The Thirtieth Flash — Six of the Greatest Names

Otuzuncu Lem'a (Esmâ-i Sitte)

Six "Points," each reading one of God's greatest names off the face of creation — the Most Holy, the All-Just, the Sapient, the Single, the Ever-Living and the Self-Subsistent — so that the order, balance, wisdom, unity, life and dependence of the universe become a single legible witness to their Author.

~55 min companion read

Companion notes — a map of the Flash, not Nursî’s own words.

Six Points on six "greatest names" (esmâ-i sitte), several written in Eskişehir Prison and, Nursî notes, left in rapid, uncorrected form. A major treatise of the collection.

Outline

Our structural map of the Flash.

First Point — the Most Holy (Kuddûs)

The universe is a vast working factory and the earth a guesthouse constantly filled and emptied, yet kept spotlessly clean — decay and waste swiftly recycled — a witness, "like the sun," to the All-Holy.

Second Point — the All-Just (Adl)

The measured balance and equilibrium that holds the whole cosmos and every creature within it in perfect proportion.

Third Point — the Sapient (Hakem)

Every "word, letter and point" of the book of the universe so fitted to purpose that all causes together could not produce a single one of them.

Fourth Point — the Single (Ferd)

The stamp of uniqueness on the whole and on each part: the unity running through all things points to the Single One — a manifestation that came to Nursî in Eskişehir Prison.

Fifth Point — the Ever-Living (Hayy)

Life as the universe's "most important result, greatest aim and most valuable fruit," and so the brightest sign of the Ever-Living.

Sixth Point — the Self-Subsistent (Kayyûm)

Nothing stands of itself; all things subsist, moment by moment, only through the One who is Self-Subsistent.

Companion summary

The Thirtieth Flash is the longest in the collection and one of its summits: six “Points,” each devoted to one of God’s greatest names (esmâ-i hüsnâ), reading that name off the face of the universe so that creation itself becomes a single legible witness. Several Points were written in Eskişehir Prison and, Nursî warns, left in a quick, uncorrected state.

He begins with the Most Holy (Kuddûs). The universe, he observes, is a vast factory in ceaseless operation and the earth a guesthouse endlessly filled and emptied — and yet, unlike any human workshop, it stays spotless: decay, waste and death are swept up and recycled almost as fast as they appear, the whole kept fresh and clean. That perfect, tireless cleansing he reads, “like the sun,” as the signature of the All-Holy. The All-Just (Adl) is read next from the measured balance that holds the cosmos and every creature in exact proportion; the Sapient (Hakem) from the wisdom fitted into every “word, letter and point” of the book of the universe, each so purposeful that all causes together could not fashion one of them. The Single (Ferd) — a manifestation Nursî records coming to him in prison — is the stamp of uniqueness running through both the whole and each part, so that the unity of all things points unmistakably to the One.

The treatise rises toward life: the Ever-Living (Hayy), since life is the universe’s “most important result, greatest aim and most valuable fruit,” is its brightest sign; and the Self-Subsistent (Kayyûm) is read from the plain fact that nothing in creation stands by itself — all things subsist, instant by instant, only through Him. Taken together the six Points are a sustained exercise in knowledge of God (marifetullah): not abstract argument but a way of seeing, in which order, balance, wisdom, uniqueness, life and dependence all say one thing. Each Point can be read on its own, and in Nursî’s own words their force is considerable; the full text is linked above.

Key concepts

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