Question: Why are we not as concerned as we should be, in spite of the heart-rending incidents we encounter every day in our world? How do you think one should act in order to be a considerate believer in the sight of God?
Answer: There are circles of concern for a person, from the closest to the most distant ones. The person is at the center of these concentric circles. In other words, a person is naturally concerned about oneself. first of all. The fact that the following prayers from the Qur’an begin with referring to oneself first while asking forgiveness points to this natural situation: “O our Lord! Forgive me, and my parents, and all the believers, on the Day on which the Reckoning will be established!” (Ibrahim 14:41); “My Lord! Forgive me and my parents, and everyone who joins my household as a believer, and all the believing men and believing women…” (Nuh 71:28).
Despite this selfishness, it is unthinkable for real believers not to be concerned with what goes on around them. Actually, let alone being a believer, but everybody who has some share of humanity will suffer from another person’s grief and troubles. We see this when clashes and killings begin, and when innocent people are subjected to oppression and violence. All people are like the branches, fruits, leaves, or flowers of the same tree. The Qur’an addresses us as “O children of Adam!” (al-A’raf 7:31). Therefore, every person who has not lost conscience will be concerned about the sufferings their brothers and sisters go through. Depending on the depth of their feeling of compassion, they burn from within and it profoundly tugs at their heartstrings.
As for a real believer with an immense feeling of mercy and compassion, he deeply suffers for the troubles, oppression, and injustice all other people go through. This naturally begins with those closest to him—his family, those who share the same values, and those in his community, such as fellow believers and other citizens. No matter who is struck by calamities, such a believer suffers deeply, as if he himself had been struck.
Suffering, Like a Gong Resonating in the Night
People who are aware of the present situation of the Islamic world and the schemes orchestrated against Muslims are especially wounded by the suffering of others. It is impossible not to lose sleep, feel agonized, and moan day and night over what is happening. Different groups of people in the Muslim world lived peacefully together, without any problems, for a certain period of history; this was particularly so during Ottoman times, for some four or five centuries.
Unfortunately, there are efforts abound to make Muslims into enemies of one another. Seeds of dispute and disunity are being sown by outside groups, and various conspiracies are carried out in order to bring Muslims to loggerheads. Those who will do anything to retain power are continuing their schemes to divide and factionalize Muslims in order to rule without disruption.
While Muslims are at one another’s throats, others come near them, playing the arbiter, and appropriate their resources of wealth. They have divided the Muslim world into pieces, and thus exploited the riches over and under the ground. Today, the same games are being played with the same goals and desires. Those who provoked fires of discord between Muslim groups once are continuing to commit the same evil today, in an even stealthier fashion.
In addition, the immune system to protect Islamic values and criteria is in a weaker state, for hypocrites are harming Muslim societies from within like a virus. It is so difficult for people who are constantly in conflict with one another to present balanced thoughts and sound judgments—perhaps it is even impossible. Individuals and masses in confrontations are doomed to lose their senses and to act emotionally. As the Qur’an also points out, some even begin to behave instinctually, like animals. They do not think for even a moment whether all of these clashes and confrontations do any good to the Islamic world. They do not ever wonder in self-criticism, “Why do some assume an arbiter’s role and slam down on us, while the Islamic world is engaged in conflict with itself?” If a person thinks about all of these facts, can analyze them, and can see what is going on behind the scenes but does not feel concerned despite all of this, then that person has lost his feeling of basic humanity.
Even If You Do Not Cry, Feel Ashamed to Laugh at Least!
Actually, those who can cherish conscientious scrupulousness not only feel concerned about what they see in the world of humanity, but also fear for animals, plants, and even non-living things. It is an outward reflection of humanity for conscientious people that they feel a kinship with every being and feel troubled by their struggles: this is true in terms of both the fact that each thing in the worlds point to the Lord of the Worlds, and that the human was rendered the master of all creation.
I was very much impressed by some documentaries I watched many years ago. For example, a few lions killed a water buffalo. One of them jumped onto its back, one of them caught its feet, another bit the buffalo’s throat, and these lions finally ate the buffalo. I still cannot forget this scene. Although that innocent animal had horns, there was not much it could do before the sharp teeth and strong claws of the lions. Sometimes when I go to bed and draw the blanket over myself, I lay imaginary traps for those lions that unjustly killed that water buffalo, expand my bow, and take aim at them by saying, “Why did you kill that innocent animal? Take it, this is your just deserts!” Then I shoot an arrow at them.
There is a food chain in the animal world. An animal that God created as a carnivore survives by eating other animals. As herbivores start eating grass as soon as they come to this world, carnivores are naturally oriented to eating meat; this is what their natural traits require. Even we slaughter an animal we wish to eat when the time comes. On the other hand, although we cognitively accept the situation, we emotionally remain under the influence. On witnessing an innocent animal being devoured by a few predators, our heart sinks, and we feel disturbed and upset. I think everybody who listens to their conscience will have the same feelings on this issue.
If a person feels disturbed by such sights even when animals are concerned, it is impossible for him not to feel disturbed and agonized for people being killed. In this respect, not being upset by the fires in both Turkey and other Muslim lands is an indication of having lost one’s humane feelings. As for people who have not lost their humanity, they definitely feel upset because of the suffering in today’s world.
While telling the situation of Muslims, the poet Mehmed Akif says,
It is our chastity being violated, it is our children being slaughtered!
O You shameless one! Even if you do not cry, feel ashamed to laugh at least!
As a matter of fact, the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, once stated, “Whoever does not care about (the sufferings and troubles of) Muslims is not one of them.”[1] Namely, if a person deserves to be called a Muslims, even a marginal one, he or she should feel the sufferings Muslims are subjected to as an inner trouble. One who does not feel these as an inner trouble will naturally not bother to think of developing alternative solutions to tackle those problems.
However, everybody must look at oneself first in this respect and avoid baseless negative thoughts about others. We cannot know what is going on in another person’s head. The people around us may seem insensitive on account of their being very patient and steadfast. Actually, they too may be feeling the same pain we do. Their heart may also be continuously bleeding with the problems inflicted upon Muslims. Due to having a strong immune system, they may be not giving any outward signs of their sorrow, and may not reveal their suffering to others.
War-Mongering, Which Might Bring about the End of Humanity
The following is an important aspect of the issue of suffering in the face of the troubles and misfortunes people go through: As it is not right to remain indifferent, it is definitely not right to yell, engage in destructive acts, or to resort to violence. Such a reaction, made in the name of a solution, can neither be reconciled with Islam nor humanity. Therefore, such extremisms must never be allowed. On the contrary, it is necessary to put a barrier before every kind of violence by bringing human values to the fore.
For this reason, it is necessary to point out at every opportunity that the acts of violence and terror which kill innocent people without distinguishing children, women, and the elderly have nothing to do with religion, even if they are committed as a reaction against oppression and injustice. Those who commit such murders must be openly protested; we must reject the idea of brutal force. If possible, it is necessary to rehabilitate those in deviation of thought in this respect and save them from the misguided path they have taken. While this is being done on the one hand, sensible politicians, sociologists, philosophers, pedagogues, and educators must come together, and they must try to develop a language of peace between different civilizations, instead of dialogues of violence and war. Against the war language and war mongering some states try to incite for the sake of their interests, it is necessary to form a language and environment of peace by means of common sense. A possible World War III could incinerate the entire world. It is necessary to develop alternative projects and make plans against every kind of provocation and incitement. Any possible plans must be effectuated immediately. Otherwise the horrible weapons produced in our time may be used in a world. This could bring about the end of humanity.
[1] At-Tabarani, Al-Mujamu’l-Awsat, 1/151, 7/270; Al-Hakim, Al-Mustadrak, 4/356.
http://www.herkul.org/weekly-sermons/time-to-concern-ourselves/
People of Action and Scholarly Ones
Question: What are the lessons today’s believers should draw from the following Divine message: “Believers should not go forth to war all together. But why should not a party from every community of them mobilize to acquire profound, correct knowledge and understanding of the Religion, and warn their people when they return to them so that they may beware (of wrongful attitudes)” (at-Tawbah 9:122).
Answer: God Almighty first reveals that it is not correct for all believers to simultaneously go on a military campaign and take part in war. Then He states that a party should stay behind to gain insight into the spirit of religion and that when their people come back from different fronts, these learned ones should guide them with fair exhortation, feed them with religious knowledge, and teach them what they should know; this is because those people who engaged with the enemy during warfare may have failed to receive the religious education they need.
State of the Learned Ones and Success
In the early period of Islam, since believers told people the truth, and represented and expressed justice, they faced attacks by the antagonists of religion. In such a situation, believers could not say to the enemies coming to exterminate them, “Come on, let us sit in the mosque and discuss first.” Even if they did, those enemies, who were fixed on grudge and destruction, would have tried to demolish that mosque and bury the believers therein. In order to stand against such demolition, they fought to protect their chastity, honor, religion, home, and flag.
After the demise of the noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and during the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, may God be pleased with them, similar problems emerged and Muslims had to engage with enemies in different places. During the time of Caliph Abu Bakr they had to fight on eight different fronts in order to repress the cases of apostasy in different tribes. Besides, the Sassanid and Roman empires, which were the super powers of the time, also had their eyes on Muslims. Since they accosted Muslims at every opportunity, Muslims had to fight defensive wars against them in different parts of the world.
In such a situation, had everyone attended war without any exception, there would have been a serious gap in terms of religious education. In the verse mentioned above, God Almighty commands that a group of people should stay behind for scholarly purposes in order to compensate for the lack of knowledge in those who return from war. Thus He pointed out that Muslims must definitely retain their learned state and attain the horizons necessitated by the conditions of their era. If believer fail to attain such a state and horizons, it is not possible to stand against attacks on different fronts anyway.
Cultural Envoys
As for the conditions of our era, when knowledge and power of discourse came to the fore, continuing to exist as ourselves will be possible by means of the power of knowledge, pen, and discourse. With the approach of Bediüzzaman, victory over the civilized can be through persuasion. Therefore, the devoted souls who are the cultural envoys in our time should take their values to different parts of the world—not with weapons and brutal force, but with knowledge, wisdom, love, tolerance, and goodness. The way of peace and love opens the way that leads to hearts, whereas brutal force causes grudge and hatred to rise from the dead. For this reason, unless you remain under invasion and have no any other way but to fight, no solution should by sought through force. As for the issue of using force, it should be evaluated within a perspective of defense or eliminating an inescapable danger.
It is for this reason that the most important duty to be fulfilled with respect to Islam and humanity is going to the four corners of the world, taking our cultural values there, and in the meantime benefitting from different patterns and colors wherever we are, as far as they do not contradict our essential teachings. By coming into contact with different people in the places they go, the devoted souls will both serve as honorary representatives of our cultural values, and they will receive the beautiful sides of those cultures and present them to their own people. However, as they will be predominantly busy with their pursuits of peaceful action, they may not be sufficiently nourished in terms of knowledge and spirituality. Then, it is necessary to edify individuals well-versed in the values of our spiritual heritage, who know our essential sources better, and thus who will help those in the field of peaceful action be nourished as is necessary. Those who undertake the responsibility to deepen in correct and profound knowledge and comprehension of Islam should constantly flow like a pure freshwater spring, nourishing the altruistic souls running in the field, who should in return take what they will from that source and complete their scholarly equipment.
Scholarly Ones Open to Both Physical and Spiritual Disciplines
By referring to acquiring “profound, correct knowledge and understanding of the Religion,” the verse points to the fact that those who stay behind need to be equipped with knowledge pertaining to faith, Islam, and to ihsan, or perfect goodness. Together with that, the sound functioning of these values, their easily being welcome by a society (perhaps of a very different cultural background), and their being liked and valued, depends on correct discernment of non-religious realities and rules as well. Therefore, besides religion, it bears much importance to master the natural sciences, which constitute the basis for most modern sciences. It is important to carry out research in this respect, and behold appreciatively the creation displayed in nature.
As Bediüzzaman put it, while learning religious disciplines on the one hand, modern sciences should not be neglected either. He pointed out that a student’s endeavor would soar only when these two are found together. Excluding one of these two will mean leaving the other devoid of wings. One should neither make concessions from learning religious disciplines, which are the light of the heart, nor ignore modern sciences, which are the light of the mind, reason, and judgment.
In addition, this verse emphasizes the importance of love of knowledge and research. Therefore, one must make very serious efforts in order to master both the religious and modern sciences, and remain like a “student” until the end of their life. The Arabic word for student (talib) means “seeker” of knowledge. No matter whether a person studies religious disciplines or modern sciences, if that person is utilizing the essences distilled from those studies for the sake of knowing God and maintaining a sound balance, then that person will be treated as a true student or seeker of knowledge. So what does such a treatment mean? As the Messenger of God stated, God Almighty makes the way to Paradise easier to one who sets forth demanding to acquire knowledge.[1]
Seeking knowledge is very important and the benefits a scholar can bring to society are great. Thus, one’s society is responsible for supporting seekers of knowledge and doing what they can for them. It is very difficult for someone dedicated to knowledge to devote time for anything else. Accordingly, some Islamic scholars stated that even if they wear expensive clothes and the threshold of their door is made of gold, it is still possible to give alms to seekers of knowledge, because the vitality of a nation depends on such mastering of knowledge. If this cannot be done, the nation will collapse and disintegrate. Due to this stagnancy, some cracks emerged in the Islamic world in the fifth century after the holy migration. With the recession in the 13th and 14th centuries, a complete break down and disintegration happened. We have not been able to straighten up since.
Dignified Contentment and Remaining Under Obligation
In response to people’s support and care, seekers of knowledge must do their best in terms of being worthy of such kindness and must not waste a second of their time. Through very serious planning, division of labor, and a discipline of mutual helping, these seekers must be completely focused on this task. They must devote all of their energy to the task so as to be deserving of the people’s regard for them—even if that means sleeping only four hours if necessary and devoting twenty hours of the day to studying. Who knows? When they study with such seriousness, maybe God Almighty will grant them in two years what another person can attain in ten years.
Incidentally, let me share how I feel about one issue: I feel heartbroken for those who go abroad for a PhD, but cannot finish that in even ten years. While the dire need of our country for qualified people is obvious, God will call them to account for wasting so much time. Time is the greatest capital for a human. If a person has taken such a path once, they should persevere, exert their brains, make use of all arguments they can make use of, benefit from all sources they can, and if possible, they should even finish their PhD before the time determined for them.
I wish to underline one more point concerning scholarly ones: Dignified contentment is a very important principle for those dedicated to scholarly pursuits, with respect to the honor of both knowledge and learned ones. Actually, the path of the Prophets is also based on this essential. In many verses of the Qur’an, it is stated that they said, “I ask of you no wage for that (for conveying God’s Message); my wage is only due from the Lord of the worlds” (ash-Shuara 26:127). In this respect, scholarly ones should not be obliged to anyone if possible, in any phase of their lives—neither while they are students, nor when they become teachers, or teacher of teachers…
May God forbid, if one does not have this feeling of dignified contentment, and if that person carries out certain tasks for the sake of some returns, such as becoming a manager, director general, MP, minister, or prime minister, then such a person cannot be saved from being obliged to other people. Unfortunately, the concessions they make on account of being obliged will not only cost them dearly, but cost their nation as well. In this respect, those who engage in scholarly pursuits must arrange their lives in accordance with the principle of dignified contentment. They must use the means of their fathers if they can, or they must make a modest living with their own means, if they can. They should live frugally, never becoming obliged to anyone and never having to make concessions.
[1] Sahih Muslim, Dhikr, 38.
http://www.herkul.org/weekly-sermons/people-of-action-and-scholarly-ones/
Islam and Being Human in the True Sense
Question: You have stated that, “Islam, the All-Mighty Creator’s greatest and universal gift to all, can be actualized through being human in the true sense; the human is the spiritual index of all creation, by that which is made from the intellect, conscience, spirit, body, and the inner subtle faculties.”[1] Could you elucidate this statement please?
Answer: Each of the points mentioned in the question, which constitute the different depths of the human, is a main strand with respect to understanding and explaining Islam.
Reasoning
We should consider reason first. Reason serves a function: to separate right from wrong, and beneficial from harmful. It can achieve these tasks if it is used properly under the guidance of the heart and spirit. However, rationalists regard reason as everything—and the neo-rationalists of our time give it priority even before the Qur’an and Sunnah. Unfortunately, in rejecting their extreme stance, some people denied reason completely. One extremism gave way to the opposite extremism. If we consider the general situation of the Islamic world today, it will be seen how reason is ignored, thus giving way to extremism of all kinds.
God created reason for an important wisdom. First and foremost, it is the basic condition for the responsibility of worship and servitude to God. Had humanity been deprived of the honor of being the object of Divine address, they would not have been endowed with the blessing of reason. God speaks to humans by virtue of possessing reason. In a way, He makes covenants with humans, because they are beings that possess reason. For example, He states in the Qur’an: “So always remember and make mention of Me (when service to Me is due), that I may remember and make mention of you (when judgment and recompense are due)” (al-Baqarah 2:152). “…Fulfill My covenant (which I made with you through your Prophets), so that I fulfill My covenant…” (al-Baqarah 2:40).
Understanding and practicing these commands depends on reason. The issue of whether God will take a person without reason to Paradise is not our subject here. However, it is thanks to reason that humanity is honored with being the object of Divine address and can understand and practice religious commandments; this point is very important in terms of understanding the place and value of reason in religion.
Besides these, the essential component of understanding what we see and hear is reason, too. Despite its incredible importance, there is a certain limit reason can reach. It is always prone to being mistaken. Therefore, it needs to be valued only as much as it merits. On the other hand, dismissing reason before letting it fulfill all of its functions means paralyzing some part of its mechanism or system. For this reason, it will not be possible for such a system to serve the function it is supposed to. A car that has all the parts but the gas pedal will not move. Similarly, the general system possessed by a human being will be paralyzed without the functioning of reason, which is among the significant components of the system.
Conscience
Conscience is another foundation of this system. In The Damascus Sermon,[2] Bediüzzaman states that conscience has four elements: emotion, willpower, consciousness, and the latifa Rabbaniyya—the spiritual faculty that senses God directly. Latifa Rabbaniyya, or spiritual intellect, has different depths, such as sirr (secret), khafi (hidden), which pertains to the glorified Divine Attributes (God knows the best), and akhfa (the most hidden), which we can define as the horizons of seeking the Divine Essence or God Almighty Himself. The fact that unlettered people like us are unaware of these issues does not serve as evidence for their non-existence; because the people who did journey through those horizons informed us of these attributes with their spiritual experiences.
Coming together all of these components make up the mechanism of the conscience; they result in what is called “hads,” which is a sudden, intuitive grasp of reality, as pointed out by Bediüzzaman. You can also call it the inner sense, inner evaluation, or inner analysis. By means of this, a person sieves through what happens in the outer realm and comprehends it correctly. However, even if one of these components of the conscience is neglected, one will fail to effectuate the conscience thoroughly. Eliminating the mechanism of conscience, which is a very important pillar of the human nature, means paralyzing a person. In such a case, a person will not have a very good skeleton, material structure, or the like.
Spirit
Spirit is also one of the important pillars of human nature. It is a system beyond the spiritual intellect. While describing the course of spiritual journeying, saintly persons said that one advances from the spiritual intellect to the spirit, which is a Divine emanation. In terms of being a Divine breath, it is a fresh bestowal sent to us from the realm of Divinity. We are sensed, known, seen, and protected by means of it. It is a trust that actually belongs to God. Therefore, leaping up from the Spiritual Intellect to the horizons of the spirit is first of all an expression of respect for this Divine breath God entrusted to us. At the same time, this is a matter of a person’s horizons. Only those who ascend to the horizons of the spirit can sense that it is of Divinity. It is an important rank, especially to effectuate the spiritual intellect; however, those who keep toddling in this level and fail to ascend to the horizon of the spirit will not be able to sense much about such a Divine quality.
Body
Here we also add these the body, the material aspect of humanity. As the systems like reason, conscience, heart, and spirit, which constitute the spiritual side of the human are very important, the body, which constitutes the material side, also has separate importance of its own. Above all, being able to observe worship for God, and observing the acts like Prayer, fasting, and Hajj, depend on making these systems work correctly. As we are not really aware of the exact otherworldly returns of observing Prayer, reciting verses from the Qur’an, and other good deeds, we similarly do not know the otherworldly returns of utilizing them for the respective purposes they were created for. As we learn from the noble Prophet’s sayings, the Prayer observed impetuously without giving it its due will be a means of reproach and shame beyond the grave. On the other hand, when the same Prayer is observed in compliance with the proper conditions and requirements, it will be a pleasant companion that will not let the person down during the journey to the next world.[3]
With all acts of worship you observe besides your Prayer, you will be disciplining your body at the same time. Even though acts of worship have certain physical or anatomical benefits, they were not decreed on account of such wisdoms. On the contrary, they were decreed in order to make a person eligible for Paradise so they could gain eternal bliss therein, have the honor of beholding God, and attain a state with which God will be well pleased. Although acts of worship such as Prayer, fasting, and the Zakah alms have certain benefits pertaining to the worldly life and disciplining the self, their true returns will be in the Hereafter.
In terms of being a means for a person’s attaining all of these graces in the Hereafter, the body is one of the most important Divine blessings to human. The emphasis that it is a blessing was first made with Prophet Adam, peace be upon him. God commanded angels to prostrate before Adam, and all of the angels did so, except for Satan, who made a haughty refusal to obey this command by giving in to egotism. Spirit beings and angels saw the immensity in Adam, they acted with insightful obedience to the command, and thus prostrated themselves. This evoked respect in their spirits for the body of Adam. To reiterate a fact I expressed in different talks, had prostration been permissible before anybody else other than God, it would have been for humanity, a wonder of creation with respect to our bodily and spiritual structure.
In terms of their nature, angels have insightful obedience to commands. They also have knowledge of Divine mysteries, have access to the realm of Malakut,[4] and can be present in some thousand different places simultaneously. Still, they cannot properly sense the properties of the material world. It is for this reason that they were surprised at a strange creature like the human and they said, “Will you set therein one who will cause disorder and corruption on it and shed blood?” (al-Baqarah 2:30). The human is a being teeming with feelings such as lust, selfishness, boasting, and rage, and thus is prone to committing evil acts. However, by being able to subordinate all of these to Divine commands, he or she can ascend to the level of being a favorable, beloved, and laudable servant of God. God creates goodness via these relevant evils. The angels could not know this side of humanity. In terms of both his spiritual and bodily structure, and together with the interaction between these two, the human gains meanings that cannot be expressed by books.
In sum, understanding Islam with its true identity, depth, and immensity, as well as practicing it and telling about it, can only be possible by using the human nature properly without neglecting any aspect of it. As humanity’s reason, spirit, and body were created for particular wisdoms, each must be used in accordance with the purpose they were created for; because if a person neglects even one of these, it will not be possible for them to thoroughly fulfill the responsibility he has undertaken.
[1] Gülen, M. Fethullah, Ruhumuzun Heykelini Dikerken-1, İstanbul: Nil Yayınları, 2011, p. 27.
[2] Nursi, Bediüzzaman Said, The Damascus Sermon, İstanbul: Sözler Neşriyat, 1996, p. 117.
[3] Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Al-Musnad, 6/352; Abdurrazzaq, Al-Musannaf, 3/56.
[4] The realm of the transcendental manifestation of Divine commands.
http://www.herkul.org/weekly-sermons/islam-and-being-human-in-the-true-sense/