Said Nursî

Said Nursî
Born	Between January 5 and March 12, 1878 Nurs, a village of the Bitlis Province, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey)
Died	March 23, 1960 (age 82) Urfa, Turkey
Era	19th-20th Century
Region	Islamic Thinker
School	Shafi'i
Main interests	Restoring Faith * Proving Existence and Oneness of God * Proving Resurrection * Modernisation of the Kurds (before 1920) * Uniting Muslims and Christians (Inter-religious dialogue)
Notable ideas	Risale-i Nur Collection

Bediüzzaman Said Nursî (1878 – March 23, 1960) was a Kurdish scholar, and the author of the Risale-i Nur Collection, a Qur'anic commentary exceeding six thousand pages. He is commonly known as Bediüzzaman, which means "the wonder of the age".

Family background and youth

He was born in 1878 in Nurs a village of the Bitlis Province in what is now Eastern Turkey, then part of the Ottoman Empire. As a boy, he was sent to study under the scholars of the surrounding cities. He memorized the manuals of the classical Islamic fields of knowledge in a short time. Because of this feat, he was given the honorific title "Bediüzzaman," by which his followers refer to him. Bediüzzaman means "the wonder of the age".

The "Early Said"

Due to his fame as a scholar, he was invited by the governor of the Van Province to stay within his residency. In the governor's library, Nursî gained access to an archive of scientific knowledge of which had not had access to previously. Moreover, Said learned proper Turkish there. During this time, he developed a plan for university education for the Eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire. By combining scientific and religious(islamic) education, the university was expected to advance the philosophical thoughts of these regions. After the 1908 revolution, he joined a number of Kurdish political organisations, including the Kürd Teavün ve Terakki Cemiyeti (The Kurdish Mutual Aid and Progress Society) and the Kürd Neşr-i Maarif Cemiyeti (The Society for the Propagation of Kurdish Education). He penned a number of articles (in Kurdish) during this period advocating the use of the Kurdish language and emphasizing loyalty of the Kurds to the Ottoman regime. However, he was put on trial in 1909 for his apparent involvement in the 1909 countercoup on the side opposing the Committee of Union and Progress. After 1918, he joined the Kürdistan Teali Cemiyeti (the Society for the Advancement of Kurdistan) and made representations to the British on behalf of the society alongside Emin Ali Bedirhan and Seyid Abdulkadir Efendi. Yet, he was angered by the pro-Armenian stance of the British (although he had not been involved in anti-Armenian activities). He later altered his thoughts in order to support Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and was offered the Ministry of Religion in Ankara. However, he declined this offer. This was the beginning of his split from the Kemalist movement.

Said Nursi heard that a British Secretary for the Colonies had even said in a newspaper: "So long as the Muslims have the Qur'an, we shall be unable to dominate them. We must either take it from them, or make them lose their love of it." Such threats caused him to declare: "I shall prove and demonstrate to the world that the Qur'an is an undying, inextinguishable Sun!" thus he decided to write his masterpiece (Risale-i Nur)

The "New Said"

He was finally exiled to the village Barla in the Isparta Province. His teachings attracted many people in the area. These manuscripts were sent to Sav, another village in the region where dozens of people duplicated them in Arabic script (which was officially replaced by the Latin script in 1928). After being finished these books were sent to Nursî's disciples all over Turkey via the "Nurcu postal system." Bediuzzaman's study of science and involvement with philosophy should be seen in the context of the increasing Western influence in the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries and the attacks which were being made on the Qur'an and Islam in the name of science, materialism and Positivist philosophy in particular. Bediuzzaman's activity was intended to provide an Islamic answer to these attacks. When the leadership of Turkey came into the hands of Mustafa Kemal and his supporters at the founding of the Republic in 1923, the drive for Westernization received a strong impetus, and philosophy was progressively inculcated into the Turkish people.

The "Third Said"

He was finally released in 1949. In the last decade of his life he settled in Isparta city. After the introduction of the multi-party system he advised his followers to vote for the Democratic Party of Adnan Menderes which gained the support of the rural and conservative populations. Because Said Nursî considered communism the greatest danger of that time, he also supported the pro-Western orientation of the Democrats, leading to his support of NATO, CENTO and Turkey's participation in the Korean war. He tried to unite Muslims and Christians in the struggle against communism and materialism therefore he corresponded with the Pope and the Greek Orthodox patriarch.

In 1956 he was allowed to have his writings printed. His books are collected under the name The Collection Of Risale-i Nur (Letters of Light).

File:Said Nursî's Tomb.jpg

His tomb in Urfa (demolished in July 1960)

He died of exhaustion after traveling to Urfa. He was buried on the premises where according to Islamic beliefs Abraham (Ibrahim) is buried. After the military coup d'état in Turkey in 1960, a group of soldiers led by the later extreme 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. 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. Now, only two followers of him know where he is buried. When one of them dies, the other one tells one more person the secret place of the grave reducing the chance that the place be forgotten. Interestingly enough, he wrote in a treaty (risala), that no one should know where his tomb is.

Bibliography

• Nereid, Camilla T., In the Light of Said Nursi:Turkish Nationalism and the Religious Alternative, London, C. Hurst Publishers, 1998