Spiritual Growth of Said Nursi and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn in Prison

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is a very good article contributing to the existing scholarship. I recommend the author just to translate two beautiful sections in Turkish as notes by Nursi and Elmalili into English for the benefit of others.

The language and style of the article clear to me. 

Reviewer 2 Report

many researchers have written about said Nursi, so you should write down what is new about your research. scientific articles as a result of research that requires the method used. Describe the method you used in conducting this research. also, describe the purpose of this research.

Your abstract must be corrected which must consist of the research objectives, the methods you used, the research results, and the implications of your research.

references that you use are many old sources, add references in the last 5 years to see the novelty of your article compared to previous research.

pay attention to the use of punctuation in your article because it interferes with the meaning of the sentence you mean.

Author Response

Thank you for your valuable comments. I made some changes in the text of article in the light of your recommendations:

Ref 1:

1. many researchers have written about said Nursi, so you should write down what is new about your research. scientific articles as a result of research that requires the method used. Describe the method you used in conducting this research. also, describe the purpose of this research.

(DONE) Methodology section is added.

1. Your abstract must be corrected which must consist of the research objectives, the methods you used, the research results, and the implications of your research.

 (DONE) Some changes made in abstract

• references that you use are many old sources, add references in the last 5 years to see the novelty of your article compared to previous research.

(I tried to use almost all of Nursi and Solzhenitsyn's studies on prison spirituality, few new articles added. However, I did not refer to new off-topic studies.)

Reviewer 3 Report

I really enjoyed reading this article. It seems it is the first article to compare and contrast the great minds of the 20th century. Therefore, I appreciate the author.

However, I would like to underline the following points.

 

1.      “Mindfulness” can be added to Keywords.

2.     Nursi, like Solzhenitsyn, spend two years in Siberia as a war prisoner. He also shares his exile experience, which is very relevant to the topic of this paper.

3.     57  Alaykum bi-din al-ajâiz. See İmam-ı Gazali, Ihya-u Ulumiddin, (tr.) Abdullah Aydın, Istanbul: Aydın Pub nd., III.67.

The author can use the English translation of İmam-ı Gazali, Ihya-u Ulumiddin, (tr.) Abdullah Aydın, Istanbul: Aydın Pub nd. 753

I think Ghazali’s confession in his autobiography al-Munqiz is very relevant in the case of Solzhenitsyn

From the period of adolescence, that is to say, previous to reaching my twentieth year to the present time when I have passed my fiftieth, I have ventured into this vast ocean; I have fearlessly sounded its depths, and like a resolute diver, I have penetrated its darkness and dared its dangers and abysses. I have interrogated the beliefs of each sect and scrutinized the mysteries of each doctrine, in order to disentangle truth from error and orthodoxy from heresy. I have never met one who maintained the hidden meaning of the Koran without investigating the nature of his belief, nor a partizan of its exterior sense without inquiring into the results of his doctrine. There is no philosopher whose system I have not fathomed, nor theologian the intricacies of whose doctrine I have not followed out. (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Confessions_of_al-Ghazali)

4.     A motto is taken from 362 Ibn ʿAṭā Allāh al-Iskandarānī (d. 1309): ‘what does the one who finds God lose? And what 363 does the one who loses Him find?’ That is, ‘the one who finds Him finds everything, while 364 the one who does not find Him, can find nothing’. Citation from al-Iskandarānī must be cross-checked. He/she can refer directly to original source.

5.     In FN 71 it is said that “Elmalılı Muhammed Hamdi Yazır has a similar approach”. Who is Elmalılı? Few words and references can help readers who are not familiar with the intellectual history of Turkey.

6.     The author can consult cutting-edge scientific arguments from neuroscience and psychology. I can advise two books. It seems to me that both scientists are supporting Nursi’s argument.

Lisa Miller, The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life Hardcover – August 17, 2021

Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding modern truth in ancient wisdom, 2022.

7.     I also recommend consulting a famous talk by Solzhenitsyn given at the Templeton Prize ceremony May 10, 1983. https://www.templetonprize.org/laureate-sub/solzhenitsyn-acceptance-speech/

 

8.     Line 451: Sakīna in Islamic tradition is different from the Jewish and Christian understanding of shekinah. This thesis must be supported by an argument and also relevant references.

9.     Line 474 and fn 96 can be supported by findings of positive psychology.

10.  In the abstract, we are told that this study will deal with “Spiritual Growth of Said Nursi and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn in Prison”. Therefore, I have difficulty understanding why F. Gulen is also included as a key commentator on the subject. This needs clarification.

 

11.   Fn. 99, the link is broken. This quote from Tocqueville must be cross-checked with the original sources and works of Tocqueville.

 

12.  Fn 100: This quote from Shirazi must be cross-checked with the original sources and works of Shirazi .

 

13.   I may suggest that the subtitle “Ultimate victory and hope 554 “ can be changed as “Hope and Ultimate victory “ or Hope in Dark Times”. Here, as the author himself underlines, the key is HOPE.

14.  Some examples can be cited to support this argument: FN 112  When one looks at the Qur’anic narratives, it can be seen they always end with decent finishing. 

 

I think Nursi also shares his methodology of how to approach the Quranic text in an experiential way. It seems that he considers the Quran as a living text that can answer our existential questions and problems.

 

One time when I had been isolated from everything by ‘the worldly’, I was afflicted with five kinds of exile. I suffered, too at that time of old age from five illnesses arising in part from my sorrows. Due to the heedlessness resulting from the distress, I looked not to the lights of the Risale-i Nur, which would have consoled and assisted me, but straight to my heart, and I sought my spirit. I saw that dominant in me were an overpowering desire for immortality, an intense love of existence, a great yearning for life, together with an infinite impotence and endless want. But an awesome transience was extinguishing the immortality. Suffering that state of mind, I exclaimed like the sorrowing poet:

While my heart desires its immortality, Reality wants the passing of my body;

I am afflicted with an incurable ill which not even Luqman could cure!

 

I bowed my head in despair. Suddenly the verse, For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs came to my assistance, summoning me to read it with attention. So I recited it five hundred times every day. Writing briefly a part of the valuable lights which were unfolded to me in the form of ‘the vision of certainty, and only nine lights and degrees

 

Also: ibid: “The Second Degree of the Luminous Verse ‘For us God suffices’”

http://erisale.com/index.jsp?locale=en#content.en.204.70 (Nursi, The Rays, Fourth Ray)

 

15.  I have difficulty to understand what the FN 117 implies: Is it comparing Nursi with Solzhenitsyn?

117  Nursi, Tarihçe-i Hayat, 75. Interestingly, Nursi pronounced a similar expression while he was in jail in Eskişehir.

16.  FN 119 clarifies the meaning of Iblis. I lexical or exegetical reference for this rendering is needed.

17.    Line 643  and page 19. I think Nursi’s what Nursi told in a letter to his students can be cited or given at footnote.

Although he was in exile in Kastamonu under dire conditions, he sent a letter to his students, again revealing his ethics of compassion and his feelings about the war and its devastating consequences: “Due to my compassionate and sensitive nature, I was shaken by the cataclysms that have brought disaster, loss, poverty, and hunger to men, coming as they have in this harsh winter, and at a time of calamitous spiritual cold. Then suddenly I was reminded: in such calamities, there is a certain kind of mercy and reward for the victims, even if they are non-believers” (Nursi 2012, emphasis mine). He further claims that “the innocent victims of such divine calamities become, in a sense, martyrs.” (ibid). Although the letter was written during the War, Nursi is not interested in hearing news about who was winning the War.

A new article on Nursi’s ethics of compassion: Ozdemir, I. (2022). “A New Ethics of Compassion for Animals: Said Nursi on the Rights of Flies”, Journal of Islamic Ethics 6 (2022) 53–80.

18.  In the concluding section, it says,” According to Nursi, prison spirituality is one of the purest types. 717”.

I think the author can remind us that Nursi “named the prison the School of Joseph (Medrese-i Yusufiye), after the Prophet Joseph, the patron of prisoners.” (Vahide, 217).

19.    The author should use the original book of Erich Fromm for FN  122  Erich Fromm, İnsandaki Yıkıcılığın Kökenleri, (tr) Şükrü Alpagut, İstanbul: Payel Pub. 1995, 220.

All the best,

Author Response

I sincerely thanks for your careful reading and very valuable suggestions for the article. I made many changes in the light of your recommendations. Please see the attached file of article:

1. “Mindfulness” can be added to Keywords. (Done)
2. Nursi, like Solzhenitsyn, spend two years in Siberia as a war prisoner. He also shares his exile experience, which is very relevant to the topic of this paper (Yes, I share this information in the article) (Done)
3. 57  Alaykum bi-din al-ajâiz. See Imam Ghazzali, Ihya Ulum al-Din, Beirut: Dar al-Ma’rifah nd., III.78 (Done)

The author can use the English translation of  İmam-ı Gazali, Ihya-u Ulumiddin, (tr.) Abdullah Aydın, Istanbul: Aydın Pub nd. 753

Ghazali’s confession in his autobiography al-Munqiz is very relevant in the case of Solzhenitsyn: From the period of adolescence, that is to say, previous to reaching my twentieth year to the present time when I have passed my fiftieth, I have ventured into this vast ocean; I have fearlessly sounded its depths, and like a resolute diver, I have penetrated its darkness and dared its dangers and abysses. I have interrogated the beliefs of each sect and scrutinized the mysteries of each doctrine, in order to disentangle truth from error and orthodoxy from heresy. I have never met one who maintained the hidden meaning of the Koran without investigating the nature of his belief, nor a partizan of its exterior sense without inquiring into the results of his doctrine. There is no philosopher whose system I have not fathomed, nor theologian the intricacies of whose doctrine I have not followed out. (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Confessions_of_al-Ghazali)

(Done: Thank you very much for this important and timely reminder. I used this part in the article.)

4. A motto is taken from 362 Ibn ʿAṭā Allāh al-Iskandarānī (d. 1309): ma-dha wajada man faqadak wa-ma alladhi faqada man wajadak ‘what did one find who lost You (God), and what one lost who found You (God)?’ That is, ‘the one who finds God finds everything, while 364 the one who does not find Him, can find nothing’. 

Ibn Aqil Musa al-Sharif, Tasbih wa munajat wa thana ala malik al-ard wa al-sama, Jeddah: Dar al-Andalus 2000, I.198

Citation from al-Iskandarānī must be cross-checked. He/she can refer directly to original source. (Done)  (I have found other source rather than the author)

5. In FN 71 it is said that “Elmalılı Muhammed Hamdi Yazır has a similar approach”. Who is Elmalılı? Few words and references can help readers who are not familiar with the intellectual history of Turkey.

(Done)

6. The author can consult cutting-edge scientific arguments from neuroscience and psychology. I can advise two books. It seems to me that both scientists are supporting Nursi’s argument.

Lisa Miller, The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life Hardcover – August 17, 2021

Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding modern truth in ancient wisdom, 2022.

(Thank you for these two important sources)

7. I also recommend consulting a famous talk by Solzhenitsyn given at the Templeton Prize ceremony May 10, 1983. https://www.templetonprize.org/laureate-sub/solzhenitsyn-acceptance-speech/

 

(Done). I used this talk which is published in National Review: Solzhenitsyn, ‘Men Have Forgotten God’, National Review, July 22 (1983), 872.

 

8. Line 451: Sakīna in Islamic tradition is different from the Jewish and Christian understanding of shekinah. This thesis must be supported by an argument and also relevant references.

 

The concept "Shekinah" in Jewish thought focuses mostly on the presence of God that may manifest itself during several types of ordinary religious activities, such as the prayer and Torah study already referred to and visiting the sick, Practicing hospitality and Sanhédrin, giving charity, practicing chastity before marriage and faithfulness within marriage—doing all these ordinary things frequently will help produce greater faith, confidence, and peace of mind. But, the Jewish focus is more on the opportunity to experience God's presence personally in a daily activity than on an individual's personal spiritual growth. These somewhat different emphases between sakinah and shekinah are not opposites. They are simply two different perspectives—like seeing a lion from the front or from the side (Maller, Allen S. “Sakinah and Shekinah: One Word with Two Perspectives.” Journal of ecumenical studies 48.2 (2013): 259-260).

 

Done

 

9. Line 474 and fn 96 can be supported by findings of positive psychology.

(Undone) I am really not a psychologist and it seems it is beyond my capacity

 

10. In the abstract, we are told that this study will deal with “Spiritual Growth of Said Nursi and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn in Prison”. Therefore, I have difficulty understanding why F. Gulen is also included as a key commentator on the subject. This needs clarification.

 

Done:

The reason why Gülen is used here is because he deals with the subject of bast and qabd. I am not addressing Gülen's approach. If it is problematic, it can be deleted.

 

11. Fn. 99, the link is broken. This quote from Tocqueville must be cross-checked with the original sources and works of Tocqueville.

 

Done

 

 The short space of threescore years can never content the imagination of man; nor can the imperfect joys of this world satisfy his heart.

 

Chapter XVII:

PRINCIPAL CAUSES WHICH TEND TO MAINTAIN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC IN THE UNITED STATES

PRINCIPAL CAUSES WHICH RENDER RELIGION POWERFUL IN AMERICA.

Tocqueville: Book I Chapter 17 (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/DETOC/1_ch17.htm)

 

12. Fn 100: This quote from Shirazi must be cross-checked with the original sources and works of Shirazi .

 

Done

 

Sa’di Shirazi, ‘Ghazaliyyat’, (Ghazal no:559), Diwan Ash’ar, http://ganjoor.net/saadi/divan/ghazals/sh559

 

 

13. I may suggest that the subtitle “Ultimate victory and hope 554 “ can be changed as “Hope and Ultimate victory “ or Hope in Dark Times”. Here, as the author himself underlines, the key is HOPE.

 

Done (Thank you for this suggestion)

14. Some examples can be cited to support this argument: FN 112  When one looks at the Qur’anic narratives, it can be seen they always end with decent finishing. 

 

I think Nursi also shares his methodology of how to approach the Quranic text in an experiential way. It seems that he considers the Quran as a living text that can answer our existential questions and problems.

 

One time when I had been isolated from everything by ‘the worldly’, I was afflicted with five kinds of exile. I suffered, too at that time of old age from five illnesses arising in part from my sorrows. Due to the heedlessness resulting from the distress, I looked not to the lights of the Risale-i Nur, which would have consoled and assisted me, but straight to my heart, and I sought my spirit. I saw that dominant in me were an overpowering desire for immortality, an intense love of existence, a great yearning for life, together with an infinite impotence and endless want. But an awesome transience was extinguishing the immortality. Suffering that state of mind, I exclaimed like the sorrowing poet:

While my heart desires its immortality, Reality wants the passing of my body;

I am afflicted with an incurable ill which not even Luqman could cure!

 

I bowed my head in despair. Suddenly the verse, For us God suffices, and He is the Best Disposer of Affairs came to my assistance, summoning me to read it with attention. So I recited it five hundred times every day. Writing briefly a part of the valuable lights which were unfolded to me in the form of ‘the vision of certainty, and only nine lights and degrees

 

Also: ibid: “The Second Degree of the Luminous Verse ‘For us God suffices’”

http://erisale.com/index.jsp?locale=en#content.en.204.70 (Nursi, The Rays, Fourth Ray)

 

Done (Many thanks for this information and suggestion)

 

15. I have difficulty to understand what the FN 117 implies: Is it comparing Nursi with Solzhenitsyn?

 

Checked: Just showing some similarities

117  Nursi, Tarihçe-i Hayat, 75. Interestingly, Nursi pronounced a similar expression while he was in jail in Eskişehir.

Thank you for this information

16. FN 119 clarifies the meaning of Iblis. I lexical or exegetical reference for this rendering is needed.

Khalil b. Ahmad, Kitab al-Ayn, Cairo: Dar wa Maktabat al-Hilal nd. VII.262; Ibn Manzur, Lisan al-Arab, Beirut: Dar Sadir nd., VI.30.

Inna Iblis summiye bi-hadha al-ism li-ennehu lemma uyise min Rahmat Allah ablasa ya’san.

Done

 

17. Line 643  and page 19. I think Nursi’s what Nursi told in a letter to his students can be cited or given at footnote.

Although he was in exile in Kastamonu under dire conditions, he sent a letter to his students, again revealing his ethics of compassion and his feelings about the war and its devastating consequences: “Due to my compassionate and sensitive nature, I was shaken by the cataclysms that have brought disaster, loss, poverty, and hunger to men, coming as they have in this harsh winter, and at a time of calamitous spiritual cold. Then suddenly I was reminded: in such calamities, there is a certain kind of mercy and reward for the victims, even if they are non-believers” (Nursi 2012, emphasis mine). He further claims that “the innocent victims of such divine calamities become, in a sense, martyrs.” (ibid). Although the letter was written during the War, Nursi is not interested in hearing news about who was winning the War.

A new article on Nursi’s ethics of compassion: I. Ozdemir, “A New Ethics of Compassion for Animals: Said Nursi on the Rights of Flies”, Journal of Islamic Ethics 6 (2022) 53–80.

Done (many thanks for this valuable suggestion)

18. In the concluding section, it says,” According to Nursi, prison spirituality is one of the purest types. 717”.

I think the author can remind us that Nursi “named the prison the School of Joseph (Medrese-i Yusufiye), after the Prophet Joseph, the patron of prisoners.” (Vahide, 217).

Note: I have covered Nursi and Solzhenitsyn's perspectives on prison in another article. He doesn't just say medrese-I Yusufiyye, but also says terbiyehane, misafirhane, etc.

19. The author should use the original book of Erich Fromm for FN  122  Erich Fromm, İnsandaki Yıkıcılığın Kökenleri, (tr) Şükrü Alpagut, İstanbul: Payel Pub. 1995, 220.

To have faith means the unthinkable, yet to act the of the realistically possible; it is the paradoxical hope to expect the Messiah every day, yet not to lose heart when he has not come at the appointed hour.
Erich Fromm,The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, Open Road Integrated Media, Inc., 1976. ProQuest Ebook Central., http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/acu/detail.action?docID=1791671.
Created from acu on 2023-06-24 03:13:07, p.1036

Done

Author Response File: Author Response.docx