Inner Peace in the Life of Said Nursi
Abstract
The best means to understanding inner peace is through the lived experience of individuals, where they are able to share the hardships and calamities they have lived through, and the processes they have followed in order to cope with those challenges. Said Nursi, a twentieth century scholar, regularly talks about the challenges he faced in his life through his writings, the Risale-i Nur (Treatise of Light). At the same time, Nursi puts great emphasis on how strong faith in God is the source of inner peace since it provides a perspective which helps one to better understand those challenges. How does one reconcile the two; hardships and inner peace? This article focuses on three types of calamities faced by Nursi; exiles, imprisonments and the death of his spiritual son, after which it analyses Nursi’s thought process on how he responded to those calamities as a result of his faith. The article then focuses on Nursi’s approach where everything should be viewed as other indicative. In summary, it sheds light on Nursi’s understanding of inner peace and how he sees faith as the ultimate source of that inner peace.
Keywords
Said Nursi, Islamic spirituality, Risale-i Nur, Calamities, Inner Peace
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