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Love of this world is the source of all transgression.

~al-Ajluni, Kashfu’l-Khafa 1099; Suyuti, al-Duraru’l-Muntathira 97; Isfahani, Khilyatu’l-Awliya vi, 388; alMunawi, Fayzu’l-Qadir iii, 368 no: 3662.

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By ALLAH, nothing needs prolonged confinement more than my tongue.

~Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud RadiyAllahu ‘Anhu

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You ask in your letter whether Laa ilaha illaAllah (There is no god but ALLAH) is sufficient on its own. That is, intending the second part, you ask: can someone who does not say Muhammad is the Messenger of ALLAH find salvation? The answer to this is lengthy, so for now we shall only say this:

The two parts of the confession of faith (shahadah) cannot be separated; they prove each other, comprise each other; one cannot be without the other. Since the Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace) was the Seal of the Prophets and the heir of all the prophets, he is at the start of all the ways leading to ALLAH. There can be no way to reality and salvation outside his mighty highway. All those with inner knowledge of ALLAH and the authorities of those who have researched into reality have said like Sa‘di Shirazi: “It is impossible, Sa‘di, to be victorious on the way of salvation, except by following Mustafa.” They also said: “All ways are closed except the highway of Muhammad.”

However, it sometimes happens that people may be on the highway of Muhammad (PBUH) and within it, without knowing that it is the highway of Muhammad.

And it sometimes happens that they do not know the Prophet, but the road they take is part of the highway of Muhammad (PBUH).

It happens too that being in a state of ecstasy or entirely immersed in contemplation or having withdrawn from the world, not thinking of the highway of Muhammad, There is no god but ALLAH is sufficient for them. Nevertheless, a most important aspect is this: non-acceptance is one thing, while the acceptance of non-being is another. Ecstatics and recluses or those who have not heard or do not know, do not know the Prophet or they do not think of him so that they should accept him. They are ignorant in that respect. They only know There is no god but ALLAH in regard to knowledge of ALLAH. They may be among those who will be saved. But if those who have heard of the Prophet and know his message do not affirm him, they do not recognize ALLAH SWT. For them, the phrase There is no god but ALLAH alone does not express the affirmation of Divine Unity, which is the means of salvation. For that is not ignorant non-acceptance, which may be excusable to a degree, it is rather the acceptance of non-being, which is denial. A person who denies Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who with his miracles and works was the pride of the universe and glory of mankind, certainly can in no respect receive any light and will not recognize ALLAH. However... that is enough for now.

~The Twenty Sixth Letter - Fourth Topic of the Risale-i Nur, by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi RA

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The dua’a made at tahajjud is like an arrow which does not miss its target.

~Imam Ash-Shafi’i RadiyAllahu ‘Anhu

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Say: “O ye my servants who believe! Fear your Lord, good is (the reward) for those who do good in this world. Spacious is Allah’s earth! those who patiently persevere will truly receive a reward without measure!”

~Surah Az-Zumar 39 :10

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When youth belongs to believers with sound minds and hearts, so long as they spend it on worship, good works, and trade for the Hereafter, it is the most powerful, agreeable and pleasant means of securing that trade and those good works. And for those who know their religious duties, and do not misspend their youth, it is a most precious and delightful Divine bounty. When it is not spent in moderation, uprightness, and fear of God, it contains many dangers; it damages eternal happiness and the life of this world. Indeed, in return for the pleasures of one or two years’ youth, it causes many years of grief and sorrow in old age.

~The Twenty Sixth Flash of Risale-i Nur, by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi RA

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Doa Para Nabi (‘alaihimussolatu wassalam)

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A learned guide should be a sheep, not a bird. A sheep gives its lamb milk, while a bird gives its chick regurgitated food.

~Seeds of Reality, Risale-i Nur Collection by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi RA

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Protect your ears from your mouth; indeed, you have two ears and one mouth, in order to hear more than you talk.

~Abu Ad-Dardaa’ RadiyAllahu ‘Anhu

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Do not despair over the events of the past, for none of the events of the dunya were ever meant to remain.

~Imam Ash-Shafi’i RadiyAllahu ‘Anhu

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In the Name of ALLAH, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا وَلَا تُسْرِفُوا إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُسْرِفِين

Eat and drink, but waste not by excess.

This verse gives most important and wise instruction in the form of categorically commanding frugality and clearly prohibiting wastefulness. The matter contains seven Points.

FIRST POINT The All-Compassionate Creator desires THANKS in return for the bounties He bestows on mankind, while wastefulness is contrary to thanks, and slights the bounty and causes loss. Frugality, however, shows respect for the bounty and is profitable. Yes, frugality is both a sort of thanks, and shows respect towards the Divine mercy manifested in the bounties, and most definitely is the cause of plenty. So too, like abstinence, it is health-giving for the body, and, since it saves a person from the degradation of what is in effect begging, is a cause of selfrespect. It is also a powerful means of experiencing the pleasure to be found in bounties, and tasting that pleasure in bounties which apparently afford no pleasure. As for wastefulness, since it is opposed to these instances of wisdom, it has grave consequences.

SIXTH POINT There is a great difference between frugality and stinginess. Just as humility is a praiseworthy quality superficially resembling but different to the bad quality of servility, and dignity is a laudable virtue superficially similar to but different from the bad quality of haughtiness, so too frugality, which was one of the elevated qualities of the Prophet (PBUH) and indeed is one of the things on which the Divine wisdom in the order of the universe depends, bears no relation to stinginess, which is a mixture of baseness, avarice, miserliness, and greed. There is merely a superficial resemblance. The following is an event corroborating this fact:

Abdullah b. Umar RA, who was one of the famous Companions of the Prophet known as ‘the seven Abdullahs’, was the greatest and most important of the sons of the Caliph Umar, Faruq al-A’zam, and one of the most distinguished and learned of the Companions. One day while shopping in the market, in order to be economical and to preserve the confidence and integrity on which trade depends, he disputed hotly over something worth a few kurush. One of the Companions saw him, and imagining the Illustrious Successor of the Prophet on Earth, the Caliph Umar’s sons’s wrangling over a few kurush to be an extraordinary stinginess, he followed him in order to understand his conduct. Next he saw that Abdullah was entering his blessed house and had spotted a poor man at the door. He chatted with him for a bit, and the man left. Then he came out of the second door of the house and saw another poor man. He chatted with him for a while too, and the man left. The Companion, who was watching from the distance, was curious. He went and asked the poor men: “Abdullah paused a while with you. What did he do?” Each of them replied: “He gave me a gold piece.” “SubhanALLAH! (Glory be to ALLAH!),” exclaimed the Companion, and thought to himself: “How is it that he wrangled like that over a few kurush in the market, then was completely happy to give away two hundred kurush in his house without letting anyone know?” He went to Abdullah b. Umar and said: “O Imam! Solve this difficulty for me! In the market you did that, while in your house you did this.” Abdullah replied to him saying: “In the market it was not stinginess, but conduct arising from frugality; it was perfectly reasonable, and to preserve confidence and honesty, which are the basis and spirit of commerce. And the conduct in my house arose from the heart’s compassion and the spirit’s perfection. Neither was the first stinginess, nor the second immoderateness.”

Alluding to this, Imam Abu Hanifa RA said: “There can be no excess in good, just as there is no good in excess.” That is to say, just as in good works and benevolence there can no excess or wastefulness-so long as they are for the deserving, so too there is no good at all in wastefulness and immoderateness.

~The Nineteenth Flash - The Risale-i Nur Collection by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi RA

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Personal Notes:

Frugality is not just about food, money and possession. If you don’t waste time, that is frugal. If you spend so much time, excessively and clinging on worldly matters and risk the hereafter, that is extravagance. Thoughts can also determine frugality. Talking, sleeping, eating, drinking too much is wastefulness. Loving too much (whether to people or worldly possession). Frugality is to love in the right measure in the sake of Allah, and to do the things Allah commands at the right balance, and to not do the things that Allah forbids.

What would be the greatest measure of frugality? It would be Rasulullah SAW as he is the best example. By following his Sunnah becomes the perfect middle way of frugality.

The more the person understands the greatness of the gifts of Allah, the more excited, the more thankful he is.

Just like generosity is different than wastefulness and extravagance. Someone who is frugal can distinguish when/where/how to spend at the right moment. That is generosity.

Everything Allah created is based on frugality, nothing in excess or vain. From the cells of our body to the moon, stars and all the systems are created with the right balance. The earth spins at the exact speed. What would happen if it spins faster? Or slower? That is the right balance.

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If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?

~Mawlana Jalaluddin Ar-Rumi RA

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Today there are deeds and there is accounting; and tomorrow there will be accounting and no deeds.

~Hz. Ali Ibn Abu Talib RadiyAllahu ‘Anhu

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The Qur’an, which is a mercy for mankind, only accepts a civilization that comprises the happiness of all, or at least of the majority. Modern civilization has been founded on five negative principles:

1. Its point of support is force, the mark of which is aggression. 2. Its aim and goal is benefit, the mark of which is jostling and tussling. 3. Its principle in life is conflict, the mark of which is strife. 4. The bond between the masses is racialism and negative nat-ionalism, which is nourished through devouring others; its mark is collision. 5. Its enticing service is inciting lust and passion and gratifying the desires. But lust transforms man into a beast.

However, the civilization the Shari‘a of Muhammad (PBUH) comprises and commands is this:

Its point of support is truth instead of force, the mark of which is justice and harmony. Its goal is virtue in place of benefit, the mark of which is love and attraction. Its means of unity are the ties of religion, country, and class, in place of racialism and nationalism, and the mark of these is sincere brotherhood, peace, and only defence against external aggression. In life is the principle of mutual assistance instead of the principle of conflict, the mark of which is accord and solidarity. And it offers guidance instead of lust, the mark of which is human progress and spiritual advancement.

Do not loosen your hands from Islam, the preserver of our existence; cling onto it with all your strength, or you shall be lost!

~The Letters / Seeds of Reality - The Risale-i Nur Collection by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

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The verse:

وَلَا تَرْكَنُوا إِلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا فَتَمَسَّكُمُ النَّارُ

And incline not towards those who do wrong, or the Fire will seize you,

threatens in awesome and severe fashion, not only those who support and are the tools of tyranny, but also those who have the slightest inclination towards it. For like consenting to unbelief is unbelief, so is consenting to tyranny and wrongdoing tryanny and wrong.

One of the people of attainment perfectly interpreted as follows one of the many jewels of the above verse:

One who assists tyranny is the world’s most despicable being; He is a dog, who receives pleasure from serving the unjust.

Yes, some of them are snakes, some are dogs.

~The Twenty Eighth Letter - 4th Matter - The Risale-i Nur Collection by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

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A wise man said to a person who said to him, "I lost everything in a fire", "I thought you lost your hope. You can earn everything with hope but if you lose your hope, then you lose everything."

وَلَا تَيْأَسُوا مِن رَّوْحِ اللَّهِ إِنَّهُ لَا يَيْأَسُ مِن رَّوْحِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا الْقَوْمُ الْكَافِرُونَ

“...and never give up hope of Allah's Soothing Mercy: truly no one despairs of Allah's Soothing Mercy, except those who have no faith." (Surah Yusuf 12 :87)

Allah is sufficient for us against all kinds of troubles and misfortunes that we suffer. He is such a nice friend and disposer of affairs. A person who says,

"Hasbunallahu wa ni'mal wakil" (For us Allah sufficeth, and He is the best disposer of affairs) takes refuge in Allah and remembers the verse,

"...and it was due from us to aid those who believed" (Surah Ar-Rum 30 :47)

and goes on without being hampered by obstacles even if the events have huge waves like mountains. He interpretes the events favourably, sees the life from an optimistic point of view and relaxes by thinking, "A person who sees the good in things has good thoughts. And he who has good thoughts receives pleasures from life."

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Renew your belief (iman) by means of ‘Laa ilaha illa ALLAH - There is no God but ALLAH’. [Musnad; al-Hakim; al-Mustadrak; al-Haythami]

Since man himself and the world in which he lives are being continuously renewed, he needs constantly to renew his belief. For in reality each individual human being consists of many individuals. He may be considered as a different individual to the number of the years of his life, or rather to the number of the days or even the hours of his life. For since a single individual is subject to time, he is like a model and each passing day clothes him in the form of another individual.Furthermore, just as there is within man this plurality and renewal, so also is the world in which he lives in motion. It goes and replaced by another. It varies constantly. Every day opens the door of another world. As for belief, it is both the light of the life of each individual in that person, and it is the light of the world in which he lives. And as for 'There is no god but ALLAH,' it is a key with which to turn on the light.

Then the instinctual soul, desire, doubts, and Satan exercise great influence over man. In order to damage his belief, they are much of the time able to benefit from his negligence, to trick him with their wiles, and thus to extinguish the light of belief with doubts and uncertainty. Also, man is prone to act and utter words which apparently oppose the Shari'a, and which in the view of some religious authorities are no less then unbelief. Therefore, there is a need to renew belief all the time, every hour, every day.

~The Twenty Sixth Letter - Fourth Matter, the Risale-i Nur Collection by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi