A new English translation of the Risale-i Nur has been needed for some time now in order to secure its meaning and authorial intent while presenting it in clear, natural English that today’s readers can actually navigate with ease.
The work’s original Ottoman Turkish style often relies on very long, multi-clause sentences and dense turns of phrase that do not carry smoothly into modern English; when reproduced too closely, the result can become unwieldy, obscuring the argument and thus discouraging ordinary readers.
The aim of this re-translation is not to “simplify” the ideas, but to render them in a prose style that is genuinely English—breaking up excessive sentence length where necessary, choosing contemporary yet precise vocabulary, and preserving the integrity of the thought—so the text remains both faithful in meaning and accessible in reading.
This process has been guided and rigorously edited by an esteemed group of editors with strong expertise in both the Risale-i Nur tradition and the linguistic, theological, and philosophical contexts in which it is situated.
The Risale-i Nur is a series of books studied by millions of Muslims in weekly circles, in every major city in the world.
But most Muslims haven’t heard of it – that needs to change.
The Risale is a Quran commentary, written between 1926-1949, but is more relevant to Muslims today than ever.
This tafsir (exegesis of the Quran) was written by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, a great scholar of the fourteenth century of the Islamic calendar. Although he was one of the most learned scholars in the region, the ruling party at the time banished Said Nursi when the Turkish republic replaced the Ottoman Empire.
Yet, even under persecution, he managed to compose his seminal work, the Risale-i Nur. Writing through persecution, risking his life, Nursi embodied the resilience and commitment to Allah that continues to inspire Muslims around the world today.
As Nursi was a student not only of the Qu’ran, but of theology, mathematics and the sciences, the resulting books is a masterpiece of cross-disciplinary scholarship and divine translation.
In fact, the Risale-i Nur is more than a commentary of the Quran; it offers resolutions to the questions the Quran prompts us to ask of our lives. Questions that have been debated over the centuries. Risale-i Nur is answering the most crucial questions in life: Who are you? Where did you come from? Where are you going, what will happen when you die?
What separates this commentary from many others in contemporary scholarship is both it’s accessibility and profundity. It’s layered complexity means that one can read it time and time again, and come away with an understanding of new truths each time.
This is why study circles based on the books have no ‘Sheikh’ – every participant can understand the work at his or her own level. There is no reason not to start reading it now – whatever your level of religious observance or knowledge.
The Risale fuses traditional Quranic scholarship with a rational justification of the teachings of Allah. This is what makes it the ideal reading companion for Muslims who engage in secular dialogue in the contemporary world, and are looking for a way to make sense of it all.
The Risale engages both the faithful heart and the rational mind, and proves that Muslims don’t need to pick one over the other. It is about why to practice Islam more than how to practice Islam.
In the first volume, the ‘Words’, Nursi provides a rational justification for the wisdom of the five daily prayers, and man’s innate need to worship Allah – something that many Muslims quietly ask themselves, but never really explore. This is the root discussion from which the others flow.
The ‘Letters’ provide among other things the proof of the Prophethood of Muhammad, as well as an analysis of the ethics of family life and good conduct. The ‘Letters’ also shed a light on the relationship between the author and his followers. This section has been compared to dialogues between Socrates and his students.
The ‘Flashes’ address a number of complex subjects with precision and clarity. The key focus of this book is an analysis of those things that can lead someone away from Allah, which many Muslims today find especially enlightening. For example, many modern readers look to the ‘Flashes’ to refute the modern claim that the Qu’ran condones the subjugation of women, a common misinterpretation.
The fourth Volume, named the ‘Rays’ holds some of the key sections of the work, including the argument for the necessity of Allah’s existence. This section also emphasises the importance of solidarity with brothers in hardship, a valuable lesson for Muslims today.
The fifth book, the ‘Signs of Miraculousness’ is an analysis of eternity. It is an exploration of paradise, hell, death and resurrection of the dead. It takes the reader to the other dimensions of reality that Muslims believe in, but often do not explore, intellectually or spiritually.
Finally, the ‘Staff of Moses’ is the concluding book of the Risale-i Nur and contains three sections; The Fruits of Belief, the Decisive Proofs of Allah and the Staff of Moses. This section is the summation of the entire work, and offers the final spiritual pillar that can support any follower’s belief.
This Magnum Opus of Said Nursi, although scholarly and dense, is readable, enlightening, and provides an essential journey that every Muslim should take at least once. It’s a combination of intellectual reasoning, spiritual guidance and pastoral care – exactly what many Muslims are looking for today.
As a result, It arms truth seekers with the spiritual tools to strengthen their belief, along with the rationality to debate with a non-believer or agnostic. The Risale-i Nur explains the reason for creation and proves that nothing is a coincidence in the universe.
The Risale-i Nur is the summation of centuries of investigation by scholars, and helps the modern reader to interpret the Quran in an authentic and modern context. For today’s Muslims whose faith may dwindle in the face of disbelief, persecution and discrimination in the modern world, this book is essential reading.
Samples from the New Translation
On Divine Determining
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
وَاِنْ مِنْ شَىْءٍ اِلاَّ عِنْدَنَا خَزَۤائِنُهُ وَمَا نُنَزِّلُهُۤ اِلاَّ بِقَدَرٍ مَعْلُومٍ
وَكُلَّ شَىْءٍ اَحْصَيْنَاهُ فِۤى اِمَامٍ مُبِينٍ
Divine Determining (qadar) and the power of human freedom of choice are two extremely important issues. We shall attempt here to uncover a few of their mysteries in four ‘Topics’.
First Topic
Divine Determining and human freewill, or freedom of choice, are matters which are apprehended not by the clinical calculation of reason, but by the conscience, the heart and the inner vision. They are neither theoretical matters nor objects of knowledge that can be acquired. They stand at the outer edge of the tenets of faith and of Islam, and in a sense can be described as the very pinnacle of belief and submission. In understanding Divine Determining, the believer attributes everything to Almighty God, including his own actions and his own self. In understanding human freewill, the only thing that is really his is his power of choice, which confronts him in order to ensure that he does not evade his obligations and responsibilities.
Free will – freedom of choice – tells him that he is obligated and responsible, while Divine Determining, to prevent him from becoming proud of his good deeds and accomplishments, tells him that he is to know his limits, for the one who brings about those good deeds and accomplishments is not he.
Yes, Divine Determining and human free will stand at the pinnacle of belief and submission: the former has been included among the principles of belief in order to save the human soul from pride, while the latter has been included in order to ensure that the human soul acknowledges its responsibility. There are some evil-commanding souls, of course, who in their obstinacy invoke Divine Determining in order to exonerate themselves of the evil they have committed. And there are some who take great pride in the virtues that have been bestowed on them, or in things which have occurred as a result of using their ability to choose freely. Both of these attitudes are totally at odds with the spirit of Divine Determining and the wisdom behind human free will.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
First Note
This First Note is addressed to myself. O heedless Said! It is beneath you to attach your heart to something that will not accompany you into the grave and beyond; something which will leave you when the world is destroyed and the universe comes to an end. It is unreasonable to fasten your heart to transient things that will turn their backs on you when your time is over, refusing to befriend you on your journey through the grave and into the Intermediate Realm. It makes no sense to allow your heart to depend upon something which, after a year or two, will separate from you forever, abandoning you just when you think you have it in your possession, leaving nothing behind for you but sin.
If you have any sense at all, you will give up those things that will shatter and crumble under the hammer of worldly turmoil and tumult, the events of the Intermediate Realm and the awesome upheavals of the hereafter. Accord them no importance for they are unable to accompany you on the journey to eternity. Give them up now and do not grieve at their passing.
Consider how you have been created. Among the many subtle faculties you possess, there is one that will be content with nothing except everlastingness and the Eternal One. That faculty focuses on nothing or no-one else but Him. It will not belittle itself for anyone or anything else. Even if you were to give it the whole world, its innate need would not be satisfied. It rules your senses and your faculties, and therefore you should obey it, for it itself obeys the command of the All-Wise Creator. Obey it and find salvation!
بِاسْمِهِ سُبْحَانَهُ
وَاِنْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ اِلاَّ يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ
اَلسَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَ رَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَ بَرَكَاتُهُ اَبَدًا بِعَدَدِ عَاشِرَاتِ دَقَا ئِقِ عُمْرِكَ وَذَرَّاتِ وُجُودِكَ
To my dear, bold, wise, serious, hard-working, truth-loving brothers!
For brothers like us, who are ‘hereafter-brothers’ and brothers in truth, differences in time and place present no obstacles that would prevent us from talking to each other and being close to one another. One brother may be in the east, another in the west, or one may be in the past and another in the future; one may be in this world and another may be in the next. These things do not matter, because wherever and whenever they are, one may still think of them as being together and talking with one another. This applies particularly to those who have been tasked with the same responsibility to reach the same goal, for they are like just one body.
Every morning I imagine that you are here with me and I gift you a third of my spiritual gains. I pray to God that He will accept them. You are in my prayers, along with Abdülmecid and Abdurrahman. You will always receive your share of my prayers, God willing.
The fact that you have gone through hardships with respect to your day-to-day lives has saddened me somewhat. But since this world does not last forever, and with the knowledge that good may come out of calamities, my heart was inspired to say, on your behalf, “This, too, will pass.”
I then thought of the Prophet Tradition, لاَ عَيْشَ اِلاَّ عَيْشُ اْلاۤخِرَةِ “The true life is the life of the hereafter.” And I recited the Quranic verse, اِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ
I said, اِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَاِنَّا اِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
And I found comfort, also on your behalf.
If Almighty God loves one of His servants, He shows him the ugliness in the world and makes him disgusted with it. God willing, you are one of His beloved servants, and I pray that this narration applies to you. You should not be worried or distressed that the increase in your problems and hardship is preventing the distribution of the Words. God willing, when those that you have already distributed begin to manifest God’s mercy, those light-bearing seeds will open up and produce a riot of flowers!
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