Ustad's Scholarly Front
With the couplet,
"The truth of the matter appears in the mirror;
The degree of a person's intelligence is seen is his works;"
Ziya Pasha expressed a great truth that has been passed down the generations.
It would be as superfluous as describing the sun at noon to attempt to offer details about the knowledge of the Risale-i Nur' s author, for it is a vast compendium of knowledge and belief. With it he has instilled a sacred light in Muslims' hearts.
Nevertheless, as the melancholy poet said:
"Beauty is such that whoever beholds it, loses grasp of his will."
to speak of the knowledge and learning, the fine morals and attainments, of one who at every stage of his life was graced with divine manifestations, affords a pleasure of a very different sort. So I cannot stop myself from saying more.
In the Risale-i Nur, Ustad discusses matters related to religion, society, morals, literature, law, philosophy, and Sufism, and in all these was extraordinarily successful.
The most astonishing point is that he both solved with the greatest clarity and certainty, complex subjects about which many 'ulama had gone dangerously astray, and following the luminous path of the Sunnis, arrived at the safe shore, having escaped the swirling vortex, and landed there both his works and his readers.
For this reason I feel honoured to present the Risale-i Nur Collection to every class of our noble people, with perfect confidence and sincerity. It treatises are all shining droplets from the Qur'an's ocean and scintillating shafts of light from the sun of guidance. It is therefore every Muslim's most sacred duty to spread these works, to save belief. For it has often been seen in history that a single work has led to the guidance and happiness of numberless persons, families, and societies. How fortunate the person who is the means of saving his brother's faith!
Ustad's Front Related to Thought
It is well-known that all thinkers have their own systems of thought, their particular aims with their thought, and their own ideals, which they hold dearer than anything. When discussing these, they first set out lengthy preliminaries. But Bediuzzaman's system may be summarized in a single sentence:
Proclaiming the divinity and unity of the universe's Creator, which was the sole mission of all the revealed scriptures and all the prophets, and proving this with scholarly, logical, and philosophical arguments.
Does this mean Ustad was concerned also with logic, philosophy, and modern science?
Yes, so long as logic and philosophy were reconciled with the Qur'an and served truth and reality, Ustad was the greatest logician and most sagacious philosopher. The most brilliant proofs and certain arguments he used in proving his sacred, universal cause were the modern sciences, which every passing day proclaim more powerfully that the Qur'an is God's revealed Word.
In any event, in so far as philosophy means 'wisdom,' all works that attempt to prove the attributes of the Necessary Existent are the greatest wisdom and their authors the greatest sages.
Thus, since Ustad followed such a scholarly path, that is, he followed the Qur'an's luminous path, he was honoured with saving the belief of thousands of university students. He possesses numerous other qualities, scholarly, literary, and philosophical, which God willing I shall describe with examples in an independent work. Success is from God alone.
His Sufi Front
I once asked a Naqshbandi shaykh, a great scholar who tried to follow the Illustrious Prophet (PBUH) in all his actions:
"What's the reason for the tension between the 'ulama and the followers of Sufism?"
He replied: "The 'ulama are the heirs of the Noble Prophet's knowledge and the Sufis are the heirs of his actions. That is why one who is heir to both is called 'Dhu'l-Janahayn' of the Possessor of Two Wings. The purpose of the Sufi way is to act resolutely in accordance with the Prophet's conduct and morality, and being purified, to become annihilated in God's pleasure. Doubtless, those who rise to this elevated level are the people of reality. That is, they have attained to the aim desired and sought by the Sufi way. But because it is not easy for everyone to do this, specific rules were laid down. In short: the Sufi way is one circle within the circle of the Shari'a. One who departs from the Sufi way, departs from the Shari'a; but, I seek refuge with God, one who departs from the Shari'a, departs for everlasting perdition.
According to what the great scholar said, there is no essential difference between the luminous way Bediuzzaman opened up and true, pure Sufism. They are both ways leading to divine pleasure, and so to Paradise and the vision of God. There is therefore nothing to prevent our Sufi brothers who hold such an aim from reading the Risale-i Nur, on the contrary, they may expand the Sufi field of 'contemplation' with the way of the Qur'an, adding to it the duty of reflective thought as a form of supplication.
Thanks to this reflective thought, which opens up new horizons to one's eyes and heart, an adept who previously was preoccupied with contemplation of the heart only, gazes on, contemplates, and observes with his heart and all his subtle senses the whole universe in all its vastness from particles to the heavenly bodies, and beholds in ecstasy the divine names and attributes manifested in myriad ways in those sciences, and with 'the knowledge of certainty,' 'vision of certainty,' and 'absolute certainty,' he feels himself to be in a mosque of infinite size. This mosque is vast with its congregation of uncountable millions, all mentioning their Creator with fervour and love, in awe and ecstasy. With their sweet voices and different tones, tunes, sounds, and harmonies, they declare: "Glory be to God!", "All praise be to God!", "There is no god but God!", and "God is most great!"
This is the magnificent mosque opened up by the Risale-i Nur, to be entered by those who follow the path of belief, knowledge, and the Qur'an, opened up by the Risale-i Nur. Each person receives its effulgence proportionately to his own belief, knowledge, and sincerity.
His Literary Front
Since early times, poets and writers, thinkers and scholars have been divided into two groups: some have attached importance only to the style and manner of expression, the metre and rhyme, and have sacrificed the meaning to the manner of expression. This is to be seen mostly in poetry. The other group, however, has attached importance to the meaning and content, and has not sacrificed the essence and gist.
I reckon that as a great thinker, Bediuzzaman's literary front will be easily understood from these brief introductory words. For he was a genius who spent his long and fruitful life, not with ordering and arranging words, but with instilling in people the sense of religion and consciousness of belief, and the concept of virtue and good conduct, so that these virtues would ever remain in humanity as a sacred ideal, embedded in their hearts, spirits, consciences, and minds. Naturally, a mujahid who sacrificed his self and all worldly benefits to realize this elevated ideal, would not busy himself with transient forms.
Nevertheless, with his fine taste, sensitivity, depth of thought, and imaginative power, Ustad may be said to have had a really extraordinary literary talent. For this reason, his style changes according to subject. For example, when discussing scholarly and philosophical matters and when convincing the reason with logical, mathematical proofs, he uses very succinct phrases. But when affecting the heart and raising the spirit, his manner of expression attains such clarity it is indescribable. For example, when depicting the skies, suns, stars, and moonlight, and especially the springtime, and Almighty God's power and sublimity manifested in those worlds, he style acquires such subtlety that every simile and metaphor takes the form of a picture framed in gentle colours, every world becomes a wonder of wonders.
It is due to this wisdom that when studying the Risale-i Nur, its students, whatever university faculty there are in, are completely satisfied, both in their senses, and minds, and spirits, and consciences, and imaginations. How could they not be satisfied? For the Risale-i Nur Collection is a bunch of blooms gathered from the universal garden of the Noble Qur'an. So it reflects the light, air, luminosity, and scents of that blessed, divine garden.
Flowing waters tell this need of the spirit,
The Staff of Moses
Mankind has perpetual need of the Qur'an Ali Ulvi Kurucu
