Frustrated With West, Turks Revel in Empire Lost

BismillahirRahmanirRahim

ISTANBUL — More than eight decades ago, Ertugrul Osman, an heir to the Ottoman throne, was unceremoniously thrown out of Turkey with his family. He lived to be 97, spending most of his years in a modest Manhattan apartment above a bakery.

But in September, at his funeral in the garden of the majestic Sultanahmet Mosque here, thousands of mourners came to pay their respects, including government officials and celebrities. Some even kissed the hands of surviving dynasty members, who appeared shocked at the adulation.

The show of reverence for the man who might have been sultan, historians said, was a seminal moment in the rehabilitation of the Ottoman Empire, long demonized by some in the modern, secular Turkish Republic created by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923. During Ataturk’s rule, the empire was remembered mainly for its decadence and its humiliating defeat and partition by the Allied armies in World War I.

Mr. Osman’s send-off was just the latest manifestation of what sociologists call “Ottomania,” a harking back to an era marked by conquest and cultural splendor during which sultans ruled an empire stretching from the Balkans to the Indian Ocean and claimed the spiritual leadership of the Muslim world.

The longing for those glory years — by religious Muslims and secularists alike — partly reflects Turks’ frustration with a European Union that seems ill disposed to accept them as members. And in a country where the tension between religion and secularism is never far from the surface, members of the new governing class of religious Muslims have seized upon nostalgia for the Ottoman Empire as a way to challenge the pro-Western elite that emerged during Ataturk’s rule, and to help forge a national identity of Turkey as an aspiring regional leader.

“Turks are attracted to the heroism and the glory of the Ottoman period because it belongs to them,” said the director of Topkapi Palace, Ilber Ortayli, who, as the keeper of the sumptuous residence where Ottoman sultans lived for 400 years, is also a zealous unofficial gatekeeper of the country’s Ottoman legacy. “The sultans hold a place in the popular consciousness like Douglas MacArthur or General Patton have for Americans.”

The current vogue of all things Ottoman, from the proliferation of historical docudramas to the popularity of porcelain ashtrays adorned with half-naked harem women, is sometimes manifesting itself in ways that would surely have made a real sultan blanch.

During Ramadan, Burger King offered a special sultan menu featuring dishes popular in the Ottoman years. In the television commercial promoting the meal, a turbaned Janissary — a member of an elite group of Ottoman soldiers known for their warrior spirit — exhorts viewers not to “leave any burgers standing.”

Ottomania has also infected the nation’s youth; 20-somethings at hip dance clubs here wear T-shirts emblazoned with slogans like “The Empire Strikes Back” or “Terrible Turks” — the latter turning the taunt Europeans once used against their Ottoman invaders into a defiant symbol of self-affirmation.

Kerim Sarc, 42, the owner of Ottoman Empire T-Shirts and the scion of an illustrious Ottoman family, believes that the newfound fondness for a mighty empire that lasted 600 years and once reached the gates of Vienna is linked to the long struggle for membership in the European Union. The bloc has imposed tough conditions on Turkey, including asking it to compromise in its longstanding dispute over Cyprus.

“We Turks are tired of being treated in Europe like poor, backward peasants,” he said.

The Ottoman renaissance is equally prevalent in the nation’s highest political circles, where the Muslim-inspired Justice and Development Party government has been aggressively courting former Ottoman colonies, including Iraq and Syria, in at least a partial reorientation of foreign policy toward the east that Turkish analysts have labeled as “Neo-Ottoman.”

That shift has alarmed officials in Europe and Washington, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to reassure President Obama when he meets him at the White House on Monday that Turkey has not abandoned its Western course.

It is a sign of the Ottoman Empire’s new hold on the popular imagination that in January when Mr. Erdogan publicly rebuked the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, over the war in Gaza, at a debate at Davos, Switzerland, he was greeted enthusiastically by his supporters back in Turkey with the chant, “Our fatih is back!” The allusion was to Fatih — or conqueror — Sultan Mehmet II, the towering sultan who at age 21 conquered Constantinople, now Istanbul, in 1453.

Colleagues said Mr. Erdogan proudly displays an original decree in his office by Sultan Mehmet II granting autonomy to religious minorities within the empire.

“The Ottoman Empire conquered two-thirds of the world but did not force anyone to change their language or religion at a time when minorities elsewhere were being oppressed,” said Egeman Bagis, the minister for European Union affairs. “Turks can be proud of that legacy.”

Pelin Batu, co-host of a popular television history program, argued that the glorification of the Ottoman era by a government with roots in political Islam reflected a revolt against the secular cultural revolution undertaken by Ataturk, who outlawed the wearing of Islamic head scarves in state institutions and abolished the Ottoman-era caliphate, the spiritual head of Sunni Islam.

“Ottomania is a form of Islamic empowerment for a new Muslim religious bourgeoisie who are reacting against Ataturk’s attempt to relegate religion and Islam to the sidelines,” she said.

In a society struggling with its identity, not everyone welcomes the phenomenon.

Some critics accuse its proponents of glossing over the empire’s decline and of glorifying an anachronistic system that, at the very least, was mired in corruption and infighting in its later years. The massacre of Ottoman Armenians between 1915 and 1918 stands as a particular dark spot in the history of the empire.

“The religious Muslims now in power are trying to feed the Turkish people an Ottoman poison,” said Sada Kural, 45, a housewife and staunch supporter of Ataturk’s vision for the country. “The Ottoman era wasn’t a good period; we were the sick man of Europe, rights were suppressed and women only got the vote after Ataturk came to power.”

While some bemoan what they consider the crude commercialization of a nation’s history, others, like Cenan Sarc, 97, who was 10 years old at the time of the empire’s collapse in 1922 and is the descendant of an Ottoman pasha, cautioned against idealizing an era of dictatorship.

Mrs. Sarc recalled her idyllic childhood in an old Ottoman mansion on the Bosporus, a poetic time, she said, when fathers ruled, mothers stayed at home and Islam held sway. But, she insisted, “we can never go back to that time.” Ertugrul Osman, the Ottoman heir who was the grandson of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, had himself accepted obscurity. When he visited Turkey in 1992, for the first time in 53 years, and went to see the 285-room Dolmabahce Palace, which had been his grandfather’s home, he insisted on joining a public tour group.

Asked frequently if he dreamed about restoring the empire, he always emphatically answered no. “Democracy,” he said, “works well in Turkey.”

[from www.joelstrumpet.com/?p=2355]

 

Muslim 500 – A Joke or an Earnest Attempt

BismillahirRahmanirRahim

Claiming to be the first attempt of its kind, The 500 Most Influential Muslims starts off on a wrong foot. Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Amman and Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding list, lo and behold, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at the top of 1.5-2 billion Muslims. Perhaps coming to the late realization that money cannot buy hearts, it seems that a certain interest group is on an intellectual campaign to win minds.

It is also no surprise that in these End Times of a power vacuum, H.M. King Mohammed IV of Morocco at No. 3 is also a

Contender for the Caliphate
King Mohammad VI’s lineage makes him the only legitimate contender for the Islamic Caliphate, as successor to a 350 year-old dynasty. The Alaouite Dynasty links back to the Prophet Muhammad. He possesses the only authentic claim to an Islamic Caliphate, if one were to be established. Indeed, the Moroccans never recognized the Ottoman Caliphate on the grounds that the Ottomans were not descended from the Prophet Muhammad.

According to Adil James of the Muslim Media Network Staff,

In total 72 Americans are among the 500 most influential Muslims, a disproportionately strong showing, but only one among the top 50.  Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson of Zaytuna Institute is listed surprisingly at number 38.  The world leader of the Naqshbandi Haqqani Sufi order, however, Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani, with millions of followers worldwide, spiritual adviser to kings, presidents, doctors, lawyers, professors and others across the spectrum of profession, race, and ethnicity on seven continents, is listed at number 49.  While Sheikh Hamza Yusuf has successfully built the Zaytuna Institute, his influence is confined mostly to American academia, scholars and students.  Surprisingly, Khaled Mashaal, leader of Hamas, (at number 34) is listed before any American Muslim.

Muslim 500 – A Listing of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World

The entire book is available at www.rissc.jo/muslim500v-1L.pdf

 

The Indian Bird

BismillahirRahmanirRahim

A merchant kept a bird in a cage. He was going to India, the land from which the bird came, and asked it whether he could bring anything back for it. The bird asked for its freedom, but was refused. So he asked the merchant to visit a jungle in India and announce his captivity to the free birds who were there. The merchant did so, and no sooner had he spoken when a wild bird, just like his own, fell senseless out of a tree on to the ground.

The merchant thought that this must be a relative of his own bird, and felt sad that he should have caused this death.  When he got home, the bird asked him whether he had brought good news from India. “No,” said the merchant, “I fear that my news is bad. One of your relations collapsed and fell at my feet when I mentioned your captivity.” As soon as these words were spoken the merchant’s bird collapsed and fell to the bottom of the cage. “The news of his kinsman’s death has killed him too,” thought the merchant.

Sorrowfully he picked up the bird and put it on the windowsill. At once the bird revived and flew to a nearby tree. “Now you know, ” the bird said, “that what you thought disaster was in fact good news for me. And how the message, the suggestion of how to behave in order to free myself, was transmitted to me through you, my captor.” And he flew away free at last.

TALES OF THE DERVISHES, IDRIES SHAH, 1967

 

Ottoman in Statue on Charles Bridge, Prague

BismillahirRahmanirRahim

Charles Bridge is a famous historical bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague, Czech Republic. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the beginning of 15th century. There are 30 statues mounted to the balustrade of this bridge.

Statues of Saints of John of Malta, Felix of Valois, and Ivan are the most spacious and expensive sculptures on the bridge. This was designed in 1714  by Ferdinand Brokoff and sponsored by František Josef Thun, the lord of Klášterec nad Ohří. The sculpture was intended to honour the two founders of the Trinitarians, the order that supervised buying back and redeeming of Christians in captivity under Turks. St. Ivan, the saint patron of Slavs was added to the group for unknown reasons. The base depicts a cave in which three chained Christians are praying to the Lord for salvation.

 

Why We Don’t Want a Nuclear-Free World

BismillahirRahmanirRahim

It seems that every time I mention to people who are not in this Tarikat, whether in another tarikat or not, about the immanent approaching nuclear war, they shrug it off with disbelief. “No way,” they think. It’s comforting to think so. Yet, upon a little introspection, it is easy to deduce that unfortunately we are heading that way. Both Prophetic knowledge and academic History tells us so.

The following is a popular article that’s currently circulating in the news.

The former defense secretary on the U.S. deterrent and the terrorist threat.

By MELANIE KIRKPATRICK

Maclean, Va.

‘Nuclear weapons are used every day.” So says former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, speaking last month at his office in a wooded enclave of Maclean, Va. It’s a serene setting for Doomsday talk, and Mr. Schlesinger’s matter-of-fact tone belies the enormity of the concepts he’s explaining — concepts that were seemingly ignored in this week’s Moscow summit between Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev.

Terry Shoffner

We use nuclear weapons every day, Mr. Schlesinger goes on to explain, “to deter our potential foes and provide reassurance to the allies to whom we offer protection.”

Mr. Obama likes to talk about his vision of a nuclear-free world, and in Moscow he and Mr. Medvedev signed an agreement setting targets for sweeping reductions in the world’s largest nuclear arsenals. Reflecting on the hour I spent with Mr. Schlesinger, I can’t help but think: Do we really want to do this?

For nuclear strategists, Mr. Schlesinger is Yoda, the master of their universe. In addition to being a former defense secretary (Nixon and Ford), he is a former energy secretary (Carter) and former director of central intelligence (Nixon). He has been studying the U.S. nuclear posture since the early 1960s, when he was at the RAND Corporation, a California think tank that often does research for the U.S. government. He’s the expert whom Defense Secretary Robert Gates called on last year to lead an investigation into the Air Force’s mishandling of nuclear weapons after nuclear-armed cruise missiles were mistakenly flown across the country on a B-52 and nuclear fuses were accidently shipped to Taiwan. Most recently, he’s vice chairman of a bipartisan congressional commission that in May issued an urgent warning about the need to maintain a strong U.S. deterrent.

But above all, Mr. Schlesinger is a nuclear realist. Are we heading toward a nuclear-free world anytime soon? He shoots back a one-word answer: “No.” I keep silent, hoping he will go on. “We will need a strong deterrent,” he finally says, “and that is measured at least in decades — in my judgment, in fact, more or less in perpetuity. The notion that we can abolish nuclear weapons reflects on a combination of American utopianism and American parochialism. . . . It’s like the [1929] Kellogg-Briand Pact renouncing war as an instrument of national policy . . . . It’s not based upon an understanding of reality.”

In other words: Go ahead and wish for a nuclear-free world, but pray that you don’t get what you wish for. A world without nukes would be even more dangerous than a world with them, Mr. Schlesinger argues.

“If, by some miracle, we were able to eliminate nuclear weapons,” he says, “what we would have is a number of countries sitting around with breakout capabilities or rumors of breakout capabilities — for intimidation purposes. . . . and finally, probably, a number of small clandestine stockpiles.” This would make the U.S. more vulnerable.

Mr. Schlesinger makes the case for a strong U.S. deterrent. Yes, the Cold War has ended and, yes, while “we worry about Russia’s nuclear posture to some degree, it is not just as prominent as it once was.” The U.S. still needs to deter Russia, which has the largest nuclear capability of any potential adversary, and the Chinese, who have a modest (and growing) capability. The U.S. nuclear deterrent has no influence on North Korea or Iran, he says, or on nonstate actors. “They’re not going to be deterred by the possibility of a nuclear response to actions that they might take,” he says.

Mr. Schlesinger refers to the unanimous conclusion of the bipartisan Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States, which he co-led with Chairman William Perry. The commission “strongly” recommended that further discussions with the Russians on arms control are “desirable,” he says, and that “we should proceed with negotiations on an extension of the START Treaty.” That’s what Mr. Obama set in motion in Moscow this week. The pact — whose full name is the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty — expires in December. But what’s the hurry? Mr. Schlesinger warns about rushing to agree on cuts. “The treaty . . . can be extended for five years. And, if need be, I would extend it for five years.”

There’s another compelling reason for a strong U.S. deterrent: the U.S. nuclear umbrella, which protects more than 30 allies world-wide. “If we were only protecting the North American continent,” he says, “we could do so with far fewer weapons than we have at present in the stockpile.” But a principal aim of the U.S. nuclear deterrent is “to provide the necessary reassurance to our allies, both in Asia and in Europe.” That includes “our new NATO allies such as Poland and the Baltic States,” which, he notes dryly, continue to be concerned about their Russian neighbor. “Indeed, they inform us regularly that they understand the Russians far better than do we.”

The congressional commission warned of a coming “tipping point” in proliferation, when more nations might decide to go nuclear if they were to lose confidence in the U.S. deterrent, or in Washington’s will to use it. If U.S. allies lose confidence in Washington’s ability to protect them, they’ll kick off a new nuclear arms race.

That’s a reason Mr. Schlesinger wants to bring Japan into the nuclear conversation. “One of the recommendations of the commission is that we start to have a dialogue with the Japanese about strategic capabilities in order both to help enlighten them and to provide reassurance that they will be protected by the U.S. nuclear umbrella. In the past, that has not been the case. Japan never was seriously threatened by Soviet capabilities and that the Soviets looked westward largely is a threat against Western Europe. But now that the Chinese forces have been growing into the many hundreds of weapons, we think that it’s necessary to talk to the Japanese in the same way that we have talked to the Europeans over the years.”

He reminds me of the comment of Japanese political leader Ichiro Ozawa, who said in 2002 that it would be “easy” for Japan to make nuclear warheads and that it had enough plutonium to make several thousand weapons. “When one contemplates a number like that,” Mr. Schlesinger says, “one sees that a substantial role in nonproliferation has been the U.S. nuclear umbrella. Without that, some and perhaps a fair number of our allies would feel the necessity of having their own nuclear capabilities.”

He worries about “contagion” in the Middle East, whereby countries will decide to go nuclear if Iran does. “We’ve long talked about Iran as a tipping point,” he says, “in that it might induce Turkey, which has long been protected under NATO, Egypt [and] Saudi Arabia to respond in kind . . . There has been talk about extending the nuclear umbrella to the Middle East in the event that the Iranians are successful in developing that capacity.”

Mr. Schlesinger expresses concerns, too, about the safety and reliability of U.S. nuclear weapons, all of which are more than 20 years old. “I am worried about the reliability of the weapons . . . as time passes. Not this year, not next year, but as time passes and the stockpile ages.” There is a worry, too, about the “intellectual infrastructure,” he says, as Americans who know how to make nuclear weapons either retire or die. And he notes that the “physical infrastructure” is now “well over 60 years” old. Some of it “comes out of the Manhattan Project.”

The U.S. is the only major nuclear power that is not modernizing its weapons. “The Russians have a shelf life for their weapons of about 10 years so they are continually replacing” them. The British and the French “stay up to date.” And the Chinese and the Indians “continue to add to their stockpiles.” But in the U.S., Congress won’t even so much as fund R&D for the Reliable Replacement Warhead. “The RRW has become a toxic term on Capitol Hill,” Mr. Schlesinger says. Give it a new name, he seems to be suggesting, and try again to get Congress to fund it. “We need to be much more vigorous about life-extension programs” for the weapons.

Finally, we chat about Mr. Schlesinger’s nearly half-century as a nuclear strategist. Are we living in a world where the use of nuclear weapons is more likely than it was back then? “The likelihood of a nuclear exchange has substantially gone away,” he says. That’s the good news. “However, the likelihood of a nuclear terrorist attack on the United States” is greater.

During his RAND years, in the 1960s, Mr. Schlesinger recalls that “we were working on mitigating the possible effects [of a nuclear attack] through civil defense, which, may I say parenthetically, we should be working on now with respect, certainly, to the possibility of a terrorist weapon used against the United States. . . . We should have a much more rapid response capability. . . . We’re not as well organized as we should be to respond.”

Mr. Schlesinger sees another difference between now and when he started in this business: “Public interest in our strategic posture has faded over the decades,” he says. “In the Cold War, it was a most prominent subject. Now, much of the public is barely interested in it. And that has been true of the Congress as well,” creating what he delicately refers to as “something of a stalemate in expenditures.”

He’s raising the alarm. Congress, the administration and Americans ignore it at their peril.

Ms. Kirkpatrick is a deputy editor of the Journal’s editorial page.

[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124726489588925407.html]

“	If the Third World War is fought with nuclear weapons, the fourth will be fought with bows and arrows.	”
—Lord Louis Mountbatten

“	I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones	”
—Albert Einstein

 

Uighur riots sparked by fears that separatist dream is dying

BismillahirRahmanirRahim

From Times Online – July 6, 2009

…

As a people, the Uighurs [pronounced ooy-gur, not wee-gur] look more like Afghans than ethnic Chinese. Ethnically, they are a Turkic race whose homeland is at the meeting point of Asia and Europe. The area now called Xinjiang was annexed by the Chinese Empire in the 19th century, although it briefly achieved independence before the Communist victory in China in 1949.

Separatist sentiment has always been present, but the stern censorship and political repression of the Chinese Government have prevented it from forming a large-scale organisation. Small groups operated in secret but only began to make their presence felt in the 1990s, when the liberation of the former Soviet republics and the increasing dominance of ethnic Chinese stirred a new sense of aspiration among many Uighurs.

In 1949 the Han Chinese had made up six per cent of Xinjiang’s people; today they represent 41 per cent in a population of 19 million, compared to 45 per cent Uighur. Many of them believe that the goal of the Chinese Communist Party, barely concealed, is the complete cultural, religious and linguistic assimilation of the Uighur people.

After the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, China identified itself as a victim of international terrorism and the Uighur separatist movement as its own al-Qaeda. Uighurs were captured in Afghanistan — four of them were released last month to Bermuda. The Chinese authorities, fearful of violence before the Olympics, announced a raid on a training camp run by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement in January last year. Human rights organisations say that the Chinese anti-terror campaign has blurred the lines between genuine men of violence and those who peacefully support independence.

China pays lip service to freedom of religion for Uighurs, but only under its own terms. Imams must be licensed by the state. Public servants, including teachers, are barred from worshipping at mosques on pain of dismissal. Most resented of all, no one under 18 is allowed to worship or to receive religious instruction.

This goes further even than the control exerted over Tibetan Buddhism — to many Uighurs it represents a deliberate attempt to snuff out their religion over the course of a few generations by ensuring that young people grow up fully secularised. There is a small overseas diaspora, but compared to the Tibetan cause the Uighurs have few influential international friends. The chances of realising the dream of an independent “Uighurstan” are slight to non-existent. But, as the latest events have showed, it is a dream that will not die peacefully.

[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6649318.ece]

 

Kefir: The Natural Probiotic

BismillahirRahmanirRahim

As with many discoveries that we make, my introduction to Kefir came from overseas. A friend told me about the benefits he gets from drinking half a cup of this beverage every day. He even produces his own at home.

What they say about Kefir:

Kefir is pronounced (kef e-er). It is a refreshing cultured-milk beverage that is loaded with nutritional benefits. It is made by culturing fresh milk with kefir grains. Kefir grains are not to be mistaken for cereal grains; they are a soft, gelatinous white biological mass of proteins, lipids (fats), and a soluble-polysaccharide kefiran complex. They are famous for there vast mixture of specific friendly (LAB) Lactic-acid Bacteria and yeasts.

This is the most potent source of probiotics (friendly bacteria) you can find. In most probiotic pills found in stores you will find about 15 different strains of friendly bacteria, for example (Lactobacillus bugaricus and Streptoccocus  hermophilus) are just 2 of the more well known strains.

[www.allaboutkefir.blogspot.com]

Kefir History

Kefir is the cousin of yogurt and its roots can trace back more than 2000 years. Originating in the Caucasus Mountains of Europe [Europe?] where people live well past 100 years, the word kefir is thought to have been derived from the Turkish word “keif” for “good feeling,” probably due to the sense of well-being experienced after drinking it.

[www.lifeway.net]

Nutritional and Health Aspects

Kefir is considered a nutritious drink suitable for inclusion in special diets and in the therapy of gastrointestinal disorders. Kefir is very similar to cultured buttermilk, yogurt and any other fermented milk. The gross composition and caloric value are very similar to that of milk, except that about one-quarter of the 5 percent lactose will have been converted to lactic acid. This will be of benefit to lactose-intolerant persons. Furthermore, the bacteria contained in the kefir will provide lactase, the enzyme in short supply in lactose-intolerant individuals. In addition, kefir contains 0.01 to 0.1 percent ethanol and 1 percent titratable acidity.

[www.kefir.org]

Nowadays, you can find it in the milk/yogurt isle of most supermarkets.

 

Kızıl Elma

BismillahirRahmanirRahim

Kızıl Elma, Türkler özellikle Oğuz Türkleri için Kızılelma, üzerinde düşünüldükçe uzaklaşan ancak uzaklaştığı oranda cazibesi artan ülküler veya düşlerdir.

Kelimenin tam olarak ne zaman, nerede ve nasıl geçtiği bilinmemekle birlikte tarihi akış içerisinde hep batı yönünde ilerlemenin bir sembolü olmuştur.

İstanbul’un Fethi‘nden sonra, Kızılelma’nın, Roma‘da bulunan Saint-Pierre Kilisesinin mihrabındaki altın top olduğu ileri sürülmüştür.

Bir milletin yürütücü kuvvetine ‘ülkü’ denir. Toplumlardaki kişileri birbirine bağlayan nesne, sadece kök birliği, çıkar ve ihtiyaç değil, bunlarla birlikte ve aynı zamanda ülküdür. ülküsüz topluluk yerinde sayan, ülkülü topluluk yürüyen bir yığındır. Sözlük anlamı ‘and’ ve ‘uzak hedef’ demek olan ‘ülkü’, topluluğu aynı yolda yürüten bir kuvvettir ki, bu uğurda insanlar birbirlerine karşı içten sözleşmiş gibidirler.

ülkü, ilkönce, insanların gönüllerinde, gönüllerinin derinliğinde, şuuraltında, hayallerinde doğar ve kendini önce destanlarda gösterir. Sonra şuura geçer, büyük kılavuzlar tarafından açıklanır. Daha sonra da büyük kahramanlar, onu gerçekleştirmek için büyük hamleler yapar. Bu hamle sırasında da ülkülü millet, kahramanlar ardından gönül isteği ile koşar. Bütün bu uğraşmalar arasında da millet yürür; önce manen, sonra maddeten ilerler, olgunlaşır, erginleşir.

Türk destanlarından çıkan anlama göre, Türklerin ülküsü, fetihler sonunda büyük ve üstün bir devlet kurarak bu devletin içinde bolluğa ve mutluluğa kavuşmaktır. Aşağı yukarı, her millet, aynı şekildeki milli gayelerin ardındadır. Milletlerin çapına, kaabiliyetine göre milli ülkülerin ayrıntılarında farklar olmakla beraber, ana çizgiler bakımından hepsi birbirine benzer: Büyümek ve rahatlığa kavuşmak!

Türkler, kendi ülkülerine niçin ‘kızılelma’ demiştir, bunun sebebini bilmiyoruz. Yalnız bu addaki saflık ve tabiilik, Türk ülküsünün çok eski olduğunu göstermek bakımından manalıdır. Kızılelma adı, ülkünün aydınlardan önce halk arasında doğduğunu gösterse gerektir.

Kızılelma ülküsü, Osmanlıların parlak çağlarında iyice belirip şekillenmiş ve konak konak, Türk büyüklüğünün, yükseklik fikrinin, ilahi bir gayenin timsali haline gelmiştir. Bu büyük düşünce olmasaydı, XI. Yüzyılda Anadolu’ya gelen, ençok bir milyon Türk, Bizans’ın Asya ve Avrupa’daki topraklarında rastladıkları diğer Türklerin birkaç tümenlik hrıstiyanlaşmış döküntülerinin yardımı ile de olsa, bu dünya çapında devleti kurup dört kıta ‘dördüncüsü Okyanusya’dır’ üzerindeki teşkilat ve medeniyet şaheserini yaratamazdı.

Milletlere milli inanç ve güvenç veren ülkünün ne büyük bir kuvvet olduğunu anlamak için bugünkü olaylara bakmak yeter:

60 milyonluk bir millet olmalarına rağmen dağınık, teşkilatsız ve geri olan Araplar, milli ülküleri olan Arap Birliği düşüncesi sayesinde toparlanma yoluna girmişlerdir. ülkülerinden aldıkları güçle, Filistin işinde İngiltere ve Amerika’ya kafa tutmaktadırlar. ülkü sahibi millet oldukları için de dünyada itibarları ve değerleri artmıştır. Bizim için çok büyük isret ve ders olan şu olay, Arapların itibarını göstermesi bakımından manalıdır: Birleşmiş Milletler teşkilatının 11 üyeli Güvenlik Konseyi’nin beşi ‘Amerika, İngiltere, Fransa, Rusya ve Çin’ daimi, altısı geçicidir. 1945 yılında, bu altı üyelik için seçim yapıldı. 900 yıllık büyük bir geçmişi ve tarihi olan, askeri devlet olarak nam kazanmış bulunan Türkiye bu seçimde ancak bir tek oy alarak Konsey’e giremediği halde, İngiliz işgalinden henüz kurtulamamış olan ordusuz, donanmasız Mısır, 45 oy alarak bu üyeliğe seçildi. Demek ki, o zamanki Birleşmiş Milletler teşkilatına dahil bulunan 50 devletten 45′i, Mısır’ı bizden daha itibarlı ve üstün görmüştü.

1946′da geçici üyelik için yapılan seçimde de, Türkiye’ye kimse oy vermediği halde, Suriye 45 oy aldı. Bir iki yıllık bir devlet olan o zamanki üç milyon nüfuslu Suriye’nin Türkiye`ye tercih edilmesinin sebebi açıktır: Suriye, bir ülkünün ardındadır. Yani prensip sahibidir. Bundan dolayı da, düşmanlarının bile saygısını kazanmıştır.

Yahudiler de, ülkü sahibi olmanın ikinci bir ibret verici örneğidir. Korkaklığı atasözü haline gelen bu millet, bugün, bir milli ülkünün ardında, herhangi bir millet kadar cesaretle çarpışıyor. Milli kahramanlar ve bu milli kahramanlar, idama mahkum edildikleri ve bağışlanma dileğinde bulunurlarsa ölümden kurtulacakları halde, İngiltere’den af dilemeyerek milletlerine şeref vermek suretiyle ölüyorlar. Bu milli ülkü sayesinde, Filistin’deki yarım milyon yahudi (O zaman Filistin’de yarım milyon Yahudi vardı), yalnız Araplarla değil, koca İngiltere ile savaşı göze alıyor, Amerika’ya meydan okuyor. Milli ülküye yapışmak sayesinde Yahudiler o kadar kuvvetlenmişledir ki, bugün İngiltere imparatorluğu onlara karşı bir şey yapamıyor. Tebaasında bir tek kişinin hapse atılmasını savaş sebebi saban İngiltere, bugün, İngiliz askerlerinin öldürülmesine, İngiliz subaylarının kaçırılıp dayak atılarak horlanmasına, masum İngiliz çavuşlarının Yahudiler tarafından canice asılmasına ses çıkaramıyor.

Bütün bunların en önemli sebebi Arapların ve Yahudilerin olağanüstü kuvvetli olmasıdır. Bu kuvvet maddi değil, manevidir, Yani ülkü kuvvetidir.

Kızılelma ülküsüne ‘tehlikeli maceracılık’ diyenler, bugünkü Araplar ile Yahudilere bakıp düşünmelidirler. Hele Yahudiler 2000 yıl önce kaybettikleri vatanlarını yeniden ele geçirmek ve yalnız kitaplarda kalmış olan İbrani dilini diriltip bir konuşma dili haline getirmek uğrundaki çalışmaları ile dünyaya örnek olmuşlardır.

Biz ise bir yandan ‘bir Türk dünyaya bedeldir’ vecizesine inanmış görünürken, bir yandan da kendimizi baltalayıp inkar ettik. Büyüklükten korktuk. Küçüklüğü benimsedik ve milli ülkü ile delilik diye alay ettik. Güvenlik Konseyindeki seçimler göstermiştir ki, kimseden bir şey istememek, herkesle hoş geçinmek, ittifaklar yapmak bir millete itibar sağlamıyor. Kızılelma ülküsünü bir delilik sayacaksak, büyüklükten değil, yaşamaktan da vazgeçmeliyiz. ‘Tarihi görevini yapmış ve artık ölmeye yüz tutmuş bir topluluk’ olmayı kabul etmeliyiz. Eski Asurlular, Hititler, Romalılar gibi haritadan silinmeye razı olmalıyız. Buna razı değilsek milli ülkünün peşine düşmeliyiz ve demiryolu yapmakla birkaç fabrika kurmayı ülkü diye göstermek gafletinden çekinmeliyiz.

ülküler için ‘maddi faydası nedir?’, ‘uygulanabilir mi?’ diye düşünmek doğru değildir. Hiçbir inanç riyazi mantığa vurulmaz. Tanrı’nın varlığı da riyazi metod ile isbat edilememiştir. Fakat yüz milyonlarca insan ona inanmakta ve bu inançtan güç almaktadır. ülküler de böyledir.

Kızılelma ülküsünün gerisinde savaşlar ve büyük sıkıntılar görüp de korkanlar bulunabilir. Kendi rahatı ve keyfi kaçmasın diye insanlık davası (!) güdenler, ülküyü inkar edenler her zaman, her yerde çıkabilir. Fakat bir milletin içinde büyük bir çoğunluk milli ülküye inandıktan sonra, geri kalanlar da ister istemez bu milli akıntıya uymaya mecburdurlar. Bizim için önemli olan, dost kılıklı yabancıların milli ülküyü güya milli çıkar adına baltalamasının önüne geçmektir.

Bir topluluktan ortak ülküyü kaldırın, insanların hayvanlaştığını görürsünüz. Ortak düşüncesi olmayan toplulukta, herkes, yalnız kendi çıkar ve zevkini düşünür. Böyle bir toplulukta fedakarlık, saygı, nezaket kalmaz. Bencillik, kabalık, rüşvet, iltimas ve namussuzluğun türküsü alır yürür. Maddileşmiş bir insan vatan için ölür mü? Bencil bir insan muhtaçlara yardım eder mi? Milletine inanmayan bir adam yabancı ile işbirliği yapmaz mı? Erdemi gülünç bulan birisi çalıp çırpmaz mı? Kızılelma, Türk milletinin manevi besinidir. Açlar yiyecek bulamadıkları zaman nasıl faydasız, zararlı, hatta zehirli nesneleri yerlerse; Türk milleti de ‘Kızılelma’ kendisine yasak edildiği için marksizm ve kozmopolitizm gibi zararlı ve zehirli fikirlere el uzatıyor.

Fakat artık bu devir kapanmıştır. Gittikçe uyanan milli şuur karşısında gafiller ve hainler, Türk milletini daha çok aldatamayacaklardır. Kızılelmanın yolunu kapatamayacaklardır.

Ziya Gökalp’ın mısraları düsturumuz olacaktır:

Demez taş, kaya Yürürüz yaya… Türküz, gideriz Kızılelmaya.
Kızılelma, 1.sayı, 31 Ekim 1947

[http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C4%B1z%C4%B1l_Elma]

 

ANSWER TO A UNIVERSITY STUDENT

BismillahirRahmanirRahim

The following is the simplified translation of a letter written as an answer to a university student by ‘Abdulhakim-i Arwasi (quddisa sirruh) when he was the senior professor of Tasawwuf at the Madrasat al-mutahassisin, the Faculty of Theology, which was located in the Sultan Salim Mosque in Istanbul during the declining years of the Ottoman Empire.

Go out of the area of the Omnipotence of Allahu ta’ala with all your strength, if you can! But you cannot. Outside this universe is the place of nonexistence. And this place of nonexistence is also under His Omnipotence!

On an occasion, somebody asked [the great wali] Ibrahim ibn Adham (quddisa sirruh) for advice. He said:

If you accept six things, nothing you do will harm you. These six things are:

1) When you intend to commit a sin, do not eat the food He gives! Does it befit you to eat His food and to disobey Him?

2) When you want to rebel against Him, go out of His Domain! Does it befit you to be in His Domain and to be in rebellion against Him?

3) When you want to disobey Him, do not sin where He sees you! Sin where He does not see you! It simply is unbecoming to he in His Domain, to eat His food and then to sin where He sees you!

4) When the Angel of Death comes to take away your soul, ask him to wait till you repent! You cannot turn that angel back! Repent before he comes, while you have the chance at this very hour, for the Angel of Death comes unexpectedly!

5) When the two angels Munkar and Nakir come to question you in the grave, turn them back! Do not let them test you! “It is impossible,” said the person who asked for his advice.

Shaikh Ibrahim said, “Then prepare your answers now!”

6) On the Day of Resurrection, when Allahu ta’ala declares: “Sinners, go to Hell!” say that you will not!

The person said, “Nobody will listen to me,” and then repented; he did not disavow his sense of penitence up until death. There is a Divine Effect in the words of Awliya.

Ibrahim ibn Adham (quddisa sirruh) was asked, “Allahu ta’ala declares: ‘O My human creatures! Ask Me! I will accept, I will give! Nonetheless, we ask but He does not give?” Hadrat Ibrahim said:

“You entreat Allahu ta’ala, but you do not obey Him. You know His Prophet (sall-Allahu ‘alaihi wa sallam), but you do not follow him. You read the Qur’an al-karim, but you do not follow the way it prescribes. You utilize Allahu ta’ala’s blessings, but you do not thank Him. You know that Paradise is for those who worship, but you do not make preparations for it. You know that He has created Hell for the disobedient, but you do not fear it. You see what happened to your fathers and grandfathers, but you do not take a warning. You do not see your own defects, and you search for defects in others. Such people must be thankful, since it does not rain stones on them, since they do not sink into the earth, and since it does not rain fire from the sky! What else could they want?” Would not this suffice as a recompense for their prayers?”

[Allahu ta'ala declares in the sixtieth ayat of Mumin Sura, "Make dua to Me, I accept (ask for, I give)". There are five conditions for the dua being acceptable. The one who makes dua, must be Muslim; should have Ahl-as sunnat belief; should not commit haram; particularly abstaining from eating and drinking haram things; should make fards; should perform five times of namaz; should fast during Ramadan; should give zakat; should know and adhere himself to the causes of what he wants from Allahu ta'ala. Allahu ta'ala creates everything through a certain means. When asked for a certain thing, He sends the cause of that thing and makes that thing effective. Man adheres himself to this cause and obtains that thing. For the sake of His Awliya, apart from His usual means, when they make dua or when dua is made for sake of Awliya, the things wished are given directly to those as (Karamat) without adhering to any cause.]

As you have not come from nonexistence to this world of existence by yourself, so you cannot go there by yourself. The eyes with which you see, the ears with which you hear, the organs with which you perceive, the intellect with which you think, the hands and feet you use, all the roads you will pass, all the places you will go, in short, all the members and systems connected with your body and soul, all of them, are Allahu ta’ala’s possessions and creatures. You cannot misappropriate anything from Him! He is Hayy and Qayyum, that is, He sees, knows and hears, and He for every moment keeps in existence everything that exists. Even for a moment, He is not unaware of the state of all and controlling all. He does not let anybody steal His property. He is never incapable of punishing those who disobey His commands. It would not make any difference, if, for instance, He had not created any human beings on this globe, as He had not on the moon, on Mars or on other planets; His greatness would not have diminished for this reason.

A hadith qudsi states: “If [every one of] your ancestors and descendants, the young and the old, the alive and the dead, human beings and genies, were like My Most Devoted, Most Obedient Human Creature (‘alaihi ’s-salam), My Greatness would not be increased. Conversely, if you all were like My enemy, who opposes Me and despises My Prophets, My Greatness would never decrease. Allahu ta’ala is free from needing you; He needs none of you. As for you, in order that you might exist and keep on existing and in everything you do, you always need Him.”

He sends light and heat by means of the sun. He makes waves of light reflect from the moon. Out of black soil, He creates many vivid-colored, sweet-scented flowers and beautiful appearances. From a breeze, He pours out the breath which gives relief to hearts. From the stars that are a distance of many years, He makes it rain haloes on the earth, out of which you came about and under which you will be buried in the end. Through many a vibration, He creates effectivity in particles. [On the one hand, by turning dirt, which you dislike and are disgusted with, into soil by means of His smallest, most trifling creatures (germs), He turns this soil, which you tread on, into a white-of-egg-like substance, protein, the constructive matter of your body, from the factory of plants. On the other hand, by combining the water in the earth with a suffocating gas in air, again in the factory of plants and by stocking in them the energy which He sends from the sky, He creates starchy and sugary substances and oils, the sources of energy that will operate the machine of your body.] Thus, in plants, which He causes to grow in fields and deserts, on mountains and in rills and in animals that He enables to live on the earth and under the seas, He prepares food which will go into your stomach and nourish you. By placing chemistry laboratories in your lungs. He isolates the poison from your blood and puts useful oxygen in its place. By implanting physics laboratories in your brain, the information coming from your organs of perception through your nerves are taken there and, as He has placed a magnetic power into the stone of iron, so with the effect of intelligence, which He has placed into your brain with other immaterial powers, He can put into your heart various plans, commands and actions that are prepared simultaneously. By making your heart work through very complex mechanisms, which you consider very extraordinary, He makes rivers of blood flow in your blood vessels. He weaves many a dumbfounded net of roads through your nerves. He conceals stocks in your muscles. With many, many other phenomena. He equips and completes your body. He establishes and fits all of these in an order and harmony to which you give such names as laws of physics, chemical reactions or biological events. He places centers of power inside you. He projects the necessary precautions into your soul and consciousness. He also, gifts a treasure called the intellect, a gauge named reason, a means named thought, and a key which you call will. In order that you might use each of these correctly, He gives you sweet and bitter warnings, hints, inclinations and ambitions. And as a greater blessing, He openly sends instructions through faithful and dependable Prophets (‘alaihimu ’s-salam). In conclusion, operating the machine of your body and instructing you with its experiments, He hands it over to you so that you may use and utilize it in objective affairs. He does all of these not because He needs you, your will or help, but to make you happy by giving you a distinguished position and authority among, His creatures. If, instead of leaving it to your hands, your feet and all of your limbs that you can use as you wish, He used them without you knowing it, like the beating of your heart, the expansion of your lungs and the circulation of your blood, if He rolled you by force, with reflex actions, with paralyzed hands and feet, if each of your actions was a vibration and every movement was a twitch, could you claim to possess yourself and the things He has lent you? If He made you move under the influence of external and internal powers, like the lifeless, or unreasonable and unconscious powers of animals, and if He put in your mouth, like pack animals, a morsel of the blessings -which you take in large amounts to your houses now- could you take and eat that morsel?

Do you think of your state before and when you were born? Where were you, in what were you, during the creation of this globe on which you live, eat and drink, go about, amuse and divert yourself, discover the means that are remedies for your diseases, and the means to protect yourself from the attacks of wild and poisonous animals and enemies? Where were you while the stones and soil of this globe were being baked on fires in the ovens of creation and while its water and air were being distilled in the chemistry laboratories of the Omnipotence? Have you ever thought? Where were you while the lands, which you claim to be yours today, were gliding away from the seas, while mountains, rivers, plateaus and hills were being laid down? Where and how were you while, by means of Allahu ta’ala’s Omnipotence, the salty waters of seas evaporated and formed clouds in the sky, and while rains, falling from those clouds, took substances [for nourishment prepared by lightning and waves of power and energy in the sky] into the motes of burnt, dried soil, and while these substances, stirred [by the influence from rays of height and heat], vibrated and nourished the cells of life?

Today, they say that you are of monkey descent, and you believe it. When they say that Allahu ta’ala has created you, enables you to live, causes you to die and that He alone makes everything, you don’t want to believe.

O man! What are you? What were you in the veins of your father? At one time, in the veins of your father, whom you insult with such terms as imbecile, old-fashioned and retrogressive, you used to make him feel uncomfortable. Who made you move then, and why did you disturb him? If he had wished, he could have thrown you into a rubbish-heap, but he did not. He hid you like a deposit. While he was so kind as to have entrusted you to a chaste woman, where you would be nourished unsparingly and struggled to protect you for a long time, why do you insult your father by holding him responsible for your inconveniences, instead of expressing thanks to him and your Creator for the blessings you have been given? Moreover, why do you throw your deposit into rubbish-heaps dirtied by everybody?

When people around you follow your wishes and desires, you believe that you are doing everything by creating with your intellect, knowledge, science, power, strength and by inventing all accomplishments. You forget about the task which Allahu ta’ala has assigned to you; you have resigned from that high official duty and have attempted to claim ownership of the deposit. You want to regard and introduce yourself as an owner and ruler.

On the other hand, when those around you do not follow your desires, when external forces seem to overcome you, you can see within yourself nothing but regret and frustration, incapacity and despair. Then you claim that you own no will or option, that you are under the slavery of everything, that you are like a machine, automatic but with a broken spring. You understand qadar not as al-’ilm al-mutaqaddim (eternal knowledge) but as al-jabr al-mutahakkim (despotic compulsion). While saying this, you are not unaware of the fact that your mouth is not like a record-player.

When your favorite meals do not come to your table, you hold out your hand and tongue and eat the dry bread you can reach, though you are free to eat or not and die of hunger; the dry morsels are not crammed into your mouth by force! You eat, but also think that you are deprived of doing under your control, and it has not been due to involuntary movements. But, though you possess your self- control even at such times as this when you have to, you deem yourself compelled, enslaved, in short, a nothing against exterior forces.

O man! Which of these are you? You claim to be ‘all’ when you thrive and when success and victory are with you, and ‘nothing’ under the forces of fate when affairs turn out bad or contrary to your wishes. Are you ‘all’ or are you ‘nothing’?

O mankind! O man who is floating on deficiency and eccentricity! You are neither ‘all’ nor ‘nothing’! At any rate, you are something in between these two. Yes, you are far from being inventive, dominant and victorious over everything. But, you have an irrefutable freedom and option and a wish and choice rendering you authoritative. Each of you is an official, undertaking individual and collective duties under the command of Allahu ta’ala, who is the Unequalled Authority, Absolute and Unconditional Owner without a partner! You can do your duties under the rules and regulations established by Him, within the limits of your ranks assigned by Him, within the responsibilities and means which He has created and entrusted to you as deposits. He alone is the Sole Commander, the Unique Ruler and the Single Owner. There is no other commander besides Him, nor a ruler resembling Him, nor an owner-partner with Him. Unless the aims and purposes which you lay claim to and rush upon so zealously, the struggles which you set about, the glories which you take pride in and your accomplishments are for Him, they are all false, vain. Then, why do you accept lies within your hearts and turn off into polytheism? Why don’t you obey the commands of Allahu ta’ala, the Unequalled Ruler, and know Him as the Creator? Instead you run after thousands of imaginary idols and get drowned in distress? Whatever you run towards, isn’t it an ideal, an option or a belief that drags you on? Why do you look for that ideal in someone other than Allahu ta’ala? Why don’t you direct that belief to Allahu ta’ala and spend your alternatives in this belief and in the deeds which are the results of this belief?

When you know Allahu ta’ala as the Absolute Ruler and work without violating His regulations and laws, how much better you will love one another and be attached brothers! What won’t the Mercy of Allahu ta’ala create from this brotherhood? Every favor you gain is the result of this brotherhood produced by a belief in Allahu ta’ala, His Mercy and Benevolence. Every problem or calamity you experience is the result of the fury, resentment and hostility which you are filled with as a retribution for not paying attention to Allahu ta’ala, for cruelty and injustice. And this is also the result of attempting to make laws by yourselves and by following others who want to compete with Allahu ta’ala, in short, of not believing only in Allahu ta’ala with a real belief in His Unity.

In short, the chief cause of the problems among humanity is the crime of polytheism committed against Allahu ta’ala. The obscurity of corruption that has surrounded the horizons of humanity, despite the improvements in knowledge and science, is the result of polytheism, disbelief, lack of belief in Allahu ta’ala’s Unity and lack of mutual love. However hard human beings will try, they will not escape sufferings and disasters unless they love one another. And, unless they know Allahu ta’ala, unless they love Him, unless they regard Him as the Absolute Ruler and worship Him, men cannot love one another. Whatever might be thought of besides Allahu ta’ala and the way of Allahu ta’ala, all of them are ways leading to disunity and wretchedness. Don’t you see that those who attend the mosque love one another and those who haunt the tavern fight?

Whatever you give your heart to, or to whomever you worship besides Allahu ta’ala, each of them can be opposed and equated. And all of them are under the Omnipotence and Will of Allahu ta’ala. He is the Single Ruler who does not have a partner, match, like, opposite or equivalent, and He alone is the one whose equivalent is non-valid and false, a nonexistent equivalent, the existence of which is impossible.

Whatever you follow, worship, love or regard as the absolute ruler besides Allahu ta’ala, be it known that it will burn together with you.

Markaz-i da’ira-i iflas wa bi nawai
Sar shar-i sahhay-i khodgami wa na ashinai
As-Sayyid Abdulhakim Arwasi

HizmetBooks © 1998

 

Sheykh in a Jelal State

BismillahirRahmanirRahim

We often overlook the spiritual guide’s jelal (majesty and wrath) state. Not all Murshids have this characteristic. It is unmistakably genuine and oddly charismatic. This picture of Sheykh is a stern warning to my pharaonic ego. I say this with regret but a harsh dose of reality.

(Thanks to Haydar Ali’s Flickr photos at Osmanli Traveller’s Photostream)

Sheykh Jelal ed-Din Rumi (qs), known as Mevlana in Turkey and Rumi in the West, was not named with jelal in vain. The jelal state has real substance that is supposed to scare the rebellious ego, to hold it under control, amongst other things. Consider this picture of Jelal ad-Din Rumi below, which I prefer over the popular image of him with a bowed back and a tilted neck out of humility in the presence of his Lord.