The Tenth Flash

Now we have come to the firm conviction that these Qur’anic truths are light and radiance. They cannot unite with the darkness of affectation, flattery, and self-abasement. For this reason, the meanings of the truths of the Risale-i Nur remained distant from me and appeared foreign to me, as though they had withdrawn from me.

I beseech Allah to grant me, from now on, the ikhlāsSincerity in worship, seeking only the pleasure of Allah and avoiding the pursuit of fame or status. required to be worthy of this service, and to deliver me from affectation and ostentation before the worldly. I ask first for the prayers of my Ustad, and then of my brothers.

Your deficient brother,

Hāfiz Tevfik from DamascusŞamlı Hāfiz Tevfik; one of the early students and scribes of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi in Barla, known for copying parts of the Risale-i Nur by hand and helping to circulate its treatises.

The Eighth Case

This concerns SeyrānīMehmed Gezgiç; an early student of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi from Isparta who helped copy and spread the Risale-i Nur. He was also known as Terzi Mehmed (Mehmed the Tailor) and received the name Seyrānī from the mosque where he served as imam. Said Nursi described him as an intelligent and devoted student of the Risale-i Nur.. He was, like HusrevHüsrev Altınbaşak (1899–1977), one of the prominent students and scribes of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. He is especially known for producing a handwritten Qur’an displaying remarkable tawāfuqāt and for his important role in copying and spreading the Risale-i Nur., an insightful student of mine with a strong longing for the Risale-i Nur. Concerning the tawāfuqātMeaningful correspondences or remarkable coincidences, particularly occurrences understood as signs of divine harmony or providence., which are a key to the mysteries of the Qur’an and an important key to the science of jifrA traditional esoteric science concerned with letters, numbers, and symbolic meanings, sometimes used to derive indications concerning future events., I asked the students in Isparta for their opinions. All of them, except him, participated with great enthusiasm.

Because he was preoccupied with another thought and another concern, he not only did not participate, but also tried to dissuade me from a truth of which I was certain. He wrote me a letter that deeply affected me.

I said: “Alas! I have lost this student of mine.”

Although I tried to illuminate his thought, another meaning became mixed in as well. Then he received a merciful warning. For nearly a year he remained in a place of seclusion, that is, in prison.

The Ninth Case

This concerns the Elder Hāfiz ZühdüZühdü Ünal; an early student of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi from Atabey who played a leading role among the Risale-i Nur students in his area and contributed writings and letters to the early Risale-i Nur community.. At one time, he stood at the head of the students of the Risale-i Nur in AğrosAgros; the former name of present-day Atabey, a town in Isparta Province in southwestern Turkey. Ağros became an important early center of the Risale-i Nur, and several prominent students of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi came from there., in the position of a supervisor over them. Yet he did not deem sufficient the spiritual honour of the students, who had made following the SunnahThe sayings, actions, and approvals of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) that serve as a model for Muslims. and avoiding bidahsReligious innovations that are not prescribed by the Qur’an or by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). their path. Hoping to gain a position in the eyes of worldly people, he undertook the teaching of an important bidahA religious innovation not prescribed by the Qur’an or the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh).

He thus committed a fault completely opposed to our service of the Qur’an. He received a most severe merciful warning. He was struck by an event that completely overturned the honour of his household.

But alas, Little Hāfiz ZühdüZühdü Aydın (1893–1980); an early student of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi from Atabey who served the Qur’an and the Risale-i Nur by copying and spreading its treatises. He was known as “Little Hāfiz Zühdü” to distinguish him from his cousin, Elder Hāfiz Zühdü. He was also imprisoned in Eskişehir in connection with the Risale-i Nur. was also touched by this painful event, although he had in no way deserved such a warning. Perhaps, inshāAllāhIf Allah wills”; an expression used when speaking about a future event and expressing the hope that it will occur by the will of Allah., this event will serve as a beneficial spiritual operation that frees his heart from the world and gives it completely to the Qur’an.