Writing is thinking, and thinking is living. Without thinking living is blind, bland, and blunt.
Writing is feeling, and feeling is living. Without feeling, living is a dark existence and dim subsistence.
In his first words, God told us about writing; that writing is the kind of relationship between Him and humans. (1) Who is God? He is “Who has taught by the pen – Taught human what he did not know.” (2) He is who told: “Nun. By the Pen and what they write with it line by line.” (3) He is Who “has taught him speech.” (4)
Writing is the journey of the individual into the individual, by the individual, and for the individual. Writing is the mirror of thoughts and feelings, writing is the mirror of the soul and spirit. Without using writing as a mirror we forget ourselves, we do not notice the dirt on our thoughts and deformations of our feelings. Writing is both a diagnostic tool, treatment process, and preventive measure of the psychological diseases of laziness, pride, and envy. Writing is the most powerful anti-depressant that anyone can and should use, and writing is the stress-free environment that everyone should visit more frequently.
Humans always dreamed about superpowers, which is evident from their ancient myths and modern tales. However, most of them ignored two real and accessible superpowers: writing and reading mentioned in 96:4 and 96:3. (5) Individuals who utilized these superpowers changed the course of history and design of the world, as mentioned in Michael Harts’ book. (6)
Writing is the way to change and transform yourself, writing is the way to change and transform societies. Words build cultures and civilizations, and swords destroy cultures and civilizations. When people of the sword are more important and influential than people of the word, then culture and civilization wither and die. When people of the word are influential and important, dialogue and critique flourish, inventions and improvements spread, Knowledge, Compassion, Freedom, and Justice are established. Because the mentality of the sword is incompatible with Knowledge, Compassion, Freedom, and Justice (7); because the mindset of the sword is open to abuse and misuse. That is why, we have to choose, who we are, the people of the sword or people of the word?
That is why, everyone has to cultivate the mentality of word and mindset of the word, everyone has to be open to dialogue and critique.
Habits are the external manifestations of the internal mindset, mentality, consciousness, and sub-consciousness. That is why, the individual who wants to change their own self, has to change their old habits and build new habits. That is why the daily habit of writing has to be present in the life of every person. Writing cannot and should not be limited to professional writers. Sports activities are not limited to professional athletes, everyone can and should benefit from them. Similarly, everyone can and should benefit from writing. We have to understand that one hour of mindful writing may be better than one year of unmindful worship (8), which means progress and activity are different things.
Writing and reading were the first activities that God told us to do. Writing and reading were mentioned before all other obligations. Writing, reading, and thinking is the foundation of belief. Without writing, reading, and thinking, belief never can surpass the levels of parroting, regurgitation, and imitation. That is why daily writing habit has to become the new norm and novel standard of each individual; writing has to become fard al-ayn (individual obligation). (9)
Writing, reading, and thinking can allow us to elevate from the level of the cultural believer to the level of the scriptural believer. We have to divorce or “Zihār (10)” historical and cultural experiences of the Muslims and marry the scriptural principles of Islam. Historical and cultural experiences of the Muslims sometimes were equal to the scriptural principles of Islam, and other times not. In our minds we have to be able to filter the scriptural principles of Islam from historical and cultural experiences of the Muslims, otherwise, we are doomed to repeat them indefinitely. We have to learn to follow the principles, not precedents. And the scriptural principles of Islam are Justice, Freedom, Compassion, and Knowledge. (11)
I call and urge you to think and write about 96:3 and 96:4, about culture and scripture, about precedents and principles. The thoughts written above are not absolute truths, they have to be tested by dialogue and critique. The beauty of the MFP platform is that it does not deal with minutiae and trivia, it questions and critiques the very foundations of the culture and civilization both in the individual and societal dimensions, both in the local and global planes. Wish you all the best.
2:111 ... Say: “Produce your proof if you are truthful!” (12)
25:30. And the Messenger says: “My Lord! Surely my people have made this Qur’an something worthy of no attention.” (13)
-İman isteyen münafık
(1), (2), (3), (4), (10), (12), (13) Ünal, The Qur’an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English.
(6) Hart, The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History.
(7), (11) İman isteyen münafık, “Justice, Freedom, Compassion, Knowledge.”
(8) Nursi, “Emirdağ Lâhikası - Sayfa 92.”
(9) Oxford Islamic Studies Online, “Fard Al-Ayn (Source: The Oxford Dictionary of Islam).”
References
Hart, Michael H. Hart. The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, 1993. https://b-ok.africa/book/979840/52c440.
İman isteyen münafık. “Justice, Freedom, Compassion, Knowledge,” January 29, 2021. https://www.munferit.net/2021/01/justice-freedom-compassion-knowledge.html.
Nursi, Said Bediuzzaman. “Emirdağ Lâhikası - Sayfa 92.” Risale-i Nur Külliyatı. Accessed February 2, 2021. http://www.risaleinurenstitusu.org/kulliyat/emirdag-lahikasi/risale-i- nur-siir/92.
Oxford Islamic Studies Online. “Fard Al-Ayn (Source: The Oxford Dictionary of Islam).” Accessed January 28, 2021. http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e624.
Ünal, Ali. The Qur’an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English, n.d. www.mquran.org www.theholybook.org.
0 Yorumlar