It should not be misunderstood; Europe is twofold. 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 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. As follows:

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!” May your two hands be broken and may these two filthy presents of yours be the death of you! And so they shall be!

O you unhappy spirit which spreads unbelief and ingratitude! Can a man who is suffering torments and is afflicted with ghastly calamities in both his spirit and his conscience and his mind and his heart be happy through his body wallowing in a superficial, deceptive glitter and wealth? Can it be said that he is happy?

Don’t you see that on feeling despair at some minor matter and his hope for some illusory wish being lost and his being disillusioned at some insignificant business, such a person’s sweet imaginings become bitter for him, what is pleasant torments him, and the world constricts him and becomes a prison for him? But what happiness can you ensure for such a wretched person who through your inauspiciousness has suffered the blows of misguidance in the deepest corners of his heart to the very foundations of his spirit, and because of this whose hopes have all been extinguished and whose pains all arise from it? Can it be said of someone whose body is in a false and fleeting paradise and whose heart and spirit are suffering the torments of Hell that he is happy? See, you have led astray wretched mankind in this way! You make them suffer the torments of Hell in a false heaven!

O evil-commanding soul of mankind! Consider the following comparison and see where you have driven mankind. For example, there are two roads before us. We take one of them and see that at every step is some wretched, powerless person. Tyrants are attacking him, seizing his property and goods, and destroying his humble house. Sometimes they wound him as well. The heavens weep at his pitiful state. Wherever one looks, things are continuing in this vein. The sounds heard on this way are the roars of tyrants and the groans of the oppressed; a universal mourning envelops the entire way. A person is afflicted with a boundless grief since due to his humanity man is pained at the suffering of others. But because his conscience cannot endure so much pain, one who travels this way is compelled to do one of two things: either he strips off his humanity and embracing a boundless savagery bears such a heart that so long as he is safe and sound, he is not affected even if all the rest of mankind perish, or else he suppresses the demands of the heart and reason.

O Europe corrupted with vice and misguidance and drawn far from the religion of Jesus! You have bestowed this hellish state on the human spirit with your blind genius which, like the Dajjal, (The Antichrist) has only a single eye. You afterwards understood that this incurable disease casts man down from the highest of the high to the lowest of the low, and reduces him to the basest level of animality. The only remedy you have found for it are the fantasies of entertainment and amusement and anodyne diversions which temporarily numb the senses. These remedies of yours are being the death of you, and so they shall be. There! The road you have opened up for mankind and the happiness you have given it resembles this comparison.

The second road, the All-Wise Qur’an has bestowed on mankind; it is like this: We see that in every stopping-place, every spot, every town are patrols of a Just Monarch’s equitable soldiers doing the rounds. From time to time at the King’s command a group of the soldiers is discharged. Their rifles, horses and gear belonging to the state are taken from them and they are given their leave papers. They are apparently sad to hand over their familiar rifles and horses, but in reality are happy to be discharged and extremely pleased to visit the Monarch and return to his court.

Sometimes the demobilization officials encounter a raw recruit who does not recognize them. “Surrender your rifle!,” they say. The soldier replies: “I am a soldier of the King and I am in his service. I shall go to him later. Who are you? If you come with His permission and consent, I greet you with pleasure, show me His orders. Otherwise go away and stay far from me.  Even if I remain on my own and there are thousands of you, I shall still fight you, and it would not for myself, because I do not own myself; I belong to my King. Indeed, my self and the rifle I have now are in trust from my owner. I shall not submit to you because I have to safeguard the trust and defend my King’s honour and dignity!”

This situation then is one of thousands on the second way which are the cause of joy and happiness. You can think of the others for yourself. Throughout the journey there is the mobilization and despatch of troops with joy and celebrations under the name of birth, and the discharge of troops with cheer and military bands under the name of death. This road has been bestowed on mankind by the All-Wise Qur’an. Whoever accepts the gift wholeheartedly travels down it to happiness in this world and the next. He feels neither grief at the things of the past nor fear at those of the future.

From The Risale-i Nur Collection

وَاِنْ مِنْ شَىْءٍ اِلاَّ يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ

This is part of a letter written in response to a gift from his well-known student, Hulusi Yahyagil.

T h i r d l y : You sent me a present and want to break an extremely important rule of mine! Just this time I am not going to say: “I don’t accept presents from you in the same way that I don’t accept them from Abdülmecid and Abdurrahman, my brother and nephew,” because since you are more advanced than them and closer in spirit, I can’t refuse them even if I refuse everyone else’s. But apropos of this, I shall tell you the reason for my rule. It is like this:

The Old Said never accepted favours. He preferred death to becoming obliged to people. He never broke that rule of his despite suffering great hardship and difficulty. This wretched brother of yours inherited this characteristic from the Old Said, and it is not asceticism or artificial self-sufficiency; there are four or five important reasons for it:

The First: The people of misguidance accuse religious scholars of securing advantage through their learning. They attack them unfairly, saying: “They are exploiting knowledge and religion to make a living for themselves.” This has to be shown to be false in practice.

The Second: We are charged with following the prophets in disseminating the truth. In the All-Wise Qur’an those who do this say:

إِنْ اَجْرِىَ إِلاَّ عَلَى اللهِ       إِنْ اَجْرِىَ إِلاَّ عَلَى اللهِ

and they display independence. Most meaningful in regard to this matter is the verse in Sura Ya. Sin.:

اِتَّبِعُوا مَنْ لاَ يَسْئَلُكُمْ اَجْرًا وَهُمْ مُهْتَدُونَ

The Third: As is explained in the First Word, one should give in the name of Allah and take in the name of Allah. Whereas mostly either the one giving is heedless and gives in his own name and implicitly puts the recipient under an obligation, or the recipient is heedless; he gives the thanks and praise due to the True Provider to apparent causes and is in error.

The Fourth: Reliance on Allah, contentment, and frugality are such a treasury and wealth they can be exchanged for nothing. I do not want to take things from people and shut up that inexhaustible treasury. I offer endless thanks to the All-Glorious Provider that since my childhood He has not compelled me to remain under obligation and so suffer abasement. Relying on His munificence, I beseech His mercy that I may remain faithful to this rule for the rest of my life.

The Fifth: In consequence of many signs and experiences over the past year or two I have formed the firm conviction that I am not permitted to accept people’s goods and particularly the gifts of the rich and of officials. Some make me ill. Indeed, they are made to be like that; they are made so that I cannot eat them. Sometimes they are turned into a form that upsets me. This must be a sort of command not to accept the goods of others, prohibiting me from accepting them. Moreover, I have a need for solitude, I cannot receive everyone all the time. Accepting people’s gifts necessitates considering their feelings and accepting them at times I do not want to. And I do not find that agreeable. I find it more agreeable to eat a small piece of dry bread and wear clothes patched in a hundred places, and be saved from fawning and artificiality. It is disagreeable for me to eat the best quality baklava and wear the finest clothes at the hands of others and be obliged to consider their feelings.

The Sixth: The most important reason for self-sufficiency is what Ibn Hajar, the most reliable scholar of our school of law, says: “If you are not righteous it is forbidden to accept something intended for the righteous.”

Out of their greed and ambition, the people of this age sell the smallest gift very expensively. They imagine a sinful wretch like myself to be righteous or a saint and they give him a loaf of bread. If, Allah forbid, I consider myself to be righteous, it is a sign of pride and points to the absence of righteousness. If I do not consider myself to be righteous, it is not permissible to accept those goods. Also, to receive alms and gifts in return for actions that look to the hereafter, means consuming the eternal fruits of the hereafter in transitory form in this world.

اَلْبَاقِى هُوَ الْبَاقِى

Said Nursi

Source: 2nd Letter, Letters, Risale-i Nur Collection.

When they are separated, from the former superstition and from the latter corruption and skepticism is born.”

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

As for the other group, by placing utmost value on meaning and content they refrain from compromising the substance for the prose.

With these brief and introductory words, I hope one can have a clearer picture of Bediuzzaman’s literary aspect. For Ustad did not spend his valuable and fruitful life ordering and arranging words that would go into the ears of people; rather, on the contrary, he was busy with instilling into generations and centuries the sacred ideals regarding the sense of religion, consciousness of iman, morality and virtue and embedding them into their heart, spirit, conscience and thoughts. A mujahid who has left behind his life and this world and everything in it just to realise this aim, will naturally stay away from busying himself with transient forms.

Nevertheless, in terms of his fine taste, sensitivity, depth of thought and imaginative power, Ustad may be said to have had an extraordinary literary talent and flair. And for this reason we find his style and expressions change according to the subject matter.

For example, while convincing the mind with logical and mathematical proofs when discussing scholarly and philosophical matters he will use succinct modifiers. But at times when he is captivating a heart or raising the spirit, his expressions possess an indescribable clarity.

When depicting the heavens, suns, stars, the moonlight and especially the time of spring, and the manifestation of Almighty Allah’s power and sublimity in those worlds, his style would acquire such subtlety that from that point on each metaphor becomes reminiscent of a picture frame shaded in the sweetest of colours, each description animating a world full of wonders.

It is due to this wisdom that through the study of the Risale‑i Nur, a Nur student – no matter which faculty at university he is in – finds complete contentment in their senses and minds, their spirit, conscience and imaginations.

And how could they not be satisfied? For the Risale‑i Nur Collection is a bouquet of roses gathered from the universal garden of the Noble Qur’an. Hence it has in it, the nur, air, light and scent of that blessed and divine garden.

Running waters tell of this spirit’s need

For all-time, the Qur’an is what humanity needs.

Source: Ali Ulvi Kurucu, Preface of “Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: The Authorised Biography”

“To proclaim the divinity and unity of the Creator of the universe.” It was the sole mission of all divinely revealed scriptures and all prophets and to provide proofs of this great duty with scholarly, logical and philosophical arguments.

— So does this mean that Ustad also deals with logic, philosophy and modern sciences?

— Yes, if logic and philosophy are reconciled with the Qur’an and serve to uphold the truth, then Ustad can be considered the greatest logician and philosopher. The best arguments he employed in defence of his sacred cause were from the modern sciences, which every passing day proclaim more powerfully that the Qur’an is the revealed word of Allah.

In any event, in so far as ‘philosophy’ has the meaning of ‘wisdom’, every work written to prove the attributes of the Exalted and Sacred Necessarily Existent One (wajib’ul wujud) is the greatest wisdom and their authors are the greatest sages.

Thus, it is precisely because Ustad has followed such a scholarly path, and that he adhered to the luminous path of the Qur’an, that he was honoured with saving the faith of thousands of university students.

Source: Ali Ulvi Kurucu, Preface of “Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: The Authorised Biography”

“Actions are a person’s mirror, do not look at his words,

The degree of ones intelligence is visible in his works.”

Expresses a great truth that will be passed down to generations as a remarkable principle.

Yes going into descriptions of the scholarly value of such a distinguished and exceptional man; who has left behind him a great library of iman and knowledge, and who has established in so many hearts a sacred institution of nur; is as unnecessary as describing the sun during midday.

Nevertheless, just as a melancholy poet of ours once said:

“Beauty is such that whoever beholds it, loses grasp of his will”

To speak of the knowledge and learning, the fine morality and attainments, of one who at every stage of his life was graced with divine manifestations, affords an altogether different pleasure, a divine delight. This is why I cannot stop myself extending this discussion.

In the Risale‑i Nur Collection, Ustad deals with the most important matters of religion, society, morality, literature, law, and philosophy and achieves an extraordinary success in all of them.

The most astonishing point is that together with solving the most complex subjects; about which many ulema had gone dangerously astray, with the greatest clarity and certainty; following the luminous path of the Ahl Sunnah Wal Jama’ah he arrived on safe shores and pulled out his works and its readers from such whirlwinds.

For this reason, it is with great honour to present the Risale‑i Nur Collection with confidence and sincerity to all classes of our noble nation. The lights of the Risale‑i Nur are sparkling droplets from the Qur’an’s ocean and lights from its sun of guidance.

Therefore the most sacred duty incumbent upon every Muslim is to work to spread these works of nur, which save iman. For it has been seen many times in history that a single work has led to the guidance and happiness of countless persons, families and societies. Oh! How fortunate is the person that becomes the means of saving the iman of his brother!

Source: Ali Ulvi Kurucu, Preface of “Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: The Authorised Biography”

The frugality of mujahids who follow the path of sufficiency taken by the Prophets is a natural characteristic, one that is second nature. After which for him a dish of soup, a glass of water and a piece of bread will suffice for a given day. What can be said of this great man, in line with the saying of the French poet Lamartine that “He did not live to eat, but rather ate to live.”

After having completely understood the path of Ustad, I am reluctant to equate his frugal lifestyle with such mundane things as eating and drinking. It is necessary to measure the frugality of this great man by applying it on spiritual planes and by using non-material criteria.

For example, Ustad did not measure the power of this elevated frugality by simple things such as eating, drinking and dress. On the contrary, his was a genius that would apply it to avoiding wastefulness in spiritual and abstract values such as thinking, expending the mind, potentials, moments, times, the nafs and breathing. And this careful method of evaluation which he made integral to his character, he also instilled this in his students.

Hence it is not easy to ask a Nur student to read random works and listen to every word that is said. For the inscription in the focal point of their hearts, saying “Careful!” acts as a most sensitive control mechanism.

Thus, Bediuzzaman is a rare jewel of creation that rose an immaculate generation. He has actively proven himself as powerful reformer and a most extraordinary ‘pedagogue’ and has added yet another marvellous page shining with nur in the history of frugality.

Source: Ali Ulvi Kurucu, Preface of “Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: The Authorised Biography”

إِنْ أَجْرِيَ إِلَّا عَلَى اللَّهِ  ﴿﴾  إِنْ أَجْرِيَ إِلَّا عَلَى اللَّهِ

And display sufficiency towards people.” Thus, the divine triumphs of the Risale‑i Nur are all due to the example of the steadfastness shown in championing this Prophetic path. And thanks to this, Ustad preserved the dignity of knowledge, like a priceless diamond.

Now how can a person who has not even the slightest connection to the salaries, ranks, wealth and thousands of other personal and material benefits, to which everyone nowadays have been enslaved to, not be the conqueror of hearts? How could hearts filled with belief not be filled with his divine inspiration and light?

Source: Ali Ulvi Kurucu, Preface of “Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: The Authorised Biography”

However the nightmares of unbelief and atheism were like the darkness of the night. Just as it was about to engulf the Muslim World including Turkey, he appeared like a lion springing from its lair, and roared like an erupting volcano. He sacrificed all the comforts of his life for this sacred duty. And it is due this wisdom that from that day on, every word he uttered became a piece of lava and every one of his ideas became molten rock. They scorched the hearts on which they fell, bursting emotions and ideas into flames.

After a life of complete solitude and seclusion, the fact that our great Ustad returned back to delivering guidance and entered the life of society resembles exactly that important historical phase underwent by Imam Ghazali.

This suggests that Almighty Allah lays the responsibility of illumination and guidance on the great guides after they have gone into seclusion, a period of purification and training. And it is due to this that their breaths, now purer and clearer than distilled water upon leaving their chests, have profound effects on the hearts they reflect on.

As I stated above, Bediuzzaman achieved the conquests of Imam Ghazali in terms of morals and virtue nine hundred years ago in the valleys of belief and sincerity.

Yes, what always drove Ustad to the fields of jihad was his unparalleled compassion and mercy. Let us hear this directly from him:

“They ask me: Why do you antagonise these people? I am not aware that I am antagonising anyone. I have a terrifying fire in front of me. Its flames are rising to the sky… It is as though my own child is engulfed in those flames, my belief has caught fire and is ablaze. I am racing to put out that fire and to save my belief. And so who cares that somebody wished to hinder me on the way, and I tripped over his foot; what importance can it have? Can this minor incident have any significance before that terrifying blaze? Such narrow minds, such narrow views…”

Source: Ali Ulvi Kurucu, Preface of “Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: The Authorised Biography”

I once heard from the late Allama Shaikh’ul Islam Mustafa Sabri Efendi the following words regarding renunciation: “Islam today is in need of such warriors that are prepared to sacrifice not only their world, but the hereafter as well.”

I was unable to entirely grasp these great words. I compared them with the mysterious words uttered by a Sufi aspirant in a state of ecstasy. I did not convey it to everyone and chose not to discuss it everywhere.

Then, upon reading the same passionate words from Bediuzzaman’s fiery writings, I understood that the greater the person, the greater the measure of renunciation. Indeed would Allah the Most Munificent, who is the most Gracious and most Merciful, abandon those who strive in his path to practice such bitter renunciation for the sake of Islam? Would it be apt – may Allah forbid – to deprive them of His favour, munificence, and His grace and mercy?

Bediuzzaman is the brightest example of such an exceptional character. He was completely deprived of all the lawful pleasures of the world, having remained unmarried all his life. He had neither the time nor the opportunity to fulfil his desire to set up a home and lead a happy family life. But Almighty Allah bestowed such blessing that: words of transient are beings are incapable of describing their magnificence.

Today, is there a head of family who is – spiritually – as happy as Bediuzzaman? Which father has had millions of children? And what children they are! And which Ustad has been able to raise this many students?

This sacred and spiritual bond – with divine permission – will remain as long as the world exists, and like a flood of nur will pour into eternity. Because just as this divine duty, is a crystallised being from the Qur’an’s ocean of light; it is born from the Qur’an and will continue its existence together with it.

Source: Ali Ulvi Kurucu, Preface of “Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: The Authorised Biography”