Köprü Anasayfa

Üçüncü Said

"Güz 2010" 112. Sayı

  • The Third Said

    Editorial

    The phrases of The Old Said, The New Said, and The Third Said, used for the life periods of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, have great importance in understanding Risale-i Nur service and determination of the concept map. These phrases, used by Said Nursi himself as appellations in different periods, point out his intrinsic conditions in these periods, and individual, social and political changes, and also his methodological differences that he designated about these changes, rather than certain periods of time.

    It is important to put forward whether there is any interruption, conflict or contradiction among these three periods for the continuity of Risale-i Nur service. This condition makes it necessary to examine Said Nursi’s life periods in the light of historical and social facts.

    Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s life up to 1923 is named The Old Said. It is noteworthy that the contents of the works written in this period are about social and political matters. It can be seen that Nursi, in these works, interprets the events happening in the wavering ages of the empire from the Qur’anic point of view, and, from this point of view, he reveals Qur’anic principles which can be adapted to all ages.

    Between 1923 and 1949 is what Said Nursi called The New Said. This period is the one in which he focused on the works about the truths of faith against the understanding and oppression that established the Republic on positivist values. In this period, Risale-i Nur collection was written in spite of all the constraints, threats and imprisonments.

    The period starting with Said Nursi’s release from Afyon Prison on September of 1949 is The Third Said. What the main factors in differentiating this period from The Old Said and The New Said periods are, what sort of road map Bediuzzaman established in the service of faith, on what level he continued his relation with the institution of politics, what kind of measures he brought in the relations with religion, politics and state, what kind of attitude he developed against the stereotypes and oppressions of the official ideology, how he handled the fact of congregation (jamaah), on what kind of social principles he relied in his actions in general, are important in respect of showing which methodology Risale-i Nur services will follow. That is because, in a period that we can mention a school and a philosophy of Bediuzzaman in a broader sense now, the arguments he developed in social and political fields and the principles he put forward shape the way of Risale-i Nur service even after his death. In this context, the questions like what principles Bediuzzaman built his style of service on in each one of three periods, and in what ways it differentiates from other styles and schools of service should be answered. It is important to put forward these principles, considering Bediuzzaman’s life style and the contents of the works in these periods, to be able to convey the main principles of Risale-i Nur school and disposition to our time.

    As Kopru, we designated the subject of dossier of 112 th issue as “The Third Said”. We scrutinised the subject in the light of the terms like The Old Said, The New Said, The Third Said, constitutional monarchy, republic, democracy, liberty, justice, religion, politics, state, Democratic Party, unity of Islam, political Islam, the least bad of the evil things, school, disposition, service, loyalty, Mahdi, faith, life, Sharia, congregation (jamaah), followers of Said Nursi (Nurculuk), positive action, official ideology, and materialism.

    We also tried to find answers to the following questions: What are the main reasons and events behind why Bediuzzaman Said Nursi divided his own life into certain periods? What are the main characteristics which differ The Third Said period from the The Old Said and The New Said periods? What are the characteristics of The Third Said period in relation to the publishing of Risale-i Nur and the service of Risale-i Nur? What is the route of Risale-i Nur service after 1950? What is the importance of following this route today? What is the framework of the meaning that Said Nursi attributed to the concept of congregation (jamaah)? What are the principles that the concept of congregation is based on? What are the characteristics of the contents of Bediuzzaman’s letters in this period? What is the outline of the concept of “positive action” that he emphasised in his last letter? Is it possible to relate the duties of Mahdi, as Bediuzzaman described, in the divisions of “Faith”, “Life” and “Sharia” to these three periods? What kind of political and social route did Bediuzzaman follow in The Third Said period? From this point of view, what are the noticeable characteristics of the period and what are the criteria that Nursi defined? What kind of relationship is there between Democratic Party and Bediuzzaman? What are the main factors behind the reasons why Bediuzzaman supported Democratic Party? What are the main reasons why Bediuzzaman addressed Adnan Menderes as “Hero of Islam”?

    As we leave you with the dossier of “The Third Said” in which we hope you may find answers to all these questions above, we expect to meet again with a new dossier under the main title of “Woman”.