Spiritual Dimensions of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's Risale-I Nur

Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi'

Jul 2008 · State University of New York Press

About this ebook

The Nur community is one of the most significant religious and social movements in contemporary Turkey, with millions of adherents and a strong institutional and educational system throughout the country. This volume presents a picture of its spiritual dimensions by focusing on the ideas of its founder, Turkish theologian Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1877–1960). Prominent scholars in contemporary Islamic studies and comparative spirituality examine the various facets of Nursi's spirituality as revealed in his magnum opus, Risale-i Nur, which began to take shape in the 1920s and is considered Nursi's deep reflection on the Quran in light of rapidly changing conditions in Turkey. Nursi argued that Islam must be organically linked to empire in order to preserve its identity in the modern era, fostering a spiritual tradition that has steadfastly survived the secular project of Kemalism.

About the author

Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi' holds the Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities Chair in Islamic Studies at the University of Alberta. He is the author of Intellectual Origins of Islamic Resurgence in the Modern Arab World and the editor of several books, including Islam at the Crossroads: On the Life and Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi; Islam in Modern Turkey: An Intellectual Biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi; and Contemporary Islamic Conversations: M. Fethullah Gülen on Turkey, Islam, and the West; all published by SUNY Press.