Actually, it was what we did in life that I tried to write about and, consequently, make sense of…

I was thinking about society and trying to learn a lesson for myself.

Such an intensity of feeling arose that I was searching for the meaning of life, something that would extend beyond me, ending with my death.

There were questions I needed to find answers to. In fact, these were questions that all of humanity, whatever they were currently preoccupied with, needed to set aside and seek answers to. I took refuge in the Lord of the Worlds and entered into this endeavor with an unknown outcome…

Who am I, where did I come from, where am I going?

What should be my ultimate goal in life?

I definitely needed to find the answers to these questions. These were my essential questions, necessary for me to be intelligent, determined, conscious, and to have a personality, and to obtain what needed to be obtained. Because these questions were actually the fundamental questions that every human being, consciously or unconsciously, had been seeking answers to since the first human.

As a living being existing in the universe, my real goal was to know what I was doing and why, to find out where I came from and for what purpose. I had to start by creating a method to seek answers. That is, by determining a route leading to the truth…

Because if I couldn’t determine the truth well, it would be very easy for me to accept falsehood as truth. There are many people who accept false information as truth, continue their lives on that path, and then simply depart from among us.

I seek refuge in Allah from conveying falsehood as truth.

In this work, finding the answers to the questions asked in order to give meaning to life will, therefore, shed some light on the human world. Even if it does not benefit those who have come and gone before, perhaps it will convey some information from me to those living now, or perhaps to those who come after. Yes! Information would be conveyed. In order to give meaning to life, the path I would take to find the answers to the existing questions had to be “correct information.”

Correct information is information whose accuracy is not dependent on time or place. In other words, correct information is information that remains valid regardless of when and where it is used.

Since humans are creatures who live their lives according to their own truths, the method of finding the answer should be linked to the method of accessing correct information.

It is very important for humans to accept information as correct in their lives and to be able to distinguish whether it is “right or wrong” from the moment the information reaches them. This is because, just as there is a possibility that a person may not accept true information as true, there is also a possibility that they may accept false information as true without subjecting it to preliminary research, which leads to a fundamentally irreversible state in a self that does not question itself. And if this lack of measure becomes a rule in their view of events, then that person no longer knows what they are doing.

If a person misunderstands the benefits of absolute truth or is fundamentally unaware of its meaning, they cannot be expected to do what they do not know, thus setting themselves on a journey with only one destination. Indeed, just as a housewife cannot be expected to cook a dish she does not know how to make, people cannot be expected to fulfill the requirements of true knowledge they do not know. For a person is what they know. The more they know, the more human they are. The more human they are, the more they know. Knowledge is the action that makes a person human. For example, even if there is no fruit on a tree branch, you can still call it a tree. You can still call it a tree even if it has no branches. Even if it has been cut from its trunk, it can still be called a tree, but if it has been separated from its roots, it cannot be called a tree. If it is cut, it becomes a stump; if it is chopped, it becomes wood. In order to call a person a human being, they must not be like wood or a stump. In other words, the condition of not being separated from the root must be met. The distance of separation from the root is directly proportional to the distance of separation from knowledge. In this sense, the Qur’an describes stumps that resemble humans when you look at them as follows:

ALLAH (c.c.) says:

When you see them, their forms please you, and when you hear them speak, they are like logs propped up. They imagine every noise to be against them. They are enemies; beware of them. May Allah curse them! How are they turned away from the Truth?[7]

The metaphor of the ‘log propped up’ in this verse describing the hypocrites stems from their separation from their roots and, consequently, their living a life unaware of their inner worlds. Even if they appear ostentatious and attractive on the outside, their weak state disturbs them internally, so it is natural that they perceive every sound as being against them. Allah (swt) knows best.

Knowledge should be the name of indispensability in hearts.

People live their lives with what they know, make decisions with what they know, and act with what they know. A person’s faith cannot exceed their knowledge. Because a person cannot believe in what they do not know. The more they know, the more they believe. What a person knows is their own actions. And their actions are what they know. All of these are inseparable and form a whole. In other words, the correct acceptance of knowledge in humans is the most important condition. That being the case, what could be more important for humans than this!

If a piece of information that has been accepted as correct is actually false, but remains within the sphere of belief, it is enough to destroy the world and the hereafter of its owner. This situation is too important for people who believe in the Day of Judgment to be neglected or blindly surrendered to someone else’s understanding. The correctness of knowledge must be firmly established in the hearts.

Another important point to note is that separating knowledge from the one who possesses it is, in a way, the death of true knowledge. Just as the soul and the body are connected, separating knowledge from the one who possesses it buries the truth of that knowledge.

Why?

Because, regardless of the purpose or where it is done, it is simply serving the devil. How else can you explain the constant increase in the number of people who stab, insult, or curse their teachers, while on the one hand the institution of teaching is sanctified?

Now that the term “Information Age” is accepted for the time we live in, how else can we explain the insults that the person who carries the knowledge, who is in the position of teaching, is subjected to, either verbally or physically?

If you separate knowledge from the knowledgeable, you automatically cause such situations. Those who do this do not see knowledge and the knowledgeable as one and the same in their minds. They think of the two as separate.

If you think, “Those who do this are already outsiders in social terms,” you are mistaken. If that were the case, such actions would only be carried out by those who do not want knowledge. Those who do not want to acquire knowledge constantly avoid those who possess it, whether in buildings called schools or in schools called the world. They live their lives this way. Such actions, however, are carried out by those who need knowledge and want to acquire it. In their minds, the teacher is not an educator. He is someone who has acquired knowledge before them and carries the knowledge they need. The mentality of those who do this is simply to pursue knowledge. Once the knowledge is acquired, the person who knows it is of no importance. To them, there is no difference between the writing on white paper and the knowledge they want to acquire from its owner. Let the knowledge come in some way; it doesn’t matter where or how it came.

This situation is not limited to teachers. It has spread ruthlessly and immorally to every field where knowledge is found. Those who grow up with such truths want to silence or, so to speak, use Islamic scholars who make themselves available for worldly gain. If they ask, “What do you think about this issue?”, the implication behind their question is, “If you answer in a way that suits my interests, you will also be satisfied.”

This is not a situation unique to our country. Unfortunately, the current globally accepted education system is entirely based on this. This system continues to cause knowledgeable but unethical people to emerge within society. This is because such people did not acquire knowledge from the person who imparted it to them in order to live by it. They may have acquired enough knowledge to write a book on ethics, but because the method they learned is accepted as correct by the society they live in, ethics will be one of those discourses that they never need to put into practice throughout their lives.

The principled mindset that would walk hundreds of miles to attain true knowledge in Islam has given way to this blind understanding. For people with this understanding, even copying is an effort. Even if the knowledge they acquire is correct, the method they intend to use will be wrong. This is a predetermined limit for the non-formation of morality.

Although we are always told otherwise, human beings have been involved in wars that are more ruthless than the previous ones in every era they have lived in. Those taken prisoner in these wars are subjected to insults, beatings, torture, or enslavement, depending on their position^[9]. For those who fight, being taken prisoner is often more difficult than dying.

Consider the polytheists who were taken prisoner after the Battle of Badr…

The first battle and the first victory for the Muslims.

Who wouldn’t use this victory for politics, propaganda, and games, right?

But our Prophet (pbuh) didn’t think so…

He said, “Untie the prisoners’ hands,” “Give them what you eat and wear.” He did not stop there. He gave the prisoners good news. He said, “Anyone who can read and write will be set free on the condition that they teach ten Muslims to read and write.”

This is correct information and its application… This is the value given to knowledge and those who possess it…

Now let’s come to us…

We have become a community that, despite knowing how to read and write, aspires to be part of the mafia, looks down on its teachers with contempt, insults them, and says, “I want it, no matter what,” even though we are a community of a Prophet who freed prisoners of war in exchange for teaching them to read and write. Tell me now, if a person is only as human as their knowledge, and if what they have learned is nowhere to be found in their life, then what are we?

If civilization is merely the pursuit of knowledge, an invention of Western societies, then what should we call this cautionary tale from Medina?

What a pity for us…

Look what happened when knowledge was separated from the knowledgeable. What remains of humanity’s humanity…

A mentality that, when necessary, draws its weapon and shoots you when the requested information is not provided… That is why I say that those who cannot read and write are “these people.” How can someone who doesn’t even know how to look, read…

Let’s also look at the other side, after the Battle of Badr… You are captured and helpless. Your life is about to end, and you feel worthless, thinking it will continue until death. While the commander in front of you is someone who cannot even read or write, your ability to read and write becomes the reason you regain your freedom. Knowing saved a life. His own life, at that. One must ask the polytheists who were taken captive at that time if there is a greater treasure than knowledge.

Back then, knowing how to read and write saved people’s lives, but today it is not enough to save oneself from captivity. Today, those who sincerely seek answers to the question, “Why is morality rapidly deteriorating?” will see that the issues we call ‘immorality’ are defined as “freedom” in societies that teach by separating knowledge from the knowledgeable. When the idea of acquiring knowledge is wrong, its purpose and intended use are also unhealthy. They strive to earn money, to hold positions of power, to engrave their names in gold letters in history, but they do not ask whether what we are doing is for the good of humanity, whether it adds to the character of humanity. In this sense, the issue I am referring to is one of the most fundamental elements in the formation and progress of societies.

[7] Surah Al-Munafiqun, Verse 4

[8] To pass on a disease, to infect

[9] To be under the influence or pressure of something