THE SIXTH
TOPIC FROM THE FRUITS OF BELIEF
[This consists of a single, brief proof
of the pillar of belief, belief
in Allah, for which there are numerous decisive proofs
and explanations in many places in the Risale-i Nur.]
In Kastamonu a group of
high-school students came to me, saying: "Tell us about our Creator, our teachers do
not speak of Allah." And I said to them: "All the sciences you study continuously speak
of Allah and make known the Creator, each with its own particular
tongue. Do not listen to your teachers; listen to them."
For example, a well-equipped pharmacy with life-giving
potions and cures in every jar weighed out in precise and wondrous
measures doubtlessly shows an extremely skilful, practised,
and wise pharmacist. In the same way, to the
extent that it is bigger and more perfect and better equipped
than the pharmacy in the market-place,
the pharmacy of the globe of the earth with its living
potions and medicaments in the jars which are the four hundred
thousand species of plants and animals shows and makes known
to eyes that are blind even - by means of the measure or scale
of the science of medicine
that you study - the All-Wise One of Glory, Who is the Pharmacist
of the mighty pharmacy of the earth.
To take another example,
a wondrous factory
which weaves thousands of sorts of cloth from a simple material
doubtless makes known a manufacturer and skilful mechanical engineer. In the same way, to whatever
extent it is larger and more perfect than the human factory,
this travelling Dominical machine known as
the globe of the earth with its hundreds of thousands
of heads in each of which are hundreds of thousands of factories
shows and makes known - by means of the measure or scale of
the science of engineering which you study - its Manufacturer
and Owner.
And, for example, a depot, store, or shop in which has been brought together
and stored up in regular and orderly fashion a thousand and
one varieties of provisions undoubtedly makes known a wondrous owner, proprietor, and overseer of provisions and foodstuffs.
In just the same way, to whatever degree it is vaster and more
perfect than such a store or factory, this foodstore of the Most Merciful One known
as the globe of the
earth, this
Divine ship, this Dominical depot and shop holding
goods, equipment, and conserved food, which in one year travels
regularly an orbit of twenty-four thousand years, and carrying
groups of beings requiring different foods and passing through
the seasons on its journey and filling the spring with thousands
of different provisions like a huge waggon, brings them to the
wretched animate creatures whose sustenance has been exhausted
in winter, - by means of the measure or scale of the
science of economics which you study - this depot of
the earth makes known and makes loved its Manager, Organizer,
and Owner.
And, for example, let
us imagine an army
which consists of four hundred thousand nations and each nation
requires different provisions, uses different weapons, wears
different uniforms, undergoes different drill, and is discharged
from its duties differently. If this army and camp has a miracle-working commander who on
his own provides all those different nations with all their
different provisions, weapons, uniforms, and equipment without
forgetting or confusing any of them, then surely the army and
camp show the commander and make him loved appreciatively.
In just the same way, the spring camp of the face of the earth
in which every spring a newly recruited Divine army of the four
hundred thousand species
of plants and animals are given their varying uniforms,
rations, weapons, training, and demobilizations in utterly perfect
and regular fashion by a single Commander-in-Chief Who forgets
or confuses not one of them - to whatever extent
the spring camp
of the face of the earth is vaster and more perfect than that
human army, - by means of the measure or scale of the
military science that you study - it makes known to the
attentive and sensible, its Ruler, Lord, Administrator, and
Most Holy Commander, causing wonderment and acclaim, and makes
Him loved and praised and glorified.
Another example: Millions of electric lights that move
and travel through a wondrous city, their fuel and power source
never being exhausted, self-evidently make known a wonder-working
craftsman and extraordinarily talented electrician
who manages the electricity, makes the moving lamps, sets up
the power source, and brings the fuel; they cause others to
congratulate and applaud him, and to love him. In just the same
way, although some of the lamps of the stars in the roof
of the palace of the world in the city of the universe - if
they are considered in the way that
astronomy says - are a thousand times larger than the
earth and move seventy times faster than a cannon ball,
they do not spoil their order, nor collide with one another,
nor become extinguished, nor is their fuel exhausted.
According to astronomy, which you study, for our
sun to continue burning, which is a million times larger than
the earth and a million times older and is a lamp and stove
in a guest-house of the Most Merciful One, as much oil as the
seas of the earth and as much coal as its mountains or as much
logs and wood as ten earths are necessary for it not to be extinguished.
And however much greater and more perfect than this example
are the electric lamps of the palace of the world in the majestic
city of the universe, which point with their fingers of light
to an infinite power and sovereignty which illuminates the sun
and other lofty stars like it without oil, wood, or coal, not
allowing them to be extinguished or to collide with one another,
though travelling together at speed, to that degree - by means
of the measure of the
science of electricity which you either study or
will study - they testify to and make known the Monarch, Illuminator,
Director, and Maker of the mighty exhibition of the universe;
they make Him loved, glorified, and worshipped.
And, for example, a book in every line of which a whole
book is finely written, and in every word of which a Sura of
the Qur'an is inscribed with a fine pen, which is most meaningful
and all of whose matters corroborate one another, a wondrous
collection showing its writer and author to be extraordinarily skilful
and capable, undoubtedly shows its writer and author together
with all his perfections and arts are clearly as daylight, and
makes him known. It makes him appreciated with phrases like,
What wonders Allah has willed! and, Blessed be Allah! And just
the same is the mighty
Book of the Universe; we see with our eyes a pen at work
which writes on the face of the earth, which is a single of
its pages, and on the spring, which is a single folio, the three
hundred thousand plant and animal species, which are like three
hundred thousand different books, all together, one within the other, without
fault or error, without mixing them up or confusing them, perfectly
and with complete order, and sometimes writes an ode
in a word like a tree, and the complete index of a book in a
point like a seed. However much vaster and more perfect and
meaningful than the book in the example mentioned above is this
compendium of the universe and mighty embodied Qur'an of the
world, which is infinitely full of meaning and in every word
of which are numerous instances of wisdom, to that degree -
in accordance with the extensive measure and far-seeing vision
of the natural science
that you study and
the sciences of reading and writing
that you have practised at school - it makes known the Inscriber and Author of the Book of the Universe together with His
infinite perfections. Proclaiming Allah is Most Great!, it makes
Him known. Uttering words like Glory be to Allah!, it describes
Him. Uttering praises like All praise be to Allah!, it makes
Him loved.
Thus, hundreds of other
sciences like these make known the Glorious Creator of the universe
together with His Names, each through its broad measure or scale,
its particular mirror, its far-seeing eyes, and searching gaze;
they make known His attributes and perfections.
"It is in order to give
instruction in this matter, which is a brilliant and magnificent
proof of Divine Unity, that the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition
teaches us about our Creator most often with the verses,
and
Lord of the Heavens and the Earth, and,
Creator of the Heavens
and Earth." I said this to the schoolboys, and they accepted
it completely, affirming it by saying: "Endless thanks be to
Allah, for we have received an absolutely true and sacred lesson.
May Allah be pleased with you!" And I said:
Man is a living machine
who is grieved with thousands of different sorrows and receives
pleasure in thousands of different ways, and despite his utter
impotence has innumerable enemies, physical and spiritual, and
despite his infinite poverty, has countless needs, external
and inner, and is a wretched creature continuously receiving
the blows of death and separation. And yet, through belief
and worship, he suddenly becomes connected to a Monarch so Glorious
that he finds a point of support against all his enemies and
a source of help for all his needs, and like everyone takes
pride at the honour and rank of the lord to whom he is attached,
you can compare for yourselves how pleased and grateful and
thankful and full of pride man becomes at being connected through
belief to an infinitely Powerful and Compassionate Monarch,
at entering His service through worship, and transforming for
himself the announcement of the execution of the appointed hour
into papers releasing him from duty.
And I repeat to the calamity-stricken
prisoners what I said to the schoolboys:
"One who recognizes Him
and obeys Him is fortunate even if he is in prison. While one
who forgets Him is wretched and a prisoner even if he lives
in a palace."
Even, one wronged but
fortunate man said to the wretched tyrants who were executing
him: "I am not being executed but being demobilized and going
to happiness. But I see that you are being condemned to eternal
execution and so am taking complete revengse on you." And saying:
"There is no god but Allah!", he happily yielded up his spirit.
[The first part of an important addendum to the Tenth
Word]
In the Name of
Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
So
[give] glory to Allah, when you reach eventide and when you
rise in the morning; Yea, to Him be praise, in the heavens and
on earth; and in the late afternoon and when the day begins
to decline.
It
is He Who brings out the living from the dead, and brings out
the dead from the living, and Who gives life to the earth after
it is dead: and thus shall you be brought out [from the dead].
Among
His Signs is this, that He created you from dust; and then,
behold, you are men scattered [far and wide]!
And
among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from
among yourselves, that you may dwell in tranquillity with them,
and He has put love and mercy between your [hearts]: Verily
in that are Signs for those who reflect.
And
among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth,
and the variations in your languages and your colours: Verily
in that are Signs for those who know.
And
among His Signs is the sleep that you take by night and by day,
and the quest that you [make for livelihood] out of His bounty:
Verily in that are Signs for those who hearken.
And
among His Signs, He shows you the lightning, by way both of
fear and of hope, and He sends down rain from the sky and with
it gives life to the earth after it is dead: Verily in that
are Signs for those who are wise.
And
among His Signs is this, that heaven and earth stand by His
command: Then when He calls you, by a single call, from the
earth, behold, you [straightway] come forth.
To
Him belongs every being that is in the heavens and on earth:
All are devoutly obedient to Him.
It
is He Who begins [the process of] creation; then repeats it;
and for Him it is most easy. To Him belongs the loftiest similitude
[we can think of] in the heavens and the earth; for He is Exalted
in Might, Full of Wisdom.1
In
this Ninth Ray will be expounded a supreme point of these sublime
heavenly verses, which demonstrate one of the ‘poles’ of belief;
these mighty sacred proofs of the resurrection of the dead will
be explained. It is a subtle instance of dominical grace that
thirty years ago at the end of his work entitled Muhâkemat
(Reasonings), which was written to set out the principles of
Qur’anic exegesis, the Old Said wrote: “Second Aim: Two Qur’anic
verses alluding to the resurrection of the dead will be expounded
and explained.
In the Name of
Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.” There he stopped
and could write no further. Now, praise and thanks be to my
Compassionate Creator to the number of signs and indications
of the resurrection, that thirty years later He gave me success.
Yes, nine or ten years ago, He bestowed the Tenth and Twenty-Ninth
Words, two brilliant and powerful proofs expounding the Divine
decree of:
So look to the
signs of Allah’s mercy, how He raises to life the earth after
its death; He it is who will raise the dead to life, for He
is Powerful Over All Things,2
which
was the first of the two verses. They silenced the deniers of
resurrection. Now, nine or ten years after those two impregnable
bastions of belief in the resurrection of the dead, He bestowed
with the present treatise a commentary on the second of the
above two sublime verses. This Ninth Ray, then, consists of
nine elevated ‘Stations’, indicated by the above mentioned verses,
and an important Introduction.