بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

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

“In the âkhirzaman, people will recite the Qur’an, and it may fail even to go past their clavicles." About the haqiqah of this hadith:

Undigested ‘Ilm Should Not Be Inculcated1

The real ‘âlim guide (Murshid) is a sheep, not a bird; he gives his ‘ilm for the sake of Allah.

The sheep gives its lamb its digested, purified milk.

The bird gives its chick its vomit soiled with saliva.

The Gleams

 

“Some Principles For Society

If you want some principles for society: unequal justice is not justice. Resemblance is an important reason for contrariety.

Mutual proportion is the basis of solidarity. Insignificancy of the nafs is the source of pride. Weakness of the heart is the mine of arrogance. Impotence is the source of opposition. Curiosity is the teacher of ‘ilm.” The Words ( 761 )

 

About indwelling ‘ilm in the heart:

Also, îmân is not obtained only through ‘ilm; many subtle faculties have their share in îmân. Just as when food enters a stomach, it is distributed in various ways to various blood vessels and nerves. In the same way, after the matters of îmân, which come through ‘ilm, enter the stomach of the mind, the rûh, heart, sirr, nafs and other subtle faculties receive their share from it according to their degree, and absorb it. If they do not receive their share, it is deficient. Thus, Muhyiddîn Bin 'Arabî was reminding this point to Fakhraddîn Râzî.

The Twenty-Sixth Letter Fourth Topic Second Matter

 

If ‘ilm is not indwelled in the heart in the form of fadhîlah, it will be the means of ananiyyah.

The harms of ananiyyah arising from ‘ilm

“One other thing remains and it is the most dangerous: among yourselves and your friends having a vein of jealousy toward this poor brother of yours is most dangerous. There are the important people of ‘ilm standing among you, and some people of ‘ilm have ananiyyah regarding their ‘ilm. Even if they themselves are modest, they have ananiyyah in that respect. They cannot easily give it up. How much their hearts and minds adhere, their nafs wants eminence in respect of that ananiyyah of ilm and sell themselves, and even to dispute the risales that have been written. Although their hearts love the risales and their minds appreciate them and recognize their worth, due to jealousy arising from the ananiyyah of ‘ilm, their nafs want to reduce the value of the Words, as though nurturing an implicit enmity towards them, so that the products of their own thought can compete with them and be sold like them. But I have to tell them this:

Even if those in these lessons of Qur'an’s circle are leading ‘Ulamâ and Mujtahids, their duties in respect of the ‘ilms of îmân are only explaining and expounding the Words that have been written, or the ordering of them. For, we have understood through many signs that we have been charged with the duty of issuing fatwas concerning these ‘ilms of îmân. If someone within our circle writes some things outside explaining and expounding due to a feeling in his nafs arising from the ananiyyah of ‘ilm, it would be like a cold dispute or deficient plagiarism. Because it has become established through numerous evidences and signs that the parts of the Risale-i Nur have trickled in drops from the Qur'an. In accordance with the rule of the division of labour, each of us has undertaken a duty, and we make those distillations of the water of life reach those who are in need!” The Letters ( 498-499 )

 

‘Ilm is for action (‘amal)

The result of the ‘ilm obtained must be ‘amal with fadhîlah. In the tafsir of the âyah (2:22) Ustadh says:

“Yes, the generous and noble are numerous [due to their high worth] even if few [in number]” Signs of Miraculousness ( 237 )

 

While your tongue is proclaiming the âyahs of the Qur’an to the world, your state, demeanour and morality may disseminate its meaning; recite the Qur’an with the language of your being as well. Then you may become the master of the earth, the leader of the world and a means for the happiness of humanity.

Biography

 

If we display the perfections of the morality of Islam and the haqiqahs of îmân with our actions, followers of other religions will certainly enter Islam in communities. Rather, some of the continents and states of the globe of the earth will even seek refuge in Islam.

The Damascus Sermon (24)

 

“It is unfortunate that the good which was ours, lies now in the hands of non-muslims; just as our good morals too have been stolen by them. It is as though certain exalted social morals of ours, have left us for them after being displeased for not being in demand. And some of their dissoluteness has been brought to the marketplace of our ignorance after having no demand amongst them.” Biography ( 94 )

 

“The Nûr of the Mind Comes From the Heart

The illuminated people who are in darkness should know that the nûr of thoughts cannot be enlightened without the light of the heart.

So long as that nûr and this light are not blended, there is darkness, producing dhulm and ignorance. The darkness of sham garbed in nûr.

If the white of the eye, which resembles daytime, white but darkened, is not combined with the black pupil, which resembles lightened night, it is not an eye, it will see nothing. Sight without basîrah is also worth for nothing.

So, if the black point of the heart2 is not present in the white of thought, the miscellaneous information in the mind will produce no ‘ilm or basîrah. There can be no mind without the heart.” The Words ( 739 )

 

“جِئْتُ ِلاُتَمِّمَ مَكَارِمَ اْلاَخْلاَقِ3

That is, "An important hikmah for my being sent to mankind by Janâb-i Haqq was to perfect good conduct and morality, and deliver mankind from immorality and vice." The Damascus Sermon ( 25 )

 

The Aim Should be Fadhîlah

The tarbiyyah that the hikmah of philosophy and the hikmah of the Qur'an gives to the social life of mankind:

As for the hikmah of philosophy, in the life of society, it accepts the point of support to be 'force'. It recognizes the aim to be 'benefit'. It considers the principle of life to be 'conflict'. It holds the bond between communities to be 'racialism and negative nationalism'. As for its fruits, they are 'satisfying the desires of the nafs and increasing the needs of mankind'. However, the necessary consequence of force is transgression. Since the benefit is not sufficient for all desires, the necessary consequence of it is to throttle one another on it. The necessary consequence of the principle of conflict is the collision. Since racialism is being nourished by devouring others, the necessary consequence of it is transgression... Thus, it is due to these hikmahs that the happiness of mankind has been seized.

As for the hikmah of the Qur'an, instead of force, it accepts the point of support to be 'haqq'. It accepts 'fadhîlah and the pleasure of Allah' to be the aim instead of the benefit. Instead of the principle of conflict, it holds 'the principle of mutual assistance' to be the basis of life. Instead of racialism and nationalism, it accepts 'the bonds of religion, class and country' to be the bonds of communities. Its aim is to urge the rûh to sublime matters and to satisfy its elevated feelings by building a barrier against the transgressions of the desires of the nafs, and to make the man a human being by urging him to the perfections of humanity. The necessary consequence of haqq is union. The necessary consequence of fadhîlah is solidarity. The necessary consequence of the principle of mutual assistance is hastening to the aid of each other. The necessary consequence of religion is brotherhood and attraction. The necessary consequence of leaving the rûh free by reining in and tethering the nafs and whipping up the rûh towards the perfections is happiness in both realms.

The Twelfth Word/Third Principle

 

Yes, as for true progress, by turning the faces of the heart, sirr, rûh, mind and even the imagination and other powers (quwwa) given to man towards eternal life, it lies in occupying each of them with a particular duty of ‘ubûdiyyah worthy of it. Otherwise, if, in order to plunge into all minor points of the life of the world and taste every sort of its pleasures, even the basest, he makes subject to the nafs al-ammarah all his subtle faculties, heart and mind and makes them assist to it — what the people of dhalâlah suppose that it is progress — it is not progress but the decline.

The Twenty-Third Word/Second Discussion/2nd Subtle Point

 

Irâdah, mind, feelings and Rabbânî subtle faculties, which are the four elements of the conscience (Vijdân) and the four faculties of the rûh, each have an ultimate aim. The ultimate aim of the irâdah is ‘ibâdah to Allah; the ultimate aim of mind is ma’rifatullah; the ultimate aim of feelings is the love of Allah; the ultimate aim of subtle faculties is mushâhadatullah4. The peThe perfect ‘ibâdah that is called taqwâ comprises the four of them. Sharî'ah both cultivates and corrects them and directs them towards their ultimate aims.

The Damascus Sermon-136

 

“if one equips a person with the gear for a job, one hopes and expects that he will do it. In the same way, Allah has decked out humanity with the potentiality to be perfected, and the capacity of accountability, and the means of the will.

The metaphor indicates too that the hikmah of man's creation is taqwâ. It also infers that ‘ibâdah results in the degree of taqwâ. So too it is a sign that the taqwâ is the highest degree.” Signs of Miraculousness (175)

 

Regarding destruction and sharr, nafs al-ammarah can commit infinite crimes, but regarding creativity and khayr, its power is extremely little and partial. Yes, one can destroy a house in one day but cannot build it in a hundred. However, if he abandons ananiyyah, seeks khayr and existence from the assistance of Allah, gives up sharr, destruction and relying on the nafs and becomes a true ‘abd through offering istighfâr, then he will be honoured with the mystery of يُبَدِّلُ اللّٰهُ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ حَسَنَاتٍۜ 5. His infinite capacity for sharr transforms into an infinite capacity for khayr. He acquires the value of Ahsan Taqwîm and rises to the a’lâ ‘illiyyin.

The Twenty-Third Word/Second Discussion/1st Subtle Point

 

“O WRETCHED SAID! The grave is a door—inside it is rahmah; outside it, lie suffering and wretchedness. Almost all of your loved ones and friends dwell on the other side of this door. Is it not time for you to want to join them and their ‘âlam? Purify yourself [of your sins]; otherwise, they will be disgusted with you.” Al-Mathnawi Al-Nuri (182)

 

“The grave, which waits for you and toward which you travel, is the door to the âkhirah. It does not accept your ornaments of the world as gifts, for in the other world they will change into error and sin.

Fourth: The difference between staying for an hour among enemies and vermin and among your most beloved friends and elders for years. Mâlik Al-Mulk calls you to abandon that hour of pleasure so that you may have perfect comfort and satisfaction in the company of your beloved ones in those years. So answer Allah’s call before you are sent to Him fettered.” Al-Mathnawi Al-Nuri (178)

 

It means that man came to this ‘âlam to be perfected by means of ‘ilm and du'â. Everything is tied to ‘ilm regarding their essence and disposition, and the foundation, source, nûr and rûh of all true ‘ilm is ma’rifatullah, and its fundamental foundation is îmân in Allah.

The Twenty-Third Word - Fourth Point

 

“The first time يَا بَاقِى اَنْتَ الْبَاقِى6 , severs and isolates the heart from everything other than Allah like a surgical operation. It is as follows:

Due to the comprehensiveness of his essence, man is connected with almost all beings. Also, an infinite capacity to love has been included in his comprehensive essence. Therefore, man nurtures a love towards all beings. He loves the huge world as a house of his own. He loves eternal Jannah as his garden. However, the beings he loves do not stop, they go. Through the separation, he constantly suffers pain. That infinite love of his becomes the means of infinite ma’nawî torment.

The fault, guilt in suffering such torment is his. For the infinite capacity to love in his heart is given to direct it toward One possessing an infinite eternal beauty (jamâl). By misusing it and spending it on transitory beings, he does wrong and suffers the punishment for the fault through the pain of separation.

Thus the first phrase يَا بَاقِى اَنْتَ الْبَاقِى7 which declares restricting love to Al-Mahbûb Who is Bâqî through clearing of this fault and breaking off the connection from those transitory beloveds, leaving those beloveds before they leave him, expresses this meaning: "The True Bâqî is only You! Everything other than You is transient. One that is transient certainly cannot be the means of the relation of a heart which has been created for eternity, and for an eternal love and for a pre-eternal and post-eternal ‘ashq.” It means “Since those infinite beloveds are transitory and they leave me and go, before they leave me, I leave them through saying, يَا بَاقِى اَنْتَ الْبَاقِى8 . Only You are eternal, and I know and believe that beings can only be eternal by You making them so. In that case, they are loved with Your love. Otherwise, they are not worthy of the heart's relation.

Thus, in this state, the heart gives up infinite beloveds. It sees the stamp of transitoriness on their beauty and loveliness, it severs its relation. Ma’nawî wounds emerge to the number of its beloveds if it does not sever.

The second phrase يَا بَاقِى اَنْتَ الْبَاقِى9 is both a salve and an antidote for those infinite wounds. That is, يَا بَاقِى “Since You are eternal, that is sufficient, You take the place of everything. Since You exist, everything exists."

Yes, the beauty, bounty and perfection in beings, which are the cause of love, are generally signs of the True Bâqî's beauty and bounty and perfections, and are pale shadows of them which have been passed through many veils; indeed, they are the shadows of the shadows of the manifestations of Al-Asmâ Al-Husnâ." The Third Flash-1st Subtle Point

 

One who reads these risales and lessons for a year through understanding and accepting can become an important ‘âlim possessing haqiqah of this time.

The Twenty-First Flash

 

للّٰهُمَّ يَا حَافِظُ يَا حَفِيظُ يَا خَيْرَ الْحَافِظِينَ اِحْفَظْنِى وَ احْفَظْ رُفَقَائِى مِنْ شَرِّ النَّفْسِ وَ الشَّيْطَانِ وَ مِنْ شَرِّ الْجِنِّ وَ اْلاِنْسَانِ وَ مِنْ شَرِّ اَهْلِ الضَّلاَلَةِ وَ اَهْلِ الطُّغْيَانِ آمِينَ آمِينَ آمِينَ

سُبْحَانَكَ لاَ عِلْمَ لَنَا اِلاَّ مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا اِنَّكَ اَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ