Thank you for this vivid and Quran aligned meditation.
I enjoyed the poetic style of your writing such as "His dawning praise mocks the foothills with the certainties of Youth, while the Summit, as yet a Promise merely squinted at, sits like lead and commands the gentle reds of the yet-unfolding sky".
Your use of similes, personification and other literary devices provides a richness I have been seeking to praise God.
Just one typo, I spotted n the title of your post... I am assuming it is meant to be "Meditation" not "Mediation"? Apologies if I am incorrect.
This fits conceptually and thematically very well with the 'Ninth Word' from Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's "Words", in which he looks at the five canonical prayers and maps onto them the times of the day, the times of the year, the times in a human lifespan and even the times in the lifespan of the cosmos.
I have read some Said Nursi, but many years ago now. If memory serves me, he was engaged in trying to counter the modernising movement in Turkey headed by Ataturk.
In his 'Old Said' period, which ended just after the collapse of the Ottomans and the inception of the Turkish Republic, he was known mainly as a supporter of constitutional change and educational reform. But with the onslaught of Kemalism and its attendant currents of secularism, naturalism and atheistic materialism, his life work became "the saving of belief", to which end he wrote the major component of his scholarly output, the Risale-e Nur. He claimed that Ghazali wrote the Ihya in order to define and save theological orthodoxy, and that he (Nursi) wrote the Risale in order to explain the Quran and, concomitantly, to save the belief of the people, which was under attack like never before from alien currents such as the ones mentioned.
I read much of the Risale-e Nur in English translation from the Turkish many years ago, as I say.
From what I remember, to my (English) ear it sounded repetitive, unerringly defaulting to a monotonous accent upon the exalted and hyperbolic. While that grated somewhat, there were some interesting core points. But it was hard to get at what they were through the overlay of exaltation.
A bit like looking through a child's kaleidoscope: while the number of facets are actually quite limited, given the logistics of the presentation it creates an impression which can fascinate if one does not look too hard at what is precisely happening.
That is what I remember of my impression. However, I appreciate that he was conducting his own of struggle in his own way, although one fated to fail — at least in his lifetime. So perhaps he was writing for the future.
I have met Turks who "follow" him, but do not remember finding them impressive. An atmosphere prevailed among them which presupposed some special knowledge pertaining to them as the initiated. I was not clear on what that special knowledge was, and am not sure that they were, either.
In any case, Nursi was nothing if not consistent, determined and focused on his goals, and I respect him on that basis.
The 'canonical' translation is what could be termed 'Ottoman English', because it captures the sometimes page-length sentences of the author in all their Ottoman Turkish glory. There have been several attempts at translation, but there is currently a retranslation initiative underway which has been designed to make it, finally, readable and accessible to an Anglophone audience. There are 9000 pages of his work, and the Risale takes up a good chunk of them. Hopefully it will be ready by the end of the year. As for those who 'follow' or 'read', there are a number of groups and the truly impressive individuals among them are few, it would seem. There is a hope that this will change as the stranglehold that the older generation of Nur readers has on how the Risale is communicated is slowly broken.
Hi Sam,
Thank you for this vivid and Quran aligned meditation.
I enjoyed the poetic style of your writing such as "His dawning praise mocks the foothills with the certainties of Youth, while the Summit, as yet a Promise merely squinted at, sits like lead and commands the gentle reds of the yet-unfolding sky".
Your use of similes, personification and other literary devices provides a richness I have been seeking to praise God.
Just one typo, I spotted n the title of your post... I am assuming it is meant to be "Meditation" not "Mediation"? Apologies if I am incorrect.
I am glad you like this aspect of my work — and thanks also for picking up that typo. Correction made.
Peace and best wishes,
Sam Gerrans
This fits conceptually and thematically very well with the 'Ninth Word' from Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's "Words", in which he looks at the five canonical prayers and maps onto them the times of the day, the times of the year, the times in a human lifespan and even the times in the lifespan of the cosmos.
I have read some Said Nursi, but many years ago now. If memory serves me, he was engaged in trying to counter the modernising movement in Turkey headed by Ataturk.
In his 'Old Said' period, which ended just after the collapse of the Ottomans and the inception of the Turkish Republic, he was known mainly as a supporter of constitutional change and educational reform. But with the onslaught of Kemalism and its attendant currents of secularism, naturalism and atheistic materialism, his life work became "the saving of belief", to which end he wrote the major component of his scholarly output, the Risale-e Nur. He claimed that Ghazali wrote the Ihya in order to define and save theological orthodoxy, and that he (Nursi) wrote the Risale in order to explain the Quran and, concomitantly, to save the belief of the people, which was under attack like never before from alien currents such as the ones mentioned.
I read much of the Risale-e Nur in English translation from the Turkish many years ago, as I say.
From what I remember, to my (English) ear it sounded repetitive, unerringly defaulting to a monotonous accent upon the exalted and hyperbolic. While that grated somewhat, there were some interesting core points. But it was hard to get at what they were through the overlay of exaltation.
A bit like looking through a child's kaleidoscope: while the number of facets are actually quite limited, given the logistics of the presentation it creates an impression which can fascinate if one does not look too hard at what is precisely happening.
That is what I remember of my impression. However, I appreciate that he was conducting his own of struggle in his own way, although one fated to fail — at least in his lifetime. So perhaps he was writing for the future.
I have met Turks who "follow" him, but do not remember finding them impressive. An atmosphere prevailed among them which presupposed some special knowledge pertaining to them as the initiated. I was not clear on what that special knowledge was, and am not sure that they were, either.
In any case, Nursi was nothing if not consistent, determined and focused on his goals, and I respect him on that basis.
The 'canonical' translation is what could be termed 'Ottoman English', because it captures the sometimes page-length sentences of the author in all their Ottoman Turkish glory. There have been several attempts at translation, but there is currently a retranslation initiative underway which has been designed to make it, finally, readable and accessible to an Anglophone audience. There are 9000 pages of his work, and the Risale takes up a good chunk of them. Hopefully it will be ready by the end of the year. As for those who 'follow' or 'read', there are a number of groups and the truly impressive individuals among them are few, it would seem. There is a hope that this will change as the stranglehold that the older generation of Nur readers has on how the Risale is communicated is slowly broken.