The Second Chapter of the Twenty-Ninth Flash

(On the phrase: All praise be to God!)

“All praise be to God!”

This short treatise, called the Second Chapter, explains only nine of the countless lights and advantages of belief in God, which make man declare:

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

FIRST POINT

First of all, two things will be pointed out:

1.Philosophy is a pair of dark glasses which shows everything to be ugly and frightful. While belief in God is a transparent, clear, luminous pair of spectacles which shows everything to be beautiful and familiar.

2.Man is connected with all creatures, has a sort of commerce with all things, and by nature is compelled to meet, talk, and be neighbourly with the things that blockade him; so too he possesses six aspects: a left, right, upper, lower, front, and back aspect.

On wearing either of these two pairs of spectacles, man can see the creatures and things present in the aspects mentioned above.

Right Aspect: What is meant by this aspect is the past. When it is looked at through the spectacles of philosophy, what is seen is a vast, dark, terrifying, overturned graveyard, where the doomsday of the land of the past has come to pass. There can be no doubt that this sight casts man into great terror, fear, and despair.

However, when this aspect is looked at through the spectacles of belief, even if the land appears to have been turned upside down, as indeed it has, there has been no loss of life; it is understood that its crew and inhabitants have been transferred to a better world, one full of light. The graves and pits are seen to be underground tunnels, dug to lead to another, light- filled world. That is to say, the joy, relief, confidence, and peace of mind belief gives to man is a Divine bounty which makes him repeat thousands of times over: “All praise be to God!”

Left Aspect: When the future is looked at through the spectacles of philosophy, it appears in the form of a huge, black, terrifying grave which is going to rot us and make us prey to snakes and scorpions which will eliminate us.

But when it is looked at through the spectacles of belief, it is seen in the form of a repast comprising every variety of the finest and most delicious foods and drinks which Almighty God, the Most Merciful and All-Compassionate Creator, has prepared for man. So it makes him repeat many thousands of times: “All praise be to God!”

Upper Aspect: This is the heavens. When a person looks at this aspect through the spectacles of philosophy, he feels an awful terror at the great speed and variety of the motions —like horse races or military manoeuvres— of the millions of stars and heavenly bodies in endless space.

Whereas when a believer looks at them, he sees that just as those strange and wonderful manoeuvres are being carried out under the super- vision of a commander and at his command, so the stars are adorning the world of the heavens and are light-giving lamps for him. As a result he feels not fear and fright at those horses racing, but familiarity and affection. It is surely little to say: “All praise be to God!” thousands of times for the bounty of belief which thus illuminates the world of the heavens.

Lower Aspect: This is the earth. When man looks at this world with the eye of philosophy, he sees it as an untethered, unhaltered animal wandering aimlessly around the sun, or like a holed and captainless boat, and he is carried away by fear and anxiety.

But when he looks with belief, he sees it in the form of a ship of the Most Merciful One ploughing its course around the sun under the command of God Almighty, with all its food, drink, and clothing on board, for the pleasure of mankind. So he starts to declare with great feeling: “All praise be to God!” for this great bounty which springs from belief.

Front Aspect: If a person who indulges in philosophy looks at this aspect, he sees that all living creatures, whether human or animal, are disappearing group by group and with great speed towards it. That is to say, they are going to non-being and ceasing to exist. Since he knows that he too is a traveller on that road, he goes out of his mind with grief.

But for a believer looking with the eye of belief, men journeying to that aspect are not passing to the world of non-existence, they are being transferred from one pasture to another like nomads, and migrating from a transitory realm to an everlasting one, and from a farm of service and labour to the wages office, and from a country of hardship and difficulty to one of plenty and ease. The believer meets this aspect with pleasure and gratitude.

Difficulties which occur on the road like death and the grave are sources of happiness by reason of their results. For the road which leads to the luminous worlds passes through the grave, and the greatest happiness is the result of the worst, most grievous disasters. For example, Joseph (PUH) attained the happiness of being ruler of Egypt only by way of being thrown into the well by his brothers and cast into prison at the slanders of Zulaikha. In the same way, a child coming into the world from his mother’s womb only reaches the happiness of this world as a result of the excruciating, crushing difficulties he experiences on the way.

Back Aspect: That is, since one who looks at those who have remained behind with the view of philosophy can find no answer to the question: “Where have they come from and where are they going, and why did they come to the land of this world?”, he naturally remains in a torment of bewilderment and doubt.

But were he to look through the spectacles of belief, he would understand that men are observers, sent by the Pre-Eternal Sovereign to contemplate and study the wonderful miracles of power displayed in the exhibition of the universe, and that after receiving their marks and ranks in conformity with the degree they have grasped the value and grandeur of those miracles of power and the degree to which the miracles point to the grandeur of the Pre-Eternal Sovereign, men will return to the Sovereign’s realm. So he will say: “All praise be to God!” for the bounty of belief which has given him this bounty.

Since the praise offered in saying: “All praise be to God!” for the bounty of belief, which thus banishes the above-mentioned layers of darkness, is also a bounty, praise should be offered for it too. And praise should be offered a third time for this second bounty of praise, and a fourth time for the third bounty of praise... That is to say, an in- finite chain of praise is born of a single uttering of the phrase: “All praise be to God!”

SECOND POINT

One should say: “All praise be to God!” for the bounty of belief which illuminates these six aspects, for just as since it disperses the darkness of the six aspects, it may be considered a great bounty for the warding off of evil, so too since it illuminates them it may be thought of as a second bounty, for the attraction of benefits. Therefore, since man is by nature civilized, he is connected with all the creatures in the six aspects, and through the bounty of belief has the possibility of benefiting from the six aspects.

Thus, according to a meaning of the verse: Wheresoever you turn, there is the countenance of God,(*) man finds enlightenment in whichever of the six aspects he is found. In fact, someone who is a believer has a life which in effect stretches from the foundation of the world to its end. This life of his receives assistance from the light of a life which extends from pre-eternity to post-eternity.

In the same way, thanks to the belief which illuminates the six aspects, man’s narrow time and space are transformed into a broad and easy world. This extensive world becomes like man’s house, and the past and the future like present time for his spirit and heart. The distance between between them disappears.

THIRD POINT

The fact that belief affords sources of support and assistance necessitates saying: “All praise be to God!”

Yes, because of their impotence and their multitudinous enemies, humankind are in need of a source of support to which they can have recourse to repulse those enemies. Like- wise, because of the abundance of their needs and their extreme poverty, they need a source of assistance from which they may seek help, so that through it they may meet their needs.

O man! Your one and only point of support is belief in God. The only source of assistance for your spirit and conscience is belief in the hereafter. One who does not know of these two sources suffers constant fear in his heart and spirit, and his conscience is perpetually tormented. While the person who seeks support from the first point and help from the second, experiences many pleasures and delights in his heart and spirit, so that he is both consoled, and his conscience is at ease.

FOURTH POINT

Through showing that similar pleasures exist and will be bestowed, the light of belief removes the pain that occurs when lawful pleasures start to fade. Furthermore, through pointing out the source of bounties, it ensures that the bounties continue and do not diminish.

Similarly, through showing the pleasure of renewed acqaintance, it removes the pain of separation and parting. That is to say, while many pains occur at the thought of the passing of a single pleasure, belief removes them by calling to mind the recurrence of the pleasure. In any event there are further pleasures in the renewal of pleasure. If a fruit has no tree, its pleasure is restricted to and ceases on its being eaten, and its ceasing is the cause of sorrow. But if the fruit’s tree is known, there is no pain when the fruit ceases to exist, for there are others to come in its place.

At the same time, renewal is in itself a pleasure. For what troubles the human spirit most are the pains arising from separation. Whereas the light of belief removes those pains through the hope of renewed meeting and the recurrence of similar encounters.

FIFTH POINT

The things among these beings man imagines to be hostile and foreign, and life- less and lost as though orphans or dead, the light of belief shows to him as friends and brothers, as living, and as glorifying God.

That is to say, a person who looks with the eye of heedlessness supposes the beings in the world to be harmful like enemies, and he takes fright; he sees things as foreign. For in the view of misguidance, there are no bonds of brotherhood between the things of the past and those of the future. There is only an insignificant, partial connection between them. As a consequence, the broth- erhood of the people of misguidance is only for one minute within thousands of years.

In the view of belief, all the heavenly bodies appear as living and as familiar with one another. Belief shows each of them to be glorifying its Creator through the tongue of its being. It is in this respect that all the heavenly bodies possess a sort of life and spirit according to each. There is no fear and fright therefore when the heavenly bodies are considered with this view of belief; there is familiarity and love.

The view of unbelief sees human beings, powerless as they are to secure their desires, as ownerless and without protector; it imagines them to be grieving and sorrowful like weeping orphans on account of their impotence.

The view of belief on the other hand, sees them as living creatures; not as orphans but officials charged with duties; as servants glorifying and extolling God.

SIXTH POINT

The light of belief depicts this world and the hereafter as two tables displaying numerous varieties of bounties from which a believer benefits through the hand of belief, his inner and external senses, and his subtle, spiritual faculties. In the view of misguidance, the sphere from which a living being may benefit diminishes and is restricted to material pleasures.

While in the view of belief, it expands to a sphere which embraces the heavens and the earth. Yes, a believer considers the sun to be a lamp hanging in the roof of his house, and the moon to be a night-light. They thus become bounties for him, and the sphere from which he benefits is broader than the heavens. With the eloquent verses, And He has made subject to you the sun and the moon, (*)and, He it is Who enables you to travel the land and the sea, (*)the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition alludes to these wonderful bounties and blessings which arise from belief.

SEVENTH POINT

It is known through belief that God’s existence is a bounty surpassing all other bounties, a great bounty which is a source, a fountain, containing endless varieties of bounties, innumerable sorts of blessings, and uncountable kinds of gifts. It is consequently incumbent on man and a debt to offer praise and laudation for the bounties of belief to the number of particles in the world. A number of these have been shown in various parts of the Risale-i Nur; discussing belief in God, they raise the veil from these bounties and point them out.

One of the bounties for which praise should be offered with all the praise that the phrase “All praise be to God!” indicates with the ‘Lam of specification,’ (*)is the bounty of Divine mercy.Indeed, mercy comprises bounties to the number of living beings which manifest Divine mercy. For man in particular is connected with all living creatures, and in this respect is gladdened by their happiness and saddened by their pain. Thus, a bounty found in a single individual is a bounty also for his fellows.

Another which comprises bounties to the number of children which are blessed with their mother’s tenderness, and which deserves praise and laudation, is Divine compassion. Yes, a person with conscience who feels sorrow and pity at the weeping of a motherless, hungry child, surely feels pleasure at a mother’s compassion for her child, surely he is pleased and happy. Thus, pleasures of this sort are each a bounty and require praise and thanks.

Another of the bounties requiring praise and thanks to the number of all the varieties and instances of wisdom contained in the universe is Divine wisdom. For just as man’s self is endowed with the manifestation of Divine mercy and his heart with the manifestation of Divine compassion, so too does his intellect take pleasure at the subtleties of Divine wisdom. So in this respect they require endless praise and laudation through the declaring of “All praise be to God!”

Another is the bounty of preservation, for which praise should be offered to the number of manifestations of the Divine Name of Inheritor, and the number of des- cendants who endure after the passing of their forbears, and the number of the beings of the next world, and the number of men’s actions which are preserved so as to be the means of their receiving their rewards in the hereafter; praise should be offered with so great an “All praise be to God!” that it fills all space with its sound. For the continu- ation of a bounty is more valuable than the bounty itself. The perpetuation of pleasure is more pleasurable than the pleasure itself. To abide permanently in Paradise is su- perior to Paradise itself; and so on. Consequently, the bounties which Almighty God’s attribute of Preserver comprise are greater and far superior to all the bounties existent in all the universe. Thus, this attribute requires an “All praise be to God!” as great as the world.

You can compare the rest of the Divine Names with the four mentioned here, and since in each are endless bounties, each requires endless praise and thanks.

Likewise, the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), who is the means of attaining the bounty of belief and has the authority to open all the treasuries of bounty, is also such a bounty that mankind bears for all eternity the debt of praising and applauding him.

Likewise, the bounties of Islam and the Qur’an, which are the index and source of all varieties of bounties, material and spiritual, require and deserve unending, infinite praise.

EIGHTH POINT

Praise be to God, Whom, according to the Qur’an of Mighty Stature, which is its expounder, this mighty book known as the universe praises and extols with all its chapters and sections, all its pages and lines, all its world and letters — the Most Pure and Holy One, Whom it praises and extols through making manifest His attributes of beauty and perfection. It is as follows:

According to its capacity, whether great or small, each inscription in this mighty book praises and extols its Inscriber, Who is the Single and Eternally Besought One, through displaying His glorious attributes.

Likewise, each inscription in the book of the universe offers praise through exhibiting the attributes of Beauty of its Scribe, Who is the Most-Merciful and Compassionate One.

Likewise, through reflecting and mirroring the manifestations of the Most Beauti- ful Names, all the inscriptions and points and embroideries in this book utter the praises of the Most Pure and Holy One through lauding, glorifying, and exalting Him.

Likewise, each ode in this book of the universe extols and glorifies its Composer, Who is All-Powerful and All-Knowing.

NINTH POINT

(*)

Said Nursî

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The Eighth Ray ⇐ | The Rays | ⇒ The Supplicant

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