The Sufi way of poverty involves severing relationships with all that is other than the Eternally Besought-of-All, and depending only on Him to meet one’s needs. For this reason, the more detached one is from whatever is worldly and temporary and the more annihilated one is in depending on the Divine Attributes and Essence, the more one has attained poverty and can repeat the saying of the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings: Poverty is my pride.^[1]

As stated in a blessed saying, when poverty becomes a dimension of faith and submission, one no longer depends on the help, will, and power of that which is not God. Even if such a person has enough wealth to fill the whole world, as the world is subject to decay and exhaustion, one does not depend upon it, but rather turns to God with all of one’s strength and feeling, conscious of his or her essential poverty and helplessness. How beautiful is the following couplet of Nabi, a seventeenth-century Ottoman poet:

Do not look on poverty with contempt, O Nabi!
Poverty is the mirror where independence of others is reflected.

Rumi made another fine observation about poverty:

Poverty is the essence and all else is form;
poverty is a remedy and all else the disease.
The whole world consists in vanity and conceit;
but poverty is the real core and meaning of existence.

Even if a person cannot discern his or her essential weakness and poverty with the light of belief, it is a reality that he or she is weak, poor, and needy. God Almighty declares: O humankind! You are all poor before God and in absolute need of Him, whereas He is the All-Wealthy and Self-Sufficient, the All-Praiseworthy (35:15). As absolutely everybody needs His act of choice, will, and decree to come into existence, His Self-Subsistent and All-Subsisting Existence is also needed at every moment to survive.

An individual’s poverty and neediness before the Almighty is not a means of humiliation; rather, one’s increased awareness of one’s poverty engenders higher degrees of dignity, for such awareness before the Absolutely Wealthy One is richness itself.

The believer becomes aware of his or her non-dependence on others, and acquires the consciousness of independence to the extent that one feels in his or her conscience that God is the sole source of power and wealth. His help is sought, and it is therefore to Him that one turns. Even if such a person is materially poor, he or she feels no need for anything or anyone else.

The believer is convinced that whatever or whoever exists, including himself or herself, essentially belongs to the Almighty, for all elements of creation are only shadows of the shadow of His absolutely independent Existence. This degree of conviction of God’s Unity is called annihilation in God, two steps ahead of which is subsistence with God. Concerning this, Hayali, another Ottoman poet of the seventeenth-century, says:

Hayali, cover your naked body with the shawl of poverty;
This is their pride, they know not of satin or silk.

Poverty is the goal of saints, the (natural) state of purified scholars, and the most manifest sign of love of God. The Almighty has placed poverty in the hearts of His friends so that those hearts may prosper through it. Poverty is a key of light to open the eye of the heart to the inexhaustible treasuries of God. One who has this key is the richest person in the world, for poverty is the door to richness. Those who pass through this door reach in their conscience the infinite treasuries of the Owner of all property and discover that poverty is identical with the real richness. For this reason we can say, as Junayd al-Baghdadi did:

Richness is no more than the final, perfect degree of poverty.^[2]

When one is perfectly conscious of one’s essential poverty before God and one’s absolute dependence on Him, one is absolutely rich, for such a person no longer feels any need. This is what must be meant by the famous saying: The real richness is the richness of the heart. When one has attained this degree of richness, it is as if he or she has found a credit card that is valid everywhere. One who has such mysterious capital can be considered neither poor nor powerless. This is what is described in the following lines:

His is power, by which we are powerful.
We are well-known by His Name or fame.
We go beyond peaks and continue our way;
we overcome all difficulties with ease.
We possess nothing worldly, but are absolutely rich,
and are dignified and respectable with His Dignity.
We follow the way of reflection, so
whatever exists is a source of the knowledge of God for us.^[3]

^[1] al-‘Ajluni, Kashfu’l-Khafa’, 2:87.

^[2] al-Qushayri, ar-Risala, 273.

^[3] M. Fethullah Gülen, Kırık Mızrap (Broken Plectrum), 38–39.

Insaf is half of religion

The term insaf, which sometimes denotes righteousness, fairness, justice or never deviating from truth, is the term for not violating others’ rights while claiming your own, even wishing what you wish for yourself for others as well and giving priority to them if need be, and being balanced at doing the right thing by refraining from extreme behavior.

God’s Messenger counted insaf among the three basic components of good character. He stated that three things are originated by one’s faith: “Not giving up insaf despite the urges of the carnal self, promoting greeting, and spending in God’s way even during financial straits.” Another beautiful phrase-even though it is not a hadith-reflecting his views about right and justice is “insaf is half of religion.”

When we evaluate a matter in a certain fashion according to our own logic and reasoning, we might take our personal considerations as a basis and view the issue from the perspective of our carnal selves and corporeality. When doing that, we may be mostly mistaken, make wrong judgments and think ourselves to be definitely right. In such a case-even though our personal feelings, thoughts, inclinations and wishes are different-siding with the right as soon as we recognize the truth and taking a stance in spite of our ego is an expression of insaf. Being respectful toward the requirements of faith all the time, blending our morality with righteousness, always being in pursuit of truth, and, in spite of the pressure of carnal inclinations, listening to the voice of the conscience and championing the right is a requirement of having insaf.

A human being without insaf is cruel and ruthless; such people use every opportunity to have an ill opinion of others, ignore their tens of good deeds for a single evil one and always fail to cherish a good opinion. Even though the Islamic moral code counsels having insaf and holding a good opinion, a person without insaf takes unfairness and ill opinion as a basis. Therefore, they become trapped by one bad apple and conclude that the entire orchard is barren and putrid. As a matter of fact a damaged banknote in the state treasury does not lessen the reserves, but in the sight of one who lacks insaf-a bad trait which we can compare to the damaged note-the riches of being human can turn into an object of no value.

A single mistake should not nullify many good deeds

Actually, given that a good deed is counted tenfold and a misdeed only once in the sight of God, one mistake should not be allowed to evoke ill feelings toward a person in spite of his or her many good deeds. Believers who have insaf should always try to think positively and recognize someone’s good side; they should not totally condemn a person because of one mistake. They should even consider one of a person’s good deeds to compensate for all of his or her misdeeds. For instance, when a person devoted to a righteous cause considers one of his fellow friends, he should say, “Such and such person committed this misdeed, but I cannot overlook his loyalty to serving in the way of God,” and thereby be very faithful toward his companion and always do the decent thing and hold the truth dear. Nevertheless, an event narrated in the books of hadith underlines a very important point about this issue: A Companion of the Prophet who was not very conscious about drinks and could not break his addiction would sometimes get intoxicated and be rebuked by God’s Messenger each time. The same Companion was one day brought to the presence of God’s Messenger for the same offense. One of those present said, “O God, curse this man! He is being punished for the same offense for so many times but still does not behave himself.” On hearing this, God’s Messenger said, “Do not curse him. I swear by God that he loves God and His Messenger from the heart!” Then he told them to pray for him saying, “O God, grant mercy to him and forgive his faults.”

Given that this Companion’s sincerity is appreciated so much, we can better picture what it brings to a person to serve in the way of God and to strive for His name to be engraved in hearts. Thus, we can make a well-placed evaluation of the attitude we are to take in the face of that person’s faults and mistakes.

Commitment to the right and wishing to hold the truth dear

The worst example of lack of insaf in our time is seen in criticism which is based upon grudge, guile, and pride. In fact, true criticism, which means analyzing the good or bad sides of somebody or something, making a comparison between what is and what should be, is a means of walking toward the ideal.

Making constructive criticisms and being open to criticism is a scholarly principle. However, this should be done within a certain manner and form. After all, the person who criticizes should have insaf, he or she should speak not out of personal considerations but in the name of God’s good pleasure and have no intention other than goodness. The drive for criticism should arise from striving toward the right and a wish to clarify the truth. A critic with insaf should only hold the aim of unearthing the truth. Otherwise, criticism without insaf-which serves pride and beguilement-destroys the truth and leads to unfairness and wrong.

As you know, we can define a debate as the act of having an exchange of views in order to clarify a truth, brainstorming within certain rules and principles, cooperative thinking, mutual discussion, and presenting decently expressed personal considerations to collective reasoning. Unfortunately, in almost all the gatherings held under the name of debate in our time, we witness lack of insaf in the form of criticism. Today, almost everyone who joins the quarrels at the platforms of dispute, sophistry, and demagogy-what we can call verbal duels-has certain presumptions and the debaters usually strive to make the opposite side accept their own views rather than clarifying a truth. To the degree that they spend utmost effort in this matter-sometimes they engage in a play on words or play of logic, or resort to unbecoming acts like provoking their opponents or silencing and embarrassing them-they always remain closed to the truth. Rather than revealing truths, they turn their words into dialectics by opposing the expressions of thought and philosophy of the other side, and the debaters act with the intentions of defeating, humiliating, and silencing one another. In fact, such an argument can never be called a true debate; it seems to me like a quarrel between mentally disabled ones. Unfortunately, nowadays assemblies of debate have become grounds of dialectics.

The only remedy for this disease is not to give up insaf, always to do the decent thing, to hold the truth dear and never sacrifice it for the sake of anything else. Every party to a discussion should reproach their own ego and not favor themselves but the person or people they address. Let alone humiliating the other party, when a person who proves right makes the other self-conscious, he or she should be regarded as being disrespectful to human values.

As Said Nursi suggests, the attitudes at a decent scholarly debate based on the principle of insaf are to be evaluated as follows: if a person asserts a certain opinion, proves right, and becomes happy about it, that person lacks insaf because what matters is not proving right but discovering the right. A person who is happy about both proving right and the opposite site being wrong loses. That is, the person who proves right does not learn anything new or benefit from the debate. Moreover he or she may be taken by pride and suffer further loss. However, if the opposite side proves to be right-without any possibility of loss-the person benefits by learning something new and is freed from pride as well. So a righteous person with insaf rejects his or her own ego for the sake of the truth; even if he or she sees the truth in the hands of the opponent, he or she accepts it anyway with good consent and supports the other.

Do we really have insaf?

On the other hand, concerning the followers of other faiths or philosophies one sometimes cannot help but say, “I wish these people had some insaf, and they would look at the Qur’an and the Prophet’s message accordingly! Insaf might open their eyes as well and be a means for them to draw different conclusions. I wish they could be freed from their biases for a moment and could consider Islam with insaf.” With such reflections in mind, we invite people to hold insaf. But are we taking into account what falls to our part while expecting insaf from them? I wonder to what degree we have been able to present the right and truth to them. Have we been able to be credible and inspire trust? Have we been able to represent the truth properly so as to invoke insaf in them?

Muslims have moved to many different countries of the world and their population has reached a considerable level in certain places but their influence has not been proportionate to their number, because they have worked for others mostly with worldly concerns. As masters do not care for their slaves, they did not listen to Muslims’ words; they usually used Muslims like slaves and sought ways of disposing of them when they had profited from them. In this respect, even though Muslims have gone to many different lands, we cannot consider the message of Islam to have reached the people of those lands. Particularly at a time when materialism and naturalism prevail, people who are accustomed to looking at things and events with a materialist perspective cannot be said to have met the logic of Islam and the Qur’an. Therefore-with the exception of the body of tyrants who dye the world in blood and oppress the weak-the people from whom we expect insaf can in many respects be regarded as equivalent to the people of the Interregnum Period.² Then isn’t it we who should have insaf in the first place? For not having been able to go to all corners of the world and present a credible type of behavior, stance, and example, for not being able to represent the truths of the Qur’an-which are truly beautiful by objective criteria-shouldn’t we first question ourselves? If people are saying, ”What we are being told is so good, but we haven’t seen any community with these truths ingrained in their life. We haven’t witnessed any people who have been adorned with those laudable virtues. We have found no paragons of virtue who live with meticulous sensitivity. Where are the people who are completely closed to sins and are determined to remain so? Where are the living examples of true believers? We cannot believe without seeing them!”, if they are saying this and they voice this on Judgment Day, how can we give an answer before God? In this respect, when we talk about insaf and call others to be fair, we should not forget that we need a vision to trigger the feeling of insaf within ourselves.

An example from the Prophet to evoke the feeling of insaf

Did not those who saw the Pride of Humanity say, “We haven’t witnessed any lies from you so far”? Did they not admit the truth in saying, “We never doubted your being a truthful and trustworthy person”?… Truly, the noble and virtuous stance of God’s Messenger in a way became a reference for his addressees to pay attention to the Qur’an, listen to the message of Islam, and listen to the truthful Prophet. The unique example of the perfect guide evoked the feeling of insaf in consciences.

Today as well, what has an influence on hearts and brings people to insaf is “representation.” Few people say, “I found the truth after I heard such and such words.” But there are many people who say, “I embraced faith after seeing this sincere example of such and such true believer.” Likewise, the words which become a means for others’ faith are always fruits of what the heart voices and what our actions reflect. For conveying the message finds its true value through genuine representation.

The case of an American professor is one of hundreds of examples proving the power of proper representation: This person, who was an expert on the history of religion, visited Urfa, southeastern Turkey. He was attending a charity meeting of a group of chivalrous souls. As they were all seated around a table, he briefly spoke with the person beside him. In the conversation, the professor mentioned that he had just returned from Southeast Asia. On hearing this, his poor neighbor whispered humbly, “I support a school in Cambodia.” The professor described that devoted man with the following words: “He looked poor. He was modest; however-surprisingly-he was giving nearly all his surplus income for a school he will probably never see in this life. Cambodian children were being educated thanks to the sacrifices including his own and he was happy beyond expression.” The professor said that he did not need any further proof about the sincerity of those devoted ones.

That professor and others like him are not unaware of the Qur’an; however, what makes an impact on them is representation. Again, there is someone I know who read books on Islam for almost ten years with no significant change in his life. One day, he visited one of our friends and heard that sincere person saying God’s name with his every act; he was such a devout believer that even though he spoke very little, his acts, his looks, and the way he prostrates himself in prayer reflect the Almighty. The condition of that devoted person affected his guest very much, who then saw that the principles he had read about in books were built on a sound basis and that things fit in their place; he was then able to say, “These acts derive from such and such essential disciplines.”

In this respect as we invite representatives of different understandings to insaf, the necessity of a degree of exemplary representation to evoke insaf in them should not be ignored. Showing the truth through exemplary representation to the people whom we expect to be righteous is a requirement of holding insaf. We can even say that the sole duty of the volunteers who have dispersed to every corner of the world today is an exemplary representation to evoke the feeling of insaf by the language of love.

Notes

1. In Islam, people have a responsibility to their Creator, and to all people including themselves, and the entire creation.
2. After Jesus, people failed to keep up his original message from God and deified him instead. From then on until the Prophet Muhammad came-the Interregnum Period-there was no undistorted religion for people to follow. Therefore, God will not hold them responsible in the day of Judgment.

A believer takes all the divine blessings he or she is honored with as an expression of God’s infinite Mercy. Our merits, gifts, and the favors granted to us are all roses from His divine garden. When we ponder upon them, we begin to grasp that we derive not from ourselves, but from His divine presence. He is the real actor behind all that we do. Ignoring this fact should be viewed as daring to claim partnership with Him. Consider the verses, “It is God who has created you and all that you do”;1 and “You cannot will unless God wills.”2 Consider the verses next to the hadith “Whatever God wishes, happens, and whatever God wishes not to happen, does not.”3 People shaped by these criteria do not consider many blessings granted by God to be products of their own achievements; they do not take personal pride in those things they have done.

Favors from God are not supposed to lead us to pride, boasting, or arrogance, but rather, to thanksgiving, praise, and reliance in God. One can feel in his or her conscience that serving in the way of God is a divine favor not only for those who serve, but also for those whom the divine message is conveyed.

At this point, I would like to relate one of my memories. Once I happened to visit Australia and I saw that some of our people who shared the same thoughts and feelings had planned to open up a dormitory and invited some statesmen to the opening. They requested me to make a speech. Although uncomfortable, I had to make a short speech at the podium. After I finished, they introduced me to these statesmen. At that moment, I felt a bit dizzy, and then I felt sorry for them. I spoke to myself, “O Lord, I wish people showed interest in them, not in me, so that I did not see them feel alienated like that. I wish they did not feel that this dorm did not belong to them. I wish I was in their shoes, and that they were in mine.” I bent twofold with the feeling. Although we have some ambitions as a natural outcome of human nature, I wish all believers had such thoughts and feelings. So, stop feeling contempt for others, believers should see others as better and more virtuous than themselves.

In addition, apparent success at serving in the way of God is not the only indication of being virtuous in God’s sight. Sometimes, being a means to guide a single person to truth can be as good as guiding thousands, or as charitable as establishing thousands of institutions. In the words of Said Nursi “A few good deeds done for the sincere sake of God is preferable to numerous insincere deeds.”4 In this respect, others may seem to have failed in outward appearance, but in terms of the inner dimension, it is possible that their position could be far better. In this respect, we must definitely see others as better than ourselves, know them as better, and applaud everybody’s deeds for the sake of God.

On the other hand, a believer’s understanding to serve in the way of God does not let him take pride in himself. The great scholar Nursi never claimed that his genius was a product of personal insight: “Do not say: ‘I am an object of Divine manifestations. One who receives and reflects Divine beauty becomes beautiful.’ That beauty has not assumed a perpetual form in you, and so you may reflect it for only a short time…”5 So all the beauties manifested in us completely belong to the Creator, the source of all beauties. Again, he presents a different perspective on the matter by saying: “O my arrogant carnal soul. Do not be proud of your services to God’s religion. As stated in a Prophetic Tradition, God may strengthen this religion by means of a dissolute person. You are not pure, so regard yourself as that dissolute person.”6 If great figures such as Said Nursi, people whom God enabled to be of great service, see themselves as humble in their endeavors, then how can we illustrate pride in ours? I leave it to your considerations. We had better say:

This is not what becomes to a slave like me,
Why have I been granted so generously?
(M. Lutfi Effendi of Alvar)

For people of discernment, talking about “us” is the least degree of associating partners with God; and saying “He” expresses refraining from it. When we go to bed, get up, sit down, think, open or close our eyes…in other words, in every moment of our life we should keep saying “He,” and at every instant we should keep up the awareness that everything and everyone comes from Him.

Notes

1. Saffat 37:96
2. Insan 76:30
3. Abu Dawud, Adab, 100.
4. Nursi, Said. The Flashes Collection, 17th Flash, 13th note of the 3rd matter.
5. Nursi, Said. The Words, 18th Word, First point.
6. ibid, 26th Word, the fourth topic’s conclusion.

Life in Utopia

In More’s classless society, everyone does the same work, is equal, has the same rights, and must work at least 6 hours every day at whatever they do best. As Utopia is an agricultural society, all people work the land. This creates the same conditions for everyone and ensures ample supplies to suppress the animal fear of want.

All clothing is plain, simple, and designed for utility and practicality. Finer material would give no better protection from the cold or make people appear better dressed. To prevent ostentation, Utopians exchange homes every 10 years and eat in mess halls. Hereditary distinctions are unknown, for children move from household to household, depending on which skill they want to learn. Since there is little distinction in occupation, dress, lodging, riches, or use of free time, pride is almost non-existent.

Utopia’s collective agriculture displays the division of labor. Everyone learns the rudiments of agriculture to better serve the common good. “No one will have to do this hard work against his will for more than two years, but many of them ask to stay longer because they take a natural delight in farm life.”(1) This ensures Utopia’s food supply and gives everyone access to civilized life. If an excessive surplus is produced, a holiday is declared so that no one works without purpose.

Utopia’s separate groups (e.g., magistrates and the prince, priests and intellectuals) are not a social or economic class. The syphogrants and the prince are elected autocrats. Their power derives from-and can be removed by-the people. Specialists are not isolated, but rather leaders in an institution in which all can participate. Learning is valued and respected as a means of fully developing one’s specific capacities, not as an indication of social standing.

Why Is Utopia Desirable?

One of More’s reasons for suggesting a Utopia was to end exploitation. More was most likely revolted by the luxury of sixteenth-century Europe’s ruling class, which he saw as a result of the peasantry’s impoverishment. If poverty were to be excluded from Utopia, luxury must suffer the same fate. More saw no benefit to the common good if peasant labor benefited only a very small minority.

As a classless society cannot have pride, Utopians consider it a social vice and pass this view on to their children at an early age. As Hythloday says: “Men and animals alike are greedy and rapacious from fear of want. Only human pride glories in surpassing others in conspicuous consumption. For this kind of vice there is no room whatsoever in the Utopian way of life.”(2) Lack of pride rids Utopia of class and potential social discord, for a commonwealth without pride is like a single united family.

An even division of labor and a lack of pride clears the way for life’s pleasures. There can be no better good than striving for the maximum happiness of all, at the least cost or disadvantage to oneself and society. More believes that money, a symbolic capital that people desire, is the problem, and so Utopia has no money or capital. Thus freed from worrying about food, bills, and other necessities, they enjoy such physical pleasures as fine dining, eating, drinking, and merrymaking (though without alcohol). There is music, a pleasure to the mind and body. For similar reasons, each house has a large garden into which much love and leisure time goes. Their desire to have the best garden, the most pleasing sanctuary, is perhaps the only competition among families.

Pride is replaced by spiritual fulfillment. They pursue philosophy and religion in their quest for virtue and contemplation of the truth, respectively. Their society’s primary virtue is natural reason: the reasons for humanity’s creation. For them, living according to nature is to be humanitarian. More mentions this: “As nature bids us mutually to make our lives merry and delightful, so she also bids again and again not to destroy or diminish other people’s pleasure in seeking our own.”(3)

Religion gives great satisfaction to most Utopians. This is unique to More, for neither Plato nor Marx accept religion. Utopia’s king decreed that all citizens should believe in at least two things: the soul’s immortality and the existence of rewards and punishments in the next life. In religion, Utopians find peace and contemplation of the truth. As education is the most efficient way to overcome corruption and crime, it is entrusted to priests. As a result, few laws are needed and existing ones require only the most obvious and easiest interpretation.

Utopia’s government consists of magistrates and a prince who handle the country’s affairs. This does not contradict communism, as government’s sole purpose is to maintain the status quo and prevent idleness. The government is designed in the most responsible way. All matters must be considered for a day and cannot be passed without 3 days of contemplation. It is a capital offense to consult together on public affairs outside the senate or the people’s assembly. Raphael says: “They take care to deliberate wisely rather than speedily … considering the public good.”(4)

Conclusion

More’s Utopia has a major failing: it is static and unchanging, instead of evolving, and allows no place for growth and development. Thus only a miracle or a prince gifted with a measure of divine power could bring it into existence. More understood that his Utopia was not a possible solution, but had no idea of the historical process that might lead to a future socialism.

Utopia is only put forward so that readers will understand that Utopian values are really the fundamental values of human nature, and that the world is imperfect. As Hythloday says at the end: “I must confess that there are many things in the Utopian Commonwealth that I wish rather than expect to see among our citizens.”(5)

More does not call for a revolution, nor is he a leader of the proletariat who wants to overthrow the bourgeoisie. Instead, More is like his Utopians, simply contemplating what would be nice, a daydream maybe. While More’s Utopia anticipates the characteristics of a modern classless society, he proposes no means by which to obtain this blissful paradise.

Footnotes

1. Thomas More, Utopia, ed./trans. H.V.S. Ogden (Illinois: ARM, 1949), 29.
2. Ibid., 38.
3. Ibid., 48.
4. Ibid., 33.
5. Ibid., 83.

Yes, illness utters this warning to us: “Your body is not composed of stone and iron, but of various materials that are always disposed to parting. Leave your pride, understand your impotence, recognize your Owner, know your duties, learn why you came into this world!” It declares this secretly in the heart’s ear.

Moreover, since the pleasures and enjoyment of this world do not continue, particularly if they are illicit, they are fleeting, full of pain, and sinful. Do not weep on the pretext of illness because you have lost those pleasures. On the contrary, think of the aspects of worship and reward in the Hereafter to be found in illness, and try to receive pleasure from those.