The Eleventh Ray (The Fruit Epistle)

The Eleventh Ray

[The Fruit Epistle]

This is a defence of The Book of Light

against the atheist [tyranny] and absolute disbelief;

it is, furthermore, our real defence in this prison of ours.

This is all that we are striving for.

This epistle is one of the fruits of Denizli Prison, (4)

and a memory thereof; and it is the yield of two Fridays.

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4. Denizli is a city in the western region of Anatolia. Imām Nursī was forced to stay under very harsh conditions in Denizli Prison (1943 - 1944) together with many of his disciples. He was put into a prison along with his students in very notorious wardens full of high profile criminals for the sole purpose of making it more difficult for them. Despite this, the prison was turned into a madrasa (school) and murderers, robbers and gangsters serving in the prison in the same wardens with the students of The Book of Light became practicing believers. Due to it teaching them the Qur’ān and spurring them to observe their prayers, The Fruit Epistle had a massive effect on their transformation into tranquil, law-abiding individuals.

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ (a)

فَلَبِثَ فِي السِّجْنِ بِضْعَ سِنِينَ (b)

By the report and secret of this verse, Yūsuf ('alayhissalām) is the patron of prisoners, and prison in a way is ‘The Yūsufian Madrasa or The School of Yūsuf’.

Since students of The Book of Light have already entered this school twice in large numbers, there is no doubt that we must acquire our discipline in its fullness by studying and teaching here in this classroom, which was opened to train us in the brief summaries of some issues related to imprisonment and that have been proven true by The Book of Light. Thus will we mention five or six of these encapsulations.

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a In the Name of Allāh, the Merciful, the Compassionate. (Qur’ān: al-Fātiḥah, 1:1)

b So he remained in prison for a number of years. (Qur’ān: Yūsuf, 12:42)