CHALLENGING SECULARIZATION: The Educational Roles of Nurculuk Movement

1. CHALLENGING SECULARIZATION: The Educational Roles of Nurculuk Movement Muhammad Sirozi sirozi62@hotmail.com

2. WHO IS BEDIUZZAMAN SAID NURSI ? • Said Nursi (1878 – March 23, 1960) was a Turkish, a Muslim scholar who is commonly known as Bediuzzaman, which means "the wonder of the age". • “The most influential, ... Turkish Muslim thinker of the twentieth century.” • The most vocal and critical challenger of Kemal Ataturk and his secularization policy. (Turner 2008)

3. WHO IS BEDIUZZAMAN SAID NURSI ? • His major writings are presented in the Risale-I Nur, a collection of Qur’anic commentary exceeding six thousand pages. • Said Nursi is the one who shape Islam in Turkey and draw the moderate Islam picture of Turkey and set the future of Islam there based on faith, prayer, and ethics. • Dale F. Eickelman: Said Nursi played important role in shaping “justice and morality in contemporary societies, including the Muslim majority world.”

4. SAID NURSI’s INTENTION • “Nursi’s intention is simply to motivate people to think for themselves and understand the value of life in its diversification and its dynamism.”

5. Said Nursi and Nurculuk Movement • Said Nursi was the founder of what is arguably Turkey's most important popular religious grouping, the Nurculuk Movement, “which sought - and seeks - to foster Islamic sensibilities through a system of education based on Nursi's ideas” (see Turner and Horkuc 2011).

6. THE TRIGGERS OF NURCULUK MOVEMENT • The conflict between Islamic social movements and state secular ideology. • Increased literacy in Muslim society. • Expanding market economy. • The proliferation of information technology.

7. SECULARIZATION AGENDAS • Abolished almost all Islamic institutions (the Sultanate and the Caliphate). • Banned Islamic traditional dress (the veil for women) and propagating western dress. • Religion should not be a matter for public, but a matter of private, for each individual citizen. • Prohibited polygami. • Replaced Arabic script with Latin alphabet.

8. SECULARIZATION AGENDAS • Replaced the Muslim calendar of Hijriyah with the Gregorian calendar. • Closed traditional Islamic education and introduced a modern western education system. • Restricted all religious education.

9. NURCULUK: A QUITE MUSLIM REFORMATION • “A modern faith movement based on the writings of Said Nursi (1876-1960). • First emerged in public in 1950 and is inspired by the teachings of Bediüzzaman Said Nursi (1873 - 1960) and is managed by his leading followers.

10. NURCULUK: A QUITE MUSLIM REFORMATION • “Since Ataturk's death in 1938, ... Turkey has been gradually moving away from his militant secularism and experiencing "a quiet Muslim reformation." • In November of 2002, the Justice and Development Party that has strong Islamic roots swept to victory in the Turkish parliamentary elections.

11. Theoretical Framework • Abernety (1956): “education and politics are inextricably linked.” • Michel Foucault’: the reciprocal relation between “Knowledge and Power.”

12. The Roles of Nurculuk Movement • The Nurcus have sought to establish a sense of community within a secular state through religiously rooted and socially shaped networks. • A significant religious force that play important role in slowing down the spread of secular policies in public sphere.

13. Nurculuk Movement and Turkish Politics • 1950sthe political channel used by the followers of Nurculuk was the Democratic Party (DP) of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes. • 1960sthe channel was the Justice Party (AP) of Suleyman Demirel, who was Prime minister at the time and later became President. • 1970sit was the National Salvation Party (MSP) of the then Vice-Premier, later Premier, Necmettin Erbakan. • From the 1980s onwards, the True Path Party (DYP) and the Motherland Party (ANAP).

14. The Darsanah (Dershanes) as a Network of Nurculuk Movement • “A special apartment floor or one-floor building and a congregation of people who meet there to read and discuss the writings of Nursi” • Darsanas are “central to Nur identity and facilitate the formation of multifaceted close networks of relationships among followers [of Said Nursi], who are able to form a bond of trust and civility among themselves.”

15. The Influences of Risale-I Nur • For Turner and Horkuc (2011), The Risale-i Nur is “a logical and scientifically based concept for dealing with the problems and challenges that increasingly face Muslims in the modern world.” • The objective of Said Nursi’s work, The Risale-i Nur, is “to promulgate an Islam that brought all Muslims under a common faith but added the advantages of Western technology.”

16. The Main Objectives of Risale-I Nur • To raise the consciousness of Muslims. • To refute the dominant intellectual discourses of materialism and positivism. • To recover collective memory by revising the shared grammer of society, Islam. (see Yavuz 2000).

17. Repeated Trials for Said Nursi • Said Nursi was repeatedly put in trials in 1944, 1948, 1952, 1956 and 1958. • The repeated trials did not stop the spread of his writings and the rise of the Nurculuk movement. • In 1950, while he was still dealing the trials of Ataturk’s government, Nursi’s writings were firt printed and circulated in Turkey by his students or followers who are united in Nurculuk movement.

18. Nurculuk Movement Today • Followed by an estimated seven million Muslims worldwide, standing out from other contemporary Muslim religious and ideological groupings . • The followers of Nurculuk movement are primarily interested in Said Nursi’s teachings on the importance of renewing individual and collective faith and rejecting any kind of religiously legitimized violence or militancy for the sake of politico-ideological ends. • Nurculuk followers are interested in Nursi’s ideas regarding the solution to the decline of Islamic civilization by unifying science and religion.

19. The Unity of Religion and Science • For Nursi, religion and science are not mutually exclusive. They can be connected and reciprocal, thus, should not be let to develop alone. • Religion and science need to be unified, so that they can support and enrich one to another. “If [religion and science] are separated, it [the separation] gives rise to ignorance and fanaticism in religion and fallacies and scepticism in the science.”

20. Religion and Science • Nursi warns: religion can not replace science and vice versa. Each caterogy has unique benefits in explaining, understanding, and predicting human issues. • "The science of religion is the light of the conscience. Civilisation’s (natural) sciences are the light of the intellect.” (Said Nursi 1996, p. 2).

21. Religion and Science • The union of religion and science will reveal the truth and “inspires incentive (motivation) and initiative” (Said Nursi 1996, p. 2). • “Religion without science is a superstition. Science without religion has gone astray." • Schmitt interprets Nursi: “religion without science and science without religion are equally disastrous.”

22. Religion and Science • Nursi: “withouth religion, science can alienate people from religion, ethics and moral values in the civilization. They [people] can be trapped into materialistic and exploitative economic practices.” • “Withouth science, “religion can be trapped into blind practices.” • “Positive way of life can only be developed by synthesising religion and the natural sciences. The two of them should be placed in an equal and balance position in a complementary manner.”

23. The Unity of Religion and Science • The unity of reliigon and sciencve will develop a deliberate and conscious belief (tahkiki iman) and destroy blind belief (taklidi iman). • With tahkiki iman, a man will be able to move from external belief that only appear on outward appearance into internalise his belief that appear on inward and outward appearance.

24. Challenging Secularization • Religious commitment and the aquisition of modern sciences. • The balance between piety and intellectuality or between ilm and iman. • Scientific skills in line with religious knowledge and commitment. • Bring religion out of the private sphere and the mosques and back into public life, and thus into state institutions. • Bring religious education and instruction into formal education programs. • Develop common political awareness and perspective among Muslims, particularly among Muslim youths.

25. The Roles of Darsanah • Provide participants with the knowledge of Islamic worship (ibadah), Islamic morality (akhlak al karimah), social and political system, and the roles that Muslims need to play individually (fard ain) and collectively (fard kifayah) in private and public affairs. • Inculcate religious teachings and nurture religious understanding as well as religious commitment.

26. The Roles of Darsanah • Provide Muslim youths with religious understanding and commitmen based on the teachings of Said Nursi. • Guide Muslims to identify the enemy of Islam and find the solution. In his writings, Nursi explains that the enemies of Islam is ignorance, poverty, and fragmentation. To counter these enemies, according to Nursi, Muslims need to develop education, do hard work, and make consensus.

27. Darsanah Situation • Yavuz’ (2003b, p. 307): “After work, or on Friday evenings, people assemble in dershanes to discuss the writimngs of Nursi. • Although almost all conversations start with the writings of Nursi, they take different directions and most likely end with political or business exchanges.” • The conversations are based on the Nursi’s writings, the Risale.

28. The Mode of Education in Darsanah • Darsanas inculcate Islamic teachings through a unique lifestyle. • Yavuz (2003b, p. 298) summarises: “the lifestyle of Dershanes is ascetic: spartan living condition, simple food, a rigid study program, and obedience to the teachings of Islam.” • Islam is not introduced as a formal or seremonial religion, but as “personal Islam with the goal of constructing microlevel morality by raising religious consciousness.”

29. The Mode of Education in Darsanah • Islamic teachings are not formally shown in public space, but are integrated in personal daily lifestyles. • Train Muslims to build Muslim personality, “which is pious and modern; tolerant but firm about the core virtues of Islam.” (Yavuz 2003b, p. 3001). • With national and international networks, Darsanas “help to institutionalize a pattern of conduct in society” at large (Yavuz 2003b, p. 307).

30. The Mode of Education in Darsanah • Yavuz (2003b): “the dershane institution helps its members to be both modern and Muslim at the same time.” (2003b, p. 297). • “The task of Dershanes is to inculcate Islamic values and norms in society through conversational reading (sobbet) and prayers.” • Yavuz (2003b, p. 309): Darsanas “fulfill nultiple functions,” as kervan saray where Turks may enjoy coffee and socialize with each other. • Darsanas disseminate information, find jobs, facilitate new frienshisp, and allow access to diverse social networks.

31. The Mode of Education in Darsanah • Yavuz (2003b, p. 309): in Darsanas, “personal trust and communal control are brought together.” • Being organized horizontally, not hierarchically. • Stress solidarity, participation, and integrity. • Help to build sustainable communities.

32. Some Lessons Learned • Religious education seems to be more effective when it is provided in informal than in formal setting. • Religious education seems to be very effective with a balance of theroetical and practical experiences; the balance between piety and intellectuality; and the balance between ilm and iman. • Religious education seems to be more effective when it is provided in an integrated mode than in a monolitic mode.

33. Some Lessons Learned 4. Religious education needs to be related and connected to science education. “If [religion and science] are separated,” Nursi explains, “it [the separation] gives rise to ignorance and fanaticism in religion and fallacies and scepticism in the science." (Said Nursi 1996, p. 2). If Muslims fail to reconcile religion with natural science, Nursi argues, they will not be able to catch up with the modern age and achieve technological progress. With the unity of religion and science, Muslims generation will be “pious but modern.”

34. Some Lessons Learned 5. Religious education need to focus on the formation of character (akhlak al karimah), not on the knowledge itself. It needs to inculcate Islamic teachings through a unique lifestyle. It is expected to produce Muslims who are “tolerant but firm” in all religious affairs. 6. Religious education will be more effective if it is provided with a strong bases of Islamic brotherhood (ukhuwah Islamiyah).

35. Some Lessons Learned 7. Religious education will be very effective if it is delivered with full of sincerity, commitment, and responsibility with the spirit of Islamic dakwah. 8. Religious education will be effective if it is delivered in the form of real life experiences. Students need to be involved in real life experiences, not only in textbook and theoretical discussion. 9. Religious education need to be based on an authoritative and consistent resources.

36. Some Lessons Learned 10. Religious education needs to contextual to social, economic, and political environment. In Darsanas, there is strong emphasis on Nursi’s ideas regarding the enemy of Islam (ignorance, poverty, and fragmentation) and the solution that needs to be developed (education, hard work, and consensus).

37. Some Lessons Learned • The mode of religious education at all levels, lines, and types of education in Indonesia needs to be revisited, to ensure its effectiveness. • The methods, strategies, approaches, and paradigm of religious education in Indonesia and other Muslim countries needs to be evaluated.

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