On Beşinci Mektup/en

In His Name, be He glorified!

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

My Dear Brother!

YOUR FIRST QUESTION

Why didn’t the Companions discover the troublemakers with the eye of sainthood, with the result that three of the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs were martyred? For it is said that even the lesser Companions were greater than the greatest saints?

The Answer:This matter comprises two stations.

First Station

The question may be solved by explaining as follows a subtle mystery of sainthood:

The Companions’ sainthood, known as the greater sainthood, is one that proceeds from the legacy of prophethood, and passing directly from the apparent to realit y without travelling the intermediate path, looks to the unfolding of divine immediacy. Although this way of sainthood is very short, it is extremely elevated. Its wonders are few, but its virtues are many. Illuminations and wonder-workings are to be encountered on it only infrequently.

Moreover, the wonder-working of the saints is mostly involuntary; wonders appear from them unexpectedly as a divine bestowal. And the majority of such illuminations and wonder-workings occur during their spiritual journeying, as they traverse the intermediate realm of the Sufi path; they manifest those extra-ordinary states because they have withdrawn to a degree from ordinary humanity.

As for the Companions, due to the reflection, attraction, and elixir of the company of prophethood, they were not obliged to traverse the vast sphere of spiritual journeying of the Sufi way. They were able to pass from the apparent to reality in one step,through one conversation with the Prophet (UWBP).

For instance, there are two ways of reaching the Night of Power, if it was last night:

One is to travel and wander for a year to reach it. One has to traverse a year’s distance to gain proximity to it. This is the method of those who embark on spiritual journeying, the way taken by most of those who follow the Sufi path.

The second is to slip free of and be divested of the sheath of corporeality, which is restricted by time, to rise in the spirit and see the Night of Power, which was last night, together with the night of the ‘Id, which is the day after tomorrow, as being present like today. For the spirit is not restricted by time. When the human emotions rise to the level of the spirit, present time expands. Time, which for others consists of the past and the future, is as though the present for such a person.

According to this comparison, to reach the Night of Power one has to rise to the level of the spirit and see the past as though it were the present. Essentially, this obscure mystery is the unfolding of divine immediacy.

For example, the sun is near to us, for its light and heat are present in the mirror we are holding. But we are far from it. If we perceive its immediacy from the point of view of luminosity, and understand our relation to its reflection in our mirror, which is a similitude; if we come to know it by that means and know what its light, heat, and totality are, its immediacy is unfolded to us and we recognize it as close to us and we become connected to it.

If we want to draw near to it and get to know it in respect of our distance from it, we are compelled to embark on an extensive journeying in the mind, so that by means of thought and the laws of science we can rise to the skies in the mind and conceive of the sun there, and through lengthy scientific investigation understand its light and heat and the seven colours in its light. Only then may we attain to the non-physical proximity the first man attained with little thought through his mirror.

Thus, like this comparison, the sainthood of prophethood and of the legacy of prophethood looks to the mystery of the unfolding of divine immediacy. The other sainthood proceeds mostly on the basis of proximity, and is compelled to traverse numerous degrees in spiritual journeying.

Second Station

The persons who were the cause of those events and instigated the trouble did not consist of a few Jews so that having discovered them the trouble could have been averted. For with numerous different peoples entering Islam, many mutually conflicting currents and ideas had confused the situation. Particularly since the national pride of some of them had been terribly wounded by ‘Umar’s (May God be pleased with him) blows; they were waiting to take their revenge. For both their old religions had been rendered null and void and their old rule and sovereignty, the source of their pride, been swept away. Knowingly or unknowingly, they were emotionally in favour of seeking vengeance on Islamic rule. It was therefore said that some clever, scheming dissemblers like the Jews took advantage of that state of society.

That is to say, it could have been averted by reforming the society and the various ideas of the time, not by discovering one or two troublemakers.

If it is asked:Why, with that piercing eye of sainthood of his, didn’t ‘Umar (May God be pleased with him) see his murderer, Firuz, who was with him, although while in the pulpit he said to one of his commanders called Sariya who was a month’s distance away, “Sariya! The mountain, the mountain!”,(*)making Sariya hear it and in wondrous fashion causing a strategic victory – showing how penetrating his sight was?

The Answer:Our answer is that of the Prophet Jacob (UWP). That is, Jacob was asked: “How did you perceive the odour of Joseph’s shirt from Egypt when you did not see him in the well at Cana’an close by?” He replied: “This ability is like lightning; sometimes it appears and sometimes it is hidden. Sometimes we are as though seated on the highest spot and can see everwhere, and sometimes we can’t see even the arch of our foot.”

In Short: Man is free to act as he wills, still, in accordance with the verse, “You do not will it except as God wills,”(76:30) divine will is fundamental, divine determining (kader) is dominant. Divine will restores man’s will.

It confirms the statement, “The eye no longer sees when divine determining acts;”(*)that is, when divine determining speaks, it is beyond human power to speak; man’s will falls silent.

THE GIST OF YOUR SECOND QUESTION

What was the true nature of the wars that started in the time of ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him)? What should we call those who took part in them, and those who died and those who killed?

The Answer:

The war between ‘Ali and Talha, and Zubayr and ‘A’isha the Veracious (May God be pleased with all of them), called the Event of the Camel, was a struggle between pure justice and relative justice. It was as follows:

‘Ali took pure justice as his guiding principle and in his judgement of the Law proceeded on that basis, as was the case in the time of the Caliphs Abu Bakr and ‘Umar. Those who opposed him said that previously the purity of Islam had permitted pure justice, but since with the passage of time various peoples whose Islam was weak had joined Islamic society, to apply pure justice was extremely difficult. For this reason, their judgement of the Law was based on relative justice, known as the lesser of two evils. Dispute over interpretation of the Law led to war.

Since the interpretations had been purely for God’s sake and for the benefit of Islam, and war had broken out because of interpretation of the Law, we may surely say that both those who killed and those who were killed won Paradise, and both acted rightfully. ‘Ali’s interpretation was accurate, just as those who opposed him were in error, but they still did not deserve punishment. For if a person makes a correct interpretation, he gains two rewards, but if he fails to do this he still earns one reward, the reward for making an interpretation, which is a form of worship. He is forgiven his error.

A learned person who was widely known amongst us and whose pronouncements were authoritative wrote in Kurdish:

ژٖى شَرِّ صَحَابَان۟ مَكَه قَالُ و قٖيل۟ لَو۟رَا جَنَّتٖينَه قَاتِلُ و هَم۟ قَتٖيل۟

“Don’t gossip about the war between the Companions, for both killer and killed were destined for Paradise.”

Pure justice and relative justice may be explained as follows:

according to the allusive meaning of the verse,If any one slew a person – unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he slew the whole people,(5:32)the rights of an innocent man cannot be cancelled for the sake of all the people. An individual may not be sacrificed for the good of all. In the view of Almighty God’s compassion, right is right, there is no difference between great and small. The small may not be annulled for the great. Without his consent, the life and rights of an individual may not be sacrificed for the good of the community. If he consents to sacrifice them in the name of patriotism, that is a different matter.

As for relative justice, a particular is sacrificed for the good of the universal; the rights of an individual are disregarded in the face of the community. The attempt is made to apply a sort of relative justice as the lesser of two evils. But if it is possible to apply pure justice, to apply relative justice is wrong and may not be undertaken.

Thus, Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) judged it possible to apply pure justice as in the time of the Caliphs Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, and he set up the Islamic Caliphate on that basis. Those who opposed him and objected to him said that it was impossible because of the great difficulties, and judged according to the Law that they should proceed with relative justice. The other historical reasons are not true reasons, they are pretexts.

If you ask: What was the reason for Imam ‘Ali’s lack of success in regard to the Islamic Caliphate relatively to his predecessors, despite his extraordinary capabilities, unusual intelligence, and great deservedness?

The Answer: That blessed person was deserving of weighty duties other than politics and rule.If he had been completely successful in politics and government, he would have been unable to acquire fully the meaningful title of King of Sainthood. Whereas he won a spiritual rule far surpassing the external, political Caliphate, and became a Universal Master; in fact, his spiritual rule will continue even until the end of the world.

As for his war with Mu‘awiya at Siffin, it was a war over the Caliphate and rule. That is to say, Imam ‘Ali gave priority to the injunctions of religion, the truths of Islam, and the hereafter, and sacrificed some of the laws of government and pitiless demands of politics. Whereas Mu‘awiya and his supporters, in order to strengthen Islamic society with their governmental policies, left aside resoluteness and favoured permissiveness; they supposed they were obliged to in the political realm; choosing permissiveness, they fell into error.

As for Hasan and Husain’s struggle against the Umayyads, it was a war between religion and nationalism. That is, the Umayyads founded the Islamic state on Arab nationalism and put the bonds of nationalism before those of Islam, causing harm in two respects:

The First Respect: They offended the other nations and frightened them off.

The Other: The principles of racialism and nationalism are not based on justice and right, so are unjust and wrongful. They do not proceed on justice. For a ruler of racialist leanings gives preference to people of the same race and cannot act justly.

According to the clear decree of, “Islam abrogated the tribalism of Ignorance. There is no difference between an Abyssinian slave and a leader of the Quraish, once they have accepted Islam,”(*)the bonds of nationalism may not be set up in place of the bonds of religion. If they are, there will be no justice; right will disappear.

Thus, Husain accepted the bonds of religion as fundamental and struggled against those others as someone executing justice, until he attained the rank of martyrdom.

If it is asked: If he was so right and just, why wasn’t he successful? Also, why did divine determining and divine mercy permit them to meet with the tragic end they did?

The Answer:It was not Husain’s close supporters that harboured feelings of revenge towards the Arab nation, but members of other nations who had joined his community, out of their wounded national pride. They caused harm to the pure, shining creeds of Husain and his supporters, and were the cause of their defeat.

The wisdom in their tragic end from the point of view of divine determining was this: Hasan and Husain and their family and descendants were destined to hold spiritual rule. It is extremely difficult to bring together worldly rule and spiritual rule. Therefore, divine determining made them feel disgust at the world; it showed them its ugly face so that they should cease to feel any attachment to it in their hearts. They lost a temporary, superficial rule, but were appointed to a splendid, permanent spiritual rule. They became the authorities of the spiritual poles among the saints instead of commonplace governors.

YOUR THIRD QUESTION

What was the wisdom in the tragically cruel treatment those blessed persons received?

The Answer: As was explained above, there were three main reasons for the pitiless cruelty Husain’s opponents displayed during Umayyad rule:

One was the heartless principle of politics: “Individuals may be sacrificed for the welfare of the government and preservation of public order.”

The Second was the cruel rule of nationalism: “Everything may be sacrificed for the well-being of the nation.” For his opponents’ rule was based on racialism and nationalism.

The Third:The traditional vein of rivalry between the Umayyads and the Hashimites was present in some people like Yazid, and he displayed a merciless ability to be cruel.

A Fourth Reason:The Umayyads made Arab nationalism the basis of their rule, and they looked on the members of other nations – who were found among Husain’s supporters – as slaves. This had wounded their national pride. So, since the other nations had joined Husain’s community with mixed intentions and to take revenge, they felt excessively affronted at the Umayyad’s fanatic nationalism and were the cause of that terrible well-known tragedy.

The four reasons mentioned above are outward and apparent. When considered from the point of view of divine determining, the results pertaining to the hereafter and spiritual rule and spiritual progress that the tradegy won for Husain and his relatives were of such high worth that the distress they suffered due to it was made easy and cheap. It resembled a soldier who dies after an hour’s torture and becomes a martyr: he attains a rank so high that anyone else could reach it only if they strove for ten years. If the soldier were to be asked about it after he had died, he would reply that he had gained much for very little.

THE GIST OF YOUR FOURTH QUESTION

After Jesus (Upon whom be peace) kills the Antichrist (Dajjal) at the end of time, most people will enter the true religion. But it says in some narrations: “The end of the world will not occur as long as there remain on the earth people who say, Allah! Allah!”(*) So how after most people have come to believe, will they become unbelievers?

The Answer: Some people whose belief is weak regard as unlikely what is narrated in the sound Hadith: “Jesus (Upon whom be peace) will come and will act in accordance with the Shari‘a of Islam. He will kill the Dajjal.”(*)But when its meaning is explained, it is seen that there is nothing unlikely about it. It is as follows:

What this Hadith and those about the Sufyan and the Mahdi(*) mean is this: at the end of time two atheistic movements will gain strength.

One of them: Behind a screen of duplicity, a fearsome individual named the Sufyan will deny the messengership of Muhammad (UWBP), and coming to lead the dissemblers, will try to destroy the Islamic Shari‘a. To oppose him, a luminous individual called Muhammad Mahdi of the Family of the Prophet (UWBP) will assume leadership of the people of sainthood and perfection, who are bound to the luminous line of the Prophet’s (UWBP) Family, and he will kill the current of dissemblers, which will consist of the collective personality of the Sufyan, and scatter it.

The Second Current: A tyrannical movement born of naturalist philos ophy will gradually grow strong at the end of time and spread by means of materialist philosophy, going so far as to deny God. A savage who does not recognize the king or accept that the officers and soldiers in the army are his soldiers ascribes a sort of kingship and rulership to everyone and to all the soldiers.

In just the same way, the members of that movement, who deny God, each ascribes dominicality to his soul like a little Nimrod. And the greatest of them, the Dajjal, who will come to lead them, will manifest awesome wonders, a sort of spiritualism and hypnosis; he will go even further, and imagining his tyrannical, superficial rule to be a sort of dominicality, he will proclaim his godhead. It is clear just what foolish buffoonery it is for impotent man, who may be defeated by a fly and cannot create even a fly’s wing, to claim godhead.

At that point, just when the movement appears to be very strong, the religion of true Christianity, which comprises the collective personality of Jesus (Upon whom be peace), will emerge. That is, it will descend from the skies of divine mercy. Present- day Christianity will be purified in the face of that reality; it will cast off superstition and distortion, and unite with the truths of Islam. Christianity will in effect be transformed into a sort of Islam. Following the Qur’an, the collective personality of Christianity will be in the rank of follower, and Islam, in that of leader. True religion will become a mighty force as a result of its joining it.

Although defeated before the atheistic movement while separate, as a result of their union Christianity and Islam will acquire the capability to defeat and rout it. Then the person of Jesus (Upon whom be peace), who is present with his human body in the world of the heavens, will come to lead the current of true religion, as, relying on the promise of One Powerful Over All Things, the Bringer of Sure News has said.(*)Since he has told of it, it is true, and since the One Powerful Over All Things has promised it, He will certainly bring it about.

Indeed, it is not far from the wisdom of the All-Wise One of Glory who all the time sends the angels to the earth from the heavens, sometimes in human form – like Gabriel appearing in the form of Dihya(*)– and sends spirit beings from the Spirit World making them appear in human form, and even sends the spirits of most of the dead saints to the world with similitudes of their bodies, it would not be far from His Wisdom – even if he were not alive and present with his body in the skies of the world and had truly died and departed for the furthest corner of the hereafter – to clothe Jesus (Upon whom be peace) in his body and send him to the world, so to bring the religion of Jesus to a fitting conclusion; for such a momentous result. Indeed He promised it because His wisdom required it to be thus, and since He promised it, He will most certainly send him.

When Jesus (Upon whom be peace) comes, not everyone will know him to be the true Jesus. His elect and those close to him will recognize him through the light of belief. It will not be self-evident so that everyone will recognize him.

Question:There are narrations which say: “The Dajjal has a false paradise where he sends those who follow him, and he also has a false hell into which he casts those who do not follow him. He has even made one of his mount’s ears into a paradise and the other one into a hell; his body is of such-and-such vast dimensions;”(*)they describe him like this?

The Answer:The Dajjal superficially resembles a human being. But he is arrogant and pharaoh-like and has forgotten God, so is a foolish satan and intriguing man who calls his superficial, tyrannical rule godhead. But his atheistic movement, his collective personality, is truly vast. The awesome descriptions of the Dajjal in the narrations allude to that.(*)At one time, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese army was depicted with one foot in the Pacific Ocean and the other ten days’ distance away in Port Arthur. The collective personality of the commander-in-chief’s army was illustrated by depicting him in that way.

The Dajjal’s false paradise consists of the alluring amusements and enticements of civilization. His mount is means of transport like the railway; at one end of the train is the fire-box which sometimes sprays fire on those who do not follow him. The other of the mount’s ears, that is, the other end of it, has been furnished like Paradise, where he seats his followers. Anyway, the railway, an important mount of sinful, cruel civilization, brings a false paradise for the dissolute and the worldly, while for the people of religion and Islam like the angels of Hell it brings dangers in the hand of civilization, and casts them into captivity and indigence.

For sure, when the true religion of Christianity emerges and is transformed into Islam, it will spread its light to the great majority of people in the world, but when the end of the world approaches, an atheistic movement will again appear and become dominant. According to the rule, “The word is with the majority,” no one will remain on earth who says, “Allah! Allah!;”(*)that is, “Allah! Allah!” will not be uttered by any significant group that holds an important position on the earth.

The people of truth will form a minority or will be defeated, but they will remain permanently till the end of the world. Only, the moment Doomsday occurs, as a token of divine mercy, the spirits of the believers will be seized first so that they do not see the terrors of the Last Day, and it will break forth over the unbelievers.(*)

THE GIST OF YOUR FIFTH QUESTION

Will the immortal spirits be grieved at the events of the Last Day?

The Answer: They will be grieved according to their degrees. They will be grieved in the same way that they are grieved at the overwhelming, wrathful manifestations of the angels towards themselves. A person is affected in his mind and conscience if others are trembling in the snow and cold outside while he himself is inside in the warmth. Similarly, since they are connected to the universe immortal spirits are affected according to their degree by its awesome events. The Qur’an indicates and alludes to this and to the tormented being grievously afflicted, and those destined for happiness being struck by wonder and amazement, and even rejoicing. For the All-Wise Qur’an always mentions the extraordinary events of the resurrection in the form of threats; it says: “You will see it!” Whereas those who will witness it physically are those living at the Last Day. That is to say, spirits whose bodies have rotted in their graves are also addressed by those Qur’anic threats.

THE GIST OF YOUR SIXTH QUESTION

Does the verse,Everything will perish save His countenance(28:88) include the hereafter, Paradise, and Hell, and their inhabitants, or does it not include them?

The Answer: This question has been much discussed by the scholars, the saints, and those who uncover the realities of creation. They have the say in this matter. Moreover, the verse is very broad and contains many levels. The majority of scholars said that it does not include the everlasting realm, while others suggested that those realms too will perish for just an instant, a brief interval of time, but so briefly that their being annihilated and restored will be imperceptible. However, the absolute annihilation stated by some of those who uncover the realities whose ideas are extreme, is not right.

For since the Most Pure and Holy Divine Essence is eternal and everlasting, His attributes and names are also surely eternal and everlasting. And since His attributes and names are everlasting and eternal, the immortal beings in the realm of eternity, which are the mirrors, manifestations, impresses, and places of reflection of His attributes and names, of necessity will not vanish into absolute non-existence.

A couple of points have occurred to me from the effulgence of the Qur’an, and I shall write them here in summary:

The First: Almighty God is the possessor of such absolute power that He can bring existence into being and despatch it to non-existence most easily, as though they were two houses in relation to His power and will. If He wishes He can do this in a day or in an instant. Anyway there is no absolute non-existence, for His knowledge is all-embracing; there is nothing outside the sphere of divine knowledge so that something can be cast there. The non-existence within the sphere of His knowledge is external non-existence and a title for something concealed but existent in divine knowledge. Some scholars have called the beings existent in divine knowledge “latent realities.”

In which case, to go to extinction is to be temporarily divested of external dress and to enter upon existence in divine knowledge, existence in meaning. That is to say, transitory, ephemeral beings leave external existence and their essences are clothed in what has the meaning of existence; they pass from the sphere of divine power to that of divine knowledge.

The Second: As we have explained in many of the Words, in regard to their faces which look to themselves, all things are nothing. They do not possess existences that are of themselves independent or constant, and they do not possess realities that subsist of themselves. But in regard to their aspects that look to Almighty God, that is, that signify a meaning other than themselves, they are not nothing. For in that aspect are to be seen the manifestations of eternal names. That aspect is not doomed for non- existence, for it bears the shadow of an eternal existent. It has a reality, it is constant, and it is elevated. For it is a sort of constant shadow of the eternal name which it manifests.

Furthermore, “Everything will perish save His countenance” is a sword to cut man’s attachment to things other than God. It looks to the transitory things of this fleeting world in order to sever attachment to them, if it is not for Almighty God’s sake. That is to say, if man’s attachment is for God’s sake and on account of the face that looks to Him, and for Him, he cannot embrace what is other than Him so that his head should be cut off with the sword of “Everything will perish save His countenance.”

In Short: If a person looks at things for God, if a person finds God, nothing will be other than Him so that his head should be severed. But if he does not find God and does not look on his account, everything will be other than Him. A person has to use the sword of “Everything will perish save His countenance;” he has to rend the veil so that he can find Him.

The Eternal One, He is the Eternal One!

Said Nursî

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The Fourteenth Letter ⇐ | The Letters | ⇒ The Sixteenth Letter

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