The Twenty-sixth Letter
Fourth topic
(Note: Like the topics of The Twenty-sixth Letter, the following topics are not related to each other. They were written as answers to a disciple’s questions. So do not seek any connection among them.)
FIRST MATTER
SECOND: You ask about the number of the worlds in the phrase: the Lord of the Worlds (1:2), saying that the Qur’anic interpreters consider them to be 18,000 in number.
I do not know what is meant by “18,000.” But I can say the following: Each Qur’anic expression has a universal content addressing each level of understanding at all times. Thus any interpretation points to only one aspect of that universal content. Every interpreter or saintly scholar, depending on their spiritual discovery or intuition, the evidence they obtain or their natural disposition, prefers one aspect. Some interpreters believe that there are 18,000 worlds.
For example: He let forth the two seas that meet together, between them a barrier they do not overpass (55:19-20), which are repeated by saintly people in their daily recitations, indicates all pairs of “seas” or realms, spiritual or material, figurative or actual, from the realms of Lordship and servanthood to the spheres of necessity and contingency, from this world to the Hereafter, including the visible, corporeal world and the Unseen World, the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the Mediterranean and Red seas, and the Suez Canal, salt water and sweet water in the seas and underground, and such mighty rivers as the Euphrates and Tigris carrying sweet water and salty seas to which they flow. All of these, together with many others I do not deem it necessary to mention here, are included in that expression’s content, whether literally or figuratively.
Likewise, the expression: Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds has many aspects. And so people of truth and discernment, depending on their own insight and spiritual discovery, explain it differently. My own understanding is that the sky contains thousands of worlds. For example, each of some stars may be a particular kind of world. Each species here constitutes a world, and each person is a little world. The Lord of the Worlds means that every world is directly trained and administered by God’s Lordship.
THIRD: God’s Messenger, declared: “When God wills a people well, He makes them watchful of their defects.”362 Also, the Qur’an narrates that Prophet Joseph said: I do not claim that my soul is always innocent; surely, the soul of humanity incites to evil (12:53).
Those who rely on and trust in their carnal souls are unfortunate, while those who see their own defects are fortunate. That being so, you are among the fortunate. But sometimes, despite the carnal soul’s being refined and becoming the “self-accusing soul” or even “the soul at rest,” it moves its attack to the nerves.363
As a result, those people cannot be free of anger and irritation until they die. Many pure and saintly people complain of their selfhood’s temptations and wail over spiritual ailments, even though their souls were at rest and their hearts were illuminated and pure. What they actually complain of is not having an evil-commanding self, but the transferal of those evil commands to the nerves. Their spiritual ailments are imaginary. I hope, my dear brother, that it is not your carnal self or spiritual diseases that afflict you, but that you are suffering from nerves, so that you may continue your struggle to make spiritual progress.
SECOND MATTER: The detailed answers to that old prayer leader’s three questions are found in some the Risale-i Nur collection. I give a brief summary, as follows:
HIS FIRST QUESTION: In his letter to Fakhr al-Din al-Razi,364 Muhiy al-Din ibn al-‘Arabi says: “Knowledge of God is different from knowledge of His existence.” What does this mean?
First: The parable in The Twenty-second Word’s introduction, which shows the difference between superficial belief and substantial belief in God’s Unity, answers this. Also refer to The Thirty-second Word.
Second: Ibn al-‘Arabi, believing that the methodologists’ and theologians’ explanations on the principles of the Necessarily Existent Being’s Existence and Unity could not establish the essential reality, wrote what he did to al-Razi.
Knowledge of God acquired through theology is imperfect and unsatisfactory, whereas following the way of the Qur’an results in acquiring perfect knowledge and complete satisfaction. I hope that each treatise of the Risale-i Nur collection functions as a lamp on the illuminating highway of the Qur’an.
Just as (in Ibn al-‘Arabi’s view) al-Razi’s theology-derived knowledge of God is imperfect, knowledge gained through Sufism is incomplete when compared with knowledge acquired directly from the Qur’an via direct inheritance to Prophethood. Some of Ibn al-‘Arabi’s followers deny the universe’s existence, saying that only He exists, in order to gain permanent satisfaction. Others, also seeking permanent satisfaction, ignore creation in their proposition that “there is no witnessed but He.”
Knowledge acquired from the Qur’an gives a perfect and permanent satisfaction, and neither condemns the universe to non-existence nor ignores it. Rather, it elevates the universe from being chaos to the rank of cosmos, and employs it in the name of God Almighty. Thus each thing becomes a mirror to knowledge of God, as Sa’di al-Shirazi says: “In the view of discerning people, each sheet of the Book of the Universe opens a window on knowledge of God Almighty.”365
In some parts of The Words, I have explained the difference between these two ways as follows: A town can be supplied with water either by constructing a network of canals or drainage ditches through hills to carry water from a great distance, or by digging wells everywhere. The first way is very difficult and laborious; the second is easy for those who can do it. By interrupting the chain of cause and effect at the beginning or start-point of existence, for a never-ending chain of cause and effect is impossible, theologians go to great lengths to show the Necessarily Existent Being’s existence. But there is an “inexhaustible source of water” everywhere along the highway of the Qur’an. Like the staff of Moses, each Qur’anic verse can make “the water of life” gush out wherever it strikes and show the truth. Everything contains a sign showing that He is One.
Besides, in addition to knowledge, belief should be imbibed and appropriated by many other human faculties. As digested food is distributed throughout the body to meet each part’s need, all matters of belief, after being received by the intellect through learning, should be assimilated by such spiritual faculties as the spirit, heart, soul, and other innermost senses according to each one’s need and capacity. If even one thing does not receive its share, belief remains imperfect. This is what Ibn al-‘Arabi pointed out to al-Razi.
THIRD MATTER: How can we reconcile We have honored the children of Adam (17:70) with: he (humanity) is very unjust and ignorant? (33:72)
ANSWER: This matter is explained in the Eleventh, Twenty-third, and Twenty-fourth Words. I present here a brief summary: God Almighty makes many things from one substance so that it will serve many purposes, and inscribes the content of 1,000 “books” on a “page.” Likewise, He created humanity as a single, comprehensive species, for He willed each person to perform the duties and functions of all animal species. As a result, unlike those of animals, human feelings and faculties have no natural restrictions and so function in an infinite space.
Since each person is a mirror reflecting the endless manifestations of the Creator’s Names, his or her faculties are endowed with infinite potential. For example, if someone were given the whole world, his or her greed would engender the question: “Is there any more?” In addition, their selfishness would allow them to sacrifice the well-being of thousands for their own self-interest. Given this, people can increase in evil until they become just as unjust as Nimrod or Pharaoh, or can increase in good conduct until they attain the rank of truthful ones or Prophets.
In addition, people are ignorant of life’s necessities and so must learn everything, whereas animals have no such need. Since humanity’s need is infinite, all people are born in a state of profound ignorance. But animals need only a few things when they are born, and can acquire the necessary knowledge in a few months or days, or sometimes in a few hours. Animals adapt so quickly to their lives that it seems they were perfected in another world. But humanity learns how to walk only after a couple of years, and can distinguish between benefit and harm only after 15 years. The above verse alludes to this by mentioning humanity’s ignorance.
FOURTH MATTER: You ask about: Refresh your belief with “there is no deity but God.”366 Its meaning is explained in many sections of The Words. One of the many aspects of its meaning is this: Each person must renew and refresh his or her belief, because both they and their personal worlds are renewed continually. Each individual acquires or is transformed into a different individuality annually, monthly, daily, and even hourly. Subject to the passage of time, they daily assume the form of individuality. Given this, our transient world passes away and is replaced by a new one that opens its doors to us every day. Belief is the light of the life we acquire while alive, as well as the light of each world we inhabit. There is no deity but God is the key with which to obtain that light.
We are subject to our carnal self’s constant influence. Our fancies and desires, when joined with Satan and enabled by our heedlessness, injure our belief and sever its light through evil doubts and suggestions. Furthermore, believers should refresh their belief constantly, for people are liable to frequent falling and doing and saying certain things that are contrary to Sharia and, according to some leading scholars, indicate unbelief (such as objecting to Divine judgments or displaying displease with Destiny and so on).
QUESTION: To prove God’s Oneness, theologians draw attention to the universe’s being contingent and having a beginning: Since it is the same whether the universe does or does not exist, its existence is described as not necessary. Since it actually exists and has a beginning, there must be a Necessarily Existent Being, Absolute and Eternal, Who willed to originate it. Some Sufis seek perfect satisfaction through Divine Unity by ignoring the universe’s existence: “There is no witnessed but He.” Other Sufis accord the universe only a nominal or imaginary existence and seek perfect satisfaction through: “There is no existent but He.”
You assert a different way, the existence of a main highway in the Qur’an, and show it through: “There is no worshipped but He” and “There is no one wished for except He.” Could you demonstrate a proof of Divine Unity contained by this highway or a short path leading to it?
ANSWER: Although all Words and Letters point to that highway, I will summarize a mighty, comprehensive proof of it. Each thing shows that its Creator created all things. Each deed or effect shows that its Author produces all deeds or effects. Each act of invention proves that all acts of invention belong to its Inventor. Each Name manifesting in creation points out that all Names manifesting in the universe belong to the same Being to Whom it also belongs.
This means that each thing proves Divine Unity and is a window opening to knowledge of God. Each deed or effect, especially living existents, is a miniature of the universe, a seed of creation, and a fruit of this planet. Given this, the Being Who created that miniature, seed, or fruit necessarily created the universe, for the One Who created the fruit must be the One Who created the tree. Thus, just as each work demonstrates that its Author is the same Being Who produces all other works, each act shows that its Agent is the Doer of all other acts. We say this because each act of creation shows itself to be a tip indicating the Law of Creativity, which is so comprehensive that it encompasses everything in the universe. So, the same Being is the Agent of that single act of creation and all other acts with the same function depending on that universal Law.
The Being Who revives an insect after its hibernation also creates all insects and other animals and quickens Earth for spring. Whoever whirls particles also moves creation in a continuous succession and causes the sun and its planets to move, for a law is like a string stretching throughout the universe, and deeds and effects are arranged along it.
Each manifested Name proves, just as each work or act does, that all Names belong to its Owner. This is because these Names are like concentric spheres, one within the other, interrelated and mutually supportive, mutually perfecting and adorning each other’s work. For example, when the Name the All-Life-Giver manifests Itself by giving life to something, the Names the All-Wise, All-Munificent, All-Compassionate, and All-Provider also manifest at the same instant, respectively, to arrange the living thing’s body with wisdom, embellish it with munificence, prepare its needs with compassion, and provide its necessary sustenance for maintenance in ways unexpected by itself. Thus the One Who owns the Name the All-Life-Giving also owns the Name the All-Wise, all-encompassing and radiating in the universe; and the Name the All-Compassionate, one training creation with compassion; and the Name the All-Provider, generously nourishing all living creatures.
Each Name, act, and work is such a proof of Divine Oneness and a seal of Divine Unity that each demonstrates that all words (creatures) written on the pages of the universe and the lines of ages are inscriptions of its Author’s Pen.
O God, bestow blessings on him who said: “The best of what I and the preceding Prophets said is: ‘There is no deity but God,’”367 and on his Family and Companions, and grant them peace.
FIFTH MATTER
SECOND: You ask whether confirming “There is no deity but God” without confessing “Muhammad is the Messenger of God” is enough to prosper in the Hereafter. This requires elaboration. However, I restrict myself to the following reflections:
The Islamic confession of faith’s two propositions are not separate from each other; rather, they prove each other and belief in one requires belief in the other. Since Muhammad is the Last Prophet and thereby heir to all previous Prophets, he leads all the ways to reaching God. There is no way of truth and salvation other than his. Those most prominent in knowledge of God and meticulous research proclaim, as Sa’di al-Shirazi does: “Sa’di, it is inconceivable that there might be a way of salvation other than the way of Mustafa.”368 They also declare “All paths are closed except that of Muhammad.” Some people who follow his highway are unaware that it is his way, while others partly follow his way without knowing the Prophet. Others may be content, unconsciously, with his way in the ecstatic bewilderment of “There is no deity but God,” in a state of absolute seclusion and trance. However, we must make a distinction between non-acceptance and conscious denial. The non-acceptance of the Prophet by these people of ecstasy and seclusion comes from their ignorance of him. What they know of God consists of “There is no deity but God.” People in this category may attain salvation.
But if those who hear of the Prophet and learn of his message reject him, they cannot recognize Almighty God. Moreover, their saying “There is no deity but God” is not sufficient to express belief in Divine Unity, which brings salvation. We say this because their attitude is one of rejection and denial. Those who deny Prophet Muhammad, the pride of creation and the honor of humanity due to his miracles and accomplishments, cannot receive any light or gain true knowledge of God.
[As the sixth and seventh matters deal with matters that are of a highly technical nature and concern, they are not included in the translation.]
EIGHTH MATTER: Some ask: Each Qur’anic expression and formula of praise and glorification of God somehow illumines humanity’s spiritual faculties and provides spiritual nourishment. But if their meaning is not known, just saying them will not give the same enlightenment. Is reciting them in one’s native language more beneficial?
ANSWER: The Arabic wording (letters) of the Qur’an and the formulas of God’s praise and glorification belonging to the Prophet, are like a living skin. A garment can be changed, but changing the skin harms the body. The prescribed prayers’ wordings (letters) and the call to prayer are a title or designation to their meaning. Neither a title nor a designation can be changed. Let me give an example from my own experience, as follows:
I used to recite Surat al-Ikhlas (The Chapter of Sincerity) 1,000 times on the eve of the ‘Id (religious festivals). While doing so in groups of 100, some of my spiritual faculties were nourished and satisfied quickly. Others (i.e., reflection) took their share after some concentration on the meaning and were satiated. After a few more recitations, still others (i.e., the heart) were satisfied by some understanding of the conceptions giving spiritual pleasure. Only the faculties not yet bored of recitation remained.
As they no longer needed the meaning or its subtleties, heedlessness did not mar them, although it did mar the faculty of reflection. The wording and the simple, literal meaning intended by it sufficed for their enlightenment. Faculties fed up with further concentration on meaning only need remembrance and encouragement, not learning and understanding. So the Arabic wording, which has the same function for the meaning as the skin has for the body, gives them constant enlightenment, especially because it continuously reminds the reciter that he or she is reciting God’s Word and Speech.
Thus it is harmful to use another language to try and express the truths contained in the adhan (call to prayer), in God’s praise and glorification repeated after the prescribed prayers, and in such Qur’anic suras as al-Fatiha and al-Ikhlas. Once the Divine and Prophetic wording, that inexhaustible source of enlightenment, has gone, the most important human faculties will no longer receive their share of satisfaction or enlightenment. Moreover the rewards, as many as at least 10 per letter, will be lost. And since everyone cannot find uninterrupted peace during prayer, human translations may well, in heedlessness, darken the soul.
Abu Hanifa said: “The formula of Divine Unity: ‘There is no deity but God’ is a title or a designation for Divine Unity.” This is true with the words of God’s praise and glorification, especially those recited during the adhan and prescribed prayers, and should be considered with respect to their terminological (and not literal) meaning. Thus changing them is prohibited. Their clear, pithy sense, which every believer should know, can be learned easily.
How can Muslims who, despite spending a lifetime in a Muslim community and filling their minds with worldly things, fail to learn the clear, pithy sense of those blessed words that are the key to eternal life? How can they be called true Muslims and considered sensible? The “case” of those sources of light cannot be shattered just to accommodate such lazy people!
Also, all believers understand that they glorify God when saying subhan Allah (Glory be to God). Is this not enough for enlightenment? If they consider its meaning in terms of their own language, a single occasion of study will suffice. However, they repeat it at least 100 times a day, thereby giving the intellect its share and diffusing, through its words and brief contents, a great deal of enlightenment to others.
In short, nothing can replace or function as the blessed Divine wording, this “case” of Islam’s obligations or fundamentals. Although a translation may seem adequate at first, it really is not when considered in terms of permanence, sublimity, and appropriate holiness. In addition, there is no need to change the language when dealing with the “case” of secondary religious principles, for people are instructed in such things through advice, preaching, and other methods of teaching in their native language.
In conclusion, then, Arabic is such a grammatically and syntactically strict and comprehensive language, and the Qur’anic expressions are so miraculous and unique, that no other language can convey the full meaning. All translations are rather simple and imperfect interpretations that are far from providing the true meaning of a verse, each of which has numerous connotations, resonances, and layers upon layers of meaning!
NINTH MATTER (an important discussion of sainthood): The Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama‘a, the people of true guidance and truth who constitute the overwhelming majority of the world’s Muslims, have preserved and maintained the truths of the Qur’an and belief in strict obedience to the Prophet’s Sunna. Although most saints have appeared among them, a few felt the need to follow a way that does not agree with some of the Ahl al-Sunna’s principles.
The sainthood of such people remains controversial. Some deny it and even accuse them of heresy, while others follow them blindly and say there is more than one true way. This latter group have formed a heterodox faction, unaware of the fact that not every person of guidance is a true guide. Even though their leaders may be excused on the grounds of excessive ecstasy, these people cannot be excused for their unorthodoxy. Yet a third group neither rejects their sainthood nor accepts their way, judging that such saints’ untrue utterances should be considered like sayings of an ecstatic or as errors resulting from spiritual intoxication.
The first group, particularly scholars who judge by outward words and acts, try to defend the way of Ahl al-Sunna by denying many significant saints and accusing them of misguidance. The second group, due to its members’ excessively high opinion of such spiritual masters, have forsaken the way of truth and become unorthodox, even misguided.
As a personal experience which can clarify this matter, I once called God’s curse upon some people of misguidance. However, a powerful spiritual drive forced me to renounce it. Later on, I realized that those people mislead their followers by the help of a spiritual force, and that certain believers, due to this force’s attraction, consider it alright to follow them. This startled me, and I asked myself: “Glory be to God! Can sainthood be achieved through ways other than the way of truth? Can truth-seekers support a grave trend of misguidance?”
On the eve of an ‘Id (religious festival), while reciting Surat al-Ikhlas, the following truth occurred to me as a gift of Divine Mercy: Such saints as Jibali Baba, who reportedly lived during the reign of Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror (d. 1481), are in a state of spiritual intoxication although they seem to be conscious and reasonable. Others alternate between being in a waking state and losing their self-control in an ecstatic state. Some members of this latter group cannot separate the two states, and so tend to apply their ecstatic experiences in the waking state and unknowingly fall into error. God protects some of them from sin and misguidance, while others may be found among the people of deviation and heresy.
Since these saints are in a state of spiritual intoxication or ecstasy, whether permanently or briefly, they are considered blessed, insane ecstatics and are not responsible for observing the religious obligations. Since they are not religiously responsible, they are not held accountable for their actions and utterances. However, although they preserve their ecstatic sainthood, they may support misguidance and unorthodoxy and, by promoting their way, may cause some believers and truth-seekers to adopt their way.
TENTH MATTER (explains a principle regarding visitors, which some friends have reminded me of): Visitors come either for a worldly purpose (the door to such is closed) or for a matter concerning the next life. Some from this second group regard me as a blessed person of some spiritual rank, and so the door is closed to them as well. This is because I neither like myself nor those who like me. I thank God that He has not caused me to like myself. Members of the second group who want to visit me on account of my being the herald of Qur’anic truths are welcome. They fall into three groups: friends, brothers [sisters], and disciples.
To be a friend, one should earnestly support and try to benefit from The Words and our service in the way of the Qur’anic lights, and oppose all wrongdoing, misguidance, and heresy. To be a brother [sister], one should strive to multiply and promulgate The Words, perform the five daily prayers, and refrain from the seven major sins (e.g., unbelief and associating partners with God, murder, theft, fleeing the front when the army advances, drinking alcohol and gambling, treating one’s parents badly, and slandering chaste women). To be a disciple, one should sponsor The Words as if they were his or her own work and dedicate his or her life to its service and promulgation.
These three groups are connected to three aspects of my personality. Friends are related to me through my personality as a common man, brothers [sisters] on account of my being a worshipping servant of God, and disciples on account of my being a herald of the Qur’an and a religious teacher. All of them may benefit from our meetings by finding, even if only once, the chance to learn some of the Qur’an’s diamond-like truths; receive a share in my spiritual earnings through worship; and by turning, together with me, to the Divine Court with the same feelings and cooperating in the Qur’anic service, to seek His help and guidance.
I feel disciples near me every morning by remembering their names or imagining their faces, and they receive a share in my spiritual earnings. At times, I remember brothers [sisters] via their names or faces and include them in my prayers and earnings. They also are included with all other brothers [sisters] when I mention them in my prayers as “my brothers and sisters in-religion” and introduce them into the Divine Mercy. Even if I do not know each of them by name or in person, the Divine Mercy knows and sees them. Friends also are included in this prayer, if they perform the five daily prayers and avoid the seven major sins. These three groups should include me in their prayers and spiritual earnings.
O God, bestow blessings and peace on him who said: “The believers are like a firm building, one part of which supports the other,” on his Family and Companions. Glory be to You. We have no knowledge save only what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. They say: “Praise belongs to God, Who guided us unto this. If God had not guided us, we would never have been guided. Our Lord’s Messengers came with the truth.”
O God, O One Who answered Noah’s prayer; Who helped Abraham against his enemies, Who returned Joseph to Jacob, Who relieved Job of his affliction, Who answered Zachariah’s call, Who accepted Jonah son of Mathew’s supplication. Through the mysteries of those whose prayers were accepted, we entreat you to protect me, the publishers and promulgators of these treatises, and their friends from the evil of devilish persons and jinn. Help us against our enemies, do not leave us to ourselves, remove our grief and affliction, and cure our spiritual ailments. Amen. Amen.
Said Nursi
362 Al-Ajluni, Kashf al-Khafa’, 1:81.
363 Fethullah Gülen, a noted Turkish Islamic scholar, explains further: “Constant self-criticism and self-reprimand show the perfection of one’s belief. Everyone who has planned his or her life to reach the horizon of a perfect, universal human being is conscious of this life and spends every moment of it struggling with himself or herself. Such a person demands a password or a visa from whatever occurs to his or her heart and mind. Self-control against the temptations of Satan or the excitement of temper are practiced, and words and actions are carefully watched. Self-criticism is constant, even for those acts that seem most sensible and acceptable. Evening reviews of words and actions during the day are the rule, as are morning resolutions to avoid sins. A believer knits the ‘lace of his or her life’ with the “threads” of self-criticism and self-accusation.
So long as a believer shows such loyalty and faithfulness to the Lord and lives in such humility, the doors of heaven will be thrown open and an invitation will be extended:
Come, O faithful one. You have intimacy with Us. This is the station of intimacy. We have found you a faithful one. Every day he or she is honored with a new, heavenly journey in the spirit. It is God Himself Who swears by such a purified soul in: Nay, I swear by the self-accusing soul! (75:2)
For ordinary people, resignation means not objecting to what God has willed for them. For those with a deeper spiritual knowledge of God, resignation means welcoming their individual destinies. For those who live a life of profound spirituality, resignation means that, without paying attention to their own considerations, they are always attentive to what He wants them to do and how He wants them to be. The verses: O soul at rest, return to your Lord, well pleasing and pleased. Enter among My servants, and enter My Paradise (89:27-30) encompass all degrees of resignation, and contain responses to the desires of those resigned to the Divine Will and Destiny.” Fethullah Gülen, Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism (Turkey: The Fountain, 1999), 9, 108. (Ed.)
364 Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (865-923/932): Celebrated alchemist and philosopher, considered the Islamic world’s greatest physician. (Ed.)
365 Sa’di al-Shirazi (c1571-1640): Philosopher who led the Iranian cultural renaissance during the 17thcentury; the foremost representative of the Illuminationist (Ishraqi) school of philosophers–mystics. (Ed.)
366 Hakim, al-Mustadrak, 4:256; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 2:359.
367 Imam Malik, al-Muwatta’, “Qur’an,” 32.
368 Mustafa, meaning “pure and chosen,” is an attribute of Prophet Muhammad. (Ed.)