The Sixth Letter
In His Name, be He glorified! And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.(17:44)
May God’s peace and His mercy and His blessings be upon you and upon your brothers so long as day and night continue and the ages follow on in succession and the sun and moon endure and the two stars in Ursa Minor are in opposition.
My hard-working brothers, zealous friends, and means of consolation in these lands of exile known as the world!
Seeing that Almighty God has made you shareholders in the notions He has imparted to my mind, it is surely also your right to share in my feelings. So as not to sadden you unduly, I shall skip the excessively grievous part of my loneliness in exile and tell you about another part, as follows:
These last two or three months I have been very much alone. Sometimes, once every two or three weeks or so, I have a guest with me; the rest of the time I am alone. For nearly three weeks now there has been no one working in the mountains near me; they have all dispersed.
One night in these foreign mountains, silent and alone amid the mournful sighing of the trees, I saw myself in five exiles of different hues.
The first: because of old age I was alone and a stranger far from most of my friends, relations, and those close to me; I felt a sad exile at their having left me and departed for the Intermediate Realm.
Then another sphere of exile was disclosed within that one: I felt a sad sense of separation and exile at most of the beings to which I was attached, like last spring, having left me and departed.
Then within that one a further sphere of exile opened u, which was that I had been parted from my native land and relatives, and was alone. I felt a sense of separation and exile arising from that too.
Then because of it, the loneliness of the night and the mountains made me feel another pitiable exile.
And then I beheld my spirit in an overwhelming exile: it was ready to journey to eternity both from this exile and from the temporary guest-house of this world.
I exclaimed to myself suddenly: My God! How can I endure these exiles and layers of darkness? My heart cried out:
My Lord! I am a stranger, I have no one, I am weak, I am powerless, I am impotent, I am old;
I am without will; I seek recourse, I seek forgiveness, I seek help from Your Court, O God!
Suddenly the light of belief, the effulgence of the Qur’an, and the grace of the Most Merciful came to my aid. They transformed those five dark exiles into five luminous, familiar spheres. My tongue declared: God is enough for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs.(3:173) While my heart recited the verse: And if they turn away, say: God is enough for me, there is no god but He; in Him do I place my trust, for He is the Lord of the Mighty Throne.(9:129) My mind too addressed my soul, crying out in such distress and terror, saying:
Cry not out at misfortune, O wretch, come, trust in God! For know that complaint compounds the misfortune and is a great error.
Find misfortune’s Sender, and know it is a gift within gifts, and pleasure.
So leave complaint and offer thanks; like the nightingale, smile through your tears!
If you find Him not, know the world is all pain within pain, transience and loss.
So why lament at a small misfortune while upon you is a worldful of woe?
Come trust in God! Trust in God! Laugh in misfortune’s face; it too will laugh. As it laughs, it will diminish; it will be changed and transformed.
As Mawlana Jalal al-Din,1 one of my masters, addressed his soul, I said:
He said: “Am I not your Lord?”, and you assented. So what is thanks for that “Yes”? It is to suffer tribulation.
سِرِّ بَلَا چٖيس۟ت۟ كِه يَع۟نٖى مَنَم۟ حَل۟قَه زَنِ دَر۟گَهِ فَق۟رُ و فَنَا
O vakit nefsim dahi: “Evet, evet acz ve tevekkül ile, fakr ve iltica ile nur kapısı açılır, zulmetler dağılır. “ اَل۟حَم۟دُ لِلّٰهِ عَلٰى نُورِ ال۟اٖيمَانِ وَ ال۟اِس۟لَامِ dedi. Meşhur Hikem-i Atâiye’nin şu fıkrası:
مَاذَا وَجَدَ مَن۟ فَقَدَهُ وَ مَاذَا فَقَدَ مَن۟ وَجَدَهُ
Yani “Cenab-ı Hakk’ı bulan, neyi kaybeder? Ve onu kaybeden, neyi kazanır?”
Yani “Onu bulan her şeyi bulur; onu bulmayan hiçbir şey bulmaz, bulsa da başına bela bulur.” ne derece âlî bir hakikat olduğunu gördüm ve طُوبٰى لِل۟غُرَبَاءِ hadîsinin sırrını anladım, şükrettim.
İşte kardeşlerim, karanlıklı bu gurbetler, çendan nur-u imanla nurlandılar fakat yine bende bir derece hükümlerini icra ettiler ve şöyle bir düşünceyi verdiler: “Madem ben garibim ve gurbetteyim ve gurbete gideceğim, acaba şu misafirhanedeki vazifem bitmiş midir? Tâ ki sizleri ve Sözler’i tevkil etsem ve bütün bütün alâkamı kessem.” fikri hatırıma geldi. Onun için sizden sormuştum ki: “Acaba yazılan Sözler kâfi midir, noksanı var mı? Yani vazifem bitmiş midir? Tâ ki rahat-ı kalple kendimi nurlu, zevkli, hakiki bir gurbete atıp, dünyayı unutup, Mevlana Celaleddin’in dediği gibi
دَانٖى سَمَاعِ چِه بُوَد۟ بٖى خُود۟ شُدَن۟ زِهَس۟تٖى
اَن۟دَر۟ فَنَاىِ مُط۟لَق۟ ذَو۟قِ بَقَا چَشٖيدَن۟
deyip ulvi bir gurbeti arayabilir miyim?” diye sizi o sualler ile tasdi’ etmiştim.
اَل۟بَاقٖى هُوَ ال۟بَاقٖى
Said Nursî