Yirmi Üçüncü Mektup/en

In His Name, be He glorified! And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.(17:44)

Peace be upon you, and God’s blessings and mercy for ever, to the number of the seconds of the minutes of your life and the particles of your body!

My Dear, Enterprising, Serious, True, Sincere, and Sagacious Brother!

For brothers of the hereafter and the truth like us, differences of time and place are no obstacle to their conversing and intimacy. Even if one is in the east, one in the west, one in the past, one in the future, one in this world, and one in the next, they still may be thought of as being together and may converse. Especially those who have undertaken the same duty to achieve the same goal; they are as though united. Every morning I imagine that you are here with me, and I make over a part, a third, of my spiritual gains to you. May God find them acceptable! In my prayers you are together with Abdülmecid and Abdurrahman. God willing, you always receive your share.

Your suffering difficulties in respect of worldly life saddened me a little, for your sake. But since this world is not eternal and good may come of disasters, it occurred to me to say on your behalf: “This too will pass.” I thought of the Hadith: “True life is the life of the hereafter.”(*)I recited the verse: “God is with those who patiently persevere.”(2:253) I said: “To God do we belong, and to Him is our return.”(2:156) And I found consolation in place of you. If Almighty God loves one of His servants, He makes him feel disgust at the world and shows it to be ugly.(*)God willing, you belong to that class of His loved ones.

Do not let the increased difficulties preventing the spreading of the Words upset you. God willing, when the amount you have distributed comes to manifest divine mercy, those light-filled seeds will open a profusion of flowers.

You asked a number of questions. My dear brother! The majority of the Words and Letters that have been written occurred to my heart instantaneously without the exercise of will; and they turned out very well. If I reply to you relying on my will and strength of knowledge and thought like the Old Said, the answers will turn out dull and deficient. For some time now my heart has received no inspirations and the whip of my memory been broken; so I shall reply extremely briefly to each of them, so as not to deprive you of an answer.

YOUR FIRST QUESTION

What is the best way believers can pray for one another?

The Answer:Their prayer has to be within the bounds of what is acceptable, for supplications become acceptable under certain conditions; their acceptability increases as these conditions are fulfilled.

For instance, when a person wants to offer supplications, he should be purified spiritually by seeking forgiveness; then he should recite benedictions (salawat) for the Prophet (UWBP), an acceptable prayer, for intercession; and following his supplication he should again recite the salawat. For a prayer offered between two such acceptable prayers itself becomes acceptable; as is praying for another without their knowledge;(*)and are the traditional supplications and prayers in the Qur’an and Hadiths. For example:

O God! I beseech You to bestow forgiveness and well-being on me and on so-and-so in religion, this world, and the hereafter.(*)O our Sustainer! Give us good in this world and good in the hereafter, and defend us from the torment of the Fire.(2:201)

General supplications like these when offered sincerely and with humility and tranquillity of heart; and following the five daily prayers, and the morning prayer in particular; and in holy places, and mosques in particular; and on Fridays, and particularly during “the hour when prayers are answered;” and during the three months of Rajab, Sha‘ban, and Ramadan, and on the well-known holy nights, such as the Prophet’s (UWBP) birthday and Ragha’ib, and on the Night of Power in particular – it is to be strongly hoped from divine mercy that such supplications will be accepted.(*)

The results of such acceptable prayers are either seen in this world exactly as requested, or they are accepted in respect of the eternal life in the hereafter of the one who offered them. That is to say, if what was sought does not occur exactly as wished, it should not be said that the prayer was not accepted,(*)but that it was accepted in a better form.

YOUR SECOND QUESTION

Since the phrase, “May God be pleased with him” is used for the Companions of the Prophet (UWBP), is it appropriate to use it in the same way for others?

The Answer:Yes, it may be used, because unlike “Upon whom be blessings and peace,” which is a mark of God’s Messenger (UWBP), the epithet, “May God be pleased with him” is not particular to the Companions, but should be used for persons who, like the Companions, attained to the “greater sainthood” known as “the legacy of prophethood,” rising to the station of God’s pleasure. Examples are the four Imams, and Shaikh ‘Abd al-Qadir Gilani, Imam-i Rabbani (Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi), and Imam Ghazali. But the general practice among religious scholars has been to use “May God be pleased with him” for the Companions; “May God have mercy on him” for the two generations succeeding them; “May God forgive him” for subsequent generations; and “May his mystery be sanctified” for the great saints.

YOUR THIRD QUESTION

Which were superior, the great imams and interpreters of the Holy Law, or the shahs and spiritual poles of the true Sufi paths?

The Answer:Not all the interpreters of the Law were superior to the shahs and spiritual poles, only Abu Hanifa, Malik, Shafi‘i, and Ahmad b. Hanbal. But in some respects, some wondrous spiritual poles like Shaikh Gilani reached more brilliant stations in particular virtues. However, general virtue was the Imams’. Furthermore, some of the shahs of the Sufi paths were also interpreters of the Law; it cannot therefore be said that all interpreters of the Law were superior to the spiritual poles. But it may be said that after the Companions and the Mahdi, the four Imams were superior.

YOUR FOURTH QUESTION

What is the purpose and aim of the words: “God is with those who patiently persevere?”(2:153; 8:46)

The Answer:As required by His name of All-Wise, Almighty God placed in all things an arrangement like the steps of stairs. The impatient man does not act with slow deliberation, so either skips some of the steps and falls, or leaves some deficient; he cannot mount to the roof of his goal. Greed is therefore the cause of loss. Patience however is the key to all difficulties, and the saying, “The greedy are subject to disappointment and loss,” and the Hadith, “Patience is the key to happiness,”(*)have become proverbial. That is to say, Almighty God’s grace and favour are with the patient. For patience is threefold:

The First is to patiently persevere in refraining from sin; this patience is taqwa and manifests the meaning of the verse:God is with those who fear Him and restrain themselves.(2:194)

The Second is patience in the face of calamity; this to place one’s trust in God and to submit to Him. It is to be honoured by the manifestation of these verses:God loves the patient.(3:146) * God loves those who put their trust in Him. (3:159)

As for impatience, it amounts to complaining about God, and to criticizing His actions, accusing His mercy, and not liking His wisdom. For sure, man is weak and powerless, and weeps complainingly at the blows of misfortune, but his complaint must be to Him, not about Him. It should resemble Jacob’s (Upon whom be peace) words:He said: I only complain of my distraction and anguish to God.(12:86)That is to say, he should complain to God, not lament saying: “What have I done that this should have happened to me?” as though complaining to other human beings about God; to excite the sympathy of impotent humans is harmful and meaningless.

The Third Sort of Patience is patient perseverance in worship, which raises a person to the station of being beloved of God. It urges him towards perfect worship of God and servitude of Him, which is the most elevated station.

YOUR FIFTH QUESTION

Fifteen is accepted as the age of discretion. How did God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) worship before his prophetic mission?

The Answer:He used to worship in accordance with what remained of Abraham’s (Upon whom be peace) religion, which was still extant in Arabia though in very obscure form. But this was his own choice, to perform a good act, not because he was obliged or compelled in any way. This truth is lengthy, so let it remain at that for now.

YOUR SIXTH QUESTION

What was the wisdom in his prophethood commencing when he was forty years of age, which is reckoned to be the age of perfect maturity, and his blessed life continuing for sixty-three years?

The Answer:There were numerous purposes and instances of wisdom in this. One of them is as follows: prophethood brings with it extremely heavy responsibility. To bear it, the intellectual abilities have to mature and capacity of the heart, increase and be perfected. Forty is the age they are most perfectly developed.

In addition, the period of youth, when the passions of the soul are enflamed, the blood is fiery and exuberant, and worldly ambitions are intense, is not fitting for the duties of prophethood, which are purely divine, sacred, and pertain to the hereafter. However serious and sincere a man is before the age of forty, the suspicion that he is working for worldly renown might occur to those who themselves seek fame. He could not easily be exonerated in the face of their accusations. But after the age of forty, the descent to the grave begins, and the hereafter looms larger for such a man than this world. He can be easily vindicated by his actions and works, which look to the hereafter, and he is successful. And others too are saved from thinking ill of him.

When it comes to his blessed life lasting sixty-three years, one of the instances of wisdom in it is this: the believers are charged by the Shari‘a to love and respect God’s Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) to the utmost degree, to feel repelled at nothing about him at all, and to look on everything about him as good. Almighty God, therefore, did not leave His Noble Beloved (UWBP) to live the difficult, troublesome years of old age after sixty-three; He rather sent him to the Sublime Court at that age, which was the average life expectancy of the community of which he was the leader. He took him to Himself, showing that he was the leader in every respect.

YOUR SEVENTH QUESTION

Is the following a Hadith, and what does it mean? “The best of youths are those who resemble men of mature age, while the worst men of middle age are those who resemble youths.”(*)

The Answer:I have heard that it is a Hadith. Its meaning is this: “The best youth is the one who thinks about death like an elderly person, and working for the hereafter, avoids joining those who become captive to the passions of youth and drown in heedlessness. And the worst of your elderly people is the one who tries to resemble the young in heedlessness and passion, and follows the lusts of the soul like a child.”

The correct form of the second part you saw in the piece is as follows. I have hung it above my head for the wisdom it teaches. I look it at it every morning and evening and receive instruction:

If you want a friend, God is sufficient. Yes, if He is your friend, everything is friendly.

If you want companions, the Qur’an is sufficient. For in the imagination one meets with the prophets and angels in it, observes the events in which they were involved, and becomes familiar with them.

If you want possessions, contentment is sufficient. Yes, the person who is content is frugal; and the frugal person receives the blessing of plenty.

If you want an enemy, the soul is sufficient. Yes, the person who fancies himself is visited with calamities and meets with difficulties, whereas the one who is not fond of himself, finds happiness, and receives mercy.

If you want advice, death is sufficient. Yes, the person who thinks of death is saved from love of this world, and works in earnest for the hereafter.

I am adding an eighth to your seven matters.

It is like this: a couple of days ago, aQur’an reciter read part of Sura Yusuf as far as,Take my soul [at death] as one submitting to Your will [as a Muslim], and unite me with the righteous.(12:101)This point occurred to me in a flash: everything concerning the Qur’an and belief is valuable; however insignificant a point appears to be, it has great value. Nothing that helps to win eternal happiness is insignificant. In which case, it may not be said that this is only a small point and not worth explaining or being given importance. And certainly, the first student and person addressed in matters of this kind, who appreciates the fine points of the Qur’an, Ibrahim Hulûsi, wants to hear this point! In which case, listen to it:

It is a fine point about the finest of stories. An elevated, subtle, happy, and miraculous point of the verse,Take my soul [at death] as one submitting to Your will [as a Muslim], and unite me with the righteous,(12:101) which announces that the story of Joseph (Upon whom be peace), the best of stories, has reached its conclusion. It is this:

the sorrows of death and separation at the end of other happy stories sour the pleasure the listener has received from the story in his imagination, and dispel it. Especially if they describe death and separation just when recounting the moment of perfect joy and happiness; this is even more painful and causes those listening to cry out in sorrow.

However, although this verse mentions Joseph’s death just at the most brilliant part of his story, when he is Ruler of Egypt, united with his mother and father, fondly meeting with his brothers, and is experiencing the greatest worldly happiness and joy, it does so in such a way as to say:

Joseph himself asked Almighty God for his death in order to experience greater happiness and a more brilliant situation; and he did die and did receive that happiness.That is to say, there is beyond the grave a happiness and joy greater than the pleasurable happiness of this world, so that while in that most joyful worldly situation, a truth-seeing person like Joseph (Upon whom be peace) wished for bitter death, so as to receive that other happiness.

So note this eloquence of the All-Wise Qur’an, and the way it announces the end of the story of Joseph. It causes not sorrow and regret to those listening to it, but gives good tidings and adds further joy.

It also gives guidance, saying: Work for beyond the grave, for it is there that true happiness and pleasure will be found!

It also points out Joseph’s exalted veraciousness, saying: Even the most brilliant and joyful situation of this world did not cause him to become heedless; it did not captivate him; he still wanted the hereafter.

The Eternal One, He is the Eternal One!

Said Nursî

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The Twenty-Second Letter ⇐ | The Letters | ⇒ The Twenty-Fourth Letter

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