Nur Luke

{{Short description|Uyghur Bible translator}}

{{Infobox theologian

| honorific_prefix = Dr.

| name = Nur Luke

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| image = Nur Luke.jpg

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| caption = Luke in 1953

| native_name = {{nobold|نۇر لۇك}}

| native_name_lang = ug

| birth_name = Nur Muhammad

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| birth_place = Khotan

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| period = 1930s to 1950s

| notable_works = Translating the Bible to the Uyghur language

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Nur Luke ({{langx|ug|نۇر لۇك}}) was a Uyghur scholar from Khotan who converted to Christianity and translated the Bible to his native Uyghur language.{{sfn|Bellér-Hann|2008|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Su95DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Nur+Luke%22&pg=PA28 28–29]}}{{sfn|Cryer|1979|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=h0AbAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Dr.+Nur+Luke%22 94]}}

A devout Protestant and believer in the Protestant work ethic, Luke vehemently opposed traditional marriage customs, arranged marriages, and child marriages, believing them to be the primary cause of gender inequality and high divorce rates amongst the local populace.{{sfn|Bellér-Hann|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=cF4lMj8skvoC&dq=nur+luke&pg=PA278 278]}}

Luke fled Xinjiang and became a refugee in India sometime in the 1930s. He settled in Bombay where he In India he studied Persian, Arabic and Urdu as well as Islamic Theology. Afterwards he was also able to complete his lifelong dream of studying medicine and became a doctor.

His friend from Xinjiang introduced him to some of the Swedish missionaries who were now in Bombay and after conversations with them he converted to Christianity{{sfn|Zwemer|1951|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Tnzgah0O_acC&q=%22Dr.+Nur+Luke%22 21]}}. He was baptised in 1941, when he changed his name to Nur Luke{{cite book|title=Mission and Revolution in Central Asia|first=John|last=Hutvall}}. He also began to work on a Uyghur translation of the Bible, together with the Swedish missionaries Gustaf Ahlbert and Oskar Hermannson. The first Uyghur-language Bible, authored by the trio, was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1946.{{sfn|Nicklasson|1953}}{{page needed|date=September 2010}}