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Unbounded thanks and praise be to Allah who is the Master of the worlds! Allah declares in His Glorious Quran, “Obey Allah and His Herald; do not dispute with each other; lest fear penetrates inside you and your wind (the power that makes you strong) diminishes; then persevere with patience!” (8/46); “hold fast all together to the rope (Quran) of Allah, and do not get divided!” (3/103)
Let there be endless peace and blessings upon the Herald of Allah who is most kind and generous. He has said in meaning as, “Do not severe your good relationships! Do not turn away from each other, and do not sulk towards each other! O servants of Allah, be brothers!” and “The best of the humankind is the one who benefits them.” (İbn-i Mâce, vol.10, p. 32)
As its all judgments, the social prescriptions of the Quran freshen and become younger as time gets older. There is no reason to seek remedies for our deceases elsewhere outside! The time has come for remembering how the Muslims in the past established a glorious civilization by enthroning the glorious Quran which we keep readily on our desks, and explore such remedial civilization again. The fundamentals of this civilization are the keys to peace and prosperity for the individual, for the society, for the Muslims, and for the entire humanity.
Let us firstly compare the civilization of the Quran and that of the present world, and remember the universal principles that will provide the peace and justice to humanity.
The present civilization accepts force as its point of reliance in social life, knows selfish profit as its goal, regards life as a struggle for survival, describes the dynamics of different societies by motives of racism and negative nationalism, and determines the goal of the individual as satisfaction of the selfish desires and accumulation of wealth to cope for ever increasing needs.
However, the outcomes of the force are aggression, offence, and oppression of the weak. The present civilization has resulted in a system wherein the powerful has all the rights, and the law is not sovereign. Therefore, the face of the earth has turned into a mourning place full of blood and tear of the devastated nations because of the never satisfying greed and diverse tricks. Justice has become the most sought concept by humanity.
The outcome of the selfish profit-seeking is quarrelling about who gets what, since selfish desires cannot be satisfied all at once.
The outcome of regarding life as struggle for survival is to fight. According to this understanding, the big fish does not eat the small fish, and their rule is “eat or get eaten”.
The outcome of racism is to devour the weak races, and to reject getting to know and helping others.
Thus, because of these outcomes, the presently dominant civilization could make only the twenty percent of the humanity at least superficially happy, and ruined the prosperity of the eighty percent. It changed the day of the humanity into night. Since it went against the innate creational laws as well as the celestial laws of the Creator, its ugly failures suppressed its nice successes, and its damages surpassed its benefits.
In any effect, even the worldly prosperity, global peace, and social tranquility, which should be the true goal of any civilization, have been distorted. Extravagancy replaced contentment, and laziness replaced work and service, hence the humanity became poor and wretched.
The two world wars, many local disputes, and the accelerating social unrest and crime, signals the end of this present civilization. The societies has been dragged into rebellion and anarchy, and the pillars of social safety has been damaged due to the two simple deceptive ideas which can be summarized as follows:
• “You work, and I will eat!”
• “As long as I am satiated, I do not care if some one else dies of hunger!”
Today, the world utterly needs a true civilization which will inscribe into the hearts the talisman of a global peace, social tranquility, and mutual prosperity.
The Quranic civilization accepts as its point of reliance “the right” instead of force. According to Islamic civilization, there is no small “right” or big “right,” rights are rights. The one who is right is powerful. Its fundamental goal is to achieve virtue and Divine acceptance, instead of selfish profit. It knows in life benevolence instead of struggle. It explains the relationships among societies on the basis of religion, country, and occupational classes, instead of racism. It accepts as the goal of individual finding greatness in suppressing the material desires beyond legitimate needs, attaining spiritual content and high morality, and activating the elevated potentials inscribed within the human nature, as opposed to being a slave to every selfish derive.
*The outcome of the righteousness is the alliance and unity. The members of the Quranic civilization accept Islam as the basis of their nationality; they value the mutual deliberation, and ignore any disagreement on details as long as they are united on fundamentals.
Sultan Yavuz Selim, the Caliph of the Muslims, brings about his worry, which is still shared by every Muslim, in his poem translated as:
“The fear of separation by dispute / even in the loneliness of my grave / makes me hesitant.
While our only remedy is the unity to defeat the attack of our enemies, /
If the nation does not unite / this makes my heart hurt and gives much pain.”
The reason why the blood and tear flowing in Muslim geography is our separateness for over a century, is it not?
*The outcome of virtue and seeking Allah’s approval is mutual assistance and cooperation. Each member of Quranic civilization considers all righteous creatures in the heavens and on the earth as brothers, sincerely prays for them, rejoice their happiness, and feels a strong tie towards them in his soul. Quranic civilization prevents the social rebellions and anarchy by banning the interest and enacting the obligatory alms-tax. Thus, it builds affectionate societies. “Allah made trade lawful, but interest unlawful” (2/275 Quran). The sphere of the lawful is sufficiently vast and there is no need to use the unlawful.”
*The outcome of benevolence is reaching out to every one in need of help. The members of the Quranic civilization act accordingly by the following verse: “Despite their desire (and need) for it, they (used to) feed the poor, the orphan, and the captives. They (used to) say: ‘We are feeding you only for the pleasure of Allah, expecting no wage, not even thank, because we fear our Master on a sullen-faced, frowned day.’ ” (76/8, 9)
*The outcome of the religion is brotherhood. “Yes the unity in belief requires the unity of the hearts, and the unity of faith too requires the unity of the society.” If we do not want to moan under disgrace and captivity, we should seek refuge in the sacred castle of “All Muslims are brothers!” against those who exploit our disputes. We are like the organs of a body or wheels of a factory. In order to establish such brotherhood, Quranic civilization requires the implementation of the following principles:
“1. When you know that your method of action and thinking are right, you have the right to say ‘My way is right or better,’ but you do not have the right to say ‘The only right way is my way.’
2. It is incumbent upon you that whatever you say must be right, but you do not have the right to say every right. All you utter must be true, but saying all truth is not correct.
3. If you want to hate, hate your the hate in your heart, and try to eliminate it. Hate your selfish soul that harms you the most by commanding you evil and enslaves you to temporal pleasures, and try to purify it. Do not hate the believers for the sake of your harmful soul!”
*The outcome of suppressing the material desires beyond legitimate needs, and freeing the soul by motivating the spirit towards contentment is the happiness of this temporal world and of the everlasting one in the hereafter.
The only way to increase the material and spiritual riches in the Islamic world and to provide the peace and tranquility that will embrace all humanity is to obey the Mighty Quran and follow the Herald of Allah to whom the Quran was sent down and who was sent as a mercy upon mankind.
Only by this way, mankind will attain the happiness of seeing the sun of true civilization, and find peace and prosperity.
The source of the present civilization is not any religion based on revelations. The one who does not listen to Allah’s revelations is the blind intellect. Yet, the basis of the Quranic civilization is the Divine Guidance. Divine Guidance can be explained as the conscience within the following sentence:
“No matter how much a man is intelligent and skilful, he absolutely needs the Divine Guidance that the Creator bestowed through His revelations and His prophets.”
* Divine Guidance gives light to souls, lets the seed-like abilities grow, and enlightens the nature. He drives man to contentment, causes the self to become an obedient soldier, and shows the men with angelic faces. However, intellect only considers the flesh, the body, and the self. It enhances self’s abilities and transforms man from being a human to an animal. It makes the spirit to become a servant of the self, causes his precious abilities to atrophy, and shows the men with satanic faces.
* Divine Guidance makes prosperous the life of this world as well as of the hereafter. It enlightens the two worlds, and exalts man. However, intellect considers only the temporal life of this world, does not see the everlasting life of the world in the hereafter. It makes men materialistic and worldly, and transforms him into a monster.
The following sentences belong to a politician who was raised in the Western world: “I have examined the Quran by all aspects and saw great wisdom in its each word. O Muhammad! I am very sorry that I could not be your contemporary! This book which you are a teacher of and a disseminator does not belong to you; this book is from God. Denying that this is the Book of God is as ridiculous as claiming the falsehood of all sciences. Therefore, mankind has seen an exalted capacity such as yours only once, and will never see again. I humbly bow down in your spiritual presence.”
Bismarck is only one of the hundreds of Western names who have examined the Holy Quran and claimed that it is a miracle and it is from God. It is possible to bring more examples to this point. Even this single example can be a touchstone to examine and measure where the Islamic world stands in understanding of the Holy Quran and the Last Prophet who was honored with that miracle.
At this moment, we would like to get your attention to an important point. The Quranic civilization is not a side of an undefined war of civilizations as claimed by some centers. The civilization whose limits are drawn and principles are set by the Holy Quran is suitable to the needs and nature of mankind. Its merits and characteristics are sufficient to transform the current civilization’s sins into beautiful deeds, fix its damages, and therefore assure the happiness of this world and of the hereafter. The world does not need more conflicts and wars; it needs a global peace, social tranquility, and mutual prosperity. This can only happen with the reconciliation of mankind within the civilization of Islam which is suitable to the needs and nature of mankind.
We should not fall into pessimism regarding the revival and reconstruction of the magnificent Quranic civilization whose principles we tired to mention briefly today. We should kill all kinds of causes that drive us into despair by the holy sword of Allah close meaning of which is: “Do not give up hope from Allah’s Mercy!” (39/53). There is a morning after every night and there comes a spring after every winter. The Master of the morning does not let the rights of the truthful people to disappear. All we need is to attract the help of Allah by our work with maximum courage and energy, maximum perseverance, fortitude, love, unity, and benevolence. We are the agents of love; we do not have time for hatred. Calamities, troubles, and oppressions should be the fuel for the fire of our efforts and energy. Let us pray to the Lord of the worlds by our tongues and by our actions so that He helps us see the great eid of the world of Islam. The greatest rejoice of the whole mankind will happen when the Islamic world gets united. Thus, we should not forget that the biggest obligatory duty of today is to work for the unity of Islam.
May Allah who is our Master and our Creator exalt Islam and Muslims! May He make this good project a cause to the awakening and prosperity of both the Islamic World and whole mankind.
May Allah Bestow Peace, Mercy, and Blessings upon you!