140-141

A question arose from anxiety: It is understood from riwâyât that hunger will play a significant role in this fitnah of the âkhirzaman; the people of dhalâlah will cause the helpless people of îmân suffering from hunger to become overwhelmed with the struggle for livelihood; they will strive to make the people of îmân forget religious sentiments or view those sentiments as secondary or tertiary. Since, in everything, even within the torments arising from the wrath of Allah, there is an aspect of rahmah for the people of îmân and the innocent and is justice in the qadar of Allah; I wonder, how does it apply to this matter? And how will the people of îmân and the Risale-i Nur students, in particular, benefit from this calamity on account of their îmân and âkhirah? How will they respond to it and resist it?

The Answer: The most important reason for this calamity is the rebellion arising from kufr an-ni’mah, the absence of shukr and the lack of appreciation for the value of ni’mahs of Allah; therefore, for the hikmah of driving people to true shukr, Al-‘Âdil, Who is Hakîm, has given this calamity to the people who do not offer shukr and comply with religious riyâzah, such as Ramadhan. And through that, He has demonstrated the true pleasure, significant value and extraordinary degree of His ni’mahs, especially in the category of sustenance, and especially bread, which is the greatest ni’mah of life, and He has done justice as a result of the same hikmah.

The duty of the people of îmân, the people of haqiqah and the Risale-i Nur students, in particular, is to strive to make this calamitous hunger a means for seeking refuge, repentance and submission, like the hunger of the religious riyâzah in Ramadhan, and it is to give no opportunity for this calamitous hunger to be a cause of begging, stealing and anarchy by using the pretext of necessity (dharûrah). As for the duty of some wealthy people and some salaried employees who do not feel pity for the hungry poor, it is to listen to the Risale-i Nur, feel compassion for the hungry due to this compulsory feeling of hunger and run to their aid with zakat. As for the duty of the youth, who have spoilt their nafs with delicious foods and made their nafs disobedient and intoxicated by urging it to the base desires and rebellion, through the guidance of the Risale-i Nur, it is to take advantage bravely of this event, be obedient and perform good deeds by means of this event of hunger that withdraws them from lewdness and sins to a degree and breaks the pleasures of their nafs and its transgressions for immorality. The duty of the youth is to turn that event from being against them and make it work in their favour. In this time, when most people suffer from hunger, possessions have become uncertain and the condition of possessions being haram or halal is indistinguishable and questionable. The duty of the people of ‘ibâdah and righteousness is to be contented with the amount of necessity (dharûrah) so as to make their benefit from the communal resources, which are collectively owned in a ma’nawî sense, halal, and it is to view this involuntary calamity as the riyâzah of Sharî’ah and respond to the qadar of Allah not with complaints but with acceptance.