What is the difference between the viewpoints based on matter and Names (of Allah)?

Dear Brother / Sister,

4.3.5-The viewpoints based on matter and names of Allah

The idea that everything is made of matter only cannot pass the simplest tests. For example, two identical roses are the same in terms of substance even if one of them is crushed and becomes like sludge. However, those two roses are quite different; and since all of those differences like beauty, art, and system are not material, they are non-material, that is, spiritual.

The materialist worldview claims that everything, including man, is a meaningless being composed of matter-energy and that occurred as a result of a chain of coincidences that began with the big bang.

On the other hand, Badiuzzaman Said Nursi states that matter is a tulle placed on the realms of meaning/spirit; he says that the real being is non-material, that is, spiritual. If we regard the universe as a stack of paper with ink instead of a book, it is not possible to understand the nature of the realm of beings. According to him, the real skill is to understand what is written by going beyond paper and ink.

One of the most common presuppositions in science is the opinion that the source of everything is matter. This view is based on Stoic philosophers before Christ and is one of the most unquestioned facts in the modern age.

What is amazing is that this idea has never been tested, and that is why it is not even scientific. The big bang theory also helped this view of “pure matter” universe, which is a belief rather than a scientific fact, to settle deeply.

The first condition in scientific theses is that the thesis must be compatible with observations and scientific evidence that is available and it must pass the necessary tests. However, the idea that everything is made of matter only cannot pass the simplest tests. For example, two identical roses are the same in terms of substance even if one of them is crushed and becomes like sludge. However, those two roses are quite different; and since all of those differences like beauty, art, and system are not material, they are non-material, that is, spiritual.

We can perceive everything - strength, love, anger and even life, sight, hearing, etc. - only when their effects are seen on matter, and of course we fall into the illusion that the source of everything is matter. This prejudice, in which we find ourselves without questioning, form the platform on which science is founded.

Nursi never accepted the one-dimensional view consisting of matter (or energy) about the universe and beings, and he criticized those who did so. When people objected to him by saying, “Who do you think you are to challenge these famous philosophers? You are like a mere fly and yet you meddle in the fight of eagles!” he answered them as follows: “Whatever caused them to become submerged did not even dampen my toes”.¹ According to him, matter-energy is only a manifestation of the name of Qadir (the All-Powerful). All of the non-matter qualifications are the reflections of the other holy names. For instance, life is a manifestation of the name in ‘Hayy (the Ever Living One)’, character is the manifestation of the name ‘Fard (the Individual One)’, compassion is the manifestation of the name ‘Rahim (the All-Merciful)’ and having a purpose is the manifestation of the name, ‘Hakim (the All-Wise)’. Thus, Nursi associates all beings with divine names and hence with Allah:

“Everything has numerous aspects that give onto God Almighty like windows. The realities of all beings and of the universe are based on the Divine Names. Each being’s reality is based on one Name or on many. The attributes of things and the arts they display are also based on and rely upon a Name. True natural science is based on the Name of All-Wise, true medicine on the Name of Healer, and geometry on the Name of Determiner, and so on. In the same way that all the sciences are based on and come to an end in a Name, the realities of all arts and sciences, and of all human attainments, are based on the Divine Names. Indeed, one group of the most learned of the saints stated that the Divine Names constitute the true reality of things, while the essences of things are only shadows of that reality. They said too that even only apparently as many as twenty manifestations and impresses of the Divine Names may be seen on a single living creature.”²

1.Nursi, B. S., Sözler.  p. 678.
2.Nursi, B. S., Sözler. p. 780.

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