The Sixteenth Flash

If I had the money, I would willingly pay, if necessary, a thousand liras as a substitute payment for each of these valuable brothers in order to exempt them from military service. I regarded the possibility that hundreds of such valuable brothers would have to leave the service of the Luminous Qur’an and take up the club of material struggle as a loss worth a hundred thousand liras. Even ZekaiHāfiz Ahmed Zekai An early student of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi from Atabey who memorized the Qur’an under Küçük Lütfü. He served as an imam and preacher at the Grand Mosque of Isparta and was imprisoned alongside Nursi in Eskişehir.’s two years of military service may perhaps have caused us to lose a spiritual benefit worth a thousand liras. In any case…

Just as Qadīr-i Kulli ShayAllah, the All-Powerful, who has absolute power over all things and for whom nothing is impossible. can, in a single minute, sweep away a sky covered with clouds and show the radiant sun in a clear heaven, so too He can disperse these dark and merciless clouds and cause the truths of the sharīahThe body of Islamic laws and guidance, based on the Qur’an and the Sunnah, that prescribes the proper way of life; Islamic law. to shine like the sun—easily and without difficulty.

We hope from His mercy that He will not make us pay dearly for it. May He grant understanding to the leaders and fill their hearts with īmānFaith; belief in the six articles of faith: Allah, His angels, His revealed scriptures, His prophets, the Hereafter, and divine decree (qadar). —that is enough. Then everything will be set right of its own accord.

The Fourth Remarkable Question

They say: “Since what you hold in your hands is light and not a cudgel, and since light is neither opposed nor fled from, while showing it causes no harm, why do you advise your friends to be cautious and forbid these treatises from being spread among the people?”

The concise meaning of my answer is as follows:

Most of the leaders are, as it were, intoxicated; they do not read. And if they do read, they do not understand; they give it a wrong meaning and oppose it. In order to prevent them from attacking it, it should not be spread until they come to their senses again.

Moreover, there are many unscrupulous people who, out of enmity, greed, or fear, deny the light or close their eyes to it. I therefore advise my brothers to be cautious and not to place the truths in the hands of those unworthy of them. Nor should they involve themselves in matters that might arouse the suspicion of the worldly.

An Anecdote That Could Have Given Rise to a Serious Matter

Yesterday early in the morning, Mehmed, the son-in-law of a friend of mine, came to see me. Joyfully, and with the appearance of bringing good news, he said:

“One of your books has been printed in IspartaA city and province in southwestern Turkey, known for its rose cultivation and natural beauty. It holds particular significance in the life of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, who spent many years in the region during his exile, writing and spreading the Risale-i Nur with the help of his students.; many people are reading it.”

I replied:

“That is not a forbidden printing; most likely only a few copies have been reproduced by transcription, and the government will have no objection to that.”

And I added:

“Above all, do not tell this to those two hypocrites with whom you are friendly. They are looking precisely for something like this to use as a pretext.”

Brothers, this man is indeed the son-in-law of a friend of mine and is therefore also considered an acquaintance of mine. But because of his profession as a barber, he is friendly with an unscrupulous teacher and a hypocritical director.

One of our brothers unintentionally told him this. It was good that he came to me first and informed me. I warned him, and thus a harmful consequence was prevented. Meanwhile, under this cover, the duplicating machine has spread thousands of copies.