NurNet.Org sitemizde yazarlık da yapan Mohammed Asım Alavi’nin “Seeds of Change Thrilling Leadership Lessons from the Life of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi” kitabı çıktı!
To write a book on the life of Imam Bediüzzaman Said Nursi was what came to mind in the summer of 2010, during my visit to Barla – the launching pad of his struggle to defend the Qur’an. For the following couple of months, I was deciding on the aspects of Imam Bediüzzaman’s life I should focus on.
Finally, I came to the conclusion to focus on certain specific leadership qualities of his. Allah Almighty endowed Imam Bediüzzaman with charismatic leadership qualities as essential prerequisites for the divine mission he was to carry forward. I have selected five such qualities, which in my view, are of paramount importance for Islamic activists. Leaders are both born and made. Therefore, a person with inherent abilities can become a leader, provided he gets the right environment and training.
This book is addressed to the passionate Muslim youth in the streets. They are its targeted audience. Through this humble book of mine, I would disappoint academicians and researchers as this is not reference material type; neither is it suitable reading material for Nurcus (the Risale-i Nur students) as they would have access to plenty of materials to read on the great Imam; nor a chronological biography of an Islamic reformer.
I have tried to use simple language, moving away from florid and metaphoric usage.If the book can be presented in a storytelling style which appeals to the street youth regardless of gender, it can certainly draw his or her attention toward further reading on Imam Bediüzzaman and lead him or her to discover the moderately balanced methodology for Da’wah.
Reading Imam Bediüzzaman’s life would show energetic youth alternative ways in achieving their desired goals in both personal and social lives. His life is exemplary for youths who are inclined toward radical approaches in their endeavour for societal changes. It would teach them how to overcome difficult challenges using wisdom and beautiful preaching, without resorting to violence.
My husband, Suleyman Kurter, my granddaughter,Ayse Nur and I knew this was going to be a long trip but we did not realize how arduous until we landed in Melbourne, Australia. We flew 10 hours from Chicago to Istanbul, in Istanbul we were met by Br. Nejat Eren, from Antalya, Turkey, and then we all flew 4 hours to Qatar and another 14 hours to Melbourne. By that time we felt like Lahmajun (flattened pizza). Since we landed after midnight, I thought no one would be there to greet us. To my surprise, there were over fifty Australian Muslims anxiously awaiting our arrival! There were hugs, kisses and beautiful smiles from the Islamic brothers and sisters that greeted us. They were teenagers, college students, children and their parents. I felt revived by their warm and sincere welcome.
They drove us to a comfortable, one-level Australian brick home that was one of the Jamaat’s families that was on vacation and gave their home for us to live in during our stay. What generosity! I was amazed at this family and those that came to the house; they prepared fruit and beverages for us before we slept. This was also my first introduction to the Vakif (Islamic workers), Zenep and Ruhan Kaya. They would be my link to everyone and everywhere in Melbourne. They were our guides, translators and schedule keepers throughout our stay. Ayse Nur was always by my side while my husband, Suleyman and Br. Eren often had a parallel program with the brothers.
I met two other Islamic workers, Ayten Yargi and Bedriye Koyu, who work day and night at the Melbourne center, called
The Nur Foundation. They, with the Vakif workers, organize, clean, cook and call many sisters promoting the programs at The Nur Foundation. I soon realized how strong the members are and how well they work together to make this amazing complex succeed. Originally it was an old motel with a huge empty lot. Presently, The Nur Foundation is open and used from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day.
There are various sohbets (Islamic Gatherings)every day for different age groups.Also, there are brothers and sisters from various other countries that attend the gatherings because they feel welcome and comfortable there. The Nur Foundation is the hub of the jamaat’s (congregation) activities. It is located in Melbourne’s industrial center. I felt it is an oasis among metal. The old motel was completely gutted and renewed into an efficient, extremely clean complex with a mosque, numerous classrooms for the study of the Qur’an, Hadith and the Risale I Nur, as wellas English as a Second Language and sewing classes for the ladies. There is a social club for the elderly and brothers, several kitchens, and a numerous reception hall for conferences, weddings, etc.
For the women, there is a separate entrance to a women’s dershane (learning center). It has comfortable sofas, a large prayer area, kitchen and dining area.An amazing area is in the back of the complex. At first I thought it was a public park, I was informed that this land is also part of the Nur Foundation. It was beautiful. There were roses blooming everywhere.It also included a full garden for the community with vegetables, herbs and even chickens that produce numerous eggs each day. There was a covered shelter with picnic tables and barbeque grills for the entire community.I was amazed at how the community worked so well together to build these picnic tables, organize a garden and there was a playground with swings and slides for the children to play with. There was also an enclosed soccer field, all built by the brothers. They are now in the process of building enclosed swimming pools for the men and one for the ladies.I was asked on several occasions to give the “ders”/presentation on the Risale. It was an honor and there was no need for a translator since all the Turkish women speak English but with a unique Australian accent. It was pleasant to hear them speak. These Muslimahs (Muslim Women) are second and third generations in Australia.Some of the sisters came to Australia as children from Turkey because their fathers found employment at the Ford Motor Company in Melbourne; other sisters came as new brides many years ago. Usually, our sobhets (Islamic studies) steered toward the topic of how to raise a Muslim family in a non-Muslim country. Similar to what many Muslim families are struggling with today in the USA.
After the ders on the Risale I Nur, we were fortunate to have Br. Fatih Yargi show us a bit of Melbourne, mainly for Ayse Nur’s sake since she is only 13 years old. It is the month of May but it is autumn in Australia so it rained quite a bit. We were able to see kangaroo’s and Kuala bears. Br. Fatih is the director of the Nur Foundation and he has excellent organizational skills and patience. May Allah (SWT) bless him for all his work. May Allah also bless his wife, the sisters that volunteer to clean, organize, assist in many duties and teach all for the cause of Allah. The vakif workers, Zeynep and Ruhan, were also relentless in their efforts to make sure all the programs and the center are running smoothly. They are dedicated to the Hizmet (service). It seems that nothing is too big or small for them to complete.Even though we averaged four hours of sleep a day, it was worth it. It was an amazing experience to meet and be with these Muslim families. These families made breakfast for us and we were the guests of honor for dinners. They rotated the responsibility and everyone had an opportunity to have us at their home if they wished. This was excellent organization among them. We thoroughly enjoyed all the meals and the It was one of the most inspiring sites.
This mosque was built as a replica of the Sultan Fatih Mosque in Istanbul.Inside the Gallopoli Mosque the walls are blue, white and gold amid golden Ayats (verses) from the Holy Quran. It is truly majestic. Ayse Nur and I prayed there in the women’s section. Several sisters joined us and gave us insight on the history of the mosque. Outside the mosque, it is surrounded by rows and rows of roses all various colors.The roses were still opening even though it was autumn in Australia. Again, it was amazing to see such dedicated Muslim families that are striving to live Islam in a non-Muslim society. They are extremely hard working families that came to Australia with little and were able to purchase and build their homes without interest or loans. Some of the homes After the conference, we were able to see the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Bridge and docks. The stories told by the locals of the aborigines and European convicts and their treatment reminded me of the original pilgrims and their treatment to the Native Americans in the USA.
Sydney has numerous parks like the Olympic Park and its beautiful Botanical Gardens. We even had the pleasure of taking a boat ride throughout the bays in Sydney, I almost expected Nimo to jump out of the bay at any moment. The Sydney Jamaat is working collctively to build a large dershane, currently they are renting an entire floor for their activities. I pray they will find a building soon. It is very expensive to purchase a building in both Sydney and Melbourne. Even a modest three bedroom home is $250,000 to $500,000. While a modern, new 3 or 4 bedrooms home usually costs 1 million. Those two cities are the most expensive cities in the world to live in.
After Sydney we returned to Melbourne and the Nur Foundation complex. The sisters were there to greet us and showered Ayse Nur and I with gifts of appreciation and remembrances. I cried because we have known them for a little over a week, yet I felt I had known them for a lifetime. So many smiling, beautiful faces filled with the light of Islam. Meeting and being with them was a gift from Allah (SWT) and I will never forget my Muslim sisters in Australia.
By Havva Kurter
Kaynak: Risale Path-Risâle Yolu-Amerika Nur Bülteni
Risale Path, All Rights Reserved Vol. 2 No. 4 January 2013
Br. Shaukhat Ali gave an informative speech about the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma. Below are excerpts from his speech. Today in Burma, the Arakan Muslims, especially the Rohingya people, are the worst victims of a pre-planned controlled genocide, ethnic cleansing and massive human rights. These violations are from the hands of the Burmese government security forces and law enforcing agencies with the active collaboration and cooperation of extremist, racist and xenophobic Rakhine Buddhist.
They are led by the Buddhist Rakhine National political forces, Rakhine academicians and intellectuals,Buddhist monks, and members of Arakan Liberation Party (ALP). Currently, Burma has a population of over 60 million of which nearly 8 million are Muslims. Of the Muslim population about 3.5 million (both at home and abroad) are Muslim Rohingyas. In Burma, Buddhists are the majority people and Muslims are the second largest community. Government forces have shut down almost all mosques in northern Arakan while prohibiting the five daily congregational prayers. Even during the last holy month of Ramadan the clampdown intensified and on the Annual Eid Festival Days-2012 the Muslims had to remain inside their homes without congregating for Eid Prayer. Uncountable copies of the Holy Quran, Hadith books and other religious books have been burnt or destroyed while many mosques and religious schools with libraries were devastated.The destruction still continues. 10,000 Rohingyas were killed and thousands of people disappeared that were presumably killed. Unkown numbers of Muslim girls and women have been raped by the Burmese security forces. President Their Sein said there is no place for the Rohingyas in Burma. Rohingyas have no domestic or national protection. Rohingyas are the indigenous people of Arakan and bonafide citizens of Burma who were living in their native land since8th century A.D.
Yet, there is a very systematic organized, concerted and criminal design by the Burmese Buddhist authorities, which can appropriately be termed as ethnic cleansing, genocide and socio-cultural degradation of the Rohingya. If the process of gross violations of human rights against the Rohingya are allowed to continue there won’t be a single Rohingya left in the next fifty years. Since 1999, the USA has designated Burma as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’…It is high time that the world body take appropriate measures so that the basic human rights of the Rohingya people are protected and guaranteed under UN supervision. I would like to fervently appeal to all brothers and sisters to provide their moral support to the cause of the suffering Muslim Rohingyas of Burma and to advocate their rightful citizenship status in Burma by all available peaceful means. We do hope that you all will do the best level within your capacity for those suffering humanity.
Maryam Jameelah was born in 1934 in New York at the height of the Great Depression – a fourth-generation American of German-Jewish origin. She was reared in Westchester, one of the most prosperous and populated suburbs of New York and received a thoroughly secular American education at the local public schools. Always an above-average student, she soon became a passionate intellectual and insatiable bibliophile, hardly ever without a book in hand, her readings extending far beyond the requirements of the school curriculum. As she entered adolescence, she became intensely serious-minded, scorning all frivolities, which is very rare for an otherwise attractive young girl. Her main interests were religion, philosophy, history, anthropology, sociology and biology. The school and local community public libraries and later, the New York Public Library, became “her second home.”
During extensive correspondence with Muslims throughout the world and reading and making literary contributions to whatever Muslim periodicals were available in English, Maryam Jameelah became acquainted with the writings of Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maudoodi and so, beginning in December 1960, they exchanged letters regularly. In the spring of 1962, invited Maryam Jameelah to migrate to Pakistan and live as a member of his family in Lahore. Maryam Jameelah accepted the offer and a year later,married Mohammad Yusuf Khan, a whole-time worker for the Jama’at-e-Islami who later became the publisher of all her books.
She subsequently became the mother of four children, living with her co-wife and her children in a large extended household of in-laws. Most unusual for a woman after marriage, she continued all her intellectual interests and literary activities; in fact, her most important writings were done during and inbetween pregnancies. She observes Purdah strictly.
Her hatred of atheism and materialiam in all its varied manifestations – past and present – is intense and in her restlessquest for absolute, transcendental ideals, she upholds Islam as the most emotionally and intellectually satisfying explanation to the ultimate Truth which alone gives life (and death) meaning, direction, purpose and value.
Sets of Risalah al Nur in Tamil language (Namely: Ihlas ve Uhuvvet, Hutbe-i Samiye, Kucuk Sozler) were donated to Smile Centre, in the Batticaloa District. This district was under the control of Tamil Tiger rebels and after the end of the war people began breathing a sigh of freedom.
Islamic Da’wah activities have been accelerating. The district is home to a large number of Hindus, Christians and Muslims. Smile Centre was established with the purpose of empowering the Muslim community in educational and economic fields and engaging with people of other faiths in dialogue. The Centre has expressed its willingness to cooperate with Nur Jama’at.
