Risale-i Nur

Phase 6 · Return

Week 21

The Higher Goal, Revisited

The Words · The Eleventh Word · The Tenth Word

01

Story

  1. 01Two men travel through a land as lovely as Paradise. Every door and every shop stands open, and money and goods lie about with nobody guarding them.

  2. 02One helps himself to whatever he likes. “It belongs to nobody,” he says. “Unless I see the owner with my own eyes, I won’t believe in him.”

  3. 03His friend: “It is the king’s property (mîrî malı). Everyone here is on duty, soldiers and officials in plain clothes, and the king has telephones everywhere.”

  4. 04“Look: at every corner they are taking pictures and writing things down, even the smallest service. And there is a great camera on the mountain.”

  5. 05Then he opens an officer’s card: rank, salary, duty, all for another realm. This land is a field, a training ground, a market. The first man comes to his senses.

A parable retold from the Tenth Word, with three of its twelve Aspects. The wording here is ours, the story is Nursi’s.

02

Meaning

Return to the higher-goal sentence from week 3. With a cleaner heart and clearer self-knowledge it should now be deeper and more concrete; then put the rest of life in order around it.

Nursi gives the key himself: the foolish man is my own self that commands evil, and his trustworthy friend is my heart. The argument in the beautiful land runs inside each of us. In week 3 we asked what the palace is for and wrote a first sentence. Tonight the same question comes back with a second one attached: if the land has an Owner, if a human being is not left unchecked, then the sentence is not a mood. It is the duty line on a card, and a week of ordinary hours is where it is carried out.

Six things these two Words show

Three from the Eleventh Word, three from the Tenth. Try each picture with your own hands.

  1. He makes Himself known · tanıttırmakknow Him · imanHe makes Himself loved · sevdirmeklove Him · ibadetHe shows His mercy · rahmetthank Him · şükürI was made to know Him, to love Him, and to thank Him.

    Three things keep arriving. Press each to send its answer back.

    01 / 06

    The sentence has a shape: answer what you are shown

    The teacher in the palace said what the King wants. He makes Himself known through His works (tanıttırmak), so know Him. He makes Himself loved through their beauty (sevdirmek), so love Him. He shows His mercy through His gifts, so honour Him with thanks. The Tenth Word repeats the same three answers: belief, worship (ibadet) and thanks. A sentence about your aim (gaye) is not an invented ambition. It is a reply.

  2. The prayer · namazindex of all worship · fihriste1. Allahu Akbar · tekbir2. Subhanallah · Elhamdulillah3. tasting the gifts · şükür4. weighing the jewels · tenzih5. reading the letters · tefekkür6. seeing fine beauty · muhabbetthe duty of a life, in the great mosque · mescid-i kebîr

    Six short lines, and each one answers a part of the world. Read them in order.

    02 / 06

    The prayer is the index of a life

    The first group found themselves clothed, through the prayer, with many duties. Nursi calls the prayer the index (fihriste) of every kind of worship: Allahu Akbar before the works of His rule, praise before His art, thanks for the gifts, reflection on the letters written by the pen of power, love for the fine beauty in made things. With these they performed the duty of their life (vazife-i hayat) in the great mosque called the world (mescid-i kebîr).

  3. thank the Giver · şükürtaste the Names · Esmâcivilised mannersterbiye-i medeniyyecomfort and appetiteeyesearstonguehandsmindmemoryheartspiritby these, a human being becomes human · insan, insan olur

    Good manners, and everything else poured into one small bowl. Nothing shameful, and nothing yet for what the faculties were made for.

    03 / 06

    A decent life is not yet a purpose

    Nursi asks his own self: do you think the duty of your life is only to look after yourself nicely with a civilised upbringing (terbiye-i medeniyye), so that nothing is shameful, and to serve the stomach and the appetites? God forbid. Your faculties were given on two foundations: to feel every gift of the True Giver and thank Him, and to taste the manifestations of His Names and so know Him. By these, he says, a human being becomes human (insan, insan olur).

  4. the kingnobody’s · sahibsiz

    “Some endowment, nobody’s in particular.” Nobody stops him, so he takes more, and calls it freedom.

    04 / 06

    Nothing here is ownerless

    The empty-headed man’s whole mistake is one claim: this is not the king’s property (mîrî malı) but some endowment (vakıf malı), nobody’s in particular. His friend answers that everyone here is on duty and the order is strict. In the Second Truth Nursi puts it in one line: the human being is not left unchecked (başıboş), like an animal with no halter. Accountability here is first a compliment: a life that will be asked about is a life that matters.

  5. the king’s cameraLevh-i Mahfuzthe record · defterkept good deeds:0

    Every service, even the smallest, is being recorded. Add to the record.

    05 / 06

    Everything is recorded, and so nothing good is lost

    At every corner photographers and scribes are at work, writing down even the smallest service, and on the mountain stands the king’s great camera. Nursi’s note: it is the Preserved Tablet (Levh-i Mahfuz). Small records, like a memory or a seed, point to a great one, and careful keeping is for an accounting (muhasebe). Read it gently: the smallest good is kept, and you can read your own record while there is still time to add to it.

  6. officer’s card · cüzdanrank · rütbenot for a few dayssalary · maaşpaid after the field closesduty · vazifefor lasting happiness near the kingsupplies · matlubattoo much for a hostel of daysrule of action · düsturhe works for another worlda candidate for another place · namzednowthe field closespaydaya field, a training ground, a market · tarla, talimgâh, pazar

    Five lines on one officer’s card. Read them, and see where each one points.

    06 / 06

    The officer’s card: a duty written for another place

    The friend opens an officer’s card. On it are his rank, salary, duty, supplies and rule of action (rütbe, maaş, vazife, matlubat, düstur-u harekât). The salary is paid on a date after this field has closed; the duty is for a lasting happiness near the king. The holder is a candidate (namzed) for another place. So this land is a field, a training ground, a market (tarla, talimgâh, pazar). Your sentence is the duty line; this week’s commitments are your rule of action.

03

Read

قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا وَقَدْ خَابَ مَنْ دَسَّاهَا

“He has succeeded who purifies it, and he has failed who buries it.” (Qur’an 91:9–10, the verses with which the Eleventh Word closes)

That happy company listened to the Messenger and gave ear to the Qur’an. Through the prayer, which is the index of every kind of worship, they saw themselves clothed with many fine duties in many high stations. With such varied duties of worship they performed the obligation of their lifetime and the duty of their life (farîze-i ömür, vazife-i hayat) in this great mosque called the world, and took on the finest of forms.

My dazed self, my friend full of whims! Do you think the duty of your life is only to look after yourself nicely with a civilised upbringing, so that nothing is shameful, and to serve the stomach and the appetites? God forbid. These faculties were placed in you on two foundations: to let you feel every kind of gift of the True Giver and give thanks, and to let you taste, one by one, the manifestations of the Divine Names and, by tasting, know Him. On these two, human perfection grows. By them a human being becomes human.

On this card are the officer’s rank, his salary, his duty, his supplies and his rule of action. The rank is not for a few days. The duty is not for this passing field, but to earn a lasting happiness near the king. And the rule makes it plain that the holder of the card is a candidate for another place; he works for another world. So, my friend, this passing land is a field. It is a training ground, a market.

Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, The Words, the Eleventh Word and the Tenth Word (the comparison, Twelfth Aspect)Working translation from the Turkish, made for this draft. Check against a published edition before release.Read the Tenth Word’s comparison in full, in English with the Turkish original

04

Explore

The same week, two sentences

Above, a sentence about what you are for. Below, the hours of one ordinary week. Drag the line of light across and see what changes when the sentence grows up and the week is put in order around it.

The week-3 sentenceA few honest words written quickly. The week underneath drifts: work and sleep tilt into each other, the phone swells across every day, and the prayers are faint. Nothing is wrong with any single hour; nothing holds them together.

The week-21 sentenceA fuller sentence with three short commitments beneath it: worship, character, work or service. A thread runs from it through the week, five gold lines cross every day at the prayer times, and every block sits in its place between them. The same hours, in order (intizam).

Nursi’s officer did not change his job when he read his card; he understood what it was for. Write the new sentence tonight, and under it three lines of rule of action. Next week, the last, bring one passage from the course that changed something for you.