0
0
Assalamu Alaykum
Honourable guests, dear brothers,
Welcome to Istanbul, whose conquest was heralded by our Beloved Prophet (PBUH) and to our country, Turkey.
Welcome to the International Symposium on Bediuzzaman and Risale-i Nur!
Welcome all! You brought peace and happiness with you.
We, as Hayrat Foundation, thank Allah thousands of times for giving us the chance to host this beneficial meeting.
I thank Wadah Pencerdasan Umat Malaysia and The Union of NGOs of the Islamic World for their cooperation with our foundation in organizing this meeting.
I would like to extend my deepest gratitude especially to my distinguished brothers coming from Malaysia, Sudan, Syria, Egypt and various cities of Turkey.
May Allah reward you for this action of yours with His mercy and grace.
May Allah accept this service of ours; and make our meeting an opportunity of good deeds.
On behalf of Risale-i Nur Students of Turkey, I wish you loyalty, success, cooperation and agreement in the service of Qur’an and welfare and faith from Allah.
Dear Brothers,
Hayrat Foundation was founded in 1974 in Kucukcekmece, Istanbul, by Ahmet Husrev Altınbaşak who was the student and closest service friend of Ustad Bediuzzaman who handed the service over him after his death. Our foundation has displayed activities in the direction of sublime purposes for 34 years.
Besides our permanent commissions organizing activities to realize ongoing sublime purposes and get our values reached to our people and to the whole humanity by means of contemporary and modern instruments, provisional commissions are also set up for more special organizations, researches and time-bound studies.
Each activity of ours is planned carefully in order to resist our biggest enemies of ignorance, distress, and conflict with our weapons of art, knowledge and cooperation. Our worldwide activities are done through the most effective methods.
Our foundation, in accordance with its founding purposes, gives a special importance to the educational activities and supports every activity done for students.
To ensure a glorious future is only possible by raising healthy generations.
Thus, Hayrat Foundation performs activities to raise generations who are conscious of their history, bases of our civilisation and moral values.
Dear Brothers,
As you all know the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
It is commonly agreed by the consensus of scholars that Master Bediuzzaman is the recipient of this hadith in this last period of human beings.
Risale-i Nur is a public property. They are the explanations of Qur’an that is to the benefit of human being.
Master Bediuzzaman himself says about this topic: “Risale-i Nur is the highest and holiest explanation in this century. Its explanations and truths are divine and belong to Qur’an. Therefore as long as the Qur’an is being read, The Risale-i Nur will also be read. The fact that various nations translated it into their languages and benefited from it after 50 years proves this fact. Risale-i Nur is the manifestation of the truths of the Qur’an.
From we understand that the Holy Qur’an is like a Tuba tree in the paradise. Its base and root are spread to the heaven; its branches and fruits are spread to the ground. Risale-i Nur is an interpretation of Qur’an. There are two types of interpretations. One type interprets the expressions… The other type proves its truths. Risale-i Nur is the strongest and most valuable of those in the second type. There are hundreds of thousand of clever and careful witnesses affirming this. The fact that scholars from Egypt, Damascus and Mecca and knowledgeable scholars from Istanbul and various other places affirmed and did not contradict to Risale-i Nur clearly shows this.
As a result, all the beauties and powers that can be found in Risale-i Nur are just flashes of Qur’an. Our duty is just to desire, demand and want through our great need for them. Our duty is to plead, knowing our lowness.
We have the disease. Qur’an has the cure.
Brothers,
Masnawi Sharif became the sign of one of the truths of seven lights coming from the sun of Qur’an and took a holy honour. It became the eternal guide of lots of other people of heart.
In the same way, as Risale-i Nur reflects all the seven colours of the sun of Qur’an and colourful, different seven lights coming from that sun together. Inshaallah it will become a guide as good, clear and holy as seven Masnawi in seven ways.
I reiterate that the current situation of the world is witnessing this fact. Thank Allah thousands of times.
Risale-i Nur is more gorgeous than the sun, beautiful like the heaven, and great like the eternal happiness. Lots of great people such as Imam Ali (ra), Bukharî, Muslim, Imam Azam, Imam Shafî, Imam Mâlik, Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, Imam Ghazali ve Ghaws Azam Abdulqadir Geylânî and Junayd Baghdadî cleaned the doubts of their centuries with the help of Allah.
Lots of scholars such as Imam Rabbânî Mujaddid Alfi Sânî Ahmad Farûqî said that “One scholar from Islamic kalam scholars will come and prove the truths of faith and Islam through proofs and in a clear way (and he proved.) (Time proved that he is not a person but Risale-i Nur itself. “Said Nursî”)
And that sacred Imam prefers the appearance of one of the truths of faith to thousands of miracles and spiritual delights.
May Allah accept their service. May Allah forgive the sins and faults of Risale-i Nur students, as well as ours and our brothers’ who came to this city as our guests. May Allah bestow happiness upon you both in this world and in the hereafter.
Honourable Brothers,
Master Bediuzzaman and Risale-i Nur is a gift that Allah bestowed upon us in this century.
Risale-i Nur introduces us the whole universe in detail and it is an explanation of Qur’an teaching us to look at every creature just for Allah. It explains and proves the truths of faith with strong proofs and Qur’an that satisfy people.
It destroys the unbelief coming from science and philosophy, introduces us to our Lord, Creator in the best way, and gives us the knowledge of wisdom. It explains our prophet and his sunnah to us in accordance with the Divine command and makes us a genuine and sincere member of Ummah.
Risale-i Nur offers cures to the contagious diseases bothering people of the era; introduces the message of the Qur’an to all the people from every class.
It is like fresh, clean, divine, Qur’anic air people breathe after being exposed to lack of oxygen in the atmosphere of whispers, doubts and hesitations. It is like the rain falling on the arid valleys of people’s thought.
It is clear that every bestowal requires thanks to Allah.
The best thank for his great gift is to benefit from it and to offer it to the benefit of humanity through the best ways.
Every meeting, speech and work made on behalf of Risale-i Nur is definitely on behalf of Our Holy Book Qur’an, the words of Allah.
Because Risale-i Nur is from Qur’an and it does belong to Qur’an.
These symposiums are not enough although we organize hundreds of them. Even if we organize them every month in every country, at every university, in every city they will not be enough.
Because the truths of belief and Qur’an are essential for us as much as air and water. We can not live without them. We can not reach an eternal life without them. We can not please Allah without them
Thanks Allah thousands of times for gathering us around this purpose as gorgeous as the sun, as beautiful as the heaven and as great as the eternal happiness.
I implore Allah that he will give us good results from this meeting.
Once more welcome to our country and to our city.
I thank individually and present my compliments to all the speakers and all my dear brothers who honoured us by participating in this meeting and all the members of preparatory committee of this symposium.
*This paper was presented by Ahmed Semiz, Member of Board of Trustees, Hayrat Foundation, in the International Symposium on Bediuzzaman and Risale-i Nur on May 24-25 2008.