Konu: The flashes collection

A Meaningful and Subtle 'Coincidence'

The 'coincidence' of Article 163, {[*]: Article 163 of the Turkish Criminal Code. (Tr.)} under which the Risale-i Nur students were charged and sentenced, and the number of deputies, one hundred and sixty-three out of two hundred, who allotted one hundred and fifty thousand liras for the medrese {[*]: This refers to the Medresetü'z-Zehra. See, note 33, page 328. (Tr.)} of the Risale-i Nur's author in effect says this: the appreciative signatures of one hundred and sixty-three deputies of the government of the Republic quashes the ruling of Article 163 of the Criminal Code concerning him.

Another subtle and meaningful 'coincidence' is this: the one hundred and twenty-eight parts of the Risale-i Nur are formed into one hundred and fifteen booklets. The number of days from when the Risale-i Nur students and its author were first arrested on 27th April, 1935 to the date on which the court passed judgement on 19th August, 1935 was one hundred and fifteen coinciding with the number of books of the Risale-i Nur. In addition the one hundred and fifteen people found guilty coincides with the number exactly, showing that the calamity visited on the Risale-i Nur students and its author is being regulated by a Hand of Favour.

{(*): It is worth noting that the arrests of some of the Risale-i Nur students started on 25th April,1935. Thus, because on the indictment one hundred and seventeen people were cited as guilty-the names of two of them had been repeated-the number shown for the students was one hundred and seventeen, this coincided with the one hundred and seventeen days from the date that group were arrested to the date of the court's judgement, adding a further subtlety to the former 'coincidence.'}

The Twenty-Eighth Point of the Twenty-Eighth Flash

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

[So] they should not strain their ears in the direction of the Exalted Assembly, but be cast away from every side * Repulsed, for they are under a perpetual penalty, * Except such as snatch away something by stealth, and they are pursued by a flaming fire, of piercing brightness. {[*]: Qur'an, 37:8-10.} * And We have adorned the lowest heaven with lamps, and We have made them missiles to drive away the evil ones. {[*]: Qur'an, 67:5.}

An important point concerning verses like these will be explained in connection with criticisms made by the people of misguidance. It is as follows:

Spies from among the jinn and satans eavesdrop on events in the heavens, and like soothsayers, mediums, and some spiritualists, convey news from the World of the Unseen. In order that their giving information about the Unseen should not give rise to any doubts when the Qur'an was first revealed, their continual espionage was prevented to a greater extent and they were repulsed by shooting stars. The following is a brief reply to an extremely important question in three parts concerning the above verses, which are about this subject.

Question:

It is understood from verses like these that spying satans infiltrate the truly distant lands of the heavens in order to learn of some minor and even personal event in the Unseen. As though there were rumours of the minor event everywhere in those vast lands, wherever it is infiltrated by whichever satan, it will hear a confused version of the reports, and will pass it on. However, reason and science cannot accept such a thing.

Also, it is said that some of the people of prophethood and some wonder-workers as though pluck from close to the fruits of Paradise, which according to definite verses of the Qur'an, is above the heavens, and sometimes gaze on Paradise from near at hand. This matter, which concerns infinite distance within infinite proximity, is not conformable with the understanding of the present age.

Also, the unimportant situation of an unimportant person being the subject of discussion of the Sublime Assembly in the universal, vast land of the heavens is not conformable with the wisdom of the most wise administration of the universe. Nevertheless, these three matters are considered to be among the truths of Islam.

The Answer:

Firstly:

In the Seven Steps of the treatise called the Fifteenth Word, the repulsion and ejection with stars of diabolical spies from the heavens, expressed by the verse,

And We have adorned the lowest heaven with lamps, and We have made them missiles to drive away the evil ones, is proved so certainly with seven introductions that it convinces the obdurate materialist, silencing him and forcing him to accept it.

Secondly:

We shall allude to those three truths which are supposed to be far from the reason with a comparison which will bring them close to narrow minds.

For example, if a state's Army Office is in the east of the country, its Ministry of Justice in the west, its Education Ministry in the north, its Religious Affairs Department in the south, and its Civil Service in the centre, and each department and ministry communicates and is connected with the others by means of radio, telephone, and telegraph in most regular and orderly fashion, the whole country will quite simply be its Army Office the same as it is its Ministry of Justice, and will be its learned establishment as it is its Civil Service.

And for example, it sometimes happens that numerous countries and states whose capitals are different have sovereignty over a single country in different ways, through colonies, or concessions, or trade. Although the country's subjects and nation are one, through its concessions, each state has connections with them. The affairs of those states, which are distant from one another, touch on each other; they come close to each other in all the houses of the country, and they share in each of its people. Its minor matters are seen in a minor sphere in its points of contact. For each minor matter is not taken from the universal sphere. But when those minor matters are discussed, they are expressed as though they are taken from the universal sphere, since they are directly in accordance with the universal sphere's laws; they are given the form of a matter discussed in that sphere.

Thus, like these two comparisons, although the land of the heavens is extremely distant in respect of its centre and capital, it has immaterial telephones reaching the hearts of men in the land of the earth. Furthermore, it does not only look to the corporeal world, but since it comprises the Spirit World and World of the Inner Dimension of Things, it in one respect encompasses the Manifest World.

The sphere of influence of Paradise too, which is from the world of eternity and everlasting realm, stretches out and spreads in luminous fashion beneath the veil of the manifest, despite its infinite distance. Just as although, through the wisdom and power of the All-Wise and Glorious Maker, the centres of the senses in man's head are all different, each governs the body, taking it under its disposal, so too the universe, the macroanthropos, comprises thousands of worlds one within the other like concentric circles. Sometimes the situations and events that occur in them are the object of attention in respect of their universality and particularity and insignificance and immensity, that is to say, those particulars are to be seen in particular, close places, while the universals and immense matters are seen in universal, vast stations.

However, sometimes a minor, particular event occupies a vast world. In whichever corner of the world you listen, you will hear about it. And sometimes some vast mobilization is not against the enemy's forces, but to make a show of pomp and majesty. For example, the event of Muhammad (PBUH) and sacred occurrence of the revelation of the Qur'an were the most important events in the land of the heavens, being heard in every corner of it. As a dominical sign proclaiming the degree of splendour of the Qur'anic revelation, and its glittering sovereignty and the degree of its truthfulness, which no doubt could penetrate-expressed and illustrated by the sentries posted on the distant, towering bastions of the vast heavens raining down missiles to drive off and repulse the devils-at that time there were more falling stars being cast down. The Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition interprets and proclaims that cosmic proclamation, alluding to those heavenly signs.

Yes, such a tremendous heavenly sign, and making the spying satans, who could have been blown away at the puffing of an angel, do battle with the angels were surely to show the majesty of the Qur'anic Revelation's sovereignty. Also, this splendid exposition of the Qur'an and vast heavenly mobilization is to express not that the jinns and satans possess some power which drove the inhabitants of the heavens to fight them and defend against them, but to indicate that on the long way from the heart of Muhammad (PBUH) to the world of the heavens and the Sublime Throne, there was nowhere the jinns and devils could interfere. The Qur'anic Revelation was a truth discussed by all the angels in the heavens; in order to draw close to it a little, the satans were compelled to rise to the heavens, but were not successful and were repulsed. This shows that the Revelation which came to the heart of Muhammad (PBUH), and Gabriel who came to his presence, and the truths of the Unseen which appeared to his gaze, were sound and straight and could be pierced by no doubts. The Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition gives news of this in miraculous fashion.

As for Paradise being seen from very close despite its great distance and being part of the World of Eternity, and sometimes fruits being received from it, as may be understood from the above two comparisons, this transient world and Manifest Realm is a veil to the World of the Unseen and Everlasting Realm. It is possible for Paradise to be seen everywhere by means of the mirror of the World of Similitudes, despite the distance of its supreme centre. So too by means of belief at the degree of 'absolute certainty', Paradise may have sorts of colonies and ministries in this transient world-there should be no mistake in the comparison-and by means of the telephone of the heart, may communicate with elevated spirits, and its gifts may come to them.

As for a universal sphere being preoccupied with a particular personal matter; that is to say, one aspect of the reality described in Qur'anic commentaries as satans rising to the heavens and eavesdropping in order to bring reports of the Unseen to soothsayers, and their bringing false, confused news, it must be as follows: it is not a question of their going as far as the capital of the land of the heavens and gathering particular news. Rather, there are certain places in the country of the heavens, which also encompasses the atmosphere, like police stations-the metaphor is not mistaken-which have relations with the country of the earth. The satans eavesdrop on particular events in those particular places. The human heart even is one of those places, where the angel of inspiration and personal devil do battle.

Also, however particular the truths of belief and the Qur'an and the events connected with Muhammad (PBUH), they are like the greatest and most universal and important events and are published in the Sublime Throne and sphere of the heavens, the most universal sphere, in-if the comparison is not mistaken-the newspapers of the appointed events of the universe. These are discussed on every corner, and since from the heart of Muhammad (PBUH) to the sphere of the Throne there is no possibility to interfere, the satans can do nothing apart from listening to the heavens. Thus, it proclaims and shows most eloquently, indeed, miraculously, how elevated and true are the Qur'anic Revelation and Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH), and that it is in no way possible to oppose them or draw close to them with subterfuge or falsehood.

Said Nursi

THE TWENTY-NINTH FLASH

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

Preface

Thirteen years ago, my heart combined with my mind and urged me to the way of reflective thought which the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition commands with such verses as,

That you may consider. {[*]: Qur'an, 2:219; 2:266.} * Perchance they may reflect. {[*]: Qur'an, 7:176, etc.} * Do they not reflect in their own minds, did God create the heavens and the earth? {[*]: Qur'an, 30:8.} * There are signs for those who consider. {[*]: Qur'an, 13:3, etc.}

The Hadith the meaning of which is "An hour's reflective thought is better than a year's [voluntary] worship" {[*]: al-Ajluni, Kashfu'l-Khafa i, 143; Ghazzali, Ihya Ulumi'd-Din iv, 409 (Kitabu'l-Tafakkur); al-Haythami, Majma'u'z-Zawa'id i, 78.} states that on occasion an hour's reflection may be equivalent to a year's worship. It also offers powerful encouragement for reflective thought. For myself, in order to preserve the extensive lights and lengthy truths which appeared to my mind and heart during the thirteen years I have followed this way, I recorded a number of phrases by way of indications, not to point out those lights, but to indicate their existence, facilitate reflection, and preserve the order. I used to recite the phrases to myself verbally in varying Arabic terms when I embarked on the reflection. On being repeated thousands of times over this long period, neither did I become wearied, nor did the pleasure they afforded diminish, nor the spirit's need of them lessen. Because, since the reflection all consisted of flashes from Qur'anic verses, the qualities of not causing weariness and preserving their sweetness, which are a qualities of the verses, were represented in the mirror of that reflective thought.

I realized recently that the powerful source of life and brilliant lights in the various parts of the Risale-i Nur are flashes of those sequences of thought. Thinking that they would have the same effect on others that they had had on me, I made the intention to set them all down in writing towards the end of my life. Certainly, very important parts of them have been included in the Risale-i Nur, but a further power and value will be found in them in their totality.

Since the end of life is not clear, and since the conditions here of my imprisonment have taken on a form worse than death, not waiting for my life to end, on the insistence and importunity of my brothers, those sequences of thought have been written, without changing them, as Seven Chapters.

[The remaining six Chapters of this Flash have been published in the hand-duplicated editions of The Flashes, and not included here.]

THE THIRD CHAPTER

On the Degrees of 'God is Most Great!'

We shall mention seven of its thirty-three degrees. An important part of those degrees have been expounded in the Second Station of the Twentieth Letter, at the end of the Second Stopping-Place of the Thirty-Second Word, and at the beginning of the Third Stopping-Place. Those who want to understand the reality of those degrees should refer to those two parts of the Risale-i Nur.

The First Degree

Say: "Praise be to God Who begets no son and has no partner in [His] dominion: nor [needs] He any to protect Him from humiliation: yes, magnify Him for His greatness and glory!" {[*]: Qur'an, 17:111.}

God is Most Great, may His Glory be exalted! In regard to power and knowledge greater is He than everything. For He is the Creator, the Maker, the Giver of Form, Who through His power fashions man like the universe, and writes the universe with the pen of His determining as He writes man with that same pen. For the macrocosm is like the microcosm: both are fashioned by His power, inscribed by His pen; He creates the macrocosm as a place of prostration, while He gives existence to the microcosm so that it is prostrating; He brings the former into being as a property, while He gives existence to the latter as owned and needy for the property; His art in the former displays it as a book, while His colouring in the latter shines through speech; His power in the former reveals His majesty, while His mercy in the latter arrays His bounty; His majesty in the former testifies that He is One, while His bounty in the latter proclaims that He is Single, Undivided; His stamp on the former is on all things, universal and particular, whether at rest or in motion, while His seal on the latter is on the body and on the limbs, and on their cells and particles.

Now consider His works as a whole: you will as clearly as daylight absolute profusion within absolute order and regularity; with absolute speed yet absolute balance; with absolute ease yet with absolute skill; on a vast scale yet with absolute beauty of art; over infinite distances yet with complete unity of kind; with absolute intermingling, yet absolute differentiation; with absolute lack of expense together with absolute value. This situation testifies to the mind, as it compels the foolish dissembler to accept, that this art and unity is the work of one possessing absolute power, one possessing absolute knowledge.

In unity lies absolute ease, while in multiplicity and associating partners with God are incomprehensible difficulties.

If all things are attributed to one, then the creation of the universe is as easy as the creation of a palm-tree, and the palm-tree as the fruit. But when ascribed to multiplicity, to create a palm-tree is as difficult as creating the universe and each fruit as difficult as the tree-so difficult as to be impossible. For with a single act, a single person may obtain a single result and situation for many things without difficulty and without having recourse to other means. Whereas if the situation and result are referred to many, it would be possible to obtain them only with great trouble and dispute and pursuing other means. It would be like an officer referring his duty to the soldiers, the master builder to the stones of a building, the earth to the planets, the waterfall to the drops of water, and the central point of a circle to all the points on the circumference.

Through the mystery of 'relations' an unlimited power is present in Unity. A thing or cause is not compelled to carry the sources of its strength, and the work resulting from the cause gains in greatness in relation to the thing on which it relies. But when partners are associated with God, all causes are obliged to carry their own sources of strength, and the resulting works diminish to the extent of their own size. And it is because of this that an ant and a fly defeated tyrants, and a tiny seed bears upon it a huge tree.

If all things are ascribed to one person, there is no need for creation from absolute non-existence. Creation rather consists of transferring a being which has existence in knowledge to external existence, like transferring the image on the mirror at the back of a camera onto photographic paper, thus establishing its external existence with complete ease, or like revealing words written in invisible ink by spreading on the writing a special substance.

When things are ascribed to causes and multiplicity, it necessitates that they are created from absolute non-existence, and this is impossible, the most difficult of things. In Unity is an ease; it is so easy as to be necessary. While in multiplicity is great difficulty; it is so difficult as to be impossible.

In accordance with wisdom, with Unity, it is possible to create a being from absolute non-existence. That is, to create a being out of pure non-being instantaneously, without matter, and to pour particles into the mould which has existence in knowledge without difficulty or confusion. While as all the intelligent agree, with multiplicity and associating partners with God, original creation is not possible from non-existence. Because for the existence of a living creature, particles and elements dispersed throughout the earth have to be gathered together. And when there is no mould existent in knowledge, to preserve the particles in the body of the animate creature, all the particles have to possess all-encompassing knowledge and absolute will.

In addition, there is no need at all for those things supposed to be partners to God, just as it is impossible for them to be partners. To claim therefore that they are partners is purely arbitrary; there is nothing in beings to suggest that they have any role in their creation, no sign. For the creation of the heavens and the earth necessitates perfect, infinite power, which is in no need of partners. If there were partners, it would necessitate their limiting that infinite and utterly perfect power and bringing it to an end in infinite time, although there is no necessity for this, indeed, although the reverse is necessitated; and this is impossible in five respects. Such partners are therefore impossible and precluded. Moreover, beings in no way suggest or point to their existence.

We have expounded this matter in the First Stopping-Place of the Thirty-Second Word, showing how all things from minute particles to planets, and from the planets to individual facial features in the Second Stopping-Place, reject the ascribing of partners with God, and pointing out the stamp of Divine Unity on all of them.

And just as He has no partners, so He has no assistants or ministers. Causes are nothing other than fine veils to the disposals of Pre-Eternal power; in reality they have no creative effect. For the highest of causes, and the one with the most extensive will, is man, and out of a hundred parts of the most obvious volitional acts like eating, speaking, and thinking, he has only one dubious part. If the true power of disposal of the highest of causes and the one with the most extensive will is thus restricted as you have seen, then how is it possible for the animals and inanimate creatures to have a part in the creation and dominicality of the Creator of the heavens and the earth? Just as the envelope in which a king sends a gift, or the handkerchief in which he wraps a present, or the retainer who brings the gift to you, cannot be partners in the king's sovereignty, so too the causes by the hands of which bounties are sent, or the coffers containing the bounties stored up for us, or the causes wrapped up as Divine gifts and sent to us as presents, cannot be partners to or assistants of God, or intermediaries which have any effect.

The Second Degree

God is Most Great, may His glory be exalted; in regard to power and knowledge greater than everything. He is the Creator, All-Knowing, the Maker, All-Wise, Most Merciful, All-Compassionate. For the beings of the earth and the lofty celestial bodies in the garden of the universe are self-evidently miracles of the power of an All-Knowing Creator; and the adorned and multicoloured plants laid out in the park of the face of the earth and the many varieties of animals displayed and spread throughout the park are necessarily the wonders of art of an All-Wise Maker; and the smiling flowers and decorated fruits in the gardens of this park are clearly the gifts of a Most Merciful and Compassionate One. These miracles of power and wonders of art and gifts of mercy testify, call out, and proclaim that their Creator, Fashioner, and Bestower is powerful over all things, and knowing of all things, that His mercy and knowledge encompass all things. In relation to His power particles and stars are equal; few and many are equal; small and great, finite and infinite are equal. All the events of the past and its strange happenings, which are miracles of an All-Wise Maker's art, testify that this Maker is powerful over all the possibilities of the future and its strange events, for He is an All-Knowing Creator, Exalted, All-Wise.

Glory be to the One Who made the earth the exhibition of His art, the gathering place of His creatures, the manifestation of His power, the means of His wisdom, the garden of His mercy, the arable field of His Paradise, the place of passage of creatures, the place through which beings flow, the measure of His artefacts.

The embellished animals, the decorated birds, the trees made fruitful, the plants adorned with flowers are miracles of His knowledge, marvels of His fashioning, gifts of His munificence, proofs of His grace.

Blossoms smiling with the adornment of fruits, birds singing in the early morning breeze, rain pattering on the petals of flowers, mothers tenderly embracing their small young, all make known One All-Loving, make loved One Most Merciful, Most Kind and Generous to jinn and man, to spirit beings, the angels, and to animals.

Grains and fruits, seeds and flowers are miracles of wisdom, marvels of art, gifts of mercy, proofs of unity; they testify to His grace in the realm of the Hereafter. They are truthful witnesses testifying that their Creator is powerful over all things, and knowing of all things; that with His mercy and knowledge and creativity, planning, art, and fashioning He encompasses all things. In relation to His creation, planning, art, and fashioning the sun is like a tiny seed, a star like a flower, the earth like a grain.

For seeds and fruits are mirrors of Unity in every part of multiplicity; they point to Divine Determining; they are signs of power showing the Unity of the source of this multiplicity. Proceeding from that source they testify to the Unity of their Creator's art and fashioning. Then on their coming to an end in Unity they recount the wisdom of their Maker's creativity and planning.

Seeds and fruits are also allusions of wisdom indicating that the Creator of the universal looks with His all-encompassing view to the particular, then to the parts. For the fruits are the clearest aim of the tree's creation. Thus, man is the aim of the universe, and the chief aim of the Creator of beings. Man's heart is like a seed, and the most luminous mirror to the Maker of creatures. It is due to this wisdom that in the universe, insignificant man is the chief means to and reason for the resurrection of beings, and the destruction, transformation, change and renewal of the universe.

God is Most Great! O Mighty One! The mind cannot penetrate the essence of Your tremendousness!

All beings recite together "There is no god but He!"

Perpetually seeking their needs, they declare "O Truth!"

Altogether they recite "O Living One!"

{(*): This Third Degree considers a flower and a beautiful woman. The huge spring is a flower, and so is Paradise. They are the places of manifestation of this degree. The world is a beautiful and vast human being. Houris, and spirit beings, animals, and men, all as realms of being, bear the meaning of a human being; through their pages, they show the Divine Names this Degree points out.}

The Third Degree

This is explained and elucidated at the beginning of the Third Stopping-Place of the Thirty-Second Word.

God is Most Great, may His glory be exalted! -in respect of power and knowledge greater than all things. For He is All-Powerful, the Determiner, All-Knowing, All-Wise, the Giver of Form, Munificent, Gracious, the Adorner, the Bestower of Bounties, Loving, the One Who makes Himself known, Most Merciful, All-Compassionate, Kind, the Beauteous One of Absolute Beauty and Perfection, the Pre-Eternal Inscriber. What is the reality of the universe as a whole and with its parts, and with its levels and pages, and what is the reality of beings as a whole and as individuals, and in regard to existence and permanence:

- Other than being the well-ordered, measured writings of the pen of His Determining and Decree, according to knowledge and wisdom;

- And the depictions of the compasses of His knowledge and wisdom, traced with art;

- And the adornments of the shining hand of His art and bestowal of form, His embellishing and illuminating, with grace and munificence;

- And the flowers of the subtleties of His grace and munificence, His making Himself known and loved, bounteously, with mercy;

- And the fruits of the superabundance of the spring of His mercy and bounty, His mercy and tenderness, with beauty and perfection;

- And the flashes of an eternal beauty, a perpetual perfection, testified to by the transience of the mirrors and flowing on of the places of reflection together with the continuance of the beauty's manifestation through the passage of the seasons, the centuries, and epochs, together with the continued bestowal of bounty throughout the passage of creatures, time, and beings.

Yes, the fleeting nature of the mirrors and the passing of beings together with the constant manifestations and effulgences shows with the utmost clarity that that evident beauty and shining perfection do not belong to the places of manifestation; they prove most clearly and eloquently that they belong to a transcendent Beauty, a transcendent Bestower, to the Necessary Existent, the Enduring One, the Loving One.

For a perfect work self-evidently points to a perfect act. And a perfect act necessarily points to a perfect name and a perfect performer of the act. And a perfect name doubtlessly points to a perfect attribute. And a perfect attribute without doubt points to a perfect quality. And a perfect quality certainly points in a way worthy of such a one, to the perfection of his essence. This is absolutely certain.