In the seventeenth century, nearly seven centuries after Ibn Sina, the Dutch scientist Anton van Leeuwenhoek (also referred to as the “Father of Microbiology”) observed microorganisms under a microscope (van Leeuwenhoek 1980). With his fundamental discovery, he showed that there were living organisms that were not visible to the naked eye. What van Leeuwenhoek did not realize was that these microorganisms (e.g. pathogen: a disease causing microbe) could actually be the cause of infections. This is contrary to the discoveries made by Ibn Sina seven centuries earlier that microorganisms could be the cause of infections despite the extremely limited evidence for the existence of microorganisms at the time. Nearly two centuries after Leeuwenhoek’s first observation of microorganisms, in 1876, Robert Koch, a German physician, postulated that microorganisms could actually be the cause of infection and therefore disease by his fundamental observation that the blood of an infected animal that contained pathogenic bacteria that, when transferred to a healthy animal caused the recipient animal to become sick (Koch 1999).

Let’s take a moment to reflect on Ibn Sina’s life story to encourage readers to learn more about him (McGinnis 2010) and his contributions to modern medicine and science.

Ibn Sina was born in 980 in in the village of Afshana near Bukhara, Uzbekistan (previously known as Khorasan) to a local governor named Abdullah, from Balkh, and his wife Setareh, a local from Afshana. Thanks to his father’s position as a governor as well as his background as a scholar, Ibn Sina had access to an excellent education in Bukhara, which at the time was the capital and intellectual center of the Samanids. Ibn Sina was taught by some of the most famous scholars of the time in the sciences and in Islamic theology. By the age of 18, Ibn Sina had already mastered the sciences of his day and had become a practicing physician. In addition to his expertise in medicine, for which he became world-renown, he was also a well-known philosopher, astrophysicist, mathematician, and theologian. He spent his life educating people, treating patients and writing books that not only enlightened the people of his age but later generations throughout the world as well.

Although Ibn Sina was considered one of the greatest Muslim philosophers of the medieval age he was a widely respected and well-known physician and was known as the “Prince of Physicians” in the West, and al-Sheikh al-Rais (Leader of the Scholars) among his students and colleagues (McGinnis 2010, 227). His gigantic medical encyclopedia al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine), comprising of upwards of a million words, has been used as the standard medical textbook up until the seventeenth century and is still widely considered a valuable resource for the study of medicine. It was printed thirty-six times in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries alone (Ullman 1978) and is regarded as one of the most influential books in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance (Siraisi 2001).

The Canon of Medicine consists of five books with each book subdivided into various subjects, subsidiary subjects, summaries, and sections. The first book, also called al-Kulliyyat (The Collection), discusses the scientific background of medicine and anatomy such as physiology, symptomatology, and the principles of therapy. The second book has an account of the therapeutic properties of substances used in medicine. The third book is devoted to pathology and specific or localized ailments. Diseases that affect the whole body, such as fever, are discussed in the fourth book. Ibn Sina explained the mixing of drugs in the final volume, which is a book on pharmacology. Ibn Sina, in his Canon, derives his system of medicine from the Greco-Roman physician Galen (Galen of Pergamon, modern day Bergama, Izmir, Turkey, 129-200 CE) who himself based his approach on Hippocrates (460-370 BCE). Ibn Sina also benefited from ar-Razi (Rhazes in Latin, 865-925 CE) and al-Majusi (Haly Abbas in Latin, died circa 990) to present a systematized and comprehensive view of the medical sciences of the time (Prioreschi 2003).

Ibn Sina is only one of many great minds of the Muslim World during the medieval era. There were other great minds such as Ibn Rushd (Averroes in Latin), Ali Kuscu, al-Farabi (Alpharabius), Omar Khayyam and many more whose multifaceted studies encompassed diverse scholarly fields such as exegesis, law, logic, metaphysics, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. The great Mesopotamia and Andalusia Civilizations – civilizations that were built by these brilliant scientists and philosophers – established the foundations of the science, art and philosophy of our age. The knowledge developed by the Muslim scholars was later transmitted to Europeans and enabled Europe to emerge from the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance.

A Renaissance is also needed for the Muslim world today. This can only be possible when they can raise a new generation of scholars like Ibn Sina who can lead the society with their groundbreaking findings and illuminating interpretations.

References

• Colgan, Richard. 2009. Advice to the Young Physician. Springer, New York.
• Koch, Robert. 1999. A Life in Medicine and Bacteriology. ASM Press, Washington, D.C.
• Life and work of Anton van Leeuwenhoek of Delft in Holland; 1632-1723. Municipal Archives, Delft, 1980.
• McGinnis, Jon. 2010. Avicenna. Oxford University Press, New York.
• Prioreschi, Plinio. 2003. Medieval Medicine vol. 5: Medieval Medicine, Horatius Press, Omaha, Nebraska.
• Siraisi, Nancy. 2001. Medicine and the Italian Universities 1250-1600. Leiden, The Netherlands.
• Ullman, Manfred. 1978. Islamic Medicine. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
• United States National Library of Medicine, MS A 53
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/themes/science/index.html

Carbon atom, which composes nearly 0.2% of the earth’s crust, has a very special place among elements. All living beings are formed from carbon-based compounds. In addition, 94% percent of compounds—that is, more than 4 million—contain carbon atoms. Certain carbon compounds form nearly 18% of the matter in living beings. The rest is mostly water. These compounds are used as building blocks in cell formation. Only carbon has the ability of compounding with other elements in sufficient variety and complexities in order to carry out the main functions that life is based on. As carbon atoms easily form chains by making chemical bonds, no other element is given such a quality. These chains formed in a line can separate into branches and can connect to form rings. These rings are actually polygons formed by three, four, five, six, or more carbon atoms. Due to this quality, carbon is the element that forms the basis of many things from the foods we eat, to the clothes we wear, from the fuels we use, to the furniture we have.

The heat level that makes carbon compounds possible is between -20 and +120 0C. Carbon compounds begin freezing at -20 0C and they begin breaking at 120 0C. In space, where extreme heat and freezing cold exists, the only heat range that makes carbon compounds possible is found on earth and this is a very sensitive heat range. Temperatures in our neighboring planets give a better idea: as hot as 450 0C in Venus, and as cold as -53 0C in Mars. Under these temperatures, it is impossible for carbon element to form compounds and thus living beings. Therefore, the earth is the only planet created with the suitable conditions that make life possible.

Crystal structures of carbon atom

Particular repeating arrangement of atoms in three dimensional space to form a certain geometric shape is known as a crystal structure.

Different crystal structures of the same substance are named “allotrope.” Carbon has three different allotropes found in nature: amorphous carbon (coal), graphite, diamond. In addition to these, an artificially produced allotrope is fullerene.

Amorphous carbon (coal)

Amorphous structure is one without a definite crystal structure; that is, one where atoms take their places in free order. A mass of carbon atoms of amorphous structure is known as coal. After plants die, they undergo chemical transformation with the activities of microorganisms. If dead plants collect in a suitable wetland and are buried into the ground with a geological process, the carbon amount in their body increases and they begin transforming into coal. Types of coal are categorized according to the carbon percentage they contain. Geologically, this transformation process takes a period of 15 to 345 million years. Coal is one of the most commonly used forms of energy.

Graphite

In graphite, carbon atoms are found in a hexagonal crystal structure. These sheets, resembling the surface of a honeycomb, pile up and form graphite. As the sheets are not connected with firm bonds, they easily shift when some force is applied. This is why graphite is used for eliminating friction at machine industry. The black substance in pencils is graphite hardened by adding some clay. Graphite can resist very high temperatures. Therefore it is used within the steel industry and melting metals. In addition, it is a very good conductor of electricity. For this reason, the brushes of the electric engines in household machines such as a washing machine and a vacuum cleaner are made of graphite. In recent years, graphite has been used as heat shields of space shuttles.

Diamond

Diamond is the hardest natural substance we know. In spite of being a transparent substance and having no color of its own, it can be found in pastel colors such as yellow, brown, or even dim black, owing to being mixed with other minerals. Diamond is a perfect electric isolator and is the substance with highest heat conductivity. For this reason, it can be cut without being deformed. In diamond, carbon atoms are found in a pattern to form a cubical crystal structure. Extraordinary resistance of carbon-carbon bond and its hard and integrated structure prevents its reacting with other things around. It burns at a heat of 850 0C. In a piece of diamond, there can be other atoms that cause impurity and decrease the value. In good quality natural diamonds, there is only 1 alien atom versus 100,000 carbon atoms. In addition to jewelry, diamonds are widely used at industrial products such as drills, glass cutters and the like. 75-80 % of diamond production is used in this industry.

Formation of coal, graphite, or diamond from carbon

Carbon based organic compounds were buried underground as a result of movements by the earth’s crust millions of years ago. Physical and chemical changes occurred with those organic masses through heat and pressure. Gradually, water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and—in the highest phases—hydrogen leaves these masses. This organic matter called “turba” (first transforms into lignite, then to sub bituminous coal, then to bituminous coal, and then to anthracite). If the conditions allow, it transforms into graphite. Coal is the first type of substance formed by carbon atoms on their journey to become diamond. As lower values of heat, pressure, and time suffice for coal formation, graphite requires much higher values. Diamond is formed in the mantle layer of the earth at about 150-200 depth. This valuable substance is later carried to the surface of the earth by volcanic rocks such as lamproite and kimberlite. In order for diamond to form, an atmospheric pressure of 50,000 atm, 2,400 0C of heat, and a period of 3 billion years are required. Without this immense pressure and long time, the substance to be formed by carbon will simply be graphite. It is possible to transform graphite into diamond artificially; however, according to calculations, a minimum pressure of 10,000 atm is required. In 1955, for the first time artificial diamond was obtained under 100,000 atm, 2,500 0C heat, and by using chrome as catalyzer. However, the pieces of diamond obtained were small and black, most of them did not classify as jewels. In another attempt made in 1962, graphite turned into diamond under 200,000 atm, 5,000 0C heat, without using any catalyzer.

The similarity between carbon and human beings

As carbon atoms’ properties change according to the crystal structure, people’s lifestyle and view of life depends on the community they live in and their position in that community. In order to become diamond, the highest level of its kind, a person needs to undergo hard conditions. If carbon atoms were to say, “this is more than we can bear, we prefer easier conditions,” then they can be nothing more than graphite. If the conditions for graphite are avoided as well, then one cannot go beyond the level of coal. Diamonds are kept in safes and worn in most important occasions and graphite has different kinds of practical use as an industrial material. As for coal, it ends up in fire. The situation of human beings in a way resembles carbon atoms. Every person is made of the same elements biologically. Their value will naturally be different, according to the processes they underwent and the behaviors they presented. Some show patience in the face of misfortune, put their sincere trust in God, and become the diamonds of humanity. Some others, whom we can compare to graphite, attain a desirable level even if they cannot become diamonds. Those who choose to assume the lowliest form are likely to face a similar fate with the coal.

References

• H. W. Kroto, J. R. Heath, S. C. O’Brien, R. F. Curl ve R. E. Smalley. 1985. “C60: Buckminsterfullerene.” Nature 318. DOI:10.1038/318162a0.
• L. Vlasov, D. Trifonov. 2005. 107 Stories about Chemistry, TUBÝTAK., Ankara.

Let us imagine two people of similar economic status, one of whom donates a considerable amount of money to a charity organization willingly, while the other hesitates but eventually donates the same amount of money with relative difficulty. Which action deserves the real moral praise? Intuitively, the willing donor seems to get our praise and sympathy more than the other; yet, it might require more virtue to choose the right action in the face of adverse inclinations. Acknowledging that this question is more difficult than it first appears lets us go back several millennia to hear what Aristotle, the great philosopher and ethicist, has to say on this issue.

Aristotle use the terms virtue, continence, incontinence, and vice in order to account for diverse attitudes present in individuals when confronted with ethical dilemmas. “Virtue” is an excellence of the soul that helps one to achieve complete harmony between one’s reasoning and desires. Whenever the virtuous person chooses an action as the rationally best option, he performs this action pleasurably. Yet this is a pleasure of a higher status, a noble joy, one that stems from appreciating the intrinsic value of the virtuous action and thus coming to love it. In other words, the virtuous person’s emotions and reason point at the same direction and there is no inner conflict that haunts his soul. This results in a noble and complete joy; a cultivated ability to see the intrinsic value embedded in the virtuous act through gaining a second nature. This second nature begins with having joy in doing the right thing rather than primarily being after the satisfaction of the bodily desires.

Unlike the state of virtue, the cases of continence, incontinence, and vice all include conflict to some degree between one’s reason and desires. Within this spectrum, some people better resist these counter-rational desires than others, and they are able to act in the same manner as a virtuous person, as in our example above. Aristotle calls such individuals “continent” (enkrates) and he distinguishes them from the fully virtuous. Their distinctive characteristic is that they struggle inside, but they end up doing the morally right thing. Yet, unlike the continent, some people are less successful in resisting their inner desires, and they end up doing the wrong action even though they are rationally aware of its wrongness. These individuals are called “incontinent” (akratês). Their reason and appetites drift them in opposite directions, and they find themselves in a miserable position. In the very last category, vice, are the individuals who refuse to do what an ethically virtuous person would do because they have become convinced that justice, temperance, generosity, and the like are of little or no value; Aristotle calls such people evil (kakos). This last category is demarcated from other categories sharply by the lack of any struggle against the dark side of the soul. These people both begin and end up on the negative side. Despite the fact that vicious people might seem to possess an inner harmony since both their wills and acts are in accord, Aristotle portrays them as deeply divided, because they cannot help but become dissatisfied as a result of the over-dominance of the irrational part of their souls. Aristotle assumes that if someone is in the habit of making bad decisions about how to live his life, his failures are caused by psychological forces that are less than fully rational. It is probable that his desires for pleasure, power, or some other external goal have become so strong that they make him care too little or not at all about acting ethically. It can be claimed that the vicious person lacks internal harmony because he cannot implement his rational side properly in making decisions. This reminds us of the famous chariot allegory of Aristotle’s teacher, Plato, in which he paints the picture of a charioteer driving a chariot pulled by two winged horses: one of them representing the rational and moral impulses and the other irrational appetites. The charioteer is like the human soul that needs to balance and keep the chariot going in the path towards enlightenment. While it is not easy to keep the two fighting horses in check, a human soul is better off whenever it is guided through reason, the charioteer. Yet, the evil person suffers from an imbalance and is perpetually drifted away by the whims of the bad-behaved horse. This, in the long run, results in unhappiness and sickness of the soul.

Cultivation of dispositions

Now that a brief sketch of Aristotle’s four types of ethical subjects is drawn, there is an inevitable question that awaits us. We have seen that all three of these positions involve some lack of integrity; it is only the life of a virtuous person that possesses internal harmony, and all other lives deviate to some degree from this ideal. Yet, one cannot help but wonder how we could attain this ideal state? According to Aristotle, in order to achieve the state of virtue, we need to develop proper habits and emotional responses starting from early childhood. Although full virtue is a rare achievement for human beings, it is only attainable through employment of continence persistently in life. Aristotle divides the virtues into two categories, the natural and the true virtues, and whereas the former comes by nature, the latter is cultivated through habituation. Aristotle’s truly virtuous man has cultivated (habituated) emotions rather than possessing immediate impulses to do good. Aristotle famously tells us that “action” leads to the corresponding character states; just as to be a good painter, you have to paint, and to be a good shoemaker you need to make shoes, you need to do virtuous actions to become virtuous. In Aristotle’s words, we become “just by doing just actions, and temperate by acting temperately.” (NE II.4.)

Virtue is “made perfect by habit and by practical wisdom,” and this makes the virtuous person’s position superior to that of the merely continent person. This conception of virtue as an ongoing, developmental process implies that individuals cannot typically will to feel certain emotions at a moment’s notice, but they can choose to cultivate certain emotions over time as a significant part of developing moral character.

Although Aristotle advises that virtue be our ultimate aim, he still esteems the continent person to some extent. A lack of complete harmony between reason and desires is often inescapable for human beings. We can only want or choose to do the virtuous thing, but we cannot make ourselves take pleasure from doing it. In fact, continence is often the only state we are capable of achieving, even though we might want to do the right thing cheerfully. To make an analogy, Aristotle encourages the cultivation of virtues just like the flourishing of a flower. Growing flowers require time and great care; likewise, virtuousness does not always come by nature but it is gained through cultivation and care.

Reason as the guide

The Aristotelian virtuous person is the one whose rational part overrides and guides the appetitive part. Accordingly, as long as the person is guided by his rational part, his actions are virtuous; whenever the rational side of the person is weaker than his appetitive side, it leads to moral weakness (incontinence). The idea of acting from the rational part of the soul is pivotal in Aristotle’s ethics; he ties human arête (virtue) to reasoning. For Aristotle, virtuous action must definitely originate from reasoning since it is the human arête (virtue) to be guided by the rational part of the soul. “Like every other creature in the world, man has a particular nature and the best way to live is to live up to his nature, which is to be directed by a rational soul.” Therefore, by “desiring to do the virtuous thing” Aristotle does not claim that this person should have a natural inclination to do the right thing; instead, it requires adoption of rational desires that are in line with virtuous actions.

One-way road to happiness: From continence to virtue

How can we make ourselves enjoy doing the virtuous things according to Aristotle? For instance, how can we “enjoy” giving to charity? As Aristotle proposes, we become just by doing just actions, we become temperate by acting temperately; so, the only way to arrive at true virtue goes from acting in conformity with duty even if we do it with continence. Aristotle assumes every individual begins the journey by continence and tries to arrive at virtuousness, which is a complete harmony of will and reason. In a way, Aristotle’s virtuous person is someone who walked up the ladder from continence to virtue. No one ascends to the state of virtue without first being continent. It is important to note that, for Aristotle, doing the better thing willingly is a better position to which we should aspire, but climbing up the ladder of virtue is already sufficient to make someone a good person. Full virtue and complete harmony could only be the destination we reach after a long journey of cultivation of emotions.

Yet, the question still remains: how can we make our souls come to love and enjoy being virtuous? Aristotle’s answer is that when your will and reason are in complete harmony, you do the desirable thing with pleasure. Otherwise, it is continence, which is a state with a lesser degree of moral worth. Let us assume we have cultivated our emotions and habituated ourselves to do the virtuous thing. Now, I always “want” to do the right thing. Still, one cannot help but wonder how we can make ourselves “enjoy” being virtuous. Aristotle’s reply would be simple: the virtuous person, upon moral deliberation, rationally chooses the virtuous thing to do, and because he is acting in conformity with his rational part and because his rational part has supremacy over the emotional part, he is expected to perform the action pleasurably. However, this is not totally convincing; no matter how many times we “choose” or “want” to do the right thing, we might still not be able to “take pleasure” from doing the right thing. I might be able to acquire the habit of sleeping less after considerable effort, but I cannot get myself to “enjoy” this. If we define a virtuous person as the one who both “wants” and “does” the virtuous thing, then this is understandable. Yet, when it comes to “enjoying” or “taking pleasure from” the virtuous action, we are usually short of actualizing this at will.

Then, is it ever possible to be truly virtuous? Evidently, Aristotle is optimistic on this issue. He believes true virtue is possible as long as proper cultivation is provided. Nonetheless, virtue does not come without effort; it requires time and tender care — being virtuous is not possible without persistently doing the right thing and trying to strengthen our rational part so that it will have supremacy over the appetitive part. Only then can people ascend to true virtue rather than staying at the level of continence. And this journey is not something we could afford to overlook, since it harbors true happiness.

Despite Aristotle’s invaluable contribution to ethics, he falls short of providing satisfactory answers to many intuitive questions regarding how and why the human soul enjoys being virtuous. His ultimate answer revolves around the happiness of the soul and there is no greater gain other than having the best possible life that is characterized as the eudaimon life. This is not a bad ideal, but its significance is quite negligible compared to the greater ideal of gaining an immortal life of happiness and beauty. Yet, since Aristotle does not believe in an immortal soul, his arguments do not include references to eternal happiness. Given this, no matter how convincing the ethicists’ arguments are, there will always remain a question: Why would I care so much about a life that is doomed to end? Why should I take the trouble to fight with my desires and make myself a so-called virtuous person? Moreover, complete happiness is almost impossible to attain in a life that we know to be short. Even though we could lead a happy life through virtue, knowing that it will last merely for this life makes it bittersweet at best. Without immortality, we are like birds that are kept in cages in this finite world, trying to find the best way to lead a good and happy life–a small and finite goal. Instead, finding the real eternal Divine source of why our souls find happiness and peace in virtuous actions and knowing that this joy is to last forever, can grant us true happiness. Whenever we act virtuously, say, giving to the poor without expecting anything in return, we are actually imitating and aspiring to the character of the Divine who is the most Generous. Similarly, whenever a person forgives another, he would be acting in accordance with the Divine mercy that is exemplified in the name of the All-Merciful. Hence, engaging in such virtuous acts gives the person unprecedented joy of the soul because such participation in the Divine goodness is greater than other sorts of pleasure. Furthermore, with immortality such acts do not merely stay in this life; on the contrary, performing these virtuous acts become the key to eternal happiness. Acting virtuously is good because these acts derive from God’s character Who is the source of all goodness, truth, and beauty. As long as a human soul can reflect this beauty as a mirror, his actions gain intrinsic value, and she can reach true happiness, not only in this life but also in the eternal afterlife.

Like thankfulness, such recitation is a duty of servanthood to be performed both verbally and actively, and also with one’s heart and other conscience faculties. Verbal recitation ranges from mentioning God Almighty with all His All-Beautiful Names and sacred Attributes; praising, exalting, and glorifying Him; proclaiming one’s helplessness and destitution before Him in prayer and supplication; reciting and following His Book (the Qur’an); and announcing His signs in nature and the seal special to Him on each object and event.

Recitation with the conscience faculties, primarily the heart, consists of reflecting on the proofs of His Existence and Unity, and His All-Beautiful Names and Attributes that glow in the book of creation (the universe), meditating on His orders and prohibitions, His promises and threats, and the reward and punishment issuing from His Lordship to design or order our lives, and trying to penetrate the mysteries behind the veil of visible existence by studying creation and following certain spiritual disciplines. In addition, one can repeatedly observe the heavenly beauties manifested as a result of such penetration; one comes to the conclusion that whatever exists in the universe pulses with messages from the high empyrean world, manifesting the meaning of the Realm of the Transcendental Manifestation of Divinity and functioning as a window upon the Truth of truths.

Those who feel this constant pulsing existence hear the Realm of the Transcendental Manifestation of Divinity speaking eloquently, and observe the manifestations of Grace and Majesty through those windows are so enraptured with such unimaginable spiritual pleasure that one hour spent with such pleasure is equal to hundreds of years spent without it. As a result, they advance along their way to eternity immersed in Divine gifts and spiritual delight. When the one reciting feels the light of His Glorified Face surrounding all existence, he or she is rewarded with the sight of indescribable scenes and, becoming aware of all the other beings reciting God’s Names in the same tongue, begins to recite His Names.

Reciting God’s Names sometimes causes the person reciting to enter a trance-like state in which their self is lost. Those who enter this entranced state or ecstatic contemplation utter such phrases as: There is none existent save He; There is nothing witnessed and observed save He; and There is no deity but God. There are others who, meaning and keeping in mind all Divine Names according to the inclusiveness of their consciousness, pronounce only but God and continue to declare His Unity. These seconds spent in this atmosphere of nearness to God and His company, the seconds of light and radiance, are much happier and more rewarding with respect to eternal life (in the Hereafter) than years spent with no light. This is what is referred to in a saying attributed to the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings: I have a time with my God when neither any angel nearest to God nor any Prophet sent as Messenger can compete with me.

Active or bodily recitation consists in practicing religion with utmost care, enthusiastically performing all obligations, and consciously refraining from all prohibitions. Verbal profundity and awareness largely depend on active recitation, which also means knocking on the door of Divinity, searching for admittance, proclaiming one’s helplessness and destitution, and taking refuge in the Divine Power and Wealth.

One who regularly and repeatedly mentions God, or recites one or some of His Names, is taken under His protection and supported by Him, as if having made a contract with Him. The verse: Remember and mention Me, and I will remember and mention you (2:152) expresses this degree of recitation, by which one’s feeling and sincere admittance of his or her innate destitution before God becomes a source of wealth, and helplessness a source of power. This verse also means that one’s regular remembrance and worship of God will result in His bestowal of favors and bounties.

Invoking and calling upon Him brings forth His favors. One who remembers Him even while going about his or her daily affairs and preoccupations will find all obstacles removed in both this world and the next. His company will always be felt, and He will befriend one left alone and in need of friends. If one remembers and mentions Him during times of ease and comfort, His Mercy will reach one during times of trouble and pain. Those who struggle in His cause to spread His Name will be saved from humiliation in both this world and the Hereafter. Such sincere endeavors will be rewarded with special favors and ranks that one cannot now imagine.

The desire to mention Him and recite His Names will be rewarded with Divine help, so that such activities can continue and guidance can be increased. The continuation of the second part of the above verse (2:152), that is: Give thanks to Me and do not show ingratitude to Me, suggests a virtuous circle in which a believer passes from recitation to thankfulness, and from thankfulness to recitation.

Recitation is the essence of all types or acts of worship, and the origin of this essence is the Qur’an. Then come the luminous, celebrated words of the Prophet. All recitation, whether audible or silent, attracts and embodies the manifestations of the light of God’s Glorified “Face.” It also is the proclamation of God to all human beings and jinn, and the spreading of His Name throughout the world in order to show one’s thankfulness for His manifest and hidden favors. When there is almost no one left to proclaim His Name, existence will be meaningless. According to the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, the universe’s total destruction will take place when there are almost no people left to proclaim His Name.

Recitation, irrespective of its style, is the safest and soundest way leading to God. Without recitation, it is difficult to reach God. When the traveler remembers Him in his or her conscience and puts this remembrance into words with his or her tongue and other faculties, an inexhaustible source of support and (spiritual) provision is tapped.

Recitation signifies a journey toward Him. When one starts to mention Him or recites His Names both verbally and through feelings and actions, as well as in one’s heart as a chorus, one enters a mysterious vehicle that ascends to the realm where spirits fly. Through the slightly opened doors of the heavens, indescribable scenes are beheld.

There is not a specific time for reciting God’s Names. Although the five prescribed daily Prayers, the chief act of worship, are performed at the five appointed times and cannot be performed at certain times (e.g., during sunrise and sunset, and when the sun is at the zenith at noon), a believer can mention God and recite His Names whenever he or she wishes: They mention God standing, sitting, and lying down (3:190). There is no restriction of time or manner concerning the recitation of God’s Names.

It is hard to find in the Qur’an, the Sunna, and the books of the early righteous scholars anything more strongly recommended than the recitation of God’s Names. From daily Prayers to holy struggle in His cause, it is like the soul or blood of all worship. The profundity of recitation is proportional to the depth of feeling for God. Sufis call this “peace of heart,” or “vision” or “spiritual observation.”

Some mention God Almighty and reach Him in their hearts via a mysterious way; others know Him through their consciences and feel His constant company by means of the points of reliance and seeking help in their inner worlds. Since they remember Him uninterruptedly, always mentioning Him with their heart and conscience, always feeling Him in their being, and living fully aware of His constant presence, they regard mentioning Him verbally at certain times as being a sign of heedlessness and ignorance of Him. One who has reached this degree of dhikr says: God knows that I do not remember and mention Him just now. How should I remember and mention Him now, given that I have never forgotten Him?

O God! Make me one who mentions You much, thanks You much, fears You much, and eager for You and devoted to You, and ever-turning to You in penitence and contrition. And bestow blessings and peace on Muhammad, who always remembered and mentioned You, and on his Family and Companions, devoted and penitent.

Southern Pine Beetles (Dendroctonus frontalis, figure 1) are one of the most harmful pests in the world, causing hundreds of million dollars worth of damage to pine trees in the Southern United States. These beetles initiate their attack on a pine tree by having a small group of female beetles dig into the inner park (Figure 2) and phloem of the pine tree. Once this work is done these females will secrete a chemical that will draw other male and female beetles to the affected pine tree. This initial attack is followed by a massive attack by a larger number of beetles, enabling them to easily overcome the defenses of the pine trees due to the sheer number of beetles. Shortly after taking over the tree, mating begins between the male and female beetles. As part of the mating process the females fill the excavated galleries within the trees with eggs. After the eggs have been laid the adult beetles will then leave the tree and continue to attack other trees. Attacking trees and causing their death is of course a sad story and may not sound very interesting since most pests have similar attack strategies; however, one detail that we did not mention yet makes this process more intriguing. What do the larvae eat to complete their development within a gallery that is inside a dead tree? The answer is: Fungi.

Pine beetles establish a symbiotic life structure with a beneficial fungus (Entomocorticium sp. A), which is the main food source for their larvae. Adult pine beetles have a body compartment (mycangium), in which they can carry this fungus. When adult beetles dig galleries in tree barks, they inoculate these galleries with the fungi. This fungus will grow in these galleries that helps the beetles’ larvae complete their development by providing them with a source of nutrition. Fungi also benefit from this process by being transferred from one tree to another with the help of the beetles. This symbiotic life structure is threatened by the existence of an antagonistic fungus, (Ophiostoma minus, also known as blue stain fungus) and parasitic mites both of which the southern pine beetles also bring along. The blue stain fungus has no nutritional importance for larvae, this fungus can grow in the same galleries as the beneficial fungus and they can even outcompete them. In addition, the parasitic mites feed on the blue fungi and can prove harmful beetles as the amount of blue fungi increases. Therefore, beetles’ larvae cannot survive for long and thus the reproduction of the southern pine beetles can be disrupted without some form of defense.

A recent study by Scott et al. has shed some light on this complicated life structure [3]. These tiny beetles, which are only a few millimeters long, have a smart defense mechanism to prevent their larvae (Figure 3, pink arrow). As far as the history tells us, humankind started using pesticides about 5000 years ago, but these tiny beetles have been using them for preventing the growth of the blue-stain fungi long before humans started using pesticides. These studies showed that the symbiotic coexistence of southern pine beetles and the beneficial fungi (Figure 3, yellow circle) is maintained by a (actinomycetous) bacterium (Figure 3, inside the red square). This bacterium produces a previously unknown antibiotic compound (named mycangimycin), which selectively inhibits the growth of blue-stain fungus hence providing a significant advantage for the maintenance of the beneficial fungi (that is, the main food source of the larvae). How can this bacterium even be present in the freshly carved galleries in pine trees in the first place? The surprising answer to this question is that they are transferred to these galleries by the very same pine beetles. As mentioned earlier, adult pine beetles carry beneficial fungi in their body compartment (mycangium) and inoculate the galleries they carved with this fungus to provide food for their larvae. In addition to this beneficial fungi these beetles carry they also carry bacteria that can produce antibiotic compound to inhibit the growth of blue-stain fungi and consequently diminish the number of parasitic mites. This bacterium can grow inside these galleries and even in a body compartment of adult southern pine beetles. Interestingly, this antibiotic kills blue-stain fungi but does not significantly affect the growth of the fungi, which is the food source for larvae. Thus, the beneficial fungi can multiply in number and offer enough food for the development of beetle larvae. Some of these larvae manage to grow to adults and then leave to attack other pine trees carrying the same fungi and bacteria with them (Figure 4).

The interactions within the rest of the life kingdoms is not any less complicated than the symbiosis between pine beetles, fungi, and the bacteria. The interactions between animals, plants and microbes are very complex and also fragile. Removing or replacing any member of an ecosystem can often result in a serious failure in the ecosystem as was observed many times especially within the last century.

References

1. http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?org=NSF&cntn_id=112319&preview=false.
2. http://entnem.ufl.edu/creatures/trees/southern_pine_beetle.htm.
3. Scott, J.J., et al., “Bacterial protection of beetle-fungus mutualism.” Science, 2008. 322 (5898): p. 63.

Permanent migration, unlike casual tourism, is not just a temporary pattern of visitation. It is a conscious choice of making home within the walls of someone else’s citadel, about stepping into their worlds. However, we live together now in the age where stepping into the world of others need not be restricted to direct one-to-one physical contact. Why do people need to move at all? Increasingly the electronic highway permits most of us access into the thoughts, minds and the geographical worlds of others. The television, the oral, print and visual media, the internet network are producing highways of virtual tourists scanning and accessing the worlds of others, without sometimes even the hosts being aware of their vicarious presences of others in their lives. Touristic escapades into the world of others can happen from the electronic comfort of one’s armchair.

However, a distinction needs to be made between these flippant voyeuristic tourists, and more permanent migration. Tourists are welcomed into most countries, significantly because of the huge revenue they deposit into the receiving country as they “taste the exotic other.” Permanent migrants by contrast are usually viewed rather more suspiciously. In this article I choose to focus on how Turkish citizens influenced by the Hizmet philosophy underpinned by Fethullah Gülen choose to understand their journey into the world of others, outside the borders of the society in which they were born (Çetin, 2011). What drives these members of the Turkish community to leave their native land and venture out? Are these adventures a matter of tourism, a matter of foreign infiltration, an economic plan, a matter of migration of a worldview of Islam? I make three broad arguments in this article: that this particular Hizmet form of migratory pattern is not a uniform goal for different parts of the globe; that this mandate is often understood in philosophical rather than pragmatic material terms, and that these migrants evolve in different stages in their settlement and relationships with the “motherland Turkey.” I will argue that living abroad for these unique “Turkish tourists” is sustained by a particular operational orientation of the Hizmet communal way of life. They become more than just visitors to foreign lands: they are bringers of philosophical insights for building deeper valuing and respect for dialogue and tolerance across the globe. But, is this a new kind of disguised evangelism? Do they walk in the shoes of their host countries?

Firstly, in reflecting on how the Hizmet philosophy has spanned across 140 countries, Mustafa Yesil, President of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (Istanbul) argues that the goal of crossing borders is not one of deliberate expansionism. Instead different individuals have chosen to interpret their mandate in multiple perspectives. The Turkish ambassadors are not exporting a single model of either educational, business, scientific, artistic, technical, or cultural know-how into the recipient countries. Hizmet, by definition is an attempt to reach out into the lives of others, to assist in collaborative partnership for the well-being of all who are engaged drawing measurably from the sources within the host context itself. The philosophy of Hizmet begins with a deep-seated respect, but also critique of their host countries. Foreign support from the source country (i.e. from Turkey) is sometimes a foundational option to spearhead projects.

So for example, when a school inspired by the teaching of Gülen is set up, the negotiations always revolve around the matching with the local cultural, political and curricular context of the society within which they are relocating. Nevertheless, the organization upholds the core Hizmet philosophical value of “a community serving the well-being of humanity.” When being set up in the context of corruption and greed, or rampant materialism, the philosophical carriers of Hizmet choose to realize alternate values. It recurs that matters of quality home, family and communal relations permeate their operations. In countries where abject poverty and malnutrition are dominant the Turkish Hizmet custodian usually chooses to address basic human dignities. The aim of these philosophers is to activate views of collective agency amongst the communities including a rethinking of the very values that the locals may have discarded (Agai, 2002). The Hizmet philosophy aims not to impose a value system, but to assist community members to realize what valuing system underpin their social systems, which perhaps have been forgotten or suppressed in their own contexts. The intent of examination of these values is to develop self and sustainable development.

It might therefore translate in many different ways in different social contexts. In the age of materialism in the western world the goal of the Hizmet activist is to be a beacon of alternate values; in the age of subjugation, personal and social liberations may be opted for; in the context of youth not taking responsibility for their action, then more pastoral roles may be offered. These are not absent of any core ethical valuing: the goal to realize the wonderment and potential of all human beings reaching their fullness of being. The choice for simple rather than lavish lifestyles characterizes these operations. The Hizmet philosophy of self and social upliftment is usually translated into many spheres of everyday life simultaneously: in terms of what it means to be a leader; in what it means to open up the minds and hearts of the young through schooling; in promoting rather than demanding fairness, respect and dialogue in business. The intention is not to draw attention to the doer, but the purpose of the action and its communal influence.

Secondly, it is easy to interpret, given the widespread reach that the movement underpinned by the Gülen teaching has achieved, that Hizmet is a disguised economic plot to enter into the markets of the foreign world. Mehmet Altan, a Turkish academic and journalist suggests that it should be understood that Gülen’s brand of modern Islam is an intersection of both the material and the spiritual wellbeing of a society. He suggests that Gülen introduces a more current interpretation of Islam in the modern world. Islam needs to find its presence in the everyday reality of its times, and will therefore be always a responsive and relevant religion. Altan argues that the fact that there are approximately 1.6 billion Muslims in 57 countries internationally, one would expect that there would be a proportional representation of the international wealth generated from these sources. This ought to be an economic reality. Muslims do not, he suggests, realize this full potential. Economic productivity is however, not an end in itself: it is a means for the broader upliftment and development of the society as whole. However, most so-called Muslim states who claim to be promoting this kind of productivity are more preoccupied with asserting their rights of access to supreme power in political and exclusive economic terms. The rampant econometric and political forces lead to a generation of fundamentalists who choose to assert their so-called Islamic identity through the use of force and terror. Productivity is understood in oppositional, competitive and dichotomous terms.

Gülen himself argues against this particular interpretation as being anti-Islamic since the core principle of Islam is to promote peace, dialogue, and tolerance. True Islam does not, in his view, promote a backward ritualized set of culturally interpreted routines that continue to oppress individuals into forms of subjugation, nor is Islam intended as a process of setting up hierarchies of alienation and othering. A more authentic understanding of Islam is guided by the interest to realize the full potential of all persons, of all classes, genders, or creeds. One will get to know God more closely when one understands more closely the plight and hopes of fellow human beings. Islam is not just a way of life, but a matter of a continuous internal journey for greater clarity of purpose and service to one’s fellow beings. One serves God through service to one’s fellow human beings. This spans across boundaries of race, gender, geography or creed. Hizmet as a philosophy therefore should know no bounds in terms of medium or method, shape or form. It is to be guided by clarity of intention and purpose of action. This conception of Islam recognizes the need for the faith to be located in the specific contextual landscapes with which its people operate: in the lived reality of the present (Gülen, 2011).

As a Catholic myself I am intrigued by how this Hizmet philosophy resonates parallel interpretations of the Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church (Vatican, 1962a) which was a particular assemblage of the organized Church to examine its presence and operations in the modern world. The unified Church Council encouraged Catholics to open up to the real presence of the modern world in which the people of God existed. The Church (its clergy and laity) was exhorted to recognize the breadth of creative and productive diversity across the globe and that forms of liturgy and worship should be guided by such celebration and valuing of each other’s richness. One example is the shift away from all Church services conducted in Latin, the official language. Instead in order to access the worlds and lives of the community, local languages are used in praise and worship services and masses.

The Church cannot live in isolation of the many different representations of man’s relationship to the Creator. However we aim to seek “the common ground” across all religions and faiths. Hence inter-faith dialogue was the expressed mandate of the renewing Church (Vatican, 1962b). Migration into the world of others is therefore both an external and internal journey. The exhortation of Nostrae Aetate (Our common ground: On other faiths) (Vatican Council, 1962b) declares as follows:

“The Catholic Church rejects nothing which is true and holy in these religions… The Church therefore has this exhortation for her members: prudently and lovingly through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions and in witness of Christian life and faith acknowledge, preserve and promote the spiritual moral goods found among these people, as well as the values in their society and culture” (ibid. 1962,2) (my emphasis added).

Thirdly, migration of Turkish persons living abroad should not be understood as a completely fulfilled agenda at the commencement of the journey. This agenda is likely to evolve over time: is likely to modify, solidify and yet expand. Kerim Balci (Chief Editor of the Turkish Review) argues that we need to interpret the following kinds of migratory patterns when examining the Turkish volunteers of the Hizmet movement, but these patterns are perhaps equally applicable to any of the types of migratory patterns globally, across time and space. The first generation of movers may be argued to be engaging in a “horizontal migration”: a migration in which they share what they presently know about their base disciplines, fields of areas of interest, skills or labor (for example, in education, business, science, agriculture, etc.). This generation is characterized by a listening mode which pays attention to the values of the society in which they are embedded. Their agenda is usually one of assimilation into the world of the other; of recognition and understanding of how to make sense of the other’s worlds. However, this generation usually stays closely aligned with their original mother country values, beliefs and operational levels of competences.

The second generation of migrants (sometimes offspring of the first generation, but sometimes a new wave of migrants altogether) tends to be more adventurous in their engagement with the host country. They tend to be more assertive in enunciating their own brought cultures. The next generations usually are able to transcend the class or status of their former generation and usually represent hybrid interpretations of the cultural values. This, Balci refers to as a “vertical migration.” It is usually the co-existence of these two generational forms that produce communities of particular cultural aggregations, as new forms of exerting power and influence are available. In the context of the Hizmet activities, the second generation usually draws from the quality of interaction established with the host countries and its peoples by its predecessors. In Turkish context, the second generation is a class of more confident proponents of the valuing system of the Hizmet worldview. It is usual that the host country have already seen the benefit of the Hizmet influence within their society and the second generation choose to build on this reputation.

A third wave of migration may be said to characterize these Hizmet activists. This constitutes what Balci refers to as a “re-migration”: a return to the “motherland” (of Turkey). It is important that this is not understood as a form of narrow nationalistic agenda to assist in the equally important contributions that are needed within the native (Turkish) society itself. This reverse migration is a response to the growing needs for a development of the agenda of reconstruction and transformation within the source Turkish society as it expands its footprints economically, socially, politically, culturally and especially educationally. Having been exposed to the global discourses of the many parts of the world in which they have served, these re-migrants may be said to introduce into the base (Turkish) society a quality of international discourse which societies seem alien even to the source (Turkish) society itself. Another interpretation of the re-migration is that the Hizmet philosophy, if powerful enough, should be able to sustain itself without the need of the presence of its original advocates. Local proponents take on the responsibility of sustaining its values.

The “foreign” re-migrants into the native homeland are sometimes treated as disrupters of the formative truths of a social system and this is notably present when more conservative entrenched values dominate in the source country. Reverse migration is not always welcomed by those who have remained sedentary in the home country. This pattern of migration forwards and backwards is cognizant of the impact that when one interacts with the world one is likely to shape it, as well as be shaped by it. The important consideration is the question whether the core values of the Hizmet “community serving humanity” philosophy still abides within these reverse migrants?

It is important to understand how the Hizmet migration is able to sustain itself especially when it enters into worlds which are vastly different to the home base traditions, religious practices and values. Engagement with the world of the others is done within the context of a brotherhood / sisterhood of fellow believers around an extended conception of “houses of light” in the form of houses, residences, dormitories, and other facilities where these pioneers socialize. The movement draws strength from the closeness of this supportive network which rally together to address the potential otherness of the environment within which they find themselves. The collective band of proponents share common cultural practices of dance, dress, diet, and resonant outlooks on worship and well-being. They therefore serve as a source of support and strength to each other, refining the values of their mission, clarifying of their goals. The leader of such a brotherhood/ sisterhood of support serve as a custodian and moral guide holding individuals in check and ensuring that the deeper philosophical intentions of their actions and practices are not subverted. This becomes a home community away from home: a living presence of their origins and sources in an external environment.

This article has attempted to argue that the migratory patterns of Turkish bearers of the Hizmet philosophy traverse the globe for different reasons, with different modes of operation, yet still underpinned by the quality of service. In the process they change and are changed by the many people they meet. They become part of the global humanity and commonality of value of purpose in our existence is thereby promoted. However as successive waves of migration evolve the challenge about this is a philosophical rather than material expansion which needs to be carefully guarded. Gülen (2011) argues, as do many religious and spiritual foundations, that one should be aware that one is patently in this world, but not of this world. We share a responsibility to guide the world to a better realization of its potential fullness of being; towards a greater goal of good. Therefore we cannot simply succumb to the world’s present values. We are here on a mission of realizing greater love, tolerance and dignity to all whom we meet. Our patterns of exit and re-entry from our home countries should be guided by this deep sense of quality of realizing the true freedoms of all whom we meet. I am surprised how much we across different religions, social and cultural systems share about these goals of and for good.

Acknowledgements

This paper draws from interviews conducted with the following sources during a cultural exchange visit of the author to Turkey in May 2012:

1. Mustafa Yesil: President of the Journalists and Writers Foundation

2. Mehmet Altan: Journalist, political commentator, academic

3. Kerim Balci: Editor-in-chief, Turkish Review

My thanks to Atilla Dag, Regional Director: Turquoise Harmony Institute, Durban, South Africa who provided the translation and interpretations of interviews during my May 2012 visit to Turkey.

References

Agai B. 2002. “Fethullah Gülen and his movement‘s Islamic ethic of education.” Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies. Spring 2002. 11 (1). 27-47.

Bourne, R. 2011. Update of Ramphal Commission report on migration and development. Presented to the Commonwealth Secretariat Advisory Council on teacher mobility, recruitment and migration meeting. Stoke Rochford Hall, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. 01-02 June 2011.

Website http://www.ramphalcentre.org/pdf/Ramphal_First_Report_Commission_Mig_and_Dev.pdf

Çetin, M. 2011. The Gülen Movement: Civic Service without Borders. New York: Blue Dome Press.

Gülen, F. 2011. Towards a Global Civilization of Love and Tolerance. New Jersey: Tughra Books.

Vatican Council 1962a. Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope). Pastoral constitution of the Church In the modern world. Document of the Second Vatican Council. Rome.

Vatican Council 1962b. Nostrae Aetate (Our Common Ground). Declaration on the relationship of the Church to other religions. Document of the Second Vatican Council. Rome.

What I would like to say in this paper is from a glocal perspective even though the case study I will offer at the end is local. That does not mean that I believe that Ireland is the centre of the universe, though for three decades at the end of the twentieth century we had that tragic privilege. An introverted narrative is negative, be it Irish, British, American, Canadian or wherever. My Irish case study is informed and underpinned by global perspective and is therefore, I hope, a glocal story. I would also like to explore two key components of peacebuilding which education can address, indeed I believe, must address, if humanity is to live at peace on the planet as well as with the planet.

PEACEBUILDING THROUGH EDUCATION

In June of this year Aung San Sui Kyi visited Europe. She is a woman who has suffered greatly, remains committed to non-violence, and is a champion for democracy in her own Burma. She reminds us that peacebuilding is about building democracy, which is essential to sustainable peace.

Just over two decades ago many of us sat glued to the television screen. The image is indelible, that of Nelson Mandela finally emerging from his Robben Island prison compound. He walked to freedom to lead, with others, the transformation of apartheid South Africa into a Rainbow Nation. It’s still a work in progress. Mandela has reminded us that peace building is the creation of a pluralist, participative democracy. Peace building is pro-democracy and it is about actively creating rainbow nations and societies, pluralist, participative democracies – at least! Education has a crucial role to play in all of this.

Education for pluralist democracy

Democracy is developing. There is no finished product and there is no one model to be imposed universally irrespective of contexts and cultures. It is not a flawless system either. Winston Churchill once said, “Democracy is the worst of political systems, except for all the others.” Democracy is about freedom. What the promise of freedom and potential for democracy does induce is an almost universal abhorrence of tyranny. Dictatorships, totalitarian regimes and fascist states do not last and do not satisfy the deepest longings and needs for freedom and participative belonging. Whatever past history, newly liberated nations usually move towards democracy. In 1918 when Czechoslovakia was born, its President said, “Our whole history inclines us towards the democratic Powers.” That was repeated in 1989-91 by leaders of all the countries of the ex-Soviet bloc (Norman 1997, 131).

Education for pluralist democracy as part of peace building needs to engage history. Democracy has a lineage, a family tree and young people and adults should be aware of it.

The Greeks invented politics and it began with our city states. The polis needed governance and there was a recognition of a public good, a shared public interest and common concerns, and over these issues there could be argument, debate, discussion, decision and policy making. The assembly of citizens was known as the ecclesia, though it was far from being fully participative. It was only for wealthy males, people of power, excluded women and certainly had no place for slaves and lower classes. Athenian democracy lasted for 185 years. It had limited participation and Plato even thought that democracy meant the rule of the incompetent. Democracy was forgotten for a millennium.

European democracy owes more perhaps to the democratic practices of the Viking world. Popular assemblies enter European history in the 9th century in Sweden and Denmark. Iceland’s national assembly came into being in 930 CE. Long before England had such a democratic assembly, it existed in the Manx assembly, the Isle of Man, a small island between Britain and Ireland with a Viking history. The Manx Tynwald or assembly is also 9th century. Wherever the Vikings went, Nordic democracy went with them.

In the modern era the two great shapers of democracy were the French Revolution and the American Revolution. Any education in pluralist democracy needs to be aware of these seismic events. The history of the 18th-19th century Europe was a history of wars and conflict, and absolutist monarchies and imperial powers. The first political revolution of a new time in European history happened outside of Europe and it led to the dissolution of the first British Empire. It began in 1773 with the Boston Tea Party and a decade later at the Paris Peace Conference American Independence was recognised. Now the people of North America “could work out their problems virtually untroubled by foreign intervention, a blessing to much that was to follow” (Roberts 1997, 347). Popular sovereignty was embodied in the opening words of the Constitution, “We the People.” All governments derive their just powers from the assent of the governed. The American Revolution was a landmark in world history.

Then followed the French Revolution and by 1789, notwithstanding the Terror, great reforms were achieved.

The formal abolition of feudalism, legal privilege and theocratic absolutism, and the organisation of society on individualist and secular foundations were the heart of the principles of ’89 distilled in a Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen… legal equality and legal protection of individual rights, the separation of Church and State and religious toleration were their institutional expression. The derivation of authority from popular sovereignty acting through a unified National Assembly, before whose legislation no privilege of locality or group could stand… (Roberts 1997, 353-354).

Modern democracy is born and by 1900 the principle of democracy was an idea, albeit still resented in some parts of Europe, whose time had come. An education process needs to engage with the historical development of democracy. We may have little consensus about its essence and it remains flawed in practice. “We the People” may even be impossible, strictly speaking, in practice. But democracy as a theory of governance and the ordering of the public good has promoted “all the virtues, from freedom, justice and equality to the rule of law, the respect for human rights, and the promotion of political pluralism and of civil society” (Davies 1997, 131).

Democracy is not amoral. It implies a need to be underpinned by a value system. Values and ethics are the foundation of democracy at work. Peace building is an ethical task, it needs democracy and the values and ethics that underpin democracy. Democracy involves pluralism and freedom, it also requires tolerance or respect. The education process needs to draw the distinction between passive tolerance and active tolerance. The former is the tolerance of indifference. The latter is “The attitude of one who positively co-lives with the other because one respects the other and accepts the multi-faceted richness of reality” (Boff 2011, 8-9). At the heart of any education for democracy is justice, especially justice as distributive and restorative. Democracy is for human, social flourishing. And distributive and restorative justice are core to peace building.

Education for global citizenship

Yale historian, Jay Winter, believes that a new kind of vision emerged at the end of the dark 20th century after the momentous events of the late 1980s and early ’90s. It is a vision set in the framework of globalisation which aims to create a new kind of politics called the “politics of global citizenship.” It has also been described as “globalisation – from – below.”

Global citizens are emerging out of an array of transnational social forces animated by environmental concerns, human rights, hostility to patriarchy, and the vision of humane community based on the unity of diverse cultures seeking an end to poverty, oppression, humiliation, and collective violence. (Winter 2006, 169-170)

A new kind of political consciousness is developing which is transnational and is flowing across national borders. It is a glocal movement holding together the local and global. “Global citizenship is a political project helping people to imagine a different kind of world.” Citizenship is not tied to the state, it is “participation in a transnational set of struggles for dignity and justice” (Winter 2006, 170). The nation state is no longer primary. We are no longer just Irish, American, Turkish or Indian citizens but global citizens, in a different and larger solidarity on environmental rights, women’s rights and human rights. Transnational citizenship is about all of these glocal justice issues none of which is limited by national boundaries. Community now is in the local and the global.

Perhaps this began for many of us as children when we put our name and address on the inside page of a school text book. Name, street, town/city, Ireland, Europe, The World, The Universe! It is now the reality in a globalised world. Transnationalism and global citizenship may still have an unmapped future, but like modern democracy at the beginning of the 20th century this new local – global reality is and will shape who we are in the 21st century. It will be a peace building project stretching us well beyond any introverted narrative. Citizenship education now needs to be global for all ages, and it is not only an alternative to introverted narratives, but also to economic globalisation as the sole determinative factor for human and environmental life on the planet.

A GLOCAL CASE STUDY

I currently work on an initiative called Ethical and Shared Remembering. It is an initiative which will respond to the centenaries of events that occurred in Ireland between 1912-1922 and shaped the rest of the 20th century for the people in Ireland. It was a decade of enormous political change ending with the partition of Ireland, and it was also a decade of brutal violence.

How the centenaries will be handled between 1912-1922 will shape the decades ahead for better or worse. Ethical remembering is an approach that is critical in relation to the militarisation of politics and the violence that was so deeply embedded in culture and practice. Shared remembering is an approach that encourages the protagonists in all their complexity to engage with each other as human beings and to understand better each other’s perspectives on this crucial Irish decade and its legacy. The legacy has left many issues unresolved which have been re-played in the more recen phase of violence and conflict in Ireland. Some of these issues are; nationalism, nation-state, faith and politics, faith and violence, class and labour relations, feminism and equality issues, trauma and peace building. These constitute for any educational programme a generational peace building agenda which needs to be set in a global or glocal context.

There are multiple Irish narratives from this decade. Not only will this initiative try to recover them, especially the alternative, repressed or forgotten narratives, but the events of 100 years ago will be carefully set in the larger global, at least European context of that time. The memory of the Irish narrative(s) has often been introverted, but this community education initiative will seek to provide a larger and more critical perspective on a century ago by placing the events in a more global context. Early 20th century imperialism and the catastrophe of the Great War, provide a larger and rather different perspective.

The framework for an educational exploration will not only include global contextualisation but also narrative hospitality. This is about generosity of spirit and openness to engage with multiple narratives, especially those of one’s sectarian tradition or narrative perspective. Narrative hospitality will also include narrative pluralism and narrative flexibility. These latter two approaches will encourage an openness to recognise that there are multiple histories and diversities of interpretation of historical events and never a fixed or final norm. It is openness to realise that history is a plethora of interpretations, little of which may be about what actually happened even if ever that can be fully known.

Another educational framework will be integrative complexity. This is also getting beyond mono-narrative or mono-truth, simplism or fundamentalist politics or religion. Integrative complexity (IC) is a way of seeing history, culture, politics, faith, the world in all their diversity and complexity and integrating or weaving together the complexities of personal, communal and historical existence, and to see this complexity in the other.

Key to this project will be the development of critical thinking skills in a community where there has been, through the dynamics of violence and conflict, a culture which is unquestioning. The latter has often been understood as being disloyal or unpatriotic. Few people have thought for themselves and this educational methodology will engage with critical reflection on matters of history, politics, religion and cultural identity without reducing their complexity.

Essential to the educational exploration of the past will be future visioning. This is not just about a 2030 vision for Ireland. It is about transcending local nationalist politics of whatever shade and visioning a common good. It will also be about global citizenship, a transnational vision that will require the imaginative creation of a larger identity myth, beyond introversion, and glocal in perspective and complexity. Not only will the initiative encourage the development of an ethical vision for future society but will also unpack the need for ethical leadership in a society where the moral authority of the major institutions has collapsed. The initiative is being delivered through community education programmes, dialogue events, training resources and materials and a series of in-depth publications, and also the use of the arts. The community of ethical and shared remembering will include people from the community development and community relations sector, education, youth, the faith sector, politicians, ex-prisoners, commemorative groups and institutions. This is an initiative which we hope will make a positive contribution through education to peace building as a glocal task.

References

1. Davies, Norman. 1997. Europe: A History, London: Pimlico.
2. Roberts, J.M. 1997. The Penguin History of Europe, London: Penguin Books.
3. Boff, Leonardo. 2011. Virtues: For Another Possible World, Oregon: Cascade Books.
4. Winter, Jay 2006. Dreams of Peace and Freedom: Utopian Moments in the 20th Century, New Haven and London: Yale University Press. The extended quotation is from Richard Falk.

The Innocence Project, founded in 1992, at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University assists prisoners who could be proven innocent through DNA testing. To date, 280 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing, including 17 who served time on death row. These people served an average of 13 years in prison for different reasons like false eyewitness identification, coercing false confessions, withholding evidence from defense, or bad lawyering, before exoneration and release. (From www.dna.gov; www.ornl.gov; www.innocenceproject.org)

I find myself handing my cell phone to the officer at the entrance of the courtroom shortly after getting a speeding ticket after a call from my principal to get to school urgently. My kids are at school, my husband at work; I am all by myself at the court house. I sit at one of the back rows and start waiting. The announcement fills my ears : “People for traffic charges will be called by last name after a few trials.” Wait a minute… My heart normally does not beat this fast. Is it the woman they brought from the back of the room in the orange outfit with handcuffs? Is it her story that makes me so nervous? Or do I finally realize that I would soon get up in front of everybody and answer the frightening question: “Are you pleading guilty?” What am I going to say? I feel as though if I blinked twice, I would find myself in a movie. Is there a way out of this? I remember the radar in the police officer’s hand. He showed me the number on it. My heart starts to beat faster. I remember my friend’s husband going to jail for 3 days after a situation similar to this. A chill passes through my spine. Then there it is, my name. I get up. All eyes are on me. Here is the question. What am I going to say? The radar was wrong?

Suddenly, it feels like a thousand veils in front of me are being lifted one by one. I am dead. All the guardians, officers, and the judge are angels. The people sitting alongside me are other people died with me. The “big angel” is asking me if I did it. It is as if I am watching myself from up above. I hear myself saying, “Yes.” He wants me to come over to the podium and explain myself. I start walking. Everybody is looking at me .You can almost hear a pin drop. What a long distance to cover. It seems like I have been walking forever.

I stand at the podium. I start telling honestly and exactly what happened. On the other side is the police officer, the other “angel” who caught me and brought me here in the first place. The big angel turns his attention to him and asks about my records. The officer tells him I am a “plus one”.

What on earth does that mean?

Never mind. I guess that’s a good thing. After the big angel hears this, I am forgiven. Free to go… No handcuffs… My poor little kids, I can see them again!

I step outside. The cold weather hits my cheeks. I take a deep breath and tell myself to relax and come back to reality. Then I think to myself, what could be more real than death? Well, first of all, it happens every single day. Every minute actually, millions of times. The reality is that I will also die. I don’t know when and where, with whom and doing what. I just know for sure that some day I will die to be born into a new world, and that first, I have to answer questions. Is there a possibility of there being no questioning? If this beautiful country has rules and regulations, how can this universe being so big, crowded, sophisticated, and wonderful, not have any laws and regulations? Furthermore, how can you not be questioned when you do not obey them?

Maybe more than death itself, I am dreading the questioning part, millions of times more than that moment ten minutes ago when I was worried about that one simple question. My blood pressure peaked for a single traffic ticket. How am I going to handle answering and accounting for my entire life? Will there be an angel telling that I am a plus one? What a relief that would be!

I recall the story of a man who comes to Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and says “Who shall give life to decaying bones?” The Qur’an relates the story and answers: “He shall give them life who first gave them life, and He is All-Knowing concerning all creation,” (Ya Sin, 36: 78-79) drawing attention to the fact that making something the first time, creating something original, is much more difficult than making it after the plans are once complete and the outcome is seen. So, I start thinking, that when I die and I am about to answer for what I did with my life, God Almighty has the power to create the scene, the places that I shed my DNA at, and myself from a stain as small as a salt crystal and even smaller, and ask, “Did you commit that sin” right there and then?

What am I going to say? There is no possibility of God’s radar or cameras being wrong. I will most probably find myself saying “yes” just as I did at court today, confessing everything with utmost honesty. That is if I can speak under all that stress.

It is not only the “what I did” part that makes me nervous about answering questions, but what I “did not do” as well. I think about the past. Have I been using it wisely, or did I just waste it, for it seemed like it was something given to me for free.

I am a shy person by nature. It is not easy for me to get used to a new neighborhood, community, or school. How am I going to manage to go into a new world, see and live with totally new creatures that I have never seen before, like angels, spirits, and jinn. Contrastingly, I am wondering about what the other world is really going to be like. What is it like to not have any responsibilities, not having to pray or fast, wash the dishes, prepare dinner, do the laundry… ever?

At least I believe, the new world where we will all die to be born into, there will be no wrong guilty sentences. Everything promised from the beautiful paradise to the scary hell will be there. No wrongful convictions, no unfair treatment. But still, am I ready? Or is there going to be a time that I would totally feel ready? On the other hand, I feel like an ignorant person living in a humble home in a small village—a person who is invited to the palace by the King, to this festive occasion, with the most important people; a person who has a chance to receive precious gifts and drink the potion for eternity, but is still hesitating to go; a person wants to give a present to the King but is unsure whether she has anything to offer that would please him. Besides, wasn’t whatever this person took with her to the King given by the very King himself? When I prayed five times a day, didn’t I do it with the healthy body He gave me? If I made donations, wasn’t it with the belongings He handed over to me in the first place. It is as if for every good I did, I was paid beforehand. Then, even if I do whatever He asks me to do, I can’t be hopeful because of what I do. Rather, I would build my hopes on how generous, compassionate and loving He is, setting my intentions right with utmost sincerity.

There is one other reason that would make me eager to leave this world and go to the other side. It’s because of all those emotions, talents, intellect, and love—faculties of our body and soul which we are not and won’t be using in this world because of reasons like not knowing, not being trained, being too young, too old, sick, or just missing out on the windows of opportunities. Do they not need to get out? Aren’t they like the baby in the womb, squashed in there and wanting a greater place to grow? Seriously, what percent of my brain and heart am I really using? If God gave me more potential in them, it seems impossible to me that he won’t create a place that they will grow and flourish. And I can’t think of a better place to be when that happens.

…

Finally, I found where I had parked my car and the keys that always fall into the black hole of my bottomless purse. I head back to work. I missed first period, but I need to make at least the third to fulfill my plans. It is the time of the day when everybody is already at work. I’m lucky; there is no traffic at all. The roads are so empty. In fact, there are no cars in front of me on the spacious road. Suddenly, it becomes so appealing to me to go a little faster. Just a little bit… My right foot starts itching… Who would know at this time of the day, in the middle of nowhere anyways? Maybe just one more time…

Nihal Zeren Dila is M.S. in Microbiology and Molecular Biology, GMU, Science Teacher at Pinnacle Academy, VA.

they set out for eternity

And wherever the journey led, they carried their gift of radiance.

Gleams of Beauty unfading so entranced their souls,

they heard at night in their dreams angels

singing of bliss and the music of other worlds.

More enchanted, more earnestly they searched in every place, and

yearned for their homeland

the dream of a beloved of matchless excellence, hero or saint or both.

Without pause, they strove on in high, passionate hope;

some mysteries of life they unraveled

as they journeyed apace, and at last obtained the promised happiness.

Lovers of the Light are pledged to a long journey, its end Unseen:

the very roads are proud upon which they journey:

the rhythm of their surging on is Certainty,

and their rank as slaves of the King.

Whoever disdains that rank, disdains his own good fortune,

Exchanging hope for a regret everlasting:

he shall not attain, not ever,

the further horizon of all that is.

Only passionate lovers of the Ideal,

may behold that far horizon,

eternity itself impressed upon their faces,

their names rehearsed in hymns of praise.

They desire life reborn only to be martyred again,

hearts forever surrendered to the Light,

forever remembered in our hearts.

They raise now light-filled eyes,

in their hands translucent beakers held aloft, at ease,

filled to their brim from rivers of Paradise.

Some of the incidents we are experiencing today might seem as if they have no precedent – this is both true and false; yes, no precedents on the scale we see today; and no, for violence is something we human beings have always been prone to. Thus, peacebuilding is not possible via revisions in educational policies alone; it is to a no lesser degree relevant to human character, virtue, and moral development. And these are some of the discussions you will find in our coverage in this issue.

The lead article focuses on value transmission in education of the young and how it is so critical for a nation to maintain its existence. Johnston McMaster discusses pluralist democracy and global citizenship as two main goals which education should be geared towards. Michael A. Samuel shares his observation of Turkish teachers inspired from Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet philosophy who migrated to South Africa with a sense of “responsibility to guide the world to a better realization of its potential fullness of being; towards a greater goal of good.” Zekeriya Ozsoy warns teachers that an imbalanced conduct of reward might shift the motivation of some students to material prizes and cause them lose their intrinsic capacity to strive and achieve.

Two special contributions from Nigeria give us hope that sound-thinking leaders and scholars might enable this African star to be rescued from the current violence based on religious and ethnic differences.