First Women’s Dersane in Jakarta

Jakarta, March 6, 2011 – Young, curious students from the nearby UIN Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, intellectuals,   hospitable mothers with their babies in tow  came  to the formal opening of the women’s dersane(medresseh) in Jakarta, Indonesia. This Risale–i Nur Study Center for Women of the Yayasan Nur Semesta (World Nur Institute) was set up by the Nur Community and sister Nuriye, as soon as she returned to Indonesia after a year of studying at several dersanes in Turkey.

Full of passion and fervor for  the Risale and service, she stays lively, determined, optimistic and thankful  despite the expected difficulties  and challenges of starting a new dersane. Mashallah, not  surprising, for she was given this lesson when she was 18, when after an accident she got blind and became paralyzed. A month and a half into her  blindness and paralysis, she never stopped complaining about her condition, crying and asking ‘Why Me?’  The moment that she finally accepted Allah’s will for  her  and gave thanks for it, Allah (SWT) instantly returned her sight and made her walk again!

Having had her private library of Islamic literature which she called Nur library  even before meeting the Risale-I Nur  Collection, she at once loved  the Letters  of Ustad Bediuzzaman upon being introduced to it.

The inauguration of the dersane was done together with  a belated commemoration of the Mawlid-an Nabi(SAW). A descendant of Rasul’s (SAW) uncle Abbas, Prof. Nabila Lubis of the UIN Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Department of Arabic Studies, and   translator of the Risale-i Nur Collections’ Flashes and Short Words to Bahasa Indonesia,  talked about  the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Her  daughter, Prof. Dr. Amany Lubis of the same university’s Department of Arabic History, presented a short  biography of Said Nursi, author of the Risale-i Nur, and shared beautiful memories  of their  experiences in Turkey.  A presentation of the activities of the Risale-i Nur  Community in the Philippines was also given by Sally Tayaban of the Philippines.

Titin Mufarrohah, a regular visitor who has been bringing women to the dersane, says she and her friends experience healing every time they come to the dersane. A graduate of Islamic  Studies, she has wanted a more intimate relationship  with Allah(SWT) but felt a lack of it all her life. She had wanted to know the essence, the inner wisdom of the rituals in Islam like the prayers, and  had found it in the lessons in dersane. Thus, for her and the regular comers, it is a place for the brokenhearted, for those searching for wisdom, for those who want a deeper, more meaningful understanding of their faith.

Risale-i Nur Institute Philippines Media/ Sally Tayaban

Click for Turkish version : www.nurnet.org/jakartada-ilk-hanimlar-dersanesi