#Eskishehir

[timesofocean]

Global economic recovery endures but road getting rocky: IMF

New Post has been published on https://www.timesofocean.com/global-economic-recovery-endures-but-road-getting-rocky-imf/

Global economic recovery endures but road getting rocky: IMF

Eskishehir (The Times Groupe) – The global economic recovery continues, but the road to recovery is getting “rocky,” according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

As a result of the Coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine, the global economy has been recovering gradually.

As China reopens its economy, supply chain disruptions in the world economy are easing.

Meanwhile, war-related disruptions to energy and food markets are receding, it said.

“At the same time, the massive and coordinated tightening of monetary policy by most central banks should start bearing fruit, with inflation returning to targets,” according to the IMF.

Inflation is projected to slow to 5.1% in 2023, a 0.6 percentage point downward revision from January. Times Of Ocean

[reallifesultanas]

Life of the nomad folks / A nomád népek élete

In my last post about Ertugrul I mentioned that he was the bey of an Oghuz tribe, the Kayı tribe. But who were these people? Where they were from? How they lived their life? What did they wear in a regular day? The women really knew how to fight?

Origin of the Oghuz Türks

The original homeland of the Oghuz was east of the Altai Mountains of Central Asia, which had been the domain of Turkic peoples since prehistory. They migrated a lot, so for example in the 8th century, they made a new home in the area between the Caspian and Aral seas. They had moved westward from the Altay mountains passing through the Siberian steppes and settled in this region, and also penetrated into southern Russia and in west, China. Mahmud of Kashgar, in the 11th century, described the Karachuk Mountains which are located just east of the Aral Sea as the original homeland of the Oghuz Türks. The Karachuk mountains are now known the Tian Shan Mountains.

The extension from the Karachuk Mountains towards the Caspian Sea was called the "Oghuz Steppe Lands" from where the Oghuz Türks established trading, religious and cultural contacts with the Abbasid Arab caliphate who ruled to the south. This is around the same time that they first converted to Islam and renounced their Tengriism belief system. The Arab historians mentioned that the Oghuz Türks were ruled by a number of kings and chieftains.It was in this area that they later founded the Seljuk Empire, and it was from this area that they spread west into western Asia and eastern Europe during Turkic migrations from the 9th until the 12th century. 

The Kayı tribe was among the 24 Oghuz turkish tribes, they were direct descendants of Oghuz-khan, who was the ancient progenitor of the Oghuz people, and the name of the tribe can be translated as “strong” or “powerful”.

There were a lot of nomad folks in Anatolia in the 13th century. The Kayı tribe appeare to have entered Anatolia either just before, with or immediately after the Mongol incursions of the 1240s and 1250s. Maybe they fled from the Mongols, and this is why they entered to Anatolia. Ottoman tradition says Ertugrul’s tribe arrived in the frontier zone between the weakened Seljuk polity and the weakening Byzantine Empire. 

Summary about their daily life

In particular, the nomads and other followers lived in a tribally organised group and they enjoyed pastures and cultivable lands between Eskishehir  and what is now Bilecik, at a place now called Sögut. Like any nomads, they lived from animal husbandry, so they basically pursued a nomadic lifestyle. Their tents/yurts were set up where they had found a suitable pasture for their animals. So this part is depicted in a completely fair way in the series as well. They traveled to the highlands in the summer and to the low lands during winter. But migration was a growing problem for these people as states began to form everywhere around them, so they could move only into a limited direction. So they felt compelled to settle down, but of course, this did not happen overnight. 

Their daily lives were filled with grazing and caring for their animals, which was usually done by young children in many cases. It was common, and still is, for children in nomadic tribes to take care the animals. Among the men there were warriors, as we saw in the series, and there were those who were doing other work in the camp, like blacksmith. But it was the job of the men to sell some animals, sell their products to make money. The women usually spent their days with caring the children, cleaning the yurts, making food for their family and for the animals also, moreover they sew the clothes for the family. Since they had a close contact with their animals and, making cheese and yogurt from the milk of their livestock was a main job for these women. Some sources suggests that making rugs was also a main part of the life of these tribes. And of course it was the women who made the ingretdients erect for the rugs and it were these women, who made the rugs. 

But there is some more about these women... There are more and more evidences that suggest that the Türk nomadic women also understood swordsmanship. It's logical, since they needed it. They lived under constant threat (of the other tribes and of course of the Mongols) and their husbands were often away from  home with the animals. They had to be able to defend themselves. Archaeologists have found the remains of two ancient women warriors, whose skeletal remains indicate that they were well practiced in archery and horseback riding. True that these remains were found in Mongolia, but most probably all of these nomad folks lived the same way back then. One of the anthropologists "discovered the remains of the two women warriors and in particular, she (the anthropologist) looked at bone marks from muscle attachments, as larger marks indicate that the muscles were heavily used; for instance, during archery. Markers of repetitive movement on the thumb were also indicative of archery. She also looked for trauma patterns in the spine that are common in people who ride horses"[1]. So all in all, in my opinion, this lifestyle may have been similar with the nomadic Türks. I'm not saying there was female warriors in the battles, but I mean they really had to know how to save themselves and their family, their tribe, when their husbands were away. So they surely know how to fight at least in a basic level. Then, over time, as these nomads settled down, women no longer had to fight, so it changed forever. 

What they wore?

In this early period when they barely enter to Anatolia the people most probably wore the same dresses as the ones in Central Asia. It is characteristic of the peoples of Central Asia that women dressed the same as men. The reason for this was the riding and wepon use, as I already mentioned. Even if they were muslims, the nomadic and semi-nomadic women weren’t veiled. The top-wear was a T-shaped kaftan like coat, which was buttoned in the middle and cut out on both sides and on the back at the waist, so they could easily rode a horse while wearing it. There was a difference in the female and male kaftans. The female ones were richly decorated, and not just the edges were decorated with furs or metal fittings as it was in the case of male kaftan, but there were some pearls sew on them, there were nice embroidery also on them. This kaftan-like coat also covered the knees and it was fastened with a belt at the waist. Again, there were some minor difference between the female and male belts. The female belts were richly decorated, with nice metal forms. The caftan was worn over a loose and tight-fitting pants. Both men and women wore low-legged boots and they thick stockings underneath. The boots were usually made of leather, but they also wore felt boots. Basically they used very colorful textiles but - again - the women chlothes were made by more vibrant and colorful textiles than the men chlothes. They used some herbs, plants and flowers to to produce different colors.

Basically the outerwear was the same whether it was worn by a noble person or by a simple one. The only difference was in the decoration. We cannot find luxurious materials in the poorer ones; they wore homemade clothes made of thicker linen, wool, or cloth.   

Of course these people also wore some jewels, which was mostly for the women. They wore earrings, bracelets and rings, necklace wasn't that usual. Women put into their braids various ornaments, like beads or silver/gold patterns. Their necklaces and bracelets were made of twisted wires and were connected at their ends by a loop and a hook. Presumably they also used beads, but this was not worn as a  pearl-necklace, but sewn one by one on their clothes. Some bracelets also have real gemstones in it, so do the rings. Their rings were simple, but the color and type of stones placed in them were different.

The horse tools were not jewels, but they were important part of these people's life. And there was a difference between the horse tools of men and women, because the ones belonged to women were more ornate. Saddles with hooves made of silver plates or decorated with bone carvings were also made for women. 

Among the Türk men of Asia, it was fashionable to cut the hair at the forehead, but at the back they grew it and it was braided and fastened with hoops. Hairdressing also had a rank-marking role; the nobles less often cut their hair and wore it adorned with beads. The women wore their hair in long braids but also decorated similar to men.

Used sources:  Colin Imber - The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650;  Bichurin - Collection of information on peoples in Central Asia in ancient times;  Faruk Sümer - Oğuzlar;  Bosworth - The Ghaznavids;  Hódmezei Őrzők page; Peirce -   The imperial harem; [1]: https://www.livescience.com/mongolia-warrior-women-mulan.html

*    *     *

Legutóbbi, Ertugrulról szóló posztomban említettem, hogy valószínűleg a Kayı törzs bégje volt, a Kayık pedig az Oghuz törzsbe tartoztak. Na de mégis kik voltak ezek az emberek? Honnan származtak? Hogyan élték mindennapi életüket? Milyen öltözéket viseltek? A nők valóban tudták, hogyan kell harcolni?

Az Oghuz népek eredete

Az Oghuz népek őshazája az Altaj-hegységben lehetett, Közép-Ázsiában, ahol már a történelem előtti időkben is ezek a népek éltek. Nagyon sokat vándoroltak, így például a 8. század során az Altaj-hegységen túl nyomultak, át a Szibériai sztyeppéken és letelepedtek a Kaszpi-tenger és Aral-tó közötti vidéken. Emellett a mai Oroszország területére és Nyugat-Kínába is behatoltak. A 11. században Kashgar-i Mahmud a Karachuk-hegységet nevezte a Oghuz türkök földjének. Ez a hegység az Aral-tótól keletre van és napjainkban Tien Sanként ismert.

A Tien Santól a Kaszpi-tengerig tartó régió neve így "Oghuz sztyeppe földek" volt, hiszen ezen régióban éltek, kereskedtek az Oghuz türkök. Itt kerültek kapcsolatba a déli szomszédjukkal, az Abassid Arab kalifátussal, akiktől végül felvették az iszlám vallást, elhagyva korábbi hitüket. A déli szomszédok arab történészei úgy írják, hogy az Oghuz népeknél királyok és törzsfők uralkodnak a népek felett. Ezen a területen jött végül létre a Seljuk Birodalom is, és ugyanúgy az Oghuz sztyeppe földeken keresztül terjeszkedtek a türkök Nyugat-Ázsia és Kelet-Európa irányába a 9. és 12. század között.

A Kayı törzs egyike volt a 24 Oghuz törzsnek, és népüket egyenesen Oghuz kántól vezették le, aki minden Oghuzok ősatyja volt. A Kayı törzs nevének jelentése egyesek szerint "erős", mások szerint "hatalmas".

A 13. századra már Anatóliában is rengetek nomád, belső-ázsiai eredetű nép élt. A Kayık is feltehetőleg ekkor érkeztek Anatóliába, vagy közvetlen megelőzve az 1240-1250-es években zajló mongol támadásokat vagy közvetlenül utánuk érkezve. Lehetséges, hogy a mongolok elől menekülve jutottak Anatóliába ezek a népek. Az Oszmán legendák szerint Ertugrul és népe ekkor érkezett tehát a gyengülő Seljuk és Bizánci Birodalom határmenti övezetébe.

Összefoglalás mindennapi életükről

Összefoglalva ezek a nomádok és a velük érkező népcsoportok törzsi szerveződésben éltek és pásztorkodással foglalkoztak a Sögut környéki fantasztikus és élhető legelőkön. Ez a terület Bilecik (Eskisehir) közelében van. Mint bármely más nomádok, állattartásból éltek, így jurtáikat mindig éppen ott húzták fel, ahol megfelelő legelőt találtak állataik számára. Ezt a részt jól láthattuk a sorozatokban is. Nyaranta a magasföldekre húzódtak, télen pedig az alföldekre vándoroltak. Ez a migráció egyre növekvő problémát okozott számukra, hiszen körülöttük egyre több és egyre szilárdabb állam és város jött létre, jól körülhatárolt területtel, így csak korlátozott irányba tudtak vándorolni. Ilyen körülmények között kényszert éreztek a letelepedésre, ami azonban egy lassú folyamat eredményeként zajlott végül le.

Mindennapi életüknek legjelentősebb részét az állatokkal való foglalkozás tette ki, melyet nagyrészt a gyerekek végeztek. Ez nagyon gyakori volt, és mai napig az a nomád törzseknél, hogy a gyerekek vigyáznak az állatokra. A férfiak között voltak akik harcosként éltek - ahogy a sorozatban is láthattuk - mások a táborban dolgoztak például kovácsként. Azonban a férfiak feladata volt az is, hogy az állatokkal kereskedjenek, eladják a tábor termékeit, ezzel pénzt szerezve családjuknak. A nők napját a gyermeknevelés, a jurták tisztán és épen tartása, a főzés, az állatok ellátása tette ki, ám ezen felül már a család ruháit is ők készítették el. Mivel nagyon szoros kapcsolatban éltek állataikkal, a tejtermékek készítése, mint a sajt, joghurt, kifejezetten jelentős munkát adott ezeknek az asszonyoknak. Sőt! Emellett, néhány forrás arra is utal, hogy ezek a népek igen minősége szőnyegeket készítettek, ami természetesen megint csak a nők feladata volt, az alapanyag előállításától kezdve az elkészítésig.

Azonban van itt még más is... Egyre több bizonyíték mutat arra, hogy a türk nomád asszonyok értettek a fegyverforgatáshoz. Ez elég logikus, hiszen szükségük volt rá. Állandó fenyegetettségben éltek, hol a szomszédos törzsektől, hol pedig a mongoloktól kellett tartaniuk. Férjeik pedig gyakorta távol voltak az állatokkal, esetleg háborúztak, a törzset pedig az asszonyokra hagyták ilyenkor. Ezeknek a nőknek meg kellett tudni védeni magukat. Arheológusok néhány ősi harcos maradványainak vizsgálatával új felfedezést tettek. A sírokat a mai Mongólia területén tárták fel, és a női maradványokon olyan elváltozásokat találtak, amelyek egyértelműen utalnak a fegyverhasználatra és lovaglásra. Igaz, hogy ezek a maradványok korábbi időszakból származnak, és keletebbről kerültek elő, mint az Oghuz népek őshazája, ám alapvetően hasonló körülmények között élt minden Belső-ázsiai népcsoport. Az egyik kutató olyan elváltozást talált a csontok és izmok csatlakozási helyén, amely az izmok extrém használatáról tanúskodik, kiterjedve a hüvelykujjra is. Ez egyértelműen jelzi, hogy ezek a nők íjászkodtak és nem csak alkalmanként, hanem rendszeresen. Emellett a gerincen is találtak elváltozásokat, amelyek pedig a rendszeres lovagláshoz köthetőek. Össszességében tehát véleményem szerint mivel ezek a népek hasonló életmódot folytattak, hasonló környezetben, logikus, hogy a nőknek is érteni kellett a fegyverforgatáshoz. Természetesen nem azt mondom, hogy férfiak és nők vállt vállnak vetve harcoltak a csatákban, csupán azt, hogy a férfiak távollétében a nők feleltek a táborért, ehhez pedig legalább alapszinten érteniük kellett a fegyverforgatáshoz. Idővel természetesen ez a hagyomány kikopott, hiszen a letelepedett életmód már nem tette ezt szükségessé.

Mit viseltek ezek az emberek?

Ebben a korai periódusban, mikor a türkök még épphogy elérték Anatóliát, feltehetőleg hasonlóan ruhászkodtak, mint belső-ázsiai rokonaik. Erre az öltözködési stílusra különösen jellemző, hogy a férfi és női viseletek igen hasonlóak voltak. Ennek oka a hasonló életmódban volt keresendő, mint például a rendszeres lovaglás. Hiába voltak muszlimok, a nők nem éltek elfátyolozva. A legfelsőbb ruházat egy T-alakú kaftán szerű kabát volt, amely középen gombozott volt és fel volt vágva oldalt és hátul is, hogy könnyedén tudjanak benne lóra szállni. A férfi és női kaftánok közötti fő különbség a díszítettségben volt. A nők kaftánján nem csak a széleken jellemző prém vagy fémvered kapott helyet, amely a férfiakén is jellemző volt, hanem gyakran gyöngyökkel volt díszítve de hímzés is előfordult. Ez a kaft-n szerű kabát nagyjából a térdekig ért és a deréknál övvel volt összetartva. Az övcsatok a nők esetében valamivel finomabb, díszesebb munkák voltak. A kaftán alatt egy laza, bő nadrág volt, melyet a csizmába tűrve hordtak. A csizmák egyébként ugyanolyanok voltak a férfiak és nők esetében is, általában bőrből készültek de előfordult nemezből készített verzió is. A csizma alatt gyapjú zoknit hordtak. Alapvetően színes textileket használtak, azonban - megint csak - különbség volt a férfiak és nőké közt. A férfiaké egyszerűbb volt, míg a női ruhák esetében gyakoribbak voltak az élénk színek is. Ezek elkészítéséhez növényeket, virágokat használtak, hogy minél több féle színt tudjanak előállítani.

A felsőruházat alapvetően megegyezett akkor is, ha nemes ember hordta őket és akkor is, ha egy egyszerű közember. Az egyetlen különbség az anyagok minőségében és díszítettségében mutatkozott. A közemberek esetében nem voltak megfigyelhetőek luxus darabok, ők általában otthon készített vastagabb gyapjút és szövetet viseltek.

Természetesen ékszereket is viseltek, ami azonban inkább a nőkre volt jellemző. A leggyakoribb kiegészítők a fülbevalók, karperecek és gyűrűk voltak, a nyaklánc ritkábbnak számított. A nők emellett hajkorongokat is használtak, melye arany/ezüst vagy bronz korongok voltak a fonataikba fűzve. A karperecek és nyakláncok hasonló módon készültek mint napjainkban, csavart drótból álltak, mely a végén kapoccsal volt rögzíthető. Ezek mellett gyöngyöket is használtak, melyek azonban nem ékszerként voltak viselve, mint például egy gyöngy-nyakék, hanem egyesével voltak felvarrva a ruházatra. A karperecekben és gyűrűkben gyakorta jelentek meg drágakövek, melyek minősége a rangtól függött. A gyűrűk alapvetően egyszerűek voltak, azonban a kövek színe és formája széles körben változott.

Mint említettem a lovaglás szerves részét képezte életüknek, így a lószerszámok is nagyon jelentősek voltak. A nőké sokkal díszesebb volt, mint a férfiaké. Emellett előkerültek ezüst veretes nyergek, kantárok is, amelyekbe gyakran minták voltak vésve.

A türk férfiak között jellemző volt, hogy a hajat a homloknál rövidre vágták, hátul azonban hosszúra hagyták és fonatokban hordták. A fonatokat karikákkal és díszekkel rögzítették. A gazdagabbak még ritkábban vágták le hajukat és még részletesebben díszítették fonataikat. A nők, a férfiakhoz hasonlóan fonatban hordták hosszú hajukat, melyet gyakran, gazdagon díszítettek.

Felhasznált források: Colin Imber - The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650;  Bichurin - Collection of information on peoples in Central Asia in ancient times;  Faruk Sümer - Oğuzlar;  Bosworth - The Ghaznavids;  Hódmezei Őrzők page; Peirce -   The imperial harem; https://www.livescience.com/mongolia-warrior-women-mulan.html

[basicsofislam]

NAMES AND ATTRIBUTES OF ALLAH ( PART 2)

HADITH

Abu Hurayrah narrates: There are ninety-nine names of Allah, whoever commits them to memory would go to Paradise. Verily, Allah is odd [Allah is one and it is an odd number] and He loves odd numbers.

NAMES AND ATTRIBUTES OF ALLAH

THE FIRST POINT (5)

The Divine Name of Most Holy

[This Point concerns one aspect of the Divine Name of Most Holy. It is appropriate that it should form an addendum to the Addendum of the Thirtieth Word.]

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

And the earth We have spread wide; and how well have We ordered it.1

One manifestation of the Divine Name of Most Holy, which is one meaning of the above verse, and is a Greatest Name or one of the six lights contained in the Greatest Name, became clear to me in the month of Sha’ban in Eskishehir Prison. It demonstrated with complete clarity both the Divine existence and Divine Unity.

The universe is a vast, constantly working factory and the globe of the earth a hostel and guest-house which is continually filled and emptied. Generally, factories, hostels and guest-houses which are thus used become much dirtied and soiled with filth, debris and rubbish, and putrid matter accumulates in all parts of them. Unless they are kept with care and cleaned and swept, they cannot be occupied; human beings are overwhelmed by the dirt. The factory of the universe and guest-house of the earth, however, are totally pure, clean and spotless, and completely unsoiled, untainted and fresh; there is nothing unnecessary, nothing without benefit, not a random piece of dirt to be found. Even if there is apparently, it is quickly thrown into a transformation machine and cleaned.

This means that the One Who looks after this factory does so very well. And its Owner is such that He sweeps and cleans and orders the vast factory and extensive palace as though they were small rooms. In relation to the size of the huge factory, there is no dirt or rubbish remaining from its filth and debris. Indeed, considering its size, its cleanness and tidiness are remarkable.

[risalei-nur]

TAFSIR: Risale-i Nur: The Rays Collection:The Fourteenth Ray.Part66

In His Name, be He glorified! 

Today, due to a spiritual warning, I felt a disquiet, a grief, on account of you. Just when I was feeling upset at those of my brothers who being anxious about their livelihoods want to be released quickly, a blessed memory occasioned a truth and some good tidings to be imparted to me: the ‘Three Months’ will begin in five days time, which are truly blessed and are the months of highly meritorious worship. For if the reward yielded by good works at other times are tenfold, in the month of Rajab they are more than a hundredfold, in Sha‘ban they exceed three hundredfold, and in Ramadan they reach a thousandfold, while on Fridays in Ramadan they reach thousands and on the Night of Power may reach thirty thousand. It is certainly highly profitable therefore, to spend those three months -which are thus a sacred market for the trade of the hereafter earning plentiful gains for it, and an exceptional exhibition for the people of reality and worship, and in three months may secure for the believers a life of eighty years- in this School of Joseph, which increases the profits tenfold. Whatever the hardships suffered, they are pure mercy. As with worship, so with the service of the Risale-i Nur; with respect not to quantity but quality, its profits are fivefold. For people are continuously entering this guest-house, then being released, and they are means of the Risale-i Nur’s lessons being disseminated. Sometimes one man’s sincerity yields the benefits of twenty men. It is of no importance if such a man suffers a little hardship and distress so that the mystery of the Risale-i Nur’s sincerity might spread among the unfortunate prisoners, who are inclined to be political heroes and are much in need of the Risale-i Nur’s solace. In regard to the problem of livelihood, since these three months are a market for the hereafter, I felt perfectly easy at it and understood that being here inside until the Bayram is a great bounty, for since all of you were sent to this prison in place of numerous other Risale-i Nur students, and some of you in place of a thousand, they will help out in your business outside.

S a i d N u r s i * * *

In His Name, be He glorified! 

My Dear, Loyal Brothers! 

Firstly: I offer you congratulations with all my heart and soul for the month of Rajab and the holy night of Ragha’ib tomorrow.

Secondly: Don’t give up hope, and don’t worry or be alarmed. God willing, Divine grace will come to our aid. The bomb that was being prepared these last three months exploded. The news given by my stove, Feyzi’s beaker, and Husrev’s two drinking-cups turned out to be true. But it was not terrible, it was slight. God willing, the fire will be extinguished completely. All their assaults are to discredit my person and taint the Risale-i Nur’s conquests. The blow the man more harmful than the covert dissembler in Emirdag and merely a pawn in the hands of secret atheists, and the ‘semi-hoja’ who favours the innovations, were trying to strike us as hard as they could was reduced twentyfold. God willing, they will cause us not even one wound, and what they think and intend and their plans to scare us away from each other and from the Risale-i Nur will come to nothing. It is absolutely essential that out of respect for these blessed months, trusting that they are gaining abundant reward for us, we steadfastly offer thanks in patience, and relying on God, submit to the rule ‘He who believes in Divine Determining is saved from unhappiness.’ 

S a i d N u r s I

To the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Justice,  and Ministry of Home Affairs

All members of the Government who saw the Proclamation of the Constitution, the First World War, the Armistice Period, the setting up of the Nationalist Government, and the Republic know me well. Nevertheless, with your permission, we shall take a look at my life as though on a film. 

I was born in the village of Nurs in the province of Bitlis. As a student, I debated with the scholars I encountered, and through Divine favour, defeating in scholarly debate all who opposed me, I came as far as Istanbul. In Istanbul, winning calamitous fame, a victim of my rivals’ trouble-making, I was dragged to the lunatic asylum on the orders of Sultan ‘Abdulhamid. On the Proclamation of the Constitution, I attracted the attention of the government of the Committee of Union and Progress with my activities during the Thirty-First of March Incident. I confronted them with the proposal to open an Islamic university in Van called the Medresetü’z-Zehra, resembling al-Azhar University. I even laid its foundations. On the outbreak of the First War, I gathered together my students and took part in the War as the Commander of a militia force. I fought on the Caucasian Front and was taken prisoner at Bitlis. I escaped from where I was being held and returned to Istanbul. I was appointed a member of the Darü’l-Hikmeti’l-Islâmiye. During the Armistice period, I worked against the occupying forces with all my might, and on the victory of the National Government, in appreciation I was summoned by it to Ankara, where I repeated my proposal to open the university in Van. 

The life I had lived up to then had been that of a patriot. I had wanted to serve religion by means of politics. But from then on, I turned my back on the world completely, and in my own words, buried the ‘Old Said’. As the ‘New Said’, devoting myself entirely to the hereafter, I withdrew from the world. Retiring from social life, I went into seclusion on the hill Yusha Tepesi in Istanbul. Later on I went to Bitlis and Van, in my native region, where I lived in a cave. I remained alone with the pleasures of my spirit and conscience. That is to say, taking as my principle “I seek refuge with God from the Devil and politics,” I plunged into the depths of my own spiritual world. Passing my time studying the Qur’an of Mighty Stature, I started to live as the ‘New Said.’ But the manifestations of Divine Determining sent me as an exile to other places. Then, getting those with me to write down the inspirations born in my heart from the effulgence of the Qur’an, a number of treatises came to be written. I gave them the name of the Risale-i Nur. This name was born in my conscience, for truly they were based on the light of the Qur’an. I believe absolutely certainly that this was Divine inspiration, and I said to those who were acting as scribes: “Barakallah!” For it is not possible to begrudge others the light of belief. 

Exchanging copies, these treatises of mine were written out by a number of believers. I formed the opinion that they were driven on by God in order to strengthen the injured belief of Muslims. I understood that just as no believer could obstruct this Divine prompting, so I considered it a religious obligation to encourage it. Anyway these treatises, which now number one hundred and thirty, consist entirely of discussions of the hereafter and belief, and contain no deliberate mention of politics or this world. Nevertheless, they became the object of interest of a number of opportunists. Investigations were carried out into them, and I was arrested and sent to the prisons of Eskishehir, Kastamonu, and Denizli. Trials were held. As a result, truth was manifested and justice was executed, but those opportunists never wearied of hounding us. This time they arrested me and sent me to Afyon. I am under arrest and am being interrogated. They accuse me as follows: 

1) You have founded a political society. 2) You publish ideas opposing the regime. 3) You harbour political aims. 

The evidence for these are ten or fifteen sentences in two or three of my treatises. Respected Minister! As Napoleon said:

“Bring me a straightforward sentence to which no second meaning can be attached, and I’ll have you executed for it!”

There is no sentence uttered by man which may not constitute an offence by having forced meanings attached to it. Especially the writings of someone like me who has reached seventy-five years of age, has withdrawn entirely from the life of this world, and has dedicated his life here to that of the hereafter - they will certainly be free. Being close to having a good intention, he will be fearless. It is unfair to study them simply in order to seek out offences in them. It is nothing other than unjust. Not one of any of my one hundred and thirty treatises comprises any purpose connected to the matters of this world. Proceeding from the light of the Qur’an, they are all to do with the hereafter and belief. In any event all the trials held up to now have come to the same conclusion and have resulted in acquittals. It is therefore a shame to busy the courts unnecessarily and take innocent believers away from their work and business in the name of the country and nation. While the Old Said spent all his life for the sake of the happiness of the country and nation, how could the New Said be preoccupied with politics when he is seventy-five years old and has completely withdrawn from the world? This is your opinion too. 

I have only one aim; it is this: at this time as I approach the grave, I hear the hooting of the Bolshevik owls in this country, which is a Muslim land. The sound is damaging the fundamentals of belief of the Islamic world. Making them lose their belief, it binds the people, and particularly the youth, to itself. Struggling against it with all my strength, I am calling the youth and all Muslims to believe. I am struggling against these unbelieving masses. I want to enter the Divine presence with this struggle of mine. This is all I do. As for those who prevent me from doing this, I am frightened that they are communists! For me it is a sacred aim to co-operate with the forces of religion who have embraced the struggle against these enemies of belief. Release me! Let me work to reform the youth, poisoned by communism, and for this country’s faith! Let me serve Divine unity! 

Prisoner  

S a i d N u r s i

[panoramicbreaks-blog]

Sazova Park in Eskishehir Turkey #eskishehir #sazova #sazovaparkı #sazovapark #turkey #turkye #panoramicbreaks (at Sazova Parkı Eskişehir)

[oztuvgan]

[solakpetri]

Phantom spotted in the air :)

[risalei-nur]

TAFSIR: Risale-i Nur: The Rays Collection:The Fourteenth Ray.Part49

[Part of a petition written during the Eskishehir trial fifteen years ago and sent to the Cabinet.]

You who “bind and loose!”

I have suffered an injustice the like of which has rarely been seen in the world. To remain silent before such an injustice is disrespect for right. I am compelled therefore to divulge a most important fact. Demonstrate the fault I have committed so that the law demands either my execution or a hundred and one year’s imprisonment, or prove that I am completely mad, or else give complete freedom to myself, my treatises, and my friends, and collect our losses from those who caused them.

Yes, every government has a law and a principle according to which penalties are given. If there is nothing in the laws of the Government of the Republic to necessitate the heaviest penalty for myself and my friends, we should be given our complete freedom, as well as recompense and appreciation and an apology. For if my important service of the Qur’an, which is clear and open, is against the Government, I should receive not a year’s sentence in this way and a number of my friends, six months each, I should be given the death sentence or a hundred and one year’s imprisonment and those earnestly attached to me and my work should be given the heaviest penalties. But if our service is not against the Government, we should receive not penalties, charges and imprisonment, but appreciation and recompense. For it is service the nature of which may be understood through its one hundred and twenty treatises, and its challenging the great philosophers of Europe and overthrowing their principles. Certainly, such effective service will either produce ghastly results inside the country, or it will yield most advantageous, elevated, and scholarly fruits. In which case, I cannot be given a year’s sentence for playing a childish game of hoodwinking, and deceiving public opinion, and concealing the intrigues of tyrants and their lies about us. Those like me either receive capital punishment, proudly climbing the gallows, or they remain free in the position of which they are worthy. 

Yes, a clever thief can steal diamonds worth thousands, so he would not sentence himself to the same penalty for stealing a fragment of glass worth virtually nothing. No thief would do that, indeed, no conscious creature. Such a thief is cunning, not utterly stupid in that way. 

Sirs! According to your delusions, I am like that thief. Rather than living in seclusion in a poor village in one of the districts of Isparta for nine years and putting in danger myself and my treatises which are the aim of my life by turning against the Government the ideas of five to ten ingenuous unfortunates, who have been given very light sentences along with me, I could have held a high position in either Ankara or Istanbul like formerly and manipulated thousands of people towards the aim I was following. Then I would not have been convicted so abjectly, but would have been involved in the world with the pride and dignity befitting my way and duty.

- I do not say this out of pride or to boast, but ashamedly, to point out the errors of those who, recalling some of my old self-advertisement and hypocrisy, want to abase me so that the position I hold lacks all importance and cannot be profited from. So I say to them:

As someone who, as confirmed by his old defence, which was published under the name of The Testimony of Two Schools of Misfortune, reduced to obedience with a speech eight rebelling regiments during the Thirty-First of March Incident; and as was reported in the newspapers of the time, with an article called The Six Steps performed the important service of turning the ideas of the Istanbul ‘ulama against the British and in favour of the National Movement; and delivered an address to thousands in Aya Sophia, making them listen to him; 

and was greeted with tumultuous applause by the Assembly and deputies in Ankara, and had one hundred and sixty-three deputies assign one hundred and fifty thousand liras for his religious school and university; 

and without quailing responded completely firmly to the angry President in the Speaker’s office and invited him to perform the obligatory prayers;

and while in the Darü’l-Hikmeti’l-Islamiye was unanimously considered worthy by the Union and Progress Government of the duty of effectively inviting the philosophers of Europe to accept Islamic wisdom; 

and Isharat al-I’jaz (Signs of Miraculousness), the work he wrote on the front during the War and has now been seized, appeared so valuable to Enver Pasha, who was Commander-in-Chief at the time, that with respect shown by no one else and the idea of sharing in the good and glory of that memento of the War, which was racing to the future, he contributed the paper to have the work printed so that the exploits of its author during the War would be remembered.

- such a man would not descend to disgracing the dignity of his learning, the sacredness of his service, and his thousands of valuable friends by tainting himself with a petty crime like a horse-thief, abductor of girls, or pickpocket so that you could sentence him to a year’s imprisonment and treat him like a stealer of goats or sheep. He would prefer execution to suffering under the arbitrary persecution of a malicious detective or common policeman the year’s sentence now given him together with being held under supervision for a year, after having been tormented for ten years without reason with oppressive surveillance

- although he could not endure to be dominated by the Sultan. If such a man had been involved in the world and if he had harboured such a wish and if his sacred service had permitted, he would have interfered in it to an extent ten times greater than the Menemen Affair and Shaykh Said Revolt. The booming sound of a cannon heard by all the world would not have subsided to the buzz of a fly.

[risalei-nur]

TAFSIR: Risale-i Nur: The Rays Collection:The Fourteenth Ray.Part68

My Dear, Loyal, Sincere Brothers! 

It has become obligatory for us to practise as far as we can within the bounds of possibility the principles of the Treatise On Sincerity and sincerity in its true sense among ourselves and towards one another. I have received certain information that for the past three months three men have been posted here to distance my ‘special’ (has) brothers from one another by playing on differences in ideas or temperament. They are also drawing out the court proceedings in order to make the resolute Nurjus fed up and to shake them, and to make the sensitive and irresolute one’s suspicious and cause them to give up their service of the Risale-i Nur. Beware! Beware! Don’t let the self-sacrificing brotherhood and genuine love you have maintained up to now be shaken. If they are shaken only a jot, it will cause us great harm. For only a small jolt in Denizli caused hojas like... to keep their distance. Our service of the Qur’an and belief necessitates that if necessary we sacrifice our very souls for one another; true devotees do not become vexed with one another because of difficulties or irritability arising from other things; with perfect humility, modesty, and resignation, they attribute the faults to themselves, and try to increase their love and sincerity. Otherwise it will be blown up out of all proportion, possibly causing irreparable harm. Leaving it to your perspicacity, I cut this short here. 

S a i d N u r s i   * * *

My Dear, Loyal Brothers! 

In consequence of an important warning I received, there are now one or two tasks connected with the Risale-i Nur, which are to try with all your might, through the lessons of the Risale-i Nur, not to fall into dispute or take up biased sides in among the other unfortunate prisoners in this third School of Joseph. For there are terrible troublemakers who are concealed and attempting to take advantage of differences, grudges, hatred, and obstinacy. Since if necessary the majority of our fellow-prisoners manifest a vein of heroism which makes them ready to sacrifice their lives for their country, nation, and friends, surely those brave men should sacrfice for the good of the nation and peace and quiet here in prison their obstinacy, hatred, and enmity, which are entirely without benefit and extremely damaging in these stormy times. For in this way they may be saved from the corruption of those who are covertly inculcating communism, which turns into anarchy. It may otherwise lead to significant difficulties and upsets at this time, like putting a match to gunpowder, both for a hundred wretched prisoners, and for the innocent Risale-i Nur students, and for the town of Afyon. It might also lead to the intervention of a secret society which is here but whose roots are abroad. Since Divine Determining sent us here for their sake, and because of their happiness and ease of mind some of us do not want to leave and we sacrifice our comfort for them and endure every hardship patiently, certainly it is absolutely essential that for the sake of those new brothers of ours, like the Denizli prisoners, and out of respect for the months of Sha‘ban and Ramadan, we do not become angry with one another and make peace like brothers. In any case, we and I consider them to be within the circle of Risale-i Nur students and include them in our prayers. 

S a i d N u r s i   * * *

In His Name, be He glorified! 

My Dear, Loyal Brothers! 

Firstly: In accordance with the meaning of “Good lies in what God wishes,” there are many instances of good in our trial being delayed and those of our brothers who have been released being here on the day it recommences. Yes, since the Risale-i Nur question is of importance for the Islamic world in general and this country in particular, there should be lively gatherings such as that in order to attract everyone’s attention to its truths. For in its glittering fashion, beyond all our hopes and precautions, and our concealing it, and our enemies belittling it, and outside our wills, the Risale-i Nur teaches its truths openly to friend and foe alike. It unhesitatingly divulges its most private secrets to the most distant stranger. Since the truth is this, we should consider our trifling difficulties to be a bitter medicine like quinine, and offering thanks in patience, say: “This too will pass, God willing.” 

Secondly: I wrote this to the supervisor of this School of Joseph: just as when I was a prisoner-ofwar in Russia, the Bolshevik storm first erupted in the prisons, so the French Revolution first began in the prisons and with the prisoners known in the histories as “vagabonds.” Because of this, in both Eskishehir and Denizli we Risalei Nur students tried to reform the other prisoners as far as we possibly could. In both prisons it was extremely successful. Here it will be even more useful, for as a result of the Risale-i Nur’s instuction at this sensitive time, the squall that blew up was only a hundredth of what it would have been. Otherwise the harmful outside currents which take advantage of conflict and such incidents, and await such opportunities, would have ignited the gunpowder and caused a conflagration. 

S a i d N u r s i * * *

[risalei-nur]

TAFSIR: Risale-i Nur: The Rays Collection:The Fourteenth Ray.Part36

In His Name, be He glorified!

[This forms the introduction to the pieces that follow it.]

With the idea of helping a little to refute with true, fair evidences Afyon Court’s decision against us and turn the Appeal Court in our favour, and in order to indicate briefly some of the errors in the indictment, we have written exactly the pieces from the confidential treatises which they mentioned as being offences; pointing out the errors, we show those who are convicting us to be guilty of an offence.

For instance: In order to have me sentenced to the heaviest penalty, they wrote at the end of the indictment as an index of all my crimes:

“The matters Said Nursi rejects: One: the abolition of the Empire and Caliphate.”

This is both wrong and an oversight. For fifteen years ago in Eskishehir Court I replied to a question about my writing in the Twenty-Sixth Flash, the Treatise For the Elderly:

“I was grieved at the passing of the sovereignty of the caliphate,”

and my reply silenced the court. Anyone who considers to be a crime an unimportant memory, faded with time, which was covered by the pardon and has been acquitted, is himself guilty.

As documentary evidence for this imaginary crime, they showed a Hadith from one of the Flashes, which is also found in The Miracles of Muhammad (PBUH):

“After me the caliphate will last thirty years, then it will be rapacious monarchy, then corruption and tyranny.”

That is, after the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs there will be corruption. I wrote in one of my old treatises that this Hadith contained three miraculous prophecies. Then in the indictment, it gave as my crime:

“In one of his treatises Said says: ‘After the caliphate will be tryanny and corruption.’”

You superficial committee! Anyone who considers it a crime to explain the miraculous prediction of a Hadith which foretells the widespread spiritual and material corruption among mankind of the present and an event that will cause chaos on the earth, is himself guilty both spiritually and materially.

They also wrote that:

“a person is guilty of political reaction if he calls innovation, misguidance, and atheism, the reforms, such as the closure of the sufi tekkes and zaviyes and the religious schools; the acceptance of secularism; the establishment of nationalist principles instead of Islam; the wearing of the brimmed hat; the banning of Islamic dress for women; the enforced use of the Latin alphabet in place of the Qur’anic alphabet; the ezan and iqama being recited in Turkish; the prohibition of religious instruction in schools; the recognition of equal rights for women and in inheritance; and the abolition of polygamy.“

Unfair committee! The Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition has every century been the sacred, heavenly guide of three hundred and fifty million people, the programme of all their happiness, and the sacred treasury of the life of this world and the next. If it is possible to deny numerous of its explicit verses, which do not bear interpretation, about the veiling of women, inheritance, polygamy, the recollection of God, instruction in religious knowledge and its dissemination, and the preservation of the marks of religion, and to make guilty of crimes all the authoritative Islamic interpreters of the law and all the Shaykh al-Islam’s, and if you can annul the passage of time, quash the numerous court acquittals, and the legal pardons, and abolish confidentiality and the private side of things, and freedom of conscience and freedom of thought, and intellectual and scholarly opposition, and remove them from this country and its governments, you can make me guilty of these things. Otherwise in the court of truth, reality, and justice you will be awesomely guilty!

S a i d N u r s i

[risalei-nur]

TAFSIR: Risale-i Nur: The Rays Collection:The Fourteenth Ray.Part51

                An Example of the Risale-i Nur’s Veracity

                                                  N O T E

As the fair-minded and enlightened who read the following treatise, which was written nineteen years ago, will clearly understand, the Risale-i Nur, with all its one hundred and thirty parts, is concerned only with belief and the hereafter and was written in that spirit, completely free of all political and worldly motives. This clear and definite fact was corroborated by the lengthy investigations and minute studies carried out by the Courts of Eskishehir, Isparta, Denizli, and Afyon. In this connection, we are requesting your concern and assistance in having all our books returned to us, which for more than twenty months have been held by Afyon Court, and not the smallest point of which was shown by the Appeal Court as constituting an offence, and which have saved the belief of thousands of people, and have been praised and applauded by their readers, and scholars, and the Islamic world.

The greater part of the books held by Afyon Court were collected by the first of our companions to be released. Saying:

“We gave these books of ours to Ustad, their owner; they should be handed over to him.”

- they referred them to me. In particular, they left in the court the gilded Qur’an which was written showing the miraculous ‘coincidences’ of letters, which was among the confiscated books. Before everything we await the swift return to us of those books and our Qur’an, which were previously returned to us by Denizli and Ankara Courts.

S a i d N u r s i

[risalei-nur]

TAFSIR: Risale-i Nur: The Rays Collection:The Fourteenth Ray.Part30

Fifthly: I tell you certainly that to accuse the Risale-i Nur students of belonging to a political society and of political involvement when they have absolutely no connection with any society, association, or political movement, is knowingly or unknowingly to struggle against us on account of a secret atheistic organization which for forty years has been working directly against Islam and belief, or in the name of a sort of communism which produces anarchy in this country. For three courts of law have acquitted in that respect all the Risale-i Nur students and the treatises of the Risale-i Nur. Only, Eskishehir Court gave me one year, and out of one hundred and twenty others, fifteen of my friends six months each because of a single matter in a short treatise about the veiling of women, or perhaps because of the sentence: “According to what I have heard, in the centre of government a shoe-shiner behaved impudently towards the semi-naked wife of an important person, and his astonishing unmannerliness dealt a slap in the shameless face of someone opposed to the veiling of women,” which was written long ago. That means, to accuse the Risale-i Nur and its students now is to charge and convict three courts, and to be contemptuous of them.

Sixthly: The Risale-i Nur cannot be combatted. All the Islamic scholars who have seen it have confirmed that it is a veracious commentary on the Qur’an, that is, it consists of powerful proofs of its truths. It is a miracle of the Qur’an this century, and a firm barrier for this nation and country against the perils from the North. I have understood therefore that it is a duty of your court not to scare off its students, but with regard to general rights, to encourage them, and I await this from you. Thanks to freedom of scholarship, the books and journals of those with no religion and some political atheists, who are harmful for the nation, country, and public security, are not interfered with, so it surely is not a crime to be a student of the Risale-i Nur and save the belief of the innocent, needy youth and preserve them from immorality; indeed, the Government and Ministry of Education should applaud and encourage it.

My last word: May Almighty God allow the judges to execute the law with true justice. Amen.

For us God suffices and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs.(3:173)

The best of lords and the Best of Helpers.(8:40)

All praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds.

S a i d N u r s i

[risalei-nur]

TAFSIR: Risale-i Nur: The Rays Collection:The Fourteenth Ray.Part45

To the Judges of the Court of Appeal

[Again they did not permit me to speak in the session held to discuss the possible quashing by the Appeal Court of Afyon Court’s unjust decision concerning us. They made us listen to a third severe indictment. They also did not allow anyone to come to help me with writing. Despite my poor handwriting and my being ill, I am presenting this complaint to your Court -which has acted justly towards us twice previously- as a supplement to my petition concerning the appeal.]

In His Name, be He glorified!

A petition to the Supreme Tribunal of the Resurrection; and a complaint to the Divine Court; the Appeal Court of the present should also listen as well as coming generations and the enlightened future teachers and students of the universities. Of the hundreds of torments and calamities I have suffered these twenty-three years, I am setting ten before the court of justice of the All-Glorious Sovereign together with my complaints.

The First: Despite my faults, I have dedicated my life to this nation’s happiness and the saving of its religious belief. Saying, let my head too be sacrificed for a truth, that is, the truth of the Qur’an, for which millions of heroic heads have been sacrificed, I worked with the Risale-i Nur with all my strength. Through Divine assistance, I persisted in the face of all the cruel torments. I did not withdraw.

For example: One instance of the exceedingly cruel treatment I have received during my trial and imprisonment in Afyon: although three times, and every time for nearly two hours, they forced myself and the innocent Risale-i Nur students, who were awaiting solace from justice, to listen to the slanderous, malicious indictments, they did not allow us more than one or two minutes to defend our rights, despite my repeated requests for five or ten minutes.

I have been kept for twenty months in total isolation, with only one or two of my friends being permitted to visit me for three or four hours. For only a small part of my defence speeches did I have anyone to help me with the writing. Then they were forbidden as well, and punished exceedingly brutally. They compelled us to listen to the prosecutor’s biased indictment, which was like water gathered from a thousand streams, and which I proved contained eighty-one errors in fifteen pages arising from twisted meanings and slander and lies. They did not permit me to speak. If they had permitted me, I would have said:

although as required by freedom of thought and freedom of conscience, you do not interfere with Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians, and particularly now with anarchists, apostates, and dissemblers, hiding behind the screen of communism, who both deny your religion, and insult your forefathers accusing them of misguidance, and accept neither your Prophet (PBUH) nor the laws of the Qur’an; 

and although through the Qur’an’s instruction millions of Muslims in the lands and under the rule of an imperious, bigoted Christian state like Britain, reject all the false beliefs and infidel rules of the English, their courts do not interfere with them; 

and although opponents of all governments openly publish their ideas without those governments bothering them; 

and although both the Isparta authorities, and Denizli Court, and Ankara Criminal Court, and the Directorate of Religious Affairs, and the Appeal Court twice, no, three times, have all scrutinized these forty years of my life, and my one hundred and thirty treatises, and my most private treatises and letters, and they had in their possession for two or three years all the copies of the Risale-i Nur, confidential and otherwise, yet they could not show a single matter necessitating the smallest penalty; 

and although despite the fact I am extremely weak, oppressed, defeated, and am enduring the harshest conditions, our innocence has been proved by the Risale-i Nur collections you hold as well as our four-hundred-page defence, which have been shown to be a most powerful, sound, and veracious guide for two hundred thousand true and devoted students benefiting this country, nation, and public security;

- in spite of all these, under which law, what conscience, what good, what crime do you convict us, contemptuously giving us the harshest sentences and severest solitary confinement? Certainly you shall be questioned about this at the Last Judgement.

The Second: One reason they put forward for punishing me was my expounding the Qur’an’s explicit verses about veiling, inheritance, recitation of the Divine Names, and polygamy, written to silence those who object to them in the name of civilization.

Fifteen years ago I wrote the following piece to Eskishehir Court and the Appeal Court, which was also included in the court’s decision. I repeat the piece as a complaint to the Supreme Tribunal at the Last Judgement, and as a warning to the enlightened teachers of the future, and together with Elhüccetü’z-Zehrâ (The Shining Proof) as a sort of addition to my petition to the Appeal Court, which twice has acted fairly in acquitting me and has listened to my cry for justice, and to the committee of judges who did not permit me to speak and due to the malicious indictment which I proved contained eighty errors, convicted me to two year’s hard labour and solitary confinement together with two year’s further exile elsewhere under close surveillance:

I say that if there is any justice on the face of the earth, the Appeal Court will quash this decision which convicts someone who expounded Qur’anic verses which in each century for one thousand three hundred and fifty years have acted as sacred, true Divine principles in the social life of three hundred and fifty million Muslims, and expounded them relying on the consensus and affirmation of three hundred and fifty thousand Qur’anic commentaries and following the beliefs of our forefathers for one thousand three hundred years. Is it not a denial of Islam and a betrayal of our millions of religious and heroic forefathers to convict, because he expounded those verses, someone who according to reason and learning does not accept certain European laws applied temporarily due to certain requirements of the times and who has given up politics and withdrawn from social life, and is it not to insult millions of Qur’anic commentaries?

[risalei-nur]

TAFSIR: Risale-i Nur: The Rays Collection:The Fourteenth Ray.Part26

Second Point: Due to its gross misrepresentations, attaching unimaginable meanings to one or two matters out of thousands, the prosecution accuses us of certain offences. However, those matters are in the large collections of the Risale-i Nur. The ‘ulama of al-Azhar University in Cairo, the leading scholars of Damascus, the exacting scholars of Mecca and Medina, and of Aleppo and so on, and especially the investigative scholars of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, have all seen them and have praised them appreciatively and put their signatures to them. So it was with astonishment and bewilderment that I saw the pseudo-scholarly objections in the indictment. Even if I had made some errors and the indictment was correct in what it imputed, although thousands of scholars had not spotted them or objected to them, they still would not constitute a crime; they would only be scholarly errors. Moreover, three courts have acquitted the entire Risale-i Nur and ourselves. Only Eskishehir Court gave light sentences to myself and fifteen out of a hundred of my companions because of fifteen words in the Twenty-Fourth Flash, which is about the veiling of women. I wrote in the addendum to my objections that if there is justice on the face of the earth, it would not accept my being convicted for expounding that verse and complying with what was laid down in three hundred and fifty thousand Qur’anic commentaries. As though collecting water from a thousand streams and in its cleverness, the prosecution tried to use against us a number of points in books and letters written over twenty years. That makes the, not three, but five or six courts which acquitted us on this point our accomplices in this imaginary crime. I am reminding the prosecution not to insult the honour of those just courts.

The Third: Even if explicitly, to criticize and object to a leader who is dead and gone, whose relations with the Government have ceased, and who was the cause of certain faults in the reforms, cannot be a legal offence. But there was not anything explicit; the prosecution applied my general statements to him through its misrepresentations. It publicized those confidential meanings, which we do not tell to everyone, and drew everyone’s attention to them. If there is any crime involved, the prosecution is guilty. Because it is inciting the people, and attracting their attention to those meanings.

The Fourth: Due to baseless suspicions, repeating the same old story, collecting water from a thousand streams, the prosecution investigated hints of a secret society, despite our unequivocal acquittal on this point by three courts. However, while there are numerous political societies which are harmful for this nation and country, which they permit and look on tolerantly, to call a secret society the solidarity of the Risale-i Nur students with their fellow-students, which as established by the testimony of thousands of witnesses and signs and the fact that six provinces did not interfere with us, is solely for the good of the country, nation, and religion, on account of happiness in this world and the next, and to strive against the currents from inside and outside the country which are bent on corruption, and like the prosecution to accuse them of “exploiting religion and inciting the people to disturb public order and breach security,” although in twenty years not one single such incident has been recorded in connection with the Risale-i Nur students, will bring not mankind, but the earth to anger, thus rejecting such an accusation. However... there is no need to say anything further. My written objections and its addendum, which were written long before the indictment, are my reply to it.

Prisoner S a i d N u r s i

Afyon Prison 

* * *

[risalei-nur]

TAFSIR: Risale-i Nur: The Rays Collection:The Fourteenth Ray.Part44

[A situation worthy of congratulation should not be objected to.]

One of the numerous meaningless questions they asked me this time in court, was: “How do you live?”

I replied:

“Through the plenty resulting from frugality. A person who one Ramadan in Isparta lived on one loaf of bread, a one-kilo bag of yoghurt, and one kilo of rice would not stoop to embracing the world for his livelihood and would not be obliged to accept gifts.”

* * *

[As with the defence Zübeyir read in court, his brilliant eulogy drove them to appreciate it, God willing, for amazed, they included it in the judgement.]

In a section with the heading: “Our young people want to be taught truth and reality, and to have the highest morality,” on page thirteen, Zübeyir Gündüzalp wrote by typewriter: “The Risale-i Nur is a masterpiece written not through the author’s will, but inspired by the Creator, in order to save the Muslims of the 20th century and all humanity from the dark, oppressive ideas.”

On page twelve: “If it was said to a person serving the Risale-i Nur: ‘Copy out these books instead of the Risale-i Nur, and I’ll give all the wealth of Ford,’ he would reply, without even raising the nib of his pen: ‘If you gave me all the world’s wealth and its sovereignty too, I would not accept it.’”

On page fifteen: “If we are attached to honest writers a hundred times over, our attachment to a great person like Bediuzzaman who guides us in this world and the next, is immeasurable, total.”

On page twelve: “The collective personality of the Risale-i Nur has diagnosed the social, spiritual, and religious sicknesses of this age, and at a Divine command has offered to all humanity at this time the All-Wise Qur’an’s truths in a way that will cure its chronic social ills.”

On page forty-four: “Bediuzzaman said that someone who studies these treatises for a year may become an important scholar. Yes, that is how it is.”

On page fifty-four: “The judges who study the Risale-i Nur do not make incorrect judgements.”

***

[This piece is entirely in my favour and is the exact truth, and should not have been included with the offences in the court’s decision.]

Ahmed Feyzi amended part of his work, but having to hurry he sent it without completing the corrections. In it, it is said:

“Does it not infer by ignoring Saraçoglu, who calls religion and the training of Muhammad ‘poison’, and disputing The Illuminating Lamp, which demonstrates the Qur’anic reality as clearly as the sun and proves it to be the perfect cure for mankind’s wounds, that you are assisting in the confiscation of that collection?”

It says the following in the conclusion of one of his defence speeches, presented to the court on an unknown date. He stated that neither himself nor the students were occupied with politics; the writings shown to be aggressive were confidential; there was freedom of thought and of conscience; that even if the above appeared to be criticism of some laws, this did not constitute a crime; many of the treatises under consideration were written a long time previously; they had been scrutinized by committees of experts and had been found to be harmless; that just as there had previously been convictions for them in Eskishehir Court, so they had been acquitted in Denizli Court, so it was not right that they should be tried again for the same offence; the Risale-i Nur students had up to now been involved in no activities that would disturb public order; and that since no one was named explicitly in the Fifth Ray and its purpose was only to inform, this did not constitute a crime either.

Further examples may be thought of in the same way.

S a i d N u r s i

[risalei-nur]

TAFSIR: Risale-i Nur: The Rays Collection:The Fourteenth Ray.Part16

The Fourth: Eskishehir Court studied the Risale-i Nur for six months because we had been charged with organizing a political society and founding a sufi order, and due to that suspicion and because of the personal hatred towards us of the great leader it urged certain members of the judiciary to act against us, yet that court acquitted us of founding a political society and sufi order and the Risale-i Nur charges, and only making a pretext of a short piece called Treatise On Islamic Dress, gave sentences of six months to fifteen out of a hundred students, not in accordance with the law but arbitrarily. And although until the investigations had been completed they remained in prison for four and a half months, that is, they served prison sentences of one and a half months, and ten years later Denizli Court again on a number of pretexts like organizing a political society and founding a sufi order, and after scrutinizing closely twenty years’ worth of letters and writings, sent five boxes of books to Ankara Criminal Court, and although those books and letters were the subject of two years’ close scrutiny by Ankara and Denizli Courts, they passed a unanimous decision for their acquittal concerning the political society and sufi order and other pretexts, and returned all the books to their owners. They also acquitted Said and his companions. So anyone who has not lost his humanity will understand just how illegal it is to look on him as a political activist and accuse him of being a plotter, and to provoke the officers of the court against him. 

The Fifth: Because of the compassion which is the basis of my way and that of the Risale-i Nur and for thirty years has been a principle by which I have lived, so that no harm comes to the innocent I do not censure the tyrants who persecute me, let alone cursing them. Even when angry at some of those depraved wretches who oppress me out of vicious hatred, or even the irreligious tyrants, my compassion prevents me from responding with a curse, let alone physically. For those cruel tyrants have parents and children; I do nothing to them so that no material harm comes to those four or five elderly unfortunates and innocents. Sometimes I even forgive them. It is because of this compassion that I absolutely never interfere in government or disturb public order. Moreover, I have recommended this so strongly to all my friends that some of the fair-minded police of three provinces have admitted that “these Risale-i Nur students are police of a sort; they preserve order and maintain public security.” There are thousands of witnesses to this fact, and they have confirmed it through twenty years’ experience and thousands of students have corroborated it by never having been involved in any incident recorded by the police, so which law permits that unhappy man’s house to be raided as though he was a revolutionary and ‘komitadji’, and for pitiless men to insult him, and despite not finding anything in his house, as though he was a multiple criminal gather up his most precious, miraculous Qur’an and the inscriptions hanging on his wall as though they were pernicious writings? What benefit demands turning thousands of religious people who thus serve public order with their good morals against government and public order because of some baseless suspicion?  

The Sixth: Endless thanks be to God that thirty years ago, through His grace and the effulgence of the Qur’an, a person realized just how valueless and meaningless are the fleeting fame and glory of this world, and its egotistical self-admiration and celebrity, and since that time has struggled with all his strength against his evil-commanding soul, and to be self-effacing and give up egotism, and not to be artificial and hypocritical. Those who have served him or befriended him are perfectly certain of this and testify to it. For twenty years he has fled with all his might from people’s good opinions and their attention, which everyone takes too much pleasure in, and contrary to everyone else has rejected praise and acclaim and being accorded a spiritual rank. He has also rejected the excessively good opinions of him of his closest brothers, and has wounded their feelings by not accepting the praise and commendation expressed in their letters. He has shown himself to be devoid of virtue, and has ascribed all virtue to the Risale-i Nur, a Qur’anic commentary, and hence to the collective personality of the Risale-i Nur students, thinking of himself as only a lowly servant. This proves that he has not tried to make himself liked, and he has not wanted to and has rejected it. So under what law has he been deemed guilty because without his consent some of his friends in a distant place had an excessively good opinion of him and eulogized him and awarded him a high spiritual rank; and because of what a preacher said in the region of Kütahya whom he does not know; and because of a letter with a forged signature which had been sent to Kütahya, where I have never sent any letter; and because of an offensive book in Balikesir, the author of which is unknown? Would any law in the world permit sending officials to break the lock of a wretched, aged, ill stranger’s room as though he had committed a serious crime, and allow them to justify this by finding only a book of supplications and a wall-hanging? Would any politics allow such aggression?