Old Age: Consoling Hopes

Now, shivering from the cold and struggling with intense distress and indignation, I suddenly experienced, through Divine assistance, the unveiling of a truth to my heart:

“You have given the prison the name Madrasa al-Yūsufiyya“The School of Yūsuf”; a spiritual term for prison, inspired by Prophet Yūsuf (as), who was unjustly imprisoned. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi used this expression to describe prison as a place of spiritual education, patience, worship, and reflection, where hardship can become a means of drawing closer to Allah.. And in DenizliA city and province in southwestern Turkey. It holds special significance in the life of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, who was imprisoned there with many of his students from 1943 to 1944 because of their activities involving the Risale-i Nur., despite all your hardships, you experienced a thousand times more joy than suffering, because you made spiritual gains, the prisoners benefited from the Risale-i Nur, and the Risale-i Nur spread in wider circles.

Thus, that trial gave you no cause for complaint, but rather thousands of reasons for gratitude. Every hour of your imprisonment and hardship was reckoned as ten hours of worship, thereby rendering those fleeting hours everlasting.

InshaAllah, in this third Madrasa al-Yūsufiyya“The School of Yūsuf”; a spiritual term for prison, inspired by Prophet Yūsuf (as), who was unjustly imprisoned. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi used this expression to describe prison as a place of spiritual education, patience, worship, and reflection, where hardship can become a means of drawing closer to Allah., the prisoners will benefit from the Risale-i Nur and find consolation in it. This will warm the cold bitterness of your suffering and transform it into joy.

If those who have aroused your indignation have themselves been deceived, then they are wronging you without realising it, and are therefore unworthy of your anger.

But if they knowingly and maliciously inflict pain and suffering upon you in the service of misguidance, then very soon, through the inevitable sentence of death, they will enter the solitary cell of the grave and suffer enduring and painful torment there.

Through their injustice, you gain sawābThe rewards granted in the Hereafter for deeds that earn the pleasure of Allah., render your fleeting hours everlasting, experience spiritual joy, and fulfil your religious and scholarly duties with ikhlāsSincerity in worship, seeking only the pleasure of Allah and avoiding the pursuit of fame or status..”

At this, I cried out with all my strength, “AlhamdulillāhAll praise belongs to Allah.!”

Moved by human compassion, I felt pity for those wrongdoers and prayed, “O my Lord, guide them to the straight path!”

As I wrote in my statement to the Ministry of the Interior, their actions were unlawful in ten respects. These oppressors, who committed acts of lawlessness in the name of the law, were in truth the real offenders.

The pretexts they sought were so ridiculous that they made those who heard of them laugh and those possessed of a sense of justice weep.

Thus, they clearly demonstrated that they could find no legal or legitimate grounds for opposing the Risale-i Nur and its students, and so resorted to absurdities.

For example, the officials who had kept us under surveillance for an entire month could find nothing of which to accuse us. They therefore drew up a statement alleging:

“Said’s servant bought wine from a shop and brought it to him.”

But they could find no one willing to sign it. Finally, they seized a stranger, a drunkard, and threatened him, saying, “Come, sign this!”

But he replied, “Aūdhu billāh“I seek refuge in Allah”; an expression used to seek Allah’s protection from evil, harm, temptation, and Satan.! Who could sign such an absurd lie?”

And so they were forced to tear up the statement.