In His Name, be He glorified!

And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.


Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings for ever.

The unsetting sun in the skies of the universe, the Noble Qur'an, spreads the rays its light so as to make read the creational signs of the great book of being, and to disclose their reality. Enlightening man's reason, the Qur'an points out the Straight Path. Through the light of that sun of guidance, all humanity may see and understand the aims, purposes, and desires in their creation. Relatively to the capacity of their hearts, those who receive the manifestation of its guidance reflect its light and gain proximity to it. The true nature of things and of life become apparent through that light; only through that light may they be seen and understood. Representing the lights of guidance of the Pre-Eternal Sun, the Qur'an makes truth and reality visible to the eyes of the heart and mind. Those who do not approach its light remain in darkness, for it is through light that everything is seen, known, and understood. In the present age, the collective personality of the Risale-i Nur, whose name is light (nur), has received the manifestation of the Qur'an's light, the eternal sun of this truth.

Like a search-light, the Risale-i Nur directs those who like bats do not want to emerge from the darkness, and slumbering in heedlessness turn their day into night and understand no further than they see, towards the truths of belief; it points out the straight path to all who are not completely blind. It strikes its club of light on the heads of the disbelievers saying: "Either throw away your reasoning faculties and become animals, or use your heads and become true human beings!"

Since knowledge is light, we shall indicate briefly one or two evidences that the Risale-i Nur contains profound knowledge:

Firstly: We should recall that since the Risale-i Nur recognized no master other than the Qur'an and it serves none other than the Qur'an, its acceptability goes without saying. Only, in order to inform scholars of the Risale-i Nur's worth, I say this:

The Risale-i Nur proves and elucidates most convincingly and accessibly so that everyone from the simplest ordinary people to the most learned elite can understand them, obscure matters that previously no scholars of religion had been able to prove with complete clarity. Such a characteristic is to be found in virtually no other work.

Secondly is its demonstrating in all matters that it is a commentary on some of the Qur'an's verses, and flashes of its light.

Thirdly is its answering in scholarly fashion with certain proofs and arguments the deepest needs of human beings; for example, its proving God's existence, the life of the hereafter, and the other pillars of belief, and interpreting the testimony of minute particles, which they utter through the tongue of disposition. Ibn Sina, Farabi, and Ibn Rushd, the most eminent Islamic philosophers, demonstrated the evidence all beings offer in these matters, but the Risale-i Nur proves these truths through the tongues of minute particles and seeds of plants. If the philosophers had been shown the scholarly power of the Risale-i Nur, doubtless they would have humbly accepted it as their teacher.

Fourthly is its teaching in a short time in the form of compressed extracts knowledge that normally can be acquired only in years of study.

Fifthly is its being a means of winning divine pleasure, the chief aim of knowledge, and in no way exploiting that knowledge for worldly aims, its representing the highest duty, that of serving humanity.

Sixthly Being the fruit of powerful, sacred thought on questions of belief, the Risale-i Nur interprets the language of all creatures, uttered through the tongues of their beings. Similarly, it discloses the truths of belief to the degrees of 'knowledge of certainty,' 'vision of certainty,' and 'absolute certainty.'

Seventhly is in respect of their principles, the Risale-i Nur's comprising all the sciences. It is like a tapestry woven from threads of knowledge. It is a collection of succinct sayings, never before expressed by any scholar, which demonstrate its knowledge of all the sciences. Here, we offer a few by way of example, and recommend those who wish to gain a better idea of what the Risale-i Nur consists of as a whole, to refer to that ocean of knowledge.

1. Whoever created a mosquito's eye, created the sun.

2. Whoever ordered the butterfly's digestive system, arranged the solar system.

3. Power sufficient to create the whole universe is necessary to create a single particle. For every letter of the mighty book of the universe, especially its living letters, has a face and an eye that look to all the sentences.

4. Nature is a printing-press, it is not the printer. It is an embroidery, not the embroiderer. It is a pattern, not the source. It is an orderly system, not the orderer. It is a law, and has no power. It is a code of laws proceeding from will, and has no external reality.

5. Like fixed, permanent natural laws, spirit comes from the world of the divine command and attribute of will. Power clothed it in a being decked out with senses, and made a subtle inner faculty the shell to that pearl.

The Risale-i Nur contains thousands of succinct sayings like these.

The Eternal One, He is the Eternal One,
Mustafa Hilmi, a university Nur student




Dear, True Brothers!
From your letter we espied a ray from the sun of Islam; we understood that the Risale-i Nur, which has appeared to repair the damage caused to Islam over hundreds of years by the aggressive ideas of the disbelievers, is now spreading among the young people. Lovers of truth travelling the road to eternal life are giving up the empty words of fantasy to annihilate together with the Risale-i Nur the seeds of disbelief. Your letters spur us on to greater efforts. The Risale-i Nur, a Qur'anic commentary, tells us that it is the utmost stupidity at this time to remain in misguidance and not to struggle against unbelief. The most urgent task now when communism, anarchy, and freemasonry are all gaining strength is to serve the Risale-i Nur and to give it to those seeking it, so as to win divine pleasure. Even the severest attacks of those who want make us renege on this most important, worthy, and necessary duty of ours will only further fire our enthusiasm. The Risale-i Nur teaches us with proofs the following:

This world is a guest-house. Those seeking eternal life are gratified to the extent they work diligently at their duties in the guest-house. This means that our chief duty is to race to assist the followers of religion who want to be saved from the bog, whose parched hearts are choking on the darkness. And starting with ourselves to act as heralds of the Risale-i Nur. It is of supreme importance to continuously, attentively, and reflectively read the Risale-i Nur, to equip ourselves with the truths of the Qur'an and belief it contains, and in this way to gain a complete knowledge of it as quickly as possible. Everyone who receives this supreme bounty becomes tremendously useful for himself, his nation, and his country. He may become capable of serving both his country, and his nation, and youth, and the Islamic world. We are requesting the prayers of foremost our Master Bediuzzaman, and of you, who are worthy to be his true, sincere students, so that we may search, find, and acquire the books of the Risale-i Nur, read them carefully, reflectively, and with sincere intention, and hasten to serve the Qur'an and belief in this way. The evidences for the Risale-i Nur' s acceptability are so numerous, it is natural that all our fair-minded believing brothers should assist in its service.

Also, since the Risale-i Nur bears characteristics that look to this age in particular; and since it has been applauded by thousands of scholars; and since the champion Ustad Bediuzzaman acted as herald of the Qur'an, and incomparably, honestly, and with sound, true principles, dedicated his life to Islam and belief, seeking God's pleasure alone and eschewing all worldly benefits; and since the Risale-i Nur students also serve belief and Islam according to Sunni beliefs with all their lives and strength and seek no personal interests of any kind; and since hundreds of thousands of its students have proved this fact despite all the persecution and threats; and since all of them have been trained to reply logically and correctly to all the current false ideas of philosophy; and since the Qur'an answers all our needs and contains explicitly all the truths necessary for us; and since the Qur'an is the finest gift of Almighty God, and His light and mercy; it is true worship and a source of pleasure to read the Risale-i Nur attentively, continuously, and reflectively, since it teaches us about that treasury of divine mercy and source of truth in a way everyone may understand. It is a most effective panacea and remedy for us youths which affords true pleasure, and is a saviour. Not to embrace the Risale-i Nur with all our strength in the face of all these established facts, and not to study it in its entirety, could only be the result of heedless apathy.

Any true seeker after truth is bound to heed the Risale-i Nur's lessons. And any illumined person who follows it is bound to attain true happiness and comprehend the true nature of things. We Ankara students of the Risale-i Nur agree unanimously about this. Proceeding from the Qur'an's light, which points to the treasury of eternal life, the Risale-i Nur's silvery voice shall one day ring out all over the world.

According to a Hadith of the Prophet (PBUH), so long as they do not fall prey to worldly desires, Islamic scholars are the sure heirs of the prophets. We know the Risale-i Nur to be a true heir of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Its collective personality follows the principles of true heirdom. The blind, deaf, and soulless idiots which oppose it shall be humiliated. With supreme sense, the Risale-i Nur will have as its students all philosophers and scholars, and all people of sound mind and noble heart. This is not far away, God willing, and will happen soon. As many of those scholars have said, the world is on the threshold of a new formation; it is searching for light. Alluding to this, the poet Mehmed Akif wrote:

"Now send that light, O God, long ages have passed;

This dispirited nation seeks the horizons of dawn."

Risale-i Nur Students at Ankara University


Our Kind, Blessed, and Beloved Master!

Through your prayers and blessings, the more we read the Risale-i Nur with care and thought, the more we understand that it is a sublime work which solves and discloses the riddle of the universe, and the supreme guide of the present and future. Yes, anyone of intelligence who reads it, realizes that it will illuminate humanity both in this century and the next, and save it from the darkness of misguided thought.

The Risale-i Nur was written to meet the needs of the world of Islam and all mankind, not only of this country and nation. Today, mankind is floundering in an unprecedented calamity, and there is nothing that will save it except embracing the Risale-i Nur and studying its various parts attentively and reflectively, whatever the price of obtaining it. Everyone who reads it accepts this fact. If we had the power, we would ascend to a spot overlooking the universe and would proclaim this to all the world. But since we cannot do this, and since to an extent, through our Master's blessings we have understood the Risale-i Nur's universal value; we shall continuously read that effulgent source of knowledge and perfection, day and night at every opportunity and not waste one moment of our time; we shall constantly work at it. But this again will be thanks to our Master's prayers and blessings.

Moreover, it is clear that everyone, even the most eminent scholar, may be the student of the Risale-i Nur and its author; all are in need of reading it. If overcome by one's egotism, one fails to do this, the loss is his entirely. As for us, in the face of this sublime truth which we perceive, we are incapable of expressing our gratitude to mankind's saviour and the dominical official overspreading millions of human beings. But still, through your prayers and blessings, we have understood that we are unable to repay even the amount we benefit from a single line of this wondrous work, which is a miracle of the Noble Qur'an. We therefore only beseech Almighty God as follows:

"O Lord! Preserve our beloved, kindly Master from the machinations of his tryannical enemies, for through his incomparable work, the Risale-i Nur, he has delivered us from everlasting imprisonment and offered us the key to a treasury of truths that may gain for us happiness in an eternal realm. Always grant him success in his service of the Qur'an and belief, and bestow good health on him, and well-being, and long life!"

Dear Master! We, a number of young people at university who have received the supreme bounty of studying the Risale-i Nur attentively and reflectively, believe, not just conjecturally or through having a good intention but as a result of close study and investigation, and with unshakeable certainty based on knowledge, that Bediuzzaman will succeed in freeing the face of the earth from irreligion and atheism, which this age has given rise to appalling savagery never ever witnessed before.

This conviction of ours is not merely simplemindedness or a surmise, but based on reasoned evidence and investigation. Even those opposed to it will assent to this fact with all their hearts. Kindly continue to pray for us so that we may devote ourselves to the service of the Qur'an and belief, and study the Risale-i Nur never wasting a moment of our time, and write it out, and acquire complete sincerity.

In the name of the Nur Students in Istanbul University,
Muhsin

The Staff of Moses