Discussing Bediüzzaman’s ‘Madrasah al-Zahra’ by İbrahim Özdemir - Today's Zaman
15 October 2012 / ,
“Every particle has a palace in its heart, but it remains closed to you until you open its doors.” -- Mevlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi
The Van Governor’s Office, Yüzüncü Yıl University, the Risale Academy and the Academic Studies Foundation jointly organized the Madrasah al-Zahra Symposium on Oct. 12-14.
As is known, the “Madrasah al-Zahra” project had originally been developed by Molla Said -- Bediüzzaman Said Nursi used to be referred to as Molla Said during his early years -- as an alternative solution to ignorance as well as other problems triggered by ignorance such as poverty, privation, unemployment, racism, separatism and other problems, which are altogether seen as the greatest enemy of the East and the Muslim world, and this project, formulated about 100 year ago, had been presented to the administrators of the time. I think this project will still be discussed in full bloom even 100 years from now. In this context, various issues and questions will be brought to the agenda and efforts will be made to answer them. But, how can a project, designed in the context of a collapsing empire about 100 years ago, appeal to our time? How can Molla Said’s century-old ideas help us in the ever-changing and ever-transforming digital world of the 21st century? And to what extent? Other questions may be added to the list.
Guided by great thinkers
As a matter of fact, these and similar questions tend to be raised about every great thinker, not just about Said Nursi. In asking these questions, we must take into consideration philosophical as well as sociological and psychological aspects of the matter.
Why are groundbreaking great thinkers never out of fashion?
Why do we occasionally feel the need to refer back to great thinkers, trying to understand them and make sense of their ideas?
When we can find answers to these questions, I think we will better understand activities designed to read, understand and make sense of Said Nursi. A slew of answers can be given to these questions. One of them is that great thinkers have an innovative, groundbreaking and profound mentality and vision with which they make great contributions to humankind’s intellectual and cultural heritage.
A typical and meaningful example is German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), the founder of critical philosophy and the father of the Enlightenment. With his critical philosophy, Kant not only exerted a great influence on his peers, but he also inspired and continues to inspire later philosophers and philosophical movements. Kant’s critical philosophy has an ongoing influence on all branches of philosophy -- epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, the philosophy of history, the philosophy of law, the philosophy of politics, philosophical anthropology and the philosophy of religion. Writing his famous book “Kant und die Epigonen,” in which he criticizes the followers of Kant as early as 1865, Otto Liebmann repeats the following sentence at the end of every chapter: “So let us return to Kant.” Indeed Kant left a philosophical heritage with unlimited possibilities for later generations to interpret. This is the reason why Kant is a philosopher that is returned to in every era. Therefore, a “return” to Kant signifies a quest to understand the critical philosophy from the sources and in an authentic manner rather than as a fetish.
Today, Said Nursi’s groundbreaking quality is almost universally acknowledged, and he is seen as a mujaddid (renovator) cleric and a man of action. Very few scholars have enjoyed such widespread acceptability across the Muslim world. Even about 60 years after his death, the “majority of religious scholars” -- to borrow his phrase -- exhibit a consensus on the correctness and depth of his ideas.
Another important thing is that his famous book “Risale-i Nur” (Epistles of Light) has been translated into various languages and has emerged as a common text for Muslims from different regions. A main reason for this is that with his “Risale-i Nur,” Said Nursi acts as the “conscience of the age” and gives authentic and affirmative responses to the age’s threats to religion in general and Islam in particular, and he does this by relying on the Quran. In his book “Çağın Vicdanı Bediüzzaman” (Bediüzzaman: Conscience of the Age), Professor Nevzat Tarhan discusses this point in detail.
Said Nursi’s impact on Islamic thought
In his early years when he was known as Molla Said from Norşin, Said Nursi felt particularly sorry for the fact that madrasahs, which in the past had made great contributions to the vivacity and diversity of cultural life in the Muslim world, had lost their vitality and spirit, and he started to search for a solution, and he came up with the “Madrasah al-Zahra” project. I think we must treat his project and education mentality in such a setting. Accordingly, a return to Said Nursi or a quest to re-discuss his ideas in an effort to make sense of them is not a fetish but is guided by responsible scholasticism. As a young scholar (molla), Said Nursi exhibited a great understanding of the problems Muslim societies were facing in the late 19th century and early 20th century and offered the “Madrasah al-Zahra” model as a solution to these problems. He preserved this idea as a sacred trust in his mind all through his life. He attempted to implement this education project, but he couldn’t because of the circumstances of the time. Unable to put his project into practice, he transformed his project into the Risale-i Nur “school of learning.”
This essence of this project is Said Nursi’s philosophy of education. He believes that God has created man with the best stature (ahsan taqwim), equipping him with unlimited and infinite faculties and forces, and education serves to help man to put these faculties and forces into practice. In other words, his understanding of education is based on his understanding of man. Who is man? What sort of creature is he? What are the aims of his being sent to this world?
Without answering these questions, we cannot properly understand Said Nursi’s Madrasah al-Zahra project, which is supposed to embody his philosophy of education.
Role of Said’s philosophy of man
In this regard, it is easy to realize that the philosophy of education he had originally proposed as Molla Said relies on the same principles as his philosophy of education, embodied in his “Risale-i Nur,” and the continuity between two projects is readily visible. One reason for this is that his philosophy of man is pivotal to his philosophy of education.
As is seen, the spiritual identity of Madrasah al-Zahra has been shaped and completed with the “Risale-i Nur.” Nevertheless, Said Nursi has bequeathed the establishment of Madrasah al-Zahra, which he describes as a “lofty truth,” to his future disciples.
Therefore, a century later, the Madrasah al-Zahra project has yet to be implemented. Imagined at a time when there was no higher education institution in the region, and traditional madrasahs had lost their functionality and vitality, Madrasah al-Zahra may emerge as a new form of higher education institution in the 21st century, and the existing universities in the region may take this project into consideration in revising their curricula.
Today, there are about 20 universities in the region, and Yüzüncü Yıl University, which is hosting the current symposium, is one of them. These universities may partner with Molla Said’s sincere, virtuous, hardworking and astute followers to develop a curriculum that produces solutions to the region’s and the Muslim world’s problems, particularly ignorance and lack of education. In this way, every university may become a Madrasah al-Zahra. With their renovated curricula, these universities can support the region’s and country’s development with their science. At the same time, by accepting religious, cultural and ethnic differences as our assets, they can guide us by showing us the recipe for peaceful coexistence and welfare. I would like to echo Liebmann’s call to return to Kant in a different context, calling people to return to Molla Said’s century-old Madrasah al-Zahra project.
*İbrahim Özdemir is the rector of Hasan Kalyoncu University.
Source: Today's Zaman
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-295432-discussing-bediuzzamans-madrasah-al-zahra-by-ibrahim-ozdemir*.html
