Said Nursi

Said Nursi

Said Nursi (1877 – 23 March 1960), also spelled Said-i Nursî or Said-i Kurdî, and commonly known with the honorifics Bediüzzaman (meaning "wonder of the age") and Üstad (meaning "master") among his followers, was a Kurdish Sunni Muslim theologian who wrote the Risale-i Nur Collection, a body of Qur'anic commentary exceeding six thousand pages. Believing that modern science and logic was the way of the future, he advocated teaching religious sciences in secular schools and modern sciences in religious schools.

Quotes

"Minds should be enlightened with science, and hearts need to be illumined with religion."  The Words

"The Qur’an, the universe, and humanity are three kinds of manifestations of one truth." The Words

 "The fact that there is a unity in everything demonstrates that they are the works and artifacts of a single being. The universe is like a rosebud swathed in a thousand veils of unity. Or it is a single macroanthropos dressed in unities to the number of Divine Names and universal Divine works."

"Someone who lacks the strength to raise and turn the earth and all the stars and suns as though they were the beads of a tesbih cannot lay claim to creating anything in the universe. For everything is tied to everything else" The Letters

"The beauty of a finely worked object points to the beauty of the craftsmanship. The beauty of the craftsmanship points to the beauty of the name which was the source of the craftsmanship. The beauty of the name of the craftsman's art points to the beauty of the craftsman's attributes manifested in that art."

"One grain of truth consumes a stack of lies. One grain of reality is superior to a stack of illusions. Everything you say should be true, but it is not right to say everything true." The Letters

"The heart does not derive pure pleasure from what is impermanent."

"I can live without bread, but I can't live without freedom." Emirdag Letters

"Those who see to the good side of everything contemplate the good. Those who contemplate the good enjoy life."  The Letters

"In my 80+ years of life, there has been no persecution I have not tasted, no oppression I have not suffered. I neither care for Paradise nor fear Hell. If I see my nation's belief secured, I will not even care about burning in Hell, for while my body is burning, my heart will be as if in a rose garden." Biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

"Distress teaches vice. Despair is the source of misguidance; and darkness of heart, the source of distress of the spirit."

"Belief is not restricted to a brief affirmation based on imitation; rather, it has degrees and stages of development. It is like a seed growing into a fully grown, fruit-bearing tree; like the sun's image in a mirror or in a drop of water to its images on the sea's surface and to the sun itself."

"If you want an enemy, the ego (nafs) is sufficient. If you want advice, death is sufficient." The Letters

"Sin penetrates to the heart, darkens and hardens it until it extinguishes the light of belief. Each sin has a path that leads to unbelief. Unless that sin is swiftly obliterated by seeking God's forgiveness, it grows from a worm into a snake that gnaws at the heart." The Gleams  

"He who Created the Eye of the Mosquito, also Created the Sun." 

"A village cannot be without a headman, a needle without the one who manufactured it, and a letter without its writer, so how is it that this country so infinitely well-ordered should be without a Ruler " 

"Islam is like the sun. It cannot be extinguished by blowing on it. It is like daylight. It cannot become dark by closing eyes. Those who close their eyes, they make it night for themselves.

"The tiny body of a fly is connected with most of the elements and causes in the universe; indeed, it is a summary of them."