Question: Oppression is everywhere and exists in almost every form. How should believers respond to oppression when they have to face it?

Oppression, at its most basic form, is a transgression of boundaries and a violation of others’ rights. Killing an ant is oppressive, for nobody is authorized to take an animal’s right to life unjustly. If it is human who is being unjustly treated then it is definitely a form of oppression of a much higher magnitude. As for the oppression committed against a collective group of people, that is an incomparably greater and more horrible misdeed.

Irrespective of its exact nature, believers are seriously warned not to oppress others. Otherwise, it will appear on the Day of Judgment as a manifold darkness that will suffocate and distress the one who oppresses (Bukhari, Mazalim 9; Muslim, Birr 56). Each act of oppression and injustice – be it against animals, people, or even God – will appear before that person as a separate trouble in the Afterlife.

Oppression, according to some insightful scholars, is among one of the obstacles that can prevent a person from embracing faith. While it is an obstruction to having belief in God, it is similarly a significant reason that causes believers to drift out of the realm of faith.

Preventing oppression

Given that oppression is evil to this degree in regard to how other people are treated, it definitely needs to be prevented. According to Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, everyone should try to prevent oppression depending upon their capability, power, and position be it by direct intervention or via verbal objection. In the event that a person cannot resist oppression physically or verbally, it is at least necessary to protest the oppressor in one’s heart (Sahih al-Muslim, Iman 78; Tirmidhi, fitan 11; Abu Dawud, salat 239). Likewise, it is a famous old adage that “(the) one who remains silent before oppression is a mute devil.”

Preventing oppression on a smaller scale is within the capability of individuals, but there are some forms of oppression that can only be prevented by the state. In this contemporary world when justice and democracy have wide – though not perfect – prevalence such oppressions are committed at degrees big enough that even states are not able to tackle them. Preventing those oppressions and successions of atrocities, by which people are swept away in floods of blood, families are shattered, children are orphaned, and spouses are widowed, can only be possible through the hands of certain international establishments and organizations. In this respect, those who remain silent before oppression while they have the power to stop it—be they individuals, a state, or an international establishment—in a way have a share in that oppression by turning a blind eye to it and not taking the preventive action that they could have, and they will be treated accordingly on the Day of Judgment.

As it is very important to take a stance against oppression and to prevent it, determining the correct strategy to follow while not making any mistakes with the method is no less important. People must reckon well from the beginning how they can prevent unfairness, be aware of their capabilities, and also must not exacerbate problems while attempting to prevent oppression. They must not commit evil by thinking that they are doing something good.

Nothing good can come from oppression

It is a gross delusion to think that one can reach any positive goal via oppression and injustice. While it is not possible to obtain any favorable outcome with oppression, it is not possible to reclaim one’s violated rights via oppression either. If people try to move themselves or their societies in a new direction, or try to reclaim the rights that they lost by means of oppression, then this will give way to new acts of oppression, violations of rights, and a shattered system of justice. If these demands are for rights to be upheld and for justice to prevail, then strict adherence to a righteous course is needed from beginning to end. Just as the end should be lawful, so should be the means and ways to that end.

We do not know exactly to what degree we can prevent any oppression and injustice in our time. What matters most is being on the path to setting things right and correcting previous misdeeds. The duties that befall the wayfarers of the righteous path are that they must always be representatives of what is right and truthful, open one’s heart to everyone, and also not respond to oppression and injustice committed in the same wrong way. To put this in the words of the Poet Nabi:

“Do not trouble anyone with oppression
Even if they did oppress you, you do not be unjust to them
Do not arrive at God’s door with complaints
As for those who oppressed you, leave them to the Divine.”

Be like Rumi

In many instances, we quote, with a little bit of boastful considerations, the names of masters such as Jalaluddin Rumi, Yunus Emre, Ahmad Yasawi, or Haji Baktash Wali and bring their tolerance to attention. It is easy to make mention of Rumi, but it is difficult to be like him. At a time when you make mention of Rumi, are you really able to open your arms for all people, even for those who insulted you? When they come upon you, do you seek ways to settle issues in a peaceful manner? Are you able to make those who bear hostility against you share the same peaceful considerations after a while? This is how you become a Rumi in the real sense.

Historians mention the following anecdote about the tolerance of Rumi: One day, a rude bigot accosted him and criticized his statements such as, “one of my feet is in the center of Islam, while the other is among all nations of the world.” He accused Rumi of apostasy, misguiding Muslims, and proceeded to let out an invective against him. Without ever interrupting the man, the venerable master listened to him peacefully with God-granted self-restraint. On seeing that the man stopped talking and had no other words to say, he asked if he was done. When the man replied in the affirmative, Rumi spoke with a soft voice and said, “You are most welcome; my heart is open for you too.”

This is the very point at which words cease. In such a situation, all of the negative feelings within the latter melted away. The grudge and hatred suddenly started pouring down in the form of fireworks of love. While it is possible to treat people with showers of light, why should we shower them with meteors instead?

If you are focused on representing the spirit of Rumi, even if those who show hostility towards you commit oppression and injustice against you for one, two, three, or four times, they will give up such acts after some time on account of not having the same kind of response from you. Now, while there is a way to settle issues with mildness and agreement, why should we engage in other behavior that will only spur ill-feelings and hatred?

One thing that needs to be kept in mind is that we can give up on our personal rights and forgive others for their unfair treatment of us. However, we do not have the authority to forgive on behalf of others when there is an offense against values like faith or country. When such an offense happens, we should make plausible explanations to offenders to show them what they are doing is wrong. If they still insist, we deny their claims with denouncements. If they still persist, then we sue them and claim compensation.

We must always act carefully to remain within the confines of laws and ethics, and we must never make concessions on our fairness when responding in these ways. It is paramount that we must always act humanely but assertively. Even while making certain clarifications, corrections, and denouncements, we always try to give positive messages to the other side and never make concessions from our own character. We voice what we are to say not with whisperings of Satan, but with the voice and breath of the Archangel Gabriel. Oppression and assaults only indicate the character of the offender. This situation should not avert people attached to faith and universal human values to act as becomes their own character.

Is it worth it?

This passing worldly life is neither worth committing oppression against others nor responding to their oppression in the same way. After all, each of us is a traveler in this world. After staying in this guesthouse that we call life, we will pass to the Afterlife in order to be brought to account for what we did here. Is it worth it to promote fighting? Is it worth it at all to cause disunity and dissension? Is it worth it at all to commit oppression and injustice?

In an anonymous saying, the simple and transient nature of the world is expressed as follows:

Behold with the eyes of wisdom, this world is but a guesthouse;
Not a single person remains settled, what a strange abode it is.
The share of a king and subject alike, is nothing but a plain shroud.
As for those who fall for it, what else can they be called but mad?

Humankind has oftentimes made use of oppression and hatred in order to solve the problems that we collectively faced. If only we could make use of love and tolerance from now on! If only we were able to open our hearts to everyone so that those who enter therein would never have worries of remaining without a seat. If only we would treat everyone with a deep feeling of respect and reverence, and if only we could read into other’s feelings, their cultural backgrounds, and treat everyone with a serious feeling of empathy! For whatever style of treatment we expect to receive from others, they similarly expect the same from us. If we expect respect, we must show respect. If we expect observance of our rights, we must observe everybody’s rights.

It is necessary to know that the problems in our time have taken a complicated form to such an extent that they cannot be tackled by those with narrow minds and dull thoughts. There is not much that those with radical thoughts, who act out of bigotry in order to pursue arrogant purposes, can do for the sake of conquering people’s hearts and bringing peace to humanity. Particularly with this harsh attitude of theirs, they can never evoke in hearts any love towards their own values. They cannot let others love the Pride of Humanity, peace and blessings be upon him, because they are too captivated by their own worldly, illicit desires.

Therefore, for the sake of solving the problems of humanity, there is a need for people with immense conscience, rich hearts, and profound thought. Just as Rumi brought people together anew with the plausible cures he came up with some 7-8 centuries ago, in the contemporary world when people are so detached from one another, when people cannot agree on anything, and relations are built upon conflict and hostility, the duty that falls to those with faithful hearts is to revive the spirit of Rumi once again. As far as this cannot be done, it will not be possible to put a stop to oppression and hostilities in different parts of the world. This is particularly the case if we consider to what degree world peace is under threat by ambitious tyrants and horrible weapons prepared with vengeful intentions. It will then be best understood how great the responsibility is of the altruistic souls who have dedicated their lives to love and tolerance.

Question: While sayings of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, counsel against condemning believers to shame, despising them, and disclosing their faults, they also enjoin not remaining silent and unresponsive before oppression and evil. How is a believer supposed to achieve this balance?

In our previous issue we commented on not subjecting people to shame or scorn, as well as the importance of forgiving their faults. It is important to stress that we do not believe that it is acceptable to remain silent and passive when confronted with mistakes and wrongdoing, and to not take any action against them. “Commending good and preventing evil” is an important responsibility for believers if we take into account the following verse “You are the best community ever brought forth for (the good of) mankind, enjoining and promoting what is right and good and forbidding and trying to prevent evil, and (this you do because) you believe in God” (Al Imran 3/110), it is seen that being a part of the best community, or the one with the most goodness, is dependent upon this fact. Additionally, the noble Prophet ordered a present evil to be eliminated by direct intervention, and if this was not possible then by making verbal warnings, and if this was not possible either then by taking an attitude against it in one’s heart at least (Muslim, Iman 78; Tirmidhi, Fitan 11).

Trying to stop people from committing evil and enjoining them to engage in good behavior is one of the essential attributes of a believer. However, the method, style, and system to be followed in this respect are very important. Such an act cannot be done by embarrassing people and making them turn their faces away in shame. This will make matters worse, particularly so when certain matters rejected in religion such as lying, slander, and libel are also involved in the issue. What really matters here is making hearts genuinely feel the goodness of what is stated as good, and the darkness of what is stated as bad; namely, convincing people that the acts in question are good or bad (respectively), and making them re-orient themselves accordingly. Otherwise, without taking the other person’s condition into consideration, determining the correct manner, or thinking about which method to follow, an unwise approach such as “I say and tell what I believe and do not care about any other factors” has nothing to do with the religious teaching of “commending good and preventing evil.”

If we view the life of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), we find many examples of the points mentioned. For example, he counseled repentance to his companion Maiz who had committed fornication when he came to him and confessed his sin, saying that there is no sin God will not forgive. Although he turned Maiz down four times, the noble Prophet had to enforce the legal ruling upon the insistence of Maiz. However, he told people to ask for forgiveness for Maiz and pointed out that he had repented in such a way that if his repentance were to be distributed to the all people throughout the earth then it would suffice to purify everyone (Muslim, Hudud 22; Abu Dawud, Hudud, 24, 25). Thus, the Pride of Humanity prevented his community from continuing to hold a negative opinion about Maiz, for he wished Maiz to be remembered not as a sinner but as a person who was absolved from his sin and who had passed onto God’s divine presence in a purified state.

The noble Prophet neither put anybody to shame nor embarrassed anybody by mentioning their fault to them throughout his exemplary life. It is not possible to find examples in his life where he revealed people’s faults, treating fallen ones with contempt, or responded to evil with evil. On the contrary, he urged believers not to spy into others’ private issues. He always counseled covering faults and his entire life was permeated with forgiveness and tolerance. He made the following address to the people of Mecca, who had inflicted every kind of torment and suffering onto him, after him and his community peacefully took over the city: “No reproach this day shall be on you. Go now, all of you are free.” This mildness and magnanimity of his was one of the most important factors that conquered hearts and got people to enter Islam in droves.

If he had noticed a shortcoming of one of his Companions, he would never reveal it in an embarrassing way. He addressed such shortcomings during his public sermons without pointing the finger at that person, and he ensured that the person concerned also received a share from the teaching. Even in situations of meeting serious opposition where some were in a mood of disobedience, he would gather his Companions to make a general sermon that would not incriminate any one person. Hence, problems were solved without hurting and breaking the heart of anyone, without disgracing them, and without letting any grudge and rage be involved in the issue.

In this regard, it is very important, particularly for people who are at the forefront of dialogue and discourse with others, to undertake certain responsibilities. It is critical to know the people in your company and to not remain indifferent to their mistakes. A teacher must know the general situation of their students; in fact, it is an important aspect of their duty and responsibility. Their goals should be to treat everybody humanely, not to break anyone’s heart, and to try to eliminate evil in the most appropriate way. In other words, while eliminating evils as well, a believer is supposed to act in a way that reflects this character while remaining loyal to the path of the Prophet.

A manner appropriate for each person in question needs to be determined for the sake of not breaking anyone’s heart and not letting any problems escalate further, and each case should be taken into consideration separately as no two people are ever truly identical. Instead of giving an immediate reaction when faced with problems, and talking about them here and there, we must definitely mull over the subject and try to find the most appropriate solution. If you deal with matters in a crude and careless fashion and are as blunt as a kick in the shins, then you may risk hurting people and pushing them away from you. It should not be forgotten that the task of spiritual counsel and guidance requires expertise and sensibility. In a way, we can view it as a task that is best carried out by qualified and learned people.

It should also be known that problems may not always be sorted out by talking. In some situations, speaking over some problems might cause the crisis to get worse. As the saying goes, “a believer’s speaking should be wisdom and their silence should be reflection.” We should speak if we are to say words of wisdom. If this is not the case then we should keep silent and wait for the appropriate time. There are certain conditions where one needs to stop and think, for wisdom develops in the seedbed of deliberation. Otherwise, the blurting out of casual remarks will only produce noise. Just as we know the appropriate time to talk, we similarly need to know when to show patience and wait.

Self-interrogation

In one of his sayings, the noble Prophet stated that every child of Adam errs but the best of those who err are those who repent (Tirmidhi, Qiyamah, 49; Ibn Majah, Zuhd 30) and thus pointed out that human nature is prone to mistakes and sins. Accordingly, some give their willpower its due and narrow down this gap or totally eliminate it, whereas some do not succeed sufficiently in this respect. What matters here is that after experiencing a spiritual stumble, or perhaps even a fall, we work to straighten ourselves up right away and be purified in the washbasin of repentance.

Yes, everyone can fall. However, immediately walking out on, speaking negatively about, and putting to shame a person who is undergoing a spiritual relapse never comply with the virtuous conduct expected in religion nor with the path of the noble Prophet. Instead of busying ourselves with others’ faults we should be concerned with noticing our own faults and busying ourselves with setting those aright because those who cannot see their own mistakes keep looking for faults in others. A person who is fully concentrated on perfecting themself will be much less focused with the faults of others.

Before throwing a stone at someone, we need to take a look at ourselves first. And if we also have similar faults, then we should fear that such a stone may recoil and hit our own head. It is narrated that our master Messiah said the following in an address to a crowd preparing to stone someone to death for punishment: “Let one who is without sin among you throw the first stone…” Naturally, everybody gently lowered the stones in their hands to the ground.

The fact that people do not care about such matters at all and speak about others’ faults and sins in public does not serve as an excuse for us to behave in a similar manner. Even if the entire world engages in such sinful behavior it still does not justify joining them. As it is expressed in a Turkish proverb, “every sheep is hung from its own leg.” Asserting excuses such as “everybody was talking in this manner and I just followed their way” has no validity whatsoever on the Day of Judgment. As it is stated in the verse meaning, “And no soul, as bearer of burden, bears (and is made to bear) the burden of another” (Fatir 35:18) everybody remains alone with the burden of his or her own sins. And if someone defame others with spoken or written statements, that person will also be burdened with the sins caused by those statements, along with other personal sins.

Rather than being crushed under the weight of such sins in the Afterlife, taking our tongue under control while we can in this world and thus not giving way to such very hard to repair problems from the beginning is the wisest way. A person needs to also be careful about the feelings and thoughts that they may hold about other believers in the first place and should work to keep them pure, for what pours from the tongue are simply our thoughts. A person who is focused on the mistakes of others and continually mulls over them in their mind will firstly speak within about these with the inner voice, and then spill them out to others.

A person who is continually busy with others’ faults and speaks about these will definitely deserve punishment in the Hereafter on account of sins such as spying into others’ private affairs, holding negative assumptions, backbiting, and lashing out with insults. It is not possible for such a person to find comfort in this world as well. For a person who pollutes his or her brain neurons with what others did and who keeps talking about these filthy issues all the time, all of those things will turn into a torment.

Question: “Peaceful settlement is better” (Nisa 4:128) reads a Qur’anic verse. What are the messages to be drawn from this verse?

Answer: The basic factor that lies in the basis of clashes and fights today is entanglement with oneself. Everybody is seeking to establish their own model of the individual, family, city, state, and world. In a world where everybody runs after their own model and structure it is not possible to meet in the middle with a compromise. Accordingly, when every intellectual, movement, and state envisions some ideas and systems of theirs, they take these as the sole criteria and expect others to comply with them too, it will obviously result in such a mess. Unfortunately, such a reality underlies behind the tensions, disorder, and confusion we experience today.

Tolerance and clemency

The best elixir to solve these confusions is tolerance and clemency, being open to agreement and reconciliation with almost everybody, and our readiness to engage in dialogue with others. To realize that, we need to shake off our own caprices, greed, and the diseases of asserting their own feelings and thoughts as the only right way to go. Doubtlessly, this depends upon a person’s ability to break free of arrogance, destroy the egotism of “I,” and take some rest in the stopover of “us,” and then journey onto “Him” (to God) afterwards.

It is very difficult for those taken by their egotism, considerations of affiliation, or by love of their groups to stand open to peace and meet different ideas with respect. As far as they hold the benefits of their own group above everything else and cannot rid themselves of bigotry, they cannot form strategies of peace for the good of humanity. Actually, it is very difficult to say that those people ever have such a goal in mind since they are consistently so uncompromising to diversity.

In the globalizing world of our time, there is no other alternative than tolerance and dialogue in order for humanity to live in peace. As for letting a culture of tolerance prevail, it is necessary for both individuals and societies to give up seeing themselves as the absolute representatives of truth and to always deem the possibility that other’s thoughts and approaches can also be correct. Even if different ideas and thoughts are not completely true, it should not be forgotten that there may be a grain of truth in them at least. Remember the statements of Said Nursi who said that there is a grain of truth even in the Mu‘tazilite and Fatalist (Jabriya) schools of thought, but that these sects went wrong since they saw the truth as exclusive to themselves.

Today, everyone has a peculiar “correct” viewpoint of their own, and others’ opinions are wrongfor the sole reason that they belong to others. Such a bias does not allow suitable grounds to discuss whether they are correct or not. We sometimes try to defend ideas even we don’t believe.

Peace begins in the family

Actually, by decreeing that “peaceful settlement is better” (Nisa 4:128) the Qur’an invites people to reconciliation and agreement, to accept that there can also be a share of truth in others’ statements and actions. As is known, this verse was revealed about the family, the smallest molecule of society. God Almighty showed the way to be followed against occasional discord and situations between spouses; He taught that they are not supposed to consider divorce right away but instead it is necessary to seek mutual agreement while preserving the family.

Given that the Qur’an demands resolving dents and fissures by peaceful means, even in a familial level, approaching problems at the scope of a town, city, state, or world with peace will be much more desirable.

In this respect, no matter which aspect of society is concerned, the duty that falls upon people is being in pursuit of maintaining peace and all of the beneficial and good byproducts that come from peaceful means. The fact that people have different religions, cultures, ethnical identities, and worldviews should not be seen as an obstacle to this issue. It must be shown that peaceful coexistence is possible even between people who follow different religions or who do not believe in any religion.

Therefore, it is necessary to develop projects for maintaining such a general peace and to develop reasonable strategies because maintaining that is not as easy as it might seem. The maintenance of peace calls for very serious efforts and endeavors. On the way to obtain such an important outcome, sometimes it is necessary to be ready to forget certain fights that occurred in the past, to be ready to forgive, and to make concessions when needed. In short, it is needed to forbear everything possible for the sake of letting people live together in an atmosphere of peace. Of course, while doing so no one should compromise the honor of a people or nation.

Obstacles are overcome with mature people

It is only those alive with regards to their spirit, heart, senses, feelings, and thoughts who will succeed at building a spirit of unity and a culture of reconciliation in society. Those with high spirit can spark vibrancy in others, too. For people who have reached a serious level of satiation, satisfaction, and contentment in the spiritual sense, even very big problems become very little. Such people even pass over enormous trenches with the ease of jumping over little pits. However, as for a person who has not been able to break free from their ego, who has not been able to abandon being physical-oriented, and who has not been saved from being directed by fancies and desires, in short, a person who has not started journeying into the life degrees of the heart and spirit will not do much for the peace and happiness of humanity.

This is a significant reason for the breakings, cracks, conflicts, and fights that are happening in our time. People who are not sufficiently mature are so touchy and easily offended by even the slightest things. As they have not been able to rid themselves of their roughness, they get offended and hurt right away when they cannot find the looks they desired and the attitudes that they expected. If someone gives them a nudge in the ribs to invigorate, warn, or to stimulate them, they react as if they were hurt with a spear.

The duty that falls to believers is not being heartbroken even in the face of offensive behavior. Instead of accusing those who behave negatively and making negative assumptions about them, they should turn to God and say: “O God, we are probably facing these difficulties because of our failure to be properly righteous; please set them, and us, right!”

One must be very determined about not being heart broken and offended by anyone. If we devoted ourselves to serving humanity, then it is necessary to lay our heads under their feet with utter self-sacrifice. To put it in the words of Seyyid Nigari:

“Will one who seeks the Beloved be concerned for his own life?
And will one concerned for his own life be in quest of the Beloved?”

I think this is the very thought to let humanity, which has miserably doubled up, to straighten up again.

As is known, the noble Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) positioned a group of archers before the Battle of Uhud on a hill and gave strict instructions that they were not supposed to leave their position no matter what happened. However, most of the archers who had not grasped the critical importance of precision at following the orders left their positions upon seeing the enemy fleeing the ground; they thought that their duty was over. It is after this point that the Muslims were surrounded from behind with a new maneuver by the polytheist army and received a very serious blow. Even the noble Prophet received an injury to his blessed head and his tooth was broken. But he gathered his Companions again as if nothing had happened and held a consultation with them. He did not embarrass them by mentioning their fault and did not reproach them in the slightest degree. What a breeze of kindness that was!

Who knows how humiliated they felt because of the judgmental error they had made. By means of referring to their consultation again about the new steps to be taken, he relieved the hearts of his Companions who were aware of their fault and were suffering with due remorse. This is the way to spur heroism in spirits and to mend the breakages and cracks that occur.

The Peace of Hudaybiya

At this point, I think most people will not help but remember the treaty of Hudaybiya, because the noble Prophet had made concessions upon concessions for the sake of making that treaty. Although accepting some of the articles was so hard on him, he forbore with that solely for the sake of maintaining reconciliation and forming an atmosphere of peace.

While departing from Medina, the Messenger of God had promised to his Companions a pilgrimage visit to the holy Ka‘ba. For the sake of realizing this promise, they had covered a distance of more than 400 km riding their horses and camels and come to the vicinity of Mecca. They had even put on their ihram garbs for this visit and taken their sacrifices with them. However, the polytheists of Mecca accosted them in Hudaybiya and said, “we neither let you enter Mecca, nor do we let you visit the Ka‘ba.” Thanks to the endeavors and prophetic intelligence of God’s Messenger, the polytheists were convinced to sign the peace treaty of Hudaybiya. However, they also stipulated as an article of the treaty that the Muslims would go back without observing their pilgrimage visit. This was very heavy on the Companions who had been homesick for Mecca and the Ka‘ba for eight years. So much so that they reminded the noble Prophet about the promise he had made but received the answer that he had not specified it to be in that year, but they also received a promise from him that they would observe it the following year. It is not so difficult to imagine how much this situation must have hurt the Prophet, the paragon of kindness.

During this confrontation at Hudaybiya, the Meccan commander Khalid ibn Walid, who had not become a Muslim then, kept spurring his horse here and there in a manner of challenging the Muslims, and he even tried to provoke them. In addition, Mecca’s representative Suhayl ibn Amr objected to the title “Messenger of God” to be written in the treaty and they stipulated the noble Prophet’s name to be written as “Muhammad, son of Abdullah.” In the meantime, the same Suhayl ibn Amr’s son Abu Jandal, who had been imprisoned by his father broke free and came up until Hudaybiya in a pitiable condition by dragging the shackles on his leg. He sought refuge with the Messenger of God. However, the father demanded his son to be given back to him as required by the treaty and for the sake of not upsetting the established peace, God’s Messenger had to accept it unwillingly.

Note that all of these conditions were not to be accepted easily. The more so when the noble Prophet is concerned, a person with such a high degree of honor, dignity, and esteem; because great personages have sensitivity and caring beyond our estimation. Nevertheless, the Qur’anic statement meaning, “It may be that you (O Messenger) will torment yourself to death because they refuse to believe” (Shuara 26:3) also expresses his lofty degree of caring. However, the Messenger of God managed to suppress all of these by exercising an extraordinary degree of self-possession. He did not make these offenses a matter of honor.

In a way, this meant having a holistic perspective and seeing very well the beautiful future that peace and tolerance promised. With this attitude, the Pride of Humanity was at the same time giving Muslims a lesson that they should not be obstinate at certain matters, not act for the sake of their ego, to keep away from superficial and casual evaluations, from being farsighted, not being offensive to others, and from not generating problems in the future by resorting to brutality and violence. This is the way to keep away from intertwined troubles and spiral of problems.

The Treaty of Hudaybiya Is the Conquest

Such are the heavy conditions that the peace treaty of Hudaybiya was signed under. This had felt hurtful to the dignity and honor of Muslims. However, the Qur’an gave the glad tidings that this treaty was a plain victory and the results of the treaty also proved this. Only after this treaty was it that Muslims had an opportunity to travel freely and express themselves in the Arabian Peninsula, grudge, hatred, and animosities abated, many people got to know Muslims more closely.

Based upon this practice, we can say the following: If contemporary Muslims as well want to build such an atmosphere of peace in their country and abroad then they must know to make serious sacrifices. If they cannot tolerate certain unpleasant situations that they do not approve of but always bring their honor and pride to the fore, then they will be deprived of large-scale examples of goodness to be obtained by means of peace.

If the conditions of the contemporary world are considered, it will be seen that the humanity is in dire need of such agreement and reconciliation more than ever. Because solving so many gangrenous problems, saving countries from disintegration, and maintaining security of roads are dependent on this. In this respect, the logic and reasoning in the peace of Hudaybiya need be comprehended and practiced very well.

Dreams are some of the most odd, and sometimes most uncomfortable, experiences for us. They can sometimes also be so realistic that we do not even know if we are awake or still dreaming. One can feel the same after a false awakening, where one dreams of having been awakened. In a false awakening, the room in which a person becomes awake is commonly similar to the room in which he fell asleep. This feeling may end with a sign during a dream and then it suddenly dawns on the person that he is experiencing a dream instead of reality. This is called lucid dreaming, which can be described as being aware that you are dreaming and are in control of your dreams. A person can also enter the dream state while he is conscious and can control the dream. Before exploring the endless possibilities of lucid dreaming, we will start with the physical nature of dreams. The spiritual nature and interpretation of dreams from a metaphysical standpoint are discussed in previous articles [1-4] of The Fountain Magazine.

Dreaming is a state of consciousness in which one can experience anything imaginable [5]. What you can do or experience in dreams is usually not limited to physical boundaries. We walk, run, fly, and even pass through walls. We see many symbols that may represent multiple meanings. Dreams can relate to the past, present, and the future of a person. They can help us to remember our pasts, understand the present, and shed light upon the future. Dreaming is an interesting part of our lives and the contents of our dreams are usually fed from our daily experiences.

Dreams are defined as a succession of thoughts, images, sounds, or emotions which the mind experiences during sleep [6]. It is also described differently in many areas: physiologically as a response to neural processes during sleep; psychologically as reflections of the subconscious; and spiritually as messages from God, the deceased, or predictions of the future [7]. Dreaming is not only unique to humans. Studies show that some animals, and even plants, have high brain activity while they sleep which could mean that they dream. However, remembering dreams is unique to humans. It enables communication with the inner mind, helps self-knowledge, and advances an individual and society [8].

Dreams are also an important source of inspirations in history. We know many examples of inventions that were inspired by, and problems that were solved with, the help of dreams. Niels Bohr, famous Danish physicist, got the Nobel Prize in physics in 1922 due to a dream that enlightened him to figure out the structure of an atom. George Frideric Handel, German-English Baroque composer, heard the last pieces of his most popular work, The Messiah, in a dream he had. Elias Howe was inspired with a dream for his famous needle design that was required for a lock-stitch sewing machine. Famous chemist, Friedreick Kekule’s (1829–1896) dream helped him to make one of the amazing discoveries of his time [9], the discovery of benzene ring. After spending so much time on scientific problems, they become a part of their subconscious and feed their dreams.

There are mental blocks that prevent us from thinking creatively such as “a problem can’t be solved by using a specific method” or “a scientific approach against our current understanding of the theory”. Ray Kurzweil, one of the world’s leading inventors, thinks that these assumptions and limitations are relaxed in our dream state and so we can think about new ways of solving problems without limiting ourselves with these constraints [10]. Also, during dreaming our rational faculties are not evaluating whether an idea is reasonable or not, which helps us to think outside-of-the-box and produce creative solutions. Another constraint with these scientific problems is time. Repetitive experiments take quite some time with many unfruitful results. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the practical electric light bulb, literally tested thousands of different substances as filaments that would work in his experiments. Dreams can provide an opportunity to rapidly work on time consuming problems within a relatively short time span.

A common misconception regarding dreams is that we experience hours’ worth of events and activities  in a matter of seconds. Despite this common belief about the expansion of time in dreams, they seem to flow at the same rate as time does in the real world [11]. Five minutes of activity in our dreams probably would take about five minutes in our daily life. In that case, how can we explain that some of our dreams seem to last hours, days or even longer? The answer to this perception of time seems to be that dreams are cinematic. Movies generally cover a longer time period than the two hours that we spent in front of the screen. Just like these movies, we concentrate on the interesting parts of the dreams and leave out the rest. If you are trying to solve a scientific problem in your dream, wouldn’t it be nice to skip all the repetitive, unproductive, and time-consuming parts such as planning, research, experiment design, decision making, and analysis of the results?

All of these advantages of dreams for solving problems requires being awake and even in control of your dreams as is the case with lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is not a new term, as it was coined by the Dutch psychiatrist and writer Frederik van Eeden (1860–1932). The existence of lucid dreaming is well established and has been researched scientifically [12]. During a lucid dream, a person can actively be in control and change experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can start as a normal dream when the person realizes that he or she is dreaming (DILD, Dream-Initiated Lucid Dream), or a person can go from a normal state to dream state while preserving the consciousness (WILD, Wake Induced Lucid Dream). There are many techniques to induce lucid dreaming such as dream-recall, reality testing, identifying dream-signs, mnemonic induction, and napping.  Many people experience lucid dreaming, but it is a skill one can develop. With proper training and exercise, one can increase lucid dreaming frequency from once per month to once per night.

A common method to determine if you are in a dream is called reality testing. The test simply includes performing an action and checking whether the expected results are consistent with real life. An unexpected result of the test lets the person realize that they are in a dream. When the person is lucid and aware in a dream, then he can exercise control and practice basic tasks, even the actions that contradict with known physical rules. A new world opens its doors to endless possibilities where all the actions are bound only with imagination. Flying, jumping from a plane without a parachute and landing safely, walking on water, teleportation between distant locations, transforming scenes, and telekinesis would be your everyday activities. You may feel how limiting our daily life is and that you are meant to live in a world where you can use your unlimited imagination.

An obvious benefit of lucid dreaming is being the basis of the most effective therapy for nightmares [13]. If you are aware that you are dreaming then there is no need to fear anything, including even the most horrifying monsters, because nothing can cause you physical harm. This may encourage you to face the threat rather than avoiding it. Lucid dreams feel extremely realistic and it is not easy to differentiate from real life. Many people use lucid dreaming for rehearsals. It can be used to improve public speaking, artistic performance, athletic activities, and courage for competitions. Realistic features of lucid dreaming can be used to fulfill one’s longing for his loved ones, relatives living abroad, or even for ones passed away. Lucid dreaming can be used as a meeting place for the ones living apart and do not have a chance to meet regularly. This will be a virtual meeting not only in the sense of telepresence but also the ones you meet will be a construct of your brain.

The brain is highly active during dreaming and not constrained by physical senses. This contributes to creative thinking and novel combinations of events and objects in our dreams. When combined with the cinematic behavior of dreams, lucid dreams can provide a platform for creative thinking and ideas for scientific issues by skipping the repetitive and time-consuming steps. There are other ways to use lucid dreaming for educational purposes. A quickly scanned book can be recalled from memory and read thoroughly. One can practice memorization of scriptures or even dictionaries. It can be used for learning and practicing a foreign language and all other repetitive learning processes.

Another area of application for lucid dreaming is healing. Patients can use dreams to enhance waking performance, improve physical health, alleviate and soothe pain, overcome phobias, achieve self-confidence, practice physical skills, recover neuromuscular functions, recover from injuries, and an increased sense of freedom for the disabled. Our last example but maybe the most exciting application area of lucid dreaming is entertainment. The movies and computer games cannot provide the experience as realistic as you can get in your dreams including even movies with a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars and the latest projection technologies. You can create your own big budget movie and be the main actor in your lucid dream. How would you design your new Jurassic Park or Matrix movie?

The realistic experience in dreams leads us to the question, “If this is not real, what is?” What if the world we think and live in is another construct and that we are waiting to wake up into another “real” world? We need to look beyond our daily lives and question the nature of reality and our purpose in this life. Are we living in this world to be a small actor in a dream or to take back the control and get ready to wake up into the “real” world? Maybe it is time for a reality check…

Acknowledgment: This article was produced by using MERGEOUS [14], an online article and project development platform for authors and publishers dedicated to the advancement of technologies in the merging realm of science and religion.

References

1. John Young, “Interpreting Dreams,” The Fountain, Issue 29, January–March, 2000.
2. John Young, “Dreams: A Spiritual Approach Part II,” The Fountain, Issue 30, April–June, 2000.
3. Muhammed Toprak, “A Historical Review of Dreams,” The Fountain, Issue 65, September–October, 2008.
4. Stephen LaBerge, “Lucidity Research, Past and Future”,
5. http://www.lucidity.com/NL53.ResearchPastFuture.html
6. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. 2000. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
7. Wikipedia, “Dream”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream
8. School of Metaphysics, “The Intuitive Nature of our Dreams”, Retrieved 2010-06-05.
9. Halil I. Demir, “Forbidden Inspirations”, Mergeous Pre-print Articles.
10. http://www.mergeous.com/articlepreprintins.asp?aid=57&type=fulltext
11. Association for Computing Machinery, “Singularity: Ubiquity Interviews – Ray Kurzweil”.
12. Daniel Erlacher and Michael Schredl, “Time required for motor activity in lucid dreams”, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 2004. 99, 1239-1242.
13. Watanabe Tsuneo, “Lucid Dreaming: Its Experimental Proof and Psychological Conditions”. Journal of International Society of Life Information Science (Japan), 2003. 21 (1): 159–162.
14. The Lucidity Institute, “Frequently asked questions about lucid dreaming”, Version 2.3, July 16, 2004.
15. Mergeous, online article and project development platform. http://www.mergeous.com

The single biggest problem regarding mathematics and the sciences is motivating younger students to study them.

While the United States excels at welcoming people from all over the world to travel to the U.S. and study science and math, the number of aspiring mathematicians at universities is decreasing. About only 2% of all students in America that pursue a bachelor’s degree are in the fields of mathematics or other physical sciences. On top of that, roughly 48% of students studying a STEM field in a bachelor’s program, and 69% of students pursuing an associate’s degree, changed majors or exited college before earning their degree [1]. One possible explanation for this is the reputation that math has for being boring, uninteresting, and complicated. However, there could hardly be a better time to become a mathematician.

I was watching a documentary about deserts with my 2 year old. At first, she found the documentary to be boring because the desert appeared to be bland and void of life. Then, the screen started showing the lively and colorful aspects of a desert including its oases, various cacti, and small creatures. She was shocked that the arid desert could possess so much color, life, and intrigue. It reminded me of my feelings towards mathematics. For some people, mathematics seems like a dry and dull subject that makes little sense. However, it too becomes full of life and color once one looks in the right places and from the correct perspective.

Ten years ago, the Wall Street Journal ranked jobs based upon a number of parameters such as salary, freedom, the possibility of promotion, and ease of employment. It may surprise you to find out that being a mathematician was ranked as the number one job in the world! [2] Career Cast, a company that started as a spin-off for this kind of ranking in 1988, also ranked mathematician as the number one job in 2014 [3].

In job advertisements, the definition of a mathematician is somebody who applies mathematical theories and formulas to teach or solve problems in a business, educational, or industrial setting. In other words, a mathematician is someone who insists on solving problems, which is what mathematics was invented for. However, a crucial point is missing from this description. There are mathematicians who not only teach or apply mathematics but do math, generate math, and change math.

If a mathematician is one of the best jobs in the world, how many mathematicians are there around the world? Thankfully, it is in the hundreds of thousands: almost 250,000, and it is growing every year, particularly in India and China [4]. These countries encourage their children to participate in STEM fields from a young age and place a very high emphasis upon education that can help foster a love for STEM careers at a young age.

Although mathematics is the science in which theorems last for a long time, it is also a field that is being renewed constantly. There are not many other subjects in which knowledge can last thousands of years and always remain both correct and relevant. For instance, the theorems of Euclid, a Greek mathematician who lived in the third century BC, are still accurate today. If we look at the modern applications of computer science and mathematics we see that people are still applying the contributions of Laplace about the central limit theorem, using the contributions of Shannon in sampling, and applying Fourier’s ideas about signal analysis and signal processing. Paradoxically, mathematics is ancient and contemporary at the same time.

In 2014, Emmanuel Candes of Stanford University gave a short speech about how he had collaborated with medical doctors and mathematicians, and used Fourier’s ideas in analysis and data processing, to drastically reduce the time needed to develop a scan [5]. His machine was a significant evolution for the medical field. In experiments, it was shown that to reconstruct images with the best accuracy, they need to have only 2% of the Fourier transform. Candes managed to reduce this time by a factor of eight by knowing only a very small portion of the Fourier transform. Netflix also uses this technology for reconstructing missing information and predicting the preferences of users for movies.

However, the life of a mathematician is not always full of success. The field is full of uncertainty, intense problem solving that can often take weeks or even months, and waiting. Most of a mathematician’s time as a researcher is spent in failure. That is an objective fact. A common motto is, “Every day is a failure. This is our life.” But when we look back on the amount of time that is spent solving these problems, everything pays off. Every year, the number of new theorems added in mathematics runs into the thousands. Failures are not actually failures, but merely bumps along the path of progress.

Another common problem that befalls mathematicians is that they will be expected to perfectly predict what will happen should their discovery work as intended. This is especially true of work done under the auspices of government agencies, since they will often not grant money without a very clear path towards a desired outcome. Things do not always go as planned, and thus it can be challenging to argue that a desired result will occur 100% of the time.

Despite these drawbacks, one of the most exciting aspects of mathematics is the potential to discover something revolutionary and groundbreaking. History has shown that the ideas and discoveries of one individual can make a tremendous difference in the world. By encouraging and enabling more and more students to study math and science, we thus increase the odds that more discoveries, be they groundbreaking or not, will continue to be made in the future.

Alan Turing was a mathematician who had an outsized impact on human history. He was instrumental in cracking the secret codes that were used by the Nazis during the Second World War. Some have argued that World War II would have lasted at least two more years without Turing’s intervention. In particular, the Normandy operation would have been impossible. What was Turing’s motivation? It was not patriotism, honor, or a strong duty to his country. It was simple: his main motivation was solving riddles and difficult problems. He lived for the thrill of solving his next big challenge.

Paul Erdos, a Hungarian, was the most productive mathematician of the 20th century. Erdos had no home, no car, no bank account, and no salary. He lived with just one suitcase and his ideas. He worked on theorems his entire life. When he got some money from some reward, he would always use part of it to put a reward on another theorem.

Leo Szilard was another revolutionary mathematician. He was the first person to understand the concept of chain reactions between atoms. His inspiration came from a public lecture, in which famed physicist Ernest Rutherford said, “It would be moonshine talking if you are willing to extract energy from the atom.” Rutherford acknowledged that energy existed within atoms but thought it was impossible to do anything with it. Szilard felt that Rutherford was wrong and decided to prove it. He worked and thought for days. And one day, while he was crossing a street in London, he was struck with an idea about the principle of chain reaction and exponential growth of atomic energy. This lead to him eventually meeting with Albert Einstein and the subsequent development of the Manhattan Project.

Steps in developing ideas

But how do scientists find those perfect ideas? What are the steps? Henri Poincare gives us some hints about how the ideas were coming to him. Poincare, who was always considered a genius, experienced many discoveries after working very hard on the problem and he had a lot of failures. He said: “Disgusted from my failure, I went to spend a few days near the sea thinking anything else. And one day, while walking on the cliff, the idea came to me. And as before, it was very brief, sudden, with immediate certainty, that arithmetic transforms of indefinite ternary quadratic forms are identical to those of non-Euclidean geometry.”

So, under which circumstances does a big idea come? In popular culture, we have those myths like Newton saw an apple falling down and changed the world. But in real life, it’s not the way it happens. For Poincare’s example, the cliff has nothing to do with quadratic forms. Poincare was saying that he worked very hard and then he decided to rest a little bit, and finally, he had the enlightening moment. What is important here is if the brain had not been prepared by hard work, the illuminating idea wouldn’t have struck.

So what is the process of discovery?

Of course, a publication will be the last step for the discovery of an idea. Because publication means that the idea is out and going to be seen and read by the world. But before that, we have many steps or ingredients which make our idea stand up on its feet.

1. Fecundation

The first step is fecundation. In other words, conversations and discussions you have with your colleagues. Your interaction has a potential to bring about a new phase, a new idea out of different projects. It may take months or years to decide what you want to prove.

2. Documentation

Documentation is built upon previous research and insights. We may need to document things from several centuries ago or from recent times. Nowadays, all information is stored in computers and the internet, which makes this step easier than before.

3. Motivation

Motivation is the most important ingredient when we pursue a discovery. Psychologists believe that childhood experiences play a big role. For instance, both Szilard and Turing’s lives were strongly influenced by a book they read before they found their ideas. In the case of Turing, the book Natural Wonders Every Child Should Know was his inspiration. When I was a child, I watched “Donald in Mathmagic Land” and thought it was fascinating. It might have played a big role in my choice to become a mathematician.

4. Ecosystem

A discovery or an idea never arrives on its own. A scientist is never alone and there is a whole ecosystem around them. For instance, at one point in history, Persepolis was the most innovative city in the world. Then it was Paris, and then Budapest. Today, we have the well-known Silicon Valley.

If you are working in a lab, you need to have an atmosphere where people can meet, discuss, and be creative. A good idea comes from teamwork.

5. Constraints

The next ingredient that you need for a good idea is constraints. Without constraints, discovering new ideas is not as likely as when there are. Rigorous findings come about mostly with constraints. One of the most famous problems in mathematics is the Riemann hypothesis, which was tested in thousands of experiments. After those experiments, the proof was only a set of logical rules with constraints. Constraints usually help generate authentic results and artistic quality as in rhyming poems.

6. Intuition

Intuition usually comes together with hard work, yet it is not easy to understand its process.

In addition to these six ingredients, whether one has good fortune or not also plays an important role. It is human condition that things may not come out as we like although we might have done everything necessary.

Henri Poincare says, “Thought is only a flash between two long nights, but this flash is everything.” Yet, a big idea might take years of work. Still, even after working so hard, our knowledge is like a tiny island in an ocean of unknown. We know almost nothing, but this is such a precious nothing, because that that knowledge came out of the richness of the thought of many people and their efforts. There are still so many ideas just waiting for us to discover them.

Mathematics, like many scientific fields, is an infinite universe with an infinite amount of problems waiting to be discovered and solved. Their applications within our world are endless, and the possibilities to use these results to create real change in our world are also endless. One tends to ask, is math a stand-alone, abstract concept while its vast horizons of knowledge explains the intricacies of our universe, or does it imply an infinitely bigger wisdom from which this abstract knowledge rises from and that relates to our existence? We must continue to motivate students to study math so that they may fall in love with it and continue to develop humanity.

References

1. United States, Congress, Chen, Xianglei, and Matthew Soldner. “STEM Attrition: College Students’ Paths Into and Out of STEM Fields.” STEM Attrition: College Students’ Paths Into and Out of STEM Fields, National Center for Education Statistics, Nov. 2013. nces.ed.gov/pubs2014/2014001rev.pdf.
2. Needleman, Sarah E. “Doing the Math to Find the Good Jobs.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 7 Jan. 2009, www.wsj.com/articles/SB123119236117055127.
3. “Jobs Rated 2014: Ranking 200 Jobs from Best To Worst.” CareerCast.com, CareerCast.com, 9 Mar. 2017, www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/jobs-rated-2014-ranking-200-jobs-best-worst.
4. “Mathematics Genealogy Project.” Welcome! – The Mathematics Genealogy Project, genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/
5. Emmanuel J. Candes. “Mathematics of sparsity (and a few other things), August 14, 2014, Seoul. ICM2014 VideoSeries PL3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-b4aDGsbJk

Sleep is a period of renewal that prepares us for the new day and enables our brain and body to perform duties that they cannot while awake.

Growing numbers of businesses are including good sleep in their wellness programs for their employees. Many of them now have sleep pods in their offices to improve productivity. In addition to diet, weight, exercise and smoking cessation, sleep wellness is now becoming part of our tools to prevent health problems; and this is a good thing.

Sleep is a period of renewal that prepares us for the new day and enables our brain and body to perform duties that they cannot while awake. Having a sufficient amount of high-quality sleep is vital for us to be healthier and to feel better during the day. Yet the number of people experiencing sleeping problems is on the rise.

The duration of healthy sleep varies from person to person. If the night’s sleep lacks quality –say, for instance because of frequent interruptions for the need to go to toilet – the total duration spend in bed extends. The craving or need for more sleep as a result becomes a sleep problem.

Sleep deprivation prevents certain brain functions that are enabled only during sleep. Sleep is necessary for learning and memory. Moreover, healthy sleep is crucial for appetite regulation, so insufficient sleep may result in weight gain.

In the general sense, sufficient and quality sleep is also essential for overcoming diseases and disorders. Therefore, many patients in the intensive care unit, especially those suffering from cerebral bleeding, edemas, or a heart attack, are put to sleep with drugs. Studies have shown that sleep is crucial for fast recovery of post-operational scars. It is essential that long hospital visits should be avoided so that the patient can have the much needed sleep.

Because metabolism slows down during sleep, all the bodily energy is redirected towards curing the brain and the body. Sleep is the time for repairing any part damaged during the day. Sufferers of sleep problems run a higher risk of developing illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. The number of neurons is important for memory as well. Their number decreases with age, weakening our memory. Age-related memory impairment stems from a breakdown of the brain’s communication network and can be prevented by healthy sleep. In addition, sleeplessness correlates with depression and cancer, too. The immune system also deteriorates in people experiencing sleep deprivation because it cannot be renewed and strengthened during sleep.

Coffee, tea, energy drinks, and other substances containing caffeine can prevent sleep for as long as six hours. That is, black coffee or strong tea you have in the afternoon may make it difficult for you to fall asleep at night. Similarly, if you have food that is high in fat and protein at a late dinner, you may experience problems drifting into sleep.

Working hours

Some people have to work at night so they can sleep during the daytime. People doing night shifts, for example doctors, nurses and police officers, frequently develop serious heart and brain problems. Our brains are created so as to stay asleep at night and awake during the day, so people who go to bed late at night experience more health problems. Sleeping during the day after a sleepless night leads to sleeplessness the following night. However, a nap (siesta) in the afternoon is extremely useful in that it virtually enables renewed morning freshness thanks to re-regulation of hormones.

Our body clocks are influenced by sunrise and sunset. Modern people are exposed to less sunlight during day and more artificial light at night, which has an impact on the time we fall asleep. Increased exposure to the morning sun and decreased exposure to artificial light (especially from phones and computers) can help our body clock readjust to a normal sleep schedule and hence help us sleep earlier.

Fixed waking hour

One of the most critical conditions for healthy sleep is to have a fixed waking hour. You should wake up at the same time no matter what time you went to bed the previous night. In fact, as a rule of thumb, you should get up from your bed at the same time in the morning whether it is weekend or weekday, work day or holiday, so that you can have a good sleep the following night.

The more tired you are when you go to bed, the harder it gets to drift into sleep. You should therefore avoid vigorous physical activity within a few hours before bedtime.

Contrary to widespread belief, reading books in bed, watching TV, or spending time on the mobile phone or computer makes it harder to fall asleep. Such activities should be done out of bed in another room, if possible, and the bed should be used for sleeping. In fact, sleeping somewhere other than your bed may also harm your healthy sleeping cycle.

Residents in big cities generally wake up very early to arrive at work or school on time and get back home quite late due to traffic. Sleeping late during the weekdays and waking up too early lead to an accumulation of sleeplessness, which needs to be made up for. Some research studies also have shown that late risers run higher health risks than early risers.

Certain regulations can be put into effect to help reduce sleep problems. For one thing, flexible working hours would enable more employees to start work later but more refreshed. Moreover, some businesses can arrange work schedules of their employees according to their body clocks. As a result, the performance and efficacy of the employees could be improved. Buildings can be made to let in more sunlight and thus dependence on blue light can be reduced.

Our need for sleep, daily and weekly, is more or less stable. This need is also related to your age. Sleep duration increases with your age: it peaks in your twenties and then your body clock tends to move back as you get on in years. As you get older, you need less sleep.

Sleep for physical formatting

Sleep used to be considered to be a time of rest until recently. Today, however, sleep is accepted as a time for restructuring and physical formatting. Snoring, sleep apnea, and frequent visits to the toilet prevent high quality sleep.

Growth hormones are produced the most during deep sleep. We should therefore be particularly careful about ensuring that children get enough and healthy (deep) sleep schedules.

Position

Sleep position is important, especially for the elderly. A position should be chosen that is least painful. For instance, the heart is believed to be more at ease when one sleeps on the right side. In this position, breathing takes place more through the left nostril rather than the right, enabling the sympathetic system to rest and the parasympathetic system to take over. When the parasympathetic system starts to work, drifting into sleep becomes easier and the duration as well as the quality of sleep increase. Sleeping on the right has been reported to be the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.

When you lie in bed, gaps remain between the bed and our neck, waist and knees. These gaps may need to be filled particularly for the elderly and those who suffer from pain in one’s back or neck. Herniated discs have become more common in employees doing desk jobs. A pillow can be folded slightly to support the neck, or special pillows that take the shape of the head and neck can be used. It may not always be necessary to fill in the gaps but if you have backache or hernia it might be necessary to support the waist. The support of a small pillow can be helpful in some cases of knee problems. In other cases, a soft pillow placed between the knees can be helpful.

Numerous studies in recent years have reported that cupping (hijama) and foot reflexology therapy can increase sleep quality. These two methods reportedly help discharge excessive static electricity and psychological stress that have accumulated in the body and thus make it easier to drift into sleep.

Oversleeping is as dangerous as sleep deprivation. It has been found that people who sleep more than eight hours a day have a higher risk of heart failure. A Norwegian study has shown that sleep that is more than eight hours or less than four hours increases the risk of heart failure. Conducted at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the study included 50,000 subjects aged 20-89 whose sleep patterns were monitored for 11 years. According to the results, people who slept more than eight hours or less than four hours had a 35 percent greater risk of dying from heart failure than people who sleep between six and eight hours. People who slept less than four hours were reported to have a 34 percent higher propensity for dying from heart failure.

It is important to make sure we have enough amount of sleep for both our physical and spiritual health; not more, not less. Having a siesta for 1-1.5 hours during the day can also prove useful. Oversleeping numbs the human mind, may bring gloom to the heart, and may cause us to lose our ability to make good judgments. Going to bed immediately after eating and drinking may also be a cause for various illnesses, including obesity.

References

1. Munshi, Neil. “Sleeping on the job can improve your work.” Financial Times, September 13, 2017.
2. Laugsand LE, Strand LB, Platou C, Vatten LJ, Janszky I, “Insomnia and the risk of incident heart failure: a population study”, Eur Heart J. 2014 Jun 1;35(21):1382-93. Epub 2013 Mar 5.

Environmental destruction is wreaking havoc on treasured resources, like the Ganges River, but it’s also striking closer to home, in our local communities.

The Ganges River flows majestically through the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. It is ancient, sacred to the millions of Hindus who rely on it for daily sustenance, and unfortunately, becoming increasingly polluted. The causes of this pollution are plentiful; however, one of the most obvious is the wave of industrialization that has swept through the country in recent years and has left factories near the river, most notably tanning factories, whose runoff mixes with the water of the Ganges and contributes to the various health problems of those who live near, drink from, and bathe in the river. The case of Ganges River pollution is one of the many highly visible examples of the effects of modern industry on the environment. Today, industry supplies much of the world with items that are essential to everyday life, but the “footprints” that industrial pollution leaves behind are harmful to the environment and to the lives of many.

The effects that industrial pollution has on health are numerous, well researched, and in many cases frightening. Chromium, a chemical that is emitted by tanneries that operate along the Ganges, is a likely carcinogen. The toxic fumes that many different types of factories emit can cause suffocation, and even contain particles that burrow into and damage the lungs.

As previously mentioned, those who live near the Ganges often suffer from adverse health that is the result of the river’s pollution. However, the adverse effects of industrial pollution are also present in a land that many often erroneously associate with universal equality and prosperity, and the freedom to live in a safe, sheltered environment. In the book Sacrifice Zones, environmental writer Steve Lerner catalogs the struggles of communities of poor and marginalized peoples in the United States living with the physical and emotional effects of industrial pollution. One story of a communal victory against the forces that dispense pollution is that of several neighborhoods in Ocala, Florida, that lay in the shadows of Royal Oak, a charcoal plant. The plant emitted dark soot that coated and would even sneak inside of homes, cars, gardens, and children’s toys, and wreaked havoc on the health of those who were forced to live near it. Despite this, Royal Oak continued to operate, until community activist Ruth Reed galvanized the formation of a grassroots organization that contacted local government leaders, collected evidence of pollution in the area, obtained a lawyer, and eventually, with enough lobbying, was able to have Royal Oak shut down.

The struggles of the communities in Ocala began after the Royal Oak plant was built in the late 1960s, and continued well into the earliest years of the twenty-first century. To spread the news about the pollution that was impairing their lives, citizens contacted the local news, both newspapers and television stations. They did not have the luxury of utilizing today’s internet to reach out for assistance beyond their communities, as is often done today when social justice is the issue. The way people use the internet to communicate with each other today is much more sophisticated than it was only a few years ago. The average user of one of today’s popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter sees a myriad of posts written by individuals and organizations encouraging the public to donate money to a worthy cause, vote yes or no on a certain political issue, or to even keep an eye out for a missing loved one, and these posts are very effective. The internet and social media are dominated by young people, and because of this, young people today have an unprecedented amount of societal and political influence, influence that can be used to help quell pollution. If industrial pollution is to be combated, and if the destructive human footprint that is being left on the environment is to be reduced, children, who wield the power of using the internet to share information about their environment and the injustices done to it, must receive a much more comprehensive environmental education.

What constitutes a comprehensive environmental education is sure to vary wildly. However, one thing is certain – it must involve the development of communication and leadership skills among young people, skills that enable them to come together, collaborate, and develop new ideas to lessen the human footprint on the environment, and make the world a safer place to live in the future.

References

Basu, Arin. “The Health Effects of Industrial Pollution: A Primer.” www.infochangeindia.org. N.p., Nov. 2004. Web. Feb. 1.

G., Jasmine. “Problems and Solutions for the Ganges River.” Care2. N.p., 13 Sept. 2010. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.

“Ganges River – Problems.” Problems of the Ganges River. Bryant University, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2013. <http://web.bryant.edu/~langlois/ecology/gangesproblems.htm>.

Lerner, Steve. “Ocala, Florida: Community Blanketed by “Black Snow” from Neighboring Charcoal Factory.” Sacrifice Zones: The Front Lines of Toxic Chemical Exposure in the United States. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2010. 19-40. Print.

The second event The Fountain participated in was the Second Interfaith Conference at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT, US. Aimed to be a friendly conversation among Jews, Christians, and Muslims, the conference was hosted by Fr. Anthony Ciorra of Sacred Heart University and featured speakers from the three Abrahamic faith traditions in each of two panels: “Unity and Peace through Music” and “Love and Dialogue through Literature.” It was a thoughtful event with live and recorded mystic music and where we felt the word’s power  to evoke divine beauty in some of the best works of Rumi, Tolstoy, and Dostoyevsky.

The third event was the book launching of Moon Queen by Katharine Branning. Hosted by the Turkish Cultural Center in Manhattan, Branning spoke about her motivations behind writing this novel about Mahperi Hatun, the wife of one of the most notable Turkish Seljuk Sultans. While the novel’s center is a vigorous woman and her hunger for truth, wisdom, and honor, the book unveils many historical events during a tough period in Asia Minor, when its people were being beaten by the Mongols from the east and the Crusaders from the west. It was also a time which witnessed the birth of spiritual giants like Rumi and Yunus Emre, whose rays of hope still illuminate our world.

“Hope is not a feeling,” said Fr. Ciorra of Sacred Heart University. “It is a manifestation of belief.” In this issue, the story of Hassan Fofana from Togo is one such manifestation. Inspired by the generosity of his devout parents and of the people he met after migrating to America when he was a teenager, Fofana formed a foundation connecting student-athletes in West Africa with prep schools in the United States and Europe.

Karl Marx left an indelible mark in world history with his revolutionary ideas and social theories. Two articles in this issue by Mustafa Uzun explain the foundation of Marx’s ideology, his approach to religious thought, and how his views accurately diagnosed some of our current problems but were mistaken in their solutions. Marx failed to see the hope that a broad world view offers, choosing the narrowness of ideology instead.

Lastly, Mr. Gülen’s lead article reads like a manifesto on the hope offered by education. Gülen’s entire life is living evidence of his fight against ignorance, but in this article, he lays bare the danger ignorance poses to our world – but he also finds possibility in the devoted efforts of teachers to combat ignorance. With such teachers, our hopes for the future will always be high.

The importance of character education programs

There are some programs that are called character education for detection of problematic behavior and school violence prevention or reduction. Was, Woltz, and Drew (2006) underscored the need for character education programs through utilizing statistics concerning school violence, absence, and dropout percentages. Bohlin, Farmer, and Ryan (2001) utter that in the US, there is a rising demand in schools to provide effective character education, whose purpose is to increase moral values, respect, citizenship, social skills, etc.

One of the most significant goals of character education programs is to decrease the bullying and peer-victimization that pervade many schools (Batsche – Knoff, 1994). Hence, character education programs should be taught effectively to prevent behavior problems and help students solve their own problems, since effective character education programs can alter the climate of a school by influencing the behaviors and attitudes of the students. That is, when appropriately implemented, character education programs encourage a positive school climate, thus improve academic performance and learning (Sherblom, Marshall – Sherblom, 2006). In addition, Leming (1993) expressed that “teachers in the program classrooms reported a statistically significant two-and-one-half times reduction in problem behavior in students” (p. 68).

The need for computer-based animated vignettes

In order to cope with the aforementioned problems such as bullying, victimization, unwanted behaviors within schools, etc., character education institutions can hire more teaching staff, or teachers can work more than they have done before. However, neither hiring more staff nor working harder is an appropriate solution to help students deal with the problems encountered in schools, because students should learn to cope with the problems by themselves. Thus, they need to have the self-confidence and self-esteem to overcome inappropriate behaviors. It means that the implementation of the character education programs is crucial in terms of their effectiveness.

In this respect, there could be some efforts to facilitate social competence within the classroom and to lead to positive behavioral outcomes (Kam, Greenberg, – Kusche, 2004). Therefore, as an alternative solution, computer-based animated vignettes utilized in character education programs such as Clover, which “is a multimedia tool that empowers students to construct their own animated vignettes that meaningfully express personal experiences” (Baily, Tettegah – Bradley, 2006, p. 802) can be part of these efforts to solve students’ problems in moral and social situations by stimulating them to engage in problem solving (Bailey et al., 2006).

It is important for these programs to be computer-based, since, as Bers (2001) underscored, computers are influential tools for self-exploration. Computers are also beneficial for children in terms of socialization. Heft and Swaminathan (2002) mentioned in their study that children could interact with one another because instructors want them to work in pairs. This provokes them to ask questions to each other to solve problems. Furthermore, in the study done by Nastasi and Clements (1992), it was revealed that a computer-based program, Logo, could foster cognitive development by stimulating cognitively-based resolution of cognitive struggles.

Definitions of animated vignettes

Tettegah and Anderson (2007) describe Animated Narrative Vignettes (ANV’s) as “concrete examples of people and their behaviors, and stories about individuals, situations, and structures that can make reference to important points in the study of perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes” (p. 51). Some researchers, Zhou et al. (2003) define vignettes as ”emotion-evoking stimuli presented via audiotapes, videotapes, or realistic enactments that aim to make participants believe that the events and people involved in the stimuli are real, not hypothetical.” As understood through the definitions, animated vignettes are related to either behaviors or real visual events. Therefore, animated vignettes may be utilized in character education classes to make them more effective to reduce behavioral distortions.

Animated vignettes in character education

Bailey et al., (2006, p. 796) pointed out that when technology education is integrated within learning activities that are meaningful to students, it could be more effective. Therefore, they aimed to seek to link the delivery of technology and character education through the utilization of animated vignettes. In this process, students can gain and exercise technological skills and learn how to figure out concepts within a learning activity that is important to them while also building the vignettes via computers (Bailey et al., 2006, p. 796). Vignettes have been utilized to instruct Mathematics and Science, management skills, problem solving, and character education (Bailey et al., 2006,p. 797). In the sense of character education, Vignettes are typically used to facilitate some techniques, such as reflection, role-playing, problem solving, and ethical thinking and positive social behavior among students (Bailey et al., 2006,p. 797).

So far, this paper has discussed the importance of character education programs, the need for animated vignettes, and their definitions. Next, this paper will present the effectiveness of animated vignettes and how they can facilitate learners to recognize and reduce problem behaviors.

The effectiveness of animated vignettes

Vignettes are beneficial and effective as a teaching instrument; this is because they can provide real representations of situations, helping students solve problems (Bailey et al., 2006). In the article of Bailey et al., (2006), it is sought to link technology and character education through constructing and utilizing animated vignettes. Researchers illustrate that animated vignettes could be more beneficial when they provide three important features: meaningfulness, personal experiences, and having a dialogue.

a) Meaningfulness

Thanks to these computer-based animated vignettes, students will be able to learn via some activities that are meaningful to them. To provide effective character education, vignettes can be used as a significant tool (Bailey et al., 2006, p. 796). For example, in the study implemented by Tettegah and Anderson (2007), animated vignettes were used for gathering data. Vignettes showed an interaction between two children – “Scott, a 9-year old Caucasian boy, and Jamilah, a 9-year old African American girl; or Jamal, a 9-year old African American boy, and Erin, a 9-year old Caucasian girl) – and one teacher (Ms. Litts), and one parent (Mr. Young)” (Tettegah – Anderson, 2007, p. 52).

The vignettes were counterbalanced to determine if responses given by pre-service teachers are different from one another about the race of the victim and perpetrator. A child told the animated vignette; thus, the characters in these vignettes symbolized real people in real life. Ms. Litts (the teacher) was working with the class on a supportive learning activity, such as making paper puppets or building bridges. However, there was no difference between activities in terms of vignettes. That is, the same performances were represented in each vignette. In these processes, making paper puppets or building bridges, the teacher wanted students to work each other, like “Scott with Jamilah in the puppet making activity or Jamal with Erin in the bridge making activity, depending on the vignette” (Tettegah – Anderson, 2007, p. 52). In each scenario, the boy (Scott or Jamal) told the girl (Jamilah or Erin) that they did not want to be in the same group with the girls because of their skin color. They added that their skin color might influence them. After that, the girl’s fathers reported the event to the teacher, Ms. Litts, and the teacher was surprised, since they had talked about Martin Luther King Jr., which she believed was relevant to the topic.

After watching the vignette, participants were asked how they would respond if they were in the teacher’s position, and they wrote down their responses. In this example, participants were asked to put themselves into another person’s position through animated vignettes. As a consequence of the study, participants could place themselves into another character, and could try to consider helping their children solve the prescribed problems.

b) Personal experiences

As a solution, computer-based character education programs could be effective if animated vignettes are “based on personal experiences rather than on artificially constructed circumstances” (Bailey et al., 2006, p. 794). Students can improve both self-awareness and interpersonal skills by practicing some skills shown in vignettes. That is, they can also incorporate theory and practice in a personally related way (Barter – Renold, 2000). Thanks to this process, students are able to engage in their own ethical and social thinking. This allows students to become more engaged in their own moral and social thinking (Tappan, 1991).

To illustrate, consider this example: in the study implemented by Tettegah (2005), there was a real experience of a father, daughter, classmate, and teacher developed in the animated narrative vignettes and told by a real person. After viewing the vignettes, the educators wrote some responses for problem solving to questions like, “Who does the participant express empathy with? In whose position does the respondent imagine himself?” (Tettegah, 2005, p.383). Thanks to these questions, teachers could better understand peer conflicts related to classroom education. Responses were to involve educators and students in sharing with others to help them to be aware of conflicts that are both peer and teacher-related (Tettegah, 2005, p.383).

c) Dialogue opportunities

Through using animated narrative vignettes, it is possible to have a dialogue that will allow educators to talk over and also foster a better understanding of bullying and victimization (Tettegah, 2005). Computer-based animated vignettes are beneficial tools for discovering relationships between people (Fong – Woodruff, 2003). For instance, well-known educators are brought together to discuss issues about oppression and discrimination in their classrooms through cultural portals. In these meetings, they try to figure out how to cope with the problems in the classroom and within the school’s social environment. Using computer-based tools to find the cause of complex behaviors in the class is very useful (Tettegah, 2005). Although this seems to affect students’ problem behaviors indirectly, it may be effective in comprehending the problems and discovering some solutions to reduce problem behaviors.

Conclusion

Implementing computer-based programs to help recognize and solve problematic behaviors could be very beneficial to many schools. As emphasized above, researchers have shown that there are problematic behaviors observed in schools. Therefore, character education programs could be effective to reduce and solve these problems. Making the programs more beneficial as a means of computer-based animated vignettes helps students notice and reduce problems. They can be more effective if they are meaningful to students and if students can put themselves into the real characters in the vignettes to recognize the problems. The personal experiences underscored in the vignettes trigger students’ awareness through practicing the skills showed in the vignettes. And the vignettes can assist in generating a dialogue between educators and students to understand the issues and help develop some solutions together.

Namik Top is a PhD candidate in the Department of Educational Psychology at Texas A-M University.

References

• Algozzine, K., Christian, C., Marr, M. B., McClanahan, T., – White, R. (2008). Demography of problem behavior in elementary schools. Exceptionality, 16, 93 – 104.
• Baily, B.P., Tettegah, S.Y., – Bradley, T.J. (2006). Clover: Connecting technology and character education using personally-constructed animated vignettes. Interacting with Computers, 18, 793-819
• Barter, C., – Renold, E. (2000). I wanna tell you a story: Exploring the application of vignettes in qualitative research with children and young people. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 3(4), 307-323.
• Batsche, G.M., – Knoff, H.M., 1994. Bullies and their victims: understanding a pervasive problem in the schools. School Psychology Review 23 (2), 165-174.
• Bers, M. (2001). Identity construction environments: Developing personal and moral values through the design of a virtual city. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 10, 365-415.
• Bohlin, K.E., Farmer, D., – Ryan, K., 2001. Building Character in Schools. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.
• Bowen, J., Jenkins, W., – Clark, E. (2004). School-based intervention for students with behavior problems. New York: Kluewer Academic.
• Fong, C., – Woodruff, E. (2003). Web based video and frame theory in the professional development of teachers: Some implications for distance education. Distance Education, 24(2), 195-211.
• Freeman, R., Eber, L., Anderson, C., Irvin, L., Horner, R., – Bounds, M. (2006). Building an inclusive school culture using school-wide PBS: Designing effective individual support systems for students with disabilities. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 31(1), 4-17.
• Heft, T.M., – Swaminathan, S. (2002). The effects of computers on the social behavior of preschoolers. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 16(2) 162-174.
• Henricsson, L., – Rydell, A. M. (2004). Elementary school children with behavior problems: Teacher-child relations and self-perception. A prospective study. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 50, 111−138.
• Kam, C. M., Greenberg, M. T., – Kusche, C. A. (2004). Sustained effects of the PATHS curriculum on the social and psychological adjustment of children in special education. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 12, 66−78.
• (Heft, 2002) (Heft, 2002) (Heft, 2002)Nastasi, B.K. – Clements, D.H. (1992). Social-cognitive behaviors and higher-order thinking in educational computer environments. Learning and Instruction, 2, 215-238.
• Pace, T. M., Mullins, L. L., Beesley, D., Hill, J. S., – Carson, K. (1999). The relationship between children’s emotional and behavioral problems and the social responses of elementary school teachers. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 24, 140−155.
• Sherblom, S., Marshall, J., – Sherblom, J. (2006). The relationship between school climate and math and reading achievement. Journal of Research in Character Education, 1(1), 19-31.
• Tappan, M., 1991. Narrative, language, and moral experience. Journal of Moral Education 20, 243-256.
• Tettegah, S., 2005. Technology, narratives, vignettes, and the intercultural and cross-cultural teaching portal. Urban Education 40 (4), 368-393.
• Tettegah, S., – Anderson. C. J. (2007). Pre-service teachers’ empathy and cognitions: Statistical analysis of text data by graphical models. Contemporary Educational Psychology 32, 48-82.
• Was, C., Woltz, D., – Drew, C. (2006). Evaluating character education programs and missing the target: A critique of existing research. Educational Research Review, 1(2), 148-156.
• Zhou, Q., Valiente, C., – Eisenberg, N. (2003). Empathy and its measurement. In N. Lopez – C. R. Snyder (Eds.), Positive psychological assessment: A handbook of models and measures (pp. 269-281). American Psychological Association.

Interfaith dialogue has been a very controversial issue and there have been a lot of discussions about it: its necessity, rationale, and success (Kurucan 2006). These questions have made it obvious that people are not aware of the real meaning of interfaith dialogue.

Perelman and Olbrechts- Tyteca (1969) explain dialogue as follows: “… (it) is not supposed to be a debate … but rather a discussion in which the interlocutors search honestly and without bias for the best solution to a controversial problem” (196, 37). Related to this description, Gulen (2000) describes interfaith dialogue as “… seek(ing) to realize religion’s basic oneness and unity, and the universality of belief. Religion embraces all beliefs and races in brotherhood, and exalts love, respect, tolerance, forgiveness, mercy, human rights, peace, brotherhood, and freedom via its Prophets” (The Fountain, September 2000). These descriptions bring out another question: how useful and beneficial can interfaith dialogue be in solving problems?

Interfaith dialogue does not aim to change the ideas of people about their religions or faiths, but seeks to find common ground between religions, to focus on communities, and through an emphasis on harmony and peace, find solutions to many of our common problems. In fact, one of the reasons for interfaith dialogue is to “provide an atmosphere of freedom” (Kurucan 2006, 17).

Another major proponent of dialogue was Seyyed Hossein Nasr, a professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University. When he visited the Vatican in 1977 in a delegation, Nasr highlighted five areas that Christianity and Islam can work together to make the world better. These five areas are “dangers of modern technocracy and ecological ruin, energy crises, youth problems and decadence of morality and faith” (Kot 2009). In addition, Rev. Allman states, “The ability to discuss our religious and cultural differences is more than an ‘extra-curricular activity’; it is a skill which is vital for participants in democracy, especially a democratic society such as ours, which is filled with people whose differences are deep and complex” (The Network, 1999).

These statements show the importance of interfaith dialogue for the improvement of humanity and the goodwill of societies. Pinto (2003) highlights the role of interfaith dialogue in today’s society as “…an inevitable fact of our being-with-other-faiths.”

In connection to this, Swidler et al. (2007) state that, “In the past, during the age of divergence, we could live in isolation from each other; we could ignore each other. Now, in the age of convergence, we are forced to live in one world. We increasingly live in a global village” (Stress added, p.1).

Today most of the common reasons for dispute between religions, or between people of different religions, are that they do not understand one another’s beliefs or ideas (Baum 2011). Interfaith dialogue meetings, panels, conferences help these misconceptions and unfamiliarity disappear. And the result of such dialogues can be tremendous. As Smock states, “… when two or more faiths come together to explore or promote the possibility of peace, the effects can be especially potent” (viii).

The benefits of interfaith dialogue are obvious but still it is not an easy work. Once again, Smock (2002) highlights that “interfaith dialogue is a difficult, often painful endeavor” (viii). There are some prerequisites for interfaith dialogue to be successful. Swidler (2003) categorizes them as:

“1) an openness to learn from the other. 2) knowledge of one’s own tradition. 3) a similarly disposed and knowledgeable dialogue partner from the other tradition” (p. 12).

The importance of each prerequisite will be explained in detailed below.

Ingredients for a successful interfaith dialogue meeting

1) The most important component of interfaith dialogue is to remember the real meaning of dialogue. It is a two-way discussion that requires respect and understanding. This component may seem very simple to understand but it is very easy to forget. Swidler (2007) states that, “If this basic goal is kept fixed in view and acted on with imagination, creative and fruitful dialogue – and a growing transformation of each participant’s life and that of their communities – will follow” (p. 19). So for better results out of interfaith dialogue, the real meaning of dialogue should not be forgotten. Be sure to explain dialogue as “… a discussion in which the interlocutors search honestly and without bias for the best solution to a controversial problem” (Perelman and Olbrechts- Tyteca, 1969, 37).

2) In these meetings, participants must be aware of the fact that all of the participants are from different religious and cultural backgrounds, so interfaith dialogue is based on understanding and respecting all participants. In interfaith dialogue, none of the participants should try to discredit or question the belief system of the other participants.

3) Smock (2002) writes that stating the purpose of the meeting very clearly and choosing the right participants goes a long way towards determining the success of a dialogue. The purpose of the meeting should be decided by the participants before the meetings, very clearly and in detail.

4) While describing how to start dialogue, Bohme et al. (1991) state that suspension is an important part of dialogue. Listening to the other participants is a compulsory part of the process. During these meetings, all of the participants should be free of their biases and be open to understanding and recognizing new perspectives. Interfaith dialogue meetings are great ways to learn about different religions and different thoughts.

5) It should not be forgotten that in these meetings, we come together as people, not as belief systems, but these meetings provide an incredible opportunity to learn about, discuss, and understand other religions. “… the dialogue among the world’s religions and traditions should lead to a better mutual knowledge and understanding, and an exchange of the mutual values as an enrichment of one’s own faith and of the faith of the others” (Cosijns & Braybrooke, 2008, 55-56). However, a problem or mistake made in the meetings should not be used to generalize about a whole belief system. Kurucan (2006) states that by interfaith dialogue, “We refer to dialogue between the people of different religions” (17). So people in these meetings should not be seen as categories, sole representatives of their religions, but they should be seen as individual people, with their strengths and flaws – just like all of us.

6) Interfaith dialogue aims to find solutions to the problems of the world and other people by focusing on the similarities between belief systems. It does not focus on the differences and controversial issues.

7) Smock (2002) states that one-time interfaith dialogue meetings cannot be very useful, so there should be some follow-up sessions to enforce the benefits of the meetings.

8) In addition, it would be a good idea to learn about the religious practices of the other participants, see the differences between your own understandings, and be very careful about these differences during the dialogue process. Crowley (2006) states that setting the stasis – the parts that the participants may have different ideas about – is an important part of civil discussion. In interfaith dialogue, being aware of the stasis is important, so as not to offend the other participants.

9) No exclusives and no syncretism. Abu-Nimer et al. (2007) state that in interfaith dialogues, no religion should be excluded. This would be a huge handicap for the success of interfaith dialogue. Abu-Nimer et al. (2007) also highlights that trying to synchronize all religions into one can be just as dangerous as exclusiveness. As stated above, it is very crucial to accept all religions and religious people in their own belief system.

10) Dialogue can only happen between equals. If a religious group sees one group as inferior or even superior to another, no dialogue can happen. There cannot be sharing and understanding between the groups, which is the main aim of any interfaith dialogue.

Interfaith dialogue is an important concept in the globalized world. People from different religions live side by side in the globalized village and there are tons of problems that human beings face today. These interfaith groups are very crucial for a world in which “every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes. That’s one child every five seconds” (www.bread.org). The role of the interfaith dialogue in solving these problems cannot be underestimated. Smock (2002) states that “while religion can and does contribute to violent conflicts, it can be a powerful factor struggling for peace and reconciliation (viii).

References

• Abu-Nimer, M. & Khoury, A. & Welty, E. 2007. Unity in diversity: Interfaith dialogue in the Middle East. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace.
• Bohm, D. & Factor, D. & Garrett, P. 1991. Dialogue: A Proposal. Retrieved from http://www.david-bohm.net/dialogue/dialogue_proposal.html
• Cosijns L.F. & Braybrooke , M. 2008. Dialogue among the faith communities. Lanham, MA: Hamilton Books.
• Crowley, S. 2006. Toward a civil discourse: Rhetoric and Fundamentalism. Pittsburg, PA: University of Pittsburg Press
• Gulen, M.F. 2000. “Necessity of interfaith dialog.” The Fountain Magazine. Issue 31.
• Kot, Z. 2009. “Muslim-Christian relations: The traditionalist interfaith dialogue” (Unpublished master thesis) George Washington University, Washington, DC.
• Kurucan, A. 2006. Nicin Diyalog: Diyalogun temelleri. Uskudar, Istanbul: Isik Yayinlari
• Perelman C.H. & Olbrechts- Tyteca, L. 1969. The new rhetoric: A treatise on argumentation. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
• Pinto, H. 2003. Faucault, Christianity and interfaith dialogue. New York, NY: Routledge Publications
• Smock, D. R. 2002. Interfaith Dialogue and Peacebuilding. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace.
• Swidler, L. & Duran, K. & Firestone, R. 2007. Trialogue: Jews, Christians and Muslims in Dialogue. New London, CT: Twenty-Third Publications.