The “I” that knows it serves Another. For Nursi this is not a humiliation but the true rank of a human being, the face of the “I” that prophethood takes hold of.
Glossary
The few words the course keeps in the original, with the sense Nursi gives them. In the weeks, these words are underlined with dots, and you can tap them.
- AbdعبدServant, bondsman of God
- AczعجزWeakness, powerlessness
The human inability to secure what one needs or to keep off what one fears. Admitting it is the start of reliance on God.
- AhiretآخرتThe hereafter
The life after this one, the lasting home that this world’s journey leads to.
- Ahsen-i takvimاحسن تقويمThe finest of forms
The form in which human beings were created (Qur’an 95:4), standing at the start of two roads, one endlessly up and one endlessly down.
- AkılعقلThe mind, reason
The faculty that thinks things through. Working for its Owner it reaches the Maker; working for the self it fills with worry about past and future. In the Gilani story it rules the stomach.
- AşkعشقPassionate love
Love that consumes the lover, which the Sufi poets praised as the swiftest road to God. Nursi compares each of his four steps with it, and finds them safer and broader, because love first clings to a passing beloved.
- ÂyineآيينهMirror
Nursi’s most frequent image, from Persian. A mirror has no light of its own and is valued for what it shows. In old Persian poetry the heart is an âyine to be polished; for Nursi every creature, and above all the human heart, is a mirror of the Divine Names.
- BâkîباقىLasting, the Everlasting
What remains, the opposite of fânî, passing; al-Bâqî, the Everlasting, is a Name of God. After the death of his nephew Abdurrahman, Nursi said twice, “Yâ Bâkî, Ente’l-Bâkî”, O Everlasting One, You alone are everlasting, and found in it the cure for his grief.
- BasamakباصاماقA step, a rung
A Turkic word, from basmak, to tread. In the Thirty-Second Word the Qur’an fills the deep pit with the rungs of inner progress. The rungs are given; the climber treads them one at a time, and they are still there after a slip.
- Başıboşباشى بوشUnchecked, left to wander
A plain Turkic word, baş (head) and boş (empty, free), for an animal with no halter. In the Tenth Word Nursi says the human being is not başıboş. Being asked about one’s life is first a sign that it matters.
- Bâtın-ı kalbباطن قلبThe inside of the heart
The innermost heart, which Nursi calls the mirror of Samed. To set a passing beloved up there like an idol is too heavy a worship for it to carry.
- Bismillahبسم الله“In the Name of God”
The phrase that opens the Qur’an. In Nursi’s reading, every created thing says it by the way it acts.
- Cebrî, Mu’tezileجبرى، معتزلهThe fatalists and the rationalists
Two old schools that Nursi sets on either side of the middle way. The Cebrî (from cebr, compulsion) makes man a puppet; the Mu’tezile make man the creator of his own acts and deny kader. The people of the Sunna keep both kader and responsibility.
- CemâlجمالBeauty, especially God’s beauty
Paired with kemâl, perfection. Both are loved for their own sake, so, Nursi says, they love themselves, and since beauty loves itself it wants to see itself in mirrors. al-Cemîl, the Beautiful, is a Name of God.
- Cihazat-ı maneviyeجهازات معنويهHidden equipment, inner organs
The faculties placed in a person like the hidden organs of a seed. Spent on the wants of the self under the soil of this life, they rot; turned to their real aims, they grow into a lasting tree. Cihaz is the modern Turkish word for a device.
- CilveجلوهA gleam, a flash of display
A single gleam of a Name in one thing, like the tiny sun in a bubble on a river. In Persian it is also the grace with which a beloved shows herself.
- Cüz-i ihtiyarîجزء اختيارىThe small share of will
Cüz is a small part, ihtiyar is choosing. Nursi’s name for human free will, small but real. At the edge of belief it stops the believer from making excuses, saying “you are answerable”, just as kader stops him from pride.
- Daire-i meşruaدائرهٔ مشروعهThe circle of the lawful
The lawful pictured as a circle one lives inside. Nursi’s point is that it is wide, and enough for every real pleasure.
- DesiseدسيسهA trick, a wile
Nursi’s word for Satan’s stratagems in the Thirteenth Flash, such as making imagining unbelief look like believing it, stopping a person from admitting his faults, or letting one fault of a brother hide all his good.
- Devâir-i mütedâhileدوائرِ متداخلهIntersecting circles
Nursi’s image for the Names in the Twenty-Sixth Letter. Like circles that enter one another, or the seven colours in one light, the Names appear together, help one another and complete one another’s work. Where one is, all are.
- DuaدعاSupplication, asking God
Calling on God and asking Him. In the Twenty-Sixth Word Nursi tells us to give one hand of our weak will to dua, so that it reaches the good, and the other to istiğfar, so that it is drawn back from harm.
- EmanetامانتA trust
Something lent to you to look after. The Supreme Trust (Qur’an 33:72) was offered to the heavens and the mountains, and humanity took it on. In the Sixth Word, everything we hold is an emanet.
- Enaniyetانانيت“I-ness”
The quality of being an “I”. In modern Turkish it simply means selfishness; in Nursi it is a stance, the “I” claiming to stand on its own instead of pointing beyond itself.
- EneأناThe “I”
The sense of self. Nursi calls it a unit of measure, given so that a person can understand the attributes of God by comparison with its own small share.
- EslemاسلمSafest, most sound
From s-l-m, the root of selâmet (safety), selâm (peace) and İslâm. Nursi’s word for the four steps, on which the self has nothing of its own to boast with.
- EsmaأسماءThe Divine Names
The Names of God, such as the Merciful, the Wise and the Provider, which Nursi sees reflected in all created things.
- Esmâ-i Hüsnâاسماء حسنىThe Most Beautiful Names
The Names of God as the Qur’an calls them (7:180, 17:110). Hüsnâ is the superlative of hasen, beautiful, so not just good names but the most beautiful. Tradition counts ninety-nine; Nursi often speaks of a thousand and one.
- FakrفقرPoverty, need
The condition of needing almost everything and owning almost nothing. It is paired with acz throughout the Risale-i Nur.
- FânîفانىPassing, transient
What passes away, the opposite of bâkî, lasting. In the Seventeenth Flash Nursi tells himself not to tie his heart to fânî things that leave at the grave’s door, because one faculty in him is content only with the Eternal.
- FitraفطرةOriginal nature
The nature a person is created with, which recognises its Maker before anything covers it.
- GafletغفلتHeedlessness
Forgetting what matters while busy with what does not. In the Thirteenth Word a deep stupor of gaflet keeps people from feeling the pain inside their pleasures.
- Galat-ı hisغلط حسAn error of perception
Taking the world to be stable because it looks stable, and so assuming one’s own small world is stable too. Nursi’s cure is the mirror image: your world exists in the mirror of your life, and that mirror can shake at any minute.
- GaybغيبThe unseen
What cannot be seen. The Second Word opens with “those who believe in the unseen” (Qur’an 2:3): trusting the just King behind a country you only see the surface of.
- GayeغايهAim, the end a thing is for
From Arabic ghaya, the far point one makes for. The Eleventh Word lists nine aims of a human life (hayatın gayeleri) and sums them up as knowing, loving and thanking the One who makes Himself known, loved and generous. A sentence of purpose names a finishing line, not a mood.
- GünahگناهSin
A Persian word kept in Turkish. In the Second Flash every sin opens a wound in the heart and the spirit, and inside every sin there is a road that leads towards unbelief unless it is quickly wiped away with istiğfar.
- GurbetغربتExile, being far from home
The state of the garib, the stranger far from his own people; the word of every Turkic song about the migrant. In the Twenty-Sixth Flash Nursi, an exile in Barla, finds exiles one inside another, and then says that with a Merciful Creator there is no gurbet for us.
- Hadd-i mevhumحدِّ موهومAn imagined limit
The line the “I” draws through itself, “up to here is mine, after this is His”. Endless light cannot be known without some edge of shadow; this imagined edge lets the self begin to grasp what has none. Once it has done its work, it is meant to be lifted.
- Hadd-i vasatحدّ وسطThe middle limit
The healthy middle of a power: wisdom for the intellect, courage for anger, self-respect for desire. In the Eleventh Flash it is the mark of the Prophet’s character. The word echoes the “middle community” of Qur’an 2:143.
- Hakikat-ı zılliyeحقيقتِ ظلّيهA shadow reality
The reality of the “I” is a shadow that carries the reflection of a true and necessary Reality. A shadow is real, but only as long as what casts it.
- HalifeخليفهVicegerent
One who acts on behalf of another. Humanity’s role on the earth (Qur’an 2:30): not a ruler in his own right.
- HarecحرجHardship, a tight place
From “there is no hardship in religion” (dinde harec yoktur), with its pair “religion is ease” (ed-dînu yüsr). Nursi’s second cure for doubts about whether worship counted. The answer to scruples is width, not more rigour.
- HatveخطوهA step, a pace
A single step taken while walking. Nursi speaks of four steps on a road, not four ranks on a ladder.
- HavfخوفFear
One of two instruments set in human nature, with love. Turned to creatures it is an affliction; turned to God it is a whip (kamçı) that drives a person into the arms of His mercy, like a child startled into its mother’s embrace.
- HevaهواWhim, passing desire
Literally air or wind, desire that blows this way and that. With the nafs it is the doorkeeper and the dog of Nursi’s palaces, useful at the gate and ruinous in charge.
- Hiss-i kable’l-vukuحس قبل الوقوعPremonition
Literally “the sense before the happening.” In the Twenty-Eighth Letter Nursi says everyone has it to some degree, even animals, and that true dreams are a stronger form of it. It is real, but it is not knowledge of the unseen. Held lightly, never made into prediction or fortune-telling.
- HılletخلّتClose friendship
The intimate friendship of Abraham, called Halîlullah, the Friend of God. Nursi says his way is “Haliliye” and its temper hıllet, which asks each one to be the closest friend, the most self-giving companion and the noblest brother.
- Hubb-u câhحبّ جاهLove of standing
The love of rank, fame and being noticed. The second obstacle to sincerity, which Nursi calls a serious spiritual sickness because it opens the door to showing off.
- HuzurحضورPresence
The sense of being in God’s presence, the second means to sincerity. In His presence, looking to anyone else for attention is bad manners. In modern Turkish huzur also means peace and calm.
- İffetعفّتChastity, self-respect
The healthy middle of desire, between licentiousness (fücur) and lifelessness (humud). Wider than sexual purity, it is a self-respect that does not grab.
- İfrat ve tefritافراط و تفريطGoing too far and falling short
The two corruptions of every power. Nursi counts both as wrong and darkness; the healthy place is the middle between them.
- İhlasاخلاصSincerity
Doing something for God alone, with nothing else mixed into it. From kh-l-ṣ, to be pure and freed, the root of Sura al-Ikhlas. In the Twenty-First Flash Nursi calls it the greatest strength in any work for the next world.
- İlhamالهامInspiration
A good prompting placed in the heart. In the Twenty-first Word the angel of inspiration (melek-i ilham) and the whisperer live as neighbours near the heart, so a pull is judged by where it leads. Inspiration leads towards God, goodness and balance. Nursi also calls premonition a kind of innate inspiration (ilham-ı fıtrî).
- İlm-i ezelîعلم ازلىPre-eternal knowledge
God’s knowledge, which kader is a kind of. “Knowledge follows the thing known” (ilim mâluma tâbidir) so it does not force what it knows. Nursi pictures it as a mirror held at the highest place, holding past, present and future at once.
- İmam-ı mübinامام مبينThe Clear Book, the Clear Record
From the verse that opens the Treatise on Divine Determining, “We have counted everything in a Clear Book” (36:12). An imam is what goes in front and is followed, the original from which copies are made. Nursi reads it as a register of Divine knowledge in which everything is written before it happens.
- İmanايمانBelief, faith
In the Second Word, belief is what turns the same world from a house of mourning into a house of remembrance.
- İmkân-ı zâtîامكان ذاتىPossible in itself
What could happen in principle, like the Black Sea sinking this minute. Nursi sets it against imkân-ı zihnî, a reasonable doubt. A possibility that does not arise from any evidence carries no weight and does not touch certainty.
- İnkılabانقلابA turning, a revolution
A turning over from one state to another. From the root q-l-b, the same as kalb, the heart. In the Ninth Word every prayer time stands at the start of such a turn, in the day, the year, a life and the world.
- İnsafانصافFairness
Fairness that gives the other his due. Nursi’s rule of fairness in the Twentieth Flash lets anyone on a right path say “my way is true, or better”, but never “only my way is true”.
- İstiazeاستعاذهSeeking refuge with God
Saying Eûzü billahi mine’ş-şeytani’r-racîm, “I seek refuge with God from Satan the accursed.” The Thirteenth Flash is about its meaning. Against whispers that make a person despair, Nursi says the stronghold is istiaze and giving them no importance.
- İstidadاستعدادCapacity, readiness
What a thing or a person is ready and able to receive. In the First Topic of the Treatise on Divine Determining, white sunlight makes some things turn black: the blackness belongs to their capacity, not to the sun.
- İstiğfarاستغفارAsking God’s forgiveness
Saying Estağfirullah, “I ask God’s forgiveness”. The step that closes an honest self-review, so that a mistake is set down rather than carried.
- İştiyakاشتياقLonging
Need doubled, in Nursi’s ladder, “muzaaf ihtiyaç iştiyaktır”. Longing doubled is love (muhabbet), and love doubled is passion (aşk).
- Kabiliyet-i şer / hayrقابليت شر، قابليت خيرCapacity for evil / for good
Kabiliyet is a capacity to take in. The self that keeps commanding has a boundless capacity for harm and little power to build; when it gives up egoism and asks God for help, the same capacity turns into a boundless capacity for good (Qur’an 25:70).
- KaderقدرDivine determining
The measure and plan of all things, which Nursi compares to a book in which everything is written.
- KalbقلبThe heart
Not the organ but the centre of the inner life, which can rule the inner kingdom and reflect like a mirror.
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- KesbكسبAcquiring, earning
The same word as for earning a living. The human part in an act is to want it and reach for it; the creating belongs to God. Nursi’s rule is that acquiring evil is evil, but creating evil is not evil (kesb-i şer şerdir, halk-ı şer şer değildir).
- KusurقصورFault, shortcoming
A falling short. Knowing one’s own kusur, with one’s need and weakness, is for Nursi the basis of worship. It is something to admit before God, not a verdict on one’s worth.
- LatifeلطيفهAn inner faculty (plural letâif)
The subtle faculties of a person, such as the heart, spirit and mind. In the vision of the two palaces they are the household that should be busy on the upper floors.
- Levh-i Mahfuzلوح محفوظThe Preserved Tablet
The record of all things with God (85:22). In the Tenth Word it is the king’s great camera on the mountain. Small records, a memory or a seed, point to a great one, as small notebooks point to a ledger. Nothing done, good or bad, is lost.
- LevvâmeلوّامهThe self that blames
From Qur’an 75:2, where God swears by it. An intensive form, a self that keeps reproaching itself. It still falls, but its conscience is awake, and that is already a gift.
- LillahللهFor God’s sake
Doing or loving something for God. In the Thirty-Second Word Nursi does not ask us to stop loving food, family, friends or spring, but to love them lillah. A second’s meeting for God’s sake, he says, is a year.
- Lisan-ı halلسان حال“The tongue of the state”
Speaking by what one is and does, not in words. Its pair is lisan-ı kal, the spoken tongue. In Nursi’s reading, every created thing says Bismillah this way.
- Lümme-i şeytaniyeلمّهٔ شيطانيهThe satanic touch near the heart
From a hadith that speaks of two touches (lümme) on the human heart, one from an angel and one from Satan. Nursi says ugly whispers come from this spot beside the heart, not from the heart itself, which is why the heart grieves at them.
- Mâlikiyyet-i vehmiyyeمالكيتِ وهميهSupposed ownership
The ownership the “I” has, by its Owner’s leave, only in appearance and for a time. Real enough to measure with, not real enough to stand on.
- Mânâ-yı harfîمعناى حرفىMeaning that points beyond itself
A grammar term. A noun means something in itself; a particle only points to other words. To see a thing this way is to see it pointing to its Maker, like a mirror.
- MazharمظهرA place where something is shown
From the root ẓ-h-r, to appear, the same root as az-Zâhir, the Manifest (57:3). A person or thing that reflects a Name is its mazhar.
- Mecâzî aşkمجازى عشقMetaphorical love
Love of a passing beloved, as opposed to real love (hakiki) of God. Nursi notes that in nearly every such love the lover complains of the beloved. The metaphor is meant to lead to the real.
- MelekeملكهAn ingrained habit
A disposition that has become second nature, like a craftsman’s skill. Nursi warns that a faint association, examined again and again with regret, turns into a meleke, an imaginary illness, though never an illness of the heart.
- MerhemمرهمA salve, an ointment
What Nursi offers for each wound (yara) of whispering in the Second Station of the Twenty-First Word, five salves for five wounds. He writes to the sufferer as a patient to be healed, not a sinner to be blamed.
- Mes’uliyetمسئوليتResponsibility, answerability
From su’al, a question. To be responsible is to be the one who will be asked. In the Twenty-Sixth Word our share of will is in the creed so that we cannot slip out of mes’uliyet for our wrongs.
- MisafirمسافرA guest
For Nursi the world is a guest-house (misafirhane) and a person an honoured guest of the Merciful (misafir-i Rahmân). A guest is fed and cared for, and does not rearrange the host’s house or carry its worries.
- MuhabbetمحبتLove
In the Twenty-Fourth Word, a cause of the universe’s existence and the tie that holds it. The heart holds a love big enough for the whole universe, worthy only of One with endless perfection.
- MuhasebeمحاسبهSelf-accounting
Reviewing your own actions honestly, from the root ḥ-s-b, to count. The same root as hesap, a bill, and the Day of Reckoning. Nursi asks for it daily, and warns against letting it turn into a harshness that only circles the self.
- MülhimeملهمهThe inspired self
From Qur’an 91:7–8, where God inspires the self with its wickedness and its piety. The self that begins to tell good from bad from the inside. The same root as ilham, inspiration.
- MünacatمناجاتAn intimate prayer
A whispered, private prayer to God, from a root meaning to confide. Nursi recommends Job’s prayer (21:83) as tested and effective for any illness, outward or inward.
- MutmainneمطمئنّهThe self at peace
From Qur’an 89:27, “O self at peace, return to your Lord.” A self settled in God, which storms still reach but do not overturn. Many will know the verse from funerals.
- NafsنفسThe self, the soul
The self with its wants. Nursi often addresses his own nafs first and lets the reader listen.
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- NakışنقشInscription, embroidery, design
The patterned work of the Maker on creation. Nursi calls the stars the gilded embroidery of the sky, and the face of the world an inscription of the Names; an-Nakkâş, the Engraver, is one of his favourite titles for God.
- NamazنمازThe prescribed prayer, salat
The five daily prayers at their set times. Persian namaz is the everyday word in Turkish and across the Turkic world for the Arabic salat. Nursi calls it the food, water and air of the heart, and the luminous index of every kind of worship.
- NamzedنامزدA candidate, one put forward
Persian nâm-zad, one whose name has been put forward. The officer’s card in the Tenth Word shows that its holder is a candidate for another place and works for another world. In Uzbek nomzod still means a candidate, in Tajik номзад a fiancé(e).
- Nefs-i emmâreنفس امّارهThe self that keeps commanding
The self that pushes constantly towards ego and appetite (Qur’an 12:53). It forgets itself in the wrong places and remembers itself in the wrong places.
- NiyetنيتIntention
The inner aim that gives an act its meaning. Nursi pictures the prayer as an electric lamp and the intention to pray as the touch on its switch; with a good intention, even ordinary work in an orchard gains a share of the trees’ glorification.
- Nüfus-u seb‘aنفوس سبعهThe seven selves
The seven levels of the self in the classical Sufi map, from the self that commands (emmâre) through the self that blames, the inspired, the content and the pleasing, to the perfected self (kâmile). Nursi mentions them with respect, as the longer road of the orders that remember God aloud.
- Rabıta-i mevtرابطهٔ موتRemembering death, a bond with death
The first means to sincerity. Not imagining one’s own funeral, Nursi says, but looking at what is real, one’s own end, then the end of the age and of the world, until the illusion of permanence fades.
- RânرانA stain, a rust over the heart
The word of Qur’an 83:14, “what they earned has rusted over their hearts”. The hadith explains it as the black spot each sin leaves on the heart, polished away by repentance and spreading if the sin goes on.
- Râziye, marziyyeراضيه، مرضيّهContent; pleasing to God
Two levels of the self named in one verse, Qur’an 89:28. Content with God and whatever He decrees, and God content with it. The same root as rıza, contentment.
- Risale-i Nurرسائل النور“Treatise of Light”
The collective name for Nursi’s writings, a commentary on the Qur’an in many separate treatises.
- RiyaرياShowing off
Doing a good deed to be seen by people. Nursi treats it as the main thing sincerity has to be guarded against; the hadith calls it hidden shirk.
- Rıza-yı İlahîرضاى الهىGod’s pleasure
God’s being pleased with a deed. The First Rule of sincerity is to make it the only aim; if He is pleased, the displeasure of the whole world does not matter.
- RuhروحThe spirit
The life-giving inner reality of a person. In the Gilani story, the spirit is meant to rule the body.
- SabırصبرPatience
Holding steady under hardship without complaint. Nursi calls Job the hero of patience (sabır kahramanı), who bore years of wounds and prayed only when his worship was at risk.
- Şahs-ı manevîشخص معنوىCollective personality
A group joined by one aim and one duty, acting like a single person. In the Twenty-First Flash Nursi calls his students the members of such a person, worthy of the name of a perfect human; their pens, he says, are its fingers.
- ŞahsiyetشخصيتPersonality, the person one is in a role
In the Twenty-Sixth Letter Nursi says one man can have several şahsiyet. In his duty he needs dignity, which belongs to the post; in worship he sees only his own faults and need; and beneath both is his raw self.
- SamedصمدThe Self-Sufficient, the One all turn to
A Name of God from Sura al-Ikhlas (112:2), the One whom everything needs and who needs nothing. Because the inner heart mirrors Him, nothing needy can fill it.
- ŞatahatشطحاتEcstatic utterances
The bold, high-flown sayings some mystics spoke in ecstasy. On the four steps, Nursi says, they do not arise, because the self finds nothing in itself but impotence, poverty and fault.
- ŞefkatشفقتCompassion, tender care
The third of Nursi’s four steps, alongside weakness, need and reflection.
- Seyr ü sülûkسير و سلوكSpiritual journeying
Travelling through the stages of the Sufi way, one after another, towards reality. In the Twenty-Eighth Letter Nursi sets it beside a second, direct way, taken from the Qur’an itself, which he calls the way of the Companions.
- ŞirkشركAscribing partners to God
Giving any share of God’s ownership, lordship or power to something else. Nursi traces it to the “I” that thinks it owns itself and so hands ownership out to everything.
- Şirk-i hafîشرك خفىHidden shirk
Showing off in worship, called hidden association of partners with God because it quietly adds a second audience to a deed meant for Him alone.
- SıdkصدقTruthfulness
Nursi calls it the foundation of the faith. His rule for daily life is “either truthfulness or silence”.
- SıfatصفتAn attribute
A quality of God, such as Knowledge, Power, Will or Mercy. Nursi says the human “I” holds small samples of these, enough to serve as a ruler for His, which are without limit and without likeness.
- Sırسرّ“A secret”; the inner heart
The most hidden of the inner faculties, where only God looks. The English “inner heart” loses the sense of secrecy.
- Sırat-ı müstakimصراط مستقيمThe straight path
From al-Fatiha (1:6), asked for in every prayer. In the Thirtieth Word it is the third way out of the desert, the luminous highway of the Qur’an, which Nursi calls the shortest, easiest and safest, and open to everyone.
- ŞükürشكرThanks, gratitude
Recognising a gift as a gift and its Giver as the Giver. One of the three aims of a human life in the Eleventh Word.
- ŞüpheشبههDoubt
A doubt that enters the head. Nursi puts it beside sin as an inner wound, and shows how a doubt is often seized like a proof when a habit wants a reason to deny.
- TahayyülتخيّلImagining
Picturing something in the imagination (hayal). Nursi’s key to the whispers that frighten sensitive believers. An imagining is not a judgement (hüküm), so to imagine unbelief is not unbelief and to imagine an insult is not an insult.
- TarîkatطريقتA Sufi order, a spiritual path
Literally a way. A Sufi order with its master and practices. Nursi calls his four steps reality and Shari‘a more than a tarîkat, while holding that all true ways are taken from the Qur’an.
- TeavünتعاونHelping one another
Mutual help, from the Qur’anic command “help one another in goodness and piety” (5:2), which Nursi calls the wise divine rule for social life and the cure for quarrelling among people of faith.
- Tecdid-i imanتجديد ايمانRenewing belief
From the hadith “Renew your belief with lâ ilâhe illallah.” Because a person and his world are renewed every day, Nursi says, belief needs switching on again, and the word of unity is the key to its light.
- TecelliتجلّىManifestation, showing forth
The way a Name of God shows itself in a created thing, as light shows on a surface. The Qur’an uses the word for God’s showing Himself to the mountain (7:143).
- TecemmüdتجمّدFreezing, setting hard
One step in Nursi’s chain of how the “I” hardens, from vapour to liquid, to setting, to freezing (tecemmüd), to clouding over (tekeddür). Heedlessness and denial are what freeze it.
- Tedai-i efkârتداعئ افكارThe association of ideas
One thought or image calling up another along hidden threads of connection, even between opposites. Nursi says it is mostly involuntary and carries no responsibility. The cure is to turn back the moment you notice, without examining it.
- TefânîتفانىPassing away into one another
Forgetting one’s own feelings and living, in one’s mind, with the virtues and feelings of one’s brothers. Nursi adapts the Sufi idea of passing away in the master into passing away among brothers.
- TefekkürتفكرReflection
Thinking about what one sees until it points to its Maker. In the First Word it is the middle part of the price of a gift.
- TeklifتكليفObligation, being charged with a duty
Being made responsible by God for what one does. The one under it is mükellef. In the Treatise on Divine Determining, kader may never be used to slip out of teklif; it is for the past and for calamities, not for sins and the future.
- TemsilتمثيلComparison, parable
A short story that makes an abstract truth visible. Nursi tells the story first and then explains what it shows.
- TerakkiترقىProgress, rising
From the root r-q-y, to climb. Nursi uses it both for the progress civilisation boasts of and for the inner rising (terakkiyat-ı maneviye) that only belief and good deeds bring. In the Thirty-Second Word the Qur’an fills the pit of the lowest of the low with its rungs.
- TerhisترخيصDischarge from service
Still the Turkish army’s word for demobilisation. In the Second Word, the death of someone who did their duty is a discharge with honour, and every birth is an enlistment.
- Tevehhüm-ü ebediyetتوهّمِ ابديتThe illusion of permanence
Imagining, without noticing it, that you will live for ever. In the Twenty-First Word Nursi names it as the real cause of boredom with prayer. Tevehhüm is a supposing so strong it is almost a hallucination.
- TevekkülتوكلTrust in God
Doing your part and then leaning on God for the outcome. Nursi pairs it with handing oneself over (teslim) and resting one’s confidence in Him (itimad).
- TezkiyeتزكيهPurifying; declaring pure
The word means both to purify the self and to vouch for it. Nursi’s first step plays on both: the real purifying of the self is not to acquit it.
- TılsımطلسمA talisman, a key
In Nursi, a truth that opens what is locked or solves a riddle. In the Thirteenth Word the Qur’anic talisman (tılsım-ı Kur’anî) is belief and the basic duties, which turn the grave from a gallows into a door.
- TövbeتوبهRepentance, turning back
Literally a return. After a slip one turns back to God, asks forgiveness and goes on. Nursi reminds us that a bad deed is written as one and a good deed as ten, and that this door stays open.
- Tûl-i emelطول املLong hopes
Far-reaching worldly ambition, which grows from imagining that one will live for ever. It damages sincerity and pushes towards showing off; remembering death shortens it.
- UbudiyetعبوديتServanthood, worship
Not only ritual, but the whole stance of being a servant of God. Prayer is its summary.
- UcbعجبSelf-admiration
Being pleased with oneself and one’s own deeds. In the Twenty-first Word, once the doubt “was it valid?” is dropped, Nursi warns against swinging into ucb; ask “was it accepted?” instead.
- UhuvvetاخوّتBrotherhood
Nursi says the basis of his way is brotherhood, not the bond of father and son or of shaykh and disciple. Among brothers the ranks are broad, so there is little room for envy.
- ÜnsiyetانسيتFamiliarity, warm closeness
From the same root as ins, humankind, and üns, intimacy. It is the opposite of vahşet, the desolation of loneliness. On Pine Mountain belief in God gave Nursi such ünsiyet that the stones and trees became friendly companions (munis arkadaş).
- Vahdet-i vücûdوحدت وجودThe unity of being
The Sufi teaching summed up as “there is no existent but He”. Its sister, vahdet-i şühûd (the unity of witnessing), says “nothing is witnessed but He”. Nursi treats both with respect, but says the Qur’an does not require the universe to be imagined as nothing or forgotten; it keeps things as mirrors of the Names.
- Vâhid-i kıyâsîواحدِ قياسىA unit of measurement
A ruler to measure by. The “I” imagines a small ownership, power and knowledge of its own, and by that hypothetical line comes to understand God’s limitless attributes. It need not be real, like a line supposed in geometry.
- VazifeوظيفهDuty, task
The work one is given to do. Nursi’s line is that the self is lower than all and the duty higher than all, so worth comes from the One who gives the duty, not from the self that carries it.
- Vazife-i ubudiyetوظيفهٔ عبوديتDuty of worship
Each inner faculty has its own, with its own pleasures and pains. Vazife is still the ordinary Turkish word for a job or homework.
- VesveseوسوسةWhisperings
Doubts and suggestions that come to the heart unbidden. Nursi treats them as dust on the mirror, not as part of it.
- VicdanوجدانConscience, inner sense
From a root meaning to find and to feel deeply. More than conscience, the faculty where truths are felt before they are argued. Without trust in God it is never at rest.
- Ye’sيأسDespair
Giving up hope. Again and again in the treatise on whisperings, it is where a whisper leads, and what Satan works on, until a person says “all is lost”. A mark that a pull is not from God.
- Zehirli balزهرلى بالPoisoned honey
Nursi’s image in the Thirteenth Word for pleasure outside the lawful, sweet now with the pain folded inside. Plain Turkish, no Arabic.
- ZikirذكرRemembrance of God
Calling God to mind, with the tongue or the heart, in words such as Bismillah, Subhanallah or lâ ilâhe illallah. One of the daily habits that keep the heart clean.
The glossary grows as weeks are published.