Background
Nursi, Bediuzzaman Said was born in 1876 in Nurs, Hizan, Bitlis.
Nursi, Bediuzzaman Said was born in 1876 in Nurs, Hizan, Bitlis.
Educated in madrasas in Pirmis then in Hizan and finally in Dogubeyazit. He obtained a diploma (ijazat) at the age of fifteen in 1888.
Founder of ‘Nor' movement.
Nursi’s life was eventful. He was constantly involved in political as well as religious protest against the secularist change during the establishment of the new Turkish Republic, and was imprisoned on more than one occasion. He was among the founders of the htihad-i Islatni, the Muslin Union, a movement that sought to restore the Islamic tradition and imbue it with fresh vitality.
Nursi’s philosophical thought was founded on the premise that an Active Intelligence has set the pattern of the laws of nature. The manifestations of these laws are, he held, appearances that signify the presence of the Real. The regularities governing matter have their source in God, and Nature is the theophany of God, embodying what is sacred.