Vauxhall Tea Party

Phase 4 · The Names and the mirror

Week 14

The Levels of the Nafs

The Words · Addendum to the Twenty-Sixth Word · The Letters · The Twenty-Eighth Letter

01

Story

  1. 01Qays loved Layla so completely that people called him Majnun (mecnûn), “the mad one”.

  2. 02When she was taken from him, he went out into the desert and spoke of her to the wind and the gazelles.

  3. 03Over the years he saw that the beauty he loved in her, a passing beloved (mâşuk-u mecâzî), was never hers alone. It was the reflection of a Beauty that does not fade.

  4. 04A firefly glows in the night and thinks, “I am light.” Around it lies a darkness as wide as the world.

  5. 05The sun rises. The firefly’s glow is lost in it, and the whole world comes into view. It lost its own light and gained the sun’s.

Layla and Majnun is summarised in its Sufi reading, which Nursi has in mind when he speaks of love that passes through a metaphorical beloved. The firefly is our retelling of his Fourth Step, a parable of his own. The wording of both is ours.

02

Meaning

The Sufi tradition maps seven levels of the self (nefs). Nursi honours that road, and points to a shorter, safer and broader one, the four steps of impotence, poverty, compassion and reflection.

Majnun reached God, the poets say, but it took him a lifetime and his reason. His hand let go of his own self only to cling to Layla, and only when she passed did it go on. The firefly’s road was shorter: it only had to see what its glow really was, and the sun gave it everything. That is this week’s reading in two pictures. The Sufi tradition drew a careful map of the self, seven levels from the self that commands (nefs-i emmâre) to the perfected self, and Nursi honours it. But he walks a road of four steps (dört hatve) that hands the self straight to its Owner. The map is here to show direction. Nobody is asked to place themselves on it.

Six things this Addendum shows

One from the classical map, five from Nursi’s Addendum and its Conclusion. Try each picture with your own hands.

  1. The classical Sufi map · nüfus-u seb‘athe self that commands · emmâre12:53the self that blames · levvâme75:2the inspired self · mülhime91:7–8the self at peace · mutmainne89:27the content self · râziye89:28pleasing to God · marziyye89:28the perfected self · kâmiletradition

    A map drawn from phrases of the Qur’an by people who watched the self for centuries. There is no “you are here”.

    01 / 06

    A map, not a scoreboard

    The Sufi tradition names seven levels of the self, each but the last from a phrase of the Qur’an: the self that commands (emmâre, 12:53), that blames (levvâme, 75:2), that is inspired (mülhime, 91:7–8), that is at peace (mutmainne, 89:27), that is content and pleasing to God (râziye, marziyye, 89:28), and the perfected self (kâmile). This is the classical map, not Nursi’s own teaching. Its value is that it shows direction. Its danger is that people start ranking themselves and each other.

  2. the stagesseyr ü sülûkReality · hakikatten subtlefaculties · letâifseven selvesnüfus-u seb‘afour stepsdört hatveall from the Qur’an

    The ways to God are truly many, and every true one is taken from the Qur’an. Choose a road.

    02 / 06

    Nursi respects the Sufi path

    The Addendum opens generously. The ways to God are truly many, and every true way is taken from the Qur’an; some are only shorter, safer and broader than others. Nursi names the Sufi maps with respect: the ten subtle faculties (letâif-i aşere) of the silent orders, and the seven selves (nüfus-u seb‘a) of the orders that remember God aloud. In the Twenty-Eighth Letter he describes two ways to reality: through the stages of the Sufi way (tarîkat), by spiritual journeying (seyr ü sülûk), or directly from the Qur’an, as the Companions did.

  3. 53:32 · Do not vouch for yourselfHere the purifying of the self (tezkiye)is not to acquit it.59:19 · Do not forget yourselfForget yourself in pleasures;remember yourself at death and in service.4:79 · The good is from HimSee only fault and need in yourself,and thank Him for every good.28:88 · All perishes but His faceIn yourself, nothing; as His mirror,you gain all that exists.Not a performanceSee them before God;do not fabricate them or show them to people.Four steps · dört hatveSunna · obligations · no major sinsprayer, then the tesbihat1234

    Four steps on a plain road. No retreat, no secret practice: the five prayers, a clean record, an ordinary day.

    03 / 06

    A shorter way: four steps

    Not ten steps, not seven stages, but four steps (dört hatve): impotence (acz), poverty (fakr), compassion (şefkat) and reflection (tefekkür). Nursi calls it reality and Shari‘a more than a Sufi order. Its practice is plain: follow the Sunna, do the obligations, leave the major sins, and above all pray with care and say the tesbihat afterwards. Then one warning. It means seeing your weakness, need and fault before God, not inventing them, and not displaying them to people.

  4. Four doors, four Names · Esmâbeing lovedmahbubiyetlike love,but saferimpotenceaczer-Rahmânthe All-Mercifulthe doorof needpovertyfakrer-Rahîmthe Compassionatelike love, butsharper, broadercompassionşefkatel-Hakîmthe All-Wiselike love, butricher, brighterreflectiontefekkür

    Nursi compares each step with passionate love (aşk), the road the poets praised as swiftest. Open the doors.

    04 / 06

    Each step leads to a Name

    Nursi sets each step beside passionate love (aşk), the road the poets praised as the swiftest. Impotence, like love, and perhaps more safely, leads through servanthood (ubudiyet) to being loved by God. Poverty leads to the Name the All-Merciful (Rahmân). Compassion, like love, leads to the Compassionate (Rahîm), and is sharper and broader. Reflection leads to the All-Wise (Hakîm), and is richer, brighter and broader. The four steps were never self-help. They are four doors to the Names.

  5. the True Beloved · Mahbûb-u Hakikîthe All-Powerful · Kadîr-i Zülcelâla passing belovedmâşuk-u mecâzîhigh-flown claims · şatahatthe self · nefisonly acz, fakr, kusur

    Both roads let go of the self. Watch where the hand goes first.

    05 / 06

    Why shorter and safer

    The Conclusion gives the reasons. Shorter: when impotence takes the hand away from the self, it gives it straight to the All-Powerful (Kadîr-i Zülcelâl). Love also takes the hand from the self, but first it clings to a passing beloved (mâşuk-u mecâzî), and only after finding that it passes does it go on to the True Beloved (Mahbûb-u Hakikî). Safer (eslem): on this road the self makes no ecstatic, high-flown claims (şatahat), because it finds nothing in itself but impotence, poverty and fault (kusur) to overstep with.

  6. lâ mevcûde illâ Hû“there is no existent but He”lâ meşhûde illâ Hû“nothing is witnessed but He”mânâ-yı harfîevery thing a mirror of the Names

    Three ways to keep God always in view. Nursi says the third is broader, and that no one is compelled to the first two.

    06 / 06

    Why broader: the world is not condemned

    To stay always aware of God, some great Sufis imagined the universe condemned to non-existence and said “there is no existent but He” (lâ mevcûde illâ Hû). Others imagined it imprisoned in total forgetting and said “nothing is witnessed but He” (lâ meşhûde illâ Hû). These are the ways of the unity of being and of witnessing (vahdet-i vücûd). Nursi says the Qur’an has pardoned the universe from that execution and that prison. Things are not erased. They are dismissed from working for themselves and employed as mirrors of the Names (mânâ-yı harfî), so there is a way to God in everything.

03

Read

يَٓا اَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ ارْجِعِىٓ اِلٰى رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَرْضِيَّةً

“O self at peace, return to your Lord, well-pleased and well-pleasing.” (Qur’an 89:27–28)

The roads that reach Almighty God are very many. Every true road is taken from the Qur’an, but some of these ways (tarîk) are shorter than others, safer and more universal. Among them is the way of impotence, poverty, compassion and reflection (acz, fakr, şefkat, tefekkür), which, with my limited understanding, I drew from the Qur’an. Impotence, like passionate love (aşk), and perhaps more safely, is a road that goes by way of servanthood as far as being loved. This road is not ten steps, like the ten subtle faculties of the silent orders, nor the seven stages of the seven selves (nüfus-u seb‘a) of those who remember aloud. It is four steps (dört hatve). It is reality and Shari‘a more than a Sufi order.

Let it not be misunderstood. It means seeing your impotence, poverty and fault before God; it does not mean manufacturing them, or showing them to people. The daily practice (evrâd) of this short road is to follow the Sunna, do the obligatory duties and leave the great sins; above all, to pray giving every movement its due (ta‘dil-i erkân), and to say the tesbihat after the prayer.

This road is shorter, because it is four steps. When impotence draws the hand away from the self, it gives it directly to the All-Powerful of Majesty. Love, the sharpest road, also draws its hand away from the self, but it clings to a metaphorical beloved (mâşuk-u mecâzî), and only after finding that it passes does it go to the True Beloved. This road is also safer (eslem), for the self’s ecstatic utterances and high-flying claims (şatahat) are not found on it: it finds nothing in itself but impotence, poverty and fault with which to overstep its bounds.

Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, The Words, the Addendum to the Twenty-Sixth Word and its ConclusionWorking translation from the Turkish, made for this draft. Check against a published edition before release.Read the Addendum to the Twenty-Sixth Word in full, in English with the Turkish original

04

Explore

Two roads to the same Light

A traveller sets out towards God. Drag the line of light across the valley: the long road of love on one side, Nursi’s four steps on the other. Both reach the same Light.

The long road of loveThe hand lets go of the self, but first it holds a lantern on a hill, a passing beloved (mâşuk-u mecâzî). Only when the lantern gutters does the road go on, winding back and forth through the stages (seyr ü sülûk). Swift, beautiful and long, and the valley lies in shadow, set aside along the way.

The four stepsImpotence (acz) hands the self straight to its Owner: four stones up the middle. There is nothing to boast of, so nothing to fall from. And nothing is set aside. The trees, the houses and the stars all stay, each catching the Light as a mirror.

Both roads, Nursi says, are taken from the Qur’an, and he never asks anyone to look down on the first. He only notes that the second is shorter, safer and broader, and that it was the way of the Companions. What moves a person upward is the question of next week, which closes Phase 4.

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