To Afyon Criminal Court
The prosecution wants to have me punished for belonging to the society of Nurjus and inciting the people against the government.
Firstly: There is no society called the Nurju Society, and I belong to no such society. I am a member of the sacred, divine society of Islam, which every century for one thousand three hundred and fifty years has had three hundred million members, was founded by Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace), the Glory of the Universe, and is vast and luminous and promises eternal happiness for all humankind. All thanks be to Allah, I am determined to obey its sacred injunctions with all my strength.
As for the Risale‑i Nur, my being a student of it is considered to be a crime, but it is a miracle of the Qur’an that teaches me my religious duties and those related to belief and that Islam is the highest and most sacred religion and the sole means of happiness for humanity. It proves with brilliant evidences that the Qur’an is a decree of the All‑Glorious One, Who is the Owner of all beings, is all-present and all-seeing everywhere, and under whose pre-eternal administration are all beings from minute particles to the stars and suns; it is a miraculous work whose view encompasses pre-eternity and post-eternity and all events; it is the pre-eternal address of an Everlasting Sun which is superior to all other books and miraculous in forty aspects, and which by giving mankind the good news of eternal happiness, is the object of their eternal gratitude. It proves too that Allah the Most High’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) was sent by the Creator of the Universe, and that with all his conduct and practices was the most perfect, the most loyal, the highest of all men, whose perfections were the most elevated, and through the light of Islam that he brought, gave the best of all news to men, and gave them the most sacred consolation, and who has taken under his spiritual rule fourteen centuries and one fifth of mankind, and to the book of whose good deeds pass the equivalent of all the good deeds performed for one thousand three hundred years by his community, and that he is the reason for the universe’s existence and is Allah’s Beloved. It proves also with brilliant proofs that both the hereafter, and Paradise and Hell are certain and definite.
With its words and sentences, the Risale‑i Nur testifies that it is a pre‑eternal and post-eternal light proceeding from the light of the Qur’an and the light of Muhammad (UWBP). In respect of its belonging to the Qur’an and being a special commentary on it, it pertains to the heavens and the divine throne.
Thus, with all its Words, all its Flashes and Rays, and all its Letters, the Risale‑i Nur, which is supposed to be inciting the people against the government, teaches the divine truths, and principles of Islam, and mysteries of the Qur’an.
Is it a crime, then, to read the Risale‑i Nur, which is thus elevated and worthy of veneration, and teaches good morality and virtue and the truths of belief, and to copy out its parts, which bestow eternal happiness, or to serve it so that believers may profit from it with respect to their belief? Is that inciting the people against the government?
And to visit the author of such a blessed and sublime work, a monument of light who is decked out with the highest degree of belief, laudable morals, and virtue and is at the very summit of human perfections, and to be brothers on the way of the Qur’an and belief with the Risale‑i Nur students, who with their good works, veracity, and unshakeable belief this century, have defended the honour of Islam and truths of the Qur’an, and upheld them, and who have no aim other than winning Allah the Most High’s pleasure – is to do these things to found a political society? Which equitable, unsullied conscience could inflict a punishment for these?
Judges of the Court!
The Risale‑i Nur’s veracity has been affirmed by the most advanced scholars, and with its gaining for its readers the highest level of belief and greatest love of Islam, there is no doubt that all its Words, and its Flashes and Rays are luminous commentaries on the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition. They are all brilliant suns which dispel spiritual sicknesses and darkness.
As is testified to by his pure and upright life, our Master has passed his life on the way of belief and the Qur’an, and enduring every sort of difficulty and distress, has by disseminating the truths of the Qur’an worked to save the sons of this blessed nation in particular from the awesome attacks of communism and every sort of irreligion, and was charged with the sacred duty of writing the Risale‑i Nur at this time.
He does not instruct us (Allah forbid!) in immorality and spoliation. He teaches us the saving of belief, the highest cause and most momentous question in the world of humanity. It is most certainly a divine favour that for twenty‑five to thirty years he has striven with the Risale‑i Nur to save the religious belief of hundreds of thousands of believers, especially by teaching belief, the greatest happiness in life and its most important purpose, to unfortunates like myself who knew nothing of Islam. We say the following to those who in a way diametrically opposed to reality, consider him to be harmful for the life of society and deny his sacred service of belief and work for religion:
If it is a crime to adhere to Allah the Most High, and obeying the injunctions of religion, save people from terrible calamities such as immorality and being without religious belief, and to make them happy with the permanent happiness of Islam, then he may be said to be harmful to society. It is otherwise the greatest calumny and an unforgiveable crime.
The Risale‑i Nur’s aim is not this world, it is the never‑ending happiness of the hereafter and the pleasure of the Eternal Enduring One, the Compassionate One of Beauty, one shadow of the manifestation of Whose beauty is all the beauty and good in this world, and one flash of whose love is Paradise together with all of its subtle wonders. Having a thus divine, sacred, and truly elevated aim, a thousand times over I declare the Risale‑i Nur to be free of all transitory things such as inciting the people against the government. And we seek refuge with Allah from the evil of those who with slander of this sort try to crush us and prevent us from working for belief or from learning about religion.
Judges of the Court!
As is indicated by thirty‑three verses of the Qur’an, and pointed out by Imam ‘Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) and Gawth al-A‘zam (May Allah be pleased with him) and hundreds of investigative scholars, the Risale‑i Nur is a light of the Qur’an those who adhere to which will save their belief, Allah willing. It most definitely cannot be extinguished or be lost. For example, the attacks made on it these last twenty‑five years with the intention of eliminating it, have been the cause of its spreading and shining out in extraordinary fashion. For its Owner is the All-Glorious Monarch in Whose power and under Whose command is everything from pre-eternity to post-eternity. For its truths are the Qur’an’s truths, and through His protection and grace, Allah the Most High will always make it shine out, Allah willing.
Judges of the Court!
If it is a crime to read and write out the Risale‑i Nur – which teaches belief and Islam with the highest love and fervour, and recognizes no aim or purpose other than divine pleasure, and is certainly a supreme miracle of the Qur’an this age and a luminous commentary on it – and to give its treatises, which teach the truths of belief, to one’s believing brother; and if the bonds of religion and Islamic brotherhood, which are enjoined by religion, and the sacred, divine fraternity of uniting on the way of the Qur’an and belief for love of Allah the Most High constitute a political society, for me to belong to such a society is the greatest good fortune, and is a happiness greater than that afforded by any favour or award. Endless thanks be to Allah the Most High, Who bestowed on a wretch like myself the great favour of being a Risale‑i Nur student, which gains such happiness and good fortune for a person. My last word is: For us Allah suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs. Allah suffices me, there is no god but He; in Him do I place my trust – He the Sustainer of the Throne [of Glory] Supreme!
Mustafa Sungur,Teacher
[Mustafa Sungur’s Supplement for the Court of Appeal]
1. The Criminal Court: My reading the Risale‑i Nur and writing it out and giving a part of it to a needy believing brother so that he might benefit from it was called “inciting the people against the government,” and deemed an offence. However, in my written objections to this charge I said:
the Risale‑i Nur, which is supposed to incite the people against the government, is a true Qur’anic commentary. With all its parts it teaches the truths of belief, and bestows the greatest happiness on those who read and write it. Its aim is not anything transitory such as inciting the people against the government, the way of disruptive, immoral layabouts; it is divine pleasure, the most perfect of all happiness and good fortune. I am proud to read and write out the Risale‑i Nur, which has gained for me the highest virtue and belief, the sweetest bounty, so that I am its luckiest student and most powerless servant.
Although I said that I knew to be its student was a supreme divine gift, and that I constantly thank my Sustainer Who granted this vast bounty to a wretch like myself who was not worthy of it, without basing it on any law or evidence, my adherence to belief and Islam was deemed a crime, and entirely contrary to truth and right I was punished.
2. While studying in Kastamonu Gölköy Institute, I myself witnessed the irreligion taught us by some teachers. They said, Allah forbid, that the Prophet Muhammad (UWBP) had written the Qur’an, Islam was now abrogated, civilization had advanced, and that it was a great error and backwardness to follow the Qur’an this century. One day even, a teacher said that because Muslims performed the obligatory prayers and thought of the hereafter, they suffered constant distress and passed their lives unhappily; and that in the mosques of Islam there was a deathly atmosphere, while the Christian churches were always happy and full of life, and that with their musical instruments and other amusements, they enjoyed life and passed their time happily. They tried to break the bonds with Islam and belief in our hearts, and instil denial and disbelief in their place.
Then if by reading several treatises from a peerless light of the Qur’an like the Risale‑i Nur – which pours out from the Qur’an’s effulgence, and proves with brilliant evidences and arguments the truths of belief and Islam, and that the religion of Islam is a never‑dying inextinguishable sun and means whereby humanity may attain happiness and well-being – a wretch in whom had been instilled the above poisonous ideas and whose spirituality they had wanted to kill with their noxious irreligious lessons, and had even been carried away by them and (Allah forbid) believing in those ideas had begun to disseminate them – if he had come to believe in the Qur’an, would not his offering the endless joy and happiness he felt to the compassionate, loyal, and true hero Ustad Bediuzzaman, who had gained these for him through the blessed Risale‑i Nur he had written; would not his telling the revered Master, who had been charged with the burdensome duty of writing the Risale‑i Nur, how it had saved him from his former life of heedlessness and misguidance, leading him to belief and light, and how it was a sun of guidance and means of happiness for all humanity, and a divine favour for all men and particularly for believers; and would not his calling “the destruction and corruption of a covert organization of the Sufyan,” those who with their terrible aggressive assaults on the Qur’an and Islam, as described above, were urging the sons of this heroic Muslim nation to embrace irreligion, and trying to raze the sacred, divine foundations of Islam, to whom millions of people are bound and destroy their eternal happiness and feeling compounded regret and disgust at the lunatics who applaud them and their base, aggressive, tyrannical destruction; and would not his saying to his former fellow students, who had fallen into doubt concerning their faith: “Come, let’s give up following the lusts and whims of our souls; let’s bow before the truths of the Qur’an and hurry to the Risale‑i Nur medrese, the guide to happiness this century. Let’s leave those lying scoundrels whom we have been applauding for months or years and reject the falsehoods they showed to be the truth, and attach ourselves to Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s teachings and take them as our master. Let’s turn our backs on the darkness and embrace the light;” would not these all arise from the joy he found in his belief and his love of the Qur’an and Islam, and from his adherence to them, and his devotion to his nation, and his desiring everyone to acquire true, realized belief and attain infinite happiness?
Is it a crime to attach oneself to Allah the Most High and proclaim that Islam is the loftiest religion and the bringer of virtue and happiness? At a time when with lies and slander, from every side there are overwhelming attacks on the Qur’an and Islam, and attempts are being made to refute the Qur’an and Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace), which are extremely elevated, sacred, and precious, yet books which spread irreligion and atheism and rebellious, transient, worthless wretches who attack Islam are held in respect and innovations and the unlawful are applauded – at such a time is it a crime to believe and proclaim the sacredness and loftiness of the Risale‑i Nur and that as a miracle of the Qur’an it is a divine light and dominical gift which explains and proves decisively and clearly the elevatedness, veracity, and sacredness of the Qur’an and Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace); and both Allah’s existence and that the universe with all its beings and all its members and systems testifies to its Creator’s necessary existence and unity; and because he possesses reason and can think and is the most comprehensive mirror of the divine names man is a sort of monarch over all other creatures; and that if he has a relationship with Allah (May His glory be exalted!) through worship and belief and preserves himself against misguidance and vice and grievous sins, he becomes worthy of rising to the highest of the high, superior to all beings, and an esteemed guest who will be forever happy in Paradise, but if he denies his Creator through associating partners with Him and rebellion, or through heedlessness and misguidance, he falls lower than an animal, descending to the lowest of the low, coming to deserve everlasting Hell and unending torment and torture; and that the Qur’an is the true Word of Allah, which is constant, and that its injunctions and commands do not, and cannot, change; and that mankind’s true and permanent happiness is possible only through following the Qur’an’s commands and adhering to them?
It is not considered a crime to read novels and stories, written against Islam for five or ten minutes’ illicit pleasure, or to publish books extremely dangerous and harmful for the country and nation, and to praise and recommend them, so can it be deemed a crime if we read and write out the Risale‑i Nur, which describes the Sun of Islam – which hundreds of millions of people have followed and in which they have found true happiness – or enumerate its elevated characteristics, which we lack the ability to praise?
Can anyone who has an atom of belief in his heart and desires the well‑being of the country and nation consider the above to be crimes?
Respected Judges of the Appeal Court!
This case presented in your elevated presence is directly the case of belief and the Qur’an. It is the case of the eternal happiness and salvation of millions of people. Concerned with this case in effect are foremost Allah the Most High’s Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) and all the prophets (Peace be upon them), and all the saints and innumerable people of reality and believers, as well as all our forefathers who have departed for the eternal realm. You may now win the love and good will, the prayers and intercession, of those millions of the people of reality. The elevated reality called the Risale‑i Nur is before you. Is its aim the lowly, transient ranks and positions of this world, or to win Allah’s pleasure, the greatest happiness, the purest joy, and highest good fortune? And does it encourage people to be immoral, or does it deck them out with belief and the highest morality and virtue?
Before you is the Risale‑i Nur, which pours out from The Miraculousness of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition and is a divine light. Since the greatest case facing people, more important than anything, is to win belief in order to be able to depart from this world for the realm of eternal happiness; and since through the effulgence of the Qur’an, the Risale‑i Nur teaches the truths of belief, and as is testified to by hundreds of thousands of people who have read it and written it out, and as indicated by numerous Qur’anic verses and Hadiths of the Prophet (UWBP), and Imam ‘Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) and many saints like Gawth al‑A‘zam (May Allah be pleased with him), it has definitely won that case;
certainly and without doubt, by virtue of your elevated love of truth and justice, above every sort of transient anxiety, you will understand and appreciate the Risale‑i Nur’s veracious, Qur’anic face and its true value, and that its students pursue no aim other than Allah’s pleasure.
Judges of the Appeal Court!
With his high morality, virtue and compassion our esteemed and elevated Master, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, strives to save people from the dense darkness of false ideas and eternal solitary confinement, and enduring the severest distress and torments has risen to the highest degree of perfection at this time being charged by Allah the Most High with the sacred duty of publishing the truths of the Qur’an, yet entirely contrarily to all truth and justice, he is cast into prison. Elderly, ill, and with no one, practising his beliefs and worship in most elevated fashion, possessing the most brilliant intelligence and learning, and having no aim other than saving the belief of people, the terrible suffering of our Master, who is seventy‑five years old and truly loves humanity, in the intense cold of Afyon Prison, pierces the heart, causing the severest anguish. Trusting in your elevated truth-loving justice and true philanthrophy, we await the manifestation of justice’s compassion.
Mustafa Sungur