[
The
Third Topic From The Thirty Two Word ]
The
Second Topic of The Second Point
When the representative
of the people of misguidance could find no support or basis
on which to build his misguidance and was thus defeated in argument,
he said the following,
"I consider happiness
in this world and life's pleasures, and the progress of civilization
and perfection of arts as all lying in refusal to think of the
hereafter and to know Allah, in love of this world, in absolute
freedom and license and in relying exclusively on myself. And
in so doing I have drawn most men onto this path, through the
assistance of Satan, and continue to do so."
The Answer: We say, in the name
of the Qur'an: Oh wretched mankind! Come to your senses! Do
not listen to the representative of the people of misguidance.
If you do listen to him, your loss will be so great that your
intelligence, spirit and heart will shudder even to imagine
it. There are two paths in front of you.
The First: The path of wretchedness
laid out in front of you by the representative of the people
of misguidance.
The Second: The path of happiness
defined for you by the All-Wise Qur'an.
You will have noted and
understood numerous comparisons between these two paths in the
Words, particularly the Short Words. So, note and understand
now one of those thousands of comparisons that is suitable to
this discussion.
The path of assigning
partners to Allah, misguidance, dissipation and vice causes
man to fall to the lowest degree. Afflicted with infinite pains,
he is forced to bear an infinitely heavy load on his weak and
powerless shoulders. For if man does not recognize Allah and
place his trust in Him, he becomes extremely weak and impotent,
needy and improverished, a suffering, grieving and ephemeral
animal, exposed to endless misfortunes. Suffering continuously
the pain of separation from all the objects of love and attachment,
he will ultimately abandon all of his loved ones and go alone
to the darkness of the grave.
Throughout his life, he
struggles vainly, with an extremely limited will, slight power,
a short life-span and dull mind, against infinite pains and
hopes. To no avail, he strives to attain innumerable desires
and goals.
Even though he is unable
to bear the burden of his own being, he takes the load of the
vast world onto his wretched solders and mind. He suffers the
torment of Hell before even arriving there.
Indeed, in order to avoid
feeling this grievous pain, this awesome spiritual torment,
the people of misguidance have recourse to a drunkenness that
is like a form of stupor and thus are temporarily able to avoid
feeling their pain. But when they do feel it, they suddenly
feel the proximity of the grave. For whoever is not a true bondsman
of Allah Almighty will imagine that he owns himself. But with
his partial and limited will and his petty power and strength,
he is unable to administer and control his being in this tempestuous
world. He sees thousands of different sorts of enemy attacking
his life, from harmful microbes to earthquakes. In an awesome
state of painful fear he looks towards the door of the grave,
that at all times appears dreadful to him.
While in this state, man
will also be troubled by the state of the world and of mankind,
for as a human being he is attached to both. But, he does not
imagine them to be in the control of One All-Wise, All-Knowing,
All-Powerful, Merciful and Generous, and has attributed them
instead to chance and to nature. And so, together with his own
pains, he suffers also the pains of the world and of mankind.
Earthquakes, plagues, storms, famine and scarcity, separation
and decease; all of this torments him in the most painful and
somber fashion.
But such a man is not
worthy of pity and sympathy, for he himself is responsible for
it.
In the Eighth Word is a comparison between two brothers
who entered a well. One was not content with a refreshing, sweet,
reputable, pleasant and licit drink at a splendid feast with
pleasant friends in a beautiful garden and so drank some ugly
and unclean wine in order to obtain illicit and impure pleasure.
He became drunk and then imagined himself to be in some foul
place in the middle of winter surrounded by wild beasts, and
trembling cried out.
But such a man is not
worthy of pity, for he imagined his honorable and blessed companions
to be monsters, and thus insulted them. He also imagined the
delicious foods and clean dishes at the feast to be impure and
filthy stones and began smashing them. And the respected books
and profound writings there to be meaningless and banal designs,
and so ripped them up and trod on them. Such a person is not
merely unworthy of sympathy, rather, he deserves a good beating.
In exactly the same way,
a person who, through incorrect choice and the lunacy of misguidance,
is intoxicated with unbelief, imagines this hospice of the world,
which belongs to the All-Wise Maker, to be the plaything of
chance and natural forces. He fancies the passage of creatures
into the World of the Unseen, that is in fact renewing the manifestation
of the Divine Names, to be execution and annihilation. He supposes
the echoes of those creatures' glorification of Allah, who are
accomplishing their duties with the passing of time, to be the
lamentations of death and eternal separation. He deems the pages
of created beings, which are inscriptions of the Eternally Besought
One, to be meaningless and confused. He imagines the door of
the grave, which opens onto the world of mercy, to be the entrance
to the darkness of nonexistence. And he deems the appointed
hour, which is in reality an invitation to join his true friends,
to be the onset of separation from all of them.
Such a person both brings
upon himself grievous and ghastly torments, and denies, denigrates
and insults all beings and Allah's Names and His inscriptions.
He is, therefore, not only unworthy of compassion and sympathy
but also deserving of severe punishment. He is not in any way
worthy of pity.
And so, Oh wretched people
of misguidance and dissipation! What accomplishment of yours,
what art, what perfection, what civilization, what progress,
can confront this awesome silence of the grave, this crushing
despair? Where can you find that true consolation that is the
most urgent need of the human spirit?
What nature, what causality,
what partner ascribed by you to Allah, what discovery, what
nationality, what false object of worship, in each of which
you place so much trust and to which you attribute Allah's works
and His sustaining bounties, which of them can deliver you from
the darkness of death that you imagine to be eternal annihilation?
Which of them can enable you to cross the frontiers of the grave,
the boundaries of the intermediate realm, the marches of the
plain of resurrection, the Bridge of Sirat? Or can bring about
your eternal happiness?
But know that most definitely
you will travel on this path for you cannot close the door of
the grave. And a traveler on such a path ought to rely on one
whose control and command embraces all this vast sphere and
its extensive boundaries.
Oh wretched people of
misguidance and neglect! In accordance with the principles that
'the consequence of an illicit love is suffering a merciless
torment', you are suffering a fully justified punishment, for
you are unlawfully employing your innate capacity for love,
knowledge, thanks and worship that relate properly to the essence,
attributes and Names of Allah Almighty, on your own soul and
the life of this world.
You have lavished the
love that belongs to Allah Almighty on yourself. Your own soul
has become your beloved and will cause you endless suffering:
you are not giving true peace to that beloved. You are suffering
constantly because you do not hand it over to the Possessor
of Absolute Power Who is the only true beloved and you do not
trust wholly in Him.
You suffer further misfortunes
because you give to the world the love that belongs to Allah
Almighty's Names and attributes and divide up the works of His
art among causes in the world. One group of those innumerable
beloveds of yours will turn their backs on you and leave you
without even saying good-bye. Another group will not even recognize
you, or if they do, they will not love you. Or if they love
you, their love will be of no use. You will constantly suffer
from innumerable separations and farewells without hope of return.
This, then, is the essence
and true nature of what the people of misguidance call life's
happiness, human perfection, the advantages of civilization
and the pleasure of freedom. And dissipation and toxication
are but a veil; they temporarily block all feeling. So, say,
"I spit on the intelligence of those who follow such a path".
But as for the luminous
highway of the Qur'an, it cures with the truths of faith all
the wounds of the people of misguidance. It disperses all the
gloom and darkness of that first path. It closes the door on
all misguidance and perdition.
It cures man's weakness,
powerlessness, poverty and need with trust in One All-Powerful
and Compassionate. For, handing over the burden of his life
and being to His power and mercy instead of loading it on himself,
man finds ease and comfort as if he were riding on his own life
and soul. The Qur'an states that he is not a 'rational animal',
but rather a true man and a well-accepted guest of the All-
Merciful One.
It gently cures man of
the wounds inflicted on him by the transience of the world,
the ephemeral nature of things and the love of them, and delivers
him from the darkness of delusion and fancy. It does this by
showing the world to be a guest-house of the All-Merciful One,
and the beings in it to be mirrors to the Divine Names and ever-fresh
inscriptions of the Eternally Besought One.
It shows death and the
appointed hour to be the bridge to the intermediate realm and
the prelude to joining and meeting beloved ones already in the
world of eternity. It thus cures the wounds inflicted by the
notion of death as eternal separation, as held by the people
of misguidance. It demonstrates that separation is in fact the
truest form of meeting.
Further, by establishing
that the grave is a door opening onto the world of mercy, an
abode of happiness, a garden of paradise, the luminous realm
of the All-Merciful One, it dispels man's most terrifying fear
and shows that the apparently painful, troublesome and unpleasant
journey to the intermediate realm is in fact the most pleasurable,
enjoyable and joyous of journeys. With the grave, it shows that
the grave is not a dragon's mouth but is, rather, a door opening
onto the garden of mercy.
The Qur'an also says to
the believer, "Since you have only partial and restricted choice,
hand over your affairs to your Owner's universal will. Since
your power is slight, rely on that of the Possessor of Absolute
Power. Since your life is brief, think of eternal life. Do not
fret! There is an unending life. If your mind is dull, let the
sun of Qur'an shine on you. Look with the light of belief, and
instead of the firefly of your own mind, each verse of the Qur'an
will illumine you like a star.
"Since you have innumerable
hopes and pains, know that infinite reward and limitless mercy
await you. Since you have innumerable desires and aims, do not
think of them and become disturbed. This world cannot contain
them; the proper place for them is another realm, and the one
who will grant them is one other than Yourself"
The Qur'an also says,
"Oh man! You do not own yourself. Rather, you are totally owned
by One Whose power is infinite, an All-Compassionate One of
Glory Whose mercy is infinite. Therefore, do not trouble yourself
by shouldering the burden of your life, for it is He Who grants
you life and administers it.
"Also, the world is not
without an owner. So do not be anxious thinking of the state
of it and load that burden onto your mind, for the world's Owner
is All-Wise and All-Knowing. You are a guest so do not be officious
and meddlesome.
"Furthermore, creatures
such as men and animals have not been left to their own devices,
rather, they are all officials with specific duties. They are
watched over by an All-Wise and Compassionate One. Do not distress
your spirit thinking of their pains and afflictions. Do not
try to be more sympathetic and kind-hearted than their All-Compassionate
Creator.
"Also, the reins of all
those things that are hostile to you, from microbes to plagues,
storms, famine and earthquakes, are in the hands of that All-
Compassionate All-Wise One. Being All-Wise, He does nothing
in vain. Being All-Compassionate, His mercy is superabundant.
There is a form of grace and favor contained in everything He
does."
The Qur'an also says,
"This world is indeed ephemeral, nevertheless, it produces the
necessities for an everlasting world. It is transient and fleeting,
but it yields eternal fruits, and displays the manifestations
of an Eternal Being's eternal Names. Its pleasures are indeed
few and its pains many, but the favors of the All-Merciful and
Compassionate One are everlasting and true pleasures. And as
for the pains of this world, they, too, yield a sort of pleasure
by reason of the reward to be had for enduring them.
"Since the sphere of the
licit is sufficient for all the pleasures, delights and joys
of the spirit, heart and soul, do not approach the sphere of
the illicit. For one pleasure within that sphere sometimes leads
to a thousand pains. It will also cause the loss of the All-Merciful
One's favors, which are true and lasting pleasures.
"Furthermore, as described
above, illicit pleasure on the path of misguidance causes man
to fall to the lowest of the low. Then no civilization, no philosophy
can provide a remedy for him, and no human progress and scientific
advances can deliver him from that deep, dark pit. Whereas,
the All-Wise Qur'an elevates man, through belief and good deeds,
from the lowest of the low to the highest of the high, and demonstrates
that it does this with clear proofs. And it fills in that deep
pit with rungs of inner development and spiritual progress.
"Moreover, it facilitates
man's long, stormy and troublesome journey towards eternity.
It shows him the means for traversing a distance of a thousand
years, or rather of fifty thousand years, in a single day.
"Also, through making
known the All-Glorious One, Who is the Monarch of Pre-Eternity
and Post- Eternity, it confers on man the position of a bondsman,
guest and official entrusted with specific duties. And it ensures
that he travels with the greatest ease both in the guest-house
of this world and in the stages and stopping-places of the intermediate
realm and the hereafter.
"A loyal official will
travel in his monarch's kingdom and pass through the frontiers
of each province with ease, journeying by the fastest means,
such as by airplane, ship or train. So, too, one who forms a
relation with the Pre-Eternal Monarch through belief and obeys
Him through good works will pass with the speed of lightening
or of Buraq11
through the stages of this guest-house of the world, the spheres
of the intermediate realm and the world of resurrection and
the extensive frontiers of all the realms that are beyond the
grave, until he attains eternal happiness." The Qur'an proves
this truth decisively and points it out to those who are purified
and to the saints.
The truth of the Qur'an
also says, "Oh believer! Do not give your infinite capacity
for love to your ugly, defective, evil, and for you, harmful
instinctual soul. Do not take it as your object of love and
its whims as your object of worship. Take rather the One who
has bestowed on you that infinite capacity for love. He will
also make you infinitely happy in the future, and, through His
bounties, all those to whom you are attached and whose happiness
makes you happy. "Take for your object of love and worship One
Who possesses infinite
perfection and a beauty that is infinitely sacred, exalted,
transcendent, faultless, flawless and unfading. The beauty of
His mercy and the mercy of His beauty are demonstrated by all
the beauties and bounties of Paradise. All of His Names are
infinitely beautiful and in each of them are abundant lights
of fairness and beauty. His beauty and perfection are indicated
to and pointed to by all the fairness, beauty, virtue and perfection
of all lovable and loved objects in the cosmos."
The Qur'an also says,
"Oh man! Do not squander your infinite capacity to love, which
properly be- longs to His Names and attributes, on other transient
creatures. For the works and creatures of Allah are ephemeral,
but the Beautiful Names, whose impress and manifestation may
be seen on them, are eternal and permanent. And in each of His
Names and attributes there are thousands of degrees of bounty
and beauty, perfection and love. Look only at the Name of All-Merciful:
Paradise is a manifestation of it, eternal happiness, a flash
of it, and all the sustenance and bounty in the world, a mere
drop of it".
Consider carefully, then,
this verse which indicates the true nature of the people of
misguidance and that of the people of belief, with regard to
their lives and duties:
Verily We have created man in the fairest of forms, then sent him
down to the lowest of the low, except for those who believe
and do good deeds.
(Qur'an 95:44.)
And this verse that indicates
their final result and outcome:
The heavens and the earth wept not over them.
Qur'an 44:29.
How sublimely and miraculously
they express the comparison we have made. Since the truth expressed
miraculously and concisely in the first verse is explained in
detail in the Eleventh Word, we refer our readers to that
part of the Risale-i Nur for a discussion of it.
As for the second verse,
we shall show, through a brief indication, how sublime a truth
it expresses. It is as follows.
The explicit meaning of
the verse is that the heavens and the earth do not weep when
the people of misguidance die. The implied meaning is that the
heavens and the earth do weep when the people of belief depart
this world. For the people of misguidance, through their denial
of the duties and functions of the heavens and earth, their
ignorance of their meaning, their rejection of their value,
their refusal to recognize their Maker, are in fact acting insultingly
and with hostility toward them. So, of course, the heavens and
earth will not weep over them, but in fact curse them and rejoice
at their death.
As for the implied meaning,
that the heavens and earth weep over the death of the people
of belief, this is because they know the duties and functions
of the heavens and earth, assent to their true realities and
understand, through belief, the meanings they express. They
say, "How beautifully they have been made, how finely they are
carrying out their duties". They respect them and assign them
their true worth. They love them and the Names they mirror for
the sake of Allah Almighty. And so it is for this reason that
the heavens and earth grieve over the death of the people of
belief as if weeping.
11
The
Prophet (PBUH)'s mount during his Ascension
