Patience in Love and from Cocoon to Butterfly on the Path of Migration
God Almighty says to the Noble Messiah:
‘O Jesus!
Firstly advise your carnal soul.
If you want to act benevolently and warn someone, do that towards your carnal desires; start with your evil-commanding soul.
If your carnal desires heed your warning, then you may speak to the public.
Speak only of your own actions; otherwise remain modest towards Me.’
That means the opposite to this, does not sit well with modesty.
God, may He be glorified and exalted, may say this to His servant even if he is a Prophet; however, when speak of those individuals—even if the subject is God’s command—we should walk on eggshells when speaking of them.
‘Otherwise remain modest in front of Me’ means ‘Remain modest and don’t speak of actions you do not take part in yourself’.
That is not dissuading them of not speaking; rather, when speaking of something, a person should explain the things he has done.
As declared in the Qur'an: ‘O those who have faith!
Why do you say what you do not do (as well as what you will not do)?’ (As-Saf 61:2).
‘O humankind!
Why do you say what you have not done?
This, does not mean do not speak of issues, rather, it is as if one says ‘Shame on you’ and reprimands a person when they have acted in the same way.
The Divine Essence does not use an expression as such but in the Qur’an it says, ‘Woe!?’; when we use it we say, ‘Shame on you!’.
One may warn about this and comment about that, but one should begin with self criticism and evaluating your spiritual anatomy, begin with your own carnal desires.
One’s spiritual anatomy; spiritual intellect, willpower, feelings, consciousness, logic, reasoning, and reason.
If your conscience and desires are clean from filth, then the things you say will be affect your audience.
Otherwise, if you talk about important matters with a dirtied mind, it will only result in a negative reaction from your audience.
Just like the words of some politicians.
Their words and speeches are miles away from their true states of their hearts and minds
Their intentions are to lure people using their thoughts and feelings, release their webs, capturing them in their webs, drawing the prey to themselves.
However the actual goal should be to draw people towards God and His Messenger.
Beyond attraction, it should be, ‘‘Instigate the love of God in His servants’ hearts so that He will love you’.
You can also say it in this manner:
Make the servants of God love Him, so you too may be loved by Him.
To have Divine lights of love coming to you, flowing and embracing you from head to foot so that you see yourselves like a halo in those lights depends on the love that emanates from your heart towards Him.
Can we say, ‘O God, I want to be sincere in all my deeds, receive Your pleasure, and with pure ardent longing turn to You’, in a constant manner, day and night?
In fact, this is the mark of Islam.
Making people love God and the Prophet.
When you pray to God in this matter, by saying ‘My God, I ask of You Your pleasure, the love of Your Beloved (the Prophet) and attachment towards those who love You’ or ‘I ask of You Your Divine Pleasure for the feeling of pure and wholehearted ardour and longing towards You’ not only once but hundreds of thousands of times, you are making it an important and luminous part of your of nature, purifying it with that Divine light and making that Divine light embrace oneself completely.
Yes, when the tongue moves for this matter, it should not be entrusted only to the ‘tongue and lips’, this matter needs to be felt from head to foot, the faculties of the body should shake in its utterance.
The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, says, ‘God does not accept the prayer of the heart which does not know what it wants and desires’.
Yes, God does not answer the prayers which are asked in a thoughtless and condescending manner.
One needs to feel what is being asked for in the depths of one’s soul.
Perhaps, you will be shaken from head to foot many times.
When you raise your shaking hands to Him, you will feel as if blessings are raining down into your palms.
It will happen, if it is from the heart.
I can even swear on it but I will not, if it is from the heart, all the things I said will come true.
However, I will not swear on it, because that it may break the hearts of some.
Always being in contact with God and living with the purpose of loving and making people love God and His Prophet are the most significant characteristics for the believers who are connected to Islam from their heart.
It is a unique characteristic of Islam; a life connected to the point ‘Instigate the love of God in His servants’ hearts so that He will love you’.
I do not know of any other religion in which life is enmeshed with the desire: ‘My God, I ask You for sincerity in all my actions, for Your Divine pleasure, for the feeling of pure and wholehearted ardour and longing towards You.’
Now, it might be superficial respect for God, but it is a request, at the level of asking from God.
‘My God,
I ask for Your pleasure in all my actions, to make You pleased.’
Living with this desire.
As a result of this, in this state of spiritual delight, one can experience certain states, as the Spokesman of Age expressed:
‘Belief in God, knowledge of God, love of God, and the fourth one is the state of a spiritual delight.’
In addition, even the desire for feeling the state of a spiritual delight should not be asked for as if you ask for a reward.
Otherwise, we may be valuing one over another and fall into error.
But if He grants you that delight without your asking, you can say ‘All praise to be God’ and testify to God’s blessings.
The things one should desire should be:
‘Belief in God, excellence in Islam, perfect sincerity, knowledge of God, comprehension of the truth, utmost reliance on God, submission to God, compliance to God’s will, and in terms of the Sufis, to have complete confidence’. To trust God with an altruistic abstinence of the self; to live each day with this trust and act and breath with this trust.
When one is blessed with the support of God, there is no need to seek this support from elsewhere.
Those who know Arabic will know the meaning of ‘La’:
that when used before an adjective, it deprives the meaning from the adjective making it mean its opposite.
‘There is no extensive might and power.
That is, ‘There is neither might nor power; except that which is in the hands of God’.
According to God’s Messenger, in relation to ‘acknowledging and believing in no other might or power other than God’s is among the many treasures of Paradise’.
It is one of the treasures or stocks of Paradise.
Therefore, if you utter this here in this world, the reward will be reciprocated in the form of a treasure, by God’s grace and permission.
It is God’s gift out of His treasury even in this world and for your worldly affairs.
If you use this ‘might’ and ‘power’ as a tool, alternatively, as a spiritual tool, you will go from success to success, by God’s permission and grace.
‘There is neither might nor power except in God’.
Does this not correspond to the message in the call to Prayer, the phrases: ‘Rise up for Prayer. Rise up for salvation’?
‘There is neither might nor power; all strength and might belongs to the Creator, the holder of might and power!’
This is not something seen in other religions.
They believe that God is the Creator; yet understanding that everything comes from God is a different matter entirely.
‘It is God Who has created you and all that you do’ (As-Saffat, 37:96).
It is the Creator that creates your deeds.
To not tumble down a forceful abyss one should consider this perspective:
There, ‘willpower’ is an ordinary condition; like throwing a planting a seed in soil.
You will plant a single seed, but God, could allow for two stems to develop from that seed, which I have seen with my own eyes.
In the Holy Qur’an, it mentions of seven shoots or stems appearing from a single seed; and each shoot containing a hundred seeds.
In this respect, that single seed is your will power.
You place that seed somewhere.
‘Where?’
In a place where the power of its growth will not surprise you, in the fertile ground of God’s commands.
So place your seed in the ground fertile pasture.
Then, the sprout will shoot up.
You will see that a single stem, or two, depending on the depth of one’s sincerity, will give way to hundreds of seedlings to form as a result.
What do you even call ‘love’? Have you ever trembled before those whom you love?
‘A particle sized sincere act is favoured over massive insincere ones’, says the noble Bediüzzaman.
‘When He is pleased and approves, even if you do not seek the approval of others, should He will it to be so and His Wisdom requires it, He will make others accept it and be pleased with you.
For this reason, it is absolutely necessary to aim at God Almighty’s good pleasure in the service of the Qur’an and belief.’ Again, this statement belongs to the Spokesman of Age.
It is integral that our current sentiments and ambitions are translated into this:
Focus on the sincerity of your intentions, for He will make others accept it, even if you do not intend it so.
If you abandon the sincerity in your intentions and concentrate on making society accept, you come face to face with all that you have done and said.
‘Do not follow the desires of your ego; the result of patience will be tranquility.
You were fooled O heedless one; you were only entrusted with this body.’
People should understand they have only been entrusted.
They are entrusted with everything they carry on their backs.
For this reason the Qur’an states to our noble Prophet, ‘Say O beloved one,
everything is from God’ (An-Nisa, 4:78) .
‘Say, everything is from God’
We come from God.
This system and all its qualities and attributes are from God.
Material anatomy is from God.
Spiritual anatomy, which can be called ‘belief in God’, ‘knowledge in God’, ‘love of God’, or the development of a system of conscience, is from God.
In a sense, the things that must be there must be transformed to be part of a deeper angelic side of our being.
That which manages you, guides you, essentially must be that system. You must make it so.
And this will happen gradually, with God’s permission and grace.
These are not part of other systems and philosophies which are presented as religion.
You will love God; you will fall in love with God.
Perhaps in your world people might say, ‘You cannot fall in love with God’, even those that write on things like Islamic methodology.
Indeed, even the shallowest of people when remembering God’s Name will shudder from time to time.
What do you even define as ‘love’?
Have you ever trembled before those whom you love?
Have your eyes got teary?
But when you say ‘God’ the bone inside your nose will tremble, and your eyes will get teary and you will feel a shudder in your body.
That emotion will interrupt the sweet sleep of lovers; and as illustrated in the Chapter As-Sajdah, they will ‘forsake their beds at night, calling out to their Lord in fear and hope’ (As-Sajdah, 32:16). The feeling of ‘fear and hope’ will bring them to give up on their warm beds and stand in respect and admiration before their Lord.
They will stand before God in respect and admiration then fulfill the Tahajjud Prayer shaking with fear; if the time corresponds, they will also perform the necessary Witr Prayer.
They will consider these Prayers as the Hajah Prayer, then open their hands and say:
‘There is no deity but the All-Benevolent God.
I supplicate God, the Creator of the Supreme Throne.
Praise belongs to God, Lord of the worlds.
O God, I ask from You what Your mercy requires, means of deserving Your mercy, Your forgiveness, which is sure to be realised, to be protected from sin, to do every kind of good, and to be saved from every kind of sin.
Do not leave in me any sin You did not forgive, any sorrow You did not remove, and any need You did not meet, within the needs You approve of, O Most Merciful One’, and they will pour their heart out.
It is impossible for others to have this sincere vibration and sincere perception.
With its own rules and disciplines, this only exists in this religion.
Religion is the title given to an auspicious system that is agreeable to the essence of the actual fact, comprehensively including all that is positive and avoiding all that is negative.
Yes, religion is the title of an auspicious system that gathers all the norms and commandments in its essence and distances all prohibited things.
‘Diyanet’ or religiosity means living the religion and encompassing it in every aspect of life.
Another term, ‘dinayet’ means the act of wrong-doing while at the same time, saying ‘I live it the religion’. The word ‘dinayet’ comes from the word meaning malignity; therefore we refer to these people as ‘despicable creatures’.
As mentioned in Kitab al-Fitan wa al-Malahim (Book of Trials and Fierce Battles), many Dajjals will appear, Sufyans will come one after another, one will continue what was left incomplete from the previous one. However every single one of them will use the required arguments depending on circumstances and contexts.
They will place their trust in some people and use the argument ‘There is no religion’.
So when people turn to their religion, Satan will produce new Sufyans that will use religious arguments.
Those people are only the productions of the Satan, at least in terms of their feelings and thoughts.
Who knows, perhaps this started happening while they were in their mothers’ womb.
As stated by the Prophet, ‘Satan strokes the back of all the newborn children and says ‘Be of me’.
He says ‘Pledge allegiance to me’.
You know that pledge!
You know, when you don’t pledge allegiance, they say ‘They stand against us, they should be trampled’.
Yes, Satan will say ‘Pledge allegiance to me’.
And therefore, when those children grow up, they will follow their leader without opposing him still under the influence of the inoculation they received when they were born.
Their guide, Satan, has sworn an oath:
‘Then (I swear) by Your Glory, I will certainly cause them all to rebel and go astray, except Your servants among them, endowed with sincerity in faith and worshipping You’ (Sad, 38:82-83).
Except for the ones who have made sincerity their abode, a dimension of their character.
This term is used to describe a number of messengers in the Qur’an, but it should be the goal of all believers.
My God.
Include us among those who gained sincerity, and those who were made sincere.
My God, include us among your sincere servants.
We should request that sincerity becomes the most vital and luminous aspect of our character.
Yes, Satan says so, too:
‘I will not be able to deal with the sincere servants, I will not be able to deceive them, I will not be able to lure them’.
Why?
Because they continuously plead to God;
They ask for sincerity, God’s contentment, pure ardour and longing of God. They ask for these when they are alone with God, too.
For these glad tidings, if the world and all of its contents were to be given, it would be worth it.
God is always with them; but when certain human characteristics get in the way, a ‘distancing’ occurs.
For this reason, even when the phrase ‘getting closer to God’ is used, make sure there is no misunderstanding.
Under no circumstances should this be understood as though God is distant from us. Indeed, we are experiencing our own distance and detachment from God.
What kind of distance and detachment?
For example, engaging in useless and futile activities.
To become immersed in the world.
The love of the world and the love of our surroundings, in a way, diffuses your thoughts and sensitivities.
Thus, this causes a distracted mind that is clouded and muddled, and focused on a variety of other thoughts and subjects.
By overcoming these barriers, you will be bridging that distance and overcoming that detachment from God.
Otherwise He states:
“We are nearer to him than his jugular vein” (Qaf, 50:16)
In other words, ‘I am closer to you than your arteries and veins’.
That is, ‘I know of the thoughts passing through your mind before you even think them, I know of the pulse of your heart.
I am closer to you than your heart.’
May God allow us to bridge that distance that we ourselves brought about.
We started out by talking about loving God and His Messenger and instigating that love in others, and the topic brought us here.
‘Instigate the love of God in His servants’ hearts so that He will love you’.
And also, ‘instigate the love of the Messenger of God in the hearts of his community, so that he will love you’.
Would you not want this?
Indeed, if you were to see this in a dream,
if you were to get these glad tidings in a state of sleep or wakefulness,
These days, most of the people suffering oppression, injustice, and ill-treatment receive these glad tidings.
Hundreds of such occurrences are relayed to us.
“Our Messenger appeared and said: ‘Do not worry, I am with you’.
To whom?
Those who were wrongfully imprisoned; people who were taken away from their spouses; mothers who were taken away from their children and children who were taken away from their mothers.
‘Do not worry nor grieve,
I’m with you.’
Then there is no loneliness.
Since he is with us. He will be with us in the Intermediate Realm and the the Great Gathering.
For the purpose of advocating on your behalf to the Almighty God he would say ‘These people were with me’.
Wouldn’t you give up all you have for this?
Wouldn’t push aside this world and all there is within?
This.
Love the Messenger of God so that he may love you.
He would never abandon those he loves; just as it is in our times he will come to their aid and motivate them.
When it comes to withstanding calamity and misfortune, it is a form of worship.
Just as the Prayer elevates a person; enduring misfortunes with patience would elevate one in the same manner.
Also the patience should be of an active form, not of a static form.
Taking the necessary actions and waiting; just like a soccer player looks for gaps in the defence and opportunities to score a goal. This kind of active patience.
A person who displays this kind of patience against calamities and misfortunes will gain anything that Prayer enables them to gain.
‘O my impatient soul, you are responsible for three kinds of patience.’
This is why Bediüzzaman always categorises patience into three categories:
‘O my impatient soul!
You are responsible for three kinds of patience.
One of them is:
Patience in obedience.
Another is:
Patience in not committing sins.
And the other is:
Patience when facing calamities.’
Firstly:
Patience in worship and obedience; without taking any breaks, continuing to worship regardless of everything.
As it is said in a hadith, ‘Regardless of the hardships and the troubles making ablution perfectly’.
For example, making ablution on cold days and running to be in perfect readiness for worship; having patience in this.
As one leaves the place of worship, to feel as though one has left their heart behind, to return to work like that.
Longing that another call to Prayer will be heard, so to that ‘I may be in the presence of my Lord again’.
The noble Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, calls this ‘ribat’ (guarding the frontiers, vigilance, and devotion).
That is you stand guard at the battlefront and prevent the enemy from infiltrating.
If you heart is connected to God in this manner, Satan cannot infiltrate your thoughts.
Secondly:
After this, having patience against sins.
This kind of patience is in a sense a negative equivalent of the previously mentioned form of patience. Those were about having patience in good deeds, this is having patience against sins.
Do not go astray, refrain from lustful thoughts, do not indulge in food and drinks; houses, villas, ships, the future, these are all worldly pleasures, worldly passions; one must know how to disregard all of this and place in it no worth.
One must show patience towards this.
The bounties God bestows upon you, testifying to these blessings; this is another matter.
However if you chase this path with greed, this will result in the ‘death’ of one’s heart.
And a person with a dead heart, is essentially a moving corpse.
So when Bediüzzaman calls out to them, he says:
‘O you miserable corpses that move!
Don’t stand in the way of the forthcoming generation; may the new generation that will raise the wave of the Quranic truth over the universe arrive.’
A new generation.
‘If He so wills, He can put you away and bring a new generation.’ (Abraham, 14:19; Al-Fatir, 35:16).
After each collapse and deterioration, after each deformation and degeneration, there will be the coming of a new generation, young and fresh, like dew drops that have formed on rose petals.
New and fresh droplets, which will make the nightingales sing.
God will take the stale, aged, desolate people and replace them with a new generation.
‘If He wills, He can remove you and bring forth a new generation.
Then, do not hesitate; ‘That is surely no great matter for God’ (Al-Fatir, 35:17).
For God, this is not difficult at all.
Because God is the All-Glorious with irresistible might.
The definition of the All-Glorious is ‘The One Who will prevail’, nobody triumph over Him’.
When He says, ‘I’ at any point, all the ‘I’s’ will be terrified and withdraw into themselves.
‘Tell the believing men and women to guard their eyes from unlawful things, tell them to protect their chastity.’
Yes, the second kind of patience mentioned by Bediüzzaman:
Patience in the face of what is forbidden; particularly patience in the face of base desires, which has nowadays become quite widespread.
‘One is not enough, I want two. Two is not enough, I want three.’
The eye is always looking for more.
But God states:
‘Tell the believing men and women to guard their eyes from unlawful things, tell them to protect their chastity’ (An-Nur, 24:30). Meanwhile, ‘And tell the believing women that:
They (also) should restrain their gaze (from looking at what is unlawful) and guard their private parts’ (An-Nur, 24:31).
Tell both the women and men:
To shut their eyes to what is unlawful and to protect their chastity.
It is the inevitability of social life, having acquired the vision of Hizmet to reach out to all people, it is possible that some might suddenly find themselves unable to uphold these things and unwillingly stumble.
The pure intention in the work that you will carry out can wipe these clean and sweep them away, with God’s consent and grace.
Yes, ‘My servant walked around Manhattan but did so out of devotion to Me; they went from home to home and rang doorbells from door to door, hoping to be invited.
Along the way he may have been tainted by different types of filth. God will say, ‘He was involved with such things but they were for Me’.
God’s compassion is comprehensive and has proceeds His Wrath. He will say, ‘They have worked for me, I will not leave those who have done something for Me in the dark’.
Yes, words you know very well:
If You truly love the Lord, do you think He will not love you?
If you seek His good pleasure, will He not let you have it?
If you go near His door, ready to offer all you have,
And serve as He ordered, Will He not give its reward?
If you overflow like the waters, if you cry like the Prophet Job
If you rend your heart, will He not show any sympathy?
He is God, the All-Compassionate, All-Generous, All-Just and All-Affectionate.
The All-Affectionate.
Next to His compassion, motherly compassion is like a droplet in the ocean.
‘O Jesus!
Firstly advise your carnal soul.
If you want to act benevolently and warn someone, do that towards your carnal desires; start with your evil-commanding soul.
If your carnal desires heed your warning, then you may speak to the public.
Speak only of your own actions; otherwise remain modest towards Me.’
That means the opposite to this, does not sit well with modesty.
God, may He be glorified and exalted, may say this to His servant even if he is a Prophet; however, when speak of those individuals—even if the subject is God’s command—we should walk on eggshells when speaking of them.
‘Otherwise remain modest in front of Me’ means ‘Remain modest and don’t speak of actions you do not take part in yourself’.
That is not dissuading them of not speaking; rather, when speaking of something, a person should explain the things he has done.
As declared in the Qur'an: ‘O those who have faith!
Why do you say what you do not do (as well as what you will not do)?’ (As-Saf 61:2).
‘O humankind!
Why do you say what you have not done?
This, does not mean do not speak of issues, rather, it is as if one says ‘Shame on you’ and reprimands a person when they have acted in the same way.
The Divine Essence does not use an expression as such but in the Qur’an it says, ‘Woe!?’; when we use it we say, ‘Shame on you!’.
One may warn about this and comment about that, but one should begin with self criticism and evaluating your spiritual anatomy, begin with your own carnal desires.
One’s spiritual anatomy; spiritual intellect, willpower, feelings, consciousness, logic, reasoning, and reason.
If your conscience and desires are clean from filth, then the things you say will be affect your audience.
Otherwise, if you talk about important matters with a dirtied mind, it will only result in a negative reaction from your audience.
Just like the words of some politicians.
Their words and speeches are miles away from their true states of their hearts and minds
Their intentions are to lure people using their thoughts and feelings, release their webs, capturing them in their webs, drawing the prey to themselves.
However the actual goal should be to draw people towards God and His Messenger.
Beyond attraction, it should be, ‘‘Instigate the love of God in His servants’ hearts so that He will love you’.
You can also say it in this manner:
Make the servants of God love Him, so you too may be loved by Him.
To have Divine lights of love coming to you, flowing and embracing you from head to foot so that you see yourselves like a halo in those lights depends on the love that emanates from your heart towards Him.
Can we say, ‘O God, I want to be sincere in all my deeds, receive Your pleasure, and with pure ardent longing turn to You’, in a constant manner, day and night?
In fact, this is the mark of Islam.
Making people love God and the Prophet.
When you pray to God in this matter, by saying ‘My God, I ask of You Your pleasure, the love of Your Beloved (the Prophet) and attachment towards those who love You’ or ‘I ask of You Your Divine Pleasure for the feeling of pure and wholehearted ardour and longing towards You’ not only once but hundreds of thousands of times, you are making it an important and luminous part of your of nature, purifying it with that Divine light and making that Divine light embrace oneself completely.
Yes, when the tongue moves for this matter, it should not be entrusted only to the ‘tongue and lips’, this matter needs to be felt from head to foot, the faculties of the body should shake in its utterance.
The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, says, ‘God does not accept the prayer of the heart which does not know what it wants and desires’.
Yes, God does not answer the prayers which are asked in a thoughtless and condescending manner.
One needs to feel what is being asked for in the depths of one’s soul.
Perhaps, you will be shaken from head to foot many times.
When you raise your shaking hands to Him, you will feel as if blessings are raining down into your palms.
It will happen, if it is from the heart.
I can even swear on it but I will not, if it is from the heart, all the things I said will come true.
However, I will not swear on it, because that it may break the hearts of some.
Always being in contact with God and living with the purpose of loving and making people love God and His Prophet are the most significant characteristics for the believers who are connected to Islam from their heart.
It is a unique characteristic of Islam; a life connected to the point ‘Instigate the love of God in His servants’ hearts so that He will love you’.
I do not know of any other religion in which life is enmeshed with the desire: ‘My God, I ask You for sincerity in all my actions, for Your Divine pleasure, for the feeling of pure and wholehearted ardour and longing towards You.’
Now, it might be superficial respect for God, but it is a request, at the level of asking from God.
‘My God,
I ask for Your pleasure in all my actions, to make You pleased.’
Living with this desire.
As a result of this, in this state of spiritual delight, one can experience certain states, as the Spokesman of Age expressed:
‘Belief in God, knowledge of God, love of God, and the fourth one is the state of a spiritual delight.’
In addition, even the desire for feeling the state of a spiritual delight should not be asked for as if you ask for a reward.
Otherwise, we may be valuing one over another and fall into error.
But if He grants you that delight without your asking, you can say ‘All praise to be God’ and testify to God’s blessings.
The things one should desire should be:
‘Belief in God, excellence in Islam, perfect sincerity, knowledge of God, comprehension of the truth, utmost reliance on God, submission to God, compliance to God’s will, and in terms of the Sufis, to have complete confidence’. To trust God with an altruistic abstinence of the self; to live each day with this trust and act and breath with this trust.
When one is blessed with the support of God, there is no need to seek this support from elsewhere.
Those who know Arabic will know the meaning of ‘La’:
that when used before an adjective, it deprives the meaning from the adjective making it mean its opposite.
‘There is no extensive might and power.
That is, ‘There is neither might nor power; except that which is in the hands of God’.
According to God’s Messenger, in relation to ‘acknowledging and believing in no other might or power other than God’s is among the many treasures of Paradise’.
It is one of the treasures or stocks of Paradise.
Therefore, if you utter this here in this world, the reward will be reciprocated in the form of a treasure, by God’s grace and permission.
It is God’s gift out of His treasury even in this world and for your worldly affairs.
If you use this ‘might’ and ‘power’ as a tool, alternatively, as a spiritual tool, you will go from success to success, by God’s permission and grace.
‘There is neither might nor power except in God’.
Does this not correspond to the message in the call to Prayer, the phrases: ‘Rise up for Prayer. Rise up for salvation’?
‘There is neither might nor power; all strength and might belongs to the Creator, the holder of might and power!’
This is not something seen in other religions.
They believe that God is the Creator; yet understanding that everything comes from God is a different matter entirely.
‘It is God Who has created you and all that you do’ (As-Saffat, 37:96).
It is the Creator that creates your deeds.
To not tumble down a forceful abyss one should consider this perspective:
There, ‘willpower’ is an ordinary condition; like throwing a planting a seed in soil.
You will plant a single seed, but God, could allow for two stems to develop from that seed, which I have seen with my own eyes.
In the Holy Qur’an, it mentions of seven shoots or stems appearing from a single seed; and each shoot containing a hundred seeds.
In this respect, that single seed is your will power.
You place that seed somewhere.
‘Where?’
In a place where the power of its growth will not surprise you, in the fertile ground of God’s commands.
So place your seed in the ground fertile pasture.
Then, the sprout will shoot up.
You will see that a single stem, or two, depending on the depth of one’s sincerity, will give way to hundreds of seedlings to form as a result.
What do you even call ‘love’? Have you ever trembled before those whom you love?
‘A particle sized sincere act is favoured over massive insincere ones’, says the noble Bediüzzaman.
‘When He is pleased and approves, even if you do not seek the approval of others, should He will it to be so and His Wisdom requires it, He will make others accept it and be pleased with you.
For this reason, it is absolutely necessary to aim at God Almighty’s good pleasure in the service of the Qur’an and belief.’ Again, this statement belongs to the Spokesman of Age.
It is integral that our current sentiments and ambitions are translated into this:
Focus on the sincerity of your intentions, for He will make others accept it, even if you do not intend it so.
If you abandon the sincerity in your intentions and concentrate on making society accept, you come face to face with all that you have done and said.
‘Do not follow the desires of your ego; the result of patience will be tranquility.
You were fooled O heedless one; you were only entrusted with this body.’
People should understand they have only been entrusted.
They are entrusted with everything they carry on their backs.
For this reason the Qur’an states to our noble Prophet, ‘Say O beloved one,
everything is from God’ (An-Nisa, 4:78) .
‘Say, everything is from God’
We come from God.
This system and all its qualities and attributes are from God.
Material anatomy is from God.
Spiritual anatomy, which can be called ‘belief in God’, ‘knowledge in God’, ‘love of God’, or the development of a system of conscience, is from God.
In a sense, the things that must be there must be transformed to be part of a deeper angelic side of our being.
That which manages you, guides you, essentially must be that system. You must make it so.
And this will happen gradually, with God’s permission and grace.
These are not part of other systems and philosophies which are presented as religion.
You will love God; you will fall in love with God.
Perhaps in your world people might say, ‘You cannot fall in love with God’, even those that write on things like Islamic methodology.
Indeed, even the shallowest of people when remembering God’s Name will shudder from time to time.
What do you even define as ‘love’?
Have you ever trembled before those whom you love?
Have your eyes got teary?
But when you say ‘God’ the bone inside your nose will tremble, and your eyes will get teary and you will feel a shudder in your body.
That emotion will interrupt the sweet sleep of lovers; and as illustrated in the Chapter As-Sajdah, they will ‘forsake their beds at night, calling out to their Lord in fear and hope’ (As-Sajdah, 32:16). The feeling of ‘fear and hope’ will bring them to give up on their warm beds and stand in respect and admiration before their Lord.
They will stand before God in respect and admiration then fulfill the Tahajjud Prayer shaking with fear; if the time corresponds, they will also perform the necessary Witr Prayer.
They will consider these Prayers as the Hajah Prayer, then open their hands and say:
‘There is no deity but the All-Benevolent God.
I supplicate God, the Creator of the Supreme Throne.
Praise belongs to God, Lord of the worlds.
O God, I ask from You what Your mercy requires, means of deserving Your mercy, Your forgiveness, which is sure to be realised, to be protected from sin, to do every kind of good, and to be saved from every kind of sin.
Do not leave in me any sin You did not forgive, any sorrow You did not remove, and any need You did not meet, within the needs You approve of, O Most Merciful One’, and they will pour their heart out.
It is impossible for others to have this sincere vibration and sincere perception.
With its own rules and disciplines, this only exists in this religion.
Religion is the title given to an auspicious system that is agreeable to the essence of the actual fact, comprehensively including all that is positive and avoiding all that is negative.
Yes, religion is the title of an auspicious system that gathers all the norms and commandments in its essence and distances all prohibited things.
‘Diyanet’ or religiosity means living the religion and encompassing it in every aspect of life.
Another term, ‘dinayet’ means the act of wrong-doing while at the same time, saying ‘I live it the religion’. The word ‘dinayet’ comes from the word meaning malignity; therefore we refer to these people as ‘despicable creatures’.
As mentioned in Kitab al-Fitan wa al-Malahim (Book of Trials and Fierce Battles), many Dajjals will appear, Sufyans will come one after another, one will continue what was left incomplete from the previous one. However every single one of them will use the required arguments depending on circumstances and contexts.
They will place their trust in some people and use the argument ‘There is no religion’.
So when people turn to their religion, Satan will produce new Sufyans that will use religious arguments.
Those people are only the productions of the Satan, at least in terms of their feelings and thoughts.
Who knows, perhaps this started happening while they were in their mothers’ womb.
As stated by the Prophet, ‘Satan strokes the back of all the newborn children and says ‘Be of me’.
He says ‘Pledge allegiance to me’.
You know that pledge!
You know, when you don’t pledge allegiance, they say ‘They stand against us, they should be trampled’.
Yes, Satan will say ‘Pledge allegiance to me’.
And therefore, when those children grow up, they will follow their leader without opposing him still under the influence of the inoculation they received when they were born.
Their guide, Satan, has sworn an oath:
‘Then (I swear) by Your Glory, I will certainly cause them all to rebel and go astray, except Your servants among them, endowed with sincerity in faith and worshipping You’ (Sad, 38:82-83).
Except for the ones who have made sincerity their abode, a dimension of their character.
This term is used to describe a number of messengers in the Qur’an, but it should be the goal of all believers.
My God.
Include us among those who gained sincerity, and those who were made sincere.
My God, include us among your sincere servants.
We should request that sincerity becomes the most vital and luminous aspect of our character.
Yes, Satan says so, too:
‘I will not be able to deal with the sincere servants, I will not be able to deceive them, I will not be able to lure them’.
Why?
Because they continuously plead to God;
They ask for sincerity, God’s contentment, pure ardour and longing of God. They ask for these when they are alone with God, too.
For these glad tidings, if the world and all of its contents were to be given, it would be worth it.
God is always with them; but when certain human characteristics get in the way, a ‘distancing’ occurs.
For this reason, even when the phrase ‘getting closer to God’ is used, make sure there is no misunderstanding.
Under no circumstances should this be understood as though God is distant from us. Indeed, we are experiencing our own distance and detachment from God.
What kind of distance and detachment?
For example, engaging in useless and futile activities.
To become immersed in the world.
The love of the world and the love of our surroundings, in a way, diffuses your thoughts and sensitivities.
Thus, this causes a distracted mind that is clouded and muddled, and focused on a variety of other thoughts and subjects.
By overcoming these barriers, you will be bridging that distance and overcoming that detachment from God.
Otherwise He states:
“We are nearer to him than his jugular vein” (Qaf, 50:16)
In other words, ‘I am closer to you than your arteries and veins’.
That is, ‘I know of the thoughts passing through your mind before you even think them, I know of the pulse of your heart.
I am closer to you than your heart.’
May God allow us to bridge that distance that we ourselves brought about.
We started out by talking about loving God and His Messenger and instigating that love in others, and the topic brought us here.
‘Instigate the love of God in His servants’ hearts so that He will love you’.
And also, ‘instigate the love of the Messenger of God in the hearts of his community, so that he will love you’.
Would you not want this?
Indeed, if you were to see this in a dream,
if you were to get these glad tidings in a state of sleep or wakefulness,
These days, most of the people suffering oppression, injustice, and ill-treatment receive these glad tidings.
Hundreds of such occurrences are relayed to us.
“Our Messenger appeared and said: ‘Do not worry, I am with you’.
To whom?
Those who were wrongfully imprisoned; people who were taken away from their spouses; mothers who were taken away from their children and children who were taken away from their mothers.
‘Do not worry nor grieve,
I’m with you.’
Then there is no loneliness.
Since he is with us. He will be with us in the Intermediate Realm and the the Great Gathering.
For the purpose of advocating on your behalf to the Almighty God he would say ‘These people were with me’.
Wouldn’t you give up all you have for this?
Wouldn’t push aside this world and all there is within?
This.
Love the Messenger of God so that he may love you.
He would never abandon those he loves; just as it is in our times he will come to their aid and motivate them.
When it comes to withstanding calamity and misfortune, it is a form of worship.
Just as the Prayer elevates a person; enduring misfortunes with patience would elevate one in the same manner.
Also the patience should be of an active form, not of a static form.
Taking the necessary actions and waiting; just like a soccer player looks for gaps in the defence and opportunities to score a goal. This kind of active patience.
A person who displays this kind of patience against calamities and misfortunes will gain anything that Prayer enables them to gain.
‘O my impatient soul, you are responsible for three kinds of patience.’
This is why Bediüzzaman always categorises patience into three categories:
‘O my impatient soul!
You are responsible for three kinds of patience.
One of them is:
Patience in obedience.
Another is:
Patience in not committing sins.
And the other is:
Patience when facing calamities.’
Firstly:
Patience in worship and obedience; without taking any breaks, continuing to worship regardless of everything.
As it is said in a hadith, ‘Regardless of the hardships and the troubles making ablution perfectly’.
For example, making ablution on cold days and running to be in perfect readiness for worship; having patience in this.
As one leaves the place of worship, to feel as though one has left their heart behind, to return to work like that.
Longing that another call to Prayer will be heard, so to that ‘I may be in the presence of my Lord again’.
The noble Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, calls this ‘ribat’ (guarding the frontiers, vigilance, and devotion).
That is you stand guard at the battlefront and prevent the enemy from infiltrating.
If you heart is connected to God in this manner, Satan cannot infiltrate your thoughts.
Secondly:
After this, having patience against sins.
This kind of patience is in a sense a negative equivalent of the previously mentioned form of patience. Those were about having patience in good deeds, this is having patience against sins.
Do not go astray, refrain from lustful thoughts, do not indulge in food and drinks; houses, villas, ships, the future, these are all worldly pleasures, worldly passions; one must know how to disregard all of this and place in it no worth.
One must show patience towards this.
The bounties God bestows upon you, testifying to these blessings; this is another matter.
However if you chase this path with greed, this will result in the ‘death’ of one’s heart.
And a person with a dead heart, is essentially a moving corpse.
So when Bediüzzaman calls out to them, he says:
‘O you miserable corpses that move!
Don’t stand in the way of the forthcoming generation; may the new generation that will raise the wave of the Quranic truth over the universe arrive.’
A new generation.
‘If He so wills, He can put you away and bring a new generation.’ (Abraham, 14:19; Al-Fatir, 35:16).
After each collapse and deterioration, after each deformation and degeneration, there will be the coming of a new generation, young and fresh, like dew drops that have formed on rose petals.
New and fresh droplets, which will make the nightingales sing.
God will take the stale, aged, desolate people and replace them with a new generation.
‘If He wills, He can remove you and bring forth a new generation.
Then, do not hesitate; ‘That is surely no great matter for God’ (Al-Fatir, 35:17).
For God, this is not difficult at all.
Because God is the All-Glorious with irresistible might.
The definition of the All-Glorious is ‘The One Who will prevail’, nobody triumph over Him’.
When He says, ‘I’ at any point, all the ‘I’s’ will be terrified and withdraw into themselves.
‘Tell the believing men and women to guard their eyes from unlawful things, tell them to protect their chastity.’
Yes, the second kind of patience mentioned by Bediüzzaman:
Patience in the face of what is forbidden; particularly patience in the face of base desires, which has nowadays become quite widespread.
‘One is not enough, I want two. Two is not enough, I want three.’
The eye is always looking for more.
But God states:
‘Tell the believing men and women to guard their eyes from unlawful things, tell them to protect their chastity’ (An-Nur, 24:30). Meanwhile, ‘And tell the believing women that:
They (also) should restrain their gaze (from looking at what is unlawful) and guard their private parts’ (An-Nur, 24:31).
Tell both the women and men:
To shut their eyes to what is unlawful and to protect their chastity.
It is the inevitability of social life, having acquired the vision of Hizmet to reach out to all people, it is possible that some might suddenly find themselves unable to uphold these things and unwillingly stumble.
The pure intention in the work that you will carry out can wipe these clean and sweep them away, with God’s consent and grace.
Yes, ‘My servant walked around Manhattan but did so out of devotion to Me; they went from home to home and rang doorbells from door to door, hoping to be invited.
Along the way he may have been tainted by different types of filth. God will say, ‘He was involved with such things but they were for Me’.
God’s compassion is comprehensive and has proceeds His Wrath. He will say, ‘They have worked for me, I will not leave those who have done something for Me in the dark’.
Yes, words you know very well:
If You truly love the Lord, do you think He will not love you?
If you seek His good pleasure, will He not let you have it?
If you go near His door, ready to offer all you have,
And serve as He ordered, Will He not give its reward?
If you overflow like the waters, if you cry like the Prophet Job
If you rend your heart, will He not show any sympathy?
He is God, the All-Compassionate, All-Generous, All-Just and All-Affectionate.
The All-Affectionate.
Next to His compassion, motherly compassion is like a droplet in the ocean.
There is an underlying compassion even when He gently slaps you on the nape
or pulls your ear:
‘Turn towards Me, walk towards the light, do not turn your back to the Sun, do not incline towards the wrong path.’
Is this compassion or not?
O God, allow us to think this way and live our life according to these ideas.
Honour us with ability to constantly remember such ideas.
True honour is from Him.
Yes, secondly:
Closing your eyes and not reaching out for forbidden things.
I am saying these according to the meanings of the noble sayings of the Prophet.
All of these are means that carry you to indulge in forbidden things in the realm of reality.
The eye will look, the hand will reach out and the foot will take a step forward.
Then he commits stupid deeds,—our noble Prophet does not say so, if this is an expression you dislike, know that it belongs to this humble man—may God protect us from committing such deeds.
In the face of all of these, even if matters relating to forbidden things surround and mangle you, and you feel like you have been chained like Prometheus, as soon as you turn to your Lord and say, ‘O God!’, by God’s leave, you will wriggle out of those chains.
As Bediüzzaman mentions, this is another form of patience.
Cruelty has spread to the four winds; the whole world has turned a blind eye; the shelter of the innocent; The All-True Master and Protector exists, God is a true friend.
Three:
Another form of patience, as previously mentioned, is patience in the face of calamities or misfortunes.
It is constantly repeated but patience in the face of calamities and misfortunes is very important.
In today’s world, the people of today are afflicted with such calamities in various forms in four corners of the world.
Caught between different flows of events.
Different events in Syria, Myanmar, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Cappadocia.
However that cascade of cruelty is existent everywhere.
At the same time, those who perpetrated these crimes, with the expression of my poet friend, ‘They have sailed the ocean of rebellion, coming to the edge doesn't stop them.’
They keep drifting away.
They know not of the harbour, they do not know the coast, nor are they aware of place to set foot on land.
The men are wanderers.
They are strangers.
They don’t know any beloved one.
They are actually destroying themselves with such cruelty.
On one hand, they are destroying themselves; there are also those who are oppressed under the wheels of cruelty.
They shouldn’t say, ‘We are complete captives of desolation; no one is left by our side’.
‘I used to think that in this world nothing amicable to me has remained.
I abandoned myself; then I saw no stranger remained.’
If we escape ourselves, nothing is a ‘stranger’; everything is amicable.
Beloved, beloved, beloved.
Who had such lyrics?
Cem Karaca.
Yes, he was a person of a different world but we embraced in a dialogue meeting.
He hugged me with such sincerity.
And he never forgot that embrace.
He also called me here on the phone; asked me about my state after I got here.
He song those lyrics on a stage, in a way to make people excited, people who wouldn’t believe in such feelings.
In fact, other composers imitated him.
The words ‘Beloved, Beloved’ had such an impact.
‘God is the beloved; the rest are strangers.’
If you have found the beloved, with God’s permission, the strangers will not be able to harm you.
Believe me, if you haven’t found Him, everywhere is narrow and uninhabitable.
‘Narrow’, not in the sense of a house, but in the sense of depression.
A narrow ‘den’.
Nowadays, there are people who take refuge in those ‘dens’.
They become gorilla-like as they take refuge in those dens.
‘If you take a glance at the appearance, there is you and me.
But in truth, there is neither you nor me.’
We were speaking of active patience against calamities and misfortunes.
Active endurance.
You may come upon exile; you are to call it ‘sacred migration in the cause of God’.
Like our Prophet’s Companions who called themselves ‘migrants’, may we give up all we have for the lips that said those jewel-like words,
Our friends meet a lot of helpers wherever they go.
When the Christians (the Apostles) entered the Roman Empire and tried to spread the religion of Jesus there, they were exiled to a place ravaged by the plague, they were left there to die.
But now, you, in different parts of the world, to places of people of a range of different religions, in one aspect are ‘migrating’; there you are meeting many friends and helpers from either yourselves, or from the natives of that land; they give you houses, places to stay, they give you a small amount of things to support you, just to get by.
God spread our friends around the world like seeds, for in this way they will go from cocoon to the butterfly; they will turn the Earth into a garden from one end to another.
Our friends called themselves ‘migrants’, if that is the case then the matter must be viewed as follows:
Almighty God spread us around to the four corners of the world.
In fact we opened to the four corners of the world, with schools, with education.
And our war was against the narrow-mindedness in education.
Either the idea of religious schools being completely scholastic or the modern schools being completely based on positivism was dominant; in response to this, our aim was to bring those two souls together.
While saying school, meaning ‘Physics, Mathematics, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Astrology’, and also being able to say ‘Religion’.
And also by broadening people’s horizons, and at the same time for the sake of making the world prosperous, you were in a struggle and endeavor combating ‘poverty’.
You reached out; and God opened the paths.
The seas that seemed impassable, God built the bridges, and you passed.
Neither did you know those cultures, nor did you go through rehabilitation, or education related to those matters.
Many of you were young, newly graduated from school.
By randomly being selected from a cap, you warmly accepted to go to places whose locations and geographies you did not know.
And in this way an opening occurred to the four corners of the world.
There only remained a few places out of 200 that you did not go to, by God’s permission and grace.
But from another perspective, that was a ‘migration’.
And at those times, that was called ‘migration’.
Your elder brothers, the ones who made an effort for you, in one regard, for you to study at school and for you to have boarding while studying at school, and for you to have schools, they made an effort, your elders, they came to me many times.
They said:
‘Please, establish a system in this matter and let our tradesmen, our investors open up to the four corners of the world.
Let the world see from that perspective the part of this matter that belongs to us.
Just as they have witnessed it in the field of education, let them see it in this field too.
But the system had to be such that wherever it went it could be quickly formed and begin working. That way they could say ‘Look, it can happen like this too, this is how we make it happen’.
The others occured with confidence, in the hands of those who graduated from those schools.
In the case of the businessmen, there wasn’t anybody on hand to help them comprehend the demands of these new markets.
When the time was right, this would happen as well.
God has now spread everyone into many fields like seeds.
He has spread them, spread into all facets of life, here and there, everywhere.
The tyrant thinks, ‘I made them scatter’.
You have been the reason; therefore, you will suffer the consequence and suffer this consequence in the Hereafter.
God is the Creator of the deed.
You will see the punishment of your wrongful intentions because you never thought ‘Let them go and be the means to good deeds’.
However, they have now been scattered everywhere, and with no anger or enmity, facing fifty different challenges they are trying to begin lives again.
So, ‘Should I cross the Tundzha, or the Maritsa? Should I go to Greece or to Georgia?
How to get to Canada, America, California?’ they have travelled many different paths.
With no passport or visa, such a distressful road.
Maybe even being able to endure patiently on that road is considered as a kind of worship and benefits humankind.
Those hardships, calamities and misfortunes will grant that person the rewards of Prayer, the Pilgrimage and Fasting.
They also become people of the heart, not people of empty words, in the places they end up in.
The statements they make do not remain only as words, they don’t know such pompous talks, and they do not resort to demagogy or unfair debate.
They especially don’t understand Machiavellianism.
‘An illegitimate means’ doesn’t even cross their minds.
Let them do that. They can use authority for power and higher positions.
Let them use their illegitimate methods to reach their goals in the most Machiavellian way; leave them alone in this field.
Let them live as in the manner that they can, let them sleep on their ears.
Let them eat, drink and sleep on their ears.
That much is their right.
Because they have consumed their rights to the Hereafter in this world, God has pushed them.
They are people who have been pushed away.
As for you, facing various difficulties, on your path, in each mile of this journey, you will have the opportunity to be blessed with different Divine Favours, with God’s permission and grace.
And then, if you get the opportunity to become familiar with the system wherever you go,
based on the depth of your own knowledge, capacity, and what you are open to in your respective fields.
Forgive me, corn is different, wheat, barley, millet, rye, grape seedlings, and olive seedlings are all very different.
If you are a seedling striving in accordance with your abilities and capacities, you will easily adapt and grow, taking heed towards the skies.
You will see, ‘Good gracious!
I came here as a caterpillar; how on earth did I become such a butterfly?
Now I am flying right and left with my wings.’
With God’s permission and grace, have no doubt.
Now, God has blessed you with such a privilege.
You must pay full respect to this privilege; you must make most of your position and make use of opportunities very efficiently.
‘O God, help us always live with the remembrance of You, away from blindness, let us always be full of gratitude in the face of Your countless blessings, and let us always be of Your rightly guided servants and allow us to worship You in the best way possible.
O God, we ask from You guidance, piety, chastity, and abundance at heart.
O God, we ask You for sincerity in all our actions, for your Divine pleasure, for the feeling of pure and wholehearted ardour and longing towards You, and we ask You to grant us all of these perpetually, agelessly and beyond the limits of time.’
We send invocations of peace and blessings to our noble Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, to his distinguished family, and to the respected Companions, and we make this the podium on which we voice our request, O Lord.’
‘Turn towards Me, walk towards the light, do not turn your back to the Sun, do not incline towards the wrong path.’
Is this compassion or not?
O God, allow us to think this way and live our life according to these ideas.
Honour us with ability to constantly remember such ideas.
True honour is from Him.
Yes, secondly:
Closing your eyes and not reaching out for forbidden things.
I am saying these according to the meanings of the noble sayings of the Prophet.
All of these are means that carry you to indulge in forbidden things in the realm of reality.
The eye will look, the hand will reach out and the foot will take a step forward.
Then he commits stupid deeds,—our noble Prophet does not say so, if this is an expression you dislike, know that it belongs to this humble man—may God protect us from committing such deeds.
In the face of all of these, even if matters relating to forbidden things surround and mangle you, and you feel like you have been chained like Prometheus, as soon as you turn to your Lord and say, ‘O God!’, by God’s leave, you will wriggle out of those chains.
As Bediüzzaman mentions, this is another form of patience.
Cruelty has spread to the four winds; the whole world has turned a blind eye; the shelter of the innocent; The All-True Master and Protector exists, God is a true friend.
Three:
Another form of patience, as previously mentioned, is patience in the face of calamities or misfortunes.
It is constantly repeated but patience in the face of calamities and misfortunes is very important.
In today’s world, the people of today are afflicted with such calamities in various forms in four corners of the world.
Caught between different flows of events.
Different events in Syria, Myanmar, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Cappadocia.
However that cascade of cruelty is existent everywhere.
At the same time, those who perpetrated these crimes, with the expression of my poet friend, ‘They have sailed the ocean of rebellion, coming to the edge doesn't stop them.’
They keep drifting away.
They know not of the harbour, they do not know the coast, nor are they aware of place to set foot on land.
The men are wanderers.
They are strangers.
They don’t know any beloved one.
They are actually destroying themselves with such cruelty.
On one hand, they are destroying themselves; there are also those who are oppressed under the wheels of cruelty.
They shouldn’t say, ‘We are complete captives of desolation; no one is left by our side’.
‘I used to think that in this world nothing amicable to me has remained.
I abandoned myself; then I saw no stranger remained.’
If we escape ourselves, nothing is a ‘stranger’; everything is amicable.
Beloved, beloved, beloved.
Who had such lyrics?
Cem Karaca.
Yes, he was a person of a different world but we embraced in a dialogue meeting.
He hugged me with such sincerity.
And he never forgot that embrace.
He also called me here on the phone; asked me about my state after I got here.
He song those lyrics on a stage, in a way to make people excited, people who wouldn’t believe in such feelings.
In fact, other composers imitated him.
The words ‘Beloved, Beloved’ had such an impact.
‘God is the beloved; the rest are strangers.’
If you have found the beloved, with God’s permission, the strangers will not be able to harm you.
Believe me, if you haven’t found Him, everywhere is narrow and uninhabitable.
‘Narrow’, not in the sense of a house, but in the sense of depression.
A narrow ‘den’.
Nowadays, there are people who take refuge in those ‘dens’.
They become gorilla-like as they take refuge in those dens.
‘If you take a glance at the appearance, there is you and me.
But in truth, there is neither you nor me.’
We were speaking of active patience against calamities and misfortunes.
Active endurance.
You may come upon exile; you are to call it ‘sacred migration in the cause of God’.
Like our Prophet’s Companions who called themselves ‘migrants’, may we give up all we have for the lips that said those jewel-like words,
Our friends meet a lot of helpers wherever they go.
When the Christians (the Apostles) entered the Roman Empire and tried to spread the religion of Jesus there, they were exiled to a place ravaged by the plague, they were left there to die.
But now, you, in different parts of the world, to places of people of a range of different religions, in one aspect are ‘migrating’; there you are meeting many friends and helpers from either yourselves, or from the natives of that land; they give you houses, places to stay, they give you a small amount of things to support you, just to get by.
God spread our friends around the world like seeds, for in this way they will go from cocoon to the butterfly; they will turn the Earth into a garden from one end to another.
Our friends called themselves ‘migrants’, if that is the case then the matter must be viewed as follows:
Almighty God spread us around to the four corners of the world.
In fact we opened to the four corners of the world, with schools, with education.
And our war was against the narrow-mindedness in education.
Either the idea of religious schools being completely scholastic or the modern schools being completely based on positivism was dominant; in response to this, our aim was to bring those two souls together.
While saying school, meaning ‘Physics, Mathematics, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Astrology’, and also being able to say ‘Religion’.
And also by broadening people’s horizons, and at the same time for the sake of making the world prosperous, you were in a struggle and endeavor combating ‘poverty’.
You reached out; and God opened the paths.
The seas that seemed impassable, God built the bridges, and you passed.
Neither did you know those cultures, nor did you go through rehabilitation, or education related to those matters.
Many of you were young, newly graduated from school.
By randomly being selected from a cap, you warmly accepted to go to places whose locations and geographies you did not know.
And in this way an opening occurred to the four corners of the world.
There only remained a few places out of 200 that you did not go to, by God’s permission and grace.
But from another perspective, that was a ‘migration’.
And at those times, that was called ‘migration’.
Your elder brothers, the ones who made an effort for you, in one regard, for you to study at school and for you to have boarding while studying at school, and for you to have schools, they made an effort, your elders, they came to me many times.
They said:
‘Please, establish a system in this matter and let our tradesmen, our investors open up to the four corners of the world.
Let the world see from that perspective the part of this matter that belongs to us.
Just as they have witnessed it in the field of education, let them see it in this field too.
But the system had to be such that wherever it went it could be quickly formed and begin working. That way they could say ‘Look, it can happen like this too, this is how we make it happen’.
The others occured with confidence, in the hands of those who graduated from those schools.
In the case of the businessmen, there wasn’t anybody on hand to help them comprehend the demands of these new markets.
When the time was right, this would happen as well.
God has now spread everyone into many fields like seeds.
He has spread them, spread into all facets of life, here and there, everywhere.
The tyrant thinks, ‘I made them scatter’.
You have been the reason; therefore, you will suffer the consequence and suffer this consequence in the Hereafter.
God is the Creator of the deed.
You will see the punishment of your wrongful intentions because you never thought ‘Let them go and be the means to good deeds’.
However, they have now been scattered everywhere, and with no anger or enmity, facing fifty different challenges they are trying to begin lives again.
So, ‘Should I cross the Tundzha, or the Maritsa? Should I go to Greece or to Georgia?
How to get to Canada, America, California?’ they have travelled many different paths.
With no passport or visa, such a distressful road.
Maybe even being able to endure patiently on that road is considered as a kind of worship and benefits humankind.
Those hardships, calamities and misfortunes will grant that person the rewards of Prayer, the Pilgrimage and Fasting.
They also become people of the heart, not people of empty words, in the places they end up in.
The statements they make do not remain only as words, they don’t know such pompous talks, and they do not resort to demagogy or unfair debate.
They especially don’t understand Machiavellianism.
‘An illegitimate means’ doesn’t even cross their minds.
Let them do that. They can use authority for power and higher positions.
Let them use their illegitimate methods to reach their goals in the most Machiavellian way; leave them alone in this field.
Let them live as in the manner that they can, let them sleep on their ears.
Let them eat, drink and sleep on their ears.
That much is their right.
Because they have consumed their rights to the Hereafter in this world, God has pushed them.
They are people who have been pushed away.
As for you, facing various difficulties, on your path, in each mile of this journey, you will have the opportunity to be blessed with different Divine Favours, with God’s permission and grace.
And then, if you get the opportunity to become familiar with the system wherever you go,
based on the depth of your own knowledge, capacity, and what you are open to in your respective fields.
Forgive me, corn is different, wheat, barley, millet, rye, grape seedlings, and olive seedlings are all very different.
If you are a seedling striving in accordance with your abilities and capacities, you will easily adapt and grow, taking heed towards the skies.
You will see, ‘Good gracious!
I came here as a caterpillar; how on earth did I become such a butterfly?
Now I am flying right and left with my wings.’
With God’s permission and grace, have no doubt.
Now, God has blessed you with such a privilege.
You must pay full respect to this privilege; you must make most of your position and make use of opportunities very efficiently.
‘O God, help us always live with the remembrance of You, away from blindness, let us always be full of gratitude in the face of Your countless blessings, and let us always be of Your rightly guided servants and allow us to worship You in the best way possible.
O God, we ask from You guidance, piety, chastity, and abundance at heart.
O God, we ask You for sincerity in all our actions, for your Divine pleasure, for the feeling of pure and wholehearted ardour and longing towards You, and we ask You to grant us all of these perpetually, agelessly and beyond the limits of time.’
We send invocations of peace and blessings to our noble Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, to his distinguished family, and to the respected Companions, and we make this the podium on which we voice our request, O Lord.’
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