The Eighth Word

The necessity of religion

 

In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate. God, there is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsistent. (2:255)

The religion with God is Islam. (3:19)

If you want to perceive the true nature of the world and human spirit within it, and the religion’s nature and its value for humanity; if you want to perceive how the absence of the True Religion makes this world the darkest dungeon and the unbeliever the most unfortunate creature, and why belief in God’s Existence and Unity, as well as reliance upon Him, opens the universe’s secret sign and saves our souls from darkness—if you want to perceive all these, consider the following parable:

Two brothers travel together. Coming to a fork in the road, they see a wise old man and ask him which way to take. He tells them: “The way to the right requires observance of certain laws but this observance brings a certain security and happiness, while the road to the left promises a certain kind of freedom but within this freedom lie certain danger and distress. Now, the choice is yours!”

The well-disciplined, well-mannered brother, relying on God, takes the right way and accepts dependence on law and order.

The other brother, who is immoral and a layabout, takes the left way for the sake of freedom. He seems comfortable, but in fact feels no inner tranquility. Reaching a desert, he suddenly hears the terrible sound of a beast that is about to attack him. He runs away and, seeing a waterless well 60 meters deep, jumps into it. Halfway down, he grabs a tree growing out of the wall to break his fall. The tree has two roots, both of which are being gnawed away by two rats, one white and the other black. Looking up, he sees the beast waiting for him. Looking down, he sees a horrible dragon almost at his feet, its large mouth open to receive him. Looking at the wall, he notices that it is covered with laboring in sects. Looking again at the tree, he notices that although it is only a fig tree, it miraculously has many different fruits growing on it, such as walnuts and pomegranates.

Hanging in the well, he does not understand all that has happened. Unable to reason, he cannot imagine that all of these things are not there by chance, and that they must have some significant meaning. He cannot grasp that there must be one who causes all these things to happen that way. Although inwardly distressed, and despite his spirit’s and heart’s complaints, his carnal, evil-commanding soul pretends everything is fine and so ignores their weeping. Pretending that he is enjoying himself in a garden, he starts eating all kinds of fruits—for free. But some of them are poisonous and will harm him.

In a hadith qudsi,14 God says: “I will treat My servants in the way they think of Me.”15 This man sees everything happening to him as having no meaning, and thus that is the way it is for him. So he is and will be treated in the way he thinks and sees. He neither dies nor lives well, but merely persists in an agony of suspense.

Recalling the other, well-disciplined, wise brother, let us see his situation. Since he is well-mannered and has a good character, he always thinks of the good, affirms and observes the law, and feels se cure and free. Finding beautiful flowers and fruits together with certain ruined and ugly things in a garden, he focuses on what is good and beautiful. His brother cannot, for he has concerned himself with what is ruined and ugly and finds no ease in such a garden. The wise brother lives according to: “Look on the good side of everything,” and so is generally happy with everything. On his way he too reaches a desert, just as his brother did, and a beast shows up. He too is afraid but not as much as his brother, because he contemplates that there must be an owner and ruler of the desert and that the beast must be in his service and under his command. He also jumps down a well and, halfway down, catches hold of some tree branches. Noticing two rats gnawing at the tree’s two roots, as well as the dragon below and the beast above, he finds himself in a strange situation. But unlike his brother, since he has a good character, which causes him to think positively and see the good side of everything, he infers that everything must have been arranged by someone and constitute a sign. Thinking that he is being watched and examined, he understands that he is being directed and guided as a test and for a purpose. His curiosity aroused, he asks: “Who wants to make me know him and guides me to a certain point along such a strange way?” This curiosity arouses in him a love for the sign’s owner, which makes him want to understand the sign, what the events mean, and to acquire good qualities to please its owner.

He realizes that the tree is a fig tree, although it bears many kinds of fruit. He is no longer afraid, for he realizes that it is a sample catalogue of the unseen owner’s fruits that he has prepared in his garden for his guests. Otherwise, one tree would not bear so many different fruits. He starts to pray earnestly and, as a result, the key to the secret is inspired in him. He declares: “O owner of this scene and events, I am in your hands. I take refuge in you and am at your service. I desire your approval and knowledge of you.” The wall opens, revealing a door (the dragon’s mouth) leading onto a wonderful, pleasant garden. Both the dragon and the beast become two servants inviting him in. The beast changes into a horse on which he rides.

And so, my lazy soul and imaginary friend! Let’s compare their positions and see how good brings good and evil brings evil. The brother who took the left way of self-trust and self-willed freedom is about to fall into the dragon’s mouth, trembling with fear. He is always anxious, lonely, and in despair, and considers himself a prisoner facing the attacks of wild beasts. He adds to his distress by eating apparently delicious but actually poisonous fruits that are only samples; they are not meant to be eaten for their own sake, but to persuade people to seek the originals and become customers of them. He changes his day into darkness. He wrongs himself, changing his situation into a hell-like one, so that he neither deserves pity nor has the right to complain.

In contrast, the brother who took the right way is in a fruitful garden and surrounded by servants. He studies every different and beautiful incident in awe, with a pleasant fear, and a lovely quest for knowledge. In hope and with yearn­ing, he sees himself as an honored guest enjoying himself with his generous host’s strange and beautiful servants. He does not eat up the fig tree’s fruits; rather, he samples them and, understanding reality, postpones his pleasure and enjoys the anticipation.

The first brother is like one who denies his favored situation at a banquet in a summer garden surrounded by friends, and instead, becoming drunk, imagines himself among wild beasts in winter and complains thereof. Wronging himself and insulting his friends, he deserves no mercy. The other brother, who accepts trustingly what is given and observes the law, sees and accepts reality, which for him is beautiful. Having perceived the beauty of the reality, he respects the perfection of the owner of the reality, and therefore deserves his mercy. Thus can we attain a partial understanding of: Whatever good befalls you is from God, and whatever ill befalls you is from yourself (4:79).

Reflecting upon the brothers, we see that one’s carnal, evil-commanding soul prepared a hell-like situation for him, corresponding to his own attitude of reality, whereas the other’s potential goodness, positive intention, and good nature led him to a very favored and happy situation. Now, I say to my own soul as well as to the one who is listening to this story together with my soul: If you want to be the fortunate brother in the parable, not the unfortunate one, listen to the Qur’an, obey its decrees, follow its guidance.

The gist of the parable is as follows: One brother is a believing spirit, a righteous heart; the other is an unbelieving spirit, a vice, transgressing heart. The right way is that of the Qur’an and belief; the left way is that of unbelief and rebellion. The garden is the transient human social life, which has both good and evil, clean and polluted aspects. A sensible person “takes what is clear and pleasant, leaves what is turbid and distressing,” and proceeds with a tranquil heart. The desert is the earth, the beast is death, the well is our life, and 60 meters is our average lifespan of 60 years.

The tree in the well is life, the two rats gnawing on its roots are day and night, and the dragon is the grave’s opening. For a believer, it is no more than a door opening onto the Garden. The insects are the troubles we face, and in reality are God’s gentle warnings that prevent believers from becoming heedless. The fruits are the bounties of this world presented as samples from the blessings of the Hereafter, inviting customers toward the fruits of Paradise. The tree with various fruits shows the unique stamp of Divine Power, the peculiar seal of Divine Lordship, and the inimitable signature of the Divine Sovereignty, Whose unique virtue is “to create everything out of one thing” and “to change everything into one thing”; to make various plants and fruits from the same soil; to create all living things from one drop of water; and to nourish and sustain all living things in the same manner but through different foods. Creating everything out of one thing and changing everything into one thing is a sign, a mark, peculiar to the Creator of everything, Who has power over everything. The sign shows the secret will of God in creating. It is opened with belief, and its key is: “O God, there is no deity but God; God, there is no deity but He, the All-Living, the Self-Subsistent.”

For one brother, for the people of the Qur’an and belief, the dragon’s mouth (the grave) changes into a door opening onto the gardens of eternity in Paradise from the dungeon of the world and the arena of testing, onto the mercy of the All-Merciful from the troubles of the worldly life. For the other, as for all people of misguidance and rebellion, it is the door to a narrow, suffocating place of torment. The beast changing into an obedient servant, a disciplined and trained horse means that for unbelievers death is a painful separation from loved ones, an imprisonment after leaving their deceiving, worldly paradise. For believers, it is a means of reunion with dead friends and companions. It is like going to their eternal home of happiness, a formal invitation to pass into the eternal gardens, an occasion to receive the wage to be bestowed by the All- Compassionate and Merciful One’s generosity for services rendered to Him, and a kind of retirement from the burden of life.

In sum, those who pursue this transient life place themselves in hell, even though they stay in what appears—to them—as a paradise on the earth. Those who seek the eternal life find peace and happiness in both worlds. Despite all troubles they may suffer in the world, they show patience and thank God, as they see the world as the waiting room for Paradise.

O God, make us among the people of happiness, salvation, the Qur’an, and belief! Amin. O God, bestow peace and blessings upon our master Muhammad, and upon his Family and Companions, to the number of all letters contained in the Qur’an, reflected by the permission of the All-Merciful in the sound waves of each word recited by Qur’anic reciters from its first revelation to the end of time. Have mercy on us and our parents, and on all believers to the number of those words, through Your Mercy, O Most Merciful of the Merciful. Amin. All praise and gratitude are for God, the Lord of all the worlds.

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

14 Hadith Qudsi: This is a specific category of sayings from the Prophet. The wording is the Prophet’s, but the meaning belongs to God directly. (Tr.)

15 Al-Bukhari, “Tawhid” 15, 35; Muslim, “Dhikr” 2, 19, at-Tirmidhi, “Zuhd” 51.