Faith Development and Spiritual Maturation in the Works of Said Nursi

The idea that an individual's capacity for faith and trajectory of spiritual development unfold over the course of a lifetime is found in many of the traditional religions. In the twentieth century those interested in theology and spiritual direction drew on Western psychology and models of cognitive development in order to describe the maturation of faith and spirituality according to a developmental or stage model. The idea that the capacity for faith emerges in tandem with increasingly sophisticated powers of analysis coupled with concomitant notions of self and other relies in the twentieth century West on the insights of the Swiss researcher, Jean Piaget (d. 1980), regarding cognitive development in childhood. Prominent theorists in this vein include Kohlberg on moral development and Fowler on stages of faith.1

In the case of the Islamic tradition, the notion of changing situations and responsibilities over the life cycle is present in shari'a rulings concerning a person's accountability being based on their age and ability to reason. More detailed ideas of development may be found in the concepts of suitable approaches to training and educating (tarbiyya) children and adolescents. In general the topic of spiritual development over the life cycle has been relatively neglected, although in philosophical ethics, adab works, and Sufi literature one may find some material. In addition, we may note the quasi-evolutionary perspectives of Rumi2 as well of the writings of Imam al-Haddad which take the concept of development beyond the confines of the human condition by extending it further than the individual's life cycle on earth.

In this paper I will consider the writings of Said Nursi, a 20th century Turkish writer whose magnum opus, the Risale-i Nur is the basis of some of the most important and active movements for social, moral and spiritual reform in Turkish Islam. The maintenance of faith in the face of the onslaught of modernity and Westernization is an important and pervasive element in his writings and teaching activities. During Nursi's lifetime and in the successive development of movements inspired by his teachings, the importance of education has been stressed as providing the basis for this faith and for developing ethical, sound, and dedicated individuals.

At times the use of the English word "spirituality" for aspects of the Islamic tradition has been challenged since an exact parallel sense of "ruhiyya" or "ruhaniyya" is not found in classical Muslim writings. The word "ruh" that is related as it is in other Semitic languages to the word for breath, is sometimes, but not always equivalent to "spirit". There are indications in many classical writers that there are various aspects of levels of this spirit,4 and that it is the animating force of the body as well as the source of humanity's connection with God. Qur'anic verses that describe Allah as breathing his spirit into Adam (15:29, 32:9, 38:72) form the basis for these understandings.

The word "nafs" is used in the Qur'an and in classical Islamic texts in ways that correspond either to the concepts of "soul" or "ego" in English. Based on certain Qur'anic references, the Muslim mystics developed a model of progressive psycho-spiritual development through levels of soul beginning with the soul commanding to evil, then the blaming soul, and on to the soul pleasing to God and the contented soul.5 There are some traces of this Sufi psychology in the works of Said Nursi, for example, his frequent mentioning of the "soul commanding to evil".6

The idea of the "spiritual" or "spirituality" as being something distinct from religion itself has become current in the contemporary West.7 According to this understanding spirituality is often separated from organized religion and represents a more personal and individual encounter with the sacred. The use of the term "spiritual" or in Turkish, "manevi", in Nursi's works should not be understood as having this connotation. He rather opposes the spiritual to the material or worldly, but certainly feels that spirituality emerges from a religious foundation and within the bonds of units such as the family.

Speaking of the "spirituality" of a figure such as Nursi leads to a discussion of the mode of his personal practice as well as the currents in the Islamic tradition to which he responded. For example, the relationship of Nursi's teachings to Islamic Sufism both personally and in his own practice has been a matter of attention and interest to many who have studied his career.8

Nursi's relationship to the ideas and even the idealized images of saintly figures such as Abd al-Qadir Jilani, Jalaluddin Rumi (1273) and Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (1625) has often pointed out.9 The milieu in which Nursi developed was permeated with Naqshbandi Mujaddidi Sufi teachings continued in the line of Shaikh Khalid (1776-1827),10 and Nursi certainly studied with learned teachers in this tradition. In his own practice, however, he seems to have eschewed the system of piri-muridi, i.e. the discipleship and charismatic authority of traditional tariqa Sufism, declaring it unsuitable for the changed conditions of modernity.11 In contrast, Nursi sometimes offered a positive evaluation of tarikat, for example, that "is under the name of tasavvuf, a mystery offered to humans and a step in the maturity of mankind."12

Nursi the Individual, and Society

In classical Islamic mystical philosophy the individual was thought of as a little universe or microcosm, and thus the adage "know thyself" or as a Sufi hadith puts it, "the one who knows himself knows his Lord" was the basis of gnosis ('irfan or ma'rifa).13 Nursi has an interesting articulation of this principle, in that each individual carries an inner world within the larger world.

Moreover everyone has his own vast world in this world. Simply, there are worlds one within the other [corresponding} to the number of human beings. But the pillar of everyone's private world is his own life.14

Mardin analyzes the notion of society according to Nursi's view as constituting a network of personal relationships rather than as an entity in itself. According to Mardin, Nursi in the Risale-i Nur

portrays society as made up of constituents such as "fathers and mothers", "our

ruler" or "rulers". It mentions the Master and his Pupils, master craftsmen and hard working artisans. The linkages between these figures are pictures of consisting of "filial piety", "keeping one's engagements". The sacredness of an oath, "establishing bonds of friendship" "fitting into the neighborhood", and "trying to establish a respectable status as a member of a (partly) religious community".15

An important element in Mardin's analysis of Nursi is the focus on personal development rather than on direct social or political action.

Seen as a system of social relations, the personalistic element explains some aspects of the religious strategy of Said Nursi, i. e. his special emphasis on changing man's inner world as the touchstone of a revitalized Islam. Here again, two forces worked concurrently: the mobilized self was one of the requirements that had been brought about by the modernization of the social structure, but the best way to implement the mobilization was to anchor it in persons by making faith something that was cultivated by truly autonomous individuals. The importance of this internalization followed logically from the personalistic system, for where there are no holistic concepts of society to work with - other than "Islam"- then the end one pursues is not to change society as a whole but the individual and his "heart". It is this set of opportunities for the mobilization of the heart that Said Nursi seems to have had in mind when he shifted from politics to the conversion of individuals.16

Here Mardin is describing the shift in Nursi's focus from political activism to individual transformation as a key element. This distinction is often characterized in terms of Nursi's own characterization of his transformation from the "old Said" to the "new Said"17 that corresponded to his changing response in the wake of the replacement of Ottoman rule by the republican period.

The inner "conversion" of individuals as characterized by Mardin is a powerful element of Nursi's spirituality, both in his own personal experience and the impact of his philosophy and teachings on others. This conversion, however, is not that of a sudden "snapping", a spontaneous or involuntary shift,18 but rather is a growing awareness and commitment, based both on information, education and the impact of a model or ideal teacher. This latter sort of conversion is often correlated with what the contemporary theorist, Fowler, would consider to be spiritual or faith maturation.19

The more autonomous modern self referred to by Mardin is one that yearns for a spirituality able to address personal needs rather than merely emphasizing traditional conformity to group codes and rituals. This in turn relates Nursi's spirituality to Fowler's levels of faith in the sense that for Fowler religious maturation is achieved through obtaining some distance from one's initial context.

Broadly summarized, Fowlers' stages of faith are as follows.

Stage I of intuitive-projective faith is the fantasy-filled, imitative phase in which the child can be powerfully and permanently influenced by examples, moods, actions and stories of the visible faith of closely related adults.

Stage 2 or mythic-literal faith is the stage in which the person begins to take on for him-or herself the stories, beliefs and observances that symbolize belonging to his or her community. Beliefs are appropriated with literal interpretations, as are moral rules and attitudes

In Stage 3, synthetic-conventional faith, a person's experience of the world now extends beyond the family. Faith must synthesize values and information; it must provide a basis for identity and outlook.

Stage 4 of individuative-reflective faith is particularly critical for the late adolescent or adult who must begin to take seriously the burden of responsibility for his or her own commitments, lifestyle, beliefs and attitudes.

Stage 5 or conjunctive faith involves the integration into self and outlook of much that was earlier suppressed or unrecognized. There must be an opening to the voices of one's "deeper self." Unusual before mid-life, Stage 5 has experienced defeat and knows the reality of irrevocable commitments and acts. What the previous stage struggled to clarify, in terms of the boundaries of self and outlook, this stage now makes porous and permeable.

Stage 6 is exceedingly rare. The persons best described by it have generated faith compositions in which their felt sense of an ultimate environment is inclusive of all being. They have become actualizers of the spirit of an inclusive and fulfilled human community20.

Considering the societal implications of Nursi's spirituality in the light of Fowler's model makes us aware of the fact that Fowler assumes faith throughout, and in general privileges individual spiritual development over traditional conformity to norms and rules. Nursi, on the other hand, is concerned with the threat of modernity, secularism, materialism, and alienation, and so on, to the faith of a young person and in many ways Nursi affirms traditional belief as a response to these challenges.

At one point Nursi portrays a division of society that is based both on age and life situation. Having sorted society into five or six groupings, he asserts that the rejection of faith (irreligion) only appeals to the youth segment. He states that the other sectors of society, including the elderly, the weak and poor, children, and the pious are neglected and vulnerable to the arrogance and roughness of those who turn from belief, and who by implication loosen traditional bonds and values.21 From this we may extrapolate one of the reasons for Nursi's emphasis on education in earlier stages of life as being a cure for both individual and social ills. His specific treatises addressed to youth, the elderly, and the sick seek to reinforce hope and belief among these groups.

At the same time we may note a convergence of the higher levels of faith and moral reasoning according to the respective the models of Fowler and Kohlberg with Nursi's idea of transcending self-interest for the betterment of society. This commitment to betterment of the external society for Nursi represents a component of maturity,22 or if you will the implementation of the prophetic legacy in the Islamic tradition.23 Individual moral and spiritual improvement is, however, the foundation and prerequisite for service to others.

Nursi's Psychology

Nursi's psychology is largely drawn from classical views in Islamic thought derived from Ibn Sina (d. 1037) who synthesized Aristolean and Qur'anic elements. These concepts were further spiritualized by the Sufis in the light of Qur'anic terms. For example, Nursi speaks of natural and spiritual faculties in a way reminiscent of the distinction made between the animalistic and angelic components of the person in the writings of al-Ghazzali and others.24

Furthermore, man's nature and spiritual faculties show that he is created for worship. For in respect of the power and actions necessary for the life of this world, he cannot compete with the most inferior sparrow. While in respect of knowledge and need, and worship and supplication, which are necessary for spiritual life and the life of the hereafter, he is like the monarch and commander of the animals.25

Further evidence of Nursi's spiritual psychology is that in his preface to the Mathnawi al-Nuriyya he mentions "additional spiritual senses".

The inner and outer human senses are not confined to the well-known five senses; such as hearing, taste, seeing, and so forth. In addition to these man has many others that are like opened windows looking out onto the world of the unseen. This means that he has many unknown senses.26

Said Nursi refrained, however, from a lengthy discussion of these senses according to either Naqshbandi or philosophical models and seemed to consider them too esoteric to be helpful to the majority of people.27 At the same time Nursi's idea of perfection attained through spiritual journeying28 is reminiscent of the Sufi concept of suluk or travelling the spiritual path. Sufis state that suluk is not for everyone. For most people obedience to the divine law would suffice to restrain their animalistic instincts and produce good or paradise worthy actions.29 This is echoed in Nursi's view of the relationship between faith and Sufism:

No one can enter Paradise without faith, whereas there are innumerable people who would go there without Sufism. In that case, Islam is like bread, a basic sustenance, without which man cannot live, while Sufism is like a fruit with which man can dispense.30

Therefore, Nursi supports the path of the Qur'an over that of Sufism which along with kalam (theology) has been "sullied by human thought which rendered them tedious and problematic, and not without delusions and doubts."31

In another place he points out the differences between the Risale-i Nur and the Sufi orders: "Serving the Risale-i Nur saves belief, while the Sufi orders and sheikhdom win the degrees of sainthood [for people]. It is more important and more meritorious to save one man's belief than to raise ten believers to the rank of sainthood."'32

It is also noteworthy that Nursi pays particular attention to the experience of spiritual wounding or inner wounding as being transformative in a person's life and in the development of faith.33 Nursi's own "spiritual storm" is mentioned in Flashes, in connection with the effect of following the specific practices of the prophetic sunna.

At a time this poor Said was trying to emerge from the Old Said, his intellect and heart were floundering among truths in a terrible spiritual storm resulting from lack of a guide and the pride of his evil-commanding soul. They were being tossed around, rising and falling, sometimes from the Pleiades to the ground, sometimes from the ground to the Pleiades.

At that time I observed that like qibla-directing compasses showing the course to be followed in ships, each of the matters of the Practices, and even small points of conduct, were like electric switches among innumerable hazardous, dark ways. And when, at the time on that spiritual journeying I saw myself under awesome pressure overwhelmed by truly burdensome loads, I followed the matters of the Practices touching on that situation, I experienced a lightness as though all my burdens were being lifted from me. Through submitting to them, I was saved from doubts and scruples, that is, from anxieties like: "Is such a course of action right, is it beneficial, I wonder?" Whenever I drew back my hand, I looked and saw that the pressure was intense. There were numerous ways, but it could not be known where they led. The load was heavy, and I was utterly powerless. My view was short, and the way, dark. Whenever I adhered to the Practices of the Prophet (PBUH), the way was lit up and seen to be safe. I experienced a state of mind as though the load was being lightened and the pressure lifted. And so at those times I confirmed through my own observations what Imam-i Rabbani had said.34

In addition, life's trials such as illnesses are seen by Nursi as a form of spiritual training.35

In his study Mardin portrays Nursi's "new phase" in life as one based on faith and spiritual experience as opposed to mere rationality. "The new Said was taking leave from the intellectualization of religion to grasp the bedrock of the mysterium tremendum. For him, faith now overtook religion as reasonable . . ."36 In some ways this description evokes al-Ghazzali's account in Deliverance from Error where religious experience (dhauq/zevk) becomes the touchstone of faith rather than the credulousness of the masses or the rational proofs of the theologians.37

Abu Rabi gives us an even broader interpretation of Nursi's transformation through suffering, as being that of the suffering of the religious person in the era of modernity.

One can read the Risale as the product of suffering, exile, imprisonment, and alienation, a process reflective of the deep historical and social changes engulfing the Muslim world since the nineteenth century. Crisis predicates every major idea of the Risale. Nursi's thought was born of historical fluctuations and nourished by a deep-seated desire to achieve the Sacred in a secular age.38

These ideas suggest an intriguing possibility of situating Nursi's experience at what Fowler terms stage six, the highest level of faith development.

According to Conn's summary, Fowler's final stage of faith is rare, activist, and transformative, not only on the individual but also on the broader society. Persons at this level

are "contagious" in the sense that they create zones of liberation from the social, political, economic and ideological shackles we place and endure on human futurity. Living with felt participation in a power that unifies and transforms the world, Universalizers are often experienced as subversive of the structures (including religious structures) by which we sustain our individual and corporate survival, security and significance. Many persons in this stage die at the hands of those whom they hope to change. Universalizers are often more honored and revered after death than during their lives. The rare persons who may be described by this stage have a special grace that makes them seem more lucid, more simple, and yet somehow more fully human than the rest of us. Their community is universal in extent. Particularities are cherished because they are vessels of the universal, and thereby valuable apart from any utilitarian considerations. Life is both loved and held to loosely. Such persons are ready for fellowship with persons at any of the other stages and from any other faith tradition.39

Nursi's View of Faith over the Life Cycle

In considering how we might extract the contours of a developmental spirituality from the works of Nursi, I have decided to focus on his discussions relating to the specific life stages that he addresses most often, childhood, youth and old age. Both infancy and old age are characterized by Nursi as the periods of life that most evince the Divine mercy, for in fact powerlessness and dependence are evidence of closeness to God and His merciful qualities.40

As noted by Mardin:

We can understand now how, in Said Nursi's writings, "children" and the "aged" both functions of the concept of insan (man) are two basic analytical categories used by him to conceptualize social relations.41

In his treatise on the benefits of belief in the hereafter Nursi divides the human life cycle into the major stages of childhood, youth, maturity, and old age estimating proportions of the total population at each stage. Children and the elderly are each said to represent one-quarter of humanity, while youth constitute one-third, the remaining one-sixth consists of the sick and the oppressed.42

Childhood is a time that is both blessed and vulnerable according to Nursi.43 Children are strongly impacted by the attitudes of their parents. Like the elderly, children are "innocents".44 The attitude of parents towards children, therefore, should be tender and protective. This is a natural response to beauty and similarity of kind, according to his analysis. This quality of atmosphere surrounding childhood will, in turn, produce healthy and functional adults rather than distorted and traumatized spirits.

Children, which form a quarter of mankind, can live a human existence only through belief in the hereafter, and sustain their human capacity. They otherwise live only childish, empty existences, blunting their grievous pains with trifling playthings. For the effect of the constant deaths around them of children like themselves on their sensitive minds, and weak hearts which in the future will nurture far-reaching desires, and their vulnerable spirits, makes their minds and lives into instruments of torture. But then, through instruction in belief in the hereafter, in place of their anxieties, and the playthings behind which they hid so as not to see those deaths, they feel a joy and expansion.45

The sense of responsibility for the young and their impressionability translates into Nursi's focus on youth and education.

Youth for Nursi is a time of impressionability when the passions run high. "turbulent emotions [should be] checked by the fear of Hell."46 Youth are said to heed emotion rather than reason.47 However, the stage of youth is fleeting and will depart, and this is something that young should bear in mind.48 In this context Nursi counsels seriousness, restraint and consciousness of death for the young and hope for the elderly.49

In order to impress the reader with this transience of youth Nursi describes a vision he saw in Emirda? and suggests the image of being in a cinema that would show the conditions fifty or sixty years hence. In this case we would realize how this present time must be spent meaningfully.

Yes, what I saw was reality, not imagination. Just as the summer and autumn are followed by winter, so the summer of youth and autumn of old age are followed by the winter of the grave and Intermediate Realm. If there were a cinema which showed the events of fifty years in the future, the same as those of fifty years ago are shown in the present, and the people of misguidance and vice were to be shown their circumstances of fifty or sixty years hence, they would weep in horror and disgust at their unlawful pleasures and those things at which they now laugh.50

Another aspect of this stage of life is that youth and adults are those most likely to receive "slaps" or "blows". This concept in Nursi's psychology seems to refer to a supernatural or synchronistic51 response to moral lapses on the part of a person that result in his or her suffering some sort of calamitous reprove from forces of destiny.52 This concept is not so familiar in high tradition Islamic thought but seems derived from the folk or popular conceptions that Mardin noted are important in Nursi's thought.53

In one section of The Rays Collection Nursi cites specific instances of such slaps being received by those in his circle.

[The unruly youths themselves confirm that nine slaps they received related to the five matters in the Risale-i Nur's Guide For Youth and Fruits of Belief are a subtle instance of the Risale-i Nur's wonder-working.]

The First is Feyzi, who sometimes assists me. At the start I told him: You have attended a reading of The Fruits, so don't get into trouble. He did get into trouble, and received a slap: he could not use his hand for a week. Yes, it's true, Feyzi

The Second is Ali Riza, who assists me and writes out The Fruits. One day I was going to teach him about what he had written. Out of laziness, he made an excuse about cooking the food and did not come. He suddenly received a slap: although his saucepan was in good shape, the bottom suddenly fell out together with the food. Yes, it's true, Ali Riza54

The slaps seem to be of varying levels of intensity, there are "compassionate" and "restraining" types.

The Third Sort is this: Whenever those who work sincerely in this service become lax, they receive a compassionate slap. So coming to their senses, they again start working. Incidents of this sort number more than a hundred. Of only twenty incidents, thirteen or fourteen received 'compassionate slaps,' while six or seven received 'restraining slaps.'55

The concept of the slaps suggests deeper and important elements of Nursi's metaphysics, his grasp of how the universe works. In fact, elements of the "slaps" that we might term "supernatural" or cosmic were alluded to during one phase of Nursi's court defense.56

In terms of Nursi's construction of youth, binary categories are employed of "wasted youth" versus youth that is guided and channeled into productive learning and service.

In fact the young should:

Dwell on the Hadith, the meaning of which is: "The best of the youths among you are those who imitate those of mature years, while the worst of your elderly are those who imitate the young."57 That is to say, "The best of your youths are those who resemble the elderly in self-restraint and abstaining from vice, while the worst of your elderly are those who resemble the young in plunging themselves into dissipation and heedlessness.58

Old age is portrayed by Nursi as a time of blessing, due to the innocence and vulnerability of the elderly. "The weakness of old age attracts divine mercy."59 Also the very presence of the elderly is said to repel disasters,60 while the prayers of the elderly are most likely to be answered.

And so, O elderly men and women! Know that the weakness and powerless of old age are means for attracting Divine grace and mercy. The manifestation of mercy on the face of the earth demonstrates this truth in the clearest fashion, just as I have observed it in myself on numerous occasions. . .

I have had experiences which have given me the absolutely certain conviction that just as the sustenance of infants is sent to them in wondrous fashion by Divine mercy on account of their impotence, being made to flow forth from the springs of breasts, so too the sustenance of believing elderly, who acquire innocence, is sent in the form of plenty. This truth is also proved by the Hadith which says: "If it were not for your elderly folk with their bent backs, calamities would have descended on you in floods."61 It states both that a household's source of plenty is its elderly inhabitants, and that it is the elderly that preserve the household from the visitation of calamities.62

My elderly brothers and sisters! There is a Hadith which says: "Divine mercy is ashamed to leave unanswered the prayers offered to the Divine Court by elderly believers of sixty or seventy years."63 Since Divine mercy holds you in such respect, you too be respectful towards this respect by performing your worship!64

Old age is something to be thankful for and a major theme of Nursi's advice to the elderly is that they should develop hope. Among hopeful aspects is the promise of the afterlife where there will be "immortal" or "eternal youth".

It is only in belief in the hereafter that the elderly, who form another quarter of mankind, can find consolation, in the face of the close extinction of their lives and their entering the soil, and their fine and loveable worlds coming to an end. Those kindly, venerable fathers and devoted, tender mothers would otherwise feel such a disturbance of the spirit and tumult of the heart that the world would become a despairing prison for them and life, a ghastly torture. But then belief in the hereafter says to them: "Don't worry! You have an immortal youth; a shining, endless life awaits you. You will be joyfully reunited with the children and relatives you have lost. All your good deeds have been preserved and you will receive your reward."65

Many of Nursi's writings were composed when he considered himself to be among the elderly, a "brother" to them. This could be dated from his 40s in all likelihood as he speaks of old age commencing with the first signs of graying in his hair.66 Speaking of the sense of the autumn or winter arriving in his own life seems to have a particular poignancy for him.

One day at the time I entered upon old age, in the autumn at the time of the afternoon prayer, I was gazing on the world from a high mountain. Suddenly I was overwhelmed by a plaintive, sorrowful and in one respect dark state of mind. I saw that I had become old. The day too had grown old, and so had the year; and so too had the world become old. With the time of departure from the world and separation from those I loved drawing close within these other instances of old age, my own old age shook me severely. Suddenly Divine mercy unfolded in such a way that it transformed that plaintive sadness and separation into a powerful hope and shining light of solace. Yes, you who are elderly like myself! The All-Compassionate Creator presents himself to us in a hundred places in the All-Wise Qur'an as "The Most Merciful of the Merciful," and always sends His mercy to the assistance of living creatures on the face of the earth who seek it, and every year fills the spring with innumerable bounties and gifts from the Unseen, sending them to us who are needy for sustenance, and manifests His mercy to a greater degree relative to our weakness and impotence. For us in our old age, therefore, His mercy is our greatest hope and most powerful light. This mercy may be found by forming a relation with the Most Merciful One through belief, and through performing the five daily prayers, by being obedient to Him.67

In this instance, a sense of mercy is imparted by the hope of a returning spring that restores his spirits. A more melancholy note is sounded in his meditation composed on climbing the Ankara citadel:

I climbed to the top of Ankara citadel, which was far more aged, dilapidated, and worn out than me. It seemed to me to be formed of petrified historical events. The old age of the season of the year together with my old age, the citadel's old age, mankind's old age, the old age of the glorious Ottoman Empire, and the death of the Caliphate's rule, and the world's old age all caused me to look in the most grieved, piteous and melancholy state in that lofty citadel at the valleys of the past and the mountains of the future. ... As I sought consolation looking to the right, that is, to the past, my father and forefathers and the human race appeared in the form of a vast grave and filled me with gloom rather than consoling me. ... I looked at the present day. It appeared ... as a coffin bearing my half-dead, suffering and desperately struggling corpse.68

All, however, is not negative. We find in Nursi's own words a hope for continuity when he speaks of many "young Saids" emerging among his students to replace the old Said.69

The special blessings of weakness, poverty, and compassion associated with the life stages of childhood and old age are reflected in the following analysis of Nursi's path.

As far as Nursi's own path is concerned, it is by all means based on the Qur'an, and is relatively shorter and safer than the others. His path consists of four progressive stages, beginning with that of inability (acz), then traversing through two intermediate stages of poverty (fakr) and compassion (?efkat), and culminating at last with that of contemplation (tefekk?r).70 Each stage is also regarded by Nursi as an independent path leading to one particular aspect of God, for instance, inability leading to His all-encompassing Love, poverty to His overall-Mercy, compassion to His Compassion, and contemplation to His all-comprehensive Wisdom.71

While weakness, poverty, and compassion are natural stages experienced regularly by humans due to their life circumstances, the stage of tefekk?r seems to one that must be specifically cultivated and that is induced by both the revealed book and the book of nature. Elsewhere Nursi characterized his four stages as a "reality" (haqiqat) rather than a Sufi path (tariqat). Instead of traditional Sufi methods of either the loud or silent recitation of divine names or pious litanies (dhikr) that induce states of ecstatic love, Nursi defines his four steps in terms of psycho-spiritual attitudes.72 The main focus of these attitudes is on the person's understanding of his autonomy and relationship to God. All sorts of egotism such as self-justification, forgetting God, arrogance, and sense of permanence must be overcome. It seems that acts of worship, morality, and service to others are key here. The final stage, however, seems mystical, "if he gives up egotism and sees that he is a mirror of the manifestations of the True Giver of Existence, he gains all beings and an infinite existence. For he who finds the Necessary Being, the manifestation of Whose names all beings manifest, finds everything."73

Nursi on the Role of Hope and Belief

Some of the repeated themes in Nursi's work when speaking of the life stages of childhood and old age are the necessity of hope, and the vulnerability and powerlessness that attracts to a person a disproportionate element of divine mercy. At the abstract level both hope and mercy are spiritual qualities, hope on the part of the human being, and mercy from the divine Bestower.

In general hope in classical Islamic thought was not perceived as being an entirely positive attitude. The classical discussion, from the hadith through Sufi works usually paired hope (raja) with the counter balance of fear (khauf), sometimes depicted in the image of two wings that allow a bird to soar higher. According to al-Ghazzali:

Hope and fear are two wings by means of which those who are brought near (to God) fly to every praiseworthy station, (as in the early saying - hope and fear are like the two wings of a bird, when they are equal the bird is in balance an the flight is perfect). - Fear and hope are two mounts on which the steep ascent of the path and the next world is traversed.74

An important dimension of hope is suggested by Qur'an 71:13:

"Why do you not hope (tarjauna) for dignity (wiqar) from God when He created you in diverse stages,

Don't you see how Allah has created the seven heavens in harmony."75

The meaning of this Qur'anic verse is that the contemplation of nature inspires hope. This is resonant with Nursi's repeated evocation of natural phenomena-plants, butterflies, and spring as representing and inspiring hope.

Along with the more rational or argument from design element in Nursi's presentation we find a more emotive quality in his assertions that beauty and affinity are sources of hope and inspiration. This is reminiscent of sayings such as that of the Sufi, al-Qushayri, "Hope is seeing the divine splendor with the eye of beauty."76

According to al-Ghazzali's analysis, hope is a "maqam"-a permanent spiritual station and acquired attitude. Al-Ghazzali says that the station of hope comes to dominate a person through:

1) reflection (i'tibar) on God's blessings, for example the beauty and complexity of the created world

2) the recitation of those Qur'anic verses and traditions which encourage hopefulness.77

Both of these strategies of the self-cultivation of hope are exhorted to by Said Nursi in his discussion of belief, and in his advice to the elderly and children.

Hope is closely linked with belief, according to Nursi.

And so, the light of belief was sufficient for me and all my sorrows arising from old age and the pains of separation; it gave me an inextinguishable hope, an unassailable faith, an unquenchable light, unending solace. Belief then is certainly more than enough for you in the face of the darkness, heedlessness, sorrows, and griefs of old age. In reality, the old age which is utterly black and lacking in light and solace, and the most grievous and terrible separation, is the old age and separation of the people of misguidance and the dissipated. Experiencing the belief which affords such hope, light, and solace, and its effects, is possible through adopting a consciously worshipful attitude, worthy of old age and appropriate to Islam. It is not possible by trying to imitate the young, plunging one's head into heedlessness, and forgetting old age.78

Imtiyaz Yusuf, in his analysis of Nursi's writings on belief comes to the following summation. "Placing trust in God leads to personal integration, contentment, confidence, peace, and security."79

Conclusions

Western scholars of personality theories have suggested a number of models into which most theories fall. Some of these models are based on the attribution of traits to an individual while others are more philosophical or metaphysical. These latter models portray the human condition within scenarios of either forces in irresoluble conflict (for example Freud) or as part of a system in which one great force ultimately guides individual development in the cultivation of an ideal (Jung, most religious theories).80 The classical Muslim thinkers such as al-Ghazali, and especially those following Shaykh Sirhindi (Imam-i Rabbani) combine these by positing conflict at lower levels of human development. Thus the arena of conflict is the material or earthy realm, where the animalistic, corporeal side, or the soul commanding to evil clashes with the angelic or spiritual forces. Through moral and spiritual development the one great teleological force toward perfection is able to prevail as conflicts are resolved. Nursi is clearly within this latter tradition.

Perhaps it may be appropriate here to briefly consider Nursi's view of spiritual development in comparison with Kohlberg's view of moral reasoning. For Kohlberg, the first level of moral thinking is that generally found in children. At this level, people behave according to socially acceptable norms because they are told to do so by some authority figure (e.g., parent or teacher). Obedience in this case is compelled by the threat or application of punishment.

The second level of moral thinking is that generally found in society, hence the name "conventional." The first stage of this level is characterized by an attitude that seeks to do what will gain the approval of others while the second stage is one oriented to abiding by the law and responding to the obligations of duty.

Kohlberg felt that the next or third level of moral thinking is one that was not reached by the majority of adults. Its first stage is an understanding of social cooperation and an interest in the welfare of others. The final stage is based on respect for both universal principles and the demands of individual conscience.

Kohlberg believed that individuals could only progress through these stages one stage at a time. Thus, they could only come to a comprehension of a moral rationale one stage above their own. According to Kohlberg, it was important in order to develop moral understanding to present students with ethical dilemmas for discussion that would help them to see the reasonableness of a "higher stage" morality and encourage their growth in that direction.

In fact Kohlberg saw this as one of the ways in which moral development can be promoted. In addition, Kohlberg believed that most moral development occurs through social interaction based on the insights that individuals develop as a result of overcoming cognitive conflicts at their current stage.81

The similarity of this model to Nursi's concepts is seen both in the idea of overcoming conflict and in the importance of moral education. Unlike Fowler and Kohlberg, however, Nursi upholds traditional religious tenets as the best way of resolving spiritual and moral conflict while believing as well in absolute revealed truth. Interestingly, the practice of muhasiba, the regular reviewing and assessment of one's activities and attitudes that Nursi's followers practice among themselves, was an element of classical Sufism and is similar, although more personal, than Kohlberg's educational model of forcing students to struggle with moral conundrums.

Another way of considering Nursi's spirituality is in the light of David Carr's analysis of three conceptions of spirituality that inform contemporary discusses of spiritual education in the West.

1) traditional spirituality, that of religious models

2) post-modern and pluralism notions of awe and wonder at a range of experiences that transcend what is traditionally defined as religious

3) constructivist, more formal or systematic psychologies of experience and development.82

I would characterize Nursi's approach to spiritual education as melding elements of all three. The basis of his system is traditional Islam, while his focus on youth, development, and education contain implicitly "systematic psychologies" the application of which in a broader public educational system were new to Muslim society. Nursi's openness to science and nature as ultimately confirming and strengthening religious belief may be associated with the second element in Carr's descriptive model. Of course the "argument from nature" as a source of awe and a proof the existence of a Creator is nothing new in religious education. Carr's second point is only novel in its attempt to decouple the "spiritual" from a faith position.

In summary, the analysis of Nursi's spirituality indicates the compatibility of his model of spiritual development with its Islamic and cultural context as well as with contemporary attempts to address moral and spiritual dimensions of human maturation.

*Prof. Dr. Marcia Hermansen is Professor of Theology at Loyola University, Chicago, where she teaches Islamic Studies and World Religions. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Arabic and Islamic Studies. She is co-editor of the Encyclopaedia of Islam and The Muslim World.

1. Lawrence Kohlberg, The psychology of moral development : the nature and validity of moral stages (San Francisco : Harper & Row, 1984). James W. Fowler, Stages of Faith : the psychology of human development and the quest for meaning (San Francisco : Harper & Row, 1981).

2. See, for example, Franklin D. Lewis, Rumi: Past and Present, East and West (Oxford: Oneworld, 2000), 416-7.

3. Imam al-Haddad, The Lives of Man (Louisville: Fons Vitae, 1991). Al-Haddad, a Yemeni scholar, died in the early 1700s.

4. Marcia K. Hermansen, "Shah Wali Allah's model of the Subtle Spiritual Centers (Lata'if): A Sufi Model of Personhood and Self-Transformation," Journal of Near Eastern Studies 47 (1, January 1988): 1-25.

5. Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975), 112. The blaming soul (Q 75:2), the soul inciting to evil (Q 12:53), the contented soul (Q 89:27), and the pleasing soul (89:28). For an interpretation in terms of contemporary psychology see Robert Frager, Heart, Self, and Soul: The Sufi Psychology of Growth, Balance, and Harmony (Wheaton, IL: Quest, 1999), 47-93.

6. Said Nursi, The Rays Collection (Istanbul: S?zler Publications, 2002), 500. Nursi, Letters 1928-1932 (Istanbul: S?zler Publications, 2001), 21, 309. A recent translation of the Mathnawi al-Nuriya by Unal prefers the usage "carnal soul" in English where Nursi apparently used the "soul commanding to evil". Epitomes of Light (Izmir: Kaynak, 1999), passim, index ix.

7. Wade Clark Roof A Generation of Seekers: the spiritual journeys of the baby boom generation (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993).

8. Hamid Algar, "Said Nursi and the Risale-i Nur" in Islamic Perspectives Studies in Honour of Sayyid Abu'l-A'la Mawdudi Khurshid Ahmad and Zafar Ishaq Ansari (eds.) (Leicester: The Islamic Foundation, 1979), 313-333. Bilal Ku?p?nar, "Nursi's Evaluation of Sufism," Third International Symposium on Beduizzman Said Nursi, vol. 2., http://www.saidnursi.com/symposium/s10c.html

9. ?erif Mardin, Religion and Social Change in Modern Turkey: The Case of Bedi?zzaman Said Nursi (Albany: SUNY Press, 1989), 54-6, 66, 72, 94.

10. Mardin, 57-60. 158.

11. Letters, 41, 85, Mardin, 181-2.

12. Mardin, 187 citing Mektubat, 415.

13. This macro/microcosmic interpretation is easily derived from Qur'an (41:43). "We shall show them Our signs sings upon the horizons and in themselves".

14. Said Nursi, A Guide for Youth (Istanbul: Yeni Asia, 1991), 60.

15. Mardin, 163 ff.

16. Ibid, 165.

17. M. Hakan Yavuz, "Print-Based Islamic Discourse and Modernity: the Nur Movement" in Third International Symposium on Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (Istanbul: S?zler Publications, 1997), 324-350. ??kran Vahide, The Author of the Risale-i Nur: Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (Istanbul: S?zler, 2000), 164 ff.

18. For a discussion of theories of conversion see Larry Poston, Islamic Da'wa in the West (New York: Oxford, 1992), 145-157.

19. Ibid, 151.

20. Adapted from Joann Wolski Conn (ed.), Women's Spirituality: Resources for Christian Development (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1986), 226-232.

21. Letters, 492-495. Nursi, The Flashes Collection (Istanbul: S?zler Publications, 2000), 486.

22. Which with respect to the Prophet Muhammad's biography he sets at the age of 40, and we can assume this as a general benchmark. Letters, 333.

23. Especially following the ideas of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi on the role of the Prophet and subsistence (baqa) vs. annihilation (fana).

24. Discussed explicitly in Bilal Ku?p?nar, "The Concept of Man: Mevlana Jalal al-Din and Said Nursi" in Islam at the Crossroads ed. Abu Rabi', 157-159.

25. Words, #5, 35.

26. Said Nursi, "Preface to the al-Mathnawi al-'Arabi al-Nuri" trans. Redha Ameur in Ibrahim M. Abu Rabi', Islam at the Crossroads: On the Life and Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003), 335-350, 347.

27. Flashes, 155; Nursi, The Words (Istanbul: S?zler Publications, 2002), 491.

28. Letters, #15, 72; # 9, 535.

29. Marcia Hermansen, "Shah Wali Allah's concept". Note that Shah Wali Allah (d. 1762) was a Naqshbandi in the tradition of Sirhindi.

30. Cited in Bilal Ku?p?nar, "Nursi's Evaluation" based on Letters, 41.

31. Letters, 344.

32. ?lhan Y?ld?z, "The Search in the Transitional Period (1924-1950) For a Religious Educational Model", Fifth International Symposium on Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (Istanbul: S?zler Publications, 2002).

33. Flashes, #2, 22 and #26, 288.

34. Flashes, 2-3, p. 81-2. Imam-i Rabbani, Ahmad Faruqi, (May God be pleased with him) said: "While traversing the degrees in my spiritual journeying, I saw the most brilliant, splendid, subtle, and sound among the levels of the saints to be those who took following the Practices of the Prophet (PBUH) as the basis of their way. Even the ordinary saints of that level appeared to be more splendid than the highest saints of the other levels."

35. Flashes, #25, 284

36. Mardin, 146.

37. Nursi uses a formulation quite similar to this in the Mathnawi al-Nuriyya, see Ameur's translation, in I. Abu Rabi', Islam at the Crossroads, p. 348, 350-translating dhauq as "spiritual taste".

38. Ibrahim M. Abu Rabi', Islam at the Crossroads, x.

39. Joann Wolski Conn (ed.), Women's Spirituality.

40. Flashes, 301.

41. Mardin, 166.

42. Rays, 245-6; also see Words, 110.

43. The vulnerable spirits of children are mentioned in Rays, 244.

44. Rays, 372.

45. Rays, 245.

46. Rays, 204.

47. Rays, 475.

48. Rays, 225.

49. Rays, 247; Letters, 334.

50. Rays, 219.

51. A perfect Arabic/Turkish equivalent is provided in the translator's note. "'Coincidences' (tev?fukat): the unintentional correspondence of words or letters in lines or patterns on one or several pages, or the 'coinciding' of apparently unrelated events. [Tr.]" Rays, 407.

52. Rays, 357.

53. Mardin, 166.

54. Rays, 357.

55. Flashes, #10, 70.

56. Rays, #14, 407

57. Hadith cited from 'Ali Mawardi, al-Ghazzali's Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din, and other sources in Flashes, 321.

58. Flashes, 320-1.

59. Flashes, 301.

60. Ibid.

61. Hadith cited from al-'Ajluni, Kashf al-Khafa', ii, 163 and other sources. In Flashes, 301.

62. Flashes, 301.

63. Hadith cited from al-'Ajluni, Kashf al-Khafa', i, 244 in Flashes, 321.

64. Flashes, 320-1.

65. Rays, 245-6.

66. Flashes, 296.

67. Flashes, 287.

68. Rays, 437.

69. Rays, 335.

70. On tefekk?r see Umit Simsek, "The Style of Reflective Thought in the Risale-i Nur" in The Reconstruction of Islamic Thought in the Twentieth Century and Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (Istanbul: S?zler Ne?riyat, 1997), 27-39.

71. Bilal Ku?p?nar, "Nursi's Evaluation of Sufism" http://www.saidnursi.com/symposium/s10c.html, Letters Addendum, 536.

72. Words, 491-3.

73. Ibid, 493.

74. Al-Ghazzali, Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din Book 33.

75. Franz Rosenthal, Sweeter than Hope: Complaint and Hope in Medieval Islam (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1997), 79.

76. Al-Qushayri, Risala, section on hope.

77. Al-Ghazzali, The Book of Hope and Fear #33 Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din trans. William McKane (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1962).

78. Flashes, 320

79. Imtiyaz Yusuf, "Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's Discourse on Belief in Allah: A Study of Texts from Risale-i Nur Collection" Muslim World LXXXIX (3-4, July-October, 1999): 336-349, 345, citing Words, 45.

80. Salvatore Maddi, Personality Theories: A Comparative Analysis (Long Grove, IL: Waveland, 1996).

81. Summary based on W.C. Crain, Theories of Development: Concepts and Applications (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1985), 118-136.

82. David Carr, "Three Concepts of Spirituality" in Spirituality, Philosophy and Education, eds. David Carr and John Haldane (London: Routledge, 2003), 217.

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