The Words Category;

Get recent articles via RSS in The Words category

Search in this category and subcategories !

The Words Articles;

A Flower of Emirdag

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.]

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.

First Addendum

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.

First Chapter

We shall explain in Five Points only five of the virtues of belief out of thousands.

FIRST LIGHT

This Light consists of Three Rays.

First Station

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. So God sets forth parables for men, so that they may bear [them] in mind * Such are the similitudes which we propound to men that they may reflect. One time two men were washing in a pool. Under some extraordinary influence they lost their senses and when they opened their eyes, they saw that it had transported them to a strange land. It was such that with its perfect order it was like a country, or rather a town, or a palace. They looked around themselves in complete bewilderment: if it was looked at in one way, a vast world was apparent; if in another, a well-ordered country; and if in another, a fine town. And if it was looked at in still another way, it was a palace which comprised a most magnificent world. Travelling around this strange world, they observed it and saw that creatures of one sort were speaking in a fashion, but they did not understand their language. Nevertheless, it was understood from their signs that they were performing important works and duties.

INTRODUCTION FIRST PART: WHAT IS THE QUR'AN? How is it defined? SECOND PART and complement to the de

The Introduction consists of Three Parts.

Second Chapter

INCLUDING FIVE REMARKS WITH RESPECT TO MAN'S HAPPINESS AND MISERY [Since man has been created on the most excellent of patterns and has been given most comprehensive abilities, he has been cast into an arena of trial and examination in which he may rise or fall to stations, ranks, and degrees from the lowest of the low to the highest of the high, from the earth to the Divine Throne, and from minute particles to the sun. He has been sent to this world as a miracle of Divine Power, the result of creation, and a wonder of Divine art before whom have been opened two roads leading either to infinite ascent or infinite descent. We shall explain the mystery of this awesome progress and decline of man's in Five Remarks.]

SECOND LIGHT

The Second Light comprises Three Beams.

The Eighteenth Word

Think not that those who exult in what they have thus contrived, and who love to be praised for what they have not done - think not that they will escape suffering: for grievous suffering does await them.1 This Point elucidates one meaning of the verse: Who has created everything in the best way,3

The Eighth Word

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. God, there is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsistent.1 Verily, the religion before God is Islam.2 If you want to understand this world, and man's spirit within the world, and the nature and value of religion within man, and how the world is a prison if there is no True Religion, and that without religion man becomes the most miserable of creatures, and that it is O God! and, There is no god but God that solve this world's talisman and deliver the human spirit from darkness, then listen to and consider this comparison:

The Eleventh Word

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. By the sun and its glorious splendour; * By the moon as it follows it; * By the day as it shows [the sun's] glory; * By the night as it conceals it; * By the firmament and its wonderful structure;* By the earth and its wide expanse; * By the soul and the order and proportion given it.1 Brother! If you want to understand a little about the talisman of the wisdom of the world and the riddle of man's creation and the mystery of the reality of the prescribed prayers, then consider this short comparison together with my own soul. One time there was a king. As wealth he had numerous treasuries in which were diamonds and emeralds and jewels of every kind. Besides these he had other, hidden and most strange treasuries. By way of attainment he had great skill in strange arts, and encompassing knowledge of innumerable wondrous sciences, and was most erudite in endless branches of abstruse learning. Now, like every possessor of beauty and perfection wants to see and display his own beauty and perfection, that glorious king also wanted to open up an exhibition and set out displays within it in order to make manifest and display in the view of the people the majesty of his rule, his glittering wealth, the wonders of his art, and the marvels of his knowledge. And also so that he could behold his beauty and perfection in two respects:

The Fifteenth Word

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. And We have adorned the lowest heaven with lamps, and We have made them missiles to drive away the evil ones.1 Oh, modern-educated Sir whose brain has shrunk through studying the soulless matters of astronomy, whose mind can see no further than the tip of his nose, and who cannot squeeze the mighty mystery of the above verse into his constricted brain! The heaven of the verse may be reached by a stairway of Seven Steps. Come, let us climb them together!

The Fifth Part of an Important Supplement

Fifth Part of the Addendum The hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets, who are according to explicit prophetic tradition the choice part of humanity, have unanimously and with one accord reported, partly on the basis of direct vision and partly on the basis of absolute certainty, that the hereafter exists and that all beings will be taken to the hereafter as the Creator has firmly promised. Similarly, the one hundred and twenty-four million saints who confirm the reports of the prophets through unveiling and witnessing, give testimony to the existence of the hereafter in the form of certain knowledge, and also bear testimony to the existence of the hereafter. All the Names of the All-Wise Maker of the cosmos also necessitate the existence of an eternal realm through the manifestations they display in this world.

The Fifth Word

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Indeed, God is with those who fear Him and those who do good. If you want to see what a truly human duty and what a natural, appropriate result of man's creation it is to perform the prescribed prayers and not to commit serious sins, listen to and take heed of the following comparison:

The First Part of an Important Supplement

The First Part of an Important Supplement and Addendum to the Tenth Word In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. So [give] glory to God, 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].

The First Word

[Brother! You wanted a few words of advice from me. So listen to a few truths included in eight short stories, which since you are a soldier, are in the form of comparisons of a military nature. I consider my own soul to need advice more than anyone, and at one time I addressed my soul at some length with Eight Words inspired by eight verses of the Qur'an from which I had benefited. Now I shall address my soul with these same Words, but briefly and in the language of ordinary people. Whoever wishes may listen together with me.]

The Fourteenth Word

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Alif. Lam. Ra. [This is] a Book with verses fundamental [of established meaning]. Further explained in detail, from One All-Wise and Well-Acquainted [with all things].1 [In order to ascend to some of the elevated and exalted truths of the All-Wise Qur'an, and of Hadiths, the true expounder of the Qur'an, we shall point out a number of comparisons of those truths which are like steps to assist hearts deficient in submission and obedience, and shall explain in the Conclusion an object lesson and a mystery concerning Divine favour. Since from among those truths, comparisons of the Resurrection and the Day of Judgement have been mentioned in the Tenth Word, and its Ninth Truth in particular, there is no need to repeat them. Here we shall mention only 'Five Matters' as examples of the other truths.]

The Fourth Part of an Important Supplement

Fourth Part of the Addendum He said: "Who shall give life to decaying bones?" Say: "He shall give them life who first gave them life, and He is All-Knowing concerning all creation."53 As was illustrated in the third comparison in the Ninth Truth of the Tenth Word, some personage may one day summon together before your eyes a great army. If someone were then to say, "that personage is able to call together the troops in his army, who had dispersed to take rest, and assemble them again in battalions," and you were to say, "I don't believe it," you know well how lunatic would be your denial. So too, an All-Powerful and All-Knowing Being Who out of nothing recorded and put in place, with the command of, 'Be!', and it is, all the particles and subtle aspects of the bodies of all animals and other animate beings, as if they were an army with the utmost orderliness and wise equilibrium, and Who creates each century, or rather each spring, the hundreds of thousands of different species and groups of animate beings that populate the face of the earth, each like an army - such a Being can gather together, with one blow on the trump of Israfil, all the fundamental particles and original components that enjoy mutual acquaintance through joint submission to the order of the body that corresponds to a battalion. Were you to say, "how can this be?" or consider it unlikely, it would be idiotic lunacy.

THE FOURTH WORD

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. The prescribed prayers are the pillar of religion. If you want to understand with the certainty that two plus two equals four just how valuable and important are the prescribed prayers, and with what little expense they are gained, and how crazy and harmful is the person who neglects them, pay attention to the following story which is in the form of a comparison: One time, a mighty ruler gave each of two of his servants twenty-four gold pieces and sent them to settle on one of his rich, royal farms two months' distance away. "Use this money for your tickets", he commanded them, "and buy whatever is necessary for your house there with it. There is a station one day's distance from the farm. And there is both road-transport, and a railway, and boats, and aeroplanes. They can be benefited from according to your capital."

THE NINETEENTH WORD

[About the Prophethood of Muhammed (PBUH)] I could not praise Muhammed with my words; rather, my words were made praiseworthy by Muhammed. Yes, this Word is beautiful, but what makes it so is the most beautiful of all things, the attributes and qualities of Muhammed (PBUH). Also being the Fourteenth Flash, this Word consists of Fourteen Droplets.

The Ninth Word

n the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. So glorify God when you reach evening and when you rise in the morning; for all praise is His in the heavens and on earth, and towards the end of the day and when you have reached noon.* *Qur'an.30:17-18 Brother! You ask me concerning the wisdom in the specified times of the five daily prayers. I shall point out only one of the many instances of wisdom in the times. Indeed, like each of the times of prayer marks the start of an important revolution, so also is each a mirror to Divine disposal of power and to the universal Divine bounties within that disposal. Thus, more glorification and extolling of the All-Powerful One of Glory have been ordered at those times, and more praise and thanks for all the innumerable bounties accumulated between each of the times, which is the meaning of the prescribed prayers. In order to understand a little this subtle and profound meaning, you should listen together with my own soul to the following 'Five Points'.

The Second Part of an Important Supplement

Second Part of the Addendum The first of nine stations comprising the nine levels of proofs of resurrection miraculously indicated in the following verse: Glory be to God in the evening and at daybreak, and praise is His in the heavens and earth, at nightfall and when the day begins to decline. It is He Who brings forth the living from the dead, and brings forth the dead from the living, and gives life to the earth after its death; thus, too, will you be brought forth.48 The manifest proof and brilliant evidence of God's decree concerning resurrection contained in this verse will now be expounded and set forth, God willing.49 In connection with the twenty-eighth property of life it was explained that life looks upon the six pillars of faith and proves them; it contains a series of indications of their truth.

The Second Station

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. God is the Creator of all things, and He is the Guardian and Disposer of all affairs. * To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth. * So glory to Him in Whose hands is the sovereignty of all things, and to Him will you all be brought back. * And there is not a thing but its [sources and] treasures [inexhaustible] are with Us; but We only send down thereof in due and ascertainable measures. * There is not a moving creature, but He has grasp of its forelock. Verily it is my Sustainer that is on a Straight Path. In my treatise entitled Katre, which is about belief in God, the principal pole of the pillars of belief, I explained in brief the evidence and testimony to Almighty God's existence and Unity made by all beings through fifty-five tongues. Also, in the treatise Nokta, I mentioned four universal proofs out of the evidences of Almighty God's existence and Unity each of which is of the strength of a thousand proofs. Moreover, since I have discussed in around twelve of my Arabic treatises hundreds of decisive proofs showing Almighty God's necessary existence and Unity, I shall be content with those and not now undertake any profound investigations. Only, we shall try to show in this Twenty-Second Word, Twelve Flashes from the sun of belief in God which I have written briefly in other places in the Risale-i Nur.

The Second Word

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Those who believe in the Unseen. 1 If you want to understand what great happiness and bounty, what great pleasure and ease is to be found in belief in God, listen to this story which is in the form of a comparison: One time, two men went on a journey for both pleasure and business. One set off in a selfish, inauspicious direction; the other on a godly, propitious way. Since the selfish man was both conceited, self-centred, and pessimistic, he ended up in what seemed to him to be a most wicked country due to his pessimism. He looked around and everywhere saw the powerless and the unfortunate lamenting in the grasp and at the destruction of fearsome bullying tyrants. He saw the same grievous, painful situation in all the places he travelled. The whole country took on the form of a house of mourning. Apart from becoming drunk, he could find no way of not noticing this grievous and sombre situation. For everyone seemed to him to be an enemy and foreign. And all around he saw horrible corpses and despairing, weeping orphans. His conscience was in a state of torment.

The Seventeenth Word

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. That which is on earth We have made as a glittering show for the earth, in order that We may test them, as to which of them are best in conduct * Verily what is on earth We shall make but as dust and dry soil.1 * What is the life of this world but play and amusement? 2 [This Word consists of two elevated Stations, and one brilliant Addendum.]

The Seventh Word

If you want to understand what valuable, difficulty-resolving talismans are the two parts of the phrase I believe in God and the Last Day , which open both the locked talisman of creation and the door of happiness for the human spirit, and what beneficial and curative two medicines are reliance on your Creator and taking refuge in Him through patience and entreaty, and supplicating your Provider through thanks, and what important, precious, shining tickets for the journey to eternity - and provisions for the Hereafter and lights for the grave - are listening to the Qur'an, obeying its commands, performing the prescribed prayers, and giving up serious sins, then listen and pay attention to this comparison: One time a soldier fell into a most grievous situation in the field of battle and examination, and the round of profit and loss. It was as follows:

The Sixteenth Word

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Indeed, His command when He wills a thing is, 'Be!', and it is.* So glory be unto Him in Whose hand is the dominion of all things, and to Him will you all be brought back.1 [This Word was written to afford insight and understanding to my blind soul by pointing out four Rays from the light of the above verse - to dispel the darkness and afford me certainty.]

The Sixth Word

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Verily God has purchased from the believers their persons and their property that Paradise might be theirs. If you wish to understand how profitable a trade it is, and how honourable a rank, to sell one's person and property to God, to be His slave and His soldier, then listen to the following comparison. Once a king entrusted each of two of his subjects with an estate, including all necessary workshops, machinery, horses, weapons and so forth. But since it was a tempestuous and war-ridden age, nothing enjoyed stability; it was destined either to disappear or to change. The king in his infinite mercy sent a most noble lieutenant to the two men and by means of a compassionate decree conveyed the following to them:

The Tenth Word

Resurrection and the Hereafter NOTE [The reasons for my writing these treatises in the form of metaphors, comparisons and stories are to facilitate comprehension and to show how rational, appropriate, well-founded and coherent are the truths of Islam. The meaning of the stories is contained in the truths that conclude them; each story is like an allusion pointing to its concluding truth. Therefore, they are not mere fictitious tales, but veritable truths.] In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Look, then, to the signs of God's mercy - how He restores life to the earth after its death - verily He it is Who quickens the dead, for He is powerful over all things.1 Brother, if you wish for a discussion of resurrection and the hereafter in simple and common language, in a straightforward style, then listen to the following comparison, together with my own soul.

Search Inside Risale-i Nur Articles;