{"id":185186,"date":"2025-09-22T23:52:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T23:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=185186"},"modified":"2025-09-22T23:52:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T23:52:08","slug":"in-search-of-the-names-of-allah-swt-in-the-streets-ofgodless-constantinople-risale-i-nur-and-bediuzzaman-said-nursi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=185186","title":{"rendered":"In Search of\u00a0the\u00a0Names\u00a0of Allah SWT\u00a0in the Streets\u00a0ofGodless\u00a0Constantinople:\u00a0Risale-i\u00a0Nur\u00a0and\u00a0Bediuzzaman Said Nursi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By, Md Maruf Hasan<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about a situation when modernity enters Muslim territory. The Kh<\/em>ilafa<\/em> <\/em>system collapsed, which was followed for a few centuries due to the rise of secularism, nationalism, and democracy. Islam as a religion was considered outdated, and it was systematically and technically banned within the state. Nobody can speak words on behalf of Allah SWT. There was an urgency to emerge someone to utter some words of confidenceon behalf of Allah SWT. Students lost track as they kept walkingin universities and searching desperately for that missing spiritual boat. All they wished was if someone were to come and take them out of this silent spiritual crisis in which the name of Allah SWT has been eliminated intellectually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Someone\u00a0stepped\u00a0in\u00a0for the Ummah\u00a0by accepting the challenge. It was the\u00a0Islamic scholar Bediuzzaman Said Nursi.\u00a0This was indeed\u00a0an\u00a0intellectual battle to utter words\u00a0on behalf of\u00a0Islam.This\u00a0old man\u00a0read extensively and\u00a0realized\u00a0first that the\u00a0secular\u00a0knowledge that is being disseminated by the West to young Muslim\u00a0minds\u00a0is nothing but the poisonous honey\u00a0for them. No political game in the writings\u00a0of Nursi is found like\u00a0Mawdudi\u00a0or Sayyed Qutub( It was dangerous too).\u00a0The writings\u00a0were\u00a0about\u00a0general\u00a0messages\u00a0of the Quran.\u00a0It was\u00a0handwritten\u00a0and\u00a0secretly handover to\u00a0students of knowledge\u00a0and they also copy by handwriting\u00a0and forward to others\u00a0fellow Muslims,\u00a0and they read in their native language and get enlightened back\u00a0about Allah SWT. The message was simple. Allah is the ultimate Truth of our universe. The universe is not Godless or\u00a0Allahlessthat Secular knowledge is trying to inject in the Muslim mindsthrough the national education system. That\u2019s all young\u00a0Muslim \u00a0minds were looking for to read and listen\u00a0in the education system.\u00a0Have you ever felt that it seems everyone is around you at your IIUM campus except the one you are really looking for?Maybe that can be your parents or someone . but you only experience it, and you feel like nobody understands that internal crisis in this entire universe.\u00a0The extensive literature was there , but there was no name of Allah SWT.\u00a0Would you live in a world without the names of your Lord who created you from non-existence?\u00a0The Quran utters as thus ,\u201cHow can you disbelieve in Allah? You were lifeless, and He gave\u00a0<\/em>you<\/em>\u00a0life; then He will cause you to die, then He will bring you back to life, and then to Him you will be returned.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(Qur\u2019an 2:28).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no signature of you last billion years and nobody cared if you come to exist or not and Allah brought you to existence, would you want to live a life without Allah SWT ?The luxury, the fame, the power, the education, whatever you need you have everything , but something is missing. The names of Allah was systematically eliminated from the entire body of knowledge. The process is still ongoing in academia. Muslim youths are being trained not to utter the names of their beloved Creator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite not having any political clue or affiliation, Said Nursi was punished in different forms. He was exiled for years. He did not stop to write for Allah. As a consequence, we got a gift from the 20th<\/sup> century from this alienated scholar. It was named Risale-i<\/em> Nur<\/em>. Risale-i<\/em> Nur<\/em> Collection consists of a multi-volume commentary that explains the truths of imaan<\/em>, such as Allah’s existence, unity, resurrection, and humanity’s role in worship, in a rational and spiritual way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I writing these? Is it relevant in the 21st<\/sup> century when Muslim governments are not that much strict about Islam? The answer is we have stepped into the more dangerous century. Muslim academics and students need to really put effort and work hard like Sultan Mehmed II (Fatih Sultan Mehmet), whoconquered Constantinople at age 21 in 1453. If you read the history how he conquered Constantinople by working hard day and night, it is mind-blowing that he worked hard so much to fulfill the visionary dream of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). That historic victory fulfilled the famous Prophet Muhammad\u2019s(PBUH) prophecy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVerily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will her leader be, and what a wonderful army will that army be.\u201d\u00a0(Musnad\u00a0Ahmad, Hadith 23462; also narrated in al-Hakim\u2019s\u00a0Mustadrak).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 21st<\/sup> Century, every religion is in danger as I learned from Nietzsche and Max Weber. It is due to the scientific progress of Humanity. There is a special English term for it. It is called , \u201c<\/strong>disenchantment<\/strong>\u201d<\/strong> in sociology. And the spiritual crisis is later part when Youths in universities started to sense it like perhaps Allah never exists in the process of learning scientific literature when we are brought up with secular education. Nobody will force you in this century but as the scientific progress continues, this spiritual crisis gradually would affect Muslim minds. Hence, to read and write for Allah is not optional for Muslim students and academicians. There is a need for hard work in academia because Muslims are academically so weak. In one conversation, one Western scholar made fun of Muslim Ummah as a civilization, saying the number of Nobel prizes Cambridgeor Oxford University alone has, the entire Muslim nation(Ummah) does not have. If you take the criticism positively, it means nothing, but we Muslims got to work hard intellectually like our past generations to speak for Allah SWT since our responsibility is huge compared to other nations in the world. Allah mentions :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are the best community ever raised for mankind: you enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(Qur\u2019an 3:110).***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By, Md Maruf Hasan Think about a situation when modernity enters Muslim territory. The Khilafa system collapsed, which was followed for a few centuries due to the rise of secularism, nationalism, and democracy.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":185187,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,773],"tags":[],"nelio_content":{"isAutoShareEnabled":true,"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"followers":[257,239],"suggestedReferences":[],"efiUrl":"","efiAlt":"","highlights":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2871.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185186"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=185186"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185189,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185186\/revisions\/185189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/185187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=185186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=185186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=185186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}