Discipline means the directions and prohibitions, as well as the rational, ethical and spiritual training one must abide by. It is the “spirit of order” one must obtain to become a balanced person. A disciplined person is thus one who lives within the parameters of certain rules and principles and one who is sensitive to order and regulations. As a matter of fact, the life of a believer should always be in harmony. They should always know what to do and when they should do it, what activities they should engage in beforehand and they should act accordingly. Apart from organizing a program and creating a time frame in which to perform certain activities, they should not think: “I wonder what I should do now?” They should determine their duties and responsibilities towards their Creator, to other people and to themselves, being aware all the time of when they should perform these acts in an organized predetermined manner, and always displaying exemplary order and structure. In fact, prescribed prayers provide us with a timetable to organize our time. Believers map out their time frame saying, “after the noon prayer (zuhr) . . . before the evening prayer (maghrib),” thus ensuring that they do not waste one moment of time.

Those who know the value of time and realize that their life is a blessing which should be utilized properly ensure that all aspects of their lives, from sleeping to waking, from eating to drinking, are under control. They do not neglect matters or procrastinate. They are well aware of the fact that both people and organizations are the most productive when they are organized well. Therefore, Ramadan is a response to the carnal desires for eating, drinking, sleeping, etc, and in this way it instills discipline into our lives, ensuring that these needs are met according to our basic requirements and within the parameters of gratitude. Through seeking refuge in the spiritual atmosphere of the heart and soul against one’s carnal desires and through strengthening the will by setting into motion the conscience, Ramadan teaches us that we must maintain this discipline.

Ramadan ensures that the desire to eat and drink, which can be a true weak spot for some, is constrained and under control. It teaches us discipline in eating. Of course, we need to eat and drink to live, however, not only is it unhealthy for the body to eat and drink without taking into account basic principles of nutrition; it is also a catastrophe if the stomach is allowed to dominate the heart and soul, causing a person to plummet into the pits of material and carnal desires. Indeed, to eat in an unregulated manner in which the stomach is always full is not only harmful to the body, it is also an act not condoned by God. The fasting that is carried out during Ramadan serves to limit the times for the intake of food, thus avoiding an overloading of the stomach, as well as avoiding those things that are harmful to both the body and soul; in addition one is able to ensure that one always stays within the parameters of what is permitted. People who undergo the Ramadan gain a disciplined spirit.

Ramadan brings to each person who is able to benefit from it the status of a loyal servant. Each believer who fasts and who is able to discover the hidden meaning will not only be awarded with God’s blessing, but will also be loyal and virtuous in their dealings with their community. It will not be enough for them just to worship at certain times, but they will walk towards the horizon of integrity by making use of their whole day with this consciousness, living as if in worship each moment. When they are able to free themselves from worldly and material inclinations, the objective of becoming a symbol of truth and devotion to God will appear before them. With the purpose of achieving this aim, they, in the words of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, will start to think for the sake of God, speak for the sake of God, love for the sake of God, aiming to always be surrounded by God’s approval; each day this intention brings them closer to success, and one day they become a person of loyaltyand devotion.

In fact, fasting is the best indication of loyalty as it is a concurrence between the Creator and created. The servant shows that they are able to give up certain things during certain times and they show their devotion through such restrain. In return, God declares that He will give the reward for such a display of loyalty. A person who is loyal to God in time is elevated to the status of “a monument of loyalty” in their personal and social life. With these feelings, they care for their family and relatives (sila-i rahim); they reach out to all in need; they never forgo charity (zakat); their thirst for giving alms is never insatiable (sadaqa). For Muslims, one of the important aspects of the relationship with the Creator is reading the Qur’an and praying to God, seeking refuge in Him at all times. It is unfortunate that often it is only during Ramadan that the Qur’an is liberated from the carved chests and embroidered silk cases, becoming a sweet syrup for the tongue and heart. This holy month puts the flavor of the Qur’an into the mouth and instills in people the discipline of the daily religious tasks. Those whose lives with all dimensions become regulated in Ramadan-eating, sleeping, praying, etc.- should ensure that they are able to protect and continue the worship and religious obligations that they fulfilled for the entire month in an orderly fashion after Ramadan has finished. For example, those believers who interrupt their sleep during the month to benefit from the blessings of predawn meal (sahur) and who have a reunion with their prayer mat should consider these thirty nights as a stepping stone that enables them to see each night of the year as a night of reunion, and enlighten their nights with a few cycles of prayer (tahajjud).

Disciplined people predetermine how they shall live and act; they carve a path for themselves with certain principles and proceed carefully. Islam has already determined the color, shape and design of our actions. For example, belief in God and His Prophet is the most important principle. This principle acts as a corner Stone in shaping our behavioral traits. We are responsible to advocate for God and the Prophet, who is a guide to all humanity. It is our duty to teach our religion. Accordingly, we try to conquer hearts and we try to represent Islam, which means being good to others, through our own actions that reflect this goodness. We mingle with others who have been adorned with the actions that are shaped by our religion and introduce them to our values. Apart from actions that have been religiously forbidden, we use all means necessary to explain to others the ideals to which we have devoted ourselves, trying to eliminate all the obstacles that stand between them and the truths of faith. At the same time, we distinguish between being a disciplined person and being bound by regulations that lead to inflexibility; we take into account the circumstances which we find ourselves in at the same time as safeguarding our cultural realities and enlightening those around us in an appropriate manner. If we aim to be bestowed with the good pleasure of God and we have devoted ourselves to communicate Him to humanity, then regardless of conditions in which we find ourselves in, we will be far from inactivity, we will not fall weak, and we will not avoid our responsibility. “Let the spring come, the flowers blossom, the nightingales sing, and then I will also sing” is not a thought that would enter the mind of a disciplined person. They will sing in the winter and in the summer and serenade the roses in the spring and autumn. They find a tune for each season and time and never refrain from chanting these truths. Of course, this supremacy of a heart and spirit that has been disciplined in this way-unless there is benevolence endowed by God-cannot be achieved at once. To reach such a horizon requires a long time and serious commitment. But it is enough to say that Ramadan is a beginning and that it is a fruitful time to sow these virtues so that they may be reaped later.

Actually, for those who believe, a person’s life is Ramadan, adolescence is when the fasting begins, and death is the breaking of the fast. One month of Ramadan is like a rehearsal for a fast that will last a life time. Those who know how to continue to enjoy the virtues gained in this month are aware that the remuneration of staying thirsty and hungry in this world will come to them when they break the fast with God’s words “My servants, I used to see you off color, with your eyes and cheeks sunken and you used to endure this for Me. Eat and drink to your hearts’ content for all that you sent ahead in advance in days past.”¹

Note

1. Haqqah 69:24.

Once upon a time, there are two brothers who set off on a long journey together. One is self-indulgent and clever. The other is self-disciplined and wise. After a while they come to a fork in their road where they see a wise old man. They ask him which way to take. He tells them that the right fork requires obligatory observance of the law which governs both roads, but that this burden of observance brings with it a certain security and happiness; while the left fork promises a certain kind of freedom it represents also certain danger and distress. Now the choice is yours, says the old man.

On hearing this, the well-disciplined brother, by relying on God, takes the right fork saying that he accepts dependence on law and order. The other brother takes the left fork just for the sake of freedom. Seemingly, he is comfortable but in truth he feels no tranquillity inside. He reaches a desert. Suddenly he hears the terrible sound of a beast, about to attack him. He runs away and, happening to come across one, jumps down a dried well which is sixty metres deep. Half-way down, he tumbles upon some branches of a tree and grabs on to these to save himself from falling further. He also notices that the tree protruding from the wall of the well has two forks. He hangs down from the branches. Meanwhile, two mice, one white and the other black, are gnawing away at the two roots. The man looks up and sees that the beast is still there. He looks down and there is a horrible dragon almost at his feet, with its large mouth gaping to receive. Having time to do so, the man looks more closely at the wall of the well and notices that it is all covered with labouring insects. He looks again at the tree. It is actually a fig tree but it is a miracle of a tree in that it has a great variety of fruits growing on it, such as walnuts and pomegranates.

There, hanging in the well, he cannot understand that all that has happened to him is in any way special or meaningful, that the scene and the events upon it cannot be merely coincidental. That there should be, must be, some secret to it all, that behind the scene and the events there must stand an arranger and doer of all-none of this, alas, even occurs to him.

Now although this man is well aware of the danger all around him, he gets used to his state of suspense, more or less, and pretends to himself that he is in a garden, having a nice time, eating all kinds of fruits for free but which, it will turn out, are poisonous and harmful to him to consume in this way.

In some of the sacred sayings, God addresses mankind. The meaning of one of those sayings is: I will treat my servant in the way he thinks of Me. This wretched man in the well sees every event that befalls him as no more than itself, as having no further weight or significance and, for him, so it is. He does not die but he does not live well either. He persists merely in an agony of suspense.

Let us now recall the other brother. He is the wiser of the two and, because well-disciplined, not suffering anxieties. He always thinks of the good; affirms the law, and feels himself to be secure and free within it. Whenever, on his journey, he enters a garden and comes across ruined or ugly things in it, he is able to turn his mind to that which is good and beautiful. His brother cannot and does not do the same; he has concerned himself with evil and therefore cannot find ease in such a garden. The wise one lives according to the saying: Take the good not the evil. He is therefore generally happy with everything.

On his way he too reaches a desert, just as his brother did, and the same beast shows up. He too is afraid but not as much as his brother, because he is sure that the beast must be in the service of a certain master. This disciplined man also jumps down a well that happens to be there and, half-way down, catches hold of the branches of a little tree. He too notices the pair of mice gnawing at the two roots of the tree. Looking down, he sees the dragon and, up above, the beast still waiting for him. Just like his brother, he finds this suspense a strange situation to be in. But because he is wise and self-disciplined, he infers that all these strange happenings are arranged by someone, and constitute a sign. He thinks he is not alone and that he is being watched and examined by someone. He understands that he is being directed and guided in some way.

He is curious about the one who arranged all these events and asks: Who is it that desires to make me know him? Even in his curiosity he is patient and self-disciplined, and so this curiosity changes into a sort of love for Him who arranges all these events. And this love causes him a desire to open the secret sign of these events and that desire drives him to be approved by the owner of the sign.

He observes that the tree from which he is suspended is a fig tree but one that bears almost every kind of fruit. He is no longer afraid; he understands that this tree is actually a sort of catalogue of samples of the fruits the owner has. Otherwise, one tree would not bear so great a variety of fruits as this one does. He desires more earnestly and the key to the secret is inspired in him. He declares:

Oh Owner of all this scene and these events, I am your servant and I desire your approval and I desire to know you.

Following this prayer, the wall of the well changes into a door to a wonderful garden. The dragon and the beast become two servants inviting him in. The beast even changes into a horse for him to ride on.

Now, let us compare the positions of these two brothers and see how good brings with it good and evil causes evil:

The unfortunate traveller who took the left way, the way of self-trust and self-willed freedom, is about to fall into the mouth of the dragon; he is continually anxious. He suffers loneliness and considers himself a prisoner facing the attacks of wild beasts. Furthermore, he adds more to this distress, eating apparently delicious but actually poisonous fruits which are only presented as samples, not intended to be consumed for their own sake. This unfortunate one changes his day into darkness; he himself does injustice, changing his situation into a hell-like one.

In contrast, the traveller who took the right way is invited to a fruitful garden with servants all .around him. He studies every strange incident in awe, and enjoys himself. He does not eat up the fruits on the fig tree, only samples them, curious as to why they should be there at all-which is how they are intended to be used.

The other is just like a man who, by not being content with what has been served for him and intoxicating himself with alcoholic drink, denies his favoured situation in a summer garden surrounded by friends, and instead imagines himself to be among wild beasts in winter time, and complains thereof. He does himself injustice and deserves no mercy. The brother who took the right way, the way that accepts trustingly what is given and observes the law, sees and accepts the whole reality and for him it is beautiful. In doing this he respects the One who possesses reality, and that is why this brother is deserving of mercy. By this we may understand, at least in part, the meaning of the Qur’anic phrase: Know that evil is from yourself but goodness is from God.

When we reflect upon the differences between the two brothers we see that the inner-self of one prepared a kind of hell-like situation for him, corresponding to his own attitude to reality, whereas the other’s potential goodness, positive intention and good nature led him to a very favoured and happy situation.

Now, I say to my own inner-self as well as to the inner-self of anyone who has read thus far:

If you desire to be like the luckier of the two brothers, follow the guidance of the Qur’an. The details of the allegory could be explained at very great length, but the gist of it, roughly, is this:

One of the brothers is a believer who is good-hearted and the other is a blasphemous unbeliever. Of two ways the one on the right is the way of the Qur’an and faith, whereas the other is the way of unbelief and heresy. The garden on the way is human society and civilization which has in it both good and evil, cleanliness and pollution. The wise one is he who acts according to the law of this road and so travels peacefully.

The desert in the story is the earth, and the beast who turns up unawares is death. The well is life and the body of man, and sixty metres in depth because that is our average life span. The tree in the well is life itself, the two mice gnawing its roots are day and night. The dragon in the well is the opening to the hereafter and, for a believer, becomes a door to the Garden. The insects on the walls of the well are the troubles people face on this earth. However, these troubles are but little warnings for a believer, to remind him of God. And the fruits on the tree, as we have already indicated, are samples from the blessings of the hereafter.

(There is only one tree in the well but there are various fruits on it. This shows the seal of divinity whose unique virtue is to create everything out of one thing and to change everything into one thing, to make various plants and fruits from one soil only; to create all living things from one drop of water; to make a simple skin for each species from a variety of foods, to nourish and sustain all alike living things and make all parts of body from a simple food.)

To return to the allegory, the sign shows the secret will and purpose of God in creating; this sign is opened with faith and there the key is:

God, there is no god save God. God, there is no god save Him.

For one of the brothers, the mouth of the dragon changes into a door to the Garden. For the other, as for all unbelievers, the grave is the door to a place of trouble, the belly of a dragon, whereas for believers it is the door to the eternal Garden which is the blessing of God for the faithful followers of the Qur’an.

The beast changes into an obedient servant. This means that, for unbelievers, death is a painful detachment from loved ones, a kind of imprisonment after leaving (for them) the paradise-like earth. For believers on the other hand, it is just like going forward to meet friends and companions, it is like going into their eternal home. It is for them a formal invitation to pass into the eternal gardens from the prison of the earth, a kind of retirement from the burden of life.

In sum, the one who chooses the transient life as his aim puts himself into hell even though he stays in what appears to him paradise on earth. By contrast, the one who aims at the eternal life will find peace and happiness in both worlds. Despite all troubles, he still thanks God and will patiently conclude his stay on the earth which, as he properly comes to understand, is merely a waiting room opening up to heaven.

R. Nur Collection (Eight Word)