The Influence of Modern Science on Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s Thinking

Abstract

It has recently started to be debated that Enlightenment thought in general and the premises of modern science in particular influ- enced Bediüzzaman Said Nursi’s thinking significantly. While this influence showed itself first as an exegesis project, it later turned to the formation of a new school of thought and spirituality in the form of a book, the Risale-i Nur school. Despite the fact that Nursi’s views were brought under scrutiny from different perspectives, the impact of the contact with modern philosophy and modern science on Nursi was rarely brought into attention and linked to a broader intellectual context. To fill this gap, this paper deals with the rela- tionship between Nursi’s adoption of the premises of modern sci- ence in the context of Enlightenment thought and the emergence of the Risale-i Nur as a new school whose founder saw it as an alter- native to the traditional schools of Islamic thought and spirituality.