phy, it would eventually "be dispersed" and "change its form", and make way for the emergence of Islamic civilization. His comparisons, then, are between the "positive" principles and results of revelation, and the "negative" principles and results of philosophy, or between divine guidance (huda) and genius, meaning reason (deha), as he sometimes calls them. Western civilization he describes as follows:

It takes as its point of support force, which shows itself as aggression. Its aim and purpose is benefit and self-interest, after which everyone jostles and pushes without restraint. Its principle in life is conflict, which is manifested as contention and discord. The tie between different groups is racialism and negative nationalism, which thrives on devouring others and which manifests itself in ghastly clashes. Its alluring service is encouraging lust and passion, satisfying desires, and facilitating the attainment of whims, and as for these, they make man descend from the level of the angels to that of a dog. They cause him to become a beast.

The principles on which Islamic civilization is based, on the other hand, are the reverse of these:

Its point of support is truth instead of force, which is manifested as justice and equity. Its aims are virtue and God's pleasure in place of benefit and self-interest, which are manifested as love and friendly competition. Its means of unity are the bonds of religion, country, and class instead of racialism and nationalism, which are shown as sincere brotherhood and reconciliation, and co-operation in only defending against outside aggression. The principle in life is that of mutual assistance and co-operation instead of conflict, which is manifested as unity and mutual support. In place of lust is guidance, which appears as progress for humanity and being perfected spiritually. It restricts the passions, and instead of facilitating the base desires of the carnal soul, it gratifies the high sentiments of the spirit. [^323]

[^323]:Nursi, Sünûhat, 44; Sözler, 664, 119, 379 (Eng. tr.: Words, 745-6); Mektûbat, 445-6 (Eng. tr.: Letters, 548).

Of the various aspects of civilization regarding which are more detailed comparisons in Bediuzzaman's works, we shall briefly mention two. The first of these is literature.

In a piece on the subject in Lemeât, a collection of writings in free verse on various subjects which was published in Istanbul, probably in 1921, he makes a comparison between the Qur'an as literature and European literature. This literature is represented by the novel, for which there had been a strong vogue among Europeanized Ottomans since the time of Abdul-