On Yedinci Mektup/en

[The Addendum to the Twenty-Fifth Flash]

A Letter of Condolence On the Death of a Child

And in His Name, be He glorified!

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

My Dear Brother of the hereafter, Hafız Halid Efendi!

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. And give good news to the patient, * Those who when afflicted with calamity say: To God do we belong and to Him is our return.(2:155-6)

My brother, your child’s death saddened me, but, “the command is God’s,”(40:12) being resigned to the divine decree and submitting to divine determining are marks of Islam. May Almighty God grant you all patience, and may He make the deceased a helper and intercessor for you in the hereafter. I shall explain five points which are truly good news and offer real consolation for you, and for pious believers like you:

First Point:

The meaning of the phrase, “immortal youths”(56:17; 76:19) in the All-Wise Qur’an is this: with this phrase, the verse indicates and gives the good news that the children of believers who die before reaching maturity will remain perpetually as eternal, lovable children in a form worthy of Paradise; that they will be an everlasting source of happiness in the embrace of their fathers and mothers who go to Paradise; and will ensure that their parents receive the sweetest of pleasures, the loving and carressing of children; and that all pleasurable things will be found in Paradise; that those who say that since Paradise is not the place for reproduction there will be no loving and carressing of children, are not correct;and that gaining millions of years of pure, painfree loving and caressing of eternal children instead of a brief ten years or so of loving them mixed with the sorrows of this world, is a source of great happiness for believers.

Second Point:

One time when a man was in prison they sent one of his lovable children to him. The unhappy prisoner suffered both his own sorrows, and since he could not make the child happy, he also suffered at his pain. Then the compassionate judge sent someone to him with a message which said: “For sure the child is yours, but he is my subject and one of my people. I shall take him to a fine palace and look after him there.” The man wept in anguish. He said: “I won’t give you my child, he is my one comfort!” His friends said to him: “Your grief is meaningless. If it is the child you pity, he will go to a spacious, happy palace in place of this dirty, distressing dungeon. If you are sorry for yourself and seeking your own interests, you will suffer much distress and pain at the child’s difficulties if he remains here, in addition to the single dubious, temporary benefit you receive. If he goes there, it will be of manifold advantage for you, for he will attract the king’s mercy and will be an intercessor for you. The king will want you to see him, and he is sure not to send him to the prison, so he will release you, summon you to the palace, and allow you to meet with the child there. But on condition you have confidence in the king and you obey him!”

My dear brother, like this comparison, you must think as follows, as should other believers if their children die: the child was innocent and his Creator is All- Compassionate and All-Generous. He has taken him to His perfect grace and mercy in place of my deficient upbringing and compassion. He has released him from the grievous, calamitous, difficult prison of this world and sent him to the gardens of Paradise. How happy for the child! If he had stayed in this world, who knows how he would have grown up. Therefore, I do not pity him, I know him to be fortunate. There remains my own benefits, and I don’t pity myself in connection with them, and I am not sad and sorry.

For if he had remained in the world, he would have had ten years of a child’s temporary love mixed with pains. Then if he had been righteous and if he had been capable in worldly matters, perhaps he would have helped me. But by dying, he has become a sort of intercessor who will win me ten million years of a child’s love in eternal Paradise and everlasting happiness. Certainly, a person who loses a doubtful, immediate benefit and gains a thousand certain, postponed benefits does not weep and lament, nor cry out in despair.

ÜÇÜNCÜ NOKTA

Vefat eden çocuk, bir Hâlık-ı Rahîm’in mahluku, memlûkü, abdi ve bütün heyetiyle onun masnûu ve ona ait olarak ebeveyninin bir arkadaşı idi ki muvakkaten ebeveyninin nezaretine verilmiş. Peder ve valideyi ona hizmetkâr etmiş. Ebeveyninin o hizmetlerine mukabil, muaccel bir ücret olarak lezzetli bir şefkat vermiş. Şimdi binden dokuz yüz doksan dokuz hisse sahibi olan o Hâlık-ı Rahîm, mukteza-yı rahmet ve hikmet olarak o çocuğu senin elinden alsa, hizmetine hâtime verse surî bir hisse ile hakiki bin hisse sahibine karşı şekvayı andıracak bir tarzda meyusane hüzün ve feryat etmek ehl-i imana yakışmaz, belki ehl-i gaflet ve dalalete yakışıyor.

DÖRDÜNCÜ NOKTA

Eğer dünya ebedî olsaydı, insan içinde ebedî kalsaydı ve firak ebedî olsaydı elîmane teessürat ve meyusane teellümatın bir manası olurdu. Fakat madem dünya bir misafirhanedir, vefat eden çocuk nereye gitmişse siz de biz de oraya gideceğiz. Ve hem bu vefat ona mahsus değil, umumî bir caddedir. Hem madem müfarakat dahi ebedî değil; ileride hem berzahta hem cennette görüşülecektir. اَل۟حُك۟مُ لِلّٰهِ demeli. O verdi, o aldı. اَل۟حَم۟دُ لِلّٰهِ عَلٰى كُلِّ حَالٍ sabır ile şükretmeli.

BEŞİNCİ NOKTA

Rahmet-i İlahiyenin en latîf, en güzel, en hoş, en şirin cilvelerinden olan şefkat; bir iksir-i nuranidir. Aşktan çok keskindir. Çabuk Cenab-ı Hakk’a vusule vesile olur. Nasıl aşk-ı mecazî ve aşk-ı dünyevî pek çok müşkülatla aşk-ı hakikiye inkılab eder, Cenab-ı Hakk’ı bulur. Öyle de şefkat –fakat müşkülatsız– daha kısa, daha safi bir tarzda kalbi Cenab-ı Hakk’a rabteder.

Gerek peder ve gerek valide, veledini bütün dünya gibi severler. Veledi elinden alındığı vakit, eğer bahtiyar ise hakiki ehl-i iman ise dünyadan yüzünü çevirir, Mün’im-i Hakiki’yi bulur. Der ki: “Dünya madem fânidir, değmiyor alâka-i kalbe.” Veledi nereye gitmişse oraya karşı bir alâka peyda eder, büyük manevî bir hal kazanır.

Ehl-i gaflet ve dalalet, şu beş hakikatteki saadet ve müjdeden mahrumdurlar. Onların hali ne kadar elîm olduğunu şununla kıyas ediniz ki bir ihtiyar hanım, gayet sevdiği sevimli tek bir çocuğunu sekeratta görüp –dünyada tevehhüm-ü ebediyet hükmünce gaflet veya dalalet neticesinde; mevti, adem ve firak-ı ebedî tasavvur ettiğinden– yumuşak döşeğine bedel kabrin toprağını düşünüp gaflet veya dalalet cihetiyle, Erhamü’r-Râhimîn’in cennet-i rahmetini, firdevs-i nimetini düşünmediğinden ne kadar meyusane bir hüzün ve elem çektiğini kıyas edebilirsin.

Fakat vesile-i saadet-i dâreyn olan iman ve İslâmiyet, mü’mine der ki: Şu sekeratta olan çocuğun Hâlık-ı Rahîm’i, onu bu fâni dünyadan çıkarıp cennetine götürecek. Hem sana şefaatçi hem ebedî bir evlat yapacak. Müfarakat muvakkattır, merak etme اَل۟حُك۟مُ لِلّٰهِ ۝ اِنَّا لِلّٰهِ وَاِنَّٓا اِلَي۟هِ رَاجِعُونَ de, sabret.

اَل۟بَاقٖى هُوَ ال۟بَاقٖى

Said Nursî

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