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Yirmi Beşinci Söz/en: Revizyonlar arasındaki fark
"------ <center> The Twenty-Fourth Word ⇐ | The Words | ⇒ The Twenty-Sixth Word </center> ------" içeriğiyle yeni sayfa oluşturdu
("And the earth produces plants and your food comes from there. But lacking feelings and intelligence, it is far beyond the ability of the earth to think of your sustenance and feel compassion for you, so it does not produce it itself." içeriğiyle yeni sayfa oluşturdu) |
("------ <center> The Twenty-Fourth Word ⇐ | The Words | ⇒ The Twenty-Sixth Word </center> ------" içeriğiyle yeni sayfa oluşturdu) |
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| (Aynı kullanıcının aradaki diğer 166 değişikliği gösterilmiyor) | |||
| 967. satır: | 967. satır: | ||
And the earth produces plants and your food comes from there. But lacking feelings and intelligence, it is far beyond the ability of the earth to think of your sustenance and feel compassion for you, so it does not produce it itself. | And the earth produces plants and your food comes from there. But lacking feelings and intelligence, it is far beyond the ability of the earth to think of your sustenance and feel compassion for you, so it does not produce it itself. | ||
Furthermore, since it is remote from plants and trees to consider your food and compassionately produce fruits and grains for you, the verse demonstrates that they are strings and ropes which One All-Wise and Compassionate extends from behind the veil, to which He attaches His bounties and holds out to animate creatures.” | |||
Thus, from this explanation numerous Divine Names rise, like All-Compassionate, Provider, Bestower, and All-Generous. | |||
And another example: | |||
< | Do you not see that God makes the clouds move gently, then joins them together, then makes them into a heap? – then will you see rain issue forth from their midst. And He sends down from the sky mountain [masses of clouds] wherein is hail; He strikes therewith whom He pleases and He turns it away from whom He pleases. The vivid flash of His lightning well-nigh blinds the sight. * It is God Who alternates the night and the day; indeed in these things is an instructive example for those who have vision. * And God has created every animal from water; of them are some that creep on their bellies; some that walk on two legs; and some that walk on four. God creates what He wills; for verily God has power over all things.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 24:43-5.</ref>) | ||
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This verse explains the wondrous disposals in the formation of clouds and causing of rainfall, which is one of the most important miracles of dominicality and strangest veil of the treasury of mercy. Like soldiers who have dispersed to rest gather together at the call of a bugle, clouds gather and form at the Divine command when their parts have been dispersed and hidden in the atmosphere. Then, like an army is formed of small groups, the pieces of cloud come together and form masses –which are vast and towering, moist and white, and contain snow and hail like the moving mountains at the resurrection– from which the water of life is sent to living beings. But in its being sent a will and purpose are apparent; it comes in accordance with need. This means it is sent. While the skies are clear and empty, the mountainous pieces of cloud do not gather together of their own accord into a great gathering of wonders, they are sent by One Who knows the living creatures. | |||
In this distance, then, Divine Names rise, like All- Powerful, All-Knowing, Disposer, Designer, Nurturer, Succourer, and Giver of Life. | |||
'''Eighth Quality of Eloquence:''' | |||
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It sometimes happens that in order to impel the heart to accept Almighty God’s wondrous works in the hereafter and make the mind affirm them, the Qur’an mentions His amazing works in this world by way of preparation, or it mentions the wondrous Divine works of the future and hereafter in such a way that we acquire firm conviction about them through similar things which we observe here. | |||
< | For example: Does man not see that We created him from sperm, and behold, he stands forth an open adversary?(*<ref>*Qur’an, 36:77.</ref>)... to the end of the Sura. | ||
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In this discussion of the resurrection of the dead, the Qur’an proves the resurrection in seven or eight different ways. Firstly it draws attention to the first creation, saying: “You see your creation from sperm to a blood-clot, from a blood-clot to a foetus lump, and from that to the human creation, so how is it that you deny the second creation, which is like it or even easier?” | |||
< | And with the words: Who produces for you fire out of the green tree,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 36:80.</ref>) Almight y God indicates the mighty favours He bestows on man, saying: “The One Who bestows such bounties on you will not leave you at liberty to enter the grave and sleep never to rise again.” | ||
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And by allusion it says: “You see the dead trees come to life and grow green, but you draw no conclusions from their bones springing to life when like dry fire-wood, and so deem man’s rising again unlikely. | |||
Also, could the One Who creates the heavens and the earth remain impotent before the life and death of man, the fruit of the heavens and the earth? Would the One Who administers the might y tree attach no importance to its fruit and allow others to claim it? Do you suppose that He would abandon the result of all the tree, thus making purposeless and vain the tree of creation, which together with all its parts is kneaded with wisdom?” | |||
It says: “The One Who will raise you to life at the resurrection is such that the whole universe is like a soldier under His orders.” It is utterly submissive before His command of “Be!,” and it is. It is as easy for Him to create the spring as to create a flower. He is One for Whose power it is as easy to create all animals as to create a fly. Such a One may not be challenged with the words: | |||
< | Who can give life to [dry] bones?,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 36:78.</ref>) and His power belittled. Then, with the phrase: So glory be unto Him in Whose hand is the dominion of all things,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 36:83.</ref>) it says: “He is an All-Powerful One of Glory in Whose hands are the reins of all things, with Him are the keys to all things; He alternates winter and summer as easily as turning the pages of a book, and opens and closes this world and the hereafter as though they were two houses.” | ||
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< | Since it is thus, the conclusion of all these evidences is: And to Him will you all be brought back.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 36:83.</ref>) That is, “He will raise you to life from the grave and bring you to the resurrection;there you will be called to account in the presence of the Almighty.” | ||
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Thus, all these verses have prepared the mind to accept the resurrection, and so have they prepared the heart, for they have pointed out similar deeds in this world. | |||
It sometimes happens also that the Qur’an mentions Almighty God’s deeds of the hereafter in such a way that man may understand similar things in this world. Then no possibility remains to deny them or deem them unlikely. | |||
< | An example are the Suras which begin: When the Sun is folded up;(*<ref>*Sura 81, al-Takwir.</ref>) When the sky is cleft asunder;(*<ref>*Sura 82, al-Infitar.</ref>) When the sky is rent asunder.(*<ref>*Sura 84, al-Inshiqaq.</ref>) In these Suras it mentions the mighty revolutions and dominical acts of disposal in the resurrection and Great Gathering in such a way that, since man sees things similar to them in this world, for example, in the autumn and spring, he accepts those revolutions easily, which cause dread to the heart and cannot be comprehended by the mind. To provide even a summary of the meaning of these three Suras would be very lengthy, so for now we shall point out a single phrase by way of example. | ||
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< | For example, the phrase: When the pages are laid open(*<ref>*Qur’an, 81:10.</ref>) expresses the following: at the resurrection all the deeds of everyone will be published written on pages. Being very strange on its own, the mind cannot grasp this matter. But as the Sura indicates, the same way as in the resurrection of the spring are things similar to other points, the things similar to this laying open of the pages are quite clear. | ||
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For all fruit-bearing trees or flowering plants perform deeds, acts, and duties, and in whatever way they display the Divine Names and glorify God, they perform worship. All these deeds are written in their seeds together with their life histories, and emerge in another spring in another place. Just as they mention most eloquently the deeds of their mothers and stock through the tongues of the shapes and forms they display, so they publish the pages of their deeds through their branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits. Thus, the One Who carries out this Wise, Preserving, Planned, Nurturing, Benevolent work, is He Who says: When the pages are laid open. | |||
You can make analogies with other points from this and deduce them if you can. To help you, I shall say the following: the phrase: When the sun is folded up | |||
is a brilliant metaphor meaning ‘rolling up’ and ‘gathering up’; so too it alludes to things similar to it. | |||
The First: Almighty God drew back the veils of non-existence, the ether, and the skies, and taking from the treasury of His mercy a lamp like a sparkling brilliant to illuminate the world, displayed it to the world. When the world is closed, He shall rewrap that brilliant in its veils and remove it. | |||
The Second: The sun is an official charged with spreading out the wares of its light and wrapping the head of the earth alternately in light and darkness. Every evening it gathers up its wares and conceals them, and sometimes it does scant business due to the veil of a cloud, and sometimes the moon draws a veil over its face and somewhat hinders its transactions, then it adjusts the account books of its wares and transactions. Similarly, a time will come when this official will resign from its post. Even if there is no cause for its dismissal, due to the enlargement of the two black spots on its face, as has begun, with Divine permission the sun will take back the light that it spreads at a dominical command and wrap it around its own head. It will be told: “No work remains for you on earth. Go to Hell and burn those who worshipped you and insulted an obedient official like yourself by inferring you were disloyal!” It will read out the decree of When the Sun is folded up through its black- spotted face. | |||
'''Ninth Point of Eloquence:''' | |||
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It sometimes happens that the All-Wise Qur’an mentions certain particular aims, then in order to impel the mind by means of them, confirms, establishes, verifies, and proves the aims through the Divine Names, which are like universal rules. | |||
For example: God has indeed heard the statement of the woman who pleads with you concerning her husband and carries her complaint to God; and God [always] hears the arguments between both sides among you; for God is All- Hearing, All-Seeing.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 58:1.</ref>) | |||
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Here the Qur’an is saying: “Almighty God is absolutely All-Hearing; He hears everything, even, through the Divine Name of Truth, a wife arguing with you and complaining about her husband, a truly insignificant matter. And since women manifest the subtlest manifestations of mercy and are mines of self-sacrificing compassion, He hears through the Name of Most Compassionate the rightful claim of a woman and her complaint to Him, and through the Name of Truth takes it seriously, affording it the greatest importance.” | |||
Thus, in order to make this particular aim universal, One outside the sphere of contingency of the universe Who hears and sees a minor incident among creatures, must of necessity hear and see all things, and One Who is Sustainer of the universe of necessity sees the suffering of insignificant creatures within the universe who are wronged, and hears their cries. One who does not see their suffering and does not hear their cries for help cannot be the Sustainer. In which case, it establishes two mighty truths with the phrase, For God is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. | |||
And, for example: Glory be to [God] who did take His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless, in order that We might show him some of Our signs, for He is indeed All-Hearing, All- Seeing.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 17:1.</ref>) | |||
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Here, after mentioning the Noble Messenger’s (Peace and blessings be upon him) journey from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to the Farthest Mosque in Jerusalem, which was the start of his Ascension, the Qur’an says: for He is indeed All-Hearing, All-Seeing. The pronoun He refers to either Almighty God or to the Prophet. | |||
If it refers to the Prophet, it is like this: “There was within this particular journey a general journey and universal ascension, during which, as far as the Farthest Lote-tree and distance of two bow-strings, he heard and saw the dominical signs and wonders of Divine art which were apparent to his eyes and ears in the universal degrees of the Divine Names.” It shows that that particular and insignificant journey was like a key to a journey which was universal and an assembly of wonders. | |||
If the pronoun refers to Almighty God, it is like this: “He invited one of His servants to journey to His presence; and in order to entrust him with a duty, sent him from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, where He caused him to meet with the prophets who were gathered there. Then after showing that he was the absolute heir to the principles of all their religions, conveyed him through His realms in their inner and outer aspects as far as ‘the distance of two bow-lengths.’” He was certainly a servant and he journeyed on an ascension that was particular, but he held a trust that was related to the whole universe, and a light which would change the universe’s colour. Since he had with him a key to open the doors of eternal happiness, Almight y God described this Being with the attributes of hearing and seeing all things. For in this way he could demonstrate the world-embracing purposes and instances of wisdom of the trust, the light, and the key. | |||
< | And, for example: Praise be to God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, Who made the angels messengers with wings, two, three, or four [pairs]: He adds to creation as He pleases, for God is Powerful over all things.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 35:1.</ref>) | ||
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In this Sura, the Qur’an says: “By adorning the heavens and the earth in this way and displaying the works of His perfection, their All-Glorious Creator causes innumerable spectators to extol and praise Him. He decks them out with uncountable bounties so that the heavens and the earth praise and extol unendingly the Most Merciful Creator through the tongues of all the bounties and those who receive them.” After this it points out that since the Creator has given men and the animals and birds members and wings with which to travel through the towns and lands of the earth, and since that All-Glorious One has also given wings to the angels, the inhabitants of the realm of the heavens, in order to fly through the celestial palaces of the stars and lofty lands of the constellations, He is certainly powerful over all things. The One Who gives wings to a fly, to fly from fruit to fruit, and wings to a sparrow to fly from tree to tree, is the One Who gives wings to the angels to fly from Venus to Jupiter. Furthermore, the angels are not restricted to particularity like the dwellers of the earth; they are not confined by a specific place. With the words: two, three, or four [pairs], it suggests that at one time they may be present on four or more stars; it gives details. | |||
Thus, through describing “the arraying of the angels with wings,” which is a particular event, it points to a universal, general workshop of Divine power and its immensity, and verifies and establishes it with the summary: For God is Powerful over all things. | |||
'''Tenth Point of Eloquence:''' | |||
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It sometimes happens that a verse mentions man’s rebellious acts, then restrains him with severe threats. Then, so that the severity of the threats should not cast him into despair and hopelessness, it concludes with some Divine Names which point to His mercy and console him. | |||
< | For example: Say: if there had been [other] gods with Him – as they say – behold they would certainly have sought out a way to the Lord of the Throne! * Glory be to Him! He is high above all that they say! – Exalted and Great [beyond measure] * The sevens heavens and the earth, and all beings therein declare His glory; there is not a thing but celebrates His praise; and yet you understand not how they declare His glory! Indeed, He is Oft-Forbearing, Most Forgiving!(*<ref>*Qur’an, 17:42-4.</ref>) | ||
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This verse says: “Say: if, like you say, God had had partners in his sovereignty, there would surely have been some signs of disorder, caused by the hand that stretched up to the throne of His dominicality and interfered. However, through the tongues of the manifestations and inscriptions of the Divine Names which they manifest, all creatures, universal or particular, great or small, from the seven levels of the heavens to microscopic organisms, glorify the All-Glorious One signified by those Names, declaring Him to be free of partners or like. | |||
Yes, just as the heavens declare Him to be All-Holy through the light-scattering words of the suns and stars, and through the wisdom they display and their order, and testify to His unity, so the atmosphere glorifies and sanctifies Him through the voice of the clouds and words of the thunder, lightning, and rain, and testifies to His unity. The earth too glorifies and declares to be One the All-Glorious Creator through its living words known as animals, plants, and other beings; and so does it glorify Him and testify to His unity through the words of its trees and their leaves, blossoms, and fruits. Similarly, despite their tiny size and insignificance, the smallest creatures and most particular beings glorify the All-Glorious One signified by the numerous universal Names they display, and testify to His unity through the inscriptions they bear. | |||
Thus, since man is the summary and result of the universe, and vicegerent of the earth, and its delicate fruit, this verse points out how ugly and deserving of punishment is his unbelief and associating partners with God. For it is counter and contrary to the whole universe, which altogether glorifies unanimously, with one tongue, its All-Glorious Creator and testifies in its own way to His unity, and performs the duty of worship with which it is charged, carrying it out in perfect submission. But in order not to cast man into despair, and to show the wisdom in the All-Glorious Subduer’s permitting such an infinitely ugly rebellion and not destroying the universe around mankind, it says: Indeed, He is Oft-Forbearing, Most Forgiving! It shows with this summary the wisdom in His postponing it, and leaves a door open for hope. | |||
Thus, you may understand from these ten indications of miraculousness that in the summaries at the conclusions of verses are numerous sprinklings of guidance and flashes of miraculousness. The greatest geniuses among the scholars of rhetoric have bitten their fingers in absolute wonder and admiration at these unique styles, and declared: “THIS IS NOT THE WORD OF MAN,” and have believed with absolute certaint y that It is no less than revelation inspired.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 53:4.</ref>) | |||
This means that together with the above-mentioned indications, numerous further facets not included in our discussion are contained in other verses in the arrangement of which such an impress of miraculousness is apparent that even the blind may see it... | |||
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< | <span id="İKİNCİ_ŞULENİN_ÜÇÜNCÜ_NURU"></span> | ||
=== | ===THE THIRD BEAM of The Second Light=== | ||
The Qur’an cannot be compared with other words and speech. This is because speech is of different categories, and in regard to superiority, power, beauty and fineness, has four sources: one is the speaker, another is the person addressed, another is the purpose, and another is the form. Its source is not only the form as literar y people have wrongly shown. So in speech one should consider, “Who said it? To whom did they say it? Why did they say it? In what form did they say it?” One should not consider the words only and stop there. Since speech draws its strength and beauty from these four sources, if the Qur’an’s sources are studied carefully, the degree of its eloquence, superiority, and beauty will be understood. | |||
Indeed, since speech looks to the speaker, if it is command or prohibition, it comprises also the speaker’s will and power in accordance with his position. Then it eliminates resistance; it has an effect like physical electricity and increases in proportion to the speech’s superiority and power. | |||
< | Take, for example, the verse: O earth! swallow up your water. And O sky! withhold [your rain].(*<ref>*Qur’an, 11:44.</ref>) That is, “O earth! Your duty is completed, swallow your water. O skies! No need now remains, cease giving rain.” | ||
< | And for example:And He said to it and to the earth: Come together willingly or unwillingly. They said: We do come [together] in willing obedience.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 41:11.</ref>) That is, “O earth! O skies! Come whether you want to or not, you are anyway submissive to my wisdom and power. Emerge from non-being and come to the exhibition-place of my art in existence.” And they replied: “We come in perfect obedience. Through Your power, we perform every duty that You have shown us.” | ||
Consider the power and elevatedness of these true, effective commands, which comprise power and will, then look at human words like the following nonsensical conversation with inanimate beings: Be stationary, O earth! Be cleft, O skies! O resurrection, break forth! Can the two commands be compared? Yes, is there are any comparison between wishes arising from desires and officious commands issuing from those wishes, and the command of a commander of real authority? Can there be any comparison between such words and the effective command, “Forward march!” of a supreme commander of a vast army? For if a command such as that is heard from a common soldier, while the two commands are the same in form, in meaning they differ as greatly as a common soldier and the commander of an army. | |||
< | And for example the verses: Indeed, His command when He wills a thing is “Be!,” and it is,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 36:82.</ref>) and, And on Our saying to the angels: Prostrate before Adam.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:34.</ref>) | ||
Look at the power and elevatedness of these two verses, then look at man’s speech in the form of commands. Is the latter not like a fire-fly in relation to the sun? In order to describe his act to both eye and ear, a true owner describes his act while performing it, and a true artist explains his art as he works it, and a true bestower explains his bounties as he bestows them, that is, in order to combine both word and act, each says: “Look! I have done this and I am doing this in this way. I did that for this reason, and this will be thus, and I am doing this so it will be like that.” | |||
And for example: Do they not look at the sky above them? How We have made it and adorned it, and there are no flaws in it? * And the earth, We have spread it out, and set thereon mountains standing firm, and produced therein every kind of beautiful growth [in pairs], * As an insight and reminder for all [God’s] servants who turn unto Him. * And We send down from the sky rain charged with blessing, and We produce there with gardens and grain for harvests; * And tall [and stately] palm-trees, with shoots of fruit-stalks, piled one over another; * As sustenance for [God’s] servants; And We give [new] life therewith to land that is dead: thus will the coming-forth [from the grave].(*<ref>*Qur’an, 50:6-11.</ref>) | |||
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Can there be any comparison between these descriptions, these acts, which shine like the starry fruits of Paradise in the constellation of this Sura in the skies of the Qur’an, and this mentioning many levels of proofs within them by means of the order of rhetoric, and this proving the resurrection of the dead, its conclusion, with the phrase thus will be the coming-forth, thus silencing those at the start of the Sura who deny resurrection – can there be any comparison between this and the discussions of men about meddlesome acts which have little connection with them? It is not even the comparison of pictures of flowers by way of copying, and real living flowers. To fully explain the meaning from Do they not look to Thus will be the coming-forth would be very lengthy, so we shall just pass over it with a brief indication, like this: | |||
Since, at the start of the Sura, the unbelievers deny resurrection, the Qur’an gives a long introductory passage in order to compel them to accept it. It says: | |||
“Do you not look at the skies above you, which we have constructed in such magnificent, orderly fashion? | |||
Do you not see how We have adorned it with stars and the sun and the moon, and how We have allowed no fault or defect? | |||
Do you not see how We have spread out the earth for you and with what wisdom We have furnished it? We have fixed mountains on it and protected it from the encroachment of the sea. | |||
Do you not see how We have created every variety of plant and growing thing on the earth, beautiful and of every colour, and how We have made beautiful every part of it with them. | |||
And do you not see how we send down bounteous rain from the skies, and with it create gardens and orchards, and grains, and tall, fruit-bearing trees like the delicious date, and how I cause them to grow and send My servants sustenance with them? | |||
And do you not see that I raise to life the dead country with the rain? I create thousands of worldly resurrections. Just as I raise up with My power these plants out of this dead country, that is how your coming-forth will be at the resurrection. | |||
At the resurrection, the earth will die and you will come forth alive.” Can there be any comparison between the eloquent explanations these verses set forth in proving resurrection, only one thousandth of which we have been able to allude to, and the words man puts forward to support a claim? | |||
From the beginning of this treatise up to here, in endeavouring to make an obstinate enemy accept the Qur’an’s miraculousness by way of impartial reasoning, known as ascertaining the truth, we have left secret many of the Qur’an’s rights. We have brought that Sun in among candles and drawn comparisons. We have carried out the duty of ascertaining the truth, and have proved its miraculousness in brilliant fashion. Now, in one or two words, not in the name of ‘ascertaining the truth,’ but in that of ‘reality,’ we shall point to the Qur’an’s true station, which is beyond comparison. | |||
Indeed, the comparison of other speech to the Qur’an is that of minuscule reflections of stars in pieces of glass. How can the Qur’an’s words, each of which depict and show a constant truth, be compared with the meanings man depicts through his words in the minute mirrors of his thoughts and feelings? | |||
How can the angelic, living words of the Qur’an, which inspire the lights of guidance and are the speech of the All-Glorious Creator of the sun and the moon, be compared with man’s biting words with their bewitching substance and sham subtleties for arousing base desires? Yes, the comparison of poisonous vermin and insects, and blessed angels and luminous spirit beings, is that of man’s words and those of the Qur’an. The Twenty- Fifth Word together with the previous twenty-four Words have proved these truths. This claim of ours is not unsubstantiated; its proof is the above-mentioned conclusion. | |||
Indeed, how can the words of the Qur’an, which are all the shells of jewels of guidance, and sources of the truths of belief and springs of the fundamentals of Islam, and have come directly from the Throne of All-Merciful One, and above and beyond the universe look to man and descend to him, and comprise Divine knowledge, power, and will, and are the pre-eternal address – how can its words be compared with man’s vain, fanciful, futile, desire-nurturing words? | |||
Yes, how can the Qur’an, which is like a tree of Tuba, and spreads in the form of leaves the world of Islam with all its qualities, marks, and perfections, all its ordinances and principles, and displays as fresh and beautiful through its water of life its purified scholars and saints, each like a flower, and produces all perfections and cosmic and Divine truths as fruits, and again like a fruit-bearing tree produces numerous seeds within its fruits each like a principle and programme for actions and displays truths in continuous succession – how can this be compared with man’s speech, which we know about? | |||
Where is the ground and where are the Pleiades? | |||
Although for one thousand three hundred and fifty years, the All-Wise Qur’an has set forth and displayed all its truths in the market of the universe, and everyone, all nations, all countries have taken some of its jewels and its truths, and they do take them, neither the familiarity, nor the abundance, nor the passage of time, nor the great changes have damaged its valuable truths and fine styles, or caused it to age, or desiccated it, or made it lose its value, or extinguished its beauty. This on its own is an aspect of miraculousness. | |||
If someone were to come forward now and put some of the truths the Qur’an brought into a childish order according to his own fancies, and if he were to compare these with some of the Qur’an’s verses in order to contest them, and say “I have uttered words close to the Qur’an’s,” it would be utterly foolish, like in the following example: there is a common man, a builder of ordinary houses, incapable of understanding the elevated inscriptions of a master who has built a splendid palace the stones of which are various jewels, and has decorated it with harmonious adornments which look to the elevated inscriptions of all the palace and their relation to the stones. If the common man, who had no share in any of the jewels and adornment of the palace, were to enter the palace, destroy the elevated inscriptions in the valuable stones and give it a form, an order, similar to that of an ordinary house in accordance with his childish desires and tack on a few beads pleasing to his juvenile view, and then say, “Look! I have greater skill and wealth and more precious adornments than the builder of the palace,” in comparison, it would be the art of a crazy, raving forger. | |||
< | <span id="ÜÇÜNCÜ_ŞULE"></span> | ||
== | ==THIRD LIGHT== | ||
The Third Light consists of three Gleams. | |||
< | <span id="BİRİNCİ_ZİYA"></span> | ||
=== | ===FIRST GLEAM:=== | ||
An important aspect of the Qur’an of Miraculous Expositions’s miraculousness was explained in the Thirteenth Word.It has been included here so that it might take its place among the other aspects of miraculousness, its brothers. It is as follows: if you want to see and appreciate how, like shining stars, all the Qur’an’s verses scatter the darkness of unbelief by spreading the light of miraculousness and guidance, imagine yourself in the age of ignorance and desert of savagery where everything was enveloped in lifeless veils of nature, under the darkness of ignorance and heedlessness. Then suddenly from the elevated tongue of the Qur’an, you hear verses like: Whatever is in the heavens extols and glorifies God, for He is the Mighty, the Wise.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 57:1; 59:1; 61:1.</ref>) | |||
Whatever is in the heavens and earth extols and glorifies God, the Sovereign, the Most Holy One, the Mighty, the Wise.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 62:1.</ref>) | |||
</ | See how those dead or sleeping creatures of the world spring to life at the sound of extols and glorifies in the minds of those listening, how they awake, spring up, and mention God’s Names! | ||
< | And at the sound of, The seven heavens and the earth and all within them extol and glorify Him,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 17:44.</ref>) the stars in those black skies, each a lifeless piece of fire, and the wretched creatures on the face of the earth present the following view to those listening: the sky appears as a mouth and the stars as wisdom-displaying words and truth-uttering lights. The earth appears as a head, the land and sea as tongues, and all animals and plants as words of glorification. Otherwise you will not appreciate the subtleties of the pleasure at looking from this time to that. | ||
For if you look at each verse as having scattered its light since that time, and having become like universally accepted knowledge with the passage of time, and as shining with the other lights of Islam, and taking its colour from the sun of the Qur’an, or if you look at it through a superficial and simple veil of familiarity, you will not truly see what sort of darkness each verse scatters or how sweet is the recital of its miraculousness, and you will not appreciate this sort of its miraculousness among its many sorts. | |||
If you want to see one of the highest degrees of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition’s miraculousness, listen to the following comparison: | |||
Let us imagine an extremely strange and vast and | |||
spreading tree which is concealed beneath a veil of the unseen and hidden in a level of concealment. It is clear that there has to be a relationship, harmony, and balance between a tree and all its members like its branches, fruits, leaves, and blossom, the same as between man’s members. Each of its parts takes on a form and is given a shape in accordance with the nature of the tree. So if someone appears and traces a picture on top of the veil corresponding to the members of the tree, which has never been seen, then delimits each member, and from the branches to the fruit, and the fruit to the leaves draws a form proportionately, and fills the space between its source and extremities, which are an infinite distance from one another, with drawings showing exactly the shape and form of its members, certainly no doubt will remain that the artist sees the concealed tree with an eye that penetrates and encompasses the unseen, then he depicts it. | |||
In just the same way, the discriminating statements of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition concerning the realit y of contingent beings (that is, concerning the reality of the tree of creation which stretches from the beginning of the world to the farthest limits of the hereafter, and spreads from the earth to the Divine Throne and from minute particles to the sun) have preserved the proportion between the members to such a degree and have given each member and fruit a form so suitable that at the depictions of the Qur’an, all exacting scholars have declared at the conclusion of their investigations: “What wonders God has willed! How great are God’s blessings!” They have said: “It is only you who solves and unravels the talisman of the universe and riddle of creation, Oh All-Wise Qur’an!” | |||
< | And God’s is the highest similitude(*<ref>*Qur’an, 16:60.</ref>)– and there is no error in the comparison – let us represent the Divine Names and attributes, and dominical acts and deeds as a Tuba-tree of light, the sphere of whose grandeur stretches from pre-eternit y to post- eternity, and the limits of whose vastness spread through infinite, endless space and encompass it, and the limits of whose deeds stretch from, It is God Who splits the seed-grain and date-stone,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 6:95.</ref>) and, Comes between man and his heart,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 8:24.</ref>) to, Who created the heavens and the earth in six days,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 7:54.</ref>) and, And the heavens rolled up in His right hand.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 39:67.</ref>) The All-Wise Qur’an has described that luminous reality, the truths of those Names and attributes, and acts and deeds, together with all their branches and twigs and aims and fruits, in a way so harmonious, so fitting for one another, so appropriate for one another, without marring one another or spoiling the decree of one another, or their being remote from one another, that all the people of illumination and those who have penetrated to the realities, and all the wise and the sage who have journeyed in the realm of the inner dimension of things, have declared: “Glory be to God!” in the face of that Discriminating Exposition, and have affirmed it, saying: “How right, how conformable with reality, how fine, how worthy!” | ||
</ | |||
Take, for example, the six pillars of belief, which are like a single branch of those two mighty trees which look to the entire sphere of contingency and sphere of necessity: it depicts all the branches and boughs of those pillars –as far as the furthest fruits and flowers– observing such a harmony and proportion between them, and describes them in a manner so balanced, and illustrates them a way so symmetrical that the human mind is powerless to perceive it and stands astonished at its beauty. And the proof that a beauty of proportion and perfect relation and complete balance have been preserved between the five pillars of Islam, which are like one twig of the branch of belief, down to the finest details, smallest point of conduct, furthest aims, most profound wisdom, and most insignificant fruits, is the perfect order and balance and beauty of proportion and soundness of the Greater Shari’a of Islam, which has emerged from the decisive statements, senses, indications, and allusions of the comprehensive Qur’an; they form an irrefutable and decisive proof and just witness that cannot be doubted. | |||
This means that the expositions of the Qur’an cannot be attributed to man’s partial knowledge, and particularly to the knowledge of someone unlettered. They rest rather on a comprehensive knowledge and are the word of One Who is able to see all things together and observe in one moment all truths between pre-eternity and post-eternity. In this we believe. | |||
< | <span id="İKİNCİ_ZİYA"></span> | ||
=== | ===SECOND GLEAM:=== | ||
Since just how far the human philosophy which challenges Qur’anic wisdom has fallen in the face of that wisdom has been explained and illustrated with comparisons in the Twelfth Word and proved in the other Words, we refer readers to those treatises and for now offer a further comparison from another point of view. It is as follows: | |||
Human science and philosophy look at the world as fixed and constant. And they discuss the nature of beings and their characteristics in detail; if they do speak of their duties before their Maker, they speak of them briefly. Quite simply, they speak only of the decoration and letters of the book of the universe, and attach no importance to its meaning. | |||
Whereas the Qur’an looks at the world as transient, passing, deceptive, travelling, unstable, and undergoing revolution. It speaks briefly of the nature of beings and their superficial and material characteristics, but mentions in detail the worshipful duties with which they are charged by the Maker, and how and in what respects they point to His Names, and their obedience before the Divine creational commands. | |||
We shall therefore look at the differences between human philosophy and Qur’anic wisdom in regard to this matter of looking at things either briefly or in detail, and shall see which is pure truth and reality. | |||
A watch in our hand appears to be constant, but its inside is in perpetual upheaval through the motion of the workings and the constant anguish of the cogwheels and parts. In just the same way, together with its apparent stability, this world, which is a huge clock of Divine power, is perpetually revolving within upheaval and change, transience and evanescence. | |||
Indeed, since time has entered the world, night and day are like a two-headed hand counting the seconds of that huge clock. | |||
The years are like a hand counting its minutes, while the centuries count its hours. | |||
Thus, time casts the world onto the waves of death and decline. It assigns all the past and the future to non-existence, leaving in existence only the present. | |||
Together with this form which time gives the world, with regard to space also it is like an unstable clock undergoing revolution. For since the space of the atmosphere changes swiftly and quickly passes from one state to another through being filled and emptied with clouds sometimes several times a day, it causes change like a hand counting the seconds. | |||
And the space of the earth, which is like the floor of the house of the world, since with life and death and the animals and plants its face changes very rapidly, like a minute-hand it shows that this aspect of the world also is transient. | |||
And just as the earth is like this in regard to its face, so through the revolutions and upheavals within it, and the mountains emerging as a result and disappearing, this aspect of the world is slowly passing also, like an hour-hand. | |||
And through change like the movements of the celestial bodies, the appearance of comets, the occurrence of solar and lunar eclipses, and falling stars, the space of the heavens too, which is like the ceiling of the house of the world, shows that the heavens also are not stable and constant, but are progressing towards old age and destruction. Their change is slow and tardy like the hand counting the days in a weekly clock, but in every respect it demonstrates that it is transient and passing and heading for destruction. | |||
Thus, the world, in regard to the world, has been constructed on these seven pillars. These pillars perpetually shake it. But when the world which is thus in motion and being shaken looks to its Maker, the motion and change is the working of the pen of power writing the missives of the Eternally Besought One. And those changing states are the mirrors of the Divine Names, which, being constantly renewed, display with ever-differing depictions the manifestation of the Names’ qualities. | |||
And so, in respect of the world, the world is both transient and hastens towards death, and is undergoing revolution. Although in reality it is departing like flowing water, to the heedless eye it appears to be frozen; due to the idea of nature, it has become dense and turbid, and become a veil concealing the hereafter. | |||
Thus, through philosophical investigation and natural science, and the seductive amusements of dissolute civilization and its intoxicated passions, sick philosophy has both increased the world’s frozen state and inaction, and made denser heedlessness, and increased its opaqueness and turbidity, and caused the Maker and the hereafter to be forgotten. | |||
< | Whereas, with its verses, By the Mount [of Revelation]. By a Book inscribed.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 52:1-2.</ref>) When the Event Inevitable comes to pass.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 56:1.</ref>)The [Day of] Noise and Clamour, What is [the Day of] Noise and Clamour?,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 101:1.</ref>)the Qur’an cards the world in regard to the world like cotton, and casts it away. | ||
</ | |||
< | Through its expositions like, Do they see nothing in the government of the heavens and the earth?(*<ref>*Qur’an, 7:185.</ref>) Do they not look at the sky above them? - How We have made it.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 50:6.</ref>) Do the unbelievers not see that the heavens and the earth were joined together, before We clove them asunder?,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 21:30.</ref>) | ||
it gives the world a transparency and removes its turbidity. | |||
</ | |||
< | Through its light- scattering illuminations like, God is the Light of the heavens and the earth.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 24:35.</ref>) What is the life of this world but play and amusement?,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 6:32.</ref>) it melts the frozen, inactive world. Through its death-tainted expressions like, When the sun is folded up.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 81:1.</ref>) When the sky is cleft asunder.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 82:1.</ref>) When the sky is rent asunder.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 84:1.</ref>) And the trumpet will be sounded, and all that are in the heavens and all that are on earth will fall down senseless, except such that it pleases God [to exempt],(*<ref>*Qur’an, 39:68.</ref>) it smashes the delusion that the world is eternal. | ||
</ | |||
< | Through its thunderous blasts, like, He knows what enters within the earth and what comes forth out of it, what comes down from the skies and what mounts up to them. And He is with you wheresoever you may be. And God sees all that you do.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 57:4.</ref>) | ||
And say: Praise be to God, Who will show you His signs, so that you shall know them. And your Sustainer is not unmindful of all that you do,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 27:93.</ref>) it scatters the heedlessness born of the notion of ‘nature’. | |||
</ | |||
Thus, from beginning to end the Qur’an’s verses which are turned towards the universe proceed according to this principle. | |||
They reveal and display the reality of the world as it is. Through showing just how ugly the ugly world is, it turns man’s face from it, and points out the beautiful world’s beautiful face, which looks to the Maker. It fastens man’s eye on that. It instructs in true wisdom and knowledge, teaching the meanings of the book of the universe, and looking infrequently at the letters and decorations. It does not cause the meaning to be forgotten like drunken philosophy, nor make man enamoured of the ugly and waste his time on meaningless things due to the decoration of the letters. | |||
< | <span id="ÜÇÜNCÜ_ZİYA"></span> | ||
=== | ===THIRD GLEAM:=== | ||
In the Second Gleam we pointed to the fall of human philosophy before Qur’anic wisdom and to the miraculousness of Qur’anic wisdom. Now, in this Gleam, we shall show the degree of the wisdom and science – before Qur’anic wisdom – of the purified scholars, the saints, and the enlightened among philosophers, the Ishraqiyyun, who are all students of the Qur’an, and shall make a brief indication to the Qur’an’s miraculousness in this respect. | |||
A most true indication of the All-Wise Qur’an’s sublimity, and a most clear proof of its truth and justice, and a most powerful sign of its miraculousness is this: | |||
preserving all the degrees of all the areas of Divine unity together with all their necessities, and expounding them, it has preserved their balance and not spoilt it; and it has preserved the balance of all the exalted Divine truths; and it has brought together all the ordinances dictated by the Divine Names and preserved their mutual proportion; | |||
and it has brought together the dominical and Divine acts with perfect balance. Thus, this preserving and balance and bringing together is a characteristic which is certainly not present in man’s works nor in the products of the thought of the eminent among mankind. It is to be found nowhere in the works of the saints who have penetrated to the inner face of beings, which looks to their Creator, nor in the books of the Ishraqiyyun, who have passed to the inward, hidden meaning of things, nor in the knowledge of the spiritual who have penetrated the World of the Unseen. As though they have practised a division of labour, it is as if each group adheres to only one or two branches of the mighty tree of reality; each busies itself with only its fruit or its leaves. They either know nothing of the others, or else do not concern themselves with them. | |||
Absolute reality cannot be comprehended by restricted views. A universal view like the Qur’an is necessary in order to comprehend it. For sure they are instructed by the Qur’an, but with a particular mind they can only see completely one or two sides of universal reality, are preoccupied with them, and imprisoned in them. They spoil the balance of reality through either excess or negligence and mar its proportion and harmony. | |||
This truth was explained with an unusual comparison in the Second Branch of the Twenty-Fourth Word, and now we shall point to the matter with another comparison. For example, let us suppose there is some treasure under the sea, full of innumerable jewels of various kinds. Divers are plunging the depths to search for the jewels of the treasure. Since their eyes are closed, they understand what is there through the dexterous use of their hands. A longish diamond comes into the hand of one of them. The diver assumes that the whole treasure consists of a long, pillar-like diamond. When he hears of other jewels from his companions, he imagines that they are subsidiary to the diamond he has found, and are facets and embellishments of it. Into the hand of another passes a round ruby, while another finds a square piece of amber, and so on, each of them believes that the jewel he sees with his hand is the essential, major part of the treasure, and supposes that the things about which he hears are additional parts and details of it. So then the balance of the truths is spoilt, and the mutual proportion too is marred. The colour of many truths changes, and in order to see the true colour of reality they are obliged to resort to forced interpretation and elaborate explanations. Sometimes even they go as far as denial and rejection. Anyone who studies the books of the Ishraqiyyun philosophers and the works of sufis who rely on illuminations and visions without weighing them on the scales of the Sunna will doubtless confirm this statement of ours. That is to say, although their works concern truths similar to those of the Qur’an and are taken from the Qur’an’s teachings, because they are not the Qur’an, they are defective in that way. | |||
< | The Qur’an’s verses also, which are oceans of truths, are divers for that treasure under the sea. But their eyes are open and encompass the treasure. They see what there is in the treasure and what there is not. They describe and expound it with such harmony, order, and proportion that they show the true beauty and fineness. For example, just as they see the vastness of dominicality expressed by the verses, And the whole of the earth will be but His handful, and the heavens will be rolled up in His hand.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 39:67.</ref>) The Day that We roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books [completed],(*<ref>*Qur’an, 21:104.</ref>) so too they see the all-encompassing mercy expressed by these: God, there is nothing hidden from Him on the earth or in the heavens * He it is Who shapes you in the wombs as He pleases.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 3:5-6.</ref>) There is not a moving creature, but He has grasp of its forelock.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 11:56.</ref>) How many are the creatures that carry not their own sustenance? It is God who feeds [both] them and you.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 29:60.</ref>) | ||
And just as they see and point out the vast extent of the creativity expressed by, Who created the heavens and the earth and made the darkness and the light,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 6:1.</ref>) so too they see and show the comprehensive disposal and encompassing dominicalit y expressed by, But God has created you and what you do.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 37:96.</ref>) They see and point out the mighty truth expressed by,He gives life to the earth after its death,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 30:50.</ref>) and the magnanimous truth expressed by, And your Sustainer inspired the bee,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 16:68.</ref>) and the sovereign and commanding vast truth expressed by, | |||
The sun and the moon and the stars subjugated to His command.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 7:54.</ref>) They see and show the compassionate, regulating truth expressed by, Do they not observe the birds above them, spreading their wings and folding them in? None can uphold them except the Most Merciful; indeed He sees all things,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 67:19.</ref>) and the vast truth expressed by, His Throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in preserving them,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:255.</ref>) and the guarding truth expressed by, And He is with you wherever you may be,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 57:4.</ref>) and the all-encompassing truth expressed by, He is the First and the Last and the Outward and the Inward, and He is Knowing of All Things,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 57:3.</ref>) and the proximity expressed by, It was We Who created man, and We know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him; for We are nearer to him than his jugular vein,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 50:16.</ref>) and the elevated truth indicated by, | |||
The angels ascend to Him in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 70:4.</ref>) and the all-embracing truth expressed by, God commands justice, the doing of good, and liberality to kith and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 16:90.</ref>) The Qur’an’s verses see and show in detail each of the six pillars of belief in respect of this world and the hereafter, action and knowledge. They see and show intentionally and seriously each of the five pillars of Islam, and all the principles which ensure happiness in this world and the next. They preserve their balance, perpetuate their proportion, and a form of the Qur’an’s miraculousness comes into being from the source of the beauty which is born of the mutual proportion of the entirety of those truths. | |||
</ | |||
It is due to this great mystery that although the scholars of theology (kala\m) are students of the Qur’an and one section of them has written thousands of works of ten volumes each on the pillars of belief, because like the Mu’tazilites they preferred the reason to revelation, they have not been able to express with clarity so many as ten of the Qur’an’s verses, or prove them decisively, or convince persuasively concerning them. It is quite simply as though they have dug tunnels under distant mountains, taken pipes with the chains of causes to the ends of the world, there cut the chains, and then demonstrated knowledge of God and the existence of the Necessarily Existent One, which are like the water of life. | |||
The Qur’an’s verses, however, can all extract water from every place like the Staff of Moses, open up a window from everything, and make known the All-Glorious Maker. We have actually proved and demonstrated this fact in the Arabic treatise Katre, and in the other Words, which flow forth from the ocean of the Qur’an. | |||
It is also due to this mystery that since all the leaders of the heretical groups who have passed to the inward nature of things (batin), who, not following the Sunna of the Prophet (PBUH) but relying on their visions, have returned having gone half way, and becoming leaders of a community have founded sects, have been unable to preserve the proportion and balance of the Qur’anic truths, they have fallen into innovation and misguidance and driven a community of people down the wrong road. Thus, the complete impotence of all these demonstrates the miraculousness of the Qur’an’s verses. | |||
< | <span id="HÂTİME"></span> | ||
=== | ===Conclusion=== | ||
Two flashes of the Qur’an’s miraculousness mentioned in the Fourteenth Drop of the Nineteenth Word are its repetitions, which are imagined to be a fault, and its brevit y concerning the physical sciences, both of which are sources for flashes of miraculousness. Also, a flash of the Qur’an’s miraculousness which shines on the miracles of the prophets in the Qur’an is demonstrated clearly in the Second Station of the Twentieth Word. Similarly to these, numerous flashes of miraculousness have been mentioned in the other Words and in my Arabic treatises. | |||
Therefore, deeming those to be sufficient, here we shall only say this, that a further miracle of the Qur’an is that just as all the miracles of the prophets display an impress of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, so with all its miracles, the Qur’an is itself a miracle of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). And all the miracles of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) are a miracle of the Qur’an which demonstrate its relation with Almighty God. And with the appearance of that relation all of its words become miracles. For then a single of its words may contain the meaning of a tree of truths, like a seed; and may be connected with all the members of a might y truth, like the centre of the heart; and since its relies on an all-encompassing knowledge and infinite will, it may look to innumerable things together with their letters, totalities, situations, and positions. It is because of this that the scholars of the science of letters claim that they have found a pageful of secrets in a single of the Qur’an’s letters, and they prove what they claim to adepts of that science. | |||
Now, gather together in your mind’s eye all the Lights, Rays, Flashes, Beams, and Gleams from the start of this treatise up to here and consider them all together! As a decisive conclusion, they recite and proclaim in resounding tones the claim made at the beginning, that is, Say: If all mankind and the Jinn were to gather together to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they backed up each other with help and support.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 17:88.</ref>) | |||
</ | |||
< | Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:32.</ref>) O our Sustainer! Do not call us to task if we forget or do wrong.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:286.</ref>) O my Sustainer! Expand for me my breast, * And make easy for me my task, * And remove the impediment from my speech, * So that they may understand what I say.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 20:25-28.</ref>) O God! Grant blessings to our master Muhammad that will be pleasing to You and will be fulfilment to his truth, and to his Family, his Companions, and his brothers, and grant them peace.O our Sustainer! Let not our hearts deviate after you have guided us, and grant us mercy from Your Presence, for You are the Granter of bounties without measure.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 3:8.</ref>) | ||
And the close of their prayer will be, All praise be to | |||
God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 10:10.</ref>) Amen. Amen. Amen. | |||
</ | |||
< | <span id="BİRİNCİ_ZEYL"></span> | ||
== | ==First Addendum== | ||
[Of the Addenda added to the Twenty-Fifth Word, this First Addendum consists of the Seventeenth Degree of the First Station of the Seventh Ray, The Supreme Sign, on account of its station.] | |||
Knowing the aim of life in this world, and the life of life, to be belief, the tireless and insatiable traveller through the world who was questioning the universe concerning his Sustainer then said to himself: “Let us refer to the book called the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, which is known as the word and speech of the One we are seeking, and is the most famous, brilliant, dominant book in the world, challenging everyone in every century who does not submit to it. But first we must prove that it is the book of our Creator.” And he started to search. | |||
Since the traveller lived at this time, he looked first at the Risale-i Nur, which consists of flashes of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, and saw that its one hundred and thirty parts are fine points and lights of the verses of that Distinguisher between Truth and Falsehood, and authentic explanations of them. Although through striving and endeavour the Risale-i Nur has spread the Qur’anic truths everywhere in an age as obstinate and atheistic as this, the fact that no one has opposed it successfully proves that the Qur’an, which is its master, source, authority, and sun, is heavenly and revealed, and not man’s word. | |||
Only one proof of the Qur’an out of the hundreds of the Risale-i Nur, the Twenty-Fifth Word together with the last part of the Nineteenth Letter, has proved so decisively that the Qur’an is miraculous in forty aspects that everyone who has seen them, rather than criticizing or objecting to them, has been full of wonder at their proofs, appreciating and praising them. So referring it to the Risale- i Nur to prove the Qur’an’s miraculous aspects and its being the Word of God, the traveller only noted with brief indications several points demonstrating its greatness. | |||
'''First Point:''' Just as with all its miracles and all its truths, which are an indication of its veracity, the Qur’an is a miracle of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), so too with all his miracles and the evidences of his prophethood and perfections of his knowledge, Muhammad (PBUH) is a miracle of the Qur’an, and a decisive proof that it is the Word of God. | |||
''' | |||
'''Second Point:''' The Qur’an caused a transformation in social life in this world in so luminous, happy, and truthful a fashion, and brought about such a revolution in both men’s souls, and hearts, and spirits, and minds, and in their personal lives, social lives, and political lives, and continued and directed that revolution, that every minute for fourteen centuries its six thousand six hundred and sixty-six verses have been recited with deep reverence by the tongues of at least one hundred million men, and it has trained men, purified their souls and cleansed their hearts, and has caused spirits to unfold and progress, given direction and light to minds, and vitality and happiness to life. For sure, such a book has no like; it is a wonder, a marvel, a miracle. | |||
''' | |||
'''Third Point:''' The eloquence the Qur’an has demonstrated from that age till now is illustrated by the following: it caused Labid’s daughter to remove from the walls of the Ka’ba the famous verses written in gold of the most celebrated poets called the Seven Hanging Poems, and to declare while doing so: “Beside the verses of the Qur’an these no longer have any value!” | |||
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< | Also, when a bedouin poet heard the verse, Therefore expound openly what you are commanded (*<ref>*Qur’an, 15:94.</ref>) being recited, he bowed down in prostration. When asked if he had become a Muslim, he replied: “No, I was prostrating before the eloquence of this verse.” | ||
Also, thousands of brilliant scholars and learned literary figures like the geniuses of the science of rhetoric, ‘Abd al-Qahir Jurjani, Sakkaki, and Zamakhshari, all reached the conclusion that, “The Qur’an’s eloquence is beyond man’s power, he could not achieve it.” | |||
Also, although from that time it has continuously issued a challenge provoking conceited and egotistical orators and poets, proclaiming in a way which will sting their pride: “Produce the like of one single Sura or be resigned to ignominy and ruin in this world and the next!”, the obdurate orators of that time gave up disputing it verbally, the short way of producing the like of one Sura, and chose the way of the war, which was lengthy and threw their lives and property into peril, thus proving that it was not possible to take the short way. | |||
Also, millions of Arabic books are in circulation, written since that time by the Qur’an’s friends through the desire to resemble and imitate it, and by its enemies, driven to combat and criticize it, and such works are being written and have improved through the meeting of minds and ideas, but if even the most common man should listen to them, he would declare that none of them have reached it, saying: “The Qur’an does not resemble these and is not of their level. It is either lower than all of them or higher. No one in the world, no unbeliever, nor an idiot even, can say that it is lower, which means that the degree of its eloquence is above all of them.” | |||
< | One time, a man recited the verse, All that is in the heavens and the earth extols and glorifies God,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 57:1, etc.</ref>) and said: “I can’t see the eloquence in this, although it is considered wonderful.” So it was said to him, “You return to that time like the traveller, and then listen to it.” So imagining himself to be there before the Qur’an was revealed, he saw the beings of the world to be lifeless, without consciousness and duties, wretched and obscure in an unstable, transitory world in the middle of limitless, empty space. Suddenly, listening to this verse from the tongue of the Qur’an, he saw that it drew back a veil from the universe and face of the world, illuminating it. | ||
He saw that this pre-eternal address and eternal decree instructs the conscious beings lined up in the centuries, revealing the universe to be like a huge mosque, and foremost the heavens and the earth, and all beings, to be employed in the glorification and remembrance of God, enthusiastically performing their duties with joy and eagerness. He appreciated the degree of eloquence of this verse, and comparing the others to it, understood one of the thousands of instances of wisdom in the recitation of the Qur’an’s eloquence overspreading half the earth and a fifth of mankind, and, being held in utter veneration, perpetuating its sublime sovereignty for fourteen centuries without break. | |||
'''Fourth Point:''' The Qur’an displays an agreeableness so true that for those who recite it, its many repetitions, which are the cause of even the sweetest things being wearied of, do not cause weariness, rather for those whose hearts are not corrupted and taste spoilt, the repetitions increase its agreeableness. Since early times this has been accepted by everyone and become proverbial. | |||
''' | |||
Furthermore, it demonstrates such a freshness, youth, and originality that although it has lived for fourteen centuries and has been freely available to everyone, it has preserved its freshness as though newly revealed. Each century has seen it to be young as though it was addressing that century in particular. And although in order to benefit from it all the time, all the branches of scholars have always had copies of it present with them in large numbers and have followed and emulated its style and manner of expression, it has preserved the originality in its style and manner of exposition exactly. | |||
'''Fifth Point:''' One wing of the Qur’an is in the past, and one is in the future, and just as its root and one wing are the agreed truths of the former prophets, and it confirms and corroborates them, and they too confirm it with the tongue of unanimity, so too all the true sufi paths and ways of sainthood whose fruits, the saints and purified scholars, who receive life from the Qur’an, show through their vital spiritual progress that their blessed tree is living, effulgent, and the means to truth. They grow and live under the protection of its second wing, and testify that the Qur’an is pure truth and the assembly of truths and in its comprehensiveness, is a matchless wonder. | |||
''' | |||
'''Sixth Point:''' The Qur’an’s truthfulness and veracity show that its six aspects are luminous. Indeed, the pillars of argument and proof beneath it; the flashes of the stamp of miraculousness above it; the gifts of happiness in this world and the next before it, its goal; the truths of heavenly revelation, its point of support behind it; the assent and evidence of innumerable upright minds to its right; and the true tranquillity, sincere attraction, and submission of sound hearts and clean consciences on its left all prove that the Qur’an is a wondrous, firm, unassailable citadel of both the heavens and the earth. Similarly, the universe’s Disposer, Who has made it His practice to foremost always exhibit beauty in the universe, protect good and right, and eliminate imposters and liars, has set His seal on its being sheer truth and right on six levels, and not being man’s word, and its containing no error; and by giving it the most acceptable, highest, and most dominant place of respect and degree of success in the world, has confirmed and endorsed the Qur’an. | |||
''' | So too, the one who is the source of Islam and interpreter of the Qur’an – his believing in it and holding it in greater respect than everyone else, and being in a sleep-like state when it was revealed, and other words and speeches not resembling or coming near it, and that Interpreter’s describing without hesitation and with complete confidence through the Qur’an true cosmic events of generally the past and the future from behind the veil of the Unseen, and no trickery or fault being observed in him while being under the gazes of the sharpest eyes, and his believing and affirming every pronouncement of the Qur’an with all his strength and nothing shaking him, is a stamp confirming that the Qur’an is revealed and true and the blessed Word of his own Compassionate Creator. | ||
Also, a fifth of mankind, indeed the greater part of it, being drawn to the Qur’an and bound to it in religion and giving ear to it eagerly desirous of the truth, and according to the testimony of many indications and events and illuminations, the jinn, angels, and spirit beings also gathering around it in truth-worshipping fashion like moths whenever it is recited is a stamp confirming the Qur’an’s acceptance by all beings and that it occupies an elevated position. | |||
Also, all the classes of mankind from the most stupid and lowly to the cleverest and most learned taking their full share of the Qur’an’s instruction and their understanding its profoundest truths, and all branches of scholars like the great interpreters of the Greater Shari’a in particular, and hundreds of Islamic sciences and branches of knowledge, and the brilliant and exacting scholars of theology and the principles of religion extracting from the Qur’an all the needs and answers for their own sciences, – this is a stamp confirming that the Qur’an is a source of truth and mine of reality. | |||
Also, although the Arab literary figures, who were the most advanced in regard to literature, – those of them who were not Muslims – had the greatest need to dispute the Qur’an, their avoiding producing the like of only a single Sura and its eloquence, eloquence being only one aspect of the seven major aspects of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, as well as the famous orators and brilliant scholars up to the present who have wanted to gain fame through disputing it being unable to oppose a single aspect of its miraculousness and their remaining silent in impotence, – this is a stamp confirming that the Qur’an is a miracle and beyond the powers of man. | |||
Yes, the value, superiority, and eloquence of a speech or word is apparent through knowing, “from whom it has come and to whom, and for what purpose;” the Qur’an then can have no like, and none can reach it. For the Qur’an is the speech and address of the Sustainer of all the worlds and Creator of the whole universe and a dialogue in no way hinting of imitation and artificiality. It is addressed to the one sent in the name of all men, indeed of all beings, the most famous and renowned of mankind, the strength and breadth of whose belief gave rise to mighty Islam and raised its owner to the level of ‘the distance of two bow-strings’ and returned him as the addressee of the Eternally Besought One. It describes and explains the matters concerning happiness in this world and the next, the results of the creation of the universe, and the dominical purposes within it. It expounds also the belief of the one it addresses, which was the highest and most extensive, and bore all the truths of Islam. It turns and shows every side of the huge universe like a map, a clock, or a house, and teaches and describes it in the manner of the Craftsman Who made them – to produce the like of this Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition is not possible; the degree of its miraculousness cannot be attained to. | |||
Also, thousands of precise and learned scholars of high intelligence have all written commentaries expounding the Qur’an, some of which are of thirty, forty, or even seventy volumes, showing and proving through evidence and argument the innumerable qualities, fine points, characteristics, mysteries, elevated meanings, and numerous indications concerning every sort of hidden and unseen matter in the Qur’an. And the one hundred and thirty parts of the Risale-i Nur in particular, each of which proves with decisive arguments one quality, one fine point of the Qur’an, – all its parts, such as the Miraculousness of the Qur’an, and the Second Station of the Twentieth Word, which deduces many things from the Qur’an concerning the wonders of civilization like the railway and the aeroplane, and the First Ray, called Signs of the Qur’an, which divulges allusions of verses to the Risale-i Nur and electricity, and the eight short treatises called The Eight Signs, which show how well-ordered, full of meaning, and mysterious are the words of the Qur’an, and the small treatise proving in five aspects the miraculousness of the verses at the end of Sura al-Fath in regard to their giving news of the Unseen – each part of the Risale-i Nur shows one truth, one light of the Qur’an. All this forms a stamp confirming that the Qur’an has no like, is a miracle and a marvel, and that it is the tongue of the World of the Unseen in the Manifest World and the Word of One All-Knowing of the Unseen. | |||
Thus, due to these qualities and characteristics of the Qur’an indicated above in six points, six aspects, and six levels, its sublime, luminous sovereignty and sacred, might y rule have continued in perfect splendour illuminating the centuries and the face of the earth for one thousand three hundred years. Also, on account of these qualities of the Qur’an, each of its letters has gained the sacred distinction of yielding at least ten rewards, ten merits, and ten eternal fruits, and the letters of certain verses and Suras yielding a hundred or a thousand fruits, or even more, and at blessed times the light, reward, and value of each letter rising from ten to hundreds. The traveller through the world understood this and said to his heart: | |||
“The Qur’an, which is thus miraculous in every respect, through the consensus of its Suras, the agreement of its verses, the accord of its lights and mysteries, and the concurrence of its fruits and works, so testifies with its evidences in the form of proofs to the existence, unity, attributes, and Names of a Single Necessarily Existent One that it is from its testimony that the endless testimony of all the believers has issued forth.” | |||
Thus, in brief indication to the instruction in belief and Divine unity that the traveller received from the Qur’an, it was said in the Seventeenth Degree of the First Station: | |||
There is no god but God, the One and Unique Necessary Existent, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity points the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, the book accepted and desired by all species of angel, men and jinn, whose verses are read each minute of the year, with the utmost reverence, by hundreds of millions of men, whose sacred sovereignty over the regions of the earth and the universe and the face of time is permanent, whose spiritual and luminous authority has run over half the earth and a fifth of humanity, for more than fourteen centuries, with the utmost splendour. Testimony and proof is also given by the unanimity of its sacred and heavenly Suras, the agreement of its luminous, divine verses, the congruence of its mysteries and lights, the correspondence of its fruits and effects, by witnessing and clear vision. | |||
THE TENTH TOPIC OF THE FRUITS OF BELIEF, THE ELEVENTH RAY | |||
< | <span id="EMİRDAĞI_ÇİÇEĞİ"></span> | ||
== | ==A Flower of Emirdağ== | ||
[An extremel y powerful reply to objections raised against repetition in the Qur’an.] | |||
My Dear and Loyal Brothers! | |||
Due to my wretched situation, this Matter is confused and graceless. But I knew definitely that beneath the confused wording was a most valuable sort of miraculousness, though unfortunately I was incapable of expressing it. But however dull the wording, since it concerns the Qur’an, it is both worship in the form of reflection, and the shell of a sacred, elevated, shining jewel. The diamond in the hand should be looked at, not its torn clothes. | |||
Also, I wrote it in one or two days during Ramadan while extremely ill, wretched, and without food, of necessity very concisely and briefly, and including many truths and numerous proofs in a single sentence. Its deficiencies, then, should be overlooked!(*<ref>* As the Tenth Topic of the fruit of Denizli Prison, it is a small shining flower of Emirdağ and of this month of Ramadan. By explaining one instance of wisdom in the repetitions of the Qur’an, it dispels the poisonous, putrid illusions of the people of misguidance.</ref>) | |||
My True and Loyal Brothers! | |||
While reading the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition in Ramadan, whichever of the thirt y-three verses I came to that in the First Ray describe the allusions to the Risale-i Nur, I saw that the page and story of the verse also look to the Risale-i Nur and its Students to a degree – in so far as they have a share of the story. Particularly the Light Verses in Sura al-Nur, just as they point to the Risale-i Nur with ten fingers, so the Darkness Verses following it point directly at those opposing it; these afford a further share. Quite simply, I understood that this ‘station’ rises from particularity to universality and that one part of that universality is the Risale-i Nur and its Students. | |||
Indeed, in regard to the breadth, exaltedness, and comprehensiveness that the Qur’an’s address receives from firstly the extensive station of the universal dominicality of the Pre-Eternal Speaker, and from the extensive station of the one addressed in the name of mankind, indeed of all beings, and the most extensive station of all mankind’s guidance in all the centuries, and from the station of the most elevated comprehensive expositions of the Divine laws concerning the regulation of this world and the hereafter, the heavens and the earth, pre-eternity and post-eternity, and the dominicality of the Creator of the universe, and of all beings, this Address displays such an elevated miraculousness and comprehensiveness that both its apparent and simple level, which flatters the simple minds of ordinary people, the most numerous group the Qur’an addresses, and its highest level, partake of it. | |||
It is as though, addressing every age and every class of people, not as one share of the story or one lesson from an historical story, but as parts of a universal principle, it is newly revealed. Particularly its often repeated threats of the wrongdoers, the wrongdoers, and its severe expositions of calamities visited on the heavens and the earth, in punishment for their wrongdoing – through these and the retribution visited on the ‘Ad and Thamud peoples and on Pharaoh – it draws attention to the unequalled wrongs of this century, and through the salvation of prophets like Abraham (PUH) and Moses (PUH) gives consolation to the oppressed believers. | |||
Indeed, all past time and the departed ages and centuries, which in the view of heedlessness and misguidance form a fearsome place of non-existence and a grievous, ruined graveyard, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition shows to every century and class of people in the form of living instructive pages, strange worlds, living and endowed with spirits, and existent realms of the Sustainer which are connected with us; with an elevated miraculousness, it sometimes conveys us to those times, and sometimes brings those times to us. Infusing with life the universe, which in the view of misguidance is lifeless, wretched, dead, and a limitless wasteland revolving amid separation and decline, with the same miraculousness this same Qur’an of Might y Stature raises to life those dead beings, makes them converse with one another as officials charged with duties and hasten to the assistance of one another; it instructs mankind, the jinn, and the angels in true, luminous, and pleasurable wisdom. | |||
For sure, then, it gains sacred distinctions, like there being ten merits in each of its letters, and sometimes a hundred, a thousand, or thousands of merits; and if all men and jinn were to gather together, their being unable to produce the like of it; and its speaking completely appropriately with all mankind and all beings; and its all the time being inscribed with eagerness in the hearts of millions of hafizes; and its not causing weariness through its frequent and numerous repetitions; and despite its many obscure passages and sentences, its being settled perfectly in the delicate and simple heads of children; and its being agreeable like Zamzam water in the ears of the sick, the dying, and those distressed by a few words; and its gaining for its students happiness in this world and the next. | |||
Its smoothness of style, which, observing exactly its interpreter’s being unlettered, allows for no bombast, artificiality, or affectedness, and its descending directly from the heavens, demonstrate a fine miraculousness. So too it shows a fine miraculousness in the grace and guidance of flattering the simple minds of ordinar y people, the most numerous of the classes of men, through the condescension in its expression, and mostly opening the clearest and most evident pages like the heavens and earth, and teaching the wondrous miracles of power and meaningful lines of wisdom beneath those commonplace things. | |||
By making known that it is also a book of prayer and summons, of invocation and Divine unity, which require repetition, it demonstrates a sort of miraculousness through making understood in a single sentence and a single story through its agreeable repetitions numerous different meanings to numerous different classes of people. Similarly, by making known that the most minor and unimportant things in ordinary, commonplace events are within its compassionate view and the sphere of its will and regulation, it demonstrates a sort of miraculousness in attaching importance to even the minor events of the Companions of the Prophet in the establishment of Islam and codification of the Shari’a, and both in those minor events being universal principles, and, in the establishment of Islam and the Shari’a, which are general, their producing most important fruits, as though they had been seeds. | |||
With regard to repetition being necessary due to the repetition of need, the repetition of certain verses which, as answers to numerous repeated questions over a period of twenty years, instruct numerous different levels of people is not a fault, indeed, to repeat certain sentences so powerful they produce thousands of results and a number of verses resulting from countless evidences, which describe an infinite, awesome, all-embracing revolution that, by destroying utterly the vast universe and changing its shape at Doomsday, will remove the world and found the might y hereafter in its place, and will prove that all particulars and universals from atoms to the stars are in the hand and under the disposal of a single Being, and will show the Divine wrath and dominical anger –on account of the result of the universe’s creation– at mankind's wrongdoing, which brings to anger the earth and the heavens and the elements, to repeat such verses is not a fault, but most powerful miraculousness, and most elevated eloquence; an eloquence and lucid style corresponding exactly to the requirements of the subject. | |||
For example, as is explained in the Fourteenth Flash of the Risale-i Nur, the sentence, In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, which forms a single verse and is repeated one hundred and fourteen times in the Qur’an, is a truth which binds the Divine Throne and the earth, and illuminates the cosmos, and for which everyone is in need all the time; if it was repeated millions of times, there would still be need for it. There is need and longing for it, not only ever y day like bread, but every moment like air and light. | |||
< | And, for example, the verse, And verily your Sustainer is Exalted in Might, Most Compassionate, which is repeated eight times in Sura Ta. Sin. Mim.(*<ref>*Sura 26, al-Shu’ara.</ref>) Repeating on account of the result of the universe’s creation and in the name of universal dominicality, the salvation of the prophets whose stories are told in the Sura, and the punishments of their peoples, in order to teach that dominical dignity requires the torments of those wrongdoing peoples while Divine compassion requires the prophets’ salvation, is a concise, miraculous, and elevated miraculousness, for which, if repeated thousands of times, there would still be need and longing. | ||
< | And, for example, the verse, Then which of the favours of your Sustainer will you deny?(*<ref>*Qur’an, 55:13, etc.</ref>) which is repeated in Sura al-Rahman, and the verse, Woe that Day to the rejecters of truth!, in Sura al-Mursalat(*<ref>*Sura 77.</ref>) shout out threateningly to mankind and the jinn across the centuries and the heavens and the earth, the unbelief, ingratitude, and wrongdoing of those who bring the universe and the heavens and earth to anger, spoil the results of the world’s creation, and deny and respond slightingly to the majesty of Divine rule, and aggress against the rights of all creatures. If a general lesson thus concerned with thousands of truths and of the strength of thousands of matters is repeated thousands of times, there would still be need for it and its awe-inspiring conciseness and beautiful, miraculous eloquence. | ||
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And, for example, the repetition of the phrase, Glory be unto You! There is no god but You: Mercy! Mercy! Save us, deliver us, preserve us, from Hell-fire! in the supplication of the Prophet (PBUH) called Jawshan al-Kabir, which is a true and authentic supplication of the Qur’an and a sort of summary proceeding from it. Since it contains the greatest truth and the most important of the three supreme duties of creatures in the face of dominicalit y, the glorifi cation and praise of God and declaring Him to be All-Holy, and the most awesome question facing mankind, man being saved from eternal misery, and worship, the most necessary result of human impotence, if it is repeated thousands of times, it is still few. | |||
Thus, repetition in the Qur’an looks to principles like these. Sometimes on one page, even, with regard to the requirements of the position and the need for explanation and the demands of eloquence, it expresses the truth of Divine unity perhaps twenty times explicitly and by implication. It does not cause boredom, but gives a power to it and inspires an eagerness. It has been explained in the Risale-i Nur with proofs how appropriate, fitting, and acceptable from the point of view of rhetoric are the repetitions in the Qur’an. | |||
The wisdom and meaning of the Meccan and Medinan Suras in the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition being different in regard to eloquence, miraculousness, and detail and brevity is as follows: | |||
In Mecca, the first line of those it was addressing and those opposed to it were the Qurayshi idolators and untaught tribesmen, so a powerful and elevated style in regard to rhetoric was necessary, and a miraculous, convincing, persuasive conciseness, and in order to establish it, repetition was required. Thus, in most of the Meccan Suras, repeating and expressing the pillars of belief and degrees in the affirmation of Divine unity with a most powerful, elevated, and miraculous conciseness, it proved so powerfully the first creation and the Resurrection, God and the hereafter, not only in a single page, verse, sentence or word, but sometimes in a letter, through grammatical devices like inverting the words or sentences, making a word indefinite, and omissions and inclusions, that the geniuses and leaders of the science of rhetoric met it with wonder. | |||
The Risale-i Nur, and the Twenty-Fifth Word and its Addenda in particular, which prove in summary forty aspects of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, and the Qur’anic commentary, Isharat al-I’az, from the Arabic Risale-i Nur, which in wondrous fashion proves the aspect of the Qur’an’s miraculousness in its word-order, have demonstrated in fact that in the Meccan Suras and verses are the highest styles of eloquence and the most elevated, concise miraculousness. | |||
Risale-i Nur | |||
As for the Medinan Suras and verses, since the first line of those they were addressing, who opposed them, were the People of the Book, such as the Jews and Christians who affirmed God’s existence, what was required by eloquence and guidance and for the discussion to correspond to the situation, was not explanation of the high principles of religion and pillars of belief in a simple, clear, and detailed style, but the explanation of particular matters of the Shari’a and its injunctions, which were the cause of dispute, and the origins and causes of secondary matters and general laws. Thus, in the Medinan Suras and verses, through explanations in a detailed, clear, simple style, in the matchless manner of exposition peculiar to the Qur’an, it mostly mentions within those particular secondary matters, a powerful and elevated summary; a conclusion and proof, a sentence relating to Divine unity, belief, or the hereafter which makes the particular matter of the Shari’a universal and ensures that it conforms to belief in God. It illuminates the passage, and elevates it. | |||
The Risale-i Nur has proved the qualities and fine points and elevated eloquence in the summaries and conclusions, which express Divine unity and the hereafter, and come mostly at the end of verses, like: | |||
Risale-i Nur, | Indeed, God is Powerful over all things. * Verily God has knowledge of all things. * And He is the Mighty, the Wise. * And He is Exalted in Might, Most Compassionate. In explaining in the Second Beam of the Second Light of the Twenty-Fifth Word, ten out of the many fine points of those summaries and conclusions, it has proved to the obstinate that they contain a supreme miracle. | ||
Yes, in expounding those secondary matters of the Shari’a and laws of social life, the Qur’an at once raises the views of those it addresses to elevated and universal points, and transforming a simple style into an elevated one and instruction in the Shari’a to instruction in Divine unity, it shows it is both a book of law and commands and wisdom, and a book of the tenets of faith and belief, and of invocation and reflection and summons. And through teaching many of the aims of Qur’anic guidance in every passage, it displays a brilliant and miraculous eloquence different to that of the Meccan Suras. | |||
Sometimes in two words, for example, in Sustainer of All the Worlds and Your Sustainer, through the phrase, Your Sustainer, it expresses Divine oneness, and through, Sustainer of All the Worlds, Divine unity. It expresses the Divine oneness within Divine unity. In a single sentence even it sees and situates a particle in the pupil of an eye, and with the same verse, the same hammer, it situates the sun in the sky, making it an eye to the sky. | |||
< | For example, after the verse, Who created the heavens and the earth, following the verse, He merges the night into the day, and He merges the day into the night,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 35:13.</ref>) it says: And He has full knowledge of all that is in [men’s] hearts.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 35:38.</ref>) It says: “Within the vast majesty of the creation of the earth and the skies, He knows and regulates also the thoughts of the heart.” And through an exposition of this sort, transforms that simple and unlettered level and particular discussion which takes into account the minds of ordinary people, into an elevated, attractive, and general conversation for the purpose of guidance. | ||
'''A Question:''' “Sometimes an important truth is not apparent to a superficial view, and in some positions the connection is not known when an elevated summary concerning Divine unity or a universal principle is drawn from a minor and ordinary matter, and it is imagined to be a fault. For example, to mention the extremely elevated principle: And over all endued with knowledge, One Knowing(*<ref>*Qur’an, 12:76.</ref>) | |||
''' | when Joseph (Peace be upon him) seized his brother through subterfuge, does not appear to be in keeping with eloquence. What is its meaning and purpose?” | ||
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'''The Answer:''' In most of the long and middle-length Suras, which are each small Qur’ans, and in many pages and passages, not only two or three aims are followed, for by its nature the Qur’an comprises many books and teachings, such as being a book of invocation, belief, and reflection, and a book of law, wisdom, and guidance. Thus, since it describes the majestic manifestations of Divine dominicality and its encompassing all things, as a sort of recitation of the mighty book of the universe, it follows many aims in every discussion and sometimes on a single page; while instructing in knowledge of God, the degrees in Divine unity, and the truths of belief, with an apparently weak connection it opens another subject of instruction in the following passage, joining powerful connections to the weak one. It corresponds perfectly to the discussion and raises the level of eloquence. | |||
''' | |||
'''A Second Question:'''“What is the purpose of the Qur’an proving and drawing attention to the hereafter, Divine unity, and man’s reward and punishment thousands of times, explicitly, implicitly, and allusively, and teaching them in every Sura, on every page, and in every discussion?” | |||
''' | |||
'''The Answer:''' To instruct in the most important, most significant, and most | |||
''' | awesome matters in the sphere of contingency and in the revolutions in the universe’s history concerning man’s duty, the means to his eternal misery or happiness – man who undertook the vicegerency of the earth – and to remove his countless doubts and to smash his violent denials and obduracy, indeed, to make man confirm those awesome revolutions and submit to those most necessary essential matters which are as great as the revolutions, if the Qur’an draws his attention to them thousands, or even millions of times, it is not excessive, for those discussions in the Qur’an are read millions of times, and they do not cause boredom, nor does the need cease. | ||
< | For example, since the verse,For those who believe and do righteous deeds are gardens beneath which rivers flow,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 85:11.</ref>) They will dwell there for ever.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 5:85, etc.</ref>) shows the truth of the good news of eternal happiness, which “saves from the eternal execution of the reality of death, which every moment shows itself to wretched man, both himself, and his world, and all those he loves, and gains for them an everlasting sovereignty,” if it is repeated thousands of millions of times and given the importance of the universe, it still is not excessive and does not lose its value. | ||
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Thus, in teaching the innumerable, invaluable matters of this sort, and endeavouring to persuade, convince, and prove the occurrence of the awesome revolutions which will destroy the present form of the universe and transform it as though it was a house, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition certainly draws attention to these matters thousands of times times explicitly, implicitly, and allusively, and this is not excessive, but renews the bounty which is like an essential need, the same as the essential needs of bread, medicine, air, and light are renewed. | |||
And, for example, as is proved decisively in the Risale-i Nur, the wisdom in the Qur’an repeating severely, angrily, and forcefully, threatening verses like, For wrong-doers there is a grievous penalty.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 14:22.</ref>) But for those who reject [God] – for them will be the Fire of Hell.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 35:36.</ref>) is that man’s unbelief is such a transgression against the rights of the universe and most creatures that it makes the heavens and earth angry and brings the elements to anger so that they deal blows on those wrong-doers with tempest and storm. According to the clear statement of the verses, | |||
And when they are cast therein, they will hear the [terrible] drawing-in of its breath as it blazes forth * Almost bursting with fury,(*<ref>*Qur’an, 67:7-8.</ref>) Hell so rages at those iniquitous deniers that it almost disintegrates with fury. | |||
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Thus, through the wisdom of showing, not from the point of view of man’s smallness and insignificance before such a general crime and boundless aggression, but the importance of the rights of the Monarch of Universe’s subjects before the greatness of the wrongful crime and the awesomeness of the unjust aggression, and the boundless ugliness in the unbelief and iniquity of those deniers – in accordance with the wisdom of showing this, if repeating in His decree most wrathfully and severely the crime and its punishment, thousands, millions, or even thousands of millions of times, it still would not be excessive and a fault, because for a thousand years thousands of millions of people have read such verses every day, not with boredom, but with complete eagerness and need. | |||
Indeed, every day, all the time, for everyone, one world disappears and the door of a new world is opened to them. Through repeating There is no god but God a thousand times out of need and with longing in order to illuminate each of those transitory worlds, it makes There is no god but God a lamp for each of those changing veils. In the same way, in accordance with the wisdom of appreciating through reading the Qur’an the penalties of those crimes and the severe threats of the Pre-Eternal Monarch, which smash their obduracy, and of working to be saved from the rebellion of the soul, so as not to obscure in darkness those multiple, fleeting veils and renewed travelling universes, and not to make ugly their images which are reflected in the mirrors of their lives, and not to turn against them those guest views which may testify in favour of them, the Qur’an repeats them in most meaningful fashion. Even Satan would shudder at imagining to be out of place these so powerful, severe, and repeated threats of the Qur’an. It shows that the torments of Hell are pure justice for the deniers who do not heed them. | |||
And, for example, in repeating many times the stories of Moses (Peace be upon him), which contain many instances of wisdom and benefits, like that of the Staff of Moses, and of the other prophets (Peace be upon them), it demonstrates that the prophethoods of all the other prophets are a proof of the veracity of the prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH), and that one who does not deny all of them cannot in truth deny his messengership. For this purpose, and since everyone does not always have the time or capability to read the whole Qur’an, it repeats those stories in the same way as the important pillars of belief, in order to make all the long and middle-length Suras each like a small Qur’an. To repeat them then is not excessive, it is required by eloquence, and teaches that the question of Muhammad (PBUH) is the greatest question of mankind and the most important matter of the universe. | |||
It has been demonstrated decisively in the Risale-i Nur with many proofs and indications that through giving the highest position to the person of Muhammad in the Qur’an and including him in four pillars of belief and holding Muhammad is the Messenger of God equal to the pillar of There is no god but God, that the Messengership of Muhammad (PBUH) is the greatest truth in the universe, and that the Person of Muhammad is the most noble of creatures, and his universal collective personality and sacred rank, known as the Muhammadan Truth, is the most radiant Sun of the two worlds. His worthiness for this extraordinary position has also been proved. One of these proofs is this: | |||
According to the principle of ‘the cause is like the doer,’ with the equivalent of all the good works performed by all his community at all times entering his book of good works; and the light which he brought illuminating all the truths of the cosmos; and his gratifying not only the jinn, mankind, and animate beings, but also the universe and the heavens and earth; and the supplications of plants, offered through the tongue of disposition, and the supplications of animals offered through the tongue of their innate need, and the righteous of his (PBUH) community every day bequeating to him their benedictions and supplications for mercy and spiritual gains, whose millions –and together with spirit beings, even, millions of millions– of unrejectable supplications are accepted, as we actually witness with our eyes; and since each of the three hundred thousand letters of the Qur’an yield from a hundred to a thousand merits, with infinite numbers of lights entering the book of his deeds, only with regard to the recitation of the Qur’an by all his community, the One All-Knowing of the Unseen saw and knew that the Muhammadan (PBUH) Reality, which is his collective personalit y, would in the future be like a Tuba-tree of Paradise. It was in accordance with that position that He gave him such supreme importance in the Qur’an, and in His Decree showed the following of him and receiving of his intercession through adhering to his Illustrious Sunna to be one of the most important matters concerning man. And from time to time He took into consideration his human personality and human state in his early life, which was a seed of the majestic Tuba-tree. | |||
Thus, since the truths repeated in the Qur’an are of this value, all sound natures will testify that in its repetitions is a powerful and extensive miracle. Unless, that is to say, a person is afflicted with some sickness of the heart and malady of the conscience due to the plague of materialism, and is included under the rule, | |||
Man denied the light of the sun due to disease of the eye, His mouth denied the taste of water due to sickness. | |||
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=== | ===TWO ADDITIONS, WHICH FORM A CONCLUSION TO THE TENTH TOPIC=== | ||
'''THE FIRST:''' | |||
''' | |||
Twelve years ago I heard that a most fearsome and obdurate atheist had instigated a conspiracy against the Qur’an, which was to have it translated. He said: “The Qur’an should be translated so that everyone can know just what it is.” That is, he hatched a dire plan with the idea of everyone seeing its unnecessar y repetitions and its translation being read in its place. | |||
However, the irrefutable proofs of the Risale-i Nur proved decisively that “A true translation of the Qur’an is not possible, and other languages cannot preserve the Qur’an’s qualities and fine points in place of the grammatical language of Arabic. Man’s trite and partial translations cannot be substituted for the miraculous and comprehensive words of the Qur’an, every letter of which yields from ten to a thousand merits; they may not be read in its place in mosques.” Through spreading everywhere, the Risale-i Nur made the fearsome plan come to nothing. I surmise that it was due to the idiotic and lunatic attempts of dissemblers to extinguish the Sun of the Qur’an on account of Satan by puffing at it like silly children having taken lessons from that atheist, that I was inspired to write this Tenth Matter while under great constraint and in a most distressing situation. But I do not know the reality of the situation since I have been unable to meet with others. | |||
'''SECOND ADDITION:''' | |||
''' | |||
After our release from Denizli Prison, I was staying on the top floor of the famous Şehir Hotel. The subtle and graceful dancing of the leaves, branches, and trunks of the many poplar trees in the fine gardens opposite me at the touching of the breeze, each with a rapturous and ecstatic motion like a circle of dervishes, pained my heart, sorrowful and melancholy at being parted from my brothers and remaining alone. Suddenly the seasons of autumn and winter came to mind and a heedlessness overcame me. I so pitied those graceful poplars and living creatures swaying with perfect joyousness that my eyes filled with tears. With this reminder of the separations and non-being beneath the ornamented veil of the universe, the grief at a world-full of deaths and separations pressed down on me. | |||
Denizli | |||
Then suddenly, the Light the Muhammadan (PBUH) Truth had brought came to my assistance and transformed my grief and sorrow into joy. Indeed, I am eternally grateful to the Muhammadan Being (PBUH) for the assistance and consolation which alleviated my situation at that time, only a single instance of the boundless effulgence of that Light for me, like for all believers and everyone. It was like this: | |||
By showing those blessed and delicate creatures to be without function orpurpose, and their motion to be not out of joy, but as though trembling on the brink of non-existence and separation and tumbling into nothingness, that heedless view so touched the feelings in me of desire for permanence, love of good things, and compassion for fellow-creatures and life that it transformed the world into a sort of hell and my mind into an instrument of torture. Then, just at that point, the Light Muhammad (Peace and blessings by upon him) had brought as a gift for mankind raised the veil; it showed in place of extinction, non-being, nothingness, purposeless, futility, and separations, meanings and instances of wisdom to the number of the leaves of the poplars, and as is proved in the Risale-i Nur, results and duties which may be divided into three sorts: | |||
'''The First Sort'''looks to the All-Glorious Maker’s Names. For example, if a master craftsman makes a wondrous machine, everyone applauds him, saying: “What wonders God has willed! Blessed be God!” Similarly, the machine congratulates the craftsman through the tongue of its disposition, through displaying perfectly the results intended from it. All living beings and all things are machines such as that; they applaud their Craftsman through their glorifications. | |||
''' | |||
'''The Second Sort''' of the Instances of Wisdom looks to the views of living creatures and conscious beings. Beings each become an agreeable object of study, a book of knowledge. They leave their meanings in the sphere of existence in the minds of conscious beings and their forms in their memories, and on the tablets in the World of Similitudes, and in the notebooks of the World of the Unseen, then they depart from the Manifest World and withdraw to the World of the Unseen. That is, they leave behind an apparent existence, but gain many existences pertaining to meaning, the Unseen, and knowledge. | |||
''' | |||
Yes, since God exists and His knowledge encompasses everything, in the view of reality, in the world of believers there is surely no non- being, extinction, nothingness, annihilation, and transitoriness, while the world of unbelievers is full of non-existence, separation, nothingness, and transience. This is taught by the saying, which is on everyone’s lips, “For those for whom God exists, everything exists; and for those for whom He does not exist, nothing exists; for them there is nothing.” | |||
'''IN SHORT:''' Just as belief saves man from eternal annihilation at the time of death, so it saves everyone’s private world from the darknesses of annihilation and nothingness. Whereas unbelief, and especially if it is absolute unbelief, both sends man and his private world to non-existence with death, and casts him into infernal darknesses. It transforms the pleasures of life into bitter poisons. Let the ears ring of those who prefer the life of this world to that of the hereafter! Let them come and find a solution for this, or else let them embrace belief and be saved from these dreadful losses! | |||
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.(*<ref>*Qur’an, 2:32.</ref>) | |||
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From your brother who is in much need of your prayers and misses you greatly, | |||
'''Said Nursî''' | '''Said Nursî''' | ||
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<center> [[Yirmi Dördüncü Söz]] ⇐ | [[Sözler]] | ⇒ [[Yirmi Altıncı Söz]] </center> | <center> [[Yirmi Dördüncü Söz/en|The Twenty-Fourth Word]] ⇐ | [[Sözler/en|The Words]] | ⇒ [[Yirmi Altıncı Söz/en|The Twenty-Sixth Word]] </center> | ||
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