Sultan Suleiman ‘The Magnificent’
This is a conversation which is known to be have happened between Yahya efendi (a well-known Islamic scholar of the time; ‘Efendi’ means ‘respected master’ in Turkish) and Sultan Suleiman ‘The Magnificent’ (Ottoman sultan):
During Sultan Suleiman’s reign, the Ottomans were undoubtedly ‘the superpower’ at the time. However he was also curious about the future of the state (I do not like calling the Ottomans an ’empire’ so I will keep calling them ‘state’) and wonders whether the Ottomans will also decline just like all the other great civilisations, states and/or empires before it.
He always asked scholars for their opinions if he had a question, so he took the matters to Yahya efendi through his messengers. Some time later he received an answer through his messenger and it was very short:
Oh Sultan, “I don’t care” is the answer
The Sultan was shocked. However he knew that Yahya efendi was a man of wisdom, so he travelled to his place to learn the meaning of his answer.
Brother, please do take my question seriously. I am curious about the answer.
Another short answer from Yahya efendi:
Oh my Sultan. How can I ignore you? I did give you an answer. And it was “I don’t care”
However the Sultan still couldn’t make sense of his answers.
I still don’t understand
Well my Sultan. Whenever corruption, oppression/cruelty and thievery runs loose within a society; and the ones who see it turn a blind eye towards them and say “I don’t care”, this will be end of that state and society.
Great lessons to be learnt from the past… I hope the politicians in our countries take notice; if they ‘care’ that is!
Turkcesi icin buraya tiklayin
Posted in Discussions, English | Tagged apathy, apolitical, fail, hizmet, islam, istanbul, kanuni suleyman, mesut erzurumluoglu, muslim, musluman, ottomans, religion, society, suleiman, sultan, the magnificent, turkey, turkiye | 1 Comment »
As an example (using my brilliant Photoshop skills): Dialogue Society Book Lorry
As there is a lot of hostility towards all religions, and especially Islam in Western Societies, it should be one of our primary objectives to inform people of the ‘true face of Islam’ through inter-faith dialogue. I am very impressed with what organisations such as Dialogue Society are doing, but I do not think they are reaching the wider audience as they would like to. They reach out to many academics and VIPs in their respective areas/cities, but struggle to make an impact at the public level.
For this reason I would like to suggest designing a ‘Book Lorry’ (inspired from book buses) which will travel all over the UK (and can set an example to similar organisations within the UK and other countries), park their lorry in city centre (or other designated areas) and engage with the public. Interested individuals will enter from one side and leave from the other. The inside will be designed just like book busses, and people can take whatever book they would like (or pay a small fee depending on the book).
I believe this would be a great way to attract public attention (especially if the lorry is designed properly, not like the one above!); and make inter-faith dialogue more fruitful…
For extra information on the Dialogue Society, please see my Dialogue Society post…
Posted in Discussions, English | Tagged academic, christianity, dialogue society, fethullah gulen, hinduism, hizmet, inter-cultural, inter-faith, islam, judaism, sikhism, turkey | 1 Comment »
Coursera Logo
How recent it may seem, when I was a undergrad student (2007-2011) the internet was useless in terms of academic study. Whatever you read from Wikipedia was wrong, all you could do in Youtube was watch some cat videos, and there were no quality resources to access. We had to go to the library to find books (which were mostly outdated) to read out about the subject matter.
Nowadays there are tens of fantastic websites (e.g. Google classes, scientific blogs, past exam papers) and Youtube channels (e.g. Khan Academy, Crash Course) where people have taken the time to organise high-quality courses and/or videos which explain the subject clearly in a relatively short amount of time. Also a lot of the stuff in Wikipedia is top notch nowadays. However what really stands out for me is Coursera. High quality courses for free, tailored to your interest(s) and learning at your own pace; and if you try hard enough you get a certificate (an example below) – which could look good on your CV. I really wish Coursera (and others) was around when I was an undergraduate student.
The point of this post is that youngsters must make the best of the internet nowadays. It has turned into a fantastic resource for learning anything you want! *It just takes a simple Google search most of the time…
*also see my Recommended Websites post for other educative websites
‘Game Theory’ Coursera course certificate
‘Game Theory’ Coursera course certificate
To prove a point, these are the MOOCs I have finished so far (from Feb 2012 to July 2014):
Ones relevant to my research area/interests:
Google’s Python Class by Google Developers
Statistics in Medicine by Stanford University
Computing for Data analysis by John Hopkins University
Epigenetic Control of Gene Expression by University of Melbourne
Computational Molecular Evolution by Technical University of Denmark
Introduction to Systems Biology by Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
For fun/recreational learning:
Game Theory by Stanford University & University of British Columbia
Introduction to Philosophy by University of Edinburgh
Exploring Quantum Physics by University of Maryland
Archaelogy’s Dirty Little Secrets by Brown University
Think Again: How to Reason and Argue by Duke University
Constitutional Struggles in the Muslim World by University of Copenhagen
Crytography by University of Stanford
Posted in Discussions, English | Tagged blog, cousera, crashcourse, facebook, google python class, khan academy, mesut erzurumluoglu, stata, studies, twitter, university, youtube | 20 Comments »
Whirling Dervishes are characteristic of Sufism. The saying below from Rumi melts many hearts as well as mine’s. We need his understanding of Islam more than ever!
The great Islamic scholar Mawlana Jalaladdin Rumi once said:
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself”
(Not comparing myself with Rumi in any way) When I was a kid I also used to think I could and had to change the world. However after 25 years of life experience with 21 years of it as a student since the age of 4 (and counting, as a PhD student), I now feel different. It seems like my dreams have become more realistic (or maybe narrowed down, depending on how you look at it)…
So I now say:
“Yesterday, I wanted to change the world. Today, I’m (concentrating on) writing my thesis” 🙂
Posted in Discussions, English, Personal | Tagged bristol, islam, jalaladdin, mesut erzurumluoglu, mevlana, muslim, ottoman, phd, rumi, seljuk, thesis, turk, uk | Leave a Comment »
“Kalpler, ancak Allah’ı (c.c.) anmakla huzur bulur” (Rad Suresi, 28)
Namaz’a sadece günde 5 defa “yapılması zorunlu bir ibadetmiş” gibi degil de, Allah’ın bize verdigi bir “randevu”ymuş gibi bakmalıyız diye düşünüyorum. Her namaza durdugumuzda “şükürler olsun. O kadar günah/hatama rağmen, Allah beni bu sefer de huzuruna kabul etti!” diye şükretmemiz gerekir diye düşünmekteyim. Namaza (ve diger ibadetlere) böyle bakıldıgı zaman insanın içi gerçekten de huzurla dolu oluyor. Içi huzur ve (tüm yaratılışa karşı) sevgiyle dolmayanın namazında bir sorun var demektir.
“Allah’ın (c.c) nimetlerini saymaya kalkışsanız, mümkün değil bitiremezsiniz” (Ibrahim Suresi, 34)
Insana verilen en büyük nimet, birçok alimin de söylediği gibi, bence de imandır; sonra (bence) akıl, saglık/gençlik, sevdigimiz insanlar, iffet/namus/haysiyet, hürriyet, yüz güzelliği/boy/pos/karizma/konuşma kabiliyeti, güvenlik/adalet/devlet gelir; ve hepsinden sonra da ‘diğer’ zenginlikler gelir (ev, araba, şan/şöhret, para gibi). Akıllı ve deger bilen bir insan, saydıgım ‘diğer’ zenginliklerden oncekilerin birini bile bütün dünyayı verseler degişmez. O zaman bunun bilincinde yaşamalı insan…
Posted in Discussions, Türkçe | Tagged Allah, devlet, hz muhammet, ibadet, islam, kuran, mesut erzurumluoglu, muslim, namaz, osmanli, turkiye | 1 Comment »
Suleiman ‘The Magnificent’
One day, the famous Ottoman Sultan Suleiman (aka ‘The Magnificent’) was taking a breather in one of the gardens of Topkapi Palace. Whilst observing the trees and contemplating about them (e.g. what a miracle of God they were!), he realised that one of them was surrounded by ants. He did not like the idea of ants feeding on his trees and thought of poisoning them. However he was a wise man and knew never to act in a hurry; thus he would always seek advice from the Sheikh-ul Islam of the time, Ebussuud Efendi. He expressed his intentions with a short poem (get a Turkish friend to read it for you):
Suleiman:
Meyve ağaçlarını sarınca karınca (When ants invade a tree)
Günah var mı karıncayı kırınca? (Is there permission to kill them?)
His advisor Ebussuud Efendi replied with this:
Yarın Hakk’ın divanına varınca (When the time to meet the Lord comes)
Süleyman’dan hakkın alır karınca. (Suleiman will be made to pay)
And the result was Suleiman, the greatest ruler at the time, could not kill the ants due to his fear of God Almighty. Today, some groups kill innocent people in the name Islam – I guess they understand Islam better than the Ottoman rulers and their advisors. Certainly not! They are deluded people being used by dark forces who want to bring chaos in to countries they’re interested in, serving their ultimate aim of stealing their underground resources and treasures.
Also Suleiman once said: I am God’s slave; and Sultan of this World! Ottoman Sultans took enormous pride from being a devout servant of God. We should take them as role models and not the individuals many teenagers look upon as ‘idols’ nowadays.
Click here to learn something new about another Ottoman Sultan…
Posted in Discussions, English | Tagged ants, conqueror, ebussuud efendi, fatih sultan mehmet, history, ingilizce, islam, istanbul, kanuni suleyman, magnificent, mesut erzurumluoglu, muslim, osmanli, ottoman, ottoman empire, ottomans, suleiman, sultan, sultan suleyman, the law giver | 13 Comments »
“Ben yerlere ve göklere sığmadım, ancak mü’min kulumun kalbine sığdım.” – Hadis-i kutsi olduğu rivayet edilir
Ey Rabbim!
Ben ancak kalplere sığarım diyorsun, amenna!
Peki benimki de var mı bunların arasında?
Cünkü dolmuş kir ve pasla;
Benim kalbime de sığar mısın acaba?
Ey nankör nefis!
Neyim var ki Rab’dan gayri soruyorum;
Soruyorum, çünkü dolmuş kalbim:
Mal ve şan-şöhret sevgisiyle;
Kalmamış gibi başka yer;
Solmuş vefa çiçeklerim!
Posted in Discussions, Personal, Türkçe | Tagged Allah, hz muhammet, islam, mesut erzurumluoglu, musluman, peygamber, siir, turkiye | Leave a Comment »
“İnsan ölünce, (arkasında bıraktığı) üç şey hariç ameli kesilir. Bunlar: (i) Sadaka-i cariye, (ii) faydalı ilim ve/ya eser, (iii) dua ve istiğfar eden salih evlat.” – Hadis (Müslim)
“Fâniyim, fâni olanı istemem. Âcizim, âciz olanı istemem. Ruhumu Rahman’a teslim eyledim, gayri istemem. İsterim, fakat bir yâr-ı bâki isterim. Zerreyim, fakat bir şems-i sermed isterim. Hiç ender hiçim, fakat bu mevcudatı umumen isterim.” Bediuzzaman Said Nursî (Sözler)
Hayat gayemi soranlara derim ki:
“Benim hayatta birkaç gayem var; bunlar da (yapabildigim kadarıyla) Allah’a iyi bir kul, Efendimiz(s.a.v)’e iyi bir ümmet, anne/babama iyi bir evlat, kardeşlerime iyi bir abi, eşime (olursa!) iyi bir eş/koca, ögrencilerime (olursa!) iyi bir hoca/ögretmen/rol model, çocuklarıma (olursa!) iyi bir baba, arkadaşlarıma iyi bir dost olmaktır; ve vatan(lar)ımın da iyi bir ferdi olmaktır“
Bunların dışındaki hiçbir şeye de (e.g. mal, mülk, makam, gelecek korkusu) kafamı yormam çünkü Ibrahim Hakkı hazretleri gibi “Mevlam gorelim neyler, neylerse güzel eyler” derim. Bugüne kadar nasıl korudu ve kolladıysa, bundan sonra da öyle korur ve kollar.
Taşıyamayacagımız hiç bir yükü *yüklemez O(c.c.)!
Dua ile…
* Bakınız: Bakara, 286
PS: Hayat kısa; gereksiz/faydasız oyunlara, eğlencelere harcanmayacak kadar kısa! Yapacak iş ve öğrenecek ilim de çok! Bu yüzden bilim-ilim-irfan ehlinin yanına tabir-i caizse “kapak atmaya” calışacagım. Onlar bize bu kısa ömrü nasıl bereketlendirebileceğimizin yollarını göstereceklerdir.
Posted in Discussions, Türkçe | Tagged Allah, anne, baba, cennet, gaye, hayat, ibrahim hakki, islam, kuran, mesut erzurumluoglu, musluman, peygamber, yunus emre | 2 Comments »
Korkmuyor musun?
Hayatını ‘hiҫ’lerin uğruna yasamış olmaktan?
Cocukluğunu bilgisayar başında;
Genҫligini eğlencede;
En verimli ҫağlarını dünya malı peşinde;
Yaşlılığını da hastahanelerde geҫirmiş olmaktan?
Ve bunun bir hesabı olacağından?
Korkmuyor musun?
Posted in Discussions, Personal, Türkçe | Tagged bristol, facebook, genclik, ingiltere, islam, mesut erzurumluoglu, musluman, sair, siir, turkiye, twitter, yaslilik | Leave a Comment »
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