Introduction to the Turkish translation of The Damascus Sermon, which was originally in Arabic

 

 

In His Name, All-Glorified is He!

And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.

Peace be upon you and God’s mercy and blessings!

 

My dear, faithful brothers (and sisters)!

With a presentiment, the Old Said sensed the truths expressed in this Arabic sermon, which, at the behest of scholars in Damascus, he delivered in 1911 at the Umayyad Mosque in front of a congregation of approximately ten thousand people, including a hundred religious scholars. He gave the glad tidings of certain agreeable developments in the future with complete certainty as though they were going to be realized shortly. However, two World Wars and twenty-five years of absolute despotism delayed their realization; it is only now that the signs of their realization are beginning to appear in the world of Islam. Therefore, this important lesson was not simply some old, outdated sermon, rather, it is a new, true lesson which instructs its listeners regarding certain social and Islamic matters which were addressed not to the relatively small congregation in the Umayyad Mosque, but rather to a congregation of more than a billion in the great mosque of the Muslim world. If you consider it appropriate, you may publish its translation.

 

QUESTION: It is appropriate here to answer a most important question. Many have asked both myself and the students of the Risale-i Nur: “Why do you give such great importance to the Risale-i Nur, and how does it give such conviction and contentment to its students that they have not been defeated by the many obdurate philosophers and people of misguidance who oppose them? By preventing to an extent the publication of numerous true and valuable books on belief and Islam, and by promoting worldly pleasures and vices, they deprive many youths and others of the truths of belief. But despite their most violent and vicious attacks on the Risale-i Nur and their lying propaganda to destroy it and to scare people away from it, the Risale-i Nur is spreading its message in an unparalleled way. Six hundred thousand copies of its treatises have already been written out by hand with untiring enthusiasm and published by his students, and they are read with perfect eagerness. What is the reason for this?”

 

THE ANSWER: In response we say the following:

The Risale-i Nur is a true commentary on the wise Qur’an that emanates from its miraculousness. It demonstrates that in misguidance there is a sort of Hell in this world, while in belief there is a kind of Paradise. It shows the severe pains in sins, evil deeds, and forbidden pleasures, and proves that pleasures akin to those in Paradise are to be found in good deeds and virtues, and in the truths of the Shari‘a. Thus, it saves the sensible among those who have fallen into vice and misguidance. At this time there are two terrible realities:

THE FIRST: Since human emotions, which are blind to the consequences of things and prefer an ounce of immediate pleasure to tons of future joy, have come to prevail over mind and reason, the only way to save the dissipated from their vices is to show them the pain which underlies their apparent pleasures and thus defeat their emotions. As indicated by the verse, They choose the present, worldly life over the Hereafter (14:3), although they are believers and aware of the diamond-like bounties and pleasures of the Hereafter, many people tend to prefer worldly pleasures, which are like pieces of glass destined soon to shatter over them. Therefore, the only way to save the people of faith from following the people of misguidance on account of this reality and love for the world is by showing them the hellish torments and pains present in the way of misguidance. This is the method the Risale-i Nur follows. For at this time, in the face of the obduracy coming from absolute unbelief and the misguidance caused by scientific materialism or scientism and the addiction to vice, only one in ten or even twenty can be turned away from vice and encouraged to give it up by proving the existence of Hell and its torments, after having given them certain amount of knowledge of God the Almighty.

However, even after they have received this instruction, it is still possible that such people will say: “God is the All-Forgiving and the All-Compassionate, and Hell is a long way off,” and continue in their dissipation. Their hearts and spirits are defeated by their emotions.

Thus, by showing through most of its comparisons between belief and unbelief the grievous and terrifying results in this world of unbelief and misguidance, the Risale-i Nur causes even the most stubborn and arrogant people to feel repugnance with regard to those inauspicious, illicit pleasures, thus leading them to repent. The short comparisons in the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Words, and the long one in The Third Station of The Thirty-Second Word frighten the most dissipated and misguided person away from the way they are following, leading them to accept what is taught. As an example, I will relate briefly the states that the Verse of Light (24:35) showed me on a journey of the imagination, which were in fact reality. Those who desire a detailed account of it may refer to the end of Sikke-i Tasdik-i Gaybi (“The Confirming Stamp of the Unseen”).

During that imaginary journey I saw the animal kingdom in need of provision, and I looked upon it through the prism of materialist philosophy. Their weakness and impotence in the face of their innumerable needs and severe hunger showed that kingdom to be a most miserable and painful one. Since I was looking with the eyes of the people of misguidance and heedlessness, I cried out. Then suddenly I saw through the telescope of Qur’anic wisdom and belief that the Divine Name the All-Merciful had risen in the sign of the All-Providing like a shining sun, gilding that hungry, wretched animal world with the light of its mercy.

Then I saw within the animal world another wretched realm which was enveloped in darkness and where the young were struggling in their need and powerlessness. It was enough to make anyone feel pity. I regretted having looked with the eyes of the people of misguidance. Suddenly, belief gave me different spectacles and I saw the Name the All-Compassionate rise in the sign of affection and tenderness. It changed that painful world into a joyful one in such a beautiful and lovable fashion and illuminated it in such a way that my tears of complaint and sorrow were transformed into tears of rejoice and thanks.

Then the world of humanity appeared to me as though on a cinema screen. Looking again through the telescope of the people of misguidance, I saw that world to be so dark and terrifying that I cried out from the depths of my heart. Humans have desires and ambitions that extend to eternity; they have thoughts and conceptions that encompass the entire universe and earnest desires and yearnings for eternal life, everlasting happiness, and Paradise. They have innate capacities and powers that are unrestricted and left free. Also, despite their weakness, impotence, and very brief life, they have innumerable needs and purposes, and are exposed to the attacks of countless adversaries and the blows of endless calamities. Under the perpetual threat of death, they are leading a brief and tumultuous life in wretched circumstances. Striving for their livelihood in misery and suffering from the continuous blows of death and separation—a most painful and terrifying state for the heart and conscience—they are heading straight for the grave, which appears to the misguided to be the door to everlasting darkness. I saw that they are being cast individually and in groups into that well of darkness.

On seeing the world of humanity under such layers of darkness I was just about to cry out with my heart, spirit, and mind, indeed, with all my faculties and even all the particles of my being, when the light and power of belief issuing from the Qur’an smashed these spectacles of misguidance, providing me with a different means of vision. I saw God’s Name the All-Just rise like the sun in the sign of the All-Wise, the Name the All-Merciful in the sign of the All-Munificent, the Name the All-Compassionate in the sign of the All-Forgiving, the Name the All-Resurrecting in the sign of the All-Inheriting, the Name the All-Reviving in the sign of the All-Favoring, and the name the All-Nurturing in the sign of the Sovereign. They lit up that entire dark world of humanity, within which there are many other worlds. They dispelled these hellish states and, opening up windows from the luminous worlds of the Hereafter, scattered light over the world of humanity. I uttered: “All praise and gratitude be to God; thanks be to God!” to the number of particles in existence! I saw and knew to the degree of certainty arising from vision that in belief there is a sort of Paradise in this world too, while in misguidance there is a kind of Hell.

Then the realm of the earth appeared. On that journey of the imagination, the dark, hypothetical rules of the philosophy and laws of the science which do not obey the Religion presented an appalling world to my imagination. Voyaging through space on the ship of the extremely ancient earth—which travels in a year the distance that it would take a human being twenty-five thousand years to walk, with a movement seventy times faster than a cannon-ball, and being a structure that could break up at any moment with the innermost parts being in constant flux and turmoil— wretched humankind appeared to be trapped in a most desolate darkness. I became dizzy and almost lost self-control. I flung the spectacles of philosophy to the ground, smashing them. Then, suddenly, I looked with a view illuminated by the wisdom of the Qur’an and belief. I saw the Names the Creator of the heavens and earth, the All-Powerful, the All-Knowing Nurturer, God, the Lord of the heavens and earth, and the Subjugator of the sun and moon rise like suns in the signs of Mercy, Grandeur and Lordship. They illuminated that dark, desolate, and terrifying world with such brilliance that the earth appeared to the eye of my belief as a perfectly well ordered, subservient, pleasant, and safe vessel in which the provisions of everyone have been stored. I saw it as a ship or an airplane or a train which has been prepared for trade and enjoyment, carrying beings with spirits through the Lord’s realms around the sun, bringing the produce of spring, summer, and fall to those in need of sustenance. I exclaimed: “All praise and gratitude be to God to the number of the atoms of the earth for the favor of belief!”

It has thus been proved with many examples and analogies in the Risale-i Nur that the people of vice and misguidance suffer a hellish torment in this world too, while on account of the manifestations of belief, the people of faith and righteousness can taste paradisiacal pleasures through the stomachs of Islam and humanity. They are able to benefit, each according to the degree of their belief. But in these stormy times, the currents numb the senses and scatter human attention to peripheral, futile matters and engulf them, anesthetizing their senses, obliterating sound reasoning and reflection. As a result, the people of misguidance are temporarily unable to totally perceive their spiritual torment, while the people of guidance are overwhelmed by heedlessness and cannot truly appreciate the pleasures of right guidance.

THE SECOND TERRIBLE REALITY OF THIS AGE: Compared with today, in former times there was little misguidance that arose from absolute unbelief and blind faith in science, and little obstinacy that emanated from stubborn, willful unbelief. For this reason, the teaching and arguments of the Muslim scholars of those times were enough to dispel any unbelief arising from doubt. Since almost everyone believed in God, most people would give up misguidance and vice after being taught about God and warned about Hellfire. But now there are a hundred absolute unbelievers in one small town, when in the past there was only one. Those who go astray due to blind faith in science and learning, obstinately opposing the truths of belief, are a hundred times greater in number in relation to former times. As these obstinate deniers oppose the truths of belief with the arrogance of the Pharaoh, there must be a sacred truth that will utterly destroy the foundations of their unbelief in this world with the strength of an atomic explosion, halting their aggression and bringing some of them to belief.

Endless thanks be to God Almighty that with its numerous comparisons and the remedies it provides for the ills of this time, the Risale-i Nur, which comprises some gleams of the Qur‘an of miraculous exposition, vanquishes even the worst of those obstinate deniers with the diamond sword of the Qur’an. By indicating the proofs and arguments for Divine Unity and the truths of belief that exist to the number of the atoms of the universe, for twenty-five years it has not been defeated in the face of the severest attacks; indeed it has been victorious. With its comparisons of belief and unbelief, of right guidance and misguidance, the Risale-i Nur self-evidently proves these truths. For example, if one looks at the proofs and gleams in The Second Station of The Twenty-Second Word, The First Station of The Thirty-Second Word, the “Windows” of The Thirty-Third Word, and the eleven proofs of The Staff of Moses (Asa-yi Musa), and if other comparisons are considered in their light, it can be understood that it is the truths of the Qur’an that are manifested in the Risale-i Nur which will smash and destroy absolute unbelief and obdurate misguidance at this time.

Said Nursi