Onuncu Lem'a/en

Blows Dealt by Divine Compassion

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

On the Day when every soul will be confronted with all the good it has done, and all the evil it has done, it willø wish there were a great distance between it and its evil. But God cautions you [to remember] Himself. And God is full of kindness to those who serve Him.(3:30) One meaning of the above verse is to be expounded and explained by the blows dealt by divine compassion that my comrades in the service of the Qur’an receive for mistakes they make as the result of human nature. So a succession of extra-ordinary events proceeding from the service of the Qur’an will be explained together with an instance of Gawth al-A‘zam’s(*) wonder-working, since he supervises this sacred service with God’s permission and assists it with his saintly influence. Then those who perform it may persevere earnestly in their service.

There are three sorts of wonder-working associated with this sacred work:

The First Sort is that aspect which prepares the work and urges those employed to perform it.

The Second Sort removes obstacles and repulses the evil of those who oppose it and deals them blows.

There are numerous instances of this second sort and they are lengthy,(*) so postponing them to another time we shall discuss the third sort, which are the lightest.

The Third Sort is this: Whenever those who work sincerely in this service become lax, they receive a compassionate slap. So coming to their senses, they take up their work again. Incidents of this sort number more than a hundred. Out of only twenty, thirteen or fourteen received compassionate slaps, while six or seven received restraining slaps.

THE FIRST

This concerns this unfortunate Said: whenever I have flagged in my duties, and saying, “What is it to me?,” have become preoccupied with my own private affairs, I have received a slap. I have formed the opinion that I received it due to my neglect. Because whatever my purpose was that deceived me and spurred me on, I received a slap that was the reverse of it. Then studying the compassionate slaps that my sincere friends have received, they were always the opposite of whatever their aim was – if they were neglectful – so that we have come to the conclusion that such incidents were wonders proceeding from service of the Qur’an.

For example, as long as this unfortunate Said was busy teaching the truths of the Qur’an in Van at the time of the Shaykh Said events,(*) the suspicious government did not and could not interfere with me. Then when I said “What is it to me?,” and thinking of myself withdrew into a ruined cave on Mount Erek in order to save my life in the hereafter, they arrested me for no reason and sent me into exile. I was brought to Burdur.

There, again as long as I was serving the Qur’an… at that time all the exiles were watched very closely and I was supposed to report to the police in person every evening, but I and my sincere students held ourselves to be exceptions. The Governor there complained to Fevzi Pasha(*) when he visited but Fevzi Pasha replied: “Don’t interfere with him! Treat him with respect!” What made him say that was the sacred nature of service of the Qur’an. Yet whenever I was overcome by the idea of saving myself and thought only of my life in the hereafter and there was a temporary slackening in my serving the Qur’an, I received a slap contrary to my intentions. That is to say, I was sent from one place of exile to another. I was sent to Isparta.

In Isparta I took up my duties again. After twenty days, a number of cowardly people said by way of a warning: “Perhaps the government won’t look kindly on this situation. It would be better if you go a bit cautiously.” In Isparta I took up my duties again. After twenty days, a number of cowardly people said by way of a warning: “Perhaps the government won’t look kindly on this situation. It would be better if you go a bit cautiously.”

And in Barla whenever a slackness has come over me and the idea of thinking of myself alone has gripped me, one of these serpents and two-faced hypocrites from among ‘the worldly’(*) has been set to pester me. During this eight years eighty such incidents have befallen me; I could recount them, but am cutting them short so as not to bore people.

My brothers! I have described some of the compassionate slaps I have received, now if you will permit it and forgive me, I shall relate some that have befallen you. Don’t be offended. If anyone is offended, I will not put his name.

THE SECOND

My true brother and first and most superior and self-sacrificing student, Abdülmecid,(*) had a fine house in Van. He was well-off and he was a teacher. Following his own ideas, he did not join those who were attempting to send me to the border region against my wishes, which was a place more in need of Qur’anic service, and as though for my benefit, did not vote for it. As though, if I had gone there, my service of the Qur’an would not have been apolitical or sincere, and they would have expelled him from Van – so he did not take part. But he received a compassionate slap contrary to his intentions, for he had to leave both Van, and his beautiful house, and his native region; he was compelled to go to Ergani.

THE THIRD

Hulûsi Bey(*)

was crucial to our service of the Qur’an. There were a number of things when he returned to his native region from Eğridir that would have afforded him much enjoyment and worldly happiness, perhaps causing him to become slack in his service of the Qur’an, which pertains solely to the hereafter. For he was reunited with his parents, whom he had not seen for a long time, and he was back home, and because he had returned there with rank and honour, the world was smiling on him and appeared good. However, for those employed in serving the Qur’an, either the world must be vexed with them, or they must be vexed at the world, so that they can perform that service sincerely and earnestly.

Hulûsi’s heart was certainly unshakeable, but his situation drove him to slackness and he received a slap from divine compassion. For one or two years a number of dissemblers were set to pester him, which drove away all his worldly pleasure. They made both the world vexed at him, and him vexed at the world. So in the true meaning of the word he embraced his duty earnestly.

THE FOURTH

This is Muhâjir Hâfız Ahmed.(*) He himself said the following: “Yes, I confess that I made a mistake when interpretating the question of my life in the hereafter and its connection with my service of the Qur’an. I had a wish that would cause me to be lax in my service, and I received a blow that was compassionate, but also severe and was atonement. It was like this:

my Master (Ustad) was not in favour of the new measures.(*)

My mosque was next to his house and the Three Months(*) were drawing close. If I had abandoned my mosque, both I would have forfeited much reward, and the district would have grown accustomed to not praying. If I had not carried out the new practices, I would have been barred. So according to my interpretation I wanted my Master, whom I loved more than my life, to temporarily move to another village. I did not know that if he moved, or went to another region, it would cause a temporary lapse in my service of the Qur’an. Just at that  juncture I  received a blow. It was compassionate but so awesome that three months  later  I  still  have  not  regained  my  senses.  However,  praise  be  to  God, according to what my Master  says, it was imparted to him that we may hope from divine mercy that each minute of the calamity is equivalent to a day’s worship. For the mistake was not due to enmity; the wish  occurred to me only because I was thinking of my life in the hereafter.”

THE FIFTH

This is Hakkı Efendi.(*) Since he is not here now, I am deputizing for him as I did for Hulûsi Bey, and say this: while Hakkı Efendi was carrying out to the letter his duties as student, an immoral Kaymakam(*) came to the district. So he hid what he had written so that harm should come neither to his Master, nor to himself. He temporarily gave up his service of the Risale-i Nur. Suddenly, a court case was opened against him, which was a sort of slap dealt by divine compassion. He was going to have to pay a fine of a thousand liras. He was subject to the threat for a year, until he came here and we met, and on his return he again took up his service of the Qur’an and the duties of being a Risale-i Nur student. Then the compassionate slap’s sentence was lifted, and he was acquitted.

Later a further duty commenced for the students, which concerned the writing out of the Qur’an in a new way.(*) A section was given to Hakkı Efendi. He embarked on it enthusiastically and wrote out a thirtieth part of the Qur’an. But because of his straitened circumstances he felt compelled to secretly undertake someone’s defence in a court case. He suddenly received another compassionate slap. He broke the finger he used to hold his pen with. It was as though warning him: “This finger won’t write out both a lawyer’s case and the Qur’an!” We were astonished at his finger because we did not know about his taking on the case. Then it was understood that the sacred, pure service of the Qur’an did not want to involve the fingers which were particular to it in other work. Anyway I know Hulûsi Bey like I know myself and spoke in his place, and Hakkı Bey is just the same. If he does not like my acting as his proxy, he can write about his slap himself!

THE SIXTH

This is Bekir Efendi.(*) He is not here at present, so in the same way that I deputized for my brother Abdülmecid, relying on his confidence and loyalty and what all my close friends like fiamlı Hafız and Süleyman Efendi say and know, I say this: Bekir Efendi had the Tenth Word printed. Then we sent him the Twent y-Fifth Word, about the Qur’an’s Miraculousness, to print before the new letters were introduced.(*) We also wrote that we would send him the printing costs, as we sent him the costs of printing the Tenth Word. But thinking of my poverty and seeing that the printing costs would be around four hundred liras, Bekir Efendi thought to himself: “Perhaps the Hoja won’t be pleased if I pay it out of my own pocket,” and his soul deceived him. It was not printed and caused considerable harm to our service of the Qur’an. Two months later nine hundred liras of his were stolen and he received a compassionate but severe blow. God willing, the lost nine hundred liras was like a sort of almsgiving.

THE SEVENTH

This is Şamlı Hafız Tevfik.(*) He himself says: “Yes, I confess that because of some things I did unknowingly and in error that would have caused harm to our service of the Qur’an, I received two compassionate slaps. I have no doubt that they were the result of that.

“The First: All praise be to God, I was endowed with handwriting of the Arabic script which is to a degree suitable for writing the Qur’an. My Master first of all assigned me three thirtieth parts of the Qur’an to write out, and divided the rest among the others. Desire to write out the Qur’an destroyed my wish to perform the service of writing out the rough and final drafts of the parts of the Risale-i Nur. I even had the conceited idea of wanting to surpass the others who did not know how to write the Arabic script properly. I had even said arrogantly when my Master told me as a precaution about the writing that it was for him: “I know this. I don’t need to learn it.” I received an extraordinary and unimaginable slap because of this mistake: what I wrote was not even as good as that of a brother (Husrev) who knew the least about writing the Arabic script. We were all astonished. And we have understood now that it was a slap.

“The Second: I confess that two of my attitudes were damaging for the complete sincerity necessary for service to the Qur’an, which has to be purely for God’s sake, and I received a severe blow. For I am like a stranger in the region, and foreign. Also – but I should not complain – since I did not observe frugality and contentment, important rules of my Master, I suffer from poverty. I am compelled to mix with selfish and arrogant people, and so, may God forgive it, I was forced to be generous in hypocritical and sycophantic manner. My Master frequently warned, reminded, and scolded me, but unfortunately I could not stop myself. On the one hand satans from among jinn and men were profiting from this situation of mine which was opposed to the spirit of service of the All-Wise Qur’an, and on the other it caused a coldness and slackness in our service.

“In the face of this fault of mine, I received a severe, but God willing compassionate, blow. I have no doubt that it happened in consequence of that fault. The blow was this: although for eight years I have had both close relations with my Master and been his writer of rough drafts and final drafts, for around eight months, I had been unable to benefit from the Risale-i Nur. We were astonished at this situation. Both I and my Master sought the reason, wondering why it was thus. Now we feel certain that those truths of the Qur’an are light and luminous, and cannot unite with the darkness of artificiality, flattery, and abasement.

So the meaning of those truths’ lights were drawing away from me, appearing foreign to me and as strangers. I beseech Almighty God that He will grant me sincerity worthy of such service, and save me from hypocrisy and artificiality towards ‘the worldly.’ I request of firstly my Master and all my brothers that they pray for me.

“The most faulty,

Şamlı Hâfız Tevfik

THE EIGHTH

This is Seyrani. Like Husrev, he was one of my students who was enthusiastic about the Risale-i Nur and had a good understanding of it. I consulted my students in Isparta about the ‘coincidences,’ which are a key to the mysteries of the Qur’an and to the science of jafr. They responded and took part eagerly, but because Seyrani had other ideas and points of interest, he did not respond, and in addition wanted me to give up the truth I knew to be certain. He wrote me a letter that upset me considerably. I said: “Alas! I have lost this student.” Certainly I wanted to enlighten his ideas, but a further meaning confused matters. He received a blow from divine compassion: he remained for nearly a year in a place of seclusion (that is, in prison).

THE NINTH

This is the Hâfız Zühtü the Elder. At a time he was as though supervising the Risale-i Nur students in Ağrus, not considering the students’ spiritual honour to be sufficient – although they had made it their way to follow the practices of the Prophet (UWBP) and avoid innovations – he took it on himself to teach a serious innovation in the hope of increasing his standing in the eyes of ‘the worldly.’ He perpetrated an error that was diametrically opposed to our way. He received an awesome slap from divine compassion. An incident occurred that completely destroyed his family’s honour. Unfortunately, Hâfız Zühtü the Younger was also affected by the grievous incident although he was not deserving of any slap. But God willing it will act as a beneficial surgical operation delivering his heart from worldly attachment and making it over totally to the Qur’an.

THE TENTH

This is someone called Hâfız Ahmed (May God have mercy on him). For two or three years he wrote out the treatises in encouraging fashion and he benefited from them. Then ‘the worldly’ took advantage of a weak trait in his character. His enthusiam was dampened. He had relations with ‘the worldly,’ perhaps so that he would avoid being harmed by them and have some say with them, and win some sort of position, and make his scant livelihood more plentiful. But in return for the slackness and harm that was thus caused to his service of the Qur’an, he received two blows. One was that he had to support five more people with his scant means, and his situation became truly wretched. The second slap: as someone who was sensitive in regard to honour and self-respect and could not brook anyone’s criticism or objections, he was unknowingly used as a shield by some cunning people in such a way that his honour was sullied. Ninety per cent of his honour was destroyed and ninety per cent of people were turned against him. May God forgive him! God willing, he will come to his senses and return in part to his duty.

THE ELEVENTH

This was not written since perhaps he would not agree.

THE TWELFTH

This is the teacher, Galib (May God have mercy on him). Yes, he performed great services loyally and appreciatively in writing out final drafts of the treatises, displaying no weakness in the face of any difficulties. Most days he would come, and listening eagerly, copy them down. Then in return for a fee of thirty liras he had the whole of The Words and Letters written out. His aim was to distribute them in his native region and to enlighten the people there. But due to certain ideas, he did not distribute the treatises as he had envisaged and left them in their box. Suddenly a grievous event occurred due to which he suffered distress for a year. He gained numerous unjust, tyrannical enemies in place of a handful of official enemies who would have been inimical just because he had distributed the treatises, and lost some of his friends.

THE THIRTEENTH

This is Hâfız Halid(*) (May God grant him mercy). He said: “Yes, I confess that I was feverishly engaged in writing out rough drafts of the works my Master disseminated in serving the Qur’an, when the post of imam in a mosque in our quarter became available. With the intention of dressing once again in my former robe and wearing the turban, I temporarily neglected my service and avoided doing it.I received a compassionate slap contrary to my intentions. Although for eight or nine months I acted as imam, extraordinarily I was unable to wear the turban, despite the repeated promises of the Mufti.I have no doubt that this compassionate slap was the result of my error. I was both someone addressed by my Master, and was his scribe of rough drafts. He suffered difficulties due to my neglect. In any event... Still, thanks be to God, we realized my error and understood just how sacred this service is. We were confident that we had behind us a Master like a protecting angel, like Shah Geylani.

“The weakest of God’s servants,

Hâfız Hâlid

THE FOURTEENTH

This consists of the three small slaps the three Mustafa’s received.

The First: For eight years Mustafa Çavuş (May God grant him mercy) attended to our small private mosque, and saw to its stove, paraffin, and even the matches. I learnt later that for the eight years he provided for the paraffin and matches out of his own pocket. On the night before Friday in particular he would join the congregation as long as there was no other essential matter to attend to.

Then, taking advantage of his ingenuousness, ‘the worldly’ said to him: “They are going to interfere in Hâfız’s – one of the scribes of the Words – wearing a turban. He should also temporarily stop making the call to prayer secretly. You tell the scribe to take off his turban before they remove it by force.” They did not know that it was extremely difficult for someone with a lofty spirit like Mustafa Çavuş to tell someone else employed in service of the Qur’an to remove his turban. But he told him what they had said.

That night I dreamt that Mustafa Çavuş came to my room with dirty hands behind the Kaymakam. I asked him the following day: “Mustafa Çavuş, who did you see today? I dreamt of you with dirty hands behind the Kaymakam.” He replied: “Alas! The village headman told me to ‘tell the scribe.’ I didn’t know what was behind it.”

Also, that same day he brought almost an okka(*) of paraffin to the mosque. In a way he had never done before, he left the door open and a kitten entered. Then a big man came, and supposing the paraffin in the ewer to be water, sprinkled it all around the mosque, in order to clean it and the mess left by the kitten on the prayer-mat. It is extraordinary that he did not smell the paraffin. That is to say, the mosque did not allow the man to smell it, in order to tell Mustafa Çavuş through the tongue of disposition: “We don’t need your paraffin. I haven’t accepted it because of the mistake you made.”

That week on the eve of Friday and other important prayers, even, he was unable to join the congregation, although he tried to. Then he repented earnestly and asked forgiveness, and he regained his purity of heart.

The Second Mustafa’s: These are my worthy, hard-working, and important student Mustafa from Kuleönü, and his most loyal, self-sacrificing friend, Hâfız Mustafa (May God grant him mercy). After the religious festival I sent word telling them not to come lest ‘the worldly’ bother us and discourage us in our service of the Qur’an, but if they had to come, they should come singly. Then one night, three of them came all together. They intended to leave before dawn. In a way that had never happened before, neither Mustafa Çavuş, nor Süleyman Efendi, nor myself, nor themselves, had thought of taking any clear precautions; we were made to forget to do so. Each of us left it to the others and took no measures. They left before dawn. Then for two hours they were pounded by such a storm that I was alarmed thinking that they would not survive it. This winter there had been no such storm, nor had I pitied anyone so much. As a punishment for his lack of caution, I was going to send Süleyman after them to find out if they were well and safe. Mustafa Çavuş said: “If he goes, he will be stranded too, and I’ll have to go after him to find him. Then Abdullah Çavuş will have to come after me.” So saying: “We place our trust in God!” we waited.

Question: You consider the calamities visited on your special friends to be slaps; punishment for laxity in their service of the Qur’an. Whereas those that are truly inimical to you and to the service of the Qur’an remain safe and sound. Why are friends dealt slaps while enemies are left untroubled?

The Answer: According to, “Wrongdoing does not continue, but unbelief does,”(*) friends’ errors are wrongdoing of a sort in this service of the Qur’an, and therefore are swiftly punished. A person receives a compassionate slap and if he is sensible, realizes his error. But enemies oppose this service and try to prevent it on account of misguidance. Knowingly or unknowingly, their aggression against our service assists atheism.Since unbelief persists, generally they do not receive any blows immediately.

Just as the penalties of those perpetrating small crimes are delivered locally and serious crimes are sent to the high courts, so too, according to the rules,

the small errors of believers and close friends are punished swiftly and in part in this world, in order to quickly purify them.

But the crimes of the people of misguidance are so great that since their punishments exceed this brief worldly life, as required by justice they are referred to the Supreme Tribunal in the eternal realm, and mostly they do not receive any punishment here.

The Hadith “This world is the prison of the believers and the Paradise of the unbelievers”(*) alludes to this truth. That is to say, because the believer receives partial punishment for his faults in this world, it is a place of punishment for him. It is a dungeon and Hell in relation to his happiness in the hereafter.

And since the unbelievers will not be released from Hell and they in part receive the rewards for their good works in this world and their large sins are postponed, this world is their Paradise in relation to their life in the hereafter.

For in reality and in meaning the believer is also far happier in this world than the unbeliever. A believer’s faith is quite simply like a Paradise in his spirit; while the unbeliever’s unbelief sets afire a sort of Hell in his being.

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.(2:32)

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