The fourth hope

 

When I stepped into old age, my physical health, which perpetuates heedlessness, was broken. Old age and illness attacked me together in unison. They continuously disturbed me, causing unceasing trouble. I had nothing binding me to the world, no family, children, or possessions. I saw the fruit of my life’s capital, which I had wasted through the giddiness of youth, to be only sins and errors. Crying out like Niyazi Misri, I said:

 

I had concluded no trade; the capital of life was all wasted away;

I found the road only to find the caravan had moved on while I had been unaware.

Lamenting, I too set off, all alone, a stranger

With eyes weeping, heart in anguish, mind bewildered and unaware.

 

I was in exile at the time. I felt a despairing sorrow, a deep regret, a longing for assistance. All at once, the Qur’an of miraculous expression came to my aid. It opened for me such a powerful door of hope and offered me such a light of true consolation that it could have removed any despair and darkness that was a hundred times more intense than mine.

Respected elderly men and women whose interests in the world have begun to cease when the ties that bind them to this world are gradually broken! Is it possible that the Maker of Majesty, Who has created this world as a most perfectly ordered city or palace, would not meet or speak to His most important guests and friends in that palace? Since He knowingly made this palace and ordered and decorated it purposefully, certainly— just as the one who makes something knows—the One Who knows will speak. And since He has made this palace and city as a fine guesthouse and place of trade for us, He will certainly have a book that demonstrates His relations for us and what He desires from us.

The most perfect of such sacred Books is the Qur’an of miraculous expression. It is a miracle in forty respects and at every instant is on the tongues of at least a hundred million people. It diffuses light, and every letter of it provides at least ten merits and rewards, and sometimes ten thousand fruits of Paradise and lights in the Intermediate Realm, and sometimes—due to the meaning and importance of the Night of Destiny and Power—thirty thousand. It also provides the fruit of Paradise and light for the Intermediate Realm of the grave. There is no book in the universe to compete with it in these respects and no one can put one forward. As this Qur’an we hold is the Word of the All-Majestic Creator of the heavens and earth, having issued from His absolute Lordship, supreme Divinity, and all-encompassing Mercy, and is His decree and a source of His mercy—adhere to it. In it is a cure for every ill, a light for every veil and kind of darkness, and a hope for every instance of despair.

The key to this eternal treasury is belief and submission to God, listening to the Qur’an and accepting and reciting it.

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi