The Fourteenth Ray

 

 

Quotations and selections from Said Nursi’s letters to certain authorities and his students and friends

 

In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate.

And from Him do we seek help.

 

I HAVE BEEN LIVING IN SECLUSION FOR ALMOST TWENTY YEARS. During this long period of time, not even the slightest hint that I have had any relationship or involvement with politics has ever been established. If there had been anything irregular in my behavior it would have certainly manifested itself. Nowhere in the world are such recluses, who are preoccupied only with their lives in the Hereafter, bothered about such things.

We students of the Risale-i Nur do not make the Risale-i Nur a means of worldly advantage: even if they were to give us the whole universe on a plate, we would never misuse the Risale for worldly gain. Furthermore, the Qur’an severely prohibits us from becoming involved in politics. For the duty of the Risale-i Nur is, based on the most powerful and decisive proofs, to show and explain the Qur’anic truths of belief in the face of absolute unbelief, which destroys eternal life and transforms worldly life into a terrible poison. Since our aim is to serve the Qur’an, we cannot make the Risale-i Nur a tool of anything else.

We can never interfere in politics for the following reasons:

Firstly, since it would give the impression that we are misusing them as a means of political propaganda, we cannot betray the diamond-like truths of the Qur’an by reducing them to the value of fragments of glass in people’s eyes.

Secondly: Compassion, truth, right and conscience—the fundamentals on which the path of the Risale-i Nur is established—prohibit us absolutely from political involvement and interference in the affairs of state. Imagine that there are seven or eight innocent souls—children, the sick, and the elderly—in the house of one or two irreligious people who have fallen into absolute unbelief and are deserving of blows and calamities. If blows and calamities are to descend on that house because of these one or two people, those innocent souls will also suffer. Therefore, since the results yielded by political involvement will always be doubtful, we have been forbidden absolutely from interfering in the life of society by means of political involvement, which would harm not only the state, but also the public order.

Thirdly: In order for the social life of this country and nation to be saved from anarchy during these strange times, five principles are essential: respect, compassion, refraining from what is prohibited (haram), security, and abandonment of lawlessness and obedience to the law. Considered from this perspective, it is clear that the Risale-i Nur establishes and strengthens these five principles in a most powerful and sacred fashion, thus preserving the very foundation of the public order. The clearest proof of this is that over the last twenty years the Risale-i Nur has helped to turn approximately a hundred thousand people into harmless, beneficial members of this nation. The provinces of Isparta and Kastamonu testify to this. This means that those who malign or place obstacles in the way of the Risale-i Nur are, knowingly or unknowingly, betraying Islam and the nation in favor of anarchy.

If you accuse me of opposing your government or rules, I will say this: To reject something is one thing; not to accept it in one’s heart is something else; and not to act in accordance with it is something quite different altogether. Those in authority consider only what one does, and not what one thinks, approves, or disapproves of in their heart. All governments have opponents who do not interfere in the government or public order. In fact, the Christians who lived under the rule of Caliph ‘Umar, may God be pleased with him, were free to practice their own religion, even though they rejected the law of the Shari‘a and the Qur’an. According to the principle of freedom of thought and conscience, and so long as they do not upset the public order, if some citizens, including, of course, the students of the Risale-i Nur, oppose the government on scholarly grounds, the law must not touch them.

If you act on anti-religious grounds and accuse us of being religious, I will say this:

It is a universally accepted fact that no nation can continue to exist without religion. And if that nation persists in absolute unbelief, it causes and suffers torments more grievous in this world than those of Hellfire itself. If, God forbid, a Muslim apostatizes, they fall into absolute unbelief; they cannot remain in a state of agnosticism, which would give them at least a glimmer of hope and relief. Also, they cannot be like irreligious Westerners. And in respect of the physical pleasures of life, they will fall infinitely lower than the animals, for the animals have no sense of the past and future. Because of their misguidance, the deaths of all past and future beings, and the thought that they will be separated from them eternally, overwhelm their heart with continuous anxiety. If light enters their heart and they come to believe, those innumerable friends will suddenly be raised to life. They will say through the language of their state: “We were not annihilated and we did not die.”, thus transforming the former apostate’s hellish pain into paradisiacal pleasure. Since the reality of the situation is thus, do not place obstacles on our path as we endeavor to serve the Qur’an and belief.

I say this to the Ministers of Internal Affairs and Justice: A man from Eğirdir, who is not a student of the Risale-i Nur, happened to argue with a sergeant gendarme. Because an insignificant letter of mine was found on this person, you arrested me together with a hundred and twenty other men and held us in prison for four months until we were acquitted. Most of those men are poor and were deprived of working to earn the livelihood of their families, suffering the loss of thousands of liras as a result. According to which worldly law and principle can you justify such an action? According to what worldly law and principle can innocent people be arrested and detained in prison not for a crime that they have actually committed, but for one which, according to the authorities, they may possibly commit in the future?!

My second question: The Qur’an declares No soul, as bearer of a burden, bears and is made to bear the burden of another (6:164). In other words, it is a universal principle of law that no one can be accused and punished for a crime that others have committed. If a person cannot be held responsible for the faults of their brother, according to which laws of justice was it deemed proper to arrest me and those poor farmers and artisans in the freezing cold simply because a letter of mine was found on one of them, or because someone somewhere had read one of my treatises which had been written to explain certain hadiths approximately a decade before the foundation of the Republic? According to which particular law can you justify causing these men to lose thousands of liras, purely on the basis of groundless speculation? Please tell me about these laws—if, indeed, they exist—so that we do not take any false steps.

My third question: If one of the many treatises contains certain sentences or paragraphs which do not conform to the law, those sentences or paragraphs may be censored, and the rest of treatise should be allowed to circulate freely. So, despite our acquittal in court, according to which principle of the government of the Republic can all the treatises be confiscated and those people who serve me in the lonely winter of my old age be arrested?

Since, in accordance with the law of freedom of conscience, the principles of the Republic do not interfere with the irreligious, surely they must not interfere with those religiously-minded people who are not involved in politics and the worldly affairs of others, who avoid disputes with the worldly and who strive usefully for the people’s belief and afterlife and for the good of the country. Those who govern this country cannot ban piety and righteousness, which are as essential for this nation as food and medicine.

I consider it my patriotic duty to remind people of the following for the benefit of the country, the nation, and the public security. To offend numerous people in this way because they have some slight connection with me and the Risale-i Nur may turn those who are religiously beneficial for the country and its security against the government. There are more than a hundred thousand people whose belief has been saved through the Risale-i Nur and who have become harmless, yet highly beneficial citizens for the nation. They come from every level of society; some of them work in government departments, leading their lives in moderation and in a manner which benefits the whole of society. It is essential that these people be protected rather than offended or alienated. The authorities who act otherwise are harming public order and acting to the detriment of this country.

 

An important principle

It is an essential principle among the students of the Risale-i Nur that they try their utmost not to become involved in politics, in matters of administration, or government activities, because for them, serving the Qur’an sincerely is more important than anything else.

Furthermore, no one who enters politics in the present atmosphere of the political turbulence is able to preserve their independence or sincerity: political involvement will inevitably take advantage of their interest and corrupt the sacredness of their service. Also, the struggles and rivalries of this age, in which the severest form of tyranny and despotism prevails, will require to crush numerous innocent supporters of the opposing side on account of the error of a single individual. Those who do not act in the manner expected of them are bound to be defeated. Moreover, it will give those who have renounced their religion for the sake of the world, or who have exploited religion, the impression that the sacred truths of the Qur’an, which cannot be an instrument for any worldly advantage, are being exploited for purposes of political propaganda. Politics always divides people, while religion unites them: every class of people—supporters and opponents, officials and common people—are all equally in need of those sacred truths and should have a share of them. In conclusion, the students of the Risale-i Nur must avoid politics completely. They must not struggle with any section of society or involve themselves with them in any way, so that they may remain totally impartial.

 

Another important principle

Compassion is the basis of my way and that of the Risale-i Nur: it has been my cardinal principle for thirty years. For this reason, in order that no harm may come to the innocent, I avoid cursing, let alone attacking, the tyrants who persecute me. Even when I feel angry with some of those who oppress me out of vicious hatred and rancor, compassion prevents me from responding with a malediction, let alone physically. Thinking that they may have either innocent elderly parents or children who may suffer harm on their account, I do not attempt to do anything against them. Sometimes I even forgive them.

It is because of this compassion that I never interfere in affairs of government and do nothing to disturb the public order. Moreover, I have advised this so strongly to all my friends that some of the fair-minded police of three provinces have had to admit: “These students of the Risale-i Nur are like moral police: they preserve public order and security.” In addition to thousands of witnesses to this fact, the students of the Risale-i Nur have confirmed it through twenty years’ experience: none of these thousands of students has ever been involved in any incident recorded by the police. It is therefore completely unlawful to treat them as though they were the members of some revolutionary committee, or to malign and insult them as though they were criminals.

 

An important matter

Endless thanks be to God that thirty years ago, through His grace and the enlightenment of the Qur’an, I came to realize just how valueless and meaningless are the fleeting fame and glory of this world. I have since then been trying with all my strength to struggle with my evil-commanding soul in order to avoid egotism, pretension, and ostentation. This is known to all my friends. I also try to flee from people’s attention, praise, and acclaim, as well as their according to me any spiritual rank. I have also been doing my best to convince my sincere friends that I have no virtue worth praising, and this I do at the cost of wounding their feelings. If there is a virtue to be praised, it belongs to the collective personality of the students of the Risale-i Nur. Despite this fact, I should never be held responsible for a letter which was found on someone’s person or a book written in another city, neither of which I have any connection with. In the letter in question, my signature was forged, while the book has no named author. No law on earth and no decent political system would allow this.

Said Nursi

 

 

Some significant realities

 

THE FIRST: Most of the Prophets appeared in the East, in Asia, while most of the philosophers emerged in the West. It is a sign of the eternal Divine Destiny that in Asia religion is dominant and philosophy is subordinate. Given this, even if those ruling in Asia are not religious, they should not interfere with those who work for religion; indeed, they should actively encourage them.

THE SECOND: The wise Qur’an is the intellect of the head of the earth and its power of thought. If, God forbid, the Qur’an were to depart from the head of the earth, the earth would go insane. It is fair to say that with its head emptied of reason, it would collide with another planet and herald an apocalypse. The Qur’an is a chain, a “rope of God” which binds the earth to the Divine Supreme Throne. It preserves the earth more than the law of general gravity. Thus, the Risale-i Nur, which is a true and powerful commentary on the glorious Qur’an, is a vast Divine favor which has been demonstrating its effectiveness for twenty years in this country. The government should therefore protect it and encourage people to read it.

 

A principle of justice

Justice, which the Justice Department should observe to the letter, requires that the rights of all who appeal to it be preserved without any discrimination and that the Justice Department work tirelessly for the sake of what is right and just. It is for this reason that, during his caliphate, Imam ‘Ali, may God be pleased with him, sat together with a Jew in court and they were tried together. Also, a just chief judge saw an official display anger towards a criminal while sentencing him, and immediately dismissed him from his job. Full of regret, he remarked: “Those who give way to their feelings in this manner while executing the law have to date caused great wrongs.” That is, one who executes the law should not show anger: if he does, he is acting unjustly. If he executes the death sentence with anger, he himself becomes a kind of murderer. This is what Islamic justice demands.

 

 

A reminder

In order to reduce the value of the truths explained in the Risale-i Nur in the eyes of the people, our secret enemies spread the rumor that I have claimed to be the Mahdi, or they use the Risale itself as an instrument for the dissemination of this calumny. My seventy-five years of life—particularly the last thirty years of it—and all the treatises of Light (Risale-i Nur), together with the thousands of people who have maintained sincere friendship with me, bear witness that I have never overstepped the limits of my capacity to the extent that I might even dare to make such a claim; nor have I ever made the truths of belief a means of gaining rank, status, or fame. On the contrary, the students of the Risale-i Nur know only too well that I have been always been ready to sacrifice whatever I have—my soul, my being, my world—in order to be able to serve people with all my strength for the sake of their belief. They also know and will testify that with regard to my evil-commanding soul I have always considered myself truly wretched, unimportant, and far inferior to my students, whose help and prayers I have always sought. And even if, on account of their excessive good opinion of me, some students accord me a rank and praise me in an exaggerated fashion—as is the age-old tradition between students and their master—is it to be considered a crime, particularly if I have never sought or accepted it?

Said Nursi