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Sometimes man considers himself the real doer of his actions under the effect of his delusions about himself. By that means he becomes alienated from the grace and mercy of Allah (SWT), thinking secretly that he does not need anything more.
MAN
The modern world has provided the man with a perception – or a delusion – beyond reality and has put him in a difficult position. The human being took on this burdensome task because, although he had a sense of ego in his nature, his evil-commanding soul, which is the dark aspect of the ego, was actually pleased to have such a delusion. Together with the help of heedlessness (ghaflah), which means forgetting the eternal life of hereafter within the quick and busy life of the world, and losing power spiritually while pursuing worldly properties, ranks and lustful desires, man began to consider himself as the real owner of his body and soul and the real controller of everything around him. This state of mind has occurred to everybody irrespective of their age.
In spite of this state of affairs, everybody living in this world realizes that it is a place where there are always arrivals and departures. And it is obvious that it is a place of trial. If man can get rid of his delusions, he can see that he does not have the power to attain his desires and ambitions. At just such a point we need to remember that Allah (SWT) announces the following truth and warns His servants in 107th verse of surah al Baqara: “Do you not know (and surely you do know) that Allah is He to Whom belongs the sovereignty (absolute ownership and dominion) of the heavens and the earth (with all that is therein)? (He acts as He wills in His dominion, and you are His servants wholly submitted to Him. Given this, and unless He wills,) you have, apart from Allah, neither a guardian (to whom you can entrust your affairs) nor a helper.” And He shows us the way out in the 45th verse
of the same chapter: “Seek help through patience (and fasting, which requires and enables great patience), and through the Prayer. Indeed it (the Prayer) is burdensome, but not for those humbled by their reverence of Allah.”
THE BLESSING OF ALLAH’S GRACE
We have been through a lot of trials in the history of the world. As Imam Bediuzzaman says, “O Allah! My good deeds are because of Your grace. And my bad deeds are because of my will. If it was not for Your grace, I would be annihilated”. We have been saved from lots of tribulations because of Allah’s (SWT) grace. As the survivors of the horrible tribulations of the 19th and 20th centuries, we still confront devastating wars and social events.
What is gratifying is that the world is developing positively towards peace and happiness. The events that we are witnessing indicate that the spring season is coming. This is the divine canon. When beauties shed light upon our world, it is important to realize the source of the light, and then to take a position which will lead to more positive developments, whether in terms of civil organizations or political and social movements.
GRACE AND THE DIVINE PLAN
After Allah (SWT) states what He has done for the Prophet (PBUH) and that it is He who has done it for him in the following verses, “Did He not find you an orphan and give shelter (to you)? And find you unguided (by Allah’s Messengership), and guide (you)? And find you in want, and make you self-sufficient?” then He orders what the Prophet (PBUH) needs to do as His servant, “And as for the favour of your Lord, proclaim it!” (Surah Duha)
Jalaluddin Khwaresm Shah used to be victorious in all the wars that he was involved in. One day, on the way of one of those campaigns people around him said, “You will be victorious again. Allah (SWT) will make you defeat your adversaries.” His answer was edifying; “It is incumbent upon me to fight on the path of righteousness by the order of Allah (SWT). I am not aware of the will of Allah. What makes me victorious or defeated is Allah’s will.”
When he completed the writing of the Treatise of Resurrection together with his student Shamli Hafiz Tevfik, Imam Bediuzzaman said, “Alhamdulillah! We have defeated unbelief!” When heard this, Hafiz Tevfik was amazed and responded, “Sir! Atheists are publishing the books of unbelief continuously in their printing houses. You have written a treatise on a few pieces of papers that we can hardly find here, and you are saying that we have defeated unbelief. I am baffled by your statement!” Imam Nursi responded with hope and perseverance, “We carry out our duty and do not interfere with Allah’s plan!” explaining to him that this is what faith requires of us.
Yes, there are two kinds of duty. The first one belongs to the servants and it is incumbent upon them to do it. And, the second one belongs to Allah (SWT) and it requires us to have submission. When we look at the scope of the verse, “But you cannot will (to do so) unless Allah wills, the Lord of the worlds”, it will be clearly understood that what brings us good and beauty is the grace of Allah (SWT).
IT IS NOT YOU WHO DOES!
Our Prophet (PBUH) took some pebbles and dust in his hand in the Battle of Badr and threw them into the faces of the unbelievers, saying, “May their faces be dark!” Although that was a fistful of dust thrown and a sentence uttered in a limited area, that sentence could be heard by every unbeliever and that fistful of dust could reach the eyes of every unbeliever. In that way, the unbelievers were caused to ran away in various directions. Allah (SWT) stated this event to His apostle in the following way, “You (O believers) did not kill them (by yourselves in the battle), but Allah killed them; and when you (O Messenger) threw (dust at them at the start of the battle), it was not you who threw, but Allah threw.” (Anfal, 8:17)
So, what about our actions? What about the answer “I did it” to the question “who did it?”. Where do we put these questions and how do we handle them?
IS COMPETENCE CRIME?
Allah (SWT) has endowed us with some capabilities, but we need to understand well what this means. If you have a capability, it has been given you and it does not belong to you absolutely. That means the One who has given it to you has targets that He aims to reach through your hand. Regarding the good deeds that you do, it is the same agent who wants you to do good things and who gives you the capability and opportunity to do it. A lamp which illuminates all around it will make everybody pleased. But we can’t give all the responsibility of success to the lamp itself because if it were not for the agent who brought together all the parts which form the lamp, and organized things in a way that would cause the illumination, it would be impossible to talk about either the lamp or the illumination.
Abilities make sense when we know who gave them and why He gave them. Approaches like, “Is it a crime to have ability?” which is expressed in a way which reduces the importance of the other factors and abilities and limits the focus just to him, will lead to the loss of the concept of grace and the beauty behind it. That will cause many beauties to be lost and the grace of Allah (SWT) to be cut off in return for defending yourself and coming into prominence.
FIRING A WEAPON WHEN THE MOON IS ECLIPSED
In olden times, when the moon was eclipsed, people used to fire weapons. A little while later the moon would reappear and shine. Now even the children know that the moon does not shine when you fire at the dark sky. The world, especially the Middle East, has been experiencing a “lunar eclipse” in recent times, and this darkness will disperse not through firing at the darkness, but rather by centring on what we need to do, and begging for the grace of Allah (SWT) as we perform the Khusuf prayer during the lunar eclipse to express our appreciation and praise, knowing that what happens is controlled only through Allah Almighty’s power.
This ummah has always become stronger in the face of tribulations through the grace of Allah (SWT). They have survived the attacks of imperialist monsters because of the grace of Allah (SWT). They have started up anew in places and at times when it was said, “they are finished”. The events that were experienced at these times have been clear indications of the fact that we are having blessings bestowed upon us from the treasures of Allah (SWT).
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Now let us focus and imagine the grace of Allah (SWT), isolating ourselves from all other kinds of thoughts. Time and place, world and space, man and Allah (SWT)… Let us imagine our relationship with Allah (SWT).
It is time to make an assessment by adding the scheme of Allah, who created the universe for various reasons and goals, to our own scheme.
Requesting help from Allah (SWT) should not mean stability and stagnation. On the contrary, it means to do what needs to be done and then not to interfere the plan of Allah (SWT).
It is important not to be deprived of the mercy of Allah (SWT) in a universe in which His mercy has surpassed His rage. It should be remembered that what is basic in the universe is goodness. And the main component of being good is asking for good things, and submitting to the will of the Lord who makes the good things the basis of all. The Truth is always superior and all else is transient.