“ISIS”, “Al-Qaida”, suicide bombing, “Muslim” intolerance and all the rest of it: anyone with an even elementary knowledge of Islamic learning and culture will know how strange and alien, indeed how “extreme” and unfamiliar the picture so often painted of Islam today is, especially when viewed in the context of the vast sweep of Islam’s great civilisational history, where it has been a paragon of peaceful coexistence, cultural diversity, scientific learning, broadmindedness and deep spirituality quite unparalleled elsewhere in human history. Inherited and media prejudices The first obstacle that some…
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Meaning of the life and how it gains value
Today, we will read a part [from Risale-i Nur] addressing the heart, rather than the mind. From “ayat al hasbiyya” –that is, the verse of hasbunallah wa ni’mal wakiil- It is a kind of explanation of our Ustaz [Bediuzzaman Said Nursi]. A beautiful piece that tells the meaning of the life, that how the life gains value when we look at it in the name of Allah. Let’s read and try to get benefit. The fifth degree of the luminous verse ‘حسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل’ (For us Allah suffices) “Another…
Read MoreDo not be on your own to be the people of salvation
At the end of times -akhir zaman- we live in a very dangerous sea and try to save our life from its fatal waves. In this situation, we firstly need a life ring. However, this is not enough if we are alone and do not know where we will swim. After that we have to swim towards safety island with the others in the sea and join the people of salvation (ahl an-najat). In this hypothetical short story there are three main metaphors (sea, salvation and island). The sea and…
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