Page 174 - Self-Sacrifice in the Qur'an's Moral Teachings

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

Hayat (Bediuzzaman Said Nursi), which details
the life of Said Nursi and his students, tells of
his determined spirit of self-sacrifice and devo-
tion whether in prison, exile, or a prison camp:

Bediuzzaman is a blessed person possessed of a
most marvellous grace. Therefore, dungeons were
like rose gardens for him, from where he saw the
bright horizons of eternity. The executioner's block was a pulpit for him
to preach and guide. From there he gave lessons of patience and perse-
verance, courage and strength for a sublime cause. Prisons turned into
a Madrasa-i Yusufiya [School of Yusuf] for him. He would enter them
like a professor entering a university to teach, because the people there
were students in need of his inspiration and spiritual enlightenment.
His daily activity of protecting several people's belief and turning mon-
sters into angelic human beings was, for him, a happiness not to be ex-
changed for worlds. 64
We see from this that it was a sufficient reward for his troubles if
only one person came to love belief. Through him, many people em-
braced the Qur'an's moral teachings:
He was thrown from one prison into another. Thanks to him, jails and
prisons turned into a Madrasa-i Yusufiya [School of Yusuf]. Said
Nursi illuminated jails, illuminated hearts. In the face of this monu-
ment to faith, many raging murderers and deviants were softened, as if
they were re-created. All became gentle and good-tempered believers
and good citizens … Which of your schools or education systems has
done or could do such things? They exiled him from one place to an-
other. Every place of exile became his homeland. Wherever he went,
wherever he was exiled, he was surrounded by pure, clean believers.
Thick prison walls could not separate him from his brothers/sisters in

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