FAQ in the category of Feelings

Man has weaknesses. The Holy Quran declares that in an ayah (verse): Man is created weak.(Surah an-Nisa 28). That weakness becomes obvious as soon as he is born. Babies of other beings adapt themselves to their environment in a short time and can sustain their lives on their own. However, babies of human beings can hardly stand on their feet in two years .He learns the hazards and benefits only partly in 15-20 years. He is to learn about life all his life long.

Moreover, man is very sensitive. He can stand neither extreme heat nor extreme cold. He can cope with neither hunger nor thirst. Even a microbe can knock him down .A comet can terrify him. While thinking about past makes him mournful, thinking about future makes him worried. His wishes are endless.
We also have humane weaknesses. Those weaknesses are some of our habits and characteristics. We can deal with some of them as follows:

1. Forgetfulness

Man has a tendency to forget. Every man has examples of forgetfulness in his life. The prophet Adam, who is the first man, experienced that forgetfulness. The following is told in the Holy Quran: And certainly We gave a commandment to Adam before but he forgot. (Surah Taha 115)
It was told Adam not to get close to the forbidden tree. However, Satan seduced him and he ate the fruit of that tree. So, he was sent to the earth. (Surah al-Baqara 35-37)
Human beings have the same nature as Adam. The worst form of forgetfulness is mans forgetting himself and not recalling why he was created. It is called blindness. God Almighty helps him out of the state of blindness through some troubles. God Almighty directs him to the purpose of creation. However, quite a lot of people still forget. The Holy Quran states it as follows: And when affliction touches a man, he calls on Us, whether lying on his side or sitting or standing; but when We remove his affliction from him, he passes on as though he had never called on Us on account of an affliction that touched him(Surah Yunus 12)

2. Greed and meanness

One of our humane weaknesses is our fondness of money and property. The Holy Quran states it as follows: Surely man is created of a hasty temperament. Being greatly grieved when evil afflicts him. And niggardly when good befalls him (Surah Maarij 19-21)
If man had a valley full of gold, he would like a second valley full of gold.(Muslim Zakat 117). That hadith calls our attention to that humane weakness of us. It is possible to see the same weakness in a baby too. It is difficult to take from a baby what he has, but he will take what you give him immediately.

3. Hastiness

Man is a hasty being. He wants to attain his goal in a minute. He tries to have a taste of the prosperity of the Hereafter in this world. He says Our Lord! Give us (your bounties) in this world. They will have no portion in the hereafter.(al-Baqara 200)
However, you need patience and perseverance for this world. The ultimate reality is not the happiness of this world but the prosperity of the Hereafter. It is not sensible to give away the diamonds of the Hereafter for the sake of the glasses of this world. However, man as he does not know the Hereafter makes all his efforts for this world. He tries to enjoy life by saying Life is only this life.. As declared in the Holy Quran; man is given to hasty. (Surah al-Isra 11)

4. Being praised

Almost everyone likes being praised. Man likes what he does and likes it. However, he has a very little share in the deeds he has achieved. For instance, he is proud of his voice. If God had not bestowed him that voice, he wouldnt do anything.
The holy Quran reminds us this:
Think not that those who exult in what they have brought about, and love to be praised for what they have not done, ― think not that they can escape the penalty. For them is a penalty grievous indeed. (Aal-e-Imran 188)
There are two acts which are rejected in that ayah:
1. Boasting of what one has done.
2. Liking being praised for what one has not done.
In fact, man is created to praise Allah, not to praise himself.

5. Negligence

Man has a tendency of avoiding service but seeking payment. When there is a piece of work to be done, no one seems to be around .However, everybody wants to have a share of the payment and reward. The following event narrated in the Holy Quran exemplifies it:
Prophet Muhammad set out for Makkah for umra with 1400 believers. However some Bedouins did not join the expedition. They feared that a war could break out as pagans were governing Makkah at that time. However, the same people wanted to join when the army that set out for the booty of the Khyber. God Almighty did not permit them to be in that expedition. (Surah al-Fath 11-15)

6. Finding excuses

The people who achieve nothing in positive fields console themselves with some excuses. They do not want to see their own deficiencies. Let us, for instance, look at the excuses of people who did not join the Hudaybiya expedition:
They say We were engaged in (looking after) our flocks and herds, and our families; do you then ask forgiveness for us. (Surah al-Fath 11)
It is said No one admits responsibility for the guilt. However, not realizing ones own fault is a more serious fault than the fault itself.(Said Nursi, Lemalar (Flashes),84).A person who realizes his own fault tries to get rid of it.
Thus, man has so many weaknesses like those in his nature. Those weaknesses, in fact, are essential for mans spiritual progress. As angels do not have such weaknesses, they do not struggle. If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Those weaknesses make clear why man is superior to angels. It is certainly not easy for a mean person in nature to be generous by going beyond himself. It is not an easy thing for a person who likes being praised to be able to say, All the affection and praise is to be directed towards Allah. He has all the kindness and excellence.
Those weaknesses can be overcome because Allah does not place a burden on anyone greater than one can bear. (Surah al-Baqara 286)

For mind, there are various definitions such as ''The apparatus to understand, Ability to think, Intelligence, Reason'' and ''In a material heart and soul, a spiritual light which is located in the ray of the brain.''

Philosophers interpret differently and described it with different ways; but there can be shown no single definition on which they all have agreed. What does that mean? It means that human beings have not yet comprehended the true nature of their minds.

Here is a beautiful definition of mind: ''Mind is an essence independent of the matter with its nature but has to do with it with its actions.''

How is it that it is both independent of the matter and has to do with it? The following example may shed light on the matter.

We can easily touch a working refrigerator or a washing machine and we do not get an electric shock. That is to say, electricity does not exist in that apparatus with its nature but has to do with it with its actions. There is a similar correlation, if not the same, between mind and brain.

So many things have been said about the duty of mind. One of them, which is quite agreed on, is as follows: ''Mind is apparatus to understand.''

If mind is apparatus, there is supposed to be someone who uses it. Obviously, whoever looks by using eyes and whoever tastes by using tongue, it must be again him that understands by using mind. This is nothing but spirit. While warning someone who is doing something wrong, we say, Use your mind.'' We are unlikely to use this phrase for someone's hands, arms or internal organs.

The spirit from which we expect to use its mind cannot define mind. How come? It is even unaware of its own true nature, is ignorant of it too.

Every instrument has a capacity and every scale has minimum and maximum weights, which it could weigh. With a weighing machine of 1 ton, neither ten tones of iron nor ten grams of gold can be weighed. In both cases, the machine would not give us an idea, it would just remain motionless.

Each of man's senses is like a scale. Likewise, man cannot see germs with naked eyes nor the stars, whose lights have not reached our world at all. A microscope, a telescope broadens their visibility a bit but cannot get out of certain boundaries. It is also the case for man's hearing and smelling too.

Let us come to the point of 'understanding'. Man, who thinks of handling every instrument properly, who overloads none of them beyond their power, forgets all measurements and attempts to load everything onto it when mind is in question. He struggles to understand even the subtlest subjects of the metaphysical field, to work out the deepest problems, to discover the remotest realities. However there are particular fields where mind can function. On some points, it is not true for man even to have a guess, let alone speak.

There are so many fields where mind cannot go without a guide. One of them is that: Why was the universe created?

Mind can say something only about how universe was created. The aim of its creation goes beyond the boundary of mind. Man, in this valley, must only listen to reason and the words of Allah (SWT) Who created the universe.

Man can comprehend through his mind that every being was created on wisdom and with a particular purpose and he himself cannot be unsupervised. However, he himself cannot decide what he should do for his Creator. He may understand that every favor requires thanks but cannot have a guess how to do that.

Another field where mind cannot come near alone is the Person of Allah. How man, who has not yet understood the nature of his mind and spirit, dares to speak about this issue?

The other issues are death and the Hereafter; grave, resurrection, judgment, reward and punishment. To have a guess about them is also beyond the power of mind. What reason does necessitate is to comply with the Divine Decree completely on this or similar points.

If your mind is dull, let the sun of the Quran shine on you. Look with the light of belief, and instead of the firefly of your own mind. Each verse of the Quran will illumine you like a star. (Bediuzzaman, The Words)

Those who get touched by the Holy Quran reach the light, they become as if they were born anew. Their narrow minds are immediately widened, their blind eyes open. In the fields where they previously could not take a step, they start to make way, to soar and to fly. But verily this is to some extent because they are limited as servants and creatures.

In reality, there is only one path for mind. This is to follow the Revelation itself by ignoring any others words.

The history of philosophy is full of debates over mind. In those debates, it was considered in detail what mind was, on the other hand, it was not generally taken into consideration how it should be used. Nevertheless, the second is far more significant than the first.

It is well known that if man knows how to use a tool he can easily make use of it. He need not know its subtleties.

Let us read the translation of the following Quranic Verse:
They ask thee concerning the Spirit (of inspiration).Say: The Spirit (cometh) by command of my Lord: of knowledge, it is only a little that is communicated to you, (O men!). (Al-Isra Surah, 17:85)

This divine message absolutely is acceptable for mind too. As a matter of fact, words like spirit, heart, and mind are used to suggest the same meaning. Whereas some regard mind as the quality of the spirit, on the other hand, some others regard the words mind, spirit, and heart as different names of the same nature.

Yes, in both the Holy Quran and in the words (hadith) of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), it is focused on how to use mind rather than its nature. So many exemplary scenes are introduced to human mind such as the creation of the space and the earth, the creation phases of man, the usefulness of mountains and rivers, the worthiness of bees for inspiration, resemblance of the Spring to the Resurrection. Moreover, he is expected to think, to understand, and to be thankful.

Man has weaknesses. The Holy Quran declares that in an ayah (verse):

"...Man is created weak." (Surah an-Nisa 28).

That weakness becomes obvious as soon as he is born. Babies of other beings adapt themselves to their environment in a short time and can sustain their lives on their own. However, babies of human beings can hardly stand on their feet in two years .He learns the hazards and benefits only partly in 15-20 years. He is to learn about life all his life long.

Moreover, man is very sensitive. He can stand neither extreme heat nor extreme cold. He can cope with neither hunger nor thirst. Even a microbe can knock him down. A comet can terrify him. While thinking about past makes him mournful, thinking about future makes him worried. His wishes are endless.

We also have "humane weaknesses." Those weaknesses are some of our habits and characteristics. We can deal with some of them as follows:

1. Forgetfulness

Man has a tendency to forget. Every man has examples of forgetfulness in his life. The prophet Adam, who is the first man, experienced that forgetfulness. The following is told in the Holy Quran:

"And certainly We gave a commandment to Adam before but he forgot..." (Surah Taha 115)

It was told Adam not to get close to the forbidden tree. However, Satan seduced him and he ate the fruit of that tree. So, he was sent to the earth. (Surah al-Baqara 35-37)

Human beings have the same nature as Adam. The worst form of forgetfulness is mans forgetting himself and not recalling why he was created. It is called blindness. Allah Almighty helps him out of the state of blindness through some troubles. Allah Almighty directs him to the purpose of creation. However, quite a lot of people still forget. The Holy Quran states it as follows:

"And when affliction touches a man, he calls on Us, whether lying on his side or sitting or standing; but when We remove his affliction from him, he passes on as though he had never called on Us on account of an affliction that touched him..." (Surah Yunus 12)

2. Greed and meanness

One of our humane weaknesses is our fondness of money and property. The Holy Quran states it as follows:

"Surely man is created of a hasty temperament. Being greatly grieved when evil afflicts him. And niggardly when good befalls him..." (Surah Maarij 19-21)

"If man had a valley full of gold, he would like a second valley full of gold." (Muslim Zakat 117).

That hadith calls our attention to that humane weakness of us. It is possible to see the same weakness in a baby too. It is difficult to take from a baby what he has, but he will take what you give him immediately.

3. Hastiness

Man is a hasty being. He wants to attain his goal in a minute. He tries to have a taste of the prosperity of the Hereafter in this world.

"He says Our Lord! Give us (your bounties) in this world. They will have no portion in the hereafter." (al-Baqara 200)

However, you need patience and perseverance for this world. The ultimate reality is not the happiness of this world but the prosperity of the Hereafter. It is not sensible to give away the diamonds of the Hereafter for the sake of the glasses of this world. However, man as he does not know the Hereafter makes all his efforts for this world. He tries to enjoy life by saying "Life is only this life." As declared in the Holy Quran;

"Man is given to hasty." (Surah al-Isra 11)

4. Being praised

Almost everyone likes being praised. Man likes what he does and likes it. However, he has a very little share in the deeds he has achieved. For instance, he is proud of his voice. If Allah had not bestowed him that voice, he wouldn't do anything.

The holy Quran reminds us this:

"Think not that those who exult in what they have brought about, and love to be praised for what they have not done, ― think not that they can escape the penalty. For them is a penalty grievous indeed." (Aal-e-Imran 188)

There are two acts which are rejected in that ayah:

1. Boasting of what one has done.
2. Liking being praised for what one has not done.

In fact, man is created to praise Allah, not to praise himself.

5. Negligence

Man has a tendency of avoiding service but seeking payment. When there is a piece of work to be done, no one seems to be around .However, everybody wants to have a share of the payment and reward. The following event narrated in the Holy Quran exemplifies it:

Prophet Muhammad set out for Makkah for umra with 1400 believers. However some Bedouins did not join the expedition. They feared that a war could break out as pagans were governing Makkah at that time. However, the same people wanted to join when the army that set out for the booty of the Khyber. Allah Almighty did not permit them to be in that expedition. (Surah al-Fath 11-15)

6. Finding excuses

The people who achieve nothing in positive fields console themselves with some excuses. They do not want to see their own deficiencies. Let us, for instance, look at the excuses of people who did not join the Hudaybiya expedition:

"They say We were engaged in (looking after) our flocks and herds, and our families: do thou then ask forgiveness for us." They say with their tongues what is not in their hearts..." (Surah al-Fath 11)

It is said No one admits responsibility for the guilt. However,

"Not realizing ones own fault is a more serious fault than the fault itself." (Said Nursi, Lemalar (Flashes), 84).

A person who realizes his own fault tries to get rid of it.

Thus, man has so many weaknesses like those in his nature. Those weaknesses, in fact, are essential for mans spiritual progress. As angels do not have such weaknesses, they do not struggle. If there is no struggle, there is no progress.

Those weaknesses make clear why man is superior to angels. It is certainly not easy for a mean person in nature to be generous by going beyond himself. It is not an easy thing for a person who likes being praised to be able to say, "All the affection and praise is to be directed towards Allah. He has all the kindness and excellence."

Those weaknesses can be overcome because,

"Allah does not place a burden on anyone greater than one can bear." (Surah al-Baqara 286)

The universe is a majestic book in which magnificent meanings are expressed; and man is the most intelligent addressee of that book. Like a bees making honey by settling from one flower to the other, man makes contemplation honey by wondering through the pages of the book of the universe.

Contemplation means looking at beings in the name of Allah. Doubtlessly, looking at a window is not the same as looking through a window. Those looking at the window see the stains; those looking through the window watch the beauties. Contemplation is gazing at Allahs names and attributes through the windows of the beings. Every being is a letter from Allah. A flag symbolizes a state beyond being a piece of cloth; it announces that the places it flies above belong to that state. Similarly, every being proclaims Allahs sovereignty of Dominicality.     

Those who observe beings in the heavens and the earth through the glance of contemplation prostrate in wonderment before the perfection of the Divine works of art. The belief in their hearts glows; their certainty increases. If they can add their feelings to their fine contemplation emotions, they have pleasure in watching and observing the Divine arts beyond description. They say, Everything reminds me of You.

The following verses indicate some fundamentals about contemplation:

Behold in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are indeed Signs for men of understanding. Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (with the thought): our Lord not for naught has you created (all) this, glory be to you, give us salvation from the penalty of the fire. (the Quran, Al Imran (The Family of Imran); 190-191 (3: 190,191))   

1- Man should consider Allahs creatures, not Allahs essence while contemplating. The Messenger of Allah asked what they were doing when he came near a community. When he received the answer We are contemplating Allahs grandeur, he stated: Contemplate Allahs creatures, not Allah himself. Because you are impotent to do it. (Ajluni, I, 311)

2- There is nothing in vain in creation. Everything is created in its proper place. All sciences are witnesses of the perfection in creation. The verse So turn thy vision again: can you see any flaw? Again turn your vision a second time: (the) vision will come back to you dull and discomfited, in a state worn out. (the Quran, Al Mulk (Dominion); 3-4 (67: 3,4)) attracts attention to that perfection.

3- Contemplation in unseen will drive man to address Allah eventually. Indeed, as it is declared in the verse above, they have first contemplated the creation of the heavens and the earth, and then by rising to the station of address, they have begun supplication.

Both contemplation of the verses of the book of the universe, and contemplation of the verses of the Quran should be the most distinctive qualification of a believer.          
 

Mind is an important tool for researches and examinations, which are going to be done in physical world.

However what mind needs to do is only to comply with what has already been revealed in such points as the name and attributes of Allah (SWT), the purpose of the creation of man, Divine orders and prohibitions, what, when, and in what way worship should be done and; also points such as angels, jinns, the realms of grave and the Hereafter etc.

They say: man comes to the world once. The end has no beginning. Get enjoyment and spend your life passing with lightning speed with enjoyment and delight. Do not think about concepts such as belief, hereafter, worship, halal (permissible), haram (forbidden) and death which remind you of your responsibilities and restrict your enjoyments. You must be as free and unrestricted as a butterfly. “Drink wine and love the beautiful if you have intelligence and consciousness / Do not bother whether the world exists or not.”

This is a philosophy of life and it is called Hedonism. It can be defined as “searching for pleasure”. Its origin dates back to the Greeks. Its first philosopher is Epicurus. Although Epicurus is said to be the first, that does not make any sense to me. In my conviction, Satan is the first and soul is the second. Epicurus can only be the third! We see a similar of those opinions at Omar Khayyam later.

The philosophy is phrased as a slogan by Nedim’s line “Let’s laugh, have fun and enjoy the world to the full.” The materialist communities of today have been victims of the pliers of enjoyment. That epidemic aims at our country by the work of some evil centers. Brains of the juveniles are washed by so-called arts. It is enough for you to pay attention to the words of songs.             

First of all, I would like to discuss the inner face of hedonism. A system must be addressing to the entire or the majority of a community so that it can be accepted. However, hedonism comprises a partial minority but bars out the majority. It is because, children, the sick, the poor, the elderly and calamity-stricken people constitute the majority of the community. Getting enjoyment as they wish, satisfying every kind of their desires, tasting every kind of pleasure are peculiar only to a certain group. Somebody should both be young, healthy and at the same time rich so that he would be in pursuit of joy. Is it not foolish to say “Eat, drink, get enjoyment and pleasure” to a poor who cannot find enough food, to a sick person who is suffering from pain and to an elderly who is waiting for the death at the door of the grave? A poor person can only find consolation by considering and expecting that in the hereafter he would reach the pleasures he could not taste in this world. The sick can get peace by praying to their Creator by realizing their impotence.



The elderly, who bent double with age and are obliged to retire from the transitory pleasures, can get rid of inexpressible sorrows through considering that death is not nonexistence but a means of going to an eternal world.

As Sadi, one of the most important figures of the Eastern Philosophy, said; “People are the members of a body.” Life continues by mutual help and solidarity of the organs. The social life depends on the cooperation of the members and taking care of each other favorably.  

Every person having intelligent, heart and conscience feel compassion for his fellow men and he should do so. People who can be indifferent to the troubles, sorrows and afflictions of the people around them are the ones who have lost their humane features.

Are the ones considering their pleasure and living for enjoyment despite weeping orphans, wailing patients and trembling elderly considered as human beings?

Hedonists do not like working, too. They do not want to spend any effort for earning money. Working necessitates making sacrifices from time and pleasure. Then, how will they get money that will be spent for pleasure? Of course, from pure and innocent people. Therefore, as hedonism increases in the community, profiteering increases. On one side, there are the ones who practice illegal earning as an occupation; on the other side are the ones who cannot earn enough although they work. The world is the world of tyrannical freeloaders and oppressed fellows.

If enjoyment becomes the aim, family foundations get weakened because, family, which is the seed of the community, can only continue by self-sacrifice. The mentality, considering women as “means of forbidden pleasures”, does not consider mothers as “champions of compassion.” And children are the enemies who decrease the money, which is a means of pleasure, by sharing it. So they should be killed before being born.

Heroes are the ones who make tribes become states. Ideal men are the ones who make captive nations become masters. Brave men are the ones who arouse, carry away communities which are in the death sleep and make them run toward lofty targets. Ones who are drifted by their personal desires cannot be heroes. Ones who lie on the couch of debauchery cannot make sacrifices. Egoists cannot understand the ones who live for a meaning and die for their causes. A community comprised of those has been spoiled internally.  

The brains of those who suppose that the aim of life is pleasure are in their stomachs. They do not consider that pleasures other than physical pleasures may exist. They are unfamiliar with the pleasure of giving food to the poor, caressing orphans and helping indigent people. They are fond of loud music, comedy films splitting their sides laughing, and lascivious literature. Their lives pass by dreaming of new enjoyments. They cut across all boundaries for pleasure. Since repeating joys begin to give no more taste, they chase new and different pleasures. When they cannot find any, it is time to numb their minds. Their new friends are opium, heroin and alcohol from now on. A community that sleeps, becomes numb and passes out emerges. Such a community cannot distinguish their friends from their enemies. The door of freedom begins to get closed and door of captivity begins to get opened. Ones which are taken ill by that dreadful disease which is a leprosy of spirit are dead spiritually. If they are dead, then they cannot protect their properties. That is why foreign materialistic groups and their internal dummies put pleasure and enjoyment forth as a target!     

Pleasure is a means. It was created so that personal life and generation would continue. If there were not pleasure in nutrition, eating and drinking would be a torment. We would not eat, drink and take the nutrition that is our indispensable need. Life would not sustain. Similar to that, if there were no pleasure in marriage, we would not marry and start families, increase in numbers and make the earth well populated and prosperous. Humankind would be extinct. However, we have been created for faith and worshipping. We must live and sustain our generation in order to fulfill those sublime duties. What is wrong is substituting the means for the end. Those living for pleasure are compared to the ones feeding their donkeys but starving to death.

One reason of the creation of pleasure and taste is that: we have been sent to this world for an examination. Here is not the place of pleasure and reward. Like every king, Allah, who is the owner of the world, has some orders and prohibitions. Haram (forbidden) pleasures are also a part of that examination. We are asked to stay within the sphere of what is licit. We have been created with a free will. It is up to us to live within the framework of halals (permissible things) and to go to Heaven or to be possessed by haram pleasures and to go to Hell.

As a matter of fact, a person who does not acknowledge Allah, know the hereafter and is not aware of his servitude cannot be happy in the world, either, because, the pleasures of the world are transitory. Pain begins at the point where pleasure ceases. That circle goes on till death. Even considering that pleasures are transitory is enough to make life a misery. Those who take complete pleasure from life are only the believers. They know that the pleasures are transitory but Allah who bestows the bounties is the Enduring. He is powerful over creating the continuation of the ceasing bounties, too. Even if He does not give them in this world, He can give them in the hereafter, which is the station of eternal happiness. Then it is meaningless to get sorry by considering the lasting of the bounties. If a poor man, who grieves that a basket of apples in his house will finish, learns that the king will not leave him without apples and he will give apples to him when his apples are finished, he feels happy and receives a perfect pleasure.   

The most important feature that distinguishes human beings from animals is the reason. However, if that wonderful ability is not used properly, it gives affliction. The past and the future can be considered by means of reason. An unbelieving man bewails when he remembers his good days that has passed by. And the future is full of unknown dangers. For someone who regards death as the end of everything, the past is a place of nonexistence. The future is a mouth of dragon that will absorb him. Since he is not bowing to the will of Allah, every event makes his spirit tremble. If his appearance is considered, he is supposed to be happy; however, his spiritual world has become like Hell through grieves whereas death is not nonexistence but a beginning for a believer. It is a means of passing to the luminous next world. And the future is under the command of Allah, who has eternal compassion. The world and things in it are transitory but Allah is the enduring.     

If man stayed in this world eternally, then he could give importance to his pleasure more than necessary. However, the winds of death are blowing every moment in the world. We witness the struggle of life with death around us. We see the face of death in every creature. Flowers smiling on their branches yesterday are under feet today. Trees that were green brides of spring and summer are inside shrouds in winter. What is remaining behind birds flying in the blue sky is a handful of feather ball. We see that juveniles standing erect like “alif” have been curved like a “daal”. Eyes shining with gloss of pleasure are filled with earth. Our beloved ones leave us one by one. All ways go to the grave. We know without doubt that our end is also old age and death. Then, death, which does not stay behind life in the assertion of hehemony, should have demands from us. Then, it is man’s most important matter and no one will remain indifferent to that fact. While a hedonist is trembling before death, a Muslim is comfortable, because death does not mean decomposing under earth but joining his beloved Prophet and his other beloved ones. Azrael, who terrifies the others, is a reliable trustee. And the funeral ceremony is the same as the wedding procession for them. Since going is towards the Merciful, the Compassionate, the grave changes into a rose garden.

We state that the aim of life is not pleasure. Why have we been created, then? Let us search for the answer to that question, now:             

We see the most perfect harmony described as “unity in multiplicity” in the universe. Every creature fulfils its duty without deficiency. Inanimate beings serve for the life. The most exalted life was bestowed to humans. We can say without any doubt that the universe works for humans. Plants are at animal’s service and animals are at human beings’ service. As every creature has a purpose, then man has also been created for a purpose. Considering the opposite is absurd. Then, what sort of a purpose can it be? The answer of that question is our Lord’s words. All divine books draw attention to the same point and say: Your basic duty is getting knowledge of Allah and worshipping Him, who has created you from non existence and makes you live by countless bounties. If you want an eternal youthfulness, an eternal happiness and inexhaustible pleasures, obey His orders and avoid His prohibitions. Pleasures of the world are like illusory mirages. If you are possessed by the attractiveness of fleeting pleasures and forget your real target, you will be from those upon whom the wrath is brought. Disobedience and unbelief are ingratitude.         

A guest should obey the orders of the host. A man who does not listen to the person who makes him eat and drink and provides his comfort and does what he feels like is ungrateful. A guest who does not recognize the possessor of the guesthouse although his duty is thanking him deserves punishment. Similarly the situation of a servant who has come to the world guesthouse and has been granted bounties but does not recognize Allah is like that.

By the way, I would like to mention another issue: the Western psychologists always do the unforgivable mistake of confusing soul with spirit. Of course, some of their imitators living with us repeat the same mistake, too. The result is considering the desires of soul as if it were the desires of spirit and basing the psychological systems on that wrong acceptance. Here are their suggestions: “Repress none of your desires, do not restrain them and satisfy them right away.” Those ideas are accepted. Sins are legitimated under the cover of attire of science. Thus, unruly “scientific perverts” and “intellectual barbarous persons” who do not set a limit to their wild desires increase. Weak persons are oppressed, innocents are tainted and lambs are offered to wolves.     

However, sprit and soul are different beings. Although both are present in the same person, their characteristics are completely different. One of them disgusts something that the other takes pleasure from. Soul is charmed at glory. It is never saturated. It always wants more. It is saucy, mutinous and brazen. It gets stronger as it obtains (its wishes). In the end, it comes to such a degree that it causes man to judge as “the aim of life is pleasure.” It sneaks off responsibility. Regulations, prohibitions and rules are the concepts it dislikes most. It does not like religion and ethics just because of that because, they remind man that he is not aimless, he cannot graze like an animal wherever he wants and he was created for worshipping. They tell him that disobedience to Allah is ingratitude.

Spirit also has sustenance peculiar to him. It becomes mature through knowledge, swallows through worship and is exalted through contemplation. Its most important aim is considering its Lord by seeing the wonderful arts in creatures, giving thanks to Him by feeling gratitude towards Him for the bounties He has granted. In this way, it gets rid of the sorrows arising from the past and anxieties arising from the future. It attains comfort through submission to Allah and reliance on Allah. Its organs take value according to the works they perform. Abilities used only for physical pleasures lose their values. Spirit is aware of that fact. Is it possible for the ones who give their intelligence and other spiritual tools into the service of their stomach and sexual desires? Is happiness can be in question where masters are in service of the servants?

The result of hedonism is pessimism because “There is no pleasure in something that does not continue.” Is it possible to be happy for a person who knows that the bounties of the world and himself are transitory? Increase in the substances numbing mind in the debauched communities also demonstrates that fact. Moreover, committing suicides takes place more in the Western communities, which have got enough of physical pleasures, and that situation shows that they are not happy. Why would a happy person make his mind get numbed and commit suicide!         



I have always believed that if the those who are fond of their pleasures would definitely believe in the pleasures in Heaven, they would busy themselves with worship more than everyone else because the origins of every pleasure are there. And the pleasures of the world are only shadows. I would like to say the following to the hedonists: “Do you want to live in pleasure and delight eternally? Do not halt, drink from the water life of belief and juice of worship. Tomorrow may be too late. Do not depend on the other day.

In short: “True enjoyment, pain-free pleasure, grief-free joy, and life’s happiness are only to be found in belief and in the sphere of the truths of belief.” Therefore, what should be said to the ones demanding pleasure and happiness is the following: “If you want the pleasure and enjoyment of life, give life to your life through belief, and adorn it with religious duties, and preserve it by abstaining from sins.” 

Ego means ones being able to be aware of his own existence and features, attributing his own self or possession to himself.

You know, although man can say my sheep for the sheep he pastures, sheep cannot say my feet for their own feet.

The sun also cannot lay claim to its own planets.

Why has man been granted this privilege? What is the reason for him to say, my mind, my hands, my child, my garden, my sheep etc? The answer is that he is a viceroy on earth.

The viceroy is under the command of the king. He acts in the name of Him. When he say my property, my goods he never forgets the real possessor of the property and goods. His saying is as a soldiers saying my rifle or my dormitory.

Ego is a great bounty and capital as long as using it appropriately and acting in the name of the King of the Universe by recalling being the viceroy on earth and as long as using what he has been trusted with on the path of Him, as long as he is not concerned with his own passions and conceit in the things he does, as long as he grasps the meaning of he who knows himself also knows his Lord, as long as making I a key to He as long as knowing while spreading fertilizers to soil, he does nothing much different from wind and while watering his garden, he imitates the duty of rain, as long as not to forget he is a servant in the possession of Allah (SWT) like all of them, as long as being able to say it is Him Who has bestowed upon me this existence also, Who created all of these beings out of nothing and as long as knowing that absolute existence is peculiar to Him. As long as saying, It is All-Knowing Who makes me know and it is All-Powerful Who gives me power. As long as assessing all attributes, all abilities, and all manners, which are ascribed to him in this sense.

The universe is in a way armies of those that have been kept away from egocentrism! Sky does not be proud of its highness, soil is trodden on but does pay no heed, it is not a problem for the moon to be bound to the world, a nightingale does not praise itself for having a beautiful voice, bees are not proud of their honey Why? The answer is an immediate one: For none has ego.

Every creature, which has been kept away from ego is in a way in deprivation, but in another way has been preserved. For example, if the sun could say I, perhaps it might have traveled a long way in knowing and loving Allah (SWT). Nevertheless, we cannot know, maybe it would claim greatness for itself, trust its power, be proud of its planets, and boast with its light This would have been a terrific situation for it Now it carries out its duty in a way preserved from heedlessness and far from deviance

There is also the realm of angels. They are free from fostering self-assertion. They are never involved in pride, jealousy, and envy. These non-rebellious creatures love them more whoever worship their lord more. Man also has this kind of capacity but he mostly misuses it. He is cordially attached to somebody whoever praises his father or grandfather more. Yet our Lords sake is as high as not to be compared to any other sake. Then, why dont we applaud those who make better servanthood and run faster towards Him than us?



The answer to this question is also ego. To be more correct, it is the misuse of ego.

Holding a grudge is one of the spiritual diseases; it harms society, starting with the one who is holding a grudge in the first place and then the narrow circle.

For this reason, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) regarded it as haram for a Muslim to be estranged from another Muslim for more than three days. (Bukhari, al-Adab 57, 58, 62; Muslim, al-Birr 23)

The reason for limiting estrangement to a maximum of three days is to prevent people from holding grudge, to prevent reconciliation and forgiveness from becoming difficult.

As a matter of fact, when we look at the life of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), who was sent to us an example in every issue, we clearly see that he did not nurture hatred in his life.

For example, the Prophet’s preferring forgiveness even though he was capable of punishing the people of Mecca who did not give up persecuting him, not even cursing the Taif people who ensanguined his feet even though he only called them to heaven express how he treated the disease called hatred, and show us how to behave in this regard.

A believer should not allow the seeds of grudge to sprout in his heart; he should seek forgiveness.

One of the names and attributes of Allah is that He is ”afuww", that is, His forgiveness. In addition, Allah (swt) states that He loves those who forgive and encourage people to be forgiving. For example, the following is stated in a verse: “But whoever pardons and seeks reconciliation, then their reward is with Allah.” (Surah ash-Shura, 42/40); the following is stated in another verse, “Let them pardon and forgive. Do you not love to be forgiven by Allah?" (Surah an-Nur, 24/22) It is declared that forgiveness will be rewarded greatly and that forgiveness will lead to divine forgiveness.

In the hadiths that draw attention to the importance of affection, brotherhood and solidarity among Muslims, they are asked not to nurture feelings such as hatred, envy and grudge towards one another. (see Musnad, 2/494; Bukhari, al-Adab, 57, 58; Muslim, al-Birr, 23, 24, 28, 30-32)

Forgiveness can be difficult for the soul because the soul and the devil try to prevent a person from forgiving. In order to defeat them and to be forgiving, it is necessary to consider the following points:

a) To think that forgiveness is a great virtue.

b) Knowing that forgiveness will lead us to divine forgiveness.

c) To take refuge in Allah from not being able to forgive, to pray to be forgiving.

d) To consider that making mistakes is a human characteristic, and that people make mistakes even against the Supreme Creator, so mistakes made against us should not be exaggerated.

e) To take into account that forgiveness exalts man in the sight of Allah (swt).

f) Seeing that forgiveness is very "sweet" in the end even if it is too hard for us at first.

We think that the good news in the following hadith will be sufficient to answer the issue in the question:

One day, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said three times, "Now a person of heaven will come here” and each time the same person, Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas (r.a.) came.  Thereupon, Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As (r.a) wondered about his deeds that made him a person of heaven and became a guest in his house to explore and learn about the subject. Eventually, he learned the reason of it. Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas said to him:

“I do nothing but what you have seen, but I do not hold grudges against any Muslim and I am not jealous of anyone because of a good thing that has been given to them by Allah (swt). (Musnad, 3/166; Abdurrazzaq, Musannaf, 11/287)

Shuaib Al Arna'ut, editor of Musnad, states that the hadith is sahih (sound). (see Musnad, 20/124-125)

Compassion: An exalted attribute present in great persons. It is the forerunner of exalted characters such as mercy, patriotism, benefaction and generosity

One of the four fundamentals of the servitude of belief and Quran which Ustad Badiuzzaman describes as impotence, poverty, compassion and reflection is compassion. Compassion is the greatest means which leads to the Name of All- Compassionate.  

Receiving the manifestation of the name the Compassionate in the perfect meaning is possible by helping people in terms of belief which is the greatest favor and by doing all one can in order to save them from eternal punishment and to cause them to attain eternal happiness. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) is the highest representative of that meaning. He used to invite the idolaters to affirm the unity of Allah and used to make efforts under the most difficult and unbearable circumstances so that they would be saved from Hell. Yet, he was a strict enemy of assigning partners to Allah.

It is known that enmity to unbelievers is due to their disbelief. By the expression of Ustad Badiuzzaman, A person is not loved for his own self but for his attributes. (Munazarat) According to that rule, a person is treated as an enemy not for his own self but for his bad attributes. In that case, we will be an enemy of the disbelief attribute of an unbeliever and we will not love him because of his disbelief attribute. However, we will endeavor with compassion so that he will get rid of disbelief.   

Let us give some point to tolerance which seems to be analogous to compassion and which is frequently confused with it. Tolerance is usually used with an unusual meaning, a mixture of patience, forgiveness, endurance to severity and compassion.

Tolerance should be understood as putting up with spiritually sick persons whims, treating them well and working with patience for their salvation. Tolerance is a branch of compassion in that sense and it is an exalted attribute.    

Unfortunately, nowadays those who take up tolerance from that aspect are very few. When tolerance is considered, ridiculous meanings, humanistic apparently but expressing egoism in reality such as not interfering with anybodys mistakes, not being concerned with peoples sins and disobedience, not bothering and disquieting ourselves by being busy with them are understood. I say ridiculous because it seems to be politeness, gentlemanliness but its reality is watching smilingly his collocutors going to eternal Hell.     

A point should be stated momentously: Tolerance has limits like everything. We do not have the right to be tolerant beyond that. Events we meet in the daily life are concerned with either Allahs rights (such as prayer, fast) or rights of servants. Human beings do not have the authority of tolerance for crimes, sins and harams (forbidden) performed against Allah. On the contrary, the duty of warning people in such situations is considered to be sacred and it is notified in Quran as the greatest cause why the ummah (community) of Muhammad (pbuh) is better than the other ummahs. You are the best of people, evolved for mankind. Enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in Allah. (the Quran, The Family of Imran (Aal Imran); 110 (3: 110))

According to that, we will not tolerate a behavior that Allah does not consent and that He forbids and we will make effort to remove it as far as possible.

Considering the rights of servants, we cannot be tolerant against someones trespassing of anothers physical or spiritual rights either.

Crimes committed against the person himself remain. That is the field of tolerance. We have the authority of forgiving someone who damages our properties or backbites us. It is better for us to use that right than taking revenge.

We should be compassionate to Allahs servants so that we could expect mercy of Him.

The way of gathering good crops from a field depends on cultivating the field well. If the field is not maintained well, weeds and thorny plants cover everywhere. Thus, mans soul is like a field. If it is not trained well, evil abilities appear. If it is trained well, it gives many benefits.

Like refining the crude oil, purification of soul (cleansing it from evil attributes) is in question. Some kinds of Sufis talk about seven stages of soul. They are:

1. the evil-commanding soul

2. the self-accusing soul

3. the satisfied soul

4. the consentient soul

5. the approved soul

6. the inspired soul

7. the purified soul (1)

The untrained situation of soul is the evil-commanding soul. (2) Soul in that situation commands evil strongly. He wants to plunge into sins.

The soul accusing himself is called the self-accusing soul. (3) Soul at this degree accuses himself of his sins and he regrets them.  

As training goes forward, soul comes up to the degree of the satisfied soul. He meets everything coming from Allah with consent. He attains a situation that Allah consents. He receives Divine inspirations. He becomes a purified soul. His first situation can be compared to an untrained, wild horse; his last situation can be compared to an obedient horse that is very beneficial to his lord.

 
As it is known, lions used for shows at circus are trained when they are cubs. During the show, sedative pills are given to their mouths so that they will not remember their times in the forest and would not attack their masters. Similarly, it is necessary to begin training of soul at early ages, and also to read the truths addressing to soul and tranquilizing it. Otherwise, a soul trained for years is capable of returning to his previous form. When we step on a bow, we straighten it to the ground. However, when we release our foot, it will rise up. Soul is similar to that. It pipes down through a good training. It executes its disposition again when it finds a suitable situation.     

Some people use the expression killing the soul. We accept that is also a kind of training of soul but we are of the opinion that it is better to direct the feelings, abilities present in the nature of soul to the good. For example, strong ambition is present in everyone. It is more beneficial to turn that towards good acts instead of completely keeping it quiet. Thus, he will not regard his deeds, his service he made sufficient and he will try to achieve further. (4)

Soul is capable of accepting to be trained. For example, stinginess is present in everyones nature. It is possible for a stingy person to become a very generous person through an Islamic training.

Souls natural position is compared to a river flowing strongly. Its trained position is compared to both illuminating and watering the surroundings by building a dam in front of it

       

References:  
1. Yazır, VIII, 5817.
2. the Quran, Joseph (Yusuf); 53 (12: 53).
3. the Quran, the Resurrection (Qiyamah); 2 (75: 2).
4. Refer to Nursi, Mektubat, p. 33-34 for the issue.

A verse regarding the issue is as follows:

“O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin: And spy not on each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay, ye would abhor it...But fear Allah: For Allah is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.”(al-Hujurat, 49/12)

A Muslims should always have positive thoughts about his Muslim brothers. For, it is a necessity of our religion. Besides, the elimination of mischief necessitates such an attitude. We should have positive thoughts about and believe in one another as believers.

To have positive thoughts about someone and to trust in him should not prevent us from taking necessary measures about him. This is a rule that is valid and even necessary for everybody. We will trust our Muslim brother and we will not have negative thoughts about him since he has belief but it is possible for anybody to do a bad deed since everybody has a soul. Having good thoughts about a person along with taking measures against him should not be regarded as opposite things. For, it is more appropriate to take necessary measures so as not to cause apprehensions and suspicions. For, the measures will prevent man from having negative thoughts and committing sins.

Not all thoughts and guesses but some thoughts are regarded as backbiting. Imam Ghazali described it as ‘backbiting through the heart’; he rejected even ‘telling oneself another person's mistake’; he defined backbiting through the heart as ‘having bad thoughts about a person without seeing, hearing anything bad about him’. (see Ghazali, Kimyayı Saadet, Merve Yayınları, p. 388)

Accordingly, having negative thoughts and suppositions about a person is haram and it is regarded as backbiting through the heart. If this backbiting through the heart is told to another person, a two-fold sin is in question. 

“If what you say of him is true, you have backbit him, and if what you say of him is not true, you have slandered him.” (Abu Davud, Adab 40)

According to the hadith above, it causes a bigger sin. Form this viewpoint, it may mean that such a person commits a sin through his heart and tongue, and slanders. 

Therefore, it is necessary to avoid negative thoughts first in order to avoid those sins. It is necessary not to allow the poison to enter the body; similarly, it is necessary not to allow negative thoughts to enter our spirit. For, the harm the poison will cause after entering the body will be very big. Similarly, to allow negative thoughts and suppositions to enter our spirit can cause much more dangerous things. One of them threatens our worldly life while the other threatens our otherworldly life. From this viewpoint, it is necessary to be careful about the things that threaten our eternal life.

On the other hand, violation of others’ rights will occur from unjust thoughts and suppositions. This is a crime basically committed against people and the authority to forgive this crime is the people against whom the crime of having unjust thoughts and suppositions is committed. Therefore, if we have negative thoughts about the ethics and honor of an innocent person without having any evidence and accept those negative thoughts as true, we will be punished for it severely. To share this thought and supposition with others will increase both the sin and responsibility of us.

One of the most important harms of having negative thoughts is that the negative spiritual energy that forms the content of the negative thoughts, ideas and suppositions seeks addressees and finally the unjust spirit is destroyed by that spiritual energy. For this result, what matters is not whether backbiting is open or secret but the emotional burden it carries. (see Muhammed Bozdağ, Ruhsal Zeka)

In fact, in the verse above, three mean deeds that harm brotherhood are prohibited: having negative thoughts, prying and backbiting. It is a general prohibition to try to find out the private states of others without their permission. The prohibition of prying is among the deeds that ensure “the secrecy of private life”, which is a human right.

The following hadith is remarkable in that it shows the thought and especially having positive thoughts, of a Muslim about his Muslim brother:

“I heard the Prophet say the following while circumambulating the Kaaba:

"(O Kaaba!) You are beautiful and your scent is beautiful. I admire your majesty and sacredness. I swear by Allah, in whose hand is Muhammad’s life, that the honor of the believer is superior to your honor in the eye of Allah. A believer’s wealth, blood and sacredness of having positive thoughts about him is superior to yours.” (Bukhari, Adab, 57, 58; Muslim, Birr, 28-34; Abu Dawud, Adab, 40-56)

In the hadith above, the Prophet (pbuh) mentions the importance of having positive thoughts about a Muslim together with the importance of his life and wealth. For, a person’s being known as a good or bad person interests his honor, which is as important as his wealth and life. Having negative thoughts brings about mischief, which is the source all disorders and enmities; therefore, it is forbidden by the religion since it is so harmful.

On the other hand, the spread of mischief among Muslims as a result of the spread of having negative thoughts, gossiping and backbiting is to be accepted as a social disaster. For, one of the most important supports that keep the society on its feet is unity. The strongest bond that provides unity is love and respect to law.  

Besides, the warning of the verse above shows that man is to have positive thoughts. That is, when he sees things and incidents, he is to interpret them in a good way, have positive thoughts about them and regard others superior to him with this thought and intention. 

Having negative thoughts always leads man to bad thoughts and kills the optimism in him. He cannot view things with positive thoughts after that. He does not interpret in a good way the result of misunderstandings that seem negative and that occur as a result of incomplete communication and perception. Thus, as the disorder of having negative thoughts increase, it will lead man to the disorder of criticizing. He will go beyond limits in criticizing and will start to backbite people. After a while, the backbiting through the heart will be transformed into backbiting through the tongue, supported with slandering and will destroy the person.

The best way of being protected from the disorder of having negative thoughts is thinking of and looking at things in a nice way and closing one’s eyes to the things that will lead him to ugly things and having negative thoughts. When a person does so, the eyes, heart and mind will be busy with nice things; they will see their own mistakes and not see the mistakes of others; he will be aware of his own mistakes and he will not use the binoculars of negative thoughts to find the mistakes of others. He will look at nice things with the binoculars of positive thoughts. He will not dirty his heart and mind with negative thoughts. 

If there are some brothers who have negative thoughts about each other, they should ask forgiveness from each other, repent for their sins and pray for their brothers about whom they had negative thoughts.

We should also state that we will not be held responsible for the images and thoughts that come to our mind involuntarily. Responsibility is in question only for voluntary deeds. That is, when man does something based on his own will, he will be held responsible for that deed. However, man’s will is not active in the bad things that come to his mind. That is, you have not decided to think about bad things and you have not fulfilled it. Therefore, you will not be held responsible for it. It is necessary to regard them as delusions of Satan and to ignore them. 

SU’ AZ-ZANN (NEGATIVE THOUGHTS)

It means bad thought, bad supposition. Zann means thought and su’ means bad deed.

The same meaning is valid in phrases like su’ al-harakah (bad act)", "su’ al-khulq (bad ethics)", "su’ an-niyyah (bad intention)"; thus, "su’ az-zann" means "bad thought" In the examples given above and in similar ones, su’ has the meaning of an adjective.

The word "zann" means "to think, suppose and decree based on probability"; it also means "doubt, suspicion, hesitation, apprehension and imagination".

The opposite of "su’ az-zann" is "husn az-zann". "Husn" means "beauty, good deed, niceness, maturity and perfection" like in "husn al-khulq (good-high ethics)", "husn al-khatt (nice writing)", "husn an-niyyah (good intention)". "Husn az-zann" means good-positive thought, having a positive thought in one’s conscience about a person or thing".

As it is seen, there are two kinds of "zanns". Since zann is based on "supposition" and probability'', how should man act regarding the issue? The Quran and hadiths explain how man should act. The following is stated in the Quran: "O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin..." (al-Hujurat, 49/12). The phrase "avoid suspicion as much" is used because it is stated that "suspicion is a sin in some cases". It means not all suspicions (thoughts) are sins; it is necessary to have positive thoughts about Allah and believers. The following is stated in the chapter of an-Nur: "Why did not the believers - men and women - when ye heard of the affair,- put the best construction on it in their own minds..." (an-Nur, 24/12). The following is stated in a sacred hadith:

"I am as my slave thinks about me." The Prophet (pbuh) said, "Die having positive thoughts about Allah." In another hadith, he said, "Having positive thoughts is of belief."

Kashshaf and other similar tafsir scholars of the Quran advise us "not to have thoughts without distinguishing between the right and the wrong clearly and without observing and thinking well" and they state that "a thought that is not based on a clear reason and true sign is haram". Thoughts based on probabilities are not in compliance with the truth and will include slander; therefore, a person who have thoughts like that will be held responsible. 

It is clearly understood from those explanations that it is necessary to be very careful about thoughts and that "having negative thoughts" is definitely forbidden. The type of negative thought that is not haram is the one about the people who commit sins openly and who are known as sinners. Having positive thoughts about a person whose state is not known well is not necessary but having negative thoughts about him is not permissible.

The following is stated about "tajassus (spying/prying)" that originates from having negative thoughts in the above-mentioned verse in the chapter of al-Hujurat: "Spy not on each other behind their backs." Tajassus means "to search the private states of others and to desire to find their sins and mistakes". The Prophet states the following about this act, which is prohibited by Allah:

"Do not search the sins and mistakes of Muslims. For, if a person searches the sins of Muslims, Allah will follow his sin and disgrace him even in his own house." (Elmalılı Hamdi Yazır, Hak Dini Kur'ân Dili, İstanbul 1960, VI, 4471-4473; Ömer Nasuhi Bilmen, Büyük İslâm İlmihâli, İstanbul 1957, 633-634).

M. Süreyya ŞAHİN

That is a truth that the realm of existence is not one of only what we can perceive with our five senses. Man, with his sense of sight, sees the material objects. He senses realm of tastes with his tongue, realm of voices with his ear, realm of smells with his nose. However, there are so many realities which man can neither see nor hear such as electricity, gravity, the power of a magnet to attract and push away. Moreover, they doubtlessly exist.

Some people who disregard these principles fall into a great mistake by saying, I do not believe what I cannot see or seeing is believing, and therefore reduce all beings to what they can see. Yet that something is not seen with eyes is not a proof for its non-existence. In this world, what we cannot see are far more than what we can see. Some invisible faculties in human body such as mind, imagination, memory are more than those visible ones in number.

It is the drive of loading the duty of mind onto eyes that underlies the sophistry of I do not believe what I do not see. Yet each sense opens the gate of another realm; the duty of each of them cannot be expected from another. For example, eyes cannot function as ears; likewise, a nose cannot function as a tongue. With his eyes, man cannot taste a meal, or the voice of a nightingale, nor the smell of a rose. While eyes cannot do the duty of these organs, of course, they cannot do the duty of mind as well. It is known that even though eyes see a masterpiece, its maker can be visualized only through mind. Someone who says, I do not believe what I do not see denies the master of a work of art. As seen in this example, someone who says I cannot see any maker, although seeing this universe, which is the product of an infinite power, knowledge, and art, becomes far away from knowledge and mind. How then will such a man be able to explain the infinite occurrences such as creation, giving bounty, giving life, which manifest themselves any moment and show the existence of Allah as clearly as the sun.

The fact that Allah is not seen through our physical eyes is because of His surrounding everything and His having no opposite equivalent. For example, as atmosphere surrounds the globe all over, if we suppose that the sun surrounds all space, then it would be impossible to see the sun with our eyes. Since everywhere is covered with the rays of the sun, it would be invisible. Since it has no opposite equivalent like night and because of its absence of opposite, the sun would not be seen and known. However, it would be a mere ignorance to deny the existence of the sun, which exists everywhere with its light and surrounds everything.

Yet within the same perspective of logic, the same situation can be also considered for Allah (SWT), Who surrounds everything with His names and attributes, Who exists everywhere, and Who has no opposite equivalent. Those who seek everything in the material objects have their minds in their eyes. And eyes are blind in metaphysical realm.

The purification (tazkiyah) of the soul has two meanings: The first one is to justify the soul, to consider it faultless, to cover up its mistakes and if possible to show them as virtues.  In the expressions above, purification is used in this sense.

The verse Justify not yourselves (an-Najm, 32) is in this sense.
In Risale-I Nur Collection, the state of an unpurified soul is described as follows:
One who loves himself if his evil-commanding soul has not been purified-will love no one else. Even if he apparently loves someone, he does not do so sincerely, but only for the pleasure of it and the benefits he receives. He always tries to make himself liked. Also, he does not ascribe faults to himself; he defends and exonerates himself like a lawyer. He praises himself, exaggerating and even lying, showing himself to be free of fault, as though sanctifying himself. (Flashes)

There is also the purification of the soul that is encouraged by the verse: Truly he succeeds that purifies it. (ash-Shams, 9). Our scholars explain it as freeing the soul from evil deeds, that is, being freed from polytheism through belief and from sins through piety and then increasing it by good deeds.   

Before answering this question, one needs to determine well the purpose of creation of the realm of substance. Allah (SWT) created this world as the realm of reflection of His names and attributes and exhibited His art, skill, sovereignty with the universe. He (SWT) created the world as a farm for the eternal life of man, a field of testing for his abilities to develop, an exhibition and a fair for him to gaze upon the matchless wonders of art of Allah Almighty.

Human beings, who do not know and accept the nature of the world in this way, are enamored with its transient and deceptive face. They expend their minds and hearts on the worlds transient pleasures, which have actually been given them for the Hereafter. They think that material and spiritual pleasures which have been given to them for the sake of fulfillment of their improper desires. They expect the applause and appreciation of people rather than Allahs pleasure. They seek high ranks and positions pertaining to the world in place of high ranks and positions in the Hereafter. Since they consider the world only a place where they could derive pleasure, they soon lose their ability of thinking and decision-making correctly. In the course of time, they form a philosophy of life out of this kind of way of life. They first remain indifferent to the religious points and then take sides against it. Consequently, their minds become narrower in the face of the divine truths, they come to poorly evaluate them, and they become impotent to handle a point or an exterior superstition, which could be resolved even by little consideration. They are deceived by tricks, which bear no truth.

We attribute many of the crimes and the sins to lack of the fear of Allah in the people committing them. We say, If those people had feared Allah and had avoided His punishment, they would not have performed those actions. How should the fear of Allah be, then? How can we associate a discipline settled only upon dread and fright with Islams tolerance contenet and Almighty Allahs infinite mercy?

Believers are described as follows in the Noble Quran:

For, Believers are those who, when Allah is mentioned, feel a tremor in their hearts, and when they hear His Signs rehearsed, find their faith strengthened, and put (all) their trust in their Lord (1)

As it is comprehended from that verse, there is a close relation between the increase of the light of faith and the settlement of fear of Allah in the heart.

Deceased Elmalili describes the increasing of faith as Allahs verses are recited as follows:

As evidences coming from the aspect of knowledge and deed; certain, verified faith develops. Certainty and faith increases. (2)  

Verified faith has also degrees. The degree of knowledge of certainty of it withstands doubts by relying on proofs. While imitative, that is, the faithtaken over from parents without being based on a profound investigation, sometimes it can be defeated against even a single doubt; the faith attained by depending on proofs is not shaken against countless doubts. 

The second degree of verified faith is vision of certainty and it also has degrees in itself. It has degrees as many as Allahs beautiful names manifested in the universe and the degrees of those names. A believer achieves a firm and unshakable faith in relation to his ability to see those manifestations and to read them. In the advanced degrees of that stage, he comes to such a degree that he can read the universe like a book. Namely, for example, he reads Almighty Allahs names such as the Creator, the Giver of Forms, the Adorner, the Giver of Colors, the Beautiful, and the Compassionate. He watches the manifestations of the names of his Creator who has created and given a form to him; has adorned, colored, made him beautiful and has showed him compassion and pity to him.  

The third degree is named as absolute certainty. A person who has achieved that degree has passed the veils covering the worlds of existence and has attained a faith which is not shakable even against the doubts attacking in armies. (3)

Faiths of prophets and spiritual guides have that profundity. Strong faiths of the Noble Prophet (pbuh) who has been an addressee of Almighty Allahs Divine Beauty and Word and Abd al-Qadir Gilani who has advanced spiritually so much that he could behold the Sublime Throne while still on the earth by following the example of him can be examples of that degree.

Is it possible to describe the awe and shudder that the ones who have faiths like oceans feel every moment as if they were in the presence of Almighty Allah?

That truth is expressed in the verse meaning Those of His servants, only who are possessed of knowledge, fear Allah. (4) That respect and awe are revealed in every believer in relation to the degree of his faith.    

As man gets knowledge of his Lord by means of science, his love and respect to Him increase. For, an infinite perfection above all perfection degrees is of course worthy of infinite esteem. An awe mixed with gladness covers us before a spiritually exalted person who possesses an unreachable degree with his superior dignity and peerless personality; then let us consider what a spiritual state we will get in the presence of Almighty Allah who has perfection countless times more than that.

As Allah has infinite dignity and honor, He has infinite mercy and compassion at the same time. Allah is both Compassionate and Mighty as it is repeated in many of the verses in the Quran . While He surrounds the whole world of existence with His infinite compassion and mercy, He also punishes the ones who rebel against His rules and who offend His dignity by their disobedience.   

Consequently, a servant in the presence of Almighty Allah is in such a situation that he has passed beyond himself by the attraction of the infinite mercy while his heart is quaking before the awe of His anger. Is it possible for such a person to rebel His orders and violate His prohibitions?

That fear leads man to Allah just as love. In the Nur Collection, that issue is stated as follows:

To fear the Glorious Creator means finding a way to His compassionate mercy, and taking refuge in it. Fear is a whip; it drives you into the embrace of His mercy. It is well-known that a mother gently scares her infant, for example, and draws it to her breast. The fear is most pleasurable for the child, because it drives him to her tender embrace. Whereas the tenderness of all mothers is but a flash of Divine mercy. That means there is a supreme pleasure in fear of Allah. (5)    

Then, the aim of giving fear is to lead man to Allah, too. In this respect, if we use that feeling in other fields and make it depart from its actual aim, we will suffer great losses. When we misuse our love, we suffer from many miseries such as not receiving the same response from the beloved ones but being despised by them; in the same way, misusing the feeling of fear also makes mans life full of misery. The things we fear from which are not worthy of fearing in fact cannot do anything except causing us to have very trying abasements. They can neither help us nor calm our fear.

The relationship of the feeling of fear with faith and contemplation is described as follows in Words:

For a worshipper with a truly illuminated heart, it is possible that even if the globe of the earth became a bomb and exploded, it would not frighten him. He would watch it with pleasurable wonder as a marvel of the Eternally Besought Ones power. But when a famous degenerate philosopher with a so-called enlightened mind but no heart saw a comet in the sky, he trembled on the ground, and exclaimed anxiously: Isnt that comet going to hit the earth? (On one occasion, America was quaking with fear at such a comet, and many people left their homes in the middle of the night.) (6)      

Sources

1. Quran, The Spoils Of War (Al-Anfal); 2 (8: 2)

2. Hak Dini Kuran Dili, 3: 2367

3. Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, Emirdag Lahikasi, 1:102-3

4. Quran, The Originator Of Creation (Fatir); 28 (35: 28)

5. Words (Sözler), p.331

6. Words (Sözler), p. 19

Man cannot know what is better for him since he cannot know the future. He can make a decision by consulting people who have enough knowledge about the issue and who have taqwa. Besides, the feeling of consciousness in man leads him to the truth. 

The soul has two main features or powers:

1. Mind: The mind is a power that is present in the spirit; it directs all of the conscious activities. The mental aspect of the spirit is the one that thinks and knows, understands the guiding aspects of the evidence, acquires information, knows that it is the one that knows by thinking and understanding, remembers, makes judgments by classifying information, wishes and decides.

2. Conscience: It is also called the eye of the heart, or foresight or only heart. It is the feeling of justice and mercy that Allah has placed in the spirit, and it is a motive given by Allah.   

It is a natural ability and power of the spirit that distinguishes the good from the bad. It is the orientation and commitment of the spirit toward the truth and goodness, and it is a kind of looking at the truth; it is the hatred against evil and bad deeds. It is the source of deep feelings like mercy, feeling sorry when faced by injustice and bad deeds, rejoicing when faced by good deeds; it is an aspect of the spirit that is called conscience.

The Prophet (pbuh) stated that the conscience would be disturbed by bad deeds and sins as follows:

"Al-Birru (good deeds and worshipping) is high ethics; al-ithmu (sins and bad deeds) is what pricks your conscience, what disturbs and perturbs you and what you do not want others to know." (Sahihu'l-Muslim bi Sharhi'n Nawawi, Chapter 16, 111; Beirut, 1972/1392).

The body needs water and food so that it will not catch diseases, will survive and not die; similarly, the conscience needs belief in Allah, His prophets and the Day of Judgment so that it will remain intact and not die. In addition, it is necessary to keep the conscience away from immorality and bad deeds in order to maintain its spotlessness and purity. The conscience is made to know the truth and goodness by being equipped it with and strengthened by belief in and worshipping Allah, training its self and deep experience. Wrong beliefs, bad traditions and customs, bad environment and sins affect the conscience in a negative way. A hardened and rusty spirit that has not been trained through good deeds and virtues and an elastic and blind conscience will not recognize the truth and goodness and they will not feel a deep prick. Anesthetics and intoxicants remove the feelings of the senses; similarly, getting used to bad deeds by neglecting the conscience and to rebel against it by opposing its inclinations and judgments will weaken and gradually kill the conscience. The following verse indicates it:  

“By no means! But on their hearts is the stain of the (ill) which they do." (al-Mutaffifin, 83/14).

Angels will help the conscience of a person who believes in Allah and the truth by suggesting good things and inspiring his spirit. The Prophet (pbuh) stated the following:

"Some things emerge in the heart of man due to the devil and angels. What the devil suggests is evil and denying the truth. What the angels suggest is goodness, good deeds and testifying the truth. Those who find some good things in their hearts should know that they come from Allah; therefore, they should praise Allah. Those who find some bad things in their hearts should take refuge in Allah from the devil." (Mansur Ali Nafis, at-Taj, IV, 69, Ist. 1382).

Allah stated the following:

“No authority has he over those who believe and put their trust in their Lord." (an-Nahl, 16/99).

It is necessary to believe in Allah who is al-Alim (the Knower of All), al-Hakim (the Perfectly Wise), al-Qadir (the All-Powerful) and al-Qayyum (the Self-Existing One), His Prophet and the Day of Judgment in order to satisfy the spirit, to soothe it and to protect it from crises. A spirit that does not turn toward an eternal life and that does not believe cannot have real happiness.

Belief is the voice of the conscience, the soother of the troubles of the heart, the remedy for the sorrows, the filler of the gaps in the conscience with the truth and the one that calls the mind and consciousness to the truth.

The conscience, which is a property of the human spirit, knows the truth and the wrong, the good and the evil and distinguishes between them. It feels happy and relaxed when it sees good deeds. It is disturbed and annoyed by bad deeds; it feels distressed due to unbelief and loses itself completely.  

(Muhiddin BAĞÇECİ)

Attention of people is an illness of deviating from the purpose of the coming of man to this world, hoping for help from a person who is also weak like him by giving oneself over to Allahs servants love, applause and appreciation. Attention of people is an inviter of hypocrisy and the biggest obstacle on the way going to the consent of Allah.

Hypocrisy (Riya in Arabic) is derived from seeing (ruyah): Wanting people to see his good deeds he has done, showing off, and performing some kinds of factitious actions so that other people will like him.

Let us think about people who will emerge one century later. Those guests of the world, who are in the darkness of nonexistence now and who we do not know who they are, will attain the bounty of life as a Divine beneficence and enter the globe when their time determined by divine determining comes. They will be trained for nine months in wombs, the first stop of their journey and they will be equipped with the things they are in need of in order to benefit from countless bounties and graces of that universe in the most favorable way. Just then, they will enter the world in their mothers arms and they will drink the pleasant milk from those compassionate breasts plentifully. 

Then, they will grow up and become young. They will have jobs and will enter the social life. And most of them will be carried away by the community and will forget themselves; they will not even remember that they are servants, guests, travelers. Moreover, they will set their hearts on other peoples loves who have also been raised in other wombs and who are also impotent and as transitory as themselves. They will become slaves of the community; they will give more importance to their condemnation than sins, they will prefer their appreciation to consent (of Allah). They will not consider the stages of the journey after the grave. They will not even remember the grave world where everyone is busy with his own trouble individually, the field of the resurrection where nobody can be interested in other ones and the Day of Judgment that nobody can intercede for anybody without Allahs permission.
 
Thus, prophets, scholars and wise people come across those people, who forget themselves and go towards the land of torment of the eternity world as if running, and they tell them that they are on the wrong way and try to direct them to the right way.      

The One, in whose hand is the dominion of birth, has brought us into that world and He will send us to the hereafter with the law of death. What benefit can being amused with the travelers and getting their appreciations give us in that short worldly life?

We will leave this world one by one and those whom we leave behind will forget us after a short time. If we can look at the history from that point of view, how many exemplary scenes we will see! Where are the ones who had been appreciated one century ago and the ones who had appreciated them? Where are those rulers and the poets who had written eulogies for them and had made compliments to them? Where are those rich people and the poor who had depended on them for a living?

After a century, we will pass away and the next generation will ask their contemporaries the same questions. Then, the world will also taste death as every soul will. After that, comes the field of resurrection and judgment. It is necessary to take refuge in the Ones court and try to get His consent from whom help will be expected in that fearful field where no one can pay attention even to his beloved one.

 However, it is licit and favorable being loved on behalf of Allah as well as loving on behalf of Allah. We wish Allahs believing servants to love us and His genuine slaves to help us. That desire has no concern with attention of people.   

Will is a great blessing for man. A spider has a web and it cannot will to weave anything else. And a silkworm is not knowledgeable about a web. A horses duty is running, a camels duty is carrying burden and a nightingales duty is singing. They have no power to get out of their duties. They are not given that kind of will.

But, what about man? Man is both able to make a needle and a rocket. So many different, even opposite books can rise from his thought. And his heart is open for several loves from transient to enduring; he can love what he wishes. He can do all of those by means of a great favor called will, or by a responsibility of a great test.

Man should utilize that great wealth properly. Heeding what one was told and obeying orders is a matter of will. The opposite of it is disobedience and rebellion. If a student uses his will to heed what his teacher commands, he becomes a scholar, a wise person. Ones who esteem disobedience as a good act can do nothing but increase their ignorance.

A person who knows he is a servant of Allah and is aware of that, submits his partial will to his Lords universal will. Namely, he performs what He consents to and he avoids what He does not. Almighty Allah will bestow eternal Paradise to his servants who can succeed in that test of will. Allah, who grants seeing to eyes and hearing to ears, gives what will deserves as follows:

Allah creates what man wishes by his partial will. That is another manifestation of the Divine will. Namely: Almighty Allah has willed to create a being that has will, He has wished to let him go on the way he uses his will and He has willed to create whatever he wishes, good or evil. Then, by rebelling, man does not perform an action in spite of Allahs will but he performs an action opposite to His consent.

Allahs will is boundless and absolute. Another will that can restrict His will cannot be considered. Servants faculty of will has been created as he himself has been created. It is not possible for a created thing to restrict the Creator..

The Pre-eternal Will has determined an eternal Hell for the ones using the faculty of will He has bestowed to rebel Him. Come on; let us use our will for good actions in order not to go to His place of punishment If we do so, then we can attain His consent which highly surpasses Paradise.

One of the most beautiful merits of Islam is forgiveness. Allah praises that favorable merit in several verses and encourages humans to forgive. Two of those verses are as follows:

Hold to forgiveness; command what is right; and turn away from the ignorant. (the Quran, The Heights (Al-Aráf); 199 (7: 199))

Those (who are in fear of Allah) suppress their anger and forgive people. (the Quran, The Family of Imran (Al Imran); 134 (3: 134))

Pleasure and enjoyment taken from forgiving is many times more than the pleasure taken from revenge. Forgiving always gives peace and comfort to the forgiving person. The perfect degree of forgiveness is peculiar to Allah. Almighty Allah both loves forgiving and those who forgive.

We see the most beautiful examples of forgiveness in our Prophets life. As follows: Chiefs of the Quraish tribe conspired to kill the Prophet. Since they could not put that into practice, they got him out of Makkah by force. Later on, the Prophet conquered Makkah by the help of Allah. While the people, who had compelled the Prophet to migrate, got together around the Kaaba and were talking about how they would be killed, the Prophet came near the door of the Kaaba asked them what they were expecting from him. When they told him that they were expecting forgiveness from him, he announced general amnesty.

One of the marks of Islam is being sweet-tempered. Almighty Allah likes His gentle servants. If you were severe or harsh hearted, they would have broken away from about you: so pass over (their faults), and ask for (Allah's) forgiveness them in affairs (of moment). (the Quran, The Family of Imran (Al Imran); 159 (3: 159))

The highest degree of forgiveness is responding evil with good. Repel evil with what is better than it; then the one between whom and yourself enmity prevails will become like your friend and intimate. (the Quran, Explained In Detail (Fussilat); 41 (3: 34))

A fish can go wherever it wants in the sea. However, its freedom is limited to the sea. It is forbidden for the fish to go out of the sea. Lands and forests are forbidden zones for it. It seems that it is forbidden for it to make friends with foxes and lions. It will live in the sea with other fishes. This restriction of freedom is not harmful for it but it is for it.

A human beings sea is halal area. Halal area is wide enough to satisfy someone. There is no need to commit haram (forbidden things) at all (Words)

One can do as he/she likes on condition that he/she does not go out of this area. However, the outside of this area is like a field of Hell for him/her.

Accordingly, we can describe freedom as such:

Freedom is the freedom of choice to prefer one of halal or haram areas and eventually, the freedom of preference to enter either Heaven or Hell.

A slave (of God) cannot be free. How could it be? A slaves freedom is not even in question. Being a slave to Allah is an advanced loyalty compared to slaves of humans. Let us think in this way in order to make our lower-self admit that we do not have an unlimited freedom for sure:

Can a human being hear with hand, smell with eye and see with ears? No.

On the other hand, can a human being memorize with mind, understand with heart and love with memory? The answer is no again.
That is to say; one has to use every organ and sense according to their functions. There is someone who put the organs in proper places in the body, who organized the souls in a way beyond our comprehension and who makes each emotion and each sense work with a specific duty.

There are two areas lying before those organs and senses: Areas of Halal and Haram. One can step on and turn his/her gaze to whichever one he/she likes. He/she can use his/her memory in whatever way he/she likes and fill his/her memory with anything.

Each of those treasures addresses human beings mind and conscience: You cannot manage us according to your will! You must evaluate the attribution of control correctly and use us according to our reasons for creation.

This freedom, this liberty and this right of choice, granted to man is unfortunately misinterpreted by many people.

Although one knows that he/she does not have the freedom of rebelling against parents, chiefs and government, how can he/she consider him/herself free to do as he/she likes against The Lord, The Creator and The Owner?

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi who is one of contemporary scholars points out to an important issue about freedom:
Some dissipated and pert people choose to be the captive of evil deeds because they do not want to be free. (Hutbe-i Şamiye: Damascus Sermon)

A person who claims to be free and have the right of acting as he/she wishes becomes the captive of his/her lower-self indeed. His/her lower-self commands him/her to do evil things and he/she obeys this command without hesitation. This captivity is a dishonorable captivity. A person who is a servant of a scholar and a person who is a servant of a burglary gang can seem to be in the same position at first sight. Both of them are under command. However, the former one is an honorable service and leads to knowledge and wisdom. The latter one is disgraceful and leads to punishment and dungeon.

Ones who perform the training of the soul as killing the soul keep away from everything the soul likes. As a result of it, they can come about a situation that they do not like the world; they do not show ambition, do not be obstinate and they never get furious. Although we can accept it as a form of training of the soul, we are of the opinion that directing the soul to good is better than killing him. The first one is likened to reducing the feed of a bad-tempered horse and dominating it by weakening it; the second one is likened to feeding it normally but treating it well and attaining the aim in a shorter time by a strong horse.

Indeed, the world has sides to love and sides to hate. There are fields where one should have ambitions and fields where one should not have ambitions. There are situations where obstinacy is favorable and there are situations where it is not favorable. There are states where fury is bad and there are some states where it is good.

It is nice to love the world as a mirror of Almighty Allahs Divine Names and a field of the hereafter (1). It is ill-favored to love its side that is attached to mans desires and that is a veil of heedlessness. (2) It is nice to have ambition in knowledge and service; it is ill-favored to have ambition in possessions and positions for fame. It is nice to be obstinate in what is right. It is ill-favored to be obstinate in what is wrong. It is nice to be furious with tyrants; it is ill-favored to get angry with believers.   

As you see, directing the feelings and desires present in the essence of the soul to the good is much more useful than killing it, namely, silencing it completely. (3) It can happen by finding a good channel for the desires and wishes of the soul and directing it to good things; like damming a stream that damages the things surrounding it and by irrigating the things surrounding it with its water.

Some people misevaluate the wise suggestions of religious scholars about leaving the love of creatures and turning to the Creator, and they choose to live in a hermitage, which is totally against Islams sociable essence. 

In Risale-i Nur Collection it is stated that this world has got three faces. They are a mirror reflecting Allahs names, a field for the Hereafter and a playground for the people who follow their desires. A Muslim loves the first two faces of the world. S/he tries to evaluate those faces through worship and meditation. On the other hand, s/he benefits from the boons of this world and enjoys them in a lawful way. The dangerous kind of worldly love is forgetting the first two faces and merely wasting time with the third face. 

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) states People are asleep; when they die, they wake up and puts the heedlessness of those who play with the third face of the world into words quite well. 

Our Lord informs us of the fact that this world is nothing but a play and amusement (al-Anam, 32). Only kids play such games and only debauched people are satisfied with amusement. 

When a kid grows up and becomes an adult, he/she quits playing with his/her toy houses, which he/she built and impaired a lot of times, and seeks for an eternal home. And again when one grows, amusement is replaced by working and gaining knowledge in his/her life. 

When this hadith and Bediuzzamans prayer show us the originals and sources of the boons, examples and shadows of which you have shown to us are juxtaposed, we can come up with this meaning: A person can eat and drink in his/her dream. Those foods satisfy him/her in dream. It is like a shadow fed on another shadow. However, when that person wakes up, he/she understands that he/she is hungry and starts to seek for his/her real food. 

People who pass their time with worldly things and forget about real happiness are satisfied with shadows too. They will wake up when they die and perceive that the real satisfaction is only in Heaven. However, it will be too late for most people and they will have already missed the chance. 

The Messenger of Allah states swearing: I swear by Allah, this world is like dipping a finger into the sea when compared to the Hereafter. See what will he have? What will your finger take from sea? 

Eternal happiness is a sea and boons of the world are just wetness on the finger Those who do not drown in this wetness and who do not get wet in this slight humidity find the sea. Those who are not deceived by finite things reach the infinity. 

It is not a sin to fall in love. It is stated in a hadith that the one who falls in love with a woman and hides this feeling and who dies without telling this to anyone is a martyr. (see Kanzu’lummal, h. No: 7000; to get more information about the hadith, see Ajluni, 2/263;). Sahawi pointed out that the hadith is sahih (sound) (see al-Maqasidu’l-Hasana, 1(220).

As you know, rather than sensuality which stems from lust, love is the name given to the excessive affection felt in the heart. Therefore, it is not up to one to decide whether to fall in love or not.

If you cannot help thinking of her/him, it is permitted for you to remember her/him. However, it is wrong to love somebody to such a degree as to sacrifice the sacred things as if worshipping.

If you have the opportunity to get married and to take him/her as a spouse within the boundaries of the religious criteria, we recommend you to do that right away. If this is not possible, thinking that it is not for your goodness, then, you should ask for a good spouse from Allah.

We cannot know what is good for us. There is a possibility that we will wish something which at first we absolutely wanted to take place had not ever happened. Therefore, it is best to ask for what is good for us and to wait with patience if it does not happen.

Mary’s mother had asked for a son. Allah gave her a girl. She was very upset about it. If we asked her now which one she would rather have: tens of boys or just one Mary. Of course, she would choose one Mary. For, her daughter became a prophet’s mother.

We should act accordingly.

We are Allah’s servants. We are to act however He wishes. It is forbidden for a man and a woman to stay alone together even if they are engaged if they are not married,. For, engagement is not marriage. They must get married in the presence of witnesses so that they will become lawful for each other.

For instance, if one takes permission from you for the fruit in your garden and then eats it, you will like it. However, if one ate it without your permission and said, “What is the difference?”, what would you do?

Allah forbade us to wander without permission; and taking permission is through performing marriage.

Homosexuality is a major sin that caused the destruction of the nation of Lot. If such people do not commit anything wrong, they will not be held responsible because of feeling like that. The religion of Islam gives decrees based on deeds, not feelings. That is, if a person has a feeling in his heart, he will not be held responsible for it; when he does a deed in accordance with that feeling, he will be held responsible.  

It is a reality that some men have feelings close to those of women and vice versa. They will not be held responsible unless they realize those feelings and act contrarily to the religion. 

This world is a place of testing. Everybody has a test. Allah does not place a burden on a person greater than he can bear. Some people may be tested through sexuality, gambling, alcohol, etc. It is not appropriate to surrender without struggling.

Having a weakness does not necessitate surrendering. Man will not be held responsible due to the feelings of sexuality. However, he will be held responsible if he fulfils them. Man, who is to show patience in this short worldly life, needs to show patience related to his weaknesses and try to attain an untroubled life in the hereafter.

What are the precautions that can be taken in terms of homosexuality (a man desiring another man)? What is the religious decree related to homosexuality?

Is it a sin to have these feelings involuntarily and is there a way of getting rid of it?

Everybody and every man can have the conditions you have in terms of nature and creation.It is a kind of testing for man. That is, both intercourse with someone from the other sex without marriage and intercourse with a person from the same sex are prohibited. The Shariah (Islamic Law) advises people to do the following to correct those attitudes. They are as follows:

1- to fast,
2- to read the Quran and to mention Allah’s names (dhikr) a lot,
3- to read the interpretations of the Quran or Islamic books,
4- to remember Allah a lot
5- not to forget death.

What is interesting here is that although most of us consider talking about homosexuality a taboo, there are many clear expressions about it in the Quran. Since the Quran mentions it when giving the example of the people of Lot, it means this problem is ‘as old as the people of Lot, too important to overlook, uglier than fornication yet discussable like any other human fault.’

Then, how does something like that happen? How and why do people undergo such a sexual deviation?

Let us start with biological and genetic factors:

As  a matter of fact, all of us have the hormones of the opposite sex in our bodies though very little. If we did not have any, then all men would be too harsh and macho, all women would be too delicate, and it would be impossible for the opposite sexes to understand each other. However, those minimal tendencies that are normally present may reach to high levels in some people due to genetic or hormonal deterioration. Consequently, there happen to be some individuals who are inclined to homosexuality by birth.

If you say, “then, what?”, listen to the following talk:

A friend of mine who is a psychiatrist called me a few days ago. After a short introduction, he said, "You know, the last researches show that homosexuality is almost unpreventable in some cases. It has been determined that there is also a genetic aspect of the issue by birth; you may have read it. That is, at least some of those people who become homosexual do so because of an inclination in their nature; it is clear now. However, we read that it is an unacceptable inclination and that it is even necessary to punish those people in terms of Islam. How would you settle that dilemma?"

I said to him, "It may be a strange example but you know that for instance polygamy is also a genetic and natural inclination for men." "Yes?" he said. "Are you a polygamist?" I asked. "Certainly not," he said. "Why not?" I insisted. "Do you not have an inclination like that in you? Speak frankly please." "I do, as a matter of fact." He said. "However, my wife will not let me; there are social rules, laws, etc.; there are so many drawbacks, you know. In addition, I do not want to commit sins. Therefore, I would not even think of it.”

"Thus, you answered your own question,"I said. "As a matter of fact, there may be some homosexual inclinations in some people based on their genetics, but those people should be able to and they can control those abnormal inclinations."

"I did not think about it that way", he said.

After thinking for a few moments, he said, “But you know that some disorders in the brain, for instance, diseases like temporal epilepsy may lead to almost uncontrollable aggressiveness. If such a person killed someone unconsciously due to that disorder, would he be punished? He would not. According to the articles 46 and 47 of the Turkish Penal Code, his sentence would be mitigated or forgiven. What would you say to this example?”

"All right," I said, "Would that person be released after his sentence was forgiven so that he would kill another person? Or, would he be put under clinical observation until he was cured and then followed for a long time?"

My friend said, "You are right again."

During puberty, some young people may have partly tried homosexuality out of curiosity. Almost like playing a game of being doctors.

People may say "a childish mistake." However, what is important is what follows. After such an incidence, sometimes years later, a person may ask himself, ”Oh my God! What had I done?” During that period, by not sharing the problem with anyone else and accusing himself and asking himself the question “Am I a gay?” may sometimes lead a young person to unwanted situations. He may say, “Since I am a gay, I may just as well act like a gay.” A young man who is not actually a homosexual may really become a homosexual just because he thinks that he may be a homosexual!

I will give you a tragicomic example:

I had a homosexual patient. He had an intestinal parasite problem when he was an elementary school student. Some people may know about it. It makes a person itch in the anus. You may not believe it but that itching led that boy to the suspicion,” Am I a…….?”. The outcome was unfortunately terrible! Besides, it is not the only example. There are many incidences in medical literature leading people to homosexuality just because of intestinal parasites. Young people feel embarrassed and they do not tell anybody about it because of their pride; they do not ask for help; they fret and eat their hearts out. Something so little makes their lives miserable. So many people are destroyed spiritually.

As for the part of the issue that interests us:

1. One should neither ignore those delicate issues nor try to stir it up. What is necessary is a shrewd quietness and a balanced interference.

2. Beginning from the very young ages, parents should direct their children to form their gender identity and emphasize their gender in choosing things like clothes, toys, etc. For instance, parents should buy them clothes and toys in accordance with their gender.

3. A child is curious about gender during his normal development, especially in some periods; it is necessary to inform him correctly. You should not tell him/her about homosexuality, of course. To meet his natural and humanly curiosity will form a sound base for him in the future. Do not feel embarrassed about those issues. You may feel embarrassed about telling them the truth but some people do not even feel embarrassed about telling them the wrong things. And do not forget this: “Children never ask about things that they are not ready to learn." If a child asks about something, you must answer him in an appropriate way.

4. Especially during puberty, adolescents should spend more time and share things with their parents of the same gender. I want to underline it so that the fathers who go to work from home and home from work, who put on their pajamas and slippers and watch television and who say to their wives, “Darling! Please take care of the boy. I am very tired” will hear me and act accordingly.

5. The somewhat dominant and respected role of the father in the family should be maintained. Otherwise, if the mother is obviously dominant and if the father is passive at home – unfortunately, in most homes, it is a reality; a sign of the end of time -  the position of the mother may be something desired by the son.

6. When you face a problem like that, if you react excessively and impose unexplained bans, it will make the child more curious. Even if you do not talk and do not let the child talk about it, the questions in the child’s mind will increase gradually.

7. If you cannot find a solution, ask for the help of a psychiatrist.

Note: Homosexuality is not a condition peculiar to males only. The problem exists among women too. However, it takes place more indistinctly among women and it is not resistant and continuous. A normal sexual life and a happy marriage will generally settle the problem. Nevertheless, it is necessary to be careful in places where women stay together in groups.

Unfortunately, as a community, while we give great importance to man-woman seclusion, we sometimes overlook man-man and woman-woman seclusion. This is one of the reasons of the problem for both genders. What about doing some reading and finding out about the criteria of the privacy and tasattur (covering the body) of men towards men and women towards women?

DR. YUSUF KARAÇAY

The chapter of al-Humaza in the Quran starts with a divine warning:

"Woe to every (kind of) scandal-monger and-backbiter!" (al-Humaza, 104/1)

The religion of Islam is against hurting the pride of people. However, unfortunately, people make this mistake. Even the prophets were mocked. If you see the history of Islam and history of prophets, you will see it.

It is better to keep silent, to leave that place and to take refuge in Allah from Satan and say bismillah in such situations. One gets great thawabs when he suppresses his anger. One should think of the result and the thawabs at the moment of trouble. He should think that even the prophets were attacked by hands and words. One should try not to be in the same places with such people.

It is necessary to warn the people who act like that when they are alone, not in the community. If he keeps acting like that despite warnings, it is necessary to try not to be in the same places with such people.

THE CHAPTER OF AL-HUMAZA

It is the one hundred and fourth chapter of the Quran. It was sent down in Makkah. It consists of nine verses. It takes its name from the word "humaza" in the first verse and the rhyme of the verses is “a(h)”.

"Humaza" is used in the sense of backbiting. The words "humaza lumaza" are two words whose meanings are very close two each other in Arabic; they are sometimes used interchangeably. There is so little difference between them that even the Arabs who have a good command in Arabic say lumaza when they define humaza.In that case, the meaning is as follows:  A person who is used to despising and looking down on people points at some people with his finger and indicates others with his words. He denigrates others due to their status. He disparages yet others. He says some bad things right to the face of some people and backbites others. He causes conflicts and trouble between friends by acting as a talebearer; he sows discord between brothers. He gives names to some people, makes fun of them and displays their deficiencies.

This chapter reflects one of the real descriptions of real life in the first years of Islam. Besides, it describes an example that can be seen in any community and age. A simple and mean person is described and the attitudes and states of such people are narrated; thus, it is emphasized how poor they are. He is one of the wicked people who have a wealth and who are enslaved by their wealth, thinking that the only thing that matters in the world is wealth and regarding everything else inferior compared to wealth. In addition, he thinks this wealth is a god that has power over everything and that can do anything it wants. Thus, he thinks death will never come and that he will live forever. He thinks he will escape from the reckoning and penalty in the hereafter, if there is, thanks to his wealth. His property and money have become his god. He worships material things and the world from then on.

Thus, this mean person (and the people like him) counts his wealth and takes pleasure as he counts it. A bad feeling in him leads him to defame people’s honor, backbite and mock them.

This description is a disgusting, ugly and mean description of human soul deprived of personality and belief. Islam hates those wicked and mean souls since it gives importance to high ethics. Therefore, Islam forbids mocking and making fun of others. It refuses condemning people in various places. That those deeds are mentioned as ugly and disgusting along with threats shows that some polytheists treated the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and the believers like that in that age. This was applied against them in the past and it is applied against the Muslims of today in the same way.

l) "Woe to every (kind of) scandal-monger and-backbiter,

2) Who pileth up wealth and layeth it by,

3) Thinking that his wealth would make him last for ever!

4) By no means! He will be sure to be thrown into That which Breaks to Pieces,

5) And what will explain to thee That which Breaks to Pieces?

6) (It is) the Fire of (the Wrath of) Allah kindled (to a blaze),

7) The which doth mount (Right) to the Hearts:

8) It shall be made into a vault over them,

9) In columns outstretched.

Two great meanings are seen in Allah's rejecting this behavior. Firstly, to condemn immorality and to denigrate such mean souls. Secondly, to support believing souls, to prevent mean souls from penetrating into them, to indicate that Allah sees whatever they do and that He will punish them. Those indications aim to elevate the believers spiritually and to keep them away from ugly tricks.

Naci YENGİN

MOCKERY, MOCKING

It means to make fun of a thing or a person, to disdain people, to insult people, to display others’ mistakes through words, signs or writing, to despise a person in a community. 

The feeling of mocking in a person starts by feeling conceited; then, he ignores his addressees and starts to look down on them. Consequently, this feeling makes him mock others and brings about the disorder of conceit and arrogance, which caused Satan to rebel against his Lord, and which becomes manifest in the form of not accepting Lord and despising people.

When a person mocks, he feels arrogant and conceited; in addition, he hurts and disturbs his believing brother by his mockery. It is haram to be conceited and to pain a believer. Due to the result of both bad deeds, the bonds of brotherhood in the Islamic community loosens. For, the feeling of enmity and hatred enter between the individuals with mocking. Thus, the Islamic community, which is described as a building, breaks into pieces and scatters.

The Islamic community is a whole. The dignity and honor of every individual in Islam is untouchable. The feelings of honor, dignity and chastity, which form the basis of an individual’s spiritual life, cannot be defamed. One of the primary deeds that defame human dignity is mockery. Islam gives importance to the principle of protecting human rights and freedom, and human dignity and honor; therefore, Islam guarantees the feelings and thoughts of Muslims through the Quran: "O ye who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at others: It may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): Nor let some women laugh at others: It may be that the (latter are better than the (former): Nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames: Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after he has believed: And those who do not desist are (indeed) doing wrong" (al-Hujurat, 49/11)

Islam forbids mockery in order to protect bonds of brotherhood. It is not permissible for a believer who believes in Allah and the Day of Judgement to mock people and to make fun of them. It is a very bad thing to make fun of others, to give them bad names that they will not like no matter how. For, this act is a wound that gives pain and that people cannot easily forget.

Relationships in the life of community are based on sincerity. The instrument measuring the degree of this sincerity is the heart. Hz. Prophet (pbuh) said, "Allah does not look at your shape and your wealth; but he looks at your hearts." (Muslim, Birr, 32). People are always familiar with the outer appearance; the inner world cannot be known. What will be weighed in the presence of Allah is not the outer appearance but the piety (taqwa) of the hearts. The knowledge of man is not enough to know and understand it. For this reason, one cannot despise a person and cannot break his heart, which is valued by Allah, by making fun of that person.

The Quran condemns those who regard wealth the only lofty value in the world, who think they are strong because of their wealth and who mock the values of others: "Woe to every (kind of) scandal-monger and-backbiter." (al-Humaza, 104/1)

According to Islam, every person that is created has a value in the eye of Allah. Allah, who created man in the best of molds, equipped him with the best characteristics and made him a vicegerent on earth. (al-Baqara, 2/30) To make fun of the outward appearance of a being like that may make a person confront his Lord, who created him. In fact, his Lord, Allah, who is his Creator, will not be pleased when a person is mocked.

In the Quran, those who make fun of belief (al-Baqara, 2/206; al-Munafiqun, 63/5-6), verses of the Quran (at-Tawba, 9/124- 125, 127), prophets (Muhammad, 47/16) and believers (at-Tawba, 9/79) are mentioned. Those people are the ones who make friends with unbelievers by abandoning believers. (an-Nisa, 4/139; al-Maida, 5/52; al-Mujadala, 58/14) Those people think they deceive Allah and believers by doing so. (al-Baqara, 2/9; an-Nisa, 4/143; Hud, 11/5) According to Islam, belief is sacred; it cannot be mocked. The people who are stated to make fun of faiths are the hypocrites (munafiqs) that emerge in the community of Islam.

The distressed (qabz) and relieved (bast) states lexically mean psychological trouble, distress and comfort, relief. Badiuzzaman Said Nursi explains these states as follows in Kastamonu Lahikası:

“The other psychological pains is a divine whip to make a person get accustomed to patience and struggle. For, thedistressed (qabz) and relieved (bast) states occurring in people of understanding from the manifestation of majesty (jalal) and beauty (jamal) of Allah in the balance of fear and hope in order to show patience and to thank Him with the wisdom of not being affected by the danger of safety and despair is a famous principle of improvement according to the people who are aware of the truth.”

We can explain this statement as follows: Some spiritual problems are a divine whip given to us by Allah in order to make us accustomed to patience and struggle against the soul. The word whip is used here because when an animal gets lazy, a whip is used to make it active. Similarly, a person who gets lazy and lives monotonously is virtually whipped by the relieved and distressed states and he is ordered to do his duty seriously.

However, the phrase “the danger of safety and despair” in the statement above should not be ignored here. The state of safety should not be the outcome of the relieved state. That is, the relief that comes after distress should not harm the seriousness in one’s duty. However, a believer should not fall into despair after the state of distress. For, as Mehmet Akif, the poet, says, “Despair prevents all kinds of achievements.”

These states occur with the manifestation of Allah Almighty’s names Jalal and Jamal. Illness is the manifestation of Allah Almighty’s name Shafi (the Curer); similarly, state of distress is the manifestation of Allah Almighty’s name ad-Darr (the Creator of the Harmful) (a jalal name) and state of comfort and relief is the manifestation of Allah Almighty’s name al-Wasi (the All-Comprehending) (a jamal name).

It is necessary to have it a habit to have wudu when one walks around and to read the Quran and Jawshan frequently.

We are not regarded to have committed sins due to the evil things in our imagination. However, we believe that we should be careful because these willingly imagined thoughts can cause us to waste the blessing of imagination and can lead us to make various mistakes. At least, it is a waste of time and imagination.

We are not responsible for the images which we unwillingly think of and which come to our minds. Responsibility is in question for voluntary deeds. In other words, people are held responsible for the deeds which they choose to do based on their own will. Nevertheless, will is not in question related to evil thoughts that come to the mind. That is, you have not decided to think of evil things and have not committed them. For this reason, you are not held responsible for them. It is best to ignore them considering them as delusions of Satan.

Satan can impose his delusions on people’s hearts from the place called “sign of devil” next to the heart. The proof that these words and thoughts implied are not the products of the heart is the heart’s becoming nervous due to them. For example, even if a person observes the beauty of the sky through a dirty telescope, the dirt does not smear on neither the observer nor the observed. So, such words and thoughts are those of Satan and they do not harm us. The real damage is to trying to get rid of it in vain or becoming afraid, thinking that it is dangerous.

As far as we can understand, you have seriously lost your trust in the world and in people. It may be based on traumatic experiences that you may have had or perceived or have been deeply affected by in the past. Therefore, your perception of threat from your environment is much higher than it should be.

Besides, your psychological mood causes you to focus on negative situations in general because when we look around us, although half of the world’s population is women, how many women are raped and their arms and legs are cut off every year? You will see that you can count it on the fingers of one hand.

As you can see, the world is not as insecure as you see it. Therefore, there is no reason for you to worry whether the “terrible things” you describe will happen to you or not. Yes, there are some problems and there are some places where we need to be cautious and pay attention to, but your perception of threat is not compatible with them, that is, it is much higher than it should be.

In that case, what you need to do is not to worry so deeply by thinking about the possibility of something one in a million or a billion. Allah has given people the feeling of fear and anxiety so that they will protect themselves from possible dangers, not that they will make life a torment for themselves. What you need to do is to take the necessary precautions, be careful like everyone else, and put your trust in Allah for the rest.

- Due to this insecure and anxious mood, you probably avoid entering groups, going out, mingling with people, and establishing close and sincere friendships with people.

Our first advice to you is this: Do not run away from your fears and anxieties. If you run away, you deepen your fears even if you relieve them for a short time. Join people gradually, visit certain historical places, mosques, that is, crowded and safe places with your girlfriends. Enter crowded places there.

As those little experiences occur without any trouble, your confidence will grow.

- When you go out or stay at home alone, imagine the best possible experience, not the worst possible scenario. In this context, imagine the positive experiences you have had so far, not the negative ones.

- Strive to improve your self-confidence by Allah’s leave and by putting your trust in Him because one way to trust other people is to trust yourself. As a matter of fact, people who have self-confidence problems tend to perceive the people around them as a threat because they have insecurity problems. As your self-confidence increases, your perception of threat will also improve.

- Keep away from horror movies and images with violence and brutality. Similarly, do not let others tell you brutal stories or news because those images of brutality, stories or photographs reinforce your perception of insecurity and fear in your subconscious.

- This problem you are experiencing did not form in a short time; instead of waiting for a solution in a very short time, you need to proceed by giving yourself time.

- If possible, talk to a mental health professional (psychologist, psychotherapist, psychiatrist) about your difficulties.

In fact, the shortest summary is this:

To act in accordance with the rules Allah imposed in the Quran and the universe. Both books belong to Allah. Those whoact in accordance with those two books become peaceful and happy both materially and spiritually.  

For, the Quran is the life of the spirit and the universe is the light of the body.

Man
-should give life to his spiritual world with belief, feed it with worshipping and protect it by avoiding sins;
- he shouldact in accordance with the laws of the book of the universe by contenting himself with the legitimate things for his bodily world.

A body that is left without air, water and food is destroyed and is deprived of peace and happiness; similarly, the spirit that is deprived of worshipping will remain without air, water and food.

After this brief and concise knowledge, let me share some of the advice of both soul and body specialists:

1. Drink a lot of water.

2. Eat less.

3. Eat more of the food grown in the trees and plants, and less of the food produced in the factories.

4. Do not bottle up anything.

5. Allocate time for worshipping and prayer.

6. Sit quietly for at least ten minutes every day. Meditate.

7. Sleep regularly.

8. Walk thirty minutes every day. And smile while walking.

9. Do not compare your life with others. You have no idea what their journey is like.

10. Do not have negative thoughts that you cannot control. Instead; spend your energy for the moment; know the value of every breath you take; take pleasure.

11. Discover the beauty of plainness.

12. Do not take life very seriously. Do not forget that you are ephemeral.

13. Do not waste your precious energy talking about others.

14. Avoid thinking bad things about others.

15. Jealousy is a waste of time. You already have everything you need.

16. Forget about the affairs in the past. Do not remind people of their mistakes in the past. This will ruin your present happiness.

17. Life is too short to waste time by nursing a grudge against someone. Do not hate anyone.

18. Make peace with your past so that it will not ruin the present time.

19. Remember that life is a school and we are here to learn. Problems are like an algebra lesson that remains in the past but the lessons we take are part of a training program that continues for a lifetime.

20. Smile more and try to be positive.

21. You do not have to win every debate. Compromise even if you disagree.

22. Call your family frequently.

23. Give something good to others every day. Smile, thanks, compliment, help, support, morale ...

24. Forgive everybody for everything.

25. Spend time with people older than seventy and younger than six.

26. Smile at least to three people every day and greet someone you do not know.

27. Do not care what others think about you.

28. Do what is right, and do not repent of your mistakes. Whatever happens or does not happen is for your goodness.

29. Try to keep away from anything that is not useful, beautiful or joyful.

30. ALLAH heals everything; everything we experience is for our goodness even if we do not notice it now.

31. Whether a situation is good or bad, it will change anyhow. Accept the situation.

32. No matter how you feel, get up, put on your clothes and go out. Do not lock yourself in the house.

33. The best has not come yet.

34. Thank Allah for waking up alive in the morning.

35. Your spirituality is always your happiness. Pay attention to your feelings.

36. Believe, pray, do what is necessary and leave the rest to the divine determination.

Self-reliance (self-confidence) means to keep one’s will strong and to remain sound and resolute in the face of events, that is, not to fall into despair. When man attains success, he should attribute it to Allah, not to himself. Besides, this is the real self-confidence. If he attributes his achievements to his own soul and feels conceited, it will be dangerous for him.

It is necessary to keep away from despair, arrogance, conceit and having bad thoughts about others, which are spiritual diseases.

If one is deprived of “spiritual armors” in an age when matter is determined to suffocate spirit, his spirits are bound to suffer crises and illnesses though his body is beautiful and strong.

The earth harbors plenty of people who struggle to feed their bodies but who suffer all kinds of “crises of true path” due to spiritual hunger. Believers struggle against some spiritual illness due to the effect of the infectious disorders of this age and they flounder helplessly because they are unaware of the diagnosis of their diseases and ways of treatment. However, the rich resources of Islam, like the Quran, which is the source of miracles, and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, include remedies for those diseases. The biggest illness of the people of this age is to be unaware of the remedy. Let us analyze four important spiritual diseases that are common today:

1. Despair (Hopelessness)

A person who cannot succeed in doing righteous deeds and worshipping as he wishes and who cannot fulfil those duties fear the penalty in the grave and Hell. He falls into despair. Most of the people who cannot fulfill their duties of worshipping by being overcome by their souls due to laziness and the negative effects of their environment and who flounder in the quagmire of debauchery fall into despair. This illness can lead a person to unbelief and denial.

A person who loses hope of getting rid of the bad state he is in is easily defeated by doubts and delusions. Such people want to hold on to the weakest and smallest claims that lead people to the opposite of religious issues and to deny the issues of belief and creed as if they are great and strong evidences. If this state continues, he will rebel and exit Islam. He will join the army of Satan. For instance, the soul of a person who finds it difficult to perform prayers desires that performing prayers not be fard. If a Satan-like person causes a delusion in him that prayer is not fard, his soul wants to hold on to that baseless claim; if he falls into this trap, he will lose his belief. This is the perilous end of the illness of “despair”.

The following verse is the remedy for those who catch the illness of despair and who cannot do righteous deeds:

“Say: "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (az-Zumar, 39/53)

2. Arrogance (Reliance on deeds):

A person who cannot worship and falls into despair starts to seek points of support since he is afraid of divine penalty. He sees that he has some good deeds and holds on to them. He thinks those deeds will be enough for his salvation and relaxes. However, this state is “ujb”, that is, reliance on deeds; it leads man to unbelief and aberration. For, man has no right on the good deeds, worshipping and favors that he does. They do not belong to him; how can he rely on them? What wishes charity and righteous deeds is “Allah’s mercy” and what creates and grants them to man is “Allah’s power”. Man’s share in charity and righteous deeds is to accept, to pray, to be pleased with and to demand. It is Allah Almighty who gives man his body, health and strength and who gives him life to do righteous deeds.

Hz. Abu Hurayra narrates: the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,  

‘(O believers!) Do your deeds and worshipping moderately; avoid extremism. For, Deeds will not save any of you from fire.’ The Companions asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah! Will deeds not save you either? The Prophet answered, ‘Not me either.’ He added, ‘If Allah does not forgive my sins with His mercy and grace, my deeds will not save me either.’

Man should give up relying on his deeds and claiming to be the owner of his charity and worshipping. He should know that he could make mistakes only to himself. Whatever good comes to him is from Allah. Whatever bad comes to him is from his own soul. The body and life are among the things entrusted to man. Man should always say, “To Him belongs sovereignty and to Him is praise due. There is neither might nor power except with Allah.”

3. Conceit

Conceit originates from man’s not knowing himself. Conceit is the biggest mistake of a person who is unaware of his weakness, poverty and incompleteness. Man is deprived from all material and spiritual maturity due to conceit. There is only one thing that a conceited person, who likes himself, keeps away from: Prayer mat. The face of the conceited person who does not prostrate is dark. A person who has no trace of prostration on his face is in abasement so much that he kisses the feet of his soul. Even if a conceited person prostrates, his spirit is upright. What matters is to make the spirit prostrate. The only friend of a conceited person is himself. His student and teacher is himself. A conceited person is the meanest idolater. If a person regards his own knowledge sufficient and disdains to consult to others due to his conceit, he is an incomplete person. Such people become deprived of the beauties and ideas of other people and, what is more, from the guidance of the blessed people, that is, “salaf as-salihin” that lived in the past; they will abandon the line of Islam. The only fruit of conceit is deprivation.

4. Having bad thoughts about others

Man should have “good thoughts” about others. He should regard others as superior to him. Having bad thoughts about others will cause man to think that others also have bad characteristics like him. Having bad thoughts about others breaks off the ties of reliance among Muslims and shakes the foundations of the community. A believer should not have bad thoughts about others, especially the beloved slaves of Allah, if he does not know the and reason for their behaviors.

Hz. Abu Hurayra narrates: the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,

“Beware of suspicion about others, as suspicion is the falsest talk. Do not spy upon others, and do not seek news about others' affairs; do not compete against one another; do not be jealous of one another; do not hate one another; do not turn your backs to one another. O slaves of Allah! Be brothers as Allah ordered you. A Muslim is the brother of another Muslim. He does not oppress, deprive and insult his brother. It is enough as evil for a person to insult his brother. It is haram for a Muslim the wealth, blood and honor of another Muslim. Allah does not look at your shapes and bodies, but your hearts and deeds. Taqwa is here – he pointed at his chest. Never sell something after selling it to another person. O slaves of Allah! Be brothers! It is not halal for a Muslim to be cross with his brother more than three days.” (Bukhari, Nikah 45)

To have the ethics of the Quran and to enter the luminous circle of the Sunnah will keep us away from spiritual diseases. If we do not adhere heartily to the Quran and the Sunnah, which are the only sources of remedy for the spiritual diseases, four of which we have tried to explain above, we may lose our eternal life.

May Allah Almighty save us from all kinds of spiritual diseases and weakness of belief!

Self-reliance that is away from those diseases will lead man to perfection. Otherwise, man cannot get rid of being a slave of his soul.

Some people misunderstand the wise advice given by some spiritually great people to cut off the relationship of the heart with creatures in order to connect to the Creator and assume a lifestyle like abandoning the worldly life, which is completely opposite to the actionist spirit of Islam.

It is stated in Risale-i Nur Collection that the world has three faces: the faces “being mirrors to divine names”, “being a field for Paradise” and “being a place of games for people of entertainment”. A Muslim loves two faces of the world. He tries to benefit from those faces through worshipping and meditation. On the other hand, he makes use of worldly boons legitimately and takes pleasure. The dangerous one of the loves of the world is being busy with the third face by forgetting the first two faces.

“People are in sleep; they wake up when they die.”

With the hadith above, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) expressed in a nice way the heedlessness of those who were busy with the third face of the world.

Our Lord informs us that the life of this world is nothing but play and amusement (al-An’am, 6/32). Only children spend their time playing games; entertainment satisfies only debauched people.

When man ends his childhood, he abandons his toy houses that he has built and dismantled so many times and starts to look for a permanent house to live. When he grows up, entertainment is replaced by working and ilm (knowledge).

When the prayer of Badiuzzaman Said Nursi,

“Show us the source and origin of these examples and shadows you have shown us” (Sözler: Words)

is thought together with the hadith above, the following meaning comes to the heart:  A person who dreams also eats and drinks. Those foods satisfy him in his dream. A shadow satisfies another shadow here. However, when this man wakes up, he understands that he is hungry and starts to look for real food.

The people who are busy with the world and forget the real happiness become satisfied with shadows. They will wake up when they die and will understand that real satisfaction will only be in Paradise. However, it will be too late for most people.

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) states the following by swearing:

“I swear by Allah that the world compared to the hereafter is like one of you dipping his finger into the sea. What will remain to him? What can his finger take from the sea?” (Hakim, Mustadrak, 4/319)

Eternal bliss is a sea. The worldly pleasures are like the water that wets the finger. Those who are not drowned in this wetness and who do not get wet due to slight moisture find the sea. Those who are not deceived by the ephemeral will attain the eternal.

- Allah regarded it appropriate to make a test. We have no right to question this preference of His. We can only try to learn the wisdom behind it.

However, when we cannot proceed, we need to surrender to our Lord, in whom we believe wholeheartedly, and to know our place.

- For a fair test, the existence of elements that will help people to pass and to fail the test is necessary. From this viewpoint, people are supported by strong elements like mind, thought and revelation that help them positively in the test. In addition, Allah also created the elements like the soul that will affect the test negatively.

Besides, it is possible to guide the soul by contributing to it with training and education. The levels of the soul like lawwama (blaming), mutmainna (satisfied), radiya (pleased), mardiyya (fulfilling) indicate this positive affect of it.

- In fact, this test is not so hard. The concept “hardship/difficulty” is a debatable and relative concept that is hard to understand. However, it has been shifted from its real meaning.  

The concept “hardship/difficulty” is like a negative energy central that seems impossible. Therefore, a way is opened for the experience of a psychological trauma in mind management without using a method of logic.   

- Let us view it fairly: Allah rendered all kinds of foods and drinks halal for us but He prohibited only some - harmful things to our health - like wine-alcoholic drinks. If man keeps away from those prohibitions throughout his life, he will not lose anything from his health, nutrients and taste. In order to satisfy his sexual motives, man can do it legitimately with a discipline that fits man by having a marriage contract.  

- Man generally loses the test not because it is hard but because he does not listen to the voice of his conscience that is located in the depths of his mind and nature. We naturally do not want to say that everything is very easy. What test is very easy? The difficulty, seriousness and discipline of a test that leads to Paradise, which is not cheap, and Hell, which is not unnecessary, is definitely indisputable.

However, no mind and conscience can reject the fact that Allah’s forgiveness and endless mercy, His mercy’s being superior to His fury, the door of repentance always being open, one bad deed being recorded as one bad deed and one good deed being recorded as at least ten deeds are tolerance offered to man to pass the test.

- According to a narration, some Companions were walking normally while others were walking slowly – due to fatigue – in a journey.  Meanwhile the Prophet (pbuh) recited the first two verses (mentioning the earthquake of Doomsday) of the chapter of al-Hajj aloud. When the Companions heard that the Messenger of Allah recited those verses aloud, they ran toward him – thinking that there was definitely some wisdom behind it. The Prophet said,

“Do you know the day mentioned in those verses?” Then, he continued as follows:

It is the day when “Adam was called and when Allah addressed Adam as follows: 'O Adam! Allocate the share of fire!'  Adam will say, ''O Lord! What is the share of fire?' Allah will say, ' Out of each thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine will go to Fire / Hell and one will go to Paradise.”

When the Companions heard it, their faces faded; there was no trace of smile left on their faces. When the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) saw the hopeless and distressed state of the Companions, he stated the following:

“Glad tidings to you! Be hopeful and continue doing righteous deeds. I swear by Allah, who has Muhammad’s soul in his hand, that you will be between such two groups of creatures that they will be more than any people or any things that they will be compared to. They are Yajuj (Gog) and (Majuj) Magog and the ones from the offspring of Adam and Iblis (the father of jinn) that were destroyed.”

When the Companions heard it, they started to smile. Then, the Messenger of Allah stated the following:

“Do righteous deeds and be hopeful. I swear by Allah, who has Muhammad’s soul in his hand, you will be like a mole on the side of a camel or a like scratch on the arm of an animal (in a narration, a white black spot on the side of a white ox, or a white spot on the side of a black ox).”

Tirmidhi also reported that hadith along with Nasai and stated that it was hasan-sahih. (see Ibn Jarir Tabari, Ibn Kathir, the interpretation of the verse in question)

Tirmidhi and Ahmad b. Hanbal also narrated that hadith. Tirmidhi stated that it was hasan-sahih. (see Tirmidhi, Tafsir, 23; Ibn Hanbal, 4/435)

Imam Bukhari reported this issue without including the beginning part “During a journey...” (see Bukhari, Tafsiru Surati 22, 1)

- As far as we understand from the expressions of the narrations, we can say that the number given for the people to go to Hell belongs to the stage before the divine court starts on the Day of Judgment.

Accordingly, the total of the people including all kinds of unbelievers and sinners that deserve Hell is mentioned with that number. However, as it is stated in various sound hadiths, many people will be saved from Hell by being forgiven by Allah afterwards.

Similarly, many people will be saved by the intercession (shafa’ah) to be performed by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), other prophet, saints, martyrs and great scholars. That is, though they deserve hell, they will be saved without entering Hell.  

Besides, an important part will go to Hell but some people will be saved from Hell since they “have an atom's weight of belief” thanks to Allah’s grace and mercy, and go to Paradise.

Just as Paradise want people so too does Hell want people. “Long live Hell for oppressors!”

CONCEIT

It means to regard oneself great, to act arrogantly, to claim to be lofty. To regard oneself superior to others and to despise them. 

Conceit, which is a characteristic of Satan, prevented him from bowing down to Hz. Adam. Allah Almighty narrates it in the Quran as follows:  

"We said to the angels: ‘Bow down to Adam’ and they bowed down. Not so Iblis: he refused and was haughty: He was of those who reject Faith." (al-Baqara, 2/34)

The most important cause of unbelief and denial is conceit/arrogance/haughtiness. It is possible to see it in the story of Hz. Adam. As a matter of fact, after the rebellion of Satan due to his conceit, most of the people who denied and rebelled did so due to their conceit. Pharaoh denied despite the clear evidences shown by Hz. Musa.

"Then after them sent We Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh and his chiefs with Our Signs. But they were arrogant: they were a people in sin." (Yunus 10/75).

The rich and notable people who denied during the period of the Prophet also denied due to conceit/haughtiness. This issue is narrated in the Quran as follows:

"Then he turned back and was haughty; Then said he: "This is nothing but magic, derived from of old." (al-Muddaththir, 74/23-24)

The close relationship between richness, loftiness and having a high position and conceit is seen in Allah’s addressing Satan:

"Art thou haughty? Or art thou one of the high (and mighty) ones?" (Sad, 38/75),

Conceit plays an important role in denial; therefore, Allah often mentions conceit and similar words like haughtiness, arrogance and vanity.

Hz. Nuh gave his son the following advice:

"I prohibit you from two things: one of them is shirk (polytheism) and the other is conceit." (Ahmad b. Hanbal, I, 170)

Abu Rayhana reports the following from the Prophet (pbuh):

"Nothing from conceit can enter Paradise." Somebody who was present there said,

"O Messenger of Allah! I like the snap of my whip, the soundness and beauty of my shoes. Is it conceit?" Hz. Prophet (pbuh) said,

"No. It is not conceit. Allah is beautiful; He loves beautiful things. Conceit means to despise the truth and make fun of people by gestures." (Muslim, Iman, 47; Ahmad b Hanbal, lV / 133-134)

This hadith states that mocking and denial in the face of the truth is conceit and indicates that making fun of people originates from conceit. Hz. Prophet (pbuh) said to a man who was eating with his left hand, "Eat with your right hand." The man said, "I cannot eat with my right hand." The Prophet (pbuh) said, "May you not be able to do that! This man says he cannot eat with his right hand due to conceit." (Muslim, Ashriba, 107)

The Prophet (pbuh) said,

"None who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of belief shall enter Hell and none who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of conceit shall enter Paradise." (Muslim, Iman, 147, 148, 149; Abu Dawud, Libas, 26; Tirmidhi, Birr, 610; Ibn Majah Muqaddima, 9; Zuhd, 16).

The title of the sub-chapter of this hadith in Muslim's as-Sahih is "conceit being haram and its explanation". As it is understood from it, conceit is one of the bad characteristics that are haram. The expression in the hadith states that a conceited man cannot enter Paradise. However, the conceit mentioned here is conceit toward Allah and the Prophet (pbuh). If conceit, as an ethical characteristic, is considered in terms of despising others and making fun of them, it does not make a person exit the religion of Islam. However, it is haram and it can cause a person to commit the deeds that can make him exit the religion of Islam. A person with such a characteristic will enter Paradise with Allah’s pardoning and forgiveness after he is punished in Hell for his conceit. As a matter of fact, Allah states the following in a verse:

"And We shall remove from their hearts any lurking sense of injury." (al-Hijr, 15/47)

Thus, he states that the hearts of people who enter Paradise will be removed from their ethical faults in the world.

Another hadith regarding the issue is as follows:

"A person who regards himself superior or who walks arrogantly will enter into the presence of Allah by facing the wrath of Allah." (Ahmad b. Hanbal, II / 118).

This hadith shows the state of a conceited person in the hereafter. The Prophet (pbuh) shows the reason for such divine wrath as a person’s trailing his lower, showing off and acting arrogantly. He said,  

"Allah will not look with mercy to a person who trails his lower garment out of conceit." (Muslim, Libas, 42)

Those hadiths show how bad conceit, which is an ethical fault, is regarded by Allah. Regarding oneself superior in the presence of Allah, which is another form of conceit, is regarded as the same as unbelief and is damned. The Prophet (pbuh) states the following:

"People who regard themselves superior will be revived as people in the form of small ants on the Day of Judgment. They will be surrounded by abasement." (Tirmidhi, Qiyamah, 47; Ahmad b Hanbal, II / 179).

The Prophet (pbuh) narrates how conceited people will enter Hell as follows:

"Paradise and Hell discussed. Hell said, "Cruel and conceited people will come to me." Paradise said, "Weak and poor people will come to me." Thereupon, Allah said to the former, "You are My punishment; I will punish whomever I wish with you." He said to the latter, "You are My mercy. I will show mercy on whomever I wish with you. There are a lot of people for both of you." (Muslim, Jannah, 34, 35, 36)

Allah states the following in a sacred hadith regarding the issue:  

"Pride is my cloak and majesty is my lower garment, and I shall throw anyone who dares to compete with me regarding one of them into Hell." (Abu Dawud, Libas, 25; Ibn Majah, Zuhd, 16).

Hz. Prophet criticized conceit and praised modesty, which is the opposite of conceit. The Prophet (pbuh) stated the following in a sermon:

"Allah revealed me as follows: Be modest. Be so modest that do not boast to anyone." (Ibn Majah, Zuhd, 16)

Islam prohibits conceit, which is an ethical fault. Such a conceit is haram; it is a cause of being expelled from Allah's mercy. However, there is another kind of conceit. The Quran used the word "mustakbir" for it. Mustakbirs are persecutors and tyrants who try to establish their sovereignty on Allah’s earth. They regard themselves superior to Allah’s religion in order to enslave Allah’s slaves. Allah states the following for this kind of people:

"That Home of the Hereafter We shall give to those who intend not high-handedness or mischief on earth: and the end is (best) for the righteous." (al-Qasas, 28/83).

(see Ş. İslam Ans., KİBİR Item)

Both of them are harmful to the spirit: YA’S AND UJUB...

They are two big enemies of our spiritual world. The shortest definition of ya’s (despair) is "a person’s thinking that he will definitely go to Hell", and ujub (vanity) is "a person’s thinking that he will definitely go to Paradise". In other words ya’s means "to lose all hope of Allah’s mercy", and ujub is "to feel safe from His penalty".

However, it is Allah who creates the good and the evil. When man applies to the causes of the good and evil, he is regarded to have wanted Paradise or Hell. The slave asks and Allah answers. However, asking is not enough for the realization of the result. Everything occurs only after Allah wishes and creates.

There are two enemies of the line of consent that is expressed as "moderation" in Allah’s speech: ifrat (doing too much of something) and tafrit (doing too little of something).

One of them leads man upward and the other downward, to destruction. If it is thought that the earth represents "moderation", it is ifrat to approach the sun and tafrit to go down to the layer of magma; both of them burns and destroys man.

One ring of the extremes that cause man to go astray is "ya’s and ujub". The disorder of "despair" occurs in people who fail to worship and do charity. The disorder of "vanity", which leads to conceit and arrogance, occurs in people who succeed but who cannot control their souls. The former is tafrit and the latter is ifrat. Both of them are harmful.

The source of ya’s is determined as follows in Mesnevî-i Nuriye:

“O friend! He who cannot do righteous deeds and worship fears penalty and falls into despair.” (Mesnevî-i Nuriye, p. 65)

The first illness that a person who believes in the hereafter but who cannot make his soul practice Islam is ya’s. A person who catches this illness should remember the generosity, grants and forgiveness of God Almighty and should think that His mercy is so vast as to cover his sins. Thus, he will get rid of the illness of seeing himself as "a person who will definitely go to Hell" and remain away from the misfortune of ya’s.

This issue is explained as follows in the Quran:

“Say: ‘O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.’” (az-Zumar, 39/53)

The opposite of ya’s is in question in the disorder of ujub. A person practices Islam but he attributes this divine grant to his own soul, regards himself superior to others and thinks he will definitely go to Paradise.

The cure for overcoming this disease is expressed as follows in Mesnevî-i Nuriye:

“To trust in one’s deeds is ujub. It leads man to heresy. For, man has no right in the righteous deeds and charity he does; they do not belong to him; he cannot trust them.” (Mesnevî-i Nuriye, p. 65)

At this point, to listen to the following divine warning in the Quran will open the way to salvation:

“Whatever good, (O man!) happens to thee, is from Allah; but whatever evil happens to thee, is from thy (own) soul.” (an-Nisa, 4/79)

All of the good deeds that exist were taught to people by prophets and Allah created all of the conditions necessary to do them. For instance, to tell the truth is a god deed. This good deed was thought to people by divine books and prophets; besides, it is Allah who creates all of the conditions necessary to tell the truth like the mouth, tongue, salivary gland, larynx, brain, nervous system and air. 

When man thinks of them, he sees that he has a very little share in that good deed. In such a good deed that can occur when thousands of divine miracles come together, the share of man is only tending toward that good deed and using his partial free will in that way.

Instead of boasting and trusting in oneself, it is necessary to know it like that, to thank Allah and to feel gratitude toward him. Those who do not do so will fall into the pit of sins.

For a better understanding of the subject, let us first look at what the terms "Self-confidence" and "Tawakkul" mean. For, if the same concepts are given different meanings, there will be no agreement and an inextricable confusion will occur.

As a matter of fact, it is seen that giving different meanings to the same concept underlies many of the issues discussed in society within the framework of Islam today.

The concept of “self-confidence” in developmental psychology expresses the development of positive feelings towards oneself and feeling good as a result. A person who feels good and is at peace with himself, with his body, with his personality, and with his abilities, will be at peace with his surroundings and have a positive communication with them. That person does not consider himself inferior to anyone else, nor above anyone else because this person knows himself well, he also knows what to do and when to do something. From this point of view, he is comfortable in society and trusts the abilities given to him by Allah for his deeds. Accordingly, he is brave and courageous.

When we look at the issue from this perspective, a self-confident person does not say “I can do everything”, but only knows what he can and cannot do. He is happy with what he can do; he can easily tell what he cannot do, and asks for help.

People with self-confidence are not always very capable, very positive people because this feeling is mostly one's own subjective evaluation. There are people who don't like themselves despite being very handsome and beautiful; there are also people who are unaware of their abilities or despise them and have low self-esteem or vice versa.

The concept of tawakkul, on the other hand, means that a person surrenders unconditionally to Allah and consents to his fate after doing his best in the face of an event within the framework of the capabilities that Allah has given him. In other words, it means to rely on and trust Allah after acting in accordance with all material and nonmaterial reasons to reach the goal, and to leave the rest to Allah's discretion.

This meaning is mentioned in many verses in the Quran. For example, in the 159th verse of the chapter of Aal-i Imran, Allah Almighty advised the Prophet to consult those around him about his affairs, and then He commanded, “Once you make a decision, put your trust in Allah. Surely Allah loves those who trust in Him.”

A companion asked the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh): "Should I put my trust in Allah (doing tawakkul) for my camel after or before tethering it?" Our Prophet (pbuh) said to him: "First tether your camel, then trust in Allah" (Tirmidhi, Qiyama, 60) This hadith shows us when to do tawakkul.

As can be understood from these explanations, self-confidence and tawakkul are not contradictory concepts, nor are they concepts that will be used instead of each other.

While self-confidence means being aware of the blessings and abilities that Allah has given to a person and taking action, tawakkul means trusting and surrendering to Allah for the result after doing his/her best.

Here the following question may come to mind:

How should we balance between trusting ourselves due to the talents we have and trusting in God, in order to attain happiness in both worlds and not be responsible religiously?

The basic belief of a Muslim is as follows:

"Power and strength are achieved only with the help of Allah, the Almighty and the Great.”

If a person with this faith is aware of the abilities and other good qualities that Allah has given him and uses them for good deeds with this sense of confidence, it means he has achieved a balance.

It would not be right for someone with this belief and understanding to limit their confidence. Moreover, there can and should be no such approach as more or less self-confidence because it is essential to have confidence in ourselves in proportion to the abilities that Allah has given.

Such an approach will not lead him to arrogance and pride because pride stems from not knowing oneself. However, a person who knows that his self-confidence is due to his trust in Allah will not take credit for himself, and therefore, the person will not be proud.

In addition, that person's thinking that he is only a beautiful mirror to Allah's attributes and using his abilities in this direction leads humanity to progress, which is also the will of Allah. For, using talents ultimately in good deeds means using the blessings given by Allah appropriately.

In addition, being aware of the blessings Allah has given him and using them in the direction shown by Him is gratitude for the blessing. That is, to confess the blessings given to him as a means of gratitude, but to believe that it is a gift from Allah. Otherwise, it is disrespect to the blessings given to him. That is, denying the blessings, ungratefulness.

The greatest danger here is the delusion of thinking that we ourselves obtain the good deeds we do and the goods and wealth we accumulate after a certain period of time. The warnings of the Qur'an and the Prophet regarding the issue aim to save sincere Muslims from heedlessness.

Memory is the ability to memorize, learn and remember; it is the ability to preserve what is understood, perceived and learned in the mind and to recall it when necessary. According to medical research, millions of neurons (nerve cells) are embedded in the human brain. God Almighty has granted human beings the ability to learn and store libraries of information in the mind thanks to those neurons that He created as a means. Thus, memory includes learning, which we can call the storage of information in neurons, and remembering, which we can describe as retrieving and using that stored information when necessary.

Memory Geniuses and Forgetful People

While making the brain learn and remember, God, who has infinite power, made some material causes a veil for His actions; He made the perfect equipment, nerve fibers and unconscious cell atoms of the brain means of receiving and storing myriads of information. He gave those who use their memory well and make maximum use of it the ability to learn almost everything they see and read in a very short time and not to forget what they have learned even if a long time has passed.

As a matter of fact, many geniuses of memory were raised in the periods when people were observant of the well-being of their minds and lived in accordance with their nature. Hundreds of Companions such as Abu Hurayra (ra), who memorized something he heard without feeling the need to repeat it a second time, Zayd Ibn Thabit (ra), who learned Hebrew to the extent that he could write letters and translate them within fifteen to twenty days upon the order of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), were people who learned what they heard only once and never forgot it. Especially the periods of Tabi’un and Tabau Tabi’in were full of people who used their memory properly. For example, Ahmad Ibn Hanbal memorized a million hadiths including sahih (sound), hasan and weak hadiths, which were transmitted with different scripts and texts, even though the content was the same; he wrote his famous Musnad, which contains forty thousand hadiths, by selecting them from among three hundred thousand hadiths.

Unfortunately, as this age has approached, it is almost as if people’s memory has atrophied. People have become unable to memorize even very short texts that they have read twenty times and are unable to understand and learn even very simple subjects. Due to clouded minds, scattered ideas and dirty hearts, not only has the learning period become longer, but also the disease of forgetting quickly has emerged. What is learned today is lost tomorrow. So much so that today it is almost impossible to find a person who does not complain about his memory and forgetfulness. Perhaps many people in every period have expressed the same complaint, but for example, the complaint of one of the Tabi’un was that he could no longer memorize a page after reading it once, while the complaint of today’s people is that they cannot save a text in their memory even if they read it thirty times, or that they cannot remember anything after a very short time.

Mind Pollution

There are many causes that weaken the memory and lead to forgetfulness. Experts working on the brain and memory generally cite the lack of adequate supply of oxygen, glucose and certain enzymes that the brain needs, the disorganization of the work flow due to the rapid depletion of the brain’s energy because of stress, tension, etc., the inactivity of a part of the brain due to concentration on only some issues, and the habit of unsystematic thinking as the causes that come to mind immediately. They also state that sometimes the physiological structure and physical condition of man can lead to memory weakness, and as some branches of the body mechanism become tired in old age, the brain may become unable to perform some of its functions due to them.

However, some Islamic scholars, past and present, have stated that excessive sleep makes the brain sluggish, that a full stomach has a negative effect on the mind, and that sleeping during the early morning hours and looking at haram cause forgetfulness. In addition, they have emphasized the need to keep away from idle pursuits, useless conversations, trashy bits of information and uncontrolled daydreaming as they believe that mind pollution weakens the memory. They have even considered it inadvisable to read tombstones for fear that it might lead to unsystematic thinking and fill the mind with useless information; they have thought that reading tombstones might cause the kind of damage that today’s billboards, car license plates, television screens and newspaper pages cause. It is difficult to understand why, in today’s world where we live in close contact with tens of elements that pollute minds, cloud hearts and weaken memory, it is difficult to understand why one should avoid reading the inscriptions on tombstones so as not to cause forgetfulness but it should not be forgotten that the salafu salihin evaluated the issue from the perspective of their own decent atmosphere.

In my opinion, the most dangerous factors that weaken the memory are those that arouse the sensual feelings and stimulate the animal feelings. Today, the family and social environment are insufficient for the good upbringing of young people; besides the minds are paralyzed by the indoctrination that flows in and out of the environment. Television programs, internet pages, video games, daily news, political polemics, the actions and behaviors of athletes and artists that are reported as if they were great events, lies, fabrications, all kinds of deceptions and sensationalism that are invented for the sole purpose of arousing curiosity, etc. completely occupy the already weakened minds. And when all the dirt that is pumped into the minds provokes the animal feelings and human instincts and hits the sublime feelings like a ton of bricks, the rampant sensual desires and passions leave no room for reading, learning and thinking in the poor generations of our age, and almost dry up the memories completely. Yes, unfortunately, today’s human beings are struggling among the lethal waves of sins such as listening to haram, speaking haram and looking haram.

Haram and Forgetfulness

People of Allah have insisted that looking at haram is a cause of forgetfulness. They have stated that the memory of a person who cannot control his eyes and constantly looks at things that arouse sensual feelings will gradually atrophy. In fact, when Imam Shafii complained to his teacher Waki’ bin Jarrah about the weakness of his memory, that great man asked Imam Shafii to avoid even the smallest sins and said to him: “Knowledge is a divine light, and God Almighty does not bestow His light on the one who is constantly immersed in sins.” Moreover, Imam Shafii probably complained about his memory when he memorized a text not the first time but the second or third time. Besides, it is unthinkable that a man of the spirit like Imam Shafii would knowingly commit a sin.

Nursi states that the disease of forgetfulness is exacerbated by the widespread obscenity in our age. He states that the people who do not avoid looking at haram will also forget what they have learned from the Quran and that the interpretation of the hadith “In the end times, the Quran will be removed from the hearts of hafizes” should be sought in the horrible consequences of this disease.

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh), who warned his ummah not to look at haram, turned the head of Fadl (son of Abbas), whom he had placed on his camel riding pillion, left and right at a time when everyone, men and women alike, were chaste, and when they were returning from Arafat after performing waqfa of hajj; thus, he helped Fadl avoid looking at the women around. It was the age of bliss, the season was the season of Hajj, the rider was the Messenger of Allah and the one whose head was turned left and right to be prevented from looking at haram was Fadl, whose chastity no one could doubt. However, even in a situation in which such a thing was almost impossible, the fact that the Prophet (pbuh) turned Fadl’s face from side to side so that other images would not catch his eye and a stray arrow would not pierce his heart is very exemplary in terms of showing the sensitivity of our Prophet (pbuh) on this issue.

Poisoned Arrows

Our Prophet (pbuh) said, “Glancing is one of the poisonous arrows of Satan...” (Hakim, Mustadrak, 4/314; Mundhiri, at-Targhib wat-Tarhib, III, 63), indicating the necessity of protecting oneself from that poisonous arrow. Addressing firstly and personally to Ali (ra) and secondly and indirectly to all his ummah, he said, “O Ali! The first glance is in your favor, but the second one is against you...” (Tirmidhi, Adab 28; Abu Dawud, Nikah 44); he emphasized that the first glance would not bring any responsibility since it was not intentional, but since the second look was voluntary, it would be recorded as a sin; thus, he attracted attention to the need to block the path leading to haram from the very beginning and not to give way to sins. He also encouraged Muslims to close their eyes to haram by quoting God Almighty’s flattering statement: “If a person refrains from looking at haram out of fear of Me, I will put such a joy of belief in his heart that he will feel the pleasure of it in the depths of his heart.”

In this respect, so as not to fall into distraction and memory weakness due to looking at haram, it is necessary to keep away from the bazaars and markets where sins flow like a flood unless it is a matter of work or a duty related to the service of belief. If it is absolutely necessary to go out, one should act carefully as if walking in a minefield and to be vigilant against Satanic attacks. There are two conditions for achieving it: firstly, before going out to the bazaar, read or listen to something that will affect the heart, bring tears to the eyes and stimulate the spiritual senses; secondly, when going out, try not to be alone as much as possible and be accompanied by one or two friends who are wise. Despite all these efforts, there may still be stains that come from left and right against your will, and mud that pollutes the heart and spirit. In such cases, it is necessary to rush to the prayer rug at the first opportunity and turn to Allah Almighty. Worship such as salah, charity, fasting and supplication will - inshallah - atone for the sins that hit a person involuntarily.

In fact, glancing is a danger that can be prevented and avoided with willpower. With a little effort, one can have the patience not to look at sinful sights. Avoiding a bad sight that catches one’s eye is not so great a burden that can overcome one’s willpower; the willpower is enough to close the eye the first time an evil eye arrow strikes it. Especially if a person thinks that whenever he closes his eyes to haram, he will earn as much thawab as if he had performed a wajib deed, he can avoid sin at that first moment.

However, if he does not immediately turn his gaze away from haram, but immerses himself in it and looks again and again, the possibility of going back is reduced. And if he nourishes and magnifies the scenes flowing from his eyes to his mind with imagination and remembering, he is considered to have left the safe shore completely. After that, it takes much more effort to go back.

“I have set sail on the sea of rebellion,
It does not allow me to go to the shore!”

As a friend of mine expresses in the couplet above, God forbid, that sea of sin will turn the person who has wandered so far away from the shore in its waves and will not allow him to come to the shore again.

Factors That Strengthen Memory

In contrast to the factors that weaken the memory, there are also factors that can strengthen it. They include a regular life, principled work, systematic thinking and constant exercise of the mind. According to experts, the belief that “The brain gets tired if it works very hard” is wrong. The reason why the brain gets tired is not because of overworking it, but because it becomes clumsy due to misusing it or leaving it idle. Yes, the brain does not get tired due to working very hard; on the contrary, it develops and becomes more efficient the more it works. It is not work that tires and atrophies the brain, but idleness, not thinking, not contemplating and not doing work. Just as unused organs atrophy, the memory also atrophies if it is not constantly used in the right way.

Unfortunately, the ever-advancing science and technology render the human mind ineffective and inactive to a certain extent. Today’s students rely on calculators and computers and do not even feel the need to memorize the multiplication table. The inertia resulting from this readiness also prevents the brain faculties from becoming active. Yes, one should certainly make use of scientific and technological means, but he should also take care not to disturb the balance; for example, one should never use a computer for simple tasks lest he should neglect his memory. Moreover, the computer should be prepared and programmed in such a way to facilitate the work of the memory while at the same time providing gymnastics for the mind. One should concentrate on learning rather than memorizing, but it should not be overlooked that memorizing some important texts in some fields is also very useful in terms of training the mind.

On the other hand, experts also emphasize that certain foods have a direct impact on brain functioning. They point out that breakfast improves the brain’s performance and that people who do not have a breakfast habit lose concentration. To overcome forgetfulness and strengthen the memory, they recommend foods such as raisins, which contain glucose, the main fuel for the brain.

Prayer of Memorization

Some people of Salafu Salihin both said some prayers and made it a habit to eat 21 seeded raisins every morning in order to strengthen the memory and reduce forgetfulness. In addition, the people of Allah advised the people who complained of memory retardation and inability to memorize to perform the four-rak’ah prayer described in the following hadith and to say the supplication that follows it:

Once Ali (ra) came to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and complained that he could not keep the Quran in his memory: “This Quran flies away from my chest. I cannot keep it in my memory.” Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said to him, “When it is the night of (before) Friday, get up in the last third of the night; it is a witnessed hour, and supplication is answered in it. If you cannot get up at that time, get up in the first part of in the middle of the night and perform a four-rak’ah prayer. Read al-Fatiha and Yasin in the first rak’ah, al-Fatiha and ad-Dukhan in the second rak’ah, al-Fatiha and as-Sajdah in the third rak’ah and al-Fatiha and al-Mulk in the fourth rak’ah. When you finish at-Tahiyyat, praise Allah in properly. Send salawat to me and the other prophets. Seek forgiveness from Allah for the believing men and the believing women. Then, say the following prayer:” He asked Ali (ra) to repeat the prayer included in the books with the name “Prayer of Memorization”.

Ali (ra) did it for five or seven nights as the Prophet (pbuh) described and then came to him and said:

“O Messenger of Allah! I was unable to memorize even four or five verses before, but now I can memorize about forty verses. When I recite them, it is as if the Book of Allah is in front of me. In the past, I could not memorize completely a hadith I heard when I repeated it but now when I hear hadiths and narrate them, I do not miss even a single letter.” (Tirmidhi, Daawat, 114)

To sum up, memory, which is the ability to store learned information and recall it when necessary, is one of the greatest favors God Almighty has bestowed upon human beings. This wonderful ability has been created with a great capacity to contain a great deal of information as long as it is used properly.

In order to be grateful for the blessing of memory and to use it in the best way in accordance with its nature, the following is necessary:

- To shake up the mind,
- To close the eyes to haram,
- To abandon unnecessary things,
- Systematic thinking,
- To eat and drink regularly, and not more than necessary,
- Not to sleep more than necessary,
- To work and develop the mind through contemplation,
- To open the blockages in the memory through supplication and dhikr,

- To appeal to Allah, the Ever-Preserving One, to make the memory exceed its capacity, and also to work in an orderly manner such as actual prayer by looking out for the most fertile time periods, at the time of dawn, before the sun rises.

The state of qabd (contraction): As a Sufi term, qabd, which means convulsion, restrain and compaction, is the opposite of “bast (expansion)”, which means spreading out, opening up, feeling relieved. Qabd is a spiritual state corresponding to the state of fear (khawf). It is accepted that it is Allah who creates this state of distress in man. As-Sarraj defines those two terms as follows:

“Qabd and bast are two sublime and spiritual states peculiar to arifs (spiritually knowledgeable people). When Allah squeezes them, this state becomes effective in preventing them from some of the permissible things and foods, such as eating, drinking and having fun. And when He opens the hearts of arifs, He returns those permissible things back to them by undertaking to protect them. Qabd is such a state of the arif that there is no suitable place left for him in this state other than marifatullah (knowledge of Allah).” (Kitab al-Luma’, ed. Nicholson, p. 342).  (Kitabul-Luma’, published by Nicholson, p. 342).

The term for qabd in medieval Christian mysticism is the French word “desolation”. It lexically means ruin, devastation, great sorrow, great distress. (İ. Hami Danişmend, Grand Dictionnaire Francais Translation., Istanbul nd. I, 361).

AL-QABID: It means that Allah is the supreme being who takes everything under His infinite power, encompasses and grasps everything with this power, and keeps everything under His command. Praying with this name is certainly beneficial for a person in a state of qabd.

The states of qabd and bast lexically mean spiritual distress, contraction and expansion, distress and relief. Badiuzzaman Said Nursi explains those states in Kastamonu Lahikası as follows:

“...And the other spiritual pains are a divine whip to accustom them to patience and struggle because so as not to fall into the vortex of safety and despair, in order to be patient and thankful in the balance of fear and hope, the states of qabd-bast going to the people of insight from the manifestation of jalal (majesty) and jamal (beauty) is a famous maxim - a maxim of progress - according to the people of truth.”

Let us explain the statement above a little: some of our spiritual troubles are divine whips given by Allah Almighty to accustom us to patience and struggle with the nafs (soul). If we focus on the expression whip here, a whip is used to move a creature that has become lazy and sluggish. In the same way, a person who is lazy and in a state of monotony is whipped by those states of qabd and bast, and is encouraged to be serious in his duty.

However, at this point, the phrase “the vortex of safety and despair” in the statement above should not be overlooked. The state of safety should not be a consequence of the state of bast. In other words, the comfort that follows hardship should not harm the seriousness of the duty. However, the believer should not fall into despair as a result of the state of qabd because, as our poet of independence puts it, “Despair is a hindrance to every good deed.” Every achievement is blocked by despair.

Those states occur due to the manifestation of the names of Jalal and Jamal of Allah Almighty. Disease is the result of the manifestation of the name Shafi of Allah Almighty; similarly, distress is the result of the names of Allah Almighty such as ad-Darr = the Distresser (a name of Jalal), and the state of comfort and breadth is the result of the names of Allah Almighty such as al-Wasi = the All-Encompassing (a name of Jamal).

It is necessary to make it a habit to walk around with wudu, and to read the Holy Quran and Jawshan frequently in order to get rid of this state.

- Man loves his own self / soul due to his nature. Love is blind; he does not see the flaws of the loved one. Even if he does, he still ignores them with a thousand excuses.

- In fact, he tries to use this "protection reflex" given to canonize not himself but his Lord because of his selfishness, which is a psychological obsession.

- Badiuzzaman Said Nursi explained the lesson he learned from the Quran in terms of disciplining the soul as follows.

“فَلاَ تُزَكُّوا اَنْفُسَكُمْ  (Do not put your souls in the clear) As the verse, ‘Therefore, do not justify yourselves suggests’, it is to not purify the soul. For on account of his nature and innate disposition, man loves himself.

Indeed, he loves himself before anything else, and only himself. He sacrifices everything other than himself to his own soul. He praises himself in a manner befitting some object of worship. He absolves and exonerates himself from faults in the same way. As far as he possibly can, he does not see faults as being appropriate for him, and does not accept them. He defends himself passionately as though worshipping himself.

Even, using on himself the members and faculties given him as part of his nature in order to praise and glorify the True Object of Worship, he displays the meaning of the verse, مَنِ اتَّخَذَ اِلهَهُ هَوَيهُ (Who takes as his god his own desires). He considers himself, he relies on himself, he fancies himself.

Thus, his purification and cleansing at this stage, in this step, is to not purify himself; it is not to absolve himself. (see Sözler (Words), p. 492)

- As can be seen from this explanation, man’s defending his soul unjustly, denying his flaws stemming from loving himself / his soul adorably. It is a psychological obsession to use the devices of "praise and glorification / compliment and sanctification / seeing somebody as flawless" given for Allah, who is the true deity, for the account of his own soul. It is a virtue to accept the faults of the soul. Accepting flaws in the name of virtue gives man dignity in the sight of Allah. It is necessary to convince the soul about it.

- We want to give the translation of the whole verse about "putting souls in the clear", thinking that it will be an important lesson for all of us:

“They are the ones that refrain from serious sins and the indecencies except the small ones. Surely your Lord is the One Who is Vast in Forgiveness. He is the One Who knows you better. He had created you from the earth and you were embryos in the wombs of your mothers. So do not put your souls in the clear (do not assert that you have cleansed your souls). He (Allah) knows better who the owner of piety is.” (Surah an-Najm, 53/32)

- We clearly understand from this verse that, in modern terms, "our superintendent filling our records" is our Lord, who created us; however, the self-praising person becomes an arrogant official trying to fill his own record.

Three centers equipped with feelings were created in man to enable his spirit to live. The first one is “the power of animal appetites to attract benefits”. This feeling is presents in all animals as something common. The second one is “the power of angelic intellect to distinguish between benefit and harm”.  The boon of intellect, which is a trait peculiar to angels, was also given to humans and jinn. The third one is “the power of savage passion to repulse harmful and destructive things”. This trait is present in humans but it is present in wild animals in a more comprehensive sense.

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi describes “the power of animal appetites” and “the power of savage passion”, which are among the powers that he shows to be the effective source of intellect, as follows in brief:

“The power of animal appetites is the power to get and obtain useful things like sexual desire, eating, drinking, sleeping and talking. However, this power has three degrees. Deficiency in the power of animal appetites is apathy and want of appetite called ‘humud’. Such a person feels no desire (lust) toward haram and halal things. Its excess is profligacy (fujur), which is to desire whatever is encountered whether lawful or unlawful. Its middle way is uprightness (iffah), which is desiring what is licit and shunning what is illicit.”

“The power of savage passion is the feeling of rejecting harmful things. Deficiency in the power of savage passion is cowardice; a person who has such a feeling makes life a kind of prison for himself by fearing almost anything.  Its excess is uncontrolled anger, which can be said to be the progenitor of despotism, domination, and tyranny. And its middle way is courage, which is giving freely of oneself with love and eagerness for the defense of his religious and worldly rights. However, he does not interfere in illegitimate things.”

According to what is understood from the explanations above, when the excessive level of the feeling of savage passion, which depends upon the principle of paying no importance to rights, unites with the excessive level of animal appetites, which does not pay attention to halal-haram things, the rights of the innocent people, especially weak people, will be violated and the honor of chaste people will be harmed. These feelings, which are in compliance with man’s being the most honorable creature and a perfect being, are restricted by the religion but they are not limited by nature and creation. In other words, the control of these feelings given to man, is left to the will of man. If man cannot maintain the moderate way (middle level) and goes to extremes, it is clear that he will fall into ethical weaknesses.

From another viewpoint, the phenomena of belief, worship and ethics are human attitudes and states that cannot be separated from one another and that need to be in interaction all the time. That is, ethical principles are beyond abstract orders and rules that people are expected to obey and are threatened to be punished when they do not obey. In this sense, they are not only orders that limit people’s deeds and perceptions and that are applied from outside by force but also deep, conscientious and living principles of life that show the way of being a mature and virtuous person. In addition, it is a kind of worshipping to obey them. Worshipping means a state that elevates man’s spirit, develops his talents, cleans his inclinations, realizes his goals, expands and systemizes his ideas and limits his lustful and animal desires.

There is a famous story about Nasreddin Hodja:

Hodja and his friends made a bet on a day when extreme cold was prevailing. While his friends said that no one could spend a whole night outside without any fire or source of heat, Hodja claimed that he could do it.

After some discussion, Hodja said that he would spend a night in return for a feast from his friends and that if he could do it, he would host the feast himself. Eventually, Hodja managed to spend a cold night alone in the mountains.

When his friends saw that Hodja had completed the challenge unharmed, they asked him how he did it without making any fire. Hodja said that he saw a candle burning in a hut on the opposite mountain and just thinking about it warmed him up inside. His friends objected, saying that Hodja warmed himself with a candle from the opposite mountain and hence lost the bet. Reluctantly, Hodja had to agree.

On the day of the feast, Hodja's friends gathered at his house, waiting for the meal. However, despite Hodja's constant claims that the food was cooking, it never arrived. Finally, they insisted on seeing the meal and went to the kitchen. Hodja led them to a big pot hanging from a tree in the garden, claiming that the food was cooking there. There was a candle burning meters below the pot. Seeing this, his friends said, "Hodja, can a big pot boil with a candle in this cold weather?" Hodja replied, "If a person can warm themselves with a candle from the opposite mountain in this cold weather, then surely the pot can boil." Thus, he taught them a lesson.

The reason why I have started with this story is that I will delve into the topic of astrology, which has gained popularity recently. Astrology is not inherently bad when thoughtfully considered and linked to good reasons. However, it is quite saddening to see this topic exploited for materialistic philosophies recently. Just as our Lord associates everything with a reason, the movements of stars and planets surely convey something to us. However, the first truth it conveys should be the existence of a Creator behind this magnificent order in the universe. That is, the existence and unity of Allah. While everything points to this, people can get dragged into worshiping stars and planets; even if they start with good intentions, they can end up attributing divinity to these unconscious beings without realizing it.

Since the dawn of humanity up until the present day, the greatest preoccupation of man has been the quest to understand himself. Some people claim they can provide a brief summary of your life and character traits based on your date and time of birth. They make good money through this "age-old" curiosity of ours. They claim that at the moment of our birth, certain rays from the stars and planets, primarily determined by the position of the sun in the zodiac and other constellations, affect us and shape our characteristics. They have quite interesting approaches to this matter. For example, they say those born under the Capricorn sign are as stubborn as goats, or those under the Cancer sign walk sideways like crabs. You can find these claims in almost every astrology book.

Analyzing people based on star positions is one thing, but it is quite bewildering when the constellations, which are likened to certain animals or shapes only from our perspective, are believed to impart the characteristics of those animals to humans. If stars influence us with their rays, then we should all have the characteristic traits of the closest star, the sun. For if we were to shrink the distance between the sun and the earth to the length of the magazine you are reading now, the closest star (Proxima Centauri) would be in New York. While there is a fire burning 40 cm away from you, can you say that the fire someone lit in New York affects you? Moreover, the stars that make up the 12 zodiac signs are much farther away than the mentioned star. For example, while the closest star, Proxima Centauri, we have mentioned above, is about four light-years away, the brightest member of the Virgo constellation, Spica (alpha virginis), is 281 light-years away. That is, approximately seventy times farther than the example of New York! This is a good example in a way. Some of the stars that make up the signs are thousands of light-years away from Earth. For instance, the two brightest stars of the Aquarius constellation, alpha and beta Aquarius (Sadalmelik and Sadalsuud), are approximately 1359 and 2174 light-years away, respectively. If we apply this to the previous example, we would need to move the fire in New York beyond the moon.

Is it clear now why I began with Nasreddin Hodja's candle story? Besides, the pot-candle relationship in this story is very fair considering the stellar distances. After this information about distances, I want to attract attention to other mistakes regarding the issue.

People's zodiac signs are determined based on the constellation that the sun is in or passing through on the day of their birth. For example, the sun is in the constellation Scorpio in the first half of November each year and people born on those days are considered to belong to the sign of Scorpio. The characteristics of these people are considered to be under the influence of this constellation. However, there is a great fact. The moment when the sun is in a sign is actually the moment when that sign is farthest from the earth. This is because another solar distance is added to the average distance of that sign to the earth. Besides, if you are born at night, the rays coming from the zodiac sign in which the sun is at that moment must penetrate all the earth rock and magma layers of the earth and reach you. For the zodiac sign in which the sun is located sets with the sun and the night remains on the other side of the world! Anyway, a solution to this situation was found with the concept of rising sign.

However, the distance between the stars that make up the zodiac signs is often greater than our distance from them. We can clarify it as follows. A person looking east from Istanbul has the impression that there are only a few meters on a two-dimensional scale between the nearest city of Izmit and the farthest city of Kars, but there are more than a thousand kilometers between them. When we look into space, we cannot perceive depth either. We think that two stars standing next to each other are next door neighbors. However, they can be thousands of light-years apart. Perhaps we are much less distant from the closer star than the one we think of as a neighbor. For example, there is a distance of at least 1277 light years between the stars Antares (Alpha Scorpii) and Sigma scorpii in the constellation Scorpio, which appear very close to each other, However, the closest of them, Antares, is 276 light years from Earth. The distance between those two stars, which belong to the same constellation, is four times greater than the distance between us and the nearest one. Of course, we are just learning this. We did not have the chance to calculate their distances before but people thought they were neighbors for thousands of years.

A major mistake is made in the calculation of the zodiac signs of past personalities. There's a rotational movement of the Earth, completing a full spin every 26,000 years, which causes the signs to shift forward approximately every 2,300 years. Thus, a person born on January 1, 2000, would be considered a Capricorn, but someone born on January 1, 300 BC, would be in the Aquarius sign. So, when Jesus Christ was born on December 25, 1 BC, the Sun was in Aquarius but in today's sky, December 25, 2000 falls in Capricorn. Therefore, if you calculated based on today’s system, the signs of people from the past would be incorrect, leading to much misinformation in statistical data.

Regarding planets, let us take Jupiter, the largest of the nine planets discovered so far in the Sun's orbit: The average distance of this planet from Earth is about five times that of the Sun's. While the Sun is 1,300,000 times larger than the Earth in volume, Jupiter is only 1,300 times larger. In addition, while the Sun exhibits star-like properties, Jupiter is a giant gas ball. On top of this thousand-fold difference in size, we also have to consider the distance between the Sun and Jupiter.

In physics, the effects of light and gravity decrease inversely with the square of the distance. Therefore, even if Jupiter, which is five times farther from the Sun than us, were a star, it would have 25,000 times less effect on us due to its size difference alone. Thus, we realize how insignificant even the largest planets are compared to the Sun.

If you look at major centers like NASA or ESA, which have already proved themselves scientifically and where thousands of studies are conducted on astronomy, not astrology, you cannot find anyone dealing with the astrological properties of stars or the solar system. This is because the scientists there are well aware of the distances and characteristics I have mentioned, and no one wastes time with concepts beyond positive science.

In conclusion, seeking any influence on our lives other than from our Lord is futile. Only Allah knows the unseen; similarly, He alone knows the characters and other traits He has given His creatures while creating them; and linking these characteristics to the rays coming from the stars is wrong. In this world, there are no two identical individuals. Even identical twins born on the same day, at the same hour, in the same place, and from the same mother have very different characters. With thousands of reasons, including the genetic structure that connects these twins beyond siblinghood, why should there be such divergence? If the stars were to guide our characters and destinies, at least the characteristics of twins like these should be identical. Additionally, the being that truly gives humans their character and other emotional qualities is the spirit. Our spirits were created before the stars.

The magnificent order we see in the sky may indeed point to its Creator but it is not the source of our material or spiritual attributes but merely an indication, if anything.

ZODIAC SIGNS, ZODIAC, ZODIAC FORTUNE TELLING

ZODIAC SIGNS: The word zodiac etymologically means circle, circle of little animals.

As a term, "the constellations and star clusters in the sky are called zodiac". There are twelve zodiac signs. Six of them are in the north, and six are in the south. Astronomers named the star clusters based on the shapes they appeared in each month and season. Accordingly, the names of the zodiac signs and the corresponding months are as follows:

1. Aries (Ram) sign, March 21 - April 19.
2. Taurus (Bull) sign, April 20 - May 20.
3. Gemini (Twins) sign, May 21 - June 21.
4. Cancer (Crab) sign, June 22 - July 22.
5. Leo (Lion) sign, July 23 - August 22.
6. Virgo (Maiden) sign, August 23 - September 22.
7. Libra (Scales) sign, September 23 - October 23.
8. Scorpio (Scorpion) sign, October 24 - November 21.
9. Sagittarius (Archer) sign, November 22 - December 21.
10. Capricorn (Goat) sign, December 22 - January 19.
11. Aquarius (Water Bearer) sign, January 20 - February 18.
12. Pisces (Fish) sign, February 19 - March 20.

The sun enters one of these zodiac signs every month of the year. As he sun enters the Aries sign, spring begins; as the sun enters the Cancer sign, summer begins; as the sun enters the Libra sign, autumn begins; and as the sun enters the Capricorn sign, winter begins.

Zodiac Fortune Telling

Fortune telling means the "art of informing about the unknown and the future and reading personalities in various ways." Zodiac fortune telling is "grouping people according to the zodiac signs they were born under and predicting their future, speaking about their destiny." A fortune teller is someone who claims to know the secrets of the unseen by predicting events that will happen in the future.

Fortune telling has been popular among some people since ancient times. Especially for troubled individuals, the business of predicting the future is extremely tempting. Since human intelligence is not sufficient to see the fate hidden in the dark depths of the future, people have sought help from such superstitions and empty means to determine fate. Even in the late twentieth century, there were quite a few people among the people of economically developed nations who believed in prophecy and turned prophecy into an art. (Kâmil Miras, Translation and Commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari, Ankara 1974, VI, 543). In our country, some newspaper journalists who consider themselves enlightened make daily comments about people's fate with zodiac fortune-telling nonsense, which has no scientific basis. In addition, these unfounded comments negatively affect the mental balance of readers. This is nothing more than absurdity, nonsense, and deception.

Fortune telling is strictly forbidden in Islam. It is unbelief to affirm the soothsayer regarding the news he gives from the unseen. [Sâdeddîn et-Taftâzânî, Kelâm İlmi ve İslâm Akâidi (Sharhul-Aqaid), Translated by Süleyman Uludağ, Istanbul 1980, 353]. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said:

"If anyone affirms the soothsayer regarding the news he gives, he has denied what Allah has revealed to Muhammad." (Tirmidhi, Taharah, 102; Ibn Majah, Taharah, 122; Ahmad ibn Hanbal, II, 408)

No one except Allah knows the future (the unseen). "Say: None in the heavens and the earth knows the unseen except Allah." (an-Naml, 27/65). "The keys to the unseen are with Him. No one knows them except Him." (al-An'am, 6/59). These verses and similar ones indicate that no one knows the unseen except Allah.

Islamic scholars, unanimously agree that attempting to derive rulings solely from the stars and deriving some judgments from them is unbelief and polytheism like the Sabians,. (Elmalılı M. Hamdi Yazır, Hak Dini Kur'an Dili, VII, 5207)

In addition, it is legitimate and recommended in Islam for a person to perform istikhara before undertaking an important matter. This has no connection with the fortune telling and prophecy prohibited in Islam.

(Mehmed BULUT)

All living beings come into the world equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary for them.  

Man comes with no knowledge but with an ability to learn all kinds of knowledge and skills. Due to the secret of testing, man tends to do both good and bad deeds through his own will.

He can go down to the lowest of the low by doing bad deeds and can ascend to the highest of the high by doing good deeds. What is essential for man in the world life is to develop mentally, spiritually and psychologically and to try to be a perfect human being. This can be done only by the mind and revelation. Allah gave man a mind and heart to do it and sent a prophet and religion to develop them.

The mind cannot give anything to man and humanity on its own without revelation. The mind is like an eye. The eye cannot function in darkness; similarly, the mind does not see the truth without the light of revelation. Therefore, if man wants to develop mentally and spiritually, he should try to understand the Quran.

Besides, the Quran always invites man to think. It addresses his mind and heart. It leads man to think about himself, the universe, the previous nations and events.

In this context, man should do the following in order to develop himself mentally and psychologically:

1. He should try to read and understand the Quran. As he reads the Quran, his horizon and foresight will expand. Allah states the following regarding the issue in the Quran: “These are clear evidences to men and a Guidance and Mercy to those of assured Faith.” (al-Jasiya 45/20)

2. He should read the universe called the great man, examine the movements and events in the universe, open doors from them leading man to oneness, take lessons from what happens in the world, knowing that they do not happen by chance and that they include many wisdoms, notice that qualified belief lies in details and see new horizons every day.

3. Man, who is a small universe, should read himself: He should think and find answers to questions like the following: “Who am I? Why I was created? What will happen to me? What does my creator want from me? How should I use the spiritual devices given to me like the mind, heart, five senses and many others? What is the price of them? Only then will life be meaningful. This will enable man to develop and become mature. The Quran states the following regarding the issue: “In your own selves are signs: Will ye not then see?” (adh-Dhariyat, 21)

4. He should benefit from the scholars and sessions of knowledge that represent Ahl as-Sunnah belief. In this regard, Imam Rabbani attracts attention to the fact that all of the following three qualities should exist in the people to be benefited from and to trust in:

1. Such a person should be intelligent and clever. 2. He should have knowledge. 3. He should base all of his words and deeds on the consent of Allah. Only from such a person can people benefit. 

Some of the advice and suggestions of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) related to increasing and developing personal motivation are as follows:

1. Not to go to extremes related to anything: 

“The best deed is the moderate one.” (Bayhaqi, 3/273)

It is a general criterion in everything, in love, hatred, speaking, eating, drinking, worshipping…

2. To be optimistic

It is a principle of a believer to seek a good reason and something good in everything. It is a scientific fact that optimism gains man many benefits in terms of health and psychology. The Messenger of Allah said, “Strange are the ways of a believer for there is good in every affair of his and this is not the case with anyone else except in the case of a believer for if he has an occasion to feel delight, he thanks (Allah); thus, there is a good for him in it, and if he gets into trouble and shows patience, there is a good for him in it” (Muslim, Zuhd, 64)

3. To do things nicely, soundly and truly

One of the reasons for being happy in life is doing anything a person does nicely, soundly and truly. The Quran states the following regarding the issue: " Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has Faith, verily, to him will We give a new Life, a life that is good and pure and We will bestow on such their reward according to the best of their actions." (an-Nahl, 16/97)

Allah says righteous deeds, that is, good deeds. It includes both deeds of worship and any other deeds.  

4. To serve people

One of the reasons that attach people to life and make them enjoy life is to be useful to other people and to serve them. This fact is definitely known by experience. The Prophet (pbuh) states the following: ”The best people among you are the ones that benefit people the most.” (Bukhari Maghazi 35)

5. To smile and to utter nice words

Smiling and nice words are among the most important deeds that motivate both the addressee and the person himself. The Messenger of Allah, who was a model for his ummah with his smiling face and nice words, said, “Smiling at your religious fellow is regarded as sadaqah.” (Tirmidhi, Birr, 36), “Uttering nice words is regarded as sadaqah.” (Bukhari, Jihad 72)

- Existence of a thing is something and using that thing is something else. Creation of evil is not evil, but using it evilly is evil. There is a wise saying we sometimes use; “there is no fault in existence, but there is misuse of it.”

For example, creation of fire is not a bad thing, but using it mistakenly wrong and be harmed by it is bad. Likewise, iron's creation is not evil; it is very good since it has lots of benefits. However, using iron and metals as a weapon to oppress and murder others is definitely evil.

- Like in these material elements, there is no manufacturing defect in spiritual equipment - related to the wise creation of Allah. However, man's misuse of them is a usage error. For instance,

- most of qualifications of man were created as a unit of measurement to Allah's attributes. The existence of those attributes, which are like characteristics, is connected to the center of ego/individuality.

That means ego/individuality was given to recognize Allah's attributes. From this point of view, there is no manufacturing defect.

However, using them in a way to elevate man to divinity, instead of using them as a tool to reveal Allah's holiness, is a misuse.

For example: Man cannot create anything in its real sense. He does not have any possessions. He is dependent in terms of everything and in all aspects. His existence is dependent on Allah's existence, his attributes are dependent on Allah's attributes and his deeds are dependent on Allah's deeds. That is, man is actually nothing. All of his attributes and faculties entrusted to him temporarily are only visible causes that exist only in appearance. It is shirk (polytheism) to attribute the real effect to other apparent; similarly, it is shirk to attribute the real effect to man.

Let us hear why ego was given to man from the expert of the issue:

“Since an absolute and all-encompassing thing has no limits or end, neither may a shape be given to it, nor may a form be conferred on it, nor may it be determined; what its quiddity is may not be comprehended. For example, an endless light without darkness may not be known or perceived. But if a line of real or imaginary darkness is drawn, then it becomes known. Thus, since God Almighty's attributes like knowledge and power, and Names like All-Wise and All-Compassionate are all-encompassing, limitless, and without like, they may not be determined, and what they are may not be known or perceived. Therefore, since they do not have limits or an actual end, it is necessary to draw a hypothetical and imaginary limit. The 'I' does this. It imagines in itself a fictitious dominicality, ownership, power, and knowledge: it draws a line. By doing this it places an imaginary limit on the all-encompassing attributes, saying, "Up to here, mine, after that, His;" it makes a division. With the tiny units of measurement in itself, it slowly understands the true nature of the attributes.” (Nursi, Sözler (Words), 536 - 537)

- So, it is not forbidden to use good attributes placed in human's inherent nature; on the contrary it is his duty. However, the color of the light in his intention that reflect different colors changes the nature of the things done. It converts diamond into coal and coal into diamond.

For instance, a person's victory “in a sports game and similar activities” has already elevated him. If he sees this as a grace from Allah, it does not harm his victory among people. It also makes him more valuable in the eye of Allah. On the other hand, if that person considers himself the source of the victory, he will not be elevated to a better place in the eye of people; besides, he will lose his value on in the eye of Allah.

That is to say, an intention and attitude knowing their boundaries makes one “earn a profit without loss”; a spoiled attitude not knowing its boundaries causes a “loss without profit”. Thus, with this intention, he cannot increase his popularity among people because of intention; besides, he can lose his value in the eye of Allah completely.

It can be said that the harmless road is always preferred to the harmful road.

Nevertheless, attributing some good deeds that appear to be belonging to man to Allah, the real owner of them is a sign of love and respect to Him. On the contrary, considering to own some skills, which are only some means/tools, and attributing them to one’s own self shows that one loves his own self. Besides, the real reason why man was given a strong feeling of love is to nurture love toward Allah. If man abuses that feeling of love and uses it for his own self, it means he attributes a kind of divinity to his soul and desires.

Anyway, your intense love for yourself and your soul is love for the Divine Essence which you misuse and spend on your own self. In which case, rend the egotism in your soul and show Him. All your loves dispersed through the universe are love given to you to spend on His Names and attributes. You have used it wrongly and you are suffering the penalty. For the penalty for an illicit, mis-spent love is merciless torment. (Sözler (Words), 359-360)

To sum up, he who regards himself as nothing exists; he who regards himself existing becomes nothing. So, we accept our nothingness, but via this path of nothingness, we reach existence and acquire value and worth.

“Also, do not say: "I am nothing. What importance do I have that the universe should purposefully be made subject to me by an Absolutely All-Wise One, and universal thanks required of me?" Because for sure you are as though nothing with respect to your soul and form, but from the point of view of duty and rank, you are an observant spectator of this majestic universe, an eloquent, articulate tongue of these beings so full of wisdom, a discerning reader of this book of the universe, a supervisor of these creatures full of wonder at their glorifications, and like a foreman of these beings full of respect for their worship.“ (Sözler (Words), 328)

Finally, it will be useful to pay attention to two points the Qur'an emphasizes:

a) Allah criticizes those who say, “I achieved this with my own knowledge and ability.”

“He said, "I was only given it because of knowledge I have." Did he not know that Allah had destroyed before him of generations those who were greater than him in power and greater in accumulation [of wealth]? But the criminals, about their sins, will not be asked.” (al-Qasas 28/78)

“And when adversity touches man, he calls upon Us; then when We bestow on him a favor from Us, he says, "I have only been given it because of [my] knowledge." Rather, it is a trial, but most of them do not know.” (az-Zumar 39/49)

b) Allah does not look with favor on those who trust in their own power in war:

Allah has already given you victory in many regions and [even] on the day of Hunayn, when your great number pleased you, but it did not avail you at all, and the earth was confining for you with its vastness; then you turned back, fleeing. (at-Tawbah 9/25)

c) Allah does not attribute success even to His angels:

“[Remember] when you asked help of your Lord, and He answered you, "Indeed, I will reinforce you with a thousand from the angels, following one another. And Allah made it not but good tidings and so that your hearts would be assured thereby. And victory is not but from Allah. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.”  (al-Anfal 8/ 9-10)

Yes, if a person intends to do a certain good deed and cannot do it for some reason, he will get the reward of that intention.

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) explains this issue in a hadith. “Allah ordered the good deeds and bad deeds to be recorded.” Then, he adds the following:

“If somebody intends to do a good deed and cannot do it, Allah will record for him a full good deed (in his account with Him). And if he intends to do a good deed and actually does it, Allah will record for him its reward from ten to seven hundred times to many more times; and if somebody intends to do a bad deed and he does not do it, Allah will record a full good deed for Him, and if he intends to do that bad deed and actually does it, Allah will record one bad deed for him.” (Bukhari, Riqaq, 31)

That is to say, intending to do something good is also rewarding; even if a person cannot do it, he will get the reward of this good intention.

Accordingly, if a Muslim who intends to fast on the day of Arafa, perform tahajjud prayer, and do other good deeds is unable to fulfill them due to a legitimate excuse, we can hope that this intention will be rewarded by the infinite mercy of our Lord and that He will reward that person as if he had done them.

As a matter of fact, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) mentions this issue as follows in a hadith:

“If a person goes to bed with the intention of getting up at night and performing a nafilah prayer and falls asleep until the time of the morning prayer, the reward of the prayer he intends will be recorded for him and his sleep will be a donation given to him by his Lord.” (Ibn Majah, Iqamah, 177)

Those hadiths encourage doing good deeds. Thus, it always helps us to use our intentions for good things and to act according to our intentions.

However, it does not absolve the person who does not fulfill fard and wajib deeds of worship of responsibility. For example, if a person wants to perform a fard or wajib deed of worship but does not fulfill it, the responsibility of that worship is not lifted; he has to perform it on time; if he cannot perform it on time, he has to perform it later as qada.

Similarly, it is necessary to abandon a haram or makruh tahrimi deed. If a person wants to abandon a sin, but still commits that sin, it does not cease to be a sin; he becomes a sinner. He has to regret and repent so as not to commit that sin again, and if it is a sin that concerns the rights of a person, he has to ask forgiveness from that person.

Verses of the Quran never contradict one another. Each of those verses point to different characteristics of man.

Although man is very small in size, he is capable of embracing the universe with the feelings and organs  and faculties placed in his nature.

Man can approach and examine the whole universe as if it is a watermelon with those feelings and faculties.

Man has organs that are like windows opening to all realms in the universe. For example, an eye is a window opening to visible realms; ear is a door opening to the realm of sounds; dream is a key to the realm of similitude; spirit is an opening to the realm of spirits.

Thanks to those feelings and devices, human mind can investigate the universe; he goes even beyond the possibility and tries to shape the highest circles.

With this aspect, man has such a great desire that he will not feel satisfied even if he owns the whole universe.  

Yet, the same man sometimes makes his glorious and comprehensive nature be overcome by some silly engagement; and he virtually gets lost in such small point. As a matter of fact, in some places, he might kill someone for a chicken or for a piece of land, continuing a blood feud.

Or, man wastes his comprehensive feelings and organs by being engaged with unnecessary things. Man who is capable of surrounding the universe and owning it, ruins his capability in deeds forbidden by Allah, kills and loses by doing useless things.

When man intensely sticks to something on which he focuses, he is sometimes overwhelmed by such unnecessary and silly things, which shows that one aspect of man is unjust and foolish.

That is why the Quran describes man as ‘created in the best of molds and honorable’ as well as unjust and foolish.

Some people act knowledgeably and hug the universe while others get lost in some insignificant point of the universe.

So, human nature has two aspects:

One of them is related to good deeds and obedience to Allah while the other one is related to the evil and disobedience to Allah.

Man is created “in the best of molds” in terms of good deeds and worshipping; that is, he is created perfectly, he is an honorable being. If the same man uses his will in the way of evil and disobedience to Allah, he turns out to be unjust and foolish. In other words, man is created as infinitely capable in terms of both good and evil deeds. It is up to man’s will in which way to use these capabilities.

If the man flourishes and develops the capability of good deeds, he earns the attribute of “perfect human being” and turns out to be the vicegerent of the universe. However, if he develops and activates the capability of evil deeds, he turns to be the lowest and most unjust one among the creatures.

That is why man is described as both a perfect vicegerent and honorable creature, and as unjust and foolish in the Quran.

If we look at Abu Bakr and Abu Jahl carefully, we can understand concrete meanings of those two concepts.

Islamic faith accepts with importance to reach the reality of belief through sources of knowledge and the knowledge that comes through the mind. Therefore, the Quran insistently wants people to refer to the mind and sources of knowledge properly. Islam is not based on blind belief.

Christianity adheres to a fideistic surrendering since it is difficult to base the faith of trinity on reason in Christianity.

Islam determines the definite knowledge of the belief of oneness in three forms: They are knowledge of certainty, vision of certainty and absolute certainty. It is essential to know in all three forms.

In the first form, the existence and oneness of Lord is known through knowledge; in the second form, reaching His qualities in His names and deeds through vision and witnessing, which is a kind of knowledge completely.

Absolute certainty is knowledge based on the believer’s finding the reflection of divine existence in his inner world and spiritual experience, and experiencing it in his deepest world.

We can explain it with an example: the first one is the smoke indicating the fire, the second is sitting in front of the fire and the third is to realize its effect and existence by touching it.   

The existence of questions that we cannot answer with the mind originates from our asking the realm of science about the knowledge that is related to the realm of vision or spiritual experience or vice versa.  

Islamic scholars found all of the decrees related to belief in a way that is confirmed and approved in all of those three levels.

Questions like ’Is it not possible for the Quran to have been written by aliens?’ need fideism because they are not based on science. All of those absurdities are psychological obsessions like a person’s closing his eyes and saying "the sun does not exist."

If people are left alone with fears and apprehensions, they will surrender to them.

In all cases, belief is a bright and doubtless way that is based on the knowledge levels and witnessing of the mind, heart and spirit.

For more information, please click on the link given below;

What is the difference between to believe and to believe with yaqin?

First of all, it is necessary to attract attention to this issue: The criterion for loving a great person in Islam is to try to resemble him. If we try to practice Islam like that person, it means we love him. If we do not try to practice Islam like that person, it means we do not really love him.

In that case, it is not essential to decrease your love toward your spouse. What is essential is to increase your love toward the great people of Islam.

We, Muslims, love the Prophet (pbuh), the four caliphs, Ahl al-Bayt and all Companions on behalf of Allah, because Allah loves them and because He wants us to love them.

Self-complacency is a disease of the heart that arises from an inner sense of conceit and superiority and can be cured when it is recognized and addressed. The solution to this problem requires both inner and behavioral effort.

Here are some steps that can help along the way:

Realizing Your Own Helplessness

One of the most effective ways to break self-complacency is to realize that man is both materially and spiritually helpless and poor.

The poverty of man is that he was created subject to infinite needs from the atom to the sun and in need of everything in the universe.

His helplessness is that he is too weak and powerless to meet his own needs. Although the needs of man have penetrated the entire universe and extended into eternity, he is too weak to provide even the simplest of those needs.

Seeking refuge in prayer and meditation with God Almighty, who is the Omnipotent and whose power is infinite, makes people feel their own helplessness and increases this awareness.

Trying to See One’s Mistakes and Sins

Sometimes human beings might not fully notice themselves and their actions. If you fail to recognize your mistakes and shortcomings, review your deeds and question them from a religious and moral point of view

Also ask yourself these questions:

“Do I have a behavior that bothers me?”

“If I were to ask people around me, what would be one thing they would see lacking in me?”

Attributing Goodness to Others

When you do good deeds, when you produce and accomplish something, remember that it is not only because of your efforts, but because of Allah’s help and grace. Remind yourself that without Allah’s help, you would not be able even to move a finger.

Practicing Humility

Consciously avoid praising yourself and feeling superior. Instead, try to notice the good qualities in others.

Get Support through Repentance and Prayer (Dua)

Ask Allah to purify you from conceit and arrogance by repenting. The following prayers can soften your heart:

Allahumma tahhir qalbi minal kibri wal ujbi war riya. (O Allah! Purify my heart from arrogance, conceit and vanity.)

O Lord! Make my nafs (soul) a friend to me and save me from being the enemy of my nafs.

First of all, we should state that Allah does not waste or lose anything. Therefore, He gives the thawab of every supplication and repentance, at least for the words uttered by the mouth. However, there are some conditions for a person to have repented really.  

Imam Ghazali quotes the statement “To repent only with the tongue is the repentance of liars” of some scholars and explains it as follows:  

“Repentance in which the heart does not take part and that is made only with the tongue is the deed of liars. A person’s saying “astaghfirullah” as a habit and heedlessly is a fake repentance. When a person sees a fire and says, “I take refuge in You from this fire” though he does not feel and sorrow in his heart, he is a liar; a person who asks for forgiveness from Allah though he does not regret in his heart is also a liar." (Ghazali, Ihya, 4/47)

An acceptable repentance has some elements: One of them is to abandon the sin that one commits. Another one is to regret due to the sin. Another one is to determine not to commit that sin again. Yet another one is to follow the way of obedience instead of disobedience. If one of those elements is missing, the repentance is regarded as missing too. Regret is the first thing to do. It is something that is done with the heart, not with the tongue.   

- According to a narration, the Prophet said,

“Tawbah nasuha (sincere repentance) means to regret due to a sin that one has committed.” (Kanzul-Ummal, h. no:10302)

Regret is a feeling that includes both shyness and fear. (Ghazali, Ihya,1/166)

The biggest elements of repentance are knowledge (to understand what one does against Allah means), regret and abandoning sins.

"Regret is one of the obligatory conditions of repentance.” (Ghazali, Ihya, 4/7)

Thus, a person who understands what the sin that he has committed means feels shy because of what he has done and fears by thinking about its penalty; when those two feelings overwhelm him, he regrets and “beats his breast”.

- Shyness, fear and regret are all related to the heart. Thus, it is not a real repentance when a person whose heart is in heedlessness “asks for forgiveness and repents with his tongue”.

Mercy is an honorable feeling given by Allah like the feeling of pity and love. Where there is no mercy, there is hatred, grudge and hardheartedness.

As a matter of fact, the following verse orders the Prophet to have compassion, mercy and good deeds:

“It is part of the Mercy of Allah that thou dost deal gently with them Wert thou severe or harsh-hearted, they would have broken away from about thee...” (Aal-i Imran, 3/159)

However, it is necessary to be moderate in mercy like in everything and one should avoid extremism. That is the meaning of the sentence you mention. That is, if you show too much mercy to a person, tolerate all of his mistakes and correct all of his faults, we will harm him, not favor him. For instance, if you forgive a person who does not show respect to others’ rights and who oppresses them, it means to cause a virus to emerge or to mortify an organ. A person can forgive only the mistakes made against him; he cannot forgive the mistakes made against others on behalf of them. Thus, an evil may emerge from not punishing a person who deserves to be punished. This statement does not mean we should not show any mercy.

One of the characteristics of man is that he has “compassion”. This characteristic emerges from Allah’s encompassing, merciful and endless names “ar-Rahman (the All-Comapssionate), ar-Rahim (the All-Merciful) and al-Wadud (the Loving One)”. Compassion is a humane characteristic that needs to be shown to the innocent and weak people. It is a sharp elixir made of compassion and love, all of whose kinds are clean and pure. The source of real compassion is self-sacrifice and sincerity. Compassion, which is an indication that makes us feel our endless poverty in the presence of the Creator, is also the essence of real gratitude. If mercy and compassion are used properly, the natural gratitude is also fulfilled.

Man feels pity and shows mercy since he is an addressee of Allah’s names “ar-Rahman and ar-Rahim”. Man has such a heart that Islam makes this heart attain a trait that will show mercy to animals and that will not crush even an ant.

Our Lord orders us to show mercy to animals and to love them; He prohibits us from afflicting and torturing them and violating their rights. However, some societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals, those who show too much compassion or those who cannot use their feelings moderately feel pity for animals and oppose using animals legitimately and sacrificing them.

Man needs to show compassion moderately and in a balanced way. Otherwise, it will be transformed into a disorder.

“Grant more than divine grant is not grant.”1

It is a mistake to show more mercy than Allah’s mercy and to have more wrath than Allah’s wrath. One cannot show more mercy than Allah’s mercy. One cannot have more wrath than Allah’s wrath.2 All of our talks, love, mercy or fury should be in accordance with religious criteria. An illness may emerge from every deed contrary to them.

Allah is Rahim al-Mutlaq. That is, He owns endless compassion, mercy, help and love. He created animals too. We are His slaves and creatures. Then, we cannot show more mercy than His mercy. Since He allows, it is an illness to show more compassion and mercy than Him.

For instance, the one who states that animals were created for human beings and who orders some animals to be sacrificed is the Owner of the Universe. It is a spiritual illness of some people to oppose sacrificing animals in the name of showing mercy to animals. 

“And cattle He has created for you (men): from them ye derive warmth, and numerous benefits, and of their (meat) ye eat."

“And celebrate the name of Allah, through the Days appointed, over the cattle which He has provided for them (for sacrifice): then eat ye thereof and feed the distressed ones in want."

“To every people did We appoint rites (of sacrifice), that they might celebrate the name of Allah over the sustenance He gave them from animals (fit for food). But your god is One God: submit then your wills to Him (in Islam): and give thou the good news to those who humble themselves."

“The sacrificial camels we have made for you as among the symbols from Allah: in them is (much) good for you: then pronounce the name of Allah over them as they line up (for sacrifice): when they are down on their sides (after slaughter), eat ye thereof, and feed such as (beg not but) live in contentment, and such as beg with due humility: thus have We made animals subject to you, that ye may be grateful.”3

It is understood that we need to evaluate everything in accordance with Islamic criteria by comparing other issues to this one. Illnesses and troubles will definitely emerge from the feeling of mercy that is not in accordance with this criterion. 

Footnotes:

1. Muhakemat, 21.
2. Sözler, p. 663.
3. an-Nahl, 16/5.; al-Hajj, 22/28, 33, 34, 36.

The biological and psychological structure of man is not different in unbelievers and Muslims.

Placebo effect is a suggestion made to a person in order to convince him that a drug will be useful for him. The effect of the suggestion depends on the psychological mood of a person, not on his religion.