My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
I was indeed happy at your letters, this time cheerful, about the Risale‑i Nur's being unrestricted and spreading by means of the printing press; nevertheless, heroic Tahirî's coming here to work at this important matter caused me to look to the world. I said to myself: “Since my brothers want this so much, we'll search for a solution.” Then at night, it occurred to my heart that for two significant reasons divine providence does not permit its complete freedom and its being printed in the old letters in its entirety.
The First Reason: As Imam 'Ali (May God be pleased with him) indicated, it is a valuable act of worship for eager people to spread the lights of belief secretly by writing out copies with their own pens and to get others to write; it is like performing jihad with ink, which in the next world will weigh equally to the blood of martyrs. If the works are printed, those people will not strive with the same eagerness and they will miss out on performing the service of disseminating those works.
The Second Reason: An essential duty of the Risale‑i Nur is preserving the Arabic alphabet, which is the script of the vast majority of the Islamic world; if it is printed and published, its treatises will be mostly printed in the new letters, which is all most people know now. This will constitute a fatwa for the reproduction of the Risale-i Nur in the new letters and cause its students to prefer the easier script, For this reason, until now it has not been left completely free, although it deserves it and is worthy of it. Thanks be to God, it has won its freedom through the power of its truths. Even, although it is prohibited to print in the old letters, it had Âyetü'l- Kübrâ (The Supreme Sign) handed over to us, and displayed a mighty instance of wonder-working.
Now, I have sent The Fruits of Belief and The Conclusive Proof (Hüccetü'l‑Bâliğa) to Istanbul with Tahirî to print in the new letters, for they are both very important and necessary for everyone. Only, I did not have time to correct the Tenth and Eleventh Topics so gave them to him without doing so. If it is to be printed, you correct those two topics fully and return them to him.
Both treatises must also be printed in the old letters either at home or abroad, openly or secretly, or in Istanbul or elsewhere.
We also need to try to have printed in the old letters in a single volume as far as means allow, The Miracles of the Qur'an (Mu'cizat‑ı Kur'aniye) and its appendices and The Miracles of Muhammad UWBP (Mu'cizat-ı Ahmediye) and its appendices, either in Istanbul or elsewhere. This should be preliminary to printing Hizbu'n-Nuriye and Hizbu'l-Kur'an in the old letters so as to preserve the visible miracle of the coincidences (tevâfuk) in the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition. It is imperative that this sacred matter be undertaken with caution, deliberation, and mutual consultation.
I pray for the peace and well‑being of each and every one of my brothers, and offer endless thanks to Almighty God that Kâtib Osman and Halil İbrahim, two of the oldest students, persist unshaken and unchanging in their steadfast loyalty, providing a fine example for many others‥