of things demands it and wisdom requires it. Before the Era of Bliss all the nations of the world of humanity were extremely distant from one another and hostile to each other, both physically and emotionally, and by instinct and upbringing. A single sort of education was insufficient for them and all could not be drawn to a single cause. Then, when humanity was awakened in the Era of Bliss and subsequently, and people felt a desire to come together due to the exchange of ideas and swapping of characters, and the intermingling of peoples, and some of them investigating the conditions of others, and time was churned up by the many means of communication and transportation; – then the globe of the earth became like a single country, or a province, or a town, and the people of the world came together; and then a single mission, a single prophethood was sufficient for all of them.
The way the phrase intimates the fifth aim: since the “from (min)” of “before you (min qablika)” infers a beginning, it infers ‘to’ (ilā),” which indicates the end. That is, “prophethood came to an end with your coming, for your Shari‘a is sufficient.” This infers that his Shari‘a abrogated all previous ones, signalling their end, and through its sufficiency, included them all.
The evidence that from the point of view of eloquence this phrase has absorbed these subtle points is that the five aims resemble a river flowing beneath these verses; one of them gushes out completely in one verse, then another flows forth in another, and another is manifested entirely in a torrent in yet another. Even the least trickle on the surface indicates that the veins of this phrase touch it. Moreover, the above meanings sprout forth in many different verses.
“And have certain belief in the hereafter (wa bi’l-ākhirati hum yūqinūn)”
Consider this: this phrase refers to the fourth of the four well-known aims of the Qur’an: the resurrection of the dead. I have deduced ten proofs of it from the Qur’an’s word-order and have set them out in another book.1 It will be useful to summarize them here. They are as follows:
The resurrection of the dead is a reality, for there is perfect, intentional order in the universe. There is total wisdom in creation. There is nothing futile in the world. There is no waste in creation (al-fiṭra). This testimony is vouched for by the inductive reasoning of all the sciences, each of which is a faithful witness to the order in its field of study. Also, there being
Nursi, Muhâkemat [first published 1911] (Istanbul: Sözler Yayınevi, 1977), 151-153. As the New Said, he later included the same proofs in the Twenty-Ninth Word, The Words (Istanbul: Sözler Publications, 2002), 538-545.