Nursi, Said

(1873-1960)

   Said Nursi was a highly respected Kurdish scholar, inspired interpreter of the Koran, and founder of the Nurculuk, or followers of Nur (Light), movement. To his followers he was a great saint who could appear at different places at the same time and perform other miracles. Even his opponents testified to his courage, honesty, and character.

   Said Nursi was born in the village of Nurs in the province of Bitlis in what is now southeastern Turkey. He was educated at various madrasahs, some of which were associated with the Naqshbandi sufi order, although he always claimed that his movement was not a part of that order. At a young age he began to refer to himself as Bediuzza-man, the unique of the age, and was known as a proponent of Kurdish identity without being a separatist. Indeed, throughout his life, being a Muslim was much more important to him than being Kurdish. In 1907, he moved to Istanbul, where he proposed that the government establish a university in Kurdistan attached to the famous Islamic university al-Azhar in Cairo. He also wanted to see a primary school for the Kurds in Istanbul.

   Said Nursi distinguished himself in the Balkan wars and during World War I saved some 1,500 Armenians whom he had been ordered to kill by instead sending them to safety across the Russian lines. After the war, he initially supported Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) but quickly broke with him over the role of religion in the new state. Although Said Nursi did not support Sheikh Said's rebellion in 1925, he still was exiled to western Turkey in the subsequent crackdowns that led to the banning of the madrasahs, tekiyes, and anything else that suggested a Kurdish identity.

   From that time on, Said Nursi devoted himself exclusively to interpreting and preaching the Koran. Nevertheless, he remained fond of referring to himself as Saidi Kurdi or Kurdish Said. In his remaining years he developed his Nurcu philosophy, which became and remains today the most influential religious movement among the Kurds in Turkey. The Kemalist press considered him to be a dangerous reactionary, and he was arrested on numerous occasions. In the final years of his life, he and his followers enjoyed somewhat greater freedom under the more religiously tolerant rule of Adnan Menderes and the Democratic Party (1950-1960). Nevertheless, when Said Nursi finally died a very old man in 1960, the government feared his continuing influence so much that it had his body disinterred and reburied in an unknown location. More than 40 years later, his mystical movement constitutes the most powerful Islamic movement in modern Turkey.