Epigrams

 

Seeds of Truths

 

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

All praise be to God, and all blessing and peace be upon our master Muhammad, his Family, and Companions.

 

The prescription for a diseased age, an ailing nation, and a disabled member is to follow the Qur’an. The prescription for a glorious though unfortunate continent,399 once so illustrious yet now a humbled and wretched state, once so invaluable yet now an undefended people, is unity under Islam’s guidance. One who cannot turn Earth, planets, and stars as easily as turning a rosary’s beads cannot claim any part in creation, for everything is intertwined. The resurrection of all the dead on Judgment Day is as easy for God’s Power as to rouse a fly in spring from its winter sleep. For the Divine Power is essential to the Divine Being, cannot change, decay, diminish, or be impeded. Being absolute, It admits no degrees, and everything is equal in relation to It. The One Who created the gnat’s eye is He Who created the sun. The One Who arranged the flea’s stomach is He Who arranged the solar system. Seeing the universe’s miraculous order and harmony, all “natural” causes (supposing they have independent agency) bow and say: “Glory be to You. We have no power. You are the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.” As befits God’s Oneness and Majesty, causes have no real and creative effect in creation and the universe’s functioning. But in the outward (corporeal) dimension of existence, causes function to veil Divine Power’s operation so that certain seemingly disagreeable or banal entities and events might not be attributed directly to It. The inner dimension of everything, where Divine Power operates directly, is absolutely pure and transparent. This visible, corporeal world is a lace curtain before the unseen worlds. Creating a dot in the right place requires an infinite power which can create the whole universe. Every letter of this great Book of the Universe, especially every “living” letter, has a face turned toward and an eye gazing at every one of its sentences. At the end of one Ramadan, people were trying to site the new crescent moon indicating ‘Id (the religious festival). But only an old man claimed to see it. However, he didn’t know that what he saw was the curve of one of his own white eyelashes. How can an eyelash be equivalent to the crescent? How can the motion of minute particles be taken in place of the One Who forms whole species? Nature is a print or a model composed of unseen laws, but not a printer and composer. It is a design, not the designer; a recipient, not the agent; an order, not the one who puts in order. It is a law, not a power. It is a collection of laws established by Divine Will—the laws [that our minds can grasp but] that in themselves have no power or material reality. The feeling of attraction and being attracted felt in one’s (innate) human conscience is due to a truth’s attractive power. A thing’s innate drive or its God-given nature does not lie: For example, a seed’s urge to grow says: “I will grow into such-and-such a plant and produce fruit,” and then does so. An egg’s urge to life says: “I will be a chick,” and then becomes a chick. Water’s urge to freeze says: “I will take up more space,” and then does so. Hard and solid iron cannot contradict it; rather, when frozen, water splits it. Such drives and urges are manifestations of the Divine commands of creation issuing from the Divine Will. The Eternal Power, Which does not leave ants without a leader and bees without a queen, does not certainly deprive humanity of a Prophet’s leadership. Splitting the moon was one of his miracles shown in the visible, corporeal world. His Ascension (to God’s Presence) was his greatest miracle shown to the angels and spirit beings in the World of Inner Dimensions, one that proved and showed his Prophethood’s sainthood. Through that miracle, that most illustrious being extended and diffused his radiance, like a flash of lightning or a bright moon, in the World of Inner Dimensions. The two parts of the affirmation of belief—I bear witness that there is no deity except God, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger—attest to each other’s truth. The first is the a priori argument for the second, and the second is the a posteriori argument for the first. As life is a manifestation of unity in the sphere of multiplicity, it leads to unity, which enables one thing to own everything. The spirit is a law with consciousness and a real, sensible existence. Like enduring laws of creation, it also issues from the World of Divine Commands and Attribute of Will. Divine Power clothes it in an energetic envelope within a body of sensory organs. This spirit, which exists in each human being, is a counterpart of the laws of nature, which have only theoretical existence. Both are unchanging and permanent, and come from the World of Divine Commands. If Eternal Power had clothed laws with external existence, each would have been a spirit; if the human spirit were stripped of consciousness, it would become an immaterial law. Existents are visible by the agency of light, and their existence is known through life. Light and life are each discoverers and revealers. Christianity either will vanish or be purified [of its pagan elements] and abandon its struggle against Islam. It split several times and produced Protestantism which, in turn, split [into diverse sects and groupings] and [some] drew near to monotheism. Christianity will split further, after which it will disappear or, finding the truths of Islam, which include the essentials of Jesus’ original religion, will submit to Islam. This truth is indicated in a Prophetic Tradition: “Prophet Jesus will return to this world, join my community, and follow my Sharia.”400 The majority of common people (the masses) are drawn by the sacredness of the authority, rather than [the strength of] proofs. Ninety percent of the Sharia consists of the essentials and incontestable rules of Islam, and may be likened to diamond pillars. The remaining 10 percent, which is open to interpretation and to be determined by Islam’s legal authorities, may be likened to gold pieces. Ninety diamond pillars cannot be protected by 10 gold pieces. Rather, the jurisprudents’ books, arguments, and judgments should help us to see the Qur’an better. They should serve as binoculars to see and as mirrors to reflect its meanings, not veil or replace it. Individuals qualified to practice ijtihad can proclaim a new law for themselves, but not for others or the Muslim community.401 Before an idea related to the Religion can be extended to others, it must be accepted by the majority of scholars. If it is not, it will be regarded and then rejected as an innovation contrary to Islam’s jurisprudential principles. Human beings, created with an inherently noble disposition, pursue truth. But sometimes they find and embrace falsehood. While searching for the truth, they sometimes are unintentionally captured by misguidance and, thinking it to be the truth, mistake it for the truth. Many mirrors, each one more subtle than the other, reflect Divine Power. They range from water to air, from air to ether, and thence to the world of ideal forms, and higher still to the world of spirits and even to time and ideas. A word multiplies a million times in the mirror of air. The Pen of Divine Power accomplishes this in an amazing way. Things are reflected in those mirrors either with their apparent identities or both identities and characters (nature). Each reflection of a solid entity is a moving lifeless form; each reflection of a luminous spiritual entity is a living form connected to the original. Even if the reflection (of a luminous entity) is not identical to the original, it is not something different. Since the sun is shaken through its movement on its axis, its fruits (planets) do not fall. If it stopped shaking, its fruits would scatter. An idea is dark and spreads darkness unless illumined with the heart’s light. The eye’s cornea [white portion], which can be likened to day, cannot engender sight until combined with the eye’s iris and pupil [dark portion], which can be likened to night. In the same way, an idea’s “cornea” cannot engender sight of the truth unless combined with the heart’s “iris and pupil.” Knowledge without conviction is little better than ignorance. Siding with or adopting something is quite different from conviction. A fanciful, elaborate account of something bad can cause immature minds to stray. A scholar giving guidance should be like an ewe, not like a female bird. An ewe feeds her lambs with her milk, a fully digested and processed substance, whereas a female bird feeds her chicks with what she has half chewed and regurgitated. A thing’s existence depends upon the existence of all its parts. Since a thing’s non-existence is possible through the non-existence of some of its parts, people of weak character tend to be destructive and act negatively when “proving” their power. Principles of wisdom and laws of truth have no effect upon ordinary people unless the former are combined with the state’s laws and the latter with power. (In today’s world) injustice wears the hat of justice, treason wears the cloak of patriotic zeal, jihad is called aggression and a violation of human rights, and enslavement is presented as freedom.402 In short, opposites have exchanged forms. Politics based on personal interest is bestial. Showing love for a hungry wild animal only excites its appetite. Moreover, after it has fed upon you, it demands a further payment for feeding upon you. Time demonstrates that Paradise is not cheap and that Hell is not futile. The merits of those considered “the elite” lead them to haughtiness and oppression, whereas those merits should inspire them to modesty and self-effacement. Instead of arousing compassion and benevolence, poor people’s destitution causes their deeper captivity and subjection. Honors and fineries are given as presents to the elite, while ordinary people receive shortages, defects, and evil consequences. The absence or the forgetting of an ideal (in life) causes people to concentrate upon themselves and their own self-interest. All revolutions, social corruption, and moral failings are caused by: “I don’t care if others die of hunger so long as my own stomach is full,” and: “You must bear the costs of my ease by working so that I can eat.” The first attitude is cured through Zakat; the second by prohibiting usury and interest. Qur’anic justice stands at the door of humanity and turns away usury and interest, proclaiming: “You have no right to enter!” Yet humanity ignored this prohibition and received a great blow.403 It must heed it now to avoid receiving a greater one. Wars between nations and states are being replaced by class war, for people do not want to be either wage-earners or slaves. Those who take an unlawful route [in Islam] to a lawful objective often are punished by acquiring the exact opposite of what they sought. The reward for an un-Islamic love, like Europe’s, is the Beloved’s pitiless enmity. The past and misfortune should be considered in the light of Destiny. The future and the sins committed should be referred to human free will and responsibility. This reconciles the extremes of fatalism and denying Destiny’s role in our actions. You should not seek solace in showing impotence in what you can do or find a solution for, nor should you lament over what you cannot do and find a solution for. Wounds related to one’s life can be healed, but wounds struck against Islam’s dignity and the nation’s honor are too deep to heal. Sometimes a single utterance drives an army to defeat, as a bullet may lead to the deaths of 30 million people.404 Under the right conditions and circumstances, a [seemingly] insignificant act may cause its doer to be elevated to the highest rank or reduced to the lowest rank. A single truth can bring down a heap of lies. A single reality is preferable to a heap of fancies. You must always speak the truth, but it is not right to speak every truth. Those who attend to the good side of everything contemplate the good. Those who contemplate the good enjoy life. People are energized by ambition and hope, and demoralized by hope’s absence. The exalted Ottoman State collapsed after centuries of self-sacrifice and the collective duty of holy struggle related to carrying the banner and burden of the caliphate, protecting and securing Islam and the Muslims’ independence, and exalting the Name of God. Its collapse will be compensated for with the Muslim world’s happiness and independence at some future time, for its collapse is a calamity that urges us to develop brotherhood and sisterhood, which are the essence of our lives as Muslims. A demonstration of how the wheel of time rotates in the opposite direction: Civilization’s beauties are ascribed to Christianity (which has no share in them), and Islam is accused of encouraging backwardness (which it fights). A fine but tarnished diamond is always preferable to a piece of glass, no matter how polished. Those who attribute everything’s existence to matter limit their intellectual capacity to what they can see. However, eyes cannot see what is spiritual. When the ignorant adopt a metaphor, they take it literally and thus open a door to superstition. Representing any entity as having more virtues than those given to them by God does them no favor. Rather, it is much better to describe everything as it really is. Fame brings to the famous what they do not truly own. The Prophet’s sayings are the authority and source for Islamic life and the inspiration of truths. Islam’s revival means the nation’s revival. Islam is the light of life. The Qur’an is a mercy for humanity, and so urges a civilization that secures the greatest happiness for the most people.

Western civilization, in its present phase, is founded upon five negative principles: It is based upon power, and power causes or leads to oppression; it seeks to realize individual self-interest, and pursuing self-interest causes people to rush madly upon things to possess them; it considers life as struggle, which causes internal and external conflict; it unifies through national and/or racial separatism, which “feeds” by swallowing the resources and territories of others, and this separatism engenders terrible conflict; and it strives to arouse and multiply animal desires and passions and satisfy carnal appetites, which brutalize people. Islamic civilization rests upon right (not power), which requires justice and balance; encourages virtue, which spurs mutual affection and love; considers life as mutual help, which leads to unity and solidarity; unifies people through a common religion in a common state, which leads to internal peace, brotherhood [sisterhood], and a willing self-defense against external enemies; and guides people to the truth. Therefore it encourages scientific progress and elevates people, through moral perfection, to higher ranks of humanity. Never break with Islam, for it guarantees our survival. Stick to it, heart and soul, or we shall perish utterly.

A general misfortune is the consequence of most people’s general failing. Every misfortune is the consequence of a failing, but also a door opening to a means of reward. Martyrs know they are alive. Since they do not experience dying as death, they see that their lives, sacrificed for God’s sake, are permanent, continual, and more refined. The Qur’an’s perfect justice forbids killing an innocent person, even if the rest of humanity would benefit thereby. In the sight of Divine Power and Justice, an individual’s life is equal to humanity’s life. Yet some people are so selfish that they would destroy everything and humanity itself to realize their own ambitions. Timidity and weakness encourage external pressure and interference. A sure benefit should not be renounced for fear of a potential harm. Politics now is a disease like Spanish flu. Lunatics sometimes are cured by repeatedly telling them that they are sane. Some good people become bad after hearing repeatedly that they are bad. A persistent enemy’s enemy is a friend; a persistent enemy’s friend is an enemy as long as he or she remains a friend. Obstinacy can lead one to regard devilish people who assist and support the same cause as angelic and so call God’s mercy upon them. Equally, it can lead one to regard angelic people who oppose that cause as devilish and so call God’s curse upon them. What cures one condition may harm another. Excessive doses of any medicine can create new illnesses. A united community gives movement to those who lack it, while a jealous community stops those who are moving. A superficial unity without substance, depth, and sincerity shatters a community and makes it slighter and weaker, just as a fraction multiplied by a fraction makes the resulting sum smaller.405 (Thus a community devoid of a sound and sincere unity will weaken as its numbers increase through mere population growth.) Not affirming something’s existence is often confused with affirming that it does not exist. The absence of evidence that a thing exists may justify people’s not affirming its existence if they are not inclined to accept its existence. But affirming something’s non-existence requires clear evidence proving its non-existence, for not-affirming its existence is doubt, while affirming its non-existence is denial. Even if doubt about one point of belief invalidates 100 proofs for it, its truth remains intact because thousands of other proofs prove it. Follow the consensus of the majority of the believers. The Umayyads did so and finally joined the Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama‘a, though at first they neglected Islam’s principles. But the Shi‘ah, strict followers of Islam’s principles at the beginning, eventually became Rafizites in part since they preferred to remain a small minority. When pursuing what is better or truer leads to dissension, seek consensus on what is good and true. Such consensus is always preferable to dissension. What is good and true sometimes turns out to be better and truer than what, in the abstract, appears to be better and truer. So say: “My way is good and true,” but never: “My way is the only way, the truest and best.” Without Paradise, Hell’s torment could not be perceived or known as such. As time grows older, the Qur’an grows younger, and its secrets and signs become clearer and better understood. As light may be mistaken for fire, forceful eloquence may sometimes be mistaken for exaggeration. Degrees of heat can be measured only because there are degrees of cold. Degrees of beauty are known by degrees of ugliness. God’s Eternal Power is an essential attribute of Divine Being and indispensable to His Essence. This Power has no degrees, since impotence cannot dilute it. And so everything is equal before It. Consider: The sun’s reflection in the sea and in its smallest wave or bubble has the same identity. Life, a manifestation of God’s Oneness, brings unity to multiplicity. People do not know who the saints are among people, when prayer is most acceptable during Friday, the date of the Night of Power during Ramadan, the Greatest Name of all God’s Beautiful Names, or when they will die. Such uncertainty makes the rest esteemed and important [for the most important might be included within the apparently insignificant]. A life of 20 years with an unknown end is preferable to one of 1,000 years with a known end. The outcome of evil done in this world demonstrates that punishment will come in the Hereafter. In the sight of Divine Power, provision is as important as life. Provision is produced by Power, apportioned by Destiny, and nurtured by Grace (Favor). As life is the sure, certain outcome of particular circumstances and events, it is witnessed. But provision is not sure and certain, for it is not something obtained within a certain time. Rather, it comes by uncertain degrees and leads people to contemplation. Those who appear to die of hunger before the sustenance stored in their bodies (as fat, for example) is wholly consumed die from diseases caused by altering or abandoning routine nourishment. Animal carcasses are lawful for many wild carnivores. By eating them, these carnivores feed themselves and cleanse Earth’s surface. Imagine that you have two pieces of food of equal nutritional value. One costs 10 cents and the other costs 10 dollars. If you prefer the latter solely for the few seconds of pleasure it may give your sense of taste, is this not the meanest form of waste? When a pleasure attracts you, say that you have enjoyed it already. One person who followed this principle saved enough money to build a mosque, now known as Sanki Yedim (as if I’ve eaten) Mosque. An easy life may be appealing when most Muslims are not hungry. But when most Muslims are hungry, no Muslim can choose such a life. Rather than welcoming transient pleasures with a smile, welcome transient ailments. Past pleasures lead one to regret, for “Alas!” indicates a hidden ailment. Past ailments lead one to sigh with relief, the news of a hidden joy and a favor that has come. Forgetting is a blessing, for it allows one to suffer present hardships and forget past hardships. Every misfortune contains degrees of Divine Favor. Be mindful of the greater misfortune, thereby being thankful for the favor of the lesser misfortune. Concentrating on and exaggerating the latter increases it, and this exaggerated reflection in the heart or imagination makes it real and troublesome. In social life, everyone has a window—status—through which they look to see others and be seen. If it is built higher than their real stature, they use vanity and assume airs to appear taller. If it is set lower than their real stature, they must bow in humility to look out, to see and be seen. Humility shows one’s greatness, just as vanity or conceit show low character. Weak people’s self-respect in the presence of powerful people becomes self-conceit when assumed by the latter. Powerful people’s modesty before weak people becomes self-abasement when assumed by the latter. In their office, administrators’ solemnity is dignity while their humility in the same place is self-abasement. In their home, administrators’ solemnity is self-conceit while their humility in the same place is humility. Forbearance and sacrifice (of their own rights) on their own account is good and virtuous, but is bad and treasonous when done on behalf of others. People may bear patiently what is done to them personally, but cannot, on behalf of the nation, bear patiently what is done to the nation. Pride and indignation on the nation’s behalf are commendable, but are reprehensible on people’s own behalf. Entrusting the accomplishment of an affair to God before taking all necessary precautions and making all necessary arrangements is laziness. Leaving the desired outcome’s realization to God, after doing all that can be done, is to trust in Him. Contentment with the result after exerting one’s efforts is a laudable virtue that encourages further effort and reinvigorates one’s energy and industry. Contentment with what one already has destroys endeavor. People are free to obey or disobey the Sharia, just as they are free to obey or disobey the Divine Laws of creation and life. Results for the former usually are deferred to the Hereafter, while returns for the latter usually come in this life. For example, the reward for patience is success, while the punishment for indolence is privation. Industry brings wealth, and steadfastness brings victory. Any claim to justice that is not based on giving everyone his or her due is a false claim. The same age and status cause rivalry and conflict. Complementarity and congruity are the basis of solidarity. An inferiority complex provokes arrogance. Weak character provokes haughtiness. Impotence gives rise to opposition. Curiosity about something leads one to learn about it. The Power that created everything with its own disposition has restrained humanity and animals through their need (especially hunger) and put them in a certain order. It has also prevented disorder and confusion in the world and, by making need a motive for civilization, secured progress in every field. Boredom leads people to (fantasies of) indulgence, despair leads them to intellectual deviation, and spiritual ignorance and aridity (the heart’s darkness) leads them to distress and depression. When men become womanish through focusing on worldly whims and fancies, women become mannish through crudity and authoritarianism. If an attractive woman joins a group of men, their sentiments of display, rivalry, and envy are aroused. Unveiling women and allowing them to mix freely with men to whom they are not related encourages bad morals. Pictures and statues, especially obscene ones, have a significant part in people’s present sinfulness and ill-temper. Statues, prohibited by Islam, are injustices fixed in stone, fantasies personified, or ostentatious pride monumentally exaggerated. If people follow Islam’s injunctions strictly, and with firm belief and complete sincerity, their desire and effort to find Islamic solutions to new problems lead them toward perfection. Such a desire or effort by those indifferent to Islamic injunctions, and therefore outside Islam, lead them toward ruin. The right course of action during these troubled times is not to use farfetched efforts to derive “new” laws from the Qur’an and Sunna. Rather, it is to close the doors and even shutter the windows against innovation. Those indifferent to religious duties, free and easy about whether they do them or not, must not be rewarded with special dispensations to release them from those duties. Rather, others should warn them to reform themselves by carrying out even the most difficult and secondary duties. Unprotected and misrepresented truths lose their value in valueless hands. Our earth bears some resemblance to a living organism, displaying signs of life. If it were compressed to the size of an egg, would it be a kind of animal? Or if a microbe were enlarged to the dimensions of our earth, would one be like the other? If the earth is living, then it must have a “soul.” If the universe were compressed to the size of a human being, with its stars forming the elements of that person’s constitution, would it not be a conscious, animate being? God has created so many kinds of living entities like this. There are two kinds of Divine Laws: those issuing from the Divine Attribute of Speech and regulating humanity’s (a normo-universe) deeds and states, and those (more in number) issuing from the Divine Attribute of Will and regulating the universe’s (a macro-human) creation and operation. This second group is wrongly called nature. Angels constitute a mighty community. They convey, represent, and embody Divine Commands of creation and order issuing from Divine Will and are called the Laws of Creation and Order. When you compare a microscopic creature’s senses with those of a human being, you confront an astounding, mysterious truth: Each person is like Surat Ya Sin, in whom Surat Ya Sin is inscribed.406 Materialism is a Divine punishment, a spiritual plague infecting humanity with a terrible fever. It will spread as long as false propaganda, cynicism, and destructive criticism continue to spread. The unhappiest people, those who suffer the greatest distress, are those with nothing to do. Doing nothing is a close relative of non-existence, whereas working hard is the body’s vigor and life’s awakening. Unbelievers, especially the most unjust and dissolute, benefit the most from banks, those houses of interest that open the doors for interest. The harm they inflict upon the Muslim world cannot be denied. They cannot be left alone just because they happen to benefit some people. Unbelievers, especially those who are aggressive and fight Muslims, do not deserve to be respected or defended. Friday sermons are to remind people of Islam’s essentials, not to expound upon its abstract theoretical points. Given this, the Arabic phrases expressing those essentials are the best suited for this reminding. When Qur’anic verses are compared even with the Prophet’s sayings, it will be noticed that even the most eloquent one of humankind cannot compete with the Qur’an’s eloquence.

Said Nursi

399 Said Nursi means Asia, the Ottoman State and Turkey, and especially Turkish people. (Tr.)

400 Bukhari, Mazalim, 31; Muslim, Iman, 242; Ibn Maja, Fitan, 33.

401 Ijtihad: The process of deriving legal judgments from the established principles of the Qur’an and Sunna to meet new circumstances. (Ed.)

402 Jihad: Struggle in God’s way and for humanity’s good. (Ed.)

403 Said Nursi is referring to the First World War.

404 This refers to Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian private who assassinated Austro-Hungarian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife on June 28, 1914. This was the pretext for WWI, which resulted in 30 million deaths. (Ed.)

405 Multiplying two whole numbers leads to a greater number, whereas multiplying two fractions leads to a smaller fraction.

406 Surat Ya Sin is a chapter of the Qur’an (Ed.).