A Letter:
The Qur’anic principles to saveawakened mankind
In His Name, be He glorified!
Peace be upon you, and God’s mercy and blessings, for ever.
My Dear, True Brothers!
Firstly: I congratulate you with all my heart on all the festivals and holy nights, both those of the past and future, and the material ones and the spiritual ones, and entreat Divine mercy that your prayers and worship are acceptable, and say “Amen” to them.
Secondly: I am compelled to answer privately two of your questions which in many ways are important, and you have frequently asked in meaning:
Y o u r F i r s t Q u e s t i o n : Why was it that in the early Second Constitutional Period you were passionately involved in politics, yet for nearly forty years now you have given it up completely?
The Answer: I understood with complete certainty that the ghastly crimes committed by mankind up to the present sprang from the abuse of the law which is basic to politics and may be expressed as “Individuals may be sacrificed for the good of the nation and for the well-being of the community.” Since there is no specified limit to this fundamental law created by man, it has opened up the way to excessive abuse. This tyrannical law issued the fatwa for the two World Wars and overturned a thousand years of human progress. So too it permitted the annihilation of ninety innocents on account of ten criminals. On the pretext of the general good, personal hatred razed a town because of a single criminal. Since the Risale-i Nur has proved this fact in some of its collections and defence speeches, I refer you to them.
Thus, in the face of this tyrannical law of man’s politics and diplomacy I discovered the below-mentioned fundamental laws of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, which comes from the Sublime Throne. They are expressed by these verses:
No bearer of burdens can bear the burdens of another.1 * If anyone slays a human being -unless it be [in punishment] for murder or for spreading corruption on earth- it shall be as though he had slain all mankind.2 These two verses teach the following principle: Others are not answerable for a person’s crime. And, without his consent, an innocent person may not be sacrificed, even for the whole of mankind. If he voluntarily gives his consent and sacrifices himself, his self-sacrifice is a sort of martyrdom and is another matter. This establishes true justice for man. For details I refer you to the Risale-i Nur.
S e c o n d Q u e s t i o n : While travelling among the nomadic tribes of the east long ago, you used to strongly urge them towards progress and modern civilization. But for nearly forty years now you have called it ‘low’ civilization, and you have withdrawn from the life of society and gone into seclusion. Why is this?
The Answer: Since modern Western civilization acts contrarily to the fundamental laws of the revealed religions, its evils have come to outweigh its good aspects, and its errors and harmful aspects its benefits; and general tranquility and a happy worldly life, the true aims of civilization, have been destroyed. And since wastefulness and extravagance have taken the place of frugality and contentment, and laziness and the desire for ease have overcome endeavour and the sense of service, it has made unfortunate mankind both extremely poor and extremely lazy. In explaining the fundamental law of the revealed Qur’an:
Eat and drink, but waste not in excess,3
and,
Man possesses naught save that which he strives,4
the Risale-i Nur says: “Man’s happiness in this life lies in frugality and endeavour, and it is through them that the rich and poor will be reconciled.” I shall here make one or two brief points in accordance with this explanation.
The First: In the nomadic stage, man needed only three or four things, and it was only two out of ten who could not obtain them. But now, through wastefulness, abuses, stimulating the appetites, and such things as custom and addiction, present-day civilization has made inessential needs seem essential, and in place of the four things of which he used to be in need, modern civilized man is now in need of twenty. And it is only two out of twenty who can satisfy those needs in a totally licit way; eighteen remain in need in some way.
That is to say, modern civilization greatly impoverishes man. Because of the needs, it drives man to wrongdoing and illicit gain. It perpetually encourages the wretched lower classes to challenge the upper classes. It has abandoned the Qur’an’s sacred fundamental law making the payment of zakat obligatory and prohibiting usury and interest, which ensured that the lower classes were obedient towards the upper classes and the upper classes were sympathetic towards the lower classes, and encouraged the bourgeousie to tyranny and the poor to revolt. It destroyed the tranquillity of mankind.
Second Point: Since the wonders of modern civilization are each a dominical bounty, they require real thanks and to be utililized for the benefit of mankind. But now we see that since they have encouraged a significant number of people to be lazy and indulge in vice, and have given them the wish to heed their desires in ease and comfort; they have destroyed these people’s eagerness for effort and endeavour. And by way of dissatisfaction and extravagance, they have driven them to dissipation, wastefulness, tyranny, and what is unlawful.
For example, as it says in A Key to the World of the Risale-i Nur, although the radio is a great bounty and demands thanks in the form of being used for the good of mankind, since four fifths of it are used on unnecessary, meaningless trivia, it has encouraged idleness and depravity, and destroyed the eagerness for work. I myself even have seen that of a number of most beneficial marvels, which should be used for endeavour and work and man’s true benefits and needs, eight out of ten are urging man to indulge in pleasure and amusement, to satisfy his desires, and to be lazy, and only one of two of them being spent on essential needs. There are thousands of examples like these two small ones.
I n S h o r t : Since modern Western civilization has not truly heeded the revealed religions, it has both impoverished man and increased his needs. It has destroyed the principle of frugality and contentment, and increased wastefulness, greed, and covetousness. It has opened up the way to tyranny and what is unlawful. Through encouraging people to take advantage of the means of dissipation, it has also cast those needy unfortunates into total laziness. It has destroyed the desire for effort and work. It has encouraged depravity and dissipation, and wasted their lives on useless things. Furthermore, it has made those needy and lazy people ill. Through abuse and prodigality, it has been the means of spreading a hundred sorts of diseases.
Mankind is constantly threatened by three awesome matters: severe needs, the desire for vice and dissipation, and death -and numerous illnesses, which perpetually remind him of death- which the atheistic currents that have awakened mankind through their infiltrating civilization show to be eternal extinction. All these cause mankind a Hell-like torment.In the face of this ghastly calamity of mankind’s, it is understood from signs and allusions of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition that with the awakening of its four hundred million students and its sacred, revealed fundamental laws, it will heal those three awesome wounds -as it did one thousand three hundred years ago; and if doomsday does not soon break loose, with its showing that rather than being external extinction, death resembles the despatch papers for the world of light, it will gain for mankind the happiness both of worldly life and of the life of the hereafter; and in the civilization that will grow out of the All-Wise Qur’an, the virtues of civilization will prevail over its evils; and unlike has happened up to the present, a part of religion will not be given as the bribe for part of civilization, but civilization will serve and assist those heavenly laws. As the All-Wise Qur’an indicates this, so awakened mankind awaits it from Divine mercy, and seeks it, and beseeches Divine mercy for it.
The Eternal One, He is the Eternal One!
S a i d N u r s i
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1. Qur'an, 6:164, etc.
2. Qur'an, 5:32.
3. Qur'an, 7:31.
4. Qur'an, 53:39.