The method of Hayy bin Yaqzan

Hayy bin Yaqzan is a philosophical allegory, not a novel. It does not offer a realistic narrative or expect to be popular. The author even wonders if he should have written it at all, fearing that he has touched on profound matters of belief which might confuse (perhaps mislead) an unlearned public (p.61). But the book is not a straightforward philosophical treatise either. It uses narrative elements to represent to the mind what could not be conveyed either by pictures or by conventional realistic narrative.

How Hayy comes to be on the island

Ibn Tufayl offers two explanations. In the first, he says: some people claim that there are certain places on the earth which by virtue of their position relatively to the equator, enjoy a climate so perfect that living beings can be generated there without parents. Hayy was one of these beings. Ibn Tufayl questions the scientific accuracy of the claims made about climatic conditions, but does not dismiss them. The second explanation is as follows:

A nearby island was ruled by a proud, jealous king who had a beautiful sister for whom he wished to appoint a husband of his choosing. But she married Yaqzan, one of the kings courtiers, lawfully but secretly. Needing to keep the secret of the marriage when a son was born, the king’s sister placed the child in a wooden casket and set it upon the sea with the prayer (p.5): ‘0 God Who has created this child from nothing, sustained him in the darkness of the womb and looked after him till he was completely formed, to You I surrender him now, praying that He may receive Your bounty, because of my fear [of] this stubborn, mighty and unjust king. Be with him and abandon him not, 0 Most Merciful.’ The casket is thrown to shore with sufficient force to become wedged between some trees, and for the planks of the casket to loosen. The baby’s cries are heard by a doe which has just lost its kid to a preying eagle and she suckles the human infant as a substitute. Thus the mother’s prayer for her son’s survival, and the doe’s frustrated maternal instinct, are satisfied by the same means.

Ibn Tufayl now returns to the first account of Hayy’s being on the island. He explains, in the manner of a scientific hypothesis, how the life force (likened to a gaseous entity or vapour) might be infused into the clay/mud of the island, how, starting with the cavities of the heart and to support the functioning of the heart, the life force might be urged to form brain, liver, lungs, arteries and veins, etc. Evidently, this hypothesis must have seemed more plausible then than it does now. The point is that it is offered as an account of a biological process unfolding in particular conditions, a process which, in principle, is intelligible and, if one had appropriate instruments, would be observable and observation would confirm or correct the hypothesis. However, while affirming the importance of thinking which utilises hypothesis and observation, Ibn Tufayl leaves his mind open to that which is beyond the reach of direct observation or reasoning. We are allowed to imagine, though we have never seen it, that there could be a perfect island garden where a human life grows without the mediation of human parents. In the world as we actually know it, the fable of the mother who resigns her child to Divine Care in a casket upon the sea, is simply easier to accept.

As the mother’s prayer makes clear, human life is already a miracle, a gift from the Most Merciful. Its happening in the world is at the same time an entry into a conditioned existence. By conditioned existence is meant an existence such that, if one event occurs, a second connected with it normally follows, and that if we have witnessed only the second, we may infer the first. In this case. if the doe cannot hear the baby’s cries, it cannot go to his assistance. But the cries could not be heard if the planks had not first been loosened by the buffeting of the sea; nor could the doe have been drawn to the baby’s plight if its maternal instinct had not been frustrated by the loss of its own kid. The reliability of the sequences of events in conditioned existence is the means whereby reason can conceptualize and theorize about the natural world. This, in turn, enables reason to picture in the mind both what has happened and what could happen. Then, when the picture is clear enough, reason can conceive of and design tools that will make events (experienced or merely possible) happen more easily and quickly.

What is Hayy bin Yaqzan about?

The fact that I-law is parted from his parents after birth is essential to the argument of the book. Ibn Tufayl demonstrates that a human being, not influenced by parents or by their society and culture, is nevertheless fully human in that he seeks the meaning of his being alive and exerts himself until his quest is satisfied by intuitions of the Divine Unity. The natural world sustains Hayy physically. It also feeds his quest for understanding until he comes to the realisation that it, the natural world, cannot satisfy him: the object of his quest lies beyond nature. Nature is not man’s enemy nor, though he is a part of it, is it man’s ultimate end. Instead, nature is presented as the means whereby the One Who created human life also nurtures and trains and encourages it to its perfection. Culture (all that man does with nature, all of science and technology, arts and civilisation) is a part of the training process, not its goal. The only goal fully worthy of man is understanding the Divine Unity.

The progress of Hayy

The earliest spur to Haw’s efforts is the need to survive. Once his mother, the doe, is dead, Hayy has no protector or provider, and so he must fend for himself. He was already aware that, unlike the doe, he is a bi-pedal creature who walks upright with his hands free. Hayy uses those free hands to make and use tools. He covers his nakedness with leaves and skins, not for shame but to protect himself from the climate. With more offensive tools he defends himself against animals that might harm him. Much later, he learns to hunt; later still, to domesticate plants and animals to ensure his food supply. In between, he discovers the potency of fire: whereas all other creatures run from it in terror, Hayy overcomes his fear and uses fire to warm himself, to cook his food and to perfect his artefacts. We may describe this energetic, vigorous surviving as Hayy’s physical mastery of the island. The decisive image of it is when he learns to tame animals for use as transport so that he can compensate for his slowness when hunting. Seen astride a horse, Hayy looks the image of the master of his domain.

Physical mastery is accompanied, from the outset, by Hayy’s growing conceptual mastery of his world. Although he does not know any human language, he deploys the power (unique to humans) of building in his mind models of everything around him. Thus he is able to compare and distinguish animal species against one another, to distinguish each animal’s different parts from the individual whole, and so on. He does the same for the plants on the island, and again for all the non-living things, and he distinguishes the elements composing them. His thinking ranges between and across the classes it makes, recognizing that plants and animals are alike in having “life”, while non-living things, though incapable of growth, are like living matter in being subject to decay, as he has witnessed in the erosion of rocks. He observes the differences between solid, liquid and gaseous forms, and most fundamentally, the difference between formed and unformed substance, and of simple and compound substances and forms. He is aware of the rhythms of day and night and associates them with the movements of the points of light in the sky he sees as heavenly bodies. The regularity of the position and movements of the heavenly bodies prompt in him rudimentary intuitions of number and calendar. Necessarily, because they are so remote, the heavenly bodies appear to Hayy, in contrast to all that is on the island, as permanent (not perishing), as reliable in their courses (not unpredictable), and as pure in their substance and form (not mixed).

But what drives Hayy’s intellectual efforts? In part, the need to survive. But the principal motive is his need to achieve self-transcendence. This is the core of lbn Tufayl’s purpose and we should follow his argument closely.

The meaning of Hayys experiences

Neither in Hayy bin Yaqzan, nor in Robinson Crusoe, do we find much reflection upon the psychological or emotional dimensions of solitude. Crusoe’s solitude worries him because he has to work harder to meet his needs, or because he is more vulnerable being alone, or because he alone cannot exploit the island’s full economic potential. To some extent, Crusoe’s solitude is relieved by finding a slave.

Hayy’s sense of solitude is altogether more profound: it as an onto- logical craving, a deep yearning to know who and what being he is. This craving begins from the moment of the doe’s death. He is suddenly aware that no creature nor thing upon the island is like himself. He tries to revive the doe, but cannot do so by any means. He operates upon her corpse in a vain attempt to find and hold the life force which, he hopes, has only temporarily left her body. He continues this quest by other means, operating upon other animals, even upon a living animal, only to realize that when he operates the life force evaporates. Thus he comes to understand that the origin of the life force, the means of its entry into any substance, is of a transcendent character. After careful observation he grasps that all the beings in the world, living or non-living, are subject to change, to beginning and end, all are caused or conditioned. And yet the cause of all of them he cannot see or imagine. Even the relative permanence of the heavenly bodies and their consistency of movement implies a cause anterior to their existence. Their orderliness is an obedience to a high, invisible power.

Because the diverse and abundant elements are mutually related and dependent in a single world or universe-all are (for example) dependent upon light and air-he infers that the high, invisible power is One. For, otherwise, the world would be ‘multi- verse’ i.e. conflicted and disorderly. Again, having witnessed that the diverse, abundant elements are co-operatively arranged so that the living forms which experience needs have their needs supplied, Hayy infers that the One is Benevolent and Caring. He then feels an intense desire to know Him, to express gratitude to Him, Who is His Creator and Sustainer.

In this way, the instinct to worship is awakened in Hayy. He seeks to imitate the heavenly bodies in their apparent perfection of obedience and purity as sources of light by keeping himself washed and clean; and by tracing circles in his walks so as to imitate their orbiting movements. He imitates the Benevolent by doing good: he frees plants from choking vines, he assists or feeds animals in distress, unblocks streams, etc. He accepts the animal dimensions of his nature as a limiting condition of his life but, in the effort to emulate the stars’ purity, he restricts his own interference in nature to the barest minimum, and endeavours to transcend his needs. He eats as little and as infrequently as possible, and devotes all his energy to contemplation of the One.

Hayy’s contemplation and yearning are rewarded by experiences of a supra-natural order which, as lbn Tufayl indicates, are beyond the reach of language. Hayy’s loneliness ends not by finding a servant but by himself becoming a servant, wholly committed to his Lord and enjoying some measure of communion with Him. Physical and conceptual mastery of the world ripen into a self-mastery through self-transcendence in worship of the One and in service of others (on Hayy’s island, the others are animals and plants and water courses).

The saintly sage and human society

Like Robinson Crusoe, Hayy bin Yaqzan also ends with the solitary being reconnected to the ‘normal’ human world. lbn Tufayl tackles the daunting question of why and how the saintly sage should relate to other human beings. In himself, Hayy can progress no further: he has transcended his own needs to the extent physically possible, he awaits ‘certainty’, that is, the transition to a higher plane of existence. At just this point, a man (Asal) from a nearby island, seeking a religious retreat, comes to Hayy’s island. After the two meet and get over their mutual astonishment, Asal teaches Hayy his language and, through ensuing conversations, realizes how far beyond himself Hayy has progressed on the mystic’s path. Hayy acknowledges that the Divinely revealed religion and law to which Asal’s people adhere is indeed the Truth conveyed from God by a truthful Messenger, and gladly witnesses to that Truth. As Asal describes the moral and spiritual decay of his people, Hayy is touched by compassion and desires to rescue them from that state. Asal knows from experience that the mass of people do not want to be rescued, but out of respect for Hayy agrees that they should go to the people and serve them as teachers of the mystic’s path. They draw the attention of a passing ship which conveys them to the other island.

There, Hayy is received with great reverence and much acclaim. He is dismayed by the people’s preoccupation with worldly commerce, their shallowness and lack of perseverance in worship, and their neglect of the Law. He finds that they are willing only to observe, more or less passively, the externals of the religion but not to seek the inward meanings of the rites and recitations they practise outwardly. He does not therefore abandon them; on the contrary: he ‘persevered in teaching them day and night and showing them the way of Truth both openly and secretly. But although they were a people who loved the good and wanted the truth, [his] teaching seemed only to induce more and more discord among them. Owing to their lack of native good sense, they did not want to seek the Truth in the way [God] had indicated nor by experiencing Him nor entering by the door He had provided’.

After a time, therefore, Hayy resigns from the task of teaching. He advises the people to stay within the bounds of the religious law as they understand it, to not venture into dimensions of meaning that do not concern them, to follow the traditions of their righteous ancestors and avoid innovations, above all to observe their religious duties with religious seriousness and by no means neglect them for the sake of worldly affairs. Then he and Asal return to their island retreat. Hayy ‘sought his holy station through the methods he had used before and was able to return to it. Asal imitated him until he came very close to the same. Both worshipped Allah until certainty came to them.’

The contrasts between Hayy and Crusoe

Crusoe is an adventurer in quest of a fortune who suffers the misfortune of a shipwreck. The island (figuratively, nature) is a hostile environment which he must survive and conquer; an unprofitable wilderness which he must make yield profit. He bends himself to the task and is proved a hero in the strength of his body and will, the will to conquer his situation and turn survival into profit. He does not belong to the island, to nature; he holds himself separate from the other creatures in nature, living or non-living; any people he finds there belong with nature, not with him, they are only ‘natives’. He hopes always to get away and take with him the profits from the energy he has invested: that is why, though it is of no use to him for survival on the island, he keeps safe the money he found on the wrecked ship.

When reconnected to the normal human world, Crusoe joins it as a capital-rich entrepreneur. His religious experiences and moral reflections on the island serve, perhaps, to improve his civility and humility in individual personal contacts, but they do not in any way modify his behaviour or expectations with respect to collective affairs. He still desires to make his fortune and considers (again) entering the slave trade to do so. Neither Crusoe’s years of solitude nor his companionship with Friday challenge the assumption that European economic expansion and ‘improvement’ of non-European peoples and their resources is an inevitability and, overall, a good thing.

Hayy is, from the outset, an innocent cherished by nature: the doe cares for and nurtures him. He both belongs and does not belong among the other creatures of the island, living or non-living. His physical composition and structure, his biological needs, identify him as adapted to living with and in the midst of nature. But his physical weaknesses set him apart as one who must live over against nature to survive. His reasoning powers compensate for his weaknesses and he uses his intelligence, as he must, to secure his place at the top of the food chain. But the gift of reason matures into reflection and contemplation. His physical mastery gives him the space and time to survey the whole of his world as a whole. He then realizes that it is an ordered universe reflecting the attributes of its transcendent Creator, among them power within benevolence, individualized beauty within prolific abundance. Hayy’s survival and conquest of nature rapidly matures into stewardship as he surrenders himself to worship, to imitating in his being and his actions (as far as he can) the attributes of His Creator. He feels and exercises responsibility over the island, rather than feeling and exercising ownership. In the same way-whereas Crusoe’s moral reflections improve him in self-composure and self-restraint so that he is less rash, more prudent, in assessing and taking risks-Hayy’s reflections lead him to relinquish self-ownership in favour of self-surrender which is a form of self-transcendence.

When re-joined to the normal human world, Hayy tests that self-transcendence in the role of teacher. The idealised Islamic temperament which Hayy represents cannot be content with responsibility for private, personal conscience. A Muslim is responsible also for the ethos in which other individuals will achieve their consciences. A Muslim is responsible for the whole moral climate, for all the constraints which legal, political and economic structures place upon the aspirations and actions of individuals. The individual must, in the process of perfecting or after perfecting his individual will, venture into the realm of collective life so that all spheres of human action and relationship are, and remain, connected with responsibility to God. That is why, spurred by compassion, Hayy leaves the island to do his wider duty as far as the prevailing conditions will permit it. Ultimately, of course, people are not saved collectively but individually. Therefore, ultimately, having done his best, Hayy leaves human society. He leaves the people with the warning that they should adhere to their religious duties in preference to sectarianism and worldly preoccupations. He then returns to his solitary attendance upon ‘certainty’.

In summary form, we may say that Crusoe (for all that he is the energetic European adventurer) lives in his life and in the natural world; he does not get beyond himself or the natural world. Hayy lives through his life, and through the natural world, and he passes beyond both. Robinson Crusoe is a realistic narrative, an early modern romance whose highest reward for the reader is understanding of the individual self, the emotional or psychological persona achieved through the story. Hayy bin Yaqzan is an allegory, a medieval philosophical fable whose highest reward for the reader is understanding the Divine Compassion in the creation of human life in all its vicissitudes and triumphs. It must also be noted that Crusoe is in this world, famous rich and relatively powerful; Hayy in this world is absolutely poor, indeed he has all but left this world behind before his death.

Throughout his life, he has proven himself able to translate personal faith and high erudition into a language that is clear and comprehensible, a language which ennobles those who hear or read his words, and inspires them to the service of their fellow human beings-and that is, for the great majority of us, the best way to practise serving God. It is no exaggeration to say that his life’s work as a whole illustrates the ancient maxim: ‘Think like a learned man but express yourself like the ordinary people’.

That is why his message has moved millions world-wide, why it can be effectively translated into different languages, why it can be put into programmes of action that work in the real world. That too is why his followers have not been deviated by the success of their movement into political ambition, into engaging in or provoking divisiveness, belligerence, the kind of activism that soon degenerates into a party fanaticism, excluding more people than it includes, hurting more than it heals and, in the end, however unintentionally, doing more harm than good. The movement Fethullah Gulen helped to nurture and encourage is a movement to educate, but to educate the heart and soul as well as the mind, to revive and invigorate the whole being: a ‘graduate’ from this movement is not only competent in his or her job or profession in the world but also understands and is dedicated to the full meaning and purpose of achieving competence and delivering useful goods and services to others. Individuals who lack an intelligent, alert relationship with the moral and spiritual values of their tradition, are (to all intents and purposes) culturally orphaned. They are liable to self-doubt and disappointment with themselves, and they are vulnerable to those around them who are all too keen to rob them of their self-worth and their material and cultural wealth. So too a society that cuts itself off from its religious and cultural traditions is, as it were, morally beheaded, and risks blundering here and there, without sure direction or steady self-confidence.

The schools and colleges associated with the name and work of Fethullah Gulen number in their hundreds and are established in all four corners of the world; similarly, the publications and electronic media channels associated with him are translated into the major world languages. This has been achieved in a little over thirty-five years, a single generation, without the help of national or foreign government support. All the funds and resources used by this movement have been donated or generated by its own members, privately, individually, in small increments-reliable. ‘long-term service. This quality of dedicated support has been earned and sustained by Compassion. Fethullah Gulen’s faith and message are rooted in his compassion, itself rooted in his yearning to seek the pleasure of God. But how has he been able to articulate and communicate this compassion to so many?

The compassion that moves Fethullah Gulen and by which he moves so many others, is of a very unique character and importance. When we realise that there are many millions who have long been suffering thirst for intellectual and spiritual contentment and a overall peace, a believing mans compassion is bewildered. We fear the problem is too big to tackle; we either avoid the issue or seek refuge in gestures – the language of bitterness, hating the situation and unable to find any good in it; the language of vain fantasy, able to visualise the goal we wish to reach but helpless to design and take the first, second, third and other necessary steps to attain that goal. Fethullah Gulen is a man of different temper: his faith protected him from loss of hope, his conviction of the Mercy of God and the need to accept His Decree, the ease and the hardship of it, enabled him to seek, even in the situation which led to the disorientation and humiliation of those millions and other millions like them, whatever could be of positive value. Loyalty to his religious belief enabled him to recognise the shortcomings of the believers which had led them to their present pass, and the good qualities of those who had skillfully and subtly exploited the believers’ weaknesses; the same loyalty enabled his compassion to remain positive and vigorous, and fed his imagination with ideas and ideals which would, from within the realities of modern civilisation, re-discover the Muslims of Turkey and many more in other countries the dignity and dynamism that are ingrained in man- the noblest of God’s creatures. He expelled rancour from his heart and let compassion grow in its place; he maintained his vision of the desired goal and took, and motivated others to take, one at a time, the steps that must be taken to attain that goal.

Despite the originality of his ideas and the success of his movement, Fethullah Gulen remains a modest, unassuming man. He once described celebrity as ‘a poisonous honey’ which reduces the spiritual vigour of the heart. Therefore, he has always steadfastly refused worldly honours, wealth, prestige and the like. Whoever has met him has come away with a clear impression of a profoundly and sincerely religious man, without affectation or pretension of any sort. He persuades by reasoned arguments based upon faith and idealism, and his mission has prospered to a degree so astonishing in so short a period that one must conclude that he has touched universal, perennially effective truths and conveys them to others with an almost irresistibly persuasive wisdom. His efforts, especially in the area of educational and social reform, have made him one of the most well-known and respected public figures of the last half century in Turkey.

HIS LIFE AND MISSION

Fethullah Gulen was born in 1938 in a village called Korucuk, in Erzurum, a province in eastern Turkey. He felt called from very early childhood to a life of religious devotion and he has remained loyal to that vocation to this day. After graduating from Divinity School and taking his license to preach and teach, he began his teaching career in Edirne in 1958. Even then, he also took part in other welfare activities besides his teaching. Following military service and more teaching, he was transferred in the early 1960s to lzmir, the third biggest province in Turkey. This appointment was to prove a turning-point. From his base in lzmir, he began to travel from city to city to give lectures on subjects ranging from Darwinism to social justice, and attend places like large Turkish-style cafés, where people mostly gather, in order to unburden himself to them.

Fethullah Gulen had long dreamed of a young generation who would combine rational ‘enlightenment’ with true spirituality, wisdom and continuous activism. Being knowledgeable in religious and social sciences and also conversant with the principles of the so- called ‘material’ sciences, he was able to instruct his students in almost all of them. The first students who attended his courses in lzmir were able to wed intellectual enlightenment with spirituality and morality. Those who heeded Fethullah Gulen’s advices and encouragements by the end of the 1960s set out to serve their nation and humanity. The generation captivated by his tears, sincerity, altruism and love, have served others, and still continue to do so, without expecting material reward. These services include preaching, teaching, establishing private institutions of education all over the world, publishing books, magazines, dailies and weeklies, TV and radio broadcasts, and funding scholarships for poor students. The people coming from almost all walks of life and having different political opinions and even world-views have followed his line to create an atmosphere of love, peace and respect. They have founded and are running high schools and universities numbering about 300 all over the world from England to Australia and the United States, and from Russian cities such as Petersburg and Moscow to Yakutsky, to new centres in South Africa. They run a TV channel whose broadcast covers a wide area stretching from Turkey and Central Asia to India and the Middle east.

KEYS POINTS IN HIS MESSAGE

Inter-faith and Inter-cultural dialogue Fethullah Gulen believes that the thoughts, values and experiences which are shared by the people of not only the same nation but by all the nations of the world, are much more important and more numerous than what divides and antagonises them, To encourage tolerance and respect and promote unity, while at the same time preventing the divisions and antagonisms from growing into open hostility and conflict. Fethullah Gulen maintains that regular dialogue is essential. To this end, he pioneered the establishment of the Foundation of Journalists and Writers, whose activities to promote dialogue and mutual respect among all strata of the society have been warmly welcomed by people from almost all walks of life. Again to this end, Fethullah Gulen visits, and receives visits from, leading figures not only from among the Turkish people. but from all over the world. The Vatican ambassador to Turkey, the Patriarchs of the Turkish Orthodox and the Turkish Armenian communities, the Chief Rabbi of the Turkish Jewish community, as well as influential opinion-formers such as journalists, columnists. TV and film stars, thinkers and writers of diverse views, are among the many people with whom he frequently meets.

Education: its role and significance

Fethullah Gulen unequivocally asserts: ‘If you wish to keep the masses under control, simply starve them of knowledge. The only escape route from tyranny is through the attainment of knowledge.’ He believes the road to fair opportunity and justice for all is paved with an appropriate and sufficient general education. Only then do the resources develop within individuals and within their communities to enable understanding and mutual respect which, in turn. are the basis upon which each others rights can be secured by voluntary compliance. Fethullah Gulen has over the years. encouraged the elite and community leaders, also successful industrialists and businessmen, to support quality education for those who cannot otherwise afford it.

His tireless efforts to promote education have begun to bear fruit The students graduating from the private schools in Turkey and Central Asia established by entirely private donations, fostered through his inspiration, and run as trusts, have taken high honours in university placement tests and consistently finished at the top in international Knowledge Olympics, producing a number of world champions, especially in such subjects as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. Indeed, as recently as July 1997, a chemistry team from Yamanlar High School in lzmir, competed in the Chemistry Olympics in Calgary. Canada, and won the top award.

Fethullah Gulen maintains: If a civilized nation expects to be ignorant and free, it is expecting what never was and never will be.’ In the field of education this principle means making intelligent use of, rather than running away from, the latest knowledge and technologies, notably mass communications technology such as television, to inform the public, especially those unable to attain a formal education, of matters of concern and relevance to them.

The usefulness of democracy

Fethullah Gulen is of the opinion that, in spite of its many shortcomings, democracy is the only viable choice in modern times for a system to manage political decision-making and governance generally. He argues therefore that mankind should preserve democracy and try to develop and improve it.

People will always demand freedom of choice in the way they run their affairs and especially in their expression of spiritual and religious values.

The duty of hope

Do not despair in the face of adversity and do not yield to anarchists,’ he emphasizes time and again. He has warned most particularly against giving up hope when disappointments and failures come thick and fast. Hopelessness is a quicksand that incapacitates the will to struggle and succeed it is a noose that chokes the powers of reason and imagination so that, in their despair, people refuse to learn from their trials and run to false, short-term solutions which, in time, intensify the very problems they sought to escape. A strong faith in God and loyalty to fundamental principles are the best defence against the decay or loss of hope.

Visions for the future

Fethullah Gulen has said that lie senses a positive change in the spiritual climate in the world. He envisions a 21st century in which we shall see the birth of a spiritual dynamism that will shake off the dust that has stifled moral values for so long. He looks forward to an age of tolerance and understanding leading to co-operation between the great human civilizations and ultimately to their unification. The nobility of the human spirit and moral conscience will triumph on the way to intercivilizational dialogue based on shared values.

Mankind face anxieties and stresses in modern society, and their labours, even well-intentioned, have undesirable outcomes, psychological, socio-political and environmental. The principal reason, Fethullah Gulen contends, is that man proceeds only haltingly in search of his Creator and the purpose of his creation. To the fundamental questions which we all ask -Why was I born? What is the purpose of my living? What is the meaning of death and what does it demand from me?-Fethullah Gulen gives very practical and convincing answers, but people must choose individually to be guided or not. In his speeches and writings he has often said: ‘Man has come to a crossroads: one road leads to despair, the other to salvation. May God give! us the ‘visdom to make the right choice.

Sharing the abundance

Fethullah Gulen does not believe that there exist any material shortages in the world which might conceivably justify the death of millions from famine or drought. The problems arise from inequitably distribution of wealth and the resources from which wealth is generated. He argues strongly that wealth should be channelled through private charities to the needy. He has spearheaded the establishment of many charitable organizations to handle the welfare of the underprivileged and to administer and carry out the most direct and effective methods of accomplishing this task.

Material and spiritual values

In his philosophical writings and speeches Fethullah Gulen has sought to synthesize the positive sciences with divinity, to reconcile the alleged incongruities between them. In the same spirit, he has argued that man must seek, in his everyday life of work and relationships, a subtle and delicate balance between material and spiritual values. Individuals and societies must guard against unrestrained avarice and the artificial multiplication of needs. Equally, absolute renunciation is not a way that all can follow, nor one that even the few can follow all the time. Through steady discipline and intelligent exercise of conscience a moderate path must be sought and held to. Only then can individuals and societies enjoy serenity and contentment.

Use reasoned argument, not violence

As for getting others to accept your ways, Fethullah Gulen tells us, mere force is not appropriate. In a situation where communication across great distances has become easier and easier, and people have access or can demand access to the means of mass communication, the only proper way to get others to accept your ideas is by persuading them through convincing arguments. Those who resort to brute force to reach their goals are intellectually bankrupt.

Current projects

Though officially retired, Fethullah Gulen remains active in the organization of meetings and conferences, and as writer and speaker. He is also teaching Islamic sciences to a large group of divinity graduates under his private tutelage. His following in his native Turkey and abroad continues to grow. His biography recently reached its fiftieth edition.

FETHULLAH GULEN’S VIEW OF ISLAM IN THE MODERN AGE AND THE DIALOGUE AMONG THE GREAT RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD

Man is a itripartite’ being composed of the spirit, the carnal self and the body. These three elements are so interrelated that neglecting one results in failure to achieve perfection. Man has accordingly been endowed with three essential faculties, namely the spiritual intellect, reason and will. During his life-time, man experiences a continual inner struggle to choose between good and evil, right and wrong. The motor or engine of this struggle is will, as directed by reason. However, since reason can be swayed by carnal appetites, personal desires, biases and interests, and by such emotions as anger and rancour, it needs the guidance of the spiritual intellect which includes man’s conscience and is the source of moral values and virtues.

Because of his worldly nature, man can be too obedient a servant of his lusts. When human beings captive to their lusts gain enough power to rule over others, they light fires of oppression on the earth and reduce the poor and the weak to misery and servitude. Human history is full of instances of such oppression. However, as God is All-Just and never approves oppression, He sent His Prophets at certain points in human history in order to guide and correct the individual and collective life of mankind. All of the Prophets came with the same fundamentals of doctrine, namely belief in One God. Prophethood, the Resurrection, Angels, Divine Scriptures and Divine Destiny and the duty to worship God. All of the Prophets also conveyed the same moral principles, in this sense, all the Divinely revealed religions are one and the same, but differences in cultural, geographical, social and economic conditions in different periods required different Prophets to be sent and certain differences to be made in the acts and forms of worship and in the subdivisions of the law.

Moses, Jesus And Muhammad, upon them be peace

Islam, as the latest form of the Divine religion, orders its followers to believe in all of the Prophets. Being a Muslim also means being a follower of Jesus and Moses and of all the other Prophets at the same time. The Qur’an (2.285) declares:

The Messenger (Muhammad) believes in what has been revealed to him by his Lord, and so do the believers. They all believe in God and His angels, His Scriptures and His Messengers:

‘We make no distinction between any of His Messengers – and they say: We hear and obey. Grant us Your forgiveness, our Lord; to You is the journeying.’

In respect of prevailing conditions, certain principles had greater prominence in the messages of the Prophets. Also, God bestowed particular favours on each Prophet and community according to the needs of the time and the mission of each Prophet. For example, Adam, upon him be peace, was favoured with knowledge of the ‘names, that is, the keys to all branches of knowledge. Noah, upon him be peace, was endowed with steadfastness and perseverance. Abraham, upon him be peace, was honoured with intimate friendship with God and being the father of numerous Prophets. Moses, upon him be peace, was given the capability of administration and exalted as the direct addressee of God, and Jesus, upon him be peace, was distinguished with patience, tolerance and compassion. All the Prophets have, however, some share in the praiseworthy qualities mentioned, but, on account of his particular mission, each of them surpasses the others in one or more than one of those qualities.

When the Prophet Moses was raised as a Prophet, the Israelites were leading a wretched existence under the tyranny of the Pharaohs in Egypt. Because of the long years of oppression they suffered, slavery was ingrained in the Israelites’ way of life and had become a part of their character. In order to reform them, to equip them for freedom and independence, and to rebuild their character and free them froth subservience to the Pharaohs, the Prophet Moses, upon him be peace, came with a message containing stern and rigid rules and measures. This is why the Book given to Moses was also called the Law or Torah.

Again, as a requirement of his mission, the Prophet Moses, upon him be peace:was a reformer and educator of somewhat unyielding and stern character. However, that is not to say that the Prophet Moses was merciless or unpitying. Rather, like every other Prophet, Moses was filled with the most profound concern and care for his people and desired mercy for them. It should not be forgotten that mercy sometimes requires punishing wrongdoers, that failure to do justice is sometimes also a failure to establish mercy.

When Jesus. upon him be peace, was sent to the Israelites, the spirit of the Religion had been dwindled away and the Religion itself reduced to a device for its leaders to exploit the common people. So,Jesus concentrated on faith, justice, mercy, love, humility, altruism peace, respect, repentance for one’s sins and begging God’s forgiveness, helping others,purity of heart and intention, chastity and sincerity:

Happy are those who know they are spiritually needy: the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

Happy are those who mourn: God will comfort them,

Happy are those who are humble: they will receive what God promised.

Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires: God will satisfy them fully.

Happy are those who are merciful to others: God will be merciful to them,

Happy are the poor in heart:’ the will see God, (Matthew: 5.3-10).

As for the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace, he resembled the Prophet Moses in that he too was a warner and established a Law and fought with his enemies; and he resembled Jesus in that he too was a bringer of good news and preached mercy, forgiveness, helping others, altruism, humility, sincerity, purity of intention and moral values of the highest degree. We should remember that the Qur’an declares that God sent the Prophet Muhammad as a mercy for the whole of creation. Again, Islam presents God, before all other Attributes and Names, as the All-Merciful and the All-Compassionate. This means God mainly manifests Himself as the All- Merciful and All-Compassionate and His wrath and punishment are only accidental. That is, it is man himself who attracts God’s wrath because of his sins and wrongdoing. But God is the All-Forgiving and He forgives most of the sins of His servants:

Whatever misfortune befalls you, is for what your own hands have earned and for much (of that) He grants forgiveness. (Qur’an, 42.30)

The Messianic mission toward the end of time

We read in the reliable books of Hadith several sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, that the Prophet Jesus will come back to the world before the end of time and practise Islam. Although those sayings have so far been interpreted in different ways. it cannot be wrong to interpret them as meaning that. before the end of time, Islam will manifest itself mostly in that dimension of it represented by Jesus. That is, the major aspects of the Messengership of Jesus will be given prominence in practising Islam. These aspects are:

Jesus always travelled. He never stayed in one place, he preached his message on the move. Therefore, in order to preach Islam, the followers of Islam should travel or emigrate from place to place. They must be ‘the repenters, the worshippers, the travellers, the bowers, the prostraters, the commanders of good and the forbidders of evil, and the observers of God’s limits. For them there is good news.’ (Qur’an, 9.112)

Second, mercy, love, and forgiveness had the first place in Jesus’ mission. He was a bringer of good news. Therefore, those who have dedicated themselves to the cause of Islam must give prominence to mercy, love, and forgiveness, and, never forgetting that the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace, was sent as. a mercy for all the worlds, for the whole of existence, they must convey good news to every place and call people to the way of God with wisdom and fair exhortation. They must never be harsh or repelling. The world today needs peace more than at any time in history, and most of the problems of the modern world arise from excessive worldliness, scientific materialism and ruthless exploitation of nature. There is so much talk of the danger of war and the pollution of air and water that peace and ecology are the most fashionable words on people’s tongues. But the same people wish to remove those problems through further conquest and domination of nature. The roots of the problem lie in rebelling against God and in the destruction of the equilibrium between man and nature as a result of the modern materialistic conception of, and corrupt attitude toward, man and nature. Most people are reluctant to recognise that peace within human societies and with nature is possible only through peace with the spiritual order. To be at peace with the earth one must be at peace with the spiritual dimension of one’s existence and that is only possible by being at peace with God.

In the Qur’an, Jesus introduces himself in these words:

God has commanded me to pray and to give alms as long as I live. And He has made me dutiful to my mother and has not made me oppressive, wicked. (79.31-2)

This implies that, as we approach nearer to the end of time, children will be less and less dutiful to their parents. Therefore, the followers of Islam in our age must, besides performing their prayers accurately and helping the poor and needy, be very careful about showing due respect to their parents and elders. The Qur’an enjoins:

Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you show .kindness to your parents. If either or both of them attain old age with you, (show no sign of impatience, and) do not even say ‘uff’ to them; nor rebuke them, but speak kind words to them (17.23).

One of Jesus’ miracles was healing the sick and reviving the dead by leave of God, that is, respect for life was very important in his mission. The Qur’an attaches the same degree of importance to life and regards one who kills a man unjustly as if he had killed all mankind, while, on the other hand, one who saves a life is as if he had saved the life of all mankind. So, those who have dedicated themselves to the cause of Islam must attach the utmost importance to life and therefore try to prevent wars, find cures for illnesses and understand that reviving a person spiritually is more important than healing diseases. The Qur’an declares:

O you who believe! Respond to God and the Messenger, when the Messenger calls you to that which will give you life. (8.24)

As was pointed above, belief in God without associating any partners with Him in His Dimity and Lordship and worshipping Him is the foundation of the Divinely- revealed Religion, which has been the same throughout history with respect to its essentials. It is because of this that the Quran warns that the Prophet Abraham, upon him be peace, was neither a Jew nor a Christian but one who best exemplified primordial belief in God and total submission to Him. The Quran also orders the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace, to follow the nation of Abraham. However, although of the same essence, over the course of time, the religion of Abraham has, unfortunately, taken three separate forms which have almost always been in conflict. Simon Jargy writes:

To try to analyze the historical relations between Islam and Christianity in both their religious and sociopolitical components, is to come up immediately against one preliminary fact: although the three great religions of the monotheist faith came from the same roots, they developed separately from each other. They have not supplemented but rather opposed each other in a perpetual conflict. (Islam et Chretiente, GenevA: Labor et Fides, 1981, plO)

As for the Muslims: in part because of their struggles for independence against colonizing powers, and in part because, like other peoples, Muslims too have tended to see their problems, and therefore seek their solutions, in the light of politics, Islam has come to be taken as almost a political ideology. The Arab-Israeli conflict has contributed to this. Especially after the Iranian revolution in 1979, Islam came to be viewed and presented in the West as a religion of conflict, enmity and violence and the Iranian revolution as representative of Islam. After the collapse of the Iron Curtain, the NATO countries marked out the Islamic world as their potential enemy in place of the Communist bloc.

Fortunately, however, despite their historical disagreements and other negative factors, the followers of Islam. Christianity and Judaism have recently rediscovered that they have much in common. in addition to the essentials of belief, they enjoin faith and trust in God, repentance, truth, purity, chivalry, justice, charity, benevolence, mercy, self-control, chastity, uprightness, respect for others’ rights, love, forgiveness, and condemn lying, cheating, theft, gambling, usurpation, falsehood, dishonesty, adultery, hypocrisy, injustice, cruelty, pride, ungratefulness, treachery, intemperance, sloth, jealousy, selfishness, hurting others, violence, etc. The putting into practice of those positive values is what mankind today need more than anything else. For this reason, the Qur’an clearly stated fourteen centuries ago:

Surely, this community of yours is one community and I am your Lord, so worship Me (21.92).

Again, the Qur’an made the following call to the followers of other Divine religions:

Say: ‘0 People of the Book! Come to a word common between us and you: that we shall worship none but God, and that we shall not associate any partners with Him howsoever, and that we shall not take some of us as lords besides God.’ (3.64)

In 1962, the Holy See launched a movement of dialogue between the great religions of the world. The efforts of his holiness John-Paul II are particularly worthy of mention.

He has paid visits to many Muslim countries and, both during such visits and in his book entitled Crossing the Threshold of Hope, he has expressed his feelings and hopes of dialogue. Perhaps the most important and promising response to his call has recently come from Turkey when Fethullah Gulen visited him last February. Like his earlier (and continuing) efforts for dialogue among the different strata in modern Turkish society, a dialogue based on each accepting and respecting the identity of the other and building relations on the basis of complete equality, so too his meeting with the Pope received a very warm welcome from the Turkish media. That this meeting was quite acceptable to the Turkish government was clearly signalled by the fact that the Turkish ambassador to the Vatican, Altan Guven, treated Fethullah Gulen as if he had been an official envoy of Turkey. It was only to be expected that, except for a very few small marginal groups of radical Muslims and the remnant of die-hard communists, the Turkish media should also attached great importance to this meeting. Before and after the event, some TV channels made direct telephone interviews with Fethullah Gulen, and, sociologists, political analysts and theologians expressed their views in either periodicals or on TV screens or through interviews they gave to the media. What you read in boxes is summary excerpts from some of these views and comments.

In addition to the individuals quoted, other influential columnists such as Zeynep Gogus and Cengiz Candar of Sabah and Riza Zelyut of Aksam also expressed their approval of Fethullah Gulen’s meeting with the Pope.

This meeting was discussed on a privately-run TV channel. In the panel chaired by Nevval Sevindi, an anthropologist and famous intellectual writing for Yeni Yuzyil. Professors Suat Yildirim and Nevzat Yalcintas, Taha Akyol. a sociologist and another of the most well-known intellectuals who writes for the daily Milliyet, Abdullah Aymaz. the editor of the daily Zaman, Professor Niyazi Oktem, and Uzayir Garih, one of leading businessmen of Turkey and belonging to the Jewish Community of Turkey, discussed the meeting and expressed their support for it.

Also, one of the best-selling weeklies of Turkey, Aksiyon, made the meeting a cover story and published an interview with Fethullah Gulen. A summarized excerpt from that interview follows:

Q: At a time when theories of the clash of civilizations are being discussed and NATO has declared [the] Islam[ic world] the chief enemy, you make attempts for a world-wide dialogue. What factors urge you to make such attempts?

A: The idea that the world is on the threshold of new clashes is the expectation of those whose power and continued: domination depend on continuous conflicts. However, as the Qur’an puts it, man is a noble creature and in pursuit of good things. While searching for the good and beautiful, sometimes be may encounter undesirable things. What urges me to make attempts for a world-wide dialogue is the innate nobility and beauty of man.

Q: Do you attach importance to the relevant commandments or rules of the Qur’an the Prophet in your initiatives?

A: The Qur’an urges peace, order and accord.

It aims at universal peace and order, and opposes conflicts and dissensions. It is interesting that the actions acceptable to God are called in the Qur’an actions to bring peace and order (‘amali saliha). Our Prophet upon him be peace, described fighting in the way of God as minor jihad. Because it is undertaken only to remove obstacles before perfecting man morally and spiritually, and to bring about peace and order in human society. The real aim is to perfect man and to bring about peace and order. When this cannot be achieved by desirable ways such as education and when you are exposed to unjust attacks, only then minor jihad can be resorted to. Therefore, the minor jihad is not a rule, it serves only as a last resort.

Q: How did the process leading to the meeting with the Pope begin and develop?

A: It is not possible to achieve something positive in an atmosphere where enmities prevail and through reactionary measures. As social, civilized beings, especially in our day when human values are given prominence even though rather verbally, men can and should solve the problems between them through dialogue. It is our belief- a belief shared by sociologists and political analysts – that religions will have greater word in the next century. Islam and Christianity are the two religions with the largest following. Buddhism and Hinduism also have considerable following. Judaism has influence of its own. If we expect a universal revival toward the end of time, then this requires, as a preliminary condition, the co-operation of these great religions on the essentials common to them.

We have no doubt about the truth of our values. We urge no one to join us and I think that no one conceives of urging us toward their religion. The Qur’an made a universal call of dialogue to the followers of other heavenly religions. Unfortunately, however, the centuries following the call of the Qur’an witnessed conflicts and quarrels rather than dialogue and mutual understanding. Our time is the time of addressing the intellects and hearts, and this requires a peaceful atmosphere with mutual trust and respect. The conditions of the Hudaybiya Treaty seemed unacceptable to the Companions at first glance. However, the Qur’an described it as an opening, because, in the peaceful atmosphere following the Treaty, the doors of hearts were opened to Islamic truths. We have no intention to conquer lands or peoples, but we are resolved to contribute to world peace and a peaceful order and harmony by which our old world will find a last happiness before its final destruction.

PROFESSOR NIYAZI OKTEM (Niyazi Oktem, born in 1944, graduated and then did his doctorate in law. He became Professor of Law and served, between 1994 and 1997, as the Dean of the Faculty of Communication in Galatasaray University. He is currently teaching in the Faculty of Political Sciences in Istanbul University. Since 1981, professor Oktem has been studying the dialogue between religions and religious schools or sects. He has published many articles and books on philosophy of law, philosophy of religion and political philosophy.) He was questioned by the journalist, Mehmet Gundem:

Q: According to you, what do Fethullah Gulen’s efforts for dialogue import in Turkey?

A: In my view, it is not only economic but also ideological differences which lie behind the conflicts and clashes in the world. The conflicts caused by ideological differences originate from the [opposing] sides not knowing each other. For this reason, I regard Mr. Gulen’s efforts as of great significance, as he calls everyone to accept the other as he or she is and respect each other’s views and identity. His inclusion of international figures in his quests for dialogue means a lot for the Muslims [in Turkey] particularly. Especially so in the present circumstances when both the Muslims and the Turkish governments have for so long been rather sensitive [on the issue of] foreigners and the representatives of non-Muslim religious communities. Until Mr. Gulen started meeting with those representatives, it had been something unusual for a Muslim to get into dialogue with a Christian or Jew. I myself took part in the first Religious Counsel held in 1992 and, together with Ethem Ruhi Figlali, the Dean of the Faculty of Theology in Mugla University, found it very difficult to include the word ‘dialogue’ in the final declaration. People feared that Christian missionaries would come and poison our people. Why should a Muslim convinced of the truth of his belief be afraid? Fethullah Gulen does not entertain such a fear, and therefore, as a Muslim with full conviction in his belief, he opens the doors of dialogue to everyone. He has full confidence in his religion.

Q: Some people in Turkey, albeit few in number, speculate that Mr. Gulen is in quest of power. Do you think that?

A: I can never accept that such an important social phenomenon, that is, dialogue, should be reduced to something explicable by conspiracy theories. We have no right to judge anyone by what we produce in our imaginations. Disapproval of an idea or initiative gives no one the right to condemn it. They cannot see the good behind Mr. Gulen’s attempts at dialogue. We should consider the atmosphere of peace and love that can be brought about by dialogue. Mr. Gulen had met with Patriarch Bartholemeos before. I regarded that meeting as one of the most important events in the [recent} history of the Turkish Republic. For the Muslims of this country and our Orthodox citizens had [hitherto] regarded each other as enemies. That meeting has paved the way for a better understanding and coming together. Mr. Gulen’s meeting with the Pope, the leader of the Catholic world, is certainly much more important than that.

Q: Why is that meeting so important?

A: It is of global import. For, first of all, the West has a very negative image of Muslims. In their eyes, Muslims are unproductive, consumers [only], implacable and inclined to terrorism. And [they see} Islam as the religion responsible for such vices. So, a religious leader’s meeting with the Pope at just this time means that he is ready to get into dialogue with Christians and that Islam is not a religion closed to dialogue. This meeting also contradicts those europeans who allege that Muslims are too radical to get into dialogue and offer that as an excuse for their non-admission of Turkey to the EU.

Q: Some question Mr. Gulen’s status [his worthiness] to meet with the Pope.

A: That is a matter which not we but the Pope should consider. But it seems that the Vatican knows Mr. Gulen better than us. The Pope does not accept everyone’s request to meet with him. Besides, his appointments are arranged from years before. Mr. Gulen’s meeting with the Pope was arranged last year. This shows that Mr. Gulen is of great importance for the Vatican. Personally, I regard this meeting as one of the most important events of recent years. Although at first glance it seems a simple event, it will have far-reaching consequences. For, it has [often] been those wholly dedicated to a cause, not the official actors in state structures, who have started and realized the positive, important changes in world history. Those people may not have official titles but they have a power resting upon the love of their following. Mr. Gulen has a large following. People agree with him on his initiative. I wish the state would give him greater support. I have worries concerning certain fundamentalist movements in Turkey. Mr. Gulen’s calls for dialogue make the atmosphere more peaceful and propitious for the coming together of opposing groups. Our ambassador’s welcoming him shows that there are important power centers in the state that do support him.

Q: Ertugrul Ozkok, the editor of the daily, Hurriyet, has commented that Fethullah Gulen is becoming an international figure. Do you agree with him?

A: Yes, I agree with him. It is true that ideologically Turkey is a Western country, but Islam is a very important social phenomenon in this country. This phenomenon has long been exploited for political ambitions and due to this misrepresentation, it has been known wrongly. Fethullah Gulen and his group give priority to its main elements, namely love, dialogue, respect for others’ rights and human rights. Mr. Gulen’s movement is undeniably loyal to the essence of Islam, but this does not prevent them from understanding contemporary values. They give the society the idea that it is possible to live together no matter to what group, faith or ideology one belongs.

Q: Do you agree that religion is increasingly becoming more influential in international relations?

A: Religion has been always been influential throughout human history. However, many intellectuals cannot see this mission of religion. Economics and religion are the two main factors that have roused peoples to war with one another. Why should it not be possible to use such a powerful factor to bring about peace? Teaching believers that religion can be a means to bring about peace and that it is not a requirement of religion to be enemies with the followers of other beliefs can help to eliminate enmities. Also, dialogue between religions can remove the influence of religious differences in international relations.

Q: What do you think about the proposals Mr.Gulen made to the Pope?

A: It is very meaningful that Muslims and Christians celebrate the 2000th anniversary of Jesus’ birth. As Jesus has a significant place in the Qur’an and the Muslim creed, cities such as Antioch, Ephesus and Jerusalem mean much for both Muslims and Christians. Mr. Gulen suggested to the Pope that they make visits together to those cities. He also proposed that Jerusalem should be a city which the followers of the three religions could visit freely without the obligation of visa. He also suggested that they should hold conferences in different cities of the world. He proposed also opening a university or a faculty of theology in Urfa where scholars from the three religions would teach and the students study. All of these offers are of great significance for the promotion of both dialogue, peace and mutual understanding.

PROFESSOR SUAT YILDIRIM

The 20th century has been a century when the age of industry has been replaced by the age of information. The gigantic advances in telecommunications have brought peoples of the world nearer to one another. In such a century, ideas are subject to being outmoded in a very short time. This requires that in order for an idea to have popularity and become more long-lived, it should be ‘put in the window’ and gain actuality. Again, the survival of an idea depends on its being powerful and influential. As a plain fact, the Muslim world lags far behind the West in economic, political and military power. Even if Muslims desired or attempted to resort to physical force, they are devoid of the means. Despite all the advances [in human power through science and technology], it has plainly been seen that the Divinely-revealed religions in particular will continue to exist. It is not possible for either to remove the others and this compels their followers to learn how to live together without any more clashes. More than avoidance of conflict, new developments and changes in the world force the religions to co-operate against anti-religious movements. The Christian West started an attempt at dialogue after the 2nd Vatican Council held between 1962-1965.Nevertheless, although the Quran made a universal, ecumenical call to dialogue fourteen centuries ago, Muslims show reluctance to the [responds to] offers of dialogue. Christianity found its survival in opposing Islam and resorting to force when necessary for centuries. It also imagined that it could survive by distorting Islam’s image. In the eyes of the Western world, Islam was obscurantist and fanatical. It was an artful forgery of Judaism and Christianity. For a very long time Muhammad, upon him be peace, was considered an imposter. However, having seen the Christian world had been breaking with Christianity, the 2nd Vatican Council had to make a revision and realized one of a few most important changes in its history. In the opening speech of the Council, the Pope Paul VI stressed that although there are imperfections and insufficiencies in other religions, the Catholic Church appreciates the good and right elements they have. The call to dialogue made by the Catholic Church has not received a considerable response from Muslims. This may be due to the following reasons: 1. There is not an official position or authority of the same function as the Papacy to represent Muslims. 2. Owing to Western colonization which lasted for centuries and was backed up by Christianity, Muslims may not trust the Vatican and regard such attempts as having political aims. 3. Muslims have not forgotten the Crusades and still retain [suspicions of] their far- reaching effects. 4. Muslims may be thinking of the calls to dialogue as a new route for missionary activities. 5. This call [for dialogue] was made at a time when Muslims did not expect it and, although the Church had, thanks to the extensive studies of Christian orientalists, had enough preparations to continue it and counter its possible consequences, the Muslims were not prepared for it. 6. Especially the Muslims in Turkey have long been indifferent to the Vatican’s call to dialogue. This is partly because of the reasons cited above but largely because they have mostly been closed to such developments outside the country. It is difficult to approve such indifference on the part of the Muslim Turks. For, first of all, it was the Turks who had closest relations with the West during the history of Islam. Second, around four million Turks are living in European countries and Turkey has a long history of attempts to enter the EU. It should also be taken into consideration that the West can easily manipulate the image of Islam and Muslims in the international political arena against Turkey and other Muslim countries. So, it is up to Turkey as a state and up to Muslim Turks, as a requirement of their being Muslims, to present to the world the true image of Islam and prevent its being wrongly understood by, at least, ordinary, unbiased peoples.

Fethullah Gulen’s meeting with the Pope

Being a well-known religious scholar, the name of Gulen has recently been identified with efforts for a sincere dialogue within Turkish society which has long been torn [by divisions]. Except a few radicals on the right and left, his calls for dialogue, [a dialogue] based on each accepting the other as he or she is and respecting the identity of the other, have received positive responses from almost all sections of the society. Since his calls and efforts attracted attention of many outside Turkey, he organized and attended significant meetings in the US last summer. Gulen’s important position as a Muslim scholar in Turkey with a large following whose activities in different fields including especially education have already covered a very large area, and the positive responses he has received to his calls for dialogue within Turkey from almost all sections of the community including the representatives of religious communities – the Patriarch of the Turkish Orthodox people, the Patriarch of the Turkish Armenian community, and the Chief Rabbi of the Turkish Jewish community may have urged the Pope to meet with him.

The offers of Fethullah Gulen

Due to the lack of a foreign language and their general ignorance in essentials of their creed because they have had little access to Islamic sources, Muslim Turks have been shut off from the outer world for many years. The collapse of the Ottoman State at the hands of the Western powers after centuries of attacks and the Western occupation of Turkey following the First World War, contributed to Turkish Muslims’ sensitivity to the Christian West and their distrust of whatever attempts it makes [at dialogue]. As can clearly be understood from certain radicals’ reaction to Mr. Gulen’s meeting with the Pope, people can still put forward the Crusades as an obstacle to meeting with the Christians, and there are some, however few, who think that a Muslim religious leader can come together with one of his counterparts in another religion only to preach or communicate Islam. What these people mean by preaching or communicating Islam is that whoever a Muslim meets, he must immediately invite him to Islam. So it is quite natural and understandable that people with such backward attitudes, should oppose Mr. Gulen’s offers to the Pope. Mr. Gulen offered to the Pope that they make joint visits to historically holy cities such as Antioch, Ephesus and Jerusalem, and hold conferences in the great cities of the world such as those in the US. He also suggested that they could open a university or a faculty of theology in Urfa – believed to be the city where the Prophet Abraham was born and thrown into flames, and which is an ancient centre of Middle- eastern civilizations – where the three religions (Islam, Christianity and Judaism) would be taught. He also suggested that Jerusalem should be open to free visits by the followers of the three religions. All these offers mean significant steps to an approach and better understanding between the followers of these religions. As a religious scholar confident of his belief and fully dedicated to his cause, and a man of great vision, Fethullah Gulen has no fear for Muslims that coming together with the followers of other religions will harm any Muslim’s belief or creed. He is also of the opinion that past enmities should not be an obstacle to [present] dialogue. The co-operation against anti-religious movements Muslims are weaker than the Christians in material power. However, they are confident of their belief and have much to offer the world. Most of the problems of the modern world come from a materialistic world-view and indifference to the moral values contained and propagated by religions. So, Muslims and Christians can offer the world in the clutches of a corrupt materialistic civilization, the spirituality and moral values they hold and inject a new hope into despairing souls. This is what unbiased thinkers of the West such as Olivier Lacombe, Michel Lelong and Montgomery Watt hope for. They explicitly write that the West, engrossed in materialism and secularism, can return to religion by seeing the power of faith in and submission to God Muslims have. So why should dialogue not serve the promotion of Islamic religious, spiritual and moral values in the world? If one does not see Islam as an ideological and political weapon against his rivals or as a means of superiority, if one is not Muslim by name [only], one should be happy with the acceptance and promotion of Islamic values.

Professor Griffith’s views of dialogue

During his visit to the US last summer, Fethullah Gulen met with Sidney Griffith, a professor in the Catholic University in Washington. After this meeting, in an interview he gave to a Turkish daily, Professor Griffith expressed his views of dialogue. Professor Griffith holds that the aim of dialogue is to help Christians unaware of the truth of Islam to get to know Islam. He says that they [typical Christians] thought of Islam as a religion belonging to the Arabs only but have [now] come to understand that Turkey is very important with respect to Islam. Professor Griffith went on: Many Western historians have not heard of the Crusades. Islam has been taught in the West only in faculties of political sciences. It has been approached as a political phenomenon from the viewpoint of orientalists. It has not been taught as a religion. This is where the main problem lies.

PROF. DR. NEVZAT YALCINTAS

Nevzat Yalcintas graduated in economics, went on to do a doctorate and became a professor. Currently, he is teaching in the Faculty of Economics in Istanbul University and writing editorials in Turkiye, one of the five bestselling dailies in Turkey. He has a unique place among the Turkish intelligentsia.

Fethullah Gulen’s meeting with the Pope

Fethullah Gulen’s meeting with the Pope in the Vatican is a significant, happy event. The Pope is the spiritual leader of the greatest section of the world’s Christians and of extraordinary importance in the international arena. As for Fethullah Gulen, he is a sincere Muslim scholar wholly dedicated to spreading the spiritual and moral principles of Islam such as faith, mercy, love, affection, mutual helping, reconciliation, and respect for others’ rights. The meeting between these two men who have dedicated themselves to humanity promises new, happy developments in the efforts of dialogue between religions. The offers made by Mr. Gulen to the Holy See are of great significance and should be given due consideration. The followers of both Islam and Christianity tried their best to remove atheistic communism from the surface of the world. Atheistic communism had no chance of becoming established in Muslim countries, and [in parallel with that] the efforts of the Pope contributed much to its collapse. The followers of both religions can work together in close cooperation in many fields. For this reason, the meeting in the Vatican is a happy, promising event for not only Muslims and Christians but also humanity as a whole.

PROFESSOR MEHMET AYDIN

Mehmet Aydin studied theology and is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Theology in Seljuk University, Konya. He has several publications on different subjects. He gave an explanation of Fethullah Gulen’s meeting with the Pope which was then reported by Anadolu Agency, the official news agency of Turkey. The following is a summary of that report: A sincere dialogue between Muslims and Catholic Christians will contribute to world peace. In fact, Islam has always advocated dialogue with the Christians, Jews, Sabeans and Magians since the beginning of its existence, and the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace, had several meetings with the followers and representatives of these religions. Following their conversion to Islam, the Turks attached special importance to dialogue and contributed a lot to the development of a universal civilization. Mr. Gulen’s meeting with the Pope is a continuation of the historical tolerance of the Turks toward the followers of other religions. I hope this meeting may cause the West to come to understand the universal tolerance of the Turks which the West has ignored for centuries.

HADI ULUENGIN Hadi Uluengin is a liberal, free-thinker. He writes for Hurriyet, one of the five best-selling dailies in Turkey. The following is a summary of what Mr. Uluengin wrote on Fethullah Gulen’s meeting with the Pope. Hodja Effendi and the Pope I have never agreed with the Pope on many of his ideas and initiatives such as banning the pill for birth-control and pronouncing excommunication on divorcees. However, this does not prevent my acknowledging him as one of the most influential figures in the arena of 20th century international politics. He made a great contribution to the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the Soviet Empire. Fethullah Gulen, that distinguished religious scholar, met with the Pope and thereby realized a top-level meeting in his search for dialogue and mutual respect which he started by meeting with the representatives of the Turkish Orthodox and Jewish Communities at a time when Islam was being presented [in the West] as a threat and Huntington’s theory of clashes of civilizations was widely discussed. Mr. Gulens visit to the Vatican is of historical significance. The existence of Fethullah Gulen’s group is an opportunity for Turkey. It is really an opportunity to bring to an end the internal polarizations, to secularize fundamental religious questions, and to open our country up to the outer world. Some of the worries expressed concerning this group are groundless, and the rest are of secondary quality and quite negligible. The essential points on which we all agree are the points on which both the secularists and devout Muslims and the sincere followers of other religions can come together. The use of Maoists, who are actually of ‘fascist’ inclinations, in the detestable attacks on this group, shows that Fethullah Gulen and his group are on the right track. Also, although the Jacobinist intellectuals are reluctant to see the truth, the schools this group has opened in many parts of the world are widening the horizons of Turkey. They complain that these schools are under the control of a religious group. Why should anyone feel offended by that? Did not many Western countries extend their influences throughout the world through the missionary schools they opened in the previous century? Like me, did not many of the Turkish elite study in them [i.e. the missionary schools]? Fethullah Gulen, who met with the Pope -whom I do not like in moral terms but regard as a genius with respect to his political vision – and his distinguished group both activate the dialogue of religious men with others and [improve] love and respect between them, and open up for Turkey broad perspectives. Many thanks to Fethullah Gulen and his distinguished group.

AHMET TEZCAN

Ahmet Tezcan writes for the newspaper Aksam, which has a daily circulation of over 100,000. Previously, he made programs for a private TV channel in Turkey. His comments on Fethullah Gulen’s meeting with the Pope are summarized below. If Fethullah Gulen’s offers to the Pope are put into effect, it will have far-reaching consequences. First of all, the dialogue between the three religions will be strengthened and, in the atmosphere of close co-operation, [the shrill voices of] fanaticism will be drowned. Second, Turkey will be a centre for the coming together of world religions. In particular, the offer to make Harran a base where the three religions are taught, and the scholars from each of them teach together, is marvellous and of great importance for both world peace and putting an end to the sufferings of the people of the region. This offer will be whole-heartedly supported to the end. I regret the non-coverage of this event by the dailies of some Muslim groups. The best-selling dailies – Hurriyet, Sabah, Milliyet, Aksam, Posta – reported this meeting on their front pages and gave further coverage to it on their inside pages. However, some of the dailies published by some Muslim groups either did not attach to the event its rightful importance or preferred to ignore it altogether. This is largely because of their jealous rivalry and partly because some of them are politically oriented.

TURKISH DAILY NEWS

One individual has recently tried to encourage the Pope to visit to Turkey. Fethullah Gulen, a widely-acclaimed and most widely respected Turkish Islamic figure, went to the Vatican last week to establish what he called a dialogue between religions. The Gulen’s supporters finance schools both at home and abroad. Early televised reports about these schools said the schools abroad, particularly in the former Soviet Republics, have been providing good quality education. Gulen met the Pope last Monday and told him that he would like to take part in the Papal Council for Interreligious Dialogue in order to correctly explain Islam by opening a dialogue between Muslims and Roman Catholics. ‘Islam has always been misunderstood, and Muslims themselves are to blame for this,” Gulen told the Pope. Gulen said his invitation from the Vatican had been conveyed by Pier Luigi Celata, the Vatican’s ambassador to Ankara, and George Marovitch, the Vatican’s representative in Istanbul. The two men also accompanied him during the meeting. The Turkish ambassador to the Vatican, Altan Guven, reportedly received Gulen in Rome with high courtesy, indicating apparent support for his mission by the Turkish government. Fethullah Gulen also suggested joint efforts aimed at rendering Jerusalem an international zone which could be freely visited without visa or any other restrictions by all Christians, Jews and Muslims. Gulen said after the meeting that he had reminded the Pope about Demirel’s invitation and received a warm response. ‘Although he is old and sick, I think he will be able to come to Turkey as he recently went to Cuba,’ he said. He also assured the Pope that he would accompany the Roman Catholic leader during his visit. The Pope also told Gulen that he was very delighted by Demirel’s invitation, and that he had had a pleasant time in Turkey during his last visit in 1979. He also responded positively to the calls by Gulen on establishing dialogue between religions. Gulen also reportedly met with Cardinal Arinze, head of the Interreligious Dialogue Commission, and suggested an exchange of students between Turkey and the Vatican. Fethullah Gulen has organized interreligious dialogues in the past. Last year, the Foundation of Journalists and Writers had a symposium on peace and dialogue which was attended by a number of foreign and Turkish academics. ‘We have already met with the spiritual leaders in Turkey. Everyone knows that we have met with the Greek Orthodox leader in Istanbul. We have also had talks with the Armenian Patriarch and Assyrian representatives,’ Gulen said, adding that he had been keeping in touch with the Vatican ambassador. The 1981 assasination attempt against the Pope had not been discussed at the meeting, Gulen said. Gulen’s meeting with the Pope was also welcomed by various religious leaders in Turkey. The Greek Orthodox leader in Istanbul, Bartholomeos, said he was pleased to hear about the meeting and expected that it would have a good out-come. In addition, Yusuf Altintas, a Jewish-Turkish writer, said the meeting between the Roman Catholic leader and the Turkish Islamic figure was a good example of interreligious dialogue. Fethullah Gulen’s visit to Pope John Paul II was also praised by some Turkish columnists. Ertugrul Ozkok of the daily Hurriyet said the recent

There was a peaceful silence and was pouring light upon light

Things were being done with the precision of clockwork;

Centuries-old confusions disappeared one after the other.

All were respectful to each other and behaved in sincerity;

Water of life was flowing through taps of porphyry.

Holy ones were as if on parade with faces bright with faith

As they walked, they gave strength to our hopes.

People were busy with founding a new world;

The earth was so luminous as if to compete with the sky.

When those heroes with penetrating sight passed by me,

I came to understand that mankind were in the time promised.

I saw young men with clear signs on their faces and concluded

They were those promised to come toward the end of time

I continued my way without stopping, nor becoming tired;

I met those who had absorbed light from the ‘grand fountain’.

Some, full of gratitude, were walking arm-in-arm;

Finally all reached their destination, which is the Pure Path.

The chemistry of fullerene has grown considerably in importance within last ten years. The discovery was very fruitfull, since then that the number of carbon atoms can vary, and for this reason numerous new carbon structures have become known. Formerly, six crystalline forms of the element carbon were known, namely two kinds of graphite, two kinds of diamond, chaoit and carbon(IV). The latter two were discovered in 1968 and 1972. Graphite is soft, black and stable, common form of carbon. Diamonds may once have been a woman’s best friend, but chemists know they are only lumps of graphite in disguise. Both are in different properties, in diamond, each carbon atom is bound to four other carbon atoms in a regular repetitive pattern. In graphite, the carbon atoms are located at the corners of regular and fused hexagons arranged in a parallel layers. Those two forms are not soluble in organic solvent such as toluene, benzene but fullerene.

How C60 is formed like a European football shape?

Fullerenes formation can be summarized by a short experimental procedure; when vaporized carbon condenses in an atmosphere of inert gas such as helium. The gaseous carbon is obtained by directing an intense pulse of laser light at a carbon surface. The released carbon atoms are mixed with a stream of helium gas and combine to form clusters of some few up to hundred of atoms. The gas is then let into a vacuum chamber where it expands. It is then cooled to some degrees above absolute zero. The carbon clusters can then be analyzed with mass spectrometry2.4. Although explanation is easy, to meet the experimental part, conditions and to carry it out is not that straightforward. People have been making football and rugby ball, however, it never came up to their mind that those shapes could represent a stable molecule structure. Now, question in this respect is that the fullerene could be available in other part of the universe, since the reaction conditions do take place on the sun surface.

Why new form of carbon had been called buckministerfullerene?

Curl, Kroto and Smalley performed this experiment together as mentioned earlier with two graduate students J.R. Heath and S.C O’ Brien during a period of eleven days in 1985. By fine-tuning the experiment they were able in particular to produce clusters with 60 carbon atoms, C60 gives the most remarkable peak on the mass spectrum. It was found high stability in C60 which suggested a molecular structure of great symmetry. The pattern of European football has exactly this structure, as does the geodetic dome designed the American architect R. Buckminister Fuller for 1967 Montreal World Exhibition. The researchers named the newly discovered structure “buckministerfullerene” after him. The shape could be defined as perfect symmetry the most beautiful molecule, the greatest ball, in fact, it was the most beautiful reflection of the Creator who had already created the universe.

The discovery of the unique structure of the C60 was published first in the Journal “Nature” and had a mixed reception- both criticism and enthusiastic acceptance. Continuing their work 1985-1990 obtained further evidence that the proposed structure ought to be correct, the research program particularly at Sussex University in England has covered several interdisciplinary areas. One area focused on the generation and spectroscopic characterization of new molecules, in particular, unstable species and reaction intermediates which contained labile multiple bonds, which led to carbon phosphorus double and triple bonds.

Why was this discovery so important for condensed matter?

As is mentioned above, numerous new carbon structures have become known by this discovery. Graphite and diamond (the other two well characterized forms of carbon) are known since time immemorial, now at the end of the 20th century a third form has been discovered. Furthermore, it has been under our noses all the time as amazingly the molecule forms in a soothing flame. The idea is that what kind of interesting applications can be developed if buckyballs are put together to produce new materials, or if different elements are put into the buckyballs. Besides lots of compounds made from buckyball could be easily identified. The way was, thus, open for studying chemical properties of C60 and other carbon clusters such as C70,C76,C78, and C84. New substances were produced from these compounds, with new and unexpected properties. An entirely new branch of chemistry developed with consequences in such diverse areas as astrochemistry, superconductivity material chemistry/ Physics.. (see several selected publications in the references)

During last six years since the fullerenes became available to scientist, more than a thousand new compounds have been synthesized. Their chemical, optical, electrical, mechanical or biological properties have been also tested. The production of tullerene is still expensive, which limits their use. If fullerene can be produced with a cheaper procedure then we might use it via industrial processes in our daily life. It is still early to see final application of this discovery, but there is few countries take it further to find whether it could be used as a drug, lubricant, and computer communication.

What Muslim scientists might do in order to discover something or do something in science vertically which will bring the competition with western scientists? Although the science had been developed in different respect of sciences by Muslims, now Muslims have got to pay some more effort for those gifts. We know that there are numberless substances have been staying out there ever since they had been created.With this consequence, a Muslim scientist has to be mentioned, Dr Ala’a K. Abdul-Sada10 who had involved in spectral analysis and characterization of this discovery. He is the first one who discovered this new form is soluble in different organic solvent that present a key factor in the new field of chemistry. Also the first sign in the discovery of this molecule is entirely depend on the solubility. He is a member of faculty and runs the mass spectrometry at the University of Sussex. According to him, ‘There is nothing wrong with Muslim scientist, but unfortunately badly effected by the lack of resources. The capability of Muslim scientists are well enough, if they are provided with equipment, and other scientific requirement’. He reported more than eight international patents which is purely petroleum application processes and being used industrial scale. We wish this level of research will be carried out in different area by Muslim scientists.

REFERENCES

1. H. W. Kroto. J. 2. Heath, S.C. Obrien, 2. F. Curl, R. E. Smalley, Nature, 1985. Vol:318, No: 6042, pp. 162-163.
2. J. Baggot, ‘Perfect symmetry; the accidental discave of Buckmmisterfullere’, Oxford Univ. Press, 1994, IX+315pp.
3. H. Aldersey-Williams, “The most beautiful molecule;an adventure in chemistry’, Aurum Press, London, 1995, IX+340pp.
4. 2. F Curl and 2. E. Smalley, “Probing C60′, Science. 18 Nov. 1988, Vol: 242.
5. H. Krcto, ‘Space Starts, CO and Soot”, Science, 25 Nov. 1988, vol 242.
6. C60: Buckministerfullerene, the celestial sphere that fell to earth,Angew. Chem., mt. Ed. EngI., 1992, 31,111.
7. A post-buckministertullerene view of Carbon in the Galaxy, Acc. Chem. Res., 1992. 25, 106.
8. The structure of buckministe fullerene compounds, J. Mom. Struct.,1994,325,1.
9. Condensed phase na otubes, Nature, 1995,377,687.
10. 2. Taylor. J. P. Hare, A. K. Abdul-Sado and H. W. Kroto, j Chem, Comm., 1990, 20, 1423.

Before proceeding to go into details relating to the subject of Divine Decree and Destiny, we had better give the translation of some relevant verses:

With Him are the keys of the Unseen. None but He knows them. He knows what is in the land and the sea. Not a leaf falls but He knows it, not a grain amid the darkness of the earth, naught of wet or dry but it is in a Manifest Book. (al-An’am, 6.59)

There is nothing hidden in the heaven or the earth but it is in a Manifest Book. (a1-Nanzl, 27.75) It is We Who bring the dead to life.

We record what they send (of their lives and conduct to the Hereafter) and what is left of them. All things we have kept in a Manifest Record. (Ya Sin, 36.12)

They say: ‘When (will) this promise (be fulfilled), if you are truthful?’ Say: ‘The knowledge is with God only, and I am but a plain warner.’ (al-Mulk, 67. 25-6)

Nay, but it is a glorious Qur’an. On a Preserved Tablet. (al Buruj, 85. 21-2)

In a sense, Decree and Destiny are of the same meaning, but in another, Destiny means pre-determination or pre-ordinance, while Decree means execution of this ordinance or putting it into effect.

To define more clearly and elaborately, Destiny means that from the microcosm (atoms) to the macrocosm (the universe as a whole), from particles to galaxies, God Almighty, Who knows everything down to the minutest and Whose Knowledge includes all space and time while Himself is absolutely beyond all time and space, gives existence in His Knowledge to all things or beings and assigns to each a certain shape, life-span, function or mission and certain particularities. This can be understood by an analogy-God’s is the highest comparison, and He is absolutely beyond all comparisons and different from whatever a man conceives of Him -with an author’s having the full and exact knowledge of the book he will write and arranging it in his mind in chapters, sections, paragraphs, sentences and words before writing it. In this sense, Destiny is almost identical with Divine Knowledge or Destiny is a title of Divine Knowledge, and is also called the Manifest Record or the Supreme Preserved Tablet.

Destiny also means that God makes everything according to a certain, particular measure and in exact balance. The Qur’an declares:

God knows what every female bears and what the wombs absorb and what they grow. And everything with Him is measured. (Al Ra’d, 13.8)

The sun and the moon are made punctual according to a calculation. The stars and the trees adore, in subservience to Him. And the sky He has uplifted; and He has set the balance, that you exceed not the balance, but observe the balance strictly, nor fall short thereof. (al-Rahman, 55. 5-9)

The exact balance and harmony in the universe clearly show the existence of Divine Destiny; that is, the universe, as a whole and with all the individual things or beings in it, which display an exact measure, balance, order and harmony, shows that everything is determined, measured, created and governed by God Almighty. Assertions like determinism, which is upheld by many, including even the supporters of the Marxist ideology, in explaining the order and operation of the universe including the human kingdom, are a tacit admission of Destiny, even though absolute determinism is incompatible with Islam in explaining the actions of man.

All seeds, fruit stones, measured and proportioned forms, and the extraordinary order and harmony of the universe, and its operation for billions of years without displaying the slightest breakdown or deviation in any part of it, all this demonstrates that everything takes place according to the absolute determination of God Almighty, Who is the All-Knowing and the All-Powerful. Each seed or fruit stone and even each ovum fertilized by a male sperm is like a case formed by Divine Power into which Divine Destiny has in-built the future life-history of a plant or an animal being. Divine Power employs atoms or particles according to the measure established by Divine Destiny as building blocks in growing the particular seed into the particular plant and the particular fertilized ovum into the particular being. This means that the future life-history of that plant or the animal being and the principles to govern its life are pre-recorded in the seed or the fertilized ovum as determining factors and processes.

Although the basic materials from which plants and animal beings, including human beings, are formed are the same, there is an almost infinite variety between species and individuals. The plants and animals that grow from the same constituent basic elements display such harmony and proportion, and yet such abundant diversity, that man cannot help but conclude that each of them is individually given its particular form and measure. It is Divine Destiny which establishes this measure.

A single seed displays Destiny in two ways: one by demonstrating the Manifest Record (Imamun Mubin), the other by displaying the Manifest Book (Kitabun Mubin). The Manifest Record is, as was pointed out above, another title for Divine Knowledge and Command, comprehensive of the universe both as a whole and with all its parts, big or small, and all the events in it. As everybody knows, the seed of a plant is also its ‘memory’. That is, a plant which grows from a seed also results in multiple seeds, in which the entire life-history of the plant have been recorded so that they can grow into new plants, which are almost identical with the original because plants do not have conscious spirits endowed with free will. Thus, besides demonstrating the Manifest Record and therefore Divine Destiny and Knowledge in which everything is present or exists with all its individualized particularities, a seed also indicates the Supreme Preserved Tablet (Lawhun Mahfuz) and corresponds to human memory in the human kingdom. By the way, since it indicates that the life-histories of creatures are recorded, a seed also points to afterlife.

The Manifest Book is another title for Divine Will and God’s creational and operational laws of the universe. If we call the Manifest Record Destiny Formal or Theoretical, the Manifest Book can be referred to as Destiny Actual. The future full- grown form of a plant or an animal being, which displays all the content of the seed or fertilized ovum, can be understood as its Destiny Actual.

In short, like seeds or plants or fertilized ovums and animal beings, everything in the universe clearly points to Divine Destiny, determining, judging, giving measure, particularizing and individualizing. True dreams which bring news of certain future events, are another, undeniable indication of Destiny or Divine ‘pre-determination’.

Question

Why is belief in Destiny included among the essentials of faith?

Answer

Because of self-conceit and the weakness of devotion, man tends to attribute to himself his accomplishments and good deeds and feels proud of himself. Whereas, as the Qur’an explicitly states, God creates you and what you do (al-Saffat, 37.96), it is the Divine Compassion which demands good deeds and the Power of the Lord which creates them. Whoever ponders over his life, he will realize and confess to himself that God has directed him to good acts, usually prevented him from doing wrong deeds and by endowing him with the sufficient capacity, power and means required for any accomplishment, favoured him with many accomplishments and good deeds. God guides man to good deeds and makes him succeed in willing and doing them, so the real cause of a man’s good deeds is the Divine Will. A man can possess and own them by means of faith and sincere devotion and by praying to God to be able to deserve them, consciously believing in the necessity of doing them and being pleased with what God has ordained for him. He can never be boastful of his good deeds and accomplishments and put on airs among people; what behoves him is to always be thankful to God and humble.

On the other hand, while attributing to himself his accomplishments and good deeds, man likes to absolve himself of his sins and misdeeds by ascribing them to Destiny. However, since God never likes a sin or wrong act, nor approves it, it is man himself who causes sins and commits them by his free will. Yet it is God Who creates sins (in the sense of enabling them to take place or giving them external existence) as well as good acts, simply because if He did not do so, the free will with which He has endowed man, would be annulled. Man wills to commit his sins. As was explained earlier, God calls man to good deeds, guides him to them and always inspires them in him, but man commits sins of his own free will and disobeys his Creator. Therefore, man is completely responsible for his sins and misdeeds. However, in order to protect himself against sins and the temptations of Satan and his carnal self, man must both try to remove his inclinations towards sins through repentance and asking forgiveness for them, and direct and exhort himself to do good deeds through prayer, devotion and trust in God.

In short, man has free will and is enjoined to follow the religious obligations and refrain from sins and wrong deeds. He cannot by any means ascribe his sins to God. Divine Destiny exists so that the believer does not grow proud of his good deeds by ascribing them to himself. Rather he must be thankful to God because of them. Man has free will so that the rebellious carnal self does not rid itself of the consequences of its sins by ascribing them to Destiny.

A second, important point to mention is that man usually complains about past events and the misfortunes that have struck him. Worse than that, he cannot save himself from falling into despair and abandoning himself to a dissipated life. He may even go so far as to complain against God. However, Destiny exists so that a man should relate past events and misfortunes to it in order not to be driven to despair and provide himself with relief, security and consolation. On the other hand, as will be discussed below, since Destiny does not exclude human free will, man is responsible for his future life and whatever he does consciously and intentionally.

In sum, whatever is (including misfortunes) should be considered in the light of Destiny, and what is to come, and sins and questions of responsibility, should be referred to human free will. In this way, the extremes of fatalism (jabr) and the denial of the role of Destiny in human actions (i’tizal, the view of the Mu’fazila) may be reconciled.

– Is there fresh bread and cold, fresh water like this on the tables of our fighting brothers, or have you offered me such a table just because I am the commander?

– We set aside that bread and water for you, o Commander, they answered.

This answer made Abu Ubayda angry and, pushing the table away. he commented:

– I cannot conceive of a behaviour worse in the sight of God Almighty than sitting at a table different from what is offered to our brothers shedding their blood in the way of God in the same lines with us. I could not sit at such a special table even if I were the Caliph, not a commander.

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, the famous Muslim scholar and thinker, who launched a major Islamic movement of revival in Turkey in the second quarter of this century, offered this challenge to those who deny the Prophethood of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings:

Consider how, eradicating their evil and savage customs and immoral qualities to which they were so fanatically attached, he equipped and adorned the desperate, wild and unyielding peoples of the seventh century Arabian Peninsula with all the praiseworthy virtues, and made them teachers of all the world and masters to, especially, the civilized nations.

His was not an outward domination; rather, he conquered their minds, spirits, hearts, and souls. He became the beloved of hearts, the teacher of minds, the trainer of souls, and the ruler of spirits.

You know that despite all the advanced techniques and methods, modern communities are unable to remove permanently so small a vice as cigarette smoking. However, the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, with apparently little effort over a very short period of time removed numerous ignoble habits from large communities in whom those habits were long ingrained, and in their place implanted and inculcated noble qualities in such a way that they became inherent in their nature. To those who refuse to see the testimony of the blessed age of the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, we present as a challenge any part of today’s civilized world. Let them go there with hundreds of philosophers, sociologists, psychologists and pedagogues and educators, and strive for a hundred years. I wonder whether they will be able to achieve in that period a hundredth part of what the Prophet Muhammad achieved in a year.

Abu Bakr, in the early days of his Caliphate, managed on the wage he earned by milking the cattle of one of his neighbours. Some time later, some Companions led by ‘Umar made him this offer:’As the Commander-in-chief of the Muslims, you have much work to do. Therefore, give up milking cattle and let us assign a fixed salary for your needs as Caliph.’

Abu Bakr spent from this salary for his living expenses and stored any surplus in a pot. He told those around his death-bed to hand that pot over to the one nominated to replace him as Caliph.

Umar was chosen after Abu Bakr. During his rule, Islam spread as far as Afghanistan in the east and Caucasia in the north. One evening during the holy month of Ramadan, ‘Umar was a guest of one of the Companions. When he was offered a sherbet of honey, he refused it, saying:

‘I can drink this only when all of the people, the responsibility of governing whom I shoulder, have become so rich that they can drink the sherbet of honey with their meals.’

There are many reasons why a developing baby may have congenital problems (Moore, 1989, p.lO8). Exposure to infections and certain drugs (most commonly, alcohol), chromosomal abnormalities and inherited congenital conditions have all been shown to disrupt normal fetal development. In this article we will concentrate on the diagnosis of chromosomal and genetic disorders during pregnancy.

PNT procedures and their interpretation can be extremely intimidating for parents. It is therefore important that tests are done only after a full explanation of the procedures involved and their possible consequences. The aim of PNT is to inform and prepare parents for the birth of an affected infant, so that they can choose between the possible courses of action (Aksoy, 1996). The possibilities will include: (1) in utero treatment; (2) delivery at a special centre for immediate postnatal treatment; and 3) termination of an affected fetus, i.e. abortion.

Over the years, professional standards and laws have evolved which influence the clinical application of PNT and help to tackle many of the complex ethical issues involved. There is little doubt that relatively non-invasive techniques whose primary purpose is to diagnose treatable disorders and then treat them, before or after birth, would be warmly welcomed by all, especially the parents. The fact is, however, that in practice PNT is generally being used to diagnose abnormality and then terminate the life of the unborn babies. The reality is that prenatal diagnosis rarely leads to fetal therapy

In what follows, we will try to explain the range of prenatal tests available and indications for their appropriate use. We will consider some of the technological advances on the horizon in this field of medicine, as well as some of the ethical dilemmas that arise.

Prenatal Diagnostic Tests

Prenatal diagnostic tests can be divided into two types, invasive and non-invasive. Non-invasive tests simply involve a blood sample taken from the pregnant woman or an ultrasound scan. Invasive tests on the other hand are more complicated and involve obtaining a sample of cells or tissue from the developing foetus, either by amniocentesis or chorionic villus biopsy. The samples obtained by invasive tests can be used, specifically to assess the fetal chromosome pattern, to determine if the fetus has a particular genetic mutation, or for a whole range of biochemical assays.

Maternal Blood Sampling. Between 15 and 19 weeks of pregnancy, the pregnant woman attending ante-natal clinic will be offered a blood test. The blood sample will be analysed to assess the level of three proteins, b human chorionic gonadotropin (b HCG), oestriol and a -fetoprotein (a FR). The three levels in combination with the mother’s age can be used to estimate the risk of the baby being affected by a chromosomal problem, especially Down’s syndrome (Wald and Cuckle, 1992, pS63). If the test result indicates a high level of risk, the mother will be offered further tests to assess the status of her baby.

Ultrasound Scan. Ultrasound uses high frequency waves to form a picture as the waves are reflected back by tissues of different density. The developing fetus grows in a liquid filled sac (amnion). As fluid shows black on the scan, this provides a good contrast with the fetal parts allowing high resolution images. Early in the first trimester an ultrasound scan can be used assess the viability of a fetus and to estimate its stage of development. Most women will be offered a formal high resolution scan at between 16 and 19 weeks (Sutton, 1990, pp.20- 1). The images from the scan will be the first time the expectant mothers see the baby. For many, this is a happy event; for the others it could be a very sad event if the scan indicates an abnormality.

Amniocentesis. In this test, done between 15 and 20 weeks of pregnancy (Cohen, 1990, pp.19- 20), a very fine needle is passed through the abdomen under ultrasound guidance, avoiding the fetus, and a sample of amniotic fluid containing fetal cells is withdrawn. The sample is cultured to grow more cells so that the chromosome pattern of the cells can be examined or DNA extracted for genetic analysis. This process can take three weeks, a period of considerable anxiety for the parents. There is also a small risk of miscarriage occurring after an amniocentesis.

Chorionic Villus Sampling. In this test, done in the same way as than amniocentesis but five weeks earlier, a sample of tissue is taken from the developing placental tissue. Both chromosomal and genetic analysis can be performed on this tissue, and the results are available quicker and at an earlier stage of the pregnancy than with amniocentesis. However, there is a higher miscarriage rate following chorionic villus sampling than amniocentesis (Boss, 1994).

Fetal Blood Sampling. Occasionally, when there is concern that a pregnant woman has been exposed to an infection early in her pregnancy, a sample of blood will be taken from the umbilical cord with a very fine needle under ultrasound guidance. This sample is used to assess if the fetus has become infected and at high risk of development problems following the maternal exposure.

New Advances

Advances in prenatal diagnosis have followed rapidly from technological improvements in ultrasound equipment, refinement and experience of current techniques, and the development of new tests. The aim of research in this area is to provide the earliest possible accurate information about the health of the developing baby, and to do so in the way safest for the expectant mothers and their babies. If the information is reassuring, the couple can enjoy the remainder of the pregnancy in the knowledge that everything will progress normally. However, if the result are unfavourable and an abnormality is diagnosed, earlier decisions about potential treatment or termination are possible and so may be less traumatic for those involved.

Fluorescent in situ Hybridisation (FISH). FISH is a technique which uses a specific DNA sequence as a probe to recognise its complementary sequence on a chromosome. The probe has a fluorescent tag attached which lights up when it is attached to the recognised chromosome segment. Recently FISH has been applied to analysis of amniocentesis samples to assess if an extra chromosome 21 is present or not in the cells. Because the amniocentesis cells do not require culturing for this technique the test results can potentially be available sooner than following standard amniocentesis.

Fetal Blood Cells in the Maternal Circulation. At about 6 weeks fetal blood cells can be found in a blood sample taken from a pregnant woman. These cells exists in very small numbers. Recent work has extracted and purified these cells to allow assessment of the fetal chromosome pattern and to determine if the fetus has a specific genetic mutation. Although this technique is very new it has the potential to make the currently used invasive techniques obsolete and will allow very early diagnosis.

Preimplantation Diagnosis. This procedure involves the use of technology developed with in vitro fertilisation (IVF). An oocyte is removed from the woman and brought into contact with spermatozoa from her partner under controlled conditions. One of the spermatozoa effects fertilisation to form a zygote. Following three stages of cell division (this eight-cell stage is termed, the blastocyst), one cell can be removed and used for analysis (Aksoy, 1997a). The DNA sequence of this cell can be determined to identify the presence or absence of a gene mutation that has caused illness in one of the parents. If the cell does not contain the mutation, the blastocyst can be implanted in the womans uterus (womb) to develop into a fetus which is unaffected by the condition that has affected other family members.

Human Genome Project. The aim of the Human Genome Project is to have identified the entire human DNA sequence (genome) by 2005. The extra information generated about specific genes and their association with specific disorders has the potential to expand dramatically the number of genetic tests available to couples with a family history of a genetic condition.

Ethical Issues

It is important to understand the purpose of prenatal diagnosis. It is done to provide parents with information about the health and development of their baby, not to provide them with a reason to have a termination of pregnancy. There are 180,000 terminations performed each year in the United Kingdom, of these 5000 are because of fetal abnormalities diagnosed by prenatal tests. Abortion is a serious problem itself in all regions of the world, developed and developing, and we discussed it in an earlier issue of this magazine (Aksoy 1997b). When prenatal tests reveal that a baby has health problems, parents face a number of difficult questions. Is any treatment available? What are the baby’s chances of survival? What would be the baby’s quality of life if he or she did survive? Some illnesses can be treated during pregnancy and after delivery. One of the main aims of fetal medicine is to develop therapies to treat fetuses and improve the survival. However, some conditions are fatal despite all treatment. In these circumstances couples sometimes take the extremely difficult decision to have a termination of pregnancy

For religious, moral or other reasons many couples opt not to have any tests performed during pregnancy. They feel that even if the results of any test indicated that their baby was affected by a serious condition they should and would continue with the pregnancy. It is important in each situation that the parents’ decisions are respected and supported. The parents need to be given appropriate guidance and counselling rather than be met with disapproval.

In some countries prenatal testing has been extensively used to determine the sex of the baby at an early stage, with the intention of ensuring that only male babies are born (Kusum, 1993). In the United Kingdom, as in many other places, prenatal diagnosis to determine fetal sex is deemed morally unacceptable. It is important that new advances in medicine are paralleled by an informed ethical debate. Prenatal tests should reflect what is appropriate within a society rather than just allowing what is technically feasible. A number of regulatory groups have been formed, including the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), to monitor and regulate new advances in this area.

In sum: prenatal diagnosis is a rapidly expanding area of medicine. New techniques are constantly being developed which are aimed at allowing earlier diagnosis, less invasive methods and, ultimately, treatment. It is important that developments are monitored and regulated to ensure that the techniques available are applied within an ethical framework.

REFERENCES

Aksoy, S. (1996) ‘Prenatal Testing: An Ethical Perspective’, The New Journal of Medicine, 13:2, pp.12-14.

Aksoy, S. (1997) ‘Moral Controversies on Preimplantation Genetic Testing’, paper presented at UNESCO Asian Bioetlncs Conference, Kobc-Japan, November 1997.

Aksoy, S. (1997), ‘Abortion: Mercy or Murder?’, The Fountain, 2:17 pp.32-5.

Atkins, A.F.J. and Hey, EN. (1991) ‘The Northern Regional Fetal Abnormality Survey’, in Drife, jO. and Donnai, D.(cds) Antenatal Diagnosis of Fetal Abnormalities, Springer-Verlag Ltd., London.

Boss, J.A. (1994) ‘First Trimester Prenatal Diagnosis: Earlier is not Necessarily Better’, JME, 20 pp.l46-5l. )

Cohen, L.G. (1990 Before Theýr Týme at Risk, American Association on Mental Retardation, Washington DC.

Kusum (1993) ‘The Use of Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques for Sex Selection: The Indian Scene’, Bioethics, 7: 2/3 pp,149-65.

Moore, K.L. (1989) Before We Are Born: Basic Embryology and Birth Defects, WB. Saunders Comp., Philadelphia.

Sutton, A. (1990) Prenatal Diagnosis: Confronting the Ethical Issues, The Linacre Centre, London.

Wald, NJ. and Cuckle, H.S. (1992) ‘Biochemical Screening’, in Brock, D.J.H., Rodeck, C.H. and Ferguson-Smith, MA.(eds) Prenatal Diagnosis and Screening, Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh.

From these words it should not be understood that we never can or will understand the value of this world. What I want to emphasise is that our collective customs and habits overwhelm our individual consciousness, knowledge and conscience. There are some people in this world who see our values through the prism of their refined consciousness and knowledge and feel in the vastness of their spirit pure emotions undimmed by customs and habits. They experience their own lives as passing through corridors of heaven and live like those in paradise.

Whether they be newcomers who travel on the horizon of new awareness and pleasure or old-timers in these affairs who have gained the secret of staying young and take advantage of all its benefits, they feel intoxication each day with the beauty of our world just like the exhilaration of the rising sun on a brand new day. They think about and breathe the constant faithfulness of this world and the things in it and the skies and whatever lies beyond. They stretch out their arms with love under the light waves of faith and the eternity promised by faith, and they tremble with reverence and dignity.

Almost always this realm, where the earth and skies open to one another and are at peace with each other, penetrates our spirits like the inclination of God Whom we love with all His creatures. It becomes enshrouded in such beauty that we believe these divine manifestations, which pass the limits of the physical world and can’t be contained in it, to be dreams. We tremble with concern that well awaken from this sweet dream and everything will disappear.

In fact, sometimes at moments and hours that are wrapped with a special aura that we don’t fully understand. day or night things suddenly become different. The general atmosphere becomes so enchanting that it seems to compete with the heavens. In this atmosphere of light, spirits that reach to heights beyond the physical plane and feelings that go beyond all space extend their minds beyond the boundaries that separate us from the spiritual world. They live in the shadow of the Prophet Muhammad’s miraculous ascent to heaven. This sea of dreams sometimes, in the form of a whisper of pleasure and delight, encompasses those hearts that are open to the beyond. The breasts of those who reach this vastness expand enough to hold the whole universe including the moon, the sun and the stars. They pass beyond all limits and become a shining mirror to the throne of mercy. The appreciative angels run to watch those who have become like stars scattered upon the earth. Those special ones on earth in the language of animated silence watch this delightful scene and, as if listening to the most divine poetry. go back and forth between this spectacle and pleasure. thus weaving the eternal lacework of life.

Wherever you are in this fantastic calm, the beyond and creatures of the beyond are always with you: wherever you go you gather pearls from the beyond and you always feel like they’re being showered on your head.

Yes, at home, at work, in seclusion or in the company of others you’ll see that the coloured lights are spanning your horizon just like a rainbow. You’ll feel like you’re constantly walking under a celestial arch. That special light together with love, as if filtering from a silver lantern floating in love’s union, surrounds you. Much greater than the lights of the physical and material realms, it is a flood releasing enchanting and dream-filled beams of light. Everything becomes immersed in the colour of its own wave.

For those who can always contemplate their surroundings with faith and consideration, the universe in all four directions is a marvellous exhibition adorned with spiritual pleasures. It cannot be seen with physical eyes nor heard by physical ears; it can only be sensed with conscience and vision. The universe is a song bursting with eternal notes and an encyclopedia whose every line is full of meaning that could fill books. Those who hear it seem to have awakened to heaven: those who listen to it can be said to have listened to a chorus of houris; those who read it reach the happiness of sharing the four Holy Books’ points of concurrence and accord.

The Creative Power has spread the earth before our eyes meaningfully filled with knowledge. affection and love like a breathing, animate creature changing the colours of its skirts according to the seasons. In the earth’s bosom running streams have sprung up whispering eternal melodies to our ears and quickening our hearts with murmurs of eternity. A spell has been cast on our thoughts and feelings, our heads are spinning. The heavens full of colour and light, like a magical, mysterious ball, incite us to poetical inspiration. The earth is adorned like a bridal suite, and life, without being a difficult puzzle, can be lived, breathed, smelled, and felt as a delightful, constantly sought-after enjoyment, the continuation of which is hopefully awaited, Life has been raised to a level of spiritual pleasure and tranquillity.

This magical world, as much as we have been able to see and perceive it, is an unbelievable dream world. The things in it appear like a slope of heaven with their essential beauty displayed before our eyes. With the aid of this different view and perception, in order to go beyond the limited pleasures of our temporary lives and to receive our share of the unfading beauty of all creation, we always open our perishable souls to eternity and, as if we were tasting eternity’s pleasure and hearing eternity’s dialect, we can change the fleeting seconds of our lives into years. Due to such luminous moments, every spirit can gain immortality, of course, to the extent that it can internalise such situations, and benefit generously from eternity’s inspirations.

If one day the sound of everything is silenced, if all of creation swallows its tongue and doesn’t say anything to us, or if we hear but don’t understand, still, with the traces of this temporary light that has filled our hearts, our spirits will constantly pursue those luminous moments. On every new horizon our eyes will seek those seconds of illumination and shine brightly with the torches of truth and hope burning in our hearts.