Twenty Seventh Word
“Twenty Seventh Word” is on the possibility of ijtihad today, the wisdom in the differences of opinion among various madhabs (schools of jurisprudence in Islam), and the elevated rank of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) above saints of God and all other people except prophets.
Click to listen to Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5 (salawat), Episode 6 (Addendum, First Cause), Episode 7 (Addendum, Second Cause), and Episode 8 (Addendum, Third Cause, First Aspect), Episode 9 (Addendum, Third Cause, Second Aspect), Episode 10 (Addendum, Third Cause, Third Aspect and First Question), and Episode 11 (Second-Fourth Questions).
ROUGH TRANSLATION from the RISALE-I NUR
translation by Dr. Mustafa Tuna
Starting with Episode 10, a rough translation of the section that is being discussed is posted below. This is a work in progress and should not be considered a finalized translation. It is only meant to help with understanding the recorded discussion.
Episode 10
Twenty-Seventh Word, Addendum, Third Cause, Third Aspect
The companions cannot be reached with regard to the virtuousness of deeds, the rewards for acts, and the outpouring of otherworldly benefits. Because, in the way that a soldier who keeps guard for one hour under certain circumstances, at an important and risky, scary position earns virtues equivalent to a year’s worship; and if shot with a bullet, within a minute, he rises to a rank of sainthood that could otherwise be attained at the minimum in forty days… In the same way, the service of the companions in the establishment of Islam and in the propagation of the rulings of the Qur’an as well as their declaration of war on the entire world for the sake of Islam is so high that others cannot reach one minute’s worth of that in a whole year. It can even be said that each one of their minutes in that sacred service is like the minute of that martyred soldier. Each one of their hours is like the guard duty of that self-sacrificing soldier who keeps guard for an hour at a dreadful position: the deed is little, its compensation is high, and its value is precious.
Yes, since the companions constitute the first line in the establishment of Islam and the propagation of the lights of the Qur’an, a share goes to them from the good deeds of the entire ummah in accordance with the secret of اَلسَّبَبُ كَالْفَاعِلِ (The one who causes is like the one who does.). That the members of the ummah says اَللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلٰى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلٰۤى اٰلِهِ وَاَصْحَابِهِ (Oh God send your blessings on our Master Muhammad, on his family, and on his companions.) shows that the companions have a share from the good deeds of the entire ummah.
Moreover, in the way that a small merit on the roots of a tree acquires a big image on its branches, that it is bigger than a big branch; a little elevation at the beginning of a trajectory amounts to a big elevation as it continues; a small excess as big as the tip of a pin close to the center of of a disk sometimes reaches a meter on the outer circle… just as it is in these four examples, because the companions are among the roots and foundations of Islam’s luminous tree, because they were at the beginning of the lines that designed Islam’s edifice, because they were among the imams and the first among the multitudes of Islam, and because they were close to the center of the Sun of Prophethood and the Lantern of Truth, their few deeds are many and small services are big. To reach them, one truly has to be a companion.
اَللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلٰى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ الَّذِى قَالَ: «اَصْحَابِى كَالنُّجُومِ بِاَيِّهِمْ اِقْتَدَيْتُمْ اِهْتَدَيْتُمْ». وَ «خَيْرُ الْقُرُونِ قَرْنِى». وَعَلٰۤى اٰلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلِّمْ
سُبْحَانَكَ لاَعِلْمَ لَنَاۤ اِلاَّ مَاعَلَّمْتَنَاۤ اِنَّكَ اَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ
Twenty-Seventh Word, Addendum, Question 1
Question: It is said that the companions first saw the Noble Messenger (ﷺ) and then believed. We believe without seeing. In that case, our faith is stronger. Moreover, there are narrations that indicate the strength of our faith too.
Answer: At that time, when the opinions of everyone in the world were hostile and in opposition to the truths of Islam, the companions saw the Noble Messenger (ﷺ) only in his human form, and they had such a faith – sometimes without seeing miracles – that the opinions of the entire world could not shake their faith. Some of them would not be affected even by obsessive thoughts (waswasah), let alone doubts.
As for you… You are now comparing your faith with that of the companions. While the opinions of the general Muslim community is a source of strength and support for your faith, and while with the eye of the intellect and thanks to the luminous lights of Islam and the truths of the Qur’an altogether, as opposed to the Noble Prophet’s (ﷺ) physical form and human nature, which constituted the seed of the Tuba tree of his prophethood, you are seeing his luminous and magnificent metaphysical personality surrounded by a thousand miracles… [While this is the case,] where is your faith that becomes afflicted by doubts and obsessions upon hearing the words of a European philosopher… And where was the faith of the companions that did not shake in the face of the attacks of the entire world of disbelief, the Christians, the Jews, and the philosophers?.. Moreover, where is the intensity of the God-consciousness (taqwah) of the companions and the perfection of their righteousness, which indicated the strength of their faith and was a symptom of it? And, oh the claimant, where is your faint faith that, as a result of the intensity of its weakness, does not cause the obligatory acts of the religion (farāiḍ) appear completely on you [i.e. does not give you enough incentive to perform the obligatory acts of religion completely].
As for what has reached us in the hadith narration, which may be conveyed roughly as “At the end of times, one who does not see me yet has faith in me is preferable.” That is about particular virtue. It is about some individual persons. Our discussion is about general virtue and the majority.
Twenty-Seventh Word, Addendum, Question 2
They say that the people of sainthood and the possessors of perfections have renounced the world. It is even mentioned in the hadith that “The love of the world (dunya) is the font of all mistakes.” That being said, the companions have become involved with the world extensively. Let alone renouncing the world, some of the companions have surpassed even the civilized peoples of that time. How can you then say that the lowest of such companions has as much value as one of the greatest among the saints?
Answer: It is proven most definitively in the Second and Third Stopping Stations of the Thirty Second Word that: Loving that aspect of the world that looks (relates) to the Hereafter and faces divine names is not a cause of deficiency but in fact, a source of perfection. To the extent that one excels in relation to those two faces, one excels in worship and the knowledge of God with increase. And the world of the companions pertain to those two faces. They have seen the world to be a cultivating field for the Hereafter, and thus, they have sown and reaped it. They have seen the existent beings as mirrors of divine names, and thus, they have gazed at them with yearning observation. As for what is bad of the world, that pertains to its transient face and looks (relates) to man’s vain desires.
Twenty-Seventh Word, Addendum, Question 3
The Sufi orders (tarīqahs) are the pathways of truths. It is said about the Naqshbandi Sufi Order, which is claimed to be the best known and the most elevated with the broadest avenue among the Sufi orders, that some of the heroes and imams of that Sufi order have defined its essence as follows. They have said:
Four renunciations are required in the Naqshbandi Sufi Order.
Renunciation of the world, renunciation of the Hereafter, renunciation of existence, and the renunciation of renunciation.
That is, one must leave four things in the Naqshbandi Sufi Order: Not to make the world the actual objective or even the Hereafter when it is on account of the lower soul, then to forget one’s own existence, and then not even to think about these renunciations so as to avoid vanity and pride. In that case, true knowledge of God and human perfection is attained by renouncing all other than God,[is that so]?
Answer: If man consisted of a heart alone, it would have been necessary to renounce all other than God, to leave even the names and attributes, and to attach the heart to the Divine Entity of the Sublime Real alone. But man has many faculties and essential properties such as the intellect, the spirit, the secret, and the lower soul. The perfect man is the one who directs all those faculties, each through their peculiar paths of worshipful slavehood, in the direction of Truth, and by doing so walks heroically to the objective as if the heart is a commander with those faculties as the soldiers, like the companions, in a broad circle and in an opulent way. Otherwise, leaving its soldiers behind and proceeding on its own in order to save itself alone is not something to be proud of for the heart; in fact, it may be the consequence of a state of dire circumstances [not being able to do so otherwise].
Twenty-Seventh Word, Addendum, Question 4
Where is this claim about superiority over the companions coming from? Who is producing them? What is the point behind bringing this matter up at this time? Moreover, what is the cause behind the claims of parity with the great mujtahids?
Answer: There are two groups who mention this matter: One are the genuine people of religion and the people of knowledge with pure intentions that they have seen some prophetic traditions, and they initiate such discussions in order to encourage and hearten the God-conscious and righteous people at this time. We do not have any words of objection to this group. They are few at any rate and wake up quickly. The other are dreadful and prideful people. They want to spread their madhablessness under the claim of parity with the great mujtahids. And they want to practice their irreligiosity under the claim of parity with the companions. Because, first of all, those people of misguidance have entered into dissipation, they have become addicted to dissipation, and they are unable to fulfill the Shar’i responsibilities that prevent dissipation. In order to find an excuse for themselves, they say: “These are matters of ijtihad. The madhabs are in opposition with one another in these matters. Moreover, they are people like us too, they can err. In that case, we also do ijtihad like them and worship the way we want to. What obligation do we have to follow them?” So these unfortunate ones are pulling their heads out of the constraints of the madhabs with those Satanic wiles. Since how corrupt and devoid of foundation their claim is is definitively shown in the Twenty-seventh Word, here we refer to it.
Secondly, those people of misguidance look and notice that the matter does not come to an end with the mujtahids. What they carry on their shoulders is only the inferential matters of the religion. This group of misguidance, however, want to leave and alter the non-inferential matters of religion. If they say “We are better than them.” this does not solve their problem altogether. Because, the mujtahids can intervene in inferential matters and non-definite details. Since these madhabless people of misguidance want to interject their ideas into the non-inferential matters of religion, change those matters that are not subject to change, and raise objections against definitive pillars of Islam, of course they will harass the companions who are the carriers and poles of the non-inferential matters of religion. Alas! It is proven in the Twenty-seventh Word in an utmostly definitive way that let alone these animals in human form, even the real people and the greater ones of the saints as the most perfect among the real people cannot win the claim of parity with the lower-ranking ones of the companions.
اَللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ عَلٰى رَسُولِكَ الَّذِى قَالَ : "لاَ تَسُبُّوا اَصْحَابِى، لَوْ اَنْفَقَ اَحَدُكُمْ مِثْلَ اُحُدٍ ذَهَباً مَابَلَغَ نِصْفَ مُدٍّ مِنْ اَصْحَابِى"
Oh God, send your blessings and greetings of peace on Your Messenger who said: “Do not insult my companions. If one of you were to spend gold equivalent to Mount Uhud, he would not be able to reach half a handful of that which is from my companions.”
صَدَقَ رَسُولُ اللهِ
You have spoken the truth oh the Messenger of God.
سُبْحَانَكَ لاَعِلْمَ لَنَاۤ اِلاَّ مَاعَلَّمْتَنَاۤ اِنَّكَ اَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ