The necessity of understanding and dissemination of the truths of Risale-i Nur, which is considered as the most important commentary of Quran in this century and which is transcribed as the droplets distilled from Quran, has gained more significance through many incidents happening recently in many areas. In particular the ongoing discussions on the language of Risale-i Nur and the attempts of simplifying it have made the issue much more impor¬tant. In this context it is required that field studies and methods be determi¬ned with the purpose of preserving the essence and character represented by Risale-i Nur and understanding its message better.
Not understanding the characteristic properties of Risale-i Nur has brought up various problems. Therefore understanding the basic properties of Risale-i Nur, which transfers the Quranic and Prophetic terminology to the speaking language, and knowing and preserving the language of Bediüzzaman, who witnessed the breakdowns concerning language, culture and civilization throughout the transition period from the Ottomans to the Republic, and who set up a special systematic thinking model of his own, will have a key role in the studies to be made about Risale-i Nur.
It is possible to find out the areas that should be covered in these studies in the words of Bediüzzaman, “Those who attend the circle of the lessons of Quran, even if they are the highest scholars (allameh and mujtahids) are only expected, with respect to the sciences of iman (ulûm-u imaniye) to carry out the tasks of interpreting, explaining and arranging the Words.” The essence and the purpose of the studies must be to determine the boundaries of the tasks assigned to the students of Risale-i Nur, to establish the methodology of the interpretation studies through a serious examination of procedures, to identify the study areas indicated by Bediüzzaman Said Nursi other than interpretation and thus to enable Risale-i Nur books in their original form to reach different components of society.
The studies made so far with respect to interpreting and explaining Risale-i Nur in different methods and ways, have not attained a standard in terms of language and method. Therefore in order to eliminate the differences, to search for standards and criteria of method(s) of interpreting Risale-i Nur, it is required to deal with the question in a scientific discipline. We believe that the principles and procedures required in this search can be found in Risale-i Nur itself and the methodological studies should be made under the light of the measures in Risale-i Nur. We also think that “a handbook of interpretation” based on Risale-i Nur should be prepared. We hope that the subject of this file will pioneer these studies.
As the subject of this issue of Köprü, we have chosen “the interpretation of Risale-i Nur” and we want to discuss this subject in relation to the concepts of “Risale-i Nur, the language of Risale-i Nur, commentary, interpretation, an¬notation, explanation, arrangement, ordering, correction, exposition, proving, explaining in details, simplifying, way and method” as well as to find answers for questions listed below.
What is interpretation? What subjects, concepts and fields are covered by the interpretation of Risale-i Nur? What are the features that differentiate Risale-i Nur from the other commentaries of Quran? What should be the dif¬ferences of the interpretation of Risale-i Nur from the classic interpretations? What are the basic features of the language of Risale-i Nur? What language features must be taken into consideration in the interpretation of Risale-i Nur?
What are the basic criteria that are to be used in the interpretation of Risale-i Nur? What should be the methods and ways of interpretation studies? What properties should be sought in the interpreters of Risale-i Nur? How can we establish standards for the language and methods to be used by the interpreters? How can we evaluate the attempts of simplifying Risale-i Nur with the premise that it has not been understood? What is the significance of interpretation studies in this context? How can the map of concepts in Risale-i Nur be drawn? What are the basic criteria to be used in studying concepts? How can we determine the order and the priority of the topics to be interpre¬ted in Risale-i Nur?
As we invite you to enjoy our periodical we hope that this issue of Köp¬rü, where we look for the answers of the above and similar questions, pioneer the studies related to Risale-i Nur and we wish to meet you in the 122nd issue.