Page 69 - The School of Yusuf (as)

Education In The School Of Yusuf

from them and everything they worship except Allah, take
refuge in the cave and your Lord will unfold His mercy to
you and open the way to the best for you in your situation.”
(Surat al-Kahf, 16)
Allah gave freely of His mercy to the believers who sought

refuge in the cave, and eased their burden. The Qur’an defines the
cave as a place of good for believers. Islamic scholars have taken ad-
vantage of the austere conditions of caves to purify themselves from
worldly passions.
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi had intended in his youth to one day
withdraw to a cave. Finally, when he had become a prisoner of war,
during the First World War, he decided to withdraw to such a re-

treat if he were to be freed. Here he speaks of that desire:
When I was twenty years old I used to say repeatedly: “Towards
the end of my life I shall withdraw from the life of society into a
cave or onto a mountain like those who abandoned the world
and withdrew into caves in olden times.” And when during the
former Great War I was being held as a prisoner in the north-
east, I took this decision: “I shall spend my life after this in caves.

I shall slip away from political and social life. Enough now of
mixing in them.” At that point both dominical grace and the jus-
tice of Divine Determining were manifested. 18
Bediuzzaman stated repeatedly that his wish had come true, by
the will and grace of Allah, but in another and better form, by his

several terms spent in the School of Yusuf. In another instance, he
points out the value of the School of Yusuf for the purpose of wor-
ship, and its suitability as a place of retreat:
If the prisoner has been sentenced unjustly, on condition he per-
forms the obligatory prayers, each hour will be the equivalent of

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