Nurism

{{Short description|Islamist movement founded in Turkey}} '''Nurism''' ({{langx|tr|Nurculuk}} or ''Nur Cemaati''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Güler |first=Orhan |title=Risale-i Nur’un ve Nur Cemaati’nin şahs-ı manevîsi |url=https://www.saidnursi.de/risale-i-nurun-ve-nur-cemaatinin-sahs-i-manevisi/ |website=saidnursi.de}}</ref>) is an Islamic movement that was founded in Turkey in the early 20th century and based on the writings of Said Nursi (1877–1960).<ref name="Svante E. Cornell p. 283">Svante E. Cornell ''Azerbaijan Since Independence'' M.E. Sharpe {{ISBN|9780765630049}} p. 283.</ref> He emphasized the importance of salvation in both this life and the afterlife through education and freedom, the synthesis of Islam and science, and democracy as the best form of governance within the rule of law.<ref>Robert W. Hefner ''Shariʻa Politics: Islamic Law and Society in the Modern World'' Indiana University Press 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-253-22310-4}} p. 170.</ref>

Through faith by inquiry instead of faith by imitation, Muslims would reject philosophies such as positivism, materialism and atheism emerging from the Western world at the time.<ref name=" Svante E. Cornell p. 283" /> His notion of sharia is twofold. Sharia applies to the voluntary actions of human beings and denotes the set of laws of nature. Both of them ultimately derive from one source, God.<ref>Robert W. Hefner ''Shariʻa Politics: Islamic Law and Society in the Modern World'' Indiana University Press 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-253-22310-4}} p. 171.</ref> His works on the Quran in the ''Risale-i Nur'' were translated into almost all of the languages of Central Asia.<ref>Bayram Balci ''Islam in Central Asia and the Caucasus Since the Fall of the Soviet Union'' Oxford University Press 2018 {{ISBN|978-0-19-005019-1}} p. 53.</ref> The Nurcu Movement promotes the concept of the Quran as an eternal document, but one which needs to be continually reinterpreted.<ref name="Miller2013">{{cite book |author=Miller |first=Christopher L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TLQwBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |title=The Movement: Circumspect Activism in Faith-Based Reform |date=3 January 2013 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-4438-4507-6 |pages=2}}</ref> After Nursi’s death, several groups emerged from within the Nur Movement, including the Gülen movement, the Yeni Asya movement, the Publishers (Yazıcılar), and the Readers (Okuyucular).<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=SACMALI |first=AHMET |title=RECONCILING RELIGION AND NATIONALISM: The Nur Movement in Modern Turkey (2002-2018) |date=2019 |degree=Doctoral |publisher=Durham University |url=https://etheses.dur.ac.uk/13624/}}</ref>

The group was opposed by the government during the 1960s and 1970s.<ref name="Abu-Rabi'2003">{{cite book |author=Abu-Rabi' |first=Ibrahim M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r5bPyy9SWs4C&pg=PA280 |title=Islam at the Crossroads: On the Life and Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi |date=9 April 2003 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-5700-9 |pages=280}}</ref> The group became substantially fragmented in the 1970s and 1980s.<ref name="RaboUtas2005">{{cite book |author1=Annika Rabo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rkRC5G2qMzMC&pg=PA53 |title=The Role of the State in West Asia |author2=Bo Utas |publisher=Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul |year=2005 |isbn=978-91-86884-13-0 |pages=53}}</ref> left|thumb|A study of Risale-i Nur books In a 1999 academic publication, the Nurcu Movement was said to have between 2 and 6 millions adherents.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Yavuz|first=Hakan|date=Autumn 1999|title=Towards an Islamic Liberalism?: The Nurcu Movement and Fethullah Gülen|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4329392|journal=The Middle East Journal|volume=53|issue=4 |pages=584–605|jstor=4329392 }}</ref>

After Said Nursi's death on March 23, 1960, many Nurist groups emerged as a result of differences of opinion on issues such as the understanding of governance, view of political events, ethnic origin, and service method.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Odatv |date=2015-07-11 |title=Nurcular hakkında bu sırları ilk kez okuyacaksınız |url=https://www.odatv.com/yazarlar/asiye-guldogan/nurcular-hakkinda-bu-sirlari-ilk-kez-okuyacaksiniz-78513 |access-date=2024-12-25 |website=Odatv |language=tr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Nurcular Hakkındaki Bilinmeyenler |url=https://aktifhaber.com/nurcular-hakkindaki-bilinmeyenler-84719h.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624112227/http://www.aktifhaber.com/nurcular-hakkindaki-bilinmeyenler-84719h.htm |archive-date=2016-06-24 |access-date=2024-12-25 |work=Aktif Haber |language=tr-TR}}</ref> It was stated by Said Nursi that "people who are alleged to be hidden enemies" broke the unity of the Nurists.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gizli Düşmanların Fitne Planları |url=https://husrevaltinbasak.info/gizli-dusmanlarin-fitne-planlari/ |access-date=2024-12-25 |website=husrevaltinbasak.info |language=tr}}</ref>

In 2009, a number of people affiliated with the Nurist movement were arrested in Azerbaijan.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-05-17 |title=Islamic Movements in Azerbaijan |url=https://mesbar.org/islamic-movements-in-azerbaijan/ |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=Al-Mesbar Center |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Islamic modernism Category:20th-century Islam Category:Quranic exegesis Category:Naqshbandi order Category:Islamic philosophy Category:Sufi philosophy Category:Contemporary Islamic philosophy Category:Sunni Islamic branches