TH~
MUSLIM
WORLD
Vol. LXXXIX,
NO.
3-4
Tuly-October
,
1999
BEDIUZZAMAN SAID NURSI’SDISCOURSE ON BELIEF
IN
ALLAH:A STUDY
OF
TEXTS FROM
Risale-i
Nur
COLLECTION
Discussion about belief in AllahfGod occupies a pivotal place in hu-man discourse.
A
survey of contemporary discussion on this topic in ourage
of
triumphant claims from the realms of both science and religionconfirms that the debate continues. It occupies a fundamental and foun-dational position in shaping the worldviews
of
humanity at any given pointin history.2 It
is
a discourse whose contours change with the passage oftime and increase in information and knowledge, but whose function inanchoring and shaping the lifeofthe majority
of
humanity cannot be un-derestimated. This paper approaches the topic from the point of view ofthe contemporary state of Muslim discussion about the interrelation be-tween religious belief and social change.Said Nursi’s (1876-1960) discourse on Qur’anic concepts such as beliefin God
as
contained in his
magnum
opus,
the
Rlj.a/e-iNur
(The Epistle ofLight) c~llection,~is a unique contribution to the corpus of Islamic discur-sive thought in the contemporary age. This comprehensive work reflects
Syed Muhammad Naquib aldttas, P/oegomcna
to
the
Metaphysics
of
/sfam
(KualaLumpur: ISTAC, 1995); Richard C. Martin and Mark
R.
Woodward with Dwi
S.
Atmaja,
Dehnders
of
Reason
h
/slam
Mu’/az&m
h-om
Medevaf
Schoof
to
Modem
Symbo/(Oxford: OneworldPublications, 1997); Eugene G. dAquili and Andrew
B.
Newburg, “The NeuropsychologicalBasis of Religions, Or Why God Won’t Go Away,’ Zygonvol. 33 no. 2 @me 1998): 187-201;Henry Simoni, “Divine Passibility and the Problem
of
Radical Particularity: Does
God
Feel OurPain,’
Rehgious
Studesvol no. 33 (1997): 327-47; David Swinburne,
The
Emktence
of
God
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991); Reynolds Price, Letter
to
a
Man
h
the
fike (New York:Scribner, 1999); Winifred Gallagher,
Workihg
OR
God
(New York: Random House, 1999);Edward
0.
Wilson,
ConsiXence: The Unity
of
Know/edgeRandom House, 1999); Keith Ward,
God
Chance
andNecessity
(Oxford
:
Oneworld Publications, 1996); Keith Ward,
God
Fa2h
andtheNewM2Zennhm:
Chnstim
Bekef%
an
Age
of
Scyence
(Oxford: Oneworld Publications,1999); Ludovic Kennedy,
Affh
the
MRd
A
Parewe]!
to
Cod
(London: Hodder, 1999); VictorCosculluela, ”Death and God: The Case of Richard Swinburne,’
Rehgious
Studiez vol no. 33(1997): 293-302; Mikael Stenmark,
”An
Unfinished Debate: What are the Aims of Religion andScience,’ ZY~OR,
vol.
32
no.4
(December 1997): 491-5t4.Karen Armstrong,
A
History
of
God:
the
4000
year
quest
of
fudaikm,
ChnkihiQ.
and//am
(New York
:
A. A. Knopf, 1993).Available in English translations under following titles: Bediuzzaman Said Nursi,
The
Words
On
the
Nature
and
Purposes
of
Man,
LAe
and
A//
ThIhgs
trans. Sukran Vahide(Istanbul: Sozler Ne riyat
A.,
1992); Bediuzzaman Said Nursi,
The FfashesCoJection
trans.Sukran Vahide (Istanbul: Sozler Ne riyat
A.,
1995); Bediuzzaman Said Nursi,
The
Rays
Coh’ectlon
trans. Sukran Vahide (Istanbul: Sozler
Ne
riyat
A.,
1998).
336
IMTIYAZ YUSUF
337
a range of intellectual approaches to Islam, including the literal, the ratio-nal, and the mystical.The Rikafe-iNur’smethod of understanding the meaning of the mes-sage of the Qur’an touches upon the major themes of the Qur’an and fo-cuses on contemporary issues facing Muslims such as Islam and science,education, democracy, modernity, religious tolerance and other relevantconcerns. Historically, the typical fikafe-1’
Nur
style of Islamic thinkingcould only have emerged in Turkey, given the Muslim encounter therewith modernity and the West. To understand the RXde--I’Nu/, therefore,requires detailed historical knowledge about Islamic revivalism since the17th century and the emergence
of
modern Turkey. Only then can a readercomprehend the attempt of the Rikafe-iNur to put to rest continuingphilosophical dilemmas about the relation between revelation, reason andmystery in Islam. Grasping the intellectual dimension of Said Nursi’sthought is an exacting task.Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s deep and sound reflections on the Qur’anicthemes collected in the
fi2afe-i
Nur
provide the contemporary Muslimwith new and dynamic insights into the mine of Qur’anic knowledge. The
130
sections
of
the work offer readers
a
sense of “Qur’anic relevance” inthis age of advanced science and technology, with its dominant material-istic perspective on life.The discourses of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi arean exegesis, explanation, explication and interpretation of the message ofthe Qur’an in the face of philosophical, intellectual and social challengesfacing that currently face humanity in general and the Muslim communityin our extremely complex age.4This paper
is
a preliminary attempt to study, reflect and benefit fromSaid Nursi’s deep and sound philosophical exposition on the question ofbelief in God and its impact on the lives of believing Muslims. The firstsection places the thought of Said Nursi within the tradition of Islamicthought in modern times. Section two treats Said Nursi’s discourse on theQur’anic meaning of belief in God.
The Place of
Said
Nursi Within Islamic Thought
Said Nursi, a religious intellectual, delved deep into the meaning ofthe Qur’an, arguing for its relevance to the questions about faith put forthby modern history, science, rationalism and political ideology to the Turk-ish mdfetand the Muslim
ummah.
His significant contribution to Islamicthought is less well known in the Muslim world, both because of the gen-
For biographies
of
Said Nursi in English, see Sukran Vahide,
Beduzzaman
Sakf
Numi
(Istanbul: Sozler Publications, 1992) and Hamid AIgar, ”Said Nursi and the
Ri>ah-~.Nur’
in
Zs/amic
Perspectives
Studes
IR
honour
of
Sayyid
Ah/
A
’/a
Mawdud;
Khurshid Ahmad and
Zafar
Ishaq Ansari (eds.
)
(Leicester: The Islamic Foundation,
1979)’
313-33.
338
THE
MUSLIM
WORLD
era1 tendency to categorize him as a mystic and because of the largelypolitical orientation of contemporary Islamic thought, a classification intowhich he does not fit neatly.Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, like his predecessors Ahmad Sirhindi
(1564-
1624)5
and Sayyid Ahmad Khan
(1817-1898)6
of India, called for a new
kahm
(Islamic scholasticism) that would address the modern faith-ques-tions arising out of encounters with modernity and the West.7 He heldthat Islamic scholasticism needed to be revitalised through the study ofphilosophy, physical and mathematical sciences. In this way, it would beable to successfully rebut the attacks levied against the Qur’an by thematerialists and the atheists. For Said Nursi, there was no contradictionbetween Qur’an, reason and science. The conflict lies between the kindof materialist philosophy that leads to atheism, and the religious world-view of the Qur’an that asserts and confirms the existence of God. Hence,the Rikde-iNuraims at renewing and strengthening of belief and faith inGod. Said Nursi urged a new methodology in.Qur’anic exegesis, one thatwould benefit from the advancements in the fields of secular knowledge
so
that the ummahcould withstand the challenges of materialism and philo-sophical alienation from the Qur’an.Said Nursi lived in an age when the philosophical and practical as-pects
of
modern science, technology and related materialism were threat-ening the very disappearance of the Qur’an in Turkey and the larger Muslimworld. He committed himself to defending the Qur’an against the conten-tions of its discreditors, such as the then British Secretary for the Colo-nies, Mr. Gladstone. He declared, “I shall prove and demonstrate to theworld that the Qur’an is an undying, inextinguishable Sun!”8 Henceforth,he devoted his life to the service of the Qur’an, defending Muslim beliefand the tenets of Islam, which had come under severe attack in Turkey.The reflections and thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi on the Qur’anplay an important role in validating the truth and relevance
of
the Qur’anicmessage for Muslims.The relationship between the Qur’an and
Risahe-i
Nur
has been de-scribed as that of the “moon to the sun
.
.
.
its aim (being) the demonstra-tion of the i’)kzof the Q~r’an.”~The Risahe-iNurexpounds on the finer
The
Oxhrd
Encyc/opeda
of
the
Modern
lsamk
Wor/d
S.V.
*Ahmad Sirhindi” byFrancis Robin. For study about the influence
of
Ahmad Sirhindi on Said Nursi via MevlanaHalid representing “modern
Nak
bendactivism”
in
Turkey, see Serif Mardin,
Reh&un
and
Socia/
ChqKe
h
hh7h
Turkey
(Albany,
NY:
State University
of
New York Press,
1989),
57-
60.
The
Oxhrd
Encyc/opedk
offheA4odern
fs/5mic
Wor/d
S.V.
”Sayyid Ahmad Khan” byHafeez Malik.Algar,
320.
Nursi,
The
Rays
Co//ecfion,
678.Algar, 326.
*
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