The Sixteenth Flash
In His Name, be He glorified!
And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.(17:44)
Peace be upon you, and God’s mercy and blessings!
My Dear and Loyal Brothers Hoja Sabri, Hâf›z ‘Ali, Mes’ud, the Mustafa’s, Husrev, Re’fet, Bekir Bey, Rüştü, the Lütfi’s, Hâfız Ahmed, Shaykh Mustafa, and the others! It occurred to my heart to explain to you in concise informative fashion four small matters that have been the subject of curiosity and questions.
THE FIRST
Certain of our brothers like Çaprazzâde Abdullah Efendi had heard related from the diviners of realities that this last Ramadan a relief from difficulties, a victory, would occur for the Sunnis, whereas it did not occur. Why do such people of sainthood and illumination make predictions that are contrary to reality? They asked me, and a summary of the reply I gave them, with which I was inspired, is this:
It says in a Hadith: “Sometimes a calamity is visited on a person, but if it meets with almsgiving, it is repelled.”1 The underlying meaning of this Hadith shows that while appointed events are going to come to pass under certain conditions, they do not occur. That is to say, the appointed events of which the people of illumination are aware are not absolute, but restricted by certain conditions; if the conditions are not fulfilled, the event does not occur. However the event, like the appointed hour of death, which is suspended, is written and determined in the Tablet of Appearance and Dissolution,2 which is a sort of notebook of the Pre-Eternal Tablet. It is only
al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, i, 492; al-‘Ajluni, Kashf al-Khafa’, ii, 30; Tirmidhi, Zakat, 28; Tabarani, al-Mu‘jam al-Kabir, viii, 261; al-Bayhaqi, Shu‘ab al-Iman, iii, 245.
See, al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim, xvi, 114; Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari, x, 415-6.