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FROM THE RISALE-I NUR COLLECTION







THE GUIDE FOR THE YOUTH









BY BEDIUZZAMAN SAID NURSI





Gençlik Rehberi
(İngilizce Tercümesi)









FOREWORD

This guide for the youth was printed with the new alphabet and also published with the old (Ottoman) alphabet in Isparta and the government and the police department did not interfere with it and it’s being studied on and spread everywhere with enthusiasm show that :

This guide is very beneficial for the nation especially for the young generation. Although the chief of police department in Ankara questioned the sentence in the fifty second page, eighth line “it is necessary to open a small study center of Light in every neighbourhood if possible” without reading the sentence in the fifth line, “due to government’s permission to open private schools for religious education”. But he understood the true situation and did not prevent it’s publishing.

Although “the Point on He” is profound, not everybody immediately can understand. However that subtle point turn into pieces the foundation stone of the Naturalists and unbelievers and it is astaunding many stubborn philosophers and introduced to many of them the belief and through the key of spiritual travel in the universe of similitude which is opened with the key of that subtle point a cinema of the other world has been observed “with the certainty of vision”. However it was not published because it was too fine.

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi.



In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

THE FIRST WORD
Bismillah, In the Name of Allah, is the start of all things good. We too shall start with it. Know, O my soul! Just as this blessed phrase is a mark of Islam, so too it is constantly recited by all beings through their tongues of disposition. If you want to know what an inexhaustible strength, what an unending source of bounty is Bismillah, listen to the following story which is in the form of a comparison. It goes like this:

Someone who makes a journey through the deserts of Arabia has to travel in the name of a tribal chief and enter under his protection, for in this way he may be saved from the assaults of bandits and secure his needs. On his own he will perish in the face of innumerable enemies and needs. And so, two men went on such a journey and entered the desert. One of them was modest and humble, the other proud and conceited. The humble man assumed the name of a tribal chief, while the proud man did not. The first travelled safely wherever he went. If he encountered bandits, he said: "I am travelling in the name of such-and-such tribal leader," and they would not molest him. If he came to some tents, he would be treated respectfully due to the name. But the proud man suffered such calamities throughout his journey that they cannot be described. He both trembled before everything and begged from everything. He was abased and became an object of scorn.

And so, my proud soul! You are the traveller, and this world is a desert. Your impotence and poverty have no limit, and your enemies and needs are endless. Since it is thus, take the name of the Pre-Eternal Ruler and Post-Eternal Lord of the desert and be saved from begging before the whole universe and trembling before every event.

Indeed, this phrase is a treasury so blessed that your infinite impotence and want bind you to an infinite power and mercy; it makes that impotence and want a most acceptable intercessor at the Court of One All-Powerful and Compassionate. The person who acts saying, "In the Name of Allah," resembles someone who enrolls in the army. He acts in the name of the government; he has fear of no one; he speaks, performs every matter, and withstands everything in the name of the law and the name of the government.

At the beginning we said that all beings say, "In the Name of Allah" through the tongue of disposition. Is that so?

Indeed, it is so. If you were to see that a single person had come and had driven all the inhabitants of a town to a place by force and compelled them to work, you would be certain that he had not acted in his own name and through his own power, but that he was a soldier, acting in the name of the government and relying on the power of a king.

In the same way, all things act in the name of Almighty Allah, for minute things like seeds and grains bear huge trees on their heads; they raise loads like mountains. That means all trees say: "In the Name of Allah," fill their hands from the treasury of Mercy, and offer them to us. All gardens say: "In the Name of Allah," and become cauldrons from the kitchens of Divine Power in which are cooked numerous varieties of different foods. All blessed animals like cows, camels, sheep, and goats, say: "In the Name of Allah," and become fountains of milk from the abundance of Mercy, offering us a most delicate and pure food like the water of life in the name of the Provider. The roots and rootlets, soft as silk, of all plants, trees, and grasses, say: "In the Name of Allah," and pierce and pass through hard rock and earth. Mentioning the name of Allah, the name of the Most Merciful, everything becomes subjected to them.""

Indeed, the roots spreading through hard rock and earth and producing fruits as easily as the branches spread through the air and produce fruits, and the delicate green leaves retaining their moisture for months in the face of extreme heat, deal a slap in the mouths of Naturalists and jab a finger in their blind eyes, saying: "Even heat and hardness, in which you most trust, are under a command. For, like the Staff of Moses, each of those silken rootlets conform to the command of, And We said, O Moses, strike the rock with your staff,


and split the rock. And the delicate leaves fine as cigarette paper recite the verse, O fire be coolness and peace 2


against the heat of the fire, each like the members of Abraham (A.S.).

Since all things say, "In the Name of Allah," and bearing Allah's bounties in Allah's name, give them to us, we too should say, "In the Name of Allah." We should give in the name of Allah, and take in the name of Allah. And we should not take from heedless people who neglect to give in Allah's name.

Question: We give a price to people, who are like tray-bearers. So what price does Allah want, Who is the true owner?

The Answer: Yes, the price the True Bestower of Bounties wants in return for those valuable bounties and goods is three things: one is remembrance, one is thanks, and one is reflection. Saying, "In the Name of Allah" at the start is remembrance, and, "All praise be to Allah" at the end is thanks. And perceiving and thinking of those bounties, which are valuable wonders of art, being miracles of power of the Unique and Eternally Besought One and gifts of His mercy, is reflection. However foolish it is to kiss the foot of a lowly man who conveys to you the valuable gift of a king and not to recognize the gift's owner, to praise and love the apparent source of bounties and forget the True Bestower of Bounties is a thousand times more foolish.

O my soul! If you do not wish to be foolish in that way, give in Allah's name, take in Allah's name, begin in Allah's name, and act in Allah's name.













THE SECOND STATION OF THE 13TH WORD
[A conversation held with some young people who, though surrounded by temptation, had not yet lost their power of reason.]

Being assaulted by the deceptive, seductive amusements of the present time, a group of young people were asking: "How can we save our lives in the Hereafter?", and they sought help from the Risale-i Nur. So I said the following to them in the name of the Risale-i Nur:

The grave is there and no one can deny it. Whether they want to or not, everyone must enter it. And apart from the following 'Three Ways', there is no other way it can be approached:

First Way: For those who believe, the grave is the door to a world far better than this world.

Second Way: For those who believe in the Hereafter, but who approach it on the path of dissipation and misguidance, it is the door to a prison of solitary confinement, an eternal dungeon, where they will be separated from all their loved ones.

Third Way: For the unbelievers and the misguided who do not believe in the Hereafter, it is the door to eternal extinction. That is to say, it is the gallows on which both themselves and all those they love will be executed. Since they think it is thus, that is exactly how they shall experience it: as punishment.

These last two Ways are self-evident, they do not require proof, they are plain for all to see. Since the appointed hour is secret, and death may come any time and cut off one's head, and it does not differentiate between young and old, perpetually having such an awesome and serious matter before him, unhappy man will surely search for the means to deliver himself from that eternal extinction, that infinite, endless solitary confinement; the means to transform the door of the grave into a door opening on to an everlasting world, eternal happiness, and a world of light. It will be a question for him that looms as large as the world.

The certain fact of death, then, can only be approached in these three ways, and one hundred and twenty-four thousand veracious messengers-the prophets, in whose hands are miracles as signs of confirmation-have announced that the three ways are as described above. And, relying on their illuminations and visions, one hundred and twenty-four million saints have confirmed and set their signatures on the prophets tidings. And innumerable exact scholars have proved it rationally with their categorical proofs at the level of certainty at the degree of knowledge* They have all unanimously declared it to be a ninety-nine per' cent certain probability, saying: "The only way to be saved from extinction and eternal imprisonment, and be directed towards eternal happiness, is through belief in Allah and obedience to Him."

If a person considers but does not heed the word of a single messenger not to take a dangerous road on which there is a one per' cent danger of perishing, and takes it, the anxiety at perishing that he suffers will destroy even his appetite for food. Thus hundreds of thousands of veracious and verified messengers announced that there is a one hundred per' cent probability that misguidance and vice lead to the gallows of the grave, ever before the eyes, and eternal solitary confinement, and that there is a one hundred per cent probability that belief and worship remove those gallows, close the solitary prison, and transform the ever-apparent grave into a door opening onto an everlasting treasury and palace of felicity; and they have pointed out signs and traces of these. Confronted as he is, then, with this strange, awesome, terrifying matter, if wretched man-and especially if he is a Muslim-does not believe and worship, is he able to banish the grievous pain arising from the anxiety he suffers as he all the time awaits his turn to be summoned to those gallows, ever-present before his eyes, even if he is given rule over the whole world together with all its pleasures? I ask you.

Since old-age, illness, disaster, and on all sides death open up the frightful pain and are a reminder, even if the people of misguidance and vice enjoy a hundred thousand pleasures and delights, they most certainly experience a sort of hell in their hearts, but a profound stupor of heedlessness temporarily makes them insensible to it.

Since for the people of belief and obedience the grave, which is always before their eyes, is the door to an everlasting treasury and eternal happiness, and since, by reason of the 'belief coupon', a ticket from the pre-eternal lottery of Divine Determining for millions upon millions of poundsworth of gold and diamonds has come up for each of them, they all the time await the word, "Come and collect your ticket" with a profound and true pleasure and real spiritual delight. This pleasure is such that if it materialized and the seed became a tree, it would be like a private paradise. However, one who abandons the delight and great pleasure due to the drives of youth, and chooses in a dissolute and licentious manner temporary illicit pleasures, which resemble poisonous honey polluted with those innumerable pains, falls to a degree a hundred times lower than an animal.

Furthermore, such a person will not be like unbelieving foreigners, for if they deny the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), they may recognize the other prophets. And if they do not know Allah, they may possess some good qualities which are the means to certain perfections. But a Muslim knows both the prophets, and his Sustainer, and all perfection by means of Muhammad the Arabian (PBUH). If one of them abandons the Prophet's instruction and puts himself outside his chain, he will not recognize any other prophet, neither will he recognize Allah. Nor will he know any of the fundamentals within his spirit which will preserve his perfections. For, since Muhammad (PBUH) is the last and greatest of the prophets, and his religion and summons are for the whole of mankind, and since he is superior to all with regard to his miracles and religion, and acts as teacher to all mankind in all matters concerning reality, and has proved this in a brilliant manner for fourteen centuries, and is the cause of pride for mankind, a Muslim who abandons Muhammad (PBUH)'s essential training and the principles of his religion will most certainly be able to find no light, nor achieve any perfection He will be condemned to absolute decline.

And so, you unfortunates who are addicted to the pleasures of the life of this world, and with anxiety at the future, struggle to secure it and your lives! If you want pleasure, delight, happiness, and ease in this world, make do with what is licit. That is sufficient for your enjoyment. You will surely have understood from other parts of the Risale-i Nur that in each pleasure which is outside this, and is illicit, lies a thousand pains. If the events of the future- for example, of fifty years hence-were also shown in the cinema in the same way that they show at the present time the events of the past, those who indulge in vice would weep filled with horror and disgust at those things which now amuse them.

Those who wish to be permanently, eternally happy in this world and the Hereafter should take as their guide the instruction of Muhammad (PBUH) within the sphere of belief.

* * * *



Once I Sat Near The Window Of The Eskisehir Prison
Once I sat near the window of the Eskisehir prison watching outside. In the playground of the High School opposite the prison the older girls were dancing and laughing, but they seemed to me to be like the houris of Hell in that worldly paradise. They suddenly appeared to me as they would be in fifty years' time, and their laughter had turned into piteous weeping. From this the following truth became apparent. That is to say, I saw them as they would be in fifty years on an imaginary cinema screen. I saw that fifty of those sixty laughing girls were suffering the torments of the grave and had become earth. While ten of them were ugly seventy-year-olds attracting only looks of disgust. I too wept for them.

The true nature of the dissension at the end of time appeared to me. It seemed to me that its most fearsome and seductive aspect would spring from the shameless faces of women. Negating free choice, it would cast people into the flames of debauchery, like moths, and make them prefer one minute of the life of this world to years of eternal life.

Another day while watching the street, I noticed a powerful example of this. I felt great pity for the young people I saw. While thinking: "These unfortunates cannot save themselves from the fire of these seductive temptations which attract like magnets," a sort of embodiment of all the forces urging apostasy appeared before me, which fans the flames of those temptations and that dissension, and gives instruction in them. I said to it and to those apostates who follow its lessons and deviate from Islam:

Oh you miserable creatures who sacrifice their religion on the way of taking pleasure with the houris of Hell, and loving it perpetrate depravity on the way of misguidance, who accept irreligion and deviation on the way of the pleasures and lusts of the soul, and worship life, are terrified of death, do not want to remember the grave, and have turned their faces towards apostasy! You should know definitely that, by reason of your irreligion, this mighty world of yours, the previous hour and the coming minute, all this universe of yours and your past and your future, all your species and races of the past and the creatures and generations of the future, and all the worlds and nations that have gone and all the peoples and communities that will come, all these are completely non-existent and dead.

Therefore, because of the form of your misguidance, all these traveling worlds and flowing universes with which you are connected by reason of your humanity and intellect continuously rain down on your head the severe suffering of a worldful of terrible and innumerable deaths. If you possessed consciousness, it would be searing your heart. If you had a spirit, it would be scorching it. If your reason had not been extinguished, it would be drowning in grief. If one short hour of your drunken dissipation and filthy pleasure can make up for this boundless grief, sorrow, and pain, then remain in it. But if it does not, come to your senses! In order to be saved from that hell, enter the paradise which belief ensures in this world also, and taste the happiness of life, take heed of the lessons of the Qur'an, exchange a partial, transitory minute's worth of pleasure for the universal, unending, eternal pleasures of belief*

Gençlik Rehberi İngi. F:2

Also do not say: "I shall pass my life like an animal", because for an animal the past and the future are hidden, as though non-existent. By not causing them to realize this, the All-Wise and Compassionate One has saved them from innumerable pains. A hen which is being held down to be slaughtered, even, does not feel any pain or grief. It wants to feel it as the knife cuts, but the feeling passes and it is saved from that pain, too. That is to say, Allah Almighty's most vast and perfect mercy, clemency, and compassion do not make the unseen known to them. They are more complete for innocent animals in particular. And so, in licentious pleasure you cannot reach the level of the animals; you fall a thousand times lower. For your intellect sees things that are hidden to animals, and receives pain from them. You are altogether deprived of the total ease to be found in the veiling of the unseen.

Also, since your good qualities, like brotherhood, respect, and zeal, which are a cause of pride for you, are restricted to a minute point of time and the space of a finger out of a vast desert, and are special to only the present hour out of limitless time, they become artificial, temporary, contrived, baseless, and most insignificant, and your humanity and achievements diminish propor-tionately, and are reduced to nothing. Whereas, since the brotherhood, respect, love, and zeal of the believers encompass the past and the future, which are existent by reason of their belief, they elevate their humanity and achievements proportionately.

Also, like a crazy Jewish diamond merchant who gives the price of diamonds for pieces of glass, for your worldly success, you have given the price of a long, permanent, and broad life for a brief, short time and life, so of course you will be dominant within those limits. Since you address yourself to one minute with a year's worth of such emotions as a fierce greed, love and revenge, you will prevail temporarily over the people of religion.

Also, since your mind, spirit, heart, and feelings have abandoned their exalted duties, and shared and assisted in the vile doings of your base soul and filthy lusts, you will be victorious over the believers in this world. And superficially you will appear more lovable. For your mind, heart, and spirit have declined, degenerated, and fallen to an extreme degree, and have been transformed, deformed, into filthy lust and despicable soul. For sure, in this respect you will prevail temporarily, which will gain you Hell, and the wronged people of belief Paradise.

* * * *



AN ARTICLE OF OUR MASTER WHICH SHOULD BE ANNEXED TO THE GUIDE FOR THE YOUTH

It is appropriate to exclude the 23rd and 24th pages which are called “An Important Issue” at the beginning of the Guide for the Youth sent from Mersin.

Because : The important principle of the service of Light is Compassion –women are more seriously interested in the Treatises of Light than men, with sincerity and cordiality.

The vehemence in these two pages should not upset those blessed sisters who are the heroes of Compassion. Because that issue was written to warn some Muslim girls who were trying to imitate indecent, half-nude Greek and Armenian girls who live in Istanbul.

Whereas the dissenters and freemasons in Istanbul and some newspapers who oppose the Guide have been slandering by misinterpreting this point in order to weaken the interests of some women in the Risale-i Nur (Treatises of Light) . You’d better exclude these two pages for now. Instead you should include the Guide for the Women which is a conversation with women.

Said Nursi







Footnote: Just like that some time ago, some Secret Organizations who were against the Islamic Education were trying to corrupt and seduce the youth; at the present time some Atheist secret organizations are trying to seduce the helpless women.

In order to avoid the slanders of these mischief-maker organizations, those who have the Guide for the Youth should be given the above article.

And the women should read “the Guide for the Old and Young Women” which is a “Conversation with the Women” instead of those two pages.





AN IMPORTANT ISSUE REMINDED SUDDENLY
It is understood from the narrations of certain Hadith that what will play the most fearsome role in the dissension at the end of time will be women and their dissension. Indeed, just as it is related in the histories that in olden times a group of soldiers composed of warrior women called “Amazons” were extremely skilful in war. So in just the same way at the present time, the most fearsome of the group in the war of atheistic misguidance against Islam, the commandership of which has been given to Satan through the scheming of the evil-commanding soul, is half-naked women, who with their bare legs-those ghastly knives-attack and assault the believers. By striving to close the road to marriage and widen the road to houses of debauchery, they take many people's souls captive, and wound their hearts and spirits with grave sins. Indeed, they kill some of those hearts.

As a perfect punishment for displaying them to the desirous gazes of those who are canonically strangers, those knife-like legs become the logs to fuel Hell and will be the first to burn. And since such women have lost confidence and faithfulness in this world, they are no longer able to find suitable husbands, which by their natures they want, and of which they are in great need. And even if they do find one, it only brings them trouble. It is understood from the narrations of some Hadith, even, that as a result of this situation, at the end of time, because marriage will be neither sought after nor observed in some places, the value of women will fall to the degree at which one man looks after forty women.

Since the reality of the matter is this; and since every beauty loves her beauty and wants to preserve it as far as she can, and does not want it to be spoilt; and since beauty is a bounty, and if bounty is thanked for, it increases, while if it is not thanked for, it changes and becomes ugly, for sure, if such a person is sensible, she will flee with all her strength from committing sins, and making her beauty and loyeliness commit sins, and making them ugly and poisonous, and through ingratitude turning that bounty into something that leads to punishment. And in order to make permanent that fleeting five or ten years' beauty, she will give thanks for the bounty by using it in a licit fashion. Otherwise for the long period of her old age, she will be spurned and will weep despairingly.

If her loveliness is made beautiful with the adornment of Qur'anic conduct and manners within the sphere of Islamic training, that fleeting beauty will in effect become eternal, and in Paradise she will be given a beauty more graceful and shining than that of the houris, as is definitely established in some Hadiths. If such a beauty has even the minutest amount of sense, she will not allow this beautiful, shining, and everlasting result to slip from her hand.






My Dear Devoted Brothers !

We are sending you an article named “A Warning for the Youth in Danger”. So it will prove that the way of the Young Students of Risale-i Nur in the right direction and in chastity and in the following of the Sunnah of the Prophet is so much valuable for the Youth and the true enjoyable youth is that of those fortunate youngmen and it will show who the true Young-Turks are.


Your Brother

Said Nursi




AN ADVICE, A LESSON AND A REMINDER GIVEN TO SOME YOUNGMEN
A Warning, Lesson and Reminder Given to a number of Unhappy Youths

One day a number of bright youths came to me, seeking an effective deterrent in order to guard themselves against the dangers arising from life, youth, and the lusts of the soul. Like I had told those who had previously sought help from the Risale-i Nur, I also said to these youths:

Your youth will definitely leave you, and if you do not remain within the sphere of the licit, it will be lost, and rather than its pleasures, it will bring you calamities and suffering in this world, in the grave, and in the Hereafter. But if, with Islamic training, you spend the bounty of your youth as thanks honorably, in uprightness and obedience, it will in effect remain perpetually andwill be the cause of gaining eternal youth.

As for life, if it is without belief, or because of rebelliousness belief is ineffective, it will produce pains, sorrows and grief far exceeding the superficial, fleeting enjoyment and pleasure it brings. Because, since, contrary to the animals, man possesses a mind and he thinks, he is connected to both the present time, and to the past and the future. He can obtain both pain and pleasure from them. Whereas, since the animals do not think, the sorrows arising from the past and the fears and anxieties arising from the future do not spoil their pleasure of the present. And especially if the pleasure is illicit; then it is like an altogether poisonous honey.

That is to say, from the point of view of the pleasure of life, man falls to a level a hundred times lower than the animals. In fact, life for the people of misguidance and heedlessness, and indeed their existence, rather their world, is the day in which they find themselves. From the point of view of their misguidance, all the time and universes of the past are non-existent, are dead. So their intellects, which connect them to the past and the future, produce darkness, blackness for them. And, due to their lack of belief, the future is also non-existent. Furthermore, because they think, the eternal separations resulting from this non-existence continuously produce darkness for their lives.

Whereas, if belief gives life to life, then through the light of belief, both the past and the future are illuminated and find existence. Like present time, it produces elevated and spiritual pleasures and lights of existence for the spirit and heart in respect of belief. There is an explanation of this truth in the 'Seventh Hope' in the Treatise for The Elderly. You may refer to that. And so, life is thus. If you want the pleasure and enjoyment of life, give life to your life through belief, and adorn it with religious duties. And preserve it by abstaining from sins.

Concerning the fearsome reality of death, which is demonstrated by deaths every day, in every place, at all times, I shall explain it to you with a comparison, in the same way that I told the other youths.

For example, a gallows has been erected here in front of your eyes. Beside it is a lottery office, but one which gives tickets for truly huge prizes. We people here are ten people, whether we like it or not, we shall be summoned there; there is no other alternative. They will call us, and since the time is secret, any minute they may say either: "Come and collect the ticket for your execution! Mount the gallows!" Or: "A ticket to win a prize of millions of dollars' worth of gold has come up for you. Come and collect it!" While waiting for them to say this, two people suddenly appear at the door. One of them is a scantily dressed woman, beautiful and deceiving. In her hand is some apparently extremely delicious, but in fact poisonous, halva, which she has brought wanting us to eat it. The other is an undeceiving and undeceivable serious person. He enters behind the woman, and says:

"I have bought you a talisman, a lesson. If you study it, and if you do not eat that halva, you will be saved from the gallows. With this talisman, you will receive your ticket for the matchless prize. Look, you see with your own eyes that those who eat the honey mount those gallows, and until that time they suffer dreadful stomach pains from the poison of the halva. And who it is that will recieve the ticket for the large prize is not apparent; it seems that they too mount the gallows. But there are millions of witnesses who testify that they can enter the prize arena easily. So, look from the windows! The highest officials and the high-ranking persons concerned with this business proclaim with loud voices: 'Just as you see with the clear certainty of your own eyes those mounting the gallows, so also be certain as daylight, with no doubt or misgiving, that hose with the talisman receive the ticket for the prize.' "

Thus, like the comparison, since the dissolute pleasures of youth in the sphere of the illicit, which are like poisonous honey, lose belief, which is the ticket for an eternal treasury and the passport for everlasting happiness, a person who indulges in them descends to death, which is like the gallows, and to the tribulations of the grave which is like the door to eternal darkness. And since the appointed hour is unknown, its executioner, not differentiating between young and old, may come at any time to cut off your head. If you give up illicit desires, which are like the poisonous honey, and aquire belief and perform thr religious duties, which are the Qur'anic talisman, one hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets (upon whom be peace) together with innumerable saints and people of truth have unanimously announced that you shall recieve the ticket for the treasury of eternal happiness which comes up from the extraordinary lottery of human destiny. And they have pointed to traces of it.

IN SHORT: Youth will go. And if it goes being squandered, it results in thousands of calamities and pains both in this world and in the Hereafter. And if you want to understand how the majority of such youths end up in hospitals with imagined diseases arising from misspent youth and prodigality, and in prisons or hostels for the destitute through their excesses, and in bars due to the distress arising from their pain and suffering, then go and ask at the hospitals, prisons and graveyards.

For sure, just as you will hear from most of the hospitals the moans and groans of those ill from dissipation and debauchery resulting from the drives of youth, so too will you hear from the prisons the regretful sighs of unhappy youths who are being punished for illicit actions mostly resulting from the excesses of youth. And you will understand that most of the torments of the grave that Intermediate Realm the doors of which continuously open and shut for those who enter it are the result of misspent youth, as is testified to by those who have divined the life of the grave, and is affirmed by the people of truth.

Also, ask the elderly and the sick, who form the majority of mankind. Certainly, the great majority of them will say with sorrow and regret: "Alas! We wasted our youth on passion and fancy; indeed, harmfully. Be careful, do not do as we did!" Because, as a consequence of the illicit pleasures of five to ten years' youth, a person suffers years of grief and sorrow in this world, torment and harm in the Intermediate Realm, and the calamities of Hell in the Hereafter. And although such a person is in a most piteable situation, he in no way deserves pity. For those who freely consent to indulge in harmful actions may not be pitied. They are not worthy of it.

May Almighty Allah save us and you from the al- luring temptations of this time, and preserve us from them. Amen.



THE ANSWER TO A QUESTION ASKED BY THE STUDENTS OF RISALE-I NUR
The question we asked 'Ustad', our Master, was this: "For two years during the most critical times of this World War** (The Second World War), which is closely connected with the fate of the Islamic World, and now it is about ten years you have asked neither us, nor Emin, who everyday sees to your needs, anything at all about it, you have given it no importance at all. Is there some other fact more momentous than this event, that dominates and overrules it? Or is it harmful in some way to be preoccupied with it?"

He answered as follows:

Yes, there is a fact more momentous, an event of greater consequence than the World War, and since it dominates the War, the War becomes extremely unimportant in comparison with it.

The reason is this: This World War is to do with two governments disputing a claim for world supremacy; and at a time when the two great religions have opened suits for peace and reconci-liation, and an alarming current of irreligion has embarked on a mighty struggle with the revealed religions, a case has been opened far exceeding in importance the cases opened in the supreme court of the 'proletariat' and 'bourgeoisie' of mankind. Such an immense matter has arisen that the amount of this case that concerns even a single person is greater than the World War. The case is as follows:

For every believer, indeed for everyone at this time, such a case has been opened that if each had as much wealth and power as the English and Germans put together, and sense as well, he would spend all of it just to win the case. For sure, anyone who attaches importance to other things before winning the case is crazy. And even it has become so full of risk that according to the observation of one seer of the realities of creation, out of forty people in a place who received their demobilization papers from the hand of the appointed hour, only one won the case. Thirty-nine lost.

And so, if a lawyer is to be found who has won such great and important cases for eight out of ten people for twenty years, and will win this one, anyone with any sense will be bound to attach greater importance to anything he can do which will induce such a lawyer to do his duty and win the case for him.

One such lawyer, indeed the foremost, is the Risale-i Nur, which proceeds, issues and is derived from the miraculousness of the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition, as thousands who have won the case through it can testify.

Indeed, it has been indisputably established that each human being sent as an official to this world is a temporary guest here, and that his true nature is turned towards an eternal life. But at this time the fortresses which are his point of support and will save eternal life for him have been shaken, and it seems he will leave for ever this world and all his friends who are in it. At such a time a case has been opened that will either gain him or lose him an eternal property thousands of times more perfect than the world. If he does not have the document of belief, and if his belief, which forms his warrant and papers, is not firm, he will lose the claim. Then is there anything that can take the place of what he has lost?

Thus, in consequence of this fact, even if the minds and ideas of each of us, that is, myself and my brothers, expanded a hundred times over, they would still be only just sufficient for this immense and sacred duty. To consider other matters is superfluous and meaningless. Indeed, we have only considered other things when certain students of the Risale-i Nur have been involved in the other cases; at times when for no reason, we have been subject to unnecessary aggression and assaults by the brainless, and then it was against our wishes and to the minimum degree necessary.(*)

Furthermore, it is harmful to become involved mind and heart with cases and conflicts outside this immense and rightful case. For a person who pays attention to and becomes preoccupied with the large and exciting sphere of politics will either neglect the duties with which he is charged in a narrow sphere, or his enthusiasm will be dampened. Also, a person sometimes gets carried away by paying attention to the enticing broad sphere of politics and conflict. Then, just as he does not carry out his duties, even if he does not lose his soundness of heart, purity of intention, integrity of thought and sincerity in his duties, he may anyway be accused of it. In fact, when they were attacking me in court concerning this very point, I silenced them with the following words:

Just as the sun-like truths of belief and the Qur'an cannot be a tool to and follow the attraction of transitory lights on the ground, so also one who truly knows those truths cannot use them as a tool for the whole universe, let alone events on the earth."

Our Master's answer ended here. And we assent to it with all our strength.

Students of the Risale-i Nur.

* * * *


Bismihi Subhanehu


THE EXPLANATION OF THE SECOND STATION OF THE 13TH WORD
Gençlik Rehberi İngi. F:3

Those in prison are in great need of the true consolation of the Risale-i Nur. Particularly those who having suffered the blows of youth, are passing their young, sweet lives in prison; they need the Risale-i Nur as much as they need bread.

Indeed, youth heeds the emotions rather than reason, and emotions and desires are blind; they do not consider the consequences; They prefer one ounce of immediate pleasure to tons of future pleasure. They kill for the one minute pleasure of revenge, then suffer for eighty thousand hours the pain of prison. And one hour's dissolute pleasure in questions of honor may result in life's enjoyment being utterly destroyed through distress at the fear of both prison and enemies. And there are many other examples, many pitfalls for the unfortunate young because of which they transform their most sweet lives into the most bitter and pitiable lives.

Consider a vast state to the north it has gained possession of the passions of its young people and is shaking this century with its storms. For it has made lawful for its youths the pleasing daughters and wives of upright people, and these youths act only according to their feelings, which are blind to all consequences. Indeed, by permitting men and women to go together to the public baths, they are encouraging immorality. And they consider it lawful for vagabonds and the poor to plunder the property of the rich. All mankind trembles in the face of this calamity.

And so it is most necessary in this century for all Muslim youths to act heroically, and to respond to this two-pronged attack with keen swords like the Fruits of Belief and the Guide for Youth from the Risale-i Nur. Otherwise those unfortunate youths will destroy utterly both their futures in this world, and their agreeable lives, and their happiness in the Hereafter, and their eternal lives, and transform them into torment and suffering. And through their abuses and dissoluteness, they will end up in hospitals, and through their excesses in life, in prisons. In their old age, they will weep copiously with a thousand regrets.

If, on the other hand, they protect themselves with Qur'anic training, and with the truths of the Risale-i Nur, they will become truly heroic youths, perfect human beings, successful Muslims, and in some ways rulers over animate beings and the rest of the animal kingdom.

Indeed, when a youth in prison spends one hour out of the twenty-four each day on the five obligatory prayers, and repents for the mistakes that were the cause of his disaster, and abstains from other harmful, painful sins, just as this will be of great benefit for both his life, and his future, and his country, and his nation, and his relatives, so too will he gain with his fleeting youth of ten to fifteen years an eternal, brilliant youth. Foremost the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition, and all the revealed scriptures, have given this certain good news.

If such a youth demonstrates his gratitude for the pleasing, delightful bounty of youth through moderation and obedience, it will both increase it, and make it eternal, and make it a pleasure. Otherwise it will be both calamitous, and become painful, grievous, and a nightmare, and then it will depart. It will cause him to become like a vagrant, harmful for both his relatives, and his country, and his nation.

If the prisoner has been sentenced unjustly, on condition he performs the obligatory prayers, each hour will be the equivalent of a day's worship, and the prison will be like a recluse's cell. He will be counted among the pious hermits of olden times who retired to caves in order to devote themselves to worship. If he is poor, aged, and ill, and desirous of the truths of belief, on condition he performs the obligatory prayers and repents, each hour will become the equivalent of twenty hours' worship, and prison will become like a resthouse for him, and because of his friends there who regard him with affection, a place of love, training, and education. He will probably be happier staying in prison than being free, for outside he is confused and subject to the assaults of sins from all sides. He may receive a complete education from prison. On being released, it will not be as a murderer, or thirsting for revenge, but as someone penitent, proven by trial, wellbehaved, and beneficial for his nation. In fact, the Denizli prisoners became so extraordinarily wellbehaved after studying the Risale-i Nur for only a short time that some of those concerned said: "Studying the Risale-i Nur for fifteen weeks is more effective at reforming them than putting them in prison for fifteen years."

Since death does not die and the appointed hour is unknown, it may come at any time; and since the grave cannot be closed, and troop after troop enter it and are lost; and since it has been shown through the truths of the Qur'an that for those who believe death is transformed into the discharge papers releasing them from eternal annihilation, while for the corrupt and the dissolute it is disappearing for ever into eternal annihilation, and is unending separation from their loved ones and all beings, most certainly and with no doubt at all, the most fortunate person is he who with patience and thanks fully benefits from his time in prison, and studying the Risale-i Nur works to serve the Qur'an and his belief on the straight path.

Oh man who is addicted to enjoyment and pleasure! I am seventy-five years old, and I know with utter certainty from thousands of experiences, proofs, and events that true enjoyment, pain-free pleasure, grief-free joy, and life's happiness are only to be found in belief and in the sphere of the truths of belief. While a single worldly pleasure yields numerous pains. As though dealing ten slaps for a single grape, it drives away all life's pleasure.

Oh you unfortunate people who are experiencing the disaster of prison! Since your world is weeping and your life is bitter, strive so that your Hereafter will not also weep, and your eternal life will smile and be sweet! Benefit from prison! Just as sometimes under severe conditions in the face of the enemy, an hour's watch may be equivalent to a year's worship, so too in the severe conditions you are under, the hardship of each hour spent as worship becomes the equivalent of many hours, it transforms that hardship into mercy.

* * * *


In His Name, be He glorified

My dear and loyal brothers!

I shall explain in three 'Points' an effective solace for those who are experiencing the calamity of prison, and for those who kindly help them and faithfully supervise their food, which comes from outside.

First Point: Each day spent in prison may gain as much as ten days' worship, and, with regards to their fruits, may transform those transient hours into enduring hours, and through five or ten years' punishment may be the means of saving a person from millions of years of eternal imprisonment. For the believers, the condition for gaining this most significant and valuable advantage is to perform the obligatory prayers, repent for the sins that were the cause of their imprisonment, and offer thanks in patience. For sure, prison is an obstacle to many sins: it does not provide the opportunity for them.

Second Point:Just as the cessation of pleasure causes pain, so also does the cessation of pain give pleasure. Indeed, on thinking of past happy, enjoyable days, everyone feels a pang of regret and longing, and says: "Alas!", and recalling calamitous, unhappy days of the past, experiences a sort of pleasure since they are passed, and says: "Praise and thanks be to Allah, that calamity has left its reward and departed." He breathes a sigh of relief. That is to say, an hour's temporary pain and sorrow leave behind a sort of pleasure in the spirit, while a pleasurable hour leaves a pain.

Since the reality is thus; and since past calamitous hours together with their pains are no longer existent, and future distressing days are at the present time non-existent, and there is no pain from nothing, to continually eat bread and drink water today, for example, because of the possibility of being hungry and thirsty in several days' time, is most foolish. And in just the same way, to think now of the past and future unhappy hours, which simply do not exist, and to show impatience, and ignoring one's faulty self, to moan as though complaining about Allah is also most foolish. So long as the power of patience is not scattered to left and right, that is, to the past and future, and is held firm in the face of the present of hour and day, it is sufficient. The distress falls from ten to one.

In fact, but let it not be complaining, divine favor pointed out the above fact to me while, during a few days of material and spiritual affliction, illness, and trial the like of which I had never before experienced in my life, I was being crushed in particular by the despair and distress of the heart and spirit which resulted from my being unable to serve the Qur'an and belief with the Risale-i Nur. I was then content with my distressing illness and imprisonment. For, saying: "It is great profit for an unfortunate like myself who waits at the door of the grave to make one hour which might be passed in heedlessness ten hours' worth of worship", I gave thanks.

Third Point: There is great gain in compassionately aiding and assisting prisoners, in giving them the sustenance they need, and in soothing their spiritual wounds with consolation. And giving them their food which comes from outside is like alms giving which, exactly to the amount of the food, is written in the book of good deeds of those, outside and inside, who do this, together with the warders concerned. And especially if the unhappy prisoner is old, ill, poor, or a stranger, then the reward of this alms-giving increases many times over.

Thus the condition of this valuable profit is to perform the obligatory prayers, so that such service is for Allah's sake. And another condition is to hasten to their assistance with sincerity, compassion and joy, and in such a way as to not make them feel obliged.

* * * *


In His Name, be He glorified.

And there is not a thing but it glorifies Him with praise.

Peace be upon you and the Mercy and the Blessings of Allah forever and ever.

My friends in prison and brothers in Religion!

It occurred to me to explain a truth to you which will save you both from worldly torment and the torment of the Hereafter. It is as follows:

For example: A person killed someone's brother or one of his relatives. A murder which yields one minute's pleasure of revenge causes millions of minutes of both distress for the heart and the anguish of prison. And the fear of revenge by the murdered man's relatives, and anxiety of finding himself face to face with his enemy drives away all his pleasure and enjoyment in life. He suffers the torment of both fear and anger. There is only one solution for this, and that is reconciliation, which the Qur'an commands, and truth, reality, benefit, humanity, and Islam require and encourage.

Indeed, the reality and requirement is peace, because the appointed hour is set, it does not change. Since his appointed hour had come, the murdered man would have stayed no longer in any event. And as for the murderer, he was the means of Allah's decree being carried out. So long as there is no reconciliation, both sides perpetually suffer the torments of fear and revenge. It is because of this that Islam commands that "one believer should not be vexed with another believer for more than three days". If the murder was not the result of a vindictive grudge and enmity, and a two-faced trouble-maker instigated the discord, it is essential to make peace quickly. Otherwise, that minor disaster becomes a large one, and continues. If they make peace, and the murderer repents and prays continuously for the man he killed, then both sides will gain much and become like brothers. In place of one departed brother, he will gain several religious brothers. He will be resigned to Divine Decree and Determining and forgive his enemy. And especially since they heed the lessons of the Risale-i Nur, both individual and public peace and well-being, and the brotherhood that there is in the sphere of the Risale-i Nur require that they put aside all the hard feelings that exist between them.

It was thus in Denizli Prison; all the prisoners who were enemies became brothers through the lessons of the Risale-i Nur. It was one reason for our acquittal, and caused even the irreligious and ungodly to say about those prisoners: "Mashallah! Barekallah!" And it was an utter relief for those prisoners. I myself have seen here a hundred men suffer inconvenience on account of one man and not go out to take exercise together. It is oppression towards them. A manly believer of sound conscience will not cause each of hundreds of other believers harm because of some insignificant and minor error or benefit. If he makes a mistake and does cause harm, he should repent immediately.



* * * *






My loyal new brothers and old prisoners!

I have formed the firm conclusion that, in respect of divine favor, you are an important cause in our entering here. That is to say, with its consolation and the truths of belief, the Risale-i Nur is to save both you from the distress of this calamity of prison and from much worldly harm, and your life from passing profitlessly and quite in vain through grief and sorrow and being wasted on the winds of fancy, and your Hereafter from weeping like your world is weeping now; it is to provide you with true solace.

Since the reality of the matter is this, of course you must be brothers to one another, like the Denizli prisoners and Students of the Risale-i Nur. You can see that they examine all your possessions, food, bread, and soup which come from outside so that a knife does not get in among you and you do not attack one another. The warders who faithfully serve you suffer much trouble. Also, you do not go out to exercise together, as though you were going to attack one another like wild beasts. And so, new friends, who are by nature bold and courageous, with great moral courage you should say to the group at this time:

"If not knives, but Mausers and revolvers were given us, and the order to fire as well, we would not hurt our friends who are unfortunate and suffering this calamity like ourselves. Through the guidance and at the command of the Qur'an, and belief, and Islamic brotherhood, and our interests, we have decided to forgive them and to try not to offend them, even if formerly there were a hundred reasons for our enmity and hostility." And so transform this prison into an auspicious place of study.

* * * *

THE ANNEX TO THE SECOND STATION OF THE 13TH WORD : AN IMPORTANT ISSUE REMINDED ON THE NIGHT OF POWER (QADR)
I shall allude briefly to a most extensive and lengthy truth which occurred to my heart on the Night of Power.

Because of the extreme tyranny and despotism of this last World War and its merciless destruction, and hundreds of innocents being scattered and ruined on account of a single enemy, and the awesome despair of the defeated, and the fearsome alarm of the victors and their ghastly pangs of conscience arising from the supremacy they are unable to maintain and the destruction they are unable to repair, and the utter transitoriness and ephemerality of the life of this world and the deceptive and opiate nature of the fantasies of civilization becoming apparent to all, and the exalted abilities lodged in human nature and the human essence being wounded in a universal and awesome manner, and heedlessness and misguidance and deaf, lifeless nature being smashed by the diamond sword of the Qur'an, and the exceedingly ugly, exceedingly cruel true face of world politics becoming apparent, which is the widest and most suffocating and deceptive cover for heedlessness and misguidance, most certainly and without any shadow of a doubt, since the life of this world -which is the metaphorical beloved of mankind- is thus ugly and transient, man's true nature will search with all its strength for eternal life, which it truly loves and yearns for, just as there are signs of this occurring in the North, the West, and in America.

And most certainly there is no doubt that since the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition, which each century for one thousand three hundred and sixty years has had three hundred and fifty million students, and sets the seal on each of its pronouncements and claims through the affirmation of millions of profound, veracious scholars, and each minute has been present with its sacredness in the hearts of millions of hafiz's and given instruction to mankind through their tongues, and which in a way unmatched by any other book conveys the good news of eternal life and everlasting happiness to mankind and heals all their wounds, since the Qur'an has given this certain good news of eternal life and happiness with thousands of its insistent, powerful and repeated verses, and with its certain unshakeable proofs and innumerable indubitable arguments which invite and give news explicitly and implicitly tens of thousands of times, so long as human kind does not altogether lose its mind and a material or immaterial doomsday does not erupt over its head, the broad masses and great states in the world will search out the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition, and having grasped its truths, will embrace it with all their lives and spirits, just as there are [now] famous preachers in Sweden, Norway, Finland and England working to have the Qur'an accepted, and the important community of America is searching for the true religion.

Because in view of this fact, the Qur'an by no means has nor can have any equal. And absolutely nothing can take the place of this greatest miracle.

SECONDLY: Since the Risale-i Nur has per- formed a service like a diamond sword in the hand of this greatest miracle and compelled its stubborn enemies to submit, and acts as a herald to the treasures of the Qur'an in a fashion that illuminates and heals completely both the heart, and the spirit, and the emotions, and has no source nor authority other than the Qur'an and is its miracle, it performs that duty perfectly.

Furthermore it has completely routed the obstinate atheists and their fearsome propaganda against it, and smashed to pieces with the treatise Nature: Cause or Effect nature, which is the most impregnable bastion of misguidance, and, with the Sixth Matter in the treatise Fruits of Belief together with the First, Second, Third and Eighth Proofs all of which are included in the book The Staff of Moses, has banished heedlessness in a most brilliant fashion in its most dense, suffocating and extensive sphere under the wide-reaching veils of science and has demonstrated the light of divine unity.

For sure, since religious instruction is now officially permitted and permission has been given to open private places of study, it is necessary for us and essential for the nation that, as far as is possible, Students of the Risale-i Nur should open a small 'Risale-i Nur Study Center' in every place. Although everyone would benefit to some extent, not everyone would understand every matter completely. But since these matters are explanations of the truths of belief, they are both learning, and knowledge of Allah, and lead to Allah's presence, and are worship.

Insha'llah, these 'Risale-i Nur Medreses' will secure in five to ten weeks the same results that the former medreses produced in five to ten years and they have been so doing for twenty years.

Also it is essential for the Government not to interfere with these Flashes of the Qur'an, the Risale-i Nur, which is the Qur'an's herald and is beneficial in many ways for the worldly and political life of this nation and country, and for its life in the Hereafter. Rather, it should work for its total spread and acceptance, so that it will atone for the grievous sins of the past, and form a barrier to the severe trials and anarchy of the future.

Said Nursi
* * * *



THE SEVENTH HOPE FROM THE 26TH FLASH
from the Treatise for the Elderly

One time at the start of my old age when the laughter of the Old Said was being transformed into the weeping of the New Said, supposing me still to be the Old Said, the worldly in Ankara invited me there, and I went.

Gençlik Rehberi İngi. F:4

At the close of autumn I climbed to the top of the citadel, which was far more aged, dilapidated, and worn out than me. It seemed to me to be formed of petrified historical events. The old age of the season of the year together with my old age, the citadel's old age, mankind's old age, the old age of the glorious Ottoman State and the death of the Caliphate's rule, and the world's old age all caused me to look in a most grieved, compassionate and melancholy state in that lofty citadel at the valleys of the past and the mountains of the future.

As I experienced an utterly black state of mind in Ankara encompassed by four or five layers of the darknesses of old age one within the other*, I sought a light, a solace, a hope.

As I sought consolation looking to the right, that is, to the past, my father and forefathers and the human race appeared in the form of a vast grave and filled me with gloom rather than consoling me. Seeking a remedy I looked to the future, which was my left. I saw that it appeared as a huge, dark grave for myself, my contemporaries, and future generations; it produced horror in place of familiarity. Feeling desolate in the face of the left and right, I looked at the present day. It appeared to my heedless and historical eye as a coffin bearing my half-dead, suffering and desperately struggling corpse. Then, despairing from that direction as well, I raised my head and looked at the top of the tree of my life, and saw that the tree bore only a single fruit, and that was my corpse; it stood at the top of the tree and was watching me. Feeling horror at this direction, too, I bowed my head. I looked to the foot of the tree of my life, to its roots, and saw that the soil there, the earth which was the source of my creation and the dust of my bones mixed together, was being trampled underfoot. That was no remedy, rather it added further pain to my affliction.

Then I was forced to look behind me. I saw that this unstable, transient world was tumbling, disappearing into the valleys of nothingness and the darkness of non-existence. While seeking a salve for my pain, it only added poison. Since I could see no good in that direction I looked in front of me, I sent forward my view to the future. I saw that the door of the grave was to be seen open right in the middle of my path, it was watching me with its mouth open. The highway beyond it which stretched away to eternity, and the convoys travelling that highway struck the eye from the distance. And apart from a limited, partial power of choice as my support and defensive weapon in the face of the horrors coming from these six directions, I had nothing else.

Since the partial power of choice, man's only weapon against those innumerable enemies and endless harmful things, is both defective, and short, and weak, and lacks the power to create, man is capable of nothing apart from acquisition. I could neither pass to the past in order to silence the sorrows which came to me from there, nor could I penetrate the future to prevent the fears which came from there. I saw that there was no benefit in my hopes and pains concerning the past and future.

At the time I was struggling in the horror, desolation, darkness and despair coming from these six directions, the lights of belief which shine in the sky of the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition suddenly came to my assistance. They lit up and illuminated those six directions to such a degree that if the terrors and darkness I had seen increased a hundredfold, that light would still have been sufficient to meet them. It transformed all those horrors one by one into solace and the desolation into familiarity. It was as follows:

Belief rent asunder the desolate view of the past as a vast grave, and showed it with utter certainty to be a familiar and enlightened gathering of friends.

And belief showed the future, which had appeared in the form of a huge grave to my heedless eyes, to be most certainly a banquet of the Most Merciful One in delightful palaces of bliss.

And belief rent the view of present time as a coffin, as it had appeared to my heedless view, and showed it with certainty to be a place of trade for the Hereafter and a glittering guest-house of the All Merciful One.

And belief showed with utter certainty that the only fruit at the top of the tree of life was not a corpse as had appeared to my neglectful eye, rather, that my spirit, which would manifest eternal life and was designated for eternal happiness, would leave its wom out home to travel around the stars.

And belief showed through the mystery of belief that my bones and the earth which was the source of my creation were not valueless pulverized bones trampled underfoot, rather, that the soil was the door to Divine Mercy and a veil before the hall of Paradise.

And belief showed through the mystery of the Qur'an that the world which had appeared to my heedless eye behind me as tumbling into nothingness and non-existence to consist of missives of the Eternally Besought One and pages of decorations and embroideries glorifying Allah which had completed their duties, stated their meanings, and left their results in existence in their place. It made known with complete certainty what the true nature of the world is.

And belief showed through the light of the Qur'an that the grave which would open its eyes and look at me in the future was not the door of a well, rather, that it was the door to the world of light, and that the highway which stretched to eternity beyond the grave led not to nothingness and non-existence, but to existence, a place of light, and eternal bliss. Since belief demonstrated this to a degree which afforded utter conviction, it was both a remedy and a salve for my afflictions.

And in place of a very minor ability to receive, belief puts a document into the hand of the limited, partial