the two sides of the same page or on facing pages display beautiful and significant numerical relationships.1, 2, 3, 4
Second Point
At the time of Moses (Upon whom be peace), it was magic that was prevalent, so his most important miracles resembled it. And at Jesus (Upon whom be peace)’s time, it was medicine that was prevalent and his miracles were mostly of that kind. Similarly, at the time of the Most Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), in the Arabian Peninsula four things were prevalent:
The First: Eloquence and rhetoric.
The Second: Poetry and oratory.
Also, for those who practise the recitation of the divine names and praises and supplicate God, the Qur’an&s adorned and rhymed words, and eloquent and artistic style, and the many virtues of its eloquence, which draw attention to itself, afford an elevated seriousness and sense of the divine presence, and a collectedness of mind; they do not mar or spoil these. Whereas, rhetoric, artistic wording, rhyme and poetic composition of that sort usually weaken seriousness, make their elegance felt, disturb the sense of God’s presence, and distract attention. In fact, I used to recite Imam al-Shafi’i’s famous supplication frequently, for it is a most subtle and serious supplication, is composed in an elevated versified form, and once caused the end of dearth and famine in Egypt. On reading it, I observed that it was in verse and rhymed, and that this spoilt its lofty seriousness. I recited it constantly for eight or nine years, and I was unable to reconcile the verse and rhyme with its serious nature. I understood from this that there is a sort of miraculousness in the rhyming and ordering and qualities of the Qur’an’s words, which are particular and natural and original to it, that preserves completely the seriousness and sense of the divine presence, not spoiling them. Thus, even if those who recite supplications and the divine names and praises do not understand this sort of miraculousness with the mind, they perceive it with the heart.
Another aspect of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition’s miraculousness is that it expresses the most elevated and brilliant degree of the Noble Messenger’s (UWBP) belief, who manifested the Greatest Name. It also expresses and instructs in a natural manner the religion of truth, which, being most vast, extensive, and lofty, sets forth the lofty truths of the worlds of the hereafter and of dominicality like a sacred map. It conveys too in all its infinite glory and majesty, the address of the Creator of the universe, in respect of His being the Sustainer of all beings. Certainly, in the face of its exposition being thus, if, in accordance with the verse,
“Say: If the whole of mankind and the jinn were to gather together to pro-
duce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce its like,”(17:88)
all the minds of mankind were to unite and become a single mind, they could not contest it or oppose it. How could they? They are as distant from the Qur’an as the earth is from the Pleiades. For in view of the three above principles, it is certainly not possible to imitate the Qur’an, nor to compose its like.
At the bottom of every page of the Qur’an, the verses are complete and they end rhyming in a fine way. The reason is this: when the verse called Mudayana (2:292) provides the standard for the pages, and the Suras Ikhlas and Kawthar, the standard for the lines, this fine quality of the All-Wise Qur’an and sign of its miraculousness become apparent.
Because of unfortunate haste, we had to content ourselves in this section with some slight indications and brief instances and small signs of a highly important and magnificent wonder, one which from the point of view of the Risale-i Nur’s success is beautiful, illuminating, and encouraging. Now, that important truth and encouraging wonder – under the name of ‘coincidence’ (tevâfuk), and five or six sorts at that – forms a chain of wonders of the Risale-i Nur, and flashes of a visible sort of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, and a source of signs of the ciphers of the Unseen. Later, we had a copy of the Qur’an written that showed in gilded letters a flash of its miraculousness which appeared from the coinciding of the word Alla\h. And I wrote eight short pieces, called The Eight Symbols (Rumûzat-ı Semaniye), which explain the subtle relationships evident in the coinciding of the Qur’an’s letters, and their allusions concerning the Unseen. I also wrote five treatises, one about the wonders of Ghauth al-Gilani, three about those of ‘Ali, and one called Indications of the Qur’an (İşârât-ı Kur’aniye), which by means of tevâfuk or coincidences, confirm, commend, and applaud the Risale-i Nur. That is to say, that important truth was perceived and written in summary fashion in the writing of The Miracles of Muhammad, but unfortunately the author saw and described only a tiny part of it; he continued without further pursuing it.