The Supreme Sign affair. He has shown how much he deserves the extraordinary honour and merit pertaining to the hereafter he has gained through his pen and the Hizb al-Qur’an1 and Hizb al-Nuri,2 and made me weep at the deep joy I felt. There is much wisdom in The Supreme Sign, the Seventh Ray, attracting attention to itself, and preparing the ground for the future triumphs it deserves: its temporary confiscation will not nullify the work and expenses of that brother and his wife; God willing, it will make them shine even more. This we await from Divine mercy.
From your brother who, through the use of the first person plural in all his supplications, such as: “Deliver us; have mercy on us; preserve us,” includes all of you in them without exception; who works in accordance with the principle of our partnership of the spirit, as though we were numerous bodies and a single spirit and is more concerned with your distress than you are yourselves; and who, from your collective personality awaits strength, assistance, constancy, steadfastness, and intercession.
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At a time when, under the effects of this event, I determined to completely resign myself to sacrificing myself for my innocent brothers and was seeking for a solution, I read Jaljalutiya.3 It suddenly occurred to me that Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) prayed: “O God! Deliver us!”; God willing, you shall be delivered through the meaning of his supplication.
Yes, in his Qasidat al-Jaljalutiya, Imam ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) gave news of the Risale-i Nur in two ways, and alluded to The Supreme Sign with the lines “And through The Supreme Sign, secure me from sudden disaster.” Through this allusion, he is indicating that due to The Supreme Sign, a disaster of significant proportions will be visited on the Risale-i Nur students and is beseeching God to deliver the students from the calamity for the sake of The Supreme Sign; he is making the treatise and its source an intercessor. Yes, the printing of The Supreme Sign was made the pretext for the calamity that occurred, and confirmed exactly that sign of the Unseen.
Also, on the opposite page in the qasida, it says at the end of the allu
Hizb al-Qur’an: A collection of Qur’anic verses, many of which form the basis of, and are expounded in, the Risale-i Nur. [Tr.]
Hizb al-Nuri: A long supplication. See also, page 501 footnote 78. [Tr.]
A qasida written in Syriac and Arabic, which is attributed to ‘Ali b. Abi Talib. [Tr.]