bodies, then the atmosphere with its thunder and lightening, winds, clouds and rain, then the earth, and so on, each of which proves the necessary existence and unity of their Maker. With the "thirty-three degrees in the necessary existence and Unity of the Creator" proclaimed by these "thirty-three universal tongues", it forms thirty-three degrees of belief. That is to say, as the traveller travels through the universe questioning each of its realms and learning of their testimony to the Divine existence and Unity, his belief , gains universality and strength with each degree and passes from being “imitative belief ” to the degree of “certain and true belief ” , and beyond.
One of the central features in this new way which the Risale-i Nur opened up to renew and strengthen belief in God, is that it "blends" the heart and the mind. That is, both the reasoning faculty and the subtle inner senses are utilized in reaching the truth and in the process are illuminated with the knowledge obtained. We can look first at the first of these, the mind or reason.
It will be recalled that on realizing the extremely severe nature of the threats to the Qur'an and Islam way back at the beginning of the century, Bediuzzaman set himself the task of learning modem science, for he understood that it was only through science, in addition to the Islamic sciences, that they could be truly defended in the modem age. These he mastered, and they became "the steps by which to understand the Qur'an and prove its truths." And while the Old Said strove to find a short path to the truth which would blend science and religion, and also to found the Medresetü’z-Zehra which would teach them in combined form, it was not till the New Said and the writing of the Risale-i Nur that this desire was realized. Yes, the evidence of Bediuzzaman's knowledge of modem science is to be found on almost every page of the Risale-i Nur. The physical sciences uncover and describe the order in the universe and its functioning. Each branch, such as astronomy, geography, geology, and biology, describes the order in a particular area of the universe. Thus, since the Qur'an was being attacked in the name of science, and science and philosophy were being put forward as alternatives to religion and concepts such as `nature' taking the place of the Creator, benefiting from his knowledge of science, Bediuzzaman also