Het Tiende Woord - De wederopstanding en het hiernamaals

by Bediüzzaman Said Nursî

We zijn geboren om te sterven, om terug te keren naar onze daadwerkelijke verblijfplaats van gelukzaligheid. Hoe sterker dat besef is, hoe zinvoller ons bestaan wordt. Het leven gaat snel voorbij en de meesten van ons hebben duidelijk geen idee van wat hetgeen er komen zal. We zien dat de meeste 'moderne mensen' zich bezig houden met de materiële aspecten en de geneugten van deze wereld en dat ze zich volledig achteloos opstellen ten opzichte van hetgeen op het punt staat te gebeuren. Velen van hen denken dat het huidige leven het enige leven is en dat er zoveel mogelijk plezier dient te worden gemaakt, nu dat nog kan. Ze zijn zozeer verslaafd aan dat leven van lust en begeerte dat ze onderwerpen met betrekking tot de dood of het Hiernamaals niet eens willen horen, daar zelfs niet aan willen denken, uit angst dat zo'n onderwerp hun plezier zal bederven. In een turbulente tijd en een doelloze maatschappij als de onze, waarin velen atheïstisch zijn ingesteld, kan de vraag worden opgeworpen hoe iemand toch overtuigd kan raken van de komst van het Hiernamaals, terwijl die persoon niet in de Koran gelooft en deze niet als een principieel uitgangspunt aanvaardt. Is er dan toch een makkelijk grijpbare en efficiënte manier waarop een gelovige, een moslim, zich van onachtzaamheid ten aanzien van het Hiernamaals kan bevrijden, opdat hij zich te allen tijde bewust blijft van de komst van het Hiernamaals en daar constant aan wordt herinnerd. Deze vraag werd door de erudiete islamitische geleerde Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, bijna een eeuw geleden, door middel van een verhandeling over het Hiernamaals beantwoord, in tientallen bladzijden beelden en woorden, verhalen en vermaningen, parabelen en realistische constateringen, op weg geholpen door de instructies van de Koran en de profetische overleveringen. Said Nursi brengt in deze verhandeling het Hiernamaals zeer dicht bij de lezer, met zijn ongebruikelijk lange en uitvoerige zinnen, zijn uitgesponnen beelden en fantasieën, zijn wendingen en associaties: aan de hand van zijn natuurwaarnemingen beredeneert hij de logica van herkomst en toekomst van de mens. Voor hem zijn de wederopstanding van de mens en zijn route naar het Hiernamaals geen vage, futuristische abstract-theologische hersenspinsels, maar zo grijpbaar, zo logisch en bewijsbaar als de wedergeboorte van de natuur in de lente. Nursi zoekt aan de hand van zijn meesterlijke kennis over logica, interessante gelijkenissen en tevens met behulp van de moderne natuurwetenschappen - wetenschappen die van zowel gelovigen als niet-gelovigen acceptatie genieten - naar antwoorden over de oorsprong, het doel en de bestemming van het menselijk leven. Hij beschrijft op een systematische en erg originele wijze werelden die maar weinig mensen in het verleden hebben getracht te beschrijven. En misschien ligt daarin wel zijn grootste kracht en zijn grootste verdienste: het uitdagen, het losmaken van de lezer uit zijn eigen moderne, beschermde leefwereld die, ondanks de aanwezigheid van alle moderne gemakken, doch vanwege de afwezigheid van bezinning en bespiegeling, hem veelal niet wijzer maakt over zijn uiteindelijke bestemming. Met deze vertaling van het Tiende Woord in de Nederlandse taal, waarbij is geprobeerd om zo dicht mogelijk bij de stijl en de woorden van de originele Turkse verhandeling te blijven, krijgen zowel moslims als niet-moslims toegang tot de overwegingen en de beschouwingen van deze Said Nursi.

- Bol.com

Genres: Islam, Religion

194 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Said Nursî, (1878 – March 23, 1960) is an Islamic scholar who wrote Risale-i Nur Collection, a body of Qur'anic commentary exceeding six thousand pages. He is commonly known as Bediüzzaman, which means "the wonder of the age".

He was finally released in 1949. In the last decade of his life he settled in Isparta city. After the introduction of the multi-party system he advised his followers to vote for the Democratic Party of Adnan Menderes which gained the support of the rural and conservative populations. Because Said Nursî considered communism the greatest danger of that time, he also supported the pro-Western orientation of the Democrats, leading to his support of NATO, CENTO and Turkey's participation in the Korean war. He tried to unite Muslims and Christians in the struggle against communism and materialism therefore he corresponded with the Pope and the Greek Orthodox patriarch.

In 1956 he was allowed to have his writings printed. His books are collected under the name The Collection Of Risale-i Nur (Letters of Light).
His tomb in Urfa (demolished in July 1960)

He died of exhaustion after traveling to Urfa. He was buried on the premises where according to Islamic beliefs Abraham (Ibrahim) is buried. After the military coup d'état in Turkey in 1960, a group of soldiers led by the later extreme right-wing politician Alparslan Türkeş opened his grave and buried him at an unknown place near Isparta during July 1960 in order to prevent popular veneration. His followers are reported to have found his grave after years of searching in the area, and took his remains to a secret place in an effort to protect his body from further disturbance. Now, only two followers of him know where he is buried. When one of them dies, the other one tells one more person the secret place of the grave reducing the chance that the place be forgotten. Interestingly enough, he wrote in a treaty (risala), that no one should know where his tomb is.

Reviews

[Chanel Earl]

First of all, I only read the tenth word, not the other two.

I had a hard time with the way some of the arguments in this book were constructed. It seems that most religious texts I have read relied heavily on scripture, but this seemed to rely more heavily on "logic." Logic is great and all but I think I would have enjoyed reading some scriptures talking about the afterlife more than reading the argument (not quoted but paraphrased) "God must give us a heaven because we want one." There were just some missing links in the logic.

I am guessing that I would like this better if I were Islamic, or if I came from the same intellectual culture as Said Nursi. As it was, I agreed with what was said more than I agreed with how it was said, and had a hard time getting through it.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A SUNNI MUSLIM OFFERS AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE ON THE AFTERLIFE

Said Nursi (1877-1960), commonly known by the honorific ‘Bediüzzaman’ ("wonder of the age") was a Kurdish Sunni Muslim theologian who inspired a religious movement that helped spark revival of Islam in Turkey.

He explains in a prefatory note, “The reasons for my writing these treatises in the form of metaphors, parables and stories are to facilitate comprehension and to show how rational, appropriate, well-founded and coherent are the truths of Islam. The meaning of the stories is contained in the truths that conclude them; each story is like an allusion pointing to its concluding truth. Therefore, they are not mere fictitious truths.”

He explains, “let nobody ask: ‘how can one earn eternal torment in the course of a very brief life?’ For unbelief seeks to drag creation, something as valuable and exalted as a letter written by God, down to the depths of meaninglessness and purposelessness. It is an insult to all being, since it denies and rejects the manifestations and impresses of God’s Sacred Names that are visible in all being, and it seeks to negate all the infinite proofs that demonstrate the veracity and truthfulness of God Almighty. Hence, unbelief is a crime of infinite proportions, deserving of infinite punishment.” (Pg. 41)

He asks, “is it possible that He should not chastise those rude and discourteous men who disbelieve in His wisdom and justice, and rebel against Him in insolence? Now not even a thousandth part of that wisdom and justice is exercised with respect to man, in this transient world; it is rather deferred. Most of the people of misguidance leave this world unpunished, and most of the people of guidance leave it unrewarded. All things are, then, postponed for a supreme tribunal, an ultimate bliss.” (Pg. 48-49)

He argues, “Is it at all possible that God Almighty, He Who is worshipped by right, should create man within creation as the most significant of all of His servants with respect to his absolute dominicality in all of His realms… and He should make him the most needy of all creatures with respect to His infinite gifts, the one suffering most from annihilation and the one most desirous of immortality; that He should make him the most delicate, the poorest and neediest of animals, most wretched and subject to pain in his world life but most sublime in disposition in the highest of form and characters---is it possible that God Almighty should do all this with man and not send him to the Eternal Realm for which he is suited and fitted and for which he is longing?” (Pg. 102)

Later, he adds, “Is it at all possible that belief in resurrection should be untrue, a belief made as manifest as the sun by the additional thousands of testimonies and claims advanced in a book of which bears the fruit of all the numerous scientific and cosmic truths contained in the Islamic sciences, although a single verse would suffice? Will it not be a thousand times impossible and absurd, just like denial of the sun, or the non-existence of the cosmos?” (Pg. 129)

He points out, “The human race thus acquires great value and importance, and … by means of its arts and sciences that it is the wise reason for the creation of the cosmos, that it is the great consequence and supreme fruit of creation, that it acts upon earth as the viceregent of God. Since in this world it displays and orders the miraculous works of the Maker, it is permitted to tarry in this world and its punishment is postponed, despite its acts of rebellion and disbelief. Because of the services it performs, the human race is granted a respite and is aided by God.” (Pg. 137)

The book concludes, “One of the most important lessons taught us by the All-Wise Quran, is, then, belief in the hereafter. This belief is so firm and contains within itself so powerful a hope and a consolation that if a person be assailed by old age hundred thousandth, the consolation derived from this belief will be fully enough. Saying, ‘praise be to God for the perfection of belief,’ we old people should rejoice in old age.” (Pg. 174)

This book will be of great interest to those studying the Islamic concept of the afterlife.

[Soumaya]

Een boek dat zeker van me verwacht om dingen te herlezen. Omdat het zo diepgaand is.