|
|
by Kenan Cetinkaya
kchetinkaya@hotmail.com
September 4, 2010
Similar to the example of a King or Queen who chooses certain days in a year to show his/her generosity and love toward his/her folk, God uses the holy times as a reasons to spread his mercy and blessings, much more than the common days and times, to his servants, Children [...]
by MEVLÜT KARABULUT
04 September 2010
Ankara has set a record for the most people breaking their fast together at one time — 10 platforms and nearly 100 civil society organizations banded together in an attempt to break the record with a 50,000-person iftar, and attendance far exceeded expectations.
Nearly 75,000 Ankarites showed up for the iftar (fast-breaking [...]
by Hena Zuberi
August 31st, 2010
This year Ramadan coincides with the first day of school for many families. Realizing that many of our Muslim brothers and sisters do choose the public school system for their kids’ education, this is a resource to help make the best out of Ramadan in public school. This blessed month is [...]
by Terry Mathis
Thursday, 22 November 2007
Sacred Scriptures and Interfaith Dialogue
Abstract
M. Fethullah Gülen encourages Muslims to be tolerant and accepting of people in other religions and to enter in to interfaith dialogue with them. He succeeds in doing this because the Qur’an sets the ground for this interfaith stance. Christians and Jews are often not aware [...]
by Meryem Weld
Women’s liberation is a much discussed subject, can you compare the attitudes of materialist Western civilization and Qur’anic civilization towards women and demonstrate where true freedom for women lies?
It may clear from the descriptions in the first and second sections above that the aim of materialist Western civilization is not to fulfil the [...]
by Meryem Weld
The composition and history of Western civili zation is exceedingly complex and it is not an easy task to outline the importance of Christianity within it without over-simplifying and obscuring the question altogether. Christianity is itself a complex and multiform phenomenon that has undergone many transformations and divisions through the ages and the [...]
Peaceful Muslim–Non-Muslim Co-existence in a Secular Context
by Farhod Alimuhamedov
23 November 2007
Abstract
This paper is about the conditions of inter-ethnic, inter-religious and inter-class relations in Gülen schools and looks into their operation in non-Turkish and non-Muslim settings. It aims to examine the relations among young people coming from different groups. The initial and main steps of the [...]
by Fethullah Gulen
The word “Islam” literally stems from the root “s-l-m” and the words “silm” and “salamah” which mean peace, and which indicate the “submission” or ’surrender” of oneself to God Almighty, being obedient to His commands, embarking on a safe and secure path that leads to salvation, promising a sense of trust to everyone [...]
by
Erkan Toguslu
22 November 2007
Reflections on European Multiculturalism, Islam and Peaceful Coexistence: Tariq Ramadan and Fethullah Gülen
Abstract
The Islamic scholars Fethullah Gülen and Tariq Ramadan are two major personalities whose ideas and views are admired and valued by the Muslim community, especially its younger generations, in Europe. These two thinkers are calling for a better understanding [...]
by Fethullah Gulen
At this time when we experience occasions of much sorrow and some contentment, we sense the promise in the advent of Ramadan, the month of mercy and forgiveness. In the climate of this month of light, we feel both spring and autumn at the same time in our inner worlds, seasons of lovely [...]
by Ibrahim Kalin
About a year after the Sept. 11 attacks in the US, the British Home Office published a study on the “fundamental tenets of British citizenship.” The report defined them as “[to] respect human rights and freedoms, uphold democratic values, observe laws faithfully and fulfill our duties and obligations.”
Another report, this time focusing on [...]
Underlining the Obama administration’s respect for Islam’s diversity, Farah Pandith, the US State Department’s special representative to Muslim communities, refuses to use the expression “Muslim world,” stating that the United States is not endorsing a particular type of Islam in its efforts in building long-term dialogue and partnership with Muslim communities around the world.
The position [...]
by Osman Nuri Topbas
The lifestyle of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is the best example for each and every human being. He is the best example of a religious leader. He is the finest example of a state leader. He is the example to follow for those who enter the garden of divine love. [...]
The ties of kinship are very important in Islam, with emphasis given to the relationship between children and parents. Children are required to respect and obey their parents unless doing so involves a sin. Furthermore, adult children must continue to honor, respect and show gratitude to their elderly parents, and are expected to care for [...]
Muslim terrorist, Arab jihadist, Islamic militia. In recent years, these words have almost become synonymous with each other in the daily news. With the onslaught of news coverage of the Middle East, all the news about Islam and Muslims seems to be bad.
All Americans see on their televisions are visions of turban-clad men screaming “Allahu [...]
A man came to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, “Give me an information about Islam such that it should suffice me and I should not have to ask anyone else”. The Prophet concisely replied “say, I believe in one God and then be straight”. (Also see Qur’an, 51:30). The [...]
by Muzammil H. Siddiqi
Intolerance is on the increase in the world today, causing death, genocide, violence, religious persecution as well as confrontations on different levels. Some times it is racial and ethnic, some times it is religious and ideological, other times it is political and social. In every situation it is evil and painful. How [...]
by Syed Shahabuddin
Phobia means fear, the fear of the other. Any phobia has a psychological basis, which is a combination of historical memories, blended with myths and legends, complicated by social separateness, generated by the consciousness of economic and political rivalry, not to speak of persistent religious hostility and indifference. In the case of Europe, [...]
December 6, 2025 – According to the latest statistics there are now more than 1.8 billion Muslims in the world. Islam is the religion that has had the largest growth rate during the last decades, and is the second biggest in the world after Christianity. Indonesia is still the largest Muslim country in the world, [...]
On Monday, 12th of Rabi-al-Awwal — 570 years after Jesus ascended into heaven to await his return before the end of the world — Lady Amina gave birth to her blessed son in the house of Abu Talib. Ash-Shaffa, the mother of Abd Al Rahman, attended his birth and as Lady Amina gave birth her [...]
Chapter 210
When the confusion in the Temple ceased by the departure of Jesus, the high priest ascended on high, and having beckoned for silence with his hands he said:, ‘Brethren, what do we? See you not that he has deceived the whole world with his diabolical art? Now, how did he vanish, if he [...]
Chapter 180
One day, Jesus being in Solomon’s porch, a scribe, one of them that made discourse to the people, drew near to him and said to him: “O master, I have many times made discourse to this people; in my mind there is a passage of scripture which I am not. able to understand.” Jesus [...]
Chapter 150
‘The elder answered: “O brother, say not so, for you despise knowledge, which our God wills to be prized.” The younger replied: “Now, how shall I speak now so as not to fall into sin: for your word is true, and mine also. I say, then, that they who know the commandments of [...]
Chapter 120
The fruit of vain talking is this, that it weakens the intellect in such wise that it is not ready to receive the truth; even as a horse accustomed to carry but one ounce of cottonflock cannot carry an hundred pounds of stone. But what is worse is the man who spends his [...]
Chapter 90
When the prayer was done, his disciples again drew near to Jesus, and he opened his mouth and said: Draw near, John, for today will I speak to you of all that you have asked. Faith is a seal whereby God seals his elect: which seal he gave to his Messenger, at whose [...]
Chapter 60
Hell is one, and is contrary to paradise, as winter is contrary to summer, and cold to heat. Therefore, he who would describe the misery of hell must have seen the paradise of God’s delights. O place accursed by God’s justice for the malediction of the faithless and reprobate, of which Job, the [...]
Chapter 30
Jesus went to Jerusalem, near to the Senofegia, a feast of our nation . The scribes and Pharisees having perceived this, took counsel to catch him in his talk. Whereupon, there came to him a doctor, saying: “Master, what must I do to have eternal life?” Jesus answered: “How is it written in [...]
Opening- True Gospel of Jesus, called Christ, a new prophet sent by God to the world: according to the description of Barnabas his apostle.
Barnabas, apostle of Jesus the Nazarene, called Christ, to all them that dwell upon the earth desireth peace and consolation.
Dearly beloved the great and wonderful God hath during these past days [...]
Was an Iraqi Scholar the World’s First Scientist?
by Bradley Steffens
Science is the lifeblood of modern life. It is the foundation of our technology. Its discoveries prolong our lives and save the lives of those we love. It fascinates us and sometimes disturbs us with its mind-boggling truths. But what is science, and who was its [...]
Were They All From Arabia?
by Fethullah Gulen
Prophets were raised and sent to their people in different lands and at different times. One hadith puts the number of Prophets at 124,000; another mentions 224,000. Both versions, however, should be evaluated critically according to the science of hadith. The exact number is not important; rather, we should [...]
Some critics of Islam have reviled the Prophet as a self-indulgent libertine. They have accused him of character failings that are hardly compatible with being of average virtue, let alone with being a Prophet and God’s last Messenger, as well as the best model for humanity to follow. However, based on the easily available scores [...]
by Fethullah Gulen
Racism is one of our age’s severest problems. Everyone has heard of how black Africans were transported across the Atlantic Ocean in specially designed ships, thought of and treated exactly like livestock. They were enslaved, forced to change their names and religion and language, were never entitled even to hope for true freedom, [...]
by Fethullah Gulen
The beginning of existence was an act of mercy and compassion without which the universe would be in chaos. Everything came into existence through compassion, and by compassion it continues to exist in harmony.
Muslim sages say that the universe is the All-Compassionate One’s breath. In other words, the universe was created to manifest [...]
by Fethullah Gulen
Prophet Muhammad was brought up in God’s sight and care. His father ‘Abd Allah died before he was born, which meant that he had to put all his trust in God and submit completely to Him. He visited his father’s tomb in Madina years later, cried his heart out, and on his return [...]
Al-Husayn ibn Sailam was a Jewish rabbi in Yathrib who was widely respected and honoured by the people of the city even by those who were not Jewish. He was known for his piety and goodness, his upright conduct and his truthfulness.
Al-Husayn lived a peaceful and gentle life but he was serious, purposeful and organized [...]
by Fethullah Gulen
Many years before the advent of Islam, Salman had been raised by his father to serve in the temples of Persia. As Salman grew he secretly started to challenge the validity of worshiping idols and started to search for the truth.
There were two sects of good living people who did not worship the [...]
by Fethullah Gulen
The noble Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, declared that he was a Prophet and, to prove his Prophethood, presented the glorious Qur’an and nearly 1,000 miracles. Their occurrence cannot be denied, for even the most obstinate unbelievers only charged him with sorcery. Unable to deny the miracles, they took them [...]
by Fethullah Gulen
Question: Was Muhammad’s Mission Limited and Temporary?
Answer:
All of the available information and resources, including his life, shows that his mission was universal and eternal. Such men as Alexander the “Great,” the Roman Caesars, Napoleon, Hitler, and the imperialists of Europe, Russia, and America all sought extensive dominion for the sake of worldly [...]
THE WORLD-WIDE MESSIANIC MISSION ATTRIBUTED TO JESUS CHRIST TOWARD THE END OF TIME
by Mahmud Al-Hakem
Some of the first converts to Islam were subjected to the severest persecutions in Makka. They bore them patiently and never thought of retaliation, as the Qur’an ordered the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, to call unbelievers to [...]
by Hikmet ISIK
Q: What is Sufism?
A: Sufism is a path followed by Sufis (adherents of Islamic mysticism) to reach the Truth—God. While the term Sufism usually expresses the theoretical or philosophical aspect of this search, its practical aspect is usually referred to as “being a dervish.”
Sufism has been defined in many ways. Some see it [...]
by Fadel Abdallah
Introduction
Racial justice presupposes the existence of racial injustices, and that’s why in the original longer version of this presentation I began with few examples by way of documenting the existence of bigotry and racial injustices in the land where I come from and where I’ve been living for the last 28 years. In [...]
by Assad Nimer Busool, Ph.D.
When one examines The Qur’an and the Tradition of the Prophet closely, one finds that the Human being by divine designation is ‘Abd li-l-Lah, a slave of God, and not a god on earth. Moreover, one learns that God created all things by His command, “Kun, Be”, but He created the [...]
by Dr. Ibrahim Abu-Rabi
When Professor Mahmoud Ayoub asked me to talk about Muslim identity, I said to myself, this would be an easy topic. However, the more I pondered this, the more I came to realize that discussing identity in Islamic theology and history is not an easy matter. I would like to discuss my [...]
by Dr.Munir El-Kassem
Many people believe that Jihad is synonymous with “Holy War”, or fighting in general. Not only it is wrong to equate Jihad with fighting, it constitutes a gross misunderstanding of historical facts to use “Jihad” and “Holy War” exchangeably. In order to clarify the principle of Jihad one needs to engage in a [...]
by Kenan Cetinkaya
E-mail: kchetinkaya@hotmail.com
HISTORY AND ARCHITECTURE
OF
HAGIA SOPHIA
Introduction
In this paper I go deep inside into history, architecture and theology of Hagia Sophia, the unique building which represents both Islamic and Christian architectural characteristics. In the history chapter, I discuss it under three points; Byzantine Era, Ottoman Era, and Modern [...]
by Kenan Cetinkaya
E-mail: kchetinkaya@hotmail.com
THE SANCTITY OF WATER IN CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER RELIGIONS (ESPECIALLY IN ISLAM)
Introduction
In this paper, I am going to examine sanctity of water in detail in Christianity in terms of using in the first sacrament; Baptism. Afterward I will compare water’s role in Christianity and Islam.
In [...]
1- Face the Qiblah (toward Mecca), and make sure you’re in a clean area, now you are about to start one of the following prayers: 1st prayer (Subh), 2nd prayer (Dhuhr), 3rd (Asr), 4th (Maghrib), 5th (Ishaa).
2-Standing, you will start the prayer raising both hands up close to your [...]
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
On January 1st, 1995, the United Nations proclaimed 1995 as the “Year of Tolerance,” saying that the ability to be tolerant of the actions, beliefs and opinions of others is a major factor in promoting world peace. The statement issued by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, (UNESCO) on this [...]
|
|
