Islamic Political Identity in Turkey

160 islamic political identity in turkeyNursi attempted to develop a new conceptual terminology that would bring religionand science together. He stressed the multilayered meanings of the Qur’anand taught that nature had no meaning in itself but rather signiWed mana-yìharW, the existence of order and the presence of God. In short, he regarded natureas the script of God and the Qur’an as God’s word. Nursi’s concept of knowledgeis linked closely to the Qur’anic allegories. He tried to examine the laws ofnature as a manifestation of the many names of God. The knowledge of nature,for Nursi, was illuminated in terms of the allegories from the Qur’an.For Nursi nature by itself has no power, and it requires a transcendental powerof God to become action and thus take on meaning. Nature was the evidence ofthe work of God and his omnipotence. Order in nature therefore is the reXectionof the names of God: eternal (al-hayy), giver of life (al-Muhyi), the ever self-existingone (al-qayyum), the everlasting one (al-baqi), most holy (ism-i Kuddus), all-just (ismiAdl), and all-wise (ism-i hakem). In short, nature is a vision of God. Nursi wantedhis followers to feel God’s presence by studying his words and continuous action.By reading the verses of the Qur’an through the eyes of new scientiWc discoveries,he tried to free younger generations from the impact of positivism. However,he did not reject the mechanistic understanding of the universe but treated thismechanism and order as the design of the divine Creator. This theistic conceptionof the universe, that is, that God created the universe ex nihilo and that Godis separate from the universe but also continuously active in it, is one that Nursiand his followers fully internalized and taught. In the case of Nursi, science andsacred text mutually read to decode the other. Thus he advocated a relativisticunderstanding of Islam, maintaining that neither a single cleric nor a religiousinstitution can claim to provide the true interpretation of religion. Since understandingIslam is dependent on time, space, and circumstance, competing paradigmsmust not be silenced. He also advocated the separation of religion andpolitics—because the latter is bound to derogate or hinder free interpretation ofIslam. By allowing each person to interpret Islam according to his or her ownconditions, Nursi tried to socialize religion.Personality and MemoryAfter identifying the enemies of Islam as ignorance, friction, and poverty, Nursipresented education, hard work, and consensus as a solution. Nursi’s Islam ispersonal, with the goal of constructing microlevel morality by raising religiousconsciousness. His writings constantly try to build a pious and modern Muslimpersonality, one that is tolerant but Wrm about the core virtues of Islam.Nursi’s books were his refuge, and they have become an avenue to fulWllmentfor soul-searching Turks.Nursi tried to protect the Muslim personality from the destructive impact ofthe state’s nationalism and positivism by carving an inner space of self-developmentand direction to cope with external events and pressures. The developmentof this inner space was the major aim and challenge of his writings. The journeyof self-development only was possible through recognition of the power of the