would proudly and happily have endured all your difficulties. Because of you, I love Isparta and its environs down to its very stones and soil. I declare even, and I shall say so officially, if the Isparta authorities were to inflict some penalty on me and another province was to acquit me, I would still choose here.
Yes, I am from Isparta in three respects. I cannot prove it genealogically, but I have the conviction that the forebears of Said, who came into the world in the sub-district of Isparit, went there from here. And the province of Isparta has given me such true brothers that I would be happy to sacrifice not Abdülmecid1 and Abdurrahman,2 but Said [myself] for each one of them.
It is my guess that there is no one on earth at this time who suffers less —in their hearts, spirits, and minds— than the Risale-i Nur students. For due to the lights of certain, verified belief,3 their hearts, spirits, and minds do not suffer distress. As for physical hardships, they know from the teachings of the Risale-i Nur, that they are both transitory, and unimportant, and yield reward, and are a means by which the service of belief unfolds in other channels, and so meet them with thanks and patience. They prove through their states of mind that certain, verified belief leads to happiness in this world too. Yes, they say “Let’s see what God does, whatever He does, it is good,” and steadfastly work to transform these transient difficulties into permanent instances of mercy.
May the Most Merciful of the Merciful increase the numbers of those like them, make them the cause of pride and happiness for this country, and grant them eternal happiness in Paradise. Amen!
* * *
My Dear, Loyal Brothers!
In regard to this Divinely ordained event from the point of view of the justice of Divine Determining: because some of the new students sought worldly things by means of the Risale-i Nur, which were not in keeping with the true meaning of sincerity, they found themselves confronted by self-seeking rivals, and obtaining from somewhere a long way off from
Abdülmecid (d.1967) was Bediuzzaman’s younger brother. He was a teacher of the religious sciences, then a Mufti. He translated parts of the Risale-i Nur into Arabic, and others from Arabic into Turkish. [Tr.]
Abdurrahman (1903-1928) was the son of Bediuzzaman’s elder brother, Abdullah. He was Bediuzzaman’s “spiritual son, student, and assistant,” and joined his uncle in Istanbul after the First World War. He published a short biography of Bediuzzaman at that time. [Tr.]
For ‘certain, verified belief,’ see, page 569, footnote 1.