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“Muslim-Christian Dialogue and Cooperation in the Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi.” By Thomas Michel
The essays in this volume are a collection of talks which I have delivered on various occasions, at successive “International Symposia on Bediuzzaman Said Nursi” and in other situations. They are the results of the efforts of one reader of the Risale-i Nur to glean some of the wisdom found in this comprehensive commentary on the Qur’an. I do not claim to have a very deep or thorough knowledge of the thought of Said Nursi, but maybe that in itself will recommend this collection to others. It is not the elaboration of a specialist, but merely a few insights of a dedicated beginner that might be of use to fellow students. For those who have been reading and studying the Risale-i Nur for many years, often in the original Turkish, I hope that these essays might occasionally provide fresh insights and perspectives. I myself am a Christian, in fact, a Catholic priest. One might ask why a Christian is spending his time studying and writing about the thought of a Muslim scholar. Does Said Nursi have anything to say to Christians or others who do not follow the religion of Islam? Are there any points of convergence or agreement between the views expressed in the Risale-i Nur and my own deeply-held convictions? Actually, I first approached the Risale-i Nur with some of these questions. I wanted to see how Said Nursi regarded Christians and whether he felt that there was any hope for mutual understanding and respect between the followers of the two religions. This research resulted in the earliest of the essays included in this book, the one entitled, “Muslim-Christian Dialogue and Cooperation in the Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi.” As time when on, and I continued to study the Risale-i Nur further, I realized that this early notion of “Muslim-Christian dialogue” was too timid a concept to comprehend Nursi’s more daring proposal. He never uses the word “dialogue,” which implies that what Muslims and Christians ought to be doing is talking to one another. Instead, he speaks boldly of “Muslims being united, or coming into unity, with true Christians.” This must have been an astounding concept when Said Nursi first enunciated it almost a century ago, around 1911. However, he never wavered in his view, and down through the years Nursi continued to call for a cessation of hostilities and theological disputes - at least for the time being - so that Muslims and Christians might together confront the challenges of the modern world. As I continued to study the Risale-i Nur, I was struck by many similarities and parallel lines of thought between the approach of Said Nursi and that of my own fellow Christians. As a Catholic, I was impressed by the frequent convergence of ideas and approaches between Said Nursi and recent Popes such as Paul VI and John Paul II. In “The Ethics of Pardon and Peace: a Dialogue of Ideas between the Thought of Pope John Paul II and the Risale-i-Nur,” I explore how Bediuzzaman and the late Pope regarded the essential preconditions for building a true peace. In “Nursi’s View of Tolerance, Engagement with the Other, and the Future of Dialogue,” I tried to juxtapose Nursi’s positions with those expressed by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical Ecclesiam Suam. Thus, one thing led to another and I found myself gaining many new insights from the Risale-i Nur that enriched my faith life as a committed Christian. There is a universal aspect to true wisdom, whatever its origin and by whomever it is expressed. There is not a Muslim wisdom intended exclusively for Muslims and a Christian wisdom meant only for Christians. It is the one and same God who generously uses holy and insightful persons to guide and inspire us all. When a man like Said Nursi devotes so many years of his life - from the activism and idealism of youth, through the imprisonment and persecution of his middle yeas, to the pains and illnesses of old age - to the reading, study, and prayerful contemplation of Qur’an, he has much to teach all of us. He becomes an instrument by which God implants His guidance in the hearts of men and women. In all this, there need not be any sense of rivalry or aggressive competition. Those who seek to be faithful to God message and obedient to God’s will should not hesitate learn from one another, even when their religious convictions are different. Said Nursi himself states in his beautiful “Treatise on Sincerity,” that rivalry and disagreement also arise even among good people who are sincerely seeking the truth. This is not so much the result of their lack of zeal and good intentions but is due, rather, to their very eagerness to guide and instruct others. As Said Nursi says: “Thinking to oneself, ‘Let me gain this reward, let me guide these people, let them listen to me,’ he takes up a position of rivalry towards a true brother who faces him and who stands in real need of his love, assistance, brotherhood and aid. Saying to oneself, ‘Why are my pupils going to him? Why don’t I have as many pupils as him?’ he falls prey to egoism, inclines to the chronic disease of ambition, loses sincerity, and opens the door to hypocrisy.”[1] Thus, our good intentions can themselves become distorted by pride and end in personal ambition, dishonesty and hypocrisy. Those whom we should see as fellow pilgrims on the path of doing God’s will, we regard as competitors or rivals or, in the worst case, even enemies. According to Said Nursi, the only way to prevent this corruption of ideals is to strive for pure sincerity. “‘God’s pleasure is won by sincerity alone,’ and not by a large following or great success,” he states. “Quantity should not receive too much attention, for sometimes to guide one man to the truth may be as pleasing to God as guiding a thousand. Moreover, sincerity and adherence to the truth require that one should desire Muslims to benefit from anyone and in any place they can. To think ‘Let them take lessons from me so that I gain the reward’ is a trick of the lower soul and the ego.” There is much to be learned in these words and in this attitude toward the truth. I thank God that I have been able to learn much from Said Nursi’s writings. It is my hope that Muslims, Christians, and others might also find benefit in the simple reflections on the Risale-i Nur to be found in these essays. |