Sekizinci Mektup/en

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

There are numerous instances of wisdom in the names of Most Merciful and Compassionate being included in “In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate” and at the start of all good things. Postponing the explanation of these to another time, I shall for now recount a feeling of mine:

My brother, to me the names of Merciful and Compassionate appear as a light so vast it embraces the whole universe and satisfies all the eternal needs of all spirits, and so luminous and powerful it secures a person against all his innumerable enemies. The most important means I have found for attaining to these names, these two vast lights, are poverty and thanks, impotence and compassion. That is, worship and realizing one’s neediness.

What comes to mind in this connection and I say contrary to the great mystics and religious scholars, and even to Imam-i Rabbani, one of my masters, is this:

the intense and brilliant emotion the Prophet Jacob (Upon whom be peace) felt for Joseph (Upon whom be peace) was not love or passion, but compassion. For compassion is much more acute and brilliant and elevated than passionate love, and purer and more worthy of the rank of prophethood. Intense love and passion for worldly (mecazî) beloveds and creatures are not fitting for the elevated rank of prophethood. This means Jacob’s feelings, which the All-Wise Qur’an describes with brilliant eloquence, and were a way of attaining to the name of All-Compassionate, were a high degree of compassion.

As for passionate love, which is a way of attaining to the name of All-Loving, it is more like Zulaikha’s love for Joseph (Upon whom be peace). That is to say, however much higher the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition shows Jacob’s (Upon whom be peace) emotions to be than Zulaikha’s, compassion is higher than passionate love to the same degree.

My master, Imam-i Rabbani, did not consider worldly love to be altogether fitting for the rank of prophethood and therefore said: “Joseph’s virtues pertained to the hereafter, so love for him was not of a worldly kind that it should have been defective.”(*)

But I say: “Master! That is an artificial interpretation, the truth of the matter must be this: Jacob’s was not love but a degree of compassion a hundred times more brilliant, more extensive, and more elevated than love.”

Yes, in all its varieties, compassion is subtle and pure, while many sorts of love and passion may not be condescended to.

Furthermore, compassion is extremely broad. Because of the compassion a person feels for his child, he may well feel a kindness towards all young and all living beings even, and act as a sort of mirror to the comprehensive name of All- Compassionate. Whereas passionate love restricts its gaze to its beloved and sacrifices everything for it. Or else while elevating and praising its beloved, it denigrates others and in effect insults them and abuses their honour. For example, someone said: “The sun espied my beloved’s beauty and was embarrassed. Not to see it, it veiled itself in cloud.” Lover, fine sir! What right do you have to impute shame to the sun, which is a light-filled page of eight Greatest Names?

Moreover, compassion is sincere and wants nothing in return; it is pure and seeks no recompense. The self-sacrificing, unselfish tenderness of animals towards their young is evidence for this at the lowest level. Passionate love, however, desires remuneration and seeks return. The weepings of passionate love are a sort of demanding, a desiring remuneration.

Thus, Jacob’s (Upon whom be peace) compassion, the most brilliant light of Sura Yusuf – the most brilliant of the Qur’an’s Suras – points to the names of Merciful and Compassionate. It informs us that the way of compassion is the way of mercy. And as a salve for the pain of compassion, it induces a person to utter:

اَل۟بَاقٖى هُوَ ال۟بَاقٖى Said Nursî

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