1-Hayashi R. et al. Co-ordinated ocular development from human iPS cells and recovery of corneal function. Nature, January 2016.
2-Lin H. et al. Lens regeneration using endogenous stem cells with gain of visual function. Nature, January 2016.

Two exciting new studies demonstrated that cataracts could be cured by using stem-cell-based treatments. In the first study, researchers developed a method to convert induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into the discs of multiple eye tissues. Then, they isolated corneal cells from the cultured discs and transplanted them into a rabbit with corneal blindness. This successfully restored the rabbit’s sight. In the second study, instead of the transplantation of new cells, researchers used human patients’ own stem cells to cure their blindness. This study focused on 37 infants born with cataracts. The standard treatment for cataracts has involved cutting a 6-millimetre slit in the center of the lens capsule, which allows the surgeon to replace the diseased lens with an artificial one. Researchers have developed a new, minimally invasive technique. Surgeons now only open a 1.5-millimetre incision on the side of the lens capsule. Though they remove the diseased lens, they preserve the lens’ epithelial stem cells (LECs) and their natural environment. This promotes dormant LECs to regrow an entirely new lens – one that is capable of vision – in about 3 months. 12 infants went through this surgery and all of them successfully grew new, functional lenses. These children healed much faster compared to the 25 infants who underwent the standard procedure – and most importantly, the former group all ended up with clear, natural lenses. The first infant treated with this method two years ago is reported to still have good vision, and scientists anticipate that the regenerated lenses will grow as the child grows. The immediate success of this study represents a new approach in human-tissue regeneration and in how human diseases can be treated. Even though this kind of approach may not be applicable to adult human patients in the near future (due to the reduced regenerative capacity of LECs in older people), it still holds big promises for the future of eye disorders.

Renewable Plastic From Carbon Dioxide and Plants

1-Banarjee A. et al. Carbon dioxide utilization via carbonate-promoted C–H carboxylation. Nature, January 2016.

Researchers found a novel way to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) and inedible plant material into a low-carbon alternative to petroleum-based plastics. Plastics are typically made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and about 50 million tons of PET is produced each year for items such as fabrics, electronics, recyclable beverage containers, and personal-care products. The manufacturing of PET produces substantial amounts of CO2 (four tons of CO2 generated for each ton of PET produced), which contributes to global warming. The more environmentally efficient alternative to PET is polyethylene furandicarboxylate (PEF), which is produced from the combination of ethylene glycol and a compound called 2-5-Furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA). PEF is superior to PET for two reasons: First, FDCA can be sourced from biomasses instead of petroleum. Second, PEF seals out oxygen much more efficiently, which can be useful for bottling applications. Despite the obvious advantages of PEF, the plastics industry has not been able to find a low-cost way to manufacture FDCA, the raw material needed for PEF, at scale. Researchers finally solved this problem by developing an efficient and reliable method to produce FDCA. They simply combined carbonate with CO2 and furoic acid, a derivative of furfural (a compound made from agricultural waste), and then heated the mixture to 200 0C, forming a liquefied salt. After five hours, 89% of the salt mixture had been converted to FDCA. This approach has great potential to reduce greenhouse emissions, because the CO2 required to make PEF could be obtained from fossil-fuel power plant emissions or other industrial sites. In addition, PEF products are completely recyclable, as they can be burned into CO2 that will be utilized by plants, which can then be used to make more PEF.

Magnetic Chips: Computing With One Million Times Less Energy

1-Hong J. et al. Experimental test of Landauer’s principle in single-bit operations on nanomagnetic memory bits. Science Advances, March 2016.

For the first time, engineers have proved that magnetic chips can function at the lowest fundamental energy dissipation possible under the laws of thermodynamics.
This breakthrough could dramatically reduce the power consumed by modern computers. The research team used an innovative approach to measure the infinitesimal energy dissipation when a nanomagnetic bit was flipped. They used a laser probe to trace the direction of the magnetic field as it was flipped from “up” to “down,” or vice versa, when driven by an external magnetic field. They found that only 15 millielectron volts (3 zeptojoules) of energy were sufficient to flip the magnetic bit at room temperature, revealing the minimal amount of energy required for computer operations. This finding raised the possibility of reducing power consumption to as little as one-millionth the amount used per operation by standard transistors in modern computers. Power reduction is important for mobile devices, which require powerful processors with long-lasting and light-weight batteries. It is also a serious problem at the industrial scale. The increase in cloud-computing demands greater electricity for the increasing number of giant cloud data hubs, which have already started to take a toll on the world’s electrical grid. The computer technology industry is looking forward to the industrial application of magnetic computer chips in the near future.

The words emunah in Hebrew and iman in Arabic originate from the same Semitic roots, meaning trust. Trustworthiness and security are among the basic features of Prophethood. The Prophets’ mission was to carry across God’s message, a treasure of knowledge that could have only been entrusted to reliable individuals. “Amin” was the title of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, even before his Prophethood. He was the trustworthy one with whom everyone felt safe and secure. In one of his well-known traditions, the Prophet said, “A day will come when a woman will travel, riding in a litter, from Hira to Mecca and fear nothing except God and wolves.” This is why we practice faith – for peace in the heart and at large.

Today, we are starving for peace. Public places, terminals, parks … none of them feel safe. From Brussels to Ankara, from Damascus to Lahore, violence is the plague of our age. All of us have a growing responsibility to go beyond our routines and to begin healing our world. With this goal in mind, “Countering Violent Extremism: Mujahada and Muslims’ Responsibility” was the theme of an international symposium that took place on March 15-16 in Brussels, only days before the atrocious terrorist attacks. Hundreds of Muslim and non-Muslim scholars, from over fifty countries, participated in the event. Aiming to reach a scholarly consensus, they made the following declaration:

“The overwhelming consensus of Muslims throughout the centuries is that the primary objectives of Islam are: the promotion of peace, justice, the sanctity of all life and the natural world, the safety of all people and their rightful property, and an unqualified commitment to the principle of human dignity. Positions contrary to these primary objectives—especially efforts at stirring up conflict and discord based on deviant interpretations of the sacred texts—directly contradict the spirit of Islam.”

Here are some of the highlighted comments from the participants. Read this month’s issue with them in mind:

• “We should not give terrorists the legitimacy by calling them jihadists. They should only be called terrorists.” – Asma Afsaruddin, Indiana University
• “We Muslims cannot only condemn terrorism; we also need to understand its root causes.” – Prof. Achrag Abdulhamid, Dar al-Hadith al-Hassaniya, Morocco
• “The Gülen movement is much more than just protecting life from terror and bloodshed. It is a dignity rooted in the conviction that all humans are entitled to live freely, prosperously, and happily.” – Prof. Bart Kerremans, KU Leuven, Belgium
• “Certain aspects of religious teaching are used to motivate terrorism. This is abuse of Islam.” – Prof. M. Din Syamsuddin, Indonesian Council of Ulema

Faith is deficient, and sometimes dangerous, without sufficient, accurate knowledge. The Path of the Prophet Foundation is organizing a reading contest to deal with this deficiency. The reading contest, entitled “Who Is Muhammad (pbuh)?”, will take place online on two separate dates: April 16 and April 20. This year, the contest is only for North American residents. Awards include 33 umrah trips, 33 tablets, and 33 gift cards. Check out www.whoismuhammad.us for more information.

It is easy to proclaim a certain identity in the abstract with words and symbols. The sincerity of such claims, however, can only be measured by comparing our actions with the core values of our self-proclaimed identities. The true test of belief is not slogans or dressing up in a certain way; the true test of our beliefs is in living up to core principles shared by all major world faiths such as upholding the sanctity of life and respecting the dignity of all humans.

We must categorically condemn the ideology propagated by terrorists and instead promote a pluralistic mindset with clarity and confidence. After all, before our ethnic, national or religious identity comes our common humanity, which suffers a setback each time a barbaric act is committed. French citizens who lost their lives in Paris, Shiite Muslim Lebanese citizens who lost their lives in Beirut a day earlier and scores of Sunni Muslims in Iraq who lost their lives at the hands of the same terrorists are first and foremost human beings. Our civilization will not progress until we treat the suffering of humans regardless of their religious or ethnic identity as equally tragic in our empathy and respond with the same determination.

Muslims must also reject and avoid conspiracy theories, which have so far only helped us avoid facing our social problems. Instead, we must tackle the real questions: Do our communities provide recruitment grounds for groups with totalitarian mindsets due to unrecognized authoritarianism within ourselves, domestic physical abuse, neglect of youth and lack of balanced education? Did our failure to establish basic human rights and freedoms, supremacy of the rule of law and pluralist mindsets in our communities lead those who are struggling to seek alternative paths?

The recent tragedy in Paris is yet another reminder for both theologians and ordinary Muslims to strongly reject and condemn barbaric acts perpetrated in the name of our religion. However, at this juncture, rejection and condemnation are not enough; terrorist recruitment within Muslim communities must be fought and countered by an effective collaboration of state authorities, religious leaders and civil society actors. We must organize community-wide efforts to address all factors that aid terrorist recruitment.

Ways of expressing support and dissent within democratic means

We need to work with our community to set up the necessary framework for identifying at-risk youth, preventing them from seeking self-destructive paths, assisting families with counseling and other support services. We must promote a proactive, positive government engagement so that engaged Muslim citizens can sit at the table where counterterrorism measures are planned and share their ideas. Our youth should be taught ways of expressing support and dissent within democratic means. Incorporating democratic values into school curricula early on is crucial for inculcating a culture of democracy in young minds.

In the aftermath of such tragedies, historically strong reactions have surfaced. Anti-Muslim and anti-religious sentiment as well as security-driven treatment of Muslim citizens by governments would be counter-productive. The Muslim citizens of Europe want to live in peace and tranquility. Despite the negative climate, they should strive to engage more with their local and national governments to help work toward more inclusive policies that better integrate their community into the larger society.

It is also important for us Muslims to critically review our understanding and practice of Islam in light of the conditions and requirements of our age and the clarifications provided by our collective historic experiences. This does not mean a rupture from the cumulative Islamic tradition but rather, an intelligent questioning so we can confirm the true teachings of the Quran and the Prophetic tradition that our Muslim predecessors attempted to reveal.

We must proactively marginalize decontextualized reading of our religious sources that have been employed in the service of perverted ideologies. Muslim thinkers and intellectuals should encourage a holistic approach and reconsider jurisprudential verdicts of the Middle Ages that were issued under perpetual conflict where religious affiliation often coincided with political affiliation. Having core beliefs should be distinguished from dogmatism. It is possible, indeed absolutely necessary, to revive the spirit of freedom of thought that gave birth to a renaissance of Islam while staying true to the ethos of the religion. Only in such an atmosphere can Muslims effectively combat incivility and violent extremism.

In the aftermath of the recent events I am witnessing, with chagrin, the revival of the thesis of the clash of civilizations. I do not know whether those who first put out such a hypothesis did so out of vision or desire. What is certain is that today, the revival of this rhetoric simply serves the recruitment efforts of the terrorist networks. I want to state clearly that what we are witnessing is not a clash of civilizations but rather the clash of humanity with barbarity in our common civilization.

Our responsibility as Muslim citizens is to be part of the solution despite our grievances. If we want to defend the life and civil liberties of Muslims around the world and the peace and tranquility of every human regardless of their faith, we must act now to tackle the violent extremism problem in all its dimensions: political, economic, social and religious. By setting virtuous examples through our lives, by discrediting and marginalizing the extremist interpretations of religious sources, by staying vigilant toward their impact on our youth, and by incorporating democratic values early in education, we can counter violence and terrorism as well as totalitarian ideologies that lead to them.

* This article by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen was first published in Le Monde on Dec. 17, 2015.

Positioning is a branch of geodesy which deals with the figure and gravity field of Earth, as well as the accurate positing of an object on the surface of the Earth. In geodesy, two different reference systems are used: the terrestrial reference system (TRS) and the celestial reference system (CRS). TRS uses the center of the Earth as the origin, rotation axis, and latitudes/ longitudes. TRS rotates with the Earth, so the position of a point changes over time.

The celestial reference system uses the barycenter (center of the solar system) as the origin. The axis of the celestial reference frame is defined by the north celestial pole (the direction of the Earth’s rotational axis) and the intersection of the equator with the ecliptic (vernal equinox). CRS is the ultimate reference frame used to define the position of any location on the surface of the Earth. By its definition, CRS is an inertial reference system, and has no depth parameter (i.e., all objects in the sky are considered on a single sphere called the celestial sphere). Eventually, all points in TRS have to be tied to CRS. In order to make the transition from TRS to CRS, the dynamics of the Earth’s motion, including precession, nutation, and polar motion, must be determined very accurately. Such determinations are within the scope of modern geodesy.

Each reference system uses certain benchmarks. For TRS, before the era of satellites, certain locations on the surface of the Earth were used as benchmarks, and they had to be assumed stationary. Until 1983, the benchmark in the US was located in Kansas. Not surprisingly, modern geodesy has experienced a boost with the use of satellites. Today, the center of the Earth can be pinpointed due to the motions of satellites.

The realization of CRS has historically been made by stars. For this purpose, star catalogs (a collection of references for the positions of the stars), which were initially compiled by Hipparchus (135 BC) and later revisited by Ptolemy (and later by Al-Biruni), are used. Historically, astrolabes were used to define the positions of stars. Thanks to such research, it has been long known that stars in our galaxy have motions along a certain direction, called “proper motion.” The magnitude of this motion is in the order of hundreds of mili-arc-seconds (mas), which is about a millionth of a degree per second. If stars are used as reference points, these proper motions have to be corrected for accurate positioning.

Astronomers use the principle of redshift to estimate the distance of faraway objects, including stars. In the 1950s, quasars attracted the attention of scientists due to their huge redshifts, indicating that they come from very far-off parts of the universe. Despite being billions of light years away, their incredible luminosity (brightness) allows their light to reach Earth. Quasars are the brightest objects in space. They form around massive black holes at the centers of galaxies. These black holes cause an “accretion” disc around the quasars; this accreted matter is diverted at both ends of the black hole, like jets of matter. It is this matter that we observe here on Earth.

Despite the great amount of matter being produced, how can quasars be seen from backyard telescopes? One quasar is a trillion times brighter than our sun. Quasars are so big, in fact, they can be the size of our entire solar system. This is why their light reaches us, even though some quasars are 10-15 billion light years away (“closer” quasars are “only” 2 billion light years away). To imagine this distance, think that light from sun comes to us in only 8 minutes!

Why are quasars so effective for determining location? Well, stars within our galaxy move relatively quickly. Determining our location using these stars would be like trying to locate your ship in the sea using other ships. Instead, you must use a fixed point on the shoreline. Quasars are like these stationary objects on shore – and, thankfully, they’re scattered in all directions of the celestial sphere.

With developments in astronomy, scientists have discovered quasars that do not have any detectable proper motion. As a result of this, since 1993, quasars have been used as the ultimate reference frame (Celestial Reference Frame) for positioning on Earth. Their proper motion is 0.01 mas/a, which is limited by the Hubble’s constant.

Our position with respect to quasars is made by continuously observing them from the surface of the Earth, using a network of radio satellite dishes. These satellite dishes are scattered around the planet and they use a method called “very long baseline interferometry” (VLBI). VLBI satellites are eyes with very long baselines, and use triangulation (just as our eyes do) to locate a point in the sky with exceptional accuracy. Using these points, scientists can determine changes in the Earth’s orientation.

It might seem strange that stars billions of light years away enable scientists to properly position any point on Earth. But this is just another example of the universe’s perfect order, and the fact that everything has a purpose.

Reference

• M. Feissel & F. Mignard, The adoption of ICRS on 1 Januray 1998: meaning and consequences, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 331, L33-36 (1998).

Self-education is an all-inclusive term for an individual’s efforts to refine his or her whole being. This struggle is a part of human nature and it has always been emphasized in ancient texts and holy scriptures. The essence of this “being” is related to a Biblical concept, neshamah, or the “breath of life” God breathed to Adam. Thus Adam was made a living soul, a nefesh. Nefesh is the seat of emotions such as greed, desire, or passion; or even destructive emotions, such as revenge. The Islamic counterpart of this term is nafs, which also means soul, heart, flesh, body, desire, greed, drive or control, or the influential center of the devil within us. According to the classical Islamic works, the nafs is where emotions such as anger, rage, revenge, hatred, aggression, and desire originate.

Nafs in Islam or nefesh in Judaism are both used to refer to the negative side of our being. Materialist psychology points to such a center within people, too. Sigmund Freud’s “Id” also represents humanity’s basic drives – for example, the self-preservation or reproductive instincts.

The vernaculars of both religion and psychology, then, speak of the so-called weaker self: a creature that lies dormant in all of us, and basically wants nothing else than to chase our most base instincts, such as eating, drinking, sleeping, and reproducing.

A powerful enemy lurks in all of us. This enemy – the Nafs, Nefesh, or Id – can be compared to a naughty child who needs to be reined in.

The nafs strikes when we are least attentive, like when Prophet Adam forgot about the prohibited fruit. We also tend to forgetfulness. Don’t the worst things happen during inattentive moments? In moments of weakness, forgetfulness, or recklessness? All it takes is a single pull of a trigger, and our life – and the lives of others – can be ruined. A weak moment and our marriage can be damaged forever.

But the dangers of the nafs are also much more banal: instead of studying for an important test, we may spend an evening chilling on Facebook or playing a video game. Then, the exam is ruined – and perhaps our academic career. In whatever way our nafs overwhelms us, it can do it again and again; we live with it, and it will not die before us.

A major part of self-education, then, is the struggle against one’s own ego, which is part of the nafs. In Islam, the struggle with yourself, against your own baser instincts, is called the great jihad. This shows what Islam’s priority is: not fighting with sword and shield, but self-education. The focus is directed inward, to one’s own errors to produce conscientious, moral people.

In Islamic mysticism the nafs is usually divided into seven stages. Carnal, Evil-Commanding Soul; the Self-Condemning or Self-Accusing Soul; the Soul Receiving Inspiration; the Soul at Rest; the Soul Well-Pleased (with God, with however God treats it); the Soul Pleasing (to God); and the Perfected Soul, or the Purified or Innocent Soul.

Carnal, Evil-Commanding Soul (nafs ammara) is the one which always gives in, at any time, to its urges. It does what it wants and is thus completely satisfied, just like an animal. The Self-Condemning Soul (nafs lawwama). While this soul still acts like an animal and is not really under control, it has at least developed an ability to see where it fails. The Soul Receiving Inspiration (nafs mulhima) is potentially able to turn away from its urges to the good.

One step higher is the soul is the soul at rest (nafs mutmainna). It has come to trust its owner, and its owner trusts it. It is as quiet and peaceful as the calm sea. A soul that has reached this level has a good character and a good personality.

But it can go even higher: the Soul Well-Pleased (nafs radiyya) is fully satisfied with what it receives from its Creator. It is a magnificent specimen of satisfaction and inner gratitude. And the Soul Pleasing (nafs mardiya) is a soul with which God is fully satisfied. A soul at this level has passed its test in this world.

The highest level is the seventh stage: the Purified Soul (nafs kamila). This soul is, from head to toe, thoroughly trained, mature, and grown up.

Self-education is climbing up these levels as one purifies his or her soul. The goal in this struggle is to master one’s soul and one good way of an exercise is to face one’s own self every night before sleep about how the day was spent. Umar, the third Caliph, has been reported to have said, “Settle up your accounts before you are called to account for them.”

This is not an easy struggle, for the soul will strongly resist being mastered. Thus, it’s best to start slowly, with an accounting of wrong deeds. But over time, we should step up our efforts. We will probably have to win several battles until we get used to this kind bedtime. But the battle will be worth it.

At the beginning, be prepared for heated discussions. But it is possible to always be one step ahead of the soul; it can be unmasked with rational and moral arguments. On the other hand, it will not be easily dissuaded from its primitive justifications, which can disturb our peace of mind, over and over again. The soul behaves like a child, and children can sometimes be very annoying. We just have to be very patient and cannot get worked up. Then, we will notice how it fades after a few weeks. But beware: it will continue to lie in wait for a favorable moment in which we think we are safe, and then it will strike with a redoubled force. It never gives up.

One of the best ways to defeat the carnal soul is to not give it any time. We are the masters of our body, and thus can determine our daily schedule. In other words, consider planning the day in advance – with objects and things that need to get done, and with the necessary breaks and rest periods; nothing is more tempting and constructive for the soul than haphazard time, boredom, and aimless wandering. The best way to combat the soul is by keeping it busy.

Another part of controlling the soul is a good diet. Modern nutritionists can argue about fasting, which is prescribed in many faith traditions, but one thing is certain: no one recommends an unhealthy diet. It does no good for the soul or body. The carnal soul may like unhealthiest food the best. Moreover, it also loves to eat too much. But overweight people are living unhealthy lives and have a higher risk of falling ill earlier, and faster. Obesity is a disease, and if the body is not healthy and fit, we can’t expect our soul to be healthy, either. To educate the soul, we must change and rein in our eating habits.

A healthy and balanced diet is preferable, and it is best to cook with fresh ingredients. A healthy diet means eating vegetables and legumes, drinking plenty of water, and avoiding sweets or fast food. If you always eat only when you feel hungry, and stop eating before you are completely sated, you’ll be amazed how much easier life is when your body finds its balance.

A good school for our soul is ultimately life itself, despite all its difficulties and trials. When we fall short, we must not be too depressed. We must try to recognize the blessing in it. As an example, briefly imagine a millionaire who went bankrupt, and was thus forced to lead a simple life. He may think his life is ending. But when he looks at it more closely, he might finally find more time for his family, eat less, and lose his ego. It’s best if we can self-educate. But if we cannot educate ourselves, life will do it for us.

References

• Eren, Sadi; Olaylar ve Örneklerle Nefis Teribiyesi, Istanbul 2011
• Schöpflin, Karin; „Seele II Altes Testament“, in: Theologische Realenzyklopädie, Bd. 30, Berlin 1999
• Wolff, Hans Walter; Anthropologie des Alten Testaments, 4. Auflage, München 1984
• Gülen, M. Fethullah; Sufismus 3, Mörfelden-Walldorf 2005.

Translated from German by Jennifer Sengun

The human immune system responds to viral infections in two ways. The first is the innate immune system. It is the first line of defense in our body and the only one that exists in many multi-cellular organisms. It involves certain kinds of immune cells that recognize pathogens. These cells immediately attack and ultimately destroy the infection-causing microbes. One may find the classical video showing a macrophage engulfing a bacterial cell interesting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnlULOjUhSQ). However, the innate immune system is not specific and does not form a memory against infections.

The second and more specific type of immune system is called the adaptive immune system. As the name suggests, it is specific and can build immunity against certain kinds of infection. Compared to the innate immune system, it is slower, but its high specificity makes it a powerful defense mechanism. The adaptive immune system is present only in jawed vertebrates, as it requires several macromolecular systems, which are found only in more complex organisms.

One of the main parts of these complex molecular systems forming the adaptive immunity is called the antigen processing. This refers to the presence of small particles on the cell surface. This process requires the transportation of these antigens from the inside to the outside surface of the cell. The plasma membrane of the cell is semi-permeable to chemicals and small molecules. Only small, uncharged, hydrophobic molecules can diffuse through these membranes. However, antigens are usually small pieces of proteins that are charged. Therefore, the transport of antigens through the plasma membrane is not an easy task. This difficult task is done by a special transporter, called the transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP).

In order to transport antigens across the membrane, TAP uses adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as its energy source. For almost a half century, scientists tried to understand how these molecules transport their substrates across membranes [1]. Although biochemical studies have taught us a lot, there is still more to be discovered. Years of research resulted in different models that explain how TAP works and why it needs energy. A recent finding helped to shape the working model to its current form, while also explaining that very important question: why does TAP need energy?

The working model of membrane transport assumes that TAP has two main conformations [2]. In one of the conformations, the antigen binding site is open to one side of the membrane. In the other conformation, the binding site is open to the other side of the membrane. This allows the antigen to be transported from one side of the membrane to the other. However, one major question this model raises is why TAP doesn’t allow the antigen to leak back.

This would be a deadly issue if it was the case for the cell. We know that this does not happen, but we don’t know why it doesn’t happen. Scientists have been trying to tweak their models to fit a one-way transport mechanism.

The recent study mentioned above showed that TAP works in one direction only, confirming the predictions. The study also addressed why TAP needs energy, i.e., ATP hydrolysis. Energy is needed to ensure that the antigens do not leak back. This finding also makes sense when other transporters that do not need energy are considered, simply because they can work in both directions. In short, TAP uses energy only when it “swallows” the antigens to the other side of the membrane while making sure they don’t leak back.

The proper functioning of TAP is critical for human health. Genes encoding TAP have been shown to have nearly 100 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the variations in the human genome. Some of these SNPs cause immune deficiencies in certain individuals or populations. These SNP studies further highlight the importance of TAP.

The story told above is taking place in our cells all the time. Even when we fall ill and rest in bed, the adaptive immune system and TAP fulfill their roles and help our body recover.

References

1. Jardetzky, O., Simple allosteric model for membrane pumps. Nature, 1966. 211(5052): p. 969-70.
2. Grossmann, N., et al., Mechanistic determinants of the directionality and energetics of active export by a heterodimeric ABC transporter. Nat Commun, 2014. 5: p. 5419.

The Fountain: You are an expert on Charlemagne, who was a contemporary of Harun al-Rashid. What can you tell us about these two rulers and their impacts on the cultural history of their civilizations?

Professor Dr. Max Kerner: The inhabitants of the city of Aachen, Germany, associate Charlemagne and Harun al-Rashid with a wonderful story – the story of the white elephant, Abu l-Abbas. In the late 90s of the 8th century, Charlemagne sent a delegation to Baghdad. This trip, of course, had a political dimension to it. At that time, there were two powerful, rival Arab dynasties: the Abbasids in Baghdad and the Umayyads in Cordoba. Charlemagne was also on bad terms with the Byzantine Empire. He hoped that Baghdad could exert some pressure on Byzantium. Harun al-Rashid in turn hoped that Charlemagne would keep the Umayyads in check. This was, from a geopolitical and military standpoint, an almost ideal situation for cooperation.

Culture played a very central role in that mission as well. Firstly, Harun al-Rashid was politically in charge of Jerusalem, which is of paramount importance to all three Abrahamic religions. The holy places were supposed to be accessible to Christian pilgrims, and Harun al-Rashid was capable of securing them this access. Secondly, Baghdad at that time was an important cultural center for scientific and medical research. Charlemagne hoped to get a share in these findings.

The white elephant basically stood for these ideas, and its name, Abu l-Abbas, symbolized them. Abbas was the progenitor of the Abbasids and he was also a relative of the Prophet Muhammad. Therefore, when Harun al-Rashid made Charlemagne a present of a white elephant named Abu l-Abbas, this was not only a gesture of kindness, but it also had great symbolic significance. And Charlemagne certainly understood that. Charlemagne was a Christian, but culturally, he was very open to the Muslim Arab culture.

You are co-editor of a book entitled Institutio Trajani, which ranks among the great mirrors for princes. Can you tell us briefly what a “mirror for princes” is?

A “mirror for princes” is a book that teaches a leader specific rules and conventions that are important for his statecraft. One thing special about this “Institutio Trajani” is that it is most probably written by a Greek author, Plutarch, but the only existent text is in Latin. It propagates a model of society that can be described as organological. In other words, the human body is taken as a microcosm that reflects the great macrocosm of the universe. The human body has different members: head, hands, feet, abdomen, and many other more. And in the “Institutio Trajani” these organs are assigned to the different parts of a society. The Agricolae – those employed in agriculture – are represented by the feet, while the sovereign is represented by the head. The head cannot be ruled by the feet, and the function of the ruler cannot be exercised by the Agricolae. The same applies to the reverse case. This division of tasks results in a hierarchical society with different functions, but all of these functions are vital, not least those of the so-called lower classes (if we use modern sociological terms).

So this mirror for princes attributes specific management functions to the rulers, but all other sectors of society have their special tasks and there raisons d’être, as well. Such an organological model does not meet our present understanding of democracy. But we can accept its substance – namely, the realization that all parts in society have their meaning and importance.

Mirrors for princes are also a common denominator of the Orient and Occident. Works like “Il Principe,” by Machiavelli, “Institutio Trajani,” by Plutarch, or the “Speculum Regum” are classified to be significant mirrors for princes of the Occident. In the East, we could mention the “Siyasetname,” by Nizamulmulk, the “Gulistan,” by Saadi or the work “Kutadgu Bilig.“It is said that the culture of the “mirrors for princes” has been lost in modernity. Who or what has taken its place?

Just like in Latin-European culture, there were also mirrors for princes in Arab-Muslim culture, and the works just mentioned were important examples. But as a matter of fact, this literary genre no longer exists.

Nevertheless, in my opinion, every open society must hold a debate about its society and culture, and about its constitution and state organization. In this context I would assign the role that the mirrors for princes used to play in the past to the intellectuals of today. They write texts, in Arabic as well as in other languages, and in the Arab world as well as in the Western world. Whether they find attention and recognition is a different question, but the mirrors of princes were also sometimes ignored. In German society, admonitory texts like these are mostly written by political scientists, sociologists, philosophers, and – to a lesser extent – by historians. One example of the latter is the “History of the West,” an important work by an historian named Heinrich August Winkler. If we want to know what exactly constitutes the West, then it is not enough to define it solely from the viewpoint of the current situation and problems. It is just as essential to examine how certain things have emerged.

According to Edward Said, since the times the West developed ideas about the East the only thing the East failed to do, was to depict itself in appropriate ways. Do you also think that the Islamic world failed in this task, or has at least been often misunderstood?

Yes, the Islamic world is often mistaken or misconceived in the West, just as, conversely, the Western world is often mistaken or misconceived in Arab-Muslim countries. There are diverse reasons for this, but one thing is clear: both spheres have to search for ways to present themselves adequately and transparently – and, indeed, in the whole range of their orientations.

Islam is not Islamism, Islam is not Jihadism, Islam is not Salafism. All the terrible things we are confronted with daily in the media do not represent Islam. On the other hand, you also cannot separate these phenomena entirely from Islam. They are recent developments that should not be blanked out; quite the contrary. In the same way, you cannot separate the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the persecution of heretics in Christian history from Christianity. An important question is: which role does violence play in the respective religions? And even more importantly: What can we do to prevent violence in the future? Of course there are big cultural-philosophical discussions on this topic.

In his “Ring Parable,” the German writer and philosopher Lessing shows how this type of conflict could be dissolved. In this well-known drama, a father has three sons whom he loves equally. On his deathbed, he gives each of them a ring, emphasizing that this is the heirloom ring, which passed down through generations. So all three are convinced to own the original ring, not just a replica, and quarrel over it after the father’s death. It turns out that it is impossible to find the “real” ring. The only way to find out whether one of them has the real ring is that all of them try to live a life pleasant in the eyes of God and mankind, so that their ring’s powers can prove true. The winner of this competition shall be the one who has the true ring, i.e. the true religion. Each of them may claim in their confidence to possess the true religion, but none of them must claim to have the only truth.

You do not need to carry out large Islamic studies or European studies to realize what the core of this parable is: a plea for religious freedom. And this religious freedom does not endanger the self-claim of the religions. The important thing is: what I claim for myself, I also grant to others.

Today’s societies are interconnected and they have multiple identities. How did historiography in the past deal with heterogeneity, and how does it deal with it today?

It must be a task of historiography, to describe heterogeneity in places where it did really exist. History is supposed to depict the past as it really was. I will give you an example: Spain. Spain for centuries had an Arab-Muslim history. But how does the Spanish historiography deal with this heterogeneity? One thing is that you describe how things worked at that time, but a different thing is to evaluate the occurrences. And historians can’t ignore this task. If you look at the evidence of Arab-Muslim Spain, then it is possible to read and review it in very different ways: In Spain a large caliphate was established that existed for centuries. Then it was recaptured gradually by the Reconquista until, finally, the last Muslims were expelled from Granada. The Mezquita of Cordoba is a terrific evidence, but at the same time, until today, a quarrelsome object. Because in the 16th century, Charles V brought up a cathedral in the middle of this mosque; and even today the bishop of Cordoba does not allow Muslims to assume their typical prayer attitude in front of the mihrab in the Muslim part of the Mezquita. For him, this place and the whole environment is a Christian cathedral now.

Therefore, is this Muslim-Arab episode accepted as a part of Spanish history, or is it rather described as an aberration, a byway, a detour? And consequently: which are the leitmotifs of the country – the dream of Al-Andalus, the Convivencia, the social coexistence, or the Reconquista, the recapture, the fight? At these two keywords – Reconquista and Convivencia – other European countries also chafe. As for my part, I think Convivencia is the only solution possible.

In Turkey, in turn, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul once was one of the greatest churches of Late Antiquity. After Mehmet II conquered the city in 1453, he made a mosque out of it, and in the 20th century, under Ataturk, it was transformed into a museum. Today there are ambitions to reconvert it in a mosque again. These two examples show how difficult it is to deal with heterogeneity.

Traditional historiography usually focuses on a particular cultural identity while other identities are largely blanked out. Do you think that this might change in the next years, for example with regard to the history of Europe? Do you think questions might be raised about the essence of Europe, about some meta-identity that goes beyond national state, but at the same time also determines limits and borders to it?

If you ask “What is Europe?” you also have to ask another question: What are the old foundations of Europe? There are at least three that are repeatedly mentioned:

Firstly: Christianity and the church – a subject with many, highly complex subchapters. (What is the essence of Christianity? What makes the difference between church and Christianity? What about Christianity’s responsibility for the dark chapters in church history?) No one, not even the biggest critics, doubt that Christianity and the church belong to Europe. But there is a debate about whether or not both still are important, and whether Christianity itself possibly has become a mere overhang of tradition.

Secondly: Nation and the nation-state. The nation-state was born in Europe and exported from there into the world. Worse than nationalism is National Socialism, which played a disastrous role in recent German history.

Thirdly: Rationality and science. These two aspects are embodied by universities. We just now sit and talk in an institution of rationality, a technical college (Aachen RWTH), where people think from morning to evening about how things can be improved with technology.

Now it is important to clarify how we deal with these old European basics and to see if we can pull something out of them we are willing to engage with. If we are convinced of our culture, we will be ready to stand up for the good of it, for preserving its values. And in a self-respecting Europe people must say: I am not indifferent to where I come from, but I’m also taking a critical attitude towards Europe. There are certain things that I stand up for and others I want to make sure that we don’t experience ever again.

So, if you think about identity, you must become aware of own identity first. You have to fathom out how it has developed; you have to think about what is worth keeping and what is not.

Another perspective is, as already mentioned, to be open to others. And with regard to plurality and heterogeneity, the following question arises: which role did Islam play in Europe in the past and which role will it play in the future? Let’s have a look at cultural transfers. As the example of Cordoba shows, Europe is connected with the Islamic world in many ways. Most of the philosophical writings of Aristotle were passed to us through a detour, namely via the Arabic translations and commentary of Averroes (Ibn Rushd). Averroes thus has undoubtedly greatly influenced the philosophical tradition of Europe. He also brought a principle to Europe that later became part of European modernity: the doctrine of duplex veritas, the double truth. It holds that there are two claims, the theological one and the scientific one. According to this second claim, science opens up and explains the world to us – the natural sciences just as the engineering sciences, the social sciences, and philosophy. Averroes decisively contributed to the recognition of the autonomy scientific approach.

The question whether there is such a thing as a German Islam fits this context, too. Recently, it was answered positively. And of course there is a German Islam, practiced by all Muslims with a German nationality. In this sense, Islam belongs to Germany, and in the future we will probably not only have mosques, but also Muslim nursing homes and cemeteries, or Islamic holidays. On the other hand, there are many ways to think about Islam and practice it. So what are the characteristics of a German Islam? It adheres to the constitutional requirements of this country, just like Judaism and Christianity also do. And these requirements are clearly defined. Whoever adheres to it has the right to practice his or her religion, and must also be protected in his or her practice.

When it comes to the elaboration of a European identity that includes the highlights of our past and present identity, we need to create a shared culture, which connects the different pluralities with each other. And we need to define a framework in which this shared culture can exist; a framework within which people can practice their own values much the same as the collective ones. This of course is far from being easy, as current events never cease to show.

One of your fields of activity is the training of teachers. Do you have certain guidelines in this field that you attach special importance to?

I search for historical topics from the subject areas mentioned above: Christianity and the Church, nation-state development, and history of rationality. Then we try to interpret them critically according to the current state of modern historiography. In an indirect way, I’m trying to develop a basic understanding of worldviews.

In recent decades we have become information giants. There are endless opportunities to gather endless information. But at the same time, we must be careful not to become knowledge dwarfs, because what is missing quite often is the ability to transform our information into real knowledge. And there is a huge difference between information and knowledge. We live in an environment of picture worlds, superficial and without structure. And we are, as Umberto Eco once put it, in danger of suffocating in information garbage.

Therefore, a major challenge of the universities and the teacher training is to impart knowledge that can prevent this suffocation. Previous generations would have envied us for our technical opportunities. But these opportunities alone are not enough. They require a critical understanding and openness to critical examination. One principle of teachers in training should be to enable them to make their students curious about our world and to give them the means to deal with information in a critical and skeptical way. This, for sure, is a never-ending task. To use Kant’s words: we have to end self-imposed immaturity.

Do you have a final message to our readers?

Yes, and it relates to the personification of a great idea. I have already addressed the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. This wonderful building originally was a church, before it became a mosque, and afterwards a museum. Its name, Hagia Sophia, means Holy Wisdom. So I hope that the holy wisdom represented in this marvelous construction will help us to create a shared culture in Europe. This holy wisdom is characterized by the fact that, on the one hand, it preserves the identities of the majority and the minority in society, guaranteeing autonomy and diversity; and on the other hand, it also seeks common ground. But you can only find common ground and create a shared culture if you develop ideas, if you have certain benchmarks. And there are a lot of benchmarks, for example, in the fields of education, philosophy, literature, art, or global ethics. Maybe we have to create and to formulate a new myth in Europe, which would build on the oppressive experience of the Shoah and also bring forth a reconciliation between Islam and Europe. If we succeed in this while respecting our old European fundamentals, we will create an open Europe. And openness has always been one of the most profound of all European features – yesterday, today, and hopefully tomorrow. So I cherish a kind of openness to the world that is willing to integrate the other, while not forgetting our own accomplishments. May the Hagia Sophia help us to achieve it!

Interview by Abdullah Kulac

The energy we need for our organs to function and to survive our daily activities comes from the foods we eat. A “calorie” is the energy value of a food. One calorie is defined as the approximate amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius.

The caloric values of foods are generally known. Food packages bear information about these values, and in some places, the law requires restaurants to list the nutritional values of their meals. However, what is not commonly known is that not everyone receives the same number of calories from the same food. The way the food is prepared or processed influences its chemical structure, and therefore the number of calories it contains. When nutrients pass through the digestive tract, they also undergo a transformation. Billions of bacteria created to help digestion “use up” some of the food’s energy. However, every person has a different digestive system; the precise number of bacteria in each person’s body varies.

For such reasons, people receive different amounts of calories from food, even if they have eaten the same kind of food – and the exact same amount. Calorie calculations without taking these differences into consideration might be mistaken. Even nutritionists cannot calculate definite calorie values without such information. As such, one may not be able to lose weight merely by choosing foods after looking at the information written on packaging.

To begin explaining this, let’s look at how the process of energy consumption works. It starts with the enzymes in our mouth, stomach, and intestines, which are responsible for breaking down complex food molecules into basic building blocks like sugar and amino acids. These building blocks are borne into our cells by means of capillaries. As a result of some chemical processes within the cell, they transform into energy, which is used for carrying out ordinary, everyday actions. The extra calories are stored for later use.

The factors that affect caloric calculations

The calculation of foods’ caloric values began in the 19th century. Scientists developed an approach to approximate the caloric value in one gram of oil, protein, or carbohydrate. Accordingly, a gram of oil gave 9 kilocalories, a gram of carbohydrate or protein gave 4 kcal, and one gram of fibered food gave 2 kcal.

It is not sound logic to assume an average caloric value for foods. The enzymes of the human digestive system are created in such a way that they cannot break fibers down to smaller molecules. These fibers are disposed of when we go to the toilet.

We also eat the bodies, leaves, or roots of hundreds of different plants, be they vegetables or fruits. The cell walls in the body and leaves of some plants are more resistant to digestion than others. In fact, the soundness of the cell walls may vary in different parts of the same plant. Old leaves have more resistant cell walls in comparison to young ones. Generally speaking, if the cells walls are weak, caloric intake will be higher.

The effect of cooking also varies depending on the plant. For example, while the cells of plants like spinach and zucchini are easily broken down, when a plant like water chestnut is cooked, its cells gain a more resistant form. The foods that are not broken down because of their sound cell walls are thrown from our body without proper digestion; thus, it is not possible to absorb all of their calories.

Peanuts, almonds and other types of nuts are digested in a slower and more difficult fashion in comparison to other foods that contain the same level of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. In one study, it turned out that people who ate almonds only got 129 calories, although the packaging claimed they contained 170 calories. Researchers stated that in order to find out the real caloric value of a given food, it is necessary to measure the amount of calories in the urine and waste matter from the bodies of people who have followed the same diet.

There are also explicit differences between foods that can be completely digested. Certain foods, such as honey, are broken down in our stomachs right away. They then join our blood circulation by easily passing through the intestinal walls. For the digestion of fats and proteins however, five-times more energy is required. Proteins need to be broken into amino acids by enzymes so that the energy in them can be used. This point is not taken into consideration when calculating the caloric value written on food packages.

Some foods cause the immune system to be activated because of the pathogenic microorganisms in them. For example, a rarely done piece of meat is a potential danger to our intestinal microorganisms. Even if the immune system does not attack the pathogens in the foods we eat, they still head for the guts in order to recognize whether the alien substance is benign or harmful, and this consumes high amounts of energy. There is no serious study on how many calories the immune system needs to identify an alien substance and, if necessary, neutralize it.

In a research conducted in 2010, one group of people were given sandwiches made from bran bread and cheddar cheese, whereas the others were given sandwiches made from processed cheese and white bread (600-800 kcal). In spite of having consumed the same amount of sandwich, those who ate the sandwiches made from the bran bread and cedar cheese spent twice as much energy in digestion. Therefore, those who consumed the bran bread received 10% fewer calories in comparison to the others. The amount of calories received from foods differs on account of genetic, anatomic, and metabolic differences.

These difference have a serious effect on human nutrition. For example, there can be racial and ethnic differences when it comes to the length of a person’s intestine. At the beginning of the 1900s, it was recognized that Russians have an average intestinal length 57 cm longer than those of people from Poland. On account of this difference, Russians will obtain more calories in comparison to Polish people who consume the same amount of food.

The amount of enzymes secreted in every person also differs according to both genetic differences, and age. For example, while a glass of milk is a source of high energy to some – particularly children – it is not the same for others. Most adult bodies do not secrete the enzyme of lactase, which breaks down the lactose sugars found in milk.

People also have different types of bacteria colonies. Predominantly, two bacteria colonies (bacteroidete and firmicute) are found in human intestines. Research has indicated that there are more intense populations of firmicute in the intestines of obese people. Accordingly, having more than the necessary amount of bacteria in the body increases food digestion and thus causes the body to absorb more food. If these foods supply more energy than the body needs, they are stored as fat.

Some microorganisms are only seen in some people. For example, since Japanese people often consume algae, some microorganisms in their intestines are equipped with the genetic information to code the enzymes responsible for breaking down and digesting algae. This is an adaptive trait humans have: if our intestines stop being suitable for environments for such bacteria to breakdown fibrous foods, our calorie intake will be low, because of the fact that hard nutrients, such as celery or carrots, will not be digested properly.

In recent years, it has been explicitly shown that how food is prepared alters the number of calories the human body can extract from it. Therefore, as the human body digests processed foods rather easily, they provide much energy with little effort from the digestive system. Processed foods also cause the diminishing of the intestinal microorganisms which digest fibrous foods.

On the other hand, as the body extracts more vitamins and nutrients from vegetables, nuts, and whole grains, these all help to maintain the number of beneficial bacteria in our intestines. Those who wish to follow a healthy diet and lessen their caloric intake from nutrients should not eat processed, fried, and well-done foods. Instead, they should eat raw or boiled foods which contain bran and fibers.

As shown, a healthy diet, does not just depend on the type of food, but how that food is cooked, whether it was pre-processed or not, and whether it is swallowed after being chewed well or not. Our health further depends on the diversity and balance of our intestinal microorganisms and flora. It should be noted that without taking into consideration these factors affecting our caloric intake, the benefit of exercise and sports will also be limited.

The second fact is that Gülen views spiritual life as the sole alternative for solving the problems of people in our time. This is one of the dominant themes in Gülen’s world of thought. The Statue of Our Souls, one of his most significant works, is a collection of his essays in which he attempts to establish the guidelines for a revival of Muslim life, in both action and thought, to attain the level of true humanity on a societal scale.

Gülen is one of the most prominent representatives of sunni school of thought, with a balanced understanding of the tradition, and he is recognized for his proficiency of Islamic scholarly heritage. His scholarship is based on almost every relevant discipline and many outstanding scholars ranging from Kushayri to Ghazzali, from Rumi to Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, and from there to Imam Rabbani and Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. He benefits from poetry as well as prose when making his points.

Particularly in Emerald Hills of the Heart, he sets the main guidelines for the “life” of the spiritual heart. Imam Ghazzali explained the nature of the heart and its functions from his own perspective in The Revival of Religious Sciences; in his Flourishing of Hearts, he elaborated on deeds of the heart such as sincerity, patience, and reflection (tafakkur). Similarly, in different works, Gülen also describes the heart from a broad perspective. In the Emerald Hills of the Heart, however, Gülen does not only present the basic concepts of spiritual journeying, he also elaborates on the deeds of the heart and shed light on these deeds for people in our time.

The heart from a personal perspective

Gülen points out that the heart serves as a bridge for all goodness and grace to reach a person, though it also leaves the person potentially open to all devilish and carnal urges and recollections. As far as the heart can be oriented to God, it becomes a projector lighting up the entire body, down to its darkest points. The heart is the essential home of faith, worship, and a spirit of perfect goodness, as well as being a lively river of the finely flowing feelings between humans, the universe, and God.

If, however, a person remains stuck in the realm of physicality, the heart becomes a target for the poisonous arrows of Satan. There are countless enemies seeking to deviate the heart from its course, shifting the bed of that river. Lots of enemies, from gloom to unbelief, from long-term worldly ambitions to greed, from lust to heedlessness, and from selfish interests to love for status, lie in wait, hoping to take advantage of the heart’s weaknesses.

The heart is the center of human abilities such as understanding, feeling, sensing, reasoning, wishing, and inclining; it perceives and understands things as far as it can use these traits. Thus, as the center of the mind’s functioning and perception, the heart is constantly monitored by God Almighty. From this aspect, it is “the perceived.” On account of this quality, the heart is referred to as, “the focal point of God’s sight.”
Gülen derived this fact from the saying of God’s Messenger that, “God does not look at your bodies nor your forms, but He looks at your hearts.”

According to Gülen, God Almighty takes individuals as His addresses to the level of their heart’s respective spiritual progress. Accordingly, God Almighty’s relationship with a person who has attained a higher level of divine knowledge (marifa) is more profound and mysterious in comparison to a person with a lower spiritual level. If the heart is atrophied in its abilities due to the person committing grave sins, then the faculties mentioned above will also be affected negatively, and the person will struggle to fulfill their duty.

The heart, according to Gülen, is born from the coming together of divine favor and human essence, and it bears a stamp of the Almighty Sovereign. In this respect, it is closely interrelated with both the spiritual and material realms. This approach is important in terms of the fact that it stresses the significance of the heart’s role between a person and God, as well as stressing the value of a spiritual faculty, which is a crucial means for a person to know God. As a matter of fact, it is a great favor of God to the humankind that He has endowed us the heart, for while bearing responsibilities as faith, worship, and morality, the human is not left helpless, but is supported with the mechanism of the heart, which has the capacity to fulfill these responsibilities in the best way.

Gülen uses a metaphorical description for the heart and refers to it as “a stairway leading to human perfection, a projection of the realms beyond in the corporeal world, the largest door within the human body open to spirituality, the sole laboratory where our selfhood is formed, and the most important criterion of telling right from wrong.”

In the same context, he explains the wisdom of the heart’s existence as, “establishing intimate friendship with God Almighty.” The meaning of the heart’s friendship with God refers to matters of deep faith, as well as to knowledge, love, and fear of God, as well as nearness and familiarity with Him. A heart that realizes these will have fulfilled the purpose of its creation.

While portraying the prototype of an ideal individual, Gülen uses the term “man of the heart.” With this and similar phrases, he evaluates humans in a context of the heart. The people of the heart have merits such as a sound heart, a strong willpower, perseverance, insight, and active patience. Only by means of these will believers attain their due character, qualities, and purity. To quote his own words, “Indeed, the hero of the heart is, as the Qur’an and the Messenger of God have told us, the person of truth, who sees, thinks, and acts with all the faculties of such a conscience; whose sitting and standing are mercy, whose words and speech are mildness and agreement, and whose manners are politeness and refinement. They are the people of heart and truth who reveal and teach others the secret of knowing and perceiving the Creation from the inside, who can express the true meaning and purpose of the Creation.”

Extracting the essence of Qur’anic verses and the Prophet’s sayings, Gülen paints the portrait of an ideal believer, and again refers to the heart as an attribute. According to this approach, people of the heart are merciful, clement, and kind; they listen to their consciences about every idea and behavior. They are the ones who can realize the true meaning and purpose of this life. While writing about depths of the heart, Gülen frequently refers to the faculties known as the secret (sir), hidden (khafi), and the most hidden (akhfa), and he uses metaphors like observation, observatory, beholding, witnessing, binoculars, and telescope to describe various functions of the heart.

The heart from a social perspective

In Gülen’s world of thought, the issue of attaining the level of being human in the true sense is of central importance. He believes that the development of the heart and spirit is crucial in terms of both a person’s relationship with the Almighty Creator and of being a successful individual, beneficial to society. In other words, Gülen believes that the solution for the troubled state of the people of our time lies in the flourishing of their heart and spirit. He expresses this point as follows:

“Although some people today disdain moral values, the inner depths of the human being, and the importance of the life of the heart and spirit, there is no doubt that the route to true humanity passes through them. No matter what some people may think, the successful practice of these dynamics in life offers the only solution that can save the person of the present. People today must be relieved from the social, political, cultural, economic, and various other depressions that are bending them over double, forcing their back into a misshapen twisted form.”

These words reflect both his diagnosis of the disease and ways of curing it.

Accordingly, bringing the heart and the spirit to life is the “sole” dynamic and cure to solve modern people’s depressions. It is a strikingly significant fact that even while referring to the worldly underdevelopment of Muslims and others, Gülen directly comes to the issue of spirituality first and saw it as the starting point for material progress, too. In his opinion, humanity is misguided in its pursuit of physical or material satisfaction when what it truly needs is to fulfill its spiritual hunger. Correcting such an error depends on a holistic approach to the human, by evaluating them with their spiritual aspect.

Another relevant concept Gülen expounds on is a “marriage of the heart and mind.” This is like an initial and indispensable condition to be met. Gülen makes a concise explanation of this concept with the following words:

“The first and concise purpose of our creation is obvious: realizing the meaning of being human in the context of humanity, the universe, and God, and thus reaching the horizons of faith, knowledge of God, and true delight of the spirit. Fulfillment of such a large-scale and succinct plan is only possible with systematic thinking and disciplined action. Such a basic first plan and first action, yet unsuitable for elaborated thought, forms the initial ring in the chain of a virtuous cycle of thought and action. Later, the person begins to experience so many virtuous cycles between the transcendental horizons of the heart and reason’s dawnings of wisdom. In time, actions gain greater perspective toward more complicated thoughts, and thoughts continue by transforming into greater projects.”

In conclusion, we can say that Gülen resembles earlier spiritual teachers in that he evaluates the human as a whole; he is concerned with human’s not only spiritual but also material well-being. This holds true not only on a personal, but also societal level. Gülen sets a spiritual map that begins with faith, leavens with knowledge and love of God, preserves its right state with enthusiasm and loyalty, and attains consistency with delights of the spirit.

It is also possible to refer to this as a civilization of gnosis, or knowledge of the divine (marifa), which can be reached after a long and tiring journey by letting the heart, which has the position of a commander, fully function with all of its faculties. While making particular reference to this issue in The Emerald Hills of the Heart, he puts emphasis on the same issue in many other articles. He envisions a universal civilization of people who attains a revival with their hearts and spirituality. There should be nothing wrong in referring to his as a “civilization of the heart.”

Meaning fear and dismay in the face of a frightening event or situation, utmost astonishment is the feeling of shock which travelers to God experience during their spiritual journey on coming face to face with the manifestations of the Beauty and Grace of the AllBeloved. Although there is no explicit statement touching on it in the Book or in the Sunna, a relation with the verse (12:31), whose meaning is, When they saw him, they so admired him that they cut their hands, can be established.

Some have described utmost astonishment as the shock when encountering an incident beyond one’s understanding and endurance, and power to explain. This can also be described as experiencing the truth that the Divine manifestations exceed the limits of reason, and that love for God goes beyond the limits of patience; and getting into a state beyond one’s capacity of perception.

We add here some further explanations about this state:

Travelers on the way to God feels astonishment when the state in which they find themselves exceeds the limits of their knowledge and perception, and then they go into a state of ecstasy beyond their endurance, where God will favor them with spiritual discoveries disproportionate to their efforts. One can go into ecstasies unintentionally when reciting the Qur’an or performing Prayers, although selfpossession and a feeling of awe are essential to both; the heart can go into spiritual arrhythmia as a result of excessive rapture, destroying the balance and selfcontrol in an initiate; a traveler on the way to God behaves hastily and sometimes in an uncontrolled manner, under the enrapturing influence of witnessing God’s signs, although seeking God always demands loyalty and faithfulness. All of these are causes of utmost astonishment.

When, under the influence of the state that the initiates have entered upon, or because of the spiritual pleasure they feel, they see the whole creation annihilated in God’s Existence and all time ending in eternity, and the spirit witnessing God’s signs, then they are swept up in astonishment. That is the spiritual station where travelers on the way to God can hear through God’s Own Hearing and see through God’s Own Sight.1

When the slopes of the heart are unexpectedly exposed to the shower of gifts from the AllGlorified and the Divine favors, when the lights of nearness to God envelop one, and when secrets are disclosed to the extent that they result in reaching the horizon of worshipping God as if actually seeing Him, astonishment pervades the whole being of the lover of God. The person is then lost in the depths of selfannihilation and the considerations of astonishment. The following verses of Gedai, expressing this spiritual station, are truly beautiful:

I did not know myself as I see me now,
I wonder whether He is me or I am Him?
This is the point where lovers lose themselves;
I have burnt away, so give me water!

This feeling experienced by those still on the journey may sometimes cause confusion. For this reason, those who do not lead their lives in strict accordance with the Qur’an and the Sunna and who do not feed their subconscious with the lights that emanate from the sun of Prophethood, upon him be peace and blessings, may be deceived through the influence of these feelings and experiences. Such deception may lead them to utter words of pride incompatible with the rules of Shari‘a, words that are irreconcilable with selfpossession.

Stupor (Hayman) is used to denote one whose thirst is deepened by drinking, not quenched or satisfied, and also one who is mad with passionate love.
In Islamic Sufism, stupor means that an initiate is deeply in love with God, and therefore loses selfcontrol in great ecstasy, drowning in wonder, appreciation, and spiritual pleasures under the influence of the surprising Divine gifts and manifestations that pervade the heart during the journey to God. Since there are no explicit statements in the Qur’an and the Sunna concerning stupor, many exacting scholars have tended to see it, like astonishment, as a spiritual state rather than a station, something transient rather than lasting. Although some have attempted to relate it to the verse (7:143), Moses fell down in a faint (as if struck by lightning), it is evident that the situation of a Messenger receiving Divine Revelation cannot be reconciled with a faint. So, I feel that we should approach Moses’ falling down in a faint on Mount Sinai as his conscious astonishment and shock, an attitude that he felt was fitting for him in the face of God’s partial manifestation of His Majesty in all Its transcendence and above all corporeality.

Like astonishment, stupor can also be analyzed in three categories:
When initiates, aware of their helplessness, poverty and worthlessness before God, are favored with Divine gifts far beyond their capacity during the first stages of their journey, then they—like Prophet Job, who entreated God, saying, “I cannot be indifferent to any of Your favors,”30 —joyfully desire more and more gifts. Such an attitude, when observed in those who are on the way, is characteristic of those in the first stages.
In the face of abundant gifts granted in advance in response to the sincerity of the initiate and his or her virtue that God knows that he or she will acquire in the future, the initiate renews him or herself in perception, spirit, and will, and observes with deep pleasure the wonders and marvels, whose doors have been half opened. In the mood expressed in the verse (66:8), Our Lord, complete our light for us!, the person, with great determination and spiritual tension, longs for and expects what lies beyond the favors already granted. The couplet of Gedai,

I have dipped my finger into the honey of love;
Give me some water!

very beautifully expresses this degree of stupor.

Initiates attain a state where they feel they are standing on the same point as their sight reaches and careful about where they put their feet, and they begin to observe the universe from the horizon of annihilation and disappearance. They reach the point where nothing other than God exists any more for them and they feel their existence annihilated in God’s Existence, which they experience every moment with a new manifestation of Him. They acquire an unshakable certainty that God always sees them, that certainty being a gift of recompense for reaching the highest point of excellence, and they overflow with the yearning and zeal to see Him.

We should mention here that all these favors come in proportion to the strength of belief, and as long as the initiates can maintain their relation with God from the heart and continue to lead their life in utmost loyalty to Him. This depends on strictly following the master of the creatures, upon him be peace and blessings. Any extraordinariness which arises in a state where one does not feel perfect attachment and devotion to him, is likely in most cases to be deceptive. Those seeking the gifts of the Almighty must certainly enter the circle of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, and the lovers of the Almighty’s light must conform to the rhythm of that circle.

O God! I ask You for useful knowledge, and seek refuge in You from any knowledge of no use; and I ask You for acceptable action. And bestow blessings and peace on our master Muhammad, and on his Family and Companions, all of them.