التاريخ : الثلاثاء 01 يوليو 2025 . القسم : Research Scope
A Contemporary Reading of the Six-Step Message by the reformer and educator Bediuzzaman Nursi (1878-1960)
A message over a hundred years old, yet its ideas still live on.
The culture of reform advocates rebuilding from total destruction and restoring ideological fortresses.
Fabricated falsehoods only triumph over compromised truth.
Leader Mao Zedong benefits from the success of great Muslim leaders in Turkestan.
Leader Gandhi gains from the successes and ideas of Muslim leader Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
Tagore received the Nobel Prize, not Iqbal, despite significant differences in their culture, thoughts, and contributions.
Bourguiba reaps the rewards of Salih Ben Youssef and his companions.
The Six-Step Message by reformer and educator Said Nursi provides a conscious model for the battle to save the faith.
Al-Nursi and the Jurisprudence of Reform and Change
Dr. Mahmoud Al-Sharqawi
The members of the Islamic movement—in addition to its leaders and pioneers—must develop a comprehensive vision for reform and change. They need to understand principles that are highly capable of guiding the way, identifying each step, including the highs and lows, the leaps and falls, and even absorbing shocks while predicting the obstacles and barriers that lurking enemies are skilled at placing here and there.
Similarly, it is important to consider the hostile forces both domestically and internationally—the creators of the "imposed reality" and the allies involved in wars of encirclement and siege. One must anticipate their movements, both visible and hidden, and their ability to obstruct, hinder, challenge, divert, eliminate, and dissolve the core of the Islamic project, along with its capabilities and components. "For, indeed, if they find out about you, they will stone you ˹to death˺, or force you back into their faith, and then you will never succeed" (Al-Kahf: 20). Furthermore, it is essential to consider all the forces of incitement, fragmentation, hotbeds of treason, and cultural subservience at various levels.
Our ancient and modern history is replete with such capable, aware leaders, qualified to take the lead with merit and worthiness, achieving tangible successes on the ground, regardless of the obstacles and impediments.
Examples of these figures in our history include Khalid ibn al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with him), Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi, Yusuf ibn Tashfin, Alp Arslan, Saladin Ayyubi, Muhammad al-Fatih, Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri, Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi, Umar al-Mukhtar, Ahmad Sirhindi, Hassan al-Banna, Abd al-Aziz al-Tha'alibi, Ahmad Bamba al-Senegal, Mawlana Abulkalam Azad, Said Nursi, and Ali Izetbegovic. This is despite the diversity of their leadership positions and roles, and the reformist roles each of them played on the stage of history. It is astonishing that most of these leaders, and dozens of others like them who shaped history and civilization, have reaped the fruits of their struggle, and others have risen to the forefront of peoples and nations.
For example, in our modern era, Mao Zedong, the most famous Chinese leader, sits on the couch with two Muslim leaders: Burhan Shahidi (1894-1989), the hero of the war against Japan, and Ali Khan Tora, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Turkestan. Just as Gandhi sat in India alongside the great Muslim thinker and leader Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958), and the Buddhist Tagore reached the heights of Muslim philosopher Muhammad Iqbal and won the Nobel Prize before him, despite the significant differences in their humanity, thought, and the depth of philosophy, science, and culture.
Moroccan secularists, led by Mehdi Ben Barka, pushed to take control of the Moroccan Istiqlal Party, the Islamic authority, and to diminish the legacy of Muslim freedom fighter Allal al-Fassi. The secularist, degenerate Bourguiba was created to benefit from the efforts of the freedom fighter Saleh Ben Youssef and his brothers. Pakistan's leadership is credited to secular Ismaili Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Meanwhile, Muhammad Iqbal remains the most prominent and influential advocate for establishing this state and disseminating its ideology worldwide.
This is the case in fields such as thought, literature, politics, economics, business, humanitarianism, and all other areas of civilization-building and human development. Islamists sow, and secularists reap; Islamists give, and secularists gain. When will this reversed process of consuming the hands that feed hungry mouths end? Then, you will only receive the reward of "Sinmar." Truly and honestly: (What they say is certainly detestable and false.) [Al-Mujadala: 2]
However, no land will be without someone who defends God Almighty with an argument. Let us consider one example from the most complex and hostile situations. The "Man of Destiny" is Badi'uzzaman Said Nursi (1877-1960) - may God have mercy on him. This model demonstrated a clear example of deliberate resistance against the wars of subjugation, encirclement, penetration, and uprooting waged by all the forces opposed to Islam and Muslims.
This conscious model, chosen by God's mercy, fulfilled its duty by rising to fight the battle of "saving the faith" in the Balkans after violent storms of attack from all directions against Türkiye. When the man of destiny, Badi'uzzaman Said Nursi, saw these invaders rushing to conquer the land of Islam and divide its inheritance and body of the sick man, he quickly wrote the booklet "The Six Steps," inspiring citizens with enthusiasm and determination. He outlined a roadmap for their fight to escape the abyss of collapse and loss through stages of preparation and readiness for the long, inevitable battle of "saving the faith."
He was the first to take the initiative to restore the honor of the great Turkish nation and defend the dignity of Islam and Muslims. He witnessed its humiliation and saw with his own eyes the pride of the Islamic world shattered to the core. Through this small yet significant booklet, "The Six Steps," the pioneering imam was a perceptive healer who knew how to stimulate all the immune systems of the Muslim community to face this approaching, merciless epidemic. He also carried the torch of awareness before the bewildered masses in the battle of decline and defeat.
Therefore, this Muslim entity was able to face defeat, overcome its humiliation, and continue its rise repeatedly.
The Six-Step Battle
This battle is summarized in a brief, highly dangerous, and far-reaching message that the occupying soldiers encountered in their faces, thwarting their plots, revealing their delusions, and disproving their lies.
At a time when invading fleets were aiming their cannons at Dolmabahçe Palace and besieging Sultan Vahideddin's palace on November 13, 1919, this message broke the invaders' morale, dismantled their intellectual defenses, and discouraged their ideological and faith-driven misguidance. For steadfastness is the key to victory, and wisdom is the aim of thought. The enemies of Islam have never succeeded solely through misguiding others from the truth, but rather through our own misguidance from the truth we cherish.
It is well known that moral wars, fought within hearts, minds, and souls, are more dangerous and intense than wars involving gears, spears, rifles, bombs, cannons, aircraft, battleships, and fleets. This is because a physical defeat does not become a crushing defeat unless it turns into an intellectual and moral defeat, and the fall of reality does not become a devastating catastrophe unless it causes the fall of belief.
Therefore, Professor Badi'uzzaman Nursi understood that the "sedition" caused by the Jews' joy and the Armenians' and Romans' happiness as they cheered the arrogant French commander, Frans Dupre, riding his white horse to the French embassy on Oglu Bey Street, his hooves trampling the Ottoman flag with its crescent and stars, would not break hearts or mislead people unless the mujahideen drank its cup and the onlookers' eyes were distracted.
Here, the "Man of Destiny" rose to gather the six sources of sedition, in the sayings of Satan, which the invading charlatans had cast forth to turn Muslims away from their Islam, as follows:
1. Look at what you see, O Muslims. This is the destiny of God Almighty, and divine justice does not wrong anyone.
2. You, O Muslims, are your role models who disbelieved, so you and they have become equal.
3. You have been governed by those who have corrupted and disregarded your rights. They are not qualified to govern, so choose me as your guardian and trustee.
4. Satan's supposed enemies are here, but they are his hidden allies. Their goal is not Islam, as you believe.
5. Your Imam supports us; therefore, his command must be obeyed.
6. Your resistance to us is leading you toward self-destruction. How can you achieve alone what you could not accomplish with your allies?
Here, the man of destiny stepped forward, igniting his thoughts, fueling his philosophical inspirations, and illuminating the bright lamp of his faith
1- He responded to the first argument by saying: Divine destiny is fair regarding our sins, so we repent and turn back, and fair regarding Satan's hostility toward us because of our Islam, so we strive and resist. ﴾Indeed, when Satan whispers to those mindful ˹of Allah˺, they remember ˹their Lord˺ then they start to see ˹things˺ clearly.﴿ [Al-A'raf: 201]
2- He said regarding the second argument : We thank the hand of assistance, but not the hand of hostility. It is not necessary that every trait of the unbelievers comes from their unbelief, for this religion prevails over both the righteous and the wicked.
3- He addressed the third argument: "O sneaky whisperer, you are the powerful one who has surrounded our leaders and notables, marrying them to worldly things whose dowries you only take from their religion. If we were to make you our judge, we would be like someone whose garment has been contaminated by impure water, so he goes to wash it with pig urine."
4- He said about the fourth argument: "As for those among those in authority who outwardly dispute with Satan, while inwardly being with him, they are all means, and the influence of intentions on means is minimal, because the intended outcome depends on the existence of the means, not on the intention itself. If I wanted to dig a well, and someone came to help me with the digging, intending to use the well as a cover or a place of concealment, that intention would have no effect on the presence of water when it reached it."
Our intention was the Face of Allah, the Most High, the Holy Quran, and the Qiblah. Whatever the intention of those who share this intention, it does not alter or change our intention.
5- He discussed the fifth argument: The Imam in Islam is considered a leader through the nation's consultation, with his strength coming from its army and freedom, and his heart focused on its interests. If this changes and the Caliph strays from these principles, then obeying him becomes equivalent to abandoning obedience to him.
6- He addressed the sixth argument: All the power the West claims is based on corrupt tricks, unless it invades our space, which is impossible. Your power, O Satan, is a conflicting, unhelpful force that cancels out the other and will never last. We live in a world that has awakened, and its parts share both the disease and the cure. Dignified death is life for us, and life with humiliation is death itself.
O Muslims, after all this, do you still disapprove of what Sharia, reason, and the interests of Islam find reprehensible?
Thus, Nursi's leadership was demonstrated in leading the nation during the struggle for survival, as Nursi intended and decided, saying, "I want to fight in the most dangerous places, not from behind trenches." The most dangerous of these sites at the time was the intellectual arena, which prevented the victim from surrendering her neck to her executioners without resistance. Its influence spread throughout the public and private sectors, opening her eyes, and she saw the light of life again.
As soon as the British commander entered Istanbul, he was given the "Six Steps" letter, which refuted their falsehoods and discredited their claims. The commander decided to execute Nursi, but he reversed his decision, fearing the unexpected reaction of Muslims opposed to the invaders and occupiers.
Professor Nursi translated this letter into Arabic at that time and reissued it widely in both Arabic and Turkish in 1920 as a curriculum for the path to reform and change, and to guide the mujahideen seeking reform, confrontation, and change.
Keys to Purification
The primary mission of this "Six Steps" letter is to foster a culture of reconstruction in the face of total destruction. It also aims to restore ideological fortresses and castles. And He spread its light within it so that its oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. With it, hearts revive, and conscience ignites, longing for God Almighty, through a journey of yearning and purity at its sublime, infinite levels, by aligning with the laws of nature upon which God Almighty created people.
Just as there is obedience and disobedience regarding religious matters, there is obedience and disobedience regarding cosmic laws. Always and forever, fabricated falsehood triumphs only over compromised truth. The defeat of truth and its followers often results from their mistakes, not their authenticity: (And if you return [to the truth], We will return [to the truth], and We will return [to the truth].)
May God be pleased with the "man of destiny," the patient, struggling, divine scholar Said Nursi, who was blessed with sound understanding, knowledge, and enlightened insight and vision. He was truly the leader of divine fighters engaged in the battle for survival. He was one of those who mastered the art of leadership, inspiring people to grasp its keys, breathe life into it, ignite the flame of faith within, and plant certainty deep within.
Because Nursi, the jurist, was aware of the keys to the Turkish identity and the qualities of the Anatolian people, he relied on his heritage of purification and his model in upbringing and behavior in relation to the King of Kings. He was guided toward the best words and actions. He shaped his approach to educational leadership as follows:
1. He drew on "Futuh al-Ghayb" by al-Jilani and "Maktoobat" by Ahmad al-Faruqi al-Sirhindi as resources to quench the thirst and guide the ailing toward the right path, with the Book of God - the Blessed and Exalted - by his side and the Sunnah of the Chosen One - may God bless him and grant him peace - also nearby.
2. Al-Nursi was deeply aware of the path of conduct and the necessities of ascending the levels of success. He created the most significant dialogue in contemporary Islamic thought and experienced by the auspicious Islamic movement, in this coin, which he presented with both sides (the old Sa'id and the new Sa'id) through two selves in one person and two visions in one text. He guided and led his nation to the heights of sublimity and the levels of perfection in education, behavior, guidance, and reform.
3. His steadfastness in continuing his educational mission, despite the costs and hardships, after being moved from prison to prison and from exile to exile, draws light from the generosity of the Most Gracious, the Almighty, and guidance from the Holy Quran. He gave us this blessed trilogy of thought, behavior, and education, in 130 letters, all written under extraordinary circumstances: imprisonment and captivity, escape from captivity, arrest, illness and house arrest, spying and siege, ailments and illnesses, and being stalked and persecuted.
4. Establishment Before Politicization: He founded his unique school, which cultivates a faith-based human being through the school of the universe, connecting truth to creation and reality to method. Through it, he preserved faith within the lands of the Caliphate. It was a light from the Holy Quran and a sword of proof, armed with which the people of faith and the soldiers of the Most Gracious could confront Satan. His vision was not a reflection of Eastern and Western philosophy, but rather a breath of the sweet guidance of the Quran.
And Nursi remained feared by all the authorities that conspired against him—even after his death—may God have mercy on him, on (25 Ramadan 1379 AH—March 23, 1960 AD), when his blessed body was buried in the city of (Urfa). The authorities' fear of his remains, after their fear of him during his life, led them to do nothing but descend into the depths of human failure. The brutal military authorities at that time exhumed his grave four months after his burial and transported his remains by plane to an unknown location. Nursi, the renowned Imam and leader, became a resident of an anonymous grave, and until now, people do not know of any grave to remember. (And the remembrance of Allah is greater), and praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds.