THE RAYS
CONTENTS
THE SECOND RAY
This forms the seventh ‘Point’ about the Six Greatest Names and is about the Greatest Name of ‘God, the One.’ It contains three ‘Stations’ and a Conclusion
First Station: Three ‘fruits’ of the affirmation of Divine unity
Second Station: Three matters necessitating Divine unity
Third Station: Three universal signs of the affirmation of Divine unity
Conclusion
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THE THIRD RAY
A Supplication which expounds the verse: Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth [to the end of the verse]
***
THE FOURTH RAY
A subtle point about the verse: For us God suffices and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs, in six ‘Degrees’
The First Degree: The true pleasure of immortality lies in the immortality of the Enduring One of Perfection, and in affirming Him and believing in Him
The Second Degree: Through the relation resulting from belief, with his impotence and poverty, man may rely on the infinite power and strength of the Munificent Provider
The Third Degree: The disposals of creative power and man’s importance, despite his apparent insignificance
The Fourth Degree: The relations and existences belief gains for man
The Fifth Degree: Life from the point of view of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, in four ‘Matters’
The Sixth Degree: Three proofs that all the instances of beauty displayed by these transient beings are the signs, flashes, and manifestations of an eternal, sacred Beauty
The Fifth Chapter (of the Twenty-Ninth Flash): Five ‘Points’ on the degrees of For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs! The original is in Arabic
* * *
THE FIFTH RAY
(On the Signs of the End of Time)
Second Station: consisting of twenty ‘Matters’
Three Brief Matters: complementing the above
* * *
THE SIXTH RAY
The answers to two questions about the formulas recited during the ‘tashahhud’ section of the ritual prayers (salat)
First Question: What is the reason for the blessed phrases of the tashahhud being recited during the prayers?
Second Question: About the comparison at the end of the tashahhud about Muhammad (PBUH) and Abraham (PUH). The answer contains three ‘Aspects’
* * *
THE SEVENTH RAY
The Supreme Sign
Introduction: Two abysses that shake certainty of faith this age, and the means of salvation from them
First Chapter: Concerning proofs of the Divine existence including the testimonies of: the heavens and all they contain, the atmosphere, the earth and its pages, the seas and rivers, the mountains and plains, the trees and plants, the animal and bird realms, humanity: the prophets and their unanimity, the exacting scholars and their accord, the spiritual guides and their agreement, the angels and spirit beings and their concurrence, upright intellects and sound hearts, Divine revelation, Two differences between revelation and inspiration, inspiration, Muhammad the Arabian Prophet, the Qur’an, the cosmos, the ‘station’ of direct address to God in His presence
Second Chapter: Concerning proofs of Divine unity
On the Purpose of the Risale-i Nur
* * *
THE NINTH RAY
The first part of the Addendum to the Tenth Word, Resurrection and the Hereafter
* * *
THE TENTH RAY
This consists of detailed descriptions of the contents of The Flashes Collection, from The Fifteenth to the Thirtieth Flashes and The Rays Collection from the First to the Ninth Rays and is not included here.
* * *
THE ELEVENTH RAY
The Fruits of Belief
The First Topic: One hour for God
A Summary of the Second Topic: How to be saved from the gallows of death
The Third Topic: An instructive incident
The Fourth Topic: The most pressing question
The Fifth Topic: Youth will depart
The Sixth Topic: All the sciences speak of God and make known the Creator
The Seventh Topic: “Teach us also about the hereafter,” comprising the answers of the Divine Names, the angels, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the Qur’an
A Summary of the Eighth Topic: A number of benefits of believing in the hereafter which look to man’s social and personal life
The Ninth Topic: The pillars and truths of Islam are an indivisible whole, in three ‘Points’
The Tenth Topic: A Flower of Emirdag. An extremely powerful reply to objections raised about repetitions in the Qur’an
The Eleventh Topic: The fruits tasted in this world of belief in the angels
A Supplement to the Addendum of the Eleventh Topic
* * *
THE TWELFTH RAY
Part of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s defence speeches given in Denizli Court
* * *
THE THIRTEENTH RAY
The light-scattering letters Bediuzzaman Said Nursi sent his students while in Denizli Prison, which illustrate in brilliant fashion the great exertions of the Risale-i Nur
* * *
THE FOURTEENTH RAY
Comprising part of Bediuzzaman’s defence during his trial in Afyon Court, letters which he wrote to his fellow-prisoner students, and parts of his students’ defence speeches
The Sixteenth Letter: Included by Bediuzzaman in the Fourteenth Ray because of its relevance to his defence
Letters written by Bediuzzaman to his students while in Afyon Prison in order to console, enlighten, and guide them
Parts of the defence speeches given by some of the Risale-i Nur students during their trials in Afyon Court
* * *
THE FIFTEENTH RAY
The Shining Proof
First Station: Consisting of three ‘Parts’
Second Station: Three of the worlds the traveller through the universe visited, which illustrate the comparison of the people of belief and of misguidance, in three ‘Examples’ and also seeking knowledge of the Creator of the universe through three of His ‘seven’ attributes, knowledge, will, and power.
* * *
The Second Ray
The Final Fruit of Eskisehir Prison
The Second Ray of the Thirty-First Flash
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
This Ray was written sixteen years ago at a time I remained alone in Eskisehir Prison after my friends had been released. It was written at great speed, with my own very deficient pen at a distressing, disagreeable time and is therefore somewhat lacking in order. Still, I saw when correcting it recently that in respect of belief and the affirmation of Divine Unity it is extremely valuable, powerful, and important.
S a i d N u r s i
[This forms a seventh ‘Point’ about the six Greatest Names and is about the Greatest Name of ‘God, The One.’]
NOTE
In my view, this treatise holds great importance, for the significant and subtle mysteries of belief that it contains unfold and develop. One who reads and understands this treatise will save his belief, God willing. Unfortunately I have been unable to meet with anyone here and have been unable to write out a fair copy myself. If you want to understand the treatise’s value, read first of all the Second and Third Fruits of the First Station carefully and the Conclusion at the end and the matter in the two pages preceding that, then study the whole of it slowly!
THE SEVENTH OF THE SIX POINTS ABOUT THE SIXGREATEST NAMES, ABOUT ‘GOD, THE ONE’
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
And from Him do we seek help.
Inspired by one splendid meaning of the verse,
And know that there is no god but God,1
and by a famous oath of the Prophet (PBUH), this treatise consists of a subtle point I perceived about three beautifully sweet and subtle fruits of the affirmation of Divine unity, and three matters necessitating it, and three proofs of it.
The oath God’s Most Noble Messenger most frequently used was the oath: “By Him in whose hand is Muhammad’s being,”2 which shows that even the furthermost tips of the tree of the universe, and its broadest extent, and its minor particulars, exist through the power and will of the Single One of Unity. For if the most choice and exceptional of creatures, Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), does not own himself, and if he is not free to act as he wishes and is tied in his actions to another will, certainly, nothing, no function, state or circumstance, whether particular or universal, can be outside the power of that all-encompassing will.
Yes, what this meaningful oath of Muhammad (PBUH) indicates is the mighty, all-encompassing unity of dominicality. Since a hundred, perhaps a thousand, clear proofs of this Divine unity have been set forth and explained in the Risale-i Nur, which is the Siracü’n-Nur (The Illuminating Lamp),3 we refer to that the details and proofs of this elevated truth. In this Second Ray, in the first of three brief ‘Stations’ contained in this most important truth of belief, three subtle, sweet, precious, and luminous universal fruits out of innumerable fruits will be explained in summary fashion, thereby alluding to the insights and experiences which impelled my heart to those fruits.
In the Second Station, three universal matters and motives necessitating this sacred truth will be explained, which have the power of three thousand such matters.
In the Third Station, three signs pointing to this truth of Divine unity will be mentioned, which have the power of three hundred signs, indications, and proofs.
The First Fruit of the First Station
In Divine unity and the affirmation of it, Divine beauty and dominical perfection become apparent. If there was no unity that pre-eternal treasury would remain hidden. Yes, it is only in the mirror of unity and in the manifestation of the Divine Names concentrated by means of unity in the faces of particulars at the extremities of the tree of creation that infinite Divine beauty and perfection, unending dominical excellence and loveliness, the incalculable bounties and gifts of that Merciful One, and the utterly perfect beauty of that Eternally Besought One, are all to be seen.
For example, when the particular act of sending to the assistance of a powerless infant lacking will, pure white milk from an unexpected place, that is, from between blood and excrement, is considered from the point of view of the affirmation of Divine unity, suddenly, through the wondrous, tender sustaining of all infants and young and their subjugating their mothers to themselves, the undying beauty of the mercy of the Most Merciful is seen in all its splendour. If not looked at through the eyes of Divine unity, that beauty is hidden, and that particular providing of sustenance is ascribed to causes, chance, and Nature, thus losing all its value and even transforming its very nature.
Also, for example; if being healed of a dreadful disease is considered from the point of view of the affirmation of Divine unity, on the face of the bestowal of healing on all the sick in the huge hospital called the earth, through the remedies and medicines from the vast pharmacy called the world, the beautiful compassion of the Absolutely Compassionate One and the acts of His mercy become apparent in universal and splendid fashion. If it is not considered from the point of view of the affirmation of Divine unity, that particular but knowledgeable, perceptive, and conscious bestowal of healing will be attributed to the properties of lifeless medicines and to blind force and unconscious Nature; its nature will be completely changed and it will lose its wisdom and value.
I am explaining here because of its relevance a point which occurs to me about a benediction for the Prophet (PBUH). It concerns the well-known benediction which is recited regularly by the Shafi‘i’s at the end of tesbihat following the five daily prayers: O God! Grant blessings to our master Muhammad and to the family of Muhammad, to the number of ills and their remedies, and bless him and them and grant them unending peace. It is important because due to the wisdom in man’s creation and the mystery of his comprehensiveness, every moment he entreats his Creator and seeks refuge with Him, and offers Him thanks and praise. Just as illnesses are the most effective whip driving him to the Divine Court, so the chief of the sweet bounties prompting him to give thanks earnestly and to truly offer praise gratefully are remedies, healing, and good health. It is for this reason that this benediction is most meaningful and widely accepted. Sometimes when reciting “to the number of all ills and their remedies,” I see the earth in the form of a hospital and sense the clearly obvious existence of the True Healer, Who supplies the remedies for all ills, physical and spiritual, and answers all needs, and His universal clemency and sacred all-embracing compassion.
Also for example; if the bestowal of guidance and belief on someone who experiences the ghastly pains of misguidance is considered from the point of view of the affirmation of Divine unity, the pre-eternal beauty of One Munificent and Generous becomes apparent on the face of that supreme gift, which transforms the insignificant, transitory, and impotent man into the slave-addressee of the One True Object of Worship, the Creator and Sovereign of all the universe, and through his belief bestows on him —and on all believers according to their degree— eternal happiness and a broad and splendid everlasting world and property. One flash of that unfading beauty is such that it makes all believers love it, and the elite enamoured of it and captivated by it. If such an event is not considered from the point of view of Divine unity, the man’s particular belief will be attributed either to the person himself, as with the self-centred and self-opinionated Mu‘tazilites, or to causes. Then that sparkling gem of the Most Merciful, the true price and value of which is Paradise, will be reduced to being a piece of glass and it will no longer reflect the flashes of that sacred beauty.
Thus, it may be seen from these three examples that being concentrated in them through the affirmation of Divine unity, the innumerable sorts and varieties of Divine beauty and dominical perfection are apparent in the particular beings at the extremities of the sphere of multiplicity, and in all their states and conditions, and the certain existence of Divine beauty and perfection is understood and established.
It is because Divine beauty and perfection are to be seen with the heart in the affirmation of Divine unity and perceived by the spirit that all the saints and purified ones have found their sweetest illuminations and most delectable spiritual sustenance in repeated recitation of “There is no god but God,” the profession of Divine unity. And it is because Divine grandeur and magnificence, Divine glory, and the absolute sovereignty of the dominicality of the Eternally Besoughted One are realized in the profession of Divine unity that God’s Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) declared: “The best thing I and the prophets before me have said is ‘There is no god but God.’4
Yes, although a small bounty, gift and sustenance like a flower, a fruit, or a light, is a tiny mirror, through the mystery of Divine unity each suddenly stands shoulder to shoulder and joins with all its fellows. Being transformed into a large mirror, its species displays the sort of Divine beauty which is manifested on it. With transient, fleeting beauty it points to an everlasting, undying beauty. As Mawlana Jalal al-Din5 said:
The imagination which is the snare of the saints
Is the reflection of the moon-faced beauties of the garden of God;
it becomes a mirror to Divine beauty. If not for the mystery of the affirmation of Divine unity, each particular fruit would remain on its own, and would show neither that sacred beauty nor its elevated perfection. Even the particular flash of beauty within it would be extinguished and vanish. It would quite simply become its opposite; from being a diamond, it would turn into glass.
Also, through the mystery of the affirmation of Divine unity, in living beings, which are the fruits of the tree of creation, is a Divine personality, a dominical oneness, an immaterial face of the Most Merciful defined by the seven attributes, a concentration of the Names, and the manifestation of the determination and personification of the One Who is addressed by the words You alone do we worship and from You alone do we seek help.6 Otherwise that personality, that oneness, that face, the manifestation of that determination would expand to the extent of the universe, disperse and be hidden. It would be seen only by eyes of the heart that were truly vast and comprehensive. For the magnificence of Divine grandeur would veil it; not everyone could see it with the eye of the heart.
Also, it is clearly understood from those particular living beings that their Maker sees them, knows them, hears them, and does as He wishes. Quite simply, behind the createdness of each living being, the immaterial personification and determination of one who has power and will, hears, sees and knows, is apparent to one who believes.
Especially behind the createdness of man from among living creatures, through belief and through the mystery of Divine unity, that immaterial personification and determination are to be observed in extremely clear fashion. For samples of meanings such as knowledge, power, life, hearing, and sight, which are the bases of that personification of oneness, are present in man, and he indicates them through those samples. For example, the one who bestows the eyes, both sees the eye, and, a subtle meaning, sees what the eye sees, then he bestows them. For sure, the oculist who makes some spectacles for your eyes, sees that they are suitable for your eyes, then he makes them. And the one who bestows the ears, surely hears what the ears hear, then he makes them and bestows them. Examples for the other attributes may be made in the same way.
Also, man bears the impresses and manifestations of the Names; through them, he testifies to those sacred meanings.
Also, through his weakness, impotence, poverty, and ignorance, man acts as a mirror in another way; he testifies to the power, knowledge, will, and other attributes of the one who has pity on his weakness and poverty, and comes to his aid.
Thus, since through the mystery of Divine unity, a thousand and one Divine Names are concentrated in the furthest points and most scattered particulars of the sphere of multiplicity, in the tiny missives known as living beings, and are to be read most clearly, the All-Wise Maker multiplies the copies of them extensively. He makes exceedingly numerous and various the copies of the species of small living beings in particular, and publishes them everywhere.
What impelled me to the truth of this First Fruit was a certain feeling and experience. It was like this:
At one time, due to my excessive feelings of pity, sympathy and kindness, I was exceedingly touched and sorry for living beings, and of them, intelligent beings and man, and particularly the oppressed and disaster-stricken. I exclaimed from my very heart: “Neither these monotonous laws which prevail over the world hear the woes of these powerless and weak unfortunates, nor do the overwhelming, deaf elements and events hear them. Is there no one who will take pity on their wretched state and intervene in their particular plights?” My spirit was crying out from its very depths. My heart called out with all its strength: “Do these fine creatures, these valuable goods, these yearning and grateful friends, have no owner, no master, no true friend who will look to their business, accompany them and protect them?”
The satisfying, soothing, and sufficient answer to the cries of my spirit and tumult of my heart was this: through the mystery of the Qur’an and light of belief, and the mystery of Divine unity, I perceived the particular favours and special assistance of the All-Glorious One, Who is All-Merciful and Compassionate, above the law, to those lovable creatures who weep and lament under the pressure of universal laws and the assaults of events; and His particular dominicality towards everything directly; and the facts that He Himself directs everything personally and listens to the plaints of all things; and that He is the true owner, protector, and master of everything. I felt an infinite joy in place of that endless despair. Being totally owned by such a Glorious Owner, and being connected to Him, in my view all living beings gained in importance and value a thousand times over.
For since everyone takes pride in his master’s honour and fame, and at the rank of the person to whom he is attached, and acquires a dignity, through the unfolding of this relation through the light of belief and the state of being owned, and due to its strength, an ant vanquished the Pharaoh and could feel the pride of a thousand Pharaohs, who were heedless, imagined themselves to be independent and to own themselves, and had overweening pride —which was extinguished at the door of the grave— at their forefathers and the land of Egypt. And in the face of Nimrod’s pride, which changed into torment and shame when he tasted the pangs of death, the fly pointed to the pride of its own relationship, reducing Nimrod’s to nothing.
The verse,
To assign partners to God is verily a great transgression7
states that to associate partners with God is an infinite wrong. Assigning partners to God is a vast crime, since it transgresses the rights, honour, and dignity of all creatures. Only Hell can cleanse it.
The Second Fruit of the Affirmation of Divine Unity
The First Fruit considered the Most Pure and Holy One, the Creator of the Universe, now this Second Fruit considers the universe and its essential nature. Yes, it is through the mystery of Divine unity that the perfections of the universe are realized; and the elevated duties of beings understood; and the results of the creation of beings are established; and the value of creatures known; and the Divine purposes in the world find existence; and the instances of wisdom in the creation of living beings and conscious beings become apparent; and behind the stern, angry faces of the violent storms of upheaval and change the smiling, beautiful faces of mercy and wisdom are seen; and the numerous existences of transitory beings —such as their results, identities, true natures, spirits, and glorifications, which they leave in their places in the Manifest World before they depart— are known.
Furthermore, it is only through the mystery of Divine unity that it is known that the universe as a whole is a meaningful book of the Eternally Besought One; and all beings from the ground to the Divine Throne are a miraculous collection of Divine missives; and all the realms of creatures are a magnificent regular dominical army; and all sorts of beings from microbes and ants to rhinoceroses, eagles, and planets are diligent officials of the Pre-Eternal Sovereign; and since they act as mirrors to and have a relation with that Sovereign, the value of all things infinitely surpasses their individual value; and the answers are revealed of the unsolved, abstruse questions “Where do this flood of beings and these caravans of creatures come from? Where are they going? Why did they come? And what are they doing?” Otherwise, these elevated perfections of the universe would vanish, and those lofty, sacred truths be transformed into their opposites.
It is because the crimes of ascribing partners to God and disbelief constitute aggression against all the universe’s perfections and its sacred truths and the elevated rights of beings, that the universe becomes angry at the disbelievers and idolators. The heavens and earth become wrathful, and the elements unite to destroy them, overwhelming and submerging those who ascribe partners to God, such as Noah’s people, and the ‘Ad and Thamud peoples, and the Pharaoh. In accordance with the verse,
Well-nigh bursting with fury,8
Hell so rages and fumes at the disbelievers and ascribers of partners to God that it almost bursts apart. Yes, to associate partners with God is a terrible insult to the universe and a great transgression against it. By denying the sacred duties of beings and the purposes of their creation, it insults their honour. To illustrate this, we shall allude to one example out of thousands.
For example, through the mystery of Divine unity the universe resembles a huge, corporeal angel; glorifying and sanctifying its Maker with hundreds of thousands of heads, to the number of species of beings, and with hundreds of thousands of mouths, to the number of members of those species, and with hundreds of thousands of tongues in every mouth, to the number of organs, parts, and cells of those members — a wondrous collection of elevated creatures engaged in worship like the Angel Israfil. Through the mystery of Divine unity, the universe is also an arable field yielding copious crops for the worlds and dwelling-places of the hereafter; a factory producing numerous goods, such as human actions, for the levels of the Abode of Bliss; and a movie-camera with a hundred thousand lenses continuously taking pictures of this world to show to the spectators in the eternal realm and especially in Paradise. To ascribe partners to God is to transform this truly wondrous, absolutely obedient, living, corporeal angel into a lifeless, soulless, unemployed, perishing, meaningless, wretched, futile collectivity, revolving in the tumult of events and storms of change and darkness of non-existence; and to convert this strange, utterly orderly, beneficial factory into an idle, confused, unconscious plaything of chance which is without product or result or function; to make it into the playground of deaf Nature and blind force, a place of mourning for all intelligent beings, and the slaughterhouse of all living creatures, and a vale of tears.
In accordance with the verse,
To assign partners to God is verily a great transgression,9
to associate partners with God, although a single evil, leads to such vast and numerous crimes that those who perpetrate it deserve infinite torment in Hell. Anyway... since this Second Fruit has been explained and proved repeatedly in The Illuminating Lamp, we have cut short the long story here.
A strange feeling and perception which drove me to this Second Fruit. It was like this:
One time when observing the season of spring, I saw that the successive caravans of beings, and especially living creatures and the small young ones at that, which followed on one after the other and in a flowing torrent displaying hundreds of thousands of samples of the resurrection of the dead and Great Gathering on the face of the earth, appeared only briefly then disappeared. The tableaux of death and transience amid that constant, awesome activity seemed to me excessively sad; I felt such pity it made me weep. The more I observed the deaths of those lovely small creatures, the more my heart ached. I cried at the pity of it and within me felt a deep spiritual turmoil. Life which met with such an end seemed to me to be torment worse than death.
The living beings of the plant and animal kingdoms, too, which were most beautiful and lovable and full of valuable art, opened their eyes for a moment onto the exhibition of the universe, then disappeared and were gone. I felt grievous pain the more I watched this. My heart wanted to weep and complain and cry out at fate. It asked the awesome questions: “Why do they come and then depart without stopping?” These apparently useless, purposeless little creatures were being despatched to non-existence before my very eyes, despite having been created, nurtured and raised with so much attention and art, in such valuable form. They were merely torn up like rags and thrown away into the obscurity of nothingness. The more I saw this the more my inner senses and faculties, which are captivated by beauty and perfection and enamoured of precious things, cried out: “Why does no one take pity on them? Isn’t it a shame? Where did they come from, the death and ephemerality in these bewildering upheavals and transformations which persistently attack these wretched beings?”
As I started to utter fearful objections about Divine Determining and the grievous circumstances of the outer face of life and its events, the light of the Qur’an, the mystery of belief, the favour of the Most Merciful, and belief in Divine unity all came to my assistance. They lit up those darknesses, and transformed my laments into joy and my weeping into happiness and my pity into exclamations of “Blessed be God! What wonders God has willed!” They caused me to declare: “All praise be to God for the light of belief.” For through the mystery of Divine unity I saw that all creatures, and particularly living creatures, produce truly significant results and have general benefits.
In Short: All living beings, for instance this adorned flower or that sweet-producing bee, are Divine odes full of meaning which innumerable conscious beings study in delight. They are precious miracles of power and proclamations of wisdom exhibiting their Maker’s art in captivating fashion to innumerable appreciative observers. While to appear before the gaze of the Glorious Creator, Who wishes to observe His art Himself, and look on the beauties of His creation and the loveliness of the manifestations of His Names, is another exceedingly elevated result of their creation.
A further elevated function of their creation is described in the Twenty-Fourth Letter, and is their serving in five ways the manifestations of dominicality and Divine perfections which necessitate the infinite activity in the universe.
I saw that if it is a being with a spirit, besides benefits and results such as the above, since it leaves behind in its place in this Manifest World its spirit, and in innumerable memories and other ‘preserved tablets’ its form and identity, and in its seeds the laws of its being and a sort of future life, and in the World of the Unseen and Realm of the Divine Names the perfections and beauties it has mirrored, its apparent death has the meaning of a joyful release from duties; it merely passes behind a curtain of death and is hidden from worldly eyes. I exclaimed: “All praise and thanks be to God!”
These genuine, powerful, faultless, utterly brilliant instances of beauty and loveliness which are visible in all the levels of the universe and all its realms of beings, and have spread everywhere, demonstrate with complete certainty that the ugly, harsh, abhorrent, wretched former situation, which the association of partners with God necessitates, is impossible and illusory. For such ghastly ugliness could not exist hidden under the veil of such genuine beauty. If it was found there, that true beauty would be untrue, baseless, futile, and illusory. This means that the association of partners with God has no reality, its way is closed, it has become stuck in a bog; what it posits is impossible and precluded. Since this truth of belief, which pertains to the emotions, is explained in detail with numerous proofs in many parts of The Illuminating Lamp, we shall suffice here with this brief indication.
Third Fruit
This fruit looks to conscious beings, and particularly to man. Through the mystery of Divine unity, among all creatures man may attain to the highest perfections, and become the most valuable fruit of the universe, the most perfect and refined of creatures, the most fortunate and happy of animate beings, and the addressee and friend of the world’s Creator. Indeed, all man’s perfections and his lofty aims are tied to the affirmation of Divine unity and find existence through its meaning. For if there was no unity, man would be the most unhappy of creatures, the lowest of beings, the most wretched of the animals, the most suffering and sorrowful of intelligent beings. For together with his infinite impotence, his innumerable enemies, his boundless want, and endless needs, he has been decked out with a great many faculties and senses, so that he feels innumerable sorts of pains and experiences countless sorts of pleasures. He has such aims and desires that one who does not govern the whole universe at once cannot bring about those desires.
For example, man has an intense desire for immortality. Only one who has disposal over the whole universe as though it was a palace can answer this wish; who can close the door of this world and open that of the hereafter, like closing the door of one room and opening that of another. Man also has thousands of desires, both negative and positive, which like the desire for immortality spread throughout the world and stretch to eternity. It is only the Single One, Who through the mystery of unity holds the whole universe in His grasp, that by answering these desires of man can cure the two awesome wounds of his impotence and want.
Moreover, man has wishes for tranquillity and ease of heart so insubstantial, secret, and particular, and aims connected with the immortality and happiness of his spirit so vast, comprehensive, and universal, that they can be answered only by one who sees the subtlest and most imperceptible veils of his heart, and is not unconcerned, and hears its most inaudible, secret voices, and does not leave them unanswered. That one must also have sufficient power to subjugate the heavens and earth as though they were two obedient soldiers, and make them perform universal works.
Also, through the mystery of unity, all man’s members and senses gain a high value, while through ascribing partners to God and disbelief they fall to an infinitely low degree. For example, man’s most valuable faculty is intelligence. Through the mystery of Divine unity, it becomes a brilliant key to the sacred Divine treasuries, and to the thousands of coffers of the universe. Whereas if it descends to associating partners with God and to unbelief, it becomes an inauspicious instrument of torture which heaps up in man’s head all the grievous pains of the past and awesome fears of the future.
Also, for example, compassion, man’s most gentle and agreeable characteristic: if the mystery of Divine unity does not come to its assistance, it becomes a calamitous torment which reduces man to the depths of misery. A heedless mother who imagines she has lost her only child for all eternity feels this searing pain to the full.
Also, for example, love, man’s sweetest, most pleasurable, and most precious emotion: if the mystery of Divine unity assists it, it gives miniscule man the expanse and breadth of the universe, and makes him a petted monarch of the animals. Whereas if —I seek refuge with God— man descends to associating partners with God and unbelief, because he will be separated for all eternity from all his innumerable beloveds as they continuously disappear in death, love becomes a terrible calamity constantly lacerating his wretched heart. But vain amusements causing heedlessness temporarily numb his senses, apparently not allowing him to feel it.
If you make analogies with these three examples for man’s hundreds of faculties and senses, you will understand the degree to which Divine unity and the affirmation of it are the means by which he may be fulfilled and perfected. Since this Third Fruit too has been very well explained in detailed manner with proofs in perhaps twenty of the treatises of The Illuminating Lamp, I am sufficing with this brief indication here.
What impelled me to this Fruit was the following feeling:
At one time I was on the top of a high mountain. Through a spiritual awakening powerful enough to dispel my heedlessness, death and the grave appeared to me in all their stark reality, and transience and ephemerality with all their painful representations. Like everyone’s, my innate desire for immortality surged up and rebelled against death. The fellow-feeling and compassion in my nature, too, revolted against the annihilation of the people of perfection, the famous prophets, the saints, and the purified ones, for whom I feel great love and attachment; it boiled up angrily against the grave. I looked in the six directions, seeking help, but I found no solace, no assistance. For looking to the past, I saw a vast graveyard; and to the future, darkness; and above I saw horror; and to the right and left, grievous situations and the assaults of numberless harmful things. Suddenly, the mystery of Divine unity came to my assistance and drew back the veil, revealing the face of reality. “Look!”, it said.
First of all I looked at the face of death, which I feared greatly. I saw that for the people of belief it was a discharge from duties. The appointed hour was the discharge papers. It was a change of abode, the introduction to an everlasting life, and the door leading to it. It was to be released from the prison of this world and to fly to the gardens of Paradise. It was the occasion one enters the presence of the Most Merciful in order to receive the wages for one’s service. It was a call to go to the realm of bliss. Understanding this with complete certainty, I began to love death.
I looked then at transience and ephemerality, and I saw them to be a pleasurable renewal, like pictures on the cinema screen and bubbles on flowing water under the sun. Coming from the World of the Unseen in order to refresh the exquisite manifestations of the Most Beautiful Names, they were an excursion, a trip, in the Manifest World, with certain duties to perform; they were a wise and purposeful manifestation of dominical beauty; they performed the function of mirrors to the eternal beauty of beings. This I knew with certainty.
I then looked at the six directions, and I saw that through the mystery of Divine unity they were so luminous they dazzled the eyes. I saw that the past was not a vast grave, but having been transformed into the future, had become thousands of enlightened gatherings of friends and thousands of light-filled vistas. I looked at the true faces of thousands of matters like these two, and I saw that they afforded nothing but joy and thanks.
I have described my feelings about this Third Fruit with proofs, particular and universal, in perhaps forty treatises of The Illuminating Lamp. They have been explained so clearly and decisively in the thirteen ‘Hopes’ of the Twenty-Sixth Flash in particular, the Treatise For The Elderly, that there could be no clearer elucidation. Here I have therefore cut this very long story very short.
Second Station
[There are incalculable proofs necessitating in absolutely certain form Divine unity and the affirmation of it, which neither accept nor permit the association of partners with God. Since hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of these are demonstrated in detail in the Risale-i Nur, here only three of them which necessitate Divine unity will be set out briefly.]
The First
According to the testimony of the wise and discerning acts which are to be observed in the universe, creatures are made through the limitless attributes and Names of an All-Wise Sovereign, One Perfect and Mighty Whose knowledge and power are absolute.
Yes, it may be surmised certainly from the works in the universe, that their Maker possesses sovereignty and rulership at the degree of absolute dominicality, and grandeur and magnificence at the degree of absolute might, and perfection and self-sufficiency at the degree of absolute godhead; and that His activity and rule are absolutely without restriction or limit; these are understood clearly, and are visible. As for sovereignty, grandeur, perfection, self-sufficiency, absoluteness, comprehensiveness, unrestrictedness, and unlimitedness, they necessitate unity and are opposed to partnership.
The testimony to unity of sovereignty and rulership: This has been proved with complete certainty in numerous places in the Risale-i Nur. A brief summary is as follows:
The mark of rulership is independence, solitariness, and the rejection of interference; rulership necessitates these. Due to only a shadow of rulership, impotent men even, who by their natures are in need of assistance, reject the interference of others and preserve their independence. It is for this reason that there cannot be two kings in a country, or two governors of a province, two mayors of a town, or even two headmen of a village. If there are two of any of these, it leads to chaos; rebellions break out and law and order are overturned. Since a mere shadow of rulership in impotent men needy of assistance repels the partnership and interference of others to this extent, surely the rulership, which is in the form of dominicality, of an Absolutely Powerful One free of all impotence will in no way accept any partners or interference. He will reject it vehemently and angrily repulse from His court those who ascribe imaginary partners to Him. The All-Wise Qur’an’s severe threats against those who ascribe partners to God arise from this truth.
The testimony to unity of grandeur, magnificence, and glory: This too has been explained with brilliant proofs in the Risale-i Nur, and here a very brief meaning of it is alluded to:
For example, the magnificence and grandeur of the sun’s light leave no need for any weak lights near to it, nor does its light allow any other light an effect. Similarly, the magnificence and immensity of Divine power leave no need for any other force or power, and afford no other power a true effect or ability to create. Especially living and conscious beings, which are the points on which of all the dominical aims in the universe turn and where they are concentrated; it is impossible that they should be referred to others. It is also in no way possible that the fruits, results, and circumstances of man’s creation and of living beings, which are the origin of innumerable sorts of bounties and where the aims of their creation are manifested, should be referred to other hands. For example, it would be an affront to the magnificence of dominicality for an animate being to be truly grateful to anyone other than Almighty God for being healed from some minor ailment, or for some sustenance, or for guidance, and to praise and applaud the person extravagantly; the grandeur of the Godhead would be offended; the dignity of the Absolute Object of Worship affronted, and His glory, vexed.
How perfection points to the mystery of unity: Again this has been explained with brilliant proofs in the Risale-i Nur, and an extremely brief meaning of it is this: self-evidently, the creation of the heavens and earth necessitate an absolute power of utter perfection. The wondrous bodily systems of animate beings also necessitate a power of absolute perfection. And the perfection of an absolute power which is exempt from impotence and free of restriction necessitates unity. For to apply defect to perfection and restrict the unrestricted, and to make infinity finite, and reduce the strongest power to the weakest impotence means making an infinite power finite with something finite at a time it is infinite, and this is utterly impossible in five ways.
The testimonies to unity of unrestrictedness, comprehensiveness, and infinity: This too has been mentioned in detail in the treatises of The Illuminating Lamp. A summary of its meaning is as follows: since by spreading pervasively around their own works, the acts in the universe all show that they are comprehensive and unrestricted, unlimited and absolute; and since partners and participation place a restriction on the comprehensiveness and unrestrictedness, and limit the unlimitedness, destroying their nature and reality; most certainly partnership in those acts which are absolute and comprehensive is impossible and precluded. Yes, the very nature of unrestrictedness is opposed to partnership, for its meaning, even in finite, material, and limited things, is to spread, pervade, and permeate everywhere.
For example, if air, light, and heat, and even water, manifested unrestrictedness, they would spread everywhere. Since this aspect of unrestrictedness makes physical and limited things invasive, even if they are particular, surely true, universal unrestrictedness would afford such encompassment and pervasiveness to attributes that were both infinite, and free of matter, and unlimited, and free of defect, that there could be no possibility whatsoever of their accepting any partners or partnership.
In Short: Both the sovereignty, and the grandeur, and the perfection, and the comprehensiveness, and the unrestrictedness, and the infinity of the thousands of general acts and the hundreds of Divine Names whose manifestations are to be seen in the universe are extremely powerful proofs of Divine unity and the affirmation of it.
Also, a superior force wants to overrun its surroundings in order to become activated, scattering other forces. Similarly, it is apparent from all the works of dominicality and manifestations of the Names of the Godhead that their forces are so extraordinarily overwhelming that if it were not for general sovereignty and absolute justice, which prevent them, they would have overrun all beings. For example, is it at all possible that the universal power which creates all the poplar trees on the earth and administers them, should not take under its control the individual trees like walnut, apple, and apricot, which have become interspersed among the poplars, and not regulate them and dominate them, or that it should hand them over to other forces? Yes, in all species of creatures, and even in each individual, a governing force and power are felt which clearly have the capacity to overrun the whole universe and subjugate all beings. Certainly, such a power would not accept partners of any sort, nor permit partnership.
Also, for the owner of a fruit-bearing tree, the matter of greatest importance is the fruit at the tips of the tree’s branches, and for future planting, the seeds in the hearts of its fruits, rather that are the hearts of its fruits. If the tree’s owner has any sense, he will not make his ownership go for nothing by handing over the fruits to someone else. In exactly the same way; the elements, which are the branches of the tree called the universe, and the plants and animals, which are at the tips of the elements and are like the flowers and leaves of the tree, and human beings, which are the topmost of the leaves and flowers, —the owner of the tree would in no way hand over to other forces the worship and thanks of those fruits, which are their most important fruits and the result of their creation, and especially their hearts, the all-encompassing seeds of the fruits, and their faculties of memory, which are known as the ‘outer heart,’ so negating the sovereignty of His dominicality, and cancelling also his fitness to be worshipped.
Also, since the aims of dominicality are centred in the particulars at the extremities of the sphere of contingency and multiplicity, and even in the states and circumstances of those particulars; and since they are the source of the thanks, gratitude, and worship, which are extended and look to the One True Object of Worship; for sure He would not hand them over to others and so nullify His wisdom, and by nullifying His wisdom, annul His Godhead. For the most important dominical aim in the creation of beings is to make Himself known to conscious beings, and loved, and praised and extolled, and to attract their gratitude to Himself.
It is because of this subtle mystery that, in order to demonstrate that the bounties and acts, universal and particular, at the extremities of the sphere of multiplicity, like sustenance, healing, and particularly guidance and belief, which result in thanks, worship, gratitude, love, praise, and worship, are directly the works, bounties, gifts, and acts of the universe’s Creator, the Monarch of all beings, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition repeatedly ascribes sustenance, guidance, and healing to the Necessarily Existent One, stating that the bestowal of them is His alone and restricted to Him, and strongly rejecting the interference of others.10 Yes, the One Who bestows the bounty of belief, which wins for a person an abode of bliss, can surely only be the One Who creates the abode of bliss and makes belief the key to it. It could only be His bounty. Nobody could shut up this largest window opening onto the True Object of Worship by bestowing an equally great bounty; no one could block up this most important means to Him, or steal it.
In Short: The most particular events and fruits at the tips of the tree of creation testify to Divine unity and the affirmation of it in two ways:
Firstly: The aims of dominicality in the universe are gathered together in those fruits and events and their aims are centred on them, and most of the manifestations of the Divine Names and their determinations, and the results of and benefits in the creation of beings are gathered together in them. In this respect, each of them therefore declares: “I am the property, act, and work of the One Who created the whole universe.”
The Second Way: Since the hearts of those particular fruits, as well as man’s memory, which in a Hadith is called “the outer heart,”11 are concise indexes of most species of beings, and small maps of them, and bear the meaning of seeds of the tree of the universe, and are subtle mirrors of most of the Divine Names; and since hearts and memories, which are all similar and bear the same stamp, spread pervasively throughout the universe; they look to the One who holds the whole universe in the grasp of His power, and they each declare: “I am the work and art of Him alone.”
To Conclude: With regard to its benefits, a fruit looks to its tree’s owner. With regard to its seed, it looks to all the parts, members, and nature of the tree. And with regard to the stamp on its face, it gazes on all the fruits of the tree, whose stamp is the same. Together they declare: “We are all the same and we have one maker. We are the property of a single person. Whoever made one of us, made all of us.” In exactly the same way, in regard to the stamps on the faces of the living creatures at the extremities of the sphere of multiplicity, and especially the stamps on man’s face, and his index-like heart, and the results of his nature and his being a fruit, they look directly to the One Who holds the whole universe in the grasp of His power, and testify to His unity.
The Second Matter Necessitating Divine Unity
This is the fact that in unity are an ease and facility which render it necessary, while in associating partners with God are difficulties to the point of its being impossible. This truth has been explained and demonstrated with brilliant and decisive proofs in many of the treatises of what Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) called The Illuminating Lamp, especially in the Twentieth Letter, in detail, and in the Fourth Point of the Thirtieth Flash, briefly. It has been demonstrated with most powerful proofs that if all things are attributed to one single Being, the creation and regulation of the universe are as easy as the creation and regulation of a tree; and the creation and making of a tree are as easy as the creation and making of a fruit; and the origination and management of the spring are as easy as the origination and management of a flower; and the admininstration and raising of a species containing numerous members are as free of trouble as the administration and raising of a single individual.
Whereas if, on the way of associating partners with God, all things are ascribed to causes and nature, the creation of a single individual is as difficult as that of a species, indeed, of many species; and the creation and decking out of a single living flower as difficult as the creation and decking out of the spring, or many springs; and the creation, making, raising to life, administering, nurturing, directing, and regulation of a tree as difficult as those of the universe, or even more difficult.
Since the reality of the matter has been thus proved in The Illuminating Lamp, and since as we see plainly before us, together with the very highest degree of art and the greatest value there is a superabundance of beings; and together with being wondrous machines with numerous miraculous components and members, all living creatures come into existence in absolute profusion infinitely easily with extraordinary speed just like striking a match; it demonstrates necessarily and self-evidently that the profusion and ease arise from unity and from their being the works of a single Being. Otherwise, it would not be cheapness, abundance, speed, ease, and value; a fruit that is now obtained for five para would not have been obtainable for five hundred lira 12 or would have been so rare as to have been unobtainable. And the creation of living beings, which resemble regular machines that work like setting a clock or turning on an electric switch, would have been so difficult as to have been impossible, and some animals who come into existence together with all their bodily systems and vital conditions in a day, or an hour, or a minute, would not have come into existence in a year, or a century, or perhaps ever at all.
It is proved in a hundred places in The Illuminating Lamp, so decisively as to silence the most obdurate denier, that if all things are ascribed to the Single One of Unity, they are as easy, swift, and cheap as a single thing. Whereas if causes and nature are given a share as well, the creation of a single thing becomes as difficult, slow, unimportant, and expensive as all things. If you want to see the proofs of this truth, you may refer to the Twentieth and Thirty-Third Letters, the Twenty-Second and Thirty-Second Words, the Twenty-Third Flash, which is about nature, and the Thirtieth Flash, which is about the Greatest Name, particularly its Fourth and Sixth Points which are about the Names of Single and Self-Subsistent respectively. There you will see that it has been proved with the certainty of two plus two equalling four. Here, only one of those hundreds of proofs will be alluded to, as follows:
The creation of things is either from non-existence, or from the elements and other beings in the form of composition. If attributed to a single Being, that Being is bound to have all-encompassing knowledge and power that prevails over all things. In this way, the giving of external existence to things whose forms are present in His knowledge or who exist as knowledge, and bringing them out of apparent non-existence, is as easy and simple as striking a match or spreading a special liquid over invisible writing in order to reveal it, or transposing an image from photographic film to paper. Through the ‘command of “Be!” and it is,’13 the Maker brings into external existence from apparent non-existence things whose plans, programmes, and shapes and proportions are present in His knowledge.
If it is in the form of composition and art, and not creating from non-existence and nothing, and in the form of gathering together from the elements and surroundings, it resembles the members of a regiment mustering at the call of a bugle after having dispersed to rest, and the soldiers collecting together in regular and orderly fashion, and in order to facilitate this exercise and preserve their positions, the whole army being like the power, law, and eye of its commander. In exactly the same way, as though they were the power, law, and officials of the Monarch of the Universe, the minute particles under the command of that Monarch —together with the beings with whom they have contact— are mobilized according to the principles of His knowledge and determining and the laws of His pervasive power. In order to form a living being, they assume a specified measure and proportion, which resembles an immaterial mould specified by Divine knowledge and determining, and there they stop.
If things are referred to different hands and causes, and to nature, then as all the reasonable agree, no cause can in any way create from nothing and non-existence. For causes do not possess comprehensive knowledge and all-pervading power, and non-existence would not be only apparent and external, it would be absolute. And absolute non-existence can in no way be the source of existence. It which case, creation would be in the form of composition. But if in the form of composition, the particles of a fly or a flower could come together only with innumerable difficulties after collecting the body of a fly and parts of a flower from all over the earth and passing them through a fine sieve. Even having come together, since there would be no immaterial moulds existing as knowledge to preserve them in orderly form without dispersing, physical, natural moulds, in fact moulds to the number of their members, would be necessary so that the particles that had come together could form the bodies of those living creatures.
Thus, the ascribing of all things to a single Being is so easy as to be necessary and the attributing of them to numerous causes so difficult as to be impossible and precluded. Similarly, if all things are ascribed to the Single One of Unity, they become valuable, full of art, meaningful, and powerful to the utmost degree at the same time as being infinitely cheap. While if, on the way of associating partners with God, they are ascribed to numerous causes and nature, they become valueless and completely lacking in art, meaning, and power, as well as being infinitely expensive.
For since a man who joins the army becomes connected with its commander-in-chief and he relies on him, he gains the potential moral support of the army, if it is necessary. And since the power of the army is his reserve force, he acquires a physical strength far exceeding his individual strength. And since because the army carries them, he is not compelled to carry the sources of that significant strength of his and his ammunition, he will be able to carry out superhuman works. Despite being a single private soldier, he may capture an enemy field-marshal, or compel all the inhabitants of a town to migrate, or capture a citadel. His works will be extraordinary and of great worth.
If, however, he leaves the army and remains on his own, he will lose that miraculous moral strength, power, and force, and be able to perform only insignificant, valueless works in accordance with his personal strength like a common irregular soldier. His achievements will diminish proportionately.
In exactly the same way, since on the way of Divine unity everything becomes connected with the All-Powerful One of Glory and relies on Him, an ant may defeat the Pharaoh, a fly vanquish Nimrod, and a microbe subdue a tyrant. So too a seed the size of a fingernail may bear on its shoulders a tree the size of a mountain, and be the source of all the tree’s parts and members and their workbench. All particles, too, through that connection and reliance, may perform innumerable duties in the formation of bodies, which are of innumerable sorts and arts. The works in which those miniscule officials and tiny soldiers are employed are infinitely perfect and of the highest art and value. For the one who makes them is the All-Powerful One of Glory; it is He Who put the works in their hands, making them a veil. Whereas if attributed to causes on the way of associating partners with God, the works of the ant would have been as insignificant as the ant, not an atom’s worth of value would have remained in the particle’s art, and everything would have lost all value both in meaning and physically so that no one would give a farthing for the vast world.
Since the reality is this; and since as we see with our own eyes everything is infinitely valuable, and full of art, and meaningful, and powerful; most definitely there can be no way other than the way of Divine unity. If there was, it would be necessary to change all beings, empty the world into non-existence, and then refill it with meaningless junk, so that a way could be opened up to associating partners with God.
So now you have heard a brief summary of only one of the hundreds of proofs which elucidate the affirmation of Divine unity in the Risale-i Nur, which in the words of Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) is Siracü’n-Nur (The Illuminating Lamp) and Siracü’s-Sürc. You may make analogies with this for the others.
The Third Matter Necessitating Divine Unity
Since, together with the extraordinary art in the creation of things, especially in living beings, a seed is a small sample of the fruit, a fruit is a miniature specimen of the tree, a tree is a summary index of the species, and the species is a concise map of the universe and in meaning is its seed, and each of these is a comprehensive point and a droplet gathered together and distilled from the universe according to the principles of knowledge and balances of wisdom; the one who created any one of them must be the one who created the whole universe. Yes, the one who creates the seed of a melon is self-evidently he who created the melon; it is impossible and precluded that it should be anyone other than him.
Yes, we look and see that all the atoms in blood are so orderly and perform so many duties that they are not inferior to the stars. All the red and white corpuscles in blood work with such a degree of consciousness in protecting and feeding the body that they are more efficient than the best commissaries or bodyguards. All the cells of the body manifest such orderly processes and incomings and outgoings that their administration is more perfect than the best-run body or palace. All plants and animals bear such a seal on their faces and such machines in their chests that only one who created all of them could situate those seals and machines in their places. And all the species of living beings have spread over the face of the earth in such orderly fashion and have intermingled with the other species having mutual relations with them, that one who could not simultaneously create, administer, regulate, and raise all those species, and not place that veil on the face of the earth, and not weave that most ornate, artistic, living tapestry with its warp and weft of the four hundred thousand plant and animal species — one that could not do all these could not create and administer a single species. If analogies are made with these for other things, it will be understood that in respect of creation and bringing into existence, the universe is a whole that may not be split up into parts, and in respect of dominicality and management is a universal whose division is impossible.
This third necessitating factor has been explained and proved decisively and brilliantly in many of the treatises of The Illuminating Lamp, and especially in the First Stopping Place of the Thirty-Second Word, demonstrating that like reflections of the sun, a proof of unity and its affirmation is reflected and represented in everything’s mirror. Making do with those explanations, we are here cutting a long story short.
Third Station
[In this station three universal signs of the affirmation of Divine unity will be explained.]
The signs, proofs, and evidences of Divine unity are incalculable. Since thousands of them have been explained in detail in The Illuminating Lamp, in this Third Station three universal proofs are set forth briefly.
The First Sign and Proof
The phrase “He is One” is the conclusion of this. There is a unity in everything, and unity points to one. Yes, a work that has unity self-evidently proceeded from one maker. One proceeds from one. The fact that there is a unity in everything demonstrates that they are the works and artefacts of a single being. The universe is like a rosebud swathed in a thousand veils of unity. Or it is a single macroanthropos dressed in unities to the number of Divine Names and universal Divine works. Or it is a Tuba-tree of creation on the branches of which are hung unities to the number of realms of creatures.
Yes, the administration of the universe is one and the same; and its regulation is one and the same; its sovereignty is one and the same; its stamp is one and the same; a thousand and one things are all one and the same. Also, although the Names and acts which make the universe turn are one and the same, they each encompass the universe, or most of it. That is to say, the wisdom that works in it is one and the same; the bestowal in it is one and the same; its regulation is one and the same; the providing of sustenance in it is one and the same; the mercy which hastens to assist the needy is one and the same; the rain, which is that mercy’s dispenser of soft drinks, is one and the same, and so on; thousands of things are all one and the same. The sun, the universe’s stove, is one and the same; the moon, its lamp, is one and the same; fire, its cook, is one and the same; its mountains, which are its stores, treasuries, and masts, are one and same; its water dispensers are one and the same; its sponges which water the gardens are one and the same; a thousand and one things are all one and the same.
All these instances of unity in the world are proofs indicating the Single One of Unity, as clear and brilliant as the sun. Moreover, the elements and realms of beings of the universe each encompassing the face of the earth, as well as being one and the same, and their interpenetration and their uniting through their mutual relations and even mutual assistance, are clear signs that their Owner, Maker, and Master is one and the same.
The Second Sign and Proof
The conclusion of this is the phrase “He has no partners.” It is the fact that there is a faultless, perfect order in everything in the universe, from minute particles to the stars, and an utterly beautiful harmony that is free of defect, and a just balance that wrongs nothing. Perfect order and balanced harmony can occur only through unity. For numerous hands interfering in a single work cause only confusion.
Come now and behold the magnificence of this order: it has made the universe into a splendid mansion every stone of which is as full of art as a palace; and into a magnificent city whose endless incomings and outgoings, and boundless valuable goods and foods, arrive perfectly regularly at exactly the right time from unexpected places, from behind the veil of the Unseen. The order has also transformed the universe into a miraculous book so full of meaning that each of its letters expresses the meanings of a hundred lines, and each of its lines the meanings of a hundred pages, and each of its pages the meanings of a hundred chapters, and each of its chapters the meanings of a hundred books. Moreover, all its chapters, pages, lines, words, and letters look to each other and allude to each other.
Now come and look at the perfect ordering within this wondrous order: it has made the vast universe as clean as a modern city; or made it into a fine palace which is constantly swept and polished; or a houri of Paradise wearing seventy ornamented garments one on top of the other; or an immaculate rosebud enwrapped in seventy delicate, ornamented petals.
Now come and consider the perfect justice of the balance within the order and cleanliness; microscopic organisms that are visible only on a thousandfold magnification are weighed up on those scales and balances together with suns and stars a thousand times larger than the earth, and all are given their necessities without deficiency. Those minute creatures and those vast beings stand shoulder to shoulder before the scales of justice, despite there being among the large ones some that if they were to lose their balance even for a split second, it would destroy the equilibrium of the world and doomsday would occur.
Now come and behold the wondrously attractive beauty within the order, cleanliness, and balance; it has made the vast universe into a splendid festival, an exhibition of highly decorated works, and a springtime with freshly opened flowers. The vast spring too it has made into a beautiful flower-pot and gorgeous bunch of blooms, and to each spring it has given the form of a magnificent flower with hundreds of thousands of adornments which opens every season on the face of the earth. All the flowers of the spring it has beautified with every sort of decoration. Yes, through the beautiful manifestations of the Most Beautiful Names, which possess the utmost beauty and loveliness, all the realms of beings in the universe, and all the members of each, manifest such beauty according to their capacities that Hujjat al-Islam Imam Ghazali said: “There can be nothing better or more beautiful than what exists in the sphere of contingency.” Thus, this all-encompassing, captivating beauty, and general, wondrous cleanliness, and all-pervasive, exceedingly sensitive balance, and comprehensive and in every way miraculous order and harmony, are such proofs and signs of Divine unity that they are clearer and more brilliant than the light that indicates the sun at noon.
[There follows a very concise yet powerful reply to a two-part question related to this Station.]
The First Part of the Question: You are saying in this Station that beauty, good, and justice encompass the universe, so what do you say to all the ugliness, disasters, illness, tribulations, and death we see around us?
The Answer: A single instance of ugliness which results in or shows up numerous instances of beauty is indirectly an instance of beauty. While the non-existence of an ugliness, or its being invisible, which then conceals numerous instances of beauty and does not permit them to be seen, is not a single, but a manifold, ugliness. For example, if an ugliness which is a unit of measurement is non-existent, the beauty would be of only one sort, and its numerous degrees would remain concealed. For it is through the intervention of ugliness that the degrees of beauty unfold. Just as the degrees of heat become apparent through the existence of cold, and the degrees of light are known through darkness, so universal instances of good, universal benefits, universal bounties, and universal instances of beauty become apparent through there being minor instances of evil, harm, calamities and ugliness. This means that the creation of ugliness is not ugly, it is beautiful, because the majority of its results are beautiful. Yes, a lazy man who suffers loss due to the rain, cannot deny the good results it produces in the name of mercy; he cannot transform the mercy into harm.
As for transience and death, it is demonstrated with extremely powerful and decisive proofs in the Twenty-Fourth Letter that they are not contrary to general mercy, all-embracing beauty, and comprehensive good; in fact, they are necessitated by them. The creation of Satan, even, since he is the cause of striving and competition, the springs of man’s spiritual progress, is also good, as is the creation of his species; their creation is beautiful in that respect. Also, for unbelievers to suffer torments in Hell even is good, since through their unbelief they have transgressed the rights of all beings and insulted their honour. These two points have been explained in detail in other treatises, so here we are curtailing the discussion with this brief indication.
The Second Part of the Question:14 Alright, so we can accept the answer about Satan and the unbelievers from a general point of view, but how is it that the Absolutely Beautiful One, the Absolutely Compassionate One, the Absolutely Self-Sufficient One, Who is absolute good, inflicts evil, calamities, and ugliness on particular wretched individuals?
The Answer: Whatever good, beauty, and bounty there are, they come directly from the treasury of mercy of that Absolutely Beautiful and Compassionate One, and from His particular bestowal. Evils and calamities on the other hand are occasional results out of the many results of the general, universal laws which are called ‘adat Allah and represent His universal will. Since they are minor and required by those laws, He creates them in order to preserve and maintain the laws, which are the means to universal benefits. But in the face of those minor, grievous results, He responds with special, merciful assistance and particular dominical favours to the cries for help of individuals afflicted by misfortune and tribulations. And by showing that He acts as He wishes, and that all aspects of all things are tied to His will, and that universal laws too are always subject to His will and choice, and that a Compassionate Sustainer heeds the individuals who cry out at the constraint of the laws and responds to their cries for help with His favours, through exceptions to those universal Divine principles and general laws and their minor evil results and His particular favours and making Himself loved in special ways, He opens up an unrestricted infinite field for the unrestricted infinite manifestations of His Names, and opens too the doors of particular manifestations.
This second sign of the affirmation of Divine unity has been elucidated in perhaps a hundred places in The Illuminating Lamp, and here we suffice with a brief hint to it.
The Third Sign and Proof
This consists of the innumerable stamps of Divine unity alluded to by the phrases “His is the dominion and His is the praise.” Just as the manifestation of the sun in a mirror shows the sun, so on the faces of all things, whether particular or universal from minute particles to the planets, is a mirror-like stamp which, pointing to the Sun of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, testifies to His unity. Since a great number of those stamps have been described in detail in The Illuminating Lamp, here with a brief indication, we shall take a look at only three of them. As follows:
Just as on the face of the universe as a whole a large stamp of unity has been placed consisting of mutual assistance, co-operation, mutual resemblance, and interpenetration among the species of beings, so on the face of the earth is a stamp affirming Divine unity placed through the army of the Glorious One, composed of the four hundred thousand animal and plant species, all being given their different provisions, weapons, uniforms, instructions, and discharges with complete regularity and no confusion at exactly the right time. So too on man’s face a stamp of unity is placed through each having features distinguishing it from all other faces, as there is on the faces of all beings, whether particular or universal. Also, on the heads of all creatures, whether large or small, numerous or few, a seal of Divine oneness is to be observed. The stamps on living creatures are particularly brilliant; indeed, all living creatures are themselves each a stamp of unity, and seal of oneness, and a signature of Eternal Besoughtedness.
Yes, all flowers, all fruits, all leaves, all plants, all animals are such seals of Divine oneness and stamps of Eternal Besoughtedness that they transform all trees into being dominical missives, all species of creatures into books of the Most Merciful, and all gardens into Divine decrees, placing stamps on the letters of the tree to the number of its blossoms, and signatures to the number of its fruits, and seals to the number of its leaves. In order to show their scribe, stamps have been put on the species and groups of creatures to the number of individuals. And in order to announce and describe its ruler, stamps have been set on the decree of the garden to the number of the plants, trees, and animals it contains. In fact there are four stamps of Divine unity on trees; on their origins, ends, outsides and insides, alluded to by the Names of “He is the First, and the Last, and the Outward, and the Inward.”15
As the Name of First suggests, the original seeds16 of fruit-bearing trees are coffers containing the programmes, indexes, and plans of the trees. They are workbenches for the production of their formation, systems, and necessities; and machines regulating the tiny amounts they take in and expend.
As the Name of Last suggests, the results and fruits of trees are instruction sheets setting forth through the seeds in the fruits’ hearts, the trees’ shapes, attributes, and stages; they are proclamations stating their functions, benefits, and characteristics; and summaries announcing the trees’ peers and progeny.
As the Name of Outward suggests, the forms and shapes in which trees are clothed are skilfully fashioned and embroidered garments which have been cut out, trimmed, and decorated exactly according to the branches, members and parts of the trees. They are so fine, well-proportioned and full of meaning that they transform the trees into odes, missives, and books.
As the name of Inward suggests, the workbenches within trees are factories which produce all the parts and members of the trees, and manage and run them with the very finest balance. They despatch too with perfect regularity and order, the food and substances necessary for all the separate members. Those wondrous factories function with the speed of lightning, the ease of setting a clock, and the uniformity of commanding an army.
In Short: The origins of trees are coffers and programmes, their ends are instruction sheets and samples, their outer faces are artistically fashioned and embroidered garments, and their inner faces are factories and workbenches. These four aspects look to each other and as a whole form a supreme stamp. Indeed, a Greatest Name becomes apparent through them, for self-evidently none other than the Single Maker of Unity Who administers the whole universe could perform these works. Like trees, the origins, ends, and outer and inner faces of all animate creatures bear seals of Divine oneness and stamps of unity.
Making an analogy with the trees in these three examples, the spring is a tree laden with blossoms. The seeds and roots entrusted to the hand of the autumn bear the stamp of the Name of First. The fruits, grains, and vegetables poured into the lap of summer, filling its skirts, bear the seal of the Name of Last. The brocades and natural garments decorated with a hundred thousand designs which the spring wears one on top of the other like a houri bear the seal of the Name of Outward. While the factories of the Eternally Besought One working away in the springtime inside the earth, and the bubbling cauldrons of the Most Merciful and dominical kitchens cooking foods, each bear the signet of the Name of Inward.
All species, for instance the human species, are trees: just as, with its roots and seeds in the past and fruits and results in the future, the orderly laws regulating sexual life and the perpetuation of the species bears a stamp of unity; so its present circumstances bear a stamp of unity governed by the principles of individual and social life; humankind bears a hidden, orderly seal of unity under the apparent disorder; and under its confused circumstances, it bears a stamp of unity governed by the principles of Divine Determining and Decree, known as the appointed course of life.
Conclusion
[A brief allusion to the other pillars of belief, within the mystery of the affirmation of Divine unity.]
Heedless man! Come now and consider if only once the three Fruits, Necessitating Causes, and Proofs in the three Stations of this treatise: is it at all possible, since the All-Powerful, Wise, Compassionate, and Knowing Maker Who has disposal over the universe takes into account the smallest cure and least thanks; does not refer to others nor is indifferent towards the tiniest art, such as that of a fly’s wing; attaches to the lowliest common seed duties and instances of wisdom as great as a tree; and makes perceived His mercifulness, compassionateness, and wisdom through all His arts, and Himself known through every means and loved through every bounty — is it at all possible that He should be indifferent towards the virtues of the Muhammadan (PBUH) reality and his glorifications, and the lights of Islam?
Is it at all possible that the Messengership of Muhammad (PBUH), which gilds all creatures and fills them with joy, illuminates the universe and brings the heavens and earth to tumult, and has for fourteen centuries taken under its rule, physical and spiritual, half the globe and a fifth of mankind, and has perpetuated that glorious rule on account of the Creator of the universe and in His Name — is it at all possible that his Messengership is not one of the Maker’s most important aims, lights, and mirrors; and that the other prophets, who served the same truths as Muhammad (PBUH), should not also have been that Maker’s envoys, friends, and officials? God forbid, to the number of the prophets’ miracles!
And is it at all possible that the Wise and Compassionate Creator Who attaches a hundred purposes and fruits to the least significant thing like a branch or twig, and through His wisdom and general mercifulness makes known His dominicality, should deny all His wisdom and mercy, and even His dominicality and perfection, by not bringing about the resurrection, which is as easy for His power as the spring? Is it at all possible that he should not open up an abode of happiness and everlasting realm, and make His wisdom and mercy, dominicality and perfection denied, and condemn to eternal annihilation all His beloved creatures whom He loves? God forbid, a hundred thousand times! That Absolutely Beauteous One is utterly exempt from such an absolute abomination.
A Lengthy Note
A question related to the resurrection of the dead:
The frequently repeated verse,
It will be naught but a single cry,17
and the verse,
The command of the Hour will be like the glance of the eye,18
show that the resurrection of the dead and Great Gathering will occur instantaneously, in a flash. But man’s narrow reason requires some tangible example so that it can conceive of this wondrous, extraordinary, and unparalleled event, and accept it.
T h e A n s w e r : At the resurrection there will be the return of spirits to their bodies, the revivification of the bodies, and the remaking of the bodies. It consists of three matters.
THE FIRST MATTER: An example for the return of spirits to their bodies is the mustering, at a loud bugle call, of the members of a disciplined army after they have dispersed to rest. Yes, the Sur of the Angel Israfil is no less powerful than an army bugle. The spirits, too, who while in post-eternity, reply with “Yes, we accept” to the question “Am I not your Sustainer?”,19 which comes from pre-eternity, are infinitely more subjugated, disciplined, and obedient than the soldiers of an army. The Thirtieth Word has demonstated with decisive proofs that not only spirits, but all particles, form a Divine army and are its soldiers under command.
SECOND MATTER: An example for the revivification of bodies is the springing to life in an instant of the hundred thousand electric lights of a large city on a festival night, switched on from one centre. It would be possible to light up in the same way a hundred million lamps scattered over the face of the earth from one centre. Since through the training and instruction in regularity and order it has received from its Creator, a creature of Almighty God like electricity —a servant and candleholder in His guest-house— possesses this quality, surely the resurrection of the dead could occur in the twinkling of an eye within the bounds of the regular laws of Divine wisdom which thousands of luminous servants represent, like electricity.
THIRD MATTER: An example for the remaking of bodies instantaneously is the perfect remaking within a few days of all the trees in the spring, which are far more numerous than all humanity, together with all their leaves, in exactly the same way as those of the previous spring; and the bringing into being, again like those of previous springs, all the blossoms, fruits and leaves of the trees with the speed of lightning; and the sudden awakening of the uncountable numbers of seeds, grains, and roots, which are the source of the spring, and their unfolding and being raised to life; and reflecting the meaning of “resurrection after death,” the sudden raising to life at a command of the upright skeleton-like corpses of the trees; and the reanimation of the innumerable members of all the species of small animals; and the revivification of all the sorts of flying insects, particularly those which continually cleaning their faces, eyes, and wings, remind us of our ablutions and cleanliness, and caress our faces — the resurrection and remaking of all the members of this tribe within a few days every spring before our very eyes together with all the other species, despite being greater in number than all mankind since the time of Adam, provides not one example of the remaking of all human bodies at the resurrection, but thousands.
Yes, since this world is the realm of wisdom and the hereafter the realm of power, numerous Divine Names like All-Wise, Arranger, Disposer, and Nurturer, as well as dominical wisdom, require that the creation of things in this world is gradual and in the course of time. In the hereafter, however, power and mercy will be manifested more than wisdom, and there being no need for matter, time, and waiting, things will be made instantaneously. Alluding to the fact that things which are made here in a day or in a year will be made in the hereafter in an instant or a flash, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition states:
The command of the Hour will be like the glance of the eye, or briefer.20
If you want to be as certain about the occurrence of the resurrection of the dead as you are about the arrival of next spring, study the Tenth and Twenty-Ninth Words carefully, which are about this, and you will see! If you do not then believe that it will occur as you believe the coming of spring, come and stick your finger in my eye!
A FOURTH MATTER: The death of the world and Doomsday. The sudden collision with this globe, our guest-house, at a dominical command, of a planet or comet, could wipe out this dwelling-place of ours. Like the destruction in a minute of a palace the building of which had taken ten years.
The above summaries of the four matters of the resurrection are sufficient for now, and we return to our main subject.
Also, is it at all possible that the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, which is the eloquent interpreter of all the universe’s elevated truths, the miraculous tongue of all the perfections of the universe’s Creator and the wondrous collection of all His aims, should not be that Creator’s word? God forbid, to the number of the mysteries of its verses.
Also, is it at all possible that the All-Wise Maker should cause his living and conscious creatures to speak with one another in all their myriad tongues, and that He should know their voices and what they say, and listen to them and clearly reply through His acts and bounties, but Himself not speak or not be able to speak? Is there any possibility or probability of this? Since self-evidently He speaks and the chief of those addressed by His speech, who comprehends it perfectly, is man; more certainly, foremost the Qur’an and all well-known holy scriptures are His speech.
Also, is it at all possible that the All-Wise Maker, Who made the universe a means of making Himself known, loved, and praised; and through His multifarious bounties makes living creatures happy and contented, and their thanks and gratitude a significant pivot of His dominicality; and made the vast universe together with all its elements and realms, a docile servant, a dwelling-place, an exhibition, and banquet; and so wanted to multiply the thousands of all the different sorts of animate beings, that He made some of the leaves of trees that do not bear fruit like the poplar and elm both the cradle, and the womb, and the foodstore for the living creatures that perform their glorifications in the air, that is, for a regiment of flies; —is it at all possible that having done all this he should leave empty, purposeless, and without owner, life, spirit, or inhabitants the adorned heavens and light-scattering stars; that is, that He should leave them without angels and spirit beings? God forbid, to the number of angels and spirit beings!
Also, is it at all possible that the All-Wise Maker, the Disposer, should write with the pen of His determining in the seeds and fruits of the commonest plant and smallest tree their origins and ends and the courses of their lives within a perfect order, and that He should write with perfect order and differentiation the origins and results of the vast spring as though it was a tree, and not remain indifferent to the least signficant things, then not record the actions and deeds of man, which have great importance, since he is the result of the universe, God’s vicegerent on earth, the supervisor of all the realms of beings and their officer; that He should not include them within His determining or be unconcerned with them? God forbid, to the number of the deeds of man, all of which will be weighed up on the scales!
In Short: The universe together with all its truths shouts out:
I believe in God, and in His angels, and messengers, and in the Last Day, and in Divine Determining, that both the good of it and the evil of it are from God Almighty, and that resurrection after death is the truth; I testify that there is no god but God, and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, may God grant blessings to him and to his Family and Companions, and grant them peace. Amen.
A Supplication about Divine Unity and its Introduction
In his Qasidat al-Jaljalutiya in the place he mentions it, Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him and honour him) gives the Risale-i Nur the names of Siracü’n-Nur and Siracü’s-Sürc in wondrous fashion. Since he gives it these two additional names and the name Siracü’n-Nur is repeatedly mentioned in the present treatise, we have taken one of his most important supplications, and expanding it two degrees, offer it in his elevated tongue and in our tongues on his account to the Court of the Single One of Unity.
Supplication
O God! There is in the heavens no circulation, no star, and no motion of the planets...
In the atmosphere no cloud, no lightning, and no glorification of the thunder...
On the earth no profusion of animate beings and no wondrous artefact...
In the seas not a droplet of water nor a fish nor any strange creature...
On the mountains no stone or plant, and within them no mineral...
On the trees, no leaf or blossom, nor any decorated fruit...
In the bodies of living things no activity, nor any well-ordered member or system...
In man’s heart no thought, no inspiration, and no illumined belief...
But it testifies to the necessity of Your existence and is evidence for Your unity, and in Your dominions is utterly subjugated. Through the power by which You subjugate the heavens and earth, subjugate to me my soul and subjugate to me my wish, and subjugate to the Risale-i Nur and to service of the Qur’an and belief the hearts of Your servants and the hearts of the spirit beings, both elevated and lowly; O All-Hearing! O Near One! O Answerer of Prayer! Amen. And all 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.21
FOOTNOTES
1. Qur’an, 47:19.
2. Musnad, iv, 16.
3. A collection from the Risale-i Nur consisting of A Supplication (Third Ray), Treatise For The Sick, Treatise For The Elderly, ‘For us God suffices’ (Fourth Ray), the Thirteenth Flash, Thirty-Three Windows, A Supplication in Arabic, and the Denizli Defence Speeches. [Tr.]
4. Muwatta, Qur’an, 32; Hajj, 246; al-‘Ajluni, Kashf al-Khafa, i, 153; al-Albani, Sahih al-Jami’u’s-Saghir, no: 1113.
5. Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi (604/1207-672/1273), author of the Mathnawi.
6. Qur’an, 1:5.
7. Qur’an, 31:13.
8. Qur’an, 67:8.
9. Qur’an, 31:13.
10. For example, God is the Provider, the firm possessor of strength (Qur’an, 51:58).
11. Bukhari, al-Mu’sir, v, 237; al-Nikah, vii, 8; al-Nasa’i, al-Nikah.
12. 4 para = 1 qurush, 100 qurush = 1 lira. [Tr.]
13. Qur’an, 36:82.
14. The answer to the second part of the question has great importance; it dispels numerous doubts.
15. Qur’an, 57:3.
16. Since olden times, a common expression in the popular language was “to raise from seed,” which may be seen as a sort of allusion to the author of this treatise. For through the effulgence of the Qur’an, ‘the servant of the Risale-i Nur’ [its author] discovered two ascents in knowledge of God and the affirmation of Divine Unity in seeds and flowers. He discovered the water of life in the very places the Naturalists drowned. He reached reality and the light of knowledge of God from seeds. It is for this reason that these two things are repeated frequently in the Risale-i Nur.
17. Qur’an, 36:29.
18. Qur’an, 16:77.
19. Qur’an, 7:172.
20. Qur’an, 16:77.
21. Qur’an, 2:32.
The Third Ray
A Supplication
[This treatise proves with extraordinary decisiveness, authenticity, and certainty together with a wondrous conciseness, the most important of the fundamentals of belief such as the necessary existence, unity, and oneness of God, the splendour of His dominicality, the immensity of His power, the breadth of His mercy, the universality of His sovereignty, the comprehensiveness of His knowledge, and the all-inclusiveness of His wisdom. The indications of the resurrection of the dead, and especially those emphasized at the end, are extremely powerful.]
Introduction
This Eighth Proof of the Fundamentals of Belief1 offers evidence for the necessary existence and unity of God, and certain proofs of the comprehensiveness of dominicality and the immensity of Divine power. It proves too both the comprehensiveness of Divine sovereignty, and the extensiveness of Divine mercy, and the encompassment of Divine knowledge, and the fact that Divine wisdom embraces all the beings of the universe.
In Short: In each of the introductory passages of this Eighth Proof are eight conclusions.2 Proving these eight conclusions through their evidences, this Eighth Proof has high value.
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of night and the day; in the sailing of the ships through the oceans for the profit of mankind; in the rain which God sends down from the skies, and the life He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that He scatters through the earth; in the disposal of the winds and the clouds subjugated between the sky and the earth, indeed are signs for people who think.3
[This treatise, A Supplication, which forms the Third Ray, is a sort of commentary on the above verse.]
God’s Most Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him), the supreme Qur’anic commentator and interpreter, expounded one level —about Divine unity— of the numerous luminous levels of this sublime verse in one of the ninety-nine sections of his peerless supplication, Jawshan al-Kabir. Alluding in the supplication through a thousand and one Divine Names to a thousand and one proofs of Divine unity, he described his Sustainer. One of those sections is this:
O You Who is the First of all things, and the Last;
O God of all things, and their Maker;
O Provider of all things, and their Creator;
O Maker of all things, and their Owner;
O Giver of want to all things, and Giver of plenty;
O Originator of all things, and their Renewer;
O Causer of all things, Who determines them with due measure;
O Nurturer of all things, and their Administrator;
O You Who ‘rolls up’ all things, and causes their constant change;
O Giver of life to all things, and Dealer of death.
Glory be unto You! There is no god but You! Mercy! Mercy! Deliver us from Hell-fire!
This sample shows that the Noble Messenger’s (Peace and blessings be upon him) knowledge of God, and his proofs of Divine unity were at such a level that no one is equal to him, and that in this field he is the supreme leader. By following him, everyone may enter that treasury. It is clear that knowledge, sciences, and arts are perfected through the conjunction of ideas and blending of minds; through ideas being combined and different works complementing each other, the works are perfected. This is why the craftsman who invented the shishhane rifle was more skilful than the one who invented the machine gun now. Whereas one who listens attentively with the ear of the heart to the supplication of Jawshan al-Kabir, imagining himself to be in the presence of the Unlettered Prophet (PBUH) and hearing it from him, will understand and see that those thousand and one sacred truths, which comprise a thousand and one proofs and descriptions, and each of which is the conclusion of a chain of thought and a window opening onto Divine unity, were composed by one unlettered (PBUH) among an illiterate people in an illiterate environment, and a nation lacking a holy scripture in totally original, inventive fashion imitating no one, solving on his own through illumination the riddle of creation and talisman of the universe. This was not in imitative fashion like today with the help and supplications of thousands of other luminaries, but out of his boundless compassion and infinite clemency —due to which he invites to listen both the inhabitants of the heavens under the celestial dome and the vast congregation in the huge mosque of the universe— he seeks help, succour, mercy, and salvation for men, and he says:
O You Who in the heavens is His grandeur;
O You Who in the earth are His signs;
O You Who in all things are His evidences;
O You Who in the ocean are His strange wonders;
O You Who originates creation then renews it;
O You Who in the mountains are His treasures;
O You Who creates everything in the best way;
O You to Whom return all matters;
O You Whose grace is apparent in all things;
O You Who displays His power through all creatures.
Glory be unto You! There is no god but You! Mercy! Mercy! Deliver us from Hell-fire!
Here, the Supreme Qur’anic Commentator is expounding one aspect of the above verse. A short translation and meaning of it is this. He says:
“O One of Glory Whose magnificence is to be seen in the skies and heavenly bodies! O One of Perfection, the signs and evidences of Whose unity are to be observed in the earth and in all its beings! O Necessary Existent, proofs to Whose necessary existence are present in all things and all creatures! O All-Glorious One of Perfection, Who creates all the strange beings in the vast oceans! O Munificent Creator, Who creates the treasures stored up in the mountains to meet the needs of living beings! O Beauteous Bestower of Bounties, Who creates everything in the best way, administers them in the best way, and provides all the necessaries for each in the best way! O Omnipotent One, Sustainer of All Things, to Whom all things have recourse in all matters, for all needs, and on Whom all beings rely in all circumstances, and to Whom pertain all rights and dues, judgements and rule! O Gracious and Knowing One, the clear traces of Whose favours, and the manifestations of Whose grace, and the subtle inscriptions of Whose arts, and the fine gifts of Whose mercy, are observed in all things! O All-Powerful and Wise One, Who made the universe an exhibition of marvels in order to display His power to his conscious creatures, and made all His artefacts heralds and proclamations announcing His perfections, such as His power, wisdom, and mercy! You are free of all impotence and fault; Other than You there is no god who might succour our plight! Mercy! Mercy! Save us from Hell-fire!”
God’s Most Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him), the Supreme Qur’anic commentator, expounded the verse with this supplication. Then the Messenger’s important, precise, intelligent, and exacting student, Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him), composed a supplication-like commentary on his Master’s supplicatory commentary, and discovering another aspect of the supplication, uncovered a further face of the verse. Keeping in mind his Noble Master’s supplication, he described that aspect of the verse as follows. As we gave a short meaning and translation of the supplication above, so do we for this one:
“O God! In the heavens are no rotations or motions but through their order and wisdom they testify to your existence, making You known. On the earth are no changes and transformations, and no states or circumstances, but through their order and regularity they make You known together with Your unity and dominicality. In the seas is no creature, nor even a drop of water, but through its wisdom it points to Your existence and testifies to Your dominicality. In the mountains are no minerals, chemicals, or rocks, stored up for living beings, but through their uses and benefits they testify to Your dominicality and existence. In the heart is no thought inspired from the Unseen but it points to Your existence and testifies to Your unity. On the trees are no leaves but through their order and wisdom they recognize You, that is, they proclaim that they are the works of Your art. In bodies there are no movements but they testify to Your dominicality. O my Creator! For the sake of Your power, which subjugates the heavens and the earth, subjugate to me those things that I wish!”
Now, an impotent student of Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) and wretched servant of the Qur’an, expounding this supplication of his also with a supplication, wanted to disclose in the light of the Greatest Name one aspect of the sublime verse by expounding that aspect of the above supplication, which is only one of the hundred sections of the supplication of the Supreme Interpreter, that is, Jawshan al-Kabir. The student of Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) says:
O My God and Sustainer!
I see through the eyes of belief, the instruction and light of the Qur’an, the teachings of God’s Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him), and the indications of the Name of All-Wise, that in the heavens there are no rotations and motions but through their order and regularity they point to Your existence. There is no heavenly body but through its silently performing its duty and remaining in place without prop it testifies to Your dominicality and unity. There is no star but through its balanced creation, regular position, luminous smile, and the stamp of its similarity to the other stars, it indicates the majesty of Your Godhead and Your unity. There is not one of the twelve planets but through its wise motion, docile subjection, orderly duties, and significant satellites, it testifies to Your necessary existence and indicates the sovereignty of Your Godhead.
Yes, —O Creator of the Heavens and Earth, who directs and administers all particles together with all the orderly components they make up, and spins the planets and their regular satellites, subjugating them to His command!— just as each of the inhabitants of the heavens testifies on its own, so in their totality they testify to Your necessary existence and unity in a way so clear and powerful that shining proofs to the number of stars in the heavens affirm that testimony.
Also, appearing as a regular army or imperial fleet decked out with electric lights, the limpid, beautiful, spotless heavens with their extraordinarily huge and speedy bodies, point clearly to the splendour of your dominicality and tremendousness of Your power, which creates all things; and to the boundless extent of Your sovereignty, which overspreads the heavens, and to Your mercy, which embraces all living things; and testifies indubitably to the comprehensiveness of Your knowledge, which is concerned with all the states and circumstances of all the creatures of the heavens, and embraces them and orders them, and to Your wisdom, which encompasses all things. This testimony is so evident it is as though the stars are the words and luminous embodiments of the skies’ testimony.
Also, like disciplined soldiers, orderly ships, wondrous aeroplanes, or marvellous lamps, the stars in the arena of the heavens, and in their seas and vast spaces, show the glittering splendour of the sovereignty of Your Godhead. As is suggested by the duties of the sun —one star among the members of that army— which are related to its planets and our earth, some of its companions, the other stars, look to the worlds of the hereafter and are not without duties; they are the suns of eternal worlds.
O Necessarily Existent! O Single One of Unity!
These wondrous stars, these strange suns and moons, are subjugated, set in order, and employed in Your dominions, in Your heavens, through Your command, power, and strength, and Your administration and direction. All those heavenly bodies glorify and exalt their single Creator, Who creates, spins, and administers them; through the tongue of disposition, they declare: “Glory be to God! God is Most Great!” Through all their glorifications, I too declare You holy.
O Omnipotent One of Glory, hidden in the intensity of His manifestation and concealed in the magnificence of His grandeur! O One of Absolute Power!
I have understood through the teaching of the All-Wise Qur’an and instruction of Your Most Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) that just as the heavens and stars testify to your existence and unity, so with its clouds, lightning, thunder, winds, and rain, does the atmosphere testify to Your necessary existence and unity.
Yes, the lifeless, unconscious clouds sending the water of life, rain, to the assistance of needy living beings is only through Your mercy and wisdom; confused chance could in no way interfere. The most powerful of electricity, lightning, which alluding to its potentiality for lighting, encourages man to benefit from it and spectacularly lights up Your power in space. The thunder announces the coming of rain, causing boundless space to speak, and makes the heavens ring out with the reverberations of its glorifying; it hallows You verbally, testifying to Your dominicality. The winds, which are charged with numerous duties like providing the sustenance most vital for animate creatures, and the easiest to benefit from, and ensuring and facilitating respiration, for some purpose turn the atmosphere into a ‘tablet for writing and erasing,’ thus pointing to the activity of Your power and testifying to Your existence. Similarly, the mercy milked through Your compassion from the clouds and sent to living beings, testifies through the words of its balanced, orderly droplets, to the breadth of Your mercy and compassion.
O Potent and Active Disposer! O Sublime and Bountiful Bestower!
The clouds, lightning, thunder, wind, and rain each testify on their own to Your necessary existence, so too as a whole, being one within the other and assisting each other in their duties, although they are by nature dissimilar and opposed to each other, they indicate most powerfully Your unity. They point too to the magnificence of Your dominicality, which makes the vast atmosphere into an exhibition of wonders, on some days filling and emptying it several times; and to the immensity and all-pervasiveness of Your power, which makes it resemble a slate which is written on then rubbed clean, and wrings it out like a sponge and waters the garden of the earth; and to your unbounded mercy and limitless rule, which under the veil of the atmosphere administer all the earth and all creatures. Moreover, the air is employed in duties so wise and the clouds and rain utilized in benefits so percipient that if it was not for a knowledge and wisdom that encompass all things, they could not be thus employed.
O You Who acts as He wishes!
Through Your activity in the atmosphere, Your power, which continuously displays examples of the resurrection of the dead and Great Gathering and transforms the summer into winter and winter into summer and similar acts, gives the sign that it will transform this world into the hereafter and there display its everlasting acts.
O All-Powerful One of Glory!
The air, clouds, rain, and thunder and lightning in the atmosphere are subjugated and employed in Your dominions, through Your command and power and strength. These creatures, which by nature are so different to each other, sanctify their ruler and commander, who makes them submit instanteously to his swift commands; they praise and extol His mercy.
O Glorious Creator of the Heavens and Earth!
Through the instruction of the All-Wise Qur’an and teaching of God’s Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him), I believe and know that just as the heavens testify to Your necessary existence and unity through its stars and the atmosphere testifies through all it contains, so the earth testifies to Your existence and unity through all its creatures and states.
Indeed, there is no change on the earth, such as that of the trees and animals changing their garb every year, but through its orderliness it indicates Your existence and unity. There is no animal but through its sustenance being compassionately provided in relation to its need and weakness, and its being given all the members and faculties necessary to pursue its life, it testifies to Your existence and unity. There is not a plant or animal created before our eyes in the spring that through its wondrous art, its subtle adornment, its being distinguished from all other creatures, and through its order and balance, it makes you known. The marvels of Your power which fill the earth and are known as plants and animals, and their creation from seeds and grains and droplets of fluid, perfectly, without error, in adorned fashion, each with its distinguishing features, form a testimony more brilliant and powerful than the sun to the existence, unity, wisdom, and endless power of their All-Wise Maker.
Also, there is no element, such as air, water, light, fire, and earth, but through its performing functions consciously and perfectly despite its lack of consciousness, and being the means for the arrival of various well-ordered fruits from the treasury of the Unseen despite being simple, without order, and overrunning and spreading everywhere, it testifies to Your existence and unity.
O Omnipotent Creator! O Omniscient Opener Up Of Forms! O Active Creator!
Just as together with all its inhabitants the earth testifies to the necessary existence of its Creator, so too, O Single One of Unity! O Clement and Kind One! O Most Bounteous Provider!, through the stamp on its face and the stamps on the faces of all its inhabitants and their unity and being one within the other and assisting each other, and through all the Names and acts of dominicality that look to them being the same, it testifies with the utmost clarity to Your unity and oneness; indeed it offers testimony to the number of its creatures.
Similarly, through its being an army encampment, an exhibition, a place of instruction, and through all the four hundred thousand different nations present in the divisions of its plants and animals regularly being given all their necessary equipment, the earth points to the magnificence of Your dominicality and to the fact that Your power penetrates all things.
Also, all the different sustenance of innumerable living beings, and its being given to them compassionately, generously, at exactly the right time from simple, dry earth, and the complete subjugation and obedience to the dominical commands of those innumerable individuals, demonstrates that Your mercy embraces all things and that your sovereignty encompasses them.
Also, the despatch of the caravans of creatures, which are in a state of constant change on the earth, and the alternations of life and death, and the administration and management of the plants and animals, and this being possible only through a knowledge that is concerned with all things and an infinite wisdom governing in all things, points to Your comprehensive knowledge and wisdom.
Also, the supreme importance given to man, who in a brief span performs infinite duties, has been equiped with abilities and faculties which suggest he is to live for all eternity, and has disposal over all the beings of the earth; and the infinite outlay made for him in this training-ground of the world, this temporary military encampment of the earth, this transient exhibition; and the boundless manifestations of dominicality, innumerable Divine addresses, and incalculable Divine gifts, which look to him, surely cannot be contained in this fleeting, sorry, confused life, this transitory world so full of tribulation. Since they could be only for another, eternal, life and an everlasting abode of bliss, they point to, even testify to, the bestowals of the hereafter in the everlasting realm.
O Creator of All Things!
All the creatures of the earth are administered and subjugated in Your dominions, in Your earth, through Your strength and power and will, and Your knowledge and wisdom. The dominicality whose activity is observed on the face of the earth is so comprehensive and all-embracing, and its administration and management are so perfect and precise, and it is carried out with such sameness that it shows it is a dominicality, a disposal, which is a whole that cannot be broken into parts and a universal that cannot be divided up. Together with all its inhabitants, the earth sanctifies and glorifies its Maker with innumerable tongues far clearer than the spoken word; they praise and extol their Glorious Provider for His infinite bounties with the tongues of their beings.
O Most Pure and Holy One, hidden in the intensity of His manifestation and concealed in the magnificence of His grandeur!
Through all the sanctifications and glorifications of the earth I sanctify you and declare You to be free of all fault, impotence, and partners; and through all its praise and extolling, I offer You praise and thanks.
O Sustainer of the Land and the Seas!
I have understood from the teaching of the Qur’an and instruction of Your Most Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) that just as the skies, the atmosphere and the earth testify to Your unity and necessary existence, so do the seas, rivers, streams, and springs testify to them most clearly. Yes, there is no being in the seas, which are like the strange boilers of our world producing steam —there is not a drop of them even— but through its well-ordered being, its benefits and state, it makes known its Creator. And of the strange creatures whose splendid sustenance is given them out of simple sand and water, and the living creatures of the seas with their well-ordered beings, especially of the fishes who populate the seas with one fish producing a million eggs, there is not one but through its creation and its duties, its being sustained and administered, nurtured and superintended, it indicates its Creator and testifies to its Provider.
Also, of the precious, decorated jewels in the seas, there is not one but through its attractive creation and beneficial qualities it recognizes You and makes You known. Yes, just as they testify to You singly, so too in so far as they are all mixed up together, bear the same stamp in their natures, are created with great ease, and are found in great numbers, they altogether testify to Your unity.
Also, through the seas, which surround the globe with its land masses, being held suspended without spilling over or dispersing or overrunning the land as the earth voyages around the sun; and creating the multifarious ornamented living creatures and jewels out of simple sand and water, and all their sustenance and other needs being supplied in general and complete fashion; and through their administration, and through none of the inevitable innumerable corpses of their dead fellows being found on the surface of the seas; they testify indirectly to their number to Your existence and its necessity.
Also, just as they point clearly to the splendid sovereignty of Your dominicality and to the magnificence of Your power, which encompasses all things; so do they indicate the limitless breadth of Your mercy and rule, which govern all things from the huge yet orderly stars beyond the skies to the tiny fishes at the bottom of the sea, which are nurtured in regular fashion. They point too to Your knowledge and wisdom, which as demonstrated by the order, benefits, instances of wisdom, and the balance and equilibrium of all things, encompass and comprehend them. There being such reservoirs of mercy for the travellers in this guest-house of the world and their being utilized for man’s journeying, and for his ship, and his benefit shows that the One Who bestows such a profusion of gifts out of the seas on his guests of one night in a wayside inn, must surely have eternal seas of mercy at the seat of His everlasting rule, and those here are merely their small and transitory samples.
Thus, the truly wondrous situation of the seas around the earth and the exceedingly orderly administration and nurturing of their creatures demonstrate self-evidently that it is only through Your power, will, and administration that they are subjugated to Your command in Your dominions; and through the tongues of their beings they sanctify their Creator, declaring: “God is Most Great!”
O All-Powerful One of Glory, Who makes the mountains masts and holds of treasure for the ship of the earth!
Through the instruction of Your Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) and the teaching of the Wise Qur’an, I have understood that just as the seas with their strange creatures recognize You and make You known, so do the mountains through the wise services they perform. For they ensure that the earth is released from the effects of earthquakes and internal upheavals; save it from being overrun by the seas; purify the air of poisonous gases; are tanks for the saving and storage of water; and treasuries for the minerals and metals necessary for living beings.
Yes, there is not one of the stones to be found in mountains, or the various substances used as remedies for illness, or the varieties of metals and minerals, which are essential for living beings and especially man, or the species of plants that adorn the mountains and plains with their flowers and fruits, but through the wisdom, order, and fine creation it displays, which is impossible to ascribe to chance, it testifies to the necessary existence of an infinitely Powerful, Wise, Compassionate, and Munificent Maker. This is especially true of substances found in the mountains like salt, potassium oxalate, quinine sulphate, and alum, which superficially resemble each other, but whose tastes are totally dissimilar; and particularly of all the varieties of plants, and the great diversity of their flowers and fruits. Moreover, through their being administered and managed as a totality, and their origins, situations, creation, and art all being similar, and the ease, speed, and cheapness in their making, they testify to the unity and oneness of their Maker.
Also, the creatures on the surface of the mountains and inside them being made everywhere on the earth at the same time in the same fashion, perfectly and without error, with none impeding others, and their being created without confusion despite being intermingled with all the other sorts of other creatures, all point to the splendour of Your dominicality and the immensity of Your power, for which nothing is difficult.
Also, the mountains —both their surfaces and their interiors— being filled in orderly fashion with trees, plants, and minerals to meet the innumerable needs of all the living creatures on the earth, and even to supply the remedies for their many different illnesses, and gratify their various appetites and tastes, and these being displayed for those who need them, indicates the infinite breadth of Your mercy and infinite extent of Your sovereignty. While their being prepared percipiently, knowingly, without confusion, in orderly fashion according to need, despite being all mixed up and concealed in the darkness of the soil layer, indicates Your all-embracing knowledge, which encompasses all things, and the comprehensiveness of Your wisdom, which sets all things in order. Then the storing up of medicinal substances, minerals, and metals points clearly to the compassionate, generous, planned processes of Your dominicality and the subtle precautions of Your grace.
Also, the lofty mountains holding stored up in orderly fashion the reserves to meet the future needs of the travellers in the guest-house of this world, and their being stores stocked up with all the treasures necessary for life, indicates, indeed, testifies, that the Maker Who is thus Munificent and hospitable, All-Wise and Compassionate, Powerful and nurturing, surely possesses eternal treasuries for His never-ending bestowal in an everlasting realm, for His guests Whom He clearly loves. There the stars will perform the function the mountains perform here.
O One Powerful Over All Things!
The mountains and the creatures within them are subjugated and stored up in Your dominions through Your power and strength, Your knowledge and wisdom! They sanctify and glorify their Creator, Who subjugates and employs them in this way.
O Merciful Creator, Compassionate Sustainer!
Through the instruction of Your Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) and the teaching of the Wise Qur’an I have understood that just as the heavens, atmosphere, earth, seas, and mountains, together with their creatures and all they contain, recognize You and make You known; so too do all the trees and plants, together with all their leaves and flowers and fruits. All their leaves, with their ecstatic movements and recitations; all their flowers, which describe through their decoration the Names of their Maker; and all their fruits, which smile with their agreeableness and the manifestation of Your compassion, testify —through the order within their wondrous art, which is utterly impossible to ascribe to chance, and the balance within the order, and the adornment within the balance, and the embroideries within the adornment, and the fine and various scents within the embroideries, and the varying tastes of the fruits within the scents— so clearly as to be self-evident to the necessary existence of an infinitely Compassionate and Munificent Maker. At the same time, their similarity and mutual resemblance throughout the earth, and their bearing the same stamps on their creation, and their being related in their administration and organization, and the coincidence of the creative acts and dominical Names connected with them, and the innumerable members of their one hundred thousand species being raised one within the other without confusion, forms a testimony through them as a whole to the unity and oneness of their Necessarily Existent Maker.
Also, just as they testify to Your necessary existence and unity, so too the nurturing and administration in hundreds of ways of the innumerable members of the army of living creatures on the face of the earth, which is formed of four hundred thousand different nations, perfectly, with no confusion or difficulty, point to the majesty of Your dominicality within Your unity and to the immensity of Your power, which creates a flower as easily as the spring, and its comprehending all things. They point also to the unlimited breadth of Your mercy, which prepares innumerable varieties of foods for animals and men all over the earth; and through all those works and bestowals, administering and nurturing, being carried out with perfect regularity, and everything, even minute particles, being obedient and subjugated to those commands, they indicate certainly the infinite extent of Your rule; and through every part of those trees and plants, like their leaves, blossoms, fruits, roots, branches, and twigs, being made with every aspect of them being known and seen, in accordance with useful purposes, instances of wisdom, and benefits, they point clearly with innumerable fingers to Your knowledge, which embraces all things, and to the comprehensiveness of Your wisdom. With innumerable tongues, they praise and extol the utterly perfect beauty of Your art and the sheer beauty of Your perfect bestowal.
Also, these precious gifts and bounties and this extraordinary outlay and bestowal, in this temporary hostel and transitory guest-house, for this brief time and fleeting life, indicate through the hands of the trees and plants, indeed, testify, that in order not to make all creatures say, contrary to the necessary result of all His expense and bestowal which is to make Himself loved and known: “You gave us a taste, but then executed us without permitting us to eat;” and not to nullify the sovereignty of His Godhead, and not deny His infinite mercy and make it denied, and in order not to turn all his yearning friends into enemies through depriving them thus, the munificent All-Compassionate One has of a certainty prepared for His servants whom He will send to an everlasting realm, an eternal world, fruit-bearing trees, and flowering plants appropriate to Paradise out of the treasuries of His mercy, in His eternal Paradises. Those here are merely samples to show the customers.
Also, just as through the words of their leaves, flowers and fruits, the trees and plants praise, sanctify, and glorify You, so each one of those words singly declare You to be holy. The glorifications of fruits in particular through the tongue of disposition —with the great variety of their original flesh, their wondrous art, and extraordinary seeds, and those trays of food being given to hands of the trees and placed on them, and sent to Your living guests— their glorifications are so evident they are almost verbal. All these are subjugated and submissive to Your command in Your dominions through Your power and strength, and Your wisdom and bestowal!
O Wise Maker and Compassionate Creator, hidden in the intensity of His manifestation and concealed within the magnificence of His grandeur!
Through the tongues of all trees and plants, and their leaves, flowers, and fruits, and to their number, I praise and extol You and declare You free of all defect, impotence, and partners!
O All-Powerful Creator! All-Wise Planner! Compassionate Nurturer!
Through the instruction of Your Most Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) and the teaching of the Wise Qur’an, I have understood and believed that just as plants and trees recognize You and make known Your sacred attributes and Beautiful Names; so too among men and the animals, which are those living creatures which have spirits, there is not one that through its internal and external members, which work as regularly as clockwork, and the extremely fine order and balance of their bodies, and the significant benefits and purposes of their senses and faculties, and the great art in their making, and their being decked out with much wisdom, and the precise equilibrium of their physical systems, but it testifies to Your necessary existence and the reality of Your attributes. For blind force, unconscious nature, and aimless chance could in no way interfere in such percipient, delicate art, and conscious subtle wisdom, and perfect providential balance; they could not be their work; it is impossible. It is also utterly impossible that living creatures made themselves, for then each of their particles would have to possess comprehensive knowledge and wisdom like a god, to be able to know, see, and make all the parts of their bodies and form it, indeed, it would have to be able to know, see, and make everything in the world connected with it, then the body’s formation could be referred to it, and it could be said that “it makes itself.”
Also, their being subject to the same administration, and the same planning, and their all being the same kind, and their bearing the same stamp, such as the resemblance in features like the eye, ear, and mouth, and the unity in the stamp of wisdom observed on the faces of members of the same species, and the resemblance in livelihood and creation, and their all being one within the other; there is not one of these circumstances but it testifies categorically to Your unity, and, by the manifestations of all Your Names which look to the universe being on each individual, to Your oneness within unity.
Also, through being equipped, trained, and subservient like a regular army and from the smallest to the largest, their conforming in orderly fashion to the commands of dominicality, man and the hundred thousand animal species on the face of the earth point to the degree of splendour of that dominicality; and through their great value despite their great multitude, and their perfection despite the speed of their making, and their great art despite the ease of their making, to the degree of grandeur of Your power. Also, they point decisively to the boundless expanse of Your mercy, which sends their sustenance to all of them, from the microbe to the rhinoceros, and the tiniest fly to the largest bird, dispersed from east to west and north to south; and through all of them performing their natural functions like soldiers under command, and every spring the face of the earth being the encampment of an army newly taken under arms in place of those discharged the previous autumn, to the infinite extent of Your sovereignty.
Also, through a profound knowledge and precise wisdom all living creatures being miniature copies of the universe, and their being made faultlessly, with none of their parts being confused or any of their different forms mixed up, they point to their number to Your knowledge, which embraces all things, and Your wisdom, which comprehends all things; while by their all being made so beautiful and fine as to be miracles of art and wonders of wisdom, they indicate in innumerable ways the utterly perfect beauty of Your dominical art, which You greatly love and want to exhibit; and through all of them, and particularly their young, being nourished in the finest way, with their wishes and desires being satisfied, to the sweet beauty of Your grace.
O Most Merciful and Compassionate! O One Most True to His Promise! Owner of the Day of Judgement!
Through the instruction of Your Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) and the guidance of the All-Wise Qur’an I have understood that since the choicest result of the universe is life, and the choicest essence of life is spirit, and the choicest of beings with spirits are intelligent beings, and of intelligent beings the one with the most comprehensive nature is man; and since all the universe is subjugated to life and works for life, and living beings are subjugated to beings with spirits and they are sent to this world for them, and beings with spirits are subjugated to man and they assist him; and since by nature men earnestly love their Creator and their Creator both loves them, and by every means makes them love Him; and since man’s innate capacity and spiritual faculties look to another, permanent world and everlasting life, and his heart and intelligence desire eternity with all their strength, and his tongue beseeches his Creator for eternity with endless prayers; He surely would not offend men, who love Him greatly and are loved, by causing them to die then not raising them again to life, and while He created them for an eternal love, to make them feel eternal hostility; to do that would not be possible. Men were sent to work in this world in order to live happily in another, eternal world, and to win that life. The Names manifested on man in this brief and fleeting life indicate that men, who will be their mirrors in the eternal realm, will receive their eternal manifestations.
Yes, the true friend of the Eternal One should be eternal, and the conscious mirror of the Enduring One should be enduring.
It is understood from sound narrations that the spirits of animals will live eternally, and that certain individual animals, like the Hudhud of Solomon (PUH) and his ants, Salih’s (PUH) she-camel, and the dog of the Companions of the Cave, will go to the eternal realm with both their spirits and their bodies,4 and that each species will have a single body that may be utilized from time to time. This is also demanded by wisdom and reality, and mercy and dominicality.
O All-Powerful Self-Subsistent One!
All living creatures, beings with spirits, and conscious beings are subjugated to the commands of Your dominicality and employed in their innate duties only through Your power and strength, Your will and planning, and Your mercy and wisdom. Some have been subjugated to man, not because of man’s power and dominance, but by Divine mercy because of his innate weakness and impotence. Through the tongues of both disposition and speech they absolve their Maker and True Object of Worship of all defect and partner, and offering thanks and praise for His bounties, perform the worship particular to them.
O Most Pure and Holy One, hidden in the intensity of His manifestation and concealed within the magnificence of His grandeur!
Forming the intention, I sanctify You with the glorifications of all beings with spirits, and declare: Glory be to You Who has made from water all living things!5
O Sustainer of All the Worlds! O God of the First-comers and the Last-comers! O Sustainer of the Heavens and the Earth!
Through the instruction of Your Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) and the teaching of the All-Wise Qur’an I have understood and believe that just as the heavens, atmosphere, earth, land and sea, trees, plants, and animals, together with all their members, parts, and particles, know and recognize You and point to and testify to Your existence and unity; so too living beings, the essence of the universe, and man, the essence of living creatures, and the prophets, saints, and purified scholars, the essence of men, and, through their visions, unfoldings, inspirations, and the discoveries of their hearts and intellects, which form the essence of the prophets, saints, and purified scholars, testify with the certainty of a hundredfold consensus to Your necessary existence, unity and oneness, and give news of them; and through their miracles, wonder-working, and certain proofs, prove what they tell of.
Yes, there is nothing that occurs to the heart, which looks to one who inspires it from behind the veil of the Unseen; and there is no inspiration, which makes one look to the giver of inspiration; and there is no certain belief, which discloses in the form of ‘absolute certainty’ Your sacred attributes and Most Beautiful Names; and there is no luminous heart of the prophets and saints, which observes with ‘the vision of certainty’ the lights of the Necessary Existent; and there is no enlightened intellect of the purified scholars and veracious ones, which confirms and proves with ‘the knowledge of certainty’ the signs of the existence of the Creator of All Things and the proofs of His unity; —there is not one of these that does not testify to Your necessary existence, and sacred attributes, and Your unity, oneness, and Most Beautiful Names, and point to them and indicate them.
Also, just as relying on their miracles, wonder-working and proofs, all those hundreds of thousands of truthful bringers of good news testify to Your existence and unity; so they unanimously give news of, proclaim, and prove the degree of majesty of Your dominicality, which governs from the administration of the totality of matters of the Sublime Throne, which encompasses all things, to knowing and hearing and administering the secret, private thoughts of the heart, and its desires and supplications. They tell of and prove too the immensity of Your power, which creates innumerable different things at once, and makes the greatest thing as easily as the smallest with no act impeding another and no matter obstructing another.
Also, they give news of and prove through their miracles and proofs the immense breadth of Your mercy, which makes the universe a magnificent palace for beings with spirits, and especially man; has prepared Paradise and everlasting happiness for jinn and man; does not forget even the tiniest living being; and tries to satisfy and please the most impotent heart.
They give news too of the infinite extent of Your sovereignty, which makes comply with Your commands all the realms of creatures from particles to the planets, and subjugates and employs them.
So also they unanimously testify to Your comprehensive knowledge, which makes the universe into a vast book containing treatises to the numbers of its parts, and records the life-stories of all beings in the Clear Record and Clear Book, which are the notebooks of the Preserved Tablet, and inscribes completely and without error in their seeds the indexes and programmes of all trees and the biographies of conscious beings in the memories in their heads.
They testify too to the comprehensiveness of Your sacred wisdom, which attaches numerous purposes to all beings, causing even trees to produce results to the number of their fruits, and follows benefits in all living beings to the number of their members, and even their parts and cells, and employing man’s tongue in numerous duties, equips it with the ability to weigh up tastes to the number of foods.
They also unanimously testify that the manifestations of the Names related to Your Beauty and Glory, samples of which are to be seen in this world, will continue in more brilliant fashion for all eternity, and that your bounties, samples of which are to be observed in this transitory world, will persist in the abode of bliss in even more glittering fashion, and that those who long for them in this world will accompany them and be together with them for all eternity.
Also, relying on hundreds of evident miracles and decisive signs, foremost Your Most Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) and the All-Wise Qur’an, and the prophets with their luminous spirits, and the saints, who are spiritual poles with their light-filled hearts, and the purified scholars with their enlightened intellects, relying on Your repeated threats and promises in all the sacred scriptures, and trusting in Your sacred attributes, like power, mercy, favour, wisdom, glory, and beauty, and on Your functions, and the dignity of Your glory, and the sovereignty of Your dominicality, and in consequence of their illuminations and visions and beliefs at the degree of ‘the knowledge of certainty,’ give the glad tidings to men and jinn of eternal happiness and inform them of Hell for the people of misguidance; they believe this and testify to it.
O All-Powerful and Wise One! O Most Merciful and Compassionate! O Munificent One True to His Promise! O All-Compelling One of Glory, One of Dignity, Grandeur, and Wrath!
You are utterly exempt from and exalted above giving the lie to so many loyal friends, and so many promises, and attributes and functions, and denying the certain demands of the sovereignty of Your dominicality and the endless prayers and supplications of Your innumerable acceptable servants, whom You love and who attract Your love by assenting to You and obeying You; and You are exempt from confirming the denial of resurrection of the people of misguidance and unbelief, who through their disbelief and rebellion and denial of Your promises, offend the magnificence of Your grandeur and affront Your dignity and glory and the honour of Your Godhead, and sadden the compassion of Your dominicality. I declare Your justice, beauty, and mercy to be exempt from such infinite tyranny, such ugliness. With all the particles of my being, I want to recite the verse,
Glory be to Him! He is high above all that they say! —Exalted and Great [beyond measure]!6
Indeed, those truthful envoys of Yours and heralds of Your sovereignty testify with ‘absolute certainty,’ ‘knowledge of certainty,’ and ‘the vision of certainty’ to the treasuries of Your mercy in the hereafter and the stores of Your bounties in the everlasting realm, and to the wondrously beautiful manifestations of Your Beautiful Names, which will be manifested totally in the abode of bliss, and they give good news of these. Believing that the supreme ray of Your Name of Truth, which is the source, sun, and protector of all realities, is this truth of the resurrection and Great Gathering, they teach it to Your servants.
O Sustainer of the Prophets and Veracious Ones!
They are all subservient to You and charged with their duties in Your dominions through Your command and power, Your will and planning, Your knowledge and wisdom. They demonstrate through sanctifying, exalting, and extolling You, and declaring You to be One, that the globe is a vast place for Your remembrance and the universe, a huge mosque.
O My Sustainer and Sustainer of the Heavens and Earth! O My Creator and Creator of All Things! For the sake of Your power, will, wisdom, sovereignty, and mercy, which subjugate the heavens and their stars, the earth and all it contains, and all creatures together with all their attributes and acts, subject my soul to me and subjugate to me my wishes! Subjugate the hearts of people to the Risale-i Nur, so they may serve the Qur’an and belief! And grant me and my brothers perfect belief and a happy death! As You subjugated the sea to Moses (Peace be upon him), fire to Abraham (Peace be upon him), the mountains and iron to David (Peace be upon him), jinn and men to Solomon (Peace be upon him), and the sun and moon to Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), subjugate hearts and minds to the Risale-i Nur! Preserve me and all the students of the Risale-i Nur from the evil of the soul and Satan, and the torment of the grave and Hell-fire, and grant us happiness in Paradise! Amen. Amen. Amen.
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.7
And the close of their prayer will be: All praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds.8
If I have been at fault in offering to the Court of my Compassionate Sustainer this instructive piece which I have taken from the Qur’an and the Jawshan al-Kabir, a supplication of the Prophet (PBUH), as worship in the form of reflective thought, making the Qur’an and the Jawshan my intercessors, I beseech forgiveness for my fault.
S a i d N u r s i
FOOTNOTES
1. The Eighth Proof of the Fundamentals of Belief refers to this treatise’s position among the parts of the Risale-i Nur included in the collection called Asâ-yi Musa (The Staff of Moses). [Tr.]
2. All the ‘Proofs of the Fundamentals of Belief’ demonstrate the necessary existence and unity of God explicitly, and their other conclusions indirectly. In addition to proving explicitly God’s necessary existence and unity, this Eighth Proof, A Supplication, has nine conclusions. It proves:
i. The majesty of dominicality;
ii. The tremendousness of Divine power;
iii. The comprehensiveness of Divine sovereignty;
iv. The unbounded extensiveness of Divine mercy;
v. The fact that Divine knowledge embraces all things;
vi. The encompassment of Divine wisdom;
vii. The glittering magnificence of Divine rule.
3. Qur’an, 2:164.
4. Bursawi, Ruh al-Bayan, v, 226; Tafsir al-Qurtubi, i, 372.
5. Qur’an, 21:30.
6. Qur’an, 17:43.
7. Qur’an, 2:32.
8. Qur’an, 10:10.
The Fourth Ray
[While being the Fifth Flash in meaning and degree, in form and ‘station’ this forms the valuable Fourth Ray of the Thirty-First Letter’s Thirty-First Flash and is an important and subtle point concerning the verse, For us God suffices.]
NOTE: Unlike other works, the Risale-i Nur starts off in veiled manner and gradually unfolds. Especially the First Degree of this treatise, in addition to being a most valuable truth, it is extremely subtle and profound. Peculiar to myself, it took the form of a significant discussion governed by the feelings, an animated conversation about belief, a secret discourse of the heart; it was healing for my various deep ills. Those who are completely in harmony and agreement with me may understand it completely. Otherwise it will not be entirely appreciated.
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs.1
One time when I had been isolated from everything by ‘the worldly’, I was afflicted with five kinds of exile. I suffered too at that time of old age from five illnesses arising in part from my sorrows. Due to the heedlessness resulting from the distress, I looked not to the lights of the Risale-i Nur, which would have consoled and assisted me, but straight to my heart, and I sought my spirit. I saw that dominant in me were an overpowering desire for immortality, an intense love of existence, a great yearning for life, together with an infinite impotence and endless want. But an awesome transience was extinguishing the immortality. Suffering that state of mind, I exclaimed like the sorrowing poet:2
While my heart desires its immortality, Reality wants the passing of my body;
I am afflicted with an incurable ill which not even Luqman could cure!
I bowed my head in despair. Suddenly the verse, For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs came to my assistance, summoning me to read it with attention. So I recited it five hundred times every day. Writing briefly a part of the valuable lights which were unfolded to me in the form of ‘the vision of certainty’, and only nine lights and degrees, I refer readers to the Risale-i Nur for the details, known with ‘absolute certainty’ rather than the former ‘vision of certainty.’
The First Degree of the Luminous Verse ‘For us God suffices’
Because of a shadow in my essential being of a manifestation of one of the Names of the One of Glory and Perfection, Who, possessing absolute perfection, is of Himself and for no other reason worthy of love, I had an innate desire for immortality, directed not to my own immortality, but to the existence, perfection, and immortality of that Absolutely Perfect One. However, due to heedlessness, that innate love had lost its way, become attached to the shadow and enamoured of the mirror of immortality. Then the verse, For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs raised the veil. I saw and felt and experienced at the degree of ‘absolute certainty’ that the pleasure and happiness of my immortality lay exactly and in more perfect form in the immortality of the Enduring One of Perfection, in affirming my Sustainer and God, in believing in Him and submitting to Him. For an undying truth was realized through His immortality. The insight of belief established that “my essential being is the shadow of a Divine Name which is both enduring and eternal.”
Also, through the insight of belief, one knows the existence of the Absolutely Perfect One, the One Who is absolutely beloved, and the innate, intense love for His Essence is satisfied. And through perceiving through the insight of belief the Eternally Enduring One’s eternal existence, the perfections of the universe and of mankind are known and exist, and one’s natural infatuation with perfection is saved from endless pains and becomes the means to pleasure and enjoyment.
Also, through the insight of belief a connection is formed with the Eternally Enduring One, and through belief in that connection a relation comes into being with all His dominions. And due to that connection and relation —with the eye of belief— one looks on infinite dominions as though they were in a way one’s own possessions, and benefits from them.
Also, through the insight of belief and that connection and relation, a bond is formed with all beings, a sort of union is attained with them. In this way, apart from one’s personal existence in second place, through the insight of belief and that connection, relation, bond and union, a boundless existence comes into being which is as though one’s own; and one’s innate passionate love of existence is quietened.
Also, through that insight of belief, and the connection, relation, and bond, a brotherhood is formed with all the people of perfection. Thus, through knowing that due to the eternal existence of the Eternally Enduring One those innumerable people of perfection have not gone to nothingness and are not lost, the immortality and continued existence of those innumerable friends’ perfections, whom such a person with the insight of belief loves, admires, and appreciates and to whom he is attached, yields an elevated pleasure for him.
Also, through that insight of belief, connection, relation, bond, and brotherhood, I felt and experienced in myself an infinite happiness at the happiness of all my friends —for whose happiness I would willingly sacrifice my life and immortality. For one kind friend is happy and pleased at the happiness of his sincere friend. I therefore felt and perceived through the insight of belief that through the eternal existence of the Enduring One of Perfection, foremost the Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) and his Family and Companions, and all my masters and those I love, the prophets, saints, and purified scholars, and all my other innumerable friends, had been saved from eternal extinction and would experience eternal happiness. I understood through the mystery of relations, bonds, brotherhood, and friendship that their happiness was reflected in me and made me happy.
Also, through the insight of belief, I was saved from endless sorrows arising from love of my fellow men and love for relatives, and felt a boundless spiritual pleasure. For I felt and perceived through the insight of belief that foremost my parents and all my blood relatives and relatives of the spirit, for whom by nature I desired to sacrifice my life and immortality, and would proudly do so, were saved through the eternal existence of the Truly Enduring One from annihilation, non-existence, eternal annihilation, and endless pains, and would receive His infinite mercy. I felt and perceived that an infinite mercy was protecting and supervising them in place of my insignificant, ineffective compassion, which produces sorrow and pain. Like a mother takes pleasure at the ease, comfort, and enjoyment of her child, I felt pleasure and joy at the salvation and ease of all those persons for whom I had compassion under the protection of that mercy, and I offered profound thanks.
Also, through the insight of belief, and through its connection, I knew and felt that the Risale-i Nur, which was the result of my life, means of my happiness, and my natural duty, was saved from being lost and without benefit and from annihilation and losing its meaning, and that it was fruitful and enduring; I had the conviction that this was so and I experienced a pleasure of the spirit far exceeding the pleasure at my own immortality. For I believed that through the Enduring One of Perfection’s eternal existence, the Risale-i Nur was not only inscribed in the hearts and memories of people, but was studied by innumerable sentient creatures and spirit beings, and in addition, receiving God’s pleasure, was inscribed on the Preserved Tablet, and guarded records, and adorned with fruits of reward. I knew that in particular its being connected with the Qur’an, and its acceptance by the Prophet (PBUH), and —God willing— being the object of Divine pleasure, one moment of its existence and being under the dominical view was far more valuable than the appreciation of all the people of this world.
Thus, I realized that I am ever-ready to sacrifice my life and immortality for the immortality, continuance, statement, and acceptance of each of those treatises, which prove the truths of belief, and that my happiness lies in their serving the Qur’an. In this way I understood through the connection of belief that through Divine immortality, they are the object of appreciation a hundred times greater than the appreciation of men. I exclaimed with all my strength: “For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs!”
Also, through the insight of belief I knew that belief in the eternal existence of the Enduring One of Glory, Who bestows everlasting immortality and perpetual life, and the results of belief like good works, are the everlasting fruits of this fleeting life and the means to unending immortality. I persuaded my soul to leave aside the shell of this worldly immortality in order to yield those enduring fruits, like a seed leaves aside its casing in order to be transformed into a fruit-bearing tree. Together with my soul I said: “For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs! For us His eternal existence is sufficient!”
Also, through the insight of belief and relation of worship I knew with ‘the knowledge of certainty’ that what lies beyond the screen of the earth was lit up and that the heavy layer of earth was lifted from the dead, and that under the ground, which was entered by the door of the grave, was not dark and stained with non-existence. With all my strength I exclaimed:“For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs!”
I had the firm conviction and through the insight of belief knew with ‘absolute certainty’ that while the intense desire for immortality looked in two respects to the eternal existence of the Enduring One of Perfection, I had become someone stunned and bewildered who had lost his beloved on his ego veiling him and begun to worship the mirror itself. That very deep, powerful desire for immortality governed in my essential being by means of the shadow of one of the Names of the Absolute Perfection, Who is loved and worshipped for Himself and no other reason, and Whom it is man’s nature to love. He had given the desire for immortality, and while the perfection of His Essence, which apart from Himself requires no other reason or motive for love, was sufficient as the cause of worship, as we explained above, by bestowing the above-mentioned enduring fruits —each one of which is worthy of having sacrificed for it not one life and immortality, but if possible thousands of worldly lives and immortalities— He had made that innate desire even more intense; this I perceived and felt. If it had been within my power I would have declared with all the particles of my being: “For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs!”, and I did declare it with that intention.
Also, the insight of belief, which seeks its immortality and the eternal existence of God —some of the fruits of which I have indicated above in the paragraphs starting “Also... Also... Also... ” — afforded me such pleasure and joy that I exclaimed with all my spirit, all my strength, from the depths of my heart, together with my soul: “For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs!”
The Second Degree of the Luminous Verse ‘For us God suffices’
One time when afflicted with old age, exile, loneliness, and isolation in addition to my innate and infinite impotence, ‘the worldly’ were attacking me with their spies and stratagems, and I declared: “Armies are attacking a single sick, weak man whose hands are tied. Is there nothing that unfortunate (that is, me) can find to support him?” I had recourse to the verse For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs! It told me: through the relation resulting from belief you may rely on a monarch so absolutely powerful that together with every spring equipping with perfect order all the armies of the plants and animals on the face of the earth, which comprise four hundred thousand nations, he renews the uniforms of the two regular armies of the trees and flying creatures, clothing them in fresh apparel and changing the skirts and top garments of the hens and birds. He changes too the dress of the mountains and the veil of the plains.
Furthermore, this Monarch places all the rations of the vast army of foremost man and all the animals in the merciful ‘extracts’ known as seeds and grains, which are far more wondrous than the ‘food extracts’ like the meat, sugar and other extracts the ‘civilized’ have discovered in recent times. He rolls up inside these the instructions for their cooking and growth in accordance with Divine Determining, depositing them in minute casings for their protection. The creation of these containers is with such speed, ease and abundance from the factory of “‘Be!’ and it is”3 that the Qur’an says it is carried out at a mere command. Although all those extracts resemble each other and are of the same matter and would not fill a town, the Munificent Provider could fill all the towns on the earth with the exceedingly various and delicious foods He cooks from them in the summer.
Thus, you may find a point of support such as this through the relation of belief, and rely on an infinite power and strength.
On receiving this lesson from the verse, I acquired such moral strength and firmness of belief that I could have challenged not only my present enemies, but the whole world. I declared: “For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs!”
Seeking a source of help for my infinite poverty and need, I again had recourse to the verse. It said to me: through the relation of worship and servanthood you become connected to and are recorded in the wages book of a Munificent Master Who every spring and summer sets out and removes a hundred times over tables bearing a multiplicity of foods, producing them out of nothing from unexpected places and the dry earth. It is as though the years and the days are all receptacles for the fruits of bounty and foods of mercy that appear in unending succession. They are exhibitions for the degrees of bestowal, universal and particular, of a Compassionate Provider. You are the servant of a Possessor of Absolute Riches Who is thus. If you are aware of your servanthood, your grievous poverty will be transformed into pleasurable appetite. This lesson I absorbed, and placing my trust in God, declared together with my soul: “Yes, yes! That is right! For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs!”
The Third Degree of the Luminous Verse ‘For us God suffices’
At a time I found my attachment to the world broken due to the pressures of my exile and sickness, and the wrongs I suffered, and belief was informing me that I was destined for an eternal world, an everlasting land, and perpetual happiness, I gave up sighing “ah! ah!” and said “oh! oh!” But this goal of the imagination, aim of the spirit, and result of creation could only be achieved through the infinite power of One Absolutely Omnipotent Who knows the motion, rest, acts and states of all creatures, and records them, and takes insignificant and absolutely impotent man as his friend and addressee, giving him a rank over all creatures. Thinking of this and His attaching infinite importance to man and bestowing infinite grace on him, that is, pondering over the activity of such a power and man’s importance despite his apparent insignificance, I wanted an explanation that would increase my belief and satisfy my mind. I again had recourse to the verse. It commanded me: “Note carefully the ‘us’ of For us God suffices and see who is saying this together with you verbally and through the tongue of disposition.”
So I looked and I at once saw that innumerable birds and miniature birds and flying creatures, and countless animals and small living creatures, and uncountable plants and growing things, and infinite numbers of trees and bushes, like me, were reciting through the tongue of disposition the meaning of For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs!, and were calling it to mind. For the One Who has disposal over them and guarantees all the necessities of their lives is such that He creates before our eyes and particularly in the spring in great abundance and with great ease and speed and extensiveness, without error, defect, or confusion, from eggs, droplets of fluid, seeds and grains which resemble each other and whose matter is the same, the adorned, balanced, and regular hundred thousand species of birds, the hundred thousand sorts of animals, the hundred thousand varieties of plants, and the hundred thousand kinds of trees, which, all with their distinguishing characteristics, are different to each other. With all this intermingling, resemblance, and closeness, He demonstrates to us His unity and oneness within the immensity and majesty of His power. I understood then that it was not possible for there to be any interference or partnership in that act of dominicality and disposal of creative power, which displayed such innumerable miracles.
I noted next the ‘I’ in the For us God suffices, that is, I considered myself, and I saw that among the animals, He had created me miraculously from my origin, a drop of fluid, had opened my ear, attached my eye, and had placed in my head a brain, and in my breast a heart, and in my mouth a tongue containing hundreds of scales and measures with which I might weigh up and know all the gifts of that Most Merciful One stored up in the treasuries of mercy. He had inscribed on these, thousands of instruments for unlocking and understanding the treasures of the infinite manifestations of His Most Beautiful Names, and given instructions to the number of smells, tastes, and colours for the assistance of those instruments.
He had moreover included with perfect order in this body the numerous sensitive feelings and senses, and subtle, non-physical faculties and inner senses. He had created with perfect art all the systems and members and faculties necessary for human life so that He might allow me to experience and understand all the varieties of His bounties, and make known to me the countless different manifestations of His Names. Like the bodies of all believers, He had made this poor body of mine, which appears so insignificant, a fine calendar and diary of the universe; an illuminated summary of the macrocosm; a miniature sample of the world; a clear miracle of His handicraft; a desirous seeker after every sort of His bounty, and the means to them; and a list and index, like a model garden, of the gifts and flowers of mercy; and the understanding recipient of His Divine pronouncements. He also had given me life, to expand and increase in my existence, which is the greatest bounty. For through life, the bounty of my existence may expand to the extent of the Manifest World.
He had also bestowed humanity on me, through which the bounty of existence may unfold in the physical and spiritual realms, opening up the way to benefiting —through the senses particular to man— from those broad spreads of bounties.
He had also bestowed Islam on me, through which the bounty of existence may expand to the extent of the Manifest World and World of the Unseen.
He had also given me certain, verified belief, through which the bounty of existence may encompass this world and the hereafter.
He had also given me the knowledge and love of God within belief. Through this He bestowed a rank through the bounty of existence at which one may stretch out the hands to reap benefits, through praise and laudation, at all the levels from the sphere of contingency to the Necessary World and realm of the Divine Names.
He had also given me in particular knowledge of the Qur’an and the wisdom of belief, through which bounty He had bestowed on me a superiority over many creatures.
He had also given me comprehensive abilities like the above-mentioned whereby I might be a complete mirror to His oneness and Eternal Besoughtedness, and respond with universal worship to His universal, sacred dominicality.
And as unanimously confirmed by all the holy scriptures and books He had revealed to men by means of the prophets, and attested by all the prophets, saints, and purified ones, He buys from me my existence, life, and self —as stated by verses of the Qur’an— which are gifts and in trust to me, so that they will not be lost and go for nothing. He has repeatedly and categorically promised that He will preserve them in order to return them, and that as the price He will give eternal happiness and Paradise. This I understood with ‘the knowledge of certainty’ and believed with utter conviction.
Thus, I was taught by the verse For us God suffices that my Sustainer, the Glorious and Munificent One, ‘opens up’ through His Name of Opener the forms of the hundreds of thousands of varieties of animals and plants from limited, similar droplets and seeds, with the uttermost ease, speed, and perfection, and as we mentioned before, gives man this astonishing importance, making him the chief pivot of the works of His dominicality; so too He will create the resurrection of the dead and Paradise and will bestow eternal happiness as easily and definitely as He will create next spring. Had it had been possible, I would have declared through the tongues of all creatures, but since it was not possible, I declared by intention and through thought and imagination: For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs! And so I want to repeat it through all eternity.
The Fourth Degree of the Luminous Verse ‘For us God suffices’
One time, when a period of heedlessness coincided with my being shaken by various indispositions like old age, exile, illness, and defeat, I was overcome by a grievous anxiety that my very existence, to which I was intensely attached and by which I was captivated, would cease to be, as would the existences of all creatures. Again I had recourse to the verse For us God suffices. It told me: “Study my meaning and look through the telescope of belief!”
I looked and I saw through the eyes of belief that my miniscule being was the mirror to an infinite existence, and through an infinite expansion was the means of gaining innumerable existences; it was a word of wisdom yielding the fruits of numerous everlasting existences far surpassing itself in value. I understood with ‘the knowledge of certainty’ that due to its relation with that infinite existence, to live for an instant was as valuable as existing eternally. For by understanding through the insight of belief that my being is the work, artefact and manifestation of the Necessarily Existent, I was saved from the endless darkness of desolate fears and the pains of innumerable separations. I knew that within a temporary separation was a permanent union with the beings I loved, with which, through bonds of brotherhood to the number of Divine Names manifested in the acts related to living creatures in particular, I had gained a relation.
It is clear that those who share the same village, town or country, or the same regiment, commander, or master will feel a close brotherhood and warm friendship. While those deprived of such bonds feel a constant painful torment surrounded by darkness. The fruits of a tree, too, if they had intelligence, would feel that they were brothers, companions, and observers of each other. If the tree ceased to exist or they were plucked from it, they would experience separations to the number of fruits.
Thus, through belief and the relation that results from it, my existence —like that of all believers— gains the lights of myriad existences untouched by separation. Even if it departs itself, it is content, for they remain behind as though it had itself remained. Moreover, as is demonstrated in detail in the Twenty-Fourth Letter, the existences of all living creatures and particularly those with spirits, are like words. They are spoken and written down, then disappear. But in place of their own existences, they leave behind numerous existences which may be counted as second degree existences, like their meanings, their similitudes and forms, and their results, and if they are blessed, their rewards and their realities. Only then do they pass beneath the veil.
In just the same way, when they depart from external existence, my existence and the existences of all living creatures, leave behind them their spirits, if they possess them, and their meanings, and realities, and similitudes, and the worldly results and fruits of the hereafter produced by them individually; they leave their forms and their identities behind in memories and on the Preserved Tablet, and in the films displaying eternal vistas, and in the exhibitions of pre-eternal knowledge; and they leave the Divine glorifications offered by their essential beings, which represent them and give them permanence, in the notebooks of their deeds; and their innate responses to the manifestations of the Divine Names and what the Names necessitate, and their being existent mirrors to them, they leave in the sphere of the Names. They leave behind in their places numerous non-physical existences like these, more valuable than their external existences, then they depart. This I knew with ‘the knowledge of certainty.’
Thus, through belief and the insight and relationship resulting from belief, one may lay claim to the above-mentioned everlasting, immaterial existences. In the absence of belief, besides being deprived of all those other existences, even one’s own existence goes for nothing, for oneself, and is lost in non-existence.
At one time, I felt great sorrow at the speedy destruction of the spring flowers; I even pitied those delicate creatures. But the above-mentioned truth arising from belief shows that such flowers become flowers in the world of meaning. Each like a fruit-producing tree or a shoot, —in respect of the lights of existence— all those existences apart from spirit produce a hundredfold profit. Their external existences do not go to non-existence, they are hidden. They are also the new forms of the permanent reality of a species. For the beings of last spring such as the leaves, flowers, and fruits, are the same as those of this spring; the difference is only apparent. I realized that the apparent difference, even, was to allow those words of wisdom, phrases of mercy, and letters of power to acquire numerous different meanings. Instead of lamenting, I exclaimed: “What wonders God has willed! How great are His blessings!”
Thus, through the insight of belief and by being connected through belief to the Maker of the heavens and earth, I perceived from afar what a source of pride and honour it is to be the work of art of a craftsman who adorns the skies with stars and the earth with flowers and exquisite creatures, and demonstrates a hundred miracles in every one of his artefacts—how precious and unique it was to have been made by such a wondrous artist. The verse taught me in particular that since that wonder-working Artist had inscribed in the tiny copy of man the mighty book of the vast heavens and earth, even making him a choice and perfect summary of the book, what a great honour and achievement and way of acquiring value it was for man, and that through the relation and insight of belief, he could receive and lay claim to that honour. Conceiving of all beings in my mind, I formed the intention and declared through the tongues of all of them: “For us God suffices; and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs!”
The Fifth Degree of the Luminous Verse ‘For us God suffices’
Another time when my life was being shaken by severe conditions, it turned my attention towards life and I saw that mine was swiftly passing. I was approaching the end of my life; it had begun to be dimmed with the oppression I suffered. But I thought sorrowfully of how, because of its important duties and virtues and valuable benefits, which are explained in the treatise on the Divine Name of Ever-Living, life deserved to be very lengthy, not to be swiftly extinguished in that way. I once again had recourse to my master, the verse For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs!, and it told me: “Consider life from the point of view of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, Who gives you life!” So I considered it and I understood that if one aspect of life looks to me, one hundred aspects look to the Ever-Living Granter of Life. If one of its results concern me, a thousand of its results pertain to my Creator. In that respect it did not require great length, in fact it needed no time at all; to live for an instant was sufficient. This truth is elucidated together with proofs in various parts of the Risale-i Nur, so here it will be explained in four ‘Matters,’ in brief and summary form.
F i r s t M a t t e r : I looked in the manner the essence and reality of life look to the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, and I saw that in reality my life was a collection of keys with which to open the treasuries of the Divine Names, and a small map of their inscriptions, an index of their manifestations, a sensitive balance and measure of the vast truths of the universe, and a word of wisdom written to know and make known, and to understand and make understood, the meaningful Names of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One. When life’s reality is this, its value increases a thousandfold and one hour of it gains the significance of a lifetime. In respect of its relation to the Pre-Eternal One, Who has no time, life may not be considered with regard to its length or brevity.
S e c o n d M a t t e r : I considered the true rights of life, and I understood that my life is a dominical missive; it invites my brothers, other intelligent creatures, to read itself; it is a place of study making known its Creator. It is also a manifesto proclaiming my Creator’s perfections. Knowingly adorning itself in the priceless gifts and decorations bestowed on it by life’s Creator, it displays them consciously, gratefully, and believingly to the Peerless Monarch in the daily parade. It comprehends, observes, and proclaims the thankful benedictions and glorifications of the Creator of innumerable living beings. And it makes known verbally and through the tongues of disposition and worship, the beauties of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One’s dominicality. I understood with ‘the knowledge of certainty’ that the elevated rights of life like these did not require lengthy time, and that they elevate life a thousandfold and are a hundred times more valuable than the worldly rights of life. I exclaimed: Glory be to God! Belief is so valuable and living that it infuses with life everything it enters! It transforms the fleeting glimmer of transitory life into eternal life, dispelling the transience in it.
T h i r d M a t t e r : I considered the innate duties of my life and its non-material benefits which look to my Creator, and I saw that it acts as a mirror to the Creator of life in three ways:
The First Way: Through its impotence, weakness, poverty, and need, my life acts as a mirror to the power, strength, wealth, and mercy of the Creator of life. Yes, just as the pleasure of food is known in proportion to the degree of hunger, and the degrees of light through the degrees of darkness, and the degrees of heat through the degrees of cold; in the same way, through the boundless impotence and poverty in my life, I understood the infinite power and mercy of my Creator, who answers my needs and wards off my innumerable enemies. I understood my duties of entreaty, supplication, worship, abasement, and seeking refuge with God, and I undertook these duties.
The Second Way is acting as a mirror to the universal and comprehensive attributes and acts of my Creator through the meanings in my own life like partial knowledge, will, hearing and sight. Yes, I understood through the many meanings in my own life and my conscious acts like knowing, hearing, seeing, speaking, and wanting —like my size relative to the universe but in far greater degree— my Creator’s all-encompassing attributes such as knowledge, will, hearing, sight, power, and life, and His qualities such as love, anger and compassion. Believing, I assented to them, and admitting this, I found another way leading to knowledge of God.
The Third Way is acting as a mirror to the Divine Names, inscriptions and manifestations of which are present in my life. Yes, as I beheld my own life and body, I saw hundreds of sorts of miraculous works, inscriptions, and arts, and observed moreover that I was being most compassionately nurtured. I understood therefore through the light of belief, how extraordinarily generous, merciful, skilful and gracious was the One Who created me and gave me life; how wondrously powerful and, if one may say so, ingenious, provident, and efficient. I understood too what the innate duties and aims of creation and results of life consisted of, such as glorification, sanctification, praise, thanks, exaltation, affirming God’s unity, and declaring His greatness and His praises. And I understood with ‘the knowledge of certainty’ the reason life is the most valuable creature in the universe and why everything is subjugated to it, and the wisdom in everyone having an innate passion for life; I understood that belief is the very life of life.
F o u r t h M a t t e r : In order to learn what the true pleasure and happiness of life consist of in this world, I again pondered over the verse For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs! I saw that the purest pleasure and most untarnished happiness in this life of mine lay in belief. That is to say, my certain belief that I was the creature, artefact, and totally owned slave of a Compassionate Sustainer Who created me and gave me life, and was in His view and was being nurtured by him, that I was all the time in need of Him, and that He was both my Sustainer and my God and was most kind and compassionate to me, was such a perfect, permanent, painfree pleasure and happiness that it is indescribable. I understood from the verse just how appropriate is the saying: All praise be to God for the bounty of belief!
Thus, these four matters, that is, the reality, rights, duties, and pleasure of life, show that the more life looks to the Eternally Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One and the more belief becomes the life and spirit of life, the more enduring it becomes and the more enduring fruits it produces. Moreover, it becomes so elevated, it receives the manifestation of eternity; it no longer looks to the length and brevity of life. This I learnt from the verse. And in the name of all lives and living beings, and with that intention and idea, I declared: For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs!
The Sixth Degree of the Luminous Verse ‘For us God suffices’
At a time my old age was warning me of my own departure amid the events of the end of time, which in turn give warning of the end of the world and departure of all beings, my innate passionate love of beauty and fascination by perfection developed to an extraordinary degree, and I observed with extreme clarity and sorrow that death, transience, and non-existence were continuously causing the destruction of beings and their separation, and were pounding this beautiful world and its creatures, breaking them up and spoiling their beauty. Seeking consolation as that ‘metaphorical’ love in my nature rebelled violently against this situation, I again had recourse to the verse. It told me: “Recite me, and study my meaning carefully!”
So I entered the observatory of the Light Verse in Sura al-Nur and trained the telescope of belief on the most distant levels of the verse For us God suffices, and turned the microscope of the insight of belief at its most obscure mysteries. I saw that just as mirrors, shining objects, fragments of glass, and even bubbles, reveal the various sorts of concealed beauty in the sunlight; and with their different capacities and their change and renewal, renew its beauties; and by reflecting and refracting the light, make known the hidden beauties of the sun and the seven colours in its light; so, without cease, in order to act as mirrors to the sacred beauty of the All-Beauteous One of Glory, the Sun of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, and to the everlasting beauties of His infinitely lovely Most Beautiful Names, and to renew their manifestation, these fine creatures, these lovely beings, these exquisite artefacts, come, then depart. As is explained in detail in the Risale-i Nur supported by powerful proofs, all the shades of beauty that are to be observed on them are not theirs, but are the hints, signs, flashes, and manifestations of an eternal, sacred and transcendent beauty which desires to be perpetually manifested and visible. Here, three of those proofs shall be alluded to briefly.
First Proof: The beauty of a finely worked object points to the beauty of the craftsmanship. The beauty of the craftsmanship points to the beauty of the name which was the source of the craftsmanship. The beauty of the name of the craftsman’s art points to the beauty of the craftsman’s attributes manifested in that art. The beauty of his attributes points to the beauty of his talent and abilities. And the beauty of his abilities points self-evidently to the beauty of his essential self and his reality.
In exactly the same way, the beauty in all the fine creatures which fill the universe, all exquisitely made, testifies decisively to the beauty of the acts of the All-Glorious Craftsman. And the beauty of the acts points indubitably to the beauty of the titles, that is, Names, that look to those acts. And the beauty of the Names testifies certainly to the beauty of the sacred attributes that are the source of the Names. And the beauty of the attributes testifies to the beauty of the essential qualities and abilities that are the source of the attributes. And the beauty of the essential qualities and abilities testifies self-evidently to the beauty and sacred perfection of the Essence which is the source of the acts and is qualified by the Names and attributes, and to the holy beauty of His reality.
That is to say, the All-Beauteous Maker possesses an infinite beauty and loveliness which are fitting for His Most Sacred Essence, one shadow of which has beautified all beings from top to bottom; He possesses a transcendent, sacred beauty a single manifestation of which has endowed with beauty the whole universe, and has adorned and illuminated with its flashes the entire sphere of contingency.
Yes, just as a crafted work cannot have come into existence without an act, so an act cannot occur without the performer of the act. And just as it is impossible for there to be names without the one they signify, so attributes cannot be without the one they qualify. Since the existence of a work of art self-evidently points to the act which crafted it, and the existence of the act points to the existence of the worker of the act and his title, and to the existence of the attribute and name which gave rise to the work; the perfection and beauty of the work of art point also to the beauty and perfection particular to the act which crafted it, and they point to the beauty particular to and fitting for the name of the performer of the act, and, with ‘knowledge of certainty,’ to the beauty and perfection of his essence and reality, which are fitting and appropriate to them.
In just the same way, since it is impossible for the constant activity under the veil of the works of art in the universe to be without the causer of the activity, and the names whose manifestations and inscriptions are visible on creatures to be without the one they signify, and the attributes like power and will which are almost visible to be without the one they qualify; with their limitless existences, all the works of art, creatures and artefacts in the universe point decisively to the existence of their Creator, Maker, and Doer, and to the existence of His Names, and to the existence of His attributes, and to the existence of his essential qualities, and to the necessary existence of His Most Pure and Holy Essence.
Similarly, all the different varieties of beauty, perfection, and loveliness to be seen in creatures testify with complete clarity —but in a way particular to and fitting for their sacredness and necessity— to the infinite, unlimited, multifarious beauties and perfections of the acts, names, attributes, qualities, and Essence of the All-Glorious Maker; they point most decisively to their beauties, which far surpass those of all beings.
The Second Proof contains five Points:
First Point: Relying on their illuminations and unveilings, the chiefs of the people of reality have believed and stated unanimously —despite their paths and methods differing greatly from one another— that the instances of beauty in all beings are the shadows, flashes and manifestations of the sacred, hidden beauty of the Necessarily Existent One.
Second Point: All beautiful creatures appear caravan after caravan, and not stopping, disappear; they come one after the other in succession, then depart. Yet an elevated and unchanging beauty displays itself in the mirrors of those creatures, demonstrating certainly through the continuity of its manifestation that the beauty does not belong to the beautiful creatures, to those mirrors. Rather, like the beauty of the sun’s rays is to be seen on the bubbles floating on the surface of running water, they are the lights of an eternal beauty.
Third Point: It is clear that just as light comes from something luminous, the giving of existence from something existent, bounty from riches, munificence from wealth, and instruction from knowledge, so the giving of excellence is from the excellent and the bestowal of beauty is from the beautiful; it could not be in any other way. It is as a consequence of this truth that we believe that all the beauty in the universe comes from the beauty of the beauteous one the constantly changing and renewed universe describes and defines through all its creatures and the tongues of their mirror-like beings.
Fourth Point: Just as the body relies on the spirit and subsists through it and is animated by it, and a word looks to the meaning and is illuminated by it, and form relies on reality and acquires value through it; so this corporeal and material manifest world is a body, a word, a form which relies on the Divine Names behind the veil of the Unseen, receiving life and vitality from them; it looks to them, and is beautified. All the instances of physical beauty proceed from the non-physical beauties of their own realities and meanings; and as for their realities, they receive effulgence from the Divine Names and are shadows of them of a sort. This truth is proved decisively in the Risale-i Nur.
This means that all the varieties and sorts of beauty in the universe are the signs, marks, and manifestations —by means of names— of a faultless, transcendent Beauty which is manifested from beyond the veil of the Unseen. However, since the Necessary Existent’s Most Pure and Holy Essence resembles absolutely nothing at all and His attributes are infinitely superior to the attributes of contingent beings, His sacred beauty also does not resemble the beauties of creatures and contingent beings, and is infinitely more exalted. Certainly, an everlasting beauty one manifestation of which is vast Paradise together with all its exquisiteness and beauty, and one hour’s vision of which makes the inhabitants of Paradise oblivious to it cannot be finite, nor have any like, equal or peer.
It is clear that the beauties of a thing are in accordance with itself; and there are thousands of sorts of beauties which all differ according to the different sorts of beings. For example, beauty perceived by the eye is not the same as something beautiful heard with the ears, and an abstract beauty comprehended by the mind is not the same as the beauty of food relished by the tongue; so too, the beauties appreciated and perceived as beautiful by the external and inner senses and the spirit are all different. For example, the beauty of belief, the beauty of reality, the beauty of light, the beauty of a flower, the beauty of spirit, and the beauties of form, compassion, justice, kindness, and wisdom. Similarly, since the utter and infinite beauties of the Most Beautiful Names of the All-Beauteous One of Glory are all different, the beauties in beings also differ.
If you want to observe one manifestation of the beauties of the All-Beauteous One’s Names in the mirrors of beings, take a sweeping look with the eye of the imagination at the face of the earth supposing it to be a small garden; you will see that terms like mercifulness, compassionateness, wisdom, and justice allude to both the names, and acts, and attributes, and qualities of Almighty God.
Observe the sustenance of foremost man and of all living creatures, which arrives regularly from behind the veil of the Unseen, and see the beauty of Divine mercifulness.
Then consider the miraculous sustenance of all young, and the two pumps of milk hanging over their heads on the breasts of their mothers, as sweet and pure as the water of Kawthar, and see the captivating beauty of Divine compassion.
Then observe the peerless beauty of Divine wisdom, which makes the whole universe into a mighty book of wisdom every letter of which contains a hundred words, and every word of which contains a hundred lines, and every line of which contains a thousand chapters, and every chapter of which contains hundreds of small books.
Then see the imperious beauty of a justice which holds the whole universe and all its beings in equilibrium; and maintains the balance of all the heavenly bodies, lofty and lowly; and supplies symmetry and proportion, the most important elements of beauty; and causes everything to acquire the optimum state; and gives the right to life to living beings, and ensures that their rights are preserved; and halts and punishes aggressors.
Then consider the inscription of man’s life story in his memory, as tiny as a grain of wheat, and the programmes of the second lives of all plants and trees in their seeds; and the members and faculties necessary for the defence of living beings, for instance bees’ wings and their poisonous stings, and the small bayonets of thorned plants, and the hard shells of seeds; and see the subtle beauty of dominical preservation and protection.
Then consider the guests at the table of the earth of the Most Merciful and Compassionate One, Who is absolutely Munificent, and the pleasant smells of the numberless different foods prepared by mercy, and their beautiful and various colours, and their delicious and differing tastes, and the organs and members of all living creatures which assist their pleasure and enjoyment; and see the exceedingly pleasant, sweet beauty of dominical bestowal and munificence.
Then consider the meaningful forms of foremost man and of all living creatures, which are opened up from droplets of fluid through the manifestation of the Names of Opener and Giver of Form, and the attractive faces of the flowers of spring opened up from seeds and tiny nuclei; and see the miraculous beauty of Divine ‘opening’ and giving of form.
Thus, by analogy with these examples, each of the Divine Names has a sacred beauty particular to it a single manifestation of which makes beautiful the vast world and innumerable species of beings. You may see the manifestation of a Name’s beauty in a single flower; the spring is also a flower; Paradise is a flower yet unseen. If you can visualize the whole of spring and see Paradise with the eye of belief, you may understand the utter majesty of everlasting Beauty. If you respond to that Beauty with the beauty of belief and worship, you will be a most beautiful creature. While if you meet it with the boundless ugliness of misguidance and loathsomeness of rebellion, you will be both a most ugly creature and will in effect be loathed by all beautiful creatures.
Fifth Point: In accordance with the law that all fine arts and crafts and accomplishments want to display themselves and have themselves appreciated, a master of hundreds of arts and crafts who possessed endless perfections and beauties made a wondrous palace in order to describe and reveal all his arts, crafts and accomplishments, and his hidden beauties. Anyone seeing the miraculous palace would immediately think of the virtues, arts and perfections of its master and maker. Believing in them and affirming them as though seeing them, he would declare: “One who was not beautiful and skilled in every way could not be the source, creator and originator of a work so beautiful. It is as though his immaterial beauties and perfections are embodied in this palace.”
In exactly the same way, so long as his mind and heart are not corrupted, one who sees the exhibition of wonders and beauties of the magnificent palace of this world, that is, the universe, will realize that the palace is a mirror, decorated the way it is in order to show the beauties and perfections of another. Yes, since there is nothing similar to the palace of the world from which its beauties could have been imitated and copied, certainly, its Maker possesses the necessary beauties in himself and in his Names. It is from these that the universe is derived and according to them that it was made. It was written like a book in order to express His beauties and Names.
The Third Proof consists of three Points:
First Point: This is a truth explained in detail with powerful proofs in the Third Stopping-Place of the Thirty-Second Word. Referring detailed discussion of it to that Word, here we shall consider it only with a brief allusion.
We look at creatures, and especially animals and plants, and we see that governing them are a constant adorning, which points to intention and will and makes known knowledge and wisdom, and an ordering and beautifying it is impossible to attribute to chance. There is in everthing an art so delicate, a wisdom so fine, an adornment so elevated, an organization so compassionate, and situation so sweet that it is clearly understood that behind the veil of the Unseen is a craftsman who wants to make his art appreciated, attract the gazes of the attentive, and please his artefacts and observers; who wants to make himself known and acquainted and loved through displaying numerous skills and perfections in each work of his art, and to make himself praised and applauded. He bestows on conscious creatures in order to please them and make them happy and friends of himself, every sort of delicious bounty from unexpected places in a way it is impossible to attribute to chance.
Also to be observed are a generous treatment, a mutual acquaintance and friendly dialogue with the tongue of disposition, and a compassionate response to supplication which make perceived a profound compassion and elevated mercy. That is to say, the bestowal of bounty and giving of pleasure which are observed behind the making known and loved, which are as clear as the sun, arise from a genuine wish to be compassionate and powerful desire to be merciful. And this powerful desire in One Absolutely Self-Sufficient Who has no need of anything demonstrates certainly an utterly perfect pre-eternal, everlasting, peerless Beauty the nature and reality of which necessitate its wanting to be manifested and to see itself in mirrors. In order to display and see itself in various mirrors, this Beauty has taken on the form of compassion and mercy; then in the mirrors of conscious beings has assumed the state of bestowal and munificence; then has taken the form of making itself known and loved; and then bestowed the light of adorning creatures and making them beautiful.
Second Point: Mankind’s genuine, intense, and powerful love of God, and especially that of its elevated classes and of innumerable persons whose paths are all different, points self-evidently to a peerless beauty; indeed it testifies to it. Yes, such a love looks only to such a beauty and necessitates it; such passion demands such loveliness. Indeed, all the praise offered by beings verbally and through the tongue of disposition looks to that pre-eternal Beauty and goes to it. In the view of lovers like Shams-i Tabrizi, all the attraction, captivation, ecstasy, and drawing truths in the universe are signs of a pre-eternal and post-eternal truth of attraction. While the ecstatic motion and rotations which cause the heavenly bodies and all beings to dance and spin like moths and Mevlevi dervishes are the passionate and dutiful responses to the imperious displays of the sacred beauty of that captivating truth.
Third Point: All the scholars who have researched into reality have agreed that existence is pure good and light, while non-existence is pure evil and darkness. The chiefs of the people of reason and the people of the heart have agreed that in the final analysis all instances of good, beauty, and pleasure arise from existence, and that all evils and bad, calamities, suffering, and even sins are attributable to non-existence.
I f y o u s a y : The source of all beauties is existence, yet also in existence are disbelief and the egotism of the soul?
T h e A n s w e r : Disbelief is non-existence because it is denial of the truths of belief. The existence of egotism, however, is a form of non-existence which has acquired the colour and form of existence due to a wrongful claim to ownership, not knowing the nature of man’s mirror-like being and assuming the imaginary to be actual. Since the source of all beauties is existence and the source of all evils is non-existence, a Necessary Existence and Pre-Eternal, Everlasting Being, which is the firmest and most elevated and shining existence and the one most distant from non-existence, will demand the beauty which is the most powerful, and the most elevated and shining and free of any blemish; it will rather express such a beauty; indeed, it will be such a beauty. Like all-encompassing light is necessitated by the sun, so the Necessary Existent necessitates an eternal beauty; he gives light through it.
All praise be to God for the bounty of belief
Our Sustainer! Do not call us to task if we forget or do wrong.4
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.5
NOTE: Nine degrees of the luminous verse “For us God suffices” were going to be written, but due to certain circumstances, three degrees have been postponed.
REMINDER: Since the Risale-i Nur belongs to the Qur’an and is a commentary based on proofs proceeding from it, it contains necessary, purposeful, indeed, essential and beneficial repetitions, the same as the Qur’an contains subtle, wise, and necessary repetitions which cause no boredom. Also, since the Risale-i Nur consists of proofs of the profession of Divine unity, which does not cause tedium but is repeated with pleasure and zeal, its essential repetitions are not a fault, and do not and should not cause boredom.
FOOTNOTES
1. Qur’an, 3:173.
2. This refers to Niyazi al-Misri (1218-1294 AD), a sufi poet who was born in the province of Malatya in Turkey. He studied in al-Azhar, hence the name ‘al-Misri,’ wrote a diwan of poetry and other works, and taught in the religious schools of Istanbul for many years. [Tr.]
3. Qur’an, 36:82, etc.
4. Qur’an, 2:286.
5. Qur’an, 2:32.
The Fifth Chapter (of the Twenty-Ninth Flash)1
On the degrees of For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs! It consists of five ‘Points’.
FIRST POINT
This phrase is a well-tried remedy for the sickness of human impotence and poverty: For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs!
The Giver of Existence is Eternally Existent, there is no harm therefore in the passing of beings, for the things that are loved continue to exist through the continuance of the One Who gave them existence, the Necessary Existent.
He is the Enduring Maker and Creator; the passing of creatures causes no sorrow, then, for the means of love for them, their Maker, is Enduring.
He is the Eternal King and Lord, so there are no regrets on the passing of His dominions, on their departing and being renewed.
He is the Eternal All-Knowing Witness; no grief is felt therefore at the disappearance from this world of things that are loved, for they have perpetual existence in the knowledge of that Pre-Eternal Witness, and in His view.
He is the Enduring Owner and Creator; there is no pain therefore at the passing of beautiful things, for the source of their beauty, their Creator’s Names, are enduring.
He is the Enduring Inheritor and Raiser to Life; there should be no lamenting on being parted from beloveds, for the One Who will resurrect them and return them to Himself is Enduring.
He is Eternally All-Beauteous and Glorious; there should be no distress therefore at the disappearance of beautiful things, for those beautiful things are the mirrors of the Beautiful Names, which endure together with their beauties after the disappearance of the mirrors.
He is the Eternal True Object of Love and Worship; so no sorrow should be felt on the passing of ‘metaphorical’ beloveds, for the True Beloved is Eternal.
He is Eternally Merciful, Compassionate, Loving, and Clement; so the passing of the apparent bestowers of bounties and compassion has no importance, it should not cause sorrow or despair, for the One Whose mercy and compassion encompass all things is Enduring.
He is Eternally Beauteous, Gracious, and Kind; the disappearance of gracious and sympathetic beings, therefore, should neither cause pain, nor should importance be given it, for the One Who takes the place of all of them and a single of Whose manifestations they all together cannot replace, is Enduring.
Since He is Enduring and possesses these attributes, He takes the place of every sort of transient, ephemeral beloved in this world. For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs!
Yes, enough for the immortality of this world and all it contains is the enduring existence of its Owner, Maker, and Creator.
SECOND POINT
Sufficient for my immortality is God, for He is my Eternal God and my Eternal Creator, the Eternal Giver of my existence, my Eternal Maker, my Eternal Owner, my Eternal Witness, the Eternal True Object of my Worship, my Eternal Resurrector. There is therefore no harm in the disappearance of my being; there should be no sorrow, regret, or grief. For the Giver of my existence is Enduring, and His creation through His Names is also Enduring. The attributes of my person are nothing but the rays of one of His Names. They exist permanently in their Creator’s knowledge and within His view, and do not therefore cease to exist on their passing and disappearance.
Likewise, sufficient for me in respect of immortality and the pleasure of it, are my knowledge, understanding, consciousness, and belief that the rays in my being of an Enduring Name of my God are Enduring, and that the reality of my being is nothing other than a shadow of that Name, and that through the mystery of its reflection or image in the mirror of my being, my reality is not itself lovable, but lovable on account of the immortality of the various enduring things reflected in it.
THIRD POINT
For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs! For He is the Necessary Existent, and these transitory beings are nothing other than places reflecting the renewal of the manifestations of His existence and giving of existence. Through Him and through being connected to Him and through knowledge of Him, are endless lights of existence; while without Him, there are the endless darkness of non-existence and the limitless pains of separation.
These transitory beings are mere mirrors, and with the changing of their relative determinations, they are renewed in six aspects in their transience, disappearance, and permanence:
The First: The permanent existence of their beautiful meanings and identities in the World of Similitudes.
The Second: The permanent existence of their forms in the tablets of the World of Similitudes.
The Third: The permanent existence of their results and fruits which look to the hereafter.
The Fourth: The permanent existence of their dominical glorifications, represented [in the Preserved Tablet], which is a sort of existence.
The Fifth: The permanent existence in the exhibitions of knowledge and eternal vistas.
The Sixth: The permanent existence of their spirits, if they have them. For their various functions and states in their death, transience, disappearance, annihilation, and their appearance and extinction, is nothing other than what is demanded by the Divine Names. It is due to the mystery of this that beings flow like a rushing torrent on the waves of life and death, existence and non-existence. And from this function arises perpetual activity and continuous creation. I, and everyone, therefore, are compelled to say: For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs! That is, as regards existence, it is sufficient for me that I am the work of the Necessary Existent; to receive this illumined existence for a passing instant is preferable to millions of years of apparent, fruitless existence.
Yes, through the mystery of being related to God through belief, a minute of this existence is the equivalent of thousands of years without the relation of belief; the degrees of existence of that minute, even, are more complete and extensive than those thousands of years.
Likewise, sufficient for me for existence and the value of existence is my being the art of the One Whose grandeur is in the heavens and signs are on the earth, and Who created the heavens and earth in six days.
Likewise, sufficient for me for existence and its perfection is my being the artefact of the One Who adorned and lit up the heavens with lamps, and made dazzling the earth with flowers.
Likewise, sufficient for me for pride and honour is my being the creature and totally owned slave and servant of the One in relation to Whose perfection and beauty all the beauties and perfections of the universe are merely dim shadows, and signs of His perfection and indications of His beauty.
Likewise, sufficient for me for everything is He Who stores up in tiny containers between the kaf and the nun2 incalculable numbers of bounties, and preserves through His power tons in a single handful of the subtle containers called seeds and grains.
Likewise, sufficient for me in place of all possessors of beauty and beneficence is the All-Beauteous and Compassionate One. For all these beautiful creatures are merely ephemeral mirrors for the renewal of the lights of His beauty in the course of the seasons, the centuries, and the ages. And all these recurring bounties and successive fruits of the spring and summer are places of manifestation for the renewal of His continuous bestowal in the passage of creatures, days, and years.
Likewise, sufficient for me for life and its true nature is my being a map, index, summary, balance, and measure of the manifestations of the Names of the Creator of life and death.
Likewise, sufficient for me for life and its functions is my being a word inscribed with the pen of power, pointing to and making understood the Names of the Absolutely Powerful One, the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent; by my life receiving the manifestations of my Creator’s essential attributes, and His are the Most Beautiful Names.
Likewise, sufficient for me for life and its rights is my displaying it among my brother creatures and proclaiming it to them, and exhibiting in the view of the Creator of the universe my being decked out in the manifestations of My Creator’s Names, Who has adorned me with the bejewelled dress of my being, the gown of my inborn nature, and the necklace of my well-ordered life, which is ornamented with the gifts of His mercy.
Likewise, sufficient for me for the rights of my life are my understanding the salutations of living creatures to the Granter of Life and my observation of them, and my testifying to them.
Likewise, sufficient for me for the rights of my life is my being adorned and made beautiful with the embossed jewels of His bounties, to present them consciously, because of my belief to the view of the Pre-Eternal Monarch.
Likewise, sufficient for me for life and its pleasures is my knowledge, realization, awareness, and belief that I am His slave, artefact, and creature, needy and wanting for Him; and He is my Creator, Compassionate to me, Who nurtures and raises me munificently, graciously, through His bestowal, as befits His wisdom and mercy.
Likewise, sufficient for me for life and its value is my being a measure through my absolute impotence, poverty, and weakness to the degrees of the power of the Absolutely Powerful One, the degrees of mercy of the Absolutely Compassionate One, and the levels of strength of the Possessor of Absolute Strength.
Likewise, sufficient for me for perfection is my knowledge that my God is Absolutely Perfect, and whatever things there are in the universe which are perfect, they are signs of His perfection and indications of it.
Likewise, sufficient for me for perfection in myself is belief in God, because for man, belief is the source of all perfections.
Likewise, sufficient for me for all my needs sought through the tongues of my various faculties, is my God, Sustainer, and Creator, the Giver of my form; His are the Most Beautiful Names; He feeds me and gives me to drink; He nurtures, raises, administers, and perfects me; He is limitless in glory, and His favours are comprehensive.
FOURTH POINT
Sufficient for me for all my wishes is He Who opened up from a fluid through His subtle art, subtle power, wisdom, and His subtle dominicality, my form and that of all my fellow living creatures.
Likewise, sufficient for me for all my aims is He Who made me, opened my ears and eyes, included in my body my tongue and my heart, and placed in them and in my other faculties innumerable precise scales to weigh up the contents of the treasuries of His mercy. Similarly, He placed in my tongue, heart, and nature, countless sensitive instruments to gauge the varieties of the treasures of His Names.
Likewise, sufficient for me is He Who, through His glorious Godhead, beautiful mercy, grand dominicality, munificent clemency, vast power, and subtle wisdom, included in my insignificant, lowly person and weak and wanting being, all these members and faculties, limbs and systems, senses and feelings, inner faculties and spiritual powers, to allow me to know all the varieties of His bounties and comprehend most of the manifestations of His Names.
FIFTH POINT
I and all men should declare thankfully and proudly:
Sufficient for me is the One Who created me and took me out of the darkness of non-existence, bestowing on me light of being.
Likewise, sufficient for me is the One Who bestowed on me the bounty of life, which gives all things to those who possess it and stretches out its hands to all things.
Likewise, sufficient for me is the One Who made me a human being and bestowed on me the bounty of humanity, which makes man the microcosm, greater in meaning than the macrocosm.
Likewise, sufficient for me is the One Who made me a believer and bestowed on me the bounty of belief, which makes this world and the hereafter two tables laden with bounties, and offers them to the believer with the hand of belief.
Likewise, sufficient for me is the One Who made me a member of the community of His Beloved, Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) and bestowed on me love of God and being loved by Him, which are found in belief and are the highest degrees of human perfection; and through this love springing from belief, expanded the extent to which believers could benefit, to the infinite contents of the spheres of contingency and necessity.
Likewise, sufficient for me is the One Who, not making me inanimate, or an animal, or leaving me in misguidance, gave me preference with regard to nature, species, religion, and belief, over the majority of creatures; praise and thanks are therefore due to Him alone.
Likewise, sufficient for me is the One Who made me a comprehensive place of the manifestations of His Names, and in accordance with the meaning of the Hadith: “The heavens and the earth contained me not; I was contained in the heart of my believing servant,”3 bestowed on me a bounty which the universe could not contain; that is, man’s essential nature is a comprehensive place of manifestation of all the Divine Names manifested in the universe.
Likewise, sufficient for me is He Who bought from me the property of His I had in order to preserve it and later return it to me, and give me Paradise as the price. Praise and thanks be to Him to the number of particles of my being multiplied by the number of atoms in existence.
Sufficient for me is my Sustainer; May God be exalted!
And the Light of Muhammad; God’s blessings be upon him!
There is no god but God!
Sufficient for me is my Sustainer; May God be exalted!
My heart’s inner life is the remembrance of God;
The remembrance of Ahmad; God’s blessings be upon him!
There is no god but God!
FOOTNOTES
1. The original of the Twenty-Ninth Flash is in Arabic. [Tr.]
2. That is, the creative command “Be! (Kun!).” See, Qur’an, 36:82, etc. [Tr.]
3. See, al-‘Ajluni, Kashf al-Khafa, ii, 195.
The Fifth Ray
[Thirteen years ago,1 as an addendum to the discussion in Muhakemat-i Bedi‘iye, which was published thirty years ago, the draft of twenty ‘Matters’ was written about the Barrier of Dhu’l-Qarnayn, Gog and Magog, and the signs of the end of time. This has now been corrected for the sake of a dear friend, and been made the Fifth Ray.]
(The Fifth Ray of The Thirty-First Flash of The Thirty-First Letter)
NOTE: So that the purpose of the Introduction may be understood, the ‘Matters’ following the Introduction should be read first.
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
A point about the verse,
But already have come some tokens thereof2
was written in order to protect the belief of the mass of believers and preserve it from doubt. Like allegorical verses of the Qur’an, some Hadiths about the events of the end of time have profound meanings. They cannot be expounded in the same way as incontestable verses, and not everyone can understand them. Rather than being expounded, they are interpreted. According to the verse,
But none save God knows its final meaning (ta’wil). And those who are deeply rooted in knowledge,3
their meaning, interpretation and what is intended by them is understood only after the event, so that those firmly grounded in knowledge say:
“We believe in it; the whole [of the divine writ] is from our Sustainer,4
and they disclose those hidden truths.
This Fifth Ray contains an Introduction and twenty-three ‘Matters.’ The Introduction consists of five ‘Points.’
First Point: Since belief and accountability are a test, a trial, a competition within the bounds of man’s will, matters that are obscure, profound, and in need of careful study and experiment cannot obvious. They should not be so compelling that everyone has to affirm them willy-nilly. For in this way the Abu Bakr’s may rise to the highest of the high and the Abu Jahl’s descend to the lowest of the low. If there is no will, there is no accountability. It is because of this mystery and wisdom that miracles are displayed only rarely, and in this realm of accountability, like some allegorical verses of the Qur’an, the signs of the end of the world, which will be visible and seen, are obscure and open to interpretation. Since when the sun rises in the west it will be so clear everyone will be compelled to affirm it, the door of repentance will be closed and repentance and belief will no longer be accepted. For the Abu Bakr’s and the Abu Jahl’s will be equal in their affirmation of it. In fact, although when Jesus (Peace be upon him) comes he himself will know he is Jesus, not everyone will know. Similarly, fearsome figures such as the Dajjal and Sufyan (Antichrist)5 will not know themselves to be such.
Second Point: Some of the matters of the Unseen, outside the realm of man’s perception, that were made known to the Prophet (PBUH) were made known in detail. These he could in no way alter or interfere with, like the incontestable verses of the Qur’an and ‘Sacred’ Hadiths.6 Others, employing his eloquence, he would illustrate and explain in detail or in allegorical form suitably to the wisdom of man’s accountability. For example, one time when conversing with some people, a deep rumbling was heard. He said: “That is the sound of a rock which has been rolling down hill for seventy years and has at this moment come to rest in the very pit of Hell.”7 Five minutes after he made this strange announcement, someone came and said: “Such-and-such a dissembler has died. He was seventy years old, and has gone to Hell,” showing the meaning of the Prophet’s eloquent words.
NOTE: Minor future events not included among the truths of belief were considered unimportant by the Prophet (PBUH).
The Third Point consists of two ‘Points’:
The First: Because in the course of time ordinary people attached literal meanings to some Hadiths which had been narrated in the form of comparisons and allegories, such Hadiths are apparently not conformable with reality. Although they are pure truth, they appear not to be so. For example, two angels called Thawr and Hut,8 who are among the bearers of the earth and as though the bearers of the Throne, were conceived of as a huge ox and a gigantic fish.
The Second: Some Hadiths refer to the majority of Muslims, or to the Islamic State, or to the centre of the Caliphate, but they were understood to refer to all the people in the world. Although being particular in some respect, they were supposed to be universal and general. For instance, it says in a narration: “A time will come when no one remains who says: Allah! Allah!”9 That is, “The places where God’s name is mentioned will be closed, and the call to prayer and iqama will be recited in Turkish.”
Fourth Point: Just as for numerous reasons and instances of wisdom hidden matters of ‘the Unseen’ like death and the appointed hour remain secret, so the end of the world, which is its death and the appointed hour of mankind and that of the animal kingdom, has been left secret for many good reasons.
Yes, if the appointed hour of death was specified, the first half of life would be passed in absolute heedlessness, and the second half in absolute terror, as every day a further step was taken towards the gallows. This would destroy the wise and beneficial balance of hope and fear. Similarly, if the end of the world, its death and appointed hour, had been specified, the Early and Middle Ages would have been virtually unaffected by the idea of the hereafter, and the later ages would have been passed in terror. No pleasure or value would have remained in worldly life, nor, as an act of will, would the worship of God, between hope and fear, have held any importance or purpose. Also, if the death of the world had been specified, some of the truths of belief would have been clearly obvious and everyone would have affirmed them willy-nilly. The mystery of man’s accountability and the wisdom and purpose of belief, which are tied to man’s choice and will, would have been negated.
It is for numerous benefits such as these that matters related to the Unseen remain secret. Everyone therefore continually bears in mind both his death and his continued life, and he works both for this world and the hereafter. He is also aware that the end of the world may occur in any age, or that it may continue, and so works for eternal life within the transitoriness of this world, and strives to build the world as though he was never going to die.10
Also, if the occurrence of calamities had been specified, the man who expected one would suffer a calamity perhaps ten times greater than the actual calamity. Divine wisdom and mercy have therefore veiled the time of their occurrence and left it secret, so that the man does not suffer the misfortune. It is because most hidden cosmic events are tied to such instances of wisdom that to give news of the Unseen or to foretell events has been prohibited. In order not to be disrespectful and disobedient in the face of the principle None knows the Unseen save God, those who with dominical leave even, give news of the Unseen other than concerning man’s accountability and the truths of belief, have done so only allusively and indirectly. In fact, the good tidings about the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the Torah, Gospels, and Psalms, are veiled and obscure, in consequence of which some of the adherents of those scriptures put various meanings on those passages and did not believe them. However, since the wisdom in man’s accountability necessitates that the questions included among the tenets of belief are communicated explicitly and repeatedly, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition and its Glorious Interpreter (Peace and blessings be upon him) tell of the matters of the hereafter in detail, and of future worldly events only in summary fashion.
Fifth Point: Also, since the wonders of both the Antichrists (Dajjal), which are related to their centuries, have been narrated in connection with them, those wonders have been imagined to proceed from their persons and this has led to the narrations becoming allegorical and their true meanings being concealed. Like, for example, his travelling by aeroplane and railway train.
And, for example, it is well-known that when the Islamic Antichrist dies, the satan who serves him will shout out the news to the whole world11 from ‘Dikili Tas,’ the obelisk in Istanbul, and everyone will hear its voice saying that he is dead. That is to say, the news will be broadcast by radio, which is wonderful and leaves even satans in amazement.
Also, since the strange circumstances and fearsome activities of the Antichrist’s regime, and the covert organization and government that he founds, have been narrated as referring to his person, their true meaning has remained obscure. For example, “He will be so powerful and long-lived that only Jesus (PUH) will be able to kill him; nothing else will be able to.”12 That is, it will only be a revealed, elevated, pure religion that will be able to overturn his way and rapacious regime, and eliminate them. Such a religion will emerge among the true followers of Jesus (PUH), and it will follow the Qur’an and become united with it. On the coming of Jesus (PUH) and emergence of the true Christian religion, the Antichrist’s irreligious way will be wiped out and will cease. The Antichrist’s person could otherwise be killed by a mere germ or by influenza.
Also, the explanations and statements of some narrators, made through their own exertions and interpretations, which are open to error, have been mixed up with the words of the Hadith. Their words have been supposed to be part of the Hadith, and the meaning has been obscured. It does not appear to be conformable with reality and in a way has become allegorical.
Also, in early times the social collectivity and its collective personality had not developed as it has at the present and the idea of the isolated individual was predominant, the extensive attributes and widescale actions of the community, therefore, were ascribed to the persons who led them. In order to be worthy and fitting for superhuman, universal attributes, those persons had to have gigantic bodies and be of vast stature and have colossal power and strength a hundred times surpassing their own, so that is how they were depicted. This was not conformable with reality, and the narration became allegorical.
Also, although the circumstances and attributes of the two Antichrists differ from each other, they have been confused in narrations that have come down to us in absolute form; one has been supposed to be the other. Also, the circumstances of the Great Mahdi do not fit the narrations alluding to the earlier Mahdis, and these have become allegorical Hadiths. Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) mentions only the Islamic Antichrist.
This marks the end of the Introduction. Now we embark on the ‘Matters’.
[Now, with Divine assistance, out of hundreds of examples of those hidden events of ‘the Unseen’, twenty-three ‘Matters’ will be explained extremely concisely, since they have been spread by atheists with the idea of corrupting the beliefs of the ordinary people. I beseech dominical mercy that these ‘Matters’ will cause no harm, as the atheists surmised, but that when it is seen that each is a miraculous prophetic utterance and their true interpretations are proved and made clear, they will be an important means of strengthening the belief of the ordinary people. And I entreat my Compassionate Sustainer to forgive my faults and errors.]
The Second Station of the Fifth Ray
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
FIRST MATTER
There is a narration which says: “The hand of the Sufyan, one of the prominent figures of the end of time, will be pierced.”
God knows best, an interpretation of this is as follows: if a person is very extravagant, indulging in dissipated amusements, he cannot hold onto his possessions; they are poured away with his wastefulness. It is said in the proverb: “So-and-so has a hole in his hand.” That is, he is very extravagant and wasteful.
Thus, this Hadith infers that the Sufyan will bind people to himself by encouraging them to be wasteful. And by arousing in them an intense greed and ambition, he will hold them in subjection through that weak vein of character. It predicts that the extravagant will become captive to him, and fall into his trap.
SECOND MATTER
It says in a narration: “A fearsome person at the end of time will rise in the morning and on his forehead will be written ‘This is a disbeliever.’”13
God knows what is right, this may be interpreted as follows: the Sufyan will wear the headgear of non-believers, and make everyone else wear it. However, since it will be generally adopted under compulsion and the force of the law, when that headgear is taken into prostration [in worship], it will become rightly-guided, God willing, so that those who wear it —unwillingly— will not become unbelievers.
THIRD MATTER
There is a narration: “The despotic rulers of the end of time, especially the Antichrist (Dajjal), will have false paradises and hells.”14
The knowledge is with God, an interpretation is this: it is an indication that of the prison and high school which are situated opposite the government offices and are facing each other, one will become an ugly imitation of a huri and youth of Paradise, and the other become a dungeon and torture-chamber.
FOURTH MATTER
There is a narration which says: “At the end of time no one will remain who will say: Allah! Allah!”15
None knows the Unseen save God, an interpretation of this must be as follows: the sufi meeting-places, the places where God’s Name is recited, and the religious schools (medrese) will be closed, and a name other than ‘Allah’ will used in the marks of Islam, such as the call to prayer and iqama. It does not mean that all mankind is going to fall into absolute disbelief, for denial of God is as irrational as denying the universe. It is not reasonable to suppose it should be thus even with the majority of people, let alone all of them. The unbelievers do not deny God, they are in error only concerning His attributes.
Another interpretation is this: so that they do not experience its terror, the spirits of the believers will be seized a little previously to the end of the world. Doomsday will erupt over the heads of the unbelievers.
FIFTH MATTER
There is a narration: “At the end of time, certain persons such as the Antichrist (Dajjal) will claim godhead and force others to prostrate before them.”16
God knows best, an interpretation is this: just as a nomad chieftain who denies the king imagines in himself and in other chieftains a small rulership proportionate to their power; so those who come to lead the school of Naturalists and Materialists, imagine in themselves a sort of lordship proportionate to their power, and to demonstrate their power, make their subjects bow down worshipfully before themselves and their statues, and incline their heads.
SIXTH MATTER
There is a narration: “The dissension of the end of time will be so terrible that no one will be able to restrain themselves.”17 It is because of this that for one thousand three hundred years, on the command of the Prophet (PBUH), all the Umma has sought refuge with God from that dissension —“from the dissension of the Antichrist and from the dissension of the end of time”— after seeking refuge from the torments of the grave.18
God knows what is best, it may be interpreted like this: the dissension of the end of time will draw souls to itself, captivating them. People will join it voluntarily, indeed, eagerly. For example, in Russia, men and women bathe naked together in the public baths. And because by nature women have a strong propensity to show off their beauty, they willingly throw themselves into that dissension and are led astray. The men too, being naturally enamoured of beauty, are defeated by their instinctual souls, and with drunken joy, fall into the fire and are burnt. Holding a fascination, the amusements, grievous sins, and innovations of the times such as dancing and the theatre, draw the pleasure-seekers around them like moths, intoxicating them. But if this occurs through absolute compulsion, the will is negated and it is not even a sin.
SEVENTH MATTER
There is a narration: “The Sufyan will be an eminent scholar; he will fall into misguidance through his learning. Numerous other scholars will follow him.”
The knowledge is with God, an interpretation is this: although he has no means of sovereignty such as strength and power, tribes and peoples, courage and riches, like a king, he will win that position through his cleverness, science, and political acumen, and through his intelligence he will bewitch the minds of many other scholars, making them dictate his wishes. He will attract numerous teachers to support him, and pointing out to them the way to an education system stripped of religious instruction, will work for its widespread enforcement.
EIGHTH MATTER
Narrations state that the terrible dissension of the Antichrist (Dajjal) will occur among Muslims, so that all the Umma have sought refuge with God from it.
None knows the Unseen save God, an interpretation is this: the Muslims’ Antichrist is different. In fact, like Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him), some investigative scholars said that the Muslims’ Antichrist (Dajjal) is the Sufyan. He will appear from among the Muslims and will carry out his work through deception. The Great Dajjal of the unbelievers is different.19 For those who do not bow to the absolute force and compulsion of the Great Dajjal are martyrs, and those who submit unwillingly are not unbelievers, and not sinners, even.
NINTH MATTER
In narrations, the events associated with the Sufyan and those of the future are depicted as occurring in the region of Damascus and in Arabia.
God knows best, an interpretation is this: since in early times the centres of the Caliphate were in Iraq, Damascus, and Medina, on their own interpretations, the narrators showed these events as occurring close to the centre of Islamic government, as though it was always going to remain thus, and said Aleppo and Damascus. They added their own details to the succinct predictions of the Hadith.
TENTH MATTER
Narrations mention the extraordinary power of the figures of the end of time.
The knowledge is with God, its interpretation is this, that it is an allusion to the vast collective personality those figures represent. At one time, the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Army, which had defeated Russia, was shown in a picture with one foot in the Pacific Ocean and the other foot in the fort of Port Arthur. The vastness of its collective personality was depicted in the representation of his person, and in the gigantic form of the representation. As for their extraordinarily vast power, since most of the affairs they carry out are destructive and related to the appetites, they appear to have extraordinary power, for destruction is easy; one match can burn down a village. As for the satisfying the animal appetites, since it is what the instinctual soul wants, it is much sought after.
ELEVENTH MATTER
There is a narration which says: “At the end of time, one man will look after forty women.”20
God knows what is best, this may be interpreted in two ways:
Firstly: Lawful marriage will decrease at that time, or like in Russia, it will disappear. Someone who flees from being tied to one woman, will remain at a loose end, and become a shepherd to forty unfortunate women.
The Second: It is an allusion that at that time of dissension, most of the men will perish in wars, and for some reason most of the children born will be girls. Perhaps as well, the total freedom of women will so inflame their lust that they will acquire innate superiority over their menfolk. This will result in their causing their children to take after them, and through the Divine command, girl children will be more numerous.
TWELFTH MATTER
It says in narrations : “The Dajjal’s first day will be a year, his second day a month, his third day a week, and his fourth day a day.”21
None knows the Unseen save God, this may be interpreted in two ways:
The First: It is an allusion and sign that the Great Dajjal will appear near the North Pole or towards the north. For close to the North Pole the whole year is one day and one night. If he comes a day’s journey in this direction by train in the summer, for a month the sun never sets. If he comes a day further in this direction, the sun is visible for a whole week. When I was a prisoner-of-war in Russia I was close to this region. That means it foretells miraculously that the Great Dajjal will attack from the North in this direction.
The Second Interpretation: The three days refer to both the Great Dajjal and the Islamic Dajjal having three periods of despotism. With elevated eloquence it informs the Umma that “in his first day; in his first period of government, he will perform works so great they could not be performed in three hundred years. On his second day, that is, in his second period, he will carry out such works as could not be carried out in thirty years. In his third day and period, the transformations he will bring about could not be brought about in ten years. While in his fourth day and period he will be reduced to the ordinary and do nothing, only try to maintain his position.”
THIRTEENTH MATTER
There is a definite, sound narration which says: “Jesus (Peace be upon him) will kill the Great Dajjal.”22
The knowledge is with God, there are two aspects to this:
The First Aspect: It could only be a wondrous person with the power of miracles who could kill and change the way of the awesome Dajjal, who will preserve himself through wonders, bestowed on him by God in order to lead him astray, such as magic, hypnotic powers, and spiritualism, and will spellbind everyone. And that person will be Jesus (Peace be upon him), who is the prophet of the majority of mankind, and whom most people follow.
The Second Aspect is this: It will be the truly pious followers of Jesus who will kill the gigantic collective personality of materialism and irreligion which the Dajjal will form —for the Dajjal will be killed by Jesus’ (PUH) sword— and destroy his ideas and disbelief, which are atheistic. Those truly pious Christians will blend the essence of true Christianity with the essence of Islam and rout the Dajjal with their combined strength, in effect killing him. The narration: “Jesus (Peace be upon him) will come and will perform the obligatory prayers behind the Mahdi and follow him,”23 alludes to this union, and to the sovereignty of the Qur’an and its being followed.
FOURTEENTH MATTER
It says in a narration: “The Dajjal will draw his main strength from the Jews. The Jews will follow him willingly.”24
God knows best, we can say that in part this narration’s meaning was fulfilled in Russia, for the Jews, who have been persecuted by every state, gathered in large numbers in Germany in order to take their revenge. Then, due to the important role he played in the founding of the revolutionary communist party, the terrible Trotsky, who was a Jew, took over the leadership of the Russian Army, then the government after the famous Lenin, who had trained him, and they set fire to Russia and laid waste whatever it had achieved over a thousand years. They showed that they were the secret revolutionary committee of the Dajjal and they carried out some of his works. They caused serious upheavals in other countries as well, and fomented much trouble.
FIFTEENTH MATTER
The events involving Gog and Magog are mentioned concisely in the Qur’an, and there are some details of them in narrations. Those details are not firmly established like the concise but incontrovertible matters of the Qur’an, and may be considered allegorical. They require interpretation. Indeed, they need to be interpreted, for the narrators’ interpretations have been mixed in with them.
Yes, None knows the Unseen save God, one interpretation is this: it is an allusion and indication that just as the Manchurian and Mongol tribes, which in the heavenly tongue of the Qur’an are called “Gog and Magog,”25 together with some other tribes, several times overturned Asia and Europe; so will they again cause chaos in the world in the future. In fact even now some of them are famous anarchists, and anarchy is born of communism.
Yes, socialism sprang up in the French Revolution from the seed of libertarianism. Then since socialism destroyed certain sacred matters, the ideas it inculcated turned into bolshevism. And because bolshevism corrupted even more sacred moral and human values, and those of the human heart, of course the seeds it sowed will produce anarchy, which recognizes no restrictions whatsoever and has respect for nothing. For if respect and compassion quit the human heart, those with such hearts become exceedingly cruel beasts and can no longer be governed through politics. Just the place for the idea of anarchy will be those oppressed, numerous raiding tribes, which are backward in respect of both civilization and government. The people who fit those conditions are the Manchurian, Mongol, and some of the Kirghiz tribes, who caused the building of the Great Wall of China, which is forty-days’ distance in length and is one of the seven wonders of the world. Expounding the Qur’an’s concise statements about them, Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) predicted their appearance miraculously and precisely.
SIXTEENTH MATTER
It says in a narration in connection with Jesus (Peace be upon him) killing the Dajjal: “The Dajjal will have a colossal form, he will be extraordinarily big and taller than a minaret, while Jesus (PUH) will be very small in comparison.”26
None knows the Unseen save God, one interpretation must be as follows: it is an allusion and sign that quantitively the spiritual community of muja\hidên who will recognize Jesus (Peace be upon him) and follow him, will be very few and small comparatively to the ‘scientific’, physical armies of the Dajjal.
SEVENTEENTH MATTER
It says in a narration: “The day the Dajjal appears all the world will hear. He will travel the world in forty days and have a wondrous ass.”27
God knows best, on condition such narrations are completely sound, they miraculously predict that in the time of the Dajjal, the means of communication and travel will have so advanced that an event will be heard by all the world in a day. It will be shouted out by the radio and will be heard in east and west, and will be read about in all the newspapers. One man will travel the whole world in forty days and see the seven continents and seventy countries. These narrations thus miraculously foretold the telegraph, telephone, radio, railway, and aeroplane ten centuries before they appeared.
Moreover, the Dajjal will be heard not in his capacity as the Dajjal, but as a despotic king. And his travelling everywhere will not be to occupy those places, but to create dissension and to seduce people away from the right path. His mount or ass is either a railway train, one ear and head of which is an infernal firebox, and the other ear of which is a false paradise gorgeously adorned and furnished. He sends his enemies to its fiery head, and his friends to its feasting head. Or else his mount is an awesome motor car, or a plane, or... (silence!)
EIGHTEENTH MATTER
There is a narration which says: “If my community advances on the straight path, it will have one day.”28 That is, in accordance with the meaning of the verse,
On a day the space whereof will be [as] a thousand years of your reckoning,29
it will have rule and splendour for a thousand years. If it does not proceed on the straight path, it will have a day of five hundred years, and will be dominant and victorious for only five hundred years.
God knows best, this narration is not giving news of the end of the world, but of Islam’s victorious rule and the sovereignty of the Caliphate, for miraculously, that is exactly how it turned out. For because towards the end of the ‘Abbasid Caliphate its politicians lost their sense of direction, it continued only five hundred years. But because the Umma in general did not deviate from the straight path, the Ottoman Caliphate came to its assistance and it took over the rule of the Umma, which has continued in existence for one thousand three hundred years. Then because the Ottoman politicians were unable to maintain their direction, its Caliphate survived only five hundred years (as the Caliphate), and with its demise it confirmed the Hadith’s miraculous prediction. This Hadith has been discussed in other treatises, so we curtail the discussion here.
NINTEENTH MATTER
In the narrations are various different prophecies about the Mahdi (May God be pleased with him), who is one of the signs of the end of time and will be from the Family of the Prophet. In fact, some scholars and saints stated long ago that he had appeared.
God knows best what is right, one interpretation of these various narrations is this: the Great Mahdi will have numerous functions. He will carry out duties in the world of politics, the world of religion, the world of government, and in the many spheres of the world of jihad. Similarly, since every century at a time of despair people are in need of a sort of Mahdi to strengthen their morale or for the possibility of a Mahdi appearing at that time to assist them, through Divine mercy, every age or perhaps every century a sort of Mahdi has appeared from among the Prophet’s (PBUH) descendants, and preserved his forefather’s Shari‘a and revived his Sunna. The narrations about the Mahdi are various because Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) saw persons who would perform some of the Great Mahdi’s works; for example, the ‘Abbasid Mahdi in the world of politics, and Gawth al-A‘zam,30 Shah Naqshband,31 the four spiritual poles,32 and Twelve Imams in the world of religion. For this reason some of the people of reality said that he had already appeared. Anyway, since this matter has been explained in the Risale-i Nur, we refer discussion of it to that and here only say this:
There is no family in the world so mutually supportive, nor a tribe in such agreement, nor so enlightened a community or society as the family, tribe, community and society of the Prophet’s Family.
Yes, the Prophet’s Family has raised hundreds of sacred heroes, and produced thousands of spiritual leaders of the Umma, and has been nurtured with the leaven of the reality of the Qur’an and the light of belief and honour of Islam, and has thus been perfected. It is therefore totally reasonable that through reviving the Shari‘a of Muhammad (PBUH) and his Sunna and the reality of the Qur’an at the end of time, and proclaiming them and putting them into practice, they should display to the world the perfect justice and veracity of the Great Mahdi, their Commander-in-Chief. This is also both necessary and essential and demanded by the principles of human society.
TWENTIETH MATTER
The sun rising in the west33 and the emergence from the earth of the Beast (Dabbat al-Ard).34
The sun rising in the west will be a self-evident sign of the end of the world, and because it is self-evident, it will be a heavenly event which closes the door of repentance, which is tied to the will and reason. Its meaning is therefore clear, and is in no need of interpretation. One may just say the following:
God knows best, its apparent cause will be this: with the disappearance from the head of the earth of the Qur’an, which is like its intelligence, the earth will go mad. With Divine permission, on another planet colliding with it, its rotation will be reversed. Through Divine will, its journeying from west to east will be reversed to from east to west, and the sun will start to rise in the west. Yes, the Qur’an is ‘the firm cord of God’35 which binds the earth to the sun, and the ground to the Divine Throne. If its gravity is broken, the string holding the earth would be undone, it would become dizzy and deranged, and with its reversed uncontrolled motion, the sun would rise in the west. There is another interpretation, which is that due to a collision, Doomsday would break forth at the Divine command.
As for the Beast (Dabbat al-Ard), in the Qur’an is an extremely concise indication, a brief expression made by its tongue of disposition. As for its details, like with some other matters, I do not know with any certainty for the present. I can only say this much: None knows the Unseen save God, just as the people of Pharaoh were visited by plagues of locusts and fleas, and the people of Abraha, who were trying to destroy the Ka‘ba, were attacked by “flights of birds;”36 so too, for the purpose of bringing to their senses those people who knowingly and willingly rebel due to the dissension of the Sufyan and Dajjals, and through the anarchy of Gog and Magog embark on corruption and savagery, and fall into irreligion, disbelief, and denial, a beast will emerge from the earth and beset and rout them. God knows best, that beast is a species. For even if huge, a single creature could not be everywhere. That means there will be a truly terrible species of animal. Perhaps, as indicated by the verse,
Except a little worm of the earth, which kept [slowly] gnawing away at his staff,37
that creature will be a sort of termite, called “Dabbat al-Ard,” which will gnaw away at the bones of men as though they were wooden, establishing themselves in every part of their bodies, from their teeth to their finger-nails. By making the creature speak on the question of belief, the verse38 indicates that through the blessing of belief and their avoiding vice and abuses, the believers will be saved from it.
O our Sustainer! Do not take us to task if we forget or do wrong.39
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which you have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.40
Three Brief Matters
Complementing the Previous Twenty Matters
FIRST MATTER
Just as in some narrations, Jesus (Peace be upon him) is called “the Messiah” (al-Masih), so are both Dajjals called Messiah, and in all the narrations it says: “... from the dissension of the Messiah Antichrist (al-Masih al-Dajjal) ... from the dissension of the Messiah Antichrist (al-Masih al-Dajjal).” What is the wisdom and meaning of this?
The Answer: God knows best, the wisdom in it is this: just as at the Divine command, Jesus (Peace be upon him) abrogated some of the burdensome ordinances of the Mosaic Law, making lawful some things agreeable to the appetites like wine, so too at the command of Satan and due to his temptations, the Great Dajjal will abrogate the injunctions of the Christian Law, and destroying the bonds in accordance with which the life of Christian society is administered, he will prepare the ground for anarchy and Gog and Magog. Similarly, the Sufyan, the Islamic Dajjal, due to the devices of Satan and the evil-commanding soul, will try to abrogate some of the eternal injunctions of the Shari‘a of Muhammad (PBUH), and destroying the material and spiritual bonds of human life, and leaving headstrong, drunken, giddy souls without restriction, he will unfasten the luminous chains of respect and compassion. By giving people a freedom which is pure despotism so they fall on one another in a swamp of putrid lust, he will open up the way to a terrible anarchy. There will then be no way those people can be kept under control other than by the most repressive despotism.
SECOND MATTER
Mentioned in the narrations are the wondrous achievements of the two Dajjals, and their superhuman power and majesty. It is foretold even that some unfortunates will ascribe a sort of godhead to them. What is the reason for this?
The Answer: The knowledge is with God, their achievements being so great and extraordinary is because since they mostly consist of destruction and exciting the appetites, they carry out those works easily, so that it says in one narration: “A single of their days is a year.” That is, the works they carry out in one year would not normally be carried out in three hundred. There are four aspects of and reasons for their power appearing to be superhuman:
• The First: Since, as the result of a Divine scheme permitting them to do so, the good things and advances which are achieved through the strength of brave armies and active nations in their despotic, huge states, are unjustly attributed to them, it leads to their persons being imagined to have the power of a thousand men. But rightfully and according to the rules, the positive good, honour, and booty won through the actions of a community should be divided among the community and given to its members. And any evils, destruction, and losses should be ascribed to its leader’s lack of precautions and faults. For example, if a batallion conquers a citadel, the booty and honour is due to their bayonets. While if there are any losses due to faulty planning, they are the commander’s.
Thus, entirely contrarily to this fundamental principle of truth and reality, since positive progress and all things good are ascribed to those fearsome leaders, and negative developments and evils are attributed to their unfortunate peoples, as the result of a Divine scheme, those persons, who deserve to be abominated by everyone, are loved by all the heedless and neglectful.
• The Second Aspect and Reason: Because both Dajjals employ the severest despotism, the greatest tyranny, and the maximum violence and terror, they appear to have vast power. Yes, a despotism so extraordinary that under the cloak of laws, they intervene in everyone’s consciences and religious beliefs, and even their clothes. It is my guess that with a premonition of the future the lovers of freedom at the end of the last century perceived this awesome despotism, and letting fly their arrows at it, attacked it. But they were sorely mislead and attacked on the wrong front. It is tyranny and coercion so great that it wipes out a hundred villages because of one man, punishing hundreds of innocent people and ruining them by forced migrations.
• The Third Aspect and Reason: Because both Dajjals will win the assistance of a secret Jewish society which nurtures a terrible desire for revenge on Islam and Christianity, and that of another secret society which uses women’s liberation as a screen, and because the Islamic Dajjal will deceive even the Masonic lodges and win their support, they will be supposed to possess tremendous power. Also, it is understood from the divinations of some of the saints that the Dajjal called Sufyan who will come to lead the Islamic world will be a leading politician who is extremely capable, intelligent, and active, does not like ostentation and gives no importance to personal rank and glory; he will be a military leader who is extremely bold, forceful, energetic, and resolute, and does not condescend to fame-seeking, and he will captivate the Muslims. Taking advantage of their lack of hypocrisy, he will have their extraordinarily brilliant works ascribed to himself, as well as the progress they have achieved driven by the severe need arising from the transformation and renewal of the large army and state and the upheavals of the First World War, and he will have it bruited everywhere by eulogists that he possesses a wondrous and extraordinary power.
• The Fourth Aspect and Reason: The Great Dajjal will have spellbinding, charismatic qualities. While the Islamic Dajjal will have fascinating, hypnotic powers in one eye. It even says in narrations: “The Dajjal will be blind in one eye.”41 By drawing attention to this and pointing out that one of the Great Dajjal’s eyes will be blind, and one eye of the other Dajjal will be blind in comparison with his other eye, the Hadith is indicating that since they will be absolute unbelievers, they will have only one eye and their sight will be restricted to this world, and they will have no eyes that see the hereafter and consequences of actions.
I too saw the Islamic Dajjal in a spirit world. I observed with my own eyes that he possessed a spellbinding hypnotic power in one of his eyes, and I understood him to be a total denier of God. He will attack religion and the sacred with a boldness and insolence arising from his absolute denial. But since the ordinary people will not know the truth of the matter, they will suppose it to be an extraordinary power and courage.
Also, because such a magnificent, lucky, successful, and cunning commander, who is merely being led on by God, appears at the time of a heroic and glorious nation’s defeat, with their love of heroism the people will applaud and fete him without considering his hidden, terrible true nature, and will want to cover up his iniquities. However, it is understood from narrations that through the light of belief and light of the Qur’an in their spirits, the heroic, mujahid army and religious nation will see the truth and will try to repair that commander’s terrible destruction.
THE THIRD BRIEF MATTER
This consists of three instructive incidents.
First Incident: One time, God’s Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) pointed out to ‘Umar (May God be pleased with him) one of a group of Jewish children, and said: “He is his very image!” ‘Umar said: “Then I shall kill him!” But God’s Messenger (PBUH) replied: “If that is the Sufyan, the Islamic Dajjal, you cannot kill him. And if it is not, he cannot be killed through his image.”42
This narration indicates that at the time of his rule, the Sufyan’s image will appear on numerous things, and that he will be born a Jew. It is strange that although ‘Umar (May God be pleased with him) was sufficiently angry and hostile towards him to be able to kill a child resembling him, someone the Sufyan most admired and liked and spoke off with praise and appreciation turned out to be ‘Umar.
Second Incident: Many people narrated that the Islamic Dajjal will be curious about the meaning of the Sura, By the fig and the olive,43 and will ask about it.
It is strange but the verse Nay, but man transgresses all bounds44 in the following Sura, Read! In the name of your Sustainer,45 according to jafr reckoning and its meaning, also indicates his time and person, pointing out that he will overweeningly aggress against the mosques and the people who perform the prayers. That is to say, that man, who is being led on by God, perceives that a short Sura is concerned with him, but makes a mistake and knocks on its neighbour’s door.
Third Incident: It says in a narration: “The Islamic Dajjal will appear in Khorasan.”46
None knows the Unseen save God, an interpretation of it is this: the Turks, the bravest and most numerous and powerful people of the east and the heroic army of Islam, were at the time of the narration, around the region of Khorasan and had not yet made their homeland in Anatolia. By mentioning the region they inhabited, it is indicating that the Sufyan Dajjal would appear from among them.
It is strange, exceedingly strange, he will temporarily try to use the Turkish nation and Turkism, which for seven hundred years has been a flashing diamond sword, a mark of honour, in the hand of Islam and the Qur’an, against some of the marks of Islam. But he will not be successful and will withdraw. It is understood from the narrations that “The heroic army will save it, taking the reins from his hand.”
And God knows what is best * None knows the Unseen save God.
FOOTNOTES
1. It is now more than forty years ago. [This corrected version, which Bediuzzaman designated The Fifth Ray, was compiled in Kastamonu, most probably in 1938. Muhâkemat was published in Istanbul in 1911. —Tr.]
2. Qur’an, 47:18.
3. Qur’an, 3:7.
4. Qur’an, 3:7.
5. There are numerous Hadiths about the Muslim Antichrist, known as ‘the Sufyan’ (al-Sufyani). See, for example, al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iv, 520. [Tr.]
6. Hadith Qudsi: A saying of the Prophet (PBUH) imparted to him by revelation or inspiration, the wording of which was his own. [Tr.]
7. Muslim, Janna, 31, No: 2844; Musnad, iii, 341.
8. See, Bayhaqi, Shu’ab al-Iman, 403; Zahabi, Mizan al-I’tidal, iv, 352; Suyuti, al-Durr al-Manthur, i, 329.
9. Tirmidhi, Fitan, 35; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iv, 494; Ibn Hibban, al-Sahih, viii, 299.
10. Suyuti, al-Fath al-Kabir, i, 190, 202; al-Manawi, Fayd al-Qadir, i, 532, No: 1068; ii, 12, No: 1201.
11. Muslim, Fitan, 34.
12. Tirmidhi, Fitan, 62; Abu Da’ud, Malahim, 14; Musnad, iii, 420; iv, 226; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iv, 529-30.
13. Tirmidhi, Fitan, 62; Abu Da’ud, Malahim, 14; Musnad, iii, 420; iv, 226; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iv, 529-30.
14. Bukhari, Fitan, 26; Muslim, Fitan, 101, 102; Tirmidhi, Fitan, 62; Musnad, iii, 115, 211, 228, 249, 250; v, 38, 404-5; vi, 139-40.
15. Muslim, Fitan, 104, 109; Ibn Maja, Fitan, 33; Musnad, v, 397.
16. Muslim, Iman, 234; Tirmidhi, Fitan, 35; Musnad, iii, 107, 201, 259.
17. al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iv, 508; Ibn Kathir, Nihayat al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya, i, 125-6; Musnad, iv, 20; v, 372.
18. Suyuti, al-Fath al-Kabir, i, 315; ii, 185; iii, 9; al-Hawi li’l-Fatawa, ii, 217; Abu ‘Abdullah Daylami, Musnad al-Firdaws, i, 266.
19. Bukhari, Da’wat, 37, 39, 44, 45, 46; Adhan, 149; Jana’iz, 88; Fitan, 26; Muslim, Masajid, 127-8, 130-4; Musnad, vi, 139.
20. Suyuti, al-‘Urf al-Wardi fi Akhbar al-Mahdi (al-Hawi li’l-Fatawa), ii, 234; Ahmad Zayni Dahlan, al-Futuhat al-Islamiyya, 294; al-Barzanji, al-Isha’a fi Ashrat al-Sa’a, 95-9; Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, al-Fatawa al-Hadithiyya, 36; al-Qurtubi, Mukhtasar al-Tadhkira, 133-4.
21. Bukhari, Nikah, 110. For Hadiths stating that one man will look after fifty women, see, Bukhari, ‘Ilm, 21; Ashriba, 1; Muslim, ‘Ilm, 9; Tirmidhi, Fitan, 34; Ibn Maja, Fitan, 25; Musnad, iii, 98, 176, 202, 213-4, 273, 289.
22. Muslim, Fitan, 110; Abu Da’ud, Malahim, 14; Tirmidhi, Fitan, 59; Ibn Maja, Fitan, 33; Musnad, iv, 181.
23. Tirmidhi, Fitan, 62; Abu Da’ud, Malahim, 14; Musnad, iii, 420; iv, 226; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iv, 529-30.
24. Bukhari, Anbiya’, 49; Muslim, Iman, 244-5, 247; Ibn Maja, Fitan, 33; Musnad, ii, 336; iii, 368.
25. Muslim, Fitan, 124; Musnad, iii, 224, 292; iv, 216-7.
26. See, Qur’an, 18:94, 21:96.26. Ibn Kathir, Nihayat al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya, i, 103-4; ‘Ala’ al-Din al-Hindi, Kanz al-‘Ummal, xiv, 330; Suyuti, al-Durr al-Manthur, v, 355; al-Hawi li’l-Fatawa, ii, 588; alHaythami, Majma’ al-Zawa’id, viii, 244.
27. Ibn Kathir, Nihayat al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya, i, 106; Ibn Abi Shayba, al-Musannaf, vii, 495-500.
28. Abu Da’ud, Malahim, 18; Musnad, i, 170; iv, 193.
29. Qur’an, 32:5.
30. Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir Gilani (Geylani) (470/1077-561/1166), founder of the Qadiri Order.
31. Shaykh Baha’ al-Din Naqshband (d. 791/1389), founder of the Naqshbandi Order.
32. Four spiritual poles: Ahmad al-Rufa’i, Ahmad al-Badawi, Ibrahim al-Dassuqi, and Abu’l Hasan al-Shazali.
33. Bukhari, Fitan, 25; Tafsir al-Sura, vi, 9; Riqaq, 40; Musnad, Tawba, 31; Iman, 248-9; Fitan, 39, 40, 118, 128-9; Abu Da’ud, Jihad, 2; Malahim, 11-2; Tirmidhi, Fitan, 21; Tafsir al-Sura, vi, 8-9; Ibn Maja, Fitan, 25, 28, 32; Darimi, Siyar, 69; Musnad, i, 192; ii, 164, 201; iii, 31; iv, 6-7.
34. Muslim, Iman, 249; Fitan, 39-40, 118, 129; Abu Da’ud, Malahim, 11-2; Tirmidhi, Fitan, 21; Tafsir al-Sura, vi, 9; Ibn Maja, Fitan, 28, 31, 32; Musnad, ii, 164, 201, 295; iv, 6-7; v, 268, 357.
35. See, Qur’an, 3:103.
36. See, Qur’an, 105:3-4.
37. Qur’an, 34:14.
38. See, Qur’an, 27:82.
39. Qur’an, 2:286.
40. Qur’an, 2:32.
41. Bukhari, Fitan, 26; Anbiya’, 77; Muslim, Fitan, 100, 109; Abu Da’ud, Malahim, 14; Sunna, 25; Tirmidhi, Fitan, 56, 62; Ibn Maja, Fitan, 33; Muwatta, Sifat al-Nabi, 1; Musnad, i, 176, 182, 240, 311; ii, 22, 27, 37, 39, 122, 124, 127, 131, 144, 154, 159; iii, 79, 103, 115, 173, 233, 333; iv, 139-40; v, 13, 383, 397.
42. Bukhari, Jana’iz, 80; Jihad, 178; Muslim, Fitan, 85, 86, 95; Tirmidhi, Fitan, 63.
43. Qur’an, 95:1.
44. Qur’an, 96:6.
45. Qur’an, 96:1.
46. Tirmidhi, Fitan, 57; Ibn Maja, Fitan, 33; Musnad, i, 4, 7; al-Albani, Silsilat al-Ahadith, iv, 122.
The Sixth Ray
[This consists of only two Points]
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
[This Sixth Ray consists of two answers to two questions about two points concerning the formulas in the ‘tashahhud’ section of the ritual prayers (salat) which begin “Salutations, blessings, benedictions and supplications, and good words—all are God’s.” 1 Postponing to another time an explanation of the other truths of the ‘tashahhud,’ here we shall explain only two points out of hundreds.]
F i r s t Q u e s t i o n : The blessed phrases of the tashahhud were spoken by Almighty God and His Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) on the night of his Ascension, so what is the reason for their being recited in the ritual prayers?
T h e A n s w e r : For all believers, the five daily prayers are a sort of Ascension. The words of the tashahhud, which were fitting for the Divine presence, were spoken during the Supreme Ascension of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), and by reciting them, believers recall that sacred conversation. Through the recollection, the meanings of those blessed words cease being particular and become universal; their sacred, comprehensive meanings are, or may be, conceived of. Through such a conception, their value and light are enhanced and expanded.
For example, instead of giving the greeting of “peace” that night to Almighty God, the Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Salutations to God” (al-tahiyyatu lillah). That is, “O my Sustainer! All the vital glorifications living beings display through their lives and the gifts they present to their Maker through the manner of their creation are Yours alone. By visualizing them and through my belief, I too offer them to You.”
Yes, with the word “salutations,” God’s Most Noble Messenger (PBUH) intentionally offered to God all the worship living creatures perform through the mode of their creation. Similarly, through the word “blessings,” (al-mubarakat) which is the summary of “salutations,” he was representing the natural blessedness, plenty, and worship of creatures, especially seeds, grains, and eggs, which are the means of blessings and abundance, and cause one to exclaim: “How great are God’s blessings!” For they are the essence of life and living beings. He said it with this broad meaning.
Through the word “benedictions” (al-salawat), which is a summary of “blessings,” he was visualizing all the particular forms of worship performed by beings with spirits, who are the essence of living beings, and offering it to the Divine Court with that comprehensive meaning.
With the word “good things,” (wa’l-tayyibat) the summary of “benedictions,” he intended the luminous, elevated worship of perfected human beings and the cherubim, who are the summaries of beings with spirits, and offered this to the One he worshipped.
Almighty God saying that night: “Peace be upon you, O Prophet!”, was an indication and indirect command that in the future, hundreds of millions of people would say at least ten times daily: “Peace be upon you, O Prophet!” The Divine greeting afforded the words an extensive light and lofty meaning.
Similarly, the Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) replying to the greeting by saying: “Peace be upon us and upon all God’s righteous servants” expressed that he was requesting his Creator hopefully and beseechingly that in the future his vast community and the righteous members of it would reflect Islam, which represents the Divine greeting, and that all his community would greet each other: “Peace be upon you!” “And peace be upon you!,” which, between believers, is a universal mark of Islam.
Gabriel (Peace be upon him), who took part in the conversation, said that night at the Divine command: “I testify that there is no god but God, and I testify that Muhammad is God’s Messenger,” giving the happy news that all the Umma would testify in that way until the Last Day. Recalling this sacred exchange, the meanings of the words gain in brilliance an dcomprehensiveness.
A strange state of mind that assisted in the unfolding of the above truth
One time while in a dark exile, on a dark night, and in a dark state of heedlessness, the mighty universe of the present appeared to my imagination as a lifeless, spiritless, dead, empty, desolate, ghastly corpse. The past, too, appeared to be dead, empty, deceased, and dreadful; that boundless space and limitless time took on the form of a dark wilderness. I had recourse to the prayers in order to be saved from my state of mind. When I said: “Salutations” in the tashahhud, the universe suddenly sprang to life. It was resurrected taking on a living, luminous form, and became a shining mirror of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One. I saw that with all its living parts, it was continuously offering the salutations of their lives and their vital gifts to the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One; I understood this with ‘the knowledge of certainty,’ even with ‘absolute certainty.’
Then, when I declared: “Peace be upon you, O Prophet!,” that limitless vacant time was transformed under the leadership of God’s Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) from being a desolate wilderness into a familiar place of recreation filled with living spirits.
S e c o n d Q u e s t i o n : The comparison at the end of the tashahhud: “O God! Grant blessings to Muhammad and to the Family of Muhammad, as You granted blessings to Abraham and to the Family of Abraham,”2 appears to be contrary to the rules of comparisons, for Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) was greater than Abraham (Peace be upon him), and the recipient of greater mercy; so what is the reason for it? Since early times the same supplication has been repeated in all the ritual prayers; whereas if a prayer is accepted once, that is enough. If those for whom millions of prayers have been accepted are persistently prayed for, and especially if the thing sought has been promised by God... For example, Almighty God has promised: Soon will your Sustainer raise you to a station of praise and glory!,3 yet always after the call to prayer and iqama the narrated prayer: “And raise him up to the station of praise and glory that You have promised him” 4 is repeated; the whole Umma pray for that promise to be fulfilled. What is the reason for this too?
T h e A n s w e r : There are three aspects and three questions within this question.
First Aspect: For sure Abraham (Peace be upon him) was not equal to Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), but his family or descendants were prophets. Muhammad’s (Peace and blessings be upon him) family were saints, and saints cannot reach the level of the prophets. Evidence that this prayer for his family has been accepted in shining fashion is this:
The fact that the saints who, among three hundred and fifty million, emerged from the progeny of only two of the Family of Muhammad (PBUH), that is, Hasan (May God be pleased with him) and Husayn (May God be pleased with him), were in the great majority of cases the spiritual guides and leaders of the sufi paths of reality, was because they received the effulgence of the Hadith: “The learned of my community are like the prophets of the Children of Israel.”5 Those who guided the greater part of the Umma to the way of truth and reality of Islam —foremost Ja‘far al-Sadiq (May God be pleased with him), Gawth al-A‘zam (May God be pleased with him), and Shah Naqshband (May God be pleased with him)— were the fruits of the acceptance of this prayer for Muhammad’s (Peace and blessings be upon him) Family.
Second Aspect: The reason for benedictions of this sort being restricted to the ritual prayers is that they recall to one that he is on the way opened up and taken by the great caravan of the prophets and saints, who are the most luminous, perfect, and righteous of mankind and its eminent members. He has joined that vast congregation, which acquires strength through its hundredfold consensus and cannot confuse its way, and is accompanying it on the straight path. By recalling this, he is saved from satanic doubts and delusions. Evidence that the members of this caravan are the friends and acceptable creatures of the universe’s Owner, and its opponents and enemies are rejected, is that from the time of Adam, succour has always arrived from the Unseen for the caravan, while its opponents have always been visited by heavenly calamities.
Yes, just as opponents like the people of Noah, the Thamud and the ‘Ad, Pharaoh and Nimrod have all received blows from the Unseen that tell of Divine wrath and chastisement; so the sacred heroes of the mighty caravan, like Noah (Peace be upon him), Abraham (Peace be upon him), Moses (Peace be upon him), and Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), have wondrously and extraordinarily manifested miracles and received dominical bounties from the Unseen. A single blow demonstrates anger, and a single bestowal, love, so thousands of blows being visited on opponents and thousands of favours and instances of assistance arriving for the caravan testify and prove self-evidently, as clearly as daylight, the rightfulness of the caravan and that it is on the straight path. The verse: The path of those whom You have blessed in Sura al-Fatiha looks to the caravan, while the verses: Not those on whom Your anger has been visited, nor those who have gone astray6 looks to their opponents. The point we have explained here is clearer in the discussion about the end of Sura al-Fatiha.
Third Aspect: The reason for repeatedly asking for something which shall certainly be given is this: the thing sought, for instance the ‘Station of Praise and Glory’ is the tip of something. It is a branch of a vast truth that comprises lofty and significant truths like thousands of Stations of Praise and Glory. It is a fruit of the most important result of the universe’s creation. To seek through prayer the tip, branch, and fruit is to seek indirectly the realization of that vast and general truth, and its finding existence, and the coming and realization of the eternal realm, the largest branch of the tree of creation, and the resurrection of the dead and Last Judgement and the opening up of the Abode of Bliss, which are the supreme results of the universe. By asking for these, one participates in the worship and prayers of all humanity, the most important causes of the existence of Paradise and the Abode of Bliss. These innumerable prayers are indeed few for an aim so unutterably vast. Moreover, Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) being awarded the Station of Praise and Glory points to his supreme intercession for all his community. He is concerned also with the happiness of all his community. It is therefore pure wisdom to seek endless benedictions and prayers for mercy for him from all his community.
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.7
FOOTNOTES
1. “al-tahiyyat al-mubarakat al-salawat al-tayyibat lillah.” Bukhari, Adhan, 148, 150; al-Amal fi’l-salat, 4; Istidhan, 3, 28; Da’wat, 16; Tawhid, 5; Muslim, Salat, 56, 60, 62. Etc.
2. Bukhari, Anbiya’, 10.
3. Qur’an, 17:79.
4. ‘Station of Praise and Glory’ — al-Maqam al-Mahmud: Bukhari, Adhan, 8, 17; Tirmidhi, Mawaqit, 43; Salat, 42; Abu Da’ud, Salat, 37; Nasa’i, Adhan, 38; Ibn Maja, Adhan, 4; Iqama, 25; Musnad, iii, 354.
5. al-‘Ajluni, Kashf al-Khafa, ii, 64; Tecrid-i Sarîh Tercemesi (Turk. trans.) Diyanet Isleri, i, 107.
6. Qur’an, 1:7.
7. Qur’an, 2:32.
The Seventh Ray
The Supreme Sign 1
AN IMPORTANT WARNING AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
Not everyone will be able to understand all the matters discussed in this most significant treatise, but equally nobody will remain portionless. If somebody enters a garden, he will find that his hands cannot reach all the fruit it contains, but the amount that falls within his grasp will be enough for him. The garden does not exist for him alone; it exists also for those whose arms are longer than his.
There are five causes making difficult the understanding of this book.
The First: I have written down my own observations, according to my own understanding, and for myself. I have not written according to the understanding and conceptions of others, as is the case with other books.
The Second: Since the true affirmation of Divine unity is set forth in this book, in the most comprehensive form, by virtue of a manifestation of the Supreme Name, the subjects discussed are extremely broad, extremely profound and sometimes extremely long. Not everyone can comprehend these matters all at once.
The Third: Since each matter constitutes a great and extensive truth, a single sentence will sometimes stretch out over a whole page or more, in order not to fracture the truth in question. A single proof requires copious preliminaries.
The Fourth: Since most of the matters contained in the book have numerous proofs and evidences, the discussion sometimes becomes prolix through the inclusion of ten or twenty proofs by way of demonstration. Limited intelligences cannot understand this.
The Fifth: It is true that the lights of this treatise came to me from the effulgence of Ramadan. Nonetheless, I was distraught in a number of respects, and I wrote the book hastily at a time my body was wracked by several illnesses, without revising the first draft. I felt, moreover, that I was not writing with my own will and volition, and it seemed inappropriate to rearrange or correct what I had written, according to my own thoughts. This, too, resulted in rendering the book difficult of comprehension. In addition, a number of sections in Arabic crept in, and the First Station, written entirely in Arabic, was removed and made into a separate work.
Despite the defects and difficulties arising from these five causes, this treatise has such an importance that Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) miraculously foresaw its composition and gave it the names “Supreme Sign” and “Staff of Moses.” He looked upon this part of the Risale-i Nur with special favour, and directed man’s gaze toward it.2 The Supreme Sign is a true exposition of the Supreme Verse,3 and it constitutes at the same time the Seventh Ray, designated by the Imam as the Staff of Moses.
This treatise consists of an Introduction and two Stations. The Introduction sets forth four important matters; the First Station contains the Arabic portion of the exposition of the Supreme Verse; and the Second Station consists of the translation of that expostion together with the accompanying proofs.
Too much has been explained in the following Introduction, but it was not my intention to lengthen it thus. The fact that it was written at this length indicates the existence of a need. Indeed, some people may regard it as too short, despite its length.
S a i d N u r s i
Introduction
I created not jinn and mankind except that they might worship me.4
According to the meaning of this mighty verse, the purpose for the sending of man to this world and the wisdom implicit in it, consists of recognizing the Creator of all beings and believing in Him and worshipping Him. The primordial duty of man and the obligation incumbent upon him are to know God and believe in Him, to assent to His Being and unity in submission and perfect certainty.
For man, who by nature desires permanent life and immortal existence, whose unlimited hopes are matched by boundless afflictions, any object or accomplishment other than belief in God, knowledge of God and the means for attaining these, which are the fundament and key of eternal life — any such object or accomplishment must be regarded as lowly for man, or even worthless in many cases.
Since this truth has been proven with firm evidence in the Risale-i Nur, we refer exposition of it to that, setting forth here, within the framework of four questions, only two abysses that shake certainty of faith in this age and induce hesitation.
The means for salvation from the first abyss are these two Matters:
The First Matter: As proven in detail in the Thirteenth Flash of the Thirty-First Letter, in general questions denial has no value in the face of proof and is extremely weak. For example, with respect to the sighting of the crescent moon at the beginning of Ramadan the Noble, if two common men prove the crescent to have emerged by their witnessing it, and thousands of nobles and scholars deny it, saying: “We have not seen it,” their negation is valueless and without power to convince. When it is a question of proof each person strengthens and supports the other, and consensus results. But when it is a question of negation, there is no difference between one man and a thousand. Each person remains alone and isolated. For the one who affirms looks beyond himself and judges the matter as it is. Thus in the example we have given, if one says “The moon is in the sky,” and his friend then points his finger at the moon, the two of them unite and are strengthened.
The one who engages in negation and denial, however, does not regard the matter as it is, and is even unable to do so. For it is a well-known principle that “a non-particularized denial, not directed to a particular locus, cannot be proven.”
For example, if I affirm the existence of a thing in the world, and you deny it, I can easily establish its existence with a single indication. But for you to justify your negation, that is to establish the non-existence of the thing — it is necessary to hunt exhaustively through the whole world, and even to examine every aspect of past ages. Only then can you say, “It does not exist, and never has existed.”
Since those who negate and deny do not regard the matter as it is but judge rather in the light of their own souls, and their own intelligence and vision, they can in no way strengthen and support each other. For the veils and causes that prevent them from seeing and knowing are various. Anyone can say, “I do not see it; therefore, in my opinion and belief, it does not exist.” But none can say, “It does not exist in actuality.” If someone says this —particularly in questions of belief, which look to all the universe— it is a lie as vast as the world itself, and he who utters it will be incapable both of speaking the truth and of being corrected.
In Short: The result is one and single in the case of affirmation, and every instance of affirmation supports all other instances.
Negation by contrast is not one, but multiple. Multiplicity arises through each person’s saying concerning himself, “In my opinion and view,” or “In my belief,” and leads to multiplicity of result. Hence each separate instance cannot support all other instances.
Therefore, with respect to the truth with which we began, there is no significance in the multiplicity and apparent predominance of the unbelievers and deniers who oppose belief. Now it is necessary to refrain from introducing any hesitation into the certainty and faith of a believer, but in this age the negations and denials of the philosophers of Europe have induced doubt in a number of unfortunate dupes and thus destroyed their certainty and obliterated their eternal felicity. Death and the coming of one’s appointed hour, which afflict thirty thousand men each day, are deprived of their meaning of dismissal from this world and presented as eternal annihilation. The grave with its ever-open door, constantly threatens the denier with annihilation and poisons his life with the bitterest of sorrows. Appreciate then how great a blessing is faith, and the very essence of life.
The Second Matter: With respect to a problem subject to discussion in science or art, those who stand outside that science or art cannot speak authoritatively, however great, learned and accomplished they may be, nor can their judgements be accepted as decisive. They cannot form part of the learned consensus of the science.
For example, the judgement of a great engineer on the diagnosis and cure of a disease does not have the same value as that of the lowliest physician. In particular, the words of denial of a philosopher who is absorbed in the material sphere, who becomes continually more remote from the non-material or spiritual and cruder and more insensitive to light, whose intelligence is restricted to what his eye beholds — the words of such a one are unworthy of consideration and valueless with respect to non-material and spiritual matters.
On matters sacred and spiritual and concerning the Divine unity, there is total accord among the hundreds of thousands of the People of Truth, such as Shaykh Gilani (May his mystery be sanctified), who beheld God’s Sublime Throne while still on the earth, who spent ninety years ad-vancing in spiritual work, and who unveiled the truths of belief in all three stations of certainty. This being the case what value have the words of philosophers, who through their absorption in the most diffuse details of the material realm and the most minute aspects of multiplicity are choking and dazed? Are not their denials and objections drowned out like the buzzing of a mosquito by the roaring of thunder?
The essence of the unbelief that opposes the truths of Islam and struggles against them is denial, ignorance, and negation. Even though it may appear to be an affirmation of some kind and a manifestation of being, it is in reality negation and non-being. Whereas belief is knowledge and a manifestation of being; it is affirmation and judgement. Every negating aspect of belief is the gate to a positive truth or the veil covering it. If the unbelievers who struggle against faith attempt, with the utmost difficulty, to affirm and accept their negative beliefs in the form of acceptance and admission of non-being, then their unbelief may be regarded in one respect as a form of mistaken knowledge or erroneous judgement. But as for non-accceptance, denial, and non-admission —something more easily done— it is absolute ignorance and total absence of judgement.
In Short: The convictions underlying unbelief are then of two kinds:
The First pays no regard to the truths of Islam. It is an erroneous admission, a baseless belief and a mistaken acceptance peculiar to itself; it is an unjust judgement. This kind of unbelief is beyond the scope of our discussion. It has no concern with us, nor do we have any concern with it.
The Second Kind opposes the truths of belief and struggles against them. It consists in turn of two varieties.
The First is non-acceptance. It consists simply of not consenting to affirmation. This is a species of ignorance; there is no judgement in-volved and it occurs easily. It too is beyond the scope of our discussion.
The Second variety is acceptance of non-being. It is to consent to non-being with one’s heart, and a judgement is involved. It is a conviction and a taking the part of something. It is on account of this partiality that it is obliged to affirm its negation.
The negation comprises two types:
The First Type says: “A certain thing does not exist at a certain place or in a particular direction.” This kind of denial can be proved, and it lies outside of our discussion.
The Second Type consists of negating and denying those doctrinal and sacred matters, general and comprehensive, that concern this world, all beings, the hereafter, and the succession of different ages. This kind of negation cannot in any fashion be substantiated, as we have shown in the First Matter, for what is needed to substantiate such negations is a vision that shall encompass the whole universe, behold the hereafter, and observe every aspect of time without limit.
The Second Abyss and the means for escaping from it: This too consists of two matters.
The First: Intelligences that become narrowed by absorption in neglect of God and in sin, or the material realm, are unable to comprehend vast matters in respect of sublimity, grandeur, and infinity; hence taking pride in such knowledge as they have, they hasten to denial and negation. Since they cannot encompass the extremely vast, profound and comprehensive questions of faith within their straitened and dessicated intellects, their corrupt and spiritually moribund hearts, they cast themselves into unbelief and misguidance, and choke.
If they were able to look at the true nature of their unbelief and the essence of their misguidance they would see that, compared to the reasonable, suitable and indeed necessary sublimity and grandeur that is present in belief, their unbelief conceals and contains manifold absurdity and impossibility. The Risale-i Nur has proven this truth by hundreds of comparisons with the same finality that “two plus two equals four.” For example, one who does not accept the Necessary Being, the pre-eternity, and the comprehensiveness of attribute of God Almighty, on account of their grandeur and sublimity, may form a creed of unbelief by assigning that necessary being, pre-eternity, and the attributes of Godhead to an unlimited number of beings, an infinity of atoms. Or like the foolish Sophists, he can abdicate his intelligence by denying and negating both his own existence and that of the universe.
Thus, all the truths of belief and Islam, basing their matters on the grandeur and sublimity which are their requirement, deliver themselves from the awesome absurdities, the fearsome superstitions, and the tenebrous ignorance of unbelief that confront them, and take up their place in sound hearts and straight intellects, through utmost submission and assent.
The constant proclamation of this grandeur and sublimity in the call to prayer, in the prayers themselves and in most of the rites of Islam,
Allahu akbar, God is Most Great!
God is Most Great! God is Most Great!
the declaration of the Sacred Tradition that “Grandeur is My shield and Sublimity My cloak;”5 and the statement of the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) — his most inspiring communing with God, in the eighty-sixth part of Jawshan al-Kabir:6
O You other than Whose Kingdom no kingdom exists;
O You Whose Praise cannot be counted by His slaves;
O You Whose Glory cannot be described by His creatures;
O You Whose Perfection lies beyond the range of all vision;
O You Whose Attributes exceed the bounds of all understanding;
O You Whose Grandeur is beyond the reach of all thought;
O You Whose Qualities man cannot fittingly describe;
O You Whose Decree His slaves cannot avert;
O You Whose Signs are manifest in everything
—Be You glorified; there is no god other than You—
Protection, protection, deliver us from the Fire!
— all these show that grandeur and sublimity constitute a necessary veil.
The Supreme Sign
The Observations of a Traveller Questioning the Universe Concerning His Maker
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
The seven heavens and the earth and all that is in them extol and glorify Him, and there is nothing but glorifies Him with praise, but you understand not their glorifying; indeed, He is Most Forebearing, Most Forgiving.7
[This Second Station, in addition to explaining the above sublime verse, sets out the proofs, arguments, and meaning of the First Station, which has been skipped.]
Since this sublime verse, like many other Qur’anic verses, mentions first the heavens —that brilliant page proclaiming God’s unity, gazed on at all times and by all men with wonder and joy— in its pronouncement of the Creator of this cosmos, let us too begin with a mention of the heavens.
Indeed, every voyager who comes to the hospice and the realm of this world, opens his eyes and wonders who is the master of this fine hospice, which resembles a most generous banquet, a most ingenious exhibition, a most impressive camp and training ground, a most amazing and wondrous place of recreation, a most profound and wise place of instruction. He asks himself too who is the author of this great book, and who is the monarch of this lofty realm. There first presents itself to him the beautiful face of the heavens, inscribed with the gilt lettering of the stars. That face calls him saying, “Look at me, and I shall guide you to what you seek.”
He looks then and sees a manifestation of dominicality performing various tasks in the heavens: it holds aloft in the heavens, without any supporting pillar, hundreds of thousands of heavenly bodies, some of which are a thousand times heavier than the earth and revolve seventy times faster than a cannon-ball; it causes them to move in harmony and swiftly without colliding with each other; it causes innumerable lamps to burn constantly, without the use of any oil; it disposes of these great masses without any disturbance or disorder; it sets sun and moon to work at their respective tasks, without those great bodies ever rebelling; it administers within infinite space —the magnitude of which cannot be measured in figures should they stretch from pole to pole— all that exists, at the same time, with the same strength, in the same fashion, manner and mould, without the least deficiency; it reduces to submissive obedience to its law all the aggressive powers inherent in those bodies; it cleanses and lustrates the face of the heavens, removing all the sweepings and refuse of that vast assembly; it causes those bodies to manoeuvre like a disciplined army; and then, making the earth revolve, it shows the heavens each night and each year in a different form, like a cinema screen displaying true and imaginative scenes to the audience of creation.
There is within this dominical activity a truth consisting of subjugation, administration, revolution, ordering, cleansing, and employment. This truth, with its grandeur and comprehensiveness, bears witness to the necessary existence and unity of the Creator of the Heavens and testifies to that Existence being more manifest than that of the heavens. Hence it was said in the First Degree of the First Station:
There is no god but God, the Necessary Being, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity the heavens and all they contain testify, through the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of subjugation, administration, revolution, ordering, cleansing, and employment, a truth vast and perfect, and to be observed.
Then that wondrous place of gathering known as space or the atmosphere begins thunderously to proclaim to that traveller come as a guest to the world, “Look at me! You can discover and find through me the object of your search, the one who sent you here!” The traveller looks at the sour but kind face of the atmosphere, and listening to the awesome but joyous thunderclaps perceives the following.
The clouds, suspended between the sky and the earth, water the garden of the world in the most wise and merciful fashion, furnish the inhabitants of the earth with the water of life, modify the natural heat of life, and hasten to bestow aid wherever it is needed. In addition to fulfilling these and other duties, the vast clouds, capable of filling the heavens sometimes hide themselves, with their parts retiring to rest so that not a trace can be seen, just like a well-disciplined army showing and hiding itself in accordance with sudden orders.
Then, the very instant the command is given to pour down rain, the clouds gather in one hour, or rather in a few minutes; they fill the sky and await further orders from their commander.
Next the traveller looks at the wind in the atmosphere and sees that the air is employed wisely and generously in such numerous tasks that it is as if each of the inanimate atoms of that unconscious air were hearing and noting the orders coming from that monarch of the universe; without neglecting a single one of them, it performs them in ordered fashion and through the power of the monarch. Thereby it gives breath to all beings and conveys to all living things the heat, light, and electricty they need, and transmits sound, as well as aiding in the pollination of plants.
The traveller then looks at the rain and sees that within those delicate, glistening sweet drops, sent from a hidden treasury of mercy, there are so many compassionate gifts and functions contained that it is as if mercy itself were assuming shape and flowing forth from the dominical treasury in the form of drops. It is for this reason that rain has been called “mercy.”
Next the traveller looks at the lightning and listens to the thunder and ses that both of these, too, are employed in wondrous tasks.
Then taking his eyes off these, he looks to his own intellect and says: “The inanimate, lifeless cloud that resembles carded cotton has of course no knowledge of us; when it comes to our aid, it is not because it takes pity on us. It cannot appear and disappear without receiving orders. Rather it acts in accordance with the orders of a most powerful and compassionate commander. First it diasppears without leaving a trace, then suddenly reappears in order to begin its work. By the command and power of a most active and exalted, a most magnificent and splendid, monarch, it fills and then empties the atmosphere. Inscribing the sky with wisdom and erasing the pattern, it makes of the sky a tablet of effacement and affirmation, a depiction of the gathering and the resurrection. By the contriving of a most generous and bountiful, a most munificent and solicitous sustainer, a ruler who regulates and disposes, it mounts the wind and taking with it treasuries of rain each as heavy as a mountain, hastens to the aid of the needy. It is as if it were weeping over them in pity, with its tears causing the flowers to smile, tempering the heat of the sun, spraying gardens with water, and washing and cleansing the face of the earth.”
That wondering traveller then tells his own intellect: “These hundreds of thousands of wise, merciful and ingenious tasks and acts of generosity and mercy that arise from the veil and outer form of this inanimate, lifeless, unconscious, volatile, unstable, stormy, unsettled, and inconstant air, clearly establish that this diligent wind, this tireless servant, never acts of itself, but rather in accordance with the orders of a most powerful and knowing, a most wise and generous commander. It is as if each particle were aware of every single task, like a soldier understanding and hearkening to every order of its commander, for it hears and obeys every dominical command that courses through the air. It aids all animals to breathe and to live, all plants to pollinate and grow, and cultivates all the matter necessary for their survival. It directs and administers the clouds, makes possible the voyaging of sailing ships, and enables sounds to be conveyed, particularly by means of wireless, telephone, telegraph and radio, as well as numerous other universal functions.
“Now these atoms, each composed of two such simple materials as hydrogen and oxygen and each resembling the other, exist in hundreds of thousands of different fashions all over the globe; I conclude therefore that they are being employed and set to work in the utmost orderliness by a hand of wisdom.
“As the verse makes clear,
And the disposition of the winds and the clouds, held in disciplined order between the heavens and the earth,8
the one who through the disposition of the winds employs them in countless dominical functions, who through the ordering of the clouds uses them in infinite tasks of mercy, and who creates the air in this fashion — such a one can only be the Possessor of Necessary Existence, the One Empowered over All Things and Knowledgeable of All Things, the Sustainer endowed with Glory and Generosity.” This is the conclusion our traveller now draws.
Then he looks at the rain and sees that within it are contained benefits as numerous as the raindrops, and dominical manifestations as multiple as the particles of rain, and instances of wisdom as plentiful as its atoms. Those sweet, delicate and blessed drops are moreover created in so beautiful and ordered a fashion, that particularly the rain sent in the summertime, is despatched and caused to fall with such balance and regularity that not even stormy winds that cause large objects to collide can destroy its equilibrium and order; the drops do not collide with each other or merge in such fashion as to become harmful masses of water. Water, composed of two simple elements like hydrogen and oxygen, is employed in hundreds of thousands of other wise, purposeful tasks and arts, particularly in animate beings; although it is itself inanimate and unconscious. Rain which is then the very embodiment of Divine Mercy can only be manufactured in the unseen treasury of mercy of One Most Compassionate and Merciful, and on its descent expounds in physical form the verse:
And He it is Who sends down rain after men have despaired, and thus spreads out His Mercy.9
The traveller next listens to the thunder and watches the lightning. He understands that these two wondrous events in the atmosphere are like a material demonstration of the verse,
The thunder glorifies His praise,10
The brilliance of His lightning almost robs them of their sight.11
They also announce the coming of rain, and thus give glad tidings to the needy.
Yes, this sudden utterance of a miraculous sound by the atmosphere; the filling of the dark sky with the flash and fire of lightning; the setting alight of the clouds that resemble mountains of cotton or pipes bursting with water and snow — these and similar phenomena are like a blow struck on the head of the negligent man whose gaze is directed down at the earth. They tell him:
“Lift up your head, look at the miraculous deeds of the most active and powerful being who wishes to make himself known. In the same way that you are not left to your own devices, so too, these phenomena and events have a master and a purpose. Each of them is caused to fulfil a particular task, and each is employed by a Most Wise Disposer.”
The wondering traveller hears then the lofty and manifest testimony to the truth that is composed of the disposition of the winds, the descent of the rains and the administration of the events of the atmosphere, and says: “I believe in God.” That which was stated in the Second Degree of the First Station expresses the observations of the traveller concerning the atmosphere:
There is no god but God, the Necessary Being, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity the atmosphere and all its contains testifies, through the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of subjugation, disposal, causing to descend, and regulation, a truth vast and perfect, and to be observed.
Next the globe addresses that thoughtful traveller, now growing accustomed to his reflective journey:
“Why are you wandering through the heavens, through space and the sky? Come, I will make known to you what you are seeking. Look at the functions that I perform and read my pages!” He looks and sees that the globe, like an ecstatic Mevlevi dervish with its twofold motion, is tracing out around the field of the Supreme Gathering a circle that determines the succession of days, years, and seasons. It is a most magnificent dominical ship, loaded with the hundreds of thousands of different forms of food and equipment needed for all animate beings, floating with the utmost equilibrium in the ocean of space and circling the sun.
He then looks at the pages of the earth and sees that each page of each of its chapters proclaims the Sustainer of the Earth in thousands of verses. Being unable to read the whole of it, he looks at the page dealing with the creation and deployment of animate beings in the spring, and observes the following:
The forms of the countless members of hundreds of thousands of species emerge, in the utmost precision, from a simple material and are then nurtured in most merciful fashion. Then, in miraculous manner, wings are given to some of the seeds; they take to flight and are thus dispersed. They are most effectively distributed, most carefully fed and nurtured. Countless tasty and delicious forms of food, in the most merciful and tender fashion, are brought forth from dry clay, and from roots, seeds and drops of liquid that differ little among each other. Every spring, a hundred thousand kinds of food and equipment are loaded on it from an unseen treasury, as if onto a railway waggon, and are despatched in utmost orderliness to animate beings. The sending to infants of canned milk in those food packages, and pumps of sugared milk in the form of their mothers’ affectionate breasts, is in particular such an instance of solicitousness, mercy and wisdom that it immediately establishes itself as a most tender manifestation of the mercy and generosity of the Merciful and Compassionate One.
In short: this living page of spring displays a hundred thousand examples and samples of the Supreme Gathering, and is a tangible demonstration of this verse,
So look to the signs of God’s mercy: how He gives life to the earth after its death, for verily He it is Who gives life to the dead, and He has power over all things.12
Moreover, this verse may be said to express in miraculous fashion the meanings of the page that is spring. The traveller thus understood that the earth proclaims through all its pages, in fashion proportionate to their size: “There is no god but He.”13
In expression of the meaning beheld by the traveller through the brief testimony of one of the twenty aspects of a single page out of the more than twenty pages of the globe, it was said in the Third Degree of the First Station:
There is no god but God, the Necessary Being, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity the earth with all that is in it and upon it testifies, through the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of subjugation, disposition, nurturing, opening, distribution of seeds, protection, administration, the giving of life to all animate beings, compassion and mercy universal and general, a truth vast and perfect, and to be observed.
Then that reflective traveller read each page of the cosmos, and as he did so his faith, that key to felicity, strengthened; his gnosis, that key to spiritual progress, increased; his belief in God, the source and foundation of all perfection, developed one degree more; his joy and pleasure augmented and aroused his eagerness; and while listening to the perfect and convincing lessons given by the sky, by space and the earth, he cried out for more. Then he heard the rapturous invocation of God made by the tumult of the seas and the great rivers, and listened to their sad yet pleasant sounds. In numerous ways they were saying to him: “Look at us, read also our signs!” Looking, our traveller saw the following:
The seas, constantly and vitally surging, merging and pouring forth with an inclination to conquest inherent in their very nature, surrounded the earth, and together with the earth, revolved, extremely swiftly, in a circle of twenty-five thousand years in a single year. Yet the seas did not disperse, did not overflow or encroach on the land contiguous to them. They moved and stood still, and were protected by the command and power of a most powerful and magnificent being.
Then looking to the depths of the sea, the traveller saw that apart from the most beautiful, well-adorned and symmetrical jewels, there were thousands of different kinds of animal, sustained and ordered, brought to life and caused to die, in so disciplined a fashion, their provision coming from mere sand and salt water, that it established irresistibly the existence of a Powerful and Glorious, a Merciful and Beauteous Being administering and giving life to them.
The traveller then looks at the rivers and sees that the benefits inherent in them, the functions they perform, and their continual replenishment, are inspired by such wisdom and mercy as indisputably to prove that all rivers, springs, streams and great waterways flow forth from the treasury of mercy of the Compassionate One, the Lord of Glory and Generosity. They are preserved and dispensed, indeed, in so extraordinary a fashion that it is said “Four rivers flow forth from Paradise.”14 That is, they transcend by far apparent causes, and flow forth instead from the treasury of a non-material Paradise, from the superabundance of an unseen and inexhaustible source.
For example, the blessed Nile, that turns the sandy land of Egypt into a paradise, flows from the Mountains of the Moon in the south without ever being exhausted, as if it were a small sea. If the water that flowed down the river in six months were gathered together in the form of a mountain and then frozen, it would be larger than those mountains. But the place in the mountains where the water is lodged and stored is less than a sixth of their mass. As for the water that replenishes the river, the rain that enters the reservoir of the river is very sparse in that torrid region and is quickly swallowed up by the thirsty soil; hence it is incapable of maintaining the equilibrium of the river. A tradition has thus grown up that the blessed Nile springs, in miraculous fashion, from an unseen Paradise. This tradition has profound meaning and expresses a beautiful truth.
The traveller saw, then, a thousandth part of the truths and affirmations contained in the oceans and rivers. The seas proclaim unanimously with a power proportionate to their extent, “There is no god but He,” and produce as witnesses to their testimony all the creatures that inhabit them. This, our traveller preceived.
Expressing and conveying the testimony of the seas and the rivers, we said, in the Fourth Degree of the First Station:
There is no god but God, the Necessary Existent, to the necessity of Whose Existence in Unity point all the seas and the rivers, together with all they contain, by the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of subjugation, preservation, storing up, and administration, vast and well-ordered, and to be observed.
Then the traveller is summoned, on his meditative journey, by the mountains and the plains. “Read too our pages,” they say. Looking he sees that the universal function and duty of mountains is of such grandeur and wisdom as to stupefy the intelligence. The mountains emerge from the earth by the command of their Sustainer, thereby palliating the turmoil, anger, and rancour that arise from disturbances within the earth. As the mountains surge upward, the earth begins to breathe; it is delivered from harmful tremors and upheavals, and its tranquillity as it pursues its duty of rotation is no longer disturbed. In the same way that masts are planted in ships to protect them from turbulence and preserve their balance, so too mountains are set up on the deck of the ship that is the earth, as masts and stores, as is indicated by verses of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition such as these:
And the mountains as pegs,15
And We have cast down anchors,16
And the mountains He anchored them.17
Then, too, there are stored up and preserved in the mountains all kinds of springs, waters, minerals and other materials needed by animate beings, in so wise, skilful, generous and foreseeing a fashion that they prove that they are the storehouses and warehouses and servants of One possessing infinite power, One possessing infinite wisdom. Deducing from these two examples the other duties and instances of wisdom —as great as mountains— of the mountains and plains, the traveller sees through the general instances of wisdom in them and particularly in regard to the fashion in which all manner of things are stored up in them providentially, the testimony they give and the Divine unity they proclaim declaring “There is no god but He,” —a declaration as powerful and firm as the mountains and vast and expansive as the plains— and he too says, “I believe in God.”
In expression of this meaning, it was said in the Fifth Degree of the First Station:
There is no god but God, to the Necessity of Whose Existence point all the mountains and plains together with what is in them and upon them, by the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of the storing up, administration, dissemination of seed, preservation, and regulation, a truth providential, dominical, vast, general, well-ordered, and perfect, and to be observed.
Then, while that traveller was travelling in his mind through the mountains and plains, the gate to the arboreal and vegetable realm was opened before him. He was summoned inside: “Come,” they said, “Inspect our realm and read our incriptions.” Entering, he saw that a splendid and well-adorned assembly for the proclamation of God’s unity and a circle for the mentioning of His Names and the offering of thanks to Him, had been drawn up. He understood for the very appearance of all trees and plants that their different species were proclaiming unanimously, “There is no god but He.” For he perceived three great and general truths indicating and proving that all fruit-giving trees and plants with the tongue of their symmetrical and eloquent leaves, the phrases of their charming and loquacious flowers, the words of their well-ordered and well-spoken fruits, were testifying to God’s glory and bearing witness that “There is no god but He.”
The First: In the same way that in each of the plants and trees a deliberate bounty and generosity is to be seen in most obvious fashion, and a purposive liberality and munificence, so too it is to be seen in the totality of the trees and plants, with the brilliance of sunlight.
The Second: The wise and purposive distinction and differentiation, one that cannot in any way be attributed to chance, the deliberate and merciful adornment and giving of form — all this is to be seen as clearly as daylight in the infinite varieties and species; they show themselves to be the works and embroideries of an All-Wise Maker.
The Third: The opening and unfolding of all the separate members of the hundred thousand species of that infinite realm, each in its own distinct fashion and shape, in the utmost order, equilibrium and beauty, from well-defined, limited, simple and solid seeds and grains, identical to each other or nearly so — their emerging from those seeds in distinct and separate form, with utter equilibrium, vitality and wise purpose without the least error or mistake, is a truth more brilliant than the sun. The witnesses proving this truth are as numerous as the flowers, fruits and leaves that emerge in the spring. So the traveller said, “Praise be to God for the blessing of belief.”
In expression of these truths and the testimony given to them, we said in the Sixth Degree of the First Station:
There is no god but God, to the Necessity of Whose Existence in Unity points the consensus of all the species of trees and plants that are engaged in glorifying God and speak with the eloquent and well-ordered words of their leaves, their loquacious and comely flowers, their well-ordered and well-spoken fruits, by the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of bestowal, bounty, and generosity, done in purposive mercy, and the truth of differentiation, adornment, and decoration, done with will and wisdom. Definite, too, is the indication given by the truth of the opening of all their symmetrical, adorned, distinct, variegated and infinite forms, from seeds and grains that resemble and approximate each other, that are finite and limited.
As this traveller through the cosmos proceeded on his meditative journey, with increased eagerness and a bouquet of gnosis and faith, itself like a spring, gathered from the garden of the spring, there opened before his truth-perceiving intellect, his cognitive reason, the gate to the animal and bird realm. With hundreds of thousands of different voices and various tongues, he was invited to enter. Entering, he saw that all the animals and birds, in their different species, groups and nations, were proclaiming, silently and aloud, “There is no god but He,” and had thus turned the face of the earth into a vast place of invocation, an expansive assembly for the proclamation of God’s glory. He saw each of them to be like an ode dedicated to God, a word proclaiming His glory, a letter indicating His mercy, each of them describing the Maker and offering Him thanks and encomium. It was as if the senses, powers, members and instruments of those animals and birds were orderly and balanced words, or perfect and disciplined expressions. He observed three great and comprehensive truths indicating, in decisive form, their offering of thanks to the Creator and Provider and their testimony to His unity.
The First: Their being brought into existence with wisdom and purpose and their creation full of art in a fashion that in no way can be attributed to chance, to blind force or inanimate nature; their being created and composed in purposive and knowledgeable manner; their animation and being given life in a way that displays in twenty aspects the manifestation of knowledge, wisdom, and will — all of this is a truth that bears witness to the Necessary Existence of the Eternally Living and Self-Subsistent, His seven attributes and unity, a witness repeated to the number of all animate beings.
The Second: There appears from the distinction made among those infinite beings and from their adornment and decoration in a fashion by which their features are different, their shapes adorned, their proportions measured and symmetrical, and their forms well-ordered — there appears from this a truth so vast and powerful that none other than the One Powerful over all things, the One Knowledgeable of all things, could lay claim to it, this comprehensive act which displays in every respect thousands of wonders and instances of wisdom; it is impossible and precluded that anything other than such a one could lay claim to it.
The Third: The emergence and unfolding of those countless creatures, in their hundreds of thousands of different shapes and forms, each of which is a miracle of wisdom, their emergence from eggs and drops of water called sperm that are identical with each other or closely resemble each other, and are limited and finite in number, all this in the most orderly, symmetrical and unfailing fashion, is so brilliant a truth as to be illumined with proofs and evidences as numerous as the animals themselves.
By the consensus of these three truths, all the species of animals are engaged together in testifying that “There is no god but He.” It is as if the whole earth, like a great man, were saying “There is no god but He” in a manner befitting its vastness, and conveying its testimony to the dwellers of the heaven. The traveller saw this and understood it perfectly. In expression of these truths, we said in the Seventh Degree of the First Station:
There is no god but God, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity points the consensus of all animals and birds, that praise God and bear witness to Him with the words of their senses, their faculties and powers, words well-balanced, ordered and eloquent; with the words of their limbs and members, words perfect and persuasive; by the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of bringing into being, making, and creating, according to will, the truth of distinction and decoration according to purpose, and the truth of proportioning and forming according to wisdom. Definite too is the indication given by the truth of the opening of all of their orderly, distinct, variegated and infinite forms, out of identical or similar eggs and drops of sperm, that are finite and limited.
That meditative voyager, in order to advance farther in the infinite degrees and countless luminous stages of knowledge of God, then wished to enter the world of men, the realm of humanity. Humanity, headed by the prophets, invited him, and he accepted the invitation. Looking first at the stopping-place of the past, he saw that all of the prophets (Peace and blessings be upon him), the most luminous and perfect of human kind, were reciting in chorus, “No god but He,” and making remembrance of God. With the power of their brilliant, well-attested and innumerable miracles, they were proclaiming God’s unity, and in order to advance man from the animal state to angelic degree, they were instructing men and summoning them to belief in God. Kneeling down in that school of light, he too paid heed to the lesson.
He saw that in the hand of each of those teachers, the most exalted and renowned of all celebrated human beings, there were numerous miracles, bestowed on them by the Creator of All Being as a sign confirming their mission. Further, a large group of men, a whole community, had confirmed their claims and come to belief at their hands; a truth assented to and confirmed by these hundreds of thousands of serious and veracious individuals, unanimously and in full agreement, was bound to be firm and definitive. He understood, too, that the people of misguidance, in denying a truth attested and affirmed by so many veracious witnesses, were committing a most grievous error, indeed crime, and were therefore deserving of a most grievous punishment. He recognized, by contrast, those who assented to the truth and believed in it, as being the most true and righteous, and a further degree of the sanctity of belief became apparent to him.
Yes, the infinite miracles bestowed by God on the prophets (Peace be upon them) each one being like a confirmation of their mission; the heavenly blows dealt to their opponents, each being like a proof of their truthfulness; their individual perfections, each one being like an indication of their righteousness; their veracious teachings; the strength of their faith, a witness to their honesty; their supreme seriousness and readiness to self-sacrifice; the sacred books and pages held by their hands; their countless pupils who through following their paths attain truth, perfection and light, thus proving again the truthfulness of the teachings; the unanimous agreement of the prophets —those most earnest warners— and their followers in all positive matters; their concord, mutual support and affinity — all of this constitutes so powerful a proof that no power on earth can confront it, and no doubt or hesitation can survive it.
Our traveller understood further that inclusion of belief in all the prophets (Peace be upon them) among the pillars of belief, represents another great source of strength. Thus he derived great benefit of faith from their lessons, in expression of which we said in the Eighth Degree of the First Station:
There is no god but God, to the Necessity of Whose Existence in Unity points the unanimity of all the prophets, through the power of their luminous miracles, that both affirm and are affirmed.
That questing traveller, having derived a lofty taste of truth from the power of belief, found himself invited, while coming from the assembly of the prophets (Peace be upon them) to the classroom of those profound, original, exacting scholars who affirm the claims of the prophets (Peace be upon them) with the most decisive and powerful proofs and who are known as the purified and most veracious ones.
Entering their classroom, he saw thousands of geniuses and hundreds of thousands of exact and exalted scholars proving all the affirmative matters connected with faith, headed by the necessity of God’s existence and His unity, with such profound demonstrations as to leave not the least room for doubt. Indeed, the fact that they are agreed in the principles and pillars of belief, despite their differences in capacity and outlook, and that each of them relies on a firm and certitudinous proof, is in itself such evidence that it can be doubted only if it is possible for a similar number of intelligent and perspicuous men to arrive at a single result. Otherwise the only way for the denier to oppose them is to display his ignorance —his utter ignorance— and his obstinacy with respect to negative matters that admit neither of denial nor affirmation. He will in effect be closing his eyes but the one who closes his eyes is able to turn day into night only for himself.
The traveller learned that the lights emitted in this vast and magnificent classroom by these respected and profound scholars had been illumining half of the globe for more than a thousand years. He found in it moral and spiritual force that the combined strength of all the people of denial would be unable to shake or destroy. In brief allusion to the lesson learned by the traveller in this classroom we said in the Ninth Degree of the First Station:
There is no god but God, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity points the agreement of all of the purified scholars, with the power of their resplendent, certain and unanimous proofs.
Our contemplative traveller came forth from the classroom, ardently desiring to see the lights that are to be observed in the continuous strengthening and development of faith, and in advancing from the degree of the knowledge of certainty to that of the vision of certainty. He then found himself summoned by thousands or millions of spiritual guides who were striving toward the truth and attaining the vision of certainty in the shade of the highway of Muhammad (PBUH) and the ascension of Muhammad (PBUH). This they were doing in a meeting-place, a hospice, a place of remembrance and preceptorship, that was abundantly luminous and vast as a plain, being formed from the merging of countless small hospices and convents. Upon entering, he found that those spiritual guides —people of unveiling and wondrous deeds— were unanimously proclaiming, “No god but He,” on the basis of their witnessing and unveiling of the Unseen and the wondrous deeds they had been enabled to perform; they were proclaiming the necessary existence and unity of God. The traveller observed how manifest and clear must be a truth to which unanimously subscribe these sacred geniuses and luminous gnostics. For, like the sun is known through the seven colours in its light, the saints’ luminous colours, their light-filled hues, their true paths and right ways and veracious courses are manifested from the light of the Pre-Eternal Sun through seventy colours, indeed, through colours to the number of the Divine Names, and are all different. He saw that the unanimity of the prophets and the agreement of the purified scholars and accord of the saints forms a supreme consensus, more brilliant than the daylight that demonstrates the existence of the sun.
In brief allusion to the benefit derived by our traveller from the Sufi hospice, we said in the Tenth Degree of the First Station:
There is no god but God, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity points the unanimity of the saints in their manifest, well-affirmed and attested divinations of the truth and wondrous deeds.
Now our traveller through the world, aware that the most important and greatest of all human perfections, indeed the very source and origin of all such perfections, is the love of God that arises from belief in God and the knowledge of God, wished with all of his powers, outer and inner, to advance still farther in the strengthening of his faith and the development of his knowledge. He therefore raised his head and gazing at the heavens said to himself:
“The most precious thing in the universe is life; all things are made subordinate to life. The most precious of all living beings is the animate, and the most precious of the animate is the conscious. Each century and each year, the globe is engaged in emptying and refilling itself, in order to augment this most precious substance. It follows, then, without doubt, that the magnificent and ornate heavens must have appropriate people and inhabitants, possessing life, spirit and consciousness, for events relating to seeing and speaking with the angels —such as the appearance of Gabriel (Peace be upon him) in the presence of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) and in the view of the Companions— have been transmitted and related from the most ancient times. Would, then, that I could converse with the inhabitants of the heavens, and learn their thoughts on this matter. For their words concerning the Creator of the cosmos are the most important.”
As he was thus thinking to himself, he suddenly heard a heavenly voice: “If you wish to meet us and hearken to our lesson, then know that before all others we have believed in the articles of faith brought by means of us to the prophets, headed by the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), who brought the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition.
“Then too all of the pure spirits from among us that have appeared before men have, unanimously and without exception, born witness to the necessary existence, the unity, and the sacred attributes of the Creator of this cosmos, and proclaimed this with one accord. The affinity and mutual correspondence of these countless proclamations is a guide for you as bright as the sun.” Thus the traveller’s light of faith shone, and rose from the earth to the heavens.
In brief allusion to the lesson learned by the traveller from the angels, we said in the Eleventh Degree of the First Station:
There is no god but God, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity points the unanimity of the angels that appear to human gaze, and who speak to the elect among men, with their mutually corresponding and conforming messages.
Then, that ardent and inquisitive traveller, having learned from the tongues of various realms of creation in the Manifest Realm in their material and corporeal aspects, and from the utterance of their modes of being, desired to study and journey through the World of the Unseen and the Intermediate Realm, and thus to investigate reality. There opened to him the gate of upright and luminous intellects, of sound and illumined hearts, that are like the seed of man, who is the fruit of the universe, and despite their slight girth can expand virtually to embrace the whole of the cosmos.
He looked and saw a series of human isthmuses linking the realm of the Unseen with that of the Manifest, and the contacts between those two realms and the interchanges between them insofar as they affect man, taking place at those points. Addressing his intellect and his heart he said:
“Come, the path leading to truth from these counterparts of yours is shorter. We should benefit by studying their qualities, natures and colours concerning faith that we find here, not by listening to the lessons given by the tongues of disposition as was previously the case.”
Beginning his study, he saw that the belief and firm conviction concerning the Divine unity that all luminous intellects possessed, despite their varying capacities and differing, even opposing, methods and outlooks, was the same, and that their steadfast and confident certainty and assurance was one. They had, therefore, to be relying on a single, unchanging truth; their roots were sunk in a profound truth and could not be plucked out. Their unanimity concerning faith, the necessary existence and unity of God, was an unbreakable and luminous chain, a brightly lit window opening onto the world of the truth.
He saw also that the unanimous, assured and sublime unveilings and witnessings of the pillars of belief enjoyed by all those sound and luminous intellects, whose methods were various and outlooks divergent, corresponded to and agreed with each other on the matter of the Divine unity. All those luminous hearts, turned and joined to the truth and manifesting it, each a small throne of dominical knowledge, a comprehensive mirror of God’s Eternal Besoughtedness, were like so many windows opened onto the Sun of the Truth. Taken together, they were like a supreme mirror, like an ocean reflecting the sun. Their agreement and unanimity concerning the necessary existence and unity of God was an unfailing and reliable most perfect guide, most elevated preceptor. For it is in no way possible or conceivable that a supposition other than the truth, an untrue thought, a false attribute, should so consistently and decisively be able to deceive simultaneously so many sharp eyes, or to induce illusion in them. Not even the foolish Sophists, who deny the cosmos, would agree with the corrupt and dissipated intellect that held such a thing possible. All of this our traveller understood, and he said, together with his own intellect and heart, “I have believed in God.”
In brief allusion to the benefit derived from upright intellects and luminous hearts by our traveller, for knowledge of belief, we said in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Degrees of the First Station:
There is no god but God, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity points the consensus of all upright intellects, illumined with congruent beliefs and corresponding convictions and certainties, despite differences in capacity and outlook. There also points to His Necessary Existence in Unity the agreement of all sound, luminous hearts, with their mutually corresponding unveilings and their congruent witnessings, despite differences in method and manner.
Then that traveller looking closely at the World of the Unseen, and voyaging in it with his intellect and his heart, knocked inquisitively on the door of that world, thinking to himself, “What does this world have to say?” The following occurred to him: it is to be clearly understood that behind the veil of the Unseen is one who wants to make himself known through all these numerous finely adorned artefacts full of art in this corporeal Manifest World, and to make himself loved through these infinite sweet and decorated bounties, and to make known his hidden perfections through these innumerable miraculous and skilful works of art, and who does this by act rather than speech and by making himself known by the tongue of disposition. Since this is so, of a certainty he will speak and make himself known and loved through speech and utterance just as he does through deed and state. In which case, from his manifestations we must know him in respect to the World of the Unseen. Whereupon he entered that world with his heart and saw the following with the eye of his intellect:
The truth of revelations prevails at all instants over all parts of the World of the Unseen, with a most powerful manifestation. There comes with the truths of revelation and inspiration proceeding from the One All-Knowing of the Unseen, a testimony to His existence and unity far stronger than testimony of the universe and created beings. He does not leave Himself, His existence and His unity, only to the testimony of His creatures. Rather, He speaks with a pre-eternal Speech consonant with His own being. The Speech of the One Who is all-present and all-seeing everywhere with His Knowledge and Power is also endless, and just as the meaning of His Speech makes Him known, so does His discourse make Himself known together with His attributes.
The traveller recognized that the truth, reality, and existence of revelation has been made plain to the point of being self-evident by the consensus of one hundred thousand prophets (Peace be upon them), by the agreement among their proclamations concerning the manifestion of Divine revelation; by the evidences and miracles contained in the sacred books and heavenly pages, which are the guides and exemplars of the overwhelming majority of humanity, confirmed and assented to by them, and are the visible fruits of revelation. He understood further that the truth of revelation proclaims five sacred truths.
The First: To speak in accordance with men’s intellects and understandings, known as ‘Divine condescension to the minds of men,’ is a form of Divine descent. It is a requirement of God’s dominicality that He endows all of his conscious creatures with speech, understands their speech, and then participates in it with His own speech.
The Second: The One Who, in order to make Himself known, fills the cosmos with His miraculous creations and endows them with tongues speaking of His perfections, will necessarily make Himself known with His own words also.
The Third: It is a function of His being Creator to respond in words to the supplications and offerings of thanks that are made by the most select, the most needy, the most delicate and the most ardent among His beings — true men.
The Fourth: The attribute of Speech, an essential concomitant and luminous manifestation of both Knowledge and Life, will necessarily be found in a comprehensive and eternal form in the being Whose Knowledge is comprehensive and Whose Life is eternal.
The Fifth: It is a consequence of Divinity that the Being Who endows men with impotence and desire, poverty and need, anxiety for the future, love and worship, should communicate His own existence, by way of His speech, to His most loved and lovable, His most anxious and needy creatures, who are most desirous of finding their Lord and Master.
The evidences for the existence in unity of the Necessary Existent offered in unanimity by universal and heavenly revelations, which contain the truths of Divine descent, dominical self-proclamation, compassionate response, Divine conversation, and eternal self-communication, constitute a proof more powerful than the testimony for the existence of the sun brought by the rays of sunlight.
Our traveller understood this then looked in the direction of inspiration and saw that veracious inspiration indeed resembles revelation in some respects and is a mode of dominical speech.
THE FIRST: Revelation, which is much higher than inspiration, generally comes by the medium of the angels, whereas inspiration generally comes directly.
So too a king has two modes of speech and command. The first consists of his sending to a governor a lieutenant equipped with all the pomp of monarchy and the splendour of sovereignty. Sometimes, in order to demonstrate the splendour of his sovereignty and the importance of his command, he may meet with the intermediary, and then the decree will be issued.
The second consists of his speaking privately in his own person, not with the title of monarch or in the name of kingship, concerning some private matter, some petty affair, using for this purpose a trusted servant, some ordinary subject, or his private telephone.
In the same way the Pre-Eternal Monarch may either, in the name of the Sustainer of All the Worlds, and with the title of Creator of the Universe, speak with revelation or the comprehensive inspiration that performs the function of revelation, or He may speak in a different and private fashion, as the Sustainer and Creator of all animate beings, from behind the veil, in a way suited to the recipient.
THE SECOND DIFFERENCE: Revelation is without shadow, pure, and reserved for the elect. Inspiration, by contrast, has shadow, colours intermingle with it, and it is general. There are numerous different kinds of inspiration, such as the inspiration of angels, the inspiration of men, and the inspiration of animals; inspiration thus forms a field for the multiplication of God’s words, that are as numeous as the drops in the ocean. Our traveller understood that this matter is, indeed, a kind of commentary on the verse,
Were the sea to become ink for the words of my Sustainer, verily the sea would be exhausted before the words of my Sustainer.18
Then he looked at the nature, the wisdom, and the testimony of inspiration and saw that its nature, wisdom and result were composed of four lights.
The first: it is the result of God’s Lovingness and Mercifulness that He makes himself loved through word, presence and discourse, in the same way that He makes Himself loved to His creatures through His deeds.
The second: it is a requirement of His Compassionateness that just as He answers His servants’ prayers in deed, He should also answer them in word, from behind veils.
The third: it is a concomitant of dominicality that just as He responds in deed to the cries for help, supplications, and pleadings of those of His creatures who are afflicted with grievous misfortunes and hardships, so too He should hasten to their help with words of inspiration, which are like a form of speech.
The fourth: God makes His existence, presence and protection perceptible in deed to His most weak and indigent, His most poor and needy, conscious creatures, that stand in great need of finding their Master, Protector, Guardian, and Disposer. It is a necessary and essential consequence of His Divine solicitousness and His dominical compassion that He should also communicate His presence and existence by speech, from behind the veil of veracious inspiration —a mode of dominical discourse— to individuals, in a manner peculiar to them and their capacities, through the telephone of their hearts.
He then looked to the testimony of inspiration and saw that if the sun, for example, had consciousness and life, and if the seven colours of sunlight were the seven attributes, in that respect it would have a form of speech through the rays and manifestations found in its light. And in this situation both its similitudes and reflections would be present in all transparent objects, and it would speak with all mirrors and shining objects and fragments of glass and bubbles and droplets of water, indeed with all transparent particles, in accordance with the capacity of each; it would respond to the needs of each, and all these would testify to the sun’s existence; and no task would form an obstacle to any other task, and no speaking obstruct any other speaking. This is self-evident.
In the same way, the Speech of the Glorious Monarch of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, the Beauteous and Exalted Creator of All Beings, Who may be described as the Pre-Eternal Sun, manifests itself to all things, in general and comprehensive fashion, in a manner appropriate to their capacity, as do also His Knowledge and Power. No request interferes with another, no task prevents the fulfilment of another, and no address becomes confused with another. All of this our traveller understood as self-evident. He knew that all of those manifestations, those discourses, those inspirations, separately and together, evidenced and bore witness unanimously to the presence, the necessary existence, the unity and the oneness of that Pre-Eternal Sun with a knowlege of certainty that approached a vision of certainty.
In brief allusion to the lesson in knowledge of God from the World of the Unseen gained by our inquisitive traveller, we said in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Degrees of the First Station:
There is no god but God, the Necessary Existent, the One, the Single, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity points the consensus of all true revelations, containing Divine descent, glorious discourse, dominical self-revelation, compassionate response to the invocations of men, and eternal indications of His existence to his creatures. There points also to His Necessary Existence in Unity the agreement of all veracious inspirations, containing expressions of God’s love, compassionate responses to the prayers of God’s creatures, dominical responses to the appeals of His servants for aid, and glorious intimations of His existence to His creatures.
Then that traveller through the world addressed his own intellect saying: “Since I am seeking my Master and Creator by means of the creatures of the cosmos, I ought before all else to visit the most celebrated of all these creatures, the greatest and most accomplished commander among them, according to the testimony even of his enemies, the most renowned ruler, the most exalted in speech and the most brilliant an intellect, who has illuminated fourteen centuries with his excellence and with his Qur’an, Muhammad the Arabian Prophet (May God’s peace and blessings be upon him).” In order thus to visit him and seek from him the answer to his quest, he entered the blessed age of the Prophet in his mind, and saw that age to be one of true felicity, thanks to that being. For through the light he had brought, he had turned the most primitive and illiterate of peoples into the masters and teachers of the world.
He said too to his own intellect, “Before asking him concerning our Creator, we should first learn that value of this extraordinary being, the veracity of his words and the truthfulness of his warnings.” Thus he began investigating, and of the numerous conclusive proofs that he found we will briefly indicate here only nine of the most general ones.
THE FIRST: All excellent qualities and characteristics were to be found in that extraordinary being, according to the testimony even of his enemies. Hundreds of miracles were made manifest at his hands, according to explicit Qur’anic verses or traditions enjoying the status of tawatur.19 Examples of these miracles are his splitting of the moon, And the moon split,20 with a single indication of his finger; his casting of a handful of dust into the eyes of his enemies, causing them to flee, It was not your act when you threw, but God’s,21 and his giving his thirsting army to drink from the water that flowed forth from his five fingers like the Spring of Kawthar. Since some of those miracles, numbering more than three hundred, have been set forth with decisive proofs in the remarkable and wondrous work known as The Miracles of Muhammad (The Nineteenth Letter), we leave discussion of the miracles to that work, and permit the traveller to continue speaking:
“A being who in addition to noble characteristics and perfections has all these luminous miracles to demonstrate, must certainly be the most truthful in speech of all men. It is inconceivable that he would stoop to trickery, lies and error, the deeds of the vile.”
THE SECOND: He holds in his hand a decree from the lord of the universe, a decree accepted and affirmed in each century by more than three hundred million people. This decree, the Qur’an of Mighty Stature, is wondrous in seven different ways. The fact that the Qur’an has forty different aspects of miraculousnes and that it is the word of the Creator of all beings has been set forth in detail with strong proofs in the Twenty-Fifth Word, The Miraculousness of the Qur’an, a celebrated treatise that is like the sun of the Risale-i Nur. We therefore leave such matters to that work and listen to the traveller as he says,“There can never be any possibility of lying on the part of the being who is the conveyor and proclaimer of this decree, for that would be a violation of the decree and treachery toward the One Who issued it.”
THE THIRD: Such a Sacred Law, an Islam, a code of worship, a cause, a summons, and a faith did that being bring forth that the like of them does not exist, nor could it exist. Nor does a more perfect form of them exist, nor could it exist. For the Law appearing with that unlettered being has no rival in its administration of one fifth of humanity for fourteen centuries, in a just and precise manner through its numerous injuctions. Moreover the Islam that emerged from the deeds, sayings, and inward states of that unlettered being has no peer, nor can it have, for in each century it has been for three hundred million men a guide and a refuge, the teacher and educator of their intellects and the illuminator and purifier of their hearts, the cause for the refinement and training of their souls, and the source of progress and advancement of their spirits.
The Prophet is similarly unparalleled in the way in which he was the foremost in practising all the forms of worship found in his religion, and the first in piety and the fear of God; in his observing the duties of worship fully and with attention to their profoundest dimensions, even while engaged in constant struggle and activity; in his practice of worship combining in perfect fashion the beginning and end of worship and servitude to God without imitation of anyone.
With the Jawshan al-Kabir, from among his thousands of supplicatory prayers and invocations, he describes his Sustainer with such a degree of gnosis that all the gnostics and saints who have come after him have been unable, with their joint efforts, to attain a similar degree of gnosis and accurate description. This shows that in prayer too he is without peer. Whoever looks at the section at the beginning of the Treatise On Supplicatory Prayer which sets forth some part of the meaning of one of the ninety-nine sections of the Jawshan al-Kabir will say that the Jawshan too has no peer.
In his conveying of the message and his summoning men to the truth, he displayed such steadfastness, firmness and courage that although great states and religions, and even his own people, tribe and uncle opposed him in the most hostile fashion, he exhibited not the slightest trace of hesitation anxiety or fear. The fact that he successfully challenged the whole world and made Islam the master of the world likewise proves that there is not and cannot be anyone like him in his conveying of the message and summons.
In his faith, he had so extraordinary a strength, so marvellous a certainty, so miraculous a breadth, and so exalted a conviction, illumining the whole world, that none of the ideas and beliefs then dominating the world, and none of the philosophies of the sages and teachings of the religious leaders, was able, despite extreme hostility and denial, to induce in his certainty, conviction, trust and assurance, the slightest doubt, hesitation, weakness or anxiety. Moreover, the saintly of all ages, headed by the Companions, the foremost in the degrees of belief, have all drawn on his fountain of belief and regarded him as representing the highest degree of faith. This proves that his faith too is matchless. Our traveller therefore concluded, and affirmed with his intellect, that lying and duplicity have no place in the one who has brought such a unique sacred law, such an unparalleled Islam, such a wondrous devotion to worship, such an extra-ordinary excellence in supplicatory prayer, such a universally acclaimed summons to the truth and such a miraculous faith.
THE FOURTH: In the same way that the consensus of the prophets is a strong proof for the existence and unity of God, so too it is a firm testimony to the truthfulness and messengerhood of this being. For all the sacred attributes, miracles and functions that indicate the truthfulness and messengerhood of the prophets (Peace be upon them) existed in full measure in that being according to the testimony of history. The prophets have verbally predicted the coming of that being and given good tidings thereof in the Torah, the Gospels, the Psalms, and the pages; more than twenty of the most conclusive examples of these glad tidings, drawn from the scriptures, have been set forth and proven in the Nineteenth Letter. Similarly, through all the deeds and miracles associated with their prophethood they have affirmed and, as it were, put their signature to the mission of that being which is the foremost and most perfect in the tasks and functions of prophethood. Just as through verbal consensus they indicate the Divine unity, through the unanimity of their deeds they bear witness to the truthfulness of that being. This too was understood by our traveller.
THE FIFTH: Similarly, the thousands of saints who have attained truth, reality, perfection, wondrous deeds, unveiling and witnessing through the instruction of this being and following him, bear unanimous witness not only to the Divine unity but also to the truthfulness and messengerhood of this being. Again, the fact that they witness, through the light of sainthood, some of the truths he proclaimed concerning the World of the Unseen, and that they believe in and affirm all of those truths through the light of belief, either with knowledge of certainty, or with the vision of certainty, or with absolute certainty. He saw that this too demonstates like the sun the degree of truthfulness and rectitude of that great being, their master.
THE SIXTH: The millions of purified, sincere, and punctilious scholars and faithful sages, who have reached the highest station of learning through the teaching and instruction contained in the sacred truths brought by that being, despite his unlettered nature, the exalted sciences he invented and Divine knowledge he discovered — they not only prove and affirm, unanimously and with the strongest proofs, the Divine unity which is the foundation of his mission, but also bear unanimous witness to the truthfulness of this supreme teacher and great master, and to the veracity of his words. This is a proof as clear as daylight. The Risale-i Nur too with its one hundred parts is but a single proof of his truthfulness.
THE SEVENTH: The Family and Companions of the Prophet —who with their insight, knowledge, and spiritual accomplishment are the most renowned, the most respected, the most celebrated, the most pious and the most keensighted of men after the prophets— examined and scrutinized, with the utmost attention, seriousness and exactitude, all the states, thoughts and conditions of this being, whether hidden or open. They came to the unanimous conclusion that he was the most truthful, exalted, and honest being in the world, and this, their unshakeable affirmation and firm belief, is a proof like the daylight attesting the reality of the sun.
THE EIGHTH: The cosmos indicates its Maker, Inscriber, and Designer, Who creates, administers, and arranges it, and through determining its measure and form and regulating it, has disposal over it as though it was a palace, a book, an exhibition, a spectacle. And so too it indicates that it requires and necessitates an elevated herald, a truthful unveiler, a learned master, and a truthful teacher who will know and make known the Divine purposes in the universe’s creation, teach the dominical instances of wisdom in its changes and transformations, give instruction in the results of its dutiful motions, proclaim its essential value and the perfections of the beings within it, and express the meanings of that mighty book; it indicates that he is certain to exist. Thus, the traveller knew that it testified to the truthfulness of this being, who performed these functions better than anyone, and to his being a most elevated and loyal official of the universe’s Creator.
THE NINTH: There is behind the veil One Who wishes to demonstrate with these ingenious and wise artefacts the perfection of His talent and art; to make Himself known and loved by means of these countless adorned and decorated creations; to evoke praise and thanks through the unnumbered pleasurable and valuable bounties that he bestows; to cause men to worship Him with gratitude and appreciation in the face of His dominicality, through His solicitous and protective sustenance of life, and His provision of nurture and bounty in such manner as to satisfy the most delicate of tastes and appetites; to manifest His Divinity through the change of seasons, the alternation of night and day, and through all His magnificent and majestic deeds, all His awe-inspiring and wise acts and creativity, and thereby to cause men to believe in his Divinity, in submission, humility and obedience; and to demonstrate His justice and truthfulness by at all times protecting virtue and the virtuous and destroying evil and the evil, by annihilating with blows from heaven the oppressor and the liar. There will of a certainty be at the side of this Unseen Being His most beloved creature and most devoted bondsman, who, serving the purposes that have just been mentioned, discovers and unravels the talisman and riddle of the creation of the universe, who acts always in the name of that Creator, who seeks aid and success from Him, and who receives them from Him — Muhammad of Quraysh (Peace and blessings be upon him!)
The traveller further said, addressing his own intellect: “Since these nine truths bear witness to the truthfulness of this being, he must be the source of glory of mankind and the source of honour for the world. If we therefore call him the Pride of the World and Glory of the Sons of Adam, it will be fitting. The fact that the awesome sovereignty of that decree of the Compassionate One, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition that he holds in his hand, has conquered half the world, together with his individual perfections and exalted virtues, shows that he is the most important personage in the world. The most important word concerning our Creator is that which he utters.”
Now see: the foundation of the summons of this extraordinary being and the aim of all his life, based on the strength furnished by his hundreds of decisive and evident and manifest miracles, and the thousands of exalted, fundamental truths contained in his religion, was to prove and bear witness to the existence of the Necessary Existent, His Unity, attributes and Names, to affirm, proclaim and announce Him. He is therefore like a sun in the cosmos, the most brilliant proof of our Creator, this being whom we call the Beloved of God. There are three forms of great and infallible consensus each of which affirms, confirms, and puts its signature to the witness he bears.
The First: the unanimous affirmation made by that luminous assembly known and celebrated throughout the world as the Family of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) including thousands of poles and supreme saints of penetrating gaze and ability to perceive the Unseen, such as Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him), who said, “Were the veil to be lifted, my certainty would not increase,” and ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Gilani, the Ghawth al-A‘zam (May his mystery be sanctified), who saw the Supreme Throne and the awesome form of Israfil while yet on the earth.
The Second: the confirmation made with a strong faith that permitted men to sacrifice their lives and their property, their fathers and tribes, by the renowned assembly known as the Companions, who found themselves among a primitive people and in an unlettered environment, devoid of all social life and political thought, without any scripture and lost in the darkness of a period between prophets; and who in a very brief time came to be the masters, guides, and just rulers of the most civilized and politically and socially advanced peoples and states, and to rule the world from east to west in universally approved fashion.
The Third: the confirmation provided with unanimous and certain knowledge by that lofty group of punctilious and profound scholars of whom in each age thousands spring forth, who advance in wondrous fashion in every science and work in different fields.
Thus, the testimony brought by this being to the Divine unity is not particular and individual, but general and universal and unshakeable. If all the demons that exist were to unite, they could not challenge it. Such was the conclusion reached by the traveller.
In reference to the lesson learned in the School of Light by that traveller from the world, that wayfarer in life, when he visited in his mind the blessed age of the Prophet, we said at the end of the Sixteenth Degree of the First Station:
There is no god but God, the Necessary Existent, the One, the Unique, the Necessity of Whose Existence in Unity is indicated by the Pride of the World and the Glory of the Sons of Adam, through the majesty of the sovereignty of his Qur’an, the splendour of the expanse of his religion, the multiplicity of his perfections, and the exaltedness of his characterisitics, as confirmed even by the testimony of his enemies. He bears witness and brings proof through the strength of his hundreds of manifest and evident miracles, that both testify to truth and are themselves the object of true testimony; and through the strength of the thousands of luminous and conclusive truths contained in his religion, according to the consensus of all the possessors of light, the agreement of his illumined Companions, and the unanimity of the scholars of his community, the possessors of proofs and luminous insight.
The tireless and insatiable traveller, who knew the aim of life in this world and the essence of life to be faith, addressed his own heart and said: “Let us examine the book known as the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, which is said to be the word and utterance of the Being Whom we are seeking, the most famous, the most brilliant and wisest book in the world, that issues a challenge in every age to whoever refuses to submit to it. Let us see what it says. But first, we must establish that this book is from our Creator,” and he began to search.
Since the traveller lived in the present age, he looked first at the Risale-i Nur, flashes from the miraculousness of the Qur’an; he saw its one hundred and thirty parts to consist of luminous points drawn from that Book of Discernment, or well-founded explanations of its contents. Even though the Risale-i Nur is valiantly struggling to diffuse the truths of the Qur’an in all directions, in this obstinate and atheistic age, no one can defeat it, which proves that its master, its source, its authority and its sun, is the Qur’an, heavenly not human speech. Among the hundreds of proofs in the different parts of the Risale-i Nur, the single proof contained in the Twenty-Fifth Word and the end of the Nineteenth Letter, establishes forty aspects of the Qur’an’s miraculousness in such a way that whoever sees it, far from uttering any criticism or objection, admires its arguments, and utters appreciative praise. The traveller left it to the Risale-i Nur to prove that the Qur’an is miraculous and the true Word of God, turning only to a brief indication of a few points showing its greatness.
F i r s t P o i n t : Just as the Qur’an, with all its miracles and truths indicating its veracity is a miracle of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) so too, Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) with all his miracles, proofs of prophethood and perfections of knowledge, is a miracle of the Qur’an and a decisive proof of the Qur’an’s being the Word of God.
S e c o n d P o i n t : The Qur’an, in this world, brought about in so luminous, felicitous and truthful a fashion, a revolution in the social life of man, as well as in the souls, hearts, spirits, and intellects of men, in their individual, social, and political lives, and having caused this revolution perpetuated it in such a fashion, that for fourteen centuries at every moment its six thousand, six hundred and sixty-six verses have been read by the tongues of more than a hundred million men, training them, refining their souls and purifying their hearts. To spirits, it has been a means of development and advancement; to intellects, an orientation and light; to life, it has been life itself and felicity. Such a book is of a certainty unparalleled; it is a wonder, a marvel, and a miracle.
T h i r d P o i n t : The Qur’an, from that age down to the present, has demonstrated such eloquence that it caused the value attached to the odes known as “Seven Hanging Poems” that were written in gold on the walls of the Ka‘ba to descend to such a point that the daughter of Labid, when taking down her father’s poem from the Ka‘ba, said, “Compared with the verses of the Qur’an, this no longer has any value.”
A bedouin poet heard this verse being recited,
Therefore expound openly what you are commanded,22
and immediately prostrated. They asked him: “Have you become a Muslim?” “No,” he replied, “I was prostrating before the eloquence of this verse.”
Thousands of scholars and litterateurs, like geniuses of the science of rhetoric such as ‘Abd al-Qahir Jurjani, Sakkaki, and Zamakhshari, have unanimously decided that the eloquence of the Qur’an is beyond human capacity and is unattainable.
The Qur’an has also from that time forward invited to the field of combat all arrogant and egoistic litterateurs and rhetoricians, and said to them in a manner calculated to break their arrogance: “Come, produce a single sura like it, or else accept perdition and humiliation in this world and the hereafter.” Despite this challenge, the obstinate rhetoricians of that age abandoned the short path of producing a single sura like the Qur’an, and instead chose the long path of casting their persons and property into danger. This proves that the short path cannot be taken.
Millions of Arabic books are in circulation, some written by friends of the Qur’an in order to resemble and imitate it, others written by its enemies in order to confront and criticize it. Not one of them has been able to attain the level of the Qur’an. Should a common man even listen to them, he is sure to say: “The Qur’an does not resemble these other books, nor is it in the same class as they. It must be either below them or above them.” No one —no unbeliever or fool— in the world can say that it is below them. Hence its degree of eloquence is above all of them. Once a man read the verse,
All that is in the heavens and the earth extols and glorifies God.23
He said: “I cannot see any miraculous eloquence in this verse.” He was told: “Go back to that age like the traveller, and listen to the verse as recited there.” Imagining himself to be there before the revelation of the Qur’an, he saw that all the beings in the world were living in an unstable, transient world in empty, infinite and unbounded space, in confusion and darkness, lifeless and without consciousness and purpose. Suddenly he heard this verse proclaimed by the tongue of the Qur’an and the verse removed a veil from in front of the universe and illumined the face of the globe; this pre-eternal speech, this eternal decree, gave instruction to all conscious beings, drawn up in the ranks of succeeding centuries, in such fashion that the cosmos became like a vast mosque. All of creation headed by the heavens and the earth, was engaged in vital remembrance of God and proclamation of His glory, was joyously and contentedly fulfilling its function.
All of this our traveller observed. Thus tasting the degree of the eloquence of the Qur’an, and comparing the other verses to it by analogy, he understood one of the many thousands of wise reasons for the conquest of half the globe and a fifth of humanity by the eloquent murmuring of the Qur’an, for the uninterrupted continuance of its respected and magnificent monarchy for fourteen centuries.
F o u r t h P o i n t : The Qur’an has demonstrated such a veracious sweetness that whereas the repetition of even the sweetest thing induces disgust, it has from earliest times been accepted by everyone and even become proverbial that repeated recitation of the Qur’an, far from inducing disgust and weariness in men of sound heart and pure taste, on the contrary increases its sweetness.
The Qur’an demonstrates, moreover, such a freshness, youth and originality, that even though it has lived for fourteen centuries and passed through many hands, it retains its freshness as if it had only just been revealed. Every century sees the Qur’an enjoying a new youth, as if it were addressing that century in particular. Similarly, scholars of every branch of learning, even though they keep the Qur’an constantly at their side in order to benefit from it, and perpetually follow its method of exposition, see that the Qur’an maintains the originality of its style and manner of explanation.
F i f t h P o i n t : One wing of the Qur’an is in the past, and one is in the future, and like its root and one wing are the agreed truths of the former prophets, and it confirms and corroborates them, and they too confirm it with the tongue of unanimity, so too all the true Sufi paths and ways of sainthood whose fruits like the saints and purified scholars, who receive life from the Qur’an, show through their vital spiritual progress that their blessed tree is living, effulgent, and the means to truth, and who grow and live under the protection of its second wing, testify that the Qur’an is pure truth and the assembly of truths and in its comprehensiveness, a matchless wonder.
S i x t h P o i n t : The Qur’an’s truthfulness and veracity show that its six aspects are luminous. Indeed, the pillars of argument and proof beneath it; the flashes of the stamp of miraculousness above it; the gifts of happiness in this world and the next before it, its goal; the truths of heavenly revelation, the point of support behind it; the assent and evidence of innumerable upright minds to its right; and the true tranquillity, sincere attraction, and submission of sound hearts and clean consciences on its left all prove that the Qur’an is a wondrous, firm, unassailable citadel of both the heavens and the earth.
So too from these six levels, the Disposer of the universe has set His seal on its being sheer truth and right, and not being man’s word, and its containing no error — the Disposer, Who has made it His practice to always exhibit beauty in the universe, protect good and right, and eliminate imposters and liars, has confirmed and set His seal on the Qur’an by giving it the most acceptable, highest, and most dominant place of respect and degree of success in the world.
And so too the one who is the source of Islam and interpreter of the Qur’an — his believing in it and holding it in greater respect than everyone else, and being in a sleep-like state when it was revealed,24 and other words and speeches not resembling or coming near it, and that Interpreter’s describing without hesistation and with complete confidence through the Qur’an true cosmic events of generally the past and the future from behind the veil of the Unseen, and no trickery or fault being observed in him while being under the gazes of the sharpest eyes, and his believing and affirming every pronouncement of the Qur’an with all his strength and nothing shaking him, is a stamp confirming that the Qur’an is revealed and true and the blessed Word of his own Compassionate Creator.
Also a fifth of mankind, indeed the greater part of it, being drawn to the Qur’an and bound to it in religion and giving ear to it eagerly desirous of the truth, and according to the testimony of many indications and events and illuminations, the jinn, angels, and spirit beings also gathering around it in truth-worshipping fashion like moths whenever it is recited25 is a stamp confirming the Qur’an’s acceptance by all beings and that it occupies a most high position.
Also, all the classes of mankind from the most stupid and lowly to the cleverest and most learned taking their full share of the Qur’an’s instruction and their understanding its most profound truths, and all branches of scholars like the great interpreters of the Greater Shari‘a in particular, and hundreds of Islamic sciences and branches of knowledge, and the brilliant and exacting scholars of theology and the principles of religion extracting from the Qur’an all the needs and answers for their own sciences is a stamp confirming that the Qur’an is a source of truth and mine of reality.
Also, although the Arab literary figures, who were the most advanced in regard to literature, —those of them who were not Muslims— had the greatest need to dispute the Qur’an, their avoiding producing the like of only a single sura and its eloquence, eloquence being only one aspect of the seven major aspects of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, as well as the famous orators and brilliant scholars up to the present who have wanted to gain fame through disputing it being unable to oppose a single aspect of its miraculousness and their remaining silent in impotence, is a stamp confirming that the Qur’an is a miracle and beyond the powers of man.
Yes, the value, superiority, and eloquence of a speech or word is apparent through knowing, “from whom it has come and to whom, and for what purpose;” the Qur’an then can have no like, and none can reach it. For the Qur’an is a speech and address of the Sustainer of all the worlds and Creator of the whole universe and a dialogue in no way hinting of imitation and artificiality. It is addressed to the one sent in the name of all men, indeed of all beings, the most famous and renowned of mankind, the strength and breadth of whose belief gave rise to mighty Islam and raised its owner to the level of the “Distance of Two Bow-strings” and returned him as the addressee of the Eternally Besought One. It describes and explains the matters concerning happiness in this world and the next, the results of the creation of the universe, and the dominical purposes within it. It expounds also the belief of the one it addresses, which was the highest and most extensive of belief and bore all the truths of Islam. It turns and shows every side of the huge universe like a map, a clock, or a house, and teaches and describes it in the manner of the Craftsman Who made them — to produce the like of this Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition is not possible; the degree of its miraculousness cannot be attained to.
Also, thousands of precise and learned scholars of high intelligence have each written commentaries expounding the Qur’an, some of which are of thirty, forty, or even seventy volumes, showing and proving through evidence and argument the innumerable qualities, fine points, characteristics, mysteries, elevated meanings, and numerous indications concerning every sort of hidden and unseen matter in the Qur’an. And the one hundred and thirty parts of the Risale-i Nur in particular, each of which proves with decisive arguments one quality, one fine point of the Qur’an. Each part of it — like The Miraculousness of the Qur’an, and the Second Station of the Twentieth Word, which deduces many things from the Qur’an concerning the wonders of civilization like the railway and the aeroplane, and the First Ray, called Signs of the Qur’an, which makes known the indications of verses alluding to the Risale-i Nur and electricity, and the eight short treatises called The Eight Symbols, which show how well-ordered, full of meaning, and mysterious are the words of the Qur’an, and the small treatise proving in five aspects the miraculousness of the verses at the end of Sura al-Fath in regard to their giving news of the Unseen — each part of the Risale-i Nur shows one truth, one light of the Qur’an. All this forms a stamp confirming that the Qur’an has no like, is a miracle and a marvel, and that it is the tongue of the World of the Unseen in the Manifest World and the Word of One All-Knowing of the Unseen.
Thus, due to these qualities and characteristics of the Qur’an indicated above in six points, six aspects, and six levels, its sublime, luminous sovereignty and sacred, mighty rule has continued with perfect splendour illuminating the faces of the centuries and the face of the earth for one thousand three hundred years. And also on account of these qualities of the Qur’an, each of its letters has gained the sacred distinction of yielding at least ten rewards, ten merits, and ten eternal fruits, and the letters of certain verses and suras yielding a hundred or a thousand fruits, or even more, and at blessed times the light, reward, and value of each letter rising from ten to hundreds. The traveller through the world understood this and said to his heart:
“The Qur’an, which is thus miraculous in every respect, through the concensus of its suras, the agreement of its verses, the accord of its lights and mysteries, and the concurrence of its fruits and works, so testifies with its evidences in the form of proofs to the existence, unity, attributes, and Names of a Single Necessarily Existent One that it is from its testimony that the endless testimony of all the believers has issued forth.”
Thus, in brief allusion to the instruction in belief and Divine unity that the traveller received from the Qur’an, it was said in the Seventeeth Degree of the First Station:
There is no god but God, the One and Unique Necessary Existent, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity points the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, the book accepted and desired by all species of angel, men and jinn, whose verses are read each minute of the year, with the utmost reverence, by hundreds of millions of men, whose sacred sovereignty over the regions of the earth and the universe and the face of time is permanent, whose spiritual and luminous authority has run over half the earth and a fifth of humanity, for more than fourteen centuries, with the utmost splendour. Testimony and proof is also given by the unanimity of its sacred and heavenly suras, the agreement of its luminous, divine verses, the congruence of its mysteries and lights, the correspondence of its fruits and effects, by witnessing and clear vision.
Our traveller, our voyager through life, knew now that faith is the most precious capital man can have, for it bestows on indigent man not some transient and ephemeral field or dwelling, but a palace, indeed an eternal kingdom as vast as the whole cosmos or the world itself. Faith also bestows on ephemeral man all he will need for life eternal; delivers from eternal annihilation wretched man who waits on the gallows for the arrival of fate; and opens to man an eternal treasury of everlasting felicity. The traveller then said to himself:
“Onward! In order to gain a further degree from among the infinite degrees of faith, let us refer to the totality of the cosmos, and listen to what it says. We will then be able to perfect and illumine the lessons we have received from its components and parts.”
Looking through the broad and comprehensive telescope he had taken from the Qur’an, he saw the cosmos to be so meaningful and well-ordered that it took on the shape of an embodied book of the Glorious One, an incarnate dominical Qur’an, a finely adorned palace of the Eternally Besought One, an orderly city of the Most Merciful. All the suras, verses, and words of that book of the universe, even its very letters, chapters, divisions, pages, and lines, through their constant meaningful effacement and reaffirmation, their wise changes and alternations, gave unanimous expression to the existence and presence of One Who has Knowledge of all things and Power over all things as the author of the book, of a Glorious Inscriber and a Perfect Scribe seeing all things in all things and knowing the relationship of all things with all things.
So too all the species and particles of the cosmos, all its inhabitants and contents, all that enters it and leaves it, all the providential changes and the wise processses of rejuvenation that occur in it — these proclaim in unison the existence and unity of an exalted craftsman, a peerless Maker Who sets to work with limitless power and infinite wisdom. The testimony of two great and vast truths, of a piece with the immensity of the cosmos, affirms this supreme witness of the cosmos.
FIRST TRUTH: These are the truths of ‘createdness’ and ‘contingency’ established with countless proofs by the gifted scholars of the principles of religion and the science of theology, as well as the sages of Islam. They said that since change and mutation are to be observed in the world and all things, the world must be ephemeral and created; it cannot be uncreated. If it is created, then there must be a Maker who created it. And if there is no cause to be found in the essence of a thing either for its being or for its non-being, so that these two are equally possible, that thing cannot be necessary and eternal.
It has further been proven with decisive arguments that it is not possible for things to create each other, since that would involve the absurd and false notion of causality and never-ending causal sequences. Hence the existence of a Necessary Existence becomes necessary, whose like cannot exist, whose similitude is impossible, all other than whom is contingent and created by him.
Yes, the truth of createdness has permeated the whole of the cosmos, and many instances of it are visible to the eye; the rest can be seen only by the intellect. For in front of our eyes a whole world dies every autumn, and together with it die hundreds of thousands of different kinds of plants and small animals, each member of each species being like a small cosmos unto himself. It is, however, so orderly and disciplined a death that all things leave behind in their places seeds and eggs that in the spring shall be the means of resurrection and rebirth, miracles of mercy and wisdom, miracles of power and knowledge. They hand to the seeds and eggs their book of deeds and plan of action, entrusting them to the wisdom of the Glorious Preserver and under His protection, and only then do they die.
In spring, the dead trees, roots and animals come to life again exactly as they were, thus providing hundreds of thousands of examples, specimens and proofs of the supreme resurrection. In the place of others, plants and animals resembling them exactly are brought into being and life, thus publishing the pages of the beings of the preceding spring, together with their deeds and functions, just like an advertisement. Thus they demonstrate one meaning of the verse,
When the pages are spread out.26
Then also, with respect to the whole, each autumn a great world dies, and each spring a fresh world comes into being. That death and creation proceed in so orderly a manner, and so many separate deaths and creations occur within them, in such orderly and regular fashion, that it is as if the world were a traveller’s lodge where animate beings reside for a time, where travelling worlds and migrant realms come, fulfil their duties, and then go on their way. So there is apparent to all intellects, with the clarity of the sun, the necessary existence, infinite power and unending wisdom of a Glorious Being Who creates and brings into being in this world vital realms and purposive universes, with perfect wisdom, knowledge, and equilibrium, with balance, order and regularity, and Who then employs them for dominical purposes, Divine aims and Merciful goals, with full power and compassion. We leave to the Risale-i Nur and the books of the theologians the further discussion of matters related to createdness.
As for contingence, it prevails over and surrounds all of the cosmos. For we see that all things, universal or particular, big or small, from God’s Throne down to the ground, from the atom to the planet, all are sent to the world with a particular essence, a specific form, a distinct identity, particular attributes, wise qualities, and beneficial organs. Now to bestow on that particular essence and quiddity its peculiarities, from amongst the infinite possibilities available; to clothe it in its specific, distinctive and appropriate form, from among the possibilities and probabilities that are as numerous as the forms that may be conceived; to distinguish that being with the identity suited to it, from among the possibilities as numerous as the other members of its species; to endow with special, suitable and beneficial attributes the created object that is formless and hesitant midst the possibilities and probabilities that are as numerous as the varieties of attribute and degree; to affix to that aimless creature, perplexed and distraught amidst the innumerable possibilities and probabilities that result from the infinitude of conceivable paths and modalities —to affix to it wise qualities and beneficial organs and equip it with them— all of these are indications, proofs, and affirmations to the number of the innumerable possibilities of the necessary existence, infinite power and unlimited wisdom of the Necessary Existent Who creates, chooses, specifies, and distinguishes the quiddity and identity, the form and shape, the attribute and situation of all contingent beings, whether they be universals or particulars.
They indicate, too, that no object and no matter is hidden from Him, that nothing is difficult for Him, that the greatest task is as easy for Him as the smallest, that He can create a spring as easily as a tree, and a tree as easily as a seed. All this, then, pertains to the truth of contingence, and forms one wing of the great testimony borne by the cosmos.
Since the testimony of the cosmos, with its two wings and two truths, is fully established and explained in various parts of the Risale-i Nur, and particularly the Twenty-Second and Thirty-Second Words, as well as the Twentieth and Thirty-Third Letters, we refer our readers to those writings, and cut short an extremely long story.
SECOND TRUTH: As for the Second Truth that proceeds from the total scheme of the cosmos, which is also the second wing of its great and universal testimony, it is as follows:
There is to be seen a truth of co-operation among these beings that are attempting to maintain their existence, and if they are animate, their life, and fulfil their functions in the midst of constantly stirring changes and revolutions, a truth that lies far beyond their capacities.
For example, the elements hasten to aid animate beings; the clouds to help the vegetable kingdom; the vegetable kingdom, to help the animal kingdom; the animal kingdom, to help the human kingdom. Milk gushes forth from the breast, like the spring of Paradise, to succour the infant; the fact that animate beings are given their needs and sustenance in a manner that transcends their capacity, from unexpected places; the replenishing of the cells of the body with particles of food, through their being subjugated by their Sustainer and their employment at His merciful hands — all of these and numerous other examples of the truth of co-operation demonstrate the universal and compassionate dominicality of the Sustainer of All the Worlds, Who administers the cosmos like a palace.
Solid, inanimate and unfeeling objects, that nonetheless co-operate with each other in a sensitive and conscious fashion, must of necessity be caused to rush to each other’s aid by the power, mercy, and command of a Compassionate, Wise, and Glorious Sustainer.
The universal co-operation visible throughout the cosmos; the comprehensive equilibrium and all-embracing preservation prevailing with the utmost regularity in all things, from the planets to the members, limbs and bodily particles of animate beings; the adorning whose pen ranges over the gilded face of the heavens, the decorated face of the earth, and the delicate faces of flowers; the ordering that prevails over all things, from the Milky Way and solar system down to fruits such as corn and pomegranates; the assigning of duties to all things, from the sun and the moon, the elements and the clouds, down to honey-bees — all of these great truths offer a testimony of proportionate greatness, and their testimony forms the second wing of the testimony offered by the cosmos.
Since the Risale-i Nur has established and clarified this great testimony, we will content ourselves here with this brief indication.
In brief allusion to the lesson of faith learned by our traveller from the cosmos, we said in the Eighteenth Degree of the First Station:
There is no god but God, the Necessary Existent, the like of Whom cannot exist, other than Whom all things are contingent, the One, the Unique, to the Necessity of Whose Existence in Unity points the cosmos, the great book incarnate, the supreme Qur’an personified, the ornate and orderly palace, the splendid and well-arranged city, with all of its suras, verses, letters, chapters, parts, pages, and lines, with the agreement of its fundaments, species, parts and particles, its inhabitants and contents, what enters it and what leaves it; with the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of createdness, change and contingency; with the consensus of all scholars of the science of theology; with the testimony of the truth of the changing of its form and its contents, with wisdom and regularity, and the renewal of its letters and words with discipline and equilibrium; and with the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of co-operation, mutual response and solidarity, reciprocal care, balance and preservation, among all its beings, as is to be clearly observed.
Then the ardent and inquisitive traveller, who was seeking the Creator of the world, had advanced by gaining knowledge of God indirectly through eighteen degrees and approached, at the end of an ascension in belief to the throne of truth, a station where in the presence of God, he addressed Him directly. He said to his own spirit:
“In the noble opening sura of the Qur’an, the verses that extend from the beginning to the word iyyaka (You alone) are like a form of praise and encomium uttered indirectly; but the word iyyaka signifies a coming into His presence and addresssing Him directly. So too we should abandon this indirect seeking and ask for the object of search from the object of our search. For one must ask the sun, that shows all things, concerning the sun, since that which shows all things will show itself even more clearly. Just as we perceive and know the sun by its rays, so too we can strive to know our Creator, in accordance with our capacities, through His Most Beautiful Names and Sacred Attributes.”
We will set forth here, with the utmost brevity and concision, two of the countless paths that lead to this goal; two of the infinite degrees of those two paths; and two of the abundant truths and details of those two degrees.
THE FIRST TRUTH: There appears visible to our eye a comprehensive, permanent, orderly and awesome truth, one that changes, transforms, and renews all beings in heaven and on earth, with imperious and incessant activity. Within the truth of that in every way wise activity, there is immediately perceived the truth of the manifestation of dominicality, and in turn, within the truth of that in every way merciful manifestation of dominicality, is recognizable the truth of the epiphany of Divinity.
From this continuous, wise and imperious activity, the deeds of an All-Powerful and All-Knowing Doer can be discerned, as if from behind a veil. And from behind the veil of these nurturing and administering deeds of dominicality, the Divine Names, manifest in all things, can be immediately perceived. Then behind the veil of the Beautiful Names, manifest with Glory and Beauty, can be deduced the existence and reality of the seven sacred attributes, according to the testimony of all creation, in a life-giving, powerful, knowledgeable, all-hearing, all-seeing, volitional and speech-endowed form, there appears to the eye of faith in the heart, self-evidently, necessarily, and with full certainty, the existence of a Necessary Existent that is described by these attributes, a Single One of Unity known by these Names, a Peerless and Eternal Doer, in a form more evidential and brilliant than the sun.
For a beautiful and profound book necessarily presupposes the act of writing and a well-built house presupposes the act of building; and the acts of writing beautifully and building well presuppose the names of writer and builder; and the titles of writer and builder obviously imply the arts and attributes of writing and building; and these arts and attributes self-evidently necessitate one who will be qualified by the names and attributes, and be the artist and craftsman. For just as it is impossible for there to be a deed without a doer, or a name without one designated by the name, so too it is not possible for there to be an attribute without one qualified by the attribute, and for there to be a craft without a craftsman.
On the basis, then, of this truth and principle, the universe with all the beings it contains resembles a collection of profound books and letters written by the pen of Divine Determining, and countless buildings and palaces constructed with the hammer of Divine Power. Each of these singly in thousands of ways and together in uncountable ways utters the following testimony:
These innumerable dominical and merciful deeds, and the endless manifestations of the thousand and one Divine Names which are the source of the deeds, and the infinite manifestations of the seven transcendent attributes which are the source of the Beautiful Names, in endless and infinite ways point to and testify to the necessary existence and unity of an All-Glorious Essence Which is the source of those all-embracing, sacred seven attributes and is qualified by them. And so too all the instances of beauty, loveliness, perfection, and exquisiteness found in those beings self-evidently testify all together to the sacred beauties and perfections of the dominical deeds, and the Divine Names, and attributes, and qualities, which are fitting and worthy of them, and to the sacred beauty of the Most Pure and Holy Essence.
So the truth of dominicality that manifests itself within the truth of activity reveals and makes itself known in qualities and acts such as creating, originating, fashioning and bringing into being, with knowledge and wisdom; determining, forming, administering and changing with regularity and balance; transforming, causing to descend and perfecting, with purpose and will; and feeding, nurturing, and bestowing generosity and bounty, with tenderness and mercy. And within the truth of the manifestation of dominicality, the truth of the immediately perceived revelation of Divinity makes itself known and recognized through the compassionate and munificent manifestations of the Beautiful Names and through the Glorious and Beauteous manifestations of the seven affirmative attributes: Life, Knowledge, Power, Will, Hearing, Sight, and Speech.
Just as the attribute of Speech makes the Most Sacred Essence known through revelation and inspiration, so too the attribute of Power makes the Essence known through its skilled works and effects, each of which is like a word assuming external shape. Presenting the cosmos from end to end under the aspect of an incarnate book of discernment, it describes and makes known a Powerful Possessor of Glory.
As for the attribute of Knowledge, it makes known a single Most Sacred Essence, through each of the wise, well-ordered and balanced objects of creation, through each creature administered, directed, adorned, and made distinct by God’s Knowledge.
As for the attribute of Life, it is proven not only by its own evidences, but also by all the works that proclaim God’s Power, by all the well-ordered, wise, balanced and adorned forms and states that indicate God’s Knowledge, as well as by all proofs of all other attributes. Thus Life, showing as witnesses all animate beings, which act as mirrors reflecting those abundant proofs, makes known an Eternally Living and Self-Subsistent Essence.
It is also this attribute that constantly changes the cosmos, in order to produce in it ever-fresh and various manifestations and designs, and turns it into a supreme mirror composed of countless smaller mirrors. Similarly, the attributes of Seeing and Hearing, Willing and Speaking, each reveal and make known the Most Sacred Essence, just as the cosmos does.
Then, too, just as the attributes point to the existence of the Possessor of Glory, they also indicate in most manifest fashion the existence and reality of life, and the livingness and permanence of that Essence. For Knowing is a sign of Life; Hearing is an indication of Life; Seeing belongs only to the living; Will takes place only with Life. Purposive Power is found only in living beings, and Speech is a task for those endowed with Knowledge and Life.
It follows from the foregoing that the attribute of Life has proofs seven times as numerous as the cosmos, and evidences that proclaim its existence and the existence of the One Whom it qualifies. Thus it comes to be the foundation and source of the attributes, the origin and support of the Supreme Name. Since the Risale-i Nur establishes this first truth with powerful proofs and clarifies it, we will content ourselves now with a drop from this ocean.
THE SECOND TRUTH: Divine discourse, which proceeds from the attribute of Speech.
Were the sea to become ink for the words of my Sustainer...27
According to the inner sense of this verse, Divine discourse is infinite. The clearest sign demonstrating the existence of a being is his speech. This truth, therefore, constitutes an infinite testimony to the existence and unity of the Pre-Eternal Speaker. Since two powerful evidences of this truth are revelation and inspiration, set forth in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Degrees of this treatise; another broad proof is provided by sacred and heavenly Books, as indicated in the Tenth Degree; and a further most brilliant and comprehensive proof is furnished by the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, as discussed in the Seventeenth Degree — for all these reasons we refer our readers to those Degrees for the exposition and affirmation of this truth. Enough for us and for our traveller, who was unable to proceed beyond this point, are the lights and mysteries contained in the sublime verse that proclaims this truth in miraculous fashion and adds it own testimony to all of the preceding ones:
God bears witness that there is no god but He, as do the angels and the possessors of knowledge; steadfast in equity; there is no god but He, the Mighty, the Wise!28
In allusion to the core of the lesson learned by our traveller at this sacred Station, we said, in the Nineteenth Degree of the First Station:
There is no god but God, the Necessary Existent, the One, the Unique; His are the Beautiful Names, His are the Supreme Attributes, and His is the Most Sublime Similitude. To His Necessary Existence in Unity points the necessarily existent Essence, with the consensus of all its sacred and comprehensive attributes and all of its Beautiful Names, manifested according to the consensus of His dominant qualities and deeds. By the testimony of the sublimity of the truth of the self-revelation of Divinity in the manifestation of dominicality, in the permanence of imperious activity through the act of bringing into being, creating, making and originating, in will and in power; and through the act of determining, forming and regulating, in choice and in wisdom; through the act of expending, preserving, ordering, administering, and nurturing in purposiveness and mercy, in complete order and equilibrium; as too by the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of the mysteries of the verse: God bears witness that there is no god but He, as do the angels and the possessors of knowledge; steadfast in equity; there is no god but He, the Mighty, the Wise!
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NOTE
Each of the truths that offer their testimony in the Nineteen Degrees of the First Chapter of the Second Station above not only indicate Necessary Existence through existence and presence, but also through their comprehensiveness, attest God’s unity and oneness. But since they prove existence most clearly and explicitly, we regarded them first as proofs of Necessary Existence.
As for the Second Chapter of the Second Station, the truths in question will be designated instead as proofs of Divine unity, insofar as they explicitly prove unity, and implicitly necessity. In reality, each proves the other; unity proves necessity, and necessity proves unity. In order to indicate the difference, we said repeatedly in the First Chapter, “By the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of....,” while in the Second Chapter we shall recurrently say, “By the witnessing of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of...,” thus indicating the evident visibility of Divine unity. I had the intention of explaining the degrees of the Second Chapter, just as I did in the First Chapter, but on account of various obstacles I am compelled to be summary and concise. I leave it to other parts of the Risale-i Nur to expound these matters as they deserve to be expounded.
Second Chapter
Concerning Proofs of the Divine Unity
[The traveller who had been sent to the world in order to attain faith, who journeyed through the whole cosmos in his mind in order to ask all things concerning his Creator, to seek his Sustainer in every place and find his God, with the utmost certainty, at the point of Necessary Existence — this traveller said to his intellect: “Come, let us depart on a new journey in order to behold the proofs of the unity of our Necessarily Existent Creator.”
They set out together. At the First Stopping-Place, they saw four sacred truths prevailing over the whole cosmos, truths that self-evidently necessitated the unity of God.]
THE FIRST TRUTH: Absolute Divinity
The absorption of each class of men in a mode of worship dictated by their innate dispositions; the species of worship engaged in by other animate beings, as well as inanimate beings, through the performance of their essential functions; the way in which all material and immaterial bounties and gifts in the cosmos become means inciting men to worship and thanks, to praise and gratitude; the fashion in which all the manifestations of the Unseen and epiphanies of the spirit, revelation and inspiration, unanimously proclaim the exclusive fitness of one God to receive worship — all of this, in most evidential fashion, proves the reality and dominance of a single and absolute Divinity. If the truth of such a Divinty exists, it can in no way accept partnership. For those who respond to Divinity —that is, the fitness to be worshipped— with thanks and worship, are the conscious and animate fruits on the highest branches of the tree of the cosmos. If others were able to gratify and place under their obligation those conscious beings in such fashion as to make them turn away from and forget their true object of worship —Who may, indeed, be swiftly forgotten, because of his invisibility— this would be in such utter contradiction to the essence of Divinty and its sacred purposes that it could in no way be allowed. It is for this reason that the Qur’an so repeatedly and with such vehemence refutes polytheism and threatens the polytheists with Hell-fire.
THE SECOND TRUTH: Absolute Dominicality
The ubiquitous workings of a wise and compassionate hidden hand throughout the cosmos, especially in animate beings and their nurturing and development, everywhere in the same fashion and yet in a totally unexpected form, must be, without doubt, the emanation and light of an absolute dominicality and a decisive proof of its reality.
An absolute dominicality cannot accept any partnership for since the important aims and purposes of dominicality, such as the manifestation of its beauty, the proclamation of its perfection, the revelation of its precious arts and the display of its hidden accomplishments, are combined and concentrated in particulars and animate beings, the slightest attribution to God of a partner, when entering even the most particular of things and the smallest of animate beings, will frustrate the attainment of those purposes and destroy those aims. Averting the faces of conscious beings from those purposes and the One Who conceived them toward causes will be totally opposed and hostile to the essence of dominicality, and absolute dominicality cannot in any way countenance it.
The abundant proclamations in the Qur’an of God’s sanctity and transcendence, its verses and words, even its letters and their shapes, are constant guides to God’s unity, made necessary by the mystery we have just expounded.
THE THIRD TRUTH: Perfections
The self-evident testimony to the existence of the truth of perfections given by all the exalted instances of wisdom in the universe, all its wondrous beauties, its just laws, its wise purposes, and in particular its testimony to the perfections of the Creator, Who brought forth the cosmos out of the void and then administered it in every way miraculously and beauteously, as well as the perfections of man, who is the conscious mirror of the Creator — such testimony is extremely clear.
There exists then the truth of perfections, and the certainty that the Creator Who fashioned the cosmos in perfection must Himself possess perfection. Further, the perfections of man, the most important fruit of the universe, God’s vicegerent on earth, the beloved and most valued object of His creation — these are also established as true. Therefore, to assign partners to God would be unacceptable and false, for it would condemn to destruction and perdition all of the perfect and wise beings we behold with our eyes; it would turn the cosmos into a vain plaything of accident, a place of amusement for nature, a cruel slaughterhouse for the animate, an awesome house of sorrows for the conscious; it would reduce man, whose perfections are visible in his works, to the level of the most wretched, distraught and vile animal; and it would draw a veil across the infinite perfections of the Creator that are reflected in the mirror of all beings, thus nullifying the result of His activity and denying His creativity.
Since assigning partners to God contradicts Divine, human and cosmic perfections and its denial of them has been established and explained in the First Station of the Second Ray (devoted to three ‘Fruits’ of Divine unity) with strong and decisive proofs, we refer our readers that work and cut short the discussion here.
THE FOURTH TRUTH: Sovereignty
Whoever looks at the cosmos with comprehensive attention, will see it to resemble a most prosperous and active kingdom, a city administered most wisely and ruled most firmly; he sees all things and all species obediently engaged in a particular function.
According to the military metaphor contained in the verse,
God’s are the armies of the heavens and earth,29
the prevailing creative commands, imperious orders, and kingly laws enunciated in those numerous armies, that extend from the hosts of the atom, the battalions of the vegetable kingdom, the brigades of the animal kingdom, to the armies of the stars, and embrace both the lowliest soldier and the loftiest commander — they all indicate self-evidently the existence of an absolute sovereignty and a universal authority.
There is then a truth of absolute sovereignty, and there can be no truth of assigning partners to God. For according to the decisive truth of the verse,
Were there to be in the heavens and earth gods other than God, verily they would be corrupted,30
if numerous hands all engage assertively in the same task, the result will be confusion. If there are two kings in one country, or even two headmen in one district, order will disappear, and administration be replaced by anarchy. But on the contrary we see everywhere such order, from the wing of the fly to the lamps of the heavens, from the cells of the body to the signs of the planets, that there is no possibility for the intervention of any partner in God’s affairs.
Sovereignty is, moreover, a station of dignity; to accept a rival would flout the dignity of sovereignty. The fact that man, who needs the assistance of many people on account of his impotence, will kill his brothers and offspring in the cruellest fashion for the sake of some petty, apparent and temporary sovereignty, shows that sovereignty rejects all notion of partnership. If so feeble a one acts thus for the sake of so petty a sovereignty, it follows that the Possessor of Absolute Power, the Master of All Creation, will never permit one other than Himself to participate in His sacred sovereignty, the means to His real and universal dominicality and Divinity.
Since this truth has been established with firm proofs in numerous places throughout the Risale-i Nur and especially the Second Station of the Second Ray, we refer the reader to those pages for further discussion of it.
Through witnessing these four truths, our traveller came to know Divine unity with the degree of certain and clear witnessing. His faith shone, and with all his power he said, “There is no god but God, He is One, He has no partner.” In brief allusion to the lesson he derived from this station, we said in the Second Chapter of the First Station:
There is no god but God, the One, the Unique, to Whose Unity and the Necessity of Whose Existence point the witnessing of the sublimity of the truth of the manifestation of absolute Divinity, as well as the witnessing of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of the manifestation of absolute dominicality that requires Unity, the witnessing of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of the perfections that arise from unity, and the witnessing of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of absolute sovereignty, that prevents and contradicts the existence of any partnership.
Then that restless traveller addressed his heart and said: “The fact that the people of faith, and particularly those affiliated with a sufi order, are constantly repeating the words, ‘no god but He,’ and recalling and proclaiming God’s unity, is an indication that the affirmation of God’s unity comprises many degrees. Such affirmation is moreover a most enjoyable, most valuable, and most exalted sacred duty, instinctive function, and act of worship. Let us then in order to attain a further degree, open the door of another stopping-place in this abode of instruction. For the true affirmation of God’s unity we seek is not some imaginary species of knowledge. It is rather an affirmation that in terms of logic is deemed the opposite of imagination, that is far more valuable than cognition based on imagination, that is the result of proof, that is designated a knowledge.”
The true affirmation of God’s unity is a judgement, a confirmation, an assent and acceptance that can find its Sustainer present with all things, that sees in all things a path leading to its Creator, and does not regard anything as an obstacle to His presence. For otherwise it would always be necessary to tear and cast aside the veil of the cosmos in order to find its Sustainer. “Onward, then,” said the traveller to himself, as he knocked at the door of God’s Sublimity and Grandeur. He entered the Stopping-Place of God’s deeds and workings, the world of creation and origination, and there he saw that five comprehensive truths were prevailing over the entire cosmos, and offering self-evident proof of the Divine unity.
THE FIRST TRUTH: that of Grandeur and Sublimity.
Since this truth is explained with different proofs in the Second Station of the Second Ray and various other places in the Risale-i Nur, we restrict ourselves here to the following:
The Being that creates and then administers at a single time and in a single fashion the stars that are thousands of years distant from each other; that creates at a single time and in a single form the countless members of the same species of flower, distributed over the east and the west, the north and south of the globe; that administers, nurtures, quickens, distinguishes and adorns more than two hundred thousand different types of plant and species of animal in five or six weeks, with the utmost regularity and equilibrium, without any confusion, defect or error, in order to provide every spring on the face of the earth more than a hundred thousand specimens of the supreme resurrection, and thus prove before man’s eyes a remarkable event, now belonging to the past and the realm of the Unseen, namely the creation of the heavens and the earth in six days, as indicated in the verse,
He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six days;31
the Being that causes the earth to revolve, as evidenced in the verse,
He merges night with day, and day with night,32
and turns the night into the page on which the events of the day are written — this same Being knows and administers according to His own will, all at the same time, the most secret and obscure thoughts that occur to men’s hearts. Since each of the aforementioned acts is in reality one act, it follows that their Glorious Doer is a Unique and Powerful Being, enjoying such grandeur and sublimity that nowhere, in nothing, in no way, does it leave the slightest possibility for the acceptance of partnership; on the contrary, it uproots all such possibility.
Since such sublime power and grandeur exist and since that grandeur is at the very apex of perfection and comprehends everything, it is certainly in no way possible to permit or allow any attribution of partners to that Unique and Powerful Being, for so doing would ascribe impotence or need to that power, fault to that grandeur, defect to that perfection, and impose restriction on that comprehensiveness. No sound intellect could deem this possible.
The assignment of partners to God, is then by virtue of the offence it causes to God’s Grandeur, the dignity of his Glory and His Sublimity, so grave a crime that the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition decrees with an earnest threat,
God does not pardon the assignment to Him of a partner; He pardons whatever is lesser than that.33
THE SECOND TRUTH: The absoluteness, the comprehensiveness, and appearance in infinite form of the dominical deeds seen at work in the cosmos.
It is only God’s wisdom and will that limits and restricts those deeds, as well as the inherent capacities of the objects and places in which they manifest themselves. Stray chance, dumb nature, blind force, unconscious causality and the elements that without restriction are scattered in every direction — none of these can have any part in the most balanced, wise perspicacious, life-giving, orderly and firm deeds of the Creator. They are used, rather, by the command, will, and power of the Glorious Doer as an apparent veil to conceal His power.
Three out of innumerable examples:
We will set forth three from among the numerous subtle points that relate to the three deeds indicated in three continuous verses in Sura al-Nahl.
The First:
Your Sustainer inspired in the bee that it should seek a dwelling-place in the mountains.34
The bee is, with respect to its disposition and function, such a miracle of God’s power that a whole sura, Sura al-Nahl, has been named after it. For to inscribe in the minute head of that little honey-machine a complete programme for the fulfilment of its important task; to place in its diminutive stomach the most delicious of foods and to ripen it there; to place in its sting poison capable of destroying and killing animate beings, without causing any harm to its own body or the member in question — to do all this without the utmost care and knowledge, with exceeding wisdom and purposiveness, partakes of a perfect orderliness and equilibriium, and hence unconscious, disorderly, disequilibriated nature and accident could never interfere or participate in any of this.
The appearance and comprehensiveness of this Divine craft, this dominical deed, which is miraculous in three separate respects, in the countless bees that are found scattered over the earth, with the same wisdom, the same care, the same symmetry, at the same time and in the same fashion — this is a self-evident proof of God’s unity.
The Second Verse:
There is for you a lesson in cattle. From what is within their bodies, between excretions and blood, we produce for your drink, milk, pure and agreeable to those who drink it.35
This verse is a decree overflowing with useful instruction. To place in the nipples of cows, camels, goats and sheep, as well as human mothers, in the midst of blood and excrement but without being polluted by them, a substance the exact opposite, pure, clean, pleasant, nutritive and white milk, and to inspire in their hearts tenderness toward their young that is still more pleasant, sweeter and more valuable than milk — this requires such a degree of mercy, wisdom, knowledge, power, will and care that it cannot in any way be the work of turbulent chance, of the tangled elements, or of blind forces.
The manifestation, workings and comprehensiveness of so miraculous a dominical art and so wise a Divine deed, all over the face of the globe and in the countless hearts and breasts of innumerable mothers of hundreds of thousands of species, in the same instant, the same fashion, with the same wisdom and the same care — this too constitutes a self-evident proof of God’s unity.
The Third Verse:
From the fruits of the date-palm and the vine you take sugar and fine nourishment; verily therein is a sign for a people possessing intelligence.36
This verse invites our attention to the date and to grapes, saying, “For those of intelligence, there is great proof, argument and evidence of the Divine unity in these two fruits. These two fruits yield nurture and sustenance, fresh and dry fruit, and give rise to most delicious forms of food; yet the trees that bear them stand in waterless sand and dry soil, and are thus miracles of power and wonders of wisdom. They are each of them like a factory producing sweet sugar, a machine manufacturing honeylike syrup, a work of art created with perfect order and sensitive balance, wisdom and care; hence anyone with a grain of intelligence will say on contemplating them, ‘The one who made them in this fashion may very well be the Creator of the whole cosmos.’”
For in front of our eyes each vine branch the thickness of a finger will hold twenty bunches of grapes, and each bunch will in turn contain hundreds of sugary grapes, each like a litle pump emitting syrup. To clothe the surface of each grape with a fine, delicate, thin, and colourful protection; to place in its delicate and soft heart seeds with their hard shells, which are like its retentive faculty, programme, and the story of its life; to manufacture in its stomach a sweetmeat like the helva of Paradise, a honey like the water of Kawthar; to create an infinite number of such grapes over the face of the entire earth, with the same care and wisdom and wonderful art, and at the same time and in the same fashion — this proves in self-evident fashion that the one who fulfils these tasks is the Creator of the whole cosmos, and this deed, requiring as it does infinite power and limitless wisdom, can be only His deed.
Yes, blind and stray, disorderly and unconscious, aimless, aggressive, and anarchic forces, nature and causality, cannot have anything to do with this most sensitive balance, this most skilful art, this most wise scheme. They cannot even stretch out their hands toward it. It falls to them only to be employed through the dominical command as passive objects, as curtainholders.
Just like the three points proving Divine unity contained in the three truths indicated in the three verses, the countless manifestations and workings of infinite dominical deeds attest unanimously the unity of a Single One of Unity, the All-Glorious One.
THE THIRD TRUTH: The creation of beings, particularly plants and animals, with absolute speed and absolute orderliness; with absolute ease and extreme skill, talent, ability, and order; with great value and distinction, despite extreme abundance and intermingling.
Yes, to produce with extreme swiftness and in extreme abundance, most skilfully and artistically, with great ease and facility combined with the utmost care and orderliness, with great value and distinction despite abundance and intermingling, without any form of confusion or deficiency — this can be achieved only by a Unique Being Whose power is such that nothing appears difficult to it.
For that power it is as easy to create stars as atoms, the greatest as the smallest, a whole species as a single member of a species, a sublime and comprehensive universal as a restricted and petty particular; it is as easy for Him to revivify and quicken the whole earth as to do the same with a tree or to erect a tree as tall as a mountain as it is to produce a seed no bigger than a fingernail. All of these deeds He performs in front of our eyes.
So the exposition, the solution, the uncovering and proof of the mystery of this degree of the assertion of the Divine unity, this Third Truth, this word of unity — the mystery that the greatest universal is like the smallest particular without the slightest difference between them —this beneficial wisdom, this supreme talisman, this riddle beyond the reach of the intellect, this most significant foundation of Islam, this most profound source of faith, this greatest basis of the Divine unity— the setting forth of all this opens the talisman of the Qur’an, and makes it possible to know the most secret and unknowable riddle of the creation of all beings, a riddle that reduces philosophy to impotence.
Thanks and praise one hundred thousand times the letters of the Risale-i Nur be to the Compassionate Creator that the Risale-i Nur has solved, uncovered and established this wondrous talisman, this wondrous riddle. It has been proven with decisive arguments, to the same degree of certainty that twice two is four, particularly in the discussion of “He is powerful over all things” toward the end of the Twentieth Letter; in the section concerning God’s being an all-powerful agent in the Twenty-Ninth Word, one devoted to the resurrection; and in the section proving the Divine power in the degrees of “God is Most Great” in the Twenty-Ninth Flash, written in Arabic. For that reason we assign to those parts of the Risale-i Nur the exposition of this matter, wishing, however, to set out briefly the foundations and proofs that solve this mystery and to allude to thirteen mysteries that resemble thirteen steps, or a list of contents. I have indeed written the first and second mysteries, but unfortunately two powerful obstacles, material and immaterial, have caused me to abandon the remainder.
T h e F i r s t M y s t e r y : If something be essential, its opposite cannot have access to the essence defined by that thing. For that would be equivalent to the union of opposites, which is an absurdity. Now with regard to this principle, since God’s power is related to His Essence and is an essential concomitant of His Most Sacred Essence, impotence —the opposite of power— cannot in any way gain access to that All-Powerful Essence.
Moreover, the existence of degrees within a thing comes about through the intervention in it of its opposite. For example, strong and weak degrees of light result from the intervention of darkness; high and low degrees of heat proceed from the admixture of coldness; and greater and lesser amounts of strength are determined by the intervention and opposition of resistance. It is therefore impossible that degrees should exist in that power of the Divine Essence. He creates all things as if they were but a single thing. And since degrees do not exist in the power of the Divine Essence and it does not admit of weakness or deficiency, no obstacle can in any way obstruct it nor can the creation of anything cause it difficulty.
Since, then, nothing is difficult for God’s power, He creates the supreme resurrection with the same ease as spring; spring with the same facility as a tree; and a tree with as little trouble as a flower. Further, He creates a flower as artistically as a tree; a tree as miraculously as a spring; and a spring as comprehensively and wondrously as a resurrection. All of this He accomplishes in front of our eyes.
It has been proved in the Risale-i Nur with decisive and strong proofs that if there were no Divine unity, the making of a flower would be as difficult as a tree or even more difficult; the making of a tree would be as hard a spring or even more difficult; and creation would even lose its value and artistic quality. An animate being that now takes a minute to produce would be produced with difficulty in one year, or maybe never at all.
It is then on account of this mystery that these fruits, flowers, trees and animals, that are extremely valuable despite their ubiquitousness and abundance, and extremely artistic despite the swiftness and ease of their fashioning, emerge in regular fashion onto the plain of being and assume their functions. Proclaiming God’s glory, they accomplish their duties and depart, leaving behind their seed in their stead.
S e c o n d M y s t e r y : Through the mystery of luminosity, transparency, and obedience, just as through the manifestation of its essential power, a single sun reflects it light in a single mirror, so too, through the Divine command and due to the extensive activity of that unrestricted power, it can easily bestow the same reflection —together with its light and heat— on innumerable mirrors, shining objects, and droplets. Great and small are the same, there is no difference between them.
Similarly, like a single word can enter the ear of one man without trouble, so too due to the infinite breadth of boundless creativity, it may enter a million ears, with dominical permission. And a single light like an eye, or a single luminous spirit being like Gabriel, through the infinite breadth of dominical activity within the manifestation of mercy, may be present in, or look at, or enter thousands of places through Divine power, as easily as they look at or enter a single place. There is no difference between many and few.
The pre-eternal power of God’s essence is the most subtle and choicest of lights, the light of all lights; the quiddities, essences and inner dimensions of all things are luminous and lustrous as mirrors; all things, from the atom, the plant, and the animate creature to the stars, the suns and the moons, are extremely obedient and submissive to the command of that power of the Divine Essence and subordinate to the orders of that pre-eternal power. It is for all of these reasons entirely natural that innumerable things should be created with the same ease as a single thing and placed side by side with each other. No concern or task interferes with another. Great and small, many and few, particular and universal — all are the same for that power, for which nothing is difficult.
As was said in the Tenth and Twenty-Ninth Words, through the mysteries of order, equilibrium, obedience to command and submission to order, that power causes a great ship as big as a hundred houses, to move and advance as a child’s finger pushes his toy.
As a commander will send a single infantryman into battle with an order from his throne, so too he may throw a whole obedient army into the fray with the same single order.
Let us suppose that two mountains are in a state of equilibrium in a large and sensitive balance. In the same way that a single walnut would cause one pan to rise and the other to fall if placed on one side of a balance containing two eggs, it would produce the same result with the scale containing the mountains; through a wise law it would cause one pan with its mountain to rise to the mountain-top, and the other to descend with its mountain to the bottom of the valley.
Since there is to be found in God’s absolute, infinite, luminous, esssential and eternal power a Divine justice and unending wisdom that is the origin, source, fundament and beginning of all order, regularity and equilibrium in creation; and since all things, particular and universal, small and great, are obedient to the command of that power and submissive to its workings — it follows that God causes the stars to revolve and to move, through the wisdom of His order, as easily as He rotates and moves the atoms.
In spring, just as He brings to life a single fly with a single order, so too He bestows life with the same ease and the same command on the whole species of fly, as well as all the hosts of plants and animals, through the mystery of the wisdom and equilibrium inherent in His power, and then sends them forth onto the plain of life.
In the same way that he swiftly gives life to a tree in spring and infuses vitality in its bones, with His wise and just absolute power, He also resurrects in the spring the corpse of the vast earth and brings into being hundreds of thousands of different specimens of resurrection similar to the tree, all this with the greatest of ease.
With His creative command, He brings the earth back to life. By the decree of,
There will be but a single cry, then they shall all be brought nigh unto Us;37
that is, “all men and jinn, with a single cry and command shall be brought to Us and made present at the plain of resurrection.” Again, by His command,
The hour shall be but a blinking of the eye, or even closer;38
that is, the bringing about of resurrection and the gathering that follows upon it shall take no longer than the opening and closing of an eye, or even less. Then there is the verse,
Your creation and resurrection is as a single soul,39
meaning the following: “O men! To create you and to bring you to life, to resurrect and gather you, is as easy for me as bringing one soul to life; it presents no problem to My power.” Acccording to the inner sense of these three verses, God will bring all men and jinn, all animals, spirit beings and angels to the field of the Supreme Gathering and the great balance with a single command and with great ease. One concern does not interfere with another.
The remaining Mysteries, from the third and fourth as far as the thirteenth, have been postponed to another time in a fashion disagreeable to me.
THE FOURTH TRUTH: The existence and appearance of all beings proclaim the Divine unity in a self-evident fashion through their numerous points of unity and convergence, such as being simultaneously together and yet separate and unique; resembling one another; being the miniature or magnified versions of each other; being some, universals and species, and some, particulars and individuals; resembling each other in the stamp of innate disposition; having affinity in the impress of artistry; and aiding and complementing each other with respect to their innate functions. They establish the unity of their Maker. And with respect to dominicality, make it clear that the cosmos is a universal and a whole that may not be divided or fragmented.
For example, in each spring, to create, order and sustain the innumerable members of the four hundred thousand different species of plants and animals, together and intermingled, in a single moment and in the same fashion, without any error or mistake, with the utmost wisdom and perfection of artistry; to create all the different species of bird, from flies, which are like birds in miniature, to eagles which are the supreme specimens of the species, then to equip them with the means of flight and subsistence and to cause them to journey through the realm of the air; to imprint on the countenances of each of the birds in miraculous fashion a stamp of artistry, on the body of each of them a seal of wisdom, and in the quiddity of each of them, in sustaining fashion, a sign of God’s unity; to cause wisely and mercifully particles of food to hasten to the aid of the cells of the body, plants to rush to the assistance of animals, and all mothers to go swiftly to the help of their powerless infants; to work on all things, particular and universal, from the Milky Way, the solar system and the elements of the earth, down to the veils of the pupil of the eye, the petals of the rose, the husk of the corn, the seeds of the melon, like a series of intersecting circles, with the same regularity, perfection of artistry, the same deed, and plenitude of wisdom — to do all this establishes the following with self-evident certainty:
He who performs these deeds is One and unique; His imprint is on all things. In the same way that He is not in any place, he is present in every place. Like the sun, all things are distant from Him, but He is close to all things. Just as the greatest objects, such as the Milky Way and the solar system, are not difficult for Him, so too the cells in man’s blood and the thoughts that pass across his heart are not secret from Him nor beyond the reach of His power.
However great and multitudinous a thing may be, it is as easy for Him as the smallest and scarcest thing, for He creates with ease a fly on the model of an eagle, a seed in the form of a tree, a tree in the shape of a garden, a garden with the artistry of a spring, and a spring on the scale of a resurrection. Things most valuable in their artistry He gives to us and bestows upon us most cheaply. The price that He asks of us is merely to say “In the name of God” and “Praise be to God.” In other words, the accepted price for all those numerous precious bounties is to say at the beginning of all things, “In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,” and at their end, “Praise be to God.”
Since this Fourth Truth is explained and proved elsewhere in the Risale-i Nur, we content ourselves here with this brief allusion.
THE FIFTH TRUTH perceived by our traveller at the second stage: the existence in the entirety of the cosmos, its pillars and parts and all the beings contained in it, of the most perfect order and regularity; the sameness of the substances and purposive beings that are the means of the rotation and administration of that vast kingdom and are connected to its general scheme; the fact that the Divine Names and deeds that are at work in that magnificent city, that vast exhibition, encompass and comprehend all things or most things, despite their being one within the other, and of the same nature, and the same, and their being the same Name and deed in every place; the fact that the elements and species that are the means for the administration, inhabiting, and construction of that well-adorned palace, cover the whole face of the earth in their diffusion, despite their being one within the other, of the same nature, and the same element and the same species being found everywhere — all of this demands, proves, and affirms, necessarily and self-evidently, the following:
The Maker and Disposer of this cosmos, the Monarch and Nurturer of this realm, the Master and Builder of this palace, is one, unique, sole. He has neither like nor peer, neither minister nor aide. He has neither partner nor opposite, he has neither inability nor deficiency. Yes, order is in itself a perfect expression of unity; it demands a single orderer. It leaves no place for the assignment of partners to God, the source of dispute and dissension.
There is a wise and precise order inherent in all things, whether universal or particular, from the total scheme of the cosmos and the daily and annual rotation of the earth down to the physiognomy of man, the complex of senses in man’s head and the circulation of white and red cells in man’s blood. Nothing other than One Absolutely Powerful and Absolutely Wise can stretch out its hand intentionally and creatively toward any thing, nor interfere with it. On the contrary, all things are recipients, means of manifestation, and passive.
Now, ordering, the pursuit of certain purposes and the bestowal of regularity with a view to certain benefits, can be done only by means of knowledge and wisdom and performed only with will and choice.
Certainly and in all events, this wisdom-nurturing regularity, this infinitely varied ordering of the cosmos that before our very eyes assures various benefits, proves and affirms to a self-evident degree that the Creator and Disposer of all beings is one, an agent possessing will and choice. Everything comes into being through His power, assumes a particular state through His will, and takes on a particular form through His choice.
The heat-giving lamp of this hospice that is the world is one; its candle that is the basis for the reckoning of time is one; its merciful sponge is one; its fiery cook is one; its life-giving beverage is one; its well-guarded field is one, as well as a thousand and one other instances of oneness. It follows from all of these instances of oneness that the Maker and Master of this hospice is also one, that He is extremely generous and hospitable, for He employs numerous high-ranking and great officials to serve the animate guests of His hospice.
Names such as All-Wise, Compassionate, Giver of Forms, Disposer, Quickener, and Nurturer, the impresses and manifestations of which are to be seen at work in every corner of the world, attributes such as wisdom, mercy, and grace, and acts such as formation, disposition and nurturing, are all one. They embrace every place in the utmost degree, each Name and act being present there.
They also complement the imprint of each other in such a way that it is as if those Names and deeds were uniting in such fashion that power becomes identical with wisdom and mercy, and wisdom becomes identical with grace and life. For example, as soon as the activity of the Name of Quickener appears in a thing, the activity of numerous other Names such as Creator, Giver of Form, and Provider, also appears at the same instant, everywhere, and in the same system. This of a certainty and self-evidently establishes and proves that that which is designated by the Names and the Doer of the comprehensive deeds that appear everywhere in the same fashion must also be one, single and unique. In this we believe and to this we give our assent!
The elements that are the substance and material of creation encompass the whole earth. Each of the species of creation that bears an imprint attesting unity is diffused throughout the earth in unity and, so to speak, conquers it. This also proves to the degree of being self-evident that those elements together with what they embrace, and those species, together with their separate members, are the product and property of a single being. They are the products and servants of so Unique and Powerful a One that He employs those vast and and imperious elements as obedient servants and those species diffused throughout the earth as well-disciplined soldiers. Since this truth also has been established and explained in other places in the Risale-i Nur, we content ourselves here with this brief indication.
In summary of the witnessings that he derived from these Five Truths, through the superabundance of faith and the joy of Divine unity, and in expression of his feelings, our traveller said to his heart:
Look upon the coloured page of the cosmic book;
See what forms the golden pen of power has traced.
No dark point remains for the gaze of the heart’s eye;
It is as if God has inscribed His signs with light.
Know too that:
The leaves in the world’s book are dimensions infinite;
The lines of time’s events are works innumerable.
Written on the workbench of the Preserved Tablet of reality,
A meaningful embodied word, is every being in this world.
Listen also to this:
When all things proclaim, “No god but God,” they will in unison say, “O Truth and Reality!” and beseech in harmony, “O Living One!” Yes, in all things there is a sign pointing to the fact that He is One.
Hearkening to this his heart and soul affirmed the truth of what they heard and said, “Yes, indeed!”
In brief allusion to the Five Truths of Unity observed by our traveller through the world, our voyager through the cosmos, at this Second Stopping-Place, it was said in the Second Chapter of the First Station:
There is no god but God, the One, the Unique, to Whose Unity in Necessary Existence points the witnessing of the truth of Grandeur and Sublimity, its perfection and comprehensiveness; the witnessing of the truth of the appearance of deeds in absolute fashion, in infinitude, without any limitation except that of God’s will and wisdom; the witnessing of the truth of the creation of beings in absolute multiplicity with absolute swiftness, the creation of creatures in absolute ease with absolute perfection, the origination of things made in absolute plenitude with utter perfection of artistry and value; the witnessing of the truth of the existence of beings in universal and comprehensive fashion, joined, interconnected and interrelated; the witnessing of the truth of universal order, an order incompatible with the assignation of partners to God; the witnessing of the unity of the sources of cosmic order, a unity that clearly attests the unity of their Maker; the unity of the Names and deeds that comprehend and permeate the universe; and the unity of the elements and species dispersed over the face of the earth in imperious fashion.
That world traveller voyaging through different ages chanced upon the school of the Renewer of the Second Millenium, Imam-i Rabbani, Ahmad Faruqi. He entered and listened to the lesson being taught by the Imam:
“The most important result yielded by all the Sufi paths is the unfolding of the truths of belief. The unfolding in clarity of a single truth of belief is preferable to a thousand miraculous deeds and mystical visions.”
The Imam said too:
“In former times, great persons said that someone will arise from among the theologians and the scholars of the science of theology. He will prove all the truths of belief and Islam with rational proofs and the utmost clarity. I wish to be that man and maybe I am.”40
He continued his instruction by saying that belief and the assertion of Divine unity were the foundation, substance, light and life of all human perfection; that the Hadith “An hour’s reflective thought is better than a year’s worship”41 refers to reflection on belief; and that the silent mode of invocation practised in the Naqshbandi Order is a form of this most excellent reflection.
The traveller listened with utmost care. He turned and addressed himself as follows: “It is thus that this heroic Imam speaks. To increase the strength of one’s belief by as much as an atom is worth more than a ton of gnosis or other form of perfection and sweeter than the honey of a hundred visionary experiences.
“On the other hand, the philosophers of Europe have leagued together for a thousand years to invent objections and doubts in their hostility to faith and the Qur’an, and to attack the believers. They wish to shake the pillars of belief that are the key, the source, the foundation of everlasting felicity, of life immortal, of eternal Paradise. We ought therefore to strengthen our belief by making it one of realization instead of one of imitation. So come, let us advance! In order to bring the twenty-nine degrees of faith that we have found, each as powerful as a mountain, to the blessed number of thirty-three, the number of litanies that follow upon prayer, and in order to see a third stopping-place in this realm of instruction, let us knock at the door of the dominical sustenance of the animate world and open it with the key of ‘In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.’” Speaking thus he beseechingly knocked at the gate of this Third Stopping-Place, a compendium of wonders, and a spectacle of marvels.
Saying, “In the Name of God, the Opener,” he opened the gate. The Third Stopping-Place became visible to him. He entered and saw that it was illumined by four great and encompassing truths that demonstrated the Divine unity as brightly as the sun.
THE FIRST TRUTH: the Truth of Opening
That is, the opening up from a single simple substance of innumerable varied and separate forms, together, everywhere, in a single instant and by a single deed, through the manifestation of the Name of Opener.Yes, in the same way that God’s creative power has opened up innumerable beings like flowers in the garden of the cosmos, and endowed each with an orderly form and distinct identity, through the manifestation of the Name of Opener, so too, although in more miraculous fashion, he has given to the four hundred thousand species of animate beings in the garden of the earth each its symmetrical, adorned and distinct form.
He creates you in the wombs of your mothers, creation after creation in three darknesses. That is God, your Sustainer. His is the sovereignty; there is no god other than He. Where, then, will you turn?42
Nought is hidden from God, neither on earth nor in the heavens. He it is Who forms you in the wombs as He wills; there is no god but He, the Mighty, the Wise.43
As these two verses indicate, the strongest proof of Divine unity and the most remarkable miracle of Divine Power is God’s opening up of forms. Because the opening of forms is repeatedly established and expounded in different ways elsewhere in the Risale-i Nur, and particularly in the Sixth and Seventh Degrees of the First Chapter of the Second Station of this treatise, we refer the discussion of this matter to those places and restrict ourselves here to the following:According to the testimony of botany and biology, based on profound research, there is in the opening and unfolding of forms, such comprehensiveness and artistry that other than a Single and Unique One, One Absolutely Powerful, able to see and do all things in all things, no one could undertake this comprehensive and all-embracing deed. For this deed of the unfolding of forms demands a wisdom, an attention and a comprehensiveness that are present at all times and are contained within an infinite power. This power, in turn, can be found only in that Unique Being Who administers the whole cosmos.
As is decreed in the above-quoted verses, God’s attribute of ‘opening’ expressed in the opening and creation of the forms of men from their mother’s wombs, within three darknesses, separately, with equilibrium, distinctness, and order, without any error, confusion, or mistake; this truth of the unfolding of the forms of all men and animals, all over the earth, with the same power, the same wisdom and the same artistry, is a most powerful proof of God’s unity. For to comprehend and embrace all things is itself a form of unity that leaves no room for the assignation of partners to God. Just as the nineteen Truths of the First Chapter bearing witness to the necessary existence of God also attest the existence of the Creator through their own existence, so too they bear witness to His unity through their comprehensiveness. Our traveller then saw the following Second Truth in the Third Stopping-Place:
THE SECOND TRUTH: the Truth of Mercifulness
We see with our own eyes that there is one who has covered the face of the earth with thousands of gifts of mercy, and made it into a feasting-place. He has laid out a spread of hundreds of thousands of the different delicious foods of Mercifulness, and made the inside of the earth a storehouse containing thousands of precious bounties of compassionateness and wisdom. That Being sends to us also the earth, in its yearly rotation, like a ship or a train, laden with the finest of the hundreds of thousands of vital human necessities, proceeding from the World of the Unseen; and He sends to us too the spring, like a waggon carrying food and clothing for us. Thus does he nurture us, with utmost compassion. In order for us to profit from those gifts and bounties, He has moreover given us hundreds and thousands of appetities, needs, feelings, sensations and senses.
As was set forth in the Fourth Ray concerning the verse on the sufficiency of God, He has given us a stomach that can take pleasure in infinite varieties of food.
He has given us such a life that through the senses associated with it we can derive benefit from the innumerable bounties of the vast corporeal world, just as if it were some bounteous spread.
He has favoured us with the human state so that we delight in the boundless gifts of both the spiritual and material worlds, through instruments such as the intellect and the heart.
He has conveyed Islam to us so that we derive light from the boundless treasuries of the Unseen and Manifest Realms.
He has guided us to faith so that we are illumined by the innumerable lights and gifts of this world and the hereafter. This cosmos is like a palace fitted out and adorned by the Divine quality of mercy with innumerable antiques and valuable items, which then gives to man’s hands the keys to open all the chests and chambers in that palace, as well as bestowing on man’s nature all the needs and senses that will enable him to make use of them.
This mercy that embraces this world and the hereafter, and indeed all things, is without doubt a manifestation of oneness within unity.
Just as the light of the sun is a parable of unity, through its comprehending all things that face it, every bright and transparent object that receives the reflection of the light, heat, and seven colours of the sun, is also a parable and a symbol of oneness. Hence, whoever sees its all-embracing light will conclude that the sun of this earth is one and unique. Witnessing the warm and luminous reflection of the sun in all bright objects, and even in drops of water, he will say that the oneness of the sun, or the sun itself, is present with its attributes close to all things; it is at the mirrorlike heart of all things.
So too the encompassing of all things by the extensive mercy of the Merciful One of Beauty, like a light, demonstrates the unity of that Merciful One and that He in no way has any partner. Similarly, the fact that under the veil of that all-embracing mercy the lights of most of the Merciful One’s Names and a sort of manifestation of His essence are found in everything, and especially in all living beings, and in man in particular, and the fact that this gives each individual a comprehensiveness arising from life which causes him to look to and be related to the whole universe, proves the oneness of the Merciful One and that He is present with all things and does all things in all things.
Yes, the Merciful One shows the splendour of His glory in the whole of the cosmos and all over the earth through the unity and comprehensiveness of His mercy. With the manifestation of His oneness, He gathers together in every member of all animate species, and particularly man, specimens of all His bounties, orders the tools and instruments of animate beings, and proclaims the special solicitude of His beauty to each individual, this without shattering the wholeness of the universe. As for man, it is in him that God makes known in concentrated form the various forms of His bounty.
Similarly, a melon can be said to be concentrated in its seed; the being that makes the seed must necessarily be he who makes the melon. Then, with the special balance of his knowledge and the particular law of his wisdom, he draws the seed out from it, gathers it together and clothes it in a body. Nothing other than the one and unique master craftsman who makes the melon is able to make its seed. That would be impossible.
Since through the manifestation of Mercifulness the cosmos becomes like a tree or a garden, the earth becomes like a fruit or a melon, and man becomes like a seed, of a certainty the Creator and Sustainer of the smallest animate being must be the Creator of all the earth and all the cosmos.
In Short: just as the making and unfolding of the regular and orderly forms of all beings through the truth of Opening, which is comprehensive, proves unity to the point of being self-evident, so too the truth of Mercifulness, which encompasses all things, through its nurturing of all animate beings that come into existence and enter the life of this world, particularly the newly arrived, with the utmost order and regularity, causing all necessities to reach them, forgetting none of them, this same mercy reaching all individuals everywhere at the same instant demonstrates both unity, and oneness within unity. Our traveller then witnessed the following Third Truth in the Third Stopping-Place
THE THIRD TRUTH: the Truth of Disposing and Administering
That is, to administer with complete order and equilibrium both the awesome and swift-moving heavenly bodies and imperious, interfering elements, and the needy, weak denizens of earth; to cause them to aid each other; to administer them jointly with each other; to take all necessary measures concerning them; and to make this vast world like a perfect kingdom, a magnificent city, a well-adorned palace.Leaving side the vast spheres of this imperious and merciful administration, since it is explained and proved in important sections of the Risale-i Nur such as the Tenth Word, we will show, by means of a comparison, a single page and stage of that administration as it manifests itself in the spring on the face of the earth.
Let us suppose, for example, that some wondrous world conqueror assembled an army from four hundred thousand different groups and nationalities, and supplied the clothes and weapons, the instructions and dismissals and salaries of every group and nationality, separately and variously, without any defect or shortcoming, without error or mistake, at the proper time, without any delay or confusion, with the utmost regularity and in most perfect form, no cause other than the extraordinary power of that wondrous commander could stretch out is hand to attempt that vast, complex, subtle, balanced, multitudinous and just administration. Were it to stretch out its hand, it would destroy the equilibrium and cause confusion.
So too we see with our own eyes that an unseen hand creates and administers every spring a magnificent army composed of four hundred thousand different species. In the autumn —an example of the day of resurrection— it dismisses three hundred thousand out of those four hundred thousand species of plants and animals from their duties, and they go on leave through the activity of death and in the name of decease..
In spring —a sample of the gathering that follows resurrection— it constructs three hundred thousand examples of raising from the dead in the space of a few weeks, with the utmost order and discipline. In the case of the tree, four such resurrections take place with respect to the tree itself, its leaves, its flowers, and its fruits. After showing spring to our eyes exactly like the preceding one, it gives each species and group in that army of glory that contains four hundred thousand different species its appropriate sustenance and provision, its defensive weapons and distinctive garments, its orders and dismissals, and all the tools and instruments it needs, with the utmost order and regularity, without error or slip, without confusion or omission, in unexpected fashion and at the proper time. It thus proves its unity, oneness, uniqueness, and infinite power and boundless mercy within perfection of dominicality, sovereignty and wisdom, and writes with the pen of Divine Determining this proclamation of Divine unity on the face of the earth, on the page of every spring.
After reading only a single page of this proclamation of one spring, our traveller said to himself:
“The torment of Hell-fire is pure justice for those who commit the error of denying resurrection. For such denial would be to refute the numerous promises and to deny the power of One Powerful and Compelling, a Wrathful One of Glory, Who has promised and assured all of His prophets thousands of times and set forth in thousands of verses of the Qur’an, explicity and by way of allusion, that He will bring about a resurrection and gathering far easier for Him than the thousands of miraculous gatherings that occur every spring, each more wondrous than the Supreme Gathering.” His soul responded: “We believe in what you say.”
THE FOURTH TRUTH, which forms the Thirty-Third Degree:
the Truth of Compassionateness and Bestowal of Provision
That is, the giving, over the whole face of the globe, within the earth, in the air above it and the ocean around it, to all animate beings, especially those endowed with spirit, and among them especially the impotent, the weak and the young, all of their necessary sustenance, material and immaterial, in the most solicitous manner, deriving it from dry and rude soil, from solid, bonelike dry pieces of wood, and in the case of the most delicate of all forms of sustenance, from between blood and urine, at the proper time, in orderly fashion, without any omission or confusion, in front of our eyes, by an unseen hand.Yes, the verse,God is the Provider, the firm possessor of strength,44restricts to God the task of sustaining and providing, and the verse,There is no moving thing on earth but depends on God for its sustenance; He knows its resting-place and storage-place; all is in a book perspicuous45provides a dominical guarantee and pledge to furnish provision for all men and animals. Similarly, the verse,The beasts do not carry their sustenance; God sustains them and you, and He is All-Hearing, All-Knowing,46establishes and proclaims that it is God Who guarantees and provides for all impotent, powerless, weak and wretched creatures that are unable to secure their own sustenance, in an unexpected fashion, indeed from the Unseen or even out of nothing; it is He for example Who provides for insects on the ocean bed and their young. This proclamation is directed in particular to those men who worship causes and are unaware that it is He Who bestows provision from behind the veil of causality. Numerous other verses of the Qur’an and innumerable pieces of cosmic evidence unanimously demonstrate that it is the compassionateness of a single Glorious Provider that nurtures all animate beings.Now the trees require a certain form of sustenance but have neither power nor will. They remain therefore in their places, trusting in God, and their provision comes hastening to them. So too the sustenance of infants flows to their mouths from wondrous small pumps, aided by the solicitude and tenderness of their mothers. Then when the infants acquire a little power and will, the milk ceases. These various instances clearly prove that licit sustenance is not proportionate to will and power, but comes in relation to weakness and impotence, which induce trust in God.
Will, power and cleverness frequently incite greed, which is a source of loss, and often push certain learned men toward a form of beggary, whereas by contrast the trusting weakness of the boorish, crude and common man may cause him to attain riches.
The proverb, “How many a learned man has striven in vain, and how many an ignoramus gained rich provision,” establishes that licit provision is not won by power and will, but by a mercy that finds working and striving acceptable; it is bestowed by a tenderness that takes pity on need.
Now provision and sustenance is of two kinds:
The First is true and natural provision, that required for life; this is guaranteed by the Sustainer. It is indeed so regular and well-ordered that this natural provision, stored in the body in the form of fat and other things, is enough to ensure survival for at least twenty days, even if nothing is eaten. Those who apparently die of hunger before the twenty or thirty days are up and before the provision stored up in their body is exhausted, die in reality not from a lack of provision, but from a disease arising from lack of caution and the disturbance of fixed habit.
The Second Form of Provision: metaphorical and artifical provision, arising due to addiction from habit, wastefulness and misuse, but acquiring the appearance of necessity. This form is not guaranteed by the Sustainer, but depends on His generosity: sometimes He may give it, sometimes He may not give it.
With respect to this second form of provision and sustenance, happy is he who regards his frugality —a source of happiness and pleasure— contentment and licit striving, as a form of worship and active prayer for sustenance. He accepts God’s bounty gratefully and appreciatively, and passes his life in happpy fashion.
Wretched is he who on account of prodigality —the source of wretchedness and loss— and greed, abandons licit striving, knocks at every door, passes his life in sloth, oppression and wretchedness, and indeed puts his own life to death.
In the same way that a stomach requires sustenance, so too the subtle capacities and senses of man, his heart, spirit, intelligence, eye, ear and mouth, also request their sustenance from the Compassionate Provider and gratefully receive it. To each of them separately and in appropriate form is presented such provision from the treasury of mercy as will rejoice them and give them pleasure. Indeed, the Compassionate Provider, in order to give to them provision in more generous measure has created each of man’s subtle capacities —eye and ear, heart, imagination, and intellect— in the form of a key to His treasury of mercy. For example, the eye is a key to the treasury containing such precious jewels as the fairness and beauty to be seen on the face of the universe, and the same holds true of all the others mentioned; they all benefit through faith. To resume after our digression:
The All-Powerful and Wise One Who created this cosmos created also life as a comprehensive summary of the cosmos, and concentrated all of His purposes and the manifestations of His Names therein. So too, within the realm of life, he made of provision a comprehensive centre of activity and created within animate beings the taste for provision, thus causing animate beings to respond to His dominicality and love with a permanent and universal gratitude, thankfulness, and worship that is one of the significant purposes and instances of wisdom inherent in the creation of the universe.
For example, it is one of the activities of dominicality to cause every area of the broad realm of dominicality to rejoice — the heavens are caused to rejoice with the angels and spirit beings, the World of the Unseen with spirits, and the material world, particularly the air and the earth, with the existence of all animate beings, particularly birds, great and small, at all times and places. Through the wisdom of this causing to rejoice and the infusion of life and spirit, animals and men are, as it were, whipped by the need for provision and the pleasure they take therein to pursue their provision and sustenance, thus being delivered from sloth. This too is one of the wise activities of dominicality. Were it not for such significant instances of wisdom, the provision destined for animals would be caused instinctively to hasten toward them to satisfy their needs, without any effort on their part, just as provision and sustenance is caused to hasten toward the tree.
Were there to be an eye capable of witnessing and comprehending the whole surface of the earth at one time, in order to perceive the beauties of the Names of Compassionate and Provider and the witness they bear to Divine unity, it would see what sweet beauty is contained in the tender and solicitous manifestation of the Compassionate Provider Who sends to the caravans of animals at the end of winter, when their provision is about to be exhausted, extremely delicious, abundant and varied foods and bounties, drawn exclusively from His unseen treasury of mercy, as succour from the unseen and Divine generosity, placed in the hands of plants, the crowns of trees, and the breasts of mothers. The possessor of that all-seeing eye would realize the following:
The making of a single apple, and the generous giving of it to a man as true sustenance and provision, can be accomplished only by a Being Who causes the seasons, the nights and the days to rotate, Who causes the globe to revolve like a cargo ship, and thus brings the fruits of the seasons within reach of those needy guests of the earth who stand waiting for them. For the stamp of its nature, the seal of wisdom, the imprint of eternal besoughtedness, the signet of mercy that is to be found on the surface of the apple, is to be found also on all apples and other fruits, plants and animals. Hence the true Master and Maker of the apple is bound to be the Glorious Sovereign, the Beauteous Creator of all the inhabitants of the world, who are the peers, the congeners and the brothers of the apple; of the vast earth that is the garden of the apple; of the tree of the cosmos that is its factory; of the seasons that are its workshop; and of the spring and summer that are its place of maturing.
In other words, every fruit is a seal of unity that makes known the Writer and Maker of the earth, its tree, and of the book of the universe, its garden; it demonstrates His unity, and shows to the number of fruits, the seal affixed to the decree of unity.
Since the Risale-i Nur is a manifestation of the Names of All-Compassionate and All-Wise, and numerous flashes and mysteries of the truth of Compassionateness have been expounded and proved in many parts of the Risale-i Nur, we leave further discussion of the matter to those parts and content ourselves with this brief indication, out of a vast treasury, on account of the unfavourable circumstances from which we are now suffering.
Our traveller now says: “Praise be to God! I have seen and heard Thirty-Three Truths bearing witness to the necessary existence and unity of the Creator and Sovereign I was everywhere seeking and enquiring after. Each of the truths is bright as the sun and leaves no darkness behind. It is as strong and unshakeable as a mountain. Each of them, with its verifications, bears decisive witness to His existence, and with its comprehensiveness proves His unity in manifest fashion. While proving implicitly all the pillars of faith, the totality and consensus of these truths causes our belief to advance from imitation to realization, from realization to knowledge of certainty, from knowledge of certainty to vision of certainty, and from vision of certainty to absolute certainty. Praise be to God; this is from the bounty of my Sustainer.”
Praise be to God Who guided us to this; verily we would not have been guided unless God had guided us. The messengers of God have come to us with the truth.47
In extremely brief allusion to the lights of belief derived by our inquisitive traveller from the four sublime truths he witnessed at the Third Stopping-Place, it was said in the Second Chapter of the First Station, concerning the truths of the Third Stopping-Place:
There is no god other than God, the One, the Unique, to Whose Unity in Necessary Existence points the witnessing of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of opening, through the unfolding of different forms of four hundred thousand species of living beings, perfect and without defect, according to the testimony of biology and botany; the witnessing of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of mercifulness, all-embracing and regular, without any deficiency, as the eye can see; the witnessing of the sublimity of the truth of administering, that encompasses in orderly fashion all living beings, without error or defect; the witnessing of the sublimity of the comprehensivness of the truth of compassionateness and sustaining, embracing all consumers of sustenance, at every time of need, without any mistake or forgetfulness; Glory be unto Him, the Provider, the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Solicitous, the Generous; His gifts are universal, and His Generosity is all-embracing; there is no god but He!Glory be unto You; we have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.48O our Sustainer! For the sake of ‘In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,’ O God, O Merciful One, O Compassionate One! Bestow peace and blessings upon our master Muhammad, his Family and all his Companions, to the number of all the letters in the Risale-i Nur, multiplied by ten times the number of minutes in all of our lives in this world and the hereafter, and then by the number of particles in my body throughout the course of my life. Forgive me, and those who aid me in sincerity in the copying and distribution of the Risale-i Nur, and our fathers, our masters, our shaykhs, our sisters, our brothers, and the sincere students of the Risale-i Nur, particularly those who write and copy this treatise; by Your Mercy, O Most Merciful of the Merciful, Amen. The conclusion of our prayer is, ‘Praise be to God, the Sustainer of All The Worlds!’NOTESince the other parts of the Risale-i Nur were not available in the place that saw the composition of the foregoing treatise, which was of necessity written down here, certain important matters of The Words and The Flashes have been mentioned also in The Supreme Sign, in what is an apparent repetition. In order to have the students of the Risale-i Nur in this area write a complete Risale-i Nur in miniature, we nonetheless had them write down all the present treatise.
The revised copy of this rough draft was written by a certain blessed person. Even though he was ignorant of such matters, we saw in the copy prepared by him a subtle and profound correspondence of the letters: there were six hundred and sixty-six alifs49 written at the beginning of the lines in his copy. This number corresponds fully with the value according to the abjad of the title given to this treatise by Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him), Ayat al-Kubra (The Supreme Sign), and thus demonstrates the suitability of this title for the treatise. We also understood this numerical correspondence to be an indication that this treatise is a flash derived from the light of the verses of the Qur’an for they are six thousand six hundred and sixty-six in number.
S a i d N u r s i
ON THE PURPOSE OF THE RISALE-I NUR
Today, I listened to an imaginary exchange of question and answer. Let me set forth for you a summary of it.
Someone said: “The great mobilization and complete preparedness of the Risale-i Nur for the sake of belief and the proving of the Divine unity is constantly increasing. One hundredth part of its contents is enough to silence the most obstinate atheist; why then this further feverish mobilization and preparation?”
They answered him: “The Risale-i Nur is not only repairing some minor damage or some small house; it is repairing vast damage and the all-embracing citadel which contains Islam, the stones of which are the size of mountains. And it is not striving to reform only a private heart and an individual conscience; it is striving to cure with the medicines of the Qur’an and belief and the Qur’an’s miraculousness the collective heart and generally-held ideas, which have been breached in awesome fashion by the tools of corruption prepared and stored up over a thousand years, and the general conscience, which is facing corruption through the destruction of the foundations, currents, and marks of Islam which are the refuge of all and particularly the mass of believers.
“Certainly, for such universal breaches and awesome wounds, proofs and equipment of the utmost certitude and the strength of mountains, and well-proven medicines and numberless drugs of the effectiveness of a thousand remedies are necessary. Emerging at this time from the miraculousness of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, the Risale-i Nur performs this function, and is also the means of advancing and progressing through the infinite degrees of belief.”
A long discussion ensued to which I listened, offering infinite thanks. I curtail the matter here.
S a i d N u r s i
FOOTNOTES
1. This translation of the Seventh Ray was originally carried out by Hamid Algar, Prof. of Middle Eastern Studies in the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and was first published in 1979. It has been been in part amended to fit the present work. [Tr.]
2. The events that took place in Denizli fully confirmed the prediction of Imam ‘Ali concerning the Supreme Sign. For the secret printing of this book was the cause of our imprisonment, and the triumph of its sacred and most powerful truth was the main cause of our acquittal and deliverance. Thus did Imam ‘Ali make manifest his miraculous prediction, and prove the acceptance of the prayer he had uttered on our behalf: “By means of the Supreme Sign, secure me against sudden death!”
3. See page 130, footnote 7.
4. Qur’an, 51:56.
5. Muslim, Birr, 136; Abu Da’ud, Libas, 25; Ibn Maja, Zuhd, 16; Musnad, ii, 248, 376, 414, 427, 442; iv, 416; Ibn Hibban, Sahih, i, 272; vii, 473; al-Hindi, Kanz al-‘Ummal, iii, 534.
6. The famous supplication revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) which, consisting of the Divine Names, is related to possess many merits. [Tr.]
7. Qur’an, 17:44.
8. Qur’an, 2:164.
9. Qur’an, 42:28.
10. Qur’an, 13:13.
11. Qur’an, 24:43.
12. Qur’an, 30:50.
13. A phrase repeated many times in the Qur’an.
14. See, Muslim, Janna, 26. (The rivers, Sayhan, Jayhan, Euphrates, and Nile). [Tr.]15. Qur’an, 78:7.16. Qur’an, 50:7.17. Qur’an, 79:32.18. Qur’an,18:109.19. Tawatur is the kind of report transmitted by numerous authorities, about which there is no room for doubt. [Tr.]
20. Qur’an, 54:1.
21. Qur’an, 8:17.
20. A river in Paradise.
22. Qur’an, 15:94.
23. Qur’an, 57:1.
24. Muslim, iv, nos: 1816, 1817; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, ii, 392; Tabrizi, Mishkat al-Masabih, No: 4844.
25. Bukhari, vi, 234; al-Mustadrak, i, 553, 554.
26. Qur’an, 81:10.27. Qur’an, 18:109.
28. Qur’an, 3:18.
29. Qur’an, 48:4.
30. Qur’an, 21:22.
31. Qur’an, 57:4.
32. Qur’an, 3:27.
33. Qur’an, 4:48.
34. Qur’an, 16:68.
35. Qur’an, 16:66.
36. Qur’an, 16:67.
37. Qur’an, 36:53.
38. Qur’an, 16:77.
39. Qur’an, 31:28.
40. Time has proven that the man referred to here is not in fact an individual, but the Risale-i Nur itself. It maybe that the people of unveiling happened to notice the insignificant interpreter and proclaimer of the Risale-i Nur and hence came to speak of “a man.”41. al-‘Ajluni, Kashf al-Khafa, i, 310.
42. Qur’an, 39:6.
43. Qur’an, 3:5-6.
44. Qur’an, 51:58.
45. Qur’an, 11:6.
46. Qur’an, 29:60.
47. Qur’an, 7:43.
48. Qur’an, 2:32.
49. Alif: the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, written as a vertical stroke, and the numerical value of which is one. [Tr.]
The Ninth Ray
[The first part of an important addendum to the Tenth Word]
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
So [give] glory to God, when you reach eventide and when you rise in the morning; Yea, to Him be praise, in the heavens and on earth; and in the late afternoon and when the day begins to decline.
It is He Who brings out the living from the dead, and brings out the dead from the living, and Who gives life to the earth after it is dead: and thus shall you be brought out [from the dead].
Among His Signs is this, that He created you from dust; and then,— behold, you are men scattered [far and wide]!
And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that you may dwell in tranquillity with them, and He has put love and mercy between your [hearts]: verily in that are Signs for those who reflect.
And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages and your colours: verily in that are Signs for those who know.
And among His Signs is the sleep that you take by night and by day, and the quest that you [make for livelihood] out of His bounty: verily in that are Signs for those who hearken.
And among His Signs, He shows you the lightning, by way both of fear and of hope, and He sends down rain from the sky and with it gives life to the earth after it is dead: verily in that are Signs for those who are wise.
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 [straightway] come forth.
To Him belongs every being that is in the heavens and on earth: all are devoutly obedient to Him.
It is He Who begins [the process of] creation; then repeats it; and for Him it is most easy. To Him belongs the loftiest similitude [we can think of] in the heavens and the earth; for He is Exalted in Might, Full of Wisdom.1
In this Ninth Ray will be expounded a supreme point of these sublime heavenly verses, which demonstrate one of the ‘poles’ of belief; these mighty sacred proofs of the resurrection of the dead will be explained. It is a subtle instance of dominical grace that thirty years ago at the end of his work entitled Muhâkemat (Reasonings), which was written to set out the principles of Qur’anic exegesis, the Old Said wrote: “Second Aim: Two Qur’anic verses alluding to the resurrection of the dead will be expounded and explained. In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.” There he stopped and could write no further. Now, praise and thanks be to my Compassionate Creator to the number of signs and indications of the resurrection, that thirty years later He gave me success. Yes, nine or ten years ago, He bestowed the Tenth and Twenty-Ninth Words, two brilliant and powerful proofs expounding the Divine decree of:
So look to the signs of God’s mercy, how He raises to life the earth after its death; He it is who will raise the dead to life, for He is Powerful Over All Things,2
which was the first of the two verses. They silenced the deniers of resurrection. Now, nine or ten years after those two impregnable bastions of belief in the resurrection of the dead, He bestowed with the present treatise a commentary on the second of the above two sublime verses. This Ninth Ray, then, consists of nine elevated ‘Stations’, indicated by the above-mentioned verses, and an important Introduction.
Introduction
[Two Points comprising a concise explanation of one comprehensive result of the numerous spiritual benefits of belief in resurrection and of its vital consequences; a demonstration of how essential it is for human life and especially for the life of society; a summary of one universal proof out of numerous proofs of the tenet of belief in the resurrection of the dead; and a statement of how indubitable and self-evident is that tenet of belief.]
FIRST POINT
We shall indicate, as a measure, only four out of hundreds of proofs that belief in the hereafter is fundamental to the life of society and to man’s personal life, and is the basis of his happiness, prosperity, and achievement.
T h e F i r s t : It is only with the thought of Paradise that children, who form almost a half of mankind, can endure all the deaths around them, which appear to them to be grievous and frightening, and strengthen the morale of their weak and delicate beings. With the thought of Paradise they find hope in their vulnerable spirits, prone to weeping, and may live happily. For example, thinking of Paradise, a child may say: “My little brother or friend has died and become a bird in Paradise. He is flying around Paradise and living more happily than us.” The frequent deaths before their unhappy eyes of other children like themselves or of grown-ups will otherwise destroy all their resistance and morale, making their subtle faculties, such as their spirits, hearts, and minds, weep together with their eyes; they will either decline utterly or become crazy, wretched animals.
S e c o n d P r o o f : It is only through the life of the hereafter that the elderly, who form half of mankind, can endure the proximity of the grave, and be consoled at the thought that their lives, to which they are firmly attached, will soon be extinguished and their fine worlds come to an end. It is only with the hope of eternal life that they can respond to the grievous despair they feel in their emotional child-like spirits at the thought of death. Those worthy, anxious fathers and mothers, so deserving of compassion and in need of tranquillity and peace of mind, will otherwise feel a terrible spiritual turmoil and distress in their hearts, and this world will become a dark prison for them, and life even, grievous torment.
T h i r d P r o o f : It is only the thought of Hell-fire that checks the turbulent emotions of youths, the most vigorous element in the life of society, and their violent excesses, restraining them from aggression, oppression, and destruction, and ensuring that the life of society continues tranquilly. If not for fear of Hell, in accordance with the rule ‘Might is right,’ in pursuing their desires, those drunken youths would turn the worlds of the wretched weak and powerless into Hell, and elevated humanity into base animality.
F o u r t h P r o o f : The most comprehensive centre of man’s worldly life, and its mainspring, and a paradise, refuge, and fortress of worldly happiness, is the life of the family. Everyone’s home is a small world for him. And the life and happiness of his home and family are possible through genuine, earnest, and loyal respect and true, tender, and self-sacrificing compassion. This true respect and genuine kindness may be felt due to the idea of the members of the family having an everlasting companionship and friendship and togetherness, and their parental, filial, brotherly, and friendly relations continuing for all eternity in a limitless life, and their believing this. One says, for example: “My wife will be my constant companion in an everlasting world and eternal life. It does not matter if she is now old and ugly, for she will have an immortal beauty.” He will tell himself that he will be as kind and devoted as he can for the sake of that permanent companionship, and treat his elderly wife lovingly and kindly as though she was a beautiful houri. A companionship that was to end in eternal separation after an hour or two of brief, apparent friendship would otherwise afford only superficial, temporary, feigned, animal-like feelings, and false compassion and artificial respect. As with animals, self-interest and other overpowering emotions would prevail over the respect and compassion, transforming that worldly paradise into Hell.
Thus, one of the hundreds of results of belief in resurrection is connected with the life of society. If a comparison is made between the above four proofs out of the hundreds of aspects and benefits of this single consequence and the rest, it will be understood that the realization of the truth of resurrection and its occurrence, are as certain as the elevated reality of humanity and its universal need. It is clearer even than the evidence for the existence of food offered by the existence of need in man’s stomach, and tells of its existence more clearly. It proves too that if the consequences of the truth of resurrection were to quit humanity, whose nature is extremely significant, lofty, and living, it would descend to being a corrupt corpse fed on by microbes.
The sociologists, politicians, and moralists who govern mankind and are concerned with its social and moral questions should be aware of this! How do they propose to fill this vacuum? With what can they cure these deep wounds?
SECOND POINT
This explains in summary form a proof —one of many— proceeding from the testimony to the truth of resurrection of the other pillars of belief. It is as follows:
All the miracles indicating the messengership of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) and the evidences for his prophethood, and all the proofs of his veracity, together testify to the occurrence of the resurrection and prove it. For after Divine unity, everything he claimed throughout his life was centred on the resurrection of the dead. Also, all his miracles and proofs affirming, and making affirmed, all the previous prophets attest to the same truth. Also, the testimony of the phrase “and in His Scriptures,” which makes completely clear the testimony of the phrase “and in His Prophets,” testifies to the same truth. Like this:
All the miracles, truths, and proofs proving foremost the veracity of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, testify to and prove the realization and occurrence of resurrection. For almost a third of the Qur’an is about resurrection, and at the beginning of most of its short suras are powerful verses about it. It expresses the same truth explicity and implicitly with thousands of its verses, and proves and demonstrates it. For example:
When the sun is folded up.3 * O men, fear your Sustainer; the trembling of the Hour is an awesome event;4 * When the earth is convulsed;5 * When the heavens are torn asunder;6 * When the heavens are torn apart;7 * Concerning what they dispute;8 * Has the story reached you, of the overwhelming event?9
Besides demonstrating with complete certainty at the beginning of thirty or forty suras that resurrection is the most important and necessary truth in the universe, it sets forth various persuasive evidences for that truth in others of its verses.
Is there any possibility that belief in the hereafter should be false, which emerges like the sun from the thousands of declarations and statements of a Book a single indication of one of the verses of which has yielded before our eyes the fruits of numerous learned and cosmic truths in the Islamic sciences? Is there any possibility of denying the sun, or the existence of the universe? Would it not be impossible and absurd? Is it at all possible that although an army may sometimes be plunged into battle so that a mere sign of the king should not be given the lie, to show as false the thousands of words, promises, and threats of that most serious, proud monarch? Is it possible that they should be false?
Although a single sign of that glorious spiritual monarch who for thirteen centuries without break has ruled over innumerable spirits, minds, hearts, and souls within the bounds of truth and reality, and trained and educated them, would be sufficient to prove the truth of resurrection, it has demonstrated it with thousands of explicit statements. Is the torment of Hell-fire not necessary then for the compounded idiot who does not recognize this fact? Is it not pure justice?
Moreover, by their definite acceptance of the truth of resurrection, which the Qur’an —prevailing over the future and all times— repeatedly proves in detail and elucidates, all the revealed scriptures and sacred books, each of which dominated a particular period, proved it according to their own times and centuries, but in undetailed, veiled, and summary manner, confirming with a thousand signatures what the Qur’an teaches.
Included here since it is related to this discussion is the testimony at the end of the Third Ray of the other pillars of faith, and particularly “the Prophets” and “Holy Scriptures,” to “belief in the Last Day.” It forms a convincing proof of resurrection, and is in the form of a powerful yet succinct supplication which dispels all doubts. It says in the supplication:
“O My Compassionate Sustainer!
“I have understood from the instruction of Your Noble Messenger (PBUH) and the teaching of the Qur’an, that foremost the Qur’an and the Messenger, and all the sacred scriptures and prophets, have unanimously testified and pointed out that the manifestations of the Names related to Your beauty and glory, examples of which are to be seen in this world, will continue even more radiantly for all eternity, and that Your bounties, samples of which are to be observed in this transitory world, will persist in the abode of bliss in still more glittering fashion, and that those who long for them in this world will accompany them for all eternity.
“Also, relying on hundreds of evident miracles and decisive signs, foremost Your Most Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) and the All-Wise Qur’an, and the prophets with their luminous spirits, and the saints, who are spiritual poles with their light-filled hearts, and the purified scholars with their enlightened intellects, relying on Your repeated threats and promises in all the sacred scriptures, and trusting in Your sacred attributes such as power, mercy, favour, wisdom, glory, and beauty, and on Your qualities, and the dignity of Your glory, and the sovereignty of Your dominicality, and in consequence of their illuminations and visions and beliefs at the degree of ‘the knowledge of certainty,’ give the glad tidings to men and jinn of eternal happiness and inform them of Hell for the people of misguidance; they firmly believe this and testify to it.
“O All-Powerful and Wise One! O Most Merciful and Compassionate! O Munificent One True to His Promise! O All-Compelling One of Glory, One of Dignity, Grandeur, and Wrath!
“You are utterly exempt from and exalted above giving the lie to so many loyal friends, and so many promises, and attributes and qualities, and denying the certain demands of the sovereignty of Your dominicality and the endless prayers and supplications of Your innumerable acceptable servants, whom You love and who attract Your love by assenting to You and obeying You; and You are exempt from confirming the denial of resurrection by the people of misguidance and unbelief, who through their disbelief and rebellion and denial of Your promises, offend the magnificence of Your grandeur and affront Your dignity and glory and the honour of Your Godhead, and sadden the compassion of Your dominicality. We declare Your justice, beauty, and mercy to be exempt from such infinite tyranny, such ugliness. We believe with all our strength that the testimony of the prophets, purified scholars, and saints, who are those truthful envoys of Yours, those heralds of Your sovereignty, at the degrees of ‘absolute certainty,’ ‘knowledge of certainty,’ and ‘the vision of certainty,’ to the treasuries of Your mercy in the hereafter and the stores of Your bounties in the everlasting realm, and to the wondrously beautiful manifestations of Your Beautiful Names, which will be manifested totally in the abode of bliss, are absolutely true and veracious, and what they have indicated conforms absolutely with reality, and that what they have given glad tidings of is true and will occur. Believing that the supreme ray of Your Name of Truth, which is the source, sun, and protector of all realities, is this truth of the resurrection and Great Gathering, they teach it to Your servants.”
O God! For the sake of what they teach and in veneration of it, grant us and all students of the Risale-i Nur perfect belief and a happy death. And allow us to receive their intercession. Amen!
Moreover, just as all the proofs demonstrating the veracity of the revealed scriptures, and all the miracles and evidences proving the prophethood of God’s Beloved (PBUH) and of all the prophets, indirectly prove the reality of the hereafter, which is what they teach above all else; so most of the evidences for the existence and unity of the Necessary Existent testify indirectly to the existence and opening up of an eternal realm of bliss, which will be the supreme manifestation of dominicality and divinity. For as is explained and proved in the following paragraphs, both the existence of the Necessarily Existent One, and most of His attributes, qualities and Names, such as dominicality, Godhead, mercy, grace, wisdom, and justice, necessitate the hereafter with the utmost certainty, and demand an eternal realm and the resurrection of the dead and Last Judgement for the granting of reward and punishment.
Since there is a pre-eternal and post-eternal God, most certainly there is the hereafter, the everlasting sphere of the sovereignty of His Godhead.
And since there is in the universe and in living beings a most majestic and wise, a most compassionate and absolute dominicality, and it is apparent; there is certain to be an eternal realm of happiness which will save the majesty of that dominicality from abasement, its wisdom from purposelessness, and its compassion from cruelty; and that realm shall be entered.
And since the unlimited bestowals, bounties, favours, gifts, and instances of grace and mercy which are to be seen, show to minds that are not extinguished and hearts that are not dead that behind the veil of the Unseen is One All-Merciful and Compassionate; surely there is an immortal life in an eternal realm which will save the bestowal from mockery, the bounties from deception, the favours from enmity, the mercy from torment, the grace and gifts from treachery, and will make the bounties bounty and the bestowal bestowal.
And since in the springtime on the narrow page of the earth, a pen of power writes a hundred thousand books without error tirelessly before our eyes; and since the Holder of the pen has promised a hundred thousand times: “I am going to write a fine, immortal book in a broad realm, easier than this book of the spring written in this narrow realm, confused and intermingled, and I shall allow you to read it;” — since He mentions the book in all his decrees; certainly, the main part of the book has been written, and with the resurrection and Last Judgement its footnotes shall be added, and all the notebooks of people’s actions shall be recorded in it.
And since, with its multiplicity of creatures, the earth is the dwelling, source, factory, exhibition, and gathering place of hundreds of thousands of constantly changing species of living beings and beings with spirits, and is the heart, centre, summary, and result of the universe, and the reason for its creation; it has supreme importance, and is held equal to the mighty heavens despite its smallness; in the heavenly decrees, it is always said: Sustainer of the Heavens and Earth...
And since there is man, who rules over the earth, which is thus, has disposal over most creatures, and subjects most living beings gathering them around himself; and since he so orders, displays, and gathers each remarkable species together in one place like a list, adorning them, that he attracts not only the attention and admiration of men and jinn, but of the dwellers of the heavens and the universe, and the appreciative gaze of the universe’s Owner, thus gaining great importance and high worth; and since he shows through his sciences and arts that he is the purpose of the universe’s creation, and its most important result, and most precious fruit, and the Divine vicegerent on earth; and since because with respect to this world, he has ordered and displayed excellently the miraculous arts of the world’s Maker, he is left in this world despite his rebellion and disbelief, and his punishment is postponed, and because of this work of his, his term is prolonged and is allowed success...
And since there is an extremely powerful, wise, and compassionate Disposer Who makes the mighty globe into a treasury of every sort of metal and mineral that man needs in a way entirely beyond his strength and will —who despite being weak, impotent, and wanting by nature and creation, has innumerable needs and is subject to innumerable pains— and since He makes it into a store of every sort of food, and a shop stocking goods of every kind that pleases man, and looks to man in this way, and nurtures him, and gives him what he wants...
And since there is a Sustainer Who is thus, Who both loves man and causes man to love Him, and Who is enduring and has eternal worlds, and Who performs every work with justice and carries out everything with wisdom; and since the splendour of that Pre-Eternal Sovereign’s rule and His eternal dominion cannot be contained in this brief worldly life, and in man’s fleeting span, and in the temporary and transient earth; and since the excessive wrongdoing and rebellion that occur among men, which are contrary to and opposed to the universe’s order, justice, balance, and beauty, and their denial, treachery, and disbelief towards their Benefactor, Who nurtures them tenderly, — since they are not punished in this world, and the cruel oppressor passes his life in ease while the unhappy oppressed live in hardship; and since the absolute justice whose traces are to be seen throughout the universe is entirely opposed to the cruel tyrant and despairing oppressed being equal in death, and would in no way permit it...
And since just as the universe’s Owner has chosen the earth from the universe, and man from the earth and bestowed on him a high rank and importance; so out of mankind He has chosen the prophets, saints, and purified ones, true human beings who conform to the aims of His dominicality and through their belief and submission make Him love them; He has taken them as friends and addressees, and bestowed miracles and success on them and punished their enemies with heavenly blows. And out of these worthy and lovable friends He has chosen their leader and source of pride, Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), and for long centuries has illuminated with his Light half the globe and a fifth of humanity; as though the universe was created for him, all its purposes become apparent through him and his religion and the Qur’an. And although he deserved to live for an infinite time in recompense for his infinitely valuable service, for millions of years, he only lived a brief sixty-three years of great hardship and striving. Is there any possibility then that he should not be resurrected together with all his peers and friends? That they should not now be living in the spirit? That they should have been annihilated eternally? God forbid, a hundred thousand times! Yes, all the universe and the reality of the world demand that he should be resurrected and they beseech the universe’s Owner that he should be living...
And since in the Seventh Ray, The Supreme Sign, each with the strength of a mountain, the thirty-three powerful consensuses have proved that the universe emerged from a single hand and is the property of a single being; and have demonstrated self-evidently His unity and oneness, the means of the Divine perfections; and through unity and oneness all beings become like soldiers under orders and subservient officials; and with the coming of the hereafter, perfections are saved from decline, absolute justice from mocking cruelty, universal wisdom from foolish absurdity, all-embracing mercy from jeering torment, and the dignity of power from abased impotence, and they are exonerated from this...
Certainly and without any doubt, as necessitated by the truths in these six ‘sinces’ —six out of hundreds of points of belief in God— the end of the world shall come and the resurrection of the dead occur. Abodes of reward and punishment shall be thrown open so that the above-mentioned importance of the earth, and its centrality, and man’s importance and value shall be realized, and the above-mentioned justice, wisdom, mercy, and sovereignty of the All-Wise Disposer, Who is the Creator of the earth and of man, and their Sustainer, shall be established; and the true and yearning friends of that eternal Sustainer shall be saved from eternal annihilation; and the most eminent and worthy of those friends receive the recompense for his sacred services, which have made all beings pleased and indebted; and the perfections of the Eternal Sovereign should be exempted and exonerated from all fault and deficiency, and His power from impotence, and His wisdom from foolishness, and His justice from tyranny.
In Short: Since God exists, so does the hereafter certainly exist.
Moreover, just as with all the evidences that prove them, the above three pillars of belief testify to and indicate resurrection; so do the two pillars “and in the angels, and in Divine Determining, that both the good of it and the evil of it are from God Almighty” also necessitate resurrection and testify in powerful fashion to the eternal realm. It is like this:
All the evidences proving the existence of the angels and their duties of worship, and innumerable observations of them and conversations with them, prove indirectly the existence of the Spirit World, and the World of the Unseen, and the eternal realm and world of the hereafter, and the existence of an abode of happiness and Paradise and Hell, which in the future shall be populated with men and jinn. For with Divine permission, the angels can see these worlds and enter them. And all the high-ranking angels who meet with humans, like Gabriel, tell unanimously of the existence of these worlds and of their travelling round them. Just as we are certain, due to the information of those coming from there, that the continent of America exists, although we have not seen it, so due to information about the angels, which has the strength of a hundredfold consensus, we should believe with the same certainty in the existence of the world of eternity, the realm of the hereafter, and Paradise and Hell. And so we do believe in it.
Furthermore, all the evidences proving the pillar of “belief in Divine Determining,” included in the Treatise On Divine Determining, the Twenty-Sixth Word, prove indirectly the resurrection of the dead, the balancing of deeds on the supreme scales, and the publishing of the pages of deeds. For the recording before our eyes of the appointed courses of all things on the tablets of order and balance, and the inscribing of the life-stories of all living beings in their faculties of memory, and the transcribing of the notebooks of deeds of all beings with spirits, and especially men, on the Preserved Tablet, such a comprehensive determining and wise apportioning and precise recording and preserving inscription could surely only be the result of a general judgement in a supreme tribunal set up to deal out permanent reward and punishment. That comprehensive and precise recording and preservation would otherwise be completely meaningless and purposeless, and contrary to wisdom and reality.
Also, if there was no resurrection, all the certain meanings of the book of the universe, written with the pen of Divine Determining, would be nullified, which is completely impossible. It is as impossible as denying the universe’s existence, indeed, is a delirium.
In Short: With all their evidences the five pillars of belief demand the occurrence of the resurrection and Last Judgement, and their existence, and the existence and opening up of the realm of the hereafter, and they testify to these and necessitate them.
Thus, it is because there are such vast and unshakeable supports and proofs of the resurrection, completely in conformity with its vastness, that almost one third of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition is formed by resurrection and the hereafter, and it makes it the basis and foundation stone of all its truths, and constructs everything on it.
(The end of the Introduction)
FOOTNOTES
1. Qur’an, 30:17-27.
2. Qur’an, 30:50.
3. Qur’an, 81:1.
4. Qur’an, 22:1.
5. Qur’an, 99:1.
6. Qur’an, 82:1.
7. Qur’an, 84:1.
8. Qur’an, 78:1.
9. Qur’an, 88:1.
The Eleventh Ray
A Fruit of Denizli Prison
[This is a defence of the Risale-i Nur against atheism and absolute disbelief. It is our true defence in this imprisonment of ours, for it is only this we are working at. This treatise is a fruit and souvenir of Denizli Prison, and the product of two Fridays.]
S a i d N u r s i
The Fruits of Belief
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
And he languished in prison for a number of years more.1
According to an inner meaning of this verse, Joseph (Peace be upon him) is the patron of prisoners and prison is a sort of ‘School of Joseph.’ Since this is the second time the Risale-i Nur students have been sent to prison in large numbers, it is necessary to study and teach in this school, which has been opened to give this training, the brief summaries of a number of matters connected with prison that the Risale-i Nur proves, and to benefit from them thoroughly. We shall explain five or six of those summaries.
The First Topic
As is explained in the Fourth Word, everyday our Creator bestows on us the capital of twenty-four hours of life so that with it we may obtain all the things necessary for our two lives. If we spend twenty-three hours on this fleeting worldly life and neglect to spend the remaining one hour, which is sufficient for the five obligatory prayers, on the very lengthy life of the hereafter, it may be understood what an unreasonable error it is, and what a great loss to suffer distress of the mind and spirit as the penalty for the error, and to behave badly because of the distress, and to fail to rectify one’s conduct due to living in a state of despair, indeed, to do the opposite. We may make the comparison.
We should think of what a profitable ordeal it is —if we spend the one hour on the five obligatory prayers— each hour of this calamitous term of imprisonment sometimes becoming a day’s worship and one of its transient hours becoming many permanent hours, and our despair and distress of the spirit and heart in part disappearing, and its being atonement for the mistakes that led to the imprisonment and the cause of their being forgiven, and being trained and improved, which is the purpose of imprisonment; we should think of it being instruction and a pleasant and consoling meeting with our companions in disaster.
As is said in the Fourth Word, it may be compared how contrary it is to a person’s interests to give five or ten liras out of his twenty-four to a lottery in which a thousand people are taking part in order to win the thousand-lira prize, and not give a single lira out of the twenty-four for a ticket for an everlasting treasury of jewels, and to rush to the fomer and flee from the latter, —although the chance of winning the thousand liras in the worldly lottery is one in a thousand because there are a thousand people taking part, while in the lottery of man’s destiny which looks to the hereafter the chance of winning for the people of belief, who experience happy deaths, is nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand, as has been stated by one hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets and confirmed by incalculable numbers of truthful informers from among the saints and purified scholars as a result of their illuminations.
Prison governors and chief warders, and indeed the country’s administrators and the guardians of public order, should be grateful at this lesson of the Risale-i Nur, for the government and disciplining of a thousand believers who constantly have in mind the prison of Hell is far easier than that of ten who have no belief and do not perform the obligatory prayers, only think of worldly prisons, do not know what is licit and what is illicit, and are in part accustomed to living undisciplined lives.
A Summary of the Second Topic
As is well explained in A Guide For Youth from the Risale-i Nur, it is as definite and obvious that death will befall us as the night will follow today and winter, this autumn. Just as this prison is a temporary guest-house for those who continuously enter it and leave it; so the face of the earth is a hostel on the road of the swiftly travelling caravans which alight for one night then pass on. Surely death, which has emptied all the cities into the graveyard a hundred times over, has demands greater than life. The Risale-i Nur has solved the riddle of this awesome truth and discovered its answer. A short summary of it is this:
Since death cannot be killed nor the door of the grave be closed, if there is a way of being saved from the executioner of the appointed hour and the solitary confinement of the grave, it is a question, an anxiety, for man of greater importance than anything. Yes, there is a solution, and through the mystery of the Qur’an, the Risale-i Nur has proved it as certainly as two plus two equals four. A brief summary of it is as follows:
Death is either eternal annihilation, a gallows on which will be hanged both man and all his friends and relations; or it comprises the release papers to depart for another, eternal, realm, and to enter, with the document of belief, the palace of bliss. The grave is either a bottomless pit and dark place of solitary confinement, or it is a door opening from the prison of this world onto an eternal, light-filled garden and place of feasting. A Guide For Youth has proved this truth with a comparison.
For example; gallows have been set up in this prison yard, and behind the wall immediately beyond them a huge lottery office has been opened in the lottery of which the whole world has taken part. We five hundred people in this prison are certain to be summoned one by one without exception to that arena; to avoid it is not possible. Everywhere announcements are being made: “Come and receive your decree of execution, and mount the gallows!”, or: “Take the note for everlasting solitary confinement, and take that door!”, or: “Good news for you! The winning ticket worth millions has come up for you. Come and receive it!” We see with our own eyes that one after the other they are mounting the gallows. We observe that some are being hanged, while others are making the gallows a step, and moving onto the lottery office beyond the wall. Just at that point, which we know as though we have seen it from the certain information given by the high-ranking officials there, two groups have entered our prison.
One group are holding musical instruments, wine, and apparently sweet confections and pastries which they are trying to make us eat. But the sweets are in fact lethal, for satans in human form have laced them with poison.
The second group are carrying instructive writings, licit foods, and blessed drinks. They present them to us and all together say to us with great earnestness: “If you take and eat the gifts the first group gave you by way of testing you, you shall be hanged on these gallows before us like the others you have seen. Whereas if you accept the gifts we have brought you on the command of this country’s Ruler in place of them, and recite the supplications and prayers in the instructive writings, you shall be saved from execution. Believe as though you were seeing it that each of you shall receive the winning ticket worth millions in the lottery office as a royal favour. These decrees say, and we ourselves say the same thing, that if you eat those illicit, dubious, and poisonous sweets, you shall suffer terrible pains from the poison until you go to be hanged.”
Like this comparison, for the people of belief and worship —on condition they have happy deaths— the ticket for an everlasting and inexhaustible treasury will come up from the lottery of man’s destiny beyond the gallows of the appointed hour, which we always see. For those who persist in vice, unlawful actions, unbelief, and sin, however, there is a hundred per cent probability that on condition they do not repent, they will receive the summons to either eternal annihilation (for those who do not believe in the hereafter), or to permanent, dark solitary confinement (for those who believe in the immortality of man’s spirit, but take the way of vice) and eternal perdition. Certain news of this has been given by the hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets2 with their innumerable miracles, which confirm them; and by the more than one hundred and twenty-four million saints, who see in their illuminations the traces and shadows —as though on a cinema screen— of what the prophets have told, and put their signatures to it, affirming it; and by the more than thousands of millions of investigative scholars,3 interpreters of the law, and veracious ones who, with decisive proofs and powerful arguments, prove according to reason and absolutely certainly the things told by those two eminent groups of mankind, and have set their signatures to them. The situation then of someone who does not heed the news given unanimously by the decrees of these three vast and elevated communities and groups of the people of reality, who are the suns, moons, and stars of mankind and the sacred leaders of humanity, and does not take the straight path which they have pointed out, and disregards the awesome ninety-nine per cent danger, and abandons that way due to one person saying there is danger on it and takes another, lengthy, way — his situation is as follows:
The wretch who since he has abandoned, according to the certain news of innumerable well-informed observers, the shortest and easiest of the two ways, which with a hundred per cent certainty will lead to Paradise and eternal happiness, and has chosen the roughest, longest way, which is most fraught with difficulties and is ninety-nine per cent certain will lead to incarceration in Hell and everlasting misery, and leaves the short way because, according to the false information of a single informer, there is a one per cent chance of danger and the possibility of a month’s imprisonment, and chooses the long way, which is without benefit, just because it holds no danger, like drunken lunatics, —such a wretch has lost his humanity, mind, heart, and spirit to the extent that he ignores the terrible dragons which are seen from afar and are pestering him, and struggles against mosquitoes, attaching importance to them alone.
Since this is the reality of the situation, so that we avenge ourselves totally for this calamity of prison, we prisoners should accept the gifts of the second, blessed, group. That is to say, just as the pleasure of a minute’s revenge or a minute or two, or an hour of two, of vice, or this calamity, has put us in this prison for fifteen, five, ten, or two or three years, and made our worlds into a prison; so to spite it, we should avenge ourselves on this calamity by transforming an hour or two of our prison lives into a day or two of worship, and our two or three-year-sentences —through the gifts of the blessed group— into twenty or thirty years of permanent life, and our prison sentences of twenty or thirty years into a means of forgiveness from millions of years of incarceration in the dungeons of Hell. In the face of our transitory worlds’ weeping, we should make our everlasting lives smile. We should show prison to be a place of training and education, and each of us try to be well-behaved, reliable, useful members of our nation and country. While the prison officers, administrators, and governors should see that the men they supposed to be criminals, bandits, layabouts, murderers, depraved, and harmful to the country are students studying in this blessed place of instruction, and should proudly offer thanks to God.
The Third Topic
This is the summary of an instructive incident which is described in A Guide For Youth.
One time, I was sitting by my window in Eskishehir Prison during the ‘Republic Festival.’ Opposite me, the older girls of the High School were laughing and dancing in the schoolyard. Suddenly their condition fifty years hence appeared to me, as though on a cinema screen. I saw that of those fifty to sixty girl students, forty to fifty had become earth in their graves, and were suffering torments. While ten were ugly seventy to eighty-year-olds who were despised where they might have expected love because they did not preserve their chastity when young. This I observed with complete certainty and I wept at their piteable states. Some of my friends in the prison heard my weeping, and came and asked me about it. I told them: “Leave me alone for now, I want to be alone.”
Yes, what I saw was reality, not imagination. Just as the summer and autumn are followed by winter, so the summer of youth and autumn of old age are followed by the winter of the grave and Intermediate Realm. If there was a cinema which showed the events of fifty years in the future, the same as those of fifty years ago are shown in the present, and the people of misguidance and vice were to be shown their circumstances of fifty or sixty years hence, they would weep in horror and disgust at their unlawful pleasures and those things at which they now laugh.
When preoccupied with these observations in Eskishehir Prison, a collective personality which spreads vice and misguidance was embodied before me like a human satan. It said:
“We want to experience all the pleasures and joys of life, and to make others experience them; don’t interfere with us!”
I replied: Since you do not recall death and plunge yourself into vice and misguidance for pleasure and enjoyment, you should certainly know that due to your misguidance, all the past is dead and non-existent; it is a desolate graveyard full of rotted bodies. The suffering arising from those innumerable separations and the eternal deaths of those numberless friends inflicted on your head through the concern of your humanity and your misguidance, and on your heart if you have one and it is not dead, will soon destroy your insignificant drunken pleasure of the present. The future too, due to your unbelief, is a non-existent, black, dead, and desolate wasteland. And since the heads of the unfortunates who appear from there, sticking them out into existence while stopping by in the present, are struck off by the executioner’s sword of the appointed hour and thrown into non-existence, due to the concern of your intellect, it continuously rains down grievous worries on your unbelieving head, completely overturning your petty, dissolute pleasure.
If you give up vice and misguidance and enter the sphere of certain, verified belief4 and righteousness, you will see through the light of belief that the past is not non-existent and a graveyard that rots everything, but an existent, light-filled world which is transformed into the future and into a waiting-room for the immortal spirits who will enter palaces of bliss in the future. Since it appears thus, it affords not pain, but according to the strength of belief, a sort of paradaisical pleasure. The future, too, appears to the eye of belief not as a dark wasteland, but where banquets and exhibitions of gifs have been set up in palaces of everlasting bliss by the Most Merciful and Compassionate One of Glory and Bestowal, Whose mercy and munificence are infinite and Who makes the spring and summer into tables laden with bounties. Since, knowing he will be despatched there, a person observes this on the cinema screen of belief, he may experience in a way the pleasures of the eternal realm. All may do this according to their degree. That is to say, true, painfree pleasure is found only in belief in God, and is possible only through belief.
Being related to our discussion, we shall explain here by means of a comparison, which is included in A Guide For Youth as a footnote, only a single benefit and pleasure out of the thousands that belief produces in this world too. It is as follows:
For example, your beloved only child is suffering the pangs of death and you are thinking despairingly of your being eternally parted from him. Then suddenly a doctor like Khidr or Luqman the Wise arrives with a wondrous medicine. Your lovely and lovable child opens his eyes, delivered from death. You can understand what joy and happiness it would give you.
Now, like the child, millions of people whom you earnestly love and are concerned for are —in your view— rotting in the graveyard of the past and are about to be annihilated, when suddenly the reality of belief, like Luqman the Wise, shines a light from the window of heart onto the graveyard, which is imagined to be a vast place of execution. Through it, all the dead spring to life. On their declaring through the tongue of disposition: “We had not died and shall not die; we shall meet with you again,” you feel an endless joy, which belief gives in this world too, proving that belief in God is a seed that were it to be embodied, a private paradise would emerge from it, becoming the Tuba-tree of that seed. I told the collective personality this, and in its stubbornness, it said:
“At least we can live like animals, passing our lives in pleasure and enjoyment, and by indulging in amusement and dissipation not thinking about these difficult matters.”
I told it by way of an answer:
“You cannot be like an animal, for animals have no past and future. They feel neither sorrows or regrets at the past, nor anxiety and fear at the future. It receives perfect pleasure; it sleeps and rises and thanks its Creator. An animal held down to be slaughtered, even, does not feel anything. It wants to feel it as the knife cuts, but that feeling disappears as well, and it is saved from the pain. This means that a great instance of Divine mercy and compassion is not making known the Unseen, and veiling the things that will befall one. It is more complete for innocent animals. But, O man, your past and future emerge from the Unseen to an extent because of your reason, so you are entirely deprived of the unconcern of the animals due to the Unseen being concealed from them. The regrets and painful separations coming from the past, and the anxieties coming from the future reduce to nothing your insignificant pleasure; they make it a hundred times less than that which the animals receive. Since the reality is this, either throw away your intellect, become an animal and be saved, or come to your senses through belief; listen to the Qur’an, and receive pure pleasure a hundred times greater than that of the animals in this transitory world too.” Saying this, I silenced it.
Yet, that obdurate collective personality still turned to me and said: “At least we can live like those Westerners who are without religion.”
I replied: “You cannot be like the irreligious people of Europe, either. For even if they deny one prophet, they can believe in the others. If they do not know the prophets, they may believe in God. And even if they do not know God, they may possess certain personal qualities through which they find fulfilment. But if a Muslim denies the Prophet of the End of Time (Peace and blessings be upon him), who was the final and greatest of the prophets and whose religion and cause are universal, and if he abandons his religion, he will accept no other prophet and perhaps not even God. For he knows all the prophets and God and all perfections through the Prophet of the End of Time (Peace and blessings be upon him); they can have no place in his heart without him. It is for this reason that since early times people have entered Islam from all other religions, but no Muslim has become a true Jew, Magian, or Christian. Muslims who abandon their religion rather become irreligious, their characters are corrupted, and they become harmful for the country and nation.” I proved this, and the obstinate collective personality could find no further straw to clutch at, so it vanished and went to Hell.
My friends who are studying together with me in this School of Joseph! Since the reality is this and the Risale-i Nur proves it so clearly and decisively, like sunlight, that for twenty years it has broken the obstinacy of the obdurate and brought them to believe; we should therefore follow the way of belief and right conduct, which is easy and safe and beneficial for both our own worlds, and our futures, and our lives in the hereafter, and our country and nation; and spend our free time reciting the suras of the Qur’an that we know instead of indulging in distressing fancies, and learn the meaning from friends who teach them; and make up for the prayers we have failed to perform in the past, when we should have done; and taking advantage of one another’s good qualities, transform this prison into a blessed garden raising the seedlings of good character. With good deeds like these, we should do our best to make the prison governor and those concerned not torturers like the Angels of Hell standing over criminals and murderers, but righteous masters and kindly guards charged with the duties of raising people for Paradise in the School of Joseph and supervising their training and education.
The Fourth Topic
Again, there is an explanation of this in A Guide For Youth. One time, I was asked the following question by the brothers who assist me:
“For fifty days now —and now seven years have passed5 — you have asked nothing at all about this ghastly World War, which has plunged the whole world into chaos and is closely connected with the fate of the Islamic world, nor have you been curious about it. Whereas some religious and learned persons are leaving the congregation in the mosques and racing to listen to the radio. Is there some event more momentous than the war? Or is it harmful in some way to be preoccupied with it?”
I replied to them: Life’s capital is very little and the work to be done is much. There are spheres one within the other like concentric circles, from the sphere of man’s heart and stomach, and that of his home and body, and that of the quarter in which he lives and his town, and his country and land, and the globe and mankind, to the spheres of animate beings and the world. Each person may have duties in each of those spheres, but the most important and permanent of these are those in the smallest sphere. While his least important and temporary duties may be in the largest sphere. According to this analogy, the largest and smallest are in inverse proportion. But because of the attractiveness of the largest sphere, it causes the person to neglect his important, necessary duties in the small sphere, busying him with unnecessary, trivial, peripheral matters. It destroys the capital of his life for nothing. It kills his precious life on worthless things. Sometimes, the one following curiously the struggles of the war comes to earnestly support one side. He looks favourably on their tyranny, and becomes a partner in it.
The Answer to the first point: Yes, an event more momentous than this World War and a case more important than that of world supremacy has been opened over the heads of everyone and especially Muslims, so that if everyone had the wealth and power of the Germans and English and sense as well, they would unhesitatingly spend all of it to win that single case. The case is this: relying on the thousands of promises and pledges of the universe’s Owner, Who has disposal over it, hundreds of thousands of the most eminent of mankind, and uncounted numbers of its stars and guides, have unanimously given news —and some of them have actually seen— that for everyone the case has opened by which they may either win, in return for belief, or lose, eternal properties as broad as the earth set with palaces and gardens. If they do not secure the document of belief, they will lose. And this age, many are losing the case because of the plague of materialism. One of the diviners of reality and investigators of truth observed in one place that out of forty people who died, only a few won; the others lost. Can anything take the place of that lost suit, even rule over the whole world?
Since we Risale-i Nur students know it would be pure lunacy to give up the duties which will win the case and abandon the wondrous lawyer who saves ninety per cent from losing it and the task which the lawyer employs us in, and become involved with peripheral trivia as though we were going to remain in the world for ever, we are certain that if each of us had intelligence a hundred times greater than what we have, we still would use it only on this task.
My new brothers here in this calamity of prison! You have seen the Risale-i Nur the same as my old brothers, who entered here together with me. Citing them and thousands of students like them as witnesses, I say, I prove, and have proved, that it is the Risale-i Nur that wins that supreme case for ninety people out of a hundred, obtains for them certain, verified belief, which is the document and warrant that has won the case for twenty thousand people in twenty years. It has proceeded from the miraculousness of the All-Wise Qur’an and is the leading lawyer at this time. Although these eighteen years my enemies and the atheists and materialists have duped some members of the government with their exceedingly cruel plots against me, and have had us sent to prison to have us done away with — in the past as now, they have been able to cause harm to only two or three of the one hundred and thirty pieces of equipment in the steel fortress of the Risale-i Nur. That means, to obtain it is sufficient for those who want to engage a lawyer. Also, fear not, the Risale-i Nur cannot be banned! With the exception of two or three, its treatises are circulating freely among the deputies serving the Government of the Republic, and its leaders. God willing, at some time happy governors and guards will distribute those lights to the prisoners, like bread and medicine, and so make the prisons into truly effective places of reform.
The Fifth Topic
As is described in A Guide For Youth, there is no doubt that youth will depart; it will change into old age and death as certainly as the summer gives its place to autumn and winter, and the day changes into evening and night. All the revealed scriptures give the good news that if fleeting, transient youth is spent on good works, in chastity and within the bounds of good conduct, it will gain for the person immortal youth.
If, on the other hand, youth is spent on vice, just as murder resulting from a minute’s anger leads to millions of minutes of imprisonment, so quite apart from being called to account in the hereafter, and the torments of the grave, and the regrets arising from their passing, and sins, and the penalties suffered in this world, the unlawful pleasures of youth contain more pain than pleasure; every youth with sense will corroborate this from his own experience.
For example, the pains of jealousy, separation, and unreciprocated love transform the partial pleasure to be found in illicit love into poisonous honey. If you want to know how they end up in hospitals due to illnesses resulting from their misspent youth, and in prison due to their excesses, and in bars and dens of vice and the graveyard due to the distress arising from their unnourished hearts and spirits not performing their right functions, go and ask at the hospitals, prisons, bars, and graveyards. More than anything, you will hear the weeping and sighs of regret at the blows youths have received as the penalty for abusing their youth, and their excesses, and illicit pleasures.
Foremost the Qur’an, with numerous of its verses, and all the revealed scriptures and books, give the glad tidings that if spent within the bounds of moderation, youth is an agreeable Divine bounty and sweet, powerful means to good works, which yields the result of shining, immortal youth in the hereafter.
Since the reality is this, and since the bounds of the licit are sufficient for enjoyment, and since an hour of unlawful pleasure leads sometimes to a punishment of one, or ten, years’ imprisonment; surely it is absolutely necessary to spend the sweet bounty of youth chastely, on the straight path, as thanks for the bounty.
The Sixth Topic
[This consists of a single, brief proof of the pillar of belief, ‘Belief in God,’ for which there are numerous decisive proofs and explanations in many places in the Risale-i Nur.]
In Kastamonu a group of high-school students came to me, saying: “Tell us about our Creator, our teachers do not speak of God.” I said to them: “All the sciences you study continuously speak of God and make known the Creator, each with its own particular tongue. Do not listen to your teachers; listen to them.
“For example, a well-equipped pharmacy with life-giving potions and cures in every jar weighed out in precise and wondrous measures doubtless shows an extremely skilful, practised, and wise pharmacist. In the same way, to the extent that it is bigger and more perfect and better stocked than the pharmacy in the market-place, the pharmacy of the globe of the earth with its living potions and medicaments in the jars which are the four hundred thousand species of plants and animals shows and makes known to eyes that are blind even —by means of the measure or scale of the science of medicine that you study— the All-Wise One of Glory, Who is the Pharmacist of the mighty pharmacy of the earth.
“To take another example; a wondrous factory which weaves thousands of sorts of cloth from a simple material doubtless makes known a manufacturer and skilful mechanic. In the same way, to whatever extent it is larger and more perfect than the human factory, this travelling dominical machine known as the globe of the earth with its hundreds of thousands of heads, in each of which are hundreds of thousands of factories, shows and makes known —by means of the measure or scale of the science of engineering which you study— its Manufacturer and Owner.
“And, for example, a depot, store, or shop in which has been brought together and stored up in regular and orderly fashion a thousand and one varieties of provisions undoubtedly makes known a wondrous owner, proprietor, and overseer of provisions and foodstuffs. In just the same way, to whatever degree it is vaster and more perfect than such a store or factory, this foodstore of the Most Merciful One known as the globe of the earth, this Divine ship, this dominical depot and shop holding goods, equipment, and conserved food, which in one year travels regularly an orbit of twenty-four thousand years, and carrying groups of beings requiring different foods and passing through the seasons on its journey and filling the spring with thousands of different provisions like a huge waggon, brings them to the wretched animate creatures whose sustenance has been exhausted in winter, —by means of the measure or scale of the science of economics which you study— this depot of the earth makes known and makes loved its Manager, Organizer, and Owner.
“And, for example, let us imagine an army which consists of four hundred thousand nations, and each nation requires different provisions, uses different weapons, wears different uniforms, undergoes different drill, and is discharged from its duties differently. If this army and camp has a miracle-working commander who on his own provides all those different nations with all their different provisions, weapons, uniforms, and equipment without forgetting or confusing any of them, then surely the army and camp show the commander and make him loved appreciatively. In just the same way, the spring camp of the face of the earth in which every spring a newly recruited Divine army of the four hundred thousand species of plants and animals are given their varying uniforms, rations, weapons, training, and demobilizations in utterly perfect and regular fashion by a single Commander-in-Chief Who forgets or confuses not one of them —to whatever extent the spring camp of the face of the earth is vaster and more perfect than that human army, —by means of the measure or scale of the military science that you study— it makes known to the attentive and sensible, its Ruler, Sustainer, Administrator, and Most Holy Commander, causing wonderment and acclaim, and makes Him loved and praised and glorified.
“Another example: millions of electric lights that move and travel through a wondrous city, their fuel and power source never being exhausted, self-evidently make known a wonder-working craftsman and extraordinarily talented electrician who manages the electricity, makes the moving lamps, sets up the power source, and brings the fuel; they cause others to congratulate and applaud him, and to love him. In just the same way, although some of the lamps of the stars in the roof of the palace of the world in the city of the universe —if they are considered in the way that astronomy says— are a thousand times larger than the earth and move seventy times faster than a cannon-ball, they do not spoil their order, nor collide with one another, nor become extinguished, nor is their fuel exhausted. According to astronomy, which you study, for our sun to continue burning, which is a million times larger than the earth and a million times older and is a lamp and stove in one guest-house of the Most Merciful One, as much oil as the seas of the earth and as much coal as its mountains or as many logs and much wood as ten earths are necessary for it not to be extinguished. And however much greater and more perfect than this example are the electric lamps of the palace of the world in the majestic city of the universe, which point with their fingers of light to an infinite power and sovereignty which illuminates the sun and other lofty stars like it without oil, wood, or coal, not allowing them to be extinguished or to collide with one another, though travelling together at speed, to that degree —by means of the measure of the science of electricity which you either study or will study— they testify to and make known the Monarch, Illuminator, Director, and Maker of the mighty exhibition of the universe; they make Him loved, glorified, and worshipped.
“And, for example, take a book in every line of which a whole book is finely written, and in every word of which a sura of the Qur’an is inscribed with a fine pen. Being most meaningful with all of its matters corroborating one another, and a wondrous collection showing its writer and author to be extraordinarily skilful and capable, it undoubtedly shows its writer and author together with all his perfections and arts as clearly as daylight, and makes him known. It makes him appreciated with phrases like, “What wonders God has willed!” and “Blessed be God!” Just the same is the mighty book of the universe; we see with our eyes a pen at work which writes on the face of the earth, which is a single of its pages, and on the spring, which is a single folio, the three hundred thousand plant and animal species, which are like three hundred thousand different books, all together, one within the other, without fault or error, without mixing them up or confusing them, perfectly and with complete order, and sometimes writes an ode in a word like a tree, and the complete index of a book in a point-like seed. However much vaster and more perfect and meaningful than the book in the example mentioned above is this compendium of the universe and mighty embodied Qur’an of the world, which is infinitely full of meaning and in every word of which are numerous instances of wisdom, to that degree —in accordance with the extensive measure and far-seeing vision of the natural science that you study and the sciences of reading and writing that you have practised at school— it makes known the Inscriber and Author of the book of the universe together with His infinite perfections. Proclaiming “God is Most Great!”, it makes Him known. Uttering phrases like “Glory be to God!”, it describes Him. Acclaiming Him with words like “All praise be to God!”, it makes Him loved.
“Thus, hundreds of other sciences like these make known the Glorious Creator of the universe together with His Names, each through its broad measure or scale, its particular mirror, its far-seeing eyes, and searching gaze; they make known His attributes and perfections.
“It is in order to give instruction in this matter, which is a brilliant and magnificent proof of Divine unity, that the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition teaches us about our Creator most often with the verses, Sustainer of the Heavens and the Earth,6 and, He created the Heavens and Earth.”7 I said this to the schoolboys, and they accepted it completely, affirming it by saying: “Endless thanks be to God, for we have received an absolutely true and sacred lesson. May God be pleased with you!” And I said:
“Man is a living machine who is grieved with thousands of different sorrows and receives pleasure in thousands of different ways, and despite his utter impotence has innumerable enemies, physical and spiritual, and despite his infinite poverty, has countless needs, external and inner, and is a wretched creature continuously suffering the blows of death and separation. Yet, through belief and worship, he at once becomes connected to a Monarch so Glorious he finds a point of support against all his enemies and a source of help for all his needs, and like everyone takes pride at the honour and rank of the lord to whom he is attached, you can compare for yourselves how pleased and grateful and thankful and full of pride man becomes at being connected through belief to an infinitely Powerful and Compassionate Monarch, at entering His service through worship, and transforming for himself the announcement of the execution of the appointed hour into the papers releasing him from duty.”
I repeat to the calamity-stricken prisoners what I said to the schoolboys: “One who recognizes Him and obeys Him is fortunate even if he is in prison. While one who forgets Him is wretched and a prisoner even if he resides in a palace.” Even, one wronged but fortunate man said to the wretched tyrants who were executing him: “I am not being executed but being demobilized and departing for where I shall find happiness. But I see that you are being condemned to eternal execution and am therefore taking perfect revenge on you.” And declaring: “There is no god but God!”, he happily surrendered up his spirit.
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.8
The Seventh Topic
[The fruit of a Friday in Denizli Prison]
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
The command of the Hour [of resurrection] will be like the glance of an eye, or briefer.9 * The creation of you all and the resurrection of you all is but like that of a single soul.10 * So look to the signs of God’s mercy, how He gives life to the earth after its death; He it is Who will raise the dead to life, and He is Powerful over all things.11
The prisoners in Denizli Prison who were able to have contact with me, read the lesson in the Sixth Topic I had at one time given in the tongues of the sciences to the high school pupils in Kastamonu, who had asked me: “Tell us about our Creator,” and having acquired a firm belief, they felt a longing for the hereafter. They requested of me: “Teach us also about the hereafter so that we won’t be led astray by our souls and the satans of these times, and they will not again be the cause of our being sent to prison.” So in the face of this request of the Risale-i Nur students in Denizli Prison and the readers of the Sixth Topic, need arose for an explanatory summary of the pillar of belief in the hereafter, as well, and I offered them a brief summary of various passages from the Risale-i Nur.
In the Sixth Topic we asked the heavens and the earth about our Creator, and they described Him to us as clearly as the sun in the tongues of the sciences. Now, in the same way, we shall ask firstly our Sustainer, Whom we have learnt about, about the hereafter, then our Prophet, then the Qur’an, then the other prophets and holy scriptures, then the angels, and then the universe.
In the first stage, we ask God about the hereafter. He replies through all the envoys He has sent, and His decrees, and all His Names and attributes: “Yes, the hereafter exists, and I shall send you there.” The Tenth Word has proved and elucidated with twelve brilliant, decisive truths the answers about the hereafter of a number of Names. Deeming those explanations to be sufficient, here we shall point them out briefly.
Yes, since there is no sovereignty that does not reward those who obey it and punish the rebellious, an eternal sovereignty which is at the degree of absolute dominicality rewarding those who form a relation with it through belief and submit to its decrees, and its punishing rebellious disbelievers who deny its proud sovereignty will be in a manner fitting for its mercy and beauty, its dignity and glory. Thus, the Names Sustainer of All the Worlds and Just Monarch reply to our question.
Also, we see as clearly as the sun, as daylight, a general mercy and all-embracing compassion and munificence on the face of the earth. For example, every spring that mercy adorns all the fruit-bearing trees and plants like houris; it fills their hands with every sort of fruit and they hold them out to us, saying: “Help yourselves, and eat!” So does it give us sweet, healing honey to eat from the poisonous bee, and dresses us in the softest silk by means of a handless insect. It deposits for us in a handful of tiny seeds pounds of food, making those tiny stores into reserve supplies. Such a mercy and compassion surely would not execute these lovable, grateful, worshipping believers which they nurture so kindly. They rather dismiss them from their duties in this worldly life to bestow on them still more brilliant instances of mercy, and in so doing the Names of All-Compassionate and Munificent answer our question.
Also, we see before our eyes that a hand of wisdom works in all creatures on the face of the earth and a justice is in force with its measures, nothing superior to which the human mind can conceive of. For example, a pre-eternal wisdom inscribes in man’s faculty of memory, which is one instance of wisdom in his thousands of faculties and physical systems and is as tiny as a miniscule seed, his entire life-story and the numerous events which touch on him, making it into a small library. He then places it in the pocket of his mind as a note from the register of his actions which will be published for his judgement at the Great Gathering, in order to continuously remind him of this. And an eternal justice places on all creatures their members with the finest balance, and makes all of them —from the microbe to the rhinoceros, and the fly to the simurgh bird, and from a flowering plant to the flower of the spring, which opens thousands of millions of flowers in the spring— with a beauty of art and balance with no waste within a mutual proportion, equilibrium, order and beauty; it gives all living creatures their rights of life with perfect balance, and makes good things produce good results and bad things, bad results; and since the time of Adam it has made itself felt forcefully through the blows it has dealt to rebellious and tyrannous peoples. Certainly and without doubt, just as the sun cannot be without the day, so that pre-eternal wisdom and eternal justice cannot be without the hereafter. The Names of All-Wise and Sapient, Just and Equitable would never permit the awesome injustice, inequity, and unwisdom of oppressed and oppressor being equal in death, and thus they decisively answer our question.
Also, since whenever living creatures seek their natural wishes, which are beyond their power, through the tongues of their innate abilities and essential needs, which is supplication of a sort, all their needs are given to them by a most compassionate, hearing, kind unseen hand; and since six or seven out of ten of human supplications, which are voluntary, especially those of the prophets and the elect, are accepted in a way contrary to the normal course of things; it is understood certainly that behind the veil of the Unseen is one who listens and hears the sighs of the suffering and prayers of the needy, and replies to them; he sees the least need of the smallest living being and compassionately replying by action, gratifies it. There is no possibility of doubting therefore that the one who includes in his supplication all the most important, general supplications of man, the most important of creatures, which are connected with all the Divine Names and attributes and are for immortality; and takes behind him all the other prophets, who are the suns, stars, and leaders of mankind, making them exclaim: “Amen! Amen!”; and for whom benedictions are recited several times every day; and to whose supplication all the members of his community rejoin: “Amen! Amen!”, indeed, in whose supplication all creatures take part, saying: “Yes, O Lord! Do give what he asks! We too want what he seeks!” — of all the causes necessitating resurrection under these irresistible conditions, only a single supplication of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) for immortality in the hereafter and eternal happiness would have been sufficient reason for the existence of Paradise and creation of the hereafter, which are as easy for Divine power as the creation of the spring — stating this, the Names of Answerer of Prayer, All-Hearing, and All-Compassionate answer our question.
Also, since as clearly as the sun is shown by daylight, behind the veil is One Who has disposal over the universal death and revivification in the alternation of the seasons on the earth; and a pen of power inscribes the mighty globe with the ease and orderliness of a garden or even a tree, and the splendid spring with the facility and symmetrical adornment of a flower, and the species of plants and animals as though they were three hundred thousand books displaying three hundred thousand samples of resurrection, all one within the other and intermingled and mixed up together yet without disarrangement or disorder, all resembling each other yet without confusion, error, or fault; perfectly, regularly, and meaningfully; and since despite this vast profusion that One works with boundless mercy and infinite wisdom; and since He has subjugated, decorated, and furnished the vast universe for man like a house, and appointing him His vicegerent on earth, committing to him the supreme trust, from the bearing of which the mountains, sky, and earth shrank, and has raised him to the rank of commanding officer over other living beings, honoured him with the Divine address and conversation, and since He has thus bestowed on man this supreme station and in all the revealed decrees promised him eternal happiness and immortal life in the hereafter; certainly and without doubt He will open up that realm of bliss for ennobled and honoured man, which is as easy for His power as the spring, and bring about the resurrection of the dead and Last Judgement —stating this, the Names of Granter of Life and Dealer of Death, Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent, and All-Powerful and Knowing reply to the question we asked of our Creator.
Yes, if one considers the power which every spring raises to life identically the roots of all the trees and plants and creates the three hundred thousand plant and animal samples of the resurrection of the dead, and if one visualizes the thousand year period of each of the communities of Moses and Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon them), and they are pictured in the imagination, it will be seen that the two thousand springs12 display a thousand samples of resurrection and a thousand evidences. It is to be blind and unreasonable a thousand times over to consider bodily resurrection difficult for such a power.
Also, just as relying on Almighty God’s thousands of promises, the twenty-four thousand prophets, who are the most renowned of mankind, have unanimously proclaimed and proved through their miracles that eternal happiness and immortality in the hereafter are true; so innumerable people of sainthood have put their signature to the same truth through their illuminations and unfoldings. Since this is so, surely this truth is as clear as the sun, and those who doubt it are crazy.
Yes, the ideas and judgements of one or two experts in a science or art concerning their science refute the opposing ideas of ten men who are not experts in it, even if they are experts in their own fields. Similarly, two people making a positive statement about a subject, for example, proving the crescent moon of Ramadan on the day it is uncertain, or claiming: “there is a garden on the earth where coconuts resembling cans of milk are grown” defeat a thousand deniers, and win the case. For the one making the positive statement has only to point out the place where the coconuts are found to easily win. Whereas the one who denies it can prove his case only by searching the whole face of the earth and demonstrating that the coconuts are not to be found anywhere. So one who makes a report of Paradise and the realm of bliss and asserts that they exist wins his case by only demonstrating through illumination a shadow or distillation of it, like in the cinema, while those who deny it can only win by proving their denial by seeing the whole universe and all time from pre-eternity to post-eternity, and demonstrating it. It is because of this that the investigative scholars have agreed on the rule “on condition they are not inherently impossible, denials which are not specific but look to the whole universe like the truths of belief, cannot be proved,” and have accepted it as a fundamental principle.
In consequence of this definite truth, while the opposing ideas of thousands of philosophers should not cast the slightest doubt, or even suspicion, on even a single truthful report concerning the questions of belief, you may understand what a lunacy it is to fall into doubt at the denials of a handful of philosophers who concerning the pillars of belief understand no further than their eyes see, have no heart, are blind, and have grown distant from spiritual matters. For the pillars of faith have been agreed upon by one hundred and twenty thousand expert scholars and truthful reporters with their positive assertions, and innumerable specialists in the field of reality and investigative scholars.
Also, we see with our own eyes as clearly as daylight both in ourselves and all around us a comprehensive mercy and all-embracing wisdom and constant bestowal of grace. We observe too the traces and manifestations of an awesome sovereignty of dominicality, a precise and lofty justice, and a proud and glorious government. Indeed, the wisdom which attaches instances of wisdom to a tree to the number of its fruits and flowers; and the mercy which bestows bounties and favours on every human being to the number of his faculties, members, and feelings; and the proud, yet gracious justice which deals blows at rebellious peoples like those of Noah, Hud, and Salih (Peace be upon them) and the ‘Ad, Thamud, and people of Pharoah, and protects the rights of the least living being; and 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 [straightway] come forth13
all state the following with a majestic conciseness:
Just as at the summons of their commander and the sound of the bugle, the disciplined soldiers stationed in two barracks spring to arms and their duties; so whenever the bugle-call of Israfil (Peace be upon him) summons those lying in death in the vast heavens and in the earth, which are like two orderly barracks for the soldiers of the Pre-Eternal Monarch, obedient to His command, they will immediately don the uniforms of their bodies and rise up. Proving and demonstrating this is the same situation displayed by the beings in the barracks of the earth in the spring at the trumpet-blast of the Angel of Thunder, and from it is understood the infinite grandeur of the sovereignty of dominicality. As is proved in the Tenth Word, it is certainly therefore utterly impossible that the realm of the hereafter and arena of the resurrection and Great Gathering, which are most definitely demanded by that mercy, wisdom, grace, and justice, should not be inaugurated, and for that infinitely beautiful mercy to be transformed into ugly cruelty, and for that boundless perfection of wisdom to be turned into infinitely faulty futility and purposeless wastefulness, and that sweet grace to be transformed into bitter treachery, and that finely balanced and equitable justice to be turned into severe tyranny, and that utterly powerful and majestic eternal sovereignty to decline, and with the resurrection not occuring for it to lose all its splendour, and for the perfections of its dominicality to be marred by impotence and defect. This would be completely unreasonable and a compounded impossibility, outside the bounds of possibility and false and precluded.
For all those with intelligence would surely understand what a cruel unkindness it would be, having nurtured man so solicitously and given him through faculties like the heart and intellect a sense of longing for eternal happiness and everlasting life in the hereafter, to despatch him to eternal non-being; and how contrary to wisdom it would be, having attached hundreds of purposes and instances of wisdom to only his brain, to waste through endless death all his faculties and his abilities with their thousands of purposes thus making them devoid of all use, purpose and result; and how utterly opposed to the splendour of that sovereignty and perfect dominicality it would be, by not carrying out His thousands of promises, to demonstrate —God forbid!— His impotence and ignorance. You may make an analogy with these for grace and justice. Thus, the Names of Most Merciful, All-Just, All-Wise, Munificent, and Ruler answer with the above truths the question we asked our Creator about the hereafter, and prove it as indubitably and clearly as the sun.
Moreover, we observe that prevailing over everything is a vast and comprehensive preservation which records in their seeds, on the tablets of the World of Similitudes, in their memories, which are tiny samples of the Preserved Tablet, and particularly in the faculty of memory, which is a tiny library in man’s brain which is at the same time very large, and in other mirrors, physical and non-physical, in which they are reflected, the numerous forms of all living creatures and all things, and the notebooks of the duties they perform in accordance with their essential natures, and the pages of their deeds pertaining to the glorifications they perform towards the Divine Names through the tongues of their beings; it inscribes them in these, and records and preserves them. Then, when the time comes —every spring, which is a flower of Divine power— they display to us all those immaterial inscriptions in physical form, proclaim to the universe with millions of tongues within that supreme flower, and with the strength of millions of examples, evidences, and samples, the wondrous truth of resurrection expressed in the verse:
When the pages are spread out.14
It proves most cogently that foremost man, and all living beings and all things, were created not to topple over into nothingness, to fall into non-existence, to be annihilated, but to win immortality through progressing, and permanence through being purified, and to take up the eternal duties required by their innate capacities.
Yes, we observe every spring that the innumerable plants which die in the doomsday of the autumn, and all the trees, roots, seeds, and grains in the resurrection of the spring recite the verse When the pages are spread out. Expounding each in its own tongue one meaning of the verse, one facet of it, with examples of the duties it performed in previous years, they all testify to that vast preservation. They display in everything the four vast truths of the verse,
He is the First, and the Last, the Evident, and the Inward,15
and instruct us with the ease and certainty of the spring.
The manifestations of these four Names occur in all things from the most particular to the most universal. For example, through manifesting the Name of First, a seed, the source of a tree, is a precise programme of it and a small receptacle containing the faultless systems of the tree’s creation and all the conditions of its formation, thus proving the vastness of Divine preservation.
Then, together with the tree’s seeds, its fruit manifests the Name of Last; they are coffers containing the indexes of all the duties the tree has performed in accordance with its nature and the principles of its second life, thus testifying at a maximum level to Divine preservation.
The tree’s physical form, which manifests the Name of Evident, is a finely proportioned, skilfully decorated garment. Like a seventy-hued robe of the houris which has been embroidered with gilded motifs, it demonstrates visibly the vast power, perfect wisdom, and beautiful mercy within Divine preservation.
As for the machinery within the tree, which manifests the Name of Inward, it is a regular, miraculous, faultless factory and workbench, a balanced cauldron of food which leaves unnourished none of its branches, fruits, or leaves, thus proving as brilliantly as the sun the perfect power, justice, and beautiful mercy and wisdom within Divine preservation.
Similarly, in respect of the annual seasons the globe is a tree. Through the manifestation of the Name of First, all the seeds and grains entrusted to Divine preservation in the season of autumn are small collections of the Divine commands concerning the formation of the tree of the face of the earth, which when it is enrobed in the garment of spring, puts forth millions of branches and twigs, and fruits and flowers. So too those seeds are lists of the principles proceeding from Divine Determining, and the tiny pages of the tree’s deeds of the previous summer, and the notebooks of its tasks, which demonstrate self-evidently that they function through the infinite power, justice, wisdom, and mercy of a Glorious and Munificent Preserver.
Then the end of the annual tree of the earth is —in the second autumn, its depositing in those tiny containers all the duties it has performed, all the glorifications it has recited before the Divine Names in accordance with its creation, and all the pages of its deeds that it will publish the following resurrection of spring,— its handing them over to the hand of wisdom of the Glorious Preserver and reciting the Name of He is the Last before the whole universe in innumerable tongues.
The evident face of the tree is, —by its opening three hundred thousand universal sorts of blossoms, which demonstrate three hundred thousand examples and signs of the resurrection of the dead; and its spreading out innumerable tables of mercifulness, providence, compassionateness, and munificence; and its offering banquets to living beings,— its reciting the Name of He is the Evident with tongues to the number of its fruits, flowers, and foods, and offering praise and laudation, and showing as clearly as daylight the truth of When the pages are spread out.
The inner face of this majestic tree is a cauldron and workbench running precisely and in orderly fashion incalculable numbers of regular machines and finely balanced factories, which cook thousands of pounds of food out of one ounce and offer it to the hungry. It works with such precision and balance that it leaves no room for chance to interfere. Like some angels who glorify God with a thousand tongues, with the inner face of the earth it proclaims the Name of He is the Inward in a hundred thousand ways, and proves it.
Just as in respect of its annual life, the earth is a tree and makes the Divine preservation within those four Names a key to the door of resurrection, so in respect of its worldly life, it is again a well-ordered tree, whose fruits are sent to the market of the hereafter. It is a place of manifestation of those four Names and mirror to them so broad, and road leading to the hereafter so lengthy, our minds are incapable of comprehending and describing it; we can only say this much:
As the hands of a weekly clock which count the seconds, minutes, hours, and days resemble each other and prove each other, and one who sees the movement of the second hand is bound to assent to the movement of the others; so the days, which count the seconds of this world, which is a vast clock of the Glorious Creator of the Heavens and Earth, and the years, which count its minutes, and the centuries, which show its hours, and the ages, which make known its days, all resemble and prove each other. So too the Name of Preserver and those of He is the First, and the Last, the Evident, and the Inward inform us through innumerable signs that as certainly as the morning of this night will come, and this winter’s spring, so will the everlasting spring and eternal morning come of the dark winter of this transitory world, thus answering with the above truths the question of resurrection concerning which we asked our Creator.
Also, since we see with our eyes and understand with our minds that man is the final and most comprehensive fruit of the tree of the universe.. and in respect of the Muhammadan (Peace and blessings be upon him) Reality is its original seed.. and the supreme sign of the Qur’an of the universe.. and he is its Throne Verse bearing the Greatest Name.. and the most honoured guest in the palace of the universe.. the most active functionary empowered over the other inhabitants of the palace.. the official charged with overseeing the income and expenditure, and the planting and cultivation of the gardens in the quarter of the earth in the city of the universe.. and is its most noisy and responsible minister, equipped with hundreds of sciences and thousands of arts.. and an inspector and sort of vicegerent of the Monarch of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, under His close scrutiny, in the region of the earth in the country of the universe.. and one with disposal over it whose actions, particular and universal, are all recorded.. who has undertaken the Supreme Trust, from which the heavens and earth and mountains shrank.. and before whom are two roads, on one of which he is the most wretched of living beings, and on the other, the most fortunate.. and he is a universal bondsman charged with most extensive worship.. the place of manifestation of the Greatest Name of the Monarch of the universe and a comprehensive mirror of all His Names.. a special addressee of His, with the best understanding of His Divine addresses and speech.. the most needy of the living beings of the universe.. and is a wretched living creature who has innumerable desires and goals, numberless enemies and things that harm him, despite his infinite poverty and impotence.. is the richest in regard to abilities and potentialities.. the most suffering in respect of the pleasures of life, whose enjoyment is marred by ghastly pains.. and a wondrous miracle of the power of the Eternally Besought One and marvel of Divine power who is the most needy and wanting, and worthy and deserving of immortality, and seeks and beseeches eternal happiness with endless prayers, and if all the pleasures of this world were given him, his desire for immortality would not be satisfied, and who loves to the degree of worshipping Him the One Who bestows bounties on him, and makes Him loved and is loved.. and all of whose faculties, which encompass the universe, testify that he was created to go to eternity.. and through the above twenty universal truths is bound to Almighty God’s Name of Truth; and whose actions are continuously recorded by the All-Glorious Preserver’s Name of Preserver, Who sees the most insignificant need of the tiniest animate being, hears it plaint and responds in action; and being related to the whole universe whose deeds are written down by the “noble scribes” of that Name and who more than anything else receives its attention..
As required by the above twenty truths, most certainly and without any doubt there will be a resurrection and judgement for man, and in accordance with the Name of Truth, he will receive reward for his above duties and punishment for his faults, and in accordance with the Name of Preserver, he will be questioned and called to account for his actions, all of which have been recorded, and the doors will be opened of the feasting halls of everlasting bliss in the eternal realm, and of the prison of eternal misery; man, who has been an officer with command over numerous species of beings in this world, and has intervened in them and sometimes thrown them into confusion, will not enter the soil never to be questioned concerning his actions, nor lay down in concealment not to be roused. For to hear the buzz of the fly and to answer it actively by giving it its rights of life, and not to hear the prayers for eternity made through the tongues of the above twenty truths of innumerable human rights which reverberate through the heavens and earth like thunder, and to transgress all those rights, and for a wisdom which as is testified to by the order of the fly’s wing wastes not even such a wing, to waste utterly man’s abilities, which are bound by those truths, and his hopes and desires, which reach out to eternity, and the many bonds and truths of the universe which nourish those abilities and desires, would be such an injustice and so impossible and such a tyrannical ugliness that all beings which testify to the Names of Truth, Preserver, All-Wise, All-Beauteous, and All-Compassionate reject it, declaring it to be utterly impossible and precluded. Thus, in reply to our question to our Creator about resurrection, the Names of Truth, Preserver, All-Wise, All-Beauteous, and All-Compassionate, say: “Just as we are truth and reality, and the beings that testify to us are true, so the resurrection of the dead is true and certain.”
And since... I was going to write more, but since the above is as clear as the sun, I have curtailed the discussion.
Thus, making an analogy with the matters in the above examples and “sinces,” through their manifestations and reflections in beings, all Almighty God’s hundred, indeed a thousand, Names which look to the universe prove self-evidently the one they signify; so too do they demonstrate the resurrection of the dead and hereafter, and prove them definitively.
Also, just as through all His decrees and the scriptures He has revealed and most of His Names, by which he is described, our Sustainer gives us sacred and decisive answers to the question we asked our Creator; so He causes it to be answered through His angels, and in another fashion through their tongue:
“There have been hundreds of incidents unanimously attested to since the time of Adam of your meeting both with spirit beings and with us, and there are innumerable signs and evidences of our existence and worship and that of the spirit beings. In agreement with each other, we have told your leaders when we have met with them that we travel through the halls of the hereafter and in some of its apartments, and we always say this. We have no doubt that the fine, eternal halls that we have wandered through, and the well-appointed decorated palaces and dwellings beyond them await important guests, in order to accommodate them. We give you certain news of this.” They reply to our question thus.
Also, since our Creator appointed Muhammad the Arabian (Peace and blessings be upon him) as the greatest teacher, best master, and truest guide, who is neither confused nor confuses, and sent him as His last envoy, before anything, in order to progress and advance from the degree of ‘knowledge of certainty’ to those of ‘vision of certainty’ and ‘absolute certainty,’ we should ask this master the question we asked of our Creator. For just as that Being, through his thousand miracles, which were a mark of our Creator’s confirmation, and as a miracle of the Qur’an, proved that the Qur’an is true and God’s Word; so, through its forty aspects of miraculousness, as a miracle of his, the Qur’an proves that he was true and God’s Messenger. The reality of resurrection which they prove —one, the tongue of the Manifest World, claimed it throughout his life, confirmed by all the prophets and saints, and the other, the tongue of the World of the Unseen, claims it with thousands of its verses, confirmed by all the revealed scriptures and truths of the universe,— is as certain as the sun and daylight.
Yes, a question like resurrection, which is the most strange and awesome matter and beyond the reason, could only be solved through the instruction of two such wondrous masters, and understood.
The reason the early prophets did not explain resurrection in detail like the Qur’an was that at that time mankind was still at a primitive stage of nomadism. There is little detailed explanation in preliminary instruction.
And since the angels inform us that they have seen the hereafter and the dwellings of the eternal realm, evidences testifying to the existence and worship of the angels, spirits, and spirit beings, are also indirect evidence for the existence of the hereafter.
And since after Divine unity the thing Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) most constantly claimed and asserted throughout his life was the hereafter, certainly all his miracles and proofs which point to his messengership and veracity in one way testify indirectly to the existence of the hereafter and that it will come.
And since one quarter of the Qur’an is about resurrection and the hereafter and it tries to prove it with thousands of its verses, and gives news of it, all the proofs and evidences of the Qur’an’s veracity prove indirectly the existence of the hereafter, and its being thrown open.
Now see how firm and certain is this pillar of belief!
A Summary of the Eighth Topic
[In the Seventh Topic, we questioned numerous levels of beings about the resurrection of the dead, but curtailed the discussion because since the replies given by the Creator’s Names afforded such powerful certainty, they left no need for further questions. Now in this Topic are summarized a hundredth of the benefits of belief in the hereafter, including those which result in happiness in this world and in the next. The Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition leaves no need for further explanation concerning the happiness of the hereafter, so we refer the subject to the Qur’an. And leaving the explanations of worldly happiness to the Risale-i Nur, here we shall describe in summary form three or four out of hundreds of results of belief in the hereafter which look to man’s individual life and social life.]
The First
Just as, contrary to other living beings, man has relations with his home, so he has relations with the world, and just as he has relations with his relatives, so by nature he has earnest relations with mankind. And just as he desires temporary permanence in this world, so he passionately desires immortality in the realm of eternity. And just as he strives to meet the need of his stomach for food, so he is by nature compelled to strive to provide for the stomachs of his mind, heart, spirit, and humanity. He has such hopes and desires that nothing apart from eternal happiness can satisfy them. As is mentioned in the Tenth Word, even, when small, I asked my imagination: “Do you want to live for a million years and rule the world but then cease to exist, or to live for ever but have an ordinary and difficult existence?” I saw that my imagination wanted the latter, feeling pain at the first, and said: “I want to live for ever, even if in Hell!”
Thus, since the pleasures of this world do not satisfy the imaginative faculty, which is a servant of human nature, man’s comprehensive nature is certainly attached to eternity. For man, therefore, who despite being afflicted with these boundless hopes and desires as capital has only an insignificant faculty of will and absolute poverty, belief in the hereafter is a treasury of such strength and sufficiency; is such a means of pleasure and happiness, source of help, refuge, and means of consolation in the face of the endless sorrows of this world, and is such a fruit and benefit that if the life of this world were to be sacrificed on the way of gaining it, it would still be cheap.
Its second fruit and benefit, which looks to man’s personal life
This is a consequence of great importance which is explained in the Third Topic, and about which is a footnote in A Guide For Youth.
Man’s greatest and most constant anxiety is his entering the place of execution that is the graveyard, the same as his friends and relations have entered it. Wretched man, who is ready to sacrifice his very soul for a single friend, thinks of the thousands, millions, or thousands of millions of friends who have been eliminated and have parted for all eternity, and suffers torments worse than Hell. Just at that point belief in the hereafter comes, opens his eyes, and raises the veil. It tells him: “Look!” He looks with belief, and seeing that those friends have been saved from eternal death and decay and are awaiting him happily in a luminous world, he receives a pleasure of the spirit that intimates the pleasures of Paradise. Sufficing with the explanations and proofs of this consequence in the Risale-i Nur, we cut this short here.
A third benefit pertaining to personal life
Man’s superiority over other living beings and his high rank are in respect of his elevated qualities, comprehensive abilities, universal worship, and his extensive spheres of existence. However, the virtues he acquires like zeal, love, brotherhood, and humanity are to the extent of the fleeting present, which is squeezed between the past and the future, which are both non-existent, and dead, and black.
For example, he loves and serves his father, brother, wife, nation, and country, whom he formerly did not know and after parting from them, will never see again. He would very rarely be able to achieve complete loyalty and sincerity, and his virtues and perfections would diminish proportionately. Then, just as because of his intelligence, he is about to fall headlong from being the highest of the animals to the lowest and most wretched, belief in the hereafter comes to his assistance. It expands the present, as constricting as the grave, so that it encompasses the past and future and is as broad as the world, and shows the bounds of existence to stretch from pre-eternity to post-eternity. Thinking of his father being in the realm of bliss and world of spirits and the fraternity of his brothers continuing to eternity, and knowing that his wife will be a beautiful companion in Paradise also, he will love and respect them, be kindly and assist them. He will not exploit the important duties which are for relationships in that broad sphere of life and existence for the worthless matters of this world, with its petty hatreds and interests. His good qualities and attainments will advance to the degree he is successful in being earnestly loyal and truly sincere, and his humanity will increase. Although he does not receive the pleasure from life that a sparrow receives, he becomes the most eminent and happy guest in the universe, superior to all the animals, and the best loved and most acceptable servant of the universe’s Owner. This consequence has also been elucidated with proofs in the Risale-i Nur, so here we suffice with this.
A fourth benefit of belief in the hereafter, which looks to man’s social life
A summary of this result is set forth in the Ninth Ray of the Risale-i Nur, it is as follows:
Children, which form a quarter of mankind, can live a human existence only through belief in the hereafter, and sustain their human capacity. They otherwise live only childish, empty existences, blunting their grievous pains with trifling playthings. For the effect of the constant deaths around them of children like themselves on their sensitive minds, and weak hearts which in the future will nurture far-reaching desires, and their vulnerable spirits, makes their minds and lives into instruments of torture. But then, through instruction in belief in the hereafter, in place of their anxieties, and the playthings behind which they hid so as not to see those deaths, they feel a joy and expansion, and say: “My brother or my friend has died and become a bird in Paradise. He is flying around and enjoying himself better than we are. And my mother has died, but she has gone to Divine mercy. She will again take me into her embrace in Paradise and I shall see her again.” They may live in a state befitting humanity.
It is only in belief in the hereafter that the elderly, who form another quarter of mankind, can find consolation, in the face of the close extinction of their lives and their entering the soil, and their fine and lovable worlds coming to an end. Those kindly, venerable fathers and devoted, tender mothers would otherwise feel such a disturbance of the spirit and tumult of the heart that the world would become a despairing prison for them and life, a ghastly torture. But then belief in the hereafter says to them: “Don’t worry! You have an immortal youth; a shining, endless life awaits you. You will be joyfully reunited with the children and relatives you have lost. All your good deeds have been preserved and you will receive your reward.” It affords them such solace and joy that were they to experience old age a hundred times over all at the same time, it would not cause them despair.
One third of mankind is formed by the youth. With their turbulent emotions, the youths are not always able to control their bold intelligences and are overcome by their passions. If then they lose their faith in the hereafter and do not recall the torments of Hell, it puts in danger the property and honour of the upright people in society, and the peace and self-respect of the weak and elderly. One youth may destroy the happiness of a contented home for one minute’s pleasure, then pay the penalty in prison for four or five years, degenerating into a wild animal. If belief in the hereafter comes to his assistance and he swiftly comes to his senses, saying: “It’s true the government informers can’t see me and I can hide from them, but the angels of a Glorious Monarch who has a prison like Hell see me and are recording all my evil deeds. I am not free and independent; I am a traveller charged with duties. One day I too will be old and weak.” He suddenly starts to feel a sympathy and respect for those he wanted to cruelly assault. This too is explained with proofs in the Risale-i Nur, so deeming that sufficient, we here cut it short.
Another important section of mankind are the sick, the oppressed, the disaster-stricken like us, the poor and the life prisoners; if belief in the hereafter does not come to their aid, death, of which they are continuously reminded by illness, unavenged wrongs, the arrogant treachery of the oppressor, from whom they cannot save their honour, the terrible despair of having lost their property or children in serious disasters, the distress at having to suffer the torments of prison for five or ten years because of a minute or two, or an hour or two, of pleasure — these surely make the world into a prison for such unfortunates, and life into agonizing torment. But if belief in the hereafter comes to their assistance, they suddenly breathe freely, and according to the degree of their belief, their distress, despair, anxiety, anger, and desire for vengeance abate, sometimes partially, sometimes entirely.
I can even say that if belief in the hereafter had not helped me and some of my brothers in this fearsome calamity of our being imprisoned for no reason, to stand it for one day would have been as grievous as death and driven us to resign from life. But endless thanks be to God, despite suffering the distress of my brothers, whom I love as much as my life, as well as my own, in addition to the weeping and sorrow of thousands of copies of the Risale-i Nur and my gilded, decorated, valuable books, which I love as much as my eyes, and although I could never stand the slightest insult or to be dominated, I swear that the light and strength of belief in the hereafter afforded me the patience, endurance, solace, and steadfastness; indeed, it filled me with enthusiasm to gain greater reward in the profitable, instructive exertions of this ordeal, for as I said at the beginning of this treatise, I knew myself to be in a good medrese or school worthy of the title of ‘Medrese-i Yusufiye’ (School of Joseph). If it was not for the occasional sickness and irritability arising from old age, I would have worked at my lessons even better and with greater ease of mind. However, we have strayed from the subject; I hope it will be forgiven.
Also, everyone’s home is a small world for him, and even a small Paradise. If belief in the hereafter is not at the basis of the happiness of that home, the members of the family will suffer anguish and anxiety to the extent of their compassion, love, and attachment. Their paradise will either turn into Hell, or it will numb their minds with amusements and dissipation. Like the ostrich, who sees the hunter but can neither fly nor escape and sticks its head in the sand so as not to be seen, they plunge their heads into heedlessness so that death, decline, and separation do not spot them. They find a way out by temporarily blocking out their feelings in lunatic fashion. Because, for example, the mother trembles constantly at seeing her children, for whom she would sacrifice her soul, exposed to dangers. While the children all the time feel sorrow and fear at being unable to save their father and brother from unceasing calamities. Thus, in the upheavals of this worldly life, the supposedly happy life of the family loses its happiness in many respects, and the relations and closeness in this brief life do not result in true loyalty, heartfelt sincerity, disinterested service and love. Good character declines proportionately, and is even lost. Whereas if belief in the hereafter enters that home, it illuminates it completely, and its members have sincere respect, love, and compassion for each other, are loyal and disregard each other’s faults, in the measure not of their relations, closeness, kindness, and love in this brief life, but of their continuation in the realm of the hereafter, in everlasting happiness, and their good character increases accordingly. The happiness of true humanity starts to unfold in that home. Since this too is elucidated with proofs in the Risale-i Nur, we cut this short here.
Towns are also households for their inhabitants. If belief in the hereafter does not govern among the members of that large family vices like malice, self-interest, false pretences, selfishness, artificiality, hypocrisy, bribery, and deception will dominate, displacing sincerity, cordiality, virtue, zeal, self-sacrifice, seeking God’s pleasure and the reward of the hereafter, which are bases of good conduct and morality. Anarchy and savagery will govern under the superficial order and humanity, poisoning the life of the town. The children will become troublemakers, the youth will take to drink, the strong will embark on oppression, and the elderly start to weep.
By analogy, the country is also a household, and the fatherland, the home of the national family. If belief in the hereafter rules in these broad homes, true respect, earnest compassion, disinterested love, mutual assistance, honest service and social relations, unhypocritical charity, virtue, modest greatness, and excellence will all start to develop.
It says to the children: “Give up messing around; there is Paradise to be won!”, and teaches them self-control through instruction in the Qur’an.
It says to the youth: “There is Hell-fire; give up your drunkenness!”, and brings them to their senses.
It says to the oppressor: “There is severe torment; you will receive a blow!”, and makes them bow to justice.
It says to the elderly: “Awaiting you is everlasting happiness in the hereafter far greater than all the happiness you have lost here, and immortal youth; try to win them!” It turns their tears into laughter.
It shows its favourable effects in every group, particular and universal, and illuminates them. The sociologists and moralists, who are concerned with the social life of mankind, should take special note. If the rest of the thousands of benefits and advantages of belief in the hereafter are compared with the five or six we have alluded to, it will be understood that it is only belief that is the means of happiness in this world and the next, and in the lives of both.
Deeming sufficient the powerful replies to the frail doubts concerning bodily resurrection described in the Twenty-Eighth Word of the Risale-i Nur and in others of its treatises, we merely make the following brief indication:
The most comprehensive mirror of the Divine Names lies in corporeality. The richest and most active centre of the Divine aims in the creation of the universe lies in corporeality. The greatest variety of the multifarious dominical bounties lies in corporeality. The greatest multiplicity of the seeds of the supplications and thanks man offers to his Creator through the tongues of his needs again lies in corporeality. And the greatest diversity of the seeds of the non-physical and spirit worlds also lies in corporeality.
By analogy with this, since hundreds of universal truths are centred in corporeality, in order to multiply corporeality and make it manifest the above truths on the face of the earth, with awesome activity and speed, the All-Wise Creator clothes the successive caravans of beings in existence and sends them to that exhibition. Then he discharges them and sends others in their place, constantly making the factory of the universe run. Weaving corporeal products, He makes the earth into a seed-bed of the hereafter and Paradise. In fact, in order to gratify man’s physical stomach, he listens to and accepts the prayer for immortality his stomach makes through the tongue of disposition, affording it the greatest importance, and in order to answer it, prepares in corporeality incalculable numbers of innumerable sorts and kinds of artistic foods and precious bounties, all affording different pleasures. This demonstrates self-evidently and without doubt that in the hereafter, the most numerous and various of the pleasures of Paradise will be corporeal, and that the bounties of the eternal abode of bliss, which everyone wants and is familiar with, will be corporeal.
Is it at all possible that the Most Compassionate All-Powerful One, the All-Knowing and Munificent One, Who accepts the prayer offered through the tongue of disposition by the common stomach, and gratifying it with infinitely miraculous physical foods, always replies in fact, intentionally and without chance, would not accept the numerous, general prayers of man —who is the most important result of the universe, the Divine vicegerent on earth, and the Creator’s choice being and worshipper— which he offers through the supreme stomach of humanity for universal, elevated corporeal pleasures in the eternal realm, which he always desires and with which he is familiar and which by nature he wants; that He should not respond in fact with bodily resurrection, and not gratify him eternally? Should He hear the buzz of the fly, and not hear the crashing thunder? Should He equip a common soldier to perfection, and ignore the army, giving it no importance? To do so would be impossible and absurd.
Yes, in accordance with the explicit statement of the verse:
There will be there all that the souls could desire, all that the eyes could delight in,16
man will experience in Paradise in fitting form the physical pleasures with which he is most familiar and samples of which he has tasted in this world. The rewards for the sincere thanks and particular worship each of his members, like the tongue, eye, and ear, offers, will be given through physical pleasures particular to those members. The Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition describes the physical pleasures so explicitly, it is impossible not to accept the apparent meaning, and to make forced interpretations of them.
The fruits and results of belief in the hereafter, then, show that just as the reality and needs of the stomach, one of the human members, are decisive evidence for the existence of food; so the reality and perfections of man, and his innate needs and desire for eternity, and his abilities and potentialities, which demand the above-mentioned consequences and benefits of belief in the hereafter, are certain evidence for the hereafter and Paradise and eternal physical pleasures, and they testify to their certain existence. Similarly, the reality of the universe’s perfections and its meaningful creational signs, and all its truths connected with the above human truths are evidence for the certain existence of the realm of the hereafter, the resurrection of the dead, and the opening up of Heaven and Hell. This has been proved so brilliantly in the Risale-i Nur, and particularly in the Tenth, Twenty-Eighth (both Stations), and Twenty-Ninth Words, and the Ninth Ray, and the Supplication of the Third Ray, that they leave no room for doubt. Referring readers to them, we cut short this long story here.
The Qur’anic descriptions of Hell are also so clear and explicit they leave no need for further description. Only, referring to the Risale-i Nur detailed explanation of one or two points which dispel one or two flimsy doubts, we shall set forth a very brief summary.
F i r s t P o i n t : The thought of Hell and the fear it induces does not dispel the pleasures of the above fruits of belief. For boundless Divine mercy says to the fearful man: Come to me! Enter the door of repentance, then the existence of Hell will not frighten you, but make known completely the pleasures of Paradise, and avenge you and all creatures whose rights have been transgressed, and give you enjoyment. If you are so submerged in misguidance you cannot extricate yourself, the existence of Hell is still immeasurably better than eternal annihilation, and is also a sort of kindness for the disbelievers. For man, and even animals with young, receive pleasure at the pleasure and happiness of their relatives, offspring, and friends, and in one respect are happy.
Therefore, O atheist! Because of your misguidance, you will either tumble into non-being at your eternal execution, or you will enter Hell! As for non-existence, which is absolute evil, since it consists of the annihilation together with yourself of all your relatives, forbears and descendants, whom you love and at whose happiness you are to an extent happy, it causes pain to your spirit, heart, and inner nature severer than a thousand Hells. For if there was no Hell, there would be no Paradise. Through your disbelief, everything falls into non-existence. If you go to Hell and remain within the sphere of existence, those you love and your relatives will be happy in Paradise, or will be the recipients of compassion in some respects within the spheres of existence. This means you should support the idea of Hell existing. To oppose it is to support non-existence, which is to support the elimination of innumerable friends’ happiness.
Yes, Hell is an awesome, majestic, existent land which performs the wise and just function of being the place of incarceration of the Glorious Sovereign of the sphere of existence, which is pure good. It performs numerous other functions, besides that of prison, and fulfils many purposes and carries out many duties connected with the eternal realm. It is also the awe-inspiring habitation of many living creatures like the Angels of Hell.
S e c o n d P o i n t : There is no contradiction between the existence and ghastly torments of Hell, and infinite mercy, true justice, and wisdom with its balance and absence of waste. Indeed, mercy, justice, and wisdom require its existence. For to punish a tyrant who tramples the rights of a thousand innocents and to kill a savage animal who tears to pieces a hundred cowed animals, is for the oppressed a thousandfold mercy within justice. While to pardon the tyrant and leave the savage beast free, is for hundreds of wretches a hundredfold pitilessness in place of that single act of misplaced mercy.
Similarly, among those who will enter Hell is the absolute disbeliever. For through his disbelief and denial he both transgresses the rights of the Divine Names, and through denying the testimony of beings to those Names, he transgresses their rights, and by denying the elevated duties of glorification of creatures before the Divine Names he violates their rights, and through denying their being mirrors to and responding with worship to the manifestation of Divine dominicality, which is the purpose of the universe’s creation and a reason for its existence and continuance, he transgresses their rights in a way. His disbelief is therefore a crime and wrong of such vast proportions it may not be forgiven, and deserves the threat of the verse,
God forgives not [the sin of] joining other gods with Him.17
Not to cast him into Hell would comprise innumerable instances of mercilessness to innumerable claimants whose rights had been transgressed, in place of a single misplaced act of mercy. Just as those claimants demand the existence of Hell, so do Divine dignity and majesty, and tremendousness and perfection most certainly demand it.
Yes, if a worthless rebel who assaults the people says to the proud ruler of the place: “You can’t put me in prison!”, affronting his dignity, if there is not a prison in the town, the ruler will have one made just to throw the ill-mannered wretch into it. In just the same way, through his disbelief the absolute disbeliever affronts seriously the dignity of Divine glory, and through his denial offends the splendour of His power, and through his aggression disturbs the perfection of His dominicality. Even if there were not many things necessitating the functions of Hell and many reasons for and instances of wisdom in its existence, it is the mark of that dignity and glory to create a Hell for disbelievers such as that, and to cast them into it.
Moreover, even the nature of disbelief makes known Hell. Yes, just as if the true nature of belief was to be embodied, it could with its pleasures take on the form of a private paradise, and in this respect gives secret news of Paradise; so, as is proved with evidences in the Risale-i Nur and is also alluded to in the previous Topics, disbelief, and especially absolute disbelief, and dissembling, and apostasy, are the cause of such dark and awful pains and spiritual torment that if they were to be embodied, they would become a private Hell for the apostate, and in this way tell of the greater Hell in concealed manner. The tiny truths in the seed-bed of this world produce shoots in the hereafter. Thus, this poisonous seed indicates that particular tree of Zaqqum, saying: “I am its origin. For the unfortunate who bears me in his heart, my fruit is a private sample of that Zaqqum-tree.”
Since disbelief is aggression against innumerable rights, it is certainly an infinite crime and deserves infinite punishment. Human justice considers a sentence of fifteen years imprisonment (nearly eight million minutes) to be justice for a one minute’s murder, and conformable with general rights and interests. Therefore, since one instance of disbelief is the equivalent of a thousand murders, to suffer torments for nearly eight thousand million minutes for one minute’s absolute disbelief, is in conformity with that law of justice. A person who passes a year of his life in disbelief deserves punishment for close on two million million eight hundred eighty thousand million minutes, and manifests the meaning of the verse,
They will dwell therein for ever.18
However...
The All-Wise Qur’an’s miraculous descriptions of Heaven and Hell, and the proofs of their existence in the Risale-i Nur, a Qur’anic commentary which proceeds from the Qur’an, leave no need for others.
As is shown by numerous verses like,
They reflect on the creation of the heavens and earth, saying: “O our Sustainer! Indeed You have not created this in vain; glory be unto You; and protect us from the torment of the Fire!”19 * O our Sustainer! Avert from us the torment of Hell; indeed its torment is a grievous affliction, * And evil it is as a resting-place and abode,20
and indicated by foremost God’s Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) and all the prophets and people of reality always repeating in their supplications, “Preserve us from Hell-fire! Deliver us from Hell-fire! Save us from Hell-fire!”, which due to their revelations and illuminations for them was certain, the most momentous question facing mankind is to be saved from Hell. Hell is also a vast, awesome, and supremely important truth of the universe which some of the people of illumination and witnessing and those who investigate the realities have observed, and seeing some of its distillations and shadows, have cried out in terror: “Preserve us from the Fire!”
Yes, the confrontation and interpenetration of good and evil in the universe, and pain and pleasure, light and darkness, heat and cold, beauty and ugliness, and guidance and misguidance are for a vast instance of wisdom. For if there was no evil, good would not be known. If there was no pain, pleasure would not be understood. Light without darkness would lack all importance. The degrees of heat are realized through cold. Through ugliness, a single instance of beauty becomes a thousand in-stances, and thousands of varying degrees of beauty come into existence. If there was no Hell, many of the pleasures of Paradise would remain concealed. By analogy with these, in one respect everything may be known through its opposite and a single truth produce numerous shoots and become numerous truths. Since these intermingled beings pour from this transitory realm into the eternal realm, surely just as things like good, pleasure, light, beauty, and belief are poured into Paradise; so harmful matters like evil, pain, darkness, ugliness, and disbelief flow into Hell, and the floods of this continuously agitated universe are emptied into those two pools. Referring you to the ‘Allusive Points’ at the end of the wondrous Twenty-Ninth Word, we curtail this discussion here.
My fellow students here in this School of Joseph! The easiest way to be saved from that dreadful, everlasting prison is to profit from our worldly prison, and besides being saved from the many sins we are bound to refrain from, by repenting for our former sins and performing the obligatory worship, to make every hour of our prison life here the equivalent of a day’s worship. This is the best opportunity we may have to be saved from that eternal prison and to win luminous Paradise. If we miss this opportunity, our lives in the hereafter will weep the same as our lives here are weeping, and we shall receive the slap of the verse,
He has lost this world and the hereafter.21
It was the Feast of Sacrifices while this ‘station’ was being written
One fifth of mankind, three hundred million people, together declaring: “God is Most Great! God is Most Great! God is Most Great!”; and in relation to its size the globe broadcasting to its fellow planets in the skies the sacred words of God is Most Great!; and the more than twenty thousand pilgrims performing the Hajj, on ‘Arafat and at the Festival, together declaring: “God is Most Great!” are all a response in the form of extensive, universal worship to the universal manifestation of Divine dominicality through God’s sublime titles of Sustainer of the Earth and Sustainer of All The Worlds, and are a sort of echo of the God is Most Great! spoken and commanded one thousand three hundred years ago by God’s Noble Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) and his Family and Companions. This I imagined and felt and was certain about.
Then I wondered if the sacred phrase has any connection with our matter. It suddenly occurred to me that foremost this phrase and many others of these marks of Islam like There is no god but God, All praise be to God!, and Glory be to God!, which bear the title of “enduring good works,” recall particular and universal points about the matter we are discussing, and infer its realization.
For example, one aspect of the meaning of God is Most Great! is that Divine power and knowledge are greater than everything; nothing at all can quit the bounds of God’s knowledge, nor escape or be saved from the disposals of His power. He is greater than the things we fear most. This means He is greater than bringing about the resurrection of the dead, saving us from non-existence, and bestowing eternal happiness. He is greater than any strange or unimaginable thing, so that, as explicitly stated by the verse,
Your creation and your resurrection are but as a single soul,22
the resurrection of mankind is as easy for His power as the creation of a single soul. It is in connection with this meaning that when faced by serious disasters or important undertakings, everyone says: “God is Most Great! God is Most Great!”, making it a source of consolation, strength, and support for themselves.
As is shown in the Ninth Word, the above phrase and its two fellows, that is, God is Most Great!, and Glory be to God!, and All praise be to God!, form the seeds and summaries of the ritual prayers —the index of all worship— and in order to corroborate the meaning of the prayers, are repeated in the tesbihat following them. They provide the powerful answers to the questions arising from the wonderment, pleasure, and awe man feels at the strange, beautiful, extraordinary things he sees in the universe, which cause him to offer thanks and to feel awe at their grandeur. Moreover, at the end of the Sixteenth Word, it is described how at the festival a private soldier and a field marshal enter the king’s presence together, whereas at other times the soldier has contact with the field marshal only through his commanding officer. Similarly, somewhat resembling the saints, a person making the Hajj begins to know God through His titles of Sustainer of the Earth and Sustainer of All the Worlds. With its repetition, it is again God is Most Great that answers all the feverish bewildered questions that overwhelm his spirit as the levels of grandeur unfold in his heart. Furthermore, at the end of the Thirteenth Flash, it is described how it is again God is Most Great that replies most effectively to Satan’s cunning wiles, cutting them at the root, as well as answering succinctly but powerfully our question about the hereafter.
The phrase All praise be to God also reminds us of resurrection. It says to us: “I would have no meaning if there was no hereafter. For I say: to God is due all the praise and thanks that have been offered from pre-eternity to post-eternity, whoever they have been offered by and to whom, for the chief of all bounties and the only thing that makes bounty true bounty and saves all conscious creatures from the endless calamities of non-existence, is eternal happiness; it is only eternal happiness that can be equal to that universal meaning of mine.”
Yes, every day all believers saying at least one hundred and fifty times after the obligatory prayers: All praise be to God! All praise be to God!, as enjoined by the Shari‘a, and its being the expression of praise and thanks which extend from pre-eternity to post-eternity, can only be the advance price and immediate fee for Paradise and eternal happiness. They offer thanks since bounties are not restricted to the fleeting bounties of this world, which are tainted by the pains of transience, and see them as the means to eternal bounties.
As for the sacred phrase, Glory be to God!; with its meaning of declaring God free of all partner, fault, defect, tyranny, impotence, unkindness, need, and deception, and all faults opposed to His perfection, beauty, and glory, it recalls eternal happiness and the realm of the hereafter and Paradise within it, which are the means to His glory and beauty and the majesty and perfection of His sovereignty; the phrase alludes to them and indicates them. For, as has been proved previously, if there was no eternal happiness, both His sovereignty, and His perfection, glory, beauty, and mercy would be stained by fault and defect.
Like these three sacred phrases, In the Name of God and There is no god but God and other blessed phrases are all seeds to the pillars of faith. Like the meat essences and sugar concentrates that have been discovered recently, they are summaries of both the pillars of belief, and the truths of the Qur’an. The three mentioned above are both the seeds of the five daily prayers, and they are the seeds of the Qur’an, sparkling like brilliants at the beginning of a number of shining suras. So too are they the true sources and bases of the Risale-i Nur, many of whose inspirations first came while I was reciting the tesbihat following the prayers; they are the seeds of its truths. In respect of the sainthood and worship of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), these phrases are the invocations of the Muhammadan (PBUH) way which, following each of the five daily prayers, more than one hundred million believers repeat together in a vast circle of remembrance. Their beads in their hands, they declare Glory be to God! thirty-three times, All praise be to God! thirty-three times, and God is Most Great! thirty-three times.
You have surely understood now the great value of reciting thirty-three times after the five daily prayers, in such a splendid circle for the remembrance of God, each of those three blessed phrases, which as explained above, are the summaries and seeds of both the Qur’an, and belief, and the prayers. You have understood too the great reward they yield.
[The First Topic at the beginning of this treatise forms an excellent lesson about the obligatory five daily prayers. Then, although I did not think of it, involuntarily the end here became an important lesson about the tesbihat following the prayers.]
Praise be to God for His bounties.
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.23
The Ninth Topic
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Sustainer. As do the men of faith. Each one [of them] believes in God, His angels, His Books, and His Messengers. “We make no distinction [they say] between one and another of His Messengers...” [to the end of the verse]24
An awesome question and a state of mind arising from the unfolding of a vast Divine bounty were the causes of my explaining a universal, lengthy point about this comprehensive, elevated and sublime verse. It was like this: it occurred to my spirit: why does one who denies a part of the truths of belief become a disbeliever, and one who does not accept a part of them cannot be a Muslim? Surely belief in God and the hereafter dispels the darkness like the sun. Also, why does a person who denies one of the pillars and truths of belief become an apostate, falling into disbelief, and by not accepting it, quit Islam? Whereas if he believes in the other pillars of belief, it should save him from absolute disbelief?
T h e A n s w e r : Belief is a single truth, which, composed of its six pillars, cannot be divided up. It is a universal that cannot be separated into parts. It is a whole that cannot be broken up. For each of the pillars of belief proves the other pillars with the proofs that prove itself. They are all extremely powerful proofs of each other. In which case, an invalid idea that cannot shake all the pillars together with all their proofs, cannot in reality negate any one of the pillars, or even a single of their truths, and cannot deny them. Under the veil of non-acceptance one might only, by shutting his eyes, commit ‘obstinate unbelief;’ he would by degrees fall into absolute disbelief and lose his humanity, and go to Hell, both physically and mentally. In this station then, with God’s grace, we shall explain this supreme matter in six Points in the form of brief summaries, just as in the Fruits Of Belief when proving the resurrection of the dead, the other pillars of belief’s proofs of resurrection were propounded in the form of brief summaries.
FIRST POINT
Belief in God proves with its own proofs both the other pillars and belief in the hereafter, as is shown clearly in the Seventh Topic of the Fruits Of Belief. Yes, is it at all possible and can reason accept that a pre-eternal everlasting sovereignty of dominicality, a post-eternal Divine rule, which administers the boundless universe as though it was a palace, a city, or a country; and makes it revolve in balanced and ordered fashion; and changes it with wisdom; and equips and directs all together particles, planets, flies, and stars as though each was a regular army, and continuously drills them within the spheres of command and will in a lofty manoeuvre; and employing them in duties makes them act, and causes them to roam and travel, and to parade worshipfully; —is it at all possible that that eternal, everlasting, enduring rule would not have an eternal seat, a permanent and everlasting place of manifestation; that is, the hereafter? God forbid! That means the sovereignty of Almighty God’s dominicality and —as is described in the Seventh Topic— most of His Names and the proofs of His necessary existence, require the hereafter and testify to it. So see and understand what powerful support this pole of belief has, and believe in it as though seeing it!
Also, just as there could be no belief in God without the hereafter; so —as is explained with brief indications in the Tenth Word— is it at all possible and could reason accept that God, the True Object of Worship, should create the universe, in order to manifest His Godhead and fitness to be worshipped, as an embodied book every page of which expresses a book of meanings and every line of which states a page of meanings, and as an embodied Qur’an all the creational signs and words, and even points and letters of which are miracles, and as a magnificent mosque of His mercy the inside of which is decorated with numberless inscriptions and adornments, and in every corner of which are species of beings each preoccupied with the worship dictated by its nature —is it at all possible He should create it in this way and not send masters to teach the meanings of that vast book, and commentators to expound the verses of that Qur’an, and not appoint prayer-leaders to that huge mosque to lead all those worshipping in their myriad ways, and that He should not give decrees to those masters, commentators, and leaders of worship? God forbid, a hundred thousand times!
Also, is it at all possible and could reason accept that the Most Compassionate and Munificent Maker, Who in order to display to conscious beings the beauty of His mercy and the goodness of His compassion and the perfection of His dominicality, and in order to encourage them to praise and thank Him, creates the universe as a banqueting hall, exhibition, and place of excursion in which are displayed infinite varieties of delicious bounties and priceless, wondrous arts, is it at all possible that He should not speak with those conscious beings at the banquet and not inform them by means of envoys of their duties of thanks for the bounties, and their duties of worship in the face of the manifestations of His mercy and His making Himself loved? God forbid, a hundred thousand times!
Also, is it at all possible that although the Maker loves His art and wants others to love it, and as is shown by His having taken into account the thousand pleasures of the mouth, wants it to be met with appreciation and approval, and has adorned the universe with priceless arts in a way that shows He wants through all His arts both to make Himself known, and loved, and to display a sort of His transcendent beauty, is it at all possible that He should not speak to men, the commanders of living beings in the universe, through some of the most eminent of them, and send them as envoys, and that His fine arts should not be appreciated and the exquisite beauty of His Names not be valued, and His making Himself known and loved be unreciprocated? God forbid, a hundred thousand times!
Also, is it at all possible or reasonable that the All-Knowing Speaker Who answers clearly by act and deed through His infinite bounties and gifts, which indicate intention, choice, and will, at exactly the right time, all the supplications of living beings for their natural needs, and their desires and recourse through the tongue of disposition, that He should speak by deed and by state with the most insignificant living creature and remedy its woes and heed its troubles with His bounties, and know its needs and meet them, then not meet with the spiritual leaders of men, who are the choicest result of the universe, His vicegerent on earth, and the commanders of most of the creatures on the earth? Although He speaks with them and with all living beings, should He not speak with men verbally and send them scriptures, books, and decrees? God forbid, innumerable times!
That is to say, with its certainty and innumerable proofs, belief in God proves belief in the prophets and sacred scriptures.
Also, is it at all possible or reasonable that in response to the One Who makes Himself known and loved through all His creatures and seeks thanks by deed and state, Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) should have known and made known, loved and made loved that Glorious Artist through the Qur’anic reality, which brings the the universe to tumult, and with his declarations of “Glory be to God!” “All praise be to God!” and “God is Most Great!” should have caused the globe to ring out so that it could be heard by the heavens, and have brought the land and seas to ecstasy; and that in one thousand three hundred years he should have taken behind him numerically a fifth of mankind and qualitatively a half of it, and responded with extensive, universal worship to all the manifestations of the Creator’s dominicality; that in the face of all the Divine purposes he should have called out with the Qur’an’s suras to the universe and the centuries, and taught them and proclaimed them; that he should have demonstrated the honour, value, and duties of man; and that he should have been confirmed through his thousand miracles — and that he should not have been the most choice creature, the most excellent of envoys, and the greatest prophet? Is this at all possible? God forbid! A hundred thousand times, God forbid!
That is to say, with all its proofs, the truth of “I testify that there is no god but God” proves the truth of “I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.”
Also, is it at all possible that the universe’s Maker should cause creatures to speak with one another in myriad tongues, and that He should listen to their speech, and know it, and Himself not speak? God forbid!
Also, is it at all reasonable that He should not proclaim through a decree the Divine purposes in the universe? That He should not send a book like the Qur’an which will solve its riddles and provide the true answers to the three awesome universally-asked questions: “Where do they come from?”, “Where are they going?”, and “Why do they follow on caravan after caravan, stop by for a while, then pass on?” God forbid!
Also, is it at all possible that the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, which has illuminated thirteen centuries; every hour is uttered with complete veneration by a hundred million tongues; is inscribed through its sacredness in the hearts of millions of hafizes; in effect governs through its laws the greater part of mankind and trains, purifies, and instructs their souls, spirits, hearts, and minds; and forty aspects of whose miraculousness is proved in the Risale-i Nur and explained in the wondrous Nineteenth Letter, which demonstrates an aspect of its miraculousness towards each of forty classes of men, and as one of the thousand miracles of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) is proved decisively to be the true Word of God; —is it at all possible that it should not be the word and decree of the Pre-Eternal Speaker and Eternal Maker? God forbid! A hundred thousand times, God forbid!
That is to say, with all its proofs, belief in God proves that the Qur’an is the Word of God.
Also, is it all possible that the Glorious Monarch Who continuously fills and empties the earth with living beings and inhabits this world of ours with conscious creatures in order to make Himself known and worshipped and glorified, should leave the heavens and earth empty and vacant, and not create inhabitants suitable to them and settle them in those lofty palaces, that in His most extensive lands he should leave the sovereignty of His dominicality without servants, functionaries, envoys, and majesty; without lieutenants, supervisors, spectators, worshippers, and subjects? God forbid! To the numbers of the angels, God forbid!
Also, is it at all possible that the All-Wise Ruler, the All-Knowing and Compassionate One, should write the universe in the form of a book; inscribe the entire life-stories of trees in all their seeds, and write in the seeds of grasses and plants all their vital duties, and record precisely the lives of conscious beings in their memories, as tiny as mustard seeds, and preserve with innumerable photographs all the actions and events in all His dominions and all the eras of His sovereignty, and create mighty Heaven and Hell and the supreme scales of justice for the manifestation and realization of justice, wisdom and mercy, the basis of His dominicality, then not have written down the acts of men connected with the universe, nor have their deeds recorded so they may meet with reward or punishment, nor write their good and bad deeds on the tablets of Divine Determining? God forbid! To the number of letters inscribed on them.
That is to say, with its proofs, the truth of belief in God proves the truth of both belief in the angels, and belief in Divine Determining. The pillars of belief prove each other as clearly as the sun shows the daylight, and daylight shows the sun.
SECOND POINT
All the teachings and claims of foremost the Qur’an, and all the revealed books and scriptures, and foremost Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), and all the prophets, are based on five or six points. They have continually striven to teach and prove those basic teachings. All the proofs and evidences which testify to their messengership and truthfulness look to those bases, corroborating their veracity. And those fundamentals are belief in God and belief in the hereafter and in the other pillars of belief. That is to say, it is not possible to separate the six pillars of belief. Each proves all of them, and requires them, and necessitates them. The six are a whole, a universal, which cannot be broken in parts and whose division is outside the bounds of possibility. Like the Tuba-tree whose roots are in the heavens, each branch, fruit and leaf of that mighty tree relies on its universal, inexhaustible life. A person unable to deny that powerful life which is as clear as the sun, cannot deny the life of a single of its leaves, attached to it. If he does deny it, the tree will refute him to the number of its branches, fruits, and leaves, and silence him. Belief, with its six pillars, is similar to this.
At the beginning of this ‘Station,’ I intended to expound the six pillars of belief in thirty-six points, as six ‘Points,’ each with five sub-sections. I also intended to reply to and explain the awesome question at the beginning. But certain unforeseen circumstances did not permit this. I reckon, the first Point being sufficient, for the intelligent no need remained for further explanation. It was understood perfectly that if a Muslim denies one of the pillars of belief, he falls into absolute disbelief. For in the face of the summary explanations of other religions, Islam expounds and elucidates them completely, and the pillars of belief are bound together. A Muslim who does not recognize Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) and does not assent to him, will also not recognize God, or His attributes, and will not know the hereafter. A Muslim’s belief is based on such powerful, unshakeable and innumerable proofs that there is no excuse for denial; they quite simply compel the reason to accept them.
THIRD POINT
One time, I said “All praise be to God!,” and searched for a bounty that would be equal to its infinitely broad meaning. Suddenly, the following sentence occurred to me:
“All praise be to God for belief in God, and for His unity, and necessary existence, and attributes, and Names, to the number of the manifestations of His Names from pre-eternity to post-eternity.”
I looked and saw it was completely appropriate. As follows....
The Tenth Topic
A Flower of Emirdag
[An extremely powerful reply to objections raised against repetition in the Qur’an.]
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
Due to my wretched situation, this Topic is confused and graceless. But I knew definitely that beneath the confused wording was a most valuable sort of miraculousness, though unfortunately I was incapable of expressing it. But however dull the wording, since it concerns the Qur’an, it is both worship in the form of reflection, and the shell of a sacred, elevated, shining jewel. The diamond in the hand should be looked at, not its torn clothes. Also, I wrote it in one or two days during Ramadan while extremely ill, wretched, and without food, of necessity very concisely and briefly, and including many truths and numerous proofs in a single sentence. Its deficiencies, then, should be overlooked!25
My True, Loyal Brothers! While reading the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition in Ramadan, whichever of the thirty-three verses I came to that in the First Ray describe the allusions to the Risale-i Nur, I saw that the page and story of the verse also look to the Risale-i Nur and its students to some extent — in so far as they have a share in the story. Particularly the Light Verses in Sura al-Nur, just as they point to the Risale-i Nur with ten fingers, so the Darkness Verses following it point directly at those opposing it; these afford a further share. Quite simply, I understood that this ‘station’ rises from particularity to universality and that one part of that universality is the Risale-i Nur and its students.
Indeed, in regard to the breadth, exaltedness, and comprehensiveness that the Qur’an’s address receives from firstly the extensive station of the universal dominicality of the Pre-Eternal Speaker, and from the extensive station of the one addressed in the name of mankind, indeed of all beings, and the most extensive station of all mankind’s guidance in all the centuries, and from the station of the most elevated comprehensive expositions of the Divine laws concerning the regulation of this world and the hereafter, and the heavens and the earth, and pre-eternity and post-eternity, and the dominicality of the Creator of the universe, and of all beings, this Address displays such an elevated miraculousness and comprehensiveness that both its apparent and simple level, which flatters the simple minds of ordinary people, the most numerous group the Qur’an addresses, and its highest level, partakes of it.
Addressing every age and every class of people, in its stories and historical narratives, it does not recount one part or one lesson from them, but points out elements of a universal principle, as though it was newly revealed. Particularly its often repeated threats of the wrongdoers, the wrongdoers, and its severe expositions of calamities visited on the heavens and the earth, the punishment for their wrongdoing —through these and the retribution visited on the ‘Ad and Thamud peoples and on Pharaoh— it draws attention to the unequalled wrongs of this century, and through the salvation of prophets like Abraham (PUH) and Moses (PUH) gives consolation to the oppressed believers.
Indeed, all past time and the departed ages and centuries, which in the view of heedlessness and misguidance form a fearsome place of non-existence and a grievous, ruined graveyard, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition shows to every century and class of people in the form of living instructive pages, strange worlds, living and endowed with spirits, and existent realms of the Sustainer which are connected with us. With an elevated miraculousness, it sometimes conveys us to those times, and sometimes brings those times to us. Infusing with life the universe, which in the view of misguidance is lifeless, wretched, dead, and a limitless wasteland revolving amid separation and decease, with the same miraculousness this same Qur’an of Mighty Stature raises to life those dead beings, makes them converse with one another as officials charged with duties and hasten to the assistance of one another; it instructs mankind, the jinn, and the angels in true, luminous, and pleasurable wisdom.
For sure, then, it acquires sacred distinctions, like there being ten merits in each of its letters, and sometimes a hundred, a thousand, or thousands of merits; and if all men and jinn were to gather together, their being unable to produce the like of it; and its speaking completely appropriately with all mankind and all beings; and its all the time being inscribed with eagerness in the hearts of millions of hafizes; and its not causing weariness through its frequent and numerous repetitions; and despite its many obscure passages and sentences, its being settled perfectly in the delicate and simple heads of children; and its being agreeable like Zamzam water in the ears of the sick, the dying, and those distressed by a few words; and its gaining for its students happiness in this world and the next.
Its smoothness of style, which, observing exactly its interpreter’s being unlettered, allows for no bombast, artificiality, or affectedness, and its descending directly from the heavens, demonstrate a fine miraculousness. So too it shows a fine miraculousness in the grace and guidance of flattering the simple minds of ordinary people, the most numerous of the classes of men, through the condescension in its expression, and mostly opening the clearest and most evident pages like the heavens and earth, and teaching the wondrous miracles of power and meaningful lines of wisdom beneath those commonplace things.
By making known that it is also a book of prayer and summons, of invocation and Divine unity, which require repetition, it demonstrates a sort of miraculousness through making understood in a single sentence and a single story through its agreeable repetitions numerous different meanings to numerous different classes of people. Similarly, by making known that the most minor and unimportant things in ordinary, commonplace events are within its compassionate view and the sphere of its will and regulation, it demonstrates a sort of miraculousness in attaching importance to even the minor events involving the Companions of the Prophet in the establishment of Islam and codification of the Shari‘a, and both in those events being universal principles, and, in the establishment of Islam and the Shari‘a, which are general, their producing most important fruits, as though they had been seeds.
With regard to repetition being necessary due to the repetition of need, the repetition of certain verses which, as answers to numerous questions repeated over a period of twenty years, instructs numerous different levels of people is not a fault, indeed, to repeat certain sentences so powerful they produce thousands of results and a number of verses resulting from countless evidences, which describe an infinite, awesome, all-embracing revolution that, by destroying utterly the vast universe and changing its shape at Doomsday, will remove the world and found the mighty hereafter in its place, and will prove that all particulars and universals from atoms to the stars are in the hand and under the disposal of a single Being, and will show the Divine wrath and dominical anger —on account of the result of the universe’s creation— at mankind’s wrongdoing, which brings to anger the earth and the heavens and the elements, to repeat such verses is not a fault, but most powerful miraculousness, and most elevated eloquence; an eloquence and lucid style corresponding exactly to the requirements of the subject.
For example, as is explained in the Fourteenth Flash of the Risale-i Nur, the sentence,
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,
which constitutes a single verse and is repeated one hundred and fourteen times in the Qur’an, is a truth which binds the Divine Throne and the earth, and illuminates the cosmos, and for which everyone is in need all the time; if it was repeated millions of times, there would still be need for it. There is need and longing for it, not only every day like bread, but every moment like air and light.
And, for example, the verse,
And verily your Sustainer is Exalted in Might, Most Compassionate,26
which is repeated eight times in Sura Ta. Sin. Mim. Repeating on account of the result of the universe’s creation and in the name of universal dominicality, the salvation of the prophets whose stories are told in the sura, and the punishments of their peoples, in order to teach that that dominical dignity requires the torments of those wrongdoing peoples while Divine compassion requires the prophets’ salvation, is a concise, miraculous, and elevated miraculousness, for which, if repeated thousands of times, there would still be need and longing.
And, for example, the verse,
Then which of the favours of your Sustainer will you deny?,27
which is repeated in Sura al-Rahman, and the verse,
Woe that Day to the rejecters of truth!,28
in Sura al-Mursalat shout out threateningly to mankind and the jinn across the centuries and the heavens and the earth, the unbelief, ingratitude, and wrongdoing of those who bring the universe and the heavens and earth to anger, spoil the results of the world’s creation, and deny and respond slightingly to the majesty of Divine rule, and violate the rights of all creatures. If a general lesson thus concerned with thousands of truths and of the strength of thousands of matters is repeated thousands of times, there would still be need for it and its awe-inspiring conciseness and beautiful, miraculous eloquence.
And, for example, the repetition of the phrase,
Glory be unto You! There is no god but You: Mercy! Mercy! Save us, deliver us, preserve us, from Hell-fire!
in the supplication of the Prophet (PBUH) called Jawshan al-Kabir, which is a true and authentic supplication of the Qur’an and a sort of summary proceeding from it. It contains the greatest truth and the most important of the three supreme duties of creatures in the face of dominicality, the glorification and praise of God and declaring Him to be All-Holy, and the most awesome question facing man, his being saved from eternal misery, and worship, the most necessary result of human impotence. So if it is repeated thousands of times, it is still few.
Thus, repetition in the Qur’an looks to principles like these. Sometimes on one page, even, with regard to the requirements of the position and the need for explanation and the demands of eloquence, it expresses the truth of Divine unity perhaps twenty times, explicitly and by implication. It does not cause boredom, but affords it a power, and eagerness. It has been explained in the Risale-i Nur with proofs how appropriate, fitting, and acceptable in the eyes of rhetoric are the repetitions in the Qur’an. The wisdom and meaning of the Meccan and Medinan Suras in the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition being different in regard to eloquence, miraculousness, and detail and brevity is as follows:
In Mecca, the first line of those it was addressing and those opposed to it were the idolators of the Quraysh and untaught tribesmen, so a powerful and elevated rhetorical style was necessary, and a miraculous, convincing, persuasive conciseness. And in order to establish it, repetition was required. Thus, in most of the Meccan suras, repeating and expressing the pillars of belief and degrees in the affirmation of Divine unity with a most powerful, elevated, and miraculous conciseness, it proved so powerfully the first creation and the Resurrection, God and the hereafter, not only in a single page, verse, sentence or word, but sometimes in a letter, through grammatical devices like altering the positions of the words or sentences, making a word indefinite, and omissions and inclusions, that the geniuses and leaders of the science of rhetoric met it with wonder. The Risale-i Nur, and the Twenty-Fifth Word and its Addenda in particular, which prove in summary forty aspects of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, and the Qur’anic commentary, Isharat al-I’jaz, from the Arabic Risale-i Nur, which in wondrous fashion proves the aspect of the Qur’an’s miraculousness in its word-order, have demonstrated in fact that in the Meccan suras and verses are the highest styles of eloquence and the most elevated, concise miraculousness.
As for the Medinan suras and verses, since the first line of those they were addressing and who opposed them were the People of the Book, the Jews and Christians who affirmed God’s existence, what was required by eloquence and guidance and for the discussion to correspond to the situation, was not explanation of the high principles of religion and pillars of belief in a simple, clear, and detailed style, but the explanation of particular matters in the Shari‘a and its injunctions, which were the cause of dispute, and the origins and causes of secondary matters and general laws. Thus, in the Medinan suras and verses, through explanations in a detailed, clear, simple style, in the matchless manner of exposition peculiar to the Qur’an, it mostly mentions within those particular secondary matters, a powerful and elevated summary — a conclusion and proof, a sentence related to Divine unity, belief, or the hereafter which makes the particular matter of the Shari‘a universal and ensures that it conforms to belief in God. It illuminates the passage, and elevates it. The Risale-i Nur has proved the qualities and fine points and elevated eloquence in the summaries and conclusions, which express Divine unity and the hereafter, and come mostly at the end of verses, like:
Indeed, God is powerful over all things.29 * Verily God has knowledge of all things.30 * And He is the Mighty, the Wise.31 * And He is Exalted in Might, Most Compassionate.32
Explaining in the Second Beam of the Second Light of the Twenty-Fifth Word, ten out of the many fine points of those summaries and conclusions, it has proved to the obstinate that they contain a supreme miracle.
Yes, in expounding those secondary matters of the Shari‘a and laws of social life, the Qur’an at once raises the views of those it addresses to elevated, universal points, and transforming a simple style into an elevated one and instruction in the Shari‘a to instruction in Divine unity, it shows it is both a book of law and commands and wisdom, and a book of the tenets of faith and belief, and of invocation and reflection and summons. And through teaching many of the aims of Qur’anic guidance in every passage, it displays a brilliant and miraculous eloquence different to that of the Meccan suras.
Sometimes in two words, for example, in Sustainer of All the Worlds and Your Sustainer, through the phrase, Your Sustainer, it expresses Divine oneness, and through, Sustainer of All the Worlds, Divine unity. It expresses the Divine oneness within Divine unity. In a single sentence even it sees and situates a particle in the pupil of an eye, and with the same verse, the same hammer, it situates the sun in the sky, making it an eye to the sky. For example, after the verse,
Who created the heavens and the earth,
following the verse,
He merges the night into the day, and He merges the day into the night,
it says:
And He has full knowledge of all that is in [men’s] hearts.33
It says: “Within the vast majesty of the creation of the earth and the skies, He knows and regulates the thoughts of the heart.” Through an exposition of this sort, it transforms that simple, unlettered level and particular discussion which takes into account the minds of ordinary people, into an elevated, attractive, and general conversation for the purpose of guidance.
A Question: “Sometimes an important truth is not apparent to a superficial view, and in some positions the connection is not known when a concise phrase expounding Divine unity or a universal principle is drawn out from a minor, ordinary matter, and it is imagined to be a fault. For example, to mention the extremely elevated principle:
And over all endued with knowledge, One Knowing34
when Joseph (Peace be upon him) seized his brother through subterfuge, does not appear to be in keeping with eloquence. What is its meaning and purpose?”
The Answer: In most of the long and middle-length suras, which are each small Qur’ans, and in many pages and passages, not only two or three aims are followed, for by its nature the Qur’an comprises many books and teachings, such as being a book of invocation, belief, and reflection, and a book of law, wisdom, and guidance. Thus, since it describes the majestic manifestations of Divine dominicality and its encompassing all things, as a sort of recitation of the mighty book of the universe, it follows many aims in every discussion and sometimes on a single page. While instructing in knowledge of God, the degrees in Divine unity, and the truths of belief, with an apparently weak connection it opens another subject of instruction in the following passage, joining powerful connections to the weak one. It corresponds perfectly to the discussion and raises the level of eloquence.
A Second Question: “What is the wisdom in and purpose of *the Qur’an proving and drawing attention to the hereafter, Divine unity, and man’s reward and punishment thousands of times, explicitly, implicitly, and allusively, and teaching them in every sura, on every page, and in every discussion?”
The Answer: In order to teach concerning the most momentous matters in the sphere of contingency, and the revolutions in the universe’s history, and the most important, most significant, most awesome matters related to man’s duties, which —since he has undertaken the supreme trust and vicegerency of the earth— will lead to either his perdition or everlasting happiness, and in order to remove his countless doubts and to smash his violent denials and obduracy, indeed, to make man confirm those awesome revolutions and submit to those most necessary essential matters which are as great as the revolutions, if the Qur’an draws his attention to them thousands, or even millions of times, it is not excessive, for those discussions in the Qur’an are read millions of times, and they do not cause boredom, nor does the need cease.
For example, since the verse,
For those who believe and do righteous deeds are gardens beneath which rivers flow; they will dwell there forever,35
announces the good news of eternal happiness, and “saves from the eternal extinction of death, which every moment shows itself to wretched man, both himself, and his world, and all those he loves, and gains for them an everlasting sovereignty,” if it is repeated thousands of millions of times and given the importance of the universe, it still is not excessive and does not lose its value. Thus, in teaching innumerable, invaluable matters of this sort, and endeavouring to persuade, convince, and prove the occurrence of the awesome revolutions which will destroy the present form of the universe and transform it as though it was a house, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition certainly draws attention to these matters thousands of times explicitly, implicitly, and allusively, and this is not excessive, but renews the bounty which is like an essential need, the same as the essential needs of bread, medicine, air, and light are renewed.
And, for example, as is proved decisively in the Risale-i Nur, the wisdom in the Qur’an repeating severely, angrily, and forcefully, threatening verses like,
For wrongdoers there is a grievous penalty.36 * But for those who reject [God] — for them will be the Fire of Hell.37
is that man’s unbelief is such a transgression against the rights of the universe and most creatures that it makes the heavens and earth angry and brings the elements to anger so that they deal blows on those wrongdoers with tempest and storm. According to the clear statement of the verses,
And when they are cast therein, they will hear the [terrible] drawing-in of its breath as it blazes forth * Almost bursting with fury,38
Hell so rages at those iniquitous deniers that it almost disintegrates with fury. Thus, through the wisdom of showing, not from the point of view of man’s smallness and insignificance before such a general crime and boundless aggression, but the importance of the rights of the Monarch of Universe’s subjects before the greatness of the wrongful crime and the awesomeness of the unjust aggression, and the boundless ugliness in the unbelief and iniquity of those deniers —in accordance with the wisdom of showing this, if repeating in His decree most wrathfully and severely the crime and its punishment, thousands, millions, or even thousands of millions of times, it still would not be excessive and a fault, because for a thousand years thousands of millions of people have read such verses every day, not with boredom, but with total eagerness and need.
Indeed, every day, all the time, for everyone, one world disappears and the door of a new world is opened to them. Through repeating There is no god but God a thousand times out of need and with longing in order to illuminate each of those transitory worlds, it makes There is no god but God a lamp for each of those changing veils. In the same way, in accordance with the wisdom of appreciating through reading the Qur’an the penalties of those crimes and the severe threats of the Pre-Eternal Monarch, which smash their obduracy, and of working to be saved from the rebellion of the soul, so as not to obscure in darkness those multiple, fleeting veils and renewed travelling universes, and not to make ugly their images which are reflected in the mirrors of their lives, and not to turn against them those guest views which may testify in favour of them, the Qur’an repeats them in truly meaningful fashion. Even Satan would shudder at imagining to be out of place these so powerful, severe, and repeated threats of the Qur’an. It shows that the torments of Hell are pure justice for the deniers who do not heed them.
And, for example, in repeating many times the stories of Moses (Peace be upon him), which contain many instances of wisdom and benefits, like the story of his Staff, and of the other prophets (Peace be upon them), it demonstrates that the prophethoods of all the other prophets are a proof of the veracity of the messengership of Muhammad (PBUH), and that one who does not deny all of them cannot in truth deny his messengership. For this purpose, and since everyone does not always have the time or capability to read the whole Qur’an, it repeats those stories in the same way as the important pillars of belief, in order to make all the long and middle-length suras each like a small Qur’an. To repeat them then is not excessive, it is required by eloquence, and teaches that the question of Muhammad (PBUH) is the greatest question of mankind and the most important matter of the universe.
It has been demonstrated decisively in the Risale-i Nur with many proofs and indications that through giving the highest position to the person of Muhammad in the Qur’an and including him in four pillars of belief and holding Muhammad is the Messenger of God equal to the pillar of There is no god but God, that the messengership of Muhammad (PBUH) is the greatest truth in the universe, and that the person of Muhammad is the most noble of creatures, and his universal collective personality and sacred rank, known as the Muhammadan Reality, is the most radiant Sun of the two worlds. His worthiness for this extraordinary position has also been proved. One of these proofs is this:
According to the principle of ‘the cause is like the doer,’ with the equivalent of all the good works performed by all his community at all times entering his book of good works; and the light which he brought illuminating all the truths of the cosmos; and his making grateful not only the jinn, mankind, and animate beings, but also the universe and the heavens and earth; and the supplications of plants, offered through the tongue of disposition, and the supplications of animals offered through the tongue of their innate need, and the righteous of his (PBUH) community every day bequeathing to him their benedictions and supplications for mercy and spiritual gains, whose millions —and together with spirit beings, even, millions of millions— of unrejectable supplications are accepted, as we actually witness with our eyes; and since each of the three hundred thousand letters of the Qur’an yield from a hundred to a thousand merits, only with regard to the recitation of the Qur’an by all his community, with infinite numbers of lights entering the book of his deeds; — due to all these, the One All-Knowing of the Unseen saw and knew that the Muhammadan (PBUH) Reality, which is his collective personality, would in the future be like a Tuba-tree of Paradise, and in accordance with that rank accorded him supreme importance in the Qur’an, and in His Decree showed the following of him and receiving of his intercession through adhering to his Illustrious Sunna to be one of the most important matters concerning man. And from time to time He took into consideration his human personality and human state in his early life, which was a seed of the majestic Tuba-tree.
Thus, since the truths repeated in the Qur’an are of this value, all sound natures will testify that in its repetitions is a powerful and extensive miracle. Unless, that is to say, a person is afflicted with some sickness of the heart and malady of the conscience due to the plague of materialism, and is included under the rule,
A man denied the light of the sun due to his diseased eye,
His mouth denied the taste of water due to sickness.
* * *
TWO ADDITIONS, WHICH FORM A CONCLUSION TO THE TENTH TOPIC
THE FIRST: Twelve years ago I heard that a fearsome and obdurate atheist had instigated a conspiracy against the Qur’an, which was to have it translated. He said: “The Qur’an should be translated so that everyone can know just what it is.” That is, he hatched a dire plan with the idea of everyone seeing its unnecessary repetitions and its translation being read in its place. However, the irrefutable proofs of the Risale-i Nur proved decisively that “A true translation of the Qur’an is not possible, and other languages cannot preserve the Qur’an’s qualities and fine points in place of the grammatical language of Arabic. Man’s trite and partial translations cannot be substituted for the miraculous and comprehensive words of the Qur’an, every letter of which yields from ten to a thousand merits; they may not be read in its place in mosques.” Through spreading everywhere, the Risale-i Nur made the fearsome plan come to nothing. I surmise that it was due to the idiotic and lunatic attempts of dissemblers to extinguish the Sun of the Qur’an on account of Satan by puffing at it like silly children having taken lessons from that atheist, that I was inspired to write this Tenth Matter while under great constraint and in a most distressing situation. But I do not know the reality of the situation since I have been unable to meet with others.
SECOND ADDITION: After our release from Denizli Prison, I was staying on the top floor of the famous Shehir Hotel. The subtle and graceful dancing of the leaves, branches, and trunks of the many poplar trees in the fine gardens opposite me at the touching of the breeze, each with a rapturous and ecstatic motion like a circle of dervishes, pained my heart, sorrowful and melancholy at being parted from my brothers and remaining alone. Suddenly the seasons of autumn and winter came to mind and a heedlessness overcame me. I so pitied those graceful poplars and living creatures swaying with perfect joyousness that my eyes filled with tears. With this reminder of the separations and non-being beneath the ornamented veil of the universe, the grief at a world-full of deaths and separations pressed down on me. Then suddenly, the Light the Muhammadan (PBUH) Reality had brought came to my assistance and transformed my grief and sorrow into joy. Indeed, I am eternally grateful to the Muhammadan Being (PBUH) for the assistance and consolation which alleviated my situation at that time, only a single instance of the boundless effulgence of that Light for me, like for all believers and everyone. It was like this:
By showing those blessed and delicate creatures to be without function or purpose, and their motion to be not out of joy, but as though trembling on the brink of non-existence and separation and tumbling into nothingness, that heedless view so touched the feelings in me of desire for immortality, love of beautiful things, and compassion for fellow-creatures and life that it transformed the world into a sort of hell and my mind into an instrument of torture. Then, just at that point, the Light Muhammad (Peace and blessings by upon him) had brought as a gift for mankind raised the veil; it showed in place of extinction, non-being, nothingness, purposeless, futility, and separations, meanings and instances of wisdom to the number of the leaves of the poplars, and as is proved in the Risale-i Nur, results and duties which may be divided into three sorts:
The First Sort looks to the All-Glorious Maker’s Names. For example, if a master craftsman makes a wondrous machine, everyone applauds him, saying: “What wonders God has willed! Blessed be God!” Similarly, the machine congratulates the craftsman through the tongue of its disposition, through displaying perfectly the results intended from it. All living beings and all things are machines such as that; they applaud their Craftsman through their glorifications.
The Second Sort of the Instances of Wisdom looks to the views of living creatures and conscious beings. Beings each become an agreeable object of study, a book of knowledge. They leave their meanings in the sphere of existence in the minds of conscious beings and their forms in their memories, and on the tablets in the World of Similitudes, and in the notebooks of the World of the Unseen, then they depart from the Manifest World and withdraw to the World of the Unseen. That is, they leave behind an apparent existence, but gain many existences pertaining to meaning, the Unseen, and knowledge. Yes, since God exists and His knowledge encompasses everything, in the view of reality, in the world of believers there is surely no non-being, extinction, nothingness, annihilation, and transitoriness, while the world of unbelievers is full of non-existence, separation, nothingness, and transience. This is taught by the saying, which is on everyone’s lips, “For those for whom God exists, everything exists; and for those for whom He does not exist, nothing exists; for them there is nothing.”
IN SHORT: Just as belief saves man from eternal extinction at the time of death, so it saves everyone’s private world from the darknesses of annihilation and nothingness. Whereas unbelief, and especially if it is absolute unbelief, both sends man and his private world to non-existence with death, and casts him into infernal darknesses. It transforms the pleasures of life into bitter poisons. Let the ears ring of those who prefer the life of this world to that of the hereafter! Let them come and find a solution for this, or else let them enter belief and be saved from these dreadful losses!
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.39
From your brother who is in much need
of your prayers and misses you greatly,
S a i d N u r s i
* * *
A Letter From Husrev40 to Üstad Bediuzzaman Said Nursi Concerning the Tenth Topic
My Dear and Esteemed Master,
Endless thanks be to Almighty God that we have received ‘A Flower of Emirdag,’ the Tenth Topic of the Fruits of Denizli, which has ameliorated our grief at our two months’ separation and our distress at having been unable to communicate, and enumerates the virtues of the repetition of the Qur’an’s glorious, august, merciful and compassionate verses, which infuse our hearts with fresh life and breathe into our spirits a fresh breeze, and explains the necessity, significance, and reason for the repetitions, and is too a brilliant defence of the Risale-i Nur. In truth, the more we receive the scent of this flower, so deserving of praise and appreciation, the yearning of our spirits for it increased. Just as how in the face of the difficulties of our nine months’ imprisonment, the nine Topics of the Fruits Of Belief showed their beauty by contributing to our being released, so through pointing out the wonders of the concise miraculousness of the Qur’an, the Tenth Topic, their Flower, again exhibited their beauty.
Yes, my beloved Master, like the superb, delicate beauty of the rose makes the beholder forget the thorns on its stem, so this luminous Flower has made us forget the distress of those nine months; it has made it as nothing. The manner of its writing does not cloy those studying it; it astounds the mind. Of the many beauties it contains, by showing fully the value of the repetitions in the face of the treachery of ‘simplifying’ the Qur’an in people’s eyes by translating it, it has set forth its universal loftiness. The Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition being proved to be as fresh as though it was newly revealed, its followers adhering strongly to it every century and their perfect obedience to its commands and prohibitions; and its severe, awesome, and repeated threats to the oppressor in every century, and its compassionate and merciful regard for the oppressed; and among its threats which look to this century, the tyrants being made to cry out continuously for the last six or seven years at the heavenly hell which recalls a sample of deepest space; and the Risale-i Nur students being at the head of the oppressed this century; and their being delivered from their plights, personal and general, truly like the prophets of old found deliverance; and its pointing out the blows dealt to the irreligious, its opponents, and Hellish torments; and the Flower being concluded with two fine and subtle addenda; all these prompted this wanting student of yours, Husrev, to joyfully offer endless thanks. As I have mentioned to my dear Master, I have never experienced in my life the joy and happiness this beautiful Flower gives me, as I have told my brothers on numerous occasions. Almighty God placed on their feeble shoulders a great and heavy load. May God be pleased with our beloved Master, and may He make them smile eternally by lightening their load. Amen!
Yes, my dear Master! We are forever pleased at God, the Qur’an, His Beloved, the Risale-i Nur, and at you, our beloved Master, who is herald of the Qur’an. We in no way regret our following you. We harbour absolutely no intention in our hearts to do harm; we seek only God and His pleasure. As time passes, we increase our longing to meet God within the bounds of His pleasure. To refer to Almighty God without exception those who have done us evil and to forgive them, and to do good to everyone including those tyrants is a mark of Islam established in the hearts of the Risale-i Nur students. We offer endless thanks to God, Who proclaims this without our asking.
Your very faulty student,
H u s r e v
The Eleventh Topic
[Hundreds of the innumerable fruits, particular and universal, of the sacred tree of belief, one of which is Paradise, another, eternal happiness, and another, the vision of God, have been set forth with proofs and explanations in the Risale-i Nur. Referring further explanation of them to Siracü’n-Nur (The Illuminating Lamp), therefore, here shall be set out a few examples of its particular and special fruits, rather than its universal pillars.]
One of these: One day while reciting in a supplication: “O My Sustainer! In veneration of Gabriel, Michael, Israfil, and Azra’il, and through their intercession, preserve me from the evil of men and jinn,” I experienced an exceedingly pleasant and consoling state of mind on mentioning the name of Azra’il, which generally makes people tremble in fear. “All praise be to God!” I exlaimed, and began to feel earnest love for him. I shall point out extremely briefly only one particular fruit of the many of this particular aspect of the pillar of belief in the angels.
Another: Everyone’s most precious possession and the one over which they most tremble, is their spirit. I felt sure that to surrender it to a strong and trustworthy hand thereby preserving it from being lost and annihilated and from aimlessness, afforded a profound joy. Then the angels who record men’s actions came to mind; I saw that they yielded numerous sweet fruits like the previous one.
Another: Everyone tries earnestly to preserve through writing, poetry, or even the cinema, a worthwhile saying or deed, in order to immortalize it. Particularly if the deeds produce everlasting fruits in Paradise, they are even more anxious to preserve them. The recording angels hovering over men’s shoulders so that they may show their deeds in eternal vistas and continually gain their owners reward, seemed so agreeable to me, I cannot describe it.
Then, when ‘the worldly’ had isolated me from everything to do with social life and kept me from all my books, friends, assistants, and the things that console me, and I was being crushed by the desolation of exile and my empty world was tumbling down all around me, one of the many fruits of belief in the angels came to my assistance. It cheered up the universe and my world, filling it with angels and spirit beings, and making my world laugh for joy.41 It showed too that the worlds of the people of misguidance weep in desolation, emptiness, and darkness. While enjoying the pleasures of this fruit, my imagination plucked one of the numerous fruits of belief in the prophets, which resembles it, and tasted it. Then suddenly my belief that all the prophets of the past were as though living, and my assent to them, lit up those times and made my belief universal and expanded it, and set thousands of signatures to their teachings concerning belief in the Prophet of the End of Time (PBUH), silencing the Satans.
Then, a question occurred to me the decisive answer to which is included in the Thirteenth Flash, about the wisdom in seeking refuge with God from Satan. In meaning it asked me: “The people of guidance are assisted and strengthened by innumerable sweet fruits and benefits like these, the fine results of good deeds, and the Most Merciful of the Merciful’s compassionate succour and assistance, so why are they frequently defeated by the people of misguidance, and sometimes twenty or a hundred of them are routed?” While pondering over this, I recalled the mobilizations and angels in the Qur’an in the face of Satan’s feeble machinations, and Almighty God’s sending assistance to the people of belief. Since the Risale-i Nur has explained the purpose and wisdom of this with decisive proofs, we shall here allude to it only briefly.
Yes, sometimes in the face of a single vandal trying to set fire to a palace which a hundred men have made, the palace can remain standing only through a hundred men protecting it and by having recourse to the government and the king. For its existence is possible only through the existence of all its conditions and causes, but its non-existence and destruction may occur through the non-existence of a single condition. Just as the palace may be burnt to the ground by a layabout with a single match, so with some small actions, satans from among jinn and men cause vast destruction and terrible non-physical conflagrations. Yes, the basis and origin of all bad, evils and sins is non-existence, it is destruction. The non-existence and destruction are concealed beneath apparent existence. Thus, relying on this point, satans from among jinn and men and evil beings withstand an infinite force with an extremely weak force, driving the people of truth and reality to continually seek refuge at the Divine Court, and to flee to it. The Qur’an therefore mobilizes great forces for their protection. It gives for their use ninety-nine Divine Names, and commands them sternly to withstand those enemies.
From this answer became apparent the tip of a vast truth and basis of an awesome matter. It was like this: just as Paradise bears the crops of all the worlds of existence and produces the eternal shoots of the seeds grown in this world; so in order to display the grievous consequences of the innumerable terrible worlds of non-existence and nothingness, Hell scorches up the products of that non-existence, and among its other functions, that terrible factory cleanses the universe of existence of the filth of the world of non-existence. For now we shall not open the door of this awesome matter; God willing, it shall be elucidated later.
Another particular and example of the fruit of belief in the angels concerns the questioning angels, Munkar and Nakir;42 it is this: in my imagination I entered my grave, telling myself: “I am bound to enter here, the same as everyone else.” While taking fright at the bleakness and despair of the lonely, dark, cold, narrow solitary confinement of the grave, two blessed friends resembling Munkar and Nakir appeared. They began to debate with me. My heart and grave were broadened, illumined, and warmed; windows were opened up onto the world of spirits. I felt truly happy at that situation which I saw in the imagination then, and will see in reality in the future, and I offered thanks.
A medrese student who was studying Arabic grammar died and in replying to Munkar and Nakir’s question of “Who is your Sustainer?”, thought he was in his own medrese and said: “‘Who’ is the subject, ‘your Sustainer’ is its predicate; ask me something difficult; that’s easy.” It made both the angels, and the spirits who were present, and a diviner of graves who witnessed the incident, laugh, and brought a smile to Divine mercy. Being delivered from torment, the late Hafiz Ali, a martyr hero of the Risale-i Nur, died in prison while writing out and enthusiastically studying the treatise of The Fruits of Belief. Just as he replied in the grave to the questioning angels with the truths of The Fruits of Belief —as he had in court here—, so I and the Risale-i Nur students shall reply to those questions with the brilliant and powerful proofs of the Risale-i Nur, in the future in fact and now in meaning, and will cause the angels to confirm them and appreciate them and congratulate them; God willing.
Another small example of belief in the angels leading to worldly happiness is this: an innocent child who had learnt his lesson from the Ilm-i Hal, said to another child who was wailing at the death of his little brother: “Don’t cry, be thankful, because your brother has gone to heaven and is with the angels. He is enjoying himself there and having a better time than us. He is flying around like the angels, and taking a look at everything.” He turned his friend’s woeful tears into happy smiles.
Exactly like that weeping child, in the grim situation of this sorrowful winter I received news of two deaths. One was my nephew, the late Fuad, who had both come first in advanced schools, and had published the truths of the Risale-i Nur. The second was my late sister, called Hanim, a scholar who went on the Hajj and died while circumambulating the Ka‘ba. These deaths of two relatives made me weep, like that of the late Abdurrahman, which is described in the Treatise For The Elderly. Then, through the light of belief I saw in my heart that the innocent Fuad and righteous Hanim had as companions angels and houris in place of humans and had been saved from the perils and sins of this world. Feeling overwhelming joy instead of that searing sorrow, I congratulated both them, and Fuad’s father, Abdülmecid, and myself, and I offered thanks to the Most Merciful of the Merciful. This has been included here as a prayer for mercy for the two departed.
All the comparisons and allegories in the Risale-i Nur describe the fruits of belief that have as their consequences happiness in this world and the next. In respect of the happiness and pleasures of life they display in this world, those universal and extensive fruits give news that they will gain for man everlasting happiness, indeed, that they will produce shoots and develop in that way. Five of those numerous universal fruits have been written at the end of the Thirty-First Word as fruits of the Ascension, and five are included as examples in the Fifth Branch of the Twenty-Fourth Word.
We said at the beginning that each of the pillars of faith have numerous different fruits, even innumerable fruits, and that similarly, a single fruit of the totality of the fruits is vast Paradise, and another is eternal happiness, while another and perhaps the sweetest is the vision of God. Also some of the fruits of belief yielding happiness in both worlds, this world and the hereafter, have been well described in the comparison at the end of the Thirty-Second Word.
Evidence that belief in Divine Determining yields precious fruits in this world is the fact that the saying “those who believe in Divine Determining are saved from unhappiness” is widely known as a proverb. Two universal fruits of belief in Divine Determining are explained in the fine comparison at the end of the Treatise On Divine Determining, which is about two men who enter the lovely garden of a palace, and I myself in my own life have experienced thousands of times and understood that if one does not believe in Divine Determining, it destroys the happiness of this worldly life. But whenever, in grievous misfortunes, I looked from the point of view of Divine Determining, I saw that they were greatly lightened, and I would be astonished at how those who do not believe it can continue to live.
One of the universal fruits of the pillar of belief in the angels is alluded to in the Second Station of the Twenty-Second Word like this: supplicating Almighty God, Azra’il (Peace be upon him) said:
“Your servants will be vexed at me and complain about me when I carry out my duty of seizing the spirits of the dying.”
He was told in reply: “I shall make illnesses and calamities a veil to your duties, so my servants’ complaints will be directed at them and not at you.”
Azra’il’s duty is a veil in exactly the same way that the above are veils, so that unjustified complaints are not directed at Almighty God. For not everyone can see the aspects of wisdom, mercy, beauty, and advantage in death; they see its apparent face and start to object and complain. Azra’il was made a veil so that these unjustified complaints are not directed at the Absolutely Compassionate One. In exactly the same way, the function of all the angels, indeed of all apparent causes, is to be veils to the dignity of dominicality, so that the dignity and holiness of Divine power and comprehensiveness of Divine mercy are preserved in things the beauty of which is not apparent and the wisdom of which is not understood; and they are not the target of objections, and so that in the superficial view Divine power does not appear to be in contact with base, trivial, or cruel things. For the Risale-i Nur has proved definitively with innumerable evidences that the stamps of Divine unity on all things show clearly that no cause has an actual effect or the ability to create. Creation and the giving of existence are particular to Him. Causes are merely a veil. Conscious beings like angels can do nothing other than a sort of voluntary duty in accordance with their natures and active worship which is called ‘acquisition,’ and is insignificant and not creative.
Yes, dignity and grandeur demand that in the view of the mind causes are veils to the hand of power. While unity and oneness demand that causes abstain from having any real effect.
Just as angels and the apparent causes employed in good works pertaining to existence are all means of exonerating dominical power of fault and tyranny in things the beauties of which are not known or seen, and of hallowing it and preserving it from the ascription of fault; so too, satans from among jinn and men and harmful matters being employed in evil matters pertaining to non-existence is to hallow and glorify God by saving Divine power from being the target of complaint and wrongful accusations of cruelty. It is to exonerate Him and declare Him free of all the faults in the universe. For all faults arise from non-existence, or lack of ability, or destruction, or the failure to perform duties, which are all non-existence and acts which are not existent and pertain to non-existence. The faults are ascribed to these satanic and evil veils, the objections and complaints are deservedly directed at them, and they are means of Almighty God being pronounced free of all defect.
In any event, strength or power are not necessary for evil destructive works pertaining to non-existence; sometimes extensive non-existence or destruction may occur through some petty act or insignificant power, or even the failure to perform a duty. It is supposed those doers of evil possess power, but they have no effect other than non-existence and no power other minor ‘acquisition.’ But since the evils arise from non-existence, the doers of evil are the true agents. If they are intelligent beings, they deservedly pay the penalty. That is to say, in evils the perpetrators are the true ‘doers,’ but since good deeds and acts are existent, those who ‘do’ them are not the true ‘doers’ and do not have an actual effect. They are recipients rather, receiving the Divine effulgence; the All-Wise Qur’an states that their reward too is purely a Divine favour, and says:
Whatever good happens to you is from God but whatever evil befalls you is from yourself.43
I n S h o r t : While the universes of existence and the innumerable worlds of non-existence clash, producing fruits like Paradise and Hell; and all the worlds of existence declare: “All praise be to God! All praise be to God!” and all the worlds of non-existence declare: “Glory be to God! Glory be to God!”; and while through an all-encompassing law of contest angels and satans, and instances of good and instances of evil, as far as the inspirations and satanic whisperings of the heart, all struggle against each other; a fruit of belief in the angels is suddenly manifested, solving the matter and illuminating the universe. Showing us one of the lights of the verse,
God is the Light of the heavens and the earth,44
it shows us just how sweet is this fruit.
The Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Ninth Word —the latter of which demonstrates the marvels of the ‘alifs’45— point out a second universal fruit, and prove in brilliant fashion the existence and functions of the angels. Yes, in everything in the universe, particular and universal, in every realm of being, is a compassionate, splendid dominicality which makes itself known and loved. Most certainly it is necessary to respond to that splendour, that compassion, that making known and loved, with thanks and comprehensive, conscious worship, declaring them to be free of all fault. And it is only countless angels that can perform the duty on behalf of unconscious inanimate creatures and the great elements, and can represent the wise, majestic activity of the sovereignty of that dominicality everywhere on the earth, on the Pleiades, in the foundations of the earth, and outside it.
Through this fruit, for example, the creation of the earth and its natural duties, which the soulless laws of philosophy show to be dark and desolate, are placed in luminous familiar fashion on the shoulders of, that is, under the supervision of, two angels called Thawr (the Bull) and Hut (the Fish).46 And a truth, a substance of the hereafter called sakhra is sent as an everlasting foundation stone of the transitory earth, that is, as a sign that in the future part of it will be transformed into eternal Paradise, and is made a point of support for the angels Thawr and Hut. This was narrated by the old prophets of the Children of Israel, and also by Ibn ‘Abbas. Unfortunately, in the course of time, this sacred meaning and allegory was taken literally by the ordinary people and acquired a form outside the bounds of reason. Since the angels travel through earth and rock and the centre of the earth the same as they do through the air, they, and the earth, surely have no need of physical rocks and a fish and ox to support them.
Also for example, since the globe utters Divine glorifications to the number of its realms of beings, with tongues to the number of the members of those species, and to the parts, leaves, and fruits of those members, surely there will be an appointed angel with forty thousand heads and forty thousand tongues in each head, each of which will utter forty thousand Divine glorifications, which will know that splendid, unconscious, innate worship, represent it consciously, and offer it to the Divine Court, as the Bringer of Sure News informed us absolutely correctly.
Also, the existence and extraordinary nature of angels like Gabriel (Peace be upon him), who conveys and announces the dominical relations with man, the most important result of the universe’s creation; and Israfil (Peace be upon him) and Azra’il (Peace be upon him), who merely represent the Creator’s most awesome actions in the world of animate beings, which are the raising to life and giving of life, and the release from duties with death, and they supervise them in worshipful manner; and Michael (Peace be upon him) who besides supervising the bounties of the Most Merciful in food, which is the most extensive and most pleasurable mercy in the sphere of life, consciously represents unconscious thanks — the existence and extraordinary nature of angels like these, and the immortality of their spirits, are necessitated by the sovereignty and splendour of dominicality. Their existence and that of their own species is as certain and free of doubt as the existence of the sovereignty and splendour that are to be seen in the universe as clearly as the sun. Comparisons may be made with this for other matters concerning the angels.
Yes, the All-Powerful One of Glory and Beauty created four hundred thousand species of living beings on the earth, and created beings with spirits in great abundance, even out of common and rotting substances, filling everywhere with them. In the face of the miracles of His art He causes them to declare: “What wonders God has willed! How great are God’s blessings! Glory be to God!”, and before the gifts of His mercy: “All praise be to God! All thanks be to God! God is Most Great!” Most certainly and without doubt therefore He created inhabitants and spirit beings suitable for the vast heavens, who never rebel and perform constant worship. Not leaving the heavens empty, He populated them with these beings. He created too countless different sorts of angels, far greater in number than the animal species. Some in tiny form, mount raindrops and snowflakes and applaud the Divine art and mercy in their own tongues. Others mount the travelling stars and on their journeys through space, through their Divine exaltations and pronouncements of Divine Unity, proclaim to the world their worship before the grandeur, splendour and dignity of dominicality.
The agreement of all the revealed scriptures and religions since the time of Adam concerning the existence and worship of the angels, and the numerous unanimous reports in all ages of conversations and meetings of men with the angels, proves that their existence is as certain as the existence of the people of America, whom we have never seen, and that they are concerned with us.
Now come and taste through the light of belief this second universal fruit; see how it fills the universe from end to end, making it beautiful and transforming it into a vast mosque and place of worship. In the face of science and philosophy showing it to be cold, lifeless, dark, and desolate, it shows it to be full of life and light, conscious, familiar, and agreeable, allowing the people of belief to experience a manifestation of the pleasures of immortal life according to their degree, while still in this world.
C o n c l u s i o n : Since through the mysteries of Divine unity and oneness, the same power, the same Names, the same wisdom, and the same art are found in every part of the universe, the Creator’s unity, disposal, giving of existence, dominicality, creativity, and sacredness are proclaimed through the tongues of disposition of all creatures, particular and universal. So too He created the angels, and caused the glorifications which all creatures offer unconsciously through the tongues of their beings to be offered consciously through the worshipful tongues of the angels. None of the angels’ actions are in any respect contrary to the Divine command. Apart from pure worship, they do nothing; they bring nothing into being, can intervene in nothing unless commanded, and cannot intercede even, without permission. They manifest to the utmost the meaning of:
They are [but] servants raised to honour. * They speak not before He speaks, and they act [in all things] by His command.47
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Conclusion
[This forms a brief indication to a lengthy truth concerning a subtle point of miraculousness of great importance which was imparted to me after sunset and demonstrates clearly miraculous predictions of Sura al-Falaq concerning the Unseen.]
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Say: I seek refuge with the Sustainer of the rising dawn * From the evil of aught that He has created, * And from the evil of the black darkness whenever it descends, * And from the evil of blowers on knots, * And from the evil of the envious when he envies.48
Commanding God’s Messenger (PBUH) and his community to “Protect yourselves from the evil beings and satans among jinn and men who strive in the universe on account of the worlds of non-being,” this mighty, wondrous verse looks to all ages, and through its allusive meaning looks to a greater degree to our strange age, even explicitly, and calls on the Qur’an’s servants to seek refuge with God. This miraculous prediction about the Unseen will be explained briefly in five signs, as follows:
All the verses of this sura have numerous meanings. Only in respect of its allusive meaning, its repeating the word “evil” four times in five sentences; and with a powerful relation and in four ways its pointing the finger with the same date to the four unparalleled, ghastly, stormy evils, material and immaterial, of this age, with its revolutions and clashes, and its implicitly giving the command: “withdraw from these;” is certainly guidance from the Unseen in a way befitting the Qur’an’s miraculousness.
For example, the sentence Say: I seek refuge with the Sustainer of the dawn ‘coincides’ with the date 1352 or 1354 according to abjad and jafr reckoning, alluding to the Second World War, which was brewing up then erupted due to the prevalent ambition and greed of mankind and the First War, and in effect saying to the community of Muhammad (PBUH): “Do not enter this war, but seek refuge with your Sustainer.” With another of its allusive meanings, as a special favour to the Risale-i Nur students, who are servants of the Qur’an, it hints to them that they were to be saved around the same date from Eskishehir Prison and an awesome evil, and that the plans to eliminate them would come to nothing. It was as though commanding them symbolically to seek refuge with God.
And for example, the sentence From the evil of aught that He has created makes 1361 —the doubled ra is not counted— and points the finger through both the Rumi and Hijri dates at the cruel, tyrannical destruction of this unmatched war. ‘Coinciding’ too with the Risale-i Nur students, who work with all their strength to serve the Qur’an, being delivered from an extensive plan to eliminate them and from a grievous calamity and Denizli Prison, it looks with an allusive meaning to them too. With a concealed sign it says: “Protect yourselves from the evil of creatures.”
And for example, making 1328 if the doubled letters are not counted and 1358 if the doubled la\m is counted, the sentence the blowers on knots ‘coincides’ with the dates when due their ambition and greed the Europeans tyrants who caused the two World Wars, instigated a change of Sultan and the Balkan and Italian Wars with the idea of spoiling the consequences of the Constitutional Revolution, which favoured the Qur’an; then with the outbreak of the First World War, through the political diplomats blowing their evils, material and immaterial and their sorcery and poison into everyone’s heads through the tongue of the radio and their inculcating their covert plans into the heart of human destiny, they prepared the evils that would savagely destroy a thousand years of the progress of civilization, which corresponds exactly with the meaning of the blowers on knots.
And for example, the sentence And from the evil of the envious when he envies makes 1347 —the doubled ra and tanwin are not counted— and coincides exactly, and corresponds in meaning, with the significant upheavals which occurred in this country due to the enforced European treaties, and the changes that took place in this religious nation due to the oppression of philosophy, and the awesome envy, rivalry and clashes in various countries which paved the way for the Second World War. These are surely flashes of this sacred sura’s miraculous predictions concerning the Unseen.
A Reminder
All Qur’anic verses have numerous meanings. And all the meanings are universal; they have significations in every century. Those discussed here are only its level of allusive meaning which looks to our century. Within that universal meaning our age is one signification. But it has gained particularity, and looks to it and its date. Since these last four years I have known neither the stages of the war, nor its results, nor whether or not peace has been declared, and I have not asked, I have not knocked on the door of this sacred sura to learn how many allusions it contains to this century and its wars. It has however been proved and explained in various parts of the Risale-i Nur, and especially in Rumûzât-i Semaniye (The Eight Symbols), that this treasury contains many more mysteries, so referring readers to those, I am cutting this short.
The answer to a question that might occur to one
In this flash of miraculousness, in the From the evil of aught that He has created at the beginning, both the from (min) and the evil (sharr) being counted, and in and from the evil of the envious when he envies at the end, only the word evil (sharr) being counted, and and from (wa min) not being counted, and in neither of these words being counted in and from the evil of the blowers on knots (wa min sharr al-naffathat fi’l-‘uqad) is a sign indicating an extremely subtle relationship. For there is good as well as evil in people (khalq), and not all evil is visited on everyone. Alluding to this, from (min) and evil (sharr), which are partitive, are counted. But the envier is altogether evil when he envies, so there is no need for the partitive. And according to the allusion of the blowers on knots, there is no need for the word evil to be counted here, for all the works of those casters of spells and sorcerer diplomats who have set the globe ablaze for their own benefits are pure evil.
An addendum to a point about the miraculousness of this sura
Just as with four of its five sentences, this sura looks with its allusive meaning to the four largest evil revolutions and storms this century; so, with its allusive meaning and according to jafr reckoning, by its repeating four times the phrase from the evil of (min sharri) —the doubling is not counted, it looks to and points the finger at the century of the dissension of Jenghiz Khan and Hulagu and the time of the fall of the ‘Abbasid dynasty, which was the most fearsome calamity experienced by the Islamic world.
Yes, without doubling, the evil (sharri) makes 500, and from (min) is 90. Numerous verses which look to the future, as well as Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) and Ghawth al-A‘zam (May his mystery be sanctified), who alluded to both our century and those times in their predictions of the future, saw both our century and that century and made predictions in exactly the same way. With ghasiq making 1161 and idha waqab making 810, the words (ghasiq idha waqab) look not to these times, but to the significant material and immaterial evils of those times. If they are counted together, they make 1971, and give news of some ghastly evil at that date. If the crops of the seeds of the present are not rectified, the blows will certainly be terrible.
A Supplement to the Addendum of the Eleventh Topic
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
The verse, Let there be no compulsion (in religion; Truth stands out) from error,49 which is the complement of the Throne Verse, makes 1350; whoever rejects evil makes 1929 or 1928; and believes in God has grasped makes 946, corresponding to the name ‘Risaletü’n-Nur;’ the most trustworthy handhold makes 1347; that never breaks, and God is All-Seeing, All-Knowing * (God) (is the Protector of those who have faith) if counted together makes 1012, and if not counted together 945, with one doubling not being counted; from (the depths of darkness) He will lead them forth into the light makes 1372, without doubling; while those who do not believe, their patrons are (the evil ones) makes 1417; from the light (they will lead them forth into) the depths of darkness makes 1338, the doubling is not counted; they will be the companions of the Fire, to dwell therein for ever makes 1295, the doubling is counted.
It was imparted to me that with their allusive meanings, these verses ‘coincide’ exactly and twice with both the name of the Risaletü’n-Nur and the form of its striving; and with the date the people of unbelief were attempting to extinguish the light of the World of Islam with the war of 1293 (1876-77); and with the date the terrible treaties were signed in 1338 taking advantage of the First World War and in order to cast it into darkness in fact. It was imparted to me too that light and darkness are repeatedly contrasted in these verses, and in this immaterial struggle a Light proceeding from the Qur’an’s light would become a point of support for the people of belief. I was compelled to set this down in writing. Then I saw that the relationship of its meaning with this century was so powerful that even had there been no sign through the ‘coincidences,’ I would still have been certain that these verses were speaking with us through their allusive meanings, just as they look to all centuries.
Yes, firstly, the sentence at the beginning, Let there be no compulsion (in religion; Truth stands out) from error points through abjad and jafr reckoning to the date 1350 [if Rumi, 1934, or if Hijri, 1931-2], and through its allusive meaning, says: By the matters of religion being separated from those of this world on that date, freedom of conscience, which is opposed to force and compulsion in religion, and to religious struggle and armed jihad for religion, was accepted as a fundamental rule and political principle by governments, and this State became a ‘secular republic.’ In view of this, jihad will be a non-physical religious jihad with the sword of certain, verified belief. Because it shows a flash of miraculousness indicating that a light will emerge from the Qur’an which will make known and set forth clearly proofs so powerful they will demonstrate almost visibly the guidance and truths of religion.
Furthermore, as far as the word khalidun —to dwell therein for ever, by repeating the contrast between light and darkness, and belief and darkness —the source and origin of all the comparisons in the Risale-i Nur and just like them— is a concealed sign that a great hero in the contest of the ‘mânevî jihad’ at that date is the Risale-i Nur, which bears the name of light. For its immaterial sword has solved hundreds of the mysteries of religion, leaving no need for physical swords.
Yes, countless thanks be to God, for twenty years the Risale-i Nur has demonstrated this prediction and flash of miraculousness in fact. It is due to this mighty mystery that Risale-i Nur students do not interfere in the politics and political currents of the world and their material struggles, nor attach importance to them, nor condescend to any involvement with them. Its true students say to their most fearsome enemies in the face of their insults and aggression:
“You wretch! I am trying to save you from eternal annihilation and to raise you from the basest and most grievous level of ephemeral animality to the happiness of immortal humanity, while you are working for my death and execution. Your pleasures in this world are very few and fleeting and the penalties and torments you will suffer in the hereafter will be very great and very longlasting. For me, death will be a discharge from duties. Go away! I am not going to bother with you, do whatever you like!” They feel not anger at their enemies, but pity and compassion. They try to reform them, in the hope they shall be saved.
Secondly: And believes in God has grasped has grasped the most trustworthy handhold. These two sacred sentences have a powerful relationship, and according to abjad and jafr reckoning the first corresponds exactly with the name Risaletü’n-Nur, and the second corresponds in meaning, and according to jafr reckoning with its being realized and perfected and its brilliant conquests. These correspondences are an indication that this century at this date, the Risaletü’n-Nur is a most trustworthy handhold. That is, it is an unbreakable chain of great strength and a “rope of God (hablullah).” They inform through their allusive meanings that those who lay hold of it and cling onto it will be saved.
Thirdly: Both in meaning and according to jafr reckoning, the sentence God is the Protector of those who have faith makes an allusion to the Risaletü’n-Nur, as follows....
(The curtain descended here and permission was not given to write it. It has been postponed to another time.)
NOTE
The reason permission was not given to write the remainder of this point for now is that it touches to an extent on politics and this world, and we are prohibited from considering these. Yes, the verse, Man is indeed overweening50 looks to this ‘taghut’ and draws attention to it...
S a i d N u r s i
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Part of a letter from Husrev, the hero of the Risale-i Nur, in connection with the Eleventh Topic of the Fruits of Belief
In His Name, be He glorified!
And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.
May the peace and mercy and blessings of God be upon you!
My Beloved and Esteemed Master!
With the great good it contains for this nation and country, with its Ninth Topic The Fruits of Belief was not only the means of salvation of its students while in the midst of their greatest enemies and the awesomely rebellious, but also with its Tenth and Eleventh Topics, it applauded the Risale-i Nur students in particular on the ways of reality. Moreover, concerning the circumstances of the grave, which we are certain to enter, by making familiar that place under the earth, which makes everyone tremble and is a source of terror for the heedless in particular, where we will meet and speak with the angels; it made us happy at their companionship, and dispelled our terrible fears about that first stopping-place, letting us breathe freely. In the hands of those like me who have not seen that luminous life, it resembles an electric lamp whose rays penetrate hundreds of thousands of years. It also resembles a model flower-garden, the scents of which are ever a source of delight.
Yes, I suggest to our beloved Master that like students who everyday recite their lessons to their teacher, we should always describe to our beloved Master the effulgence we receive from the Risale-i Nur. But for now our beloved Master is refraining from speaking.
My Dear Master! The reality of the Risale-i Nur, the beauty of the Fruits, and effulgence of its flowers have driven me to utter a few words, gratefully, in the name of my country, and have breathed life into many hearts which speak like mine. But now, due to the “flower” of the Eleventh Fruit of Belief, the steps taken against the Risale-i Nur in our area and the hands raised against it, have become harsher and stronger, and have been stirred into action.
Your humble student,
H u s r e v
A letter written in the name of all the Risale-i Nur students in Isparta to offer congratulations for Ramadan, which has been amended in thirteen sections
In His Name, be He glorified!
And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.
Our revered Master, who through the effulgence of the Qur’an and truths of the Risale-i Nur and aspirations of his loyal students weeps tears of blood for the well-being of the Islamic world in this world and the next...
Who in these stormy days of the end of time is beset with more woes and ills than Job (Peace be upon him), and through the light of the Qur’an, the proofs of the Risale-i Nur and efforts of his students works to cure the ills of the Islamic world like Luqman the Wise, and has proved with thirty-three verses of the Qur’an and the wondrous predictions of Imam ‘Ali and the Ghawth al-A‘zam that the Risale-i Nur with its different parts is truth and reality...
Who although he is himself ill and elderly and weak and in a piteous condition, more than anyone sacrifices his life for the World of Islam and responds to those wrong him with the truths of the Qur’an and proofs of the Risale-i Nur, and through the loyalty of the Risale-i Nur students, with prayers and good works...
Who together with his students was sent to prison because one of his important works, The Supreme Sign, was printed, and through the guidance of the Qur’an and teachings of the Risale-i Nur and enthusiasm of his students turned the prison in a ‘School of Joseph’ and place of learning, and was the cause of all the ignorant among us there learning to read the whole Qur’an, and despite being elderly and weak, through the sacred strength of the Qur’an and solace of the Risale-i Nur and endurance of his brothers, took on himself the loads of all of us, and through the Fruits of Belief and Defence Speeches which he wrote, the miraculousness of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, and the powerful proofs of the Risale-i Nur, and sincerity of his students, with Divine permission had the prison door opened and won our acquittals, and made that day a festival for us and for the Islamic world, and proving that in truth the Risale-i Nur is “Light upon light,” won the right for it to be read and written out freely till the end of time...
Who has proved with the sacred sustenance of the Qur’an of Mighty Stature and other-worldly food of the Risale-i Nur and appetite of its students, that the World of Islam has need for the Risale-i Nur as it does for water and air, and that thousands of those who have read these treatises and written them out have entered the grave in a state of belief, and has never defeated or embarrassed the students who follow him, and through the heavenly teachings of the Qur’an, the principles of the Risale-i Nur, the intelligence of its students, and the Tenth and Eleventh Topics of the Fruits of Belief and its flowers quenches the fires of separation that night and day sear our hearts, like the water of life and wine of Kawthar, filling them with joy and happiness...
Who, in accordance with the certain promises and threats of the Qur’an of Mighty Stature and the certain discoveries of the Risale-i Nur and the observations of its late students and those among them who divine the happenings of the grave, has for the believers saved death —the thing most feared by all the world— from being eternal annihilation and transformed it into a discharge from duties and shown that for the unbelievers and dissemblers it is eternal annihilation; has proved in accordance with the certain news of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, confirmed both by the thousand miracles of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) and its forty aspects of miraculousness, and endorsed by the proofs of the Risale-i Nur —which proceeds from the Qur’an— which have defeated even its most obdurate enemies and are submitted to by the Risale-i Nur students, and are corroborated too by many signs, experiences, and convictions, that the terrifying, cold, dark and narrow grave is for the believers a pit of Paradise and a door onto the gardens of Paradise, while for the disbelievers and dissembling atheists is a pit of Hell full of snakes and scorpions; and has made the angels called Munkar and Nakir, who will enter there, familiar companions for the people of truth and those who have taken the way of reality; and included the Risale-i Nur students among ‘students of the religious sciences,’ and discovered on the death of the late heroic martyr Hafiz Ali that they reply to the questions of Munkar and Nakir with the Risale-i Nur, and who beseeches Divine mercy that those of us who are still living will also reply with the Risale-i Nur...
Who, through demonstrating an aspect of miraculousness pertaining to each of the forty levels of the Qur’an of Mighty Stature, and through it being the pre-eternal Word of God, and through the works The Miraculousness of the Qur’an and The Eight Symbols from the Risale-i Nur, and the extraordinary efforts of the heroic brothers and students of the Risale-i Nur like the chief writer of the ‘Rose Factory,’ and through Husrev, one of the heroic scribes of the Risale-i Nur being commanded to “write!”, although no one since the time of the Prophet (PBUH) had been able to write it in such miraculous fashion, its being written like the Qur’an inscribed on the Preserved Tablet, — has proved in beautiful and brilliant fashion, never before seen or heard, that the Qur’an of Mighty Stature is the true Word of God, and the greatest of all the revealed books, and that there are thousands of Sura al-Fatiha’s within one Sura al-Fatiha, and thousands of Sura al-Ikhlas’s within one Sura al-Ikhlas, and that its letters yield ten, a hundred, a thousand, and thousands of merits and good deeds...
Who has proved, through the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition demonstrating its miraculousness for one thousand three hundred years and halting those who oppose it, and through the proofs of the Risale-i Nur that are so clear as to be almost visible, and through the diamond pens of the Risale-i Nur students, that the Twenty-Fifth Word and its Addenda, which have challenged the world and silenced even the most obdurate, are miracles of the Qur’an in forty aspects...
Who has proved in the treatise from the Risale-i Nur called The Miracles of Muhammad (PBUH) thousands of miracles showing that Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) was a true Messenger, the lord of all the twenty-four thousand prophets, and the most virtuous of them, and through the Qur’an of Mighty Stature proclaiming to the universe that God’s Noble Messenger (PBUH) was sent as a Mercy to All the Worlds, and the Risale-i Nur demonstrating from beginning to end that he was a Mercy to All the Worlds, and showing even to the blind that the Messenger’s deeds and conduct are the finest and best example to be followed in the world, and through the testimony of calamities being lifted when the Risale-i Nur is disseminated in Anatolia and other countries, and disasters occurring when it is silenced, and through the firm and steadfast attachment to their work of the Risale-i Nur students despite the extremely difficult circumstances, has shown how profitable it is to follow the practices of that Being (PBUH) and that to follow a single of his practices at this time gains the reward of a hundred martyrs, and has proved absolutely certainly that for twenty years the Risale-i Nur has repulsed the calamities and disasters that would otherwise have been visited on Anatolia, the same as alms-giving repels disaster!
Now, since the Risale-i Nur’s acquittal has filled with joy foremost our beloved Master, then us impotent, faulty students, then the Islamic world, and occasioned a second festival, we congratulate you on this great festival of yours, and offering our congratulations for Ramadan and the Night of Power, the third festival, we beseech Almighty God we shall see many more, and imploring forgiveness for our faults and the faulty among us, we send the greetings of all here and kiss your blessed hands, and beseech your prayers, o our Master!
The Risale-i Nur students
in Isparta and its environs
* * *
To modestly reject this letter, which is a hundred times greater than my due, would be ingratitude and an insult to the favourable opinions of all the students, while to accept it exactly as it is would tell of pride, egotism, and conceit. Therefore, adding thirteen sections, I am sending you a copy of this long letter written by the Risale-i Nur’s scribe in everyone’s name, both by way of thanks and to be saved from pride and ingratitude. It may be added at the end of the Eleventh Topic with the title: ‘A letter from the Risale-i Nur students of Isparta and its environs.’ Although I have amended the letter in this way, twice a pigeon alighted at my window. It was going to enter, but saw Ceylan’s head and did not. Several minutes later, another alighted in exactly the same way. It too saw the scribe’s head and did not come inside. I said: “Most probably these are bearers of good news like the sparrow and ‘kuddüs’ bird before. Or because we have written this letter like numerous other secret letters, they came to congratulate us on amending the auspicious letter in this way.”
S a i d N u r s i
FOOTNOTES
1. Qur’an, 12:42.
2. Mishkat al-Masabih, iii, 122. See also, Zad al-Ma’ad (tahqiq: al-Arna’ut), i, 43-4.
3. One of those investigative scholars is the Risale-i Nur, which for twenty years has been silencing the most obstinate philosophers and obdurate atheists. Its various parts are available; everyone may read them, and no one can object to them.
4. For ‘certain, verified belief’ (iman-i tahkikî), see, page 488 footnote 71, and page 568 footnote 1. [Tr.]
5. This refers to 1946.
6. Qur’an, 6:1.
7. Qur’an, 13:16.
8. Qur’an, 2:32.
9. Qur’an, 16:77.
10. Qur’an, 31:28.
11. Qur’an, 30:50.
12. It is as though Doomsday has occurred in all past springs and they have died, while the following springs have been their resurrections.
13. Qur’an, 30:25.
14. Qur’an, 81:10.
15. Qur’an, 57:3.
16. Qur’an, 43:71.
17. Qur’an, 4:48, 116.
18. Qur’an, 93:8, etc.
19. Qur’an, 3:191.
20. Qur’an, 25:65-6.
21. Qur’an, 22:11.
22. Qur’an, 31:28.
23. Qur’an, 2:32.
24. Qur’an, 2:285.
25. As the Tenth Topic of the Fruits of Denizli Prison, it is a small, shining flower of Emirdag and of this month of Ramadan. By explaining one instance of wisdom in the repetitions in the Qur’an, it dispels the poisonous, putrid illusions of the people of misguidance.
26. Qur’an, 26:9, etc.
27. Qur’an, 55:13, etc.
28. Qur’an, 77:15, etc.
29. Qur’an, 2:20.
30. Qur’an, 29:62.
31. Qur’an, 30:27.
32. Qur’an, 30:5.
33. Qur’an, 57:4-6.
34. Qur’an, 12:76.
35. Qur’an, 5:85, etc.
36. Qur’an, 14:22.
37. Qur’an, 35:36.
38. Qur’an, 67:7-8.
39. Qur’an, 2:32.
40. Husrev Altinbasak (1899-1977). One of Bediuzzaman’s leading students, who wrote out numerous copies of the Risale-i Nur with his exceptionally fine handwriting. He also wrote copies of the Qur’an showing the ‘coincidences’ (tawafuqat) of the word ‘Alla\h’, an aspect of its miraculousness which Bediuzzaman ‘discovered.’ He was together with Bediuzzaman in the prisons of Eskishehir, Denizli, and Afyon. [Tr.]
41. Musnad, v, 173; al-Tirmidhi, Zuhd, 9; Ibn Maja, Zuhd, 19.
42. al-Tirmidhi, Jana’iz, 70; Abu Da’ud (in meaning), ii, 540, 541; Ibn Maja, Jana’iz, 65; Musnad, iii, 126; iv, 288.
43. Qur’an, 4:79.
44. Qur’an, 24:35.
45. This refers to the non-intentional alignment in patterns (tawafuq) of alifs (the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, written as a vertical stroke) in handwritten copies of the Twenty-Ninth Word. [Tr.]
46. Suyuti, al-Durr al-Manthur, i, 329.
47. Qur’an, 21:26-7.
48. Qur’an, 113:1-5.
49. Qur’an, 2:265-7.
50. Qur’an, 96:6.
The Twelfth Ray
[Part of the Defence Speeches Given in Denizli Court]1
Yes, we are a society and we are a society which every century has had three hundred and fifty million [now one and a half thousand million] members. Every day through the five obligatory prayers, its members demonstrate with complete veneration their attachment to the principles of that sacred society. Through the sacred programme of The believers are but a single brotherhood,2 they hasten to assist one another with their prayers and spiritual gains. We are members of that sacred, vast society, and our particular duty is to teach the believers in certain, verified fashion the Qur’anic truths of belief, and save them and ourselves from eternal extinction and everlasting solitary confinement in the Intermediate Realm. We have absolutely no connection with any worldly, political, scheming society or clandestine group, or the covert organizations concerning which on no grounds whatsover we have been charged; we do not condescend to such things.
* * *
If we had had any desire to interfere in worldly affairs, it would not have been with such buzzing like a fly, it would have exploded like the firing of a cannon. To accuse someone who defended himself vehemently in the Military Court and in the office of the Speaker of the National Assembly in the presence of an angry Mustafa Kemal, of hatching plots for eighteen years without allowing anyone to be aware of it, is certainly due to some grudge or hatred.
In this question, the Risale-i Nur should not be attacked because of my personal faults or those of some of my brothers. It is bound directly to the Qur’an, and the Qur’an is bound to the Sublime Throne, so who could dare to stretch out his hand there and unfasten those strong ropes?
Moreover, the Risale-i Nur, whose blessings —material and spiritual— for this country, and its exceptional service, are alluded to by thirty-three of the Qur’an’s verses, by three predictions of Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him), and the certain news of Gawth al-A‘zam (May his mystery be sanctified), may not be held responsible for our petty, personal faults; it cannot be and should not be. Irreparable harm will otherwise come to this country, both material and spiritual.3
God willing, the aggression and plots against the Risale-i Nur of some evil-minded atheists will be foiled, for its students cannot be compared with others; they cannot be scattered or made to give it up; through God’s grace, they will not be defeated. They have won the regard of this nation, as though they were vital for it, and are found everywhere; even if the Qur’an had not prevented them from physical defence, they still would not get involved in minor, fruitless incidents like those of Shaykh Said and Menemen.4 If, God forbid, they were persecuted and the Risale-i Nur was attacked to the extext they felt compelled, those atheists and dissemblers who hoodwink the Government would certainly come to regret it a thousand times over.
In Short: We do not interfere in the world of the worldly, so they should not interfere in our service of belief and in our lives of the hereafter.
Prisoner
S a i d N u r s i
* * *
In His Name, be He glorified!
Sirs!
I tell you with certainty that apart from those here who have no connection or little connection with us and the Risale-i Nur, I have as many true brothers and loyal friends on the way of truth as you could wish. Through the certain discoveries of the Risale-i Nur, we know with the unshakeable certainty of twice two equalling four that through the mystery of the Qur’an for us death has been transformed from eternal extinction into a discharge from duties, and that for those who oppose us and follow misguidance certain death is either eternal annihilation (if they do not have certain belief in the hereafter), or everlasting, dark solitary confinement (if they believe in the hereafter and take the way of vice and misguidance). Is there a greater or more important question for man in this world than this that it can be a tool for it? I ask you! Since there is not and cannot be, why do you strive against us? In the face of your greatest penalty, we receive our discharge papers to go to the world of light, so we await it with complete fortitude. But we know as clearly as seeing it, like we see you in this court, that those who reject us and condemn us on behalf of misguidance will in a very short time be condemned to eternal annihilation and solitary confinement and will suffer that awesome punishment, and with our feelings of humanity we earnestly pity them. I am ready to prove this certain and important fact and also to silence the most stubborn of them. If I could not prove it as clearly as daylight, not to that unscholarly, prejuiced committee of scholars who knew nothing of spiritual and moral matters, but to the greatest scholars and philosophers, I should be content with any punishment!
Just as an example, I offer the treatise The Fruits of Belief , which was written for the prisoners on two Fridays, and explaining the principles and bases of the Risale-i Nur, is like a defence of it. We are working secretly under great difficulties to have this written out in the new letters5 so as to give it to the departments of government in Ankara. Read and study it carefully; if your heart (I cannot speak for your soul) does not affirm me, I shall remain silent in the face of whatever insults and torment you inflict on me in the solitary confinement in which I am now held!
In Short: Either leave the Risale-i Nur completely free, or smash this powerful and irrefutable truth if you can! Up to now, I have not thought of you and your world. And I was not going to think of it, but you forced me, and perhaps even Divine Determining sent us on this way in order to warn you. As for us, we resolved to take as our guide the sacred rule, ‘Whoever believes in Divine Determining is saved from grief,’ and to meet all our difficulties with patience.
Prisoner
S a i d N u r s i
* * *
In His Name, be He glorified!
Saying that we are “corrupting religion,” they have censured us for compiling a Hizb al-Qur’ani, like a large An‘am,6 out of hundreds of well-known verses which are the particular sources of the Risale-i Nur, although this is an Islamic custom that has been practised since the time of the Prophet.
They also want to convict us in connection with the Treatise On Islamic Dress, for which I have already served a year’s sentence, and which was being treated as confidential, and as recorded in the police report, was pulled out from under the firewood — they want to show that it was written and published this year. Also, I said strong words to the person (Mustafa Kemal) who was leader of the Government in Ankara; I criticized him to his face and he did not respond but remained silent; yet the natural, necessary, and confidential criticisms I made of him after his death while explaining the meaning of a Hadith which indicated his error, were held to be a crime. But what importance has the sake of someone who is dead and no longer has any connection with the Government besides the sake of the nation and government and the laws of justice, which are a manifestation of Divine sovereignty?
Moreover, freedom of conscience, which is one of the principles of the Government of the Republic that we have most relied on and defended ourselves with, has been made the basis of charges against us; as though we oppose the principle of freedom of conscience.
Another thing is attributed to me in the police report, which has never ever occurred to me, that since I criticize the evils and faults of modern civilization, I do not accept the use of the radio,7 aeroplanes, and the railway; I am accused of opposing modern progress.
God willing, the fair-minded, just Denizli public prosecutor and court will make analogies with the above examples and show how unjust are these proceedings, and attach no importance to the unfounded suspicions in those reports.
The most extraordinary of them is this, that the public prosecutor in another trial asked me: “You said in the confidential Fifth Ray that the army would save itself from the leadership of that fearsome person. Your intention was to incite the army to rebel against the Government.” I replied: “What I meant was that the commander would either die or would be transferred, and the army would be saved from his domination.” How can a treatise that is both extremely confidential, and copies of which have come into my possession only twice in eight years and then been lost, and expounds a universal meaning of a Hadith about the end of time, and was originally written long ago, and moreover one single soldier has not seen — how can such a treatise be the reason for such charges?
The strangest of all was this, that I said in one place that Almighty God’s great bounties of the aeroplane, railway, and radio should be responded to with great thanks, yet mankind had not done this and had rained down bombs on men’s heads with the planes. While thanks for the vast bounty of the radio would be shown by making it a universal million-tongued reciter of the Qur’an which would allow people all over the earth to listen to the Qur’an. And in the explanations in the Twentieth Word of Qur’anic predictions about the wonders of civilization, I said concerning the allusions of one verse that the unbelievers would defeat the Islamic world by means of the railway. Although I urged Muslims to work towards these wonders, I am accused at the end of the indictment because of the previous public prosecutor’s malice, of “opposing modern advances like the railway, aeroplane, and radio.”
Also, although it has absolutely no connection, someone had said about the name Risaletü’n-Nur, which is another name for the Risale-i Nur, that “it is ‘a message’ (risalet) inspired from the light of the Qur’an;” and attaching a wrong meaning from another place in the indictment, they made it into another charge, as though I had said “the Risale-i Nur is a Divine Messenger.”
Also, I have proved decisively in twenty places in my defence that we would not make religion, the Qur’an, and the Risale-i Nur tools of anything, even in the face of the whole world, and we could not, and that we would not change a single of their truths for all the world, and that is how we are in fact. Over these last twenty years there are thousands of evidences of this. Since it is thus, we declare with all our strength:
For us God suffices and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs.8
S a i d N u r s i
* * *
In His Name, be He glorified!
A Supplement to My Objections to the Indictment
[Those addressed by these objections are not Denizli Court and the public prosecutor, but the malicious, suspicious officials, chiefly the Isparta and Inebolu prosecutors, who with their false and inaccurate records, were the cause of the extraordinary indictment against us here.]
F i r s t l y : The Risale-i Nur students, who are innocent and not in any way involved in politics, have unimaginably and on no grounds whatsoever been called a political society, and the unfortunates who have joined that circle and have no aim other than belief and the hereafter, have been considered guilty of being disseminators of that society, or active officers or members of it, or of reading the Risale-i Nur or teaching it or writing it out, and have been sent to trial. A certain proof of how far this is from the essence of justice is that although according to the principles of freedom of thought and freedom of study it is not considered a crime to read the harmful works of Doctor Dozy9 and other atheists hostile to Islam, it is counted a crime for those people needy for the truths of the Qur’an and belief to read and write out the Risale-i Nur, which teaches those truths as brilliantly as the sun. In addition, only a few sentences from two or three treatises out of hundreds, which we had held to be confidential so that no wrong meaning was ascribed to them and had not permitted to be published, were made the pretext for our indictment. Whereas with one exception, Eskishehir Court had scrutinized those treatises, seen what they necessitated. As for the exception, I gave an extremely decisive answer to it in both my petition, and my objections to Eskishehir Court, and it was proved in twenty respects that “we have light, not the club of politics.” Nevertheless, those unfair prosecutors inferred that the three or four sentences in three confidential and unpublished treatises could be extended to the whole Risale-i Nur, and accused myself and those who read and write the Risale-i Nur of contesting the government.
I call to witness my close friends and those who meet with me, and I swear that apart from two Presidents, one deputy, and the Governor of Kastamonu, for more than ten years, I have not known who the members and ministers of the Government are, or its leaders, officials and deputies, and I have not had the slightest curiosity to find out. Is it at all possible ffor a person not to know the people he is contesting and not to be curious about them, for him not to know if they are friend or foe, and to attach no importance to finding out? It is clearly understood from this that they are concocting completely baseless pretexts to convict me whatever happens.
Since that is how it is, I say not to the court here, but to those unjust people: I don’t give tuppence for the severest penalty you can inflict on me; it has no importance. For I am seventy years old and at the door of the grave. It is great good fortune for me to exchange one or two years of persecuted, innocent life for the rank of martyrdom. Through the thousands of proofs of the Risale-i Nur, I believe absolutely certainly that for us death consists of discharge papers. If we are to be executed, one hour’s distress would be the key to eternal happiness and mercy. But you unjust people who confuse the judiciary on account of atheism and preoccupy the Government with us for no reason! Know certainly that you will be condemned to eternal annihilation and everlasting solitary confinement, and tremble! I see you will be made to pay for it many times over. I pity you even. Yes, death, which has emptied this city a hundred times into the graveyard, certainly has greater demands than life. And the question of people being saved from being executed by it is the most pressing and most important they face and their most essential and certain need. Even lunatics, therefore, would understand that in the eyes of reality and justice those who accuse on petty pretexts the Risale-i Nur students, who have found this solution for themselves, and the Risale-i Nur, which provides it supported by thousands of proofs, themselves become the object of accusation.
There are three matters which deceive these unjust people, leading them to suspect the Risale-i Nur students are a political society, with which they have absolutely no connection:
The First: Ever since early days, my students have been passionately attached to me, like brothers, and this has given rise to suspicions of a political society.
The Second: Some of the Risale-i Nur students have acted like the groups within the Islamic community, the same as everywhere and as is permitted by the laws of the Republic, and this has been supposed to be a society. But the intention of those three or four students was not some sort of political society, it was purely sincere brotherhood in the service of belief and a solidarity which looks to the hereafter.
The Third: Since those unjust people know themselves to be misguided and lovers of the life of this world, and since they find some of the laws of the land convenient for themselves, they say to themselves: “Doubtless, Said and his friends are opposed to us and to the laws of the Government which are favourable to our ‘civilized’ illicit passions. They must therefore have a political society which is antagonistic to us.” So I say to them:
You unfortunates! If the world had been eternal and man was going to remain in it for ever, and if man’s duties had consisted only of politics, there might possibly have been some meaning in these slanders of yours. And if I had embarked on this matter for political ends, you would have found not ten sentences in a hundred treatises, but a thousand, to be combative and connected with politics. And if to suppose the impossible, like you we were working with all our strength for worldly aims, pleasures, and politics —which even Satan could not make anyone believe and accept— even if it was thus, since there is nothing these twenty years to suggest this, and the Government looks to the hand and not the heart, and all governments have fierce opponents; then still there is nothing with which we can be charged according the laws of justice. My final word is:
God suffices me, there is no god but He; in Him do I place my trust — He the Sustainer of the Throne [of Glory] Supreme!10
* * *
In His Name, be He glorified!
[I quote exactly an old memory and subtle matter of defence which was not disclosed in Eskishehir Court, and not officially recorded, and was not even written in my defence.]
They asked me there: “What do you think about the Republic?” I replied: “My biography, which you have in your possession, proves that I was a religious republican before any of you, with the exception perhaps of the Chairman of Eskishehir Court, was born. A summary of it is this: like now, at that time I was living in seclusion in an uninhabited tomb. Someone would bring me soup and I used to give breadcrumbs to the ants. I used to eat my bread with the soup. Some people heard of this and asked me about it, and I told them: “The ant and bee nations are republicans; I give the ants the breadcrumbs out of respect for their republicanism.”
So they said: “You are opposing the early leaders of Islam.” I replied: “The Rightly-Guided Caliphs were both Caliph and presidents of the republic. Surely Abu Bakr the Veracious (May God be pleased with him), the Ten Promised Paradise, and the Companions of the Prophet were like presidents of the republic. But it was not some meaningless title; they were leaders of a religious republic the meaning of which was true justice and the freedom of the Shari‘a.”
Mr. Prosecutor and Members of the Court! You are accusing me of holding an idea the opposite of which I have held for fifty years. If you are asking about the secular republic, what I understand by it is that secularism means being unbiased; that is, in accordance with the principle of freedom of conscience, it refers to a government that does not interfere with religiously-minded and pious people, the same as it does not interfere with the irreligious and dissolute. I have withdrawn from political and social life for ten, and now its twenty, years. I do not know the state of the Government of the Republic. If, God forbid, it has taken on a fearsome form whereby, on account of irreligion, it promulgates laws indicting those who work for their belief and lives in the hereafter, I proclaim to you fearlessly and warn you: if I had a thousand lives, I would be ready to sacrifice all of them for belief and the hereafter. Do whatever you like, my last word is For us God suffices and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs. In the face of your sentencing me unjustly to capital punishment or life imprisonment I say: as the Risale-i Nur has discovered and proved certainly, I am not being executed but discharged from my duties; I am going to the world of light and abode of bliss. As for you, you unfortunates who persecute us on behalf of misguidance! Since I know that you are being sentenced to eternal annihilation and everlasting solitary confinement, I am prepared to surrender up my spirit with perfect ease of mind, having taken my revenge on you completely.
Prisoner
S a i d N u r s i
* * *
In His Name, be He glorified!
Sirs!
I have formed the certain opinion as a result of numerous indications that we have been attacked not for ‘breaching public security by exploiting religious feelings’ on behalf of the Government, but behind a tissue of lies, on behalf of atheism, because of our belief and our service to belief and public order. One proof of this out of many is that despite twenty thousand people reading and accepting the twenty thousand copies of the parts of the Risale-i Nur over twenty years, public security has not been breached by students of the Risale-i Nur on any occasion whatsover, and no such incident has been recorded by the Government, and neither the former nor the present courts have found such a incident. Whereas, had there been any such widespread, powerful propaganda, it would have become apparent within twenty days. That is to say, contrary to the principle of freedom of conscience, Article 163 of this ambiguous law,11 which embraces all who give religious counsel, is a bogus mask. Atheists deceive certain members of the Government, confuse the legal establishment, and want to crush us whatever happens.
Since the reality of the matter is this, we say with all our strength: o wretches who sell religion for the world and have fallen into absolute unbelief! Do whatever you can! Your world will be the end of you! Let our heads also be sacrificed for a truth that hundreds of millions of heads have been sacrificed for! We are ready for any penalty and for our execution! In this situation, being outside prison is a hundred times worse than being inside it. Since there is no freedom at all —neither religious freedom, nor freedom of conscience, nor scholarly freedom— under the absolute despotism that confronts us, for those with honour, the people of religion and supporters of freedom, there is no solution apart from death or entering prison. We say, To God do we belong, and to Him is our return,12 and we trust in our Sustainer.
Prisoner
S a i d N u r s i
* * *
In His Name, be He glorified!
Chairman of the Court, Ali Riza Bey!
I have an important request in order to defend my rights: I do not know the new letters, and my handwriting in the old is very inadequate. Also, they do not allow me to meet with anyone; I am kept in what is quite simply solitary confinement. The indictment was even taken off me after fifteen minutes. I also do not have the means to employ a lawyer. I was able to obtain only one copy of part of the defence I have presented to you, in the new letters, secretly. I also had written out one or two copies of The Fruits of Belief, which is a sort of defence of the Risale-i Nur and a summary of its way, to give to the public prosecutor and to send to the departments of government in Ankara. They suddenly took them off me and have not returned them. Whereas the judicial authorities in Eskishehir sent a typewriter to the prison for us. We wrote out one or two copies of our defences on it in the new letters, and the Court wrote them out as well. My urgent request, therefore, is either you supply us with a typewriter, or allow us to procure one outside so that we can type out in the new letters two or three copies of both our defences, and the treatise which is a sort of defence of the Risale-i Nur. We shall then send them to both the Ministry of Justice, and the Cabinet, and the National Assembly, and the Council of State. For it is the Risale-i Nur that is the basis of the indictment, and the charges against the Risale-i Nur and the objections to it are not some petty, personal matter so that no importance should be attached to them. On the contrary, it is a general matter of serious concern to the nation, country, and Government, and will therefore arouse significant attention in the Islamic world.
Yes, those who covertly attack the Risale-i Nur are those who in order to destroy the regard, love, and brotherhood of the Islamic world, which is the greatest strength of this country’s people, and arouse loathing, are covertly establishing absolute disbelief by making politics the tool of irreligion. They have deceived the Government and twice confused the legal establishment, saying: “The Risale-i Nur and its students exploit religion for politics and there is the possibility of their disturbing public order and security.
You unfortunates! The Risale-i Nur definitely has no connection with politics, but since it has smashed absolute disbelief, it destroys and repulses anarchy, which underlies absolute disbelief, and absolute despotism, which overlies it. One of the hundreds of proofs that it ensures public order, security, freedom, and justice is The Fruits of Belief (Meyve Risalesi), which is like its defence. It should be scrutinized by a committee of prominent scholars and sociologists; if they do not confirm what I say, I consent to any punishment or tortuous execution!
Prisoner
S a i d N u r s i
* * *
Chairman of the Court!
Three matters have been made the basis of the Indictment:
The First is a political society. I cite as witnesses all the Risale-i Nur students here and those who have met with me, and those who read or write out the Risale-i Nur; you may ask them. I have not said to anyone that we were going to set up a political society or a Naqshbandi association. I always told them that we were going to work to save belief. No society has been mentioned among us apart from the sacred community of Islam, which includes all believers and has more than three hundred million members. Through the brotherhood of all believers and because of our service of the Qur’an, we found ourselves in the ‘Party of the Qur’an’ (Hizb al-Qur’an), which in the Qur’an is called the Hizb Allah. If this is what is meant in the Indictment, we admit to it wholeheartedly and with pride. But if something else is meant, we know nothing of it!
The Second Matter: As is stated in the Indictment and confirmed by the report of the Kastamonu police, some books like the Treatise On Islamic Dress (Tesettür Risalesi) and The Six Attacks (Hücumat-i Sitte) and its addendum, were found in nailed boxes under piles of firewood and coal in a condition that would in no way allow them to be published. They had been scrutinized and criticized by Eskishehir Court, a light sentence had been served for them, and they had most certainly been treated as private. Now, reading false meanings into some of their sentences, it wants to take us back nine years and charge us again with a crime the penalty of which we have already served.
The Third Matter: In several places in the Indictment, phrases have been used which express possibility rather than actual occurrences, like “he may breach state security or he may harm it.” It is possible for everyone to commit murder, but are they to be charged with it due to the possibility?
Prisoner
S a i d Nu r s i
* * *
In His Name, be He glorified!
Chairman of the Court!
I present my defence, which is in the form of a petition I sent to the departments of government in Ankara and to the President, and the reply from the Prime Minister’s Office, which shows that they recognized its importance. Contained in this defence are decisive answers to the unfounded and offensive suspicions that the prosecution have stated against us. There are numerous untrue and illogical things in the report of the committee of experts from here, which was based on the superficial and malicious reports of other places; my objections to these too have been presented.
In Short: As I stated before, I told Eskishehir Court when they wanted to convict me under Article 163: out of two hundred deputies of the Republican Government, the same number, 163, agreed to assign one hundred and fifty thousand liras to my medrese13 in Van. Due to this, the regard in which the Republican Government held me invalidates Article 163 as far as I am concerned. Although I told the court this, the committee of experts corrupted what I said and wrote: “163 deputies opened proceedings against Said.” It is because of this totally baseless accusation of that first experts’ committee that the prosecution is making charges against us. This is in spite of the fact that the Risale-i Nur had been referred, on your decision, to the highest learned and scientific committee, and having studied and scrutinized all its parts, the committee unanimously made this statement about us: “There is nothing explicit or inferred in the writings of Said and the Risale-i Nur students which suggests that they have any intent to exploit religion or sacred matters, encourage the breaching of state security, or found a political society, or conspire in any way against the Government. It is understood that in their correspondences, Said’s students did not nurture any evil intentions against the Government, or have the idea of founding a political association, or establishing a sufi order.”
The second committee of experts also stated unanimously that “ninety-nine per cent of Said Nursi’s treatises are both sincere, and disinterested, and have in no way departed from the principles of scholarship, reality, and religion. There is clearly nothing in them exploiting religion, or concerning the formation of a political society, or breaching security. The letters and correspondence between the students and between them and Said Nursi are of this sort. Apart from five or ten confidential, complaining, and unscholarly pieces, all the treatises expound Qur’anic verses or the true meanings of Hadiths. Ninety per cent of the available treatises contain comparisons illustrating clearly the tenets of belief in God, the Prophet, and the hereafter and their terminology, scholarly views, moral admonitions to the elderly and to youths, and instructive incidents selected from his experiences in life. They contain nothing which could damage the Government, administration, or public security.
Thus, the prosecution ignored the report of this eminent committee and made extraordinary charges against us based on the confused, deficient first report, so we are truly extremely upset. We in no way deem it fitting for this just court with its proven fairness. If there be no mistake in the comparison, it resembles this story: they asked a Bektashi why he did not perform the obligatory prayers. He told them: “It says in the Qur’an ‘Approach not the prayers.’” When they reminded him that the verse continued “When you are intoxicated,”14 he told them: “I have not memorized the whole Qur’an.” They take a single sentence from the Risale-i Nur, and disregarding what follows it, which puts it in context and explains it, use it against us. Thirty to forty examples of this are to be seen in the defence I shall present, when comparing it with the indictment. I shall recount a subtle incident which is one of those examples:
The prosecution in Eskishehir Court used a phrase about the Risale-i Nur’s instruction in belief which was anyway the result of an error, like “it corrupts the people.” Although it later did not use it, one of the Risale-i Nur students called Abdürrezzaq, said a year after the trial:
“You unfortunate! The Risale-i Nur has received the indirect praise of thirty-three Qur’anic verses, its value for religion has been established by three miraculous predictions of Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) and the powerful allusions of Gawth al-A‘zam (May his mystery be sanctified); these twenty years it has caused the Government no trouble whatsoever, and besides not harming anyone at all, has illumined and guided thousands of the sons of this land, and strengthened their belief and rectified their conduct, and yet you call that guidance ‘corruption.’ You have no fear of God! May your tongue be cursed!”
Now, the prosecution has seen these words of that student, so I refer to your fairness and conscience the expression: “Said has spread corruption.”
With the idea of interfering in the social teachings of the Risale-i Nur, the prosecution said: “The place of religion is the conscience; it cannot be tied to laws and regulations. Formerly there was social unrest because it was tied to laws.” So I say: “Religion does not consist only of belief; its second half is righteous action. Is fear of imprisonment or being seen by a government detective sufficient to deter those who commit numerous grievous sins which poison society, like murder, adultery, theft, gambling, and drinking? If that was so, there would have to be a policeman or detective stationed permanently in every house, or at everyone’s side even, so that obdurate souls would restrain themselves from those filthy acts. Whereas, in respect of good deeds and belief, the Risale-i Nur places a permanent immaterial ‘prohibitor’ next to everyone. It easily saves them from bad deeds by recalling the prison of Hell and Divine wrath.
Also, due to the signature in one treatise of a wonderful and extra-ordinary ‘coincidence,’ the prosecution made a meaningless inference, saying “the members of a political society.” Are the holders of signatures of this sort in the account books of tradesmen and innkeepers called a society. There was a similar baseless accusation in Eskishehir Court. When I replied and showed the treatise called The Miracles of Muhammad (PBUH), they were astonished. If we had formed a worldly society, those who had suffered so much harm on my account would certainly have fled from me in total abhorrence. This means that just as I and we have a relationship with Imam Ghazali which is not broken off because it pertains to the hereafter not to this world; so these innocent, sincere, pure religious people have displayed a powerful attachment to an unfortunate like myself for the sake of his teachings about belief. This has given rise to unfounded suspicions of an imaginary political society. My last word is:
For us God suffices and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs.
Prisoner in solitary confinement
S a i d N u r s i
* * *
[This piece is very important]
In His Name, be He glorified!
An Important Part of My Final Word
Sirs! Chairman of the Court! Take note!
Since to convict the Risale-i Nur and its students is the equivalent of convicting the truths of the Qur’an and belief, it is to try to close —directly on account of absolute disbelief— the highway taken every year for one thousand three hundred years by three hundred million Muslims, leading to reality and the happiness of both worlds, and it will attract towards yourself their revulsion and objections. For those on the highway assist with their prayers and good works those who have already passed down it. It will also be a means to a doomsday breaking forth over this blessed country. What answer will you give at the Last Judgement when you are asked in the face of those three hundred thousand million claimants: “You did not interfere with the French work by Doctor Dozy called Tarih-i Islam, which from beginning to end attacks Islam, your country and your religion, nor with the works of atheists in your libraries and their free availability, nor with the students of those books who formed themselves into illegal societies, nor with the societies who opposed your politics like the communists, anarchists, the old revolutionary societies, or the negative Turkists; so why have you interfered with the readers of a work of truth and reality like the Risale-i Nur, a true commentary on the Qur’an, and its students, who have no connection with politics whatsoever and have taken the highway of the Qur’an and belief solely to save themselves and their fellow-countrymen from eternal annihilation and solitary confinement? And why have you called the friendship and brotherhood of those sincerely religious people which looks only to the hereafter, a political society? You have convicted them under a bizarre law, and that is what you wanted.” We ask you the same thing. Our enemies, the atheists and dissemblers, deceive you, confuse the judiciary, and busy the Government with us in a way detrimental to the country and people; by calling absolute despotism “the Republic,” and making absolute apostasy part of the regime, and calling absolute vice “civilization,” and attaching the name of “the law” to arbitrary force and compulsion on account of disbelief, they both preoccupy the Government, and have scattered us, thus dealing blows on account of Europeans at the supremacy of Islam and the country and people.
Sirs! As is indicated by the four severe earthquakes in four years coinciding exactly with the severe aggression against the Risale-i Nur students and their being persecuted, and on each occasion their occurring exactly at the time the students were attacked and their stopping when the attacks ceased, you are responsible for the heavenly and earthly disasters that have occurred on our being convicted...!
S a i d N u r s i
who is being held in total isolation
and solitary confinement in Denizli Prison
* * *
In His Name, be He glorified!
Another Part of My Final Word
Sirs!
The Ankara committee of experts has confirmed our decisive reply to the charge of forming a political association insistently put forward by you as a pretext for our conviction, which you have decided upon as may be deduced from the course followed by the prosecution. While being amazed and astonished at your insisting on this point to this degree, this meaning occurred to me: since friendship, fraternal communities and assemblies, and sincere associations pertaining to the hereafter and brotherhood are each both foundation stones of social life, and an essential need of human nature, and a most necessary bond of great strength between people, from the life of the family to that of tribe, nation, Islam, and humanity, and a point of support and means of consolation in the face of the assaults of the material and immaterial things which cause harm and alarm and which each person encounters in the universe and cannot combat on his own, and which prevent him carrying out his human and Islamic duties; and since there are some who give the name of ‘political society,’ although it has no political front, to the gathering together of the students of the Risale-i Nur around the teachings of belief, which is most praiseworthy and is sincere friendship centred on the teachings of belief and the Qur’an and certainly leads to happiness in this world and in religion and in the hereafter, and is a companionship on the way of truth, and co-operation; most certainly and without any doubt, they have either been deceived in some appalling manner, or they are extremely vicious anarchists who are both barbarously inimical to humanity, and tyrannically hostile to Islam, and harbour enmity towards society in the utterly corrupt and depraved manner of anarchy, and strive obdurately and intractably as apostates against this country and nation, the sovereignty of Islam and sacred things of religion, or they are satanic atheists who, working on behalf of foreigners to cut and destroy the life-giving arteries of this nation, are deceiving the Government and confusing the legal establishment in order to destroy or turn against our brothers and our country the immaterial weapons which up to now we have used against them — those satans, pharaohs, and anarchists.
Prisoner
S a i d N u r s i
* * *
Sirs!
With your permission I shall address a few words, in your presence and apparently to you, but in fact to the secret revolutionary committee bent on corruption, which has taken on many forms, and with the idea of depraving this nation in the name of disbelief and atheism and on account of foreigners, has for thirty or forty years employed every means to attack the Qur’an and truths of belief; and to the inhuman, thoughtless officials whom they have made a screen to themselves in this matter; and their propagandists in the guise of Muslims who have confused this court.
(The decision to acquit us on the second day made this fiery speech superfluous.)
S a i d N u r s i ,
in total isolation and solitary confinement
The Correct Answer to an Important Question
Several high-ranking officials asked me: “Why did you not accept Mustafa Kemal’s offer of a three-hundred-lira salary and the post of general preacher in Kurdistan and the Eastern Provinces in place of Shaykh Sanusi?15 If you had accepted it, you would have been instrumental in saving the lives of the hundred thousand people who were slaughtered because of the revolution.”
I told them in reply: the Risale-i Nur, which has been the means of gaining for hundreds of thousands of our fellow-countrymen millions of years of life in the hereafter, has performed that task a thousand times over, in place of twenty or thirty years of worldly life I was unable to save for those people. If I had accepted the offer, the Risale-i Nur, which can be the tool of nothing nor follow anything and holds the mystery of sincerity, would not have come into being. I even told my respected brothers in prison: if those who have condemned me to be executed because of the heavy blows of the Risale-i Nur, which was sent to Ankara, save their belief through the Risale-i Nur and are delivered from eternal annihilation, you bear witness that I forgive them with all my life and soul!
I told those who were pestering me with their surveillance in Denizli after our acquittal, and the high-ranking officials and police chief and inspectors: It is an undeniable wonder of the Risale-i Nur that in nine months of close investigations no document has been found or connection of any kind with any movement, association, or society here or abroad, in the twenty years of my life of oppression, or in the hundreds of my treatises and letters, or among my thousands of students. Could this extraordinary situation have been achieved by the power of thought or through some arrangement? If the private concerns of one person over a number of years are brought to light, there certainly would be twenty matters to embarass or convict him. Since the fact is this, you will say either that some brilliant undefeatable genius is organizing the matter, or that it is a truly munificent Divine preservation. It would surely be an error to contest such a genius. It would cause great harm to the country and people. While to oppose such Divine preservation and dominical grace would be pharaoh-like obduracy.
If you say: “If we release you and do not keep you under surveillance, you may contaminate the life of our society with your teachings and obstruse mysteries.”
I reply: All my teachings without exception have been seen by the Government and judicial authorities, and no matter has been found requiring even one day’s penalty. Forty to fifty thousand copies of those teachings have been passed from hand to hand, being studied attentively and with curiosity, yet the readers have only benefited, no one has suffered any harm. Also, since both the former court and the present court could find no indictable offences, it is an ugly and meaningless injustice for you to interfere with our acquittal granted unanimously by the new court, and with me and the Risale-i Nur, as is proved decisively by the former court only being able to give sentences of six months each to fifteen out of one hundred and twenty of my brothers who were being held in prison, only arbitrarily and on the pretext of five or ten words out of one hundred and thirty treatises, for the sake of an important personage in the eyes of the world. Moreover, I have no new teachings and none of my secrets have remained hidden so that you should try to modify them through supervision.
I am now very much in need of my freedom. Enough now of the unnecessary, unjust, and meaningless surveillance to which I have been subjected these twenty years. My patience is exhausted. There is the possibility that due to old age I shall utter the curses that up to now I have refrained from uttering. “The sighs of the oppressed rise to the Divine Throne” is a powerful truth.
Then those tyrannical wretches who occupy high places in the eyes of the world said: “Not once in twenty years have you worn our headgear; you have not uncovered your head in the presence of either the former court or the present courts; you have presented yourself in the former attire. Whereas seventeen million have taken to modern dress.” So I replied: rather than wearing through a dispensation of the Shari‘a and under the constraint of the law, the dress, not of seventeen million or even seven million, but with their own consent and sincere acceptance of seven thousand European-smitten drunkards, I prefer to wear, in conformity with the Shari‘a and fear of God, the dress of seven thousand million. It may not be said of someone like me who for twenty-five years has withdrawn from social life “he obstinately opposes us.” Even if it was obstinacy, since Mustafa Kemal could not break it, and two courts could not break it, and the authorities of three provinces could not smash it, who are you to struggle pointlessly to break that obstinacy to the harm of both the nation and the Government! Even if he was a political opponent, since as you have confirmed, he has severed all his connections with the world these last twenty years and has in effect been dead, he would not be again raised to life, meaninglessly become involved in political life causing himself considerable harm, and struggle against you; it is therefore lunacy to have groundless fears about his opposing you. Since it is a lunacy to even speak seriously with lunatics, I am giving up speaking with those like you. I said: “Whatever you do, I won’t feel obliged to you!”, which both angered them, and silenced them. My final word is:
For us God suffices, and He is the Best of Disposer of Affairs.16 * God suffices me, there is no god but He; in Him do I place my trust — He the Sustainer of the Throne [of Glory] Supreme!17
* * *
What I Said This Time in My Short Defence
The compasssion, reality, and truth of the Risale-i Nur prevents us from involvement in politics. For innocents are afflicted with calamities and we would have been unjust towards to them. Some people wanted an explanation of this, and I told them:
In the present stormy century, the egotism and racialism proceeding from cruel civilization, and the military dictatorships resulting from the Great War, and the pitilessness arising from misguidance have led to such extreme tyranny and excessive despotisms that if the people of truth defend their rights through physical force, or through severe tyranny, numerous unfortunates will be burnt on the pretext of partisanship, and in that situation, they too will be excessively tyrannical and will be defeated. For those who act and attack out of the above feelings, on some petty pretext, strike at twenty to thirty people because of the mistakes of one or two, and destroy them. If on the way of truth and justice, the people of truth strike only at the one who struck, they win only one in the face of thirty losses, and are then in a position of defeat. If, in accordance with the unjust rule of responding in kind, the people of truth also crush twenty to thirty people due to the errors of one or two, they will then perpetrate a ghastly injustice in the name of right.
This then is the true reason for our having strenuously avoided politics and interfering in government, and for our aversion towards it. For the power of truth we have at our disposal is such that we could have defended our rights completely. But since everything is transitory and passing, and death does not die, and the door of the grave does not close, and if one suffers hardship, it is transformed into mercy; we shall surely place our trust in God in patience and gratitude, and be silent. To forcibly and harmfully break our silence is totally opposed and contrary to justice, fairness, and patriotic zeal and endeavour.
To Conclude: The members of the Government, the politicians, the administrators, the police, and the judiciary have nothing at all over which to struggle with us. At the most, through the bigotry of absolute unbelief, which no government in the world can defend and no one in their senses likes, and the bigotry of atheism, which arises from materialism and is a fearsome plague afflicting humanity, and through their evil, certain covert atheists deceive a number of government officials, excite their suspicions, and incite them against us. And we say: if they incited not a few suspicious people like that but the whole world against us, through the strength of the Qur’an and Divine grace, we would not flee; we would not lay down our arms before that apostasizing absolute disbelief and that atheism!
S a i d N u r s i
* * *
FOOTNOTES
1. Since the matters were the same, our Master, Üstad Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, presented the same defence —skipping where necessary and adding where necessary— to Afyon Court as he had at Denizli. He therefore put the greater part of the Denizli defence speeches together with those of Afyon, and gave them the name of the Fourteenth Ray. Signed, His Students.
2. Qur’an, 49:10.
3. This petition was written twenty days before the Kastamonu earthquake. Through the blessings of the Risale-i Nur, Kastamonu was preserved from the disasters more than any other province, but now the disasters have begun and have confirmed what we said!
4. See page 385, footnotes 11, 12.
5. This refers to the Latin alphabet, which was adopted officially on the passing of a law in December 1928. It replaced the Ottoman (Arabic) script, which was thereafter banned. [Tr.]
6. See page 389, footnote 13.
7. I said, to encourage the offering of endless thanks for a supreme Divine bounty like the radio, that the Qur’an should be recited on the radio so that people could hear it all over the world, and the atmosphere of the globe would become a reciter of the Qur’an.
8. Qur’an, 3:173.
9. Reinhart Dozy (1820-1883), the Dutch orientalist one of whose works was the inaccurate and derogatory Essaie sur l’Histoire de l’Islamisme, which was translated into Turkish by the atheist Abdullah Cevdet and published under the title Târîh-i Islâmiyet (Cairo 1908). [Tr.]
10. Qur’an, 9:129.
11. Article 163 of the Criminal Code: a law designed to enforce the principle of ‘secularism,’ and prevent the growth of any religious movements. [Tr.]
12. Qur’an, 2:156.
13. See, page 483, footnote 69.
14. Qur’an, 4:43.
15. See page 381-2, footnote 9.
16. Qur’an, 3:173.
17. Qur’an, 9:129
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