Introduction

The psychodynamics of belief – the whys and wherefores of the process which culminates in one’s choice either to believe in God or to disbelieve – is not something to which Nursi dedicates much time in the Risale-i Nur. Nor, unlike the classical scholars, does he discuss in minute detail the juridico-theological aspects of belief – for example, the number of things that one must believe in to be deemed a believer; whether belief can increase or decrease; under what circumstances is a believer no longer considered a believer, and so on. On the merits of belief and the demerits of unbelief, however, Nursi has a great deal to say, with references to the subject scattered throughout the Risale. One treatise in the The Words collection – On the Virtues of Belief – represents arguably his definitive statement on the issue, and it is on this work in particular that we shall be focusing in this chapter. However, to say that Nursi glosses over what may be termed the more formal aspects of belief mentioned above would be a misrepresentation, and so before embarking on a journey through his discourse on the virtues of belief, we will look first at how he deals with these technicalities.

The ‘pillars of belief ‘

There appears to be a consensus among the mainstream Muslim scholars that the principles of belief are six: God; the angels; the prophets; the revealed scriptures; the ‘Last Day’; and the principle of ‘Divine decree and determination’. Nursi condenses these into one single, indivisible truth, each of the six aspects of which confirms the other five: