The Third Part

THE THIRD PART

of

The Staff of Moses

(peace be upon him)

The Twentieth Flash

This [epistle] is about Sincerity (ikhlāṣ).

This flash was to be the first point of the second theme - which

is made up of five points - from the seventeenth reminder of

The Seventeenth Flash, but now, because of its importance, it

has been made The Twentieth Flash.

Notice: It is the good fortune of the blessed Isparta, which is a reason for thankfulness, that it appears when compared to other places that competitive disagreement is not appearing between the people of godfearingness (taqwā), the adherents of Sūfi orders (taṣawwuf) and the people of knowledge (‘ulamā') therein. Even if love and alliance (ittifāq) do not fully exist between them in their true and crucial forms, harmful opposition and competition do not exist either compared to other places.

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ (a)

إنَّا أَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ فَاعْبُدِ اللهَ مُخْلِصًا لَهُ الدِّينَ أَلا لِلهِ الدِّينُ الْخَالِصُ (b)

هَلَكَ النَّاسُ إِلاَّ العَالِمُونَ وَهَلَكَ العَالِمُونَ إِلاَّ العَامِلُونَ وَهَلَكَ العَامِلُونَ إِلاَّ المُخْلِصُونَ

وَالمُخْلِصُونَ عَلَى خَطَرٍ عَظِيمٍ * أو كما قال (c)

The verse and the noble tradition above both emphasise that sincerity is an important foundation in Islām.

We will now elucidate in summary form five of the limitless points related to this theme of sincerity.

The first point:

An important and fearful question: Why do religious people, Islāmic scholars (‘ulamā'), and adherents of Sūfi orders, who are the people of truth and of harmony (ahlu’l-ḥaqqi wa’l-wifāq), differ in competitive fashion when it is the case that the worldly people (ahlu’d-dunyā) and the people of heedlessness (ahlu’l-ghaflah) and even the people of misguidance and hypocrisy (ahlu’ḍ-ḍalālah wa’n-nifāq) agree without any sense of competition? While agreement (ittifāq) is the right of people of harmony (ahlu’l-wifāq), and disagreement (khilāf) one of the entailments of people of hypocrisy (ahlu’n-nifāq), why is it that this truth has moved to there, and that falsehood came here?

The answer: We will elucidate seven of the many causes underlying this tragic, painful, distressing issue, that makes those with [Islāmic] zeal weep.

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a In the Name of Allāh, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

b We have, indeed, sent down the Book to you with the truth. So worship Allāh, making the religion sincere to Him. For, most surely, it is to Allāh that the (true) religion of purity belongs. (Qur’ān: az-Zumar, 39:2-3)

c 'Mankind are ruined except for those who know, and those scholars who know are ruined except for those who act [upon what they know], and those who act [upon what they know] are ruined except the sincere - and the sincere are in immense danger.' Or a wording close to it. ('Uqūdu'z-Zabarjad v2 p324) 

The first cause: The disagreement of the people of truth does not stem from their being in the wrong, just as the agreement of the heedless does not stem from their being in the right. Rather it is that the vocations of the groups, organisations and associations who carry out particular duties and special services within [specific] strata of social life, like the worldly people, politicians and scholars, have been designated and made distinct. And the material payment that they lay claim to for their livelihoods in return for the duties that they have carried out as well as the immaterial payment of people’s attention (Footnote) that they take with respect to their love of status, prestige and fame have also been designated and made distinct. No [real] partnership exists between them in the first place to the degree that would cause rivalry, argumentation and competition. That is why it is possible for them to [superficially] agree amongst themselves, however corrupt their path may be.

The vocations of all religious people, scholars, and masters of the Sūfi orders, however, are [not specific and] orientated towards all people. And their instant payment is unspecified and undetermined. And since their share with respect to social standing, the attention of people and a positive reception remains undetermined, many are nominated for a single position. And a great many hands may reach out to each material and immaterial reward [related to that position]. By this point do rivalry and competitiveness emerge transforming concord into discord, agreement turns into disagreement.

Now, the ointment and remedy for this dangerous sickness is sincerity (ikhlāṣ) alone. That is to say, one can manage to attain sincerity by means of preferring the following of the truth to following the whims of their lower selves, and through realising the secret of إِنْ أَجْرِيَ إِلاَّ عَلَى اللهِ (a) and through an inclination to truth overcoming the inclinations of self-centredness and the lower self, and by realising the secret of مَا عَلَى الرَّسُولِ إِلاَّ البَلاَغُ . (b)

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Footnote: Notice: The attention of people is not to be desired, but it is only given [by the Divine]. If it is given, one is not meant to enjoy it. If they enjoy its bestowal, one loses their sincerity and lands themselves in ostentation (riyā'). Should the attention of people be bestowed on them due to their desire for prestige and fame in the first place, then this is nothing near to payment nor reward for them but in fact a [Divine] reprimand and punishment arising from one's lack of sincerity. Yes - it being so that the attention of people, as well as fame and prestige are all at the expense of sincerity, which is the life of righteous actions, and in the world subsequent to the grave take on an ugly form - much like the punishment of the grave [itself] - all in return for a temporary, partial pleasure that only continues unto the door of the grave, it is unfitting for one to be desirous of the attention of people, and indeed it should be guarded against and avoided - let the ears of worshippers of fame ring, as well as those who run after prestige and reputation!

a It is Allāh alone Who will reward me (Qur’ān: Saba, 34:47)

b The Messenger's duty is only to deliver the message (Qur’ān: al-Mā’idah, 5:99) 

which comes about through having no need (Footnote) of both the material and immaterial payments coming from people, whilst knowing that having a good reception, a good influence and acquiring people’s attention is all taken care of by Allāh Most High, and it comes from His beneficence, whereas this [i.e. good reception, influence and people’s attention to his cause] is not part of the delivering of the message (tablīgh) which is their duty, and that one should not in the first place be concerned with it, nor is one responsible for it - and that otherwise, this will let sincerity slip away.

The second cause: From the lowliness of the people of misguidance, thence comes their agreement. From the sense of honour of the people of guidance, thence comes their disagreement. That is, worldly people and the people of misguidance who constitute the heedless of people are weak and lowly for they do not rely on the truth and on reality. And because they are lowly they are in need of getting strength [from someone else]. It is because of this need that they cling on firmly to cooperation and alliance with others. They preserve this agreement even though their way is that of

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Footnote: This is taking the quality of altruism (īthār) that the Companions had, and that is praised in the Qur’ān, as a guide and model that is preferring other to oneself when receiving gifts and charity (ṣadaqa), and seeing that the material benefits that come in return for religious work - this without one's heart requesting or desiring them - are pure benefactions of the Divine; and being not indebted to people, and indeed not accepting these benefits in return for services to religion, for one should not request anything for this world in return for services to religion in order that one's sincerity not be lost. Now the truth is, [those serving] deserve to have the Muslim community provide them with their sustenance. They are also entitled to zakāt, but this is not requested [from people], rather it is given [by the community]. At the time of the bestowal [of zakāt], it should not be said that 'this is payment for my services.' One can save oneself from this immense danger by realising the secret of وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةٌ ''They prefer others over themselves, though they too be poor'' (Qur’ān: al-Ḥashr, 59:9), and by being content with what one has as much as one can, and by preferring the self of those who are worthy and deserving over one's own self, in order that one be able to attain sincerity.

misguidance. In fact, they advocate a [sort of] truth within that falsehood, and they become sincere in that misguidance, and espouse a type of atheistic fanaticism within irreligion, and manifest a type of harmony within that hypocrisy such that they become successful [in this world]. For sincere sincerity does not stay without fruit, even though it be in evil.

Yes, Allāh gives anything to whomsoever demands with [pure] sincerity - whatever it is that he asks for. (Footnote) However, because the people of guidance and the religion, the ‘ulamā' and the adherents of Sūfi orders lean upon truth and reality, and [because] each of them think only of the Divine [good pleasure], and rely upon His Divinely granted success, they have a dignity that spiritually springs from this way. Whenever such a person feels weakness, they return to their Lord, instead of returning to people, and they seek assistance from Him. They do not fully perceive the need for the assistance of those who superficially differ from his own spiritual method (mashrab), and this is as a result of the [mere] existence of differences in ways. Such people are not able to see that they are in need of alliance [with others], and indeed if they are self-conceited and egotistical. They will imagine that they [solely] are in the right, and that anyone who has differences with them are upon falsehood - and from this arises differences and competitiveness instead of agreement and love, and this drives away sincerity, and all their good deeds will have been futile.

The following nine things are the only way out of having to see the disastrous consequences that this terrifying cause will lead to:

1 It is to act constructively [or in other words, to adopt a positive attitude]. That is to say, it is to act with the love for one’s own way (maslak). Let one’s thought and action not be interrupted with his animosity towards other ways and belittling others. And indeed let one not be occupied with their cause, [rather with his own cause.]

2 To agree with those who are within the fold of Islām bearing in mind the fact that there exist between them a great many bonds of unity that are the locus of love, brotherhood and agreement, whatever variety of ways they may have.

3 Taking the law of fairness as guide, it is the right of any person adhering to a legitimate cause (maslak) to say - without violating the rights of

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Footnote: Yes, من طلب وجَدَّ وَجَدَ 'he who seeks and [sincerely] applies himself finds,' is one of the principles of reality, and its universality and expansiveness also extends to our cause (maslak).

the others - ‘my cause is right,’ or even ‘my cause is better’. However, it is not his right to say, ‘my cause alone is right,’ or, ‘goodness lies solely in my spiritual method’ (mashrab), in a way that implies that the causes of others are invalid or ugly.

4 Bearing in mind that agreement with the people of truth constitutes one of the causes of Divinely-granted success, and one of the causes of Islām’s dignity.

5 Protecting the truth and the reality faced with the dangerous collective spiritual personality of the people of misguidance, by making a strong collective spiritual personality to emerge by means of the alliance of the people of truth, in realisation of the fact that even the strongest resistance of an individual will be defeated faced with the collective spiritual personality [of the people of misguidance] in a time in which the people of misguidance and falsehood are with great genius attacking as a strong collective spiritual personality as a group [which is made possible] by their mutual assistance of one another. And in order to save the truth from the assault of falsehood, one must abandon:

6 One’s evil-commanding self

7 One’s self-centredness

8 What one might mistakenly call dignity

9 Trivial sentiments that drive one to competitiveness. It is by means of these nine points that one can attain sincerity, and excellently fulfil one’s duty. (Footnote)

The third cause: Disagreement amongst the people of truth does not stem from a lack of spiritual aspiration and endeavour (himmah) nor from baseness, and the agreement of the people of misguidance does not come from their high level of ambition, but rather the disagreement amongst the people of guidance comes from the misuse of a high level of spiritual aspiration 

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Footnote: Indeed, since in authentic traditions it has been related that in the End Times the truly religious Christians will ally with the people of the Qur’ān and they will resist the atheism that constitutes their mutual enemy, it is surely incumbent upon the religious people and the people of the truth at the present time to sincerely accord with those who share the same creed and have the same path, and who constitute their brothers. Indeed, they are in need of [a type of] alliance with even the truly pious, spiritual leaders from amongst the Christians against their shared enemy - aggressive atheists - temporarily leaving behind discussion and debate of the points on which they differ.

and endeavour (himmah), and the agreement of the people of misguidance comes from weakness and powerlessness that arise from a lack of himmah. The factor that pushes the people of guidance from high spiritual ambition to its misuse and then to disagreement and competitiveness is eagerness for reward - which is counted as a praiseworthy trait with respect to the Hereafter - and their being unsatisfied concerning their [performance] in such vocations of theirs as relate to the Hereafter. That is, one adopts a rather competitive stance against an individual who is in fact his true brother, and who is in the greatest need of his help, brotherhood and love - [he goes into this state of competitiveness] saying, ‘Let me get that reward,’ ‘let me guide those people,’ ‘let them hear my words.’ He says, 'why are my students going to so-and-so?' and 'why do I not have as many students as him?' From thence his egoistic nature finds an opportunity, and it drives him on to the love of status that is a blameworthy trait, and he thus loses his sincerity, and opens the door to ostentation (riyā').

Now, the remedy for this error and wound and terrifying spiritual ailment is the following:

Allāh Most High’s good pleasure is acquired by means of sincerity. It is not by having a large number of followers, nor by having a lot of [outer] achievements or success. Since these [results] are of the Divine actions, they are thus not requested. Rather, they are given at certain times.

Yes, at times a single word becomes the cause of salvation and the reason of the Divine good pleasure. The significance of quantity shouldn’t be the reason for that much attention - for the guiding of a single person can sometimes be as much of a reason for the Divine good pleasure as the guiding of a thousand men.

Moreover, sincerity and advocacy of the truth is to support the benefits of Muslims wherever and whoever they [these benefits] may be from. The notion that ‘they must learn from me alone so that I can get the reward,’ is nothing but the deception of the lower self and self-centredness.

O man who is eager for reward, and O one unsatisfied with the performance of deeds for the hereafter!

Some messengers came, and none but a very limited number of individuals followed them, yet they received a reward that was unlimited, for that sacred vocation of prophethood - adeptness, then, does not come about

by means of having a great number of followers, but it is by acquiring the good pleasure of Allāh. Who do you think you are that you forget your own duty and greedily intervene in Allāh’s arrangements, saying, ‘all must hear me!’ People being made to accept your words and to gather around you is amongst the things that Allāh Most High takes care of. Mind your own duty, and do not interfere in Allāh’s arrangements. What is more, it is so that those who listen to the truth and the reality and who make the one who speaks [of that reality] to win unto reward are not confined to the human race alone, but all conscious beings as well as the spirits and angels of Allāh Most High fill the universe and inhabit all parts thereof. Since you wish for a great deal of reward, make sincerity as your fundamental principle, and think only about Allāh’s good pleasure, such that each of the blessed words that come out of your mouth are invigorated and enlivened by the sincerity and the sincere intention in the air, and that they then enter the hearing of illimitable conscious beings and illuminate them, and therefore winning you reward. For if for example you were to say, ‘اَلْحَمْدُ لِلهِ’ ‘praise be to Allāh,’ that phrase would by Allāh’s permission be written in the air as millions of instances of ‘اَلْحَمْدُ لِلهِ’ both great and small.

As the Wise Inscriber (An-Naqqāshu’l-Ḥakīm) never acts futilely or wastefully, He has created our unbounded number of ears sufficient to hear those many blessed words. Whenever those words that are in the air have become enlivened and gained vitality through sincerity and a sincere intention, they enter the ears of the spiritually attuned as if sweet melodies; (67) and if Allāh’s good pleasure (ridhā) and sincerity (ikhlāṣ) do not breathe life into the words existing in the air, they are not listened to, and the reward [that one gets for saying them] is not limited to the mere pronunciation of the words in one’s mouth. Let the ears of [some] ḥuffāẓ (memorisers of the Qur’ān) ring who are irritated by the small number of people listening to them due to their not so beautiful voice!

The fourth cause: The competitive disagreement of the people of guidance does not come from their not thinking of the final end, nor from short-sightedness, just as the sincere alliance of the people of misguidance does not come from eagerness for the final end, nor from farsightedness.

It is most probably the case that with the influence of truth (ḥaq) and reality (ḥaqīqah), the people of guidance are not carried away by the sentiments

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67. Sweet melodies (literal): fruits 

of blind lower self (nafs) and they follow the far-sighted inclinations of the heart (qalb) and the intellect (‘aql) with concern for the future. While this being so, since they cannot preserve the right direction (istiqāmah) and sincerity (ikhlāṣ), they are unable to safeguard that highly elevated station and fall into dispute.

On the other hand, under the influence of the lower self (nafs) and caprice (hawā’) and in accordance with the requirements of blind sentiments that see not the final end and that prefer a penny’s weight of immediate pleasure over a kilo of future pleasure, the people of misguidance sincerely and quite strongly agree amongst themselves, all for the sake of an instant benefit and an instantaneous pleasure.

Yes, the lowly and heartless people who worship their ego (nafs) ally together and unite with sincerity around worldly and instantaneous pleasure and benefit.

The people of guidance, on the other hand, being oriented in accordance with the incentive of the exalted laws of heart and intellect to the fruits of the Hereafter and to [human] perfections concerning the future, could have been able to establish firm steadfastness (istiqāmah), perfect sincerity and a unity and alliance of singular altruism and sacrifice, yet they are unable to divest themselves of egotism, such that exaggeration and negligence intervene, and they thus lose the alliance (ittifāq) that is the wellspring of lofty strength; and thence sincerity is broken. Duties for the hereafter become afflicted with a defectiveness, and the good pleasure of Allāh thus cannot be easily attained.

Now, the remedy and ointment for this dangerous sickness is the following: Attaining sincerity by taking pride in the company of all those who journey along the road of truth by the secret of ‘love in Allāh’ (al-ḥubbu fi’llāh) and by following them, by relinquishing the honour of being their leader (imām), and by ridding oneself of egotism bearing in mind the possibility that all those who journey along the road of truth, whoever they might be, may well be better than oneself. Then, by realising that a penny’s weight of sincere actions preponderates over kilos of insincere actions, and by preferring to be a follower as opposed to being followed with all the dangers of responsibility, one is saved from that sickness and wins unto sincerity, thereby being enabled to properly fulfil one’s vocations related to the Hereafter.

The fifth cause: The differences of the people of guidance and their lack of alliance does not arise from their being weak, just as the strong alliance of the people of misguidance does not arise from their strength. But rather, the lack of concordance (ittifāq) amongst the people of guidance arises from a tower of strength that springs from perfected faith, and from a strength that results from that tower of strength; just as the agreement of the heedless and the misguided comes from their weakness and powerlessness; for they can find no tower of strength in their hearts, because the weak [can easily] strongly agree, for they are in need of agreement, whereas the strong only weakly agree, because they see no pressing need for concordance. Certain animals the likes of tigers and foxes live alone because of their having no need of alliance, whereas wild goats form herds in order to ward off the evil of wolves. That is to say that the association of the weak and their collective personality (Footnote) is strong, just as it is so that the organisations of the strong and their collective personality are weak.

A subtle allusion and a charming Qur’ānic detail that points to this secret can be found in the verse وَقَالَ نِسْوَةٌ فِي المَدِينَةِ (a) in its mentioning a group of women using a masculine verb قَالَ even though it is a doubly emphasised femininity, [and this subtle allusion is also found] in the verse قَالَتِ الأَعْرَابُ (b) in its mentioning a group of men using a feminine verb; قَالَت all of which gives a subtle allusion to the fact that a group of weak, delicate, mild women [can] become stronger and increase in firmness and strength, and acquire a type of manliness.

It is thus that the context required the use of the masculine verb, such that the expression وَقَالَ نِسْوَةٌ is of singular beauty; since men on the other hand, and especially if they are Bedouin Arabs, rely on their own [personal] strength and thus form weak groups, and since they take on [therein] states of circumspection, caution and softness, as if cloaking themselves to a degree in a womanly nature, the feminine verb in the expression قَالَتِ الأَعْرَابُ is completely befitting.

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Footnote: This claim of ours is strengthened by the fact that the association safeguarding the rights and freedoms of women, which was founded by women in America, they being of kind, weak, delicate sort, is from one perspective one of the strongest, solid and most influential of all associations in the West, and this is further confirmed by the sacrifice and strength disclosed by the activities of the associations of the Armenians, who are a minority and one of the weaker of nations.

a some women in the city said (Qur’ān: Yūsuf, 12:30)

b the desert Arabs say (Qur’ān: al-Hujurat, 49:14) 

Yes, by the grace of the reliance on the Divine (tawakkul) and submission (taslīm) arising from faith in Allāh (al-īmānu billāh) that is a tower of strength of surpassing might, the people of truth do not request the support and assistance of others in presenting their needs to them. Even if they do request [in rare cases], they do not hold fast to them persistently.

On the other hand the worldly people fall into weakness and powerlessness in worldly matters because of their heedlessness of their true tower of strength, and they thus feel an intense need for helpers, and they sincerely concord with them, even to the degree of sacrifice.

Thus, because the people of truth do not reflect upon the power of truth that is latent in alliance and do not even look for it, they fall into differences - which is a very harmful conclusion that they don’t deserve. Whereas the people of misguidance, who don’t deserve unity, sense the power latent within concordance by means of their weakness, and they attain that alliance which is a means to realising very important objectives.

The remedy and ointment, then, for the undeserved illness of disagreement that has afflicted the people of truth, is to take the severe, Divine prohibition contained in the verse وَلاَ تَنَازَعُوا فَتَفْشَلُوا وَتَذْهَبَ رِيحُكُمْ (a) and the Divine command tremendously wise with respect to societal life, وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى البِرِّ وَالتَّقْوَى (b) as a law governing one’s action, and to sincerely and in the spirit of sacrifice join the caravan of the people of truth in [the humility of] perfect weakness and powerlessness, keeping in mind the extent of the harm to Islām that dispute causes, as well as the degree to which it facilitates the people of misguidance’s overwhelming of the people of truth; and to acquire sincerity through self-denial, and by ridding oneself of ostentation (riyā') and affectation (taṣannu‘).

The sixth cause: Just as it is so that the differences of the people of truth do not arise from their cowardice, nor from their lack of spiritual aspiration nor from a lack of noble-mindedness, likewise is it so that the sincere agreement of the heedless worldly people and of the people of misguidance in matters concerning this life does not arise from valour nor noble-mindedness nor from spiritual aspiration, but it is rather that the [lofty qualities like] noble-mindedness, spiritual aspiration and valour of the people of truth are split between those many important issues because

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a Quarrel not with one another lest you lose heart and your spirit depart (Qur’ān: al-Anfal, 8:46)

b Help one another in righteousness and godfearingness (Qur’ān: al-Mā'idah, 5:2) 

of their thinking most of the time about interests relating to the Hereafter. And since they do not spend most of their time - their true capital - on a single issue, their agreement with [even] other colleagues following the same path does not get strengthened, for there are many issues, and the domain is wide, too.

Yet because the heedless and worldly people think only of this world, they cling very firmly with the fullness of their emotions, spirits and hearts to matters concerning the life of this world and hold fast to any who will help them realise those matters.

They limit their precious time, which is worth five hundred gold coins, in those [worldly] matters - and that in reality’s eyes are not worth even five copper coins, and that for the people of truth have not even the value of ten copper coins - like the crazed diamond-seller Jew who gives five gold coins for an insignificant piece of glass worth five copper coins. There can be no doubt that paying a heavy price and clinging firmly to these matters with powerful emotions, though it all be for the sake of falsehood, leads them to success, for they manifest real sincerity and overcome thereby the people of truth. And as a result of being prevailed over like this, the people of truth fall into humiliation, defeat, and affectation and ostentation, and lose their sincerity, and find themselves forced into flattering certain of the worldly, who have no valour, ambition nor noble-mindedness.

O people of truth (ḥaq)! And O people of the sacred law (sharī’ah) and the people of the spiritual reality (ḥaqīqah) and of the Sūfi orders (ṭarīqah), who all advocate the truth!

Do not look to the shortcomings of one another with respect to this severe illness of discord, and lower your gaze concerning one another’s faults! Act with the spiritual courtesy of the Furqān وَإِذَا مَرُّوا بِاللَّغْوِ مَرُّوا كِرَامًا . (a)

And leave internal disputes aside during the onslaught of external enemies, and consider the first and the most important of vocations concerning the Hereafter as saving the people of truth from falling and from humiliation, and obey the hundreds of verses and prophetic traditions (aḥādīth) that forcefully command you to brotherhood, love and cooperation; with all of your emotions, come to a stronger agreement with your brothers in your way and in your religion than that of the worldly. In other words, do not fall into division.

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a When they see some frivolity they pass by it with dignity. (Qur’ān: al-Furqan, 25:72) 

And do not weaken your agreement, saying, ‘I shall spend my precious moments doing precious things like Divine remembrance and contemplation instead of spending it engaged in these paltry matters. For what you imagine paltry could well prove a momentous and great part of spiritual struggle.

Just as a soldier’s taking up his position for only a single hour at an important time and under certain conditions could well take on the value of an entire year’s worship, so too might one’s dedicating a single day for the sake of an issue of spiritual struggle in a time in which the people of truth have been overwhelmed takes on the value of a thousand degrees like that soldier’s hour, and a single day of yours that of a thousand. Since all of this is for Allāh’s sake, it’s [apparent] triviality or immensity or its importance or unimportance are not to be looked at. For a particle is like a star when it is for the sake of sincerity and the Divine good pleasure - and the nature of the means is also not to be looked to, but its outcome. For since its outcome is the good pleasure of Allāh and the nucleus of that is sincerity, this matter is not therefore trivial, but is immense.

The seventh cause: The differences and competition amongst the people of truth and reality does not arise from envy or their coveting this world, just as the agreement of the worldly and the heedless does not arise from their chivalry nor from noble-heartedness but the people of truth only landed themselves in differences contaminated by competitiveness because they proved unable to fully preserve the noble-mindedness and high spiritual ambition that spring from spiritual reality nor [to fully preserve] the praiseworthy type of vying [with one another in good actions] in the way of truth, and they misused this to a degree because of the unqualified people’s entering amongst them, and they thereby grievously harmed themselves and the Muslims.

Whereas, because of their abasement, cowardice and lack of noble-mindedness, the heedless and the people of misguidance unite in true fashion with their friends - though they indeed be lowly, treacherous and harmful people - and in order not to make their leaders and friends shun whom they love to the degree of worship for the sake of personal interest and benefit, and those, who unite around their interests, sincerely ally with their partners in any way possible. They benefit from this unity and agreement as a result of this seriousness and sincerity.

O people of truth and reality, who have been tested with this tribulation, and have landed in differences! You have been instrumental in the weakness and defeat of the people of truth for you have impaired sincerity in this time of troubles, and failed to make the Divine good pleasure your sole goal and aim.

There must not exist competition, covetousness, envy and jealousy in matters of religion and the Hereafter, and this simply cannot happen from reality’s viewpoint. For the underlying cause of jealousy and envy are many hands being stretched out for a single thing, and many eyes eyeing a single position, and many stomachs desiring a single piece of bread. It is for this reason that they land in covetousness, because of division, dispute and competition, and thence they fall into jealousy.

And in so far as many are bent upon a single thing in this world, and in so far as this constricted, temporary world cannot satiate the limitless desires of man, people fall into competitiveness. Yet in the Hereafter, a single person will be granted a Paradise that extends for five hundred years, (Footnote) and seventy thousand palaces and houris. All of the inhabitants of Paradise

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Footnote: A significant question from an important end. It has reached us in the narration that “in paradise a man is given a paradise of five hundred years.” How could this reality fit into the intellects of the people in this world?

The answer: Just as everyone in this world has their own individual and temporal world, and the pillar of his world is his life, and he benefits from that world of his through his outward and inward sensations, and he says “the sun is a light of mine and the stars are my candles.” Just as other creations and spirit-endowed beings do not constitute a barrier for him to own his own world, rather they liven up his individual world and embellish it. Similarly, thousands of degrees superior than this [world], every believer has an individual five hundred years wide paradise that has thousands of palaces and houris in the main garden of paradise.

One benefits in a form befitting the paradise and eternity from it with their senses and feelings that developed according to their ranks. Other people’s participation does not impair their ownership and benefit, rather they strengthen. And they embellish the special and wide paradise of them [by their participation.]

Yes, just as a man in this world benefits from his journey in a one hour wide garden, or on a one day wide promenade or in a one month wide country or at a one year wide resort, with his mouth, ears, eyes, taste as well as other senses, similarly the [same] senses of smell and taste, that merely benefit from a one hour wide garden in this passing country [i.e. this world], benefit from a one year wide garden in that eternal country [i.e. paradise]. And the senses of sight and hearing that can merely benefit from the one year wide resort here [in this world] there [in the paradise] benefit from a journey in the five hundred year wide promenade in a way that is befitting that glorious country embellished from one end to the other. Every believer enjoys, gets pleasure and benefit with their senses that expand and develop in accordance with their rank, rewards and acts of kindness.

will be maximally contented with their share and all of this points to the fact that in the Hereafter there is not a single cause for competition. And competitiveness cannot possibly exist there either.

So, there cannot be competitiveness about righteous actions that belong to the Hereafter either. [Paradise] is not a place of jealousy. The envier is either a hypocrite who is running after worldly aims in the name of righteous deeds, or he is a sincere but ignorant person who does not know where righteous deeds are oriented to. And he does not perceive that sincerity is the spirit and basis of righteous actions, who blames the extent of Divine mercy and bears in the form of competitiveness a type of animosity towards Allāh’s saints (awliyā').

Here is an incident for you that corroborates this truth:

One of our old friends used to bear animosity against a certain person. His enemy was praised in front of him, saying that he was a righteous person and indeed describing him as a saint. This person had never envied him nor been irritated by this, but then someone said, ‘this enemy of yours is brave and strong,’ and we saw that the veins of intense envy and competition had been aroused.

We said to him, ‘sainthood and righteousness are a power and a loftiness like a pearl of endless, undying life. You never envied him from this perspective. Comparing worldly strength and intrepidity with sainthood and righteousness is like comparing a simple piece of glass with diamonds - for worldly strength can exist in an ox, and bravery in wild beasts.

That man then said, ‘both of us fixed our eyes on a certain point and certain station in this world as our aim. Our stairs to climb up to that station are the things like strength and bravery. This is why I envied [him]. Yet the stations and degrees of the Hereafter are limitless. He might well be a beloved sincere brother to me in the Hereafter despite being an enemy to me in this world.’

O people of truth and the Sūfi orders! Serving the truth is like carrying and preserving a vast, heavy treasure. Those who carry this treasure upon their shoulders are gladdened even more every time strong hands strive to help them.

Why then should these true, helping brothers and sacrificing assistants be looked at with competitiveness? Whereas, let alone being jealous of

them, they should be applauded with sincere happiness and pride for the greater strength, help and influence [than yours in serving the truth].

This state impairs sincerity. You are blamed in your vocation. And you become exposed to terrifying, false accusations from the people of misguidance that you are trying to acquire this world by means of religion, and to guarantee yourself a livelihood by means of knowledge of spiritual reality, competing out of greed and covetousness with people - all of which are one hundred degrees lower than you and your path.

The only cure for this sickness is blaming one’s own self, and ever being in favour of one’s companion sharing the same path, and not of one’s self.

Amongst the ‘ulamā' of the science of debate and the science of ethics there is a law of fairness and advocacy of the truth, which is that ‘if one advocates what he is saying is the truth in a debate on a particular issue, and becomes happy if it becomes revealed that he is right and his opponent wrong and mistaken, that person is lacking in fairness.’ And indeed he loses.

For if it becomes clear that he is right, he has not through that debate learned anything new that he used not to know, and he may well be harmed by the possibility of self-conceit. Whereas if the truth becomes manifest at the hands of his opponent, he gets benefit by learning about an issue he did not formerly know, without coming to harm, and he is saved from the conceit of the lower self.

Thus, the reasonable fair-minded [seeker of the truth] forsakes his own self for the sake of the truth, and should he see the truth in the hands of his opponent, he accepts it with satisfaction, advocates [that truth] and is pleased with it.

Now, if the religious, the people of spiritual reality, the followers of Sūfi orders and the ‘ulamā' take this law on as their guide, they attain sincerity, and succeed in their vocations related to the Hereafter, and they are saved by means of the Divine mercy from this horrible fall and from this current tribulation.

سُبْحَانَكَ لاَ عِلْمَ لَنَا إِلاَّ مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الحْكِيمُ (a)

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a Glory be to You, we have no knowledge except that which you have taught us, surely You are the All-knowing, the Wise. 

The Twenty-first Flash

This [epistle] is about sincerity (ikhlāṣ).

This Flash was originally the ‘fourth’ of the seven issues of the ‘seventeenth reminder’ from ‘The Seventeenth Flash,’ yet it then became, because of the pertinence of the subject matter to sincerity, the ‘second point’ of ‘The Twentieth Flash,’ and then, on the grounds of its luminousness, it entered into ‘The Flashes’, as ‘The Twenty-first Flash.’ This Flash should be read at least once every fifteen days.

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ (a)

وَلاَ تَنَازَعُوا فَتَفْشَلوُا وَتَذْهَبَ رِيحُكُمْ (b)

وَقوُمُوا لِلهِ قَانِتِينَ (c)

قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا * وَقَد خَابَ مَنْ دَسَّاهَا (d)

وَلاَ تَشْتَروُا بِآيَاتِي ثَمَنًا قَلِيلاً (e)

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a In the Name of Allāh, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

b Quarrel not with one another, lest you lose heart, and your spirit depart (Qur’ān: al-Anfāl, 8:46 )

c Stand before Allāh in devotion (Qur’ān: al-Baqarah, 2:238)

d He who purifies his soul succeeds, and he who corrupts it fails (Qur’ān: ash-Shams, 91:9-10)

e Do not sell My signs for a paltry price (Qur’ān: al-Baqarah, 2:41) 

O brothers of mine in the Hereafter! And O my companions in service of the Qur’ān!

You know and you should know - and you do know - that the most important basis, the greatest strength, the most acceptable intercessor, the mightiest tower of strength, the shortest way to the truth, the spiritual supplication most likely to be accepted, the most wondrous means to all aims, the loftiest character trait and the purest worship in this world, and especially in services related to the Hereafter, is sincerity (ikhlāṣ).

Since sincerity possesses many lights, and many powers the like of those just mentioned, and since we are very small in number, and very weak and poor and powerless, and [live] in this terrible time faced by fierce enemies, intense pressure, aggressive innovations (bid‘ah) and misguidance (ḍalalah), a singularly heavy, sublime, universal and sacred duty of īmān (faith) and service of Qur’ān has been loaded onto our shoulders by the Divine beneficence.

There can be no doubt that we find ourself compelled and responsible to [struggle to] attain sincerity with all of our strength, even more than others.

We are, moreover, in the greatest need of establishing the secret of sincerity within ourselves. For otherwise, the sacred service which we have attained up to now will be partially lost, ceasing to continue, and furthermore, we will be held severely accountable.

We will be addressed by the fiercely threatening Divine prohibition in the verse وَلاَ تَشْتَرُوا بِآيَاتِي ثَمَنًا قَلِيلاً (a) by reason of our having violated sincerity at the expense of eternal bliss, merely in order to gratify certain lowly sentiments and trivial benefits, meaningless and useless, harmful, troublesome, arrogant, burdensome and hypocritical; we will have transgressed against the rights of all of our brothers working in this service, encroached on the sanctity of service to the Qur’ān, and disrespected the holiness of the realities of faith.

O brothers of mine! Momentous and immense acts of goodness face many harmful obstacles. It very often happens that satans get at those serving in this service. Against these obstacles and these satans, then, one must depend upon the power of sincerity. Avoid the causes of the violation of sincerity, therefore, just as you would avoid snakes and scorpions.

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a Sell not My signs for a trifling price. (Qur’ān: al-Baqarah, 2:41) 

One cannot trust or rely upon the evil-commanding self (an-nafsu’l-ammāra), just as Prophet Yūsuf إِنَّ النَّفْسَ لأَمَّارَةٌ بِالسُّوءِ إِلاَّ مَا رَحِمَ رَبِّي . (a) Do not let egotism or the evil-commanding self deceive you; in order to attain sincerity and preserve it, and remove the obstacles to it, let the following principles be your guide:

Your first principle: Allāh’s good pleasure (ridhā) must be in your deeds. If He is pleased, the shunning of the entire world is of no importance. If He accepts [your deeds], then the rejection of all people has no effect. After He is satisfied [with your deed] and He accepts it, and if He wills and His wisdom requires [that others appreciate it], He will make them accept [your service], and He will cause them to be pleased with it - even if you have not requested this. Thus, [gaining] directly and solely Allāh’s good pleasure must be made the fundamental objective of this service.

Your second principle: [Your second principle] is not to criticise your brothers [working] in this Qur’ānic service, and not to trigger a sense of envy by selling your virtues, showing [your imagined] superiority to them. For man’s hand does not compete with his other hand, nor does his eye criticise the other, and his tongue does not object to his ears, and the heart does not see the deficiencies of the spirit; rather, they each make up for the deficiencies of the other, and hide their shortcomings, assist one another with their needs, and help each other in their duties. Otherwise, the life of the human body would be extinguished, his spirit would flee, and his body would fall apart.

Moreover, the gears [of machines] in a factory do not try to hinder one another’s work out of competitiveness, nor do they [try to] go ahead of, or control the other, nor do they compel one another to break down in order to frustrate the other’s yearning to run, by criticising the other and seeking out its shortcomings and errors. Rather, each assists the other to the best of its ability, in order to orientate the movements of each of them to the collective objective, such that they proceed unto their purpose of creation by means of true mutual support and agreement.

Were there to be interference of an atom’s weight of opposition to and dominance over one another, it would dismantle the factory, making it unproductive. Its owner would then dismantle it, and demolish it entirely.

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a Surely the self commands to evil, except in so far as my Lord has mercy. (Qur’ān: Yūsuf, 12:53) 

Therefore, O students of The Book of Light and O servants of the Qur’ān! You and we are the limbs of a collective personality worthy of being called ‘the Perfect Man’ (al-insānu’l-kāmil). We are like the gears of a factory that produces eternal happiness in an eternal life. We are servants working on a Lordly ship, that makes the community of Muḥammad (‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām) to traverse [the sea] to the abode of peace which is the shore of safety.

There can thus be no doubt that we are in need of and indeed compelled to [put] true mutual support and unity [into effect], through attaining the secret of sincerity that provides a spiritual power of the strength of one thousand one hundred and eleven, 1111, which is yielded by only four individuals.

Yes - should three ones not unite, they will make three, yet if they unite, by the secret of number they acquire a value of one hundred and eleven, 111. Four multiplied by four, if [the fours are] separate, makes sixteen. If, by the secret of brotherhood, unity of purpose, and concordance of duty, they are to be congruously aligned, and stand shoulder to shoulder on one line, they then acquire the strength and value of four thousand four hundred and forty four.

In the same way do there exist a great many historical events that bear witness to the value and spiritual strength of sixteen sacrificing brothers being greater, by the secret of true sincerity, than that of four thousand people.

Now, the secret of this secret is that each individual is able to see through the eyes of the rest of his brothers, and hear through their ears in true and sincere concordance. It is as if each of ten truly united individuals possesses spiritual power and value that sees as if with twenty eyes, thinks with ten intellects, hears with twenty ears, and works with twenty hands. (Footnote)

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Footnote: Yes - just as by the secret of sincerity, sincere mutual support and unity constitute the reason of a great many benefits, so too are they the most important barricades and towers of strength against all fears and even against death; for if death comes, it only takes a single spirit away. For he who connects himself to his brothers by the secret of true brotherhood for the sake of the Divine good pleasure and in matters related to the Hereafter has as many spirits as he has brothers, and such a person thus meets death laughingly and cheerfully saying, “If a single one of my spirits dies, let my other spirits live [in its stead]. For they ensure that I permanently have a spiritual life; by means of their winning reward for me continuously, I do not die.” And he says, “I live on in terms of Divine reward by means of those spirits, and I die only in terms of [any] sins [I might have]”; and he thus rests in tranquility.

Your third principle: You must know that all of your strength lies in sincerity (ikhlāṣ) and truth (ḥaqq). Yes, strength lies in truth and sincerity. Even the strength of those who are astray is such, for they acquire strength because of the sincerity and firmness that they show in their unrighteous path.

Yes - one of the proofs that strength lies in truth and sincerity is this service of ours. For just a trifling amount of sincerity in this service proves [the truth and virtue] of the cause [of īmān and the Qur’ān] and becomes proof of itself.

For all of the service to [sacred] knowledge and religion we did over the course of twenty years in my region and in Istanbul, we have done with you here [in Barla] a hundred times over, within seven or eight years.

Despite the fact that those who had been helping me in my region and in Istanbul were a hundred times, nay a thousand times greater in number than those working here with me; and despite being here alone, forlorn, destitute, half-illiterate, under the surveillance of unjust officials, and subject to their harassment; I have absolutely no doubt that it was only from your sincerity that the success-granting spiritual power came, manifested in the service that I carried out alongside you all over the course of seven or eight years - a hundred times greater than my past service.

And I confess that in some sense you saved me by means of your pure sincerity from the ostentation (riyā') that flatters my lower self under the cover of fame and prestige - if Allāh wills, you will be granted success in acquiring perfect sincerity, which you will also push me into.

You know that Imām ‘Ali (raḍiallāhu anhu) with his miracle-like wonder (karāmāh), and al-Ghawthu’l-A‘ẓam [‘Abdu’l-Qādiri’l-Jīlānī] with his extraordinary wonder pertaining to the Unseen, both cherish you on the basis of this secret of sincerity, and they comfort you by means of their protection, and spiritually applaud the services that you carry out.

Yes - do not ever doubt that their blessing and cherishing come about due to sincerity; but should you deliberately violate this sincerity, you will receive their slaps. Remember the ‘slaps of compassion,’ contained in The Tenth Flash! If you wish therefore to have these spiritual heroes behind you as supporters and before you as teachers, achieve the secret of perfect

sincerity by means of the secret of وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ . (a) Prefer the selves of your brothers over your own self in that which gives pleasure to the self, like honour, position and people’s attention, and even regarding material benefits.

Furthermore, delivering a most subtle and beautiful truth of faith to a believer in need is assuredly a benefit of the least harm and the greatest innocence. If possible, in order to keep your selves away from egotism, you must be content for a friend of yours to [deliver] these truths [instead of you].

There is neither sin nor harm in your wishing to acquire reward on your own and without others, or to elucidate a subtle issue yourself - yet this may result in the impairment of the sincerity that exists between you.

Your fourth principle: This is taking pride - in a state of thankfulness - in the nobility of your brothers, in your selves taking their merits into consideration, and your essences their virtues.

There are terms in use amongst the Sufis like: annihilation in the Shaykh (fanā' fī’sh-Shaykh), and annihilation in the Messenger (fanā' fī’r-Rasūl) - and I am no Sufi, yet this principle of theirs can serve as a beautiful principle for our way and method in the form of, ‘annihilation in the brothers’ (fanā' fī’l-ikhwān).

Amongst brothers this is known as ‘annihilation in one another,’ that is, for each of them to pass away in the other (tafānī) - in other words, for each brother to forget his egotistical sentiments and live while reflecting on the merits and feelings of his brothers. For in the first place, the foundation of our way (maslak) is brotherhood (ukhuwwah).

This is not the bond between father and son or between Sūfi Shaykh and aspirant (murīd), rather, they are the bonds of true brotherhood. The most that exists is a [relationship of] Mastership. (68)

Because our way is that of true friendship (al-khalīliyya), our spiritual method (mashrab) is one of the closest friendship. This friendship requires being the closest friend, the most sacrificing companion, the best, appreciative comrade, and the most chivalrous brother. The foundation of foundations of this friendship is ‘perfect sincerity.’ Whoever violates perfect sincerity therefore, falls from the highest tower of friendship, and may

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a They give them preference over themselves. (Qur’ān: al-Ḥashr, 59:9)

68. Mastership (Turkish: üstadlık) here refers to the relationship of Sa‘īd Nursī and subsequent masters to the brothers; he is their instructor (ustād), and possesses real mastery of spirituality and the sciences, and has a stronger influence when it comes to decisions pertaining to the brothers and the service; however, he remains a brother, and does not have a paternal or authoritarian relationship with his brothers. 

indeed fall into a very deep pit. Between [the tower and the pit], he finds no handhold.

Yes - it appears that there are two roads; those who depart from our way in this time - which is the supreme Qur’ānic path - may well inadvertently assist the power of irreligiosity that is so adversarial towards us. Those who enter into the holy sphere of the Qur’ān of Miraculous Exposition (Al-Qur’ānu’l-Mu‘jizu’l-Bayān) through the intermediary of The Book of Light will - by the will of Allāh - continually strengthen light, sincerity and true faith - and will not fall into the likes of those pits.

[The means of achieving and safeguarding sincerity]

O companions of mine in the service of the Qur’ān! One of the most effective causes of achieving and safeguarding sincerity is ‘meditation on death (rābiṭatu’l-mawt).’

Yes, just as it is ‘[delusional] long-term hopes’ (ṭūlu’l-amal) that damage sincerity and drive one to ostentation and to this world, it is ‘meditation on death’ that arouses one’s distaste for ostentation and makes one to attain sincerity. That is to say, it is to rid one of the intrigues of the lower self [by causing one] to remember one’s death and to recall the fact that this world is transient.

Yes - the people of ṭarīqah (Sūfis) and people of reality have taken the meditation on death as a foundation of their spiritual journeying (sulūk), by means of the lesson they have taken from verses in the Wise Qur’ān the likes of كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ (a) and إِنَّكَ مَيّتٌ وَإِنَّهُمْ مَيِّتُونَ (b) and by means of that meditation, they have eliminated the delusion that [this world] will extend on endlessly, which is the origin of [delusional] long-term hopes.

They hypothetically visualise and imagine themselves dead, envisage themselves being washed and placed into the grave, and think about this over and over again; as a result, the evil-commanding self becomes influenced by this imagining and visualisation.

This meditation has a great many benefits - for the noble tradition teaches this meditation to us, saying أكْثِروُا ذِكْرَ هَادِمِ اللَّذَّاتِ (c) or a wording near to it,

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a Every soul will taste death. (Qur’ān: Āli ‘Imrān, 3:185)

b You will certainly die, and they will certainly die. (Qur’ān: az-Zumar, 39:30)

c See Ibn Mājah, 4258; aṭ-Ṭabarānī al-Mu‘ jamu'l-awsaṭ, 691 

that is to say, “Remember much [death] - the destroyer of pleasures!” And since our way is not a Sūfi order but a way of reality, we are not compelled to practice this meditation in hypothetical and imaginal form like the members of the orders; and indeed, this is not befitting of the way of reality.

Indeed, it is not a matter of bringing the future to present time by means of reflecting on [one’s] end, rather it is to journey in thought from the present time to the future and to see the future in vision in terms of spiritual reality.

Yes - man can witness his own funeral, which is the one fruit upon the tree of his short life, without being in need of imagination and conjecture in the first place. Just as he witnesses his own death through this meditation, - should he wish to journey in thought step by step even further than that - he too witnesses the death of the age; as he continues to think, he even sees the death of this very world itself, and this cleaves open a road to the most perfect sincerity.

The second cause: By means of the power of critically verified faith (al-īmānu’t-taḥqīqī), and of the flashes arising from contemplation (tafakkur) informed by true faith upon the Divine works of art, which results in knowledge of the Artful Maker (ma‘rifatu’ṣ-Ṣāni‘), man to some degree acquires the Divine Presence (huḍūr), and thence he reflects on the fact that the Compassionate Creator (Al-Khāliqu’r-Raḥīm) is present and watching, and does not seek for the attention of other than Him, and he thinks that turning to other than Him and seeking help from other than Him is at odds with proper courtesy towards that Presence - and in this way does he escape from that ostentation (riyā') and attain sincerity.

In any case, this topic contains many levels and degrees. The more one is able to benefit from it in accordance with the proportions of one’s shares, the more profit one gains. We suffice ourselves here with this, entrusting [the fuller account] to the many truths that have been mentioned in The Book of Light that rid one of ostentation, and enable one to achieve sincerity.

[The causes that impair sincerity]

In summary form we will now elucidate two or three of the very great number of causes that impair sincerity and drive one to ostentation.

The first [obstacle]: Competition over material benefits impairs sincerity step by step, and impairs the fruit of the service, and causes one to lose even those material benefits [themselves].

Yes - this nation has always revered those working for the sake of spiritual reality and the Hereafter, and borne [noble] feelings of a desire to assist them. With the intention of actually taking part in a certain way in their true sincerity and loyal services, members [of this nation] have respected them and aided them with material benefits of charity and gifts so that they do not waste their time occupied by the acquisition of material necessities.

Yet these benefits, help and aid are not to be requested, rather only bestowed. Indeed, they should not even be requested in the language of one’s state (lisānu’l-ḥāl), such as one’s desiring them in one’s heart and expecting them. Rather, they are conferred on one whence one least expects. Otherwise, one’s sincerity is afflicted with a deficiency, and one would draw close to the prohibition of the noble verse وَلاَ تَشْتَرُوا بِآيَاتِي ثَمَنًا قَلِيلاً (a) such that one’s good deeds are partly wasted. (69)

As a result of the desire and expectation for these material benefits, [one’s] evil-commanding self, in its selfishness, and in order to not let those benefits go to someone else, provokes one’s disposition to competitiveness against one’s true brother and one’s friend in that particular [religious] service.

One’s sincerity is thus harmed, and one’s activities inviting to the truth lose their sacredness, and one takes on a condition that is disagreeable in the eyes of the people of reality - and one loses even those material benefits [themselves].

In any case, ‘this dough needs a lot of water,’ (70) and I am thus cutting it short here, and will mention only two examples that will strengthen the secret of sincerity and sincere united concordance between my true brothers.

The first example: Even certain politicians, figures, and organisations that play an important part in human social life have taken the principle of co-partnership in wealth (al-ishtirāku fi’l-amwāl) as their guide, for the sake of the acquisition of great riches and tremendous power. They attain overwhelming strength and benefits - along with all of the [possible] misuses and harms of the principle of co-partnership. Despite the many harmful aspects of the principle of copartnership in wealth, these do not change the reality of the fact that one becomes the owner of the wealth as

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a Sell not My signs for a trifling price. (Qur’ān: al-Baqarah, 2:41)

69. Literal: One’s good deeds would burn!

70. A Turkish proverb denoting that the issue at hand is too lengthy to treat properly in the present context. 

a partner; in terms of the authority that each wields over it, each is counted as the owner of all of the wealth, except that one is not able to benefit from it in a complete fashion.

In any case, were this principle of co-partnership in wealth to enter into activities related to the Hereafter, it would become the pivot of immense and harmless benefits without being sullied by damaging factors, for the secret of all the wealth is that it is owned by every individual that becomes a partner.

For example, with the intention of partnership, were there to be four or five people one of whom brought the oil, another the wick, another the lamp, yet another the glass and the last the matches, thereby igniting the lamp, each would [in a sense] own a whole lamp, and were each of these partners to possess a great mirror on the wall, the lamp would become fully reflected into the mirror together with the room, without deficiency or partition.

Now, exactly in the same way, the truth that as a result of partnership by the secret of sincerity in the property of the Hereafter - and mutual support therein by the secret of brotherhood, and the cooperation therein by the secret of unity, the entire harvest and all of the light yielded by that partnership in activities will enter the book of good deeds of each and every one of the partners - is witnessed, and is an actuality amongst the people of spiritual reality, and constitutes the entailment of the expansiveness of mercy and the generosity of the Divine.

O my brothers, therefore! Inshā'Allāh, material benefits will not drive you to competitiveness. Yet it is possible that you might be deceived concerning benefits related to the Hereafter, as happened with some of the adherents of the Sūfi orders.

Yet what is individual and partial reward when compared with the reward and light that result from partnership in activities, as in the aforementioned example?

The second example: In order to attain a great number of fruits of production, people in arts and manufacturing accumulate great riches by means of their partnership in crafts and industry (al-ishtirāku fi’ṣ-ṣan‘ah).

Once, there were ten men making needles for sewing; each of them tried to make a needle himself, and the yield of that individual work and

the fruit of that solitary manufacturing was just three needles a day. Thereafter, those ten men united in accordance with the principle of cooperation, such that one of them brought the metal, and another stoked the fire, while another bore a hole through the needles, and the fourth placed them in the fire, while the fifth sharpened them, and so on. Since each one of them occupied himself with a particular task involved in the making of the needle, and since the task that each of them took on was easy and simple, it did not waste time; each of them acquired an expertise, and thus completed their work in its production at speed.

They then divided between themselves the fruits of the production that they had acquired as a result of cooperation and the division of labour. They found that each of them was due a share of three hundred needles in a single day, as opposed to three [before]. This event became proverbial amongst world-serving manufacturers, as a form of encouragement of cooperation.

O brothers of mine!

Since the fruits yielded by such unity and concordance in [even] worldly matters and within concrete substances give rise to massive, immense benefits the like of this, you can draw your own conclusions about just what an immense profit the reflection of all rewards related to the Hereafter and illumination is - by Divine grace and without any need for partition or division - within the mirror of every individual, and each individual’s procurement of the reward obtained by all! The like of this immense profit should not be missed because of competitiveness and a lack of sincerity.

The second obstacle that impairs sincerity is winning favour in people’s eyes under the veil of glory and dignity - with the incentive of the love of fame (ḥubbu’l-jāh) that arises from the love of social status - fondling one’s egotism by attracting the regard of people, and giving the evil-commanding self a position; this is the most serious spiritual sickness and paves the way for the ostentation, boasting and self-praise that is called “the hidden ascription of partners to Allāh” (ash-shirku’l-khafī), and impairs sincerity.

O my brothers! It being the case that our way and method of service to the Wise Qur’ān is that of reality and brotherhood, and it being so that

the secret of brotherhood is one’s annihilating one’s personality (Footnote) in his brothers and preferring them to himself, it would be unbefitting for the competitiveness that stems from this type of love of social status to influence us, for it totally contravenes our way. And since it is possible for the brothers’ honour to belong to each and every individual, I am hopeful that the sacrifice of that sublime spiritual glory and merit for the sake of glory and fame that are individual, egotistic, competitive and trivial will be totally foreign to the students of The Book of Light.

Yes - the hearts, intellects and spirits of the students of The Book of Light disdain to fall into the like of these despicable, harmful, lowly matters; yet [nonetheless], every human being has an evil-commanding self. It is sometimes possible for the self’s desires to infringe upon the nerves, and thereby enforce their judgements to a certain extent, quite despite the heart, intellect and spirit. I am not casting aspersions on your hearts, spirits and intellects - rather, I trust in you all, because of the influence that The Book of Light wields within your selves, but [even so], the lower self, caprice, sentiment and delusion can sometimes deceive; that is why you are at times severely cautioned and warned; but this severity is intended for the lower self (nafs), caprice (hawā'), sentiment (ḥiss) and delusion (wahm). Be always on alert [against them].

Yes - if our way was one of taking a spiritual master (Sūfi shaykhhood), there would only exist a single position of standing [to seek after], or there would be only a limited number of positions of standing, and there would be numerous [people of] different capacities with an eye on them, and in such a case it would be possible for egotism marred by jealousy to affect their lower selves.

Yet our way is that of brotherhood, and it is not possible for a brother to be his brother’s father, nor can he take on the stance of a spiritual guide, for in brotherhood, the positions of standing are spacious and broad, so they cannot be the reason of envious competitiveness. A brother is only the helper and backer of his brother and strengthens his service.

Highly momentous and august spiritual perfections and benefits exist for the followers of the Sūfi orders. Yet due to [their] eagerness to gain spiritual rewards, and their high aspirations pertaining to positions like

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Footnote: Yes, the happy person is the one who throws his ice-cube-like self and ego and melts it in the pool of Kawthar, in order to acquire [for himself] the [entire] sweet pool that stems from the Kawthar of the Qur’ān.

father and spiritual guide that may exist, competition and conflicts may arise therein, in envy-bearing form. This results in very harmful and volatile consequences such that even their tremendous spiritual powers are unable to stand firm against the currents of innovation (bid‘ah).

The third obstacle is fear (khawf) and covetousness (ṭama‘) - but this obstacle has been thoroughly elucidated in ‘The Six Onslaughts’ (Al-Hajamātu's-Sittu) with a group of other obstacles, and so we will entrust its explanation thereto.

We ask the Most Merciful of the Merciful (Arḥamu’r-Rāḥimīn),

interceding with all of His Beautiful Names (Al-Asmāu’l-Ḥusnā),

to give us success in achieving perfect sincerity (ikhlāṣ).

Āmīn.

اللهم بحقّ سورة الإخلاص اجعلنا من عبادك المخلَصين المخلِصين. آمين.. آمين.. آمين.. (a)

سُبْحَانَكَ لاَ عِلْمَ لَنَا إِلاَّ مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الحْكِيمُ (b)

Sa‘īd Nursī

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a O Allāh, by the right of the Sūratu’l-Ikhlāṣ (sūrah of purity), make us from amongst your chosen, sincere servants! Āmīn, āmīn, āmīn.

b Glory be to You; we have no knowledge except that which You have taught us, surely You are the All-knowing, the Wise. (Qur’ān: al-Baqarah, 2:32) 

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 ḥadīths.

The first of them: يُوزَنُ مِدَادُ العُلَمَاءِ بِدِمَاءِ الشُّهَدَاءِ * أو كما قال (a)

“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 it will be of that value.” Or a wording close to it.

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Footnote: We requested that our Master explain the five types of worship that he alluded to in this valuable letter [on writing The Book of Light in Islamic letters]. 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, Husrev, Re’fet

a See Kanzu’l-‘ummāl, 141/10

The second of them:

مَن تَمَسَّكَ بِسُنَّتِي عِنْدَ فَسَادِ أُمَّتِي فَلَهُ أَجْرُ مِائَةِ شَهِيدٍ * أو كما قال (a)

“He who holds fast to my sunnah when my ummah has become corrupted shall have the reward of a hundred martyrs.” Or a wording close to it.

That is, winning the reward of one hundred martyrs is possible for the one who holds fast to the Lofty Sunnah and to the truth of the Qur’ān and serves both in a time of the overwhelming takeover of [currents] of innovation (bid‘ah) and misguidance (ḍalalah).

O brothers of mine, then, who because of laziness grow weary of writing and copying out, and those who have Sūfi inclinations! These two ḥadīths 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 Lofty Sunnah, 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 ḥadīth is "scholar," whereas some of us are mere writers and copyists.'

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 the fingers of that spiritual personality. 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 ḥadīth.

Sa‘īd Nursī

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a See Majma‘u’z-zavāid 172/1 and Kanzu’l-‘ummāl 101/1 

The Epistle on Frugality

The Nineteenth Flash

It is the Epistle on Frugality (iqtiṣād).

Concerning frugality (iqtiṣād) (71) and contentment (qanā‘ah),

wastefulness (isrāf) (72) and extravagance (tabẓīr) (73)

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ (a)

كُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا وَلاَ تُسْرِفُوا (b)

This noble verse gives a tremendously important lesson in wisdom in its unequivocal command to be frugal and its explicit prohibition of wastefulness; this issue comprises 'seven subtle points.'

The first subtle point: The Compassionate Creator (Al-Khāliqu’r-Raḥīm) wishes for gratitude in return for the blessings that He has given to mankind. Wastefulness (isrāf) on the other hand is quite the opposite of gratitude (shukr), and it constitutes a form of belittlement towards those blessings that is full of losses whereas frugality is a profitable form of respect towards those blessings.

Yes, frugality carries the meaning of gratitude, and of respect for the Divine mercy contained in [His] blessings, and categorically a means of [the acquisition of] abundance (barakah), and like a diet, a cause of bodily health, and a cause of dignity that saves man from the humiliation of spiritual begging, and a powerful means [enabling one] to feel the pleasures 

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a In the Name of Allāh, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

b Eat and drink, but do not waste. (Qur’ān: al-A‘rāf, 7:31)

71. Iqtiṣād: Frugality is the quality of being frugal, sparing, thrifty, prudent or economical in the consumption of consumable resources such as food, time or money, and avoiding waste, lavishness or extravagance.

72. Isrāf: To spend more than necessity in those occasions in which spending is permissible is termed as isrāf. Allāh says in the Qur’ān: ‘eat and drink, but be not excessive.’ (Qur’ān: al-A‘rāf, 7:31)

73. Tabẓīr: Wasteful spending especially on unnecessary objects. Allāh says: Indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils, and ever has Satan been to his Lord ungrateful. (Qur’ān, Isrā', 17:27) 

contained in those blessings, and to taste the pleasures in blessings that superficially appear not to be delicious - but because wastefulness conflicts with the aforementioned wisdoms, it has unwholesome results.

The second subtle point: The Wise Originator (Al-Fāṭiru’l-Ḥakīm) has created man's body to be like a perfect palace and a harmoniously ordered city. The sense of taste in the mouth is a doorkeeper, and the nerves and veins are means of communication, like phone lines and the telegraph, between the sense of taste and the stomach, which is the centre of the body. By means of these veins, the sense of taste gives news of the substances that are on their way from the mouth, and if they are unnecessary for the body and the stomach, it says, 'entry forbidden!' and casts them out. Whereas if they are harmful and bitter as well as at times holding no benefit to the body, it immediately casts them out and spits in their face.

Now it being so that the sense of taste in the mouth is a doorkeeper, and the stomach is a master and ruler of the administration of the body, if a gift that comes to that palace or to that city and is presented to the ruler of that palace has a value that is the equivalent of one hundred degrees, more than five degrees thereof as a tip for the doorkeeper would be unbefitting. This in order that the doorkeeper not become conceited and be deceived, and forget what his job is, such that he lets insurgents enter the palace merely because they give him bigger tips.

Now, based on this secret, let us now imagine that we have two meals in front of us, one made up of nutritious items like cheese and eggs and costs forty pennies, and the other made up of the finest type of baklava, costing four hundred pennies. Before they enter the mouth, there is no difference between these two meals for the body, and they are also equivalent in their nourishment of the body after their having gone down the throat, and indeed the forty-pence cheese might give better nourishment; there is no difference between them, except in the thirty seconds in which [the baklava] indulges the mouth's sense of taste. Now you assess what a harmful, futile waste it is to pay four hundred pennies instead of forty for the sake of thirty seconds! For when the gift that comes to the ruler is worth forty pennies, giving the doorkeeper nine times that gift in tips will deceive him and lead him to say, 'I am the ruler!' He lets enter whoever gives him the most in tips and tastes, and they would thereby have caused imbalance in the body and the outbreak of fire - such that the owner [of the body] is forced to say, 'Help! Let the doctor come and alleviate my burning, and put the fire out!'

Frugality then and being satisfied [with little] are conduct that harmoniously accord with Divine wisdom. They treat the sense of taste as [no more than] a doorkeeper, and based on this they give him tips [and no more].

Wastefulness, on the other hand, conducts itself in a manner contrary to that wisdom. One who wastes gets quickly slapped, and is corrupted in the stomach which leads to the real appetite being lost. It makes man eat with a false and artificial appetite arising from a [mere] diversity of food, and causes indigestion and makes man ill.

The third subtle point: In the foregoing second subtle point we said that the sense of taste is a doorkeeper.

Yes, for the heedless and those who have not ascended spiritually nor progressed along the road of gratitude the sense of taste is like a doorkeeper. It is absolutely necessary for one not to be wasteful, and prices must not be allowed to increase tenfold for the sake of the gratification of that doorkeeper. Yet as has been explained in the comparison I made in 'the Sixth Word', for the true people of gratitude, the people of spiritual reality and the people of heart, the sense of taste is like a supervisor and inspector of the kitchens of Divine mercy, and its vocation is to know and evaluate the species of Divine blessings in accordance with as many precise little criteria as there are tastes that the sense of taste [is able to taste], and to deliver those tastes to the body and the stomach in a form of spiritual gratitude.

Now, the sense of taste in this guise is not oriented only towards the physical body, but is oriented alongside it to the heart, the spirit and the intellect, which is why it possesses a status higher than that of the stomach. It is possible for man to control his pleasures so that he does not waste, and in order that he carries out his duty of gratitude, and so that he perceives and comes to know the types of Divine blessings, and to ensure that his pleasures are ones that are licit (mashrū‘), and that they do not become a means of humiliation and begging. It is also possible for him to prefer delicious tastes in order to use the tongue - that bears that sense of taste - in gratitude.

An event and a Ghawthīan wonder-making (karāmah of Shaykh

‘Abdu’l-Qādiri’l-Jīlānī) (qaddasallāhu sirrahu) that alludes to this reality:

Once a fragile, respected old woman had a lone son who was under the tutelage of al-Ghawthu’l-A‘ẓam Shaykh ‘Abdu’l-Qādiri’l-Jīlānī (qaddasallāhu sirrahu).

One day, this respectable old woman went to her son's chamber and found him eating a piece of dry dark bread, and he had become thin from this spiritual exercise (riyādhah). His state enkindled his mother's compassion and she took pity on him. She went then unto the master, Hazrat Ghawth to complain, and found the Hazrat Ghawth eating a grilled chicken. Out of pity [for her son] she said, 'O Shaykh! My son is practically dying of hunger, and you are eating a chicken.'

The Shaykh said to the chicken, قم بإذن الله (a) and the bones of the cooked chicken came together to form an intact chicken, which then hopped out of the pot. Now, this event has been transmitted to us by means of unanimous testimony by a great number of trustworthy, reliable men, as just a single of the wonders of the Ghawth, who is famous throughout the world for his extraordinary wonders (karāmāt). Thus the Ghawth said to the old woman, 'when your son has attained to this level, he can eat chicken as well.' By saying this, the Ghawth meant 'when your son's spirit has overcome his body, his heart his lower self and his intellect his stomach, and he calls for a pleasure in order to give thanks, he is welcome to eat delicious foods.

The fourth subtle point: The frugal man does not suffer from the hardships of poverty in his family sustenance, by the secret of the noble ḥadīth لا يعول من اقتصد which means that ‘the frugal man does not suffer a lot from the family troubles and hardships in his livelihood’.

Yes, there are numerous, innumerable evidences that point to frugality being a most sure means of spiritual blessings and of a life of plenty.

In brief, I am now telling you, by the testimony of what I have seen in myself, and by the testimony of those who have served me and kept company with me, that in some cases my friends and I have found ten times the [usual] abundance by means of frugality. So much so that, nine years ago, certain tribal leaders who were exiled with me in Burdur tried to push me to accept their zakāt in order that I do not fall into humiliation, poverty and misery because of a lack of money. To those rich leaders I said, 'it is true that I have very little money, but I am frugal, and I am habituated to being satisfied [with little]. I am richer than you all!' I refused this offer of theirs that they had pressed on me so insistently and repeatedly. Now, worthy of notice is the fact that some of those who had offered their zakāt to

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a 'Rise, by the permission of Allāh!' 

me had run into debts two years later because of their lack of frugality. All praise be to Allāh (lillāhi’l-ḥamd), that small amount of money sufficed me by the spiritual blessing of frugality for seven years after [their offer], and Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta‘ālā) never let my honour be sacrificed as to beg from others, and He never let me be forced to show my neediness in front of people. The way of 'asking nothing from people (istighnā),' which is one of the principles governing my life, was never impaired.

Yes, whoever does not practice frugality is a candidate to land in humiliation, in spiritual begging, and in misery. In this age, the money that is to be wasted is very expensive. At times, in return for it, dignity and honour are taken away as a bribe. At other times, the sacrosanct things of religion are taken away in return for it. After all, that ill-fated money is given to him [in exchange for a very expensive price].

In other words, one receives goods that are worth only one hundred material pennies at a loss of one hundred spiritual gold coins. If he were to limit himself to minimal necessities by means of being frugal, and suffice himself minimising his expenses and focus solely on his necessary sustenance, he would find his provision to be so sufficient to live that he wouldn't even expect to receive, by the secret of إِنَّ اللهَ هُوَ الرَّزَّاقُ ذُو القُوَّةِ المَتِينُ (a) and with the clarity of the verse وَمَا مِن دَآبَّةٍ فِي الأَرْضِ إِلاَّ عَلَى اللهِ رِزْقُهَا . (b) This verse guarantees [the provision of all].

Yes, there are two types of provision:

The first is the real provision on which man is able to live. This [type of] provision is under the Lordly guarantee in accordance with this verse. Unless the misuse of human choices were to interfere, one could find his necessary provision in all circumstances. He would be forced to sacrifice neither his religion nor his honour nor his dignity.

The second is metaphorical provision, wherein nonessential wants have, due to misuse, become essential needs, and man has become addicted to them as a result of the affliction of customs, such that he is unable to leave them. Since this [second type of] provision does not come under the Lordly guarantee, acquiring it is extremely costly, especially in this age.

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a Indeed Allāh is ar-Razzāq (The One Who provides abundantly), and the Possessor of Power, al-Matīn (The Firm One Whose nature is the utmost firmness and steadfastness) (Qur’ān: adh-Dhāriyāt, 51:58)

b And there is no creature on earth but that upon Allāh is its provision (Qur’ān: Hud, 11:6) 

Even at times one gets hold of that ill-fated, unblessed wealth by sacrificing one's dignity and accepting humiliation, and at times by plummeting down to a state of begging, such that one kisses the feet of the lowliest of people, and at other times by sacrificing those things of one's religion one holds sacrosanct, that are the light of one's eternal life.

Moreover, in this age of poverty and desperate need, the sorrow of the people of conscience (ahlu’l-wijdān), that stem from the pains of the needy and hungry whom they pity due to their compassionate nature, makes their pleasures bitter if they have a conscience - the pleasures that they find in the wealth which they earn in an unlawful way.

In a rather strange age like this, one must suffice oneself with doubtful earnings only as much as the absolutely necessary minimum amount. For if one is forced, one may take from unlawful wealth only as much as is absolutely necessary, by the secret of إِنَّ الضرورة تُقدَّر بقَدرها (a) and one can take no more.

Yes, for the one who is forced, it is forbidden to eat carrion to satiation, rather he is allowed only to eat enough to stop himself from dying. Furthermore, it is not befitting for one to eat much with perfect pleasure in front of a hundred hungry people.

An incident that points to frugality being a means of dignity and perfection: One day Khātim aṭ-Ṭā'ī, who is famous across the world for his generosity, put on a grand banquet, and presented a great many gifts to his guests. He then went out for a wander in the desert, and there saw an old, indigent man carrying thorny plants and shrubby herbage (74) upon his back, that were sinking into his skin and causing him to bleed. Khātim said to him, 'Khātim is putting on a grand banquet and is giving out presents - why don't you go to it as well, and get five hundred pennies instead of this burden that is only worth five pennies?'

That frugal old man said, 'I bear and raise up this thorny burden with my dignity, but I cannot bear being indebted to Khātim aṭ-Ṭā'ī. Later, Khātim aṭ-Ṭā'ī was asked, 'have you ever found anyone more noble and dignified than yourself?' He said, 'I found that old frugal man that I met in the desert to be more dignified, more noble and more chivalrous than myself.'

The fifth subtle point: Out of His perfect generosity, Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta‘ālā) makes the poorest man perceive the pleasure of His blessings as if he is the richest of men, and the indigent as if he is a king.

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a 'the degree of necessity is measured according to its extent'

74. Shrubby herbage: literal translation would be “astragalus” (Turkish: geven) which is a shrubby herb. 

Yes, the pleasure that the poor man finds, through hunger and frugality, in a piece of dry dark bread, surpasses the pleasure that a king or a rich man find in the finest types of baklava that they eat with the weariness and lack of appetite that stem from wastefulness. It is worthy of notice that certain wasters (musrif) and squanderers (mubaẓẓir) accuse the like of these frugal individuals of stinginess - far be it from them!

Rather, frugality is dignity and generosity. Stinginess and humiliation, on the other hand, are the real face of the apparently noble prosperity of those people of waste and squander. An incident that took place in my house this year reinforces this reality. It is as follows: One of my students pressed me to accept a gift of about three kilos of honey, counter to the principle that I adhere to [of not accepting gifts], and despite how vigorously I explained this principle to him, he remained unconvinced.

I was forced to accept it [not for myself] but just to let three of my brothers who were with me to eat this honey frugally throughout thirty or forty days of the blessed months of Sha'bān and Ramaḍān. I also did so in order that the one who had brought it win spiritual rewards, and that [the brothers] not have to stay without anything sweet. With this intention, I said to them: "Please you take it."

I also had a kilo of honey myself. Those three friends of mine were in reality upright people and were of those who appreciate frugality, yet somehow they forgot it simply because of - in a sense - praiseworthy characteristics like honouring one another, indulging one another's feelings, and preferring others to themselves. Thus did they eat the whole three kilos of honey, and finish it in three nights. Smiling, I said, 'I was going to make you taste sweet over the course of thirty or forty days, but you reduced those thirty days into three days. I said “enjoy your meal!”

Yet I frugally used up my one kilo of honey that I had with me. I ate from it throughout the months of Sha'bān and Ramaḍān - and praise be to Allāh (lillāhi’l-ḥamd), I gave each of those brothers of mine a big teaspoon of it at the time of the breaking of the fast, and this became a means of great reward. Perhaps those who saw me doing this thought it stinginess, and perhaps they think that what my brothers were doing over the course of those three nights was generosity, yet from truth's perspective we saw that behind that apparent stinginess lay a lofty dignity, a great abundance (barakah) and a sublime reward, and [we also saw] that had the like of that 'generosity' and wastefulness not been forsaken, they would have produced

a state of affairs much worse than stinginess, like begging, coveting that which others possess and looking at them in anticipation.

The sixth subtle point: There is a big difference between frugality and stinginess. Just as humility (tawāḍu‘) is a praiseworthy character trait that has a different meaning to abasement, which is a bad character trait, though it is similar to it in outer form, and just as dignity (waqar) is a praiseworthy character trait and is, in its meaning, quite different from arrogance (takabbur) which is a bad character trait yet its outer form is somehow similar to it. Similarly, frugality, which is from the lofty character of the Prophet (‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām), and indeed the pivot of the order of the Divine wisdom in the universe has no connection to stinginess, [which is] itself a mixture of misery, miserliness, cupidity and greed, except outer resemblance alone.

Below is an incident that confirms this very reality: The august Companion ‘Abdallāh Ibn ‘Umar (raḍiallāhu anhu), the oldest and greatest of the sons of the Supreme Differentiator of Right and Wrong, the Caliph of the Messenger of Allāh (‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām), one of the Famous Seven ‘Abdullahs and one of the prominent ‘ulamā' of the Sahaba, was one day involved in a fiery discussion in the course of buying and selling in the market, about something not worth more than a few pennies, all for the sake of frugality, and of preserving the trust and uprightness upon which trade stands.

One of the Companions (raḍiallāhu anhu) saw him, and thought that this discussion of the august son of ‘Umar, the Caliph of the Earth (raḍiallāhu anhu), concerning something worth no more than a few pennies, constituted a type of astonishing miserliness. He thus followed that Imam, in order to find out what was going on, and he saw that when Sayyidina ‘Abdallāh went into his blessed home, he found a poor man at his door and spent a short time with the man before he went in. He subsequently came out of the other door of his house, and found another poor man there. He spent a short time with him, too. Then he left and went on.

Now, all this provoked the curiosity of this Companion who had been following him from afar. He went up to those two poor men and asked them, 'what did the Imām do when he was standing with you?' They both said, 'he gave me a piece of gold.' That Companion then said to himself in wonder:

‘FasubḥānAllāh [Glory be to You O Allāh!] He went to the market just to have a discussion for the sake of something worth no more than a penny, (75) and then without anyone realising he then serenely gives out two hundred pennies with ultimate consent at his house!' He then went to our

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75. A penny (literal): Forty qurush 

master ‘Abdallāh Ibn ‘Umar (raḍiallāhu anhu) and said, 'Could you not solve this riddle for me? At the market, you did such-and-such, and I heard that at your house you did such-and-such!' He answered him, saying, 'what happened in the market was for the sake of frugality and intellectual maturity, and to preserve the trustworthiness and honesty that are the foundations and spirit of buying and selling - it was not stinginess. What happened at my house, on the other hand, came from heart's pity and spiritual maturity, and neither was the [first incident] stinginess nor [the second] wastefulness.' Alluding to this point, Imām al-A‘ẓam said, لا إسراف في الخير كما لا خير في الإسراف (a) which is to say that there can be no wastefulness [if wealth is spent] on good things and beneficent acts but only to the deserving, but there is absolutely no good in wastefulness at all.

The seventh subtle point: Wastefulness leads to greed, and greed engenders three outcomes.

The first: It is a lack of satisfaction. And the lack of satisfaction breaks one's desire to strive and to work, and drives one to complaining instead of gratitude, and throws man into laziness, such that he shuns the small amount of licit and permissible wealth [he has available to him] (Footnote) and seeks out illicit wealth and that [to get hold of] does not involve hard work or difficulty, and in order to get it he sacrifices his dignity and perhaps even his honour.

The second outcome of greed: It is frustration and loss, and having one's goal elude one, and being exposed to insult and being deprived of things, and of being facilitated and of the help of others. The aphorism الحريص خائب خاسر (b) which means “Greed is the means of loss and failure”, applies to the state of the covetous.

The effects of both greed and satisfaction run through the world of living creatures in accordance with a very expansive principle. For example, the natural satisfaction of trees causes their sustenance to run to the trees that are in need of it and the way that animals greedily run after their sustenance in a state of need and difficulty point to the great harm existing in

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Footnote: A lack of frugality increases consumers and reduces producers, such that all have their eye on the government's door, so that the industry, trade and agriculture upon which human social life stands dwindle, and the people decline and become backward and poor.

a ‘[spending on something] good is not wastefulness, just as there is no good in wastefulness.’

greed, and to the immense benefit existing in satisfaction. The flowing of a wonderful nourishment the like of milk unto all of the weak babies from whence they expect not, because of the satisfaction in the languages of their states (lisānu’l-ḥāl), and the greedy attack of wild animals upon their deficient and impure provision dazzlingly proves our claim true.

Furthermore, the state of satisfaction of the well-fed fish causing their fine provision to come to them, and the weakness and scrawniness of intelligent animals like the fox and the monkey resulting from their having not gotten hold of sufficient provision [for their needs] despite the fact that they greedily run after sustenance, also points to the extent to which greed causes hardship, and to which satisfaction causes ease. Then, the fact that the Jews barely get enough provisions to live on, and from illicit sources, and through humiliation and misery because of their dealing in interest and trickery as a result of their greed, and the satisfaction of the inhabitants of the desert - the Bedouin - their dignified manner of living, and their getting hold of all the provision they need to live, further proves the truth of our aforementioned claim.

What is more, the way in which a great many scholars (Footnote1) and writers (Footnote2) fall into poverty because of a type of greed that they have that [actually] arises from their intelligence, and the wealth of a great many dull-witted and powerless people resultant of their state of satisfaction they have in their innate dispositions, conclusively proves the fact that permissible sustenance comes [only] in so far as one is powerless and in need, and not in accordance with one's capability or choice.

Indeed, that permissible sustenance is of inverse proportionality to capability and choice, because the more young children increase in capabilities and will, their provision decreases, gets further away, and becomes

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Footnote 1: Bozorgmehr, famous for his intellect and wisdom, the minister of Anushirwan the Just, one of the just kings of Iran, was once asked, 'why is it that scholars are seen at the doors of rulers, but rulers are not seen at the doors of scholars, despite the fact that knowledge is greater than rulership?' By way of answer, he said, 'this comes from the knowledge of the scholars and the ignorance of the rulers. That is, because of their ignorance, rulers do not value knowledge enough to go to the doors of scholars to ask for it, whereas scholars know the value of their own wealth because of their learning, and they thus knock on the doors of rulers.' This is how Bozorgmehr elegantly answered the question, and gently interpreted the greed of the scholars that leads to their poverty and humiliation, and that is a result of their intelligence. Husrev

Footnote 2: A fact that reinforces this reality: French men of letters are given begging certificates for their proficiency in begging. Süleyman Rüşdü

difficult to get. Yet satisfaction is a treasure of a life of plenty and an easy life, in accordance with noble ḥadīth القَنَاعَةُ كَنْزٌ لاَ يَفْنَى (a) but greed is the source of loss and poverty.

The third outcome: Greed corrupts sincerity, and wounds actions carried out for the sake of the Hereafter. For when a God-fearing man becomes greedy, he seeks out people's attention, and whoever desires people's attention will never be able to find complete sincerity. Now, this outcome is both very important and very much worthy of notice.

The upshot: Wastefulness results in dissatisfaction, and dissatisfaction breaks one's desire to strive and work. It opens a door of complaint for one’s life and makes them complain consistently. (Footnote)

It also breaks one’s sincerity and opens a door for riyā', and both harms his dignity and paves the way for begging.

Frugality, on the other hand, results in contentment. By the secret of the noble ḥadīth of عَزَّ مَنْ قَنِعَ ذَلَّ مَنْ طَمِعَ, contentment (qana’ah) brings dignity with it. It also encourages one to work and strive. It increases one’s motivation and makes them work. For example, a contented man works one day and gets his small amount of daily wage in the evening. He is satisfied with it and he works again on the second day [for the same wage] thanks to his contentment. The waster however does not work on the second day since he is not satisfied [with the wage]. Even if he works, he does unwillingly.

Moreover, the satisfaction that arises from frugality opens the door of gratitude and closes the door to complaints such that one is continually grateful in one's life, and does not desire people's attention because of one's asking nothing from people (istighnā), which comes from one's satisfaction - and this opens the door of sincerity, and closes the door of ostentation (riyā').

I have seen the huge harm of a lack of frugality and of wastefulness on a large scale, as follows:

Nine years ago I came to a blessed city. Due to winter, I was unable to see what the sources of that city's wealth were. Many times, its Mufti, may Allāh have mercy on him, said, 'our inhabitants are poor,' and these

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Footnote: Yes, whichever waster you were to meet, you would hear complaints. It doesn’t matter how rich they are, you would again hear their tongues complaining. If you are to talk to the poorest yet contented man, you would hear gratitude.

a Satisfaction is a treasure that never runs out. (At-Targīb wa’t-Tarhīb, v.1 p.590) 

words saddened me and attracted my sympathy. Even after five or six years, I always took pity on the inhabitants of that city.

Some eight years later, I came again to the city in the summer, and saw its vineyards. I remembered what the late Mufti had said, may Allāh have mercy on him, and said, FasubḥānAllāh! 'Glory be to Allāh!] These [fruit] gardens produce far more than the people need. Its inhabitants should be extremely rich! I was amazed, and by means of a truth that then occurred to me - one that is my guide in understanding other truths, and that never deceives me - I perceived that abundance had been taken away [from this city] because of wastefulness and a lack of frugality. The late Mufti, may Allāh have mercy on him, had said 'our inhabitants are poor,' despite the presence of such a great many sources of wealth.

Yes, there exist illimitable incidents that point to frugality and the payment of zakāt being tried and tested means of abundance in wealth, and to wastefulness and not paying the zakāt being causes of abundance being taken away. The renowned genius, Abu ‘Ali Ibn Sina, the Plato of the Muslim philosophers, the master of physicians and of philosophy, interpreted the verse كُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا وَلاَ تُسْرِفُوا (a) from the perspective of medicine as follows:

جَمَعْتُ الطِّبَّ فِي البَيْتَيْنِ جَمْعًا * وَحُسْنُ القَوْلِ فِي قِصَرِ الكَلاَمِ *

فَقَلِّلْ إِنْ أَكَلْتَ وَبَعْدَ أَكْلٍ * تَجَنَّبْ وَالشِّفَاءُ فِي الاِنْهِضَامِ *

وَلَيْسَ عَلَى النُفُوسِ أَشَدّ حَالاً * مِن ادْخَالِ الطَّعَامِ عَلَى الطَّعَامِ

That is, I have gathered all medicine in two lines together. Beauty of speech lies in its brevity. Eat little when you eat! After eating, do not eat more until after four or five hours! Healing lies in digestion! That is, eat as little as you can digest. The most burdensome and tiresome exercise for one’s stomach and one’s self is to eat food over food. (Footnote)

سُبْحَانَكَ لاَ عِلْمَ لَنَا إِلاَّ مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الحْكِيمُ (b)

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Footnote: That is, the most detrimental thing for body is to have food over food without having four or five hour breaks between meals or stuffing various dishes upon one another just for mere pleasure.

a “eat and drink, but do not waste” (Qur’ān: al-A‘rāf, 7:31)

b Glory be to You! We have no knowledge except that which You have taught us - surely You are the all-Knowing, the Wise. (Qur’ān: al-Baqarah, 2:32) 

An instance of congruous alignment (tawāfuq) that is

attention grabbing and contains a lesson

Five or six copyists wrote out the Epistle on Frugality - three of whom are not skillful writers - and all of the fifty one alifs in every copy if the prayer part is excluded and all fifty three if the prayer is included came out congruously aligned, despite the fact the copyists all being in different, distant places and their reproducing from different copies, and their different types of handwriting, and the fact that they were not paying attention to those alifs at all. Now, the way that the number of alifs coincided with the date in which The Epistle on Frugality was written and copied - in the Roman (Julian) calendar fifty one (1351) and the Hijri calendar fifty three (1353) - unequivocally cannot have been a mere accident but must rather be an indication to the way in which in frugality abundance ascends to the degree of wonder (karāmah), such that it would be fitting to call this year 'the year of frugality.' [1934 or 1935]

Yes, two years later, time has also proved this wonder related to frugality in the Second World War, in the face of hunger, destruction, and types of wastefulness widespread everywhere, by way of forcing humankind and everybody to practice frugality.

The Epistle

on Gratitude

(Shukr)

The Fifth Issue of The Twenty-eighth Letter

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ (a)

وَإِن مِّن شَيْءٍ إِلاَّ يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ (b)

By means of the repetition of the verses the like of

أَفَلاَ يَشْكُرُون (c) أَفَلاَ يَشْكُرُون (d) وَسَنَجْزِى الشَّاكِرِينَ (e)

لَئِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ (f) بَلِ اللهَ فَاعْبُد وَكُنْ مِنَ الشَّاكِرِينَ (g)

the Qur’ān of Miraculous Exposition (Al-Qur’ānu’l-Mu‘jizu’l-Bayān) shows that the most important thing that the Merciful Creator (Al-Khāliqu’r-Raḥmān) requires of His servants is thankfulness (shukr).

In The Wise Criterion (Al-Furqānu’l-Ḥakīm), He calls to thankfulness with great concern. By showing that being unthankful is a form of denial

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a In the Name of Allāh, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

b And there is nothing but that it glorifies with His praise (Qur’ān: al-Isrā', 17:44)

c So will they still not give thanks? (Qur’ān: Yā-Sīn’, 36:35)

d So will they still not give thanks? (Qur’ān: Yā-Sīn’, 36:73)

e We will reward the thankful (Qur’ān: Āli ‘Imrān, 3:145)

f If you show gratitude, We will increase (Qur’ān: Ibrāhīm, 14:7)

g But worship Allāh, and be from amongst the thankful (Qur’ān: az-Zumar, 39:66) 

and refutation of Divine blessings, He severely and terribly threatens thirty one times through His edict فَبِأَيِّ آلاَءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (a) in [the Qur’ānic verse of] Sūratu’r-Raḥmān. It shows that unthankfulness constitutes denial and refutation of blessings.

Yes, just as the Wise Qur’ān shows that thankfulness is the proper outcome of creation, so too this universe, the Great Qur’ān, shows that the most important outcome of the creation of the universe is thankfulness.

For were one to carefully scrutinise the universe, one would find that the universe has been ordered so as to produce thankfulness - and that, from a certain perspective, all things therein are related to thankfulness. They are oriented towards thankfulness, as if the most important fruit of the tree of creation is thankfulness, and the finest of the products of the factory of the universe is thankfulness.

For we see that it is within this the creation of the universe that existent beings of the universe have been ordered in the form of a sphere and life has been created within it as their focal point.

All existent beings turn towards and look to life. They serve life. They make necessities for life available. That is to say, the One Who created the universe, singles out this life therefrom.

Moreover, we see that He brings worlds of living creatures into being [each] in the form of a sphere, and he places man at the focal point. It is as if the purposes intended from living creatures are centred on him. The Majestic Creator (Al-Khāliqu Dhu’l-Jalāl) gathers all living creatures around man and makes them into his servants, and they are subjected to him, and He makes man into their ruler. That is, amongst all living creatures, the Majestic Creator selects man. Allāh wills and chooses him in the cosmos.

We behold furthermore the fact that the world of human beings and even the animal kingdom are ordered in the form of a sphere, and provision is placed at the focal point thereof. It is as if He has made all people and even animals passionate lovers of provision, and has made them in most cases servants of provision, and subjected them to it. It is provision that rules them. He has made, what is more, provision such an expansive and diverse treasury that it contains illimitable blessings. In the tongue has He placed a faculty called the sense of taste and as many precise immaterial criteria as there are different foods, so that one might know the tastes of just one of the many types of provision. That is, the most wondrous,

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a Which of your Lord's bounties will you then deny? (Qur’ān: ar-Raḥmān, 55:13) 

richest, strangest, sweetest, most all-embracing and most artful reality in the cosmos therefore lies in provision.

And now we see that just as everything is gathered around provision and it is oriented towards it, so too does provision in all its types [itself] exist - spiritually and materially in state and word - as long as thankfulness exists. It comes about through giving thanks, and produces thankfulness, and points to thankfulness. For having an appetite and yearning for provision is a type of natural innate thankfulness, and even pleasure and taste are a type of unconscious thankfulness, in that this type of gratitude exists in all of the animals.

But man, in his misguidance (ḍalalah) and disbelief (kufr), alters the quiddity of this natural innate thankfulness, and plummets down from thankfulness to ascribing partners to Allāh.

Furthermore, the tremendously beautiful and decorated forms and the singularly pure smells and very agreeable tastes of the blessings that come in the form of provision, are inviters of thankfulness that summon living creatures to have yearning.

They drive the living creatures in longing toward a type of approval and respect, and push them to spiritual thankfulness, and they attract the attention of conscious beings to carefully [scrutinise these qualities of provision], and awaken their desire to appreciate, and encourage them to respect the Divine blessings, and guide them by way of them in word and action to gratitude, and make them to give thanks, and make them to experience, by means of thankfulness the loftiest and sweetest pleasures and tastes.

That is to say, it shows that this delicious provision and blessing, together with its short and temporary outer nature of pleasure, by means of thankfulness, causes one to win the solicitude of the Merciful (Ar-Raḥmān) that carries a perpetual, true and unlimited pleasure and taste. In other words, they drive man to reflect upon the limitless pleasure-bearing instances of solicitude of the Generous Owner (Al-Māliku’l-Karīm) in the treasuries of mercy, and causes one to taste - in a spiritual sense - the ever-abiding pleasure of Paradise even in this world.

Yet although provision becomes such a precious, rich, and all-embracing treasure by the mediation of thankfulness, it plummets all the way down [to nothing] as a result of the abandonment of thankfulness.

And as has been elucidated in ‘the Sixth Word,' if the sense of taste in the tongue turns to provision for the sake of Allāh, that is, in terms of its vocation of spiritual gratitude, this sense of taste in the tongue is like a greatly worthy, thankful appraiser and praiseful overseer of illimitable infinite kitchens of Divine mercy.

But if it does so for the sake of the lower self, that is, if it turns to provision without thinking about thanking the One Who gave the blessing, this sense of taste in the tongue plummets down from the status of a worthy overseer to the pit of being a [mere] hindering doorkeeper of the factory of the belly and a guard of the stables of the stomach.

Just as this servant of provision plummets down to that pit by not giving thanks, so too does the quiddity of provision itself and all the rest of its servants. They descend from the highest to the lowest of stations. They go down to a state that is opposed to the wisdom of the Creator of the universe.

The gauge of thankfulness is contentment, frugality, consent and satisfaction. The measure of a lack of thankfulness is greed and wastefulness, and not respecting [blessings]. In addition, it is also eating everything without distinguishing between that which is permissible and that which is forbidden. Yes, just as greed means unthankfulness, so too is it a cause of being deprived, and a means to humiliation.

It is as if even the blessed ant, which enjoys a social life, stays beneath people's feet and is trampled underfoot because of greed. Because whereas just a few grains a year suffice it, it is unsatisfied and [strives to] gather thousands of grains of wheat, if at all possible.

But because of its contentment, the blessed bee flies above the heads of all, and because of its contentment generously gives its honey to mankind by a Divine command, feeding them therefrom.

Yes, the Name 'Allāh' is the proper and Supreme Name (Al-Ismu'l-A‘ẓam) of the Holy Essence [pointing] to His essentiality. The Name 'Merciful' (Ar-Raḥmān), which is the most Supreme Same just after the Name Allāh, [is oriented towards] and looks to provision. One may reach [realisation in the reality of this name] by means of the thankfulness that is

latent in provision. What is more, the most manifest and evident meaning of 'the Merciful' is 'the Provider' (Ar-Razzāq). What is more, there exists different kinds of thankfulness. The most all-embracing of these kinds and their general index is the Prayer. What is more, thankfulness contains mere faith and pure Divine unity.

Anyone who eats an apple and says, Alḥamdulillāh 'praise be to Allāh,' proclaims by means of this thankfulness that “this apple is a present that comes directly from the hand of Divine power, and a gift coming directly from the treasury of Divine mercy.” By saying and believing this, he entrusts all things - be they particular or universal - to the hand of His Power, may He be exalted. And he comes to know the manifestations of mercy within all things. And by means of this thankfulness, he proclaims true faith and pure Divine unity.

We will now elucidate a single of the very many aspects, [from which one may look at this topic], that point to the great extent to which the heedless man falls into loss as a result of his being ungrateful for the blessings [he has been given], as follows:

Were man to eat a delicious blessing, and then give his due thanks for it, by means of this thankfulness, that blessing would become a light of the Hereafter and a fruit of Paradise. And through the pleasure that it has bequeathed man, this blessing causes him to contemplate its being the effect of the merciful instances of Divine solicitude from the Real, and it thereby bequeaths him sublime and perpetual taste and pleasure.

He has thereby sent these spiritual kernels, quintessences, and spiritual substances to the heavenly stations, and their material, ashen and scabrous parts - that is, those substances that have finished their duties and for which there is no need - have become waste, in order to transform back into their origin - that is, the elements. If man does not give his due thanks, this temporary pleasure will leave him in pain and regret when it disappears, and will turn into garbage - which is to say that the blessing, which has the quiddity of diamonds, will turn into coal.

Evanescent provisions yield perpetual pleasures and ever-abiding fruits when one gives thanks for it. Without thankfulness, a blessing metamorphoses from the most beautiful forms to the ugliest. This is because, as far as

this heedless person is concerned, provision is in the end bound to turn into waste after having given temporary pleasure.

Yes, provision has a form befitting passionate love, and this form appears by means of thankfulness. Otherwise, the passionate love that the heedless and the people of misguidance have for provision is animalistic.

Draw your own conclusions, given this, concerning the extent of the loss of the people of misguidance and of the heedless (ahlu’ḍ-ḍalālah wa’l-ghaflah).

Among all types of living creatures, the most in need of different types of provision is man. Allāh has made man in the form of an all-embracing mirror of all of His Names, and a miracle of power that has taken possession of faculties that can weigh and know all that is stored up in all of the treasuries of His mercy; and the vicegerent (khalīfa) of the earth, who has tools able to weigh the subtleties of the manifestations of His names as well as subtleties of His artful wonders.

This is why endless needs have been placed within him, and He has made him in need of illimitable types of provision, both material and spiritual. In accordance with that all-embracing nature, man's means of ascent to 'the best of forms (aḥsani taqwīm),' the loftiest of stations, is thankfulness.

If there is no thankfulness, he tumbles down to 'the lowest of the low (asfala’s-sāfilīn),' and will have committed a terrible wrongdoing.

The upshot: The greatest of the four bases of the way of servanthood and belovedness, which is the most exalted and loftiest way, is thankfulness, and those four bases have been articulated as follows:

دَرْ طَرِيقِ عَجْزِ مَنْدِي لَازِمْ آَمَدْ چَارِ چِيزْ؛

عَجْزِ مُطْلَقْ ، فَقْرِ مُطْلَقْ ، شَوْقِ مُطْلَقْ ، شُكْرُ مُطْلَقْ أَيْ عَزِيزْ ! (a)

(Dar ṭarīqi ‘Ajzmandī lāzim āmad chāri chīz

‘Ajzi muṭlaq, faqri muṭlaq, shawqi muṭlaq, shukru muṭlaq, ay azīz.)

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a The way of ‘Ajzmandī requires four traits: utter powerlessness, utter poverty, utter yearning and utter gratitude, Oh beloved! 

اَللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْنَا مِنَ الشَّاكِرِينَ بِرَحْمَتِكَ يَا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ (a)

سُبْحَانَكَ لاَ عِلْمَ لَنَا إِلاَّ مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الحْكِيمُ (b)

اَللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ سَيِّدِ الشَّاكِرِينَ وَالْحَامِدِينَ

وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ. آمين (c)

وَآخِرُ دَعْوَاهُمْ أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ (d)

_____

a O Allāh, make us to be from amongst the thankful, by Your mercy, O Most Merciful of the merciful.

b Glory be to You! We have no knowledge, except that which You have taught us, surely You are the All-knowing, the Wise. (Qur’ān: al- Baqarah, 2:32)

c O Allāh, send blessings and peace upon our Master Muḥammad, the Master of the Thankful and the Praiseful, and upon his family and companions. Āmīn.

d And the end of their prayers is “All Praise is due to Allāh Who is the Lord of the worlds”. (Qur’ān: Yūnus, 10:10) 

The Essence of the Essence

(Khulāṣatu'l-Khulāṣah)

بِاسْمِهِ سُبْحَانَهُ (a)

A sacred gift of the same month of Ramaḍān, and another

distinct and luminous form of the first station - written in Arabic -

from the epistle, 'The Supreme Sign' (Al-Āyatu’l-Kubrā).

A summarised recitation of the book of the universe in the

language of Divine unity, and an expansive imagination's

condensed letter of Divine unity. It is a spiritual effusion-bearing

manifestation of the litanies of لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ (Lā ilāha illallāh)

'there is no god but Allāh,' after the Prayer and [also a spiritual

effusion-bearing manifestation] of the phrase of Divine Unity,

which the pillars of this world remember in the language of

their states and speech (lisānu’l-ḥāl and lisānu’l-qāl)

in this universe's gathering of Divine remembrance,

and it is a shining exegesis of this forthcoming verse

on faith [in the Divine].

It is The Essence of the Essence (Khulāṣatu’l-Khulāṣah) of the epistle 'The Supreme Sign,' which is itself the essence of The Book of Light.

It is advisable that it be read at certain times contemplatively

for it increases faith.

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a In His name, may He be exalted! 

[English meaning starts on page 350]

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

تسبح له السماوات السبع والأرض ومن فيهن * وإن من شيء إلا يسبح بحمده

آمَنَّا بِأنَّهُ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ الوَاجِبُ الوُجُودِ الوَاحِدُ الأَحَدُ بِأَلْسِنَةِ السَّمَاوَاتِ بِكَلِمَاتِ النُّجُومِ وَالشُّمُوسِ وَالأَقْمَارِ وَالسَّيَّارَاتِ بِشَهَادَةِ نِظَامَاتِهَا وَوَظِيفَاتِهَا المُنْتَظمَاتِ.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بِلِسَانِ الجَوِّ بِكَلِمَاتِ السَّحَابِ وَالرِّيَاحِ وَالبَرْقِ وَالرَّعْدِ وَالأَمْطَارِ المُسَخَّرَاتِ المُوَظَّفَاتِ بِشَهَادَةِ مَنَافِعِهَا وَتَطَابُقِهَا لِحَاجَاتِ ذَوِي الحَيَاةِ.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بِأَلْسِنَةِ العَنَاصِرِ بِكَلِمَاتِ مُصَنَّعَاتِ مَوَالِيدِهَا، وَمُزَيَّناَتِ نَتَائِجِهَا، وَمُكَمَّلاَتِ خِدمَاتِهَا، وَكَمَالِ المُسَخَّرِيَّةِ وَالاِنْقِيَادِ وَالإِطَاعَةِ وَالاِنْتِظَامِ فِي تُرَابِهَا وَحَدِيدِهَا وَمَائِهَا وَهَوَائِهَا مَعَ جَهْلِهَا وَجُمُودِهَا وَتَشَابُهِهَا وَتَمَاثُلِهَا وَتَشَاكُسِهَا وَاسْتِيلاَئِهَا وَانْتِشَارِهَا بِلاَ قَيْدٍ فِي ذَوَاتِهَا مَعَ كَمَالِ مَنْظُومِيَّةِ وَمَوْزُونِيَّةِ مَا فِي أَيَادِيهَا.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بِلِسَانِ الأَرْضِ بِكَلِمَاتِ مَنَافِعِ مَعَادِنِهَا بِالْحِكْمَةِ لِلحَاجَاتِ وَسَنَابِلِ نَبَاتَاتِهَا بِالرَّحْمَةِ لِلأَقْوَاتِ وَثَمَرَاتِ شَجَرَاتِهَا بِالعِنَايَةِ لِلأَرْزَاقِ وَصُوَرِ حَيْوَانَاتِهَا المُدَبَّرَاتِ بِدَقَائِقِ الحِكْمَةِ وَالإِرَادَةِ فِي لَطَائِفِ الرَّحْمَةِ وَالعِنَايَةِ.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بِأَلْسِنَةِ البِحَارِ وَالعُيُونِ وَالأَنْهَارِ بِكَلِمَاتِ جَوَاهِرِهَا المُزَيَّنَاتِ وَحَيَْوَانَاتِهَا المُنْتَظمَاتِ وَوَارِدَاتِهَا وَصَرْفِيَّاتِهَا بِالمِيزَانِ وَادِّخَارِهَا وَمُحَافَظَتِهَا بِالاِنْتِظَامِ وَتَدْبِيرِهَا وَتَدْوِيرِهَا مَعَ الأَرْضِ حَوْلَ الشَّمْسِ بِالاِحْتِشَامِ.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بِأَلْسِنَةِ الجِبَالِ وَالأَوْدِيَةِ وَالصَّحَارَى بِِكَلِمَاتِ أَنْوَاعِ فَوَائِدِ دَفَائِنِهَا وَمَنَابِعِهَا المُدَّخَرَاتِ لِأَنْوَاعِ حَاجَاتِ أَنْوَاعِ ذَوِي الحَيَاةِ بِكَلِمَاتِ نَبَاتَاتِهَا المُتَسَنْبِلاَتِ المُرْسَلاَتِ لِإِنْفَاقِ المَخْلُوقَاتِ وَبِكَلِمَاتِ شَجَرَاتِهَا المُتَثَمِّرَاتِ وَالنَّاشِرَاتِ أَيَادِيهَا بِالثِّمَارِ لِإِطْعَامِ ذَوِي الحَيَاةِ.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بِأَلْسِنَةِ أَنْوَاعِ النَّبَاتَاتِ وَأَصْنَافِ الأَشْجَارِ بِكَلِمَاتِ الأَوْرَاقِ وَالأَزْهَارِ وَالبُذُورِ وَالأَثْمَارِ المَنْظُومَاتِ المَوْزُونَاتِ بِشَهَادَةِ فَتْحِ صُوَرِهَا المُتَبَايِنَةِ بِالاِنْتِظَامِ وَالمِيزَانِ وَالاِمْتِيَازِ.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بِأَلْسِنَةِ أَنْوَاعِ الحَيَْوَانَاتِ وَالحُوَيْنَاتِ وَأقسام الطيور والطويرات بكلمات الأعضاء والآلات والجهازات والحسيات المنتظمات بشهادة فتح وانكشاف صورها المتمايزات الموزونات المزينات.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بألسنة جميع الأنبياء والمرسلين بكلمات كمالاتهم ومعجزاتهم وكتبهم وصحفهم ومعاملاتهم ومناجاتهم القدسيات بشهادات الإمدادات والإكرامات والإعانات الغيبيات والمقابلات الربانيات لاستمداداتهم ومناجاتهم.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بألسنة الأخيار والأصفياء والصديقين بكلمات حججهم وبراهينهم ودلائلهم النورانيات المتوافقات.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بألسنة جميع الأولياء والأقطاب بكلمات المشاهدات والكشفيات المتطابقات.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بألسنة الملائكة والأرواح الطيبين بكلمات التسبيحات والتحميدات ملء الدنيا بشهادة توافق إخباراتهم المتواترات عند تمثلاتهم لأنظار الإنسان ألف ألف مرة.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بألسنة العقول المستقيمة والقلوب السليمة بكلمات يقينياتهما وقناعاتهما ودلائلهما وكشفياتهما المتطابقات مع تخالف المذاهب والمشارب.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بألسنة جميع الكتب والصحف السماوية بكلمات جميع الوحيات والإلهامات في الأعصار والأقطار.

نعم؛ كما يُظهِر ربوبيته وشفقته فعلاً وحالا بالمشاهدة، كذلك يعلن رحمانيته وألوهيته وحيًا وإلهامًا بالبداهة.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بكلية لسان محمد عليه الصلاة والسلام بكلمات كمالاته ومعجزاته وحقائق دينه وإجماع آله وأصحابه وأصفياء أمته على تصديقه في التوحيد بحق اليقين وعين اليقين وعلم اليقين.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بكلية لسان القرآن المعجز البيان المنور جهاته الست والمصدق من جانب المقامات الست والمقرر بالحقائق الست بكلمات سوره وآياته وثمراته وآثاره وأسراره.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بجامعية لسان الحقيقة الإنسانية (Footnote) التي هي الكائنات المصغرة المنورة والعالم الأصغر المزهر بكلمات الحياة والحسيات والجهازات والسجيات وبكلمات العبادات المتنوعة والاحتياجات الغير

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Footnote: لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ الواجب الوجود الواحد الأحد بلسان الحقيقة الإنسانية بكلمات حياتها وحسياتها وسجياتها ومقياسيتها ومرآتيتها وبكلمات صفاتها وأخلاقها وخلافتها وفهرسيتها وأنانيتها وبكلمات مخلوقيتها الجامعة وعبوديتها المتنوعة واحتياجاتها الكثيرة وفقرها وعجزها ونقصها غير المحدودة واستعدادتها غير المحصورة.

المحصورة والاستعدادات الغير المحدودة وبكلمات المرآتية والفهرستية والمقياسية والميزانية لشئونات خالق الكائنات.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بمحيط لسان الكائنات الكتاب الكبير المجسم والقرآن الجسماني المعظم بكلمات وارداتها وصرفياتها وسكنتها ومشتملاتها وتجديداتها وتبديلاتها بالانتظام والميزان وبكلمات الحدوث والإمكان والتغير في كل سكنتها والتغير والتصوير والتدبير بالانتظام في جميع مشتملاتها والتعاون والتساند والتناسب بالميزان في عموم أجزائها.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بشهادة الواجب الوجود بتجليات صفاته وأسمائه وشئونه وأفعاله وبكلمات آثاره ومصنوعاته المدبرات بكمال النظام والميزان وبدلالة تبارز الألوهية المطلقة في أقطار الكائنات في مقابلة تظاهر أنواع العبادات من أنواع الموجودات في تظاهر الربوبية العامة لجميع المخلوقات في مشاهدة الفعالية الشاملة لجميع المصنوعات.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ الواجب الوجود الواحد الأحد ذو الكمالات والكبرياء والعظمة المنافية للشركة.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ ذو الحاكمية والآمرية المطلقة المانعة من الشركة.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ ذو الربوبية العامة والألوهية المطلقة المستلزمتين للوحدة.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ ذو الفتاحية العامة المتماثلة.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ ذو الرحمانية الواسعة المتشابهة.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ ذو الإدارة المحيطة من الذرات إلى السيارات.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ ذو الإعاشة الشاملة المقننة لجميع ذوي الحياة المختلطات المتداخلات.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ ذو الأفعال والأسماء المحيطة وخالق العناصر والأنواع المستولية.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ خالق الأشياء بالكثرة المطلقة مع الانتظام المطلق في السرعة المطلقة مع الاتزان المطلق في البعدة المطلقة مع الاتفاق المطلق في الخلطة المطلقة مع الامتياز المطلق في المبذولية المطلقة مع غلو القيمة بهذه الكيفيات الدالة على الوحدة بالبداهة.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ الذي تزاحمت خواتيم وحدته على كل مكتوب من مصنوعاته.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ الواحد الأحد بشهادة وحدات مدرات تدابير الكائنات المستلزمة للوحدة مع الانتظام الأكمل العام المنافي للشركة.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ بشهادة التعاون والتجاوب والتوازن في أجزاء العالم الدالة على الواحدية مع إتقان الصنعة الشعورية في كل شيء على مقدار قامة قابليته المقننة بقلم القدر الدالة على الأحدية.

The following part points to the proofs of

Aḥmadan messengership (ar-Risālatu’l-Aḥmadiyya)

(‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām).

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ الملك الحق المبين محمد رسول الله صادق الوعد الأمين بشهادة ظهوره دفعة مع أميته بأكمل دين وإسلامية وشريعة، وبأقوى إيمان واعتقاد وعبادة وبأعلى دعوات ومناجات ودعوة، وبأعم تبليغ وأتم متانة خارقات مثمرات لا مثل لها تدل على غاية جديته واطمئنانه ونهاية وثوقه واعتماده وكمال صدقه وحقانيته وبشهادة اتفاق حقائق أركان الإيمان على تصديقه وبشهادة ذاته (alayhisṣalātu wassalām‘) بآلاف كمالاته ومعجزاته وبشهادة القرآن بما لا يحد من

حقائقه وبراهينه والجوشن بقدسية إشاراته والنور-أي رسائل النور- بقوة دلائله والماضي بتواتر إرهاصاته والاستقبال بتصديق ألوف حادثاته والآل بقوة يقينياتهم في تصديقه بدرجة حق اليقين والأصحاب بكمال إيمانهم في تصديقه بدرجة عين اليقين والأصفياء بقوة تحقيقاتهم في تصديقه بدرجة علم اليقين والأقطاب بتوافقهم على رسالته بالكشف واليقين والأزمنة الماضية بتواتر بشارات الكواهن والهواتف والعرّافين في الأدوار السالفين وبمشاهدة بشارات الرسل برسالته في الكتب والصحف المقدسة للأنبياء والمرسلين وبشهادة الكائنات بغاياتها وحكم حقائقها على رسالته بسر توقف حصول غايات الكائنات والمقاصد الإلهية فيها وتقرر قيمتها ووظائفها وتبارز حسنها وكمالاتها وتحقق حكم حقائقها على الرسالة الإنسانية لا سيما على الرسالة المحمدية الجامعة، إذ لولا الرسالة المحمدية لصارت هذه الكائنات المكملة صاحبة المعاني السرمدية هباءً منثورًا متطايرة المعاني متساقطة الكمالات وهو محال من وجوه وجهات.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ الحق المبين، محمد رسول الله صادق الوعد الأمين بشهادة صاحب الكائنات وخلاقها ومتصرفها ومدبرها بأفعاله وإجراءات ربوبيته على رسالته كفعل رحمانيته بإنزال القرآن المعجز البيان عليه وبإظهار أنواع المعجزات على يديه و توفيقه وحمايته في كل حالاته وبإدامة دينه بكل حقائقه وبإعلاء مقام حرمته وإكرامه على جميع مخلوقاته بالمشاهدة والعيان وكإجراءات ربوبيته بجعل رسالته شمسًا معنوية لكائناته بجعل دينه فهرستة كمالات عباده وبجعل حقيقته مرآة جامعة لتجليات ألوهيته بالحجة والبرهان وكتوظيفه بوظائف قدسيات لازمات لوجوه المخلوقات في هذه الكائنات كلزوم الشمس والضياء والنسيم والماء والرزق والنعمة.

فيا من تسبح له السماوات السبع والأرض ومن فيهن نشهدك ونُشهِد جميع الدلائل السابقة بأنا نَشهَد بأنك أنت الله الواجب الوجود الواحد الأحد الفرد الصمد الحي القيوم العليم الحكيم القدير المريد السميع البصير المتكلم الرحمن الرحيم لك الأسماء الحسنى.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ وحدك لا شريك لك وكذا نشهدك ونشهد الدلائل المذكورة بأنا نشهد بأن محمدًا عبدك ونبيك وصفيك وخليلك وجمال ملكك ومليك صنعك وعين عنايتك وشمس هدايتك ولسان محبتك ومثال رحمتك ونور خلقك وشرف موجوداتك وسراج وحدتك في كثرة مخلوقاتك وكشاف طلسم كائناتك ودلال سلطنة ربوبيتك وُمَبلِّغُ مرضياتك ومعرف كنوز أسمائك ومعلم عبادك وترجمان آيات كائناتك ومدار شهودك وإشهادك ومرآة أنوار محبتك لجمالك وأسمائك ومحبتك لصنعتك ومحاسن مصنوعاتك وحبيبك ورسولك الذي أرسلته رحمة للعالمين ولبيان محاسن سلطنة ربوبية رب العالمين في حكمة خلقة صنعة صبغة نقوش قصر العالمين ولتعريف كنوز جلوات أسماء رب العالمين بإشارات حكميات كلمات آيات سطور كتاب العالمين ولبيان مرضياتك.

يا رب السماوات والأرضين صلِّ عليه وعلى آله وصحبه بعدد حروف رسالة النور المكتوبة إلى آخر الزمان، واجعل برحمتك هذه التفكرات الإيمانيات في صحائف حسناتي وحسنات طلبة رسائل النور الصادقين وفي صحائف حسنات آبائنا وأمهاتنا، آمين والحمد لله رب العالمين.

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ (a)

تسبح له السماوات السبع والأرض ومن فيهن * وَإِن مِّن شَيْءٍ إِلاَّ يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ (b)

We believe that the heavens speak in their languages peculiar to them, the stars, suns and moons and planets say with their words, and by the testimony of their systems and well-ordered duties say that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ - (Lā ilāha illallāh), The Necessary Being (Al-Wājibu'l-Wujūd), the One and the Singular.

The atmosphere speaks and says that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ in the language specific to it and with the words of the clouds and winds and lightning and thunder and rain, each of which is a subjugated official, and by the testimony of their benefits and of their corresponding to the needs of all living beings.

The elements speak and say that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ in the languages peculiar to them, with the words of the artfulness of their products, of the ornamented effects, and of the decoratedness of their perfect services - which they present in perfect order and proportion in their hands- and with their being in complete subjugation, compliance, obedience and harmonious order [the elements of] earth and iron and water and air, despite their ultimate ignorance and inanimate state, their near-identicalness, their homogeneity, their incongruity, their [attempts to] overwhelm one another and their becoming scattered about without restriction in themselves.

The earth speaks and says there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ in the language that is specific to it, with the words of the wise benefits of its minerals for the needs [of creatures], and of the mercifully prepared germination of its plants as nourishment, and of the meticulously prepared fruits of its trees as provisions, and of the various, different forms of its animals determined by the subtle measures of Divine wisdom within the blessings of Divine mercy and favour.

The seas and springs and rivers say that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ in the languages peculiar to them with the words of their

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a In the Name of Allāh, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

b The seven heavens and the earth and whatever is in them exalt Him. There is nothing but that it glorifies with His praise. (Qur’ān: al-Isrā', 17:44) 

decorated jewels, and of their harmoniously ordered animals, of their balanced incomings and outgoings, of their being harmoniously stored up and preserving, and of their being directed and magnificently rotating with the earth around the sun.

The mountains, valleys and deserts say that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ in the languages specific to them, and with the words of the various types of the benefits of their treasures and springs that are stored up for all the needs of all of the species of living creatures, and with the words of their germinating plants, sent out to sustain the provision of living creatures, and with the words of their fruit-bearing trees, spreading out their hands full of fruit to feed living creatures.

The species of plants and the types of trees speak and say that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ in the languages peculiar to them, with the words of the ordered, well-proportioned leaves, flowers, seeds and fruits, by the testimony of the opening of their divergent forms in harmonious order, balance and distinction. The species of all animals and the species of microscopic living creatures, and the types of all birds, the species of flies and butterflies speak and say that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ in the languages specific to them, with the words of the harmoniously ordered limbs, organs, faculties and senses, and by the testimony of the opening and emerging of their differentiated, balanced, well-proportioned, decorated forms.

All of the prophets and messengers say that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ in their own languages, with the words of their holy perfections, miracles, books, scriptures, conduct and supplications, and by the testimony of the instances of unseen spiritual assistance, generosity, support and Lordly responses that came about through their requests for Divine assistance and their prayers.

Those of good deeds and good people as well as the purified ones (aṣfiyā') and the trusted ones (ṣiddiqīn) say that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ in their own language, with the words of their luminous, concordant demonstrations, conclusive proofs and evidences each of which supports and confirms one another.

All the saints (awliyā') and the spiritual poles (aqṭāb) say that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ in their own languages, with the words of

their gnostic witnessings (mushāhadah), mystical unveilings (kashf) and wonders that verify and confirm one another.

The angels and the pure spirits say that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ in the languages specific to them, with the words of the glorifying litanies and praise that fill the whole earth, by the testimony of the concordance of their unanimous reports of the same truths that took place during the millions of instances of their becoming manifest before the eyes of mankind.

The sound intellects and unblemished hearts say that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ in their own languages, with the words of their matching certainties, convictions, evidences, mystical unveilings (kashf), despite their divergent schools of thought (madhāhib) and spiritual methods (mashārib).

All of the heavenly books and scriptures say that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ in their own languages, in the words of all of revelations and inspirations in all times and places.

Yes, just as Allāh Most High shows that He feeds and raises all His creation with compassion and nurtures them before our eyes both in act and in state, so too does He proclaim His mercy and compassion so plainly for each of His creation and His being the only God of them through revelation (waḥy) and inspiration (ilhām).

Muḥammad (‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām) says in a universal language that encompasses his ummah that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ, with the words of his extraordinary perfections, his miracles and of the truths of his religion, and of the consensus of his blessed offspring and the members of his household, and of his Companions and the purified ones (aṣfiyā') of his ummah in confirming of Divine unity with certainty by reality itself (ḥaqq al-yaqīn), certainty by vision (‘ayn al-yaqīn) and certainty by knowledge (‘ilm al-yaqīn).

The Qur’ān of Miraculous Exposition (Al-Qur’ānu’l-Mu‘jizu’l-Bayān) - the six directions of which are illuminated, and [the Qur’ān] that is confirmed by the six stations and determined by the six realities - says that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ in a universal language, with the words of its chapters, verses, fruits, effects, truths and secrets.

The reality of humanity (Footnote) - which is the miniaturised, luminous universe and the bright, little world - says that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ, by the language of its all-embracing nature, and with the words of life, sensations, faculties and characteristics, and with the words of varying acts of worship, limitless needs and boundless capabilities, and with the words of being a mirror, index, scale and measure to the doings of the Creator of the universe.

The universe - which is itself a great embodied book and an enormous physical Qur’ān - says that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ in an all-encompassing language, with the words of its harmoniously ordered, balanced incomings and outgoings, its inhabitants and all that it contains, and its renewals and replacements; and with the words of all that is in it being created from nothing (ex nihilo existentiation) and their existence being possible but not necessary (contingency), and their being changed into various forms at every time; harmoniously ordered change, shaping and management within all of its contents, and the balanced cooperation, mutual support, proportionality within the totality of its parts.

The Necessary Being (Al-Wājibu'l-Wujūd) testifies with the manifestations (tajallī) of all of His Attributes (ṣifāt), Names (asmā'), Holy States (shu'ūnāt) and actions (af‘āl), and with the words of His effects that are directed in perfect order and balance and the creations that He created in a marvellously artful fashion, and also the appearance of diverse types of worship of the multifarious species of existent beings in every corner of the universe, and [His] display - before our very eyes - of His encompassing all created beings, feeding them mercifully, raising and nurturing them; and the witnessing of Divine actions universal for all creatures, and none but Him (His Essence transcendentally high above any blemishes) being the Divine of all the universe being clearly understood indicate that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ.

__

Footnote: The reality of humankind says that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ, by its language peculiar to it, and with the words of its life, sensations and characteristics, and with the words of being a mirror, scale and measure to the Names and Attributes of Allāh, and with the words of its qualities, moral character, being a guardian of the earth (khalīfa), and an index of all worlds, and its ego / I (anāniyah) which is the greatest trust to humankind, and with the words of its encompassing nature, many varying acts of worship, so many needs, limitless poverty, weakness and inadequacy and unlimited capacities. He is al-Wājibu’l-Wujūd Whose existence is necessary. He is the One (Al-Wāḥid) Who strikes His seal of unity on every single thing and Who does not accept an associate to His Essence. He is the Singular (Al-Aḥad), the sole owner of sultanate, and has no partner and there is none like unto Him.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ There is no god but Allāh Who is al-Wājibu’l-Wujūd, and Whose existence is necessary, the Possessor of perfection, grandeur and sublimity that denies association and attributing partners to Allāh (shirk) in any perspective in His sultanate; al-Wāḥid, the One, Who strikes His seal of unity on every single thing and Who does not accept an associate to His Essence; al-Aḥad, the Singular, Who is the sole owner of the sultanate, the one and only, Who has no partners and none like unto Him.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ There is no god but Allāh Who is the Owner of absolute sovereignty and rulership, Who rejects association and attributing partners to Allāh (shirk) in his sultanate in every way possible.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ There is no god but Allāh, possessor of the attribute of universal Lordship (rubūbiyyah) - Who feeds all the creatures, raises and nurtures them - and the attribute of Divinity (ulūhiyyah) - God of all created beings, both of which entail oneness and singularity.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ There is no god but Allāh, possessor of the attribute of creating and sending all His creations to the realm of existence - creations that are similar to each other yet have specific properties.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ There is no god but Allāh, possessor of the attribute of very expansive mercifulness and compassion that spread and embrace all around the universe and that look very similar to each other.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ There is no god but Allāh, possessor of a glorious rule that encompasses all from the atoms to the planets.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ There is no god but Allāh Who gives [proportions of] sustenance and livelihood very orderly for all commingling and intermeshed living creatures.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ There is no god but Allāh, possessor of all-encompassing actions and Names, the Creator of the elements and the species that occupy everywhere.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ There is no god but Allāh Who has created things within absolute order alongside absolute multiplicity, within absolute poise along with absolute speed, within absolute concordance alongside absolute distances, within absolute differentiation alongside absolute intermixedness, with precious value alongside absolute abundance. All of these operations self-evidently point to His oneness.

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ There is no god but Allāh, the seals of Whose Oneness is abundantly seen on every single letter of the artful works that He created.

The centrality of governing and directing the universe, which requires unity and oneness, and this very unity, that accepts no attributing partners to Allāh (shirk) or association, occurring in a perfect order, testify that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ. And He, Who strikes His seal of unity on every single thing and does not accept partnership to His Essence, is One (Wāḥid). He is the Singular (Aḥad), the sole owner of sultanate, and has no partner and there is none like unto Him.

Together with impeccability in His artful creation, that shows everything is determined in special measures by the pen of Destiny (Qadr), every one of them is created knowingly in a way that befits their capacities, and in a fashion that shows His Oneness; cooperation of every single particle of the universe that displays a proof that all comes from one hand, and all of them responding to each other's needs, and acting in perfectly harmonious synchronisation and maintaining a delicate balance with one another testify that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ.

The following part points to the proofs of

Aḥmadan messengership (ar-Risālatu’l-Aḥmadiyya)

(‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām).

There is no god but Allāh. لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ. He is the King (Malik), the absolute owner of the domain (mulk). He is the Truth (Ḥaqq), Whose actions are of absolute justice, wisdom, truth and reality, and about Whose existence would be no doubt or uncertainty. He is the Manifest (Mubīn) Who differentiates truth (ḥaq) and falsehood (bāṭil) and makes everything manifestly crystal clear.

Prophet Muḥammad (‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām) is His messenger. He is the faithful keeper of his promise, trustworthy and firmly trusted one.

While he was not a recipient of education in literacy (ummī), with the testimony of the most perfect religion (dīn) he delivered, the religion of Islām and its laws and principles (shari‘ah), and with the most powerful of faith (īmān), conviction in creed (i‘tiqād) and acts of worship (‘ibādah) that bear witness to his ultimate seriousness and confidence of heart in his cause, and utmost level of faithfulness and truthfulness, and his loftiest prayer (du‘ā), supplication (munājāt) and his call (da‘wah), and with the testimony of the most encompassing delivery of his universal message (tabligh),

and his most perfect tenacity and determination that bear matchless fruits, and with the testimony of the unanimous confirmations to him by all the truths about the fundamentals of faith, and with the testimony of thousands of perfections and miracles of him, and the countless and incalculable amounts of truths and proofs of the Qur’ān, and with the testimony of the blessedness of the indications of Jawshan, and the power of the proofs of The Book of Light, and with the testimony of the past time that gives news of the extraordinarily wondrous events (irhāṣāt) that took place before his prophethood (nubuwwah), constituting evidence to his cause, in a way that cannot be denied in any way possible, and with the testimony of the future time that proves his mission with the events that took place later on, and with the testimony of his family members (Ahlu’l-Bayt) who witnessed and experienced the veracity of his messengership and confirmed it by their unshakable, strong faith in the level of certainty by reality (ḥaqq al-yaqīn), and with the testimony of the companions (aṣḥāb) who saw many of his miracles in his lifetime and confirmed his mission of messengership with their unshaken, firm faith in the level of certainty by vision (‘ayn al-yaqīn), and with the testimony of the purified ones (aṣfiyā') with their firm conviction after interrogative research, intense investigations in the level of certainty by knowledge (‘ilm al-yaqīn) who affirm his message (risālat), and with the testimony of the spiritual poles (aqṭāb) with their spiritual discoveries (kashf) and wonders (karāmāt) who agreed upon his prophethood the firm proofs of which leave no space for a shadow of a doubt nor an uncertainty, and with the testimony of the past times which accommodate the undeniably large numbers of strong glad tidings of soothsayers (kāhin), good news of the informants of the unseen (hātif) and the gnostic knowers (‘ārif), and with the testimony of the good news of his messengership manifestly given by all messengers in their books (kitāb) and scrolls (suḥūf), and with the mystery of the creational purposes of the universe, the occurrence of the Divine objectives in it, and the value of everything as well as their duties being understood, its beauty and perfection being revealed and the wisdoms in the truths having come true and no other species but humankind being sent messengers, and especially Prophet Muḥammad (‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām) being so attached to his universally encompassing mission of messengership, -Because, if it wasn’t for the messengership of the Prophet Muḥammad (‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām), this universe that carries eternal meanings, would reduce to a state of extreme worthlessness, insignificance and pointlessness, and its perfection would fall to nothing so much so that

such a likelihood is impossible from many aspects and perspectives. It is established with the testimony of all the objectives of the creation of the universe and their countless wisdoms within their reality that there is no god but Allāh لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ.

He is the King (Malik), the absolute owner of the domain (mulk). He is the Truth (Ḥaqq), Whose actions are of absolute justice, wisdom, truth and reality, and about Whose existence would be no doubt or uncertainty. He is the Manifest (Mubīn) Who differentiates truth (ḥaq) and falsehood (bāṭil), and manifestly makes everything crystal clear. Prophet Muḥammad (‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām) is His messenger. He is the faithful keeper of his promise, trustworthy and firmly trusted one.

Our Lord (Yā Rabbanā), the Owner and Creator of the universe, Who has full authority to arrange, rule and manage anything as He pleases. With the testimony of His Merciful (Raḥmānī) actions like sending down the Noble Qur’ān the words and meanings of which are miraculous, displaying all sorts of miracles in His messenger’s hands, granting him success in all his states and protecting him, keeping his religion with all its truths going, elevating his status of reverence and honour above all His creations in a way that all would easily and noticeably see with their eyes, and with the testimony of the operations of His Lordship (rubūbiyyah) to his messengership - His Lordship that feeds every creation, raises and nurtures them, and it is certainly established with the testimony of His Lordship that shows every existent being is nurtured according to their specific states, and making him a spiritual sun by rendering his prophethood as a mercy to the worlds, making his elevated religion as an index for the perfection of His servants, making his reality an encompassing mirror to the reflections and manifestations of His Divinity - proven and established by very many proofs and evidences, and appointing him in holy duties like mercy, wisdom and justice that are really necessary for this universe as vitally needed as the existence of blessings like the sun, light, air, water and food for the created beings in the universe. (There is no god but Allāh. He is the King (Malik), the absolute owner of the domain (mulk). He is the Truth (Ḥaqq), Whose actions are of absolute justice, wisdom, truth and reality. He is the Manifest (Mubīn) Who differentiates truth (ḥaq) and falsehood (bāṭil) and makes everything manifestly crystal clear. Prophet Muḥammad (‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām) is His messenger. He is the faithful keeper of his promise, trustworthy and firmly trusted one.)

O our Almighty Lord (Yā Rabbanā Yā Qadīr) Who is glorified by seven heavens and earth and all therein! We show You and all these proofs mentioned above as witness, and we too bear witness and say that:

Doubtlessly, You are the Sultan of Beginningless Eternity and Endless Eternity (Sultān of azal and abad), and the Owner of all the Beautiful Names (Al-Asmāu’l-Ḥusnā) and the most elevated Attributes (ṣifāt), and You are Allāh Most High - the only Worshipped One - the one and only Subject of Worship (Ma‘būd) of all creation. You are the Necessary Being (Al-Wājibu'l-Wujūd) Whose existence is necessary.

You are the One (Wāḥid) Who strikes His seal of unity on every single thing and Who does not accept an associate to His Essence. You are the Singular (Aḥad), the only owner of the kingdom. You are the Single (Al-Fard) Who has no partner or peer, equal or rival.

You are the Satisfier of every need (Aṣ-Ṣamad) Whom all is in need of in every sense but Who is in need of none. You are the Ever-Living (Al-Ḥayy) Who is the Owner of beginninglessly and endlessly eternal life. You are the Self-Existing (Al-Qayyūm) upon Whom all beings depend to exist. You are The All-Knowing (Al-‘Alīm) Who knows every single thing, and You are the All-Wise (Al-Ḥakīm) Who does everything with wisdom, and You are the Almighty (Al-Qadīr) Whose supreme power prevails over all. You are the All-Willing (Al-Murīd), the owner of the absolute willpower Who does whatever He pleases to do. You are the All-Hearing (As-Sami‘) Who hears everything, You are the All-Seeing (Al-Baṣīr) Who sees everything, You are the Speaker (Al-Mutalakallim) Who says whatever He pleases to say. You are infinitely Merciful (Ar-Raḥmān) Who bestows His blessings in this world on all His creation without differentiating anyone - be it a believer or a disbeliever, a good person or a bad one.

You are limitlessly compassionate and forgiving (Ar-Raḥīm) Who grants blessings in the hereafter only on believers. The Most Beautiful Names belong to You. There is no god but You. You are the One, You do not have a partner nor an associate in any ways. And by making Your Essence and all mentioned proofs as witnesses, we too certainly bear witness and say:

Prophet Muḥammad (‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām) is Your servant, Your messenger and Your Chosen one amongst all humanity - Your Muṣṭafā, and Your beloved one.

He is the beauty of Your domain, sultan of Your artful creation, the fountainhead of your Divine favour (‘inayāh). He is the sun of Your guidance (hidāyah), the language of Your love (muḥabbah), the example of

Your mercy (raḥmah). The light of all things that You created, the honour of all beings. He is the shining lamp of Your unity amongst the varying layers of multiplicity of Your creation, and the decipherer of the mystery of this universe, the proclaimer of the sultanate of Your Lordship (rubūbiyyah). The conveyor of [the message about] the things You are pleased with, and the introducer of the treasures of Your Names.

He is the teacher of all your servants, the interpreter of the proofs [of Your existence] and the source of Your Essence’s being seen and shown. He is the mirror of the lights of Your love to Your own beauty and names, and the mirror to Your artful creation and the mirror of Your love to the beauties of Your created beings that You created with your artistic creation.

He is Your Beloved one (Ḥabīb) and Your messenger (Rasūl) whom You, the Lord of the Worlds, sent him as a mercy to the worlds, and sent him so that he explains the boundless beauties of Your Divine dye in the engravings of the glorious palace that is composed of all worlds to us, and so that he expounds the endless wonders of Your nurturing (tarbiya) in the realm of sultanate that is seen in the limitless wisdoms of Your creating everything in an extraordinarily wondrous artful fashion, and You sent him to describe us the treasures in the manifestations of Your names that are specific to You alone, as the Lord of the worlds, with the signs of all things created with wisdom in the words of the verses within the lines of the book of the entire universe, and You sent him so that he declares the things to us - the things that You are pleased with.

O Lord of the heavens and the earths! Send as many salutations as the letters of The Epistles of Light until the Day of Resurrection (Qiyāmah) upon him (‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām), his blessed generation, his family members (Ahlu’l-Bayt) and companions (aṣḥāb).

By Your mercy, O our Lord, let these īmānic contemplations [regarding our faith] be recorded on my book of good deeds, on the faithful students of Risālatu’n-Nūr (The Book of Light), on the book of good deeds of our fathers and mothers. Āmīn. والحمد لله رب العالمين All praise and thanks be to Allāh, Who is the Lord of the worlds.

The Letters of the Qur’ānic and Īmānic Service

بِاسْمِهِ سُبْحَانَهُ (a)

وَإِن مِّن شَيْءٍ إِلاَّ يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ (b)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته أبدًا دائمًا (c)

My honourable (‘azīz) and sincerely trustworthy (ṣiddīq) brothers,

[First] By way of deceiving certain significant figures in government, the hidden hypocrites, up until this day, have been attacking The Book of Light through [misusing] the laws and court system [as if we were] breaking public peace and administration. Since we always take the course of constructive and positive approach, we were [always] in the position of defence even when forced. [That is why] their vicious plans have come to nothing now. Quite contrary [to what they plotted against us], their attacks enlarged the circle of The Book of Light. This time, although we carried no intention and initiation in printing The Staff of Moses (‘Aṣā Mūsā) (‘alayhissalām) in new [Latin] letters, (76) it is as if the offensive position is being given to The Book of Light. The significant wisdom of this incident must be this [below]:

Since The Book of Light is a spiritual saviour of this blessed land, [I assume] it is now time or is almost the time to start to appear in and give lessons through the medium of printed materials in order to prevent two spiritual and horrible calamities.

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a In His Name, may He be glorified!

b There is nothing but that it glorifies with His praise. (Qur’ān: al-Isrā', 17:44)

c May peace, mercy and blessings of Allāh be upon you forever and ever.

76. After the abolishment of khilāfah, the government of the then newly founded Turkish Republic banned the Islāmic letters that the Turks had used over a thousand years and adopted the Latin letters instead. 

The First of those horrific calamities: The Book of Light functions as a Qur’ānic barrier like the Barrier of Dhu’l-Qarnayn against the spiritual invasion of this land by the dreadful irreligiosity movement that defeated the religion of Christianity, and that let the anarchy grow, and that stemmed from the north.

The Second One: It has been inspired to my heart that the time has come to speak in the language of printed materials in order to prevent the fierce opposition and accusation of the Islāmic world against the people of this blessed land. I am not well aware of the situation around the world. Yet [I suppose] the truths of The Book of Light are not only a fortress against the invasion of an atrocious movement that rules Europe in an intrusive manner, a movement that is not relying on the heavenly religions, [these truths] are also a Qur’ānic miracle to remove the present opposition and accusation of the Islāmic world and the Asian continent and restore the love and brotherhood that existed in the past.

The patriot politicians of this country should come to their senses and swiftly publish The Book of Light and spread it officially so that it becomes a defending trench against these two calamities.

I wonder, whether this blessed land would be able to preserve its Qur’ān and faith (īmān) fully from these horrific shocks in these revolutions and outbursts of this dreadful century, if it weren’t for The Book of Light that has spread the inquisitively verified faith (al-īmānu’t-tahqīqī) in a very strong style within these twenty years.

Anyway, one cannot attack The Book of Light anymore under the guise of [a claim that it potentially] causes harm to the land and the administration. They cannot convince anyone whatsoever with that excuse anymore. On the other hand, hypocrites, who have changed their fronts, are now attempting to attack The Book of Light and its students from a different front with cunning plots under the cover of the religion by way of using some simple-minded and easily deceived scholars, or the supporters of religious innovation (bid‘ah), or some people of large ego from Sūfi orders (just like they did it in Istanbul and in the vicinity of Denizli two years ago). By the will of Allāh (inshā'Allāh), they will not be able to succeed.

While the students of The Book of Light stay contained in utmost precaution, in the case of an assault they should avoid any arguments, and disregard [any assaults]. If the deceived person [who charged an assault

against The Book of Light] is a man of knowledge and a believer, students should be friends with them saying, “we do not interfere with you [i.e. your cause], so please you do not interfere with us either. Let [the incident and the person] calm down by saying we are brothers with the people of īmān.”

Secondly: The hero of the blessed [students], our brother Minor Ali of major spirit (Büyük Ruhlu Küçük Ali), the title of whom carries the meaning of both ‘Abdurraḥmān and Lutfi as well as that of Senior Hāfiz Ali (Büyük Hafız Ali), asks a question whereas its answer is scattered in a hundred different places in The Book of Light. [The question is]: “Why is it that The Book of Light puts great emphasis to this extent on the articles of faith (īmān)? He says that he received lectures from his previous scholars [stating] that an ordinary believer’s īmān is like a saint’s conviction (īmān).

The answer: [We covered] this in the topics of the levels of īmān primarily in The Supreme Sign (Al-Āyatu’l-Kubrā) and in the Second Point of the Third Issue of the Twenty-eighth Letter.

[The First Perspective:] During the end of his life, it is the expression and ruling of Mujaddid Alfu Thāni Imām Rabbānī (qaddasallāhu sirrahu) that the peak and the greatest purposes of all Sūfi orders is to flourish and unveil (inkishāf) the truths of īmān. Certain clarity and explanation of a single matter of īmān is [far] better than thousands of wonder-workings (karāmāt) and spiritual discoveries or unveilings (kashfiyāt). And similarly, the piece at the very end of the Supreme Sign and one part of that letter excerpted from the appendix and the expressions in the entirety of the letter, and the Tenth Issue of the Fruit Epistle on the repetition of the Qur’ān are an answer [to this question of yours]. The wisdom of repeated and plentiful emphasis of the Qur’ān on the Divine unity (tawḥīd) and articles of faith also occurs in The Book of Light which is, in its totality, a true exegesis (tafsīr) of the Qur’ān.

The explanations of the pieces regarding the types of īmān like inquisitively verified (taḥqīqī), imitative (taqlīdī), abridged (ijmālī) and detailed (tafṣīlī) faith as well as staying firm and unshaken against all sorts of attacks, satanic whisperings (waswasas) and doubts are such a [convincing] answer to the letter of Minor Ali of major spirit (Büyük Ruhlu Küçük Ali) that it leaves no further need for us [to explain any more].

The Second Perspective: Faith (īmān) is not only restricted to brief (ijmālī) and imitative (taqlīdī) confirmation. There exist various layers and

growing levels in a seed - from a [tiny] seed to a massive palm tree - and in the reflected image of the sun - from the image of the sun in a [small] mirror in hand to its reflection on the surface of a sea, and to the [actual] sun. Similarly, there are as many plentiful truths of faith. So much so that, in one thousand and one Beautiful Divine Names and other articles of faith exist so many truths that are related to the truths of the universe. And of all the sciences (‘ilm) and instances of knowing (ma‘rifah) and perfections of human beings, the greatest one is faith (īmān). People of truth have had consensus that it is the detailed and evidenced Divine knowledge (ma‘rifah qudsiyyah) that comes from the inquisitively verified faith (al-īmānu’t-taḥqīqī).

Yes, imitative faith (al-īmānu’t-taqlīdī) is quickly defeated by doubts. Yet within verified faith, which is far stronger and much wider than this, are very many degrees. Of all those degrees, the degree called ‘ilm alyaqīn (certainty by knowledge) with the power of its proofs can stand up to thousands of doubts. Whereas, imitative faith sometimes loses against even a single doubt. Furthermore, another degree of verified faith is ‘ayn al-yaqīn (certainty by eyesight) that also has plenty of degrees. Quite possibly there exist as many degrees of manifestation as the number of the Divine Names. It comes to a degree that one is able to read the entire cosmos like a Qur’ān. And, another degree [of verified faith] is ḥaqq al-yaqīn (certainty by experience) and it has a great number of degrees within it. If the armies of doubts attack people of such īmān, those armies could do nothing but fail. Thousands of books that the scholars of Islāmic scholastic theology (‘ilmu’l-kalām) wrote based on intelligence (‘aql) and logic (manṭiq) showed only an evidenced and rational way of the knowledge of īmān while hundreds of volumes of books, that the people of truth (ahlu’lhaqīqah) wrote based on spiritual unveiling (kashf) and direct experience [or spiritual tasting] (dhawq), revealed the knowledge of īmān in another perspective. Yet the truths of faith and Divine knowledge (ma‘rifah qudsiyya) that the miraculous great path of the Qur’ān shows are utterly stronger and absolutely higher than the statements of those books of scholars (‘ulamā') and saints (awliyā').

Now, The Book of Light stands out against the global destructive movements, [that have been acting] at the expense of humanity and on behalf of the worlds of nonexistence against the Qur’ān and the religion of Islam for a thousand years, and it defends the Qur’ān as well as interpreting this

encompassing, universal and elevated highway of happiness and the peak of knowledge. Without a shadow of a doubt, there is a massive need for limitless emphasis [on the articles of faith] that the people of īmān should preserve their faith with the light of the Qur’ān resisting those limitless numbers of enemies. It is narrated in the ḥadīth:

“It is better to have a person come to faith by means of you than you owning a valley replete with red sheep.” (77) There are times that an hour of reflection (tafakkur) is better than a year of the [voluntary] act of worship. (78) That’s why Naqshīs [followers of Naqshībandī order] give great importance to silent devotional recitation (khafī dhikr) so as to reach this sense of reflection.

I greet all of my brothers one by one and pray for all. Please excuse me as it has been quickly written. [If there are any mistakes], you do correct and edit it.

الباقي هو الباقي

Your brother

Sa‘īdu’n-Nursī

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77. See the ḥadīth that corroborates this meaning: Ṣaḥīḥu’l-Bukhārī 3009, Ṣaḥīḥu’l-Bukhārī, Book 56, ḥadith 218.

78. See the ḥadīth that corroborates this meaning: Kanzu’l-‘Ummāl, v.3 p.106; ad-Durru’l-Manthur, v.2 p.409

This is a part of a little summary of the biography of his

Ustād that Ṣalāḥaddīn extracted on behalf of all Students

of Light in the Inebolu region.

A short look at the biography of our Master (Ustād)

During the breakout of the Eastern Rebellion, Sheikh Sa‘īd (79) and his soldiers invited our beloved Ustād Bedī‘uzzamān Sa‘īd Nursī to join them to the fight [against the irreligious government of the time] so that he would benefit from Ustād’s great influence in Eastern [Turkey]. This is how he responded to their invitation:

“The struggle you have been engaged is an attempt to let a brother murder his own brother and it is fruitless because the Turkish nation has been the flagbearer of Islām for a thousand years and they sacrificed thousands of martyrs (shuhadā') for the sake of the religion. Purely based on this, one cannot draw a sword against the descendants of the heroic and selfless defenders of Islām, that is the Turkish nation, neither do I.” By rejecting their invitation, he also invited them back to give up their [unhelpful] fight.

In the First World War, he fought as the commander of national forces in Bitlis province, against the outnumbering Russian troops that charged the region, heroically resisting the enemy army for days, and he made sure that all the ammunition and food supplies in the city were evacuated, all civilians and military pieces of equipment transferred [to a safer location]. Although he was wounded, [he did not surrender]; as he regarded the act of withdrawing as humiliation, he fought in his quarter in utmost dignity to the last of his bullets with the honour of the station of a brave veteran (ghāzi). In the end, he was [helplessly] forced to fall as a prisoner of war to the hands of the Russians.

This heroic commander, who never hesitated to sacrifice his life for the sake of his religion, homeland, and nation, was shot by three Russians bullets. One of them pierced his metal case on top of his heart and stopped at his undershirt. The second bullet hit and pierced the handle of his dagger on his left and stopped. The third one opened a slight wound on his shoulder. Finally, during the fall of Bitlis his leg was broken and with a wounded shoulder he fell as a captive to the Russians.

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79. Sheikh Sa‘īd Piran was one of the Kurdish tribe leaders in Eastern Turkey. He led the revolt against the irreligious government of Turkey in 1925. His revolt is known as Sheikh Sa‘īd Rebellion. 

He stayed in captive camps in Siberia for two years and three months. During this period of time, he strengthened the morale of the ninety of his fellow officer brothers who were captive there together with him. Later on, he came to Istanbul through Warsaw.

During this period, after the freedom following the Sultan’s government, our Ustād, gave answers to the questions of the Archbishop of the Anglican Churches, and wrote Arabic books called Lama‘āt (Flashes), Qatra (Droplet), Dharra (Particle), Ḥabba (Seed), Kızıl Ījāz (Red Ījāz) and Ishārātu’l-I‘jāz (The Signs of Miraculous Inimitability), thus [he] opened a path of truth (ḥaqīqah) for the readers through the mystical unveiling (kashf) of the secret of existent beings. Istanbul at that time was the centre of scholars and had contact with the scholars of the Hijāz, Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and India. He served a scientific (‘ilmī) and religious (dīnī) duty as a member of Dāru’l-Hikmati’l-Islāmiyya (Islāmic Council of Research and Fatwā) (80) to let those scholars use his books as reference books for their works.

Eighteen years later, The Fifth Ray was confiscated, the seed of which was written forty years earlier [than the confiscation.] The Supreme Sign, which was published in press machines, was seized and thousands of works of The Book of Light were sought after in order to be confiscated while hundreds of the Students of Light were called to questioning. Of those students, only one hundred and twenty pure-faced, pure-hearted and considerate, pious Turks were interrogated and imprisoned for nine months in Denizli. After one hundred and thirty-five pieces of The Book of Light were investigated by the commission of experts from Ankara, a scientific report was released proving and confirming that The Book of Light was a true tafsīr (exegesis) of the Qur’ān. This concluded with the result of a hundred and twenty imprisoned students with their confiscated books were all acquitted. His highness Our Master (Ustād), was sent to reside in Afyon.

It has been certainly understood from the eleven important incidents that the sole duty, aim, purpose and desire of a person [Imām Nursī] of a seventy-years lifespan is to save people’s faith in this dangerous age of materialism, naturalism and egotism. Both in the periods of monarchy and constitutional monarchy and also during the republican period, as a result of twenty years of separate rigorous and diligent investigations, examinations and analyses of various investigative and meticulous scholars (‘ulamā'), wise thinkers (ḥukamā') and virtuous researchers (fuḍalā') of

_____

80. Dāru’l-Hikmati’l-Islāmiyya: Dāru’l-Hikmati’l-Islāmiyya is an Islamic scientific academy working under the office of Shaikh al-Islam. It was established in the later period of the Ottoman Empire to give answers and fatwas to recently emerging issues in modern times, and to defend Islam by way of writing refutations against the currents that had newly started to oppose Islamic civilisation.

verification and research as well as the investigations of extremely cunning, satanic and very sceptical spies and philosophers, it has been very definitely understood that The Book of Light does not have a worldly or a political purpose. No religious scholars and irreligious philosophers have been able to refute or find a fault even in a single word of The Book of Light that establishes thousands of truths of the Noble Qur’ān and noble prophetic tradition (ḥadīth), and they have been forced to confirm [its veracity].

The one hundred and forty texts named as The Risāle-i Nūr (The Book of Light), Rasāilu‘n-Nūr (The Epistles of Light) or Risālatu’n-Nūr (The Book of Light), which have been completed within twenty-three years, are not taken from certain exegeses (tafsīrs) in which are undetermined (mashkūk) and ambiguous issues, nor from those that were written with a hidden indication (rumūz) or those comprehensive (shāmil) ones or those metaphorical (majāzi) exegeses of the Great Qur’ān and noble prophetic tradition (ḥadīth). [Rather] the source, purely and solely, is the Qur’ān and ḥadīth, [this is where] The Risāle-i Nūr flows from.

Our Ustād says: “Our expositions are of the emanation (fayḍ) of The Wise Qur’ān (Al-Qur’ānu’l-Ḥakīm). Ours is nothing but preparing of the lower-self (nafs) for submission and the heart (qalb) for acceptance. Yet, the rightful speech is of the Qur’ān, because it is [the real] speech and so is the rightful owner of speech.” Inventing a style of education peculiar to himself, the Ustād educates millions of students in his Madrasatu’z-Zahrā (81) as many as the population of five cities. He aims to enlighten the mind and faith of the students by way of combining religious sciences and contemporary sciences and advocating and strengthening the religious truths by the use of positive sciences. The student can easily get the lesson from his teacher [i.e. The Book of Light] he wishes in a time he chooses. One may also preserve his faith as long as he practices the lesson he takes from The [Book of] Light.

Anybody with no exception - be it a religious or non-religious person, a scholar or a layman, who carefully understands it by reading or listening to this Staff of Moses (‘Aṣā Mūsā) (‘alayhissalām) which is pretty much like the summary of The Book of Light - will admit articulating the six articles of faith, which are the foundation of the religion of Islām, by tongue and affirm it by heart. In addition to this, [the one who reads it carefully] will preserve his faith and regard offering daily prayers (ṣalāh), observing the fast (ṣawm),

_____

81. Madrasatu’z-Zahrā is the name of the university in the eastern Turkey planned by Imām Bedī‘uzzamān Sa‘īd Nursī. This great university project that aimed to combine religious and modern sciences was interrupted due to the outbreak of the First World War. Nursī was not able to finish this project materially, yet during his exile years in Isparta and Kastamonu provinces, as well as his prison years in Eskişehir, Denizli and Afyon provinces in the western Turkey and in the rest of his life he was able to gather very many people who formed student circles around him. This was rather a greater circle than Madrasatu’z-Zahrā in a wider sense. Therefore, one can regard this as an accomplishment of the university not in the material sense but in the spiritual level. 

going on pilgrimage (ḥajj), giving charity (zakāt) and saying the testimony of faith (shahādah), which are [the pillars of] the building of Islam, as his original duty to himself.

Those individuals, groups, nations and states who strive to read, write and spread The Book of Light, will be saved from the harms of this world and the hereafter and they will be delivered from darkness to light and it will reassure happiness and peace in them. The abstract of The Risāle-i Nūr, the Epistle of The Staff of Moses (‘Aṣā Mūsā) (‘alayhissalām), is a far more powerful, efficient and radiant weapon than the atomic bomb and is [indeed] a wise staff. The atomic bomb works to destruct humanity and civilisation whereas The Book of Light endeavours to build the happiness and peace [of civilisation and humanity].

هذا من فضل ربي (a)

On behalf of all Inebolu

region students of Nūr,

Student of Nūr (Nūrju)

‘Abdurraḥmān Ṣalāḥaddīn

_____

a This is by the grace of my Lord. 

This is a part of an article that the famous and late teacher

Hasan Feyzi wrote in connection with a terrifying fire

in Emirdağ (Emirdagh) and the Çalışkanlar’s

(Chalishqan family) shop being miraculously saved from

those daunting blazes with the blessings of the existence

of copies of The Supreme Sign in the shop.

The Risāle-i Nūr extinguishes every blaze and every fire. It extinguishes the fire of wastefulness in people with the light of The Epistle on Frugality; [it extinguishes] the high fever of miserable patients that are writhing in fever and high temperature with the life-giving and healing water gushing forth from the twenty-five curative springs of the lights of The Epistle for the Sick. With the light and spiritual emanation of The Epistle on Satanic Whispering (Waswasa), [it extinguishes] the horrible blazes of the fire of delusion (wahm) and illusion (khayāl), satanic insinuation (waswasa) and anxiety, fear and worry surrounding and shaking the heart, mind and all organs and nerves.

It puts out the fever and fire of the sickness of hypocrisy (riyā') and publicising one’s supposed virtue (sum’ah), arrogance (kibr) and conceit (ghurūr) with the assistance and favour of The Epistle on Sincerity. The destruction of the castle of egotism, self-importance and tyranny and insolence can be possible with the instruction of the epistle called Ana (I or Ego), in other words, The Thirtieth Word and The Sixth Word.

Only the strong and mighty, far-fetching and measured, luminous and wise hands of the epistles on Nature, Particles and Materials of The Book of Light can possibly save those blind, foolish and stray people who [fell into and] cannot get out of the pit of materials and particles of nature. The solace and relief, healing paste and antidote, emanation and light of the same named epistle [The Epistle for the Elderly] is well enough to blow out the fire of the fear of death of the elderly, and soothe their anxieties and pains. While this being so, the epistles called The Miraculous Inimitability of the Qur’ān (I‘jāzu’l-Qur’ān), The Aḥmadan Miracles (‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām) and Faith in the Hereafter are like the pools full of life-giving water against the excruciating and agonisingly burning fire and torment of the isthmus (barzakh) and beyond.

As The Supreme Sign, the great light of the blessed mighty work The Staff of Moses (‘Aṣā Mūsā) (‘alayhissalām), is enough to extinguish all the blazes of the fire of idolatry (shirk) on the face of the earth, we see that this light is rising and expanding against that black-fumed red-fire (82) that engulfed horizons of the world today, and has now started to threaten the Islāmic world and we wholeheartedly believe that it will extinguish the terrifying disorder (fitnah) and fire of those red ones. (83)

As a result, the study of The Book of Light and the ongoing spiritual emanation of it is sufficient to put out the fire of the consistently evil-commanding self (an-nafsu’l-ammāra) and to kill the lustful and violent attributes, and to overpower savage, destructive, outward and inward soldiers. In actual fact, we say, the Risālatu’n-Nūr is appointed to extinguish this unrest (fitnah), this corruption (fasād) and these fires, and that is why it was born and sent. We trust and hope, with the indication of فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِ اللهُ بِقَوْمٍ “then Allāh will bring (instead) a people”, that this blessed and fortunate, brave and noble nation - that grew in this blessed homeland, the seedbed of spiritually mature ones (erens), saints (awliyā'), martyrs (shuhadā') and conquerors (fātiḥīn), - will be so much desired (marghūb) and liked (mahbūb), and courageous (jangāwar) again in the sight of Allāh.

Greed and rage, in those who own The Risāle-i Nūr, tend to vanish. Gloom and lustfulness melt down. The fire of ignorance and rebelliousness fades away. The sleep of nature [the effect of naturalism] diminishes. The sleep of heedlessness (ghaflah) is removed. Black and ugly, decayed and lazy blood is replaced with fresh blood. Both the breathing and heart function well. The vessels of blood turn into channels of light. There exists no love for this world and no inclination towards things other than Allāh. Ana (I) and anta (you) depart [and naḥnu (we) arrives]. Those veils that are said to be seventy thousand in number begin to open and the mountain of existence begins to be pierced.

The calls of اِرْجِعِي إِلَى رَبِّكِ “Return to your Lord” are heard. The way for the great union is paved. The perfume of musk and ambergris disseminates. Faces touch [the place of sajdah]. They are commanded with the commandment of فَادْخُلِي فِي عِبَادِي “And enter among My (righteous) servants” and rewarded with the rank of وَادْخُلِي جَنَّتِي “And enter My Paradise (with them).”

_____

82. That black-fumed red-fire refers to the fire of Communism. 

83. Communist regimes’ anti-religious attack 

أَرِنَا يَا مَنْ أَطْفَأَ النَّارَ بِنُورِهِ،

وَيَا مَنْ صَلَّى عَلَى حَبِيبِهِ (a)

It is a summary, Risālatu’n-Nūr.

A [hanging] frame of Yā Ḥāfiẓ

A page of Māshā'Allāh A print of BārakAllāh

A [ruqyah] necklace against ummu’s-ṣibyān (84)

A fire extinguisher pump made of light

A prescription of wisdom for the troubled

A mirror of lesson for those who behold

A seal of prophethood for Muslims

A certificate of salvation for the criminals

A path of guidance for the lost

A protection insurance for the lonely

A treasure of eternity for antique dealers [the ones who value it]

A mansion of perpetuity for the homeless

A slap of regret for the denier (munkir)

A gallows of justice for the disbeliever (kāfir)

A drink of sacredness for the gnostic (‘ārif)

A palace of reunion for the lover (‘āshiq).

On behalf of all of the Students

of Light in Denizli province

Hasan Feyzi

(Raḥmatullāhi alayhi

abadan dāiman) (b)

_____

a O He Who extinguishes the fire with His light, and He Who sends salutations upon His Beloved One! Let us see [these rewards].

b May Allāh’s mercy be upon him forever and ever.

84. A spiritual illness 

بِاسْمِهِ سُبْحَانَهُ (a)

وَإِن مِّن شَيْءٍ إِلاَّ يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ (b)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته أبدًا دائمًا بعدد حروف القرآن ورسائل النور (c)

To his highness Ustād, very tenderhearted, very loyal, meritorious and honourable teacher of mine,

I am humbly presenting a few of the many proofs that The Book of Light is an official interpreter and a propagator of The Wise Qur’ān (Al-Qur’ānu’l-Ḥakīm) in this age. The biography of The Book of Light resembles exactly the Age of Happiness (‘Aṣru’s-Sa‘ādah). It beautifully and harmoniously overlaps in many points. The Book of Light that has been completed within 23 years has safeguarded Anatolia from the material dangers and has caressed it with the spiritual slaps of warning. It has contributed to millions of people’s īmān being saved.

In the most terrifying, horrific and the gloomiest place, amongst brutal enemies, under much pressure, with thousands of instances of deprivation, in the most troubled and dangerous and limited times, an individual so old, poorly and wretched who has been stripped of his freedom... With the help of his inspirational statement that he received from the Qur’ān, the amateur yet innocent hands of little children, shaky yet repentant hands of the helpless and feeble elderly people were triggered to write thousands of copies of The Book of Light passionately, tirelessly and relentlessly.

Be it a scholar or a layman, a philosopher or a follower of other various religions, thousands of people read these powerful yet elegant writings and listen to these charming words with utmost pleasure, awe and reverence.

Upon the order of the Eskişehir and Denizli Criminal Courts, The Book of Light has been examined and analysed meticulously by committees made up of professors, pious scholars and philosophers in Istanbul, Ankara

_____

a In His Name, may He be glorified!

b There is nothing but that it glorifies with His praise. (Qur’ān: al-Isrā', 17:44)

c May peace, mercy and blessings of Allāh be upon you forever and ever in the number of the letters of the Qur’ān and The Book of Light. 

and other cities, and unanimously they have given verdicts that it is truly a Qur’ānic exegesis (tafsīr). Unjust and groundless accusations of hidden enemies of The Book of Light were nothing but only political smears and they were not able to oppose The Book of Light in a scholarly way. All of the above have been decidedly understood by the court and ended up with a well-earned acquittal.

One thousand and four hundred years ago, when humanity was in great gloom and ignorance, and savage customs and traditions were rife in Arabia, a sun of utter luminosity rose and climbed for sixty-three years, and all were enlightened with the edict of the Qur’ān, the revelation of which was completed in twenty-three years. [The reality of] rather wicked and weird customs and traditions were understood to be wrong and they were transformed into utter happiness thanks to the effort of Muḥammad (‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām). Because of this very reason, all foreign looks were fixed at the Qur’ān admiringly. With the passage of centuries, [the number of the followers of] Islām reached three hundred and fifty million. ‘Abdu’l-Qādiri’l-Jīlānī (qaddasallāhu sirrahu), Imām Ghazālī (qaddasallāhu sirrahu), Imām Rabbānī (qaddasallāhu sirrahu) and other great Islāmic scholars of the same sort, interpreted the Great Qur’ān (Al-Qur’ānu’l-‘Aẓīm) and noble ḥadīth against the disbelief (kufr) that stemmed from the science and philosophy of their time. [Due to their works,] they both stopped the disbelief from spreading [in Muslim lands] but also contributed to hundreds of thousands of people embracing Islām.

In whichever Islāmic land the disbelief (kufr) emerges, the Qur’ān with its luminous sword challenges it in that very vicinity. It pushes away and removes the disbelief. The greatest example of this in our age is The Book of Light. The most powerful witnesses [to this] are the thousands of students of The Book of Light.

In the First World War, at a time when some of the Islāmic countries were in danger of losing their freedom, [The Book of Light] showed the preservation of the truths of the Qur’ān and truths of īmān that would refute the idea of naturalism - an idea that would emerge from science and philosophy. [He showed this] to the scholars (‘ulamā') of Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Java, India and Turkistan with the seed of The Book of Light, the epistle called The Signs of Miraculous Inimitability (Ishārātu’l-I‘jāz). As a result, these mentioned nations, as they were given the glad tidings of and stated in The Book of Light a long time ago, are again achieving their freedom.

The luminous seeds that The Book of Light sowed in this homeland have now started to flourish, and they have prepared a safe ground for the launching of religious newspapers and the opening of Qur’ānic schools and have been a means of saving the īmān of millions of innocent souls.

A movement of atheism, that emerged in the northeast, far more horrific than a dragon as large as the globe, a movement the terror which shivers all of humanity and with its five claws extended as far as the five continents of the world, strives to poison [the world] with its sharp pointed nails.

The Qur’ān of the Greatest Glory, that alluded to this massive danger fourteen hundred years ago, is in this age putting forward The Book of Light to oppose this massive danger. At a time when the politicians of the world were helping the movement of irreligiosity unknowingly, The Book of Light was inviting the Christian world to cooperate with Muslims. It was warning the Catholic and Protestant missionaries with [the epistles of] The Staff of Moses (‘alayhissalām) and Dhu’l-fiqār and letting them see their material and spiritual responsibilities.

Of the most civilised nations, Finland, Sweden and Norway on the face of the earth, against this luminous truth, took The Noble and Wise Qur’ān (Al-Qur’ānu’l-Karīm wa’l-Ḥakīm) as their guide. They in a sense cooperated with the religion of Islam and in the north east, they drew Dhu’l-fiqār, the sword of heavenly revelation, just on the back of the Dajjāl’s neck.

Of Inebolu province Risāle-i Nūr students,

Very faulty and sinful

‘Abdurraḥmān Çelebi Ṣalāḥaddīn

This is a part of an article about The Book of Light written by Halil Ibrahim upon the will of the author [of The Book of Light] on behalf of the Students of Light.

بِاسْمِهِ سُبْحَانَهُ (a)

The Book of Light is a thread made of light that the cosmos and the glorifications (tasbiḥāt) of those existent beings in the cosmos are all aligned on. The Book of Light is a radio of the Qur’ān that is equipped with a receiver and transmitter. It is so much that its wires, lamps, mirrors and batteries, which are tantamount to its lines, words and letters, were so orderly and miraculously scattered that tomorrow the people of knowledge and science, every group of normative approach (mashrab) and ideology (maslak), as much as their knowledge and capacity allows, would be able to be aware of the unseen world (‘ālamu’l-ghayb), the witnessed world (‘ālamu’sh-shahādah) and the world of spirituality (‘ālamu’r-rūḥāniyyah) as well as [news] of all incidents that occur in the cosmos.

Similarly, The Book of Light is a propagator (manshūr) of the Qur’ān. The Book of Light is [a set of] gifts of guidance for the believers, a means of happiness, locus of intercession, and effusion of the Merciful (Ar-Raḥmān). The Risāle-i Nūr is a life-giving water, an epitome of mercy and a pure truth and a rose garden of a roseland that gives the effusion of new season of spring to the universe.

The Book of Light is the benevolence of The Benevolent, the perfection of faith, indication of the Qur’ān and blessing of beneficence. The Book of Light is the defeat of the disbeliever (kāfir), a slap to the denier (munkir), and an enemy of misguidance (ḍalālah). The Book of Light is a hidden treasure, a chest of gems and a source of light. The Book of Light is the reality of the Qur’ān and peak of faith (mi‘rāj of īmān). The Book of Light is the crown of saints, the king of masterpieces, the cream of meanings and [a bundle of] gifts of Allāh and gifts of the Glorified.

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a In His Name, may He be glorified! 

The Book of Light is an ocean of truths and the secret of subtle complexities, a treasure of [fields] of knowledge (ma‘rifah) and an ocean of generosities, a healing place of wisdom and a water of zamzam, sustenance of truth for the alive, the breeze of basil (rayḥān) and the scent of musk and amber.

The Book of Light is an Aḥmadan promise (‘alayhisṣalātu wassalām) and a Ḥaydārian confirmation (raḍiallāhu anhu), and a Ghawthian help (qaddasallāhu sirrahu) and a Ghazālian advice (qaddasallāhu sirrahu) and a Fārūqian notice (qaddasallāhu sirrahu). The Book of Light is the seven colours (85) of the sun of the Qur’ān of Miraculous Exposition (Al-Qur’ānu’l-Mu‘jizu’l-Bayān). Since these [seven colours] appear in the prism of the truth of The Book of Light, it is a book of Divine Law (shari‘ah), and a book of prayer, and a book of wisdom, and a book of worshipful servanthood (‘ubūdiyyah), and a book of command and invitation, and a book of remembrance (dhikr), and a book of thought (fikr), and a book of esoteric knowledge (al-‘ilmu’l ladunnī), and a book of Sufism (taṣawwuf), and a book of logic (manṭiq), and a book of Islāmic scholastic theology (‘ilmu’l-kalām), and a book of divinity, and a book of promotion of industry, and a book of eloquence (balāghah), and a book of establishing Divine unity (waḥdāniyyah), and for its opponents a book of defeat (ilzām) and silence (iskāṭ). The pieces of The Book of Light are the suns, moons and the stars of the sky of spirituality. Just as the entire created beings are enlightened and decorated and all things grow and develop (nashw-u namā) and find life, similarly, The Book of Light, too, in this age, receives the rays (shu‘ā‘) from the Qur’ān of Miraculous Exposition and distributes to all humanity an everlasting life, and to the men a perfect human, and to the hearts (qulūb) a joy of faith, and to the intellects (‘uqūl) reassurance of certainty, and to the thoughts (afkār) an unveiling, and to the selves a submission of contentment and life.

At times a horizontal heap of clouds apparently occupies that sky of spirituality according to a wisdom. Such a rain of emanation and mercy drips from that majestic sky so much so that seeds, stones and kernels suffer a little in that strangling and tight place [under the earth] yet because of that pressure their coats break and rip apart. In that moment, clouds withdraw to the horizons as if in a position of guardians. This is a Lordly (Rabbānī) test, and an overflowing emanation, a luminous mercy so much so that a kernel and a stone begins a fresh life anew. Passionately and in a

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85. Seven colours is a simile for the seven miraculous aspects of the Qur’ān. 

joy of growth, they take the form of a fruitful massive tree. And they are honoured with the secret of يُبَدِّلُ اللهُ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ حَسَنَاتٍ . (a)

Yes, it is hoped this season of winter that has lasted twenty years will finish in the end inshā'Allāh. It is hoped that a new and bountiful season of spring will come to this world [and] the face of the world will smile with the light. Since The Book of Light is under the disposal of the Qur’ān of Miraculous Exposition (Al-Qur’ānu’l-Mu‘jizu’l-Bayān), those hands that dare to interfere with it are broken and every tongue [that attacks it] goes dry.

On behalf of all Students of Light

Halil Ibrahim

On behalf of the senior members of the Madrasatu’z-Zahrā,

we too share [these thoughts].

Osman, Rüşdü, Re'fet, Husrev, Sa‘īd,

Hilmi, Muḥammad, Halil Ibrahim,

Muḥammad Nūri

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a For them Allāh will replace their evil deeds with good. (Qur’ān: al-Furqān, 25:70) 

This is a part of the letter of Mehmed Feyzi,

little Husrev of Kastamonu.

بِاسْمِهِ سُبْحَانَهُ (a)

وَإِن مِّن شَيْءٍ إِلاَّ يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ (b)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته أبدًا دائمًا (c)

My very beloved Ustād,

Against those old deceitful followers of innovations (bid‘ah), the enlightened, appreciative and blissful youth, that [studied and] fully took lessons from The Book of Light, say as below:

For very many helpless people whose īmān was shaken and lost its strength, the only rescue ship of īmān in the middle of the terrifyingly gusty and roaring waves of the sea of spirituality is The Book of Light, and the target that this ship would take as the destination is an eternally blissful and extremely adored abode.

This abode of bliss has been enlightened [by The Book of Light] in an undeniably powerful fashion.

The Book of Light will be the radiant light of this very abode.

The readers plainly see it here within its pages each of which is the manifestation of spirituality rather than materiality. When the people - in this world who lose themselves in heedlessness (ghaflah), and those heedless (ghāfil) travellers who reduce [the meaning of] death to the lowest level, that is, as if death is nothingness, and by so doing, those miserable individuals who have not yet perceived that they are the guests in this world of darkness - turn their eyes to the ways that The Book of Light enlightened, they will then understand that it is a source of guidance truly showing that the grave [in actual meaning] is the opening gate for the eternal bliss, and

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a In His Name, may He be glorified!

b There is nothing but that it glorifies with His praise. (Qur’ān: al-Isrā', 17:44)

c May peace, mercy and blessings of Allāh be upon you ever forever 

that the death is not vanishing into nothingness rather it delivers one to perpetual happiness.

It is quite possibly the case that they will feel the luminous way of the secret that reaches the eternities of eternal worlds recovering from the temporalities of the temporal worlds once their rather dim light of their feeble īmān, that remained hidden in the deepest corners of their hearts without them even knowing, is kindled with the light of The Book of Light. In this way, the waking up of heedless ones from their heedlessness is the sole aim of our blessed Ustād. While expressing the objective of The Book of Light to some extent, we wish that humanity would fix their eyes upon the limitless horizons of the spirit (rūḥ) and spirituality (ma‘nawiyyah). Because [we see that] a light is shining at the time of early morning (fajr) that is turning into daytime. And this is the light, the light of īmān and the light of The Book of Light that shows the light.

Now, oh brother and oh co-religionist!

Embracing these lights of īmān with your body and soul with [a sense of] loyalty and fondness that is deep-seated in your very soul, know without a shadow of a doubt that this Book of Light came into existence by a power that is far above the human reach and by the Divine Providence of Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta‘ālā). Consider that [you owe] a duty of loyalty of bowing with reverence before this masterpiece of this great Ustād.

Oh [our] honourable Ustād who excites the souls and strikes

flashes from his pen! The light of The Book of Light, that is

the greatest sign of your mighty wonders, has illuminated and

shed light upon the horizons of īmān that were inclined to

blacken. [We hope] that it will keep illuminating forever by

the will of Allāh (inshā'Allāh).

Of the students of The Book of Light

in Kastamonu province

Mehmed Feyzi