The Wayfarer, The Skin and The Fruit

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

I have been trying to sort out my thoughts on 'Managing Change'. We have an abundance of discourses from change theorists of the western tradition (See for example Lewin, Mintzberg, Burnes, Kotter, Fullan, West-Burnham).

Essentially change theorists discuss change in the context of these two processes:

The evolutionary Continuous Improvement versus The revolutionary Transformational Change. One starts from the status quo or the 'as-is' while the other is a complete re-engineering process.

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Suddenly it occurs to me. 

That I have not looked into the Islamic worldview on managing change. After a short search I was led to this scholar that has had a lot of impact on both the east and the west.

Shaykh Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. And his treatise on social change.

Excerpt from: Here

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Prof Colin Turner penned his thought in context with his discussion on Ustad Bediuzzaman Said Nursi' Risale-i Nur: A Revolution of Belief. 

"The created world is thus a book of names, an index, which seek to tell about its Owner"

Prof Dr Colin Turner

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For Ustad Bediuzzaman Said Nursi:

"The West is not only a geopolitical entity, it is also a metaphor. Geographically, the West was the first place to witness a mass revolt against the Divine.

Modem Western civilization is the first of which we have knowledge that does not have some formal structure of religious belief at its heart.

 The West is thus a metaphor for the setting of the sun of religious belief; a metaphor for the eclipse of God. 

And since this eclipse is no longer confined to the geopolitical West, one may say that wherever the truths of belief have been discarded, there is the West.

Thus the West should be seen as a state of mind, a disease, an aberration. The root cause of this, as Bediuzzaman Said Nursi points out, is the disease of self-worship, of 'ENE' (Ana, the I or ego).

The kind of revolution envisaged by the Risale-i Nur is a revolution of the mind, of the heart, of the soul and the spirit. 

It is not an Islamic revolution but a revolution of belief. 

As such it works on two levels: it is designed to lead Muslims from belief by imitation to belief through investigation, and to lead unbelievers from worship of the self to worship of Allah."

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The wayfarer is me.

That shiny beautiful skin is what I have learned of the metaphorical western worldview. 

But the fruit - the seeds- are what I need.

And how I peel the skin matters.

So is managing change.

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A movie on the life of Ustad Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1877-1960) shows the Ustad's struggle through the period when Turkey was moving into the western realm. When the country was transformed - clothed in the new garment of modernisation weaved by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (died 1938) and his immediate successors.

Here

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A short note on his life and legacy:

"Bediuzzaman Said Nursi was born in eastern part of Turkey in 1877.
He was a scholar of the highest standing having studied not only traditional religious sciences, but also modern science and technology.
Therefore he was titled Bediuzzaman; wonder of the Age in his youth as a result of his outstanding ability and learning.
Bediuzzaman died in 1960 at the age of 83 after struggle and self-sacrifice in the cause of Islam the big work and achievement done by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, could be seen through His book Risale-i Nur collection about 5000 pages in which different subjects are cited.
In the first reading, it may seem as an exegesis of the Glorious Qur‟an but at the second and third reading it may be different. Aspects of some other branches of knowledge such as theology, psychology, history, philosophy, cosmology, economics, physics, medicine, law and technology will all prove an integral part of Risale-i Nur. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, considers Al-Iman (Faith) as his main goal in his writings, but what is faith?
How it can be seen as a foundation for human progress? In attempt to answer these questions, the concept of faith and progress should be first defined."

Access the original Paper*

Here

*Faith As The Foundation of Human Progress: Nursi’s Perspective (Dr. Vaffi Foday Sheriif)