بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَ الصَّلاَةُ وَ السَّلاَمُ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَ عَلَى آلِهِ وَ صَحْبِهِ اَجْمَعِينَ

WOMEN - 2

“According to the conditions of the time and by their fitrah, innocent children will be the foremost students of the Risale-i Nur. For if a child is not taught the lessons of îmân thoroughly when small, in later years he can only assimilate the pillars of Islam and îmân in his rûh with the greatest difficulty. Quite simply, it is as difficult as a non-muslim accepting Islam, for it seems strange. It is even stranger for him if he observes that his parents are not religious and his mind is being tarbiyyah only with the secular sciences. The child is then contemptuous of his parents in this world and is a sort of tribulation for them, longing for them to die. And in the âkhirah, he will be plaintiff against them, rather than a shafî’, saying: “Why did not you save my îmân through Islamic tarbiyyah?”

In accordance to this haqiqah, the most fortunate children are those who enter the fold of the Risale-i Nur, and serving and honouring their parents with good works, have merits written in their parent’s records of good deeds and become shafî’ for them in the âkhirah according to their degree.

The Second Group of Risale-i Nur Students are women, who by fitrah need the Risale-i Nur since they may have shied away from the world or felt vexed with it. Especially if they are getting old, the Risale-i Nur may often offer them true ma’nawî sustenance. For one of its four principles is compassion, which proceeds from the manifestation of the name of Ar-Rahîm, and compassion is the most essential quality of women and the leaves of their fıtrî duties.” Emirdağ Addendum (56)

 

بِاسْمِهِ سُبْحَانَهُ

A conversation with women who are my âkhirah sisters amongst the people of îmân

At a time when I had seen the sincere and vehement connection of women to the Risale-i Nur in some provinces, and I had learned of their trust in my lessons belonging to Nurs in a way far exceeding my due, when I returned to blessed Isparta and ma’nawî Madrasatu'z-Zehra for the third time, I heard that the women, my blessed âkhirah sisters were waiting for a lesson from me. As though I will have a lesson for them in a masjid in the form of a preach. Although I am both sick in four or five aspects and wretched, not even having the strength to speak and think, tonight, it came to my heart with a severe warning: "Since fifteen years ago at the request of the youth, you wrote 'A Guide for Youth' for them and it has greatly benefited, however, women are in greater need of such a guide than youth at this time." In the face of this warning, together with my extreme wretchedness, weakness and impotence, I shall explain very concisely with 'Three Subtle Points' some necessary matters to those blessed sisters and young ma’nawî children of mine.

FIRST SUBTLE POINT:

Since one of the most important principles of the Risale-i Nur is compassion and since women, by fitrah, are the heroes of compassion, they are more connected with the Risale-i Nur. And Lillahilhamd, this fitrî connection is felt in many places. Since the self-sacrifice within this compassion expresses the meaning of true ikhlas and self-sacrifice without expecting anything in return, it has great importance in this time.

Yes, a mother sacrificing her rûh to save her child from danger without wanting anything in return, and sacrificing herself for her child with true ikhlas due to the duty of her fitrah, show that women have an extremely exalted heroism. Through unfolding this heroism, she can save both her life in this world and her eternal life with it. But due to certain ill currents, this powerful and valuable character does not unfold or is misused. A small example out of hundreds is this:

A compassionate mother faces every sort of self-sacrifice for her child to receive benefit and advantage and not to fall into danger in the life of this world; she gives tarbiyyah to him in this way. Saying “May my son be a Commander”, she gives all her property, takes him from the hâfidh school and sends him to Europe. But she does not think that her child's eternal life is falling into danger and works on saving him from the prison of the world; she does not consider his falling into the prison of Jahannam. As the opposite of fitrî compassion, she makes her innocent child a claimant while he should be a shafî’ in the âkhirah. That child will complain: "Why did you cause this destruction of mine without fortifying my îmân?" Since he did not receive Islamic tarbiyyah completely, in this world too, he cannot respond to the right of his mother's wondrous compassion in the way it deserves but rather commits many wrongs.1

If true compassion is not misused and if, with the mystery of such compassion, she works to save her helpless child from Jahannam, which is eternal prison, and from dying amid dhalâlah, which is eternal extinction, he will always send nûrs to the rûh of his mother with his good works after her death since the equivalent of all good works of the child will be recorded in the book of good deeds of his mother and he will not be a claimant in the âkhirah but a shafî’ and a blessed child in eternal life with all his rûh and life.

Yes, man's first ustadh and most effective teacher is his mother. In connection with this, I shall explain the following precise meaning to you, which I always felt in myself:

Even though I received lessons from eighty thousand people in my eighty years lifetime, I swear that the inculcations and ma’nawî lessons I received from my late mother are the most fundamental and unshakeable lessons, as though she continually renews her lesson to me; those lessons have been ingrained in my fitrah as if they were seeds in my physical being. I see exactly that the other lessons I received have been constructed on those seeds. That is to say, I observe that my late mother’s inculcations and lessons to my fitrah and rûh, when I was one year old, are each a fundamental seed amongst the great haqiqahs that I see now in my age of eighty.

For instance, I certainly see that from the compassionate acts and states and the ma’nawî lessons of my mother, I learnt to be compassionate, which is the most important of the four principles of my way and outlook, and to pity and to be merciful, which are also the greatest haqiqahs of the Risale-i Nur. Yes, through misusing the compassion of motherhood, which bears true self-sacrifice with true ikhlas, and not thinking of her innocent child’s âkhirah, which is his treasury of diamonds, to turn that child’s innocent face towards the world, which is temporary, transient glasses, and to show compassion to him in that way is to misuse that compassion.

Yes, a hen — which bears a tiny sample of that compassion — attacking a lion and sacrificing its rûh for its chicks prove the heroism of women in terms of compassion and prove that they sacrifice their rûh by wanting nothing in return without the intention of any personal benefit or show off.

Now, the most valuable and most necessary principle amongst Islamic tarbiyyah and deeds pertaining to the âkhirah is ikhlas. Such true ikhlas is to be found in the heroism within this kind of compassion. If these two points begin to unfold among those blessed women, it will be the means of great happiness in the sphere of Islam. Whereas the heroism of men can not be without recompense, rather they want recompense in hundred ways. At least they want fame and honour. But unfortunately, in order to be saved from the sharr and oppression of their dhâlim men, unfortunate blessed women enter into another sort of riyâ arising from weakness and impotence.

SECOND SUBTLE POINT:

This year, while I was in seclusion and although I withdrew from the life of society, I looked at the world for the sake of some of Nur student brothers and sisters of mine. I heard complaints about their own family lives from most of the friends who visited me. "Alas!", I said: "The refuge of man, particularly of Muslims, a sort of Jannah and a small world of his is family life. Has this started to corrupt as well?" I sought its reason. I knew that just as in order to harm the social life of Islam and thereby to the religion of Islam, one or two committees work to mislead youth and drive them to dissipation through using the desires of youth, in the same way, I felt that one or two committees effectively work under the veil in order to drive the ghâfil part of womenkind to the wrong ways, and I knew that a terrifying blow to this Muslim nation is coming from that aspect.

So I certainly declare to my sisters and my ma’nawî children who are young amongst you:

The sole means of the happiness of women in this world as well as their happiness in the âkhirah and saving elevated morals in their fitrah from corruption is tarbiyyah of religion in the sphere of Islam; there are no other means. You hear about the degradation the unfortunate women in Russia have fallen into. In one part of the Risale-i Nur, it is said that a man of sound mind does not build his love for his wife on her transitory, exterior beauty of five to ten years, rather he should build his love on her compassion which is the most permanent and beautiful of the women’s beauties and on the beauty of her virtues that are particular to womanhood. So that as the unfortunate gets older, her husband's love for her can continue. Because it becomes necessary to love each other with more respect and compassion as they get older, since his wife is not a temporary helper companion merely in the life of this world, but rather an eternal and lovable life companion in his eternal life. The family life, which after a temporary animal-like relationship under the veil of the tarbiyyah of present civilization is subjected to eternal separation, has begun to collapse together with its foundations.

Also, in one part of the Risale-i Nur, it is said: Fortunate is the man who in order not to lose his eternal companion imitates his sâliha wife, he too becomes sâlih. Also, happy is the woman who sees her husband pious and she too becomes pious so as not to lose her eternal friend and companion; she attains her happiness in the âkhirah within her happiness in this world. Unfortunate is the man who follows his wife in dissipation and does not try to make her give it up; he joins her too. Unfortunate is the woman who sees her husband's fisq and imitates him in another way. Alas for the wife and husband who assist one another in throwing each other into the fire! That is, they encourage each other in the fantasies of civilization.

Thus, the meaning of the Risale-i Nur’s sentences with this substance is this: at this time, the cause to unfold family life and its happiness in the world and the âkhirah and to unfold the elevated morals in women can only be through Islamic âdâb within the sphere of the Sharî’ah.

Now, the most important point in family life is this: if a woman sees immorality and disloyalty in her husband and out of spite towards her husband, she spoils her loyalty and trustworthiness, which are the duties of a woman in the family, the factory of that family life will be upside-down like the obedience in the army being spoilt. Rather, that woman should try to reform her husband's faults as far as she can, so that she can save her eternal companion. Otherwise, if she tries to show herself to others by immodest dressing and tries to make herself loved by others, she loses in every aspect. For, one who abandons true loyalty pays the penalty in this world too. Because her fitrah fears and feels ashamed of the looks of non-mahrams and withdraws. She detests the looks of eighteen out of twenty non-mahram men. As for men, they detest only one out of a hundred non-mahram women and feel ashamed to look. As the woman suffers torment in that aspect, she also undergoes the accusation of disloyalty; together with her weakness, she cannot protect her rights.

In Short: Just as in terms of compassion, women do not resemble men in heroism and ikhlas, and men, too, cannot reach them in such heroism, so too, innocent women can in no way reach men in dissoluteness. Because of this, by their fitrah and weak creation, they severely fear non-mahrams and consider themselves compelled to shelter themselves beneath the charshaf (jilbâb).

Because, if a man enters dissipation for eight minutes of pleasure, he will only lose as much as eight dollars. But as the punishment for the pleasure in the dissipation of eight minutes, in this world, too, the woman bears a heavy load for eight months and then suffers the hardship of the tarbiyyah of that unprotected child for eight years, therefore, she cannot reach men in dissipation; she suffers a hundred times greater punishment.

Many events of this sort show that just as blessed women are the source of elevated morals by fitrah, so too, they do not have the capacity for worldly pleasure within fisq and dissipation. That is to say, they are a kind of blessed creatures, specially created to have a happy family life within the sphere of Islamic tarbiyyah. Death to those committees who corrupt these blessed ones! And may Allah protect my sisters from the sharr of such dissolute, amen!

My sisters! I say this word of mine to you confidentially: Due to the trouble in livelihood, rather than entering under the oppression of a dissolute, immoral husband, who follows Europe, try to manage yourself with frugality and contentment, which are already in your fitrah, like the innocent peasant women working to obtain their livelihood; do not try to sell yourselves. If having an unsuitable husband is what Allah has decreed for you, accept it and be content with it. InshâAllah, he will be reformed through your acceptance and contentment. Otherwise, you will apply to the courts for a divorce, which I have heard of recently. And this is unsuitable for the dignity of Islam and the honour of our nation!

THIRD SUBTLE POINT:

My ‘azîz sisters, certainly know that Risale-i Nur has proved with hundreds of powerful evidences and events that in the pleasures and enjoyments outside the sphere permitted by the Sharî’ah, there are pains and troubles ten times greater. You can find further details in the Risale-i Nur.

For instance, the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Words from The Short Words and A Guide For Youth will show this haqiqah to you completely in place of me. Therefore, suffice and be content with the pleasures within the sphere permitted by the Sharî’ah. Innocent conversations with your innocent children in your home are more pleasurable than a hundred cinemas.

Also, know certainly that true pleasure in this worldly life is within the sphere of îmân and in îmân. And, there is a ma’nawî pleasure in each ‘amal as-sâlih. The Risale-i Nur has proved with hundreds of decisive evidences that in this world, too, extremely bitter and ugly sorrows are present in dhalâlah and dissipation. Through many experiences and events, I have seen with ‘ayn al-yaqîn that a seed of Jannah is present in îmân, while a seed of Jahannam is present in dissipation and dhalâlah, and this haqiqah was repeatedly written in the Risale-i Nur. They have come into the hands of those who are most obstinate and antagonistic and the official 'committees of experts' and the courts have been unable to refute this haqiqah.

Now, in place of me, may The Risale On Tasattur, A Guide For Youth and The Short Words give a lesson to my blessed and innocent sisters like you and the minors amongst you who are like my children. I have heard that you want me to give a lesson to you in the masjid. But together with my wretched condition, my illness and many other reasons do not permit it.

I have decided to include all my sisters who read and accept this lesson of mine, which I have written for you, in all my ma’nawî gains and du'âs like all the students of the Nur. If in place of me, you obtain and read the Risale-i Nur in part, or listen to it, then as a requirement of our rule, you will also be a partaker of the ma’nawî gains and du'âs of all the Nur students, your brothers.

I was going to write more now, but I am very ill and very weak and very old and have many duties like correcting, so, for now, I have sufficed with this much.

              اَلْبَاقِى هُوَ الْبَاقِى

              Your brother who is in need of your du'â

              Said Nursî

 

“I recalled how the elderly women of this city who have connected with the Risale-i Nur, show steadfastness and are not shaken like others. The following Hadith was suddenly warned: عَلَيْكُمْ بِدِينِ الْعَجَائِزِ

That is, “In âkhirzaman, follow the sincere religion and strong beliefs of elderly women.” Indeed, since elderly women are by their fitrah delicate and sensitive and compassionate, they are in need of the consolations and nûrs found in religion more than anyone. And due to the self-sacrificing comparison they have in their fitrah being more than others, they are needy of a nûr of consolation offering limitless compassion, the favour of the mercy of Rahmân, and the point of support and assistance found in religion. It is in their fitrah to have perfect steadfastness. That is why the Risale-i Nur which completely fulfilled that need in this age, becomes most pleasing to their rûh and clings to their hearts.” Kastamonu Addendum  (137)

 

For the time being this is addressed only to the pillars of the Madrasatu’z-Zahra

(Important good news for the elderly women and a warning for the single, young girls who want to remain single.)

عَلَيْكُمْ بِدِينِ الْعَجَائِزِ 2 in the Noble Hadith shows that in the âkhirzaman powerful îmân is found in elderly women, that the noble hadith decreed “Follow the religion of pious elderly women.” Furthermore, compassion is one of Risale-i Nur’s four fundamental principles and since women are heroes of compassion even the timidest of them sacrifices her rûh for her child.

At the present time, those worthy mothers and sisters are faced with a difficult situation. My rûh is warned for the declaration to the girls amongst the Nur students, those who want to remain single or who have to, a private haqiqah of their fitrah to which the disclosure is not appropriate. So I say this:

My daughters and sisters! This time does not bear resemblance to the old-times. While a man should take a wife to be an eternal life-companion and a means of happiness in the life of this world and to keep himself from sins, he loves that unfortunate weak woman only in her temporary worldly youth, under perpetual oppression since nearly half a century, the tarbiyyah of civilisation have placed Islamic tarbiyyah in our social life. He gives difficulty to her sometimes ten times greater than the convenience that he gives her. And if they are not equal to each other which is called by the Sharî’ah kufuvv, her life passes always in pain since the laws of the Sharî’ah were ignored. And if jealousy interferes too, it would further be destroyed. There are three reasons to urge such a marriage:

The First: For the continuation of the generation, Ilahî hikmah bestowed a fıtrî inclination and ardour desire to that fıtrî duty. While it gives ten minutes pleasure to man, if it is licit, he may suffer difficulties for an hour, but for that ten minutes pleasure, the woman suffers the difficulty of carrying the child in her body for ten months and goes through great suffering by assisting that child's life for ten years. This means, since that ten-minute fıtrî inclination urges in such long-lasting hardship, it ceases to hold any importance. With that inclination, the feeling and nafs should not encourage a person to marry.

The Second: Women, by their fitrah, need a helper in the point of livelihood due to their weakness. For that need, instead of spoiling her ‘ubûdiyyah and moral, which are the means of her happiness in this world and the âkhirah for the sake of that small livelihood by performing riyâ and being oppressed on the way of acquiring the contentment of her husband, who does not take the instruction from Islamic tarbiyyah and who accustomed vagrancy and oppression, it is ten times easier to work for gaining her own sustenance like the village-women. Just as the True Razzâq provides infants’ rizq with milk so that Khâliq Who is Rahîm will provide their rizq too. It is not an act of a student of the Risale-i Nur, by performing riyâ, to seek for a husband who does not perform salâh and has lost his moral, taking upon his oppression for the sake of that rizq.

The Third: In the fitrah of women, there is the inclination to love and caress children. And the service of her child in this world, and his shafâ’ah in the âkhirah, and after his mother’s death, the assistance to her with his good works strengthen that fıtrî inclination and encourages them to marry. But now, through the tarbiyyah of civilisation in place of Islamic tarbiyyah, in return of the possibility of one or two true children out of ten devotedly helping in return for the compassion of their mother, causing to be written merits in the books of their mothers’ good deeds through their pious du'âs and own good works, and becoming a shafî’ for their mothers in the âkhirah if they were sâlihs, eight out of ten are not thus. Therefore, due to this ardour of nafs and fıtrî inclination, those unfortunate weak women should not enter such difficult lives unless they are absolutely obliged to.

So as a consequence of this haqiqah that we have pointed out, I say to the girls amongst the Nur students who want to remain unmarried: without finding a husband who is completely suitable, religious and upright, they should not try to sell themselves by immodest clothing. If he is not found, they should remain single like some of the self-sacrificing Nur students, until a suitor appears who has a conscience and has received Islamic tarbiyyah and is worthy of her and will be her eternal companion. And, her eternal happiness may not be destroyed for some temporary worldly pleasure and she may not be drowned in the evils of civilization.

Said Nursi

Note: My sisters and the young girls should read the Risale on Tasattur3 ”

Emirdağ Addendum-2 (49-50)

 

“My ‘Azîz, Siddîq Brothers!

We congratulate your Mi’raj and request from Ilahi rahmah that he gives you and us complete success in the Sunnah as-Saniyyah of the Possessor of Mi’raj (asm). I will write to you about one or two minor matters that have come to our attention over the last one or two days.

Firstly: An incident which shows one of the many reasons why some Risale-i Nur students remain unmarried is as follows:

I recently explained a brief haqiqah to a lady who had suffered the blows of youth, was unmarried and looked for consolation, making the effort to connect with the Risale-i Nur. She was busy studying at an important school and was the daughter of an important man. I am writing it to you so that it may benefit others in your area.

I said the following: Since you have suffered the blows of youth: do not undertake the fıtrî duty of reproduction. Because in return for that duty of fitrah, the temporary enjoyment and pleasure a man receives as a price, is to a degree sufficient for him in the beginning. As for the helpless lady, she will carry the heavy burden of that duty for a year and be left with the troubles of raising and nurturing a child for one or two years, and as a result of immodest clothing which has become pervasive, be faced with her husband’s insinuations of disloyalty, and the possibility of his interest in others and not treating her with sincere compassion; she will at all times be troubled and left dealing with pains of conscience – and in this corrupt age, the temporary enjoyment and pleasure had from marriage, cannot correspond to one per cent of its burden.

And particularly since they are not suitable in terms of moral and religion, which is expressed with kufuvv4 in the Sharî’ah, it is a far more painful torment. Especially those who are outside of the Islamic tarbiyyah and live by the title of Muslim, since they are unable to find the respect and mutual compassion which comes from îmân, it completely destroys worldly happiness and makes them suffer torments of Jahannam.

In return for the many difficulties faced in fulfilling their duty of reproduction and their many services, both mother and father have only a sincere respect and a loyal obedience from their child in this World in return for their service and compassion which they provide with complete respect and loyalty, and after their passing away, have their children record rewards in their book of deeds through righteousness, meritorious acts and du'âs; and, if the child dies as an innocent before the age of fifteen, have their children become a shafî’ for them in qiyâmah and as a loveable child in their embrace in Jannah.

But now, due to the tarbiyyah of this vile civilisation taking the place of Islamic tarbiyyah, only one child out of ten, rather twenty, rather forty, can barely fulfil the above-mentioned qualities of a worthy child in return for the extremely important service and compassion of their mother and father. The others will constantly hurt the compassion of their parents with anxieties, and have those mothers and fathers who are true and loyal friends, suffer the pangs of conscience as well as bring claims against them on the âkhirah, saying “Why did you not make me receive tarbiyyah through îmân?” Rather than be a shafî’, they will make complaints against them.” Kastamonu Addendum (276)

 

According to the Sharî’ah, the husband should be equivalent to the wife, that is, they should be suitable for each other. The most important aspect of this equivalence is the point of being religious. Happy is the husband who sees the piety of his woman and imitates her, and he becomes pious in order not to lose his companion in eternal life.

Fortunate is the woman who sees the piety of her husband and enters taqwâ in order not to lose her eternal friend.

Alas for the man who enters dissipation, which will cause him to lose his sâliha woman eternally. How unfortunate is the woman who does not follow her muttaqî husband and loses her blessed eternal friend.

A thousand alas for that unfortunate husband and wife; they imitate the fisq and dissipation of each other. They help one another to be thrown into the fire!

The Twenty-Fourth Flash - Second Hikmah

 

“The students of the Risale-i Nur have not been told and are not told: “Others marry; abandon marriage”. But students are of several classes. At the present time, to not to lose true ikhlas and to bear true self-sacrifice and utmost loyalty, it is required for one class of those students to not engage in the needs of the world as far as possible during a temporary part of their life.

If they find a woman who will assist them in the service of the Qur’an and îmân, they may take a wife. It does not harm their service. Lillahilhamd, there are many Nur students of this sort. Their wives are no less than themselves. In fact, they may go further than their husbands with respect to their fitrî heroism and true ikhlas arising from their compassion, which awaits no recompense. Most of the adult Nur students have married and fulfiled this Sunnah. The Risale-i Nur says to them: “Your homes should be a small Madrasa of Nur and a school of knowledge so that this Sunnah is completely fulfiled. The children who are the fruits of the Sunnah as-Saniyyah may be shafî’ for you in the âkhirah. They may be true children to you in the world through taking lessons of îmân. Otherwise, as has happened to an extent these last thirty years, if those children are given only the tarbiyyah of civilization they will ask “why did you not save my îmân?” through being fruitless in respect in this world and a plaintiff in the âkhirah. To grieve the parents in this way is opposed to the hikmah of the Sunnah as-Saniyyah.” Guide For Women (25)

 

 

May Janâb-i Haqq save us and you from the alluring fitnah of this time, and preserve us from them. Amen.

 

اَللّٰهُمَّ يَا اَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ وَ ارْحَمْ اُمَّةَ مُحَمَّدٍ عَلَيْهِ الصَّلاَةُ وَ السَّلاَمُ وَ نَوِّرْ قُلُوبَ اُمَّةِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَلَيْهِ الصَّلاَةُ وَ السَّلاَمُ بِنُورِ اْلاِيمَانِ وَ الْقُرْآنِ وَ نَوِّرْ بُرْهَانَ الْقُرْآنِ وَ عَظِّمْ شَرِيعَةَ اْلاِسْلاَمِ آمِينَ

سُبْحَانَكَ لاَ عِلْمَ لَنَا اِلاَّ مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا اِنَّكَ اَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ