religiously ignorant people cannot attack Islam through knowledge, medical science, cleanliness, or morals, they assault by means of base and cowardly lies and slanders. How could Islam ever be defied through knowledge? Islam is the very essence of knowledge. Many parts of the Qur’ân al-kerîm command knowledge and praise men of knowledge. For example, it is purported in the ninth âyat of Sûrat-uz-Zum’ar: “Is it possible that he who knows and he who does not know be the same? He who knows is certainly valuable!” Rasûlullah’s ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ statements praising and recommending knowledge are so numerous and so famous that even our enemies know about them. For example, in the books Ihyâ-ul-’ulûm and Mawdû’ât-ul- ’ulûm, the following hadîth is written in a section stating the value of knowledge: “Acquire knowledge even if it is in China!” That is, “Go and learn knowledge, even if it is at the farthest place in the world and in the possession of disbelievers! Do not say, ‘I don’t want it; it is invented by disbelievers’.” And it is stated in another hadîth-i-sherîf:

“Study and learn knowledge from cradle to grave!” That is, an old man of eighty, one of whose feet is already in the grave, should sudy. It is an act of worship for him to learn. And once he stated: “Work for the next world as if you were to die tomorrow, and work for the world as if you would never die.” He stated in a hadîh-i-sherîf: “Little worship done with knowledge is better than much worship done without understanding.” Once he stated: “The devil is more afraid of a savant than of thousands of ignorant worshippers.” A Muslim woman cannot go on supererogatory hajj without taking her husband’s leave; she cannot set out on a journey or pay a visit, either. However, she can go out for the purpose of learning without his permission, if he does not teach her or allow her to learn. As is seen, though it is sinful for her to go on hajj without permission, which is a great act of worship liked by Allâhu ta’âlâ, it is not sinful to go out to learn without permission. Then how can disbelievers ever attack Islam through knowledge? Will knowledge blame knowledge?

Of course not; it will like, praise it. He who attacks Islam on the knowledge front will suffer a defeat. They cannot attack through science, either. ‘Science’ means ‘to see creatures and events, to observe and understand them, and to experiment and make the like.’ These three are commanded by the Qur’ân al-kerîm. It is fard-i kifâya to study scientific knowledge, arts, and to try to make the most up-to-date arms of war. Our religion commands us to work more than our enemies do. We quoted one of Rasûlullah’s very vivid statements commanding us to study science in one of the initial pages of our book. Then, Islam is a dynamic religion commanding us to study science, experiment, and to do positive work.

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Allâhu ta’âlâ created Paradise and Hell. He declared that He will fill them both. A great many human beings and genies will go to Hell. But he will put most of the creatures into Paradise, thus His mercy will exceed His wrath. Genies are more than ten times as many as human beings, and angels are more than ten times as – 268 –many as genies. Since all the angels will be in Paradise, creatures in Paradise will be more numerous. Who will remain in Hell eternally? Those who do not perform salât? Those who commit sins? No! The enemies of Allâhu ta’âlâ will burn eternally in Hell. The Muslims who committed sins are not Allah’s enemies. They are guilty human beings. They are like a naughty, guilty child. Will parents become an enemy towards their naughty child? Hell consists of seven levels. The first level is the least vehement. But it is seventy times as vehement as worldly fire. Its name is Jahannam. Here, a group of the Muslims will be purfied of their sins. Heretical people will certainly be burned in Hell for some time.

Kâdî Zâde Ahmed Emîn Bey, who revised the book Vasiyyetnâme by Imâm-i Muhammed Birgivî, says: “The Muslim who will get out of Hell last will have burned for seven thousand years with the time measurement of the Hereafter. One year of the Hereafter is as long as a thousand worldly years.” The second level of Hell is more vehement. Its name is Sa’îr, People who interpolated the Torah will burn there [Ibni ’Âbidîn]. These people do not believe in Hadrat Îsâ (Jesus), who is Allah’s Prophet, and they slander this great Prophet by saying, “the son of an unknown father.” They changed the Tawrât, thus defiling Allah’s book, and after Hadrat Mûsâ, they martyred one thousand Prophets who were sent to advise them. People who changed the Bible will burn in the lower third level of Hell called “Seqar” which is more vehement. For, they did not follow Hadrat Îsâ’s commands and denied him by interpolating the Injîl (Bible). In addition, they have become worse than Jews – they have even become polytheists – by saying that there are three gods and that Îsâ is God [Ibni ’Âbidîn]. [Some of them say that Jesus is the son of God.] Îsâwîs (real believers of Hadrat ’Îsâ) were not polytheists before Christianity was defiled and idolatry was mixed with it. Jews are farther away from Islam. [Ma’rifatnâma and Tazkira-i Qurtubî] In the fourth level called “Jahîm,” those who worship the sun or the stars will be hurled. In the fifth level called “Hutamah,” those who worship fire or the ox will go. Buddhists and Brahmans will be tortured in the sixth level called “Lazy,” along with those with no religion, and polytheists. In the seventh level called “Hâwiyah,” the very bottom, the most vehement level of Hell, munâfiqs and murtadds will burn. 

The order of these seven levels is not the same in the books Tafsiri Mazharî and Gâliyya. A person’s going to Hell, that is, his being a disbeliever, becomes known at his last breath, when he dies. If an unbeliever, that is, a man without îmân, becomes a Muslim, or if a Muslim with many sins and crimes, or who is a holder of bid’at, repents, all such people become pure Muslims. They will not go to Hell.

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The knowledge which Muslims have to learn is called ’Ulûm-i islâmiyya (Islamic knowledge). Islamic knowledge consists of two component parts. The first is religious knowledge. It is also called ’ulûm-i naqliyya. This is the knowledge derived from four sources called Adilla-i shar’iyya, and are of two sections. The branches Tafsîr, Kalâm, and Fiqh of the knowledge of Ulûm-i zâhiriyya are written in their special books. The second one is ’Ulûm-i bâtiniyya. There can be no changes in either of them. The second component part of ’Ulûm-i islâmiyya is scientific knowledges or ’Ulûm-i ’aqliyya. It deals with the structures of matter and substances, and the alterations in them. They are discovered through experiments and calculations. Alterations in this aspect of knowledge is possible in course of time. Those disbelievers who changed religious knowledge to make it compatible with scientific knowledge are called philosophers and reformers of religion.

These people believe in their minds, not the words transmitted. Muslims who try to corroborate religious knowledge with scientific knowledge are called hukamâ. The meanings of some verses in the Qur’ân al-kerîm and also some hadîth-i sherîfs are not clear and cannot be comprehended exactly. These kinds of verses and hadîth-i sherîfs were explained with different meanings by different Islamic scholars. Thus, seventy-three groups who believe differently some of the facts which are to be believed emerged. Among them, the only one group whose belief is correct is called the Ahl-i sunnat or Sunnî. Those who derived wrong meanings are called heretics or the ones who have deviated from the right path. Shi’îtes and Wahhâbîs are in this group. A person who tries to corrupt the beliefs of a Muslim by giving wrong meanings to scientific discoveries is called a zindiq or sham scientist.

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Hence, it has been understood that the present existence of the universe indicates that it has not existed since past eternity, and that there existed an original being, which had been created out of nothing. In other words, we have to accept the fact that beings have been created out of nothing and that today’s beings are the result of a succession of beings coming from those first beings. The book Sharh-i Mawâqif proves in deatil in the first section of its fifth chapter that there is a Creator who creates all classes of beings from nothing, that this Creator should be eternal, and should always exist, and that He should exist eternally without changing. Briefly, ‘to change’ means to become something else. When the Creator changes He becomes something else. His creativeness gets deranged. As explained in the third letter of the third volume of the book Maktûbât by Imâm-i Rabbânî, it is necessary that the Creator will never change and that He will always remain the same. Reasoning from what we have explained, the various classes of beings could not be eternal, and the unchanging Creator must be eternal, He must exist everlastingly. Therefore, there is a Creator who never changes and who is eternal. The name of this never changing creator is Allah. 

Allâhu ta’âlâ sent Prophets to men in order to make Himself known. A reasonable, understanding person who reads about the life, the superior qualities of Hadrat Muhammad, who is His last and highest Prophet, will at once realize that Allâhu ta’âlâ exists and that Hadrat Muhammad is His Prophet. He will eagerly become a Muslim. It is called having îmân and being a Muslim to believe that Allâhu ta’âlâ exists, is One, and that Muhammad ‘’alaihis-salâm’ is His Prophet and the most superior one of His Prophets, and his every word is true and beneficial. A person who believes these facts is called a Mu’min and Muslim. The words of Muhammad ‘’alaihis-salâm’ are called hadîth-i sherîf. A person who does not believe any of those things clearly stated in the Qur’ân al-kerîm and hadîth-i sherîfs is called a kâfir. Those disbelievers who believe a history book written in ancient times by men as the words of Allâhu ta’âlâ are called ahl-i kitâb, that is, disbelievers with a book. Jews and Christians are disbelievers with a heavenly book. Those who prostrate themselves before a statue or grave of a man who is known by them as great and believe that he is able to do everything are called mushriks or idolaters. Brahmins, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians are in this group. Those who believe in none of the religions are called atheist and dahrî. Communists and Freemasons and those who have fallen into their traps because they are religiously ignorant are in this group.

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Things cease to exist all the time, while other things come into being as a result of them. But, according to the latest knowledge in chemistry, one hundred and five elements do not cease to exist; changes only take place in their electronic structure. Radio-active events have also shown that elements, and even their atoms, cease to exist, and that matter turns into energy. The German physicist Einstein even calculated the mathematical formula for this conversion. The fact that things and substances have been changing and issuing from one another continuously does not mean that existence itself comes from past eternity. That is, one cannot say, “It will be as it has so far been.” These changes do have a beginning. To say that the changes have a beginning means that the substances coming into being have a beginning, which in turn means that all of them have been created from nothing while nothing existed.

If the substances were not first created out of nothing and if their issuing from one another went far back into eternity, this universe would necessarily be nonexistent now. The existence of the universe in the eternal past would require the preexistence of other beings to bring it about, and those beings, in turn, would require others to pre-exist so that they could come into being. The existence of the latter is dependent upon the existence of the former. If the former does not exist, the latter will not exist, either. Eternity in the past means without a beginning. To say that something existed in the eternal past means that the first being, that is, the beginning did not exist. If the first being did not exist the latter beings could not exist, and consequently nothing could exist. In other words, there could not be a series of beings each of which required the pre-existence of another for their own existence. Therefore, all of them would necessarily be nonexistent.

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Statements and claims of those who say ‘chance existences’ about these countless beings created by Allâhu ta’âlâ with explicit order and harmony are ignorant and contrary to positive science. For example: Let us put ten pebbles numbered from one to ten in a bag. Let us then take them out of the bag one by one with our hand, trying to take them out successively, that is, number one first, number two second, and number ten finally. If any pebble taken out does not follow this numerical order, all the pebbles taken out so far will be put back into the bag and we shall have to try again beginning with number one first. The probability of taking out ten pebbles successively in numerical order is one in ten billion. 

Therefore, since the probability of drawing ten pebbles in numerical order is extremely weak, it is surely impossible that innumerable kinds of orders in the universe should have come into existence only by chance. If a person who does not know how to type presses on the keys of a typewriter, let’s say, five times at random, to what extent would it be possible for the resulting five-letter word to express some meaning in English or any other language? If he wanted to type a sentence by pressing on the keys heedlessly, could he type a meaningful sentence? Now, if a page or a book were to be formed by pressing on the keys arbitrarily, could a person be called intelligent who expects the book or the page to have a certain topic by chance?

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As shown by science, beings that have weight and volume are called “substances.” Accordingly, air, water, stone, and wood are substances. Light and electric currents are beings, yet they are not substances. Substances with shapes are called “objects.” A nail, a shovel, pincers, and a pin are objects. They are all made of the same substance: iron. The cause that makes a stationary object move or that makes a moving object stop or that changes its movement is called “force.” Unless a force acts on a stationary object, it remains stationary; it cannot move. Unless a force acts on a moving object, its movement does not change; it never stops. Substances, objects, and energies existing in substances, altogether, are called ’âlam or nature. Every object in nature continuously moves, changes. This means that every object is affected by various forces every moment, thus a change takes – 263 –place. The change that takes place in substances is called an event. We see that some things cease to exist while other things come into being. Our ancestors, ancient people, as well as their buildings and cities, ceased to exist. And after us, others will come into being. According to scientific knowledge, there are forces affecting these tremendous changes. Those who deny Allâhu ta’âlâ say, “These are all done by Nature. Everything is created by the forces of Nature.” If we ask them, “Have the parts of an automobile been brought together by the forces of nature?

Have they been heaped together like a pile of rubbish which has been brought together by flowing water with the effects of waves striking from this direction and that? Does a car move with the exertion of the forces of nature?” Will they not smile and say, “Of course, it is impossible. A car is a work of art which a number of people have built by working together strenuously and by using all their mental abilities to design it. A car is operated by a driver who drives it carefully, using his mind and obeying the traffic rules?” Likewise, every being in nature is also a work of art. A leaf is an astounding factory. A grain of sand or a living cell is an exhibition of fine art, which science has explored to only a small extent today. What we boast about as a scientific finding and accomplishment today is the result of being able to see and copy a few of these fine arts in nature. Even Darwin[1] , the British scientist whom Islam’s adversaries present as their leader, had to admit: “Whenever I think of the structure of the eye, I feel as if I will go mad.” Could a person who would not admit that a car is made by chance, by the forces of nature, say that nature has created this universe, which is entirely a work of art? Of course, he could not. Should he not believe that it has been made by a creator, who has calculation, design, knowledge, and infinite power? Is it not ignorance and idiocy to say: “Nature has created it” or “it has come into being by chance?”

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We come to know our surroundings through our five senses. If it were not for our sense organs, we would not know of anything. We would not even know of ourselves. We would not walk, find out anything, do anything, eat, drink, or live. We would not have parents, nor would we exist. If we thank our Allah ceaselessly only for our sense organs, still we will not have expressed adequate gratitude. We call anything which affects our sense organs being or existence. Sand, water, the sun are all beings, for we see them. Sound is a being, too, for we hear it. Air is a being because we feel the air strike when we open our hand and wave it like a fan. Also, the wind strikes our face. Likewise, cold and hot are beings, for we feel them through our skin. Moreover, we believe in the existence of energies [powers], such as, electricity, heat, and magnetism. We perceive and comprehend that electric currents cause heat, electromagnetism, and chemical reactions; when heat occurs the temperature rises and when it decreases it gets cold. We also understand that a magnet attracts iron.

We say that it is wrong to say, “I don’t believe in the existence of air, heat or electricity because I don’t see them.” Although they are not seen, we perceive them or their effects through our sense organs. Therefore, we believe in many beings that cannot be seen. We say that things are not necessarily nonexistent because they are not seen. By the same token, it is wrong to say, “I don’t believe in Allah. There are no such things as angels or genies. I would see them if they existed. Since I don’t see them, I don’t believe them.” It is a statement contrary to mind and science.

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His father is ’Abdullah. The fathers of ’Abdullah successively are ’Abdulmuttalib, Hâshim, ’Abdu-Menâf, Qussayy, Kilâb, Murra, Kâ’b, Luwayy, Ghâlib, Fihr, Mâlik, Nadr, Kinâna, Huzeima, Mudrika, Ilyâs, Mudar, Nizâr, Me’add and Adnân. All of them, with a brief description of each, have been written in – 260 –alphabetical order in the biographies section appended to the Turkish version of our book, Endless Bliss. The passages announcing the purity of the ascendants of our Prophet in the book Metâli’un-nûr by ’Abdullah-i Rûmî, the annotator of the book Fusûs, are written in our book entitled Ni’mat-i kubrâ. Hadrat Sanâullah-i Dahlawî [pâni-pûtî], who had deep knowledge in branches of Tafsîr, Hadîth, Fiqh, and Tasawwuf and who performed great services to mankind by showing them the way to endless bliss, says in the first and third volumes of Tafsîr-i Mazharî that the word ‘Âzer’ in Sûrat-ul-An’âm is an atf-i beyân for the word ‘Ebîhi.’ Documents stating that Âzer was Hadrat Ibrâhîm’s ‘’alaihis-salâm’ uncle and not his father are more tenable. In Arabia, an uncle is called father. In the Qur’ân Hadrat Ismâ’il ‘’alaihis-salâm’ is called the father of Hadrat Ya’qûb, while, in actual fact, he is his uncle. Âzer’s real name was Nâhûr. Nâhûr was formerly in the true religion of his ancestors. When he became Nimrod’s vizier, he turned into a disbeliever, changing his faith for the world. Also, Fakhraddîn Râzî and most of the salaf-i sâlihîn have stated that Âzer was the uncle. Zerqânî, while explaining the book Mawâhib-i ladunniyya, writes the words:

“Those who believe heavenly books and also historians have unanimously said that Âzer was the uncle,” by Ibni Hajar-i Haytamî, as a document. Imâm-i Suyûtî says that Ibnî ’Abbâs has stated that Âzer was not Hadrat Ibrâhîm’s father and that Hadrat Ibrâhim’s father was Târûh. This statement of Ibni ’Abbâs has also been confirmed by Mujâhid, by Ibni Jarîr, and by Suddî with documents. Again, it is informed by Suyûtî, that also Ibni Munzîr clearly explains in his tafsîr that Âzer was the uncle. Imâm-i Suyûtî wrote a booklet stating that Rasûlullah’s grandfathers, up to Hadrat Âdam were all Muslims. Despite this fact, Muhammad bin Ishaqq, Dahhâk, and Kelbî said that Hadrat Ibrâhim’s father was Âzar whose other name was Târûh. “Ya’qub ‘’alaihis-salâm’ had two names, too. His second name was Isrâil,” they said. Also, Muqâtil and Ibni Hibbân said that Âzer was the nickname for Hadrat Ibrâhim’s father, Târûh. As noted by Baghâwî, Atâ cites from Ibni ’Abbâs that when Rasûlullah wanted to know about his parents, the hundred and nineteenth âyat of Sûrat-ul-Baqara descended, declaring: “Do not ask about the states of the inhabitants of Hell!” Yet Ibni Jarîr states that this information is not dependable. If we should say that this information is true, then Ibni ’Abbâs stated his own supposition. And even if his supposition were true, it is not – 261 –explained clearly that his (Rasûlullah’s) parents are in Hell. Even if they were in Hell, still they could not be said to be disbelievers, for there will be Muslims who will go to Hell. It is declared in a hadîth: “As I am the best of you, so my father is better than your fathers.” The translation from the book Tafsîr-i Mazharî is completed here.

It is written in the al-Hazar section of the book Uyûn-ul-Basâir: “Qadî Abû Bakr Ibnul-Arabî ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’, one of the savants in the Mâlikî Madhhab, said that he who said that Rasûlullah’s parents were in Hell would become accursed. Every Muslim has to avoid saying something that will hurt Rasûlullah. Allâhu ta’âlâ abominates a person who hurts him. Nothing could cause more bitter pain than saying that his grandfathers were disbelievers!”

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As is understood from âyat-i-kerîmas and hadîth-i-sherîfs and as is written in thousands of Islamic books, all the fortunate people who were honoured with being Rasûlullah’s ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ fathers and mothers were the noblest, the most honourable, the most beautiful and the purest people of their times and in their countries. They all were cherished, blessed and respectable. Therefore, Hadrat Ibrâhîm’s father was a Believer and was far from having evil habits or abominable, low attributes. Âzar, who was a disbeliever, was not his father; he was his uncle. As is declared at the beginning of Sûrat-u Âl-i ’Imrân, the Qur’ân’s âyats are of two kinds. First, the âyats with clear, obvious meanings, which are called “Muhkamât.” Second, there are âyats called “Mutashâbihât” which are not overt, plain or usual, but which contain unusual meanings. That is, it does not conform with [1] A kind of hadîth. 

Please see the sixth chapter of the second fascicle of Endless Bliss.mind or with Islam to give them their apparent, known meanings; it is necessary to give them unusual meanings, that is, ta’wîl (to interpret) them. It is sinful to give them their apparent meanings. For example, the savants of Tafsîr have explained the word yed (hand) as ‘power’ which means capability. By the same token, it is written in The Tafsîr of Baydâwî that in the âyat “When Ibrâhîm ‘’alaihis-salâm’ told his father Âzer...” Âzer is an atf-i beyân[1] for the word ‘father.’ When a person has two names and these two names are mentioned together, it is understood that one of them is famous and the other is not famous, which is called “atf-i beyân.” For this reason, according to the rules of belâghat, fesâhat and i’jâz [2] , Hadrat Ibrâhîm calls two persons father. One of them is his own father, and the other is somebody else whom he refers to as father. The meaning of the âyat is: “When Hadrat Ibrâhim told his Âzer father.” If it weren’t so, it would be enough in the Qur’ân to declare: “When he told Âzer,” or “When he told his father,” instead of declaring:

“When he told his father Âzer.” If he were his own father, the word ‘his father’ would be superfluous. All of the scholars of the Tawrât (Torah) followed the religion of Mûsâ ‘’alaihis-salâm’ for a period of eighteen hundred years, and along with them the Apostles of Jesus ‘’alaihis-salâm’ and the priests who followed them said that Âzer was not the real father but he was the uncle of Ibrâhîm ‘’alaihis-salâm’. As is inferred from the undefiled old namescripts of the Torah and the Bible, the name of the father of Ibrâhîm ‘’alaihis-salâm’ was Târuh. The word Târuh is not the Hebrew synonym of Âzer as some ignorant people write. It means that they both are not names for the same person. There are many verses in the Qur’ân-al kerîm in accord with those in the Torah and the Bible. In the thirtieth page of the Turkish version of his book, Beyân-ul-haqq, Rahmatullah Efendi ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’, one of the Islamic scholars of India, says, “Naskh; i.e., anything to be made invalid by Allâhu ta’âlâ, involves only the commandments and the prohibitions. In the commentatory book entitled Ma’âlim-ut-tanzîl al-Imâm alBaghawî says that naskh did not occur in the qisas (narrations) and akhbâr (information) [or in scientific and experimental  [1] In Arabic, the second noun, which is written for explaining the meaning of a noun, is called “atf-i-beyân.” Its English counterpart is ‘appositive’.

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