Hutbe-i Şamiye possesses the properties of a map seeking and showing
the ways of the revival of Islamic societies which loose power, are left backwards
vis-à-vis the West, and display their weaknesses through the “hopelessness” they
have. To propose this work, which can also be described as a manifesto on the process
of the revival of Islamic civilization, into the agenda of the Muslims, we gave
place in our previous issue to the texts of the conference “Said Nursi’s Project
of Islamic World: Hutbe-i Şamiye” held in Damascus by the Risale-i Nur Institute
last March. In this issue, we keep on discussing the ideas in Hutbe-i Şamiye.
As a work drawing attention to the basic problems of the Islamic
world and their ways of solution, Hutbe-i Şamiye analyzes the miserable situation
of the Islamic societies from a number of aspects, diagnoses the illnesses which
are accepted as the reasons of decline, and indicates the paths of treatment.
Said Nursi, who evaluates the weakening and decline of the Islamic
world with respect to the West and goes beyond the classical approaches via separating
himself from the thinkers who tried to take precautions regarding this issue, grounds
his ideas through getting rid of the modernist constraints. Nursi, first of all,
gets to the bottom of the diseases which left the Muslims in the darkness of the
middle ages, and then he shows the ways of remedy via utilizing the pharmacy of
Quran. This treatment method also offers the clues for a global peace which, starting
from the Islamic societies, will cover all humankind.
Our writers, who discussed the illnesses of hopelessness, death
of accuracy, loving enmity, being unfamiliar with the luminous ties connecting the
believers to each other, despotism, and individualism in our previous issue, continue
to talk about the ideas which will make Islamic societies advance and contribute
to global peace, especially around the concepts of accuracy, love, and brotherhood
in this issue. From this point of view, Hutbe-i Şamiye’s characteristic as being
the manifesto of accuracy, love, brotherhood and solidarity comes into prominence.
***
While Bünyamin Duran tries to ground the importance of universal
love for reaching global peace departing from the works of Bediüzzaman Said Nursi;
Atilla Yargıcı deals with the thesis that possessing love for human beings is the
recipe of societal diseases, and assesses this thesis from Risale-i Nur’s perspective.
Sebahattin Yaşar, who, from a similar point of view, states that love is a formula
which can solve the problems of not only the Islamic world, but also all humankind,
mentions with examples that Said Nursi is suggesting a social treatment method which
starts from the inner world of the person to confront the social diseases. Developing
a critical approach to the modern perception of entity via a deeper analysis, Hakan
Yalman emphasizes that a proper explanation of the being should contain the truth
of nur-u Muhammedi (pbuh), and makes clear that the truth of “things” is love through
an integrated ontological approach.
Cüneyt Gökçe, who examines brotherhood as one of the basic concepts
mentioned in Hutbe-i Şamiye, emphasizes that the brotherhood of Islam is a connection
of brotherhood, which totally depends on religious grounds, ties the hearts to each
other via the bond of faith and derives from the principle of taqwa; and then he
states the basic elements of the brotherhood of Islam. Musa Kazım Yılmaz, on the
other hand, puts weight on the ways to overcome the problems of weaknesses in the
brotherhood of faith, and draws attention to the concepts of agreement and sincerity.
Mustafa Said İşeri deals with the concept of accuracy in a broader
view and points out that the spirit of the civilization of Quran, which bases on
the principles of right, justice, virtue, assistance, hüda and brotherhood, is consisted
of “accuracy.” Our writer studies in his work the truth of accuracy on the path
to the revival of the civilization of Quran, and shows the characteristics of Risale-i
Nur’s accurate disciples.
Nimet Demir’s article discusses the relationship among “individualism,
counseling, and patriotism” departing from the sixth illness in Hutbe-i Şamiye which
is described as “devotion of help to personal benefit.” The comprehensive work produced
by Mustafa Akça deals with two of the theses in Said Nursi’s Hutbe-i Şamiye. One
of them argues that, as the point of “progress” is concerned, Muslims should get
rid of the present modernist structure and Europe which produces this structure.
And secondly, explanations are made regarding the six illnesses mentioned in Hutbe-i
Şamiye.
***
We witness a time period in which the good news given by Bediüzzaman
a hundred years ago are being realized one by one. We hold a certain belief that
the seeds of “hope” which were put under the soil by Hutbe-i Şamiye will flourish
in the Islamic world, the climate of accuracy, love and brotherhood will cover all
personalities, and an understanding of freedom which is adorned by right, justice,
and virtue will spread. As we leave you with our issue, we hope to meet again in
our next issue with the dossier of “Münazarat”.