Written by İbrahim Özdemir | Karl Marx and Said Nursi: Two intellectuals who paid the price for the sake of truth

While reading the article Bertolt Brecht: “Five Difficulties of Writing the Truth” by Prof. Dr. Onur Bilge Kula , two great thinkers came to my mind, even though they are ideologically at opposite poles: Karl Marx and Said Nursi.

While one seeks social justice in class struggle as the architect of a materialist worldview, the other bases itself on individual spiritual resurrection through a service of faith centered on the Quran. However, both rejected official duties and the blessings of power for the sake of truth, and continued their struggle by writing their works in exile, poverty and loneliness. When viewed from this perspective, we once again deeply understand that the price of expressing the truth does not recognize time, space and ideology; it requires courage, determination and sincerity .

Reflecting on the contradictions of the modern world and the responsibility of art against oppression, German writer Bertolt Brecht boldly reveals the fundamental obstacles that a writer who wants to express the truth will face in his article " The Five Difficulties of Writing the Truth ".

According to Brecht, not only knowing the truth but also revealing it, turning it into a transformative force and delivering it to the right people requires a separate struggle. This article will try to emphasize that expressing the truth is not only an intellectual responsibility but also a moral stance, a political risk and a humanitarian duty. Because these five difficulties of Brecht are not just a literary proposition but also a call for soul-searching for every individual who pursues the truth.

Karl Marx and Said Nursi are two great thinkers who, despite having different worldviews and ultimate goals , never compromised on their freedom of thought with their determination to defend the truth, and preferred to remain independent by not accepting any official duty or blessing of power. Both of them fought against oppression and the corrupt order without integrating their ideas into the system; they wrote their writings in difficult conditions such as exile, poverty and loneliness .

While developing his theory of historical materialism and class struggle against economic inequality and capitalist exploitation, Marx aimed to save humanity on the basis of material equality, keeping a distance from religion. He believed that the social structure could be changed through revolution and fought for this cause.

Said Nursi, on the other hand, sought the salvation of humanity in the revival of faith, the strengthening of spirituality and the dominance of the truths of the Quran in life. Nursi took as his basis the “ positive movement ”, which he defined as his spiritual jihad with the Risale-i Nur Collection against the system of denial and corruption, and followed a path that appealed to both the mind and the heart of man. He adopted the method of reform and guidance, not revolution . In other words, he took as his basis a change that emerged from the change of minds and hearts on the basis of science. However, when viewed from Brecht’s perspective, some common points between the two thinkers attract our attention.

Freedom of Thought and Independence: Despite their different worldviews, Marx and Nursi share a striking common ground in terms of their intellectual independence and loyalty to truth. Both refused to hold official positions in the state in order to prevent their thoughts from being caught in the wheels of the system, and kept their distance from position, status, fame and material opportunities. According to them, truth could not be bargained for in any worldly way.

Said Nursi, on the other hand, said, “ I am trying to save the faith of the society ” and did not back down from any political or bureaucratic offer, and even openly rejected such offers. He received offers of being a deputy in the last period of the Ottoman Empire and high-ranking civil servants in the Republic period, but he did not accept any of them. For him, being the spokesman of the truth was more valuable than being the representative of the government. In these aspects, they have recorded in history how valuable the independent stance of an intellectual is.

Exile and Poverty: Marx lived in London with great financial difficulties, his family suffered misery. One of his children died as a result of illness caused by insufficient food. Said Nursi was exiled, poisoned and imprisoned many times. Despite this, he continued to write and spread the Nur Treatises under the most difficult conditions.

The Struggle Waged with the Pen: Both Karl Marx and Said Nursi are two great thinkers who never let go of their pens and imprinted their ideas on history despite the harsh conditions of the era in which they lived, such as oppression, poverty and exile.

While Marx wrote Capital , in which he presented his structural critique of the capitalist system, under difficult conditions during his exile years, Said Nursi carried out a revolution in faith and morality with the Risale-i Nur , which he wrote in the dungeons of Anatolia, in the exile towns and under heavy observation.

Today, both works have been translated into world languages ​​and continue to have an intellectual impact, reaching large audiences not only in their own societies but also around the world. This situation reveals how ideas become a permanent force when they are spread not through weapons, positions or wealth but through patience, sincerity and the pen .

Criticism of the System: Although they came from different ideological backgrounds, both Marx and Nursi made a social critique of their own era by opposing the inequality, ignorance and injustices that the existing order had created. While Marx criticized economic inequality and the exploitation of the capitalist system, Nursi drew attention to the moral, intellectual and faith-based corruptions that resulted from "ignorance" and proposed a faith-based social resurrection as a solution.

In his historic sermon given in the famous Umayyad Mosque in Damascus in 1911, Said Nursi diagnosed the backwardness of the Islamic world with a deep socio-political analysis and said: “ Our enemies are ignorance, poverty and discord. We will wage a jihad against these three enemies with the weapons of art (industry and trade), knowledge (knowledge) and alliance (unity) .”

According to him, these three enemies are not only the cause of individual but also of a disintegration throughout the ummah. The prescription Nursi offers against these enemies aims to eliminate ignorance with knowledge, poverty with work and economic justice, and division with Islamic unity and brotherhood . However, this transformation should not be superficial, but should be based on an internal construction nourished by the deep roots of faith . Because according to his belief, a permanent reform in society is only possible with a revolution in the heart . Based on this, he starts a social movement “ based on faith .” As for the fundamental differences between them, the most striking ones can be listed as follows:

Karl Marx often uses the following quoted phrase to criticize the social function of religion: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. ” Although these words of Marx may seem hostile to religion on the surface, his aim is not to do with the essence of religion, but to do with how the capitalist order has turned religion into a tool . According to Marx, the ruling classes use religion as a “ consolation” tool to temporarily relieve the inner suffering of the poor; however, this blocks the way to real solutions.

Here, Marx also tacitly acknowledges why religion is so powerful and indispensable for people. However, he is disturbed by the fact that this power is directed towards making the oppressed accept their fate rather than changing it . According to him, true freedom is possible by eliminating material inequalities and ending exploitation.

According to this reading, Marx does not see religion as a direct enemy; but he criticizes the ruling classes' use of religion as a tool of class domination. In this context, the term "opium" is used in the sense of a relaxant that relieves pain but does not change the system .

Said Nursi, on the other hand, sees religion as a truth that awakens people and a prescription for salvation. According to him, “faith is both light and strength. A person who has acquired true faith can challenge the world. He finds within himself the power to fight to reverse the injustice, unfairness and exploitation that Marx complained about.

As stated above, Marx is a materialist and advocates class conflict for change.

Said Nursi , on the other hand, thinks in a Quran-centered way and emphasizes the transformation of the individual's inner world and spiritual evolution for change. According to Nursi , "Religion is the life of life, both its light and its essence." In other words, religion is a fundamental truth that determines not only the journey of man to the afterlife, but also his meaning, direction and values ​​in worldly life .

In a way that reminds me of Ghazali, the real revival of a society is only possible with the revival of religion. Ghazali, whom Nursi called his "spiritual master", also revived religious sciences by writing his greatest work, Ihya, as a voluntary exile in order to transform Islamic society.

For this reason, Said Nursi's linking the revival of the nation to the revival of religion is not only a religious emphasis; it is also a strong criticism of the old madrasah system, which was corrupt and condemned to formalism, and its narrow-minded mentality.

According to Nursi, the solution to social and moral collapse is possible not with superficial transfers of information, but with a genuine understanding of religion that rebuilds faith, morality and wisdom . This approach is an original spiritual awakening and a constructive alternative proposal for a society struggling in the pains of modernization.

The meaning and mission that Nursi attributed to religion also overlaps with the famous psychiatrist Dr. Viktor Frankl’s “ search for meaning ”-centered logotherapy approach. Frankl says that man’s deepest psychological need is “ to find meaning in life .” Carl Jung, on the other hand, emphasizes that spiritual balance and religious orientation are the basis of man’s mental health.

Therefore, Said Nursi's understanding of religion is not only a belief, but also a system of meaning that fills the existential gaps of man, provides inner peace, and makes life whole . It is a source that revives both the soul of the individual and the conscience of society.

Despite these ideological differences, loyalty to truth, intellectual independence, a spirit of struggle forged through exile and suffering , bring Marx and Said Nursi’s paths together at the same “paying the price” point, albeit on different paths. Both have left traces that transcend their eras: One was the pioneer of system criticism in the West, the other the architect of social revival based on faith and morality in the East.

In the remainder of this article, we will discuss the five issues in Brecht's article " Five Difficulties of Writing the Truth " around Said Nursi.

The “courage to write the truth” that Brecht stated as the first difficulty was embodied in the life of Said Nursi. The cry “ Long live hell for the tyrants!” protested the oppressive bureaucracy and corrupt understanding of justice of Sultan Abdulhamid. This was not just an ordinary slogan, it was the proclamation of the truth. Despite all kinds of oppression, exile, poisoning and cruelty, Nursi did not hide the truth, did not twist it . He did not remain silent in the face of the injustices he saw, heard and experienced; he did not applaud the tyrants. His courage in the courts where he was tried with the death penalty was not born from a material power, but from the “strength” he derived from sincerity, submission and the principles of faith .

He summarized his life with this sentence: "I am trying to save the faith of the society."

For this purpose, he neither sought worldly gain nor rank or title. Where Brecht said, “not to deceive the weak” and “not to be liked by the wealthy”, Nursi sought “ not the applause of the world, but the consent of Allah ”. His greatest advice to his students was, “ Your actions should be for the consent of Allah. If He is pleased and the whole world is offended, it does not matter. If He accepts and all the people reject it, it has no effect .”

Brecht says that a deep intuitive mind and knowledge is needed to find the truth. In Nursi's words, this intuition is nourished by "the luminous contemplation of the truths filtered from the Qur'an ." He reaches the truth not only with intellectual but also with heart and spiritual reasoning .

It is necessary to consider Said Nursi's words in Risale-i Nur: " I speak with the lesson I learned from the Quran to save the faith of this century and the future centuries " from this perspective.

This " intuitive mind " is not limited to pure logic. It has a dimension of insight and foresight that transcends rational reason. Consistent with Brecht's statement that " an ignorant person cannot find the truth ", Nursi also aimed to equip the public and his students with a systematic education on matters of faith and society.

The issue Brecht emphasizes here is this: Truth should be presented not as mere knowledge but as a transformative power . The Risale-i Nur is a tool of “spiritual jihad” with exactly this mission. The following words he said in a courtroom during the Constitutional Monarchy, where he was tried with the possibility of death, are periodic in this respect: “I will not offend the respect of God, I will tell the truth. For God’s respect is exalted; no memory can be sacrificed. No matter whose respect is offended, only God will be alive.”

It is clear that there is a criticism in these lines against the authorities of the period and the established order. Moreover, when he says that “faith is a spiritual force” , he does not only explain the truths of faith, but also shows them by “ living ” them in an active stance in life . As Brecht said: “Truth is not only for knowing, but for giving birth to action.” When viewed from this perspective, it is seen that the Risale of Light introduces its readers to a truth that transforms them from the inside out.

Brecht's observation that in order for the truth to be effective, " it is necessary to know whom to address " is a principle that was directly applied in the service of the Risale-i Nur. Nursi addressed not only one class or social stratum, but also a very wide audience , from young people to university professors, from shopkeepers to villagers, from clergy to intellectuals ; he tried to make the truth accessible, understandable and transformative for everyone.

In the words of sociologist Şerif Mardin, the fact that a professor and a shopkeeper sit knee to knee discussing the same text in a Nur lecture circle in any village or town in Anatolia is extremely significant not only from a religious but also a sociological perspective. This situation shows that the Risale-i Nur offers a truth-centered unity ground that transcends class distinctions .

Although some of the Nur Students were imprisoned, exiled and tortured, these difficulties did not prevent them from carrying and spreading the truth.

Moreover, according to him, the real starting point of social transformation is individual transformation. The reform of society is only possible when individuals experience a renewal based on faith and morality . This transformation is not achieved through a dry discourse; it is achieved by “ displaying the perfection of Islamic morality and the truths of faith through our actions ”, that is, by living the beauties of Islamic morality and the truths of faith through our behavior . Nursi’s approach highlights the typology of a believer who does not only preach and advise, but also sets an example by living according to the axis of “God’s consent” and who naturally conveys the message. This is an indispensable basis for the most effective spread of the truth and for it to take root in hearts.

Based on this, similar to Brecht’s words, “ Even the executioner can be addressed, ” Said Nursi forgave those who tried him with execution and tried to reform them with prayers, believing that there could be a spark in every heart that could address the truth . For this reason, many of his fellow prisoners not only changed their minds after meeting the Risale-i Nur, but also transformed their lives around the axis of faith and became Nur Students. This shows that truth can only be a means for real resurrection when it is presented by being lived and loved .

Brecht’s emphasis on the skill of “ telling the truth by passing it around from hidden places ” was embodied in the service of Said Nursi. Even during the most difficult days of exile and imprisonment, he not only wrote the truth, but also established his own mail and distribution network to convey it to his addressees, and delivered the Nur Treatises from hand to hand, from heart to heart. In the courts, he defended not himself but the truths of the Quran and faith expressed in the Risale-i Nur, turning those difficult moments and the defendant’s bench into a preaching platform.

The language of the Risale-i Nur is also a reflection of this dissemination skill: symbolic narration, stories, anecdotes and the Quranic style are the result of the effort to convey the truth without breaking or crushing it, by touching the heart directly. This approach is a living example of the Quran's divine principle: "Invite to the path of your Lord with wisdom and good advice." (Nahl, 16/125)

It is clearly seen that the fundamental obstacles that Bertolt Brecht drew attention to under the title of “Five Difficulties of Writing the Truth” were embodied not only as an intellectual but also as a lived struggle for truth in Said Nursi’s life and in the lines of the Risale-i Nur that he wrote. These five difficulties that Brecht expressed on a theoretical level were virtually embodied in Nursi’s patience, determination and power of representation during exiles, prisons and poverty.

This situation shows that truth is not just a thought or a statement; it gains meaning through the sacrifice, courage and sincerity of the person who carries it.

In the Western world, from Socrates and Bruna to Imam Azam, Ahmed b. Hambel, Aynul Kudat Hamadani and Sarakhsi to Said Nursi, many thinkers throughout history have never concealed the truth they discovered, no matter what the cost; they have tried to convey it to humanity, paying the price with their lives if necessary.

When viewed from this perspective, the framework of the struggle for truth that Brecht drew on a secular basis was embodied in Said Nursi's faith-centered service and gained moral and spiritual depth.

In conclusion, the lives of Karl Marx and Said Nursi are examples not only of a struggle of ideas but also of a fierce existential struggle in pursuit of truth. Both of them courageously expressed the invisible contradictions of the age they lived in, questioned the reasons behind oppression and exploitation, and dared to touch the sacred immunities of the system.

This requires a deep intellectual and mental skill, patience and strategy, not only to write the truth but also to explain, spread and make it understandable. Both Marx's critical discourse and Nursi's representative and wise method of communication can be read as two different but complementary aspects of this skill.

In today's world, the common elements of these two lines, " the courage to speak the truth, the morality of defending the oppressed and intellectual independence ", are more valuable than ever.