Editorial

Being discussed as one of the problematic areas in the adventure of
Turkey’s democratization ; the religion-state-society relations gained a
different dimension on the axis of ‘communities’ due to the recent developments
in the Islamic world and in our country. The solid secularism
in our country and the freedom of religion and conscience around the
concept of the public sphere in the past few years has left a different
problem: The place of communities in relation to politics and the state
and this has created a new field of debate. The question of what the
state’s attitude towards the communities should be in terms of their
presence and position in the triangle of religion, state and politics is one
of the most complex questions to be solved today.
It is an important debate on how the communities that have an important
place and role as the reflections of Islamic thought in our day
should position themselves in the face of politics and the state. It is a
condition that these civil structures, which represent the footsteps of
spirituality and conceive of Islamic civilization should be examined how
they are in the attention of the fundamentalist fractions and how they
gained approaches pointing to material fields such as power, ambition
and every kind of authority. This brings with it the question of how the
fundamental functions of the communities are to be transformed into
their original positions, and how to make the pioneering of openings
that will overcome the crises of the Islamic world on the way of a solid
human and social model.
In this context, the existence of Islamic movements aiming at transforming
the society by seizing power or taking advantage of the possibilities
of power in the context of purpose and method are the fundamental
problems that must be overcome. The Islamic world, which has
become a struggle plain for these understandings, is producing crises in
every field. At this point, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi offers the “model of
constructive action” which emphasizes the concepts that strictly rejecting
violence and conflict, introducing the idea that individuals can be
reformed by reforming the society.
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, who treats the communities as historical
and sociological realities, talks about two kind of communities; one is
the destructive organisations that invites humanbeing to the evil and
the other kind to the goodness. So on he emphasizes that “the time is
the time of incorporeal personalities who are based on alliance, synergy
not the time of personal acts”.
Said Nursi sees the communities as the cornerstones of social life
and a necessity of human disposition. He also points out that these
structures constitute a point of solidarity against the harmful currents of
the country and the nation. Said Nursi reminds a principle of “justice”
saying that “the government looks at the behaviors and does not care
about the heart”.
In this respect, relocation of religion-state-society relations, which
have been a discussion topic for many years, to different fault lines today
on the axis of communities is a problem to be overcome. How to
overcome this problem, which is closely related to the Islamic world,
and how to create a new paradigm around the Qur’anic values in relation
to religion-state and community, was discussed by the Risale-i
Nur Institute in Istanbul on “Law Superstition According to Said Nursi
and Relations of Religion and State and Jamaat in the Axis of Justice
“at the 12th Risale-i Nur Congress. In the Congress, five table studies
were conducted under the headings of “Jurisprudence and Justice”, “Religion-
State and Community Relations”, “Islamic Service Methods and
Religious affairs”, “Social Cultural Constructs and Freedom”, “Islamic
Thought and Risale-i Nur” and papers were presented. In this issue, we
also share with you some of the papers presented at the congress and the
declarations presented at the end of the congress.

We hope you have good time with the papers of the occasion.