes to this with the verse,

Your creation and your resurrection is but as a single soul. {[*]:}

And so on; you can make further examples in the same way.

There are many laws of dominicality like these which are in force from particles to the totality of the world. Consider the immensity of these laws within dominical activity; note carefully their breadth, and see the meaning of Unity within them. Understand that each law is a proof of Divine Unity. Yes, through each of these numerous and immense laws being the manifestation of knowledge and will, and being both the same and all-encompassing, each also proves most certainly the Maker's Unity, knowledge, and will.

Thus, most of the comparisons in the Words [Risale-i Nur] show the tips of laws like these through a small example, and by doing this, point to the existence of the same law in the matter claimed. Since the existence of the law is demonstrated through a comparison, it proves the assertion as categorically as a logical proof. That is to say, most of the comparisons in the Words may be seen as categorical proofs and certain arguments.

Second Topic:

As described in the Tenth Truth of the Tenth Word, however many flowers and fruits there are on a tree, each has aims, purposes, and instances of wisdom to that number. These instances of wisdom are of three sorts:

One sort looks to the Maker and displays the embroideries of His Names.

Another sort looks to intelligent and conscious beings, and in the view of the conscious, things are valuable missives and meaningful words.

Another sort looks to itself and to its own life and perpetuation; and if beneficial for man, the being contains instances of wisdom accordingly.

At one time, while contemplating on how all beings have such numerous aims, the following phrases occurred to me in Arabic, which, like notes forming the basis of the following Indications, allude to those universal aims:

These glorious beings are flowing places of manifestation and roving mirrors for the renewal of the manifestations of the lights of His creativity, Glory be unto Him: through the changing of their relative determinations, * Firstly, and by preserving their beautiful meanings and their identities in the World of Similitudes; * Secondly, and producing truths pertaining to the World of the Unseen and the weavings of the Preserved Tablet; * Thirdly, and spreading the fruits of the hereafter and publishing everlasting panoramas; * Fourthly, and proclaiming dominical glorifications and making known what the Divine Names necessitate; * Fifthly, so that the Divine attributes become apparent and the aspects of Divine knowledge.

These five sections comprise the bases of the Indications we shall discuss below. Yes, all beings, and particularly living beings, possess on five levels different aims and instances of wisdom and purposes. Like a tree produces fruit on branches one over the other, so all living beings have five different levels of aims and purposes.

O ephemeral man! If you want your own reality which is like a small seed to be transformed into an eternal fruit-bearing tree, and to obtain the ten levels of fruits and ten sorts of aims pointed out in the five Indications, acquire true belief. Otherwise, in addition to being deprived of all of them, you will be squeezed into that seed and you will rot!

FIRST INDICATION

Firstly: through the changing of their relative determinations, and by preserving their beautiful meanings and their identities in the World of Similitudes.

This section expresses the following: although a being apparently disappears into non-existence after departing from existence, the meanings it has expressed are preserved and perpetuated. Its identity, form, and essential nature are preserved also in the World of Similitudes, on the Preserved Tablets, which are samples of the World of Similitudes, and in memories, which are samples of the Preserved Tablets. That is, the being loses its visible existence, and gains hundreds of immaterial existences and existences in knowledge.

For example, in order to print a page in a printing-press, the type is set up and arranged. Then after the page has bequeathed its form and identity to many pages on being printed and after it has proclaimed its meanings to many minds, the arrangement of the type is changed. For no need remains for it, also other pages have to be printed.

In exactly the same way, the pen of Divine Determining sets up and arranges the beings of the earth, and especially plants. Divine power creates them on the page of the springtime. Then in order for them to

express their beautiful meanings and for their forms and identities to pass to the ledgers of the World of the Unseen, like the World of Similitudes, Divine wisdom requires that the arrangement be changed. In this way, the page of another, future spring may be written and its beings express their meanings too.

SECOND INDICATION

Secondly, and producing truths pertaining to the World of the Unseen and the weavings of the Preserved Tablet.

This section indicates that before departing from existence, everything, whether particular or universal, and particularly living beings, produces many truths pertaining to the Unseen. So too they leave behind them on the tablets and notebooks of the World of Similitudes forms to the number of the stages of their lives; their life histories and those of their forms that are meaningful are inscribed and become objects of study for spirit beings.

For example, a flower passes from existence, but together with leaving behind its essential nature in its hundreds of seeds, it also leaves thousands of its forms on small Preserved Tablets and in memories, which are small samples of the Preserved Tablets, and through the stages of its life, causes conscious beings to study the embroideries of the Divine Names and dominical glorifications it expresses; then it departs.

Similarly, adorned with finely wrought beings in the flower-pot of the face of the earth, the springtime is a flower; it apparently passes and departs for non-existence, but in its place it leaves behind in existence the truths pertaining to the Unseen it has expressed to the number of its seeds, and identities in the World of Similitudes it has published to the number of its flowers, and the instances of dominical wisdom it has displayed to the number of its beings; only then is it hidden from us. Moreover, it makes room for its friends, other springs, to come and perform their duties. That is to say, the spring is divested of an external existence, and in meaning is clothed in a thousand existences.

THIRD INDICATION

Thirdly, and spreading the fruits of the hereafter and publishing everlasting panoramas.

This section states that the world is a workbench and arable field raising crops suitable for the market of the hereafter. We have proved in many of the Words that just as jinn and men send their actions to the market of the hereafter, so too the other beings of the world perform numerous duties on account of the hereafter and produce many crops for

it. It may even be said that the earth travels for them, or even that this is its purpose. This dominical ship traverses a twenty-four thousand year distance in one year, circumscribing the field of the resurrection.

For example, the people of Paradise will surely desire to recall their adventures in this world and recount them to one another. They will be exceedingly curious to see the images and pictures of those adventures, and if they watch them like watching the cinema screen, they will enjoy it immensely. Since that is the case, as the verse,

[Joyfully] facing each other on thrones [of dignity] {[*]:}

indicates, there will be in Paradise, the realm of delight and happiness, the recounting of worldly adventures and scenes of worldly happenings, amid everlasting panoramas.

Thus, these beautiful beings appearing for a moment then disappearing, and their following on one after the other in succession, appear to be factories and workshops for manufacturing the vistas of eternity. For example, in order to afford a sort of permanence to transient situations and leave a souvenir for the people of the future, the people of present-day civilization record the forms of beautiful or strange situations and present them as gifts to the future by means of the cinema screen; they show the past in the present and the future, and include it in them.

In just the same way, the All-Wise Maker of the beings of spring and this world records the aims of their brief lives which look to the World of Eternity in that world, and He records in everlasting scenes in the Eternal Realm the vital duties and the Divine miracles those beings have performed throughout the stages of their lives, as is the requirement of His Names of All-Wise, All-Compassionate, and Loving.

FOURTH INDICATION

Fourthly, and proclaiming dominical glorifications and making known the requirements of the Divine Names.

This sections states that throughout the stages of their lives, beings perform numerous varieties of dominical glorifications. They also demonstrate various situations that the Divine Names necessitate and require. For example, the Name of All-Compassionate desires to be compassionate. The Name of Provider necessitates the giving of sustenance. The Name of Gracious requires the granting of favours. And so on; all the Divine Names require and necessitate something. Thus, in addition to demonstrating the requirements of the Names through their lives and

existences, all living beings glorify the All-Wise Maker to the number of their members and faculties.

For example, a man eats delicious fruits which are then dissolved in his stomach and apparently destroyed, but in addition to producing a pleasure and eagerness arising from activity in all the cells of his body as well as his mouth and stomach, they are the means to very many instances of wisdom like nurturing his life and every part of his body and causing his life to continue. The food itself also rises from vegetable existence to the level of human life; it progresses.

In exactly the same way, when beings are hidden behind the veil of death, in addition to their very many glorifications enduring in their places, they bequeath to the Divine Names many of the Names' embroideries and requirements. That is to say, they depart entrusting them to an eternal existence. If, then, on the departure of a transient and temporary existence thousands of existences manifesting a sort of permanence remain in its place, can it be said that the thing is to be pitied, or that it was all for nothing, or why did that lovable creature depart; can it be complained about? It is rather that the mercy, wisdom, and love which look to it required and necessitated it to be thus. Otherwise it would be necessary to abandon thousands of benefits so that a single harm should not come about; in which case the harm would be a thousandfold. That is to say, the Names of All-Compassionate, All-Wise, and Loving One are not opposed to death and separation; indeed, they require and necessitate it.

FIFTH INDICATION

Fifthly, so that the Divine attributes become apparent and the aspects of Divine knowledge.

This section states that on departing from visible existence, beings, and particularly living beings, leave behind them many enduring things. As described in the Second Sign, among the attributes of dominicality in a way fitting to the sacredness and perfect self-sufficiency of the Necessarily Existent Essence, and in a form worthy of Him, are a boundless love, an infinite compassion, an endless pride, and, if the term is permissible, a boundless holy pleasure, a joy, and if the expression is not mistaken, an infinite sacred delight, and a transcendent happiness; the traces of which are to be observed and seen.

Thus, through change and transformation, decline and transience, beings are driven on at speed within the astonishing activity necessitated by these attributes; they are constantly sent from the Manifest World to the World of the Hereafter. Under the manifestations of the attributes,

creatures are shaken up in a continual flow and flood, motion and movement, scattering to the ears of the heedless the lamentations of death and separation, and to the hearing of the people of guidance, a clamour of glorification and recitation of God's Names. It is due to this mystery that all beings depart leaving behind them in existence meanings, qualities, and states which will each be the means to the manifestation of the Necessarily Existent One's eternal attributes.

Furthermore, beings depart leaving behind them the stages and states they have undergone throughout their lives -a detailed existence which represents their external existence- on the Preserved Tablet, and in the Clear Book and Clear Record, and other spheres like these pertaining to Divine Knowledge where there is existence. This means that every transitory being abandons one existence and gains thousands of permanent existences.

For example, a number of common substances are thrown into a wondrous machine in a factory; they burn up inside it and are apparently destroyed, but in those vats valuable chemical substances are precipitated. Also, through its force and steam, the factory's machinery works: in one area of it textiles are woven, in another books are printed, while in another sweets and other rare confections are manufactured; and so on; it is the means to these. That is to say, thousands of things come into existence through the burning of those common substances and their apparently being destroyed. One common existence departs, but it leaves a legacy of numerous elevated existences. Can one therefore feel sorry for the common substance? Can one complain about the factory owner because he did not pity it and burnt it, destroying those affectionate substances?

In exactly the same way, And God's is the highest similitude, {[*]:} as necessitated by mercy, wisdom, and lovingness, the Wise, Compassionate, and Loving Creator causes the factory of the universe to work. He makes all transient existences the seeds to numerous perpetual existences; He makes them the means for the fulfilment of the dominical aims; He makes them manifest the Divine functions; He makes them the ink for the pen of Divine Determining and shuttles for the weaving of Divine power; and for many elevated aims and favours which we do not yet know, through the activity of His power, He causes the activity of the universe; He causes particles to spin, beings to travel, animals to flow, and the planets to rotate; He makes the universe speak, causing it to silently recite His verses, His signs, and to inscribe them. And of the creatures of the earth -with regard to His dominicality- He makes the

air a Throne to His command and will; the element of light a Throne to His knowledge and wisdom; water a Throne to His bounty and mercy; and earth a Throne to His preservation and giving of life; and three of these Thrones He rests on the creatures of the earth.

Know certainly that the shining truth demonstrated in these Five Signs and Five Indications is to be seen through the light of the Qur'an and may be laid claim to through the strength of belief. Otherwise a terrifying darkness takes the place of this enduring truth. For the people of misguidance, the world is full to overflowing with deaths, separations, and non-existence; for them, the universe becomes a sort of Hell. Having only a flash of existence, everything is surrounded by never-ending non-existence. The past and the future are filled with the darkness of non-existence; they may find a sad light of existence only in the fleeting present. While through the mystery of the Qur'an and the light of belief, a light of existence becomes apparent which shines from pre-eternity to post-eternity; they may become connected with that, and through it secure eternal happiness.

In the manner of the poet Niyazi Misri, we say:

Till this breath becomes the ocean,

Till this cage is smashed to fragments,

Till this voice is silenced,

I shall call: O Truth! O Existent! O Living One! O Worshipped One!

O Most Wise! O Sought One! O Compassionate One! O Loving One!

And I call out:

There is no god but God, the Sovereign, the Truth, the Evident; Muhammad is the Messenger of God, faithful in His promise, Amen.

And believing, I state:

Resurrection after death is a reality; Paradise is a reality; Hell-fire is a reality; eternal happiness is a reality; God is Compassionate, Wise, and Loving; and Mercy, Wisdom, and Love encompass all things and all their attributes.

And they shall say: "Praise be to God, Who has guided us to this [felicity]; never could we have found guidance, had it not been for the guidance of God; indeed, it was the truth that the prophets of our Sustainer brought to us!" {[*]:}

Glory be to He Who has made the garden of the earth: the exhibition of His art, the gathering of His creatures, the place of manifestation of His power, the means of His wisdom, the garden of His mercy, the tillage of His Paradise, the place of passage of creatures, the place through which beings flow, the measure of artefacts; adorned by animals, embroidered with birds, made fruitful by trees, made to blossom with flowers; miracles of His knowledge, wonders of His art, gifts of His munificence, proofs of His favour, evidences of His Unity, subtleties of His wisdom, witnesses to His mercy; the smiling of the blossoms with the adornment of fruits, the singing of the birds in the breezes of morning, the pattering of the rain on the cheeks of the flowers; the adornment of the flowers, the embellishment of the fruits in these gardens; all mothers, human and animal, are tender towards their small young, making known a Loving One, making loved a Merciful One, the compassion of a Kind One, the tenderness of One sympathetic to man and jinn, and to spirits, animals, angels, and jinn.

The First Addendum to the Twenty-Fourth Letter

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

Say: No importance would your Sustainer attach to you were it not for your supplication. {[*]:}

Listen now to Five Points concerning this verse.

FIRST POINT

Supplication is a mighty mystery of worship; indeed, it is like the spirit of worship. As we have mentioned in many places, supplication is of three kinds.

This is the tongue of latent ability, through which all seeds and grains supplicate to the All-Wise Creator, saying: "Make us grow! Make our tiny truths sprout and transform us into the mighty reality of a tree, so that we may display the elaborate embroideries of Your Names!"

A further sort of supplication through the tongue of latent ability is this: the gathering together of causes is a supplication for the creation of the effect. That is to say, the causes acquire a position whereby they become like a tongue of disposition through which they supplicate for and request the effect from the All-Powerful One of Glory. For example, water, heat, earth, and light take up positions around a seed, and their positions form a tongue of supplication which says: "O Our Creator, make this seed into a tree!" For the tree, which is a wonderful miracle of

power, cannot be attributed to those unconscious, lifeless, simple substances; it is impossible to attribute it to them. That means the coming together of causes is a sort of supplication.

This is through the tongue of innate need. It is a sort of supplication made by all living creatures to the All-Compassionate Creator to give them the things they need and desire, which are beyond their power and will, from unexpected places and at the appropriate time. For an All-Wise and Compassionate One sends them all these things at the right time, from places they do not know, beyond their power and will. Their hands cannot reach them. That is to say, the bestowal is the result of supplication.

In Short: All that rises to the Divine Court from the universe is a supplication. Those things that are causes seek the effects from God.

This is the supplication of conscious beings arising from need. It is of two kinds.

If it is made at a time of desperate need, or is completely conformable with innate need, or if it is close to the tongue of latent ability, or is made with the tongue of a pure, sincere heart, this supplication is virtually always acceptable. The greater part of human progress and most discoveries are the result of a sort of supplication. The things they call the wonders of civilization and the matters and discoveries they think are a source of pride are the result of what is in effect supplication. They were asked for with a sincere tongue of latent ability and so were given to them. So long as there is nothing preventing them and they are conformable with conditions, supplications made through the tongue of latent ability and the tongue of innate need are always acceptable.

This is the well-known supplication and it too is of two kinds. One is by action and the other by word. For example, ploughing is a supplication by action. It is not seeking the sustenance from the earth, rather, the earth is a door to a treasury of mercy, and the plough knocks on the earth, the door to Divine Mercy.

We shall skip details of the remaining sorts, and explain in the following two or three Points one or two of the secrets of supplication by word.

SECOND POINT

The effect of supplication is great. Especially if the supplication gains universality and persists, it almost always has a result, indeed, its result is continuous. It may even be said that one of the reasons for the creation of the world was supplication. That is to say, after the creation of the universe, the supplications of chiefly mankind, and of them principally the

Islamic world, and mainly the sublime supplications of Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace) were a cause of it being created. That is to say, the Creator of the World knew that in the future Muhammad (PBUH) would ask for eternal happiness and for a manifestation of the Divine Names in the name of mankind, indeed, on account of all beings, and He accepted that future supplicaton and created the universe.

Since supplication possesses this great importance and capacity, is it at all possible that the supplications offered all the time for one thousand three hundred and fifty years by three hundred million of mankind and by uncountable numbers of blessed beings from among men, jinn, angels, and spirit beings for the Person of Muhammad (PBUH), and for all-encompassing Divine Mercy, eternal happiness, and the accomplishment of their aims would not be accepted? Is it in any way possible that their supplications would be rejected?

Since these supplications have acquired universality, extensiveness, and continuousness to this extent and have reached the level of the tongues of latent ability and innate need, for sure, as a result of them, Muhammad the Arabian (PBUH) is at such a rank and degree that if all minds were to gather together and become one mind, it could not completely comprehend it.

And so, O Muslims! The intercessor you shall have on the Day of Resurrection is thus; in order to attract the intercession of this intercessor towards yourselves, follow his Practices!...

Since he is God's Beloved, what need does he have of all these blessings and supplications?

This Being (PBUH) is connected with the happiness of all his community and shares in every sort of the happiness of each member of it, and he is anxious at every sort of their tribulations. Although in regard to himself the degrees of happiness and perfection are endless, since he desires ardently the numberless kinds of happiness of the numberless members of his community for an unlimited time, and is saddened at the numberless kinds of their wretchedness, he is surely worthy and needy for endless blessings and supplications and mercy.

Sometimes supplications are offered for matters that are definite. Like, for example, the supplications in the prayers offered at the time of lunar and solar eclipses. Also, sometimes supplications are made for things which will never come about?

As is explained in others of the Words, supplication is worship. Through supplication, the servant proclaims his own impotence and poverty. The apparent aims mark the times of the supplication and the supplicatory worship; they are not the true benefits. The benefits of worship look to the hereafter. If the worldly aims are not obtained, it may not be said: "The supplication was not accepted." It should rather be said: "The time for the supplication has still not ended."

Also, is it at all possible that eternal happiness, which all the believers have asked for at all times, continuously, with complete sincerity and yearning and entreaty, should not be given to them, and that the Absolutely Generous One, the Absolutely Compassionate One, Who according to the testimony of all the universe possesses boundless mercy, should not accept their supplications and that eternal happiness should not exist?

THIRD POINT

There are two ways in which voluntary supplication by word is acceptable. It is either accepted exactly as desired or what is better is granted.

For example, someone asks for a son, and Almighty God gives a daughter like Mary. It may not be said: "His supplication was not accepted," but that "It was accepted in a better form."

Also, sometimes a person makes supplication for his own happiness in this world, and it is accepted for the hereafter. It may not be said: "His supplication was rejected," but that "It was accepted in a more beneficial form." And likewise, since Almighty God is All-Wise, we seek from Him and He responds to us. But He deals with us according to His wisdom.

A sick person should not cast aspersions on the wisdom of his doctor. If he asks for honey and the expert doctor gives him quinine, he may not say: "The doctor did not listen to me." Rather, the doctor listened to his sighs and moans; he heard them and responded to them. He provided better than what was asked for.

FOURTH POINT

The best, finest, sweetest, most immediate fruit and result of supplication is this, that the person who offers it knows there is someone who listens to his voice, sends a remedy for his ailment, takes pity on him, and whose hand of power reaches everything. He is not alone in this great hostel of the world; there is an All-Generous One Who looks after him and makes it friendly. Imagining himself in the presence of the One Who

can bring about all his needs and repulse all his innumerable enemies, he feels a joy and relief; he casts off a load as heavy as the world, and exclaims: "All praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds!"

FIFTH POINT

Supplication is the spirit of worship and the result of sincere belief. For one who makes supplication shows through it that there is someone who rules the whole universe; One Who knows the most insignificant things about me, can bring about my most distant aims. Who sees every circumstance of mine, and hears my voice. In which case, He hears all the voices of all beings, so that He hears my voice too. He does all these things, and so I await my smallest matters from Him too. I ask Him for them.

Thus, look at the great breadth of sincere belief in God's Unity which supplication gives and at the sweetness and purity of the light of belief that it shows. Understand the meaning of the verse,

Say, No importance would your Sustainer attach to you were it not for your supplication; {[*]:}

listen to the decree of,

And your Sustainer says: Call on Me; I shall answer you. {[*]:}

As the saying goes: "If I had not wanted to give, I would not have given wanting."

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All Wise! {[*]:}

O God, grant blessings to our master Muhammad from pre-eternity to post-eternity, to the number of things present in Divine knowledge, and to his Family and Companions, and preserve us and protect us from harm, and preserve our religion. Amen. And all praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds.

The Second Addendum to the Twenty-Fourth Letter

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

For, indeed, he saw him at a second descent; * Near the Lote-tree of the farthest limit; * Near it is to the Garden of Abode. * Behold, the Lote-tree was shrouded in mystery unspeakable! * [His] eye did not waver, nor yet did it stray; * Truly did he see some of the most profound of his Sustainer's signs. {[*]:}

[We shall explain in Five Points, the section on the Ascension in the 'Mevlid' of the Prophet.] {[*]:}

FIRST POINT

Süleyman Efendi, in the 'Mevlid' which he wrote, recounts a sad love story about Buraq, brought from Paradise. Since he was one of the saints and it is based on narrations, it must surely express a truth in that respect.

The reality must be this: the creatures of the Eternal Realm are closely connected with the light of God's Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace). For it is through the light which he brought that Paradise and the world of the hereafter will be inhabited by mankind and the jinn. If it had not been for him, eternal happiness would not have

been, and man and jinn who are capable of benefiting from all the varieties of the creatures of Paradise, would not have dwelt in it; in one respect it would have remained empty, a wasteland.

As is explained in the Fourth Branch of the Twenty-Fourth Word, in order to proclaim the intense need -and passion even- of the animal species for the caravans of plant species which, proceeding from the treasury of mercy, bear their provisions, a sort of nightingale has been chosen from every species. The foremost of these are the nightingale and the rose. The songs of these dominical orators, and the love-song of the nightingale for the rose, are a welcoming, an applause, glorifying God, before the most beautiful of the plants.

Similarly, Gabriel (Upon whom be peace), one of the angels, served with perfect love Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who was the reason for the creation of the spheres, the means to the happiness of both worlds, and the beloved of the Sustainer of All the Worlds, thus demonstrating the obedience and submission of the angels to Adam (Upon whom be peace) and the reason for their prostrating before him. So too the people of Paradise -and even some of its animals- felt a connection with that Being, and this was expressed by the passionate feelings of Buraq, whom he mounted.

SECOND POINT

One of the adventures during the Ascension concerned Almighty God's transcendent love for His Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), which was expressed by the phrase: "I am your lover." In its common meaning, such words are not fitting for the holiness of the Necessarily Existent One and His essential self-sufficiency. Süleyman Efendi's Mevlid has enjoyed great popularity; it may be understood from this that since he was one of the people of sainthood and reality, the meaning he alludes to is surely correct. The meaning is this:

The Necessarily Existent Essence possesses infinite beauty and perfection, for all the varieties of the beauty and perfection dispersed throughout the universe are the signs and indications of His beauty and perfection. Like those who possess beauty and perfection self-evidently love their own beauty and perfection, so the All-Glorious One greatly loves His own beauty. And He loves it in a way fitting to Himself. Furthermore, He loves His Names, which are the rays of His beauty. Since He loves His Names, he surely loves His art, which displays the beauty of His Names. In which case, He also loves His creatures which are mirrors to His beauty and perfection. Since He loves those which display His

beauty and perfection, He certainly loves the fine qualities of His creatures which point to the beauty and perfection of His Names. The All-Wise Qur'an alludes to these five sorts of love with its verses.

Thus, since the Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) was the most perfect individual among creatures and the most excellent of beings;

And since he displayed and applauded Divine art with a clamour of glorification and recitation of God's Names;

And since he opened through the tongue of the Qur'an the treasuries of beauty and perfection in the Divine Names;

And since he expounded brilliantly and cogently through the tongue of the Qur'an the evidences to the Maker's perfection of the creational signs of the universe;

And since through his universal worship he acted as a mirror to Divine dominicality;

And since through the comprehensiveness of his essential nature he was a complete place of manifestation to all the Divine Names;

It surely may be said that since the All-Beauteous One of Glory loves His own beauty, He loves Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who was the most perfect conscious mirror to His beauty. And since He loves His own Names, He loves Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who was the most brilliant mirror to the Names, and He loves according to their degree those who resemble him.

And since He loves His art, of a certainty He loves Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who proclaimed His art to the whole universe with reverberating voice, making it ring in the ears of the heavens, and who with a tumult of glorification and recitation of the Divine praises, brought to ecstasy the land and the sea; and He loves too those who follow him.

And since He loves His artefacts, He loves living beings, the most perfect of His artefacts, and intelligent beings, the most perfect of living beings, and human beings, the most superior of intelligent beings, and He surely loves most of all Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who as is agreed by all was the most perfect of human beings.

And since He loves the moral virtues of His creatures, He loves Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace), whose

moral qualities were at the very highest degree, as is agreed unanimously, and He loves too according to their degree those who resemble him. This means that like His mercy, Almighty God's love also encompasses the universe.

Thus, it was because among all those innumerable beloveds, the very highest degree in every respect of the above-mentioned five aspects was unique to Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace) that the name of 'God's Beloved' was given to him.

It was for this reason that Süleyman Efendi expressed this highest rank of being beloved of God with the words: "I am your lover." The expression is a means to reflective thought, a most distant allusion to this truth. Nevertheless, since it conjures up meanings unfitting to the attributes of dominicality, it is best to say: "I am pleased with you" in its place.

THIRD POINT

The adventures of the Ascension cannot express those sacred and transcendent truths through the meanings that we understand. Those exchanges are rather each like observation posts, means to reflective thought, indications to profound and elevated truths, reminders for some of the truths of belief, and allusions to certain inexpressible meanings. They are not adventures in the sense that we know. We cannot reach those truths through our imaginations; we rather receive a pleasurable excitement connected with belief through our hearts, a luminous joy of the spirit. For just as Almighty God has no like or match or peer in His Essence and attributes, so He has no like in the functions of His dominicality. And His love does not resemble the love of creatures, the same as His attributes do not resemble theirs. So, taking these expressions as metaphors, we say this:

In a manner fitting to His necessary existence and holiness and in a form appropriate to His essential self-sufficiency and absolute perfection, the Necessarily Existent One possesses certain qualities like love which are recalled through the adventures in the section in the Mevlid about the Ascension. The Thirty-First Word about the Prophet's Ascension ex-plains and expounds the Ascension's reality within the bounds of the principles of belief. Deeming that to be sufficient, we leave the present discussion at this.

FOURTH POINT

The words, "He saw Almighty God beyond seventy thousand veils" {[*]:} expresses distance, whereas the Necessarily Existent One is free of

space; He is closer to everything than anything else. What does this mean?

This truth has been explained in detail and with proofs in the Thirty-First Word, so here we only say this:

Almighty God is utterly close to us, while we are utterly distant from Him. The sun becomes close to us by means of a mirror we hold in our hand, and all transparent objects on the earth become a sort of throne for it and a sort of dwelling. If the sun had consciousness, it would converse with us by means of our mirror, although we are four thousand years distant from it. And so, not that any comparison can be made, the Pre-Eternal Sun is closer to everything than anything else, for He is the Necessarily Existent, he is free of space; nothing at all can be a veil to Him. But everything is infinitely distant from Him.

Thus, the mystery of the long distance of the Ascension together with the absence of distance expressed by, And We are closer to him than his jugular vein, {[*]:} gave rise to the fact that God's Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) went on the Ascension, and went traversing a vast distance, yet returned in a single instant. The Ascension was the Messenger's spiritual journeying, an expression of his sainthood. For through their spiritual journeying from forty days to forty years, the saints advance to the degree of 'absolute certainty' among the degrees of belief.

Similarly, God's Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), the lord of all the saints, opened up a mighty highway with his Ascension, which lasting forty minutes rather than forty years, was the supreme wonder of sainthood, and which he made not only with his heart and spirit, but also with his body, and his senses, and his subtle faculties. He rose to the very highest degrees of the truths of belief. He mounted by the steps of the Ascension to the Divine Throne, and at the station of «the distance of two bow-lengths» witnessed with his own eyes with the 'vision of certainty' belief in God and belief in the hereafter, the greatest of the truths of belief; he entered Paradise and saw eternal happiness. Then he left open the highway he had revealed through the door of the Ascension, and all the saints of his community travel on their spiritual journeyings under the shadow of the Ascension, with the spirit and heart, in accordance with their degrees.

FIFTH POINT

The recitation of the Prophet's 'Mevlid' and its section about his Ascension is a most beneficial and fine custom and admirable Islamic practice. It is a pleasant, shining, and agreeable means of fellowship in Islamic social life; gratifying and pleasurable instruction in the truths of belief; and an effective and stimulating way of demonstrating and encouraging the lights of belief and love of God and love for the Prophet. May Almighty God cause this custom to continue to eternity, and may He grant mercy to the writers of 'Mevlid s' like Süleyman Efendi, and make their dwelling Paradise. Amen.

Conclusion

Since the Creator of the universe created in every species a perfect individual, including in it all the perfections of the species and making it the cause of the species' pride, through the manifestation of the Greatest Name in all His Names, He will surely create an individual who is exceptional and perfect in relation to the universe. As there is a Greatest Name among His Names, so there will be a perfect individual among His creatures in whom He will gather together all the perfections dispersed throughout the universe, and through whom He will draw gazes on Himself.

Such an individual will surely be from among living creatures, for among the species and realms of beings in the universe, the most perfect are living beings. And among the species of living beings, that individual will be an intelligent being, for among living beings the most perfect are beings with intelligence. And certainly, that exceptional individual will be a human being, for among intelligent beings, the one capable of endless progress is man. And among men, that individual will certainly be Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace). For no time in history, from the time of Adam to the present, has shown an individual like him, and cannot and will not show such an individual. For taking half the globe of the earth and a fifth of mankind under his spiritual rule, he has continued his rule with utter magnificence for one thousand three hundred and fifty years, and for all who seek perfection has become like a universal master in every sort of truth and reality. As agreed by friend and foe alike, he possessed moral qualities of the very highest order. At the start of his mission, he challenged the whole world on his own. The one who presented the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition, which is constantly recited by more than a hundred million men, is surely that

excellent individual; it could be none other than he. He is both the seed, and the fruit, of this world.

Blessings and peace be upon him to the number of the species of the universe and all their beings!

You may understand then what a pleasurable, honourable, luminous, joyful, auspicious, and elevated religious entertainment it is for believers, who consider that Being to be their chief and master and leader and intercessor, to listen to his 'Mevlid' and Ascension; that is, to hear of the beginning and end of his progress; that is, to learn the story of his spiritual life.

O our Sustainer! In veneration of Your Most Noble Beloved (Upon whom be blessings and peace) and for the sake of Your Greatest Name, make the hearts of those who publish this treatise, and those of their companions, manifest the lights of belief, and make their pens disseminate the mysteries of the Qur'an, and establish them on the Straight Path! Amen.

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise!

The Twenty-Fifth Letter

The Twenty-Sixth Letter

First Topic

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

And if a suggestion from Satan assails your mind, seek refuge with God; for He is All-Hearing and All-Knowing. {[*]:}

A Proof of the Qur'an Against Satan and His Party

This First Topic defeats in argument the Devil, silences the rebellious, and strikes them dumb by refuting in the most clear manner a fearsome and cunning stratagem of the Devil, which is to be 'unbiased.' It concerns an event part of which I described in summary form ten years ago in my work entitled Lemeât. It is as follows:

Eleven years before this treatise was written in the month of Ramadan, I was listening to the Qur'an being recited in Bayezid Mosque in Istanbul. Suddenly, although I could see no one, I seemed to hear an unearthly voice which captured all my attention. I listened with my imagination, and realized that it was saying to me:

"You consider the Qur'an to be extremely elevated and brilliant. Be unbiased for a minute and consider it again. That is, suppose it to be

man's word. I wonder whether you would still see the same qualities and beauty in it?"

In truth, I was deceived by the voice; I thought of the Qur'an as being written by man. Just as Bayezid Mosque is plunged into darkness when the electric switch is turned off, I observed that with that thought the brilliant lights of the Qur'an began to be extinguished. At that point I understood that it was the Devil who was speaking to me; he was drawing me towards the abyss.

I sought help from the Qur'an and a light was at once imparted to my heart giving me firm strength for the defence. I began to argue back at the Devil, saying:

"O Satan! Unbiased thinking is to take a position between two sides. Whereas what both you and your disciples from among men call unbiased thinking is to take the part of the opposing side; it is not impartiality, it is temporary unbelief. Because, to consider the Qur'an to be man's word and to judge it as such is to take the part of the opposing side; it is to favour something baseless and invalid. It is not being unbiased, it is being biased towards falsehood."

The Devil replied: "Well, in that case, say it is neither God's Word nor man's word. Think of it as between the two." To which I rejoined:

"That is not possible either. For if there is a disputed property for which there are two claimants, and the claimants are close both to one another and to the property, the property will then either be given to someone other than them, or will be put somewhere accessible so that whoever proves ownership can take it. If the two claimants are far apart with one in the East and one in the West, then according to the rule, it will remain with the one who has possession of it, as it is not possible for it to be left somewhere between them.

"Thus, the Qur'an is a valuable property, and however distant man's word is from God's, the two sides in question are that far apart; indeed, they are infinitely far from one another. It is not possible for the Qur'an to be left between the two sides, which are as far apart as the Pleiades and the ground. For they are opposites like existence and non-existence or the two magnetic poles; there can be no point between them. In which case, for the Qur'an, the one who possesses it is God's side. It will be accepted as being in His possession, and the proofs of ownership will be regarded in that way. Should the opposing side refute all the arguments proving it to be God's Word, it may claim ownership of it, otherwise it may not. God forbid! What hand can pull out the nails fastening that vast

jewel to the Sublime Throne of God, riveted as it is with thousands of certain proofs, and break its supporting pillars, causing it to fall?"

"And so, inspite of you, O Satan!, the just and the fair-minded reason in this equitable and rightful manner. They increase their belief in the Qur'an through even the slightest evidences. While according to the way shown by you and your disciples, if just once it is supposed to be man's word and that mighty jewel fastened to the Divine Throne is cast to the ground, a proof with the strength of all the nails and the firmness of many proofs becomes necessary in order to raise it from the ground and fasten it once more to the Throne, and so be saved from the darkness of unbelief and reach the lights of belief. But because it is extremely difficult to do this, due to your wiles, many people are losing their faith at this time by imagining themselves to be making unbiased judgements."

The Devil turned and said: "The Qur'an resembles man's word. It is similar to the way men converse. That means it is man's word. If it was God's Word, it would be appropriate to Him and would be altogether out of the ordinary. Just as His art does not resemble man's art, so should His Word not resemble man's word." I replied:

"It may be understood as follows: apart from his miracles and special attributes, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was a human being in all his actions, conduct, and behaviour. He submitted to and complied with the Divine laws and commands manifested in creation. He too suffered from the cold, experienced pain, and so on. So that he could be the leader of his community through his actions, its guide through his conduct, and instruct it through all his behaviour, his deeds and attributes were not all made out of the ordinary. If he had been out of the ordinary in all his conduct, he could not himself have been the leader in every respect, the total guide of everyone, the 'Mercy to All the Worlds' through all his attributes.

"In just the same way, the All-Wise Qur'an is the leader to the aware and the conscious, the guide of jinn and men, the teacher of those attaining to perfection, and instructor of those seeking reality. It is of necessity and of a certainty, therefore, in the same form as man's conversation and style. For men and jinn take their supplications from it and learn their prayers from it; they express their concerns in its language, and learn from it the rules of social behaviour, and so on. Everyone has recourse to it. If, therefore, it had been in the form of the Divine speech which the Prophet Moses (Peace be upon him) heard on Mount Sinai, man could not have borne listening to it and hearing it, nor made it the point of reference and recourse. Moses (Peace be upon him), one of the five greatest prophets, could only endure to hear a few words. He said:

"'Is Your speech thus?' God replied: 'I have the power of all tongues.'" {[*]:}

Next, the Devil said: "Many people speak of matters similar to those in the Qur'an in the name of religion. Is it not possible, therefore, that a human being did such a thing and made up the Qur'an in the name of religion?"

Through the light of the Qur'an I replied as follows:

Out of love of religion, someone who is religious may say, 'The truth is thus, the reality of the matter is this. Almighty God commands that.' But he would not make God speak to suit himself. Trembling at the verse,

Who, then does more wrong than one who utters a lie concerning God?, {[*]:}

he would not overstep his mark to an infinite degree, imitate God, and speak on His behalf.

It is in no way possible for a human being to be successful in doing such a thing on his own, in fact, it is completely impossible. Individuals who resemble one another may imitate one another, those of the same kind may take on one another's forms, those who are close to one another in rank or status may imitate one another and temporarily deceive people, but they cannot do so for ever. For in any event, the falseness and artificiality in their behaviour will show up their imposture to the observant, and their deception will not last. If the one who is attempting to imitate another under false pretences is quite unlike them, for example, if an uneducated man wants to imitate in learning a genius like Ibn Sina, or a shepherd assume the position of a king, of course they will not deceive anyone at all, they will only make fools of themselves. Everything they do will proclaim, 'This is an impostor.'

"Thus, to suppose -God forbid!, a hundred thousand times- the Qur'an to be man's word is utterly impossible, no rational being can accept it as possible, to do so is a delirium like imagining to be possible something that is self-evidently impossible like a fire-fly being seen by astronomers as a real star for a thousand years; or a fly appearing to observers in the true form of a peacock for a year; or a bogus common private posing as a famous lofty field marshal, taking over his position and remaining in it for a long period without giving away his deception;

or like a slandering, unbelieving liar affecting the manner and position of the most truthful, trustworthy, upright believer throughout his life and being completely unruffled before even the most observant while concealing his fraud from them.

"In just the same way, if the Qur'an is supposed to be man's word, then it has to be supposed, God forbid, that that Perspicuous Book, which is considered to be clearly a most brilliant star, rather, a sun of perfections perpetually scattering the lights of truth in the heavens of the world of Islam, is like a fire-fly, a spurious sham made up by a counterfeiting human. And those who are closest to it and study it most carefully do not realize this, and consider it to be a perpetual, exalted star and source of truth. Together with this being impossible a hundred times over, even if you went a hundred times further in your diabolical machinations, O Satan, you could not make such an assertion, you could not deceive anyone of sound reason! Only sometimes you trick people by making them look from a great distance, thus making the star appear as small as a fire-fly.

Also, if the Qur'an is imagined to be man's word, it necessitates that the hidden reality of a criterion of truth and falsehood, which is miraculous in its exposition, and through the testimony of its fruits, results, and effects, is gilded with the most spiritual and life-giving, the most truthful and happiness-bringing, the most comprehensive and exalted qualities in the world of mankind, is, God forbid, the fabrication of a single unaided and unlearned man's mind. And that the great geniuses and brilliant scholars who observed that being closely and studied him meticulously at no time saw any trace of counterfeit or pretence in him and always found him serious, genuine, and sincere.

"This is completely impossible, an idea so nonsensical as to shame the Devil himself, like dreaming up an utterly impossible situation. For it entails supposing one who throughout his life demonstrated and taught trust, belief, confidence, sincerity, seriousness, and integrity through all his conduct, words, and actions, and raised eminently truthful and sincere followers, and was accepted to possess the highest and most brilliant and elevated virtues to be the most untrustworthy, insincere, and unbelieving. Because in this question there is no point between the two.

"If, to suppose the impossible, the Qur'an was not the Word of God, it would fall as though from the Divine Throne to the ground, it would not remain somewhere between. While being the meeting-point of truths, it would become the source of superstition and myth. And if, God forbid, the one who proclaimed that wonderful decree was not God's Messenger,

it would necessitate his descending from the highest of the high to the lowest of the low, and from the degree of being the source of accomplishments and perfections to the level of being a mine of trickery and intrigue; he could not remain between the two. For one who lies and fabricates in God's name falls to the very lowest of degrees.

"However impossible it is to permanently see a fly as a peacock, and to all the time see the peacocks's attributes in the fly, this matter is that impossible. Only someone lacking all intelligence could imagine it to be possible.

Also, if the Qur'an is imagined to be man's word, it necessitates fancying that the Qur'an, which is a sacred commander of the community of Muhammad, mankind's largest and most powerful army, is -God forbid- a powerless, valueless, baseless forgery. Whereas, self-evidently, through its powerful laws, sound principles, and penetrating commands, it has equipped that huge army both materially, and morally and spiritually, has given it an order and regularity and imposed a discipline on it that are such as to conquer both this world and the next, and has instructed the minds, trained the hearts, conquered the spirits, purified the consciences, and employed and utilized the limbs and members of individuals according to the degree of each. To imagine it to be a counterfeit necessitates accepting a hundredfold impossibility.

"This impossibility entails the further complete impossibility of supposing that one who, through his deliberate conduct throughout his life taught mankind Almighty God's laws, and through his honest behaviour instructed man in the principles of truth, and through his sincere and reasonable words showed and established the straight way of moderation and happiness, and as all his life testifies, felt great fear of Divine punishment and knew God better than anyone else and made Him known, and in splendid fashion has for one thousand three hundred and fifty years commanded a fifth of mankind and half the globe, and through his qualities of renown is in truth the means of pride of mankind, indeed, of the universe, God forbid a hundred thousand times, neither feared God, nor knew Him, nor held back from lying, nor had any self-respect. Because in this matter there is no point between the two. For if, to suppose the impossible, the Qur'an is not the Word of God, if it falls from the Divine Throne to the ground, it cannot remain somewhere in between the two. Indeed, it then has to be accepted as the property of the very worst of liars. And as for this, O Satan, even if you were a hundred times more satanic, you could not deceive any mind that was not unsound, nor persuade any heart that was not corrupted."

The Devil retorted: "How should I not deceive them? I have deceived most of mankind and their foremost thinkers into denying the Qur'an and Muhammad" I replied:

When seen from a great distance, the greatest thing appears the same as the smallest. A star may even appear as a candle.

Also, when seen both as secondary and superficially, something which is completely impossible may appear to be possible.

"One time an old man was watching the sky in order to see the new moon of Ramadan when a white hair fell on his eye. Imagining it to be the moon, he announced: 'I have seen the new moon.' Now, it is impossible that the white hair should have been the moon, but because his intention was to look for just the moon and the hair was by the way and secondary, he paid it no attention and thought that impossibility was possible.

Also, non-acceptance is one thing and denial is something quite different. Non-acceptance is indifference, a closing of the eyes to something, an ignorant absence of judgement. Many completely impossible things may be concealed within it, and the mind does not concern itself with them. As for denial, it is not non-acceptance, but an acceptance of non-existence; it is a judgement. The mind is compelled to work. So a devil like you takes hold of the mind of a person, then leads it to denial. And, showing the false as truth and the impossible as possible through satanic wiles like heedlessness, misguidance, fallacious reasoning, obstinacy, false arguments, pride, deception, and habit, you make those unfortunate creatures in human form swallow unbelief and denial, although they comprise innumerable impossibilities.

Also, if the Qur'an is supposed to be the word of man, it necessitates imagining to be its opposite a book which has self-evidently guided the purified, veracious saints and spiritual poles, who shine like stars in the heavens of the world of mankind, has continuously instructed every level of the people of perfection in truth and justice, veracity and fidelity, faith and trustworthiness, and has ensured the happiness of the two worlds through the truths of the pillars of belief and the principles of the pillars of Islam, and through the testimony of these achievements is of necessity veracious, and pure, genuine truth, and absolutely right, and most serious -it necessitates imagining, God forbid, that this Book comprises the opposites of these qualities, effects, and lights. And that, regarding it as a collection of fabrications and lies, it is a frenzy of unbelief that would shame even the Sophists and the devils, and cause them to tremble.

"And this impossibility necessitates the further most ugly and

abhorrent impossibility that One who, according to the testimony of the religion and Shari'a of Islam which he proclaimed, and the unanimous indications to the extraordinary fear of God and pure and sincere worship which he demonstrated throughout his life, and as necessitated by the good moral qualities unanimously witnessed in him, and according to the affirmation of the people of truth and perfection whom he raised, was the most believing, the most steadfast, the most trustworthy, and the most truthful, was -God forbid, and again, God forbid- without belief, that he was most untrustworthy, did not fear God, nor shrink from lying. To imagine this necessitates imagining the most loathsome form of impossibility and perpetrating the most iniquitous and vicious sort of misguidance.

As is stated in the Eighteenth Sign of the Nineteenth Letter, the common people, whose understanding of the Qur'an is gained by listening to it, say, 'Were the Qur'an to be compared with all the books I have listened to and the other books in the world, it would not resemble any of them; it is not of the same sort as them nor of the same degree.' The Qur'an, then, is of a degree either above all of them or below all of them. To be below them is impossible, and no enemy nor the Devil even could accept it. In which case, the Qur'an is above all other books, and is therefore a miracle. And in just the same way, we say according to the categorical proof called 'residue,' taken from the sciences of method and logic:

"O Satan and O disciples of Satan! The Qur'an is either the Word of God come from the Supreme Throne of God and His Greatest Name, or, God forbid, and again, God forbid, it is a human forgery fabricated on earth by someone without belief who neither feared God nor knew Him. In the face of the above proofs, O Satan, you can neither say that, nor could you have said it, nor will you be able to say it in the future. Therefore, the Qur'an is the Word of the Creator of the universe. Because there is no point between the two; it is impossible and precluded that there should be. Just as we have proved in the most clear and decisive manner; and you have seen it and heard it.

"In the same way, Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) is either God's Messenger and the highest of the prophets and the most superior of creatures, or, God forbid, he has to be imagined to be someone without belief having fallen to the lowest of the low because he lied concerning God, and did not know God, and did not believe in His punishment. {(*):} And as for this, O Devil, neither you nor the philosophers of Europe and hypocrites of Asia on whom you rely could say it, nor could

you say it in the past, neither shall you be able to say it in the future, for there is no one in the world who would listen to it and accept it. It is because of this that the most corrupting of those philosophers and the most lacking in conscience of the hypocrites, even, admit that 'Muhammad the Arabian (PBUH) was very clever, and was most moral and upright.'

"Since this matter is restricted to these two sides, and the second one is impossible and no one at all claims it to be true, and since we have proved with decisive arguments that there is no point between them, for sure and of necessity, in spite of you and your party, Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace) is the Prophet of God, and the highest of the prophets and the best of all creatures."

Upon him be blessings and peace to the number of angels and jinn and men.

A Second, Small Objection of Satan

Not a word does he utter but there is a sentinel by him, ready [to note it]. * And the stupor of death will bring the truth [before his eyes]: "This was the thing you were trying to escape!" * And the Trumpet shall be blown: that will be the Day whereof Warning [had been given]. * And there will come forth every soul: with each will be [an angel] to drive, and [an angel] to bear witness. * "You were heedless of this; now have We removed your veil. And sharp is your sight this Day!" * And his companion will say: "Here is [his record] ready with me!" * "Throw, throw into Hell every contumacious rejecter!" {[*]:}

One time while reading these verses from Sura Qaf, the Devil said to me: "You consider the most important aspects of the Qur'an's eloquence to lie in its clarity and fluency of style, but in these verses it jumps from one subject to another. It jumps from death agonies to the Resurrection of the Dead, from the blowing of the Trumpet to the Last Judgement, and from that to the entry into Hell of the unbelievers. What fluency of style remains with this extraordinary switching about? In most places in the Qur'an, it brings together subjects that bear little relation to each other like this. Where is its eloquence and smoothness with such discontinuity?"

I answered as follows:

"After its eloquence, one of the most important elements of the miraculousness of the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition is its conciseness. Conciseness is one of the strongest and most important elements of the Qur'an's miraculousness. Instances of this miraculous conciseness of the Qur'an are so numerous and beautiful that exacting scholars are left in wonder at it. For example:

Then the word went forth: "O earth! swallow up your water, and O sky! withhold [your rain]!" And the water abated, and the matter was ended. The ark rested on Mount Judi, and the word went forth: "Away with those who do wrong!" {[*]:}

"It describes the Great Flood and its consequences so concisely and miraculously in a few short sentences that it has caused many scholars of rhetoric to prostrate before its eloquence. And, for example:

The Thamud rejected [their prophet] through their inordinate wrongdoing. * Behold, the most wicked man among them was deputed [for impiety]. * But the Apostle of God said to them: "It is a she-camel of God. And [bar her not from] having her drink!" * Then they rejected him, and they hamstrung her. So their Lord, on account of their crime, obliterated their traces and made them equal [in destruction, high and low]! * And for Him is no fear of its consequences. {[*]:}

"In these few short sentences and with a miraculousness within the conciseness, fluency, and clarity, and in a way that does not spoil the understanding, the Qur'an relates the strange and momentous events concerning the Thamud people, together with the consequences and their calamitous end. And for example:

And remember Zun-Nun, when he departed in wrath: he imagined that We had no power over him. But he cried through the depths of darkness: "There is no god but You; glory be unto You; I was indeed among the wrongdoers." {[*]:}

"Here, many sentences have be 'rolled up' between the words "that We had no power over him" and "but he cried out in the depths of the darkness," but these omitted sentences neither spoil the understanding, nor mar the fluency of the style. It mentions the most important elements in the story of Jonah (upon whom be peace), and refers the rest to the intelligence.

"And for example, in Sura Yusuf, the seven or eight sentences between the words «Send me» and «Joseph, O man of truth!» {[*]:} have been skipped in conciseness. And it neither impairs the understanding, nor mars the smoothness of the style. There are a great many instances of this sort of miraculous conciseness in the Qur'an, and they are very beautiful indeed

"However, the conciseness of the verses from Sura Qaf are particularly wonderful and miraculous. For they each point out the truly dreadful future of the unbelievers when each endless day will last fifty thousand years, and to the grievous, dire things that will happen to them in the awesome revolutions of the future. It conveys the mind over them like lightening, presenting that long, long period of time to the mind's eye as a single present page. Referring the events which are not mentioned to the imagination, it describes them with a most elevated fluency and smoothness of style.

When the Qur'an is read, listen to it with attention, and hold your peace: that you may receive mercy. {[*]:}

"And now if you have anything to say, O Satan, say it!"

Satan replied: "I cannot oppose what you say, nor defend myself. But there are many foolish people who listen to me; and many devils in human form who assist me; and many pharaohs among philosophers who learn things from me which flatter their egos, and prevent the publication of works like yours. Therefore I shall not lay down my arms before you."

Second Topic

[This Topic was written in response to the wonder expressed by those who serve me permanently concerning the surprising contradictions they see in my conduct; and in order to rectify the excessively good opinions of me of two of my students.]

I see that some of the perfections which properly pertain to the truths of the All-Wise Qur'an are attributed to the means who proclaims those truths. And this is wrong. For the sacredness of the source demonstrates effects as powerful as many proofs; it is through these that it makes everyone accept its injunctions. Whenever the herald or deputy obscures it, that is, whenever regard is directed to the herald, the sacredness of the source loses its effectiveness. It is because of this that I shall explain a truth to my brothers who show me greater regard than is my due. It is as follows:

One person may have numerous personalities, all of which display different qualities. For example, when a high official is in his office, he has a personality which necessitates dignity and requires a stance that will preserve the elevation of the position. If he is humble before all his visitors, it will be lowering and will debase the position. But his personality in his own house, contrary to his official position, requires that he should be as modest as he can. If he displays dignity, it is arrogance. And so on. That is to say, a person has a personality in regard to his duty or work which in many respects contradicts his true personality. If such a person is truly worthy of his duty and truly capable of it, the two personalities are close to each other. If he is not capable of it, for example, if a common soldier is put in the position of a field marshal, the two personalities are far from each other; the individual, lowly, inferior qualities of the soldier are incompatible with the elevated, superior character demanded by the position of field marshal.

And so, this wretched brother of yours has three personalities, which are very distant from each other, truly very distant.

In regard to being the herald of the elevated treasury of the All-Wise Qur'an, I have a temporary personality which pertains solely to the Qur'an. The extremely exalted character demanded by the position of herald is not my character; I do not possess such a character. It rather consists of the qualities necessitated by the position and the duty. Whatever you see in me of this sort of quality, is not mine, so do not consider me as possessing it; it belongs to the position.

Through Almighty God's grace, a personality is given me at the time of worship, when I am turned towards the Divine Court; this personality displays certain marks. These marks arise from "knowing one's faults, realizing one's want and impotence, and seeking refuge in utter humility at the Divine Court," which are the basis and meaning of worship. Through this personality, I know myself to be more wretched, powerless, wanting, and faulty than everyone. Should the whole world praise and applaud me, they could not make me believe that I am good or possess perfection of any sort.

I have my true personality, that is, the degenerate personality of the Old Said, that is, certain veins of character inherited from the Old Said. Sometimes it inclines to hypocrisy and desires rank and position. Also, because I do not come of a noble family, lowly characteristics are to be observed, like my being frugal to the point of miserliness.

My brothers! I am not going to describe the many secret faults and ills of this personality, lest I chase you away altogether.

And so, my brothers, since I am not someone capable and of high position, this personality of mine is very far from the character demanded by the duties of being herald and of worship; it does not display their marks. Also, according to the rule, "Ability is not necessary to proclaim the truth," Almighty God has compassionately demonstrated His power in me so that He employs my personality, which is like that of the lowest common soldier, in serving the mysteries of the Qur'an, which resembles the most exalted position of field marshal. Thanks be to God a hundred thousand times! The soul is baser than everything, and the duty higher...

All praise be to God, this is from the bounty of my Sustainer!

Third Topic

O mankind! We created you from a single [pair] of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other. {[*]:}

That is, "I created you as peoples, nations, and tribes, so that you should know one another and the relations between you in social life, and assist one another; not so that you should regard each other as strangers, refusing to acknowledge one another, and nurturing hostility and enmity."

FIRST MATTER

Since the elevated truth expressed by the above verse concerns social life, I have been compelled to write it in the tongue, not of the New Said, who wants to withdraw from social life, but of the Old Said, who was involved in the social life of Islam; it is written with the intention of serving the Qur'an of Mighty Stature and forming a shield against the unjust attacks against it.

SECOND MATTER

In order to explain the principle of "knowing and assisting each other" which the verse indicates, we say this: an army is divided into divisions, the divisions into regiments, the regiments into battalions, companies, and then into squads, so that every soldier may know his many different connections and their related duties; then the members of the army may truly perform a general duty governed by the principle of mutual assistance, and their social life be guarded against the attacks of the enemy. This arrangement is not so that divided and split up, one company should compete with another, one battalion be hostile to another, and one division act in opposition to another.

In just the same way, Islamic society as a whole is a huge army which has been divided into tribes and groups. But it has a thousand and one aspects of unity. Its groups' Creator is one and the same, their Provider is one and the same, their Prophet is one and the same, their qibla is one and the same, their Book is one and the same, their country is one and the same; all the same, a thousand things are one and the same.

This many things being one and the same requires brotherhood, love, and unity. That is to say, being divided into groups and tribes should lead to mutual acquaintance and mutual assistance, not to antipathy and mutual hostility.

THIRD MATTER

The idea of nationalism has greatly advanced this century. The cunning European tyrants in particular awaken this among Muslims in negative fashion, so that they may divide them and devour them.

Furthermore, in nationalism is a thrill of the soul, a heedless pleasure, an inauspicious power. For this reason those occupied with social life at this time cannot be told to give up the idea of nationalism. However, nationalism is of two kinds. One is negative, inauspicious, and harmful; it is nourished by devouring others, persists through hostility to others, and is aware of what it is doing. It is the cause of enmity and disturbance. It is because of this that the Hadith states: Islam has abrogated what preceded it, and put an end to the tribalism of Ignorance. {[*]:} And the Qur'an decrees:

While the unbelievers got up in their hearts, heat and cant -the heat and cant of Ignorance- God sent down His tranquillity to His Messenger and to the believers, and made them stick close to the command of self-restraint; and well were they entitled to it and worthy of it. And God has full knowledge of all things. {[*]:}

The above Hadith and verse reject in definite terms any negative nationalism and racialism. For positive, sacred Islamic nationhood leave no need for them.

What race is there that has three hundred and fifty million members? And which racialism can gain for those who subscribe to it so many brothers -and eternal brothers- in place of Islam? Negative nationalism has caused untold harm in history.

Due to their combining some ideas of nationalism with their politics, the Umayyads vexed the World of Islam, and in addition

drew many calamities on themselves. Also, the European nations have greatly advanced the idea of racialism this century; the ghastly events of the Great War showed how harmful for mankind is negative nationalism, as well as the perpetual and ill-omened enmity of the French and Germans. And with us, in the Second Constitutional Period, -like the "many tongues" at the destruction of the Tower of Babel, known as the "ramification of peoples," which resulted in their being divided and scattered- various refugee societies known as "clubs" were formed, chiefly by the Armenians and Greeks, due to the idea of negative nationalism, which were the cause of division. And from that time to now, the state of those who have been devoured by the Europeans due to those clubs, and of those made wretched by them, has again demonstrated the harm of negative nationalism.

As for the present, when the peoples and tribes of Islam are most in need of one another, and each is more oppressed and more poverty-stricken than the others, and they are crushed beneath European domination, to regard one another as strangers due to the idea of nationalism and to consider one another to be enemies, is such a calamity that it cannot be described. It is quite simply a lunacy like turning one's back on dreadful serpents so as not to be bitten by a mosquito and struggling with the mosquito-due to the idea of nationalism-to attach no importance to the European nations, which are like huge dragons, at a time when with their insatiable greed their grasping hands are open, indeed, to in effect help them and to nurture enmity against fellow-citizens in the Eastern Provinces or brother Muslims to the South, and to take up positions opposed to them, is extremely detrimental and dangerous. In any event there are no enemies among those to the South so that they should be confronted. What comes from the South is the light of the Qur'an; the light of Islam came from there; it is present among us, and is found everywhere.

Thus, to be hostile towards those fellow Muslims is indirectly harmful to Islam and the Qur'an. And hostility towards Islam and the Qur'an is hostility of a sort towards the lives in this world and in the hereafter of all those fellow-citizens. To think one can serve their social life in the name of patriotism while destroying the foundations of their two lives, is not patriotism but stupidity!

FOURTH MATTER

Positive nationalism arises from an inner need of social life and is the cause of mutual assistance and solidarity; it ensures a beneficial strength; it is a means for further strengthening Islamic brotherhood.

This idea of positive nationalism must serve Islam, it must be its

citadel and armour; it must not take the place of it. For there is a hundredfold brotherhood within the brotherhood of Islam which persists in the Intermediate Realm and World of Eternity. So however strong national brotherhood is, it may be like a veil to it. But to establish it in place of Islamic brotherhood is a foolish crime like replacing the treasure of diamonds within the citadel with the citadel's stones, and throwing the diamonds away.

O sons of this land, who are the people of the Qur'an! Challenging the whole world, you have proclaimed the Qur'an as its standard-bearers, not for six hundred years, but for a thousand years since the time of the 'Abbasids. You have made your nationhood the citadel to the Qur'an and Islam. You have silenced the whole world and repulsed awesome attacks, confirming the verse:

Soon God will produce a people whom He will love as they will love Him, lowly with the believers, mighty against the rejecters, fighting in the way of God. {[*]:}

Now you must refrain from succumbing to the stratagems of Europe and the dissemblers who imitate them, thus confirming the passage above; you must be frightened of doing such a thing!

Being the most numerous of the Islamic peoples, wherever throughout the world there are Turks, they are Muslims. They have not become divided into Muslims and non-Muslims like the other peoples. Wherever there are Turks, they are Muslims. Turks who have abandoned Islam or who are not Muslims, are also no longer Turkish. Like the Hungarians. Even among small peoples there are both Muslims and non-Muslims.

O my Turkish brother! You watch out in particular! Your nationhood has fused with Islam and may not be separated from it. If you do separate them, you will be finished! All your glorious deeds of the past are recorded in the book of Islam's deeds. Since these glorious deeds cannot be effaced from the face of the earth by any power, don't you efface them from your heart due to the evil suggestions and devices of Satan!

FIFTH MATTER

Embracing the idea of nationalism, the peoples awakening in Asia are imitating Europe precisely in every respect, and on the way sacrificing many of their sacred matters. However, every nation requires a dress suitable to its particular stature. Even if the material is the same, the style has to be different. A woman cannot be dressed in a gendarme's uniform.

And like an elderly hoja cannot be clothed in the dress of a tango-dancer, blind imitation also very often makes people into laughing-stocks. This is so for the following reasons:

If Europe is a shop, a barracks, Asia is like an arable field and a mosque. A shopkeeper can go to the ball, but a peasant cannot. The situation of a barracks and that of a mosque cannot be the same.

Moreover, the appearance of most of the prophets in Asia, and the emergence of the majority of philosophers in Europe is a sign, an indication, of pre-eternal Divine Determining that what will arouse the Asian peoples and cause them to progress and to govern, are religion and the heart. As for philosophy, it should assist religion and the heart, not take its place.

It is a grievous error to compare the religions of Islam and Christianity and to be indifferent towards religion like Europe. Firstly, Europe has its religion. The fact that European leaders like foremost Wilson, Lloyd George, and Venizelos, are bigoted in their religion like priests, testifies that Europe has its religion, and is even bigoted in one respect.

To compare Islam with Christianity is a false comparison and wrong. For when it has been bigoted in its religion, Europe has not been civilized; it has become civilized on giving up its bigotry.

Furthermore, religion caused three hundred years of war amongst them. And since it was the means of despotic tyrants crushing the common people, the poor, and thinkers who were in their power, they all felt a temporary disgust at religion. However, in Islam, history testifies that apart from one occasion, religion has not been the cause of internal war.

Also, whenever the people of Islam have adhered in earnest to their religion, they have advanced proportionately, achieving great progress. Witness to this is the greatest master of Europe, the Islamic state of Andalusia. And whenever the Islamic community has been slack in religion, it has sunk into wretchedness, and declined.

Furthermore, Islam has protected the poor and the common people with compassionate measures like enjoining the payment of zakat and prohibiting usury and interest; and in accordance with phrases like, So will they not think, * So will they not reason, * So will they not ponder on it, it has called on and encouraged reason and knowledge and protected scholars; Islam has therefore always been the stronghold and place of recourse of the poor and the people of learning. There is no reason to be vexed at Islam. The underlying reason and wisdom of Islam's differing in various respects from Christianity and other religions is this:

The basis of Islam is the pure affirmation of Divine Unity; it attributes no actual effect to causes and intermediaries, affording them no value in regard to creation and position. Christianity, however, since it has accepted the idea of Jesus being the Son of God, it gives some value to causes and intermediaries; it cannot break egotism. It quite simply ascribes a manifestation of Divine dominicality to its saints and great ones, thus confirming the verse:

They take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords in derogation of God. {[*]:}

It is because of this that, together with maintaining their pride and egotism, those Christians who occupy the highest worldly ranks are religious and bigoted, like the former American president, Wilson. In Islam, the religion of pure Divine Unity, those in the highest worldly positions either give up their egotism and pride, or they give up their religion to an extent. For this reason, some are neglectful, or even irreligious.

SIXTH MATTER

To those who exceed the bounds in ideas of negative nationalism and racialism we say this:

The face of the world and especially this country of ours has since ancient times seen numerous migrations and changes of population. In addition, after the centre of Islamic rule was set up in this country, other peoples were drawn to it, and settled here. As a consequence, only when the Preserved Tablet is revealed will the races truly be distinguished from each other. To construct movements and patriotism on the idea of true race is both meaningless and extremely harmful. It is for this reason that one of the leaders of the nationalists and those who support racialism, who is very neglectful toward religion, was compelled to say: "If language and religion are the same, the nation is the same." Since that is so, what will be taken into consideration will be relations of language, religion, and country, not true race. If the three are the same, that certainly is a strong nation. And if one is absent, it is still within the bounds of nationalism.

I shall describe as examples, two of the hundreds of advantages the sacred nationhood of Islam has gained for the social life of the sons of this land:

What enabled this Islamic state, while only numbering twenty or thirty million, to preserve its life and existence in the face of all the large states of Europe was the following idea in its army, which

arose from the light of the Qur'an: "If I die, I shall be a martyr; and if I kill, I shall be a ghazi." They met death with complete eagerness and longing, laughing in its face. They always made Europe tremble. What in the world can be shown that will give rise to such elevated self-sacrifice in the spirit of a simple-hearted soldier? What patriotism can be instilled in its place? What can make him willingly sacrifice his life and all his world?

Whenever the dragons (large states) of Europe have dealt a blow at this Islamic state, they have made three hundred and fifty million Muslims weep and cry out. So in order not to make them weep and suffer, those colonialists have drawn back their hands; they have lowered them, even while raising them to strike. What power can be established in place of this constant moral support which in no way may be belittled? Let them show it! Yes, that huge moral strength must not be offended by negative nationalism and independent patriotism.

SEVENTH MATTER

We say to those who display excessive patriotism and negative nationalism: if you truly love this nation and are compassionate towards it, be patriotic in such a way that the compassion is directed towards the majority of its members. For if you serve the temporary heedless social life of the minority, who are in no need of compassion, in a way that is the reverse of compassion for the majority, that is not patriotism. For patriotic works performed with the idea of negative racialism may be temporarily beneficial for two out of eight. They receive the compassion arising from that patriotism, of which they are not worthy. While the remaining six out of eight are either elderly, or sick, or afflicted with tribulations, or are children, or are weak, or are pious people thinking seriously of the hereafter; these people want a light, a solace, compassion, in the face of the life of the Intermediate Realm and the hereafter, towards which they are turned, rather than worldly life; they are in need of a blessed, patriotic hand. What patriotism would permit the extinguishing of their light, the destruction of their solace? Alas! Compassion for the nation, self-sacrifice for the nation, where are they?

Hope in Divine Mercy must not be lost. For Almighty God will not cause to perish through temporary set-backs the magnificent army and mighty community of the people of this land, whom He employed for a thousand years in the service of the Qur'an, appointing them as its standard-bearer. He will once again kindle that light and cause them to continue their duty, God willing.

Fourth Topic

[NOTE: The Ten Matters of this Fourth Topic are not connected with each other in the same way that the Four Topics of this Twenty-Sixth Letter are not connected. In which case, no connection should be sought. In whatever way it occurred to me, that was how it was written. It is part of a letter to an important student of mine, consisting of the answers to five or six of his questions.]

The First

In your letter you mention that in explanations and interpretations of Sustainer of All the Worlds, it is said that there are eighteen thousand worlds, and you ask the wisdom in this number.

My brother, at the moment I do not know the wisdom in the number, but I can say this much, that the phrases of the All-Wise Qur'an are not restricted to a single meaning; rather, since the Qur'an addresses all the levels of mankind, it phrases are like universals or wholes which comprise meanings for each level. The meanings which are expounded are like the parts of the general law. Every Qur'anic commentator, every adept, mentions one part of the whole. Based on either his illumination, or his proofs, or his way, he prefers one meaning. Thus, in this verse too, one group uncovered a meaning which corresponded to that number.

For example, the verses,

He has let free the two bodies of flowing water, meeting together; * Between them is a barrier which they do not transgress, {[*]:}

to which the people of sainthood attach importance, repeatedly reciting

them in their invocations, are parts with meanings ranging from the sea of dominicality and sea of worship in the spheres of necessity and contingency respectively, to the seas of the World of the Unseen and the Manifest World, and to the oceans of the North, South, East, and West, and to the Adriatic and the Persian Gulf, to the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal, and to the freshwater and salt lakes, to the various lakes of fresh water under the soil layer and the salt lakes over it and contiguous with it, and to the small lakes called the great rivers, such as the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates, and the salty seas into which they flow. Any of these may be intended or meant, and may be their literal and metaphorical meanings.

In the same way, All praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds, encompasses numerous truths. The people of illumination and of reality interpret them differently according to the meanings they uncover.

Personally, I think that in the heavens are thousands of worlds; some of the stars may each be worlds. On the earth too, every sort of creature is a world. Each human being is a small world also. As for the term, Sustainer of All the Worlds, it means "every world is administered, sustained, and governed directly through Almighty God's dominicality."

God's Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) said: "When God wishes a people well, he causes them to see their own faults." {[*]:} And in the All-Wise Qur'an, Joseph (Upon whom be peace) said:

«Nor do I absolve my own self [of blame]; the [human] soul is certainly prone to evil.» {[*]:}

Yes, one who is fond of himself and relies on himself is unfortunate. While one who sees his own faults is fortunate. So you are fortunate! Nevertheless it sometimes happens that the evil-commanding soul is transformed into 'the blaming soul' or 'the tranquil soul,' but it hands over its weapons and equipment to the nerves. And the nerves and veins of temperament continue its function till the end of life. Although the evil-commanding soul died long beforehand, the person's nerves are still apparent. There have been many great saints and purified ones who have complained of their evil-commanding souls while their souls were 'tranquil.' They have lamented over sickness of the heart while their hearts were completely sound and illumined. Thus, what afflicts these persons is not the evil-commanding soul, but the evil-commanding soul's

function which has been handed over to the nerves. The sickness is not of the heart, but of the imagination. My brother, God willing, what is attacking you is not your soul and sickness of the heart, but the state which as we said, by reason of human nature and to perpetuate striving, has been transferred to the nerves and results in constant progress.

Second Matter

Explanations of the three questions asked by the former hoja are to be found in various parts of the Risale-i Nur. For now we shall make brief allusion to them.

Muhyi'l-Din al-'Arabi said in his letter to Fakhr al-Din Razi: "To know God is different to knowing He exists." What does this mean, and what was his aim in saying it?

In the introduction to the Twenty-Second Word, which you read to him, the comparison and example showing the difference between the true affirmation of Divine Unity and superficial affirmation of Divine Unity point to this aim. While the Second and Third Stopping-Places of the Thirty-Second Word and it Aims, elucidate it.

Muhyi'l-Din al-'Arabi said that to Fakhr al-Din Razi, who was a leading authority on theology, because the authorities on the principles of religion and the expositions of the scholars of theology concerning the tenets of belief and the existence of the Necessary Existent and Divine Unity were insufficient in his view.

Yes, the knowledge of God gained by means of theology does not afford a complete knowledge and a complete sense of the Divine presence. However, when gained in accordance with the method of the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition, it affords both complete knowledge and gains a total sense of the Divine presence. God willing, all the parts of the Risale-i Nur perform the duty of an electric lamp on that light-filled highway of the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition.

Furthermore, however deficient the knowledge of God Fakhr al-Din Razi obtained by means of theology appeared in Muhyi'l-Din al-'Arabi's view, the knowledge of God attained by the Sufi way is deficient to the same degree in relation to the knowledge obtained through the meaning of the legacy of prophethood directly from the All-Wise Qur'an. For in

order to attain a constant sense of the Divine presence, the way of Muhyi'l-din al-'Arabi says: "There is no existent save He," going so far as to deny the existence of the universe. As for the others, again to gain a constant sense of the Divine presence, they said: "There is none witnessed save He," entering a strange state as though casting the universe into absolute oblivion.

However, the knowledge of God obtained from the All-Wise Qur'an, in addition to affording a constant sense of the Divine presence, neither condemns the universe to non-existence, nor imprisons it in absolute oblivion. It rather releases it from its purposelessness and employs it in Almighty God's name. Everything becomes a mirror yielding knowledge of God. As Sa'di Shirazi said:

To the conscious gaze each leaf is a book telling of Divine knowledge.

In everything a window opens up onto knowledge of God.

In some of the Words we have illustrated the differences between the way of the scholars of theology and the true highway taken from the Qur'an with the following comparison: For example, in order to obtain water, some is brought from a distant place by means of pipes, digging down under mountains. Some of it is also obtained by digging wells everywhere. The first sort is fraught with difficulties; the pipes become blocked or broken. But for those who know how to dig wells and extract water, they can find water everywhere with no trouble.

In exactly the same way, the scholars of theology cut the chains of causes at the extremities of the world with the impossibility of causation and causal sequences, then with that they prove the existence of the Necessarily Existent One. They travel a long road. However, the true highway of the Wise Qur'an finds water everywhere and extracts it. Each of its verses causes water to flow forth wherever it strikes, like the Staff of Moses. It makes everything recite the rule: In everything are signs indicating that He is One.

Furthermore, belief is not obtained only through knowledge; many of the subtle faculties have their share in belief. Just as when food enters the stomach, it is distributed in various ways to various members, so after entering the stomach of the mind, the matters of belief which come through knowledge are absorbed by the spirit, heart, inner heart, soul, and other subtle faculties; each receives its share according to its degree. If they do not receive their share, it is deficient. Thus, Muhyi'l-Din al-'Arabi was informing Fakhr al-Din Razi of this point.

Third Matter

In what way is the verse,

We have honoured the sons of Adam {[*]:}

conformable with the verse,

He was indeed unjust and foolish? {[*]:}

There are explanations in the Eleventh and Twenty-Third Words, and is the Second Fruit of the Fifth Branch of the Twenty-Fourth Word. A summary of its meaning is this:

With His perfect power, Almighty God makes many things from a single thing, makes one thing perform numerous duties, and writes a thousand books on a single page; so too He created man as a comprehensive species, in place of many species. That is to say, He willed that through man, a single species, functions would be performed to the number of the different levels of all the species of animals. For this reason, He placed no innate limit on man's powers and senses, no natural restriction, and left them free. The powers and senses of the other animals are limited, and under a natural restriction. Whereas each of man's powers may roam free over an endless distance towards infinity. For since man is a mirror to the infinite manifestations of the Creator of the Universe's Names, his powers have been given an infinite capacity.

For example, even if the whole world is given to man, with his greed, he will say: Are there any more? And through his selfishness, he finds it acceptable that a thousand people should suffer harm for his own benefit. And so on. There is boundless development in bad morality and he may reach the degree of the Nimrods and Pharaohs; in accordance with the intensive form in the verse above, he is given to great wrongdoing. Similarly, he may manifest endless progress in good morality, and may advance to the degree of the prophets and veracious ones.

Moreover, contrary to the animals, man is ignorant about all the things necessary for life and is compelled to learn everything. He is in need of innumerable things, and therefore in accordance with the intensive form in the same verse, is most ignorant. But when animals come into the world, they are both in need of few things, and may learn all the things

they need, all the conditions of their lives, in one or two months, or even one or two days, or in some cases, in one or two hours. It is as if they have been perfected in another world, and come thus. But then man can only rise to his feet in one or two years, and in fifteen is only able to distinguish between what is beneficial and what is harmful. The intensive form of "most ignorant" indicates this, too.

Fourth Matter

You ask concerning the wisdom contained in: "Renew your belief by means of 'There is no god but God.'" {[*]:} The wisdom in it has been mentioned in many of the Words and one aspect of it is as follows:

Since man himself and the world in which he lives are being continuously renewed, he needs constantly to renew his belief. For in reality each individual human being consists of many individuals. He may be considered as a different individual to the number of the years of his life, or rather to the number of the days or even the hours of his life. For since a single individual is subject to time, he is like a model and each passing day clothes him in the form of another individual.

Furthermore, just as there is within man this plurality and renewal, so also is the world in which he lives in motion. It goes and replaced by another. It varies constantly. Every day opens the door of another world. As for belief, it is both the light of the life of each individual in that person, and it is the light of the world in which he lives. And as for 'There is no god but God,' it is a key with which to turn on the light.

Then the instinctual soul, desire, doubts, and Satan exercise great influence over man. In order to damage his belief, they are much of the time able to benefit from his negligence, to trick him with their wiles, and thus to extinguish the light of belief with doubts and uncertainty. Also, man is prone to act and utter words which apparently oppose the Shari'a, and which in the view of some religious authorities are no less then unbelief. Therefore, there is a need to renew belief all the time, every hour, every day.

The masters of scholastic theology wrapped up the

world in the abbreviated concepts of contingency and created ness and having disposed of it, so to speak, proved Divine Unity. And one school of Sufis, in order to experience God's presence and affirm His Unity fully, said: "Nothing is observed but Him." They thus forgot the universe and drew the veil of oblivion over it, and then fully experienced the Divine presence, Another school of Sufis, in order to truly affirm Divine Unity and enter God's presence in the highest degree, said: 'There is no existent but Him." They relegated the universe to the level of imagination and cast it into non-existence, and then fully entered the Divine presence. But you point out that in the Qur'an is a mighty highway besides these three ways. And you say that its mark is the phrases: "There is nothing sought but Him," and, "There is nothing worshipped but Him." Can you provide me with a brief proof of this highway that concerns the affirmation of Divine Unity and point out a short way leading to it?

All the Words and Letters in the Risele-i Nur point out that highway. For now, as you wish, we shall concisely indicate an extensive, lengthy and mighty proof of it.

Each thing in the world ascribes every other thing to its own Creator. And each artistically fashioned object in this world demonstrates that all such objects are the works of its own fashioner. And each creative act in the universe proves that all creative acts are the acts of its own author. And each name that is manifest in beings indicates that all names are the names and titles of the one whom it itself signifies. That is to say, each thing is a direct proof of Divine Unity and a window yielding knowledge of God.

Each object, especially if it is animate, is a miniature specimen of the universe, a seed of the world, and a fruit of the globe of the earth. Since this is so, the one who created the miniature specimen, seed and fruit must also be the one who created the whole universe. For the creator of the fruit cannot be other than the creator of the tree that bears it.

And so, in the same way that each object ascribes all other objects to its own fashioner, each act also ascribes all other acts to its author. For we see that each creative act appears as the tip of a law of creativity that is so extensive as to encompass most other creatures, and so long as to reach from particles to galaxies. That is to say, whoever performs the creative act must be the author of all the creative acts which are tied to the universal law that encompasses those beings and stretches from particles to galaxies.

For sure, one who gives life to a fly must be the one who creates all insects and animals and who gives life to the earth. And whoever spins

particles as though they were Mevlevi dervishes must be the one who sets successive beings in motion as far as the sun travelling through the skies with its planets. For the law is a chain and creative acts are tied to it.

That is to say, just as each object ascribes all other objects to its fashioner, and each creative act attributes all acts to its author, in exactly the same way, each Divine Name manifested in the universe ascribes all Names to the One Whom it itself describes and proves that they are His titles. For the names manifested in the universe are like intersecting circles, blending with one another like the seven colours in light; they assist one another and perfect and adorn one another's works of art.

For example, the instant the Name of Giver of Life is manifested on a thing and life is given, the Name of All-Wise also becomes manifest; it orders the body which is that animate creature's dwelling-place with wisdom. At the same time, the Name of Munificent is manifested; it adorns the creature's dwelling-place. So too, the manifestation of the Name of All-Compassionate appears; it presents the body's needs with tenderness. At the same instant, the manifestation of the Name of Provider appears; it supplies the material and spiritual sustenance necessary for the continued existence of the animate creature in unexpected ways. And so on. That means to whomever the Name of Giver of Life belongs, the Name of All-Wise, which is luminous and comprehensive in the universe, is also His. The Name of All-Compassionate, which nurtures all creatures with tenderness, is also His. And the Name of Provider, which sustains all animate creatures with munificence, is His Name and title. And so on.

That is to say, each Name, each act, each object is a proof of Divine Unity, and such a proof that each is a stamp of Divine Unity and each is a seal of Divine Oneness which has been inscribed on the pages of the universe and on the lines of the centuries. Each indicates that all the words of the universe, which are called ٕآngs, are inscriptions traced by the pen of its own scribe.

O God! Grant blessings to the one who said: "The best thing Iand the prophets before me have said is, 'There is no god but God'" {[*]:} and to his Family and Companions, and grant them peace.

Fifth Matter

You ask in your letter whether There is no god but God is sufficient on its own. That is, intending the second part, you ask: can someone who does not say Muhammad is the Messenger of God find salvation? The answer to this is lengthy, so for now we shall only say this:

The two parts of the confession of faith cannot be separated; they prove each other, comprise each other; one cannot be without the other. Since the Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace) was the Seal of the Prophets and the heir of all the prophets, he is at the start of all the ways leading to God. There can be no way to reality and salvation outside his mighty highway. All those with inner knowledge of God and the authorities of those who have researched into reality have said like Sa'di Shirazi: «It is impossible, Sa'di, to be victorious on the way of salvation, except by following Mustafa.» They also said: "All ways are closed except the highway of Muhammad."

However, it sometimes happens that people may be on the highway of Muhammad (PBUH) and within it, without knowing that it is the highway of Muhammad.

And it sometimes happens that they do not know the Prophet, but the road they take is part of the highway of Muhammad (PBUH).

It happens too that being in a state of ecstasy or entirely immersed in contemplation or having withdrawn from the world, not thinking of the highway of Muhammad, There is no god but God is sufficient for them. Nevertheless, a most important aspect is this: non-acceptance is one thing, while the acceptance of non-being is another. Ecstatics and recluses or those who have not heard or do not know, do not know the Prophet or they do not think of him so that they should accept him. They are ignorant in that respect. They only know There is no god but God in regard to knowledge of God. They may be among those who will be saved. But if those who have heard of the Prophet and know his message do not affirm him, they do not recognize Almighty God. For them, the phrase There is no god but God alone does not express the affirmation of Divine Unity, which is the means of salvation. For that is not ignorant non-acceptance, which may be excusable to a degree, it is rather the acceptance of non-being, which is denial. A person who denies Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who with his miracles and

works was the pride of the universe and glory of mankind, certainly can in no respect receive any light and will not recognize God. However... that is enough for now.

Sixth Matter

Some of the terms used in the First Topic, called Dispute With the Devil, about the way of Satan, were very vehement. Despite being modified with expressions like "God forbid! God forbid!" and "to suppose the impossible," they still make me tremble. There are a number of small modifications on the piece that was later sent to you; have you been able to correct your copy accordingly? I leave it to what you think; you may skip any of those terms you consider necessary.

My dear brother, that Topic holds great importance, because the atheists' master is Satan. Only when Satan is silenced will his imitators not be deceived. The All-Wise Qur'an's mentioning the unbelievers' vile expressions gave me courage. Trembling and in the form of supposing the impossible, I used the ridiculous expressions the members of Satan's Party are compelled by their way to accept and which willy nilly they utter through its tongue, in order to demonstrate the complete worthlessness of that Satanic way. But by using them, we confined them to the bottom of the well and took possession of the entire field on account of the Qur'an; we exposed their frauds. Consider the victory through the following comparison:

For example, let us imagine a tall minaret the top of which touches the skies, and at the base of which a well has been dug reaching to the centre of the earth. Two groups are disputing over proving where between the top of the minaret and the bottom of the well a man should be whose call to prayer is heard by all the people throughout the country. The first group says: "He is at the top of the minaret reciting the call to prayer to the universe. Because we hear it; it is living; it is elevated. For sure everyone cannot see him in that high situation, but according to their degree, everyone can see him in a position, on a step, when he climbs it and when he descends. They know from this that he ascends it, and wherever he appears, he is someone of high stature." The other, satanic and foolish, group says, however: "No, his position is not the top of the minaret; wherever it is he appears, his place is the bottom of the well." But no one

at all has seen him at the bottom of the well, nor can they see him there. Let us suppose he was heavy and without will like a stone, then for sure he would have been at the bottom of the well, and someone would have seen him.

Now, the battlefield of these two opposing groups is the long distance stretching from the top of the minaret to the bottom of the well. The people of light, called God's Party, point out the mu'ezzin at the top of the minaret to those with an elevated view. And to those whose sight cannot rise that far and to the short-sighted, they show that supreme mu'ezzin on a step each according to his degree. A slight hint is enough for them and proves that the mu'ezzin is not a lifeless mass like a stone, but a perfect man who climbs upwards and appears and makes the call to prayer when he wishes. As for the other group, known as Satan's Party, they pronounce stupidly: "Show him to everyone at the top of the minaret, or else his place is the bottom of the well." In their stupidity they do not know that his not being shown to everyone at the top of the minaret arises from everyone's sight not rising that far. Also, in exaggerated fashion, they want to claim possession of the whole distance with the exception of the top of the minaret.

Then someone appears in order to solve the dispute between the two communities. He says to Satan's Party: "You inauspicious group! Had the position of that supreme mu'ezzin been the bottom of the well, he would have to have been lifeless, inanimate, powerless like a stone. It could not have been him who appeared on the well's steps and minaret's degrees. Since you see him there, he is certain not to be powerless, lifeless, and without reality. His position will be the top of the minaret. In which case, either show him at the bottom of the well-which in no way can you do, nor could you make anyone believe that he is there-or be silent! The arena of your defence is the well bottom. The remaining arena and long distance is the arena of this blessed community; wherever they show him to be other than the bottom of the well, they will win the case."

Thus, like this comparison, the Topic about the dispute with the Devil takes the long distance from the Divine Throne to the ground from Satan's Party and forcibly drives that party into a corner. It leaves the most irrational, the most impossible, the most loathsome place to them. It drives them into a hole so narrow no one could enter it and takes possession of the entire distance in the name of the Qur'an.

If they are asked what the Qur'an is and they reply: "It is a good book written by man which teaches good morality," then it should be said to them: "In which case it is the Word of God and you are compelled to

accept it as such. Because according to your way, you cannot say that it is 'good'!"

If they are asked what they know of the Prophet, and they reply: "He was a very clever person with good morals," it should then be said to them: "Believe in that case, because if he was very moral and clever, he must have been God's Messenger. For your saying he was 'good' is not within the bounds of what you accept, you can't say that according to your way." And so on. Further aspects of reality may be applied to other allusions in the comparison.

As a consequence of this, the First Topic, in which the Devil is disputed with, does not compel the believers to know the miracles of Muhammad and learn their certain proofs in order to preserve their belief. A slight hint, a small indication, saves their belief. All the deeds, all the qualities, all the conduct of Muhammad (PBUH) are each like a miracle, proving that his position is at the highest of the high, not at the lowest of the low at the bottom of the well.

Seventh Matter

An instructive matter:

[I am compelled, through the indication of seven signs which will strengthen the morale of some of my friends who, having unfounded worries are becoming dispirited, to relate a dominical favour and an instance of Divine protection which pertain solely to service of the Qur'an, so that I may save those friends with their weak vein of temperament. Four of the seven signs show how they received blows entirely contrary to their intentions, due to their taking up hostile positions towards me not personally, but in respect of my serving the Qur'an, purely for worldly aims and while being friends. While three of the signs signify earnest and constant friends, who in order to find favour with 'the worldly' {[*]:} and achieve some worldly aim, and so that they could feel confident, temporarily failed to show the manly stance required by friendship. However, unfortunately, each of those three friends was punished contrary to his aims.]

The first four, superficial, friends, who afterwards displayed enmity:

Employing various means, a District Officer pleaded for a copy of the Tenth Word. I gave him one. But then, in order to be promoted, he gave up my friendship and assumed a hostile position. It took the form of his complaining to the Governor and informing on me. But as a mark of favour for service to the Qur'an, he was not promoted, but dismissed.

While being a friend, for the sake of his superiors and to attract the attention of 'the worldly,' another District Officer assumed a competitive and hostile position, and received a blow contrary to his intentions. He was sentenced to two and a half years' imprisonment for some unexpected matter. Later he asked for prayers from a servant of the Qur'an; perhaps he will be saved, God willing, since prayers were offered for him.

A teacher appeared to be a friend and I looked on him as one. Then he moved to Barla in order to settle and he chose to adopt an inimical attitude. But he received a blow contrary to his intentions: he was posted away from teaching to serve in the army. He was sent away from Barla.

There was a teacher, who because he appeared to me to be both a Hafiz and pious, I was sincerely friendly towards in the hope that he would show friendship to me by serving the Qur'an. Then, in order to find favour with the worldly, he became very cold towards us and frightened, because of one single thing an official had said. He too received a blow contrary to his intentions; he was severely reprimanded by the inspector, and dismissed.

Thus, these four men received those blows because of their animosity. However, the following three friends, since they did not display the manly attitude that serious friendship demands, received not blows, but warnings contrary to their intentions, which were sorts of admonitions.

A respected person who was a most important, serious, and true student of mine used to continually write out the Words and disseminate them. On a confused high official coming and an incident occurring, he hid the Words he had written, as well as temporarily giving up copying them, so that he would not suffer any difficulty or hardship at the hands of 'the worldly' and would be safe from their evil. But as a mark of his error of temporarily ceasing his service of the Qur'an, for a year he continuously suffered the calamity of having hanging over him the sentence of paying a thousand-lira fine. Whenever he formed the intention to write further copies and returned to his former position, he was cleared in the case, till finally, praise be to God, he was acquitted.

With his poverty, he was saved from paying a thousand liras.

In order to gain the good opinion and regard of 'the worldly' and the new officer, my courageous, serious, and bold friend of five years' standing unthinkingly and involuntarily did not meet with me for several months, despite being my neighbour. He did not even pay me a visit during Ramadan or the Festival. But the village question turned out contrary to his intention, and he lost his influence.

A hafiz who used to meet with me once or twice a week, became the prayer-leader, and so as to wear the turban, abandoned me for two months. He did not even visit me during the Festival. But contrary to his intention, and contrary to usual practice, he was not allowed to wear a turban, although he had acted as prayer leader for seven or eight months.

There are numerous incidents like these, but I have not mentioned them so as not to offend the people concerned. However weak a sign each is, a strength is perceived on their being put together. One forms the opinion that -not directed towards myself, because I do not consider myself worthy of any favour- but purely in respect of serving the Qur'an, we carry out that service under dominical protection and Divine favour. My friends should think of these and not be carried away by groundless fears. Since our service is a Divine bestowal, and since it is the cause not of pride but of thanks, and since there is the decree,

But the bounty of your Sustainer rehearse and proclaim, {[*]:}

I have explained these things to my friends privately, as a consequence.

Eighth Matter

[This forms the footnote to the third example in the Third Point about the Fifth of the obstacles to making independent judgements of the Divine Law (ijtihad), in the Twenty-Seventh Word.]

Some of those scholars who have researched into the realities have said that each of the words of the Qur'an and of supplications and other glorifications of God illuminate man's spiritual faculties in numerous ways, providing spiritual sustenance. So if the meanings are not known, the words alone do not express them fully and are insufficient. The words are a garment; would it not be more useful if they were changed, and every people clothed the meanings in words of their own language?

The words of the Qur'an and of the glorifications of the Prophet are not lifeless garments; they are like the living skin of the body; indeed with the passage of time, they have become the skin. Garments are changed, but it would be harmful to the body if the skin were to be changed. Blessed words like those of the five daily prayers and the call to prayer have become the mark and sign of their usual meanings. And marks and signs cannot be changed. I have often observed and studied in myself a state which I experience. The state is a reality, and it is this:

On the Day of 'Arafa, the eve of the Festival of Sacrifices, I used to recite Sura al-Ikhlas hundreds of times. I would observe that some of the non-physical senses in me would receive the sustenance several times, then would cease to do so, and stop. Others like the faculty of reflective thought would turn towards the meaning for a time, receive their share, then they too would stop. And some like the heart would receive their share in respect of certain concepts which were the means to a spiritual pleasure, then they too would fall silent. And so on. Gradually, with repetition only some of the subtle faculties would remain and become wearied only long after the others; they would continue, leaving no need for further meaning and study. Heedlessness was not detrimental to these, as it was to the faculty of thought. Enough for them were the usual meaning contained in the marks and signs, with the summary of the meaning which the words and the words full of meaning comprised. If the meaning had been thought of at that point, it would have caused harmful boredom. Anyway, those subtle faculties which continue are not in need of

study and comprehension, they rather show need for recollection, regard, and encouragement. And the words which are like skin are sufficient for them and perform the duty of meaning. Especially with recalling through those Arabic words that they are the Word of God and Divine speech, they are means of constant effulgence.

Thus, this state which I myself experienced shows that it is extremely harmful to express in another language truths like the call to prayer and the tesbihat following the obligatory prayers, and Suras of the Qur'an like Fatiha and Ikhlas, which are repeated all the time. For when the constant spring of the Divine words and words of the Prophet are lost, the constant share of those constant subtle faculties is also lost. Also harmful are the loss of the minimum of ten merits for each word, and the heedlessness and the darkness caused to the spirit by the human terms of the translations due to the constant sense of the Divine presence not persisting for everyone throughout the prayers.

Indeed, like Imam-i A'zam said that There is no god but God is the mark and sign of the affirmation of Divine Unity, we say the following: the great majority of the words of Divine glorification and praise, and especially of those of the call to prayer and obligatory prayers, have become like marks and signs. Like signs, they are considered more with their usual Shari'i meaning, more than with their literal meaning. So according to the Shari'a, it is not possible to change them. An uneducated man even may learn concise meanings of them, which all believers should know; that is, a summary of their meaning. How can those people who pass their whole lives with Islam yet fill their heads with endless trivia be excused for not learning in one or two weeks a summary of the meanings of these blessed words which are the key to eternal life? How can they be Muslims? How can they be called "reasonable people"? It is not reasonable to destroy the protective cases of those springs of light for the sake of the laziness of loafers like them!

Furthermore, from whatever nation he may be, one who says: «Subhanallah! Glory be to God!» understands that he is declaring Almighty God free of all defect. Is this not enough? If he is turned towards the meaning in his own language, he studies it once from the point of view of the intellect. Whereas if he repeats it a hundred times a day in its true form, apart from his intellect's share of studying, the summary of the words, which is from the words and spreads to and combines with the words, is the means to many lights and much effulgence. Especially the sacredness he receives from the words being Divine speech, and the effulgence and lights proceeding from the sacredness, they are most important.

Nothing at all can be established in place of the sacred Divine words which are the protective cases of the essentials of religion, and nothing can take their place, and nothing can perform their duties. Even if they can express them temporarily, they cannot do so permanently and in sacred and elevated fashion.

However, as for the words that are the protective cases of the theoretical matters of religion, there is no necessity for them to be changed. For such a need is repulsed by preaching, teaching, advice, and other instruction.

The comprehensiveness of the Arabic language, the language of grammar, and the miraculousness of the Qur'an's words are such that they are untranslatable. I can even say it is impossible to translate them. If anyone doubts this, let him refer to the Twenty-Fifth Word. What they call translations are abbreviated and deficient approximations. How can such approximations be compared with the living, true meanings of the Qur'an's verses, which have many aspects of ramification?

Ninth Matter

[An important, confidential matter, and a mystery concerning sainthood.]

The largest group in the World of Islam, the people of truth and moderation, called Ahl al-Sunna wa'l-Jama'at or Sunnis, have preserved the truths of the Qur'an and belief by following to the letter the noble Practices of the Prophet within the bounds of moderation. The great majority of the saints have arisen within this sphere. Others of the saints have appeared outside some of the principles of the Sunnis, and on a path opposed to their rules. Thus, those who have considered this group of saints have divided into two groups:

One group have denied their sainthood because they are opposed to the principles of the Sunnis. They have even gone as far as declaring some of them to be unbelievers.

The other group are those that follow them. Since they accept their sainthood, they say that "The truth is not restricted to the way of the Sunnis." They have formed a group of the innovators and have even gone as far as misguidance. They do not know that:

Every person who is rightly guided cannot be a guide. Their shaykhs are to be excused from their mistakes, because they were ecstatics, but their followers cannot be excused.

As for the middle group, they do not deny the sainthood of the saints, but do not accept their ways and paths. They say: "Their words which are opposed to the principles [of religion] were either metaphorical utterances of which the meaning is not known, or they [the saints] were in error, being overcome by their mental state."

Unfortunately, the first group, and especially externalist scholars, have denied saints of great importance with the intention of protecting the Sunni way, and have even been compelled to accuse them of misguidance. And their supporters, which form the second group, have left the right path because of their excessive good will towards shaykhs of that sort, and have fallen into innovation, and even misguidance.

There was a situation connected with this which occupied my mind for a very long time: at a crucial time I execrated a group of the people of misguidance. Then an awesome collective strength arose in the face of my malediction; it both returned my prayer, and prevented me from repeating it.

Then I saw that facilitated by a collective strength in its wrongful activities, that group of the people of misguidance was driving forward the people, whom it had taken behind it. Since it had become combined with a desire arising not only from compulsion but from the power of sainthood, some of the believers were being carried away by that desire, looking on the group favourably and not considering it to be very bad.

When I perceived these two secrets, I took fright. "Glory be to God!" I said, "Can there be sainthood other than that of the true way? Especially a terrible current of misguidance, can the people of truth come forward and support it?" Then one blessed Day of 'Arafa, following a praiseworthy Islamic practice, I recited Sura al-Ikhlas hundreds of times, and through its blessings the matter which was written under the name of "Answer to an important question" and, through Divine mercy, the following truth also were imparted to my impotent heart. The truth is this:

Similar to the famous and meaningful 'story of Jibali Baba,' which was related in the time of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, some of the saints are in a state of ecstasy while appearing to be rational and reasonable. Others appear to be sober and in command of their reasoning faculties, and sometimes they enter a state outside this. One class of this sort are confused and cannot distinguish between things. They apply a matter they see while in a state of intoxication to the state of sobriety. They are

in error and do not know that they are so. Some ecstatics are preserved by God and do not enter misguidance on their spiritual journeying. While others are not preserved, and may be found in the sects of innovation and misguidance. It has even been thought possible for them to be among the unbelievers.

Thus, because they are temporarily or permanently in a state of ecstasy, they are like "blessed lunatics." And because they are like blessed and free lunatics, they are not responsible. And because they are not responsibible, they are not punishable. With their ecstatic sainthood persisting, they emerge as supporters of the people of misguidance and innovation; they cause their ways to become popular to a degree, and inauspiciously give rise to some of the believers and people of truth entering them.

Tenth Matter

[It was requested by some friends that a principle concerning visitors be explained. That is the reason for this being written.]

It should be known that those who visit me either come in respect of worldly life, and that door is closed; or they come in respect of the life of the hereafter, and in that respect there are two doors: they either come supposing my person to be blessed and of spiritual rank, and that door too is closed. For I do not like myself, and I do not like those who like me. All thanks be to Almighty God that He did not make me like myself. Or they come purely in respect of my being the herald of the All-Wise Qur'an. Those who enter by this door, I accept willingly. They too are of three sorts: they are either friends, or brothers, or students.

Definitely they have to earnestly support our work and service connected with the Words and the lights of the Qur'an. They should not support in heartfelt fashion injustice, innovations, or misguidance, nor try to profit by them.

Together with truly and earnestly working to disseminate the Words, they are to perform the five obligatory prayers and not to commit the seven grievous sins.

To feel as though the Words are their own property written by themselves, and to know their vital duty, their life's work, to be the service and dissemination of them.

These three levels are connected with my three personalities. A friend is connected with my individual and essential personality. A brother is connected with my personality which springs from my worship and being Almighty God's bondsman. And a student is connected with my personality which has the duties of herald of the All-Wise Qur'an and teacher.

Such meetings yield three fruits:

In regard to being herald, it is to receive instruction concerning the jewels of the Qur'an from either myself or the Words. Even if it is only a single lesson.

In respect of worship, it is to have a share of my gains of the hereafter.

It is to turn together towards the Divine Court, and binding one's heart to Almighty God and seeking success and guidance, to work together in the service of the All-Wise Qur'an.

If it is a student, every morning he is with me in name, and sometimes also in imagination, and receives a share.

If it is a brother, he is several times with me with his particular name and form in my supplications and gains, and receives a share. Then he is included among all the brothers, and I hand him over to Divine mercy, so that when I say "my brothers and sisters" in prayer, he is among them. If I do not know them, Divine mercy knows them and sees them.

If it is a friend who performs the obligatory prayers and gives up grievous sins, he is included in my prayers among all the brothers. The condition is that these three categories include me in their supplications and spiritual gains.

O God! Grant blessings to the one who said: "The believer is to the believer like a well-founded building, with one part strengthening the other," {[*]:} and to his Family and Companions, and grant them peace.

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise! {[*]:}

And they shall say: "Praise be to God, Who has guided us to this [felicity]; never could we have found guidance, had it not been for the guidance of God; indeed it was the truth that the Messengers of our Sustainer brought to us!" {[*]:}

O God, Who responded to Noah among his people, * And helped Abraham before his enemies, * And returned Joseph to Jacob, * And raised Job's suffering from him, * And answered the prayer of Zakariya, * And responded to Jonah b. Matta; we implore You through the mystery of those who offered these answered prayers that You preserve me and those who disseminate these treatises and their companions from the evil of satans among jinn and men, and help us in the face of our enemies, and do not leave us to our own devices, and remove our anxieties and their anxieties, and heal the sicknesses of our hearts and of their hearts. Amen. Amen. Amen.

The Twenty-Seventh Letter

[This Letter consists of fine and beautiful letters, which are pure reality, written by the author of the Risale-i Nur to his students, as well as some written by the Risale-i Nur students to their Master, and to each other, describing the blessings and effulgence they had received from studying the Risale-i Nur. This rich letter has not been included here since is three or four times the size of the present collection, but published separately under the titles of Barla Lahikasi, Kastamonu Lahikasi, and Emirdag Lahikasi.]

TheTwenty-Eighth Letter

The First Matter, which is the First Part

If it be that you can interpret dreams. {[*]:}

You want me to interpret now the dream you had three years ago, three days after meeting me, whose meaning has long since become apparent. That beautiful, happy, and auspicious dream has been consigned to the past, so am I not right to say the following in the face of it, since it has demonstrated its meaning?

Yes, my brother, we have become accustomed to discussing with you teachings concerning pure reality. Since to discuss in investigative fashion dreams, the doors of which are open to fancy and illusion, is not completely in keeping with the way of investigative scholarship, in connection with that minor incident of sleep, we shall explain Six Points of Reality about sleep, the small brother of death, according to scholarly principles and from the angle indicated by verses of the Qur'an. In the Seventh we shall make a brief interpretation of your dream.

THE FIRST

An important element of Sura Yusuf is Yusuf's dream, just as the Qur'an shows in veiled fashion through verses like:

And We made your sleep for rest {[*]:}

that there are important truths contained in dreams and sleep.

THE SECOND

Those who follow the path of reality are not in favour of relying on the interpretation of dreams and taking of omens by means of the Qur'an. The reason is this: the All-Wise Qur'an strikes at the unbelievers frequently and severely. When this severity against the unbelievers is shown to one taking omens, it causes him to despair; it confuses his heart. Dreams too, while good, since they sometimes appear to be opposed to reality, are thought to be evil, causing a person to fall into despair, destroying his morale, and causing him to think badly of things. There are many dreams which although they take a terrifying, injurious, or unclean form, their meanings and interpretations are very good. But since everyone cannot find the relation between the form of the dream and the reality of its meaning, they become unnecessarily anxious, despairing, and unhappy. It was only because of this aspect that, like Imam-i Rabbani and those who follow the path of reality, I said at the beginning: I am neither the night nor a lover of the night.

THE THIRD

According to an authentic Hadith, one of the forty constituents of prophethood was manifested in the form of true dreams during sleep. {[*]:} This means that true dreams are both truth and they are connected with the functions of prophethood. Being extremely important, long, profound, and connected with prophethood, I am postponing this Third Point to another time, and not opening this door for now.

THE FOURTH

Dreams are of three sorts. Two of these, in the words of the Qur'an, are A confused medley of dreams; {[*]:} included among these, they are not worth interpreting. If they have any meaning, it is of no importance. Either due to an ailment, the power of imagination mixes things up and

depicts them in accordance with the person's sickness, or the imagination recalls some stimulating event which occurred to the person that day, or previously, or even at the same time a year or two earlier, and it modifies and depicts it, giving it some other form. This sort too are A confused medley of dreams, and not worth interpreting.

The third sort are true dreams. With the senses that bind man to the Manifest World and roam in that world resting and ceasing their activity, the dominical subtle faculty in man's essential nature finds a direct relation with World of the Unseen and opens up a window onto it. Through that window, it looks on events whose occurrence is being prepared; it encounters the manifestations of the Preserved Tablet and one of the types of samples of the missives of Divine Determining; it sees some true occurrences. Sometimes the imagination governs in those occurrences, dressing them in the garments of form. There are numerous types and levels of this sort of dream. Sometimes they turn out exactly as dreamed; sometimes they turn out slightly concealed, as though under a fine veil; and sometimes they turn out heavily veiled.

It is narrated in Hadiths that the dreams God's Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) had at the outset of the Revelations turned out as true and clear as the breaking of morning. {[*]:}

THE FIFTH

True dreams are a higher development of premonitions. Everyone has premonitions to a greater or lesser degree. Animals even have them. At one time I discovered scientifically, additional to the famous external and inner senses like the unconscious instinctive senses which impel and stimulate, and hearing and sight, two senses including premonition. Philosophers and the people of misguidance mistakenly and foolishly call those little known senses "Natural instinct." God forbid! They are not 'Natural' instinct; rather, Divine Determining impels man and animals through a sort of innate inspiration. For example, some animals like cats, if they lose their sight, through this impelling of Divine Determining, go and find a plant which is healing for their eyes, rub it on them, and they get better.

Also, birds of prey like eagles, which, like the public health officials of the earth, are charged with the duty of removing the carcasses of nomadic animals, are informed through that impelling of Divine Determining, that inspiration of the sense of premonition, that Divine drive, of animal remains a day's distance away, and they go and find them.

Also, a young bee newly come into the world, flies a day's distance in the air when only a day old without losing its way, and through that drive of Divine Determining and impelling inspiration returns to its hive. And it happens frequently to everyone that while speaking of someone, the door opens, and totally unexpectedly the same person enters. There is even a saying in Kurdish which goes: "Talk of the wolf and ready your gun, for the wolf will appear." That is to say, through a premonition, that dominical subtle faculty had perceived the person's coming in summary fashion. But since the conscious mind had not comprehended it, it prompted him to speak of it, not intentionally, but involuntarily. Intuitive people sometimes say that someone is coming almost like wonder-working. At one time in myself, even, sensitivity of this kind was acute. I wanted to incorporate the condition into a principle, but I could not adapt it and was unable to. However, in the righteous, and particularly in the people of sainthood, premonition develops to a high degree, showing its effects wondrously.

Thus, ordinary people may manifest a sort of sainthood so that like the saints, they dream of things pertaining to the Unseen and the future in true dreams. Yes, for ordinary people sleep may be like a degree of sainthood in respect of true dreams; so too for everyone it is a splendid dominical cinema. However, those with good morals think good thoughts, and one with good thoughts dreams of good things. Whereas since those with bad morals think bad thoughts, they dream of bad things. Furthermore, for everyone, true dreams are a window in the Manifest World looking onto the World of the Unseen. For restricted and transitory human beings, they are also an arena of infinite proportions manifesting a sort of eternity, and a place for gazing on the past and the future as though they were the present. They are also a resting-place for beings with spirits who are crushed beneath the responsibilities of life suffering great hardship. Thus, it is for reasons similar to these that with verses like:

And We made your sleep for rest, {[*]:}

the All-Wise Qur'an teaches the reality of sleep, giving it importance.

THE SIXTH and most important

Experiencing them numerous times, true dreams became for me like decisive proofs at the degree of 'absolute certainty' that Divine Determining encompasses all things. Yes, especially the last few years, these dreams have reached such a degree that it has become certain for me that

the most insignificant events and unimportant dealings and even the most commonplace conversations I will have the following day are written and recorded before they occur, and that by dreaming of them the night before, I have read them not with my tongue but with my eyes. Not once, not a hundred times, but perhaps a thousand times, the things I have said in my dreams or the people I have dreamt of at night, although I had not thought of them at all, turned out exactly or with little interpretation the following day. It means that the most insignificant things are both recorded and written before they happen. That is to say, there is no chance or coincidence, events do not occur haphazardly, they are not without order.

THE SEVENTH

Your beautiful, blessed, and auspicious dream was very good for the Qur'an and for us. Also, time has interpreted it, and is interpreting it; it leaves no need for me to do so. Its partial interpretation also turned out well. If you study it carefully, you will understand. I shall indicate only one or two points. That is, I shall explain a reality. The things that have happened to you, which are a sort of the reality of dreams, are the representations of that reality. It is like this:

That vast field was the World of Islam. The mosque at its end was the province of Isparta. The muddy water around it was the swamp of the dissipation, idleness, and innovations of the present and of time. Your swiftly reaching the mosque safely and without being contaminated by the mud was a sign of your adopting the lights of the Qur'an before everyone else and remaining unspoilt and your heart uncorrupted. The small congregation in the mosque were the bearers of the Words like Hakki, Hulûsi, Sabri, Süleyman, Rüshtü, Bekir, Mustafa, Ali, Zühtü, Lûtfi, Husrev, and Re'fet. As for the small platform, it was a small village like Barla. The loud voice was an allusion to the power and swift spreading of the Words. The position assigned to you in the first row, was the place vacated for you by Abdurrahman. The congregation, like wireless receivers, were the indication and fact of wanting to make the whole world hear its teachings, which God willing, will turn out at a later date. If the individuals now are like small seeds, with Divine assistance, in the future they will each be like tall trees. And each will be like a telegraph office. As for the turbanned youth, he is someone who will work together with Hulûsi, or even surpass him; he is destined to become one of the students and those who disseminate the Words. I can think of some of them, but I cannot say definitely. The youth is someone who will come into prominence through the force of sainthood. You can interpret the remaining points instead of me.

Speaking with friends like you is both agreeable and acceptable, so I have spoken at length about this brief matter, and perhaps I have been prodigal. But since I began with the intention of indicating a way of expounding the Qur'an's verses about sleep, God willing, that prodigality will be forgiven, or even not be prodigality...

The Second Part, which is the Second Matter

[This was written to put a stop to and solve an important argument about the Hadith which describes how Moses (Upon whom be peace) struck Azra'il (Upon whom be peace) in the eye, and the rest of the story. {[*]:} ]

I heard of a scholarly argument in Egridir. Such an argument was wrong especially at this time, but I did not know it was an argument. A question was asked me, and a Hadith in a reliable book marked with a qaf which signifies the agreement of the two Shaykhs [Bukhari and Muslim], was shown to me. They asked me: "Is it a Hadith or isn't it?"

I said that one should have confidence in someone who, in a reliable book such as that, cites the agreement of the two Shaykhs concerning a Hadith; it means it is a Hadith. But Hadiths contain certain allegorical obscurities like the Qur'an. Only the elite can ascertain their meanings. Even the apparent meaning of this Hadith suggests the possibility that it is one of those containing obscurities, difficult to understand. If I had known that it had been a point of argument, I would not have given such a short answer, I would rather have replied as follows:

The first condition for discussing matters of this sort is to argue fairly, with the intention of discovering the truth; it is permissible between those with knowledge of the question, so long as it is not in obstinate fashion and does not give rise to misunderstanding. Evidence that such an argument is for the sake of the truth is that if the truth becomes apparent at the hand of an opposer, a person is not upset, but pleased. For he will have learned something he did not know. If it had emerged from him, he would not have learned much and there is the possibility he would have fallen into pride.

If the argument is about a Hadith, the degrees of Hadiths, and the degrees of implicit revelation, and the sorts of prophetic speech have to be known. It is not permissible to discuss the difficulties of Hadith among the ordinary people, show oneself to be right like a lawyer by demonstrating one's superiority, and search for proofs in the form of preferring egotism to truth and right. This question being broached and

becoming a point of argument is having a negative effect on the minds of the poor ordinary people. Because they cannot comprehend obscure allegorical Hadiths like these, and if they deny them, it opens a terrifying door; that is, it opens the way to them also denying definite Hadiths which they cannot comprehend with their tiny minds. If, taking the apparent meaning of the Hadith and accepting it as that, they spread it around, it opens up the way to the people of misguidance objecting to it and calling it "superstition." Since attention has been attracted to this allegorical Hadith in unnecessary and harmful fashion, and there are many Hadiths of this sort, it is certainly necessary to expound a truth that will remove their doubts. Whether or not the Hadith is certain, the following fact has to be mentioned.

Regarding as sufficient the detailed explanations in the treatises we have written; that is, the Twelve Principles in the Third Branch of the Twenty-Fourth Word, and in the Fourth Branch; and in one of the Principles in the Introduction about the sorts of Revelation in the Nineteenth Letter, here we shall only indicate briefly to that truth. It is as follows:

The angels are not restricted to a single form like human beings; while individuals, they are like universals. Azra'il (Upon whom be peace) is the supervisor of the angels charged with taking possession of the spirits of the dying.

"Does Azra'il (UWP) himself take possession of the spirits of the dying, or do his helpers take possession of them?"

There are three 'ways' in this matter:

The First Way:

Azra'il (Upon whom be peace) takes possession of everyone's spirit. No matter can be an obstacle to another, for he is luminous. Something luminous may be present in innumerable places by means innumerable mirrors and be represented in them. The representations of luminous beings possess their characteristics; they may be considered to be the same as them, not other than them. The sun's image in mirrors displays the sun's light and heat. Similarly, the images of spirit beings like the angels in the various mirrors of the World of Similitudes are the same as them; they display their characteristics. But they are represented in accordance with the capacities of the mirrors. The same instant Gabriel (Upon whom be peace) appeared before the Companions in the form of Dihya, he also appeared in different forms in thousands of places, and was prostrating with his magnificent wings which stretch from the east to the west before the Divine Throne. His representation was everywhere in accordance with the place's capacity; at the same instant he was present in thousands of places.

Thus, according to this way, for the human and particular image of the Angel of Death represented in man's mirror when taking possession of the spirit of a dying person to receive the blow of a resolute, angry, awe-inspiring person like Moses (Upon whom be peace), and for that image-form which was like the clothes of the Angel of Death to have his eye put out, would be neither impossible, nor extraordinary, nor irrational.

The Second Way:

The archangels like Gabriel, Michael, and Azra'il are each like general supervisors, having helpers who are of their kind, resemble them, and are lesser than them. Those assistants differ according to the sorts of creatures. Those who take possession of the spirits of the righteous {(*):} are of one sort, while those who take possession of the spirits of the wicked are of another. As the following verses point out, they are all different:

By the [angels] who tear out [the souls of the wicked] with violence; * By those who gently draw out [the souls of the blessed]. {[*]:}

According to this way, for Moses (Upon whom be peace) to deal a blow not at Azra'il (Upon whom be peace), but at the similitude of a body belonging to one of his helpers, as a consequence of his natural awesomeness, courage, and being a suppliant before God, is most reasonable.

{(*):}

The Third Way:

As explained in the Fourth Principle in the Twenty-Ninth Word and as Hadiths indicate, there are some angels who have forty thousand heads, and in each head are forty thousand tongues -that means they also have eighty thousand eyes- and with each tongue they utter forty thousand Divine glorifications. Yes, since the angels are charged with duties in accordance with the sorts of beings in the Manifest World, they represent those species' glorifications in the Spirit World. It must certainly be thus, because the globe of the earth is a creature; it glorifies Almighty God. It has not forty thousand, but perhaps a hundred thousand sorts of beings, which are like heads. Each sort has hundreds of thousands of individual members, which are like tongues; and so on. That means the angel appointed to the earth must have not

forty thousand heads, but hundreds of thousands; and in every head must be hundreds of thousands of tongues; and so on.

Thus, according to this way, Azra'il (Upon whom be peace) has a face and an eye which looks to every individual. Moses (Upon whom be peace) striking Azra'il (Upon whom be peace) was not directed at his essential self and his true form, and it was not an insult, or non-acceptance; he struck, and strikes, in the eye the one who drew attention to his death and wanted to prevent his work, because he wanted his duties of prophethood to continue permanently.

God knows best what is right. * None knows the Unseen save God. * Say: The knowledge is with God alone.

He it is Who has sent down to you the Book: in it are verses basic or fundamental [of established meaning]; they are the foundation of the Book; others are allegorical. But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is allegorical, seeking discord, and searching for its hidden meanings, but no one knows its hidden meanings except God. And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: "We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Sustainer;" and none will grasp the Message except men of understanding. {[*]:}

The Third Piece, which is the Third Matter

[This Matter is a private and particular answer to a general question asked by most of my brothers through the tongue of disposition, and by some of them verbally.]

You say to everyone who visits you: "Do not await any saintly intervention from me and do not think of my person as being blessed. I possess no spiritual rank. Like a common soldier may convey the orders proceeding from the rank of field marshal, I convey the orders of what is in effect the rank of field marshal. And like a bankrupt may proclaim the precious diamonds of a jeweller's shop, I announce the wares of a sacred, Qur'anic shop." However, our hearts require an effulgence in the same way that our minds need knowledge, and our spirits require a light, and so on; we want many things in many respects. We came to visit you supposing you to be the person who would meet our needs. What we need is a saint, someone with saintly influence, someone of spiritual attainment, rather than a scholar. If the matter is really as you say, then perhaps we were wrong in visiting you? They ask this through the tongue of disposition.

Listen to the following Five Points, then think about them and judge whether your visits are pointless or beneficial.

FIRST POINT

The common servant and wretched soldier of a king gives some generals and pashas royal gifts and decorations in the name of the king, and makes them grateful. If the generals and pashas say: "Why do we lower ourselves before this common soldier and accept these gifts and bounties from him?", it would be arrogant foolishness. The soldier too, if, outside his duty, he does not stand up before the field marshal and recognize him to be superior to himself, it would be stupid folly. If one of the grateful generals thankfully condescends to visit the soldier's humble dwelling, the king, who sees and knows of the situation, will send dishes from the royal kitchen for his loyal servant's eminent guest, so the soldier will not be shamed by having nothing to offer but dry bread.

Similarly, however lowly he may be, a loyal servant of the All-Wise Qur'an conveys its commands unhesitatingly and in its name to even the loftiest of people. With pride and independence, not abasing himself or

begging, he sells the Qur'an's precious diamonds to those who are rich in spirit. However lofty they are, they cannot be arrogant towards the common servant while he is carrying out his duty. Should they apply to him, the servant also may not make it a source of pride, and overstep his mark. If some of the customers for the sacred treasure regard the wretched servant as a saint and consider him to be exalted, certainly it is the mark of the Qur'anic truth's sacred compassion to send them assistance, succour, and enlightenment from the Divine treasury, without the servant being aware of this or intervening, in order not to shame him.

SECOND POINT

Imam-i Rabbani, the Regenerator of the Second Millenium, Ahmad Faruqi (May God be pleased with him), said: "In my opinion, the unfolding and clarification of a single of the truths of belief is preferable to thousands of illuminations and instances of wonder-working. Moreover, the aim and result of all the Sufi paths are the unfolding and clarification of the truths of belief." Since a champion of Sufism like Imam-i Rabbani made such a pronouncement, surely the Words, which expound the truths of belief with perfect clarity and proceed from the mysteries of the Qur'an, may yield the results sought from sainthood.

THIRD POINT

Thirty years ago dreadful blows descended on the heedless head of the Old Said and he pondered over the assertion 'Death is a reality.' He saw himself in a muddy swamp. He sought help, searched for a way, tried to find a saviour. He saw that the ways were many; he was hesitant. He took an omen from the book Futuh al-Ghayb of Gawth al-A'zam, Shaykh Gilani (May God be pleased with him). It opened at these lines:

"You are in the Dar al-Hikma, so find a doctor who will heal your heart."

It is strange, but at that time I was a member of the Darü'l-Hikmeti'l-Islamiye. It was as though I was a doctor trying to heal the wounds of the people of Islam, but I was sicker than they. A sick person must look to himself first, then he may look to others.

Thus, the Shaykh was saying to me: "You yourself are sick; find a doctor for yourself." So I said: "You be my doctor!" I took him as my doctor and read the book as though it was addressing me. But it was most severe. It smashed my pride in the most fearsome manner. It carried out the most drastic surgery on my soul. I could not stand it. I read half of it as though it was addressing me, but did not have the strength and endurance to finish it. I put the book back on the shelf. Then a week later the

pain of that curative operation subsided, and the pleasure came in its place. I again opened the book and read it right through; I benefited a lot from that book of my first master. I listened to his prayers and supplications, and profited abundantly.

Then I saw the Letters (Maktubat) of Imam-i Rabbani and took it in my hands. I opened it with pure intention to take an omen. It is strange, but in the whole of the Letters, the word Bediuzzaman appears only twice. And those two letters fell open for me at once. I saw that written at the head of them was: Letter to Mirza Bediuzzaman, and my father's name was Mirza. Glory be to God! I exclaimed, these letters are addressing me. At that time the Old Said was also known as Bediuzzaman. Apart from Bediuzzaman Hamadani, I knew of no one else in the last three hundred years famous with the name. Whereas in the Imam's time there was such a person and he wrote him these two letters. This person's state must have been similar to mine, for I found these letters to be the cure for my ills. Only, the Imam persistently recommended in many of his letters what he wrote in these two, which was: "Make your qibla one." That is, take one person as your master and follow him; do not concern yourself with anyone else.

This most important recommendation did not seem appropriate to my capacity and mental state. However much I thought: "Should I follow this one, or that one, or that other one?", I remained in a state of bewilderment. Each had different characteristics which drew me, one was not enough for me. While thus bewildered, it was imparted to my heart by God's mercy that "the head of these various ways and the source of these streams and the sun of these planets is the All-Wise Qur'an; the true single qibla is to be found in it. In which case, it is also the most elevated guide and most holy master." So I clasped it with both hands and clung on to it. Of course with my deficient and wretched abilities I could not receive and absorb the effulgence, which is like the water of life, of that true guide as was its due, but still, through it, we can show that effulgence, that water of life, according to the degree of those who receive it- those who perceive the truth through their hearts and attain to certain spiritual states. That is to say, the Words and those lights, which proceed from the Qur'an, are not only scholarly matters pertaining to the intellect, they are rather matters of belief which pertain to the heart, the spirit, and spiritual states. They resemble most elevated and valuable knowledge of God.

FOURTH POINT

All the subtle inner faculties of those of the Companions and of the following two generations who possessed the very highest degree of the

'greater sainthood' received their share from the Qur'an itself, and for them, the Qur'an was a true guide and sufficient for them. This shows that just as the All-Wise Qur'an states realities, so too it emanates the effulgences of the 'greater sainthood' to those capable of receiving them.

Yes, there are two ways of passing from the apparent to reality:

One

is to enter the intermediate realm of Sufism, and to reach reality by traversing the degrees through spiritual journeying.

The Second Way

is, through Divine favour, to pass directly to reality without entering the intermediate realm of the Sufi way. This is the elevated and short way particular to the Companions and those that succeeded them.

That is to say, the lights which issue from the truths of the Qur'an, and the Words, which interpret those lights, may possess those characteristics, and do possess them.

FIFTH POINT

We shall demonstrate through five small examples that the Words both teach truth and the realities, and perform the function of guidance.

I myself have formed the conviction through experiencing, not ten times or a hundred times, but thousands of times, that just as the lights proceeding from the Words and the Qur'an give instruction to my mind, so do they induce the state of belief in my heart and the pleasure of belief in my spirit, and so on. Even in matters pertaining to this world -in the same way that the follower of a wonder-working shaykh awaits from his shaykh assistance and saintly influence to answer his needs- while awaiting the answering of my needs from the wondrous mysteries of the All-Wise Qur'an, they have been achieved for me on numerous occasions in ways I had not hoped or expected. The following are only two minor examples:

As is described in detail in the Sixteenth Letter, a large loaf of bread was shown in an extraordinary way to a guest of mine called Süleyman, at the top of a cedar tree. For two days, the two of us fed off that gift from the Unseen.

I shall recount a very insignificant yet subtle incident that occurred recently. It was this:

Before dawn, the thought came to me that some things had been said about me in a way that would cast suspicion into someone's heart. I said to myself: If only I had seen the person and had dispelled that unrest from his heart. At that moment, I needed part of one of my books which

had been sent to Nis, and I said to myself: If only I had had it back. Then after the morning prayer, I sat down and looked: that same person entered the room holding that part of the book in his hand. I said to him: "What is it you have in your hand?" He answered: "I don't know. Someone gave it to me at my door saying that it had come from Nis; so I brought it to you." Glory be to God! I said, this man coming from his house at this time of day and this part of the Words arriving from Nis does not look like chance. And thinking: it was surely the saintly influence of the All-Wise Qur'an that gave a man such as this a piece of paper such as that at the same moment and sent it to me, I exclaimed: All praise be to God! One who knows the smallest, most secret, least significant desire of my heart, will certainly have compassion on me and protect me; in which case, I feel no obligation towards the world whatsoever.

My nephew, the late Abdurrahman, had a much higher opinion of me personally than was my due, despite his having parted from me eight years previously and having been tainted by the heedlessness and worries of the world. He wanted help and assistance from me that I did not have and could not give. But the All-Wise Qur'an's saintly influence came to his assistance: the Tenth Word about the resurrection of the dead came into his possession three months before his death. That Word cleansed him of his spiritual dirt and doubts and heedlessness, and quite simply as though he had risen to the degree of sainthood, he displayed three clear instances of wonder-working in the letter he wrote me before he died. It is included among the pieces of the Twenty-Seventh Letter, and may be referred to.

I had a brother of the hereafter and student who was one of those who approach reality with their hearts, called Hasan Efendi from Burdur. He had an excessively good opinion of me, far greater than was my due, and expected assistance from this unfortunate one as though awaiting the grace and influence of a great saint. Suddenly, in completely unrelated fashion, I gave the Thirty-Second Word to someone to study who lived in one of the villages of Burdur. Later I remembered Hasan Efendi and I said: "If you go to Burdur, give it to Hasan Efendi, and let him read it for five or six days." The man went and gave it straight away to Hasan Efendi. Thirty or forty days remained till his death. Like a man suffering a terrible thirst casts himself on water sweet as Kawthar that he happens upon, he cast himself on the Thirty-Second Word, continuously studying it and receiving its effulgence, especially the discussion on the love of God in the Third Stopping-Place, till he was completely cured of his ills. He found in it the enlightenment he would have expected from the greatest spiritual pole. He went to the

mosque in good health, performed the prayer, and there surrendered his spirit to the Most Merciful. (May God have mercy on him.)

As is testified to by Hulûsi Bey's piece in the Twenty-Seventh Letter, he found in the light-filled Words, which interpret the mysteries of the Qur'an, assistance and succour, effulgence and light greater than in the Naqshi way, which is the most important and influential Sufi order.

My brother Abdülmecid suffered terribly at the death of Abdurrahman (May God have mercy on him) and at other grievous events. He also awaited from me assistance and influence I was unable to give. I was not corresponding with him. Suddenly I sent him some of the most important of the Words. After studying them, he wrote to me and said: "Praise be to God, I have been saved! I would have gone mad. Each of those Words became like a spiritual guide for me. I had parted from one guide, but I suddenly found lots of guides at once, and I was saved." I realized that truly Abdülmecid had embarked on a good way and had been saved from his former difficulties.

There are numerous other examples like these five which show that if the sciences of belief are experienced directly as cures from the mysteries of the All-Wise Qur'an as a consequence of need and as healing for wounds, those sciences of belief and spiritual cures are sufficient for those who perceive their need and make use of them with earnest sincerity. Whatever the chemist and herald is like who sells and announces them -be he commonplace, or bankrupt, or rich, or a person of rank, or a servant- it does not make much difference.

Yes, there is no need to have recourse to candlelight while the sun shines. Since I am showing the sun, it is meaningless and unnecessary to seek candlelight from me, especially since I have none. Others should rather assist me with prayers, spiritual assistance, and even saintly influence. It is my right to seek help and assistance from them, while the right incumbent on them is to be content with the effulgence they receive from the lights of the Risale-i Nur.

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise!

O God, grant blessings to our master Muhammad that will be pleasing to You and fulfilment of his truth, and to his Family and Companions, and grant them peace.

[A short, private letter that may be added as a supplement to the Third Matter of the Twenty-Eighth Letter.]

My Brothers of the Hereafter and Hard-Working Students, Husrev Efendi and Re'fet Bey!

We perceived three instances of Qur'anic wonder-working in the lights of the Qur'an known as the Words. Now through your effort and enthusiasm, you have caused a fourth to be added. The three I know are these:

The First is the extraordinary ease and speed in their writing. The Nineteenth Letter was written in two or three days working for three or four hours each day making a total of twelve hours, without any other book, in the mountains and orchards. The Thirtieth Word was written in five or six hours at a time of illness. The Twenty-Eighth Word, the discussion on Paradise, was written in one or two hours in Süleyman's garden in the valley. Tevfik, Süleyman and I were astonished at this speed. And so on. And just as there is this wonder of the Qur'an in their composition....

The Second,...so too in their being written out and copied there is an extraordinary facility, enthusiasm, and lack of boredom. One of these Words appears, and suddenly, although there are many things at this time to cause weariness to the mind and spirit, people in many places start to write it out with complete enthusiasm. They prefer it to anything else despite other important occupations. And so on.

The Third Qur'anic Wonder: The reading of them also does not cause boredom. Especially when the need is felt; the more they are read, the more pleasure is received from them, causing no weariness.

Now you have proved a Fourth Qur'anic wonder. A brother like Husrev who was lazy and although he had heard about the Words for five years did not start writing them seriously, in one month writing out fourteen books beautifully and carefully, is doubtless the fourth wonder of the Qur'an's mysteries. The value of the Thirty-Three Windows in particular, the Thirty-Third Letter, was perfectly appreciated, since it was written out most beautifurd and carefully. Yes, it is a most powerful and brilliant piece for attaining knowledge of God and belief in God. Only, the first Windows are very concise and abbreviated, but the subsequent ones gradually unfold and shine more brilliantly. Contrarily to other writings, most of the Words start off concisely and gradually expand and illuminate.

The Fourth Matter, which is the Fourth Part

[The answer written for my brothers to a question about a minor, though alerting, incident.]

On the arrival of a blessed guest, your mosque was raided on the night before Friday. What really happened? Why did they bother you?

I shall explain Four Points, necessarily in the tongue of the Old Said. Perhaps it will be the means of alerting my brothers, and you too will receive your answer.

FIRST POINT

In reality, the incident was a satanic plot and an act of aggression carried out by dissemblers on account of atheism in a way that was a violation of the law and purely arbitrary, and, in order to alarm us on the eve of Friday, to destroy the congregation's enthusiasm, and to prevent me from meeting with people. It was strange, but that day, that is, Thursday, I had gone to a place to take some air. When returning, a long black snake like two snakes joined together appeared from my left, and passed between me and the friend who was with me. In order to ask my friend if he had been terrified at the snake, I said to him: "Did you see it?"

He replied: "What?"

I said: "That terrible snake."

He said: "No, I didn't see it, and I can't see it."

"Glory be to God!", I said, "Such a huge snake passes between us and you didn't see it! How is that?"

At the time nothing occurred to me. Then later this was imparted to my heart: "That was a sign for you. Watch out!" I thought it was like one of the snakes I used to see at night. That is, whenever an official came to me with an ill intention, I would see him in the form of a snake. In fact, one time I said to the District Officer: "Whenever you come with an ill

intention, I see you in the form of a snake. Be careful!" I saw his predecessor many times like that. This means that the snake I saw clearly was a sign that their treachery would not remain as an intention only, but would take the form of actual aggression. For sure, this time the aggression was apparently minor and they wanted to minimize it, but encouraged and joined by an unscrupulous teacher, the District Officer ordered the gendarmes: "Bring the visitors here!" while we were reciting the tesbihat following the prayers in the mosque. Anyway the intention was to make me angry, and in the vein of the Old Said, to react and drive them out in the face of this unlawful and purely arbitrary treatment. But the wretch did not know that Said would not defend himself with the broken piece of wood in his hand while he had on his tongue a diamond sword from the workbench of the Qur'an, indeed, he would have used the sword like that. But the gendarmes were sensible, and since no state, no government at all, disturbs people in the mosque during prayer while performing their religious duties, they waited till the prayers and tesbihat were finished. The Officer was angry at this and sent the rural watchman after them saying: "The gendarmes don't pay any attention to me." But Almighty God did not force me to struggle with them.

So I make this recommendation to my brothers, so long as there is no absolute necessity, do not occupy yourselves with them. In keeping with the saying: "The best answer for the stupid is silence," do not stoop to speak with them. But watch out, for like showing weakness to a savage animal emboldens its attack, so to show weakness by being sycophantic towards those with the consciences of beasts, encourages them to be aggressive. Friends must be alert so that the supporters of atheism do not take advantage of other friends' indifference and heedlessness.

SECOND POINT

The verse:

And incline not towards those who do wrong, or the Fire will seize you, {[*]:}

threatens in awesome and severe fashion, not only those who support and are the tools of tyranny, but also those who have the slightest inclination towards it. For like consenting to unbelief is unbelief, so is consenting to tyranny and wrongdoing tryanny and wrong.

One of the people of attainment perfectly interpreted as follows one of the many jewels of the above verse:

One who assists tyranny is the world's most despicable being;

He is a dog, who receives pleasure from serving the unjust.

Yes, some of them are snakes, some are dogs. The one who spied on us on a blessed night such as that, when, with a blessed guest we were reciting blessed prayers, and informed on us as though we were commiting some crime, and raided us, certainly deserved a blow in the meaning of the above poem.

THIRD POINT

Since you rely on the Qur'an's saintly influence and its effulgence and light to reform and guide the most obstinate and obdurate of the godless, and you actually do this, why do you not call to religion those aggressive people that are near you, and guide them?

An important principle of the Shari'a is "One who knowingly consents to harm should not be condoned." Relying on the strength of the Qur'an, I claim that on condition he is not utterly vile and enjoys spreading the poison of misguidance like a snake, if I do not convince the most obdurate irreligious person in a few hours, I am ready to try. However, to speak of truth and reality to a conscience that has fallen to the very lowest degree of baseness, to snakes in human form that have reached such a degree of hypocrisy that they knowingly sell religion for the world and knowingly exchange the diamonds of reality for vile and harmful fragments of glass, is a lack of respect for those truths. It becomes like the proverb "Casting pearls before swine." For those who do these things have several times heard the truth from the Risale-i Nur, and they knowingly try to refute its truths before the misguidance of atheism. Such people receive pleasure from poison, like snakes.

FOURTH POINT

The treatment I have received this seven years has been purely arbitrary and outside the law. For the laws concerning exiles and prisoners and those in prison are clear. By law, they can meet with their relatives and they are not prevented from mixing with others. In every country, with every people, worship and prayer are immune from interference. Those like me stayed together with their friends and relations in towns. They were prevented neither from mixing with others, nor from communicating, nor from moving about freely. I was prevented. And my mosque and my worship even were raided. And while it is Sunna to repeat the words, "There is no god but God" in the prayers following the prescribed prayers according to the Shafi'i School, they tried to make me give them up. Even, one of the old exiles in Burdur, an illiterate called

Şebab, and his mother-in-law, came here for a change of air. They came to me because we come from the same place. They were summoned from the mosque by three armed gendarmes. The official then tried to hide that he had made a mistake and acted unlawfully, and apologized, saying: "Don't be angry, it was my duty." Then he gave them permission and told them to go. If other things and treatment are compared to this event, it is understood that the treatment accorded to me is purely arbitrary, and that they inflict vipers and curs on me. But I don't condescend to bother with them. I refer it to Almighty God to ward off their evil. In fact, those who instigated the event that was the cause of the exile are now back in their own lands, and powerful chiefs are back at the heads of their tribes. Everyone has been discharged. They made me and two other people exceptions, although I have no connection with their world; may it be the end of them! But one of those two was appointed as Mufti to somewhere, and can travel everywhere outside his own region, including to Ankara. And the other was left in Istanbul among forty thousand people from his native region, where he can meet with everyone. Moreover, these two persons are not alone and with no one, like me; they are very influential, with God's permission. And so on and so forth. But they put me in a village and set those with the least conscience on me. I have only been able to go to another village twenty minutes away twice in six years, and they did not give me permission to go there for a few days' change of air, crushing me even more under their tyranny. Whereas whatever form a government takes the law is the same for all. There cannot be different laws for villages and for different individuals. That is to say, the law as far as I am concerned is unlawfulness. The officials here utilize the government influence in their own personal grudges. But I offer a hundred thousand thanks to Almighty God, and by way of making known His bounties, I say this:

"All this oppression and tyranny of theirs is like pieces of wood for the fire of ardour and endeavour which illuminates the lights of the Qur'an; it makes them flare up and shine. And those lights of the Qur'an, which have suffered this persecution of theirs and have spread with the heat of endeavour, have made this province, indeed, most of the country, like a madrasa in place of Barla. They supposed me to a prisoner in a village. On the contrary, in spite of the atheists, Barla has become the teaching desk, and many places, like Isparta, have become like the madrasa..."

All praise be to God, this is from the bounty of my Sustainer.

The Fifth Matter, which is the Fifth Part On Thanks

Through repeating verses like,

Will they not then give thanks? {[*]:} * Will they not then give thanks? * And we shall surely reward those who give thanks. {[*]:} * If you give thanks, I shall increase [my favours] to you. {[*]:} * Worship God and be of those who give thanks, {[*]:}

the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition shows that the most important thing the Most Merciful Creator wants from His servants is thanks. The Qur'an, the All-Wise Distinguisher between Truth and Falsehood, calls men to offer thanks, giving it the greatest importance. It shows ingratitude to be a denial of bounties, and in Sura al-Rahman, utters a severe and fearsome threat thirty-three times with the decree,

So which of the favours of your Sustainer do you deny? {[*]:}

It shows that ingratitude is denial and negation.

Indeed, both the All-Wise Qur'an shows thanks to be the result of creation, and the mighty Qur'an of the universe shows that the most important result of the creation of the world is thanks. For if the universe is observed carefully, it is apparent that all things result in thanks in the way each is arranged within it; to a degree each looks to thanks and is turned towards it. It is as if the most important fruit of the tree of creation is thanks, and the most elevated product of the factory of the universe is thanks. The reason for this is as follows:

We see in the creation of the world that its beings are arranged

as though in a circle with life as its central point. All beings look to life, and serve life, and produce the necessities of life. That is to say, the One Who created the universe chose life from it.

Then we see that He created the animal kingdom in the form of a circle and placed man at its centre. Simply, He centred the aims intended from animate beings on man, gathering all living creatures around him, and subjugating them to him. He made them serve him and him dominant over them. That is to say, the Glorious Creator chose man from among living beings, and willed and decreed this position for him in the world.

Then we see that the world of man, and the animal world too, are formed like circles, with sustenance placed at their centre. He has made mankind and the animals enamoured of sustenance, has subjugated them to it, and made them serve it. What rules them is sustenance. And He has made sustenance such a vast and rich treasury that it encompasses His innumerable bounties. Even, with a faculty called the sense of taste, He has placed on the tongue fine and sensitive scales to the number of foods, so that they can recognize the tastes of the many varieties of sustenance. That is to say, the strangest, richest, most wonderful, most agreeable, most comprehensive, and most marvellous truth in the universe lies in sustenance.

Now we see that just as everything has been gathered around sustenance and looks to it, so does sustenance in all its varieties subsist through thanks, both material and immaterial and that offered by word and by state; it exists through thanks, it produces thanks, its showsr panks. For appetite and desire for sustenance are a sort of innate or instinctive thanks. Enjoyment and pleasure also are a sort of unconscious thanks, offered by all animals. It is only man who changes the nature of that innate thanks through misguidance and unbelief; he deviates from thanks to associating partners with God.

Furthermore, the exquisitely adorned forms, the fragrant smells, the wonderfully delicious tastes in the bounties which are sustenance invite thanks; they awake an eagerness in animate beings, and through eagerness urge a sort of appreciation and respect, and prompt thanks of a sort. They attract the attention of conscious beings and engender admiration. They encourage them to respect the bounties; through this, they lead them to offer thanks verbally and by act, and to be grateful; they cause them to experience the highest and sweetest pleasure and enjoyment within thanks. That is, they show that, as well as a brief and temporary superficial pleasure, through thanks, these delicious foods and bounties gain the favours of the Most Merciful One, which provide a permanent,

true, boundless pleasure. They cause conscious beings to ponder over the infinite, pleasurable favours of the All-Generous Owner of the treasuries of mercy, and in effect to taste the everlasting delights of Paradise while still in this world. Thus, although by means of thanks sustenance becomes such a valuable, rich, all-embracing treasury, through ingratitude it becomes utterly valueless.

As is explained in the Sixth Word, when the sense of taste in the tongue is turned towards sustenance for the sake of Almighty God, that is, when it performs its duty of thanks, it becomes like a grateful inspector of the numberless kitchens of Divine mercy and a highly-esteemed supervisor full of praise. If it is turned towards it for the sake of the soul, that is, without thinking of giving thanks to the One Who has bestowed the sustenance, the sense of taste falls from the rank of being a highly-esteemed supervisor to the level of a watchman of the factory of the stomach and a doorkeeper of the stable of the belly. Just as through ingratitude these servants of sustenance descend to such a level, so does the nature of sustenance and its other servants fall; they descend from the highest rank to the lowest; they sink to a state opposed to the Creator of the universe's wisdom.

The measure of thanks is contentment, frugality, and being satisfied and grateful. While the measure of ingratitude is greed, wastefulness and extravagance; it is disrespect; it is eating whatever one comes across, whether lawful or unlawful.

Like ingratitude, greed causes both loss and degradation. For example, it is as though because of greed the blessed ant even, which has a social life, is crushed underfoot. For, although a few grains of wheat would be sufficient for a year, it is not contented with this, and collects thousands if it can. While the blessed honey-bee flies overhead due to its contentment, and through a Divine command bestows honey on human beings for them to eat.

The Name of All-Merciful -the Greatest Name after the Name of Allah, which signifies the Divine Essence and is the Greatest Name of the Most Pure and Holy One- looks to sustenance, and is attained to through the thanks provoked by sustenance. Also, the most apparent meaning of All-Merciful is Provider.

Moreover, there are different varieties of thanks. The most comprehensive of these and their universal index are the prescribed prayers.

Furthermore, within thanks is a pure belief, a sincere affirmation of God's Unity. For a person who eats an apple and utters, "Praise be to God!" is proclaiming through his thanks: "This apple is a souvenir

bestowed directly by the hand of power, a gift directly from the treasury of mercy." With saying this and believing it, he is surrendering everything, particular and universal, to the hand of power. He recognizes the manifestation of mercy in everything. He announces through thanks a true belief and sincere affirmation of Divine Unity.

Of the many aspects of the great loss which heedless man incurs through ingratitude for bounties, we shall describe only one. It is as follows:

If someone eats a delicious bounty and gives thanks, the bounty becomes a light through his thanks and a fruit of Paradise in the hereafter. Through thinking of it being a work of Almighty God's favour and mercy due to the pleasure it affords, it gives a true, lasting delight and enjoyment. He sends kernels and essences pertaining to its meaning, and immaterial substances like these, to the abodes above, while the material husk-like residue, that is, the matter that has completed its duty and now is unnecessary, becomes excreta and goes to be transformed into its original substances, that is, into the elements. If he does not give thanks, the temporary pleasure leaves a pain and sorrow at its passing, and itself becomes waste. Bounty which is of the nature of diamonds is transformed into coal. Through thanks, transient sustenance produces enduring pleasures, everlasting fruits. But bounty which is met with ingratitude is turned from the very best of forms into the most distasteful. For according to a heedless person such as that, after a temporary pleasure, the end of sustenance is waste-matter.

For sure, sustenance is in a form worthy of love, and that form becomes apparent through thanks. While the passion of the misguided and heedless for sustenance is animality. You can make further comparisons in this way and see what a loss the heedless and misguided suffer.

Among animate species the most needy for the varieties of sustenance is man. Almighty God created man as a comprehensive mirror to all His Names; as a miracle of power with the capacity to weigh up and recognize the contents of all His treasuries of mercy; and as His vicegerent on earth possessing the faculties to draw to the scales all the subtleties of the different manifestations of His Names. He therefore gave him a boundless need, making him needy for the endless different varieties of sustenance, material and immaterial. The means of raising man to 'the best of forms,' which is the highest position in accordance with this comprehensiveness, is thanks. If he does not give thanks, he falls to 'the lowest of the low,' and perpetrates a great wrong.

The most essential of the four fundamental principles of

the way of worship and winning God's love, the highest and most elevated way, is thanks. These four principles have been defined as follows:

"Four things are necessary on the way of the impotent, my friend:

"Absolute impotence, absolute poverty, absolute fervour, and absolute thanks, my friend...."

O God, through Your mercy, appoint us among those who give thanks, O Most Merciful of the Merciful!

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise. {[*]:}

O God, grant blessings and peace to our master Muhammad, master of those who offer thanks and praise, and to all his Family and Companions. Amen.

And the close of their cry will be, "All praise be to God, Sustainer of All the Worlds." {[*]:}

The Sixth Matter, which is the Sixth Part

This was to be included in another collection, and was not included here.

The Seventh Matter, which is the Seventh Part

Say: "In the bounty of God, and in His mercy, in that let them rejoice;" that is better than the [wealth] they hoard. {[*]:}

This matter consists of seven Signs, but firstly, in order to recount some Divine bounties, we shall explain seven 'Reasons' which disclose the meanings of several Divine favours.

FIRST REASON

Before the Great War, or around the beginning of it, I had a true vision. In it, I was under the famous mountain of Agri, known as Mount Ararat. The mountain suddenly exploded with a terrible blast. Pieces the size of mountains were scattered all over the world. I looked and saw that in that awful situation, my mother was beside me. I said to her: "Don't be frightened. This is happening at Almighty God's command, and He is All-Compassionate and All-Wise." Suddenly, while in that situation, I saw that a person of importance was commanding me: "Expound the miraculousness of the Qur'an!" I awoke and I understood that there was going to be a great explosion, and after that explosion and upheaval, the walls surrounding the Qur'an were going to be destroyed. The Qur'an would then defend itself directly. It was going to be attacked, and its miraculousness would be its steel armour. And in a way surpassing his ability, someone like me was going to be appointed at this time to reveal a sort of its miraculousness; and I understood that it was me who had been designated.

Since the miraculousness of the Qur'an has been expounded to an extent with the Words, to set forth the Divine favours received in our service of the Qur'an, which are sorts of blessings and emanations of it, surely assist the miraculousness and pass to its account, and should therefore be set forth.

SECOND REASON

The All-Wise Qur'an is our guide, our master, our leader, and shows

us the way in all our conduct. So since it praises itself, following its instruction, we shall praise its commentary.

Furthermore, since the Words that have been written are a sort of commentary on the Qur'an, and its treatises are the property of the Qur'an's truths and its realities; and since in most of its Suras, and particularly in the Alif. Lam. Ra.' s and Ha. Mim.' s, the All-Wise Qur'an displays itself in all its magnificence, tells of its own perfections, and praises itself in a way of which it is worthy; certainly we are charged with making known the flashes of the Qur'an's miraculousness which are reflected in the Words, and the dominical favours which are the sign of that service's acceptance. For our master does this and teaches us to do it.

THIRD REASON

I do not say this about the Words out of modesty, but in order to explain a truth, that the truths and perfections in the Words are not mine; they are the Qur'an's and they have issued from the Qur'an. The Tenth Word, for instance, consists of a few droplets filtered from hundreds of verses. The rest of the treatises are all like that. Since I know it is thus and since I am transient, I shall depart, of course something, a work, which is enduring should not, and must not, be tied to me. And since it is the custom of the people of misguidance and rebellion to refute a work which does not suit their purposes by refuting its author, the treatises, which are bound to the stars of the skies of the Qur'an, should not be bound to a rotten post like me who may be the object of criticism and objection, and may fall. Also, it is generally the custom to search for the merits of a work in the qualities of its author, whom people suppose to be the work's source and origin. To attribute those elevated truths and brilliant jewels to a bankrupt like me in keeping with that custom, and to my person which could not produce one thousandth of them himself, is a great injustice against the truth; I am therefore compelled to proclaim that the treatises are not my property; they are the Qur'an's property, and issuing from the Qur'an, they manifest its virtues. Yes, the qualities of delicious bunches of grapes should not be sought in their dry stalks. I resemble such a dry stalk.

FOURTH REASON

Sometimes modesty suggests ingratitude for bounties, indeed, is ingratitude for bounties. Then sometimes recounting bounties is the cause of pride. Both are harmful. The only solution is for it to be neither. To admit to virtues and perfections, but without claiming ownership of them, is to show them to be the works of bestowal of the True Bestower. For example, suppose someone was to dress you in a robe of honour

embroidered and encrusted with jewels and you became very beautiful, and the people said to you: "What wonders God has willed! How beautiful you are! How beautiful you have become!", and you modestly replied: "God forbid! Don't say such a thing! What am I? This is nothing!" This would be ingratitude for the bounty and disrespectful towards skilful craftsman who had dressed you in the garment. While if you were to reply proudly: "Yes, I am very beautiful. Surely there is no one to compare with me!", that would be conceited pride.

And so, to be saved from both conceit and ingratitude, one should say: "Yes, I have grown beautiful. But the beauty springs from the robe, and thus indirectly from the one who clothed me in it; it is not mine."

Like this, if my voice was strong enough, I would shout out to the whole earth: "The Words are beautiful; they are truth, they are reality; but they are not mine. They are rays shining out from the truths of the Noble Qur'an."

In accordance with the principle of:

I cannot praise Muhammad with my words, rather my words become praiseworthy through Muhammad,

I say:

I cannot praise the Qur'an with my words, rather my words become praiseworthy through the Qur'an.

That is to say, I did not beautify the truths of the Qur'an's miraculousness, I could not show them beautifully; rather, the Qur'an's beautiful truths made my words beautiful and elevated them. Since it is thus, it is an acceptable recounting of Divine bounties to make known in the name of the beauty of the Qur'an's truths, the beauties of its mirrors known as the Words, and the Divine favours which comprise those mirrors.

FIFTH REASON

A long time ago I heard from one of the people of sainthood that he had deduced from the obscure allusions -received from the Unseen- of the saints of old that "A light would appear in the East which would scatter the darkness of innovation." He was certain of this. I have long awaited the coming of the light, and I am awaiting it. But flowers appear in the spring, and the ground has to be prepared for sacred flowers such as that. I understood that with this service of ours we are preparing the ground for those luminous people. So to proclaim the Divine favours which pertain not to us, but to the lights called the Words, cannot be the cause of pride or conceit, but of praise and thanks, and the recounting of Divine bounties.

SIXTH REASON

Dominical favours, which are an immediate reward for our service to the Qur'an by means of the Words, and an encouragement, are a success. And success should be made known. If they surpass success, they become a Divine bestowal. To make known Divine bestowal has the meaning of thanks. If they surpass that too, they become wonders of the Qur'an with no interference on the part of our wills; we have merely manifested them. To make known wonders of this sort which occur unheralded and without the intervention of will, is without harm. If they surpass ordinary wonders, they then become rays of the Qur'an's miraculousness. And since miraculousness may be made known, the making known of what assists the miraculousness passes to the account of the miraculousness, and cannot be the cause of any pride or conceit, it should rather be the cause of praise and thanks.

SEVENTH REASON

Eighty per cent of mankind are not investigative scholars who can penetrate to reality, recognize reality as reality and accept it as such. They rather accept matters by way of imitation, which they hear from acceptable and reliable people, in consequence of their good opinions of them. In fact, they see a powerful truth to be weak when in the possession of a weak man, while if they see a worthless matter in the possession of a worthy man, they consider it to be valuable. Because of this, in order not to reduce the value in the eyes of most people of the truths of belief and the Qur'an which are in the hands of a weak and worthless wretch like myself, I am compelled to proclaim that outside our knowledge and will, someone is employing us; we do not know it, but he is making us work. My evidence is this: outside our wills and consciousness, we manifest certain favours and facilities. In which case, we are compelled to shout out and proclaim those favours.

In consequence of the above Seven Reasons, we shall point out several Signs of universal dominical favours.

FIRST SIGN

Explained in the First Point of the Eighth Matter of the Twenty-Eighth Letter, are the 'coincidences '(tawafuqat). For example, in the Nineteenth Letter, about the Miracles of Muhammad, in a copy written by a scribe who was unaware of this factor, on sixty pages -with the exception of two- from the Third to the Eighteenth Signs, more than two hundred instances of the phrase 'God's Noble Messenger, Upon whom be blessings and peace' look to each other corresponding perfectly. Anyone fair who looks at two pages would confirm that they are not the product

of mere chance. If many instances of the same word corresponded to each other on the same page, half would be chance and half 'coincidence;' it would only be wholly 'coincidence' if this occurred on more than one page. So if two, three, four, or even more instances of the phrase 'God's Noble Messenger, Upon whom be blessings and peace,' look to each other with perfect correspondence on all the pages, it surely is not possible for it to be chance. It shows too that within a 'coincidence' which eight different scribes have not been able to spoil is a powerful sign from the Unseen. Although the various degrees of eloquence are to be found in the books of the scholars of rhetoric and eloquence, the eloquence of the All-Wise Qur'an has risen to the degree of miraculousness, and it is in no one's power to reach it. Similarly, the 'coincidences' in the Nineteenth Letter, which is a mirror of the Miracles of Muhammad, and in the Twenty-Fifth Word, which is an interpreter of the miracles of the Qur'an, and in the various parts of the Risale-i Nur, which is a sort of commentary on the Qur'an, demonstrate a degree of singularity surpassing all other books. It is understood from this that it is a sort of wonder of the Miraculousness of the Qur'an and the Miracles of Muhammad which is manifested and represented in those mirrors.

SECOND SIGN

The second of the dominical favours pertaining to the service of the Qur'an is this: Almighty God bestowed on one like me who has difficulty in writing, is semi-literate, alone, in exile, and prevented from mixing with people, brothers as helpers who are strong, earnest, sincere, enterprising, self-sacrificing, and whose pens are each like diamond swords. He placed on their powerful shoulders the Qur'anic duty which weighed heavily on my weak and powerless shoulders. Out of His perfect munificence, He lightened my load. In the words of Hulûsi, that blessed community are like the wireless and telegraph receivers, and in Sabri's words, like the machines producing the electricity of the 'light factory.' Together with their different virtues and valuable characteristics, again in Sabri's words, in a way that is a sort of 'coincidence' proceeding from the Unseen, they spread all around the mysteries of the Qur'an and lights of belief in a manner resembling each other in enthusiasm, effort, enterprise, and seriousness, making them reach everywhere. At this time, that is, when the alphabet has been changed, and there are no printing-presses, and everyone is in need of the lights of belief, and there are numerous things to dispirit a person and destroy his enthusiasm, this unflagging service of theirs with complete fervour and endeavour is directly a wonder of the Qur'an and a clear Divine favour. Yes, just as sainthood has its wonders, so does a pure intention have

wonders. So does sincerity. Especially serious, sincere solidarity between brothers within a sphere of brotherhood which is purely for God's sake, it produces numerous wonders. In fact, the collective personality of such a community may become like a perfected saint, and manifest Divine favours.

And so my brothers and my friends in the service of the Qur'an! Like it is unjust and wrong to give all the glory and all the booty to the sergeant of a company who conquers a citadel, so you cannot ascribe the Divine favours in the victories obtained through the strength of your collective personality and your pens to an unfortunate like myself! In fact, there is another indication of the Unseen in such a blessed community, more powerful than the 'coincidences' proceeding from the Unseen and I can see it, but I may not point it out to everyone at large.

THIRD SIGN

The fact that the various parts of the Risale-i Nur prove the most important of the truths of belief and the Qur'an in brilliant fashion to even the most obdurate person, is a powerful sign from the Unseen and Divine favour. For among the truths of belief and the Qur'an are those that Ibn Sina, who was considered to be the greatest genius, confessed his powerlessness to understand, saying: "The reason cannot solve these." Whereas the Tenth Word explains what he could not achieve with his genius to ordinary people, or even to children.

And for example, a learned scholar like Sa'd al-Din Taftazani could only solve the mystery of Divine Determining and man's will in forty to fifty pages with the famous Muqaddimat-i Ithna 'Ashar in his work Talwihat. Those same matters, which he presented only for the elite, are explained completely in two pages in the Second Topic of the Twenty-Sixth Word, which is about Divine Determining, so that everyone may understand them; if that is not a mark of Divine favour, what is?

Also are what are known as the mystery of world's creation and the talisman of the universe, which have perplexed everyone and no philosophy has been able to solve; but through the miraculousness of the Qur'an of Mighty Stature, that abstruse talisman and astonishing riddle are solved in the Twenty-Fourth Letter, and in the Allusive Point towards the end of the Twenty-Ninth Word, and in the six instances of wisdom in the transformations of minute particles explained in the Thirtieth Word. They have discovered and explained the talisman of the astonishing activity in the universe, and the riddle of the creation of the universe and its end, and the meaning and instances of wisdom in the motion and transformations of particles; they are there for all to see and may be referred to.

Furthermore, the Sixteenth and Thirty-Second Words explain with perfect clarity the partnerless Unity of dominicality, through the mystery of Divine Oneness, together with the astonishing truths of infinite Divine proximity and our infinite distance from God. While the exposition of the phrase 'And He is Powerful over all things' in the Twentieth Letter, and its Addendum which contains three comparisons, demonstrate self-evidently that minute particles and the planets are equal in relation to Divine Power, and that at the resurrection of the dead, the raising to life of all beings with spirits will be as easy for that power as the raising to life of a single soul, and that the intervention of any partner to God in the creation of the universe is so far from reason as to be impossible, thus disclosing a vast mystery of Divine Unity.

Furthermore, although in the truths of belief and the Qur'an there is such a breadth that the greatest human genius cannot comprehend them, the fact that they appeared together with the great majority of their fine points through someone like me whose mind is confused, situation wretched, has no book to refer to, and who writes with difficulty and at speed, is directly the work of the All-Wise Qur'an's miraculousness and a manifestation of dominical favour and a powerful sign from the Unseen.

FOURTH SIGN

Fifty to sixty treatises were bestowed in such a way that, being works that could not be written through the efforts and exertions of great geniuses and exacting scholars, let alone someone like me who thinks little, follows the apparent, and does not have the time for close study, they demonstrate that they are directly the works of Divine favour. For in all these treatises, the most profound truths are taught to the most ordinary and uneducated people by means of comparisons. Whereas leading scholars have said of most of those truths that "they cannot be made comprehensible," and have not taught them to the elite, let alone to the common people.

Thus, for these most distant truths to be taught to the most ordinary man in the closest way, with wondrous ease and clarity of expression, by someone like me who has little Turkish, whose words are obscure and mostly incomprehensible, and for many years has been famous for complicating the clearest facts and whose former works confirm this ill-fame, is certainly and without any doubt a mark of Divine favour, and cannot be through his skill; it is a manifestation of the Noble Qur'an's miraculousness, and a representation and reflection of the Qur'an's comparisons.

FIFTH SIGN

The fact that although generally speaking the treatises have been widely distributed, and classes and groups of people from the greatest scholars to the uneducated, and from great saints from among those who approach reality with their hearts to the most obdurate irreligious philosphers, have seen them and studied them and have not criticized them, despite some of them receiving blows through them; and the fact that each group has benefited from them according to its degree; is directly a mark of dominical favour and a wonder of the Qur'an. And although treatises of that sort are only written after much study and research, their being written with extraordinary speed and at distressing times when my mind was contracted, confusing my thought and understanding, is a mark of Divine favour and a dominical bestowal.

Yes, most of my brothers and all the friends who are with me and the scribes know that the five parts of the Nineteenth Letter were written referring to no book at all in several days working for two or three hours each day making a total of twelve hours; and the Fourth Part, which is the most important part and shows a clear seal of Prophethood in the phrase 'God's Noble Messenger, Upon whom be blessings and peace,' was written from memory in three or four hours in the rain in the mountains; and that an important and profound treatise like the Thirtieth Word was written in six hours in an orchard; and like the Twenty-Eighth Word was written finally in two hours in Süleyman's garden, most of them were written in similar conditions; my close friends know also that for many years, when I suffer difficulties and my mind is contracted, I cannot explain even the plainest facts, indeed, I do not even know them. Especially when illness is added to the distress, it prevents me teaching and writing even more. Yet despite this, the most important of the Words and its treatises were written when I was suffering most difficulty and illness, and in the most speedy fashion. If this was not a direct Divine favour and dominical bounty and wonder of the Qur'an, what is?

Furthermore, whatever book it may be, if it discusses the Divine truths and realities of belief, it would certainly be harmful for some people, and for this reason, all its matters would not be taught to everyone. However, although I have asked many people, up to this time, these treatises have caused no harm to anyone; they have caused no ill effects or unfavourable reaction, nor have they disturbed anyone's mind. That this is a direct sign of the Unseen and dominical favour is absolutely certain in my opinion.

SIXTH SIGN

It has now become absolutely clear in my view that most of my life has been directed in such a way, outside my own will, ability, comprehension, and foresight, that it might produce these treatises to serve the All-Wise Qur'an. It is as if all my life as a scholar had been spent in preparation and preliminaries, the result of which was the exposition of the Qur'an's miraculousness through the Words. I have no doubt even that these seven years of exile, and the situation imposed on me whereby I have been isolated for no reason and against my wish, living a solitary life in a village in a way opposed to my temperament, and my feeling disgust at and abandoning many of the ties and rules of social life to which I had long grown accustomed, was in order to make me carry out this duty to serve the Qur'an directly and in purely sincere fashion. I am of the opinion that the ill-treatment was very often visited on me by a hand of favour under the veil of unjust oppression, compassionately, in order to focus and restrict my thought on the mysteries of the Qur'an and not allow my mind to be distracted. And being prevented from studying all other books, despite formerly having great desire to study, I felt an aloofness towards them in my spirit. I understood that what had made me give up studying, which would have been a solace and familiar in my exile, was in order for the verses of the Qur'an to be my absolute master directly.

Furthermore, the great majority of the works that have been written, the treatises, have been bestowed instantaneously and suddenly in consequence of some need arising from my spirit, not from any outside cause. Then when afterwards I have shown them to some friends, they have said that they are the remedy for the wounds of the present time. After they have been disseminated, I have understood from most of my brothers that they meet the needs of the times exactly and are like a cure for every ill.

I have no doubt therefore that the above-mentioned points and the course of my life and my involuntarily studying fields of learning opposed to normal practice, outside my own will and awareness, were a powerful Divine favour and dominical bounty bestowed to yield sacred results such as these.

SEVENTH SIGN

During this period of our service over five to six years, we have seen with our own eyes and without exaggeration a hundred instances of Divine bestowal and dominical favour and wonders of the Qur'an. We pointed out some of them in the Sixteenth Letter, and we have described some of them in the various matters of the Fourth Topic of the Twenty-Sixth

Letter, and some in the Third Matter of the Twenty-Eighth Letter. My close friends know these. My constant friend Süleyman Efendi knows many of them. Especially in the spreading of the Words and the treatises, and in correcting them, and situating them, and in the rough and final drafts, we experience an extraordinary and wondrous ease. I have no doubt that it is a wonder of the Qur'an. There are hundreds of instances of this.

Furthermore, in the question of livelihood, we are nurtured with such tenderness that the Gracious One who employs us bestows on us the least desires of our hearts in ways entirely outside the ordinary in order to gratify us. And so on. Thus, this situation is a most powerful sign from the Unseen that we are being employed; we are being made to serve the Qur'an both within the sphere of Divine pleasure, and through Divine favour.

All praise be to God, this is from the bounty of my Sustainer.

All Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise!

O God! Grant blessings to our master Muhammad that will be pleasing to You and fulfilment of his truth, and to his Family and Companions, and grant them peace. Amen.

The Answer to a Confidential Question

[This instance of Divine favour was written some time ago confidentially, and was added to the end of the Fourteenth Word. However, most of the scribes have forgotten it and not written it. That is to say, the appropriate place for it must have been here, since it remained unknown.]

"How is it that in the Words you have written from the Qur'an are a power and effectiveness rarely to be found in the words of Qur'anic commentators and those with knowledge of God? Sometimes in a single line is power equivalent to that of a page, and in one page the effectiveness of a book?"

A good answer: since the honour belongs to the Qur'an's miraculousness and not to me, I say fearlessly, that it is mostly like that, for the following reason:

The Words that have been written are not supposition, they are affirmation; they are not submission, they are belief; they are not intuitive knowledge, they are a testifying and witnessing; they are not imitating, they are verification; they are not taking the part of something, they are exercise of the mind; they are not Sufism, they are reality; they are not a claim, they are the proof within the claim. The wisdom in this is as follows:

Formerly, the fundamentals of belief were protected, submission was strong. Even if the intuitive knowledge of those with knowledge of God lacked proof, their expositions were acceptable and sufficient. But at this time, since the misguidance of science has stretched out its hand to the fundamentals and pillars [of belief], the All-Wise and Compassionate One of Glory, Who bestows a remedy for every ill, in consequence of my impotence and weakness, want and need, mercifully bestowed in these writings of mine which serve the Qur'an a single ray from the comparisons of the Noble Qur'an, which are a most brilliant manifestation of its miraculousness. All praise be to God, the most distant truths were brought close through the telescope of the mystery of comparisons. Through the aspect of unity of the mystery of comparisons, the most scattered matters were collected together. Through the stairs of the mystery of comparisons, the highest truths were easily reached. Through the window

of the mystery of comparisons, a certainty of belief in the truths of the Unseen and fundamentals of Islam was obtained close to the degree of 'witnessing.' The intellect, as well as the imagination and fancy, and the soul and caprice, were compelled to submit, and Satan too was compelled to surrender his weapons.

Whatever beauty and effectiveness are found in my writings, they are only flashes of the Qur'anic comparisons. My share was only my intense need and my seeking, and my extreme impotence and my beseeching. The ill is mine, and the cure, the Qur'an's.

The Conclusion of the Seventh Matter

[This is to banish any doubts that have arisen or may arise concerning the signs from the Unseen apparent in the form of the eight Divine favours, and describes a mighty mystery of Divine favour.]

This Conclusion consists of Four Points.

FIRST POINT

We claimed in the Seventh Matter of the Twenty-Eighth Letter that we saw a sign from the Unseen, which had been understood from seven or eight universal, immaterial Divine favours, and a manifestation of that sign in the embroideries known as the 'coincidences,' under the name of the Eighth Favour. And we claim that these seven or eight universal Divine favours are so powerful and certain that each on its own proves those signs from the Unseen. If, to suppose the impossible, some appeared to be weak, or were even denied, it would not damage the certainty of that sign from the Unseen. One who cannot deny the Divine favours, cannot deny the signs. But because people differ according to their level, and because the most numerous level, the mass of people, rely mostly on what they see, since the 'coincidences' are not the most powerful, but the most apparent, of the eight Divine favours -certainly the others are more powerful but since this is more general- I have been compelled to expound a truth by way of comparing them, with the intention of dispelling those doubts. It is like this:

We said concerning the apparent Divine favour that such a degree of 'coincidences' appeared in the word 'Qur'an' and the phrase 'God's Noble Messenger, Upon whom be blessings and peace' in the treatise we had written that it left no doubt that they had been ordered intentionally and given mutually corresponding positions. Our evidence that the will and intention is not ours is that we became aware of them only three or four years later. In which case, as a work of Divine favour, this will and intention pertain to the Unseen. That singular situation was bestowed solely in respect of corroborating the miraculousness of the Qur'an and of Muhammad, and in the form of the 'coincidences' involving those two words. In addition to the blessedness of these two words being a ratifying stamp of the Qur'an's miraculousness and the miracles of Muhammad, the great majority of similar phrases manifested 'coincidence.' But

these appear only on a single page, while the two above phrases appear throughout two treatises, and in most of the others. We have said repeatedly that essentially 'coincidence' may be found in other books, but not to such an extraordinary degree, demonstrating an elevated will and intention. Now, although it is not possible to refute what we claim, there are one or two ways that it might appear to be thus to a superficial glance.

One is that they may say: "You have thought of it and brought about these 'coincidences' in this way. To do such a thing intentionally would be easy." In reply we say this: in any case, two truthful witnesses are sufficient. But in this case a hundred truthful witnesses may be found who will testify that our will and intention played no part and that we became aware of it only three or four years later. I should say in connection with this that this wonder of the Qur'an's proceeding from its miraculousness is not of the same sort of, or of equal degree to, its miraculousness in respect of its eloquence. For in that respect, human power could not attain such a degree. But the wonder proceeding from this aspect of its miraculousness [that of 'coincidence'] also could not occur through human power; human power could not intervene in such a matter.

{(*):}

THIRD POINT

In connection with particular signs and general signs, we shall indicate a fine point of dominicality and mercifulness:

One of my brothers said something very good; I shall make it the subject here. What he said was this: one day I showed him a clear example of a 'coincidence,' and he said: "That's good! In fact all truths and realities are good. But the 'coincidences' in the Words and its success are even better." "Yes," I said, "everything is in reality good, or in itself good, or good in regard to its results. And this goodness looks to general dominicality, all-embracing mercy, and universal manifestation. Like you said, the sign from the Unseen in this success is even better; this is because it is in a form which looks to particular mercy and particular dominicality and particular manifestation." We shall bring this closer to the understanding by means of a comparison. It is like this:

Through his universal sovereignty and law, a king may encompass all

the members of his nation with his royal mercy. Each individual receives the king's favour, is subject to his rule, directly. Within the universality, the individual has numerous particular connections.

The second aspect are the king's particular bounties and particular orders: above the law, he bestows favours on an individual, and gives his orders.

Like this comparison, everything has a share of the general dominicality and all-encompassing mercy of the Necessarily Existent One, the All-Wise and Compassionate Creator. Also, through His power, will, and all-embracing knowledge, He has disposal over everything, He intervenes in the most insignificant matters of all things, His dominicality embraces them. Everything is in need of Him in every respect. Their works are performed and ordered through His knowledge and wisdom. Neither Nature has the ability to hide within the sphere of the disposal of His dominicality, or have any effect and interfere, nor can chance interfere in the works of the fine balance of His wisdom. We have refuted chance and Nature in twenty places in the Risale-i Nur with decisive proofs, executing them with the sword of the Qur'an; we have demonstrated their interference to be impossible. But the people of neglect have called 'chance,' matters they do not know the wisdom of and reason for in the sphere of apparent causes within universal dominicality. They have been unable to see some of the laws of the Divine acts concealed beneath the veil of Nature, the wisdom and purposes of which they could not comprehend, and they had recourse to Nature.

The second is His particular dominicality and particular favours and merciful succour, by which the Names of Merciful and Compassionate come to the aid of individuals unable to bear the constraints of the general laws, assisting them in particular fashion, and saving them from those crushing constraints. Therefore, all living beings and especially man may seek help from Him at all times, and receive succour.

Thus, the favours in this particular dominicality cannot be hidden under chance by the people of neglect, and cannot be ascribed to Nature.

It is as a consequence of this that we have considered and believed the signs from the Unseen in the Miraculousness of the Qur'an and Miracles of Muhammad to be particular signs, certain that they are a particular succour and particular Divine favour showing themselves against the obdurate deniers. So we have proclaimed them purely for God's sake. If we were mistaken in doing so, may God forgive us. Amen.

O our Sustainer, do not take us to task if we forget or do wrong.

The Eighth Matter, which is the Eighth Part

[This Matter consists of six questions comprising Eight Points.]

FIRST POINT

We have perceived many signs from the Unseen suggesting that we are being employed in the service of the Qur'an directed by a hand of favour, and some of these we have pointed out. Now, a new sign is this: in most of the Words are 'coincidences' from the Unseen. {(*):} In short, there is a sign that a sort of manifestation of miraculousness is represented in the words 'God's Most Noble Messenger,' the phrase, 'Upon whom be blessings and peace,' and in the blessed word 'Qur'an.' However hidden and weak signs from the Unseen are, since they indicate the acceptability of our service and rightness of the matters, in my opinion they are of great importance and power. Furthermore, they break my pride and have demonstrated to me categorically that I am merely an interpreter. They leave nothing for me which is the means to pride; they only show things which are the cause of thanks. Since they pertain to the Qur'an and pass to the account of its miraculousness; and since definitely our wills do not interfere; and since they encourage those who are lazy in their service, and afford the conviction that the treatises are true; and since they are a form of Divine bestowal to us, and to make them known is to make known a Divine bounty, and to do so reduces to silence those obdurate people who understand only what they see; it is surely necessary to make them known; God willing, it causes no harm.

One of the signs from the Unseen is this: out of His perfect mercy and munificence, in order to encourage us who are occupied with the service of the Qur'an and belief and to make our hearts easy, Almighty God bestowed a subtle dominical favour on us and a Divine gift in all the treatises we have written, and particularly in the Miracles of Muhammad, the Miraculousness of the Qur'an, and the Thirty-Three Windows, in the form of a sign from the Unseen indicating the acceptability of our service and that what we have written is the truth. That is, He causes the same

words on a page to face one another. In this is a sign from the Unseen that they are ordered by an unseen will which says: "Do not rely on your own wills and comprehension. Without your knowledge and awareness, wondrous embroideries and arrangements are being made." Especially the words 'God's Most Noble Messenger' and 'Upon whom be blessings and peace' in the Miracles of Muhammad, they are like mirrors showing clearly the signs of those 'coincidences' from the Unseen. In a copy written by a new, inexperienced scribe, other than on five pages, the remaining more than two hundred 'Upon whom be blessings and peace's face one another in lines.

These 'coincidences' are not the work of chance, which might unconsciously give rise to one or two 'coincidences' out of ten, neither do they spring from the thought of an unfortunate like myself who is unskilled in art, and, concentrating only on the meaning, dictates thirty to forty pages at great speed in one hour, not writing himself but making others write.

Through the guidance of the Qur'an and due to the 'coincidence' of nine instances of the pronoun inna in the Qur'anic commentary, Signs of Miraculousness, I became aware of them only six years subsequently. When the copyists heard of them from me, they were astounded. The words 'God's Noble Messenger' and 'Upon whom be blessings and peace' in the Nineteenth Letter became like a small mirror of a sort of miracle of Muhammad. Similarly, the word 'Qur'an' in the Twenty-Fifth Word, the Miraculousness of the Qur'an, and in the Eighteenth Sign of the Nineteenth Letter, manifested a sort of miracle: of the forty classes of humanity, before the class which relies on what they see with their eyes, a kind of the Qur'an's miraculousness was manifested in all the treatises in the form of 'coincidences' from the Unseen, which is only one sort of the forty sorts of that kind of miraculousness. And of the forty types of that sort, it was manifested through the word 'Qur'an.' It was as follows:

The word 'Qur'an' was repeated a hundred times in the Twenty-Fifth Woًۨۙand in the Eighteenth Sign of the Nineteenth Letter; only rarely, once or twice, did it not conform; all the rest look to each other. For example, on the forty-third page in the Second Ray, the word 'Qur'an' occurs seven times, and they all face each other. On page fifty-six, eight instances of it face each other; only the ninth is an exception. The five instances of the word on page sixty-nine, now open before me, face each other. And so on. The word 'Qur'an' repeated on all the pages face each other. Only rarely does one remain outside the pattern out of five or six.

As for other words, on page thirty-three -now open in front of me- the word am is repeated fifteen times and fourteen of them face each

other. And on this page there are nine instances of the word 'belief'; they face each other. Only, because the scribe left a large space, one of them has deviated a little. On the page now open before me, the word 'beloved' is repeated twice; one on the third line and one on the fifteenth; they look to each other in perfectly balanced fashion. Between them, four instances of the word 'love' have been arranged looking to each other. Other 'coincidences' from the Unseen may be compared to these. Whoever the scribe, and whatever form their lines and pages take, these 'coincidences' from the Unseen are bound to occur to such an extent that it cannot be doubted that they are neither the work of chance nor the creation of the author and scribes. But in the handwriting of some, the 'coincidences' are more striking. That means there is a handwriting particular to these treatises. Some of the scribes draw close to it. It is strange, but it appears most not in the most skilful of them, but in the most inexperienced. It is understood from this that the art, grace, and virtues of the Words, which is a sort of commentary on the Qur'an, are not anybody's; the garments of the harmonious, well-ordered style, which fit the blessed stature of the orderly, beautiful Qur'anic truths, are not measured and cut out by the will and consciousness of anyone. It is rather their stature which requires them to be thus; it is an unseen hand that measures them and cuts them according to that stature, and clothes it in them. As for us, we are an interpreter among them, a servant.

FOURTH POINT

In your first question, you ask five or six questions: "What will the Great Gathering at the Last Judgement be like, and will everyone be naked? How shall we find our friends there, and how shall we find God's Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) in order to avail ourselves of his intercession? How shall innumerable people meet with a single person? What shall the garments of the people of Paradise and those of Hell be like? And who will show us the way?"

The answers to these questions are given most clearly and explicitly in the books of Hadith. Here we shall mention only one or two points connected with our way and method. As follows:

It is explained in a letter that the field of the resurrection is within the earth's annual orbit, and like it now sends its immaterial produce to the tablets of that field, so with its annual rotation it defines a circle, and through the produce of that existent circle, is a source for the formation of the field of the resurrection. The Lesser Hell at the centre of this dominical ship known as the earth will be emptied into the Greater Hell, as its inhabitants will be emptied into the field of the resurrection.

Chiefly in the Tenth and Twenty-Ninth Words, and in others of the Words, the occurrence of the resurrection, as well as the existence of the field where it will take place, have been proved most decisively.

As for meeting with people, it is proved conclusively in the Sixteenth, Thirty-First, and Thirty-Second Words that through the mystery of luminosity, a person may be present in thousands of places at the same instant, and may meet with millions of people.

It is required by the Name of All-Wise that stripped of artificial clothes, Almighty God will clothe men in natural garments at the Great Gathering and resurrection of the dead, just as He now clothes beings with spirits, other than man, in natural garments. In this world, the wisdom in artificial clothes is not restricted to protection against heat and cold, adornment, and covering the private parts; another important instance of wisdom is their being like an index or list indicating man's power of disposal over the other species of beings, and his relationship with them, and commandership over them. He might otherwise have been clothed in cheap and easy natural dress. For if it had not been for this wisdom, man would have draped himself in various rags, becoming a laughing-stock in the view of conscious animals and in relation to them; he would have make them laugh. At the resurrection of the dead this relation will not be present, nor will the instance of wisdom, so neither should the list be present.

When it comes to someone to show the way, for those like yourself who have entered under the light of the Qur'an, it is the Qur'an. Look at the start of the Suras which begin Alif. Lam. Mim., and Alif. Lam. Ra., and Ha. Mim.; you will see and understand how acceptable an intercessor is the Qur'an, how true a guide, how sacred a light!

As for the garments of the people of Paradise and the people of Hell, the principle in the Twenty-Eighth Word explaining the houris' wearing of seventy dresses is applicable here too. It is as follows:

A person from among the people of Paradise will of course want to benefit continuously from all the varieties of beings in Paradise. The good things of Paradise will vary greatly. He will all the time communicate with every sort of being in Paradise. In which case, he will clothe himself and his houris in samples, in small amount, of the good things of Paradise, and they will each become like small Paradises.

For example, a person collects together in his garden samples of all the species of flowers spread throughout the country, making it a miniature specimen of it; and a shopkeeper collects samples of all his wares in

a list; and a man makes for himself a garment and everything necessary for his house from samples of all the species of creatures in the world, which he governs, has disposal over, and with which he is connected.

Similarly, a person whose place is Paradise -especially if he used all his senses and non-physical faculties in worship and has gained the right to experience the pleasures of Paradise- will himself and his houris be clothed by Divine mercy in a sort of garment which will show every one of all the varieties of the wonders of Paradise, so as to gratify all his senses, please all his members, and delight all his subtle faculties.

Evidence that those numerous garments will not all be of the same kind or sort is the Hadith the meaning of which is: "The houris will be dressed in seventy garments, yet the marrow in their leg bones will still be visible." {[*]:} That is to say, from the top garment to the innermost one, there will be degrees gratifying and delighting all the senses and members with different subtle wonders in different ways.

As for the people of Hell, since they committed sins in this world with their eyes, their ears, their hearts, their hands, and their minds, and so on, it does not appear to be contrary to wisdom and justice that in Hell they will be made to wear a garment made up of various differing pieces that will be like a small Hell, and will cause them torment and pain in accordance with their sins.

FIFTH POINT

You ask, in that period between prophets, did the forefathers of the God's Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) belong to a religion and were they religious?

There are narrations stating that they were religious in accordance with the vestiges of the religion of Abraham (Upon whom be peace), which, under the veils of heedlessness and spiritual darkness, continued in certain special people. Certainly, the individuals who formed a luminous chain coming from Abraham (Upon whom be peace) and concluding in the Most Noble Messsenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) were not indifferent towards the light of the true religion and were not defeated by the darkness of unbelief. But in accordance with the verse,

Nor would We visit with Our wrath until We had sent a prophet [to give warning], {[*]:}

the people who live in the time between prophets are among those saved.

It has been stated unanimously that they are not punished for their mistakes in secondary matters. According to Imam Shafi'i and Imam Ash'ari, even if they are deniers and do not believe in the fundamentals of faith, they still are among those saved. For responsibility before God occurs through the sending of prophets, and when prophets are sent, responsibility is established through knowledge of their mission. Since heedlessness and the passage of time had obscured the religions of the former prophets, they could not provide the proof for the people of that time. If they obeyed the former religion, they will receive reward; if they did not, they will not be punished. For since it was hidden, it could not be a proof.

SIXTH POINT

You ask: "Were there any prophets among the forefathers of God's Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace)?"

There is no certain narration that there were any after Isma'il (Upon whom be peace). Only two prophets appeared, called Khalid b. Sinan and Hanzala, who were not his ancestors. But one of his forefathers, Ka'b b. Lu'ayy, composing the following famous and explicit poem, as though quoting scripture, The Prophet Muhammad comes at a time of neglect giving tidings most true, {[*]:} resembles prophetic and miraculous utterance. Relying on both evidence and illumination, Imam-i Rabbani said: "Numerous prophets appeared in India. But because some of them had no followers or their followers were restricted to only a few people, they did not become well-known, or were not called prophets."

And so, in consequence of this principle of the Imam, it is possible there were prophets of this kind among the Prophet's forefathers.

SEVENTH POINT

You ask: "Which of the narrations concerning the belief of the Most Noble Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace)'s mother and father and of his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib is the tnost authentic and sound?"

Saying the Qur'an was sufficient for him, for ten years the New Said has had no other book with him. And in secondary matters such as that, I do not have the time to study all the books of Hadith and write which is the soundest and ntost authentic. I will only say this much, that the Most Noble Prophet (Upon whom he blessings and peace)'s parents were among those who will be saved, and the people of Paradise, and of belief. Certainly, Almighty God would not wound His Noble Beloved's blessed heart and the filial tenderness his heart bears.

"Since it is thus, why were they not able to believe in the Noble Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace)? Why did they not live to soe his mission`?"

Through His munificence, in order to gratify the Noble Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace's firt sentiments, Almighty God did not put His Noble Belovod's parents under any obligation to him. His mercy reciuired that to make them happy and to please His Noble Beloved, He did not take them from the rank of par-enthood and put them in that of spiritual offspring; He did not place his parents and grandfather among his nutward community. However, He bestowed on them the merit, virtues, and happiness of his community. undeed, if an exalted field marshal's father, who has the rank of captain, entered his presence, he would be overwhelmcd by two npposing emotions. So, compassionately, the king does not post the father to the retinue of his elevated lieutenant, the field marshai.

EIGHTH POINT

You ask: "What is the authentic narration concerning the belief of his uncle, Abu Talib?"

The Shi'a agree to his belief, while most of the Sunnis do not agree to it. But what occurs to my heart is this: Abu Talib loved most earnestly, not the Most Noble Messenger's (Upon whom be blessings and peace) messengership, but his person and his self. That - most earnest- personal love and tenderness of his surely will not go for nothing. Yes, Abu Talib sincerely loved Almighty God's Noble Beloved and protected and supported him; it was because of, not denial and obduracy, but feelings like shame and tribal solidarity that he did not believe in him in acceptable fashion. If due to this he goes to Hell, He may create a sort of particular Paradise for him, in reward for his good actions. Like He sometimes creates the spring during winter in some places, and for people in prison transforms by means of sleep the prison into a palace, so too He may turn a particular Hell into a sort of particular Paradise...

And the knowledge is with God alone. * None knows the Unseen save God.

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.

The Twenty-Ninth Letter

[The Twenty-Ninth Letter consists of Nine Sections. This, the First Section, contains Nine Points.]

My Dear, Loyal Brother and True Friend in the Service of the Qur'an!

This time in your letter you want an answer to an important question which neither my time nor my state of mind permit me to answer.

My brother! Praise be to God, this year the numbers of those writing out the treatises have much grown. The copies come to me for the second correction, and I am busy speedily doing them from morning to evening. Other important jobs remain undone. But I consider this duty to be far more important. In the months of Sha'ban and Ramadan in particular, the heart takes its share rather than the intellect, and the spirit becomes active. Postponing this most important matter to another time, I shall write it to you gradually whenever my heart is inspired by Almighty God's mercy. For now I shall explain three Points.

{(*):}

FIRST POINT

There are two aspects to the idea expressed as: "The All-Wise Qur'an's mysteries are not known; the Qur'anic commentators have not understood its reality." And those who say this are of two groups.

The First

are the people of truth and the exacting scholars. They say: "The Qur'an is an unending, inexhaustible treasury. In addition to

submitting to and accepting its established and incontestible matters, each age also receives its share of its hidden truths, in the form of a supplement; it cannot trespass on the share of another which is concealed." Yes, that is to say, as time passes more of the All-Wise Qur'an's truths are unfolded. Not, God forbid! causing doubt concerning the outer Qur'anic truths which previous generations have expounded. For belief in them is necessary; they are established, definite, fundamental, and basic. Through the decree, A perspicuous Arabic Qur'an, it states that its meaning is clear. From beginning to end, the Divine address revolves around those meanings, corroborating them and making them self-evident. Not to accept those authoritative meanings suggests, God forbid!, denying Almighty God and insulting the Prophet's understanding. That is to say, those authoritative meanings have been taken successively from the source of Prophethood. Ibn Jarir al-Tabari wrote his great commentary relating all the meanings of the Qur'an through chains of authentic transmission to the source of Prophethood.

The Second Group

are either foolish friends who cause harm and make matters worse, or they are enemies cunning as the Devil who want to oppose the ordinances of Islam and truths of belief. They want to find a way into the fortified Suras of the All-Wise Qur'an, which, in your words, are each like steel strongholds. People like that spread about ideas like the above in order, God forbid!, to create doubts about the truths of belief and the Qur'an.

SECOND POINT

In the Qur'an, Almighty God swears by many things. There are numerous mysteries and significant points contained in the Qur'anic oaths. For example, the oath in By the Sun and its [glorious] splendour {[*]:} forms the basis of the splendid comparison in the Eleventh Word. It shows the universe in the form of a palace and a city. And through the oath of Ya. Sin. * By the Qur'an full of wisdom, {[*]:} it recalls the sacredness of the Qur'anic miraculousness, indicating that it is so worthy of veneration that it can be sworn by. The oaths in By the star when its goes down, {[*]:} and Furthermore I call to witness the setting of the stars, * And that is indeed a mighty adjuration if you but knew {[*]:} indicate that falling stars are a sign that jinns and devils have been prevented from receiving news from the Unseen so that they can cause no doubts about revelation.

Also, it recalls through the oaths the vast power and perfect wisdom in the stars with their vast awesomeness being set in their places with complete order and in the planets being made to revolve in wondrous manner.

With the oaths, By the [winds] that scatter and broadcast; {[*]:} * By the [winds] sent forth, {[*]:} it attracts attention to the angels appointed to the winds, in order to call to mind the significant instances of wisdom in the disposal of the air and its movement in waves. For the elements, which are supposed to be governed by chance, perform important duties for most subtle purposes; and so on. Each of the oaths and its position contains different points and different purposes. The time being inappropriate, I shall point out briefly only one fine point out of many in the oath, By the fig and the olive, {[*]:} as follows:

Through swearing by the fig and the olive, Almighty God recalls the immensity of His power and the perfection of His mercy and His extensive bounties to those who are heading for the lowest of the low, pointing to the possibility of their progressing spiritually, through thanks, reflection, belief, and good works, as far as the highest of the high. The reason for specifying the fig and the olive among bounties is that those two fruits are most blessed and beneficial, and that in their creation are many notable things and bounties. For the olive is a basic commodity in the life of society and in commercial life, for illumination and for food. So too with the fig; in its creation it displays a miracle of power by encapsulating in its miniscule seed all the members of a huge fig-tree, and through the oath it brings to mind the Divine bounty in its being a food, and its benefits, and contrary to other fruits its continuity, and many other advantages. It instructs man to draw lessons from these so as to believe and perform good works, and not to fall to the lowest of the low.

THIRD POINT

The 'disjointed letters' at the start of some Suras are a Divine cypher. Almighty God indicates certain signs from the Unseen through them to His special servant. The key to the cypher is with that servant, and with his heirs. The All-Wise Qur'an addresses all ages and all the groups of mankind. The share of all the classes every age may encompass numerous different aspects and meanings. The purest share was that of the righteous ones of the first generations of Islam, and they expounded it. The people of sainthood and those who research into reality have found in their writings numerous allusions to the matters of the Unseen

pertaining to spiritual journeying. In the commentary called Signs of Miraculousness, at the start of Sura al-Baqara, we discussed them to a small extent from the point of view of the miraculousness of the Qur'an's eloquence; that work may be referred to.

FOURTH POINT

The Twenty-Fifth Word has proved that a true translation of the All-Wise Qur'an is not possible. Also, the elevated style of its miraculousness cannot be translated. It would be extremely difficult to express and make understood the pleasure and reality arising from the elevated style in its miraculousness. But we shall allude to one or two aspects of it in order to show the way. As follows:

And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages and your colours. {[*]:} * And the heavens will be rolled up in His right hand. {[*]:} * He creates you in the wombs of your mothers in stages, one after another, in three veils of darkness. {[*]:} * Who created the heavens and the earth in six days. {[*]:} * Comes in between a man and his heart. {[*]:} * From whom is not hidden the least little atom. {[*]:} * He merges night into day, and He merges day into night; and He has full knowledge of the secrets of [all] hearts. {[*]:}

Through verses like these, with a wondrously elevated style and miraculous comprehensiveness, the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition depicts the reality of creativity for the imagination, showing the following: "With whichever hammer the universe's builder, Who is the Maker of the world, fastened the sun and moon in their places, with the same hammer and at the same instant He fixes atoms in their places, for example in the pupils of living creatures' eyes. And with whichever measure, whichever immaterial instrument, He arranged the heavens and unfolded them, at the same instant and with the same arrangement, He opens up the eye removing its veils; He makes it, orders it, and situates it. And with whichever immaterial hammer of His power, the All-Glorious Maker fastens the stars to the skies, with that same immaterial hammer He fastens man's innumerable distinguishing marks on his countenance and his external and inner senses in their places."

That is to say, in order to show His works to both the eye and the ear while He is at work, the All-Glorious Maker strikes a hammer on an atom with the verses of the Qur'an, and with another word of the same verse strikes the hammer on the sun; with an elevated style as though striking it right in the centre, He demonstrates His Unity within His Oneness, and His infinite Glory within His infinite Beauty, and His infinite tremendousness within His infinite concealedness, and His infinite breadth within His infinite precision, and His infinite majesty within His infinite mercy, and His infinite distance within His infinite proximity. It expresses the ultimate degree of the combining of opposites, which is considered to be impossible, in a way that is necessary; it proves this and demonstrates it. Thus, it is this sort of exposition and style that causes the most wondrous of literary scholars to prostrate before its eloquence.

And for example, through the verse,

And among His signs is this, that heaven and earth stand by His command; then when He calls you, by a single call, from the earth, behold, you [straight away] come forth, {[*]:}

Almighty God shows the magnificence of the sovereignty of His dominicality in the following elevated style:

"At a single command or a signal like a bugle, the beings in the heavens and earth, which are like two obedient barracks or two orderly army headquarters, will spring up with alacrity and perfect obedience from their sleep in the veils of transience and non-existence. Saying: "At your service!", they will assemble on the field of the Resurrection and Judgement.

With what miraculous and elevated style it describes the resurrection of the dead and Great Gathering and points to the following convincing proof contained in its assertion: observedly, the seeds concealed as though dead in the darkness of the earth and drops of water hidden and dispersed, non-existent, in the atmosphere are raised to life swiftly and with perfect order every spring, and they emerge into the field of trial and examination, perpetual examples of resurrection. At the supreme resurrection, beings will emerge with same ease. Since you observe the one here, you cannot deny the other. And so on. You can compare the degree of eloquence in other verses with this one. Would a true translation of this sort of verse be possible then? Surely it would not! At the most it would have to be an abbreviated meaning, or an interpretation, with five or six lines for each phrase.

FIFTH POINT

For example, "All praise be to God" [al-hamdulillah] is a Qur'anic phrase. Its briefest meaning, required by the rules of grammar and rhetoric, is this: "Each individual instance of all the sorts of praise that has been offered by whatever to whatever since pre-eternity and will be offered to post-eternity is particular to and due to the Necessarily Existent One alone, Who is named Allah." It is as follows: "Each individual instance of all the sorts of praise" is the consequence of the definite article «al» in «al-hamd.» As for the qualification of "that has been offered by whatever," since "praise" (hamd) is the verbal noun and the active participle has been omitted, it expresses generality in that sense. And by omitting the passive participle it again expresses universality and generality, and therefore expresses the qualification "to whatever." As for the qualification of "from pre-eternity to post-eternity," it expresses this meaning because the rule of transposing from a verbal clause to a noun clause indicates continuity. The prepositional «lam» in «lillah» [to God], expresses the meaning of sole possession and worthiness. As for the qualification of "the Necessarily Existent One, Who is named Allah," since necessary existence is the necessary requisite of the Godhead and a term signifying the All-Glorious Essence; comprising all the Divine Names and attributes and being the Greatest Name, the Name of "Allah" necessarily indicates both the necessaary existence and the title of "Necessarily Existent One."

If the shortest apparent meaning of the phrase "All praise be to God" on which all the scholars of Arabic are agreed is thus, how could it be translated into another language with the same miraculousness and power?

Furthermore, among all the languages of the world, there is only one which can compare with Arabic in being 'the language of grammar,' and that can never achieve the comprehensiveness of Arabic. Is it possible for translations made by means of other composite and inflectional languages by people whose understanding is partial, comprehension short, ideas confused, and hearts dark, to take the place of the sacred words of the Qur'an, which have emerged in miraculous fashion in that comprehensive and wondrous grammatical language within an all-encompassing knowledge which knows all its aspects at once and wills them. I can even say, and perhaps prove, that each of the Qur'an's words is like a treasury of truths, with sometimes a single letter teaching a page of truths.

SIXTH POINT

I shall recount a luminous experience and true vision I had in order to illuminate this meaning. It was as follows:

At one time I was pondering over the use of the first person plural in the verse You alone do we worship and from You alone do we seek help, {[*]:} and my heart was seeking the reason why the first person singular had been been transposed into the first person plural of "we worship" (na'budu). Suddenly from that «Nun» the mystery and virtues of performing the prayers in congregation was unfolded to me. I saw that my participating in the congregation in Bayezid Mosque, where I was performing the prayer, made each member of the congregation a sort of intercessor for me, who testified to and affirmed each of the statements I pronounced in reciting the prayers. In the midst of the great, multiple worship of the congregation, I received the courage to offer my deficient worship to the Divine Court. Then a further veil was lifted. That is, all the mosques of Istanbul were added. The city became like Beyazid Mosque. Suddenly I felt as though I was receiving their prayers and affirmation. Then within that, I saw myself in the mosque of the face of the earth, in the circular rows around the Ka'ba. I declared: "All praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds!" I have intercessors to this great number; they say exactly the same words as I say in the prayers, confirming me. Since this veil was raised by the imagination, the Noble Ka'ba became like the mihrab. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I called on the ranks of the congregation to testify and entrusted the interpreter of belief, "I testify that there is no god but God, and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of God" to the Black Stone. While saying this, a further situation was laid open before me: I saw that the congregation of which I was a part was separated into three circles:

The First Circle was the vast congregation of believers and those who affirm Divine Unity on the face of the earth.

The Second Circle: I looked and saw that I was part of a congregation consisting of all beings, all of which, performing prayers and glorification, were occupied with the benedictions and glorification particular to its group and species. Their worship consists of the activities we observe, called "the duties of things." Declaring: "God is Most Great!" before this, I bowed my head in wonderment, and looked at myself:

Within a Third Circle I saw an astonishing microcosm which was apparently and in quality small, but in reality, number, and duties, great

This, from the particles of my being to my external senses was a congregation in which every group was occupied with duties of worship and thanks. In this circle, the dominical inner faculty in my heart was saying: "You alone do we worship and from You alone do we seek help" in the name of the congregation. Just as in the two former congregations my tongue had said it, having formed the intention to say it in their names.

In Short: The 'Nun' of 'na'budu' indicates these three congregations. While pondering over this, the collective personality of God's Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), the Interpreter and Herald of the All-Wise Qur'an, was suddenly embodied in all its majesty in his immaterial pulpit in Madinah. Like everyone, I as though heard his address of "O you people! Worship your Sustainer," {[*]:} and everyone in those three congregations responded like me, saying, "You alone do we worship." In accordance with the rule, "When something is established, it is so through the things that necessitate it," the following truth was imparted to my mind:

Taking mankind as His addressee, the Sustainer of All the Worlds speaks with all beings, and His Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) conveys that lofty address to mankind, indeed, to all beings with spirits and consciousness. All the past and the future have become like the present; the address is being delivered to mankind, all of which is in a single gathering, in the form of a congregation the rows of which all differ. I then saw that each Qur'anic verse possesses an elevated power, eloquence, and beauty which it had received from the grandeur and compass of its station, its extremely numerous, various, and significant addressees, from the Pre-Eternal Speaker, the One of infinite glory and grandeur, and from its exalted Interpreter, who is at the rank of God's beloved; I saw each verse within a brilliant, truly brilliant, light of miraculousness. Then, not the whole Qur'an, or a Sura, or a verse, but each of its words seemed a miracle. "All praise be to God for the light of belief and the Qur'an," I said. And I emerged from my imagining, which was pure reality, the same as I had entered the 'Nun' of 'na'budu,' and I understood that not only the Qur'an's verses and words, but some of its letters, like the 'Nun' of 'na'budu,' were luminous keys to important truths.

After my heart and imagination had emerged from the 'Nun' of 'na'budu,' my mind came forward and said: "I want my share too. I cannot fly like you; my feet are evidences and proofs. The way leading to the Creator, the Worshipped One and One from Whom help is sought, has to be pointed out in the same 'na'budu' and

'nasta'in' [You alone do we worship and from You alone do we seek help], so that I can accompany you." It then occurred to my heart to say the following to my bewildered mind:

Consider all the beings in the universe; whether living or inanimate, in perfect order and obedience they all have their worship which is in the form of duties. Although some of them lack feelings and intelligence, they perform their duties in most conscious, orderly, and worshipful fashion. That means there is a True Object of Worship, an Absolute Commander, Who impels them to worship and employs them.

Also consider the beings and particularly the living ones; while each has extremely numerous and various needs, which have to be met for its continued existence, its hands cannot reach the smallest of them; its power is insufficient. Yet they all receive their innumerable needs regularly, from unexpected places, at the appropriate time; this is clearly to be seen.

Thus, these boundless needs and this boundless want of beings and that extraordinary assistance from the Unseen and merciful succour self-evidently demonstrate that they have a Protector and Provider Who possesses absolute riches, is Absolutely Generous and Absolutely Powerful; it is from Him that everything and all living beings seek help and await succour, in effect saying: From You alone do we seek help. So then my mind declared: "We believe in this and assent to it!"

SEVENTH POINT

Then, when I said:

Guide us to the Straight Path, * The path of those on whom You have bestowed Your bounty, {[*]:}

I saw among the convoys of mankind that were travelling towards the past, was the luminous, radiant caravan of the prophets, the veracious ones, the martyrs, the saints, and the righteous. They were scattering the darkness of the future and travelling the road to post-eternity on a straight way, a direct highway. The phrase was showing me the way to join the caravan, indeed, it was joining me to it. Suddenly I exclaimed: "Glory be to God! Anyone with an iota of intelligence must know what a loss it is not to join that long, light-scattering caravan which is illuminating the future and travelling in perfect safety. Where can one who deviates from it by creating innovations find a light; which road can he take? Our guide, God's Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and

peace) decreed: "All innovations are misguidance, and all misguidance is in Hell-fire." {[*]:}

I wonder what advantage do certain wretches worthy of the epithet 'bad religious scholars' find in the face of this certain statement? What fatwa do they issue so that unnecessarily and harmfully they oppose the clear matters of 'the marks of Islam,' and deem it possible to change them? It must be that a temporary awakening caused by a fleeting manifestation of meaning deceived those 'bad scholars.' For example, if an animal or fruit is stripped of its skin, it displays a temporary delicacy, but in a very short time the delicate flesh and delicious fruit go black and rot under the skin which is now a stranger, withered, dense, and extraneous. In exactly the same way, the prophetic and Divine phrases in 'the marks of Islam' are like a living and meritorious skin. On being stripped, the luminosity of the meanings is temporarily naked and visible to an extent. But like a fruit that has been separated from its skin, the spirit of those blessed meanings flies away leaving behind the human skin in darkened hearts and minds. The light flies away, while its smoke remains. However....

EIGHTH POINT

It is necessary to explain a principle of reality concerning this. It is like this:

Just as there are two sort of rights, 'personal rights' and 'general rights,' which are considered to be a sort of 'God's rights,' so too in the matters of the Shari'a, certain matters concern individuals, and others, with regard to generality, concern the public; these last are called 'the marks of Islam.' Since these marks concern all, all participate in them. To interfere in them without the consent of the public is an infringement of the public's rights. The most minor of those marks (a matter of the status of Sunna) is the equivalent of the greatest matter in regard to importance. They directly concern the whole World of Islam. Those who are trying to break the luminous chain to which all the great figures of Islam since the Era of the Prophet till now have been bound, and to destroy it and corrupt it, and those who assist them, should dwell on what a ghastly error they are making. If they possess the smallest grain of intelligence, they should tremble.

NINTH POINT

There are certain matters of the Shari'a concerning worship which are not tied to the reason, and are done because they are commanded. The reason for them is the command.

There are others which have 'reasonable meaning.' That is, they possess some wisdom or benefit by reason of which they have been incorporated into the Shari'a. But it is not the true reason or cause; the true reason is Divine command and prohibition.

Instances of wisdom or benefits cannot change those matters of 'the marks of Islam' which pertain to worship; their aspect of pertaining to worship preponderates and they may not be interfered with. They may not be changed, even for a hundred thousand benefits. Similarly, it may not be said that "the benefits of the Shari'a are restricted to those that are known." To suppose such a thing is wrong. Those benefits may rather be only one out of many instances of wisdom and purposes. For instance, someone may say: "The wisdom and purpose of the call to prayer is to summon Muslims to prayer; in which case, firing a rifle would be sufficient." However, the foolish person does not know that it is only one benefit out of the thousands of the call to prayer. Even if the sound of a rifle shot provides that benefit, how, in the name of mankind, or in the name of the people of the town, can it take the place of the call to prayer, the means to proclaiming worship before Divine dominicality and the proclamation of Divine Unity, which is the greatest result of the creation of the universe and the result of mankind's creation?

Hell is not unnecessary; there are many things which cry out "Long live Hell!" with all their strength. Paradise is not cheap, either; it demands a high price.

Not equal are the Companions of the Fire and the Companions of the Garden; it is the Companions of the Garden who will achieve felicity.... [To the end of the verse.] {[*]:}

The Second Section,

[There having been a brief discussion of 'the marks of Islam' at the end of the First Section, the most brilliant and splendid of the marks, Ramadan the Noble, is discussed in this Second Section. This Section consists of Nine Points, which explain nine of the numerous instances of wisdom in the month of Ramadan.]

It was the month of Ramadan in which the Qur'an was bestowed from on high as a guidance unto man and a self-evident proof of that guidance, and as the standard to discern true from false. {[*]:}

FIRST POINT

The fast of Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, and it is one of the greatest of the marks and observances of Islam.

There are many purposes and instances of wisdom in the fast of Ramadan which look to both God Almighty's dominicality, and to man's social life, his personal life and the training of his instinctual soul, and to his gratitude for Divine bounties. One of the many instances of wisdom in fasting from the point of view of God Almighty's dominicality is as follows:

God Almighty created the face of the earth in the form of a table laden with bounties, and arranged on the table every sort of bounty in a form of From whence he does not expect, {[*]:} in this way stating the perfection of His dominicality and His mercifulness and compassionateness. Human beings are unable to discern clearly the reality of this situation while in the sphere of causes, under the veil of heedlessness, and they sometimes forget it. However, during the month of Ramadan, the people of belief suddenly become like a well drawn-up army. As sunset approaches, they

display a worshipful attitude as though, having been invited to the Pre-Eternal Monarch's banquet, they are awaiting the command of "Fall to and help yourselves!" They are responding to that compassionate, illustrious, and universal mercy with comprehensive, exalted, and orderly worship. Do you think those who do not participate in such elevated worship and noble bounties are worthy to be called human beings?

SECOND POINT

One of the many instances of wisdom in the fast of the blessed month of Ramadan with respect to thankfulness for God Almighty's bounties is as follows:

As is stated in the First Word, a price is required for the foods a tray-bearer brings from a royal kitchen. But, to give a tip to the tray-bearer, and to suppose those priceless bounties to be valueless and not to recognize the one who bestowed them would be the greatest foolishness.

God Almighty has spread innumerable sorts of bounties over the face of the earth for mankind, in return for which He wishes thanks, as the price of those bounties. The apparent causes and possessors of the bounties are like tray-bearers. We pay a certain price to them and are indebted to them, and even though they do not merit it, are over-respectful and grateful to them. Whereas the True Bestower of Bounties is infinitely more deserving of thanks than those causes which are merely the means for the bounty. To thank Him, then, is to recognize that the bounties come directly from Him; it is to appreciate their worth and to perceive one's own need for them.

Fasting in Ramadan, then, is the key to a true, sincere, extensive, and universal thankfulness. For at other times of the year, most of those who are not in difficult circumstances do not realize the value of many bounties since they do not experience real hunger. Those whose stomachs are full and especially if they are rich, do not understand the degree of bounty there is in a piece of dry bread. But when it is time to break the fast, the sense of taste testifies that the dry bread is a most valuable Divine bounty in the eyes of a believer. During Ramadan, everyone from the monarch to the destitute, manifests a sort of gratitude through understanding the value of those bounties.

Furthermore, since eating is prohibited during the day, they will say: "Those bounties do not belong to me. I am not free to eat them, for they are another's property and gift. I await his command." They will recognize the bounty to be bounty and so will be giving thanks. Thus, fasting in this way is in many respects like a key to gratitude; gratitude being man's fundamental duty.

THIRD POINT

One of the many instances of wisdom in fasting from the point of view of man's social life is as follows:

Human beings have been created differently with regard to their livelihoods. As a consequence of the difference, God Almighty invites the rich to assist the poor, so that through the hunger experienced in fasting, the rich can truly understand the pains and hunger which the poor suffer. If there was no fasting, there would be many self-indulgent rich unable to perceive just how grievous is hunger and poverty and how needy of compassion are those who suffer them.

Compassion for one's fellow men is an essential of true thankfulness. Whoever a person is, there will always be someone poorer than himself in some respect. He is enjoined to be compassionate towards that person. If he was not himself compelled to suffer hunger, he would be unable give the person-by means of compassion-the help and assistance which he is obliged to offer. And even if he was able, it would be deficient, for he would not have truly experienced the state of hunger himself.

FOURTH POINT

One instance of wisdom in fasting in Ramadan with respect to training the instinctual soul is as follows:

The instinctual soul wants to be free and independent, and considers itself to be thus. According to the dictates of its nature, it even desires an imaginary dominicality and to act as it pleases. It does not want to admit that it is being sustained and trained through innumerable bounties. Especially if it possesses wealth and power in this world, and if heedlessness also encourages it, it will devour God's bounties like a usurping, thieving animal.

Thus, in the month of Ramadan, the instinctual soul of everyone, from the richest to the poorest, may understand that it does not own itself, but is totally owned; that it is not free, but is a slave. It understands that if it receives no command, it is unable to do the simplest and easiest thing, it cannot even stretch out its hand towards water. Its imaginary dominicality is therefore shattered; it performs its worship and begins to offer thanks, its true duty.

FIFTH POINT

One of the many instances of wisdom in fasting in Ramadan from the point of view of improving the conduct of the instinctual soul and giving up its rebellious habits is as follows:

The human soul forgets itself through heedlessness. It cannot see the

utter powerlessness, want, and deficiency within itself and it does not wish to see them. And it does not think of just how weak it is, and how subject to transience and to disasters, nor of the fact that it consists merely of flesh and bones, which quickly decline and are dispersed.

Simply, it assaults the world as though it possessed a body made of steel and imagined itself to be undying and eternal. It hurls itself onto the world with intense greed and voracity and passionate attachment and love. It is captivated by anything that gives its pleasure or that benefits it. Moreover, it forgets its Creator Who sustains it with perfect compassion, and it does not think of the results of its life and its life in the hereafter. Indeed, it wallows in dissipation and misconduct.

However, fasting in the month of Ramadan awakens even the most heedless and obstinate to their weakness, impotence, and want. By means of hunger, they think of their stomachs; they understand the need therein. They realize how unsound are their weak bodies, and perceive how needy they are for kindness and compassion. So they abandon the soul's pharaoh-like despotism, and through recognizing their utter impotence and want, perceive a desire to take refuge at the Divine Court. And they prepare themselves to knock at the door of mercy with the hands of thankfulness. So long as heedlessness has not destroyed their hearts, that is.

SIXTH POINT

One of the many instances of wisdom in fasting in Ramadan from the point of view of the revelation of the All-Wise Qur'an, and with respect to the fact that the month of Ramadan was the most important time in its revelation, is as follows:

Since the All-Wise Qur'an was revealed in the month of Ramadan, to shun the lower demands of the soul and trivialities and to resemble the angelic state by abstaining from food and drink in order to greet that heavenly address in the best manner, is to attain to a holy state. And to read and listen to the Qur'an as though it was just revealed, to listen to the Divine address in it as if it was being revealed that very instant, to listen to that address as though hearing it from God's Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), indeed, from the Angel Gabriel, or from the Pre-Eternal Speaker Himself, is to attain to that same holy state. To act in this way is to act as an interpreter and to cause others to listen to it and in some degree to demonstrate the wisdom in the Qur'an's revelation.

Indeed, it is as if the world of Islam becomes a mosque during the month of Ramadan. In every corner of that mighty mosque millions of those who know the whole Qur'an by heart cause the dwellers on the earth to hear the heavenly address.

Each Ramadan displays the verse It was the month of Ramadan in which the Qur'an was bestowed from on high in luminous shining manner. It proves that Ramadan is the month of the Qur'an. Some of the members of the vast congregation listen to the reciters with reverence, while others read it themselves.

Following the appetites of the base instinctual soul while in a sacred mosque that is such, and quitting that luminous condition through eating and drinking, is truly loathsome and makes such a person the target of the aversion and disgust of the congregation in the mosque. In the same way, people who oppose those who fast during Ramadan are to the same extent the target of the aversion and disgust of the whole world of Islam.

SEVENTH POINT

One of the many instances of wisdom in the fast of Ramadan with respect to mankind's gain and profit, who comes to this world in order to cultivate and trade for the hereafter, is as follows:

The reward for actions in the month of Ramadan is a thousandfold. According to Hadith, each word of the All-Wise Qur'an has ten merits; each is counted as ten merits and will yield ten fruits in Paradise. While during Ramadan, each word bears not ten fruits but a thousand, and verses like Ayat al-Kursi {[*]:} thousands for each word, and on Fridays in Ramadan it is even more. And on the Night of Power, each word is counted as thirty thousand merits.

Indeed, the All-Wise Qur'an, each of whose words yield thirty thousand eternal fruits, is like a luminous Tree of Tuba that gains for believers in Ramadan millions of those eternal fruits. So, come and look at this sacred, eternal profitable trade, then consider it and understand the infinite loss of those who do not appreciate the value of those words.

To put it simply, the month of Ramadan is an extremely profitable display and market for the trade of the hereafter. It is an extremely fertile piece of land for the crops of the hereafter. For the growth and flourishing of actions it is like April showers in the spring. It is like a brilliant holy festival for the parade of mankind's worship in the face of the sovereignty of Divine dominicality. Since it is thus, mankind has been charged with fasting in order not to heedlessly indulge the animal needs of the instinctual soul like eating and drinking, nor to indulge the appetites lustfully and in trivialities. For, by temporarily rising above animality and quitting the calls of this world, man approaches the angelic state and enters upon the trade of the hereafter. And by fasting, he approaches the state of the hereafter and that of a spirit appearing in

bodily form. It is as if man then becomes a sort of mirror reflecting the Eternally Besought One. Indeed, the month of Ramadan comprises and gains a permanent and eternal life in this fleeting world and brief transient life.

Certainly, a single Ramadan can produce fruits equal to that of a lifetime of eighty years. The fact that, according to the Qur'an, the Night of Power is more auspicious than a thousand months is a decisive proof of this.

For example, a monarch may declare certain days to be festivals during his reign, or perhaps once a year. Either on his accession to the throne or on some other days which reflect a glittering manifestation of his sovereignty. On those days, he favours his subjects, not within the general sphere of the law, but with his special bounties and favours, with his presence without veil and his wondrous activities. And he favours with his especial regard and attention those of his nation who are completely loyal and worthy.

In the same way, the All-Glorious Monarch of eighteen thousand worlds, Who is the Sovereign of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, revealed in Ramadan the illustrious decree of the All-Wise Qur'an, which looks to the eighteen thousand worlds. It is a requirement of wisdom, then, that Ramadan should be like special Divine festival, a dominical display, and a spiritual gathering. Since Ramadan is such festival, God has commanded man to fast, in order to disengage him to a degree from base and animal activities.

The most excellent fasting is to make the human senses and organs, like the eyes, ears, heart, and thoughts, fast together with the stomach. That is, to withdraw them from all unlawful things and from trivia, and to urge each of them to their particular worship.

For example, to ban the tongue from lying, back-biting, and obscene language and to make it fast. And to busy it with activities like reciting the Qur'an, praying, glorifying God's Names, asking for God's blessings on the Prophet Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace), and seeking forgiveness for sins. And for example, to prevent the eyes looking at members of the opposite sex outside the stipulated degrees of kinship, and the ears from hearing harmful things, and to use the eyes to take lessons and the ears to listen to the truth and to the Qur'an, is to make other organs fast too. As a matter of fact, since the stomach is the largest factory, if it has an enforced holiday from work through fasting, the other small workshops will be made to follow it easily.

EIGHTH POINT

One of the many instances of wisdom in Ramadan from the point of view of man's personal life is as follows:

It is a healing physical and spiritual diet of the most important kind. When man's instinctual soul eats and drinks just as it pleases, it is both harmful for man's physical life from the medical point of view, and when it hurls itself on everything it encounters without considering whether it is licit or illicit, it quite simply poisons his spiritual life. Further, it is difficult for such a soul to obey the heart and the spirit. It wilfully takes the reins into its own hands, and then man cannot ride it, it rather rides man. But by means of fasting in Ramadan, it becomes accustomed to a sort of diet. It tries to discipline itself and learns to listen to commands.

Furthermore, it will not be attracting illness to that miserable, weak stomach by cramming it with food before the previous consignment has been digested. And by abandoning even licit actions as it is commanded, it will acquire the ability to listen to the commands of the Shari'a and the reason, and so to avoid illicit actions. It will try not to destroy his spiritual life.

Moreover, the great majority of mankind frequently suffer from hunger. Man, therefore, needs hunger and discipline, which are training for patience and endurance. Fasting in Ramadan is patient endurance of a period of hunger that continues for fifteen hours, or for twenty-four if the pre-dawn meal is not eaten, and it is a discipline and a training. That is to say, fasting is also a cure for impatience and lack of endurance, which double man's afflictions.

Futhermore, the factory of the stomach has many workers. And many of the human organs are connected to it. If the instinctual soul does not have a rest from activity during the day for a month, it makes the factory's workers and those organs forget their particular duties. It makes them busy with itself so that they remain under its tyranny. Also, it confuses the rest of the organs in the human body with the clangour and steam of the factory's machinery. It continuously attracts their attention to itself, making them temporarily forget their exalted duties. It is because of this that for centuries those closest to God have accustomed themselves to discipline and to eating and drinking little in order to be perfected.

However, through fasting in Ramadan the factory's workers understand that they were not created for the factory only. While the rest of the organs, instead of delighting in the lowly amusements of the factory, take

pleasure in angelic and spiritual amusements, and fix their gazes on them. It is for this reason that in Ramadan the believers experience enlightenment, fruitfulness, and spiritual joys which differ according to their degrees. Their subtle faculties, such as the heart, spirit, and intellect, make great progress and advancement in that blessed month by means of fasting. They laugh with innocent joy inspite of the stomach's weeping.

NINTH POINT

One of the instances of wisdom in fasting in Ramadan with regard to shattering the instinctual soul's imaginary dominicality and making known its worship through pointing out its impotence is as follows:

The instinctual soul does not want to recognize its Sustainer; it wants its own lordship, like Pharaoh. However much torment it suffers, that character remains in it. It is however destroyed through hunger. And so, fasting in Ramadan strikes direct blows at the soul's pharaoh-like front, shattering it. It demonstrates its impotence, weakness, and want. It makes it realize that it is a slave.

Among the narrations of Hadith is the following: "God Almighty said to the instinctual soul: 'What am I and what are you?' The soul replied: 'I am myself and You are Yourself.' So He punished it and cast it into Hell, then asked it again. Again it replied: 'I am myself and You are Yourself.' However He punished it, it did not give up its egoism. Finally He punished it with hunger. That is, He left it hungry. Then again He asked it: 'Who am I and who are you?' And the soul replied: 'You are my Compassionate Sustainer and I am your impotent slave.'"

O God! Grant blessings and peace to our master Muhammad, that will be pleasing to You and fulfilment of his truth to the number of the merits of the words of the Qur'an in the month of Ramadan, and to his Family and Companions, and grant them peace.

Limitless in His glory is your Sustainer, the Lord of Almightiness, [exalted] above anything that men may devise by way of definition! * And peace be upon all His message-bearers. * And all praise is due to God alone, the Sustainer of All the Worlds! 4

APOLOGY: This Second Section was written at speed when both myself and the rough-copy scribe were ill; it is bound therefore.

The Third Section,

[I wrote this Section in order to present an important intention of mine to my brothers of the hereafter for their consideration. This intention concerns the writing of a Qur'an in a way that will show one sort of the two hundred sorts of the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition's miraculousness -a sort pertaining to its patterns- with the pages specified in accordance with the style of Hafiz Osman and taking the Mudayana Verse {[*]:} as the measure, and taking Sura al-Ikhlas as the standard for the lines. This Third Section, which I also wrote to consult them concerning this matter and to learn their ideas, and also as a reminder to myself, consists of Nine Matters.]

FIRST MATTER

It is established with proofs in the Twenty-Fifth Word, called the Miraculousness of the Qur'an, that the varieties of the Qur'an of Mighty Stature's miraculousness reach forty. Some of these are demonstrated in detail, and some briefly, so as to convince even the obdurate. Also, the different miraculousness the Qur'an shows to each of forty of the classes of humanity were explained in the Eighteenth Sign of the Nineteenth Letter, and proved were the different shares of the miraculousness of ten of those groups. The remaining thirty classes are the people of sainthood and the scholars; their verified belief to the degrees of 'knowledge of certainty,' 'vision of certainty,' and 'absolute certainty' that the Qur'an is the true Word of God demonstrates a different aspect of miraculousness to the followers of all the different ways of sainthood and to the scholars of all the different sciences. That is to say, they see a different aspect of its miraculousness in a different way. Yes, just as the miraculousness a saint who seeks knowledge of God understands and the beauty of the miraculousness a saint who is a lover of God witnesses are not the same, so the manifestations of the beauty of its miraculousness vary according to the different ways and paths. And the aspect of miraculousness a profound scholar of the principles of religion sees and that an authoritative interpreter of the secondary matters of the Shari'a sees will not be the

same; and so on. I am not able to show in detail all these different aspects of its miraculousness. My comprehension cannot encompass them; my view falls short of them. For this reason, only ten classes were explained and the rest were alluded to briefly. Now, of those, two which were only inadequately described in the Miracles of Muhammad, while much needing to be elucidated, were the following:

The First Class is the uneducated mass of people, whom we call 'the listening class;' they only listen to the Qur'an, understanding its miraculousness by means of their ears. They say: "The Qur'an which I hear does not resemble any other books, so it must either be inferior to all of them, or superior. That it is inferior, no one can say, nor has said, nor even the Devil can say it. So it must be superior to all of them." It was written as briefly as this in the Eighteenth Sign. Then, to elucidate it, the First Topic of the Twenty-Sixth Letter, called A Dispute with the Devil, illustrates and proves that class's understanding of the miraculousness.

The Second Class is 'the seeing class.' That is to say, in the face of the uneducated common people, or of materialists whose minds see no further than their eyes, a sign of the Qur'an's miraculousness which may be seen with the eyes; this is asserted in the Eighteenth Sign. Much elucidation is necessary to illuminate and prove this assertion. It was not elucidated at that time due to an important instance of dominical wisdom which we now understand. Only a few very minor particulars were pointed out. The wisdom in that may now be understood and we are now certain that its postponement was preferable. In order to facilitate this class's understanding, we had a Qur'an written which shows the aspect, one of the forty aspects of its miraculousness, which can be seen with the eyes.

[The remaining Matters of this Third Section together with the Fourth Section are about 'coincidences' (tawafuqat). They have been included in the Index, and therefore not repeated here. Included here are only a Reminder concerning the Fourth Section and its Third Point.]

One hundred and sixty verses were written in the explanation of the important point concerning the word 'Messenger.' In addition to these verses having a glorious quality, since they prove and complete one another with regard to the meaning and their meanings are very profound, they make a Qur'anic supplication for those who want to memorize or recite different verses. The degree of eloquence and beauty of the sixty-nine verses in the explanation of the sublime point concerning the word 'Qur'an' is also most wondrous and elevated. This may be recommended as a second Qur'anic supplication for our brothers. In

regard to the word 'Qur'an,' it was present in the seven lines of the word, which included all of them with the exception of two, and since they had the meaning of qira'at, their remaining outside the pattern strengthened the point. As for the word 'Messenger,' since the Suras most connected with the word are Sura Muhammad and Sura al-Fath, and since we limited it to the lines of the word appearing in those two Suras, the instances of the word outside those have not been included. If time permits, the mysteries in these will be written, God willing.

The Third Point consists of Four Points.

FIRST POINT

The word 'Allah' is mentioned two thousand eight hundred and six times. Including in the Bismillah's (In the Name of God's), the word Merciful (Rahman) one hundred and fifty-nine; Compassionate (Rahim), two hundred and twenty; Forgiving (Ghafur), sixty-one; Sustainer (Rabb), eight hundred and forty-six; Wise (Hakim), eighty-six; Knowing ('Alim), one hundred and twenty-six; Powerful (Qadir), thirty-one; the He (Hu) in 'There is no god but He,' twenty-six times. {(*):} In the number of the word 'Allah' are many mysteries and subtle points. For instance, Merciful, Compassionate, Forgiving, and Wise, which are the most mentioned after Allah and Sustainer, together with the word Allah, are half the number of the Qur'an's verses. And Allah, together with Sustainer, which is mentioned instead of the word Allah, is again half the number of the Qur'an's verses. The word Sustainer is mentioned eight hundred and forty-six times, but if these are studied carefully, it will be seen that around five hundred of them are mentioned in place of the word 'Allah,' while around two hundred are not.

Also, 'Allah' together with 'Merciful,' 'Compassionate,' 'Knowing,' and the 'He' of the phrase 'There is no god but He' is again half of the verses; the difference is only four. And together with 'All-Powerful' instead of 'He,' is again half the number of verses; the difference here is nine. There are numerous subtle points in the total of the word 'Allah,' but for now we deem this point to be sufficient.

SECOND POINT

This is in respect of the Suras, and it too contains many subtle points. It contains 'coincidences' in a way that points to an order, an intention, and a will.

In Sura al-Baqara, the number of instances of the word 'Allah' and the number of the verses is the same. There is a difference of four, but there are four 'He's in place of the word 'Allah.' For example, the 'He' in 'There is no god but He' corresponds exactly with it. In Sura Al-i 'Imran, again the word 'Allah' and the number of verses 'coincide' and are equal. Only, the word 'Allah' is two hundred and nine and the verses, two hundred, making the difference nine. In the fine points of eloquence and literary merits such as these, small differences do not mar them; an approximate 'coincidence' is sufficient. In Suras al-Nisa, al-Ma'ida, and al-An'am, the total number of verses 'coincides' with the total number of instances of the word 'Allah': the number of verses is four hundred and sixty-four, and the number of instances of the word 'Allah' four hundred and sixty-one; with the word 'Allah' in the Bismillah's, it coincides exactly.

And for example, the number of instances of the word 'Allah' in the first five Suras is twice the number of the word in Suras al-A'raf, al-Anfal, al-Tawba, Yunus, and Hud. That is, the second five are half the first five. The number of instances of the word 'Allah' in the following Suras Yusuf, al-Ra'd, Ibrahim, al-Hijr, and al-Nahl is half that, and in the following Suras al-Isra, al-Kahf, Maryam, Ta. Ha., al-Anbiya, and al-Hajj it is again halved.

{(*):}

And so it continues to decrease in approximately the same ratio in the following groups of five Suras. Only, there are some differences and deficiencies. Such differences cause no harm in such stations of address. For example, some are one hundred and twenty-one, some are one hundred and twenty-five, some are one hundred and fifty-four, and some are one hundred and fifty-nine. Then, the five Suras which begin with Sura al-Zukhruf decrease to a sixteenth, but this is approximate. Differences arising from small errors do not harm stations of address such as these. The subsequent three groups of five short Suras contain only three instances each of the word 'Allah.' And this shows that chance has not interfered at all in the number of the word; the numbers of it have been specified in accordance with wisdom and order.

THIRD POINT, concerning the word 'Allah'

This concerns its relation to the pages, and is as follows:

The number of instances of the word 'Allah' on one page looks to that page's reverse side, and that page sometimes looks to its facing page, and

sometimes it looks to the left-hand facing page and to the reverse face of the facing page. I studied a 'coincidence' in my own copy of the Qur'an, and I saw what was generally a very fine numerical relationship. I marked them in my copy. Very often they are equal, and sometimes they are a half or a third. They have a situation which tells of a wisdom, purpose, and order.

FOURTH POINT

This is 'coincidences' on a single page. My brothers and I compared three or four different copies, and we formed the opinion that the 'coincidences' were intended in all of them. Only, since copyists for printed copies followed different aims, the 'coincidences' lost their order to a degree. If they were set in order, 'coincidences' would appear to the number of the two thousand eight hundred and six instances of the word 'Allah' in the whole Qur'an with only rare exceptions. A light of miraculousness shines in this, because the human mind could not encompass a page as extensive as this, and interfere in it. And the hand of chance could not reach this situation so full of meaning and wisdom.

We are having a new Qur'an written in order to show this Fourth Point to a degree, which together with preserving the same pages and lines of the most widely used copies of the Qur'an, will set in order the places which have lost their order due to the slackness of calligraphers, and will show the true order of the 'coincidences,' God willing. And it was shown.

O God! O Revealer of the Qur'an! For the sake of the Qur'an, allow us to understand the mysteries of the Qur'an so long as the spheres revolve. And grant blessings and peace to the one to whom You revealed the Qur'an, and to all his Family and Companions. Amen.

The Fifth Section,

God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. {[*]:}

While in a state of spirituality during the month of Ramadan, I perceived one light of the many luminous mysteries of this light-filled verse; I saw it as though from afar. It was like this:

I had a vision of the heart and imagination which afforded me the conviction that, as in the famous supplication of Uvays al-Qarani,

O God! You are our Sustainer, for we are mere slaves; we are powerless to sustain and raise ourselves. That is to say, the One Who sustains us is You! And it is You Who is the Creator, for we are creatures, we are being made! And it is You Who is the Provider, for we are in need of provision, we have no power!,

all living creatures are offering supplications to Almighty God, and that what illuminates each of the eighteen thousand worlds is a Divine Name. It was like this:

I saw that within this world are thousands of worlds enwrapped in veil after veil, one within the other like a rose-bud of numerous petals. As one veil was unfolded, I saw another world. It was as the verse following the Light Verse depicts,

Or [the unbelievers' state] is like the depths of darkness in a vast deep ocean, overwhelmed with billow topped with billow, topped by [dark] clouds; depths of darkness, one above the other; if a man stretches out his hand, he can hardly see it; for any to whom God gives not light, there is no light; {[*]:}

it appeared to me in a darkness, desolation, and terrible blackness. Suddenly, the manifestation of a Divine Name appeared like a refulgent light, illuminating it. Whichever veil was folded back before the mind, another world appeared. But while appearing dark due to heedlessness,

a Divine Name would be manifested like the sun, filling the world with light from top to bottom. And so on. This journey of the heart and imagination continued for a long time. In short:

When I saw the animal world, the endless needs and acute hunger of the animals together with their weakness and impotence showed it to me as most dark and grievous. Then suddenly the Name of Most Merciful rose in the sign (that is, meaning) of Provider like a shining sun, gilding that world from top to bottom with the radiance of its mercy.

Then within the animal world, I saw another world in which young and offspring were struggling in weakness, helplessness, and need within a grievous darkness that would fill anyone with pity. Suddenly the Name of All-Compassionate rose in the sign of clemency, illuminating that world in so beautiful and sweet a fashion that it transformed the complaint, pity, and tears of sorrow into joy, happiness, and tears of pleasurable thanks.

Then a further veil was lifted, as though revealing a cinema screen, and the world of man appeared to me. I saw that world to be so dark, so oppressive, so terrible that I cried out in my anguish. "Alas!" I cried. For I saw that men had desires and hopes that stretched to eternity, and thoughts and imaginings that encompassed the universe, and a disposition and abilities that most earnestly yearned for eternity and everlasting happiness and Paradise, and wants and needs directed towards endless goals and aims. Yet despite this, they were weak and impotent, and exposed to the attacks of innumerable calamities and enemies; they lived tumultuous lives for a brief span with the greatest hardship and difficulties. Amid the continuous tribulations of decline and separation, the most grievous state for the heart, they were looking towards the grave, which for the heedless and neglectful appears as the door to everlasting darkness; singly and in groups, they were being cast into that dark well.

The moment I saw this world in the midst of the darkness, my heart, spirit, and mind, and all my human faculties, indeed, all the particles of my being, were ready to weep and cry out in pain. But suddenly, Almighty God's Name of All-Just rose in the sign of All-Wise, and the Name of Most Merciful in the sign of Munificent, the Name of All-Compassionate in the sign of (that is, in the meaning of) All-Forgiving, the Name of Resurrector in the sign of Inheritor, the Name of Giver of Life in the sign of Bountiful, and the Name of Sustainer rose in the sign of Owner. They gilded and filled with light many worlds within the world of humanity. Opening up windows onto the luminous world of the hereafter, they scattered lights over the dark human world.

Then another, vast, veil was folded back and the world of the earth appeared. Philosophy's dark laws of science showed a terrifying world to the imagination. The situation of wretched human kind journeying through infinite space on the aged earth appeared to me, which covers in one year a distance of twenty-five thousand years moving seventy times faster than a cannon-ball, and whose inside is in a state of upheaval, ever ready to split up and disintegrate. My head started spinning and my eyes darkened. Then suddenly the Names of Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, All-Powerful, All-Knowing, Sustainer, Allah, Sustainer of the Heavens and the Earth, and Subduer of the Sun and Moon rose in the signs of Mercy, Tremendousness, and Dominicality. They illuminated that world so that I saw the globe of the earth to be a safe liner, well-ordered, subjugated, perfect, and agreeable, all decked out for voyages of pleasure and trade.

Each of the thousand and one Divine Names turned towards the universe appeared like a sun, illuminating a world and the worlds within that world, and with respect to Divine Oneness, within the manifestation of each of them the manifestations of the rest of the Names appeared to a degree. Then my heart saw a different light behind all the darknesses, and felt an appetite for travel. It wanted to mount the imagination and rise to the heavens. At that point, a further, most extensive, veil was folded back, and my heart entered the world of the heavens. It saw that the stars, which appeared as twinkling smiles, larger than the earth, were spinning and journeying faster than the earth one within the other. If one of them had confused its motion, it would clash with another causing such an explosion that the universe would have exploded causing the whole world to scatter. They were scattering fire, not light, and were regarding me, not with smiles, but with savagery. I saw the heavens within endless, all-enveloping, empty, awesome, terrifying darkness. I was sorry a thousand times over that I had come. Suddenly the Names of Sustainer of the Heavens and the Earth and Sustainer of the Angels and Spirits appeared with their manifestations in the sign of He has subjected the sun and the moon, {[*]:} and, And We adorned the lower heaven with lights. {[*]:} The stars, which in accordance with the former meaning had collapsed into darkness, each received a flash from that mighty light and lit up that world of the heavens like shining electric lamps. The heavens too, which had been supposed to be empty and uninhabited, filled with angels and spirit beings. I saw that the suns and moons, which were in motion like an army of the Monarch of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity -one of

His innumerable armies- were with their lofty manoeuvres displaying the majesty and magnificent dominicality of that All-Glorious Sultan. I declared with all my strength, and had it been possible with all the particles of my being, and if they had listened to me with the tongues of all creatures:

God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is as if there were a niche and within it a lamp; the lamp enclosed by glass; the glass as it were a brilliant star; lit from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it; Light upon Light! God guides to His Light whom He will. {[*]:}

I recited this verse in the name of all creatures. Then I returned, descended to the earth, and awoke. "All praise be to God for the light of belief and the Qur'an," I said.

The Sixth Section,

[This was written to warn students and servants of the All-Wise Qur'an, so that they should not be deceived.]

And incline not towards those who do wrong, or the Fire will seize you. {[*]:}

God willing, this Sixth Section will confound Six Stratagems of satans among jinn and men, and block up six of their ways of attack.

FIRST STRATAGEM

As a consequence of the instruction they have received from satans among the jinn, human satans want to deceive, by means of the desire for rank and position, the self-sacrificing servants of the party of the Qur'an, and to make them give up their sacred service and elevated 'jihad of the word.' It is as follows:

Present in most people is the hypocritical desire to be seen by people and hold a position in the public view, which is the ambition for fame and acclaim, and self-advertisement; this desire for rank and position is present to a lesser or greater extent in all those who seek this world. To accomplish this ambition, the desire for fame will drive a person to sacrifice his life even. This ambition is exceedingly dangerous for those who seek the hereafter. And for those who seek this world it is a rough road, is also the source of many bad morals and is man's weakest vein of character. In order to get possession of someone and draw him to himself, a person only has to gratify this ambition; this ties the man to him, and he is defeated by him. My greatest fear for my brothers is the possibility that the atheists will take advantage of this weak vein of theirs. It has caused me much thought. For in that way they attracted some unfortunates who were not truly friends, drawing them into a dangerous situation.

{(*):}

My brothers and friends in the service of the Qur'an! Say the following to the secret agents of the cunning 'worldly,' or the propagandists of the people of misguidance, or the students of Satan, who try to deceive you through the desire for rank: "Firstly, Divine pleasure, the favours of the Merciful One, and dominical acceptance are such a position that the regard and admiration of men is worth virtually nothing beside them. If one receives Divine mercy, that is sufficient. The regard of men is acceptable in respect of its being the reflection and shadow of the regard of mercy; otherwise it is not something to be desired. For it is extinguished at the door of the grave, so worth nothing!"

If the desire for rank and position is not silenced and eliminated, it has to be directed towards something else, like this: in accordance with the following comparison, perhaps the emotion may have a licit side; if it is for reward in the hereafter, or with the intention of being prayed for, or from the point of view of the effectiveness of service.

For example, at a time Aya Sophia Mosque is filled with eminent and blessed people, the virtuous and excellent, there are one or two idle youths and immoral loafers around the entrance and porch, while by the windows and in front of them are a few Europeans watching for amusement. A man enters the mosque and joins the congregation, then recites a passage from the Qur'an beautifully in a fine voice; the gazes of thousands of the people of truth are turned on him, and they gain reward for him through their regard and prayers. Only, this does not please the idle youths and heretic loafers and the one or two Europeans. If when the man had entered the blessed mosque and joined the huge congregation, he had shouted out disgraceful, rude, indecent songs, and danced and jumped around, then it would have made the idle youths laugh, have pleased the dissolute loafers since it encouraged immorality, and made the Europeans smile mockingly, who receive pleasure at seeing any faults in Islam. But it would have attracted looks of disgust and contempt from the vast and blessed congregation; he would have appeared in their view to have fallen to the very lowest of the low.

Exactly like this example, the World of Islam and Asia is a huge mosque, and the people of belief and truth within it are the respected congregation in the mosque. The idle youths are the sycophants with the

minds of children. The dissolute loafers are those villains who follow Europe and have no nation or religion. While the European spectators are the journalists who spread the ideas of the Europeans. All Muslims, and especially the virtuous and perfected ones, have a place in the mosque according to their degree; they are seen and attention is turned towards them. If they perform actions and works proceeding from the injunctions and sacred truths the All-Wise Qur'an teaches, in regard to the sincerity and Divine pleasure which are a fundamental of Islam, and if their tongues of disposition recite Qur'anic verses, they will then be included in the prayer: O God, grant forgiveness to all believing men and to all believing women, which is constantly uttered by all individuals in the World of Islam, and will have a share of it, and they will become connected to them all in brotherly fashion. Only, its value will not be apparent to some of the people of misguidance who are like harmful beasts and to some idiots who are like bearded children. If the man disowns all his forefathers, the source of honour, and all the past, the cause of pride, and abandons in the spirit the luminous highway of his righteous predecessors, which they considered to be their point of support, and performs actions following his own whims and passions, hypocritically, seeking fame, and following innovations, he will fall to the very lowest position in the view of all the people of truth and belief. In accordance with: «Beware the insight of the believer, for he sees with the light of God,» {[*]:} however common and ignorant a believer is, even if his mind does not realize it, his heart looks coldly and in disgust on such boastful, selfish men.

And so, the man carried away by love of position and rank and obsessed by the desire for fame-the second man, descends to the very lowest of the low in the view of that numberless congregation. And he gains a temporary and inauspicious position in the view of a number of insignificant, mocking, raving loafers. In accordance with the verse,

Friends on that Day will be foes, one to another-except the righteous, {[*]:}

he will find a few false friends who will be harmful in this world, torment in the Intermediate Realm, and enemies in the hereafter.

As for the first man, even if he does not expunge from his heart the desire for position, on condition he takes sincerity and Divine pleasure as basic and does not make rank and position his goal, he will attain a sort of spiritual rank, and a glorious one at that, which will perfectly satisfy

his desire for rank. This man will lose something insignificant, very insignificant, and find in place of it many, very many, valuable and harmless things. Indeed, he will chase away a few snakes, and find numerous blessed creatures in their place; he will become familiar with them. Or he will ward off stinging wild hornets, and draw to himself blessed bees, the sherbert-sellers of mercy. He will eat honey at their hand, and find such friends that from all parts of the Islamic world his spirit will be given effulgences like the water of Kawthar to imbibe through their prayers, which will pass to his book of good deeds.

At one time, when through perpetrating a great wrong due to the desire for fame, a little man who was occupying a high worldly position became a laughing-stock in the eyes of the World of Islam, I spoke to him teaching him the meaning of the above comparison; I hit him over the head with it. He was well-shaken, but because I had not been able to save myself from the desire for rank and position, my warning did not arouse him.

SECOND STRATAGEM

One of the most important and fundamental emotions in man is the sense of fear. Scheming oppressors profit greatly from the vein of fear. They restrain the pusillanimous with it. The agents of the worldly and propagandists of the people of misguidance take advantage of this vein of the common people and of the religious scholars in particular. They frighten them and excite their groundless fears. For example, in order to throw someone on a roof into danger, a scheming man shows the fearful one something which he supposes is harmful; he excites his fear and draws him gradually towards the edge of the roof; then he makes him fall and break his neck. In exactly the same way, they make people sacrifice most important things through most unimportant fears. Thinking, Don't let this mosquito bite me, they flee into the dragon's mouth.

One time, an eminent person -May God have mercy on him- was frightened of climbing into a rowing-boat. One evening, we walked together in Istanbul to the Bridge. We had to board a boat; there was no carriage, and we had to go to Eyüp Sultan. I insisted. He said: "I'm frightened. Perhaps it will sink!" I said to him: "How many boats do you reckon there are, here on the Golden Horn?" He replied: "Perhaps a thousand." So I asked him: "How many boats sink in a year?" He said: "One or two. Perhaps none at all." I asked him: "How many days are there in a year?" "Three hundred and sixty," he replied. Then I said to him: "The possibility of sinking, which arouses groundless fears in you and makes you anxious, is one in three hundred and sixty thousand. Someone who is

frightened at such a possibility is not a human being, he could not even be an animal!" Then I asked him: "How long do you reckon you will live?" He replied: "I am old; perhaps I shall live another ten years." So I said to him: "Because the appointed hour of death is secret, every day there is the possibility of dying. In which case, you might die on any day of the three thousand six hundred. You see, it is not a possility of one in three hundred thousand like the boat; rather one in three thousand, that you might die today; so tremble and weep, and write your will!" He came to his senses, and I got him trembling to board the boat. When on board, I said to him: "Almighty God gave the sense of fear to preserve life, not to destroy it! He did not give life to make it burdensome, difficult, painful, and torment. If fear is due to a possibility of one in two, three, or four, or even one in five or six, it is a precautionary fear and may be licit. But to have fear at a possibility of one in twenty, thirty, or forty, is a groundless fear, and makes life torture!"

And so, my brothers, if those who toady to the atheists attack you by frightening you into giving up your sacred 'jihad of the word,' say to them: "We are the party of the Qur'an. According to the verse,

We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it, {[*]:}

we are in the citadel of the Qur'an. The verse,

For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs {[*]:}

is a firm bastion surrounding us. Through fear at the possibility of one in thousands of some minor harm coming to our fleeting transient lives here, you cannot drive us through our own wills down a way which with a hundred per cent possibility will cause thousandfold harm to our eternal lives!" And say too: "Is there anyone who has suffered harm due to Said Nursi, our friend in the service of the Qur'an and Master and foreman in running this sacred service, or from the people of truth like us who are his companions on the way of truth? Is there anyone who has suffered any trouble due to his close students, so that we might suffer it too? So should we be anxious at the possibility of suffering it? This brother of ours has thousands of friends and brothers of the hereafter. Although for twenty to thirty years he played an effective role in the social life of this world, we have not heard of a single of his brothers suffering harm due to him. Especially at that time, he was carrying the club of politics. Now in place of that club, he has the light of reality. For sure, long ago they

mixed him up in the Thirty-First of March Incident and they crushed some of his friends, but it later became evident that the affair had erupted due to others. His friends suffered misfortune, not because of him, but because of his enemies. Moreover, at that time, he saved very many of his friends. So satans like you shouldn't get it into their minds to make us throw away an eternal treasury through fear of a danger the possibility of which is one in not a thousand but thousands." You should say that, hit those toadies of the people of misguidance in the mouth, and drive them away! And tell them this:

"And if the possibility of death is not one in hundreds of thousands but a hundred per cent probability, if we have a jot of sense, we will not be frightened and leave him and flee!" Because it has been seen through repeated experiences, and it is seen, that the calamity which is visited on those who betray their elder brother or their Master in times of danger, strikes them first. And they are punished mercilessly and they are looked down upon contemptuously. Both physically dead, and their spirits abased, they are dead in meaning. Those who torment them feel no pity for them, for they say: "Since they betrayed their Master who was loyal and kind to them, they must be completely despicable, and worthy not of pity but contempt."

Yes, the reality is this. Also, if a tyrannical, unscrupulous man throws someone to the ground and stands over him certain to crush his head with his foot, and the man on the ground kisses that savage oppressor's foot, through his abasement, his heart will be crushed before his head, and his spirit will die before his body. He will lose his head, and his self-respect and pride will be destroyed. By displaying weakness before that savage tryrant without conscience, he emboldens him to crush him. But if the oppressed man under his foot spits in the tyrant's face, he will save his heart and his spirit, and his body will be a wronged martyr. Yes, spit in the shameless faces of the oppressors!

One time when the British had destroyed the guns on the Bosphorus and occupied Istanbul, the head clergyman of the Anglican Church, the main religious establishment of that country, asked six questions of the Shaykh al-Islam's Office. I was a member of the Darü'l-Hikmeti'l-Islamiye at the time. They asked me to answer them, saying that they wanted a six-hundred-word reply to their six questions. But I said to them: "I shall answer them not with six hundred words, and not even with six words, or even a single word, but with a mouthful of spit! For you can see that government; the moment it set foot on our Bosphorus, its clergyman arrogantly asked us six questions. In the face of this, we should spit in his face. So spit in the pitiless faces of those tyrants!" And now I say:

My brothers! Since at a time a tyrannical government like the British had occupied us the protection of the Qur'an was enough for me, despite the danger of confronting them in this way through the tongue of the press being a hundred per cent, it is certainly a hundred times more sufficient for you in the face of the harm that comes to you at the hand of insignificant bullies, the possibility of which is only one in a hundred.

Furthermore, my brothers! Most of you have done your military service. Those that have not, have certainly heard this. And those who have not heard it, let them hear it from me: "Those who receive most wounds are those who abandon their trenches and run away. While those who receive fewest wounds are those who persevere in their trenches!"

The allusive meaning of the verse,

Say: "The death from which you flee will truly overtake you" {[*]:}

shows that those who run away are more likely to meet death through their flight!

THIRD SATANIC STRATAGEM

They hunt many people through greed.

We have proved in many treatises with certain proofs that have issued forth from the clear verses of the All-Wise Qur'an that "Licit sustenance comes not in accordance with power and will, but in relation to powerlessness and want." There are numerous signs, indications, and evidences demonstrating this truth. For instance:

Trees, which are animate beings of a sort and in need of sustenance, remain in their places and their sustenance comes hastening to them. While since animals chase after their sustenance greedily, they are not nurtured as perfectly as trees.

Also, although fishes are the most stupid and powerless of the animals, and are found in sand, their being the best nourished and generally appearing fat, while intelligent and capable animals like the monkey and fox are weak and thin from their scanty sustenance, shows that "the means of sustenance is not power, but want."

Also, the fine sustenance of all young, whether human or animal, and a most delicate gift of the treasury of mercy like milk being bestowed on them in an unexpected way out of compassion for their weakness and impotence, and the difficult circumstances of wild animals, show that the means of licit sustenance is impotence and want, it is not intelligence and power.

Also, among the nations of the world there is none which pursues sustenance more than the Jewish nation, which is notorious for its intense greed. Whereas they have suffered more than any from poor livelihoods amid degradation and poverty. Even the rich among them live in lowly fashion. In any event, the possessions they have acquired by illicit means like usury are not licit sustenance so that it might refute our discussion here.

Also, the poverty of many literary figures and scholars, and the wealth and riches of many stupid people shows that the means of attracting sustenance is not intelligence and power, but impotence and want; it is submitting to God while relying on Him, and supplication by word, state, and deed.

The verse,

For God is He Who gives [all] sustenance, Lord of Power, and Steadfast [for ever], {[*]:}

proclaims this truth, and is a powerful and firm proof of this assertion of ours which all plants and animals and young recite. Every group of creature which seeks sustenance recites the verse through the tongue of disposition.

Since sustenance is appointed and bestowed and the one who gives it is Almighty God, and since He is both All-Compassionate and Munificent, let those who degrade themselves through illicit gain in a way that accuses His mercy and insults His munificence, giving their consciences and even certain sacred matters as bribes and accepting things which are unlawful and inauspicious-let them ponder over just what a compounded lunacy this is.

Yes, 'the worldly' and especially the people of misguidance do not give away their money cheaply; they sell it at a high price. Sometimes something which may help a little towards a year of worldly life is the means to destroying infinite eternal life. And through that vile greed, the person draws Divine wrath on himself and tries to attract the pleasure of the people of misguidance.

Yes, my brothers! If those who toady to 'the worldly' and the dissemblers among the misguided lay hold of you due to this weak vein in human nature, think of the above truth and take this poor brother of yours as an example. I assure you with all my strength that contentment and frugality ensure your life and sustenance more than does a salary. Especially any unlawful money that is given you, they will want a price a

thousand times higher in return. It may also be an obstacle to service of the Qur'an, which may open for you an everlasting treasury, or it may make you slack in that service. And that would be such a loss and emptiness that even if they gave you a thousand salaries every month, they could not fill its place.

The people of misguidance are not able to defend themselves and reply to the truths of belief and the Qur'an which we take from the All-Wise Qur'an and disseminate, therefore, through intrigue and dissembling they employ snares of deception and wile. They want to deceive my friends through the desire for position, greed, and fear, and to refute me by ascribing certain things to me. In our sacred service, we always act positively. But unfortunately, sometimes the duty of removing the obstacles in the way of some good matter impels us to act negatively.

It is because of this that I am warning my brothers concerning the above-mentioned three points, in the face of the cunning propaganda of the dissemblers. I am trying to rebuff the attacks which are levelled at them.

The most significant attack now is at my person. They say: "Said is a Kurd. Why do you show him so much respect, and follow him?" So I am forced to mention the Fourth Satanic Stratagem in the language of the Old Said, although I do not want to, in order to silence such villains.

FOURTH SATANIC STRATAGEM

In order to deceive my brothers and excite their nationalist feelings, certain irreligious people who occupy high positions and attack me by means of propaganda, through the promptings of Satan and suggestions of the people of misguidance, say: "You are Turks. Thanks be to God, among the Turks are religious scholars and people of perfection of every sort. Said is a Kurd. To work along with someone who does not share your nationality is unpatriotic."

You miserable person without religion! All praise be to God, I am a Muslim. At all times there are three hundred and fifty million members of my sacred nation. I seek refuge with God a hundred thousand times from sacrificing three hundred and fifty million brothers who establish an eternal brotherhood, and who help me with their prayers, and among whom are the vast majority of Kurds, for the idea of racialism and negative nationalism, and from gaining in place of those innumerable blessed brothers a few who have embarked on a way which is without religion or belongs to no school of law, who bear the name of Kurd and are reckoned to belong to the Kurdish people. O you without religion! There would have to have been some idiots like you who would

abandon the everlasting brotherhood of a luminous beneficial community of three hundred and fifty million true brothers in order to gain the brotherhood -which even in this world is without benefit- of a handful of Hungarian infidels or Europeanized Turks who have lost their religion. Since, in the Third Matter of the Twenty-Sixth Letter, we have shown together with the evidences the nature of negative nationalism and its harms, we refer you to that, and here only explain a truth which was mentioned briefly at the end of the Third Matter. It is as follows:

I say to those pseudo-patriotic irreligious deviants who hide under the veil of Turkism and in reality are enemies of the Turks: "I am closely and most truly connected by means of an eternal and true brotherhood with the nation of Islam, with the believers of this country who are called Turks. On account of Islam, I have a proud and partial love for the sons of this land who for close on a thousand years victoriously carried the banner of the Qur'an to every corner of the world. As for you, you pseudo-patriotic imposters! You possess in a way that will make you forget the true national pride of the Turks, a metaphorical, racial, temporary, and hateful brotherhood. I ask you: does the Turkish nation consist only of heedless and lustful youths between the ages of twenty and forty? And is what is beneficial for them and will serve them -as demanded by nationalist patriotism- an European education which will only increase their heedlessness, accustom them to immorality, and encourage them in what is forbidden? Is it to amuse them temporarily, which will make them weep in old age? If nationalist patriotism consists of this, and this is progress and the happiness of life, yes, if you are a Turkist and nationalist like that, I flee from such Turkism, and you can flee from me, too! If you have even a jot of patriotism, intelligence, and fairness, consider the following divisions of society and give me an answer. It is like this:

The sons of this land known as the Turkish nation consist of six parts. The first part are the righteous and the pious. The second are the sick and those stricken by disaster. The third are the elderly. The fourth are the children. The fifth are the poor and the weak. And the sixth are the young. Are the first five groups not Turks? Do they have no share of nationalist patriotism? Is it nationalist patriotism to vex those five groups, destroy their pleasure in life, and destroy those things which console them on the way of giving drunken enjoyment to the sixth group? Or is that enmity towards the nation? According to the rule "The word is with the majority," that which harms the majority is inimical, not friendly!

I ask you, is the greatest benefit of the believers and the pious, the first group, to be found in an European-type civilization? Or is it to be

found in thinking of eternal happiness by means of the truths of belief, in travelling the way of truth, for which they are most desirous, and in finding a true solace? The way that the misguided and bogus patriots like you have taken extinguishes the spiritual lights of the pious people of belief, destroys their true consolation, and shows death to be eternal nothingness and the grave to be the door to everlasting separation.

Are the benefits of the disaster-stricken, the sick, and those who have despaired of life, who form the second group, to be found in the way of a European-type, irreligious civilization? For those unfortunates want a light, a solace. They want a reward in return for the calamities they have suffered. They want to take their revenge on those who have oppressed them. They want to repulse the terrors at the door of the grave, which they are approaching. Through their false patriotism, those like you plunge a needle into the hearts of those unhappy victims of disaster who are much in need of compassion, soothing, and healing, and worthy of them. You hit them over the head! You mercilessly destroy all their hopes! You cast them into absolute despair! Is this nationalist patriotism? Is that how you provide benefits for the nation?

The elderly, the third group, forms a third. They are approaching the grave, drawing close to death, growing distant from the world, coming close to the hereafter. Are their benefits, lights, and consolation to be found in listening to the cruel adventures of tyrants like Hulagu and Jenghiz? Do they have a place in your modern-type movements which make the hereafter forgotten, bind a person to the world, are without result, and have the meaning of decline while being superficially progress? Is the light of the hereafter to be found in the cinema? Is true solace to be found in the theatre? If nationalist patriotism is in effect to slaughter them with an immaterial knife, and give them the idea that "you are being impelled towards everlasting nothingness," and to transform the grave, which they consider to be the gate of mercy, into the dragon's mouth, and to breathe in their ears: "You too will enter there!"-if, while these unhappy elderly people want respect from patriotism, that is what it is, "I seek refuge with God" a hundred thousand times from such patriotism!

The fourth group are the children. These want kindness from nationalist patriotism; they await compassion. Also, in respect of their weakness, impotence, and powerlessness, their spirits may expand through knowing a compassionate and powerful Creator; their abilities may unfold in happy manner. Through being instilled with reliance on God springing from belief and with the submission of Islam which may withstand the awesome fears and situations of the world in the future, these innocents may look eagerly to life. Could this be achieved by teaching them things

concerning the progress of civilization, with which they have little connection, and the principles of lightless, purely materialist philosophy, which destroys their morale and extinguishes their spirits? If man consisted only of an animal body and he had no mind in his head, perhaps these European principles which you fancifully call civilized education and national education could have afforded these innocent children some worldly benefit in the form of some temporary childish amusement. Since those innocents are going to be cast onto the upheavals of life, and since they are human beings, they will certainly have far-reaching desires in their small hearts and large goals will be born in their little heads. Since the reality is thus, what compassion requires for them is to place in their hearts in the form of belief in God and belief in the hereafter, an extremely powerful support and inexhaustible place of recourse in the face of their infinite want and impotence. Kindness and compassion to them is in this way. Otherwise, through the drunkenness of nationalist patriotism, it has the meaning of slaughtering those wretched innocents, like a crazy mother slaughtering her child with a knife. It is a savage cruelty and wrong, like pulling out their brains and hearts and making them eat them to nourish their bodies.

The fifth group are the poor and the weak. The poor, who, because of their poverty, suffer greatly from the heavy burdens of life, and the weak, who are grieved at life's awesome upheavals - do they not receive a share from nationalist patriotism? Is it to be found in the movements which you have instituted under the name of European-style, unveiled, Pharaoh-like civilization, which only increase the despair and suffering of these unfortunates? The salve for the wound of indigence of these poor may be found, not in the idea of racialism, but in the sacred pharmacy of Islam. The weak cannot receive strength and resistance from the philosophy of Naturalism, which is dark, lacks consciousness, and is bound to chance; they may rather obtain strength from Islamic zeal and the sacred nationhood of Islam!

The sixth group is the youth. If the youth of these young people had been perpetual, the wine you have given them to drink through negative nationalism would have had some temporary benefit and use. But on their painfully coming to their senses when they advance in years, on awakening from that sweet sleep in the morning of old age, distress and sorrow at the pleasurable drunkenness of youth will make them weep, and the sorrow at the passing of their pleasant dream will cause them much grief. It will make them exclaim: "Alas! Both my youth has gone, and my life has departed, and I am approaching the grave bankrupt; if only I had used my head!" Is the share of nationalist patriotism for this

group to enjoy themselves briefly and temporarily, and to be made to weep with sorrow for a very long time? Or is their worldly happiness and pleasure in life to be found in making permanent through worship that fleeting youth by spending the bounty of fine, sweet youth, not on the way of dissipation, but on the straight path, in the form of offering thanks for the bounty, and in that way gaining eternal youth in the Realm of Bliss? You say, if you possess even a grain of intelligence!

If the Turkish nation consisted only of young people, and if their youth was perpetual, and they had no place other than this world, your European-style movement under the screen of Turkism might have been counted as nationalist patriotism. Then you might have been able to say to me, someone who attaches little importance to the life of this world, considers racialism to be a sickness like 'the European disease,' tries to prevent young people pursuing illicit amusements and vices, and came into the world in another country: "He is a Kurd. Don't follow him!", and you might have been right to say it. But since, as explained above, the sons of this land, who go under the name of Turks, consist of six groups, to cause harm to five of the groups and spoil their pleasure in life, and to afford a temporary, worldly pleasure the consequences of which are bad, to only one group, rather, to intoxicate them, is scarcely friendship to the Turkish nation; it is enmity.

Yes, according to race, I am not counted as a Turk, but I have worked with all my strength, with complete eagerness, in compassionate and brotherly fashion, for the group of the God-fearing, and the disaster-stricken, and the elderly, and the children, and the weak and the poor among the Turks. I have worked for the young people as well, who are the sixth group; I want them to forego illicit actions which will poison their worldly life, destroy their lives in the hereafter, and for one hour's laughter, produce a year of weeping. The works I have taken from the Qur'an and published in the Turkish language -not only these six or seven years, but for twenty years- are there for everyone to see. Yes, Praise be to God, through these works derived from the All-Wise Qur'an's mine of lights, are shown the light which the group of the elderly wants more than anything. The most efficacious remedies for the disaster-stricken and the sick are shown in the sacred pharmacy of the Qur'an. Through those lights of the Qur'an, the door of the grave, which causes more thought to the elderly than anything else, is shown to be the door of mercy, and not the door leading to execution. A most powerful point of support in the face of the calamities and harmful things confronting the sensitive hearts of children, and a place of recourse to meet all their hopes and desires, have been extracted from the mine of the All-Wise

Qur'an, and they have been demonstrated and profited from in fact. And the heavy obligations of life which crush most the poor and weak have been lightened by the truths of belief of the All-Wise Qur'an.

Thus, these five groups are five out of the six parts of the Turkish nation, and we are working for their benefit. The sixth group are the young people. We feel powerful brotherhood towards the good ones from among them. But between those like you who have deviated from the straight path, and us, there is no friendship at all! Because we do not recognize as Turks those who embrace misguidance and want to abandon Islamic nationhood, which holds all the true causes of pride of the Turks. We consider them to be Europeans hiding behind the screen of Turkishness! Because even if they claim to be Turkists a hundred thousand times over, they could not deceive the people of truth. For their actions and works would give the lie to what they claim.

O you who follow European ways, and you deviants who try to make my true brothers look coldly on me through your propaganda! How do you benefit this nation? You extinguish the lights of the first group, the pious and the righteous. You scatter poison on the wounds of the second group, who deserve kindness and care. You destroy the solace of the third group, who are most worthy of respect, and you cast them into despair. You destroy completely the morale of the fourth group, who are truly in need of compassion, and you extinguish their true humanity. You make fruitless the hopes and calls for help of the fifth group, who are most needy for assistance, help, and solace, and in their eyes, you turn life into something more ghastly than death. And to the sixth group, who need to be warned and to come to their senses, you give such a heady wine to drink in the sleep of youth that its hangover is truly grievous and terrible. Is this your nationalist patriotism for the sake of which you sacrifice numerous sacred things? Is this what Turkism has to offer the Turks? I seek refuge with God from it a hundred thousand times!

Sirs! I know that when you are defeated in the face of truth, you have recourse to force. In accordance with the fact that power lies in the truth, not in force, you can set fire to the world around my head, but this head, which has been sacrificed for the truth of the Qur'an, will not bow before you. And I tell you this, that not a limited number of people like you who are in effect despised by the nation, but if thousands like you were physically hostile to me, I would pay them no attention, attaching no more value to them than to injurious animals. Because what can you do to me? All you can do is to either bring my life to an end, or spoil my work and service. I am attached to nothing else in the world apart from these. As for the appointed hour which befalls life, I believe as certainly

as witnessing it that it does not change, it is determined. Since this is so, if I die as a martyr on the way of truth, I do not hang back from it, I await it longingly. Especially since I am old; I find it hard to believe that I shall live for more than another year. To transform one year's apparent life into everlasting eternal life by means of martyrdom is an exalted aim for those like me. As for my work and service, through His mercy, Almighty God has given such brothers in the service of belief and the Qur'an that through my death it will be carried out in numerous centres instead of one. If my tongue is silenced by death, powerful tongues will speak in its place, continuing my work. I can even say that just as with entering the earth and dying, a single seed produces the life of a shoot, then a hundred seeds perform their duties in place of one, so I nourish the hope that my death will be the means to service greater than was my life!

FIFTH SATANIC STRATAGEM

Profiting from egotism, the supporters of the people of misguidance want to draw away my brothers from me. Truly, man's most dangerous vein is egotism. It is his weakest vein, too. They can make people do terrible things by encouraging it. My brothers! Beware, do not let them strike you with egotism, do not let them hunt you with it! You should know that this century the people of misguidance have mounted the ego and are galloping through the valleys of misguidance. The people of truth have to give up the ego if they are to serve the truth. Even if a person is justified in making use of the ego, since he will resemble the others and they too will suppose he is self-seeking like them, it is an injustice to the service of the truth. In any event, the service of the Qur'an around which we are gathered does not accept the 'I', it requires the 'we.' It says: "Don't say 'I', say 'we.'"

Of course, you have realized that this poor brother of yours did not set out with the 'I'. And he did not make you serve it. Indeed, he showed himself to you as an ego-free servant of the Qur'an. He does not care for himself and has taken as his way not taking the part of his ego. In any event, he has proved to you with decisive evidence that the works that have been presented for general benefit are common property; that is, they have issued from the All-Wise Qur'an. Nobody can claim ownership of them through his ego. Even if, to suppose the impossible, I did claim them as my own through my ego, as one of my brothers said: since this door of Qur'anic truth has been opened, the scholars and those seeking perfection should not consider my defects and insignificance, and hold back from following me; they should not consider themselves

self-sufficient. For sure, the works of the former righteous and exacting religious scholars are a huge treasury sufficient for every ill, but it sometimes happens that a key has more importance than the treasury. For the treasury is closed, while the key may open lots of treasuries.

I reckon that those whose egotism in regard to their learning is excessive have understood that the Words that have been published are each keys to the truths of the Qur'an and diamonds swords smiting those who try to deny those truths. The people of virtue and perfection and those who are strongly egotistical in regard to their learning should know that the students are students not of me, but of the All-Wise Qur'an, and I study along with them.

And so, if, to suppose the impossible, I claimed to be the master, since we have a way of saving all the classes of the people of belief -from the common people to the upper classes- from the doubts and scepticism to which they are exposed, then let those scholars either find an easier solution, or let them take the part of our solution, and teach it and support it. There is a grave threat towards the 'bad religious scholars.' Religious scholars have to be especially careful at this time. So suppose, like my enemies, that I perform a service like this for the sake of egotism. Since a large number of people give up their egotism and gather around a Pharaoh-like man with complete loyalty for some worldly and national aim and carry out their work in complete solidarity, does this brother of yours not have the right to ask of you solidarity around the truths of belief and the Qur'an by giving up egotism, like those corporals of that worldly society, so long as he concealed his egotism? If even the greatest of the scholars among you were not to agree, would they not be in the wrong?

My brothers! The most dangerous aspect of egotism in our work is jealousy. If it is not purely for God's sake, jealousy interferes and spoils it. Just as one of a person's hands cannot be jealous of the other, and his eye cannot envy his ear, and his heart cannot compete with his reason, so each of you is like one sense, one member, of the collective personality of the totality we make up. It is not being rivals to one another, on the contrary, to take pride and pleasure in one another's good qualities is a basic obligation springing from the conscience.

One other thing remains and it is the most dangerous: among yourselves and among your friends to feel jealous of this poor brother of yours is most dangerous. There are scholars of standing among you, and some scholars are egotistical in regard to their learning. Even if they themselves are modest, they are egotistical in that respect. They cannot easily give it up. Whatever their hearts and minds may do, their evil-

commanding souls want eminence, to sell themselves, and even to dispute the treatises that have been written. Although their hearts love the treatises and their minds appreciate them and recognize their worth, due to jealousy arising from the egotism of learning, their souls want to reduce the value of the Words, as though nurturing an implicit enmity towards them, so that the products of their own thought can compete with them and be sold like them. But I have to tell them this:

Even if those in this circle of Qur'anic teaching are leading scholars and authorities on the Law, their duties in respect of the sciences of belief are only explanations and elucidations of the Words that have been written, or the ordering of them. For I have understood through many signs that we have been charged with the duty of issuing fatwas concerning these sciences of belief. If someone within our circle writes some things outside an explanation or elucidation due to a feeling in his soul arising from the egotism of learning, it will be like a cold dispute or a deficient plagiarism. Because it has become established through numerous evidences and signs that the parts of the Risale-i Nur have issued from the Qur'an. In accordance with the rule of the division of labour, each of us has undertaken a duty, and we make those distillations of the water of life reach those who are in need of them!

SIXTH SATANIC STRATAGEM

It is this: they take advantage of the human characteristics of laziness, the desire for physical comfort, and attachment to other duties. Yes, the satans among jinn and men attack from every angle. When they see those from among our friends whose hearts are stout, intentions pure, loyality strong, and enterprise, elevated, they attack from other points. As follows:

In order to put a stop to our work and discourage from our service, they profit from their laziness, desire for physical comfort, and attachment to other duties. They keep people from the service of the Qur'an with every kind of trick, so that without their being aware of it, they find more work for some of them. Then they cannot find the time to serve the Qur'an. And to some, they show them the enticing things of this world, so that arousing their desires, they become slack in their service; and so on. These ways of attack are lengthy, so, cutting them short, we refer them to your perspicacious understanding.

And so, my brothers, take great care: your duty is sacred, your service, elevated. Every hour of your time may acquire the value of a day's worship. Be aware of this and do not waste any of them!

O you who believe! Persevere in patience and constancy; vie in such perseverance, strengthen each other; and fear God, that you may prosper. {[*]:} * And sell not My signs for a miserable price. {[*]:} * Glory to your Sustainer, the Lord of Honour and Power! [He is free] from what they ascribe [to Him]! * And peace be on the prophets! * And praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds. {[*]:}

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise! {[*]:}

O God! Grant blessings and peace to our master Muhammad, the Beloved Unlettered Prophet, of Mighty Stature and Exalted Rank, and to his Family and Companions. Amen.

The date a significant mystery of the All-Wise Qur'an became clear was again in a word of the Qur'an's. It was like this:

According to the abjad system the numerical value of the word 'Qur'an' is three hundred and fifty-one. It contains two alifs; if the concealed alif is read 'alfun,' it is 'alfun' with the value of a thousand. {(*):} That is to say, the year one thousand three hundred and fifty-one may be called the Year of the Qur'an. Because that year the strange mystery of the 'coincidences' in the word 'Qur'an' became apparent in the parts of the Risale-i Nur, which is the Qur'an's commentary. The miraculous mystery of the 'coincidences' of the word 'Allah' in the Qur'an appeared the same year. A Qur'an showing miraculous patterns, arranged in a new way, was written the same year. That year students of the Qur'an endeavoured to preserve the Qur'anic script with all their strength in the face of its being changed. Important aspects of the Qur'an's miraculousness became apparent that same year. And the same year numerous events occurred which were related with the Qur'an, and it seems they will continue to occur...

Addendum to the Sixth Section, which is the Sixth Treatise

[This Addendum was written in order to avoid the disgust and insults that will levelled at us in the future. That is to say, it was written so that when it is said: "Look at the spineless people of that age!", their spit should not hit us in the face, or else to wipe it off. Let the ears ring of the leaders of Europe, savage beneath their humanitarian masks! And let this be thrust in the unseeing eyes of those unjust oppressors who inflicted these unscrupulous tyrants on us! It is a petition with which to hit over the head the followers of modern low civilization, who this century have a hundred thousand times over necessitated the existence of Hell.]

No reason have we why we should not put our trust on God. Indeed He has guided us to the way we [follow]. We shall certainly bear with patience all the hurt you may cause us. For those who put their trust should put their trust on God. {[*]:}

Recently the concealed aggression of the irreligious has taken on a most ugly form; tyrannical aggression against the unfortunate people of belief and against religion. Ouًن﴿rivate and unofficial call to prayer and iqama was interrupted during the private worship of myself and one or two brothers in the mosque I myself repaired. "Why are you reciting the iqama in Arabic and making the call to prayer secretly?" they asked. My patience was exhausted in keeping silent. So I say, not to those unscrupulous vile men who are not worth addressing, but to the heads of the Pharaoh-like society who with arbitrary despotism plays with the fate of this nation: O you people of innovation who have deviated from the straight path of religion, I want the answer to six questions.

THE FIRST

Every government in the world, every people which rules, and even cannibals, and the chief of a band of brigands, have some principle, some law, by which they rule. So according to which principle do you carry out this extraordinary aggression? Show your law! Or do you accept as the law the arbitrary whims of a handful of contemptible officials? Because no law can interrupt private worship in that way; there cannot be such a law!

THE SECOND

On what force do you rely that you are so bold as to violate the principle of 'freedom of conscience,' which governs almost everywhere in mankind, especially in this age of freedom and in civilized circles, and to treat it lightly and so indirectly to insult mankind and dismiss their objections? What power do you have that you attack religion and the people of religion in this way as though you had taken irreligion as a religion for yourselves in bigoted fashion, although by calling yourselves 'secular' you proclaim that you will interfere with neither religion nor irreligion? Such a thing will not remain secret! You will have to answer for it! So what answer will you give? Although you could not hold out against the objections of the smallest of twenty governments, you try to violate by force freedom of conscience, as though you completely disregard the objections of twenty governments.

THE THIRD

According to what principle do you propose to people like me who follow the Shafi'i school of law, the Hanafi school, in a way opposed to the elevatedness and purity of that school, due to the wrong fatwa s of certain 'bad religious scholars' who have sold their consciences to gain the world? If, after abrogating the Shafi'i school, which has millions of followers, and making them all follow the Hanafi school, it is forcibly proposed to me in tyrannical fashion, it may perhaps be said that it is a principle of irreligious people like you. Otherwise it is arbitrary and despicable, and we do not follow the whims of people such as that, and we do not recognize them!

THE FOURTH

In accordance with which principle is it to propose through a corrupt and innovative fatwa," performing the iqama in Turkish," in a way completely contrary to Turkish nationalism, which is sincerely religious and sincerely respectful towards religion and has since early times blended and united with Islam, in the name of Turkism, which has the meaning of

Europeanism, to those like me who belong to another nation? Yes, although I have friendly and brotherly relations with true Turks, I have in no respect any relation with the Turkism of imitators of Europe like you. How can you propose such a thing to me? Through which law? Perhaps, if you abolish the nationhood of the Kurds, of whom there are millions and who for thousands of years have not forgotten their nationhood and language, and are the true fellow-citizens and companions in jihad of the Turks, and make them forget their language, then perhaps your proposal to those like me who are reckoned to be of a different race would be in accordance with some sort of savage principle. Otherwise it is purely arbitrary. The arbitrary whims of individuals may not be followed, and we do not follow them!

THE FIFTH

A government may apply all laws to its citizens and to those it accepts as its citizens, but it cannot apply its laws to those it does not accept. For they are able to say: "Since we are not citizens, you are not our government!"

Furthermore, no government can inflict two penalties at the same time. It either imprisons a murderer, or it executes him. To punish by both imprisonment and capital punishment is a principle nowhere!

However, despite the fact that I have caused no harm whatsoever to this country and nation, for eight years you have held me in captivity in a way not inflicted on even a criminal belonging to a most wild and foreign nation. Although you have pardoned criminals, you have negated my freedom and deprived me of all civil rights. You have not said: "He too is a son of this land," so in accordance with what principle and law do you propose, contrary to the wishes of your nation, these freedom-destroying principles to someone like me who is a foreigner to you in every respect? Since in the Great War you have counted all the heroic deeds to which this person was the means and were testified to by the Army's commanders, as nothing and considered his self-sacrficing struggles for the sake of this country as crimes; and since you deemed his preserving the good morality of this unfortunate nation and his serious and effective work to secure its happiness in this world and the next to be treason; and since you have punished for eight years (and now the punishment has been for twenty-eight years) someone who does not for himself accept your injurious, dangerous, arbitrary principles, which in reality are without benefit and spring from unbelief and from Europe; the punishment is the same. I did not accept its application, so you made me suffer it. So according to what principle is it to enforce a second punishment?

THE SIXTH

In view of the treatment you have meted out to me, according to your belief, I oppose you in general fashion. You are sacrifing your religion and life in the hereafter for the sake of your lives in this world. According to you, due to the opposition between us and contrary to you, we are all the time ready to sacrifice our life in this world for our religion and for the hereafter. To sacrifice two or three years of humiliating life under your domination in order to gain sacred martyrdom, is like the water of Kawthar for us. However, in order to make you tremble, relying on the effulgence and indications of the All-Wise Qur'an, I tell you this with certainty:

You shall not live after killing me! You shall be driven out of the world, your Paradise and your beloved, by an irresistible hand, and swiftly cast into everlasting darkness. Behind me, your Nimrod-like chiefs will be quickly killed and sent to me. In the Divine Presence I shall grasp hold of them by their collars, and on Divine Justice casting them down to the lowest of the low, I shall take my revenge!

O you miserable wretches who sell religion and your lives in the hereafter for this world! If you want to live, do not interfere with me! I hope from Divine Mercy that my death will serve religion more than my life, and my death explode over your heads like a bomb, scattering you! Cause me trouble if you have the courage! If you do anything, you shall see! With all my strength I read this verse in the face of all your threats:

Men said to them: "A great army is gathering against you;" and frightened them; but it only increased their faith. they said: "For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs." {[*]:}

Seventh Section

[These Seven Signs are the answers to three questions. The first question consists of four Signs.]

So believe in God and His Apostle, the unlettered Prophet, who believes in God and His Words; follow him that [so] you may be guided. {[*]:} * Fain would they extinguish God's Light with their mouths, but God will not allow but that His Light should be perfected, even though the unbelievers may detest [it]. {[*]:}

FIRST SIGN

Like all the bad things they do, the arguments which those who are attempting to change the 'marks of Islam' cite to support themselves spring from their blind imitation of Europe. They say:

"In London, Europeans who have embraced Islam translate many things like the call to prayer and iqama into their own languages in their own country. The World of Islam says nothing in the face of this and does not object. That must mean it is permissible according to the Shari'a, since they are silent?"

There is such a glaring difference here that no conscious being could make such an analogy and imitate them. For the European lands are called the Abode of War in the terminology of the Shari'a, and there are numerous things which are permissible in the Abode of War which are not lawful in the Abode of Islam.

Furthermore, the lands of Europe are the realm of Christendom. Since they are not an environment in which the meanings of the terms of the Shari'a and concepts of the sacred words are communicated and instilled by the tongue of disposition, necessarily the sacred meanings have been

preferred to the sacred words; the words have been abandoned for the meaning; the lesser of two evils has been chosen. In the Abode of Islam, however, the people of Islam are instructed in the abbreviated meanings of those sacred words through the tongue of disposition. The conversations of Muslims about Islamic traditions and Islamic history and the marks of Islam and the pillars of Islam, all continuously instill into them the concise meanings of those blessed words. In this country, besides the mosques and the madrasas, even the gravestones in the graveyards are like teachers instilling those sacred meanings in the people of belief and recalling them to them. If for some worldly advantage, someone who calls himself a Muslim learns fifty words every day from a French dictionary, and then in fifty years does not learn the sacred words like 'Glory be to God,' 'All praise be to God,' 'There is no god but God,' and 'God is Most Great,' which are repeated fifty times daily, would he not fall lower than an animal? These sacred words cannot be translated and corrupted and deported for animals such as that! To change and deport them is to erase all the gravestones; it is to turn against them all the dead in the graveyards, who would turn in their graves at such an insult.

In order to deceive the nation, the 'bad religious scholars,' who have been misled by the irreligious, say that contrary to the other Imams, Imam-i A'zam said: "If the need arises in distant countries, it is permissible to recite the Fatiha in translation for those who know no Arabic at all." We are in need of this, so can we recite it in Turkish?

The most important of the leading authorities as well as the other twelve leading mujtahid s have given fatwa s opposing this fatwa of Imam-i A'zam. The great highway of the World of Islam is their highway; the Muslim community may follow that way. Those who drive it to another particular and narrow way are leading them astray. Imam-i A'zam's fatwa is particular in five respects:

It concerns people in places distant from the centre of Islam.

It is in consequence of real need.

According to one narration, it is particular to translations into Persian, which is supposed to be language of the people of Paradise.

The ruling is particular to the Fatiha, so that those who do not know it will not give up performing the obligatory prayers.

Permission was given so that, due to Islamic zeal arising from strength of belief, the sacred meanings could be understood by the ordinary people. But to translate them and give up the Arabic original

due to weakness of belief, negative nationalism, and hatred for the Arabic language, driven by a destructive urge, is to make others give up religion.

SECOND SIGN

The people of innovation who have changed 'the marks of Islam' first of all sought fatwa s from the 'bad religious scholars.' Before that, they had pointed out the fatwa we demonstrated was particular in five respects. Secondly, the people of innovation obtained the following inauspicious idea from the European reformists: being dissatisfied with the Catholic Church, foremost the revolutionaries, reformists, and philosophers, who were innovators according to the Catholic Church, favoured Protestantism, which was considered to Mu'tazilite, and taking advantage of the French Revolution they partially destroyed the Catholic Church, and proclaimed Protestantism.

Then the pseudo-patriots here, who are accustomed to imitating blindly, say: "A revolution like that came about in the Christian religion. At first the revolutionaries were called apostates, then later they were again accepted as Christians. So why should there not be such a religious revolution in Islam?"

The difference here is even greater than in the false analogy in the First Sign. Because in the religion of Jesus, only the fundamentals of religion were taken from Jesus (Upon whom be peace). Most of the injunctions concerning social life and the secondary matters of the Law were formulated by the disciples and other spiritual leaders. The greater part were taken from former holy scriptures. Since Jesus (Upon whom be peace) was not a worldly ruler and sovereign, and since he was not the source of general social laws, the fundamentals of his religion were as though clothed with the garment of common laws and civil rules taken from outside, having been given a different form and called the Christian law. If this form is changed and the garment transformed, the fundamental religion of Jesus (Upon whom be peace) may persist. It does not infer denying or giving the lie to Jesus (Upon whom be peace).

However, the Glory of the World (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who was the owner of the religion and Shari'a of Islam, was the sovereign of the two worlds, and the East and West and Andalusia and India were his seat of rule, he himself therefore both demonstrated the fundamentals of the religion of Islam, and brought the secondary matters and other injunctions of the religion, including even the most minor matters of conduct; he himself taught them; he commanded them. That is to

say, the secondary matters of Islam are not like a garment capable of change, so that if they were changed, the essential religion would persist. They are rather a body to the fundamentals of religion, or at least a skin. They have blended and combined with it, so that they cannot be separated. To change them infers direct denial and contradiction of the owner of the Shari'a.

As for the differences in the schools of law; this has arisen from differences in the way of understanding the theoretical principles shown by the Shari'a's owner. Principles called 'the essentials of religion' which are not open to interpretation, and those called 'incontrovertible,' cannot be changed in any way and may not be interpreted. One who does change them leaves the religion, being included under the rule: «They renounce religion as the arrow flies from the bow.» {[*]:}

The people of innovation have found the following pretext for their irreligion and deviation from the straight path. They say: "The French Revolution was the cause of a sequence of events in the world of humanity; in it, the clergy and spiritual leaders and the Catholic Church, which was their Church, was attacked and destroyed. Later the Revolution was condoned by a lot of people, and the French also made greater progress. Is this not so?"

Like in the previous analogies, the differences in this one are clear. Because for a long time in France, the Christian religion and particularly the Catholic Church, had been a means of domination and despotism in the hands of the upper and ruling classes. It was by that means that the upper class perpetuated its influence over the ordinary people. And since it was the means of oppressing the patriots, who were those who were awakened among the common people and were called "Jacobins," and was the means of oppressing the freedom-seeking thinkers, who attacked the despotism of the upper class tyrants, and since for nearly four hundred years it had been considered to be a cause, through revolutions in Europe, of overturning the stability of social life, the Catholic Church had been attacked, not in the name of irreligion, but by the other Christian sects. A feeling of indignation and enmity was engendered among the common people and philosophers due to which the above-mentioned historical event came about.

However, no oppressed person and no thinker has the right to

complain about the religion of Muhammad (PBUH) and the Shari'a of Islam. For it does not injure them, it protects them. Islamic history is there for all to see. Apart from one or two incidents, no internal wars of religion have occurred. Whereas the Catholic Church caused four hundred years of internal revolutions.

Furthermore, Islam has been the stronghold of the common people rather than of the upper classes. Through enjoining the payment of zakat and prohibiting usury and interest, it has made the upper classes not despots over the common people, but servants in a way! It says: "The master of a people is its servant." {[*]:} And, "The best of people is the one most useful to people." {[*]:} Also, through sacred phrases like,

So will they not think? * So will they not reflect on it? * So will they not reason?,

the All-Wise Qur'an calls on the intellect to testify; it warns, refers to the reason, it urges investigation. Through this, it gives scholars and the people of reason a position; it gives them importance. It does not dismiss the reason like the Catholic Church; it does not silence thinkers, or require blind imitation of them.

Since the fundamentals of, not true Christianity, but the present-day Christian religion and the fundamentals of Islam have parted on an important point, they go their separate ways in many respects like the above-mentioned differences. The important point is this:

Islam is the religion of the true affirmation of Divine Unity so that it dismisses intermediaries and causes. It breaks egotism and establishes sincere worship. It cuts every sort of false dominicality, starting from that of the soul, and rejects it. It is because of this that if a person of high position from among the upper class is going to be completely religious, he will have to give up his egotism. If he does not give up egotism, he will lose his strength of religion and to an extent give up his religion.

As for the Christian religion of the present day, since it has accepted the belief of Jesus (Upon whom be peace) being the Son of God, it ascribes a true effect to causes and intermediaries. It cannot break egotism in the name of religion. Rather, saying that it is a holy deputy of Jesus (Upon whom be peace), it attributes a sacredness to that egotism. For this reason, members of the Christian upper classes who occupy the highest worldly positions may be completely religious. In fact, there are many like the former American President, Wilson, and the former British

Prime Minister, Lloyd George, who were as religious as bigoted priests. But those who rise to those positions among the Muslims rarely remain completely religious and firm in their religion, for they cannot give up their pride and egotism. And true taqwa cannot be combined with pride and egotism.

Yes, just as the religious bigotry of the Christian upper class and slackness in religion of the Muslim upper class demonstrate an important difference, so too, the fact that the philosophers who emerged from Christianity were indifferent towards religion or else opposed it, while the great majority of those who emerged from Islam constructed their philosophy on Islamic fundamentals, demonstrates yet another important difference.

Furthermore, generally, ordinary Christians who have fallen on hard times or are sent to prison cannot expect assistance from religion. Formerly, most of them became irreligious. In fact, the revolutionaries famous in history who instigated the French Revolution and were called "irreligious Jacobins," were mostly those disaster-stricken common people. Whereas in Islam, the great majority of those who suffer disaster or imprisonment await succour from religion and they become religious. This situation too, demonstrates an important difference.

THIRD SIGN

The people of innovation say: "Religious bigotry made us backward. Living this age is possible if one gives up bigotry. Europe advanced on giving up bigotry. Is this not so?"

You are wrong and you have been deceived! Or else you are deceiving, because Europe is bigoted in religion. Tell an ordinary Bulgar, or an English soldier, or a French Jacobin: "Wear this turban, or else you shall be thrown into prison!", and their bigotry will force them to reply: "Not prison, if you kill me even, I won't insult my religion and nation in that way!"

Also, history testifies that whenever the people of Islam have adhered to their religion, they have advanced in relation to the strength of their adherence. And whenever they have become less firm in their religion, they have declined. Whereas with Christianity, it is the opposite. This too arises from an essential difference.

Also, Islam cannot be compared with other religions; if a Muslim abandons Islam and gives up his religion, he cannot accept any other prophet; indeed, he cannot acknowledge Almighty God either and probably does not recognize anything sacred. He will have no conscience that will be the means to moral and spiritual attainment; it will be corrupted.

Therefore, in the view of Islam, in war, an unbeliever has the right to life. If it is outside the country and he makes peace, or if it is inside the country and pays the head-tax, his life is protected according to Islam. But an apostate does not have the right to life. For his conscience is corrupted and he becomes like poison in the life of society. But a Christian may still contribute to society, even if he is irreligious. He may accept some sacred matters and may believe in some of the prophets, and may assent to Almighty God in some respects.

I wonder, what advantage do these innovators, or more accurately, deviants or heretics, find in this irreligion? If they are thinking of government and public order, to govern ten irreligious anarchists who do not know God and to repulse their evils is much more difficult than governing a thousand people with religion. If they are thinking of progress, irreligious people like that are an obstacle to progress, just as they are harmful for the administration and government. They destroy security and public order, which are the basis of progress and commerce. In truth, they are destructive due to the very way they have taken. The biggest fool in the world is he who expects progress, prosperity, and happiness from irreligious anarchists like them. One of those fools who occupied a high position, said: "We said 'Allah! Allah!' and remained backward. Europe said 'Guns and cannons,' and advanced."

According to the rule, "a fool should be answered with silence," the answer for such people is silence. But because behind certain fools there are inauspicious clever people, we say this:

O you wretches! This world is a guest-house. Every day thirty thousand witnesses put their signature to the decree "Death is a reality" with their corpses, and they testify to the assertion. Can you kill death? Can you contradict these witnesses? Since you can't, death causes people to say: "Allah! Allah!" Which of your guns and cannons can illuminate the everlasting darkness confronting someone in the throes of death in place of "Allah! Allah!", and transform his absolute despair into absolute hope? Since there is death and we shall enter the grave, and this life departs and an eternal life comes, if guns and cannons are said once, "Allah! Allah!" should be said a thousand times. And if it is in Allah's way, the gun also says "Allah!", and the cannon booms "Allahu Akbar!" It breaks the fast with "Allah," and starts it...

FOURTH SIGN

The destructive innovators are of two kinds:

The First Kind, as though on account of religion and in the name of loyality to Islam, as though to strengthen religion with nationalism, say:

"We want to plant the luminous tree of religion, which has weak, in the earth nationalism, and so to strengthen it." They show themselves as supporting religion.

The Second Sort,

in the name of the nation and on account of nationalism, in order to strengthen racialism, say: "We want to graft Islam onto the nation," thus creating innovations.

O unhappy 'bad scholars of religion' who confirm the title 'loyal fools,' or ecstatic, unthinking, ignorant Sufis! The Tuba-tree of Islam, whose roots are founded inthe reality of the universe and branchers spread through of the universe, cannot be planted in the earth of imaginary, temporary, partial, particular, negative, indeed,baseless,rancorous, tyrannical, and dark racialism! To try to do so is to attempt something foolish, destructive, and innovative.

O you drunken pseudo-patriots! Perhaps the previous century could have been the age of nationalism. This century is not the age of racialism! Communism and socialism occupy all matters, destroying the idea of racialism. The age of racialism is passing. Eternal and permanent Islamic nationalism cannot be bound onto temporary unstable racialism and grafted onto it. And even if it was to be just as it would corrupt the Islamic nation, so it would not reform racialist nationalism. Yes, there appears to be a pleasure and temporary strength in a temporary graft, but it is very temporary and the consequence are dangerous.

Furthermore, it would open up a split in the Turkish people that could not be healed in all eternity. Then the nation's strength would be reduced to nothing, since one section would have destroyed the strength of the other. If two mountains are placed in the two pans of some scales, a few pounds weight can move the two, raising one, and lowering the other.

The Second Question consists of Two Signs:

The First Sign is the

Fifth Sign, and is a very brief answer to an important question:

There are numerous authentic narrations about the appearance of the Mahdi at the end of time and his putting the world to rights, which will have been corrupted. However, the present time is the time of the group, or social collectivity, not of the individual. However great a genius an individual is, even a hundredfold genius, if he is not the representative of a group and if he doesn't represent the collective personality of a group, he will be defeated in the face of the collective

personality of an opposing group. However elevated and great the power of his sainthood, how will he be able to reform the world at this time amid the widespread corruption of a human group such as that? If all the Mahdi's works are wondrous, it wondrous, it would be contrary to the Divine wisdom and Divine laws in the world. We want to understand the true meaning of this matter of the Mahdi. How should we?

Out of His perfect mercy, every time the Muslim community has been corrupted, Almighty God has sent a reformer, or a regenerator, or a vicegerent of high standing, or a supreme spiritual pole, or a perfect guide, or blessed persons resembling a Mahdi, as a mark of His protecting the Shari'a of Islam until eternity; they have removed the corruption, reformed the nation, and preserved the religion of Muhammad (PBUH). Since His custom has proceeded in this way, certainly, at the time of the greatest corruption at the end of time, He will send a luminous person as both the greastest interpreter of the Law, and the greatest renewer, and ruler, and the Mahdi, and as guide, and spiritual pole, and that person will be from the Family of the Prophet. Almighty God, Who fills and empties the world between the heavens and earth with clouds, and in an instant stills the storms of the sea, and in an hour in spring creates samples of the summer and in an hour in summer creates a winter storm, such an All-Powerful One of Glory can also scatter the darkness of the World of Islam by means of the Mahdi. He has promised this, and certainly He will carry out His promise.

If considered from the point of view of Divine power, it is most easy. If it is thought of from the point of view of causes and Divine wisdom, it is again so reasonable and necessary that thinkers have asserted that even if it had not been narrated from the Bringer of Sure News, it still should have been. And it will be. It is like this: All praise be to God, the prayer, O God, grant blessings to our master Muhammad and to the Family of our master Muhammad, as you granted blessings to Abraham and to the Family of Abraham, in all the world; indeed You are worthy of all praise, exalted!, which is repeated by all the Muslim community five times every day in all the abligatory prayers, has self-evidently been accepted. For like the Family of Abraham (Upon whom be peace), the Family of Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) have assumed a position whereat they stand as commanders at the head of all blessed chains of spiritual authorities in the assemblies of all the regions of the world in all centuries.

{(*):}

They are so numerous that all these commanders together

form a mighty army. If they took on physical form and through their solidarity were formed into a division, if they awakened the religion of Islam and bound it together in unity, which would be like a sacred nationhood, the army of no other nation could withstand them. Thus, that numerous and powerful army is the Family of the Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace), the most select army of the Mahdi.

Yes, today in the world there is no family distinguished by such high honour and elevated qualities and nobility in its descendants, in unbroken succession and well-documented genealogy, which is as powerful and important as the line of Sayyids of the Family of the Prophet. Since early times it is they who have been at the heads of all the groups of the people of truth, and they who have been the renowned leaders of the people of perfection. Now it is a blessed line numbering millions. Vigilant and circumspect, their hearts full of belief and love of the Prophet, they are distinguished by the honour of their world-renowned lineage. Momentous events shall occur which will awaken and arouse that sacred force within that vast community... Certainly, the elevated ardour in that huge force will surge up and the Mahdi shall come to lead it, guiding it to the way of truth and reality. We await from the Divine law and Divine mercy that it should be such, and its being such, like we await the coming of spring after winter; and we are right to await it...

The Second Sign, that is, the

SIXTH SIGN

The Mahdi's luminous community will repair the destruction of the innovative regime of the secret society of the Sufyan, and will restore the Prophet's glorious Sunna. That is to say, the secret society of the Sufyan will try to destry the Shari'a of Muhammad (PBUH) in the World of Islam with the intention of denying his Prophethood, and will be killed and routed by the miraculous immaterial sword of the Mahdi's community.

Moreover, in the world of humanity, the secret society of the Dajjal will overturn civilization and subvert all mankind's sacred matters, with the intention of denying the Godhead. A zealous and self-sacrificing community known as a Christian community but worhy of being called "Muslim Christians," will the reality of Islam, and will kill and rout that society of the Dajjal, thus saving humanity from atheism.

This important mystery is very lengthy. Since we have discussed it briefly in other places, here we make do with this indication.

SEVENTH SIGN

That is, the Third Question. They say: "Your former refutations and strivings in the way of Islam were not in your present style. Also you do not defend Islam against Europe in the manner of the philosophers and thinkers. Why have you changed the style of the Old Said? Why do you not act in the same way as those who strive for the cause of Islam by non-physical means?

The Old Said and certain thinkers in part accepted the principles of human and European philosophy, and contested them with their own weapons; they accepted them to a degree. They submitted unshakeably to some of their principles in the form of the physical sciences, and therefore could not demonstrate the true worth of Islam. It was quite simply as though they were grafting Islam with the branches of philosophy, the roots of which they supposed to be very deep; as though strengthening it. But since this method produced few victories and it reduced Islam's worth to a degree, I gave up that way. And I showed in fact that Islam's principles are so profound that the deepest principles of philosophy cannot reach them; indeed, they remain superficial beside them. The Thirtieth Word, Twenty-Fourth Letter, and Twenty-Ninth Word have demonstrated this truth with proofs. In the former way, philosophy was supposed to be profound and the matters of Islam, external; it was supposed that by binding it with the branches of philosophy, Islam would be preserved and made to endure. As if the principles of philosophy could in any way reach the matters of Islam!

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledgee Lve that which you have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise! {[*]:}

And they shall say: "Praise be to God, Who has guided us to this [felicity]; never could we have found guidance, had it not been for the guidance of God; indeed, it was the truth that the prophets of our Sustainer brought to us!" {[*]:}

O God! Grant blessings to our master Muhammad and to the Family of our master Muhammad, as you granted blessings to our master Abraham and to the Family of Abraham, in all the worlds; indeed, You are worthy of all praise, exalted!

The Eight Symbols,

This treatise consists of Eight Symbols, that is, eight short treatises. The basis of these Symbols is 'coincidence,' which is an important principle of the science of jafr, and an important key to the occult sciences, and to certain of the mysteries of the Qur'an pertaining to the Unseen. It has not been included here, since it is to be published in another collection.

The Ninth Section

[This Section is about the paths of sainthood, and consists of Nine Allusions.]

Behold! Verily on the friends of God there is no fear, nor shall they grieve. {[*]:}

FIRST ALLUSION

Underlying the terms 'Sufism,' 'path,' 'sainthood,' and 'spiritual journeying,' is an agreeable, luminous, joyful, and spiritual sacred truth. This truth has been proclaimed, taught, and described in thousands of books written by the scholars among the people of illumination and those who have had unfolded to them the reality of creation, who have told the Muslim community and us of that truth. May God reward them abundantly! In consequence of some of the compelling circumstances of the present time, we shall point out a few droplets, like sprinklings, from that vast ocean.

What is the Sufi path?

The aim and goal of the Sufi path is -knowledge of God and the unfolding of the truths of belief- through a spiritual journeying with the feet of the heart under the shadow of the Ascension of Muhammad (PBUH), to manifest the truths of belief and the Qur'an through illumination and certain states, and to a degree by 'witnessing;' it is an elevated human mystery and human perfection which is called 'the Sufi path' or 'Sufism.'

Yes, since man is a comprehensive index of the universe, his heart resembles a map of thousands of worlds. For just as innumerable human sciences and fields of knowledge show that man's brain in his head is a

sort of centre of the universe, like a telephone and telegraph exchange for innumerable lines, so too the millions of luminous books written by incalculable saints show that man's heart in his essential being is the place of manifestation of innumerable truths of the universe, and is their means, and seed.

Thus, since the human heart and brain are at this centre, and comprise the members of a mighty tree in the form of a seed in which have been encapsulated the parts and components of an eternal, majestic machine pertaining to the hereafter, certainly the heart's Creator willed that the heart should be worked and brought out from the potential to the actual, and developed, and put into action, for that is what He did. Since He willed it, the heart will certainly work like the mind. And the most effective means of working the heart is to be turned towards the truths of belief on the Sufi path through the remembrance of God in the degrees of sainthood.

SECOND ALLUSION

The keys and means to this journeying of the heart and spiritual progress are remembrance of God and reflective thought. The virtues of these are too numerous to be described. Apart from uncountable benefits in the hereafter and human attainments and perfections, a minor benefit pertaining to this tumultuous worldly life is as follows: everyone wants a solace and seeks a pleasure in order to be saved a little from the upheavals of life and its heavy burdens, and to take a breather; everyone searches out something familiar and friendly to banish the loneliness. The social gatherings in civilized life afford a temporary, but heedless and drunken familiarity, intimacy, and solace for one or two out of ten people. However, eighty per cent live solitary lives in mountains or valleys, or are driven to distant places in search of a livelihood, or due to agencies like calamities and old age which make them think of the hereafter, they are deprived of the sociableness of man's groups and societies. The situation affords them no familiarity, friendliness, or consolation.

And so, the true solace and intimacy and sweet pleasure of such a person is, being turned to his heart in those distant places and desolate mountains and distressing valleys, to work it by means of the remembrance of God and reflective thought. Saying: "Allah!", it is to become familiar with Him with his heart, and through that familiarity to think of the things around him, which were regarding him savagely, as smiling on him familiarly, and saying: "My Creator, Whom I am recollecting, has innumerable servants here in my place of solitude, just as He has everywhere. I am not alone; loneliness has no meaning." Through his belief,

he receives pleasure from that familiarity. He understands the meaning of the happiness of life, and offers thanks to God.

THIRD ALLUSION

Sainthood is a proof of Divine Messengership; the Sufi path is a proof of the Shari'a. For the truths of belief which Messengership preaches, sainthood sees and confirms with a sort of witnessing of the heart and illumination of the spirit at the degree of 'the vision of certainty.' Its confirmation is a certain proof of the truth of Messengership. Through its illuminations and unfoldings, and through its being benefited from and effulgence being received from it, the Sufi path is a clear proof of the truths and the matters which the Shari'a teaches; that they are the truth and that they come from the truth. Yes, just as sainthood and the Sufi path are evidence and proof of Messengership and the Shari'a, so too they are a perfection of Islam and a means to its lights, and through Islam, a source of the progress and prosperity of humanity.

Despite the great importance of this vast mystery, certain deviant sects have denied it. They have been deprived of those lights, and they have caused others to be deprived. The most regretable thing is this: making a pretext certain abuses and faults they have seen among the followers of the Sufi path, some externalist scholars from among the Sunnis and some neglectful politicians who are also Sunnis are trying to close up that supreme treasury, indeed, to destroy it, and to dry up that source of Kawthar which distributes a sort of water of life. However, there are few things and ways and paths which are without fault and are altogether good. There are bound to be some faults and abuses. For if the uninitiated undertake a matter, they are sure to misuse it. But in accordance with the accounting of deeds in the hereafter, Almighty God shows His dominical justice through the weighing up of good deeds and bad deeds. That is to say, if good deeds preponderate and weigh heavier, He rewards them and accepts them; whereas if evil deeds preponderate, he punishes for them, and rejects them. The balancing of good and evil deeds looks not to quantity, but to quality. It sometimes happens that a single good deed will weigh heavier than a thousand evils, and cause them to be forgiven. Divine justice judges thus and reality too sees it to be true. Thus, the evidence that the good deeds of the Sufi path -that is, the Sufi paths within the bounds of the Practices of the Prophet- definitely preponderate over their evils is that those who follow them preserve their belief at the times they are attacked by the people of misguidance. A sincere ordinary follower of the Sufi path preserves himself better than a superficial, externalist person with a modern, scientific background. Through the

illumination of the Sufi path and the love of the saints, he saves his belief. If he commits grievous sins, he becomes a sinner, but not an unbeliever; he is not easily drawn into atheism. No power at all can refute in his view the chain of shaykhs he accepts, with a strong love and firm belief, to be spiritual poles. And because no power can refute it, his confidence in them cannot be destroyed. And so long as his confidence is not shaken, he cannot accept atheism. In the face of the stratagems of the atheists at the present time, it has become difficult for one who is not connected with the Sufi path and whose heart has not been brought to action, to preserve himself completely, even if he is a learned scholar.

There is another thing; the Sufi path may not be condemned because of the evils of certain ways which have adopted practices outside the bounds of taqwa, and even of Islam, and have wrongfully given themselves the name of Sufi paths. Quite apart from the important and elevated religious and spiritual results of the Sufi path and those that look to the hereafter, it is the Sufi paths which are the first and most effective and fervent means of expanding and developing brotherhood, a sacred bond within the World of Islam. They are also one of the three most important, unshakeable strongholds of Islam against the awesome attacks of the world of unbelief and the politics of Christendom. What preserved Istanbul, the centre of the Caliphate for five hundred and fifty years against the whole Christian world, were the lights of belief which poured out of five hundred places in Istanbul and the strength of belief of those who recited "Allah! Allah!" in the tekke s behind the big mosques, a firm point of support of the people of belief in that centre of Islam, and their spiritual love arising from knowledge of God, and their fervent murmurings.

O you unreasoning pseudo-patriots and false nationalists! Which of the evils of the Sufi paths can refute this good in the life of your society? You say!

FOURTH ALLUSION

Together with being very easy, the way of sainthood is very difficult. And together with being very short, it is very long. And in addition to being most valuable, it is very dangerous. And together with being very broad, it is very narrow. It is because of this that some of those who journey on the path sometimes drown, sometimes become harmful, and sometimes return and lead others away from the path.

In Short: There are two ways on the Sufi path, known by the terms of 'inner journeying' and 'outer journeying.'

The Inner Way starts from the self, and drawing the eyes away from the outer world, it looks at the heart. It pierces egotism, opens up a way from the heart, and finds reality. Then it enters the outer world. The outer world now looks luminous. It completes the journey quickly. The reality it sees in the inner world, it sees on a large scale in the outer world. Most of the paths which practise silent recollection take this way. The most important basis of this is to break the ego, give up desires of the flesh, and kill the evil-commanding soul.

The Second Way starts from the outer world; it gazes on the reflections of the Divine Names and attributes in their places of manifestation in that greater sphere, then it enters the inner world. It observes those lights on a small scale in the sphere of the heart and opens up the closest way in them. It sees that the heart is the mirror of the Eternally Besoughted One, and becomes united with the goal it was seeking.

Thus, if people who travel on the first way are not successful in killing the evil-commanding soul, and if they cannot give up desires of the flesh, and break the ego, they fall from the rank of thanks to that of pride, then from pride to conceit. If such a person experiences a captivation arising from love, and a sort of intoxication arising from the captivation, he will pour forth high-flown claims far exceeding his mark, called ecstatic utterances (shatahat). This is harmful both for himself and for others.

For example, if a lieutenant becomes conceited out of pleasure at his position of command, he will suppose himself to be a field marshal, and confuse his small sphere with the universal one. He will become the cause of a sun which appears in a small mirror being confused with the sun whose manifestation is seen in all its splendour on the surface of the sea, due to their similarity in one respect.

In just the same way, as with the degree of difference between a fly and a peacock, there are many people of sainthood who see themselves greater than those who in reality are greater than them to the same degree; they observe it thus, and consider themselves to be right. I myself even saw someone whose heart had just been awakened and had faintly perceived in himself the mystery of sainthood; he supposed himself to be the supreme spiritual pole and assumed airs accordingly. I said to him: "My brother, just as the law of sovereignty has particular and universal manifestations from the office of Prime Minister to that of District Officer, so sainthood and the rank of spiritual pole have varying spheres and manifestations. Each station has many shades and shadows. You have evidently seen the manifestation of the rank of supreme spiritual pole, the

equivalent of Prime Minister, in your own sphere, which is like that of a District Officer, and you have been deceived. What you saw was right, but your judgement of it was wrong. To a fly, a cup of water is a small sea." The person came to his senses, God willing, as a result of this answer of mine, and was saved from that abyss.

I have also seen many people who thought themselves to be a sort of Mahdi, and they said that they were going to be the Mahdi. These people are not liars and deceivers, they are deceived. They suppose what they see to be reality. As the Divine Names have manifestations from the sphere of the Sublime Throne down to an atom, and the places of manifestation differ in that relation, so the degrees of sainthood, which consist of manifesting the Names, differ in the same way. The most important reason for the confusion is this:

In some of the stations of the saints, the characteristics of the Mahdi's function are found, or there is a special relation with the Supreme Spiritual Pole, or with Khidr; there are certain stations which are connected with certain famous persons. In fact, the stations are called 'the station of Khidr,' 'the station of Uvays,' or 'the station of the Mahdi.' As a consequence of this, those who attain to these stations, or to minor samples or shadows of them, suppose themselves to be the famous persons related with the station. They suppose themselves to be Khidr, or the Mahdi, or the Supreme Spiritual Pole. If such a person has no ego which seeks rank or position, then he is not condemned to that state. His excessive high-flown claims are considered to be ecstatic utterances; he is probably not responsible for them. But if his ego is secretly set on acquiring rank and position, and if he defeated by his ego, and leaves off thanks and becomes proud, from there he will gradually fall into conceit, or else fall to the depths of madness, or deviate from the path of truth. For he reckons the great saints to be like himself and his good opinion of them is destroyed. Because however arrogant a soul is, it still perceives its own faults. Comparing those great saints with himself, he imagines them to be at fault. His respect towards the prophets even lessens.

It is necessary for those afflicted with this state to hold fast to the balance of the Shari'a, and take for themselves the rules of the scholars of the principles of religion, and to take as their guides the instructions of the authoritative scholars from among the saints like Imam Ghazali and Imam-i Rabbani. They should constantly accuse their own souls, and attribute nothing to their souls other than fault, impotence, and want. The ecstatic utterances in this way arise from love of self, because the eye of love sees no faults. Since such a person loves his self, he supposes that

faulty, unworthy fragment of glass to be a brilliant or a diamond. The most dangerous fault among these is this, that he imagines the partial meanings which occur to his heart in the form of inspiration to be "God's Word," and his calling them "verses." This is disrespect towards Revelation and its most holy and exalted degree. Yes, all the inspirations from the inspirations of bees and animals to those of ordinary people and the elite among men, and from the inspirations of ordinary angels to those of the sublime cherubim, are Divine words of a sort. But they are dominical speech in accordance with the capacity of the places of manifestation and their stations; they are the varying manifestations of dominical address shining through seventy thousand veils.

However, to signify such inspirations with the proper nouns, "Revelation" and "God's Word," and the word "verse," which is a noun proper to the stars of the Qur'an -the most evident exemplification of God's Word- is absolutely wrong. As is explained and proved in the Twelfth, Twenty-Fifth, and Thirty-First Words, whatever relation the tiny, dim, and obscure image of the sun which appears in the coloured mirror in your hand has with the sun in the sky, it is similar to the relation between the inspiration in the hearts of those making the above claims and the verses of the sun of the Qur'an, which is directly the Divine Word. Yes, if it said that the sun's images appearing in all mirrors are of the sun and are related to it, it would be right. But the globe of the earth cannot be attached to the mirrors of those tiny suns, and cannot be bound through their attraction!

FIFTH ALLUSION

Of the ways of the Sufi path, an extremely important one is 'the Unity of Witnessing,' which is called 'the Unity of Existence.' This way restricts the gaze to the existence of the Necessarily Existent, and sees other beings to be so weak and shadow-like in relation to the Necessarily Existent that it states that they are not worthy of the name of existence. Enveloping them in veils of imagination, it counts them as nothing in the station of 'abandoning all things other than God,' and even imagines them to be non-existent, going so far as relegating the manifestations of the Divine Names to the state of being mere imaginary mirrors.

A significant fact about this way is that through the existence of the Necessarily Existent One being unfolded to the degree of 'absolute certainty' through the strength of belief and unfolding of an elevated sainthood, the existence of contingent beings is so diminished that nothing remains in its view other than imagination and non-existence; it is as though it denies the universe on account of the Necessarily Existent One.

But this way holds dangers, the first of which is this: the pillars of belief are six. There are pillars like belief in the Last Day, in addition to belief in God, and these pillars require the existence of contingent beings. Those firmly-founded pillars of belief cannot be constructed on imagination! For this reason, when one who follows this way re-enters the world of sobriety from the worlds of ecstasy and intoxication, he should not bring that way together with him, and he should not act in accordance with it.

Furthermore, he should not change this way, which pertains to the heart and to illuminations and certain states, into a form which pertains to the reason, knowledge, and words. For the laws and principles pertaining to the reason, knowledge, and speech, which proceed from the Qur'an and the Sunna of the Prophet, cannot sustain that way; they cannot be applied. For this reason, this way is not to be seen explicitly in the Four Rightly-Guided Caliphs, the leading authorities and interpreters of the Law, and the authorities of the first generations of Islam. That means it is not the most elevated way. Perhaps it is elevated, but it is deficient. It is very important, but it is very perilous and difficult, yet still very pleasurable. Those who enter it for the pleasure, do not want to leave it; due to their self-centredness, they suppose it to be the highest degree. Since we have explained the basis and nature of this way to an extent in the treatise called Nokta Risalesi, and in some of the Words and the Letters, we shall suffice with them, and here describe an important abyss of that important way. It is as follows:

For the highest of the elite, who pass out of the sphere of causes and in accordance with renouncing everything other than God, sever their attachment to contingent beings and enter a state of absolute absorption in God, this way is a righteous way. But, to present it as intellectual knowledge to those who are submerged in causes, enamoured of the world, and plunged into materialist philosophy and Nature, is to drown them in Nature and materiality and to distance them from the reality of Islam. For one who is enamoured of the world and attached to the sphere of causes wants to attribute a sort of permanence to this transitory world. He does not want to lose his beloved, the world; through the pretext of the Unity of Existence, he imagines it to have a permanent existence; on account of the world, his beloved, and through ascribing permanence and eternity to it, he raises his beloved to being an object of worship; and, I seek refuge with God, this opens up the way to the abyss of denying God.

This century, materialism is so widespread, materiality is thought to

be the source of everything. If in such an age, the elite believers consider materiality to be so unimportant as to be non-existent, thus furthering the way of the Unity of Existence, the materialists will lay claim to it, saying: "We say the same thing." Whereas, among all the ways in the world, the way furthest from that of the materialists and Nature-worshippers, is the way of the Unity of Existence. For the followers of the Unity of Existence attach so much importance, through their belief, to the Divine existence that they deny the universe and beings. Whereas the materialists attach so much importance to beings that on account of the universe they deny God. How can the two come together or be compared?

SIXTH ALLUSION

This consists of Three Points.

Among the ways of sainthood, the finest, straightest, richest, and modt brilliant is following the Practices of the Prophet (PBUH), That is, think of the Practices in acts and deeds, and to follow and imitate them, and in conduct and dealings whit others, to think of the rulings of the Shari'a and take them as guide.

By means of folowing them in this way, together with daily conduct and dealings and natural acts becoming worship, by thinking of the Practices and Shari'a for all actions, it recalls the injunctions of of the Shari'a. This causes a person to think of then owner of the Shari'a. By thinking of him, it brings to mind Almighty God, and that affords a sort of sense of His presensce. This may take all the moments of a person's life like worship in the Divine presence. Thus, this great highway is the highway of the Companions and the righteous of the first generations of Islam, who received the legacy of prophethood, the 'greater sainthood.'

The most important basis of the ways of sainthood and the branchers of the Sufi path is sincerity, for salvation from the hidden association of partners with god is through sincerity. One who does nor obtain sincerity cannot travel those ways. The most powerful force of those ways if love. Yes, love does not seek pretexts for its beloved and does not wish to see its faults. And it sees frail signs to its beloved's perfection as powerful proofs. It always takes the part of its beloved.

It is because of this that those who are turned towards knowledge, of god with the feet of love, do not give ear to doubts and objections; they are saved easily. If even a thousand satans were to gather, they could not did negate in their view a hint to the perfectionnof their true beloved. If they did not love, then they would struggle despratelyin the face of their souls and Satan and the objections of the outside satans. They would

have to possess an heroic fortitude and strength of belief and attentive gaze in order to save themselves.

It is because of this that in all the degrees of sainhood, the love arising from knowledge of God is the most important leaven and elixir. But love contains an abyss, which is this: it jumps from beseeching and selfeffacement, which are the essence of worship, to complaint and claims and to imbalnced action. By passing from the signified meaning of things to their literal meaning when reparding things other than God, while begin the cure, it becomes poison. That is to say, although when loving things other than god, it is necessary for a person to bind his heart for God's sake and in His name and due to their being mirrors of His Names, sometimes he thinks of the objects of his love on account of objects themselves, and their personal perfections and in the name of their essential beauty; he loves them for themselves. Even if he does not a think of God and His Messenger, he still loves them. This love is not a means to love of God; it is a veil to it. Whereas if he loves the persons for the meaning they signify, it is the means to love of God; indeed, it mat be said to be manifestation of it.

This world is the realm of wisdom, the realm of service; it is not the realm of reward and recompense. The wage for deeds and acts of service here is given in the Intermediate Realm and the hereafter. Acts here produce fruits in the Intermediate Realm and the hereafter. Since the reality is this, the results of actions pertaining of the hereafter should not be sought in this world. If they are given, they should be received not gratefully, but regretfully. Because since in Paradise the more its fruits are picket the more they are produced, to eat in this world in transient fashion the fruits of actions pertaining to the hereafter, which are lasting, is not sensible. It is like exchanging a permanent lamp for one that will last a minute and then be extinguished.

It is because of this that the people of sainthood consider service, difficulty, misfortune, and hardship to be agreeable, and they do not complain and lament, but say: "All praise be to god for all conditions!" When illuminations and wonders, unfoldings and lights are given them, they accept them as sorts of Divine favour, and try to conceal them. They do not become proud, but offer more thanks and worship. Many of them have wanted those states of be concealed of to cease, lest they spoil the sincerity of their actions. Yes, the most important Divine favour for am acceptable person to make them realize His favour, so that they do mot cease beseeching and offering thanks, and start complaining and become proud.

It is due to this truth that if those who seek sainthood and the Sufi path do so for illuminations and wonders, which are some of the emanations of sainthood, and they are turned towards those and receive pleasure from them, they as though consume in transient fashion in this transient world the enduring fruits of the hereafter. This too opens up the way to losing sincerity, the leaven of sainthood, and to sainthood eluding them.

SEVENTH ALLUSION

This consists of Four points.

The Shari'a is directly, without shadow or veil, the result of the Divine address, through the mystery of Divine Oneness in respect of absolute dominicality. The highest degrees of the Sufi path and of reality are like parts of the Shari'a. Or they are always like the means, introduction, and servant. Their results are the incontrovertible matters of the Shari'a. That is to say, the ways of the Sufi path and of reality are like means, servants, and steps for reaching the truths of the Shari'a, till at the highest level they are transformed into the meaning of reality and essence of the Sufi way, which are at the heart of the Shari'a. So then they become parts of the Greater Shari'a. So it is not right to think of the Shari'a as an outer shell, and reality as its inner part and result and aim, as some Sufis do. Yes, the Shari'a unfolds according to the levels of men. It is wrong to suppose what the mass of people imagine is the external aspect of the Shari'a to be its reality, and to give the name of 'reality' and 'Sufi path' to the degrees of the Shari'a which are unfolded to the elite. The Shari'a has degrees which look to all classes.

It is as a consequence of this that the further the Sufis and those who seek reality advance, their longing for the truths of the Shari'a and captivation by them, and their following them, increase. Considering the smallest aspect of the Practices of the Prophet to be their greatest aim, they work to follow them and imitate them. For to whatever degree Revelation is higher than inspiration, the conduct of the Shari'a, which is the fruit of Revelation, is that much higher and more important than the conduct of the Sufi path, the fruit of inspiration. Therefore, following the Practices of the Prophet is the most important basis of the Sufi path.

The Sufi path and way of reality should not exceed being means. If they become like the ultimate aim, then the incontrovertible teachings and actions of the Shari'a and following the Practices of the Prophet become as though official, while the heart is turned beyond them. That is to say, such a person thinks of his circle for the remembrance of God rather than the obligatory prayers; he is drawn

more to his recitations and supplications than to his religious obligations; he is more concerned with avoiding offending against the rules of behaviour of the Sufi path more than avoiding grievous sins. Whereas the recitations of the Sufi path cannot be the equivalent of the obligatory acts which are the incontestible matters of the Shari'a; they cannot take their place. The rules of behaviour of the Sufi path and the invocations of Sufism should be a solace and means to true pleasure within those obligatory acts, not themselves be the source. That is, his tekke should be the means to the pleasure and correct performance of the five daily prayers in the mosque; one who hurriedly performs the prayers in the mosque as a formality and thinks he will find his true pleasure and perfection in the tekke, is drawing away from reality.

It is sometimes asked: "Can there be any Sufi path outside the Practices of the Prophet and matters of the Shari'a?"

There are, and there are not. There are, because some of the highest saints were executed by the sword of the Shari'a. And there are not, because the authoritative scholars among the saints have agreed on this rule of Sa'di-i Shirazi: «It is impossible, Sa'di, to be victorious on the way of felicity, except by following the Chosen One.» That is, it is impossible for one outside the highway of God's Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who does not follow him, to attain the true lights of reality. The true meaning of this matter is this:

Since God's Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) was the Seal of the Prophets and was the addressee of God in the name of all mankind, mankind cannot advance outside his highway; it is essential to be under his banner. But since ecstatics and those immersed in Divine contemplation are not responsible for their opposition; and since in man are certain subtle faculties which cannot be bound by obligation, and when such faculties dominate, a person cannot be held responsible for opposing the obligations of the Shari'a; and since in man there are certain subtle faculties which just as they cannot be bound by obligation, they are also not under the jurisdiction of the will, and also cannot be controlled by the mind, for they do not heed the heart or the mind; certainly, when those faculties dominate in a person, -but only at that time- he does not fall from the position of sainthood by opposing the Shari'a, he is considered excused. On condition, however, that he displays no denial, insult, or contempt towards the truths of the Shari'a and rules of belief. Even if he does not carry out the injunctions, he has to know that they are right. But if he is overcome by that state and assumes a position, I seek refuge with God, which infers denial and giving the lie to those incontestible truths, it is the sign that he has fallen from the path!

There are two groups of those who follow the Sufi path outside the bounds of the Shari'a.

As described above, these are either overwhelmed by their state, their immersion, their ecstasy or intoxication, or they are dominated by certain of their subtle faculties which do not heed the commands of religion or do not listen to the will, and so exceed the bounds of the Shari'a. But this is not due to their disliking the rulings of the Shari'a or not wanting to follow them; they are rather compelled to, involuntarily. There are people of sainthood among this group, among whom have been temporarily found important saints. Scholars from among the saints have stated even that some of these have been not only outside the bounds of the Shari'a, but outside the bounds of Islam. But they are people of sainthood on this condition, that they have not denied any of the injunctions Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) brought. They rather do not think of them, or cannot keep them in view, or are not aware of them. It is not acceptable for them not to accept them if they are aware of them.

As for the Second Group,

these are carried away by the brilliant pleasures of the Sufi path and way of reality, and since they cannot attain to the pleasures of the truths of the Shari'a, which are far more elevated, they suppose them to be dull formalities and are indifferent towards them. They gradually accept the idea that the Shari'a is an external shell, and that the reality they have found is the basis and essential goal. They say: "I have found it; it is enough for me," and act in a way contrary to the injunctions of the Shari'a. Those from this group who are in their right minds are responsible; they stray from the path, indeed, become the playthings of Satan to an extent.

Some persons from the divisions of the people of misguidance and innovation are found acceptable by the Muslim community, while others, just like them with no apparent difference, are rejected. I always wondered at this. For example, although someone like Zamakhshari was one of the most bigoted members of the Mu'tazila sect, the Sunni scholars did not declare him to be an unbeliever or misguided in the face of his severe objections; they rather searched for a way to save him. But then they considered that Mu'tazila authorities like Abu 'Ali Jubba'i, whose bigotry was far less strong than Zamakhshari's, should be rejected and refuted. I was curious about this for a long time. Then through Divine favour I understood that Zamakhshari's objections concerning the Sunnis arose from the love of truth of his way, which he considered to be right. That is to say, for example, the reason for declaring God to be free of all

fault and deficiency is because in his view, animals create their own actions. Therefore, because of his love of declaring God free of all fault, he did not accept the principles of the Sunnis concerning the creation of actions. Whereas, rather than love of the truth, the other Mu'tazila authorities were rejected because their inadequate intelligences could not aspire to the elevated principles of the Sunnis and they could not situate the Sunni's extensive laws within their own narrow ideas, and therefore denied them. In just the same way that the Mu'tazila opposed the Sunnis in theology, the opposition of some of those who follow the Sufi path outside the Practices of the Prophet is also of two kinds:

Like Zamakhshari, out of love for their way or state, they remain somewhat indifferent towards the conduct of the Shari'a, because they cannot attain the same degree of pleasure.

God forbid! They look on the conduct of the Shari'a as unimportant in relation to the principles of the Sufi path. For their narrow understanding cannot comprehend those broad pleasures, and their short stations cannot attain to that elevated conduct.

EIGHTH ALLUSION

This describes Eight Abysses.

Some of those who embark on spiritual journeying do not conform completely to the Practices of the Prophet (PBUH), and fall into the abyss of preferring sainthood to prophethood. It is proved in the Twenty-Fourth and Thirty-First Words how elevated is prophethood, and how dull sainthood is in relation to it.

Some of those who follow the Sufi path fall into the abyss of preferring extremist saints to the Companions of the Prophet. It is proved decisively in the Twelfth and Twenty-Seventh Words and in the Addendum on the Companions, that the Companions acquired such qualities through conversation with the Prophet (PBUH) that it cannot be attained to through sainthood, and the Companions cannot be surpassed, and that the saints can never reach the degree of the Companions.

Some of those who are excessively bigoted concerning the Sufi path oppose the Practices of the Prophet and give them up because of their preference for the customs, conduct, and recitations of the Sufi way, which they do not give up. In this way, they become slack in practising the conduct of the Shari'a, and fall into that abyss.

As is proved in many of the Words, and as leading scholars of the Sufi path like Imam Ghazali and Imam-i Rabbani said: "The degree of acceptance

gained by following a single of the Practices of the Prophet (PBUH) cannot be won by means of a hundred personal practices and private acts of worship. And just as a single obligatory act is superior to a thousand acts taken from the Practices of the Prophet, a single of those Practices is superior to a thousand practices of Sufism."

Some extremist Sufis suppose inspiration to be like Revelation, and of similar kind to Revelation, and fall into an abyss. It has been proved most definitely in the Twelfth Word and in the Twenty-Fifth Word on the Miraculousness of the Qur'an, how elevated, universal, and sacred is Revelation, and how insignificant and dull inspirations are in relation to it.

Some Sufis who do not understand the essence of the Sufi path, in order to strengthen the weak, encourage the slack, and to lighten the hardships and weariness arising from strenuous service, find the lights, illuminations, and wonders, which are not sought but given, to be pleasurable, and they become captivated by them and fall into the abyss of preferring them to worship, acts of service, and reciting of supplications. It is mentioned briefly in the Third Point of the Sixth Allusion in the present treatise and proved decisively in others of the Words that this world is the realm of service, not the realm of reward. For those who seek their recompense here, together with transforming enduring, perpetual fruits into a transitory and temporary form, permanence in this world is pleasing and they do not yearn for the Intermediate Realm; quite simply, they love the life of this world in one respect, for they find a sort of hereafter within it.

Some of those who embark on spiritual journeying fall into an abyss by confusing the shades and shadows and partial samples of the stations of sainthood with the fundamental, universal stations. As is proved clearly in the Second Branch of the Twenty-Fourth Word and in others of the Words, the sun becomes numerous by means of mirrors and thousands of similitudes of the sun possess light and heat like the sun itself, despite being very weak in relation to the actual sun. In exactly the same way, the stations of the prophets and of the great saints possess shades and shadows. Those who journey with the spirit enter these, and see themselves as greater than those great saints, or even to have advanced further than the prophets, thus falling into an abyss. However, the way to avoid falling into all these abysses is to always take the principles of belief and fundamentals of the Shari'a as the basis and the guide, and to consider to be opposed to them the illuminations or what is witnessed.

Some of the people of illumination and ecstasy fall into the abyss in their spiritual journeyings of preferring pride, complaint, ecstatic utterances, public regard, and being a place of recourse to offering thanks and supplication, beseeching Almighty God, and self-sufficiency. Whereas the highest degree is Muhammadan worship, which is termed 'belovedness.' While the basis and essence of worship is to manifest the perfection of that reality by reason of supplicating and beseeching Almighty God, showing deep humility before Him, offering thanks, through impotence and want, and through self-sufficiency before the people. Some of the great saints have involuntarily and temporarily become proud, complained, and made ecstatic utterances, but they may not be voluntarily followed on such points; they are rightly-guided but not the guide; their way may not be taken!

Some of those who journey spiritually who are self-centered and precipitate want to consume in this world the fruits of sainthood, which will be received in the hereafter, and fall into an abyss through seeking them on their spiritual journeyings. But, as verses like,

But the life of this world is but goods and chattels {[*]:}

proclaim, and as is proved decisively in many of the Words, a single fruit in the realm of eternity is superior to a thousand gardens in this fleeting world. For this reason, those blessed fruits should not be consumed here. If without being wanted they are given to eat here, they should be thanked for, and considered to be Divine favours bestowed, not as reward, but for encouragement.

NINTH ALLUSION

Here we shall describe briefly Nine out of the truly numerous fruits and benefits of the Sufi path.

The First is the unfolding and clarification, by means of Sufi paths which are on the straight way, of the truths of belief, which are the keys, sources, and springs of the eternal treasuries in everlasting happiness; it is their manifestation at the degree of 'the vision of certainty.'

The Second: Through the Sufi path being a means of working the heart, the mainspring of the human machine, and causing the heart to stir into motion the other subtle faculties, it is to drive them to fulfil the purposes of their creation, and thus to making man into a true human being.

The Third: On the journey to the Intermediate Realm and the hereafter, it is to join one of the chains of the Sufi paths, and to be a companion in such a luminous caravan on the road to eternity, and to be saved from the desolation of loneliness, and to find familiarity with them in this world and in the Intermediate Realm; and relying on their consensus and accord in the face of the attacks of doubts and fears, and seeing each of their masters as a powerful support and proof, it is to repulse through them those doubts and instances of misguidance.

The Fourth is to understand by means of the pure Sufi way the knowledge of God to be found in belief in God, and the pleasure of love of God within the knowledge of God, and by so understanding, to be saved from the absolute desolation of this world and man's absolute exile in the universe. We have proved in many of the Words that the happiness of both worlds, and pain-free pleasure, and familiarity without loneliness, and true pleasure, and untroubled happiness are all to be found in the reality of belief and Islam. As explained in the Second Word, belief bears the seed of a Tuba-tree of Paradise. It is through the training and nurturing of the Sufi path that the seed grows and develops.

The Fifth is to perceive through an awakening of the heart resulting from the Sufi path and remembrance of God, the subtle truths contained in the obligations of the Shari'a, and to appreciate them. Then one obeys and performs his worship, not under compulsion, but with longing.

The Sixth is to rise to the station of reliance on God and rank of submission to Him and to gain His pleasure, which are the means to true pleasure, real solace, painfree pleasure, and familiarity without loneliness.

The Seventh is, through sincerity, the most important condition for travelling the Sufi way and its most important result, to be delivered from base qualities like the hidden associating of partners with God, hypocrisy, and artificiality. And it is to be saved by means of the purification of the soul, which is like the surgical operation of the Sufi path, from the dangers of the evil-commanding soul and the perils of egotism.

The Eighth: By means of the regard, sense of the Divine presence, and powerful intentions which are gained through the remembrance of God with the heart and reflective thought of the mind on the Sufi path, it is to transform customary actions into worship and make mundane dealings into actions for the hereafter. And through utilizing the capital of life, it is to make all its minutes into seeds which will produce the shoots of eternal happiness.

The Ninth is to work to be a perfect human being through journeying with the heart and striving with the spirit and spiritual progress; that is to say, to be a true believer and total Muslim; that is, to gain not superficial belief, but the reality of belief and the reality of Islam; that is, to be directly the slave of the Glorious Creator of the Universe, in the universe and in one respect as the universe's representative, and to be His addressee, and His friend, and His beloved, and to be a mirror to Him; and through showing man to be on the best of patterns, it is to prove man's superiority over the angels. It is to fly through the lofty stations with the wings of belief and actions of the Shari'a, and to look on eternal happiness in this world, and even to enter that happiness.

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise! {[*]:}

O God! Grant blessings and peace to the Supreme Help in every age and the Sublime Spiritual Pole at all times, our master Muhammad, the magnificence of whose sainthood was manifested in his Ascension, as was the station of his being the beloved of God, and under the shadow of whose Ascension are included all sainthoods, and to all his Family and Companions. Amen. And all praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds.

Addendum

[This short Addendum has great importance; it is beneficial for everyone.]

The ways leading to Almighty God are truly numerous. While all true ways are taken from the Qur'an, some are shorter, safer, and more general than others. Of these ways taken from the Qur'an is that of impotence, poverty, compassion, and reflection, from which, with my defective understanding, I have benefited.

Indeed, like ecstatic love, impotence is a path which, by way of worship, leads to winning God's love; but it is safer. Poverty too leads to the Divine Name of All-Merciful. And, like ecstatic love, compassion leads to the Name of All-Compassionate, but it is a swifter and broader path. Also like ecstatic love, reflection leads to the Name of All-Wise, but it is richer, broader, and more brilliant path. This path consists not of ten steps like the 'ten subtle faculties' of some of the Sufi paths employing silent recollection, nor of seven stages like the 'seven souls' of those practising public recitation, but of Four Steps. It is reality (haqiqat), rather than a Sufi way (tariqat). It is Shari'a.

However, let it not be misunderstood. It means to see one's impotence, poverty and faults before Almighty God, not to fabricate them or display them to people. The method of this short path is to follow the Practices of the Prophet (PBUH), perform the religious obligations and give up serious sins. And it is especially to perform the prescribed prayers correctly and with attention, and following them to say the tesbihat.

The verse, Therefore, do not justify yourselves, {[*]:} points to the First Step.

The verse, And be not like those who forget God, and He therefore makes them forget their own selves, {[*]:} points to the Second Step.

The verse, Whatever good happens to you is from God, but whatever evil befalls you is from yourself, {[*]:} points to the Third Step.

The verse, Everything will perish save His countenance, {[*]:} points to the Fourth Step.

A brief explanation of these Four Steps is as follows:

THE FIRST STEP

As the verse,

Therefore, do not justify yourselves

suggests, it is to not purify the soul. For on account of his nature and innate disposition, man loves himself. Indeed, he loves himself before anything else, and only himself. He sacrifices everything other than himself to his own soul. He praises himself in a manner befitting some object worthy of worship. He absolves and exonerates himself from faults in the same way. As far as he possibly can, he does not see faults as being appropriate for him, and does not accept them. He defends himself passionately as though worshipping himself. Even, using on himself the members and faculties given him as part of his nature in order to praise and glorify the True Object of Worship, he displays the meaning of the verse,

Who takes as his god his own desires. {[*]:}

He considers himself, he relies on himself, he fancies himself. Thus, his purification and cleansing at this stage, in this step, is to not purify himself; it is not to absolve himself.

THE SECOND STEP

As the verse,

And be not like those who forget God, and He therefore makes them forget their own selves

teaches, man is oblivious of himself, and is not aware of himself. If he thinks of death, it is in relation to others. If he sees transience and

decline, he does not attribute them to himself. His evil-commanding soul demands that when it comes to inconvenience and service of others, he forgets himself, but when it comes to receiving his recompense, and to benefits and enjoyment, he thinks of himself, and takes his own part fervently. His purification, cleansing, and training at this stage is the reverse of this state. That is to say, when oblivious of himself, it is not to be oblivious. That is, to forget himself when it comes to pleasure, and ambition and greed, and to think of himself when it comes to death and service of others.

THE THIRD STEP

As the verse,

Whatever good happens to you is from God, but whatever evil befalls you is from yourself

teaches, the nature of the evil-commanding soul demands that it always considers goodness to be from itself and it becomes vain and conceited. Thus, in this Step, a person sees only faults, defects, impotence, and poverty in himself, and understands that all his good qualities and perfections are bounties bestowed on him by the All-Glorious Creator. He gives thanks instead of being conceited, and offers praise instead of boasting. According to the meaning of the verse,

Truly he succeeds who purifies it, {[*]:}

his purification at this stage is to know his perfection to lie in imperfection, his power in impotence, and his wealth in poverty.

THE FOURTH STEP

As the verse,

Everything will perish save His countenance

teaches, the evil-commanding soul considers itself to be free and independent and to exist of itself. Because of this, man claims to possess a sort of dominicality. He harbours a hostile rebelliousness towards his True Object of Worship. Thus, through understanding the following fact, he is saved from this. The fact is this:

According to the apparent meaning of things, which looks to each thing itself, everything is transitory, wanting, accidental, non-existent. But according to the meaning that signifies something other than itself and in respect of each thing being a mirror to the All-Glorious Maker's Names and charged with various duties, each is a witness, it is witnessed, it gives existence,

and it is existent. The purification and cleansing of a person at this stage is as follows:

In his existence he is non-existent, and in his non-existence he has existence. That is to say, if he values himself and attributes existence to himself, he is in a darkness of non-existence as great as the universe. That is, if he relies on his individual existence and is unmindful of the True Giver of Existence, he has an individual light of existence like that of a fire-fly and is submerged in an endless darkness of non-existence and separation. But if he gives up egotism and sees that he is a mirror of the manifestations of the True Giver of Existence, he gains all beings and an infinite existence. For he who finds the Necessary Existent One, the manifestation of Whose Names all beings manifest, finds everything.

The Four Steps in this way of impotence, poverty, compassion, and reflection have been explained in the twenty-six Words so far written, {[*]:} which are concerned with knowledge of reality, the reality of the Shari'a, and the wisdom of the Qur'an. So here, we shall allude briefly to only one or two points, as follows:

Indeed, this path is shorter, because it consists of four steps. When impotence removes the hand from the soul, it gives it directly to the All-Powerful One of Glory. Whereas, when the way of ecstatic love, the swiftest way, takes the hand away from the soul, it attaches it to the metaphorical beloved. Only after the beloved is found to be impermanent does it go to the True Beloved.

Also, this path is much safer, because the ravings and high-flown claims of the soul are not present on it. For, apart from impotence, poverty, and defect, the soul possesses nothing so that it oversteps its mark.

Also, this path is much broader and more universal. For, in order to attain to a constant awareness of God's presence, a person is not compelled to imagine the universe to be condemned to non-existence and to declare: "There is no existent but He," like those who believe in 'the Unity of Existence,' nor to suppose the universe to be condemned to imprisonment in absolute oblivion and to say, "There is nothing witnessed but He," like those who believe in 'the Unity of Witnessing.'

Rather, since the Qur'an has most explicitly pardoned the universe and released it from execution and imprisonment, one on this path disregards the above, and dismissing beings from working on their own account and employing them on account of the All-Glorious Creator, and in the duty of manifesting the Most Beautiful Names and being mirrors to them, he considers them from the point of view of signifying something other than themselves; and being saved from absolute heedlessness, he enters the Divine presence permanently; he finds a way leading to the Almighty God in everything.

Dismissing beings from working on account of other beings, this way is to not look at them as signifying themselves.

Seeds of Reality

[This consists of aphorisms taken from a collection published thirty-five years ago called Seeds of Reality]

For some time now, my uncle considers matters with the heart alone, rather than with the intellect. If something is imparted to his heart clearly, he gets me to write it down. He says: "Knowledge is that which may be established in the heart. If it is only in the intellect, it lacks value for man." And he says: "These matters are not only scholarly rules, but certain principles of mine pertaining to the heart which I have taken as fundamental to my conscience." He told me to choose those I wanted from his "inspirations of the heart," and I have shown the works from which I have selected these aphorisms: Nokta min Nuri Ma'rifeti'llah; Isharat al-I'jaz; Sunûhat; Shua'âtu Ma'rifeti'n-Nebi; Rumûz; Tulu'at; Muhâkemat; Münâzarat; Ishârât; Qizil Ijaz. {[*]:}

Compiler, his nephew, Abdurrahman

(Istanbul 1336/1920)

1. The prescription for a sick age, an ailing nation, an ill member, is to follow the Qur'an.

2. The prescription for a glorious though unfortunate continent, an illustrious though hapless state, a noble though ownerless people, is Islamic Unity.

3. One who does not have the strength to raise and turn the earth and all the stars and suns as though they were beads of a tesbih cannot lay claim to creating anything in the universe. For everything is tied to everything else.

4. The raising to life of all animate beings at the resurrection of the dead can be no more difficult for Divine Power than restoring to life a fly in the spring, heavy with the death-stained sleep of winter. For Pre-Eternal Power is essential; it does not change; impotence cannot penetrate it; obstacles cannot intervene in it; there can be no degrees in it; everything is the same in relation to it.

5. He who created the eye of the mosquito is the one who created the sun.

6. The one who ordered the stomach of a flea is also the one who ordered the solar system.

7. There is such miraculousness in the universe's compilation that if to suppose the impossible all natural causes possessed will and the power to act, they would still prostrate in utter impotence before such miraculousness, exclaiming: "Glory be unto You! We have no power; indeed You are the Mighty, the Wise!"

8. An actual effect has not been given to causes, for Divine Unity and Glory require it to be thus. Only, in the outer aspect of things, causes are a veil to the Hand of Power; and this, Divine Dignity and Grandeur require, so that in the superficial view the Hand of Power should not be seen to be directly in contact with lowly things.

9. The inner dimensions of things, where Divine Power has its connection, are transparent and pure.

10. The Manifest World is a lace veil strewn over the Worlds of the Unseen.

11. An infinite power sufficient to create all the universe is necessary to create a single point and set it in its place. For every letter of this Mighty Book of the Universe, and particularly all its living letters, has a face looking to all the sentences, and an eye that beholds them.

12. It is well-known: they all looked for the crescent moon of the 'Id, but no one could see it. An elderly man swore he had seen it. But what he had seen was not the crescent moon; it was a curved white eyelash. What is an eyelash compared with the moon?... What is the motion of minute particles compared with the one who fashions all beings?

13. Nature resembles a printing-press, not the printer. It is an embroidery, not the Embroiderer. It is passive, not active. It is a pattern, not a source. It is an order, and not the Orderer. It is a law, not a Power. It is a code of laws proceeding from a will, not an external reality.

14. The lure and attraction in the conscience, which is the essential nature of conscious beings, is felt through the appeal of a drawing truth.

15. The essential nature of beings does not lie. The inclination to grow in a seed declares: "I shall sprout and produce fruit!" It speaks the truth. In an egg is the desire for life; it says: "I shall be a hen!," and this comes about, with Divine permission. It speaks the truth. Due to the inclination to freeze, a handful of water says: "I shall take up more space!," and unyielding iron cannot give it the lie; the rightness of its words splits the iron. These inclinations are the manifestations of the creative commands proceeding from Divine Will.

16. Pre-Eternal Power, which does not leave ants without a prince, or bees without a queen, certainly does not leave mankind without prophets. As the Splitting of the Moon was a miracle of Muhammad (PBUH) for men in the Manifest World, so the Ascension was a supreme miracle of His before the angels and spirit beings in the World of the Inner Dimensions of Things. Through this clear wonder, the sainthood of his prophethood was proved, and like lightening or the moon, that shining Being scattered light through those inner worlds.

17. The two phrases of the confession of faith testify to each other. The first is 'the proof of cause to effect' of the second, while the second is 'the proof of effect to cause' of the first.

18. Life is a sort of manifestation of Unity within multiplicity, and therefore leads to unity. Life makes one thing the owner of everything.

19. Spirit is a law possessing external existence, a conscious law. Like the stable and enduring laws of creation, spirit comes from the World of the Divine Command and the attribute of Will. Divine Power clothes it an existence decked out with senses. He makes a subtle, flowing being the shell to that jewel. Existent spirit is the brother of the conceivable law. They are both enduring and come from the World of the Divine Command. If Pre-Eternal Power had clothed the laws governing in the species of beings in external existence, they would have been spirits. And if the spirit banishes consciousness, it still would be an undying law.

20. Beings are visible through light, and their existence is known through life. Both are revealers.

21. Christianity will either erupt, or being purified, will lay down its arms before Islam. Christianity was split apart several times, and Protestantism emerged. Then Protestantism was rent, and approached the true affirmation of Divine Unity. It is preparing to be rent again. It will either erupt and be extinguished, or it will see before it the truths of Islam, which encompass the basis of true Christianity, and it will lay down its arms.

The Prophet Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) alluded to this great mystery when he said: "Jesus will appear having descended from the skies; he will be of my community and will act in accordance with my Shari'a."

22. It is the sacredness of the authority more than proof that drives the mass of the people to conform.

23. The essentials and incontestable matters of religion, which form ninety-nine per cent, are each diamond pillars, while the controversial matters which are open to interpretation form only ten per cent. Ninety diamond pillars may not be put under the protection of ten gold pillars. Books and interpretations should be telescopes for observing the Qur'an; they should be mirrors; not shadows or deputies!

24. Anyone who is capable may make interpretations of the Law for his own self; but he cannot make the Law.

25. Calling others to accept an idea is dependent on acceptance by the 'Ulama; otherwise it is innovation, and should be rejected.

26. Since by nature man is noble, he seeks the truth. Sometimes he encounters the false, but supposing it to be the truth preserves it in his

heart. Then, when delving into reality, without his willing it, misguidance strikes him on the head; supposing it to be reality, he plunges his head into it.

27. Divine Power has many mirrors, each more subtle and transparent than the last; they vary from water to air, and air to ether, and ether to the World of Similitudes; from the World of Similitudes to the World of Spirits, and even to time, and to thought. A single word in the mirror of the air becomes millions of words. The Pen of Power writes this mystery of reproduction in truly wondrous manner. The reflection contains either its identity or its identity together with its nature. The images of dense beings are moving but dead. While the images of a luminous spirit in their own mirrors are living and linked with it; even if they are not identical, they are not other than it.

28. Since the sun shakes itself in its axial rotation, its fruits do not fall; whereas if it did not shake itself, the planets would fall and be scattered.

29. If the light of thought is not illuminated with the light of the heart and blended with it, it is darkness and breeds tyranny. If the white of the eye, which resembles day, was not together with its black pupil, which resembles night, the eye would not be the eye; it would be unseeing. Similarly, if the black core of the heart is not present in white thought, it lacks insight.

30. If knowledge lacks the insight of the heart, it is ignorance. Taking the part of something is one thing, belief is something else.

31. Embroidering meaningless things is to mislead simple minds.

32. A learned guide should be a sheep, not a bird. A sheep gives its lamb milk, while a bird gives its chick regurgitated food.

33. The existence of something is dependent on the existence of all its parts. As for non-existence, since it occurs though non-existence of one part, a weak man supports destruction in order to demonstrate his power; he acts negatively instead of positively.

34. If the laws of government are not combined with the principles of wisdom, and the bonds of force not combined with the laws of truth, they will not be fruitful among the mass of the people.

35. Tyranny has donned the hat of justice; treachery has clothed itself in the garment of patriotism; jihad has been given the name of rebellion; captivity has been called freedom! Opposites have exchanged forms!

36. Politics which revolves around benefit is savagery.

37. To show friendliness towards a hungry beast does not excite its compassion, but its hunger. Both its fangs and its claws will want their rent!

38. Time has shown that Paradise is not cheap, and neither is Hell unnecessary.

39. While the virtues of those known by the world as the upper classes should be the cause of modesty and humility, they have lead to oppression and arrogance. And while the poverty and powerlessness of the poor and common people should be the cause of compassion and bounty, they have resulted in captivity and condemnation.

40. So long as honour and good things are to be obtained from a thing, they offer it to the upper classes, but if it is a bad thing, they divide it among the ordinary people.

41. If there is no imagined goal, or if it is forgotten or pretended to be forgotten, thoughts perpetually revolve around the 'I'.

42. The origin of all revolutions and corruption, and the spur and source of all base morals are just two sayings:

"So long as I'm full, what is it to me if others die of hunger?"

"You suffer hardship so that I can live in ease; you work so that I can eat."

There is only one remedy for extirpating the First Saying, and that is the obligatory payment of zakat. While the remedy for the Second is the prohibition of usury and interest. Qur'anic justice stands at the door of the world and says to usury and interest: "No entry! It is forbidden! You don't have the right to enter here!" Mankind did not heed the command, and received a severe blow. So it must heed it before it receives one even more severe!

43. War between nations and states is relinquishing its place to war between the classes of mankind. For just as man does not want to be a slave, so he does not want to be a labourer.

44. Someone who follows his goal by an illicit path is usually punished by receiving the opposite of what he intended. The recompense for illicit love, like love for Europe, is the cruel enmity of the beloved.

45. The past and calamities should be considered with regard to Divine Determining, while the future and sins from the point of view of responsibility before God. The Jabariyya and Mu'tazila are reconciled on this point

46. Impotence should not be resorted to in things for which a solution may be found, while for things for which there is no solution, punishment should not be resorted to.

47. The wounds of life may be healed. But Islamic pride and honour, and national pride, their wounds are extremely deep.

48. It sometimes happens that a single word causes an army to perish, and one bullet leads to the annihilation of thirty million. {(*):} Some conditions are such that a small act raises man to the highest of the high, while others are such that a small action reduces him to the lowest of the low.

49. One grain of truth consumes a stack of lies. One grain of reality is superior to a stack of illusions. Everything you say should be true, but it is not right to say everything true.

50. A person who sees the good in things has good thoughts. And he who has good thoughts receives pleasure from life.

51. What gives life to people is hope, while what kills them is despair.

52. Since early days, this Islamic state took on itself the upholding of the Word of God, the maintenance of independence, and jihad for Islam, an obligation which if undertaken by part of the community, released the rest; it considered itself to be charged with sacrificing itself for Islam, which was united, and carrying the banner of the Caliphate. The misfortune it now suffers will therefore be made up for by the future prosperity and freedom of the Islamic World. For this calamity has speeded up in wondrous fashion the growth of Islamic brotherhood, the leaven of our lives.

53. To attribute to Christianity the virtues of civilization, which are not its property, and to show retrogression, the enemy of Islam, to be its friend, is to suggest that the firmament is revolving in the opposite direction.

54. A tarnished, matchless diamond is always superior to a piece of glistening glass.

55. Those who seek everything in materiality know only what their eyes see, and such eyes are blind in spiritual matters.

56. If metaphors fall from the hands of learning into those of ignorance, they are transformed into their literal meanings, opening the door to superstition.

57. Favour greater than Divine favour is not favour. Everything has to be described as it is.

58. Fame also ascribes to man what is not his.

59. Hadiths are the source of life and inspirer of reality.

60. The revival of religion is the revival of the nation. The life of religion is the light of life.

61. The Qur'an, which is a mercy for mankind, only accepts a civilization that comprises the happiness of all, or at least of the majority. Modern civilization has been founded on five negative principles:

1. Its point of support is force, the mark of which is aggression.

2. Its aim and goal is benefit, the mark of which is jostling and tussling.

3. Its principle in life is conflict, the mark of which is strife.

4. The bond between the masses is racialism and negative nat-ionalism, which is nourished through devouring others; its mark is collision.

5. Its enticing service is inciting lust and passion and gratifying the desires. But lust transforms man into a beast.

However, the civilization the Shari'a of Muhammad (PBUH) comprises and commands is this: its point of support is truth instead of force, the mark of which is justice and harmony. Its goal is virtue in place of benefit, the mark of which is love and attraction. Its means of unity are the ties of religion, country, and class, in place of racialism and nationalism, and the mark of these is sincere brotherhood, peace, and only defence against external aggression. In life is the principle of mutual assistance instead of the principle of conflict, the mark of which is accord and solidarity. And it offers guidance instead of lust, the mark of which is human progress and spiritual advancement.

Do not loosen your hands from Islam, the preserver of our existence; cling onto it with all your strength, or you shall be lost!

62. A general disaster results from the error of the majority. Disaster is the result of crime, and the introduction to reward.

63. A martyr thinks he is alive. Since he did not suffer the pangs of death, he considers the life he sacrificed to be perpetual and not to have been severed. Only, he finds it purer.

64. The pure justice of the Qur'an does not spill the life and blood of an innocent, even for the whole of humanity. The two are the same both in the view of Divine Power, and in the view of justice. But through self-interest man becomes such that he will destroy everything that forms an obstacle to his ambition, even the world if he can, and he will wipe out mankind.

65. Fear and weakness encourage outside influences.

66. Definite benefits should not be sacrificed for imaginary harms.

67. Istanbul politics at the present time are a sickness like Spanish 'flu.

68. Tell a bad man, "You are good, you are good," and it is not unheard of that he will become good. And tell a good man "You are bad, you are bad," and it is not rare for him to become bad.

69. So long as the enemy of an enemy remains his enemy, he is a friend; while so long as the friend of an enemy remains his friend, he is an enemy.

70. Obduracy is this: if Satan assists someone, he calls him "an angel," and calls down blessings on him. But if among his opponents he encounters an angel, he calls him "a satan who has changed his clothes," and curses him.

71. The remedy for one ill person may be poison for another. If a remedy exceeds its limit, it is the cause of ills.

72. Solidarity in a society results in tranquility in all its activites, while mutual envy causes all its activities to come to a standstill.

73. If the community is not one and a whole, undivided number, addition makes smaller, like multiplying fractions.

{(*):}

74. Non-acceptance is confused with the acceptance of non-being. The evidence for non-acceptance is the absence of established proof. The acceptance of non-being requires proof of non-being. One is doubt while the other is denial.

75. If doubt in the matters of belief destroys one, or even a hundred, evidences, it does not harm what is posited; for there are hundreds of evidences.

76. The majority of Muslims should be followed. For when they followed the majority, the Umayyads, who were slack in religion, finally entered the Sunni community. As for the Shi'a, who were firm in religion but remained in the minority as regards their practices, finally only a part of them followed the Rafida.

77. If unanimity concerning good leads to conflict concerning what is better, then sometimes good is better than the better; right is truer than what is truer. Everyone should say about his own way that "It is right," he should not say "it is the only right way." Or he should say, "it is good," but he should not say "it is the only good way."

78. If there was no Paradise, Hell would not be torment.

79. As time grows older, the Qur'an grows younger; it signs become apparent. Like light sometimes appears as fire, sometimes intense eloquence appears as exaggeration.

80. Degrees in heat occur through the intervention of cold; the degrees of beauty occur through the intervention of ugliness. Pre-Eternal Power is essential, necessary, and inherent. Impotence cannot penetrate it; there can be no degrees it in; everything is equal in relation to it.

81. The sun's image, which is the effulgence of its manifestation, displays the same identity on the surface of the sea and in all its droplets.

82. Life is a manifestation of Unity; Unity is also its consequence.

83. So long as it remains unknown who are the saints among men, which moment prayers are accepted on Fridays, which night in Ramadan is the Night of Power, and which among the Divine Names is the Greatest Name, other things retain their value and importance is given to them. Twenty years of doubtful life is preferable to a thousand years' life the end of which is specified.

84. The consequence of sin in this world is evidence for its punishment in the hereafter.

85. In the view of Power, sustenance is as important as life. Power brings into existence, Divine Determining clothes in form, Divine favour nurtures. Life is a summary, a specified product and is apparent. Sustenance is not a summary; it is gradual and widespread, and causes thought. There is no death from hunger, for death occurs before the food stored up in the body in the form of fat is exhausted. That is to say, illness resulting from the giving up of habit kills, not lack of sustenance.

86. The licit sustenance of carniverous wild animals are the innumerable

remains of dead animals; they both cleanse the face of the earth, and they find their food.

87. Before entering the mouth and disappearing down the throat, a mouthful worth one kurush and one worth ten are the same. There is only a few seconds' difference in the mouth. To raise the price from one to ten in order to gratify and please the sense of taste, which is like an inspector and doorkeeper, is most prodigal and wasteful.

88. When pleasure calls, a person should say: "It is as though I ate it. «(Sanki yedim.) For one who made that his principle, could have eaten a mosque called» Sanki Yedim," but he did not.

{(*):}

89. Formerly, there was no hunger among Muslims; there was the desire for ease. Now they are hungry, and they have no wish for pleasure.

90. Temporary pains should be smiled on rather than temporary pleasure being smiled on, and should be welcomed. For past pleasures cause one to say: "Alas!", and "Alas!" is the interpreter of a concealed pain. While past pains cause one to say: "Oh!", and "Oh!" tells of a permanent pleasure and bounty.

91. Forgetfulness is also a bounty. It allows one to suffer the pains of only one day, and causes the rest to be forgotten.

92. In every calamity is a degree of bounty, like a degree of heat. Greater calamities should be thought of and the degree of bounty in the small one noted, and God should be thanked. For if the calamity is blown up, it will grow; and if it is worried over, it will double; the image, the imagining, in the heart will be transformed into reality; and that will pound the heart as well.

93. In society as a whole, everyone has a window, known as rank, through which to see and be seen. If the window is higher than his stature, a person will grow taller through arrogance; and if it is lower than his stature, he will bow down through modesty so to see and be seen at that level. The measure of greatness in man is smallness, that is, modesty. The scale of smallness is bigness; that is, arrogance.

94. The dignity of the weak before the strong becomes arrogance in the strong; while the modesty of the strong before the weak becomes abasement in the weak. The seriousness of someone in authority in their office is dignity, and his humility is abasement. While his seriousness in his house is haughtiness, and his humility, modesty. If an

individual is on his own, then his tolerance and self-sacrifice are good acts. But if he is more than one, they are treachery and inauspicious. Someone should swallow his pride in his own name and not be boastful, but he may boast in the name of the nation and should not swallow his pride.

95. To 'leave it to others' in planning the preliminaries of a matter is laziness, while in awaiting the outcome it is reliance on God. Resignation with the fruits of one's labour and with fate is contentment, and strengthens the wish to strive. Whereas making do with what exists is to lack enterprise.

96. Just as there is obedience and rebellion in the face of the commands of the Shari'a, so too there is obedience and rebellion in the face of the creative commands in the universe. With regard to the first, the reward and punishment are mostly in the hereafter, while with the second, they are mostly in this world. For example, the reward of patience is victory; the punishment for idleness is poverty; the reward of effort is wealth, and the reward of constancy, triumph. Justice without equality is not justice.

97. Mutual resemblance is the cause of contradiction; congruity is the basis of solidarity; smallness of character is the source of arrogance; weakness is the source of pride; impotence is the source of opposition; and curiosity is the teacher of knowledge.

98. Through need, and especially through hunger, the Creator's Power has reined in foremost man, and all the animals, and put them in order. Also, He saved the world from anarchy, and making need the master of civilization, ensured progress.

99. Distress teaches vice. Despair is the source of misguidance; and darkness of heart, the source of distress of the spirit.

100. When men become amiable through following their fancies, women become masculine by being impudent.

A beautiful woman entering a gathering of brothers awakens hypocrisy, rivalry, and envy. That is to say, the unveiling of women led to the unveiling of bad morals in civilized man.

101. The represented forms of little smiling corpses have played a large role in making the evil-polluted perverse spirit of modern man what it is.

102. The prohibited statue is either petrified tyranny, or embodied lust, or personified hypocrisy.

103. For someone who has truly entered into the bounds of Islam by conforming precisely to its incontestable matters, the desire to expand is the desire to be perfected. But for someone who may be counted outside those bounds through slackness, the desire to expand is the desire to destroy. In time of storm and earthquake, it is advisable to not open the door of ijtihad, and to close the windows too. The overly free and easy should not be indulged with dispensations, but determinedly and severely warned.

104. Unfortunate truths become worthless in worthless hands.

105. Our globe resembles a living being; it displays the signs of life. If it was to be reduced to the size of an egg, would it not become a sort of animal? Or if a microbe was enlarged to the size of the globe, would it not resemble it? If it has life, it has a spirit too. If the world was reduced to the size of man, and the stars made like the particles and substance of his being, would that not also be a living conscious being? God has many such animals.

106. There are two Shari'as:

The First is the Shari'a that we know which orders the actions and conduct of man, the microcosm, and proceeds from the attribute of Speech.

The Second is the Supreme Shari'a of Creation, which orders the motion and rest of the world, the macroanthropos, proceeds from the attribute of Will, and is sometimes wrongly called Nature. The angels are a vast community; they are the bearers, representatives, and personifications of the creative commands which proceed from the attribute of Will and are the Shari'a of Creation.

107. If you weigh the senses of a microscopic organism against man's senses, you will observe a strange mystery: man is in the form of Ya. Sin., inscribed in him is the Sura Ya. Sin.

108. Materialism is a spiritual plague which has infected man with a fearsome fever, causing him to be visited by Divine wrath. The more the ability to inculcate and criticize expands, so does that plague spread.

109. The most wretched, distressed, and suffering of men is the man with no work. For idleness is the cousin of non-existence, while striving is the life of existence and the waking state of life.

110. Profiting from banks, the doors of usury and interest, is for the infidels, who are the worst of mankind, and for the most tyrannous of

the former, and for the most base of the latter. They are the cause of absolute harm for the World of Islam, so mankind's affluence should not be taken into consideration. For if the infidels are warmongers and aggressive, so too they are without respect and honour.

111. The Khutba in the Friday Prayers is for mentioning the essentials and incontestable matters of religion, not for instructing in theoretical matters. The Arabic terms recall these in more elevated fashion. If Hadiths and Qur'anic verses are balanced, it will be apparent that even the most eloquent of men cannot attain to the verses' eloquence, and cannot resemble them.

Said Nursi

O God! O Most Merciful! O Most Compassionate! O Single One! O Ever-Living One! O Self-Subsistent One! O Arbiter! O All-Just One! O Most Holy! For the sake of Your Greatest Name, and in veneration of the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition, and in honour of Your Most Noble Messenger, Upon whom be blessings and peace, bestow everlasting happiness in Paradise on the producers of this book and on all those who assist them. Amen! And grant them unending success in the service of belief and the Qur'an. Amen! And for each word of The Words write a thousand merits in the books of their good deeds. Amen! And bestow on them perseverance, constancy, and sincerity in publishing the Risale-i Nur. Amen!

O Most Merciful of the Merciful! Grant happiness in this world and the next to all the Students of the Risale-i Nur. Amen! Preserve them from the evil of satans among jinn and men. Amen! And forgive the faults of this impotent and wretched Said. Amen!

A Brief Look at Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's Life, The Risale-i Nur, and 'Letters-1928-1932'

The present work forms the second volume of the Risale-i Nur Collection and consists of the most important letters, and those of most general interest, written by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi to his students between 1928 and 1932, {[*]:} while in exile in Barla, an isolated village in the province of Isparta in South-Western Anatolia. Its original title is Mektûbat. Other letters belonging to this period are included in one of the collections of additional letters, also volumes of the Risale-i Nur, called Barla Lahikasi (Barla Letters). The letters in the present volume cover many subjects and were set in order and numberered, not chronologically, by the author. They were largely written in reply to questions put by his students, and also in reply to criticisms of and attacks on various questions of belief and Islam made in that time of oppression by those inimical to religion and Islam. In order to enable readers unfamiliar with Bediuzzaman and his life and works to see the Letters in clearer perspective, included here is a brief outline of his life, the background to the writing of the Risale-i Nur and the Letters, and a description of their main characteristics.

Bediuzzaman's Life

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi was born in 1877 in eastern Turkey and died in 1960 in Urfa, also in eastern 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.

orders, he sometimes explains the way of the Risale-i Nur to them through comparisons with the Sufi way. The primary aim of the Risale-i Nur is the saving and strengthening of belief. Employing both the intellect and the heart, Bediuzzaman described it as Reality (haqiqat) and Shari'a, rather than tariqat, that is Sufism. It is the highway of the Qur'an, which teaches the true affirmation of Divine Unity; true and certain belief, attained in a short time through investigation and the exercise of the reason. The direct way to Reality and knowledge of God, which is the way of the Companions of Prophet (PBUH) through "the legacy of Prophethood."

Some of the Letters offer guidance and encouragement to the students through answering criticisms and misrepresentations put forward by atheists and the enemies of religion, concerning both points of Islam, and Bediuzzaman himself. Others expose the plans to corrupt Islam through the introduction of innovations. They show how on the one hand Bediuzzaman was absolutely uncompromising in the face of enemies to religion, and on the other his complete fairness and moderateness in adjudicating points of conflict and controversy within Islam. All these illustrate his profound knowledge of many subjects, as well as the clarity and power of his style, which is based on logic.

Bediuzzaman did not ascribe the Risale-i Nur to himself; he saw it as a Divine favour bestowed because of need, with himself as the means. In some of his letters he writes that he feels justified in describing these "Divine favours which pertain to the service of the Qur'an" to his students, in order to encourage them in the exceedingly difficult conditions of the time, since they were a mark of the acceptability of both his writings and their service. A number of them were mentioned above. Bediuzzaman pointed out that the fact the Risale-i Nur proves the most important of the truths of belief and the Qur'an was a clear mark of Divine favour. For it had proved and demonstrated, for example, such questions as bodily resurrection before which even geniuses like Ibn Sina had confessed their impotence, and many mysteries concerning Almighty God, which are of such breadth and profundity that they cannot be comprehended by the human mind. Yet, Bediuzzaman stated, these truths were explained by means of comparison by someone in "the wretched situation" he was in so that they could be understood by even the most ordinary and uneducated of people. Furthermore, no one, from religious scholars to philosophers, had been able to put forward any criticisms of the treatises or to challange them. The writing too had been with extraordinary speed at the most distressing times, often when he had been afflicted with illness. For example, a profound treatise like the Thirtieth

Word had been written in six hours in an orchard, while the lengthy Nineteenth Letter, recounting the Miracles of Muhammad, had been written in a total of twelve hours partly in the rain on the mountains, referring to no book at all. There was also the question of the 'coincidences,' or mutual correspondence of words in the hand-written copies of the Risale-i Nur, and of the Qur'an, for which readers may refer to the present work.

In relating these Divine favours to his students, Bediuzzaman was impressing on them the importance of the Qur'anic way of the Risale-i Nur and its function of saving and strengthening belief at that time when the very foundations of Islam were being threatened. In a way outside their own will and knowledge, they were being employed, they were being made to work. Indeed, within the twenty-five years of Bediuzzaman's exile, the handful of students grew into many thousands, the Risale-i Nur movement and its service to belief and the Qur'an spread throughout 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. Bediuzzaman indeed continues to "prove and demonstrate to the world that the Qur'an is an undying, inextinguishable Sun."