existence and man: nursi and j. p. sartre
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
1/47
Existence and ManA Study of the Views of Said Nursi and J. P.Sartre
brahim ZDEMR
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
2/47
2
Existence and Man
A Study of the Views of Said Nursi and J. P. Sartre
brahim [email protected]
In the absence of a transcendent Being greater than allbeings men deify themselves. Karl Barth, Germantheologian,
Banalization of Nihilism, 137.
A palace resides in the heart of every atom, but so long asyou dont open it, its door will remain closed to you.
Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi.Depriving a person of his ability to use the set of symbolswhich shape his individual approach to God may be a more
distressing blow to him than depriving him of other values.erif Mardin,
Religion and Social Change in Modern Turkey.
I. INTRODUCTION:
Modernity as the Loss of the Sacred and Triumph of the Profane
In this paper, I shall first of all set out briefly the ideas on existence and man of J.
P. Sartre,1 one of the foremost representatives of atheistic existentialism, and then shall
examine Said Nursis ideas on the same subject. This will offer a comparison of the
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected] -
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
3/47
3
discourses developed by the two thinkers, and at the same time give an idea of what the
Risale-i Nurhas to offer the people of the present, engaged as they are in a search for
new interpretations.
At the start of a new century people are re-asking an old question: what is the
meaning of man and existence? Is there any particular meaning in being human? Does it
have any value? What is it that makes life worth living? The reason I say an old
question is that throughout history people have asked about the origin of the universe
and mans place in it, and have sought the answers in various fables, legends, religions
and philosophies. Most of these have been provided by religions and philosophies. The
influence of the explanations of the revealed/divine religions is well-known. But mans
intellect has never ceased both to internalize or understand these, and to think up
explanations independently of them. The reason for this may well be the
meaninglessness and impossibility of living in an unknown, incomprehensible, strange,
and meaningless world.
However, the new scientific story/explanations, which, first appearing in the 17th
century and becoming firmly established in the 18th and 19th centuries, put forward the
modern worldview,2 challenged and tried to supersede all existent explanations. In his
work on Nietsche, Heidegger, the inspiration of existentialism and forerunner of the
postmodern thinkers, described the era known as modern, as the fact of man being the
centre and measure of all things.3 This is also the process of mans self-deification and
his rebellion against the sacred that has affected all of modern times and continues to do
so. In his classic work on modernity, M. Berman says about this phenomenon that still
shapes our lives: A vital experience shared by people in every corner of todays world;
in other words, an experimental method related to space and time, myself and others,
and the possibilities and difficulties of life. (...)
To be modern is to find ourselves in an environment that promises adventure,
power, fun, development, and the possibility to change ourselves and the world; but on
the other hand, it is an environment that threatens to annihilate everything we have,
everything we know, and everything we are. Modern environments and experiences pass
beyond all boundaries, geographical and ethnic, class and national, religious and
ideological; modernity may be said to have united humanity in this sense. But this is a
paradoxical unity; the unity of division; it constantly draws us into the whirlpool of being
torn apart and put together again, of conflict contradictions, of uncertainty and pain.4
The clash between science and religion, so often mentioned in the history of
philosophy and science stems from this character of modernity, which I tried to
summarize above. (It should be recalled that this clash was perceived more by
Christianity and the fathers of modern science.) However, the modern world-view has its
successes, but it has its failures too. For the meaningless of the universe and man is one
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
4/47
4
of its fundamental principles and this has resulted in spiritual crises in society. The chief
mark of this crisis is mans alienation from hhimself and from nature, resulting from their
loss of meaning, or more correctly, the evaporation of their meaning.5 And the most
evident sign of this loss of meaning is people seeing no purpose in living, and their
rejecting in the name of alternative lifestyles current moral values, even those commonly
accepted in history, and adopting every sort of lifestyle outside these.
There is no place for spiritual and moral values in this new lifestyle, which,
influenced by the positivist science that emerged in the 19th century and developed in
the 20th, grew out of existentialist, nihilist philosophical currents. Science, the sole
guide, took the place of all values characterized as religious, traditiona l or dogmatic.
Neither the universe nor anything in it has any meaning. Man is a complete alien in this
meaningless world. Having only his will, he has been abandoned in this absurd and
hostile world, or more correctly, he has been flung into it. A result of this is that his
position in it is that of an alien. According to Garaudy, the most penetrating description
of mans bewilderment is found in Martin Heideggers (1899-1976) works. Without future
or salvation, human life is lived between empty skies and a disorderly earth. Heidegger
likened the tragic situation of all beings and of man to the situation of a nation and the
people of one of its classes at a time of crisis: Man no longer has before him God to
show him the way, or sound values and truths; the world is incomprehensible to him and
alien. Before him is nothing, non-existence.6 And again, We are only beings who feel
they have been thrown into an unpitying, unfeeling world.7
Thus, there was only man as the single centre of values in an absurd and
meaningless world in which all transcendent and moral underpinning, and the existence
and efficacy of values were rejected. With their basic premise that being precedes
essence, nihilist, humanist, and atheist existentialists challenged religion and every sort
of spiritual/metaphysical value, saying that the cosmos was meaningless and conformed
to no logical order or plan; that it had not been brought into existence or set in order by
an omnipotent, beneficent god or Creator, there was no necessity in anything, everything
was contingent, reality had no meaning, order, or explanation; all order, meaning and
explanations were the products of human intelligence, and reality was incomprehensible.
Since this was so it could not be reduced to a system. Moral values had no existence
outside mans mind, and that there was no objective moral order; ethics and values had
been created by man.8
Nevertheless, the answer should be found to a question important from our point
of view: what is the influence today of those ideas, which were so widespread last
century? According to Griffin, atheistic existentialist ideas were influential on the great
majority of people in North America and Europe, and also in other places (if one thinks
how the West affected this country and its culture.) For those people, the world and all it
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
5/47
5
contains, including man, ceased to hhave any meaning. Consequently, most people
believe they live in a meaningless, absurd world that has no metaphysical dimension.
Responsible for the spread of this idea were the existentialist ideas of circles associated
with art, literature, philosophy, and theology even. This understanding, which tried to
explain nature and man by stripping them of every sort of spiritual and metaphysical
aspect, is today relinquishing its place to postmodern attitudes.
A philosophical approach underlying the above was existentialist nihilism, itself a
result of the idea propounded by F. Nietzsche (d. 1900) that God is dead.9 The
existentialist nihilists denied God and all spiritual values more stealthily than many
contemporary sicknesses that attack mans physical being, sapping his spirit, morals, and
inner world, and leaving him bereft of spiritual and moral values. To put it another way,
these European currents were the cause of a serious erosion of morality and spirituality
in other countries; their moral values were swept away by the flood.10 Thus, what Hegel
(1770-1831) called the worlds spirit was manifested as Europeanization; countries
throughout the world looked to Europe and attempted to reorder themselves accordingly.
With the Enlightenment idea of linear development, this Eurocentrism defined the
other for Western man and legitimized his right to rule them.11
As far as the Islamic world was concerned, after the Wests colonialist and
imperialist occupation, which began in the second half of the 19th century, the attempt
was made to instil these philosophical ideas nurtured by the West in the Muslims minds
and spirits. While seizing all the physical wealth and resources of these countries, the
imperialist forces challenged with these ideas the Muslims traditional religious and moral
values, and induced the younger generations to oppose their own traditions.
To put it another way, the Western world-view destroyed the Muslims traditional
maps and compasses, and the new maps the West gave them on the one hand broke
them off from their own roots and traditions, or at least caused them tto clash with them,
and on the other, led to the emergence of many contemporary Islamic movements. What
is striking and significant from our point of view, illustrating graphically Nursis mission
and originality, was that he was fully aware of the profound effect -like contagiousdisesases- of contemporary materialist, nihilist existentialist and positivist philosophical
currents on society and on the way Muslims perceived themselves and the world, and
their destructive influence:
The world is undergoing a terrible spiritual crisis. A disastrous sickness, a plague,
a pestilence, has arisen in Western society, the spiritual foundations of which have been
shaken, and is gradually spreading worldwide. What solutions has Islamic society to offer
for this contagious disease? The Wests rotten, putrifying, false formulas? Or the ever-
fresh principles of its own beliefs? I see the heads of the great to be sunk in
heedlessness. The rotten pillars of unbelief cannot support the citadel of belief. It is
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
6/47
6
because of this that I concentrate all my efforts on belief.12
Said Nursi did not concern himself with those who did not (or could not)
understand his vision and what they said. He did not take them seriously. However, he
was fully aware of the dangers modernity posed to mankind. It is understood from the
following that this awareness was of such a degree that it caused him to forget his own
personal suffering, pain, and distress:
The only thing that distresses me are the dangers facing Islam. Formerly, the
dangers came from outside and they were easily withstood. But now they come from
within. The worm is gnawing the trunk and to resist it is difficult. Im frightened that the
social structure will not be able to withstand it, for it does not perceive the enemy; it
supposes to be its friend its greatest enemy, that is severing its arteries and drinking its
blood. If society has become so blind, the citadel of belief is in danger. This then is my
only trouble, that causes me distress. I do not have the time to think even of the
difficulties and hardships I myself suffer. If only they could be increased a thousandfold
and the future of the citadel of belief could be safe.13
Here, Nursi is describing this approach and his alarm at the danger it poses for the
younger generations of Muslims. He is describing too, emotionally and eloquently, his
own mission:
They say to me: Why do you fight against this and that? I am not aware of it.
There is a terrible conflagration before me the flames of which are touching the skies. My
sons are burning in it, my faith has caught fire and is burning. I am racing to extinguish
the fire, to save belief. If someone wants to hold me up on the way and I trip on him,
what importance has it? Is such a petty incident of any importance? Narrow ideas,
narrow views! I have sacrificed my life in the hereafter even to save the communitys
religious belief. I have no longing for Paradise nor fear of Hell. Let not one but a
thousand Saids be sacrificed for the sake of the twenty-five million [Turkeys population
at that time] strong Turkish ccommunity. I would not want Paradise if the Quran
remained without listeners on the earth. It would be a prison for me. I would be happy to
burn in the flames of Hell to see that my nations belief was firm. For while my body was
burning, my heart would rejoice.14
A further striking point is that although the Muslims were successful in liberating
their countries and lands from Western imperialism, the same cannot be said about their
intellectual dimensions. To put it another way, the Muslim countries won their political
independence, but due to the profound influence of philosophical thought on the way
their societies perceived themselves, they did not win their cultural and intellectual
independence in the same way. The current secularism of the Muslim countries today and
their Western-type intellectuals furnish the best proof of this. Also true is the fact that
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
7/47
7
the conflict and tension between the West and the other experienced in the past, today
is experienced in another way. This was conceptualized by S. Huntingdon as The Clash
of Civilizations.15 Thus, clashes today are between states and individuals belonging to
different civilizations, rather than between different countries and states. In fact, such
clashes are seen to be continuing fiercely between groups who live in the same country
yet claim to belong to different civilizations. The clashes and tensions in certain Muslim
countries between pro-West and anti-West, and secular and anti-secular discourses are
an indication of this. Pointing out the power and influence of Western civilization, Colin
Turner asserts that the concept of the West has changed and lost the meaning we
understand:
Another reason why our approach to the West has made little headway is that we
have misunderstood the West. The West is not only a geographical entity, it is also a
metaphor. Geographically, the West was the first place to witness a mass revolt against
the Divine. Modern Western civilization is the first of which we have knowledge that does
not have some formal structure of religious belief at its heart. The West is thus a
metaphor for the setting of the sun of religious belief; a metaphor for the eclipse of God.
And since this eclipse is no longer confined to the geographical West, one may say that
wherever the truths of belief have been discarded, there is the West.16
Long previously Said Nursi drew attention to the appearance of a new era of
conflict, which he described in terms of the worm is gnawing at the body, after that of
civil wars and strife, in which the conflict would be experienced in peoples own egos andspirits.17 A basic reason for the emergence of the Islamic rrevival movements of the
second half of the 19th century and 20th century, was not only to oppose the Western
imperialist forces, but also to combat contemporary Western thought, on which this force
leaned and which it nourished, and to develop an Islamic discourse.18 As an original
contemporary Muslim scholar and leader, Said Nursi dedicated his life to this mission.
1. The Importance of Sartre and Nursi
Existentialism in its various forms has been one of the philosophical movements
most influential in both the West and Muslim countries in recent times. Its
representatives included believers in God like Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Jaspers (1883-
1969), and Marcel (1884-1973), as well as atheists like Heidegger, Sartre, and Camus
(1913-1960). It is clear from this that although there was no complete agreement as to
what existentialism was or was not, its atheistic and nihilist varieties were more
influential in the 20th century. This influence continues at the present time in different
form. Conscious of this, John F. Whealons opinion was that no thinking man or woman
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
8/47
8
can develop a philosophy of life without confronting the problems raised by
existentialism. He said, furthermore: So long as one does not come to terms with the
problem of absurdity, propounded by contemporary existentialism, it is not possible to
put forward a satisfactory discourse.19
Thus, without mentioning its name, Said Nursi provided Quranic answers to some
of the fundamental questions posed by the contemporary philosophical discourse, from
the point of view of religion in general and Islam in particular.20 He tried to explain the
meaning the Quranic message expresses for man in the here and now, taking as his
aim the guidance of todays Muslims with a brand new lesson of the Quran. Bearing in
mind the interest shown the Risale-i Nur internationally, one can say his reply bears a
universal character. As erif Mardin discerns with the sensitivity of a sociologist, Said
Nursi was not only addressing the local villagers and Muslims of Turkey of that time with
the ideas he set forth in the gardens and orchards of Barla and heights of Cam Mountain,
but all Muslims and all mankind.
Another reason for my drawing comparisons between Said Nursi and an
existentialist philosopher is my opinion that Nursi may be included in the category of
existentialist thinkers in Islamic thought. These thinkers differed from the essentialist
Peripatetic philosophers who followed the Aristotelian line, and criticized them.21
II. SARTRES UNDERSTANDING OF BEING AND MAN
It was no coincidence that Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) rose to prominence as a
philosopher in the 1940s. This was a time that as Said Nursi (1877-1960) predicted,
mankind experienced great change and people intensied their search for religion and
truth. The collapse of the liberal paradigm with the First World War caused many people
to lose their belief in history, religion, and all values; starving, destitute, homeless people
who had lost their families, or who were wounded and lost, and without hope of the
future, came face to face with the human situation in the harshest and most acute way.
It has to be said that Sartres atheistic existentialist ideas, which emerged in the
above-mentioned context, have been more influential this century (20th). According to
B. Kaufmann, well known for his studies of the subject, existentialism gained prominence
internationally through Sartres works.22 His philosophy was to a large extent influenced
by such philosophers as F. Nietzsche, M. Heidegger, G. W. Hegel, and E. Husserl.
Whether he took ideas from them wholly, or interpreted them partially, he made a new
synthesis of them, and constructed atheist existentialist philosophy on them.23 There are
several reasons for this, the most important of which are: firstly: Sartre was writing in
Europe at a time people had been saved both from the Second World War and from
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
9/47
9
repression. Secondly: contrarily to the classical philosophical tradition, he expressed
even the most philosophical of his ideas in novels, essays, plays, and other literary
means, so reaching millions of readers. A further reason was Sartres ideas on free love,
which completely disregarded societys moral norms, and his indisputable atheism.24 In
order to understand Sartres nihilist existentialist ideas and their consequences forhumanity, one first has to understand his conceptualization of existence, and his
understanding of man, the result of this.
According to Plato, one of the greatest philosophers of the Western philosophical
tradition, the world of ideas is true existence. The world we see and experience through
our five senses is only a shadow of the world of ideas. This view had a profound influence
on the whole history of philosophy, including Muslim philosophers. The philosopher A. N.
Whitehead (1861-1947) said that Western philosophy was a mere footnote to Platos
works. J. P. Sartres views on being and man are nothing more than discussion of thisancient subject from a different viewpoint. Sartre made a twofold division of being into
being for itself, which we might call consciousness, and being in itself. That is, the
being we know through our senses, the object of experiment and observation.
However, what had prime importance for Sartre was being for itself, that is,
man. For in his 660-page work Being and Non-Being, he allots only six pages to being in
itself, and the rest to the former. And the purpose of those six pages was to act as an
introduction to being for itself. In other words, Sartre found the idea on which to base
his philosophy in this being for itself. We may now examine these concepts more
closely:
1. Being in itself
In Being and Non-Being, Sartre defines being in itself as whatever being is.25
It is therefore exactly the opposite of being for itself. Being in itself is the world of
objects/things; it is whatever is. It is therefore nothing else. Things are not in need of
anything for their existence. They are infinite and meaningless. Moreover, being in
itself has no meaning. There being no god or creator, everything simply exists without
any purpose or meaning. According to Sartre, therefore, we have no right to ask where
they (things) come from and why they are here. By reducing what exists to a series of
appearances that make it visible, modern thought (phenomenology) made a significant
advance... This new contradiction, the contradiction between the finite and the infinite, or
rather between the infinite within the finite, replaced the dilemma of being and bringing
into being.26 Garaudy says that this forms the centre of Sartres proof. According to
Sartre, it is a question of finding a transcendental reality, but this is not God; it is the
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
10/47
10
world.27
The meaninglessness and absurdity of being is expressed best in Sartres novel,
Nausea. This was his first novel, and reflects the world-views of his masters Husserl and
Heidegger.28 The novels central theme, in reality a philosophical manifesto, is that now
the world has no purpose it expresses nothing at all.29 The author puts the following
words in the hero, Roquentins mouth:
We were a mass of existents bored and fed up with ourselves. There was not the
slightest reason for any of us being there. Each being felt within himself a vague and
confused anxiety greater than the others. Being extra; this was the only relationship I
could form with the trees, the railings, the pebbles.30
Such a view can result only in bewilderment and anger. Everything is so
meaningless and existants are so unnecessary that they complain at their existence.
There is no necessary Being to put them there, to show them their place within a totality
of cause and meaning, that is to say, nothing to create them; there could be no God.
Nothing has anything before it or to come after. The thing in itself is only there. One
cannot ask where they all came from or how they are there, the world is nothings place.
There is no meaning in it.31 As repeated in Nausea, being is purposeless and
absurd.32 Having summarized briefly Sartres ideas on being, we can move on to his
understanding of man, which is relevant to the subject of this paper.
2. Being for itself: Man
As mentioned above, Sartres understanding of man, which he defines as being in
itself, results from his view of existence. Rejecting the idea of a creative God, Sartre
states that like the being in itself, man does not have a pre-created nature that is fixed
and the same as all other humans. He is being for itself, which Sartre defines as
consciousness. In his view, all beings other than man, according to the Hegelian theory
of opposites, belong to another group of beings: being in itself. While studying being foritself, we shall look at being for itself as consciousness, that being in itself as non-being.
According to Sartre, basically being for itself is consciousness, and in this
consciousness it is always the consciousness of something. Consciousness considers
everything outside itself that it encounters as being in itself. Being in itself is the exact
opposite of consciousness and being can only be known through consciousness. Man may
always be aware of his own consciousness, but this is the consciousness of something
permanent. Nevertheless, this something is different to consciousness and is outside it.
For this reason consciousness always distinguishes between itself and things other thanit. It never sees them as the same as itself.33 Sartre uses the symbol of a mirror in order
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
11/47
11
to illustrate the concept of consciousness. A mirror only contains something when it
reflects something. On its own, it has neither contents or meaning.34 Similarly, on i ts
own consciousness contains nothing, so the things it reflects are always other than itself
and outside of it.35 In short, consciousness has no essence and no contents. It is nothing
other than existence. Thus, things and consciousness are interdependent. Without
consciousness, things are meaningless chaos. And the existence of consciousness without
things is inconceivable. For consciousness is apparent only when it reflects things.
According to this, man does not have a nature/essence that was pre-determined
and is universal in the sense that it applies to all human beings. Consequently, it is a
question of the human situation, rather than human nature. Thus, all the qualities and
attributes posited universally for man by religions and metaphysical traditions were
rejected by Sartre. As a result, man had no nature he had to comply with or follow, or to
develop by adhering to particular ethical teachings. One of Sartres main theses relatedto man crops up here: Man determines himself, that is, he becomes man, through his
own projects/actions related to the future. In Maurice Cranstons words:
Man can never be in a specific and final situation; he is bound to always choose,
make decisions, re-enact old projects and put forward new ones. This function comes to
an end only with death.36
Thus, the meaning of Sartres famous saying being comes before essence
becomes clear: man is a being without essence (nature or inborn character). To possess
such an essence would be entirely contradictory to mans power to change/fulfil himself
in unlimited fashion. The thing he wants is to be human.37 A further meaning of this
understanding is its rejection of all values that would guide man and illuminate his path.
Man is completely alone in an absurd and meaningless world. His sole attribute, if there
is such a thing, is his being doomed to be free.
Sartre goes even further and proposes that it is mans duty to become as God.
Because, In Sartres works, the complete freedom arising from the non-existence of God
has left man free in his actions, and since as demanded by atheism, there is no outside
cause to direct his behaviour or any sanction by which to correct it, the individual has
taken on himself the whole burden and quite simply cast himself into aloneness.38
Sartre expresses this as follows:
Everything happened as though I was bound to be responsible for it. It wasnt
that I had been abandoned in life, alone and tossed around like a chip of wood on water,
but as though I was tied to a world for which I alone was responsible and the
responsibility of which I couldnt escape from even for a moment. Wwhatever I did I still
had to take it on myself, and suicide was just a way of life of another world like this
one.39
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
12/47
12
The noteworthy point here is that having rejected Gods existence, the rejection of
both the createdness of the world and its having order and meaning, and of man having
a nature, essence, and meaning. Accordingly, mans only attribute is his being free.
Indeed, this is not an attribute, it is something he is condemned to be. As Roger Reneaux
says: To exist truly is to be conscious, but to be free in a more profound sense. In fact, our being in the world constitutes freedom. Man is not free to be free; he is
condemned to be free.40 According to Sartre, freedom is the mortar of our
existence.41 So what is this? Reneaux summarizes Sartres view of freedom like this:
He does not reduce it to will and thinking like the psychologists. For he prefers to debate
and act reasonably rather than following inducements and passions.42 Sartres idea of
being comes first and necessitates essence, which he took from Heidegger, crops up
again here. And as a result of this, man appears in the world as a mirror reflecting his
own choices, projects, and existence.In other words, freedom is to do and to matureby doing and not to do anything else.44
3. Some Consequences of Existentialist Atheism
The reason I have offered a brief discussion of these ideas of Sartre is that, with
their view of existence as absurd and meaningless, existential atheism and nihilism are
still influential today in various ways. Whether one is aware of it or not, to see all the
things we come across in everyday life, the trees, birds, mountains, forests, seas, lakes,
earth, sun, stars, and planets, in short everything, to be unnecessary, meaningless, and
absurd, results from an understanding like the above. To deny or ignore the
transcendent and sacred dimension of nature, and look on it as just a thing which
formed itself and is just there, holding no meaning, produces various results in daily life.
Such a view does not necessarily have to be as destructive as existentialist nihilism, but
it leads to the loss of religious sensitivity and understanding, and of moral values, and to
degeneration and the alienation of a person from himself and from nature. David Ray
Griffin insists that the existentialist view of the world as absurd and meaningless
underlies many of the problems facing modern man.
Griffin sets out this subject most eloquently when investigating the ideas at the
heart of modernity. He asserts that the universes absurdity/meaningless is one of the
chief marks of existential philosophy. He asks: if as such existential thinkers as Martin
Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and even Franz Kafka (d. 1924) proposed,
the universe has no importance whatsoever and everything consists only of
absurdity/meaninglessness, what possible reason is there for people to live? Why should
they live in such a world? According to Griffin, because people are not offered the
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
13/47
13
slightest motive for living, they turn to violence, drink, and drugs as a way of life, or
become regular attenders of mental hospitals, or else commit suicide. Where there is no
meaning, death offers new possibilities. He says that it is interesting to consider alcohol
and drug abuse in modern societies from this point of view, as well as suicide.44 In the
face of this view of existentialist philosophy of the universe, which posits that (things)
cause themselves and in addition are absurd and meaningless, Nursi exclaims in
astonishment:
Glory be to God! Although all the beings in the universe from the smallest
particles to the sun show that the Creator has choice, each with its own appointed
individuality, order, wisdom, and measure, this blind philosophy refused to see it.45
It is for this reason that the Risale-i Nurcontinuously describes how everything
from atoms to the stars, and from the mosquitos digestive stystem to the solar system,
is orderly, meaningful, and harmonious, and created. In conclusion, a world in which
everything is in order, including man, cannot the product of chance. Mans most
important function is to Take for [his] object of love and worship One Who possesses
infinite perfection and a beauty that is infinitely sacred, exalted, transcendent, faultless,
flawless and unfading. ... His beauty and perfection are indicated and pointed to by all
the fairness, beauty, virtue and perfection of all lovable and loved objects in the
cosmos.46 This subject is touched on again and again in the Risale-i Nurs many
comparisons of belief and unbelief. Rather than discussing a single philosophical view, he
describes the chief aspects of belief in God as an absolute transcendent being, and those
who deny Him or do not accept Him, or more than that, who try to prove His non-
existence like Sartre. He does not make do with merely clarifying their stands, but
describes in detail the consequences for mankind of both these approaches.47 In order to
explain this further, I shall examine Said Nursis views on existence and man.
III. SAID NURSIS VIEWS ON EXISTENCE AND MAN
The main difference between Said Nursi and Sartre stems from their views of
existence. As a contemporary follower of the Islamic tradition and an o riginal Quranic
commentator, Nursi lays emphasis on the wholeness of existence and its metaphysical
dimension.48 While according to the phenomenology that Sartre employed
methodologically, phenomena consist of the direct data of experience, and the only
reality is the phenomena of the field of existence that we can perceive. There is no
invisible, unknowable being outside the sphere of contingency that the brain cannot
grasp or perceive directly.49 Sartre said that one cannot speak of any sort of being
outside of phenomena, and he rejected every sort of metaphysical substance. He
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
14/47
14
asserted that ontology is not a universal way of explaining things but an extensive
method of describing existence, as we saw above.50
It is not only the phenomenological method that rejects the metaphysical
dimension of existence and stripping the universe of its sacred aspects, shows it to be a
mass of lifeless meaningless things; Positivist science and the materialist philosophy
traditions follow a line close to this method.51 This is where Nursis originality becomes
apparent. A remark made about Iqbal may be applied to him too: He came to us as a
Saviour and restored to life the dead.52 Under the guidance of the Quran, Nursi also
showed the universe to be living, with all its beings in harmonious and meaningful order,
recognizing their Creator and glorifying Him, and thus all being brothers to one another.
He conjured up in the minds of his readers the picture of a universe that like them was a
believer and living and meaningful. He as though raised to life everything in the
universe. The Risale-i Nur challenged the tension and cleavage modernity had created
between man and nature, and the resulting problem of alienation of man from nature
and himself.53 If today people from very different backgrounds and countries are reading
the Risale-i Nurand trying to understand it, it is because of this. The following passage,
written by the English Muslim Colin Turner, provides a very good example of it:
Thanks to the Risale-i Nur, I was now able to see that previously, God had been
something that I hadbrought in to complete the occasion, an unknown factor placed
almost arbitrarily at the beginning of creation to avoid the impossibility of infinite
regression. He had been the First Cause, the Prime Mover, a veritable God of thegaps. He had been rather a constitutional monarch of the English variety, who must be
treated with the utmost respect but not allowed to interfere in the affairs of everyday life.
Inspired by the verse La ilaha illa Allah, the Risale-i Nurshows that the signs of
God, these mirrors of His names and attibutes, are revealed to us constantly in new and
ever-changing forms and configurations, eliciting acknowledgement, acceptance,
submission, love and worship. The Risale-i Nurshowed that there is a distinct process
involved in being Muslim in the true sense of the word: contemplation to knowledge,
knowledge to affirmation, affirmation to belief or conviction, and from conviction to
submission. ... Thus I can say that I had been a Muslim but not a believer; that which I
had assumed was belief was in reality nothing more than the inability to deny.
Bediuzzaman was not responsible for introducing me to Islam - which anyone could have
done - but for introducing me to belief. Belief through investigation, not through
imitation.54
Despite this property of the Risale-i Nur, Said Nursi makes no direct references to
either existentialism or phenomenology. Due to his method, with one or two exceptions,
he does not relate the philosophers propositions. Thus, rather than being a philosopher,which he anyway made no claim to be, he was a Quranic commentator and a propagator
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
15/47
15
of the Quran. The below passage, which refers to Ghazzali, is equally applicable to Nursi:
It is certain that by profession he was not a philosopher. He was a naturally
religious sage. He used reason, knowledge, and the Sharia as natural means of reaching
his goal. However this does not prevent us pointing out that throughout his intellectual
journey, his exemplary, fine mind both assisted philosophy and was assisted by it.55
Nursis main concern is with the results for humanity in general and Muslims in
particular of the existential viewpoint, which I tried to summarize above. It is because of
this that he frequently makes comparisons of the sacred wisdom of the All -Wise Quran
and the wisdom of philosophy. Utilizing the Quranic method and illustrating his views by
means of parabolic stories, he shows as follows the profound differences between the
Quranic viewpoint and that of philosophy (phenomenology):
One time, a renowned Ruler who was both religious and a fine craftsman wanted
to write the All-Wise Quran in a script worthy of the sacredness in its meaning and the
miraculousness in its words, so that its marvel-displaying stature would be arrayed in
wondrous apparel. The artist-King therefore wrote the Quran in a truly wonderful
fashion. He used all his precious jewels in its writing. In order to indicate the great
variety of its truths, he wrote some of its embodied letters in diamonds and emeralds,
and some in rubies and agate, and other sorts in brilliants and coral, while others he
inscribed with silver and gold. He adorned and decorated it in such a way that everyone,
those who knew how to read and those who did not, were full of admiration and
astonishment when they beheld it. Especially in the view of the people of truth, since the
outer beauty was an indication of the brilliant beauty and striking adornment in its
meaning, it became a truly precious antique.
Then the Ruler showed the artistically wrought and bejewelled Quran to a
European philosopher and to a Muslim scholar. In order to test them and for reward, he
commanded them: Each of you write a work about the wisdom and purposes of this!
First the philosopher, then the scholar composed a book about it. However, the
philosophers book discussed only the decorations of the letters and their relationships
and conditions, and the properties of the jewels, and described them. It did not touch on
their meaning at all, for the European had no knowledge of the Arabic script. He did not
even know that the embellished Quran was a book, a written piece, expressing a
meaning. He rather looked on it as an ornamented antique. He did not know any Arabic,
but he was a very good engineer, and he described things very aptly, and he was a
skilful chemist, and an ingenious jeweller. So this man wrote his work according to those
crafts.
As for the Muslim scholar, when he looked at the Quran, he understood that it
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
16/47
16
was the Perspicuous Book, the All-Wise Quran. This truth-loving person neither attached
importance to the external adornments, nor busied himself with the ornamented letters.
He became preoccupied with something that was a million times higher, more elevated,
more subtle, more noble, more beneficial, and more comprehensive than the matters
with which the other man had busied himself. For discussing the sacred truths and lights
of the mysteries beneath the veil of the decorations, he wrote a truly fine commentary.
Then the two of them took their works and presented them to the Illustrious
Ruler. The Ruler first took the philosophers work. He looked at it and saw that the self-
centred and nature-worshipping man had worked very hard, but had written nothing of
true wisdom. He had understood nothing of its meaning. Indeed, he had confused it and
been disrespectful towards it, and ill-mannered even. For supposing that source of truths,
the Quran, to be meaningless decoration, he had insulted it as being valueless in regard
to meaning. So the Wise Ruler hit him over the head with his work and expelled him from
his presence.
Then he looked at the work of the other, the truth-loving, scrupulous scholar,
and saw that it was an extremely fine and beneficial commentary, a most wise
composition full of guidance. Congratulations! May God bless you!, he said. Thus,
wisdom is this and they call those who possess it knowledgeable and wise. As for the
other man, he was a craftsman who had exceeded his mark. Then in reward for the
scholars work, he commanded that in return for each letter ten gold pieces should be
given him from his inexhaustible treasury.56
The truth alluded to by the parable he explains like this:
The ornamented Quran is this artistically fashioned universe, and the Ruler is the
Pre-Eternal All-Wise One. As for the two men, one -the European- represents philosophy
and its philosophers, and the other, the Quran and its students.
Yes, the All-Wise Quran is a most elevated expounder, a most eloquenttranslator of the Mighty Quran of the Universe. It is the Criterion which instructs man
and the jinn concerning the signs of creation inscribed by the pen of power on the pages
of the universe and on the leaves of time. It regards beings, each of which is a
meaningful letter, as bearing the meaning of another, that is, it looks at them on account
of their Maker. It says, How beautifully they have been made! How exquisitely they point
to their Makers beauty!, thus showing the universes true beauty. But the philosophy
they call natural philosophy or science has plunged into the decorations of the letters of
beings and into their relationships, and has become bewildered; it has confused the way
of reality. While the letters of this mighty book should be looked at as bearing the
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
17/47
17
meaning of another, that is, on account of God, they have not done this; they have
looked at beings as signifying themselves. That is, they have looked at beings on account
of beings, and have discussed them in that way. Instead of saying, How beautifully they
have been made, they say How beautiful they are, and have made them ugly. In doing
this they have insulted the universe, and made it complain about them. Indeed,
philosophy without religion is a sophistry divorced from reality and an insult to the
universe.57
This long quote broadly illustrates Nursis understanding both of existence and of
man. Primarily, the universe and everything in it is created by God. The essential being is
God, the Transcendent. However, he does not deny the reality of the external world like
some of the Sufis. On the contrary, he states that all the beings of the external world are
reflections, manifestations, and signs of the Absolute, Transcendent Being, so they have
a reality. For Nursi, the universe, which Sartre defined as being in itself, is something
completely different; he lays it before us as a book, the great book of being. What is
more, he takes us from the change, continuation, order, beauty, and harmony that we
observe in the universe, to the Absolute Being:
Since things exist and they are full of art, they surely have a maker. As is
decisively proved in the Twenty-Second Word, if everything is not one persons, then
each thing becomes as difficult and problematical as all things. Since someone made the
earth and the heavens and created them, for sure that most wise and skilful Being would
not leave to others living beings, which are the fruits, results, and aims of the heavens
and the earth, and spoil his work. Making it futile and without purpose, He would not
hand over to others all His wise works; He would not give their thanks and worship to
others.
If you want knowledge of reality and true wisdom, gain knowledge of Almighty
God. For the realities of beings are rays of the divine name of Truth and the
manifestations of His names and attributes. The reality of all things, whether physical,
non-physical, essential, non-essential, and the reality of all human beings, is based on a
name and relies on Its reality. Things are not merely insignificant forms without
reality.58
The chief purpose of all the beings in the universe, which Sartre called being in
itself, is to show the essential Being, Who is transcendent. According to Nursi, beings
perform the function of being mirrors:
If you look at the aspect of things that is turned towards the divine names and
the hereafter you will see that each seed, a miracle of power, has an aim as vast as a
tree. Each flower, which is like a word of divine wisdom, has meanings as numerous as
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
18/47
18
the flowers on a tree, and each fruit, a wonder of Gods workmanship and a poem
dictated by His mercy, has wise purposes as numerous as the fruits of a tree. As for the
fruit serving us as sustenance, it is merely one out of those many thousand wise
purposes; it fulfils its purpose, expresses its meanings, and dies, being buried in our
stomach. Since these transient beings yield eternal fruits in another place, leave there
permanent forms of themselves, and express there everlasting meanings; since they
engage in ceaseless glorification of the Maker; and since man becomes man by
perceiving these aspects of things that are oriented to the hereafter, thus finding his way
to eternity by means of the transient...59
Nursi later explains with examples how the universe and beings act as
mirrors to the divine names, emphasizing that this viewpoint is Quranic:
Understand therefore that the reality of beings is based on and relies on the
divine names; rather, that their true realities are the manifestations of those names; and
that everything mentions and glorifies its Maker with numerous tongues in numerous
ways. And understand one meaning of the verse: And there is not a single thing but
extols His glory and praise.60 Say, Glory be to Him Who is hidden in the intensity of His
manifestation. And understand one reason why phrases like the following are repeatedly
mentioned at the end of the Qurans verses: And He is the Mighty, the Wise. * And He is
the Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. * And He is All-Knowing, All-Powerful.61
If you are unable to read the names in a flower and cannot see them clearly, look
at Paradise, study the spring, watch the face of the earth. You will be able to read clearly
the names written there, for they are the huge flowers of mercy. You will be able to see
and understand their impresses and manifestations.62
As is seen here, according to Nursi, from top to bottom the universe is fruitful
with aims and purposes, charged with duties from particles to the sun, and subjugated to
the divine commands, implicitly emphasizing the following point: man is not aimless and
purposeless. It is not possible that in a world as full of meaning as a book or a work of
art, he should be without meaning and aim.
1. The Significative Meaning of Things, and their Nominal Meaning
Here, one of the key concepts of Said Nursis understanding of existence, perhaps
the most important, should be explained. This is the significative meaning of things
(mana-y harfi) and the nominal meaning (mana-y ismi). In Bediuzzamans view, the
main reason the Quran speaks of nature and the universe is indirect. That is, it does not
speak of it in order to describe it as modern science does; it does so with a view tospeaking of God, the Creator and Owner of all things. For since the universe was created
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
19/47
19
by Him, everything in it points to Him and is like a missive from Him.
These concepts, which were used also by the great figures of Sufism,63 are to be
seen also in Nursis early works. While he looked on his early works as seeds and
nurseries of the Risale-i Nur, in the period he called that of the New Said, he reused
these concepts, but in a most lively and effective manner. If we take a look at all his
early works, in the introduction to Mesnevi-yi Nuriye, which was written in Arabic and
later translated into Turkish, we see he draws attention to this question as follows:
In my forty years of life and thirty years of study, I have learnt only four words
and four phrases. They will be explained later in detail, and here mentioned only briefly.
What is meant by the words is the significative meaning of things (mana-y harfi), the
nominal meaning of things (mana-y ismi), intention (niyet) and point of view (nazar).
They are as follows:
All things other than God [the universe] should be looked at as having a
significative meaning (mana-y harfi), and on His account. It is mistaken to look at them
as signifying only themselves (mana-y ismi) and on account of causes.
Yes, everything has two aspects; one looks to the Creator and the other to
creatures. The aspect that looks to creatures should be [seen] as a veil which shows the
aspect looking to its Creator beneath, like a lace veil or a transparent piece of glass. In
which case, when one looks at bounties, the Bestower of bounties should come to mind,
and when looking at the art [in creatures], their Fashioner, and when looks at causes,
the Truly Effective Agent should occur to one. (...) If one looks at material things on
account of causes, it is ignorance, whereas if one looks on account of God, it is
knowledge of God.64
On understanding the logical structure underlying this concept, one may grasp the
foundation on which the whole Risale-i Nurproject is constructed.65 Another point is that
this viewpoint and logic immediately attracted the attention of the first Risale-i Nur
students. The answer he gave to one of these, Refet Bey, in Barla, where the Risale-i
Nurwas first written, also indicates his view of nature:
As for discussion ofmana-y harfiand mana-y ismi, they are explained at the
beginnings of the all the grammar books. There is also adequate discussion of them in
the treatises called Szler(The Words) and Mektubat(Letters). Further discussion would
be superfluous for an intelligent and attentive person like yourself. When you look in the
mirror, if you look at the glass, you see it intentionally, and Refet strikes the eyes
secondarily and indirectly. But if you look at the mirror in order to see your blessed face,
you would see lovable Refet intentionally, and would declare: Blessed be God, the Best
of Creators! The glass would strike the eye secondarily and indirectly. Thus, in the first
case, the glass is mana-y ismi, and Refet is mana-y harfi, while in the second case, the
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
20/47
20
glass is mana-y harfi, that is, it is not looked at for itself, it is looked at for another
meaning, which is the reflection. The reflection is mana-y ismi; that is, it indicates a
meaning in itself, which in a way is included in the definition of ism. And the mirror
indicates a meaning other than itself, which is a definition of harf. According to the
Quranic view, all the beings of the universe are letters (hurf); according to mana-yharfi, they express the meaning of another. That is to say, they make known [the divine]
names and attributes. For the most part, soulless philosophy looks in accordance with
mana-y ismi, and gets stuck in the mire of nature.66
The answer Nursi gave to another question is also important in connection with
the above subject. It concerns the reason Nursi headed all his letters with verse 44 of
Sura al-Isra. It is both interesting and gives some important clues about the Risale-i
Nurs method:
You ask the reason for all my letters being headed with And there is nothing but
it glorifies Him with praise. The reason is this: this was the first door opened to me from
the sacred treasuries of the All-Wise Quran. Of the elevated Quranic truths, it was the
truth of this verse that first became clear to me and it is this truth which pervades most
parts of the Risale-i Nur.67
A letter written in a book indicates itself in only one way, but it indicates its
writer and describes the one who inscribed it in many ways. Similarly, if all the words
inscribed in embodied form in the book of the universe show themselves to their own
extent, they show their Maker in numerous way, both singly and all together, and display
His names. Each is quite simply an ode written to sing the praises of its Maker through its
attributes, forms, and embroideries.68
I said above that seeing the universe as a book and reading it is more vital and
effective in the works of the New Said. One of the best examples of this is in the Thirtieth
Flash, which is about the divine names:
... the greatest manifestation of the divine name of Sapient has made the
universe like a book in every page of which hundreds of books have been written, and in
every line of which hundreds of pages have been included, and in every word of which
are hundreds of lines, and in each letter of which are a hundred words, and in every
point of which is found a short index of the book. The books pages and lines down to the
very points show its Inscriber and Writer with such clarity that that book of the universe
testifies to and proves the existence and unity of its Scribe to a degree far greater than it
shows its own existence. For if a single letter shows its own existence to the extent of a
letter, it shows its Scribe to the extent of a line.
Yes, one page of this mighty book is the face of the earth. (...) A single line of
the page is a garden. We see that written on this line are well-composed odes to the
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
21/47
21
number of flowers, trees, and animals, together, one within the other, without error. One
word of the line is a tree which has opened its blossom and put forth its leaves in order
to produce its fruit. This word consists of meaningful passages lauding and praising the
All-Glorious Sapient One to the number of orderly, well-proportioned, adorned leaves,
flowers, and fruits. It is as though like all trees, this tree is a well-composed ode singing
the praises of its Inscriber. (...)
... in all its blossoms and fruits is a balance. The balance is within an order, and
the order is within an ordering and balancing which is being constantly renewed. The
ordering and balancing is within an art and adornment, and the adornment and art are
within meaningful scents and wise tastes. Thus, each flower points to the All-Glorious
Sapient One to the number of the trees blossoms.
And in the tree, which is a word, the point of a seed in a fruit, which is like a
letter, is a small coffer containing the index and programme of the whole tree. And so on.
To continue the same analogy, through the manifestation of the name of Sapient and
Wise, all the lines and pages of the book of the universe -and not only its lines, but all its
words, letters, and points- have been made as miracles so that even if all causes should
gather together, they could not make the like of a single point, nor could they dispute it.
Yes, since each of the creational signs of this mighty Quran of the universe displays
miracles to the number of points and letters of those signs...69
As is seen here, Nursi calls the universe the mighty Quran of the universe, and
he repeats it in many places. As was mentioned above, this approach in his early works
acted as the nucleus of the collection of works he later called the Risale-i Nur. Another
important point is that this viewpoint is Quranic, that is, it is derived directly from the
Quran; and it corroborates the line followed by Ghazzali, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi, and
Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi.70 To put it another way, some of the points discussed in his
early works, were restated, in erif Mardins words, in a mytho-poetic style that
addressed everyone.71 The aim of all these is to explain the relationship between the
universe and God, and eencourage the individual to form close relations with Him, based
on this. According to Nursi, the way man can rise to the highest degrees of affirming
divine unity, is to look with the eye of wisdom at the lines of successive events inscribed
by the Pre-Eternal Inscriber on the broad dimensions of the pages of the world, and
ponder over their reality.72
Seeing the universe as a missive from a transcendent being (the sublime
assembly), and reading it and drawing conclusions from it, forms the greater part of Said
Nursis endeavours. It is also puts forward what the Quran seeks from the individual:
Due to the source of assistance and point of support in his heart, mans
conscience does not forget the Maker. Even if his mind ceases to work, his conscience
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
22/47
22
does not; it is preoccupied with two important duties. It is like this: if one refers to his
conscience, [he will see that] like the physical heart conveys life to all the parts of the
body, knowledge of the Maker, the source of life of the heart, spreads life to all mans
various desires and inclinations which arise from his unlimited abilities and potentialities;
it affords them pleasure and value and expands and extends them.73
Another conclusion is that Knowledge of the Maker is [mans] only point of
support in the face of the thousands of misfortunes and troubles that afflict him
successively in this tumultuous life with its strife and clamour. Powerful belief is thus the
foundation of a strong self; the pyschological state it generates is the force by which a
person may organize his life and withstand every sort of hardship.
It may be said that Said Nursis project was the reestablishment of belief in God
and the other truths of belief. The answer he gave to criticism of this is striking; it both
describes the true nature of belief, and draws the parameters of the relationship between
man, the universe, and God, which should result from such belief:
Now too in Istanbul, with a still more sinister intention, some hypocrites of
anarchist persuasion who have fallen prey to utter unbelief wish cunningly to deprive
everyone of the truths of the faith that are contained in the Risale-i Nur and are as
essential to man as bread and water. They say: Every nation and every individual knows
God; we have no great need for new instruction in this matter.
To know God, however, means to have certain belief in His dominicality
encompassing all beings, and in all things, particular and universal, from the atoms to
the stars, being in the grasp of His power, action, and will; it means believing in the
truths of the sacred words, There is nogod but God, and assenting to them with ones
heart. For simply to say, God exists, and then to divide His sovereignty among causes
and Nature and attribute it to them; to recognize causes as sources of authority, as if -
God forbid- they were partners to God; to fail to perceive His will and knowledge as
present with all things; to refuse to recognize His strict commands, and to reject His
attributes, and the messengers and prophets He has sent - this has nothing to do with
the reality of belief in God. The person who does all this, then says God exists, does so
only in order to find some relief from the torment he suffers in the world after his
unbelief has made it a hell for him. Not to deny is one thing; to believe is something
completely different. No being endowed with consciousness, in the whole universe, can
indeed deny the All-Glorious Creator to Whom every particle of existence bears witness.
Or if he does make such a denial, he will be rebuffed by all of creation, and hence
become silent and diffident.
But believing in Him is, as the Quran of Mighty Stature informs us, to assent in
ones heart to the Creator with all of His attributes and names, supported by the
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
23/47
23
testimony of the whole universe; to recognize the messengers He has sent and the
commands He has promulgated; and to make sincere repentance and feel genuine regret
for every sin and act of disobedience. Conversely, to commit every kind of sin, and then
never to seek pardon for it or concern oneself with it, is a sure sign of the absence of any
element of faith.74
The opposite situation is represented by philosophy, which Said Nursi battled
against throughout his life. As was pointed out previously, these are the materialist-
mechanistic and existential nihilist viewpoints, which deny God and every sort of
metaphysical value.
2. Nursis Understanding of Man
The natural result of the differences in Sartres and Nursis views of existence is
that their views of man are also different. Sartres saying existence precedes essence
sums up best his understanding of man. Rejecting the idea of a creative God, he
necessarily rejected the idea of man possessing an essence (nature) that pre-existed
him. Just like being in itself, mans being pre-dates every sort of essence. For since
there is no God and man has no pre-determined/created essence, he has to create
everything qualifiable himself; there is no value or transcendental being he has to comply
with. Man has to create all values himself and define their course. And while doing this he
is all alone. In fact, what makes man man is his ability to form this essence. ... in this
way man is saved from being defined by an essence that preceded all individuality and is
the same for all mankind, and is made a being with the ability to some way create
himself.75 This is the point Sartre deifies man, in Nursis words, where the ego
becomes like the pharaoh, usurping Gods place.76
In keeping with the understanding of existence we attempted to delineate above,
Said Nursi believes that the universe and man are created by a transcendent, creative
God: ... these beings have elevated positions and important duties; they are dominical
missives, divine mirrors, and divine officials.77
According to Nursi, man has been created on the most excellent ofpatterns and
has been given most comprehensive abilities. That is, the Creator has given him a pre -
existent essence.78 However, this is not an obstacle to mans freedom and his self-
fulfilment, as Sartre supposed. If he grasps the possibilities offered him in both the
universe and in his own essence and makes the correct choices, he may rise or fall to
stations, ranks, and degrees from the lowest of the low to the highest of the high, from
the earth to the Divine Throne, and from minute particles to the sun in the arena of trial
and examination into which he has been cast.79 It is because of this that man also has
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
24/47
24
been sent to this world as a miracle of divine power, the result of creation, and a wonder
of divine art. Thus, mans duty is not to create his own values and deify himself, but
discovering the perfect order/possibilities in the universe and in himself, to consciously
comply with the universal values, which have their basis in the Absolute, Transcendent
Being, and in this way to ascribe meaning to the universe and to his own life.
Nursi explains with the example of a seed that man has a pre-existent essence
and nature and that it is his duty to bring it out with his free will from the potential to
the actual.80 Once again it is seen from this how interdependent are the views of the
world and of man:
Indeed, man resembles a seed. This seed has been given significant immaterial
members by divine power and a subtle, valuable programme by divine determining, so
that it may work beneath the ground, and emerging from that narrow world, enter the
broad world of the air, and asking its Creator with the tongue of its disposition to be a
tree, find a perfection worthy of it. If, due to bad temperament, the seed uses the
immaterial members given it in attracting certain harmful substances under the ground,
in a short time it will rot and decay in that narrow place without benefit. But if the seed
conforms to the creational command of, God is the Splitter of the seed-grain and date-
stone(6:95) and employs well those immaterial members, it will emerge from that
narrow world, and through becoming a large fruit-bearing tree, its tiny particular reality
and its spirit will take on the form of an extensive universal reality.
Similarly, significant members and valuable programmes have been deposited in
mans nature by divine power and determining. If man uses those immaterial members
on the desires of his soul and on minor pleasures under the soil of worldly life in the
narrow confines of this earthly world, he will decay and decompose in the midst of
difficulties in a brief life in a constricted place like the rotted seed, and load the
responsibility on his unfortunate spirit, then depart from this world.81
In another place, he describes the nature of the things of the physical world and
mans nature, and their relationship:
All these fruits and the seeds within them are miracles of dominical wisdom,
wonders of divine art, gifts of divine mercy, material proofs of divine unity, bearers of the
good news that divine favours will be granted in the hereafter.
Just as they are all truthful witnesses to His all-embracing power and knowledge
...
Furthermore, just as the fruits and seeds are mirrors professing divine unity, so
they are the visible signs of divine determining (kader) and embodied tokens of divine
power. Through these words, divine determining and power intimate the following: The
many branches and twigs of this tree appeared from a single seed and demonstrate the
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
25/47
25
unity of the trees Artist in creating it and giving it form. (...)
In the same way, man, who is the fruit of the tree of the universe, is the purpose
of its creation and existence and the aim of the creation of beings. While his heart, which
is the seed of the fruit, is a most brillian t and comprehensive mirror to the universes
Maker.82
Only if man actualizes these abilities within the framework of Islams values will
his situation be different. If, nurturing this seed of the potentialities entrusted to him in
his creation with the water of Islam and light of belief under the soil of worship, and
obeying the Quranic commands, he directs these immaterial members towards their true
purposes, then his situation will be completely different; he will both advance on the way
of being a perfect man, and a luminous, blessed fruit of the tree of creation.
Another noteworthy point here is the symbolic use of three of the four elements,
water, light, and earth, in connection with mans spiritual advancement and maturation,
and the function with which man is charged. In any event, man has to actively build his
personality and self, and strive to be a perfect man.83
A further point is that by nature man is connected to and in need of most of tthe
varieties of beings in the universe. As a result his needs spread through every part of
the world, and his desires extend to eternity.84 Here, Nursi is using a psychological
approach, and is investigating mans being either happy or unhappy in connection with
the human situation. This plays a part in whether or not he is happy, and is a
fundamental characteristic distinguishing him from the animals and other beings. For
man then, who is created in this way (Heidegger and Sartre would say flung into the
world), the only true object of worship will be one in whose hand are the reins of all
things, with whom are the treasuries of all things, who sees all things, and is present
everywhere, who is beyond space, exempt from impotence, free of fault, and far above
all defect; an All-Powerful One of Glory, an All-Compassionate One of Beauty, an All-Wise
One of Perfection.85 For it is only one possessing infinite power and knowledge who can
answer all mans infinite needs. In which case, it is only He Who is fit to be worshipped.
3. Mans Nature and I
When making a comparison of Sartre and Nursi another question to consider is
that of the I or ego, for this concept or the way the I perceives and constructs itself,
constitutes an important part of their systems. The I or ego has held an importan t place
in Western philosophy since Descartes laid the foundations of modern philosophy. While
in the Islamic tradition, the concept goes back to Bayazid Bistami (d. 848) and Hallaj al-Mansur (d. 922).86
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
26/47
26
When Descartes wanted to construct his system on unshakeable foundations, he
did so on the thinking I, that is, the I or ego. He doubted everything, but because he
doubted was not doubtful, and finally made his famous statement, I think; therefore I
am. Since Descartes, the I or consciousness, as the subject who knows himself, has
been accorded a very important place in philosophy. For with these words, Descartes was
also introducing body-spirit dualism into philosophical debates as though it were
something unsolvable. It may be said that at base the debates of philosophers both
atheist and theist have centred on the body-spirit question. The results of this dualism in
science is another, lengthy, matter.87
Sartre too, when setting out his views on being in itself, posited
consciousness, that is, the I, as the being who knows itself as opposed to the former,
and is aware of itself.88 Said Nursi addresses the question of the I or ego in the
Thirtieth Word. However, the I as Nursi describes it, is what human consciousness, or toput it another way what man is, in relation to God, the Absolute Being. It is of the
greatest importance to understand the Is true nature from this point of view.89 For
whether a person is a believer or unbeliever depends on his attitude to the I and how he
understands it. What is more:
Just as the I is the key to the divine names, which are hidden treasures, so is it
the key to the locked talisman of creation; it is a problem-solving riddle, a wondrous
talisman. When its nature is known, both the I itself, that strange riddle, that amazing
talisman, is disclosed, and it discloses the talisman of the universe and the treasures of
the Necessary World.
What is noteworthy here is that Nursi describes both the essence (mahiyet) of the
I, and what it is. Firstly, inessence, the I is created by God and entrusted to man.
Then, having established this, it becomes the I that distinguishes one person from
another, making him what he is, original or otherwise. While the former aspect is given,
and in Descartes words knowledge of it is obvious, the existence of the latter aspect is
tied to man. That is, it is mans moving towards the Absolute Being through his own
limited powers and faculties as a result of understanding himself. That is, in this second
sense, the Is existence is functional; it is a means and measure for knowing the
Essential Being. Nevertheless, this is not a simple matter as is supposed, but one of the
most complex in the history of philosophy.
As in the Descartes example, he was aware of his own consciousness (the I) aas
the clearest fact, then realizing his own limited nature deduced Gods existence as a
perfect, transcendent Being. Then from Gods existence he established the existence of
the outside world.90
However, after Descartes, his successors bifurcated into two. Some veered into
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
27/47
27
the metaphysical world from the I, and others, basing the I on the body, became
entirely engulfed in materialism, like Sartre and his thesis of existence precedes
essence. The debate still continues. As was mentioned above, in Nursis view, this
supreme importance of the Is formation and shaping is because it governs whether or
not a person is a believer:
The key to the world is in the hand of man and is attached to his self. For while
being apparently open, the doors of the universe are in fact closed. God Almighty has
given to man by way of a Trust, such a key, called the I, that it opens all the doors of
the world; He has given him an enigmatic I with which he may discover the hidden
treasures of the Creator of the universe. But the I is also an extremely complicated
riddle and a talisman that is difficult to solve. When its true nature and the purpose of its
creation are known, as it is itself solved, so will be the universe.91
According to Nursi, the All-Wise Creator gave man his I as a trust. As was stated
above, the Trust mentioned in the Quran, which the heavens, earth, and mountains
refused to undertake because they were daunted by it, is related to the I. It is due to
this that mankinds history has been shaped in accordance with how the I has been
understood. The striking point here is the resemblance between Nursis understanding of
the I and the Islamic tradition on the one hand, particularly, the Sufistic understanding,
and that of Descartes, according to whom the I does not have an independent reality;
it is something whose existence is dependent on another and whose chief function is to
show that true existence.92 In other words, the Is existence is relative. It is rela tive in
the face of the Absolute Beings expressing and showing Himself; its existence is not of
itself. In Nursis words:
The All-Wise Maker gave to man as a Trust an I which comprises indications and
samples that show and cause to recognize the truths of the attributes and functions of
His dominicality, so that the I might be a unit of measurement and the attributes of
dominicality and functions of Divinity might be known. However, it is not necessary for a
unit of measurement to have actual existence; like hypothetical lines in geometry, a unit
of measurement may be formed by hypothesis and supposition. It is not necessary for its
actual existence to be established by concrete knowledge and proofs.93
In explaining why knowledge of Gods attributes and names is tied to the I, Nursi
follows logic similar to Descartes, basing his argument on Gods being ppre-eternal, post-
eternal, and absolute, and mans being limited. He says that an Absolute Being cannot be
known, and that something hypothetical or imaginary is necessary so that He may be
known:
Since an absolute and all-encompassing thing has no limits or end, neither may a
shape be given to it, nor may a form be conferred on it, nor may it be determined; what
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
28/47
28
its quiddity is may not be comprehended. For example, an endless light without darkness
may not be known or perceived. But if a line of real or imaginary darkness is drawn, then
it becomes known. Thus, since God Almightys attributes like knowledge and power, and
names like All-Wise and All-Compassionate are all-encompassing, limitless, and without
like, they may not be determined, and what they are may not be known or perceived.
Therefore, since they do not have limits or an actual end, it is necessary to draw a
hypothetical and imaginary limit. The I does this. It imagines in itself a fictitious
dominicality, ownership, power, and knowledge: it draws a line. By doing this it places an
imaginary limit on the all-encompassing attributes, saying, Up to here, mine, after that,
His; it makes a division. With the tiny units of measurement in itself, it slowly
understands the true nature of the attributes.94
Nursi gives an example of this, and pointing out the things man owns(!),
investigates who the true owner is. The crux of the matter is this concept of ownership.
Who do I belong to, and who does the world about me belong to?95 This is the starting
point of mans perception of himself and things outside of himself. According to Nursi,
... with its imagined dominicality over what it owns, the I may understand the
dominicality of its Creator over contingent creation. And with its apparent ownership, it
may understand the true ownership of its Creator, saying: Like I am the owner of this
house, so too is the Creator the owner of the universe.And with its partial knowledge, it
may understand His knowledge, and with its small amount of acquired art, it may
understand the originative art of the Glorious Maker. For example, the I says: As Imade this house and arranged it, so someone must have made the universe and
arranged it, and so on.96
Nursi says that Thousands of mysterious states, attributes, and perceptions
which make known and show to a degree all the divine attributes and functions are
contained within the I. Once again, his pos ition is the reverse of the existentialist view,
which rejects the idea that man has an essence and nature that pre-existed him. On the
contrary, the I is mirror-like, and, like a unit of measurement and tool for discovery, it
has an indicative meaning; having no meaning in itself, it shows the meaning of others.
It is a conscious strand from the thick rope of the human being, a fine thread from the
raiment of the essence of humanity, it is an Alif from the book of the character of
mankind, and it has two faces.
Nursi explains these two faces of the I with the concepts of the significative
meaning of things (mana-y harfi) and their nominal meaning (mana-y ismi). These were
discussed above. However, in this context, the real nature of the I is indicative; it
shows the meaning of things other than itself. Its dominicality is imaginary. Its existence
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
29/47
29
is so weak and insubstantial that in itself it cannot bear or support anything at all.
Rather, it is a sort of scale or measure, like a thermometer or barometer, that indicates
the degrees and amounts of things; it is a measure that makes known the absolute, all-
encompassing and limitless attributes of the Necessary Being.97
Nursi says that one who knows his own self in this way, and realizes and acts
according to it, is included in the good news of, Truly he succeeds who purifies it.(91:9)
He truly carries out the Trust, and through the telescope of his I, he sees what the
universe is and what duties it is performing. When he obtains information about the
universe, he sees that his I confirms it. This knowledge will remain as light and wisdom
for him, and will not be transformed into darkness and futility. When the I fulfils its duty
in this way, it abandons its imaginary dominicality and supposed ownership, which are
the units of measurement, and it says: His is the sovereignty and to Him is due all
praise; His is the judgement and to Him will you all be brought back. It achieves trueworship. It attains the rank of the Most Excellent of Patterns.98
In Nursis view, this is the Is true aim and its face that makes man into a true
human being. All the revealed religions see man as the free addressee of the Absolute
Being. And the aim of religion is raise man to the level of the perfect man through his
own free consciousness, thus realizing the potentialities lodged in his nature by God.
However, if, forgetting the wisdom of its creation and abandoning the duty of its nature,
the I views itself solely in the light of its nominal and apparent meaning, if it believes
that it owns itself, then it betrays the Trust, and it comes under the category of, And hefails who corrupts its.(91:11) It was of this aspect of the Trust, therefore, which gives
rise to all ascribing of partners to God, evil, and misguidance, that the heavens, earth,
and mountains were terrified; they were frightened of associating hypothetical partners
with God.
4. The Relationship Between the Universe, the Unbeliever, and the
Believer
According to Said Nursi, the universe and all it contains does not only point to
God; it is also a question of it having relationships with those who either recognize Him
or do not recognize Him, and either loving them or loathing them. He says that all the
beings in the universe are concerned with how men perceive them and act towards them.
Quoting verse 8 of Sura al-Mulk, he says that the universe and elements become angry
with the people of misguidance. This is because, in the Quranic context, all beings are
charged with elevated duties, and are divine officials, so while they are performing these
functions and glorifying their Sustainer, to deny and disbelieve in them casts them down
-
8/6/2019 Existence and Man: Nursi and J. P. Sartre
30/47
30
from this high rank, showing them to be lifeless, transitory, meaningless creatures.
The Wise Quran states in miraculous fashion that the universe grows angry at
the evil of the people of misguidance, and the universal elements becomes wrathful, and
all beings, furious. In awesome fashion it depicts the storm visited on the people of Noah
and the assaults of the heavens and earth, the anger of the element air at the denial of
the Ad and Thamud peoples, and the fury of the sea and element water at the people of
Pharaoh, and the rage of the element earth at Qarun, and in accordance with the verse,
Almost bursting with fury,(67:8) the vehemence and anger of Hell at the people of
unbelief in the hereafter, and the rage of the other beings at the unbelievers and people
of misguidance; in miraculous fashion it restrains the people of misguidance and
rebellion.99
When expounding verse 29 of Sura al-Dukhan, The heavens and the earth wept
not over them, which refers to the people of misguidance, Nursi is again drawing
attention to this dimension of the man-universe relationship:
The explicit meaning of the verse is that the heavens and the earth do not weep
when the people of misguidance die. The implied meaning is that the heavens and the
earth do weep when the people of belief depart this world. For the people of
misguidance, through their denial of the duties and functions of the heavens and earth,
their ignorance of their meaning, their rejection of their value, their refusal to recognize
their Maker, are in fact actin