Introduction

Although sincerity (ikhlāṣ) and brotherhood (ukhuwwa) are not treated together in the Risale-i Nur, the two concepts are so interlinked in the Nursian worldview that it seems appropriate to discuss them here as two sides of the same coin: like īmān and islām, true sincerity and brotherhood are correlative, and one cannot exist without the other. If sincerity, which is the foundational component of the relationship, does not lead to brotherhood, it cannot be called sincerity in the real sense of the word. And if brotherhood is not based on true sincerity, it cannot be called brotherhood at all.

Sincerity is foundational not only to brotherhood but to the whole spectrum of beliefs, practices and behaviours required of the Muslim believer. Sincerity means acting in the name of God alone – in a state of bismillāh – and it is through sincerity that all actions are sacralised: any undertaking that does not have the worship of God as its goal is a profane undertaking and confers no spiritual benefit on the one engaged in it.

It is the inability of the believers to ensure or safeguard sincerity that Nursi addresses in his discourse on ikhlās. Man being what he is, negligence, even for a second, may cause a soul to focus not on God but on itself. In such a state, actions carried out become sullied and cheapened: negligence is the crack through which the temptations of the lower self creep through, changing what is potentially a sacred act into a profane and futile one.

Sincerity for believers entails an almost monomaniacal absorption in the ultimate goal, which is the knowledge, love and worship of the Creator, and in the commitment to act in His name alone. Nursi compares the sincerity of believers in their aim to please God with the determination of the unbelievers – itself a form of sincerity – to please their own selves, and finds the sincerity of the believers wanting. His overarching message is that because people of religion are more susceptible to shortfalls in true sincerity, they often appear more divided and, as a result, more susceptible to subjugation and humiliation, than their unbelieving counterparts.