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The Risale-i Nur : Knowledge, Faith, Morality and the Future of Humankind
Scholars today frequently suggest that the problems besetting us stem from the abandoning of ethical principles and moral degeneration. It is as though, while taking giant strides forward in science and technology, humanity has forgotten the fundamental principles underlying existence and has neglected essential human values. People live to acquire more and consume more, but have forgotten the spiritual and moral needs of their human ontology. Their homes have grown larger, but families have grown smaller and have even dispersed. They journey to the depths of space, but have strayed from the paths leading inward to their own selves. Mass communications are all-encompassing, but relations with family and neighbours are minimal.
News channels have multiplied, but truth and reliability have diminished and disappeared. Information technology has been developed to an astonishing degree, but psychological problems, social injustices, global crises, and ecological disasters have also increased. How has this happened? Science should have brought greater understanding of the human being, nature, and the purpose of creation, and assisted in their fulfilment. Was it that science was misunderstood or misused? Was it utilized solely in serving particular interests and material needs? Could it be that the source of these problems was the absence of faith and spirituality, which keep humankind from committing excesses and turn them towards the doing of good.
Was it the loss of spirituality that has been the cause of people suffering loneliness and unhappiness and their becoming insensitive and belligerent? These questions need close study, for only then may the answers be found and human beings live with the dignity they deserve. Certainly numerous civil and social organizations work to rectify these problems, but more often than not they neglect the spiritual aspects so that the partial solutions they offer hinder positive development rather than help it. As the world grows smaller, the problems grow larger so that they now clearly threaten the material and spiritual future of humanity. The Risale-i Nur, a contemporary commentary on the Qur’an’s message by a famous Muslim theologian and thinker Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, offers many solutions for these problems.
Its method is based on acquiring true knowledge and pointing out its corrected uses; that is, as a means of attaining to “belief by investigation,” and on constructing an ethical understanding proceeding from these principles. The year 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of Bediuzzaman’s death. At the symposium, which is being organized that year with the above objectives in mind, academics, specialists, and writers of all persuasions from all over the world will research the contributions of the Risale-i Nur to the peace, prosperity, and happiness of the Islamic world in particular and humanity in general, and will present papers on them.
Scholars today frequently suggest that the problems besetting us stem from the abandoning of ethical principles and moral degeneration. It is as though, while taking giant strides forward in science and technology, humanity has forgotten the fundamental principles underlying existence and has neglected essential human values. People live to acquire more and consume more, but have forgotten the spiritual and moral needs of their human ontology. Their homes have grown larger, but families have grown smaller and have even dispersed. They journey to the depths of space, but have strayed from the paths leading inward to their own selves. Mass communications are all-encompassing, but relations with family and neighbours are minimal.
News channels have multiplied, but truth and reliability have diminished and disappeared. Information technology has been developed to an astonishing degree, but psychological problems, social injustices, global crises, and ecological disasters have also increased. How has this happened? Science should have brought greater understanding of the human being, nature, and the purpose of creation, and assisted in their fulfilment. Was it that science was misunderstood or misused? Was it utilized solely in serving particular interests and material needs? Could it be that the source of these problems was the absence of faith and spirituality, which keep humankind from committing excesses and turn them towards the doing of good.
Was it the loss of spirituality that has been the cause of people suffering loneliness and unhappiness and their becoming insensitive and belligerent? These questions need close study, for only then may the answers be found and human beings live with the dignity they deserve. Certainly numerous civil and social organizations work to rectify these problems, but more often than not they neglect the spiritual aspects so that the partial solutions they offer hinder positive development rather than help it. As the world grows smaller, the problems grow larger so that they now clearly threaten the material and spiritual future of humanity. The Risale-i Nur, a contemporary commentary on the Qur’an’s message by a famous Muslim theologian and thinker Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, offers many solutions for these problems.
Its method is based on acquiring true knowledge and pointing out its corrected uses; that is, as a means of attaining to “belief by investigation,” and on constructing an ethical understanding proceeding from these principles. The year 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of Bediuzzaman’s death. At the symposium, which is being organized that year with the above objectives in mind, academics, specialists, and writers of all persuasions from all over the world will research the contributions of the Risale-i Nur to the peace, prosperity, and happiness of the Islamic world in particular and humanity in general, and will present papers on them.