CONTENTS:

 

THE FIRST WORD: On In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, showing what a strength and source of bounty it is and how it is constantly recited by all things through the tongues of their beings

 

The Second Station of the Fourteenth Flash: On six of the thousands of mysteries of In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

 

THE SECOND WORD: A comparison showing the believers' and unbelievers' view of the world and that happiness and ease of mind lie in belief in God, and safety, in Islam

 

THE THIRD WORD: A comparison illustrating the great profit of worship and great loss of vice and dissipation

 

THE FOURTH WORD: A comparison illustrating the value and importance of the five daily prayers, and the ease they afford to the spirit, heart, and mind

 

THE FIFTH WORD: A comparison showing that man's true duty is worship of God and to avoid grievous sins

 

THE SIXTH WORD: A comparison describing five ways in which selling oneself and one's property to God is profitable trade, and five serious losses incurred when this is neglected

 

THE SEVENTH WORD: A comparison showing how belief in

 

God and the Hereafter are two talismans which both solve the riddle of creation and open the door of happiness for man

 

THE EIGHTH WORD: On the true nature of religion, this world, man, and belief in God, and a comparison between the way of the Qur'an and that of unbelief and their results for man's heart and spirit

 

THE NINTH WORD: On the wisdom of the specified times for the five daily prayers, in Five Points 

 

 

THE TENTH WORD: on Resurrection and the Hereafter: A comparison in the form of Twelve Aspects containing proofs of the Resurrection of the Dead

 

An Introduction consisting of Four Indications explaining the Comparison and demonstrating the existence and Unity of God, the function of prophethood and the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH), the importance of man, and the necessity of the Eternal Creator of this transitory world creating a permanent realm

 

Twelve Truths consisting of detailed proofs of the Resurrection of the Dead and the Hereafter based on certain of the Divine Names, and a Conclusion

 

First Addendum: An Introduction comprising Two Points; the First, how essential is belief in the Hereafter for human social life in particular; the Second, how the other pillars of belief require the Resurrection, and prove it

 

Second Addendum: How life looks to all six pillars of belief including the Resurrection of the Dead, and proves them indirectly

 

Third Addendum: Three Matters explaining the instantaneous occurrence of the Resurrection

 

Fourth Addendum: An explanation of a number of Qur'anic verses describing the Resurrection of the Dead and the End of the World

 

Fifth Addendum: The testimony to Resurrection and the Hereafter of the Prophets, Saints, the spring, and man's desire for eternity

 

THE ELEVENTH WORD: On the wisdom and purposes of the world, the riddle of man's creation, and the mystery of the five daily prayers, including a comparison, and an explanation of the purpose of man's life, its true nature, and its duties

 

THE TWELFTH WORD: Four Principles, comprising concise comparisons illustrating the wisdom of the Qur'an and that of philosophy, the instruction they give to individual life, the principles they put forward for social life, and the superiority of the Qur'an over all other Divine Revelation

 

THE THIRTEENTH WORD: A comparison between the degrees of knowledge of the All-Wise Qur'an and the philosophical sciences, how the Qur'an is infinitely superior to poetry, and an aspect of its miraculousness which scatters the darkness of unbelief

 

Second Station: How to save the life of the Hereafter

 

Advice for some youths concerning the dangers facing them

 

Three letters addressing prisoners

 

An important matter imparted on the Night of Power

 

The Sixth Topic from the Fruits of Belief: "Teach us about our Creator."

 

The Air: A Window onto Divine Unity 

 

THE FOURTEENTH WORD: Five Matters which, comprising comparisons and similes, form steps by which to rise to certain truths of the Qur'an and Hadiths, and a Conclusion which is a warning lesson to the heedless

 

Addendum: Seven Questions and Answers demonstrating that earthquakes occur under the Divine command

 

THE FIFTEENTH WORD: Seven Steps rising to the heavens of the verse: We have adorned the lowest heaven with lamps, and made them missiles to drive way the evil ones

 

Addendum: A proof of the Qur'an against Satan and his party

 

A Second, Small Objection of Satan

 

THE SIXTEENTH WORD: Consists of Four Rays: The First explaining Divine Oneness and the universal Divine works; the Second demonstrating there is no incompatibility between Qur'anic verses showing things to come into existence instantaneously and those showing their existence to be gradual; the Third, an explanation of verses showing Almighty God to be infinitely close and those showing Him to be infinitely distant; and the Fourth Ray describing the comprehensive worship expressed by the phrase: God is Most Great!

 

A Short Addendum: Just as the order in the universe, manifest through the Divine laws, demonstrates Divine power and wisdom, so too exceptions to the laws and differences and changes demonstrate Divine will and choice

 

THE SEVENTEENTH WORD: In the face of the manifestations of the Divine Names of Merciful and Giver of Life, which make this world like a festival, the Names of All-Compelling and Giver of Death appear. The First Station describes Five Aspects in which this apparent incongruity is in fact appropriate

 

Second Station: Pieces in free verse: Reliance on God in the face of tribulation; Answer to those smitten by the West; A Supplication in Persian; A Supplication inspired by the verse, I love not those that set; Two Tables, of Guidance and Misguidance; A Supplication in Arabic; A Fruit of the Uplands of Barla; The Utterance of the Stars

 

THE EIGHTEENTH WORD: Comprising Three Points: the First, A Chastening Slap for My Evil-Commanding Soul; the Second explains one meaning of the verse, Who has created everything in the best way; and the Third shows how the beauty and art in the universe require the Prophethood of Muhammed (PBUH)

 

THE NINETEENTH WORD: On the Prophethood of Muhammed (PBUH). Fourteen Droplets proving and describing the Prophethood of Muhammed (PBUH), the Fourteenth, on his greatest miracle, the Qur'an

 

THE TWENTIETH WORD: Consists of Two Stations

 

First Station: Three verses of the Qur'an, comprising Three Points, in which the particular matters mentioned indicate general laws and universal principles

 

Second Station: On the Miracles of the Prophets, demonstrating that just as the Prophets were leaders of communities in regard to spiritual and moral progress, so were they masters in regard to some craft or industry, taught them by means of a miracle. In mentioning them, the Qur'an is urging man towards scientific and technological progress

 

THE TWENTY-FIRST WORD: Consists of Two Stations

 

First Station: Five Warnings to the soul, which is dilatory in performing the five daily prayers

 

Second Station: Five Aspects comprising five cures for five of the many sorts of scruples with which people are afflicted

 

THE TWENTY-SECOND WORD: Consists of Two Stations

 

First Station: Twelve Proofs demonstrating in allegorical form how the beings in the world around us speak of their Maker and point to His Unity

 

Second Station: Twelve Flashes from the sun of belief in God which, by pointing out the stamps and seals on all things denoting their Maker and His power and other attributes, demonstrate the true affirmation of Divine Unity

 

THE TWENTY-THIRD WORD: Contains Two Chapters

 

First Chapter: Five Points describing the virtues and advantages of belief: how man acquires value through belief by manifesting the Divine Names; how belief illuminates both man, and the universe, and the past and future; how belief affords man strength; how belief makes man a true man, making his essential duty belief and supplication

 

Second Chapter: Five Remarks explaining man's possible progress through infinite degrees, and possible decline. For he is a miracle of Divine power and art, the result of creation, who has been cast into the arena of trial and before whom two ways have been opened

 

THE TWENTY-FOURTH WORD: Consists of Five Branches from the luminous tree of the verse, God, there is no god but He; His are the Most Beautiful Names

 

First Branch: The manifestations of the Divine Names in the various realms and worlds of the universe, and their diversity

 

Second Branch: A comparison which in examining the three ways of approaching reality, shows the reasons for the differences and even contradictions in the truths experienced by the saints through illumination, and among scholars arrived at by rational proofs, and why previous to the Qur'an, all the pillars of belief were not taught in detail by the Prophets

 

Third Branch: Twelve Principles explaining certain figurative Hadiths that speak of the signs of the End of Time, and of the merits of certain acts, which have been misunderstood

 

Fourth Branch: The Four Categories of workers in the palace of the universe, the angels, the animals, plants and inanimate creatures, and man, and their diverse duties of worship

 

Fifth Branch: Five Fruits: on love and fear; worship is not the introduction to further reward, but the result of previous bounty; limitless acts pertaining to the Hereafter in a brief life; do not imitate the worldly; turning from multiplicity to unity and from transience to permanence

 

THE TWENTY-FIFTH WORD: on the Miraculousness of the Qur'an. The verses discussed in this Word have been criticised by atheists or objected to in the name of science, but are proved according to scholarly principles to be flashes of miraculousness or eloquence

 

Introduction: Definition of the Qur'an, in Three Parts

 

First Light: consists of Three Rays

 

First Ray: The eloquence of the Qur'an, which is at the degree of miraculousness, in Two Aspects and Five Points

 

Second Ray: The Qur'an's extraordinary comprehensiveness, in Five Flashes, including Five Glows

 

Third Ray: The Qur'an's miraculousness pertaining to its giving news of the Unseen, its preserving its youth throughout the ages, and its addressing all classes of mankind appropriately, in Three Radiances, including Three Glistens, Three Degrees, and Four Principles

 

Second Light: consists of Three Beams

 

First Beam: The fluency, proportionateness, and harmony of the Qur'an as a whole

 

Second Beam: Ten Points of Eloquence

 

Third Beam: The Qur'an cannot be compared with other speech and writings

 

Third Light: Consists of Three Gleams

 

First Gleam: Through scattering the light of guidance and miraculousness, each of the Qur'an's verses disperses the darkness of unbelief and heedlessness

 

Second Gleam: A comparison between how Qur'anic wisdom and human philosophy see the world

 

Third Gleam: The degrees of wisdom before the wisdom of the Qur'an of the purified scholars and saints and the Illuminist philosophers

 

Conclusion

 

First Addendum: From The Supreme Sign, the Observations of a Traveller Questioning the Universe about his Creator, in Six Points

 

A Flower of Emirdag: A reply to objections about repetition in the Qur'an

 

Conclusion: in the form of two Additions

 

THE TWENTY-SIXTH WORD: on Divine Determining, sometimes known as fate or destiny, and man's power of choice or faculty of will. In Four Topics: the First, Divine Determining and the power of choice; the Second, a scholarly discussion of the same; the Third demonstrates by pointing out some of its certain proofs how powerful and extensive is the pillar of belief of Divine Determining; and the Fourth demonstrates that calamities and tribulations are not contrary to the fact that Divine Determining is good in all its aspects

 

Conclusion: Five Paragraphs silencing the Old Said's soul

 

Addendum: A short way to Almighty God, consisting of Four Steps

 

THE TWENTY-SEVENTH WORD: On independent judgements of the Law (Ijtihad). The door of ijtihad is open, but at the present time there are Six Obstacles to entering it

 

Conclusion: On the wisdom of the change in Laws according to the ages, and of the diversity of the Schools of Law

 

Addendum: On the Companions of the Prophet (PBUH), in Three Reasons and Three Aspects, and Four Questions and Answers

 

THE TWENTY-EIGHT WORD:

 

About Paradise. A discussion of several aspects of Paradise that have been either criticised or questioned

 

A Short Addendum, on Hell

 

THE TWENTY-NINTH WORD: On the immortality of Man's Spirit, the Angels, and the Resurrection of the Dead, in an Introduction, and Two Aims

 

First Aim: Belief in and affirmation of the angels is a pillar of belief, in Four Fundamental Points. The First, on life, the light of existence; the Second, all the scholars of religion have agreed on the existence of the angels and the various schools of philosophy, being unable to deny them, have merely misnamed them; the Third, the consensus of all religions, Prophets, and saints concerning the angels; the Fourth, the functions of the angels

 

Second Aim: About the Resurrection of the Dead, the End of the World, and the life of the Hereafter, in Four Fundamental Points and an Introduction. The First, man's spirit is definitely immortal, in an Introduction and Four Sources. The Second, Ten Points proving certain matters that necessitate eternal happiness. The Third, Three Matters pertaining to Divine Power. The Fourth, Four Matters proving that the world possesses the potential for the Resurrection of the Dead

 

THE THIRTIETH WORD: An explanation of the human 'I' or ego, and minute particles, in Two Aims

 

First Aim: On the nature and results of the human 'I'

 

Second Aim: On the transformations of minute particles, and their motion and duties, in an Introduction and Three Points. The First, indications to Divine Unity in the motion of particles, and five instances of wisdom; the Second, the evidences of particles to the Divine existence and Unity; the Third, a sixth instance of wisdom in the motion of particles

 

THE THIRTY-FIRST WORD: About the Ascension of the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH), in Four Principles. The First, why was the Ascension necessary? The Second, what was the reality of the Ascension? The Third, what was the wisdom and purpose of the Ascension? The Fourth, what are the fruits and benefits of the Ascension?

 

Addendum: About the miracle of the Splitting of the Moon, in Five Points and a Conclusion

 

THE THIRTY-SECOND WORD: Three Stopping-Places

 

First Stopping-Place: A proof of Divine Unity in the form of imaginary debates between the representative of misguidance and successive beings from a minute particle, then a red corpuscle, then a cell in the body, and so on. Each rejects his claims over them through the tongue of the true wisdom and order it displays

 

A Short Addendum: A description of the verse, Do they not look at he sky above them?

 

Second Stopping-Place: Three Important Questions, comprising Three Aims, concerning Divine Oneness and Unity. The Second includes two comparisons, and a question and answer about the certainty afforded by analogies in the form of comparisons. The Third Question, concerning the Divine Perfections, in two parts, answered in Five Indications and Five Signs

 

Third Stopping Place: Two Topics and An Important Question. The First Topic, the reality of the universe and all beings is based on the Divine Names. How the Names are manifested and how to 'read' them. The Second, a comparison between the way of wretchedness laid out by the representative of the people of misguidance and the path of happiness defined by the All-Wise Qur'an. The Question, how we should love all the things it is natural to love, is answered in Four Points, an Introduction and Nine Indications

 

A Supplication

 

THE THIRTY-THIRD WORD: Thirty-three Windows making known the Creator

 

INDEXES

 

Subject Index

 

Index of Heavenly Bodies

 

Index of Names and Places

 

Index of Plants, Animals, Minerals and Elements

 

Index of Divine Names

 

Index of Hadiths

 

About the Risale-i Nur, The Words, and their Author

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