The Letter of Scribing

The Letter of Scribing

A special letter intended for a group of my brothers

To the brothers of mine who are growing weary of writing The Book of Light, and who during the Three Months - the months of worship - prefer reciting their other devotional litanies (awrād) to writing and copying out The Book of Light, which is counted as worship from five different perspectives, (Footnote) I will now mention a single subtle point related to two noble hadiths.

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Footnote: We requested that our Master explain the five types of worship that he alluded to in this valuable letter. The explanation we received is the following:

1. The spiritual struggle against the people of misguidance, which is the most important of struggles.

2. Serving one's Master by assisting him in the spreading of the spiritual realities.

3. Serving the Muslims in that which relates to their faith.

4. Acquiring knowledge by the pen.

5. Engaging in contemplative worship, an hour of which can at times be the equivalent of a year's [voluntary] worship. Rüşdü - Hüsrev - Re’fet

The first of them: يُوزَنُ مِدَادُ الْعُلَمَٓاءِ بِدِمَآءِ الشُّهَدَٓاءِ or a wording close to it. That is, The ink expended by the scholars of the truth will on the Day of Resurrection be weighed by the measure of the blood of the martyrs, and be on a par therewith. (1)

The second of them: مَنْ تَمَسَّكَ بِسُنَّت۪ي عِنْدَ فَسَادِ اُمَّت۪ي فَلَهُٓ اَجْرُ مِائَةِ شَه۪يدٍ or a wording close to it. That is, He who holds fast to my sunnah when my Community has become corrupted shall have the reward of a hundred martyrs. (2)

That is, winning the reward of one hundred martyrs is possible for the one who holds fast to the Exalted Sunnah and to the truth of the Qur'an and serves both in a time of the overwhelming takeover of [currents] of innovation and misguidance.

O brothers of mine, then, who because of laziness grow weary of writing and copying out, and those who have Sufi inclinations! These two hadiths together explain that a penny's weight of the black light flowing from the blessed, sincere pens that serve the truths of faith and the secrets of the Sacred Law and the Exalted Sunna, and a penny’s weight of the ink, which resembles life-giving water, in a time like this, can on the Day of Resurrection benefit you like the weight of one hundred pennies of the blood of martyrs - strive then to acquire it!

Should you say: 'the word mentioned in the hadith is "scholar," whereas some of us are mere writers and copyists.'

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1. (See Kanz al-‘Ummāl, 28901)

2. (See al-Targhīb wa al-Tarhīb, 1:61) 

The answer is: Whoever reads the entirety of these epistles and lessons with comprehension and approval within a single year, can be an important, true scholar [of the realities of true faith] of this time. And should he not comprehend: It being so that the students of The Book of Light have a collective personality, there can be no doubt that this spiritual personality is [also] a great and important scholar of this time.

Now, your pens are that spiritual personality's fingers. You have affiliated yourselves with this poor man - for in so far as you follow me you have conferred the status of a teacher and scholar upon me, as a result of the good opinion you have had of me, despite the fact that I do not see myself as being worthy of this status. Since I am unlettered and no good at writing, your pens are counted as my own pens, and you will therefore win unto the reward mentioned in the noble hadith.

Sa‘īd Nursī