The Fruit Epistle, İngilizce Meyve Risalesi (Hafız Boy)

The Risāle-i Nūr Corpus (“The Book of Light Corpus” or “The Epistles of Light”) is a thematic exegesis of the Qur’ān and, in many parts, it treats a great diversity of momentous issues pertaining to our contemporary world. The Book of Light mirrors the style of the Holy Qur’ān and runs parallel to it in its themes as well as the distinctive manner in which it treats them. The idiosyncratic, original, wide-ranging and often delightful nature of The Risāle-i Nūr Corpus has attracted literally millions of readers in Turkey and around the world, thanks to its unique style, which addresses modern minds in the most direct manner possible, whilst making the terminology and major questions of the classical Islamic sciences disarmingly accessible to all.

This work in your hand is The Fruit Epistle (Turkish: Meyve Risalesi) or in another name The Eleventh Ray. It was written in the years of 1943 and 1944 by Bedi‘ūzzamān Sa‘īd Nursī during his time in Denizli Prison. This risāla (epistle) was penned only in two Fridays. There are eleven masāil (issues) discussing various topics of īmān. It is a great and guiding lesson for all yet it was at that time written for the prisoners. This risāla hosts the basic principles, essence and fundamentals of The Book of Light (The Risāle-i Nūr).

The inmates, who read this risāla and listened to its lessons, transformed into pious, obedient, compassionate and harmless people. They became beneficial individuals to their country within an utterly short span in addition to correcting their negative habits in this very limited time period.

Even many of those who once killed others without the blinking of an eye became people of mercy to a point that they could not even harm ants. Thanks to the magnificently effective and disciplinary impact on the prisoners, the prison guards and governors became amazed and they celebrated this risāla.

This epistle, written in Ottoman Turkish, summarises the ways and causes of Bedi‘ūzzamān Sa‘īd Nursī and his students. It is the real defence of The Risāle-i Nūr at the court of hearing against atheist tyranny and absolute disbelief that imprisoned them unlawfully and with no valid or tangible reasons.