and remove the fetters and chains of the various forms of tyranny fastened to the feet of three hundred, rather, four hundred million Muslims. It is that lawful freedom which, adorned with the customs and observances of the Shari’a, will cast out the evils of dissolute Western civilization. The freedom born of the Shari’a, which arises from belief, enjoins two principles:

Belief necessitates not humiliating others through oppression and despotism and not degrading them, and, secondly, not abasing oneself before tyrants. Someone who is a true slave of God cannot be a slave to others. Do not make anyone other than God lord over yourselves. That is to say, someone who does not recognize God ascribes relative degrees of mastery to everything and everyone, and piles worries on his own head. For sure, the freedom born of the Shari’a is a bounty of Almighty God through the manifestation of His Names All-Merciful and All Compassionate; it is a characteristic of belief. (The Sermon of Damascus, 60)

If it is asked: Why do you attach this much importance to Consultation (Shuraa)? And how can the life and progress of mankind, in particular Asia, and particularly Islam, come about through Consultation?

We would answer: As is explained in the Twenty-First Flash of the Risale-i Nur, the Treatise on Sincerity, because just consultation results in sincerity and solidarity, three ’alifs’ become one hundred and eleven. Thus, three men between whom there is true solidarity may benefit the nation as much as a hundred men.