While many works treat political Islam and contemporary social movements in the Muslim world, this volume provides the reader with a window onto the important and less well known theological engagements of Muslims with issues of justice and theodicy. In these well-argued and thoughtful chapters, a first-rate team of experts in Islamic studies and theologians explores these themes in the writings of Turkey's Said Nursi, one of the most important theologians of Islam in the twentieth century, whose works are receiving growing attention due to their continued relevance and power to inspire new generations of Muslim youth confronting the challenges of modernity and secularism. Marcia Hermansen, Director, Islamic World Studies Program; Loyola University Chicago, USA It is lovely to see one of the Muslim world's finest scholars and spiritual teachers, a man steeped in the rich veins of Islamic spiritual life, deeply engaged by an international group of scholars at the heart of his thinking about alienation. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi experienced more than his share of ghurba, estrangement. Drawing on the Divine Revelation and much of what is best in the spiritual traditions of his homeland Turkey, he speaks to us of that transformation into uns, companionship, a grace from him who is "the most near". Nursi's thought has moved far beyond his Turkish homeland inviting all of us who experience the alienation of modernity to engage the deepest questions of our day in hope that we will find spiritual companionship. This book is an antidote to many modern ideologies that nest in the alienated hearts and homeless minds frequently found in the modern West and increasingly in Muslim countries. David J. Goa, Director, Chester Ronning Centre for the Study of Religion and Public Life, University of Alberta,Canada Nursi is perhaps the most influential Muslim thinker in modern Turkey and we are grateful to Ibrahim Abu-Rabi' for drawing our attention to Nursi's multifaceted intellectual ouevre and his responses to the complexity of modern life over the past decade. With this work, Nursi rightly takes his place besides such giants in modern Islamic thought as Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh, Muhammad Iqbal, and Mustafa Abdul Raziq. I highly recommend this book for courses in Islamic movements, modern Islamic intellectual history, and Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies. Hassan Hanafi, Cairo University, Egypt Anyone interested in modern Islamic thought should read this book of learned essays. Nursi was indeed one of the most significant Muslim theologians in modern times. Concerned with the transformation and development of the Muslim world in the modern era, Nursi in his writings emphasizes that Islam and Muslims must maintain faith in divine duty and justice. The contributors to this volume brilliantly explain Nursi's emphases upon theodicy and justice and demonstrate how this great Turkish theologian handles these themes within the tradition of Islamic spirituality. The collected essays in this volume constitute a major contribution to the study of modern Islamic theology and thought. Norton Mezvinsky, President, International Council for Middle East Studies, USA 'Abu Rabi has contributed to the literature on modern Islamic thought in general, and Said Nursi in particular, especially for non-Turkish readers. The authors in this volume, many of them experts in comparative religion, vividly expound on Nursi's view on theodicy and justice.' Der Islam
