From: irfan@APOLLO.ECE.WISC.EDU (Irfan Alan)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.afghanistan
Subject: DROPLET Vol 1,No 2, Part 3
Date: 20 Aug 92 20:49:05 GMT


D R O P L E T
From The Vast Ocean Of The Miraculous Qur'an

Translations from the Arabic and Turkish Writings of Bediuzzaman
Said Nursi, 

The Risale-i Noor

VOL 1, No 2, Part 3
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THE FOURTH  WORD (title of a small chapter in a volume of works
called WORDS whose muellif is Bediuzzaman Said Nursi)

In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

"And when you are in safety, perform your salat properly. Salat
at fixed hours have been enjoined on the believers." [Al Qur'an
4:103]

"Guard strictly your (habit) of prayers, (especially) the Middle
prayer; and stand before Allah in devotion and submission."[Al
Qur'an 2:238] 

"The Salat (daily prayer) is the pillar of deen (Islam)" [Hadith]

O friend.  Do you not see how important, but yet how much
uncostly the salat is?  Do you not realize that such a great
treasure can be obtained only by a minimal effort?  If you wish
to understand how much crazy and impoverished a person without
the salat is in the certainty of two times two equaling four ,
then look at and listen to this parable.

Once upon a time, a great governor send two of his servants to
live in a special and beautiful ranch located at a
two-month-long distance.  He also gave each one twenty four
gold-liras.  He commanded to them, "With this money, you can buy
a ticket,  your necessities , and essential things to live in
that place.  There is a station in one day-long distance.  You
can find there bus, ship, train, and plane.  According to your
capital, you can take one of them."

After taking this advice, both servants started their journey. 
One of them was very fortunate.  He spend very little money till
the station.  However, with what he spent, he made a very good
trade which pleased his master.  His small capital  have grown
up to thousands more.  The unfortunate one spent his twenty
third gold-liras even before arriving at the station.  He wasted
them in gambling and other similar things.  He had only one
gold-lira left.  His friend told him, "O! you should save that
single gold-lira for a ticket so that you are not left on-foot
and hungry on this very long journey.  Also, our master is
generous; he might forgive your mistakes out of his mercy." 
Now, if this person had insisted stubbornly to spend that last
single gold-lira on temporary pleasures rather than spending it
for a ticket (which would lead him to a treasure), even the most
foolish person would understand that he was mindless,
bankrupted, and unfortunate.  

O you! without salat and O my nefs! (ego) who does not like to
perform the salat.  That governor is our Lord and our Creator. 
As to the two travelling servants: one is a devoted Muslim
performing the salat with  eagerness, and the other is heedless
human without salat.  That twenty four gold-liras are the twenty
four hours of each day.  That special ranch is the paradise, and
that station is the grave.  That travel is the human's journey
towards eternity through death and hereafter.  The human can
succeed in that road with many possible degrees depending on how
much his/her commitments and taqwaa are.  Some of the people of
taqwaa can take one-year-long distance in one day like lighting,
some others can take fiftythousand-year-long distance in one day
like imagination.  The Qur'an indicates this truth with its two
ayats. [Al Qur'an 32:5, 70:4]  That ticket is the salat.  One
single hour would be enough for five obligatory prayers together
with ablution per  day.  If a person spends his/her twenty three
hours for this very short worldly life and does not spend the
remaining one hour for the long eternal life, you should realize
how much bankrupted he is, how much destructive he is to him/her
nefs (self), and how much against the wisdom he acts.

It is such an irony that the wisdom of some human-mind does
accept the idea of wasting half of one's assets on a lottery to
which thousands of people join, and the winning probability of
which is at most one in thousands!  Then, if a person is not
investing at least one of his twenty four hours on the eternal
treasure which will be rewarded with a certainty of at least
ninety nine out of hundred, shouldn't that person, who considers
himself/herself a conscious being, realize that he/she is going
against the wisdom and mind, and acting far from sound judgement?

Furthermore, in salat, there is the comfort of the soul, the
heart, and the mind.  While performing the salat is not a burden
to the body at all, even the other daily occupations -within the
sharia (Islamic Law)- of a person performing the salat transform
into a kind of worshipping with a very good intention.  In this
way, he can aim all his life-span towards the hereafter. So, the
finite-life transforms into an eternal one through the
salat.

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   Know o dear friend! You cannot in fact own your body and its
necessities.  All are gifts to you given and provided by the
Mercy of Allah.  That is, your body is not given to you for your
ownership or to become your commodity.  As such, you cannot use
it in any way you liked. On the contrary, you may only use such
favors (i.e., body with its components; hands, eyes, ears, etc.)
suitable to its Creator's consent.  Yes, a guest cannot overuse
foods and other things without taking the permission of the
host. "They said: 'Glory to You of knowledge we have none, save
what You has tought us: in truth it is You Who are perfect in
knowledge and wisdom.'"  (Al Qur'an 2:32)  

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End of the Droplet Vol 1, No 2.
To be continued from Vol 1, No 3 In$a Allah.
Your Br. Irfan in Islam.