Islam, November 1996

Find the Truth, Love the Truth, Follow the Truth

Prof Dr. Halil Necatioğlu

For a person to act "right," he has to know what is "right" first. Many people fail to find the truth and and hold on to falsehood, lies, and mistakes as truth. Thus they waste their precious lives and become losers indulging in misdeeds. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala have mercy on all of us and give us the faculty of reasoning, thinking, understanding, and foreseeing as well as logic and guidance. May He bless us with the opportunity to see the truth as truth and follow it.

Searching for the truth, the right and the proper, finding them, respecting them, loving them and following them are required for every adult, knowledgeable, virtuous person. It is such a great blessing, a divine treasure and happiness. How great it is to discern the truth, to support and follow it.

Those who know the truth but do not observe, respect and follow it are in a grave state of stupidity and being astray; they commit a grave offense, harm themselves and invite spiritual destitution and abandonment for themselves.

Unfortunately, there are so many such people in our country. They are not aware of the blessings that they have. They prefer the falsehood over the truth, follow a crooked path instead of the straight path. They avoid the good deeds and indulge in misdeeds. They choose misery over happiness. They insists on doing all of these for life.

I have been observing such wrong behavior from the simplest one to the most complicated one, from the least significant one to the most significant one, among the friends and foes, among the youth and elderly, among the believers and unbelievers, in the rural areas and urban areas, in our country and abroad, in the domestic and foreign media. One claims to be a Muslim, but he does not mind drinking alcohol or indulging in interest. Another one claims to be a darwish pursuing a spiritual path, yet he follows the path of Satan, commits misdeeds, neglects his daily duties and remembrance, does not abandon his ill-behavior or correct himself, does not think of the day of resurrection and judgement. Still another one claims to be an educated, knowledgeable, elite Muslim; however, he contradicts Qur'an and Sharia, opposes Islamic rules, disseminates false and misleading ideas, and he refuses to fulfill his promises.

I can give more examples to such behavior. A darwish joins the ranks of the Sufis and declares allegiance to his spiritual guide, yet he does not remain loyal to his allegiance. He does not keep his promises, and he follows his own whims and wishes. An illiterate and ignorant person criticizes and opposes the scholars; he does not listen to, follow or support them. A person claims to be an Alawi, yet he does not follow Imam Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) or twelve imams. One claims to be Hanafi, yet he does not follow the great imam Abu Hanifa. He rejects the schools of thoughts and attempts to draw jurisdictions from Qur'an and Sunnah without a working knowledge of Arabic. A person claims to be civilized, pro freedom and democrat, yet he disregards the basic human rights, acts as a despot and refuses to accept the opinion of the majority.

I suggest we all become serious and consistent. We must work with all our might to show people what is right and true, so they can follow it. We must train ourselves on this seriously. Everybody must undergo this training and gain the ability to see the truth as truth and follow it. Without it, the success in this world and in the hereafter is impossible.