بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

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

WOMEN - 2

The compassion of women:

(For further explanation of compassion, please refer to the Eighth Letter.)

If a twelve-month-old baby had intelligence and was asked, "What is the most pleasurable and sweetest state of yours?" he would indeed say, "It is the state in which I take refuge in my mother’s tender breast, through understanding my impotence and weakness and fearing my mother's gentle slap." But the compassion of all mothers is only a flash of the manifestation of Rahmah.

The Seventh Word

 

Yes, a man fearing his Khâliq Zuljalâl means finding a path to and seeking refuge in the compassion of His rahmah. Fear is a whip; it throws one into the lap of His rahmah. It is well known that a mother, for instance, scares her infant and draws him into her breast. This fear is intensely pleasurable for the child because it draws him into the breast of compassion. Whereas, the compassion of all mothers is only a flash of the rahmah of Allah.

The Twenty-Fourth Word/Fifth Branch/First Fruit

 

Furthermore, through the tarbiyyah of the helpless and weak infants with the subtle nourishment of milk and the merciful compassion of all mothers, whether plant, animal, or human, the work of a manifestation of such a vast Rahmah is perceived evidently. {Note: Yes, a hungry lion preferring its weak cub to itself and not eating the meat it obtained but giving it to its cub, the cowardly hen attacking a lion or a dog in order to protect its chick, and the fig tree consuming mud while giving pure milk to its fruits, which are its infants, show evidently to anyone not blind that they act on behalf of the One, Who is the Absolute Rahîm, Karîm and Shafîk. Yes, the fact that unconscious beings, like plants and beasts, perform extremely conscious actions full of hikmah shows necessarily that there is someone Who is utterly ‘Alîm and Hakîm, and He makes them work. They work in His name.}

The Tenth Word-Second Haqiqah

 

Furthermore, a compassionate and merciful person takes true pleasure from the comfort of the creatures to whom he shows compassion in proportion to their comfort. For instance, the pleasure a mother takes from the happiness and comfort of her children, by means of compassion, is so intense that it makes her willing to sacrifice her rûh for their well-being. So much so that the hen attacks the lion to protect her chicks because of the pleasure of such compassion.

The Thirty-Second Word/2nd Stopping-Place/The 3rd Aim/4th Allusion

The misuse of compassion by the mothers in the fitnah age:

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 to 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 highly 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 secure 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 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 out of weakness and impotence.

Twenty-Fourth Flash/A conversation with mu’min women who are my âkhirah sisters

 

There are two causes, as stated in the Risale on Qadar, in everything, in every disaster, especially the cruel calamities caused by humans:

One is the humans who look only to the apparent causes.

The other is Ilahî Qadar. Humans look to the apparent causes; sometimes they make mistakes and commit dhulm. However, Qadar looks at different points and acts justly.1 Here are three matters currently associated with the Risale-i Nur circle that evoke a deep sense of concern and are warned to me as a response to the ma’nawî question regarding the justice of Qadar.  

First Question: Why are the self-sacrificing mothers, who have a high degree of compassion, deprived of inheriting some assets of their children at this time? Why has Qadar allowed this?

The answer received is this: because mothers misuse their compassion due to the inoculation of this age. They urge their children into the world and the schools with all their strength, hoping they will gain honour, prestige, status and official positions. Even if they are pious, they withdraw their children from studying the Quranic ‘ilms and bind them to the world. It is due to this mistake in this kind of compassion that Qadar has condemned them to this deprivation.

The Kastamonu Addendum-264

 

Due to the conditions of the time and by their fitrah, the first students of the Risale-i Nur foremost are the innocent children because if a child is unable to receive a powerful lesson of îmân in his childhood, it will be very strenuous and challenging for him to embrace the pillars of Islam and îmân in their rûh in later years. It becomes as difficult as a non-Muslim accepting Islam; he will be alienated from Islam. Especially if he does not see his father and mother as religious and his mind is provided only with the tarbiyyah of worldly sciences, he will be more alienated from Islam. Therefore, that child, instead of showing respect to his father and mother in the world, despises them, wishes for their early death and becomes a kind of trouble for them. And in the âkhirah, he will not be shafî’ but a complaint against them, saying, “Why did you not save my îmân with Islamic tarbiyyah?”

Emirdağ Addendum-1 (41)

In a lesson describing the negative impact of naturalist lessons on children in schools by those who claim to be civilised, Bediüzzaman stated:

The fourth group is children. They seek mercy from nationalist patriotism and await compassion. In terms of their weakness, impotence and powerlessness, their rûh can only expand and their dispositions can only develop and grow happily through knowing a merciful and powerful Khâliq. In the future, those innocents can look eagerly to life only with the inculcation of submission (taslîm) arising from Islam and tawakkul gained through îmân that can withstand the dreadful uncertainties, dangers and terrifying events of the world. I wonder, could this be achieved by teaching them the lessons on the advancements of civilisation, in which they have little interest, alongside purely material philosophical principles without nûr, which will destroy their ma’nawî power and extinguish their rûh? If human beings consisted only of an animal body and had no mind in their head, perhaps this European method, which you call “the education of civilisation" and adorn with the guise of national education that can temporarily entertain these innocent children, could provide some worldly benefit as a childish toy.

Since those innocents are going to plunge into the futile worries and hardships of life, and since they are human beings, they will certainly have far-reaching desires in their little hearts and great goals will be born in their little heads. Since the haqiqah is thus, as a requirement of compassion towards them, in their infinite poverty and impotence, it is necessary to place in their hearts an extremely powerful point of support and inexhaustible point of recourse in the form of îmân in Allah and îmân in the âkhirah. Compassion and mercy towards them can only be in this way. Otherwise, like a crazy mother slaughtering her child with a knife, it is slaughtering those helpless innocents in a ma’nawî manner with the intoxication of nationalist patriotism. It is a savage betrayal, cruelty and dhulm, like pulling out his brain and heart and feeding them to him to nourish his body.

The Twenty-Ninth Letter/The Sixth Section, which is the Sixth Risale/Fourth Wile

If only the mind is educated solely through “lessons on the advancements of civilisation” and “material philosophical principles,” that is, if the children are raised with a modern, European style of education and non-Islamic methods, as explained in the above parts from the Risale-i Nur, a youth who lacks hayâ and compassion and takes pleasure in destruction will emerge.

The following hadith and the âyah (17:64)

وَٱسْتَفْزِزْ مَنِ ٱسْتَطَعْتَ مِنْهُم بِصَوْتِكَ وَأَجْلِبْ عَلَيْهِم بِخَيْلِكَ وَرَجِلِكَ وَشَارِكْهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَمْوَٰلِ وَٱلْأَوْلَـٰدِ وَعِدْهُمْ ۚ وَمَا يَعِدُهُمُ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ إِلَّا غُرُورًا 2 ,

which is more relevant to our time with its universal meaning and confirms the hadith, also support this meaning. The hadith is as follows:

يَأْتِي عَلَى النَّاسِ زَمَانٌ، يُشَارِكُهُمُ الشَّيَاطِينُ فِي أَوْلاَدِهِمْ . قِيلَ:

أَوَكَائِنٌ ذٰلِكَ يَا رَسُولَ اللهُ؟ قَالَ: نَعَمْ. قَالُوا: وَكَيْفَ نَعْرِفُ أَوْلاَدَنَا

مِنْ أَوْلاَدِهِمْ؟ قَالَ: بِقِلَّـةِ الْحَيَاءِ، وَ قِـلَّـةِ الرَّحْمَةِ (أبو الشيخ عن أبي هريرة)

A time will come upon people when shaytans3 will have a share in their children.

They said, “Will this also happen, O Rasûl of Allah?

He said, “Yes.”

They said, "And how will we distinguish our children from their children?"

He said, “It will be evident from the lack of hayâ and compassion.4”

Thus, this hadith warns of the dire consequences of Westernised education and modern tarbiyyah methods, which are rife with disbelieving inculcations that cultivate the desires of nafs and lead the new generation into sin. It also cautions against the sharr currents that have infiltrated the education system, instilling naturalism and materialism.

And the sentence “It is a savage betrayal, cruelty and dhulm, like pulling out his brain and heart and feeding them to him to nourish his body” is one of the meanings related to our time of the âyah (6:137) and the âyah (6:151)

وَكَذَٰلِكَ زَيَّنَ لِكَثِيرٍ مِّنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ قَتْلَ أَوْلَـٰدِهِمْ شُرَكَآؤُهُمْ لِيُرْدُوهُمْ وَلِيَلْبِسُوا۟ عَلَيْهِمْ دِينَهُمْ َۖ5

وَلَا تَقْتُلُوٓا۟ أَوْلَـٰدَكُم مِّنْ إِمْلَـٰقٍ ۖ نَّحْنُ نَرْزُقُكُمْ وَإِيَّاهُمْ6

and similar âyahs, such as (6:140,151) (16:57-59) (17:31) (81:8,9), that condemn the practice of burying children alive by their parents during the Age of Ignorance (Jahiliyyah).

The above parts from the Risale-i Nur indicate:

• The misuse of compassion by parents, which is a bestowal of the rahmah of Allah to them and requires to be used in accordance with the purpose of its bestowal.
• In the pursuit of imaginary and deceptive worldly fame and honour and driven by future anxieties, parents are steering their children towards the current of the fitnah of âkhirzaman that corrupts the children and a life of dissipation (safahat) for the sake of the demands of the depraved modern civilisation.
• Parents are guiding their children towards ma’nawî destruction concerning their îmân, morals and heart, in exchange for indulging the desires of their children’s nafs.
• And finally, they cause the death of the ma’nawî lives of their children.

The murders of this kind in our time are far more severe and brutal than those in the Age of Ignorance. This is because the eternal life of Jannah awaits the unjustly killed children in exchange for their transient lives in this world. In our age, however, due to the destruction of their îmân and ma’nawî lives, they are eternally condemned to the eternal Jahannam.

And the expression “nourishing the body” in the sentence “It is a savage betrayal, cruelty and dhulm, like pulling out his brain and heart and feeding him to nourish his body” refers to the corruption method employed by the sharr currents, which aim to degrade human beings to the level of animality by nourishing material life through the destruction of ma’nawî life. The sharr currents degrade humanity to a state of animality by fulfilling and encouraging the desires of nafs while simultaneously silencing and oppressing the human rûh and heart; thereby, they can easily control masses.

The following parts from the Risale-i Nur explain the corruption methods of the sharr currents that are related to our topic:

In the riwâyât, it was mentioned that "Sufyan will be a great ‘âlim; he will fall into dhalâlah due to ‘ilm, and many ‘ulamâ will follow him."

الْعِلْمُ عِنْدَ اللّٰهِ 7 وَ

A ta’wîl of it is this: unlike other kings, he will obtain a position through his cleverness and scientific and political knowledge, even though these are not the means of sovereignty, like strength and power, tribe and family, or courage and wealth. And through his intelligence, he will subjugate the minds of many ‘ulamâ, gather them around him and make them the issuers of fatwa in support of his actions. And he will make numerous teachers his supporters and create an education system stripped of religious instruction as a guide, fervently working for its widespread enforcement.

The Fifth Ray-Seventh Matter

 

In the riwâyât, it was mentioned that "The despotic rulers of the âkhirzaman, especially Dajjal, will have false Jannahs and Jahannams."

الْعِلْمُ عِنْدَ اللّٰهِ 8

A ta’wîl of it is this: it is an indication that of the prison and the high school, which are government offices situated opposite and facing each other, one will take the form of an ugly imitation of the houri and qilman 9 while the other one will take the form of torture and a dungeon.

The Fifth Ray-Third Matter

 

In the riwâyât, it was mentioned concerning ‘Îsâ ‘Alayhissalâm killing the Dajjal that the Dajjal will possess an immense stature, which is extraordinarily large and taller than a minaret; compared with him, Hazrat ‘Îsâ ‘Alayhissalâm will be very small.

لاَ يَعْلَمُ الْغَيْبَ اِلاَّ اللّٰهُ 10

A ta’wîl of it should be as follows: it is an indication and allusion that the quantity of the pious community of mujâhidîn, who recognise ‘Îsâ ‘Alayhissalâm through the nûr of îmân and follow him, will be very few and small compared to the physical and scholarly armies of the Dajjal that contain both educators and soldiers.

The Fifth Ray-Sixteenth Matter

 

Yes, in that terrible time when irreligiousness was reigning, religious people were being subjected to humiliation. It was even considered to totally abolish the Quran and destroy religious beliefs as was done in Russia; however, this idea was abandoned when it was pointed out that this could lead to a backlash from the Islamic nation, and instead the following decision was made: "The youth educated with the new teaching methods that we will implement in schools will destroy the Quran; thus the nation's connection with Islam will be severed!" The originators of all these horrible plans and the sources of the terrible fitnah were the leaders and members of foreign irreligious currents who are the opponents and enemies of the present religious development.

The Biography-159

 

May Janâb-i Haqq save us and you from the alluring fitnah of this time, and preserve us from it. Amen.

اَللّٰهُمَّ يَا اَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ وَ ارْحَمْ اُمَّةَ مُحَمَّدٍ عَلَيْهِ الصَّلاَةُ وَ السَّلاَمُ وَ نَوِّرْ قُلُوبَ اُمَّةِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَلَيْهِ الصَّلاَةُ وَ السَّلاَمُ بِنُورِ اْلاِيمَانِ وَ الْقُرْآنِ وَ نَوِّرْ بُرْهَانَ الْقُرْآنِ وَ عَظِّمْ شَرِيعَةَ اْلاِسْلاَمِ آمِينَ

سُبْحَانَكَ لاَ عِلْمَ لَنَا اِلاَّ مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا اِنَّكَ اَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ