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By Thomas Michel
A Spiritual Physician’s Prescription for the Sicknesses of our Age In this talk, I will attempt to present the main ideas of Said Nursi’s famous Damascus Sermon and to respond to religious vision expressed in that Sermon. This treatise was first delivered in early 1911 as the Friday sermon at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. Almost 10,000 persons are said to have filled the great mosque to overflowing. Today, after a passage of almost 90 years, the Sermon has been often reprinted and is still being read and studied. It is clear that the Said Nursi’s analysis of Muslim societies and his spiritual counsel have continued to speak to the needs of Muslims of this past century. My reflections are the thoughts of a Western Christian and, as such, my paper can be regarded as an exercise in interreligious dialogue.
Two preliminary questions Two preliminary questions of interest to scholars must be addressed before we examine the content of the Sermon. Scholars of history will be interested in the textual question. The Sermon was originally delivered in Arabic and subsequently twice printed in that language. A later Arabic edition was made in 1922. Many years later, in the 1950s, Said Nursi himself translated the Sermon into Turkish and in doing so introduced revisions which addressed the current state of world affairs and appended addenda in response to questions put to him by his disciples. The text which I studied is the English translation of Said Nursi’s amplified Turkish version. The Sermon, first delivered in the early years of the 20th century, in the twilight period of the Ottoman state, looks forward to the questions of faith that would occupy religious believers in the tumultuous decades to come. The expanded Turkish version of the Sermon can be regarded as the author’s own commentary on the original, made 40 years later in light of developments in world history which had in the meantime intervened: the birth of the Turkish Republic, two disastrous world wars, the rise of communism incarnated in the Soviet Union, the barbarous threat to humanity of Nazi and Fascist ideologies, as well as events contemporaneous with Nursi’s Turkish translation - the extension of the communist system to Eastern Europe, the Maoist revolution in China, and the emergence of post-colonial nations in Arab countries, Africa and Asia. Now, 40 years after the Turkish version, at the start of a new century, we find equally dramatic changes in geopolitical conditions: the Soviet experiment concluded and the Soviet Union dismembered, China moving toward a market economy, Turkey as well as the former Eastern European satellites applying for membership in the European Union, and Asian and African nations grappling with the challenges and problems of neo-colonialism and the globalization of market economy. The contemporary reader today must inevitably ask: “What is the relevance of the Damascus Sermon for religious believers after almost a century of turbulent change? Scholars of religion will ask another question. The Damascus Sermon was delivered by a Muslim preacher to Muslim worshipers in the context of Islamic congregational prayer. The reflections I am about to offer are those of a Christian. Christianity and Islam are sister religions which, together with Judaism, look back to Abraham as our common ancestor in faith. Both Christians and Muslims profess to worship God alone and seek to do God’s will in all things. Yet our two communities have not always treated one another with the love and respect which God desires of those who worship Him. Errors have been committed on both sides and the deeds of some members of our communities toward the other can only be described as criminal. With this background, both of common bases in faith and a history that has all too often reflected enmity rather than love, we are led to pose a second question: “Does Said Nursi have anything to say to Christians in the Damascus Sermon? Are his words directed exclusively to Muslims, or do they have a relevance for all those who profess active faith in the One God?
The structure of the Damascus Sermon Keeping these two preliminary questions in mind, let us turn our attention directly to the Damascus Sermon. The structure of the sermon is simple. After beginning by praising God and seeking God’s blessing, Said Nursi states what he sees to be the most agonizing question for believers of his time: why are non-believers who have abandoned God and religious principles progressing so rapidly in material development, while those regions where religious faith is strong are stagnating and even regressing towards greater levels of backwardness and poverty? Said Nursi’s basic query, at the beginning of the 20th Century, reflects a believer’s formulation of the basic criticism of religion posed by philosophers such as Feuerbach, Comte, Marx, and Nietzsche and embodied in policies of the Italian risorgimento, the Mexican and Russian revolutions, and the Liberal parties in various European countries: the conviction that religion is a characteristic of primitive sages of humanity, but has become in the modern world an opiate, an obstacle to human progress and nation-building. Said Nursi does not respond to this critique of religion by hurling condemnations. Rather, he admits that some of the diagnosis is correct. Religious believers are themselves to blame for the malaise that afflicts them. He notes six “dire illnesses” that must be faced if religious believers are to make a positive contribution to human progress in the coming decades. While noting the failures of believers, he also rejects the godless and materialist solutions proposed by the critics, which he foresees will lead to disaster, a claim which the subsequent history of the century proved to be only too accurate. The remainder of the Sermon is an effort to respond to this basic question and to treat the six fundamental illnesses[i] which he saw to be afflicting religious peoples. Said Nursi does this in the form of Six Words which correspond to each of the spiritual sicknesses suffered by religious societies. One can say that Said Nursi’s methodology is that of a physician who must: 1) examine the symptoms to discover what is wrong, 2) name the sickness in diagnosis, 3) encourage the patient with a positive prognosis that affirms that there is a cure, and 4) prescribe what must be done to promote healing. Let us examine these Six Words to see how Said Nursi acts as spiritual physician to treat the basic maladies of the age.
1. The sickness: despair, the cure: hope The first sickness faced by religious societies is despair. Looking at the material progress of others and the relative stagnation of their own societies, believers are tempted to hopelessness, to feeling that God has abandoned them, that the future belongs to proponents of godless materialism who have the power, wealth, and energy needed to dominate the world. To meet this spiritual illness, Said Nursi prescribes hope. There are real grounds for hope, he declares. Not only has God promised that “the future belongs to Islam” and “its ruler shall be the truths of the Qur’an and belief” (DS, p. 27), but solid bases for hope can be found in history and in analysis of contemporary situations. If Muslims review their history, they will see that Muslims increased in civilization and progress to the degree they lived in accord with Islamic truths. Conversely, they fell to savagery, decline, disaster and defeat insofar as they abandoned those truths (DS, p. 28). Another basis for hope is rooted in human psychology. Both individuals and societies cannot live happily and successfully without religion. In times of crisis, even the most irreligious person will take refuge in religion. Similarly, societies might prosper materially without religious faith, but in doing so must fall continually into competition, greed, and warfare which ultimately overwhelm and destroy their achievements. Thus, although religion would appear to be in decline in the 20th century, one can expect that basic human needs for God will ultimately prevail over materialist ways of thinking and acting. Another sign of hope can be found in increased education, in that as people move beyond a blind following of their leaders and begin to think for themselves, the intrinsic worth of the basic truths of religious faith can be better understood and valued. Said Nursi sees grounds for hope that Muslim societies will attain material prosperity. There is a strength rooted in religious faith that no human ideology can replace. Values rooted in faith in God - an appreciation of human dignity, the strength that comes from a commitment to follow God’s command to “compete in doing good,” courage balanced by compassion, a transcendent vision which surpasses immediate prospects of short-term gains, and a sense of justice which neither oppresses nor tolerates oppressors - are strengths that give genuine hope for a more humane, just, civilized and prosperous future. If the fruits of despair are indifference, despondency, laziness and self-contempt (DS, p. 44), hope enables people to attain the perfection intended by God in creating humans as the summit of God’s creative activity. The battle between good and evil is not an equal contest. Evil, ugliness, and futility are secondary and minor in God’s creation (DS, p. 40), with none of the innate strength of truth, beauty, and goodness. Since the aim of God’s creation has been goodness, beauty, and perfection, believers can legitimately hope that God is guiding humanity towards these ends. If I have tended to belabor this first sickness of despair and the word of hope, it is because in his Sermon Said Nursi devoted more space to despair and hope than all the other illnesses combined. It is clear that for him, the basic disease afflicting modern Muslims is despair and the most important word of encouragement that needs to be offered is hope. Said Nursi is speaking of Islam and his Sermon is addressed to Muslims. However, as a Christian I find myself in agreement with his analysis, with his diagnosis of the situation, and with his prescription for overcoming the spiritual illness of our time. Christians agree that there is no spiritual malaise that closes our minds to God’s grace more deeply than despair. Despair is in itself a form of unbelief, for it questions the power, the mercy, and the goodness of God to overcome our weaknesses and make us into the persons, and our societies into the societies, that God wants us to become. Christians believe that of all God’s gifts, the greatest are three: faith, hope, and love. Hope is that quiet gift that enables us to trust in God’s presence even in moments of greatest darkness and failure, that leads us to throw ourselves on God’s mercy and seek forgiveness when we have fallen into sin, that inspires us to mobilize our spiritual and physical energies to accomplish great things for God even when the tasks can seem greater than our abilities and the obstacles seem impossible to overcome. Thus, I conclude, following Said Nursi, that the great fruit of a life of faith that Muslims and Christians can offer to the modern world is that of hope, a solid hope rooted in God’s own nature, a hope that is affirmed and confirmed by reflecting on the realities of modern life.
2. The sickness: deceit, the cure: honesty The second malady of the age of which Said Nursi speaks in his Sermon is the lack of truthfulness in social and political life. Honesty and truthfulness must form the basis of an Islamic society, yet the reality is that their contraries are debilitating weaknesses endemic to Muslim societies of his time. The lack of truthfulness is not simply telling lies but takes on many forms (DS, p. 45). Hypocrisy is a form of dishonesty by publicly affirming one thing but privately doing the opposite. Flattery is cowardly and self-serving insincerity. Deception involves manipulation of the truth, distortion of facts and promotion of half-truths. Duplicity involves playing both sides against the other while pretending to befriend both. Slander and calumny are destructive forms of dishonesty that not only harm others but destroy communal solidarity. Religious leaders are not exempt from dishonesty, as seen in the production of self-interested fatwas. Politicians display dishonest behavior in campaigns of political propaganda, by rationalizing and justifying their behavior and by misusing their positions to pursue their own ends and abuse the power that accrues to their office. To the malady of untruth, Said Nursi prescribes honesty and transparency in public life. Muslim societies will never be able to offer the modern world a viable alternative to lying and corruption unless they themselves embody the principles of truthfulness and responsibility. In the Turkish translation of his original Sermon, he makes the point that this principle is as valid in the 1950s as it was when he delivered the original Sermon: “O my brothers in the Umayyad mosque! And O my brothers, 40 to 50 years later who form the 400 million believers in the vast mosque of the world of Islam! Salvation is only to be found through truthfulness and honesty...the strongest chain with which to be bound to salvation is honesty (DS, p. 48).”
3. The sickness: enmity, the cure: love A third reason for the weakness of the Muslim world is that of enmity and hostility. The two world wars of the 20th century, not to mention countless local and civil conflicts around the world have shown “how evil, destructive, and what an awesome wrong is enmity (DS, p. 50).” The roots of enmity and hatred lie in human arrogance and self-worship. They result in unjust hostility toward others without one’s even being aware of it. Enmity can take on subtle forms, even among religious believers, and show itself as feigned approval, not interfering with wrongdoing, and insincere friendliness. People usually consider that the evils others do are proper grounds for hostility, but Said Nursi teaches that, unless others are aggressive, one should “not let the evils of our enemies attract your enmity. Hell and Divine punishment are enough for them (DS, p. 50).” To the destructive sickness of considering others one’s enemy, Said Nursi prescribes love. “The thing most deserving of love is love, and that most deserving of enmity is enmity (DS, p. 49).” It is love and loving others that make a person’s social life secure and lead to happiness. He sees “love, brotherhood, and affection” as basic to Islam, its bond. Fairness and thinking favorably of others, giving others the benefit of the doubt, must mark the Islamic character (DS, p. 51).
4. The sickness: disunity, the cure: unity The fourth sickness that Said Nursi finds in Muslim societies of his time is that of disunity. Ethnic and linguistic suspicions and tensions divide the worldwide Islamic umma. Even in a given nation the factors of language and ethnic identity can be a destructive factor in weakening Muslims. In raising this issue, Said Nursi was confronting real situations. He delivered his original Sermon in Damascus, which in 1911 was a restive part of the Ottoman state. Within a decade, Syria would become a French protectorate. Said Nursi prepared his Turkish translation of the Sermon 40 years later when Syria and its Arab neighbors were emerging as independent nations. Said Nursi’s plea is that Muslims not allow ethnic and linguistic differences to divide and weaken the unity of their nations, nor that relations between Muslim nations be determined on national, ethnic and linguistic lines. To the sickness of disunity, Said Nursi prescribes the unity of the Islamic umma. “The time for Islamic unity is beginning,” he tells his hearers. “This necessitates not paying attention to one another’s personal faults (DS, p. 54).” He tells the worshipers in the Umayyad mosque that they cannot claim that there is nothing they can do to promote Islamic unity and brotherhood. Such an attitude, he claims, is nothing but an excuse for laziness and idleness (DS, pp. 52-53). He appeals to Muslim leaders and preachers to work together in unity to rebuild the bonds of brotherhood among Muslims. He calls on the newly-emerging independent Arab nations to emulate the model of the United States of America who, by working together in unity, can in a short time achieve success and restore their people to their former glories.
5. The sickness: despotism, the cure: Islamic dignity Said Nursi is well aware of the toll taken by colonial domination in Muslim regions. The foreigners have systematically plundered Muslim regions of their precious possessions and have paid them “a rotten price” in return (DS, p. 54). However, the material theft is the least destructive of the colonizers’ legacy. Worse is that they have stolen from Muslims “our elevated morals” and “fine character in relation to social life.” Here Said Nursi is pointing out the psychological damage inflicted by the colonial system - the corruption of morals in situations of oppression and servitude and the destruction of social character through a demeaning loss of dignity. The colonizers have left us, he states, with “dissipated morals and dissipated character.” Muslims must admit this sickness and exert their efforts to correct it. Otherwise the effects of colonial indignity and dissolution will continue to weaken Muslim peoples. The way for Muslims to treat this spiritual illness is by finding in Islamic teaching the path to restore their God-given human dignity. This is not, he insists, a call to involve themselves in politics which, of itself, cannot rebuild shattered morals or social character. Nor must Muslims allow their Islamic faith to be manipulated and made a tool to serve any particular political interests. It is only by absorbing and integrating into their daily behavior the teachings of Islam that Muslims can rise from their lowly, dissolute state. He states: “Beware, my brothers! Do not imagine that I am urging you with these words to busy yourselves with politics. God forbid! The truth of Islam is above all politics. All politics may serve it, but no politics can make Islam a tool for itself.”
6. The sickness: individualism, the cure: consultation The final sickness in Islamic societies which Said Nursi addresses is that of “restricting one’s endeavors to what is personally beneficial.” Muslims cannot blame all their weaknesses on colonial rule. Belief means not humiliating others by oppressing them, nor bowing down before tyrants and acquiescing to their oppression. Such would be a form of shirk by allowing a human person to play God over one’s life (DS, p. 57). If each person engages only in those projects which benefit him personally, the common good will be ignored and progress postponed indefinitely. The Islamic answer to the sickness of individualism is consultation. He sees consultation as the Islamic alternative to individualistic despotism, just as it is the sound basis for true freedom and progress. Consultation “is the freedom that is in accordance with the shari’a, born of the consultation enjoined by the shari’a, and the noble-mindedness and compassion of belief that will loosen and remove the fetters and chains of the various forms of tyranny” (DS, p. 56). By being willing to move beyond self-interest and personal ambition to consult and work together with others in sincerity and solidarity, “ten persons can perform the work of a thousand” (DS, p. 57). Said Nursi acknowledges that there are no simple answers. The needs are endless. People can only hope to achieve lasting gains by consulting with one another, learning from each other, and working together to achieve common goals. He concludes his Sermon with these words: “In the face of endless enemies and innumerable needs, man can continue his personal life only through the support and assistance proceeding from belief, and can maintain his social life only through the mutual consultation enjoined by the Shari’a that proceeds from the truths of belief. Only thus can he halt his enemies and open up a way to secure his needs” (DS, p. 58).
Final reflections Obviously, Said Nursi’s concern in the Damascus Sermon was with Islamic societies. By analyzing these societies and offering directions on how they can treat the weaknesses and defects in these societies, his intention is clearly to set Muslims on the path to building effective, strong, and prosperous Muslim societies. As a Christian reading the Sermon, I find no indication that his intention is to mobilize Muslims against Christians. It is obvious from his other writings in the Risale-i Nur2 that Said Nursi has no quarrel with authentic Christians, whom he regards as co-believers in God who seek to live according to divine values. He holds that the modern world needs the joint witness of true Muslims and Christians to the values that derive from faith in God. In my opinion, the social analysis carried out by Said Nursi on the weaknesses of Muslim societies could be usefully employed by Christians to view critically their own societies. Christian societies in Latin America and Africa, while often rich in faith, are no less wounded by the effects of colonialism, no less prone to the sicknesses of despair, deceit, enmity, disunity, despotism, and individualism, and no less in need of hope, honesty, love, unity, human dignity, and consultation than are Muslim societies. Prosperous Christian and post-Christian societies of North America and Europe can profit from the Sermon’s warnings about the dangers of adopting a competitive, aggressive economic agenda which ignores the centrality of God and the human need for a spiritual vision. At the end of this study, I can answer my preliminary questions in the affirmative. Yes, the Damascus Sermon continues to be relevant to the challenges of the 21st Century, and, yes, there is much in Said Nursi’s analysis that should offer food for reflection by modern Christians. I believe that the Sixth Word, consultation, is one that needs to be carried out not only by Muslims within their own circles, but by all those who profess faith in God and seek to do God’s will on earth. It is by following the call to mutual consultation between Muslims and Christians urged by Said Nursi that I have offered here my reflections on Said Nursi’s Damascus Sermon.
NOTES [i]. My quotations and references are taken from: Said Nursi, The Damascus Sermon (Istanbul: Sözler Nesriyat ve Sanayi, 1996), trans. Şükran Vahide. Citations are referred to as DS, followed by the page number of the English translation. The six maladies are enumerated on pp. 26-27. 2. Cf. Thomas Michel, “Muslim-Christian Dialogue and Cooperation in the Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi,” The Muslim World, LXXXIX/3-4, July-October 1999, pp. 325-336. |