Page 172 - Self-Sacrifice in the Qur'an's Moral Teachings

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

One of his students relates Said Nursi's words about self-sacrifice:

One day he said this while speaking about self-sacrifice: "My cur-
rent students are more self-sacrificing than those who sacrificed
themselves by casting themselves into the fire in the east when
fighting the Russians with me. This is because it is not easy to sac-
rifice an entire lifetime. If someone casts himself into the fire, he/she
is at once martyred and dies. Long-term devotion and self-sacrifice,
on the other hand, are not easy. For this reason, my current stu-
dents are more self-sacrificing than the students of the Old Said.
Whenever this secret appears in the east, my fellow citizens will per-
form great services for religion." 59
In Son Sahitler (The Last Witnesses), his students speak of their
master's willing and deter-
mined self-sacrifice to com-
municate the Qur'an's moral
teachings:
Whenever there arose an
issue regarding the
Qur'an and the Risales,
the Master would assume
the vigor of a youth of
25. 60

The 11 months that Said Nursi
spent in prison in Eskisehir were
instrumental in bringing many
people to belief and getting them
to embrace the Qur'an's moral
teachings.

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