بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

THE ISLAMIC UNITY – 5

The prescription for a magnificent, unfortunate continent, a glorious, defeated state, and a valuable, ownerless nation is Islamic Unity.

The Damascus Sermon (109)

It is necessary to carry a positive point of view and not to fall into despair:

According to the mystery, مَنْ آمَنَ بِالْقَدَرِ اَمِنَ مِنَ الْكَدَرِ “Whoever believes in Qadar is saved from grief and sorrow,” and according to the mystery of the rule,  خُذُوا مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ اَحْسَنَهُ “Look on the good side of things,” and اَلَّذ۪ينَ يَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ اَحْسَنَهُۜ اُو۬لٰٓئِكَ الَّذ۪ينَ هَدٰيهُمُ اللّٰهُ وَاُو۬لٰٓئِكَ هُمْ اُو۬لُو اْلاَلْبَابِ , a very short meaning of it, “Those who listen to words and follow the best of them and pay no attention to the bad among those words; those are the mindful ones honoured with the hidâyah of Allah,” we should now look on the good and beautiful aspect of everything, the side of everything that brings joy, so that meaningless, unnecessary, harmful, distressing, ugly and temporary states do not capture our attention and occupy our hearts. In the Eighth Word, a man enters a garden while the other leaves it. The fortunate man looks at the flowers and beautiful things in the garden, and he rests with ease. The other unfortunate one gives attention only to the ugly, filthy things, although he is unable to clean them up, and he makes himself nauseated. Instead of resting, he suffers distress and then goes on his way. Now, the pages of the social life of mankind, especially the madrasa of Yûsuf, are a garden where both ugly and beautiful and both sorrowful and joyful things exist together. The mindful person is he who is occupied with the beautiful and joyful things and ignores the ugly, distressing things and offers shukr and rejoices instead of complaining and worrying.

The Fourteenth Ray

 

• One who sees beautifully thinks beautifully. One who thinks beautifully receives pleasure from life.
• What revives people is hope, while what kills them is despair.

The Letters-The seeds of haqiqah-50-51

 

Have good thoughts; bad thoughts harm both you and them.

Q- Why do our bad thoughts harm them?

A- Some of them know the outward appearances of Islam through blind imitation without any verification and study, just like you. Imitation, however, is torn apart by doubts. Therefore, when you label some individuals as irreligious — especially if they are superficial in religion and occupied with philosophy — they might hesitate, and with the waswasas, such as their path being outside Islam, they might respond with, “Whatever will be, will be.” Out of despair, and perhaps even with obstinate hostility, they might start actions that are contrary to Islam. So, O you unjust people! You have seen how you lead some unfortunates to dhalâlah. It has often happened that if a bad person is told, "You're good, you're good," he becomes good, and if a good person is told, "You're bad, you're bad," he becomes bad.

Q- Why?

A- For instance, even if some individuals have great evils in them, they should not be attacked. For there are many evils that, as long as they remain hidden beneath a veil of goodness and that veil is not torn and as long as they are ignored, will remain limited and confined. Consequently, the owner of those evils strives to reform themselves under this veil of concealment and hayâ. However, if the veil is torn, hayâ is cast aside; if he is attacked, evil spreads terribly.

Münazarat (42 - 43)

 

Our most dreadful disease and calamity is criticism based on jarbaza and pride. If justice utilises criticism, it peels the haqiqah. However, when pride wields it, it destroys and shatters the haqiqah. If it enters into the aqâid of îmân and matters of religion, it is the most terrible of this terrible type of criticism. For îmân is both affirmation, idh'ân, iltizâm, submission (taslîm) and ma’nawî obedience. This type of criticism destroys the obedience, iltizâm and idh'ân. Concerning affirmation, it causes the person to remain impartial. In this time of doubt and wahm, it is necessary to look favourably on the positive thoughts and encouraging statements that emerge from luminous, warm hearts and that cultivate and strengthen idh'ân and iltizâm. What they call "impartial reasoning" is a temporary irreligiousness. Those newly granted hidâyah or those new to seeking the haqq do it.

1 وَالَّذِى عَلَّمَ الْقُرْاٰنَ الْمُعْجِزَ اِنَّ نَظَرَ الْبَشِيرِ النَّذِيرِ وَبَصِيرَتَهُ النَّقَّادَةَ اَدَقُّ وَاَجَلَّ وَاَجْلَى وَاَنْفَذُ مِنْ اَنْ يَلْتَبِسَ اَوْ تَشْتَبِهَ عَلَيْهِ الْحَقِيقَةُ بِالْخَيَالِ وَاِنَّ مَسْلَكَهُ الْحَقَّ اَغْنَى وَاَنْزَهُ وَاَرْفَعُ مِنْ اَنْ يُدَلِّسَ اَوْ يُغَالِطَ عَلَى النَّاسِ

For the eye that sees the haqiqah cannot be deceived, and a heart that worships the haqq does not deceive.

The Damascus Sermon (140)

 

The cause of the disagreement is jarbaza that is the cruel ruler. Jarbaza that relies on criticism and pessimism is always cruel.

Sünuhat-Tuluat-İşarat (83)

 

Q- What impact has the jarbaza had on the thoughts of the present time?

A- Look, it is that evil that, with such fabricated pretexts, they present a foreign state — which oppresses and insults us as big as Mount Ararat — as a friend through the nonsense talks, like the statement “They aided us in Crimea on some date.” They also reduce to the lowest level the great group of mujahidin, who work for the honour and glory of Islam as big as Mount Subhan, and portray them to the nation as enemies with such absurd excuses.

Moreover, as a result of the tarbiyyah it received from Europe, the jarbaza kills the rûh of the jamâ’ah by focusing on the worst aspect and constantly driving the nation into despair, while it is beneficial to consider the best aspect of everything with the principle

خُذْ مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ اَحْسَنَهُ2

Moreover, by combining the weakness of aqâid into its evil, the jarbaza shows the weakest side of religious matters and prepares the ground for irreligion. It is also its result that, with a jarbaza with sophistry, they show the criticisms — which are the requirement of human fitrah — that happened among the Salaf as a form of positive rivalry or arising from the worship of haqq. By showing the criticism of each about the others, the jarbaza instils disrespect and distrust towards the great personages of the ummah and thereby undermines the sanctity of Islam in the minds.

Thus, many grievous damages like these arise from this kind of jarbaza. Whenever I think of Istanbul, the image comes to mind of an old child with a tongue two inches long and whose other limbs are deprived of growth and development.

Sünuhat-Tuluat-İşarat (87 - 88)

 

وَ لاَ تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ اُخْرَى 3

Here is the most just principle of the Qur’an concerning the management of individuals, groups and nations.

اِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولاً4

Here is the mystery of the terrifying capacity for dhulm in the essence of man: Unlike animals, powers (quwwa) and inclinations were not limited in the fitrah of human beings. The inclination towards dhulm and the love for nafs emerge in them terribly.

Yes, selfishness, arrogance, self-centredness, egotism, pride and stubbornness, which are the abominable manifestations of ana and ananiyyah; if they join that inclination, they will create such grievous kabâir that mankind has not yet found a name for those kabâir. Just as these kabâir prove the necessity of Jahannam, their punishment can only be Jahannam.

First of all, regarding individuals: a person possesses many different attributes. If an attribute among them attracts enmity, the law of Allah in the first âyah requires that one should limit enmity to that attribute; he should pity the person, who is the place of assembly of innocent attributes, and should not violate the rights of that person.

However, the dhâlim and ignorant person, with his dhâlim inclination, violates the rights of those innocent attributes because of a sinful attribute and displays hostility towards the owner of that attribute. He does not even suffice with this but also extends his dhulm to the relatives of that person and even those who share the same path with him. Since there are many causes of a thing, it is possible that this cruel attribute is not due to the corruption of the heart but rather the result of an external cause. Therefore, if the attribute is sinner, and even if it is kâfir, that person cannot be considered cruel.

Regarding jamâ’ah, we see that a person with a greedy vengeance or a vengeful opposition has said, with an idea that contains desire, "Islam will be destroyed" or "Khilâfah will be ruined.” He desires the suffering of Islam and, al'iyazu Billah5, the drowning of Islamic brotherhood (uhkuwwah) only to prove his evil words right and to satisfy his pride and ananiyyah. Through unimaginable interpretations with jarbaza, he wants to show the dhulm of the enemy appropriate to kâfirs as justice.

Regarding modern civilisation, we see that this evil has endowed the hands of mankind with such a cruel principle of dhulm that it diminishes all the goodness of civilisation to zero. It reveals the mystery behind the concern of the noble malâikah in the âyah

اَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَنْ يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَ يَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ6

Here, if there is a traitor in a village, this civilisation allows the destruction of that village with its innocent people, or if there is a rebel in a community, allows the annihilation of that community with its children and women, or if someone who does not bow to its cruel law takes refuge in a sacred building worth billions, such as the Hagia Sophia, this civilisation gives permission for the most terrifying acts of savagery, such as destroying that building.

How is it possible that a man is not held accountable for his brother's sins in the sight of haqq, yet thousands of innocent people in a village or town are held accountable, or even destroyed, for the rebellion of a reckless man in a city or neighbourhood that never remains free of ill-natured rebels, even though those innocent people have no connection to them?

Sünuhat-Tuluat-İşarat (27-29)

 

This is an addendum I wrote to one of my risale seven years ago.
بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

اَلْحَمْدُ للّٰهِ الَّذِى قَالَ وَ لاَ يَغْتَبْ بَعْضُكُمْ بَعْضًا7

وَ الصَّلاَةُ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ الَّذِى قَالَ: مَنْ قَالَ هَلَكَ النَّاسُ هَلَكَ النَّاسُ فَهُوَ اَهْلَكَهُمْ... اَمَّا بَعْد

In this time, the mediaeval-like Inquisition of this current civilisation, with a terrible instrument, impregnates certain minds, produces some illegitimate children, and thus executes its hatred and desire for revenge against Islam. It wants to open a door to a non-religious lifestyle, indifference, or a tendency towards Christianity, or to alienate Muslims from Islam by instilling doubts.

Here is that stratagem: "O Muslim, look, wherever there is a Muslim, they are relatively poor, ghâfil and uncivilised. Wherever there are Christians, they are to some degree civilised, enlightened, and wealthy. So... etc.”

And I say, O Muslim! Do not loosen your hand from Islam, which is the guardian of our existence against the frightening consequences stemming from the two causes of Europe's superiority, one material and one ma’nawî, and against the destructive effects of the consequence. Adhere with four hands, or you will be ruined.

Yes, we are going down, and they are going up. There are two reasons for this. One is material; the other is ma’nawî.

The First Reason is the natural state of Europe, which is the church and the source of life for all Christians. For it is small, beautiful, an iron reserve, and it is full of indentations and protrusions. Its seas and rivers are its intestines; it is cold.

Yes, Europe, which is one-fifth of the face of the globe, has attracted one-fourth of humanity with its fitrî beauty. It is established by hikmah that the gathering of many individuals produces needs. Needs that increase due to many causes, such as custom, cannot be provided by the vegetation of the earth. From this point onwards, necessity serves as the teacher for craft, curiosity serves as the teacher for science, and boredom serves as the teacher for the instruments of dissipation (safahat), and they commence their teaching.

Yes, the concept of art and the inclination towards craft emerge from increased population. Mutual acquaintance led to trade, while mutual assistance resulted in cooperation because of the smallness of Europe and the presence of natural means of transportation, such as its seas and rivers. Additionally,

تلاحق الأفكار8

is born out of connection, and competition is born out of rivalry. And since iron ore, the mother of all industries, is abundant in Europe, it has given their civilisation such a weapon of strength that they have plundered, seized, looted and raided all the debris of civilisations in the world, gained great dominance and disrupted the balance of the earth's equilibrium. Furthermore, rigid coldness, which entails avoiding haste and not rushing, gave them perseverance and firmness in their efforts and sustained and preserved their civilisation. Moreover, the establishment of their states based on science, the collision of their opposing forces, the inconvenience and harassment resulting from their cruel tyranny, the counterproductive pressures stemming from their mediaeval inquisitorial fanaticism and the competitive antagonism among Europe’s parallel nations caused the development and progress in the dispositions and capacities of Europeans, and these awakened some abilities and the idea of nationalism in them.

The Second Reason is the point of support. Yes, if a Christian raises his head and sets his hands to one of the interconnected and overlapping purposes, he looks behind them and sees a very strong point of support to rely on and a point that will always aid and give life to his mana’wî strength. He even finds the strength within himself to struggle against the heaviest and most significant tasks.

That point of support is the deceptive civilisation of Europe, which is always ready to strengthen the lifeblood of fellow followers of its religion, who extend their hands from all sides, and ready to cut the most vital veins of Muslims, and it is the deceptive civilisation of Europe, which is the barracks or great church of an armed mass of people intoxicated with the pride arising from the triumph of their civilisation and is kneaded with the irreligion arising from materialism and modern mediaeval inquisitorial fanaticism.

Don’t you see that the U.K., which wears the most freedom-cherishing mask, is reaching out and searching? Wherever they find Christians, they give life to them. Here is Abyssinia, Sudan. Here is Tayyar, Artushi. Here is Lebanon, Hauran. Here are Mal Sur and Albania. Here are the Kurds and Armenians, the Turks and Greeks, and so on.

In short: what revives them is hope, and what kills us is despair. It is well known that someone said, "If I could find a fulcrum, I would move the earth from its place." There is a peculiar point in this hypothesis. It means that if this tiny little man finds a point of support, he can accomplish things as great as the globe of the earth.

O Muslims! Here is our point of support against the calamities and disasters as heavy as the globe of the earth that have befallen the Islamic world: it is the point of Islam that commands unity through love, the union of ideas through ma’rifat and mutual assistance through brotherhood (ukhuwwah).

Look! From the highest point of this great circle of the Islamic world to the smallest circle — for example, the madrasa students — there is a knot of life within them that resembles a seed. Just as the individuals and bonds of society rely on each other, those knots, too, are connected; by forming a chain, they rely upon that supreme point. It means that Islam can awaken and begin to progress by not suppressing those knots of life that resemble seeds but rather by awakening, nurturing and cultivating all those knots of life.

Otherwise, with a strong, insane infatuation for Europe and a deep hatred for his nation, if someone unfairly, with deceptive jarbaza, compares the virtues of Europe with our evil states or acts, and the fruits of their talahûk al-afkâr with the fruits of one person's efforts, {Attributing to Christianity a civilisation that does not belong to it and portraying the decline, which Islam is antagonistic to, as Islam’s ally serves as evidence that the order that Allah established in the universe has turned upside down.} he reveals himself as the illegitimate child of Europe. Through his rebellious, slanderous satire destroying honour, which stems from a revolutionary thought, a desire for destruction and deceptive jarbaza, he also reveals his pharaonic nature and implicitly exposes his pride and arrogance, as well as unconscious hostility towards Islam. Through the judgment of his pharaonic nature, ananiyyah and pride, instead of the feeling of compassion, which he is required by Sharî’ah, mind and hikmah to feel towards his nation, he replaces it with the feeling of contempt; he replaces the inclination for affection with the inclination for hatred, the tendency towards love with a will for scorn, the tendency towards respect with the inclination towards deeming others ignorant, a desire for mercy with a desire for arrogance and self-sacrificing traits with a tendency towards individualism. He thus reveals his lack of patriotism and disloyalty, and in the eyes of haqiqah, he becomes such a criminal and detestable person that he engages in an act both foolish and criminal, such as attempting to clothe a respectable hoja in a masjîd with garments befitting and admired by a dissolute and immoral madame from the world of debauchery in Paris. For patriotism is the necessary outcome of love, respect and compassion. Without these, it cannot exist; without these, it is definitely a lie, a fraud. Hate is the opposite of patriotism.

The parasites and bootlickers of Europe who attack the devotees are each as devoted in their sick path as a hundred devotees. If a hoja were to praise Shaykh Jilânî as excessively as one of these people praises Shakespeare, he would be labelled a 'kâfir'.

Alas! Where is the love for the nation and patriotism in them?!

What a pity! Of the many knots of life that drive society to activity and movement, what has begun to develop in us is, unfortunately, only the idea of literature, in particular, the poetic, excessive and self-praising idea of satire and desire for contempt that destroy good manners and respect.

This is disrespect towards the âyah,

وَ لاَ يَغْتَبْ بَعْضُكُمْ بَعْضًا9

which teaches true good manners and respect, so that they attack each other. We throw at the faces of those parasites and bootlickers their implicit attacks by innuendo against Islam and the nation. However, we shall refrain from elaborating further, considering that they might indeed deserve their mutual irreligious satire and insults against each other.

I believe that more than excessive ignorance, the cause of the misery of this nation is the excessively unproductive intelligence, which is not accompanied by the nûr of the heart. I think that anger is the most dreadful disease, because by exaggerating everything, it causes the opposite effects.

O brother! Young and vigorous causes confronting the aged causes that led to the superiority of the Christian world have begun to develop in us. I have detailed it in another book. A story: Ten years ago, I went to Tbilisi. {Seven years have passed since the first edition of this book. So, ‘ten years ago’ refers to the year 132610 of the Rûmî calendar.}  I climbed to the top of Shaykh San'an Hill and was observing closely. A Russian came up to me. He said:

-To what are you paying attention?

I said:

-I am drawing the plan for my madrasah.

He said:

-Where are you from?

I said:

-I am from Bitlis.

He said:

-This is Tbilisi.

I said:

-Bitlis and Tbilisi are brothers.

He said:

-What do you mean?

I said:

-In Asia, in the Islamic world, three nûrs are beginning to develop one after another, and in your world, three darknesses will begin to spread on top of each other. This tyrannical veil will be torn down; it will diminish, and I will come and build my madrasa here.

He said:

-What a pity! I am surprised at your hope.

I said:

-I am also surprised by your mind. Can you imagine this winter continuing? Every winter has a spring; every night has a day.

He said:

-Islam has been fragmented.

-They have gone to be trained. Here is India, a promising child of Islam, studying in the English Preparatory School. Egypt is an intelligent son of Islam, studying at the British Civil Service Academy. The Caucasus and Turkestan, two brave sons of Islam training at the Russian Military Academy, and so on.

After these noble children receive their diplomas, each will take the command of a continent. By waving the flag of Islam, their magnificent and just father, across the horizons of perfection, each will proclaim the mystery of azalî hikmah in mankind, defiantly challenging the course of history.

Here is the half of my story.

With a comparison, I will explain the ma’nawî state that makes one say, "What is it to me?" and "Me! Me!":

An unfortunate, afflicted {It means that

11 اَلدُّنْيَا سِجْنُ الْمُؤْمِنِ وَ جَنَّةُ الْكَافِرِ

is not a metaphor.} but brave man from a noble tribe and a fortunate, prosperous coward man from another tribe meet in the same place. The debate and competition for glory begin between them.

The first man raises his head, sees that his tribe is humiliated, and cannot bear the blow to his self-esteem. He lowers his head, looks at his nafs, and finds it somewhat heavy. Alas! At that moment, his pride, wounded with self-criticism, begins to cry out, like, "What is it to me? Here I am; here are my deeds." Or, he withdraws from his tribe or displays disloyalty and joins another tribe.

As the second man raises his head, the glories of his tribe dazzle him and inflate his sense of pride. He looks at his nafs and sees it as neglectful. At that moment, the feeling of self-sacrifice and the idea of nationalism awaken in him; he says, "I shall sacrifice myself for my tribe.

If you understood the allusion in this comparison, if the feelings of a Muslim, for example, and a Christian or a Kurd and a Greek were to be apparent to us when they are confronted and compared in the struggle for patriotism in this world of lessons, which is a field of competition and struggle, you would see the mystery behind this analogy. However, this difference is not as everyone thinks. Rather, it arises from superficiality, shallowness and a mistaken feeling.

O Muslim! Do not be deceived! Do not lower your head! A rusty, unique diamond is always preferable to polished glass. The cause of the apparent weakness of Islam is that the modern civilisation serves the interests of another religion. However, the time has come for this civilisation to change its form. If the form of this civilisation changes, the case becomes the opposite. Just as it was said at the beginning, wherever there are Muslims, they are relatively Bedouin compared to Christians; they refuse civilisation, are cold towards it and suffer in accepting it. If the form changes, this state would transform.

كُلُّ آتٍ قَرِيبٌ ٭ اِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا12

SAİD NURSÎ (R.H.)

* * *

Sünuhat-Tuluat-İşarat (63-75)

 

The Second Word has been born in my thought as a result of my experiences in the course of my life. It is as follows:

Despair is the most terrible disease that has entered the heart of the Islamic world. It is despair that has as though killed us so that a small state of one or two million in the West has made twenty million Muslims in the East its servants and brought their homeland under colonial rule. It is also despair that has killed our high morals and caused us to abandon the public good and focus our sight on personal benefits. It is also despair that has broken our ma’nawî power. Although with ma’nawî power arising from îmân and little material strength, Muslims conquered from East to West, dhâlim foreigners have held three hundred million Muslims captive for four hundred years because that extraordinary ma’nawî power was destroyed by despair. Because of this despair, Muslims even suppose the indifference and apathy of others to be an excuse for their own laziness and say, "What is it to me?" Saying, "Everybody is as miserable as I am," they abandon the courage arising from îmân and fail to perform their Islamic service.

Since this disease has inflicted such dhulm upon us and is killing us, we will take our revenge on our killer and kill it. With the sword of

13 لاَ تَقْنَطُوا مِنْ رَحْمَةِ اللّٰهِ

we will smash its head. With the haqiqah of the hadith,

يُدْرَكُ كُلُّهُ لاَ يُتْرَكُ كُلُّهُ14

we will break the back of despair, InshâAllah.

Despair is a most terrible disease called "cancer" of ummahs and nations. It is an obstacle to all kinds of perfection and is opposed to the haqiqah,

اَنَا عِنْدَ حُسْنِ ظَنِّ عَبْدِى بِى15

It is the trait and excuse of cowards, the lowly and the impotent. It is not the characteristic of Islamic courage. In particular, it cannot be the trait of a nation, like the Arabs, who are distinguished by elevated virtues that are a source of pride for mankind. The nations of the Islamic world have learnt from the firmness of the Arabs. InshâAllah, the Arabs will once again overcome despair and, with genuine solidarity and unity, will stand together with the Turks, who are the heroic army of Islam, and they will together proclaim the banner of the Qur'an in every part of the world.

The Damascus Sermon (43-45)

 

...The outburst of the idea of freedom in Arabia, India, Java, Egypt, the Caucasus, Africa and similar places has led to such a great transformation and astonishing revolution in the thoughts of the Islamic world, alongside intellectual progress and a complete awakening, that even if we had paid a hundred years for it, it would still have been cheap. Because freedom demonstrated nationality. The luminous jewel of Islam, which is in the shell of nationalism, began to manifest itself. It announced the zeal of Islam, stating that every Muslim is not a vagrant like a single individual, but each of them is a part of a superior, interconnected compound body. They have ties of kinship (sila ar-rahm) with other parts from the point of an Islamic general power of attraction. This report provides a strong sense of hope that the point of support and the point of help are extremely strong and firm. This hope revived our ma’nawî strength, which had been killed by despair. The life of our ma’nawî strength, with the help from the surging idea of freedom in the Islamic world, will tear down the veils of all ma’nawî despotism that have befallen the entire Islamic world. {Alhamdulillah, forty-five years later, it began to tear apart piece by piece.}

Münazarat (28)