At the end of the Treatise on Sincerity, Bediuzzaman says: “We beseech the All-Compassionate, the Most Merciful, making all of His Most Beautiful Names our intercessors, that He may grant us complete sincerity.” [1] What is the wisdom behind invoking the Divine Names as intercessors in attaining sincerity?

Answer:

Sincerity (ikhlas) means performing deeds solely because God commands them and seeking only His good pleasure as their outcome. Beyond this, one does not set one’s heart on worldly interests or even on rewards in the Hereafter. For worshipping God is not the price paid for blessings to be granted later; rather, it is an expression of gratitude for the blessings that have already been bestowed.

Nevertheless, when the matter is considered from the perspective of human need and necessity, there is no harm in asking for the blessings of the Hereafter. Although we do not attach our acts of worship to such rewards, nor serve God merely to obtain them, it is certain that we are in profound need of them. Just as in this world we need to believe in God, to know and recognize Him, to love Him, to feel connected to Him, and to rely and trust in Him, so too in the next world we are in need of being among those brought near to Him. We know that the only place where we may draw near to Him, behold His Divine beauty, and be encompassed by the breezes of the verse, “God’s good pleasure is greater than all else” (Qur’an 9:72), is Paradise. Therefore, we hope for and ask for Paradise and its blessings from His grace. For we cannot do without Him; and just as we cannot do without Him, we cannot do without Paradise.

Seeking refuge in the Divine Names

Sincerity is, in essence, a designation for truly knowing God, aspiring to attain His good pleasure, and showing reverence for His commands. For this reason, sincerity holds vital importance for every believer. The wisdom behind Bediuzzaman’s invoking the Divine Names as intercessors while asking God for sincerity lies precisely in this point. When we ask for what we value most in our supplications, we naturally seek intercession through what we hold most precious.

Moreover, the Qur’an recommends that we include the Divine Names in our supplications and invoke them as a means of appeal. One verse states, “The Most Beautiful Names belong to God; so call upon Him by them” (7:180).

This indicates that the Divine Names possess a profound influence connected to the inner meaning of servanthood, and that we should seek refuge in them in our prayers. Similarly, in the supplication of Jawshan, it is said, “I ask You by Your Names,” after which the Divine Names are mentioned, and through their honor deliverance from Hell is sought.

Bediuzzaman’s emphasis on sincerity

In his works, Bediuzzaman repeatedly stresses sincerity on various occasions and highlights its importance in powerful terms. He states that even an atom’s weight of action performed with sincerity surpasses tons of deeds devoid of sincerity. Despite the small number of people around him, he attributes the manifold fruits of their service to their sincerity, describing how their efforts yielded results far beyond their apparent capacity. While expressing this truth, he says: “God willing, you will attain complete sincerity, and you will also help me attain complete sincerity” [2].

Through these words, Bediuzzaman demonstrates humility, appreciates his companions, and at the same time offers an important reminder. For no matter how sincere a person may be, attaining perfect sincerity is not easy. It requires that not even the slightest ulterior consideration be mixed into one’s deeds, that everything other than the Divine be set aside, and that one’s heart be fully directed toward God alone. Moreover, sincerity once attained can easily be lost without one even realizing it. Even when one is very careful, it is difficult to claim that one has reached complete sincerity (ikhlaṣ al-tamm) or perfected sincerity (ikhlaṣ al-atamm). This represents a horizon that we strive for but find difficult to reach. To attain it, one must overcome many demanding obstacles and loosen the bonds of bodily and worldly attachments. Such a degree of sincerity belongs only to the distinguished servants referred to as the mukhlasin—those purified in sincerity.

Bediuzzaman was a monumental personality who carefully observed events around him, continuously drew lessons from them, and offered guidance whenever necessary. On one occasion, he recounts the following experience concerning sincerity: when he told his student Hafiz Ali that another friend’s handwriting was more beautiful than his and that this person would therefore contribute more effectively to the service, Hafiz Ali responded with complete sincerity and heartfelt purity. Rather than feeling disturbed, he expressed joy and took pride in his brother [3].

This example shows that sincerity is closely connected with brotherhood and fellowship. If we wish to understand the degree of sincerity present in our own efforts in the path of God, we may ask ourselves the following question: If I were confronted with such a situation, would I be able to show the same attitude?

May God grant us the ability to transcend our egos, establish a deep connection with our Lord, and act with genuine sincerity at this level.

The ascending spiral of sincerity

If, like Bediuzzaman, we carefully take a look around us, we will encounter many heroes of sincerity whose hearts beat for God. We admire their state and strive to be like them. There have been many such heroes who set out for many parts of the world without considering salary, often without even knowing the countries to which they were going, and they undertook journeys of migration devoted to altruistic service. Their attitude inspired us, revived us, and helped us regain our sense of purpose. No matter how much we thank God for granting us the blessing of being among so many dedicated individuals, it would still be insufficient. Indeed, if there had not been such devoted and sincere people, so many beautiful outcomes would not have emerged. This shows that the fruits arising from such service are extra favors granted by God to sincere intentions.

If sincerity is the foremost quality that the Divine seeks from us, and if it is like an ascending spiral that lifts a person toward His good pleasure, then it should also be our foremost aim. We must constantly ask God for sincerity. Especially at night, we should place our foreheads upon the prayer mat and say: O God, make us among Your servants who seek sincerity and who are granted sincerity.

We should seek sincerity in all of our actions and spend our entire lives striving for perfected sincerity (ikhlaṣ al-atamm). In our supplications, we ask God for matters such as livelihood, health, and family. There is no harm in these requests; however, none of them is as important as attaining sincerity, the Divine good pleasure, and knowledge of the Divine Creator. Therefore, at least as much as we pray for worldly needs and desires, we should also pray to obtain these higher aims.

It should also not be forgotten that sincerity is connected to faith. The stronger one’s faith, the stronger one’s sincerity will be. From this perspective, we must first believe in God with certainty surpassing mathematical certainty; in proportion to our faith, we should attain knowledge of Him (ma‘rifah), and in proportion to that knowledge we should establish a deep connection with Him. If we wish to attain perfected sincerity, we should strive to elevate our faith from certainty through knowledge (‘ilm al-yaqin), to certainty through direct perception (‘ayn al-yaqin), and finally to certainty through realized truth (haqq al-yaqin). If faith becomes deeply rooted within our being and we remain close to God, neither Satan nor the evil-commanding self (nafs al-ammarah) will be able to damage our sincerity.

Just as every precious thing is difficult to obtain, sincerity is not easily acquired. Yet the paths leading to it are not closed; they remain open. It is possible to reach sincerity through faith, knowledge, love, reflection, and prayer.

References

1. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Lem’alar, p. 208 (The Twenty-First Flash – Treatise on Sincerity).
2. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Lem’alar, p. 203 (The Twenty-First Flash, Third Principle).
3. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Barla Lahikası, p. 146. At that time, his Epistles of Light collection were written and reproduced by hand due to the political pressure and persecution directed against religious expression.

Sincerity or purity of intention (ikhlas) and perfect goodness or excellence (ihsan) are the two bases and the most important sources of power for journeying and initiation. When the initiates’ heart beats with a feeling of sincerity and the consciousness of perfect goodness, they sometimes utter There is no deity but God, while having in mind several of the Divine Names, and therefore meaning “There is no Creator, no Provider, no Shaper… but God.” At other times they open a window in the heart for each Name of the Bestower of Life, and set out to observe what is beyond the door that has been opened by the consciousness of perfect goodness. On occasion also they travel

through reflection on the harmony of the qualities (color, scent, form, taste, sound, harmony) manifested on things, or on the horizon of Some faces that Day shall be shining and radiant, gazing toward their Lord (75:22-23), and they burn with the zeal of meeting with Him. With a deep, mysterious desire of observation, which is impossible for any mental faculty to make, they try to rise to the heaven of knowledge of God from the launch-pad of belief. Then their love develops into a passion, which is strengthened with zeal. They fly into the depths of eternality on the wings of attraction and, with the feeling of being attracted by Him, rise toward the high towers of the angels, being welcomed by spiritual beings, reaching points that few can reach, seeing amazing things that few can see. But aware that what they seek in no way has any form, they regard every scene that greets their eyes only as a picture, a tableau, and remain devoted to the truth beyond:

He is neither of bodily nor accidental existence, nor a substance, nor composed;
He does not eat, nor drink, nor is contained in time: He is high above all such features.
He is absolutely free from changing, transformation, and also from having colors or a form:
All of these we spell out so that we can clarify what God is not.

Whatever level they reach, they always feel humble in acknowledgment, We have been unable to know You as knowing You requires, O the One known, and stress that the Divine Being cannot be perceived. To whatever extent they fulfil the demands of devotion to God, they admit: We have been unable to worship You as worshipping You requires; and however deeply and sincerely they mention Him, they whisper their inability, saying: We have been unable to mention You as mentioning You requires, O the One mentioned.

These travelers regard respect for God’s commandments as the first and foremost means of approaching God, and piety and righteousness as the most blessed equipment for the journey. They train their souls and purify their spirits in devotion to the rules of Islam. They consider every effort for training and purification that is opposed to the rules of Shari‘a as falling away from the religion, and if anything out of the way occurs at their hands, they see it as a sign that they are going to perdition. In every stage of journeying and initiation, the travelers pay exceptional attention to the safety of the journey and see this safety in their devotion to the essentials of the religion and religious life, and know that their worth in God’s sight lies in piety and righteousness, and that only the pious, righteous ones can find God. “The final destination of the God-revering, pious will be Paradise, and their drink, the drink of Paradise.”

The author of Gulshan-i Tawhid expresses this truth beautifully as follows:

If you seek safety, know that piety and a righteous religious life are the safest stronghold against all fears and danger.

Self-training, or the training of the soul, has been accepted as an extremely important element of all religions. The self or the soul mentioned here is the human soul or self, which is also mentioned as the speaking self, and is dealt with in seven stages according to some Qur’anic allusions to it:

If the speaking self or soul lives only a life of ease in the swamp of carnal appetites, it is the Evil-commanding Soul; if it falters time and again while following the way of religion to attain piety and righteousness, but each time that it falters it criticizes itself and turns to its Lord, then it is the Self-condemning Soul. The soul which always resists evil in devotion to God and is favored with certain Divine gifts in proportion to its purity, is called the Soul Inspired or Receiving Inspiration. When it reach- es the point where it has a relation with its Lord in perfect devotion and sincerity and when its consciousness is at rest, it is the Soul at Rest. If it has reached the station where it abandons all its choices and is a representative of Divine will, it is the Soul Well-Pleased with God. When its greatest aim is acquiring God’s good pleasure and approval and when it is always acting to this end in consideration of, “I am pleased with You, so be pleased with me,” then it is the Soul Pleasing to God. Finally, the soul which has the capacity to be completely adorned with the full manifestations of Divine qualities and Prophetic willpower and resolution is called the Soul Perfected or the Soul Pure.

A believer with an evil-commanding soul is either unaware of the sins he or she commits or lives an uncontrolled life. Even if such believers perform the daily Prayers and sometimes do supererogatory acts of worship, they are neither conscious of what obedience to God entails nor aware of what committing sins signifies. Such persons need to be assisted, aroused to become aware of the balance between fear and expectation, and made to deepen their knowledge, love and awe of God. It is the beginning of the major or greater jihad (striving) that such believers heed advice, engrave their errors in the memory so that they frequently criticize themselves, and are determined to regularly fulfill their religious duties and resist sins. So long as they continue to strive, some changes will begin to occur in their feelings and thoughts. They begin to see that not even their best deeds are sufficient and criticize themselves even for the least of their evil deeds. This is the second step in the soul’s journey, which is called the Self-Condemning Soul.

Those who have reached the stage of self-condemnation intend to set out toward Him in their heart. However, they falter, making errors that stain their good deeds, and beautiful things follow ugly ones in their life. But whenever they stumble and fall, they pull themselves upright in remorse for the evils committed, cleanse themselves of sin by sincerely asking God for forgiveness and by trying to uproot their inclinations toward evil through prayer. Not content with these, they continuously reprove them- selves, and suffer pangs of conscience. A time comes when they express these pangs with sighs from the depth of the heart, and when they put these feelings into invocations and tears in seclusion. Those with a self-condemning soul advance along the intermediate corridor between carnal appetites and sins, and spiritual peace. They show great care in keeping their hearts upright in devotion to God and their thoughts travel between the outer and the inner worlds. They utter “There is no deity but God,” they turn toward Him and display their yearning for Him, saying “There is none to be desired save Him,” and continuously whisper “He is the Truly Desired One” and “the only One deserving worship.”

In the sight of the self-condemning travelers who have deepened in spiritual attainment and reflection, the smallest errors and omissions begin to seem to them the greatest and most perilous lapses. When they rise to this point, they can more easily distinguish dark from light and good from evil, and when they think of the ugly face of sins, they feel repugnance, and when they think of good deeds, they moan with remorse and regret for not having done them. However, they are always hopeful and determined. It is of the souls that have attained this point that God says: “Those who strive for Our sake—surely We will guide them to the ways to lead to Us. Assuredly, God is with those of perfect goodness who act consciously that We always see them (29:69).” God inspires in them all that is good and beautiful, and the things He approves of together with how they can attain them. The soul that has traveled so far in order to reach God and has come to the point of receiving this inspiration is the soul receiving inspiration.

Travelers who have attained this stage are preoccupied with Him and with consideration of Him. They breathe with observations everywhere of the matchless beauty of His making and look on everything as a beautiful scene of wonder, and they overflow with feelings of appreciation. While saying “There is no deity but He” with their voices, their hearts beat with the truth, “There is none deserving worship save He.” Without being able to find the words to express their wonder in Him and His works, they can only utter “He,” and begin to fuel the love and zeal in their hearts with every breath they inhale and exhale. While their spirit burns, their voices petition Him with the words,

O cup-bearer, in the fire of love I have burnt away,
so give me some water!

Since I fell in love with a beautiful one, I have burnt away, give me some water!

In addition to the world losing its attractions, even those aspects of the Hereafter that do not directly look to the Divine Being Himself, become of secondary importance to them. They seek welcome by Him in His Presence, they adorn their speech with yearning for Him and make their words more meaningful by arousing a yearning for Him in the hearts of others. They fill themselves with gifts that come from Him and try to distribute these, pouring the honey in their spirits into the hearts of those who yearn for Him. They frequently say, as Lamakani Huseyin Efendi¹³¹ said,

Clean the fountain of your heart when it is filled,
keep your eyes open when your heart becomes an eye for your heart.
Drive out denial, and put the pitcher of your heart against that fountain;
so that the pitcher may be filled with its exhilarating water.

When they get filled to the extent that they continuously overflow with the gifts coming from God, they pour them into the hearts of those around them, calling them as Muhammed Lutfi Efendi did:

O you who are seeking God’s gifts, come and join this circle (of dervishes)!
O you who are passionately pursuing God’s light, join this circle (of dervishes)!

Travelers who have attained this point eat, drink, and sleep little, and always feel wonder. Their interest in and occupation with worldly affairs is only because they live in the realm where cause and effect have a certain part. Fulfilling the responsibilities that are inherent in their rank and being thankful for the gifts of the Ultimate Truth, they sometimes breathe with the manifestations of the Divine Names and sometimes with those of the Acts. However, if they cannot strictly continue their spiritual journey under the guidance of the Prophetic way or if they do not take refuge in the guidance of those who represent the Book and the Sunna, they may, due to the depth of their devotion, go so far as to make utterances of pride that are incompatible with the rules of Shari‘a; also they may display affectations instead of maintaining humility and self-possession in their relationship with God.

The final point that a soul who receives inspiration can reach is the ultimate point of certainty based on knowledge and the beginning of certainty based on observation. Until travelers reach this point, their belief that everything is from God is only a theoretical assertion. When they reach this point, they confess with all their being that everything is from God. Every time they make this confession, they feel new breezes of contentment and begin to taste every commandment of God and everything pleasing to Him as if it were a dimension of their nature. This means that they are at the threshold of attaining the soul at rest.

Ikhlas requires that one pursue nothing worldly while worshipping and obeying God, that one fulfills the duty of servanthood only because God orders it, and that one remains silent concerning any personal experiences of God’s special treatment and special gifts and seek only His approval and pleasure.

Sincerity is one of the most significant qualities of those most faithful or loyal to God; loyalty is regarded as a source, and sincerity as a sweet water originating from it. The most eloquent of humanity, Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, declared that one who drinks uninterruptedly from this water for forty days will find channels of wisdom opened from his or her heart to his or her tongue, and that such a person will always speak wisdom.

Loyalty or faithfulness is the primary attribute of Prophethood, and sincerity is its most lustrous dimension. Sincerity is innate in the Prophets; all other people try to obtain it during their lifetime. Among them, for example, the Qur’an describes the Prophet Moses as one made sincere (19:51).

Faithfulness and sincerity were as intrinsic and essential to the Prophets as air and water are to the lives of those who communicate the Prophets’ message to others in every age. In addition, they were the Prophets’ most important sources of power. The Prophets were convinced that they could not take one step forward without sincerity, and the representatives of the cause of Prophethood must believe that they will be able to achieve nothing without it. Faithfulness and sincerity are two wings or two deep oceans extending from Divine Favor and Grace to an individual’s heart. One who can sail in these oceans or fly with these wings will reach the destination, for they are under God’s protection. God values that which is done to please Him, regardless of its apparent size or importance, not the quantity of deeds. Therefore, He values a small deed done with sincerity over many deeds done without sincerity.

Sincerity is an attitude of the heart, and God views an individual according to his or her heart’s inclination. The Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, declares: “Assuredly, God does not consider your bodies, nor your appearances. Rather, He considers your hearts.” Sincerity is a mysterious Divine credit granted to those who are purehearted in order to increase what is little and to deepen what is shallow, and to give finite (limited) worship infinite reward. One can use it to purchase the most valuable things in the markets of this world and the next, for it is esteemed, welcomed, and respected where others suffer great misery. This mysterious power of sincerity caused God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, to declare: “Be sincere in your religion; little work (with sincerity) is enough for you,” and: “Be sincere in your deeds, for God only accepts what is done with sincerity.”

If we consider a deed to be a body, sincerity is its soul. If a deed represents one wing of pair of wings, sincerity is the other. A body without soul is of no worth, and nothing can fly with only one wing. How fine are Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi’s words:

You should be sincere in all your deeds,
So that the Majestic Lord may accept them.
Sincerity is the wing of the bird of the acts of obedience.
Without a wing, how can you fly to the abode of prosperity?

The following words of Bayazid al-Bistami are also very apt:

I worshipped my Lord for thirty years with all my strength. Then I heard a voice saying: “O Bayazid! The treasures of God Almighty are full of acts of worship. If you intend to reach Him, see yourself as small at the door of God and be sincere in your deeds.”

For some, sincerity involves hiding from others when performing supererogatory deeds and avoiding all show and ostentation. For others, it means that whether one is or is not seen while performing religious deeds is not important. Still for others, it means being so involved in worship or religious deeds in consideration of God’s pleasure that one does not even remember whether one should be sincere or not.

Self-supervision is an essential dimension of sincerity, and a truly sincere person does not consider any possible spiritual pleasure that may be derived, or speculate upon whether it will ensure entrance to Paradise. Sincerity is a mystery between God and a servant, and God puts it in the hearts of those He loves. One whose heart is awakened to sincerity does not worry about being praised or accused, exalted or debased, aware or unaware of deeds, or being rewarded. Such a person does not change, and behaves in the same way in public and in private.

Notes

1. Muslim, Birr, 33; Ibn Maja, Zuhd, 9.
2. ‘Abd al-Ra’uf Munawi, Fayd al-Qadir, 6 vols. (Beirut 1093 ah / 1682 ce) 1:216.
3. Ibid., 1:217.

Intention and sincerity

Excluding childhood and the time spent in sleep, an average person has about thirty years in total for everything else during his or her lifetime. Out of these thirty years, we spend most of our time on eating, school, work, family commitments, and other essential, but non-religious activities. As a matter of fact, in today’s world where everybody is busy, even a person who deems himself or herself “religious” might be considered lucky if he or she can spend an hour a day on traditional religious activities such as reading religious books, praying, and so on. Assuming an hour a day for thirty years, we would spend about fifteen months in total on traditional religious activities, and this is perhaps the upper limit for most people. So, the finite-to-infinite dilemma becomes even more interesting: keeping in mind that even one trillion years is nothing compared to eternity, how can one earn eternal paradise in all its beauty that is far beyond human imagination by spending not more than fifteen months to earn it? The answer is what Bediüzzaman Said Nursi describes as one of the four culminations of his life: intention.

The intention of an action can simply be defined as the true motive behind that action. A “sincere and pure” intention, in a religious context, can perhaps be defined as the true motive of drawing closer to God, and drawing closer to God only. Nursi states that “Intention changes ordinary acts and customs into acts of worship. It is a penetrating and pervading spirit through which inanimate states and deeds acquire life and become ‘living’ acts of worship. It is also through a special quality of intention that evil changes into virtue or good deeds. Intention is a ‘spirit’ that causes ordinary deeds and customs to become ‘living’ acts of worship.” Our intentions are indeed the soul of our actions and, provided that we believe in God, what makes our actions worthy of earning eternal paradise solely lies in the sincerity of our intentions. In a sense, our actions are a sequence of zeros and a sincere intention is a positive 1 in front of those zeros, whereas an insincere intention is a negative 1. That being said, we must pay particular attention not to act against well-established principles of the religion and claim that our actions still carry a good intention. For instance, under no circumstances is one allowed to harm an innocent civilian, even during war, and therefore there can be no good intention behind this crime.

By striving to achieve purity and sincerity in our intentions (known as ikhlas), we can expect the Most Compassionate and Most Merciful God to treat our activities as if we spend our entire life worshipping Him while still leading a regular, balanced life-provided that we respect the basic principles of the religion and avoid committing major sins. Throughout the Risale-i Nur collection, Nursi places tremendous emphasis on sincerity of intention. Nursi describes the fundamental characteristics of ikhlas in the Twenty-first Gleam: “[I]n this world, and particularly in the services done for the afterlife, a most important foundation, and a greatest power, and a most acceptable intercessor, and a firmest point of reliance, and a shortest way to the truth, and a most answerable prayer, and a most blessed and marvelous means of achieving one’s goal, and a most sublime virtue, and a purest form of worship is sincerity, or doing something good or any religious deed purely for God’s sake.” Nursi points out the relationship between actions, intentions, sincerity, and salvation as follows: “[Intention’s] ‘soul’ is sincerity or acting solely for God’s sake. Salvation is found only in sincere actions done in His way. Sincerity multiplies an action’s worth, and through it one can reach Paradise with a little action and in a short life.” Obviously, we can do only a finite number of good deeds during a finite lifetime. Thus, at least from a technical point of view, we cannot earn eternal paradise unless infinite reward is given to our finite actions. God is so merciful that He promises Heaven to believers with the good deeds of a short lifetime, and in order for this to happen, He demands purity and sincerity in the intentions of those good deeds. In other words, the secret component in this finite to infinite transformation is nothing but sincerity of intention.

So it turns out that ikhlas, that is, sincerity of intention, is not optional: it is mandatory, and it is of the utmost importance. So, how do we achieve ikhlas? Nursi defines the first rule for gaining and preserving ikhlas as follows: “You should pursue God’s good pleasure in your actions. If He is pleased with you, even if the whole world is displeased, it is of no consequence. If He approves, it has no effect even if all others reject your ideas and actions. When He is pleased and approves, even if you do not seek the approval of others, should He will it to be so and His Wisdom requires it, He will make others accept it and be pleased with you.” In our daily lives, we might be performing daily prayers, reading religious books, and performing other traditional worship activities. During these activities, it is critical that we make sure that our intention is to draw closer to God and nothing else. A prayer performed to make others think one is pious, a fast observed for health benefits, a Pilgrimage made to enjoy the journey, or wealth distributed to obtain good reputation will not only dishonor the owner of these deeds in the hereafter, but also be rejected as the intentions behind these actions are impure, insincere, and have no ikhlas in them.

There are numerous other activities in our daily lives that are essential to our well-being and social lives, but nonreligious in nature. We go to school or work every day, we eat, we sleep, we love our parents, spouses, and children, we spend time with our families and friends, we brush our teeth, and so forth. God the Most Merciful tells us that he will treat these activities as worship, but only if they are done with good, sincere intention (again, conditioned upon respecting the basic principles of the religion and avoiding major sins).

The key to being rewarded for simple, regular activities such as those above and achieving ikhlas in our daily lives is to ensure that our sole intention in every one of our activities is to draw closer to God and to draw closer to God only. Every individual can achieve ikhlas in different ways in different situations, but the ultimate goal is always the same: to have good intention and be sincere about it. For example, a man might work late every day so that he earns halal money to provide for his family and still has enough money to make donations for just causes. Another person might go to school to study, thus recognizing the names of God, the All-Knower and All-Wise. One might eat in order to be grateful for the food and be healthy enough to perform the daily prayers. Another person might sleep to rest and be more productive at work so as to really earn his or her wages honestly. A person might brush his or her teeth because he or she knows the body is a gift from God and he or she is responsible for taking good care of it. Another way to achieve ikhlas in our lives, as Nursi suggests, is to make sure that love for worldly things, such as delicious foods and fruits, parents, spouses, children, and friends, is for the sake of God and that all this love is given to God Almighty’s essence, attributes and names. Again, from an ikhlas perspective, perhaps we should reconsider plans to buy a huge flat-screen TV, or a luxury SUV, or a house by the lake with ten bedrooms and start asking ourselves how things such as these that we intend to do in the future will help us draw closer to God, if they ever will.

As argued above, good intention is able to convert daily activities into worship through sincerity and therefore earn its owner eternal paradise by the mercy of God. A second critical dimension of sincerity in intention is its continuity. That is to say, if a sincere believer lived not sixty or seventy years, but a thousand years, he or she would still be doing what he or she was doing all along: trying to respect the basic principles of the religion, avoid major sins, and do as many good deeds as possible with pure and sincere intention. This would not change if he or she lived five thousand years, or even fifty thousand years, and thus, he or she would still be seeking ways to draw closer to God even he or she did live in this world forever. This is why it makes sense that eternal paradise can be earned within a short lifetime.

If God is pleased with our intentions in our activities and if He wishes to do so, He might bestow upon us worldly rewards as well, such as success in career, health, or blessed offspring. A potential pitfall here is that the person might start expecting these rewards to continue and see his or her actions as a prerequisite for them, losing the purity in his or her intention as well as those worldly rewards. Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said, “If anyone’s intention is to seek the hereafter, God will place his sufficiency in his heart and order his affairs, and the world will come to him submissively; but if anyone’s intention is to seek worldly good, God will place poverty before him and disorder his affairs, and only so much of it as has been ordained for him will come to him.”

Nursi warns that believers should avoid things which would harm sincerity the same as they would avoid snakes and scorpions. One should, however, keep in mind that achieving sincerity in each and every one of our actions is a process and might not happen right away. Yet we also should keep in mind that nothing done for His sake shall go unrewarded.

Denying or recognizing Infinite Attributes of God

All the attributes of Almighty God are infinite, although what we see in this world is a finite projection of those infinite attributes, as the world itself is a finite domain in all respects. For example, God is the All-Knower, but what we know about God’s knowledge is very limited. God is the All-Wise, but we do not know the reason behind many things. God is the Absolute Ruler, but the universe that God rules is finite. God is the All-Powerful Creator, but there are only a finite number of creatures in this world. All these examples illustrate that what we experience in this three-dimensional world is a vague shadow of God’s true attributes.

A nonbeliever who claims that there is no Creator and that things just happen by themselves therefore ignores God’s attribute of being the All-Powerful Creator. Someone who claims that there is no God and that there is nobody who rules this universe thus ignores the Absolute Ruler attribute of God, and so on. Denying God’s existence and ignoring God’s infinite attributes is the biggest sin that can ever be committed and it deserves infinite punishment-the fact that this sin is committed in only a short lifetime is irrelevant. (This is the case in worldly affairs too: punishment is determined according to the nature of the crime, not on how long it takes to commit the crime. For instance, a person can commit a murder in one minute, but the murderer may spend the rest of his or her life in prison.) Similarly, consider someone who believes in God, recognizes His infinite attributes, and tries to do good deeds with pure and sincere intention. It makes sense for this person to be rewarded with eternal paradise. From a similar point of view, it can be argued that even one hour of adult life spent with the firm belief in God and in His attributes is sufficient for paradise, and even one hour spent denying God’s existence and his infinite attributes suffices for eternal hellfire.

The intentions argument can also be used to explain how a nonbeliever deserves eternal punishment. As in the case with a sincere believer, a nonbeliever has the intention to continue to commit the sin he or she has been committing: if a nonbeliever lived not sixty or seventy years, but a thousand or five thousand years, or even infinitely many years, he or she would still be doing what he or she was doing all along: denying God’s existence and ignoring God’s infinite attributes, and this is why it makes sense for a nonbeliever to deserve eternal punishment.

A word of caution

It should be noted that this article does not claim to provide a complete logical explanation of why there is an afterlife, why the afterlife is eternal, or why some people will go to Heaven and some people will not. This article simply attempts to illustrate that all these concepts are reasonable and they make sense. Lastly, these are issues of faith and the author believes that matters related to faith and religion cannot be confined within the boundaries of logical, physical, or mathematical principles. After all, it was God who created the universe and everything in it, including the rules of logic, physics, and mathematics. Matters of faith are just that, and it is by our free will that we choose what to believe in. That being the case, one should still keep in mind that if there is indeed eternal life after death, paradise, and hellfire (which we believe there is), disbelief in them will not make them just disappear (just like closing our eyes will not make the sun disappear).

Vedat Akyuz has a PhD in applied mathematics and statistics.

Notes

1. Nursi, Bediüzzaman Said. Al-Mathnawi Al-Nuri, NJ: Tughra Books, 2007, p. 113.
2. Ibid.
3. Nursi. The Gleams, NJ: Tughra Books, 2008, p. 225.
4. Nursi, 2007, p. 113.
5. Nursi, 2008, p. 226.
6. Nursi. The Words, NJ: Tughra Books, 2005, pp. 649–650.
7. Tirmidhi 5320.
8. Holy Qur’an, Al-Zalzalah 99:7.