Islam, November 1995

MORE GOOD NEWS FOR OUR BRETHREN

Halil Necatioglu

Alhamdulillah, I have hundreds of thousands of brothers and sisters in Turkey as well as abroad. They are spread all over the world from Europe to America, from Middle-East to Australia. We all are sincere brothers and sisters for the hereafter. Amongst us there exists a warm, pleasant, righteous, charming, spiritual and divine bond which is established for the sake of Allah, for spiritual training.

I have responsibilities towards my brethren. I must reach them all and join thsir activities; I must communicate with them, meet them and share their problems. I must serve them and be helpful for them.

In order to carry out my responsibilities, I gave up my academic position at the university, which was an honorable and glorious occupation, as well as countless resources and advantages, and I asked for my retirement at a young age -- I am happy with the outcome and never complained about it. My dear teacher and perfect guide Mehmed Zahid Kotku had asked me to serve our brethren; I took his order with great respect and reverence.

In serving our brethren, I have been blessed with immense, countless material and spiritual support. Praise is to our Lord, we grow and expand every day. Our brethren have established many charitable foundations, cultural associations as well as commercial business.

It is very fruitful to have our brothers and sisters get to know one another, join various activities, unite and cooperate to serve Islam. The cooperation have lead many successful works such as mosques and schools in the country as well as abroad. It is necessary to have visits, meetings, seminars, and other educational activities to increase the scale, efficiency and speed of our work.

FOR THE REASONS STATED ABOVE, I am in Europe now. I have given seminars and speeches in Holland, Belgium and Germany. We have taken new decisions to further our cause. Many brothers and sisters have joined our circle and order.

With a joking tone, I tell my brothers: "Establish a KOTKU Cultural Center, a mosque, an association or foundation in the town you live. Establish Muslim districts and businesses. Get together, unite and cooperate. Let us meet at places of our own. From now on, I will attend meetings and activities which are held at such KOTKU Cultural Centers only." Of course this is an encouragement, a desire from my heart. Insha-Allah, it will come about, for Allah is able to do all things; His grace and bounty is endless. He says "Be!" and it is!

I REQUEST our brothers in Europe read our periodicals and renew their subscriptions. It is important that they inquire about our brethren, find them, get to know them and work together. They should get the phone numbers of the representatives of our periodicals in Germany and other parts of Europe and get in touch with them.

Brothers in circulation department will soon undertake an inventory work and mail you a statement and a form. Take the time to fill out the form and mail it back. Also, make sure that every member of our circle, male or female, in your neighborhood receives a copy of the statement and the form, fills it out and mails it in. Our purpose in this survey is to determine our human resources and potentials so that we can prepare plans to establish regional centers and undertake activities in housing, education, business and employment.

AKRA (Ak Radyo) FM has been broadcasting from satellite; our brethren in Europe can tune-in 24 hours a day. This is very valuable for them as well as their families. Not only will they increase their material and spiritual knowledge but also they will stay in touch with their mother tongue. They should turn their satellite dishes to AKRA and tell the good news to their friends.

In the first week of December, we will have a large gathering and make important decisions and initiate new activities, Insha-Allah.

May Allah be our helper; His Guidance, our company. May He bless you all with His Mercy and Pleasure. May He make you a neighbor to His beloved Prophet Muhammad The Chosen -- peace be with him -- in Paradise.