Page 170 - Self-Sacrifice in the Qur'an's Moral Teachings

Self-Sacrifice in the Qur'an's Moral Teachings

Writing the Risale-i Nur
When we look at the lives of Said Nursi and his students, we see
how every difficulty can be overcome through cooperation, unity, and
self-sacrifice. One of the difficulties that faced Said Nursi was writing
the Risale-i Nur Collection, a book that has become a guide for many
Muslims traveling the true path, under almost impossible conditions.
Said Nursi disregarded whatever obstacles his enemies placed in his
path in order to finish the Risales: exile, prison, while fighting on the
front during World War I, and during his three years of captivity in a
Siberian prison camp. His firm resolve to spread the Qur'an's message
among the masses enabled him to persevere and be steadfast in self-
sacrifice. In the lecture section of his Buyuk Sozler (The Big Words), we
read:

This situation of Bediuzzaman is an example to all those who strive for
Islam and to all Muslims. In other words, he engages in struggle and
service and taqwa [fear and respect of Allah] all together and does not
perform one while ignoring another. His being cast into prison through
the plans of ruthless and cruel enemies of religion, thrown into solitary
confinement, kept in a freezing cold cell and suffering violent cold, the
pains of illness, shivering, and the weaknesses stemming from old age
did not stop him from writing his books. 56
Hasan Akyol, one of his students imprisoned with him in Afyon,
speaks of Said Nursi's determination to continue writing the Risales on
whatever material he could find:

He would constantly write, from evening until morning, on pieces of
paper, notebooks, empty scraps of paper, small pocketbooks, and paper
bags. Yet we did not read these as he wrote. He remained alone in the
dormitory. That was where he did his writing. In the morning they

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