Is There a Way to Ascend to the Throne of the Divine Mercy?

 

O man! Know that there is a way to ascend to the throne of the Divine Mercy, and that way is In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Grasp the measure of its importance by looking at the beginning of the chapters of the Koran, which is a miracle of exposition, at the beginning of all worthwhile books, at the beginning of all good actions. A clear argument, too, for the greatness of In the Name of God, a greatness determined by Him, is the comment of Imam Shafi’i, one of the very foremost Islamic scholars, may God be pleased with him. He said, “Although In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate is a single verse, it was revealed one hundred and fourteen times in the Koran.”

O unhappy man, laboring within a limitless impotence and unending neediness! Understand how valuable a means and how acceptable an intercessor Divine Mercy is. It is the means to a Glorious Sovereign in Whose army vast galaxies and minute particles serve together in perfect obedience and harmony. And He, that Glorious Sovereign, the One, Eternal before and after eternity, is the Eternally-Besought—everything needs Him Who is wholly without need.

He is rich without measure, in no way needy of the universe or the entities within it. The whole of it is under His authority and direction, wholly obedient before His Majesty and Greatness, awed and prostrate before His Sublimity. Such is Divine Mercy, O man, and it is for you. It uplifts you to the Presence of One, absolutely without need, the Eternal Sovereign, Who befriends you, Who addresses you as His well-loved servant. The sun is at a great distance from you so you cannot reach it nor draw close to it even though its light is reflected and made manifest to you by your mirror. In the same way, you are at an infinite remove from the Light of the Pure and Holy One, the Eternal before and after eternity. You cannot draw yourself closer to Him but that the Light of His Mercy makes Him closer to you.

 

Whoever finds Mercy finds an eternal treasure of unfailing light

Therefore, O man, whoever finds this Mercy finds an eternal treasure of unfailing light. And the way to it is through the sunna of the most noble Prophet who is the most brilliant exemplar and representative of Mercy, its most eloquent voice and herald, and who is hailed in the Koran as “a mercy for all the worlds.”

And the way to reach this embodiment of Mercy who is “a mercy to all the worlds” is to utter the prayer calling the blessings of God upon him. Surely, the intent of this prayer is mercy. As a prayer of mercy for the one who was a living embodiment of Divine Mercy, it is the means of reaching the “mercy to all the worlds.” Therefore, make this prayer the means to the “mercy to all the worlds,” for yourself, and thereby make him your means to the Mercy of the Most Merciful of the Merciful.

The whole body of Muslims in their vast numbers worldwide utter this prayer for the “mercy to all the worlds” which is synonymous with Mercy. And that is a dazzling demonstration of how precious a gift Divine Mercy is and how broad its sphere.

To conclude: The most precious jewel in the treasure-house of Mercy is the Prophet Muhammad and he is also its door-keeper. The first key to that treasure-house of Mercy is In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. And the most easy key is the prayer for the Prophet.

O God! For the sake of the mysteries of In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, bestow blessings and peace on the one whom You sent as a mercy to all the worlds in accordance with Your Mercy and the honor due to him, and on all his family and his Companions. Grant us mercy so that we are free of need for the mercy of any other than You. Amen.

Glory be to You! We have no knowledge save what You have taught us. Truly, You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

 

This article has been adapted from Risale- i Nur Collection.