Konu: The flashes collection

From the Risale-i Nur Collection

THE FLASHES COLLECTION

by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi
Translated from the Turkish by Şükran Vahide

IN THE NAME OF GOD,

THE MERCIFUL, THE COMPASSIONATE

But he cried through the depths of darkness, "There is no god but You; Glory be unto You! I was indeed among the wrongdoers!" {[*]: Qur'an, 21:87.} * When he called upon his Sustainer saying: "Verily harm has afflicted me, and You are the Most Merciful of the Merciful." {[*]: Qur'an, 21:83.} * But if they turn away, say: "God suffices me, there is no god but He; in Him do I place my trust-He the Sustainer of the Throne [of Glory] Supreme!" {[*]: Qur'an, 9:129.} * For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs. {[*]: Qur'an, 3:173.} * There is no strength and no power other than through God, the High, the Mighty. * The Enduring One, You are the Enduring One! The Enduring One, You are the Enduring One! * And to those who believe guidance and healing. {[*]: Qur'an, 41:44.}

[This the first section of the Thirty-First Letter consists of six Flashes, each of which depicts one of the many lights of the above verses and phrases. The recital of each of these thirty-three times particularly between Maghrib and 'Isha, the prayers at sunset and nightfall, is most meritorious.]

THE FIRST FLASH

The supplication of Hadhrat Yunus ibn Matta {[*]: The Prophet Yunus in the Qur'an is the Biblical Jonah, which name is henceforth used in the present work. (Tr.)} (Peace be upon our Prophet and upon him) is a most powerful supplication, a most effective means for obtaining answer to prayer. The gist of the celebrated story of Jonah (Peace be upon him) is as follows:

He was cast into the sea and swallowed by a large fish. The sea was stormy, the night turbulent and dark, and hope exhausted. But it was while he was in such a situation that his supplication:

There is no god other than You, Glory be unto You! Indeed, I was among the wrongdoers

acted for him as a swift means of salvation. The secret of his supplication's power was this:

In that situation all causes were suspended, for Jonah needed to save him one whose command should constrain the whale and the sea, and the night and the sky. The night, the sea, and the whale were united against him. Only one whose command might subdue all three of these could bring him forth on the strand of salvation. Even if the entirety of creation had become his servants and helpers, it would have been of no avail. For causes have no effect. Since Jonah saw with the eye of certainty that there was no refuge other than the Causer of Causes, and unfolded to him was the meaning of Divine Oneness within the light of Divine Unity, his supplication was able suddenly to subdue the night, the sea, and the whale. Through the light of Divine Unity he was able to transform the belly of the whale into a submarine; and the surging sea, which in its awesomeness resembled an erupting volcano, into a peaceable plain, a pleasant place of excursion. Through the light of Unity, he was able to sweep the sky's countenance clear of all clouds, and to set the moon over his head like a lantern. Creation that had been pressing and threatening him from all sides now showed him a friendly face from every direction. Thus he reached the shore of salvation, where beneath the creeping-gourd tree he observed this favour of his Sustainer.

Now we are in a situation one hundred times more awesome than that in which Jonah (Upon whom be peace) first found himself. Our night is the future. When we look upon our future with the eye of neglect, it is a hundred times darker and more fearful than his night. Our sea is this spinning globe. Each wave of this sea bears on it thousands of corpses, and is thus a thousand times more frightening than his sea. Our fish is the caprice of our soul which strives to shake and destroy the foundation of our eternal life. This fish is a thousand times more maleficent than his. For his fish could destroy a hundred-year lifespan, whereas ours seeks to destroy a life lasting hundreds of millions of years. This being our true state, we should in imitation of Jonah (Upon whom be peace) avert ourselves from all causes and take refuge directly in the Causer of Causes, that is, our Sustainer. We should say:

There is no god but You, Glory be unto You! Indeed I was among the wrongdoers,

and understand with full certainty that it is only He who can repel from us the harm of the future, this world, and caprice of our souls, united against us because of our neglect and misguidance. For the future is subject to His command, the world to His jurisdiction, and our soul to His direction.

What cause is there other than the Creator of the Heavens and Earth who can know the most subtle and secret thoughts of our heart; who can lighten the future for us by establishing the Hereafter; who can save us from the myriad overwhelming waves of the world? No, outside that Necessarily Existent One, there is nothing that can in any way give aid and effect salvation except by His consent and command.

This being the case, considering that as a result of his supplication, the whale became for Jonah a vehicle, or a submarine, and the sea, a peaceable plain; and the night became gently lit for him by the moon, so too, we should make the same supplication:

There is no god but You, Glory be unto You! Indeed I was among the wrongdoers.

With the sentence "There is no god but You" we draw the gaze of mercy upon our future; with the word "Glory be unto You!" we draw it upon our world; and with the phrase "Indeed I was among the wrongdoers," we draw it upon our soul. Thus our future is illumined with the light of belief and the moonlike luminosity of the Qur'an, and the awe and terror of the night are transformed into tranquillity and joy. Then too, embarking on the ship of the truth of Islam, fashioned in the dockyard of the Most Wise Qur'an, we may pass safely over the sea of this earthly abode, which through the alternation of life and death is boarded by corpses unnumbered, borne on the waves of the years and centuries, and cast into nothingness. Once aboard that ship we may reach the shore of salvation and fulfil our life's duty. The tempest and surging of the sea will appear a series of pleasing images on a screen, and instead of inspiring terror and dread, will delight, caress and illumine the reflective and the meditative gaze. By virtue of the mystery of the Qur'an, and the effect of that Criterion of Truth and Falsehood, our soul will ride no longer us, but instead become our mount. As we ride it, it will be for us a powerful means for the attainment of life everlasting.

In Short:

Man, in accordance with the comprehensive nature of his being, as he suffers and shakes with malaria, so also he suffers from the shaking and tremors of the earth, and the supreme convulsion of all beings of the Day of Resurrection. As he fears the infinitesimal microbe, he also fears the shooting star that appears among the heavenly bodies. As he loves his home, he also loves the wide world. As he loves his little garden, he also ardently loves infinite and eternal paradise. Man's object of worship, Sustainer, refuge, saviour, and goal then can only be the One in the grasp of Whose power is the whole universe, under Whose command are both atom and planet. Man should therefore constantly say like Jonah (Upon whom be peace):

There is no god but You, Glory be unto You! Indeed I was among the wrongdoers.

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise. {[*]: Qur'an, 2:32.}

THE SECOND FLASH

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

When he called upon his Sustainer saying: "Verily harm has afflicted me, and You are the Most Merciful of the Merciful." {[*]: Qur'an, 21:83.}

The supplication of Job (Upon whom be peace), the champion of patience, is both well-tested and effective. Drawing on the verse, we should say in our supplication,

O my Sustainer! Indeed harm has afflicted me, and You are the Most Merciful of the Merciful.

The gist of the well-known story of Job (Upon whom be peace) is as follows:

While afflicted with numerous wounds and sores for a long time, he recalled the great recompense to be had for his sickness, and endured it with utmost patience. But later, when the worms generated by his wounds penetrated to his heart and his tongue, the seat of the remembrance and knowledge of God, he feared that his duty of worship would suffer, and so he said in supplication not for the sake of his own comfort, but for the sake of his worship of God:

"O Lord! Harm has afflicted me; my remembrance of You with my tongue and my worship of You with my heart will suffer." God Almighty then accepted this pure sincere, disinterested and devout supplication in the most miraculous fashion. He granted to Job perfect good health and made manifest in him all kinds of compassion. This Flash contains Five Points:

FIRST POINT

Corresponding to the outer wounds and sicknesses of Job (Upon whom be peace), we have inner sicknesses of the spirit and heart. If our inner being was to be turned outward, and our outer being turned inward, we would appear more wounded and diseased than Job. For each sin that we commit and each doubt that enters our mind, inflicts wounds on our heart and our spirit.

The wounds of Job (Upon whom be peace) were of such a nature as to threaten his brief worldly life, but our inner wounds threaten our infinitely long everlasting life. We need the supplication of Job thousands of times more than he did himself. Just as the worms that arose from his wounds penetrated to his heart and tongue, so too the wounds that sin inflicts upon us and the temptations and doubts that arise from those wounds will-may God protect us!-penetrate our inner heart, the seat of belief, and thus wound belief. Penetrating too the spiritual joy of the tongue, the interpreter of belief, they cause it to shun in revulsion the remembrance of God, and reduce it to silence.

Sin, penetrating to the heart, will blacken and darken it until it extinguishes the light of belief. Within each sin is a path leading to unbelief. Unless that sin is swiftly obliterated by seeking God's pardon, it will grow from a worm into a snake that gnaws on the heart.

For example, a man who secretly commits a shameful sin will fear the disgrace that results if others become aware of it. Thus the existence of angels and spirit beings will be hard for him to endure, and he will long to deny it, even on the strength of the slightest indication.

Similarly, one who commits a major sin deserving of the torment of Hell, will desire the non-existence of Hell wholeheartedly, and whenever he hears of the threat of Hell-fire, he will dare to deny it on the strength of a slight indication and doubt, unless he takes up in protection the shield of repentance and seeking forgiveness.

Similarly, one who does not perform the obligatory prayer and fulfil his duty of worship will be affected by distress, just as he would be in case of the neglect of a minor duty toward some petty ruler. Thus, his laziness in fulfulling his obligation, despite the repeated commands of the Sovereign of Pre-Eternity, will distress him greatly, and on account of that distress will desire and say to himself: "Would that there were no such duty of worship!" In turn, there will arise from this desire a desire to deny God, and bear enmity toward Him. If some doubt concerning the existence of the Divine Being comes to his heart, he will be inclined to embrace it like a conclusive proof. A wide gate to destruction will be opened in front of him. The wretch does not know that although he is delivered by denial from the slight trouble of duty of worship, he has made himself, by that same denial, the target for milions of troubles that are far more awesome. Fleeing from the bite of a gnat, he welcomes the bite of the snake.

There are many other examples, which may be understood with reference to these three, so that the sense of,

Nay but their hearts are stained {[*]: Qur'an, 83:14.} will become apparent.

SECOND POINT

As was explained concerning the meaning of Divine Determining, known as destiny, in the Twenty-Sixth Word, men have no right to complain in the case of disasters and illness for the following three reasons:

First Reason: God Most High has made the garment of the body with which He has clothed man a manifestation of His art. He has made man to be a model on which He cuts, trims, alters and changes the garment of the body, thus displaying the manifestation of various of His Names. Just as the Name of Healer makes it necessary that illness should exist, so too the Name of Provider requires that hunger should exist. And so on...

The Lord of All Dominion has disposal over His dominion as He wishes.

Second Reason: It is by means of disasters and sicknesses that life is refined, perfected, strengthened and advanced; that it yields results, attains perfection and fulfils its own purpose. Life led monotonously on the couch of ease and comfort resembles not so much the pure good that is being, as the pure evil that is non-being; it tends in fact in that direction.

Third Reason: This worldly realm is the field of testing, the abode of service. It is not the place of pleasure, reward, and requital. Considering, then, that it is the abode of service and place of worship, sicknesses and misfortunes-as long as they do not affect belief and are patiently endured-conform fully to service and worship, and even strengthen it. Since they make each hour's worship equivalent to that of a day, one should offer thanks instead of complaining.

Worship consists in fact of two kinds, positive and negative. What is meant by the positive is obvious. As for negative worship, this is when one afflicted with misfortune or sickness perceives his own weakness and helplessness, and turning to his Compassionate Sustainer, seeks refuge in Him, meditates upon Him, petitions Him, and thus offers a pure form of worship that no hypocrisy can penetrate. If he endures patiently, thinks of the reward attendant on misfortune and offers thanks, then each hour that he passes will count as a whole day spent in worship. His brief life becomes very long. There are even cases where a single minute is counted as equal to a whole day's worship.

I once was extremely anxious because of an awesome illness that struck one of my brothers of the Hereafter, Muhajir Hafiz Ahmed. {[*]: Muhajir Hafiz Ahmed was a merchant in Barla and among the first students of the Risale-i Nur. Bediuzzaman stayed in his guest-house on first arriving in Barla* in February, 1926, and he assisted Bediuzzaman for the eight and a half years he remained in Barla.(Tr.)

*Bediuzzaman's place of exile. A small village in Isparta Province in SW Turkey.(Tr)} But then a warning came to my heart: "Congratulate him!" Each minute he spends is counted as a whole day's worship. He was in any event enduring his illness in patience and gratitude.

THIRD POINT

As we have pointed out in one or two of the Words, whenever one thinks of his past life, he will say in his heart or with his tongue either "Ah!" or "Oh!" That is he will either experience regret, or say "Thanks and praise be to God." Regret is inspired by the pains arising from the cessation of former pleasures and separation from them. For the cessation of pleasure is a pain in itself. Sometimes a momentary pleasure will cause everlasting pain. To think upon it will be like lancing a wound, causing regret to gush forth.

As for the lasting spiritual pleasure that comes from the cessation of momentary pains experienced in the past, it inspires man to exclaim, "Thanks and praise be to God!" In addition to this innate tendency of man, if he thinks of the reward that results from misfortune and the requital that awaits him in the Hereafter, if he realizes that his brief life will count as a long life because of misfortune-then instead of being merely patient he should be thankful. He should say, "Praise be to God for every state other than unbelief and misguidance."

It is commonly said that misfortune is longlasting. Indeed it is, but not because it is troublesome and distressing as people customarily imagine, but rather because it yields vital results just like a long life.

FOURTH POINT

As was explained in the First Station of the Twenty-First Word, the power of patient endurance given to man by God Almighty is adequate to every misfortune, unless squandered on baseless fears. But through the predominance of delusion, man's neglect and his imagining this transient life to be eternal, he squanders his power of endurance on the past and the future. His endurance is not equal to the misfortunes of the present, and he begins to complain. It is as if-God forbid!-he were complaining of God Almighty to men. In a most unjustified and even lunatic fashion, he complains and demonstrates his lack of patience.

If the day that is past held misfortune, the distress is now gone, and only tranquillity remains; the pain has vanished and the pleasure in its cessation remains; the trouble is gone, and the reward remains. Hence one should not complain but give thanks for enjoyment. One should not resent misfortune, but love it. The transient life of the past comes to be counted as an eternal and blessed life because of misfortune. To think upon past pain with one's fancy and then to waste part of one's patience is lunacy.

As far as days yet to come are concerned, since they have not yet come, to think now of the illness or misfortune to be borne during them and display impatience, is also foolishness. To say to oneself "Tomorrow or the day after I will be hungry and thirsty" and constantly to drink water and eat bread today, is pure madness. Similarly, to think of misfortunes and sicknesses yet in the future but now non-existent, to suffer them already, to show impatience and to oppress oneself without any compulsion, is such stupidity that it no longer deserves pity and compassion.

In short, just as gratitude increases Divine bounty, so too complaint increases misfortune, and removes all occasion for compassion.

During World War One, a blessed person in Erzurum was afflicted with an awesome disease. I went to visit him and he said to me complaining bitterly: "I have not been able to place my head on the pillow and sleep for a hundred nights." I was much grieved. Suddenly a thought came to me and I said:

"Brother, the hundred difficult days you have spent are now just like one hundred happy days. Do not think of them and complain; rather look at them and be grateful. As for future days, since they have not yet come, place your trust in your Compassionate and Merciful Sustainer. Do not weep before being beaten, do not be afraid of nothing, do not give non-being the colour of being. Think of the present hour; your power of patient endurance is enough for this hour. Do not act like the maddened commander who expects reinforcement on his right wing by an enemy force deserting to join him from his left, and then begins to disperse his forces in the centre to the left and the right, before the enemy has joined him on the right. The enemy then destroys his centre, left weak, with a minimal force. Brother, do not be like him. Mobilize all your strength for this present hour, and think of Divine Mercy, reward in the Hereafter, and how your brief and transient life is being transformed into a long and eternal form. Instead of complaining bitterly, give joyful thanks."

Much relieved, he said, "Praise and thanks be to God, my disease is now a tenth of what it was before."

FIFTH POINT

consisting of three matters.

First Matter:

True and harmful misfortune is that which affects religion. One should at all times seek refuge at the Divine Court from misfortune in matters of religion and cry out for help. But misfortunes that do not affect religion in reality are not misfortunes. Some of them are warnings from the Most Merciful One. If a shepherd throws a stone at his sheep when they trespass on another's pasture, they understand that the stone is intended as a warning to save them from a perilous action; full of gratitude they turn back. So too there are many apparent misfortunes that are Divine warnings and admonishments, others that constitute the penance of sin; and others again that dissolve man's state of neglect, remind him of his human helplessness and weakness, thus affording him a form of tranquillity. As for the variety of misfortune that is illness, it is not at all a misfortune, as has already been said, but rather a favour from God and a means of purification. There is a tradition which says: "Just as a tree drops its ripe fruit when shaken, so too do sins fall away through the shaking of fever." {[*]: Bukhari, Mardâ 3, 13, 16; Muslim, Birr 45; Ibn Maja, Adab 56; Darimi, Rikak 57; Musnad i, 381, 441, 455; iii, 152.}

Job (Upon whom be peace) did not pray in his supplication for the comfort of his soul, but rather sought cure for the purpose of worship, when disease was preventing his remembrances of God with his tongue and his meditation upon God in his heart. We too should make our primary intent, when making that supplication, the healing of the inward and spiritual wounds that arise from sinning.

As far as physical diseases are concerned, we may seek refuge from them when they hinder our worship. But we should seek refuge in a humble and supplicating fashion, not protestingly and plaintively. If we accept God as our Lord and Sustainer, then we must accept too all that He gives us in His capacity of Sustainer. To sigh and complain in a manner implying objection to Divine Determining and Decree is a kind of criticism of Divine Determining, an accusation levelled against God's compassion. The one who criticizes Divine Determining strikes his head against the anvil and breaks it. Whoever accuses God's mercy will inevitably be deprived of it. To use a broken hand to exact revenge will only cause further damage to the hand. So too a man who, afflicted with misfortune, responds to it with protesting complaint and anxiety, is only compounding his misfortune.

Second Matter:

Physical misfortunes grow when they are seen to be large, and shrink when they are seen to be small. For example, a dream enters one's vision at night. If one pays it attention it swells up and grows; if one does not, it disappears. So too if one attempts to ward off an attacking swarm of bees, they will become more aggressive; whereas if one pays them no attention they will disperse. Thus if one regards physical misfortunes as great and grants them importance, they will grow, and because of anxiety pass from the body and strike root in the heart. The result will then be an inward affliction on which the outward misfortune fastens to perpetuate itself. But if the anxiety is removed by contentment with the Divine Decree and reliance on God, the physical misfortune will gradually decrease, dry up and vanish, just like a tree whose roots have been severed. I once composed the following verses in description of this truth:

Cry not out at misfortune, O wretch, come, trust in God!

For know that crying out compounds the misfortune and is a great error.

Find misfortune's Sender, and know it is a gift within gift, and pleasure.

So leave crying out and offer thanks; like the nightingale, smile through your tears!

If you find Him not, know the world is all pain within pain, transience and loss.

So why lament at a small misfortune while upon you is a worldful of woe? Come, trust in God!

Trust in God! Laugh in misfortune's face; it too will laugh.

As it laughs, it will diminish; it will be changed and transformed.

If in single-handed combat one smiles at an awesome enemy, his enmity will be changed to conciliatoriness; his hostility will become a mere joke, will shrink and disappear. If one confronts misfortune with reliance on God the result will be similar.

Third Matter:

Each age has particular characteristics. In this age of neglect misfortune has changed its form. In certain ages and for certain persons, misfortune is not in reality misfortune, but rather a Divine favour. Since I consider those afflicted with illness in the present age to be fortunate-on condition that their illness does not affect their religion-it does not occur to me to oppose illness and misfortune, nor to take pity on the afflicted. Whenever I encounter some afflicted youth, I find that he is more concerned with his religious duties and the Hereafter than are his peers. From this I deduce that illness does not constitute a misfortune for such people, but rather a bounty from God. It is true that illness causes him distress in his brief, transient and worldly life, but it is beneficial for his eternal life. It is to be regarded as a kind of worship. If he were healthy he would be unable to maintain the state he enjoyed while sick and would fall into dissipation, as a result of the impetuousness of youth and the dissipated nature of the age.

Conclusion

God Almighty, in order to display His infinite power and unlimited mercy, has made inherent in man infinite impotence and unlimited want. Further, in order to display the endless embroideries of His Names, He has created man like a machine capable of receiving unlimited varieties of pain, as well as infinite varieties of pleasure. Within that human machine are hundreds of instruments, each of which has different pains and pleasures, different duties and rewards. Simply, all of the Divine Names manifested in the macroanthropos that is the world also have manifestations in the microcosm that is man. Beneficial matters like good health, well-being, and pleasures cause man to offer thanks and prompt the human machine to perform its functions in many respects, and thus man becomes like a factory producing thanks.

Similarly, by means of misfortune, illness and pain, and other motion-inducing contingencies, the other cogs of the human machine are set in motion and revolution. The mine of weakness, impotence, and poverty inherent in human nature is made to work. It induces in man a state whereby he seeks refuge and help not only with a single tongue, but with the tongue of each of his members. Thus by means of those contingencies man becomes like a moving pen comprising thousands of different pens. He inscribes the appointed course of his existence on the page of his life or the Tablet in the World of Similitudes; he puts forth a declaration of the Divine Names; and becomes himself an ode to the glory of God, thus fulfilling the duties of his nature.

THE THIRD FLASH

[Emotion and spiritual pleasure have become mixed in this Flash to an extent, and since their exuberance does not much heed the principles of the intellect and the scales of thought nor conform to them, it should not be weighed up on the scales of logic.]

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

Everything shall perish save His countenance; His is the command, and to Him shall you return. {[*]: Qur'an, 28:88.}

The two phrases, The Enduring One, He is the Enduring One! * The Enduring One, He is the Enduring One! express the meaning of the above verse, and so too state two important truths. It is because of this that some of the chiefs of the Naqshbandi Order made themselves a special invocation with the repetition of the phrases, in the form of a concise Naqshi supplication. Seeing that the two phrases express the meaning of the above mighty verse, we shall explain several points concerning the significant truth they state.

FIRST POINT

The first time The Enduring One, He is the Enduring One! is recited, like a surgical operation, it severs and isolates the heart from everything other than God. It is as follows:

In respect of the comprehensiveness of his nature, man is connected with almost all beings, and in addition, a boundless capacity to love has been included in his nature. For these reasons man nurtures love towards all beings. As he loves the huge world as though it was a house, so he loves eternal Paradise as though it was a garden. However, the beings he loves do not stop, they depart, and he constantly suffers the pain of separation. That boundless love of his becomes the means of boundless torment.

The fault in suffering such torment is his, for his heart's boundless capacity to love was given so that he might direct it toward One possessing an infinite undying beauty. By misusing it and spending it on transitory beings, he has done wrong and suffers the punishment for his fault through the pain of separation.

And so, the first time he utters: "The Enduring One! He is the Enduring One!", it severs his attachment to transitory beings; he leaves those objects of love before they leave him and he is thus cleared of his fault. It declares that love is restricted to the Enduring Beloved, and expresses this meaning: "The only Truly Enduring One is You! Everything other than You is transient. One that is transient certainly cannot be the object of attachment for my heart which was created for everlasting love, for ardour lasting from pre-eternity to post-eternity. Since those innumerable beloveds are transitory and they leave me and depart, before they do so, declaring, The Enduring One, You are the Enduring One!, I shall leave them. Only You are immortal, and I know and believe that beings can only be immortal by Your making them so. In which case, they should be loved with Your love. They are not otherwise worthy of the heart's attachment."

When in this state, man's heart gives up innumerable objects of love; seeing the stamp of transitoriness on their beauty and loveliness, it severs its attachment to them. If it does not sever it, it suffers wounds to the number of its beloveds. The second The Enduring One, He is the Enduring One! is both a salve and an antidote for those wounds. That is, "O Enduring One! Since You are Enduring, that is sufficient, You take the place of everything. Since You exist, everything exists."

Yes, the beauty, bounty, and perfection in beings, which are the cause of love, are generally signs of the Truly Enduring One's beauty and bounty and perfections, and passing through many veils, are pale shadows of them; indeed, they are the shadows of the shadows of the manifestations of His Most Beautiful Names.

SECOND POINT

Included in human nature is an intense love. Even, because of the power of imagination, man fancies a sort of immortality in everything he loves. Whenever he thinks of or sees their passing, he cries out from the depths of his being. All the lamentations at separation are interpretations of the weeping resulting from love of immortality. If there was no imagined immortality, there would be no love. It might even be said that a reason for the existence of the eternal realm and everlasting Paradise is the intense desire for immortality arising from that passionate love of immortality, and from the innate and general prayer for immortality. The Enduring One of Glory accepted man's intense, unshakeable, innate desire and his powerful, effective, general prayer, for He created for transient man an eternal realm.

Is it at all possible that the Munificent and Compassionate Creator would accept the insignificant wish of a tiny stomach and its supplication through the tongue of disposition for a temporary immortality through creating innumerable sorts of delicious foods, and not accept the intense desire of all human kind, which arises from an overpowering innate need, and mankind's universal, constant, rightful, just prayer for immortality, offered through word and state? God forbid, a hundred thousand times! It is not possible that He would not accept it. Not to accept it would be in keeping with neither his wisdom, nor His justice, nor His mercy, nor His power.

Since man is most desirous of immortality, all his perfections and pleasures are dependent on immortality. And since immortality is particular to the Enduring One of Glory; and since the Enduring One's Names are enduring and immortal; and since the Enduring One's mirrors take on the hue of the Enduring One, and reflect His decree, and manifest a sort of immortality; for sure the matter most important for man, his most pressing duty, is to form a relation with that Enduring One and to adhere to His Names. For everything expended on the way of the Enduring One receives a sort of immortality. Thus, the second The Enduring One, He is the Enduring One! expresses this truth. In addition to healing man's innumerable spiritual wounds, it satisfies the intense wish for immortality in his nature.

THIRD POINT

In this world, the effects of time on things, and on their transience and passing, differ greatly. And while beings are one within the other like concentric circles, they are different as regards the speed of their passing.

Just as the hands of a clock counting the seconds, and those counting the minutes, hours, and days superficially resemble each other, but differ in respect to speed, so too the spheres of the body, soul, heart, and spirit in man differ from each other. For example, although the body possesses an immortality, life, and existence in the day in which it is, or even the hour, and its past and future are dead and non-existent, the sphere of existence and life of the heart extend from many days previous to the present day and to many days in the future. And the sphere of the spirit is vast; the sphere of its life and existence extends from years previous to the present day to years subsequent to it.

Thus, due to this capacity, in respect of knowledge, love, and worship of God, the Sustainer, and the pleasure of that Most Merciful One, which are the means to the life of the heart and spirit, transient life in this world comprises a perpetual life, results in an eternal life, and resembles everlasting life.

Yes, one second on the way of love, knowledge, and pleasure of the Truly Enduring One is a year. While if it is not on His way, a year is a second. A single second, even, on His way is immortal and many years. A hundred years of the people of neglect in regard to this world are like a single second. There is the famous saying: "A moment's separation lasts a year, and a year's union passes as swiftly as a moment." I say the complete opposite to this: a moment's union for God's sake within the bounds of the Enduring One of Glory's pleasure is a window of union, not of only a year, but a permanent window. While not one year, but perhaps a thousand years spent in heedlessness and misguidance are like a second. There is a saying more famous than the previous one that corroborates this: "The broad earth with enemies is like a drinking-glass, while the eye of a needle with friends like a broad arena."

An explicit meaning of the first well-known saying above is this: since union with transitory beings is transient, however long it is, it is brief. A year of such union is fleeting like a second, and is an illusion, a dream, causing regret and sorrow. The human heart, which desires immortality, can only receive in one year's union the tiniest pleasure within a fraction of a second. And one moment's separation is not one year, but many. For the arena of separation is broad. Even if only for a second, separation inflicts years of destruction on a heart which yearns for eternity. For it bodes of innumerable separations. While for physical and lowly loves, the past and future are filled with separations.

In connection with this matter, we say this: O man! Do you want to make your brief and useless life immortal, long, beneficial, fruitful? Since to so want is demanded by humanity, spend your life on the way of the Truly Enduring One. For everything turned to the Enduring One receives the manifestation of immortality.

Since everyone strongly desires a long life and yearns for immortality; and since there is a means of transforming this fleeting life into perpetual life and it is possible to make it like a long life; for sure anyone who has not lost his humanity will seek out the means and try to transform the possibility into a reality and will act accordingly. Yes, the means is this: work for God's sake, meet with others for God's sake, labour for God's sake; act within the sphere of 'For God, for God's sake, on account of God.' Then all the moments of your life will become like years.

Alluding to this truth, verses of the Qur'an point out that a single night like the Night of Power are like a thousand months, that is, around eighty years. Also indicating to this truth is 'the expansion of time', a tried principle among the people of sainthood and reality, through the mystery of which, a few minutes' Ascension become like many years and prove the existence of this truth and demonstrate it in fact. The few hours of the Ascension of the Prophet (PBUH) had the length, breadth, and comprehensiveness of thousands of years. For he entered the world of eternity by way of the Ascension, and a few minutes of that world comprise thousands of years of this world.

In addition are the numerous occurrences of 'the expansion of time' experienced by the saints, constructed on this truth. It is related that some saints did a day's work in a single minute, some performed the duties of a year in an hour, and recited the whole Qur'an in the space of a minute. Such veracious people of truth would never knowingly stoop to lying. There can be no doubt that they observed exactly the fact of 'the expansion of time', {(*): The verses, Said one of them: "How long have we stayed [here]?" They said, "We have stayed [perhaps] a day, or part of a day." (18:19), and, So they stayed in their cave three hundred years, and [some] add nine [more]. (18:25) point to the traversing of time, while the verse, Verily a day in the sight of your Sustainer is like a thousand years of your reckoning (22:47) points to the expansion of time.} which is thus numerously and unanimously reported.

A sort of the expansion of time confirmed by everyone is experienced in dreams. Sometimes a day in the waking world, or many days, would be necessary to experience the happenings, words, pleasures, and pains experienced in a minute's dream.

In Short:

For sure man is transitory, but he was created for immortality, and as the mirror to an Enduring One, and he was charged with duties which produce enduring fruits, and was given a form which is the means to manifesting the impresses of an Enduring One's enduring Names. In which case, the true duty and happiness of man is to cling with all his powers and faculties to the Names of that Eternally Enduring One within the bounds of those things that please Him; it is to be turned towards the Enduring One, and to go to Him. As his tongue utters "the Enduring One, You are the Enduring One!," so his heart, spirit, mind, and all his subtle faculties should declare:

"He is the Enduring One! He is the Pre-Eternal and Post-Eternal! He is the Everlasting One! He is the Perpetual One! He is the One Who is Sought! He is the Beloved! He is the One Wished For, the One Worshipped!"

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise! {[*]: Qur'an, 2:32.}

O our Sustainer! Do not take us to task if we forget or do wrong. {[*]: Qur'an, 2:282.}