In His Name, be He glorified!
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
Someone wrote me a long letter in the new letters, but did not say who he was. He was doubtful about three points and had given them a wrong meaning, which inferred criticism, so was as though alerting us to them. Since according to our way we do not engage in dispute and argument, and since we are grateful to those who correctly point out our faults, I wanted to explain the truth concerning those three points and correct his error.
First Principle: On the wishes of some of the students, a number of Qur'anic verses which are the Risale‑i Nur's master and source and for a long time past have been an invocation of Said were written out and put together in the form of a ḥizb. It was later printed, and neither the scholars of the experts' committees appointed by four or five courts, nor the committees of the Directorate of Religious Affairs and of the Istanbul fatwa office which scrutinize religious publications, nor any religious scholar have objected to it. They rather approved of it and applauded it. For foremost the Prophet's (UWBP) Companions and Usama, who is mentioned in Majmū'āt al-Aḥzāb, had collections of Qur'anic verses (ḥizb) of which they read a portion every day. In the same book and in the same volume of Majmū'āt al‑Aḥzāb is a ḥizb of Imam al-Ghazali, and as is well-known, numerous saints (ehl-i velâyet) collated their own ḥizbs of suras and verses, suitable to their ways and outlooks.
Some of the Nur champions like the late Hâfız Ali, who died as a martyr ten years ago, wanted to collect together my personal invocations and the main verses that were the Risale‑i Nur's masters and sources. I subsequently sent them to them and they had them printed. For not everyone can always find the time to read the whole Qur'an, but if they can get hold of such a Qur'anic collection (ḥizb), they can profit from it at any time. With this idea, verses and suras were included in it that yield the greatest merits. In fact, one of the Qur'an's miracles is that all the people of reality and of perfection who have their own ways, can find in the Qur'an a Qur'an and a collection of verses and a master which is apposite for their ways. It is as though there are thousands of Qur'ans in the single Qur'an.
The inner meaning of the above miracle is this: the All‑Wise Qur'an's verses and phrases have relationships not only with those contiguous with them but with numerous other verses, phrases, and words. This profound matter has been demonstrated to an extent in the commentary Ishārāt al-I'jāz (Signs of Miraculousness), which is part of the Risale-i Nur. That is to say, the Qur'an does not resemble other speech; every one of its verses has a face and an eye that looks to thousands of other verses.
This characteristic of the Qur'an is the basis of numerous truths. Some of the followers of the Sufi paths and the people of reality have had their own particular ḥizbs from within the universal Qur'an.
The Qur'anic ḥizb of the Risale‑i Nur is one such collection. The late Hâfız Ali, who was one of the saints, wanted to print it without delay so as to disseminate it. For there was a sort of miracle of the Qur'an in the coincidences (tevâfuk) disclosed by the Risale-i Nur in a handwritten Qur'an, so they printed this ḥizb preliminary to printing that Qur'an, giving the good news of it.
Yes, for the past fifteen years we have been trying to print our Qur'an, which was written by Husrev and is quite wondrous and miraculous with respect to the coincidences. But since most of the Nurjus are not wealthy and twenty‑five thousand liras were needed to print it photographically, our Qur'anic ḥizb was printed first as a precursor, bearing the glad tidings of our miraculous Qur'an. The Directorate of Religious Affairs examined it and very much approved of it. And the scholars who scrutinize written Qur'ans in the fatwa office in Istanbul considered it to be very fine, and studying it with due attention returned it to us with the necessary corrections. God willing, it will soon be printed and will be published throughout the world of Islam as the gift of the Risale-i Nur.
The Second Matter about which that anonymous person entertained doubts:
A hundred times I have rejected the praiseworthy attributes which, far exceeding my due and owing to their inordinately good opinions of me, many Nurjus imagine in me, and I have offended them. But because for twenty‑eight years the politicians have considered the Risale-i Nur's way, which pertains only to belief and the hereafter, to be incompatible with their ideas of civilizing the population, and because they have attempted to prevent the Risale-i Nur's spread for twenty-eight years by intimidating the Nurjus with imprisonment, court cases, surveillance, and baseless accusations, and maligning my person, I have fallen into unprecedented circumstances. Semi-literate and the object of false allegations, I reject the acclaim of my person and so as not to lose the Nur students completely, tell them that it may be due to the Risale-i Nur. It is a commentary on one true aspect of the All-Wise Qur'an. And just as renewers have appeared every century who have served religion and belief to the full, so at this strange time of aggressive secret societies and the collective personalities of misguidance, a renewer is needed in the form of a collective personality. The present does not resemble former times. However wondrous an individual person is, he may be defeated in the face of a collective personality. Since there is a strong possibility that the Risale-i Nur is a sort of renewer in this respect, those attributes could not be mine; rather, as I have written repeatedly, my life may be a sort of seed of the Risale-i Nur. Through the Qur'an's emanations and divine grace, out of that seed the Risale-i Nur became a fruit-bearing, valuable tree through divine creation. I was a seed; I rotted and departed. All the value belongs to the Risale-i Nur, which is the All-Wise Qur'an's meaning and is a genuine commentary on it.
The Third Doubt of that person who neglected to make himself known: As published by Büyük Cihad and Sebilürreşad, I stated that I have not exploited the services we have performed for religion and belief and the Risale‑i Nur for world politics, or even for elevated spiritual ranks and attainments, or making it a means of winning eternal happiness and being saved from Hell, which everyone deems licit. I was compelled at this time to make it a tool of nothing save the seeking of divine pleasure and complying with the divine command, so that we might preserve the essence of true sincerity, which is the Risale-i Nur's true strength. As Abu Bakr, the supremely veracious one (May God be pleased with him), said: I beseech Almighty God that my body so expands in Hell that no room will remain for the believers and that it suffers torments in their place! So that I myself might attain an atom's worth of his holy self‑sacrifice, I said that I would agree to Hell to save, through belief, a handful of people from its fire. In any event, worship may not be performed to enter heaven or be saved from Hell; to do so invalidates it. It may only be performed as compliance with the divine command and to seek divine pleasure.
To return to discussion of our collection of Qur'anic verses:
Usama (May God be pleased with him), one of the Most Noble Prophet's (Upon whom be blessings and peace) leading commanders, compiled a collection of verses from various of the Qur'an's suras, and one day recited those about praise of God (ḥamd), one day those about seeking forgiveness, one day those about glorification of God, one day those about reliance on God, one day those about greetings of peace, one day those about the affirmation of divine unity, one day those about the phrase: “There is no god but God,” and one day about the word Lord and Sustainer (Rabb). He made this an invocation for himself. That is to say, the Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) gave his sanction to such collections (ḥizb).
Furthermore, since this ḥizb of ours has been collated of verses about the truths of belief and particularly of verses from the beginnings of suras, In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate is written at its head. The collection fires enthusiasm to read the whole Qur'an; it does not diminish it. Also, since some of the desired verses about belief that could be recited only in twenty days, may be read in this collection in one or two days, I took some of those verses as an invocation for myself together with other verses from the beginnings of some of the suras, and they only subsequently assumed the form of a ḥizb.
That anonymous person imagined to be egotism my defending the dignity of learning against some arrogant little egotists. He fancied that my being unable to completely destroy the Nur students' good opinion of me to be self‑conceit. And because, with the idea of securing the confidence of the students in my expositions of the truths of belief, I felt compelled to disclose the nearly one thousand signs and indications of the saints and of a number of verses, he supposed my explaining a part of these to my closest brother to be a form of self-advertisement.
Yes, it is a great crime and treachery at this time in our defensive position to display modesty and humility in the face of those whose egos are as swollen as the pharaoh's and who attack belief and the Risale‑i Nur on account of irreligion. Such modesty would be shameful abasement. Could it in any way be self-advertisement to display in the face of them heroic fortitude and moral strength in order to preserve religious pride and the honour of learning? Could it be fame-seeking or love of self, so that person imagined it to be thus?
Also, of those who need the Risale‑i Nur and seek it in order to strengthen their belief and to save it, three or four out of ten look not to my person but suffice with the decisive proofs of the Risale-i Nur, and five or six look to me because they do not know the value of those proofs. So is it egotism if I draw a veil over my hidden faults and do not destroy their good opinion of me, so as to prevent them from wondering whether or not I am deceiving them or saying what is true?
In accordance with the verse, Nor do I absolve my own self [of blame]: the [human] soul is certainly prone to evil ,
I do not trust my evil‑commanding soul. The soul is always faulty. But in my defence, at this time when secret atheistic societies like dragons and demons are on the attack, to dwell on the faults apparent in me that have the importance of a fly's wing means assisting in their destructive assaults. It also means depriving five or six out of ten needy people of the remedies of the Risale-i Nur. Relying not on my own strength and virtues in this matter, but solely on the truth of the Qur'an and on the truths of belief which expound it, I proclaim to the whole world that were all irreligious people to gather together, I would not shrink back from them but would challenge them. I would not bow before them, nor violate the honour of learning. Even if this was egotism, it would in no way pertain to me; it would not be egotism. It would be firm strength of belief.
Just as I deny nature in respect of creative power, and the Risale‑i Nur has proved this decisively; so I deny the holding of power that drives men to pride, egotism, and arrogance. Human beings possess only an insignificant acquisition (kesb) due to genuine need, which is a sort of active prayer and sort of acceptable supplication. Almighty God accepts this. That He bestows the wonders called discoveries which are necessary for humanity has been proved by the scholars of the science of the principles of religion in their discussions of divine determining and human choice (kader ve cüz'-i ihtiyarî). Similarly, because I have become absolutely certain through the effulgence of the Qur'an and proofs of the Risale-i Nur that the sense of self and power in firstly myself and then in others is only a veil for divine creativity, bestowal, and assistance, I have proclaimed to my brothers and the Risale-i Nur that I was merely a seed; I rotted, and in consequence of powerlessness, need, sincere seeking, and active prayer, the Most Merciful of the Merciful created the Risale-i Nur from that seed, and bestowed it. All the sections in the Letters of the Risale-i Nur describing the reasons for praise pertain to that illuminating tree. My share in it could in no way be pride; it could be thanks and thanks alone. So, All thanks be to God! All praise be to God to the number of beings in existence!
The Enduring One, He is the Enduring One!Saîd Nursî