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View Full Version : VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE ABOUT ISLAMIC UNITY!!! PLEASE READ!! Part 1



muslimbilal
12-04-2006, 09:33 AM
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Selamaleykum dear brothers and sisters,

THE ISLAMIC UNITY (Part 1)

The Islamic Unity is the most important issue which concerns all Muslims in accordance with their degrees and social positions. Because The Islamic Unity is not a political issue only. This Unity starts from the bonds and solidarity between two Muslims due to their brotherhood-in-faith and reaches to the cooperation and mutual assistance among all Muslims throughout the entire Islamic World.

Our Religion, our nation, our countries can only be protected from all kinds of dangers and enemies through the enormous Power which will be generated by the religious brotherhood and solidarity of Muslims and this will serve to the general Global Peace.

That is the reason why the enemies who cannot resist against this material and spiritual Power, try to destroy the Unity and the Solidarity of the Islamic World in order to break this power into parts, using all types of trickery and stratagems.

Therefore, we must stay vigilant against the corruptive incitements of such defeatists and learn the meaning and the contents and the importance of the Islamic Brotherhood which was commanded very seriously by our Religion and we must display zeal to act in accordance with this Brotherhood.

The following verse of the Quran is attracting our attention to the fact that great mischiefs and disasters will happen if mutual assistance and solidarity amongst the Muslims are not achieved. :

"And the unbelievers are allies (protectors) of each other. Unless you do this (protect each other), there would be Tumult and Oppression on Earth, and great Mischief." (Quran, 8:73)

The Religion of Islam has brought important duties and rules which result in Mutual Assistance. For example, the Pilgrimage (Hajj) is of utmost importance for developing the Spirit of Mutual Assistance and the Unity of Muslims.



THE WISDOM OF THE PILGRIMAGE

A truthful dream (Ru'ya as-Saadiqa) of Al-Ustaz Imam Bediuzzaman gave good-news for the consequences of the First World War, but came to silence about the Pilgrimage regretfully instead of good-news. Imam Bediuzzaman mentions about the Silence of the Dream as follows:

"The dream came to silence at the Pilgrimage. Because, the negligence of the Pilgrimage and the Wisdom in it has attracted , not the calamity, but the (Divine) Wrath and Compulsion (Qahr). And its penalty did not help the expiation of sins, but rather made our sins excessive. It is the negligence of the High Politics of Islam and the extensive Social Benefits within the Pilgrimage, which comprehends especially the Unity of Opinions through acquaintanceship, and Cooperation through mutual assistance, that negligence paved the way for Enemies to employ millions of Muslims against Muslims.

Look there ! The Indian killed his Father, supposing him an enemy, and is now wailing sitting next to him...

Look here! The Tatar and the Caucasian understood that the person they helped others to kill was their helpless Mother, when it is too late. They are crying now at her feet.

Look ! The Arab killed his Hero Brother by mistake, and he even cannot cry being perplexed.

Look ! The African killed his brother unknowingly, now he is raising a cry of lament.

Here ! The World of Islam ! They unintentionally and heedlessly helped others to kill their Flag-bearer Son (the Ottoman Turk), now they are tearing out their hair like mothers in sighs and wailings.

Millions of Muslims have been forced to travel long distances over the World under the enemy flag which is entirely evil, since they did not take a rush departure for the journey of Pilgrimage which is entirely beneficial. (Occurances Improvisations Indications, 52-54)

Hence a great wisdom in Pilgrimage (Hajj) ; it is a kind of Supreme Consultation (Assembly) to be held once a year, in order to protect and perpetuate the independence and security of the World of Islam.



THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF TURKS AND ARABS

Imam Bediuzzaman (R.A.) tells us that the utmost responsibility of this great duty is upon the shoulders of Ottomans (Turks) and Arabs :

Lawful freedom (Hurriyet -ul Shar'iya) and lawful consultation (Mashwarat- ul Mashruah) have demonstrated the sovereignty of our true nationhood. And the foundation and spirit of our true nationhood is Islam. And in so far as they have carried the standard of the Ottoman caliphate and Turkish army in the name of that nationhood, the two true brothers - Arab and Turk, who are like the shell and citadel of the nationhood of Islam, are the sentries of that sacred citadel.

Thus, through the bond of this sacred nationhood, all the people of Islam are like a single tribe. Like the members of a tribe, the groups of Islam are bound and connected to one another through Islamic brotherhood. They assist one another morally and, if necessary, materially. It is as if all the groups of Islam are bound to each other with a luminous chain. (The Sermon of Damascus, 54)



The prescription for a glorious though unfortunate Continent, an illustrious though hapless State, a noble though ownerless people, is Islamic Unity. (The Letters, 542)

Al Ustaz Bediuzzaman (R.A.) said in an article he published in 1909:

"The greatest obligatory duty in this time is to work for the Islamic Unity. The aim and objective of the Unity are to vibrate such a long Luminous (blessed) Chain that connects the Islamic Centers and Mosques/Masjids and Milieus which are branched out in subdivisions and thereby to awake those who are tied to that Chain and to lead them towards the Path of Development with desire and command of conscience." (Damascus Sermon, 90)

Imam Bediuzzaman was explaining the vital importance of the Islamic Unity in his sermon he delivered in 1911 in the Mosque of Umayyad in Damascus, which was later published as a book named "The Damascus Sermon" :

Oh Brothers who are listening to these words of mine here in the Umayyad Mosque! And Oh Muslim brothers in the mosque of the World of Islam forty to fifty years later! Do not make apologies, saying, "We do not do any harm, but also we do not have the power to do anything beneficial; therefore we are excused." Such an apology is not acceptable. Your laziness, and saying, "What is it to me?", and your displaying no effort and not getting into the working spirit through Islamic Unity and true Islamic Nationhood have done much damage and injustice to yourselves. (The Damascus Sermon, 55)
And especially, Oh Arabs who are great ,esteemed, and awakened or to be awaikened! First and foremost, I address you with these words. For you were our teachers and leaders, and the teachers and leaders of all the tribes of Islam, and you were the fighters of Islam. It was later that the mighty Turkish nation fully assisted you in that sacred duty .
Therefore, due to laziness your sin is great. And your good acts and deeds are also great and exalted. And in particular we await with great expectation from Divine Mercy that the different Arab tribes entering into a most exalted position in forty to fifty years' time, like that of the United States of America, and your being successful like in the past in establishing Islamic rule in half the globe, or rather in most of it, which now remains in captivity. If some fearful calamity or a doomsday do not soon erupt, the coming generation shall see this, inshaallah. (The Damascus Sermon, 57)
HOW TO ACHIEVE PEACE AND SECURITY IN THE WORLD

Imam Bediuzzaman stated that the sole means against Anarchy was the Islamic Unity, in a letter of warning to the Government Officials during the rule of the Democrat Party in Turkey (1950s) :

"Communism, Free-Masonry, Atheism and Irreligion are directly resulting in Anarchism. Against these terrible forces of destruction, only and solely The Islamic Unity surrounding the Truths of the Quran can endure. And It is the Only Way to save this Land from the occupation of Foreigners and this Nation from falling into Anarchy and the means to save the Mankind from these dangers." (Emirdag Letters II, 24)

Congratulating the Feast of His students, Imam Bediuzzaman welcomes the positive developments towards the Islamic Cooperation and Unity after 1950s (Regional Cooperations between Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan and Islamic Conferences of the Heads of States) :

"My Dear Truthful Brothers ! We congratulate your Blessed Bairam Feast with all our Souls. InshaAllah you live long enough to see the Great Feast of the World of Islam too. There are many signs and indications that the Quran Al Hakeem -which is the source of the Holy Constitution of the United Republics of Islam- will rule completely in the Future and will bring a True Feast to the Mankind." (Emirdag Letters II, 76)

"We congratulate ...the Great Feast of Islam on account of that the Islamic Unity -which is starting to develop in Asia and Africa for the moment and making 400 million Muslims brothers to each other and Assistant both materially and spiritually- is under establishment within the newly-formed Islamic States and that the Sacred Laws of the Quran Al Hakeem are becoming the Constitutions of those new Islamic States." (Emirdag Letters II, 101)

"Yes, the ill-treatments and oppressions of those Foreigners like wild beasts, has accelerated the currents of Freedom, Independence and the Islamic Unity in the World of Islam. Consequently they have resulted in the formation of Independent Islamic States. InshaAllahu Taala, the United Republics of Islam will also come into existence and Islam will rule in sovereignty all over the world. We strongly hope and ask this from the Divine Mercy." (Conference, 54)

In a letter he wrote in 1945, Imam Bediuzzaman warned against the great dangers and harms to the Islamic Unity and Brotherhood due to the Muslim World feeling an aversion for the Muslim Turkish nation if the Truths of the Quran are not advocated in Turkey instead of European Civilization.:

"The Turkish Nation which rejoiced the World of Islam with its heroism for a thousand years and protected the Unity of Muslims and served as a great means to save the World of Humanity from Absolute Infidelity and Corruption and the Brethren of those who are Turkified !

Should you not stand now as protector of the Quran and the Truths of Belief heroically as in the Old Times and advocate the Truths of the Quran and Belief directly, instead of propagating the (Western) Civilization at the harm of the Religion, I am informing you - patriots - and I can prove with definitive evidence that :

The World of Islam will show enmity and a dreadful hatred, instead of Love and Brotherhood, towards the Turkish Nation which is its Heroic Brother and the Commander and this Turkish Nation will be defeated by Anarchy (and Terror) covered by Atheism which is now trying to destroy the World of Islam. The citadel and the Glorious Army of the Muslim World, this Turkish Nation will be divided into pieces and will be invaded by the Dreadful Dragon coming out of the North East.

Yes, indeed this Hero Nation can only endure against the two external dreadful currents with the Strength of the Quran. This Nation -which has been blended and united with the Truth of Islam and found all its Honour in the past within the Circle of Islam- can only stop the Current (Communism ) which is coming forcefully by using the Absolute Infidelity (Atheism), Absolute Despotism, Absolute Dissoluteness and by offering the Wealth of the Honest People to the Vagabond. The patriots and the nationalists of this Nation can stop that Current, inshaAllah, by accepting as the foundational rule and the guiding principle the Truths of the Quran which are like a great artery for that combined united Nationhood.

The Second Current : This one has become succesful to a degree up until now, through a Strategy which involves accusing the Strong Islamic Centrality in this country with Irreligion in order to warm itself to its Colonies in the Muslim World, and thereby to bond them completely; and disconnecting the Spiritual ties of the World of Islam and transforming their brotherhood with this Nation (Turks) into enmity.

If this current acts in reason, it will have much benefits and might keep its great victories to a degree if it changes this dreadful Strategy and flatters the Religion of Islam in this Center just like it flattered the other parts of the Muslim World. And so this Country and this People can escape from a terrible disaster....

...Besides, a Muslim cannot be compared to the people of the other nations (religions). If he gives up his Religion, he would become an Anarchist. He would not accept to live under any restriction or law. He cannot be administered by any educational or supervisional methods but absolute despotism and total bribery." (Emirdag Letters I, 218-219)

THE TWO WORDLY DUTIES OF THE RISAALE-I NOOR

Therefore, we , through Risaale-i Noor (The Treatises of Light), have been struggling to ward off the two greatest dangers of this country and its future and in fact we have achieved this partly and proven this with many evidences at the Court :

The first danger: Anarchy which is trying to enter into this country forcefully from abroad. We build a wall before this.

The second one: The hatred of the 350 million Muslims. Our duty is to turn this hatred into Brotherhood and thereby to ensure the greatest point of support for this Country. (Emirdag Letters I, 128)

"Yes, Those who are attacking the Risaale-i Noor (*) behind the scene are those who are covertly establishing the Atheism by making the Politics an instrument for Irreligion in order to destroy the favorable inclination and Love and Brotherhood of the Muslim World which are the Greatest Power of the People in this Country and to turn them into hatred. They deceived the government and the Justice twice and claimed that Risaale-i Noor and its Students may use the Religion as an instrument for politics, and they may act harmfully for the general security."

"O Malicious Ones ! Although the Risaale-i Noor is not concerned with the Politics, but since it destroys the Absolute Infidelity (Atheism), it also destroys and rejects in principles the Anarchism which is the foundations of the Atheism and the Absolute Despotism which is the roof of the Atheism." (The Rays, 281)

(*) Risaale-i Noor is the name of the Collection of the Quranic Commentary authored by Imam Bediuzzaman.

REFRAINING FROM INTERNAL HOSTILITIES

It grieved Imam Bediuzzaman (R.A.) to see the disagreements and conflicts continuing, even if partly, in the World of Islam despite the fact that there were many reasons that would lead to the Islamic Unity in the face of the ongoing Global circumstances.:

"A regrettable social condition and an awesome disease affecting the life of society, fit to be wept over by the heart of Islam:

To forget and abandon internal enmities when foreign enemies appear and attack is a demand of social welfare recognized and enacted even by the most primitive peoples. What then ails those who claim to be serving the Islamic community that at a time when numberless enemies are taking up positions to attack, one after the other, they fail to forget their petty enmities, and instead prepare the ground for the enemies' attacks? It is disgraceful savagery, and treason committed against the social life of Islam." (The Letters, 318)

EMPHASIZING THE COOPERATION WITH THE WORLD OF ISLAM

RATHER THAN EUROPE

Üstad Bediüzzaman was recommending to the Statesmen and the Government that it is a necessity that they must consider seriously the establishment of the Islamic Union , rather than turning towards Europe :

"Since, these strange moral bribes have been given in return for the Policies of the Foreigners and their insignificant temporary aids, because of the weakness and lack of Power due to lack of this Alliance. And there is a meaning in Power as if the brotherhood of the four hundred million brothers and the path of the billions of our ancestors have not been considered seriously....They give bribes in the form of high salaries (to the state officials) thinking that thereby they are obliged to obtain Strength so that the security and their policies would not be harmed, through so much wasteful expenditure without considering the poverty of the nation.

The present Politicians in this Country must certainly and definitely give a very big gift and a harmless bribe to the four hundred million brothers who are equivalent to the future United Republics of the Islamic World, for the benefits of the Country and the nation and this Muslim State, a bribe ten times as much as the political and moral bribe they gave to the West and the Foreigners.

And that bribe which is acceptable, necessary, very beneficial, lawful and obligatory, is : to take as the Guiding Principle and the Code of Laws of the following :

Indeed the believers are brothers. (Quran 49-10)

And hold fast all together to the bond of Allah, and be not divided among yourselves...(Q 3-103)

Every soul is accountable for itself, no bearer of a burden bears the burden of another..(Q 6-164)

Do not engage in disputes with one another, lest you lose courage and become insignificant and your Power depart...(Q 8-46)

which are the foundations of the Islamic Mutual-Assistance and a Divine Rule and the bond and the Holy Constitution of the Gift of the Quran." (Emirdag Letters-II, 83)

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE NATIONALISM

There are some prerequisites for the realisation of the Islamic Unity. One of these is to base on the principle of Islamic Nationality and to refrain from Negative Racism and Tribalism which are the root-causes of Disunion and Disintegration. Al-Ustaz Bediuzzaman authored many articles regarding this matter for warning and guidance, some of which are taken herebelow:

O mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other. (Quran, 49-13)

That is, "I created you as peoples, nations, and tribes, so that you should know one another and the relations between you in social life, and assist one another; not so that you should regard each other as strangers, refusing to acknowledge one another, and nurturing hostility and enmity,"

This Topic contains seven Matters.

FIRST MATTER

Since the elevated truth expressed by the above verse concerns social life, I have been compelled to write it in the tongue, not of the New Said, who wants to withdraw from social life, but of the Old Said, who was involved in the social life of Islam; it is written with the intention of serving the Qur'an of Mighty Stature and forming a shield against the unjust attacks against it.

SECOND MATTER

In order to explain the principle of "knowing and assisting each other" which the verse indicates, we say this:

An army is divided into divisions, the divisions into regiments, the regiments lnto battallions, companies, and then into squads, so that every soldier may know his many different connections and their related duties; then the members of the army may truly perform a general duty governed by the principle of mutual assistance, and their social life be guarded against the attacks of the enemy. This arrangement is not so that divided and split up, one company should compete with another, one battalion be hostile to another, and one division act in opposition to another.

In just the same way, Islamic Society as a whole is a huge army which has been divided into tribes and groups. But it has a thousand and one aspects of unity. Its groups' Creator is one and the same, their Provider is one and the same, their Prophet is one and the same, their qibla is one and the same, their Book is one and the same, their country is one and the same; alI the same, a thousand things are one and the same.

Thus, this many things being one and the same requires brotherhood, love, and unity. That is to say, being divided into groups and tribes is for mutual acquaintance and mutual assistance, not for antipathy and mutual hostility.

THlRD MATTER

The idea of nationalism has greatly advanced in this century. The cunning European tyrants in particular awaken this Idea among Muslims in negative fashion, so that they may divide them and devour them.

Furthermore, in nationalism is a thrill of the soul, a heedless pleasure, an inauspicious power. For this reason those occupied with social life at this time cannot be told to give up the idea of nationalism. However, nationalism is of two kinds. One is negative, inauspicious, and harmful; it is nourished by devouring others, persists through hostility to others, and is aware of what it is doing. It is the cause of enmity and disturbance.

It is because of this that the Hadith states:

Islam has abrogated what preceded it, and put an end to the Tribalism of the Ignorance State. (Bukhari-Ahkam 4, Imara 36,37; Abu Dawood, Sunna 5; Tirmidhi-Jihad 28, Ibn-i Majah-Jihad 39)

And the Qur'an decrees:

While the unbelievers got up in their hearts, heat and cant - the heat and cant of Ignorance - God sent down His tranquillity to His Prophet and to the believers, and made them stick close to the command of self- restraint; and well were they entitled to it and worthly of it . And God has full knowledge of all things.(Quran 48-26)

Thus, the above Hadith and Verse reject in definite terms any negative nationalism and racialism. For the positive, sacred Islamic nationhood leave no need for them.

What race is there that has three hundred and fifty million (now 1.2 billion) members? And which racialism can gain for those who subscribe to it so many brothers - and eternal brothers - in place of Islam? Negative nationalism has caused untold harm in history.

I n S h o r t : Due to their combining some ideas of nationalism with their politics, the Umayyads vexed the World of Islam, and in addition drew many calamities on themselves. Also, the European nations have advanced the idea of racialism much this century; the ghastly events of the Great War showed how harmful for mankind is negative nationalism, as well as the perpetual and ill-omened enmity of the French and Germans.

And with us, in the Second Constitutional Period (1908-1909), - like the "many tongues" at the destruction of the Tower of Babel, known as the "ramification of peoples," which resulted in their being divided and scattered - various refugee societies known as "Clubs" were formed, chiefly by the Armenians and Greeks, due to the idea of negative nationalism, which were the cause of division. And from that time to now, the state of those who have been devoured by the Europeans due to those Clubs, and of those made wretched by them, has demonstrated the harm of negative nationalism.

And as for the present, when the peoples and tribes of Islam are most in need of one another, arid each is more appressed and more poverty-stricken than the others, and they are crushed beneath European domination, to regard one another as strangers due to the idea of nationalism, and to consider one another to be enemies, is such a calamity that it cannot be described.

It is quite simply a lunacy like turning one's back on dreadful serpents so as not be bitten by a mosquito and struggling with the mosquito - due to the idea of nationalism, to attach no importance to the European nations, which are like huge dragons, at a time when with their insatiable greed their grasping hands are open, indeed, to in effect help them and to nurture enmity against fellow-citizens in the Eastern Provinces or brother Muslims to the South, and to take up positions opposed to them, is extremely detrimental and dangerous.

In any event there are no enemies among those to the South so that they should be confronted. What comes from the South is the light of the Qur'an; the Light of Islam came from there; it is present among us, and is found everywhere.

Thus, to be hostile towards those fellow Muslims is indirectly harmful to Islam and the Qur' an. And hostility towards Islam and the Qur' an is hostility of a sort towards the lives in this world and in the Hereafter of all those fellow-citizens. To think one can serve their social life in the name of patriotism while destroying the foundations of their two lives, is not patriotism but stupidity!

FOURTH MATTER

Positive nationalism arises from an inner need of social life and is the cause of mutual assistance and solidarity; it ensures a beneficial strength; it is a means for further strengthening Islamic brotherhood.

This idea of positive nationalism must serve Islam, it must be its citadel and armour; it must not take the place of it. For there is a hundredfold brotherhood within the brotherhood of Islam which persists in the Intermediate Realm and World of Eternity. So however strong national brotherhood is, it may be like a veil to it. But to establish it in place of Islamic brotherhood is a foolish crime like replacing the treasure of diamonds within the citadel with the citadel's stones, and throwing the diamonds away.

And so, O Sons of this Land, who are the people of the Qur'an! Challenging the whole world, you have proclaimed the Qur'an as its standard-bearers, not for six hundred years, but for a thousand years since the time of the Abbasids. You have made your nationhood the citadel to the Qur'an and Islam. You have silenced the whole world and repulsed awesome attacks, confirming the verse:

Soon Allah will produce a people whom He will love as they will love Him, humble towards the believers, and stern towards the unbelivers, and will fight in the way of God.(Quran 5-54)

Now you must refrain from succumbing to the stratagems of Europe and the dissemblers who imitate them, thus confirming the meaning at the beginning of this Verse; you must be frightened of doing such a thing!

A Noteworthy Situation: Being the most numerous of the Islamic peoples, wherever throughout the world there are Turks, they are Muslims, They have not become divided into Muslims and non-Muslims like the other peoples. Wherever there are Turks, they are Muslims. Turks who have abandoned Islam or who are not Muslims, are also no longer Turkish. Like the Hungarians. Even among small peoples there are both Muslims and non-Muslims.

O my Turkish brother! You watch out in particular! Your nationhood has fused with Islam and may not be separated from it. If you do separate them, you wiIl be finished! All your glorious deeds of the past are recorded in the book of Islam's deeds. Since these glorious deeds cannot be effaced from the face of the earth by any power, don't you efface them from your heart due to the evil suggestions and devices of Satan!

FIFTH MATTER

Embracing the idea of Nationalism, the peoples awakening in Asia are imitating Europe precisely in every respect, and on the way sacrificing many of their sacred matters.

However, every nation requires a dress suitable to its particular stature. Even if the material is the same, the style has to be different. A woman cannot be dressed in a gendarme's uniform. And like an elderly hoja (Muslim teacher) cannot be cIothed in the dress of a tango-dancer, blind imitation also very often makes people into laughing-stocks. This is so for the following reasons:

F i r s t l y : If Europe is a shop, a barracks, Asia is like an arable field and a mosque. A shopkeeper can go to the bafl, but a peasant cannot. The situation of a barracks and that of a mosque cannot be the same.

Moreover, the appearance of most of the prophets in Asia, and the emergence of the majority of philosophers in Europe, is a sign, an indication, of Pre-eternal Divine Determining that what will arouse the Asian peoples and cause them to progress and to govern, are Religion and the Heart. As for philosophy, it should assist religion and the heart, not take its place.

S e c o n d l y : It is a grievous error to compare the religions of Islam and Christianity, and to be indifferent towards religion like Europe. Firstly, Europe has its religion. The fact that European (Western) leaders like foremost Wilson, Lloyd George, and Venizelos, are bigoted in their religion like priests, testifies that Europe has its religion, and is even bigoted in one respect.

T h i r d l y : To compare Islam with Christianity is a false comparison and wrong.

For when it has been bigoted in its religion, Europe has not been civilized; it has become civilized on giving up its bigotry.

Furthermore, religion caused three hundred years of war amongst them. And since it was the means of despotic tyrants crushing the common people, the poor, and thinkers who were in their power, they all felt a temporary disgust at religion.

However, in Islam, history testifies that apart from one occasion, religion has not been the cause of internal war.

Also, whenever the people of Islam have adhered in earnest to their religion, they have advanced proportionately, achieving great progress. Witness to this is the greatest master of Europe, the Islamic state of Andalusia.

And whenever the Islamic community has been slack in religion, it has fallen into wretchedness, and declined.

Furthermore, since Islam has protected the poor and the common people with compassionate measures like enjoining the payment of Zakat (Obligatory Tax) and prohibiting usury and interest; and since, in accordance with phrases like,

So will they not think, * So will they not reason, * So will they not ponder on it,

It has called on and encouraged reason and knowledge and protected scholars, Islam has always been the stronghold and place of recourse of the poor and the people of Learning. There is therefore no reason to be vexed at Islam.

The underlying reason and wisdom of Islam's differing in various respects from Christianity and other religions is this:

The basis of Islam is the pure affirmation of Divine Unity; it attributes no actual effect to causes and intermediaries, affording them no value in regard to creation and position. Christianity, however, since it has accepted the idea of Jesus being the Son of God, it gives some value to causes and intermediaries; it cannot break egotism. It quite simply ascribes a manifestation of Divine Dominicality to its saints and great ones, thus confirming the verse:

They take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords in derogation of God.(Quran 9-31)

It is because of this that, together with maintaining their pride and egotism, those Christians who occupy the highest worldly ranks are religious and bigoted, like the former American president, Wilson.

In Islam, the religion of pure Divine Unity, those in the highest worldIy positions either give up their egotism and pride, or they give up their religion to an extent. For this reason, some are neglectful, or even irreligious.

SIXTH MATTER

To those who exceed the bounds in ideas of Negative Nationalism and Racialism we say this:

F i r s t l y : The face of the world and especially this country of ours (Ottoman State) has since ancient times seen numerous migrations and changes of population. In addition, after the Centre of IsIamic Rule was set up in this country, other peoples were drawn to it, and settled here.

As a consequence, only when the Preserved Tablet is revealed will the races truly be distinguished from each other.

So, to construct movements and patriotism on the idea of true race is both meaningless and extremely harmful. It is for this reason that one of the Leaders of the Nationalists and those who support Racialism, who is very neglectful toward reIigion, was compelled to say: "If language and religion are the same, the nation is the same."

Since that is so, what will be taken into consideration will be relations of language, religion, and country, not true race. If the three are the same, that certainly is a strong nation. And if one is absent, it is still within the bounds of nationalism.

S e c o n d l y : I shall describe as examples, two of the hundreds of advantages the Sacred Nationhood of Islam has gained for the sociaI life of the sons of this land:

T h e F i r s t : What enabled this Islamic state, while only numbering twenty or thirty million, to preserve its life and existence in the face of all the large states of Europe was the following idea, which arose from the light of the Qur'an in this State's Army: "If I die, I shall be a martyr; and if I kill, I shall be a ghazi."

They met death with complete eagerness and longing, laughing in its face. They always made Europe tremble.

What in the world can be shown that will give rise to such elevated self-sacrifice in the spirit of a simple-hearted soldier? What patriotism can be instilled in its place? What can make him willingly sacrifice his life and all his world ?

T h e S e c o n d : Whenever the dragons (large states) of Europe have dealt a blow at this Islamic state, they have made three hundred and fifty million Muslims weep and cry out. So in order not to make them weep and suffer, those Colonialists have drawn back their hands; they have lowered them, even while raising them to strike.

What power can be established in place of this constant moral support which in no way may be belittled? Let them show it! Yes, that huge moral (Spiritual) Strength must not be offended by Negative Nationalism and independent patriotism.

SEVENTH MATTER

We say to those who display excessive patriotism in negative Nationalism:

If you truly love this nation and are compassionate towards it, be patriotic in such a way that the compassion is directed towards the rnajority of them. For if you serve the temporary heedless social life of the minority, who are in no need of compassion, in a way that is the reverse of compassion for the majority, that is not patriotism.

For patriotic works performed with the idea of negative racialism may be temporarily beneficial for two out of eight. They receive the compassion arising from that patriotism, of which they are not worthy.

While the remaining six out of eight are either elderly, or sick, or afflicted with tribulations, or are children, or are weak, or are pious people thinking seriously of the Hereafter; these people want a light, a solace, compassion, in the face of the life of the Intermediate Realm (Barzah after death) and the Hereafter, towards which they are turned, rather than worldly life; they are in need of a blessed, patriotic hand.

What patriotism would permit the extinguishing of their light, the destruction of their solace?

Alas! Compassion for the nation, Self-sacrifice for the nation, where are they?

Hope in Divine Mercy must not be lost. For Almighty Allah will not cause to perish through temporary set-backs the Magnificent Army and Mighty Community of the People of this Land, whom He has employed for a thousand years in the service of the Qur,an, appointing them as its standard-bearer. He will once again kindle that Light and cause them to continue their duty.

He (the Turkish Armed Forces) will not strike with his Sword at his own foot, he will strike at his foe's. He will make it servant to the Quran. He will rejoice the World of Islam that sheds tears.

(The Letters, 26th Letter, Bediuzzaman)



THE IMPORTANCE OF SHURA (COLLECTIVE CONSULTATION)

The second requirement for the realization of the Islamic Unity is a genuine and virtuous Collective Consultation within the framework of Sharia.

The Consultation which will be carried out by the gathering of the Genuine Scholars and Spiritual Guides in the World of Islam and will be based on the Methods of Sharia, can become a legitimate and competent Authority as in the meaning of the Consensus of the Nation's Scholars (Al-Ijmaa al-Ummah) for all the Muslims. This Council determines the rules of activity and organization of the Consultation and the Islamic Union.

The Islamic States which unite around the Holy Constitution of the Quran as explained above, are to form the "United Republics of Islam" as designated by Imam Bediuzzaman (R.A.).

Expressing the importance of the Council of Consultation and the top-necessity of its establishment, Bediuzzaman was explaining the properties of the required Council at the Office of the Sheikh-ul-Islam of the Ottoman Empire. In Sunuhat, published in 1919, he discussed the setting-up of a Learned Body made up of specialists in different fields and based on the principle of Consultation, to tackle the problems facing not only the Ottoman Empire, but the Islamic World as well.

Having stated that the Sultanate and Caliphate were inseparable, and that the Office of Grand Vizier represented the former and the Office of Sheikh-ul-Islam the latter, he pointed out that in modern, complex society and in the face of the myriad problems facing the Islamic World, it was beyond the capacity of a single individual to perform the duty of Sheikh-ul-Islam effectively. A voice of such strength and authority was required at that time that it could only be supplied by a Learned Council such as one described above. He suggested that with the addition of further Ulama (Scholars), both Ottoman and from other parts of the Islamic World, an up-graded Assembly of Islamic Scholars (Dar al Hikmat-al Islamiya) could form its basis.

"We are not living in the Old Times. In old times, the Ruler was a single person. The Mufti (the official expounder of the Holy Law) of that Ruler was also an individual person. He was able to correct and modify His (the Sultan's) Opinions.

Now the present is the time of community. The Ruler should be a Collective Personality which arose from the spirit of the community, a little specialist, a little deaf (not influenced easily) and resistant, and the Councils represent that Spirit...The individual , even if he is a Genius, can be regarded as a mosquito as compared to the Collective Personality of the community....The word of a Sheikh-ul-Islam who rely upon such a Consultative Assembly would either cause the greatest genius to abandon his Jurisprudential interpretation (Ijtihaad), or restrict his opinion to himself.

Every competent person, though, can interprete the Law (in detail matters). However, his Jurisprudential Opinion , in order to be a guiding principle, must be met with approval by a kind of Consensus of the Scholars or the confirmation of the public....In the Illustrious Holy Law, the Consensus (Ijmaa) and the Public Opinion/Referendum (Ray ul-Jumhur) are always the sources of the Fatwa...

(In continues with a other thread, InshaAllah)
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