The Fourth Letter
A ray from the manifestation of the Divine Name the All-Wise
In His Name, glory be to Him.
There is nothing that does not glorify Him with His praise.
God’s peace, mercy, and grace be upon you and your brothers!
Dear Brothers,
I AM NOW IN MY HUT IN A TALL PINE TREE ON MT. CAMDAGI. Totally isolated from other people, I have become used to loneliness. Whenever I desire human company, I imagine you with me and console myself with an imaginary conversation with you. If possible, I would like to stay here for some months. When I return to Barla, we will try to have a face-to-face conversation, something that I have been longing for more than you. For the time being, I am writing a few points that have occurred to me.
FIRST: This is somewhat of a secret, but no secret remains unrevealed to you. It is as follows: Some people of truth are objects of the manifestation of the Divine Name the All-Loving. They look to the Necessarily Existent Being through the window of creation under that Name’s manifestation in the highest degree. Your poor brother seems to have been made the object of the manifestations of the Divine Names the All-Compassionate and All-Wise while serving the Qur’an as the herald of its infinite gems. All of The Words are manifestations of this Divine favor. I hope God has included The Words in the meaning of: Whoever is given the Wisdom has been given much good (2:269).
SECOND: Then I remembered the dictum about the Naqshbandi way’s principles: In this way, one must renounce four things: the world, the Hereafter, “becoming,” and the idea of renunciation. Remembering this brought another dictum to mind: In our way, depending on one’s perception of his [or her] nothingness,10 four things are necessary: perception and admission of one’s absolute poverty vis-à-vis the Divine Riches, of absolute helplessness vis-à-vis the Divine Power, of absolute gratitude or thankfulness to God, and of absolute enthusiasm in His cause.
Then I remembered your grand and colorful poem beginning with: “Look at the Book of the Universe’s colorful page.” Through that poem’s window, I looked at the stars and wished I were a poet to complete it. I wrote down what occurred to me at that moment, although I have no talent for writing verse. As my successor, you can shape it into proper verse if you would like to. This is what suddenly came to me:
Listen to the stars and heed their beautiful sermons,
see what is written in these luminous missives of Wisdom.
All of them are jointly delivering this truthful discourse:
“Each of us is a radiant proof
for the glorious Sovereignty of
an All-Powerful One of Majesty.
We bear witness to the Maker’s Existence,
and to His Unity and Power...
We are His subtle miracles sending light to gild Earth’s face
and upon which the angels make excursions.
We are the heavens’ innumerable discerning eyes
directed to Paradise and overseeing Earth.11
We are the exquisite fruits
attached to the Tree of Creation’s heavenly branch;
and to the Milky Way’s twigs, attached by
the All-Gracious One of Majesty’s Hand of wisdom.
For the heavens’ inhabitants, we are travelling mosques,
revolving houses and exalted homes,
light-diffusing lamps, mighty ships, and planes.
We are miracles of the Power of the All-Powerful One of Perfection,
the All-Wise One of Majesty,
Each of us is a wonder of His creative art,
a rarity of His Wisdom,
A marvel of His creation, a world of light.
To the one who is truly human,
We present countless proofs in countless tongues.
The atheists' eyes, may they be blind, never sees our faces,
Nor do their ears hear our speech.
We are signs that speak the truth.
On us is the same stamp and seal.
We obey and glorify our Lord,
and mention Him in worship...
We are ecstatic lovers in the Milky Way’s widest circle,
the circle reciting our Lord’s Names.
The Everlasting: He is the Everlasting.
Said Nursi
10 The Qur’an declares: I shall not allow to go to waste the deed of any doer among you, whether be a male or female: you are one from the other (3:195). It is clear that Islam does not discriminate between men and women in religious responsibility. Each gender shares most of the responsibilities, but each one has certain responsibilities that are particular to it. The Qur’an usually uses the masculine form of address, for this is one of Arabic’s characteristics. In almost every language, the masculine form is used for a group comprising both men and women, like the English word mankind, which includes both men and women. So, brotherhood also includes sisterhood, and, since the believers comprise both male and female believers, the believers are brothers and sisters. However, in order to maintain the original text and avoid repetition, usually we do not mention the feminine forms in translation. (Tr.)
11 It is as if the stars, the “eyes” of heavenly bodies, watch the intricate works of creation on Earth and then turn toward Paradise to observe their permanent forms, just as the angels observe the miracles of Divine Power exhibited on Earth, the land sown with the seeds of Paradise’s flowers.