Will all of Said Nursi’s books be translated into Russian by specialists from Kazan University?
As you know, in Tatarstan the trial continues on the books of Said Nursi in the original in the Ottoman (Ottoman Turkish) language.
The court did not order a comprehensive examination and limited itself to the document provided by the prosecutor’s office. Expertise with professional low qualifications, do not speak original languages and are not native speakers from Naberezhnye Chelny Pedagogical University.
This was the first attempt to ban theological works in the original language in Russia. Prior to this, only translated texts were recognized as extremist.
However, in August, the Supreme Court of Tatarstan overturned the decision of the Naberezhnye Chelny Court to ban Said Nursi’s books. in Ottoman (Ottoman Turkish) language. The Supreme Court noted that when considering the case, the Naberezhnye Chelny Court unlawfully ignored the decision of the Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the translation of Said Nursi’s books into Russian.
Moreover, the publications are written in Turkish, translations of books into Russian could not have been submitted to the court, so the judge could not read these books, not knowing Turkish, and decided on the presence of signs of extremism in the books.
As a result, the Supreme Court of Tatarstan ordered a new trial of the case.
A new court session in a different composition was scheduled for September 8, 2021 in the building of the Naberezhnye Chelny Court. The other day, the Naberezhnye Chelny court ruled to transfer the entire collection of works “Risale-i Nur” by Said Nursi, consisting of 6000 pages, into the state language, that is, into Russian, after which, on the basis of these translations, an examination will be made for the presence of extremism in the writings of Said Nursi, which will be presented to the court. The transfer will be made from the state budget, and the work is entrusted to KFU (Kazan Federal University)…
Muslims in Russia and Turkey generally positively perceived this news as a step towards reconciliation and the establishment of justice.
Naturally, the question arises: how ready are the specialists of Kazan University to take on this difficult responsibility? Will they take on such a responsible mission? In addition to the volume of work, it is necessary to have a great qualification in the knowledge of the Ottoman Turkish Ottoman, Arabic, Persian languages, in the knowledge of Islamic sciences and terms, etc.
For example, translations of Said Nursi’s books into English were carried out by specialists of the famous Cambridge (Hamid Algar) and Durham Universities (Shukran Vahide) who not only perfectly know Turkish, Persian, Arabic, but also for a long time lived among the Muslims of Turkey in order to correctly understand and comprehend the foundations and culture of Islam, as well as the meaning and meanings of Islamic terms and concepts.
Muslims wish success in this difficult business and expect real, high-quality translations from these Kazan specialists.