Bediuzzaman Said Nursi was born in the village of Nurs in Hizan district of Bitlis province in 1878. He was educated in the madrasahs around him as a child. Due to the magnificent intelligence and memory that he saw, he was previously known as “Molla Said-i Meşhur”. Later, he became famous with the title of “Bediuzzaman” in the sense of “Wonder of Time”.
He had memorized ninety books on basic Islamic sciences during his years of demand. Every night he repeated one of these. These repetitions became a step for him to understand the verses of the Qur’an in depth and he saw that each verse of the Quran was destroying the whole universe.
In the early 1900s, he came to Istanbul, the center of administration and caliphate, with the idea of establishing an Islamic university named Medresetü-z Zehra in the east, where religious and science sciences were taught together. Although it has not been able to directly establish a university as it wishes today, with the opening of science houses extending to all parts of the world, the science slots that Bediuzzaman dreamed of came to life in a different way.
He served as a volunteer regiment commander on the Eastern front during the First World War. He was wounded during the war and captured in Russia for two and a half years. He took advantage of the chaos during the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and got rid of captivity. On his return, he served in the “Darü’l-Hikmeti’l-Islamiye”, the highest religious counseling center of the Ottoman from the quota of the General Staff. During the years of the British occupation of Istanbul, he issued a claim against them called Hutuvat-ı Sitte.
He supported the struggle for Independence in Anatolia.
While he was carrying out training activities in Van in 1925, due to the Sheikh Said movement that took place at that time, he was first sent to Burdur, then to Isparta and Barla, as a precaution despite this movement. He stayed here for eight years. He wrote most of the Qur’anic commentary titled “Risale-i Nur” here. Due to his works and ideas, he was referred to the Eskişehir Court in 1935.
He continued to write his works in Kastamonu, where he was exiled. He was transferred to the Denizli Court in 1943 and to the Afyon Court in 1948. Courts ended in acquittal.
When multi-party life was introduced in 1950, religious rights and freedoms expanded. Bediuzzaman printed his works in the printing press during this period.
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi got the mercy of Truth in Urfa on March 23, 1960.
