THE FLASHES

The Twenty-Sixth Flash

Therefore, it is fitting that you should offer a thousand thanks for the immense sawāb and rewards bestowed in return for the comparatively slight hardships you endure for the sake of the countless truths of the Qur’an.

Indeed, I shall now briefly describe a glimmer of Divine assistance amid the injustices inflicted by men.

When I was twenty years old, I repeatedly said:

“Just as the ascetics of earlier times withdrew into caves, so too shall I, at the end of my life, retreat into a cave or onto a mountain and withdraw from social life.”

And during my captivity in the northeast in the First World War, I had likewise resolved:

“From now on, I shall spend my life in caves and withdraw from political and social life. Enough is enough.”

Eventually, both Divine assistance and the justice of Divine decree became manifest.

In a manner far better than anything I had intended or desired, He, through His Divine assistance and out of compassion for my old age, transformed the caves I had imagined into prisons—places of solitude and complete seclusion.

Instead of the caves of ascetics and hermits, He granted me the Madrasas of Yūsuf (as) and places of retreat where no time was wasted. He bestowed upon me both the spiritual benefits of the cave and the opportunity to strive in the service of the truths of īmān and the Qur’an.

I had even firmly resolved that, after my brothers were acquitted, I would find some pretext to remain in prison with Husrev and Feyzi, who had no families of their own, and somehow remain in solitary confinement, so that I would not have to meet people or waste my time in useless conversations, artificial displays, or self-glorification.

Divine decree and determination, however, sent us to another place of trial.

In accordance with the mystery of

اَلْخَيْرُ فِيمَا اخْتَارَهُ اللّٰهُ

and

عَسٰۤى اَنْ تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ

out of mercy for my old age, and so that I might labour still more in the service of īmān, a duty was entrusted to me in this third Madrasa al-Yūsufiyya, beyond my own will and power.

Indeed, out of mercy for my old age, Divine assistance transformed the caves in which I had imagined spending my later years—when, in my youth, I had not yet acquired powerful and hidden enemies—into the secluded quarters of prison.

This transformation contains three instances of wisdom and brings three important benefits to the service of the Risale-i Nur.

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