The First Letter

 بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ 

In the Name of God,

the Merciful, the Compassionate

And from Him do we seek help

The First Letter

In His Name, be He glorified!

And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise. [^1]

[This consists of the brief answers to four questions.]

First Question

FIRST QUESTION

Is Khidr alive? If he is alive, why do some leading religious scholars not accept it?

The Answer: He is alive, but there are five levels of life. He is at the second. It is because of this that some religious scholars have been doubtful about it.

The First Level of Life is that of our life, which is very restricted.

The Second Level of Life is that of Khidr and Ilyas (May God grant them peace), which is free to an extent; that is to say, they can be present in

[^1]: Bediuzzaman explained as follows his reasons for heading his letters with this verse (17:44): “This was the first door opened to me from the sacred treasuries of the All-Wise Qur’an. Of the divine truths of the Qur’an, it was the truth of this verse that first became clear to me and it is this truth that pervades most parts of the Risale-i Nur. Another reason is that the masters in whom I have confidence used it at the head of their letters.” (See, Barla Lahikası, 335.) (Tr.)