Publisher's Preface

Publisher's Preface

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1877 or 1873—1960) states clearly at both the beginning and end of the present book his intention in writing it. His chief aim was to set out the principles of Qur'anic exegesis, and in so doing to demonstrate the straight path of Islam, thereby removing the doubts of the sceptics on the one hand and rectifying a number of misunderstandings adhered to by literalist ulema on the other. The basis of the doubts and misunderstandings he was attempting to reply to was "the groundless idea" of there being a clash and conflict between Islam and science. This preface will firstly set the work in context and explain briefly the backgound to its writing and then in the light of this will outline the way the book is set out.

Some time after returning to eastern Anatolia from Istanbul in early 1910 two years after the reinstatement of the Constitution, Bediuzzaman made a journey around the region which produced two fruits: one was a work which recorded his debates with Kurdish tribesmen about constitutionalism and what it meant for them and was called Disputations (Münâzarat), while the other was the present work, which addressed the ulema and was entitled Rational Arguments (Muhâkemat) and in the original Arabic version, A Prescription for the Ulema. The full title of the Turkish version is The Prescription for a Sick Age, An Ill People, A Diseased Member, or Polishing Islam, or Bediuzzaman's Rational Arguments. It's shortened title, however, is generally used.

The projects for educational reform that Bediuzzaman proposed as the mainspring of the development of eastern Anatolia within the