Preface

 

 

A COMPARISON BETWEEN BELIEF AND UNBELIEF IS ONE OF THE important books among the Risale-i Nur Collection which is composed of the risales (epistles) in which unbelief and unbelief are compared in concrete terms. The Risale-i Nur Collection comprises the works of Bediüzzaman Said Nursi (1877–1960), who, being one of the most effective and profound representatives of Islam’s intellectual, moral, and spiritual strengths, launched an overall revival of Islam in the second quarter of the twentieth century in Turkey. He spent his life overflowing with love and ardor for Islam, pursuing a wise and measured activism based on sound reasoning, and following the Qur’an and the Prophetic example.

The Risale-i Nur explains Islam and belief to modern people in their own terms and addressing their modern minds. Analyzing both belief and unbelief, he used clearly reasoned arguments to prove the essentials of Islamic faith and explain the meaning and importance of worshipping God in human life.

Using easily understood stories, comparisons, and explanations, Said Nursi produced categorical proofs showing that modern scientific discoveries actually support and reinforce the truths of the Religion. He used the Qur’anic methodology of addressing each person’s intellect, and all inner and outer facilities, to encourage people to study the universe and its functioning in order to understand creation’s true nature and purposes. This, in turn, leads to learning the One Creator’s Attributes and their own duties as God’s servants.

Said Nursi explained the universe’s true nature as being a comprehensive sign of its Creator, and showed via clear arguments that all fundamentals of belief can be proven rationally when the universe is read in this way. As belief is then grounded in modern science, it remains firm and immune to materialism, naturalism, and atheism.

Such believers view all scientific and technological advances as merely uncovering the cosmos’ workings. Viewing the cosmos as a vast and infinitely complex and meaningful unified book describing its Single Author, all discoveries and advances reinforce, deepen, and expand belief. Thus their most fundamental needs—to worship God by recognizing His Most Beautiful Names and Attributes, and to obey His laws—are met.

Said Nursi himself describes the Risale-i Nur as a true commentary on the wise Qur’an that emanates from its miraculousness. In addition to proving the six pillars of Islamic belief through both concrete and rational arguments and producing the human conscience and basic nature as witnesses, especially through comparisons it vividly demonstrates the true natures of and difference between belief and unbelief. It demonstrates that in misguidance there is a sort of Hell in this world as well, while in belief there is a kind of Paradise. It shows the severe pains in sins, evil deeds, and forbidden pleasures, and proves that pleasures akin to those in Paradise are to be found in good deeds and virtues, and in the truths of the Religion.

The following question was asked about the Risale-i Nur: “Why is it that despite the ongoing violent attacks of its malicious, obdurate opponents against it and their vicious treatment of it, and despite their shameful lies and propaganda against it to destroy it and to scare people away from it, the Risale-i Nur spreads in an unprecedented way and causes itself to be read with great enthusiasm both within the country and abroad, conquering people’s minds and hearts?” The answer that was given is as if it was describing Comparisons between Belief and Unbelief. It is as follows:

Being a true commentary on the wise Qur’an based on its miraculousness or inimitability, the Risale-i Nur demonstrates that there is in misguidance a sort of Hell in this world as well, while in belief there is a sort of Paradise. It points out the grievous pains in sins, evil deeds, and forbidden pleasures, and demonstrates that in good deeds and virtues and the truths of the Religion are to be found pleasures like the pleasures of Paradise. In this way it saves the sensible among those who have fallen into vice and misguidance. For at this time there are two terrible realities:

THE FIRST: Since human emotions, which are blind to the consequences of things and prefer an ounce of immediate pleasure to tons of future joy, have come to prevail over mind and reason, the only way to save the dissipated from their vices is to show them the pain which underlies their apparent pleasures and thus defeat their emotions. As indicated by the verse, They choose the present, worldly life over the Hereafter (14:3), even those who believe and are aware to certain extents of the diamond-like bounties and pleasures of the Hereafter tend to prefer worldly pleasures, which are like pieces of glass destined soon to shatter over them. Therefore, the only way to save the people (of belief or unbelief) from following the people of misguidance on account of this reality and love for the world is by showing them the hellish torments and pains present in the way of misguidance. This is the method the Risale-i Nur follows. For at this time, in the face of the obduracy coming from absolute unbelief and the misguidance caused by scientific materialism or scientism and the addiction to vice, only one in ten or even twenty can be turned away from vice and encouraged to give it up by proving the existence of Hell and its torments, after having given them certain amount of knowledge of God the Almighty. However, even after they have received this instruction, it is still possible that such people will say: “God is the All-Forgiving and the All-Compassionate, and Hell is a long way off,” and continue in their dissipation. Their hearts and spirits are defeated by their emotions.

Thus, by showing through most of its comparisons between belief and unbelief the grievous and terrifying results in this world of unbelief and misguidance, the Risale-i Nur causes even the most stubborn and arrogant people to feel repugnance with regard to those inauspicious, illicit pleasures, thus leading them to repent. The short comparisons in the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Words, and the long one in The Third Station of The Thirty-Second Word frighten the most dissipated and misguided person away from the way they are following, leading them to accept what is taught. As an example, I will relate briefly the states that the Verse of Light (24:35)—which beings with God is the Light of the heavens and the earth—showed me on a journey of the imagination, which were in fact reality. Those who desire a detailed account of it may refer to the end of Sikke-i Tasdik-i Gaybi (“The Confirming Stamp of the Unseen”).

During that imaginary journey I saw the animal kingdom in need of provision, and I looked upon it through the prism of materialist philosophy. Their weakness and impotence in the face of their innumerable needs and severe hunger showed that kingdom to be a most miserable and painful one. Since I was looking with the eyes of the people of misguidance and heedlessness, I cried out. Then suddenly I saw through the telescope of Qur’anic wisdom and belief that the Divine Name the All-Merciful had risen in the sign of the All-Providing like a shining sun, gilding that hungry, wretched animal world with the light of its mercy.

Then I saw within the animal world another wretched realm which was enveloped in darkness and where the young were struggling in their need and powerlessness. It was enough to make anyone feel pity. I regretted having looked with the eyes of the people of misguidance. Suddenly, belief gave me different spectacles and I saw the Name the All-Compassionate rise in the sign of affection and tenderness. It changed that painful world into a joyful one in such a beautiful and lovable fashion and illuminated it in such a way that my tears of complaint and sorrow were transformed into tears of rejoice and thanks.

Then the world of humanity appeared to me as though on a cinema screen. Looking again through the telescope of the people of misguidance, I saw that world to be so dark and terrifying that I cried out from the depths of my heart. Human beings have desires and ambitions that extend to eternity; they have thoughts and conceptions that encompass the entire universe and earnest desires and yearnings for eternal life, everlasting happiness, and Paradise. They have innate capacities and powers that are unrestricted and left free. Also, despite their weakness, impotence, and very brief life, they have innumerable needs and purposes, and are exposed to the attacks of countless adversaries and the blows of endless calamities. Under the perpetual threat of death, they are leading a brief and tumultuous life in wretched circumstances. Striving for their livelihood in misery and suffering from the continuous blows of death and separation—a most painful and terrifying state for the heart and conscience—they are heading straight for the grave, which appears to the misguided to be the door to everlasting darkness. I saw that they are being cast individually and in groups into that well of darkness.

On seeing the world of humanity under such layers of darkness I was just about to cry out with my heart, spirit, and mind, indeed, with all my faculties and even all the particles of my being, when the light and power of belief issuing from the Qur’an smashed these spectacles of misguidance, providing me with a different means of vision. I saw God’s Name the All-Just rise like the sun in the sign of the All-Wise, the Name the All-Merciful in the sign of the All-Munificent, the Name the All-Compassionate in the sign of the All-Forgiving, the Name the All-Resurrecting in the sign of the All-Inheriting, the Name the All-Reviving in the sign of the All-Favoring, and the name the All-Nurturing in the sign of the Sovereign. They lit up that entire dark world of humanity, within which there are many other worlds. They dispelled these hellish states and, opening up windows from the luminous worlds of the Hereafter, scattered light over the world of humanity. I uttered: “All praise and gratitude be to God; thanks be to God to the number of particles in existence!” I saw and knew to the degree of certainty arising from vision that in belief there is a sort of Paradise in this world too, while in misguidance there is a kind of Hell.

Then the realm of the earth appeared. On that journey of the imagination, the dark, hypothetical rules of the philosophy and laws of the science which do not obey the Religion presented an appalling world to my imagination. Voyaging through space on the ship of the extremely ancient earth—which travels in a year the distance that it would take a human being twenty-five thousand years to walk, with a movement seventy times faster than a cannon-ball, and being a structure that could break up at any moment with the innermost parts being in constant flux and turmoil—wretched humankind appeared to be trapped in a most desolate darkness. I became dizzy and almost lost self-control. I flung the spectacles of philosophy to the ground, smashing them. Then, suddenly, I looked with a view illuminated by the wisdom of the Qur’an and belief. I saw the Names the Creator of the heavens and earth, the All-Powerful, the All-Knowing Nurturer, God, the Lord of the heavens and earth, and the Subjugator of the sun and moon rise like suns in the signs of Mercy, Grandeur and Lordship. They illuminated that dark, desolate, and terrifying world with such brilliance that the earth appeared to the eye of my belief as a perfectly well-ordered, subservient, pleasant, and safe vessel in which the provisions of everyone have been stored. I saw it as a ship or an airplane or a train which has been prepared for trade and enjoyment, carrying beings with spirits through the Lord’s realms around the sun, bringing the produce of spring, summer, and fall to those in need of sustenance. I exclaimed: “All praise and gratitude be to God to the number of the atoms of the earth for the favor of belief!”

It has thus been proved with many examples and analogies in the Risale-i Nur that the people of vice and misguidance suffer a hellish torment in this world too, while on account of the manifestations of belief, the people of faith and righteousness can taste paradisiacal pleasures through the stomachs of Islam and humanity. They are able to benefit, each according to the degree of their belief. But in these stormy times, the currents numb the senses and scatter human attention to peripheral, futile matters and engulf them, anesthetizing their senses, obliterating sound reasoning and reflection. As a result, the people of misguidance are temporarily unable to totally perceive their spiritual torment, while the people of guidance are overwhelmed by heedlessness and cannot truly appreciate the pleasures of right guidance.

THE SECOND TERRIBLE REALITY OF THIS AGE: Compared with today, in former times there was little misguidance that arose from absolute unbelief and blind faith in science, and little obstinacy that emanated from stubborn, willful unbelief. For this reason, the teaching and arguments of the religious scholars of those times were enough to dispel any unbelief arising from doubt. Since almost everyone believed in God, most people would give up misguidance and vice after being taught about God and warned about Hell-fire. But now there are a hundred absolute unbelievers in one small town, when in the past there was only one. Those who go astray due to blind faith in science and learning, obstinately opposing the truths of belief, are a hundred times greater in number in relation to former times. As these obstinate deniers oppose the truths of belief with the arrogance of the Pharaoh, there must be a sacred truth that will utterly destroy the foundations of their unbelief in this world with the strength of an atomic explosion, halting their aggression and bringing some of them to belief.

Endless thanks be to God Almighty that with its numerous comparisons and the remedies it provides for the ills of this time, the Risale-i Nur, which comprises some gleams of the Qur‘an of miraculous exposition, vanquishes even the worst of those obstinate deniers with the diamond sword of the Qur’an. By indicating the proofs and arguments for Divine Unity and the truths of belief that exist to the number of the atoms of the universe, for twenty-five years it has not been defeated in the face of the severest attacks; indeed it has been victorious. With its comparisons of belief and unbelief, of right guidance and misguidance, the Risale-i Nur self-evidently proves these truths. For example, if one looks at the proofs and gleams in The Second Station of The Twenty-Second Word, The First Station of The Thirty-Second Word, the “Windows” of The Thirty-Third Word, and the eleven proofs of The Staff of Moses (Asa-yi Musa), and if other comparisons are considered in their light, it can be understood that it is the truths of the Qur’an that are manifested in the Risale-i Nur which will smash and destroy absolute unbelief and obdurate misguidance at this time.

A comparison between Belief and Unbelief is composed of the most of the comparisons that are mentioned in the answer above. All other books of the Risale-i Nur Collection with the exception of few have been translated into English and published by the Tughra Books. They are as follows:

The Words – The Reconstruction of Islamic Belief and Thought

The Letters – Epistles on Islamic Thought, Belief, and Life

The Gleams – Reflections on Qur’anic Wisdom and Spirituality

The Rays – Reflections on Islamic Belief, Thought, Worship, and Action

Al-Mathnawi an-Nuri – Seedbed of the Light

The Staff of Moses – Reflections on Islamic Faith, and Divine Existence and Unity

The Reasonings – A Key to Understanding the Qur’anic Eloquence

Gleams of Truth – Prescriptions for a Healthy Social Life

 

The Publisher