In His Name, be He glorified! Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, for ever and ever!
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
Firstly: Owing to numerous signs and a number of incidents it is now certain that the enemies of the Risale‑i Nur and of the Nur students have devised numerous plans in order to induce the some of the select students to give up their service of the Risale-i Nur or to weaken their resolve by discovering some of their weak veins of character, We shall describe one or two of them as a warning lesson.
First Example: So as to turn the attention and thought of a few of our select brothers who are unshakeably attached to the Risale‑i Nur in another direction, or to occupy them with a pleasurable, spiritual way and impair their devotion to their duties in serving belief, some people are preoccupying these brothers with phenomena like communicating with the dead and with jinns, which is known as spiritualism, and even conversing with the great saints and even prophets, which formerly was the realm of the soothsayers (kâhin), who are now known as mediums.
This phenomenon proceeds from philosophy and from Europe, and can be extremely harmful to the believers. It is open to exploitation of many sorts, and if it contains one truth, this is mixed with ten falsehoods. For since there is no touchstone, no criterion, to differentiate between truth and falsehood, the jinns which assist evil spirits and Satan may possibly cause harm both to the hearts of those who busy themselves with it, and to Islam. For there are disclosures which they call spiritual matters but which are contrary to the truths of Islam and general beliefs. Evil spirits present themselves as good spirits or even as great saints and may attempt to cause harm to the basic principles of Islam by saying things opposed to them. They may twist the truth and deceive ingenuous people completely.
For instance, the sun appears in a fragment of glass with its light, heat, and shape. But if the tiny image of the sun in the fragment were to speak and say: "My light floods the whole world, my heat warms everything!' And if it were to say that it was a million times larger than the globe of the earth, it would be understood just how contrary to the truth it was.
In exactly the same way, while a prophet resides in his true station which is like the sun, the appearance of a manifestation of it that accords with the fragment‑like capacity of a spiritualist or medium cannot speak in the name of that reality. If he does, it would be contrary to it a hundred times over. The insignificant manifestation reflected in spiritualism or mediumship can in no way be compared with the sacred nature of the non-material Sun that is the recipient of revelation. For a fragment of glass at the lowest of the low cannot be brought side by side with the reality of that non-material sun at the highest of the high, To attempt to do so is utter disrespect. Only, drawing close to the station of prophethood by progressing through spiritual journeying, some of the saints like Jalal al-Dīn al-Suyuti were graced with the Sun's conversation. But as is proved in the Risale-i Nur, such progress, a sort of conversation through the sainthood of the Prophet (UWBP), occurs in accordance with the saints' degrees and their capacities. The reality of prophethood is far higher than sainthood; the communications and conversation experienced by means of spiritualism or spiritual advancement, can in no way approach communication with true prophets and so cannot be a basis of new rulings of the Shari'a.
The calling up of spirits does not come from religion but from the sensitivity of philosophy, and is an action that is opposed both to truth, and to good conduct. It is a grievous insult and lack of respect to attract those at sacred stations at the highest of the high to the Ouija boards, the seat of lies, at the lowest of the low. It is just like summoning the king to a hovel. What is pure truth, decency, respect, and benefit is such persons as Jalal al‑Dīn al-Suyuti, Jalal al-Dīn Rumi, and Imam Rabbani rising through their spiritual journeyings like the journeyings of spirit beings, and their drawing close to those holy prophets and profiting from them.
Evil spirits and Satan cannot assume the form of prophets in true dreams. But when spirits are called up, evil spirits may say that they are prophets and may speak in a way that is contrary to the Prophet's (UWBP) Sunna and the Shari'a's injunctions. If what they say is contrary to them, it is clear evidence that the ones speaking are not good spirits. They are not believing and Muslim jinns; they are evil spirits, and imitate them in this
Secondly: The Nur students are not now in need of instruction in such matters. The Risale‑i Nur explains the truth about everything and leaves no need for other expositions. The Risale-i Nur is enough for them. It is, however, imperative that people other than the Nur students do not heed the suggestions in those communications that are contrary to the Shari'a and Prophet's (UWBP) Sunna. For to do so may lead to serious errors.
A Warning: The fierce warnings in this letter against communicating with spirits, are against an approach that purports to be spiritual, and has appeared from the West, and from philosophy, spiritualism, and mesmerism. The criticism is not of the Sufism of a very few Sufis which proceeds from Islam and tasawwuf and other followers of the Sufi path, and resembles somewhat the communication with spirits, and has been exploited to some extent with the interference of the outsiders. It is true that they can harm others in some ways, but they do not deceive like the others and they harbour no intentions of harming Islam. As for that approach of foreign provenance, it is opposed to both Islam and the Sufi paths, and it attempts to obstruct the way of the Sufis mentioned here, and devalue it, Those Sufis who are weak and do not adhere to the Sunna should be careful not to allow themselves to resemble them.
Saîd Nursî