By contrast, the opposing worldview reduces life entirely to corporeality, placing the body in dominion over human existence, enslaving us to carnal desires. Under the weight of this outlook, people’s feelings, thoughts, and spiritual capacities gradually wither away. Swept into the relentless vortex of carnality, the individual is reduced to a miserable creature whose chief concern is satisfying hunger and lust. Homes become little more than barns that shelter such lives, while societies resemble herds wandering in search of greener pastures.  

Within this materialistic outlook, the past and the future are dismissed as fairy tales. The afterlife and eternity are treated as mere fantasies, while spiritual joys are regarded as comforting illusions for the poor or the weak. Only the present moment is considered real, and life’s highest aim becomes extracting as much pleasure from it as possible by indulging bodily desires.  

Yet, we have inherited faith and determination from the past, and we look to the future when we think and act – and all of that whisper joys and beauties bigger than life. Within this faith and worldview, we discover the peace and fulfillment that the heart longs for but cannot find elsewhere. With every step we take, we experience a new reunion and witness another veil being lifted.  

In this luminous world, things that pour forth from the depths of the past and from the stream of wisdom of our forefathers are never lifeless memories or mere records confined to the pages of history. Nor is it ever a pipe dream that this ancient and noble tree of humanity will bear the fruits of a glorious future. Rather, all that we have inherited from our noble ancestors carries the echoes of their inner world, unfolding before us thousands of pages of lessons to be learned. Each serves as a torch that illuminates our tomorrows and a guide that teaches us how to prevail.   

It is thanks to this perspective that we live in hope of an enlightened future. For us, that future is the “lost paradise” for which we have long yearned; a paradise we seek to grasp with the arms of our faith, through our dreams and aspirations. It is in its heavens that we soar, it is the air we breathe, and it is there that we strive throughout our lives to find our place.  

We work hard, because ours is the fate of Prophet Adam. Our compulsory place of residence is the forlorn Serendip [1], not the joyous world prior to it. We are the victims of a materialistic world, yearning with all our might for the Gardens we did not appreciate enough and allowed to slip through our hands. After he reached for the forbidden fruit, Prophet Adam lost his home and found himself in much suffering and longing. Today, many are likewise deceived by forbidden fruits in the form of false fantasies and empty promises, falling from a noble status into a pitiful laughingstock.

For the sake of the home we lost yesterday and because of the longing and sorrow we endure today, the present generation is called to undertake the greatest acts of heroism and sacrifice, to render the greatest services with the deepest sense of love, and to rely on God while making use of the soundest means. In doing so, they will ascend once again to the lofty heights we have lost and attain the heavenly ideals they have long envisioned in their dreams.  

They should weave the timeless wisdom of the past into the fabric of the present, preserving its enduring truths while expressing them with the colors and patterns of today’s world. Otherwise, humanity’s longing will continue a while longer.  

With love and enthusiasm in their spirit, songs of eternity upon their tongues, the eyes of their hearts awakened to embrace both the wisdom of yesterday and the realities of today, these long-awaited heroes neither allow themselves to be swayed by worldly interests nor surrender to passions or challenges. As they move forward to reveal what is written in their destiny, they should be filled with such faith, love, and fervor that they inspire future generations with hope while leaving the forces of darkness in despair.

There are already many faithful generations around the world, building their blessed future with unwavering resolve. Delighting in the overwhelming beauty of God’s grace, they have no inclination toward the deceptions of temporal, corporeal desires, nor are they discouraged by the monsters that intercept their path at every turn. They continue their blessed ascent, their minds occupied with thoughts of the summit.  

These sincere souls grow stronger each day—more determined, more steadfast, and ever pressing forward. They feel their spirits taking on an eternal, angelic nature, and as they free themselves from corporeality, they never think of turning back from this enlightened state of being—they would consider such a retreat the greatest sin.

As they dash forward toward the heavenly lights and voices—or rather, toward the divine promises God has planted in their hearts—they will help us reclaim our past and restore the glorious days of a blissful age that now survive only as distant memories scattered here and there. Carried on the breezes of Heaven, they press on with joyful hope, enabling us to embrace the past and the future at once. No obstacle will hinder them. Without being held back by anything, they will advance with extraordinary agility, as though in a triumphal march, toward a world where life is happier and more harmonious. They are the ones who will usher in the sweetest of ages—ages too wondrous to be contained within our hearts, our dreams, or even our highest aspirations.

Note

1. According to tradition, Serendip is believed to be the place Adam, peace be upon him, descended on earth from the Garden of Eden. Serendip is the ancient name of Sri Lanka.

Answer: Many of us were raised without guides who could direct us to the right path and illuminate the roads we walk. As a result, we were unable to view events through a holistic perspective. We could not perceive the relationships between cause and effect. We failed to plan our present in connection with our future, and our future in connection with the days that lie beyond it. Consequently, we could not live our lives within the framework of a broader plan.

In general, concerns centered on merely getting through the present day came to dominate our thinking. We fixed our gaze on today and neglected tomorrow. Our thoughts became confined to worldly concerns, and our horizons narrowed. Indeed, for a person who does not lean on a heavenly source, it is extremely difficult to evaluate events from a comprehensive perspective, to rise beyond the prison of corporeality, and to organize life according to a grander plan.

Human beings are not merely material entities made up of physical bodies. They also possess a heart and a spirit, along with deeper inner faculties such as sirr, khafi, akhfa, and the latifa Rabbaniyya (the subtle divine faculty). Just as the physical structure of the human being consists of many interwoven systems and layers, the spiritual dimension likewise comprises numerous distinct mechanisms and depths.

Whoever created the human being with both inward and outward dimensions is also the One Who knows the human being best. Therefore, a balanced and peaceful life is possible only through recourse to His guidance. If that guidance is ignored, however, and the human being is viewed within a narrow framework and considered only in terms of material existence, then certain aspects of the person become paralyzed.

This resembles trying to take care of one organ of the human body without taking the entire anatomy into account. No matter how knowledgeable or skilled the specialist performing such an intervention may be, complications are inevitable when the whole is ignored.

Deepening within the inner self

Today, we seek everything in the outer world, whereas within the inner self lies an immense realm waiting to be discovered. The following couplet by Erzurumlu İbrahim Hakkı draws attention to this truth:  

“God said: ‘I cannot be contained within the earth and the heavens’;

Yet He was known through the mine of the heart.”

Indeed, neither the earth nor the heavens can encompass God; He is transcendent beyond space. Yet His knowledge and love manifest themselves in the human heart. As this couplet indicates, the inner self is profoundly important and deeply instructive. A person may not reach in the outer world the truths that can be attained within one’s own inner depths and spiritual world. Whoever is able to deepen within the self is graced with many inspirations and forms of spiritual knowledge that cannot be seen, read, or heard in the heavens and the earth.

Moreover, one who cannot properly read the inner self may become trapped in the swamp of positivism and naturalism while searching in the outer world. If a person first learns to read the inner self correctly, begins reflection there, and then turns toward the outer world, such a person walks with firmer steps, traverses life’s paths with greater awareness, and reaches important truths concerning the knowledge of God. Yet all of this depends upon benefiting from divine outpourings and from their sweet and abundant source. A person who is not nourished by revelation cannot correctly understand his or her own essential nature, nor reach the inner points of reliance and spiritual support embedded within.

Today, because naturalistic assumptions are predominantly presented to us in the name of knowledge and science, we too reduce the human being to the earth and confine the person within a narrow framework by considering only corporeal existence. Since we have been raised within the materialistic secular culture of the modern world, and since educational curricula shaped by this culture are implemented in our schools, our minds and ways of thinking are influenced by it, whether we realize it or not. Consequently, our criteria for interpreting the human being, existence, and the universe gradually change.

For the human being is a child of the cultural environment in which he or she is raised. Whatever people repeatedly encounter at home, in the streets, in schools, or in places of worship, they often come to adopt. Today, because people do not hear even a single spiritually uplifting voice or resonance nourishing the heart and soul in the environments through which they move, their emotional and intellectual worlds become impaired, and they begin wandering through very different and unfamiliar valleys.

The worldly drift of religious interpretation

The culture in which we live leaves its imprint on everything—from our understanding of the Divine Being to our view of angels, from the way we interpret religion to the nature of our spiritual lives. As a result, even matters that are heavenly and transcendent are gradually reduced to earthly terms. We interpret the divine scriptures through molds presented—and at times imposed—by the surrounding culture. Our own interpretations and understandings often distort the color and texture of these sources.

Instead of embracing the meanings we are truly meant to understand, we adopt what appeals to our desires or seems compatible with our interests. Rather than seeking to discern what God desires through His divine speech, we make the Qur’an speak according to the meanings we find expedient. Through our own worldliness, we flatten the profound depths of the Book and reduce it to our own frame of understanding. At the root of certain theological interpretations that cannot be reconciled with the spirit of religion lie precisely such tendencies. In fact, this superficiality and narrowness are often reflected even in the translations and interpretations we give to Qur’anic verses. Nor do we confine only the Qur’an within this shallow framework; we interpret the book of the universe in the same reductive manner.

Indeed, the foremost aim of the early scholars was to understand the divine intent of God Almighty. They constantly reflected: “This is what I understand from this verse, but what is the divine intent behind it?” Their lives revolved around exploring the depths of the Qur’an and Sunnah and uncovering the meanings hidden within them. Their primary goal was to understand the word of God correctly and to attain His pleasure.

Today, however, worldly concerns dominate. The minds of many people are occupied with questions such as, “How can we live a more prosperous life?” People move within worldly pursuits, think within worldly frameworks, and even connect religious matters to worldly anxieties. In other words, as mentioned earlier, we reshape religion according to ourselves and distance it from the divine intent. Everything is interpreted according to personal interests, worldly benefits, ambitions, and future prospects. Efforts are then made to derive religious rulings that support these interests—or at the very least, to force artificial associations onto the sacred texts.

It is even possible to encounter such forced interpretations in sermons and religious advice delivered in mosques.

An alienation that goes unnoticed

People gradually come under the influence of ideas promoted in their environments without even realizing it, and eventually begin aspiring to them. Intentions and goals are then shaped accordingly. Today, one can observe that people devoted to religion and people devoted to worldly life often think about the same things and speak about the same things.

Since they can no longer discover the lofty intentions, goals, and ideals belonging to their own spiritual world, they console and deceive themselves with trivial things. Consequently, they become estranged from noble ideals such as living so that others may live and tying their own salvation to the salvation of others.

The most dangerous aspect of all this, however, is that such alienation often goes unnoticed. If people become aware of the values they have lost, they will at least make some effort to recover them. But if a person is unaware of the condition he or she is in—or worse, is aware of it yet feels no discomfort—then one cannot expect that person to demonstrate the will to seek and rediscover what has been lost.

This situation may be likened to a chick still inside its egg. Suppose you somehow managed to tell it: “Why are you remaining there with your neck compressed between your legs? Outside, there is a vast and spacious world.” If the chick possessed the ability to laugh, it would probably laugh at such words and perhaps even accuse you of foolishness. For to the chick, no place could be better than the one it currently inhabits. In the same way, it is not easy to describe the vast and refreshing horizons of the heart and spirit to modern people who remain trapped within the narrow confines of the material realm.

A serious process of rehabilitation is needed if people are to be rescued from becoming prisoners of such constriction. For example, living models drawn from periods in which faith was practiced in its true and upright form can be presented before them, enabling these examples to become role models. Ideal examples from the generation of the Companions of the Prophet or from later periods of history may help modern people emerge from the narrowness in which they are trapped and broaden their horizons. This can also be achieved by discussing matters belonging to our own spiritual world in every gathering we participate, and by deeply internalizing and digesting the sources that belong to our own tradition.

Indeed, we need to reexamine and reconstruct our intellectual world from the ground up. For it is extremely difficult to reveal our own breadth and depth through the dominant philosophies of our age or through the modern understanding of science. Certainly, there are beneficial insights to be gained from every thought and every culture. Yet what is truly important is to approach the matter from its foundations, establish our own intellectual framework, and reinterpret existence through that perspective.

Just like the alternation of the day and the night with the succession of the light after darkness in every twenty-four hours, the rising and regression of nations have always occurred in successive turns of prosperity and hard times.

As for the leading figures of these nations, we see them swaying backward and forward with transformations and alterations, once in love with religious devotion and piety, at a different time bewitched by the things of this life, and yet at other unfortunate times captured in the web of materialism with no righteousness, morality, or character.

As a matter of fact, it would be quite wrong to conceive of any state or nation that is on the rise, taking root everywhere, as making consistent progress on a single plan and seeing it all religiously-oriented and heavenly-driven with regard to their rule and influence. Following their creation, everything enters into the process of growth, finds itself on the path of expansion and the ramp of ascension; however, only those upon whom fate smiles grow and flourish, and everything that grows is bound to die sooner or later!

To the extent of our interconnectedness with the cosmos and events, we can observe and witness all this phenomena unfolding before us every day. As we peruse the existence and events around us, if we can direct our thoughts and imagination towards historical occurrences as the consecutive projections of each other or as the overlapping pile-ups on top of each other, then we will testify that the world has turned green and blossomed, has tidied up and gathered strength, has revived and stood back on its feet as many times as it has stumbled and fallen over.

We are astounded by the moribund communities and nations, which, like the leaves caught in an abrupt gale or the ivy whose branches are torn off and yet cling to or twine about any support so as not to topple down, get back to their previous track, make great efforts with avidity, and speed towards their time of greatest power and authority. They gush out suddenly and unexpectedly, looking forward to rebirth, as if in an undeveloped shoot of plants, within the most indistinct and tiniest hollow on the stem, rooted in the past with the strength for growth after their decline; they run to grow by clinging to the points of support like ivy plants and try very hard to have springtime just once more.

Who knows how many times the roots, stem, and the branches of the society have been shaken with tempests! Who knows how many times it turned pale from the ice-cold and became ash gray under the heat of sun! Who knows how many times it has risen again in various spheres and grown rife! If the falls have taken away some part of its life and vigor, the springs have embosomed it so intimately with sparkling colors that everything else is discolored and all deceptive colors fade away one by one.

After seeing everything in an astonishing harmony, composed of teensy weensy constituents mixing up quietly and fascinatingly-seeing all these resuscitating in an unexpected manner and with an unanticipated liveliness, how can one ascribe this captivating vitality that looks like stillness and this unity that gives the impression of disorderliness to the true and eternal death and departure? Besides, even if this is temporarily so, every winter is followed by the spring and every night by the day.

From the point of recurring occurrences in history, it was nothing but such empty words heard at the beginning of the twentieth century: “Religion has been defeated by positivism” (as was formed in the mind of those with deviant thinking), “the spirit is down and out in the face of materialism”; “the atom is the essence of everything”; “the existence of all is dependent on material things”-it was such codswallop in the ears. Since the notion of energy was not fully comprehended, the atom was accepted as an unquestionable whole in those days. Before the turn of the second half of the twentieth century, however, materialism was shaken with the first surprising blow from within the circle of their own. It struggled with and got defeated by the perception of its inherent power (energy). Even if energy was not known in all its complexity at the time, it started to show its teeth, becoming more cognizable through the effects of its work. At the time, physics was aware of only its doings and not of energy itself; science considered energy as the capability of the matter or a physical system to carry out work. The science of physics had no knowledge of the real nature of this capacity, its general features, and its qualities.

The coming of energy into prominence occurred at the same time as the materialist philosophy entered into the sphere of the unknowns, chasms, and hardships. It was at this time that matter was believed to have the capability of turning into energy, journeying in the same realms with the spirits. According to the reality of the time, matter-something regarded as the proof for materialism-actually testified against materialism. If the atom is a power compressed and placed in a micro body and has the capability of not yielding to force and if all existence and incidents are created within this fountain of power and are endowed with their latent energy to full growth, those who discovered this immense power whose magnitude is accepted as not measurable in numbers and who burned down Hiroshima and Nagasaki did indeed not only put materialism to death but also trumpet forth its historic death while they were enunciating its enchanting efficacy only upon that occasion.

Everybody knows the rest of the story; we have witnessed the defeat of the forged system based on materialism-a deceiving system with its formation of the family and the society, its social and economic structure, its understanding of arts and esthetics, and its interpreting power of things and beings.

After all that bloodshed, casualties, and financial loss and all those years of life spent in vain, now we are once again ushering in the profundity of faith and spiritual thinking with the perception transcending matter and all existence. This was experienced before when we felt the universal truth in our pure conscience and had welcomed a glorious period of eight hundred years after being long exposed to such kind of chaos and disturbances a thousand years ago.

It is beyond doubt that the most influential power in the establishment of such a glory surpassing everything else belonged to faith. Thanks to faith that our society moved from the mundane to the spiritual life, from chaos to the order, from emptiness to the ideal, from narrowness of mind to the immenseness far beyond this world and the other world and became aware of the depth and extensiveness of their scope. It rediscovered its true worth and merit, its particular way of life, the refinement and grace it had lost long; it embraced and adopted faith most sincerely and had a life in a manner appropriate to heaven. It had such a pious life turning its deeds into worship, its talk into prayer, its appearance into gracefulness and mercy, and its unity into power. Thanks to faith that it found the way from emotion to soundness and sensibility, from logic to heart, and from reasoning to the insight and inspiration and thus stepped up and elevated itself. It found out the secrets of eternal subsistence all the way through feeling and thought, culture, arts, and esthetic delights.

We have every confidence in the belief that the chaos and dismay of today will be followed by the same heavenly victories and will experience a revival. We believe wholeheartedly that we will acquire once more what we have lost by means of the coming people of the heart who will find remedies for our wretchedness and sufferings, elevate our souls to the profundity of their own, and direct them from there to the real Source of everything. We can even call it our renaissance if this labeling will not be considered a fantasy.

It undoubtedly is necessary to prepare the way for this rebirth. The dynamics and potentials available in all the spheres of the society, including educational institutions, houses of prayer and worship, military quarters, and religious centers and lodges will be utilized for this purpose. All this preparation, however, will be fulfilled not by cumbrous institutions that are retired into themselves and consoled only by distinctive titles and designations, that think of nothing else except for their share of the appropriation but by the integrated institutions founded upon the concord of heart, soul, mind, and discipline as well as by those luminous scholars and intellectuals who believe in justice and have a sound character, mentality, and worldview and who blend all these with a faithful culture that has been acquired over hundreds and hundreds of years. It will be realized both by educational institutions that are represented by the lovers of knowledge and wisdom who are united with the truth in body, spirit, intellect, and zeal and by the people of truth with a sound character who get to work with the consciousness of duty, who act not just simply to save the day, and who seek ways to strive for their cause rather than trying hard for the satisfaction of the desires and pleasures of their own.

Aware of the fact that we are now at such a turn in the recurring events of history, we reexamine our conscience and smile at our fate with confidence in our auspiciousness.

As it has been remarked, there are many questions confronting us daily:

• How did the endless universe we live in come into being?

• How did the equilibrium, harmony, and order of this universe develop?

• How is it that this Earth is such a fit and sheltering place for us to live in?

Questions such as these have attracted attention since the dawn of the human race. The conclusion reached by scientists and philosophers searching for answers with their intellects and common sense is that the design and order of this universe are evidence of the existence of a supreme Creator ruling over the whole universe.

At this point, it is beneficial to reflect on these questions from an Islamic perspective. As it has been observed, In His holy book, the Qur’an, God states that He has created the universe when it was not, for a particular purpose, and with all its systems and balances specifically designed for human life.

In the Qur’an God invites people to consider this truth in the following verse:

Are you stronger in structure or is heaven? He built it. He raised its vault high and made it level. He darkened its night and brought forth its morning light. After that He smoothed out the earth… (Naziat 79:27-30)

Elsewhere it is declared in the Qur’an that a person should see and consider all the systems and balances in the universe that have been created for him by God and derive a lesson from his observations:

He has made night and day subservient to you, and the sun and moon and stars, all subject to His command. There is certainly Signs in that for people who pay heed. (Nahl 16:12)

In yet another verse of the Qur’an, it is pointed out:

He makes night merge into day and day merge into night, and He has made the sun and moon subservient, each one running until a specified time. That is God, your Lord. The Kingdom is His. Those you call on besides Him have no power over even the smallest speck. (Fatir 35: 13)

The Fallacy of Materialism

Nursi has made extensive reference in his writings to the defects of materialism. He notes that the materialists, whose use of reason is limited to what is immediately apparent to them, have, in their nonsensical philosophies, based on futile foundations, taken the transformation of particles, a thing they regard to be the result of coincidence, to be the fundamental basis of all their principles and have shown that divine works and creatures result from those transformations. Anyone with a grain of intelligence would know how unreasonable it is to attribute the creation adorned with infinite examples of wisdom to something based on a purposeless, meaningless coincidence, which is quite without order.

Furthermore, as has been remarked, even if we leave out the human values, lofty truths, ideals, and spiritual happiness, which have all been sacrificed for the sake of material development, modern civilization based on scientific materialism has caused mankind much harm.

The products of science are usually exploited in favor of the great world powers to consolidate their dominion over the world. In addition, developments in genetics, biology, physics, and chemistry threaten the very life of humanity on the earth. Modern civilization, as pointed by Said Nursi is founded upon five negative principles:

*It is founded and rests upon power; power tends to oppression.

*It aims at the realization of individual self-interests; pursuit of their self-interests causes people to rush madly upon things in order to possess them and gives rise to pitiless rivalry and competition.

* Its understanding or philosophy of the nature of life is struggle; struggle causes internal and external conflicts.

* It seeks to unify its people on the basis of racial separatism, fed by swallowing up the resources and territories of “others”; and racism leads to terrible collisions between peoples.

* The service it offers to people is satisfaction of the novel caprices or desires it arouses in them (whether the satisfaction is real or not); this service brutalizes people.

Modern materialistic civilization stimulates consumption and therefore gives rise to new, artificial needs and increases them daily. Through the power of propaganda and advertisements to exploit some disprovable human tendencies, such as “keeping up with the Jones’,” materialism imposes its demands upon people. As a result of this way of life it necessarily leads to producing to consume and consuming to produce, upsetting people’s balance and causing extraordinary increases in mental and spiritual illnesses. In such a way of life there is left room for neither spiritual profundity nor true intellectual activity. For intellect is put under the command of pragmatism and always earning more.

Another disaster that materialistic science has brought upon mankind is the destruction of nature and environmental pollution. “What a pity it is that nature, this magnificent book, this charming exhibition, which God, the infinitely Merciful One, has created and presented to us to observe and study and to be exhilarated by, is no longer given any more care than is given to a heap of junk or rubbish. Worse than that, it is more and more becoming a wasteland and like a dunghill. Today, air, that magnificent conductor of Divine commands, is a suffocating smoke and a perilous ‘whirlpool.’ Water, that source of life and other Divine bounties, is either a hazardous flood or is altogether absent to form desolate expanses of desert. And the earth, that treasure of Divine Grace and Munificence, is a wilderness that is no longer safely productive and whose ecological balance has been ruined.”

The five essentials of Islamic civilization

* It should rest upon right, not upon power; right requires justice and balance.

* It should aim to encourage people to virtue, which is a spur to mutual affection and love.

* Its understanding or philosophy of the nature of life is not struggle but mutual help, which leads to unity and solidarity.

* It should unify people on the basis of a common belief, shared values and norms, which can lead to internal peace and brotherhood.

* It should guide people to the truth. Therefore, in addition to encouraging them towards scientific progress, it should elevate them, through moral perfection, to higher ranks of humanity.

This civilization is that which the Qur’an proposes to mankind and urges them to establish.

The following passage by Nursi, written at the beginning of the 1930s, is most illuminating:

Reality and the wisdom [purposiveness] in the existence of the universe require that the heavens should have conscious inhabitants of their own as does the earth. These inhabitants of many different kinds are called angels and spirit beings in the language of religion.

It is true that reality requires the existence of angels and other spirit beings because the earth, although insignificant in size compared with the heavens, is continually being filled with and emptied of conscious beings. This clearly indicates that the heavens. . . are filled with living beings who are the perfect class of living creatures. These beings are conscious and have perception, and they are the light of existence; they are the angels, who, like the jinn and mankind, are the observers of the universal palace of creation and students of this book of the universe and heralds for their Lord’s kingdom.

The perfection of existence is through life. Moreover, life is the real basis and the light of existence, and consciousness, in turn, is the light of life. Since life and consciousness are so important, and a perfect harmony evidently prevails over the whole of creation, and again since the universe displays a firm cohesion, and as this small ever-rotating sphere of ours is full of countless living and intelligent beings, so it is equally certain that those heavenly [realms] should have conscious, living beings particular to themselves. Just as the fish live in water, so those spirit beings may exist in the heat of the sun. Fire does not consume light, rather, light becomes brighter because of fire. We observe that the Eternal Power creates countless living beings from inert, solid substances and transforms the densest matter into subtle living compounds by life. Thus it radiates the light of life everywhere in great abundance and furnishes most things with the light of consciousness. From this we can conclude that the All-Powerful, All-Wise One would certainly not leave without life and consciousness more refined, subtle forms of matter like light and ether, which are close to and fitting for the spirit; indeed He creates animate and conscious beings in great number from light, darkness, ether, air and even from meanings and words. As He creates numerous species of animals, He also creates from such subtle and higher forms of matter numerous different spirit creatures. One kind. . . are the angels, others are the varieties of spirit beings and jinn.

Nursi on Decadent Civilization and Virtuous Civilization

As it has been observed, for the last three centuries Islamic scholars have debated what the attitude of the Muslim world should be towards Western/Christian civilization. Nursi found himself in the middle of this debate at the critical moment in the 20th century, when the westernization/modernization currents were rapidly gaining strengths. Today, once again, given the global situations, it seems, the Muslim world is asking pertinent questions with regard to its cultural/economic relationship with the west. Given the significance of these questions and their serious potential consequences on world affairs, globalization and inter-cultural/religious understanding and dialogue, I will attempt to shed some light on what can be offered on this, and at times troubled, relationship: Islam and the west; Islam and modernity/westernization. In contrast to those rejecting western civilization all together, Nursi distinguished between two Europe, representing two civilizations. The first Europe ‘follows the sciences which serve justice and right and the industries beneficial for the life of society through the inspiration it has received from true Christianity’. He called this ‘virtuous civilization.’ The second Europe, whose source is philosophy rather than religion, which claims that mankind can find happiness only in vice, Nursi called the ‘decadent civilization’. It is because this second Europe is characterized by its encouragement of vice that Nursi rejects capitalist culture and decadent civilization. Nursi observes that ‘absolute vice’ is being called civilization. He is very critical of this ‘decadent civilization’.

In a letter Nursi calls it ‘low’ civilization and elsewhere he says that it cast humanity down to the level of animals: …its alluring service is to excite lust and the appetites of the soul and facilitate the gratification of whims, and their result is vice. The mark of lust and passion is always this: they transform man into a beast, changing his character; they deform him, perverting his humanity. If most of these civilized people were turned inside out, you would see their characters in form of apes and foxes, snakes, bears, and swine. Nursi moreover states that the goal of decadent civilization is ‘mean self-interest instead of virtue’, while virtue is the basis of Qur’anic virtuous civilization. Virtuous civilization takes all man’s subtle faculties into account, causes him to progress spiritually, and to rise higher than angels. In Nursi’s words: Its aim is virtue instead of self-interest… Its service takes the form of guidance and direction instead of lust and passion. And the mark of guidance is progress and prosperity in way benefiting humanity; the spirit is illuminated and perfected in the way it requires. In my view, Nursi’s thoughts on decadent and virtuous civilizations are extremely significant and timely. They establish the bankruptcy of those who promote the clash amongst civilizations, in particular between Christianity and Islam. The clash is not between civilizations, but between decadent and virtuous civilizations. True Christianity and Islam form the front in virtuous civilization, while secularism, laicism, and capitalism are the three allies on the front of decadent civilization. Therefore, Nursi’s writings and reflections on these matters could serve to promote Muslim-Christian dialogue at these troubled global times. In all, Nursi sees the following contrast between the ‘second’ European and Qur’anic civilization. In Seeds of Reality Nursi clearly summarizes some elements of difference between the two visions. Nursi observes that, the Qur’an, which is a mercy for mankind, only accepts a civilization that comprises the happiness of all, or at least of the majority.

He then remarks that, modern civilization has been founded on five negative principles:

1. Its point of support is force, the mark of which is aggression.

2. Its aim and goal is benefit, the mark of which is jostling and tussling.

3. Its principle in life is conflict, the mark of which is strife.

4. The bond between the masses is racialism and negative nationalism, which is nourished through devouring others; its mark is collision.

5. Its enticing service is inciting lust and passion and gratifying the desires.

But lust transforms man into a beast. However, the civilization Islam comprises and commands is this: its point of support is truth instead of force, the mark of which is justice and harmony. Its goal is virtue in place of benefit, the mark of which is love and attraction. Its means of unity are the ties of religion, country, and class, in place of racialism and nationalism, and the mark of these is sincere brotherhood, peace, and only defense against external aggression. In life is the principle of mutual assistance instead of the principle of conflict, the mark of which is accord and solidarity. And it offers guidance instead of lust, the mark of which is human progress and spiritual advancement.

According to Thomas Michel S.J. the contrast is clear; the Qur’an proposes very different principles. In the civilization envisioned by the Qur’an (and the teachings of the earlier prophets):

1. It is truth, not might, which makes right.

2. Virtue, non self-interest, is the proper motivation for human acts.

3. Unity rather than conflict should be the basis for social relations, and

4. Mutual assistance instead of cutthroat competition.

5. It upholds divine guidance rather than human whims as the norm for ethical behavior.

A society built on such principles Michel S.J. remarks, will be characterized by values like justice, harmony, love, peace, brotherhood and solidarity. It will attract others by virtue of its own good qualities, rather than by imposing its views or by dominating and looking down on others. When a civilization accepts the principle of ‘might makes right,’ the result is injustice. This, as well as the ‘cherished’ principles of conflict, competition, and enmity, valued in ‘second’ Europe, will inevitably result in war and destruction. Even a casual look at the state of our world today, will clearly show how correct Nursi has been in his observations.

This article has been extracted from Dr Kamran Mofid’s paper ‘To Heal Our Broken World: Bringing Economics, Religions and Spirituality together for the Common Good’ presented at the International Conference on Spiritual Dimensions of Said Nursi’s Risale-i-Nur, in Istanbul, August 2005.

Since natural sciences have chosen for themselves as their field of study only the visible world and adopted a sensory and experimental approach in their studies, and since they tend to accept as scientific only the conclusions they have drawn through these methods, the modern scientific world-view does not, in practice differ much from materialism. That is, although there may be scientists who believe in God and the existence of immaterial entities like spirit, the modem scientific approach is by nature materialistic. For that reason, scientific materialism is not less harmful than materialistic philosophy, rather, it may be said that scientific materialism is more dangerous that the other. For philosophical ideas can be set to one side as no more than theories which hardly affect one’s everyday decisions or direct one’s life. By contrast, people have in effect no choice but to think and believe and act in line with scientific conclusions. Also, scientific materialism has a considerable effect on the way one shapes one’s life. A person who does not find it worthwhile to give any consideration to belief in a Day of Reckoning, in a Supreme Being Who sees whatever he does, hears whatever he speaks and is aware of whatever he thinks, and Who will call him to account for all his deeds in the world, will not heed any rule other than secular laws and will design his life only according to the requirements of a short, transient life. Further, if being scientific is taken to mean denying or at least doubting the existence of anything metaphysical, and if people unquestioningly accept that the only objective knowledge is what sciences discover, whereas whatever people may know of the spiritual dimension of existence is sheer superstition, then people will be left with no alternative other than to live as materialists. So, scientific materialism and the practical materialism it produces are responsible, besides the birth of philosophical materialism and communism, for the world-wide crisis observable in the erosion of morals and spiritual values, the increase in crimes and drug-addiction and in injustices committed against weak peoples of the world and ruhtless colonialism continuing in disguised forms, and other modem social and political diseases.

Scientific materialism, though it does not theoretically deny the existence of truths outside the visible world, holds that anything immaterial cannot be known, not that it is not known to us. You can discuss with a materialist in philosophy about the existence of God or anything outside the material dimension of existence. But since scientific materialism argues that anything except material things cannot be known, it causes one not to think about immaterial truths. So, it is scientific materialism which gave rise to agnosticism-the belief that nothing can be known about God or of anything except material things. It is also scientific materialism which, because it tends to explain immaterial truths in material terms and therefore reduces quality to quantity and the spiritual to the physical-as is most clearly observed in psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis-is responsible for the rise of most modern false beliefs and ‘mystical’ practices.

The practical materialism, to which scientific materialism gave birth, prevails in the lives of all the world’s people, whether they be Muslims, Christians, Jews or atheists. For most people mean economic development, the betterment of worldly life, when development is talked about, and give precedence to worldly life in their considerations. And since material wealth and resources cause rivalry and competition in the relations among peoples and countries, not a single day passes without clashes on the face of the earth, on a large or small scale.

Even if we leave out the human values, lofty truths and ideals, and spiritual happiness, which have all been sacrificed for the sake of material development, modern civilization based on scientific materialism has caused mankind much harm. The products of science are usually exploited in favour of the great world powers to consolidate their dominion over the world. Besides, the developments in genetics, biology, physics and chemistry are threatening the very life of humanity on the earth. Modern civilization is founded upon five negative principles:

1. It is founded and rests upon power: power tends to oppression.
2. It aims at the realization of individual self-interest: pursuit of their self-interests causes people to rush madly upon things in order to possess them and gives rise to pitiless rivalry and competition.
3. Its understanding or philosophy of the nature of life is struggle: struggle causes internal and external conflicts.
4. It unifies the mass of its people on the basis of racial separatism, fed by swallowing up the resources and territories of ‘others’: and racism leads to terrible collisions between peoples.
5. The service it offers to people is satisfaction of the novel caprices or desires it arouses in them; (whether the satisfaction is real or not) this service brutalizes people.

Modern materialistic civilization stimulates consumption and therefore gives rise to new, artificial needs and increases them day by day. Through the power of propaganda and advertisements to exploit some disapprovable human tendencies such as ‘keeping up with the Jones’, it can impose its demands upon people. As a result of the way of life it necessarily leads to-producing to consume and consuming to produce-it destroys the nervous balance of man and causes extraordinary increases in mental and spiritual illnesses. In such a way of life there is left room for neither spiritual profoundity nor true intellectual activity. For intellect is put under the command of pragmatism and earning more and more.

It is highly questionable whether scientific and economic developments have brought happiness to man, whether the developments in tele-communication and transportation have provided for man what he needs. It is highly questionable whether modern man has been able to find true satisfaction and solve all his problems. Do his needs not increase day by day’? While people in the past needed a few things to lead a happy life, does not modern make man feel the need of some new things every passing day’? To satisfy each new need requires more effort and production which, in turn, stimulates more consumption. This leads people to regard life as a course or process of struggle and gives rise to a cruel rivalry and competition. So it follows that because might is right in such a world only the powerful have the ‘right’ to survive. You may understand from this what lies behind such Western philosophical attitudes or so-called scientific theories as Darwinian evolution and natural selection, historicism and the like.

Another disaster materialistic science has brought upon man is the destruction of nature and environmental pollution. What a pity it is that nature, this magnificent book, this charming exhibition, which God, the Infinitely Merciful One, has created and presented to us to observe and study and to be exhilarated by is no longer given any more care than is given to a heap of junk or rubbish. Worse than that, it is more and more becoming a wasteland and like a dunghill. Today, air, that magnificent conductor of Divine commands, is a suffocating smoke and a perilous whirlpool’. Water that source of life and other Divine bounties, is either a hazardous flood or forms desolate expanses of pitch. And earth, that treasure of Divine grace and munificence, is a wilderness no longer safely productive and whose ecological balance has been ruined.

We do not belittle, nor condemn, scientific studies and accomplishments. On the contrary, we welcome them enthusiastically as the signs and confirmation of man’s being made superior to angels. As is related in the Qur’an, God created man as one who would rule on the earth in conscious, deliberate conformity with God’s commands. Since he has been honoured with free will and is not compelled to do anything, in order to fulfil his function in creation, God has distinguished him with the knowledge of things and thereby made him superior even to angels. So we welcome scientific developments and discoveries as the result of this superiority. However, in order for scientific studies to be directed for the true benefit of man, they must be pursued within the guidance of immaterial, metaphysical, God-given rules. They must aim at founding a civilization which should have the following five essentials:

1. It should rest upon right, not upon power; right requires justice and balance.
2. It should aim to encourage people to virtue, which is a spur to mutual affection and love.
3. It’s understanding or philosophy of the nature of life should be not struggle but mutual help, which leads to unity and solidarity.
4. It should unify people on the basis of a common belief, shared values and norms, which can lead to internal peace and brotherhood.
5. It should guide people to truth. Therefore, besides encouraging them to scientific progress, it should elevate them, through moral perfection, to higher ranks of humanity.

This civilization is that which the Qur’an proposes to mankind and urges them to found.