Nursi Conference in Khartum, Sudan

2010-03-13 12:11:46

In the capital city of Sudan, Khartoum, the conferences and seminars about Risale-i Nur Collection and Bediuzzaman took place in various universities and institutions on the 16 and 18 February of 2010. Thanks to the international conference that took place in one of the oldest universities of Sudan- University of Khartoum on the 17 February, the academicians from different countries were invited by different universities and research centers to give speeches about Risale-i Nur Collection.

The delegation was welcomed by the rectorate of the University of Africa on the 16 February. Moreover, they had meetings with senior management. They discussed what kind of academic- scientific studies could be made about Said Nursi and Risale-i Nur Collection in the future. Then, in the research center of University of Africa with 6000 students from 68 countries, a panel discussion took place. The panel discussion that was addressed to master and doctorate students about 1000 students lasted for two hours and a half. It ended very effectively with young students’ questions.
With the attendance of many audiences, the opening ceremony of the conference took place on 17 February on Wednesday. In the conference titled as "Said Nursi and The Place of Risale-i Nur Collection in the Area of Modern Islamic Thought,” there were three sessions. In addition, a book exhibition carried out in the entrance of the conference room. In this exhibition, English and Arabic books were displayed.

OPENING SESSION:
In the opening of the conference, Sudan Minister of Education İbrahim Ahmet Ömer, and the Rector of the University of Africa Mustafa İdris El-Beşir, and Mufti of Palestine Dr. Teysir Et-Temimi, and The Dean of The Faculty of Islamic Sciences in the University of Africa, and Prof. Dr. Faris Kaya from The İstanbul Foundation for Science and Culture, and the chairman of the organization Professor Tariq Nur gave short speeches.
Prof. Tariq Nur mentioned why they organized this meeting about Risale-i Nur Collection and this kind of meetings will continue in order to introduce Risale-i Nur Collection to the local community.
The Minister of Education started his talk with this sentence: "I hereby greet all the students of Risale-i Nur Collection, our age will be the age of Islam and the role of the Risale-i Nur Collection has a great role in this. Nothing such as sickness, arrest, oppression prevented him. I congratulate The University of Hartum. These kinds of meetings will guide us. The best example is Turkey in this respect.”

FIRST SESSION:
The Chairman is Prof. Dr. İsmet Mahmud from University of Africa, The Department of Philosophy. The life and works of Bediuzzaman were mentioned in the session.
The first speaker wass Prof. Dr. Mubarek Hüseyin. He mentioned in his work that whatever Nursi says, he has experienced them, he does not mention anything that he does not experience. The best example of this is The Collection of Economics (İktisat Risalesi) that he experienced. He said these with his own words: I did not write what I did not experience”
Then, Prof. Dr. Faris Kaya gave a brief speech about Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and the life and work of him.
Dr. Hasan Abdullah explained the method of the Risale-i Nur Collection. In his wonderful presentation, he mentioned, "Nursi thought us The Qur'an and how to read the book of the world.”
Dr. Iyad Fevzi Hamdan made an excellent presentation and told that my wife and I read Risale-i Nur Collection before going to sleep. These books changed our life and we did not find the taste of these books in any other work. The title of the presentation is “İmam Nursi is also the ihlas.” His wife also the faculty member of the university gave a presentation. 
The last speaker of the presentation is the theologian and writer Kenan Demirtaş.

SECOND SESSION:
The Chairman is Dr. Umm Salamah Salih and these papers were presented:
Prof. Dr. Yunus Çengel: The Method of the Risale-i Nur Collection
Prof. Dr. Mustafa Abdullah: The Remarks and Cautions of the Qur'an
Ali Katıöz: Nursi's Adjustment Method
Dr. Feyroz Osman Salih: The Affect of the Collection of Economics (İktisat Risalesi) in the Training of Ethics and Soul. 
İhsan Kasım who translated the Risale-i Nur Collection into Arabic focused on the method of the tafsir of the Qur'an.
Lastly, Dr. Muhammed Mustafa Salih made a presentation titled as "The Theory of Wisdom according to Nursi."
Academicians from 10 different universities in Hartum attended the opening ceremony and the sessions.

The academicians who came for the conference are invited by various academic and research centers on the 18 February. Firstly, they went to the Intellectual Thought Association between 11.00 and 13.00. The delegation made presentations for more than two hours and they answered the questions. Nearly 100 academicians attended the meeting. After the evening prayer, İhsan Kasım gave a speech about the importance of the Risale-i Nur Collection for 20 minutes.
Finally, the delegation visited the house of the Deputy of the Prime Minister, Gazi Selahaddin. Gazi Selahaddin has invited 150 people from different universities and the delegation. The conversations about Bediuzzaman continued the whole day. The Former Minister of Education and Selahattin’ wife declared: We can only save ourselves from the risks that we have in daily life via Risale-i Nur Collection. We need to experience these Works to our daily life.”