The light-scattering, highly valuable letters Ustad Bediuzzaman Said Nursi sent his students while in Denizli Prison, which illustrate in brilliant fashion the great exertions of the Risale-i Nur.
In His Name, be He glorified!
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
I congratulate you with all my being on the Night of Power which has passed and the coming festival, and I entrust you to the unity and mercy of the Most Merciful of the Merciful. Although in accordance with the meaning of “he who believes in Divine Determining is saved from unhappiness,” I do not consider you to be in need of consolation, I say that I received from the allusive meaning of the verse,
Now await in patience the command of your Sustainer, for verily you are in Our eyes, and glorify with praise your Sustainer, (1)
all the solace the verse affords. It was like this:
While thinking of passing Ramadan tranquilly, in forgetfulness of the world, this unimaginable and completely unendurable episode befell us, yet I observed that it was pure grace both for me, and for the Risale-i Nur, and for you and our Ramadan, and our brotherhood. I shall describe only two or three of its many benefits for myself.
One of them: The intense excitement, seriousness, entreating and seeking refuge with God I experienced overcame a serious illness, and made me work in Ramadan.
The Second: I had a powerful desire to see all of you this year and be near you. I would have agreed to the difficulties I have suffered to see only one of you and to come to Isparta.
The Third: In an extraordinary way, all the painful circumstances both in Kastamonu, and on the way here, and here, suddenly change, and contrary to what I hoped and desired a hand of grace is apparent, making one exclaim: “Good is in what God chooses.” What made me realize this most was that the most heedless and high-ranking persons are being made to read the Risale-i Nur with careful attention, opening up new fields for its triumphs. I was suffering all the pains and regrets of everyone else as well as my own, but then since this calamity increased the hundred merits of each hour’s worship to a thousand —for the blessed month of Ramadan makes each hour the equivalent of a hundred hours— my pity and sorrow for sincere people like you who have learnt thoroughly the lessons of the Risale-i Nur, so know that this is a fleeting place of trade, who sacrifice everything for their belief and lives in the hereafter, and believe that the transient hardships of this ‘School of Joseph’ (2) will produce everlasting pleasures and benefits, —my pity and sorrow for you were transformed into congratulations and appreciation and applause at your steadfastness. I declared: “All praise and thanks be to God for all circum-stances other than unbelief and misguidance!”
I am of the opinion that in this respect there are such benefits both for myself, and for our brotherhood, and for the Risale-i Nur, and for our Ramadans, and for you, that if the veil was drawn back, it would make us declare: “Thanks be to You, O God! This Divine Decree and Determining are an instance of Your grace for us.”
Do not blame those who were the cause of this affair. The far-reaching and fearful plans for this calamity had long since been laid, and in the event we have got off lightly. God willing, it will pass quickly. In accordance with the meaning of the verse, It may be that you hate a thing, and it is good for you, (3) do not be grieved.
S a i d N u r s i
My Dear Brothers!
I am very happy to be close to you. From time to time I converse with you in imagination and am consoled. Know that if it had been possible, I would proudly and happily have endured all your difficulties. Because of you, I love Isparta and its environs down to its very stones and soil. I declare even, and I shall say so officially, if the Isparta authorities were to inflict some penalty on me and another province was to acquit me, I would still choose here.
Yes, I am from Isparta in three respects. I cannot prove it genealogically, but I have the conviction that the forebears of Said, who came into the world in the sub-district of Isparit, went there from here. And the province of Isparta has given me such true brothers that I would be happy to sacrifice not Abdülmecid (4) and Abdurrahman, (5) but Said myself for each one of them.
It is my guess that there is no one on earth at this time who suffers less —in their hearts, spirits, and minds— than the Risale-i Nur students. For due to the lights of certain, verified belief, (6) their hearts, spirits, and minds do not suffer distress. As for physical hardships, they know from the teachings of the Risale-i Nur, that they are both transitory, and unimportant, and yield reward, and are a means by which the service of belief unfolds in other channels, and so meet them with thanks and patience. They prove through their states of mind that certain, verified belief leads to happiness in this world too. Yes, they say “Let’s see what God does, whatever He does, it is good,” and steadfastly work to transform these transient difficulties into permanent instances of mercy.
May the Most Merciful of the Merciful increase the numbers of those like them, make them the cause of pride and happiness for this country, and grant them eternal happiness in Paradise. Amen!
S a i d N u r s i
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
In regard to this Divinely ordained event from the point of view of the justice of Divine Determining: because some of the new students sought worldly things by means of the Risale-i Nur, which were not in keeping with the true meaning of sincerity, they found themselves confronted by self-seeking rivals, and obtaining from somewhere a long way off from me the Fifth Ray, the original of which was written twenty-five years ago and in the past eight years copies of which have only twice come into my possession and were then mislaid, a number of jealous people like that corrupt hoja aroused the suspicions of the judiciary with it. At the same time, The Supreme Sign (Âyetü’l-Kübra) was printed without my agreement instead of The Key To Belief (Miftahü’l-Iman Mecmuasi), which I wanted printed in the new letters; on the arrival of copies of it, it was reported to the Government, and the two matters were confused. Suggesting the Fifth Ray had been printed in opposition to the Civil Code, some malicious people made a mountain out of a molehill and had us put away in this place of penitence. Nevertheless, Divine Determining drove us here for our own good; it called us again to the ‘School of Joseph,’ where, being far more meritorious than the places of ordeal of former times, we could receive a thorough lesson in sincerity and rectify our attachment to the affairs of this world, which in truth are valueless.
In His Name, be He glorified!
I again congratulate you on the festival; do not be sorry that we could not meet in person. In truth we are always together, and God willing this togetherness will continue on the road to eternity. It is my opinion that the eternal merits, and the virtues and joys of the spirit and heart that you obtain in serving belief reduce to nothing the present temporary, passing sorrows and hardships. Up to now, there has been no one who has suffered as few difficulties as the Risale-i Nur students in such sacred service. Yes, Paradise is not cheap. To save others from absolute disbelief, which destroys the life of both this world and the hereafter, is of the very greatest importance at this time. If there is a little hardship, it should be met with enthusiasm, thanks, and patience. Since our Creator, Who employs us, is All-Compassionate and Wise, we should rely on His mercy and wisdom and meet everything with resignation and joy.
An heroic brother of ours has assumed all responsibility for The Supreme Sign affair. He has shown how much he deserves the extraordinary honour and merit pertaining to the hereafter he has gained through his pen and the Hizb al-Qur’an (7) and Hizb al-Nuri, (8) and made me weep at the deep joy I felt. There is much wisdom in The Supreme Sign, the Seventh Ray, attracting attention to itself, and preparing the ground for the future triumphs it deserves: its temporary confiscation will not nullify the work and expenses of that brother and his wife; God willing, it will make them shine even more. This we await from Divine mercy.
From your brother who, through the use of the first person plural in all his supplications, such as: “Deliver us; have mercy on us; preserve us,” includes all of you in them without exception; who works in accordance with the principle of our partnership of the spirit, as though we were numerous bodies and a single spirit and is more concerned with your distress than you are yourselves; and who, from your collective personality awaits strength, assistance, constancy, steadfastness, and intercession.
S a i d N u r s i
At a time when, under the effects of this event, I determined to completely resign myself to sacrificing myself for my innocent brothers and was seeking for a solution, I read Jaljalutiya. (9) It suddenly occurred to me that Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) prayed: “O God! Deliver us!”; God willing, you shall be delivered through the meaning of his supplication.
Yes, in his Qasidat al-Jaljalutiya, Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) gave news of the Risale-i Nur in two ways, and alluded to The Supreme Sign with the lines “And through The Supreme Sign, secure me from sudden disaster.” Through this allusion, he is indicating that due to The Supreme Sign, a disaster of significant proportions will be visited on the Risale-i Nur students and is beseeching God to deliver the students from the calamity for the sake of The Supreme Sign; he is making the treatise and its source an intercessor. Yes, the printing of The Supreme Sign was made the pretext for the calamity that occurred, and confirmed exactly that sign of the Unseen.
Also, on the opposite page in the qasida, it says at the end of the allusions to the important parts of the Risale-i Nur and their arrangement, in meaning:
These letters of light, gather together their properties;
And study their meanings, for through them good is fulfilled.
That is: “The words and letters of the Risale-i Nur, which we alluded to; collect their properties and study their meanings, for all good and happiness is achieved through them.” It may be inferred from the phrase “Study the meanings of the letters” that it refers not to the letters, which express no meaning, but to the treatises called Sözler, which means The Words.
Our Sustainer! Do not call us to task if we forget or do wrong. (10) None knows the Unseen save God.
S a i d N u r s i
My Dear, Loyal Brother, Re’fet Bey!
I cannot meet with indifference your learned questions since they are the keys to important truths contained in the part of the Risale-i Nur called Mektûbat (Letters). A short answer is as follows:
Since the Qur’an is a pre-eternal address and speaks with all the classes of humanity and all the groups of worshippers, it has to possess numerous meanings conformable with them, and numerous levels of the universal meanings. Some commentators choose only the most general or the most explicit meaning, or one which expresses an obligatory act or a confirmed practice of the Prophet (PBUH). For example, for the verse, And in the night glorify God (11) they mention an important sunna, the two rak‘as of the tahajjud prayer, and for the verse the flight of the stars (12) the early morning Fajr sunna, which is a confirmed Practice of the Prophet (PBUH). And there are numerous other constituents of the former meaning. My brother! Speaking with you does not cease.
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
I have just performed the noon prayer and it occurred to me when I was reciting the tesbihat that you were all probably sad at thinking of yourselves and your relations at home. It suddenly came to mind that if those of former times who chose the hereafter over this world and passed their lives mortifying the flesh in caves and other places of ordeal with the intention of being saved from the sins of society and of working sincerely for the hereafter, had lived now, they would have been Risale-i Nur students. Certainly, those living under the conditions of these times are ten times more needy than they were and gain ten times more merit, and are ten times more comfortable.
My Dear, Blessed Brothers!
Very many greetings... In former times in my native region, we used to recite Sura al-Ikhlas a thousand times on the Day of ‘Arafa. (13) Now, I am able to recite five hundred on the day before, and five hundred on the Day of ‘Arafa. Those who are confident may recite them all at once. I cannot see you and cannot speak with you all personally, but most of the time I can converse with you all while praying, sometimes by name.
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
I reckon that up to now two leaders of the main group of the Light (Nur) Factory circle have been saved. That circle, that group, has truly accomplished the triumphs of twenty to thirty years in six or seven; as though it was a souvenir of their shining pens, their service does not cease; it causes merits to be recorded in the books of their deeds in their places. In fact, the Hizb-i Nuri has achieved such overwhelming conquests and entered such important places that it is as if those who published it are continuously working. I supposed that like the first person, Hafiz Mustafa, who has worked so hard and is so hardworking, was outside, then I heard that he is here too. Thinking it was perhaps another Mustafa, I found consolation.
My Dear Brothers!
This morning while reciting the tesbihat, I pitied Hafiz Tevfik. (14) I recalled that it is the second time he has suffered this trouble. Then it suddenly occurred to me: Congratulate him! With needless caution, he wanted to withdraw himself a little from his important position and his large share in the Risale-i Nur. But the vastness and sacredness of his service again awarded him a large share and vast merit. One should not flee from spiritual honour such as that due to a little distress and fleeting hardship.
Yes, my brothers! Everything departs, and after it has gone, if it was pleasure and enjoyment, it goes for nothing, while if it was distress and hardship, it yields such pleasurable benefits, both in this world and in the hereafter, and from the point of view of being sacred service, that it reduces the trouble to nothing. With the exception of one of you, I am the most elderly and it is I who suffers the most troubles, yet I assure you that by practising total patience, offering thanks, and endurance, I am happy at my situation. Thanks in the face of disaster is for the reward to be had from disaster, and for the benefits in this world and the next.
My Dear Brothers!
With the disappearance of the things preventing the completion of the ‘Topics’ of The Fruits of Belief, writing will recommence, God willing. One of these was the cold, the other was the fright the Masons took at its power. I think of this calamity from the angle of Divine Determining, and my difficulties are transformed into mercy. Yes, as is explained in the Treatise On Divine Determining, there are two causes for every event: one is apparent; people base their judgements on this and frequently act unjustly. The other is reality, according to which Divine Determining judges; it acts with justice in the events in which man acted unjustly.
For example, a man is sent to prison for a theft he did not commit. Divine Determining also sentences him to imprisonment, but for a secret crime, and acts justly within the human injustice. Thus, there are two causes for our having been set this severe trial, the purpose of which is to separate out the diamonds from the pieces of glass, the veracious devotees from the inconstant waverers, and the purely sincere from those unable to give up their egotism and self-interest:
The First is a powerful solidarity and a sincere and remarkable service of religion which aroused the suspicions of the worldly and the politicians; human injustice looks to this.
The Second: Since not everyone on their own could demonstrate their worthiness of this sacred service through complete sincerity and total solidarity, Divine Determining looked to this too. But that Determining is now pure mercy for us within the pure justice, for it brought together brothers who greatly missed each other, and transformed their hardships into worship and their losses into alms-giving. It is also pure mercy in many other respects, like attracting attention from all quarters to the treatises the brothers have written out; and not allowing worldly possessions and children and comfort, which are temporary, fleeting and which one day they will be bound to leave behind when they enter the grave, to damage their lives in the hereafter; and making them accustomed to patient endurance; and their being heroic models for the believers of the future, and even their leaders. But there is one aspect that caused me some thought, which is that if a finger is wounded, the eye, mind, and heart neglect their important duties and become preoccupied with it. Similarly, our lives, which reach this pitch of distress, busy our hearts and spirits with their wounds. Then just when I should be forgetting the world, the situation took me to the Masons’ council, and busied me with dealing them blows. I was consoled by the possibility that Almighty God might accept this state of heedlessness as a sort of intellectual striving.
I received the greetings of Ali Gül, the brother of Hafiz Mehmed, the Risale-i Nur’s esteemed teacher. I send greetings and prayers both to him, and to all his fellow villagers, and to all the people of Sava, (15) both living and dead.
In His Name, be He glorified!
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
Your constancy and steadfastness foil all the plans of the Masons and dissemblers. Yes, my brothers, there is no need to hide it, those atheists draw comparisons between the Risale-i Nur and its students, and the sufi orders and particularly the Naqshbandi Order, and with the idea of refuting us and scattering us, attack us with the schemes with which they defeated the sufis.
Firstly: To intimidate and scare, and show up the abuses of the sufi way.
And secondly: To publicize the faults of its leaders and followers.
And thirdly: To corrupt them with the enticing vices and stupefying, pleasurable poisons of materialist philosophy and civilization; and destroy their solidarity; and disparage their leaders with treacherous lies; and discredit their ways with some of the principles of science and philosophy. They attacked us with the same weapons they used against the Naqshbandis and sufis, but they were deceived. For since the essence of the Risale-i Nur’s way is complete sincerity, and the giving up of egotism, and to search out and perceive the mercy within difficulties and the permanent pleasures within pains, and to point out the grievous pains within fleeting dissolute pleasures, and that belief is the means to innumerable pleasures in this world too, and to teach the points and truths that the hand of no philosophy can reach, God willing it will make all their plans come to nothing, and showing that no comparison can be made between the way of the Risale-i Nur and the sufi orders, it will silence them utterly.
A Subtle Point
This morning someone called me from the gendarmes’ ward next to me and I went to the window. He said: “Our door has closed by itself and whatever we do we can’t open it.” So I told him: “It is a sign for you that among the people you guard and keep behind bars, are those who are innocent like yourselves. They even insulted me on the pretext of my seeing one of my brothers I had not seen for ten years, and on another pretext, closed the second of our outer doors. As a punishment, your door closed too.”
S a i d N u r s i
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
There are three further points concerning the subtle point I wrote to you yesterday:
The First: As a representative of the collective personality of a blessed group that will be formed in the future, through the blessings of that collective personality, the bolted door opened of its own accord; again, they were angry with a representative of a blessed group which is now in existence meeting with me for half a minute, after ten years. I too was angered, and again said: “Let the doors close!” The following morning —it had never happened before— the guards’ doors closed, and did not open for two hours.
Second Elegant Point: I sent a note to the public prosecutor by means of the prison governor. I said in it: “I am being kept in isolation and I can’t meet with anyone. Even if I was to, I do not know anyone in this town. ... with someone from the town council here... and so on.” Later the prosecutor asked if I was in solitary confinement. The prison governor said: “No.” Both of them objected to my note. The same day, a distant and half crazy relation came and visited me for half a minute, and it was portrayed in such a way as to show that I had never been in solitary confinement. Their objections rebounded on themselves.
The Third: The noise of the troublesome youths next door to me between the evening and night prayers disturbed me, but not too much. It was that day that they found an excuse and shut the door. The foul stench also grew worse in my cell, and the din the youths made by my door disturbed me excessively. I again said: “Let the doors close! Why are they doing this?” That morning, the incident occurred.
My Brothers!
The two Topics you have written in the new letters have had a tremendous effect. It will be excellent if the First, Second, and Third Topics are written out as well. But I find it worrying if it is Husrev and Tahiri who do this since their pens are particularly suited to the Qur’an and the Qur’anic script, and are charged with it. It will better if others write them.
My Dear Brothers!
For the past year I have been using an amount, that is, around a kilo, of vermicelli and rice. I have no doubt that they are a means of plenty. But you do not leave them with me now so that I can cook them. So I give them to you as a gift, as a means to blessings and plenty. On one occasion, I saw a wondrous increase in the star-shaped vermicelli. I used to dry the pieces after cooking them. I myself and others saw that one single piece was ten times larger than normal.
My Dear Brothers!
Last night while I was reciting my invocations, the guards and others could hear me. I wondered anxiously to myself if such a display did not decrease the merit. Then I remembered a famous saying of Hujjat al-Islam Imam Ghazali: “Sometimes doing something openly is better than concealing it.” That is, in many ways it may be far more meritorious to do something openly, for others may benefit from it, or copy it, or be aroused from heedlessness; or it may be display the marks of Islam in the face of those who persist in misguidance or vice, and preserve the dignity of religion. Especially at this time and if done by those who have learnt thoroughly the lessons of sincerity, and no hidden artificiality intervenes. I thought of this and was consoled.
Two days ago, the examining magistrate summoned me, and when wondering how I could defend my brothers, I opened the Hizb al-Masun of Imam Ghazali. These verses struck my eye:
Verily God will defend from ill those who believe. (16) ...how their light runs forward before them and by their right hands. (17) God watches over them. (18) For those... is every blessedness. (19)
I saw that if the doubling and madda (long a) are not counted —the waw is also a madda— according to abjad and jafr reckoning, it makes one thousand three hundred and sixty-two, which is exactly this year’s date; both its meaning and number coincide with the time we resolved to defend our believing brothers. All praise be to God, I said, this leaves no need for my defence. Then the thought “I wonder how it will turn out” occurred to me. I was curious. I saw that according to jafr reckoning, on condition the tanwin is counted, the two phrases God watches over them and Tuba (blessedness) make exactly one thousand three hundred and sixty-two. If one madda is not counted, it makes two, and if it is counted, three. Coinciding exactly —at this time we are so needy for Divine preservation— with this year’s date, and with next year’s date, it consoles us with the assurance that we shall be preserved, despite an awesome assault against us which has been prepared over the last year on a grand scale and over a wide field. The Risale-i Nur’s making more brilliant conquests in ruling circles due to this episode means that its temporary arrest does not and should not cause us to despair. Also I consider The Supreme Sign’s being confiscated due to its printing to be a proclamation, attracting attention from all quarters to its shining station. I have just read the verse,
O our Sustainer! Perfect our light for us, and grant us forgiveness. (20)
The phrase grant us forgiveness makes exactly one thousand three hundred and sixty-two. It coincides exactly with this year’s date, and summons us and orders us to constantly seek forgiveness so that our light may be completed and the Risale-i Nur too not remain deficient.
In His Name, be He glorified!
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
It is my opinion that those who are not shaken by the severe ordeal of these two ‘Schools of Joseph,’ (21) the former and the present, and do not abandon its lessons, and do not give up being its students although their mouths have been burnt by the scalding soup, and whose morale is not broken despite all this aggression, will be applauded by the people of reality and coming generations; just as the angels and spirit beings applaud them. However, since among you are some who are ill, delicate, or poor, the physical distress is excessive. But thinking of the others of you consoling them and being perfect examples in patience and good conduct, and compassionate brothers offering solidarity and kind attention, and intelligent companions in discussing lessons, and mirrors reflecting fine moral qualities, thus reducing the physical hardships to nothing, my concern for you, whom I love more than my own spirit, was allayed.
One day, I shall send you Mawlana Khalid’s jubba, (22) which is one hundred and twenty years old. I invest each of you with it in his name, in the same way that he invested me with it. Whenever you want it, I shall send it.
When we first arrived, the doctor gave me a chickenpox vaccination. It formed a boil and my arm swelled up. The swelling has moved down my arm; it does not let me sleep and makes it difficult to take ablutions. I wonder if I can’t take vaccinations, or if it has some other meaning! Twenty years ago they vaccinated me in Ankara, and it still suppurates from time to time and causes me pain. I thought of this and hoped the new one would not be the same; how are yours?
S a i d N u r s i
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
One reason for the justice of Divine Determining driving us to the Denizli School of Joseph is both its prisoners, and its people, and perhaps also its officials and judiciary being in greater need of the Risale-i Nur and its students than people anywhere else. It is because of this that we have been put to this arduous test, with a task pertaining to belief and the hereafter. Only one or two prisoners out of twenty to thirty performed the obligatory prayers as they should be performed; but following the Risale-i Nur students, forty to fifty without exception have begun to perform them perfectly; this is such instruction and guidance through the tongue of disposition and action, that it reduces to nothing the distress and hardship; indeed, it makes one love it. We hope from Divine mercy and grace that just as the students have taught this through their actions, so through the powerful true belief in their hearts, they will become like a fortress of steel, delivering the believers from the doubts and suspicions of the people of misguidance.
The worldly here preventing us from speaking and having contact causes no harm. The tongue of disposition is more powerful and effective than verbal speech. Since imprisonment is for training and education, if they love the nation, they should allow the prisoners to meet with the Risale-i Nur students so that in one month or even a day, they may receive more training and education than they would otherwise receive in a year, and may all become persons beneficial both to the nation and country, and useful for their own futures and their lives in the hereafter. It would have been very useful if we had had A Guide For Youth here. God willing, it will be brought in.
S a i d N u r s i
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
Today I recalled the conversation between my elder brother, Molla Abdullah, and Hazret-i Ziyaeddin, which you know about. Then I thought of you and said to myself: if the Unseen was to be revealed, if each of these sincerely religious and earnest Muslims who display such constancy in these inconstant times, not being shaken by these tortuous, testing circumstances, were to appear to be saints or even spiritual poles, the importance they have in my view, and my concern for them, would increase very little; or if they were to appear to be commonplace and ordinary, the value I attach to them would in no way diminish. For the task of saving belief under such extremely severe conditions is of greater worth than everything. In such stormy, unstable conditions, the virtues afforded by personal ranks and the good opinions of others dissolve when those good opinions are destroyed, and their love lessens. The one possessing the virtues then feels himself obliged to adopt artificial manners, empty formalities, and a burdensome dignity in order to preserve his position in their eyes. Endless thanks be to God, we have no need for cold artificiality such as that.
S a i d N u r s i
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
I congratulate you with all my spirit, heart, and mind on your ‘ten nights,’ and beseech Divine mercy that they will bring great gains to our spiritual partnership. Last night I dreamt that I had come to you and awoke when I was about to lead the prayers as imam. When, according to my experience, the dream was going to be interpreted, two of our brothers from among the heroes of Sava and Homa arrived in the name of all you to interpret it. I was overjoyed, as though I had seen all of you.
My Brothers! Certainly, the situation has caused some officials and others to withdraw from the Risale-i Nur, and has scared them, but it has aroused the attention of, and a longing in, all opponents and religiously minded people and officials connected with the business. Do not worry, these lights shall shine out! (23)
According to Sabri’s interpretation, in conformity with the allusion of Sura Wa’l-‘Asr, the Risale-i Nur is a means of preserving Anatolia, and Isparta and Kastamonu, from heavenly and earthly calamities, like the ark on Mount Judi; they should not therefore interfere with it, or the expected disasters will shortly be visited on them. They should come to their senses. I say again what I said shortly before the disaster, and before those letters had been sent to you. According to news I have now received, Kastamonu and its surroundings and citadel are weeping as though mourning the Risale-i Nur; it has caught a fever and is shaking with earthquakes; God willing, it will be reunited with the Risale-i Nur, and will laugh again and offer thanks.
I wrote to you the other day about my two important gains. In the econd I said, offering supplications and glorifications with hundreds of tongues... till the end. Some is missing here, it should be: Each one of us, according to his degree, offers... with hundreds of tongues... and so on.
Also, a venerable elderly man from the village of Sava, to which I am very attached, was handcuffed to me and we came together; it pleased me greatly and I understood from it the village’s strong attachment to me. I send special greetings to that brother.
My Dear Brother!
The verse,
And even thus did the rejecters of God perish utterly (24)
indicates the allusion of
By the token of time through the ages, Verily man is in loss, (25)
that all the wars and destruction of the infidels have caused untold damage and loss. There is also an indication in the phrase Wa’l-‘Asr (By the token of time) which points to the date 1360 according to the Rumi calendar, in which year dissemblers and disbelievers would attack the Risale-i Nur, but they would be the losers. For the Risale-i Nur is a cause of calamities like earthquake and war abating. It may be a concealed sign that its ceasing from activity attracts disaster.
S a i d N u r s i
My Dear Brothers!
It is my guess that our final and true defence will be the short treatise that is the fruit of Denizli Prison. For the extensive plots hatched against us over the past year, originally due to unfounded suspicions, are the following: they attacked us on baseless pretexts such as founding a sufi order, establishing a secret society, being a tool of external forces, exploiting religious feelings for political ends, working against the Republic, meddling in government and breaching public security. Thanks be to Almighty God, their plans failed. Other than the truths of belief and the Qur’an, study of the hereafter, and working for everlasting bliss, they found nothing, even over such an extensive area, among hundreds of students, in hundreds of treatises, in the letters and books written over a period of eighteen years. They began to seek out anything at all to make a pretext of, in order to conceal their plots. But I think that in the face of a fearsome, covert atheistic organization which has deceived some leaders of the Government, turning them against us, possibly attacking us directly on behalf of absolute disbelief, we were made to write the treatise of The Fruits of Belief, which is as clear as the sun and dispels all doubts and is as firm and unshakeable as a mountain, as the most powerful defence against them and to silence them.
S a i d N u r s i
My Brothers!
Your place is very constricted, but the expansiveness of your hearts does not allow this to distress you; it is also relatively freer than where I am. Know that our firmest strength and support is solidarity. Beware! Do not let irritability caused by these tribulations make you find fault with one another. Complaining and blaming each other and saying “If such-and-such had not happened it would not have been like this” is the equivalent of complaining about fate and Divine Determining; do not do this. I have realized that there was no way we could have been saved from their assaults, whatever we did they would have attacked us. For the short time till Divine grace comes to our assistance, we must respond with patience and thanks, and resignation towards the Divine Decree and submission to Divine Determining, and try to gain plentiful reward and merit with few acts.
I pray for the well-being of our brothers there.
S a i d N u r s i
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
A significant solace in the face of the swift changes of this worldly life and its decline, and its fleeting, fruitless pleasures, and its blows of separation, is meeting with true friends. Yes, sometimes one travels for twenty days and spends a hundred liras to see a single friend for an hour or two. So now in these strange, friendless times, our seeing forty to fifty friends all together for one or two months and our speaking together for God’s sake and receiving and giving true consolation, make these difficulties and financial losses that have befallen us extremely cheap and unimportant. I myself would have accepted this hardship to see only one of my brothers here after having been parted from them for ten years. Complaint is criticism of Divine Determining, while thanks is submission to it.
I assure you that if the appointed hour was to come now and I was to die, I would meet it with perfect ease of heart. For I know that among you are many strong, steadfast young Said’s who will ‘own,’ ‘inherit,’ and protect the Risale-i Nur far more effectively than this wretched, elderly, ill and debilitated Said. I felt very grateful and happy at those whose names are written in Nazif’s note, who effectively strengthen morale. I had anyway guessed that they would be thus. May Almighty God give them success and make them good examples to others. Amen.
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
Since you have attached yourselves to the Risale-i Nur for the hereafter, and for good works, and worship and reward, and for belief and your lives in the hereafter, it is surely necessary to offer thanks for your being here to meet your fate and eat the sustenance appointed to you and earn reward for it. These have been determined by Divine Determining in this School of Joseph, an arena of trial in which each hour in its severe conditions is the equivalent of twenty hours’ worship. Since those twenty hours are a striving in the service of the Qur’an and belief, they have the value of a hundred hours. And those hundred hours consist of meeting with true brothers, who are striving on God’s way, each of which have the importance of a hundred people, and to pledging your brotherhood, and strengthening them and receiving strength, and consoling them and receiving consolation, and steadfastly persisting in this sacred service in true solidarity, and profiting from their fine qualities, and acquiring worthiness to be students of the Medresetü’z-Zehra. It is necessary to think of all these benefits in the face of all the hardships, and to respond to them with patient endurance.
S a i d N u r s i
My Brothers!
I sincerely hoped that resolute heroes like those of Isparta and its environs (like the Husrev’s and Hafiz Ali’s), strong as steel, would appear here from Kastamonu as well. Endless thanks be to God that that province fulfilled my hopes, sending numerous heroes to our assistance. I send greetings to all my self-sacrificing brothers who are with you, who are always present in my imagination but whose names I cannot write, and I pray for their well-being.
My Dear, Loyal, Constant, and Faithful Brothers!
I am describing some of my circumstances here, not to sadden you or to take any physical measures, but so that I might profit more from your shared prayers, and you might practise greater self-restraint, caution, patience, and forbearance, and earnestly perserve your solidarity. The torment and distress I suffer here in one day is more than I suffered in a month in Eskişehir Prison. The ghastly Masons have inflicted one of their unfeeling fellows on me so that out of anger I should lose patience in the face of their torments, and they could then use it as a pretext and make it the reason for their cruel aggression, and so conceal their lies. As a wondrous mark of Divine grace, I merely offer thanks in patience and I am resolved to continue to do so.
Since we have submitted to Divine Determining and in accordance with the meaning of “The best of matters are the most difficult,” (26) and we know these difficulties to be a Divine bounty through which we may gain greater merit; and since we have the absolutely certain conviction, at the degree of ‘absolute certainty,’ that we have dedicated our lives to a truth more brilliant than the sun, as beautiful as Paradise and sweet as eternal happiness; certainly, knowing that we are carrying out this immaterial struggle in God’s way, proudly and offering thanks, despite the distressing conditions, we should not complain.
My Dear Brothers!
My first and last advice to you is to preserve your solidarity; avoid egotism, selfishness, and rivalry, to preserve your composure, and be cautious.
S a i d N u r s i
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
It is understood from the public prosecutor’s indictment that the plans of the covert atheists who deceived some of the leaders of the Government, prompting them to move against us, have come to nothing and turned out to be false. They are now trying to conceal their lies by accusing us of forming a political society and a secret revolutionary committee, and as a result of this, they do not allow me to have contact with anyone. As though all those who have contact with us join us. High officials too are careful to avoid us, and they try to curry favour with their superiors by harassing us. I was going to add the below passage to the end of my objections, but I had an idea that did not allow me to. The passage was this:
Yes, we are a society and we are a society that every century has three hundred and fifty million (27) 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 indeed a single brotherhood, (28) 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 annihilation and everlasting solitary confinement in the Intermediate Realm. We have absolutely no connection with any worldly, political, or intriguing society or clandestine group, or the baseless, meaningless secret societies concerning which we have been charged; we do not condescend to such things.
My Dear and Loyal Brothers!
Before dawn today I felt real pity for all of you. Then I remembered the Treatise For The Sick (Hastalar Risalesi ), and it consoled me.
Yes, this calamity is a sort of social sickness. Most of the remedies connected with belief in that treatise are in this too. As I told that blessed sick person in Erzurum, the pain of all past tribulations has passed; what remains of it is its good, and its benefits that look to this world, the hereafter, belief, and the Qur’an. That means the single transitory tribulation has been transformed into numerous permanent bounties. As for the future, since it is non-existent at the present, the tribulations that will continue in it give no pain now. To suffer pain due to delusions is to lack confidence in Divine mercy and Determining.
Secondly: Most of mankind on the earth now are afflicted with calamities, physical and non-physical, and in their hearts, spirits, and minds. Compared with theirs, our calamity is both extremely light, and profitable. There are pleasures for the heart and spirit, springing from belief, good health, and well-being.
Thirdly: If we had not entered here amid these storms, due to our contact with suspicious officials, this slight calamity would have been even severer, and there would have been the calamity of having to toady to them and flatter them.
Fourthly: Seeing with very little expense true friends more compassionate than brothers, and brothers of the hereafter like spiritual guides, here in the workless, compounded physical and spiritual winter of this School of Joseph, which is a department of the Medresetü’-Zehra; and visiting them, profiting from their personal qualities, and receiving strength from their fine characteristics, which like light are diffused through transparent objects, and from their spiritual assistance, joy, and consolation; all changes the form of this calamity, making it a sort of veil to Divine grace. Yes, a subtle facet of this hidden grace is that all the Risale-i Nur students here are called “Hoja;” they are spoken of respectfully as “the hojas... the hojas.” There is a further subtle allusion in this, that just as this prison has turned into a medrese (religious school), so the Risale-i Nur students have all become teachers, and thanks to these hojas the other prisons will also all become schools, God willing.
My Brothers!
If the short letters written before to console you, like this one, are read and studied together with the last parts of The Fruits of Belief, and any matters of the Risale-i Nur that occur to you are discussed, God willing it will gain for you the honour of being ‘students of the religious sciences.’ Pre-eminent figures like Imam Shafi‘i (May his mystery be sanctified) attached the greatest importance to this, saying “the sleep even of students of the sciences is counted as worship.” If at this time of no religious schools, a hundred difficulties are suffered in these places of torment due to being such elevated students, no importance should be given to them, or else, saying “The best matters are the most difficult,” we should smile happily at those hardships. As for the families of our needy friends and their having enough to live on, in consequence of the rule of the Qur’an, belief, and the Risale-i Nur, which is to look at those worse hit by disaster than oneself and at those in greater deprivation, they are better off than eighty per cent of people. They have no right to complain; their right, their obligation, is to offer eighty degrees of thanks. Divine Determining ordained that we meet our fate here and eat the food appointed for us. The justice of Divine mercy gathered us together here; the families have been entrusted to their true Provider, relieving those brothers temporarily of their duties of supervision. Just as one day they will be relieved of them entirely and dismissed... Since the reality is this, we should say For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs, (29) and offer thanks.
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
For sure I can’t meet with you in person, but I am happy and thankful that I am close to you in the same building. It came to me involuntarily that some necessary precautions should be taken. One of these: a prisoner was sent to the ward next to mine by the Masons who is both a liar and a spy. Since destruction is easy, especially among idle youths such as those, I knew from the scoundrel’s excessive harassment of me and his corrupting the youths, that atheism is attempting to corrupt their morals in the face of our guiding and reforming them. Extreme caution is necessary in this situation, and it is absolutely essential as far as is possible not to be offended by the old prisoners nor to offend them and not to allow any disagreements, and to keep cool and put up with things, and as far as is possible for our brothers to strengthen their brotherhood and solidarity through humility and modesty and giving up egotism. It pains me to concern myself with worldly matters, so having confidence in your perceptiveness, I do not consider them so long as it is not essential.
S a i d N u r s i
My Brothers!
Against all eventualities, I have to explain a matter that was imparted to me this morning. Asking: “I wonder what atheist philosophers can say to this, and with what will they support themselves?”, for twenty years my soul and my satan have investigated whether or not the truths we have taken from the Qur’an leave any room for doubt or hesitation, and if they are as clear as daylight. They could find no fault in any nook or cranny, and fell silent. I reckon that a truth which silences my soul and devil, which are extremely sensitive and involved in the matter, will silence also even the most obdurate of them. Since we are working for the sake of and on the way of a truth which is thus unshakeable, elevated, vast, and important, and is of inestimable value, and if the whole world and a person’s life was given as its price, it would still be cheap; we should certainly respond with complete steadfastness to all the tribulations, distress, and enemies. They have also confronted us with a number of deceived or hoodwinked hojas, shaykhs, and apparently pious people. We must preserve our unity and solidarity in the face of them, and not bother with them or argue with them.
S a i d N u r s i
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
It was disclosed to me this morning before dawn that the real reason for this extensive and significant aggression against us is not the Fifth Ray, but the Hizb al-Nuri, and The Key To Belief, and Hüccetü’l-Baliga (The Eloquent Proof).1 I read part of the Hizb al-Nuri carefully, and thought of The Key To Belief, and I understood that the atheists had put forward the Fifth Ray, which has a slight connection with politics, as the apparent reason, because they could not defend their way of absolute disbelief against the blows of these two keen swords. So they deceived the Government, making it move against us. It occurred to me at the same time that if some of our weak brothers temporarily give up, they might be able to save themselves from this calamity, and I wanted to give them permission. Suddenly it was imparted to me that those who are closely concerned and have twice been put to this test and in return have suffered so much hardship, would not then give it up in a heartfelt way that was both harmful and without benefit, but might possibly apparently hold back just to deceive them. It would otherwise cause harm both to himself, and to us, and to our sacred way, and as a penalty, the person would receive a blow contrary to his intentions.
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
Certainly according to the degree of their being the cause of this imprisonment, which is more distressing and colder than other places, those who are suffering its hardships will feel inclined to escape them. But since the certain, verified belief that the Risale-i Nur —its apparent cause— gains for those who suffer these hardships, and the happy death its gains through the certain, verified belief, and the good works of a hundred men it gains through the spiritual partnership, all transform the bitter hardship into sweet mercy, then the price of these two results is unshakeable fidelity and steadfastness. To be regretful and give it up would therefore be a great loss. For those of the students who have no connection with the world, or very little, this imprisonment is preferable to freedom, and in one respect is a place of freedom. While since for those who are connected and who are well-off, the money spent becomes multiple almsgiving, and the hours spent are transformed into multiple worship, they should offer thanks rather than complaining. As for those who are impecunious and needy, their lives outside afford them merits that are without benefit and hardships for which they are responsible, while the hardships here produce many merits and much reward and entail no responsibility, and are alleviated by the solace of their companions; this demands that they offer thanks.
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
A pious person in Kastamonu said by way of complaint: “I have declined; I have lost my former spiritual state, lights, and illuminations.” I told him:
“Perhaps you have progressed so that you have left behind your illuminations and revelations, which flatter the ego, give a taste of the fruits of the hereafter while still in this world, and encourage self-centredness. By giving up egotism and not seeking fleeting pleasures and through self-abasement, you have perhaps flown to a higher station.” Yes, an important Divine bounty is not making the person who has given up his egotism perceive the bounty so that he does not become proud and conceited.
My brothers! In consequence of this truth, those who think similarly to that person or who take into account the brilliant stations that the good opinions of others give, look at you, and among you see the students who appear in the garment of humility and self-abasement and service, to be common, ordinary people, and they say: “Are these the heroes of reality who challenge the whole world? Alas! Who are these? Where are the people who are striving to perform this sacred service, before which even the saints are impotent at this time?” If they are friends, they experience disappointment, and if opponents, find their opposition justified.
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
301 In my view your prison fruits (30) are as agreeable and valuable as fruits of Paradise. They confirm the great hopes I had for you and what I had claimed, as well as demonstrating beautifully the power of solidarity. As when three or four ‘alifs’ (31) are put side by side, those blessed pens uniting while suffering severe oppression showed a value of three or four hundred. The state of mind which preserves your unity in these confused conditions proves what I said yesterday. Yes —there is no error in the comparison— just as according to the Sunnis the position of a great saint regarding service of Islam is lesser than that of a Companion of the Prophet (PBUH), so a sincere brother who forgoes the pleasures of the soul in serving belief at this time and practising humility preserves solidarity and unity, is afforded a position higher than that of a saint. This was the conclusion I came to and you confirm it constantly. May God be eternally pleased with you. Amen!
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
The Fruits of Belief is most important and very valuable. It is my hope that in time it will achieve great triumphs. It seems you have thoroughly understood its value, for you have not left this place of study without lessons. On my own account I say that if the fruit of all this trouble and expense is only this treatise and Müdâfaa Risalesi (The Defence Speeches), and being together with you in the same place, it reduces to nothing the expense and the trouble, and even if I were to suffer this calamity ten times over, it would still be cheap.
Due to many experiences and especially in this distressing, restricted prison, I have formed the firm conviction that being occupied with the Risale-i Nur, both reading it and writing it out, greatly lessens the distress and gives one a feeling of expansiveness. When I am not busy with it, the calamity doubles and I am upset by trifling things. Although I reckoned that for various reasons Husrev, Hafiz Ali and Tahiri would be suffering most, I saw that it was they and those with them who had the greatest composure and submission and ease of heart. I asked myself why. Now I have understood that they are carrying out their true duties; since they are not occupied with anything frivolous, and do not interfere in the functions of Divine Decree and Determining, and are not boastful, critical, or
1 Qur’an, 52:48. (Go back ↑)
2 See, page 478, footnote 63. (Go back ↑)
3 Qur’an, 2:216. (Go back ↑)
4 Abdülmecid (d.1967) was Bediuzzaman’s younger brother. He was a teacher of the religious sciences, then a Mufti. He translated parts of the Risale-i Nur into Arabic, and others from Arabic into Turkish. [Tr.] (Go back ↑)
5 Abdurrahman (1903-1928) was the son of Bediuzzaman’s elder brother, Abdullah. He was Bediuzzaman’s “spiritual son, student, and assistant,” and joined his uncle in Istanbul after the First World War. He published a short biography of Bediuzzaman at that time. [Tr.] (Go back ↑)
6 For ‘certain, verified belief,’ see, page 569, footnote 1. (Go back ↑)
7 Hizb al-Qur’an: A collection of Qur’anic verses, many of which form the basis of, and are expounded in, the Risale-i Nur. [Tr.] (Go back ↑)
8 Hizb al-Nuri: A long supplication. See also, page 501 footnote 78. [Tr.] (Go back ↑)
9 A qasida written in Syriac and Arabic, which is attributed to ‘Ali b. Abi Talib. [Tr.] (Go back ↑)
10 Qur’an, 2:286. (Go back ↑)
11 Qur’an, 52:49. (Go back ↑)
12 Qur’an, 52:49 (Go back ↑)
13 The eve of the Feast of Sacrifices (‘Id al-Adha). [Tr.] (Go back ↑)
14 Sava or Sav: A village close to the town of Isparta and some 50 k. from Barla, the village where Bediuzzaman was exiled between 1926-1934. All the inhabitants of Sav, young and old, men and women, voluntarily assisted in the writing out and dissemination of the Risale-i Nur. (Go back ↑)
15 Sava or Sav: A village close to the town of Isparta and some 50 k. from Barla, the village where Bediuzzaman was exiled between 1926-1934. All the inhabitants of Sav, young and old, men and women, voluntarily assisted in the writing out and dissemination of the Risale-i Nur. (Go back ↑)
16 Qur’an, 22:38. (Go back ↑)
17 Qur’an, 57:12. (Go back ↑)
18 Qur’an, 42:6. (Go back ↑)
19 Qur’an, 13:29. (Go back ↑)
20 Qur’an, 66:8. (Go back ↑)
21 That is, the prisons of Eskishehir (1935-6) and Denizli (1943-4). [Tr.] (Go back ↑)
22 Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi (1193/1779-1242/1826-7). One of the most brilliant scholars of his age, who was known as the ‘Regenerator’ (Mujaddid) of his age. His ‘jubba’ or gown was given to Bediuzzaman in Kastamonu around 1940 by Asiye Hanim, the descendant of one of his ‘khalifas.’ [Tr.] (Go back ↑)
23 Brother, please note! In Denizli Prison, when everything was apparently against him, and the prosecution was even seeking his execution, Üstad said: “Don’t worry, my brothers. These Lights shall shine out.” See how his words have turned out to be true! (Go back ↑)
24 Qur’an, 40:85. (Go back ↑)
25 Qur’an, 103:1-2. (Go back ↑)
26 al-‘Ajluni, Kashf al-Khafa, i, 155. (Go back ↑)
27 Now one and a half thousand million. [Tr.] (Go back ↑)
28 Qur’an, 49:10. (Go back ↑)
29 Qur’an, 3:173. (Go back ↑)
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