How Does God Speak?

HOW DOES GOD SPEAK?

Divine Speach in the Risale-i Nur

By Dr. Ali Mermer


INTRODUCTION

Everything in the universe is meaningful and this meaningfulness expresses a truth. Man possesses the sense to understand the universe’s meaning and thus to find universal truth. Created within time and space, man is an inseparable part of the universe. In order to comprehend the world of existence, he would have to abstract himself from the reality of createdness. It is not to be expected that since this is essentially impossible, man himself could discover universal truth. However, the Creator, Who meets all man’s needs, met this one. For He created man needy to understand the universe’s meaning.
Throughout history men have striven to find the truth. Those who saw that everything had been created intentionally so perceived the universe should have a creator were addressed by messages sent through the prophets. Guided by these, they interpreted the language spoken by the universe and understood what sort of truth it indicated.
The others however turned their backs on the message and claimed they could understand the language the universe spoke themselves. They supposed they could find the truth. But in fact it was never thus. The philosophers who did not heed revelation never agreed on a systematic methodology and throughout the ages have always refuted each other.1
This led 20th century thinkers to ask courageously and openly whether or not it was possible for man to find the truth himself. How do we understand events outside ourselves and how do we know that we have understood them? How can we test whether or not what we understand is true? Is it possible for man to perform the act of understanding without any preconceptions? The answers were sought to questions like these. Gadamer, who is well-known for his work on hermeneutics, stated explicitly that all acts of understanding are in fact interpretations.2 Asserting that there is no fundamental difference between understanding and interpretation, the philosophers then proclaimed the impossibility of speaking of an ‘objective’ unbiased understanding uninfluenced by interpretations and devoid of prejudices.3
Most post-modern thinkers agree on the thesis that the universe does not itself speak but that we make it speak with everyone ascribing meaning to it as they wish, therefore one cannot speak of a universal truth or falsehood.4 Thus, they went as far as denying the existence of truth. And if there was no truth, mankind would necessarily be abandoned to “inevitable destruction.” This is a well-known fact.5
Nevertheless, the problem does not consist of an intellectual debate about what man can know and not know. The problem was mankind’s most basic questions remaining unanswered: What are we? What rules should be binding on us? On what foundations should we base our hopes for the future? The discomfort arising from the absence of universal answers to these questions also affected moral, social, and political life.
It is a fact that there is a world outside us. We have “a fundamental sense” based on our experience of life that there is a world which independently of our beliefs, our conjectures, our desires, whether we want it or not, makes its existence forcibly felt on us and which directs us concerning what we are able to think, what we are able to say, and what we are able to do. We cannot pretend this sense does not exist.6
This means that there is truth. But man cannot establish it himself. All such admonitions as “be objective!”, “be unbiased!”, “trust in the sciences!”, “reason is all you need!”, made to man as he strives to understand the reality of himself and the universe in which he finds himself, have turned out to be clearly false.
Man was created as a part of the universe. He does not possess the ability to quit the universe with its dimensions of time and space and to comprehend it in its entirety. Only the universe’s Creator knows not conjecturally but in the true sense the universe’s meaning and the language it speaks, and only He can make it known to man.

PART ONE: THE CONCEPTION OF THE WORLD
IN THE RISALE-I NUR

“A meaningful embodied word is each being in the world.”7

The majority of thinkers have said that the universe is meaningful, like a book, and they have tried to interpret it. According to some like Spinoza, the way to interpret a text even is based on interpretation of the universe.8
It is true to say that the universe is a meaningful book, but the basic problem is how the book should be defined. Although they found it meaningful, those who with absolutely no logical justification saw the universe as a book that had come into being itself as a result of coincidences, called it “the book of Nature.” While those who asserted that such a meaningful book should have an author called it “the book of God.”
Said Nursi expresses his astonishment at those people who, although they know a priori that even a letter cannot exist without the one who wrote it, “suppose to be without inscriber the book of the universe, in one word of which is written a whole book.”9, 10 In his view, the universe is an antique book every letter of which is written in precious stones, emeralds, diamonds, and pearls, which everyone looks on in wonder whether they know how to read it or not. For those who want to understand its reality, each one of its precious jewels points to the beauties of its meaning.11
Nursi asserts that every being has a universal reality. Everything is a missive sent to thinking beings by their Sustainer for them to study.12 Each letter of the missives, all of which are wonders of art, describe its writer’s characteristics. And these characteristics are the universal truths observed everywhere all the time. The truths on which the universe is based, every being of which -large or small- expresses endless meaning, are the Creator’s most beautiful names.
Nursi’s describing the universe as a book of the divine names is not without precedent in the history of Islamic thought. In his al-Futuhat al-Makkiya, Ibn ‘Arabi likened it to a sort of book of the divine names.13
Nursi asserted that it was possible to understand the universe only by relating it to its Creator, and that this had to be done by means of the Creator’s names. In Islamic thought, efforts to understand the universe by basing it on the divine names are the product of the tradition of thinking moulded by Qur’anic guidance. Nursi too, following the Qur’an, which always chooses for its examples the things people see all the time,14 seeks to point out to his readers with simple examples the relationship between the universe and the divine names. For instance, he takes a flower and explains at length how, with its characteristics that everyone knows, it recites its Creator’s names. That is to say, the flower performs a function, it proclaims the attributes of the One Who made it. Human beings, who are conscious and thinking, are charged with reading its proclamation and understanding it. The face of the earth is like a flower, and it too performs a duty of glorification. That is, it shows that its Maker’s attributes, which it proclaims, are attributes fit only for the Maker of the whole universe; that is, He is free of any defect unconformable with the definition of Creator.
Beings that appear to be solid, unconscious matter, have duties of glorification that are living and conscious, interdependent, and intermingled. A tree makes known its Creator as a tree, while all its leaves, blossoms, and fruits as entities each make Him known. A being is a meaningful sentence, while its parts are each a word. The words and letters of a sentence a human being speaks do not carry the the whole meaning of the sentence, but according to Nursi’s observations, the language the universe uses is completely different. Like in a hologram, all the words making up a sentence bear the entire message it conveys. In respect of the message conveyed, in regard to the duty of glorification it performs, there is no difference between large and small, the whole or its parts. The cell of a fruit says that it acts only through its Creator’s knowledge, will, and power. While growing, a tree declares the same thing. And with their motion, the suns, stars, and planets, the words of the sentence formed by the seas of the skies, convey the same meaning to men.15
Man starts to understand the meanings beings express when he understands that they cannot be meaningless. Otherwise, nothing will have any meaning for him, large or small, whole or parts, single or collectivity. Either everything is totally meaningful, or nothing has any meaning at all. For the universe is a sentence which carries the same meaning as all its words.
Nursi points out that beings are also characterized by their art, which may be inversely proportional to their size. He says that man’s creation is at the very least as wondrous as that of the universe. A flower does not bear less of a message than a star. The potential tree in a seed, that is, the tree whose being has been determined, proclaims its Creator’s attributes more emphatically than the tree in the garden with its physical existence. A book inscribed in minute particles on an atom so small it is invisible to the naked eye, may be a wonder of art more miraculous than a book written in stars on the face of the heavens.16
Nursi asserts that the Qur’an is the guide to understanding the universe, and that it forms a whole with the universe, which is “a corporeal Qur’an of the Most Glorious One.”17 What underlies this expression, which identifies the Qur’an with the universe, is his view that verses about the Qur’an and verses about creation share the same source and the same characteristics. With its many layered meanings like a rosebud,18 all the pages of the book of the universe express the meanings of a book, and all its lines, the meanings of a page. While the Qur’an’s verses comprise meanings to answer all the mental states of all men in all ages.19
All the sciences developed up to the present have with the laws they have discovered studied the languages of beings, in fact studying the Creator’s attributes.20 In Islamic thought, knowledge about the relationship between Creator and creatures, that is, about the relation between God and the world, has been seen as knowledge about knowing God. In Osman Bakar’s words, “Knowledge about the universe, a result of the divine creative act, constitutes a part of a Muslim’s efforts to know God.”21
When studied closely, it emerges that the characteristics beings bear are reflections of the Creator’s names and attributes. According to Nursi, studying beings should mean studying through the telescope of the divine names the divine creative act and this act’s works. The One qualified by the names, the Possessor of these attributes, can be reached only in this way.22 Thus will the balance be established between the Qur’an and the universe, which means studying the universe in the light of revelation, and affirming revelation in the light of the universe’s testimony.
If this balance is broken, the laws of the divine creative act, which are reflections of the Creator’s power and knowledge, and set beings in order, are necessarily seen as possessing independent creative power.23 It gives rise to the error of calling “natural” “the manifestations of the divine code of universal laws,” which sets in order all the parts of the universe,24 which is known as the Manifest World or World of Witnessing (alem-i şehadet) because it witnesses to the Creator’s infinite attributes.
Nursi says that the Creator’s universal laws are of two sorts: one is the manifestation of God’s attribute of speech and orders man’s actions as the microcosm. Man is urged to comply with these laws. The other is the manifestation of the divine attribute of will, and orders the universe, or macroanthropos. These laws are known as creational commands (evamir-i tekviniye), the divine practices (sunnetullah), or the laws of divine practice (kavanin-i adetullah), that is, the laws of creation. They are theoretical, that is, hypothetical, and cannot be known a priori without being observed. Men can only posit the laws a posteriori, based on their empirical observations of the manner of the Creator’s creation, after it has occurred. The creational laws consist of knowledge, they have no existence in the [external] world of existence. So the act of creation, which necessitates power, cannot be ascribed to them. That these laws have any effect or the ability to bring into existence, that is, to create, the characteristics of the Creator’s attribute of power, can be in no way proved or verified. It is completely wrong to call these creational laws ‘nature.’25
A widely held opinion in the Islamic tradition is that God’s laws governed both man’s life and the world’s creation. The difference between the two stems from the manifestation of two different attributes. A thing can exist only if God wills it; the thing submits compulsorily to the existential law willed for it. “If one knows the law of a being’s existence, it means one knows the way in which it submits to divine will.”26 As the religion of submission, the aim of scientific studies in Islam should be to discover the laws of beings’ submission to divine will, and to inform people of the divine names that show themselves through the interweaving of these laws.
The word ‘ayat’ (sign or verse) expresses beautifully how the spoken laws, that is, those sent in the Qur’an, and the creational laws observed in the universe, are intermeshed. In the Qur’an, the word ‘ayat’ is used for both the Qur’an’s verses and beings.27 This shows that in Islam the universe is perceived as divine revelation, the same as the Qur’an. Ghazzali says that all beings in the universe are signs or symbols of things found in a higher world.28
A point to be noted while perceiving the universe as a sign, is that the word does not have the meaning of image, copy, or form. A sign is something that indicates something other than itself, and does not possess any of the characteristics of the thing it indicates. Gadamer says: “... [a] sign does not indicate a thing which it comprises itself. It does not even have to contain anything that the thing it indicates contains.”29
This means that to call the universe a sign to its Creator means stating that it does not possess any of its Creator’s attributes. It is only a totality of signs proclaiming its Creator in a language man can comprehend as its conscious observer. Just as the Qur’an is the Creator’s speech on a level the human intellect can grasp; that is, it is divine condescension; so is the universe the speech of divine power and will, addressing man on a level his intellect can understand. It too is divine condescension.
The conclusion reached in this section of this paper, entitled The Conception of the World in the Risale-i Nur, may be summarized by comparing the differences in the stages of establishing relations between the Qur’an and the universe.
Those who look on the universe as created, see a relationship between the uuniverse and the sacred text. For both come from the Creator and are therefore revelation. Although this conclusion is reached in the Risale-i Nur, it differs in the way these two sorts of revelation are related to each other.
If we examine the method of relating them in three stages, the Risale-i Nur represents the third stage.
First Stage
Qur’an: Book
The universe: Book
Both are divine revelation. There is no apparent relationship between them that assists in understanding them.
-The book of the Qur’an comes from the divine attribute of speech. The book of the universe comes from the divine attribute of will.
-The Qur’an is perceived as an historical sacred text.
-Religious sciences are derived from the Qur’an, and the physical sciences are derived from the universe. The methods employed in the formation of both sorts of sciences do not affect each other.
Second Stage
Qur’an: Divine speech
The universe: Book
Both are divine revelation. A relation between them is apparent and it is one-way: the universe is defined according to the message brought by the Qur’an.
-Since the Qur’an said God is the Creator of all things, it is concluded that He created the universe.
-The Qur’an comes from God’s pre-eternal knowledge, but it is His speech in a particular period of history.
-In its methodology, God’s book, the universe, cannot be used as a witness to affirm the veracity of the message brought by the Qur’an.
-Neither can the universe be profited from in the formation of the religious sciences, nor can the Qur’an be profited from in the formation of the physical sciences, which are derived from the universe.
Third Stage (the stage the Risale-i Nur is at)
The Qur’an: Divine speech
The universe: Speaking book
Both are divine revelation. There is a continuous mutual relationship between them. The Qur’an explains the universe; the universe is proof of the Qur’an’s assertions.
-The universe is read under the Qur’an’s guidance. The universe testifies to what the Qur’an claims.
-The Qur’an comes from God’s pre-eternal knowledge and is read as though always “freshly revealed.”30
-The Qur’an makes God known through His names, while the universe testifies to the veracity of this information from ‘the unseen’ by proclaiming the divine names itself. In this way, a methodology emerges by which one can acquire knowledge of God.
-The religious sciences and physical science thus combine to the extent the difference between them disappears; the distinction between them becomes meaningless.

PART TWO: THE LETTERS OF SPEECH: ATOMISM

“To create a single point in its place infinite power is necessary, power enough to create the whole universe.”31

Man has always striven to understand the universe as far as his abilities allowed. This begins with a correct understanding of the atom, the universe’s smallest component. In Islamic society the first person to oppose the understanding of the atom that began with Democritus and continued with the Aristotelians, was Dirar ibn ‘Amar, who lived in the 2nd century of the Hijra (7th century of the Christian era). Dirar ibn ‘Amar rejected the view that the atom was composed of two different parts, essence and accident. He proposed that a body was formed of a mass of accidents. A particle consisted of the totality of the accidents it comprised at the moment it came into existence.
In the history of Islamic thought, essentially, Ash’ari’s (d. 303H) atomism lay in this approach. He was the founder of Sunni kalam, and later scholars such as Abu Bakr Baqillani (d. 403H), Imam al-Ghazzali (d. 505H), Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606H) supported this view.
In the Western world, Ash’ari’s atomism was called Occasionalism. It posits that everything or every event is essentially transitory. The beings in this world have been given particular, specific, concrete identities, and do not necessitate each other in respect of time and space. Outside of divine will, of themselves beings are in no way tied to each other. Just as they do not affect each other, so a particle that exists one moment, of itself has no necessary relationship with the particle that exists the next moment. A and B appear to be tied to each other, but are not thus by nature, but because God has willed them to appear thus. God is the direct cause of every effect observed in the universe. One can say in conclusion that Occasionalism rejected causality in the sense that the philosophers and positivist scientists understood it.
Ash’ari atomism confirms God’s absolute power, and emphasizes His direct intervention not only in a thing’s coming into the world of existence, but in its continuing its existence in passing from one instant to the next. That is to say, an atom does not itself carry its existence from the instant it is created to the next instant. In Baqillani’s words, “An atom appears to carry over its existence to a second instant, but before doing this it departs from this world for the world of extinction; the second instant, a second atom has been created.” The following conclusion may be drawn from this: the instant God creates an atom, he creates both its essence and its accident the same instant.
The Ash’arites stated that there is no relationship rendering necessary the relationship between an atom that existed one instant and an atom that existed the following instant. They asserted there is no horizontal relationship between things. This understanding rejects the Aristotelian concept of causation. Their understanding of God, Whom they defined as the sole cause of everything and every event, rejected completely the efficiency of secondary causes, which are created like themselves. No transitory, created thing can in any way be the cause of existence of any other thing. There is no power or attribute in the nature of things that can be sufficient cause of bringing something into existence.
Asserting that things of themselves have no attributes in either their essences or accidents, the Ash’aris were of the view that ‘the laws of nature’ possess no objective reality. The things called ‘the laws of nature’ are entirely mental constructs, specified by divine will; they have no external existence. The situation that, when one looks at the way things come into the world of existence, appears to be an immutable ‘law,’ is only the manner in which God creates. The fact that things come into existence in a fixed, unchanging way demonstrates the infinity of the Creator’s knowledge, power, wisdom, and will to create in orderly fashion.32
Having attempted to present an outline of the Ash’ari understanding of the atom, which is accepted to be the smallest component of the observable universe, I shall now try to summarize Said Nursi’s views on the subject.
Nursi agreed with the Ash’ari view and insisted that there is no horizontal relationship between cause and effect. Although in the Risale-i Nur the view that causes are efficient in the coming into existence of effects (causation) is unhesitatingly rejected, causality or the fact that all effects are created together with a cause is employed as an important means of knowing and making known the Creator. Methodologically Nursi differs significantly from the Ash’ari’s on this point. Every effect has a ‘doer’ (fa’il). If it is a creature, it must have a Creator.33 The basic problem is how the Creator is defined.
In many places in his works, Nursi states that creatures that are apparently causes possess no attribute that could effect results. Certainly, all effects have a ‘doer’ but this has to be a Doer who has the capacity to produce all the attributes observed in the effect. In his view, it is a Qur’anic method to study the effect’s attributes in order to know the Doer. He asserts that to gain knowledge of the Doer’s absolute attributes (the divine names) from the attributes given to effects one has to study the relationship of cause and effect (causality) in the created world.34 Causes and effects being together is an ‘association’ (iqtiran), not a creative cause (‘illet).35 The Doer “... creates cause and effect together directly. In order to demonstrate His wisdom and the manifestation of His names, by establishing an apparent causal relationship and connection through order and sequence...”36 For all effects come into existence in complete harmony with the whole universe. To be able to give them this ability, a possessor of knowledge, power, and will that embrace the whole universe is necessary. The things that perform the duty of causes in this world are themselves created. Those claiming to have effects possess neither knowledge, nor power, nor will.37 “This means that apparent causes are nothing; only that an All-Powerful One of Glory creates them and tying them with His wisdom to causes shows that He has sent them.”38
The one responsible for the relationship between cause and effect, or between the atom that exists one instant and the atom appearing in the world of existence an instance later, is directly the Doer Whose power suffices all things. In Nursi’s words: “... the All-Glorious Maker, Who is powerful over all things, has created causes, and so too does He create the effects. Through His wisdom, He ties the effect to the cause. Through His will, He has determined a manifestation of the Greater Shari’a, the Shari’a of Creation, which consists of the divine laws concerning the ordering of all motion in the universe, and determined the nature of beings, which is only to be a mirror to that manifestation in things, and to be a reflection of it. And through His power, He has created the face of that nature which has received external existence, and has created things on that nature, and has mixed them one with the other.”39
Nursi also follows the Ash’ari tradition in his definition of ‘the laws of nature.’ The thing Naturalists call “nature” is imaginary, theoretical, and has no existence in the objective world. He says that “The imaginary and insubstantial thing that Naturalists call Nature, if it has an external reality, can at the very most be work of art; it cannot be the Artist. It is an embroidery, and cannot be the Embroiderer. It is a set of decrees; it cannot be the Issuer of the decrees. It is a body of the laws of creation, and cannot be the Lawgiver. It is but a created screen to the dignity of God, and cannot be the Creator. It is passive and created, and cannot be a Creative Maker. It is a law, not a power, and cannot possess power. It is the recipient, and cannot be the source.”40 According to Nursi, there are no ‘laws of nature;’ there are rules and principles that exist only as knowledge and which are observed in the Maker’s creation of the universe as a whole. These rules are the appearance in the universe in the form of laws of Creator’s absolute, that is, unlimited and unchanging, names.
For example, the Creator’s always and everywhere creating intentionally, wisely, mercifully, knowingly, and in orderly fashion, is observed in the universe as laws of will, order, wisdom, mercy, and knowledge. And these laws indicate that the Creator is at all times and in all places absolutely Willing, Ordering, Wise, Compassionate, and Knowing.41, 42
Nursi also follows the Ash’ari line in the question of atoms and their motion. He asserts that an atom cannot itself determine the position in which it is at any one instant. Although it is possible for an atom to be in any position amid endless possibilities, it instantly follows the most meaningful, the most harmonious, and the one most conformable to the aim of the whole universe’s creation. It assumes particular attributes, adopts a nature particular to its position, and displays there a wise effect that leaves even thinking people in astonishment. Nursi says that this absolutely certainly makes known the existence of a Creator with the power to create the whole universe.43 All particles preserve the general balance in the universe. Each performs a different duty in all its relations with all the other particles. Despite lacking reason and will, the particle being part of a conscious network of relations with all the atoms of the universe shows only the Creator’s intention and wisdom, and displays evidences of His unity. It is thus a proof of its Creator. So Nursi says “The ways leading to God are as numerous as the breaths of His creatures (as their motion every instant).”44
Nursi states that the continuous change in time observed in atoms cannot be a chance, meaningless, unintentional motion that occurs of itself, as the Materialists and Naturalists suppose. He says: “The transformation of particles are the vibrations and wanderings that occur while the signs of creation are being written in the book of the universe by the pen of power of the Pre-Eternal Inscriber. They are not games of chance and jumbled meaningless motion like the Materialists and Naturalists fancy. For like all beings, every particle says ‘In the Name of God’ at the start of its motion, and it raises loads infinitely exceeding its strength.”45
Nursi describes the motion of particles like this: “Thus, the motion of particles is the vibration and motion from that writing and transcription, which occurs while beings pass from the World of the Unseen to the Manifest World, as they pass from knowledge to power.”46 As for time, “It is [a] notebook in the sphere of contingency, where all things are unceasing manifestations of life and death, existence and ephemerality.”47 According to Nursi, all segments of time are ‘models,’ and all places are ‘models.’ In time, the Creator “continuously sets up new universes on the earth and creates new worlds. He removes one world and replaces it with another, well-ordered one.”48 He takes as an example a segment of time in the ever-renewed world that men can easily observe: “Season after season He displays the miracles of His power and gifts of His mercy in all the gardens and orchards. He writes them all as wisdom-displaying books, establishes them as kitchens of His mercy, and clothes them in ‘ever-renewed’ garments full of art. Every spring He arrays the trees in raiments of brocade and adorns them with fresh pearly jewels. He fills their hands with the star-like gifts of His mercy.”49 With examples like this he describes how at a “command,”50 time and space are “made anew from nothing, from non-being, and sent,” so that they might perform their duties.51
Nursi’s aim with these explanations is to state that the atom performs the function of making known its Creator directly, in the dimensions of both time and space. The transformations of atoms in time he likens to the motion of a pen writing a letter. This indicates the Creator’s unity. And he likens their transformations in the space dimension to mirrors that are being constantly renewed. The mirrors show that the Creator’s names have many varying qualities and that they are manifested on infinite different levels.52
In his works, Nursi always studies the motion of particles within the parts and the whole. Meaning should be ascribed to a particle, not on its own, but within the whole to which it is related. The order of the universe is so convoluted that “one who cannot create the universe, cannot create a single particle. It is only the One who creates the universe that can create an atom in exactly the right place and cause it to work at its orderly duties.”53 This conclusion can be reached only by keeping in mind the relationship between the part and the whole. Establishing this relationship, it is easy to see that the things associated with and right next to an atom that appear to be causes, cannot be its creator.
This holistic approach is frequently encountered in the tradition of Islamic thought for understanding both the Qur’an and man. In the science of Qur’anic exegesis (tefsir), a single verse is understood in view of the whole Qur’an. And in efforts to understand man, emphasis is placed on his being the ‘microcosm,’ and an inseparable part of the universe. In addition to this, Nursi asserts that even an atom is comprehensible only when studied within the universe as a whole. Schleiermacher makes the same point when he says: “The meaning of a part can be sought only from the context in which it is found, that is, from the whole of which it is a part.”54
In many places in the Risale-i Nur. Nursi endeavours to pass from the part to the whole and to understand and explain the part within the whole. When explaining divine unity, with expressions like “passing from oneness to unity,” and “seeing oneness within unity,” he attaches unique meanings to the words “oneness” and “unity” and uses them in a way that passes one to the other. This passing between them is repeated in the many examples he uses to attract the readers’ attention. He reaches this conclusion about things being one within the other: an atom situated in an eye, can be the work only of the Creator of the whole universe. The following quote may be given by way of example: “A microorganism, a point of the book, becomes visible only when magnified many times. See! It is a miraculous, wondrous miniature specimen of the universe! ... Whoever wrote it, wrote the whole universe.”55
When Schleiermacher said, “One should switch continuously from the part to the whole, and from the whole to the part. This circular movement is essential for understanding,”56 he was pointing out the necessity of not neglecting the relationship of the part and the whole in understanding texts. Only it should not be forgotten here that with their limited abilities, this circular passing from part to whole and whole to part cannot be used in its universal meaning in the sentences people use and the acts they perform; it can only be used partially.

PART THREE: THE UNIVERSE SPEAKS

“The seven heavens and the earth and all that is in them extol and glorify Him, and there is nothing but glorifies Him with praise.”57
The verse most frequently referred to in the one hundred and thirty-three parts of the Risale-i Nur is verse 44 of Sura Isra. With very simple descriptions, Nursi shows the reader how everything glorifies God all the time:
“Come, now look carefully at a tree! See its delicate mouth within the orderly emergence of the leaves in spring, and the blossoms opening in a measured manner, and the fruits swelling with wisdom and mercy and dancing at the blowing of the breeze in the hands of the branches like innocent children. ... Now consider the birds! A certain indication that their twittering and chirruping is an All-Wise Maker’s causing them to speak is the astonishing way in which they express their feelings to one another with those sounds, and state their intentions.”58
One could add to the above poetic pieces like: “Then listen to the stars, listen to their harmonious address... Altogether they start to speak with the tongue of truth: ... We are witness both to His unity and His power.”59 Such frequent reference is made to the beauties and benefits of the things man passes his life with, the stones, minerals, winds, rivers, seas, flowers, fruits, vegetables, and the sun and moon, and pattering of the rain, that it would not be exaggeration to say that almost half of the Risale-i Nur describes how the beings of this world are created in ways that are meaningful, beneficial, and intentional. Nursi says even that the universe has been created following aims so meaningful, useful, and full of art that “the human intellect has extracted the library of true natural science and philosophy from it and has written the library according to it.”60
Explanation in the Risale-i Nur of the basic beliefs of Islam is based entirely on the glorifications of God offered by the things in this visible world. Nursi says that this is taken from the Qur’an. In his view, glorification (tesbihat) is speech (tekellüm); being made to speak (intak); it is a language, a meaningful state; it is an explanation, it explains the duties things are performing; it is a proclamation, it makes known the Lord and Sustainer (Rabb)’s names and attributes; it is an acquainting (ta’aruf), it makes Him known to man; it is a knowing (ma’rifet), man knows his Sustainer as the one addressed by the glorifications of things; it is an invitation, it calls man to know his Sustainer; it is a love letter, a smile, it secretly informs needy men of the Sustainer’s mercy; it is a testifying, it performs the testifying of the Unseen World in this manifest world; the attributes observed on beings show that their Creator possesses faultless, absolute attributes that are free of defect.
For someone who hears from the Qur’an that every being in the universe is glorifying its Maker, the world will be alive and as though offering vital invocations. The stars, which appear to be lifeless firey masses in the dark skies or the creatures on the earth which at first glance appear to be mysterious and incomprehensible, all become mouths at this news of the Qur’an, and start to utter meaningful words. Nursi says that for those who think of beings performing their duties of glorification, the face of the earth appears to be a head, the land and seas as tongues, and all the animals and places as words reciting and praising.61 As a whole the universe is as though a human being, “it mentions God in high-sounding voice, while all its parts and particles join their tiny voices to its mighty voice. In unison they declare: There is no god but God!”62

a. Constant Activity

When expounding the verse 29 of Sura al-Rahman, “Every day in [new] splendour does He [shine]!” and verse 16 of Sura al-Buruj, “Indeed, your Sustainer is Doer of what He will,” Nursi starts with a question: “What is the reason for and wisdom in the astonishing unceasing activity in the universe? Why do these fleeting beings not stop, but continuously change and are renewed?”
In reply he says that the variety we see in creatures arises from the infinite variety of manifestations of the Creator’s names and attributes. In order to display in all their fineness the embroideries of the names and attributes, the universe, which resembles a book, and beings, which resembles missives, have to be constantly renewed. They have to be constantly rewritten in meaningful fashion so that they may read by conscious beings and their infinite meanings understood.63
Nursi frequently mentions the constant activity observed in the universe, and to help his readers understand this phenomenon he describes the changes of the centuries, then of the years: “... we see that every century, indeed, every year and every season one universe, one world, goes and another comes.” Every day even a new world comes, one after the other they are attached to the string of time like the links of a chain.64
In Nursi’s world, transitory beings and events are constantly created “in the boundless arable field of particles,” and continuously flow departing in the river of time. All things die every instant together with their causes, which in reality have no effect in creation whatsoever and are only apparent. “Every year, every day, a universe dies and is replaced by another.”65 The reader sees before him a universe in flux. Beings are models. That is, “through obedience and submission” to the Creator’s creational commands, “they perform a sort of worship in accordance with their capacities.”66 These models are arranged like the sentences of a book in order to express varying meanings, which acquire new dimensions with every portion of time.
A person who studies carefully this constantly rewritten book of the universe, which never loses its wholeness, will inevitably come to know the Creator. For, according to Nursi, it is impossible for a act to be without its doer, or an attribute to be without the one it qualifies, who possesses that attribute within himself, or for a work of art to be without its fashioner.67
The acts in the universe are one within the other and constant. A person who studies a tree will see that it is “composition (inşa) out of matter,” and the creation in the form of its shape, its attributes that make it a tree, “indeed, all its states and circumstances” being “created from nothing” in the form of “origination” (ibda’) in a way particular to it. He will understand that the particles used in its creation in the form of “composition out of matter” are the Creator’s “officials” but not his “executives.” They are created to “proclaim the disposals of the Creator’s power.” If he looks at a branch of the same tree in order to observe these two sorts of creative act, he will understand that its shape, attributes, and state, which are particular to the branch, are given it by creation from nothing. If he looks in the same way at the tiniest part of the tree, he will see an act which shows its creation in the form of “composition out of matter” and at the same time the creation out of nothing of the shape, attributes, and states particular to that part in the form of “origination without matter.”68
In this way, by observing the creation of a body in the form of composition and origination one within the other, it is possible to observe what Nursi calls “imperious activity,” the infinite perpetual creative activity in the finite world. This endless activity makes known that the one who creates with infinite ease and abundance, intentionally, compassionately, suitably to each being’s place in the world of existence, not differentiating between the largest and smallest -this activity makes known that He cannot be of the same kind as creatures, that is, that He cannot be limited. Similarly, the perpetual renewal of constantly changing beings together with their tiniest parts, indicates the infinitude of the Creator’s names and attributes. For example, the fact that beings are created with order and balance and meaningfully is evidence for the infinity of their Creator’s knowledge; their preserving their beings and the animate ones maintaining their lives is evidence that He is the absolutely Self-Subsistent Giver of Life. As is seen in these examples, the constantly changing and renewed endless creation, which is both continuous, and comprehensive, helps us grasp the necessity of the Creative God’s attributes like seeing, hearing, speaking, and being wise and powerful, being infinite and endless.69

b. “Motion is speech”

“God has given us speech, Who gives speech to everything.”70
Having noted that activity is perpetual and comprehensive, if either the particles of creatures are considered, or the compounds the particles form, for instance, a bird, it will be seen that its Creator is continuously endowing it with meaning. Things being continuously in motion in meaningful fashion together with all their particles allows us, according to Nursi, the possibility of listening pleasurably to the universe as a divine orchestra. As a whole, the universe is a divine orchestra which plays and sings endless refrains of endless variety, glorifying its Creator and proclaiming His attributes. This means that the universe is in a constant state of reciting its Creator’s praises, while man is the chief reciter, who hears its recitations, understands them, and takes part in them with the abilities with which he has been decked out. Man’s head is a chief reciter that can convert into words the meanings of the universe’s silent recitations and utter them verbally. That is to say, he has the ability to join in the universe’s speech with his own speech. As Nursi puts it, metaphorically, man’s head is a gramophone without records, a wireless telegraph, and mirrorless camera.71
If one instant of the universe were to be looked like at a single frozen frame of a film, in Nursi’s view it would resemble a rose. Each of the endless petals contains endless tables of every variety of food. Each table proclaims through its own tongue how compassionate and generous provider is its Creator.72 Through their well-ordered and balanced beneficial beings, all animate creatures declare that their Creator is a Giver of Life Who possesses wisdom and will. It is not difficult to understand that articulate man’s Creator must speak like himself, that is, that He is qualified by the attribute of speech.
Nursi says that the word “words” in verse 109 of Sura al-Kahf, “Say: if the ocean were ink [wherewith to write out] the words of my Lord, sooner would the ocean be exhausted than would the words of my Lord, even if we added another ocean like it, for its aid,” refers to all the beings visible in the universe. They are embodied words of power or words of wisdom. The tiny creatures of the animal kingdom in particular are each dominical words. These creatures, which proclaim that their Creator is the Speaker (Mütekellim), being in continuous motion shows that His speech in infinite. Moreover, every part of the universe joining in the divine orchestra, which is a whole, in complete harmony, points to both the Speaker’s existence, and His unity, and His absoluteness.73
Nursi sees an important relationship between the words of the Sustainer’s speaking through revelation and inspiration, the manifestation of His attribute of speech, and creatures which are the manifestations of the attributes of will and power, which he calls “embodied words.” He repeatedly points out in all his works that being embodied words, creatures testify through the tongue of disposition to the veracity to the message He sent in the words of the spoken language of revelation. According to Nursi, this material and corporeal manifest world is a body, a form, like the sentences expressing a book’s words: “Just as the body relies on the spirit and subsists through it and is animated by it, and a word looks to the meaning and is illuminated by it, and form relies on reality and acquires value through it; so this corporeal and material manifest world is a body, a word, a form which relies on the divine names behind the veil of the Unseen, receiving life and vitality from them; it looks to them, and is beautified. All the instances of physical beauty proceed from the non-physical beauties of their own realities and meanings; and as for their realities, they receive effulgence from the divine names and are shadows of them of a sort.”74
These shadows are constantly changing. If the bodies of living creatures are words, “they are spoken, written down, and then disappear. But in place of their own existences, they leave behind numerous existences which may be counted as second degree existences, like their meanings, their similitudes and forms, and their results, and if they are blessed, their rewards and their realities. Only then do they pass beneath the veil.” For example, Nursi says: “The beings of last spring such as the leaves, flowers, and fruits, are the same as those of this spring; the difference is only apparent. ... the apparent difference, even, ... allows those words of wisdom, phrases of mercy, and letters of power to acquire numerous different meanings,” to reflect “the embroideries of the divine names.”75
It is possible also to decipher the subtleties of the embroideries of the divine names from the relationship of the parts and the whole of a being. By way of example, Nursi likens the main branches of a tree to a head, the smaller branches to tongues, and the fruits regularly arranged on those branches to words, and the seeds, which contain the wonderful characteristics of the whole tree, to letters. The tree’s speech consists not of a single sentence, but of thousands of words on hundreds of tongues in several heads. And each of the seeds repeats this harmonious speech. A seed the size of a letter contains as much information as that expressed by the tree, perhaps to the extent of a book. This concentricity shows that its Maker creates everything in miraculous fashion. That is to say, He does not create a large meaningful tree by combining small parts that on their own are meaningless; He places in each small part all the characteristics of the large part,76 like in a hologram.
Nursi says: “The writer of a word’s letters cannot be different to the writer of the word, like the person who writes a book cannot be different to the one who writes out its pages.” Also, the universe is a book in every letter of which is a tiny book expressing the meaning signified by the whole universe. The universe is created in such a way that whover created it, created the world; and whoever created the world, created living beings; and whoever created living beings, created the trees together with their branches, fruits, and seeds.77
In short, Nursi presents the universe as a meaningful book full of art, which is not static but dynamic. With its constant activity, divine power causes the universe with all its parts to speak in harmony. It is as though the motion and acts of the beings on the heavens and earth are the words of the universe’s speech. This constantly being set in motion is a constantly being made to speak. The result of continuous activity is the continuous passing of the visible beings of the world of existence (new ones being brought and the old being sent to the world of extinction); it is glorification (tesbih) (the proclamation that the attributes visible on those things belong not to them but were given them to make known their Creator). Thus, the continuous motion of the universe is the Creator’s causing speech to make Himself known to conscious beings through His names.78
Nursi differs on two points from other thinkers who likened the universe to a book: the universe is a divine book that is constantly changing, renewing its speech. And this speech is caused in order to make known the Creator through the endless degrees of His beautiful names’ manifestations.

PART FOUR: THE ONE WHO SPEAKS THROUGH THE UNIVERSE
ALSO SPEAKS VERBALLY

“Is it at all possible that the universe’s Maker should cause creatures to speak with one another in myriad tongues, and that He should listen to their speech, and know it, and Himself not speak? God forbid!”79
Since the one who wrote the book of the universe every letter of which contains thousands of meanings, ordered it and decorated it through his will and choice, and wrote it knowingly; he should also make known the book’s meaning. Nursi says: “Of course the one who makes it knows, and the one who knows will speak.” So long as a book’s meaning is not known correctly, it might as well not have been written.80
The clearest and strongest evidence of a person’s existence is his speech. Through the wonders of their creation, beings indicate the absoluteness of their Creator’s knowledge and power; similarly, through their perpetual speech they point to the infinity of divine speech.81 Since the Creator proclaims His perfections through the endless tongues of these wondrous beings, in order to make Himself known, He will certainly make known His own absoluteness through His own words.
The Creator shows through the works He creates through His knowledge and power that He is All-Knowing and Powerful, and he also informs conscious man through the witnessing of the universe He creates with its meaningful speech, that He is the Speaker (Mütekellim). Since He is the Speaker, He does not leave His existence and unity only to the witnessing of creatures, He speaks with a speech worthy of Himself.82
Being curious about the universe’s Creator, man wants to be addressed by Him. He wants too to express his gratitude for His creating him, meeting his needs, and having him as a guest in this beautiful world. But he does not know how to be the addressee of the Creator, Who is not of the same kind as creatures, or how to express his thanks. It is demanded by the Creator’s mercy, who makes Himself loved by men by creating all the beauties of the world, to make them love Him by speaking with them and taking them as His addressees. Since he gave them the need to offer thanks, it is expected that He should tell them in this conversation how they should thank Him.83
Why shouldn’t one expect the one who creates the world as a splendid palace, offers His guests endless bounties and speaks to them through deed and state, to speak with them by word and speech?84 Nursi continues his questions: Would the universe’s Creator cause all the species He created to talk among themselves, ensuring that they understand one another, and particularly bestow on men the ability to speak intelligently, and then Himself not be able to speak or not speak? Is it reasonable to expect such a thing? The One Who in the face of the tongue’s ability to taste thousands of different flavours, creates thousands of different bounties, and in this way demonstrates His compassion and mercy for human beings. He creates them in such a way that they are curious, and ask where the bounties have come from, why they have been sent, and why they themselves arrive in successive caravans, and after staying awhile pass on their way. Is it at all possible that such a Creator should not reply with His own speech to the questions asked by the guests at this banquet, that He should not make known by means of envoys the secrets of this mysterious creation?85
Nursi calls the relationship between the universe and man, the “dominicality-worship” relationship, and likens the universe decorated with antique arts to a painting manifested by dominicality. Since it is man who ponders over its beauties and appreciates and offers thanks for them, he is charged with worship. And since he has been created conscious in the face of the magnificent manifestation of dominicality, he needs to be educated so he may perform his worship in the best and most comprehensive manner. For this reason, the Sustainer takes human kind as His addressee and speaks with them. Since He has created them with the capacity to understand the sublimity of His Godhead, He explains to them the purpose of His creating the splendid universe.86
Furthermore, man is truly anxious about his own future in the face of the transient nature of everything in the world, and in his impotence has been created with the need to seek refuge with a Sustainer Whose power suffices the whole universe. Since the God of the universe has not left man to his own devices in this world, and has created him needy for an an owner, He makes Himself known to him through His speech.87 The One Who responds with thousands of different foods to man’s hunger, and with decorating all things to his love of beauty, should also address man with His words and speak with him.88 These words are the sacred texts known as revelation.
We shall now discuss the Qur’an, the sacred text known as the Creator’s “word and speech,”89 the sacred book which for fourteen centuries has addressed men claiming to be God’s speech.

PART FIVE: THE QUR’AN AS GOD’S WORD

“The Qur’an is the tongue of the World of the Unseen in the Manifest World.”90

Men try to understand the speech uttered by creatures by the tongue of disposition. As explained above, the One Who causes creatures to speak should make a speech that converts their speech into human language, and that explains it to man. These speeches should not contradict one another, but expound and confirm each other. Words contradicting the universe’s testimony would demonstrate that the text containing them is not the Creator of the world’s; that is, it is not sacred.
The one to establish this relationship between the universe and sacred text is man. He is charged with understanding the universe, but while performing this task he has to always keep in mind that all his attributes, including his intellect and all his emotions, were given to him by the One Who created the universe and himself. If he does not accept that the universe and himself are created, everything becomes futile. It is impossible for something that was not intentionally formed to have any meaning, for meaning necessitates intention. If man attempts to draw meaning from the universe, he has to accept that both the universe and himself were made intentionally.
A person who is aware that the Creator of all his faculties including his reason is the universe’s Creator, has need of the Creator’s speech with words, known as the sacred text, in order to be able to test the correctness of his interpretations in his efforts to understand the universe; that is, he has need of God’s Word.
In conclusion we see that although their functions are different, the following three elements complement each other:
a. The Universe: The Creator’s speech through act and state.
Its function: To be objective evidence for man in his attempt to understand whether or not the texts that claim to be the Creator’s word, are indeed so; that is, whether or not they are sacred texts.
Its aim: To make known to man its Creator, through its silent speech.
b. The Sacred Book: The Creator’s speech in a language man can understand.
Its function: To be a guide for man in understanding the universe, that is, in interpreting it.
Its aim: To make known to man its Creator through its words and speech.
c. Man: An index who brings together in himself the universe and sacred text.
His function: With his faculties and emotions to come to know his Creator under the guidance of the universe’s testimony and revelation, that is, the sacred text and the Messenger.91
Now, firstly, we shall discuss two questions that should be borne in mind when noting the general characteristics of scriptures that fit the definition of sacred text. The first is that sacred books are ‘divine condescension.’ The second is that the sacred text cannot be historicized. Then we shall move on to Nursi’s explanations of how the Qur’an fits the definition of sacred text in every respect.

a. Divine Condescension

“Divine condescension is to familiarize people’s minds.”92

Since the sacred scriptures address human beings, they have to speak in accordance with their minds and capacities. Speaking with His infinite knowledge, the Sustainer of the world has to speak in a style conformable with the feelings and understanding of those He addresses so that the purpose of His speech may be realized.
As required by eloquence, divine speech is in the language man uses and even in his style and dialect so that it is not be alien to him and he is not alarmed by it. If the Creator did not impart to men the knowledge He wishes in a language and amounts they understand, they would neither heed it nor benefit from it. This is anyway demanded by eloquence. Nursi said: “Speaking with a child and explaining something to him is not inferior to speaking with a philosopher.”
If a spoken word looks in one respect to its speaker and makes him known, it looks more to the one it addresses, and gains value to the extent it is conformable with his understanding and ability to benefit from it. It would be wrong to judge the speech of sacred texts without keeping in mind that it addresses the comprehension of those to whom it speaks, and to say of the one who is speaking: “Does a God with infinite knowledge who is the creator of the universe from pre-eternity to post-eternity speak in the same way as man?” For an absolute power, there is no difference between creating an atom and creating a galaxy. And for an infinite knowledge, it is not a defect or inadequacy to speak with the simplest human speech; on the contrary, it is a sign it is wise and a meaningful choice.
Relations between two things, or a transaction, or even speech does not necessitate their resembling each other or being equal. It would be wrong to say that the sun, which reflects its light in a raindrop is equal to the raindrop. Similarly it would be wrong to say that the simple statements of the speech the Creator makes in order to set in order His relations with men in this world, are inappropriate or that “the universe’s Creator would not speak of such trivial things.” In Nursi’s words, “A divine programme designed to cleanse and order may not be objected to.”
Sacred texts are divine speech the purpose of which is to guide all human beings. The majority of mankind are ordinary people; they may not understand the fine points. When speaking with a child, one uses childish language. Similarly, in sacred texts, examples are taken from the universe that is simple and mostly apparent, which educate them without offending them. The texts recall things that they constantly observe. The rain, the orderly embellished face of the skies, the things people eat and wear- these are sufficient evidence for recognizing the Creator. In fact, eloquence requires that they are frequently reminded by the example of the resurrection of the earth in the spring, that they will be raised to life after this world, like a piece of writing in large letters that ordinary people can read without difficulty.
The chief aim of sacred texts is to invite people of every class in different periods to recognize their Creator and order their lives suitably to the purpose of creation.
In short, the following points should be noted while being addressed by such texts:
a. The one who speaks through the sacred text speaks with his infinite knowledge with all people of all times.
b. So that those addressed do not feel alienated, the speaker comes down to their level of comprehension.
c. The speech comprises various meanings in accordance with the greatly varying abilities to understand.
d. Although it is speech on the level of ordinary people’s understanding, who form the majority of those addressed, the elite too can listen to it as though it were addressing them especially.
e. Since their purpose is to make known the universe’s Creator, the examples taken from the universe should not be seen as explanations of its functioning.
f. The purpose of sacred texts is to teach the secrets of creation and educate people. For this reason, they open the door to reason without negating their wills, and invite them to see the truth and choose accordingly.93

b. Sacred Texts May Not Be Historicized

“Addressing every age and every class of people, in its stories and historical narratives, it does not recount one part or one lesson from them, but points out elements of a universal principle, as though it were newly revealed.”94

Four elements should be noted in order to understand the beauty and value of a speech:
a. The speaker: who said it?
b. The addressee: to whom did he say it?
c. Aim: why did he say it?
d. Position: in what position did he say it?
Primarily, “speech looks to the speaker.” The worth and power of speech increases or decreases according to its speaker. According to Nursi, the point a person studying sacred text should note above all others is this: the one speaking is doing so as the Sustainer and Creator of all the world and all time. Just as the Creator’s creation is continuous, so should His speech be continuous. Just as His creativity is absolute, so is His knowledge absolute, and His speech absolute; they cannot be limited by time and space. For this reason, the most important characteristic to be sought in a sacred text is, since it confronts us claiming to be the Creator’s speech, that the Speaker speaks “combining word and act,” and that there is no contradiction in this. Moreover, if this sacred text is read as though it were man’s word, within the limits of time and space, that is, if it is read as a historical text, it will not be properly understood due to the error arising from the reader himself.
Nursi looks on sacred texts as the Creator’s explanation of His own acts that addresses both man’s eye and his ear. The Creator’s act cannot be limited by time, nor can His speech be limited. It is as though He is saying in the text: “Look! I did this. I am doing it in this way... that is why I am doing it like this.” Nursi offers examples from the Qur’an in order to show that this is realized with complete congruence.
He asserts that to read the Qur’an as a historical text is a serious obstacle to understanding it, that it means adopting a stance exactly the opposite of what the Qur’an claims and that it is a pretext for not understanding it. He says that it should be “read and listened to as though it was freshly revealed,” and that the person who is reading it should do so “as though listening to God, the Pre-Eternal Speaker” directly. “Because as the pre-eternal sermon, the Qur’an addresses together all the classes of humanity in all the centuries,” the people of each should read it “as though it was particular to their century and in accordance with it.” Everyone who studies the Qur’an knows that its explanations do not lose their value in time, but that their meanings are understood more clearly. “As time grows older, the Qur’an grows younger; its signs become apparent.”
The Speaker in sacred texts adopts the stance of a craftsman introducing his work, and addresses the different classes of the different ages each with their own degree of intelligence and ability to understand. It addresses not only their intellects, but their hearts, emotions, spirits, and minds, and educates them. Since the sacred text is the Creator’s speech through His attributes of Sustainer of all the worlds and absolute knowledge, it should not be expected that it has a limited function like correcting the knowledge of those who live in a particular period of time; it should not be studied in that way. It is expected that while explaining the purpose of the creation of man and the universe, it satisfies man’s faculties and emotions, and educates his heart and spirit so that he may live suitably to that purpose.
The thing most striking about studies in the Western world of sacred texts, particularly those of the Qur’an, is their historicity. The Qur’an is seen as a text that was written at a particular time by a particular person, so is made to lose all its qualities in the eyes of the reader; it is presented to the Western world in this way. For this reason, says W. C. Smith, the Qur’an is not seen by Westerners as a true sacred text. In fact, it was never looked on as a sacred text. It was read, studied, and treated as a book written by an ordinary person.95
In order to avoid the ridiculous contradictions resulting from reading a book, for instance the Qur’an, that claims to be a sacred text as though it were written by man, if only temporarily it should be read accepting the veracity of its claims. However, if in Gadamer’s words, having made a thorough scrutiny “through solid grounds offered by reason” a conclusion is reached that conflicts with those solid grounds, one may judge that the text in question is not sacred.96
Such a stand is obligatory for the Qur’an in particular, for it refers all its claims to the universe’s testimony and claims to be the speech of the universe’s Creator. In fourteen centuries no one has appeared who proved that the bases of belief that it puts forward are contrary to the universe’s witnessing. In fact, despite its challenging since the time it was revealed those who do not recognize it as a sacred text, no one has been able to show that it contains any conflicting claims or statements. Nursi says that since no one could oppose it intellectually, those who did not believe in it fought against with the sword and by force.97

c. What is the Qur’an?

“The Qur’an is the recitation of the book of the universe.”98

If one studies Nursi’s definitions of the Qur’an, it is seen that there is a necessary relationship between the Qur’an, the universe, and man. The main aim of these definitions is that the Qur’an should be properly understood as a sacred text. Each of the definitions also emphasizes one of the Qur’an’s prominent characteristics. We may list his definitions as follows:
¥ “The Qur’an is the pre-eternal translator of the mighty book of the universe.”
¥ “It is an address made in the name of the Creator of all the heavens and the earth.”
¥ “It is God’s Word is respect of His being Sustainer and Lord of all the worlds.”
The universe is a vast book every sentence, word, and letter of which is full of wisdom, purpose, and meaning. With all its sentences, the Qur’an, which is a miniature copy of the vast book, proclaims the same wisdom. “The Qur’an,” says Nursi, “is in a form suitable to be the declaration of the one who makes and directs the universe, who writes the list, index, and if one may say so, the programme of its matters.” Everyone who reads the Qur’an will understand that it is the speech of the One Who administers the universe as though it were a palace.
*“It is the commentator of the book of the manifest world.”
* “It is the interpreter of the various tongues reciting the verses of creation (or creational signs).”
Drawing our attention to the fact that the Qur’an expounds the verses or signs of creation, which speak various languages, Nursi says this: the Qur’an’s chief aim is to reply to questions about where the universe and man have come from, and where they are going, and the meaning and aim of creation. Its mentioning the signs of creation is not to discuss the universe, but to understand the universe’s testimony, to give news of the universe’s Creator and His messengers, and inform men that they will be raised to life after death, and to call on them to establish justice on the earth. That is, “the Qur’an mentions beings not for themselves, but for the One Who gives them existence.” It shows man not how the events in the universe are themselves, but how apparently commonplace creatures are miracles of absolute power. In order to emphasize the difference between the aims of materialist science’s discussion of the universe and the Qur’an’s discussion, Nursi says: “Science does not include the Creator, it discusses the universe and its conditions for themselves,” whereas the Qur’an “teaches the wondrous miracles of power and meaningful lines of wisdom underlying those commonplace beings;” and pursues aims like “pointing out the Creator’s sublime power for people to ponder over.” Since therefore the Qur’an intends to make known the Creator to people together with all His attributes and to teach them their duties in this world, it mentions the clearest and most evident examples so the great majority of people will understand. For if it had spoken of events that needed specialist study and were difficult to grasp, it would have been lacking in wisdom; people would have found it difficult to understand the evidences offered for the Creator and world of the hereafter. Nursi says: “For the evidence to be more obscure than what is claimed is inappropriate for the ‘station’ of deduction.”
* “It is a holy scripture full of wisdom which looks to and inspects all sides of the Divine Throne.”
* “It has come from the Greatest Name and from the highest degree of each name.”
* “It is a conversation in respect of absolute dominicality.”
There is no contradiction at all in the evidence the Qur’an offers from the universe in its claim that the Creator God alone possesses the attributes of Godhead. All these show that with his limited view a created person could not comprehend the unlimited, sacred truths of the Godhead so that he might describe them without contradiction. This means that the Qur’an is the word of one possessing universal knowledge which encompasses all the universe from pre-eternity to post-eternity so that it might describe the absolute divine attributes in a way that is entirely consistent and without conflict.
* “It is the tongue of the Unseen World in the Manifest World.”
* “It is the treasury of the pre-eternal addresses of the Most Holy, which come from the World of the Unseen beyond the veil of this Manifest World.”
* “It is the expounding word, lucid exposition, decisive proof, and clear interpreter of the Divine essence, attributes, names, and functions.”
Being addressed by the Qur’an, man knows that the Creator is speaking with him in this world. In which case, the message the Qur’an brings is about the world this world points to, the Unseen World. But the evidences it points out are from this world, the Manifest World. In this way, the reader who is addressed by the Qur’an in this manifest world comes to know the Unseen World, which is invisible since it is not of the same kind as creatures.
* “It is a book of wisdom.”
*“It is a book of thought and knowledge.”
* “It is humankind’s true science.”
The Qur’an teaches men not the way of blind imitation, but of investigation and offering proofs of their views. Humanity will understand the Qur’an to whatever extent they abandon their prejudices and embrace free thought. According to Nursi, in the future people will shake themselves free of their preconceived ideas, and exercising their reasons, try to understand the universe. For which reason, “the Qur’an, which makes the reason confirm its pronouncements,” will be taken as guide by all humanity.
* “It is the instructor of the world of humanity.”
*“It is the true guide and leader urging humanity to prosperity and happiness.”
*“Its aim and goal are self-evidently eternal happiness.”
* “It is both a book of law, and a book of summons, and a book of invocation...”
The Qur’an is the guide most fitting for man’s abilities, who was sent to this world solely to know his Creator and charged with worshipping Him. The Qur’an teaches man in the most realistic way how to read the universe and himself. Those who uses their reasons and hearts freely, not their prejudices, realize that the Qur’an is God’s Word, and they profit from it.
Nursi reaches the following conclusion from the above definitions: “It is because of this mystery that the Qur’an has always completely deservedly been given the title of ‘God’s Word,’ will always be given it.”99

PART SIX: FROM THE QUR’AN TO THE UNIVERSE

“The Qur’an reads the universe in the vast mosque of creation.”100

In the Risale-i Nur, the word ‘sign/verse’ (ayet), which is used for the Qur’an’s verses, is used also for the beings in the world. The former are the signs/verses of God’s speech, the latter the signs/verses of His power. Up to here, concerning the mutual relationship of the Qur’an and the universe we have studied the evidence of the universe’s signs/verses for the Qur’an. Now we shall see how Nursi evaluates the evidences of the Qur’an’s signs/verses for those of the universe.
The Qur’an, the Creator’s speech in the spoken word, will certainly interpret in human language the universe’s speech in the tongue of disposition. And it would not leave it at that, it would “teach to the intelligent beings lined up in the rows of the centuries” the meaning of the signs of creation inscribed with the pen of power on the pages of the book of the universe unfolded in time, and would expound them.
A person who reads in the Qur’an verses that speak directly of the universe understands that the Qur’an looks at beings on account of their Creator. It says “How well they are made! How well they point to their Maker’s beauty! They show the universe’s true beauty.” These verses act as a reminder to man, who tends to see them as being wretched and without duty, consciousness or life, in endless space, in the unstable transitory world. It draws his attention to the seemingly simple and ordinary things: a spider, a bee, an ant, a cow, an elephant or fig. It sets before him things great and small that he has not seen the value of, from the galaxies, sun, moon, rain, thunder and lightning, smoke, atmosphere, night and day, sunset, dawn, camels, water, trees, grapes, pomegranates, dates, honey, and olives to iron, mountains, and stones. It rends the veil of familiarity and habit, attracts man’s attention, and offers him an inexhaustible treasury of knowledge.101
The Qur’an points out how all beings assist one another, love one another, and how together they hasten to serve man. It declares that beings are brothers to man. It wants him to study carefully even a fly, the most apparently simple of them. It tells him to note the miraculous creation of the ‘ordinary’ fly, which even if all men were to join forces they would not be able to create, and to see how even its wing, created in incalculable numbers and with the greatest ease, testifies to its Creator’s absolute attributes. It reminds him that nothing in the universe can be without meaning.
While speaking of beings, the Qur’an teaches that each of them is a word and that their meanings are the divine names. As Nursi depicts it, the Qur’an draws man’s attention when reading the book of the universe to its order and the intention it displays; it shows man that beings are always happy at performing their ffunctions and proclaiming their Creator’s attributes. Thus the universe springs to life before the eyes of the Qur’an’s reader; lifeless matter begins to converse with man, becoming his friend.
As was mentioned previously, the Qur’an explains the bases of belief by giving examples from the universe. In the Risale-i Nur, Nursi always mentions this characteristic of the Qur’an in every section he discusses the questions of belief. For example, he explains how verse 80 of Sura Ya. Sin., “Who produces for you fire from the green tree,” is an example for the resurrection of the dead. “How do you deem it unlikely that One Who extracts for you out of dense, heavy, dark matter like a tree, subtle, light, luminous manner like fire should give fire-like life and light-like consciousness to wood-like bones?”
Nursi asserts that by not accepting this function of the universe, materialist science does the exact opposite of the Qur’an. It aims to investigate the universe in the minutest detail, yet it does not concern itself with its meaning. He says: materialist science conceals in veils of familiarity this world with its miraculous creation, and studies it as though it has no meaning. For instance, rather than drawing attention to the meaning in man’s creation, a wondrous miracle of power, it studies it as though it was only an ordinary physical body with no meaning. But if it comes across a freak with two heads or three feet, outside the ordinary, which has deviated from the perfect laws of man’s creation, it exhibits it as a curiosity for people to gape at. Making such creatures pretexts, it pretends not to see the clear instances of wisdom in the creatures we see all the time, and wants to accuse them of meaninglessness. It thus infers that the perfect creatures we call “normal” are not worth noticing.

The Qur’an and Man

“Indeed, We have created man on the most excellent of patterns.”102

The Qur’an considers man together with all his aspects. He is an articulate (natık) part of the universe, who with his fine creation full of art, understands, says that he understands, and expresses his feelings eloquently. He is an attentive observer of this majestic universe, with the ability to study its wise and purposive beings. In this way, the Qur’an establishes an inseparable relationship between man and the universe.
In the face of the universe’s Lord and Sustainer speaking through the sacred texts, man becomes His addressee. “The flower” of non-physical, living “speech” which pertains to the Unseen World, opens in his physical, corporeal bone-like head. Reflecting his Sustainer’s speech in his own language, he undertakes the elevated duty of being “a flower of divine address.”
If man knows himself to be addressed by God and heeds His speech, he will learn the universe’s meaning from its Creator. And with its being understood by intelligent man, the aim in its creation is fulfilled. The universe would not be fully understood if it were not for the Qur’an, and then the aim in its creation would not have been realized.103

CONCLUSION

In this paper, the way the world of existence should be understood and the Risale-i Nur’s basic approach to understanding it have been studied. In order to establish the principles according to which the Risale-i Nur attempts to understand the world of existence, its conception of the world was first examined.
In order to derive a correct meaning from the universe, the transformations in time and space of its smallest unit, the atom, has first to be interpreted correctly. It would therefore not be possible to establish the Risale-i Nur’s method of deriving meaning from the universe without first investigating its view of the atom. In its view, every being in the universe, no matter how small, is created with the ability to bear to its own extent the message conveyed by the whole universe. Said Nursi developed this idea through the inspiration he received from verse 44 of Sura Isra, the verse he refers to most frequently in the Risale-i Nur.
Nursi states that since minute particles are created in a state of perpetual motion, the universe should be perceived as dynamic, not static. Its Creator is causing the universe to speak in order to make Himself known to men, whom He created intelligent. The universe should not be studied only as a book; it should be listened to as speech the meanings of which are being constantly renewed.
It is not possible that the One Who causes the universe to speak and gives man, who is addressed by the universe, the ability to speak verbally, should not speak Himself. Since man attempts to explain the universe as a creature, the Creator should inform him on a level he understands what the universe points to. Sacred texts should be considered in this context, and like the universe, such texts should be listened to as the Creator’s speech through His absolute knowledge, which is limited neither by time nor space. That is to say, they should not be historicized.
Man is addressed by both the universe and the sacred texts, and may know his Creator under the guidance of the latter and from the testimony of the former. Man was not left to find the truth on his own; he uses four means which come from the same source and testify to each other:
The universe: As the Creator’s speech ‘by act,’ it is objective evidence for man in his efforts to understand whether or not the sacred text is indeed sacred.
The sacred text: As inferred by its definition, it is the Creator’s speech and is man’s guide in his efforts to understand the universe.
The Messenger: As an envoy sent by the Creator, he teaches how the universe and the sacred text should be understood. Through his own life, he demonstrates the harmony between them for men to see.
Man: Using the faculties given to him by his Creator as units of measurement, he understands the conformity between the universe and the sacred text, and following the Messenger’s example he confirms its truth.
Nursi states that to the extent they give up their prejudices and use these four means freely, people can understand that the Qur’an is God’s Word, which “invites the reason to confirm all its pronouncements.” It is important that the universe is read under the guidance of an authentic sacred text so that it may be understood correctly. Everyone who reads the Qur’an, which refers the principles of belief it puts forward to the universe’s testimony, will see the harmony between the universe and the Qur’an and be certain that it is a sacred text.


1. Michael Dummet, Truth and Other Enigmas (London: Gerald Duckworth, 1978), 458.
2. Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method (London: Sheed and Ward, 1988), 346.
3. See for example, Charles Sanders Pierce, Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Pierce. Ed. Charles Hartshorne and Paul Weiss (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1931-35), 156.
4. See for example, Richard Rorty, Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 6.
5. Richard J. Bernstein, Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science, Hermeneutics, and Praxis (Philadelphia: University of Pennslyvania Press, 1993), 200.
6. Richard J. Bernstein, Beyond Objectivism, 4.
7. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Letters 1928-1932 [Eng. trans.] (Istanbul: Sözler Publications, 1997), 341.
8. Gadamer, Truth and Method, 159.
9. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, The Words [Eng. trans.] (Istanbul: Sözler Publications, 1998), 398.
10. In the face of those who call the universe “the book of nature,” Nursi describes as follows how the Qur’an speaks of it:
“It does not look at the universe from the point of view of nature; it speaks of it from the point of view of divine art, with the colouring of the Most Merciful. It does not confuse the mind.
It instils the light of knowledge of the Maker. It points out His signs in all things. ... Its view of the universe, in place of blind Nature, is as conscious, merciful divine art; it does not speak of nature.”(The Words, 771)
11. Nursi, The Words, 143.
12. Nursi, Letters, 339.
13. Taufic Ibrahim, Arthur Sagadeev, Classical Islamic Philosophy (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1990), 314.
14. As examples the following verses may be consulted: Qur’an, 80:24-32; 79:27-33; 88:17-20; 30:50; 36:77-81; 16:3-2. For a more comprehensive list, see, footnote 101.
15. Nursi, The Words, 530.
16. Nursi, Letters, 298; The Words, 762-3.
17. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, The Rays Collection [Eng. trans.] (Istanbul: Sözler Publications, 1998), 257.
18. Nursi, The Rays Collection, 257.
19. Nursi, The Words, 419-20.
20. Nursi, The Words, 600.
21. Osman Bakar, Tawhid and Science (Kuala Lumpur: Secretariat for Islamic Philosophy and Science, 1991), 62.
22. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, The Flashes Collection [Eng. trans.] (Istanbul: Sözler Publications, 2000), 394 fn 12.
23. Nursi, The Flashes Collection, 243.
24. BediŸzzaman Said Nurs”, Mesnevi-yi Nžriye [Turk. trans. AbdŸlmecid Nurs”] (Istanbul: Envar Neßriyat, 1994), 249; The Flashes Collection, 244.
25. Nursi, The Words, 528, 763; Letters, 553.
26. Bakar, Tawhid and Science, 71.
27. See, for example, Qur’an, 30:20-25; 45:3-13.
28. Bakar, Tawhid and Science, 66.
29. Gadamer, Truth and Method, 373.
30. Nursi, The Rays Collection, 30.
31. Nurs”, Mesnevi-yi Nžriye, 248.
32. For further information about Ash’ari atomism, see, Majid Fakhry, Muslim Philosophy and A History of Islamic Occasionalism (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1958); Bakar, Tawhid and Science, 80-100.
33. Nursi, The Words, 709.
34. Nursi, The Words, 436.
35. Nursi, The Flashes Collection, 182.
36. Nursi, The Flashes Collection, 244.
37. See also, Qur’an, 16:20; 7:194-5.
38. Nursi, The Words, 709.
39. Nursi, The Flashes Collection, 246.
40. Nursi, Letters, 543; The Flashes Collection, 244.
41. Nursi, The Rays Collection, 168.
42. Said Nursi offers some fairly detailed analyses of ‘the laws of nature.’ He also wrote an independent work called Tabiat Risalesi [translated into English under the title Nature: Cause or Effect?]. Here, attempt has been made to summarize his views dispersed through the whole Risale-i Nur.
43. Nurs”, Mesnevi-i Nžriye, 247.
44. Nurs”, Ibid.
45. Nursi, The Words, 570.
46. Nursi, The Words, 572 fn 21.
47. Nursi, Ibid.
48. Nursi, The Words, 213.
49. Nursi, Ibid.
49. Nursi, Ibid.
50. Nursi, The Words, 709.
51. The Risale-i Nur states that atoms are created from nothing in order to show that causes have no effect in their creation. For “If all things are ascribed to one person, there is no need for creation from absolute non-existence.” (The Flashes Collection, 383) If the universe is not the work of a single creator, one has to accept it is formed by chance through the effects of causes and is not created from nothing. In Nursi’s words, “they can neither annihilate anything nor create anything from nothing, even a minute particle. And so, although nothing comes into existence out of nothing at the hand of causes and nature on which they rely, out of their stupidity they say: ‘Nothing comes from non-being, and nothing goes to non-being.’”(The Flashes Collection, 253) In the world we observe, “They fancied an imaginary situation in which combining and decomposition, gathering together and dispersion, occur through the motion of particles and the winds of chance.” (The Flashes Collection, 252) Whereas, “the Absolutely All-Powerful One creates in two ways: He both originates, and He composes. To annihilate what exists and to make exist what does not exist is most simple and easy for Him. It is one of His constant and universal laws.” (The Flashes Collection, 253)
Nursi criticizes materialist science, which not accepting that the universe has a Creator, says: “There is no absolute non-existence in the world; there is only composition and decomposition. ... Through Almighty God’s acts there is composition in the world, and with His permission there is decomposition. At God’s command, things are brought into being and sent to non-being.” (Mesnevi-yi Nžriye, 128) He opposes the determinist view of chains of causes in the creation.
He summarizes as follows this constant, general law of the Creator, the Possessor of absolute power, Who “creates everything out of nothing, and makes extinct what exists:” “If all things are attributed to one, then the creation of the universe is as easy as the creation of a palm-tree, and the palm-tree as the fruit.” (The Flashes Collection, 382)
For, “if things are ascribed to the Single One of Unity, they are created from nothing through His infinite power, the immensity of which is perceived through its works, like striking a match. And through His all-embracing, infinite knowledge everything is appointed a measure like an immaterial mould. The particles of all things are situated easily in the mould existent in knowledge, in accordance with the form and plan of everything in the mirror of knowledge, and they preserve their positions in good order.” (The Flashes Collection, 418)
We understand that the creation of things out of nothing applies to the visible world we observe, which is created with the association of cause and effect; it does not apply to the divine Being.
Nursi explains as follows that for the Creator there can be no non-existence: “... Anyway there is no absolute non-existence, for His knowledge is all-embracing. And there is nothing outside the sphere of divine knowledge so that something can be cast there. The non-existence within the sphere of His knowledge is external non-existence and a title for something concealed but existent in divine knowledge.” (Letters, 81)
In respect of their face that looks to themselves, particles are nothing, but in respect to their face looking to their Creator, they have a constant reality. Nursi explains this as follows: “... in regard to their faces which look to themselves, all things are nothing. They do not possess existences which are of themselves independent or constant. And they do not possess realities which subsist of themselves. But in regard to their aspects that look to Almighty God, that is, that signify a meaning other than themselves, they are not nothing, for in that aspect are to be seen the manifestations of eternal names. That aspect is not doomed for non-existence, for it bears the shadow of an eternal existent. It has a reality, it is constant, and it is elevated. For it is a sort of constant shadow of the eternal name which it manifests.” (Letters, 82)
Those wishing to study this question further may refer to the following pages [in the 2 vol. edition of the Risale-i Nur, (Istanbul: Nesil BasÝm-YayÝn, 1996). Hereafter, RNK] 74, 199-200, 237, 286, 311, 314, 373, 385-6, 481-2, 598-9, 685, 686, 711-2, 762, 808, 822-4, 857, 916, 1162, 1259, 1278, 1330, 1368, 1371, 2024-5. It should also be mentioned that Said Nursi wrote a work called the Transformation of Minute Particles, which shows the importance he attached to the subject. It is the second part of the Thirtieth Word.
52. Nursi, The Words, 451.
53. BediŸzzaman Said Nurs”, Emirdağ Lahikası (Istanbul: Envar Neßriyat, 1992), ii, 68.
54. Quoted in, Gadamer, Truth and Method, 167.
55. Nurs”, Mesnevi-yi Nžriye, 248.
56. Quoted in, Gadamer, Truth and Method, 167.
61. Nursi, The Words, 152, 383, 442, 448.
62. Nursi, The Words, 728.
63. Nursi, Letters, 114.
64. Nursi, The Words, 213, 716.
65. Nursi, The Words, 716.
66. Nurs”, Mesnevi-yi Nžriye, 10.
67. Nursi, The Words, 709-10; The Rays Collection, 168.
68. Nursi, The Flashes Collection, 244-5; Mesnevi-yi Nžriye, 10; Muh‰kemat (Istanbul: Sözler YayÝnevi, 1977), 115-6.
69. Nursi, The Rays Collection, 169.
70. Qur’an, 41:21.
71. Nursi, The Flashes Collection, 452; The Words, 651-2.
72. Nursi, The Rays Collection, 582.
73. Nursi, The Words, 442; The Flashes Collection, 348; The Rays Collection, 169, 577.
74. Nursi, The Rays Collection, 85-6.
75. Nursi, The Rays Collection, 79-80.
76. Nursi, The Words, 178.
77. Nurs”, Mesnevi-yi Nžriye, 196.
78. Nursi, Letters, 339-40.
79. Nursi, The Rays Collection, 259.
80. Nursi, The Words, 409, 601; The Flashes Collection, 289-90; The Rays Collection, 257.
81. Nursi, The Flashes Collection, 347; The Rays Collection, 170.
82. Nursi, The Rays Collection, 147.
83. Nursi, The Rays Collection, 149.
84. Nursi, The Flashes Collection, 289; The Rays Collection, 147, 258.
85. Nursi, The Words, 241-2; The Rays Collection, 47, 257-8.
86. Nursi, The Words, 241-2, 591-3; The Rays Collection, 258.
87. Nursi, The Rays Collection, 148.
88. Nursi, The Rays Collection, 147-8.
89. Nursi, The Rays Collection, 156.
90. Nursi, The Words, 377.
91. The analyses up to here have been based on the Risale-i Nur as a whole, but the ‘prophet’ dimension has been neglected since it is not the subject here. The following pages have been consulted mainly for the definition of man and his function: RNK, 136, 241-6, 315, 826, 850, 863, 878, 955, 960, 1215.
92. Nurs”, Muh‰kemat, 143.
93. The following pages have been benefited from for this discussion of ‘divine condescension:’ RNK, 173-6, 185-6, 651/1, 906/2, 1156/2, 1171/1, 1230-1, 1248-50, 1308-9, 1327, 1345-6, 1361, 2035/1, 1342/1.
94. Nursi, The Rays Collection, 263.
95. Wilfred Cantwell Smith, “The True Meaning of Scripture: An Empirical Historian’s Nonreductionist Interpretation of the Qur’an,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, ii (1980), 489.
96. For debates about whether a text should be studied with the preconception or temporary acceptance of what it posits, see, Gadamer, Truth and Method, 244-275, and Richard J. Bernstein, Beyond Objectivism, 126-131.
97. The following pages were consulted and summarized for this section headed ‘Sacred Texts Should Not Be Historicized;’ they may also be referred to for a detailed study: RNK, 173-4, 179/1, 183/1, 195-6, 492-7, 540/1, 573/2. 912-3, 972, 1335/2, 2019, 2340/1.
98. Nursi, The Flashes Collection, 176.
99. For the section, ‘What is the Qur’an?’ these pages have been consulted: RNK, 177/2, 181/1, 187/2, 200-1, 337/1, 454/1, 970/2, 972-3, 975/1, 1228/1, 1231, 1362-3, 1404/2, 1848/1, 1963/2, 1986-7, 1997/2, 2036/1. The Qur’an’s definition was taken from these pages: RNK, 51/1, 95/2, 161-2, 336-8, 1158, 1403-4.
100. Nursi, The Words, 44.
101. There are very many verses in the Qur’an that mention the universe directly and invite man to ponder over them. Most of them state explicitly that the beings they mention are ‘signs’ (or verses). The following is a list of such verses: 2:21-2, 29, 164; 6:38, 74-9, 95-9, 141-2; 7:54, 185; 10:5-6, 67; 12:105-6; 13:2-4, 12; 14: 10, 32-4; 15:16-17, 19-23; 16:3-22, 49, 65-9, 78-81; 17:12, 14, 70; 20:4-6, 53-4; 21:16, 30-3; 22:65, 73; 23:12-14, 17-22, 78-80; 25:2-3, 45-50, 53; 26:7-8, 146-9; 27:60-4, 86; 29:44; 30:8, 21-6, 41, 46, 48-50, 54; 31:10-11, 29, 31; 32:27; 34:9; 34:3, 9, 12-15, 27-8, 40; 36:32-42, 71-4, 80; 37:5-6; 38:27; 39:5-6, 21; 40:61-4, 67, 79-81; 41:53; 42:11-12, 29, 32-3; 43:10-14, 84-5; 44:38-9; 45:3-13; 46:3-5; 50:6-11; 51:20-3, 47-9; 52:35-6; 53:45-6; 55:5-7, 10-13, 17, 19-20, 22-4; 56:63-73; 64:1, 3; 67:3-5, 14-15, 19, 30; 71:1-23; 77:20-7; 78:6-16; 79:27-33; 80:24-32; 82:6-8; 84:16-20; 86:5-7, 11-12; 87:1-5; 88:17-20; 90:8-9; 91:1-7; 92:1-3; 95:1-4; 96:1-2.
102. Qur’an, 95:4.
103. The following pages of the Risale-i Nur have been benefited from in this section called ‘From the Qur’an to the Universe:’ RNK, 12/1, 49-50, 52/2, 53/2, 90, 132/2, 141/1, 179/1, 188/1, 189/2, 338/2, 454, 641/2, 651/1, 911-2, 1395-6, 1861/2, 2011/2.