NOTE

The reason this work entitled Lemeât (Gleams) is not about only one or two subjects like other collections (diwan), is that it was written in order to expound to a degree Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's previous work, Hakikat Çekirdekleri(Seeds of Reality), and in prose form; and it does not indulge in fancies and imaginings like other collections of poetry or in unbalanced emotion. It was written as scholarly instruction for some of his students, including his nephew who was assisting him, about the truths of the Qur'an and belief entirely in accordance with logic; it was a lesson about the Qur'an and belief. As Ustad himself said, and we understood the same thing, he had no propensity for verse and poetry, and did not occupy himself with them, portraying the meaning of And We did not teach him poetry.¹

Working every day for two or two and a half hours, this work was written in versified form in twenty days during Ramadan while Bediuzzaman was a member of the Darü'1-Hikmet and had numerous preoccupations. Although to write one page of verse is as difficult as writing ten of prose, and it was written in this short period of time, it was dictated 'extempore', without study, and was published without being changed or corrected. In our opinion it is a marvel on account of the Risale-i Nur. There has been no other versified collection of poetry that can be read in straighforward manner, as though it was prose, like this one.²God willing, this work will at some time be a sort of Mathnawi for the Risale-i Nur students. It is also a sort of index of the Risale-i Nur, which appeared ten years subsequently and was completed in twenty-three years; a sort of forerunner of the Risale-i Nur, giving the good tidings of its major parts.

The Risale-i Nur students, 
Sungur, Mehmed Feyzi, Hüsrev

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1. Qur'an, 36:69. 

2. NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION: While attempting to convey the meaning as faithfully as possible, the present translation has not attempted to reflect the versified aspects of the original. It is hoped that since, as was stated above, the work was written primarily to convey the author's ideas, the readers will benefit, despite the loss of many of the subtleties. [Tr.]

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