Why so merciless on yourself?

Ali Ünal
Ali Ünal


Date posted: September 7, 2013

There has been no prophet who didn’t face lies or slanders about himself. All of them would be exposed to slanders and -God forbid a million times- accused of lying, self-seeking, fabricating the Qur’an -the revealed word of God- or being taught, insanity, sorcery, being taken over by genies (djinns), just reciting poetry or having a “genie-granted” eloquence in other words and many more misdeeds that they wouldn’t have the slightest bit of.

Numerous awliyas (saints) and asfiyas (the chosen) faced the same slanders and were even accused of being infidel. For instance, wasn’t it the Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) wife Aisha who felt victim to a vicious accusation? A piece on Ali ibn Abu Talib by Murtaza Mutahhiri offers a noteworthy inference: The ideal person is not the one well-liked by everyone but the one hated by as many too. A person is well-regarded by genuine believers to the extent of his/her proximity to God and equally hated by blasphemous people. So, there has been no other person in the history as revered as the Prophet Muhammad and equally hated by Satan, evil spirits and people at the same time.

If we are to name a person who has been most regarded and while being at the center of the most vicious accusations for the last 40 years, that is without a doubt the Honorable Fethullah Gulen. While many denounce Gulen and the community associated with him as pro-shariah, claiming they seek to establish shariah in the country, many others vilely accuse him and the Hizmet movement of being in alliance with various intelligence organizations and status quo or presenting a “seemingly moderate” or “US-backed” Islam.” Recently, such claims have been put into circulation systematically and more continually by employing the same people alongside the newly emerged ones. On the other hand, an old-aged writer who once did significant services for the sake of Islam can pretend to advocate Muslim unity, while another writer and many more circulate wicked slander that the community is in the expectation of Prime Minister’s dethronement and thus seizing the power.

As things stand, if the slanderers claimed “It’s the community behind drug dealing”, an allegation that suits their personality, and accused movement’s particular institutions of corruption, the word would spread. However, I personally know and have witnessed that the Honorable Gulen has urged his circle and his sympathizers, for years, to pray salatul hajat (optional prayer for fulfillment of a need) and plead “Oh God, purify all the Muslims particularly those in Turkey. Oh God, purify the minds, intentions, feelings and deeds of us and theirs. Oh God, keep us together as Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) ummah!” And he insistently recommends praying for rehabilitation of us and those in power, in every sense

Gulen has never once cursed any Muslim, nor encouraged anyone to do so. This being the case, aren’t those who circulate most vicious slanders fear being held accountable for their ears, hearts, tongues and pens or going bankrupt if they fail to settle accounts with every single member of the community, on the Judgment Day? Don’t they fear that their righteous deeds recorded may transform into bad ones and go for nothing as their ends draw near? Everyone should know that slanders do not endure and all secrets will be entirely revealed in the Hereafter. So, you slanderers, why so insistent on harm and so merciless on yourself?

Source: HizmetMovement.Com , September 07, 2013


Related News

Washington Post on Erdoğan’s purge: Cruel frenzy in march towards authoritarianism

Mr. Erdogan, the Turkish president who was the target of a failed coup last July, has since carried out a wave of arbitrary punishments and imprisonments of thousands of journalists, academics, bureaucrats, lawyers and human rights defenders he suspects of affiliation with Mr. Gulen and his movement. This cruel frenzy is just the latest step in Mr. Erdogan’s march toward authoritarianism.

Intellectual deviations

Mahçupyan’s analysis of the Hizmet movement’s perspective on the Kurdish issue is wrong. When the settlement process was launched, the Hizmet movement announced its full support for the solution, with Gülen saying, “Peace is in itself goodness, and peace brings happiness.” It advocated non-violent social actors competing with each other freely and under democratic conditions. It openly declared that the right to education in one’s mother tongue is one of the fundamental human rights.

Mysteries, and a Crackdown, Persist a Year After a Failed Coup in Turkey

Mr. Erdogan’s own statements have also raised questions about the sequence of events. In an account posted on the president’s website, Mr. Erdogan said he was first warned of unusual military activity at 4:30 p.m. by his brother-in-law. He tried to contact Mr. Fidan and Mr. Akar around 5 p.m., he said but was unable to reach either of them.

“Peace and Sustainable Development: A Two-Way Relationship” Panel

Mr. Huseyin Hurmali, Vice-President of the JWF emphasized and explained how civil initiatives inspired by scholar Fethullah Gulen have been contributing to both durable peace and sustainable development in about 160 countries around the world. Schools, universities and other educational institutions have been providing high quality science and mathematics education and also contributing to peace through becoming entities of “social mediation” in the regions of conflict.

Mosque-cemevi project halted due to government’s ‘parallel paranoia’

Turkey’s first-ever complex housing both a mosque and a cemevi, an Alevi house of worship, has become the latest victim in the battle launched by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government against the Gülen movement after the Mamak Municipality refused to grant a certificate of occupancy to the complex on the grounds that it was built with “parallel funds.”

Minister: Turkey confiscated $4 bln worth of Gülenist property

Some TL 12 billion (about $4 billion) in property has been transferred to the Treasury as part of an investigation into the Gülen movement, said Minister for Environment and Urbanization Mehmet Özhaseki on Thursday. Immediately after the putsch, the government along with Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement without credible evidence.

Latest News

Sacramento leaders gather for Iftar dinner in celebration of Ramadan

SEO Skill Suite: Tools for Keyword Research, Technical & Backlink Analysis

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

In Case You Missed It

Turkish woman returned to prison with newborn 4 days after birth

Police raid Gülen-inspired Samanyolu schools in Ankara

Toward a security state

Who is escalating tensions?

1-year-old baby with cancer held in Mardin prison with mother: former HDP deputy

Cambodian education minister: I’m proud of Turkish school students

SEO Skill Suite: Tools for Keyword Research, Technical & Backlink Analysis

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News