The Eleventh Letter

بِاسْمِهِ سُبْحَانَهُ وَاِنْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ اِلاَّ يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ

(This letter is a significant medicine and points to four small gems from the treasury of four âyahs.)

My ‘Azîz Brother!

Al-Qur'an Al-Hakîm has taught my nafs these four different matters at different times. I wrote this letter so that my brothers who wish to may also take a lesson or a share from it. According to the subject matter, a small gem from the treasury of haqiqah of the four different noble âyahs has been presented as an example. Each of the four matters has a different form and benefit.

First Matter:

اِنَّ كَيْدَ الشَّيْطَانِ كَانَ ضَعِيفًا 1

O, my nafs that fell into despair due to the evil waswasa! The summoning of imaginations and the recollection of assumptions are a sort of involuntary depiction. If the depiction arises from khayr and luminosity, the essence of the haqiqah passes to some extent into its form and image, similar to the sun's light and heat passing into a mirror. If it arises from sharr and dense matters, the essence and quality of the original cannot pass into its form and image. For instance, the image of an impure and filthy thing in a mirror is neither impure nor filthy. And the snake's image does not bite.

As a consequence of this mystery, the reflection of kufr is not kufr, and the imagination of a sinful act is not a sinful act. Especially if it is involuntary and is a hypothetical recollection, it is totally harmless.

Furthermore, according to the madhab of the Ahl al-Sunnah wa'l-Jamâ'ah, who are people of haqq, the cause of ugliness or dirtiness of a thing in Sharî'ah is the prohibition of Allah. Since the summoning of imaginations and recollection of assumptions is involuntary and unwilling, prohibition does not apply to them. However ugly and impure a form they take, they will not be ugly and dirty.

Second Matter: It is a fruit of the pine, cedar and black poplar trees in Tepelice, the mountains of Barla. Since it has been included in The Words, it has not been written here.

Third Matter: These two matters are a part of the examples presented in the Twenty-Fifth Word that demonstrate the impotence of civilisation in the face of the miraculousness of the Qur'an. Here are two examples out of thousands that prove how unjust the law of the present civilisation is, which opposes the Qur'an:

Just as the decree of the Qur'an,

فَلِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ اْلاُنْثَيَيْن2

is pure justice, it is also pure mercy. Yes, it is justice because, by an absolute majority, a man takes a woman and undertakes her sustenance. And a woman goes to a husband and entrusts her sustenance to him; thereby, she compensates for her deficiency in inheritance. It is also mercy because that weak girl is in great need of compassion from her father and mercy from her brother. By following the command of the Qur'an, she receives compassion from her father without making him worry. Her father does not anxiously look on her as a harmful child who will cause half of his wealth to be passed into the hands of strangers. Worry or anger cannot interfere with his compassion. She also receives her brother's mercy and protection free of rivalry and envy. Her brother does not look on her as a rival who will destroy half of their lineage and hand over a significant portion of their wealth to strangers. He does not add grudge and resentment to his mercy and protection towards her. Thus, the girl, who by fitrah is gentle, lovable, powerless and vulnerable, may seem to lose a little, but instead, she gains an inexhaustible wealth from the compassion and mercy of her relatives.

Otherwise, to give her more than her right, as if we can show her more mercy than the rahmah of Al-Haqq, is not mercy towards her but severe dhulm. Indeed, the savage greed of the present time, reminiscent of the cruel dhulm of burying daughters alive in the Age of Ignorance (Jahiliyyah) due to savage jealousy, will lead to a merciless abominable act. All the decrees of the Qur'an, like these, confirm the decree,

وَمَا اَرْسَلْنَاكَ اِلاَّ رَحْمَةً لِلْعَاَلمِينَ3

Fourth Matter: فِلاُمِّهِ السُّدُسُ4

Here is how vile civilisation causes such an injustice by giving daughters more than their right, and it perpetrates an even more terrible injustice by cutting off the right of the mother:

The compassion of mothers, which is the most honourable, sweetest, gentlest and most lovable manifestation of the rahmah of Allah, is indeed the most sacred and honoured haqiqah among the haqiqahs of the universe. A mother is such a noble, generous, merciful and self-sacrificing companion that, through her compassion, she sacrifices her entire world, her life and comfort for her child. Even the most cowardly hen, the simplest and lowest level of motherhood, will throw herself forward to protect her chick through the tiny flash of the compassion of motherhood and attack a dog or a lion.

Thus, to deprive a mother, who carries such a sacred and esteemed haqiqah, of her child's property is an injustice of terrible magnitude, a most cruel disrespect, a most wrongful insult to that sacred haqiqah and a denial of ni’mah (kufr an-ni’mah) that causes the ‘arsh of Rahmah to tremble. And it is to add poison to a most brilliant and beneficial panacea for the social life of man.

If the human monsters who claim to be humanitarians do not understand this, then surely the true humans will. They will acknowledge that the decree of Al-Qur’an Al-Hakîm,

فِلاُمِّهِ السُّدُسُ5

is pure haqq and pure justice.

اَلْبَاقِى هُوَ الْبَاقِى

Said Nursî