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The 20th century was the most dramatic era for the Islamic world—a century where not only political territories were lost, but a total war for absolute existence was waged. To conceal its colonial appetite, the West put on the mask of "universal values" and "civilization," launching a relentless assault under the false promise of progress for third-world countries. At the end of the 19th century, the administrative and military weakening of colossal Islamic empires such as the Mughal, Safavid, and Ottoman empires whetted the appetite of imperialist Europe, paving the way for their plan to fracture the Islamic geography into "digestible national micro-states."
This global invasion campaign was not a mere military deployment. Colonizers, orientalists, and Christian missionaries branded Islam as a "continuation of the medieval mentality," blaming the faith of Muslims for their own state of backwardness. The Islamic world was dictated that it would never recover unless it accepted toxic Western ideologies such as modernism, secularism, socialism, materialism, and liberalism. In other words, the beast directly attacked the heart, soul, and memory of Islam.
From Defense Lines to the Safeguarding of Islam
In the face of this colossal challenge, many Muslim intellectuals assumed the responsibility of erecting formidable defense lines to protect the roots of faith within their society. Some confronted the West using its own arguments to liberate Muslims from an inferiority complex, while others sacrificed their lives trying to demonstrate the validity and vitality of the Islamic worldview in the modern world.
Today, the Muslim population that has settled in Europe and North America through migratory waves faces exactly the same struggle. The anxiety of preserving the faith of second generations, born and raised in the secular and seductive environment of the West, makes it imperative that Islam's worldview be proclaimed anew in a universal language.
The most distinct, firm, and uncompromising example of this struggle for existence is Bediüzzaman Said Nursi. His ideas constitute a fortress of steel against the plans of a relentless West and its local collaborators, who sought to strip Muslims of Islam, neutralize their beliefs, and impose radical Westernization and secularism.
In the same century, Egyptian thinkers Muhammad Abduh and Sayyid Qutb experienced similar sufferings, paying the price through prisons and exiles. However, their methods for preserving the community (Ummah) differed:
Muhammad Abduh sought the solution in education and a rational renewal that attempted to reconcile Islam with modern science.
Sayyid Qutb defended that salvation would only be possible by reclaiming political power from the godless who had usurped it and establishing an absolute Islamic system.
Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, on his part, addressed the problem from its most fundamental root: "One person at a time in every era." Staying far away from political disputes and revolutionary waves, he placed the individual at the center of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. His recipe for salvation is based on verified faith (tahqiqi), meaning that the human being lives consciously, at every moment, of being in the presence of God.
All three intellectuals, in tune with the spirit of the 20th century, focused directly on the message of the Qur'an. Unlike classical exegeses, they cast aside grammatical minutiae to offer Qur'anic remedies for the social, economic, and cultural crises of the modern era. The work Risale-i Nur does not repair just any crack in the fortress of Islam; it repairs, with arguments as colossal as mountains, the collective heart, the common mentality, and the faltering faith that were targeted for destruction by the onslaughts of disbelief accumulated over a thousand years.
Confronting the Beast: The Reality of the Two Europes
Said Nursi deciphered with absolute clarity the somber face of positivism, materialism, and secularism aimed at Islam. He rejected the Western imposition of global standards and defended that the greatest strength against imperialism is the formation of a core of individuals who organize their daily lives around the Qur'an.
He divided Europe into two:
The First Europe: That which produces science and technology useful to humanity, and which serves justice and equity inspired by the light of true Christianity (the original teachings of Jesus).
The Second Europe: That corrupted by the dark teachings of positivism and materialism, which considers the sins of civilization as virtues and drags humanity toward debauchery, misguidance, and a broken philosophy.
Nursi exclaimed this harsh truth directly into the face of this second tyrannical Europe:
"O second Europe! Know that with your right hand you hold a sick and misguided philosophy, and with your left hand a harmful and corrupted civilization, claiming that 'the happiness of humanity depends on both.' May your two hands be broken, and may these two filthy gifts turn against you, as indeed they will!"
Western civilization is a false magician that offers an illusory paradise to the body while the heart and soul suffer an infernal torment. This genius, one-eyed like the Deccal (Antichrist), has degraded humanity to the lowest degree of animality; and as a remedy for this immense illness, it only offers seductive toys, numbing passions, and fleeting fantasies.
The Rotten Foundations of the West and the Student of the Qur'an
European civilization cannot be a model for Muslims because its foundations are rotten. According to the Western mentality, life is a "struggle for survival"; this fosters hostility, racism, and exploitation among human beings. By rejecting the divine law of "mutual assistance" (muavenet), Western philosophy produces a selfish and insatiable monster.
The human being molded by this philosophy is a Pharaoh: a humiliated being who idolizes everything that yields a benefit, capable of kissing the devil's feet for a petty interest, and an arrogant tyrant who, lacking a point of support in his heart, is actually utterly weak.
Conversely, the student of the Qur'an is a servant solely to God and never bows down before anyone else. He is a humble hero who does not lower himself to submission even before the most powerful rulers. He derives his strength from the Almighty (Al-Qadir); his heart is pure and his horizon is clear. While Western philosophy incites man to be at enmity with his brother and to covet everything for himself, the Qur'anic society builds a noble soul that makes the individual live for his brother, aspiring to the happiness of both worlds.
The West attempted to divide and devour the Islamic community by sowing the seeds of negative nationalism and racism. Unfortunately, Muslim nations, embroiled in internal disputes, failed to see the Western beasts that fed on their discord to suck their blood. However, Islam rejected this racism remaining from the Age of Ignorance (Jahiliyyah) and replaced it with sacred Islamic brotherhood.
The Cosmic Recipe of Exile and Submission: Faith, Trust in God, and Patience
Today, Muslim immigrants living in the West, even while enjoying material prosperity, grapple with a profound sense of alienation, exclusion, and loneliness. For those trapped between cultural racism and assimilation, Said Nursi's life of isolation and exile in the mountains represents an extraordinary guide. In the peaks, in the darkest moments of loneliness and banishment, he transformed his isolation into a "circle of fellowship and peace" through his absolute submission to God. When his heart became distressed, he took refuge in these verses:
"Allah is sufficient for us, and how excellent a guardian He is!" (Al-Imran, 173)
"If they turn away, say: Allah is sufficient for me. There is no divinity but He. In Him I put my trust..." (At-Tawbah, 129)
The recipe that Nursi offers to the world and humanity is clear: Faith (Iman), absolute trust in God (Tawakkul), and patience (Sabr). Faith is not a mere routine intellectual approval; it is obtaining a strength capable of defying the entire universe. A believer who achieves true faith can navigate with serenity over the stormy waves of life.
What pushes the human being into indecision and exhausts his patience, scattering it between the wounds of the past and the anxieties of the future, is the illusion that this world is eternal. However, the most noble stance before adversity is not complaint, but gratitude. Misfortune grows the more importance it is given; but it diminishes and disappears when it is minimized and one trusts in God. The verses that Nursi exclaimed while addressing his own soul represent the highest peak of submission:
"Cease your lament, wretched one, and in misfortune trust in God. For know that lament is a misfortune within misfortune, and a grave error.
If you have found the One who sends the trial, know that trial is pure delight, pure fidelity, and a divine gift."
The Truth That Will Convince the World: The Absolute Victory of Islam
"What has he found who has lost God? And what has he lost who has found Him?" He who finds God has found everything; but he who loses Him will obtain nothing but misfortune and perdition.
Throughout history, beginning with the prophets and especially by their leader, the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.v.), the forces of guidance (Hizbullah) have seemed to be temporarily defeated by the centers of evil and the allies of the devil (Hizbushshaytan). However, this is part of the wisdom of the world as a testing ground. The transitory victory of falsehood and misguidance is not because they are right, but because their path is based on destruction, demolition, and deceit. To destroy is easy and requires little strength; but the final victory will always belong to the builders, that is, to the truth. "The truth will prevail, and nothing can prevent it."
The Islamic world, and indeed the entire universe, stands in need of this truth today. God promises an absolute victory to the believers. The Qur'an's cry of "Do not fear" is not a empty promise; it is a divine declaration that the light of Islam will extend from the eastern seas to the western seas.
The West and its materialist civilization are pregnant; sooner or later they will vomit the filth within them and surrender to the truths of Islam. Our duty is not to be deceived by the false glimmers of the West, to rely with total trust on a God who is more powerful than any alliance of evil, and to proclaim to the world this immense vision of Islamic civilization through our lives. It must never be forgotten that God never fails His promise!
