The Lesson Of İmam İ Rabbani The Unfolding Of The Truths Of Belief And The Call To Verified Faith

That world traveller voyaging through different ages chanced upon the school of the Renewer of the Second Millenium, Imam-i Rabbani, Ahmad Faruqi. He entered and listened to the lesson being taught by the Imam:

"The most important result yielded by all the Sufi paths is the unfolding of the truths of belief. The unfolding in clarity of a single truth of belief is preferable to a thousand miraculous deeds and mystical visions."

The Imam said too:

لَٓا اِلٰهَ اِلَّا اللّٰهُ الْوَاحِدُ الْاَحَدُ الَّذ۪ى دَلَّ عَلٰى وَحْدَتِهِ ف۪ى وُجُوبِ وُجُودِهِ مُشَاهَدَةُ حَق۪يقَةِ الْكِبْرِيَٓاءِ وَ الْعَظَمَةِ فِى الْكَمَالِ وَ الْاِحَاطَةِ .. وَ كَذَا مُشَاهَدَةُ حَق۪يقَةِ ظُهُورِ الْاَفْعَالِ بِالْاِطْلَاقِ وَ عَدَمُ النِّهَايَةِ لَا تُقَيِّدُهَا اِلَّا الْاِرَادَةُ وَ الْحِكْمَةُ .. وَ كَذَا مُشَاهَدَةُ حَق۪يقَةِ ا۪يجَادِ الْمَوْجُودَاتِ بِالْكَثْرَةِ الْمُطْلَقَةِ فِى السُّرْعَةِ الْمُطْلَقَةِ وَ خَلْقُ الْمَخْلُوقَاتِ بِالسُّهُولَةِ الْمُطْلَقَةِ فِى الْاِتْقَانِ الْمُطْلَقِ وَ اِبْدَاعُ الْمَصْنُوعَاتِ بِالْمَبْذُولِيَّةِ الْمُطْلَقَةِ ف۪ى غَايَةِ حُسْنِ الصَّنْعَةِ وَ غُلُوِّ الْقِيْمَةِ .. وَ كَذَا مُشَاهَدَةُ حَق۪يقَةِ وُجُودِ الْمَوْجُودَاتِ عَلٰى وَجْهِ الْكُلِّ وَ الْكُلِّيَّةِ وَ الْمَعِيَّةِ وَ الْجَامِعِيَّةِ وَ التَّدَاخُلِ وَ الْمُنَاسَبَةِ .. وَ كَذَا مُشَاهَدَةُ حَق۪يقَةِ الْاِنْتِظَامَاتِ الْعَامَّةِ الْمُنَافِيَةِ للِشِّرْكَةِ .. وَ كَذَا مُشَاهَدَةُ وَحْدَةِ مَدَارَاتِ تَدَاب۪يرِ الْكَائِنَاتِ الدَّالَّةِ عَلٰى وَحْدَةِ صَانِعِهَا بِالْبَدَاهَةِ .. وَ كَذَا وَحْدَةُ الْاَسْمَٓاءِ وَ الْاَفْعَالِ الْمُتَصَرِّفَةِ الْمُح۪يطَةِ .. وَ كَذَا وَحْدَةُ الْعَنَاصِرِ وَ الْاَنْوَاعِ الْمُنْتَشِرَةِ الْمُسْتَوْلِيَةِ عَلٰى وَجْهِ الْاَرْضِ "In former times, great persons said that someone will arise from among the theologians and the scholars of the science of theology. He will prove all the truths of belief and Islam with rational proofs and the utmost clarity. I wish to be that man and maybe I am." {(*): Time has proven that the man referred to here is not in fact an individual, but the Risale-i Nur itself. It maybe that the people of unveiling happened to notice the insignificant interpreter and proclaimer of the Risale-i Nur and hence came to speak of "a man."} He continued his instruction by saying that belief and the assertion of Divine unity were the foundation, substance, light and life of all human perfection; that the Hadith "An hour's reflective thought is better than a year's worship" {[*]: al-'Ajluni, Kashf al-Khafa, i, 310.} refers to reflection on belief; and that the silent mode of invocation practised in the Naqshbandi Order is a form of this most excellent reflection.

The traveller listened with utmost care. He turned and addressed himself as follows: "It is thus that this heroic Imam speaks. To increase the strength of one's belief by as much as an atom is worth more than a ton of gnosis or other form of perfection and sweeter than the honey of a hundred visionary experiences.

"On the other hand, the philosophers of Europe have leagued together for a thousand years to invent objections and doubts in their hostility to faith and the Qur'an, and to attack the believers. They wish to shake the pillars of belief that are the key, the source, the foundation of everlasting felicity, of life immortal, of eternal Paradise. We ought therefore to strengthen our belief by making it one of realization instead of one of imitation.

تَفَكُّرُ سَاعَةٍ خَيْرٌ مِنْ عِبَادَةِ سَنَةٍ

So come, let us advance! In order to bring the twenty-nine degrees of faith that we have found, each as powerful as a mountain, to the blessed number of thirty-three, the number of litanies that follow upon prayer, and in order to see a third stopping-place in this realm of instruction, let us knock at the door of the dominical sustenance of the animate world and open it with the key of 'In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.'" Speaking thus he beseechingly knocked at the gate of this Third Stopping-Place, a compendium of wonders, and a spectacle of marvels.

Saying, "In the Name of Allah, the Opener," he opened the gate. The Third Stopping-Place became visible to him. He entered and saw that it was illumined by four great and encompassing truths that demonstrated the Divine unity as brightly as the sun.