What is Risale-i Nur Collection?

 

“Taking inspiration directly from the Qur’an, we must introduce Islam to the new age.”

 

This ideal expressed by Mehmet Akif, a poet who explored themes such as religion, motherland and freedom in the name of the Muslim World hoping a light and a good message from our holy book, the Qur’an has become realized through the collection of the Risale-i Nur, the books you hold in your hands, which have been written by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. Thus the messages of the Qur’an to the people of this age have been announced by means of these books.

 It is possible to find in the Risale-i Nur, a wonderful exegesis of the Qur’an, for individuals living in the modern age. It is characterised as maintaining the fundamental message of the Qur’an while illuminating verses in a way that is in accordance with this century. Risale-i Nur in this context assumes the role of renewal in understanding the message of the Qur’an that is directed at this century.

Bediuzzaman who analyzed the characteristics of this age and diagnosed its spiritual diseases with a deep insight, met those spiritual needs from the treasury of belief with the books of the Risale-i Nur that he put on paper with the formula “it is time to save the belief.”

 Why is it time to save belief?

Because belief is being threatened in a way which has never taken place in previous centuries. In the past the belief had never come face to face with such great dangers. The communities predominantly accepted the tenets of the belief with submission. For that reason the sayings of the great men gained acceptance even without evidence. However with the prevailing of the materialist movements in this age, suspicions threatening the belief have reached to a level that deeply engaged the minds of many people.

Suspicions, objections and doubts have accumulated against the Qur’an for centuries using modern means received approval by many people. Thus Bediuzzaman Said Nursi seeing that these developments would endanger the belief of even the Muslims, have succeeded in building a strong fortification like writing the collection of the Risale-i Nur with a direct inspiration from the Qur’an against the indoctrination of the flooding disbelief.

These books give persuasive answers to questions like “Who am I? Where did I come from? Where do I go? What is my duty in this world?”, which engage everybody’s mind and which the modern man can not be indifferent; they explain and prove all tenets of belief beginning with the belief in Allah; answer in a convincing style all the questions asked on the part of science and philosophy; defend religion by disproving the claims about its inconsistency with science; disappoint the destructive attempts of distorting religion; treat the wounds opened by the spiritual crises of the human beings caused by the civilization based on a materialistic understanding by means of mind persuading, soul touching and heart convincing sweet explanations about the large truths of the Qur’an like the Unity and the Hereafter; remove through the messages of the Qur’an, the states like dissipation, aimless straying and disturbances brought about by the malfunctioning of mind and heart

Another important characteristic of the Risale-i Nur is its providing sound and consistent solutions to the social and political problems of our age; making mind opening and globally valid interpretations on issues like religion and democracy, religion and politics, jihad and terror; leading an exemplary and original service method based on positive action and giving priority to democracy, rights, freedoms, and civil society.

 

BOOKS

The Words

The Words is the first and the most essential work in the Risale-i Nur Collection. In this work the relationships between Allah, universe, and man are explained with the inspiration from the Qur’an andin a style appropriate to the understanding of our age. This work provides answers for many questions that keep the minds occupied such as, “Why were the universe and man created? How can the created things and beings be evidence to the existence of the Creator? How can it be that Allah, though being one, be present every where at the same time? How can we understand with our mind and logic the resurrection after death? Why does man need to worship and pray Allah? What is destiny? Is man obliged to the destiny? Why and how is the Qur’an a miracle?”

 

The Letters

The Letters is one of the most important works of the Risale-i Nur Collection that puts forth con- vincing explanations for various issues that con- cern individuals and society such as the nature of life and death, the death’s being a beauty and a blessing for a believer, the mystery behind the nev- er ending and stunning activities in the universe, the miracles of the Hazrat Mohammad (pbuh), ex- plaining the apparently negative incidents taking place among the companions of the prophetfrom the destiny’s perspective, the great bonds of unity that connect the believers to one another, reform in Islam, nationalism, feasting, and sufism-tariqat.

 

The Flashes

The principles of life and belief that are nec- essary for the young, the old, the ill, students, scientists, and women, in other words necessary for everybody, are found this work. Other issues that are dealt with in this work are, that the nature and causes have no influence in terms of creation, the road of happiness led and experienced by the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh), the principles of hap- piness in family life, the fundamentals strength- ening the brotherhood of belief, the reasons and benefits of calamities and disasters, the reasonsbehind the creation of the devil, the psychological analysis of sin and ways of salvation from the sin.

The Rays

An important book of the Risale-i Nur Collec- tion that covers issues like the observations of a traveler asking his Creator from the universe, the evidences of the Unity in the languages of all be- ings, the purpose and reasons of man’s life on the Earth, the signs of the doomsday in the sayings of the Prophet (pbuh), explanations about the nature of the dreadful persons like ad-Dajjal and as-Su- fyan.

 

The Staff of Moses

This wonderful work of the Risale-i Nur Col- lection articulates that just like the staff of Moses which swallowed the magic objects of the sorcer- ers, the evidences of belief based on the Qur’anic inspiration, invalidates the ideas of disbelief and atheism. It also deals with topics like proving the existence and unity of Allah through sciences, worshipping, teenage, the relationship between the happiness in the world and the belief in the resur- rection and Hereafter.

Comparisons of Belief and Disbelief

This work of the Risale-i Nur Collection com- pares through samples, the consequences of belief in Allah and His denial, reflected in the life. It is explained and proven with convincing parables that belief in Allah and worshipping Him, leads to happiness in both lives but the way of sin and deni- al causes troubles; that even in this world the belief enables man to tastethe life of a spiritual Heaven, while the denial causes experiencing the suffering of a spiritual Hell.

 

The Biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

This is a very precious and important work of the Risale-i Nur Collection that comprises his es- says, letters, and defenses which were proofreaded by himself. It presents with a plain style the biog- raphy of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi from his birth to his death, his services, endeavors, efforts, and self-sacrifice.

 

The Epitomes of Light

This book which can be considered as the index and seedbed of the Risale-i Nur Collection is one of the first works of Bediuzzaman, where the ways for man to explore his Creator, the principles to follow in combatting with soul and explanations of the truths of belief take place.

 

The Signs of Miraculousness

It is an extraordinary exegesis of the Qur’an (tafsir) written on the battlefield during the First World War. it is a work that contains the facts understood through the exploration of sciences, the new interpretations, delicate meanings of the Qur’an needed by the men of the present age. It is also a unique work that expounds the miracu- lousness of the Qur’an in many ways, especially by describing the fine and miraculous relations in the arrangement of the verses, phrases, words and even letters of the Qur’an.

 

Barla Letters

This book which contains the letters of the first students of the Risale-i Nur, which express their sincere feelings, their spiritual and sentimental benefits and the corresponding replies of Bediuz- zaman that were written in Barla where the Ris- ale-i Nur begins to spread. It determines the meth- od and ways of serving to the task of the belief and the Qur’an by means of the Risale-i Nur.

Kastamonu Letters

This book which consists of the letters written by Bediuzzaman and his students while he was obliged to reside in Kastamonu, is a sort of sum- mary of the service of belief and the Qur’an and a social lesson given in a certain period. These letters are accounts of carrying out the service of belief and its development; they throw light on the nature of the Risale-i Nur as an exegesis, the char- acteristics of the students of the Risale-i Nur, the styles of serving the task of the belief, and the pat- terns of struggling with the opponents of religion.

 

Emirdağ Letters

This book is composed of the letters written by Bediuzzaman during his residence in Emirdağ to university students and his followers living in Istanbul, Isparta, Kastamonu, and Ankara, some- times as answers to their questions and their let- ters. These letters demonstrate various aspects of the service of the belief and the Qur’an especially regarding the social and the political life as well.

The Approval Seal of the Unseen (Sikke-i Tasdîk-i Gaybî)
It is a book that explains the signs by thirty three ayahs of the Qur’an, and of unseen references by Hazrat Ali (ra) and Abd el-Qadir Gilani (ks) to the Risale-i Nur and that mentions the samples of the divine blessings and supports granted dur- ing the service of the belief and that considers the significance and position of the Risale-i Nur Col- lection in the spiritual realm.

The Reasonings

The Reasonings is a unique work of Bedi- uzzaman written in his early age as a scholar. It builds up connections among man, universe, lit- erature and rhetoric based on belief and unity; it gives the fundamentals of speaking and writing well, efficiently and appropriately and of thinking and reasoning logically and firmly, where each statement has the value of a principle.