Worship consists in fact of two kinds, positive and negative. What is meant by the  positive  is obvious. As  for negative worship, this  is when one  afflicted  with misfortune or sickness perceives his own weakness and helplessness, and turning to his Compassionate  Lord,  seeks refuge in Him, meditates upon Him, petitions Him, and thus offers a pure form of worship that no hypocrisy can penetrate. If he endures patiently, thinks of the reward  attendant on misfortune and offers thanks, then each hour that he passes will count as a whole day spent in worship. His brief life becomes very long. There are even cases where a single minute is counted as equal to a whole day’s worship.

I once was extremely anxious because of an awesome illness that struck one of my brothers of the hereafter, Muhajir Hafız Ahmed.9  But then a warning came to my heart:  “Congratulate  him!”  Each  minute  he  spends  is  counted  as  a  whole  day’s worship. He was in any event enduring his illness in patience and gratitude.

THIRD POINT

As we have pointed out in one or two of the Words, whenever one thinks of his past life, he will say in his heart or with his tongue either “Ah!” or “Oh!” That is he will either experience regret, or say “Thanks and praise be to God!” Regret is inspired by the pains arising from the cessation of former pleasures and separation from them. For the cessation of pleasure is a pain in itself. Sometimes a momentary pleasure will cause everlasting pain. To think upon it will be like lancing a wound, causing regret to gush forth.

As for the lasting spiritual pleasure that comes from the cessation of momentary pains  experienced in the past, it inspires man to exclaim, “Thanks and praise be to God!” In  addition to this innate tendency of man, if he thinks of the reward that results from misfortune and the requital that awaits him in the hereafter, if he realizes that his brief life will count as a long life because of misfortune, then instead of being merely patient he should be thankful. He should say, 



“Praise be to God for every state other than unbelief and misguidance.”10

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9  Muhajir Hafız Ahmed was a merchant in Barla* and among the first students of the Risale-i

Nur. Bediuzzaman stayed in his guesthouse on first arriving in Barla in the early spring of 1926, and he assisted Bediuzzaman for the eight and a half years he remained in Barla.

* Bediuzzaman’s place of exile, 1926-1934. A small village in Isparta Province in S. W. Turkey. (Tr.)

10 Tirmidhi, Da‘wat, 45; Ibn Maja, Muqaddima, 23; Du‘a, 2.