Said-I Nursi (1876–1960) 53

Said-i Nursi (1876–1960) 53

Chapter 5 Said-i Nursi (1876–1960)

Life

Said-i Nursi was born in the village of Nurs, in the province of Bitlis in 1876 (Rumi 1293). His father, Mirza Efendi, was a village molla, and his mother’s name was Nuriye Hanım. The young Said began his education at the local medrese. Among his first teachers was a locally renowned alim, Sheikh Abdurrah- man Tagi. Said attended the medreses of the neighboring districts of Pirmiş and Hizan, but was soon obliged to leave the province when he challenged the intellectual authority of the local ulema. In 1888, Said went to Bayazid (Doğu Beyazıt), where he studied under the famous alim Sheikh Mehmed Celali. He obtained his certificate of proficiency (icazet) in a record time of three months. He remained in the region to continue his education in the medreses of Bitlis and Siirt under different alims. Later, he travelled in southeastern Anatolia and visited many towns (among them, Cizre and Mardin) and nomadic tribes (aşiret). In 1892, he was employed by the vali (governor) of Bitlis as an instruc- tor and also as a tutor for his children. Said remained in the vali’s service for two years, during which he thoroughly studied the Islamic classics. Later, he went to Van and entered into the service of Süleyman Bahri Pasha, then Ahmed Nazım Pasha, governors of Van. In Van, Said explored the vali’s rich library and became acquainted with modern subjects such as history, geography, geology, chemistry, physics and astronomy. After leaving Van, Said travelled to Erzincan, and later to Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. In the imperial capital, Said lived in the mansion of an important palace official, Kuşcubaşı Mus- tafa Pasha, and was introduced to the Sultan. Around 1897, he returned to Van, but we have little information on that period of his life. In 1907, Said returned to Istanbul and managed to obtain an audience with Sultan Abdülhamid II (r. 1876–1909), to whom he presented his project for the foundation of a university (Medrese-tül-Zehra) on the shores of Lake Van, where Kurdish would be used as a local language alongside Turkish and Arabic. His proposal aroused the Sultan’s suspicion and Said was arrested. His detention lasted only briefly, and he left for Selanik (Thessaloniki) after his release, where he met prominent Unionists. Said was in Selanik during the declaration of the Constitution, on 23–24 July 1908; he welcomed the re-establishment of the constitutional regime in a fiery speech, in which he praised the representative government and condemned absolutism.

On 5 March 1909, Said-i Nursi became one of the founding members of İttihad-i Muhammedi Fırkası (Muhammedan Union). He also began to write articles in the journal Volkan, which was published by another prominent member of the Muhammedan Union. In his articles, Said supported his party, explained his political views and defended the constitutional regime. In one article he wrote, “Because it originated in immemorial times, the sacred sharia will last until eternity. We can find salvation and liberate ourselves from ignominious absolutism only through Islam. We can only benefit from the rightful liberty by having a strong faith. He who properly serves the creator should not debase himself by submitting to the people. Since everybody is a commander in his own world, every person has the duty to carry out the great- er jihad within this world.” During the rebellion in Istanbul on 13 April 1909, known as the ‘31 March Incident’, Said-i Nursi gave a speech to the rebel troops, in which he condemned their mutiny and invited them to end their action and submit to their officers: “O soldiers of religion, the honor and dignity, the happiness and inde- pendence [bayrak-ı tevhid] of 30 million Ottomans and 300 million Muslims depend on you. Even if your officers commit a sin by doing an injustice, you with your actions are harming 300 million Muslims. Because of this insubordi- nation, you jeopardize Islamic solidarity. You must know that the army is like a great factory. If a small engine part fails to function, it would throw the whole factory into confusion [thereby affecting production]. Soldiers should not in- terfere with politics. Janissaries are a good example of what could happen oth- erwise. You are asking for sharia, but at the same time your action is against sharia. You are violating it [by your mutiny]. It is established that it is a religious obligation to obey the righteous and pious commander by the sacred law of sharia, by the Quran, by the hadith, and by wisdom and experience. Your commanders are your officers. Obey your officers, long live the soldiers, long live the constitutional regime.” After the suppression of the 31 March insurrection, Said was arrested and put on trial in Istanbul by court martial. Although many of his colleagues were condemned to death and executed, Said was acquitted and freed. Following his liberation, he went to Van in 1910 and then to Damascus in 1911, where he gave a religious lecture at the Umayyad Mosque. That same year, he joined Sultan Mehmed V (r. 1909–1918) on his visit to the European provinces of the empire (Rumeli), and found the opportunity to approach the Sultan and explain to him his project of the eastern Anatolian university in Van, obtaining a promise of financial help. When the First World War began in late July 1914, Said-i Nursi joined the army. During the war, he served as a member of the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa (Special Organizations) and fought against the Russian army on the