Aleppo-Damascus Letters
Istanbul Foundation for Science and Culture Letters from Abroad
Aleppo-Damascus Symposia (31 March - 4 April 2026)
Our Dear and Faithful Brothers and Sisters
Students of the Nur Follow in the Footsteps of the Damascus Sermon a Century Later
About a century ago, at the age of thirty-five, Ustad Bediuzzaman Said Nursi visited Syria/Damascus at the insistence of the scholars of Damascus and delivered the “Damascus Sermon” (Hutbe-i Şamiye) in the Umayyad Mosque before a congregation of a hundred scholars and close to ten thousand people. Because of its great importance, the sermon was printed twice within a week in Damascus at that time. This sermon stands out as an important text that diagnoses the crises of the Islamic world and, in particular, places the idea of Islamic unity at its centre.
Damascus and its surroundings are blessed lands where prophets, Companions and saints have resided throughout history, and which hold an exceptional place in the formation of Islamic civilisation. For this reason, these places preserve their identity not only as historical centres but also as spiritual and intellectual ones.
As representatives of the century-old legacy of Bediuzzaman, we, the Istanbul Foundation for Science and Culture, together with our brothers from foundations serving in various regions of Türkiye, visited the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Damascus for a number of services.
Important Syrian statesmen, administrators of various universities, academics and students from various faculties attended the Aleppo and Damascus symposia organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Science and Culture together with the Universities of Aleppo and Damascus. On the first day of the Aleppo visit we visited the Governor of Aleppo, Mr Azzam Gharib, who completed his higher education in Bingöl, and afterwards the administrative building of TİKA’s Aleppo centre.
On 31 March 2026, important academics and scholars from Syria and Türkiye took part in the symposium “Qur’anic Solutions in a World of Crises”, which we organised jointly with the University of Aleppo, the Dar al-Irfan Foundation and IIKV. Together with the Rector of the University of Aleppo, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Usama Adun, and the Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Shasho, scholars from Syria, Türkiye, Pakistan and Algeria attended the symposium.
Over four sessions that continued throughout the day, topics such as the crises of civilisation, justice, education systems, the brotherhood of faith and human communication were addressed in the light of the Risale-i Nur.
Prof. Dr. Metin Yiğit, Prof. Dr. Muhammed Halil Çiçek, Prof. Dr. Eşref Durfili, Prof. Dr. Adnan Memduhoğlu, Prof. Hüseyin Abdülhadi, Prof. Dr. Bilal Safiyyüddin, Prof. Dr. Ammar Ceydel and many other distinguished academics presented their papers. The symposium, followed with interest by a large number of participants, also attracted the attention of the local press and national agencies. Throughout the day, close to five thousand treatises from the Nur collection were presented as gifts to participants and students.
In the second part of the Syria visit, on 2 April 2026, we held a symposium in Damascus entitled “Qur’anic Solutions to the Crises of Civilisation and Humanity” between the Istanbul Foundation for Science and Culture and the University of Damascus. At the opening of the symposium, the Syrian Minister of Higher Education Prof. Dr. Marwan al-Halabi, the Advisor to the President of Syria Dr. Ahmad Muwaffaq Zaydan, the Rector of the University of Damascus Prof. Dr. Mustafa Saim al-Dahr, the Dean of the Faculty of Sharia Prof. Dr. Imad al-Din Rashid and, on behalf of the preparatory committee, Prof. Dr. Mehmed Halil Çiçek each gave a speech.
At the meeting, where important references were made to the Holy Qur’an, the noble Hadith and the Risale-i Nur, solutions to the crises the world is passing through were voiced in the light of revelation.
In addition, in order to strengthen the historical and religious ties between Türkiye and Syria and to contribute to our relations, our foundation visited state institutions and universities in Syria. The fundamental aim of these visits was to observe the present-day manifestations of the intellectual and spiritual seeds sown by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi towards the ideal of Islamic unity, and to see on site the fruits that these seeds have borne. Indeed, it is seen that these ideas, strengthened by the Risale-i Nur, a true commentary on the Qur’an and a lesson for the understanding of this age, have found an important response in the Islamic world along the axis of unity, brotherhood and solidarity.
As the IIKV delegation, we visited the Grand Mufti of Syria and Damascus and founder of the Syrian Islamic Council, Sheikh Usama al-Rifai, at his office in Damascus after the morning prayer. There were long and fruitful conversations.
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