“If many things come together to form a collectivity, a collective personality comes into being. If such a collectivity forms a strong union, it will have a sort of collective spirit to represent it, as well as an appointed angel to perform its duty of glorification. Consider, for example, the plane tree in front of my room. It is a comprehensive word of the tongue of that mountain in the mouth of Barla.”¹⁾

“As with most other species, certain people among humankind are extraordinary in their acts and achievements. If they excel in good deeds, they become the pride of humanity; otherwise they are the cause of their shame. They acquire a collective identity and become models for imitators. Since it is not certain who among people has this capacity, theoretically, and sometimes it is even possible, everyone could be like them. Also, as such people can emerge in any place, every place may have some of them.”²⁾

“When we carefully examine creation, we discern that like particulars, each universal thing has a collective identity and performs a unique, universal function. For example, a flower displays a superlative design and symmetry and recites the Creator’s Names in the tongue of its being. Likewise, the earth performs a universal duty of glorification as though it were a flower.”³⁾

“… the community and collective personality of the weak is strong, while the community and collective personality of the powerful is weak.”⁴⁾

“O students of the Risale-i Nur who serve the Qur’an! We are the members of a collective personality worthy of the title of “the perfect or universal human.” We are like the components of a factory working for eternal happiness in the eternal life. We are also the crew of a blessed ship aiming to carry the Community of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, to the shore of salvation, which is the shore of the Abode of Peace and Happiness. Therefore, we need and are compelled to realize true solidarity and unity, which can only be attained through sincerity and which can gain for four people the power of one thousand one hundred and eleven.”⁵⁾

“One who carefully studies these treatises for a year to understand them fully can be an important, eminent scholar of this time. Even if they do not understand them fully, the students of the Risale-i Nur have a collective personality, and this is surely a scholar of this time. Your pens are the fingers of that collective personality.”⁶⁾

“Just as there are wonders associated with sainthood, there are also wonders that stem from pure intention. There are wonders that arise from sincerity as well. Especially among brothers and sisters united in a circle of brotherhood purely for God’s sake, many extraordinary blessings can result from their serious and heartfelt solidarity. Indeed, the collective personality of such a community can come to be regarded as that of a perfected saint, and thus become the recipient of divine graces.”⁷⁾

“There are numerous sound narrations that in the end times the Mahdī will come and reform a world steeped in corruption. Yet the present age is the age of the community, not the age of the individual! However brilliant a person may be—even if he possessed the genius of a hundred prodigies—if he does not serve as the representative of a community and embody its collective personality, he will be defeated by the collective personality of an opposing community.”⁸⁾

“The interpreter of the Glorious Qur’an must be someone endowed with profound genius, possessing penetrating insight into legal reasoning (ijtihad), and graced with perfected sainthood. Especially in this era, such qualities can only be found within a lofty and mighty collective—a ‘genius-like collective personality’—born of mutual solidarity, the cross-fertilization of minds, the harmony of souls aiding one another, freedom of thought, and sincerity purified from all bigotry. Such a collective personality can interpret the Qur’an. For, based on the maxim ‘What is not found in the part is found in the whole,’ these conditions that may not exist in any single individual can be found within the group as a whole.”⁹⁾

“… The state is a collective personality; like a child, its formation and growth are gradual.”¹⁰⁾

“This is an age of community. The collective personality, which is the soul of the community, is stronger and more capable of implementing the ordinances of the Divine Law. An individual caliph can only undertake his duties by relying upon it. If the collective personality, the spirit of the community, is upright, it becomes exceedingly radiant and perfect; if it is corrupt, it becomes exceedingly corrupt. The goodness or evil of an individual is limited; that of the community, however, is boundless. Do not spoil before your own people the good you have gained outwardly. You know well that your eternal enemies, your opposers and adversaries, are demolishing the symbols of Islam. Therefore, your indispensable duty is to revive and protect those symbols; otherwise, you will—albeit unwittingly—be assisting a conscious enemy. Neglecting the symbols of religion signifies weakness of national spirit; and weakness does not deter the enemy, it emboldens them.”¹¹⁾

“A person’s intercession on their own behalf is possible only through attachment to a spiritual collective personality (shakhs al-ma’nawi). Such attachment means that the individual effaces themselves within the community and becomes integrated with it.

A community consists of individuals united in the same thought, ideal, and aspiration. It is precisely this quality that distinguishes a true community from mere crowds or masses.

Becoming a community is achieved by attaining collective consciousness. Collective consciousness absorbs the individual into its own structure, reducing them from a being with many dimensions into just one dimension of that whole; at that point, there is no absolute individual, but the community as such. The individual has become communitized, and the community has, so to speak, become a single person. In such an atmosphere, all acts of worship flow into the same spiritual basin. Thus the collective personality rises swiftly through spiritual ranks until it reaches the highest peaks. No individual worship can elevate a person to such summits so quickly.

As long as the community preserves its essence on the level of quality, it continues to ascend. At times, a community may even represent ghawsiyyah (the station of a spiritual pole and helper) and quṭbiyyah (the station of the spiritual axis). Sometimes the lofty rank attained by the collective personality is mistakenly attributed to the individual representing that community—an error of interpretation. The pure-hearted people who see beauty and think well have correctly sensed a truth in their consciences, but they have erred in its attribution. However, such mistakes involve no sin; those with good opinion are not held accountable for them—provided that one does not fall into excess.

Representing sainthood (walayah) through a collective personality is both the shortest and the safest path. For in such a case there is nothing that would lead the individual toward self-admiration. The attained rank belongs to the collective personality, and thus the individual is shielded from every obstacle and pitfall that might drag the ego into pride.”¹²⁾

Türkçe