Islam at the Crossroads

On the Life and Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi'

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN: 9780791457009, 9780791456996
• eBook ISBN: 9780791486917
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religious Biographies

Sheds light on one of the most important religious thinkers in the modern Muslim world.

Distinguished scholars in Islamic Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, and Modern Turkish Studies examine the life and thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1877–1960) using a variety of approaches-theological, philosophical, sociological, and historical-to shed new light on one of the most important thinkers and religious leaders in the modern Muslim world. Early in his life Nursi had hoped to save the Ottoman Empire from collapse, but after the empire gave way to the modern Turkish Republic, Nursi found himself in disagreement with the vision of a secular, Western-style state fostered by Turkey's new leadership and withdrew from public life. Deemed a potential threat to the young Republic, he was condemned to a life of exile and imprisonment. This isolation, however, allowed him to write the works that were to form the basis of a "faith movement" that would not only keep alive the Islamic religion in Turkey, but also in later decades would become one of the most important religious movements in contemporary Turkey and an inspiration to millions throughout the Muslim world.

Contributors include Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi>, Redha Ameur, Mehmet S. Aydin, Mucahit Bilici, Kelton Cobb, Dale F. Eickelman, Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Ayize Jamat-Everett, Metin Karabasogûlu, Bilal Kuspinar, Oliver Leaman, Serif Mardin, Lucinda Allen Mosher, M. Sait Özervarl?, Taha 'Abdel Rahman, Fred A. Reed, Barbara Freyer Stowasser, Sükran Vahide, and M. Hakan Yavuz.

Table of contents

• Islam at the Crossroads
• Contents
• Note on Transliteration
• Editor's Introduction
• A Chronology of Said Nursi’s Life
• 1. Toward an Intellectual Biography of Said Nursi by Sukran Vahide
• 2. In the Footsteps of Said Nursi by Fred A. Reed
• 3. Reflections on Said Nursi’s Life and Thought by Serif Mardin
• 4. Qur’anic Commentary, Public Space, and Religious Intellectuals in the Writings of Said Nursi by Dale F. Eickelman
• 5. How to Read Said Nursi’s Risale-i Nur by Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi
• 6. Said Nursi’s Interpretation of Jihad by Sukran Vahide
• 7. Prison Is a Hell for the Unbeliever: Thoughts and Reflections on Two Imprisoned Muslims by Ayize Jamat-Everett
• 8. Revelation, the Disciplines of Reason, and Truth in the Works of Said Nursi and Paul Tillich by Kelton Cobb
• 9. The Concept of Man: Mevlana Jalal al-Din and Said Nursi by Bilal Kuspinar
• 10. Forgetting Gramsci and Remembering Said Nursi: Parallel Theories of Gramsci and Said Nursi in the Space of Eurocentrism by Mucahit Bilici
• 11. The Marrow of Worship and the Moral Vision: Said Nursi and Supplication by Lucinda Allen Mosher
• 12. The Separation of Human Philosophy from the Wisdom of the Qur’an in Said Nursi’s Work by Taha ‘Abdel Rahman
• 13. The Problem of Theodicy in the Risale-i Nur by Mehmet S. Aydin
• 14. The Apocalypse in the Teachings of Said Nursi by Barbara Freyer Stowasser
• 15. Ghurbah as Paradigm for Muslim Life: A Risale-i Nur Worldview by Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad
• 16. Islam, the Environment, and Said Nursi by Oliver Leaman
• 17. Text and Community: An Analysis of the Risale-i Nur Movement by Metin Karabasoglu
• 18. Nur Study Circles (Dershanes) and the Formation of New Religious Consciousness in Turkey by M. Hakan Yavuz
• 19. Said Nursi’s Project of Revitalizing Contemporary Islamic Thought by M. Sait Ozervarlı
• 20. Preface to the al-Mathnawi al-‘Arab al-Nuri by Redha Ameur, Translator
• Bibliography
• Contributors
• Index