religions

Article
Spiritual Growth of Said Nursi and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn
in Prison
Ismail Albayrak

School of Theology, Faculty of Theology and Philosophy, Australian Catholic University,

Melbourne, VIC 3002, Australia; [email protected]

Abstract: The article explores the approaches of individuals from two different religious traditions
regarding prison spirituality: Said Nursi, who received a comprehensive classical education and
furthered his knowledge through modern education, and A. Solzhenitsyn, who initially grew up as
an atheist but rediscovered his religious upbringing while imprisoned, subsequently strengthening
his spirituality over time. The research objectives of this article are to delve into the personal,
intellectual, and spiritual transformations of these two influential figures during their time in prison,
examining their pursuit of inner peace and the expansion of the heart. Additionally, it analyzes
their development in parallel with the works they wrote. The experience of incarceration provided
them with an opportunity to reflect on their own lives, independently of each other, and diagnose
the societal issues prevalent in their respective times, such as atheism, materialism, hedonism, lack
of spirituality, and excessive consumption. They then attempted to propose and develop solutions
to these issues, not only for their immediate circles but also for the wider public. Thus, it is useful
to identify these commonalities and differences, and then, discuss them from the comparative
theological perspective set up by Francis J. Clooney, S.J. Their profound understanding of this crucial
task of improving the lives of others enabled them to endure the hardships of prison and transform
its detrimental effects into more fruitful endeavors. While there are similarities in their reflections on
faith and the human condition, there are also notable differences in their approaches and perspectives.
Nursi’s prison spirituality centered on Islamic teachings and the pursuit of religious knowledge,
while Solzhenitsyn’s focused on ethical, moral, and existential evaluations in the context of atheistic
and authoritarian regimes.

Citation: Albayrak, Ismail. 2023.

Keywords: prison; spirituality; mindfulness; Nursi; Solzhenitsyn
Spiritual Growth of Said Nursi and
Aleksander Solzhenitsyn in Prison.
Religions 14: 902. https://doi.org/
10.3390/rel14070902
1. Introduction
Academic Editor: Antony
In this article, the spiritual lives of Nursi and Solzhenitsyn in prison will be discussed.
W. Alumkal
In the beginning, the methodology will be briefly explained. And then we will analyse how
Received: 29 May 2023 Nursi turned from the ‘Old Said’ to the ‘New Said’ in developing his prison spirituality, and
Revised: 24 June 2023 Solzhenitsyn’s transformation, too, in achieving a great spiritual awakening, after going
Accepted: 30 June 2023 into prison as an atheist. In particular, we will explore how each of them overcame the
Published: 12 July 2023 difficulties he faced, how they protected their mental and spiritual health in terms of inner
peace, and most importantly, how they transformed their perspectives on life, especially
through the prison experience, from a self-absorbed or worldly outlook to a completely
God-centered understanding. From a Muslim perspective, it is preferable to call this new
Copyright: © 2023 by the author.
way of thinking tawhid-centric. Finally, we will discuss both approaches to concepts such
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
as death, patience, the destiny of the nation, and hope, all of which have an important role
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
in the immunity that they developed against the attraction of the world.
conditions of the Creative Commons
2. Methodology
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ Nursi and Solzhenitsyn were clearly products of their own environments. Both were
4.0/). affected by the dominant discourses of their time and faced various problems, injustices,

Religions 2023, 14, 902. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14070902 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions

Religions 2023, 14, 902 2 of 20

and suffering. Even though there are similarities in their experiences in prison and exile—in
each case caused by tyrannical regimes—their personal transformations and responses to
authoritative governments still vary to some extent. One of the most important aspects of
comparative theology is, as Francis X. Clooney eloquently puts it, engaging with others’
religious practices (Clooney 2010; Özvarlı 2010) and experiencing their spiritual openness.
The Second Vatican Council’s document Ad Gentes reminds Christians to ‘learn by sincere
and patient dialogue what treasures a generous God has distributed among the nations
of the earth’ (Vahide 2005, p. 231). John Dupuche sheds light on this issue by putting the
questions: ‘How are we inspired by other’s inspiration?’ As we all know that faith is first
and foremost an experience, ‘in what way are we touched by the hand of God that is felt
in the heart of the other?’ (Dupuche 2016). The result of this engagement is not to reach
consensus, but, as Clooney makes clear, comparative theology’s respectful approaches to,
and communication with, others’ texts and religious experiences can have the effect of
empowering one’s own spirituality and religiosity (Özvarlı 2010). In this article, however, I
do not intend to shift from texts and focus only on experiences, for it is mainly from the
texts themselves that we learn details of Nursi’s and Solzhenitsyn’s prison life. Reading
their works together, back and forth, attending to similarities and differences (Clooney
2010; 16: p. 326), I attempt to clarify their unique spiritual experiences of prison.

3. Transformation of S. Nursi and A. Solzhenitsyn in Prison

It should be stated at the outset that there are differences between Nursi’s and Solzhen-
itsyn’s spiritual journeys. Superficially, in Nursi we observe a man who digs in to get more
whereas in Solzhenitsyn we see a man who is rediscovering his childhood heritage and
spirituality. One might say Nursi’s transformation is vertical while Solzhenitsyn’s is more
horizontal. Even so, both transformations are continuous and take place gradually. One
important commonality between the two is the climax of their transformations in the years
of exile and imprisonment.
Nursi’s transformation never detaches from his faith in the One God and, on this, he is
always very vocal. In the early period of his life, he was extremely active in society, heavily
engaged in politics, even assuming leadership, in order to mobilize as many co-religionists
as possible to attend to political and social issues. In his youth he was ready to take part
in meetings of all kinds and had great confidence in replying to every question that was
raised. He published many journal and newspaper articles, including works to guide
people concerning new developments in the last days of the Ottoman state. As his famous
biographer Şükran Vahide notes, the transformation probably began in the second half of
1920 and was completed by the end of 1921, after which time Nursi set to work developing
his new critical perspective. This period coincides with the years of his return to Istanbul
in 1918 from imprisonment in Kostroma on the Volga River in Russia. The main shift in
his understanding began with his observations in relation to ‘ungodly programs’ that the
newly established Turkish Republic was carrying out. Immediately after the collapse of the
Ottoman state, came radical secularism along with its promotion of irreligiosity, and the
major threat to Muslim faith and tradition from the Bolsheviks’ revolutionary communism.
This paved way to the birth of the ‘New Said’, who was already developing during Nursi’s
solitary stay in Russian exile, especially during the long nights of winter, which gave him
the opportunity to re-evaluate his faith and spirituality.
‘New Said’ clearly understands that it is almost impossible to transform society
through political ambitions and elitist designs (Ozdemir 2022; 38, p. 540). In contrast
to the early active political life of ‘Old Said’, ‘New Said’ chose not to challenge the
new Turkish state and its laicist social engineers by engaging himself directly in poli-
tics (Hermansen 2008b; 19, p. 76). He concentrates, however, on personal transformation
and its effect on social awareness. This is a slow but steady and gradual way to reform
society compared with what he sees as the fruitless endeavors of top-down political re-
forms. This type of renewal includes sincerity, piety, a self-sacrificing attitude, and deep
spirituality. His emphasis on the inner dimension of individual spirituality takes not only
Religions 2023, 14, 902 3 of 20

the heart but also the mind into consideration. Nursi uses this technique to respond to
modern positivistic skepticism, the critical questions of modernity and scientific atheism.
To bring God back to the individual and society, he created a counter internal discourse
of Islamic identity and morality. We can observe that ‘New Said’ decided to spend his
energy on creating a one-to-one channel of communication with the local community, and
on spreading knowledge through writing short treatises by hand and secretly distributing
them to different parts of the country in order to raise consciousness among individuals
(Ozdemir 2022; 38, pp. 537–40).
In Solzhenitsyn’s case, the various stages and sophisticated nature of his personal,
intellectual, and spiritual transformation can be read in the lines of his works and are
reflected in his many novels. This change began when he witnessed the Soviet army’s
attitude towards German civilians during the Second World War. The first sparks of
Solzhenitsyn’s spiritual transformation arose from his rational and ethical concern towards
what was going on around him. As frequently mentioned by many scholars, Solzhenitsyn’s
dominant intellectual mood during this transition period is scepticism (Ericson and Klimoff
2008, p. 178). The ardent communist,1 who had for a long time no place for God in his
heart, when he was first arrested, initially experienced shock. He vividly and powerfully
depicts his arrest as a cataclysmic event such that he cries out in tribulation, ‘Lord! Lord!
Under artillery shells and bombs I asked you to preserve my life. Now I ask you send me
death’ (Matual 1982, pp. 36–37).2
His odyssey follows the stages of Dante’s description of the journey through Inferno
(hell) and Purgatorio (purification process) to Paradiso (paradise). As in Dante’s allegorical
reading, Solzhenitsyn’s journey towards God begins in Inferno. It was almost impossible
for Solzhenitsyn, whose heart was burning for justice, truth, and concern for the life of
others, to become passive and indifferent to what was happening around him. However,
his wish to die is more a symbolic reaction to the vastness of injustice rather than a matter
of personal will. As David Matual notes, while Solzhenitsyn’s journey from Inferno through
Purgatorio begins modestly (Matual 1982, p. 38), the substantial transformation process
in his life is steadily already beginning. Having met many different people among the
political detainees and ordinary prisoners, he had the possibility to consciously observe this
range of attitudes and re-examine his former life in the light of deep long-term reflection.
Consequently, his imprisonment became an opportunity for him to find the true human
image, the imago Dei, within apparently inhuman conditions (Kroeker and Ward 2012,
p. 259). In one place, Solzhenitsyn tells us the story of a man similar to himself physically
and psychologically, by the name of Igor Tronko, an émigré, ‘We became friends’, Solzhen-
itsyn says. ‘Both of us were weak, dried out, our skin was grayish yellow on our bones.
Why had we collapsed to such an extent?’ The reason he gave was: ‘I think the main cause
was spiritual confusion’ (Sarıtoprak 2012, p. 270). The title of Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s
Search for Meaning, encapsulates Solzhenitsyn’s attitude to his experiences in the Gulag.3
He found his view strengthened that it is through a quest for sense and purpose in life that
individuals can endure hardship and suffering (Bushkin et al. 2021; 17, p. 233). So, let us
focus on what Solzhenitsyn discovered and underwent in prison that led him to see the
importance of seeking meaning in life and honoring the Creator.
Solzhenitsyn encountered many devout religious people in prison. During a discus-
sion with the inmate named Boris Gammerov about the prayer said by President Franklin
Roosevelt and printed in a Soviet newspaper, Solzhenitsyn, without any hesitation, dis-
missed it as hypocrisy (Sarıtoprak 2012, p. 181). Gammerov’s response is very direct and
sharp: ‘why do you not admit a stateman can sincerely believe in God?’ Solzhenitsyn,
who was a devoted communist and atheist, asked Gammerov whether he believed in God.
Gammerov’s reply astonished him: ‘of course’ (Sarıtoprak 2012, p. 181; Matual 1982, pp.
38–40). This simple occurrence had a strong impact on Solzhenitsyn. There were also
many other fervent religious people, individuals, and groups, to whom he paid special
attention. One passionate example is Anatolii Vasil’eish Silin, a former atheist who had
become a theologian, philosopher, and poet, having embraced Christianity during his stay
Religions 2023, 14, 902 4 of 20

in a German prisoner of war camp. Silin instructed Solzhenitsyn in understanding the

problem of evil from a Christian perspective, and succeeded in convincing him rationally
and spiritually.
An important encounter took place with another erstwhile atheist who had embraced
religious faith, a medical doctor, with whom Solzhenitsyn shared an emotionally charged
moment when he was told he had cancer and would not recover (Ericson and Klimoff 2008,
p. 178). Straight after his emergency operation for the cancer (which was most probably
abdominal), Dr. Boris Kornfel’d came, sat next to him in the recovery room and animatedly
told him the story of his own conversion to Christianity. Dr. Kornfel’d was killed the
following day (Ericson and Klimoff 2008, p. 14), and his passionate story left a strong mark
on Solzhenitsyn. His recovery from the surgery is conveyed in his moving lyric poem,
Acathistus, where he contrasts the apparent meaninglessness of his past life with the new
possibility he found of living purposefully. He concludes ‘Oh! Great God! I believe now
anew! Though denied, You always with me . . . ’ (Ericson and Klimoff 2008, p. 180). For
Solzhenitsyn, these conversations are like wakeup calls or, as Nursi says, a compassionate
slap (Nursi 2013b) from the hands of the most Merciful so as to allow people to realize
their mistakes.
Solzhenitsyn recounts his spiritual journey with honesty (the transition from Inferno to
Purgatorio, then to Paradiso) and discusses with sincerity what he experienced during his
years of imprisonment and exile. Just as the flood, from which Noah and those with him in
the ark are rescued, cleansed the entire earth, Solzhenitsyn sees exile as a thorough rinsing
of himself from top to the bottom. Several times he points out how he felt vulnerable in
prison, especially when he met religious people. He argues at length that his atheistic
convictions did not have a solid basis, could not stand up to dispute and were not very
productive. What he pictures himself as doing during prison conversations about matters
of faith issues was simply to renounce it (Ericson and Klimoff 2008; 15, p. 178). With the
passage of time, however, he began admiring and idealizing these same believing people.
His Gulag Archipelago and other works are full of such exemplary figures. His fellow inmate,
Maruyishkin, is a good illustration. By saving his daily allocation of bread, Maruyishkin
accumulated seven full rations so that, when the time came to break the Lenten fast, he
feasted for three full days at Easter time (Sarıtoprak 2012, p. 266). Solzhenitsyn could not
hide his admiration for this man. Similarly, he found the story of a young girl named Zoia
Lescheva impressive. After the arrest of her religious and pious parents, this young girl was
put into an orphanage when she was just 10 years old. Her new state-owned custodians
forced her to remove the cross from her neck. She firmly refused, however, and clearly
made known her eager determination that the cross would remain part of her until death
(Matual 1982, p. 38).
Solzhenitsyn perceived that these faithful people felt no despair or depression in the
face of many calamities. When he noticed that some Catholic Lithuanian prisoners were
making rosaries for themselves from bits of bread, he asked them to make one for him with
100 beads. The Lithuanians were moved by his devotion (Kroeker and Ward 2012, p. 259).
This mutual interaction with religious people in prison day by day fostered the young
Solzhenitsyn’s development of a personal faith. Numerous religious men and women,
young and old, suffered at the hands of the Stalinist regime but these faithful people resisted
all the torture, pressure, and humiliation of a situation comparable to Dante’s Inferno.
It is important to remember that Solzhenitsyn was well aware of how the Bolsheviks,
once they had assumed power, systematically attempted to erase all people of faith and
religious institutions. He gives several examples of this concerted effort at religious geno-
cide but his admiration for religious people’s fearless attitudes is always to the fore. Who
were these fierce opponents of the communist regime? There are, for example, the Eastern
Catholics—followers of Vladimir Solovyov—and Polish Roman Catholics priests (Sarıto-
prak 2012, p. 37). Solzhenitsyn complains bitterly about the persecution of the Baptists,4
large numbers of Orthodox priests (in 1932, in Leningrad, many churches were closed
simultaneously and large-scale arrests were made among the clergy) (Sarıtoprak 2012, p.
Religions 2023, 14, 902 5 of 20

51), bishops, monks, and nuns,5 who were guilty of nothing and were executed by the
regime on the basis of indiscriminate charges of vaguely counterrevolutionary offenses.6
While there were many church properties confiscated from the early days of the Bolshevik
revolution (Sarıtoprak 2012, p. 342), Khrushchev ordered the closure of 11,000 out of the
20,000 remaining church buildings owned by the Russian Orthodox Church (Nursi n.d., p.
26). For Solzhenitsyn, the saddest part of this process of confiscation was the conversion
of certain church buildings into warehouses or social clubs (Nursi n.d., p. 29), and even
into prisons (Sarıtoprak 2012, p. 605).7 In brief, entire churches were confiscated and their
members were imprisoned.
Solzhenitsyn describes the atmosphere of fear during this period, using the following
example: ‘A person, who is convinced that he possessed spiritual truth, is required to
conceal it from his own children’.8 Children were deliberately taken from their families
and forced to abandon their faith through threats and lies, while their parents were sent
to prison (Solzhenitsyn 1976, p. 872). These sinister acts, for Solzhenitsyn, were far more
dangerous than losing money, property or any entitlement to welfare. Despite the existence
of such negative developments and suffering, many religious communities and individuals,
in the midst of every type of torture in prison, preserved their calmness, spiritual well-
being and self-discipline. As in Viktor Frankl’s experience, the Gulag aided Solzhenitsyn
in finding the underlying relationship between his chaotic external world as well as his
hunger and search for meaning within persistent chaos and unceasing crises (Bushkin et al.
2021, pp. 232–33). In this way, Solzhenitsyn’s transformation was provoked from Godless
communist ideologies to traditional Russian Orthodox Christianity. Theologically speaking,
his understanding of human nature went from vague humanism to a powerful conviction
that through suffering Christ reveals the true imago Dei, and thus, the horrific experience
of the Siberian camps could become the subject of redemption (Kroeker and Ward 2012,
p. 251). Also, not be forgotten is the importance Solzhenitsyn gave to human rights and
social justice issues and their significant role in his spiritual awakening.

4. Inner Peace in Solzhenitsyn’s Works

When Solzhenitsyn deals with the notion of spiritual narrowness and breadth, he
generally takes the issue at two levels: one is personal, while the other is communal or
national (whereby he means Russia). His prison experience made him value the liberation
of people’s souls as the prior importance to their bodily freedom. If people do not possess
inner freedom, they are spiritually exhausted and never have the quality of real indepen-
dence. For Solzhenitsyn, this is an essential requirement not only for personal but also for
national salvation (Ericson and Klimoff 2008, p. 183). As Mahoney eloquently points out,
Solzhenitsyn’s main concern was not with politics in the first place but with the decline
in spiritual integrity of all modern societies (Mahoney 2003, p. 69). Thus, he considers
his imprisonment as a slow but steady purge, which gives him an opportunity for moral
development and spiritual transcendence. He witnesses with every fiber of his being that
the blessing and grace of God reach even behind the bars of an iron curtain’s jails. For
Solzhenitsyn, this is testimony to the fact that the authoritarian regime’s evil forces, despite
their copious means to harm and even destroy the body and mind of the people, never
reach the soul of the faithful. This spiritual purgation made possible by life in prison allows
Solzhenitsyn to re-examine his life and compare his Godless (or meaningless) past life with
a growing level of spiritual consciousness in his new journey. As he goes on to say, ‘I am
the interstellar wanderer! They have tightly bound my body, but my soul is beyond their
power’ (Sarıtoprak 2012, p. 595).9 This slow but determined spiritual transformation of
Solzhenitsyn’s reminded me of a famous observation of Averroes (Ibn Rushd) to the effect
that, ‘if the egg in the brood is broken from inside, life begins; on the contrary, if it is broken
from the outside, the potential life inside also goes out’. Clearly, from the early 1960s to the
late 1970s, Solzhenitsyn was taking steps to break out of the communist shell which, up
until that point, had clouded with darkness and gloom his potential for life.
Religions 2023, 14, 902 6 of 20

Through protecting his soul from the regular corruptions of the materialistic Soviet
state, this ensured that his relationship with God would be intensified. Awareness of the
constant presence and intervention of God during his time in his prison gradually increased
the possibility for him to live a meaningful and purposeful life even there. In his novels
and other writings, with profound humanity Solzhenitsyn portrays this contrast between
the exterior and the interior with profound humanity. When the light of faith penetrates the
hearts of prisoners, and when their quest for the warm hand of God is achieved, and full
resignation to His will, then their spirits become steadily stronger. How faith enlightens
the heart in Solzhenitsyn’s eyes is illustrated in his well-known play, Candle in the Wind,
which was written in 1960. This play’s original title is The Light that is within Thee, a phrase
taken from the Gospel of Luke 11:35 that harmonizes with Solzhenitsyn’s argument for the
generous openness of Christian faith, in the face of hedonism and scientism (Ericson and
Klimoff 2008, p. 179). It is significant that this play was written about the same time as the
novel, The First Circle, which charts a similar transformation. For Solzhenitsyn, empowering
the heart is closely related to the light of scripture and the revelation of God. Similarly, the
characters in his novels appear serene and self-possessed despite the difficulty of staying
alive under the harsh conditions of a prison camp (Derrick 1975; 26, pp. 285–86). Ivan
Denisovich, for example, is weak in body but has great spiritual strength and fortitude of
heart. Spiritual force and renewal, according to Solzhenitsyn, constitute a unique antidote
to human misery and are the real key to genuine and lasting happiness. After experiencing
inner joy and peace in prison, he no longer merely admires other believers at a distance; he
has finally become one of them (Matual 1982, p. 40). Faith and spirituality, Solzhenitsyn
epitomized in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, not only generate Ivan’s inner peace
and joy but also bring him to the point where he no longer complains in the face of torture
and other terrible physical sufferings. This link between faith and lack of complaint under
harsh conditions is dwelt upon in detail by Said Nursi.
Another important notion that Solzhenitsyn emphasizes is the relationship between
inner peace and patience. Lady Matryone is a good illustration of this topic. Her patience
and eagerness to help others made her forget all the troubles and hardships in her own
life, paving the way to emerge with a pure soul (Derrick 1975, p. 288). An unselfish and
self-sacrificing attitude is a pure remedy for many spiritual diseases and a direct path
to inner peace. To be distinguished from the inner dimension of religious and spiritual
consciousness, are ideologies and political parties who generally attempt to deal predom-
inantly with the outer manifestations of difficulties, crises, and hardships (Matual 1982,
p. 40). Even the freedom these offer comes from outside, in contrast to religious and
spiritual freedom which come directly from deep in the heart. For Solzhenitsyn, a person
is genuinely alive when he exhibits a strong self-sacrificing spirit. The prisoner who has
attained the most sublime level of consciousness frequently has a better understanding of
life than people who have not had the rigors of confinement (Matual 1982, p. 42) At this
stage, we are faced with a different Solzhenitsyn. As Viktor Frankl points out, Solzhenitsyn
internalized the notion that life is meaningful ‘under all conditions and in all situations.’ In
other words, the claim is that people’s lives are always potentially meaningful, (Landau
2019, p. 383). and Solzhenitsyn himself had the opportunity to actualize this potential in
the Gulag. Nevertheless, even though the goal is the attainment of inner joy, the spiritual
wounds inflicted on people by a Godless regime over more than 70 years take time to heal
(Nursi n.d., p. 26).
In Solzhenitsyn’s understanding, even when people are deprived of the Divine dimen-
sion of life, the inner peace and patient endurance of the human mind and will manifest
themselves in the ability to learn from others and in the capacity to find meaning in all
one’s experiences, however painful and destructive (Muchnic 1970, p. 162). Solzhenitsyn’s
hero in this regard is Gleb Nerzhin in The First Circle. Despite his great misfortune, pain,
and discomfort, Nerzhin is admirably open-minded, thoughtful, and interested in others’
ideas; he loves truth, defends justice, and through his faith becomes the happiest of all
the confined (Muchnic 1970, p. 162). Happiness of this kind is supported by the growth
Religions 2023, 14, 902 7 of 20

of self-awareness, which helps Solzhenitsyn to pave the way for his understanding of
eternal life (Ericson and Klimoff 2008, p. 133). Spiritual enrichment, patience, learning from
others, and self-awareness remarkably transform the Gulag into a potential paradise. For
Solzhenitsyn, the harsh and negative conditions in the darkness of confinement become
spiritually more fruitful than all the possible achievements of a massive nation, a seemingly
free land called the Soviet Union. Because he has been spiritually re-born in the Gulag, he
feels no despair or depression (Matual 1982, p. 42). From the Gulag where he finds himself,
Solzhenitsyn exerts great efforts to spread this paradise-like life to the entire Russian people.
He believes that his Christian faith will bring back happiness to Russia. In him there is
no shadow of doubt that his Orthodox faith is the only living spiritual force capable of
achieving the spiritual healing of Russia from the atheistic communism which was causing
such great distress for the people during the Soviet period (Nursi n.d., p. 20). Thus, for
Solzhenitsyn, Christianity itself generates authentic national spiritual renewal and promises
inner peace to Russia as a whole.
As is clear from the above discussion, Solzhenitsyn assesses the nation’s strength or
weakness in the light of the level of its spirituality rather than its level of industrialization
(Nursi n.d., p. 20). He is very critical of the machine age that dehumanizes the people and
fails to improve their way of life (Derrick 1975, p. 288). The genuine felicity of both the
individual and the nation depends on the inner joy and spiritual well-being of the Russian
people. Thus, Solzhenitsyn has a very simple understanding of the power of Christianity
to constitute a solution to ‘the great disasters that had befallen Russia.’ Downfall can be
expressed ‘in four simple words; men have forgotten God’. This had been a motto when he
was a child, a motto that he rediscovered in his maturity. Hatred of God, he was convinced,
is never a route to happiness.
The Christianity which Solzhenitsyn promotes as a herald of inner peace is also
relatively uncomplicated. His religiously oriented character is rooted in a quite simple
faith that is based essentially on his belief in the existence of God (Ericson and Klimoff
2008, pp. 133–34). He dismisses philosophical systems in their entirety as inadequate.
However valuable, none of them can be more than partly true. He never approaches God
from deistic or pantheistic perspectives, for his only concern is to bring back traditional
Orthodox and Biblical understandings of God (Derrick 1975, p. 286), and thus, prevent
the drying up of religious consciousness in society. Because of this emphasis on the re-
activation of religious awareness, some commentators consider his writings to have the
aim to create a mystical union between God and the Russian soil and soul (Ericson and
Klimoff 2008, p. 165; Muchnic 1970, p. 165). In this regard, however, Solzhenitsyn never
accepts any unprincipled compromises or evasions (Derrick 1975, p. 283). This simple and
undiluted understanding reminds me of a prophetic narration quoted by Ghazzali in his
book Ihya: ‘Be subject to the religion of old women in the End Times, Alaykum bi-din al-ajâiz.’
(Imam Ghazzali n.d., I. 78).

5. Tranquillity and Inner Peace in Nursi’s Works

Compared to Solzhenitsyn, Nursi is quite straightforward in bringing faith to life for
his followers on every occasion. Faith, for him, ‘is not a routine intellectual affirmation,
rather it is a life of total commitment to dwell in the presence of God’ (Haddad 2003,
p. 247). He frequently says that, without faith, one becomes blind, and that, when one
fumbles in the darkness of faithlessness, it is of no consequence how wide the world around
people is, because they are either actually in prison or their world has been turned into
a prison. Everything has become alien and one’s heart will be full of sorrow and grief.10
The Qur’an alludes to the fact that it is God who contracts and expands, withholds and
grants abundance: wa Allāhu yaqbid.u wa yabs.ut. (2:245). Since the Prophet says, ‘the heart
is between the two fingers of the All-Merciful; He turns it from state to state and gives it
whatever form He wishes’ (Muslim n.d.), Nursi talks about times when his heart causes
distress and makes him suffer from extraordinary spiritual estrangement:
Religions 2023, 14, 902 8 of 20

. . . And I wondered how it is possible to withstand all this cumulative darkness

and the interlocking kinds of estrangement! My heart sought succour, saying ‘O
Lord, I am a lonely stranger, weak without power, sick and disabled, an old man
without choice. So, I say; help, help, I hope for forgiveness and draw strength at
your door O my God.11
He vividly explains how he extricates himself from this spiritual blockage and envel-
opment:
Lo and behold, the light of faith, the overflowing of the Qur’an, and the kindness
of the Merciful began to supply me with strength which transforms those five
kinds of dark estrangements into five luminary circles of companionship and joy.
So, my tongue began to repeat; God is sufficient for us, the Most Excellent is He
in whom we trust (3:173); and my heart recited the gracious verse ‘now if they
turn away (O Muhammad) say; God suffices me. There is no god save Him. In
Him have I put my trust, and He is Lord of the tremendous throne (9:129)’.
(Haddad 2003, p. 247)
In Nursi’s eyes, faith in God changes one’s life dramatically. Time-bound moods of
contraction depart, and expansion and openness come about. As Fethullah Gülen explains,
contraction and openness are mysterious ‘bargains’ and in tune with the heart’s contracting
with gloom and depression, then expanding with joy (Gülen 2006; I.167). So, it is not
correct to think that one can experience the state of bast. (openness, expansion, and joy) at
all times. Having inner peace does not mean that one will be spared hardship, anxiety,
grief, and depression. For the disruptive reality which may affect human life brings with it
a host of crises such as death, natural disasters, severe discomfort, loneliness, inner turmoil,
illness, injustices, imprisonment, accidents, and many other losses. Nursi’s distinctive
prominent quality, as M. Ulusoy says, lies in his response to these unexpected tragedies
and traumatic crises with the feeling Ulusoy describes as ontological helplessness (Turner
2013; 206). In Nursi’s approach, calamities can never have a paralyzing and destructive
effect on the person under stress. No matter how intense the negative forces are, they
never in themselves cause those affected to give up and disconnect from God. Having
internalized faith in God and reliance on Him, the imprisoned know real freedom, sickness
becomes good health, the aged, disabled and weak find strength in the life of the soul,
and exile and loneliness become ways to form unshakable bonds and relations with the
Creator, such that one becomes a friend of God.12 In brief, how strong faith in God brings
happiness to one’s life is summarized in Nursian theology with the logical sequence: ‘ . . .
belief necessitates affirmation of Divine Unity, affirmation of Divine Unity necessitates
submission to God, submission to God necessitates reliance on God, and reliance on God
necessarily leads to happiness in this world and the next’(Nursi 2009, p. 323). For Nursi,
spirituality enables believers to apply the lessons they have learned from faith to the trials
and challenges that inevitably arise in daily life. It is one’s spirituality that comes to the
fore at moments of crisis, when the normal patterns of activity, work and relaxation are
disrupted, relationships are strained, and things are not the way they should be (Michel
2008, p. 176). Anxiety diminishes if one’s spirituality is based on authentic faith.
In this regard, it has been observed that a key term in Nursi’s discourse of inner peace
and tranquillity is faith in God, ı̄mān bi-Allāh. He frequently mentions a motto taken from
“

Ibn VAt.ā Allāh al-Iskandarānı̄ (d. 1309): ma-dha wajada man faqadak wa-ma alladhi faqada man
wajadak, ‘what did one find who lost You, and what one lost who found You?’ That is, ‘the
one who finds Him (God) finds everything, while the one who does not find Him (God),
can find nothing’ (Nursi 2016; Keskin 2015, p. 88). Nursi was strongly convinced that the
heart of people’s real faith strengthens them to challenge the whole world and that with
this faith one saves oneself from every kind of worldly burden. He adopts the image that
one travels on the ship of life (sefîne-i hayatta) with full confidence and security against the
mountainous waves of events.13 Thus, Nursi’s understanding of faith is not just theoretical
or dogmatic, but a way of life in which one is constantly connected with God. One example
Religions 2023, 14, 902 9 of 20

of this importance of the tah.qı̄q (certainty and realization of the faith) is his declaration to
those in prison:
I am seventy years old,14 and I know with complete certainty from thousands of
experiences, proofs, evidence, and events that true enjoyment, pain-free pleasure,
grief-free joy, and life’s happiness are only to be found in belief and in the realm
of the truths of faith.15
As Z. Sarıtoprak and Z. Keskin argue convincingly, another dimension of inner peace
in Nursian theology is related to the beautiful names of God. Keskin points out that the
means to inner peace are as many as the 99 names of God. In her view, Nursi finds a way to
attain inner peace when the world is decoded through these names of God, so that events in
one’s life can be given meaning in such a way as to satisfy the heart and mind (Sa’di Shirazi
2023; 31, p. 329; Keskin 2015; 82, p. 232). Keskin calls Nursi’s reading of worldly events in
the light of God’s names and attributes a tawh.ı̄d-centric approach (Keskin 2015, p. 233). To
make this method more understandable, she chooses three of these names—All-Powerful
“

(al-Qādir), All-Just (al- Adl) and All-Merciful (al-Rah.mān)—and shows how these manifest
within the universe and offer a source of inner peace. These names play a significant role
in the actual process of attaining inner peace, namely, in that they satisfy human persons’
inner and outer senses and faculties. Because Nursi gives detailed explanations of the inner
faculties (lat.ā if ), such as sirr (secret), khafā (hidden) and akhfā (most hidden), in addition to
) )

the well-known five senses (seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling), these faculties,
unseen but profoundly felt by God-conscious believers, are like opened windows looking
out into the world of the unseen (Hermansen 2008a, p. 86). Faith is the main source of every
means to reactivate these superabundant spiritual senses and manifests the boundlessness
of God’s names on earth. It is important to remember here Nursi’s emphasis, along with
faith, on tawhid. It is impossible for a heart that does not know Allah, does not accept His
unity, and does not worship Him with all its being, to attain total peace and happiness.
At most, one may think one is happy, but the struggle is constant. An unbelieving heart,
according to Nursi, not only fails to find inner peace, but it is also empty, just as the Qur’an
states wa af’idatuhum hawâ, ‘ . . . their hearts are void (as if filled with air)’.16
As mentioned briefly above, both Nursi and Solzhenitsyn see the heart as the home
and primary key to a human person’s being and non-being.17 They sincerely believe that
the heart is the true expression of a person’s spiritual existence. Fethullah Gülen puts this
well when he says of the human heart that it is:
the pathway to one’s ultimate depths. Human virtues are cultivated on the
hillsides of the heart; faith, love, and spiritual pleasures are the fruits of its garden.
Not only is it a vital organ of the physical being, but it is also the spiritual centre
of the body, including the emotions and (intellectual and spiritual) faculties, such
as perception, consciousness, the senses, reasoning, and willpower. (Gülen 2006;
I.22; Keskin 2015, p. 130)18
Seen and unseen faculties are embedded in the heart. It is a unique place which, when
approached graciously, leads a person to ultimate happiness in this world and the Hereafter,
without any bewilderment or confusion. Failure in this regard, however, eventuates in real
misery. To illustrate the dimensions of the vital organ of the heart and its spiritual centre
of gravity, Nursi refers to certain prophetic reports, poems, and proverbs. According to
a well-known (but, to some extent, disputable) sacred tradition, ‘neither the heavens nor
the earth encompass Me (God), but the tender heart of My believing servant does’.19 Here,
in figurative speech, is portrayed the breadth of the human heart. Similarly, as an ancient
Arab proverb puts it, makān/dār al-d.ı̄q yasa alf al-s.adı̄q—‘even the narrowest of places is
(

large enough for a thousand friends’ (Hirtenstein 2008, p. 287). For Solzhenitsyn, the heart
alone gave strength to those who suffered for a half century under the Soviet system, and
allowed them to stay alive and fight for their rights (Solzhenitsyn 1974; 13: p. 23). For
the rest, however, he does not greatly elaborate on the nature and faculties of this great
Religions 2023, 14, 902 10 of 20

spiritual source. Nursi, on the other hand, frequently refers to the dimensions of the heart,
at times expanding, at other times contracting. Personal, cultural, and social breadth is
always related to the expanse of the heart, no matter where one lives or what one does!
This notion has spiritual and metaphysical dimensions, as Nursi reminds his readers more
than once when he quotes the poem:

‘ àAj.J¯ Z@Y« B@ ©Ó èC®Ë@ P @ à@YJÓ H. AJ.k B@ ©Ó AJmÌ '@ Õæ

With enemies the broad earth is like a small cup, while with friends a needle’s eye
becomes a broad arena (Nursi 2013b).
That is to say, one’s expanse and measure of happiness, peace, and inner joy, parallel
one’s breadth of heart. The heart possesses tremendous capacity because of this connec-
tion to the Al-Merciful (wus’a, wideness). It is a Ka’ba of human body (Chittick 1989,
p. 107). Nursi in this regard uses the following important terms: sakı̄na (tranquility, the
indwelling presence), inshirāh./ infitāh., iftitāh. (openness and breadth of heart), rid.ā (content-
) ) )

ment), it.mi nān, .tuma nı̄na (serenity and peacefulness of heart), salām (peace), farāsa (deep
) )

understanding), h.usn al-z.ann (positive opinion), khushū’, khashyah (deep reverence for God),
istighrāq (rapture), nashwa, nash a (state of joy), shawq (enthusiasm, spiritual desire), waqār
)

(dignity), haybah (awe-inspiring appearance), inqilab (constant change), h.uzn (sorrow), .tarab
(distress), inkisār (be broken), qabd. or inqibād. (contract) and bast. or inbisāt. (expansion).20
) ) )

Neither should one forget the relationship between these concepts and the names of God.21
Here, we will focus only on the notion of sakı̄na to show how one can attain serenity and
tranquillity. It is important also to note that Nursi, having reorganized and paraphrased
a famous sakı̄na invocation (Qas.ı̄da-i Arjūza22 from Gumuskhānawı̄’s famous Majmū āt (

al-Ah.zāb), read the sakı̄na prayer regularly and requested his followers to do so constantly.
Traditionally, one had to read the nine specifically chosen Qur’anic verses nineteen times

“
(the total equaling 171) based on the names of God: Fard, H . ayy, Qayyūm, H
. akam, Adl and
Quddūs (Nursi 2013b, p. 425: Nursi nd., 119).
One should also remember that the same text (i.e., Gumuskhānawı̄’s book) contains a
specific prayer called du ā li-daf d.ı̄q al-s.adr (a prayer for expelling or driving out narrowness
( (

from the chest or breast), which is attributed to Imām Ja far al-S.ādiq (d. 148/765). Sakı̄na in
(

Islamic tradition is different from the Jewish and Christian understanding of shekinah.23
It generally means silence (derived from sukūnah), calmness, and steadiness such that a
person experiences tranquillity (Gülen 2006; I.104).24 In the context of Islamic spirituality, it
also means that the heart has come to rest as a result of its connection with God, so that
it is not shaken by worldly fear, grief, or anxiety, and finds peace, integrity, and harmony
between the inner and the outer worlds (Gülen 2006; Keskin 2015) Sakı̄na is a way to bring
about the harmony of inner peace with outer beauty. It is affiliated with the unseen realm
rather than drawing its strength from the world that the physical eye can see (Keskin 2015,
p. 47). While sakı̄na is understood to be the ‘beginning of being freed from theoretical
knowledge and awakened to the truth, it.mi nān is considered to be the final point or station’
)

(Gülen 2006; I.139; Keskin 2015, p. 48). The Qur’an draws attention to the notion of it.mi nān )

with this verse: ‘Indeed, in the remembrance of God do hearts find peace, alā bi-dhikr Allāh
)

tat.mai nnū al-qulūb’.25

)

Other concepts also refer to different dimensions of the heart. Rid.ā, for instance, means
‘showing no animosity or rebellion against misfortune, and accepting all manifestations
of destiny without complaint and even peacefully’. Generally speaking, Muslim scholars
speak about two types of rid.ā: contentment with God and contentment with what comes
from God. Rid.ā with God ensues when one is content with His arrangement of affairs,
while rid.ā with that which comes from God is contentment with His decree (al-Qushayrı̄
2007).26 This is a state where there will be no traces of hatred, jealousy, deceit, destructive
thoughts, empty feelings, or any type of evil inclination (Keskin 2015, p. 42). Nursi follows
the Prophetic tradition in adopting a positive perspective on God and others, leading to a
positive view of life: ‘a person who sees the good in things has good thoughts. And he who
Religions 2023, 14, 902 11 of 20

has good thoughts receives pleasure from life’.27 Positive opinion is the mindset in which
everything is viewed, perceived, or evaluated on a positive note (Keskin 2015, pp. 48–49).

6. Desire for Eternity and Renunciation of Worldly Possessions and Property

Another dimension of inner peace is based on a trio of relationships between the self,
the world, and the Hereafter. Nursi and Solzhenitsyn both express their displeasure with
people simply submitting to their desires and hunger for worldly gain. Authentic desire,
according to Nursi, is boundless and everlasting; therefore, the human heart cannot be
satisfied with the incomplete joys of this world (Horkuc 2010). Furthermore, as Nursi
reminds readers in the Second Flash, ‘this worldly realm is the field of testing, and the abode
of service. It is not the place of pleasure, reward, and requital (Nursi 1995, p. 23). In fact, we
can extend Nursi’s view into our own civilizational present. It is by prioritizing the world
and worldly things that we arrive at the root of our postmodern melancholy. We live in an
age of unprecedented wealth, but in the realm of narrative and symbol we are deprived.
So, the anxious ache for meaning that we feel goes unrelieved. As de Tocqueville puts it,
‘the short space of threescore years can never content the imagination of man; nor can the
imperfect joys of this world satisfy his heart’ (Solzhenitsyn 1983). The extra decade or two
of life expectancy we in the 21st century have added to de Tocqueville’s projection does
not vitiate his point (Solzhenitsyn 1983). As Sa’di Shirazi expresses it in his hopeful love of
spring which breathes life into the human soul: ‘another life is needed (omre dighar be-bayad),
for time was spent in this one in hopefulness’ (Ray 2012). For Nursi and Solzhenitsyn,
achievement of this state is an unceasing and lifelong process.
As Solzhenitsyn writes, ‘a dozen worms cannot go on and on gnawing the same apple
forever that if the earth is a finite object, then its expanses and resources are finite also . . .
’ (Nursi n.d., p. 20). Since a human being’s life span is short and the resources available
in the world are limited, any attempt to find full meaning in life goes unrealized. Both
our scholars, however, have provided solutions to satisfy the human yearning for eternity.
The first of these is akin to conventional mystical practices: begin by renouncing every
worldly attachment. The mystics, these great-souled people, who possessed the highest
self-consciousness, wisdom, and serenity, frequently exhort others as follows: ‘do not
pursue what is illusory’, namely, properties, positions, even emotional attachments such as
family and friends. People lose their souls to possessions and attachments and are thus
never able to find inner peace. For Solzhenitsyn, ‘whoever renounces everything, s/he will
win out.’ In relation to prisoners in particular, this means that they too must spiritually
divest themself of all possessions and obliterate from their heart whatever attachments
they may have had (Matual 1982, p. 40).28
Nursi, on the other hand, uses the Naqshibandı̄ Sufi order’s famous motto: ‘one should
abandon or renounce four things: the world, the hereafter, self-existence and even abandon
the abandonment’ (tark-i dunyā, tark-i uqbā, tark-i hastı̄, tark-i tark) (Nursi 2016, p. 38). This
(

complete renunciation is the only way to achieve ultimate peace and salvation. It is also
wise to note that desiring nothing except for God is unspoiled attachment and a basic
condition of real freedom. Nursi goes further and theologizes the relationship between how
one’s limitless desires and the struggle to attain them lead to feelings of impotence ( ajz) (

and poverty (faqr). As Keskin rightly points out, the answer to this question lies in the gap
that is felt between what one seeks and what one can achieve. So, how does feeling weak
and poor lead to happiness? This is simple in Nursi’s philosophy: through the realization
of one’s weakness and limitation, one can establish a connection with the immeasurable
power and mercy of God.29 Thus, a person’s weakness becomes their strength; their poverty
becomes a means of richness (Keskin 2015, p. 144).30 According to Nursi, this gap between
seeking and achieving leads to desire for the All-Powerful One, the One ‘Who sees all
things, and is present everywhere, Who is beyond space, exempt from impotence, free of
fault, and far above all defect’ (Keskin 2015, pp. 142–43). When people can understand their
limitations, weaknesses, impotence, and incapacities, they become spiritually powerful and
Religions 2023, 14, 902 12 of 20

their souls ascend to the truth with deep conviction and firm faith by relying completely
on the All-Powerful and All-Wise God.
In this context, it is useful to dwell briefly on certain basic concepts and phenomena to
which both scholars draw attention. In the following sections, therefore, I deal, summarily,
with the themes of death, ultimate victory, hope and patience.

7. Death
Renunciation of worldly possessions and yearning for immortality are directly con-
nected to inner peace. However, a dimension is still missing, namely, the notion of death. It
may be stated from the outset that Nursi’s and Solzhenitsyn’s approaches to the concept
of death are extremely positive. The idea of death plays a vital part in helping them both
to be at peace with many negative details and otherwise anxiety-provoking and harmful
elements. Both authors consider death to be a peaceful transition. Nursi describes death as
similar to receiving a discharge certificate from the military, which indicates that one has
completed one’s work or mission in life. He sees death as a great bounty because it means
being freed from the obligations of life, which have become burdensome after a certain
age. Moreover, death allows us to join and be united with our friends who have already
travelled across to that other realm (Nursi 2016, p. 25). For us all, death means liberation
from worldly constraints. Religious persons have a strong faith that there is a life after
death and that this world is not the end. Their souls will live on freely. Solzhenitsyn, in a
poem concerned with the meaning of life and the mystery of death, describes death as a
crest onto which the road of his life has now ascended (Ericson and Klimoff 2008, p. 180;
Mahoney 2003, p. 68). So, death is not a chasm, but it means real union with our loved ones.
Thus, a person can approach it without fear.31 Death is a bridge between this world and the
Hereafter; thus, in the absence of the notion of death, temporary suffering in this world and
its relationship to inner peace cannot be understood clearly. Since death opens the doors of
the Hereafter and the Day of Judgement, one should not worry about the injustices of this
world. Those who are on good terms with death, who do not excessively fear or abhor it,
are at peace with themselves.32 That is why death should never be forgotten: Memento mori.
Hope and ultimate victory having lived during troubled and distressing times—one
having witnessed the collapse of the Ottoman state while the other saw many atrocities
committed by the communist state—Nursi and Solzhenitsyn have great hope; their faith in
God’s sustenance assures them that the good will always triumph over evil (Ericson and
Klimoff 2008, p. 189). Nursi considers the victory of injustices and despotic practices to
be temporary and, basing his views on Qur’anic verses, declares that the victory belongs
to righteous believers.33 Truth will be triumphant and cannot be overcome (Haddad 2003,
p. 249). Solzhenitsyn, in line with Nursi, clearly perceives the triumph of the human spirit
over totalitarianism (Hunter 2003, p. 12). He constantly brings hope to the situations
he faces and is able to declare that, no matter how strong communism is, it will never
extinguish the faith of Christian people (Ericson and Klimoff 2008, p. 134). Nursi, from the
perspective of Islam, also worked tirelessly to instill hope and limitless faith in every strata
of society. For both, the major sin of humanity is hopelessness and inveterate pessimism,
because despair is destructive at both individual and societal levels. Nursi, using a time-
based metaphor, says that, just as every winter is followed by spring and every night by
morning, so too humankind shall have a morning and a spring. On another occasion, as
Nursi writes: ‘I was in exile at the time; I felt a despairing sorrow, a regretful penitence, a
longing for assistance. Suddenly, the all-wise Qur’an came to my aid. It opened a door of
hope so powerful and afforded a light of consolation so true that it could have dispelled
despair and darkness a hundred times more intense than mine’ (Nursi 1996, p. 39; Keskin
2015, p. 201; Michel 2008, p. 180). Nursi clarifies that, even from the condition of deepest
winter, there would be a paradise-like spring, and the following generations would see it
(Nursi n.d., p. 75).34 In addition, Nursi strongly affirms that faith frees the human being
from the morass of despair; it illuminates the past and the future and makes the present
Religions 2023, 14, 902 13 of 20

bearable (Haddad 2003, p. 248).35 Therefore, faith is not only a source of light and power
but the origin of hope and an antidote to hopelessness.36
Solzhenitsyn internalizes the notion of spring in the context of prison and says: ‘Spring
promises every happiness to the prisoners . . . I would become wiser here. I would come to
understand many things here. Heaven! I would correct my mistake.’ He also discloses his
hope with these words: ‘Beneath that bright heaven you had to imagine your bright future
life, sinless and without error’ (Sarıtoprak 2012, p. 212). Both scholars have great confidence
in their respective religious traditions and they call upon these traditions to compete openly
with the despotic regimes that restrict every civil and fundamentally human benefit for
society. Solzhenitsyn demands: ‘allow us a free art and literature, the free publication of
books . . . allow us philosophical, ethical, economic and social studies, and you will see
what a rich harvest it brings and how it bears fruit for the good of Russia’ (Nursi n.d., p. 18).
This enthusiastic pro-active approach characterizes the mission of both men: planting the
seeds and waiting for harvest in the time of the coming generations. It became the natural
habit of them both to face their troubles with active patience, address them with faith, and
start each new day with vivid hope. As Erich Fromm writes, when people have faith, they
wait for the Messiah every day and are not disappointed when he does not come. ’it is the
paradoxical hope to expect the Messiah every day, yet not to lose heart when he has not
come at the appointed hour’ (Fromm 1976). Despite the fact that it may seem contradictory
from the outside, there is hope in the waiting.

8. Patience
Along with hope and the victory of the righteous, a further important feature of
both authors is their dealing with hardship and suffering through patience. Patience is a
praiseworthy virtue for each of them. It enables complete reliance on God’s limitless mercy
and empowers a person to resist the relentless suppression of faith by the State. At the
same time, Sabur is one of the sublime names of Allah, and it is clear that whoever is patient
will become a part of this lofty name with manifestation of its many different dimensions
and fragrances. Nursi, for example, finds a proper response to calamities and suffering in
displaying great gratitude to the Creator, because grace abounds in thankfulness. Otherwise,
if people keep complaining, their suffering increases and, intentionally or unintentionally,
they risk blocking or curbing the grace of God, so that, consequently, these calamities
become larger until finally they are unable to be borne. If, on the other hand, one disregards
or relativizes hardships, they tend to disappear (Haddad 2003, p. 248). Similarly, all the
commendable characters in Solzhenitsyn’s works are the epitome of patience. They portray
both admirable equanimity and inner peace in the face of any calamity. They forget their
troubles and are ready to help others. They are always spiritually sound characters (Derrick
1975, pp. 286–87).

9. Destiny of the Nation: Altruistic Life and Love

As already mentioned, Nursi’s and Solzhenitsyn’s altruistic natures make them con-
cerned not only for their own destiny but for the fate of the whole people. While countless
human beings in their times were laboring under violent pressure, oppression, and suf-
fering, both men could think not only of the final goal of true freedom, but also the social
justice and human rights dimensions of inner peace are very much alive in both scholars’
approaches to the many marginalized people. In their writings are countless clues and
open statements that testify to the pain they felt when they looked at their homelands and
the world. Nursi explicitly states that, while he can bear his own pain and sorrow, he has
been broken and crushed by the grief of other Muslims. As he elaborates, he felt deeply
every blow inflicted on the world of Islam as inflicted primarily on his own heart (Ulusoy
2008, p. 143; Keskin 2015, p. 210).
Solzhenitsyn’s heart beats in a likewise mode. As O’Brien points out, Solzhenitsyn’s
heart bleeds not simply for himself but for his country and compatriots, and for humanity at
large (Nursi n.d., p. 14). Reading between the lines, we observe that each of our authors sees
Religions 2023, 14, 902 14 of 20

himself as having a God-given mission to look after his fellow creatures, resonating both
with those who have already suffered and with those who are yet to suffer. Solzhenitsyn
describes the situation with the expressions: ‘I have been in the red burning belly of the
dragon . . . he was not able to digest me. He threw me up. I have come to you as a witness
to what it’s like there, in the dragon’s belly’ (Solzhenitsyn 1974, p. 25).37 In another place,
Solzhenitsyn finds spiritual renewal amid intense suffering. For him, this is an opportunity
to see the true human image, the imago Dei, within the apparently inhuman (Kroeker and
Ward 2012, p. 259).38
Similarly, Nursi cries out: ‘Because by nature I feel excessive pity and compassion for
my fellow being, I have experienced the suffering of thousands of my brothers in addition
to my own pains, and therefore it is as though I have lived for hundreds of years’ (Aydın
2003, p. 217). When he lost his mother, and then his nephew, he said ‘ . . . half of my
private world died with the death of my mother and now, with the death of Abdurrahman
(his nephew) the other half died’. He believes, however, that his large Islamic family, and
the compassion which embraces all humanity, will enable him to overcome these deaths,
which weighed so heavily on him, and enable him see that God had replaced his nephew
with 30 Abdurrahmans, referring to his deceased nephew’s name with his committed
and hard-working pupils (Keskin 2015, p. 228). This is especially important in terms of
understanding Nursi’s compassion for the civilians who died in Europe during the Second
World War and is evidence of his warm and spacious heart for humanity.39
Clearly, there are strong parallels between Solzhenitsyn’s and Nursi’s suffering love of
others, and the deep inner peace of their spiritual lives. One of the explanations for their
unceasing efforts to bring peace to society lies in the understanding of love as the source
of spiritual and mental solace, and as the climax of experiences of the real. Solzhenitsyn
believes that the power of love is the quality of a good human being (Derrick 1975, p. 286)
Thus, such great power should not be ignored in human relations and in attaining inner
peace. Nursi also elaborates on the notion of love and its relation to inner peace. Following
Islamic mystical traditions, he argues that infinite love, when it is directed to finite things,
can only bring grief and sorrow. As Rumi notes, this is fake love (Sa’di Shirazi 2023, p. 332).
In addition, when the time of separation comes from the time-bound objects of love, pain,
and grief for the specious lover will be multiplied (Tocqueville 2023, p. 446). To love God,
the eternal existent being, is considered the sole cure for these wounds of separation. Nursi
sincerely advises his followers to lean on this unshakeable Almighty and All-powerful
being and assign or refer their incapacity and unsolved problems to Him (Nursi 1995, p. 30).
In this context, he comforted himself with the help of many Qur’anic verses where genuine
inner peace can be found, and where it marvelously and valiantly resists and withstands
every conceivable kind of torture. Nursi’s most frequently quoted verses are:
God is enough for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs.40
And put your trust in God. God suffices as One on Whom to rely (and to Whom to
refer all affairs).41
. . . In Him have I put my trust, and he is Lord of the tremendous throne.42
Finally, it is important to note his eloquent summary of the reason for existence:
Be certain of this, that the highest aim of creation and its most important result
are belief in God (iman-ı bi-Allah). And the most exalted rank in humanity and its
highest degree are the knowledge of God (marifat Allah) contained within belief
in God. And the most radiant happiness and sweetest bounty for jinn and human
beings are the love of God (muhabbat Allah) contained within the knowledge of
God. And the purest joy for the human spirit and the sheerest delight for man’s
heart are the rapture of the spirit (lazzat-i ruhaniya) contained within the love
of God. Indeed, all true happiness, pure joy, sweet bounties, and untroubled
pleasure lie in knowledge of God and love of God; they cannot exist without them.
(Nursi 2016, p. 265)
Religions 2023, 14, 902 15 of 20

10. Conclusions
As indicated in the article, while both Nursi and Solzhenitsyn were subjected to
unspeakable persecution, it never occurred to either of them to respond with violence.
Despite the countless hardships, tortuous imprisonment, and debilitating exile that they
went through, they were able to discern the hidden beauty, kindness and goodness even
behind all kinds of injustices, however much pain and distress these inflicted on them.
Nursi turns prison experience into a school, seeing every phenomenon as a reflection
of God’s attributes, and evaluating the visible and invisible (mulk and malakut) from the
perspective of God’s beautiful names. In short, whatever comes from God is good. More
importantly, nothing is eternal in this mortal world. Both sadness and happiness are
temporary. To put it in Nursi’s words, ‘the absence of pleasure is pain, and the absence of
pain is pleasure’.43
Solzhenitsyn’s prison experience invites him to explore and rediscover the religious
and moral education he received in his childhood, the truth of which had been obscured by
brainwashing in the communist ideology of the Soviet Union. More specifically, we can
define Solzhenitsyn’s journey in prison in terms of restoring his Christian faith. Remaining
faithful to the truth of faith which he had rediscovered after a time when following other
directions, he was tireless in emphasizing that the human path is one of commitment, not
to mortal phenomena, but to the eternal Creator: ‘Do not pursue what is illusory—property
and position; all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade and is
confiscated in one fell night’ (Sarıtoprak 2012, p. 592). For both Nursi and Solzhenitsyn,
the sharp difference between sadness, distress, sickness, and old age, on the one hand, and
joy, peace, youth, and health, on the other hand, almost disappears in their thinking. In
Nursi’s words, the width of their world was directly proportional to the width of their
hearts. Although the world physically narrowed with their incarceration behind thick walls
and the cruelty with which they were treated, no jailer, tyrant, or autocrat could impose
limits on their spiritual pathways or the journeys of their souls. It was precisely the quality
of their relationship with God, of which we learn abundantly from their writings, that
bespoke the quality of their lives. Despair does not feature in the vocabulary of these two
giants of the spiritual life, and a tasteless existence oscillating between hope and despair
is a foreign concept to them. They had mastered the art of living gratefully in the present
moment, and appreciating its beauty, no matter under which dreadful conditions they were
forced to abide.
The secret of their peaceful and fruitful lives in prison can be understood to reside,
on the one hand, in their strong sense of attachment to God and to others, and in their
broadness and maturity of heart, on the other. The experience of incarceration offered each
of them the opportunity to review their own lives, enabling each, independently of the
other, to diagnose the ills of their contemporary societies—such as atheism, worldliness,
hedonistic lifestyle, lack of spirituality, and overconsumption—and try to propose and
develop a way out, both for their close associates and for the general public. Their awareness
of this fundamental task to better the lives of others allowed them to bear the harshness of
prison and transform its harmful effects into more fruitful endeavors.
According to Nursi, prison spirituality is one of the purest types. The regular perfor-
mance of prayers together with fellow inmates, the frequent, and shared invocations of
God, and constant reading of the Qur’an: all contributed to developing a deeply spiritual
environment in our prison cell. Making spirituality his top priority empowered him and
his pupils to focus on soul and mental health while they were in prison, and to ward off
the effects of the toxic political and cultural propaganda that was rife in the country. As
Nursi does not tire of saying, I have observed very clearly that even time and space differ
according to the spiritual degree of people living in the same environment at the same time.
What seemed a long period of time for one was, for another, just like a second. Relating
this to ourselves and our spiritual experience in prison, we found it highly regrettable that
a moment that was very precious for ourselves, and that we wanted not to pass, would slip
away from others in the blink of an eye.
Religions 2023, 14, 902 16 of 20

Funding: This research received no external funding.

Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.
Acknowledgments: I am grateful to Raymond Canning from ACU for his valuable suggestion and
comments on the first draft of this paper.
Conflicts of Interest: The author declares no conflict of interest.

Notes
1 He describes his upbringing as: ‘The social environment has such an impact that it gets into the brain of the young man and little
by little takes over, so that from age 18, I did change internally, and from that time I became a Marxist, a Leninist and believed in
all these things’ (Ericson-Klimoff, The Soul and Barbed Wire, 18).
2 Solzhenitsyn’s gradual transformation is depicted in the Little Grain. In this work, he had long avoided giving religious testimonies,
preferring to let his faith ‘flow silently but incontrovertibly’ (Ericson-Klimoff, The Soul and Barbed Wire, 133).
3 Ghazali’s confession in his autobiography al-Munqiz is very relevant in the case of Solzhenitsyn: From the period of adolescence,
that is to say, previous to reaching my twentieth year to the present time when I have passed my fiftieth, I have ventured into this
vast ocean; I have fearlessly sounded its depths, and like a resolute diver, I have penetrated its darkness and dared its dangers
and abysses. I have interrogated the beliefs of each sect and scrutinized the mysteries of each doctrine, in order to disentangle
truth from error and orthodoxy from heresy. I have never met one who maintained the hidden meaning of the Qur’ran without
investigating the nature of his belief, nor a partisan of its exterior sense without inquiring into the results of his doctrine. There
is no philosopher whose system I have not fathomed, nor theologian the intricacies of whose doctrine I have not followed out.
(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Confessions_of_al-Ghazali accessed on 25 June 2023). I would like to thank anonymous
reviewer for drawing my attention to Ghazzali’s confession.
4 These people were persecuted on the grounds they refused to listen to preachers sent by an atheist state with full authority
(O’Brien, ‘Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn and the Evils of Soviet Communism’, 15).
5 Solzhenitsyn gave a tragic example about the imprisonment of nuns and prostitutes. They were sent to prison together, but,
through a lenient article of the legal code, the prostitutes were allowed, after three years, to return home with full suitcases, while
nuns were never able to return to their home and families (Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956, 38).
6 Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956, 326.
7 According to Solzhenitsyn, the struggle of the Russian Church started very early. Bolsheviks wanted to blame every calamity
that befell Russia on the attitude of the Church. For instance, they blamed the Church for the famine in the Volga region, for,
if believers had sacrificed whatever they had, there would have been no famine. However, it must be stated that the Russian
Church was eager to help people in distress, but not by state force and anarchy. See Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956,
342–345.
8 After a poem written by Tanya Khodkevich: ‘you can pray freely, but just so God alone can hear’. Solzhenitsyn says she received
a 10-year sentence for these verses (Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956, 37). Intolerance was a common and prevalent
reflex during these tough days under the communist regime.
9 According to Matual, Solzhenitsyn now possesses the highest consciousness, deepest wisdom and greatest happiness (Matual,
The Gulag Archipelago: From Inferno to Paradiso’, 42).
10 See the original text: ‘Eğer o göz küfür zulmetiyle kör olursa; dünya, genişliğiyle beraber bir hapishane şekline girer. Bütün
hakaiki kevniye, nazarından gizlenir. Kainat ondan tevahhuş eder. Kalbi ahzan ve ekdar ile dolar’ (Nursi 2013a).
11 Yâ Rabb, garibem, bîkesem, zaîfem, nâtüvânem, alîlem, âcizem, ihtiyarem, bî-ihtiyarem, el-aman-gûyem, afv-cûyem, meded-hâhem, zidergâhet
İlâhî! (Nursi 2007).
12 Thomas Michel deals with this topic eloquently. At one point in his treatise, message of the sick, Nursi coins a startling paradox:
‘for you, he tells the readers of Risale-i Nur, illness is good health, while for some of your peers good health is a sickness’
(Michel 2008).
13 In Nursi’s words: ‘Evet, hakikî imânı elde eden adam, kâinata meydan okuyabilir ve imânın kuvvetine göre, hâdisâtın
tazyikàtından kurtulabilir. “Tevekkeltü alallah” (Allah’a tevekkül ettim/Hûd Sûresi: 56.) der, sefine-i hayatta kemâl-i em-
niyetle hâdisâtın dağlarvâri dalgaları içinde seyrân eder’.
14 At other times, it is said to be 75 years.
15 Nursi’s original statements are: ‘Ey zevk ve lezzete mübtela insan! Ben yetmiş yaşımda binler tecrübelerle ve hüccetlerle ve
hadiselerle aynelyakin bildim ki: hakiki zevk ve elemsiz lezzet ve kedersiz sevinç ve hayattaki saadet yalnız imandadır ve iman
hakikatleri dairesinde bulunur. Yoksa dünyevi bir lezzette çok elemler var. Bir üzüm tanesini yedirir on tokat vurur, hayatın
lezzetini kaçırır. Ey hapis musibetine düşen biçareler! Madem dünyanız ağlıyor ve tatlı hayatınız acılaştı; çalışınız, ahiretiniz dahi
ağlamasın ve hayatı bakiyeniz gülsün, tatlılaşsın, hapisten istifade ediniz. Nasıl bazan ağır şerait altında düşman karşısında bir
saat nöbet, bir sene ibadet hükmüne geçebilir. Öyle de, sizin ağır şerait altında herbir saat ibadet zahmeti; çok saatler olup, o
zahmetleri rahmetlere çevirir’ (Nursi, Sözler, ‘Onuncu Söz’). Nursi’s contemporary, famous Turkish exegete Elmalılı Muhammed
Religions 2023, 14, 902 17 of 20

Hamdi Yazır (d.1942), has a similar approach: ‘Elem ve lezzet bütün zihayatta müştereken icrâyı te’sir ediyorlar. Diğerlerinden
fazla olarak insanlardan yalnız hadisatın kendileri değil, tasavvurları da müessir oluyor. Tasavvuru elem bir elem, tasavvuru
lezzet de bir lezzet oluyor. Bu sûretle insanlar ezvâk içinde müteellim, âlâm içinde mütelezziz bile olabiliyorlar . . . Böyle her
lezzeti hayır, her elemi şer addederek hayır ve şerri bizzat vicdanı ferdilerinin ân-ı te’sirleriyle ölçenlerin nazarlarında o lezâiz ve
âlâmdan başka bir mabûd yoktur’ (Muhammed Hamdi Yazır, ‘Hayat ve Ubudiyet’, (prepared by C. Köksal-M. Kaya), Elmalılı M.
Hamdi Yazır Makaleler I. İstanbul, (Winkler 2011, pp. 229–32)). See also for information about Elmalı’lı 29. (Albayrak 2016).
16 Verse 14:43. Translation is taken from Ali Ünal’s work.
17 Solzhenitsyn, ‘Men Have Forgotten God’, 9–10.
18 Zeki Sarıtoprak draws attention to the two faces and functions of the spiritual heart, namely: centre of peace and centre of
violence (Sarıtoprak, ibid., 327). This is also noted by Solzhenitsyn several times in various articles and books.
19 H. adı̄th as cited in Nursi, The Words, 141.
20 Some of these concepts are discussed by Keskin in detail. See Keskin, ibid., 38–40. Qalb (heart) comes from Arabic expression
taqallub which means alterations, transformation, change, fluctuation, variablenness inconstancy etc. God is the turner of hearts
(muqallib al-qulub) (Chicttick, ibid., 106). Here, it is useful to remember the famous mystic Junayd al-Baghdadi’s saying: a
believer’s heart changes seventy times a day, while an unbeliever’s always stays the same. Junayd’s statement is in complete
harmony with the concept of the state of expansion and contraction.
21 Fattāh, Qābid., Bāsit., Salām, Muh.sin and Rādı̄. In other words, God is the main source for different states and stations of the heart.
Another point that should not be forgotten theologically, as Imam Bayhaqi points out, is that such names are mentioned or said
together with their opposites that complement each other. Allah is not only Bāsit. (the Reliever), but also Qābid. (the Constrictor).
Alternatively, not only Nafi (the Beneficial or Creator of Good), but also Dârr (the Creator of the Harmful) (See Muhammed
Hamdi Yazır, Hak Dini Kur’an Dili, Hashir Surah Tafsir, verses 18–24).
22 Arjūza is believed to be inspired by Imam Ali, the cousin of the Prophet and fourth caliph.
23 The concept “Shekinah” in Jewish thought focuses mostly on the presence of God that may manifest itself during several types of
ordinary religious activities, such as the prayer and Torah study already referred to and visiting the sick, practicing hospitality
and Sanhédrin, giving charity, practicing chastity before marriage and faithfulness within marriage—doing all these ordinary
things frequently will help produce greater faith, confidence, and peace of mind. But the Jewish focus is more on the opportunity
to experience God’s presence personally in a daily activity than on an individual’s personal spiritual growth. These somewhat
different emphases between sakinah and shekinah are not opposites. They are simply two different perspectives—like seeing
a lion from the front or from the side (Allen S. Maller (2013). Sakinah and Shekinah: One word two perspectives. Journal of
Ecumenical Studies 48:259–60).
24 The word tâbût (ark or chest) mentioned in the Qur’an (2:248) also has a connection with serenity (sakinah) and the heart. For this
reason, tâbût is thought of as a chest that contains knowledge and wisdom and gives peace to people. In summary, there is a deep
relationship between serenity and knowledge. Information that is internalised and transformed into action gives people inner
peace and tranquillity, while protecting self-consciousness (wijdan), which is the consciousness of consciousness (şuurun şuuru
in Turkish), against all kinds of external and internal unrest. Even more interesting is, in verse 2:247, the Qur’an says God has
chosen Talut (Saul) as a leader of the Jews and He blessed and increased Saul abundantly in knowledge and stature. Curiously,
the Qur’an uses the word bastatan (from basit), which means expansion.
25 Qur’ān 13:28. See also Keskin, ibid., 47–48.
26 Rābi a al- Adawiyyah (d. 801), a famous female Sufi, describes rid.ā as ‘When one rejoices at afflictions as much as s/he rejoices at
( (

bounty’ (al-Qushayrı̄ 2007, al-Qushayrı̄’s Epistle on Sufism, p. 208).

27 The famous hadith says ‘Anyone from among you must not die without having a positive attitude towards God, (h.usn al-z.ann).
Muslim b. al-H. ajjāj, al-S.ah.ı̄h. al-Muslim, (ed.) Muh.ammad Fu ād Abd al-Bāqı̄, Beirut: Dār Ih.yā al-Turāth al- Arabı̄, IV.2205 (Hadith
) ( (

no: 2877).
28 In another place, he gave this powerful advice: ‘Live with a steady superiority over life—do not be afraid of misfortune, and do
not yearn for happiness; it is after all the same; the bitter does not last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing, it
is enough if you do not freeze in the cold and if thirst and hunger do not claw at your insides. If your back is not broken, if your
feet can walk, if both arms can bend, if both eyes see, and if both ears hear, then whom should you envy? And why. Our envy of
others devours us most of all. Rub your eyes and purify your heart and prize above all else in the World those who love you and
who wish you well’ (Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956, 592-1).
29 A famous saying is attributed to Prophet Muhammad, but many scholars do not authenticate it: man arafa nafsahū faqad arafa
( (

rabbahū ‘s/he who knows herself/himself knows her/his Lord’. Imām Nawawı̄ said there is no well-established tradition about
this from the Prophet. See (Yazır 1998, I.129). Nevertheless, this frequently referenced tradition shows that self-awareness is a
way to be aware of one’s real potential. (Keskin, ibid., 234).
30 A compelling example is given of a soldier who can drive out all the inhabitants of a town if he acts in the name of a government.
In such a case, none of the inhabitants would try to harm the soldier, even though there may be 100 or 1000 inhabitants (Nursi,
The Words, 16).
Religions 2023, 14, 902 18 of 20

31 When Solzhenitsyn was 84 years old, having suffered two heart attacks, a reporter from the New Yorker once asked him whether
death scared him. He confidently declared, ‘in any case I have no fear of death’ (Hunter, ‘Solzhenitsyn: the Last Prophet’, 12).
32 Nursi also says ‘Risale-i Nurun mahiyetini dikkat ve tefekkürle okuyarak anlayıp tahkiki bir imana sahib olan halis Nur talebeleri;
ölümden, hapisten, zindandan ve hiçbir beşeri eza ve cefadan korkmazlar’/the followers of the Epistle of Light never be afraid of
death, prison, jail or any type of human torture and pressure’ (Nursi, Sözler, (23. Söz 3. Nokta) 285).
33 When one looks at the Qur’anic narratives, it can be seen they always end with decent finishing. Nursi also shares his methodology
of how to approach the Quranic text in an experiential way. It seems that he considers the Quran as a living text that can answer
our existential questions and problems: One time when I had been isolated from everything by ‘the worldly’, I was afflicted
with five kinds of exile. I suffered, too at that time of old age from five illnesses arising in part from my sorrows. Due to the
heedlessness resulting from the distress, I looked not to the lights of the Risale-i Nur, which would have consoled and assisted
me, but straight to my heart, and I sought my spirit. I saw that dominant in me were an overpowering desire for immortality,
an intense love of existence, a great yearning for life, together with an infinite impotence and endless want. But an awesome
transience was extinguishing the immortality. Suffering that state of mind, I exclaimed like the sorrowing poet:
While my heart desires its immortality, Reality wants the passing of my body;
I am afflicted with an incurable ill which not even Luqman could cure! (Nursi, The Fourth Ray, http://www.erisale.
com/?locale=en&bookId=204&pageNo=71#content.en.204.70).
34 Interestingly, Nursi pronounced a similar expression while he was in jail in Eskişehir.
35 In the 13th Ray (Şualar) Nursi also says: ‘certainly, what we have to do before anything else is not to be alarmed and not to
despair, not to become hopeless, but to strengthen each other’s morale and not to be frightened but to meet this calamity trusting
in God. We have to recognize that the mountains which the inane, clamorous journalists make out of molehills, are indeed simply
molehills, and thus not to be given any importance. The life of this world, especially at this time and under these conditions, is
without value. Whatever happens to one, one should meet it contentedly’.
36 The word Iblis (Satan) in the Qur’an literally means ‘being hopeless and despair’. The main reason for this despair (iblâs) is
disbelief (Khalil b. (Ahmad n.d.), Kitab al-Ayn, Cairo: Dar wa Maktabat al-Hilal nd. VII.262; Ibn Manzur (n.d.), Lisan al-Arab,
Beirut: Dar Sadir nd., VI.30).
37 He also shows his patience and resilience with the words: ‘We the dissidents of the Soviet Union, do not have any tanks, weapons,
organisations . . . our hands are empty. We have only a heart and what we have lived through in the half century of this system.
And when we have found the firmness within ourselves to stand up for our rights, we had done so. It is only by firmness of spirit
that we have withstood’ (Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr, ‘Detente Democracy’, 23).
38 It is safe to say that in both the Christian and Islamic traditions there is a very prominent understanding that testing and suffering
play an active role in defining the way of the prophets. For this reason, what Wahb b. Munabbih reported by saying ‘I saw it
in the book of an apostle’ seems to have become the norm: ‘if you enter the path of the oppressed people, please your heart,
because it will lead you to the path of the prophet and righteous servants’ (Ebu Nuaym-Ibn Cevzi 2000. Sahabeden Günümüze
Allah Dostları (Hilyetü’l-Evliya ve Sıfatu’s-Safve). Translated by Sait Aykut, İstanbul: Şule, p. 123).
39 At this juncture, it is worth mentioning a letter by Nursi to his students:
Although he was in exile in Kastamonu under dire conditions, he sent a letter to his students, again revealing his ethics of
compassion and his feelings about the war and its devastating consequences: “Due to my compassionate and sensitive
nature, I was shaken by the cataclysms that have brought disaster, loss, poverty, and hunger to men, coming as they have in
this harsh winter, and at a time of calamitous spiritual cold. Then suddenly I was reminded: in such calamities, there is a
certain kind of mercy and reward for the victims, even if they are non-believers” (Nursi 2012). He further claims that “the
innocent victims of such divine calamities become, in a sense, martyrs.” (ibid). Although the letter was written during the
War, Nursi is not interested in hearing news about who was winning the War. It is also important to look at newly published
article on Nursi’s ethics of compassion: (O’Brien 1994). A New Ethics of Compassion for Animals: Said Nursi on the Rights
of Flies. Journal of Islamic Ethics 6: 53–80.
40 Qur’ān 3:173.
41 Qur’ān 33:3.
42 Qur’ān 9:129. For other frequently mentioned verses See ‘Do not despair of God’s mercy’ (29:53); Is not Allah Sufficient for His
servant? (39:36); “...Be aware that it is in the remembrance of God that hearts find rest and contentment” (13:28); ‘Everything will
perish save His countenance. His is the command, and unto Him ye will be brought back’. (28:88).
43 It should be noted that the idea in this expression ‘zevâl-i lezzet elem olduğu gibi, zevâl-i elem dahi lezzettir’ originally belongs
to Imam al-Ghazzali and Said Nursi used it in many of his epistles, Risale-i Nur.
Religions 2023, 14, 902 19 of 20

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