Bediuzzaman Said Nursi
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi
The Risale-i Nur collection is a six-thousand-page commentary on the
Qur'an written by Bediuzzaman Said
Nursi in accordance with the mentality of the age. Since in our age,
faith and Islam have been the objects of the
attacks launched in the name of so called science and logic,
Bedizzaman Said Nursi therefore concentrated in the
Risale-i Nur on proving the truths of faith in conformity with modern
sciences, through rational evidence and by
manifesting the miraculous aspects of the Qur'an that relate
primarily
to our century. This collection now has millions
of readers both in and outside Turkey. Thanks to the RFDsale-i Nur,
the Turks managed to maintain their religion
despite the most despotic regimes of the past decades; although its
author faced unbearable torments, prisons and
exiles and no effort was spared to put an end to his service to
faith,
he was able to complete his writings comprising
the Risale-i Nur and raise a vast group of believers who courageously
opposed the oppression and preserved the
dominance of Islam in the country.WONDER OF THE AGE
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi was born a century ago, in 1876, in a
village in eastern Anatolia, Nurs, from which he
received the name Nursi. He received his basic education from the
best-known scholars of the district. The
extraordinary intelligence and capability of learning that he showed
at a very early age made him popular with his
teachers, colleagues and the people. When he was sixteen years old,
he
silenced the distinguished scholars who had
invited him to a debate (debate was then a popular practice among
scholars). This later recurred several more times
with various groups of soholars, and he thereby began to be called
Bediuzzaman (Wonder of the Age).
The time he spent in education paved the way in his mind for the
thought that at a time when the world was
entering a new and different age, where science and logic would
prevail, the classical educational system of theology
would not be sufficient to remove doubts concerning the Qur'an and
Islam. He concluded that religious sciences
should be taught at modern schools on the one hand, and modern
sciences at religious schools on the other. "This
way," he said, "the people of the school will be protected from
unbelief, and those of the madrasa from fanaticism."
With this idea, he twice went to Istanbul-once in 1895, the
second time in 1907-where he sought to convince
the Sultan to establish a university in Anatolia, one that would
teach
religious and modern sciences together. But the
sharp words in his conversation with the Sultan caused him to be
court-martialed, and during his trial too he did not
hesitate to use the same sharpness. Alarmed by this, the military
judges thought it best to send him to a mental
hospital, but the phisician who examined him reported, "If there is a
grain of insanity in Bediuzzaman, then there must
be no sane person in the whole world"FIRST ACQUITTAL
To be the object of accusations contrary to his aim and
intention
was, in fact, an invariable feature of
Bediuzzaman's fate. When the uproars of March 31, 1909, took place,
he
was arrested and court-martialed on the
charge of inciting the uproar, although he had tried, and to a degree
managed, to calm down the events. While the
hanging bodies of the convicts executed were seen through the windows
of the court-martial room, Bediuzzaman
made a heroic defense and in the end was acquitted.
After the first of a series of acquittals, Bediuzzaman Said
Nursi
returned to eastern Anatolia, visited the remote
proviences and explained to the people that the movement freedom that
was beginning to emerge in the country was
not contrary to Islam. He told them that all kinds of dictatorship
were rejected by the Sacred Law, which would be
nourished and would manifest its virtues in a free atmosphere. Her
later collected these speeches in a book entitled
the Debates.
In the winter of 1911, Bediuzzaman went to Damascus and gave a
sermon at the Umayyad mosque to an
audience including one hundred well-known scholars, explaining that
the true civilisation contained in Islam would
dominate the modern world. Afterwards he went to Istanbul once again,
to continue his efforts to have a, university
established in eastern Anatolia. As the representative of the Eastern
provinces, he escorted Sultan Reþad on his
journey in Rumelia and, when they were in Kosovo Metohija, where the
Sultan was planning to establish a university,
Bediuzzaman told him, "The East is in more need of a university, for
it is the centre of the Muslim world." He thus
convinced Sultan Resad to earmark a sum of nineteen thousand gold
liras, and then went to Van and laid the
foundation of the university. Unfortunately, the construction was not
completed because of the World War which soon
broke out.THE FEAR OF THE RUSSIANS
In World War I, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi served as a commander of
a volunteers' regiment on the Caucasian
front and in eastern Anatolia. The heroism he demonstrated in battle
was highly admired by the generals of the
Ottoman army, including Enver Pa=FEa, Minister of Defense and Deputy
Commander-in-Chief of the Ottoman
Armed Forces. Together with his volunteers known as "the Felt Caps,"
he struck terror into the Russian and
Armenian forces. In the meantime, he wrote his celebrated commentary
on the Qur'an in the Arabic language,
sometimes on horseback, sometimes on the front line and sometimes in
the trench. This commentory, entitled the
Signs of Miraculousness; received immense appreciation from eminent
scholars.
In one of the battles against the invading Russian forces,
Bediuzzaman and ninety other officers were captured.
He was sent to a prisoners' camp in Kostroma, Northwestern Russia,
where he spent over two years and once
appeared before a firing squad, as a result of his insulting the
Russian general Nicola Nicolaevich, the
Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian front and the Czar's uncle. One
day the general came to the camp for
inspection and, as he passed by Bediuzzaman, he did not stand up
before the general. When asked, Bediuzzaman
explained the reason why he had not stood up in these words:
"I am a Muslim scholar and have belief in my heart. Whoever has
belief in his heart is superior to the one who
does not. I cannot act against my belief."
He was court-martialed, sentenced to death, and, when the
sentence was to be executed, he began his last
duty, prayer, in front of the firing squad. The general witnessed the
scene and came to Bediüzzaman, this time with an
apology. He said that he had now realized that the act of Bediuzzaman
was the result of his adherence to his faith;
and that the sentence was withdrawn, and apologized to Bediuzzaman
because he had bothered him. Sadly, this
virtuousness of a Russian, the long-standing enemy of the Muslims,
was
never shown to him in his homeland by those
who caused him a life full of torments of all kinds.AGAINST THE BRITISH FORCES
Amid the uproars caused by the communist revolution, Bediuzzaman
found a way of escaping and, after a long
iourney, came back to Istanbul in 1908 He was rewarded with a war
medallion and Enver Paþa, Minister of Defense,
offered him some positions in the government. He refused all these
offers; however, upon the suggestion of the army
and without his knowledge, he was appointed to Dar-al-Hikmat
al-Islamiya, the religious academy of the time. He did
not object to this appointment, as it was a pure scientific position.When the country was invaded by imperialist forces after the
defeat in World War I, Bediuzzaman challenged
the invading British in Istanbul with bitter attacks that almost cost
him his life. He addressed them in his articles in
daily newspapers with phrases such as, "O dog doggified from the
atmost degree of dogness!" and "Spit at the
shameless face of the damned British" These attacks made him the
target of the British, but, with the help of God
Almighty, he escaped all the plans against him and ran toward the new
services that were awaiting him. In 1922, upon
the invitations of the government that recurred eighteen times,
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi went to Ankara and was
received at the Grand National Assembly with a ceremony. However, he
could not find in Ankara what he had
anticipated; rather he saw the most of the representatives negligent
in their religious obligations. On January 19, 1923,
he issued a declaration to the representatives. Upon this declaration
fifty to sixty of them began prayer.Bediuzzaman spent eight months in Ankara and then left for Van.
For two years he lived there in seclusion and
was occupied only with meditation and prayer. Meanwhile the
unfortunate events known as "the Eastern rebellion"
broke out. The rebels sought Bediuzzaman's help, as he had a strong
influence over people, but Bediuzzaman refused
their requests, saying, "Sword is to be used against the outside
enemy; it is not to be used inside. Give up your attempt,
for it is doomed to failure and may end up in the annihilation of
thousands of innocent men and women because of a
few criminals." But once again Bediuzzaman was charged falsely and
sent into exile in Burdur, western Anatolia.There he was kept under strict surveillance and oppression, but this
did not prevent him from teaching the truths of
faith to the people around him and from collecting his writings
secretly in a book. His activities were reported to
Ankara , and then a plan was prepared to silence him. They sent him
to Barla, an out-of-the-way place in central
Anatolia surrounded by mountains, with the thought that Bediuzzaman
would eventually die there from impotence and
loneline.THE EMERGENCE OF THE RISALE-I NUR
In reality, the dissemination of the truths of faith was nothing
to be alarmed about, nor was it a crime that would
be the cause of plots against a man's life. However, it was an
unforgiveable crime under the circumstances of the
time! For those were the days when despotism had fallen down over the
nation with all its darkness and
awesomeness; a ban had been put over adhan; hundreds of mosques were
being used for nonreligious purposes; the
plans to cut off all that connects the nation with its past and its
moral values were in process; and the mere mention of
religion was a matter of great courrage. The head of the press
department of the government could order the editors
of newspapers to cut within ten days all the serials that directly or
indirectly. mentioned religion, as "it was considered
harmful to lead to the emergence of the concept of religion in the
minds of youths."Such were the circumstances under which Bediuzzaman Said Nursi
entered the second part of his life which
he called the New Said and which was dedicated to the waiting and
dissemination of the truths of faith. Taking as the
aim the revival of faith, which is the first and most important truth
of the cosmos, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, "I will
demonstrate to the world that the Qur'an is a spiritual sun that
shall
never set and shall never be extinguished." And
indeed so he did. Bediuzzaman did not die in Barla, where he had been
sent to die alone, but a new Said emerged
there, and with it em= erged a sun over the world of science and
culture, .one that has since been illuminating millions.
In Barla too, an awesome oppression and surveillance were waiting for
Bediuzzaman.It appeared that his enemies
had not yet come to know him, who, in the World War had been the fear
of the Russians, in Istanbul had spat at the
face of the British who were in his pursuit, and had several times
returned from the gallows. Nevertheless, they later
had enough time to know him and in the end found themselves having to
say, "Despite all we have done in the past
twenty-five years, we have not been able to prevent Said Nursi from
his activ=EDties." During the eight years and a
half that he spent under absolute oppression in Barla, Bediuzzaman
wrote three quarters of the Risale-i Nur collection:
The treatises were being multiplied by handwriting, as neither the
author nor his students could afford the printing
costs. Even if they had been able to, then again they did not have
the
freedom. Handwriting was also a dangerous
task, for the scribes were being tortured in prisons and police
stations, and every attempt was being made to prevent
people from contact with Bediuzzaman.600.000 COPIES WRITTEN BY HAND
Here it must be noted that at that time the writing or
dissemination of even a single religious treatise was not
anything that anybody dared try, let alone the firm, courageous and
continuous struggle that Bediuzzaman Said Nursi
and his students carried out. When these circumstances under which
the
Risale-i Nur was written and spread all over
Anatolia are taken into consideration, one cannot find difficulty in
realizing how right was Maryam Jameelah, the
well-known American Muslim writer, when she said, "It is no
exaggeration to claim that whatever Islamic fait= h
remains in Turkey is due to the tireless efforts of Bediuzzaman
Nursi." Indeed, those instructed by the Risale-i Nur in
lessons of the faith of realization strengthened, in so doing, their
beliefs and attained an impregnable Islamic courage
and heroism. With Bediuzzaman, who represented in his person the
spiritual personality of the Risale-i Nur, as their
leader, those hundreds of thousands-now millions-of students of Nur
set a pattern for other Muslims and constituted a
support for them in those perilous days like brave commanders
encouraging an army with their states. The strength of
their beliefs and their continuous struggle against irreligion had
wide effects on people, and they thus removed the
fears and misgivings from the hearts, rallied the morale of the
nation, brought about hope and relief and delivered the
Muslims from desperation.
Bediuzzaman was arrested in 1930 with 125 students of his and
tried at the Eski=FEehir Criminal Court. In
Eski=FEehir prison where they spent eleven months during the trial,
they had to put up with unbearable torments.
They were released the next spring but not Ieft in peace. This time,
,again escorted by gendarmes, Bediuzzaman was
sent into exile in another city , Kastamonu. There he spent the first
three months at a police station, then was
transferred to a house opposite to the police station.
Bediuzzaman lived in Kastamonu for seven years and countinued to
write and disseminate the Risale-i Nur.
Because he and his students were deprived of almost all kinds of
freedom, they therefore formed their own postal
organization called the "Nur postmen." Through the "Nur postmen,"
600,000 copies of treatises were multiplied by
handwriting.In 1943, he was arrested again and tried at the Denizli Criminal
Court together with 126 students of his. The
main reason for this was that Bediuzzaman had recently had a treatise
concerning the existence of God printed
secretly in Istanbul. In prison too he did not shrink from continuing
his service, just as he never did when he was in
exile. He was now reforming the criminals who were considered lost
for
society. He was also writing new treatises.Paper and pen were not allowed into the prison, so the treatises
were written on small pieces of paper torn
from paperbags and smuggled out in matchboxes: This way Fruits from
the Tree of Light came out. The trial ended in
a unanimous acaquittal. But that did not mean that Bediuzzaman would
be given back his freedom-upon an order from
Ankara, he was sent to another town, Emirdað.THE ACQUITTAL THAT CAME TOO LATE
For him Emirdað was just the same as it had been elsewhere
again
pursuits, pressures and plots, and despite
these, a continuous, tireless service of faith... This period, in the
usual fashion, ended in arrest. Together with
fifty-three students, Bediuzzaman was sent to Afyon Criminal Court
and
spent twenty months in Afyon prison. The
cruelties they encountered there were even worse than all those
before. Bediuzzaman was then seventy-five years
old and suffering from various illnesses. Yet he was isolated in a
cell with broken windows where he spent two
severe winters. And, as if it were not enough to leave him to die
alone, he was poisoned too. When he was suffering
from the effect of the poison, the students of his who dared to
approach him in order to help him were ruthlessly
bastinadoed. The sentences given were annulled by the Supreme Court;
the court, however, took its time in deciding
whether to withdraw the sentence or not. After Bediuzzaman and his
students had spent in prison the terms specified
in the annulled conviction, the court finally made up its mind and
decided that they should be released. And eight years
later came the final decision in 1956, the court announced that those
who had under unbearable conditions spent
almost two years in prison had now been found innocent!
When the first free and fair elections were held in Turkey in
1950 and the multiparty system was established,
the despotism of the Republican People's Party which was known, and
still is, for its hostile attitude toward
religion-ended, and thereby freedoms began to be recognized. Thus a
new era opened in the history of the Turkish
Republic in the very first session of the new parliament, the ban
over
adhan was lifted. During the years that followed,
Bediuzzaman had only one trial-the only one in which he was not
arrested in Istanbul and was acquitted with a
unanimous decision.WITH HONOR, DIGNITY AND VICTORY
And, after completing a lifetime of almost a century, with every
minute spent in the service of faith,
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi departed from this world on the morning of
March 23, 1960, with complete honor, dignity and
victory, leaving behind him a work that would illuminate this and the
forthcoming centuries and a love that would be
handed over from generation to generation until eternity.