Risale-i Nur/The Rays/The Fifteenth Ray/Introduction to the Turkish Translation of the Original Arabic The Damascus Sermon (s:640)

.treatises being written out by hand with unflagging zeal and published secretly body {font-family:'Thorndale AMT',serif;font-size:12.0pt} treatises being written out by hand with unflagging zeal and published secretly. How is it that it causes itself to be read with such enthusiasm, both within the country and abroad? What is the reason for it? In reply to the many questions of this sort, we say:Being a true commentary on the All-Wise Qur’an through the mystery of its miraculousness, the Risale-i Nur demonstrates that in misguidance is a sort of Hell in this world, while in belief is a sort of Paradise. It points out the grievous pains in sins, bad deeds, and forbidden pleasures, and proves that in good deeds and virtues and the truths of the Shari‘a are to be found pleasures like the pleasures of Paradise. In this way it saves the sensible among those who have fallen into vice and misguidance. For at this time there are two awesome conditions:T h e F i r s t : Since man’s emotions, which are blind to the consequences of things and prefer an ounce of present pleasure to tons of future joys, have come to prevail over mind and reason, the only way to save the dissipated from their vice is to show them the pain present in their pleasure and to defeat their emotions. Although they are aware of the diamond-like bounties and pleasures of the hereafter, as the verse, They deem lovable the life of this world1 indicates, while being believers, the people of misguidance choose worldly pleasures, which are like pieces of glass soon to be shattered. The only way of saving them from this love of the world and from the danger of succumbing to it is by showing them the hellish torments and pains they suffer even in this world. This is the way the Risale-i Nur takes. For at this time, due to the obduracy arising from absolute unbelief and the intoxication caused by the vice and misguidance arising from science, perhaps only one in ten or even twenty can be induced to give up his evil ways by proving the existence of Hell and its torments, after having told him of Almighty God. Having heard this, such people are likely to say: “God is Forgiving and Compassionate, and Hell is a long way off,” and continue in their dissipation. Their hearts and spirits are overcome by their emotions. Thus, by showing through most of its comparisons the grievous and terrible results in this world of disbelief and misguidance, the Risale-i Nur makes even the most stubborn and arrogant people feel disgust at those inauspicious, illicit pleasures, leading them to repent. The short comparisons in the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Words, and the long one in the Third Stopping-Place in the Thirty-Second Word lead a person to feel repugnance at the vice and misguidance of the way he has taken, and

Qur’an, 14:3.

Risale-i Nur/The Words/The Twenty-Second Word/Second StationRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Thirty-Second Word/First Stopping-PlaceRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Twenty-Second Word/Second StationRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Eighth WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Tenth Word/First AddendumRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Ninth WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Twenty-Ninth Word/Second AimRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Fourteenth WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Thirty-Third WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Tenth Word/First AddendumRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Tenth Word/On Resurrection And The Hereafter/Twelve 'Truths' consisting...Risale-i Nur/The Words/The Twenty-Fifth Word/First AddendumRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Twenty-Second Word/First StationRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Tenth WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Twenty-Fifth Word/Second Light/Third BeamRisale-i Nur/The Words/GleamsRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Thirty-First WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Thirty-First WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Nineteenth WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Twenty-Fourth Word/Fifth BranchRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Thirty-First WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Ninth WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Twenty-First Word/Second StationRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Thirty-Third WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Twenty-Third Word/First ChapterRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Twenty-Third Word/Second ChapterRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Thirty-Second Word/First Stopping-PlaceRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Tenth Word/On Resurrection And The Hereafter/Twelve 'Truths' consisting...Risale-i Nur/The Words/The Thirteenth Word/Second StationRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Thirty-Second Word/Third Stopping PlaceRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Twenty-Second Word/Second StationRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Thirteenth WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Thirteenth WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Twenty-Fifth Word/Second Light/Third BeamRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Fifteenth WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Twenty-Fifth Word/First Light/First RayRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Thirtieth Word/Second AimRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Eighth WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Tenth Word/On Resurrection And The Hereafter/Twelve 'Truths' consisting...Risale-i Nur/The Words/The Twentieth Word/First StationRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Fourteenth Word/AddendumRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Tenth Word/Second AddendumRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Twentieth Word/Second StationRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Thirty-First WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Eighth WordRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Thirtieth Word/Second AimRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Tenth Word/Second AddendumRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Thirty-Second Word/First Stopping-PlaceRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Twenty-Fifth Word/First AddendumRisale-i Nur/The Words/The Twenty-Fifth Word/A Flower Of Emirdag