Saniyen: Now, the ground is filled with fivefold material and spiritual, heartfelt, spiritual, and intellectual calamities. Our calamity is very light and profitable compared to theirs. There is the taste of the heart, the spirit, faith, safety, and health.
Salisen: If we had not entered here during these storms, this light calamity would have become heavier through contact with the corrupt officials, and it would have been a disaster to be timid and cowardly toward them.
Rabian: In this jobless and difficult material and spiritual winter, in this Yusufiye Madrasa, which is a school of the Medresetü'z-Zehra, it is possible to see, visit, and benefit from the special merits of many true friends who are more caring than brothers, and spiritual brothers like guides, at very low cost and with little expense. In terms of drawing strength from their noble qualities, from the light spreading in transparent things, from their spiritual help, comfort, and joy, this calamity changes its form and becomes like a veil of divine care.
Yes, this hidden divine care has a subtle elegance, for all the students of the Risale-i Nur who come here are called "teachers." Everyone respectfully mentions them as "teachers, teachers." In this elegance, there is a subtle sign that, just as this prison has become a school, the students of the Risale-i Nur will also become teachers and instructors, and other prisons will, thanks to these teachers, become schools insha'Allah.
• • •
Brothers; If the short letters written earlier for consolation are read occasionally, and if the "Fruit" is read, especially the latter parts together, and if the issues of the Risale-i Nur that come to mind are discussed, insha'Allah, the honor of being a student of knowledge will be achieved. Great figures like Imam Shafi'i (may God have mercy on him) have given great importance to this, saying, "Even the sleep of a student of knowledge is considered worship." In such a time without schools, in such places of suffering, even if there are many difficulties because of this high status of being a student of knowledge, we should not mind; or rather, we should smile joyfully, saying "The best of affairs is the one that causes the most anxiety," because of these hardships.
Şualar
·On Ucuncu Sua
·machine translation (qwen3-32b-sre)
· · ·
But the Nurlar made their hearts favor me. Nur's school expanded with their admiration instead of criticism; it gave us a hundred times more benefit than the material loss, reducing our anxious efforts to nothing.
Then, secret enemies, the hypocrites, turned the government's attention to me. They reminded them of my past political life. They spread suspicions to the judiciary, the education office, the registry office, and the Ministry of the Interior.
With the currents of political parties and the curtain of communists, and the incitements of anarchists, those suspicions expanded. They began to pressure and arrest us and confiscate the writings they could get their hands on. They started to suppress the activities of the Nur students.
With the idea of ruining my character, some official employees fabricated accusations that no one would believe, and tried to spread very strange lies. But they could not convince anyone.
Then, under very trivial excuses, on the coldest days of winter, they arrested me and locked me up in a large, very cold, and two-day-stove-less cell, in complete isolation.
In my small room, I used to light the stove several times a day and always had a fire going on my stove; I could barely endure it due to my weakness and illness. Now, in this condition, writhing in both cold-induced fever and terrible anxiety and anger, a divine truth developed in my heart.
Mentally, "You have named this prison the Yusufiye School. In Denizli, the great comfort and spiritual profit you experienced from your suffering, the benefit the prisoners there derived from the Nurlar, and the great achievements of the Nurlar in the higher circles, caused thousands of thanks to be offered in your place.
Every hour of your imprisonment and suffering was counted as ten hours of worship, making those fleeting hours eternal. God willing, the benefit and comfort the victims of this third Yusufiye School will derive from the Nurlar will warm and transform your cold and heavy suffering into joy.
Lem'alar
·Yirmi Altinci Lema
·machine translation (qwen3-32b-sre)
· · ·
Beloved, sincere brothers; Since you are bound with the Risale-i Nur for the hereafter, for good, for worship and virtue, for faith and the hereafter; certainly, under these heavy circumstances, every hour is equivalent to twenty hours of worship, and those twenty hours are as precious as a hundred hours because of the spiritual struggle in the service of the Qur’an and faith, and those hundred hours are as important as meeting with true fighting brothers, each of whom is as important as a hundred men, to strengthen and be strengthened, to comfort and be comforted, to continue with true solidarity in sacred service with steadfastness, to benefit from their good qualities, and to obtain the position and destiny allocated in this Yusufiyya school, which is an examination hall opened to gain the status of a worthy student of the Medresetü’z-Zehra, to receive the destined portion and eat the destined sustenance, and to gain reward from that eating. Therefore, you must be grateful for coming here for these reasons. It is necessary to face all hardships with patience and endurance, considering the aforementioned benefits.
Said Nursî
• • •
Brothers; From my heart, I wish that, just like the steadfast heroes of Isparta and its surroundings, who are as resolute as steel and iron (such as Hüseyn, Hâfız Ali, etc.), similar brave men from Kastamonu also appear here. I am endlessly grateful that the province of Kastamonu has fully fulfilled my wish and sent many heroes to our aid. I always imagine them in my mind, but since I cannot write their names, I greet each of my selfless brothers one by one and pray for their safety and well-being.
Şualar
·On Ucuncu Sua
·machine translation (qwen3-32b-sre)
· · ·
THE SIXTEENTH PETITION
Once, in my old age, I served a one-year sentence at Eskişehir prison and was then sent to Kastamonu. I was kept as a guest at the police station for two or three months. A man who is tired of meeting his loyal friends and who cannot tolerate changing his clothes, suffers so much in such places, it is understandable.
While I was in this state of despair, suddenly, the Divine Mercy came to my aid in my old age. The commissioner at that police station, along with the police officers, became like loyal friends to me. They never once asked me to wear a hat, and like my servants, they took me around the city whenever I wished.
Later, opposite that police station, I entered the Nuriye Medrese of Kastamonu and began composing the Nuri books. The brave disciples of Nur, such as Feyzi, Emin, Hilmi, Sadık, Nazif, and Salahaddin, continued the dissemination and publication of the Nuri books at that medrese. They vividly demonstrated the precious intellectual discussions I had with my former students in my youth.
Then, our secret enemies, some officials and a number of envious teachers and sheikhs, spread false rumors against us. They caused us to be sent to the Denizli prison and brought together Nur students from five or six provinces at the Yusufiye Medrese.
The details of this Sixteenth Petition are in the short letters I secretly sent to my brothers in Kastamonu and later in the Denizli prison, as well as in the Defense Pamphlet from my trial, which clearly reveals the truth of this Petition. I will briefly mention the details, referring them to the postscript and the defense.
I had hidden important and secret manuscripts, especially those concerning Sufiana and the miracles of Nur, under the coal and firewood, waiting until after my death or until those in charge listened to the truth and changed their minds. But suddenly, the secret police and the assistant of the prosecutor raided my place.
They took out those secret and important pamphlets from under the firewood. They arrested me and sent me to Isparta Prison in a very poor state of health.
Lem'alar
·Yirmi Altinci Lema
·machine translation (qwen3-32b-sre)