Category: 2015

A world that is enduring, stable, and perpetual

The Pen

It is by no means possible that our Creator should possess this world resembling a temporary guest house, but not possess another, perpetual world that is stable, and that is the locus of the manifestation of His sublimity. From the Fourth Indication of the Tenth Word It is in no sense possible that the Ever-Abiding Creator of this transient world should bring this world into existence yet not bring into existence a world that is enduring. And it is impossible that the Eternal Artful Maker of this unique and transient…

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Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and the youth

Muhlis Körpe

Youth is a great blessing which we can make eternal by spending it in the way of Allah (swt). The nations’ hope of future is the youth. Countries expect the advance and progress in civilization from the efforts of youth. Therefore, youth is not a moment or period of life but the future. Tomorrow’s history has expectations from youth. The spirit, strength and truth of a nation are its youth. To this respect, those who want to take a role at the stage of history have invested highly in its…

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The spiritual bonds among us

Syafiq Shafii

It is our responsibility to know the spiritual bonds that can bind Muslims to each other for the unity of Islam. One hundred years ago, one young man delivered a speech in historic Umayyad Mosque to a gathering of close to ten thousand, including one hundred scholars. With his extraordinary speech, this charismatic and brilliant young man mentioned six sicknesses of the Islamic world. One of the sicknesses according to this young man is disunity among Muslims, which is our greatest problem at present. We are a very fragmented and…

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What is holy for families?

Mustafa Topöz

What is spoken most in family is its most holy. Family life is the special place where people express themselves in the most comfortable way, and show their true personalities by leaving the business stuff and all the roles aside. Family life, from this aspect, is an environment where truth is lived and spoken. Therefore, the interests, concerns, conversations, agendas, plans, programs, sorrows, joys of the family members are shaped according to this environment. What sets our agenda in our house? As family members coming together in evenings, what do…

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The Pen 24th Issue

The Pen

July – December 2015 Islamic world in need of Risale-i Nur               Editor’s letter: He who knows his Lord saves his hereafter Y.Emre Pehlivan   The spirit, ego and nafs Ali Kurt Allah (swt) has granted human with a domain of legal and illegal and a will and freedom to choose between them. Human is tested with this faculty called nafs which is predisposed both for good and evil.   The illness of intellectual arrogance Cemal Erşen Intellectual arrogance disease may lead people who are more or less…

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Editor’s Letter: He who knows his Lord saves his hereafter

Yunus Emre Pehlivan

Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah, In this issue you will find articles about nafs, intellectual arrogance, servanthood to Allah (swt), spiritual crisis of the West (and its effects in the modern world), need for Risale-i Nur in the Islamic world, brotherhood among Muslims, Islamic economic order, Imam Nursi’s ideas about youth, the certainty of Hereafter,  creation and tawhid, and more. Nafs is a faculty embedded into our spirit; it is different from the nafs meaning ‘person’. The ‘I’- which gives sense of ego to the spirit, is the most important feature…

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Creating one thing and everything

Nader Medeiros Hasan Jaber

Whomsoever is not able to create everything cannot create anything, and whomsoever is able to create a single thing must be able to create everything. Imam Bediüzzaman Said Nursi explains that the belief in God’s oneness has two degrees: the first one is “a superficial belief” that God has no partners and that the universe belongs to Him. The second one is “a firm conviction” that God is one, that everything belongs to Him exclusively and that only He creates. The believers in this second degree are more protected against…

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The spirit, ego and nafs

Ali Kurt

Allah (swt) has granted human with a domain of legal and illegal and a will and freedom to choose between them. Human is tested with this faculty called nafs which is predisposed both for good and evil. The concepts spirit, ego and nafs are different but overlapping aspects of the same truth and they are the subject of a long travel which begins from the realm of spirits and continues through the realm of witnessing and realm of interval (barzakh) and leads to the eternity. Nafs has two meanings: person…

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The economic order of Islam

Marifatul Haq Yasini

A theoretical account of various Islamic economic concepts Islamic economy looks more on human behaviour in managing natural resources for the benefit of themselves and community. The ill disposition of the ownership, and the misdistribution of the wealth amongst people, therefore, must be addressed. Islam is a comprehensive religion that covers the entire spectrum of life, showing us how to conduct our activities in a sound and wholesome manner. Islamic principles and teachings provide realistic, fair and objective solutions for the prevention of individual, social and international problems either in…

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The illness of intellectual arrogance

Cemal Ersen

Intellectual arrogance disease may lead people who are more or less educated to oppose to the great scholars of Islam, and may lead them to refuse their ideas. What common believers need to do toward those great scholars is to approach them with good opinion, trust and submission. In today’s world, where people mount the horse of ego and rush in the valleys of heresy, the illness that many people caught is intellectual arrogance; relying on one’s own ideas about every topic, or looking down on or being closed to…

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