Said Nursî

Said-i Nursi
Born 1877[1]
Nurs,[2][3] Bitlis Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died 23 March 1960 (aged 82–83)[4]
Urfa, Turkey
Ethnicity Kurdish
Era 19th–20th century[5]
Region Anatolia
Religion Islam
Denomination Sunni
Jurisprudence Shafi`i
Creed Ash'ari[6]
Main interest(s) Theology,[7] Theosophy, Tafsir,[7] Revival of Faith[8]
Notable work(s) Risale-i Nur[9]

Said Nursî (Ottoman Turkish: سعيد النُّورسی‎ / Central Kurdish: سەعید نوورسی‎‎; 1877[1] – 23 March 1960), also spelled Said-i Nursî, officially Said Okur[13] and commonly known with the honorific Bediüzzaman (بديع الزّمان, Badī' al-Zamān),[14] was a Kurdish Sunni Muslim theologian. He wrote the Risale-i Nur Collection, a body of Qur'anic commentary exceeding six thousand pages.[15][16] 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.[15][16][17] Nursi inspired a religious movement[18][19] that has played a vital role in the revival of Islam in Turkey and now numbers several millions of followers worldwide.[20][21] His followers, often known as the "Nurcu movement" or the "Nur cemaati", often call him by the venerating mononymic Üstad ("the Master").

Nursi displayed an unusual ability to learn from an early age, completing the normal course of Madrasa (religious school) education at the early age of fourteen, when he obtained his diploma. He became famous for both his prodigious memory and his unbeaten record in debating with other religious scholars. Another characteristic Nursi displayed from an early age was a dissatisfaction with the existing education system, which when older he formulated into comprehensive proposals for its reform.[22]

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."[23]

Early life

Said Nursi was born in Nurs, a Turkish village in the Bitlis Vilayet (province) of the Ottoman Empire, in eastern Anatolia.[24] 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.[25] In the governor's library, 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.[26] 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.[27] 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.[7][28] During World War I, Nursî was a member of the Ottoman Empire's "Special Organization".[29] 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 Constantinople.[28][30] His return was welcomed and he was chosen to be a member of Dar-al Hikmat al-Islamiye, an Islamic academy seeking solution for growing problems of ummah[31]

Nursi was a worrying-enough influence for the incipient leader of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk,[32] 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.[33][34] 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 by updating it to meet modern life requirements!", 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.[35]

Distribution of works and movement

Said Nursi was exiled to the Isparta Province for, amongst other things, performing the call to prayer in the Arabic language.[36] After his teachings attracted people in the area, the governor of Isparta sent him to a village named Barla[37] where he wrote two-thirds of his Risale-i Nur.[38] 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).[36][38] After being finished, these books were sent to Nursi's disciples all over Turkey via the "Nurcu postal system".[39] 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.[38]

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.'[40][41] Nursi considered materialism and atheism and their source materialist philosophy to be his true enemies in this age of science, reason, and civilization.[42] 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.[43]

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.[38]

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.[38] 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.[44] He was buried in a tomb which according to some Muslims is the shrine of prophet Ibrahim (Abraham).[45][46] 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.[47][48] His followers are reported to have found his grave after years of searching in the area, and took his remains to a secret place in an effort to protect his body from further disturbance.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Sukran Vahide, Islam in Modern Turkey(Kurdistan): An Intellectual Biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, p 3. ISBN 0791482979
  2. ↑ A documentary about his village Nurs (in Turkish)
  3. ↑ Ian Markham, Globalization, Ethics and Islam: The Case of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Introduction, xvii
  4. ↑ Ian Markham, Engaging with Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: A Model of Interfaith Dialogue, p 4. ISBN 0754669319
  5. ↑ Islam in Modern Turkey, Sukran Vahide (Suny Press, 2005)
  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. 1 2 3 4 Gerhard Böwering, Patricia Crone, Mahan Mirza, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought, p482
  8. ↑ Robert W. Hefner, Shari?a Politics: Islamic Law and Society in the Modern World, p 170. ISBN 0253223105
  9. ↑ Al-Mathnawi Al-Nuri, Introduction
  10. 1 2 3 David Livingstone, Black Terror White Soldiers: Islam, Fascism and the New Age, p. 568. ISBN 1481226509
  11. ↑ M. Hakan Yavuz, John L. Esposito, Turkish Islam and the Secular State: The Gülen Movement, p. 6
  12. ↑ Juan Eduardo Campo, Encyclopedia of Islam, p 268. ISBN 1438126964
  13. ↑ Bediüzzaman ve Risale-i Nur Hizmeti
  14. ↑ From Said Nursi's Life: Birth and Early Childhood
  15. 1 2 Gerhard Böwering, Patricia Crone, Mahan Mirza, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought, p. 482. ISBN 0691134847
  16. 1 2 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.
  17. ↑ 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."
  18. ↑ Omer Taspinar, Kurdish Nationalism and Political Islam in Turkey: Kemalist Identity in Transition (Middle East Studies: History, Politics & Law), p. 228. ISBN 041594998X
  19. ↑ Serif Mardin, Religion and Social Change in Modern Turkey: The Case of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, p. 23. ISBN 0887069967
  20. ↑ Sukran Vahide, Islam in Modern Turkey: An Intellectual Biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, p. 425. ISBN 0791482979
  21. ↑ An article from First Things
  22. ↑ "Who is Bediuzzaman Said Nursi?". www.bediuzzamansaidnursi.org. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  23. ↑ Şükran Vahide. (2005). Islam in Modern Turkey. State University of New York Press, ISBN 0-7914-6515-2
  24. ↑ 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.
  25. ↑ Vahide, Şükran (2011). Bediuzzaman Said Nusri. Islamic Book Trust. p. 28. ISBN 978-967-5062-86-5.
  26. ↑ 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.
  27. ↑ David Livingstone, Black Terror White Soldiers: Islam, Fascism and the New Age, p. 568-569. ISBN 1481226509
  28. 1 2 David Tittensor, The House of Service: The Gulen Movement and Islam's Third Way, p 35. ISBN 0199336415
  29. ↑ Hakan Özoglu, Osmanli Devleti ve Kürt Milliyetçiligi, Kitap Yayinevi Ltd., 2005, ISBN 978-975-6051-02-3, p. 146.
  30. ↑ Andrew Rippin and Zeki Saritoprak, The Islamic World, Chapter 33, p. 398
  31. ↑ 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.
  32. ↑ David Tittensor, The House of Service: The Gulen Movement and Islam's Third Way, p 37. ISBN 0199336415
  33. ↑ David Livingstone, Black Terror White Soldiers: Islam, Fascism and the New Age, p. 569. ISBN 1481226509
  34. ↑ 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
  35. ↑ http://www.bediuzzamansaidnursi.org/merakedilenler/said-nursinin-yesilayin-kurucusu-oldugu-dogru-mudur-bu-teskilatin-kurtulus-savasi-ile
  36. 1 2 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.
  37. ↑ Sükran Vahide, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, p. 230. ISBN 967506286X
  38. 1 2 3 4 5 Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P.; Lecomte, G. (1995). Encyclopaedia of Islam (New Edition). Volume VIII (Ned-Sam). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. p. 144. ISBN 9004098348.
  39. ↑ 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.
  40. ↑ Ian S. Markham, Engaging with Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: A Model of Interfaith Dialogue, p 15 [Quoting Sukrane Vahide, The Biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: the author of the Risale-i Nur (Istanbul, Sozler Publications 1992), p. 352]. ISBN 0754669319
  41. ↑ Arvind Sharma, The World's Religions After September 11. p 92. ISBN 0275996212
  42. ↑ Ian S. Markham, Suendam Birinci, Suendam Birinci Pirim, An Introduction to Said Nursi: Life, Thought and Writings. p 46. ISBN 1409407713
  43. ↑ Gerhard Böwering, Patricia Crone, Mahan Mirza, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought, p482.
  44. ↑ Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi, Islam at the Crossroads: On the Life and Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, p. xxiv. ISBN 0791457001
  45. ↑ Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi, Islam at the Crossroads: On the Life and Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, p. xxiii. ISBN 0791457001
  46. ↑ 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.
  47. ↑ Nursi's Letters Found in Yassiada Archives, Zaman
  48. ↑ Yes to 27 May No to 28th (in Turkish), Turkish Newspaper Yeni Şafak, 16 August 2003, last accessed 17 June 2014

Sources

Further reading

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