The Seventh Matter: Arguments for the Resurrection and afterlife

 

 

This is the fruit of one Friday in Denizli Prison.

In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate. The matter of the Hour (of Doom) is (in relation with the Divine

Power) but the twinkling of an eye, or even quicker. Surely God has full power over everything (16:77).

Your creation and your resurrection are but as (the creation and resurrection) of a single soul. (31:28)

Look, then, at the imprints of God’s Mercy—how He revives the dead earth after its death: certainly then it is He Who will revive the dead (in a similar way). He has full power over everything (30:50).

Those inmates of Denizli Prison who were able to have contact with me also read the lesson in The Sixth Matter that I had given to the high school students in Kastamonu—those who had asked me: “Tell us about our Creator.” Having acquired a firm belief, they felt a longing for the Hereafter, and said to me: “Teach us about the Hereafter too, so that our evil-commanding souls and the devils of the age do not cause us to deviate from the Straight Path and end up in prison again.” And so the request of the Risale-i Nur students in the Denizli Prison and the readers of The Sixth Matter has made it necessary to explain in brief the pillar of belief that is the Hereafter. Here I will offer a short summary of the relevant discussions on the Hereafter in the Risale-i Nur:

In The Sixth Matter we asked the heavens and the earth about our Creator, and they revealed Him to us as clearly as the sun through the tongue of the sciences. Having come to know our Lord, we will first ask Him about the Hereafter; we will then ask our Prophet, then the Qur’an, then the other Prophets and Scriptures, then the angels and finally the universe itself.

Our first step is to ask God Himself about the Hereafter. He replies through all the Messengers He sent, through the decrees He revealed in the form of Books or Scriptures, and through all of His Names and Attributes: “The Hereafter exists, and I am dispatching you there.” The Tenth Word has explained the Hereafter with twelve decisive arguments based on a number of Divine Names. Contenting ourselves with these explanations, we will give only brief indications of them here.

There is no sovereignty that does not reward those who obey it or punish those who rebel against it. Therefore an eternal Sovereignty, Which is at the degree of absolute Lordship, will certainly reward those who adhere to It through belief and submit to Its decrees; similarly It will punish those who deny It through unbelief and rebellion. Reward and punishment will be meted out in a manner befitting God’s Mercy and Grace, and His Dignity and Majesty respectively. Thus do the Names the Lord of all worlds, the Sovereign, the Supreme Ruler and the All-Requiting One reply to our question.

What is more, we see a universal Mercy and an all-embracing Compassion and Munificence on the earth as clearly as we see daylight. Every spring, for example, Mercy dresses all the fruit-bearing trees and plants like the houris of Paradise and fills their hands with every kind of fruit. And it is as if these trees hold out their fruits to us, saying: “Please help yourselves and eat!” Mercy, Compassion, and Munificence also offer us healing sweet honey to eat from the poisonous bee and dress us in the softest silk by means of a tiny insect without hands. They also deposit for us in a handful of minute seeds numerous kilos of food, making those tiny stores into reserve supplies. Surely such Mercy and Compassion would not annihilate for all eternity those lovable, grateful, worshipping believers whom they nurture so tenderly? Rather, they discharge them from their worldly duties in order to bestow on them still more radiant gifts of Mercy and Compassion. Thus do the Names the All-Compassionate and the All-Munificent answer our question, affirming that Paradise will truly come.

Also, we see clearly that a hand of Wisdom is at work in all creatures on the earth with such skill and that events take place according to standards of Justice with such precision that the human mind cannot conceive of any wisdom or justice superior to them. For example, that eternal Wisdom inscribes in the human memory, a human faculty from among hundreds of faculties and no bigger than the tiniest seed, the entire life-story of a human being, together with the numerous events that fill it, making it in effect a small library. In order to remind human beings continuously of their deeds—deeds which are recorded and will be published openly so that they can be judged in the Place of Resurrection—that Wisdom inserts this small library into the mind, as a note of the record of our deeds. As for perpetual Justice, It endows all creatures with organs and members in an exceedingly balanced and harmonious manner, from the microbe to the rhinoceros, from the fly to the eagle, from the tiniest flowering plant to the countless millions of plants and flowers that make up spring, and makes each one into a wonderful work of art. This It does according to a precise balance and order, with due proportion and exquisite beauty and with no waste at all. It also gives all living creatures their rights of life in perfect measures and makes good things produce good results and evil things evil results. And since the time of Adam, upon him be peace, this Justice has made Itself felt forcefully through the blows It has dealt to rebellious and tyrannical peoples. Certainly, just as the sun is linked inextricably with daylight, eternal Wisdom and everlasting Justice are linked inextricably with the Hereafter and necessitate its existence. It is inconceivable that they would allow the most tyrannical and the most oppressed to be equal in death, without true justice being dispensed; they would never tolerate such iniquity, unfairness, or such a lack of wisdom. Thus do the Names the All-Wise, the All-Judging, the All-Equitable and the All-Just give a conclusive answer to our question.

Also, whenever living creatures seek their natural needs, which are beyond their power, through the language of their innate capacities and essential neediness, which is itself a kind of supplication, these needs are provided by a most compassionate Hand from the Unseen. Moreover, approximately seventy percent of voluntary verbal supplications offered by human beings, and especially by the Prophets and other most distinguished believers, are accepted in a manner that lies outside the normal course of events. It can thus be understood clearly that behind the veil of the Unseen there is One Who is All-Hearing and All-Answering, Who listens to the sighs of every suffering creature and the prayers of every needy soul. He sees the most insignificant need of the smallest living being and hears its most secret sigh. Having compassion on them, He duly answers them and satisfies them.

There is one from among humankind, the most important of God’s creations, who includes in his prayers the universal invocation of all humanity concerning the eternal life, which is connected with all the Divine Names and Attributes and, indeed, the entire universe. This being has the support of all the other Prophets, and the suns, stars and leaders of humankind, who exclaim, “Amin! Amin!” so that his prayer may be accepted. Also, every devout person in his Community of believers invokes God’s peace and blessings on him several times a day, and adds an “Amin!” to his prayer. And all the other creatures also take part in his prayer, saying, “O Lord, give him what he asks for; we too ask for what he asks for!” While there are countless reasons why the Resurrection must of necessity come about, it is no exaggeration to say that a single prayer of Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, everlasting life and happiness in the Hereafter is sufficient for the existence of Paradise and the creation of the world to come, which is as easy for Divine Power as the creation of spring. Thus, do the Names the All-Answering, the All-Hearing, and the All-Compassionate provide an answer to our question.

Also, it is as clear as the daylight which indicates the existence of the sun that behind the veil of the visible world is an unseen One Who shows Himself in the control and management of the earth, in the deaths and revivals which take place as the seasons come and go. He administers the mighty earth with the ease and orderliness of a garden or even a tree; He tends to the splendid spring as though it were a single flower, and with the same facility, decoration, and sense of proportion; He displays the countless species of plants and animals as though they were hundreds of thousands of books exhibiting hundreds of thousands of examples of the Resurrection. The Pen of Power Which inscribes these things one within the other, all intermingled yet without the least disorder, confusion, fault, flaw, or error, and with perfect order and purposefulness—this vast, comprehensive Power operates with limitless mercy and infinite wisdom. The One Who possesses that Power has subjugated, decorated, and furnished the vast universe for human beings as though it were a house, and has appointed human beings as ruler of the earth, bestowing on them the “Supreme Trust”1—a trust which the mountains, sky and earth would not take on, and from which they shrank in fear. He has favored human beings with the rank of commander over other living beings to a certain degree, and honored them by making them the recipient of the Divine address and conversation, thus conferring on them a supreme status. Moreover, in all the revealed Decrees He has promised humanity eternal happiness and permanence in the Hereafter. From all this it follows that for humankind, whom He has so ennobled and honored, He will certainly open up that realm of happiness, which is as easy for His Power as the creation of spring, thus bringing about the Resurrection and the Last Judgment. So, the Names the All-Reviving, the All-Dealing One of death, the All-Living, the Self-Subsisting, the All-Powerful, and All-Knowing answer our question.

If one considers the Power Which every spring brings back to life the roots of all the trees and plants that have died in winter and creates hundreds of thousands of plants and animals as examples of the Resurrection, and if one visualizes the thousand-year period of each of the communities of Prophets Moses, upon him be peace, and Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, it can be seen that the two thousand springs display innumerable examples and proofs of the Resurrection to come. One would have to be completely blind and senseless to imagine that that bodily Resurrection is difficult for such a Power.

Furthermore, a hundred and twenty-four thousand Prophets, the most renowned of all humankind, attested unanimously to the truth of eternal happiness and permanence in the Hereafter; not only did they rely on God Almighty’s countless promises in this regard, but they proved it themselves through their own miracles. Also, innumerable saints have testified to the same truth through their illuminations and spiritual unveilings. Since this is so, surely this truth is as clear as the sun, and those who doubt it must be mad.

The opinions and judgments of one or two scholars or scientists concerning their particular field of expertise are sufficient to refute the opposing ideas of a thousand people who lack such expertise, even though they may be masters in their own fields. Similarly, two people who testify to the existence of something are able to defeat a thousand who deny its existence simply by producing an example of that thing. For instance, if two trustworthy people claim that they have seen the crescent moon which heralds, say, the lunar month of Ramadan, on a day when the sighting of the new moon is unlikely, although not impossible, their claim is accepted as veracious even if everyone else denies it. Also, if two people claim that there is a garden on the earth where coconuts resembling cans of milk are grown, their claim will be verified if they bring forth a single coconut or, alternatively, indicate the place where they can be found. Those who deny this claim, however, can prove their point only by searching all four corners of the earth in order to demonstrate that no such coconuts exist anywhere. Thus one who claims that Paradise exists can prove his claim simply by demonstrating a trace, a shadow, or a manifestation of it. Those who deny it, however, can prove their point only by scouring the whole universe and traveling throughout all time, from pre-eternity to post-eternity, in order to demonstrate its non-existence. It is because of this that scholars have agreed on the rule “Provided that they are not inherently inconceivable, denials or negations which are not concerned with a specific matter but which pertain to the whole universe, such as the truths of belief, cannot be proven,” and accepted it as a fundamental principle.

Because of this undeniable truth, the opposing opinions of thousands of philosophers should not cast even the slightest doubt or suspicion on even one truthful and trustworthy individual who brings reports concerning matters of belief. You may understand, then, what lunacy it is to fall into doubt concerning the pillars of belief or faith—pillars upon which countless thousands of Prophets, saints, and scholars have agreed—on account of the denial of a handful of philosophers who rely solely on their physical senses and who have grown distant from all matters spiritual.

Also, it is as clear as daylight itself that working in ourselves and all around us there is a comprehensive Mercy, an all-embracing Wisdom, and constant Grace and Favoring. We also observe the traces and manifestations of an awesome sovereignty of Lordship, a precise and elevated Justice and the dignified activity of Majesty. Indeed, Wisdom, Which affixes to a tree as many instances of wisdom as there are fruits and flowers on that tree; Mercy, Which bestows favors and bounties and on every human being to the number of their members, senses, and faculties; and the dignified, gracious Justice, Which protects the rights of the downtrodden and punishes wrongdoers such as the rebellious people of Noah, Hud, Salih, and the Pharaoh, and the verse:

And among His signs is that the heaven and the earth stand firm (subsisting) by His Command. In the end, when He calls you forth from the earth (with a single, particular summons), then (at once) you will come forth (30:25),

all state the following with consummate succinctness:

Obedient and well-disciplined soldiers in their barracks spring to their feet and rush to their duties as soon as their commander summons them and the bugle has been sounded. Similarly, when the dead of the heavens and the earth, which are like two well-ordered barracks for the obedient soldiers of the Eternal Sovereign, are summoned by the Trumpet of the Archangel Israfil, upon him be peace, they will immediately don the “uniforms” of their bodies and rise up. This is similar and testified to by the fact that those lying dead in the barracks of the earth in winter act in similar fashion every spring with the trumpet-blast of the Angel of Thunder. It is therefore impossible that the sovereignty of Lordship, which can be understood from this mighty event and which is explained in The Tenth Word convincingly, would allow the infinite grace and beauty of Mercy to change into infinitely ugly cruelty by not bringing into existence the abode of the Hereafter, the realm of the Resurrection, or the Supreme Gathering, all of which are most definitely required and necessitated by that Mercy, Wisdom, Favoring, and Justice. It is utterly impossible for that limitless perfection of Wisdom to be turned into infinitely worthless futility and wastefulness, for that sweet Favoring to change into utterly bitter treachery, for that precisely balanced and equitable Justice to be transformed into the most severe tyranny, for that infinitely majestic and powerful eternal Sovereignty to decline and lose all Its magnificence, and for the perfections of Lordship to be tainted with impotence or defect. Such a thing would be completely unreasonable and inconceivable; it is false, precluded, and completely beyond the bounds of possibility.

Anyone with consciousness would surely understand how cruel it would be if, having been nurtured so tenderly and endowed with faculties such as the intellect and heart, which long for eternal happiness and everlasting life, humanity were to be annihilated completely and consigned to nothingness. How contrary to wisdom it would be if the myriad purposeful faculties and endless capacities of the human mind were to be wasted completely through eternal annihilation; how utterly opposed to the magnificence and perfection of Divine Sovereignty and Lordship would it be if God were to be revealed—God forbid!—as impotent and ignorant due to His failure to carry out His countless promises. Thus do the Names the All-Merciful, the All-Wise, the All-Just, the All-Munificent, and the All-Sovereign answer with the above truths the question we asked our Creator concerning the Hereafter, proving it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

We also see clearly that a vast, all-encompassing Act of Preservation prevails over creation. It records the numerous forms of all things, beings, and events, the duties they perform throughout their lives, and their deeds, which are like the glorification of God in response to the Divine Names manifested in them, on the tablets that belong to the World of representations or “ideal” forms, in their seeds and in their memories, which are tiny samples of the Supreme Preserved Tablet, as well as in the capacious libraries that have been placed in the mind, and in other material and supramaterial mirrors, where they are reflected. It inscribes, records and preserves them, and then, when the time comes It displays before us all these immaterial inscriptions in physical form: every spring, a mighty flower of Divine Power, proclaims to the universe an amazing truth of the Resurrection which is expressed in the verse: And when the scrolls (of the deeds of every person) are laid open (81:10), in billions of languages and with the force of millions of examples, proofs, and samples. In this way It offers the most powerful proof that created beings, humans in particular, are not destined for eternal annihilation and non-existence. Rather, they have been created in order to advance continuously toward and through eternity, to gain permanence through perpetual purification and refinement, and to embrace the everlasting duties necessitated by their endless innate capacities.

Every year we observe that the innumerable plants which die in the doomsday of fall, and all of the trees, roots, seeds, and grains which are resurrected in the spring, recite the verse: And when the scrolls (of the deeds of every person) are laid open. By carrying out the same duties as it performed in previous years, each interprets one meaning or aspect of this verse in its own language. In this way, they all testify to that vast Act of Preservation. By displaying in everything the four tremendous truths of the verse, He is the First, the Last, the All-Outward and the All-Inward (57:3), they inform us of this Preservation and the Resurrection with the ease and certainty of spring.

These four Names manifest themselves and act on all things, be they particular or universal. For example, receiving or being favored with the manifestation of the Name The First, a seed, which is a tiny case containing the precise program of the tree and the faultless systems of its creation and growth, proves indubitably the vastness of Divine Preservation.

Similarly, every fruit, which manifests the Name The Last, is a coffer that contains in its seeds the list of the contents of all the duties the tree has performed, together with the principles of the life of another tree identical to it. So it too testifies completely to the act of Divine Preservation.

The physical form of the tree, on which the Name The All-Outward manifests Itself, is a finely proportioned, skillfully decorated garment, resembling the multi-colored, gilt-embroidered robes of the houris of Paradise. As such it visibly demonstrates the tremendous Power, the perfect Wisdom, and the awesome grace and beauty of Mercy which are manifested in the Act of Divine Preservation.

The inner mechanism of the tree, which is favored with the manifestation of the Name The All-Inward, is like a an orderly, miraculous factory, a workshop where innumerable chemical processes take place and which possesses a precisely measured cauldron of food, which leaves none of its branches, fruits, or leaves without nourishment. So flawless is this mechanism that it proves beyond all doubt the perfection of the Power and Justice and the grace and beauty of Mercy and Wisdom that are manifested in the Act of Divine Preservation.

Similarly, with regard to the annual seasons, the earth resembles a tree. Through the manifestation of the Name The First, all the seeds and grains entrusted to Divine Preservation in the season of fall are like tiny collections of the Divine Commands and lists of principles that issue from Divine Determination or Destiny concerning the formation of the tree of the earth which will put forth billions of branches and twigs, flowers and fruits when it is eventually dressed in the garments of spring. These seeds and grains are also lists and tiny records of the tasks and deeds that the tree has performed in the previous summer. This quite clearly demonstrates that they work through the infinite Power, Justice, Wisdom and Mercy of an All-Preserver of Majesty and Munificence.

Then in the season of fall, the tree of the earth deposits in tiny cases all the duties it has performed, all the glorifications it has made in response to the manifestations of the Divine Names, and all the records of its deeds that will be published in the following resurrection of spring: these it submits to the hand of the Wisdom of the All-Preserving One of Majesty, reciting before the whole universe He is the Last in countless tongues.

By opening hundreds of thousands of different kinds of blossoms, which demonstrate hundreds of thousands of examples and signs of the Resurrection, and by spreading out innumerable banquet tables of Mercy, Providence, Compassion, and Munificence for living beings, the outer form of the tree offers praise and commendation, reciting He is the All-Outward in languages to the number of its fruits, flowers, and foods. And in so doing it demonstrates beyond all doubt the truth of: When the scrolls (of the deeds of every person) are laid open (81:10).

As for the inner face of this splendid tree, it is, as mentioned earlier, a kind of kitchen or workshop, operating numerous well-arranged machines and finely balanced factories with perfect order and in a regular fashion; these enable it to produce thousands of kilos of food out of one ounce to offer to the hungry. It works with such precision and balance that it leaves no room for chance. Like certain angels who glorify God with a thousand tongues, the inner face of the tree that is this earth exclaims He is the All-Inward in a hundred thousand ways.

In addition to resembling a tree with regard to its annual cycle, which makes the Divine Preservation manifested through those four Names a key to the door of the Resurrection, the earth is also a well-organized tree with regard to its entire worldly life; the fruits of this tree are sent to the market of the Hereafter. It is a place for the manifestation of these four Names which is so vast; it is a road that leads to the Hereafter which is so broad that our minds are incapable of comprehending them. All we can say is this:

The hands of a weekly clock which count the seconds, minutes, hours, and days resemble one another and indicate the nature and function of one another. Therefore, one who sees the movement of the second hand cannot help but admit the movement of the other hands and the other pieces of the clock’s mechanism. Similarly, the days which count the seconds of this world, which is a vast clock of the All-Majestic Creator of the heavens and earth, the years which count its minutes, the centuries, which show its hours, and the eras, which make known its days—all of these resemble one another and indicate the nature and functions of one another. Finally, this clock of the earth, which counts the days, years, centuries and eras of the world, informs us with the certainty of night being followed by dawn and winter by spring that the dark winter of this transient world will be followed by the glorious spring of the everlasting realm. And so in this way, the Names the All-Preserving, The First, The Last, The All-Outward, and The All-Inward give truthful answers to the question we put to our Creator concerning the Resurrection.

Also, we see and understand that humanity is:

• the final and most comprehensive fruit of the tree of the universe and, with respect to the Truth of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, its original seed;
• the supreme sign of the cosmic Qur’an and its Verse of Divine Supreme Seat2, which bears the manifestation of the Greatest Name of God;
• the most honored guest in the palace of the universe and the most active official empowered with stewardship over the other inhabitants of the palace;
• the official responsible for monitoring income and expenditure and for planting and cultivating the gardens in the quarter of the earth in the city of the universe;
• its most vocal and responsible minister, equipped with hundreds of sciences and thousands of arts and skills;
• a kind of inspector, a vicegerent appointed by the Sovereign of all eternity to oversee, under His close scrutiny, the country of the earth in the realm of the universe;
• the race which has been given the authority to control and deploy it, and whose actions, be they particular or universal, are all recorded;
• is the division of living creatures which has agreed to bear the Supreme Trust, from which the heavens, the earth, and the mountains all shrank in fear;
• the kind of being in front of whom lie two roads, one of which leads to utter wretchedness, while the other to utter contentment;
• a universal servant of God charged with most extensive worship;
• the kind of being favored with the manifestation of the Greatest Name of the Sovereign of the universe;
• a comprehensive mirror of all God’s Names;
• a special intimate and addressee of God, with the best understanding of His Divine addresses and speech;
• the neediest of all living beings in the universe: a wretched creature who, despite their endless poverty and impotence, has innumerable desires and goals and yet also countless adversaries and things which threaten to harm them;
• the kind of being who is most blessed in potential, yet the most prone to suffering with respect to the pleasures of life, which are made poison by the existence of ghastly pains;
• a most wonderful miracle of the Power of the Eternally Besought One;
• a most amazing product of creation who is both the most in need of everlasting life and the most worthy of receiving it;
• the kind of being who seeks eternal felicity with endless prayers— indeed, were they to be given all of the pleasures of this world, they would not satisfy their desire for everlasting life in the least;
• the kind of being who loves to the degree of adoration the One Who bestows bounties on them and makes Him loved and is loved by Him;
• the kind of being whose faculties, which are as vast as the universe itself, show by their very nature that they have been created to acquire eternity.

In short, humanity is bound to God Almighty’s Name the Ultimate Truth through the above universal realities, and their actions are recorded continuously by the All-Preserving, Who sees the most particular need of the tiniest living being, hears its pleading, and responds to it. The deeds of humanity, which are related to the entire universe, have been written down by the noble scribes of that All-Preserving One, and it is humanity who, more than any other creature, receives Its attention. Given this, surely this noblest of beings will be granted a resurrection and a judgment. And at this judgment, in accordance with the Name the Ultimate Truth, humankind will receive reward for their duties or punishment for their crimes; they will be called to account for all their actions, universal or particular, which have been recorded by the Name the All-Preserving. The doors of the banquet halls of everlasting happiness in the eternal realm will be opened, as will the gates of the prison of eternal misery. The “officer” who has stewardship over numerous species of beings in this world, who intervenes in them and sometimes casts them into confusion, will not escape interrogation concerning their actions once they are in the soil; nor will they be allowed to lie down in hiding without ever being roused.

To hear the buzz of the fly and to answer it by giving it its rights of life, but to ignore the invocations for eternity which arise from innumerable human rights and are made through the language of the above truths— invocations which reverberate through the heavens and earth like thunder—would be pure injustice and a transgression of these rights. Similarly, to take into careful account the tiniest of creatures—the wing of a fly, for example—but then to disregard and waste the abilities, hopes, and desires of humankind, which extend to eternity, together with the countless bonds and truths in the universe which nurture these abilities and desires—this would constitute a tyranny and injustice so ugly and despicable that all beings which testify to the Names such as the Ultimate Truth, the All-Preserving, the All-Wise, the All-Gracious and the All-Compassionate would reject it, declaring it utterly impossible. Thus do these Names reply to the question which we asked our Creator about the Resurrection. They say: “Just as we are true and have substantial realities, and the beings that testify to us are also true, so too is the Resurrection true and certain.”

I was going to write more, but since the above is enough to show that the truth of the Resurrection is as clear as daylight, I have curtailed the discussion here.

Thus, as also can be understood from the truths explained above, just as through their manifestations and reflections in beings, each of God Almighty’s hundred, indeed thousand, Names that relate to and show themselves in the universe prove self-evidently the existence of the One Whom they signify, so too do they demonstrate the Resurrection and the Hereafter, and definitively prove them.

Just as our Lord and Creator gives us sacred, decisive answers to the question we asked Him with regard to the Resurrection through all of His revealed Books and Scriptures and most of His Names, He also causes His angels to answer the same question in their own language:

“There have been hundreds of incidents from the time of Adam that testify indubitably to your meeting both with us and with other spirit beings. There are also other innumerable signs and proofs of both our existence and the existence of those other spirit beings, and of our servanthood and obedience to God. In agreement with each other, we have told your leaders whenever we have met with them that we travel through the halls of the Hereafter and around some of its mansions. We have no doubt that these fine, everlasting halls and well-furnished, decorated palaces and dwellings beyond them have been made ready for important guests who are to be accommodated there. We give you irrefragable news of this.” Such is the reply of the angels to our question.

Also, our Creator appointed Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, as the greatest teacher, the best master and the truest guide, one who neither goes nor leads astray, and sent him as His last Messenger. Thus, in order that we may advance in our knowledge of God and our belief in Him, progressing from certainty based on knowledge through certainty arising from vision and on to certainty arising from experience, we should first of all ask this master the same question that we put to our Creator. For, just as that person proved through his numerous miracles that the Qur’an is the true Word of God, the Qur’an, through its forty aspects of miraculousness also proves that he was God’s true and rightful Messenger. As the tongue of the visible world, the Prophet declared the truth of the Resurrection throughout his life and was confirmed by all the Prophets and saints; the Qur’an, as the tongue of the Unseen World, also declared the truth of the Last Day and the Hereafter, and was confirmed in its declaration by all other Divinely-revealed Books and Scriptures. Given this, the existence of the Resurrection is proven beyond all reasonable doubt.

Such an awesome matter as the Resurrection, the understanding of which transcends normal reasoning, may be perceived best through the instruction of these two wonderful masters—Prophet Muhammad and the Qur’an—and thereby understood.

The reason the early Prophets did not explain the Resurrection in as detailed a manner as the Qur’an was that theirs were the eras of relative primitivism, or the “childhood” of humanity. There is little point in giving detailed and intricate explanations to those who are undergoing elementary education.

To sum up: since most of the Divine Names require the Resurrection, all the proofs which demonstrate the existence of these Names also demonstrate to some extent the existence and necessity of the Resurrection.

And since the angels inform us that they have seen the spheres and mansions of the eternal realm of the Hereafter, the proofs which establish the existence and worshipfulness of the angels, spirits, and spirit beings also help to establish the truth of the existence of the Hereafter.

And since after Divine Unity, the matter emphasized with the greatest insistence by Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, was the Hereafter, it follows that all of the proofs and miracles which testify to His Prophethood also testify indirectly to the existence of the Hereafter.

And since a quarter of the Qur’an concerns the Resurrection and the Hereafter, with approximately a thousand of its verses offering proofs of the life to come, all of the evidence and arguments which establish the veracity of the Qur’an also indirectly establish the existence of the Hereafter.

Now see how firm and certain this pillar of belief really is!

Said Nursi

1 The Supreme Trust is human selfhood or being human or human nature as the focus of the manifestations of God’s Names that are manifested throughout the universe. (Tr.)

2 The Qur’an’s Verse of Divine Supreme Seat, to which Said Nursi likens humanity with respect to humanity’s place in the universe compared with the place of this verse in the Qur’an, is as follows:

God, there is no deity but He; the All-Living, the Self-Subsisting (by Whom all subsist). Slumber does not seize Him, nor sleep. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth. Who is there that will intercede with Him save by His leave? He knows what lies before them and what lies after them (what lies in their future and in their past, what is known to them and what is hidden from them); and they do not comprehend anything of His Knowledge save what He wills. His Seat (of dominion) embraces the heavens and the earth, and the preserving of them does not weary Him; He is the All-Exalted, the Supreme. (2:255)