Long Live the Illustrious Shari‘a!
Volkan No: 73
21 Safer 1327/ 1 Mart 1325/ 14 March 1909
Deputies of the Assembly!
I am going to write a single sentence, which though very long, is extremely succinct. Take note of it, for in its prolixity is conciseness. It is this:
If you apply the title of the ILLUSTRIOUS SHARI‘A to the justice, mutual consultation, and restriction of power to the law which is the Constitution and constitutionalism, and make it the authority for your rulings and apply its principles, what will you lose? For it is the true and rightful owner of this glorious, effective title and comprises the following manifold benefits: it is the source of absolute justice; provides us with a sure point of support; establishes constitutionalism on a firm base; saves the doubtful and anxious from the abyss of their bewilderment; guarantees our future in this world and our lives in the next; delivers ‘Divine rights,’ that is, the rights of the public, from wrongful exploitation; preserves our national life; attracts all minds and demonstrates to westerners our constancy, maturity, and existence; saves you from being called to account in this world and the next; establishes unanimity of purpose and result; gives rise to public opinion, the spirit of consensus; prohibits the corrupt evils of civilization from entering the bounds of freedom and our civilization; delivers us from begging to Europe; through the mystery of miraculousness, in a short space of time makes us traverse the long distance in progress that we have lagged behind; gains great value for us by in a short time uniting Arab, Turk, Persian, and Semite; shows the collective personality of the government to be Muslim; by preserving the spirit of the Constitution and Article Eleven,1 saves you from perjuring yourselves; gives the lie to Europe’s old false ideas about us; makes it affirmed that Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) is the Seal of the Prophets and the Shari‘a is eternal; forms a barrier against irreligion, the destroyer of civilization; with its shining face, puts an end to the darkness of the conflict and confusion of ideas; unites all the religious scholars and preachers and causes them to assist the nation’s happiness, and makes the government and its activities serve licit constitutionalism; since its absolute justice is compassionate, reconciles and binds to a greater extent the non-Muslim minorities; inspires the most pusillanimous man with true feelings of progress, self-sacrifice, and patriotism the same as the bravest, and the most common man the same as the most elevated; delivers us from vice, wastefulness, and inessential needs, all of which destroy civilization; gives a spur to endeavour by developing this world as well as saving the hereafter; teaches the principles of good morals and elevated emotions, the life of civilization; acquits each of you deputies from fifty thousand people claiming their rights from you; shows you to be a small, licit sample of the consensus of the Umma; because of pure intention makes all your actions into worship; and saves you from criminal conspiracy against the spiritual lives of three hundred million Muslims; -since it comprises this many benefits, what will you lose if you apply the title of the Shari‘a to constitutionalism?
Long live the Illustrious Shari‘a!
S a i d N u r s i
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1. Article 11 of the Constitution: "Every Ottoman is free to practise his religion on condition only that no breach of public order or good morals is committed." [Tr.]