History: "Ottoman Sultans and Royal Seals"

 BBC RADIO FOUR  on Ottoman Tughras:

 Listen to the programme: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00tn9vc

Download the programme as MP3 

See the wonderful tughra from British Museum Collection.

A tughra (Ottoman Turkish: طغراء; Ṭuğrā) is a calligraphic seal or signature of an Ottoman sultan that was affixed to all official documents and correspondence. It was also carved on his seal and stamped on the coins minted during his reign.                         

Sultan Suleiman's Tughra

The tughra was designed at the beginning of the sultan's reign and drawn by the court calligrapher or nişancı on written documents. The first tughra belonged to Orhan I (1284-1359), the second ruler of the Ottoman Empire and it evolved until it reached the classical form in the tughra of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1494-1566).

Have you heard this before?

Anything in the universe, from the leaves of trees to the wings of a butterfly, has not been created by chance. Likewise, any chapters, any verses and even any letters of the Glorious Qur'an, the Book of God, the interpretation of the Book of Universe, were not chosen and written by chance. There is an extraordinary correspondence and miraculous conformity (tawafuq) among those words and verses.

The Glorious Qur'an is a miracle not only from the aspect of its meaning but also from the aspect of its words and letters. The Book of

"I don't believe if I don't see" ?

People in modern ages started to say "I don't believe if I don't see". It is, in deed, the affect of materialism, and ignoring and rejecting the sprituality (ma'nawiyat). They innocently utter this and they do not believe in the Qur'an as they haven't seen any of its beauties.

Ustad Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, whose main aim in his very life was to serve the Holy Qur’an, wanted to show the miraculousness of the Qur’an not only with the meaning but also with script of the Qur’an even to those who do not believe in and who are suspicious about anything unless they see it with their eyes due to their idea of materialism.

In order to realize this aim, he asked his students to write the Qur’an in such a way that even the script of it would show the miraculous beauty to the eyes. In order to accomplish this aim he appointed ten eminent scholars of the time who were his students as well and gave them three
chapters (juz’) from the Holy Qur’an to write and reveal the tawafuqaat.


The Qur'an in Tawafuq : Bediuzzaman Said Nursi wanted them to take the previous famous copy of Calligrapher Hafiz Osman’s Qur’an as a mastercopy which has fifteen lines in every page starting with a verse and finishing with the end of the verse. They were asked to write it without interference from their own will and in a state of pure sincerity to gain Allah’s pleasure. He said: “Do not dare to use your own will while doing this. Do not disappear the ones which are already appearing in the Holy Qur’an!”

A Dedicated Life, A sacrificed Body, An Elevated Soul

AHMED HUSREV ALTINBAŞAK

It was just after the fall of the Great Ottoman Empire that there were gloomy days and nights many people were hesitant to struggle against. If they attempted to take any action for the sake of Islam, they were punished harshly.

Ustad Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (also known as Imam al-Nursi) and the Noor students around him were resisting intellectually. During that time, it was hard to find men willing to struggle. Thousands of innocent people were beheaded upon newly established government's rules. Thus so many were desperate to do anything but wait their end. However he was hopeful and looking ahead to the future with great determination. They were trying to save Muslims, especially the youth of the future, from the fataan (trials) of the end of time which were awaiting them.

Of course it was not easy to do that. For the sake of

The Holy Qur'an and Preserving the Islamic Letters

There were times that the bridge between generations, the bound between past and future, the relation between 20th century and 21st century had been broken out. The books in the libraries went in vain in one day. Millions of people were forced to leave the Qur’anic scripts away. The ones reading on and writing in Islamic letters were sent into jails and many suffered under the scrutiny of the then government’s so-called modernization rules, and the rest increasingly and honourably still preserve it.