Asceticism in the Life of Said Nursi

Abstract

The main references of asceticism in Sufism have been the Qur’an and the Sunnah. In the Qur'an, the word “zuhd” was used only in one place and was used in the sense of "not giving value". In the hadiths, the word “zuhd” is widely used and generally deals with the temporary nature of worldly life and the negative consequences of being deceivedby it. However, when we look at all then arrations, it has been seen that the concept of zuhd cannot be understood as neglecting the worldly life. According to the Sufis, the basis of zuhd is not the absence of worldly possessions, but rather there moval from the heart of any thing that distances a person from Allah. In this context, the ascetic life of Said Nursi, who is one of the most important scholars recently, draws attention. It should be stated that Said Nursi, who devoted himself to raising the awareness of the society and preferred a simple life, had a balanced ascetict hought. Said Nursi's words: “Works hould not be abandoned in the world, the world should be abandoned with the heart” clearly reveals his opinion that the balance of the world and the here after should be preserved. In this study, Said Nursi’s life was examined and his understanding of asceticism was tried to be revealed, especially based on his work named Risalah Noor.

Tasavvuf literatüründe zühdün temel referanslari Kur’ân-i Kerîm ve Hz. Peygamber’in (s.a.v) sünneti olmustur. Zühd kelimesi Kur’ân-i Kerîm’de sadece bir yerde geçmis ve “deger vermeme” manasinda kullanilmistir. Hadîs-i seriflerde ise genisçe yer almis ve genellikle dünya hayatinin geçiciligi, ona aldanmanin doguracagi olumsuz sonuçlar ekseninde ele alinmistir. Rivayetlerin bütünü esas alindiginda zühd kavramindan dünya hayatinin ihmal edilmesi anlaminin anlasilamayacagi görülmüstür. Sûfîlere göre zühdün esasi, dünyaya ait bir seyin elde bulundurulmamasi degil, kisiyi Allah’tan uzaklastiran ne varsa gönülden çikarilmasidir. Bu çerçevede son devrin önemli âlim ve mütefekkirlerinden Said Nursî’nin zühdî hayati dikkat çekicidir. Ifade etmek gerekir ki, kendini toplumu bilinçlendirmeye adayan ve sade bir yasami tercih eden Said Nursî, ölçülü bir zühd düsüncesine sahip olmustur. Said Nursî’nin, “dünyayi kesben degil, kalben terk etmek lâzimdir” sözü, dünya ve âhiret dengesinin gözetilmesi hususundaki düsüncesini açikça ortaya koymaktadir. Bu çalismada Said Nursî’nin hayati incelenmis ve özellikle Risâle-i Nûr adli eserinden hareketle zühd hayati ve zühde bakisi ortaya konulmaya çalisilmistir.