A brief translation of the Addendum to the Arabic Damascus Sermon

In the Arabic Addendum to the Damascus Sermon, the ma’nawî and unbreakable heroism arising from îmân was shown through an extremely subtle comparison. Here, in connection with this matter of ours, we declare a summary of it:

At the beginning of the Freedom1, I joined Sultan Reşad's journey to Rumelia on behalf of the Eastern Provinces. On the train, we had a discussion with two friends who were educated and versed in the sciences. They asked me, "Is religious zeal or national zeal more powerful and necessary?" I said:

For us Muslims, religion and nationhood, in essence, are united. There is an imaginary and apparent difference between them, not in their essence. Rather, religion is the life and rûh of the nationhood. When they are seen as different and separate from each other, religious zeal encompasses both the common people and the upper classes, whereas national zeal remains individual among one person out of a hundred, who sacrifices his personal benefits for the nation. So, religious zeal must be the basis of common rights. National zeal must be its servant, power and fortress.

Especially, we, the people of the East, are not like those of the West. Among us, the sense of religion rules over our hearts. Azalî Qadar sending most of the prophets to the East indicates that only the sense of religion awakens the East and directs it to progress. A decisive proof of this is the era of Bliss and the age of Tâbi’în.

O my classmates in this travelling madrasa called a train, who asked me which one should be given more importance, religious zeal or national zeal! And now, all students who are travelling with us towards the future by the train of time! I say the following to you as well:

Among the Turks and Arabs, religious zeal and Islamic nationhood have completely blended with each other and have become inseparable. Islamic zeal is the strongest and firmest luminous chain, which came from the ‘arsh. It is an unbreakable and firm handhold2. It is a sacred fortress that cannot be destroyed or defeated.

When I said this to those two enlightened school teachers, they said to me, "What is your evidence for this? For this great claim, great proof and powerful evidence are necessary. What is the evidence?" Suddenly, our train emerged from a tunnel. We stuck our heads out of the window and looked. We saw a child, not yet six years old, standing right next to the railway line where the train was about to pass. I said to my two teacher friends:

Look, this child is perfectly answering our question with the language of his being. Let the innocent child be our ustadh in our travelling madrasa instead of me. Here, the language of his being is stating the following haqiqah:

Look! The minute this beast emerges out of its hole, the tunnel, and onslaughts with its fearful roars and shrieking, the child is standing only a metre away from the way it will pass. The beast is threatening with its overwhelming attack and roars. Although it is saying, "Anything in my way better watch out!" the innocent child is standing on its way. With perfect freedom, wondrous courage and heroism, he gives no importance at all to its threats. He has contempt for the beast’s onslaught and says with his mini-heroism, "Hey train, you cannot scare me with your thunderous roars!"

It is as if he is saying, through the language of being of his steadfastness and firmness, "Hey train, you're the slave of an orderly system! Your bridle and rein are in the hands of the one who is driving you. You cannot dare to attack me. You cannot subdue me with your despotism. Go on your way! Follow your way with the permission of your commander!'"

Thus, O my friends in this train and my brothers who are studying sciences fifty years later3! By traversing time, suppose that, in place of the innocent child, Rustam of Iran and Hercules of Greece are here with their wondrous heroism. Since, at their time, there were no trains, of course, they would not have the belief that trains move according to an orderly system. How those two heroes will be terrified and flee due to the terrible, threatening attack of the train that suddenly emerges out of this hole, the tunnel, with fire on its head and lightning in its eyes, the breath of which is like thunder and runs to the side of Rustam and Hercules! Despite their wondrous courage, they will run more than a thousand metres.

Look! How their freedom and courage dissolve in the face of the beast’s threat! They have no choice but to flee beecause they do not realise that it is an obedient mount since they do not believe in its commander and orderly system. Rather, they imagine it to be a sort of lion with twenty terrifying and rapacious lions the size of waggons attached to its rear.

O my brothers and my friends who are listening to these words after fifty years! What gives the child, not yet six years old, greater freedom and courage than those two heroes, and fearlessness and confidence far exceeding those two heroes, is his belief, trust and îmân — which is a seed of haqiqah in that innocent child's heart — in the orderly system of the train, its reins being in the hands of a commander, its movement being regulated and in someone driving it on his own account. And, what terrifies those two heroes and enslaves their consciences to wahm is their ignorant disbelief, which is not knowing the commander of the train and not believing in its orderly system.

In this comparison, as a qonsequence of the îmân and belief settled in the heart of a number of tribes (Turks and the nation became Turk) from among the Islamic nations for a thousand years, like the heroism arising from the innocent child's îmân, foremost the Turks and Arabs, and all the Muslim tribes, who, against nations and states on the face of the earth that are a hundred times more than them, raised the flag of Islam and ma’nawî perfections in Asia, Africa and half Europe with the heroism arising from their îmân, and who meet the death with a smile by saying, "If I die, I shall be a shahîd; if I kill, I shall be a ghazi", and who resist against the contunious hostile events in the world and the threats of that fearsome trains, from microbes, even, to comets, which are enemies to man's comprehensive disposition, and do not fear of them with the heroism of îmân, and who, instead of terror and fright, took lessons, gained hikmah and a kind of worldly happiness through submission to qadar and qadhâ of Allah, have displayed a wondrous ma’nawî heroism like that innocent child. It demonstrates that the absolute ruler of the future in this world is the nation of Islam as well as in the âkhirah.

The cause of the extremely strange fear, anxiety and pain of those two wondrous heroes in the two comparisons was their disbelief, ignorance and dhalâlah. A haqiqah that the Risale-i Nur proves with hundreds of proofs: One or two examples of it were declared in the Introduction of this risale, which are as follows:

Kufr and dhalâlah show the whole universe as thousands of series and groups of terrible enemies to the people of dhalâlah. The Introduction of this risale demonstrates that kufr and dhalâlah show that thousands of different enemies, from the solar system to tubercular microbes in the heart, are attacking helpless mankind with the hands of blind force, aimless coincidence and deaf nature. It demonstrates that kufr and dhalâlah are a zaqqûm-tree of Jahannam and put those who carry them into a Jahannam in this world, too, since they continuously give fear, pain, terror and anxiety to man's comprehensive essence and disposition, his endless needs and infinite desires, and like the heroism of Rustam and Hercules, thousands of science and human progress outside religion and îmân are worth nothing; they only inject drunkenness and dissipation in order to numb the senses and not temporarily feel those grievous fears.

Thus, just as the comparison of îmân and kufr yields fruits and results like Jannah and Jahannam in the âkhirah, so îmân ensures a ma’nawî Jannah in this world and transforms death into a demobilisation, and in this world, too, kufr is a ma’nawî Jahannam; it destroys the true happiness of mankind and transforms the essence of death to eternal extinction. We refer it to the hundreds of definite proofs of the Risale-i Nur, which rely on cognition and witnessing (shuhûd), and cut short the discussion here.

If you wish to see the haqiqah of this comparison, raise your head and look at the universe. Look and see! Like that train, how many balloons, cars, aeroplanes, and ships of the land and sea there are... the globes of the stars, the planets of the universe, the chains of events and successive occurrences that Azalî Qoudrah creates with order, regularity and hikmah on land and sea and in space. Anyone who has intelligence confirms that, like the existence of these beings and events in the ‘âlam ash-shahâdah and the physical universe, there are even more wondrous similars of the chains of those beings and events created by Azalî Qoudrah in the ma’nawî ‘âlam; anyone who possesses eyes can see most of them.

Thus, all these material and ma’nawî chains of events and beings in the universe attack, threaten and frighten the people of dhalâlah lacking îmân; they destroy their ma’nawî strength. Whereas, for the people of îmân, rather than threatening and frightening them, they give them joy, happiness, familiarity, hope and strength. Because the people of îmân see through îmân that a Sâni’, Who is Hakîm, Who employs those infinite chains of events and beings, material and ma’nawî trains, travelling universes in different duties within the sphere of perfect order, regularity and hikmah, makes them work. They do not make a single mistake in their duties; they cannot transgress against one another. Îmân makes them see that those beings and events are the places of manifestation for the perfections of art and the reflection of beauty in the universe; it gives ma’nawî strength to their hand and shows a sample of eternal happiness.

Thus, nothing, not any science, not any human progress, can ensure ma’nawî strength and give solace in the face of the ghastly pains and fears of the people of dhalâlah that arise from lacking îmân. They destroy their courage. But ghaflah temporarily draws a veil and deceives them.

The people of îmân, as a consequence of their îmân, look at them not with fear and with broken ma’nawî strength but through the haqiqah in îmân and with extraordinary ma’nawî strength and firmness, like the innocent child in the comparison. They witness the arrangement and control of a Sâni’, Who is Hakîm, within the sphere of hikmah and are saved from wahm and fears. They understand and say, "Without the command and permission of As-Sâni’, Who is Hakîm, these travelling universes cannot move or attack." With perfect confidence, they are honoured with happiness in the life of this world, too, according to their degree. The one in whose heart and conscience this seed of haqiqah arising from îmân and haqq religion is not present and is not his point of support, his courage and ma’nawî strength will be destroyed and his conscience will decay as Rustam and Hercules' courage and heroism crumbled in the comparison. He will be the slave of the events in the universe. He will descend into being a trembling beggar before everything.

Since, with hundreds of decisive proofs, the Risale-i Nur has proven the mystery of this haqiqah of îman and the terrible wretchedness in this world that dhalâlah brings, we shall cut short this long haqiqah here.

The mankind of this century, who has recognised his greatest need for ma’nawî strength, solace and firmness and recently awakened to consciousness, foremost Muslims, will understand how far from the benefit and profit of mankind it is, instead of benefiting from Islamic nationhood, under the title of westernisation, to abandon the haqiqahs of îmân, which ensure such ma’nawî strength, solace and happiness and are the point of support in Islam and îmân, and to rely on dhalâlah, dissipation and lying politics, which completely destroy all ma’nawî strength and annihilate solace and break firmness; if time has not run out for this world, mankind will embrace the haqiqahs of the Qur'an.