Bediuzzaman Said Nursi the Theory of Clash of Civilizations

Details: Published: Monday, 30 November -0001 00:00

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (ra) and the Theory of Clash of Civilizations:

A Critical and Comparative Study

By Prof. Hamid Naseem Rafiabadi*

Abstract

There have been some responses to this theory both from Muslims and non Muslims. Seyed Muhammad Khatami an Iranian scholar, the fifth president of Iran is known for his proposal of Dialogue Among Civilisations. According to him there is no clash of civilisations instead he favored dialogue among civilisations. He says there are two groups of civilisations- one which perceives diversity as a threat and another which perceives it as an integral part of development. Benazir Bhutto who was the former Prime Minister of Pakistan her book Reconciliation: Islam Democracy, and West demolishes the theory of clash of civilisations by Huntington and argues that the real clash is not between Islam and West but within Islam. She says that the conflict is between Modernism and regression; reformists and traditionalists; freedom and oppression; education and ignorance etc in the Muslim lands. This is the answer to the argument of the Huntington that Muslims have problems living with their neighbors.

Edward Said delivered a lecture namely Myth of Clash of Civilisations in response to Huntington’s Clash of Civilisations theory at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1996. He was a Christian Palestinian who says in this article that the west mainly sees the Islam through the distorted Orientalist lens. He says that the correlation alone is not sufficient to prove that there is a clash. There could be clash in some areas, but this is created by the powerful people to make Islam seem threatening so that the regions like Iran can be dominated for oil. Edward Said also claimed that not only is the Clash of Civilisations thesis a "reductive and vulgar notion" but it is also an illustration “of the purest invidious racism”, directed toward the Arabs and Muslims. He concludes that the Huntington’s theory can have disastrous consequences instead we should work hard for co-existence among cultures and civilisations.

In one of the most important articles which was published in magazine The Nation namely Clash of Ignorance which is also the response to the clash of civilisation theory, in which he says that the Huntington wants to make sure that the West gets stronger and fends off all the others, Islam in particular.

The term “dialogue of religions” did not come into current usage until after Said Nursi’s death in 1960.But almost all the important ingredients of this phenomenon are found in the thought of Nursi. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi never accepted violence as a way of struggle; his way of struggle was the way of persuasion… He believed that humanity had reached a certain level of civilization and that in civilized societies the manner of solving disagreements is to convince others, not to force them… For Nursi, the use of force and violence is bestial behaviour, and …should not be practiced.” In the world view of Tawhid, reason- revelation symbiosis leads to unity at global level. In the same way epistemology of Unity rejects man-made social constructions such as race, caste, nationality, and ethnicity and so on, as makers of identity. As the Quran says: “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other.” (49:13).

In this back drop Nursi allotted a significant space to interreligious dialogue among Muslims, Christians, and Jews. The Quran exhorts all human beings to resort to dialogue and between Christians and Muslims in particular, in order to living closer to each other by cementing their commonalities. It encourages people to develop positive relationships by knowing each other. Dialogue is an essential strategy for meeting, understanding, valuing, learning and living together in peace. Religious people must come together to work for the common good.

Said Nursi, in his Damascus Sermon (Khutbai-i Shamiyah) underlined the need for Muslim-Christian dialogue which he felt had a potential to resolve world problems.

Said Nursi suggests that Muslims should unite "not only with their fellow-believers, but also with the truly pious Christians”. We can apply this to all other religions as well. The point of unity is to be able to go beyond tolerance towards genuine interest in and admiration for each others' religious traditions.

Nursi holds that the points of commonality held among the followers of the Heavenly Religions are an argument in favor of the truth of those jointly-shared teachings. In this way, the beliefs of the various religions reinforce and confirm one another. In the Risale-i- Nur, he speaks of a “general belief” (itikad-ı umumî) made up of those elements of faith shared by Jews, Christians, and Muslims and argues that this general belief must come from the revelation of one and the same God. An example of this general belief is the common acceptance of spiritual beings by the followers of all three religions. Regarding the reality of angels and spiritual beings, Nursi notes the similarities in the views of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Nursi goes on to point out that the source of these common beliefs can only come from God. The very agreement among Jews, Christians, and Muslims on specific articles of faith is itself an argument in favor of the revealed nature of these truths. Could all three religions be wrong on points on which they all agree? In this insight of Nursi’s, can we not see a valid purpose of interreligious dialogue, one of confirming one another’s faith by recognizing the elements professed by all three religions? Nursi lived according to his word and admits that he had Christian friends, even in the most tragic of circumstances. When Nursi visited Van after the destruction of the city in the Russian invasion, he wept without distinction for both the Christian and Muslim victims, who had been his “friends and acquaintances.” “Most of the people of those houses had been my friends and acquaintances. The majority of them had died in the migrations – may God have mercy on them, or had done into wretched exile.

While evaluating European civilisation he says that it has two sides. One current has worked to establish justice and to develop scientific thought for the benefit of society. In this it has been inspired by the teachings of true Christianity. The second current, rejecting Europe’s Christian heritage, has pursued various atheistic and materialistic philosophies to produce a selfish, impoverished, self-destructive civilization. In suggesting that there be a correspondence and cooperation among the followers of the “heavenly religions,” Nursi was proposing, long before other religious leaders were speaking about interfaith dialogue, a platform on which interreligious encounter needs to take place. Dialogue among the true followers of the various religions should focus on questions of the values by which societies are to be guided.

Nursi has identified the most crucial points which can form the best perimeters of any dialogue among civilizations and which resist the materialistic and aggressive atheistic principles like: force vs. truth, self-interest vs. virtue, God’s pleasure, conflict vs. mutual assistance, racism, nationalism vs. the bonds of unity created by religion, class, nation.

From the point of view of the Qur’an and “the earlier revelations,” Nursi challenges this understanding of conflict as both inevitable and acceptable. To it he opposes the “principle of mutual assistance.”

In this paper we will attempt to critically analyze the basis of western civilisation visa vise Islamic civilisation as envisaged by Nursi and will bring the insights of Nursi to fore in the backdrop of Huntington’s theory regarding clash of civilizations in a comparative perspective. Moreover, will discuss the other responses to this theory and show the superiority of Nursis spiritual and moral vision which he has advocated while expounding the glittering contours of Islamic concept of civilization dialogue.

Samuel Huntington’s thesis of a “clash of civilizations” was held up by many as a paradigm of international relations that provided an acceptable base for foreign policy decisions. According to Huntington the non-western countries no more accept the western worth because of the love of their own culture, due to which this world is witnessing a division at a large level- west and rest. Huntington sees the future clashes among the civilizations, the bone of contention of which is western arrogance, Islamic intolerance and cynic assertiveness. He describes the idea of liberal democracy, Human rights and Capitalism vigourless ideologies to attract non-western nations. In 1940 west was controlling the UN but now it is challenged through the Islamic declaration of Human Rights at Cairo and in several other countries like Japan and China. Huntington further discusses about the inter-civilization conflict which according to him manifests itself in two forms: fault line conflicts and core state conflicts. He says that in the emerging world states and groups from different civilizations may form coalitions to counter the third civilisation, but relations between groups from different civilizations will move from cool to hostile, from peace to acrimonious. At micro level, he sees fault line conflicts occurring between neighboring states of different civilizations and at macro level fault line conflicts will move to core state conflicts. He says that the dynamism of Islam is the ongoing source of many relative small fault line wars and the rise of China is the potential source of big inter-civilisational war of core states. 1 In his other famous book, Who We Are, Huntington has brought his views very clearly to fore advocating conflict and clash as the necessity for the national or identity purposes. He thinks that globalization will strengthen these conflicting identities, rather than weaken them. He says: “Hence it is natural that the processes of globalization should lead to the broader identifies of religion and civilization, assuming greater importance for individuals and peoples”. Huntington says further while appreciating the views of different thinkers of the west who subscribe to clash and conflict as an indicator for preservation of national identifies: “To identify themselves, people need another. Do they need an enemy? Some people clearly do. “Oh, how wonderful it is to hate “said Josef Goebbels.” Oh, what a relief to fight, to fight enemies who defend themselves, enemies who are awake,” said Andre Malraux.” These are extreme articulations of a generally more subdued but widespread human need”, says Huntington, “as acknowledged by two of the twentieth century's greatest minds. Writing to Sigmund Freud in 1933, Albert Einstein argued that every attempt to eliminate war had “ended in a, lamentable breakdown”…man has within him lust for hatred and destruction”. Freud agreed: people are like animals, he wrote back, they solve problems through the use of force, and only an all –powerful world state could prevent this from happening. Humans, Freud argued, have only two types of instincts, “those which seek to preserve and unite …and those which seek to destroy and kill.”According to Freud both are essential and they operate in conjunction with each other. Hence “, there is no use in trying to get rid of men’s aggressive inclinations.”Thus Huntington quotes these “great minds “approvingly and admits that conflict and clash is imbedded in human nature like it is in the instincts of the beasts. According to Huntington- vanity, and to have enemies and to preserve self esteem are such qualities, which need conflict because according to him: “Conflict with the enemy reinforces these qualities in the group.”2

He thinks that Muslim reaction to American war on terror harbored ill will against America as it depicted: “...hostility to American culture, secular and religious, as the antithesis of Muslim culture.”3

Thus he has tried to subtly justify the clash of Islamic and western civilizations in very explicit terminology. Since war is needed for the unity and harmony of the two great European countries America and Britain, therefore, this clash needs to be reinforced again and again seems the advocacy of Huntington.

See how Huntington sees war with Muslim world in the American context: “The historical experience of both America and Britain, as persuasively analyzed by Arthur Stein., show that the greater the perceived threat from the enemy, the greater the unity of the country.”4

A very important book has recently been published in which the author examines Huntington’s reference to the “bloody borders of Islam “expounded in his book, The Clash of Civilizations and has brought out the fascinating “relationships between Islam and four major civilizations with which it has been in long term close contact: Western Europe, orthodox Russia, Hindu India, and Confucian china. In each of these cases, complex and shifting accommodations were reached between them; cross pollination resulted. These relationships present a far subtler picture of hoe Muslims actually manage their relationship with other cultures and religions than is commonly portrayed in more lurid and simplistic confrontation scenarios”5

Rather than emphasizing the unity of human beings and nations on the basis of human values, Huntington has put forward his clash theory by considering America different from the whole world and all nations of the world in this context. He says:”America is different, and that difference is defined in large part by its Anglo –Protestant culture and its religiosity.”6

The last sentences of the book are: “American becomes the world. The world becomes America. America remains America. Cosmopolitan? Imperial? National? The Choices Americans make will shape their future as a nation and the future of the world.”7

Benazir Bhutto who was the former Prime Minister of Pakistan in her book Reconciliation: Islam Democracy and West demolishes the theory of clash of civilisations by Huntington and argues that the real clash is not between Islam and West but within Islam. She says that the conflict is between Modernism and regression; reformists and traditionalists; freedom and oppression; education and ignorance etc in the Muslim lands. This is the answer to the argument of the Huntington that Muslims have problems living with their neighbors.9

Apart from Muslims there have been sharp reactions to this theory from some non Muslim scholars and thinkers also. For example, Edward Said delivered a lecture namely Myth of Clash of Civilisations in response to Huntington’s Clash of Civilisations theory at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1996. He was a Christian Palestinian who says in this article that the west mainly sees the Islam through the distorted Orientalist lens. He says that the correlation alone is not sufficient to prove that there is a clash. There could be clash in some areas, but this is created by the powerful people to make Islam seem threatening so that the regions like Iran can be dominated for oil. Edward Said also claimed that not only is the Clash of Civilisations thesis a "reductive and vulgar notion" but it is also an illustration “of the purest invidious racism”, directed toward the Arabs and Muslims. He concludes that the Huntington’s theory can have disastrous consequences instead we should work hard for co-existence among cultures and civilisations.9

Prem Shankar Jha a famous journalist of India says in response to theory of Clash of Civilisations that this theory remains unsatisfactory on two counts. The first is that Huntington is unwilling to cross the swords with American hegemonism. This is reflected by a contradiction when he argues that the global conflict may be triggered by a civilisational offensive from the west. But on the other he argues that it is western civilisation which is constantly under the threat and needs to be defended by America reaffirming its western identity. The offensive is therefore coming from the non- western countries. In the end, all he has done is to provide one more argument for the west to maintain a strong defensive posture and keep increasing its defense in spending in real terms, while insisting other nations to reduce theirs.11

These are only few of the responses to the theory of clash of civilisation. Though Bediuzzaman Said Nursi lived long before Huntington, but his presenting the dialogue as the best way to solve the problems in most suitable convincing and philosophically well articulated manner makes him the real rival of western notions of conflict and clash theories in an environment where the European identities are being depicted as “clash based identities”. He was the first thinker who identified that since in the west philosophers have been advocating materialism and hostile atheism there was no possibility of dialogue or peace among the nations given the human caprice and greed which governs most of these philosophies. Thus unlike other thinkers who have tried to respond to these theories, Nursi has rightly identified the causes behind this aggressive clash based identity of Europe owing to its adherence to the erroneous philosophies like Materialism, Hostile atheism, Naturalism, Nationalism, Lustfulness, hedonism, feminism (Demonization of women) and Islam which always advocates harmony and peace while dealing with people of other religious and cultural denominations. Since west after abandoning religion in the garb of renaissance made human reason and philosophy the sole criterion of truth, therefore such ideologies were devised for justifying human greed and aggrandizement to replace the religious paradigm ruling the world for centuries. While discussing this dimension of the Western civilization, Nursi says: “By reason of its philosophy, present-day civilization accepts ‘force’ as the point of support in the life of society. It takes as its aim ‘benefits,’ and considers the principle of its life to be ‘conflict.’ It considers the bond between communities to be ‘racialism and negative nationalism.’ While its aim is to provide ‘amusements’ for gratifying the appetites of the soul and increasing man’s needs. However, the mark of force is aggression. And since the benefits are insufficient to meet all needs, their mark is that everyone tussles and jostles over them. The mark of conflict is contention, and the mark of racialism, aggression, since it thrives on devouring others. Thus, it is because of these principles of civilization that despite all its virtues, it has provided a sort of superficial happiness for only twenty per cent of mankind and cast eighty per cent into distress and poverty”.

Contrasting these notions with the Islamic view point regarding the cooperation and mutual understanding as its core values, Nursi says: “The wisdom of the Qur’an, however, takes as its point of support ‘truth’ instead of force, and in place of benefit has ‘virtue and God’s pleasure’ as its aims. It considers ‘the principle of mutual assistance’ to be fundamental in life, rather than conflict. In the ties between communities it accepts ‘the bonds of religion, class, and country,’ in place of racialism and nationalism. Its aims are to place a barrier before the illicit assaults of the soul’s base appetites and to urge the spirit to sublime matters, to satisfy man’s elevated emotions and encourage him towards the human perfections. And as for the truth, its mark is concord; the mark of virtue is mutual support, and the mark of mutual assistance, hastening to help one another. The mark of religion is brotherhood and attraction. And the result of reining in and tethering the evil-commanding soul and leaving the spirit free and urging it towards perfection is happiness in this world and the next”. <big> 12

Highlighting a very important dimension of modern civilisation, as it has benefited from the useful outcomes accrued on behalf of the encounter between the west and east especially its indebtedness to Islamic ethos, Nursi says: “Thus, despite the virtues present-day civilization has acquired from the guidance of the Qur’an in particular, and from the preceding revealed religions, in point of fact it has thus suffered defeat before the Qur’an”.

The results of the founding philosophies behind present day western civilisation is however undoing all the achievements of its material progress as it is suffering from the death throes of materialism and naturalism: “At this time, however, due to the domination of European civilization and the supremacy of natural philosophy and the preponderance of the conditions of worldly life, minds and hearts have become scattered, and endeavour and favour divided. Minds have become strangers to non-material matters”. 13

According to Nursi the line of philosophy that does not obey the line of religion, taking the form of a tree of Zaqqum, scatters the darkness of ascribing partners to God and misguidance on all sides. In the branch of the power of intellect, even, it produces the fruit of atheism, Materialism, and Naturalism for the consumption of the human intellect. And in the realm of the power of passion, it pours the tyrannies of Nimrod, Pharaoh, and Shaddad on mankind. And in the realm of the power of animal appetites, it nurtures and bears the fruit of goddesses, idols, and those who claim divinity.

Comparing beautifully this philosophy with the line set forth by the noble teaching of the prophets, Nursi says: “The origin of the tree of Zaqqum together with that of the line of Prophethood, which is like the Tuba-tree of worship, are in the two faces of the ‘I’. The blessed branches of the line of Prophethood in the garden of the globe of the earth are the following: in the branch of the power of intellect, it has nurtured the fruits of the prophets, the messengers, and the saints. In the branch of the power of repulsion, it has resulted in angelic kings and just rulers. And in the branch of the power of attraction, it has resulted in people of good character and modest and beautiful manner, both generous and gracious....”14

I sometimes am tended to say that if the western civilisational values are adhered to in letter a spirit the tyrants like Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin will appear in quick suggestion on the government plan, and the hedonistic philosophers like Bentham, Freud and Russell will emerge, and the theories those propounded by Marx Darwin and Machiavelli will surface which advocated survival of the fittest finally culminating in the personage of Huntington. On the other hand following strictly the western hedonistic standards will lead a man to suffer from AIDS while as the following of Islamic values of spiritual life will make a man ascetic and austere to the extent where he will not even enjoy the approved amusements of life like marriage.

Since Europe is the source of imitation, misguidance and undeserved love, its emulation slavishly by others has been abhorred by Nursi thus: “Utter abhorrence and a thousand regrets should be felt for those who take the way of misguidance due to the Europeans' idols and sciences of Naturalism, and for those who follow them and imitate them blindly! O sons of this land! Do not try to imitate Europeans! How can you reasonably trust in and follow the vice and invalid, worthless thought of Europe after the boundless tyranny and enmity it has shown you? No! No! You who imitate them in dissoluteness, you are not following them, but unconsciously joining their ranks and putting to death both yourselves and your brothers. Know that the more you follow them in immorality the more you lie in claiming to be patriots! Because your following them in this way is to hold your nation in contempt, to hold the nation up to ridicule! “God guides us, and you, to the Straight Path.” 15

In fact, he even admitted that "The Old Said and certain thinkers in part accepted the principles of human and European philosophy, and contested them with their own weapons; they accepted them to a degree." 16

But by the time he is writing the Flashes, the New Said made it clear in the one instance quoted below that he was concerned only with what he called the 'second' Europe, or what can be called 'negative' Europe. 17

He was rather addressing “the second corrupt Europe which, through the darkness of the philosophy of Naturalism, supposing the evils of civilization to be its virtues, has driven mankind to vice and misguidance”. He says: “On my journey of the spirit at that time I said to Europe's collective personality, which apart from beneficial science and the virtues of civilization, holds in its hand meaningless, harmful philosophy and noxious, dissolute civilization. 18

But this equation between Europe and Christianity is not frequent and often ambiguous. Because, more often, Europe is not linked to religion at all. "If Europe is a shop, a barracks, Asia is like an arable field and a mosque." 20

Similarly: "Moreover, the appearance of most of the prophets in Asia, and the emergence of the majority of philosophers in Europe is a sign…" 21

This philosophy had its ill effect on the nations of the world even Muslims could not remain immune from it as contrary to the earlier Muslims, a modern day Muslim is facing a precarious situation because his “.. Thought is submerged in philosophy, his mind plunged in politics, and his heart is giddy at the life of this world, his disposition and abilities have grown distant from interpretation of the law. For sure, they have become distant from interpretation of the Shari‘a to the degree they have been preoccupied with the modern sciences, and have remained backward in regard to it to the extent he has become learned in the physical sciences”.

Comparing the disastrous impact of manmade philosophy like materialism and naturalism on man with the divinely inspired values of the Quran Nursi says: “Furthermore, as described above, illicit pleasure on the path of misguidance causes man to fall to the lowest of the low. Then no civilization, no philosophy can provide a remedy for him, and no human progress and scientific advances can deliver him from that deep, dark pit. Whereas, the All-Wise Qur’an elevates man, through belief and good deeds, from the lowest of the low to the highest of the high, and demonstrates that it does this with clear proofs. And it fills in that deep pit with rungs of inner development and spiritual progress”.

Elaborating further on these influences of modern western civilisation, which he calls as a “low civilisation”, on women, he says: “Low civilization took womankind out of their homes, and turning them into common goods, destroyed the respect in which they were held. The Shari‘a of Islam mercifully invites them back to their homes. It is there they are respected, in their homes they are comfortable, in family life. Cleanliness is their adornment; their good character is their splendour; their gracious beauty is their chastity; their compassion, their perfection; their children, their relaxation. With so many tools of corruption, one has to be as strong and unyielding as steel to withstand them”. 22

Calling Materialism as an “Immaterial Plague”, he says further: “Materialism is an immaterial plague; mankind caught this fearsome fever. Its inculcation and imitation caused mankind to be visited suddenly by Divine wrath. This plague spreads to the extent the ability to criticize spreads. It was inculcated by science, and learnt blind imitation from modern civilization. Freedom led to criticism; misguidance sprang from its pride. That means glittering civilization, which is a mixture of fancy, lust, amusement, and licentiousness, is a deceptive panacea for the ghastly distress arising from misguidance, a poisonous narcotic”.23<small>

Here an important point needs to be emphasised that since Western science and civilization had to a degree a place in the Old Said’s thought, when the New Said embarked on his journeys of the mind and of the heart, they were transformed into sicknesses of the heart and were the cause of excessive difficulties. The New Said therefore wanted to shake off from his mind that fallacious philosophy and dissolute civilization. In order to silence the emotions of his evil-commanding soul, which testified in favour of Europe, he was compelled to hold in his spirit the following discussion-which in one respect is very brief and in another is long-with the collective personality of Europe. He says: “It should not be misunderstood; Europe is two. One follows the sciences which serve justice and right and the industries beneficial for the life of society through the inspiration it has received from true Christianity; this first Europe I am not addressing. I am rather addressing the second corrupt Europe which, through the darkness of the philosophy of Naturalism, supposing the evils of civilization to be its virtues, has driven mankind to vice and misguidance. As follows:

“On my journey of the spirit at that time I said to Europe’s collective personality, which apart from beneficial science and the virtues of civilization, holds in its hand meaningless, harmful philosophy and noxious, dissolute civilization:

Know this, O second Europe! You hold a diseased and misguided philosophy in your right hand and a harmful and corrupt civilization in your left, and claim, “Mankind's happiness is with these two!” May your two hands be broken and may these two filthy presents of yours be the death of you... And so they shall be!”

He says further: “O you unhappy spirit which spreads unbelief and ingratitude! Can a man who is suffering torments and is afflicted with ghastly calamities in both his spirit and his conscience and his mind and his heart be happy through his body wallowing in a superficial, deceptive glitter and wealth? Can it be said that he is happy?”24

This Europe represents misguidance, inauspiciousness, dispiritedness, sufferings from carnal disasters, tyranny, and deceitfulness which is eluding to its dajjali character and what not.25

O evil-commanding soul of mankind! Consider the following comparison and see where you have driven mankind. For example, there are two roads before us. We take one of them and see that at every step is some wretched, powerless person. Tyrants are attacking him, seizing his property and goods, and destroying his humble house. Sometimes they wound him as well. It is such that the heavens weep at his pitiful state. Wherever one looks, things are continuing in this vein. The sounds heard on this way are the roars of tyrants and the groans of the oppressed; a universal mourning envelops the entire way. Since through his humanity man is pained at the suffering of others, he is afflicted with a boundless grief. But because his conscience cannot endure so much pain, one who travels this way is compelled to do one of two things: either he strips off his humanity and embracing a boundless savagery bears such a heart that so long as he is safe and sound, he is not affected if all the rest of mankind perish, or else he suppresses the demands of the heart and reason. 26

Nursi thinks that whatever is still found from the elements of goodness in Europe this part is due to Christian influences. But since that impact has lost its force, the civilisation has turned devilish in its nature and has assumed all the characteristics of anti Christ against the noble character of Jesus: “O Europe corrupted with vice and misguidance and drawn far from the religion of Jesus! You have bestowed this hell-like state on the human spirit with your blind genius which, like the Dajjal, has only a single eye. You afterwards understood that this incurable disease casts man down from the highest of the high to the lowest of the low, and reduces him to the basest level of animality. The only remedies you have found for this disease are the fantasies of entertainment and amusement and anodyne diversions which serve to temporarily numb the senses. These remedies of yours are being the death of you, and so they shall be. There! The road you have opened up for mankind and the happiness you have given them resembles this comparison”.

Comparing this horrible satanic civilisation with a civilisation informed by the noble traits he says: “The second road, which the All-Wise Qur’an has bestowed on mankind, is like this: We see that in every stopping-place, every spot, every town on this road are patrols of a Just Monarch’s equitable soldiers doing the rounds. From time to time at the King’s command a group of the soldiers are discharged. Their rifles, horses and gear belonging to the state are taken from them and they are given their leave papers. The discharged soldiers are apparently sad to hand over their rifles and horses with which they are familiar, but in reality they are happy to be discharged and extremely pleased to visit the Monarch and return to His Court”.

Sometimes the demobilization officials come across a raw recruit who does not recognize them. “Surrender your rifle!” they say. The soldier replies: “I am a soldier of the King and I am in His service. I shall go to him later. Who are you? If you come with His permission and consent, I greet you with pleasure, show me His orders. Otherwise go away and stay far from me. Even if I stay on my own and there are thousands of you, I shall still fight you. It is not for myself, because I do not own myself, I belong to my King. Indeed, myself and the rifle I have now are in trust from my owner. I shall not submit to you because I have to protect the trust and preserve my King’s honour and dignity!”27

The demonization of women by this civilisation again and again catches the attention of Nursi and he says: “West has demonised women and attitude of men towards her:

“It is clear that people are discomforted by the looks of those they do not like or find tedious; they are upset by them. If a beautiful immodestly dressed woman takes pleasure at two or three out of ten men who are canonically strangers looking at her, she is bored by the seven or eight. Also, since a woman whose morals are not corrupted is sensitive and easily affected, she will certainly be distressed at dirty looks whose effects have been physically experienced, indeed, are poisonous. We even hear that in Europe, the place of open dress, many women are fed up at being the object of attention, and complain to the police, saying: “These brutes keep staring at us and disturbing us.” This means that present-day civilization’s unveiling woman is contrary to their natures. And together with being in accordance with their natures, the Qur’an’s command to veil themselves, saves women-those mines of compassion who may be worthy companions for all eternity-from degeneration, abasement, what is in effect slavery, and wretchedness”.28

Since man under the influence of these made “one eyed ideologies” was deprived of his humanity and was considered on the similar lines the animals are being considered as even Freud and Einstein had viewed. Therefore, Nursi was aghast with the futile and satanic attempts of westoxicated stooges who if left free to pollute their Muslim societies, would have been naturally led to atheism and apostasy, on the name of so called progress and industrialization by such efforts and would have become “poison in the life of society”. He addresses such baffled and mesmerized intellectuals thus: “O miserable pseudo-patriot who fervently encourages Muslims to embrace this world and forcibly drives them to European industry and progress! Beware, do not let the bonds with which certain members of this nation are tied to religion be broken! If thus foolishly blindly imitating and crushed under foot, their bonds with religion are broken; those irreligious people will become as harmful for the life of society as fatal poison. For since an apostate’s conscience is completely corrupted, he becomes like poison in the life of society. It is because of this that according to the science of the principles of religion, “The apostate does not have the right to life, whereas if an unbeliever is a member of the protected minorities or he makes peace, he has the right to life;” this is a principle of the Shari’a. Furthermore, according to the Hanafi School, the testimony of such an unbeliever is acceptable, whereas the testimony of someone who has strayed from the path of the Shari’a is rejected. For, he is perfidious”. 29

Other shorter examples include the following four passages: "Embracing the idea of nationalism, the peoples awakening in Asia are imitating Europe precisely in every respect, and on the way sacrificing many of their sacred matters."30

"The recompense for illicit love, like love for Europe, is the cruel enmity of the beloved." 31

"The one I'm addressing isn't Ziya Pasha, it's those enamoured of Europe."32

"The dissolute loafers are those villains who follow Europe and have no nation or religion. While the European spectators are the journalists who spread the ideas of the Europeans." 33

For Said Nursi, 'negative' Europe is both religiously bigoted and irreligious: "…because Europe is bigoted in religion." 34

"In fact, there are many like the former American President, Wilson, and the former British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, who were as religious as bigoted priests." 35. Similarly:

The present day civilisation has become debased due to various factors and has lost its direction long back, as its only goal and orientation is towards materialist progress at the cost of spiritual perdition.

“O my senseless soul and foolish friend! Do you suppose your life’s duty is restricted to following the good life according to the requisites of civilization, and, if you will excuse the expression, to gratifying the physical appetites? Do you suppose the sole aim of the delicate and subtle senses, the sensitive faculties and members, the well-ordered limbs and systems, the inquisitive feelings and senses included in the machine of your life is restricted to satisfying the low desires of the base soul in this fleeting life? God forbid! There are two main aims in their creation and inclusion in your essential being:

The First consists of making known to you all the varieties of the True Bestower’s bounties, and causing you to offer Him thanks. You should be aware of this, and offer Him thanks and worship.

The Second is to make known to you by means of your faculties all the sorts of the manifestations of the sacred Divine Names manifested in the world and to cause you to experience them. And you, by recognizing them through experiencing them, should” 36

Nursi says about an important matter which occurred to his heart on the Night of Power

He was aware about the disastrous results ensuing after the world war which was the outcome of this civilisational conflict and nothing else according to Nursi. He says: “I shall allude briefly to a most extensive and lengthy truth which occurred to my heart on the Night of Power.
Because of the extreme tyranny and despotism of this last World War and its merciless destruction, and hundreds of innocents being scattered and ruined on account of a single enemy, and the awesome despair of the defeated, and the fearsome alarm of the victors and their ghastly pangs of conscience arising from the supremacy they are unable to maintain and the destruction they are unable to repair, and the utter transitoriness and ephemerality of the life of this world and the deceptive, opiate nature of the fantasies of civilization becoming apparent to all, and the exalted abilities lodged in human nature and the human essence being wounded in a universal and awesome manner, and heedlessness and misguidance and deaf, lifeless nature being smashed by the diamond sword of the Qur’an, and the exceedingly ugly, exceedingly cruel true face of world politics becoming apparent, which is the widest and most suffocating and deceptive cover for heedlessness and misguidance, most certainly and without any shadow of a doubt, since the life of this world -which is the metaphorical beloved of mankind- is thus ugly and transient, man’s true nature will search with all its strength for eternal life, which it truly loves and yearns for, just as there are signs of this occurring in the North, the West, and in America”. 37

It seems that all the subsequent ugly developments which were destined to take place in wake of such hedonistic “clash based civilisation” of the Europe, were before the visionary sight of Nursi when he was discussing all these above subjects in such a convincing way that even today we find these ideas very fresh and very relevant in the back drop of clash off civilisation theories.

Role of Christianity as has been mentioned already in the context of Europe is in the view of Nursi very complicated. He does not criticize the Europe which “follows the sciences which serve justice and right and the industries beneficial for the life of society through the inspiration it has received from true Christianity”. But he at the same time thinks that Christianity was corrupted by the atheistic and materialist philosophies of the west.38

Nursi thinks that Christianity was polluted by naturalism materialism and such other philosophies and it can only be purged from these influences by Islam only...

“The Hadith the meaning of which is, “At the end of time, Jesus (Upon whom be peace) will come and will act in accordance with the Shari‘a of Muhammad (PBUH),” indicates that at the end of time the religion of Christianity will be purified and divest itself of superstition in the face of the current of unbelief and atheism born of Naturalist philosophy, and will be transformed into Islam. At this point, the collective personality of Christianity will kill the fearsome collective personality of irreligion with the sword of heavenly Revelation; so too, representing the collective personality of Christianity, Jesus (Upon whom be peace) will kill the Dajjal, who represents the collective personality of irreligion, that is, he will kill atheistic thought”.39

He equates materialist civilisation to the appearance of Dajjal and thinks that he will come and will “manifest awesome wonders, a sort of spiritualism and hypnosis “and will be boasting finally by proclaiming “his Godhead “by his tyrannical and superficial rule.

He says:

“The Second Current: A tyrannical current born of Naturalist and Materialist philosophy will gradually become strong and spread at the end of time by means of materialist philosophy, reaching such a degree that it denies God. A savage who does not recognize the king or accept that the officers and soldiers in the army are his soldiers ascribes a sort of kingship and rulership to everyone and to all the soldiers. In just the same way, the members of that current, who deny God, each ascribes dominicality to his soul like a little Nimrod. And the greatest of them, the Dajjal, who will come to lead them, will manifest awesome wonders, a sort of spiritualism and hypnosis; he will go even further, and imagining his tyrannical, superficial rule to be a sort of dominicality, he will proclaim his godhead. It is clear just what foolish buffoonery it is for impotent man, who may be defeated by a fly and cannot create even a fly’s wing, to claim godhead”.

But according to Nursi it will be the time when true Christianity which was actually Islam, as all the prophets including Jesus has preached nothing short of submission to the Will of God. Islam will be assisted by Jesus as he will descend from the heavens and will adhere to Islam and will thus convert Christianity to Islam in real sense of the word:“At that point when the current appears to be very strong, the religion of true Christianity, which comprises the collective personality of Jesus (Upon whom be peace), will emerge. That is, it will descend from the skies of Divine Mercy. Present Christianity will be purified in the face of that reality; it will cast off superstition and distortion, and unite with the truths of Islam. Christianity will in effect be transformed into a sort of Islam. Following the Qur’an, the collective personality of Christianity will be in the rank of follower, and Islam, in that of leader. True religion will become a mighty force as a result of its joining it. Although defeated before the atheistic current while separate, Christianity and Islam will have the capability to defeat and rout it as a result of their union. Then the person of Jesus (Upon whom be peace), who is present with his human body in the world of the heavens, will come to lead the current of true religion, as, relying on the promise of One Powerful Over All “40

He says further:

“For sure, with the emergence of the true religion of Christianity and its being transformed into Islam, it will spread its light to the great majority of people in the world, but when the end of the world is close an atheistic current will again appear and become dominant. According to the rule, “The word is with the majority,” no one will remain on earth who says, “Allah! Allah!” that is, “Allah! Allah!” will not be uttered by a significant group which holds an important position on the earth. The people of truth will form a minority or will be defeated, but they will remain permanently till the end of the world. Only, the moment Doomsday occurs, as a sign of Divine mercy, the spirits of the believers will be seized first so that they do not see the terrors of the Last Day, and it will break forth over the unbelievers”.41

Nursi points out an important point that the Christianity as a religion has not been able to contain the materialist and atheistic trends in its midst. Rather its followers who were attracted by philosophy chose to abandon their religious affiliations or even at times opposed Christianity. Moreover in Christianity there was found no encouragement for the people who were fond of daring deeds and went to prison. Even the revolutionaries of Europe had to denounce their religion to espouse revolutionary ideologies for they were disillusioned by the institutionalized Christianity, where authority of the papacy was invoked for everything significant or insignificant. He says:

“Again the Christian philosophers either have remained indifferent to religion or have opposed it, but the Muslim philosophers and their great majority “constructed their philosophy on Islamic fundamentals. The religion of Christianity does not give any support to those who go the prisons, resulting their turning irreligious in the long run.

The example of French revolutionaries can be cited who were called “irreligious Jacobins,” were mostly those disaster-stricken common people. Whereas in Islam, the great majority of those who suffer disaster or imprisonment await succour from religion and they become religious. This situation too, demonstrates an important difference”.

He highlights another difference between the attitude of Islam and Christianity in this regard as follows:

“Yes, just as the religious bigotry of the Christian upper class and slackness in religion of the Muslim upper class demonstrate an important difference, so too, the fact that the philosophers who emerged from Christianity were indifferent towards religion or else opposed it, while the great majority of those who emerged from Islam constructed their philosophy on Islamic fundamentals, demonstrates yet another important difference. Furthermore, generally, ordinary Christians who have fallen on hard times or are sent to prison cannot expect assistance from religion. Formerly, most of them became irreligious. In fact, the revolutionaries famous in history who instigated the French Revolution and were called “irreligious Jacobins,” were mostly those disaster-stricken common people. Whereas in Islam, the great majority of those who suffer disaster or imprisonment await succour from religion and they become religious. This situation too, demonstrates an important difference.”42

He thinks that western civilisation with all its glittering dimensions does not owe much to Christian religion. According to Nursi the virtues of civilization cannot be in any case attributed to Christianity: “To attribute to Christianity the virtues of civilization, which are not its property, and to show retrogression, the enemy of Islam, to be its friend, is to suggest that the firmament is revolving in the opposite direction.”

Because the monastic approach of the Church and the attitude of turning other cheek to the enemy has made Christianity vigourless in front of this rudderless western materialist and aggressive atheistic civilisation. On the other hand, Islam has never been against the progress in mundane life also and Islam has helped Muslims to progress in science and civilisation in their golden periods, but when the Muslims have ignored their religion they were led to the despondency of worst kind. The great scientific advancement of Muslim society in Spain is a glaring example of this fact according to Nursi: “Also, whenever the people of Islam have adhered in earnest to their religion, they have advanced proportionately, achieving great progress. Witness to this is the greatest master of Europe, the Islamic state of Andalusia. And whenever the Islamic community has been slack in religion, it has sunk into wretchedness, and declined”.

Moreover, Islamic civilisation gave poor the rights to live a dignified life and has protected knowledgeable by laying emphasis on thinking and reflection again and again. While as other religions have never supported science or rationalism, rather science and rationalism or philosophy could only emerge once the relationship of the followers of these religions became negligible:

“Furthermore, Islam has protected the poor and the common people with compassionate measures like enjoining the payment of zakat and prohibiting usury and interest; and in accordance with phrases like, “So will they not think, So will they not reason, So will they not ponder on it”, it has called on and encouraged reason and knowledge and protected scholars; Islam has therefore always been the stronghold and place of recourse of the poor and the people of learning. There is no reason to be vexed at Islam. The underlying reason and wisdom of Islam’s differing in various respects from Christianity and other religions is this”.43

The basis of Islam is the pure affirmation of Divine Unity; it attributes no actual effect to causes and intermediaries, affording them no value in regard to creation and position. Christianity, however, since it has accepted the idea of Jesus being the Son of God, it gives some value to causes and intermediaries; it cannot break egotism. It quite simply ascribes a manifestation of Divine dominicality to its saints and great ones, thus confirming the verse:

“They take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords in derogation of God”. 44

“It is because of this that, together with maintaining their pride and egotism, those Christians who occupy the highest worldly ranks are religious and bigoted, like the former American president, Wilson. In Islam, the religion of pure Divine Unity, those in the highest worldly positions either give up their egotism and pride, or they give up their religion to an extent. For this reason, some are neglectful or even irreligious”.

In the famous sermon of Damascus, Bediuzzaman gave certain news that in the future Islam and the truths of the Qur’an would prevail, and he provided clear proofs that this would occur As Bediuzzaman Said Nursi demonstrates, since Islam relies on reason and reasoned proof, it is the religion of the present and the future, for this is the age of science, technology and reason. This fact is being understood now by many who realize that they cannot live without a true and complete religion. The causes for the decline of the Islamic world and its material backwardness in comparison to the West should be sought in the failure of Muslims to adhere to the teachings and truths of the Holy Qur’an and Islam. Just as Islam provides for the material progress of man, and the indeed urges him towards it, so does it provide for man’s true progress and development in moral and spiritual matters. This combination forms the basis of true civilization.

According to Nursi Christianity will finally lay down its arms before Islam: “Christianity will either erupt, or being purified, will lay down its arms before Islam. Christianity was split apart several times, and Protestantism emerged. Then Protestantism was rent, and approached the true affirmation of Divine Unity. It is preparing to be rent again. It will either erupt and be extinguished, or it will see before it the truths of Islam, which encompass the basis of true Christianity, and it, will lay down its arms.

The Prophet Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) alluded to this great mystery when he said: “Jesus will appear having descended from the skies; he will be of my community and will act in accordance with my Shari‘a.”45

Nursi believes that Islam can challenge European atheism and irreligiosity. He is sure that Islamic faith he cherished was the best and will not be weakened by the attacked or persecutions of the atheists or their Muslim stooges in Muslim countries: “For through the strength of the All-Wise Qur'an, I challenge all Europe including your irreligious people. […] If all Europe was to gather, of which your irreligious people are a part, through God's assistance, they could not make me recant a single matter of that way of mine. God willing, they could not defeat me…46 (Letters, 95)

In fact, Nursi not only lumps together philosophy with irreligiousness, but he also implies a close link between irreligious Europe and the Devil: "And as for this, O Devil, neither you nor the philosophers of Europe and hypocrites of Asia on whom you rely…" 47

(Nursi strongly rejects anything that will threaten any Islamic paradigms and he abhors the use of Islamic means to radically change a long time religious practice for a politics of imitation. In particular, he claims that there was always a seamless overlap between the Turkish 'nation' and Islam, so that no one should fall into the trap of imitating the European ideology of nationalism, 'Europeanism':

Thinking "My son is going to be a Pasha," she [mothers in general] gives him all her property, takes him from the Qur'an school and sends him to Europe. But it does not occur to her that her child's eternal life has fallen into danger. She tries to save him from prison in this world, and does not take into consideration his being sentenced to the prison of Hell.48

Why Nursi challenged the European clash based identity? There were very valid reasons for his disdain! Since Western civilization is not based on truth and justice, but on the principles of force, conflict, and aggression, the evils of civilization predominate over its virtues. If man is to survive he will embrace Islam, for he understands now his need for true civilization, founded on the positive truths of revelation, the Holy Qur’an and the Shari‘a of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), in which the virtues of progress predominate, and the benefits of civilization may be profited from.

In the form of “Six Words,” Bediuzzaman describes a number of those positive truths of Islam, which form the cure for the grievous sicknesses besetting the Muslim community. Hope, courage, honesty, love and brotherhood, self-sacrifice, awareness of the luminous bonds uniting the believers, mutual consultation. These are not qualities that are unimportant or may be dispensed with in the face of the difficulties or threats; on the contrary, they form the very foundation of Muslim society.51

Second reason was that instead of conflict resolution western Europeans espoused the ideals of atheistic aggrandizement, and materialistic philosophies to produce a selfish, impoverished, self-destructive civilization, and projected violence as a way of struggle for civilizational ascendancy. They believed in force and violence as a means while as according to Nursi violence is indicative of bestial behaviour unlikely for the true civilized humans. Since the west had not received direct guidance from the prophetic revelations they based their identity on such flimsy perimeters which were prone to create more and more discussions and schism in the long run. This identity which I call clash based identity was rooted in made category like race, caste, nationality, and ethnicity, which were various aspects of western civilisation also in other words. But according to Nursi in East the East Prophets have preached spiritually and very rich theory of harmony and it is for the same reason that the people of orient believe not in conflict and clash but in dialogue of religions”. It was for the same reason that in Khutbai-i Shamiyah he emphatically stressed the need of interreligious dialogue among Muslims, Christians, and Jews. As is evident Damascus Sermon underlined the need for Muslim-Christian dialogue and highlighted also “general belief” (itikad-ı umumî) made up of those elements of faith shared by Jews, Christians, and Muslims and argues that this general belief must come from the revelation of one and the same God. He had Christian friends’ European civilisation. He thought that religion is basically founded on the principles of equity and wants to establish justice and to develop scientific thought for the benefit of society. This aspect of religion to some extent was even imbibed by the west and in this it has been inspired by the teachings of true Christianity. But after that west became rude and after rejecting Christian heritage, it has assumed very hostile postures towards religion as such and especially tried to demonize Islam.

However due to inherent contradictions in Christianity there has been a constant tussle among various Christian groups themselves. Islamic history is there for all to see. Apart from one or two incidents, no internal wars of religion have occurred according to Nursi. Whereas the Catholic Church caused four hundred years of internal revolutions. Furthermore, Islam has been the stronghold of the common people rather than of the upper class. […] Also history testifies that whenever the people of Islam have adhered to their religion, they have advanced in relation to the strength of their adherence. And whenever they have become less firm in their religion, they have declined. Whereas with Christianity, it is the opposite. This too arises from an essential difference.52

Secondly, the people of innovation obtained the following inauspicious idea from the European reformists; being dissatisfied with the Catholic Church, foremost the revolutionaries, reformists, and philosophers, who were innovators according to the Catholic Church, favoured Protestantism, which was considered to [be] Mu'tazilite and taking advantage of the French Revolution they partially destroyed the Catholic Church, and proclaimed Protestantism. Then the pseudo-patriots here, who are accustomed to imitating blindly, say: "A revolution like that came about in the Christian religion. At first the revolutionaries were called apostates, then later they were again accepted as Christians. So, why should there not be such a religious revolution in Islam? 53

Then he says:"Let the ears ring of the leaders of Europe, savage beneath their humanitarian masks." 54

Though Bediuzzaman Said Nursi lived long before Huntington, but his presenting the dialogue as the best way to solve the problems in most suitable convincing and philosophically well articulated manner makes him the real rival of western notions of conflict and clash theories. He was the first thinker who identified that since in the west philosophers have been advocating materialism and hostile atheism there was no possibility of dialogue or peace among the nations given the human caprice and greed which governs most of these philosophies. Because in the east Prophets have preached spiritually and very rich theory of harmony and conflict resolution, therefore Orient has to play an important role against the western atheistic aggrandizement. Among the several vices with which the western civilisation is characterized one is the conflict and vested interests and not harmony or peace according to Nursi.

The term “dialogue of religions” did not come into current usage until after Said Nursi’s death in 1960.But almost all the important ingredients of this phenomenon are found in the thought of Nursi. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi never accepted violence as a way of struggle; his way of struggle was the way of persuasion… He believed that humanity had reached a certain level of civilization and that in civilized societies the manner of solving disagreements is to convince others, not to force them… For Nursi, the use of force and violence is bestial behaviour, and “…should not be practiced.” In the world view of Tawhid, reason- revelation symbiosis leads to unity at global level. In the same way epistemology of Unity rejects man-made social constructions such as race, caste, nationality, and ethnicity and so on, as makers of identity. As the Quran says: “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other.” (49:13).

Said Nursi, in his Damascus Sermon (Khutbai-i Shamiyah) underlined the need for Muslim-Christian dialogue which he felt had a potential to resolve world problems.

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*Prof. Hamid Naseem Rafiabadi (Hamidullah Marazi), Director Shah-i Hamadan Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190006, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

REFERENCES AND NOTES

1-Samuel P. Huntington, Clash of Civilisations, The Next Pattern of conflict, Foreign Affairs, Summer 1993,p-25,see also, The Clash of Civilisations and the Remaking of World Order written by Samuel. P Huntington, Simon and Schuster, 1996

2-Samuel P. Huntington, Who Are We, Penguin Books, New Delhi,2004,p-25he quotes Josef Goebbels, Freud and Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man, New York Free Press 1992,pp-162-177

3-Ibid.P-360.According to a recent survey most of the Muslims said that when asked what they resented most about the west,”its disrespect for Islam’ ranked high on the list of both the politically radicalized and moderates. Most see the West as inherently intolerant: only twelve percent of the radicals and seventeen percent of moderates associated ‘respecting Islamic values ‘with western nations.” Armstrong quoting Esposito and Mogahed, Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think, Based on the Gallup World poll (New York,2007)p-80,quoted in The Case for God, What Religion Really Means, The Bodley Head London,2009,P-287

4-Who Are We? op. c it, P-361

5-Graham E. Fuller (Former Vice Chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA), A World without Islam, Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2010, pp13-14

6- Samuel P. Huntington, Who Are We, opt.cit, p-365

7-Ibid p-366.

8-His words struck the General Assembly and hence the year 2001 was named as United Nations Year of Dialogue Among Civilisations. His mission is promoting and facilitating the peaceful resolutions of conflicts and disputes. He also gives the strategy for reconciling the tensions between cultures, religions and countries which is absolutely against the theory of Huntington who only highlights the American well being. At international level this theory has some weight and value as compared to Huntington’s’ so far as dialogue in this world is understood... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Among_Civilizations

9-She stresses that the goal of dialogue can be achieved if Democracy is implemented in Muslim world. She also argues that a substantial work is to be done in the Islamic World, were the argument should be made with strength that Islam is more friendly to modernism and civil society, This is the answer to the argument of the Huntington that Muslims have problems living with their neighbors. See Benazir Bhutto: Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West, Simon and Schuster, Great Britain, 2008.

10-The basic paradigm of West versus the rest remained untouched, and this is what has persisted, often insidiously and implicitly, in discussion since the terrible events of September 11 The carefully planned and horrendous, pathologically motivated suicide attack and mass slaughter by a small group of deranged militants has been turned into proof of Huntington's thesis. Instead of seeing it for what it is--the capture of big ideas (I use the. word loosely) but it is a tiny band of crazed fanatics who use it for criminal purposes see Clash of Ignorance, Edward Said, The Nation, 2004, New York City, USA

11-Prem Shankar Jha, The Twilight of Nation State, vistar publications, 2006, p15.To sum up we may say that the Clash of civilisational thesis propounded by Huntington has both pros and cons. Looking on the realistic side of the thesis, clash has already begun: it takes place in hundreds of chat rooms, in TV shows, in newspaper columns, in thousands of websites in Cyberspace, in school debates and workplaces over small issues like face covering and the Danish cartoons of 2006 - everywhere the clash has begun to scratch. Already there were more than 60 000 books written in the West alone between 1800 and 1950 against Islam, plus there are now thousands of websites spitting venom against Islamic culture, which is brain washing the minds of Christians. So the clash which seems to be far away could be very close all of a sudden.

12-<big>The Words / Twenty-Fifth Word - First Light - Third Ray - p.421.According to Graham E. Fuller the true horrors of the twentieth century have almost nothing to do with religions: two world wars, Franco, Mussolini, Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Rwanda---the deaths of hundreds of millions of people, all involving secular, even atheist regimes that seized upon dogmatic ideas and brutally implemented them at all cost” (p-17)

13-The Words / Twenty-Seventh Word - p.497. Europe' in the writings of Said Nursi refers to more than a geographical place; it conveys a powerful symbolic construction that greatly enhances and complicates the strictly geographical dimensions normally associated to the word 'Europe'. The word 'Europe' appears forty-seven times in the Risale-i Nur Collection, not counting another eight occurrences of the noun or adjective 'European(s)' and the single appearance of the neologism 'Europeanisma 'positive' Europe. Throughout his life, his involvement at different levels of Ottoman and Turkish political and educational institutions brought him in contact with ideas from and about the West as well as with people sharing different degrees of attraction and repulsion to European things and ideas. Nursi's limited travels to different parts of Europe, mostly during the First World War, raise two complementary questions’. Such opposition can also take on military imagery: In just the same way, at this time of denial and the assault of the customs of Europe and the legion of innovations and the destruction of misguidance, to open up new doors in the citadel of Islam in the name of ijtihad, and make openings that will be the means of those bent on destruction scaling the walls and entering it, is a crime against Islam. (Words, 495).This imagery feeds the old Islamic Abode of Peace versus Abode of War root-paradigm that dichotomizes the world into two: In London, Europeans who have embraced Islam translate many things like the call to prayer and iqama into their own languages in their own country. […] There is such a glaring difference here that no conscious being could make such an analogy and imitate them. For the European lands are called the Abode of War in the terminology of the Shari'a, and there are numerous things which are permissible in the Abode of War which are not lawful in the Abode of Islam. (Letters, 506) The second sub-category of 'negative' Europe regroups passages where Europe is perceived as a source of sickness, manipulation, and untrustworthiness, as in the following three quotes: "For years, I have considered negative nationalism and racialism to be a fatal poison, since it is a variety of European disease. And Europe has infected Islam with that disease thinking it would cause division, and Islam would break up and be easily swallowed." (Letters, 86) "It is mostly lies and there is the possibility of unknowingly being a tool in the hand of Europe." (Letters, 84) "Now you must refrain from succumbing to the stratagems of Europe and the dissemblers who imitate them…" (Letters, 382)

14- The Words / Thirtieth Word - First Aim - p.561.Karen Armstrong, comments on this mosaic situation and says that after industrial revolution, though Europe was going from strength to strength and nation states were getting “more wealth and power than they had ever achieved before “,but “ at the same time as they celebrated the achievements of modern society, men and women would experience an emptiness, a void, that rendered life meaningless ;many would crave certainty amid the perplexities of modernity ;some would project their fears onto imaginary enemies and dream of universal conspiracy “.The Battle for God, Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Sharper Perennial, London, 2004,p-135.

15-Flashes, 166; italics in the English translation of Risale-i Nur

16-Letters, P- 516

17-It should not be misunderstood; Europe is two. One follows the sciences which serve justice and right and the industries beneficial for the life of society through the inspiration it has received from true Christianity; this first Europe was not addressed by Nursi. Nursi understood that part of 'Europe' was worth emulating because it was, in a nutshell, a 'positive' Europe.

18-He says: "Know this, O second Europe"; "O you unhappy spirit"; "O evil-commanding soul of mankind"; "O Europe corrupted with vice and misguidance and drawn far from the religion of Jesus!” and "O second corrupted Europe". The only two other passages where a 'positive' meaning of 'Europe' is derived from their literary context occur in the same collection one after the other: "…( Nursi understood that part of 'Europe' was worth emulating because it was, in a nutshell, a 'positive' Europe. He says: "Know this, O second Europe"; "O you unhappy spirit"; "O evil-commanding soul of mankind"; "O Europe corrupted with vice and misguidance and drawn far from the religion of Jesus!” and "O second corrupted Europe". The only two other passages where a 'positive' meaning of 'Europe' is derived from their literary context occur in the same collection one after the other: "…it becomes necessary for there to be present in every bit of soil as many factories and printing-presses as there are in Europe so that each bit of soil can be the means for the growth and formation of innumerable flowers and fruits…" (Flashes, 239) and "…to the number of presses and factories in Europe…" (Flashes, 240). Finally, the one indirect use of the expression 'one-eyed genius' that can be linked to a 'positive' meaning of Europe reinforces in fact the dichotomous nomenclature because it is immediately followed by 'proceeding from the sick philosophy of Europe' (Flashes, 165).

19-Flashes, 239

20-letters, 383

21-Ibid

22-The Words / Gleams - p.764

23-<small>The Words / Twelfth Word - p.146

24-The Flashes / The Seventeenth Flash / Fifth Note - p.160

25-Nursi says: “ Do you not see that on feeling despair at some minor matter and his hope for some illusory wish being lost and his being disillusioned at some insignificant business, such a person’s sweet imaginings become bitter for him, what is pleasant torments him, and the world constricts him and becomes a prison for him? But what happiness can you ensure for such a wretched person who through your inauspiciousness has suffered the blows of misguidance in the deepest corners of his heart to the very foundations of his spirit, and because of this whose hopes have all been extinguished and whose pains all arise from it? Can it be said of someone whose body is in a false and fleeting paradise and whose heart and spirit are suffering the torments of Hell that he is happy? See, you have led astray wretched mankind in this way. You make them suffer the torments of Hell in a false heaven.)

26-The Flashes / The Seventeenth Flash / Fifth Note - p.161

27-The Flashes / The Seventeenth Flash / Fifth Note - p.162

28-The Flashes / The Twenty-Fourth Flash - p.256

29-The Words / Thirtieth Word - First Aim - p.561

30- Letters, 382

31-Letters, 546

32-Words, 223

33- Letters, 484-485

34-Letters, 511

35-Letters, 510-511

36-The Words / Eleventh Word - p.139

37-The Words / Thirteenth Word - Second Station - p.167. The Addendum to the Second Station of the Thirteenth Word

38-From the Risale-i Nur Collection, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, 1928-1932, Letters, Translated from the Turkish by Şükran Vahide

39- Letters / First Letter - p.22

40-Letters / Fifteenth Letter - p.78

41-Letters / Fifteenth Letter - p.80

42-Letters / Twenty - Ninth Letter - Seventh Section - p.511

43-Letters / Twenty - Sixth Letter - Third Topic - p.384

44-The result of considering Jesus as the son of God could not break egotism and pride of its highest worldly ranks who may be religious like Wilson, the former American president as “it quite simply ascribes a manifestation of Divine dominicality to its saints and great ones, thus confirming the verse: They take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords in derogation of God.”

45- Letters / Seeds of Reality - p.545

46-Letters, 95

47-Letters, 372

48- Letters, 372. This language of the 'devil' (shaytan), 'hypocrites' (munafiqun), or 'unbelief'(jahiliya), as in the passage "…from unbelief and from Europe" (Letters, 504), all point to how Nursi projects Islamic root-paradigms unto how he perceives Europe.

49-Flashes, 261

50- We even hear that in Europe, the place of open dress, many women are fed up at being the object of attention, and complain to the police, saying: "These brutes keep staring at us and disturbing us." This means that present-day civilization's unveiling women are contrary to their natures." (Flashes, 256)

Rooted in the Europe/Islam dichotomy mentioned in the first sub-category of 'negative' Europe, Nursi uses a then popular argument to try to explain the differences in women dress codes:

Also the people of Europe are cold and frigid, like the climate. Asia, that is, the lands of Islam, is relatively torrid countries. It is well known that the environment has an effect on people's morality. Perhaps in those cold countries immodest dress does not stimulate the animal appetites and carnal desires of those cold people, and be a means of abuse. But the immodest dress which continually excites the carnal lusts of the easily influenced and sensitive people of hot countries is certainly the cause of much abuse and waste and the weakening of the young generation and a loss of strength. (Flashes, 259)

51- The Damascus Sermon / Preface - p. 15

52-Letters, 510-511

53-Letters, 508

54- (Letters, 502). Such honesty reveals both his passion for justice and his subjective quest for truth displayed through a strong critical awareness of Muslim behaviors in his days but a weaker and even at times blind acceptance of key Islamic root-paradigms.