Said Nursi on Secularism, Religious Rights, Ethics, and Education

Abstract

This paper explores the views of Turkish scholar, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1877-1960), on the ideology of secularism and its impact on identity, ethics, and social stability. It mostly covers Nursi’s interpretation of Islam in a twentieth-century secular setting. Based on Nursi’s views, the paper suggests that, in the interests of establishing a secure and balanced world, faith commitments should be allowed to manage diversity and conflict, rather than a secular semi-agnostic approach. The paper also proposes that, to establish a healthy and virtuous society, collective and individual morality and identity should be constructed using religious values and principles. The paper discusses how Nursi advocated reconciling science and religion, establishing harmony between European civilisation and the truths of Islam. As the paper establishes, there was no enmity between any branch of science and faith for Nursi, who saw both as allies in the task of building human civilisation. But he did advocate rooting education and knowledge in the truths of revealed religion, with the scientific achievements of the age merely contributing to a correct understanding of those truths. This paper also demonstrates that Nursi was an advocate of a pluralist society where all citizens, regardless of their ethnic or religious backgrounds, would be respected, nurtured, and protected. At the same time, he questioned the potential of secularism to provide well-being and virtue for various stratums of society. Policy recommendations are given in the last part of the paper.