Bediuzzaman Said Nursi established a spiritual university in Anatolia and in order to enroll at this university he demanded four essences which are impotence (ajz), poorness (faqr), compassion (shafqah), and contemplation (tafakkur). Regarding compassion as the major principal in tabligh (delivering the message of Islam), Bediuzzaman Said Nursi also regarded women as the privileged and inherent students of this university by giving them the title of “compassion heroines”. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi along with offering his treatises for the benefit of [...]

1. Introduction Most learned people regard science as a reliable way of obtaining knowledge about the world and life because science requires healthy questioning and testing of ideas. Yet many regard religion as faith without evidence and reasoning or as mere traditional practice. This is the opinion of many learned people, particularly those influenced by western culture. In this article, we –as Muslim scientists, will try to show that while the above assertion about science is partially true, the assertion [...]

Hajj in Islam is fardh (compulsory) for every Muslim who is capable of and can afford it. Allah (SWT) orders in the Qur’an as follows, “Pilgrimage thereto is a duty men owe to Allah, – those who can afford the journey”. The phrase “can afford” in the verse shows that the hajj is fardh, unlike salat, only for those who are healthy enough and can finance it to do. That is one of the clear and nice examples of Divine [...]

4. International Bediuzzaman and Risale-i Nur Symposium was held 4. International Bediuzzaman and Said Nursi Symposium, organized by Hayrat Foundation was held in Bursa Merinos Ataturk Congress and Culture Centre with a large participation. The Pillars of Islam were negotiated in the symposium. Bulent Arinç, Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister, also participated to the symposium to which many scholars and academicians from around the world joined in. The symposium commenced with slide show. In the slide show the process [...]

Muslims of the Balkans The topic of this article is Muslim family in the Balkans with a focus on Bosnia and Herzegovina. For the purposes of this article the term Balkans will be used to denote this region, although due to negative connotations that this term gained throughout the years the term Southeast Europe has become increasingly popular. Sometimes the term Western Balkans is used as well. Each of these terms for the most of the world include, with certain [...]

Tasattur (Islamic dress code) is the most constant and the most sacred divine law pertaining to the community life. As 350 thousand Qur’anic interpretations (tafseer) and 350 million scholars (‘ulama) agreed on this covering issue, all the Divine Books also agree on this matter. Women leaving their coverings seized by the European mindset, which does not fit with the honour of Muslim women, both distort their innocent natures and are lowered to the degree of toys by those dark powers [...]

The North Caucasus is a very specific region of Russia. For almost twenty years there has been going on a so-called anti-terrorist operation, as a result, the republic of Chechnya has been virtually destroyed, more than a thousand civilians have been killed. Nowadays Grozny – The capital of Chechnya – is practically rebuilt, the republic has returned to peace and tranquillity. But alas there are certain damages that are impossible to recover so quickly. Because the war has not only ravaged [...]

In this article, I will present a summary description of the ‘American Muslim Family Structure’, its evaluation, examination and re-examination. Because all indications are that the family structure is weakening, even disintegrating in America and elsewhere. Professor Khurshid Ahmad explains that we are living in a period of cultural crisis. It seems as if the very foundations of contemporary society are being threatened from within and without. The family, as a basic and most sensitive institution of culture, is being [...]

The miracle of Miraj happened on the 27th night of the month of Rajab, a year and a half before hijrah (migration) when RasulAllah (the Apostle of Allah) was in Mecca. That night Gabriel (PBUH) took the Apostle of Allah with a Heavenly mount named Buraq and brought him first to Jerusalem (Al-Quds), to Masjid al-Aqsa. This part of the journey is called Isra meaning night journey. After he performed a prayer as an imam to the souls of all [...]

Welcome to the eleventh issue of The Pen Magazine! Recently what we have been enjoying is not just the hot weather of summer season of 2011 especially in some geographies of the world, but I need to exclaim blissfully we have entered into another warm climate; the blessed three months season… It is a season in which we may enjoy limitless mercy and compassion of Almighty Allah… It is a sacred time period that we may and need to find [...]