The Second Chapter from The Twenty-Ninth Gleam

 

 

In His Name, All-Glorified is He!

 

Why belief is the greatest blessing for humankind

 

This chapter concerns the phrase All praise and gratitude are for God. In this short treatise, out of endless benefits and lights of belief which lead people to declare All praise and gratitude are for God, only nine will be expounded.

 

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

 

FIRST POINT

First of all, the following two things should be pointed out:

Philosophy (which does not obey the Religion) is a pair of dark glasses which shows everything to be ugly and frightful. On the contrary, true religious belief is a transparent, clear, radiant pair of spectacles which shows everything to be beautiful and lovable. Because they are connected with all creatures, having a sort of transaction with all things, and are by nature compelled to meet, converse and be neighborly with the things that surround them, humans have six sides or aspects: left, right, front, back, above and below.

On wearing either of the two pairs of spectacles mentioned, humans can see the creatures and circumstances that are on these sides.

THE RIGHT SIDE: What is meant by this side or aspect is the past. When the past is viewed through the spectacles of irreligious philosophy, it appears to be a vast, dark, terrifying, overturned graveyard, whose doomsday already seems to have come to pass. It is doubtless that this sight causes humans great terror, fear and despair.

However, when this side is seen through the spectacles of belief, even if this realm appears to have been overturned, there has been no loss of life. Instead one understands that its crew and inhabitants have been transferred to a better, light-filled world. The graves and pits are considered to be underground tunnels, dug to lead to another, light-filled world. This means that the rejoice, relief, contentment and peace of mind which belief affords humans is a Divine favor which makes them utter thousands of times over: “All praise and gratitude are for God!”

THE LEFT SIDE: The left side represents the future. Now when the future is viewed through the spectacles of philosophy, it appears in the form of a vast, dark, frightening grave which is going to rot us and make us food for snakes and scorpions. But when viewed through the spectacles of belief, it appears in the form of a banquet prepared for humans by God Almighty, the Creator, the All-Merciful and the All-Compassionate, complete with all manner of the finest and most delicious foods and drinks. And it makes them utter thousands of times: “All praise and gratitude are for God!”

ABOVE: When someone  uses the spectacles of philosophy to look upwards toward the heavens, they feel an awful dread and terror at the extremely rapid and varied movements of the billions of stars and heavenly bodies, racing like wild horses around in endless space. However, when a believer looks at them, they see that just as army maneuvers are carried out under the supervision and on the orders of a commander, the stars are light diffusing lamps that adorn the world of the heavens. Consequently, rather than feeling terror and dread at those horses racing, they are filled with friendliness and love. It is surely little to say “All praise and gratitude are for God!” thousands of times in return for the bounty of belief, which depicts the world of the heavens in such a benign way.

BELOW: When someone uses the eye of philosophy to gaze at the earth below his feet, he sees that it resembles an animal left unbridled to wander aimlessly around the sun, or a scuppered boat without a captain, and they are struck with terror and anxiety. But when they look through the prism of belief, they see it as a ship of the All-Merciful, taking humankind on a pleasure cruise around the sun under the command of God Almighty, with all necessary food, drink and clothing on board. And so they begin to utter “All praise and gratitude are for God!” wholeheartedly for this great bounty which issues from belief.

THE FRONT: If a person who indulges in philosophy looks at this side, they see that all living creatures, whether humans or beasts, are disappearing convoy by convoy and with great speed. That is to say, they are going to non-existence and ceasing to be. Since they know that they too are condemned to the same end, they almost lose their mind with grief. But for a believer who views the same thing with the eye of belief, the people traveling on this side are not going to the world of non-existence; rather, they are being transferred from one pasture to another, like nomads. They are migrating from a transitory realm to an eternally permanent one; from the farm on which they have labored to the office where they collect their wages; from a place of hardship and difficulty to one of ease and mercy. And so they view this aspect with pleasure and gratitude.

Apparent difficulties which emerge along the road, such as death and the grave, are in fact means of happiness with respect to their results. For the road which leads to the light-filled worlds passes through the grave, and the greatest happiness comes as the result of the worst, most grievous disasters. For example, Prophet Joseph, upon him be peace, attained the happiness of being vice-ruler of Egypt only after he had been thrown into a well by his brothers and put in prison on account of the slander of Zulaikha.149 Likewise, a child coming into the world from its mother’s womb attains happiness in this world only as a result of the tiresome, crushing difficulties he or she suffers along the way.

THE BACK: When one looks through the prism of philosophy at those who come from behind, they can find no answer to the question: “Where have they come from and where are they going? And why did they come to the realm of this world?” Naturally the questioner remains in a torment of bewilderment and doubt. But if they look through the prism of belief, they will understand that human beings are observers that are sent to the world by the Eternal Sovereign to contemplate and study the amazing miracles of Power displayed in the exhibition of the universe. After having received their grades in accordance with the level at which they grasp the value and grandeur of those miracles of the Power and the extent to which they point to the Grandeur of the Eternal Sovereign, human beings will return to the realm of the Eternal Sovereign. And so they will say, “All praise and gratitude are for God!” for the favor of belief which has led them to this blessing of understanding.

Since the praise offered in saying, “All praise and gratitude are for God!” for the favor of belief, which thus removes the above-mentioned layers of darkness, is also a blessing or favor, it also requires praise and thanks. This in turn requires the offering of praise and thanks a third time, which in turn requires them a fourth time, and so on, forming an infinite chain of praise that is born of a single uttering of the phrase: “All praise and gratitude are for God!”

 

SECOND POINT

We should say, “All praise and gratitude are for God!” for the bounty of belief which illuminates these six sides, for in addition to being a great favor or blessing on account of dispelling the darkness of the six sides and therefore warding off evil, belief is also a bounty and a favor in respect of the fact that it illuminates these sides and thus attracts benefits. Therefore since humans are by nature civilized, they are connected with all the creatures on the six sides, and have the possibility of benefiting from these sides through the favor of belief.

Thus according to a meaning of the verse, To whatever direction you turn, there is the “Face” of God (2:115), humans find enlightenment on whichever of the six sides they are. In fact, a believer has a life which in effect extends from the foundation of the world to its end. This life of theirs benefits from the light of a life which extends from pre-eternity to post-eternity. Also, thanks to belief, which illuminates the six sides, the present narrow time and space in which humans find themselves are transformed into a spacious world. This extensive world becomes like their house, while the past and the future become like present time for their spirit and heart: the distance between them disappears.

 

THIRD POINT

Since belief provides points of support and assistance, it requires the response “All praise and gratitude are for God!”

Humanity needs a source of support or reliance because of their impotence and the multiplicity of their adversaries, so that they may seek refuge in that source to repel those who are ranged against them. Likewise, because of the abundance of their needs and their extreme innate poverty, they are in need of a source of assistance from which they may seek help, so that through it they may meet their needs.

O humankind! Your one and only point of support or reliance is belief in God. The only source of assistance for your spirit and conscience is belief in the Hereafter. Therefore, one who is unaware of these two sources suffers constant fear in their heart and spirit, and their conscience is continually tormented. However, the person who relies on the first point and asks for help from the second experiences numerous pleasures and instances of friendliness in their heart and spirit: as a result they become consoled and their conscience finds rest and satisfaction.

 

FOURTH POINT

The light of belief removes the pain which arises from the imminent vanishing of lawful pleasures by showing that similar pleasures always exist and will come again in the future. Furthermore, by indicating the source of bounties, it ensures that those bounties continue eternally and do not diminish.

Also, by showing the pleasure of the union with pleasures similar to them, it removes the pain of separation and parting. That is to say, a single pleasure contains many pains due to the thought of separation, while belief removes them by calling to mind the recurrence of that pleasure. There are further pleasures in the renewal of pleasure. If the tree from which a fruit is taken is unknown, the pleasure restricted to the fruit disappears when it is eaten up, which causes sorrow. But if the tree is known, there is no pain when the fruit ceases to exist, for there are other fruits which can be picked from that tree to take its place.

In fact, renewal itself is a pleasure. For what causes the human spirit the greatest distress are the pains that arise from separation. The light of belief removes the pains of separation from pleasures through their replacement by similar ones, and through the hope of attaining them.

 

FIFTH POINT

The light of belief shows the things that humans imagine to be strange and hostile to them, or to be lifeless and lost as though orphans among creatures, as friends and siblings, as living, and as glorifiers of God. That is to say, a person who looks with the eye of heedlessness supposes the beings in the world to be harmful like enemies, and they take fright: they see everything as alien. For in the view of misguidance, there are no bonds of brotherhood between the things of the past and those of the future: there is only an insignificant, partial relationship between them. Consequently, the brotherhood of the people of misguidance is only like a minute out of thousands of years.

In the view of belief, all bodies are living, familiar and friendly with one another. Belief also shows each of them to be glorifying its Creator through the tongue of its being. It is in this respect that all bodies have a sort of life and spirit appropriate to each. Therefore there is nothing fearful or frightening about bodies when they are viewed in the light of belief; instead there is friendliness and love.

The view of misguidance considers human beings, powerless as they are to secure their demands and aspirations, as ownerless and without protector; it sees them grieving and sorrowful, like weeping orphans because of their impotence. By contrast, the view of belief sees living creatures not as orphans but as officials charged with certain tasks, as servants charged with the duty of glorifying and extolling God.

 

SIXTH POINT

The light of belief depicts this world and the Hereafter as two tables filled with numerous varieties of bounties: believers benefit by accessing them with the hand of belief, with their inner and external senses, and their spiritual faculties. Seen through the prism of misguidance, the sphere of benefit for living beings diminishes and is restricted to material pleasures. Seen through the prism of belief, however, it expands to a sphere which encompasses the heavens and the earth. Truly, believers consider the sun to be a lamp hanging in the roof of their house, and the moon to be a night-light. For this reason, the sun and the moon are bounties and examples of Divine grace for them, and the sphere from which believers benefit is broader than the heavens. Through the eloquence of its verses, He has made the sun and the moon constant in their courses, and so serviceable to you (14:33), and He has made all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth of service to you (31:20), the miraculously eloquent Qur’an points to these wonderful favors and blessings which arise from belief.

 

SEVENTH POINT

It is known through belief that God’s Existence is a great favor that surpasses all others; it is a source, a fountain, which contains endless varieties of favors, innumerable sorts of blessings and uncountable kinds of gifts. It is therefore incumbent upon humans to repay this debt by offering praise and laudation for the favors of belief to the number of particles in creation. Some of these favors have been pointed out in various parts of the Risale-i Nur where belief in God is discussed.

One of the favors for which praise and thanks should be offered by saying al-hamdu li’llah (“All praise and gratitude are for God!”)—by mentioning the word hamd (praise) with the definite article al, in the form of al-hamdu, meaning “all praise”—is the favor of God’s being the All-Merciful. God’s Mercifulness refers to, and is the source of, favors and bounties as numerous as the living beings which need and are favored with mercy. For a human being in particular is connected with all living creatures, and because of this, he or she becomes happy on account of their happiness and is saddened by their pains. Thus a favor enjoyed by a single individual is a favor also for their fellows.

God has another important Attribute, namely Compassion. His being the All-Compassionate comprises, and is the source of, bounties as numerous as the children and young favored with their mothers’ tenderness, and therefore deserves praise and laudation accordingly. A person with conscience who feels sorrow and pity at the weeping of a motherless, hungry child, surely feels pleasure on seeing a mother’s compassion for her children: they are pleased and happy with it. Thus pleasures of this sort are all favors and require praise and thanks.

Another of the bounties or favors which requires praise and thanks to the number of all the varieties and instances of wisdom contained in the universe is Divine Wisdom or God’s being the All-Wise. For just as a person’s soul is favored with the manifestations of Divine Mercy and their heart with the manifestations of Divine Compassion, their intellect also derives pleasure from the subtleties of Divine Wisdom. Therefore they require endless praise and laudation through the loud utterance of “All praise and gratitude are for God!”

Also, Divine Preservation or God’s being the All-Preserving is another favor for which praise should be offered with an “All praise and gratitude are for God!” so great that it would fill all space with its sound—it should be offered as many times as there are manifestations of the Divine Name the All-Inheriting, as there are descendants who continue to live after the death of their forebears, as there are beings in the next world, and as there are actions of humans which are preserved so that they may receive their rewards in the Hereafter. For the continuation of a favor is more valuable than the favor itself; the permanence of pleasure is more pleasurable than the pleasure itself; eternal permanence in Paradise is superior to Paradise itself, and so on. Consequently, with all the bounties it contains, Almighty God’s Attribute of Preservation is far greater than, and far superior to, all the bounties which exist throughout the universe. Thus this Attribute requires an “All praise and gratitude are for God!” so great that it would fill the world. You can compare the rest of the Divine Names and Attributes with the four mentioned here, and since in each there are endless bounties or favors, each requires endless praise and thanks.

Likewise, Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, who is the means of attaining the favor of belief, which has the authority to open all the treasuries of bounties, is also such a favor that humankind owes him the debt of extolling and applauding him throughout eternity.

Similarly, the favors of Islam and the Qur’an, which are the concentrated form and source of all varieties of bounties, both material and spiritual, require and deserve infinite praise.

 

EIGHTH POINT

All praise and gratitude be to God that, as established by the mighty Qur’an with all its chapters and sections, all its pages and lines, and all its words and letters, this cosmic book known as the universe praises and extols Him, the All-Pure and Holy One, through making manifest His Attributes of Beauty and Grace and Perfection. It is as follows:

According to its capacity, however great or small, each embroidery of this cosmic book praises and extols its Embroiderer, Who is the One and Eternally Besought, through manifesting His Attributes of Majesty. Also, through displaying His Attributes of Beauty and Grace, each inscription in this book extols its Inscriber, Who is the All-Merciful and the All-Compassionate. Besides, on account of being favored with and mirroring the manifestations of the Divine All-Beautiful Names, all the inscriptions, points and embroideries of this book praise and extol the All-Pure and Holy One through lauding, glorifying and exalting Him. Furthermore, each ode in this book extols and glorifies its Composer, Who is the All-Powerful and the All-Knowing.

Said Nursi

149 According to certain Muslim historians, Zuleykha is the name of the wife of the minister, who bought the Prophet Joseph as a slave. She sought to enjoy herself by him, but when Prophet Joseph rejected her, she ordered him to be imprisoned. See the Qur’an, 12:23–35. (Tr.)