Blog Series: Part 1 – The Glorious Names & Attributes of God, according to Said Nursi – Introduction

This Blog Series explores the Glorious Names & Attributes of God, according to Said Nursi, and is based on my Master’s Degree in Islamic Studies research, at ISRA’s Centre for Islamic Studies & Civilisation, Charles Sturt University.

In this blog, we introduce Said Nursi’s key approach that underpinned his innovative writing on this topic, which was founded on proving the existence of the Oneness (Wahdaniyah) and Unity (Ahadiyyah) of God in Islam (Tawhid), by connecting God’s names and attributes to the diversity of existence, using interconnected arguments (intellectual, theological and ontological).

Embedded in Said Nursi’s approach is reliance on the Quran as his guide and what Nursi called the signs or great book of creation: mankind, nature (science), the cosmos and the universe. He illustrates how they all ultimately point to God’s Oneness and Unity (in their functions, actions and higher indicative meanings).

To this end, Nursi’s epistemological approach held that the Divine names and attributes are essentially theological ways to understand and interpret the relationship between God and creation.

Who was Said Nursi?

Considered one of the most important Islamic thinkers in the modern world, Said Nursi (Abu Rabi, 2010) was a Kurdish, Sunni Muslim theologian and scholar. Nursi had a traditional education, studied various sciences, particularly maths and natural sciences, later becoming a professor in a graduate seminary and scholar in the highest religious institution in the Ottoman Empire: Darul Hikmet-il Islamiye (Turner, 2008, p.95), competent in the principles of kalam (Islamic theology) and the methods of the theologians (mutakallimun).

His writing on the names and attributes of God is found in his literary masterpiece of over 14 volumes, The Risale-i Nur (‘The Message of Light’), a commentary (Islamic exegesis) on the Quran, which he wrote from 1910-1950’s in Turkey, as a response to the spread of Western philosophy and anti-Islamic propaganda.

As a religious teacher, guide and preacher, his mission in life was to connect and strengthen humanity’s intellect and heart towards understanding, preserving and strengthening their faith and belief (particularly tawhid) (Isra, 2011). Or as Markham and Sayilgan (2017, p.69) puts it, his mission was to help others “unlock the treasuries of the Divine Names in the universe, to witness the oneness of God and connect to him in surrender and love”.

Embedded in his mission was to transform Muslims into believers whose faith was based on certainty and conviction through knowledge, not imitation. For Nursi, faith should be a reflective activity constantly requiring contemplation of which his writings are saturated with opportunities to do just that (Isra, 2011).

Said Nursi’s mission was to help others ‘unlock the treasuries of the Divine Names in the universe, to witness the oneness of God and connect to him in surrender and love’. 

Turning briefly to the background of his mission and approach, Nursi called for a new kalam – Islamic scholasticism, to address the modern faith questions of his time, springing from clashes with the west, atheism and modernity (Yusuf, 1999). He witnessed severe attacks on Islamic belief in the guise of modernization, where the philosophical base was rooted in humanistic and materialist approaches anchored in Darwinism. For Nursi, the greatest danger facing Muslim belief in God came not from disbelievers in God but from the naturalistic science and philosophy being spread in the Muslim world (Isra, 2011).

Direction from the Quran was Said Nursi’s key approach

Nursi’s key theocentric approach relied on Qur’anic verses to show the exegetical significance of the Divine Names in those verses (Koca, 2015).

The Qur’an he believed offered abundant proofs as it is, for example,

The Qur’an 30:22 states: “And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages and colours”.

Nursi frequently referenced the universe towards the aim of connecting God’s words (Quran) with His acts (creation), “God describes his art while performing it, he explains his art as he works it and describes his gifts of mercy as he bestows them” (Nursi, 2006, p.444).

The absolute sovereignty of divine revelation threaded all Nursi’s thoughts, Griffith (2008) believes, with the purpose of the Qur’an being to teach man to extract, understand, perceive God’s divine names & attributes, manifested in the mirror of natural phenomena, the universe and cosmos (only then can the hidden beneath the veils of events be understood) (Koca, 2015). 

Direction from the Quran is Nursi’s key theological approach, Ozalp (2006) believes, agreeing with Turner who views it as Nursi’s “most distinctive feature” in his theology, because for Nursi, “every creative act of God is an act of revelation” (Ozalp, 2016, p.164).

For Nursi, “Every creative act of God is an act of revelation” (Ozalp, 2016, p.164)

Linking the Quran and the universe in a mutual relationship is what takes Nursi further than any other theologian, in Markham and Sayilgan’s (2017) view too. In essence his approach here connects “revelation, the universe and their function of making God known and understood to the human audience” (Ozalp, 2016, p164). Particularly regarding witnessing the greatness of the Creator as displayed in the unity, order, harmony, beauty, balance, justice, mercy and more all around us (Isra, 2011).

Hence, Nursi claims his writings are a mirror to the Quran in terms of its epistemic assumptions and methods of argument (Turner and Eickelman, 2015), because his method of reading the universe comes from the Quranic verses, repeatedly calling the universe the “embodied Quran” (Markham and Sayilgan, 2017). Moreover, revelation (Quran) and creation expound, interpret and therefore confirm each other in Nursi’s approach. Hence a successful reading of the Quran cannot occur without a parallel reading of creation and vice versa.

Hence the mission of the Quran for Nursi, was for mankind to “decipher the world and reveal the treasures in nature”, and miracles of everyday life, such as the messages rooted in nature about God’s qualities such as His Mercy, Wisdom, Artistry and others. (Isra, 2011, p.97)

Written by Cynthia Aisha Meguid
Well-Being – Teacher, Educator, Consultant & Coach

Research Reference List

This blog article is based on my Master’s Degree in Islamic Studies Research, at ISRA’s Centre for Islamic Studies & Civilisation, Charles Sturt University, Australia. 

Click here to read Part 2: The Glorious Names & Attributes of God, according to Said Nursi – What is True Belief?