The Flowers from the Seeds of Truth-6

 

Tendency toward expansion which does not exist in the pious is a tendency to corruption and destruction

O you who are seeking ijtihad (new legislation) in Islam to broaden its limits! Consider your body: if the tendency toward its expansion comes from within, it leads to its expansion; but if it comes from without, then it tears your skin.

Similarly, a person sincerely confirms and completely complies with the essential and basic injunctions of Islam: the tendency toward expansion in such a person is a tendency toward perfection.

However, the same tendency in another who is outside the sphere of obedience to Islamic essentials and indifferent to them is a tendency toward corruption and destruction.

At this time, repeatedly afflicted by “storms” and “quakes,” it is necessary not to open the door to new legislations, but rather to shut even the windows.

Those heedless and indifferent in belief and the practice of the Religion should not be indulged with dispensations; they should rather be warned strictly and aroused with heavier responsibilities and greater care.

 

The scope of Divine Power rejects intermediaries and helpers

For the All-Powerful One of Majesty, in relation to the scope of the control and operations of His Power, our sun is like a particle.

In order to have some glimpse of the vastness of the control and operations of His Power in a single realm of beings, take the gravity between two atoms, and then go and put it beside the gravity between the sun of suns and the Milky Way.

Bring an angel whose load is a snowflake to a sun-like angel who holds the sun; put a needle-fish beside a whale;

Then consider all at once the vast manifestation of the Eternal All-Powerful One of Majesty and the infinitely perfect “workmanship” in things, from the smallest to the greatest.

The things in circulation such as gravity, conductivity, permeability or pervasiveness, and laws – these are only names for the manifestations of His Power and the instances of His Wisdom;

They can and indeed have no other meaning or function. Think of them together and you will necessarily understand that claiming the existence of efficient or creative causes and means and attributing to Him helpers and partners is all false,

All is illusory and deluding in the face of that Power. Life is the perfection of existence; its rank is great and important. Therefore, I say: why should the earth, our world, not be an obedient, subservient entity, like a docile animal?

The Eternal Sovereign has numerous flying animals of this sort in the arena of space, and they are splendid and beautiful.

He has dispersed them through the garden of creation, and set them in continuous motion. The songs of those in space and the activities of these in the world are all words of glorification, acts of worship of the One Who has no beginning and end, the Eternal All-Wise.

Our earth resembles an animate being that displays signs of life. If, to suppose the impossible, it were reduced to the size of an egg,

It would most probably become a tiny micro-organism. If a micro-organism were enlarged to the size of the earth, most probably it would be just like the earth.

If the universe was reduced to the size of a human being, with its stars forming particles, it is possible it would become a conscious animal; reason does not deny this.

This means, the world with all its parts is a glorifying servant of the Ever Living Creator, the Eternal All-Powerful One, obedient and subservient.

It is not necessary that a thing should be great in size in order to be great qualitatively, for a clock the size of a mustard-seed is more eloquent than a clock the size of Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia).

The creation of the fly is no less, indeed perhaps more, amazing than that of an imposing creature like the elephant.

If a Qur’an were to be written by the Pen of Power in atoms of ether on an atom from this world, in respect of the art it would contain, inversely proportional to its size,

It would be equal to a Qur’an written in the stars on the face of the heavens. The Eternal Inscriber’s art is of the utmost beauty and perfection everywhere.

Everywhere it is thus. Everything being of the same degree of perfection proclaims the unity of the Pen and therefore the Divine Unity. Study carefully this most meaningful piece!

 

The angels are a community charged with the Shari‘a of the creation and the operation of the universe

There are two Divine Shari‘as (sets of laws), proceeding from two Divine Attributes; two kinds of humans are addressed, one being responsible for each:

The Shari‘a of the creation and operation of the universe, which proceeds from the Attribute of Will, orders the circumstances and movements of the universe, the macro-human, which are not voluntary. It is the eternally determined system of the Lord, and it is what is wrongly termed “nature.”

The Shari‘a which proceeds from the attribute of Speech is the set of laws which orders the actions of humanity, the microcosm, which are voluntary.

The two Shari‘as sometimes are in force in the same kind of beings – God’s angels. They are a mighty community, a host of the All-Glorified One.

They are obedient servants and workers, who are responsible for the fulfillment of the first Shari‘a; they are representatives, (representing the worship of the inanimate, plant, and animal kingdoms in the Court of God).

Some of them are worshipping servants of God, others are absorbed in knowledge and love of God, stationed near to Him around His Supreme Throne.

 

As matter is refined, life is intensified

Life is fundamental, basic; matter is dependent on and subordinate to it, and subsists through it. If you compare a microscopic organism with its five senses, and the human senses,

You will see that however much larger a human being is than the microscopic organism, his senses are inferior to the same degree.

The organism hears its brother’s voice, sees its food. If it were enlarged to the size of a human being, its senses would be amazing, its life dazzling, and the sight of it like lightning flashing in the sky.

A person is not a living being composed of a dead mass, but a living human cell is composed of billions of living cells.

A human is like the large letters of Ya Sin, in which is inscribed Suratu Ya-Sin. So Blessed and Supreme is God, the Creator Who creates in the best and most appropriate form!

 

Materialism is a spiritual plague

Materialism is a spiritual plague. It has infected humanity with this terrible fever33 – it has made it subject to Divine Wrath and punishment. Through insistent inculcation and imitation,

And in proportion to the growth of humankind’s ability to criticize, this plague has become severer and spreads ever wider.

It is inculcated by science and imitated in the name of civilization.

Freedom has led to criticism, and misguidance has sprung from the pride civilization causes.

 

There is nothing idle in existence; an idle person works on account of non-existence

The most miserable, wretched, and distressed person is the one who is idle. For idleness is non-existence within existence, death within life.

Whereas exertion or working hard is the life of the body and the waking state of life!

 

Usury and interest are absolutely harmful to Islam

Usury causes idleness and extinguishes enthusiasm for work.

The profit of banks, which are the doors of usury and its containers, is always for the worst of humankind, the infidels.  Its profit for the infidels goes to the worst among them, that is, the oppressors.

The profit of the oppressors always goes to the worst among them; that is, the dissolute; it is absolutely harmful to the world of Islam.

The Shari‘a does not require nor does it take responsibility for the continual prosperity of all humankind at all costs. For an infidel at war with Islam and Muslims does not deserve respect or legal protection.

 

The Qur’an defends itself and perpetuates its authority

I saw a man who was stricken by despair and sick with pessimism. He said: “The scholars have decreased in number, and this decrease in quantity causes a decrease in quality. I fear our Religion will die out one day.”

I replied: So long as the universe is not extinguished, Islamic belief will not die out.

Also, so long as the public signs of Islam, the minarets of the Religion, the places of Divine worship, the teachings of the Shari‘a – all like stakes firmly placed in the earth – so long as they are not extinguished, Islam will always shine.

The mosques are instructors, teaching those who frequent them through their very existence and nature. The public signs of Islam have all become teachers: through the tongue of their very existence and nature, they never fail or forget to inspire the believers.

All the signs are learned teachers, continually teaching the spirit of Islam to those who look on them, causing the world to last through the centuries.

The lights of Islam are as though embodied in its public signs; and the pure water of Islam is as if solidified in its places of worship, each of which is an embodied pillar of belief.

The injunctions of Islam are as though embodied within the public signs; the pillars of Islam are settled solidly in its domains – each is a diamond pillar, and through them the earth and sky are bound together.

In particular, the Qur’an of miraculous exposition is an orator; it has continually been delivering a pre-eternal discourse – no village, no place at all has remained within the Muslim lands which has not listened to its address, nor not heard its teaching. According to the meaning of It is indeed We Who are its guardians and preservers (15:9), to be a memorizer of the Qur’an is a very high station. To recite it is worship for humankind and jinn.

Its continual recitation both teaches and repeatedly reminds of the explicit, incontestable essentials of Islam; it also causes the theoretical matters to become so explicit that they require no further explanation.

These essentials of the Religion have ceased being theoretical matters and have become explicit, easily understood realities. To mention them is sufficient; to remind of them is enough. The Qur’an is constantly a healer (healing the wounds in the minds, hearts, and spirits).

Also, through the constant mentioning and reminding of Islam’s essentials, and through the Islamic revival and social awareness they generate, the evidence for all these essentials is evidence for each.

Since social life began in Islam, an individual’s belief is not restricted to the proofs particular to themselves, nor is their conviction or conscience based on them alone. Rather, such are also based on innumerable proofs that are located in the common heart of the community.

It is worth noting that as time passes it is difficult to abolish even a weak school of thought. So what about Islam, which is based on the two firm foundations – the Revelation and innate human disposition – and which has ruled so effectively for so many centuries!

With its firmly rooted principles, its profound works, it has cohered to half the globe, becoming a natural spirit. How can it be eclipsed, especially when it has just emerged from a temporary eclipse?

Regrettably, certain abusive infidels have engaged in falsehoods to attack the firm foundations of this lofty palace whenever they found the chance.

They try to shake Islam’s foundations. But its principles cannot be attacked, or tampered with. Fall silent now, irreligion! That scoundrel is bankrupt. Enough now of this experiment of unbelief and lies!

The Islamic world’s advance-post against the world of unbelief was this Darulfünun.34 But due to our indifference and heedlessness, the snakelike enemy was able

To open up a breach behind the front; irreligion attacked and the nation was shaken. This advance-post, this Paradise-like “garden,” illuminated by the spirit of Islam,

Should be the firmest, and most truly awakened, in respect of Islam, or it cannot be an institution referred to as the House of Sciences. It must not deceive Islam.

The seat of belief is the heart; the mind is where the light of belief is reflected.

The mind is sometimes a warrior (fighting falsehoods), sometimes it is a broom (removing doubts); if the doubts of the mind do not enter the heart, then the faith and the conscience will not be shaken.

If, as some people suppose, belief is in the mind, many baseless possibilities (circulating about in the mind) can become ruthless enemies to the certainty that is based on experience, which is the spirit of belief.

Heart and conscience are the seats of belief. Intuition and inspiration are evidence for belief. There is another sense which is a way to belief.35

Thought and intellect, or the mind, are the watchmen of belief.

 

Rather than instruction in theoretical matters, it is necessary to remind people of Islam’s explicit, incontestable essentials

The essentials of the Religion, the explicit, incontestable matters of the Shari‘a, are present in people’s hearts; people will be made fully conscious of these if they are continually reminded of them.

The desired result is thus obtained. The Arabic language performs this reminder in a more sublime fashion.

Instruction in theoretical matters is not required in the sermon. Moreover, Arabic discourse is an imprint of unity on the united face of Islam.

 

The Prophetic sayings (hadiths) say to the Qur’an’s verses: It is not possible to reach you!

If you compare the Qur’anic verses and the hadiths, you will see clearly that even the most eloquent of humankind, the conveyor of the Revelation, could not attain the level of the Qur’an in eloquence.

The Qur’an does not resemble his sayings. That means that all the words issuing from Muhammad’s tongue were not his.36

 

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

33 Here the author is referring to World War I.

34 Darulfünun was the name of Istanbul University during the Ottoman period. This name literally means the House of Sciences. (Tr.)

35 By the sixth sense Said Nursi means the “senses” or points of reliance and seeking for help that are ingrained in the human conscience; he refers to this in many places of the Risale-i Nur. That is, every human feels the existence of points of reliance or support and seeking help, through which they seek a power to rely on and receive help from particularly in the face of calamities and helplessness. The existence of these senses or points shows the existence of an All-Knowing and Powerful One. (Tr.)

36 That is, apart from his own sayings (hadiths), Prophet Muhammad was also the conveyor of the Qur’an, revealed by God. (Tr.)