Conception of pace Building..

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Conception of pace Building: A Quranic Perspective as Reflected in the Risal-e-Nur

Nilofar Abdul Khaliq

Said Nursi is the most influential Islamic scholar in modern Turkish history by his intellectual contribution pertaining to his spectacular and very dynamic view point in education, peace and harmony.Throughout his epoch making lifetime (1876-1960), he strived hard to disseminate the Islamic ideology and values by taking down a lot of books and delivering historic speech in front of a wider audience. Although he was imprisoned, starved and tortured by the secular government of Turkey for more or less twenty five years for his writing about Islam encouraging its practice, which was declared to be a crime against state, Nursi never supported or resorted for the political revolution by the Muslims. He directed a message of peace and harmony not only by his writings but also by his actions. The most popular work, Risale-I-Nur, which is collection of many books he wrote while he was in jail or in exile.

Risale i Nur was written to reiterate the Islamic values and to expound it interpreting Quranic verses. Conception of peace building is one of the dare needs of this current world as it is facing many communal conflicts deteriorating the safetyof human kind. Nursi emphasized through his works to ensure peace and harmony between Muslims and non Muslims. He has used these intellectual revolts against secularist government of Turkey to protest against their laws of irreligion not against the principles of secularism but he encouraged the Muslim community to ensure love and peace and also freedom of belief with non Muslim.

Interpreting the verse 49-13 (o mankind, we have created you from a male and a female and made you nations and tribes that you may know one another. Verily, the most honorable of you with Allah is that who has a taqwa. Verily Allah is all knowing, well acquainted.) He writes that is to say, being in to groups and tribes should lead to mutual acquaintance and mutual assistance not to antipathy and hostility.

Said Nursi authored the Risale-i Nur Collection in order to neutralize the negative effects of Western civilization in the Islamic world; to silence the atheists who were aggressively criticizing the religion; to refresh the loyalty of Muslims towards the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and to revive the religious life of the people.

Said Nursi covers the themes in Risale-i Nur in such a unique way, it is as if nobody has ever mentioned them before, analyzing them with strong proofs and by this means resolving them. Mostly he does not even quote from previous books. He does not imitate anybody in terms of style. He has his own original style.

Principle of Peace

Human is a social being, peace occur in social interaction between and among human individual. Likewise conflict occurs in social interaction between and among human individuals. Peace is important when there is conflict or not, but peace is more importantly should better be understood to exist when all members of the society can develop their capacities and potentials. Therefore, peace is the basic of development of the multi cultural society. Without peace, each individual and all members of the society are not taken for granted security.
Al-Qur’an very stressed about of peace in human life. The word peace is same meaning with the word salam. This word appears in the Qur’an 157 times, an adjective 50 times, and a verb 28 times.23 Islam is the name of the Religion, Islamic Religion. It is derived from the same root al-salam, which means peace. Therefore, Islam is a religion peace.24
How so was mentioned, that between the justice and peace is interrelation. To build justice at the same time will realize the justice in human life.

What is Justice? An Islamic Perspective

Justice is described in the Qur’an with two important words: Al-`Adl and Al-Qist. Al-`Adl means “equity, balance.” It means doing things in a proportionate manner, avoiding extremes. Al-Qist means “share, portion, measure, allotment, and amount.” It means that everyone and everything has a due. One who gives everyone and everything its due is “Muqsit” and the one who takes away others dues is called “Qasit”.
Allah says: (… and be fair: for Allah loves those who are fair (and just). (Al-Hujurat: 9)
Justice thus means to maintain the balance and to give everyone and everything its proper due. It means living one’s own life in a balanced way maintaining the balance between the needs of the body, mind and soul. It also means recognizing:
1. Huquq Allah – rights of God,
2. Huquq Al-A`Ibad – rights of human beings, and
3. Huquq Al-Ashya’ – rights of things.
Islam teaches that we should be just in every aspect of our life, to all people and things and at all times.

The opposite of justice in Islam is not only injustice, but oppression and corruption. The opposite of `Adl is Zulm, which means “disorder, wrong, oppression and evil.” Wherever there is injustice, it will lead to oppression, exploitation, evil and corruption. There is a very nice saying of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” When people do injustice or tolerate injustice in one place, sooner or later its terrible effects reach to other places. Injustice brings the downfall of mighty nations. Imam Ibn Taymiah (d. 1328) used to say: “The nations may live long in spite of their disbelief, but they cannot live long when they do oppression”.

Injustice in the world today:
Today there is a lot of injustice in our world. There is social injustice, economic injustice and political injustice. There are problems of racism, religious prejudices and propaganda. The gap between the haves and have-nots is increasing. There are problems caused by poverty, hunger, malnutrition, death of children and diseases. There are problems caused by the denial of human rights, basic freedoms, and occupation of lands, terrorism, wars, and weapons of mass destruction. We are living in a broken world. The hearts are broken, families are broken, relations are broken, homes are broken, cities and towns are broken.
We need to heal this brokenness and it can only come by bringing justice to the world. There cannot be any peace without justice and there cannot be any justice without reforming our thinking, our behaviour and our policies. It is strange that there is so much talk today about seeking safety and security, but very little about how to bring justice to those who are suffering under deep oppression and occupation. The world cannot be safe unless it becomes more just and fair world.

At this point an attempt is made to shed some light on Nursi’s views on Justice. His discussion of justice is succinct and of great value. For Nursi, it seems, the adequacy of the definition of “justice” depends upon who is giving and who is receiving. A true path to justice for Nursi, it appears, is for the man in the first place to find God. He then provides the man with a spiritual journey to God, consisting of four principal stages that are derived primarily from the Qur’an. These four “Virtues” are emphasized throughout the Risale-I Nur for the improvement of the individual and ultimately, humankind: Impotence, Poverty, Compassion, and Reflection. Impotence means the realization that Man is not the measure of all things, and that he is subject to God. Poverty means the voluntary abstention from the acquisition of worldly goods. Compassion is to put into the action the realization that all human life is related. Reflection is to use the rational capacity that God has placed in every individual to understand the interrelatedness of these concepts.

The Four Virtues are like the four legs of a table – they must be of equal size, or else the table lacks stability. An individual in whom one of the Virtues is in unequal measure to the other three can be said to be “imbalanced.” In the Material World (Dunya), poverty is often seen as both a cause and effect of injustice.

But how does one define Poverty? “There are many kinds of “poverty.” There is the “poverty” expressed by Muhammad (SAW), that his poverty was his pride. This refers to a lack of attachment to material objects or goods, an attachment to this World, the Dunya. It is ultimately an abstention that is voluntary. This is precisely the kind of poverty referred to in the Four Virtues.

Opposing voluntary poverty is involuntary poverty, which the individual (or segment of society) has no control over his economic status. But within this involuntary poverty, there is an important distinction to be made. It is the Spiritual. One can be economically poor (that is, lacking material wealth), yet spiritually rich. Generations of Mankind have lived at barest of subsistence levels, and they lived out their lives with nobility. Or one can lack spiritual values, or debased values, which creates a “poverty of spirit.”

Further points of supreme importance in understanding justice according to Nursi are faith and love. It seems to me that, for the path to justice, Nursi has emphasised that intellect and heart must be combined harmoniously by the light of faith. Without faith no balance can be established between the two, a balance that is necessary for man’s successful completion of struggle for perfection.

Said Nursi said, therefore, that peace will not become in fact and reality in society, if there is no justice between members all of society; between public society and elite, between poor and rich. The basis of justice is love, to have great pity and mercy of elite to public society, to serve public society and have respect to elite.25

Description of the peace, within Said Nursi’s view, is each individual and another are members of a collective personality such as that, worthy of the title of ‘perfect man.’ Human life in peace are like the components of a factory’s machinery which produces eternal happiness within eternal life in the realm of peace to obtain the shore of salvation. So this condition to make sure us that we are surely in need of solidarity and true union.

The peace must be formed with “heartfelt solidarity and union through the mystery of sincerity are the means to innumerable benefits, and so too are they an effective shield and point of support against fear, and even death. For if death comes, it takes one’s spirit. But since through the mystery of true brotherhood on the way of Divine pleasure in works connected with the Hereafter there are spirits to the number of brothers, if one of them dies, he meets death happily.”

The application of peace will establish concord relation and security within social life, and each member of society will find opportunity to develop his potentials and capacities to realize the necessity of his life. Thus, peace building is one of the foundations of multicultural society.
In the writings of Nursi, there are three keys concepts that all his thinking evolves around human being (insan), faith (iman), and good work (takva, i.e., a work or action to please God. Takva is the fruit of faith. Working to please God means establishing a just and humane society. Religious rituals help us to remember our vocation in life and avoid sins and do good work. Doing good, for Nursi, is the ethos of life. Religion, for Nursi, is a framework of living and a way of organizing one’s life. It is a bridge between public and private and a way of apprehending self in relation to God.

In the writings of Nursi, one sees a clear boundary between believer and nonbeliever. Nursi does not construe Muslimness by othering Christian or Jewish believers. Thomas Michel argues that
“In any study of the development of Christian-Muslim dialogue in the 20th century, special attention must be given to the writings and preaching of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. As one of the first religious thinkers in the course of this century to propose and promote dialogue between Muslims and Christians, Said Nursi’s advocacy of this dialogue dates back to 1911. This was a full half-century before the Catholic Church’s Second Vatican Council urged Christians and Muslims to resolve their differences and move beyond the conflicts of the past to build relations characterized by respect and cooperation. Bediuzzaman’s repeated promotion of Muslim-Christian dialogue is even more striking in that his recommendations frequently date from times of tension and even warfare between Muslim and Christian communities.”
Thus, it is quite clear that Islam has made every effort to establish peace and every effort to protect all other religions. Even where defensive war was permitted to the Muslims, the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave extremely strict rules of engagement to the Muslim armies which they were compelled to abide by.

The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught that during wars only those people who were directly engaged in the war could be fought. He gave strict instructions that no innocent person was ever to be attacked. No woman, child or elderly person was ever to be attacked. He taught that no religious leader or priest could be attacked in his place of worship. The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) further taught that no person could be forced or compelled to convert to Islam. He taught that when Muslims were forced to fight for the cause of peace they must not create fear or terror amongst the members of the public, nor should they be treated in a harsh or severe manner. He taught that prisoners of war should be treated with even greater care and attention than a person would pay to himself. He taught that buildings should not be targeted or destroyed and that trees should not be felled.

Thus even where conditions existed where war was justified, the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave countless guidelines and instructions to his followers which were essential to follow. I have only mentioned very few.

The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said very clearly that whosoever acted against these rules of engagement would not be fighting in accordance to the commands of Allah to establish peace, but rather would be fighting for their own personal interests or gain.
Since his goal is to build a just and peaceful society through transformation of the self, Nursi identifies three major “others” as the enemies: ignorance, poverty, and conflict.16These enemies and their consequences that had been the cause of the decline of the Muslim world. He calls Muslims to cut away from darkness of ignorance, poverty, and conflict through self-contemplation. Jihad, for Nursi, is to kill the inner enemy and do good work to please God.17

These are the internalization of Islamic precepts and norms with the goal of self-transformation by subduing the nafs al-ammarah (carnal desires) and to realize the Will of Allah. In other words, the origin of peace in Islam, for Nursi, is being at peace with oneself through surrender to God; the eradication of injustice and evil and establishment of Right and justice; the development of humanity through a spirit of total sacrifice.
The Damascus Sermon he puts the immorality dominating society into six categories:
“Firstly: The rising to life of despair and hopelessness in social life.
Secondly: The death of truthfulness in social and political life.
Thirdly: Love of enmity.
Fourthly: Not knowing the luminous bonds that bind the believers to one another.
Fifthly: Despotism, which spreads, becoming widespread as though it was various contagious diseases.
Sixthly: Restricting endeavor to what is personally beneficial.”18
In the writings of Nursi, one sees two faces of jihad: external and internal jihads against the three enemies. Nursi’s works very much focuses on the internal jihad of raising self- consciousness through killing inner enemies of envy, revenge, and ignorance. In addition to this, moral jihad, Nursi also stresses the jihad al-afkar, an intellectual engagement to update Islamic terminology, informed society about current events, and empower all believers with science and knowledge with the goal of overcoming ignorance in society. Nursi argues that the goal is “to wage the greater jihad (jihad al-akbar) with one’s one [instinctual] soul, and to guide others. Ninety-nine percent of [its] aspiration is directed, not to politics, but to licit aims that are the opposite of politics like fine morals and right conduct, and such like.”19 Nursi was aware what Muslims needed “was to expend all efforts to reconstruct the edifice of Islam from its foundations, belief, and to answer at that level those attacks with a ‘non-physical jihad’ or ‘jihad of the word.’”

Nursi at the end of the Eleventh Ray (Meyve Risalesi) argues that the concept of jihad must be reinterpreted according to changing time and conditions.20 Since we are in the age of knowledge, science, and persuasion, Muslims should focus on these areas to have an effective jihad. Nursi argues that in modern age in order to fulfill the task of jihad freedom of conscience is necessary, along with the rule of law.
These are the internalization of Islamic precepts and norms with the goal of self-transformation by subduing the nafs al-ammarah (carnal desires) and to realize the Will of Allah. In other words, the origin of peace in Islam, for Nursi, is being at peace with oneself through surrender to Allah; the eradication of injustice and evil and establishment of Right and justice; the development of humanity through a spirit of total sacrifice. Peace is the remembrance of God. Nursi argues that violence exist because the power is not constrained and controlled by religious teachings. He divides power in terms of violent and nonviolent power. The nonviolence prevails if nonviolent power exists. Muhaiyaddeen sums this as “Whatever is conquered by the sword does not last. The one who picks up the sword will one day die by that same sword. The one who picks up a gun will die by the gun. Whatever one raises in enmity, that very same weapon will cause his destruction.”
Nursi’s conception of faith is the basis of three cardinal values of peace with justice, freedom, and good work.

Justice:
Nursi’s conception of tolerance linked to his attempt to shatter “ethnic or religious other” by focusing on faith, iman, as a source of becoming good. Faith offers a deep sense of security and direction in everyday life. Faithful takes necessary steps to engage in a journey of self-realization and a questioning to recognize the self rather than one’s enemy. Faith is the root concept in the writings of Nursi. His other three key values of peace with justice, freedom, and good conduct (guided by shared moral charter) are derived from faith. Neither of these values is safe if they are not based on faith. For instance, Nursi argues that a faithful has to be just.

“O unjust man nurturing rancour and enmity against a believer! Let us suppose that you were on a ship, or in a house, with nine innocent people and one criminal. If someone were to try to make the ship sink, or to set the house on fire, because of that criminal, you know how great a sinner he would be. You would cry out to the heavens against his sinfulness. Even if there were one innocent man and nine criminals aboard the ship, it would be against all rules of justice to sink it.

So too, if there are in the person of a believer, who may be compared to a dominical dwelling, a Divine ship, not nine, but as many as twenty innocent attributes such as belief, Islam, and neighbourliness; and if you then nurture rancour and enmity against him on account of one criminal attribute that harms and displeases you, attempting or desiring the sinking of his being, the burning of his house, then you too will be a criminal guilty of a great atrocity. “22

In the search of justice, Nursi does not allow any room for hearting innocent people or taking innocent life. Another interesting attitude in this regard maintained by Nursi should be mentioned here is according to Nursi a wild principle of civilization is that for the sake of society an individual might be sacrificed, for the sake of nation partial parts of society’s rights are spendable. But the pure justice of the Qur’an does not spill the life and blood of an innocent, even for the whole of humanity. The two are the same both in the view of Divine Power, and in the view of justice. In another place in this concern Nursi states, “The pure justice of the Qur’an does not spill the life and blood of an innocent, even for the whole of humanity. The two are the same both in the view of Divine Power, and in the view of justice. But through self-interest man becomes such that he will destroy everything that forms an obstacle to his ambition, even the world if he can, and he will wipe out mankind.” Pg297’ THE SEEDS OF REALITY64

If we take a cursory glance, then we can see that diversity of culture existed in the times of all Prophets Adam, Noah, Ibrahim, Musa, Isa, till Muhammad (Peace be upon all of them) and to deal with the issues of all the times emerging from such diversity; the river of guidance continued to flow from Allah, in the form of revelations in accordance with the needs and demands of the respective times. In nut shell the panacea for all the illnesses of the present people and the people to come can be summarized in one single command of the All-Wise Lord, “then when guidance comes to you from Me, anyone who follows My guidance will have no fear, nor will they grieve” (Quran 2:38).

Now it depends upon the bearers of the “Trust” (Amanah) i.e., the children of Adam that how will they benefit themselves from this Guidance to perform their duty entrusted to them that is to acknowledge “Oneness of Allah” and spread this Truth to those who are heedless towards this. In other words revival of faith was the message of every Messenger of Allah in one single creed, “there is no god but Allah”. Man, in his prior state of existence acknowledged God as his Lord but had since, upon assuming his current physical form, forgotten that acknowledgement. For indeed, the term for man in the Qur’an, that is, “insan”, is etymologically related to the root “to forget”. This is as if to say that life on this earth is a journey towards remembrance of that first testimony which man has forgotten.

“We made a covenant with Adam before you, but he forgot, and We found him lacking in constancy” (Quran 20:115).
“One who believes in Allah has grasped the strong handhold that will never break” (Quran 2:256) and belief in the messengership of Muhammad (Peace be upon him) breaks the bonds and walls of enmity towards the People (Ummah) of former Prophets. Because one who believes in the Final Messenger his faith is not complete unless and until he believes in all the Messengers who came before him thus cultivating in them love, unity, tolerance and foresightedness.

“The Messenger believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, and [so do] believers. They all believe in Allah and His angels, His scriptures, and His messengers. They say, ‘We do not differentiate between any of His messengers. We hear and obey. Grant us Your forgiveness, Lord, to You we shall all return!” (Quran 2:285).

There are a number of verses in the Quran addressing mankind as a whole in the words like, “Ya Ayyuhan nas, Ya Ayyuhal Insan, Ya bani Adam, etc” which gives us the concept of unity of mankind”. (Sahih al Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 2,Hadith Number 12)

The Prophet said, “None of you will have faith till he wishes for his brother what he likes for himself.”

The root word of Islam is ‘Silm’, which means peace. So the spirit of Islam is the spirit of peace. The first verse of the Quran breathes the spirit of peace; it reads: “In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.”

This verse is repeated in the Quran no less than 114 times. It shows the great importance Islam attaches to such values as Mercy and Compassion. One of God’s names, according to the Quran, is As-Salaam, which means Peace. Moreover, the Quran states that the Prophet Muhammad was sent to the world as a mercy to mankind. [Quran: 21:107]

A perusal of the Quran shows that most verses of the Quran (and also the Hadith) are based on peace and kindness, either directly or indirectly. The ideal society, according to the Quran is Dar As-Salaam, that is, the house of peace [Quran: 10:25]

The Quran presents the universe as a model, which is characterized by harmony and peace [Quran: 36:40] When God created heaven and earth, He so ordered things that each part might perform its function peacefully without clashing with any other. The Quran tells us that “It is not allowable [i.e., possible] for the sun to reach the moon, nor does the night overtake the day, but each, in an orbit, is swimming.” [Quran: 36:40] For billions of years, therefore, the entire universe has been fulfilling its function in total harmony with His divine plan.

According to Islam, peace is not simply an absence of war. Peace opens doors to all kinds of opportunities which are present in any given situation. It is only in a peaceful situation that planned activities are possible. It is for this reason that the Quran says: “…And settlement is best…” [Quran: 4:128] Similarly, Prophet Muhammad has observed: “God grants to gentleness (Rifq) what He does not grant to violence (‘Unf).[Abu Daawood]

According to Islam, peace is the rule and war is only an exception. Even in defensive war we have to analyse its result; if the result is doubtful, Muslims should avoid war. Stray acts of aggression are not enough for Muslims to rush into war. They have to assess the whole situation and adopt a policy of avoidance when war is not certain to achieve a positive result.

In actual fact, the mission of all the Prophets from Aadam (Adam) to ‘Eesaa (Jesus), may Allah exalt their mention, was one and the same – of establishing the ideology of monotheism in the world, so that man might worship the One God alone. As we know, there came a large number of Prophets in ancient times but the message of monotheism remained at the initial stage; it could not culminate in revolution.

Thus, Islam as the word itself suggests has connotations of peace and submission. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in his description of Muslims, says, “A Muslim is one whose fellow brothers are safe from the harm of his tongue and hands”. One of the main principles of non-violence in Islam is stated in the well-known saying of the Prophet, “ La Dhara wa la Dhirar” which can be translated as “ not to harm and not to be harmed”. In his personal life, the Prophet was a living example of peace and nonviolence.

Nursi’s propagation of nonviolence seems to be unique in the contemporary context of Islamic activism. He conceptualized his idea of nonviolent activism with the term ‘ Musbet Hareket’ or positive action. The term presents the essence and the major principle of nonviolence in Nursi’s teachings. For him, the notion of positive action goes deeper than simply refraining from violence.

It is evident in his writings that Nursi cared for everyone in his heart, including those who persecuted him. Although he was poisoned by his oppressors over seventeen times, Nursi never attempted to respond in the same way; instead, he asked his disciples to avoid revenge. Unlike many practitioners of nonviolence in our modern day, Nursi did not have a political goal. The only goal he had was for people to gain their eternal lives. He was convinced that victory is not through the use of force, but through convincing others about one’s own ideas. While saying that the physical sword should not be used, Nursi presents the Qur’an ic truth as a shining diamond sword that negates the physical sword.

The destruction that violence can bring caused Nursi to avoid all kinds of physical force. His well-known farewell letter to his students is considered an example of this. The letter opens with the following statement: “Dear Brothers, our duty is to do positive action and not negative action. It is to serve faith i in accordance with what pleases God. We should not interfere with the duty of God. We must response to all the difficulties we face during our service to faith with patience and thankfulness. Such a service will protect society from disorder. To overcome violence, he warned against the desire of power and possession

Conclusion:
So, this is the way to establish peace. Do justice! And if you want to establish real peace, then not only do justice, but the strong should treat the weak with equity and treat them in the same manner as one treats one’s dear and beloved ones and ignores some of their defaults. Every problem cannot he solved with force, but good and just treatment fosters a feeling of bonding and trust. The urge for real peace comes from the heart and the voice that comes from the heart is the only one that establishes real peace because it is based on love and warmth.
When man spreads disorder on earth, peace and security declines and righteousness all but disappears, God sends his Prophets to save the world. Over 1400 years ago, when righteousness had completely vanished from this world and disorder was at its pinnacle, God sent his final message through the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and thus facilitated the saving of the world from complete disaster. Through the message of Islam, man was taught ways to honour the rights of God and the rights of mankind, which had either been forgotten by those who had believed in the earlier Prophets, or because these were new commandments of excellence which had not been revealed before.

Nursi’s life and teachings always preaches nonviolence and ask his followers to pursue civic resistance. He derives this commitment to nonviolence from the tenets of Islam and Sufi perception of human dignity. Human dignity is the key and organizing principle of Nursi’s writings. Although he invites Muslims to peace, harmony and nonviolence, Nursi examines the sociological background of violence. He identifies a number of conditions that impel people to resort to violence: ignorance, poverty and the lawlessness. Nursi argues that violence exist because the power is not constrained and controlled by religious teachings.
Those countries who want to be the standard-bearers of peace should sit down together and work how the world can be saved from destruction. When thinking of that, they should remember their Creator and then think for the betterment of His creation. But remember that the path which the world has chosen today, the effect of instability will not be confined to just one country but will spread all over the world.

REFERENCES
1. Badiuzzaman Said al-Nursi, Kulliyat Rasa’il al-Nur, Vol. 9, (Istanbul: S?zler Ne?riyat, 1998), 35, 36, Eee too M. Hakan Yavuz, Islamic Political Identity in Turkey (John L. Esposito, Series Editor), (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 152.
2. Badiuzzaman Sa’id al-Nursi, Vol. 8, 37.
3. See Yavuz, 157.
4. Badiuzzaman Sa’id al-Nursi, Kulliyat Rasa’il al-Nur, Vol. 1, 11.
5. Badiuzzaman Sa’id al-Nursi, Vol. 3, 292, 297, 347, 566, 567, 458.
6. See Vol. 1, 348 – 349.
7. See Yavuz, op. cit., 158.
8. See Ibid., 157.
9. See Vol. 6, 169.
10. See Vol. 1, 642.
11. Q.S. Ali Imran/3: 159.
12. Q.S. al-Syura/42:38.
13. Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur’an, Text, Translation and Commentary, New Revised Edition, (Brentwood, Maryland: Amana, 1989), 1257.
14. Muhammad Fuad Abd al-Baqy, Al-Mu’jam al-Mufahras li Alfaz al-Qur’an al-Karim (Dar al-Fikr, 1947).
15. See Vol. 2, 67.
16. See Ibid., 342-343.
17. See Vol. 1, 873.
18. See Ibid., 69.
19. See Nursi, The Flashes Collection/The Twenty-Second Flash (Istanbul: S?zler Publications, 2000), 226.
20. See The Flashes Collection/The Thirtieth Flash/The Divine Name.
21. See Ibid.
22. See The Flashes Collection//The Twenty-Second Flash, 226.
23. See Fuad Abd al-Baqy.
24. Islamic Millennium Journal, Volume 1, Number 1, Nov. 2001, Asian Muslim Action Network, Indonesia, 2.
25. See Badiuzzaman Said al-Nursi, Vol. 6, 474.
26. See The Flashes Collection/The Twenty First Flash/On Sincerity, 214.
27. See Ibid. 215.
28. See Ibid. 203.
29. See Ibid. 208.
30. See Ibid. 220.
31. See The Flashes/The Thirtieth Flash/The Divine Name.
32. See The Flashes Collection/The Thirtieth Flash/The Divine Name.
33. See The Flashes Collection/The Thirtieth Flash/The Divine Name.