My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
According to The Hidden Indications of the Ghawth al‑A'zam and Imam 'Ali (İşârât-ı Gaybiye-i Gavsiye ve Aleviye), that the writing of the Risale-i Nur will be completed in '64. This means that after that date only explanations, appendices, and glosses will be written. In this connection, and by way of a reminder, two points occurred to my heart.
The First: The Risale‑i Nur will have students conformably with contemporary conditions and the nature of things, and foremost innocent children. For if a child is not taught the questions of belief thoroughly when small, in later years he can only assimilate the pillars of Islam and belief in his spirit with the greatest difficulty. Quite simply, it is as difficult as a non-Muslim accepting Islam, for its seems alien. It is even stranger for him if he observes that his parents are not religious and his mind is educated only with the secular sciences. The child is then contemptuous of his parents in this world and is a sort of tribulation for them, longing for them to die. And in the next world, he will be a plaintiff against them, rather than an intercessor, saying: “Why didn't you give me Islamic training and save my belief?”
In consequence, the most fortunate children are those who enter the fold of the Risale‑i Nur, and serving and honouring their parents with good works, have merits written in their parents' records of good deeds and become intercessors for them according to their degree.
The Second Group of Risale‑i Nur Students are women, who by nature need the Risale‑i Nur since they may have shied away from the world or felt vexed with it. Especially if they are getting old, the Risale-i Nur may offer them true spiritual sustenance. For one of its four principles is compassion, which proceeds from the manifestation of the divine name of Most Compassionate (Rahîm), and compassion is the most essential quality of women and the leaven of their natural duties.
The Third Group are the sick and the elderly, for even if not an innate need but due to their situations, they need the Risale‑i Nur as they do medicine and sustenance. For it makes known eternal life as clearly as the sun as well as the transitory nature of worldly life, and those of them whose worldly lives have been stricken by illness or old age imagine out of their heedlessness or misguidance that death is the end. They are thus truly in need of the Risale-i Nur and receive such consolation and light from it that it makes them prefer illness and old age to health and youth.
The Second Point That Was Advised: Since we are now in [1364] according to the Arabic [Hijri] calendar, according that sign from the Unseen, the Risale‑i Nur is now complete. If it refers to the Rumi calendar, we have two more years. Important places remain in the Risale-i Nur to be filled by treatises that have not yet been written or have been postponed. For instance, the places of the Thirtieth Letter, the Thirty-Second Letter, and the Thirty-Second Flash are all empty. It was inspired in my heart that the Arabic Qur'anic commentary, Signs of Miraculousness (Ishārāt al-I'jāz), which has been printed and was the Old Said's chief work and the first part of the Risale-i Nur, should be the Thirtieth Letter, and so it is. It occurred to me that Lemeât, which was the Old Said's last work and was written in twenty days during Ramadan, should be the Thirty-Second Flash; and that the sizeable Arabic collection comprising Katre, Habbe, Şemme, Zerre, Hubab, Zühre, Şu'le and their appendices, which were the first works of the New Said and were inspired in his heart from reality (hakikat) at the degree of witnessing (şuhûd), should be the Thirty-Third Flash.
It also occurred to me that The Fruits of Belief should be the Eleventh Ray, and the Denizli defence speeches, the Twelfth Ray, and the collection of short letters, the Thirteenth Ray. I refer these to my brothers for their consideration. This means that for some positions the door is still open and we may be made to write better supplements.
I send greetings to each and every one of my brothers. I see myself and my brothers in Kastamonu and its environs as being always together, as we used to be. They should not worry; the Risale‑i Nur never ceases from activity, and hidden from sight, it wins many victories. Our difficulties attract greater attention to its lessons and it has itself read in wider circles, Therefore our two brothers, father and son, who are so hard-working, especially the father, should feel proud at all the hardships they suffer and should not be upset at the temporary arrest from activity. In my view and our view, they retain their former positions in every respect.
We said above that children are the natural students of the Risale‑i Nur. An example of this is Ceylan, who is writing this letter in the new alphabet as I dictate because I am unable to write it myself since I am unwell. Another is the innocent Küçük Ali, who wrote him a letter; and another is the young Nur School (Medrese-i Nuriye) student Küçük Mehmed, who this time wrote me an excellent and careful letter. I call them blessed, fortunate children and congratulate their parents‥