Old Age: Consoling Hopes

Then, through the mercy and generosity of Allah, the sacred wisdom of the Qur’an came to my aid. As explained in many parts of the Risale-i Nur, it washed away the pollution of those philosophical ideas and purified my soul.

The darkness arising from philosophy had suffocated my soul within the universe. Whichever way I turned, wherever I sought light, I could find none in philosophical thought. I could no longer breathe within it. Then the unity of Allah, proclaimed by the Qur’an in the words Lā ilāha illā Hū, shone forth as a radiant light, dispelling the darkness entirely and allowing me to breathe freely once more.

But my nafs and Satan, armed with what they had learned from the people of misguidance and the philosophers, assailed my intellect and heart. All praise be to Allah, this inward struggle ended in the victory of the heart.

Part of that inward struggle has been recorded in many sections of the Risale-i Nur. Here, to convey even a thousandth part of that victory of the heart, I shall explain just one proof among thousands.

May it serve to purify the souls of elderly people who, in their youth, polluted their souls, afflicted their hearts, and allowed their egos to grow conceited through questions drawn from philosophy or the so-called modern sciences—questions containing elements of both misguidance and futility. May it deliver them from the evil promptings of Satan and the nafs concerning belief in the unity of Allah.

That proof is as follows:

Speaking on behalf of philosophy, my nafs said to me:

“The causes operating in this universe, by their very nature, exert an influence upon all that exists. Everything depends upon a cause. Fruits must therefore be attributed to the tree, and grain to the earth. What, then, is the meaning of asking Allah for even the smallest and most insignificant creatures, and of calling upon Him for everything?”

Then, through the light of the Qur’an, the mystery of the unity of Allah (Tawhīd) was revealed in the following manner:

My heart said to my nafs, which had lost its way in the darkness of philosophy:

Even the smallest and most insignificant creature, no less than the greatest, comes directly from the power of the Creator of the universe and from His treasury. It cannot be otherwise. Causes are merely a veil. For the creatures we regard as the smallest and most insignificant are sometimes greater in the artistry of their creation than the greatest.

Although a fly does not surpass a chicken in the artistry of its creation, neither is it inferior to it. Therefore, no distinction can be made between great and small. Everything must either be attributed to material causes collectively or to a single Being alone. The first possibility is impossible; the second is necessary and inevitable.

For if everything is attributed to a single Being, the Eternal All-Powerful One, then all things come into existence with extraordinary ease and speed.