Category: Blog

DECEMBER 2015 issue of Nur-the Light is out! MEHMET FIRINCI abi writes about “A Solution for Anarchy and Terror” on page 2. Dr. Colin Turner’s article is on page 3 and Dr. Mary Weld is on page 5. An extremely important interview with SAID OZDEMIR abi can be found on page 13 that proves the birth year of Ustad Bediuzzaman Said Nursi as 1873. Please enjoy and share!

Our Nur-the Light Magazine for March 2014 although late has arrived. Below you will find some enlightening information on Ramadan by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. Also “How can we save our lives?” is another article included here. The focal point of this issue of Nur-the Light will be the confirmation of the 1873 birth year of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi as you see on Page 15. Two important scholars, Hekimoglu Ismail and Necmeddin Sahiner, are agreeing on the certainty of 1873.

-Osman Birgeoglu, Ph.D.

The government of Tayyip Erdogan has decided to print Bediuzzaman’s famous Risale-i Nur books. Signs of Miraculousness is the first book already printed in Arabic and Turkish together. This exceptional occasion was celebrated by an important group of high religious figures and government officials with Turkey’s Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, including Abdullah Yegin Agabey, Mehmet Firinci Agabey and Husnu Bayramoglu Agabey on Saturday, January 25th, 2014.

Printing of the Risale-i Nur books by the Turkish government for the benefit of the public was one of Bediuzzaman’s most precious dreams. Mehmet Firinci Agabey states that in the early 1950’s Bediuzzaman requested the following three things from the government for the safety and security of the country: 1) Opening new schools where religious and modern sciences are taught together. 2) Returning the Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia) building to its original status (from the current museum back into the mosque it was). 3) Publishing the Risale-i Nur by the government for the benefit of the country.

This printing has taken over 60 years to materialize. All credits for this monumental achievement goes to the Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan. He understands the need of the public for the Risale-i Nur to strengthen their faith in these modern difficult times. On behalf of American Muslims, we here at the Risale-i Nur Institute of America celebrate this joyous event and offer our gratitude to the Prime Minister for realizing Bediuzzaman’s dream.

–Osman Birgeoglu, Ph.D.

We are  very happy to announce the release of our second video for our online educational video series on Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and the Risale-i Nur Collection! Video #2 discusses and explains why the Risale-i Nur is so very important for everyone and why we all need it.

Here is the link: http://vimeo.com/84339661

The following hadith of Prophet Muhammad shows all of us how sweet, comprehensive and beautiful are his teachings about living in perfect harmony in a multi-cultural society:

One day, the Prophet’s wife Sophia (RA) came to him crying. She said, “Hafsah (RA) called me the daughter of a Jew.” (This was true because Sophia’s father, Hubayy b. Akhtab, was in fact a Jew who had died without ever accepting Islam. Still, such a comment was meant as a take on Sophia’s person, which was only more hurtful as it was coming from her co-wife. So when she heard what Hafsah had said, she started to cry.)

The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied:  “Verily, you are the daughter of a Prophet, your Uncle was also a Prophet, and you are the wife of a Prophet, so what does she have over you to boast about?” He then turned to Hafsah and said: “Fear Allah, O Hafsah!”

In an alternate narration, the Prophet is reported to have turned to Sophia and said: “Why didn’t you say, ‘So how can you be better than me? Muhammad is my husband, Aaron is my father, and Moses is my Uncle.’ ”

Source: Mishkat al-Masabih, Vol 2, #367, by Al-Tibrizi (English translation)

Dr. Osman Birgeoglu

Nine salient points make Bediuzzaman’s birth year of 1873 a crystal-clear definitive truth, a reality ‘carved in stone’. Truth cannot and must not be argued, to do so is minimally most foolish, as well as misguided, disrespectful and dangerous. Today’s researchers on Bediuzzaman’s life come across six different birth years. However, the year 1873 is the accurate birth year. The following nine points illuminate this truth:

1. Bediuzzaman himself proofread his own Autobiography published as the first edition in 1958, two years before his death. Bediuzzaman had dictated to his students what to write and then instructed his students to read aloud three separate times (which Mehmet Firinci Agabey, still living, witnessed) as he listened to what his students had written. The opening first line was thus read aloud which Bediuzzaman heard on three separate occasions. This first sentence clearly states the double-dated year of his birth as 1873M-1290H.

2. Bediuzzaman is widely accepted without question as a Master. His students acknowledge this fact. Mastery itself necessitates truth, it does not involve gross mistakes, especially regarding the Master’s knowledge of his own life. To doubt the Master does not change his mastery, rather it reflects the weakness, arrogance, disrespect and/or falseness of the one doubting. A Master speaks or writes with clear intention, not with dubious words. Bediuzzaman was highly aware of whatever he said or wrote.

3. The fact that Bediuzzaman intentionally orally dictated a double-dated birth year, namely Lunar calendar corresponding with the Solar calendar, carves this truth into stone.

4. A general yet vital principle in any undertaking is the notion that the first step sets the stage, establishes the path, directs the true course of that which follows. Bediuzzaman, as a Master, was obviously aware of this crucial element which is reflected in his first sentence of his Autobiography being the double-dated birth year of 1873. The very first line on the first page of the first chapter of the book opens the door of the entire Risale-i Nur, and as the grand opener, it can not be, should not be and is not wrong. This first sentence clearly illustrates this widely accepted principle which all of us need to contemplate deeply.

5. Any different birth year other than 1873 is a grave and dangerous mistake. It weakens all subsequent works and hurts the truth of the Risale-i Nur in the eyes of the readers without them even realizing it.

6. The early students instructed to write and read Bediuzzaman’s Autobiography had ample opportunity at the time of publication (which included their reading and writing of the book) to question the truth and validity of Bediuzzaman’s birth year. If there was a mistake, they would have corrected it. We may thus conclude there was no mistake in the original book.

7. For thirty years after Bediuzzaman’s death, nobody questioned his birth year of 1873. All of Bediuzzamans early students respected this original autobiography.

8. Much like organic chemistry, everything connects to everything else in the Risale-i Nur in proper and precise order and amount. The Risale-i Nur has an unbroken order and  harmony. Anything other than 1873 breaks this chain.

9. Praising his autobiography, Bediuzzaman stated (which was later included in the book),  “This book has the value of twenty of my other books.”  The extreme worth of this original autobiography is obvious and Bediuzzaman would not, could not and actually did not allow any mistake in it.

Osman Birgeoglu, Ph.D.

Bediuzzaman (1873-1960) and Two Stories

World renowned scholar, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1873-1960 per Official Autobiography, First Edition, 1958), was and continues to be one of the most phenomenal spiritual Masters of all time, and indeed, certainly the most extraordinary luminary of this millennium. His one-of-a-kind Masterpiece, The Risale-i Nur Collection, which translates into English as The Treatise of Light, consists of over 130 books and has been time tested for accuracy and trust by multiple disciplines. Translated into over 60 languages, Bediuzzaman’s Risale-i Nur continues to positively influence and benefit millions of people of all walks of life around the world and remains a growing phenomenon globally. His name, “Bediuzzaman” means “Wonder of the Age”. At the remarkable young age 15, he demonstrated publicly his unprecedented ability of winning all debates against multiple groups of the most eminent scholars in his region. Additionally, Bediuzzaman accomplished the academic excellence in only three months’ time, educating himself extensively and thoroughly in all the traditional religious sciences as well as most of the modern sciences. These are but a few of Bediuzzaman’s many exceptional abilities. His brilliance and superior genius, according to some, is likened to that of Albert Einstein.

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi devoted his entire life to helping and guiding people understand and obtain genuine belief in God. He was actively involved in public life teaching students, debating scholars, etc. This time is referred to as the “Old Said”. Bediuzzaman transitioned into the “New Said” shortly after WWI and withdrew altogether from public life and politics, concentrating instead on study and prayer. The New Said was a man of deep thought, contemplation and reflection. In 1925, he was unjustly exiled for life, though he committed no crime or misdemeanor. During his exile, he often suffered imprisonment and isolation. However, it was during these reflective years that he wrote his Masterpiece, The Risale-i Nur Collection. Bediuzzaman understood that the essential cause of the decline of religion was due to the weakening of the very foundations of belief. This weakening, along with the attacks on those foundations in the 19th and 20th centuries carried out by materialists, atheists and others in the name of science and progress led him to realize that the most urgent and overriding need was to strengthen, even to save, belief. What was needed was to expend all efforts to reconstruct the edifice of religion from its foundations of belief and to answer at the level of those attacks through peaceful dialogue or ‘war of the word’.

Serving the Risale-i Nur is a huge honor for all of us. According to one important student of Risale-i Nur who stated last year: “Mankind has been waiting for more than a thousand years for this amazing work to appear. And now it is here. [We must appreciate this.]” His name is Nusret Hoca, now 93 years old, from Agri, Eastern Turkey. As a Sheikh, he was teaching classical Islam to his hundred-plus students before knowing Ustad Bediuzzaman. After meeting Bediuzzaman, he saw the powerful cure of the Risale-i Nur and immediately started teaching it to all of his students.

Another Sheikh from Mecca-i Mukarrama, Saudi Arabia, stated two years ago when he was in Ankara: “Do you know why I am coming to Turkey? Because you have the Risale-i Nur and Bediuzzaman in this country. I have 50-60 students in Mecca and I am teaching the Risale-i Nur to them. The reason? The Qur’an says, ‘Do this!’, but it doesn’t say when, why, how or where. Bediuzzaman has these answers.” His name is Sheikh Al-Mas, the leader of the organization of the Descendants of the Prophet Muhammed in Mecca.

I just wanted to share these two important stories about the Risale-i Nur with our readers, fans and friends. Our hope is that the medicine of Bediuzzaman’s Masterpiece reaches the hearts and minds of all humanity.

Osman Birgeoglu, Ph.D.,

Director of Risale-i Nur Institute of America, Nur Publishers and Nursi School of Theology

Our new January-March, 2013 Nur-the Light Magazine is here! This particular issue contains very important material and we are thus a little late printing it as we needed more time to prepare crucial documents. This magazine issue presents evidences from the history and original works of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. We share an excerpt here including some of the photocopied documents of Bediuzzaman’s original works published in 1958 when Bediuzzaman himself was alive and managing his own publishing, including proofreading and approving his photographs. You may purchase the magazine through us at our website at Nur Publishers to read the complete article and discover all the rest of the evidences presented. On December 29, 2011, we submitted the entire paper printed in this January-March, 2013 magazine issue to the Library of Congress to serve as authentic resource material for future generations (Registration Number TXu 1-793-770). Special Note: For our Turkish-speaking friends, and especially the Abiler in Turkey, we’ve printed in Turkish a very short summary of these important evidences documenting Bediuzzaman’s birth year as 1873 which can be read on page 11.

We also share here our sadness and respect at the death of Mustafa Sungur Agabey, a very close and beloved student to Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. I, Osman Birgeoglu, visited Sungur Abi when he was admitted to the hospital at Kartal, Istanbul on Saturday, September 29, 2012. Interestingly, according to his son Muhammed Sungur whom I spoke with, that particular day was Mustafa Sungur Abi’s birthday. Sadly, this was going to be my last opportunity to visit this important and unique student of the Risale-i Nur. He truly was enlightening for all of us and we will miss him greatly.

[I must document here with all my humbleness a surprising dream I had on July 9th, 2012 just four months prior to his death. In my dream, Sungur Abi appeared to me and asked me to come to Istanbul, from Arizona, USA, to visit him. I was able to fulfill his request and visited him in Istanbul at the end of September, 2012.]

–Osman Birgeoglu, Ph.D., Director and Founder, The Risale-i Nur Institute of America

Our Nur-the Light Magazine September/December 2012 issue has arrived, full of enriched treasures from the Risale-i Nur Collection. This is a special edition of Nur-the Light Magazine covering an entire season of the next four months. We are entering the new season of autumn, full of beauty with its many vibrant colors as the leaves on the trees change at being relieved of their duties in this world.  In order to read all 16 pages, we encourage our readers to subscribe to our magazine here (click on the magazine). Below are a few tastes of what this issue contains: