بِاسْمِهِ سُبْحَانَهُ

A conversation with mu’min women who are my âkhirah sisters

At a time when I had seen the sincere and enthusiastic interest of women in the Risale-i Nur in some provinces, and I had learnt of their trust in my lessons from the Risale-i Nur, which was more than I deserved, when I came to the blessed Isparta, the 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 would give them a lesson in a masjid in the form of a sermon. Even though I am sick in four or five ways and miserable, unable even to speak or think, tonight a severe warning came to my heart: “You wrote the Youth Guide for the young people fifteen years ago at their request, and they benefited greatly... However, women are in greater need of such a guide than the youth at this time.” In response to this warning, despite my extreme suffering, weakness and impotence, I shall declare some necessary matters very concisely with 'Three Subtle Points' to those blessed sisters and my young ma’nawî children.

FIRST SUBTLE POINT:

Since one of the most important principles of the Risale-i Nur is compassion, and women are the heroes of compassion, they are more connected with the Risale-i Nur due to their fitrah. And Alhamdulillah, this fitrî connection is felt in many places. Since the self-sacrifice in this compassion signifies the meaning of genuine ikhlas and self-sacrifice without seeking anything in return, it has great significance at this time.

Yes, a mother sacrificing her rûh to save her child from danger without wanting any reward and sacrificing herself for her child with true ikhlas as her fitrî duty shows that women possess extremely exalted heroism. With the development of this heroism, she can save both her life in this world and her eternal life by it. But due to certain ill currents, this powerful and valuable character does not develop or is misused. Here is a small example out of hundreds:

A compassionate mother makes every sacrifice to ensure her child's life in this world is not endangered and to ensure his benefits and prosperity; she provides him with tarbiyyah accordingly. 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 to save him from worldly imprisonment, without considering his falling into the prison of Jahannam. As the opposite of the compassion in her fitrah, she makes her innocent child, who should have been a shafî’ in the akhirah, a claimant. That child will complain, "Why did you cause this destruction of mine without strengthening and protecting my îmân?" Because he did not fully receive Islamic tarbiyyah, in this world too, he cannot respond to the rights of his mother's wondrous compassion in a way it deserves, and perhaps he commits many wrongs.

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 imprisonment, and from dying amidst dhalâlah, which is eternal extinction, the child will always send nûrs to the rûh of his mother with his good deeds after her death since the equivalent of all the good deeds of that 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’ with all his rûh and heart and will be a blessed child in eternal life.

Yes, man's first ustadh and most effective teacher is his mother. In connection with this, I declare this meaning, which I feel absolutely and always within myself:

In my eighty years of life, despite having received lessons from eighty thousand personages, I swear that the instillations 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, like seeds in my physical being. I clearly see that all the other lessons I received have been built upon those seeds. That is to say, I observe that the instillations and lessons of my late mother, which she ingrained into my fitrah and rûh at the age of one, are fundamental seeds within the great haqiqahs that I see now at the age of eighty.

In conclusion, I certainly see that I learnt to be compassionate, which is the most important of the four principles of my way and mashrab, and to be merciful and pitying, which are also the greatest haqiqahs of the Risale-i Nur, from the compassionate acts and states and those ma’nawî lessons of my mother. Yes, through misusing the compassion of motherhood, which carries genuine ikhlas and true sacrifice, and by not considering her innocent child’s âkhirah, which is his diamond treasure, to turn that child’s innocent face towards the world, which is temporary, transient pieces of glass, and to show compassion to him in this way is to misuse that compassion.

Yes, a hen — which carries a tiny sample of that compassion — attacking a lion and sacrificing its rûh for its chicks proves the heroism of women in terms of compassion and that they sacrifice their rûh without seeking for any reward or return, without the intention of any personal gain or show of any kind.

In this time, the most valuable and necessary principle among Islamic tarbiyyah and deeds related to the âkhirah is ikhlas. In the heroism within this kind of compassion, there is genuine ikhlas.

If these two points begin to develop within the blessed women, it would lead to great happiness within the Islamic circle. However, the heroism of men cannot be without reward; rather, they seek reward in a hundred ways. At least they want fame and honour. But unfortunately, unfortunate blessed women, in order to be saved from the sharr and oppression of their dhâlim men, resort in a different way to another kind of riyâ born of weakness and impotence.

SECOND SUBTLE POINT:

This year, while in seclusion and withdrawn from social life, I looked at the world for the sake of some of my Nur student brothers and sisters. I heard complaints from most of the friends who visited me about their own family lives. I said, "Alas! Family life is the refuge of man, particularly Muslims, and a sort of Jannah and a small world for them. 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 consequently, the religion of Islam, by employing the desires of the youth, a couple of committees work to lead the youth astray and drive them into dissipation (safahat). In the same way, I felt that a couple of committees work effectively under the veil to lead the ghâfil ones among miserable women in the wrong ways. And I certainly knew that a terrifying blow to this Muslim nation was coming from that direction.

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

The happiness of women in this world, as well as their happiness in the âkhirah and noble qualities in their fitrah, can only be saved from corruption through the tarbiyyah of religion within the circle of Islam! You hear about the degradation the unfortunate women in Russia have fallen into. It is said in one part of the Risale-i Nur that a man of sound mind does not build his love and affection for his wife on five or ten years of fleeting and superficial beauty; instead, he should build his love on her compassion, which is the most permanent and beautiful of the beauties of women, and on her beautiful character, which is unique to womanhood. So that, as the unfortunate woman gets older, her husband's love for her can continue because it is necessary to love each other with more respect and compassion as they get older, since his wife is not a temporary helpful companion just in the life of this world, but rather an eternal and lovable life companion in his eternal life. The family life, which is subjected to eternal separation after a temporary animal-like relationship under the guise of the tarbiyyah of modern civilisation, has begun to collapse along with its foundations.

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

Here, the meaning of the sentences in this context from the Risale-i Nur is this: at this time, the cause of the development of family life and its happiness in the world and the âkhirah and the development of noble qualities in women can only be through Islamic âdâb within the sphere of 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 retaliation, she spoils her loyalty and trustworthiness, which are the woman's duties in the family, the factory of that family life will turn upside down, just as obedience is disrupted in the military. Instead, that woman should try to reform her husband's faults as much as she can so that she can save her eternal companion. Otherwise, if she also tries to show herself to others and tries to make herself loved by others by immodest dressing, she will be harmed in every way. Because whoever abandons true loyalty will also be punished in this world. Because her fitrah feels scared and uncomfortable and withdraws from the gazes of non-mahrams. She disgusts the gazes of eighteen out of twenty non-mahram men. As for men, they disgust only one out of a hundred non-mahram women and feel ashamed to look at them. Just as the woman suffers torment in that aspect, she will also be subjected to the accusation of disloyalty; along 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 cannot reach them in such heroism, so too innocent women can in no way reach men in dissipation (safahat). Therefore, due to their fitrah and weak creation, they deeply fear non-mahrams and know they are obliged to shelter themselves beneath charshaf (jilbâb).

Because, if a man enters dissipation (safahat) for eight minutes of pleasure and enjoyment, he only loses about eight dollars. But as a punishment for the pleasure in the dissipation of eight minutes, even in this world, a woman bears a heavy load in her womb for eight months and then suffers the hardship of the tarbiyyah of that child, who does not have a protector, for eight years; therefore, she cannot reach men in dissipation; she suffers a hundred times more punishment. Many events of this sort show that the blessed women are the source of elevated morals by fitrah, and they are also incapable of fisq and dissipation for the sake of worldly pleasure. It means that they are a kind of blessed creature created particularly to have a happy family life within the sphere of Islamic tarbiyyah. Death to those committees that corrupt these blessed ones! May Allah protect my sisters from the sharr of such dissolute people, amen!

My sisters! I tell you this word of mine confidentially: rather than fall under the control of a dissolute, immoral Westernised husband for the sake of livelihood, strive to manage yourself with frugality and contentment inherent in your fitrah, like the innocent village women working to obtain their livelihood; do not try to sell yourselves. If a man who is not suitable for you is what Allah has decreed for you as a husband, 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, know for certain: Risale-i Nur has proved with hundreds of powerful proofs and events that in the pleasures and enjoyments outside the sphere permitted by Sharî’ah, there are ten times more pains and troubles. You can find the detailed explanation in the Risale-i Nur.

Conclusion: the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Words from The Short Words and The Youth Guide will show you this haqiqah entirely in my place. Therefore, be content and satisfied with the pleasures within the sphere permitted by Sharî’ah. An innocent conversation with your innocent children in your home is more enjoyable than a hundred cinemas.

Furthermore, know for certain that in this worldly life, true pleasure is within the sphere of îmân and in îmân. And, in each ‘amal as-sâlih, there is a ma’nawî pleasure. The Risale-i Nur has proven with hundreds of definitive proofs that even in this world, there are extremely bitter and ugly sufferings in dhalâlah and dissipation. Through many experiences and events, I have seen with ‘ayn al-yaqîn that there is a seed of Jannah in îmân and a seed of Jahannam in dissipation and dhalâlah, and this haqiqah was repeatedly written in the Risale-i Nur. Those risales have come into the hands of the most stubborn and antagonistic; neither the official committees of experts nor the courts could refute this haqiqah.

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

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

I was going to write more, but I am very ill, very weak, very old and have many duties, such as 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