THIRD LIGHT

The Third Light consists of three Gleams.

FIRST GLEAM:

An important aspect of the Qur'an of Miraculous Expositions's miraculousness was explained in the Thirteenth Word. It has been included here in order to take its place among the other aspects of miraculousness, its brothers. It is as follows: if you want to see and appreciate how, like shining stars, each of the Qur'an's verses scatters the darkness of unbelief by spreading the light of miraculousness and guidance, imagine yourself in the age of ignorance and desert of savagery where everything was enveloped in lifeless veils of nature under the darkness of ignorance and heedlessness. Then suddenly from the elevated tongue of the Qur'an, you hear verses like:

Whatever is in the heavens extols and glorifies God, for He is the Mighty, the Wise.¹⁵⁰ * Whatever is in the heavens and earth extols and glorifies God, the Sovereign, the Most Holy One, the Mighty, the Wise.¹⁵¹

See how those dead or sleeping creatures of the world spring to life in the minds of those listening at the sound of extols and glorifies, how they awake, spring up, and mention God's Names! And at the sound of,

The seven heavens and the earth and all within them extol and glorify Him,¹⁵²

the stars in those black skies, each a lifeless piece of fire, and the wretched creatures on the face of the earth present the following view to those listening: the sky appears as a mouth and the stars each as wisdom-displaying words and truth-uttering lights. The earth appears as a head, the land and sea each as tongues, and all animals and plants as words of glorification. Otherwise you will not appreciate the fine points of the pleasure at looking from this time to that. For if you look at each verse as having scattered its light since that time, and having become like universally accepted knowledge with the passage of time, and as shining with the other lights of Islam, and taking its colour from the sun of the Qur'an, or if you look at it through a superficial and simple veil of familiarity, you will not truly see what sort of darkness each verse scatters or how sweet is the recital of its miraculousness, and you will not appreciate this sort of its miraculousness among its many sorts. If you want to see one of the highest degrees of the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition's miraculousness, listen to the following comparison:

Let us imagine an extremely strange and vast and spreading tree which is concealed beneath a veil of the unseen and hidden in a level of concealment. It is clear that there has to be a relationship, harmony, and balance between a tree and all its members like its branches, fruits, leaves, and blossom, the same as between man's members. Each of its parts takes on a form and is given a shape in accordance with the nature of the tree. So if someone appears and traces a picture on top of the veil corresponding to the members of the tree, which has never been seen, then delimits each member, and from the branches to the fruit, and the fruit to the leaves draws a form proportionately, and fills the space between its source and extremities, which are an infinite distance from one another, with drawings showing exactly the shape and form of its members, certainly no doubt will remain that the artist sees the concealed tree with an eye that penetrates and encompasses the unseen, then he depicts it.

In just the same way, the discriminating statements of the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition concerning the reality of contingent beings (that is, concerning the reality of the tree of creation which stretches from the beginning of the world to the farthest limits of the hereafter, and spreads from the earth to the Divine Throne and from minute particles to the sun) have preserved the proportion between the members to such a degree and have given each member and fruit a form so suitable that at the depictions of the Qur'an, all exacting scholars have declared at the conclusion of their investigations: "What wonders God has willed! How great are God's blessings!" They have said: "It is only you who solves and unravels the talisman of the universe and riddle of creation, Oh All-Wise Qur'an!"

And God's is the highest similitude153 – and there is no error in the comparison - let us represent the Divine Names and attributes, and Dominical acts and deeds as a Tuba-tree of light, the sphere of whose grandeur stretches from pre-eternity to post-eternity, and the limits of whose vastness spread through infinite, endless space and encompass it, and the limits of whose deeds stretch from,

It is God Who splits the seed-grain and date-stone,154 and, Comes between man and his heart,¹⁵⁵

to,

Who created the heavens and the earth in six days,¹⁵⁶ and, And the heavens rolled up in His right hand.¹⁵⁷

The All-Wise Qur'an has described that luminous reality, the truths of those Names and attributes, and acts and deeds, together with all their branches and twigs and aims and fruits in a way so harmonious, so fitting for one another, so appropriate for one another, without marring one another or spoiling the decree of one another, or their being remote from one another, that all those who have penetrated to the reality of things and penetrated the mysteries, and all the wise and the sage who have journeyed in the realm of the inner dimension of things, have declared: "Glory be to God!" in the face of that Discriminating Exposition, and have affirmed it, saying: "How right, how conformable with reality, how fine, how worthy!"

Take, for example, the six pillars of belief, which are like a single branch of those two mighty trees which look to the entire sphere of contingency and sphere of necessity: it depicts all the branches and boughs of those pillars - as far as the furthest fruits and flowers - observing such a harmony and proportion between them, and describes them in a manner so balanced, and illustrates them a way so symmetrical that the human mind is powerless to perceive it and stands astonished at its beauty. And the proof that a beauty of proportion and perfect relation and complete balance have been preserved between the five pillars of Islam, which are like one twig of the branch of belief, down to the finest details, smallest point of conduct, furthest aims, most profound wisdom, and most insignificant fruits, is the perfect order and balance and beauty of proportion and soundness of the Greater Shari'a of Islam, which has emerged from the decisive statements, senses, indications, and allusions of the comprehensive Qur'an; they form an irrefutable and decisive proof and just witness that cannot be doubted. This means that the expositions of the Qur'an cannot be attributed to man's partial knowledge, and particularly to the knowledge of someone unlettered. They rest rather on a comprehensive knowledge and are the word of One Who is able to see all things together and observe in one moment all truths between pre-eternity and post-eternity. In this we believe...

SECOND GLEAM:

Since just how far the human philosophy which challenges Qur'anic wisdom has fallen in the face of that wisdom has been explained and illustrated with comparisons in the Twelfth Word and proved in the other Words, we refer readers to them and for now offer a further comparison from another point of view. It is as follows:

Human science and philosophy look at the world as fixed and constant. And they discuss the nature of beings and their characteristics in detail; if they do speak of their duties before their Maker, they speak of them briefly. Quite simply, they speak only of the decoration and letters of the Book of the Universe, and attach no importance to its meaning. Whereas the Qur'an looks at the world as transient, passing, deceptive, travelling, unstable, and undergoing revolution. It speaks briefly of the nature of beings and their superficial and material characteristics, but mentions in detail the worshipful duties with which they are charged by the Maker, and how and in what respects they point to His Names, and their obedience before the Divine creational commands. And so, we shall look at the differences between human philosophy and Qur'anic wisdom in regard to this matter of looking at things either briefly or in detail, and shall see which is pure truth and reality.

Just as a watch in our hand appears to be constant, but its inside is in perpetual upheaval through the motion of the workings and the constant anguish of the cogwheels and parts, in just the same way, together with its apparent stability, this world, which is a huge clock of Divine Power, is perpetually revolving within upheaval and change, transience and evanescence. Indeed, since time has entered the world, night and day are like a two-headed hand counting the seconds of that huge clock. The years are are like a hand counting its minutes, while the centuries count its hours. Thus, time casts the world on the waves of death and decline. It assigns all the past and the future to non-existence, and leaves only in existence present time.

Together with this form which time gives the world, with regard to space also it is like an unstable clock undergoing revolution. For since the space of the atmosphere changes swiftly and quickly passes from one state to another, through being filled and emptied with clouds sometimes several times a day, it causes change like a hand counting the seconds. And the space of the earth, which is like the floor of the house of the world, since with life and death and the animals and plants its face changes very rapidly, like a minute-hand it shows that this aspect of the world also is transient. And just as the earth is like this in regard to its face, so too through the revolutions and upheavals within it, and the mountains emerging as a result and disappearing, this aspect of the world is slowly passing also, like an hour-hand. And through change like the movements of the celestial bodies, the appearance of comets, the occurrence of solar and lunar eclipses, and falling stars, the space of the heavens too, which is like the ceiling of the house of the world, shows that the heavens also are not stable and constant, but are going towards old age and destruction. Its change is slow and tardy like the hand counting the days in a weekly clock, but in every respect it demonstrates that it is transient and passing and heading for destruction.

Thus, the world, in regard to the world, has been constructed on these seven pillars. These pillars perpetually shake it. But when the world which is thus in motion and being shaken looks to its Maker, the motion and change is the working of the Pen of Power in order to write the missives of the Eternally Besought One. And those changing states are the mirrors of the Divine Names, which, being ever-renewed, display with ever-differing depictions the manifestation of the Names' qualities.

And so, in respect of the world, the world is both transient and hastens towards death, and is undergoing revolution. Although in reality it is departing like flowing water, to the heedless eye it appears to be frozen; through the idea of Nature, it has become dense and turbid, and become a veil concealing the hereafter. Thus, through philosophical investigation and natural science, and the seductive amusements of dissolute civilization and its intoxicated passions, sick philosophy has both increased the world's frozen state and inaction, and made denser heedlessness, and increased its opaqueness and turbidity, and caused the Maker and the hereafter to be forgotten. Whereas, with its verses,

By the Mount [of Revelation]. * By a Book inscribed.¹⁵⁸ * When the Event Inevitable comes to pass.¹⁵⁹ * The [Day of] Noise and Clamour, * What is [the Day of] Noise and Clamour?,¹⁶⁰

the Qur'an cards the world in regard to the world like cotton, and casts it away. Through its expositions like,

Do they see nothing in the government of the heavens and the earth?¹⁶¹ * Do they not look at the sky above them? - How We have made it.¹⁶² * Do the unbelievers not see that the heavens and the earth were joined together, before We clove them asunder?,¹⁶³

it gives the world a transparency and removes its turbidity. Through its light-scattering illuminations like,

God is the Light of the heavens and the earth.¹⁶⁴ * What is the life of this world but play and amusement?,¹⁶⁵

it melts the frozen, inactive world. Through its death-tainted expressions like,

When the sun is folded up.¹⁶⁶ * When the sky is cleft asunder.¹⁶⁷ * When the sky is rent asunder.¹⁶⁸ * And the trumpet will be sounded, and all that are in the heavens and all that are on earth will fall down senseless, except such that it pleases God [to exempt],¹⁶⁹

it smashes the delusion that the world is eternal. Through its thunder-like blasts, like,

He knows what enters within the earth and what comes forth out of it, what comes down from the skies and what mounts up to them. And He is with you wheresoever you may be. And God sees all that you do.¹⁷⁰ * And say: Praise be to God, Who will show you His signs, so that you shall know them. And your Sustainer is not unmindful of all that you do,¹⁷¹

it scatters the heedlessness born of the notion of ‘Nature’.

Thus, from beginning to end the Qur'an's verses which are turned towards the universe proceed according to this principle. They reveal and display the reality of the world as it is. Through showing just how ugly the ugly world is, it turns man's face from it, and points out the beautiful world's beautiful face, which looks to the Maker. It fastens man's eye on that. It instructs in true wisdom and knowledge, teaching the meanings of the Book of the Universe, and looking little at the letters and decorations. It does not cause the meaning to be forgotten like drunken philosophy, nor make man enamoured of the ugly and waste his time on meaningless things due to the decoration of the letters.

THIRD GLEAM:

In the Second Gleam we pointed to the fall of human philosophy before Qur'anic wisdom and to the miraculousness of Qur'anic wisdom. Now, in this Gleam, we shall show the degree of the wisdom and science before Qur'anic wisdom of the purified scholars, the saints, and the enlightened among philosophers, the Ishrâqiyyun, who are all students of the Qur'an, and shall make a brief indication to the Qur'an’s miraculousness in this respect.

A most true indication to the elevatedness of the All-Wise Qur'an, and a most clear proof of its truth and justice, and a most powerful sign of its miraculousness is this: preserving all the degrees of all the areas of Divine Unity together with all their necessities, and explaining them, it has preserved their balance and not spoilt it. And it has preserved the balance of all the exalted Divine truths. And it has brought together all the ordinances dictated by the Divine Names, and preserved their mutual proportion. And it has brought together the Dominical and Divine acts with perfect balance. Thus, this preserving and balance and bringing together is a characteristic which certainly is not present in man's works nor in the products of the thought of the great among mankind. It is to be found nowhere in the works of the saints who have penetrated to the face of beings which looks to their Creator, nor in the books of the Ishrâqiyyun who have passed to the inward, hidden meaning of things, nor in the knowledge of the spiritual who have penetrated the World of the Unseen. As though they have practised a division of labour, it is as if each group adheres to only one or two branches of the mighty tree of reality; each busies itself with only its fruit or its leaves. They either know nothing of the others, or else do not concern themselves with them.

Indeed, absolute reality cannot be comprehended by restricted views. A universal view like the Qur'an is necessary in order to comprehend it. For sure they are instructed by the Qur'an, but with a particular mind they can only see completely one or two sides of universal reality, are preoccupied with them, and imprisoned in them. They spoil the balance of reality through either excess or negligence and mar its proportion and harmony. This truth was explained with an unusual comparison in the Second Branch of the Twenty-Fourth Word, and now we shall point to the matter with another comparison.

For example, let us suppose there is some treasure under the sea, full of innumerable jewels of various kinds. Divers are plunging the depths to search for the jewels of the treasure. Since their eyes are closed, they understand what is there through the dexterous use of their hands. A longish diamond comes into the hand of one of them. The diver assumes that the whole treasure consists of a long diamond like a pillar. When he hears of other jewels from his companions, he imagines that they are subsidiary to the diamond he has found, and are facets and embellishments of it. Into the hand of another passes a round ruby, while another finds a square piece of amber, and so on, each of them believes that the jewel he sees with his hand is the essential, major part of the treasure, and supposes that the things of which he hears are additional parts and details of it. So then the balance of the truths is spoilt, and the mutual proportion too is marred. The colour of many truths changes, and in order to see the true colour of reality they are obliged to resort to forced interpretation and elaborate explanations. Sometimes even they go as far as denial and rejection. Anyone who studies the books of the Ishrâqiyyun philosophers and the works of Sufis who rely on illuminations and visions without weighing them on the scales of the Sunna will doubtless confirm this statement of ours. That is to say, although their works concern truths similar to those of the Qur'an and are taken from the Qur'an's teachings, because they are not the Qur'an, they are thus defective. The Qur'an's verses also, which are oceans of truths, are divers for that treasure under the sea. But their eyes are open and encompass the treasure. They see what there is in the treasure and what there is not. They describe and expound it with such harmony, order, and proportion that they show the true beauty and fineness. For example, just as they see the vastness of Dominicality expressed by the verses,

And the whole of the earth will be but His handful, and the heavens will be rolled up in His hand.¹⁷² * The Day that We roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books [completed],¹⁷³

so too they see the all-encompassing Mercy expressed by these:

God, there is nothing hidden from Him on the earth or in the heavens * He it is Who shapes you in the wombs as He pleases.¹⁷⁴ * There is not a moving creature, but He has grasp of its forelock.¹⁷⁵ * How many are the creatures that carry not their own sustenance? It is God who feeds [both] them and you.¹⁷⁶

And just as they see and point out the vast extent of the creativity expressed by,

Who created the heavens and the earth and made the darkness and the light,¹⁷⁷

so too they see and show the comprehensive disposal and encompassing Dominicality expressed by,

But God has created you and what you do.¹⁷⁸

They see and point out the mighty truth expressed by,

He gives life to the earth after its death,¹⁷⁹

and the magnanimous truth expressed by,

And your Sustainer inspired the bee,¹⁸⁰

and the sovereign and commanding vast truth expressed by,

The sun and the moon and the stars subjugated to His command.¹⁸¹

They see and show the compassionate, regulating truth expressed by,

Do they not observe the birds above them, spreading their wings and folding them in? None can uphold them except the Most Merciful; indeed He sees all things,¹⁸²

and the vast truth expressed by,

His Throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in preserving them,¹⁸³

and the guarding truth expressed by,

And He is with you wherever you may be,¹⁸⁴

and the all-encompassing truth expressed by,

He is the First and the Last and the Outward and the Inward, and He is Knowing of All Things,¹⁸⁵

and the proximity expressed by,

It was We Who created man, and We know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him; for We are nearer to him that his jugular vein,¹⁸⁶

and the elevated truth indicated by,

The angels ascend to Him in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years,¹⁸⁷

and the all-embracing truth expressed by,

God commands justice, the doing of good, and liberality to kith and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion .¹⁸⁸

The Qur'an's verses see and show in detail each of the six pillars of belief in respect of this world and the hereafter, action and knowledge. They see and show intentionally and seriously each of the five pillars of Islam, and all the principles which ensure happiness in this world and the next. They preserve their balance, perpetuate their proportion, and a form of the Qur'an's miraculousness comes into being from the source of the beauty which is born of the mutual proportion of the entirety of those truths.

It is due to this great mystery that although the scholars of theology are students of the Qur'an and one section of them has written thousands of works of ten volumes each on the pillars of belief, because like the Mu'tazilites they preferred the reason to transmitted knowledge, they have not been able to express with clarity so many as ten of the Qur'an's verses, or prove them decisively, or convince seriously concerning them. It is quite simply as though they have dug tunnels under distant mountains, taken pipes with the chains of causes to the ends of the world, there cut the chains, and then demonstrated knowledge of God and the existence of the Necessarily Existent One, which are like the water of life. The Qur'an's verses, however, can each extract water from every place like the Staff of Moses, open up a window from everything, and make known the All-Glorious Maker. We have actually proved and demonstrated this fact in the Arabic treatise, Katre, and in the other Words, which flow forth from the ocean of the Qur'an.

It is also due to this mystery that since all the leaders of the heretical groups who have passed to the inward nature of things (bât›n), who, not following the Sunna of the Prophet (PBUH) and relying on their visions, have returned having gone half way, and becoming leaders of a community have formed sects, have been unable to preserve the proportion and balance of the Qur'anic truths, they have fallen into innovation and misguidance and impelled a community of people down the wrong road. Thus, the complete impotence of all these demonstrates the miraculousness of the Qur'an's verses.

* * *

Conclusion 

Two flashes of the Qur'an's miraculousness mentioned in the Fourteenth Drop of the Nineteenth Word are its repetitions, which are imagined to be a fault, and its brevity concerning the physical sciences, both of which are sources for flashes of miraculousness. Also, a flash of the Qur'an's miraculousness which shines on the miracles of the prophets in the Qur'an is demonstrated clearly in the Second Station of the Twentieth Word. And like in these, numerous flashes of miraculousness have been mentioned in the other Words and in my Arabic treatises. And so, deeming those to be sufficient, here we shall only say this, that a further miracle of the Qur'an is that just as all the miracles of the prophets demonstrate an impress of the Qur'an's miraculousness, so too, with all its miracles, the Qur'an is a miracle of the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH). And all the miracles of the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) are a miracle of the Qur'an which demonstrate the Qur'an's relation with Almighty God. And with the appearance of that relation each of its words becomes a miracle. For then a single of its words may contain the meaning of a tree of truths, like a seed; and may be connected with all the members of a mighty truth, like the centre of the heart; and since its relies on an all-encompassing knowledge and infinite will, may look to innumerable things together with their letters, totalities, situations, and positions. Thus, it is because of this that the scholars of the science of letters claim that they have found a pageful of secrets in a single of the Qur'an's letters, and they prove what they claim to adepts of that science.

Now, gather together in your mind's eye all the Lights, Rays, Flashes, Beams, and Gleams from the start of this treatise up to here and consider them all together! As a decisive conclusion, they recite and proclaim in a loud voice the claim made at the beginning, that is,

Say: If all mankind and the Jinn were to gather together to produce the like of this Qur'an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they backed up each other with help and support.¹⁸⁹

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.¹⁹⁰

O our Sustainer! Do not call us to task if we forget or do wrong.¹⁹¹ * O my Sustainer! Expand for me my breast, * And make easy for me my task, * And remove the impediment from my speech, * So that they may understand what I say.¹⁹²

O God! Grant blessings to our master Muhammed that will be pleasing to You and will be fulfilment to his truth, and to his Family, his Companions, and his brothers, and grant them peace.

O our Sustainer! Let not our hearts deviate after you have guided us, and grant us Mercy from Your Presence, for You are the Granter of bounties without measure.¹⁹³ * And the close of their prayer will be, All praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds.¹⁹⁴ Amen. Amen. Amen. 

* * *

First Addendum

[Of the Addenda added to the Twenty-Fifth Word, this First Addendum consists of the Seventeenth Degree of the First Station of the Seventh Ray, The Supreme Sign, on account of its Station.]

Knowing the aim of life in this world, and the life of life, to be belief, the tireless and insatiable traveller through the world who was questioning the universe concerning his Sustainer then said to himself: "Let us refer to the book called the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition, which is known as the word and speech of the One we are seeking, and is the most famous, brilliant, dominant book in the world, challenging everyone in every century who does not submit to it. But first we must prove that it is the book of our Creator." And he started to search.

Since the traveller lived at this time, he looked first at the Risale-i Nur, which consists of flashes of the Qur'an's miraculousness, and saw that its one hundred and thirty parts are fine points and lights of the verses of that Distinguisher between Truth and Falsehood, and authentic explanations of them. And although through striving and endeavour the Risale-i Nur has spread the Qur'anic truths everywhere in an age as obstinate and atheistic as this, the fact that no one has opposed it successfully proves that the Qur'an, which is its master, source, authority, and sun, is heavenly and revealed, and not man's word. Only one proof of the Qur'an out of the hundreds of the Risale-i Nur, the Twenty-Fifth Word together with the last part of the Nineteenth Letter, has proved so decisively that the Qur'an is miraculous in forty aspects that everyone who has seen them, rather than criticizing or objecting to them, has been full of wonder at their proofs, appreciating and praising them. So referring it to the Risale-i Nur to prove the Qur'an's miraculous aspects and its being the Word of God, the traveller only noted with brief indications several points demonstrating its greatness.

First Point: Just as with all its miracles and all its truths, which are an indication of its veracity, the Qur'an is a miracle of Muhammed (Peace and blessings be upon him), so too, with all his miracles and the indications of his prophethood and perfections of his knowledge, Muhammed (PBUH) is a miracle of the Qur'an, and a decisive proof that it is the Word of God.

Second Point: The Qur'an caused a transformation in social life in this world in so luminous, happy, and truthful a fashion, and brought about such a revolution in both men's souls, and hearts, and spirits, and minds, and in their personal lives, social lives, and political lives, and continued and directed that revolution, that every minute for fourteen centuries its six thousand six hundred and sixty-six verses have been recited with deep reverence by the tongues of at least one hundred million men, and it has trained men, purified their souls and cleansed their hearts, and it has caused spirits to unfold and progress, given direction and light to minds, and life and happiness to life. For sure, such a book has no like; it is a wonder, a marvel, a miracle.

Third Point: The eloquence the Qur'an has demonstrated from that age till now has been such that it caused Lebid's daughter to remove from the walls of the Ka'ba the famous verses written in gold of the most celebrated poets called 'the Seven Hanging Poems', and to declare while doing so: "Beside the verses of the Qur'an these no longer have any value!"

Also, when a bedouin poet heard the verse,

Therefore expound openly what you are commanded

being recited, he bowed down in prostration. When asked if he had become a Muslim, he replied: "No, I was prostrating before the eloquence of this verse."

Also, thousands of brilliant scholars and learned literary figures like the geniuses of the science of rhetoric, Abdu'l-Qahir Jurjanî, Sekkâkî, and Zamakhsharî, all reached the conclusion that, "The Qur'an's eloquence is beyond man's power, he could not achieve it."

Also, although from that time it has continuously issued a challenge provoking conceited and egotistical orators and poets, proclaiming in a way which will sting their pride: "Produce the like of one single Sura or be resigned to ignominy and ruin in this world and the next!", the obdurate orators of that time gave up disputing it verbally, the short way of producing the like of one Sura, and chose the way of the war, which was lengthy and threw their lives and property into peril, thus proving that it was not possible to take the short way.

Also, millions of Arabic books are in circulation, written since that time by the Qur'an's friends through the desire to resemble and imitate it, and by its enemies, driven to combat and criticize it, and such works are being written and have improved through the meeting of minds and ideas, but if even the most common man should listen to them, he would declare that none of them have reached it, saying: "The Qur'an does not resemble these and is not of their level. It is either lower than all of them or higher. No one in the world, no unbeliever, nor an idiot even, can say that it is lower, which means that the degree of its eloquence is above all of them."

One time, a man recited the verse,

All that is in the heavens and the earth extols and glorifies God,

and said: "I can't see the eloquence in this, which is considered wonderful." So it was said to him, "You return to that time like the traveller, and then listen to it." And imagining himself to be there before the Qur'an was revealed, he saw the beings of the world to be lifeless, without consciousness and duties, wretched and obscure in an unstable, transitory world in the middle of limitless, empty space. Suddenly, listening to this verse from the tongue of the Qur'an, he saw that it drew back a veil from the universe and face of the world, illuminating it. He saw that this pre-eternal address and eternal decree instructs the conscious beings lined up in the centuries, revealing the universe to be like a huge mosque, and foremost the heavens and the earth, and all beings, to be employed in the glorification and remembrance of God, contentedly performing their duties overflowing with joy and eagerness. He perceived the degree of eloquence of this verse, and comparing the others to it, understood one of the thousands of instances of wisdom in the recitation of the Qur'an's eloquence overspreading half the earth and a fifth of mankind, and, being held in utter veneration, perpetuating its sublime sovereignty for fourteen centuries without break.

Fourth Point: The Qur'an displays an agreeableness so true that for those who recite it, its many repetitions, which are the cause of even the sweetest things being wearied of, do not cause weariness, rather for those whose hearts are not corrupted and taste spoilt, the repetitions increase its agreeableness. Since early times this has been accepted by everyone and become proverbial. Furthermore, it demonstrates such a freshness, youth, and originality that although it has lived for fourteen centuries and has been met eagerly by everyone, it has preserved its freshness as though newly revealed. Each century has seen it to be young as though it was addressing that century in particular. And although in order to benefit from it all the time, all the branches of scholars have always had copies of it present with them in large numbers and have followed and emulated its style and manner of expression, it has preserved the originality in its style and manner of exposition exactly.

Fifth Point: One wing of the Qur'an is in the past, and one is in the future, and like its root and one wing are the agreed truths of the former prophets, and it confirms and corroborates them, and they too confirm it with the tongue of unanimity, so too all the true Sufi paths and ways of sainthood whose fruits like the saints and purified scholars, who receive life from the Qur'an, show through their vital spiritual progress that their blessed tree is living, effulgent, and the means to truth, and who grow and live under the protection of its second wing, testify that the Qur'an is pure truth and the assembly of truths and in its comprehensiveness, a matchless wonder.

Sixth Point: The Qur'an's truthfulness and veracity show that its six aspects are luminous. Indeed, the pillars of argument and proof beneath it; the flashes of the stamp of miraculousness above it; the gifts of happiness in this world and the next before it, its goal; the truths of heavenly revelation, the point of support behind it; the assent and evidence of innumerable upright minds to its right; and the true tranquillity, sincere attraction, and submission of sound hearts and clean consciences on its left all prove that the Qur'an is a wondrous, firm, unassailable citadel of both the heavens and the earth.

So too from these six levels, the Disposer of the universe has set His seal on its being sheer truth and right, and not being man's word, and its containing no error - the Disposer, Who has made it His practice to always exhibit beauty in the universe, protect good and right, and eliminate imposters and liars, has confirmed and set His seal on the Qur'an by giving it the most acceptable, highest, and most dominant place of respect and degree of success in the world.

And so too the one who is the source of Islam and interpreter of the Qur'an - his believing in it and holding it in greater respect than everyone else, and being in a sleep-like state when it was revealed, and other words and speeches not resembling or coming near it, and that Translator's describing without hesitation and with complete confidence through the Qur'an true cosmic events of generally the past and the future from behind the veil of the Unseen, and no trickery or fault being observed in him while being under the gazes of the sharpest eyes, and his believing and affirming every pronouncement of the Qur'an with all his strength and nothing shaking him, is a stamp confirming that the Qur'an is revealed and true and the blessed Word of his own Compassionate Creator.

Also a fifth of mankind, indeed the greater part of it, being drawn to the Qur'an and bound to it in religion and giving ear to it eagerly desirous of the truth, and according to the testimony of many indications and events and illuminations, the jinn, angels, and spirit beings also gathering around it in truth-worshipping fashion like moths whenever it is recited is a stamp confirming the Qur'an's acceptance by all beings and that it occupies a most high position.

Also, all the classes of mankind from the most stupid and lowly to the cleverest and most learned taking their full share of the Qur'an's instruction and their understanding its most profound truths, and all branches of scholars like the great interpreters of the Greater Shari'a in particular, and hundreds of Islamic sciences and branches of knowledge, and the brilliant and exacting scholars of theology and the principles of religion extracting from the Qur'an all the needs and answers for their own sciences is a stamp confirming that the Qur'an is a source of truth and mine of reality.

Also, although the the Arab literary figures, who were the most advanced in regard to literature, - those of them who were not Muslims - had the greatest need to dispute the Qur'an, their avoiding producing the like of only a single Sura and its eloquence, eloquence being only one aspect of the seven major aspects of the Qur'an's miraculousness, as well as the famous orators and brilliant scholars up to the present who have wanted to gain fame through disputing it being unable to oppose a single aspect of its miraculousness and their remaining silent in impotence is a stamp confirming that the Qur'an is a miracle and beyond the powers of man.

Yes, the value, superiority, and eloquence of a speech or word is apparent through knowing, "from whom it has come and to whom, and for what purpose;" the Qur'an then can have no like, and none can reach it. For the Qur'an is a speech and address of the Sustainer of all the worlds and Creator of the whole universe and a dialogue in no way hinting of imitation and artificiality. It is addressed to the one sent in the name of all men, indeed of all beings, the most famous and renowned of mankind, the strength and breadth of whose belief gave rise to mighty Islam and raised its owner to the level of the Distance of Two Bow-strings and returned him as the addressee of the Eternally Besought One. It describes and explains the matters concerning happiness in this world and the next, the results of the creation of the universe, and the Dominical purposes within it. It expounds also the belief of the one it addresses, which was the highest and most extensive of belief and bore all the truths of Islam. It turns and shows every side of the huge universe like a map, a clock, or a house, and teaches and describes it in the manner of the Craftsman Who made them - to produce the like of this Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition is not possible; the degree of its miraculousness cannot be attained to.

Also, thousands of precise and learned scholars of high intelligence have each written commentaries expounding the Qur'an, some of which are of thirty, forty, or even seventy volumes, showing and proving through evidence and argument the innumerable qualities, fine points, characteristics, mysteries, elevated meanings, and numerous indications concerning every sort of hidden and unseen matter in the Qur'an. And the one hundred and thirty parts of the Risale-i Nur in particular, each of which proves with decisive arguments one quality, one fine point of the Qur'an. Each part of it - like the Miraculousness of the Qur'an, and the Second Station of the Twentieth Word, which deduces many things from the Qur'an concerning the wonders of civilization like the railway and the aeroplane, and the First Ray, called Signs of the Qur'an, which makes known the indications of verses alluding to the Risale-i Nur and electricity, and the eight short treatises called The Eight Signs, which show how well-ordered, full of meaning, and mysterious are the words of the Qur'an, and the small treatise proving in five aspects the miraculousness of the verses at the end of Sura al-Fath in regard to their giving news of the Unseen - each part of the Risale-i Nur shows one truth, one light of the Qur'an. All this forms a stamp confirming that the Qur'an has no like, is a miracle and a marvel, and that it is the tongue of the World of the Unseen in the Manifest World and the Word of One All-Knowing of the Unseen.

Thus, due to these qualities and characteristics of the Qur'an indicated above in six points, six aspects, and six levels, its sublime, luminous sovereignty and sacred, mighty rule has continued with perfect splendour illuminating the faces of the centuries and the face of the earth for one thousand three hundred years. And also on account of these qualities of the Qur'an, each of its letters has gained the sacred distinction of yielding at least ten rewards, ten merits, and ten eternal fruits, and the letters of certain verses and Suras yielding a hundred or a thousand fruits, or even more, and at blessed times the light, reward, and value of each letter rising from ten to hundreds. The traveller through the world understood this and said to his heart: "The Qur'an, which is thus miraculous in every respect, through the consensus of its Suras, the agreement of its verses, the accord of its lights and mysteries, and the concurrence of its fruits and works, so testifies with its evidences in the form of proofs to the existence, Unity, attributes, and Names of a Single Necessarily Existent One that it is from its testimony that the endless testimony of all the believers has issued forth."

Thus, in brief indication to the instruction in belief and Divine Unity that the Traveller received from the Qur'an, it was said in the Seventeenth Degree of the First Station:

There is no god but God, the One and Unique Necessary Existent, to Whose Necessary Existence in Unity points the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition, the book accepted and desired by all species of angel, men and jinn, whose verses are read each minute of the year, with the utmost reverence, by hundreds of millions of men, whose sacred sovereignty over the regions of the earth and the universe and the face of time is permanent, whose spiritual and luminous authority has run over half the earth and a fifth of humanity, for more than fourteen centuries, with the utmost splendour. Testimony and proof is also given by the unanimity of its sacred and heavenly Suras, the agreement of its luminous, divine verses, the congruence of its mysteries and lights, the correspondence of its fruits and effects, by witnessing and clear vision.

* * *

THE TENTH MATTER OF THE FRUITS OF BELIEF, THE ELEVENTH RAY

 A Flower of Emirdag

[An extremely powerful reply to objections raised against repetition in the Qur'an.]

My Dear and Loyal Brothers!

Due to my wretched situation, this Matter is confused and graceless. But I knew there to be definitely beneath the confused wording a most valuable sort of miraculousness, though unfortunately, I was not capable of expressing it. But however dull the wording, since it concerns the Qur'an, it is both worship in the form of reflection, and the shell of a sacred, elevated, shining jewel. The diamond in the hand should be looked at, not its torn clothes. Also, I wrote it in one or two days during Ramadan while extremely ill, wretched, and without food, of necessity very concisely and briefly, and including many truths and numerous proofs in a single sentence. Let its deficiencies, then, not be considered. [As the Tenth Matter of the fruit of Denizli Prison, it is a small shining flower of Emirdag and of this month of Ramadan. By explaining one instance of wisdom in the repetitions of the Qur'an, it dispels the poisonous, putrid illusions of the people of misguidance.]

My True and Loyal Brothers! While reading the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition in Ramadan, whichever of the thirty-three verses came up that in the First Ray describe the indications to the Risale-i Nur, I saw that the page and story of the verse also look to the Risale-i Nur and its Students to a degree - from the point of view of taking a share from the story. Particularly the Light Verses in Sura al-Nur, just as they point to the Risale-i Nur with ten fingers, so too the Darkness Verses following it point directly at those opposing it; these afford a further share. Quite simply, I understood that this 'station' rises from particularity to universality and that one part of that universality is the Risale-i Nur and its Students.

Indeed, in regard to the breadth, exaltedness, and comprehensiveness that the Qur'an's address receives from first the extensive station of the universal Dominicality of the Pre-Eternal Speaker, and from the extensive station of the one addressed in the name of mankind, indeed of all beings, and the most extensive station of all mankind's guidance in all the centuries, and from the station of the most elevated comprehensive expositions of the Divine laws concerning the regulation of this world and the hereafter, the heavens and the earth, pre-eternity and post-eternity, and the Dominicality of the Creator of the universe, and of all beings, this Address displays such an elevated miraculousness and comprehensiveness that both its apparent and simple level, which flatters the simple minds of ordinary people, the most numerous group the Qur'an addresses, and its highest level, partakes of it.

It is as though, addressing every age and every class of people, not as one share of the story or one lesson from an historical story, but as parts of a universal principle, it is newly revealed. And particularly its often repeated threats of the wrongdoers, the wrongdoers, and its severe expositions of calamities visited on the heavens and the earth, the punishment for their wrongdoing - through these and the retribution visited on the Ad and Thamud peoples and on Pharaoh, it draws attention to the unequalled wrongs of this century, and through the salvation of prophets like Abraham (PUH) and Moses (PUH) gives consolation to the oppressed believers.

Indeed, all past time and the departed ages and centuries, which in the view of heedlessness and misguidance form a ghastly and fearsome place of non-existence and a grievous, ruined graveyard, the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition shows to every century and class of people in the form of living instructive pages, strange worlds, living and endowed with spirits, and existent realms of the Sustainer which are connected with us; with an elevated miraculousness, it sometimes conveys us to those times, and sometimes brings those times to us. Infusing with life the universe, which in the view of misguidance is lifeless, wretched, dead, and a limitless wasteland revolving amid separation and decline, with the same miraculousness this same Qur'an of Mighty Stature raises to life those dead beings, makes them converse with one another as officials charged with duties and hasten to the assistance of one another; it instructs mankind, the jinn, and the angels in true, luminous, and pleasurable wisdom.

For sure, then, it gains sacred distinctions, like there being ten merits in each of its letters, and sometimes a hundred, a thousand, or thousands of merits; and if all men and jinn were to gather together, their being unable to produce the like of it; and its speaking completely appropriately with all mankind and all beings; and its all the time being inscribed with eagerness in the hearts of millions of hafizes; and its not causing weariness through its frequent and numerous repetitions; and despite its many obscure places and sentences, its being settled perfectly in the delicate and simple heads of children; and its being agreeable like zemzem water in the ears of the sick, the dying, and those distressed by a few words; and its gaining for its students happiness in this world and the next.

And its smoothness of style, which, observing exactly its translator's being unlettered, allows for no bombast, artificiality, or affectedness, and its descending directly from the heavens demonstrate a fine miraculousness. And so too it shows a fine miraculousness in the grace and guidance of flattering the simple minds of ordinary people, the most numerous of the classes of men, through the condescension in its expression, and mostly opening the clearest and most evident pages like the heavens and earth, and teaching the wondrous miracles of power and meaningful lines of wisdom beneath those commonplace things.

And in order to make known that it is also a book of prayer and summons, of invocation and Divine Unity, which require repetition, it demonstrates a sort of miraculousness through making understood in a single sentence and a single story through its agreeable repetitions numerous different meanings to numerous different classes of people. And so too, in order to make known that the most minor and unimportant things in ordinary, commonplace events are within its compassionate view and the sphere of its will and regulation, it demonstrates a sort of miraculousness in attaching importance to even the minor events of the Companions of the Prophet in the establishment of Islam and codification of the Shari'a, and both in those minor events being universal principles, and, in the establishment of Islam and the Shari'a, which are general, their producing most important fruits, like seeds.

With regard to repetition being necessary due to the repetition of need, the repetition of certain verses which, as answers to numerous repeated questions over a period of twenty years, instructs numerous different levels of people is not a fault – indeed, to repeat certain sentences so powerful they produce thousands of results and a number of verses which result from countless evidences, which describe an infinite, awesome, all-embracing revolution which, by destroying utterly the vast universe and changing its shape at Doomsday, will remove the world and found the mighty hereafter in its place, and will prove that all particulars and universals from atoms to the stars are in the hand and under the disposal of a single Being, and will show the Divine wrath and Dominical anger - on account of the result of the universe's creation - at mankind's wrongdoing, which brings to anger the earth and the heavens and the elements, to repeat such verses is not a fault, but most powerful miraculousness, and most elevated eloquence; an eloquence and lucid style corresponding exactly to the requirements of the subject.

For example, as is explained in the Fourteenth Flash of the Risale-i Nur, the sentence,

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

which forms a single verse and is repeated one hundred and fourteen times in the Qur'an, is a truth which binds the Divine Throne and the earth, and illuminates the cosmos, and for which everyone is in need all the time; if it was repeated millions of times, there would still be need for it. There is need and longing for it, not only every day like bread, but every moment like air and light.

And, for example, the verse,

And verily your Sustainer is Exalted in Might, Most Compassionate,

which is repeated eight times in Sura Ta Sin Mim.2 Repeating on account of the result of the universe's creation and in the name of universal Dominicality, the salvation of the prophets whose stories are told in the Sura, and the punishments of their peoples, in order to teach that that Dominical dignity requires the torments of those wrongdoing peoples and Divine Compassion also requires the prophets' salvation, is a concise, miraculous, and elevated miraculousness, for which, if repeated thousands of times, there would still be need and longing.

And, for example, the verse,

Then which of the favours of your Sustainer will you deny?

which is repeated in Sura al-Rahman, and the verse,

Woe that Day to the rejecters of truth!,

in Sura al-Mursalat4 shout out threateningly to mankind and the jinn across the centuries and the heavens and the earth, the unbelief, ingratitude, and wrongdoing of those who bring the universe and the heavens and earth to anger, spoil the results of the world's creation, and deny and respond slightingly to the majesty of Divine rule, and aggress against the rights of all creatures. If a general lesson thus concerned with thousands of truths and of the strength of thousands of matters is repeated thousands of times, there would still be need for it and its awe-inspiring conciseness and beautiful, miraculous eloquence.

And, for example, the repetition of the phrase,

Glory be unto You! There is no god but You: Mercy! Mercy! Save us, deliver us, preserve us, from Hell-fire!

in the supplication of the Prophet (PBUH) called Jaushan al-Kabir, which is a true and authentic supplication of the Qur'an and a sort of summary proceeding from it. Since it contains the greatest truth and the most important of the three supreme duties of creatures in the face of Dominicality, the glorification and praise of God and declaring Him to be All-Holy, and the most awesome question facing mankind, his being saved from eternal misery, and worship, the most necessary result of human impotence, if it is repeated thousands of times, it is still few.

Thus, repetition in the Qur'an looks to principles like these. Sometimes on one page, even, with regard to the requirements of the position and the need for explanation and the demands of eloquence, it expresses the truth of Divine Unity perhaps twenty times explicitly and by implication. It does not cause boredom, but gives a power to it, and eagerness. It has been explained in the Risale-i Nur with proofs how appropriate, fitting, and acceptable with regard to rhetoric are the repetitions in the Qur'an. The wisdom and meaning of the Meccan and Medinan Suras in the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition being different in regard to eloquence, miraculousness, and detail and brevity is as follows:

In Mecca, the first line of those it was addressing and those opposed to it were the Qurayshi idolators and untaught tribesmen, so a powerful and elevated style in regard to rhetoric was necessary, and a miraculous, convincing, persuasive conciseness, and in order to establish it, repetition was required. Thus, in most of the Meccan Suras, repeating and expressing the pillars of belief and degrees in the affirmation of Divine Unity with a most powerful, elevated, and miraculous conciseness, it proved so powerfully the first creation and the Resurrection, God and the hereafter, not only in a single page, verse, sentence or word, but sometimes in a letter, through grammatical devices like changing the places of the words or sentences, making a word indefinite, and omissions and inclusions, that the geniuses and leaders of the science of rhetoric met it with wonder. The Risale-i Nur, and the Twenty-Fifth Word and its Addenda in particular, which prove in summary forty aspects of the Qur'an's miraculousness, and the Qur'anic commentary, Ishârâtu'l-I'jaz, from the Arabic Risale-i Nur, which in wondrous fashion proves the aspect of the Qur'an's miraculousness that is in its word order, have demonstrated in fact that in the Meccan Suras and verses are the highest styles of eloquence and the most elevated, concise miraculousness.

As for the Medinan Suras and verses, since the first line of those they were addressing and who opposed them were the People of the Book, like the Jews and Christians who affirmed God's existence, what was required by eloquence and guidance and for the discussion to correspond to the situation, was not explanation of the high principles of religion and pillars of belief in a simple, clear, and detailed style, but the explanation of particular matters in the Shari'a and its injunctions, which were the cause of dispute, and the origins and causes of secondary matters and general laws. Thus, in the Medinan Suras and verses, through explanations in a detailed, clear, simple style, in the matchless manner of exposition peculiar to the Qur'an, it mostly mentions within those particular secondary matters, a powerful and elevated summary; a conclusion and proof, a sentence relating to Divine Unity, belief, or the hereafter which makes the particular matter of the Shari'a universal and ensures that it conforms to belief in God. It illuminates the passage, and elevates it. The Risale-i Nur has proved the qualities and fine points and elevated eloquence in the summaries and conclusions, which express Divine Unity and the hereafter, and come mostly at the end of verses, like:

Indeed, God is Powerful over all things. * Verily God has knowledge of all things. * And He is the Mighty, the Wise.* And He is Exalted in Might, Most Compassionate.

In explaining in the Second Beam of the Second Light of the Twenty-Fifth Word, ten out of the many fine points and qualities of those summaries and conclusions, it has proved to the obstinate that there is in them a supreme miracle.

Yes, in expounding those secondary matters of the Shari'a and laws of social life, the Qur'an at once raises the views of those it addresses to elevated and universal points, and transforming a simple style into an elevated one and instruction in the Shari'a to instruction in Divine Unity, it shows it is both a book of law and commands and wisdom, and a book of the tenets of faith and belief, and of invocation and reflection and summons. And through teaching many of the aims of Qur'anic guidance in every passage, it displays a brilliant and miraculous eloquence different to that of the Meccan Suras.

Sometimes in two words, for example, in Sustainer of All the Worlds and Your Sustainer, through the phrase, Your Sustainer, it expresses Divine Oneness, and through, Sustainer of All the Worlds, Divine Unity. It expresses the Divine Oneness within Divine Unity. In a single sentence even it sees and situates a particle in the pupil of an eye, and with the same verse, the same hammer, it situates the sun in the sky, and makes it an eye to the sky. For example, after the verse,

Who created the heavens and the earth,

following the verse,

He merges the night into the day, and He merges the day into the night,

it says:

And He has full knowledge of all that is in [men's] hearts.

It says: "Within the vast majesty of the creation of the earth and the skies, He knows and regulates also the thoughts of the heart." And through an exposition of this sort, transforms that simple and unlettered level and particular discussion which takes into account the minds of ordinary people, into an elevated, attractive, and general conversation for the purpose of guidance.

A Question: "Because an important truth is sometimes not apparent to superficial views, and in some positions the connection is not known in expressing an elevated summary concerning Divine Unity or a universal principle out of a minor and ordinary matter, it is imagined to be a fault. For example, mentioning the extremely elevated principle: And over all endued with knowledge, One Knowing,7 in Joseph (Upon whom be peace) taking his brother through subterfuge, does not appear to be in keeping with eloquence. What is its meaning and the wisdom in it?"

The Answer: In most of the long and middle-length Suras, which are each small Qur'ans, and in many pages and passages, not only two or three aims are followed, rather, the Qur'an's nature comprises many books and teachings like being a book of invocation, belief, and reflection, and a book of law, wisdom, and guidance. And so, since it describes the majestic manifestations of Divine Dominicality and its encompassing all things, being a sort of recitation of the Mighty Book of the Universe, in every discussion and sometimes on a single page, the Qur'an follows many aims; while instructing in knowledge of God, the degrees in Divine Unity, and the truths of belief, with an apparently weak connection it opens another subject of instruction in the following passage, and joins powerful connections to that weak one. It corresponds perfectly to the discussion and raises the level of eloquence.

A Second Question: "What is the wisdom and purpose in the Qur'an proving and drawing attention to the hereafter, Divine Unity, and man's reward and punishment thousands of times, explicitly, implicitly, and allusively, and teaching them in every Sura, on every page, and in every discussion?"

The Answer: To instruct in the most important, most significant, and greatest of awesome matters in the sphere of contingency and in the revolutions in the universe's history concerning man's duty, the means to his eternal misery or happiness, - man who undertook the Divine vicegerency of the earth - and to remove his countless doubts, and to smash his violent denials and obduracy, indeed, to make man confirm those awesome revolutions and submit to those most necessary essential matters which are as great as the revolutions, if the Qur'an draws his attention to them thousands, or even millions of times, those discussions in the Qur'an are read. They do not cause boredom, and the need does not cease.

For example, since the verse,

For those who believe and do righteous deeds are gardens beneath which rivers flow, * They will dwell there for ever,

shows the truth of the good news of eternal happiness, which "saves from the eternal execution of the reality of death, which every moment shows itself to wretched man, both himself, and his world, and all those he loves, and gains for them an everlasting sovereignty", if it is repeated thousands of millions of times and given the importance of the universe, it still is not excessive and does not lose its value. As so, in teaching the innumerable, valuable matters of this sort, and endeavouring to persuade, convince, and prove the occurrence of awesome revolutions which will destroy the present form of the universe and change it as though it was a house, the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition certainly draws attention to these matters thousands of times times explicitly, implicitly, and allusively, and this is not excessive, but renews the bounty like the essential needs of bread, medicine, air, and light are renewed.

And, for example, as is proved decisively in the Risale-i Nur, the wisdom in the Qur'an repeating severely, angrily, and forcefully, threatening verses like,

For wrong-doers there is a grievous penalty. *But for those who reject [God] - for them will the Fire of Hell.

is that man's unbelief is such a transgression against the rights of the universe and most creatures that it makes the heavens and earth angry and brings the elements to anger so that they deal blows on those wrong-doers with tempest and storm. According to the clear statement of the verses,

And when they are cast therein, they will hear the [terrible] drawing-in of its breath as it blazes forth * Almost bursting with fury,

Hell so rages at those iniquitous deniers that it reaches the degree of disintegrating with fury. Thus, through the wisdom of showing, not from the point of view of man's smallness and insignificance before such a general crime and boundless aggression, but the importance of the rights of the Monarch of Universe's subjects before the greatness of the wrongful crime and the awesomeness of the unjust aggression, and the boundless ugliness in the unbelief and iniquity of those deniers – in accordance with the wisdom of showing this, if repeating in His decree most wrathfully and severely that crime and its punishment, thousands, millions, or even thousands of millions of times, it still would not be excessive and a fault, because for a thousand years thousands of millions of people have read such verses everyday, not with boredom, but with perfect eagerness and need.

Indeed, every day, all the time, for everyone, one world disappears and the door of a new world is opened to them. Through repeating There is no god but God a thousand times out of need and with longing in order to illuminate each of those transitory worlds, it makes There is no god but God a lamp for each of those changing veils. In the same way, in accordance with the wisdom of appreciating through reading the Qur'an the penalties of those crimes and the severe threats of the Pre-Eternal Monarch, which smash their obduracy, and of working to be saved from the rebellion of the soul, so as not to plunge into darkness those multiple, fleeting veils and renewed travelling universes, and not to make ugly their images which are reflected in the mirrors of their lives, and not to turn against them those guest views which may testify in favour of them, the Qur'an repeats them in most meaningful fashion. And even Satan flees from imagining to be out of place these so powerful, severe, and repeated threats of the Qur'an. It shows that the torments of Hell are pure justice for the deniers who do not heed them.

And, for example, in repeating many times the stories of Moses (Upon whom be peace), which contain many instances of wisdom and benefits like the Staff of Moses, and of the other prophets (Upon whom be peace), it demonstrates that the prophethoods of all the other prophets are a proof of the Prophethood of Muhammed (PBUH). In accordance with the undeniable wisdom for the point of view of reality of this Being's Prophethood and since everyone does not always have the time or capability to read the whole Qur'an, like the important pillars of belief, it repeats those stories in order to make all the long and middle-length Suras each like a small Qur'an. To repeat them is not excessive, indeed, it is required by eloquence, and teaches that the question of Muhammed (PBUH) is the greatest question of mankind and the most important matter of the universe.

It has been demonstrated decisively in the Risale-i Nur with many proofs and indications that through giving the highest position to the person of Muhammed in the Qur'an and including him in the four pillars of belief and holding Muhammed is the Prophet of God equal to the pillar of There is no god but God, that the Prophethood of Muhammed (PBUH) is the greatest truth in the universe, and that the Person of Muhammed is the most noble of creatures, and his universal collective personality and sacred rank, known as the Muhammedan Truth, is the most radiant Sun of the two worlds. And his worthiness for this extraordinary position has also been proved. One of these proofs is this:

According to the principle of 'the cause is like the doer', with the equivalent of all the good works performed by all his community at all times entering his book of good works; and the light which he brought illuminating all the truths of the cosmos; and his gratifying not only the jinn, mankind, and animate beings, but also the universe and the heavens and earth; and the supplications of plants, offered through the tongue of disposition, and the supplications of animals offered through the tongue of their innate need, and the righteous of that Being (PBUH)'s community every day bequeating to him their benedictions and supplications for mercy and spiritual gains, whose millions – and together with spirit beings, even, millions of millions – of unrejectable supplications are accepted, as we actually witness with our eyes; and since each of the three hundred thousand letters of the Qur'an yield from a hundred to a thousand merits, with infinite numbers of lights entering the book of his deeds, only with regard to the recitation of the Qur'an by all his community, the One All-Knowing of the Unseen saw and knew that the Muhammedan (PBUH) Reality, which is his collective personality, would in the future be like a Tuba-tree of Paradise. It was in accordance with that position that He gave him such supreme importance in the Qur'an, and in His Decree showed the following of him and receiving of his intercession through adhering to his Illustrious Sunna to be one of the most important matters concerning man. And from time to time He took into consideration his human personality and human state in his early life, which was a seed of the majestic Tuba-tree.

Thus, since the truths repeated in the Qur'an are of this value, all sound natures will testify that in its repetitions is a powerful and extensive miracle. Unless, that is to say, a person is afflicted with some sickness of the heart and malady of the conscience due to the plague of materialism, and is included under the rule,

Man denied the light of the sun due to disease of the eye,

The mouth denied the taste of water due to sickness.

* * *

TWO ADDITIONS, WHICH FORM A CONCLUSION TO THE TENTH MATTER.

THE FIRST: Twelve years ago I heard that a most fearsome and obdurate atheist had instigated a conspiracy against the Qur'an through having it translated. He said: "The Qur'an should be translated so that just what it is can be known." That is, saying, let everyone see its unnecessary repetitions and let its translation be read in its place, he hatched a dire plan. However, the irrefutable proofs of the Risale-i Nur proved decisively that "A true translation of the Qur'an is not possible, and other languages cannot preserve the Qur'an's virtues and fine points in place of the grammatical language of Arabic. Man's trite and partial translations cannot be substituted for the miraculous and comprehensive words of the Qur'an, every letter of which yields from ten to a thousand merits; they may not be read in its place in mosques." Through spreading everywhere, the Risale-i Nur made the fearsome plan come to nothing. I surmise that it was due to the idiotic and lunatic attempts of dissemblers to extinguish the Sun of the Qur'an on account of Satan by puffing at it like silly children, having taken lessons from that atheist, that I was inspired to write this Tenth Matter while under great constraint and in a most distressing situation. But I do not know the reality of the situation since I have been unable to meet with others.

SECOND ADDITION: After our release from Denizli Prison, I was staying on the top floor of the famous Sehir Hotel. The most subtle and graceful dancing of the leaves, branches, and trunks of the many poplar trees in the fine gardens opposite me, each with a rapturous and ecstatic motion like a circle of dervishes at the touching of the breeze, pained my heart, sorrowful and melancholy at being parted from my brothers and remaining alone. Suddenly the seasons of autumn and winter came to mind and a heedlessness overcame me. I so pitied those graceful poplars and living creatures swaying with perfect joyousness that my eyes filled with tears. With this reminder of the separations and non-being beneath the ornamented veil of the universe, the grief at a world-full of deaths and separations pressed down on me. Then suddenly, the Light the Muhammedan (PBUH) Truth had brought came to my assistance and transformed that grief and sorrow into joy. Indeed, I am eternally grateful to the Muhammedan Being (PBUH) for the assistance and consolation which touched that situation at that time, only a single instance of the boundless effulgence of that Light for me, like for all believers and everyone. It was like this.

By showing those blessed and delicate creatures to be without function or purpose, and their motion to be not out of joy, but as though trembling at non-existence and separation and tumbling into nothingness, that heedless view so touched the feelings in me of desire for permanence, love of good things, and compassion for fellow-creatures and life that it transformed the world into a sort of hell and the mind into an instrument of torture. Then, just at that point, the Light Muhammed (Peace and blessings by upon him) had brought as a gift for mankind raised the veil; it showed in place of extinction, non-being, nothingness, purposeless, futility, and separations, meanings and instances of wisdom to the number of the leaves of the poplars, and as is proved in the Risale-i Nur, results and duties which may be divided into three sorts:

The First Sort looks to the All-Glorious Maker's Names. For example, if a master craftsman makes a wondrous machine, everyone applauds him, saying: "What wonders God has willed! Blessed be God!" And so too, the machine congratulates the craftsman through the tongue of its disposition, through displaying perfectly the results intended from it. All living beings and all things are machines such as that; they applaud their Craftsman through their glorifications.

The Second Sort of Instances of Wisdom looks to the views of living creatures and conscious beings. Beings each become an agreeable object of study, a book of knowledge. They leave their meanings in the sphere of existence in the minds of conscious beings and their forms in their memories, and on the tablets in the World of Similitudes, and in the notebooks of the World of the Unseen, then they leave the Manifest World and withdraw to the World of the Unseen. That is, they leave an apparent existence and gain many existences, pertaining to meaning, the Unseen, and knowledge. Yes, since God exists and His knowledge encompasses everything, in the view of reality, in the world of believers there is surely no non-being, extinction, nothingness, annihilation, and transitoriness, while the world of unbelievers is full of non-existence, separation, nothingness, and transience. The saying, which is on everyone's lips, "For those for whom God exists, everything exists; and for those for whom He does not exist, nothing exists; for them there is nothing", teaches this fact.

IN SHORT: Just as belief saves man from eternal annihilation at the time of death, so too, it saves everyone's private world from the darknesses of annihilation and nothingness. Whereas unbelief, and especially if it is absolute unbelief, both sends man and his private world to non-existence with death, and casts him into Hell-like darknesses. It transforms the pleasures of life into bitter poisons. Let the ears of those ring who prefer the life of this world to that of the hereafter! Let them come and find a solution for this, or else let them enter belief and be saved from these dreadful losses!

Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.

From your brother who is in much need of your prayers and misses you greatly,

SAID NURSI