Said Nursi’s Notion of ‘Sacred Science’: Its Function and Application in Hizmet High School Education

This paper explores the teaching of natural sciencesubjects in high schools associated with the Gulen-Hizmet movement in Turkey. It focuses on the apparent reconciliation of scientific learning in a pervasive, albeit unofficial, Sunni Islamic religious culture. The framework for such an accommodation is found in the teachings of Fethullah Gulen and his predecessor, Said Nursi. Following Nursi, Gulen encourages scientific pursuit, and intellectual knowledge in general, as a pious and spiritually meritorious act. Drawing on fieldwork conducted at two Hizmet-affiliated high schools in Turkey, this article explores the “ sanctification” of science and learning in the Gulen Movement by highlighting the principle of fedakarlik (self-sacrifice), as the primary motivation of the teaching staff. Focusing also on the schools’ highly disciplined and competitive learningenvironments (as exemplified in preparations for the prestigious International Science Olympiads), the article suggests that although teacher commitment and prestigious competitive awards bolsterthe Hizmet schools’ market competitiveness, they fail in actually producing students who pursue careers in natural sciencefields. By contrast, this article concludes that the movement’s engagement with science, at least at present, is less interested in furthering scientific inquiry than it is in equipping what Gulen has called a ‘Golden Generation’ with the tools it needs to compete with secularist rivals in Turkey.*