The Twelfth Ray

[Part of the Defence Speeches Given in Denizli Court](*)

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Yes, we are a society and we are a society which every century has had three hundred and fifty million [now one and a half thousand million] members. Every day through the five obligatory prayers, its members demonstrate with complete veneration their attachment to the principles of that sacred society. Through the sacred programme of The believers are but a single brotherhood,(*)they hasten to assist one another with their prayers and spiritual gains.

We are members of that sacred, vast society, and our particular duty is to teach the believers in certain, verified fashion the Qur’anic truths of belief, and save them and ourselves from eternal extinction and everlasting solitary confinement in the Intermediate Realm.

We have absolutely no connection with any worldly, political, scheming society or clandestine group, or the covert organizations concerning which on no grounds whatsover we have been charged; we do not condescend to such things.

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If we had had any desire to interfere in worldly affairs, it would not have been with such buzzing like a fly, it would have exploded like the firing of a cannon.

To accuse someone who defended himself vehemently in the Military Court and in the office of the Speaker of the National Assembly in the presence of an angry Mustafa Kemal, of hatching plots for eighteen years without allowing anyone to be aware of it, is certainly due to some grudge or hatred. In this question, the Risale-i Nur should not be attacked because of my personal faults or those of some of my brothers. It is bound directly to the Qur’an, and the Qur’an is bound to the Sublime Throne, so who could dare to stretch out his hand there and unfasten those strong ropes?

Moreover, the Risale-i Nur, whose blessings —material and spiritual— for this country, and its exceptional service, are alluded to by thirty-three of the Qur’an’s verses, by three predictions of Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him), and the certain news of Gawth al-A‘zam (May his mystery be sanctified), may not be held responsible for our petty, personal faults; it cannot be and should not be. Irreparable harm will otherwise come to this country, both material and spiritual.(*)

God willing, the aggression and plots against the Risale-i Nur of some evil- minded atheists will be foiled, for its students cannot be compared with others; they cannot be scattered or made to give it up; through God’s grace, they will not be defeated. They have won the regard of this nation, as though they were vital for it, and are found everywhere; even if the Qur’an had not prevented them from physical defence, they still would not get involved in minor, fruitless incidents like those of Shaykh Said and Menemen.(*)so as to give it to the departments of government in Ankara. Read and study it carefully; if your heart (I cannot speak for your soul) does not affirm me, I shall remain silent in the face of whatever insults and torment you inflict on me in the solitary confinement in which I am now held!

In Short: Either leave the Risale-i Nur completely free, or smash this powerful and irrefutable truth if you can! Up to now, I have not thought of you and your world. And I was not going to think of it, but you forced me, and perhaps even Divine Determining sent us on this way in order to warn you. As for us, we resolved to take as our guide the sacred rule, ‘Whoever believes in Divine Determining is saved from grief,’ and to meet all our difficulties with patience.

Prisoner

Said Nursî

In His Name, be He glorified!

Saying that we are “corrupting religion,” they have censured us for compiling a Hizb al-Qur’ani, like a large An‘am,(*)out of hundreds of well-known verses which are the particular sources of the Risale-i Nur, although this is an Islamic custom that has been practised since the time of the Prophet.

They also want to convict us in connection with the Treatise On Islamic Dress, for which I have already served a year’s sentence, and which was being treated as confidential, and as recorded in the police report, was pulled out from under the firewood — they want to show that it was written and published this year.

Also, I said strong words to the person (Mustafa Kemal) who was leader of the Government in Ankara; I criticized him to his face and he did not respond but remained silent; yet the natural, necessary, and confidential criticisms I made of him after his death while explaining the meaning of a Hadith which indicated his error, were held to be a crime. But what importance has the sake of someone who is dead and no longer has any connection with the Government besides the sake of the nation and government and the laws of justice, which are a manifestation of Divine sovereignty?

Moreover, freedom of conscience, which is one of the principles of the Government of the Republic that we have most relied on and defended ourselves with, has been made the basis of charges against us; as though we oppose the principle of freedom of conscience.

Another thing is attributed to me in the police report, which has never ever occurred to me, that since I criticize the evils and faults of modern civilization, I do not accept the use of the radio,(*)aeroplanes, and the railway; I am accused of opposing modern progress.

God willing, the fair-minded, just Denizli public prosecutor and court will make analogies with the above examples and show how unjust are these proceedings, and attach no importance to the unfounded suspicions in those reports.

The most extraordinary of them is this, that the public prosecutor in another trial asked me: “You said in the confidential Fifth Ray that the army would save itself from the leadership of that fearsome person.

Your intention was to incite the army to rebel against the Government.” I replied: “What I meant was that the commander would either die or would be transferred, and the army would be saved from his domination.” How can a treatise that is both extremely confidential, and copies of which have come into my possession only twice in eight years and then been lost, and expounds a universal meaning of a Hadith about the end of time, and was originally written long ago, and moreover one single soldier has not seen — how can such a treatise be the reason for such charges? army would save itself from the leadership of that fearsome person. Your intention was to incite the army to rebel against the Government.” I replied: “What I meant was that the commander would either die or would be transferred, and the army would be saved from his domination.” How can a treatise that is both extremely confidential, and copies of which have come into my possession only twice in eight years and then been lost, and expounds a universal meaning of a Hadith about the end of time, and was originally written long ago, and moreover one single soldier has not seen — how can such a treatise be the reason for such charges?

The strangest of all was this, that I said in one place that Almighty God’s great bounties of the aeroplane, railway, and radio should be responded to with great thanks, yet mankind had not done this and had rained down bombs on men’s heads with the planes. While thanks for the vast bounty of the radio would be shown by making it a universal million-tongued reciter of the Qur’an which would allow people all over the earth to listen to the Qur’an. And in the explanations in the Twentieth Word of Qur’anic predictions about the wonders of civilization, I said concerning the allusions of one verse that the unbelievers would defeat the Islamic world by means of the railway. Although I urged Muslims to work towards these wonders, I am accused at the end of the indictment because of the previous public prosecutor’s malice, of “opposing modern advances like the railway, aeroplane, and radio.”

Also, although it has absolutely no connection, someone had said about the name Risaletü’n-Nur, which is another name for the Risale-i Nur, that “it is ‘a message’ (risalet) inspired from the light of the Qur’an;” and attaching a wrong meaning from another place in the indictment, they made it into another charge, as though I had said “the Risale-i Nur is a Divine Messenger.”

Also, I have proved decisively in twenty places in my defence that we would not make religion, the Qur’an, and the Risale-i Nur tools of anything, even in the face of the whole world, and we could not, and that we would not change a single of their truths for all the world, and that is how we are in fact. Over these last twenty years there are thousands of evidences of this. Since it is thus, we declare with all our strength:

For us God suffices and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs.(*)

Said Nursî

In His Name, be He glorified!

A Supplement to My Objections to the Indictment

[Those addressed by these objections are not Denizli Court and the public prosecutor, but the malicious, suspicious officials, chiefly the Isparta and Inebolu prosecutors, who with their false and inaccurate records, were the cause of the extraordinary indictment against us here.]

Firstly: The Risale-i Nur students, who are innocent and not in any way involved in politics, have unimaginably and on no grounds whatsoever been called a political society, and the unfortunates who have joined that circle and have no aim other than belief and the hereafter, have been considered guilty of being disseminators of that society, or active officers or members of it, or of reading the Risale-i Nur or teaching it or writing it out, and have been sent to trial.

A certain proof of how far this is from the essence of justice is that although according to the principles of freedom of thought and freedom of study it is not considered a crime to read the harmful works of Doctor Dozy(*)and other atheists hostile to Islam, it is counted a crime for those people needy for the truths of the Qur’an and belief to read and write out the Risale-i Nur, which teaches those truths as brilliantly as the sun. In addition, only a few sentences from two or three treatises out of hundreds, which we had held to be confidential so that no wrong meaning be ascribed to them and had not permitted to be published, were made the pretext for our indictment. Whereas with one exception, Eskişehir Court had scrutinized those treatises, seen what they necessitated. As for the exception, I gave an extremely decisive answer to it in both my petition, and my objections to Eskişehir Court, and it was proved in twenty respects that “we have light, not the club of politics.” Nevertheless, those unfair prosecutors inferred that the three or four sentences in three confidential and unpublished treatises could be extended to the whole Risale-i Nur, and accused myself and those who read and write the Risale-i Nur of contesting the government.

I call to witness my close friends and those who meet with me, and I swear that apart from two Presidents, one deputy, and the Governor of Kastamonu, for more than ten years, I have not known who the members and ministers of the Government are, or its leaders, officials and deputies, and I have not had the slightest curiosity to find out. Is it at all possible for a person not to know the people he is contesting and not to be curious about them, for him not to know if they are friend or foe, and to attach no importance to finding out? It is clearly understood from this that they are concocting completely baseless pretexts to convict me whatever happens.

Since that is how it is, I say not to the court here, but to those unjust people: I don’t give tuppence for the severest penalty you can inflict on me; it has no importance. For I am seventy years old and at the door of the grave. It is great good fortune for me to exchange one or two years of persecuted, innocent life for the rank of martyrdom. Through the thousands of proofs of the Risale-i Nur, I believe absolutely certainly that for us death consists of discharge papers. If we are to be executed, one hour’s distress would be the key to eternal happiness and mercy.

But you unjust people who confuse the judiciary on account of atheism and preoccupy the Government with us for no reason! Know certainly that you will be condemned to eternal annihilation and everlasting solitary confinement, and tremble! I see you will be made to pay for it many times over. I pity you even.

Yes, death, which has emptied this city a hundred times into the graveyard, certainly has greater demands than life. And the question of people being saved from being executed by it is the most pressing and most important they face and their most essential and certain need. Even lunatics, therefore, would understand that in the eyes of reality and justice those who accuse on petty pretexts the Risale-i Nur students, who have found this solution for themselves, and the Risale-i Nur, which provides it supported by thousands of proofs, themselves become the object of accusation.

There are three matters which deceive these unjust people, leading them to suspect the Risale-i Nur students are a political society, with which they have absolutely no connection:

The First: Ever since early days, my students have been passionately attached to me, like brothers, and this has given rise to suspicions of a political society.

The Second: Some of the Risale-i Nur students have acted like the groups within the Islamic community, the same as everywhere and as is permitted by the laws of the Republic, and this has been supposed to be a society. But the intention of those three or four students was not some sort of political society, it was purely sincere brotherhood in the service of belief and a solidarity which looks to the hereafter.

The Third: Since those unjust people know themselves to be misguided and lovers of the life of this world, and since they find some of the laws of the land convenient for themselves, they say to themselves: “Doubtless, Said and his friends are opposed to us and to the laws of the Government which are favourable to our ‘civilized’ illicit passions. They must therefore have a political society which is antagonistic to us.”

So I say to them: You unfortunates! If the world had been eternal and man was going to remain in it for ever, and if man’s duties had consisted only of politics, there might possibly have been some meaning in these slanders of yours. And if I had embarked on this matter for political ends, you would have found not ten sentences in a hundred treatises, but a thousand, to be combative and connected with politics. And if to suppose the impossible, like you we were working with all our strength for worldly aims, pleasures, and politics —which even Satan could not make anyone believe and accept— even if it was thus, since there is nothing these twenty years to suggest this, and the Government looks to the hand and not the heart, and all governments have fierce opponents; then still there is nothing with which we can be charged according the laws of justice. My final word is:

God suffices me, there is no god but He; in Him do I place my trust — He the Sustainer of the Throne [of Glory] Supreme!(*)

Said Nursî

In His Name, be He glorified!

[I quote exactly an old memory and subtle matter of defence which was not disclosed in Eskişehir Court, and not officially recorded, and was not even written in my defence.]

They asked me there:

“What do you think about the Republic?”

I replied: “My biography, which you have in your possession, proves that I was a religious republican before any of you, with the exception perhaps of the Chairman of Eskişehir Court, was born. A summary of it is this:

like now, at that time I was living in seclusion in an uninhabited tomb. Someone would bring me soup and I used to give breadcrumbs to the ants. I used to eat my bread with the soup. Some people heard of this and asked me about it, and I told them: “The ant and bee nations are republicans; I give the ants the breadcrumbs out of respect for their republicanism.” So they said: “You are opposing the early leaders of Islam.” I replied: “The Rightly-Guided Caliphs were both Caliph and presidents of the republic. Surely Abu Bakr the Veracious (May God be pleased with him), the Ten Promised Paradise, and the Companions of the Prophet were like presidents of the republic. But it was not some meaningless title; they were leaders of a religious republic the meaning of which was true justice and the freedom of the Shari‘a.”

Mr. Prosecutor and Members of the Court! You are accusing me of holding an idea the opposite of which I have held for fifty years. If you are asking about the secular republic, what I understand by it is that secularism means being unbiased; that is, in accordance with the principle of freedom of conscience, it refers to a government that does not interfere with religiously-minded and pious people, the same as it does not interfere with the irreligious and dissolute. I have withdrawn from political and social life for ten, and now its twenty, years. I do not know the state of the Government of the Republic. If, God forbid, it has taken on a fearsome form whereby, on account of irreligion, it promulgates laws indicting those who work for their belief and lives in the hereafter, I proclaim to you fearlessly and warn you:

if I had a thousand lives, I would be ready to sacrifice all of them for belief and the hereafter. Do whatever you like, my last word is For us God suffices and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs. In the face of your sentencing me unjustly to capital punishment or life imprisonment I say:

as the Risale-i Nur has discovered and proved certainly, I am not being executed but discharged from my duties; I am going to the world of light and abode of bliss. As for you, you unfortunates who persecute us on behalf of misguidance! Since I know that you are being sentenced to eternal annihilation and everlasting solitary confinement, I am prepared to surrender up my spirit with perfect ease of mind, having taken my revenge on you completely.

Prisoner

Said Nursî

In His Name, be He glorified!

Sirs!

I have formed the certain opinion as a result of numerous indications that we have been attacked not for ‘breaching public security by exploiting religious feelings’ on behalf of the Government, but behind a tissue of lies, on behalf of atheism, because of our belief and our service to belief and public order.

One proof of this out of many is that despite twenty thousand people reading and accepting the twenty thousand copies of the parts of the Risale-i Nur over twenty years, public security has not been breached by students of the Risale-i Nur on any occasion whatsover, and no such incident has been recorded by the Government, and neither the former nor the present courts have found such a incident. Whereas, had there been any such widespread, powerful propaganda, it would have become apparent within twenty days. That is to say, contrary to the principle of freedom of conscience, Article 163 of this ambiguous law,(*)which embraces all who give religious counsel, is a bogus mask. Atheists deceive certain members of the Government, confuse the legal establishment, and want to crush us whatever happens.

Since the reality of the matter is this, we say with all our strength: o wretches who sell religion for the world and have fallen into absolute unbelief! Do whatever you can! Your world will be the end of you! Let our heads also be sacrificed for a truth that hundreds of millions of heads have been sacrificed for! We are ready for any penalty and for our execution! In this situation, being outside prison is a hundred times worse than being inside it. Since there is no freedom at all —neither religious freedom, nor freedom of conscience, nor scholarly freedom— under the absolute despotism that confronts us, for those with honour, the people of religion and supporters of freedom, there is no solution apart from death or entering prison. We say, To God do we belong, and to Him is our return,(*)and we trust in our Sustainer.

Prisoner

Said Nursî

In His Name, be He glorified!

Chairman of the Court, Ali Riza Bey!

I have an important request in order to defend my rights: I do not know the new letters, and my handwriting in the old is very inadequate. Also, they do not allow me to meet with anyone; I am kept in what is quite simply solitary confinement. The indictment was even taken off me after fifteen minutes. I also do not have the means to employ a lawyer. I was able to obtain only one copy of part of the defence I have presented to you, in the new letters, secretly. I also had written out one or two copies of The Fruits of Belief, which is a sort of defence of the Risale-i Nur and a summary of its way, to give to the public prosecutor and to send to the departments of government in Ankara. They suddenly took them off me and have not returned them. Whereas the judicial authorities in Eskişehir sent a typewriter to the prison for us. We wrote out one or two copies of our defences on it in the new letters, and the Court wrote them out as well.

My urgent request, therefore, is either you supply us with a typewriter, or allow us to procure one outside so that we can type out in the new letters two or three copies of both our defences, and the treatise which is a sort of defence of the Risale-i Nur. We shall then send them to both the Ministry of Justice, and the Cabinet, and the National Assembly, and the Council of State. For it is the Risale-i Nur that is the basis of the indictment, and the charges against the Risale-i Nur and the objections to it are not some petty, personal matter so that no importance should be attached to them. On the contrary, it is a general matter of serious concern to the nation, country, and Government, and will therefore arouse significant attention in the Islamic world.

Yes, those who covertly attack the Risale-i Nur are those who in order to destroy the regard, love, and brotherhood of the Islamic world, which is the greatest strength of this country’s people, and arouse loathing, are covertly establishing absolute disbelief by making politics the tool of irreligion. They have deceived the Government and twice confused the legal establishment, saying: “The Risale-i Nur and its students exploit religion for politics and there is the possibility of their disturbing public order and security.

You unfortunates! The Risale-i Nur definitely has no connection with politics, but since it has smashed absolute disbelief, it destroys and repulses anarchy, which underlies absolute disbelief, and absolute despotism, which overlies it. One of the hundreds of proofs that it ensures public order, security, freedom, and justice is The Fruits of Belief (Meyve Risalesi), which is like its defence. It should be scrutinized by a committee of prominent scholars and sociologists; if they do not confirm what I say, I consent to any punishment or tortuous execution!

Prisoner

Said Nursî

In His Name, be He glorified!

Chairman of the Court!

Three matters have been made the basis of the Indictment:

The First is a political society. I cite as witnesses all the Risale-i Nur students here and those who have met with me, and those who read or write out the Risale-i Nur; you may ask them. I have not said to anyone that we were going to set up a political society or a Naqshbandi association.

I always told them that we were going to work to save belief. No society has been mentioned among us apart from the sacred community of Islam, which includes all believers and has more than three hundred million members. Through the brotherhood of all believers and because of our service of the Qur’an, we found ourselves in the ‘Party of the Qur’an’ (Hizb al-Qur’an), which in the Qur’an is called the Hizb Allah. If this is what is meant in the Indictment, we admit to it wholeheartedly and with pride. But if something else is meant, we know nothing of it!

The Second Matter: As is stated in the Indictment and confirmed by the report of the Kastamonu police, some books like the Treatise On Islamic Dress (Tesettür Risalesi) and The Six Attacks (Hücumat-i Sitte) and its addendum, were found in nailed boxes under piles of firewood and coal in a condition that would in no way allow them to be published. They had been scrutinized and criticized by Eskişehir Court, a light sentence had been served for them, and they had most certainly been treated as private. Now, reading false meanings into some of their sentences, it wants to take us back nine years and charge us again with a crime the penalty of which we have already served.

The Third Matter: In several places in the Indictment, phrases have been used which express possibility rather than actual occurrences, like “he may breach state security or he may harm it.” It is possible for everyone to commit murder, but are they to be charged with it due to the possibility?

Prisoner

Said Nursî

In His Name, be He glorified!

Chairman of the Court!

I present my defence, which is in the form of a petition I sent to the departments of government in Ankara and to the President, and the reply from the Prime Minister’s Office, which shows that they recognized its importance. Contained in this defence are decisive answers to the unfounded and offensive suspicions that the prosecution have stated against us. There are numerous untrue and illogical things in the report of the committee of experts from here, which was based on the superficial and malicious reports of other places; my objections to these too have been presented.

In Short: As I stated before, I told Eskişehir Court when they wanted to convict me under Article 163: out of two hundred deputies of the Republican Government, the same number, 163, agreed to assign one hundred and fifty thousand liras to my medrese(*)in Van. Due to this, the regard in which the Republican Government held me invalidates Article 163 as far as I am concerned. Although I told the court this, the committee of experts corrupted what I said and wrote: “163 deputies opened proceedings against Said.” It is because of this totally baseless accusation of that first experts’ committee that the prosecution is making charges against us.

This is in spite of the fact that the Risale-i Nur had been referred, on your decision, to the highest learned and scientific committee, and having studied and scrutinized all its parts, the committee unanimously made this statement about us: “There is nothing explicit or inferred in the writings of Said and the Risale-i Nur students which suggests that they have any intent to exploit religion or sacred matters, encourage the breaching of state security, or found a political society, or conspire in any way against the Government. It is understood that in their correspondences, Said’s students did not nurture any evil intentions against the Government, or have the idea of founding a political association, or establishing a sufi order.”

The second committee of experts also stated unanimously that “ninety-nine per cent of Said Nursi’s treatises are both sincere, and disinterested, and have in no way departed from the principles of scholarship, reality, and religion. There is clearly nothing in them exploiting religion, or concerning the formation of a political society, or breaching security. The letters and correspondence between the students and between them and Said Nursi are of this sort. Apart from five or ten confidential, complaining, and unscholarly pieces, all the treatises expound Qur’anic verses or the true meanings of Hadiths. Ninety per cent of the available treatises contain comparisons illustrating clearly the tenets of belief in God,the Prophet, and the hereafter and their terminology, scholarly views, moral admonitions to the elderly and to youths, and instructive incidents selected from his experiences in life. They contain nothing which could damage the Government, administration, or public security.

Thus, the prosecution ignored the report of this eminent committee and made extraordinary charges against us based on the confused, deficient first report, so we are truly extremely upset. We in no way deem it fitting for this just court with its proven fairness.

If there be no mistake in the comparison, it resembles this story: they asked a Bektashi why he did not perform the obligatory prayers. He told them: “It says in the Qur’an ‘Approach not the prayers.’” When they reminded him that the verse continued “When you are intoxicated,”(*)he told them: “I have not memorized the whole Qur’an.” They take a single sentence from the Risale-i Nur, and disregarding what follows it, which puts it in context and explains it, use it against us. Thirty to forty examples of this are to be seen in the defence I shall present, when comparing it with the indictment. I shall recount a subtle incident which is one of those examples:

The prosecution in Eskişehir Court used a phrase about the Risale-i Nur’s instruction in belief which was anyway the result of an error, like “it corrupts the people.” Although it later did not use it, one of the Risale-i Nur students called Abdürrezzaq, said a year after the trial:

“You unfortunate! The Risale-i Nur has received the indirect praise of thirty-three Qur’anic verses, its value for religion has been established by three miraculous predictions of Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) and the powerful allusions of Gawth al-A‘zam (May his mystery be sanctified); these twenty years it has caused the Government no trouble whatsoever, and besides not harming anyone at all, has illumined and guided thousands of the sons of this land, and strengthened their belief and rectified their conduct, and yet you call that guidance ‘corruption.’ You have no fear of God! May your tongue be cursed!”

Now, the prosecution has seen these words of that student, so I refer to your fairness and conscience the expression: “Said has spread corruption.”

With the idea of interfering in the social teachings of the Risale-i Nur, the prosecution said: “The place of religion is the conscience; it cannot be tied to laws and regulations.

Formerly there was social unrest because it was tied to laws.” So I say: “Religion does not consist only of belief; its second half is righteous action. Is fear of imprisonment or being seen by a government detective sufficient to deter those who commit numerous grievous sins which poison society, like murder, adultery, theft, gambling, and drinking? If that was so, there would have to be a policeman or detective stationed permanently in every house, or at everyone’s side even, so that obdurate souls would restrain themselves from those filthy acts. Whereas, in respect of good deeds and belief, the Risale-i Nur places a permanent immaterial ‘prohibitor’ next to everyone. It easily saves them from bad deeds by recalling the prison of Hell and Divine wrath.

Hem makam-ı iddia bir risalenin güzel ve fevkalâde kerametkârane bir tevafukunun imza edilmesiyle “bir cemiyet efradı” diye manasız bir emare beyan etmiş. Acaba esnafların ve hancıların defterlerinde bulunan bu nevi imzalara cemiyet unvanı verilir mi? Eskişehir’de aynı böyle bir vehim oldu. Cevap verdiğim ve Mu’cizat-ı Ahmediye Risalesi’ni gösterdiğim zaman taaccüble karşıladılar. Eğer mabeynimizde dünyevî bir cemiyet olsaydı, bu derece benim yüzümden zarar görenler, elbette kemal-i nefretle benden kaçacak idiler.

Demek nasıl ben ve biz, İmam-ı Gazalî ile irtibatımız var, kopmuyor çünkü uhrevîdir, dünyaya bakmıyor. Aynen öyle de bu masum ve safi ve hâlis dindarlar, benim gibi bir bîçareye iman derslerinin hatırı için bir kuvvetli alâka göstermişler. Ondan bu asılsız, mevhum bir cemiyet-i siyasiye vehmini vermiş. Son sözüm:

حَس۟بُنَا اللّٰهُ وَنِع۟مَ ال۟وَكٖيلُ

Mevkuf, haps-i münferidde Said Nursî

Bu gelen kısım çok ehemmiyetlidir

بِاس۟مِهٖ سُب۟حَانَهُ

Son Sözün Bir Mühim Parçası

Efendiler, Reis Bey, dikkat ediniz! Risale-i Nur’u ve şakirdlerini mahkûm etmek, doğrudan doğruya küfr-ü mutlak hesabına, hakikat-i Kur’aniye ve hakaik-i imaniyeyi mahkûm etmek hükmüne geçmekle; bin üç yüz seneden beri her senede üç yüz milyon onda yürümüş ve üç yüz milyar Müslümanların hakikate ve saadet-i dâreyne giden cadde-i kübralarını kapatmaya çalışmaktır ve onların nefretlerini ve itirazlarını kendinize celbetmektir. Çünkü o caddede gelip gidenler, gelmiş geçmişlere dualar ve hasenatlarıyla yardım ediyorlar. Hem bu mübarek vatanın başına bir kıyamet kopmaya vesile olmaktır.

Acaba mahkeme-i kübrada, bu üç yüz milyar davacıların karşısında sizden sorulsa ki: “Doktor Duzi’nin, baştan nihayete kadar serâpa İslâmiyet’iniz ve vatanınız ve dininiz aleyhinde ve Frenkçe ‘Tarih-i İslâm’ namındaki eseri gibi zındıkların kütüphanelerinizdeki eserlerine, kitaplarına ve serbest okumalarına ve o kitapların şakirdleri kanununuzca cemiyet şeklini almalarıyla beraber, dinsizlik veya komünistlik veya anarşistlik veya pek eski ifsad komitecilik veya menfî Turancılık gibi siyasetinize muhalif cemiyetlerine ilişmiyordunuz? Neden hiçbir siyasetle alâkaları olmayan ve yalnız iman ve Kur’an cadde-i kübrasında giden ve kendilerini ve vatandaşlarını idam-ı ebedîden ve haps-i münferidden kurtarmak için Kur’an’ın hakiki tefsiri olan Risale-i Nur gibi gayet hak ve hakikat bir eseri okuyanlara ve hiçbir siyasî cemiyetle münasebeti olmayan o hâlis dindarların birbiriyle uhrevî dostluk ve uhuvvetlerine cemiyet namı verip ilişmişsiniz. Onları pek acib bir kanunla mahkûm ettiniz ve etmek istediniz.” dedikleri zaman ne cevap vereceksiniz? Biz de sizlerden soruyoruz.

Ve sizi iğfal eden ve adliyeyi şaşırtan ve hükûmeti bizimle, vatana ve millete zararlı bir surette meşgul eyleyen muarızlarımız olan zındıklar ve münafıklar, istibdad-ı mutlaka “cumhuriyet” namı vermekle, irtidad-ı mutlakı “rejim” altına almakla sefahet-i mutlaka “medeniyet” ismini vermekle, cebr-i keyfî-i küfrîye “kanun” ismini takmakla hem sizi iğfal hem hükûmeti işgal hem bizi perişan ederek, hâkimiyet-i İslâmiyeye ve millete ve vatana ecnebi hesabına darbeler vuruyorlar.

Ey efendiler! Dört senede dört defa dehşetli zelzeleler, tam tamına dört defa Risale-i Nur şakirdlerine şiddetli bir surette taarruz ve zulüm zamanlarına tevafuku ve her bir zelzele dahi tam taarruz zamanında gelmesi ve hücumun durmasıyla zelzelenin durması işaretiyle, şimdiki mahkûmiyetimiz ile gelen semavî ve arzî belalardan siz mes’ulsünüz!

Denizli Hapishanesinde tecrid-i mutlak ve haps-i münferidde mevkuf

Said Nursî

بِاس۟مِهٖ سُب۟حَانَهُ

Son Sözün Bir Kısmı

Efendiler! Şimdiki hayat-ı içtimaiyeyi bilemediğimden, makam-ı iddianın gidişatına göre sizce musammem mahkûmiyetimize bir bahane olmak için pek musırrane ileri sürdüğünüz cemiyetçilik ittihamına karşı pek çok kat’î cevaplarımızı Ankara ehl-i vukufunun dahi müttefikan tasdikleriyle beraber, bu derece bu noktada ısrarınıza çok hayret ve taaccübde bulunurken kalbime bu mana geldi:

Madem hayat-ı içtimaiyenin bir temel taşı ve fıtrat-ı beşeriyenin bir hâcet-i zaruriyesi ve aile hayatından tâ kabile ve millet ve İslâmiyet ve insaniyet hayatına kadar en lüzumlu ve kuvvetli rabıta ve her insanın kâinatta gördüğü ve tek başına mukabele edemediği medar-ı zarar ve hayret ve insanî ve İslâmî vazifelerin îfasına mani, maddî ve manevî esbabın tehacümatına karşı bir nokta-i istinad ve medar-ı teselli olan dostluk ve kardeşane cemaat ve toplanmak ve samimane uhrevî cemiyet ve uhuvvet hem siyasî cephesi olmadığı halde ve bilhassa hem dünya hem din hem âhiret saadetlerine kat’î vesile olarak iman ve Kur’an dersinde hâlis bir dostluk ve hakikat yolunda bir arkadaşlık ve vatanına ve milletine zararlı şeylere karşı bir tesanüd taşıyan Risale-i Nur şakirdlerinin pek çok takdir ve tahsine şâyan ders-i imanda toplanmalarına “cemiyet-i siyasiye” namını verenler, elbette ve herhalde ya gayet fena bir surette aldanmış veya gayet gaddar bir anarşisttir ki hem insaniyete vahşiyane düşmanlık eder hem İslâmiyet’e nemrudane adâvet eder hem hayat-ı içtimaiyeye anarşiliğin en bozuk ve mütereddi tavrıyla husumet eder ve bu vatana ve millete ve hâkimiyet-i İslâmiyeye ve dinî mukaddesata karşı mürtedane, mütemerridane, anûdane mücadele eder. Veya ecnebi hesabına bu milletin can damarını kesmeye ve bozmaya çalışan el-hannas bir zındıktır ki hükûmeti iğfal ve adliyeyi şaşırtır, tâ o şeytanlara, firavunlara, anarşistlere karşı şimdiye kadar istimal ettiğimiz manevî silahlarımızı kardeşlerimize ve vatanımıza çevirsin veya kırdırsın.

Mevkuf

Said Nursî

Efendiler! Otuz kırk seneden beri ecnebi hesabına ve küfür ve ilhad namına bu milleti ifsad ve bu vatanı parçalamak fikriyle, Kur’an hakikatine ve iman hakikatlerine her vesile ile hücum eden ve çok şekillere giren bir gizli ifsad komitesine karşı, bu meselemizde kendilerine perde yaptıkları insafsız ve dikkatsiz memurlara ve bu mahkemeyi şaşırtan onların Müslüman kisvesindeki propagandacılarına hitaben fakat sizin huzurunuzda zâhiren sizin ile birkaç söz konuşacağıma müsaade ediniz.

(Fakat ikinci gün beraet kararı, o dehşetli konuşmayı geriye bıraktı.)

Tecrid-i mutlakta ve haps-i münferidde Mevkuf Said Nursî

Mühim Bir Suale Hakikatli Bir Cevaptır

Büyük memurlardan birkaç zat benden sordular ki: “Mustafa Kemal sana üç yüz lira maaş verip Kürdistan’a ve Vilayat-ı Şarkiyeye, Şeyh Sünûsî yerine vaiz-i umumî yapmak teklifini neden kabul etmedin? Eğer kabul etseydin ihtilal yüzünden kesilen yüz bin adamın hayatlarını kurtarmaya sebep olurdun!” dediler.

Ben de onlara cevaben dedim ki: Yirmişer otuzar senelik hayat-ı dünyeviyeyi o adamlar için kurtarmadığıma bedel, yüz binler vatandaşa, her birisine milyonlar sene uhrevî hayatı kazandırmaya vesile olan Risale-i Nur, o zayiatın yerine binler derece iş görmüş.

Eğer o teklifi ben kabul etseydim, hiçbir şeye âlet olamayan ve tabi olmayan ve sırr-ı ihlası taşıyan Risale-i Nur meydana gelmezdi. Hattâ ben, hapiste muhterem kardeşlerime demiştim: Eğer Ankara’ya gönderilen Risale-i Nur’un şiddetli tokatları için beni idama mahkûm eden zatlar, Risale-i Nur ile imanlarını kurtarıp idam-ı ebedîden necat bulsalar siz şahit olunuz, ben onları da ruh u canımla helâl ederim!

Beraetimizden sonra Denizli’de beni tarassudla taciz edenlere ve büyük âmirlerine ve polis müdürüyle müfettişlere dedim: Risale-i Nur’un kabil-i inkâr olmayan bir kerametidir ki yirmi sene mazlumiyet hayatımda, yüzer risale ve mektuplarımda ve binler şakirdlerde hiçbir cereyan, hiçbir cemiyet ile ve dâhilî ve haricî hiçbir komite ile hiçbir vesika, hiçbir alâka, dokuz ay tetkikatta bulunmamasıdır. Hiçbir fikrin ve tedbirin haddi midir ki bu hârika vaziyeti versin. Bir tek adamın birkaç senedeki mahrem esrarı meydana çıksa elbette onu mes’ul ve mahcup edecek yirmi madde bulunacak.

Madem hakikat budur ya diyeceksiniz ki: “Pek hârika ve mağlup olmaz bir deha bu işi çeviriyor.” veya diyeceksiniz: “Gayet inayetkârane bir hıfz-ı İlahîdir.” Elbette böyle bir deha ile mübareze etmek hatadır, millete ve vatana büyük bir zarardır. Ve böyle bir hıfz-ı İlahî ve inayet-i Rabbaniyeye karşı gelmek, firavunane bir temerrüddür.

Eğer deseniz: “Seni serbest bıraksak ve tarassud ve nezaret etmesek derslerinle ve gizli esrarınla hayat-ı içtimaiyemizi bulandırabilirsin.”

Ben de derim: Benim derslerim, bilâ-istisna bütünü hükûmetin ve adliyenin eline geçmiş; bir gün cezayı mûcib bir madde bulunmamış. Kırk elli bin nüsha risale, o derslerden milletin ellerinde dikkat ve merakla gezdiği halde, menfaatten başka hiçbir zararı hiçbir kimseye olmadığı hem eski mahkemenin hem yeni mahkemenin mûcib-i mes’uliyet bir madde bulamamaları cihetiyle yenisi, ittifakla beraetimize ve eskisi, dünyaca bir büyüğün hatırı için yüz otuz risaleden beş on kelime bahane edip yalnız kanaat-i vicdaniye ile yüz yirmi mevkuf kardeşlerimden yalnız on beş adama altışar ay ceza verebilmesi kat’î bir hüccettir ki bana ve Risale-i Nur’a ilişmeniz, manasız bir tevehhümle çirkin bir zulümdür. Hem daha yeni dersim yok ve bir sırrım gizli kalmadı ki nezaretle ta’diline çalışsanız.

Ben şimdi hürriyetime çok muhtacım. Yirmi seneden beri lüzumsuz ve haksız ve faydasız tarassudlar artık yeter! Benim sabrım tükendi. İhtiyarlık zafiyetinden, şimdiye kadar yapmadığım bedduayı yapmak ihtimali var. “Mazlumun âhı, tâ arşa kadar gider.” diye bir kuvvetli hakikattir.

Sonra o zalim, dünyaca büyük makamlarda bulunan bedbahtlar dediler: “Sen yirmi senedir bir tek defa takkemizi başına koymadın, eski ve yeni mahkemelerin huzurunda başını açmadın, eski kıyafetin ile bulundun. Halbuki on yedi milyon bu kıyafete girdi.”

Ben de dedim: “On yedi milyon değil belki yedi milyon da değil belki rızasıyla ve kalben kabulüyle ancak yedi bin Avrupa-perest sarhoşların kıyafetlerine ruhsat-ı şer’iye ve cebr-i kanunî cihetiyle girmektense; azîmet-i şer’iye ve takva cihetiyle, yedi milyar zatların kıyafetlerine girmeyi tercih ederim. Benim gibi yirmi beş seneden beri hayat-ı içtimaiyeyi terk eden adama ‘İnat ediyor, bize muhaliftir.’ denilmez. Haydi inat dahi olsa madem Mustafa Kemal o inadı kıramadı ve iki mahkeme kırmadı ve üç vilayetin hükûmetleri onu bozmadı; siz neci oluyorsunuz ki beyhude hem milletin hem hükûmetin zararına, o inadın kırılmasına çabalıyorsunuz! Haydi siyasî muhalif de olsa madem tasdikiniz ile yirmi senedir dünya ile alâkasını kesen ve manen yirmi seneden beri ölmüş bir adam, yeniden dirilip faydasız kendine çok zararlı olarak hayat-ı siyasiyeye girerek sizin ile uğraşmaz; bu halde onun muhalefetinden tevehhüm etmek, divaneliktir. Divanelerle ciddi konuşmak dahi bir divanelik olmasından, sizin gibilerle konuşmayı terk ediyorum. Ne yaparsanız yapınız, minnet çekmem!” dediğim, onları hem kızdırdı hem susturdu. Son sözüm:

حَس۟بُنَا اللّٰهُ وَنِع۟مَ ال۟وَكٖيلُ ۝ حَس۟بِىَ اللّٰهُ لَٓا اِلٰهَ اِلَّا هُوَ عَلَي۟هِ تَوَكَّل۟تُ وَهُوَ رَبُّ ال۟عَر۟شِ ال۟عَظٖيمِ

Bu defaki küçük müdafaatımda demiştim:

Risale-i Nur’daki şefkat, vicdan, hakikat, hak, bizi siyasetten men’etmiş. Çünkü masumlar belaya düşerler, onlara zulmetmiş oluruz.

Bazı zatlar bunun izahını istediler. Ben de dedim:

Şimdiki fırtınalı asırda gaddar medeniyetten neş’et eden hodgâmlık ve asabiyet-i unsuriye ve umumî harpten gelen istibdadat-ı askeriye ve dalaletten çıkan merhametsizlik cihetinde öyle bir eşedd-i zulüm ve eşedd-i istibdat meydan almış ki ehl-i hak, hakkını kuvvet-i maddiye ile müdafaa etse ya eşedd-i zulüm ile tarafgirlik bahanesiyle çok bîçareleri yakacak, o halette o da azlem olacak veyahut mağlup kalacak. Çünkü mezkûr hissiyatla hareket ve taarruz eden insanlar, bir iki adamın hatasıyla yirmi otuz adamı, âdi bahanelerle vurur, perişan eder.

Eğer ehl-i hak, hak ve adalet yolunda yalnız vuranı vursa otuz zayiata mukabil yalnız biri kazanır, mağlup vaziyetinde kalır.

Eğer mukabele-i bi’l-misil kaide-i zalimanesiyle, o ehl-i hak dahi bir ikinin hatasıyla yirmi otuz bîçareleri ezseler o vakit hak namına dehşetli bir haksızlık ederler.

İşte Kur’an’ın emriyle, gayet şiddetle ve nefretle siyasetten ve idareye karışmaktan kaçındığımızın hakiki hikmeti ve sebebi budur. Yoksa bizde öyle bir hak kuvveti var ki hakkımızı tam ve mükemmel müdafaa edebilirdik.

Hem madem her şey geçici ve fânidir ve ölüm ölmüyor ve kabir kapısı kapanmıyor ve zahmet ise rahmete kalboluyor; elbette biz, sabır ve şükürle tevekkül edip sükût ederiz. Zor ile icbar ile sükûtumuzu bozdurmak ise insafa, adalete, gayret-i vataniyeye ve hamiyet-i milliyeye bütün bütün zıttır, muhaliftir.

Hülâsa-i kelâm: Ehl-i hükûmetin ve ehl-i siyasetin ve ehl-i idare ve inzibatın ve adliye ve zabıtanın bizimle uğraşacak hiçbir işleri yoktur. Olsa olsa dünyada hiçbir hükûmetin müdafaa edemediği ve aklı başında hiçbir insanın hoşlanmadığı küfr-ü mutlak ve dehşetli bir taun-u beşerî ve maddiyyunluktan gelen zındıkanın taassubuyla, bir kısım gizli zındıklar şeytanetiyle bazı resmî memurları aldatarak evhamlandırıp aleyhimize sevk etmek var.

Biz de deriz: Değil böyle birkaç vehhamı, belki dünyayı aleyhimize sevk etseler Kur’an’ın kuvvetiyle, Allah’ın inayetiyle kaçmayız. O irtidadkâr küfr-ü mutlaka ve o zındıkaya teslim-i silah etmeyiz!

Said Nursî

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