A Moment for Reflection

Below are the articles under the tag A Moment for Reflection.

Articles

A Story That Is Not Mine

A Story That Is Not Mine

01 March 2023 | Salma Abdel Fattah | Issue 152 (Mar - Apr 2023)

Every day of our lives is a spot on our map. It can be a success, a failure, a turnaround, or maybe even simpler it could be traced by a smile, a f...

Love in the Dark

Love in the Dark

04 January 2023 | Lawrence Brazier | Issue 151 (Jan - Feb 2023)

It was discouragingly dark among the shrubs, and there was the rustle of dead leaves. A half-moon made mottled silver patterns on the higher branch...

The Troubled Watermill - Dertli Dolap: A Commentary

The Troubled Watermill - Dertli Dolap: A Commentary

01 July 2022 | Serdar Kilic | Issue 148 (Jul - Aug 2022)

My intention in writing this piece is to elucidate crucial concepts in a poem written by Yunus Emre—concepts needed to understand the Sufi worldvie...

Dialogs in the Park

Dialogs in the Park

01 May 2022 | Kubra Eskigun | Issue 147 (May - Jun 2022)

Tim and Adam work at the same office. It was Monday. They went to Central Park to have their lunch together. It was a beautiful, cool, cloudy fall ...

Contemplating God

Contemplating God

01 January 2022 | Nurcihan Can | Issue 145 (Jan - Feb 2022)

When the novel coronavirus Covid-19 started to spread across the world at the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020, it challenged not only people but ...

Less Is More

Less Is More

01 November 2021 | Vagif Kazimli | Issue 144 (Nov - Dec 2021)

We always want more. We sometimes so much more for selfish reasons only, turning this desire into greed, and we become oblivious to the needs of ot...

For My Brother

For My Brother

01 September 2021 | Hannah Kay | Issue 143 (Sep - Oct 2021)

Between the ages of six and ten, I stayed up every night waiting for the sound of my parents closing their bedroom door. Then I stayed up for an ex...

Oranges and …

Oranges and …

01 July 2021 | Numan Erciyes | Issue 142 (Jul - Aug 2021)

When I visited Thailand years ago, I had the pleasure of tasting about 20 different types of exotic, tropical fruits like pineapple and mango, some...

Everlasting in This World

Everlasting in This World

01 May 2021 | Nahida Esmail | Issue 141 (May - Jun 2021)

Hi, my name is Everlasting. I know what you are thinking. What an absurd name, what a paradox, as no one can last forever except in paradise. Well...

Atheists

Atheists

01 March 2021 | Lawrence Brazier | Issue 140 (Mar - Apr 2021)

Your correspondent was musing just the other day. Enter one’s wife. “Are you thinking, dear?” she asked.“I am reflecting, receiving,” I replied....

The Reason Why

The Reason Why

01 January 2021 | Lawrence Brazier | Issue 139 (Jan - Feb 2021)

On the back cover of the 2017 May-June edition of this magazine we were reminded of the knot that binds us to the tangle we have made of human exis...

Where am I From?

Where am I From?

01 November 2020 | Selim Akin | Issue 138 (Nov - Dec 2020)

Following a soft negotiation of price with the rickshaw driver, I finally had initiated my way back home from the Time to Help foundation. Next to ...

Homeless

Homeless

01 September 2020 | Judy Ann Eichstedt | Issue 137 (Sep - Oct 2020)

I packed up the car with as many of our belongings as possible, mostly blankets and clothes. I grabbed my Bible and flashlight and quickly put them...

Big Dipper

Big Dipper

01 July 2020 | Earl Carlo Guevarra | Issue 136 (Jul - Aug 2020)

It was a long, cool February night here in the bustling streets of Manila. Once again, I looked up at the star-filled sky above me. I noticed some...

“Scrap Paper Loves Me”

“Scrap Paper Loves Me”

01 May 2020 | Alpaslan Ozdogan | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

Scrap paper loves me. I spent my college years in a state after the Soviet Union collapsed where finding a pencil, notebook, or even just a sheet ...

“Praise the Lord, I’m Bald”: Learning to Live Again

“Praise the Lord, I’m Bald”: Learning to Live Again

01 November 2019 | April Estes | Issue 132 (Nov - Dec 2019)

The worst thing about cancer they don’t tell you? The aftermath. The shock waves. It’s surviving the quick earthquake, only to find yourself dodg...

Death

Death

21 October 2019 | Chris Wheeler | Issue 131 (Sep - Oct 2019)

We woke at the thud, panicked. My wife and I had been dozing in bed, squeezing the last seconds of sleep out of our pillows before the inevitable ...

Breathe In, Breathe Out, Carry On

Breathe In, Breathe Out, Carry On

01 July 2019 | Christy Heitger-Ewing | Issue 130 (July - Aug 2019)

It was a blustery February morning, and just a few days before my 40th birthday, when my cell phone rang. I thought perhaps it was someone offering...

Sin and the Feeling of Guilt

Sin and the Feeling of Guilt

01 May 2019 | Mehmed Gokcel | Issue 129 (May - Jun 2019)

O you who believe! Turn to God in true, sincere repentance. (66:8) Philosophers and scientists have long mulled over the faculties that govern...

Circling in the Universe

Circling in the Universe

26 March 2019 | Jacob Hardy | Issue 127 (Jan - Feb 2019)

"It is He who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon; all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its orbit with its own moti...

The Ride of My Life

The Ride of My Life

01 March 2019 | Eldrian Johnson | Issue 128 (Mar - Apr 2019)

When you ride a rollercoaster for the first time you feel a surge of emotions that grab, terrify, and haunt you all at once – well, at least at the...

The Mountain Climb

The Mountain Climb

01 March 2019 | Jessica Doroslovac | Issue 128 (Mar - Apr 2019)

What if somebody came up to you and said the words, “you can’t do it?” What if somebody came up to you and pushed you down, kicked you, forced y...

In the Footsteps of Wisdom: A Journey Through Said Nursi’s Eighth Word

In the Footsteps of Wisdom: A Journey Through Said Nursi’s Eighth Word

16 October 2018 | Fethullah Simsek | Issue 125 (Sep - Oct 2018)

“Ideology is the marriage of the truth with the apocryphal whereas wisdom is the distinction of the former from the others,” (1) says Cemil Meriç, ...

The Council of the Mute

01 January 2018 | The Fountain | Issue 121 (January - February 2018)

Some scholars and poets once formed a group called the Council of the Mute. There were thirty of them, and they did not admit new members. The fir...

On Bodies

01 November 2017 | Justin Pahl | Issue 120 (November - December 2017)

1. Having a body is a strange thing – stranger, still, when you think about how rarely we consider our bodies and what goes on inside of them. Whe...

A Plea to Those Who Dream

01 July 2016 | Earl Carlo Guevarra | Issue 112 (July - August 2016)

Life is beautiful for those who dream big. It is not because they have something to hold onto; it is because they find layers of meaning through th...

The Rhythm Embroided Into Existence

01 November 2015 | Nuh Ozdin | Issue 108 (November - December 2015)

Events that occur on the space-time continuum and then vanish have been granted a certain, specific period of time. As we discover that every objec...

How To Listen To Your Life

01 September 2015 | Humayun Mujahid | Issue 107 (September - October 2015)

All the inspirational material we find around us—poetry, fiery speeches, wise quotes—warns us never to feel down or disappointed. They claim that b...

Curvature of the Heavens

01 May 2015 | D. Omer Guney | Issue 105 (May - June 2015)

Mevlana Jalal al-Din Rumi, who lived in the 13th century, is still recognized as one of the most influential Muslim mystics in history [1]. Rumi is...

Bless Your Own Baby

01 May 2015 | Mary Lahaj | Issue 105 (May - June 2015)

Upon the birth of her first child, the author took it upon herself to bestow an important blessing. Twenty-five years later, she used that blessi...

The Secret to Red Lipstick, and Other Correspondence

01 March 2015 | Rachel Heffington | Issue 104 (March - April 2015)

Far scarier than evil men … is the idea that, wonderful as my life has been, there might have been more, or less, or different. Rachel Heffington...

Never Say "I Will Eat My Hat"!

01 November 2014 | Tugrul Cagri Yavuz | Issue 102 (November - December 2014)

It had been only 23 weeks since we got the good news that we were going to have our first baby. However, on that warm September day, we were also t...

If Only I Know You, My Heart...

01 September 2014 | Sumayya B. Sharaf | Issue 101 (September - October 2014)

"Hello my heart, I am your neighbor in this body," said my soul. "How are you? Why do you hurt today?" After that question, I found myself at the ...

Dream, Believe, Fly

01 July 2014 | Linda Oatman High | Issue 100 (July - August 2014)

Dream. Believe. Fly. This is my motto in life, now that I am fifty-five. Dream, Believe, Fly. These three words have a ring, a truth, a purity. As...

Embrace Mortality

01 May 2014 | Noble Lee | Issue 99 (May - June 2014)

Most of us operate under the assumption that there will always be a tomorrow, that there will always be another chance to buckle down and get serio...

How Is Nature Being Cleaned?

01 May 2014 | Gokhan Halikan | Issue 99 (May - June 2014)

After a long, busy, and exhausting year, he wanted to take a rest in his summer house, which lies under a mountain opposite a nice, blue lake. He d...

Missing Pieces

01 March 2014 | Caroline Lancaster | Issue 98 (March - April 2014)

Once I could see God in one thing - even though it was the vastest, most mysterious, and perhaps most obvious example in creation - I was able to...

Illness: Friend or Foe?

01 November 2013 | Erdogan Karakaya | Issue 96 (November - December 2013)

How the "Remedies for the Sick" Make a Change in Life Possible Life, illness, and death are basic human conditions. But at the same time, it is a ...

I Am an Immigrant

01 July 2013 | Joanna Bodnar | Issue 94 (July - August 2013)

I have come to the conclusion that life is a great irony. More specifically, human life is a great irony. Other organisms do not give themselves op...

Mixed Greens of Hope

01 March 2013 | Katharine Branning | Issue 92 (March - April 2013)

Walking into a regular salad bar for lunch, one anticipates nothing more than a short and simple exchange of civilities and of course a mixed sal...

Touched by a Small Kindness

01 January 2013 | Mirkena Ozer | Issue 91 (January - February 2013)

When a professor of Turkish language and literature is met by Turkish hospitality during a short stopover, she realizes how much the world is in ...

The Ticket

01 September 2012 | Nihal Zeren Dila | Issue 89 (September - October 2012)

When the National Research Council of the USA announced in 1992 that DNA testing was a reliable method to identify criminal suspects, the technolog...

Her Heavenly Abode... A Letter to A Friend Far Away

01 July 2012 | Pervisha Khan | Issue 88 (July - August 2012)

Sometimes, to say goodbye to someone you love is quite impossible. It is easier to say "see u later" instead. But at a certain time in your life, t...

Captain Bell's Rescue

01 May 2012 | Ha-Thanh Nguyen | Issue 87 (May - June 2012)

"Captain Bell, there's something burning in the distance...take a look." "Lieutenant, they're stranded Vietnamese boat people and there are some de...

Quest to Solve the Mystery of Life

01 March 2012 | Ali Fethi Toprak | Issue 86 (March - April 2012)

The quest to solve the mystery of life seems to be continuing. Where did we come from? What’s matter and what’s beyond it? Where and how did life o...

How I Wish I Could Be a Seed

01 January 2012 | Musa Ilhan | Issue 85 (January - February 2012)

How I wish I could be a seed, embedded within the bosom of the earth. Protected I would be from all external elements which may cause me harm. A co...

Lost

01 November 2011 | Mirkena Ozer | Issue 84 (November - December 2011)

I was only a girl of nine years when I first witnessed Mom's nightmare. My dad had gone out of town, so I was happily sharing her bed. I woke up to...

Is Humanity Dead?

01 September 2011 | Ihsan Orhan | Issue 83 (September - October 2011)

"A once-in-a-lifetime event" or "the worst for 60 years" is how the drought in Africa today is being described. Among the most affected countries a...

At God's Door: A New Life

01 July 2011 | Mary Lahaj | Issue 82 (July - August 2011)

Going over it in her mind, she had to admit that George was probably right—she shouldn’t have this baby because she had no means to provide for its...

You Are the One I Need

01 May 2011 | Yunus Emre | Issue 81 (May - June 2011)

Your love took me away from me, You are the One I need Day and night I burn gripped by agony, You are the One I need I find no great joy in being...

You Waste It, You' ve Lost It!

01 March 2011 | Joseph J. Salter | Issue 80 (March - April 2011)

This is the Winner essay of our 2010 writing contest conducted in cooperation with Everest Productions. Participants were asked to write down to ...

Thinking

01 March 2011 | Ceyda Sablak | Issue 80 (March - April 2011)

I was sitting by the beach and thinking about anything, everything, yet nothing all at once… The waves were in such a rush, like all the bustling ...

Each Child Is Born Knowing God

01 January 2011 | Jennifer Knight-ari | Issue 79 (January - February 2011)

She remembered the day when the world stopped being beautiful. As a child of 11, Rebecca thought she was going blind. There was a Japanese plum tr...

A Wonder

01 November 2010 | Pervisha Khan | Issue 78 (November - December 2010)

Mystified, like those who search for the truth, a five-year old girl asks her mother to tell her honestly whether or not one can see God? “Can you ...

Forgiving Dad

01 September 2010 | Mary Lahaj | Issue 77 (September - October 2010)

For many years, Zainab had been struggling to understand the true meaning of forgiveness. She was especially distressed whenever she thought about ...

Signs

01 July 2010 | Sevgi Zubeyde Gurbuz | Issue 76 (July - August 2010)

Verily, in all this there are messages indeed for those who can read the signs. A conversation I had with my mother last November still haunts my...

A Record to Break...

01 May 2010 | Mirkena Ozer | Issue 75 (May - June 2010)

Halima heard the front door close with a click that was almost inaudible. Casting a quick look at the digital clock on the kitchen counter, she sur...

Inside a Patient's Room

01 March 2010 | Gulsum Kucuksari | Issue 74 (March - April 2010)

Hospital chaplains often intersect a person’s life at the time of their most desperate need. An unwed mom watches the scene unfold, as her newborn ...

An Epic from the Epoch of Qur'an and Epical Deeds

01 November 2009 | Abdullah Bin Mubarak | Issue 72 (November - December 2009)

I was on my journey to Hajj. Travelling through the lands of Iraq and Syria, I came across an old woman all on her own. I greeted her and she answe...

Inspiring Story

01 September 2009 | Seth Mette | Issue 71 (September - October 2009)

from the memoirs of an inventor that lived long, long ago I especially love when the spider webs shine with the sunrise. The little water bead...

The Last Prayer for Giants

01 May 2009 | Seth Mette | Issue 69 (May - June 2009)

Long, long ago, before the end of time, I heard a legendary story from my grandpa about what happened between him and a giant unlike others… It wa...

Tears of Regret

01 September 2008 | Mirkena Ozer | Issue 65 (September - October 2008)

I was sitting at the dining table, minding my own business, that is, struggling to read a novel too tricky for a fifteen-year-old girl like me, whe...

A Pair of New Shoes

01 July 2008 | Mirkena Ozer | Issue 64 (July - August 2008)

A pair of young feet in a pair of very old shoes walked along an awfully muddy road. The nine-year-old girl prayed with every squelch of the mud, “...

Al Feliz Pescador

01 July 2008 | Firat Kocol | Issue 64 (July - August 2008)

As I stroll in the park on a Saturday afternoon, I enjoy the gentle touch of sunrays coming through the trees. A flute is playing Bach’s Badinerie ...

Happy Birthday, Son!

01 May 2008 | Mirkena Ozer | Issue 63 (May - June 2008)

Aisha looked at the clock hanging nearby. “It is time,” she hurried, “I have to go.” She wondered what to wear that chilly windy day. As a Muslim s...

Who Wants a Transformer?

01 January 2008 | Mirkena Ozer | Issue 61 (January - February 2008)

He is God, the Creator, the Evolver, the Giver of Forms and Colors. (Hashr 59:24)Halima was making her shopping list when the door bell started rin...

The Wonderer

01 January 2008 | Ozgur Yilmaz | Issue 61 (January - February 2008)

When you travel long enough and become a stranger to every land you step on, you stop having a journey, but the journey starts having you. A motorc...

Paper People

01 October 2007 | Firat Kocol | Issue 60 (October - December 2007)

First came to realize my power to distinguish paper people in a formal talk at the university. The speaker was going to great lengths to present hi...

A Saturday Unlike Others

01 July 2007 | Seth Mette | Issue 59 (July - September 2007)

Many of us either heard about or read Antoine de Saint-ExupÃ©ry’s The Little Prince. The hero of the story sets out on a journey that will take him...

The Medal Maker

01 July 2005 | Firat Kocol | Issue 51 (July - September 2005)

And this world's life is naught but a play and an idle sport and certainly the abode of the hereafter is better.An‘am 6:32 Mr. B was an old me...

Is there still a chance for me to be forgiven?

01 April 2005 | Korkut Altay | Issue 50 (April - June 2005)

The following Hadith on repentance is narrated in the Hadith collections of both Bukhari and Muslim: Once there was a man, a long time before, who...

Vanity of Worldly Desires

01 January 2005 | Dogan Koc | Issue 49 (January - March 2005)

A gold ingot fell into the hands of a pious man and so turned his head that his enlightened mind became gloomy. He passed the whole night in anxiou...

The Guests of The Palace

01 October 2004 | Dogan Koc | Issue 48 (October - December 2004)

The sandstorm was over. It was a horrible night. The caravan was lost in the middle of nowhere. The camels were taking us to a place we knew nothin...

A Moment for Reflection

01 July 2004 | Ismail Hakki Ozcan | Issue 47 (July - September 2004)

A Heart Overflowing with Love: Rumi I am drunk and you are insane Tell me, who will lead us home? How many times have I asked you not to drink s...

A Moment for Reflection

01 April 2004 | Dogan Koc | Issue 46 (April - June 2004)

The Generosity of ‘Ali ibn Abu Talib (May God be pleased with him) One day Ali ibn Abu Talib was working in the date orchard. After a long day’s ...

A Moment for Reflection

01 October 2003 | The Fountain | Issue 44 (October - December 2003)

Camels on the Roof One night, when sleeping, a man heard sounds on his roof. There were loud footsteps and he wondered what could be happening. He...

One Remedy

01 July 1999 | The Fountain | Issue 27 (July - September 1999)

O brother who thinks of the pleasures of this world and suffers distress at illness! If this world were everlasting, and if on our way there was no...

Reflections On The Existence And Unity Of The Creator

01 July 1998 | The Fountain | Issue 23 (July - September 1998)

On observing the face of the earth in summertime, we see that an infinite generosity and absolute liberality, which could be expected to cause diso...

Reflections On The Existence And Unity Of The Creator

01 October 1997 | The Fountain | Issue 20 (October - December 1997)

'In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of night and day; in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the benefit...

The Merchant and The Parrot

01 July 1997 | The Fountain | Issue 19 (July - September 1997)

A well-to-do merchant planned a long business trip to India. He was a good man and looked after all the people in his household both conscientiousl...

The Unmaking of A Young Thief

01 April 1997 | F. B. Rahim | Issue 18 (April - June 1997)

A young man (let us call him Amjad) was walking home, head down, kicking stones on the path. He did not see people who knew him, coming the other w...

Waking Up From Head To Foot

01 October 1996 | J. Qureshi | Issue 16 (October - December 1996)

An old man sat up one morning in his bed as if about to get up in the usual way for work, but then stopped. He began staring at his feet which poke...

List of Virtue

01 April 1996 | The Fountain | Issue 14 (April - June 1996)

A great and powerful emperor who longed to rule with justice and wisdom summoned one of his counsellors to his court. There, he commanded the couse...

Coloured Lights

01 October 1995 | L. Aboulela | Issue 12 (October - December 1995)

I cried a little as the bus started to fill up with people in Charing Cross Road and passed the stone lions in Trafalgar Square. It was not the Wes...

Barred Window

01 July 1995 | Mehmet Erdogan | Issue 11 (July - September 1995)

An elderly man gazed out of his cell window in Eskisehir prison. Spring-green poplar leaves moved in the brisk wind and, above the trees, small bir...

Tit For Tat

01 January 1995 | Y. Alan | Issue 9 (January - March 1995)

A lesson based on a true story It was 1927. The warm days of spring had arrived in the beautiful village of Bark. The fine weather brought visitor...

Those Responsible

10 January 1994 | Y. Alan | Issue 8 (October - December 1994)

He boys' house-master said: 'They have run away again. We warned them not to do it, but our words don't have much influence on them. This is the t...

Narrow Escape

07 January 1994 | Y. Yilmaz | Issue 7 (July - September 1994)

Since my childhood, I have been afraid of small, confined spaces and furiously fled such places. Later, I understood that this condition was known ...

A Mother's Prayer

07 January 1993 | Z. Sarikaya | Issue 3 (July - September 1993)

I was allowed to stay in hospital at my son’s bedside not as his mother but as a doctor. He was taken into care in a special room in the hospital, ...

The Relationship Between

01 January 1993 | Trish Madigan | Issue 1 (January - March 1993)

What are the ways of internalizing good ethical conduct and high virtues so as to make them a part of our nature? Virtues such as sincerity (ikhla...

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