The Second Station
of the 17th Word6
Cry not out at misfortune, O wretch, come, trust
in Allah!
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 Allah!
* * *
Trust in Allah! Laugh in misfortune's face;
it too will laugh.
As it laughs, it will diminish; it will be
changed and transformed.
* * *
Know, O arrogant one, happiness in this world
is in abandoning it.
To know Allah is enough. Abandon the world;
all things will be for you.
* * *
To be arrogant is total loss; whatever you
do, all things will be against you.
So both states demand abandoning the world
here.
* * *
Abandoning the world is to regard it as Allah's
property, with His permission,
in His Name...
If you want to do trade, it is in making
this fleeting life eternal.
* * *
If you seek yourself, it is both rotten and
without foundation.
If you seek the world outside, the stamp
of ephemerality is upon it.
* * *
That means there is no value in taking it;
the goods in this market are all rotten.
So pass on... the sound goods are all lined
up beyond it....
A
FRUIT OF THE BLACK MULBERRY
[The Old Said spoke this with the tongue
of the New Said under the blessed mulberry tree.]
The one I'm addressing isn't Ziya Pasha, it's those enamoured
of Europe.
The one speaking isn't my soul, it's my heart
in the name of the students of the Qur'an.
* * *
The previous words are all truth; beware,
don't lose course, don't exceed their bounds!
Don't heed the ideas of Europe and deviate,
or they'll make you regret it!
* * *
You see the most enlightened of them, in
brilliance their standard-bearer,
Exclaim in bewilderment: Of whom, to whom
can I complain?
* * *
The Qur'an says, and I say too - I won't
hold back:
I
lodge my complaint with Him. I'm not confused, like you.
* * *
I
cry out to the True Allah; I don't slip away, like you.
I
shout my cause from the ground to the skies; I don't flee, like
you.
* * *
For all the Qur'an's cause is light upon
light; I don't renege, like you.
In the Qur'an is truth and wisdom; I'll prove
it. I count as nothing hostile philosophy.
* * *
In the Criterion are diamond truths; I take
them to myself, not sell them, like you.
I
journey from creation to Creator; I don't lose the way, like
you.
* * *
I
pass over thorny paths, I don't tread on them, like you.
From the earth to the Throne, I offer thanks;
I don't neglect it, like you.
* * *
I
look on death and the appointed hour as a friend; I am not frightened,
like you.
I'll enter the grave smiling, not trembling,
like you.
* * *
I
don't see it as a monster's mouth, a beast's lair, descending
to nothingness,
like you.
It joins me with my friends; I'm not vexed
at the grave, like you.
* * *
It's
the door of Mercy, gate of Light, portal of Truth; I am not
discomforted by it;
I
won't retreat.
Saying: In the Name of Allah, I'll knock
on it.7
I'll not look behind me nor feel terror.
* * *
Saying: All Praise be to Allah!, I'll lay
down and find ease. I'll suffer no trouble nor remain solitary.
Saying, Allah is Most Great!, I'll hear the
Call to the Resurrection and rise up,8
I
won't hang back from the Great Gathering, or the Mighty Mosque.
* * *
I'll feel no distress, thanks to Divine favour,
the Qur'an's light,
and the effulgence of Belief;
Not stopping, I'll hasten, fly, to the shade
of the Most Merciful's Throne.
Allah willing, I won't
go astray, like you.
My Dear Devoted Brothers !
Firstly we congratulate the blessed feast of
all of the Students of
Light and the feast of the Students of Light at the Hajj-ul-Akbar (Greater
Pil-grimage) and the supporters of
the Light who are at the
Pilgrimage.
This Feast
is giving the good news of the beginning of the Great Feast of the World of Islam which is the
Islamic Union introduced by
“the Arab League” just in the same manner as the United
States, organized by an Islamic State in India with a population
over hundred million, an
Islamic State in Java with a population over fifty million
and four-five Governments in the Arabian Peninsula,
which were for a long time
under foreign occupation and captivity after they lost their independence.
Secondly : According to what Refet Bey and Mustafa Oruc in Istanbul
have written, the Ministry of War and Defence which administered for a long period the Islamic
Army – the Headquarters
and the Gate of Commanders had the following significant
Verse of the Quran with the
Quranic Alphabet
Later they covered and hidden those Lights with
marble stones. Presently
the Quranic Alphabet has been permitted again, which was an opportunity for one of the purposes
followed by the Risale-i Nur and this
is a sign that in the future the University will become a School of the Light.
Ahmetler, students of Light from Denizli, have extracted
an article from the works of Bismarck who was a famous Scholar
and a social philosopher and the greatest
intellectual of the 19th Century :
“I
have studied the Quran in all aspects.
I noticed great wisdom in
each of its words. There is no and will not be such a
Book similar to the Quran which can
administer the Mankind.”
Addressing the Prophet He wrote :
“O
Muhammad ! I regret much that I am not your contemporary. Humanity has seen such a distinguished
power like you only once
and cannot see again. Therefore I bow in your spiritual
presence with great respect.”
Bismarck
He over-criticized in the same article the previous
Holy Scriptures which
were modified and abrogated, hence those sentences should not be included. 9
This person was the most intelligent and greatest
philosopher of the 19th
Century and the most important personality of Politics and
Social Life, and now the World of Islam has partly obtained
its independence
and the Foreign Governments have been searching the Truths of the Quran and there is a substantial trend towards the Quran in the
West and North West and the most famous and greatest philosopher of America, Mister
Carlyle has also commented
similarly like Bismarck :
“Other Books can no way equal the Quran. It is the True Word. We must heed it.”10
Furthermore
the victories of the Treatises of Light everywhere and their advancement are good omens indicating
that many more Bismarcks and
Carlyles will appear in the West.
We present this article as a gift of the Feast for the
Students of Light and enclose the
article of Bismarck.
Greetings to all…
Your Brother
Said Nursi
Bismarck’s
Statement in the Letter
from Ahmeds Our Honourable Teacher !
We present here with the words of Prince Bismarck - the famous German Ruler - about different Religions
and particularly Islam
for the attention of our Honorable Teacher.
These words indicate how much Islam will advance
in the West.
Due to My extensive social research, I found
out the following Statements
of the Late Prince Bismarck in various sources from the 19th Century about the abrogated
Religions :
“I
have examined closely all the Holy Scriptures claimed to be
sent by Allah to guide the humanity in different
eras. I could find
in none of them
the wisdom I was looking for, since they had been
corrupted. The laws in them are too distant from being
able to ensure happiness for mankind.
However, the Quran
of the Mohammedans is exempt from this
remark. I have also closely examined the Quran
in all aspects and at
all points. I have noticed a great wisdom in its every
word.
Although some claim that this Book was the result
of Mohammed’s own
ability, but to expect such a Wonder from even the greatest mind can be interpreted as shutting the
eyes at the Truths and
being instrumental to grudge and prejudice.
And this is not compatible
with the Science and Wisdom.
I assert that Prophet Muhammad was a distinguished
Power. It is too distant probability that the Machine of Divine
Power will bring a second human like him to the sphere of existence.
“O
Muhammad ! I regret much that I am not your contemporary. This Book which you spread is not your
own words. It is ridiculous to claim that it is not of Divine
Origin. Humanity has seen such a distinguished
power like you only once
and cannot see again. Therefore I bow in your spiritual
presence with great respect.”
Bismarck
6
The texts in this second station look like poems but they are
not. They are intentionally not versified .Perhaps in the
direction of perfect order of realities, in a way they seem to
be written in rhyme.
7
I am not running away saying
''alas''.
8
I will wake up hearing the call of Israfil
(The archangel who will sound the last Trump) in the morning of
the Day of judgement . I do not leave the great prayer,I do not draw back from the great gathering...
9
As I pointed in Ahmets' letter
,that part, may be included in the guide with this letter of mine.
10
The
signs of Miraculousness – the Arabic
Commentary from the Treatises of Light – had pointed out to this
valuable truthful decision of his, almost thirty years ago.
