The Twenty-sixth Letter

 

(This letter has four topics in little relation to each other.)

In His Name, glory be to Him.

There is nothing that does not glorify Him with His praise.

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

If a provocation from Satan should provoke you, seek refuge in God. He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. (7:200)

 

First topic : The Qur’an’s argument against Satan and his party

 

THE FIRST TOPIC COMPRISES A RATIONAL DISCUSSION WITH SATAN to refute one of his deceptive arguments. In the discussion, he and the transgressors finally are silenced and overcome.

One day 11 years ago during Ramadan, I was listening to a Qur’anic recitation in Istanbul’s Bayazid Mosque. Suddenly, I felt as if an invisible person were telling me: “You regard the Qur’an as highly exalted and radiant. Study it objectively, that is, suppose it to be a human fabrication, and see if it is so exalted and radiant as you regard.” I was taken in for a brief moment, but perceiving that the speaker was Satan, who wanted to lead me astray, I sought help from the Qur’an and immediately felt a light in my heart. This encouraged me to argue:

Objective reasoning means impartial judgment, but the “impartial” judgment used by you and your disciples means siding with the Qur’an’s opponents and following temporary unbelief. Supposing the Qur’an to be a human work and arguing thusly is to side with unbelief or falsehood.

When he retorted: “Then accept it as neither the Word of God nor the work of a human being,” I replied:

I cannot justify such a position. If two people argue about an item, it is deposited with a third person, provided that the two parties are in reasonable proximity to each other. If they are not, the property is left with the one who already holds it until the dispute is settled. The matter is not left undecided.

To follow the analogy: As the Qur’an is a priceless item, there is an infinite distance between its owner (God) and its claimant (humanity). The matter cannot be left undecided, for there is no third party to whom it can be entrusted. Thus it should be left in the “hands” of God. Second, since its revelation, billions of people have accepted it as God’s Word. Therefore those who oppose it have to prove that it is the work of a human being. If they cannot, there is no justification for arguing whether or not it is His Word.

Therefore, Satan, who would dare to remove that brilliant Qur’an from the Greatest Throne of God, onto which it is fixed with thousands of “nails” of decisive proofs? Despite you, O Satan, the people of truth and justice deal with the issue by just reasoning and strengthen their belief in the Qur’an through even the smallest decisive proof. Those who are deceived by you and your disciples find it very difficult to move from unbelief’s darkness to belief’s light, for it requires a proof as strong as all these “nails,” once it has been cast to the ground by supposing it to be the work of a human being. Thus many people are deceived into that false pretence of “objective” reasoning and ultimately lose their belief.

But Satan insisted: “The Qur’an resembles human speech, for it follows a human style or conversation. If it were the Word of God, it should be extraordinary in all aspects. As God’s artistry cannot be likened to what is human, His Word likewise should not resemble human speech,” and I countered:

Our Prophet was a human being. All of his acts and attitudes, except for his miracles and states of Prophethood, originated in his humanity. Like all other human beings, he was subject to and dependent upon God’s creational and operational laws. He suffered from cold, felt pain, and so on. He was not extraordinary in all his acts and attitudes, and so set an example to humanity through his conduct. If he had been extraordinary, he could not have been an absolute guide in every aspect of life or a mercy for all through all his states.

In the same way, the Qur’an leads conscious beings, directs humanity and jinn, guides people of perfection, and instructs truth seeking people. Thus it must follow the style of human speech and conversation. Humanity and jinn take their supplications and prayers from it, talk about their affairs in its terms, and derive their principles of good conduct from it. In short, every believer adopts it as the authorized reference for all of his or her affairs. If, by contrast, it had been like the Word of God heard by Moses on Mount Sinai, no one could have borne it or used it as a reference. Moses, one of the five greatest Messengers of God, heard only a few pieces of that Word and asked: “Is this Your speech?” God answered: “I have the power of all tongues and languages.”

Satan continued: “In the name of religion, many people discuss almost the same subjects as those in the Qur’an. And so a human being could have written it.” I replied, through the Qur’an’s light:

FIRST: Religious people speak the truth out of their love of religion and in the name of God’s commandments. They do not lie against or imitate God and speak on their own for fear of the Qur’anic threat: Who is greater in wrongdoing than the one who lies against God? (39:32).

SECOND: People can imitate only those of nearly the same level. Only those of the same species can take each other’s form. Only those of nearly the same level can pretend to each other’s level. However it is very difficult, even in that case, for them to deceive people for long, as their pretensions and false display eventually unmask them to perceptive people. If, on the other hand, counterfeiters are greatly inferior to those they try to imitate (e.g., an ordinary person claiming Ibn Sina’s knowledge, or a shepherd pretending to be a king), they would open themselves to ridicule.

Could a firefly make itself appear as a star for 1,000 years, or a fly make itself appear as a peacock for a year? Could a private pretend to be a famous marshal and occupy his chair for a long time without giving himself away? Could an unbeliever sustain a false display of a most pious person’s loyalty, truthfulness, and conviction for a lifetime in the presence of discerning people?

If these “ifs” are inconceivable or unacceptable to any intelligent person, considering the Qur’an a human work would mean seeing that Manifest Book, which has been like a star of truths or a sun of perfections radiating the lights of truths in the sky of the Muslim world for centuries, as a collection of falsehoods invented by a counterfeiter. It would mean that his Companions of 23 years, as well as all who followed him during the next 14 centuries, were unaware of his real identity. This is beyond belief.

O Satan, you cannot deceive sensible people in such a way, even if you were far more advanced in your devilish craft. You only can deceive people into looking at the Qur’an and the Prophet from a very great distance and seeing those star-like objects as fireflies.

THIRD: Calling it a human work means that a most bright, true, and comprehensive criterion of the human world, miraculous of exposition and bringer of well-being to the world, is the product of an illiterate man. Moreover, his pretence and counterfeiting have appeared as earnestness,  sincerity, and purity of intention for 14 centuries to even great intellects and exalted geniuses. This is inconceivable.

Further, accepting it would mean the following: A most illustrious and virtuous being who spent his entire life displaying and preaching conviction, truthfulness, trustworthiness, sincerity, earnestness, and uprightness in all his states, words, and actions, as well as raising many truthful persons, was a mean and discreditable rascal, wholly insincere, and the foremost in unbelief. Even Satan would be ashamed to conceive of such a great lie.

There is no third alternative. If the Qur’an were a human work, it would be so debased that it could be a source only of superstition. Its author’s rank also would be degraded from being a source of perfection to the greatest cheat. Thus he could not be God’s Messenger, for one who lies in His name is the worst person. Such a supposition is as inconceivable as imagining a fly to have the qualities of a peacock. No normal person could regard such suppositions as possible.

FOURTH: The Qur’an directs the Muslim community, which contains some of history’s greatest and most magnificent people. The Qur’an has enabled them to conquer this world and the next; has equipped them materially and spiritually; and has instructed and educated them in all rational, moral, and spiritual matters according to their particular level. It has purified them and used each bodily member, sense, and faculty in its most proper place.

Prophet Muhammad, who brought the Qur’an from God, exemplified His laws in his attitudes and actions throughout his life. He instructed us through his actions and sincere practice of the principles of truth as long as he lived. He showed and established the ways of true guidance and well-being through his sincere and reasonable sayings. In addition, as his life and good conduct testify, he is the most knowledgeable of God and the most fearful of His punishment. He established his splendid rule of perfection over half the globe and one-fifth of humanity. He truly became, through his well-known manners and actions as a Prophet, statesman, commander, spiritual and intellectual guide, father, husband, friend, and so on, the pride of humanity and of creation.

If you consider the Qur’an a human work, it would be no more than a worthless fabrication of a liar who did not recognize or fear God. No intelligent person, O Satan, could be deceived by such an inconceivable supposition, not even if you were far more powerful in your devilish tricks.

Satan retorted: “How can I fail to deceive? I already have deceived most people, including the foremost in rational thought, and led them to deny both the Qur’an and Muhammad.” I said:

FIRST: When looked at from a great distance, the largest thing can look like a tiny particle; a star can be considered a candle.

SECOND: When considered superficially and in a way vulnerable to distraction and illusion, an inconceivable thing can appear conceivable. Once an old man was scanning the horizon to catch sight of the new crescent moon. A white hair from his eyebrow curved over his eye and came into his line of sight. Thus deceived by that illusion, he said: “I have seen the crescent.”

THIRD: Denial differs from non-confirmation, which is a kind of indifference and lack of judgment. Thus many inconceivable things may exist unintentionally in non-confirmation. Denial is a judgment and a means confirming non-existence that usually is reached through reasoning. A devil like you deprives people of sound judgment and leads them to denial. You use heedlessness, deviation, sophistry, obstinacy, demagogy, arrogant superiority, conceit, seduction, and custom to cause people to see falsehood as truth and the inconceivable as conceivable. Thus you have led many people (human in appearance but perhaps not in essence) into unbelief, which requires accepting many inconceivable things.

FOURTH: The Qur’an is a book of pure truths and matchless value, a guide to saints and scholars of truth and purity. It invites all people, regardless of time or place, as well as those seeking perfection, to truth and love of the truth, truthfulness and loyalty, trustworthiness and reliability. It secures happiness in both worlds through Islam’s pillars of beliefs and fundamental principles. The Prophet is the most trustworthy being, the foremost and firmest in belief and conviction. This is testified to by Islam and its law, which he preached and showed by his acknowledged piety and sincere worship manifested throughout his life, as required by his laudable virtues and confirmed by all people of truth and perfection.

Given this, considering the Qur’an a human work would mean that it is a collection of fallacies and lies, and that the Prophet is an unreliable, unbelieving liar with no fear of God. This supposition is the most dangerous kind of unbelief, deviation, and wrong-doing. Even devils and Sophists would be ashamed to conceive of such things.

In short: The Nineteenth Letter states that those whose power of hearing allows them to appreciate the Qur’an’s miraculousness acknowledge that it is not of the same kind and degree as all other books they have heard. Thus it is either inferior or superior to all other books. As not even a devil would assert the former, we must accept that it is superior and therefore a miracle. That being the case, based on the two decisive proofs of dichotomy and reductio ad absurdum, we openly declare:

O Satan and your disciples. The Qur’an is either God’s Word manifested through His Highest Throne and Highest Name, or the fabrication of an unbeliever who neither recognizes nor fears God. Even you, O Satan, could never say that this second alternative is true. Thus the Qur’an is, of necessity and undoubtedly, the Word of the Creator of the universe, given that there is no third alternative, as explained above.

Likewise Muhammad is either a Messenger of God, as well as the most perfect Messenger and superior to all other creatures, or a man of unbelief and the lowest nature, since he lied against God and neither recognized Him nor His punishment.356 Not even European

philosophers or hypocrites of other lands, in whom you place great trust, have alleged such a thing, O Satan. Since no one will heed and accept such an allegation, even the most corrupt philosopher and unscrupulous hypocrite are bound to admit that Muhammad was a very wise man and of exemplary good conduct.

Finally, there are only two alternatives. As with the Qur’an, the second option is inconceivable and unacceptable. Therefore he is self evidently and of necessity God’s Messenger, the most perfect Messenger, and superior to all other creatures. This is true whether you or your followers like it or not. Upon him be blessings and peace to the number of angels, human beings, and jinn.

Satan’s second, insignificant objection

While I was reciting:

Not a word he utters, but by him is an observer ready. And the agony of death comes in truth; that is what you were shunning. And the trumpet is blown; that is the Day of the Threat. And every soul comes, along with it a driver and a witness. “You were heedless of this. Now We have removed from you your covering, and so your sight today is piercing.” And his comrade says: “Cast, you twain, into Hell each rebel ingrate.” (50:18-24)

 

Satan said: “You find the Qur’an’s eloquence primarily in its fluent style and intelligible expression. Yet, where there is fluency and coherence in these verses, there are also great gaps, for they jump from the throes of death to the world’s destruction, from the blowing the Trumpet to the end of the Reckoning and therefrom to throwing the sinful into Hell.”

I made the following points in reply:

A most fundamental element of the Qur’an’s miraculousness is its eloquence and precision. It contains so many instances of this that observant critics have been filled with wonder and admiration. For example, eloquent people have prostrated before: And it was said: O Earth. Swallow your water and, O sky, cease (your rain). And the water was made to subside. And the commandment was fulfilled, and the Ark settled in al-Judi, and it was said: Away with the people of the evildoers (11:44), which tells of the Flood’s might so precisely and miraculously within a few short sentences.

In: Thamud denied in their rebellious pride when the most wretched of them rose up; then the Messenger of God (Salih) said to them: “Let the She-Camel of God drink.” But they denied him, and slaughtered her, so their Lord doomed them for their sin and leveled them. He fears not the issue thereof (91:11-15), the Qur’an recounts precisely and clearly the people of Thamud’s story and fate in a most comprehensible way.

In: And Dhu al-Nun, when he went forth in anger and was convinced that We would not straiten him: then he called out in the layers of darkness: “There is no god but You. Glory be to You. I have been a wrongdoer” (21:87), much remains unsaid between We would not straiten him and he called out in the layers of darkness. Those few words retell the chief points of Prophet Yunus’ (Jonah) story in a way that neither diminishes comprehensibility nor mars eloquence. What is not stated directly is left to the person’s understanding.

Also in Sura Yusuf, seven or eight sentences are omitted between so send me forth (end of verse 45) and Joseph, O you truthful one (beginning of verse 46). This neither affects comprehensibility nor mars the Qur’an’s eloquence.

The Qur’an contains many more instances of miraculous precision. The precise description given in the verses in question from Sura Qaf make them even more beautiful and miraculous. Pointing to the unbelievers’ future, which is so long that a day of it is equal to 50,000 earthly years, they draw attention to the fearful events that will befall them. They bring before our minds the whole span of those upheavals like a flash of lightening, thereby compressing it into one page so that we can ponder it. By considering the unmentioned events understood, they achieve a sublime fluency. When the Qur’an is recited, give ear to it and pay heed, that you may obtain mercy (7:204).

 

I then asked Satan if he had any more objections, and he replied: “I don’t oppose those truths. But many foolish people follow me, and many devils in human form assist me. Many philosophers are just as conceited as Pharaoh. I teach them things that contribute to their pride and selfishness. They will prevent the publication of The Words, and so I will never yield to you.”

Glory be to You. We have no knowledge save what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Said Nursi

356 Since the Qur’an mentions such a supposition to refute the unbelievers’ unbelief and bad language, I felt justified in mentioning it, though fearfully and with aversion, only as a most impossible supposition to show how groundless and false are such assertions.