The text's identity-building potential: the case of the Risale-i Nur Collection and the Nur movement

Abstract

ABSTRACT Can a text build a social movement and can this text provide continuity to the movement it has built? Or can a text finance a social movement? So, again, can a text give identity to a social movement? We will discuss the answers to all these questions in the context of the Risale-i Nur Collection (the text) and the Nur movement, written by the Islamic scholar and Quran commentator Said Nursi. The main argument of our study is that the socialisation potential of the text exists and the relationship between the Risale-i Nur Collection and the Nur movement constitutes an example confirming this potential. We hope that our study, as one of the few studies examining the Nur movement from a sociological perspective, will make an original contribution to more comprehensive research in this field.