This material introduces the biography and spiritual heritage of the famous Islamic thinker of the twentieth century Said Nursi through an interview with his follower Huya Sahin from Turkey.

When academic research in any branch of science reaches a certain number in terms of quantity, analyzes are made on these studies. Thanks to these analyses, it is visible with a panoramic view in which direction field research is expanding and in which direction the trend of scientific interest is moving. In this respect, such analyzes also provide some suggestions to the younger generation of researchers. One of the most emphasized names in Turkish academia is Said Nursi. It (...) is seen that many academics, especially in various departments of theology faculties, have written articles specifically about Nursi. Apparently, intellectual interest in Nursi and his works will continue at a certain level. This study aims to conduct a descriptive analysis of these academic articles. Articles written about Nursi; authors, number of authors, year and journal published, subjects, etc. It was analyzed according to the parameters. As a method, quantitative data of 210 articles obtained from the scanning of Isam and Dergipark databases with certain keywords were interpreted. In this regard, a mixed method was applied in the research. As a result, it was observed that articles on Nursi peaked in terms of quantity in 2016 and 2017, there was only one researcher with a large number of articles specializing in Nursi, the authors adopted a descriptive method far from being critical about Nursi, very few articles were published in theology faculty journals compared to the total number of publications and most importantly, the publications were quite clearly concentrated in a few journals. (shrink)

This book explores the religious experiences of two notable figures who endured severe trials under authoritarian regimes: Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1877–1960) within the Islamic tradition, and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) within the Russian Orthodox Christian tradition. Against the tumultuous backdrop of the twentieth century’s spiritual, social, political, and intellectual upheavals, both Nursi and Solzhenitsyn grappled with immense hardships because of their beliefs. Despite immense tribulations, both individuals demonstrated unwavering faith and resilience in the face of adversity, continuing their (...) scholarly and literary activities. The current study centers on the dichotomy of spiritual confinement and expansiveness, illustrating how people can experience spiritual distress even without physical restraints. It explores the historical and conceptual aspects of imprisonment within Christian and Muslim perspectives, explores the reasons for Nursi and Solzhenitsyn's incarceration, examines their coping mechanisms in the face of hardship, and underscores the role of faith and spirituality. The author integrates personal experiences, particularly his own incarceration during the aftermath of the 2016 Turkish staged coup attempt, within the context of the narratives of Nursi and Solzhenitsyn. The book addresses court proceedings, release, departure from Turkey, and resettlement in Australia. Throughout, the author draws parallels between their own observations and those of Nursi and Solzhenitsyn, contributing to the broader discourse on individual spirituality and collective consciousness. The book offers insights into spiritual resilience in the face of adversity, utilizing the lives of these figures to illuminate shared human experiences. A unique collation of personal narration and scholarly reflection, it is relevant to academics and students in history, political science, sociology, Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, and to social scientists researching the phenomenon of exile and prison in different countries across the world. It also speaks to the work of activists and policymakers in human rights. (shrink)

The early 20thcentury works of Kurdish Islamic thinker Said Nursî explore how cinema can provide access to the divine. Yet, considering the periods of Nursî’s life that were spent in prison, or in exile in remote locations, it is likely that the cinema he was discussing was, very specifically, the early silent cinema of attractions. Thus the distinctive format of this cinema can be uncovered in, and seen to structure, Nursî’s formulation of ‘God's cinema’. With this proposition in mind, (...) this article indicates something of the potential that an engagement with Nursî’s cinematic writing offers for reconsidering topics already much discussed in film-philosophy, such as that of time in the works of Gilles Deleuze. (shrink)

While Christian approaches to the problem of evil have been much discussed, the issue of theodicy in Islam is relatively neglected. This book discusses possible solutions to theodicy and the problem of evil through the early philosophy and theology of Islam as well as through a semantic analysis of evil in the Qur’ān. Reflecting on Said Nursi’s magnum opus, the Risale-i Nur Collection (Epistles of Light), Yesilhark Ozkan puts Nursi’s theodicy into discourse with so called ‘secular’ theodicy (...) or ‘anthropodicy’. Her study offers a fascinating new perspective on the problem of evil for scholars of comparative religion, philosophy of religion, and Islamic thought. (shrink)

While prophethood is the backbone of the Islamic tradition and an uncompromised tenet of faith, the impact of modernity with its ambivalent status afforded to the prophet and institution of prophethood shook many Muslim scholars. Through analysis of these modern debates on prophethood in Islam, this book situates Muhammad Iqbal's (1877-1938) and Said Nursi's (1877-1960) discourses within it and assesses their implications on the modern period. This book introduces the 'what, who and how' of the prophets in the (...) Islamic tradition. It unveils the rich Islamic literature of both the classical and modern periods and analyses the construction of their philosophies and theologies. Concise in both historical and textual analysis, this book makes an important contribution to our understanding of contemporary debates on prophecy and prophethood in Islam, and will be of great interest to postgraduate students and researchers of Islam, religious studies, medieval studies and contemporary studies of Islam and religion. (shrink)

Yet many in the USA and Europe are not familiar with his important work; this book seeks to rectify that gap.In Globalization, Ethics and Islam, Jewish, ...

If one thing that the failed coup by a small but some of the top hierarchy of Turkish armed forces on that fateful July 15, 2016 day made clear, it was: the ordinary civilians, unarmed as they were poured into the streets to defend the government whatever way they can. This massive public sympathy and support for Turkish resident Erdogan and his government would be hard, if not impossible to understand, without knowing the historical intellectual, academic, and moral combat between (...) the modernists and Islamist groups working within the country. Mustafa Kamal had turned Turkey, mostly by force, from Ottoman Empire into the secular mode using military power. Various Islamic revolutionary outfits struggled for the revival of Ottoman Empire. Among them Bedi-uz-Zaman Said Nursi managed to cast a strong influence. A little slow but steadfast effort influenced by Nursi movement. Islam-shy Western powers managed alternate power structure against sitting President Tayyep Erdogan. They, however, failed due to result oriented social work delivered by his regime as Mayor and Prime Minister. It is a lesson for other revolutionaries and Governments especially for Islamic revolutionaries that if politicians deliver no power can oust them like a bee from butter. (shrink)

The Qur’an contains many miracle stories, from Moses’s staff turning into a serpent to Mary’s conceiving Jesus as a virgin. In _Understanding the Qur’anic Miracle Stories in the Modern Age_, Isra Yazicioglu offers a glimpse of the ways in which meaningful implications have been drawn from these apparently strange narratives, both in the premodern and modern era. It fleshes out a fascinating medieval Muslim debate over miracles and connects its insights with early and late modern turning points in Western thought (...) and with contemporary Qur’anic interpretation. Building on an apparent tension within the Qur’an and analyzing crucial cases of classical and modern Muslim engagement with these miracle stories, this book illustrates how an apparent site of conflict between faith and reason, or revelation and science, can become a site of fruitful exchange. This book is a distinctive contribution to a new trend in Qur’anic Studies: it reveals the presence of insightful Qur’anic interpretation outside of the traditional line-by-line commentary genre, engaging with the works of Ghazali, Ibn Rushd, and Said Nursi. Moreover, focused as it is on the case of miracle stories, the book also goes beyond these specific passages to reflect more broadly on the issue of Qur’anic hermeneutics. It notes the connections between literal and symbolic approaches and highlights the importance of approaching the Qur’an with an eye to its potential implications for everyday life. (shrink)

In the age of technology, when our daily lives are occupied by the unwanted attacks of useless information, when we are helpless in achieving an authentic communication with our close environment, there appears a more pressing need for genuine spirituality as a means of communication. Zeki Sarıtoprak has explored the potentiality of Islamic spirituality in this book. In the first part, he attempts to discover the roots of Islamic spirituality in the Quran as well as in the life of the (...) prophet and he successfully covers it. He names the first part as "theological foundation." In the second part, he exemplifies Islamic spirituality in the life of some great personalities, two of them contemporary, namely, Said Nursi... (shrink)

Imam Abü Hamid al-Ghazalı is perhaps the most celebrated Muslim theologian of medieval Islam yet little attention has been paid to his personal theology. This book sets out to investigate the relationship between law and politics in the writings of Ghazalı and aims to establish the extent to which this relationship explains Ghazalı’s political theology. Articles concerned with Ghazalı’s political thought have invariably paid little attention to his theology and his thinking about God, neglecting to ask what role these have (...) contributed to his definition of politics and political ethics. Here, the question of Ghazalı’s politics takes into account his thinking on God, knowledge, law, and the Koran, in addition to political systems and ethics. _Yazeed Said_ puts forward the convincing argument that if Ghazalı’s legal and political epistemology provide a polemic analogous to his writings on philosophy, for which he is more famed, they would reveal to us a manifesto for an alternative order, concerned with a coherent definition of the community, or _Ummah_. This book will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of the Middle East, political theology and Islamic studies. (shrink)

Essays in the field of comparative world religions and corresponding axial civilizations.

'At last, a volume on civilization that truly reflects the complexity of multiple civilizations. The wealth of contributions Arjomand and Tiryakian have assembled demonstrates the value of an old concept for understanding the awful dilemmas confronting human kind in the global age. Its thoroughgoing renewal here establishes this book as the essential benchmark for future scholars of civilization' - Martin Albrow, Founding Editor of International Sociology and author of The Global Age - winner of the European Amalfi Prize, 1997 'In (...) our tension filled world, many are heralding, and others fearing, a"clash of civilizations." The contributors to this volume provides a healthy and persuasive argument about why this clash need not, and certainly should not, take place. They do so, moreover, not by rejecting the concept of civilization, but by developing a less primordial, homogenous, and essentialist concept of it. An important collection that provides illumination in this sometimes frighteningly dark time' - Jeffrey Alexander, Professor and Chair of Sociology at Yale University 'The concept of civilization may well replace the notions of globalization and identity as the core component in the vocabulary of 21st century sociology. The authors contribute a great deal to the clarification of fashionable controversies around the "clash of civilizations" and "multiculturalism". They go a long way toward purging the concept of civilization of its ideological overtones, and they suceed admirably in turning it into powerful analytic tool of an emerging fleld of macrosociology, known already as civilizational analysis' - Piotr Sztompka, President, International Sociological Association Although the concept of 'civilization' has deep roots in the social sciences, there is an urgent need to re-think it for contemporary times. This book points to an exhaustion in using 'the nation state' and 'world system' as the basic macro-units of social analysis because they do not get to grips with the 'soft power' variable of cultural factors involved in global aspects of development. Also, globalization requires us to reconsider the link between civilization and a fixed or given territory. This book focuses upon the dynamic aspect of civilizations. Among the topics covered are: · Civilizational analysis and social theory · Global civilization and local cultures · Civilizational forms · Rationalization and Civilization · Civilizations as zones of prestige · Historical and comparative dimensions of civilization · The clash of civilizations. (shrink)

This article examines the ways in which Islamic civilization has faced the challenges of the modern age and of globalization. The expansion of Islam in world history is itself a global or proto-global process with its own distinctive internal dynamics. The main challenge to modern Islam, coming from the global political culture in the form of constitutionalism and democratization and human rights, has set in motion a civilizational encounter that has significantly altered the politico-religious dynamics of the proto-global, pre-modern Islamic (...) pattern. The intermingling of these inter- and intra-civilizational processes is traced with respect to the subversion of constitutionalism by ideology during the 1945–1989 period, and the slow recovery of the rule of law since 1989. The same framework of civilizational analysis is used for understanding Islamic fundamentalism, and counter-global defensive developments in contemporary Islam. (shrink)

A provocative critique of Western attitudes about the Orient, this history examines the ways in which the West has discovered, invented, and sought to control the East from the 1700s to the present.

We know the history of philosophy as Arabian, English, American, Greece, Indian, Chinese, Korean, German, Russian, French, Japanese… But it is surprisingly that we do not use more common concept as "national philosophy", which may be included in notions "regional" and "world" philosophy. The other words common to all mankind. As the President of Independent Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov emphasized, "It is important to understand the life giving, deep sources of national culture, East philosophy which serve at vigorous stimulus (...) of rapid progress and renovation". We suppose that the main part of philosophy is human life, man's coming to be and evolution as a subject of interaction with the world. Any philosophy is the philosophy of a man, His life. A man belongs tosome nationality, nation and mankind. The nature is definite geographic midst for a man. Each nationality, nation has its own history and specific outlines – style of life, way of life, traditions, nation interests, psychology, ideas, values, culture. It is common and typical for all nations and it imposes an imprint at all sides of realityas well as philosophy. (shrink)

El presente artículo presenta recursos teóricos que evidencian cómo el género no binario ha sido estigmatizado, invisibilizado y no reconocido dentro de la sociedad occidental contemporánea. Desde el lenguaje en el que estamos sumergidos, la lógica patriarcal ha discriminado a aquellas personas que no se sienten identificadas con los géneros hegemónicos, hombre-mujer, los cuales representan dos únicas maneras de ver el mundo. El género define una manera de interpretar el mundo, por lo tanto, el género no binario también tiene esta (...) cualidad. Dialogar con los distintos géneros, incluyendo los disidentes, nos permitirá deconstruir los conceptos que tenemos en torno al sexo, identidad de género, expresión de género y orientación sexual. En un primer lugar, se aborda el tema del binarismo y la crisis de las identidades en la sociedad occidental. En una segunda instancia, analizo las complejidades lingüísticas y epistemologías del género no binario; finalmente, realizo una lectura de la noción de género a través de la perspectiva hermenéutica, para comprender cómo el género no binario constituye una disidencia de los géneros hegemónicos y aporta una concepción e interpretación deconstruida del lenguaje y, por lo tanto, del mundo. (shrink)