Turkey’s Transition into Modernity and the Response of the ‘Ulamā’: The Case of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

Abstract

Turkey’s transition into modernity is one of the earliest models of modernization in the Muslim world. A complex and controversial process involved significant changes to the country’s political, social, and cultural institutions. Accordingly, Muslim intellectuals responded to the challenges posed by this transition process that endangered the country’s Islamic identity. This paper analyses the historical overview of Turkey’s modernization process, highlighting the key events, institutions, and actors that played a role in shaping the country’s development on one hand. On the other hand, it explores the response of the ‘ulamā’ to the modernization process, with a special emphasis on the contributions of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. It analysed his activist and intellectual struggle to meet the challenges of the modernization process, his criticisms of the secularist approach to modernization, and his efforts to develop an Islamic political theory that provided answers to the new situation.