Said Nursî

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"Nursi" redirects here. For Estonian village, see Nursi, Estonia.

Said-i Nursi

Üstad Bediüzzaman
Said Nursi 1956.jpg
Said Nursi
Personal
Born1877[1]
Nurs,[2][3] Bitlis Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died23 March 1960 (aged 82–83)[8]
Urfa, Turkey
ReligionIslam
EthnicityKurdish
Era19th–20th century[4]
RegionKurdistan[5]
DenominationSunni
JurisprudenceShafi`i
CreedAsh'ari[6][7]
Main interest(s)Theology,[9] Tafsir,[9] Revival of Faith[10]
Muslim leader
Influenced by

Said Nursi (Ottoman Turkish: سعيد نورسی‎, Kurdish: Seîdê Nursî ,سەعید نوورسی‎[13][14]‎; 1877[1] – 23 March 1960), also spelled Said-i Nursî or Said-i Kurdî[15][16] and commonly known with the honorific Bediüzzaman (meaning "wonder of the age"), or simply Üstad (meaning "master")[17] was a Kurdish Sunni Muslim theologian who wrote the Risale-i Nur Collection, a body of Qur'anic commentary exceeding six thousand pages.[18][19] Believing that modern science and logic was the way of the future, he advocated teaching religious sciences in secular schools and modern sciences in religious schools.[18][19][20] Nursi inspired a religious movement[21][22] that has played a vital role in the revival of Islam in Turkey and now numbers several millions of followers worldwide.[23][24] His followers, often known as the "Nurcu movement" or the "Nur cemaati".[25]

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He was able to recite many books from memory. For instance: "So then he [Molla Fethullah] decided to test his memory and handed him a copy of the work by Al-Hariri of Basra (1054–1122) — also famous for his intelligence and power of memory — called Maqamat al-Hariri. Said read one page once, memorized it, then repeated it by heart. Molla Fethullah expressed his amazement."[26]

Early life[]

Said Nursi was born in the Kurdish village of Nurs near Hizan in the Bitlis Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire, in Kurdistan.[5] He received his early education from scholars of his hometown, where he showed mastery in theological debates. After developing a reputation for Islamic knowledge, he was nicknamed "Bediuzzaman", meaning "The most unique and superior person of the time". He was invited by the governor of the Vilayet of Van to stay within his residency.[27] In the library of the governor, Nursi gained access to an archive of scientific knowledge he had not had access to previously. Said Nursi also learned the Ottoman Turkish language there. During this time, he developed a plan for university education for the Eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire.[28] By combining scientific and religious (Islamic) education, the university was expected to advance the philosophical thoughts of these regions. However, he was put on trial in 1909 for his apparent involvement in the Ottoman countercoup of 1909 against the liberal reform movement named the Committee of Union and Progress, but he was acquitted and released.[29] He was active during the late Ottoman Caliphate as an educational reformer and advocate of the unity of the peoples of the Caliphate. He proposed educational reforms to the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid aiming to put the traditional Madrasah (seminary) training, Sufism (tasawwuf) and the modern sciences in dialogue with each other.[9][30] During World War I, Nursî was a member of the Ottoman Empire's "Special Organization".[31] In January 1916 he was captured by Russian forces and taken to Russia as a prisoner of war, where he spent over 2 years. He escaped in the spring of 1918 and made his way to Istanbul.[30][32] His return was welcomed and he was chosen to be a member of Dar-al Hikmat al-Islamiye, an Islamic academy seeking solutions for the Islamic world's growing problems.[33]

Nursi was a worrying-enough influence for the incipient leader of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk,[34] to deem it necessary to seek to control him by offering him the position of ‘Minister of Religious Affairs’ for the eastern provinces of Turkey, a post that Nursi famously refused.[35][36] This was the beginning of his split from the Kemalist circle. Conversely, the secular government in the Republic of Turkey would later stigmatize his attempts to renew traditional faith. Modernization of intellectual culture in Anatolia thusly bifurcated along two approaches: assimilation of occidental understanding; and functionalization of extant liturgics. Nursi was the major contributor to the latter approach, and his early life as a memorization savant enabled him to use scripture for teaching with mnemonic metaphor. Friction between the two spheres of thought led to breakdowns of civility and the eventual reclusion of Nursi.

After arriving in Istanbul, Said Nursi declared: "I shall prove and demonstrate to the world that the Quran is an undying, inexhaustible Sun!"[37], setting out to write his comprehensive Risale-i Nur, a collection of Said Nursi's own commentaries and interpretations of the Quran and Islam, as well as writings about his own life.[38]

Teachings and movement[]

Some words and teachings of Said Nursi:

  • On the face of the universe, the face of the earth, and the face of man are three stamps of dominicality one within the other and each showing samples of the others.

-The First is the great stamp of Godhead, which is manifested through the mutual assistance, co-operation, and embracing and corresponding to one another of beings in the totality of the universe. This looks to “In the Name of God.”

-The Second is the great stamp of divine mercifulness, which is manifested through the mutual resemblance and proportion, order, harmony, favour and compassion in the disposal, raising, and administration of plants and animals on the face of the earth. This looks to “In the Name of God, the Merciful.”

-Then is the exalted stamp of divine compassionateness, which is manifested through the subtleties of divine beneficence, fine points of divine clemency, and rays of divine compassion on the face of man’s comprehensive nature. This looks to “the Compassionate” in “In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.”[39]

  • The human mind, which plunges into causes, is bewildered at the upheavals of the passing of the world, and laments despairingly. While the conscience, which desires true existence, severs the connection with metaphorical beloveds and transient beings through crying like Abraham, I love not those that set, and it binds itself to the Truly Existent One, and Eternal Beloved.
  • O my ignorant soul! Know that the world and its beings are certainly ephemeral, but you may find a way leading to permanence in each ephemeral thing, and may see two flashes, two mysteries, of the manifestations of the Undying Beloved’s Beauty.
  • Yes, it is within the bounty that the bestowal is to be seen and the favour of the Most Merciful perceived. If you pass from bounty to bestowal, you will find the Bestower. Also, each work of the Eternally Besought One makes known the All-Glorious Maker’s Names like a missive. If you pass from the decoration to the meaning, you will find the One signified by way of His Names. Since you can find the kernel, the essence, of these ephemeral beings, obtain it.
  • Among beings there is no work which is not a most meaningful embodied word and does not cause to be read numerous of the Glorious Maker’s Names. Since beings are words, words of power, read their meanings and place them in your heart. Fearlessly cast words without meaning onto the winds of transience. Do not concern yourself looking behind them, needlessly occupying yourself.[40]

Our time in Said Nursi's thought: According to the words of Muhammad, "The world has a life span of 7000 years from the creation of the first human to the doomsday, 1000 - 1500 years of this was the amount to live after Muhammad.[41][42][43][44] In addition, it was the End Times, according to the inferences that Said Nursi obtained by using Abjad[45] from the hadith, "A taifa from my ummah will prevail over the truth until Allah's order comes (that is, doomsday breaks)".[46]

Humanity faced the greatest corruption of this period and the danger of unbelief, which was the greatest threat to humanity. Therefore, according to him, the greatest service in this period was the service of faith rescue, and Risale-i Nur, who did this duty properly, represented the great Mahdism of the End Times.[47] However, he was carrying out the first and most important steps of this task, which he called "the service of faith and the Quran" with his books called "Risale-i nur", and was preparing the ground and program for another person to come after him.[47]

The period believed to be the "golden age of Mahdi" will come in the future, and after this period that will last 30-40 years, irreligion will prevail again. According to him, the Doomsday would fall on the heads of the atheists in the Hijri calendar between 1530 and 1540.[45]

Said Nursi was exiled to the Isparta Province for, amongst other things, performing the call to prayer in the Arabic language.[48] After his teachings attracted people in the area, the governor of Isparta sent him to a village named Barla[49] where he wrote two-thirds of his Risale-i Nur.[50] These manuscripts were sent to Sav, another village in the region, where people duplicated them in Arabic script (which was officially replaced by the modern Turkish alphabet in 1928).[48][50] After being finished, these books were sent to Nursi's disciples all over Turkey via the "Nurcu postal system".[51] Nursi repeatedly stated that all the persecutions and hardships inflicted on him by the secularist regime were God's blessings and that having destroyed the formal religious establishment, they had unwittingly left popular Islam as the only authentic faith of the Turks.[50]

Women in chador in Shiraz, Iran. Unlike peasant women, Said Nursi believed that the face and hands of urban women should be covered under the Quran's command to cover up.[52]
Mustafa Kemal teaches the new alphabet in Sivas. Republican Reforms led Mustafa Kemal to make Said Nursi's target and define him as "Sufyani".[53]

Besides these writings themselves, a major factor in the success of the movement may be attributed to the very method Nursi had chosen, which may be summarized with two phrases: 'mânevî jihad,' that is, 'jihad of the word' or 'non-physical jihad', and 'positive action.'[54][55] Nursi considered materialism and atheism and their source materialist philosophy to be his true enemies in this age of science, reason, and civilization.[56] He combated them with reasoned proofs in the Risale-i Nur, considering the Risale-i Nur as the most effective barrier against the corruption of society caused by these enemies. In order to be able to pursue this 'jihad of the word,' Nursi insisted that his students avoided any use of force and disruptive action. Through 'positive action,' and the maintenance of public order and security, the supposed damage caused by the forces of unbelief could be 'repaired' by the 'healing' truths of the Quran. Said Nursi lived much of his life in prison and in exile, persecuted by the secularist state for having invested in religious revival.[57]

Later life[]

Alarmed by the growing popularity of Nursi's teachings, which had spread even among the intellectuals and the military officers, the government arrested him for allegedly violating laws mandating secularism and sent him to exile. He was acquitted of all these charges in 1956.[50]

In the last decade of his life, Said Nursi settled in the city of Isparta. After the introduction of the multi-party system, he advised his followers to vote for the Democratic Party of Adnan Menderes, which had restored some religious freedom.[50] Said Nursi was a staunch anti-Communist, denouncing Communism as the greatest danger of the time. In 1956, he was allowed to have his writings printed. His books are collected under the name Risale-i Nur ("Letters of Divine Light").

He died of exhaustion after travelling to Urfa.[58] He was buried in a tomb opposite the cave where prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) is widely believed to have been born.[59][60] After the military coup d'état in Turkey in 1960, a group of soldiers led by the later right-wing politician Alparslan Türkeş opened his grave and buried him at an unknown place near Isparta during July 1960 in order to prevent popular veneration.[61][62]

In Popular Culture[]

A Turkish film Free Man based on Nursi's biography was made in 2011.[63]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Şükran Vahide, Islam in Modern Turkey(Kurdistan): An Intellectual Biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, p 3. ISBN 0791482979
  2. ^ "Bediüzzaman Said Nursi'nin köyü Nurs, TRT'de" – via vimeo.com.
  3. ^ Ian Markham, Globalization, Ethics and Islam: The Case of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Introduction, xvii
  4. ^ Islam in Modern Turkey, Şükran Vahide (Suny Press, 2005)
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Vahide, Sükran (2005). Islam in modern Turkey: an intellectual biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. SUNY Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-7914-6515-8. They [Said Nursî's parents] were among the settled Kurdish population of the geographical region the Ottomans called Kurdistan.
  6. ^ Ozgur, Koca. Said Nursi's Synthesis of Ash'arite Occasionalism and Ibn 'Arabi's Metaphysical Cosmology: "Diagonal Occasionalism," Modern Science", and "Free Will". UMI Dissertations Publishing. p. 217. ISBN 9781303619793.
  7. ^ ADMIN (28 January 2021). "Sufi-Ash'ari: Invoking Jesus (a) is totally fine and Islamic!". Ebn Hussein - حسن الشمراني | المهتدي من التشيع. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  8. ^ Ian Markham, Engaging with Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: A Model of Interfaith Dialogue, p 4. ISBN 0754669319
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c Gerhard Böwering, Patricia Crone, Mahan Mirza, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought, p482
  10. ^ Robert W. Hefner, Shari?a Politics: Islamic Law and Society in the Modern World, p 170. ISBN 0253223105
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c David Livingstone, Black Terror White Soldiers: Islam, Fascism and the New Age, p. 568. ISBN 1481226509
  12. ^ M. Hakan Yavuz, John L. Esposito, Turkish Islam and the Secular State: The Gülen Movement, p. 6
  13. ^ پەیامی حەشر سەعید نوورسی (in Kurdish). Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  14. ^ "Seîdê Kurdî ji ber piştgiriya Şêx Seîd hatiye sirgunkirin". Rûdaw. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  15. ^ Janet Klein (2011). The Margins of Empire: Kurdish Militias in the Ottoman Tribal Zone. pp. 106 & 116.
  16. ^ Şükran Vahide (2019). Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: Author of the Risale-i Nur. The Other Press. p. 195.
  17. ^ From Said Nursi's Life: Birth and Early Childhood
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b Gerhard Böwering, Patricia Crone, Mahan Mirza, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought, p. 482. ISBN 0691134847
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b Ian S. Markham; Suendam Birinci; Suendam Birinci Pirim (2011). An Introduction to Said Nursi: Life, Thought and Writings. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, p 194. ISBN 978-1-4094-0770-6.
  20. ^ Said Nursi, Munazarat, p. 86 "The religious sciences are the light of the conscience; the modern sciences are the light of the mind; only on the combining of the two does the truth emerge. The students’ aspiration will take flight with those two wings. When they are parted, it gives rise to bigotry in the one, and skepticism and trickery in the other."
  21. ^ Omer Taspinar, Kurdish Nationalism and Political Islam in Turkey: Kemalist Identity in Transition (Middle East Studies: History, Politics & Law), p. 228. ISBN 041594998X
  22. ^ Serif Mardin, Religion and Social Change in Modern Turkey: The Case of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, p. 23. ISBN 0887069967
  23. ^ Şükran Vahide, Islam in Modern Turkey: An Intellectual Biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, p. 425. ISBN 0791482979
  24. ^ Akyol, Mustafa (March 2007). "Render Unto Atatürk". First Things. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  25. ^ Balci, Bayram (June 2003). "Fethullah Gu¨len's Missionary Schools in Central Asia and their Role in the Spreading of Turkism and Islam". Religion, State and Society. 31 (2): 153. doi:10.1080/09637490308283. S2CID 145455130.
  26. ^ Şükran Vahide. (2005). Islam in Modern Turkey. State University of New York Press, ISBN 0-7914-6515-2
  27. ^ Vahide, Şükran (2011). Bediuzzaman Said Nusri. Islamic Book Trust. p. 28. ISBN 978-967-5062-86-5.
  28. ^ Abu-Rabi, Ibrahim M. (2003). Islam at the crossroads: on the life and thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. SUNY Press. p. xvii. ISBN 978-0-7914-5700-9.
  29. ^ David Livingstone, Black Terror White Soldiers: Islam, Fascism and the New Age, p. 568-569. ISBN 1481226509
  30. ^ Jump up to: a b David Tittensor, The House of Service: The Gulen Movement and Islam's Third Way, p 35. ISBN 0199336415
  31. ^ Hakan Özoglu, Osmanli Devleti ve Kürt Milliyetçiligi, Kitap Yayinevi Ltd., 2005, ISBN 978-975-6051-02-3, p. 146.
  32. ^ Andrew Rippin and Zeki Saritoprak, The Islamic World, Chapter 33, p. 398
  33. ^ Ian S. Markham; Suendam Birinci; Suendam Birinci Pirim (2011). An Introduction to Said Nursi: Life, Thought and Writings. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-4094-0770-6.
  34. ^ David Tittensor, The House of Service: The Gulen Movement and Islam's Third Way, p 37. ISBN 0199336415
  35. ^ David Livingstone, Black Terror White Soldiers: Islam, Fascism and the New Age, p. 569. ISBN 1481226509
  36. ^ Vahide, Sükran (2005). Islam in modern Turkey: an intellectual biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. SUNY Press. He offered Nursi Shaikh Sanusi’s post as ‘general preacher’ in the Eastern Provinces with a salary of 300 liras, a deputyship in the Assembly, and a post equivalent to that he had held in the Darü’l-Hikmeti’l-Islamiye, together with various perks such as a residence. Part 1;Childhood and Early Life,chapter 8
  37. ^ Vahide, Sükran (2005). Islam in modern Turkey: an intellectual biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. SUNY Press.
  38. ^ "Said Nursi'nin Yeşilay'ın kurucusu olduğu doğru mudur? Bu teşkilatın Kurtuluş Savaşı ile hiçbir ilgisinin olmadığı söylenmektedir. Buna ne dersiniz?" [Is it true that Said Nursi was the founder of the Green Crescent? It is said that this organization has nothing to do with the War of Independence. How about that?]. Sorularla Risale (in Turkish). 25 February 2012.
  39. ^ The Words, The First Word, p. 18-19
  40. ^ Said Nursi, The Words, The Seventeenth Word, p. 229-230
  41. ^ Ali B. Hüsameddin el-Muttaki, Kitab-ül Burhan Fi Alamet-il Mehdiyy-il Âhir Zaman, s. 88
  42. ^ Suyuti, el-keşfu an mücavezeti hazihil ümmeti el-elfu, el-havi lil fetavi, Suyuti. 2/248
  43. ^ Ruhul beyan. Bursevi. (Arapça) 4/262
  44. ^ Ahmed bin Hanbel (d.855), Kitâbu’l-ilel, s. 89
  45. ^ Jump up to: a b Kastamonu Lahikası, s.26
  46. ^ Buhari, 9:125, 162; Müslim,1:137
  47. ^ Jump up to: a b "SORU VE CEVAPLARLA RİSALE-İ NUR'DA MEHDİYET » Sorularla Risale". Sorularla Risale. 13 October 2010.
  48. ^ Jump up to: a b David McDowall (14 May 2004). A Modern History of the Kurds: Third Edition. I.B.Tauris. pp. 210–211. ISBN 978-1-85043-416-0.
  49. ^ Sükran Vahide, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, p. 230. ISBN 967506286X
  50. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P.; Lecomte, G. (1995). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Volume VIII (Ned-Sam) (New ed.). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. p. 144. ISBN 978-9004098343. |volume= has extra text (help)
  51. ^ Awang, Ramli; Yusoff, Kamaruzaman; Ebrahimi, Mansoureh; Yilmaz, Omer (2015). "A Challenge from Teaching to Social Movement: Bediüzzaman Said Nursi's Struggles for Modification in Turkey". Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. 6 (6): 446. doi:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s1p444.
  52. ^ "Tesettür Risâlesi ve Şerhi" [The treatise of hijab and its commentary]. Nurmend - Şerhmend (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 4 August 2020.
  53. ^ "Açık karalama : "Süfyan ve bir İslam Deccalı Mustafa Kemal"" [Clear scribble: "Sufyan and an Islamic Dajjal Mustafa Kemal"] (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 23 March 2013.
  54. ^ Ian S. Markham, Engaging with Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: A Model of Interfaith Dialogue, p 15 [Quoting Şükran Vahide, The Biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: the author of the Risale-i Nur (Istanbul, Sozler Publications 1992), p. 352]. ISBN 0754669319
  55. ^ Arvind Sharma, The World's Religions After September 11. p 92. ISBN 0275996212
  56. ^ Ian S. Markham, Suendam Birinci, Suendam Birinci Pirim, An Introduction to Said Nursi: Life, Thought and Writings. p 46. ISBN 1409407713
  57. ^ Gerhard Böwering, Patricia Crone, Mahan Mirza, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought, p. 482.
  58. ^ Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi, Islam at the Crossroads: On the Life and Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, p. xxiv. ISBN 0791457001
  59. ^ Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi, Islam at the Crossroads: On the Life and Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, p. xxiii. ISBN 0791457001
  60. ^ Ian S. Markham; Suendam Birinci; Suendam Birinci Pirim (2011). An Introduction to Said Nursi: Life, Thought and Writings. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, p 17. ISBN 978-1-4094-0770-6.
  61. ^ Nursi's Letters Found in Yassiada Archives Archived 5 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Zaman
  62. ^ Yes to 27 May No to 28th (in Turkish), Turkish Newspaper Yeni Şafak, 16 August 2003, last accessed 17 June 2014
  63. ^ "Free Man (2011) - IMDb" – via m.imdb.com.

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