A Confidential Letter to Some of my Brothers
A Confidential Letter to Some of my Brothers
I shall mention a point concerning two Hadiths to my brothers who become bored of writing, and prefer other recitations during the Three Months, the months of worship, to writing out the Risale-i Nur, although to do this is worship in five respects. [^7] The two Hadiths are these:
[^7]: We asked for an explanation of the five sorts of worship which our Master indicates in this valuable letter. The explanation we received is below: i. To strive against the people of misguidance, the most important struggle. ii. To serve our Master in the form of helping him spread the truth. iii. To serve Muslims in respect of belief. iv. To obtain knowledge by means of the pen. v. To perform worship in the form of reflective thought, one hour of which may sometimes be equal to a year’s worship. Signed: Rüştü, Hüsrev, Re’fet
The First: “At the Last Judgement, the ink spent by the scholars of religion will weigh equally to the blood of the martyrs.” [^8]
[^8]: al-Ghazālī, Iḥyā ‘Ulūm al-Dīn, i, 6; al-Munāwī, Fayḍ al-Qadīr, vi, 466; al-‘Ajlūnī, Kashf al-Khafā’, ii, 561; al-Suyūṭī, Jāmi‘ al-Ṣaghīr, No: 10026.
The Second: “Whoever adheres to my Sunna when my community is corrupted shall earn the reward of a hundred martyrs.” [^9] That is, those who adhere to and serve the Prophet’s (UWBP) practices and the Qur’an’s truths when innovations and misguidance are rife may gain the reward of a hundred martyrs.
[^9]: Ibn ‘Adiyy, al-Kāmil fi’l-Ḍu‘afā’, ii, 739; al-Mundhirī, al-Targhīb wa’l-Tarhīb, i, 41; Ṭabarānī, al-Majma‘ al-Kabīr, 1394; ‘Alī ibn Ḥusāmuddīn, Muntakhabāt Kanz al-‘Ummāl, i, 100; al-Haythamī, Majma‘ al-Zawā’id, vii, 282.
O my brothers who weary of writing out of laziness! And O my brothers who lean to Sufism! These two Hadiths show that the black light flowing from your blessed, pure pens serving the truths of belief and mysteries of the Shari‘a and practices of the Prophet (UWBP) at a time such as this – even a drop of their water-of-life-like ink – may win for you on the Day of Judgement reward equal to a hundred drops of martyrs’ blood. So try to win it!
If you say: It says scholars in the Hadith and some of us are only scribes.
The Answer: Anyone who reads these treatises for a year and comprehends and accepts them, may become a valuable, exacting scholar at this time. Even if he does not understand them, since the Risale-i Nur students have a collective personality, doubtless it is learned. As for your pens, they are the immaterial fingers of that collective personality. With your good opinion of me, you have afforded me the position of Master (Ustad) and religious scholar, and attached yourselves to me although in my view I am unworthy. I am unlettered and have difficulty in writing, so your pens may be thought of as mine; you will receive the reward indicated in the Hadith.
S a i d N u r s i