The Twenty-eighth Letter

Fourth issue

 

In His Name.

There is nothing that does glorify Him with His praise.

 

(This answers a question about a small incident meant to warn.)

 

QUESTION: We heard that the local police invaded your mosque’s privacy on Friday night because someone visited you. Why did they do this?

ANSWER: I will explain this in the words of Old Said, hoping that my followers will learn from it and that you will be satisfied.

FIRST POINT: This was done by hypocrites following a Satanic instigation on behalf of unbelievers. They sought to give us trouble, dishearten the congregation, and prevent me from having guests.

Curiously enough, the day before while returning from a walk, I saw a long black snake that looked as if it were two snakes joined together. It came up from my left and slithered between me and my companion. When I asked him if he had seen it, he replied that he had not. “Glory be to God,” I responded. “How could you miss it?” I did not give it much thought. But later I considered it a warning, just like the snakes I see in dreams. Whenever an official comes with an evil intention, I see him in a dream as a snake. Once I told this to the district governor and warned him to be careful, for I frequently see him in the form of a snake, just as I saw his predecessor. So that snake was a clear warning that they would soon assault us somehow.

However insignificant they make it seem, that attack was a violation of the mosque’s and the prayer’s sanctity, and of my natural right to meet people and have guests. That official, instigated by an unscrupulous teacher, told the police to apprehend my visitors while we were glorifying God after the night prayer. He intended to anger me and thereby provoke me into sending the police back in indignation. But he did not know that Said carries “a diamond sword” in his tongue, one manufactured by the Qur’an, and so would not defend himself with “a broken piece of wood.”377 The police, being sensible, knew that no government bothers people praying in a mosque and so waited until we finished. Angered by this delay, the official sent the field watchman.

I thank God that He does not oblige me to struggle with such snake-like people. So, my brothers, I advise you not to struggle with them unless forced to do so. Do not lower yourselves to speak to them, for the best response to a stupid individual is to keep silent. But be prudent, for just as showing helplessness before a wild animal encourages it to attack, weakness prompts beastly people to assault those who flatter them [flattery being a form of weakness]. Our friends should always be alert so that their possible indifference or heedlessness is not exploited by unbelievers.

SECOND POINT: As declared in: Do not incline to those who do wrong, lest the Fire touch you (11:113), God severely threatens those who incline toward or support wrongdoing and those who show even a slight inclination toward it. Approval of unbelief is unbelief, and approval of wrongdoing is wrongdoing. A person of perfection interpreted one of that verse’s many aspects in the following couplet:

One who helps wrongdoers in the world

is one of the people of meanness;

Only a dog takes pleasure in

serving an unjust hunter.

 

Both the informant, who reported my praying guest’s supposed “crime,” and the assault’s arranger deserve to be its referents.

THIRD POINT: You ask: “You rely on the Qur’an’s wisdom to reform and guide even the most stubborn unbelievers to the truth, and we see that you succeed. So why do you not invite and guide these aggressive people?”

Answer: It is a basic Sharia principle that those who willfully condone the harm coming to them do not deserve compassion.

Relying on the Qur’an’s strength enables me to at least silence, if I cannot convince, the most stubborn unbeliever in a few hours. The only exceptions are the meanest kind of people, those who enjoy spitting poison, like a snake (harming people). I would be disrespecting the truth itself if I told it to such snake-like, unscrupulous, unjust, and mean people who willfully  display such hypocrisy by selling Islam for worldly gain, by exchanging diamond-like truths for befouled pieces of old glass (material profit). This would be like adorning the necks of cattle with pearls. Such people have heard the truths from the Risale-i Nur many times, but still prefer heresy. Just like snakes, they enjoy spitting poison.

FOURTH POINT: Their treatment of me for 7 years has been totally arbitrary and illegal. The law allows, in certain cases, the exiled and even the imprisoned to meet their relatives and have some contact with society. All countries, except communist ones, ensure the absolute freedom of prayer and worship. Other exiles live in cities with their relatives or loved ones, and interact with society, communicate, and travel. But I enjoy none of these rights.

What is more, they attack my house and interfere with my prayer. Although it is a Prophetic Tradition, according to the Shafi‘i school, to repeat the declaration of God’s Unity among other recitations of God’s glorification, praise, and exaltation after every prescribed prayer, they try to prevent me from doing this. Further, they do not allow my fellow citizens to meet with me, even in the mosque. Shabab, an illiterate immigrant to Burdur, once came here with his mother-in-law for a change of air and visited me in the mosque. Three policemen took him to the official. Trying to excuse himself from such an illegal act, he released Shabab and said: “Excuse me, but I was just doing my job.” Considering all they have done to me, such as the incident on Friday night, people can see how arbitrarily and illegally they treat me. Although they let snake-like people assault me, I do not lower myself to struggle with them. Rather, I refer them to the All-Mighty to ward off their evil.

Those who brought about the event that caused my exile are now in their homes, and the powerful chieftains once again lead their clans. All have been allowed to return home. But although I have nothing to do with their world, they make an exception of me and two others. However, I recently heard that one of those two has been appointed somewhere as a mufti378 and can travel as he wishes (except to his hometown)—even to Ankara. The other one lives in Istanbul and can meet whomever he wishes.

Furthermore, both have relatives and support—I have neither. By God’s grace, they are very influential and have many supporters. In contrast, I must live in a village surrounded by some of the most uncaring people. During these 6 years, they have allowed me to make only two visits to a neighboring village, and they continue to crush me under their increasing despotism.

A government should have the same laws and not discriminate between people or places of residence. Given this, their treatment of me is wholly illegal and arbitrary. These district officials use the government’s power to satisfy their own grudges.

However they treat me, I thank the Most Compassionate of the Compassionate. I proclaim, in order to declare His blessings on me, that their despotic and increasingly aggressive treatment serves us, the Risale-i Nur’s students, as wood to make the fire of our zeal and our efforts to spread the Qur’an’s lights flare up ever more brightly.

Those lights, which are always becoming brighter through increasing pressure each day and through the “wind” of incessant effort, have made Barla, this province, and even most of Turkey a school in which the Qur’an is studied with the help of the Risale-i Nur.

They think I am a prisoner in a village but, contrary to their will, Barla has become a chair of Qur’anic lessons. And many provinces, among them Isparta, have become schools.

All praise be to God, for this is from my Lord’s bounty.

Said Nursi

377 For example, in the wrong way (anger) and via the wrong means (hostility). (Tr.)

378 Mufti: A religious official who explains Islam’s decree on a legal or religious matter. (Tr.)