He said: “Am I not your Lord?”, and you assented. So what is thanks for that “Yes”? It is to suffer tribulation. And what is the true meaning of tribulation? It is to be the door-knocker on the abode of poverty and annihilation.[2]

So then my soul declared: “Yes, yes, through impotence and reliance on God, and poverty and seeking refuge with Him, the door of light is flung open and the layers of darkness are dispersed. All praise be to God for the light of belief and Islam!” I understood the elevated truth expressed by the following lines of the famous Hikam Ata’iyya:

What does he who finds God lose? And what does he who loses Him find?[3]

That is, the person who finds Him finds everything, while the person who fails to find Him, can find nothing. If he does find something, it will only bring him trouble. I understood the meaning of the Hadith, “Tuba (happiness) for strangers in exile,”[4] and I offered thanks.

My brothers! Those dark exiles were lit up through the light of belief, yet they still affected me somewhat, provoking the following thought: “Seeing that I am a stranger and in exile and shall go to another exile, have my duties in this guesthouse been completed? Should I hand over the Words to my brothers and completely sever all my ties?” This is why I asked you whether the Words that have been written will suffice or whether they are lacking something. That is, have I accomplished my duty so that with an easy heart I can cast myself into a light-filled, pleasurable, true exile, forget the world and say like Mawlana Jalal al-Din,

Do you know what the sama’ is? To become unconscious of existence, To taste eternity in absolute annihilation?

Asking, “Can I search for an elevated exile?”,  I troubled you with these questions.

The Eternal One, He is the Eternal One!

S a i d   N u r s i

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[2] Mawlana Jalal al-Din, Diwan-i Kabir, 157 (ghazal no: 251).

[3] Ibn ‘Ata’illah al-Iskandari, Sharh al-Hikam al-‘Ata’iyya, 208.

[4] Muslim, Iman, 232; Tirmidhi, Iman, 132; Ibn Maja, Fitan, 15; Darimi, Riqaq, 42; Musnad, i, 184, 398; ii, 177, 222, 389; iv, 73.