Islam and the West: a Critique of Said Nursi Thesis

Islam and the West: A Critique of Said Nursi Thesis

SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE OF

Doctor of Philosophy In Islamic Studies

By Zubair Hamid

Under the Supervision of

Dr. Abdul Majid Khan

Department of Islamic studies ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH-202002 (INDIA) 2018 Acknowledgements

“The (adequate mode of) thanksgiving for all favors, however great they may be, is that you praise God, the Almighty and the Glorious, on their account.”

– Prophet Muhammad(SAW)

Thanks to Almighty Allah, the most Beneficent and the all Knowing, for showering His blessings on me to have this academic endeavor and to complete this uphill task successfully and infinite salutations to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) the mercy for whole humankind.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Abdul Majid Khan, Associate Professor, Department of Islamic Studies, for his careful supervision, guidance, valuable comments, suggestions and constructive criticism throughout accomplishment of the thesis. It was a great experience and privilege to work under his guidance for his dynamism; sincerity and motivation have been a source of inspiration. I would also like to thank him for his friendship, empathy, great sense of humor, consistent encouragement, scholarly inputs and expert advices. This feat was possible only because of his unconditional support. His observations and comments, since the day I began working, helped me to establish the overall direction of the research and to move forward.

I acknowledge the kind and academic behavior of the Chairman Department of Islamic Studies, Prof. Obaidullah Fahad and other faculty members; Prof. Sayyid Ahsan (ex- chairman), Prof. Muhammad Ismail, Dr. Abdul Hamid Fazili, Dr. Adam Malik Khan, Dr. Ahsanul Haque, Dr. Ziauddin Malik, Dr. Aijaz Ahmad, Dr. Bilal Ahmad, Dr. Nighat Rashid and Dr. Zubair deserve a token of thanks for their commendable support. I am thankful to the non- teaching staff of the Department for their cooperation.

I am indebted to the whole library staff, Department of Islamic Studies, who are always there to extend their help, for their assistance in getting the relevant stuff. Mr. Kabir Ahmad, Mr. Anees Ahmad and all others deserve a token of appreciation. I am

i Acknowledgements

also thankful to the staff of Maulana Azad Library, AMU and Social Science Cybrary, AMU for providing access to the valuable material. I am grateful to UGC for granting me the fellowship to complete the thesis.

Thanks are due to the faculty members of the Department of Islamic Studies, Islamic University of Science and Technology, Kashmir, who infused the quantum of research in me and introduced me to the domain. For this, Dr. Showket Hussain, Dr. Afroz Ahmad, Dr. Ghulam Nabi, Dr. Sheikh Jameil and Dr. Ali Muhammad deserve appreciation.

I am extremely grateful to Istanbul Foundation for Science and Culture, Dr. Faris Kaya (Former Director, IFSC), Mr. Hakan Gulerce, Ahmet Kayan, Mustafa and Akif for providing their support. I am indebted to Prof. Ian Markham (Dean and President Virginia Theosophical Seminary, Alexandria), Prof. Hamid Algar (British-American Professor Emeritus of Persian studies at the Faculty of Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley) and Katherine A. Molly (Executive Assistant to the Dean and President Virginia Theosophical Seminary, Alexandria) who promptly responded to my emails and provided me (access to) the stuff relevant to the thesis.

I express my gratitude to my colleagues, (Dr.) Tauseef Ahmad, Muhammad Yaseen, Muhammad Dawood, Dar Showket, Muhammad Iqbal, Tafazul Hussain, Muddassir Ahmad, Umar Sharif, Sumaiya Ahmad, Aaisha Siddiqua and friends-cum-brothers, Mohammad Irfan, Sajid Shaffi, Gowhar Quadir, Sajad Rashid, Muzzaffar Ahmad, Ganie Showkat, Muhammad Muslim, Mujtaba Farooq and Mohammad Sadiq for their encouragement, support and suggestions. Showket Ahmad, Sajad Dar and Adil Hussain also deserve thanks for giving me their company in tough times.

Special thanks are due to my father who taught me how to set pen on the paper and my mother who always stood beside me with her love, prayers, support and sacrifices. A warm gratitude to my uncles; (Mr.) Bashir Ahmad, Zaffar Ahmad, Abdul Majeed, Abdul Qayoom, Mohammad Sultan, especially Bhaijan (Hafeezullah) for shouldering my responsibilities and being always there for me and taking care of my financial

ii Acknowledgements

needs. I am thankful to my cousins; Bilal Ahmad, Ajaz Ahmad, Umar, Aarifa, Aamina and Ubayda for their consistent encouragement and John, Asif, Nazim, Yawar, Yasir, Mariya, Zainab and Muneeb for being source of enjoyment for me.

One greatest reason of happiness is gratitude, I came across a galaxy of people whom I spared time with and interacted throughout my life. I would like to thank all those who remained anonymous here for encouraging me in one way or the other.

Zubair Hamid Department of Islamic Studies Aligarh Muslim University

iii Abstract

Abstract

Islam-West relationship that traces its origin from the Prophet’s (SAW) time had an auspicious kickoff but turned into a discord. Apart from the story of wars and mutual distrust, one finds a commendable exchange in economy and intellectualism. The relationship has served as a channel between the two for the transmission of collective human experience yet it has remained stimulating to this day for some religio-political reasons. The relation has progressed in an uneven way through critical encounters across the time and space such as in al-Andalus, Crusades (11th-14th Century) and Colonization. The relationship of the two is and has been the subject of the writings of both the Muslims and non-Muslim academicians alike.

It has been a predicament for the Muslim scholars to respond to the challenge of Islam and the West. ‘Islam and the West’ has emerged as a subject of great interest and a beaten path scholars have dealt with great interest, both Muslims and the otherwise, right from its inception and exclusively post 9/11. In this regard an array of literature has been produced on this field by different academicians. In this research proposal a brief overview of the relation, has been discussed, tracing the history, development of the relations and the response of the Muslim intellectuals; Jamal al-Din Afghani, Muhammad Abduh, Ali Shariati, Allama Iqbal and some prominent Turkish intellectuals like Said Halim Pasha, Namik Kamal and Zia Gokalp to give the proposal a comparative touch.

Nursi (1876-1960), one of the great Islamic thinkers of the 20th Century, appeared in the academics only in the recent years. Likewise the Western academics, Nursi was somehow ignored by the scholars of Turkish Republic. He was troubled about the deterioration of religious zeal that had filled the spirit of Muslims in Turkey for centuries. As an exceptional personality and sharp intelligence he lived in a transitional phase of modern world and witnessed the significant events of the world history and even participated in them like the two Great Wars and Collapse of Ottoman Empire. He realized the transformation in the fields of politics and education. In the early decades of the 20th century, the decline of the Islamic world had made the Ottomans unable to

1 Abstract

defend themselves not only physically against imperialist advance but also intellectually against Western attacks. With the onslaught of secularism, religious schools and Sufi meetings were closed down. Nursi played a significant role among all these changes and adopted a new methodology to adjust with them. He tried to unite people of faith against atheism. He stood against Westernization, spread of atheistic thoughts and inadequate religious education.

The following works have been reviewed to enhance the present proposal. Abul Hassan Ali Nadavi’s (1983), Islam and the West in which the author argues that Britian was the first embodiment of Western civilization. The author blames Western intellect of annihilating love and worthiness of soul and asserts that a revolutionary leadership is needed to save human civilization. Abul Hassan Ali Nadavi’s (2005), Islam and the World: The Rise and Decline of Muslims and Its Effect on Mankind depicts the narrative of the Muslim civilization from the Prophet’s era, its pinnacle and downward course. The author describes the fundamental principles of the West, the rise of the West by virtue of its conquest; cultural, political and economic. The author accuses the West for moral and spiritual degradation due to distorting the religious scriptures. Said Nursi’s (2015), Risale-i Nur, Fountainhead of Nursi’s thought, a composition of more than 130 epistles dealing with multiple aspects of Nursi’s thought. It makes demonstration of the subjects like the Divine Attributes, Resurrection, Prophethood, Divine Activities, etc. in a metaphorical and allegorical perspective using stories, comparisons and reasoned proofs. Sukran Vahide’s (2005), Islam in Modern Turkey: An Intellectual Biography of Said Nursi, wherein Nursi has been discussed as a rich historical, religious and spiritual figure. Vahide divides her biography of Nursi into three simple sections; Old Said, New Said and The Third Said, designations that Nursi chose himself that strongly correspond to three sequential historical periods, the late Ottoman era, the early Turkish Republic and the multi-party era in Turkey following 1946. Ian Markham and Ibrahim Ozdemir’s (2016), Globalization, Ethics and Islam: The Case of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, apart from giving a biographical account of Nursi, examines his stance on peace, approach towards ethics, disagreements and pluralism. The concepts; patience and humility are discussed and their relevance in the

2 Abstract

era of globalization. Nursi’s views on Christianity and the West are incorporated followed by an analysis of virtuous and decadent civilization. Serif Mardin’s (1989), Religion and Social Change in Turkey: A Case Study of Said Bediuzzaman Said Nursi provides a parallel outlook of the developments relevant to study of Nursi’s biography, thus producing pictures complementing one another. It is among the earliest works on Said Nursi published in 1989 which helped to introduce Said Nursi to the Western academia. Ibrahim Abu Rabi’s (2003), Islam at the Crossroads: On the Life and Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, discusses Nursi’s commentary on the Quran, Risale-i Nur — central to the movement and his interpretation of Jihad are discussed. His commitment to regular prayers, his stand on the relationship between philosophy and wisdom, his concern with the problem of evil, his dealing with the Quranic concept of eschatology, his method of conquering estrangement through Iman, Tawakkul and Sabr and his stance on human-environmental relationship are also incorporated. Thomas J. Michel’s (2005), Said Nursi’s Views on Muslim-Christian Understanding examines the conflict between Christians and Muslims and the means of peace and reconciliation plus the sicknesses of the age and the remedies. The ethics of pardon and peace, justice and forgiveness, social ethics, inner peace are also mentioned. The book also discusses how to grapple with the modern civilization in Nursi’s perspective. European civilization is defined in terms of positives and negatives followed by a contrast with the Islamic civilization. Apart from the above works, there are other works which are relevant to the proposal like; Sarwat Sawlat’s (1996), Turkī kā Mard-i Mujāhid which provides a significant account of Nursi’s life and times. Ihsan Qasim al- Salihi’s (2014), Dastān-i ‘Azm wa Īmān Bediuzzaman kī Mukhtaṣar Sawāniḥ Ḥayāt (translated Urdu) gives a brief overview of the life of Said Nursi. Obaidullah Fahad’s (1998), Jadīd Turkī Main Islāmī Bedārī discusses Nursi’s place in the modern Turkey. Thomas Michel’s (2014), Insgihts From Risale-i Nur which discusses multiple aspects of Nursi’s Risale-i Nur. Ian Markham and Suedi Birinci’s (2011), An Introduction to Said Nursi: Life, thought and Writings which caters the biographical account and thought of Said Nursi. Colin Turner and Hasan Horkuc’s (2009), Said Nursi apart from providing his biographical account discusses Nursi’s thought and teachings on culture, society, politics and nationalism.

3 Abstract

Nursi has recently received academic attention and has been the subject of academic writings. In this regard Hamid Algar and Serif Mardin are at the forefront, followed by Sukran Vahide, Hasan Horkuc, Colin Turner, Ian Markham, Thomas Michel, et.al. Numerous Workshops, Conferences at global level, Chairs established in different universities and MOU’s (Memorandum of Understanding) signed, hence the efforts of IFSC (Istanbul Foundation for Science and Culture, Turkey) started paying fruition and succeeded in making Nursi popular and a subject of attention. Multiple aspects of his life and thought came to fore but his response to the West remained least explored. Thus, the present study aims to fulfill the gap by exploring the area.

Overview of the Study

The Thesis comprises of four main chapters excluding introduction and conclusion. The introductory part of the thesis highlights the objectives of the study, research gap and brief review of the selected works on the topic. The framework of the thesis is as:

The first chapter ‘Islam and the West: An Overview’ provides a brief overview of the ‘Islam-West’ discourse, its history and how the relation developed through different stages. It discusses the development of the West as a giant civilization and the influence of the Greece (the cradle of the West) upon the West. The chapter provides an outlook of the socio-political conditions of the Muslims during the eighteenth century, colonization (its impact on socio-political, educational and linguistic arenas), decolonization, neo-colonization and Napoleon’s expedition of Egypt (1798-99) which exposed the Muslim world to the West. It discusses the factors such as Orientalism and Crusades and their role in shaping the discourse and the perception regarding the other. The chapter also gives an account of the emergence of Islamic revivalism and the reactions from the different corners of the Muslim world against the onslaught of imperialism.

The second chapter ‘Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers’ discusses the approaches (accommodative and cynical) of the Muslim minds to deal with the onslaught of the westernization and the way out. As it has been the challenging task for the Muslim thinkers to respond to the Western onslaught and

4 Abstract

manage the Western domination in the Muslim lands. The chapter gives an account of the response of the major Muslim intellectuals of the Muslim world who are contemporaneous with or have their influence on Said Nursi and some prominent thinkers of the Turkey and their approaches to deal with the problems Muslim world faced in order to provide a comparative touch to the thesis.

The third chapter ‘Said Nursi: A Biographical Account’ discusses the life and times of the Turkish intellectual Said Nursi comprehensively. It gives an account of his birth, genealogy, early education, attachment to the Sufi Orders, his period of exiles, trials, and schools of Joseph, Nur movement, and commencement of Risale-i Nur, Dershanes, students and his death. The chapter also gives an account of his reforms in the education (in the form of Madrassah al-Zahra) and Nursi’s participation in the Great War-I.

The fourth chapter ‘A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West’ spotlights his response to the major western philosophies like communism, capitalism, materialism, nationalism (positive/negative), atheism, etc. and his understanding of the West and the Western civilization and its basis. The chapter examines the use of the term ‘West/Europe’ in the Risale-i Nur and the context of their usage. The chapter discusses the usage of the terms two-faceted Europe; positive and negative as discussed in Risale- i Nur and what Nursi meant by these terms in the broader sense. Nursi’s demarcating line between the European civilization and the Qur’anic civilization and likewise, Qur’anic literature and novel literature has been brought to fore. The chapter discusses the roots of the spiritual crisis and the remedy. It also studies the reconciliation between religion and the modern civilization; religious and secular education. It seeks to study Nursi’s model for the East and critical analysis of Nursi’s response to the Western civilization.

Inference(s)

Islam-West discourse has been a subject of discussion throughout the history penned on by the Muslim intellectuals and the otherwise alike. Spotlighted highly as a narrative of intercultural/ interreligious confrontation and compatibility that results in bringing forth

5 Abstract

the adversarial and destructive perspectives of the narrative. Islam-West relationship, has remained oscillating, apart from the story of wars and mutual distrust, one finds a commendable exchange in economy and intellectualism. The relationship has served as a channel between the two for the transmission of collective human experience yet it has remained stimulating to this day for some religio-political reasons. The relation has progressed in a dynamic and wavering way through critical encounters across the time and space such as in al-Andalus, Crusades (11th-14th Century) and Colonization where both entities shaped their perceptions regarding the other. At the outset of the story, Muslims seem to be dominant on the scene, crossed the Arabian Peninsula, built a great civilization and contributed to the human family. Civilizations are said to have a life cycle like that of humans: they are born in some particular place and time; as young they are energetic, flexible, creative, able to absorb new ideas; when mature (golden period), reach the pinnacle of their power; then gradually they, lose their energy, are less creative, rigid; and finally they decline and are off the scene or are absorbed by some other vigorous civilization, maintains Zachary Lockman. Up to 18th century Muslims were the torch bearers but the leadership changed and passed to the hands of West. The Western civilization did not emerge and develop in a vacuum but it traced its origin to the ancient Greece, taming for several centuries its spirit, philosophy, sciences and literature, ideas, conceptions and intellectual heritage producing them in a new outlook. West came with an onslaught on the Muslim world through their military tactics, science and technology, industries and so on. Now Muslims were at the receiving end and they were pushed back to the wall. They felt a sense of loss, bitterness and rage at the powerlessness before the West, as a result a pan-Islamic consciousness was developed among the Muslims which led to the revivalism and reformation of the Muslim societies within. Individuals at an individual level searched for salvation through acting properly as a Muslim which helped them sustain the Muslim society. It has been a great predicament for the Muslim scholars to respond to the challenge of the Western onslaught or manage the Western domination in the Muslim lands. Prominent figures who responded to this severe predicament included Jamal al-Din Afghani (1838-1897), Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905), Ali Shariati (1933-1977), Allama Iqbal (1877-1938) and some prominent Turkish intellectuals like

6 Abstract

Said Halim Pasha (1865-1921), Namik Kamal (1840-1888) and Zia Gokalp(1876- 1924). Depending on their respective dispositions and understanding of the problem, they responded and addressed the issue through imitative and accommodative approaches.

Nursi (1876-1960), one of the great Islamic thinkers of the 20th Century, also contributed to this field has formulated his response. Nursi was conscious of the materialist and theist philosophy of Europe, however, he did not reject Europe altogether. He made a demarcating line between the positive and negative institutions and practices of Western civilization. Nursi rejected the blind imitation of the Western civilization. Moderately shaping his response, he advocated of benefitting from the Western elements and ideas with no loss to Islamic heritage. Nursi believed science and logic as future prospectus advocating both religious and secular education. He sought to unite mansions within for a possibility of dialogue between the two civilizations. Nursi‘s message was accessible to highly educated as well as less educated class. Nursi was not exposed directly to the West like his predecessors and contemporaries (like Afghani, Abduh, Iqbal, etc.) who had studied European philosophies from its fountain heads; however, Nursi was influenced by Afghani and Abduh. Nursi therefore shaped his perception (of the West) on the basis of secondary information and literature describing ideas/concepts of Western civilization. Among the Western philosophies like materialism, nationalism, communism, capitalism and atheism he encountered with, he provides apt and logical arguments in a simple but metaphorical tone while refuting atheism. Living in the era of science and technology, inventions and discoveries he seeks for a return to the natural state. Nursi’s prediction, “the East will be to the West what dawn is to the sunset” labels him no less than Rudyard Kipling. In spite of looking to reframe the differences in a prospective way to manage the gulf within the human family Nursi anticipates of the demarcation. Nursi’s response to the West is oscillating due to the shifts in his personality and seems least relevant in the modern times.

7 Transliteration Tables

Arabic-English Transliteration Table:

Table – I

iv Transliteration Tables

Turkish-English Transliteration Table:

Table – 2

v Contents

Contents Page

Acknowledgements i – iii

Transliteration Tables iv – v

Introduction 1 – 8

Chapter One

Islam and the West: An Overview 9 – 41

Chapter Two

Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Scholars 42 – 73

Chapter Three

Said Nursi: A Biographical Account 74 – 109

Chapter Four

A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West 110 – 145

Conclusion 146 – 148

Bibliography 149 – 161

Introduction

It has been a predicament for the Muslim scholars to respond to the challenge of Islam and the West. ‘Islam and the West’ has emerged as a subject of great interest and a beaten path scholars have dealt with great interest, both Muslims and the otherwise, right from its inception and exclusively post 9/11. In this regard an array of literature has been produced in this field by different academicians. In this research proposal a brief overview of the relation, has been discussed, tracing the history, development of the relations and the response of the Muslim intellectuals; Jamal al-Din Afghani, Muhammad Abduh, Ali Shariati, Allama Iqbal and some prominent Turkish intellectuals like Said Halim Pasha, Namik Kamal and Zia Gokalp to give the proposal a comparative touch.

Nursi (1876-1960), one of the great Islamic thinkers of the 20th Century, appeared in the academics only in the recent years. Likewise the Western academia, Nursi was somehow ignored by the scholars of Turkish Republic. He was troubled about the deterioration of religious zeal that had filled the spirit of Muslims in Turkey for centuries. As an exceptional personality and sharp intelligence he lived in a transitional phase of modern world and witnessed the significant events of the world history and even participated in them like the two Great Wars and Collapse of Ottoman Empire. He realized the transformation in the fields of politics and education. In the early decades of the 20th century, the decline of the Islamic world had made the Ottomans unable to

1 Introduction

defend themselves not only physically against imperialist advance but also intellectually against Western attacks. With the onslaught of secularism religious schools and Sufi meetings were closed down. Nursi played a significant role among all these changes and adopted a new methodology to adjust with them. He tried to unite people of faith against atheism. He stood against Westernization spread of atheistic thoughts and inadequate religious education.

Literature Review

Though an array of literature has been produced on the sections of the topic, but following is the list of the reviewed works that are relevant to the topic.

Abul Hassan Ali Nadavi, Islam and the West, (tr.), Mohiuddin Ahmad, Lucknow: Islamic Research and Publications, 1983. Originally a lecture (Lecture scribed book) given at Oxford University later adopted the shape of a book. The author discusses the subject “Islam and the West”. He argues that Britain was the first country which represented itself as a pioneer of Western political power, education, science and technology. Islam gave human values a new lease of life by safeguarding them. An objective study of Islam to be encouraged to reduce the gulf as Islam never received the attention it deserved. It cannot be denied that modern civilization and contemporary intellectual leadership have failed in the sphere of character studying and giving to the world conscientious individuals, guided by a living sense of social responsibility. We need men possessing moral courage, boldness of spirit to save humanity from death and destruction. The author accuses the West of intellectual stagnation after the phase of inventions and discoveries. The author accuses the Western intellect of annihilating love and worthiness of soul. A revolutionary leadership is needed to save human civilization.

Abul Hassan Ali Nadavi, Islam and the World: The Rise and Decline of Muslims and Its Effect on Mankind, (tr.), Asif Kidwai, London: Islamic Academy, 2005. The book depicts the narrative of the Muslim civilization from the Prophets era, its pinnacle and downward course. Simultaneously the author discusses the rise of the Western civilization and the apathy of human family during western subjugation,

2 Introduction

during which the destiny of mankind was reframed. The author describes the fundamental principles of the West, the rise of the West by virtue of its conquest; cultural, political and economic. The author accuses the West for moral and spiritual degradation due to distorting the religious scriptures. He adds that no doubt Europe produced a large number of outstanding men in all fields of creative activity, but what is needed is the sound leadership to lead humanity towards collective interests.

Said Nursi, Risale-i Nur, (tr.), Sukran Vahide, Delhi: Barla Publucations, 2015.

Fountainhead of Nursi’s thought, a composition of more than 130 epistles dealing with multiple aspects of Nursi’s thought. It makes demonstration in a metaphorical and allegorical perspective using stories, comparisons and reasoned proofs to discuss the subjects. Dubbed as Quranic commentary but nor per se, discusses various subjects like the Divine Attributes, Divine Activities, Resurrection, Prophethood, Divine Determining. It mostly expounds the verses dealing with the truths of belief. It has grabbed the attention of many scholars who have worked upon and explored new dimensions of Nursi’s thought.

Sukran Vahide, Islam in Modern Turkey: An Intellectual Biography of Said Nursi, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005. This book provides an outlook of the transition of Turkey from empire to republic. Said Nursi has been discussed as a rich historical, religious and spiritual figure. Vahide divides her biography of Nursi into three simple sections; Old Said, New Said and The Third Said, designations that Nursi himself chose which strongly correspond to three sequential historical periods, the late ottoman era, the early Turkish republic and the multi-party era in Turkey following 1946. One of the comprehensive studies in English of the seminal Turkish thinker and theologian- Bediuzzaman who strongly believed in peacefully coexisting with the West, Nursi inspired a faith movement that has played a vital role in the revival of Islam in Turkey and now numbers seven million followers worldwide. The book situates the ideas of Nursi in their historical context.

Ian Markham and Ibrahim Ozdemir, Globalization, Ethics and Islam: The Case of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, London: Routledge, 2016.

3 Introduction

An edited work, comprised of sixteen articles, is divided into three sections: Non- violence and Peace; Ethics and Dialogue and Globalization. The first section of the book gives a biographical account of Nursi, followed by a comparative analysis of the thought of Nursi and Pope John Paul II on the stance of peace. The first section ends with discussing Nursi’s project of renewal and reformation. The second section of the book deals with the foundations for ethics; secular and religious and how the subject is dealt by Nursi. It also discusses his approach towards disagreements and pluralism and the relevance of the concepts; Patience and Humility in the era of Globalization. Nursi’s ethics of dialogue with Europe, comparison of texts; Confucian and Risale-i Nur on the subject of ethics are also incorporated. The last section of the book highlights Nursi’s views on Christianity and the West, his response to Globalization and an analysis of virtuous and decadent civilization, followed by a comparative study of Hardt and Negri with Said Nursi on the aspect of Globalization. Nursi’s stance on modernity and engagement with it is also mentioned.

Serif Mardin, Religion and Social Change in Turkey: A Case Study of Said Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989. The book provides a parallel outlook of the developments relevant to study of Nursi’s biography, thus producing pictures complementing one another. It is among the earliest works on Said Nursi published in 1989 which helped to introduce Said Nursi to the Western academia. This work is a sociological survey of modern Turkey examining Nursi’s contribution in transforming Turkey from secular to Islamic paradigm. Mardin uses ‘idiom’ and ‘discourse’ to indicate that Islam has been interpreted and reinterpreted over time; Islamic identities are neither fixed nor finished but are subjected to transmutation due to the close bonds between Islam and social forces in an Islamic society.

Ibrahim Abu Rabi, Islam at the Crossroads: On the Life and Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003. This book is an edited work comprising of twenty articles reflecting multiple perspectives of Said Nursi’s life and thought. The book presents the important events regarding Said Nursi’s life in a chronological manner. Besides providing a brief

4 Introduction

biographical account of Said Nursi, discusses “his failure as an active participant in the political and military struggles” and “the victory over it”, his commentary on the Quran, Risale-i Nur — central to the movement and his interpretation of Jihad are discussed. The book also attempts to make a comparative study of Said Nursi with Malcolm X, Paul Tillich, Maulana Rumi and Antonio Gramsci regarding different aspects exploring further his intellectual contours. His commitment to regular prayers, his stand on the relationship between philosophy and wisdom, his concern with the problem of evil, his dealing with the Qur’anic concept of eschatology, his method of conquering estrangement through Iman, Tawakkul and Sabr and his stance on human- environmental relationship are also incorporated. The book also incorporates the workability of Nur movement, Dershanes and Nursi’s project of revitalization of Islamic thought.

Thomas J. Michel, Said Nursi’s Views on Muslim-Christian Understanding, Turkey: Soz Basim Yayin, 2005. The book discusses dialogue in a broader perspective such as; God’s dialogue with humankind, Pope Paul VI on “the dialogue of salvation”, dialogue in Nursi’s life and thought and dialogue between Muslims. The conflict between Christians and Muslims and the means of peace and reconciliation are also incorporated plus the sicknesses of the age and the remedies. The ethics of pardon and peace, justice and forgiveness, social ethics, inner peace are also mentioned. The book also discusses how to grapple with the modern civilization in Nursi’s perspective. European civilization is defined in terms of positives and negatives followed by a contrast with the Islamic civilization. A considerable part of the book discusses Prophet Abraham as the model of faith, the friend of God, the patron of migrants, the model of hospitality, etc. The book concludes with the thought of Nursi regarding war and peace plus the account of the people, including Nursi, who have devoted their lives to peace.

Apart from the above works, there are other works which are relevant to the proposal like; Sarwat Sawlat’s Turkī kā Mard-i Mujāhid which provides a significant account of Nursi’s life and times. Abu Qasim al-Salihi’s Dastān-i ‘Azm wa Īmān Bediuzzaman kī Mukhtaṣar Sawāniḥ Ḥayāt (translated Urdu) gives a brief overview of the life of Said

5 Introduction

Nursi. Obaidullah Fahad’s Jadīd Turkī Main Islāmī Bedārī discusses Nursi’s place in the modern Turkey. Thomas Michel’s Insgihts from Risale-i Nur which discusses multiple aspects of Nursi’s Risale-i Nur. Ian Markham and Suedi Birinci’s An Introduction to Said Nursi: Life, thought and Writings which caters the biographical account and thought of Said Nursi. Colin Turner and Hasan Horkuc’s Said Nursi apart from providing his biographical account discusses Nursi’s thought and teachings on culture, society, politics and nationalism.

Research Gap

Nursi has recently received academic attention and has been the subject of academic writings. Numerous Workshops, Conferences at global level, Chairs established in different universities and MOU’s (Memorandum of Understanding) signed, hence the efforts of IFSC (Istanbul Foudation for Science and Culture, Turkey) started paying fruition and succeeded in making Nursi popular and a subject of attention. Multiple aspects of his life and thought came to fore but his response to the West remained least explored generally and critically as well. Thus, the present study aims to fulfill the gap by exploring the area.

Research Questions

a. How other Muslim intellectuals engaged themselves with the West and what was their approach? b. Was Nursi influenced by any of these intellectuals? c. Nursi’s understanding of the West and Western philosophies. d. How he studies/engaged himself with the West? e. Did he ever visit any Western country to study the West? f. How he shaped his response?

Objectives

a. To study Nursi’s ideas and response regarding Islam-West discourse that has been least comprehensively studied.

6 Introduction

b. Enlist the response of other thinkers to provide a contemporary touch and to locate Nursi among them and spotlight his viewpoint in this context. c. To explore Nursi’s understanding and approach towards the West. d. Contribute to the existing body of the literature in the area, to introduce Nursi further in the academics.

Methodology and Limitations

The methodology used in the thesis is of descriptive, analytical and critical nature. The thesis examines the existing body of literature both primary as well as secondary source material. The researcher has relied on the translated version of the primary source Risale-i Nur.

Overview of the Study

The thesis comprises of four main chapters. The first chapter ‘Islam and the West: An Overview’ provides a brief overview of the ‘Islam-West’ discourse, its emergence and how the relation developed through different stages. It discusses the development of the West as a giant civilization and the influence of the Greece (the cradle of the West) upon the West. The chapter provides an outlook of the socio-political conditions of the Muslims during the eighteenth century, colonization (its impact on socio-political, educational and linguistic arenas), and Napoleon’s expedition of Egypt (1798-99). It discusses the factors such as Orientalism and Crusades and their role in shaping the discourse. The chapter also gives an account of the emergence of Islamic revivalism and the reactions from the different corners of the Muslim world against the onslaught of imperialism.

The second chapter ‘Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers’ discusses the approaches (accommodative and cynical) of the Muslim minds to deal with the onslaught of the westernization and the way out. The chapter gives an account of the response of the major Muslim intellectuals of the Muslim world and some prominent thinkers of the Turkey and their approaches to deal with the problems Muslim world faced.

7 Introduction

The third chapter ‘Said Nursi: A Biographical Account’ discusses the life and times of the Turkish intellectual Said Nursi comprehensively. It gives an account of his birth, genealogy, attachment to the Sufi Orders, his period of exiles, trials, and schools of Joseph, Nur movement, and commencement of Risale-i Nur, Dershanes, students and his death. The chapter also gives an account of his reforms in the education (in the form of Madrassah al-Zahra) and Nursi’s participation in the Great War-I.

8 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

Islam and the West: An Overview

1.1. Introduction

Islam has a universal application therefore it distinguishes itself by the notion that it does not allow the complete renunciation of the world rather accentuates the growth and operation of the body and soul simultaneously. History witnesses that Muslims have absorbed the idea of regional and racial notion of brotherhood and this attitude is live among them.1 Islam prefers to live in a social fabric, demands worship in congregation, where everyone turns towards the same centre, fasting together in all parts of the world and visiting the House of Allah together. Islam does not negate the place of an individual in the society, yet organizes all individuals in a holistic way.2 Despite the unanimous concept that all human races have a common origin, two factors have commendably contributed to emphasize the diversity: death and distance. Man is naturally inclined towards close relatives and ancestors, but the bond soon disappears with the death of the common parent. The relationship among the surviving is influenced as it becomes less effective gradually. The distance makes to forget the bond of relationship and at the same time creates obstacles in matter of speaking same languages, upholding the same causes or defending the same values. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) proclaimed himself as the messenger of Allah sent towards the entire humanity, the teachings of whom abolished the inequalities of races and classes and stressed on the necessity of collective life. Islam endeavors to establish a world community with the attributes of equality without any discrimination.

1.2. Islam and the West: A Historical Perspective

After the emergence of Islam the factors, both historical and geographical, ensured the contact of Islam and the West was close and continual. Apart from the political clashes there has been a commendable cultural exchange. Islam without severing its relations with the Judaic or Christian tradition presented itself as the pristine form of the both. Hence it established religious tone to converse with these traditions. Islam distended to the areas under the control of the Byzantine and Roman Empire and the

9 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

former looked upon itself as a successor to the latter and maintained various traditions inherited from Rome. The Byzantine Empire was influenced by the Greeks and so were the Muslims as both drank from the fountains of the Greek learning and presented themselves as the repositories of its knowledge.3 I.H. Qureshi maintains:

The culture of the West is founded upon the Judaic traditions in religion, Greek learning in matters relating to the intellect, and Roman thought in the fundamentals of law, jurisprudence and ecclesiastical organization. Because of a demarcation between religious and secular spheres of life, a strong strand of paganism is present in the entire fabric of its thought and culture. Two at least of the constituents of Western culture, namely the Judaic tradition and Greek learning, are not foreign to Islam despite the difference of emphasis on individual points…But paganism is anathema to Islam, which frowned upon all notions, customs and mores of pagan origin, where as Christianity never fought against pagan influences. There are strong reasons to believe that the pagan notions entered Christian thought-even Christian dogma and belief- quite early after Christ. Be that as it may, there is little doubt that there is no aspect of Western life where it has not retained a hold.4

Despite the differences there has been an interaction between the two. Mediterranean Sea, which separates North Africa and Europe and washes the shores of Asia Minor, acts as a barrier between the western limits of Islam and the borders of Europe. It serves both and encourages independent development and cultural exchange between them. Geography also helped to maintain the contact of political domination by the powerful states. During the time of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) Muslims encountered with Byzantine Empire which resulted in the extinction of the latter. Likewise, Tariq bin Ziyad entered Spain in 711 as a result Visigothic kingdom of Roderick came under the sway of Muslims, but as he crossed Pyrenees (a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain) met with a defeat by Charles Martel in 732.5 Western scholars have made the defeat of the Arabs as the point of discussion, simultaneously ignored the fact that this only extended the Dark Ages in Europe by seven centuries. The Moorish Empire6 suffered from the internal tribal dissensions only after three centuries of magnificent achievements. In 1212 Alfonso VIII of Castile obtained a hold on Andalusia. In 1236, Cordova fell to

10 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

Ferdinand III and ultimately Granada in 1492 to Ferdinand and Isabella. After several centuries of glory in art, architecture, medicine, science and learning the Muslims of Spain who had illumined the whole of Western Europe ceased to exist. Muslims held Sicily (9th-11th Century) is well known, but they were patronized and welcomed at the Christian courts in Italy and contributed to learning and science is hardly brought forth. The cultural impact of the Moorish occupation in Spain is discussed at length but the intellectual impact of Muslims on Italy is less known. The influence of the Ottomans unrecognized as the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, is looked upon as a turning point in the western academia, marked the beginning of modern age. Now the western pre-eminence was apparent in all walks of life. It also marked the end of any cultural influence by Islam on the West. Similarly the Turkish influence is seen in the areas of Eastern Europe which were once under the Ottoman rule. The cuisine of the areas form Athens to Budapest is a reminder of the influence of the Turks.7 The fall of Granada in 1492 was followed by the Columbus’ discovery of America and Vasco da Gamas finding sea route to India. It is said that Vasco da Gama reached Calicut in 1498 with the help of an Arab pilot. The invasion of Portuguese into the Arabian Sea had many implications for the Muslim world as they acclaimed it as the political, economic and intellectual decline of the Muslim people. Muslims had suffered a heavy set back at the hands of the Mongols but they had recovered partially. Muslims did build up states but intellectually they strived to concentrate on the rediscovery and conservation of what was left. As the Arabian sea was exposed for the trade, it sparkled a competition between with the Western nations because it led to the strangulation of the East. The Muslim Empires (Ottomans, Mughals and Persians) failed to control the situation which resulted in the enslavement (either directly or indirectly) of the entire Muslim world which continues with some exceptions.8

1.3. The Beginning of Dichotomy

Herodotus (484-425 BC), the father of history is said to have been the first who portrayed the ‘east’ and the ‘west’ as two mutual opponents. Similarly, others such as; Thucydides (460-400 BC) and Xenephone (430- 354 BC) employed the strong

11 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

polarities and concentrated on distinctness of the East, while accepting the need of resistance to external aggression by defining a Western ‘self’, thus marked the start of East-West dichotomy.9 ‘West’ represents an ideology which bases its philosophical principles, political institutions and social structures on the values of liberal democracy. These were historically rooted in Ancient Greece and developed by peoples influenced primarily by Judaeo-Christian traditions. The term ‘Western’ is now inappropriate geographically but this nomenclature is widely used to refer to a constellation of societies which may differ from each other in many respects but which generally share fundamental philosophical, political and social characteristics.10

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) in his poem, The Ballad of East and West (1889), has referred to the both entities as opposite to each other.11 The ‘West’— succeeding the Western Roman Empire, Latinate in culture, Catholic in religion — developed in the medieval period, opposite to the ‘East’ and to the world of Islam was seen as a threat and repellent culture. European thinkers traced the roots of the ‘West’ to the great civilizations of Greece and Rome.12 The poet expressed the ‘predilections’ and ‘attitudes’ of the society and gave them a final touch of lasting beauty in his couplet which later became a point of reference. The words of the poet and the ideas it embody has remained dominant both in the East and the West and rooted itself deeper in the philosophies and literature of the duo. He epitomized the idea in both the East and the West and thus widened the dichotomy. “I have not come across any literary or poetic expression which has caused so much harm to…humanity and…unity of mankind as this idea of a perpetual division of the human family into East and West”13, recollects Abul Hassan Ali, no matter what his intentions were, but of course it lead the people of the east and the west towards irreconcilable hostility. He adds, though the couplet may seem innocent but it has exacerbated the relationship between the ‘two’. If the two entities could come to terms it would be only battlefield that is what has been experienced for many centuries and pointed out each other’s dark sides.14 Crusades which marked the serious encounter between the duo could not help either to understand the otherwise and the scenario hindered the understanding of each others religio-ethical legacies and experiences as the circumstances were not

12 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

conducive for appreciation and exchange (and primarily due to the perception of the Crusaders concerning Islam and Muslims). Though, Crusades created a hostile environment yet, these helped to reduce the gap between the two nations. One more encounter between the East and the West – Colonialism – during the Nineteenth century when the west driven by economic and political considerations invaded the east with all its sciences and civilization.15 Colonialism came with an onslaught on economic, political and social dimensions of the Muslim world which influenced the developments in the Muslim world. From the end of the Nineteenth century, Muslims tried to understand how their society plunged into deep despair and subjugation from the heights of culture and learning. The West could not look to the East for inspiration and guidance but the East started blindly following the Western ideals thus loosing the grip of their distinctive past which pushed Easterners further back to the position of the servitude. The emergence of Orientalism was seen as a ray of hope to bridge the gulf between these two by removing the barriers of ignorance and geographical boundaries. Perceptions regarding transmission of the wisdom from the East (as it was), prophetic sayings, moral values, noble life-style and spirituality did not come to fruition. Of course, they have many achievements to their credit and bringing forth the Islamic works which had not seen the light of the day. They produced a bulk of literature which affirms their scholarship that cannot be negated, but they disappointed the lovers of truth because of their religious prejudice. Orientalism too failed to bridge the gap between the two despite its positives. Whatever the reasons the east has remained isolated from the west and vice-versa as the two had witnessed each other, more often, in the times of doubt, suspicion, hatred and bitterness. Rarely, they have come together to build an ideal civilization and benefitting from each other’s experience.16

1.4. Greece – The Cradle of the West

Ancient Greece is regarded as the earliest in the history to dissociate its institutions, customs, arts and sciences from religion therefore a first true secular society. Ancient Greek philosophy was based on an argument that a perfect and harmonious society contented with beauty and justice could be achieved by an intellectual application of

13 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

human reason solely without any supernatural entity. One can see the secular character as the dominant theme in the Western Civilization even now.17 This secular legacy was adopted and nourished by Pagan Rome but because of their dominant military character the worship of beauty was superseded by the worship of force.18 Between the downfall of Roman Empire and the rise of Renaissance there was a thousand-year gap where Roman Catholic was dominant. This gap is referred to as ‘The Middle Ages’ during which the historical relations between the Europe and ancient Greece and Rome remained fractured. ‘The Middle Ages’ had a distinct and a unique civilization of its own, no features in common whatever with that of Greeks, Romans or Europe. ‘The Middle Ages’ civilization thus could be called ‘Western’ only because of its geographical location.19 The Renaissance simultaneously with the rejection of Christianity (Religion) by the leading intellectuals of Europe who adored uncritically ancient Greece and Rome marked the return of the Western Civilization towards its origin.20

The Europeans identified ancient Greece and exclusively Athens in its golden period (500-400 B.C.), as the fountainhead of the plinth of thought and culture of the Western civilization. Each civilization possesses its own distinguished core values, beliefs and principles, its own unifying spirit which sets it apart from other civilizations. Civilizations are said to have a life cycle like that of humans: they are born in some particular place and time; as young they are energetic, flexible, creative, able to absorb new ideas; when mature (golden period), reach the pinnacle of their power; then gradually they, lose their energy, are less creative, rigid; and finally they decline and are off the scene or are absorbed by some other vigorous civilization.21

The Greeks too were influenced by the culture and civilization of their neighbors to the south and east22 that is not to say that Greece did not produced giants or did not create anything new and distinctive. But it is also apparent that ancient Greek culture did not come into existence in a vacuum, it was influenced by the culture of the adjacent peoples at the same time they were also influenced by the Greek culture and civilization. What ancient Greeks achieved was not their own completely but was interwoven with the achievements of other people and cultures.23 Aristotle marked the

14 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

Greeks as neither Asian nor European but a different people who were benefitted by the qualities of the both due to its spectacular location between the two.24 After the Macedonian king Alexander — the Great (r. 336-323 B.C.) defeated the Persian empire, Greece continued to be influenced by the Persians and other eastern cultures as a result he adopted the Persian style of kingship and is said to have admired the fusion of his own Hellenic culture with that of the Persian one.25

Later with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the 20th century, the leadership transferred from the Muslim countries to the non-Muslims. The ‘West’ is not a novel term rather its roots and outlook trace their origin to ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. Until the 19th century, Western nations tamed the spirit, philosophy, sciences, literature and the ideas of the Greeks and Romans and then produced them in a new outlook. ‘The intellectual heritage, structure of the ideas, conceptions, modes of expression and the forms of the literature of the west are the progeny of Greek thought.’26 The Greek civilization is regarded as the first civilization built according to the Western lines, therefore, was the materialization of the Western mindset.27 According to Robert Briffault, “Greece made the European world…..There was no European world. There was only one form of civilization, that of the Orient….Greece did not save Europe, she created it. Before Greece there was no Europe; Greece brought it into being.”28 Abul Hassan Ali Nadvi sums up the intellectual foundations of the Greeks as:29 1. Disregard of transcendental truths 2. Want (Deficiency) of religious feeling and spirituality 3. Worship of material comfort 4. Exaggerated patriotism Nadvi further writes that the plinth of the European civilization was set up by Ancient Greece. On this occasion Abul Hassan Ali quotes a German Scholar Dr Haas who expounded the aim of Greek civilization was, “to develop man harmoniously…a beautiful body [that] emphasized the senses. Physical education – games and dancing – and mental education – poetry, music, drama, philosophy, even the sciences – were kept in proportion so as to develop the mind but not at the expense of the body. Its religion

15 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

had no spirituality, no theology, no mysticism.” Abul Hassan Ali terms Greek civilization as agnostic who had no place for God in their practical life.30 “They [western materialists] interpreted the material universe and its manifestations along mechanical lines and called it objective and scientific method, rejecting as slavery to tradition whatever was based on belief in the existence of God. One by one, they disowned everything that existed apart from matter and energy, everything that was not realizable in experience, or could not be weighed and measured.”31

1.5. Rise of the West

West emerged as a diverse civilization based on the continual development, across the time and space, based on the ancient Greek civilization, and took it almost twenty centuries to reemerge and flower in the modern age in the 15th and 16th century Western Europe. This was a chain of cultural continuity that West claimed to be a civilization with some essence that had remained unchanged and competent on the one hand and on the other hand unique and different from all other cultures. While framing the new history it ignored many aspects of its history, culture and society what could not be made to fit with the new part of the story about the West and its transcendental values.32

During the late 15th and early 16th century (age of discovery) what marked the expansion of Europeans’ geographical and cultural vistas, a new global empire and a new global economic order was dominated by Europeans. West was moving towards a global hegemony, exercised its power over the non-western nations. The inhabitants tended to define themselves in a way that made them distinct among the others, which lined the characteristics and virtues which they identified as unique and accredited for its increased power, wealth and knowledge. But it was other societies’ lack of these characteristics and the core values which made them weak and backward hence justified Western domination33 and white supremacism34.

Europeans now employed this difference to explain that they were distinct from their neighbors the Ottoman Empire (termed as the ‘Sick Man of Europe’), other Muslim states and all other Afro-Asian societies. The West saw itself as the realm of freedom

16 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

and law opposed to other societies which suffered from social and political perversions, thus not claiming only superiority but justified their rule over the others for progress and modern civilization.35 The West claimed to possess the qualities like freedom, law, rationality, science, progress, and intellectual curiosity, spirit of invention, adventure and enterprise as the special and exclusive hallmarks of their civilization. These were the core values what enabled them to develop the attitudes, the ideas, the technologies and the institutions necessary to create the modern world and dominate it politically, economically and culturally.36The West was conceptualized as the working force in the world history, although other civilizations had contributed to human knowledge and culture in the history but now it was the West which was dynamic and a vanguard of modernity. The West was seen as modern, while the non-west was envisioned as pre-modern, traditional and backward. They were left with the choice of either to imitate the west and become modern or to maintain stagnancy and fall behind in the march of civilization.37

This Eurocentric approach, which subjects Europe’s rise exclusively to the internal factors and places Europe at the center of the global history, assuming the West as the motor force behind the historical developments from the ancient Greeks till present, is criticized by the scholars like Edward Said (1935-2003), Maulana Mawdudi (1903- 1979), Allama Iqbal (1877-1938), Maryam Jameelah (1934-2012), etc. The criticism starts from the principle that pre-modern Asian and African societies, their culture and economy differentiated with that of Europe but, it was not at all so unique to be adequate for its successive rise to power. Despite debating on the features responsible for catapulting Europe into world leadership, they examined the change in ‘Europe’s structural relationship’ with the rest of the world after 1492 A.D., particularly the results of the ‘discovery’ and conquest of the Americas.38 The flow of wealth and profit from Europe’s New World Empire greatly added enormously to the European economy during 16th and 17th centuries thus laid the basis for a new global economic and political order with its center in Europe.39

On the other hand Muslim society had lost the capacity to order its life effectively, lost its once firm proud grip on the world. This disintegration of Muslim world

17 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

happened simultaneously with the high spirits of Europe. At this time Western civilization was moving forward on the greatest rise of expansive energy that human history has ever witnessed. The West was contouring/ reforming its own life and soon the life of the entire world. This new gigantic civilization pacing forward in exploratory restlessness countered the Muslim world. By 1800’s the West was pressing hard to impose its domination on many areas. During most of the 19th century this pressure and subjugation increased; the Dutch in Indonesia, the British in India, the Russians in Central Asia and the French in Africa. Iran and Ottoman Empire held political sovereignty but were independent without being free. Besides politically controlled, Muslim society, once eminent, dynamic and vigilant, was now everywhere in loose spirit and subject to the forces outside Islam.40 The ‘internal’ and the ‘external’ elements provide the account of the West’s rise to global supremacy and one cannot belittle the scientific, technological, cultural and intellectual achievements of the West over the centuries. The West and the rest cannot be portrayed as two distinct entities but they have defined, molded and mixed with each other over the past centuries.41 Maulana Wahiduddin Khan writes:

There are several verses in the Quran which make predictions of future events, so is the prediction of the rise of the western civilization as mentioned in the Qur’ān (41:53): We shall show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves, until it becomes clear to them that this is the Truth. This verse clearly foretells the developments which took place in Western nations one thousand years after the revelation of the Qur’ān. This civilization of the west was, in reality, based on science.42

He further adds that, Western civilization is not the property of a particular race or community. It owes entirely to the discovery of hidden laws of nature introduced in a new age of communication, from which everyone benefitted.43 The people of the West brought into existence a new age of scientific reasoning which enabled the authenticity of Islam to be established at the level of the accepted criteria of the modern scientific world.44 Muslims have benefitted from the West in academic, social, political and scientific fields.45

18 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

1.6. The West in the post-Renaissance Period

The post-renaissance era in the West was the era of secularization when Europe slowly and gradually drifted away from all religious values and other-worldly consideration. Greek science and philosophy and arts were more in tune with the changed outlook and became the staple intellectual food. This world and this life became the sole object of attention and everything was interpreted to suit this worldview. Physical and empirical science took the place of speculative philosophy and religious discourses.46

1.6.1. French Revolution 1789

French revolution was the outcome of the ideas, concerning the political reorganization of the states, which came from the middle class and the other came from the peasants and workers who wanted improvement in their economic conditions. These two groups helped each other for a certain time to realize their aim. The period of French Revolution was a period of radical socio-political disorder in France and Europe. The society underwent dynamic changes as feudal, aristocratic and religious privileges were terminated. Prevalent absolute monarchy and hierarchy was replaced by Enlightenment principles of citizenship and inalienable rights. French citizens became politically active amidst massive starvation, frustration and mismanagement of an incompetent monarchy system. The citizens consciously took a break from the past and stood for a new nation based on the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The revolution endowed the French with a new political vision, egalitarianism and a representative government.47

1.6.2. American Revolution

The American Revolution (1775-1783) transformed America into a nation founded on fundamental principles that subordinated/reduced the function of government to natural law. The American Revolution was a conservative movement aimed to safeguard the existing social, political, and economic order in the society. It is described as the most fundamental and most influential event in American history besides being culturally, politically, socially, and economically a traditional

19 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

movement. Traditionalists who joined the American cause opposed British efforts to contravene on their rights as Englishmen. In short, the Revolution was a movement to preserve the rights and liberties that Americans had always enjoyed. American society was transformed from monarchy to the most liberal, democratic, egalitarian, modern, and commercial-minded. The Revolution also influenced the culture of Americans and changed their understanding of history, knowledge, science and truth as they employed scientific reasoning to every aspect.48

1.7. Islam and the West: Tracing the History

Islam-West relationship traces its origin from the sixth year of Hijrah (although scholars wrangle about the year, yet it is unanimously accepted that it happened after the Treaty of Ḥudaibiyah [628 A.D.]) when the letter of the Prophet (SAW) was sent at the hands of Diḥya al- Kalabī to the eastern Roman Emperor Heraclius (610-641). Prophet (SAW) wrote to the emperor inviting him to Islam. In his letter to Heraclius, he has cited the following verse of the Qur’ān:

O people of the Scripture: Come to an agreement between us and you: that we shall worship none but Allah, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside Allah. And, if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are they who have surrendered (unto Him).49

With the passage of time this relationship which had such an auspicious beginning turned into a discord. This long relationship of the ‘two’ is not just a story of wars, mutual distrust; but has also yielded commendable exchange in economy and intellectualism.50 Moreover the relationship has served as a channel between the two civilizations for the transmission of collective human experience but it has remained stimulating to this day for some religio-political reasons.51

At the outset of this relationship between the ‘two’, the West saw Muslims and Islam as aggressors, the influence of this phase of relation remained during the subsequent centuries.52 The relation has not progressed in a uniform way but it has emerged in a random way, through critical encounters across the time and space. These encounters have framed and changed the limitations of interactions and mutual perceptions53

20 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

which took place in al-Andalus, during Crusades (11th-14th Century), European colonization of the Muslim lands and during the Gulf war.54

Islam has a long history of being portrayed as Christianity’s great ‘other’, and now in the age of secularism, diametrically opposite to the west possessing a distinct civilization. It has been cast as lacking the qualities like freedom, rationality, progress and enterprise which made the west great.55 From centuries there has been an interaction between Islam and the West which has passed through different levels and forms. Throughout the course of history, these two entities; ‘Islam’ and ‘West’ have been proposed and described as antagonistic to one another. Historians have tried to spotlight those incidents and events, which fan the gulf between the two civilizations, rather than the period of coexistence, interaction, cross-fertilization to stimulate the dialogue between the two.56 The interaction of the two dates back to centuries, though the seeds of conflict are explicit yet the transmission of culture and knowledge and their impact cannot be negated. Hassan Hanafi writes:

The discussion about Islam and the West is not one that only emerged in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in the United States, but is actually an old issue going back to the spread of Islam more than 14 centuries around the shores of the Mediterranean after the fall of the Roman Empire….it goes back to the aggression between the Persians and the Romans; the conquests of Alexander the Great in the heart of Asia….and lastly the modern colonialism-liberation stage.57 Avoiding the alibis, if we adhere to the past for the examples of mutual understanding and co-existence and to find a possible model to stimulate the dialogue, we can find ways for the better future. ‘Disunity’ between the Muslims of the East and the West is often regarded as a point of dispute between the Muslim world and the West which has not only affected the cultural relations but has also shaped Muslim opinions of the West.58 The perceptions that shaped the Muslim perspective of the West are:

1. Exploitation of the trading capitulations granted by Ottoman Empire to the nationals of the certain European countries. 2. Western colonization of Muslim countries and rise of Islamic League. 3. Prevention of restoration of the Caliphate by western colonial powers. 4. Obstructing territorial integrity of Islamic countries under colonial rule.

21 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

To speak of the West is not to describe a uniform tradition of thought. The West has been torn between authoritarianism and democracy and between totalitarianism and liberalism. There were instances during the last century when the triumph of democracy and liberalism were by no means certain.59 The West is successful economically and technologically, but Western culture is the subject of a hotly contested debate. High rates of crime and family breakdown, and the high level of anti-social behavior have caused widespread concern.60 Since September 11, 2001, in Western media one can easily find dramatic headlines describing ‘The War Against Terrorism’, highlighting Islamic or Islamist activities.61 But there is another aspect of Islam which has not featured so strongly in the media in the aftermath of Sept. 11. There are over a billion Muslims in the world today. The vast majority of them lead/live law-abiding lives and live peaceably with their neighbors, including those of ‘other’ faiths. In many countries and cultures, they are respected for their hospitality, generosity and graciousness.62 Islamic civilization covers a wide range of political and economic systems, as well as a diversity of ethnic groups, cultures, local traditions, languages, beliefs, and family and social values. Theological and ritualistic differences abound, making a universal Ummah an elusive reality.63 Many Muslims in the Middle East (are fed up) have grown weary of the longstanding and violent Israel- Palestine conflict and the West’s ideological and financial support of the Jewish state. Through scriptural exegesis, historical and juridical analysis, and theological and philosophical reinterpretation-utilizing such invaluable strategies as Qiyas (analogy), Ijma (consensus), and Ijtihad (independent reasoning) – Muslim reformers are contesting the authenticity of Islam’s extremists, challenging their exclusivist, ahistorical ideologies and interpretations. Muslim reformers are encouraging awareness and appreciation of Islam’s fourteen centuries of jurisprudence and tradition, emphasizing how its depth and complexity prevents from literal interpretations. In an effort to immunize Islam against the violent tendencies of its militant adherents, Muslim reformers are striving to bring around a nonviolent and enlightened Muslim culture that is receptive to new ideas and aware of Islam’s principled but adaptive history. Indeed, a struggle for the spirit of Islam is underway as Muslims are striving to oppose the voices of radical

22 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

adherents (within or created), disputing their infidelity to scripture and morally bankrupt ideologies.64

1.8. Muslim World in 18th Century: Socio-political Conditions

Muslims faced challenges in multiple domains like political, economic and cultural from Europe. Muslim states had collapsed or were in decline and became subordinated to the European powers. Solutions were offered for the military and political collapse and how to face the challenges of the west in economic, military and technological domain. Muslim societies felt a need to reformulate or revive the faith. The European expansionism was not checked by the intellectual class of the society.65 At the same time Muslim rulers faced internal challenges which hindered them to handle the challenges of the west. Christian world appeared as a rival to the Muslim world because of the developments in Europe. The Muslim world was exposed politically hence Muslims became incorporated into the European powers during the nineteenth and early twentieth century and lost their political autonomy. Muslims were concerned with the western imperialism on the one hand and on the other hand to make transition to a modern independence in a world still dominated by the west.66 The impact of expansionism – modernization was intensive and Muslims were caught up in its wave as they implemented new systems of government and Muslim world was at receiving end. But prior to the emergence of European power Muslims rose to the challenge posed by the expansionism. Many Muslims viewed this political misfortune as ‘the judgment of God’ while as the others sought ways to identify the problem and their solutions. The period of eighteenth and nineteenth century marked increase in religious revival for many movements emerged emphasizing the outward and inner renewal,67 which sometimes resulted in physical opposition to fight the infidels and to produce the kind of Islam to resist the mounting encroachments of the west.68 The pressing message of Islamic reform increased after Napoleon’s expedition of Egypt which resulted in breakdown of the spirit of Muslims’ independence as most of the Muslim world was under sway of European control.69

23 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

1.9. Colonialism

From the late eighteenth century the Christian capitalist west began to encroach the Muslim world economically, culturally and politically following a ‘colonizing tactics’70 introducing western concepts and values such as secularism and modernization, as well as the territorial bureaucratic state. Westernization also brought the industrial and technological advancement, which was lacking in the Islamic world. Various explanations have been given for the fact that Europe had developed into an industrial society while the Islamic world was unable to do so. While many of the prerequisites for the development of the Middle East into an industrial society existed, its development was seen to have been prevented by external factors namely colonialism, “which dominated politically and exploited economically and which led to cultural humiliation and the loss of self-confidence.”71

Colonialism is not a European innovation rather, with its accompanying ideology – imperialism, has been a repeating force in and the feature of the human history. It is the conquest and control of other people’s land and goods, as defined by Ania Loomba.72 European colonization dates back to the discovery of America in 1492, followed by the Spanish and the Portuguese colonial networks in North and South America and later joined by the British, the French and the Dutch.73 European nations established the colonies far and wide as they had quest for power and territories, had a sense of superiority, desire to civilize peoples and to spread the Christian word.74 It has locked the original dwellers and the subjugators into the complex and disturbing relationships in human history. The original inhabitants were transformed by a process of de-forming and reforming what existed there as trade, settlement, warfare, plunder, negotiation and enslavement.75 The earlier contacts like the Crusades, the Moorish invasion of Spain, exploits of Mongols and wealth of the Mughals provided the fuel for the European journeys to different parts of the world.76

Modern colonialism was way ahead as it not only conquered the land but drained the wealth and goods from the colonies, it restructured the economic system of the colonized lands in order to keep the flow of the resources continue to the colonizer. Slaves, contractual labor, domestic servants and raw materials were transported and

24 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

the colonies worked as the captive markets as well. Whichever direction the resources travelled the profit always flowed to the ‘mother-country’.77 The colonizers also moved to the colonies as administrators, soldiers, merchants, writers, travelers, teachers, missionaries and scientists. Although they employed a variety of techniques but the prime concern was to maintain an imbalance in the economy what was necessary for the growth of their industries. Colonialism with its different ‘versions’78 acted as a midwife that helped at the birth of European capitalism.79

Muslim majority lands remained largely untouched prior to the 19th Century, though Muslims in the Indian subcontinent had sensed the effects of colonialism already in the 16th Century. It was only with the Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt the seriousness of the European attempts to conquer the Muslim lands was felt.80 The Muslim world in the early 20th century was subjugated by the European rule except some states; Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Yemen and by 1930’s Europe covered almost 85 percent of the earth’s surface under its domination, hence exercised economic and political power over the world by the Great War-I.81

1.10. Decolonization and Neo-colonization

It was not always easier to govern the colonies in a smooth and linear way as a result Europeans lost the control over the colonies altogether in 18th and 19th centuries. The factors responsible for losing the control and opposition was the growing knowledge about nationalism, democracy, rights in addition to the people who went to Europe for education and returned with new ideas and outlook. The common phenomenon of mid-twentieth century was to get independence from the colonial masters. The decolonization of the Muslim populated areas was completed by 1960s. It turned difficult for the colonial masters to maintain the colonies for they had to incur the financial burden of them during and after the Great War-II. The emergence of resistance movements and the nationalist sentiments grew considerably which sometimes took the form of armed resistance. By the end of Second Great War it was difficult for the European nations to control the colonies of their far-flung empire as a result decolonization became inevitable.82

25 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

The outcome of decolonization was not complete liberation of the colonies but the legacy of colonialism remained there, rather a new era sparked where the independent colonies were not independent per se but they were still controlled by the European nations whether politically or economically known as ‘neocolonialism’.83

One cannot belittle the impact of colonialism and neocolonialism while understanding the relationship between Islam and the West, as the Muslims in the Middle East and other regions blame the west’s interference in their political and economic struggles in past as well as present.84

1.11. Muslim World during Colonial Period

For the present phase of the relationship between Islam and the West, the most important period is the one during which the West colonized the Muslim world.85 Sixteenth century marked the rise of European expansionism, Western powers rose to conquer other nations for multiple purposes like ‘civilizing’, merchandise, territorial and geopolitical interests as a result the Muslim domains of the Ottoman Empire generally and exclusively those on the way to Indian subcontinent, Far East and Southeast Asia fell prey to it. From the late eighteenth century, the Ottoman Empire which was in its downward course lost some of its parts to the colonial powers as the French, Spanish, Italians and British who had made inroads into North Africa and Persian Gulf. On the other hand the Russians advanced towards Transcaucasia (Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) and Central Asia, and the British and Dutch towards Malaya (Malaysia) and the East-Indies.86 This colonial domination and cultural separation caused wider humiliation to the Muslims. It was colonization not only militarily, politically and economically but culturally as well that remained there even after their independence. This cultural subjugation continued as a result splitting the Muslim nations into two parts: one adhering to the West and the other adhering to the traditions.87 The Egyptian expedition of 1798-99 by Napoleon Bonaparte,88 resulting in his victory over the Mamluks, marked the beginning of a new mode of external aggression. On the other the Ottoman Empire had failed to reform their system according to the modern lines.89 It was only in 1826, Mahmud-II opened military academies to

26 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

enhance the military with the western tactics. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Ottoman Sultans abolished feudalism and introduced private property and reformed military service but this was not enough to stop western penetration. The Ottoman Empire – ‘sick man of Europe’ as it was called in the latter half of the nineteenth century. With the accession of Sultan Abdul Hamid-II in 1876, these reform movements culminated into dictatorship.90 It was a century after Napoleon that many Ottoman domains as well as Persia, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco were directly or indirectly under western control. The period of colonization also occurred with an important development within the Muslim world that was of the concept of Ummah (a thought championed by Jamal al- Din Afghani), that unified the Muslims through Tawḥīd – Unicity of Allah, Ṣalāh, Ṣawm and Hajj, as a result of which a universal society came into existence.91 At the outset of the 18th Century Muslim societies were ruled by the Ottomans, Mughals, Safavids and Khanates. On the other the world around these societies was going through a major transformation such as; the old khanates were pressurized by the expansion of Russia and China, Ottomans could not stand before European armies and the Safavids were suffering from internal rivalries.92 Muslims suffered a setback in the twentieth century as the Muslim lands such as Ottomans and Mughals were open to the European powers.93 Thus at the beginning of the 20th century, the European powers had almost completed their conquest of the Muslim world. The independent Muslim states like Central Arabia, Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan were also subject to the influence of the European powers.94 It is apparent from above that a new map of the world was drawn by the European powers in the 19th century. The colonization of the Muslim societies completely changed the nature of the relationship between Muslims and the West. Muslim societies were subjected to transformation at the root level by the replacement of their basic institutions, models, ideology and medium of learning and the elite classes were made targets of special vengeance.95 New institutions, administrative set up and elite classes were created which could cooperate with the colonial powers. The people educated in this new educational system considered it an honor to speak the language of their masters and accepted the western ideals presented to them without any critical

27 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

analysis. Their ideas and persona were shaped by the ideas of Western philosophers. The members of this elite group became the leading figures in the colonized societies and the masses looked them as their models.96 The offspring of this elite group brought up in luxury went to Europe for education and their experiences there developed a sense of dignity and equality. After returning, they demanded greater power and influence in the affairs of their country which resulted in the independence movements.97

1.12. Impact

Muslim societies were politically transformed and they developed the concept of Ummah and looked for Khilāfah as a symbol of unity avoiding the discrimination on regional and racial grounds. Muslim scholars and students round the globe assembled in the learning centers, open for all Muslims, which strengthened the notion of Ummah.98 Interactions with others made them aware of the conditions and developments of other Muslim regions. They discussed the problems and issues prevailing then in the Muslim world and tried to come up with the possible solutions. Muslim societies were transformed in diverse ways in various countries which affected Muslims all over the world. Apart from this, the trade routes running through the Muslim regions also provided a link to interact with Muslims of other regions.99 This concept was replaced by a western concept of nationalism in the colonial era that gave rise to the concept of state (defined on the basis of language, culture and geography) that at length affected the Muslim world. This nationalism divided the Ummah on the basis of races and regions which gave rise to various countries, nations and states in the Muslim world.100

Arabic was the lingua franca of the Muslim world being the language of the divine scripture – the Qur’an, commonly taught, and a medium of interaction in the Muslim world. It was replaced by the colonial masters with their own language as a result Arabic became a foreign language to those who were not the usual speakers hence, made the revelation and traditional knowledge inaccessible to them.101 Traditional system of education was governed by the principles of Tawḥīd, the Qur’ān and the Sunnah. Beliefs like Creation of universe and Day of Judgement were

28 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

not open to questioning. Knowledge was not linked with the jobs in the administrative system but acquired for being a religious obligation.102 This system of education was replaced by the western system that, allowed free thinking and inquiry and was linked with the jobs in the new administrative set up, produced a generation of those educated men and women with little knowledge and far from their faith. They served in the administration to implement the colonial agenda and saw the purpose of education as a means of a good job.103 Education was institutionalized and the centers were unable to train (tarbiyyah) the students which resulted in the division between the body and the soul. The faculties were nourished and developed which were confined to the body thus completely related to the fulfillment of physical needs.104 The introduction of the western political system replaced the dynastic system in the colonies and a new system of governance evolved which still prevails.105 Social setup in the Muslim societies also underwent a change. The mass migration of the rural people into cities for the employment resulted in rapid urbanization. The work too became unavailable in the cities due to the growing unemployment with the passage of time. It led to the breakdown of the social fabric as men folk left home in search of work and the women were forced into single parenthood and burdened with running the family alone.106 Man has turned individualistic, selfish, and materialistic and developed utilitarian attitude.107 Thus colonialism came with an onslaught on economic, political and social dimensions of the Muslim world which influenced the developments in the Muslim world. From the end of the nineteenth century, Muslims tried to understand how their society plunged into deep despair and subjugation from the heights of culture and learning.108

1.13. Islamic Revivalism

The first quarter of the 20th century marked a new trend in the interpretations of Islam different from the traditional interpretations and apologetic rationalism of the early modernists. This new trend made certain modifications in the interpretations made by the earlier scholars thus produced an amalgamation of both the interpretations in a new intellectual outlook and made original contributions to give birth to a new trend.

29 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

They (re)interpreted the tradition and used it as Islamic resurgence as Ibrahim Abu Rabi writes:

One can see Islamic resurgence... as neo-traditional Islamism, which, in many ways, has felt the impact of the West and has been compelled to forge a kind of an intellectual and political synthesis in order to respond to the formidable challenge of the West. This is perhaps what differentiates it from other traditionalist and conservative tendencies in the modern world that did not take the Western threat seriously. In other words, Islamic resurgence is not a strident assertion of old values in a condensed and purified form, but is a reaction to an aggressive Western and capitalist modernity.109

This trend modified the concepts of religious puritanism that was articulated by the early scholars and held that the Qur’an and Sunnah were the only determinants of Islamic belief and practice hence rejecting the notion that early interpretations of these religious sources was incumbent upon the Muslims to follow. The adherents of this trend did not attempted to prove that everything mentioned in the Qur’ān could be accounted by the sciences. But, they focused to prove that Islam can produce far more just and equitable society than anything produced by the West as can be witnessed in history and a society based on Islamic principles would be far superior to existing Western society. They characterized Islam as a Dīn (a complete way of life) and not just a religion (a collection of dogma and ritual limited to a person’s private life). They insisted that Islam could not be limited to only “religious” dominion but it is an all-embracing, complete system of life that deals with every aspect of one’s life as political, economic, and the collective social life — failure to comprehend this meant that one had a condensed vision of Islam. The birth of this trend concurred with the emergence of various independence movements in the Muslim world thus, indicating a new confidence on the part of the Muslims. These movements constantly invoked the sentiment of nationalism among the masses to challenge the western domination in the Muslim lands.110 The early modernists who preached a doctrine of political quietism argued it as detrimental to the interests of the Muslim community, on the other hand the traditionalists had become accustomed to it before the encounter with the West and

30 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

continued to serve the religious aspects of the Muslims specifically. Both the factions recognized that the Muslims were at the receiving end hence in no position to challenge the Western supremacy. The revivalists emerged in an era conducive to political activism and they articulated a vision of Islam and a definition of ‘Ibadah that made political participation necessary for believers.111 The new trend (revivalism) was avoided by the elite class of Muslim society as their interests were linked with the West. The elite remained hostile to this new trend since it first emerged. However, the middle class provided the ground in which it first took root and, with the passage of time, this faction of the society has continued to be its primary source of strength.112

1.14. Beginning of Muslim Responses to Colonialism

The end of the Great War-I resulted in, the end of the institution of the Caliphate, on the one hand, and on the other, consolidation of the European power over most of the Muslim lands. Muslims, therefore, had to struggle and respond to these multiple challenges that emerged in the form of reform movements.113 The more Europe encroached upon the Islamic World during the nineteenth century, the more the European powers, especially Britain and France, saw/presented themselves as ‘representing’ the interests of that region in order to safeguard their own interests. The European viewpoint was seen as having brought knowledge and civilization to ‘restore a region from its present barbarism to its former classical greatness, to instruct (for its own benefit) the Orient in the ways of the modern West, to subordinate or underplay the military power to aggrandize the project of glorious knowledge found during political domination of the Orient’. This knowledge, acquired by closer contact, reinforced the subsequent colonial encounter where Europe was always in the position of strength and domination.114

The European expansion ranged from 1815-1914 and gradually much of the Muslim world was dominated by the West. This was a period of immense advance in the institutions and content of Orientalism. Imperial advances on the Muslim world also resulted in a decline within this world because of financial crisis, demographic dislocation, agricultural stagnation, trade diverted by the foreign merchants and the

31 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

breakdown of military discipline and efficiency. The counter-reaction from the Islamic world was to return to its indigenous heritage in an attempt to overcome unresolved problems emanating from rapid and uneven social changes. This led to the emergence of nationalist movements and the quest for independence.115 The Muslim world saw this colonialism as a Christian onslaught against their identity, legacy, religion, culture and way of life. It led to the division of Muslim subjects into two factions. One section of the Muslim society became permeated with Western ideals, education system, and socio-cultural practices like Sir Syed (1817-1898), Kamal Ataturk (1881-1938), stood for modernization along western lines in order to transform their societies. Although, some viewed this modernization as a preliminary to pay the devil back and confront the colonialists. On the other the second section reacted against the colonial powers and their allies who stood for secularization of Muslim societies. They gave up their lives for the cause of reforming and reorganizing their community along the lines of Islamic teachings and came up in different forms and with different approaches to counter the colonialism and westernization.116 During the 18th century due to the internal strife and external pressures different movements arouse from diverse arenas of the Muslim world by different leaders to respond to the challenges posed by western civilization like. Sidi Mukhtar al-Kunti of Sudan (1729-1811), Usman Dan Fodio of Nigeria (1754-1817), Salih al- Fulani of Morocco (1752-1803), Shah Waliullah of India (1703-1762), Abdul Wahab of Arabia (1703-1792). These movements not just emerged as a reaction to the present situation but were a continuation of the evolutionary process that was curtailed during the colonial period.117 This process of reforms in these societies was however curtailed by the colonization of the European powers as the Dutch conquered Indonesia; the Russians and the Chinese captivated Inner Asia; the British took over India, Malaya, parts of Middle East, East Africa, West Africa; the French grabbed North Africa and other parts of West Africa and Middle East. Some of these movements were puritanical in nature, therefore called people to return to the Qur’an and authentic traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahab al-Najdi (1703-92) (after whom Wahabi movement is named)

32 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

voiced the slogan ‘Back to Islam’ and launched his movement to stand against secularization and westernization of the peninsula.118 Likewise, the Salafi movement in Egypt and Syria, the Muhammadi movement of Indonesia and the Jama’at-i Islami of Pakistan also sought to reform the Muslim societies through interpretation of the Shari’ah and by opposing the Western interference in the Muslim domains.119 Another group – the Mahdists, who claimed to be the followers of the Mahdi (the divinely guided or ‘the awaited’), also reacted against the European colonialism and cultural subjugation in the Muslim lands. Another group emerged that relied on what they could take from the west, good and compatible, with Islam in order to revive Islam as a dynamic ideology which coops with the change in time and space. This group aimed at uniting Muslims to understand their religion and reform the Muslim society within in order to meet the challenges posed by colonialism, secularization and westernization, this group includes al-Afghani (1838-1897) and al-Sanusi (1787- 1859),120 Muhammad bin Ali al-Sanusi’s movement, Hassan al-Banna(1906-1949) (al-Ikwan al-Muslimun), Muslim resistance against British Colonialism in India, Algerian resistance against French colonialism, The Mahdist movement in Sudan, the Ottoman Jihad – declaration of 1914, Religious opposition against British colonialism and Zionism in Palestine.121

1.15. Resistance against British in India

After the First war of Independence in 1857, the British domination in India expanded rapidly by means of treaties, annexations and conquests, which was a setback to the Indian masses. The Mughal emperors lost their power gradually and became mere puppets in the hands of the British.122 As the powerful representative of western civilization in the East, British had firmly rooted in India, and brought a flow of ideas and institutions. On the other, the failure of the revolt 1857 was a blow to the Muslims resulting in terrifying problems.123 The Muslims looked for the solution to the problems which was provided by the religious leaders (Ulama) and by Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898).124 Various movements in India emerged as a reaction to the British colonialism like Faradi Movement (1818) led by Shariatullah, Khilafat and Non-cooperation Movement (1921-22) led by Ali Brothers, Civil Disobedience

33 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

Movement (1930), the Lucknow Pact (1916), Wahabi Movement (1830s) led by Syed Ahmad of Rai Bareily, Aligarh Movement (1875) led by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Deoband (1867) led by Maulana Qasim Nanotawi, Nadwatul Ulama (1893) by Allama Shibli, Titu Mir (19th Century), Karamat Ali (1835) etc.

1.16. Algerian Resistance against French Colonialism

On 14th June, 1830, French army set foot in Algeria which was resisted by the religious brotherhoods, the ṭurūq. Amongst other orders that existed in Algeria at that time, the Qadiriyyah order played dynamic role, led by Shaykh Muhi al-Din, who succeeded at large in uniting the tribes against the French. His son ‘Abd al-Qadir (1808-1883) acted as military commander leading tribes and the ‘Ulama against the French.125 Likewise, a tribal chief, Bu Ma‘zah, claimed to be the Mahdi revolted against the French.126 It is said that no country in modern history has paid a greater price for freedom than Algeria, as millions of Algerians perished at the hands of French imperialists during the struggle of independence.127

1.17. Egyptian Resistance against British Colonialism

On 11th July, 1882, when the British fleet bombarded Alexandria and invaded the country, immediately after the invasion Ahmad ‘Urabi led a struggle against the British. The ‘Ulama also voiced jihad and insisted the masses to support the armed struggle against the British.128 Likewise, Ikhwan al-Muslimun concentrated their efforts against the overwhelming influence of the western civilization which was later supported by ‘Abdul Qadir Audah (1906-1954), Syed Qutub (1906-1966), Mohammad Qutub (1919-2014), Mohammad Ghazali (1917-1996), Dr. Said Ramadan (1926-1995) and Dr. Mustafa Sabai (1915-1964).129

1.18. Libyan Resistance against Italian Colonialism

In October, 1911, when the Italian expedition occupied the coastal towns of Libya, Sayyid Ahmad al-Sharif (1873-1933) – grandson of Muhammad Ali Sanusi – gave a call for Jihad. He continued the war against the occupation in the name of Muhammad-V and wrote a treatise on Jihad that helped him to mobilize the people

34 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

against the aggression.130 ‘Umar al-Mukhtar (1862-1931) also led a struggle against the Italians.131

1.19. Ottoman Declaration of Jihad

Turkey had been defending itself from the western encroachment but ignored to study the intellectual and industrial weapons from its adversary. The ‘Ulama class neglected the ideas and movements hailing from outside, even they opposed the military reforms introduced in the period of Ottoman Sultan Salim III (1789-1807) and Mahmud (1807-1839) to make Turkey strong to stand against the emerging European powers.132 Abul Hassan Ali recalls:

The Turks were the first among the Muslims to be confronted with a challenge of this nature [western civilization] and the whole of the Islamic world was eager to see if they could offer any lead to the rest of the Muslim countries by the way they acquitted themselves in that hour of trial…The intellectual and cultural, and, also, to some extent, the political and spiritual future of the Muslim world rested upon the course the Turks were to choose.133

On 11th November, 1914, Ottoman Sultan declared war on Russia, France and Great Britain and addressed all Muslims under the colonial rule. Sultan claimed to be the spiritual head of all Muslims and Muslim intellectuals who had marked increase in Western economic and political influence in the Islamic world, witnessed unification of all Muslims under the leadership of the Ottoman Sultan as the only tool of resisting western domination.134 Likewise in the Palestine also, the disturbances of 1920 and 1921 contained national fervor in which both Muslims and Christians participated in the struggle against foreign rule. The main force behind the Palestinian national movement was the ideology of Arab nationalism.135

1.20. Conclusion

Islam and the West has remained a dominant narrative in the history. At the initial phase of the story Muslims led the world with their civilization and contributed to a great deal to the humanity up to 18th century. When the leadership changed, the

35 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

institution of Caliphate was in the downward course, there was a Western onslaught on the Muslim lands that left the Muslim lands exposed to the Europeans. Muslims were at the receiving end during the process of colonialism. They felt a sense of loss which resulted in the development of pan-Islamic consciousness in the Muslim world. Colonialism was responded by the revival movements that erupted in the Muslim world which resulted in decolonization. The relation has been wavering throughout the history resting on the geopolitical conditions of the world. There has been 1400 years of interaction between the two, but we are shown the retrospective period like the Crusades, Ottoman campaigns n Europe, Polemics against Islam just as Muslims belittled European civilization until 19th century, etc. Off the scene there is a great interaction between the two where they have fruitfully interacted and played a part in shaping each other. It is often portrayed as intercultural confrontation and compatibility rather than intercultural complemantarity to manage the differences to contribute towards peaceful co-existence. Prospective ways are needed for conflict transformation to hope for improved relations.

36 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

References and Endnotes

1 Muhammad Hamidullah, Introduction to Islam, Secundarabad: Osmania Printing Works, 1969, p. 38. 2 Ibid., p. 44. 3 Altaf Gauhar (ed.),The Challenge of Islam, London: Islamic Council of Europe, 1978, pp. 236-37 4 Ibid., pp. 237-38 5 Ibid., p. 239. 6 The Moors were the dark-skinned Muslim inhabitants of al-Andalusia responsible for the invasion of al-Andalusia in 711 A.D. and the establishment of Islamic culture that lasted from eighth through the fifteenth centuries. For further details see; John L. Esposito (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, Vol. 4, pp. 46-49. 7 Gauhar, Op. Cit., p. 240. 8 Ibid., p. 242. 9 Thorsten Pattberg, The East-West Dichotomy, New York: LoD Press, 2009, p. 1. 10 Caroline Cox & John Marks, The ‘West’, Islam and Islamism, London: Cavitas Institute for the Study of Civil Society, 2003, p. 2. 11 Rudyard Kipling writes, “Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never shall the twain meet; Till earth and sky stand presently at God’s great judgment seat.” 12 Zachary Lockman, Contending Issues in Middle East, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp. 55-56. 13 Abul Hassan Ali, Speaking Plainly to the West, (tr.), Mohiuddin Ahmad, Lucknow: Academy of Islamic Research and Publications, 1979, p.7. The book will be referred to as: Abul Hassan Ali, 1979a. 14 Ibid., p. 8. 15 Abul Hassan Ali, Western Civilization Islam and Muslims, tr., Mohammad Asif Kidwai, Lucknow: Academy of Islamic Research and Publications, 1979, pp. 6-7. The book will be cited further as: Abul Hassan Ali, 1979b. 16 Ibid., pp. 7-13. 17 Maryam Jameelah, Islam and Modernism, Sant Nagar Lahore: Muhammad Yusuf Khan, 1966, p. 1. 18 Ibid., p. 3. 19 Ibid., pp. 3-4. 20 Ibid., p. 4. 21 Lockman, Op. Cit., p. 9. 22 Ibid, p.10. 23 Idem. 24Ibid., p.12. 25 Ibid, p. 14. 26Robert Briffault, The Making of Humanity, London: Ruskin House, 1919, pp. 117-18. 27 Ali Nadvi, Islam and the World: The Rise and Decline of Muslims and its Effect on Mankind, (tr.), Asif Kidwai, London: Islamic Academy, 2005, p. 102. 28 Briffault, Op. Cit., p. 118. 29 Nadvi, Op.Cit., p. 103. 30 Ibid., p. 104.

37 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

31 Ibid., p. 120. 32 Lockman, Op. Cit., p. 56. 33 Ibid., p. 57. 34 A racist ideology based on the belief that white (denominations) people are superior to other races therefore the white should be dominant and they treated non-white people as second class citizens and slaves. 35 Lockman, Op. Cit., pp. 57-58. 36 Ibid., p. 58. 37 Idem. 38Ibid., p. 60. 39Ibid., pp. 60-61. 40W.C. Smith, Islam in Modern History, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957, p. 46. 41 Lockman, Op. Cit., p. 61. 42 Wahiduddin Khan,The Age of Peace, India: Goodword Books, 2015, p. 27. 43 Ibid, p. 28. 44 Wahiduddin Khan, The Prophet of Peace, India: Penguin Books, 2009, p. 172. 45 Ibid., p. 173. 46 A.A. Suroor (ed.), Modernity and Iqbal, Srinagar: Iqbal Institute, University of Kashmir, 1985, p.80. 47 Petr Kropotkin, The Great French Revolution 1789-1793, (n.d.), pf. 7. 48 Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1967, pf. 162. 49 Al-Qur’an; 3:64. See also; Abul Hassan Ali Nadvi, Islam and the West, (tr.), Mohiuddin Ahmad, Lucknow: Islamic Research and Publications, 1983, pp. 7-8. 50Zafar Ishaq Ansari and John L. Esposito (ed.), Muslims and the West: Encounter and Dialogue, Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, 2001, p. 233. 51 Ibid., p.233-34. 52 Ibid., p. 236-37. 53 Ibid., p. 237. 54 Ibid., p. 237. 55 Lockman, Op. Cit., p. 62. 56 Islam and the West: A Civilized Dialogue, The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research: Abu Dhabi, 2012, p. 13. 57 Ibid., p. 67. 58 Ibid., p. 14. 59 Cox and Marks, Op. Cit., p. 1. 60 Idem. 61 Idem. 62Ibid., p. 14. 63 Aaron Taylor, Islam, West and Tolerance, New York: Macmillan, 2008, p. 2. 64Ibid., pp. 2-3. 65 Francis Robinson, Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World, New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 62-63.

38 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

66 Ibid., p. 90. 67 Ibid., pp. 90-91. 68 Ibid., p. 92. 69 Ibid., p. 93. 70The colonizer prepared itself adequately in order to face the obstacles. During the process of colonization scholars were made to work alongside soldiers. One of the colonizers Napoleon is said to have about 160 scholars (who were charged to gather the firsthand information about Egypt) to help him in the colonial administration and produce a body of knowledge about the colony and the local masses that became central to the mission. He himself had acquainted himself with the European writings both recent and classical extensively. The colonizing nation developed a justification to colonize and assured the colony to restore its greatness. For further details see; Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of the Empire, Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2012, pp.26-27. 71Nazih Ayubi, Political Islam, Religion and Politics in the Arab World, London: Routledge, 1991, p. 43. 72 Ania Loomba, Colonialism/Postcolonialism, London: Routledge, 2015, p. 20. 73 Todd H. Green, The Fear of Islam: An Introduction to Islamophobia in the West, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015, p. 69. 74 Ibid., p. 68. 75 Loomba, Op.Cit., p. 20. 76 Ibid., p. 21. 77 Idem. 78 Administrative Colonialism, Settler Colonialism, Plantation Colonialism and Territorial Annexation. See; Loomba, Ibid., pp. 23-24. 79 Loomba, Ibid., p. 22. 80 Green, Op.Cit., p. 69. 81 Loomba, Op.Cit., p. 5. See also; Green, Ibid., pp. 70-71. 82 Green, Ibid., p. 71-73. 83 Note: The term was employed, in 1965 by a political scientist and a president of Ghana, for this new period and refers to a state where a State is theoretically independent but is controlled by the colonialist. For details see; Todd Green, Ibid., p. 73. 84 Green, Ibid., p. 74. 85 Ansari and Esposito, Op. Cit., p. 238. 86Amin Saikal, Islam and the West: Conflict or Cooperation?, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, p. 33. 87 Islam and the West: A Civilized Dialogue, Op. Cit., p. 69. 88The European expansion began in the sixteenth century, but the French occupation of Egypt in 1789 was one of the first cases of direct intervention of the west in the Arab world with great economic and social consequences. Napoleons expedition of Egypt made Europe more knowledgeable about the Arab world. Before Napoleon, Westerners had little knowledge of the Arab/Islamic world, and he enlisted several specialists for his expedition who guided him before the expedition. He used them to assure the local population that he was ‘fighting for Islam’ and not against it. 89 Peter R. Demant, Islam Vs Islamism: The Dilemma of the Muslim World, London: Praeger, 2006, p. 20.

39 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

90 Idem. 91Ansari and Esposito, Op. Cit., p. 251. 92Ibid., pp.251-252. 93 Tamara Sonn, Islam: A Brief History, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, p. 113. 94Ansari and Esposito, Op. Cit., p. 254 95 Ibid., pp. 255-56 96 Ibid., p. 256 97 Ibid., pp. 256-57 98 Ibid., p. 257 99 Idem. 100 Ibid., p. 258. 101 Ibid., pp. 258-59. 102 Ibid., p. 259. 103 Ibid., p. 260. 104 M. Zaki Kirmani, Western Civilization: Impact on Individual, Society and Knowledge, Aligarh: Nai Naslen Publications,1983, pp. 24-25. 105 Ansari & Esposito, Op.Cit., p. 260-61. 106 Sonn, Op.Cit., p. 133. 107 Kirmani, Op. Cit., p. 21. 108 Sonn, Op. Cit., p. 133. 109 Ibrahim Abu Rabi, Intellectual Origins of Islamic Resurgence in the Modern Arab World, New York: State University of New York Press, 1996, p.44. 110 Basit Bilal Koshul, “Varieties of the Muslim Response”, in the second chapter of his unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Drew University, New Jersey, Recounting the Milestones: An Appraisal of Islam’s Encounter with Modernity, Available at: http://hamditabligh.saylitech.com/pdf/VarietiesMuslimResponseI.pdf , pp. 11-12. 111 Ibid., pp. 14-15. 112 Ibid., p. 13. 113 Sonn, Op.Cit., p. 113. 114 Edward Said, Orientalism, London: Penguin Books, 1991, p. 86. 115 Ibid., p. 41. 116 Demant, Op.Cit., pp. 33-34 117 Ansari and Esposito, Op.Cit., pp. 252-54 118 Saikal, Op. Cit. p. 34 119 Taylor, Op.Cit., p. 98 120 Saikal. Op.Cit, p.35 121 Rudolph Peters, Islam and Colonialism: The Doctrine of Jihad in Modern History, New York: Mouton Publishers, 1979, pp. 93-94. 122 Ibid., p. 44. 123 Abul Hassan Ali, (1979b) Op. Cit., pp. 60-61. 124 Ibid., p. 61. 125 Peters, Op. Cit., p. 54 126 Ibid., p. 55.

40 Islam and the West: An Overview Chapter - 1

127 Abul Hassan Ali, (1979b) Op. Cit., p. 142. 128 Peters, Op. Cit., p. 79. 129 Abul Hassan Ali, (1979b) Op. Cit., p. 110. 130 Peters, Op. Cit., pp. 86-7. 131 Ibid., p. 89. 132 Abul Hassan Ali, Op. Cit., (1979b) p. 34. 133 Ibid., p. 33-34. 134 Peters, Op. Cit., pp. 90-92. 135 Ibid., p. 95

41 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers

2.1. Introduction

The greatest predicament of the Muslim intellectuals has been ‘how to counter with the West’. The West had preoccupied the Muslim reformers not only in political or economic sphere but also in culture and civilization. The political thinker such as Jamal al-Din Afghani (1838-1897), was concerned only about the Western imperialism while as the intellectuals like Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905) and Allama Iqbal (1877-1938) who delved deep into the dilemma of Muslim societies recognized cultural estrangement the major threat.1

During the 19th and 20th century, entire world witnessed dynamic changes and almost every sphere of human life got influenced and affected in one way or the other. The dramatic alterations such as the decline of the Ottoman Empire, colonization of Muslim lands, two world wars, divisions in Muslim world and unity, emergence of major ideologies like Communism, Capitalism, Materialism, and other political changes like French revolution, etc. in general affected the globe and the Muslim world in particular. These ideologies and philosophies earmarked the development of the western world, which created imbalance and resulted in the socio-political and economic hegemony of the West on the rest of the world. With the intellectual and military domination of the West over the Muslim world, a process of taking over the western institutions for the benefit of the Muslim world commenced.

Islam became a rallying point against these philosophies and hegemony. Many Muslim reformers and intellectuals worked to counter the Western influence on the Muslim institutions and ideas, which resulted in the emergence of various reform movements that aroused from different corners of the Muslim world. While some reformers out rightly negated and rejected the West at the outset, while others adopted and advocated in favor of the West and still other reformers maintained a balance between the two. Notable among such Muslim thinkers and reformers were the Egyptian Muhammad ‘Abduh (1849-1905) and the Turkish Said Nursi (1876-1960), who left such an indelible imprint on the Muslims minds that their ideas and thoughts are still

42 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

reverberating in both the academic and public discourses as the duo witnessed the whole milieu of the changing Muslim world.

In the middle of 19th century, Muslim world had to face a delicate and complex challenge in the form of Western civilization. This civilization which was embedded with the notions of encouragement, development, and enthusiasm marks its place in the grand civilizations of the world. This was actually the outcome of the elements which worked for long in the history and came to fore at the right time in a new fashion. The threat of this civilization hovered exclusively over the Muslim world for being only upholders of religion and morality and guardians of human society than any other nation or society.2 This civilization in its deeper sense was embodiment of beliefs, ideas, socio-economic philosophy, and ideologies, physical and sociological sciences which they encountered with throughout different stages of their evolution. It was the outcome of human knowledge in general and the crux of the development of physical sciences, experiments, mechanical and mathematical sciences. From this perspective it is an aggregation of diverse contents and components about which it is difficult to hold on a unanimous view.3

In this embodiment (Western civilization) there are defective as well as complete things, detrimental and advantageous. Along with the sciences which are above the level of ambiguity, it contains false hypotheses, ideas and thoughts which inherently contain those decisions which provide room for more discussions and contemplations like religious truth and spiritual convictions. However, it also puts forth the conclusions drawn after voracious studies and experimentations. It has the content not attributed to any specific country or nation as the experimental sciences which bear the explicit influence of Western spirit, affected by western society and environment. The content was the result of the historical revolutions and incidents that shaped the Western civilization to pass through the stages it passed. The complexity of this civilization made this issue important and placed Muslim world on a critical and difficult position which posed a challenge to its intellectuals and thinkers.4

43 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

2.2. Cynical Approach

To out rightly reject all its merits, abdicate from its positive things such as; physical and mathematical sciences, technology, new methods, tools and techniques.5 This approach will lead to backwardness and breakdown of the relation of Muslim world from the chain of rest of the world. Muslim world will become an island with no patch with the outside world. Islands are needed in the sea and not on the land. This approach marks narrow mindedness resulting in outage from connatural forces and resources which is not the evaluation of the religion which stresses on the exercise of reason.6

A nation being deaf-mute and snubbing the challenge of modern civilization and maintaining status quo, will lead to the imbalance, rebellion and revolt as this approach is against the human nature which always looks for something naval and searching for new destinies. This approach also goes against the natural law, as if any country strictly adopts the negative stand, this civilization will pour into the society like an unexpected cyclone. Though, for a time being any Muslim nation could have prevented itself from the merits and demerits of this civilization, but this state of affair did not lasted for long. Every observer who is aware of the impact and strength of the ‘West’ knows how ‘East’ has turned spiritually and materially feeble as there is involution in the belief and self-confidence with which it was possible to confront the challenges of this civilization. It is hard to deal with such a stalwart civilization possessing distrust, sense of inferiority and spiritual weakness.7 Muhammad Asad (1900-1992) a Jewish-born Muslim scholar, writes, we are living in a time that East can no longer remain passive in the face of the advancing West. A thousand forces – political, social and economic – are hammering at the doors of the Muslim world. Will this world succumb to the pressure of the Western twentieth century and in the process (east will) lose only its own traditional forms but its spiritual roots as well? 8 Any nation cannot live long along with this attitude as it misses the element to differentiate between the positives and negatives of the West. The nation which takes care of its culture and traditions, but is not in a position to maintain and develop them is destined to face decline. Likewise, the resources and the merits of this civilization, if not utilized properly, will result in occupying aggressively the common masses who will take it enthusiastically resulting

44 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

in the deterioration of the ethics and religiosity leaving the authorities and think tanks helpless. Gradually, all the eastern countries were influenced by the Western civilization as the leaders lacked in the qualities of balance, selection and proper planning of the thing or they lacked in the leadership.9

2.3. Uprisings and Revolutions in the Muslim World

Religious understanding – the outcome of Islamic education – could have been the sole element to change the scenario but unfortunately it had lost its vigor. On the other hand Western materialistic civilization came up consistently with the slogans of ‘Freedom and Equality’. Aiming to change the traditional set up of the society, a sense of restlessness and alienation got initiated among the masses which gave rise to enmity leading to uprisings and revolutions.10

The Muslim countries witnessed more revolts as compared to rest of the world, apart from their lackeys they possessed religious conscience and enthusiasm which makes them to stand against injustice and to find solutions to their problems. As long as there is backwardness, imbalance in the distribution of wealth, extravagant classes, ignorance and poverty, there is the chance of endless revolts.11 Likewise, when the religious scholars and leaders of the Muslim countries are devoid of carrying out their duties and obligation to speak the truth before the rulers and there happens to be internecine on pretty issues and disappearance of religion and ethics, this situation provides a play field to the movements to erupt whether knowing or unknowing. As long as there are such circumstances, there is a possibility of revolution and politico-ethical diffusion as these countries are on the threshold of a volcano that can explode at any interval.12

2.4. The Way Forward

This situation/state of affairs could neither be treated by any force or punishment nor by state sponsored electronic or print media and using material assets. Neither by appeasing religionists, holding religious conventions or conferences and establishing specific institutions could hinder the way of revolutions. The road to success lies in to face the reality presciently with courage, sincerity and religious spirit and to deal with

45 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

the things by means of checking and compensating as per the need. To maintain justice and work for common good and collective harmony and to take measures for fulfilling the basic needs of people by checking extravagance. To develop a sense of sacrifice among the high class of the society at the same time to develop a sense of independence/self-sufficiency among the lower class. To reframe the educational set up in order to make it compatible and accommodative by intertwining the religious and modern education so that either of the two works hand in hand. The young should be embedded with the notions of belief, ethics, firmness, self-reliability, enthusiasm and intellectual capabilities to parallel West. The way to save from this state of anarchy and chaos is to create a religious spirit in the masses and to furnish their character. People have to change their attitude towards West in selecting the things compatible with Islam. The only ways to maintain peace, progress and harmony in the East, Muslim nations have to establish a just and balanced society evolved on the Islamic lines.13 With the domination of the West, intellectually and militarily, over the Muslim world, Western institutions were looked upon as beneficial to the Muslim world. Muslim world sought Western institutions for their benefit, which resulted in the reformation of military and educational system in the Muslim world and Egypt and Turkey being the first to initiate them. The adoption of these reforms faced a resistance from the traditional section of the society as they brought change in manners and thought of the people.

2.5. Jamal al-Din Afghani (1838-1897)

Afghani a reformer, orator, pamphleteer and an original thinker is considered as the father of Islamic modernism. Born in Asadabad near the city of Hamadan in western Iran, he received his early education in Iran and became well versed in Islamic philosophy. He visited Afghanistan (1866-68), Istanbul (expelled in 1871), Cairo (met Abduh) and was expelled from Egypt in 1879. He spent his time in India (1879-1882) where he was influenced by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. In 1881 he wrote a pamphlet, ‘Refutation of the Materialists’ in Persian. During 1882-1885, he lived in Paris where he was joined by Abduh in 1884 and jointly produced and published a magazine Urwah

46 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

al-Wuthqa (The Strongest Link). In 1885, he went to Tehran and then to St. Petersberg, London and finally to Istanbul, where he died of cancer in 1897.14

Afghani lived in a period when European imperialism hovered globally without leaving a country independent or unaware of its pressure and rivalries.15 Jamal al-din a famous proponent of Modernism, he was among that class of scholars who stood for inheriting from the West what was compatible with Islam in order to regenerate Islam as an embodiment of salvation, reform, renewal, mobilization and resistance with respect to changing times and conditions. This section wanted to unite and stimulate Muslims to understand Islam holistically and reform the Muslim world from within to meet the challenge posed by colonialism, secularization and Westernization. Jamal al-din Afghani – the advocate of pan-Islamic movement – pioneered this class.16

Mazharuddin Siddiqui maintains, Jamal al-din Afghani is the only modernist who condemns modernization unreservedly. He refers to the experiment of westernization made by Turkey and Egypt, though they established schools and colleges on Western lines and sent students to Europe in order to bring Western sciences, arts, manners and Western culture, yet they failed to get over the problems of economic poverty, backwardness, strengthening their defense and to acquire the sense of patriotism. In addition to this, he says, those who came back from Europe had changed altogether, making themselves different from the rest, imported luxuries from the west resulting in the extinction of home industries and indigenous arts.17

Afghani was a remarkable, though controversial, Muslim thinker of his time, he had profound understanding not only of the Muslim world but Europe as well. He aimed to reconcile the Shia-Sunni divide and unite the Muslims for the purpose of internal reform and renewal to resist the colonialism. He was in favor to adopt from European sciences and technology to advance in all fields, as Islam was not hostile to science and technology, argued Afghani. He himself studied European sciences and mathematics when he was in India.18 Expressing fear about the West crushing Muslim world he, therefore, urged Muslims to unite and progress as the best way to defend Islam and themselves against the onslaught of colonialism. Despite a vibrant Islamic-based

47 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

ideological and politically combative campaign against Western domination, al- Afghani’s achievements in practical terms were limited. He died a frustrated reformer and anti-colonial campaigner, but he left behind a number of distinguished followers.19 Afghani made his students aware about the dangers of European intervention and instilled in them the need for national unity to counter it.20

Afghani intended to renovate Islam into a module to oppose British and western imperialism. He could be seen as a forerunner of attempts to modernize Islam on the one hand and on the other as providing some key concepts which were later developed by the Muslim thinkers. According to Kramer, “…He had been deeply influenced by Western rationalism and the ideological mode of Western thought. Afghani welded a traditional religious hostility toward unbelievers to a modern critique of Western imperialism and an appeal for the unity of Islam, and while he inveighed against the West, he urged the adoption of those Western sciences and institutions that might strengthen Islam.”21 He felt that Muslims must act in unanimity to have a chance of making a stand against Western supremacy. He believed that Sunnis and Shiites need to overcome their differences to face this danger. He argued reformation of socio-political as well as intellectual aspect, which would develop gradually towards applying new interpretations to the basic sources of Islam- the Qur’an and Sunnah.22

During Afghani’s travels to the Muslim countries he sensed ‘western menace’ and urged to counter it. Afghani preached the need for a return to faith as prerequisite for an Islamic renaissance. An early anti-colonist, he called for Ummah unity against the West and under Ottoman leadership. He did not reject Western technology; he believed modern science was quite compatible with Islam.23 Confronted with the accusation that Islam prevented Muslims from sharing equally in modernism, Islamic intellectuals, above all the famous Iranian Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, who considered himself an Islamic cosmopolitan, mobilized the Islamic identity, a process which was in its turn to accentuate the division between Europe and the Orient.24

A prime concern for Afghani was the apparent decline in the power of the Muslim Ummah, parallel with an increase in the ascendancy of the Western world. He was

48 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

comparatively progressive thinker for his time as compared to other thinkers who adhered to the past always. Al-Afghani saw the benefits of science and reason, but sought it from the point of view of an Islamic position rather than a Western one. Science was not a European invention but, he argued, as Islam has also contributed to its origins. Afghani accredited the power of science to rule the world and cited Islam’s own history of the time when it led the world in science.25

Afghani called for renewed commitment to the Islamic tradition of scientific excellence as he recognized that Muslims had lost their commitment to learning. Muslim reformers were annoyed about the claim made by the European imperialists that Islamic culture was backward and unscientific. Islam had produced the highest scientific culture in the Middle Ages, argues Jamal al-Din Afghani. He further remarks that it was Muslim scholars who studied and put together, revised and developed the ancient legacy of Greece, Rome, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India and China and then transmitted it to the Europe.26 Traditions and knowledge have sometimes moved from East to West and vice-versa. It does not belong to any particular culture or nation rather is a heritage that everyone has contributed to. However, history witnesses the major contribution of Muslims to knowledge and so the Europeans are mislead when they claim Islam to be unscientific or backward.27 Since, the Muslims have transmitted the knowledge and scientific spirit to the Europeans, so they are overcome by them. Muslims perceive now all of it to be alien and foreign to Islam.28

Afghani strived to free the Muslim world from the blind imitation of the West and at the same time to fill the intellectual gap of the east leading to a developed social set up with freedom of thought and politics.29 It is his genius who has exercised a greater influence upon the contemporary history of the Muslim world.30 He aimed at revival of Islam through application of philosophy to religion, modern education, especially in the physical sciences to prove conformity between modern knowledge and the teachings of the Quran.31 He aimed at unity and strong leadership in the Muslim world to counter the menace of European imperialism.32 The true spirit and dynamism of Islam is that it assimilates eagerly new ideas, says al-Afghani.33 The main purpose of the Urwah al- Wuthqa was to arouse the entire Muslims to unite their efforts against the threat of

49 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

European domination and exploitation.34 He seems to be the first Muslim revivalist, as W. C. Smith maintains, to use the concept ‘Islam’ and ‘the West’ as antagonistic historical phenomenon.35 Through his public speeches, Muslim consciousness became explicit and started to response actively.36 He was against aggressive European imperialism thus lead an unrelenting struggle against it.37 Uniting the traditional Islamic scholarship, he familiarized it with Europe and acquaintance with its modern thought.38 Appreciating the intellectualism of the West, western values and particularly Western science and technology, he encouraged Muslims to develop science and technology as the west was doing in order to be strong.39 In order to counter European power Muslim world had to embrace progress as he believed that Islam is compatible with science and reason. His method was a moderate one; he neither rejected completely traditional ‘Ulama nor following the west blindly. His remedy laid in the unity and consolidation of the Muslim world; it was his answer to the weakness that had allowed the Europeans to colonize Muslims.

He believed that Islam was compatible with science and reason and that in order to counter European power the Muslim world had to embrace progress. Afghani gave up major part of his life to defend the Muslim countries threatened by the danger of European expansion. He recounts:

The Europeans have now put their hands on every part of the world … In reality this usurpation, aggression, and conquest has not come from the French or the English. Rather it is science that everywhere manifests its greatness and power. Ignorance had no alternative to prostrating itself humbly before science and acknowledging its submission.40 Afghani can be regarded as the forerunner of different trends emerged later in the Muslim World which reject both pure traditionalism and pure Westernism.41 Afghani’s stand against Western domination in Muslim lands occurred simultaneously with a growing mood in the Middle East, as in 1871 Ottoman Empire started a reaction against the West which continued till 1876. Afghani’s idea was an appealing one to those who wanted advancement in science and technology to counter the West without adopting purely Western attitudes.42

50 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

2.6. Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905)

Abduh is regarded as a great synthesizer of modern Islam whose writings have had lasting influence on the Muslim world. He was born to an educated but poor family in Egypt. At the age of 13years, he went to Ahmadi mosque for studies and during 1869- 77 studied in Al-Azhar. He was not satisfied with the education system which was a working force for his lifelong dedication to the educational reform. He was influenced by Shaikh Dawash (a Sufi of Shadhliyah Order, also his maternal uncle) and al- Afghani. Abduh worked as a university teacher till 1880, after losing job, switched over to journalism. He wrote articles promoting nationalist cause against British subjugation of Egypt. After his exile (1882-1888) he returned to Beirut and started teaching at a school where his intellectual contours developed. He served as Grand Mufti of Egypt from 1889 until his death.43

Abduh stands in the line of eminent personalities in the Islamic world of the last two centuries. Muhammad Abduh had keenly observed the Western system of education and civilization. With a good command over French and having studied Western sciences, he worked to create a moderate path between the extremes of the Muslim and Western civilizations. While rejecting the extensive misuse of Western secular values, he advocated of the middle path of Islam that valued the human intellect and modern sciences on one hand and respected the divine as the basis of human morality on the other.44 Abduh witnessed the imperialist period of French and English in Egypt and therefore, thought to relieve Egypt from their occupation. Through his religio- educational reforms, he strived to evade the decadence of the Muslims, for he believed the lack and deviation from the religious beliefs as the prime cause of Muslim decadence. Apart from educational reforms, Abduh sought to revive the religion and purify it of unfamiliar things.45 While aiming to demonstrate the compatability of Islam with that of modernity, he interpreted the religious text in the modern context. He, in particular, saw many parallels between concepts in Islam and ideas associated with the European ‘Enlightenment’ and drew on these for inspiration.

51 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

Muhammad Abduh argues, Islam encouraged reason, hence bringingforth compatability between science and revelation. Admitting that throughout the course of history there has been a continuous interaction of civilizations and cultures that resulted in the inter-exchange of diverse things of socio-cultural importance, he related that the Aryan-Occident has borrwed more from the Semitic-Orient than the Orient is borrowing now from the Occident.46 Moreover, he argued for the adoption of those scientific achievements of the west without any trepidation or vacillation to which Muslims had contributed in their traditional era. If Muslims showed resistance against these developments it would impede the progress, and lead to backwardness or blind following of western ideas, resulting in loss of Islamic values. Striving to create a possibility of dialogue between Islam and the modern world, he developed a criterion to distinguish and manage the impact of western civilization, thus was the architect of Islamic modernism..47 He advocated unitary Islam and emphasised the concept of Ummah and aimed to modernize Islam, demonstrate its viability for all times, and promote social and political change within the confines of the Shari’ah. Thus, Muhammad Abduh makes the statement that there is no difference between the Aryans and Semites as they both have freely bartered with each other throughout the history. He endeavored to modernize Islam in a way to make it ‘fitting’ for all the times within the confines of Shari’ah.48

To counter the challenge posed by the West, Abduh, though not completely, but to a great extent, reformulated Islam. This challenge posed itself in different forms such as; political, economical and technological high handedness, which he experienced in Egypt in 1882. Through his method of reformation he strived to transform Egypt and Arab-Muslim world collectively into a prosperous society that could stand parallel to Europe. He did not solely aim at Westernization but looked for prosperity of Muslims and preservation of Islam and to modernize the people through religious reformation. He engaged actively in journalism and through the support of British Controller- General, Lord Cromer (1883-1907) implemented educational and judicial reforms. While engaging himself with Islamic as well as the European tradition, he wanted his ideas on Islam to fit into both.49 He emphasized on rationalism and historicism and

52 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

highly respected European ideas. Abduh was introduced to the work of European philosophers by Jamal al-Din Afghani.50 Abduh vehemently opposed the Europeanized Egyptians who were convinced that Egypt and the Muslim world should leave Islam behind to obtain civilization as these Europeanized Egyptians opened their country for foreign intervention.51 Abduh opposed complete westernization of the Muslim world as Muslims possessed their own history and mindset. While reconfiguring Islam in conformity with modern times, Abduh aimed to combine European and Islamic traditions; he expressed his admiration for Europe and feared of losing Islam to modernity.52 His movement was significant in defending religious independence, standing against European colonialism and blind imitation and urging exercise of reason that reflects the rationalist and modernist dispositions of his school of thought. Abduh believes in inclusivist Islam but he does not transcend the boundaries of the Islamic tradition. However, Abduh wanted to secularize those traditions which he identified as inappropriate as the blind imitation. He aimed to re-interpret those Islamic traditions which he thought could be reconciled with the modern ideas.53

Abduh argued that the eastern nations could not become affluent unless they adopted the sciences from Europe which were the outcome of its mental activities, and they could do this without leaving Islam, for Islam accepts all products of reason.54 He believed that all western concepts are not bad rather some could be adopted and implemented in the Muslim world for better results. Abduh’s main purpose was to show the reconciliation between Islam and the modern thought.

2.7. Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938)

Muhammad Iqbal, an Indian born (Sialkot), renowned and admired for his passionate poetry was a philosopher and political thinker. He was concerned with the failure of the Muslim world regarding response to Western onslaught both in socio-political as well as scientific and technological domains. His father was a tailor but well versed in Islamic theology and mysticism. His education was a mixture of both Islamic and Western. He travelled to Europe, studied in Britian, Germany, Trinity College, and Cambridge University thereafter completing his Ph.D. from Munich in 1908. His poetry

53 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

reflects an amalgam of the eastern and western influences like; Rumi (1207-1273), Hegel (1770-1831), Bergson (1859-1941) and Nietzsche (1844-1900). He was concerned with revival of Islam. His poems (of nationalism) are concerned with the Muslim community in India and hopes not only fighting the colonialism but also Hindu-Mulim conflict. In later period of his life he shifted towards pan-Islamic thought. He also called for reopening the gates of Ijtihad.55

Iqbal seems unique among his contemporaries as he combines tradition with modernity with an eye of futurity, thus he proved as an effective modernizer and a more faithful traditionalist. He emerged as the most learned and authentic voice of the Muslims particularly in India. Iqbal was impressed by the identity, which Islam gives to Muslims, which was sharpened by Islam’s confrontation with the modern West. He further says:

The most remarkable phenomenon of modern history, however, is the enormous rapidity with which the world of Islam is spiritually moving towards the West. There is nothing wrong in this movement, for European culture, on its intellectual side, is only a further development of some of the most important phases of the culture of Islam. Our only fear is that the dazzling exterior of European culture may arrest our movement and we may fail to reach the true inwardness of that culture.56 He further says that, Muslims became Muslims by the stormy West. Iqbal wants to appreciate the teachings of Islam in the light of modern knowledge. He further says, “it is necessary to examine, in an independent spirit, what Europe has thought and how far the conclusions reached by her can help us in the revision and, if necessary, reconstruction, of theological thought in Islam.”57 Iqbal wants intellect and rationality to be the guiding principles in the evolution of religious thought, apart from appreciating modern knowledge. Further quoting leading modern physicists and mathematicians, he discovers growing mutual harmonies between religion and science. He argues that inductive and empirical methods adopted by Islam are proof of its scientific character. The general empirical attitude of the Qur’an engendered in its followers a feeling of reference for the actual and ultimately made them the founders of modern science. He quotes Robert Briffault who says, “Science is the most momentous contribution of Arab civilization to the modern world.”58 Iqbal highlights the East-West

54 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

dichotomy in his poem (‘Ishq-‘Aql). The potentialities of Islam lie in the fact that it is a meeting point between the East and the West. He calls for unity to the Muslims of Nile and Kashgar. He maintains conservative views on the subjects like rights and status of women, the question of purdah, divorce and polygamy as he wants to maintain the identity of the community. Iqbal rejects democracy for it is not an essential condition of modernization, and he thought it may threaten the interest and identity of the minorities. He disapproved pan-Islamism for being a British device to divert Muslim attention from practical to theoretical.59

While discussing modernity from the Iqbal’s perspective one should bear in mind that modernity is a relative concept. Modernization which implies to industrialization, technological innovation, increased use of energy, mechanization, commercialization of agriculture, development of infrastructure, expansion of tertiary sector, urbanization and rise of per capita income.60 Iqbal’s attitude to this modernity had three components: advance of modernity is inevitable, modernization is not an unmixed blessing, and to synthesize modernity with tradition is the task of philosophers, social scientists and statesmen.61

Iqbal was the foremost intellectual critic of the West as he made an in depth study of Western thought and civilization. He had examined the fundamental attributes of the West minutely and tried to unearth the sources of the poison that had infiltrated into its soul and become an inseparable part of its disposition, thanks to the overpowering materialistic inclination of the western people and their persistent disregard of transcendental truths.62 By giving its civilization a manifestly artificial and mechanical character the West had destroyed its subliminal content and rendered it unworthy of Divine grace and benevolence. He terms western civilization as ‘godless’ as it worships the false deities of materialism and erected new temples for itself. It aims to annihilate man to promote commerce and industries.63

Iqbal took the East as well as the West in his stride and reacted as much to the imbecile mystry mongering of the East and as the soul-less materialism of the West. He, in fact found both unmindful of the human predicament. Both appeared to him suffering from

55 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

the ‘maladies of heart and vision’; the East from slavish imitation, the West from an ailment in the form of the system called democracy. Yet he was neither sick of the East nor averse to the West. What mattered to him was culmination of every night into a fresh dawn. He duly admired western advance in science and technology to the extent to which it did not come into clash with his own notions of man’s socio-cultural revolution. He was particularly fascinated by the modern movements for liberation of man from age old sloth and depression but at the same time he was very much critical of the vested interests created by the new dispensation in the name of modernism.64 It is in this light that his rather boisterous denunciation of the ‘Western system of democracy’ becomes intelligible. He had reason to suspect in this system just a variation on the old Caesarian tune of imperialistic domination.65 Iqbal senses the ‘Devil of Imperialism’ in what he calls the ‘blue-beauty of freedom’ in the guise of Democracy dictated by the demands of nationalism. The power-lust of the Western nations reminded him of ‘a wolf in search of an innocent lamb.’66

Iqbal says though the modern age prides itself on its progress in knowledge and its matchless scientific developments. No doubt, the pride is justified…but, in spite of all these developments, the tyranny of imperialism struts abroad, covering its face in the masks of Democracy, Nationalism, Communism and Fascism. Unless these are shattered to lead a happy life, the ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity will never materialize.67

Iqbal says that the philosophy of modern Europe proves that man has neglected all intellectual and religious jumbles and has come nearer to the Divine nature on which Islam is based. If we find something useful in the Western literature, it would be sheer narrow-mindedness to reject it.68 Islam is rapidly moving towards the west and there is nothing wrong in it. He wishes our cities and towns to attain the same level of prosperity as the villages in the West. He finds that the non-Muslims of Europe practice more Islam than the Muslims themselves. According to Iqbal, all the blessings enjoyed by the West are the reward of Islam, which some aspects of their life reflects. The West, more than the east, has worked for the overthrow of political tyranny and has put an end to autocrats and monarchs. The laborers have got more rights in the West and it

56 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

has created equality of opportunity and equality before law. The doctors have made great sacrifices in discovering remedies to many fatal diseases. Economic poverty has disappeared from the West.69

2.8. Ali Shariati (1933-1977)

Ideological father of Iranian Revolution 1979, his writings combined Islamic concepts with Western political philosophy. Born in Mazinan, he was initially educated in Mashhad. His father was a teacher who established the Centre for Spread of Islamic Teachings to promote better understanding of Islam. Apart from Iranian, he studied foreign literature, poetry and philosophy. His early writings depict a concern with Islam’s encounter and response to the West. Islam is a distinct school of thought which had been weakened due to its encounter with other cultures but simultaneously he acknowledged their contribution to various ethnicities. In 1960 he went to Paris where he was influenced by Frantz Fanon (1925-1961). He was also influenced by the writings of Marx (1818-1883), Sartre (1905-1980), Ibn Sina (980-1037), Mulla Sadra (1572-1640), Ibn Arabi (1165-1240) and Iqbal. He returned to Iran after completion of his Ph.D. in 1964 and was immediately arrested because of his anti-government activities. He was allowed to leave for Europe in 1977 and died in Britian.70

One of the great ideologues of the Muslim World in twentieth century Iran – Ali Shariati has displayed a great concern with Islam’s encounter with the West and how it might counter to this, in his early writings. He contended that Islam is a unique school of thought/culture that had been destabilized as a result of it came across and merged with other cultures, however, he admitted that it had also been enriched by them in terms of giving the Islamic world particularly Iran, a diversity of cultures. Islamic identity, as Shariati puts it, is weakened by western colonialism. He further says that the intellectual class of Iran had done no favors to Islam or Iran by introducing the concepts of modernity or the ideas of Marxism. He experienced that the youth of Iran looked for the answers to the issues raised by these new philosophies.71

In 1960, he went Paris for graduation which provided him the playfield to go through the writings on French sociology and philosophy. He adverted to the lectures delivered

57 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

by Louis Massignon (1883-1962) as well as other Marxists as a result he was influenced by Marx (1818-1883) in many respects. Though he adopted Marxist ideas and expressed them in Islamic terminology yet he was a great critic of Marx’s concept of man. During this period Shariati perceived that Western thought could prove to be a positive means in terms of its methodology as a critique of Muslim society, while maintaining that Islam was self-sufficient in terms of possessing its own essential ideology, culture and socio-political system.72 Shariati comprehended the disagreements of the globe due to the dichotomy of the east and the west. With a different understanding, Shariati, unlike other intellectuals, negates the east and the west as separate geographical entities. However, he means by the east all those societies which are hoaxed by western imperialism and are used and exploited by the west.73 He further says that the west is the industrialized world that is powerful, capitalist and rich whereas east is the world of consumers, stagnant and backward. Shariati wished to be called as an eastern thinker concerned with eastern world in general and Muslim world in particular. Shariati was not subdued by the West or advancement and splendor of the Western culture and civilization as he had the opportunity to witness the dilemma of the Western societies brought by the scientific progress.74 He lived in an age when the Western culture had begun to witness its outcome in the social set up of Asia and Africa; therefore he comprehended the lackeys in the Western culture and analyzed critically Western culture and civilization. Western dominance in all its forms is the greatest threat to the Asian and African in general and Muslim societies in particular, says Shariati. He further adds that Western subjugation has replaced the local culture with western one. The eastern societies were made bared and infused to put on the attire of the West, what Shariati terms as Gharabzadgi (westernization).75 The cultural subjugation of the West alienated the dominated societies from their own culture and this strategy of alienation was preplanned. Shariati points out that West had realized that eastern societies cannot be subjugated politically and economically unless they were dominated culturally.76 From 18th century west tried to impose the thesis (monoculturalism) globally that there exists only one civilization that is made by West itself and presented to the whole world. Whosoever wanted to be called as civilized had to espouse this civilization or one had to remain uncivilized. This concept of

58 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

monoculture, says Shariati, was the outcome of imperialism, by which the West wanted to become master of the eastern countries. This imperialism, as Shariati believes, aims to transform humans into slaves. These eastern countries had to alienate themselves from their legacy, history, experience, arts, etc. instead of Western culture. Shariati criticizes it because of its inherent lackeys that have created ruction in the Western societies, moreover, it has exploited the eastern countries what have caused a setback to them. Though providing human being the highest standard of life, its philosophies such as materialism and naturalism count human being just a product of matter and have made him deaf-mute to human ideals.77 Another feature of Western civilization is consumerism, making the subjugated consumers, the more they consume, and the more civilized and more cultured they were.78 Shariati does not reject imitation of the west, rather he rejects the path the west has chosen for us to imitate blindly in order to fulfill its interests. “Today when the West is mentioned, the word brings to the mind only capitalism, industrialism, Christianity, colonialism, bourgeois liberalism.”79

Unlike other thinkers, Shariati has stressed on the cultural subjugation of the West on the eastern societies. He rejects the perception of the Muslim thinkers who recount west as rational, logical and scientific and east as superstitious, mystic and miraculous. He identifies cultural alienation the root cause of all the ills and its remedy lies in return of the eastern societies to their own culture by recognizing the present conditions, identifying their mistakes, understanding the west and rediscovering, recognizing and returning to their culture.

2.9. Namik Kamal (1840-1888)

Namik Kamal was an Albanian born, writer, intellectual, reformer, journalist and a political activist. His father was a chief astrologer during the Ottoman period. Namik Kamal received prolific education, studied Persian, Arabic and French and served in the Ottoman translation bureau in 1857.80 Due to political activities, he moved to France in 1865. In 1871, he was allowed to return and settled in Constantinople. He was imprisoned from 1873-1876. After acquittal he was appointed as a member of the State

59 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

Council and later a member of General Assembly. He was arrested again in 1877 for disturbing the public order. He left for Greece and died of bronchitis in Chios.81

Kamal had a chance to interact with the prominent and influential poets of his time and was influenced by Ibrahim Şinasi 82(1826-1871) who adopted western ideas; political, social and literary styles. Kamal fixed himself with literary circles such as: Anjuman-i Shariah.83 Kamal was a Young Ottoman84 and he is labeled as one of the ‘most lucid and accurate thinkers’ of this movement. The movement was based on different principles such as; the reconciliation of the Islamic precepts with European ideas, the collective identity of all Muslims and European-style nationalism. In consideration with these principles they demanded a nation-state based on the constitutional government. This group opposed major parts of Tanzimat reforms (having failed to prevent the decline of the empire) although they were the beneficiaries of them. Due to their European-style education, they held posts in the translation bureaus where they learnt about the European politics and ideas.85

Kamal translated the works of Jean Jacques Rouseau (1712-1778), Victor Hugo (1802- 1885) and Charles Louis Montesquieu (1689-1755) in Turkish during his exile in London, Paris and Vienna.86 He criticized the Tanzimat reforms for their secularist nature, excluding the Shari’ah and undermining the Ottoman system of the state, as the reforms extended role of France and Britian in the empire. Moreover, their implementation of the non-Islamic legal code as well as European-inspired institutions, uncritically adopted, received criticism thus they created a dual legal system that was neither essentially European nor a correlation with legal traditions of Islam.87

Kamal stressed on the notions of nationalism and freedom as he introduced the terms; Vatan (fatherland) and Hurriyet (Freedom, Liberty) to the Turkish language.88 He implemented the term ‘fatherland’ as a response to the loss of territories of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century. He spotted non-Muslims living in the empire as a legitimization of European powers to interfere in the Ottoman state of affairs; he regarded them susceptible in the empire. Shari’ah could be the only base of the Ottoman state, says Kamal, as it has espoused egalitarianism throughout the Islamic

60 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

history. He framed the idea of constitutional Ottomanism, which secured rights of all subjects, based on Shari’ah.89 Though Kamal seems critical towards blind imitation of European political rules and traditions, yet he advocated those European concepts, which he believed were, compatible with the Islamic precepts.90

2.10. Said Halim Pasha (1865-1921)

He was an Egyptian born, grandson of Muhammad Ali Pasha- the founder of modern Egypt. Halim pasha moved to Istanbul at the age of 6 years, when his father was forced to leave Egypt following a dispute with the ruler Ismail Pasha (1863-1879). Halim pasha studied Arabic, Persian, French and English from his teachers. He was sent to Geneva, at the age of 15 years, for further studies, where he studied political science. He returned to Istanbul in 1885 and was appointed to the State Council in 1888. In 1900, he was promoted to the rank of governor general of the European provinces. He lost his interest in public affairs and devoted his time to the study of Islamic history and institutions. He moved to Paris and later in 1905 went to Egypt where he worked as inspector for the Committee of Union and Progress. After restoration of the constitution, he returned to Istanbul and was nominated by grand vizier Said Pasha to the presidency of the Council of the State and making his entry in the cabinet in 1912. He headed the Ottoman delegation to Lausanne, took up the office of minister of foreign affairs and as head of Ottoman diplomacy played a key role in negotiations with Greece. He was appointed as grand vizier in 1913 and was assassinated in 1917.91

Halim pasha writes that Muslims themselves are responsible for their economic and political decline by showing a passiveness in acquiring natural and positive sciences. The situation of the then Muslim world compelled Muslim rulers to locate the causes and find the solutions accordingly. Their failure to provide the solution convinced them that the tenets of Shari’ah were incompatible with material progress. This false diagnosis, according to Halim Pasha, divided the Muslims into two parallel groups; the first led by the traditional ‘Ulama who argued to relinquish material prosperity and the second who advocated the Westernization.92 The former sought to revive the glory of the past without realizing that it could not be achieved without affluent economy and a

61 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

materially advanced society. Halim Pasha declared this expectation a mirage; at the same time he condemned the Western aspiration of creating a materially advanced society at the cost of alienating it from Islamic principles. He asserted both as invalid because Islam encourages economic prosperity and progress. Although the proponents of Westernization in Muslim countries were always less in number but this small group represented the majority of the educated class who exercised on making decisions and ascertained the future of Muslim society. It derived its power primarily from the support of the Western powers through their agents in Muslim lands.93

Halim Pasha blamed education for spreading Western ideals in Muslim domains. The Muslim elites have become acquainted with Western ideas either by studying abroad or in local schools established by Western powers in Muslim countries, marks Halim Pahsa. Their purpose is to infuse Muslim minds with Western ideas and values. In this way West was able to extend its dominion and supremacy over Muslim countries by infiltrating into their intellectual and cultural arenas. The outcome of Western cultural supremacy was the isolation of Muslim intellectuals from their own society and culture as they found themselves unable of grasping the essence of their religion on the one hand and on the other hand some became completely apathetic to it and lost faith in the principles of their religion.94

Halim Pasha, though sternly criticized the Western minded Muslim intelligentsia, also lashed out at the traditional school. He did not accept the traditional scholarship as the saviors of the Muslim world because of their interpretation of Islamic principles and scholasticism on the one hand yet on the other hand praised them for their dedication to Shari’ah and development of fiqh. Halim Pasha stressed acquiring positive sciences and modern techniques from the West as he looked them beneficial in the retrieval of the Muslim world. Acquiring knowledge and technology hardly means that it is a must for Muslims to adopt the economic principles of these countries or the system which regulates the labor relations, Halim Pasha says, these rules are opposite to Shari’ah. Muslims can devise and deduce the better economic laws from the fiqh to avoid the troubles and social disturbances emerged in the West.95

62 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

Halim Pasha also lashed out at the social system of the West as they constantly changed reflecting the instability of Western social systems which results in the constant struggle between the social classes for their varying needs and aspirations. The West has had never a continuous and changeless social idea to inspire and guide its evolution. However, its constantly changing social ideas are yielded and fashioned by its social evolution that in turn is directed by its material development. As he comprehended, the Western society during his period had not stepped on its ideal stage wherefrom the social and moral principles would take their final and practical shape. The social ideas in Western society are transformed and fashioned according to the needs, interests and aspirations of the elite or ruling class which symbolizes the value of the predominant members of that society, where their prosperity is ensured which is always at the expense of the other classes.96

Regarding the political developments in the West he says that, initially the Church was dominant in the Western society as a spiritual authority but later this place was secured by royals and it became mutable. There was a struggle between the Church and the temporal rulers which became the plinth of the political developments in the West that demonstrates his understanding of the features of European history from the origin to the medieval times. The concept of liberty and equality in the West, he believes, is an illusion that man enjoyed a degree of liberty and equality never attained before by any society. It is the level of social justice that determines the liberty and equality enjoyed by an individual in the society assured by the social solidarity and stability of social system. However, social solidarity in the Western society is found only in a particular social class. The replacement of the age-old values and mentality loaded with firm anti- liberal and anti-egalitarian bias simply by ruling with the liberal laws in a society. Change can take place only by implementing the proper moral education preserved with intelligence and patience over the generations.97 The persistent application of such a syllabus would set an individual free from age old prejudices of caste and class. This will motivate him to accept that all men are equal, despite belonging to different origins and social status, and only merit will be criteria for distinction. Reform, progress, development and independence are the words often discussed, says Halim Pasha, but no

63 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

one has sincerely attempted to identify the causes of the decline of Muslim civilization. The decline became explicit when Christian nations dominated the Muslim lands and later colonized them and Muslim nations could not defend themselves against the invaders and their high-technology and war machinery. European scholars worked to identify the causes of the decline of the Muslim world but their scholarship and knowledge of Islam were far from being objective because of some prejudices. Orientalists failed to understand the problems of the Muslim world thus were incapable of grasping the essence of Islamic ethos and would have attributed the decline to the deficiencies of their religion (Islam).98 The blame of Western thinkers on the religion regarding the decline of Muslims caused resentment among Muslims which undermined the possibility of dialogue between Islam and the West. However, says Halim Pasha, religion has nothing to do with the backwardness or decline it is a sociological phenomenon which was valid for the Muslim world as well as the West. Religions are shaped by the diverse customs and cultural characteristics of their respective lands. As the social and historical developments in Christianity generated Catholicism and later Protestantism, same was the case with Islam that after development it gave birth to Sunni and Shia schools. Within the same religious denomination one can find different characteristics, Halim Pasha cites the example of Catholicism of Germany that is different from Spain or Italy and same is the case with Islam wherein different schools adapted themselves according to local realities and developed diverse characteristics.99

The failure of Muslims to relinquish their lost splendor hindered their progress and it prevented them from the comprehension of axioms of their faith, recounts Halim Pasha. To achieve progress, Muslims need to move the pendulum in favor of the genuine Islamic principles. The mutual hostility between East and West restrained Muslims from benefitting from the scientific and technological advancements in the West. However, Islam assimilated the science and knowledge of other civilizations during the time of its expansion even during the Crusades, Muslims borrowed military technology and architectural styles from the Franks.100 Westernized Muslim elites followed the Western life style and accommodated it within their local Muslim society but the

64 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

common masses continued to live according to the principles of their religion and acclimated to their local culture. This section of Muslim population was deprived of the social and intellectual guidance by the elite thus they lost their direction and their evolution was disrupted. Nationalism, he says, is a detrimental and a destructive ideology and looked it as a danger to Muslim polities and one of the major causes of the World War-1.101

2.11. Zia Gokalp (1876-1924)

Zia Gokalp has been an influential thinker Turkey has produced in recent times. He was a poet, author, sociologist, historian and a philosopher. He was born in 1876 in Diyaribakr. His father was the director of the archives and printing press of the Diyaribakr province and editor of a local newspaper. Ziya Gokalp attended secular schools, had an inherent aptitude for mathematics and inclination towards poetry and literature. He also studied French, Arabic, Persian, Islamic Philosophy and Mysticism. He was influenced by a Kurdish doctor, Abdullah Jevdet, an atheist and a revolutionary. Gokalp, for his political views, was arrested in 1987. During his exile he made himself well acquainted with the study of western literature, particularly French, philosophy, psychology and sociology. In 1911-12, Gokalp was appointed as a teacher of Philosophy and Sociology. He studied in Istanbul and later became a professor of sociology at the university producing most of his essays between 1911 and 1924. He stayed in Salonica where he developed increased interest in European philosophy and sociology and was influenced by the works of Emile Durkheim (1858-1917). After the First World War, he was exiled to Malta where he composed poems and wrote articles published in Turkey occasionally. Gokalp wrote in favor of Mustafa Kamal and praised his policies. In 1923, Gokalp was elected as a member of parliament and later conferred the membership of parliamentary education committee. Due to bad health, he died in October 1924.102

He is known as the intellectual founder of modern Turkey and forerunner of Mustafa Kamal Ataturk. Islam, as established by the Arabs, would never suit our purpose, remarks Gokalp. Zia Gokalp managed carefully to collect ethnic material of the cultural

65 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

and political institutions of the pre-Islamic Turkey and sought to initiate a religious reform compatible to that of their national temperament.103 He was the first in the Muslim world to go for the Western concept of Nationalism. According to Gokalp, the Turks need to unveil their pre-Islamic past that has remained with the people and implant Western Civilization completely into it. The road to success and being parallel to European powers, military, science and industry lies in the adoption of Western Civilization completely, marks Zia Gokalp.104 Gokalp rejects the supremacy of Ummah (universal brotherhood of Islam) as it clashes with the Western concept of nationality. He professed patriotism as he maintains that patriotism had reached its pinnacle among the pre-Islamic Turks. As in the past, it should be the most significant area of morality for the Turks in the future also, as the nation and its soul is after all the only self- existing unit. Adherence to the nation should be prioritized over attachment towards family or religion. He further added, “We [Turks] shall create a genuine civilization which will follow the growth of a new life.”.105 Gokalp asserted the argument to adopt the Western Civilization that, it is the extension of the ancient Mediterranean Civilization which was founded by the Turkish people such as the Sumerians, Scythians, Phoenicians and the Hyksos therefore; we are a part of Western Civilization and have an integral share in it.106 He denies Islam of deserving the place of an independent civilization of its own. He writes:

When a nation advances to higher stages of its evolution; it finds it necessary to change its civilization too. When the Turks were nomadic tribesmen in Central Asia, they belonged to the civilization of the Far East. When they passed to the Sultanistic state, they entered into the area of Byzantine civilization. And today in their transition to a secular nation- state, they are determined to accept Western civilization.107 While praising Western Civilization, Gokalp insists to imitate it in all aspects.108 He criticized the leaders of the Tanzimat for seeking to make a mental amalgam of East and West, but they failed to comprehend that both had their diametrically opposed principles which could not be reconciled.109 Reconciling in these conditions is mere carrying medieval conditions to the modern age and trying to keep them alive.110 Every civilization has its own logic, set up, standards, world outlook which bars them to mix freely with each other. A society should either take a civilization in full form or avoid

66 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

picking segments which are hard for digestion and assimilation.111 This is what our Tanzimat reforms did, who failed to understand this point and imitated the style of consuming, clothing, eating, building and furniture. On the other hand the policy makers of the Tanzimat sought to reform without definite aims and plans, without studying the conditions and the result was that not a single industry of European standard was built.112 Gokalp was the first to voice for a pure secular state in Turkey which was later implemented by Mustafa Kamal Ataturk.113 He argued that the basic prerequisite for our success and to be numbered among the modern nations lies in, “the complete cleansing of all branches of our legal structure of all traces of theocracy and clericalism.” The content in our laws contrary to liberty, equality and justice should be completely eliminated.114 While attempting to prove that there is no incompatibility between Islam and Western Civilization, he argues, Europe has been able to defeat the Muslim nations and become the Master of the World only by its civilization. If this civilization proved so successful, why are we hesitating in taking it over? He cites example of Japan which adopted Western Civilization is accepted as European, however, we are still considered as an Asiatic nation due to our unacceptability of European Civilization. Japan, without losing their religion and national entity, has been able to adopt Western Civilization. He further adds, why we hesitate in accepting Western Civilization without losing our religion and national identity?115 Gokalp, as a nationalist, insisted upon the “purification” of the Turkish of all words of Arabic and Persian and the official translation of the Quran into Turkish, thus shattering the Ummah into a Turkish sect.116

2.12. Conclusion

It has been a great challenge for the Muslim intellectuals to respond to the Western onslaught or manage the Western domination in the Muslim lands. Almost every thinker of 19th or 20th Muslim world criticized the West for being materialistic and devoid of spirituality. The thinkers who believed in the superiority of Western culture and civilization like Muhammad Abduh have mentioned materialism and absence of spirituality as the greatest shortcoming of Western civilization. Likewise, Afghani also considered materialism as the weakness of the western philosophies. Many Muslim

67 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

thinkers recommended adoption of science, technology and modernity of the West for the betterment of the eastern societies. The views of Muslim intellectuals regarding the relations of the Islam and the West vary and as a result myriad of them see nothing against Islam in the spirit of Western civilization. These intellectuals worked to manage the impact of the Western civilization on the Islamic world. Any civilization is neither completely good nor completely evil. Some Western values and concepts like democracy, abolition of slavery and feudalism, better status to women, etc., corroborate with the values of Islam. However, there are multiple aspects in the Western civilization, which need critical evaluation. Nevertheless, unfortunately, Muslims themselves have followed the West in its evil aspects and for which the West should not be blamed.

68 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

References and Endnotes

1 Ahsanul Haque, Reinterpreting Islam in Iran: Life and Thought of Ali Shariati, Aligarh: The Institute of Islamic Studies, 1995, pp. 119-20. 2 Abul Hassan Ali Nadvi, Muslim Mamalik Main Islamiyat aur Maghribiyat ki Kashmakash, Lucknow: Majlis Tahqiqat wa Nashriyat-I Islam, 2014, p. 16. 3 Ibid., p. 17. 4 Idem. 5 Ibid., p. 18. 6 Ibid., pp. 18-19. 7 Muhammad Asad, Islam at the Crossroads, Lahore: Arafat Publications, 1955, pp. 7-10. 8 Ibid., p. 154-55. 9 Nadvi, Op. Cit., pp. 18-19. 10 Ibid., pp. 29-30. 11Ibid., p. 30. 12 Ibid., p. 31. 13 Ibid., pp. 32-33. 14 Roy Jackson, Fifty Key Figures in Islam, New York: Routledge, 2006, pp. 168-169. 15Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age 1798-1938, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983, p. 113. 16 Amin Saikal, Islam and the West: Conflict or Cooperation?, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, p. 35. 17Mazharuddin Siddiqui, Modern Reformist Thought in the Muslim World, Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute, 1982, pp. 94-95. 18 Hourani, Op. Cit., p. 108. 19 Saikal, Op. Cit., pp. 35-36. 20 Hourani, Op. Cit., p. 109. 21 Caroline Cox and John Marks, The ‘West’, Islam and Islamism, London: Cavitas Institute for the Study of Civil Society, 2003, p. 51. 22 Nasr Abu Zayd, Reformation of Islamic Thought, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2006, p. 27. 23 Peter R, Demant, Islam Vs Islamism: The Dilemma of the Muslim World, London: Praeger, 2006, p. 23. 24 Reinhard Schulze, A Modern History of the Islamic World, New York: NYU Press, 2002, p. 18. 25 Roy Jackson, Op. Cit., pp. 168-170. 26 Tamara Sonn, Islam: A Brief History, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, pp. 143-44. 27 Ibid., p. 144. 28 Idem. 29 Nadvi, Op. Cit., p. 112.

69 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

30 Maryam Jameelah, Islam and Modernism, Lahore: Muhammad Yusuf Khan, 1966, p. 200. 31 Idem. 32 Idem. 33 Ibid., p. 200-1. 34 Ibid., p. 202. 35 W.C. Smith, Islam in Modern History, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957, p. 49. See also; Jameelah, Op. Cit., p. 203. 36 Ibid., pp.55-56. See also; Jameelah, Idem. 37 Jameelah, Idem. 38 Smith, Op. Cit., p. 54. 39 Ibid., p. 56. 40 Sonn, Op. Cit., p. 148. 41 Nikkie R. Keddie, Sayyid Jamal ad-Din “al-Afghani’: A Political Biography, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972, p. 1. 42 Ibid., p. 87. 43 Jackson, Op. Cit., p. 173. 44 Juan E. Campo (ed.) Encyclopedia of Islam, New York: Facts on File, 2009, p.6. 45 Mohd Manzoor Alam, 100 Great Muslim Leaders of the 20th Century, New Delhi: Institute of Objective Studies, 2005, p. 400. 46 Siddiqi, Op. Cit., p. 95. 47Manzoor Alam. Op. Cit., p. 401. 48 Siddiqi, Loc. Cit., p.95. 49 Ammeke Kateman, Theology of Unity: Muhammad Abduh’s (1849-1905) Reformist Islam and his interpretations of ‘Authenticity’, ‘Civilisation’ and ‘Religion’, University of Amsterdam, 2010, p.32-33. 50 Ibid., pp. 35-36. 51 Ibid., pp. 37-38. 52 Ibid., p. 38. 53 Oliver Scharbrodt, Theological Responses to Modernity in the Nineteenth-century Middle East: The examples of Bahá’u’lláh and Muhammad Abduh, available at: http://irfancolloquia.org/36/scharbrodt_abduh 54 Hourani, Op. Cit., p. 151. 55 Jackson, Op. Cit., pp. 181-85. 56 Muhammad Iqbal, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 2016, p. 7. 57 Ibid., p. 8. 58 Robert Briffault, The Making of Humanity, London: George Allen and Unwin, 1919, p. 202.

70 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

59 A. A. Suroor (ed.), Modernity and Iqbal, University of Kashmir: Iqbal Institute, 1985, pp. 30-35. 60 Ibid., p. 41. 61 Ibid., p. 38. 62 Nadvi, Op. Cit., p. 74. 63 Ibid., p. 75. 64 Suroor, Op. Cit., p. 53. 65 Ibid., p. 54. 66 Idem. 67 Ibid., p. 75. 68 Siddiqui, Op. Cit., p. 97. 69 Ibid., p. 98. 70 Jackson, Op. Cit., pp. 221-226. 71 Ibid., p. 222. 72 Ibid., p. 223. 73 Ahsanul Haque, Reinterpreting Islam in Iran: Life and Thoughts of Ali Shariati, Aligarh: The Institute of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, 1995, p. 120. 74 Ibid., pp. 120-21. 75 Ibid., pp. 122-3. 76 Ibid., p. 127. 77 Ibid., p. 133-4. 78 Ibid., p. 136. 79 Ali Shariati, Marxism and Other Western Fallacies: An Islamic Critique, tr., R. Campbell, New Delhi: Markazi Maktaba Islami, 2008, p. 59. 80 Julie Kupperfalirenberg, Reasoning of Liberal Reform in Nineteenth Century Middle East, Rotterdam: Erasmus, 2016, p. 37. 81 Ibid, pp. 37-40. 82 Ibrahim Şinasi was a poet, writer and editor of the newspaper Tafsir-I Afkar (Description of Ideas). 83 A literary circle engaged with the reformist concepts and ideas. For futher details, see p. Julie, Op. Cit., p. 38. 84 The Young Ottomans retained ideationally Islam, not a national identity, a binding element of state, thus including all Muslims in a possible modern Ottoman state. In 1865, Kamal with other reforming writers formed the group of the Young Ottoman. They appeared to be one of the most passionate and vociferous critics of the Tanzimat reforms. See, Julie, Idem. The Young Ottomans tried to establish a different identity for the state and society. Muslims were neglected for the sake of non-Muslims, they argued, and that an inequality had been created at the expense of Turkish and other Muslim components of the empire. They were pioneers of Islamic modernism and attempted to synthesize modernization with Islam

71 Muslim Response to the West: Views of Some Prominent Thinkers Chapter - 2

and re-emphasized Islam as an essential basis of Ottoman state and society. See; Gokhan Cetinsaya, ‘Rethinking Nationalism and Islam: Some Preliminary Notes on the Roots of “Turkish-Islamic Synthesis” in Modern Turkish Political Thought’, The Muslim World, 89 (3-4):1999, p.352. 85 Julie, Ibid., p. 40. 86 Ibid., p. 38. 87 Ibid., p.41. 88 Ibid., p. 42. 89 Idem. 90 Ibid., p. 43. 91 Ahmet Seyhun, Said Halim Pasha: An Ottoman Statesman and an Islamist Thinker, McGill University: Institute of Islamic Studies, 2002, pp. 73-76ff. 92 Ibid., pp. 218-19. 93 Ibid., p. 219. 94 Ibid., pp. 219-20. 95 Ibid., pp. 221-22. 96 Ibid., p. 223. 97 Ibid., pp. 224-26. 98 Ibid., p. 227-28. 99 Ibid., p. 229-30. 100 Ibid., pp. 232-36. 101 Ibid., p. 238-39. 102 Syed Sibtey Hassan, Life and Works of Ziya Gokalp, Aligarh: Institute of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, 1988, pp. 1-11. 103 Maryam Jameelah, Op. Cit., p. 55. 104 Zia Gokalp, Turkish Nationalism and Western Civilization, New York: George Allen and Unwin, 1959, p. 276. 105 Ibid., pp. 302, 271 and 60. 106Ibid., pp. 266-67. 107Ibid., pp. 270-71. 108 Jameelah, Op. Cit., p. 57. 109 Gokalp, Op. Cit., pp. 270-77. 110 Jameelah, Op. Cit., p. 58. 111 Gokalp, Op. Cit., pp. 270-77. 112 Ibid., pp. 270-77. 113 Jameelah, Op. Cit., pp. 58-59. 114 Gokalp, Op. Cit., pp. 304-5. 115 Ibid., pp. 266-67 and 277. 116 Jameelah, Op. Cit., p. 60.

72 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

Said Nursi: A Biographical Account

3.1. Birth

Said Nursi commonly known with the honorific Bediuzzaman (wonder of the times) was born in 18761 in a hamlet, Nurs2, attached to Hezan in the province of Bitlis in eastern Turkey. Nursi was fourth of seven children born to his parents; the other six are Durriye, Khanim, ‘Abdullah, Mulla Mohammad, ‘Abd al-Majid and Marjan. Nothing much is known about his elder sister Durriye. Khanim became known for her extensive knowledge of religion and got married to a hoja (teacher) called Mullah Said. After Bitlis incident of 19133, they fled away to Damascus and died while circumambulating Ka’abah in 1945.4 All his siblings died before him except his younger brother – Abd al- Majid5.

3.2. Genealogy

Nursi traced his genealogy to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) through both lines of his parents; from father’s side to Hadrat Hasan (R.A.) and from mother’s side to Hadrat Husain (R.A.).6 His father Mirza and mother Nuriye belonged to a Kurdish family and had inhabited in the Kurdistan7. Nursi’s family possessed a small piece of land in the village. His family was exclusively known for their piety rather than learning.8 Mirza – a village Mulla, was also known as Sufi Mirza either for his attachment to a Sufi Order or for piety. He was known for his God consciousness and never indulged in any unlawful activities. Nursi’s mother left him at the age of 9 years 9 and his father left for heavenly abode in 1920’s and both were buried in Nurs.10 Nursi’s ancestors, who claimed their adherence to the Khalidiyah branch of Naqashbandi Order11 of Sufism, had been sent from Cizre on the Tigris to profess and spread the Divine word.

3.3. Early Education

Nursi’s brother Abdullah was his first teacher. Nursi witnessed keenly his brother, his level of knowledge and high morale, who was held in great esteem by all his relatives. It ignited in Nursi the passion for the acquisition of knowledge.12

74 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

Nursi spent early years of life with his family in Nurs and went around the adjacent villages of Nurs, to the village of Tag and the Madrassah of Mulla Mohammad Amin Affendi,13 being belligerent he could not stay there for long owing to a fight with Mohammad (another student).14 Nursi was often misunderstood by his teachers and fellows. Nursi hardly tolerated a command or dominance by anyone and held himself in great respect and repute. Returning to Nurs where there were no Makātib (pl. of Ar. Maktab) or Madāris (pl. of Ar. Madrassah),15 Nursi told his father that he would not attend any Madrassah until being a bit older; as the other students were bigger than him.16 He sufficed himself by the instructions instructed to him by his brother Abdullah on the weekend holidays.17 His education started at the age of 9 years in 1885 by learning the Qur’an and received the early education at various religious schools in the region. He went Pirmir to continue his studies and studied under Said Nur Mohammad Affendi, after spending some time in his Madrassah, went to Nurşin with his brother Abdullah.18 In the winter of that year, which Nursi spent in his home village of Nurs, he saw the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in his dream.19 In 1888, Nursi left for Arvas and from there to the Madrassah of Shaykh Amn Affendi in Bitlis.20 From Bitlis he moved to the Mir Hasan Vali Madrassah at Mukuş, the in charge of which was Mulla Abd al-Karim. Nursi was disturbed by the condition of new, lower grade students who were given least importance. As a result, Nursi left the Madrassah and went to Vastan (Gevaş) near Van where he remained for a month and finally moved to Doğubayazit, where he commenced his formal education.21 Nursi studied and understood the fundamental texts, taught then, in a three months course under the supervision of Shaykh Mohammad Jalali where he acquainted himself with the fundamentals of religious sciences and mastered several texts like Jam‘ al-Jawāmi‘,22 Sharḥ al-Mawāqif 23and Ibn-I Ḥajr24 and received Ijāzah (diploma/certificate) from Shaykh – the Principal of Bayazit Madrassah and became known as Mulla Said.25 However, Nursi kept the commentaries in abeyance and focused on a few segments and when asked about it by Shaykh, Nursi replied. “I am not able to read and understand these many books. But they are all caskets of jewels, treasure chests, and the key is with you. I only implore you to show me what is in them so I can understand what they are discussing, and then I shall study those that are suitable for me.”26 During his stay there

75 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

he used to visit and spend nights in the tomb of the Kurdish Sufi and poet Shaykh Ahmad Hani. Following the path of Ishraqis, he extremely controlled instinctive desires and practiced self-denial, but was not satisfied with this and concentrated on Al- Ghazali’s mystical interpretation of Hadith, “Give up what you are doubtful about for that about which you have no doubts.” Nursi meant to go for ascetic life and he wore the attire of a dervish and set out for Baghdad.27 The Naqashbandi Sufis such as Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi (Makhṭuṭat) and Gumuşhaneli Ahmed Ziyaeddin (Majmū‘ al-Aḥzāb) and their works were a source of reflection for Said Nursi.28

Nursi wanted to make pilgrimage to the tomb of Shaykh Abd al-Qadir Jilani (R.A.) and visit some towering personalities of Baghdad, but Nursi’s will was never fulfilled.29 On the way to Baghdad he attended two days of lectures given by Mohammad Amin Affendi in Bitlis. Shaykh instructed him to put on traditional attire of the religious scholars. At that time turban was put on by those only who had received their Ijāzah. Nursi refused the request of the Shaykh by arguing not being mature to put it on. Being exceptionally intelligent, inquisitive and having a deep quest for knowledge, he moved from villages to towns to gain company of famous and renowned scholars and listen to the discussions of Shaykhs and students alike.30 Nursi went to Şirvan, where he was tested and examined by his brother, Abdullah, who was left astonished on seeing the developed scholarship of the young and accepted Nursi as his master.31 Nursi entered a debate with the Ulama of Siirt, it was first time for him to take a challenge, where Nursi aggressively answered all their questions and emerged successful.32 Nursi was also examined by Mullah Fathullah Affendi about the texts he had learnt and Nursi answered all his questions satisfactorily, from then on he was known as ‘Said-i Meşhur’ – the famous Said.33 It is quite rare to have exceptional intelligence and retention at the same time in one person, exclaimed Mullah Fathullah, and this Mulla Fathullah conferred the title of ‘Bedī‘uzzamān’ for the first time, from then on the scholars recognized his ability and knowledge and accepted his scholarship.34 Nursi started teaching Arabic and had his own students and drew a large number of people of Bitlis to listen to him, which resulted in creation of two cliques; being supporters of the either. The governor betrothed threat and evacuated Nursi from Bitlis who made his

76 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

way to Şirvan.35 Demolishing the ideas on which beliefs of Wahabi school of thought were based and made Shii preachers quiescent as a result they left for Iran.36

After some years, he left his village to pursue higher studies at several centers of learning. He mastered the Qur’an, Islamic jurisprudence, oratory, philosophy, history, chemistry, geology and geography in a short period without seeking assistance from any fellow or teacher.37 He had a photographic memory as a result he memorized the Qur’an by heart and the most important Arabic dictionaries and several texts on Islamic law like; Al-Qāmūs al-Maḥīṭ, Al-Maṭāli‘ al-Anwār,38 and Mirqāt al-wusūl ila ‘ilm al- Usūl.39 Nursi memorized some ninety books during entire course of his life. He studied science, mathematics and gained proficiency in some foreign languages.40 Said Nursi visited a number of Madāris (Islamic seminaries) but his thirst was not quenched by any of the teachers or Madāris.41 At the age of 18, he came to be known among the celebrated scholars of the country.42 Before the age of 20, he mastered several sciences and gained proficiency in mathematics, physics, chemistry and astronomy. As his fame was increasing, so were his difficulties. He had to come across the antagonism on the part of local scholars who were covetous of Nursi’s name and esteem.43

3.4. Attachment to Sufi Orders

Said Nursi spent some time in Naqashbandi lodges and studied mostly under the direction of the teachers who belonged to the Naqshbandi Order (an orthodox Sufi order). In fact, at the age of 9, Nursi saw all his relatives were the followers of Naqashbandi Order. Though, he was attached to the Naqashbandi Order from ‘three sides’44 but, he sided in favor of Shaykh Abd al-Qadir Jilani (d.1166) and the Indian, Imam Rabbani Shaykh Aḥmad Sirhindi (d.1624). He displayed a deep reverence, devotion and respect towards Shaykh Abd al-Qadir Jilani which continued throughout his life, though being caught up in the busy schedule of studying.45 Nursi received the cloak of Mevlana Halid Afendi at the hands of Asiye Hanim (whose grandfather (Kuçuk Aşik) had received this cloak from Mevlana Halid) after a gap of one hundred years.46

77 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

3.5. Reformation of Education System – His Proposed Model of Madrassah al- Zahrā Nursi was not satisfied with the then Madrassah system as; he found it incompatible with the requirements of the modern age. Nursi was confused with the introduction of the large commentaries, and commentaries on those commentaries, as they lead to wastage of time.47 He realized that the traditional form of Islamic theology was inadequate for answering the doubts concerning Islam.48 Nursi believed, to remove the doubts regarding religion, modern sciences are to be studied vis-à-vis traditional sciences.49 In order to reform that existing education system, he wanted to establish a university envisioned as Madrassah al-Zahrā, which would disseminate knowledge of the reason and revelation hand in hand, with locations in eastern and southeastern Turkey.50 He believed that educational reform could invalidate ignorance and backwardness and contribute to solve the social and political problems.

3.6. The School of Brilliance

Nursi was not satisfied with the prevailing system of education, he, therefore, formulated his ideas on educational reform based on his own studies and teaching experiences, sensing it a need of time.51 The plinth of his method was to amalgamate the religious and modern sciences in order to validate and tone the truths of religion.52 The system of education that prevailed during the period of Nursi was composed of Madrassahs, Maktabs and Tekkes and disseminated knowledge according to their own values. Nursi wanted to reconcile the entire trio and make his al-Zahrā as the embodiment of these three systems.53 Al-Zahrā was to represent, “the most superior [maktab] by the reason, the very best [madrassah] by the heart and the most sacred Zawiya (Sufi lodge) by the conscience.”54 Nursi aimed at complete restructuring of the Madrassah education as he foresaw it as pivotal in securing the future of Kurdistan and unity of the empire55 and to play the part of al-Azhar in the center of the eastern Islamic world and to release the region from the dungeons of ignorance and poverty.56 Nursi speculated of it gaining financial independence, as it would receive donations and gifts for being of a unique value in the Islamic world.57

78 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

Ensuring the future of Ulama in the eastern provinces, it was to release Islam from bigotry, superstitions and false beliefs. To combat the suspicions of Ulama, regarding modern sciences, it was, thus, aimed to introduce modern sciences in Madrassahs.58 Nursi wished that Islam should function like a consultative council of Madrassahs, Maktabs and Tekkes so that each would complete the deficiencies of the other. Moreover, it was also supposed that the medium of instruction would be Arabic, Turkish and Kurdish.59

Nursi laid the foundation of al-Zahrā on the shores of Lake Van, and the foundation was celebrated with a feast and ceremony with speeches.60 With the outbreak of the Great War-I, the construction was halted and never resumed thereafter.61 Moreover, due to some political circumstances this innovative dream of Nursi was not realized. Nursi planned and sought funds for this project till 1951.62 He aimed to combat the three enemies of humankind i.e., ignorance, poverty and disunity in this single project.63 He also found much in modern sciences which was not contradictory to the religious belief and adds that Quran does not prohibit Muslims from having “admiration for the civilization and the progress” or from borrowing what is good from other civilization.64 This proposal was to make reconciliation between the science of philosophy and those of religion and make peace between European civilization and the truths of Islam.65

3.7. Endeavors of Said Nursi to Envision the Dream

In November 1907 Nursi set off for Istanbul with the intention of obtaining official support and backing for his Islamic university, the Madrassah al- Zahrā. He was now around thirty years of age. From his humble beginnings in the village of Nurs, he had established his reputation among the Ulama of Kurdistan and was a figure well known not only for his unbeaten record in debate, extensive learning, and extraordinary abilities, but also for his pursuit of justice and defense of right, and his absolute fearlessness before anyone save his Maker. Said Nursi set off for Istanbul via Beirut and Izmir, to realize his dream of founding the Madrassah al-Zahrā, or Eastern University, in eastern Anatolia. This time he almost succeeded, When Sultan Mehmed Reshad set out on his famous Rumelia journey, Nursi was invited as the representative

79 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

of the Eastern Provinces of the Ottoman Empire. During this journey he was granted 19,000 gold liras to establish the University. On his return to Van, he personally selected a site for the university, but soon afterwards the project was abandoned owing to the Balkan War.66

Using the knowledge he had acquired to prove the truths of Quran, he would demonstrate it to be the source of true knowledge and progress, so defending it against the deliberate efforts to discredit it and corrupt the Muslim community. In a letter he wrote in 1955, Nursi stated that he found two means of doing this: one was the Madrassah al-Zahrā, which took him to Istanbul and even to Sultan Abdul Hamid’s court, and the second was the Risale-i Nur.67

Bediuzzaman was of the opinion that the time will come when the different worlds of knowledge would meet and combine to form a single world of knowledge, which with its light would demolish the walls between the universe, life, and man. And so, after this century, which has been called “the age of European enlightenment,” in the abandoned dwelling of the believers’ spirits, weary and suffering doubts, they would be reunited with science. They would leave the journey they have been pursuing ignorantly and beset by doubts through the world from minute particles to the galaxies; deepening their belief and in profound awe and humility, they would affirm the sacred truth of the verse “those of His servants who fear God most are those with knowledge.68

3.8. Nursi in Van

Due to his fame, he was invited by the governor (Tahir Pasha)69 of Van to reside with him. Nursi stayed in Van for fifteen long years and he was fortunate to use the library of the governor extensively. Nursi took full advantage of the governor’s library and keenly studied modern sciences. “Tahir Pasha was the first state official to recognize Nursi’s considerable talent and potential, and continued to give him encouragement and support until his death in 1913.”70 The part of life Nursi spent in Van is regarded as significant from varied perspectives as he got an opportunity to study different aspects of, and works on religious as well as natural sciences. He acquainted himself with the latest developments happening around by the journals and newspapers supplied to the

80 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

governors library. In addition, Nursi got an opportunity to interact with the government officials and teachers of secular institutions and held discussions with them. Nursi realized that the traditional format of Islamic theology was not capable to answer the doubts raised against Islam.71 In 1907 and 1908 in Istanbul and Salonica, he advocated the establishment of a university in Eastern Anatolia (Madrassah al-Zahrā) where physical sciences would be taught alongside religious sciences.

An organization-cum-political party to combat western addiction of Turkish society known as Al-Ittiḥād-i Muhammadī (The Muhammadan Union)72 was found on the day of Eid-i Milad al-Nabi (SAW) on 5th April, 1909. Nursi was among its founders, the others being Suhail Pasha, Mohammad Sadiq Affendi, Mohammad Amin Affendi, Asad Affendi, Khairi Bey, Fariq Riza Pasha, Umar Shauqi, Shaykh Muslim Panah, Rafiq Bey, Mohammad Afghani, Nazif, Dervish Wahdeti (leader).73 The slogans of this organization were; unity, freedom and reform and its policies, program and objectives conformed to the Islamic ideology and law.74 But Nursi was astonished and deeply concerned about its name Al-Ittiḥād-i Muḥammadī not to be misused.75 It was an organization, as described by Maryam Jameelah, reaction to the CUP (Committee of Union and Progress) controlled by the Freemasons. She further says that Nursi was arrested by the leaders of CUP in 1909 with 19 of his comrades executed.76 However, Nursi was cleared of the charges after he boldly defended himself after twenty-four days. Vahide recounts, In 1910 Nutuk – a compendium based on Nursi’s speeches and articles was the first work of Nursi to come out.77 Said Nursi is said to have been also the member of Kurt Teavun ve Tarakki Cemiyeti (Society for Support and Progress of the Kurds) which was formed after the constitutional revolution in 1908 by members of Kurdish elite to address the social issues which kept it away from the people of southeast.78

3.9. Visit to the Capital – Istanbul

Nursi went Istanbul for acquiring funds for Madrassah al-Zahrā, the governor of Van asked him, you made the scholars of east dumb, now it is to be seen how you will deal the big fish of Istanbul.79 It seems that Nursi’s fame had spread there as well, as he

81 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

reached Istanbul, a local newspaper published the news regarding his arrival as: from the crags of east a power house of intellect and wisdom is effulgent on the horizons of Istanbul. On reaching the city, Nursi invited the scholars to question him which Nursi answered easily. In the meantime, the Shaykh of Jami al-Azhar – Shaykh Najif had arrived in Istanbul. Shaykh met Nursi and a question-answer session occurred between them which compelled Shaykh to acclaim his scholarship.80 During this period a Jew, Emanuel Karasu – master of Free Mason lodge of Salonica, a member of CUP (Committee of Union and Progress) and a Member of Parliament from Salonica, met Nursi to make him like-minded and play out Nursi for his personal interests, but in turn Nursi posed such answers that he fled during the conversation.81 Nursi resided there in the office of ‘Sabīl al-Rashād’.82

3.10. Visit to Damascus

On the invitation and insistence of the religious scholars of Damascus, Nursi arrived there in 1911. He gave a remarkable sermon in Arabic in the great historic Umayyad mosque to an assemblage of ten thousand with a presence of about hundred religious scholars.83 In this vibrant sermon, which was printed twice in one week, Nursi talked about the problems of the Muslim world and identified six dismal sicknesses such as “The rising to life of despair and hopelessness in social life, The death of truthfulness in social and political life, Love of enmity, Not knowing the luminous bonds that bind the believers to one another, Despotism, which spreads everywhere as though it were various contagious diseases, and Restricting endeavor to what is personally beneficial.”84 He also demonstrated how it could be healed by medicines of the Quran like hope and moral enterprise.85 Nursi predicted the ascendency of Islam being a religion of present and future.86 He also talked about the importance of Muslim- Christian dialogue.87

3.11. World War I

From the Battle of Tarabulus (Tripoli)88 the threat of external aggression hovered continuously over the Ottomans. In 1912, Balkan war89 started resulting in loss of 55,000 sq. miles area and a population of 42, 00,000 of Europe, and Turks were

82 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

compelled to evacuate these areas. Only a year later of which, World War I started in August, 1914. At the outset Turkey wanted to remain neutral but, due to the duress of the allies of Germany, Turkey sided with them on 30th October, 1914.90 Nursi took part in World War-I voluntarily as a religious functionary.91 From the inception of the Great War Nursi was present in Van, which is not far from Caucasia. He was made the leader of a group of volunteers which was mostly comprised of his students. Nursi fought valiantly and with exceptional valor as a result he proved his expertise of both pen as well as sword.92 When Van was attacked by the Russians Nursi castellated his Madrassah to fight for long, but the Vali of Van – Jevdet Bey acutely insisted him to leave Van for Vastan.93 A group of Russian troops assailed Vastan and Nursi fought them with the group of his volunteers. He used to roam and raid the mounds of the enemies to display that there is a huge force to save Vastan and they are continuously receiving reinforcements, thus saving it from being conquered.94 The Russian army after capturing Van and Mukush invaded Tiblis, Vali Mamduh Bey and Commander Keyl Ali consulted Nursi and they defended Tiblis for four days and evacuated its people with their belongings. Nursi remained there with his volunteers to defend the people who could not leave the place which resulted in an encounter with the enemy. Nursi lost his nephew – Ubayd and some of his companions who got martyrdom.95 Nursi was left with three of his students who strived to get off from there to save their life, but every way was occupied by the Russians.96 They managed to escape through a canal and while jumping Nursi’s leg stroked with a stone resulting in a crack. Nursi lasted there for 34 hours in the mud and water, insisting his loyal students to leave him as such, what they refused to and finally were caught by the Russians97 and taken as prisoner of war in 1915. Nursi was taken to the headquarters where his leg was plastered, and interrogated for about two weeks. Nursi rigorously replied their questions to the extent that his companions timid of being shot. On 27th day Nursi was transposed to a second edifice for the betterment of his leg and his companions were sent to Russia.98 Nursi was sent to Kusturma – biggest camp for prisoners of war – where he met ninety Turks who were imprisoned there. One day an officer Nicholas, came for official examination of the prisoners in the camp, all stood up out of respect except Nursi. When he was inquired about this, it was not out of disrespect to you or the Czar

83 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

of Russia, said Nursi. I am a religious scholar and a believer is superior to a non- believer, for which I did not stood up.99 For this irreverence he was commended to court martial and the jury sentenced him to death. Nursi sought the time to pray two raka’ah which he was granted. After finishing the prayers he was asked to be ready to have a bullet, looking at his excessive complacency the same official came up and the reverted the decision.100 While in the prison Nursi started to impart education steadily among the Turk prisoners. Russian officer stopped this process for a while until cognized it as religious lesson. Nursi describes this period of two and a half years as, “During the Great War, I was being held prisoner together with ninety officers in a long dormitory in northern Russia. They held me in high regard although I did not deserve it, so my astonishments to them disallowed any noise or trouble. But then, due to constraints and irritations, they became angry, which gave rise to violent rows. So I told three or four of them that whenever they heard a noisy dispute, to go and help those in wrong. They did this, and the damaging rows ceased.”101 Nursi further describes this period:

In the First World War, as a prisoner, I was in the distant province of Kosturma in north-eastern Russia. There was a small mosque belonging to the Tatars beside the famous River Volga. I used to become wearied among my friends, the other officers. I carved solitude, yet I could not wander about outside without permission. Then they took me on bail to the Tatar quarter, to that small mosque on the banks of the Volga. I used to sleep there alone. Spring was close. I used to be very wakeful during the long, long nights of that northern land; the sad plashing of the Volga and the mirthless patter of the rain and the melancholy sighing of the wind of those dark nights in that dark exile had temporarily roused me from a deep sleep of heedlessness. I did not yet consider myself old, but those who had experienced the Great War were old. For those were days that, as though manifesting the verse: A day that will turn the hair of children grey (73:17) made even children old. While I was forty years old, I felt myself to be eighty. In those long, dark nights and sorrowful exile and melancholic state, I despaired of life and of my homeland. I looked at my powerlessness and aloneness, and my hope failed. Then while in that state, succor arrived from the All-Wise Qur’an; my tongue said: God is enough for us; and how excellent a guardian is He. (3:173) And weeping, my heart cried out: “I am a stranger, I am alone, I am weak, I am powerless: I seek mercy, I seek forgiveness, I seek help from You, O my God!”102

84 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

It was in October 1917, while Russia was involved in chaos, Nursi fled from the camp and reached Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). From there he got to the borders of Germany and introduced himself to the German officials, they saluted him and took him to their commander who held him in great respect. Later, he reached Istanbul via Vienna in 1918 where he was warmly welcomed. It was only by Allah’s grace that I completed this long journey, says Nursi.103

3.12. Nursi as a Vanguard in Country’s Independence Movement

Turks suffered a heavy loss in the Great War, barely borne by any other country. They were facing the enemies in the battle ground for about 10 years.104 During the later years of the Great War, General Kazim Qarra, who is enlisted as a pillar in Turkish struggle for independence, was deployed to the Caucasian front. He was the first who triggered the struggle, and in 1933 wrote a book “Istiqlal Hareb Aamez” (Our Struggle for Independence) which was banned earlier by the Turkish government but later published in 1969. In 1939, after Mustafa Kemal, he was appointed as member of National assembly, and is known as “the Conqueror of Eastern Turkey.”105

With the start of independence movement of Turkey from Anatolia, the Shaykh al- Islam of ‘occupied’ Istanbul decreed it as a revolt against the Sultan and tagged the supporters- the rebels. Nursi opposed this decree as a member of Dār al-Ḥikmat-i Islāmia and made people and Ulama both aware of the policies of British. He gave speeches and wrote articles to strengthen the struggle for independence. His great exploit was in publishing secretly a booklet “al-Khuṭwāt-i Sittah fī Wasā’is wa Wasāwis Shayāṭīn al-Ins” in Arabic and circulated it among the common masses, which exposed the policies and plots of British.106

The Ankara government looked to the services of Nursi as blue-eyed for his vigorous support to the movement. Being opposite to the occupation of Istanbul and encouraging a movement of national independence, the government of Ankara invited Nursi to Ankara for three times and Nursi accepted on the third time as he wanted to fight in a dangerous place i.e. Istanbul. Nursi reached Ankara on 23rd April, 1920 to take part in the opening session of Majlis Kabir Mili. Nursi was warmly welcomed in Ankara,

85 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

while being there for eight months; he brought to the table, matter of establishment of a school for religious education in eastern Turkey. Nursi while discussing this issue termed eastern provinces as hub of Islam.107 They need modern sciences equally with religious sciences and 164 out of 200 members welcomed this suggestion. But soon Nursi got incensed by the Modus Operandi and numbness of members and leaders.108

3.13. Dār al-Ḥikmat-i Islāmia

The ambit of religious scholars rejoiced on the arrival of Nursi in Turkey to the extent that Shaykh al-Islam Mustafa Sabri announced Nursi the member of Dār al-Ḥikmat-i Islāmia (Academy of Higher Islamic Studies), without his consent.109 Besides being a developing academy of higher Islamic studies, it was a learned organization meant for seeking solutions to the problems faced by Muslim Ummah,110 and to counter the attempts disbelieving Islam. Nursi worked for this organization and stayed in Istanbul for about four years.111 This organization was subjected to work under the Ottoman sultanate,112 in association with the office of the Shaykh al-Islam.113 With the passage of time, the twelve epistles that Nursi had authored since then were published by the wampum he earned while working for the organization. Nursi distributed all the published epistles, except a few, among the people free of cost.114 Nursi at the earlier wanted to leave this organization but he continued due to strong insistence of his fellows. During this time his many articles were published in Ashraf Adib’s Sabīl al- Rashād115 but, at the same time he faced several hurdles and political pressure with a stern hand. It was the darkest phase of Turkish history and worrisome period for Nursi. Great War, that Turkey lost, was followed by armistice on 30 October, 1918. On 12 January, 1920 the last session of Ottoman parliament was held and allied forces landed in Istanbul on 16 March, 1920. External aggressors not only wanted to divest Turkey of its provinces but to torn down it into pieces.116 Nursi completed Işarat al-Icaz, Tuluat, Sunuhat, Lemaat and Işarat during his service at Dār al-Ḥikmat (1918-22)117 and succeeded in publishing two works Zeylul Zeyl and Hubab to combat atheism.118 It made Muslim masses of the Turkey aware of the internal as well as external aggression, more over it published various works according to the theological needs of the Muslim subjects.119 However, this organization lacked in real power and more importantly

86 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

concord between its members120 and this short-termed organization was closed in 1922.121 During his service at Dār al-Ḥikmat, he was the founder-member of Madrassah Teachers Association (Jamī‘at-i Mudarissīn- February 1919) and Green Crescent Society (Hilāl-i Akhḍar – March 1920) the former of which was meant to elevate the standard of education in Madrassahs while as the latter to combat the spread of drug addictions.122

Nursi experienced spiritual crisis for which he went into solitude and became subject to a great intellectual and spiritual change, throughout which he realized that he should take the Quran as his guide and liberate himself from the shackles of philosophy. During this period also he continued to write, and the elevation in his thought may be comprehended in the series of Arabic works published in 1922 and 1923. He later collected these together in the work entitled al-Mathnawī al- ‘Arabī al-Nūrī.123

3.14. Situation of Turkey: Secularisation and Modernisation

The Turkish nation which perpetuated and upheld the Islamic flag for more than six centuries had lost its spirit. With the abolishment of the institution of Caliphate in march 1924, different laws were framed and amendments were passed which resulted in banning of religious education in schools, Arabic alphabets were replaced by the Latin ones, to voice Azan and hold congregational prayers in Arabic was banned, looked for translation of the Qura’nic text in Turkish and country was termed to be secular one, and every act in Islamic way was made impermissible. The publication of Islamic texts was prohibited, people were forced to wear the get up of the Europeans, and men folk were forcibly made to wear hats and women to be unveiled.124 All Sufi Tekkes and tombs of saints were closed and all Sufi orders disbanded. The office of Shaykh al-Islam and Shari’ah courts were abolished. Such tribunals were established whom people were afraid of; as a result people recited Qur’an secretly away from officials. Journalism worked for the moral degeneration and in making fun of religion which resulted in publication of atheistic works.125 Teachers and schools worked to disseminate such education among the students so as to create doubts regarding religion and belief, hence every tool was adopted to deviate and delineate the population from

87 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

their belief.126 Being under strict surveillance every now and then, when all the approaches/doorways of publication were banned by the authorities, Nursi switched over to Arabic language and penned down the epistles secretly.127

3.15. Nursi in Barla

He played a commendable role in the renovation of the Turkish society. Although he supported Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) during the Turkish War of Independence (1919– 1922), he was arrested in 1925 and exiled to Barla where he remained for eight and a half years, in the province of Isparta for his alleged participation in the ‘Shaykh Said revolt’128 in eastern Turkey. Said Nursi reached Barla on 1st march, 1927. Nursi was not tempted to have edibles due to his bad health. He used to go to nearby hillocks especially during summers and springs and remained busy with prayers and contemplation.129 Once upon a time in winter, the sky was clear Nursi moved to the hillock and suddenly the torrential rain started ‒ got sodden, socks soaked, carrying boots in hand, needed help but no one dared, as he was under the surveillance of authorities. Incidentally, a person came up from anywhere and washed off his muddy clothes and accompanied him to his residence. Later this person became the first friend and student of Nursi known by the name of Sulayman Karvanji (d.1956). As a live model of truth and loyalty he assisted Nursi for eight years in Barla.130 “Barla became the centre from which irradiated the lights of belief at a time it seemed they were destined to be extinguished” as Vahide puts it.131

3.16. Commencement of Risale-i Nur – His Magnum Opus

Penning down the epistles was not an easy task as it seems to be. Nursi with his students was continuously under the strict surveillance of the government and this whole work was carried out in printed form. Nursi strived valiantly and his students too gave uncountable sacrifices for the cause. The epistles were written in Turkish language with Arabic script that was banned in 1928 as a result, Publication centers onwards, could not publish the Arabic material. Students consecrated their lives for the writing Risale-i Nur. Though, these students were often called to police stations and tortured yet their number increased. In Isparta, men and women in thousands worked for

88 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

copying of the Risale-i Nur. In this way, in spite of the clampdown put by the authorities, the message of Islam and Quran reached door to door and this process continued for twenty years, followed by the introduction of the printing machines and later printing press. Ashraf Edib writes, “The people who heard the teachings and benefitted from the Epistles desired to acquire these in the copied form, as the Epistles were not available in the market. While reading these Epistles their interest increased in making them accessible to others. It was evident that these Epistles sought to liberate the young, Muslim world and the whole humanity from the dungeons of ignorance and were easily understandable by the common masses.”132 Throughout these eight years in Barla, Nursi consecrated the whole span to the writing of the Risale-i Nur and by the end had completed about 119 pieces. The first portion of the Risale composed in Barla was based on a treatise proving the resurrection of the dead and the existence of the Hereafter.133

3.17. Madrassah Yusufiyah (Schools of Joseph)

Nursi resided in Barla up to 1935, soon after the exposure of his religious efforts, the government and anti-Islamic elements felt worried as a result Nursi along with his 120 students were relayed to Eskishehir by trucks. They were imprisoned and tried in court for making a secret party and inciting people against the authorities but none of the charges were proved. However, he was sentenced to 11 months and 15 of his students six months each, because of interpretation of a verse related to Purdah – Veil (33:59) O Prophet! Tell your wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons [when abroad].134 Nursi in response to the charge and said: I say to this court of law that if there is justice on the face of the earth, it will surely quash the decision to convict a person who has expounded a most sacred, true, and right Divine principle which has been in force in the social life of three hundred and fifty million people every century for one thousand three hundred and fifty years, relying on the confirmation and unanimity of three hundred and fifty thousand Qur'anic commentaries and following the beliefs of our forefathers for one thousand three hundred and fifty years; it will surely quash such a ruling!135

89 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

Nursi passed these 11 months with his students in the prison, isolated and troubled by the government, but he did not gave up writing the Epistles. As a result, 30th epistle of The Flashes and 1st and 2nd epistle of The Rays were completed in the prison. The prisoners and the employees alike got impressed by the persona of Nursi as a result they lived their life according to Islam.136

3.17.1. Kastamanou

After completion of the punishment, Nursi was released from the Eskishehir prison but not freed, as he was exiled to Kastamanou137 in 1936 where he spent 8 more years. With the layover of Nursi here, this place changed into an important center for Islamic preaching. Though Nursi was imprisoned yet his cerebrations overcame the walls of coercion. Nursi stayed for first three months in the Kastamanou police station.138 Nursi was bothered because of refusing to change the get up of Jubbah and turban, thereafter; he was shifted to a nearby residential house so as to keenly monitor his actions. Nursi passed rest of seven years in this wooden house, where he was assisted by Çaycı Emin and Mehmed Feyzi (of which former owned a tea-stall and the latter had a scholarly background), fulfilling his basic needs and acting as a scribe for Said Nursi.139 Besides contemplation, Nursi spend his time either in writing Risale-i Nur or revising his earlier writings, that too without consultation of the originals but, by using his memory.140 In Kastamanou, the students who sought knowledge from Nursi, among them were the students from Inebolu who happened to be very allegiant and active. They transferred the hand written copies and message of Risale-i Nur to shores of Black Sea.141 The students of Risale-i Nur sometimes acted as postmen, thus carrying forward the message to the diverse areas. In the mean time, Nursi’s epistle of Āyāt al-Kursī was secretly published from Istanbul in which Nursi had presented explicitly the factuality of faith. Nursi’s opponents hatched a plot and accused him, of making a secret organization against the government and fanning the masses against them, that later became the reason of imprisonment in Denzili.142 In Kastamonu, besides writing some sections of The Rays, one of which is related to the Prophetic traditions on the signs of the end of the time, he also wrote Āyāt al-Kubrā (The Supreme Sign), one of the most important treatises that constitute the Risale-i Nur.143

90 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

3.17.2. Denzili

On 31 August, 1943, Nursi along with his 126 students were captured and put into captivity in Denzili prison. After, he was tried in the court; a group of scholars were set to inquire about the contents of the Risale-i Nur. Nuri refused the panel for being composed of local officials rather than religious scholars. The court henceforth accordingly appointed a committee144 of experts to deal with the issue. These scholars after reading prudently came up with the statement that, Nursi neither has any political interest nor associated with any political activity but major part of his writings consist of knowledge, belief and Qur’anic exegesis.145 On 16 June, 1944, as the accusations were not proved, the court not only (acquitted) set free Nursi and his students but also lifted the ban from Risale-i Nur, but during the course of time two of the Nursi’s students died in the prison.146 The outcome of these imprisonments and trials happened to be different from what the Nursi’s enemies had expected, as Vahide writes:

Quite contrary to the intentions of those who had instigated the case, the widespread publicity of the Denizli trials and imprisonment of Nursi and the Risale-i Nur students led directly to a considerable expansion in activities connected with the Risale-i Nur. While up to this time activity had been mainly concentrated in two or three areas, now many thousands of people in different areas of Turkey became its students and began to serve it and the cause of the Qur’ān in various ways. The basic aim of Nursi’s enemies was to make both the local government and Ankara feel sufficiently apprehensive about Nursi and the Nur movement to act against them once again. One result of this was that all the attention was focused on Nursi himself, and constraints on him increased. Thus, despite the fact that he had been acquitted by Denizli Court and the Risale-i Nur had been cleared, the surveillance under which he was held was even stricter than previously, and the illegal harassment and ill treatment more severe. However, Nursi wrote to his students that he accepted this “with pride,” as it meant it was his person that was concentrated on and harassed rather than the Risale-i Nur or its other students; it allowed them to continue their service of it relatively unmolested.147 3.17.3. Emirdag

In June 1944 while the court of Denzili set all the Nur students free, but restricted Said Nursi on the alibis of waiting for the orders from Ankara. He resided there in the city hotel, two months later; he was exiled by the government to Afyon. Form here Nursi

91 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

was commanded to stay in a province called Emirdag and Nursi reached there in August, 1944. For the first fifteen days Nursi stayed in a hotel thereafter shifted to a rented house.148 In Emirdag Nursi remained for three years. Apparently, the ban was lifted off Nursi and the publications but, actually he was strictly monitored than before. It is evident from his letters that the harassment what Nursi received for one month in Denzili equaled punishment of a day in Emirdag. He was poisoned here for the second time.149

3.17.4. Afyon

It was only after three years stay in Emirdag, Free Masons and Communists got activated and informed and complained the government at favorable intervals about Nursi, alleged of making a secret party, solicited masses against the government, eying to turn down the government etc and the government started to investigate into the issues. Nur students had spread in almost the whole country and the government ordered to frisk their residences, which resulted in collaring of Said Nursi with his 51 students in December, 1947. All the arrested were taken to Afyon and were tried in the court. Court hearings and investigations lasted for long but not a single allegation was proved. Despite this, Nursi was sentenced for twenty months with his 24 associates who were sentenced for 6 months each and Afyon court banned the epistles.150 Nursi was kept in solitude for about twenty months waiting for his death. During acute winter Nursi was poisoned, felt ill severely, but none of his students was allowed to serve him. While Nursi was on his death bed, one of his students got chance to visit him, through whom Nursi addressed, “My Brothers! Perhaps I would not remain alive. I gave up my life for the dateless extrication of country, nation, young, Muslims and humanity. My friends should take strict note of it, that if I died, they would not take revenge of it.”151 On 20th December, 1949 Nursi was acquitted from the third School of Joseph and warmly welcomed by the masses. Throughout these harsh conditions Nursi did not gave up writing Risale-i Nur. During the span of imprisonment, besides Al- Ḥujjat al-Zahrā (The Shining Proof),152 Nursi wrote an epistle about Tawḥīd and Risālah.153

92 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

The tragedies Nursi faced in Emirdag and Afyon bore confect fruition. It highly resulted in the popularity of Said Nursi and his Epistles. Students from different walks of life used to gather to hear the decisions of the court which resulted in familiarization of people towards Nursi and his writings. Interactions between the students caused a sense of brotherhood. The educated section of the society came forward to be the students of Risale-i Nur.154 The students studied the epistles in the centers and used to copy them. The masses of Ankara and Istanbul generally and the students of the universities particularly got introduced to the Nur movement. The epistles were extensively published in the eastern provinces, particularly in Dayari Bakr. Unlike Barla, where Nursi addressed specific students, Nursi addressed the students of modern schools and government employees who gave up their lives for the service of Risale-i Nur. Judges of the courts and examiners of the Epistles were impressed by the persona and writings of Said Nursi, and became his students. From the first School of Joseph - Eskishehir (1935) to end of the third School – Afyon (1949), Turkish thought had witnessed a great revolution/change. Though, it was the outcome of their loyalty to Islam, but the era of democratization had trampled their religious fervor, which was of course recalled by the Epistles and Said Nursi.155

Since Islam and Turkish nationalism are intertwined, both the things mean important to the Turks. In the millennium Turkish history, legacy, language, art, culture, ethics and traditions were so worked and linked with Islam that it was futile exercise to de- Islamize them.156 The concluding years of Said Nursi’s life were remarkable, as it changed the plinth of political life of turkey, and the anti-religious elements which were worked upon by the government were nipped. Multiparty system was introduced in 1945 resulting in the loss of dominion of RPP (Republican Peoples Party) after a rule of 27 years, and the government was open to be criticized. The check on religious publications was given up, and from 1948 Madrassahs were granted permission to continue religious education.157 With the emergence of Democratic Party (founded in 1946 by Celal Bayar and Adnan Menderis) on 17th June, 1950 Turkish landscape once again echoed with the sounds of Azan and Iqamah in Arabic which was banned in 1932. New Masajid were built, Department of Religious Affairs was set up meant to

93 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

profess Islam and publish Islamic literature.158 After spending two years in Emirdag, Nursi moved to Eskishehir in 1951 where he remained for one and a half month in hotel Yeldez. Nursi had succeeded in his mission to a great extent up to 1951 as the trial period was mostly over. From here he went to Isparta for two months, during which the students of Istanbul published an epistle The Guide for Youth, due to which Nursi was tried, as it was accused of being against the tenets of secularism. Being called up by the Istanbul court, Nursi reached there on 22nd January, 1952.159 The court hearing lasted for one week, and on 5th March, 1952, Nursi with all his students were acquitted. Nursi returned to Emirdag (Afyon) and resided there till the winter of 1953. From here Nursi proceeded to Isparta as Nursi had a deep attachment with it because of its natural beauty, and writing of the epistles had commenced from here. Nursi wanted to live his geezerhood and made contrivance to be buried here.160 In 1956, Department of Religious Affairs came with a decision that all the epistles are to save the country and off springs from atheism, moral crisis and communism. Due to this Afyon court also cleared the epistles off all the clampdowns in the same year.161 The epistles were jointly published by the department of religious affairs and the Ankara University resulted in the publication of The Words, The Flashes and The Letters. Necmeddin Şahiner writes:

In 1956, Dr. Tahsin Tola (representative in Turkish parliament from Isparta) got consent from Nursi to publish the epistles. He met Adnan Menderes, the then Turkish Prime Minister, and discussed with him three merits of publication of these epistles as; it will prevent from the unrest within, turkey will regain its place in the Muslim world and it will result in beatitude and safeguard of the patriots and a hindrance in the way of negative nationalism. On hearing this, Menderes gave him the permission of the publication which soon started in Istanbul, Ankara, Samsun and Anatolia.162 In 1957 elections, Nursi voted in favor of Democratic Party. On 12th April, 1957, Nursi laid foundation of a Masjid for the military. In 1958, his biography Tarihçe Hayat (in Turkish) was published from Ankara. With the publication of the epistles, Nursi was introduced to the masses beyond Turkey. One of the higher officials of Ministry of education, Pakistan, met Nursi and had an interaction with Nur students. While returning from Turkey got a collection of the epistles with him to Pakistan. Nursi’s message was presented before Islami Jamiat Talaba on the annual conference which

94 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

was held on 8th –10th December, 1957 in Karachi, which developed a relation between the students of both countries. Nursi was invited to Pakistan for which Nursi excused and said, “The menace which had erupted in the Muslim world is originated from this country [Turkey], it would not be fruitful to flee away from it. It is the wellhead of the depravation of the whole Muslim world. From here, plots are hatched, communist ideas get perpetuated and secret plans of Free Masons are carried out. It will be betrayal if I left this pivotal country for another.”163 On 2nd December, 1959, Nursi went to Ankara and stayed in Beirut Palace hotel for a night and returned to Emirdag. On 19th December he visited Qonya to see his brother Abd al-Majid and paid a visit to the tomb of Maulana Jalal al-Din Rumi. On 31st December, 1959 Nursi went to Ankara on invitation of representatives of Democratic Party. On 1st January from Ankara, Nursi visited Istanbul, returned Ankara on 3rd January. On 5th he was interviewed by an American news reporter. The circuits of December 1959 and January 1960 resulted in curbing Said Nursi and government advised him not to leave Emirdag.164

3.18. Death

On Friday, 18th March, 1960 Nursi fell rigorously sick of pneumonia. Sopored for a while after given an injection, while getting back to consciousness he addressed Zubeyr Gunduzalp, Hamza Emek and Dr. Tahir Barsin who were assisting him as, “My Brothers! Now there is prepotency of Risale-i Nur in the country, which gave a great blow to the communists and Free Masons. You need not to worry; at length everything will get right.”165 On 19th March, 1960, Nursi seemed to be better, embraced his students and asked them, “I am in pain, in a state of restlessness but you should not feel perturbed. The epistles are doing my job in a manifold way, now I have no role to play.”166 On Sunday, 20th March Nursi insisted to visit Urfa and left at 9 a.m. and reached Urfa by 21st March and booked a room (on 3rd floor, 27) in Ipek Palace. People gathered round the hotel to see him. On 22nd March, the authorities got air of the news and sent Police insisting him to leave for Isparta.167 Nursi was in a critical state of health to speak. His students Zubeyr Gonduzalp and Hasno Bayram were in conversation with the Police about the condition of Said Nursi, meanwhile, Mohmmad

95 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

Khatib Oglu – the Democratic Party President interrupted and argued about Said Nursi’s leave for Isparta. On 23rd March168, when the Azan was being voiced from the minarets of ‘Urfa, Said Nursi had met his Creator leaving behind Twenty Turkish Liras, a Turban and a Jubbah. After performing the rites of funeral, Nursi was buried after th 169 ‘AṢr Ṣalah on Thursday 24 March in ‘Urfa. After 111 days of burial, his mortal remains were transferred on 12th July 1960, to an unknown place in Isparta.170

3.19. Early Writings

While in Istanbul, Nursi wrote in various newspapers on multiple topics. His early writings chiefly consist of: his ideas on the subjects commonly discussed; his discussions with intellectuals; and the public speeches. The first book Nursi published was Nutuk 171 (speeches). In 1911 Nursi published two books Muhakemat172 (Reasonings) and İki Mektebe-i Musibetin Şehadatnamesi Veya Divan-i Harb-i Ӧrfi ve Said-i Kurdi173 (The Diploma of the two Schools of Misfortune or the Military Court and Said-i Kurdi). In 1913, he published another book under the title of Munazarat 174 (The Debates). In 1916, he published Işarat al-Icaz175 (Miraculousness of the Qur’an). Nursi published a booklet called Hutuvat-i Sitte 176 (The Six Steps of intrigues) which was secretly distributed after the British troops invaded Istanbul. Nursi published the parts of Hakikat Çekirdekleri 177 (The Seeds of Truth) in 1920 and 1923 respectively. In 1921, Nursi published two books; Nokta 178 (Point) and Ta’likat 179 (Annotations). In 1922, Nursi published Hutbe-i Şamiye 180 (The Damascus Sermon) and Sunuhat 181 (Occurrences). In 1922, Nursi went Ankara and published two books, both in Arabic; Zeyl-uz-Zeyl (The Appendix of the Appendix) sought to disprove atheism and Hubab (Goals) which discusses social and political subjects.182 While in Istanbul in 1923, Nursi published six books; Kizil Icaz,183 Lemaat ,184 Şuaat,185 Tuluat, Rumuz and Işarat.186 During the beginning of his exile in 1925 Nursi drafted, Nurun Ilk Kapisi (The First Gate of Light), based on the Qur’anic themes without following any systematic exegesis of the Qur’an.187

96 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

3.20. Risale-i Nur

Risale-i Nur is actually the collection of the words dictated to the scribes without consulting any sources. Nursi was shocked to learn about the statement of Gladstone and he declared that, “I shall prove and demonstrate to the world that the Quran is undying inextinguishable sun.”188 He aimed to accomplish it in two ways; establishment of an Islamic university – Madrassah al-Zahrā and scribing Rislae-i Nur among which the former did not came to fruition. Risale-i Nur, a commentary on the Quran stretched on around six thousand pages. In 1925, he began writing his Risale-i Nur (Epistle of light) and completed a greater part of followed by Miraculousness of the Quran. The first collection of the treatises The Words (1926-30) was completed, followed by The Letters (1930-34) and by 1934 he had penned the first to eighteenth treatises of The Flashes (1934-35) which was finally completed in Isparta and The Rays (1935-49).189

Risale-i Nur (a collection of more than 130 epistles based on certain Quranic verses) is not a tafsir of the Qur’an per se however; it attempts to formulate the links between the Quranic verses and the natural world. It is often termed as ma‘navī tafsīr which expounds the truths of the Quran. Risale-i Nur, a commentary on the Qur’an, explains and expounds the “truth” in the Quran, besides covering numerous subjects such as concepts of belief in God, purpose of life and creation, life after death, human responsibility and accountability, justice and worship.190 Risale-i Nur chiefly consists of the verses concerning the truths of belief such as the Divine Attributes, Divine activities in the universe, Divine existence and unity, resurrection, Prophethood, Divine determining and man’s duty of worship. Risale is a collection of dictations of an inspired mind. Hand written copies of Risale-i Nur were secretly passed from village to village and town to town through the ‘Nurcu postal system’ till they spread throughout Turkey. It was only in 1946 duplicating machines became available to the Risale-i Nur students and maximum copies were produced. Risale-I Nur can be categorized in three sections: Haqaiq-i Imaniyah (The subjects of faith), Lahikalar (Appendices) - which consists of Nursi’s letters to his students and Mudafaalar (court defenses).191 Risale-i

97 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

Nur explains everything, says Zubeyir Gunduzalp, needed by the people of this century to the degree required, not more, not less.192 Nurcus hold that Hadrat Ali – the fourth Caliph and Abd al-Qadir Jilani- the most prominent saints of Islam – foretold that in the twentieth century Risale-i Nur would fulfill this important task of the Qur’an. For Nurcus it is a spiritual miracle of the Qur’an where as the detractors say that it is full of scientific errors or scatters seeds of sedition. Hamid Algar maintains that there is little of anything in the Risale-i Nur that is identifiably new or unprecedented in either Sufi writings or the literature of tafsir. He further claimed that most of his interpretations can be found in the classic esoteric tafsir of Ismail Ḥaqqi’s Rūḥ al-Bayān.193 However, his claim was refuted by Mehmet Kirkinci in his booklet Ismail Hakki Bursevi ve Bediuzzaman wherein he makes a comparison of nineteen verses citing the comments of both as an example where it is found that both had a different approach and coincided at only a few points.194 The language of the Risale was the Turkish used in the 1920s and 1930s in Turkey. Every part contains some religious terminologies; some Arabic and Persian words are used in the epistles which Nursi wrote for the laymen. The quality of the language became a subject of the criticism for the detractors as it was labeled as ‘full of grammatical mistakes’ and a ‘very bad Turkish.’ However, for the Nurcus it is full of wisdom therefore, nobody is allowed to change even a single word of it nor has been any attempt made for updating the language.195 His writings have a semi-sacred position and are more significant than Nursi himself.196

3.21. Nur Movement

The Nur movement was born in western Turkey in 1920s when Nursi was exiled to a provincial hamlet by the government. From the sociological perspective it was a rural movement sparkled in provincial towns which gradually extended to the urban areas also. The movement was flourished by the sincere devoted followers across the Turkey.197 Nursi admits the fact that the population of Anatolia had always been responsive to spiritual influences. Reluctant to receive the state ideology, as the state had imposed restrictions over the daily life of subjects, because of their religious consciousness. Nursi took this opportunity and appealed the people to unite under the

98 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

umbrella of Shari’ah. He made the text comprehensible to ordinary people in common language so that they could understand and contemplate. Through writing Risale-i Nur, Nursi proved Islamic tradition is still relevant in modern times. He stressed the importance of reading and writing. By reading the Risale people started to reset their minds polluted with western philosophies. This resulted into groups and finally into Nur community. Said Nursi made a remarkable impact on the Turkish subjects. With the passage of time it transformed into a wide network known as Nur movement and surpassed the borders of Turkey to the different countries. Hakan Yavuz writes, “Nursi’s writing professes three major objectives; to raise the consciousness of Muslims, to refute the dominant intellectual discourses of materialism and, to recover collective memory by revisiting the shared grammar of society of Islam.”198 Nursi is followed by a large number of people who seek spiritual fulfillment and the number of the followers is said to be more than six million.199

The base, centre and guide of this movement is Risale-i Nur collection (text) and it is unique because of its textual nature. This movement is rooted in their network of media, education, business and publishing establishments. Nur movement created new possibilities for those who had moved from rural areas to urban centers and desired to reconstruct their conception of Islam in a prevailing age of skepticism and secularism. The movement has stressed the significance of reason over miracles in religious understanding and the Risale became a vehicle for the formation of a Nurcu consciousness.200 Nur movement has been successful in elucidating and addressing the issues raised by republican secularization. People linked with the movement because of a certain motivation or psychological inclination.201 The members work on the aspect of what Serif Mardin terms as the mytho-poetic dimension of religion that is concerned with the maintenance of the integrity of the self worked through a symbolic mytho- poetic repertoire.202 About the internal organization of the Nur movement Serif Mardin writes:

The internal organization of the “faith movement”…consists of the hierarchically arranged categories of Talebe (student), Kardes (brother), dost (friend) and Sevgili (beloved). Talebe and Kardes are said to have to retain their bachelor status for the first five to ten years of their

99 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

“apprenticeship” and to concentrate exclusively on study and on tests assigned to them. The step from Talebe to Kardes depends upon the internalization of the message of the Rislae-i Nur as well as on establishing an activist record. Organizational responsibilities appear at the level of the dost. The highest rank consists of persons who have inherited the tradition of Said Nursi from the man himself. The number of these is decreasing all the time.203 Both men and women gather to take part to discuss the passages from the Risale-i Nur but the leadership remains in the hands of men. The movement gained momentum in Turkey with universalistic characteristics between 1950 and 1975. It does not work as a sect rather works as a mediator for the dissemination of the truth. Anyone can acquire the membership ipso facto by taking part in the dissemination of the truth.204

3.22. Dershanes

The evolving publishing houses and reading circles of the Nur movement are often termed as Dershanes which refer to, in Turkish, a special apartment floor or one-floor building and a group of people who meet there to read and discuss the writings of Said Nursi. Dershanes are pivotal in Nur identity which helps the formation of close networks of relationships among the followers and making bonds of trust and civility among them. They work as unofficial networks across which flow ideas, capital, and people, dershanes help to frame a pattern of conduct in society. Up to 1983, Nurcus used to meet in private places to read the Risale. After the economic liberalization of 1983 by Turgut Ӧzal, they started to buy separate buildings for this purpose to discuss social issues from the Risale perspective. These dershanes later led to the emergence of new Nurcu elite.205 The rapid increase in dershanes led to the fragments of Nurcu movement on the grounds of class, gender, ethnicity and region. These dershanes formed as textual-communities contribute in formation of new public spaces able to authorize Turkish civil society. They have been pivotal in the evolution and development of Islamic movements in Turkey and have played instrumental role in making of a ‘counter-elite’ in Turkey. These have been used as hostels for university students. Dershanes tend to shape everyday life through ‘Islamic idiom and practice’ hence they do not separate religion from the everyday life. Kӧprü, a journal dedicated to the Risale-i Nur with a circulation of 5,000 of which 3,500 copies are sent to

100 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

dershanes. Dershanes also act as a center of social and economic activities where people meet to discuss business issues and inform other members as well. These are connected with a particular group of people and represent religiously shaped new public spaces which quickly become integrated into the surrounding community.206 Dershanes have an open-door policy thus anyone can become a part of it. The weekly assemblies are held to disseminate the teachings of Said Nursi. The interactive session is led by most educated person called abi (older brother). One who knows the Risale-i Nur the best is highly regarded. One who interprets the text leads the prayer and presents the lesson (ders). Interpreter sits in the center however, the young place themselves closer to the door, and hierarchy of age is also taken into consideration. Interpreter reads aloud Risale-i Nur, while reading, translates the Arabic, Persian and Ottoman words and interprets the text. While interpreting the text he presents his own ideas that reflect his knowledge and understanding of Risale. Dershanes have also a class dimension; the rich people assemble in their own neighborhood dershanes. Interpretations differ according to the class make up of each dershane. Dershanes are commonly found in the industrial areas than in rural class or working-class communities because the migration necessitated a new religious idiom that Nursi sought to provide.207

3.23. Students and Successors

Although Nursi had appointed no successor, as he maintained that the true master of the Risale-i Nur movement was the Risale-i Nur itself. Risale influenced the younger generations who later proved to be the significant figures in the Nur movement. It addressed the section that was influenced by the Western ideas and philosophy therefore, it drew university students and teachers like Mustafa Sungur (Nursi’s closest and influential student and his ‘spiritual son’), Mustafa Ramzanoğlu (a university student) and Zubeyr Gundzalp (a post office employee) who first visited Nursi in 1946.208 Mustafa Hulusi,209 Molla Habib,210 Müküslü Hamza Efendi,211 Şamli Hafiz Tevfik,212 Husrev and Re’fet Bey,213 Çayci Emin, Mehmed Feyzi, Nazif and Selahuddin Çelebi all were the students who assisted in writing Risale in Kastamanou.214

101 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

References and Endnotes

1 There are various dates regarding the birth of Said Nursi, but 1876 is the appropriate one if 1293 A.H. is taken into consideration. It exactly corresponds to 1876, i.e. (1293 x 0.97) + 622 (wherein 1293 is the birth year as per Hijri calendar, 0.97 is the difference between the Hijri and Gregorian calendar and 622 marks the date of Migration of Prophet (SAW). 2 A village elongating along the bottom of the towering mountains, rich in flora, then populated with the simple traditional stone made houses with tiny windows and straw roofs. See; Sukran Vahide, Islam in Modern Turkey: An Intellectual Biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005, p.3. 3 In 1913, Sayyid Ali, the Shaykh of Hizan, occupied the city of Bitlis for a week, by a rebellion led by “religious persons” against “atheism” of Turkish military commanders of the area, which resulted in social unrest and the entire country became worried by warfare and tribal disputes. See, Serif Mardin, Religion and Social Change in Modern Turkey: The Case of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, New York: State University of New York Press, 1989, p. 49. 4 Sukran Vahide, Loc. Cit. 5 Colin Turner and Hasan Horkuc, Said Nursi, London: I.B. Tauris, 2009, p.5. 6 Ihsan Qasim al- Salihi, Dāstān-i ‘Azm wa Īmān Shaykh Bedī‘uzzamān Said Nursī Kī Mukhtaṣar Sawāniḥ Ḥayāt, (tr.), Hafiz M. A. Nadvi and Dr. Naseem Akhtar Nadvi, New Delhi: Barla Publications, 2014, p. 10, fn. 9. However there is a difference of opinion as when Bediuzzaman was accused of claiming to be a Mahdi. He defended himself by responding, ‘I am not a Sayyid, whereas the Mahdi will be a Sayyid.’ See; Hamid Algar, ‘The Centennial Renewer: Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and the tradition of Tajdid’ Journal of Islamic Studies: Oxford, 12(3): 2001, pp. 309-310. 7 Vahide, Op. Cit., p.3. 8 Vahide, Idem. 9 Al-Salihi, Op. Cit., p.9. 10 Vahide, Op. Cit., p.4. 11 One of the four major Sufi Orders founded by Baha al-Din Naqashband, which spread in the area in 19th century. 12 Al-Salihi, Op. Cit., p. 12. 13 Turner and Horkuc, Loc. Cit. 14 Ibid., p.6. See also; Vahide, Op. Cit., p.6 15 Al-Salihi, Loc. Cit. 16 Sukran Vahide, Loc. Cit. 17 Al-Salihi, Op. Cit., pp. 12-13. 18 Turner and Horkuc, Loc. Cit. 19 Idem. 20 Idem. 21 Idem. 22 A book on Usul al-fiqh by Taj al-Din Abd al-Wahab al-Subki. 23 A book on ‘Ilm al-Kalam by Izz al-din Aleji. 24 Refers to the book, Tuhfat al-Minhāj fī sharḥ al-Minhāj by Ibn-I Hajr Haythami which is a commentary on Imam Nawawi al-Shafii’s book Minhāj al-Ṭālibīn.

102 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

25 Turner and Horkuc, Op. Cit., pp.6-7. See also; Vahide, Op. Cit., pp. 10-11. 26 Vahide, Ibid., p.9. 27 Ibid., p.11. 28 Hakan Yavuz, Islamic Political Identity in Turkey, New York: Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 152. 29 Turner and Horkuc, Op. Cit., p.8. 30 Ibid., p.8. 31 Sukran Vahide, Op. Cit., p.12. See also; Al-Salihi, Op. Cit., pp. 16-17. 32 Turner and Horkuc, Op. Cit., p.8 33 Idem. 34 Al-Salihi, Op. Cit., pp.18-19. 35 Vahide, Op. Cit., p. 14. 36 Ibid., p.15. 37 Al-Salihi, Op. Cit., p.21. 38 It is a book on logic that helps to remove the doubtfulness regarding religion and is composed by Qazi Armavi. 39 Al-Mirqāt is a book on Hanafi school of thought by Mohammad bin Farāmuz al- Khusravī (885 A.H.). 40 Maryam Jameelah, Islam in Theory and Practice, Delhi: Taj Company, 1997, pp.188-9. 41 Vahide, Op. Cit., p.6. 42 Badr Azimabadi, Great Personalities in Islam, New Delhi: Adam Publishers, 2004, p. 283. 43 Turner and Horkuc, Op. Cit., pp. 8-9. 44 He meant by these three sides; Father, Mother and teachers, who were attached to the Naqashbandi Order. 45 Vahide, Op. Cit., p.5. 46 Algar, Op. Cit., p. 303. 47 Vahide, Op. Cit., p.10. 48 Hassan Horkuc, Said Nursi’s Ideal for Human Society: Moral and Social Reform in the Risale-i Nur, Duham: Durham University, 2004, p. 105. 49 Al-Salihi, Loc. Cit. 50 Zeki Saritoprak, “Bediuzzaman Said Nursi,” The Islamic World, Andrew Rippin (ed.), New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 2008, p. 397. 51 Vahide, Op. Cit., p. 29. 52 Idem. 53 Ibid., p.45. 54 Ibid., p.46. 55 Ibid., p.45. 56 Ibid., p.29. 57 Ibid., p.46. 58 Idem. 59 Idem. 60 Ibid., p.107. 61 Ibid., p.102.

103 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

62 Thomas Michel, Insights From the Risale-i Nur, New Jersey: Tughra Books, 2014, p.66. 63 Ibid., p.67. 64 Idem. 65 Vahide, Op. Cit., p.326. 66 Ibid., p.33. 67 Ibid., p.31. 68 Ibrahim Debbagh, “Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s Views on the Theory of Knowledge”, presented in Third International Symposium on Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (The Reconstruction of Islamic Thought in the Twentieth Century and Bediuzzaman Said Nursi) 24th- 26th September, Istanbul, 1995, p.12. 69 A reputed official highly regarded by Sultan Abdulhamid-II, who served as governor in Mosul and Bitlis as well as in Van. He was a patron of learning, followed developments in science, and owned an extensive library. See; Vahide, Op. Cit., p. 27. 70 Idem. 71 Idem. 72 Mohd Manzoor Alam, 100 Great Muslim Leaders of the 20th Century, New Delhi: Institute of Objective Studies, 2005, p.436. 73 Sarwat Sawlat, Turkī kā Mard-I Mujāhid: Bedī‘uzzamān Said Nūrsī, Delhi: Markazi Maktaba Islami Publishers, 1996, p.69. 74 Jameelah, Op. Cit., p. 190. 75 Al-Salihi, Op. Cit., p.29. 76 Jameelah, Loc. Cit. 77 Ibrahim Abu Rabi, Islam at the Crossroads: On the Life and Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, New York: SUNY Press, 2003, p. xviii. 78 Erik J. Zurcher, Turkey: A Modern History, London: I. B. Tauris, 2004, p. 169. 79 Sawlat, Op. Cit., p.63. 80 Ibid., p.64. 81 Ibid., pp. 65-66. 82 A weekly published Newspaper in Istanbul, during this time its office was the centre of all Islamists like Nursi. 83 Said Nursi, The Damascus Sermon, (tr.), Sukran Vahide, New Delhi: Barla Publications, 2015, p.13. 84 Ibid., pp.28-29. 85 Ibid., pp.29-30. 86 Ibid., p.14. 87 Seritoprak, Op. Cit., p.398. 88 19th century was the period of Industrial revolution in Europe, so they looked for colonies and markets to promote their industries. The coastal provinces of Africa which had claimed independence due to weakness of the Sultanate caught the attention of European governments. France captured Algeria and Tunisia and England captured Egypt. A treaty was signed between the two in 1904 which resulted in the sole mastery of England over Egypt and in turn Egypt was to help France in capturing Morocco which was independent then. Tripoli was only province left by the duo for being a desert and it captured the attention of Italy that was far behind from England and France. At the outset of the 20th century, Tripoli was a province of Ottomans directly controlled by Bab-i Aali, inhabited by

104 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

Turks, Moors and semi-independent Arab tribes. During the time of Abdul Hamid, the external affairs minister of Italy had got the approval from European powers to control Tripoli after disintegration of Ottoman Sultanate. Up to 1910, Italian government continuously claimed that it was not interested to have any part of Ottomans. Mean while, a rumor spread that Italy is eying to capture Tripoli, in reaction to this on 2nd December 1910, Italian external affairs minister condemned it in the parliament by saying, ‘our intense desire is endurance and safety of Ottoman Sultanate and we want Tripoli to be in acquisition of Turks forever.’ Only after 10 months of this statement, Italy suddenly presented an ultimatum to Bab-i Aali and without waiting for the response, invaded Tripoli with its 50,000 forces resulting in a battle. With heavy bombardment Italy captured Rhodes and islands of Aegean Sea, and in turn Turks also fought valiantly and the battle resulted in a Treaty signed on 8 October, 1912. Owing to which Turks lost Tripoli and Italy was to hand over the islands of Aegean Sea to Turkey, which was never fulfilled. For further details See; M. Uzayr, Dawlat-i Uthmania, Azamgarh: Matbua Maarif Press, 1960, Vol.2, pp. 293-99. 89 For the first time in history, Balkan states (Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania etc) united and publicized to wage a war against Ottoman Sultanate. In 1912 Balkan war started resulting in loss of non-Muslim populated states and now Ottoman Sultanate constituted of Arabs and Turks only. See; M. Uzayr, Ibid, p. 299. ‘It was a practice of world war and Russia was the bud behind the both’ says Khalida Adib. For further details see; Khalida Adib, Turkī Main Mashriq-o Maghrib kī Kashmakash, tr., Dr. Syed Abid Hussain, Delhi: Maktaba Jamia Millia Islamia, 1935, pp. 81-83. 90 Sawlat, Op. Cit., p.83. 91 Vahide, Op. Cit., p. 111. 92 Sawlat, Op. Cit., p.84. 93 Ibid., p. 85. 94 Idem. 95 Ibid., p.86. 96 Ibid., pp.86-87. 97 Ibid., pp.87-88. 98 Ibid., pp.91-92. 99 Ibid., p.92. 100 Ibid., p.93. 101 Nursi, The Rays, (tr.), Sukran Vahide, New Delhi: Barla Publications, 2015, p.345. 102 Nursi, The Flashes, (tr.), Sukran Vahide, New Delhi: Barla Publications, 2015, p.298-99. 103 Sawlat, Op. Cit., pp.94-95. 104 Adib, Op. Cit., p.113. 105 Sawlat, Op. Cit., p.105. 106 Ibid., pp.102-103. 107 Ibid., p.103. 108 Ibid., p.104. 109 Ibid., p.97. 110 Horkuc, Op. Cit., p. 112. 111 Al-Salihi, Op. Cit., p.41. 112 Idem. 113 Vahide, Op. Cit., p.133.

105 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

114 Al-Salihi, Op. Cit., p. 42. 115 Sawlat, Op. Cit., p.98. 116 Ibid., pp. 99-100. 117 Ian Markham and Suendam Birinci, An Introduction to Said Nursi: Life, Thought, and Writings, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2011, p.13. 118 Horkuc, Op. Cit., p.114. 119 Vahide, Op. Cit., p.136. 120 Ibid., p.141. 121 Ibid., p.136. 122 Abu Rabi, Op. Cit., p. xix. 123 Ibid., p. xix. 124 Al-Salihi, Op. Cit., p. 59. See also; Abu Rabi, Op. Cit., p. xx. 125 Ibid., p.60. See also: Abu Rabi, Idem. 126 Idem. 127 Ibid., p.66. 128 A revolt, that took place in February 1925 among the Kurds of the East Anatolia. Under the leadership of Shaykh Said they resisted the government of the Republic and refused to pay taxes and serve in the army. Finally the revolt was suppressed resulting in the hanging of several Kurdish Agas. See. M. Philips Price, A History of Turkey, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1956, p. 132. ‘It was directed against the dismantling o Islamic institutions, but also asserted the voice of Kurdish nationalism and regional autonomy in the face of the centralist politics of the new regime, which aimed at the Turkification of the Kurds. It still serves as paradigmatic example of reactionary religious resistance against the new secular republican order.’ See; Andrew Rippin (ed.), The Islamic World, New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis, 2008, p.65. 129 Al-Salihi, Op. Cit., p.63. 130 Idem. 131 Vahide, Op. Cit., p. 189. 132 Sawlat, Op. Cit., p. 136-38. 133 Turner and Horkuc, Op. Cit., p. 26. 134 Nursi, The Flashes, (tr.), Sukran Vahide, New Delhi: Barla Publications, 2015, p. 255. 135 Ibid., p. 255. 136 Sawlat, Op. Cit., p. 142. 137 A Place in northern province of Turkey on the shores of Black sea, more delightful than Isparta with fertile land and forests hence catchy for tourists. 138 Sawlat, Op.cit, p. 144. 139 Vahide, Op. Cit., p. 227. 140 Ibid., p. 228. 141 Sawlat, Op. Cit., p. 145. 142 Ibid., p. 146. 143 Turner and Horkuc, Op. Cit., p. 28. 144 This committee consisted of Professor Yusuf Ziya Yörükan from Advisory Board for the President of Religious Affairs, Necati Lugal from the Middle East Institute of the Faculty of Language, History

106 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

and Geography, and Yusuf Aykut, a member of the Council for Collection of Islamic Books in the Turkish Historical Society. See;Turner and Horkuc, Op. Cit., p. 29. 145 Sawlat, Op. Cit., p. 148. 146 Turner and Horkuc, Op. Cit., p. 30. 147 Vahide, Op. Cit., p. 271 148 Sawlat, Op. Cit., p. 154. 149 Ibid., p. 157. 150 Ibid., pp. 157-58. 151 Ibid., p. 159. 152 Vahide, Op. Cit., p. 285. 153 Sawlat, Loc. Cit. 154 Ibid., p. 162. 155 Ibid., p. 163. 156 Ibid., p. 167. 157 Ibid., p. 168. 158 Ibid., pp. 170-71. 159 Ibid., pp. 173-74. 160 Ibid., pp. 178-79. 161 Ibid., p. 179. 162 Ibid., pp. 180-81. 163 Ibid., pp. 181-82. 164 Ibid., p. 188. 165 Ibid., p. 191. 166 Ibid, p. 192. 167 Ibid., pp. 198-99. 168 Nursi passed away on 23rd March, 1960 that corresponds to Wednesday, 25th Ramadan, 1379 A.H. 169 Sawlat, Op. Cit., pp. 200-202. 170 Hakan Yavuz maintains that it was due to the Military Coup of 1960 during which Kemalist establishment tried to stop the penetration of the society into state institutions and hanged Adnan Menderes. These Coup leaders also dug the grave of Said Nursi in Urfa and deposited it into the sea. He further says, “Even the dead body of Nursi posed a ‘security threat’ to the generals.” Hakan Yavuz, “The Assassination of Collective Memory: The Case of Turkey,” The Muslim World, 89 (3- 4): 1999, p. 202. See also; Sawlat, Ibid., p. 204. 171 It comprised of the public speeches he had delivered between 1908-1910. 172 Muhakemat was written as an introduction to a tafsir (commentary on the Quran). By giving some examples in this book, Nursi tries to establish the principles of tafsir and to demonstrate how the verses of the Qur’an should be understood. See; Ali Mermer, Aspects of Religious Identity: The Nurcu Movement in Turkey Today, Durham: University of Durham, 1985, p. 121. 173 This book is the compilation of his defence speeches in the Military court set up just after 31st March incident. See; Mermer, Idem. 174 The book contains the discussions Said Nursi had with the tribesmen in the form of questions and answers, it reflects Nursi’s ideas on social and political matters of the time. See; Mermer, Idem.

107 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

175 It is a systematic exegesis of the Qur’an from the beginning to the 32nd verse of the second chapter (Al-Baqarah) which was originally written in Arabic and later in 1955 translated into Turkish by Abdulmecid Unlukul, Nursi’s younger brother. See; Mermer, Ibid., p. 122. 176 On 16th March, when the Ulama were asked to give answers to the six questions framed by the Church of England. Nursi did not answer the questions officially but penned his personal answers in an insulting manner in this booklet and distributed it secretly while the troops were in Istanbul. See; Mermer, Ibid., p. 122. 177 Abdurrehman, Nursi’s Nephew, is credited with the compilation of the book which contains wise sayings regarded as ‘inspirations that came to Nursi’s Heart’. See; Mermer, Idem. 178 In this book Nursi tried to put forward the most credible logical evidence to prove the existence and unity of God. See; Mermer, Ibid., p. 123. 179 It was Nursi’s first book on logic in Arabic from the Islamic viewpoint. See; Mermer, Idem. 180 It was actually a sermon Nursi delivered in the historic Umayyad mosque in Damascus, it was later translated into Turkish. See; Mermer, Idem. 181 It records Nursi’s comments on selected verses of the Qur’an. See; Mermer, Idem. 182 Idem. 183 This is Nursi’s second book on logic written in Arabic. See; Mermer, Ibid., pp. 123-24. 184 It is an expansion of the very brief sayings compiled in the Hakikat Çakirldekliri. See; Mermer, Idem. 185 This book is to prove that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as the true and final Prophet and provides account of some of the Prophet’s miracles. See; Mermer, Ibid., p. 124. 186 The last three books maintain Nursi’s opinion on the social and political dimensions of Islam then discussed by the religious scholars. Some parts of these books seek to counter the criticism raised by the adversaries of Islam. See; Mermer, Idem. 187 Idem. 188 Vahide, Op. Cit., p. 31. 189 Mermer, Op. Cit., p. 127. 190 Markham and Brinci, Op. Cit., pp.18-19. 191 Zeki Saritoprak, “Islam and Politics in Said Nursi’s Writings,” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, 19 (1): 2008, pp. 124. 192 Mermer, Op. Cit., pp. 124-25. 193 Ibid., pp. 125-126. 194 Ibid., pp. 168-69. 195 Ibid., pp. 126-127. 196Yavuz, Op. Cit., p. 199 (Supra 174). 197 Mardin, Op. Cit., p. 25. 198 Abu Rabi, Op. Cit., p. 297. 199 Yavuz, Op. Cit., p. 11 (Supra 28). 200 Ibid., p. 162. 201Mardin, Op. Cit., p. 16. 202 Ibid., p. 17.

108 Said Nursi: A Biographical Account Chapter - 3

203 Ibid., pp. 23-24. 204 Ibid., pp. 24-26. 205 Yavuz, Op. Cit., p. 196 (Supra 174). 206 Ibid., p. 197. See also; Yavuz, Op. Cit., pp. 162-65 (Supra 28). 207 Yavuz, Ibid., pp. 165-167. 208 Vahide, Op. Cit., p. 276. 209 He is said to be a favored disciple of Bediuzzaman. See; Hamid Algar, “The Centennial Renewer: Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and the Tradition of Tajdid,” Journal of Islamic Studies: Oxford, 12:3 (2001), p. 309. 210 Bediuzzaman’s much loved student who acted as his scribe while writing Isharat al-I‘jaz. See; Vahide, “The Life and Times of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi,” The Muslim World, 89(3-4), 1999, pp. 219-20. 211 Ibid, fn. 40, p. 220. 212 Nursi’s student who wrote some parts of Risale-i Nur. See; Ibid., p. 227. 213 Both of them were his closest students in Isparta who visited him and assisted him as scribes and writing out copies of Risale-i Nur. Ibid., p. 230. 214 Ibid., p. 234.

109 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West

4.1. Introduction

The spread of the nineteenth century European rationalism in the Muslim lands had subjected the foundations of belief under attack. Nursi was deeply concerned about the increasing dominance of the Western values. Nursi’s ideas on the West and its impact on the society were not so different from other thinkers. To counter these negative effects, Nursi sought to strengthen the belief of people and make the Qur’an a central point of life. He observed communism and internal dissension of the Muslim world and adherence to the Turkey as the two calamities which had caused destabilization in the Muslim world. He emphasized that adherence to Islam and its morality in this era could establish a true civilization. Nursi attempted to heal the wounds of those affected by the materialist philosophy and misguidance of the science. Nursi attempted to strengthen the relation with rest of the Islamic world through Risale-i Nur. Nursi’s civilization serves mankind’s progress and development and identifies man’s potential which equals to that of humanity.

4.2. Referring to ‘West (Europe)’ in the Risale-i Nur

In the writings of Said Nursi, Europe is used other than a geographical context hence surpasses the geographical dimensions generally associated with the word ‘Europe’. However, there seems an overlap between the geographical and a symbolic meaning of the term. The word ‘Europe’ has been used forty-seven times and the derivatives ‘European(s)’ eight times and ‘Europeanism’ once in the Risale-i Nur. The context of the term differs and can be divided into three categories: first, it is used in geographical context; second, it refers to positive Europe and; third, refers to the negative Europe. The geographical context appears once in The Words,1 The Letters2 and The Flashes3. In addition to this the word ‘Europe’ is further used as ‘to go to Europe’4 which refers also to a geographical context and “the lands of Europe which are powerfully cold”5 where Nursi reduces the whole continent of Europe to Russia and Germany and “the momentous events of Europe”6 that implies to the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s political shifts in Europe from feudalism to nation-states and the rise of

110 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

communist ideologies which hardly reveals his understanding of the Europe.7 The second category of Europe which Nursi talks about is ‘positive’ one worth emulating discussed in his writings.8 The third category is further subdivided into two categories of Europe; the first category occurs at multiple places in the writings where Nursi makes a comparison between the Europe and Islam.9 The second category10 sees and discusses Europe as a source of sickness.11

4.3. Defining Civilization

The concept of civilization emerged from the enlightenment period, although it traces its roots to the series of inventions and discoveries made by the Europeans from the fifteenth century onwards. In the eighteenth century it came to be recognized in the academic circles, emerging in France in intellectual circles the term ‘civilization’ appeared as an amalgam of scientific and controversial meanings. For elites it referred to live and behave according to the standards quite different from the other classes of the society. A distinctive set up of living, manners of speech, judgment and behavior representing a particular life-style different from the other classes, was referred to as civilized life and pointed to as civilization. Civilization espoused a thing of value and to be civilized was looked as an honor and a mark of superiority.12 The elites invoked the dichotomy between the ‘civilized’ and the ‘savage’. At the eve of colonization of the Muslim world, the term civilization was used to imply the Western cultural, technological and military supremacy over the colonized. In the encounters between the West and the rest, the West was a by default superior because of the creation of modernity and a birth place of useful innovations and originality and the contributions made by the non-Western cultures to Western civilization are disregarded. The Western civilization claims monopoly over the concepts such as freedom, justice, democracy and equality.13 Said Nursi uses the term ‘civilization’ and ‘civilized’ and uses sometimes qualifier ‘Western’ to convey the meanings. He uses the term in three different perspectives with respect to the shifts in his life (Old Said, New Said and Third Said).

111 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

4.3.1. First Perspective

Nursi uses the term with reference to the difference in the social and cultural set up in a society. He uses the term to refer to the life of those who live in urban areas (towns, cities) and are more apt for social life as he says, “…the great majority of those who follow that school [Hanafi] are closer to civilization and town life and more fitted for social life.”14 In this sense civilized means to be refined and adopt the life style of city people. It seems that Nursi was influenced by the use of this term in European writings. At the same time he does not aim to prove the superiority of the one on the other, but he wants to convey that urban life is more feasible to man’s growth as a social being.15

4.3.2. Second Perspective

In the broader sense of the term, Nursi uses it, to denote an extended social group with a different cultural and economic organization. Said Nursi uses ‘the marvels of human civilization’ to imply that development and advancement are two important factors to be civilized. Simultaneously, Said Nursi argues that the ‘wonders of the civilization’ are insignificant in comparison with the natural wonders in the entire cosmos worked by almighty Allah. Said Nursi uses the term without qualifiers but from the context it seems that he talks about the attainments of civilization that are the result of the man’s weakness and not his inherent ability.16 He further says:

Man resembles a delicate and petted child in the universe. There is a great strength in his weakness and great power in his impotence. For it is through the strength of his weakness and power of his impotence that beings have been subjected to him… For example, the strength in the weakness of a chick causes the mother hen to attack a lion. And its newly- born lion cub subjugates to itself the savage and hungry lioness, leaving the mother hungry and the cub full. See this strength in weakness and manifestation of Divine mercy, which are worthy of notice…This means that man’s domination and human advances and the attainments of civilization, which are to be observed, have been made subject to him not through his attracting them or conquering them or through combat, but due to his weakness…The reason for his domination is not strength and the power of knowledge, but the compassion and clemency of the Sustainer and Divine mercy and wisdom: they have subjugated things to him.17

112 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

Nursi cites the example of a child who by crying or looking unhappy subjugates the strong to himself and gets what he wants that he could not obtain one thousandth part of it with a thousand times his own strength. Nursi wants to convey that by weakness and impotence one seeks compassion and a protection towards him, he adds, “the child can subjugate heroes to himself with his tiny finger. Now, should such a child with foolish conceit deny the compassion and accuse the protection saying: ‘I subjugate these with my own strength’, of course he will receive a slap.”18 So civilizational development is the direct consequence of the Divine subjugation and it does not come through innate human intellect and powers. Nursi suppresses the human ego and prevents man from claiming civilizational success as his own as it is endowed to him due to his weakness, ignorance and greed.19

4.3.3. Third Perspective

It consists of a period when the European models were looked as an ideal and were spoken of in the Muslim world. This usage of the third perspective in the writings of Said Nursi is a ‘pejorative’ one. The term appears alone but sometimes with the qualifiers such as; ‘European’, ‘Western’ or ‘modern’ which makes it easy to understand what Said Nursi points at. This civilization refers to the ideas of European culture and socio-political hegemony, the downward course of the West and the decline of the religion. In short this civilization needs to be sifted at every time. Before engaging with this civilization and Said Nursi’s stand, four points need to be understood, according to Colin Turner.20 Firstly, Nursi uses the word ‘civilization’ without qualifying it; he talks here about civilization in a limited context about the Western civilization. Secondly he uses the terms ‘Europe’ and ‘the West’ as if they are synonymous in his writings. Nursi in his former years seems to comprehend the West as a geographical entity parallel to Europe- the birthplace of the Western civilization and modernity where the enlightenment project was framed. Thirdly, one should not comprehend negatively the opposition of Nursi regarding the negatives of the ‘modernity’ in general and ‘Western civilization’ in particular, like scientific and technological advancements as Nursi was persecuted on account of his writings.21

113 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

Lastly, Nursi’s stand on the issue of civilization was varying through the shifts in his life, as he himself confirms:

Since Western science and civilization had to a degree a place in the Old Said’s thought, when the New Said embarked on his journeys of the mind and of the heart, they were transformed into sickness of the heart and were the cause of excessive difficulties. The New Said therefore wanted to shake off from his mind that fallacious philosophy and dissolute civilization. In order to silence the emotions of his evil-commanding soul, which testified in favor of Europe, he was compelled to hold in his spirit the following discussion – which in one respect is very brief and in another is long – with the collective personality of Europe.22 During this period (Old Said) of his life he focused on politics (directing and guiding the political leaders) and the socio-political reformation. Nursi was influenced by the writings of Namik Kemal (1840-1888) – a social reformer, journalist and a poet – and by the teachings of Jamal al-Din Afghani (1838-1897). Nursi seems to have been influenced by the late 19th century currents of social and political reforms in the whole Muslim world looking for the solutions to the decline of the Muslim society by the rapidly encroaching West. Nursi was awakened by reading Namik Kemal who advocated liberty from despotism, sacrifice for Ottoman nation and the search for progress and prosperity. Nursi believed in the restoration of the glory of Islamic civilization through the tools of education and constitutionalism. Nursi felt in constitutionalism a ray of hope for the Ottoman nation to development and progress, however, Nursi’s constitutionalism was deeply rooted in the spirit of Islam and obedience to its principles. Islam is in potentia bears the rooms for progress and civilization which is proven the past glory of the Muslims. For the realization of the ‘true civilization’ Muslims need to reaffirm their faith. Nursi gave a speech Address to Freedom after the Young Turk revolution in which he brought forth the objectives of the constitutionalism, one of which dealt with the restoration and renewal of Islamic civilization.23 Nursi addressed as:

O Freedom! (…) I convey these glad tidings to you, that if you make the Shari’ah, which is itself, the source of life, and if you grow in that paradise, this oppressed nation will progress a thousand times further than in former times. If, that is, it takes you as its guide in all matters and does not besmirch you through harbouring personal enmity and thoughts of

114 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

revenge… Freedom has exhumed us from the grave of desolation and despotism, and summoned us to the paradise of unity and love of nation. The doors of a suffering-free paradise of progress and civilization have been opened to us… The constitution, which is in accordance with the Shari’ah, is the introduction to the sovereignty of the nation and invites us to enter like the treasury-guard of Paradise. O my oppressed compatriots! Let us go and enter!.24

It seems that Nursi did not support the creation of any political system neither he felt that Muslim law be imposed on all aspects of governance. He addressed to the Muslim nation exclusively to make Islamic law the source of life. He worked for the betterment of the faith of the common Muslims rather than advocating the Islamic law as a remedy to political arena. When Nursi talks about ‘suffering-free paradise of progress and civilization’, the civilization in this context seems a refined one which points at; the civilization according to the lines of Islam. Nursi, right from the beginning, made it clear to adopt selectively from other traditions or civilizations in order to avoid its negatives as he says:

We shall take with pleasure the points of Europe – like technology and industry – that will assist us in progress and civilization. However (…) we shall forbid the sins and evils of civilization from entering the bounds of freedom and our civilization with the sword of the Shari’ah, so that the young people in our civilization will be protected by the pure, cold spring of life of the Shari’ah. We must imitate the Japanese in acquiring civilization, for in taking only the virtues of civilization from Europe they preserved their national customs, which are the leaven of every nation’s continuance.25

Nursi admonishes to take the positives from the others which will help us in advancement at the same time he warns not to adopt the negative aspects and not to give away one’s own customs and traditions.

4.4. Nursi’s Travels to Europe

Nursi’s travels to Europe can be categorized into two parts; first, his travels to those European areas which were in the domain of the Ottoman Empire like his visit to Salonica in 190926 Macedonia and Albania as a part of the Sultan Reshad’s Rumelia journey in 191127 and in June 191828 to Sophia on his return from the captivity in

115 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

Russia. These Nursi’s travels seem to reveal that Nursi’s contact with non-Muslim Ottoman subjects were negligible. Second, his travels beyond the Ottoman boundaries, particularly towards the end of the Great War-1 which consist of his forced captivity as a prisoner of war in the Northern province of Kosturma between 1916 and 1918 followed by an escape through Warsaw, Berlin, Austria and Bulgaria and a brief stay in Switzerland from Berlin.29 His official biographies do not discuss in detail about his escape and his three-month journey back to Istanbul in 1918 and little is known about how he spent his time and what kind of interaction he had with local Europeans.30

4.5. Nursi and the West

Although Nursi was little acquainted with the Western civilization yet he could comprehend the encroachment of the West upon his own culture expressed his opinions regarding it. The West was not fully exposed to Nursi but his stay at the governor’s residence in Van fashioned his understanding of the West. Serif Mardin records:

Newspapers were regularly received in the office of the governor, and it is in a news dispatch from London that Said Nursi states he received the first great shock that urged him to adopt a crusading spirit in the cause of Islam. The date was 1895. A fracas with Armenians in Istanbul had aggravated the Armenian problem. Europe was in arms against the Muslim Ottomon ‘barbarians’. The British secretary of the colonies had made a speech stating that Muslims never would become civilized unless the Qur’an was wrested away from them. Said Nursi reacted violently, pledging to show the world that the Qur’an was ‘unextinguishable.’31

It clearly points that Nursi was aware of Western civilization before this incident; this further proved to be a turning point not only in Nursi’s life but his passion for the Qur’an32 and a base for his perception of the West. Nursi’s comprehension of the Western culture was further fashioned by a short period spent in Europe after his escape from imprisonment during the Great War-I as a prisoner of war for two years in Russia. While Nursi fled through Warsaw and Vienna and returned to Turkey, he had visited Switzerland during this time “to study how people of different religious and ethnic stock had been able to make up a modern state.”33 Apart from this little is known about

116 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

his encounter with the West and the influence they had regarding the perception (positive/negative) of Western civilization.

4.6. Two-Faceted West

Patrice C. Brodeur conducted a study of Nursi’s conception of the West by considering his references to Europe in the Risale-i Nur collection. Of the 47 times she discovered Europe to be mentioned in the work as a whole she situated each reference into one of three broad categories: those being employed for strictly geographical purposes, those which indicate a ‘positive’ Europe, and the overwhelming majority which discuss Europe in a ‘negative’ light. Brodeur further expounds on this categorization by defending her use of the terms ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ because of the “dichotomous and often moralistic” manner in which Nursi approaches European civilization. Indeed in light of Nursi’s own writings, these binary categorizations need no justification, as it is apparent that he himself saw Europe positive as well as negative, good in some respects and bad in others. Nursi states:

It should not be misunderstood; Europe is two. One follows the sciences, which serve justice and right and the industries beneficial for the life of society through the inspiration it has received from true Christianity; this first Europe I am not addressing. I am rather addressing the second corrupt Europe, which, through the darkness of the philosophy of Naturalism, supposing the evils of civilization to be its virtues, has driven mankind to vice and misguidance.34 Said Nursi has no rift with the “first Europe” which possesses the values like faith, justice and social harmony, it is because his evaluation appears to focus on its negative part. He warns people about the destructive elements in modern civilization and to withstand its dangerous charms. He seeks to refute the “second Europe” and its false claims. Nursi notes:

On my journey of the spirit at that time I said to Europe’s collective personality, which apart from beneficial science and the virtues of civilization, holds in its hand meaningless, harmful philosophy and noxious, dissolute civilization: “know this, O second Europe! You hold a diseased and misguided philosophy in your right hand, and a harmful and corrupt civilization in your left, and claim, ‘Mankind’s happiness is with these two!”.35

117 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

Through this categorization of Europe and of Western civilization into two distinct and different parts, Said Nursi counsels his followers to approach the West accordingly. They do not out rightly reject the positive perspective such as the elements that “serve justice, right and the industries beneficial for the life of society,” however they are alert of the corrupted version of the Western paradigm which leads to “vice and misguidance.” To take the valuable and discard the detrimental aspect was the main argument in his narrative.36

Nursi sees modern man at a crossroads who has no idea which direction and which path to take. What to accept or reject from what modern life offers him? What tools to employ to sift the things? For Nursi, it is the Qur’an that provides the criteria for what to opt and what to discard. Nursi maintains:

Of two brothers, one is a believing spirit and a righteous heart. The other is an unbelieving spirit with a depraved heart. Of the two roads, the one to the right is the way of the Qur’an and belief in God, while the left one is the road of rebellion and denial. The garden on the road is man’s fleeting life in human society and civilization, where good and evil, and things good and bad and clean and dirty are found side by side. The sensible person is he who acts according to the rule: ‘Take what is pleasant and clear, and leave what is distressing and turbid,’ and goes on his way with tranquility of heart.37 Necati Aydin superimposes Nursi’s perception of the West onto contemporary discourse by considering Nursi’s thought in light of the current debate regarding the clash of civilizations. Aydin asserts that within Nursi’s writing we see a struggle to embrace virtue and abjure decadence and this same straining can be identified in Nursi’s attitude toward Western civilization. Aydin rebuffs, however, the idea that this struggle is in any way equivalent to the notion of civilizations clashing, seeing Nursi as one who rejects this view. “Bediuzzaman accepts the struggle between decadent civilization and virtuous civilization, but he firmly rejects the inevitable clash between the civilizations of east and west predicted by Huntington. He proposes co-operation with the part of Western civilization that has spring from Christianity and whose aim is virtue, against decadent civilization and irreligion.”38 Aydin’s observation is important as it places Nursi firmly in the moderate position, which is highly pressed among

118 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

academics and lay people alike and it asserts the ability to apply Nursi’s ideas regarding Western civilization to the present situation. Nursi cautions his followers regarding Europe and the West. He contrasts the aspects of Europe which stem from the inspiration of true Christianity as the ‘positive’ Europe, and those which are derived from the darkness of the philosophy of Naturalism, deemed the ‘corrupt’ or negative Europe. As Patrice C. Brodeur discovers in her review of these two Europes in Nursi’s writings, the negative Europe is spoken of far more often than the positive one. Nursi is wary of the potential influence of the corrupt Europe and clearly admonishes those who read the Risale to be on guard against its ideas. One such warning may be found in the “Second Station of the Seventeenth Word,” where Nursi offers the following cautionary reproof:

The one I’m addressing isn’t Ziya Pasha, it’s those enamored of Europe. The one speaking isn’t my soul, it’s my heart in the name of the students of the Qur’an. The previous words are all truth; beware, don’t lose course, don’t exceed their bounds! Don’t heed the ideas of Europe and deviate, or they’ll make you regret it!39 It seems Nursi perceives danger in some European ideas and advises his followers to keep away from them. It has been observed that no such qualms in the attitudes of the Nur students. They do see the Risale as an important means of helping them to navigate how to live Islam in this day and age, but this does not appear to translate for them into a guide for how to approach the West, nor does there seems to be any sense of risk in engaging with it culturally, both through its exported products, including movies and music, and through studying abroad in the West.40 Wuthrich conducts an interview of the Nur students where it is clear that, their willingness to consume Western cultural products, their desire to study in the West seem to give no heed to Nursi’s repeated warnings regarding the West’s negative side. They do not mention even such concerns, seeming both willing and eager, and not at all constrained, to partner with the West. Their level of internalization of this value seems to be almost non-existent.41

In the opinion of Thomas Michel, it is the lifetime achievement of Said Nursi that he provided the tools to modern Muslims to analyze the modern civilization. To discern what is of genuine and lasting value in modern life and to see explicitly the harmful and

119 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

self-destructive elements that lie beneath its glittering surface. Nursi’s analysis of modern civilization is complex and subtle.42

4.7. Materialism-The Plinth of West

Said Nursi describes Materialism (most dangerous production of enlightenment) as the cause of malady of heart and conscience.43 Nursi compares the world to the tree which has multiple branches to make the concept explicit. He further says that there are two lines of thought in the world of humanity: line of Prophethood and religion and; of philosophy in different forms. The branch of philosophy which does not remain subservient to Islam develops into a Zaqqum tree that spreads the darkness of ascribing partners to God and misguidance. The branch of power of intellect generates the fruits of atheism, materialism and naturalism and pushes humanity into confusion. And in the quest for power it acts as Nimrud, Pharaoh and Shaddad on humanity.44 Materialism, according to Nursi, has resulted in absolutism of appetites and beastly desires.45 Humans who have, snapped such an indifferent plague (spiritually) and a terrible fever, inculcated and imitated it are to be visited by Divine wrath suddenly.46 The philosophy of materialism is in vogue so much that is regarded as the source of everything.47 In the present age many are turning back to their faith because of this plague but the entire persona of materialism will be killed by the true believers of Jesus (PBUH).48 Risale-i Nur proved the existence of Jinns and spirit beings to counter materialism.49 Ali Mermer writes that Risale-i Nur has impeded the growth of materialism50 and Nursi memorized different texts, it seems, to expound and defend the message of Qur’an against the onslaught of materialism.51 Hasan Horkuc also maintains this point that it was in the library of Tahir Pasha, probably, Nursi realized that the traditional form of Islamic theology was not enough, and the study of science is necessary, to counter the doubts raised by historical materialism.52 He might have studied there about the ideological background of Positivism, Materialism and Naturalism by studying science and philosophy.53 After these experiences he felt a need for a new Qur’anic commentary to prove the truths of belief by intermixing science and truths of religion and which would address the modern man and counter materialist philosophy.54

120 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

When the materialism emerged between 1908 and 1918, Nursi produced his writings in response to the materialism and to stop its advancement into the Muslim culture because it negated Islam.55 Nursi also realized that the influence of Western ideas, institutions and practices were to destroy the Muslim culture which helped Muslims resonance with rest of the world.56 Serif Mardin further writes that this stand of Nursi was against a new image of social relations and practices linked to it. The new ‘reformed’ concept of social relations ignored the Islamic law regarding the personal relations and understood society as an ‘impersonal machine’.57 The incompatibility between Islam and modern (Western) materialistic civilization, as Nursi states, is that the former gives importance to the individuals and regards them as fundamental units of social life while the latter pays importance to the concept of nation.58 Of all the themes presented in Risale-i Nur, Nursi stressed on morality and persuaded on its revitalization. Nursi says, Religion is a balm to the wounds suffered by individuals and one can achieve the harmony while being in the frame of the universe taught by Islam. The Qur’an can restrain the dangerous appetites of man as he feared that ‘I’ or ‘Me’ may usurp a Muslim’s life, which according to Nursi, has been supported by materialism.59 Materialism pushed Nursi into the period of ‘crisis of conscience’. After 1926 Nursi lived a solitary life and opposed totally the philosophies of positivism and materialism.60 Nursi’s thoughts, methods and writings did not developed in a vacuum but was the result of the influence of his times and historical changes that challenged the Muslim world then, like the establishment of a legislative system based on materialistic and scientific outlook that governed Muslims. The world was in great crisis as the philosophies of materialism and communism were at the peak61 than ever before in human history.62 Nursi’s ideas came to fore during the flow of materialistic writings in the Ottoman Empire. It was the time when the Western philosophical ideologies (Materialism, Positivism, Darwinism, Freudianism, Socialism, Atheism and Existentialism) influenced Ottoman intellectual life. It later influenced Turkish Republic’s policy makers also who attributed Turkey’s problems linked to Islam without seeing the spiritual crisis of modern man.63 However at this time, Nursi aimed to inculcate the spiritual truths in hearts of people when their values were on the brink of destruction64 and opposed vehemently positivism and materialism that ignored God,

121 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

in his view.65 Nursi attached importance to preserve individual belief by making Muslims aware of the Islamic ethics. He was concerned with the moral and spiritual destruction of both the individual and society and thought Islamic ethics would repair the harm caused by these negative philosophies.66 Nursi aimed to prove the existence of God and the truths of religion and the irrationality of the materialistic philosophy.67

4.8. Nursi and Communism

Communism68 according to Said Nursi will influence forty percent of population globally throughout its regime and thereafter will start to culminate and collapse. Though it emerged as a reaction to the failure of capitalism but it seems now as an alternative to capitalism. Communism, whenever, entered a country engulfed only a minority of population by killing millions of inhabitants which is natural for it to do so.69 There is no link between the equality provided by communism and the concept of social justice in Islam. The European socialist countries do not support political socialism as capitalism there has converted itself into a welfare state. Even Nursi accepted the application of the socialist principles in Sweden.70 Nursi argued that Europe would be troubled by this unequal distribution of wealth as he says, ‘the snake’s nest is the home of inequality in living standards’.71 If the laws of Islam regarding the distribution are imposed, this trouble could be averted. Nursi drew a line of distinction between the Muslim and the European countries. He asserted that European countries would continue to succeed, the prerequisite of which is solution to the problem of wealth distribution. He felt that if a Christian gave away his faith, he will still be able to keep his human virtues by his cultural and social background. However, if a Muslim gave away Islam he would necessarily become an anarchist and a communist. Nursi compares a European with yoghurt which is still edible after getting devolved and on the other hand a Muslim with butter which if gets rancid becomes poisonous.72 Islam and the truths of the Qur’an are to be employed, to fight against the communism and atheism, which are more effective than material or military support. Nurculuk 73 is adequate to fight communism intellectually as they save the youth from atheism and communism, remarks Ali Mermer. Said Nursi interpreted the concept of Dajjal as communism itself and called upon the people of religion to fight ‘Dajjalism’.74 He

122 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

wrote The Staff of Moses and Zulfikar to counter communism and sent the copies to Egypt, Damascus, Madinah and India [The Risale-i Nur slowly spread to the Islamic world, the Indian copy was sent at the hands of a Kashmiri religious scholar (seems to have been on Hajj) who had agreed to convey them to Indian Ulama].75

Nursi intimated the officials76 about the threat of communism in Russia and Eastern Europe and its spread in Turkey. Nursi opined that the atheistic organizations aim at the establishment of a state of unbelief in Turkey,77 and Turkey was compelled to join the West.78 After founding the Turkish republic, communism had gained a considerable foothold in the period of Ismat Inonu, who came to power in 1938. He devised the policies favorable for the spread of it. In 1940, the “village institutes” were set up which were regarded as “nests of subversion”. Those secretly working for the spread of communism increased their efforts to silence Nursi and halt the spread of Risale-i Nur.79 Nursi supported the Democrats against Republican Peoples Party, terming it as ‘lesser of the two evils’ to stand against communism.80 After the formation of Turkish republic, religion was excluded from the public life and social life became influenced by Western philosophy based materialism and communism.81 After the Democrat Party came to power, the Turkish government took staunch stand against communism and Said Nursi encouraged and supported them morally and advised his students to support them in the elections of 1957. Nursi saw the Democrats assisting ‘Nur’ students in their struggle against communism and irreligion thus saving the country from ‘immaterial’ damage.82 In this phase Nursi advocated cooperation with the true followers of Christianity to fight against the threat83 and strived for nonpolitical unity.84

4.9. European and Qura’nic Civilization: A Contrast

At multiple places in his writings Said Nursi makes a comparison between the European civilization and the Qur’anic one regarding social values. The Qur’anic vision, to Nursi, differs only in details from what had been proposed by all the Prophets before Prophet Muhammad (SAW), hence it is a vision that Muslims share with ‘true Christians’ who follow the teachings of the Prophet Jesus. These followers sought to

123 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

build Europe on the Prophetic values but this effort was sabotaged from the beginning by their reliance on Greco – Roman philosophy.85

The traces of prophetic teaching that had remained in Europe were attacked by the philosophies-naturalism and materialism – of the enlightenment. Thus in 18th-19th centuries the philosophers set the base of “modern europe” on their own principles (rationalist speculations) which rejected the prophetic teachings. Turkey witnessed the same situation as of Europe and people attempted to replace the religious values with the ways derived from Europe and opposed the dissemination of the teachings of Risale. While in Afyon court Said Nursi, in his defense, pointed out the uselessness of alternate of religious position with secular modernity.86 He further says:

An irreligious Muslim does not resemble any other person without religion. No sort of progress or civilization can take the place of religion, or righteousness, or the learning of the truths of belief in particular, which are the innate need of the people of this country, who for a thousand years have illumined the world with their religion and heroically preserved their firmness of faith in the face of the assaults of the whole world.87 Modern values which claim to provide a good life to the people only respond to bodily needs; food in stomach, roof over head, access to medical treatment, etc. Nursi terms it as, “deceptive, opiate fantasies of civilization”88 because a person has spiritual needs also that cannot be fulfilled by the modernity. Nursi says:

O foolish friend! Do you suppose your life’s duty is restricted to following the good life according to the requisites of civilization and to gratifying the physical appetites? Do you suppose the sole aim of the delicate and subtle senses, the sensitive faculties and members, the well-ordered limbs and systems, the inquisitive feelings and senses that make up your life are restricted to satisfying the low desires of the base soul in this fleeting life?89 Modern civilization has underestimated the value of the spirit, claims Nursi, which is the basic problem. It focuses on the temporal, the immediate, the ephemeral hence finds it hard to comprehend beyond to the eternal significance. But due to the supremacy of the Western civilization minds as well as hearts have become queer to non-material aspects. In spite of looking for a good life intended by God, people are caught up in a

124 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

rat race after wealth, prestige, pleasure, political power and are mistaken that these things will bring them happiness.90

Modern man has failed to assess seriously the questions of eternal importance as his thought is inundated in philosophy, mind doused in politics, heart dizzy at the life of this world. Nursi says:

Through philosophical investigation and natural science, and the seductive amusements of dissolute civilization and its intoxicated passions, sick philosophy has both increased the world’s frozen state and inaction, and made denser heedlessness, and increased its opaqueness and turbidity, and caused the Maker and the hereafter to be forgotten.91 Nursi puts a resume of some elements of difference between the two civilizations. The foundation of modern civilization lies on five negative principles.

1. Force – the mark of which is aggression. 2. Self-interest – the mark of which is competitive jostling. 3. Conflict – the mark of which is strife. 4. Racism and negative nationalism – the mark of which is collision. 5. Temptation for lust and passion and gratifying desires.92

Nursi regards these principles as destructive and presents the different principles deduced from the Qur’an as well as the teachings of the earlier prophets. These principles are:

1. Truth – the mark of which is justice and harmony. 2. Virtue – the mark of which is love and attraction. 3. Unity – the mark of which is sincere brotherhood and peace 4. Mutual assistance – the mark of which is accord and solidarity. 5. Divine guidance – the mark of which is human progress and spiritual advancement.93

Social attributes like justice, harmony, love, peace, brotherhood, and solidarity in a society will attract others by its virtues than by dominating others. The present financial loss, hunger and physical trials Muslim societies are going through, as Said Nursi

125 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

accuses, is the result of adopting the negatives of modern society. The Qur’an teaches hard work and sharing your wealth with the poor but Muslims have followed the principles of modern civilization in place of it.94

4.10. Towards Reforming the Society

Materialism engulfed not only cultural realm of the society but economic and political aspect as well and the society was fashioned according to materialistic outlook. Nursi saw it as the influence of the French Revolution which led to the ‘dehumanizing values of Soviet communism.’ Man removes all the limits to class and oppresses the sacred which ends in anarchy. Nursi applies the Qur’anic teaching about Gog and Magog to modern history and presents a trace of French libertarianism to communism to anarchy. Nursi maintains:

Socialism sprang up in the French Revolution from the seed of libertarianism. Since socialism destroyed certain sacred matters, the ideas it inculcated turned into bolshevism. Because bolshevism corrupted even more sacred moral and human values and those of the human heart, of course the seeds it sowed will produce anarchy, which recognizes no restrictions whatsoever and has respect for nothing. For if respect and compassion quit the human heart, those with such hearts become exceedingly cruel beasts and can no longer be governed through politics.95 Nursi terms the clash prevalent in the modern society as the result of materialism. He terms the two Great Wars as a manifestation of Divine Wrath in punishment for the vice and misguidance of civilization.96 The civilization founded on the doctrine of conflict, competition and enmity leads to war and damage. Nursi comments on the Qur’anic passage about “the blowers of knots” in the context of 20th Century history as:

The sentence “the blowers of knots” coincides’ with the dates when due to their ambition and greed the Europeans tyrants who caused the two World Wars, instigated a change of Sultan and the Balkan and Italian Wars with the idea of spoiling the consequences of the Constitutional Revolution which favored the Qur’an. Then with the outbreak of the First World War, through the political diplomats blowing their evils, material and immaterial, and their sorcery and poison into everyone’s heads through the tongue of the radio, and inculcating their covert plans into the heart of human destiny, they prepared the evils that would savagely destroy a

126 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

thousand years of the progress of civilization, which corresponds exactly with the meaning of “the blowers on knots.”97

4.11. Root of Spiritual Crisis: Western Philosophy

The spiritual crisis which erupted from the science and philosophy was not an intellectual problem rather it was a problem that affected Nursi personally. He recollects his internal struggle (spiritual crisis) that brought him pain after relying on the experience or knowledge of the people of misguidance and philosophers. For his victory over the crisis Nursi thanks God and for his experience which might help others to get out of the despair and confusion of western philosophy. It was only through meditation on the Qur’an he arrived at the understanding of Divine unity which made him able to comprehend the egression in all the creatures the artwork of the Creator. Nursi recalls:

…,my soul, which had been a temporary student of Satan and the spokesman for the people of misguidance and the philosophers, was silenced, and, all praise be to God, came to believe completely. It said: “Yes, what I need is a Creator and Sustainer who possesses the power to know the least thoughts of my heart and my most secret wishes, who will answer the most hidden needs of my spirit and will transform the mighty earth into the Hereafter in order to give me eternal happiness.”98 Nursi observes that Satan makes use of the rational element of Western civilization to allured him to disbelief. He marked the diabolic influences responsible for the evils in the modern society. Modern civilization is equivocal because of its various sources of inspiration. Modern civilization retains the notions of love, justice and harmony from the truths of revealed religion and its destructive elements from anti-religious philosophical ideologies and perhaps from the evil spirits. Nursi says, modern civilization – the product of human thought and perhaps the jinn also – has preoccupied a position opposite to the Qur’an and attempts to attack the miraculous nature of it by its necromancy.99 Nursi comprehends a satanic tactics in false nationalist ideologies which aim to enforce a way of life based on European civilization. It presents itself with numerous promises but at length offers nothing to be appraised, exclusively to pious believers and to those who suffer. Nursi adds:

127 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

….The way that the misguided and bogus patriots have taken extinguishes the spiritual lights of the pious people of belief, destroys their true consolation, and shows death to be eternal nothingness and the grave to be the door to everlasting separation. Are the benefits of disaster victims, the sick, and those who have despaired of life, to be found in the way of a European-type, irreligious civilization?100 Nursi witnesses a demonic element in the material luxury and self-satisfaction that strives to replace the eternal life with worldly one, eternal paradise with earthly paradise. Nursi sees this as the work of Dajjal who represents in essence the personality of the “second Europe”. Nursi describes Dajjal as:

…superficially like a human being….arrogant and Pharaoh-like and has forgotten God, a foolish Satan and intriguing person who calls his superficial, tyrannical rule godhead. His huge current of atheism, his collective personality, is truly vast…The Dajjals false paradise are the alluring amusements and enticements of civilization….brings a false paradise for the dissolute and the worldly, while for the people of religion and Islam, like the angels of Hell it brings dangers in the hand of civilization, and casts them into captivity and poverty.101 Nursi feels that if Muslims and Christians unite and work together, they can defeat the Dajjal and its false promises in future. Nursi sees fighting atheism as a motivation for both of these. As a religion, the true Christianity which comprises of the collective persona of Jesus (PBUH), will stand against the Dajjal. Jesus (PBUH) will descend from the heavens and will ward off the distortions and superstitions from the Christianity and unite it with the truths of Islam.102

4.12. In the Pursuit of Happiness

One of the deadly features of the Modern civilization is its propagation of material goods and cheering people by convincing them that they need such things to attain happiness. This does not happen accidently but a direct outcome of the desertion from spiritual side of the life, examines Nursi. Man does not love to be obedient to God in the daily matters and has lost the hope of eternal life with God and has become preoccupied with the material aspect to grant himself temporary happiness. Modern western civilization acts opposite to the basic laws of the revealed religions. Its good

128 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

aspects have been outweighed by its errors and evils, contentment by extravagance, hard work by laziness.103 Unlike in the earlier times, where people only needed a few things for their contentment and they worked hard to get them, the modern man has made the unimportant things as important which has led him to wastefulness and misuse of things. He further says, “In place of four things that someone used to need modern civilized man is now in need of twenty.”104 Nursi traces this consumerism from the abandonment of religion. In the earlier periods wars were fought for religion and justice and now they are fought for possession of resources. Nursi accuses modern civilization for not paying heed to the revealed religions and for increasing the needs, ‘wastefulness’, ‘greed’ and ‘covetousness’. It has exploited the lives on useless things.105

4.13. Sifting Through Lens

Though Nursi’s stand on the West and Western civilization seems complimentary but that does not make him uncritical of the present form of civilization. The virtues and positives of the civilization, if adopted, after sifting them in the light of the Qur’an never created a problem, says Nursi. Neither he exactly defines what civilization stands for nor what the civilized people are, recounts Hasan Horkuc. He further says, Nursi understood the West as a geographical region that has produced a philosophy which is positive as well as negative. Nursi criticized those aspects of Western civilization which he saw are based on the negative philosophy. The present civilization failed to understand nature in its totality (body and spirit). Some of the virtues that have arisen due to exercise of intellect are to be employed only after filtering them through the lens of the Qur’an.106 The present-day Western civilization, as Nursi believed, was founded on a genius emerged from the earth rather than on the guidance from the heavens. Guidance works through the heart and genius in the mind that confuses the heart and the combination of the two is an unfulfilled dream of Christianity, time and civilization. Only the light of the Qur’an and the guidance of the Shari’ah can make reconciliation between the two. Then the lands of Asia and Rumelia can produce the champions’ superior to that of Plato, Avicenna and Bismark, Descartes and Taftazani who are

129 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

needed seriously. And then, “the East will be to the West what dawn is to the Sunset. If, that is, they do not wither up by the languor of idleness and poison of malice.”107

4.14. Capital - Labor Struggle

Socio-economic inequalities are the trademark of the modern civilization which has widened the rift between the classes and brought the humanity on the brink of extinction.108 Nursi criticizes the injustice inherent in Western civilization. He characterizes the Western attitude with these two phrases: “So long as I am full, what is it to me if others die of hunger” and “you struggle and labor so that I can live in comfort.”109 By allowing the social classes to draw far apart, according to Nursi, this attitude has been the cause of such sedition and strife that it has come close to overturning humanity. It has for several centuries destroyed public order and security, and in this century, owing to the struggle between the capital and the labor, has given rise to disaster and disorder on a vast scale and ruined mankind with two world wars. Thus he considered it impossible to approve a civilization in which its negative points outweighed its virtues and good points.110

4.15. Positives-A Common Property

Nursi acknowledged that there are multiple virtues in the Western civilization. The virtues, Nursi argues, neither they to Christianity nor are the invention of Europe or produce of this century nor the property of Islam only. They are a common property produced collectively by the application of different minds and ideas, from the laws of the revealed religions and out of innate need. No one can claim ownership of them, says Nursi. He further says that notions such as liberty, freedom, justice, democracy, republicanism, equality, technology and industry, whether they originated in the West or anywhere else, should be adopted as long as they are in conformity with the truths of Islam. Islamic freedom and consultation and Western democracy are not different things but the problem in the Muslim society have been in the application of the Western concepts to their society. In this regard, Nursi put forward the sentiments of the Tanzimat reformers. Nursi and his followers, according to Horkuc, have been more sympathetic to the West than any other scholar in the Islamic world.111 Unlike other

130 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

Islamic movements the Nurcu movement supports modern Turkey’s Western political orientation, as pointed out by Ali Mermer.112 Despite Nursi’s admiration of the virtues of Western civilization he did not used the terminology of the West like ‘humanism’, ‘culture’ and ‘modernity’ which were commonly used in the West. Nursi did not accused the West of moral, scientific and technological decline but he found decadence in the Islamic world and did not viewed Europeans as only force behind the disasters in the Islamic world, therefore, he criticized Islamic world for its backwardness.113

4.16. Notions of Self Interest and Force

There are some principles, which Nursi terms negative, upon which present-day civilization is based. Post-1920’s, Nursi made it subject to criticism as he sensed it as a threat to socio-ethical life and it justified force and self-interest in the society. He further says that this civilization depends upon racialism and conflict which has destroyed human happiness as aggression- the mark of force, fighting for personal gains – the mark of self-interest and devouring others- the mark of racialism are the basis of this civilization. This society is meant to satisfy the human desires and increasing human needs. Nursi thought that this civilization has made a majority of the people suffer whereas the Qur’an accepts a civilization wherein majority is benefitted. Since Western civilization has lost the principles of virtue and religion and has in turn given rise to the lenient approach towards dissipation and the appetence of the flesh and inequality in the means of livelihood. Nursi thought these things will lead to destruction of the society.114

4.17. Reconciliation: Religion – Modern Civilization

Said Nursi is not the traditionalist who seeks to turn back to the classical times, rather he affirms the virtues of the present civilization which are the common property of the whole humankind and the product of “the combined thought of humankind, the laws of the revealed religion, innate need, and in particular from the Islamic revolution brought by the Shari’ah of Muhammad.”115 These elements of the modern civilization which benefit the whole humankind are accepted and endorsed by the religious people. No doubt he was accused and tried for being completely opposite to the progress and

131 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

advancement of the civilization. He was accused and tried in Denzili court, for criticizing the evils and faults of modern civilization and rejecting the use of the radio, airplanes, and trains, where he gave a defense speech.116 Nursi proclaimed these achievements a blessing from God, and instead of thanking God for these things humans have used them against one another. Nursi says:

…bounties of the airplane, railway, and radio should be responded to with great thanks, yet mankind had not done this and had rained down bombs on men’s heads with the planes. While thanks for the vast bounty of the radio would be shown by making it a universal million-tongued reciter of the Qur’an, which would allow people all over the earth to listen to the Qur’an… although I am accused of “opposing modern advances like the railway, airplane, and radio.”117 Nursi repeatedly claimed that he had been deprived of the rights which adherents of modernity have been proclaiming, those who speak of human rights and justice they should apply this also. Nursi says, he was being treated arbitrarily and looked upon as he had been stripped of all the rights of civilization and all worldly rights. Nursi opposed those who had persecuted him on the basis of their own modernist philosophies. Nursi maintains:

Through the strength of the All-Wise Qur’an, I challenge all Europe including your irreligious people. Through the lights of belief I have published, I have published, I have razed the sturdy bastions they call the physical sciences and Nature. I have cast down lower than animals their greatest irreligious philosophers. If all Europe, of which your irreligious people are a part, were to gather, through God’s assistance, they could not make me recant a single matter of that way of mine.118

4.18. Education: Religious and Secular

Nursi expanded his reforms in the educational system as Ottoman Empire had been outshined by the European achievements and the backwardness of Ottoman society was being ascribed to Islam that Nursi could not accept. For Nursi, problem was in the traditional system of education and its curricula and the accusations as he says:

The people of the medreses accuse those of the mektebs of weakness in belief because of their literalist interpretation of certain matters, while the latter look on the former as ignorant and unreliable because they have no

132 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

knowledge of modern science. Then the scholars of the medreses regard the people of the tekkes as followers of innovations.119 The goal of his educational reformation as discussed in the third chapter was to promote Islamic unity and to bring Kurds, Turks, Arabs, and students from Caucasus and Central Asia on a single platform. Nursi aimed through his ‘School of Brilliance’ to reconcile the sciences of philosophy and religion and make peace between European civilization and the truths of Islam. Nursi envisioned a system to unite religious and secular education. Nursi’s project was to combat the enemies (ignorance, disunity and poverty) with the single capsule of education. It is evident from his project that he had found much in the modern civilization not contradictory to religious belief. He held study of science important for the believers and notes that Qur’an does not keep Muslims away from civilization and progress.120

4.19. Nationalism: Negative and Positive

The people awakening in Asia imitated Europe in every aspect, embraced the idea of nationalism at the cost of their sacred matters.121 The idea of nationalism in this period, Nursi agreed, has so developed that no one can say ‘give up the idea of nationalism’ to those who are interested in social life.122 Nursi emphasized throughout his life on the prevention of fragmentation of the Muslim world. The strongest bond of the Muslim world, according to Nursi, is none other than Islam itself. Nursi believed brotherhood to be the key and established as a Divine command rather than for any political means. The obstacle to Muslim unity was the East’s imitation of the Western nations. Nursi criticized the Asian countries for imitating those unqualified models and institutions from the West which prove detrimental to the Muslim unity. Nationalism was such an institution which had devastated the concept of Ummah in the Muslim world. Nursi categorized Nationalism into two categories; positive (müsbet) and negative (menfi). Positive nationalism, as Nursi says, emerges from the need for social cohesion and is a basis for mutual assistance, solidarity and strengthens Islamic brotherhood. Positive nationalism should function as citadel and armor of Islam and remain subservient to it.123 If it takes the place Islam then there will be nothing just and right.124 For preservance of brotherhood and unity, Nursi observes, one should love fellow members

133 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

of one’s group and avoid the notion of superiority. The division of groups should lead to mutual acquaintance and assistance rather than antipathy and mutual hostility. The movements based on the racial superiority are meaningless and detrimental to the society, as Nursi said that, likewise one cannot choose his parents, he cannot choose his color or race. As far as negative nationalism is concerned, Nursi regards it detrimental because of its hostility, enmity, chaos and devouring others that wreaks havoc. ‘Its mark is ghastly clashes, disastrous collisions and their result, annihilation,’ maintains Nursi, as shown in the form of Great War.125 Nursi says, there is no place for such nationalism which gives birth to racial disparity and holds religion subservient to race. Nursi views negative nationalism and racialism as the fatal poison and a type of European disease.126 The three identified obstacles to human progress; ignorance, poverty and conflict and Nursi regards negative nationalism as a ‘societal egoism’ and a cause of conflict between the Muslims.127 He accuses Europeans of awakening this (nationalism) among Muslims in a negative fashion in order to divide and devour them.128 Nursi warns, “O Turkish brother! Especially you be careful! Your nationality is blended with Islam and is inseparable from it. If you separate it you are ruined. All your glory has been written in the book of Islam.”129 Muslims, during this time, are in need of one another due to oppression and poverty but due to the idea of nationalism we consider one another as strangers and are crushed under the European domination.130 The solution, Nursi believed, was the degeneration of the nationalistic feeling and uniting all Muslims under the umbrella of Islam. Nursi maintains, one should work to establish Islamic brotherhood and unity for societal change. It seems that Nursi supported the ideas of Pan-Islamism of Jamal al-Din Afghani rather than promoting the western notions of nationalism.131

4.20. Literature: Qur’anic and Novel

Nursi treats western literature in general and the novel in particular as negative. At the outset of his ‘New Said’ period Nursi draws the lines between the western literature and the Qur’an spotlighting the former as a paradigm of the degenerative nature of the self- styled civilization of Europe and the latter as the plinth of true civilization based on the fundamentals of Islam. Nursi makes the novel his subject of criticism as it served to

134 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

highlight the intellectual, emotional and psychological foundations upon which the European civilization was built.132 Nursi deconstructs this literature and the novel because it ambulates around three domains; love/sorrow, heroism/valor and the portrayal of reality. The truth is not sought in the heroism; however a desire for power is infused by acclaiming mankind’s cruelties. Regarding love/sorrow, it is unaware of true love hence instills a ‘lust-exiting thrill’ into the soul. In showing the reality, it does not present/address the universe as Divine art, rather it approaches the universe as ‘nature’ which results in the love of ‘nature.’ It infuses heart with materialistic content. Nursi uses the terms like ‘unmannerly,’ ‘sedative’ and ‘narcotic’ for this literature which can not heal the wounds of the spirit caused from misguidance. The remedy provide by it is its novels and fiction, books with their dead living and cinema with animated corpses which cannot provide salve to the spirit. He adds:

It has put a mendacious tongue in mankind’s mouth, attached a lustful eye to its face, dressed the world in a scarlet petticoat, and does not recognize sheer beauty. If it points to the sun, it puts in the readers mind a beautiful blonde actress. It apparently says: “Vice is bad, it is not fitting for man.” It points out its harmful consequences. But its depictions so incite vice that they make the mouth water and the reason cannot remain in control. They whet the appetite, excite desire, so the emotions no longer heed anything.133

On the other hand the Qur’an is the antithesis of the literature of ‘civilization’, says Nursi, he adds: The literature of the Qur’an, however, does not stir up desire; it imparts a sense of love of the truth, a passion for sheer loveliness, an appreciation and taste for beauty, a desire for reality. And it does not deceive. It does not look at the universe from the point of view of Divine art, with the colouring of the Most Merciful. It does not confuse the mind. It instills the light of knowledge of the Maker. It points out His signs in all things.134 The literature produced by the European civilization walks along the line of philosophy and supports the currents of naturalism and materialism which strengthen European culture and promotes atheism that takes away man of his hope and, in time, his belief, as Nursi believes. It provokes eagerness and excites the soul and stimulates the desires without giving a joy to the spirit. The European literature excites a pathetic sorrow, portrays world as desolate and opens way to atheism. However, Qur’anic literature

135 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

produces the sorrow of love and describes purposeful Divine power and universe becomes a gathering of friends. It provides Mutual love, friendliness, elevated feelings and dejects mournfulness. It fires the spirit and gives rise to lofty eagerness.135 Nursi terms this literature as dysfunctional as it keeps man from knowledge, love and worship of God. The novel leads man away from knowing the self and instead of obsessing its ego it feeds its caprices and whims. The senses are gratified and the immediate needs are fulfilled in order to keep man from thinking and realizing their own worth and objective as human beings.136

4.21. Progress vis-à-vis Religion

Religion, according to Nursi is the basis of life which should not be alienated from the nation. Nursi worked to create a developed and progressed society by adherence to the religious principles. Nursi realized the mistake made by young Turks who saw Islam and Nation as two different things. They thought civilization will last long but sooner the allurements faded, which showed civilization as corrupt and harmful. Said Nursi gave a premier place to religion as he says, “Religion is the very life of life, its light and its basis. This nation will be revived only through the revival of religion. Islam understood this. Contrary to other religions, our nation has progressed to the extent we adhered to our religion. And it has declined to the degree we neglected it.”137

4.22. Nursi’s Model for the East

While taking those positives from the Western civilization which would assist in progress, Said Nursi, pointed at Japan to be looked as a model, for the East in general and Ottomans in particular, to safeguard their national customs. Nursi further asserts that we should imitate Japan in acquiring the virtues from the Western civilization for; they preserved their national customs – ‘the leaven of every nation’s continuance.’138 They borrowed only science and technology from the West on their road to progress and civilization while as retained their culture and morality.139

136 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

4.23. Conclusion

The views of Muslim intellectuals regarding the relations between Islam and the West differ from one another and as a result myriad of them see nothing against to Islam in the spirit of Western civilization. Although Nursi reacted to a European-originated materialist philosophy and atheism, he was very careful not to reject Europe altogether. He differentiated among the good and bad institutions and practices of Western civilization. Avoiding the extremes, he worked to create middle and moderate path in response to the West. He addressed to make use of the Western elements and ideas necessary for the development of the Muslim world without loss to Islamic heritage. 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. Nursi aimed to unite Muslims and worked to create a possibility of dialogue between the two civilizations. He worked to manage the impact of the Western civilization on the Islamic world. Any civilization is neither completely good nor completely evil. Nursi’s message, more than that of many of his contemporaries, was accessible not only to religiously oriented educated cadres but also to the less educated, who saw in his message a means of integrating faith with modernity, nationalism, and social revitalization. Nursi rejects blind imitation as it makes the individuals laughingstocks.

4.23.1. Critique

Nursi was not exposed to the West as such like other Muslim intellectuals such as; Afghani, Abduh and Iqbal, who studied European philosophies while being there. Nursi framed his response according to the perception of others who used to visit Tahir Pasha and his library. On the one hand Nursi states the foundation of Western civilization is based on five negative principles, at the same time he asks to take positive things from the civilization. Nursi gives an alternative of the former times; it seems he seeks for a return to the natural state, where people had only a few needs. Nursi says earlier wars were fought in the name of religion and justice but now they are fought for the possession of the markets and resources. In the earlier period there was also an element of possession and control of the resources. Said Nursi was accused and tried in Denzili

137 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

court for being against the progress and for criticizing the evils and the faults of modern civilization. Nursi while predicting that, “the vigorous field of Asia and Rumelia will produce the crops” of the brilliant and superior men so badly needed “and the East will be to the West what dawn is to sunset”140 by saying this, Nursi is no less than Rudyard Kipling and Huntington, because despite looking for a reconciliation of the human family (east and west), in advance he is trying to keep the gulf as it is. Where opposing Communism, Nursi fails to address its important aspect-economic inequality. Nursi’s response to the West changed according to the shifts in his personality. Nursi’s approach seems less relevant in present times as students of Risale do not pay heed to his warning regarding the West.

138 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

References and Endnotes

1 Nursi while discussing the Prophet (SAW)’s miracle of ‘splitting of moon’ argues that it was not shown to the whole world thus did not pass into the histories, because of the time differences. In England and Spain, which were engulfed in the mists of ignorance, the time would have been just after the sunset, in America it would have been daytime, and in China and Japan Morning. Now consider those who say the histories of the English, Chinese, Japanese and Americans do not record it, and that therefore it did not occur. A thousand curses be on the heads of those who please Europe and repeat such things. See; Said Nursi, The Words, (tr.), Sukran Vahide, New Delhi: Barla Publications, 2015, pp. 615-616. 2 The same topic (miracles) is discussed. See; Said Nursi, The Letters, (tr.), Sukran Vahide, New Delhi: Barla Publications, 2015, p. 250. 3 Nursi discusses the Quranic Verse; Allah is He Who created seven Firmaments and of the earth a similar number (Al-Qur’an, 65:12). In explanation he says that the globe of the earth is very small in relation to the heavens, like the heart may be seen as equivalent to the body. The earth having seven climes, as was supposed from early times; also the well-known seven continents, Europe… See; Said Nursi, The Flashes, (tr.), Sukran Vahide, New Delhi: Barla Publications, 2015, p. 97. 4 Nursi mentions that if an inexperienced person is supposed to go to Europe and work there in the factories with mastery and artistic skills and if he does that, it means that the master of all the trades was teaching him and causing him to work. See; Said Nursi: The Words, Op. Cit., p. 573. 5 Here Nursi discusses that pork (which is not harmless like that of domestic animals) is harmful for as it contains powerful fat in its meat and it is even more harmful in the cold lands of Europe. See; Said Nursi, The Flashes, Op. Cit., pp. 63-64. 6 Nursi writes that the struggle between the classes, from the past till the present, has been the cause of the momentous events of Europe well-known by all. See; Said Nursi, The Words, Op. Cit., pp. 421- 422. 7 Ian Markham and Ibrahim Ozdemir (eds.), Globalization, Ethics and Islam, London: Routledge, 2016, pp. 91-92. 8 In the ‘Old Said’ period, Nursi had a soft corner towards the European philosophy as he accepted them to a degree. See; Said Nursi, The Letters, Op. Cit., p. 516. He refers to the factories and printing presses in Europe as a means of growth. See; Said Nursi, The Flashes, Op. Cit., pp. 239-240. 9Nursi makes a comparison between the one-eyed genius (Europe) emanating from the sick philosophy with the guidance of the Qur’an which looks at the two worlds with shining eyes (see; Said Nursi, The Flashes, Op. Cit., p. 165). Nursi further states that those who accepted (to a degree) European philosophy, they could not demonstrate the true worth of Islam. It was as though they were grafting Islam with the branches of philosophy. But Islamic principles are so profound that the deepest principles of philosophy cannot reach them and they remain superficial beside them (see; Said Nursi, The Letters, Op. Cit., p. 516). Similarly, Nursi compares Europe with that of Asia and he describes Europe a place where honor may be preserved to a degree by violent means. The people of Europe are cold and frigid like their climate. Asia is the land of Islam and the countries are relatively torrid. In Europe the immodest dress (of women) does not stimulate the animal appetites but it easily influences the sensitive people of hot countries (see; Said Nursi, The Flashes, Op. Cit., p. 259). Nursi gives example of Aya Sophia mosque filled with blessed people where one or two idle youths and

139 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

immoral loafers are around the entrance and by the windows there are a few Europeans watching for amusement. Suddenly, a man enters the mosque and joins the congregation, then recites a passage from the Quran in a pleasant voice. Everyone feels pleased except the idle youths, loafers and the Europeans. If the man entered the mosque shouted disgracefully indecent songs, it would have pleased the idle youths, loafers and had made Europeans smile mockingly who receive pleasure at seeing the faults of Islam. In the same way, the world of Islam and Asia resembles a huge mosque where the people of belief and truth are respected. The idle youths are the sycophants with the minds of children. The loafers are the villains who follow Europe and have no nation or religion and the European spectators are the journalists who spread the ideas of the Europeans (see; Said Nursi, The Letters, Op. Cit., pp. 484-85). Nursi mentions here that all the bad things Turks do to change the ‘marks of Islam’ spring from the blind following of the Europe. They argue that in London the call to prayer and Iqama is said in their own language which Islam does not object. Nursi considers the lands of Europe as the circumference of Christendom. The Muslims there are not in a conducive environment therefore the meanings of the terms of Shari’ah and concepts of the sacred words are communicated and instilled by the tongue of disposition; the words have been abandoned for the meaning; the lesser of the two evils has been chosen (see; Said Nursi, Ibid., p. 506). Here Nursi advises not to be overwhelmed by the dodges of the Europe and the dissemblers who follow them blindly. By embracing the idea of nationalism the reformers in Asia are imitating Europe essentially in every respect at the cost of their sacred matters. Nursi gives example of a woman that she cannot be dressed in the uniform of a gendarme and an elderly hoja cannot be dressed as of a tango-dancer, blind imitation very often makes people into laughing-stock. He adds Europe is a shop, a barracks; Asia is like an arable field and mosque. The situation of the barracks and that of mosque could not be the same. He regards Asia as the land of Prophets and Europe as the land of philosophers. Philosophy should assist religion and the heart, not take its place. Europe is not civilized, it will become civilized when it will give up its bigotry in religion, asserts Nursi (see; Said Nursi, The Letters, Op. Cit., p. 383). Nursi describes here that during this time Muslim world is in winter when small holes are blocked up and the time is not reasonable to open new doors. Nursi regards European customs, innovations and misguidance as a flood and to open the doors (Ijtihad) in the name of Islam amount to crime against Islam (see; Said Nursi, The Words, Op. Cit., p. 495). 10 Ian Markham and Ibrahim Ozdemir, Op. Cit, pp. 92-98. 11 Nursi speaks here of the European diseases like negative nationalism and racialism that have infected Muslim world and are set forth to create division in the Muslim world (see; Said Nursi, The Letters, Op. Cit., p. 86). Said Nursi when asked about taking part in politics said that it is mostly lies and there is possibility of getting played by the European hands (see; Said Nursi, Ibid., p. 84). Nursi advises people that don’t get allured by the mirages of the Europe (see; Sad Nursi, Ibid., p. 382). Keep abhorrence for those who blindly follow the ways of misguidance due to Europeans idols and sciences of naturalism (see; Said Nursi, The Flashes, Op. Cit., p. 166). Nursi speaks of a person who follows his goal in a wrong direction is punished by receiving the opposite of what he had intended. The remuneration for illicit love, like love for Europe, is the cruel enmity of the beloved (see; Said Nursi, The Letters, Op. Cit., p. 546). Nursi says don’t pay heed to the ideas of Europe and deviate, the will make you regret (see; Said Nursi, The Words, Op. Cit., p. 223). Nursi mentions that one of the fools who expect progress, prosperity and happiness from irreligious anarchists says that we said Allah! Allah! And remained backward and on the other hand Europe said ‘Guns and Cannons’, and

140 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

advanced (see; Said Nursi, The Letters, Op. Cit., pp. 510-511). Nursi says that they put him under numerous restrictions. He heard that they say, “Said has power equal to that of fifty thousand soldiers, we cannot therefore set him free.” Nursi says that he is in such a profession where he has strength of fifty million. Nursi challenges the Europe including its irreligious people that through the strength of the Quran he had razed the sturdy bastions (physical sciences and nature). He has cast down lower than animals their greatest irreligious philosophers. If all Europe was to gather, of which your irreligious people are a part, through God’s assistance, they could not make him recant a single matter of that way of him (see; Said Nursi, Ibid., p. 95). There is no philosopher or hypocrite in Asia, says Nursi, on whom you rely could say that Muhammad (SAW) lied (God forbid) concerning God and did not know God, and did not believe in His punishment. Neither they could say it in the past nor will they be able to say it in future, for there is no one in the world who would listen to it and accept it. The corrupt philosophers and hypocrites admit that ‘Muhammad the Arabian (PBUH) was very clever, and was most moral and upright’ (see; Said Nursi, Ibid., p. 372). Nursi alleges Turkism (Zia Gokalp) as Europeanism and says that he has no relation in whatever sense with it and the imitators of Europe (see; Said Nursi, Ibid., p. 503-504). Nursi speaks about secret nationhood (patriotism/nationalism) in Islam and says that what enabled this Islamic State, while only numbering twenty or thirty million, to preserve its life and existence in the face of all the large states of Europe was the idea in its army, which arose from the light of the Qur’an: “If I die I shall be a martyr and if I kill, I shall be a ghazi.” They faced death with complete eagerness and longing, laughing in its face. They always made Europe tremble. This speaks of an idealistic spirit of self-sacrifice of a simple soldier. What nationalism can be infused in its place? What can make him unwillingly sacrifice his life and his entire world (see; Said Nursi, Ibid., pp. 384-85)? Speaking about the nation’s poverty Said Nursi argues that it is not religious asceticism or laziness arising from abandoning the world which you think. He adds that do you not witness the nations dominated by Europe like China and the Brahmins and Zoroastrians of India and the blacks of Africa are poorer than we are. And do you not see that nothing apart from the most basic subsistence is left in the hands of Muslims? The rest is stolen or seized by the European infidel tyrants or the dissemblers of Asia (see; Said Nursi, The Flashes, Op. Cit., p. 169). Here Nursi accuses Europe (speaking about women) of being the place of open dress where women are fed up at being the object of attention and complain to the police saying, “these brutes keep staring at us and disturbing us” (see; Said Nursi, Ibid., p. 256). Nursi draws here a line between Europe and Asia by saying that the lands of Europe are cold and frigid however the lands of Islam are comparatively fervent countries (see; Said Nursi, Ibid., p. 259). Speaking about the fatwas which people sought from the ‘bad religious scholars’ to change ‘the marks of Islam’, Nursi says, were obtained from the ideas of European reformists and philosophers, taking advantage of the French Revolution. This revolution destroyed the Catholic Church and proclaimed Protestantism. Then the pseudo-patriots here, who are accustomed to imitate blindly say: “A revolution like that came about in the Christian religion. At first the revolutionaries were called apostates, later they were again accepted as Christians. So why should there not be such a religious revolution in Islam” (see; Said Nursi, The Letters, Op. Cit., p. 508). 12 Colin Turner, The Qur’an Revealed: A Critical Analysis of Said Nursi’s Epistles of Light, Germany: Gerlach Press, 2013, p. 513. 13 Ibid., pp. 514-15. 14 Nursi, The Words, Op. Cit., p. 501.

141 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

15 Turner, Op. Cit., p. 516. 16 Nursi, The Words, Op. Cit., p. 273. 17 Ibid., pp. 336-37. 18 Turner, Op. Cit., p. 517. 19 Ibid., pp. 516-7. 20 Ibid., pp. 517-18. 21 Ibid., p. 518. 22 Ibid., pp. 518-19. 23 Ibid., p. 519. 24 Sukran Vahide, Islam in Modern Turkey: An Intellectual Biography of Said Nursi, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005, pp. 53-54. 25 Turner, Op. Cit., p. 520. 26 Sukran Vahide maintains that it is not known as on whose invitation Said Nursi visited Salonica but CUP (Committee of Union and Progress) were keen to employ him as a supporter of freedom from the Ulama class. For further details see; Vahide, Op. Cit., pp. 56-58. 27 Nursi was advised by CUP to join the trip to Rumelia to represent the ethnic minorities of the Eastern Provinces. For more details, see; Vahide, Ibid., pp. 101-104. 28 In Sophia, having escaped from Kosturma, he was given a passport by the military attaché. For further details, see; Vahide, Ibid., pp. 131-132. 29 Nursi spent two months in Adlon Hotel, Berlin, wherefrom he travelled to Switzerland for three days to study its successful integration of various religio-linguistic denominations. See; Markham and Ozdemir, Op. Cit., p. 90. 30Idem. 31 Serif Mardin, Religion and Social Change in Turkey: The Case of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, New York: State University of New York Press, 1989, p. 78. 32 Vahide, Op. Cit., p. 31. 33 Mardin, Op. Cit., p. 98. 34 Nursi, The Flashes, Op. Cit., p. 160. 35 Idem. 36 Aimee Wuthrich, Identity and the Nur Movement in Turkey: “Trying to See the Gray”, Middle East Technical University, 2007, pp. 27-28. 37 Nursi, The Words, Op. Cit., p. 45. 38 Markham and Ozdemir, Op. Cit., p. 171. 39 Nursi, The Words, Op. Cit., p. 223. 40 Wuthrich, Op. Cit., p. 111-12. 41Ibid., p. 115. 42 Thomas Michel, Said Nursi’s Views on Christian- Muslim Understanding, Istanbul: Soz Basim Yayin, 2005, pp. 80-81. 43 Nursi, The Words, Op. Cit., p. 474. 44 Ibid., pp. 561, 564. 45 Ibid., p. 748. 46 Ibid., p. 764. 47 Said Nursi, The Letters, Op. Cit., pp. 525-526.

142 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

48 Said Nursi, The Rays, Op. Cit., pp. 108, 224. 49 Ibid., p. 361. 50 Ali Mermer, Aspects of Religious Identity: The Nurcu Movement in Turkey Today, Durham: University of Durham, 1985, p. 403. 51 Ibid., pp. 485-86. 52 Hasan Horkuc, Said Nursi’s Ideal for Human Society: Moral and Spiritual Reform in the Risale-I Nur, Durham: University of Durham, 2004, pp. 104-105. 53 Ibid., p. 159. 54 Ibid., p. 112. 55 Mardin, Op. Cit., p. 142 and pp. 8-9. 56 Ibid., pp. 8-9. 57 Ibid., p. 9. 58 Ibid., p. 169. 59 Ibid., pp. 168-69. 60 Horkuc, Op. Cit., pp. 129, 138. 61 Ibid., p. 156. 62 Ibid., p. 255. 63 Ibid., p. 159. 64 Ibid., p. 190. 65 Ibid., p. 255. 66 Ibid., pp. 257-58. 67 Ibid., pp. 327-28. 68 It is a theory that takes over all kinds of human rights and focuses only on collective production and rejects all ideals except material values. It clashes with the primal nature of human beings by giving consent to absolute equality and a classless society. It aims to demolish all types of religious beliefs thus encourages oppression, bloodshed and disgust and generates chaos by supporting materialism. Communism is based on the benefit of a small section of the society and can never satisfy the people of the country where it is practiced and no ‘communist’ country was fully able to practice it as it was theoretically conceptualized. The people who moan the prejudice of communism risk their lives to escape from it. It does not shield the workers’ rights as it arrogates but exploits them. It treats workers as robots, devoid of morality and spirituality takes them back from ‘wage-earning’ to the ‘servitude’ era. There is nothing like the legal protection for family, religion and private property. See; Mermer, Op. Cit., p. 319.

69 Ibid., pp. 319-320. 70 Ibid., p. 320. 71 Idem. 72 Ibid., pp. 320-21. 73 The students of Said Nursi or Risale-i Nur are referred to as Nurculuk or Nurcu. 74 Mermer, Op. Cit., p. 321. 75 Vahide, Op. Cit., p. 276. See also; Horkuc, Op. Cit., p. 124.

143 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

76 He informed the officials by sending the petitions and writing letters and awakened them about the importance of Risale-i Nur (it could perform the function of a Qur’anic barrier as it was a miracle of the Qur’an and a way forward to restoring love and brotherhood (see; Vahide, Ibid., p. 278) in fighting against the waves of communist ideas and in saving the country from the anarchy. The forces working for communism and the supporters of irreligion worked to plunge the country into communism. See; Vahide, Ibid., p. 272. 77 Horkuc, Op. Cit., p. 127. 78 Vahide, Op. Cit., p. 279. 79 Idem. 80 Horkuc, Op. Cit., p. 135. 81 Ibid., p. 159. 82 Vahide, Op. Cit., pp. 306-7. 83 Ibid., p. 276. 84 Ibid., p. 325. 85 Michel, Op. Cit., p. 84. 86 Ibid., pp. 84- 85. 87 Said Nursi, The Rays, Op. Cit., p. 379. 88 Said Nursi, The Words, Op. Cit., p. 167. 89 Ibid., p. 139. 90 Michel, Op. Cit., pp. 86-87. 91 Said Nursi, The Words, Op. Cit., p.451. 92 Ibid., p. 146. 93 Idem. 94 Michel, Op. Cit., pp. 89-90. 95 Nursi, The Rays, Op. Cit., p. 105. 96Said Nursi, The Damascus Sermon, Op. Cit., p. 38. 97 Said Nursi, The Rays, Op. Cit., p. 287. 98 Said Nursi, The Flashes, Op. Cit., p. 306. 99 Said Nursi, The Words, Op. Cit., p. 420. 100 Said Nursi, The Letters, Op. Cit., p. 493. 101 Ibid., p. 80. See also; Michel, Op. Cit., p. 94. 102 Idem. 103 Said Nursi, The Damascus Sermon, Op. Cit., p. 128. 104Ibid., p. 129. 105 Ibid., pp. 129-130. 106 Horkuc, Op. Cit., p. 355. 107 Vahide, Op. Cit., p. 55. See also; Horkuc, Ibid., pp. 354-55. 108 Turner, Op. Cit., p. 524. 109 Michel, Op. Cit., p. 90. 110 Horkuc, Op. Cit., p. 356. 111 Idem. 112 Ali Mermer, Aspects of Religious Identity: The Nurcu Movement in Turkey, Durham: Durham University, 1985, p. 17.

144 A Critique of Nursi’s Response to the West Chapter - 4

113 Horkuc, Op. Cit., pp. 356-58. 114 Ibid., p. 355. 115 Nursi, The Words, Op. Cit., p. 748. 116 Nursi, The Rays, Op. Cit., p. 300. 117 Ibid., p. 300. 118 Nursi, The Letters, Op. Cit., p. 92. See also; Michel, Op. Cit., p. 100. 119 Turner, Op. Cit., p. 521. 120 Michel, Op. Cit., p. 100-101. 121 Nursi, The Letters, Op. Cit., p. 382. 122Ibid., p.380. See also; Gokhan Cetinsaya, “Rethinking Nationalism and Islam: Some Preliminary Notes on the Roots of “Turkish-Islamic Synthesis” in Modern Turkish Political Thought”, The Muslim World, 89(3-4): 1999, p. 361. 123 Ibid., pp. 381-82. 124 Ibid., p. 76. 125 Nursi, The Words, Op. Cit., pp. 146, 420, 745. 126 Nursi, The Letters, Op. Cit., p. 86. 127 Ibid., p. 380. 128 Ibid., p. 380. 129 Cetinsaya, Loc. Cit.. 130 Nursi, The Letters, Op. Cit., p. 381. 131 Colin Turner and Hasan Horkuc, Said Nursi, London: I. B. Tauris, 2009, pp. 94-97. 132 Colin Turner, Op. Cit., p. 528. 133 Ibid., pp. 528-9. 134 Nursi, The Words, Op. Cit., p. 771. 135 Turner, Op. Cit., pp. 529-30. 136 Ibid., p. 530. 137 Ibid., p. 522. 138 Vahide, Loc. Cit. 139 Ibid., p. 95. 140 Ibid., p. 55.

145 Conclusion

Conclusion

Islam-West discourse has been a subject of serious discussion in the Muslim and non- Muslim scholarship alike. Spotlighted highly as a narrative of intercultural/ interreligious confrontation and compatibility that results in bringing forth the adversarial and destructive perspectives of the narrative. Tracing its origin from the Prophetic period, Islam-West relationship recorded a fortunate commencement but turned into discord in the later stages of the phenomenon. Despite the availability of the story of wars and mutual distrust, one finds a commendable exchange in economy and intellectualism. Though, the relationship has offered lucrative chances for the transmission of collective human experience yet it has remained fluctuating to this day for some religio-political reasons. The relation has progressed waveringly through critical encounters across the time and space such as in Al-Andalus, Crusades (11th-14th Century) and Colonization, where both entities shaped their perceptions regarding the other. At the outset of the phenomenon (of Islam-West relationship), Muslims seem to be dominant on the scene, crossed the Arabian Peninsula, built a great civilization and contributed to the human family. Civilizations are said to have a life cycle like that of humans: they are born in some particular place and time; as young they are energetic, flexible, creative, able to absorb new ideas; when mature (golden period), reach the pinnacle of their power; then gradually they, lose their energy, are less creative, rigid; and finally they decline and are off the scene or are absorbed by some other vigorous civilization, maintains Zachary Lockman. Having passed its glorious age, Muslim civilization started to dwindle and decline paving way for the West to emerge as the leading civilization (18th century onwards). The Western civilization did not emerge and develop in vacuum but it traced its origin to the ancient Greece, taming for several centuries its spirit, philosophy, sciences and literature, ideas, conceptions and intellectual heritage that they bequeathed through Muslim Spain. They developed and fashioned this Greek heritage and with an onslaught on the Muslim world through their military tactics, science, technology and industries, aspired to establish the dominance of the Western Civilization on the globe. Now Muslims, who were mostly colonized by the Western powers, were at the receiving end and were pushed back to the wall.

146 Conclusion

They felt a sense of loss, bitterness and rage at the powerlessness before the West and as a result a pan-Islamic consciousness was developed among the Muslims, which instigated the revivalism and reformation of the Muslim societies within. Serious attempts of reform and revival were made at individual as well as collective levels to sustain the spirit and legacy of the Muslim civilization. To address and respond to the challenge of the Western onslaught or manage the Western domination in the Muslim lands, was a challenging and immediate task for the Muslim intelligentsia. Prominent figures who responded to this severe predicament included Jamal al-Din Afghani, Muhammad Abduh, Ali Shariati, Allama Iqbal and some prominent Turkish intellectuals like Said Halim Pasha, Namik Kamal and Zia Gokalp. Depending on their respective dispositions and understanding of the problem, they responded and addressed the issue through imitative and accommodative approaches.

Said Nursi (1876-1960), one of the great Islamic thinkers of the 20th Century, also contributed to this field and formulated his response to the West. Nursi was conscious of the materialist and atheistic philosophy of Europe, however he did not rejected Europe wholly. He made a demarcating line between the positive and negative institutions and practices of Western civilization and rejected its blind imitation. Moderately shaping his response, he advocated of benefiting from the Western elements and ideas with no loss to Islamic heritage. Nursi believed science and logic as future prospectus advocating both religious and secular education. He sought to unite mansions within for a possibility of dialogue between the two civilizations. Nursi’s message was accessible to highly educated as well as less educated class. He was not exposed directly to the West like his predecessors and contemporaries (like Afghani, Abduh, Iqbal, Zia Gokalp, Halim Pasha, etc) who had studied European philosophies from its fountainheads. Nursi, therefore, shaped his perception (of the West) on the basis of secondary information and literature describing ideas/concepts of Western civilization. Among the western philosophies like materialism, nationalism, communism, capitalism and atheism he encountered with, he provides apt and logical arguments in a simple but metaphorical tone while refuting atheism. However, it seems that he failed to provide an alternate model to refute the other philosophies like

147 Conclusion capitalism and communism. Living in the era of science and technology, inventions and discoveries he seeks for a return to the natural state. Nursi’s prediction, “the East will be to the West what dawn is to the sunset,” labels him no less than Rudyard Kipling. In spite of looking to reframe the differences in a prospective way to manage the gulf within the human family Nursi anticipates of the demarcation. Nursi’s response to the West is oscillating due to the shifts in his personality and seems least relevant in the modern times.

148 Bibliography

Bibliography

Books

Abu Rabi, Ibrahim, (ed.), Islam at the Crossroads: On the Life and Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003

Abu Rabi, Ibrahim, Intellectual Origins of Islamic Resurgence in the Modern Arab World, New York: State University of New York Press, 1996

Abu Zayd, Nasr, Reformation of Islamic Thought, Amsterdam: Amsterdam Universi- ty Press, 2006

Ahmad, Khurshid, Islam and the West, New Delhi: Markazi Maktaba Islami Publish- ers, 2013

Alavi, Mohammad Asim, Seeds of Change, Turkey: Imak Offset, 2013

Al-Salihi, Ihsan Qasim, Dastān-i ‘Azm wa Īmān: Shaykh Badī‘uzzamān Said Nursī kī Mukhtaṣar Sawāniḥ Ḥayāt, (tr.) Hafiz M. A. Nadvi and Dr. Naseem Akhtar Nadvi, New Delhi: Barla Publications, 2014

Altunsik, Meliha Benli & Ozlem Tur, Turkey: Challenges of Continuity and Change, New York: Routledge, 2005

Ansari, Zafar Ishaq & Esposito, John L., (eds.), Muslims and the West: Encounter and Dialogue, Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, 2001

Asad, Muhammad, Islam at the Crossroads, Gibraltar: Dar al- Andalus, 1982

Ayubi, Nazih, Political Islam, Religion and Politics in the Arab World, London: Routledge, 1991

Azimabadi, Badr, Great Personalities in Islam, Delhi: Adam Publishers, 1998

Bailyn, Bernard, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1967

149

Bibliography

Blanks, David R. & Frassetto, Michael, (ed.), Western Views of Islam in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999

Briffault, Robert, The Making of Humanity, London: Ruskin House, 1919

Campo, E. Juan, (ed.), Encyclopedia of Islam, New York: Facts on File, 2009

Cox, Caroline & Marks, The ‘West’, Islam and Islamism, London: Cavitas Institute for the Study of Civil Society, 2003

Curtin, Philip D., The World and the West: The European Challenge and the Over- seas Response in the Age of Empire, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000 Daneil, Norman, Islam and the West: The Making of an Image, Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1993

Demant, Peter R., Islam Vs Islamism: The Dilemma of the Muslim World, London: Praeger, 2006

Erik J. Zurcher, Turkey: A Modern History, London: I. B. Tauris, 1993

Esposito, John L., (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, New York: Oxford University Press, Vol. I-VI, 2009

______, (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, New York: Oxford University Press, Vol. I-IV, 1995

Etheredge, Laura, (ed.), Islamic History, New York: Britannica Educational Publish- ing, 2010

Fahd, Obaidullah, Jadīd Turkī Main Islāmī Bedārī, Delhi: Hilal Publications, 1998

Gokalp, Zia, Turkish Nationalism and Western Civilization, New York: George Allen and Unwin, 1959

Green, Todd H., The Fear of Islam: An Introduction to Islamophobia in the West, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015

Haque, Ahsanul, Reinterpreting Islam in Iran: Life and Thoughts of Ali Shariati, Ali- garh: The Institute of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, 1995

150

Bibliography

Hashmi, Sohail, (ed.), Islamic Political Ethics: Civil Society, Pluralism, and Conflict, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2002

Hassan, Syed Sibtey, Life and Works of Ziya Gokalp, Aligarh: Institute of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, 1988 Horkuc, Hasan, (ed.), God, Man, and Morality: The Perspective of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, New Jersey: Tughra Books, 2015

Hourani, Albert, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age 1798-1939, New York: Oxford University Press, 1970

Iqbal, Muhammad, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, New Delhi: Kitab Bhawan, 2016

Jackson, Roy, Fifty Key Figures in Islam, New York: Routledge, 2006

Jameela, Maryam, Islam Versus the West, New Delhi: Markazi Maktaba Islami Pub- lishers, 2008

______, Islam and Modernism, Lahore: Muhammad Yusuf Khan, 1966

______, Islam in Theory and Practice, Delhi: Taj Company, 1997

Cesari, Jocelyne (ed.), Muslims in the West After 9/11, Routledge: London & New York, 2010.

Kasaba, Reşat, The Cambridge History of Turkey, Turkey: Cambridge University Press, Vol. I-IV, 2008

Kausar, Zeenath, (ed.), Contemporary Islamic Political Thought: A Study of Eleven Islamic Thinkers, Research Center: International Islamic University Malaysia, 2005

Keddie, Nikkie R., Sayyid Jamal ad-Din “al-Afghani”: A Political Biography, Berke- ley: University of California Press, 1972

Kennedy, Paul, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Mili- tary Conflict from 1500-2000, London: Unwin Hyman, 1988

151

Bibliography

Khalida Adeeb, Turkey Main Mashriq wa Maghrib ki Kashmakash, Maktaba Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi, 1935.

Khan, Wahiduddin, The Age of Peace, India: Goodword Books, 2015

______, The Prophet of Peace, India: Goodword Books, 2009

Khurram Murad, Maghrib aur Islam Main Kashmakash, New Delhi: Human Welfare Trust, 2012

Khurshid Ahmed & Ansari, Zafar Ishaq (eds.), Islamic Perspectives, Delhi: Markazi Maktaba Islami, 1979

Kirmani, Zaki, Western Civilization: Its Impact on Individual, Society & Knowledge, Aligarh: Nai Naslen Publications, 1983

Kroptkin, Peter, The Great French Revolution 1798-1793, tr., N. F. Dryhurst, New York: Vanguard Printings, 1927

Kumar, Deepa, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, Chicago: Haymart Books, 2012

Kurzman, Charles, (ed.), Modernist Islam, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002

Lewis, Bernard, What Went Wrong? Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002 Lockman, Zachary, Contending Visions of the Middle East, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010

Loomba, Ania, Colonialism/Postcolonialism, London: Routledge, 2015

Manzoor Alam, M., (ed.), 100 Great Muslim Leaders of the 20th Century, New Delhi: Institute of Objective Studies, 2005

Mardin, Serif, Religion and Social Change in Modern Turkey: The Case of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, New York: State University of New York Press, 1989

Markham, Ian & Ozdemir, Ibrahim, (eds.), Globalization, Ethics and Islam: The Case of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, London: Routledge, 2016

152

Bibliography

Markham, Ian S., & Seyilgan, Zeyneb (eds.), The Companion to Said Nursi Studies, Eugene USA: Pickwick Publications, 2017

Markham, Ian S. & Birinci, Suendam, An Introduction to Said Nursi: Life, Thought, and Writings, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2011

Martin, Richard C. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, New York: Macmillan Reference, Vol. I-II, 2004

Mercan, Faruk, No Return From Democracy, Clifton: Blue Dome Press, 2017

Maududi, Abul A‘la, West Versus Islam, (tr.), S. Waqar Ahmad Gardezi and Abdul Waheed Khan, New Delhi: Markazi Maktaba Islami Publishers, 2010

Michael J. Thompson, ed., Islam and the West: Critical Perspectives on Modernity, Lanham Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003

Michael, Thomas, Insights From the Risale-i Nur, New Jersey: Tughra Books, 2014

______, Said Nursi’s Views on Muslim-Christian Understanding, Turkey: Soz Basim Yayin, 2005

Nadvi, Abu Hassan Ali, Muslim Mamālik Main Islāmiyat aur Maghribiyat kī Kashmakash, Lucknow: Majlis Tahqiqat wa Nashriyat-i Islam, 2014

______, Islam and the West, (tr.), Mohiuddin Ahmad, Lucknow: Islamic Research & Publications, 1983

______, Islam and the World: The Rise and Decline of Muslims and its Effect on Mankind, (tr.), Asif Kidwai, London: Islamic Academy, 2005

______, Islam aur Maghrib, Lucknow: Majlis Tahqiqat wa Nashriyat-i Islam, 2001

______, Muslims in the West: The Message and the Mission, (ed.), Khurram Murad, London: The Islamic Foundation, 1983

______, Religion and Civilization, (tr.), Mohiuddin Ahmad, Luck- now: Islamic Research and Publications, 1970

153

Bibliography

______, Speaking Plainly to the West, (tr.), Mohiuddin Ahmad, Luck- now: Islamic Research and Publications, 1979

______, The Role and Responsibilities of Muslims in the West, (tr.), Abdur Raheem Kidwai, London: The Islamic Foundation, 1993

______, Western Civilization Islam and Muslims, (tr.), Mohammad Asif Kidwai, Lucknow: Academy of Islamic Research and Publications, 1979

Nadvi, Said al-Rahman Aa‘zmi, Islam aur Maghrib, New Delhi: Institute of Objec- tive Studies, 2012

Nursi, Bediuzzaman, Resurrection and the Hereafter, (tr.), Algar, Hamid, California: Risale-i Nur Institute of America, 1980

______, Risale-i Nur (Collection), (tr.), Sukran Vahide, New Delhi: Barla Publications, 2015

______, The Supreme Sign, (tr.), Algar, Hamid, California: Risale-i Nur Institute of America, 1979

Pattberg, Thorsten, The East-West Dichotomy, New York: LoD Press, USA, 2009

Peters, Rudolph, Islam and Colonialism: The Doctrine of Jihad in Modern History, New York: Mouton Publishers, 1979

Price, Philips M., A History of Turkey, London: George Allen and Unwin, 1956

Qutb, Sayyid, Islam aur Maghrib ki Kashmakash, New Delhi: Markazi Maktaba Islami Publishers, 2011

Ramadan, Tariq, Western Muslims and the Future of Islam, New York: Oxford Uni- versity Press, 2004

Reilly, Robert R., Islam and the West, Britain: Centre For Research into Post- Communist Economics, 2011

Rippin, Andrew, The Islamic World, New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis, 2008

154

Bibliography

Robinson, Francis, (ed.), Cambridge Illustrated History: Islamic World, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996

Rodinson, Maxime, Islam and Capitalism, New York: Pantheon Books, 1973

Said, Edward, Orientalism, London: Penguin Books, 1991

Saikal, Amin, Islam and the West: Conflict or Cooperation?, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003

Saliba, George, Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance, Lon- don: M. I. T. Press Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2007

Sawlat, Sarwat, Turkī ka Mard-I Mujāhid: Badī‘uzzamān Said Nūrsī, NewDelhi: Markazi Maktaba Islami Publishers, 1996

Schulze, Reinhard, A Modern History of the Islamic World, New York: NYU Press, 2002

Shariati, Ali, Marxism and Other Western Fallacies: An Islamic Critique, (tr.), R. Campbell, New Delhi: Markazi Maktaba Islami, 2008

Shaw, J. Stanford & Shaw, Ezel Kural, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Reform Revolution, and Republic: The Rise of Modern Turkey, 1808- 1975, New York: Cambridge University Press, Volume-II, 1977

Siddiqui, Mazheruddin, Modern Reformist Thought in the Muslim World, Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute, 1982

Smith, W.C, Islam in Modern History, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957

Suhaib, Naima, Tarīkh-i Islām kī ‘Azīm Shakhsiyāt, New Delhi: Manshurat Publish- ers, 2017

Suroor, A.A., (ed.), Modernity and Iqbal, Srinagar: Iqbal Institute University of Kashmir, 1985

Tahan, Mustafa Mohammad, Inqilabi Shakhsiyat, (tr.), Mohammad Sami Akhtar, Singapore: Hilal Publications, 1988

155

Bibliography

Tamara Sonn, Islam: A Brief History, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010

Taylor, Aaron, Islam, the West and Tolerance, New York: Macmillan, 2008

Tezcur, Gunes Murat, Muslim Reformers in Iran and Turkey: The Paradox of Moder- ation, Austin:University of Texas Press, 2010 Thajudeen, A.S., Noushad V., et al., Annooor, Kerala: Department of Arabic, Univer- sity of Kerala, 2017

Toynbee, Arnold, The World and the West, Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, London, 1952

Turner, Colin & Hassan Horkuc, Said Nursi, London: I.B.Tauris, 2009

Turner, Colin, The Qur’an Revealed: A Critical Analysis of Said Nursi’s Epistles of Light, Germany: Gerlach Press, 2013

Unal, Ali, Islam Addresses Contemporary Issues, New Jersey: The Light, 2002

Uzayr, Dr. M., Dawlat-i Uthmānia, Azamgarh: Dar al-Musanifin Shibli Academy, Vol. I-II, 2009

Vahide, Sukran, Islam in Modern Turkey: An Intellectual Biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005

Wasey, Akhtarul, (ed.), Mu‘alim ‘Asr: Said Nursi, New Delhi: Al-Balagh Publica- tions, 2015

Weld, Maryam, Islam, the West and the Risale-i Nur, Istanbul: Sozler Publications, 2004

Wuthnow, Robert, (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion, Routledge, Lon- don, Vol. I-II, 1998

Yalman, Ahmed Emin, Turkey in My Time, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956

Yavuz, M. Hakan, Islamic Political Identity in Turkey, New York: Oxford University Press, 2003

156

Bibliography

Zaki Kirmani, M., Western Civilization: Impact on Individual, Society and Knowledge, Aligarh: Nai Nasleen Publications, 1983

Zurcher, Erik J., Turkey: A Modern History, London: I.B. Tauris, 2004

The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, Islam and the West: A Civi- lized Dialogue: Abu Dhabi, 2012

Third International Symposium on Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, The Reconstruction of Islamic Thought in the Twentieth Century and Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (24th- 26th September, 1995), Istanbul: Sozler Publications, 1997

Articles in Peer Reviewed Journals

Akhmetova, Elmira, “The Impact of Nationalism on Civilisational Development and Human Security: Works of Said Nursi and Musa Jarullah,” Islam and Civiliza- tional Renewal, Malaysia, 4(4):2013, pp. 615-633

Algar, Hamid, “The Centennial Renewer: Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and the Tradition of Tajdid,” Journal of Islamic Studies, Oxford, 12(3):2001, pp. 291-311

Amir, Ahmad N., et al., “Muhammad Abduh’s Contribution to Modernity,” Asian Journal of Management Sciences and Education, Japan, 1(1):2012, pp. 63-75

Aras, Bulent and Omer Caha, “Fethullah Gulen and his Liberal Turkish Islam Move- ment,” Middle East Review of International Affairs, Israel, 4(4):2000, pp. 30- 42

Balci, Bayram, “Fethullah Gulen’s Missionary Schools in Central Asia and their Role in the Spreading of Turkism and Islam,” Religion, State and Society, Routledge, 31(2):2003, pp. 151-177

Bilci, Mucahit, “Said Nursi’s Moral Philosophy,” Islam and Christian-Muslim Rela- tions, U.K., 19(1):2008, pp. 89-98

Bonner, Arthur, “An Islamic Reformation in Turkey’, Middle East Policy, Washing- ton, 11(1):2004, pp. 84-97

157

Bibliography

Cetinsaya, Gokhan, “Rethinking Nationalism and Islam: Some Preliminary Notes on the Roots of ‘Turkish-Islamic Synthesis’ in Modern Turkish Political Thought,” The Muslim World, USA, 89 (3-4):1999, pp. 350-376

Eickleman, Dale, “Quranic Commentary, Public Space, and Religious Intellectuals in the Writings of Said Nursi,” The Muslim World, USA, 89(3-4):1999, pp. 260- 269

Grinell, Klas, “True Justice is Beyond the Reach of Modernistic Reason: On Some Similarities in the Writings of Said Nursi and Jacques Derrida, n.d.

Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck, “Ghurba as Paradigm for Muslim Life: A Risale-i Nur Worldview,” The Muslim World, USA, 89(3-4):1999, pp. 297-313

Horkuc, Hasan, “New Muslim Discourses on Pluralism in the Post-Modern Age: Nursi on Religious Pluralism and Tolerance,” American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, London, 19(2):2002, pp. 68-86

Ishak, Mohammad Haeqal, et al., “Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s Approach on Women’s Issues,” Unpublished Conference Paper of International Conference on Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's Thought On Wasatiyyah And Exemlary Society, 23rd-25th Sept. 2017, available on http://irep.iium.edu.my/58558/

Kartika Muflih, Betania, “Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s Methodology in the Discourse of Moral Education in his Thematic Exegesis Rasa’il al-Nur’, Teologia, Ro- mania, 24(1): 2013, pp. 21-54

Kuru, Zeynep Akbulut and Ahmet T. Kuru, “Apolitical Interpretation of Islam: Said Nursi’s Faith-Based Activism in Comparison with Political Islamism and Su- fism,” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, U.K., 19(1):2008, pp. 99-111

Lewis, Bernard, “The West and the Middle East’, Foreign Affairs, America, 76(1):1997, pp. 114-130

Mermer, Yamin B., “The Hermeneutical Dimension of Science: A Critical Analysis Based on Said Nursi’s Risale-i Nur,” The Muslim World, USA, 89(3-4):1999, pp. 270-296

158

Bibliography

Mustafa Gokhan Sahin, “Said Nursi and the Nur Movement in Turkey: An Atomistic Approach,” Digest of Middle East Studies, Wisconsin, 20(2):2011, pp. 226- 241

Nathan Funk and Abdul Aziz Said, ‘Islam and the West: Narratives of Conflict and Conflict Transformation’, International Journal of Peace Studies, Taiwan, 9(1):2004, pp. 1-28

Obert Voll, John, “Renewal and Reformation in the Mid-Twentieth Century: Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and Religion in the 1950s,” The Muslim World, USA, 89(3-4):1999, pp. 245-259

Raja, Masood A., “Muhammad Iqbal: Islam, the West, and the Quest for a Modern Muslim Identity,” International Journal of the Asian Philosophical Associa- tion, India, 1(n.a.):2008, pp. 37-47

Robinson, Francis, “Islam and the West: Clash of Civilizations?,” Future Islam, 2002, pp. 1-21 https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/file/ac5867d3-9a74-824b- 47fb-e3d9fe499e91/9/OUPIslamWest1.pdf

Scharbrodt, Oliver, “Theological Responses to Modernity in the Nineteenth-Century Middle East: The Examples of Baha’ullah and Muhammad Abduh’, n.d.

Seritoprak, Zeki, “Islam and Politics in the Light of Said Nursi’s Writings,” Islam and Christisn-Muslim Relations, U.K., 19(1):2008, pp. 113-126

______, “Said Nursi’s Teachings on the People of the Book: A Case Study of Islamic Policy in the Early Twentieth Century,” Islam and Christian- Muslim Relations, U.K., 11(3):2000, pp. 321-332

______, “Said Nursi on Muslim-Christian Relations Leading to World Peace,” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, U.K., 19(1):2008, pp. 25-37

Hasan, Syed Sibtey, “Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s Religious Thoughts in the Light of his Risale-I Nur,” Journal of the Institute of Islamic Studies, Aligarh, (37) 2008 pp. 63-79

159

Bibliography

Vahide, Sukran, “The Life and Times of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi,” The Muslim World, USA, 89(3-4):1999, pp. 208-244

Yavuz, Hakan, “The Assassination of Collective Memory: The Case of Turkey,” The Muslim World, USA, 89(3-4):1999, pp. 193-207

Yusuf, Imtiyaz, “Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s Discourse on Belief in Allah: A Study of Texts from Risale-i Nur Collection,” The Muslim World, USA, 89(3-4):1999, pp. 314-324

Doctoral and Master’s Dissertations

Aimee M. Wuthrich, “Identity and the Nur Movement in Turkey: “Trying to See the Gray”,” Middle East Technical University, 2007

Aksoy, Nuriye, “Meeting the Challenges of Modernity as Experienced by Said Nursi, Muhammad Iqbal and Muhammad Abduh,” The State University of New Jer- sey, 2015

Ali KPP, Muhammad, “Inter-faith Dialogue: A Study on Approaches of Said Nursi,” Darul Huda Islamic University, 2012

Ansari, Mahsheed, “The Concept of ‘Shari’a’ in the Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (d. 1960),” The University of Sydney, 2009

Ansari, Mahsheed, “The Rational and Metaphysical Notions of Prophethood and the Prophet Muhammad in the Thought of Said Nursi and Muhammad Iqbal,” Monash University, 2015

Esat Arsalan, “Social and Ethical Thought of Bediuzzaman Said-I Kurdi,” Sabanci University, 2004

Horkuc, Hasan, “Said Nursi’s Ideal for Human Society: Moral and Social Reform in the Risale-i Nur,” University of Durham, 2004

Johnson, Aaron, “The Road to Turkish Language Reform and the Rise of Turkish Na- tionalism,” McGill University, 2004 [Masters]

160

Bibliography

Kateman, Ammeke, “Theology of Unity: Muhammad Abduh’s (1849-1905) Reform- ist Islam and his Interpretation of ‘Authenticity’, ‘Civilisation’ and ‘Reli- gion’,” University of Amsterdam, 2010

Kupperfahrenberg, Julie, “Reasoning of Liberal Reform in Nineteenth Century Mid- dle East,” Erasmus University Rotterdam, 2016

Mermer, Ali, “Aspects of Religious Identity: The Nurcu Movement in Turkey To- day,” University of Durham, 1985

Mohammed Suhail, Practicability of Nursi Methodology in the Social Reform of In- dian Muslims,” Darul Huda Islamic University, 2012

Oguzhan, Goksel, “Assessing the Turkish Model: The Modernization Trajectory of Turkey Through the Lens of the Multiple Modernities Paradigm,” University of Durham, 2015

Omer, Kuru, Self in Relation to the Concept of God in Risale-i Nur,” University of Durham, 2015

Sayilgan, Mehmet Salih, Constructing an Islamic Ethics of Non-Violence: The Case of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi,” University of Alberta, 2012

Şeyhun, Ahmet, “Said Halim Pasha: An Ottoman Statesman and an Islamist Thinker (1865-1921),” McGill University, 2002

V., Afsal V., “Islamic Thought in India and Turkey: A Comparative Study of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi and Bediuzzaman Said Nursi,” Jawaharlal Nehru University, July 2015

Voges, Nina, “An Overview of the Impact of Western Perceptions on the Muslim Middle East,” Rand Afrikaans University, 1999

Yazicioglu, Umeyye, “Miracle Stories and Causality in the Quranic Tradition: A Philosophical and Theological Inquiry,” University of Virginia, 2008

Yuner, Meral, “A Comparison of the Ideas of Ziya Gokalp and Yusuf Akcura on Turkism,” Middle East Technical University, 2009

161