Introduction

That revelation (waḥy) and prophethood (nabuwwa) are linked inextricably is reflected in the decision to appraise Said Nursi’s treatment of them in the same chapter. He himself argues that revelation and prophethood are mutually supportive insofar as each serves as a proof of the other, and there are few passages in which the first is discussed entirely without reference to the second.

However, despite the fact that they are in one sense two sides of the same coin, it is revelation that is foundational. And so while prophethood can never be discussed outside the context of revelation, from one particular perspective it is possible to talk about revelation without reference to prophethood. For one of the distinguishing features of Nursi’s theology is that every creative act of God is an act of revelation, and that the created realm as a whole is from all aspects revelatory in nature.

In this chapter, we will explore Nursi’s understanding of revelation and prophethood as concepts only; discussion of issues such as the process and mechanisms of revelation, the diversity of revealed books and scriptures, the ‘prerequisites’ of prophethood and the nature or character of individual prophets is beyond the scope of our discussion here, although a brief overview of these will appear in Chapter Seven.

Given the primordiality of revelation, then, it is to Nursi’s understanding of this concept that we turn first.

The necessity of revelation

As is the case with so many other Nursian conceptualisations of the realities of belief, it is arguably the ‘Hidden Treasure’ tradition which holds the key to his understanding of revelation in the widest sense of the word:

As we saw in Chapter Two, the manifestation of the Necessarily Existent One by means of the existence of beings ‘other-than-God’ has a dual purpose: not only does it make the created aware of the Creator, it also provides the ‘mirror’ in which God may ‘observe’ Himself. The created realm is a vast array of ‘mirrors’ – of created beings – in which created beings may observe that which has been reflected in themselves and others, and in which the Creator is able to observe the artistry of His own creative act as displayed by His attributes of perfection.