Second Station

The Second Station

of the Twentieth Word

[A flash of the Qur’an’s miraculousness which shines on the Miracles of the Prophets.]

Note carefully the two questions and answers at the end.

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

Nor anything fresh or dry, but is in a Record Clear.(6:59)

Fourteen years ago (and now thirty years have passed) in my Qur’anic commentary called Isharat al-I‘jaz (Signs of Miraculousness), I wrote a discussion in Arabic about one of the mysteries of this verse. Now two of my brothers whose wishes are important in my view have asked for an explanation in Turkish of that discussion. And so, relying on Almighty God’s assistance and on the effulgence of the Qur’an, I say this:

According to one interpretation, the Clear Book or Record consists of the Qur’an. The above verse states that everything, fresh or dry, is found within it, is that so? Yes, everything is found in it, but everyone cannot see this, for all the things it contains are found at different levels. Sometimes the seeds, sometimes the nuclei, sometimes the summaries, sometimes the principles, sometimes the signs, are found either explicitly, or implicitly, or allusively, or vaguely, or as a reminder. One of these is expressed according to need, in a manner suitable to the purposes of the Qur’an and in connection with the requirements of the position. For instance:

Things like the aeroplane, electricity, railways, and the telegraph have come into existence as wonders of science and technology as the result of human progress in science and industry, and play a pivotal role in material life. Surely the All-Wise Qur’an, which addresses all humankind, does not neglect these. Indeed, it has not neglected them; it indicates them in two ways.

The First: In the form of the miracles of the prophets.

The Second is this: it indicates them in the form of certain historical events. For instance:

Woe to the makers of the pit [of fire] ∗ Fire supplied [abundantly]