Two Travelers, Same World - What Do You See? | Risale-i Nur Collection

Find Yourself! - What do you see?

Once upon a time, there were two travelers. Both of them set out with the intention of traveling and trading. One of them was a very selfish, miserable man who relied only on himself; the other was a pure-hearted and fortunate man who trusted in his Lord. 

And the two travelers approached a magnificent city with towering walls. After passing through wide stone gates and stepping into narrow streets, they walked side by side for a while. Then their paths diverged, each walking in a different direction. So, they turned out to be two separate travelers going to different destinations in the same city.

As the unfortunate traveler progressed, a gloomy landscape opened before his eyes. With each step he felt the darkness getting a little darker. Because the sight he saw was terrifying.

In every street, orphans were crying and the helpless were groaning. Men with oppressive faces loomed over the poor like a nightmare.

It looked as if the whole country was in mourning. There were unclaimed corpses, weeping women and desperate people waiting for death. 

That man saw sadness everywhere, a grave in every corner. 

His conscience could not bear it; his soul rebelled. The sky stretched like a pitch-black shroud; even the sun had faded. He found his only solace in drunkenness. He thought he would forget as he drank. But no way! Every scream was like a dagger stabbed in his ears. The world had become a dungeon in his eyes; there were no friends or brothers but only enemies.

On the other hand, the fortunate traveler stepped into a completely different realm within the same city. It was like a place of feast.
People were smiling and friendly, embracing one another like brothers. 

The sounds of dhikr and takbir rose from every street. It seemed to him that a festival was being celebrated throughout the country. Tables were laid, and everyone was eating and drinking from them.

He saw even deaths not as mourning, but as a discharge ceremony. Soldiers who had completed their duty were sent off with joy. New arrivals were welcomed with enthusiasm as if they were being commissioned. Every sound was either a dhikr, a thanksgiving or a tune of joy.

While the previous unfortunate man was saddened and devastated by his own pain and the distress of the people, this fortunate man was happy and relieved by his own joy and the joy of the people. He also earned a good profit and thanked Allah. 

One day their paths crossed. The unfortunate man was sitting with his head bowed and his face pale. The fortunate man approached him and asked: “What is this? Why are you so sad?”

The wretched man described what he had seen: “Weeping orphans... horrific funerals... the oppressed groaning at the hands of oppressors... the world has become a house of mourning in my eyes,” he said.

The fortunate man took a deep breath and said with a smile: “Did you see all this in this city? I was in the same city.” “No! You have deceived yourself with your delusions. The darkness inside you has become a veil over your eyes. You have seen the truth in reverse. This country is not a dungeon, but the property of a just and merciful sultan. Come to your senses and cleanse your heart. Then you will see that this whole world is a dhikr house, a festival square.

These words struck the heart of the unfortunate man like lightning. The clouds of drunkenness suddenly dispersed and tears flowed from his eyes. With a trembling voice, he said, “Yes, I was mad. May Allah be pleased with you that you saved me from my hellish state.”

Yes, our parable is over. But the real meaning begins now. So, what does this parable want to tell us? Let’s go on.

That unfortunate man is the one who does not know Allah or is ignorant of Him. Because of this denial, the palace of his soul had become a dungeon. Because he did not know Allah and because he was ignorant of the Hereafter, the world had turned into a vast house of mourning in his eyes.

Every road led to the grave. Every breath turned into a wail. Every joy carried death behind it like a shadow. Every birth was a traveler doomed to be lost. The world seemed to him as a vast square of mourning, where only corpses that were dragged toward the cemetery were gathered. 

Because he had ignored his Lord, every being was left ownerless and orphaned in his eyes; the howl of the wind sounded like a wail, the song of the birds like a lament, and the patter of the rain like a sorrowful sob. It was as if everything was looking for its owner who had been taken away from it and weeping with despair.

Since he thought death was nothingness, all humans and animals had turned into helpless victims writhing in the clutches of death in his eyes. Life, in his eyes, was a slaughterhouse and living beings were miserable creatures waiting to be slaughtered one by one. Even the great mountains were now petrified corpses. The seas... They spoke not with their waves, but with their shroud-like silence. His life had turned into that of a prisoner waiting in the shadow of the gallows.

He thought that every calamity that befell him was the result of blind coincidence and merciless causes, not the power of Allah. Because of this delusion, every calamity became a tyrannical executioner in his eyes. A disease seemed to him not a wise test but a cruel torturer. A calamity was not a manifestation of divine wisdom; it was like a bandit leaping out of dark streets, attacking with bloody knives in hand. Each affliction was felt not as a warning from divine mercy, but as a cruel executioner descending upon him with the rattle of chains. 

And amidst all these scenes, his heart was stuck in a narrow pit because he was deprived of the light of belief; an indescribable emptiness, a burning agony, and a bottomless fear seethed in his chest. That unfortunate person, while still in this world, experienced hell as the price of his denial of Allah. 

However, that fortunate one was, in fact, a believer. They looked at the same places, but saw completely different things. Because a believer knows Allah and believes in the afterlife. In his eyes, the world is not a house of mourning, but a square of celebration spread out for the Lord’s banquet. The sky is not a pitch-black shroud, but a magnificent palace decorated with lamps of mercy.

Every newborn child is not a victim thrown into nothingness; he is like a fresh soldier sent on a mission, sent to the field of life, entrusted with a duty, prepared for the journey.

Every deceased person is not a prisoner who has fallen into a bottomless void; he is a fortunate one who has completed his duty and is joyfully discharged. As he leaves the barracks of the world, he smiles like a soldier who leaves a trace behind him and runs to the banner of eternal bliss. Misfortunes are not tyrants; they are disguised opportunities for promotion and doors opening to the reward of patience.

The believer looks and sees: Every being is an officer in Allah’s army... Every particle is like a soldier who submits to the command of power; every creature is like a soldier who performs his duty meticulously.

Not every sound is the empty echo of a coincidence. Some are like a dhikr that remembers Allah; some are like a praise that rises with gratitude, and some are like a hymn that overflows with the love of duty 

In the eyes of a believer, the entire universe is a land overflowing with Allah’s dutiful creatures.

The stars are lamps of light shining in the night’s bosom; the sun is a faithful servant warming the earth; the clouds are messengers bearing good tidings from the heavens, bearing gifts laden with mercy. And the world... is not a dungeon, but a magnificent divine palace, functioning with mercy.

Those are two people looking at the same place but seeing different things. Belief becomes glasses for the eyes, showing everything clearly; unbelief becomes a veil, covering the truth. 

Belief carries a spiritual seed of paradise in the heart; unbelief harbors a hidden seed of hell in the heart.

Therefore, happiness, security, and peace are found only in Islam, only in belief.

The world viewed with faith is illuminated while the world viewed with unbelief is plunged into darkness.

With belief, the universe becomes a book; its letters radiate light; with unbelief, the same universe is nothing but a scribbled piece of paper. Therefore, we must always praise Allah with our tongues and hearts for the blessing of belief and Islam.