Download Indian Muslims and the Secular-Religious Dilemma: Seeking

Indian Muslims and the Secular-Religious
Dilemma: Seeking Solutions from Teachings
of Said Nursi
By:
Dec 30, 2010
Introduction: Indian Muslims are still in search of a pragmatic approach to resolve the
perceived dilemma of living as a minority in a secular, democratic, and pluralistic country.
The secular-religious dichotomy has clearly brought a divide between the ‘secular,
positivist-thinking, modern Muslims’ and the ‘men of religion’. Absence of a foresighted
leadership that can better explain how to live as a true, successful, creative, and productive
Muslim within a constitutional democracy is at the root of this multi-faceted existential and
identity crisis. My paper will attempt to seek solutions for this dilemma from the teachings
of Risale-I Nur. Nurci, who treats Democracy and freedom as the necessary conditions for
the existence of a just society, calls for individual-level rejuvenation of Islamic
consciousness in order to ‘bring God back’ to everyday life, and his main struggle was to
tackle the positivist epistemology which was detracting human beings from their sacred
origins. He taught that Parliamentary Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law are the most
reasonable means for realizing a just society as well as for rejuvenating Islam; and this I
believe, has a lot to offer to Indian Muslims in their bid for a successful transformation.
Nursi’s argument against pro-Islamic parties, reasoning that ‘a polarized society will not
be ready to tolerate such faith-oriented parties, as well his identification of ‘ignorance,
friction, and poverty’ as enemies of Islam, and of ‘education, hard work, and consensus’ as
its solution, are particularly important for Indian Muslims. My paper will look into the
ways the bids of Nursi to build a pious, tolerant and modern Muslim personality can be
applied in the context of Indian Muslims.
This paper has four parts - first is on Indian Muslims, their legacy, and present condition;
the second is on what I perceive as the ‘secular-religious dilemma’, which I see as the root
cause of Muslim backwardness in India. The third part introduces the life of Ustad
Badiuzzaman Said Nursi and his Risala-i-Nur, and in the fourth, I present 15 reasons as to
why I look upto Nursi’s teachings for solving the problems of Indian Muslims. Nrusi helped
Turkish Muslims adopt modernity without compromising their faith and cultural heritage,
and without the usage of any form of violence or confrontation, despite being under
extreme hostile situations created by an authoritarian and fundamentalist form of
secularism. Therefore, I argue that his vision of mediating Islam with modernity will be
more suitable and tenable for Indian Muslims who live in a democracy that defines
secularism[1]in terms of pluralism and co-existence of religions.
Indian Muslims: Islam is the second-most practiced religion in India with around 15% of
the country's population.[2]Muslims in India form the world's third largest Muslim
community after Indonesia and Pakistan,[3]and the world's largest Muslim-minority
population[4]. India has a vibrant Muslim culture[5]. Its vast landscape is dotted with
mosques, Sufi shrines, Makatibs and Madaris. The call for prayer goes out even in remote
towns and villages. Muslim rituals, symbols, and institutions are found everywhere. Eid
festivals, Meeladunnabi celebrations, Muharram processions (by Shiites), Urs at Sufi
mausoleums, grand Islamic conferences, where ordinary Muslims take part in hundreds of
thousands, all occur in glitter and grandeur. They live under a constitutional democracy
that guarantees protection of the fundamental rights of equality before the law, freedom to
profess, practice, and propagate religion, and non-discrimination by the state against any
citizen on grounds of religion[6]. It is a fact that in terms of profession, practice, public
discourse, and propagation of religion, Indian Muslims enjoy greater freedom compared to
most of the Islamic states.
Islam in India unfolds a bewildering diversity of Muslim communities. Located in multiple
streams of thought, their histories, social habits, cultural traits, and occupational patters
vary from class to class, and region to region. They speak numerous dialects and languages
and observe wide ranging regional customs and local rites. Their economic profile varies.
There are many comfortably placed traders, businesspersons, merchants, professionals,
politicians, celebrities and industrialists from them, but the vast majority of Muslims are
impoverished peasants and landless laborers or industrial proletariat.[7]
However, after 60 years of independence, Indian Muslims as a whole paint a very grim
picture of their condition, and are mired in countless problems and stuck with the
prospects of a bleak future. Various studies have pointed out their social, economic,
political, and educational backwardness. Of late, the government-appointed Sachar
committee[8]came out with a detailed report that showed their grossly deteriorated
conditions. The report showed that though there is a considerable variation in the
conditions of Muslims across states, the community exhibits deficits and deprivation in
practically all dimensions of development. Exacerbating the problem, Muslims feel socially
excluded, stigmatized and discriminated against, stressing that they become victims of
stereotypes, social marginalization, and political extremism because of their different
religious and cultural traditions. Sachar categorized issues of Muslims in terms of identity,
security, and equity. Identifying as a Muslim in public spaces hinders housing and
education as many non-Muslims refuse to rent or sell houses for Muslims in their areas or
prevent Muslim students from entering esteemed educational institutions. Security related
concerns include biased attitudes and highhandedness of the police and law enforcing
agencies, Ghettoisation and shrinking of common spaces. Equity-related issues include
widespread feeling of being a victim of discriminatory attitudes from poor civic amenities
in Muslim localities, poor or no access to schools, non-representation in political power and
bureaucracy to police atrocities against them. The loyalty of Muslims is always doubted,
tanks to the partition of Indian sub-continent and creation of Pakistan as an Islamic
country. The right wing ideologues have won in creating a perception that Muslims do not
properly belong, and through systematical distortion and making of history, they accuse
Muslims of entering and staying in the country through illegitimate conquests and
spreading the message through violence and compulsion. The legacy of partition is still
alive in the mental psyche of both Hindus and Muslims, especially in north India, and the
communalist forces always get their immediate fuel out of this legacy. Far from solving the
communal problem in India, the partition further aggravated it. The innocent Muslim
masses in India continue to pay heavy price for creation of Pakistan[9]. And partition has
created nothing but hatred towards Muslims. In the post independence period, Muslims
faced a severe political downbeat, in addition to the absence of a shrewd and foresighted
leadership who could lead them with a mission and vision. Various political parties used
Muslims as a vote-bank, lured them with piecemeal appeasements, and left them in the
lurch when they faced grave problems. This along with the repeated communal riots in the
various parts of the country destroyed whatever progress they made. All of these had an
adverse effect on their economy, education, and social status so badly.
What I described above forms the usual style of narrating Muslim backwardness in India.
However, I think analyzing it this way, though they are facts, would not help solve
problems at any time soon. Being a minority religious group or being a Muslim community
is not the basic reason for backwardness and suffering; neither is the existence of a hostile
majority, determined to never let Muslims progress, the reason. Christians (2.3% of
population) and Sikhs (1.8%) in India excelled and progressed in almost all fields, and
watch some Muslim communities abroad have achieved amazing progress and
development without surrendering their identity even under more hostile conditions; all of
this prompts the need to reconsider the root causes of the problems as we have understood
them as.
Secular-Religious Dilemma
The problem of religion’s relationship with modernity and its ingredients like secularism
and democracy[10]is not an exclusively Muslim phenomenon, but one that other religions
and traditional communities have also had to struggle with. Writing ‘Democracy in
America’ in 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville called it as the ‘great problem of our time’.
However, going through the perils of colonization and westernization in the last two
centuries, it was the Muslim community across the world that had to grapple the most with
the question of how to reconcile modernity with tradition and how to be religious and
modern simultaneously. Indian Muslims were put to this dilemma when the British ended
centuries-long Muslim rule and started implementing western forms of law,
administration, education, and development.
Muslims responded differently to the new challenges. The Deoband[11]and
Barelwi[12]movements arose as revivalists, defending Islamic traditionalism and defining
Islam through its historically evolved intellectual legacy, as they opposed all norms and
values of the westernized modernity. The Ahle-Hadees[13]movement emerged with another
response of revivalism that called for a strict return to the original Islamic sources. Then
there was the Aligarh movement of Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan[14]who advocated rationalist
reinterpretation of Islam in the light of western science and modern thoughts, whereas a
fourth group found Islam guilty and embraced western modernity in full swing. Amidst
these host of reactions, the community as a whole fell into confusion, and the absence of a
luminary leadership that could foresightedly design and define the flow of Muslim life in
India was evident. Rather than preparing this minority community to wage a creative,
productive, and tolerant life amidst the diversity of people and values, Muslim groups and
leaders in India mostly tried to assert their differences and exclusive nature. Leaving aside
the basic and existential issues, Muslims rode on emotional things and symbolic stuffs, and
their public discourses always stuck on non-fundamental theological disputes. The basis of
this attitude and discourses is what I call the secular-religious dilemma.
Due to this partly imaginary and partly enforced dilemma, Indian Muslims failed to work
out an intellectual cohesiveness and a broad consensus, particularly about their civic
behavior. They also failed to develop a functional and healthy civil society[15]that would
prudently mediate modernity and reap maximum results out of a friendly secular
democracy, which never questioned Islamic fundamentals, rather facilitated a better
religious life. They misread the equation between ideal and pragmatic, did not highlight the
inclusive nature of Islam, failed to utilize religion as a potential social force, and fell short
of a workable strategy for living amidst a non-Muslim majority. Here therefore, is a need
of well-defined and structured articulation, and here I see the importance of Said Nursi
who successfully and peacefully mediated this dilemma in an extremely hostile political
condition in Turkey.
Said Nursi and His Risale-Nur
Known as Bediüzzaman, the wonder of the age[16], Ustad Said Nursi (1876–1960)[17]was a
great reformer who successfully saved the Islamic faith from the destructive secularism
and positivistic philosophy imposed upon Muslims early 20th century. Despite passing 28
years in prisons and exile, and living in difficult conditions, Nursi illuminated Turkey in its
darkest days and left behind a luminous school of thought that has now become resort of
millions of seekers across the world. An ‘intellectual brilliance’ since childhood, Nursi
mastered Islamic sciences as well as most of the modern physical and mathematical
sciences at an earlier age. His stint with modern science and philosophy happened when the
Quran and Islam was severely attacked in the name of science and materialism,
particularly the Positivist philosophy of August Comte. Nursi was embodied with all
necessary characters of a real visionary leader like simplicity, humbleness, wisdom, and
hikmah. A man gifted with divine illumination (‘ilm ladunni), Nursi experienced the rise
and spread of various modernist and materialist philosophies. He discovered the mission of
his life when the Ottoman Empire was replaced by the Kamalists, who embarked on an
intensive Westernization and secularization programme, stripping Turkey of its rich
culture and heritage. He kept spreading his message peacefully during the 25-year
authoritarian rule of Republican Peoples’ Party. His preaching became little easy during
the 10-year rule of ‘Democratic Party’ (1950-60).
The transformation of ‘Ottoman Old Said’ into the ‘Turkish New Said’ renders a rich case
study. Actively involved in the social and political life of the fading Ottoman Empire, Old
Said tried to revive Islam and ensure the empire’s survival like any other activistintellectual. However, the drastic changes following the World War1 and the painful
transformation of Turkey nurtured the New Said. He easily read the designs of the
Kamalist regime, and instead of drawing a political and activist reaction, he designed a
perfect strategy for the well being of Muslim life in modern period that still keeps reaping
results. Any student of modern Islamic movements can easily understand that there were
few reformers of this genre in the history. Unfolding of his life and spread of his teachings
through the following decades is quite interesting. Now the Nur Movement stands tall
delivering positive results in all fields of human life, utilizing the positives of modern
science, and ensuring that the faith and values of a Muslim remains intact while scaling the
heights of progress.
Nursi’s magnum opus is the Risale-i Nur collection (RNK)[18], a 600-page commentary on
the Quran written for all modern men colonized by materialist and positivist philosophy.
Showing conformity of Islam’s message with modern science, RNK helped Turks maintain
their faith under the most despotic regimes, and it became the basis of many key
movements for social, moral and spiritual reform in Turkish Islam. In the fast-tracked life
of the period, where people has little time to take years for learning theology, RNK opens
an easy way of learning Islam and knowing God. The RNK exemplifies the scope of Nursi’s
intellectual and religious dynamism, and the history of its spread and acceptance among a
closely watched Turkish society is awe inspiring.
Indian Muslims Need Nursi’s Vision of Enlightened Islam
What I make here is a peep from the shore into the ocean of Nursi’s thoughts and teaching,
and I am still flooded with reasons why I should seek solutions from Nursi for the problems
of Indian Muslims. To start with, (1) from an overall analysis of Nursi, his RNK and the
Nur movement, one can easily understand that Said Nursi could successfully solve the
modern Muslims’ dilemma of how to live in a pluralistic society and how to reconcile with
the secular and religious, modern and traditional, faith and science, and reason and
revelation.
2. For Indian Muslims, looking to Nursi will be only revival of their own intellectual
legacies. Nursi counts Indian reformer Ahmed Sirhindi (1563-1624) as his biggest source of
inspiration. Both Nursi and Sirhindi faced same natured problems in two historical points
and adopted the similar remedies[19].
3. Nursi reminds us that for those who stand for social change, confrontation never should
be a policy. He made an outright rejection of Jihad by sword and confrontational
revolutions, and called for peaceful internal jihad on the level of ideas and learning.
Preservation of public order and security was the focus of the ‘positive action’ Nursi
designed to thwart the long-term effect of the destructive secularism. Said displayed
meticulous ‘patience against all the insults, injustice, and torments meted out to him’. Few
Muslim leaders showed this maturity to earn long-term results and this is why we
repeatedly go back to Nursi and his thoughts. Indian Muslims should redefine their future
policies taking a big lesson from him.
4. Nursi envisioned an educational system that integrated religious and modern secular
sciences, and he himself mastered in both sciences. His idea of a Muslim scholar was that of
one, who earned knowledge in its comprehensive sense. He tried many a times to establish
universities of this design. Stuck in the disastrous dichotomy of knowledge into religious
and secular, Indian Muslims can take note.
5.Living in a plural society, Indian Muslims can take lessons from Nursi’s works on
matters of religious tolerance and inter-faith dialogue, and on how societies living with
tolerance and mutual respect of differences can build up a powerful and vibrant modern
state. He defended the rights of Armenians and Greeks in Turkey. He established dialogues
and friendships with Christian groups. In the same way, in 1953, Nursi visited the
Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras in Istanbul to seek cooperation between Muslims and
Christians.Successful inter-faith dialogues are among the main agenda of Nur movement.
6.Nursi realized religion’s potency as a positive social force and the capability of faith to fill
the void created by secular republican regimes. He helped individuals redeem and
maintain their faith and encouraged them to excel in all fields and work to progress.
7.Indian Muslims, who always longed for ‘traditionally-rooted modern scholars’, would
admire Nursi for his impeccable ability to ‘enlighten his students by demonstrating the
truths of religion in the manner most appropriate to the understanding of the period’.
Nursi did not blindly oppose anyone – sufis, ulama, secularists, or men of science - but
devised a new way to bring back real Islam into this world, reconciling the views of all
without surrendering the Islamic values.
8.Nursi always explains how Muslims can live in a non-Islamic modern state and achieve
progress and prosperity. He described ‘proper adherence to Sharia, love of one's nation,
education, human labor and the abandonment of debauched morals’ as the doors to
progress and civilization. Counting poverty, ignorance, and anarchy as the three main
enemies, he called for national union, human exertion, and national solidarity. I would love
to see these words inscribed in the houses of all Indian Muslims.
9.Nur movement is the finest example on the formation of creative and non-political civil
society platforms that would reconcile faith with education, business, science, and Western
technology through networks of schools, companies, media outlets, hospitals, and
associations. Such well-structured civil society movements are one of the immediate needs
of Indian Muslims. 10. Nursi taught how to make such movements well-inclusive, spreading
its services to people from all faiths and communities[20].
11.The cautious approach of Nur movement for Conflict-avoidance and for impression
management is yet another lesson to learn in an era where public image matters the most
for drawing respect and acceptance. Through inner mobilization and highly individualistic
approach to social change, Nusi could control negative emotions of the people such as
anger, shame, and outrage.
12.Nursi never advocated for the formation of an Islamic state, that too in a Majority
Muslim state having a great Islamic legacy. Instead, he xsought to consolidate civil society
by redrawing the boundaries between the state and society, carved out new spaces
constituting new identities, and helped people excel and get respect keeping their faith; a
perfectly emulative strategy. 13. Nursi considered freedom and democracy as the necessary
conditions for a just society, and he argued that parliamentary constitutionalism and the
rule of law provided the best environment for the rejuvenation of Islam. He called Muslims
to fight against poverty, ignorance, and internal enmity, and voiced against using Islam for
political goals[21].
14. The idea of a text-based faith movement is easily digestible in India, it being the centre
of such a worldwide movement – the Tablighi Jama’at[22]. However, bent on symbols and
rigid theological perspectives, Indian Muslims sit far away from the kind of enlightened
Islam explained by Nursi. The modern society wants to link his sciences, surroundings
business, commerce, education and other worldly activities with his faith. Therefore, RNK
reading and building-ups on its vision can be an ideal replacement strategy. 15. Indians of
all faith can easily identify with Said Nursi for his resemblance with the great Mahatma
Gandhi in his peaceful struggle and non-violence despite facing all kinds of
provocations[23].
Conclusion: Said Nursi is the only Muslim reformer of last two centuries who perfectly
worked out a strategy for Muslims to live in a modern state keeping their faith intact.
Indian Muslims stand in need of such an enlightened vision of Islam and they deserve to
know more about Nurci and his Risale-Nur[24].
By: Zubair Hudawi, JN University, New Delhi, India
[1]Discourses on secularism and its relation with religion in India are quite interesting. It is
not negation of religion or even not separation of religion and public space. It is coexistence of multiple religions under a constitutional democracy, which treats all religions
equally. To get more on discourses on Indian secularism see; Shabnam Tejani, Indian
Secularism: A Social and Intellectual history, 1890-1950, (Indiana University Press, 2008),
Rajendra Vora & Suhas Palshikar (eds.) Indian Democracy: Meanings and Practices (New
Delhi, Sage Publication, 2003), Ashis Nandy, “An Anti-secularist Manifesto”, Seminar,
314:14-24 (1985), Gerald James Larson (ed.), Religion and Personal Law in Secular India; A
Call to Judgment, (Indianapolis, Indiana university Press, 2001), Thomas Pantham, “Indian
Secularism and Its Critics: Some Reflections”, The Review of Politics, 59:523-540
(1997), Upendra Baxi, “The Struggle for the Redefinition of Secularism in India”, Social
Scientist, 21: march-April (1990), Amartya Sen, “The threats to Secular India”, Social
Scientist, 21: March April (1993), Ronojoy Sen, Legalizing Religion: The Indian Supreme
Court and Secularism, (Washington, East-West Centre, 2007), Shariful Hasan, “Nehru's
secularism”, in Rajeev Dhavan & Thomas Paul (eds.), Nehru and the Constitution,
(Bombay: N M Tripati Ltd. 1992), Donald E Smith, India as a secular state, (Princeton,
PUP, 1963), Rajeev Bhargava, (ed.), Secularism and its critics, New Delhi, OUP, 2007)
[2]Over 138 million identified themselves as Muslims in the National census 2001. The 2009
estimate is around 160.9 million.
[3]PewReserach Report on Mapping the Global Muslim Population,
http://pewforum.org/newassets/images/reports/Muslimpopulation/Muslimpopulation.pdf
[4]http://www.faqs.org/minorities/South-Asia/Muslims-of-India.html. Due to politics in
counting population, it is widely known that the exact count is never published, and the
number of Muslims in India are far higher than the official figure. In an interview with
The Hindu, a prestigious Indian English daily, Justice K.M. Yusuf, a retired Judge from
Calcutta High Court and Chairman of West Bengal Minority Commission, has said that
the real percentage of Muslims in India is at least 20%.
[5]Islam and Muslims in India need much better quality studies. There are plenty of books,
but most of them are accused of either bias or vested ideological interests. As Muslims do
not have resident historians nor a clear-cut historiography, they are always compelled to
mix others history with their legacy and theology. They have been victims of distorted or
created history for long. One will strongly feel dearth of quality materials on Indian
Muslims. A brilliant and somewhat comprehensive study came 40 years ago, Mujeeb, M.
The Indian Muslims, (London, George Allen & Unwin LTD, 1969). Other materials
referred include; Rafeeq Zakariya, Indian Muslims: Where They Have gone wrong,
(Mumbai,Popular Prakashan ltd, 2005), Ahmad, Sayed Naser. Origins of Muslim
Consciousness In India: A World-System Perspective, (Westport, Greenwood Press, 1991),
Gottschalk, Peter. Beyond Hindu and Muslim: Multiple identity in narratives from village
India, (New York, Oxford, 1963), Mushirul Hasan, Legacy of a Divided Nation; India's
Muslims Since Independence, (London, C.Hurst & Co., 1997), Ahmad, Aziz. An Intellectual
History of Islam in India (Edinburgh, EUP, 1969), Yoginder Sikand, Muslims in India Since
1947; Islamic perspectives on Inter-faith relations, (New Delhi, RoutledgeCurzon, 2004)
[6]See The Constitution o f India. It has proclaimed protection of the fundamental rights of
equality before the law (Article 14), nondiscrimination in terms of employment and
political participation (Article 16), freedom to profess, practice, and propagate religion
(Article 25), lack of state support for any “particular religion or religious denomination”
(Article 27), and the absence of religious instruction of any kind in “any educational
institution wholly maintained out of State funds” (Article 28).
[7]Mushirul Hasan, Legacy of a divided nation: India's Muslims Since Independence,
[8]To read the 425-page full report see,
http://minorityaffairs.gov.in/newsite/sachar/sachar_comm.pdf
[9]To have an idea of communal tensions in India read, Martha C. Nussbaum, The Clash
Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India’s Future, (Cambridge, Harvard
University Press, 2007)
[10]Islamic view of concepts like secularism and democracy, and Muslims realistic or
conceptual approach towards these ideas has plenty of literature, and the discourses in this
regard have taken various turns. The books referred include Frédéric Volpi, Islam and
Democracy : The Failure of Dialogue in Algeria, (London, Pluto Press, 2003), AHMAD
SADRI, Reason, Freedom,& Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings of 'Abdolkarim
Soroush, (New York, OUP, 20OO), Jocelyne Cesari, When Islam and Democracy Meet:
Muslims in Europe and in the United States, (New York, PALGRAVE MACMILLAN,
2004), Ziba Mir-Hosseini & Richard Tapper, Islam and Democracy in Iran Eshkevari and
the Quest for Reform, (London, I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd, 2006), Nader Hashemi, Islam,
Secularism, and Liberal Democracy: Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies,
(New York, OUP, 2009), Olivier Roy, Secularism confronts Islam, (New York, Columbia
University Press, 2005), Sayed Khatab & Gary D. Bouma, Democracy In Islam, (Oxon,
Routledge, 2007)
[11]To read more on the Deoband movement read Metcalf, B. D. Islamic Revival in British
India: Darul Uloom Deoband, 1860- 1900 ( New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005).
[12]To read more on Barelwi movement see Sanyal, Usha. Devotional Islam and Politics in
British India: Ahmed Riza Khan Barelvi and His Movement, 1870-1920, (London: Oxford
University Press, 1999), Sanyal, Usha. Ahmad Riza Khan Barelwi: in the path of the
prophet: Makers of the Muslim world, (Oxford, Oneworld, 2005)
[13]The Ahle Hadees Movement, which is called as fundamentalism or rigid literalism, is
closely related to Wahabism and Salafism in interpreting theology. However the historical
roots are different. The movement started was in Delhi by the successors of the great 18th
century Indian scholar Shah Waliyullah Dahlawi , who gave a new direction of Hadis
studies in India. However Waliyullah Dahlawi is not considered as an Ahle-Hadees
ideologue as he was making his voice against closed mentalities of religious people, pseudoSufism, corrupt ulama and biased madhabism. The Ahle Hadees movement totally rejects
the four schools of thought and claim to explain religion only on the basis of Quran and
authentic traditions.
[14]To read more on Sir Sayyid and his visions read Troll, C. W. Sayyid Ahmad Khan: A
Reinterpretation of Muslim Theology, (New Delhi, 1978),
[15]What makes a movement a part of civil society is that its associations, organizations
and all activities should be transparent, accountable and visible both to the public and the
state.
[16]He was called 'Bediüzzaman" because of the speed with which he had mastered the
new secular sciences, and he was called nursi in connection to his birth at the Eastern
Anatolian Kurdish village of Nurs.
[17] For detailed biography of Nursi read, Sukran Vahide, Islam in Modern Turkey: An
Intellectual Biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi , (Albany: State University of New York
Press, 2005). For a wonderful academic study on Nursi’s visions read Serif Mardin,
Religion and Social Change in Modern Turkey: The Case of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi
(Albany, State University of New York Press 1989). Tens of academic books and hundreds
of research articles written about Said Nursi denote his importance and prominence as a
noted intellectual in the world.
[18]For the English version of Risal-e-Nur see www.nursistudies.com, www.nuronline.org
[19]Sirhindi's preaching and revival was a reaction to the secular policies of Mughal
emperor Akbar who mixed all religions into one. Fighting Akbar's experiments with
religious syncretism, which was sweeping away the distinguishing characteristics of Islam,
Sirhindi started a movement of spiritual renewal and he played a prominent role in
keeping the threads of the community together in the political and social chaos of time. (he
is known as "MujaddidÎ" or renewalist). However, Sirhindi outlined the importance of a
Muslim’s loyalty despite objections and called for spiritual reawakening of the individual.
To read more on Sirhindi see, Friedmann, Johannan. Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi, (Montreal,
McGill-Queens University Press, 1971)
[20] Recently a friendly non-Muslim intellectual in India (M.D. Nalappatt) reminded the
need for ‘followers of Quran’ to stop thinking of only of Muslims whenever they do
something. ‘The more narrow the vision and the focus of activity, the more distant from the
universal message of the Quran’, he said.
[21]Nursi said that ‘religion ultimately had to occupy a realm above day-to-day power
politics’. He also warned against establishing pro-Islamic parties in a polarized society,
noting the possibility of using Islam opportunistically for political goals.
[22]To read more on the movement of Tableeghi Jama’at see, Yoginder Sikand, The
origins and development of the Tablighi Jamaʻat (1920-2000): a cross-country comparative
study, (New Delhi, Orient Longman, 2002)
[23]Defending one of his own case in Law Courts, Nursi said, “The truth that we, the
students of the Nur School of Culture have learned from the Qur’an al-Hakim is that the
justice of the Qur’an forbids burning a ship on which there is one innocent person among
ten murderers, as the right of one innocent must be protected. Should anyone burn a house
or ship to kill ten innocents because of the inclusion of one murderer, would that not be an
act of tyranny, injustice, and perfidy? We wholeheartedly try to maintain public order so
that the lives of the innocent may not be endangered because of one person or criminal, for
Divine justice and the truth of the Qur’an absolutely forbids this.”
[24]Books referred for this paper include; Zurcher, Erik J. Turkey: a Modern History,
(Amsterdam, I.B. Tauris, 1992), Rabasa, Angel. & Larabee, F. Stephen. The rise of political
Islam in Turkey, (Santa Monica, the RAND Corporation, 2008), Yavuz, M. Hakan. Islamic
Political Identity in Turkey, (New York, OUP, 2003),
Tapper, Richard. (ed.), Islam In Modern Turkey: Religion, Politics and Literature in a
Secular state, (New York, I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 1991), Turam, Berna. Between Islam and
the State: The Politics of Engagement, (California, Stanford University Press, 2007).