Hope and Solace for the Elderly

[From The Gleams, the Twenty-sixth Gleam]

 

[NOTE] The reason why, at the beginning of each Hope, I have written of my sorrows and afflictions in a way that may sadden you is to show the extraordinary efficacy of the remedies proceeding from the All-Wise Qur’an.

 

This Gleam, which is about the elderly, may have been unable to attain fluency due to certain reasons, such as those that follow:

The first: Since it has been generally based on my own experiences and written in a mood that arises from recalling those former times, it was not possible to attain a sequence in expression.

The second: Since it was written rapidly after the early morning Prayer, when I felt fatigued, there is some confusion in expression.

The third: There was not always somebody with me to write, and the scribe who accompanied me had four or five other duties concerning the Risale-i Nur. Since we therefore could not find enough time to revise it thoroughly, there is a certain disorder.

The fourth: Both the scribe and I were exhausted after its completion, and felt compelled to be content with a superficial revision of the wording without considering the expression adequately. Because of this, there may naturally be errors of expression. We request that the magnanimous elderly will overlook my errors of expression and as Divine Mercy does not leave empty the hands of the blessed elderly which are opened towards It,1 we hope that they will include us in their prayers when they open their hands towards the Divine Court.

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

Kaf. Ha. Ya. ‘Ayn. Sad. A mention of your Lord’s mercy to His servant Zachariah: When he invoked his Lord with a call in secret, saying: “My Lord! My bones have grown feeble and my head glistens with gray hair from old age, and, my Lord, I have never been unblessed in my prayer to You.” (19: 1–4)

This Gleam contains twenty-six Hopes.

 

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

1  at-Tabarani, al-Majma‘ al-Awsat, 5:270; al-Haythami, Majma‘ az-Zawa’id, 10: 149. (Tr.)