Said Nursî

Said Nursi was born in the Kurdish village of Nurs near Hizan in the Bitlis Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire.[6] 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 "Bediüzzaman", 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. Although subsequently he twice received funds for the construction of his university, and its foundations were laid in 1913, it was never completed due to war.

Contrary to the practice of religious scholars at that time, Nursi himself studied and mastered almost all the physical and mathematical sciences, and later studied philosophy. In the course of time, modern sciences had been dropped from the religious schools curriculum, which had contributed directly to the Ottoman decline relative to the advance of the West. Nursi’s endeavor was to prove and demonstrate that Islam is compatible with modern sciences and progress, the Holy Book was the source of true progress and civilization.

The years up to the end of the First World War were the final decades of the Ottoman Empire and were, in the words of Nursi, the period of the ‘Old Said’. In additions to his endeavors in the field of learning, he has had active involvement in social life and the public domain. In the War, he commanded the militia forces on the Caucasian Front against the invading Russians, for which he as later awarded a War Medal. He would enter the trenches himself despite heavy shelling which earned him the admiration of the troops he commanded. It was during these expereinces that he allegedly wrote his Koranic commentary, Signs of Miraculousness dictating to a scribe while on horseback. His commentary argues that the Koran encompasses the knowledge which allows for modern science. The commentary, in Nursi’s words, forms a sort model for commentaries he hoped would be written in the future fusing Islam and modern science. Nursi was taken prisoner in March 1916 and held in Russia for two years before escaping in early 1918, and returning to Istanbul via Warsaw, Berlin, and Vienna.

Nursi's influence concerned the incipient leader of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk,[29] which lead to Ataturk offering Nursi the post ‘Minister of Religious Affairs" for the eastern provinces of Turkey in attempt to make sure Nursi would not oppose Ataturk's regime, a post that Nursi famously refused.[30][31] This was the beginning of his split from the Kemalist circle. Conversely to the authority offered to Kursi, 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, Nursi allegedlydeclared: "I shall prove and demonstrate to the world that the Quran is an undying, inexhaustible Sun!",[32] and set 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.[33]

Some words and teachings of Said Nursi:

• I can live without bread, but I can't live without freedom.
• Distress teaches vice. Despair is the source of misguidance; and darkness of heart, the source of distress of the spirit.
• Belief is not restricted to a brief affirmation based on imitation; rather, it has degrees and stages of development. It is like a seed growing into a fully grown, fruit-bearing tree; like the sun's image in a mirror or in a drop of water to its images on the sea's surface and to the sun itself.
• Attributing to anything or anyone more good than God has attributed to them is not a positive move, nor does it mean that you have done them any good. A single grain of truth is preferable to a bumper harvest of false imaginings.
• 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.”[34]

• 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.[35]
• Minds should be enlightened with science, and hearts need to be illumined with religion. Words
• If you want an enemy, the ego (nafs) is sufficient. If you want advice, death is sufficient.
• Sin penetrates to the heart, darkens and hardens it until it extinguishes the light of belief. Each sin has a path that leads to unbelief. Unless that sin is swiftly obliterated by seeking God's forgiveness, it grows from a worm into a snake that gnaws at the heart.
• Do what you do only for God's sake, start for God's sake, work for God's sake, and act within the sphere of God's good approval. ~ Said Nursi
• The heart does not derive pure pleasure from what is impermanent. ~ Said Nursi
• A thing's innate disposition does not lie. ~ Said Nursi
• All true happiness, pure joy, sweet bounties, and untroubled pleasure lie in knowledge of God and love of God; they cannot exist without them.
• The magnificent cosmos is a palace that has the sun and the moon as its lamps and the stars as its candles; time is like a rope or ribbon hung within it, on to which the Glorious Creator each year threads a new world.
• Nature is a divine art; it cannot be the artist. It is a dominical book and cannot be the scribe. It is an embroidery and cannot be the embroiderer. It is a register and cannot be the accountant. It is the law and cannot be the power.
• Sin penetrates to the heart, darkens and hardens it until it extinguishes the light of belief. Each sin has a path that leads to unbelief. Unless that sin is swiftly obliterated by seeking God's forgiveness, it grows from a worm into a snake that gnaws at the heart.
• The fact that there is a unity in everything demonstrates that they are the works and artefacts of a single being. The universe is like a rosebud swathed in a thousand veils of unity. Or it is a single macroanthropos dressed in unities to the number of Divine Names and universal Divine works.
• If knowledge lacks the insight of the heart, it is ignorance.
• Do not suffer pain and torment without reason. Somebody All-Powerful and All-Compassionate owns everything. Rely on His Power and do not accuse His Compassion. Renounce grief and anxiety ad accept relief. Be rid of your troubles and find serenity.

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.[36] 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.[36]

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.[37]

Said Nursi was exiled to the Isparta Province for, amongst other things, performing the call to prayer in the Arabic language.[38] After his teachings attracted people in the area, the governor of Isparta sent him to a village named Barla[39] where he wrote two-thirds of his Risale-i Nur.[40] 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).[38][40] After being finished, these books were sent to Nursi's disciples all over Turkey via the "Nurcu postal system".[41] 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.[40]

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.'[42][43] Nursi considered materialism and atheism and their source materialist philosophy to be his true enemies in this age of science, reason, and civilization.[44] 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.[45]

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.[40]

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.[40] 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.[46] He was buried in a tomb opposite the cave where prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) is widely believed to have been born.[47][48] 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.[49][50]

A Turkish film Free Man based on Nursi's biography was made in 2011.[51]

• God's Faithful Servant: Barla
• Muhammad Emin Er (1914-2013), one of Said Nursi's students
• Bediüzzaman Museum, a museum inside the Rüstem Pasha Medrese at Fatih, Istanbul
• Mustafa Sabri
• Fethullah Gülen
• Adnan Oktar

• Camilla T. Nereid (1997). In the Light of Said Nursi: Turkish Nationalism and the Religious Alternative. Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, University of Bergen. ISBN 978-1-85065-309-7.
• Sahiner, Necmettin, Son Sahitler 3, Nesil Yayinlari, 2004.
• Şükran Vahide (16 February 2012). Islam in Modern Turkey: An Intellectual Biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-8297-1.
• Ian S. Markham; Suendam Birinci; Suendam Birinci Pirim (2011). An Introduction to Said Nursi: Life, Thought and Writings. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4094-0770-6.

• Angel Rabasa; F. Stephen Larrabee (17 June 2008). The Rise of Political Islam in Turkey. Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-4531-7.
• Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi‘ (9 April 2003). Islam at the Crossroads: On the Life and Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-5700-9.
• Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi‘ (24 July 2008). Spiritual Dimensions of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's Risale-I Nur: The Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-7815-8.
• Fred A. Reed (1 January 1999). Anatolia Junction: A Journey Into Hidden Turkey. Talonbooks, Limited. ISBN 978-0-88922-426-1.
• Thomas F. Michel (2003). Reflections on Said Nursî's Views on Muslim-Christian Understanding. Söz Basim Yayin. ISBN 978-975-6438-02-2.
• Thomas F. Michel (2013). Insights from the Risale-i Nur: Said Nursi's Advice for Modern Believers Clifton, NJ: Tughra Books ISBN 978-1597846783
• Serif Mardin (1989). Religion and Social Change in Modern Turkey: The Case of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-88706-996-3.
• Ibrahim Kalin; Oxford University Press (1 May 2010). Islam in Turkey: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-980651-5.
• Mustafa Gökhan Sahin, Said Nursi and the Nur Movement in Turkey: An Atomistic Approach
• Colin Turner; Hasan Horkuc (15 June 2009). Said Nursi: Makers of Islamic Civilization. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-774-0.

• Media related to Said Nursi at Wikimedia Commons
• Biodata at MuslimScholars.info
• Bediuzzaman Said Nursi
• SaidNur.com – A comprehensive page about Said Nursi and Risale-i Nur Collection in many languages
• Suffa Vakfi – Said Nursi-based Organization.
• Risale-i Nur
• The Risale-i Nur Collection, Bediuzzaman, Bediüzzaman Said Nursi – A web page including Risale-i Nur Collection in various languages
• Risale-i A web page including Risale-i Nur Collection in English
• Academic Researches on Said Nursi
• A letter about ban of Risale-i Nur Collection to President of Russia Medvedev
• A short biography of Said Nursi