THE TRUTH OF LIFE II

PART TWO

Home Page Print The prophet Mohammad brought a collection of proposals with him from which we must learn and practice, so that we are able to prepare ourselves for the kind of environment or conditions, which we will soon encounter after our death. These propositions have been given so as to protect each and every one of us who will most definitely face death from any sort of harm resulting from a severe and painful punishment in the afterlife. By putting these suggestions into practise, we could gain for ourselves soundness, peace of mind and happiness even before we die. It is therefore obvious that a person can only realize the importance of the prophet’s proposals by using his mind and common sense. Whatever the situation may be, the person carries out these tasks for better or for worse in order to demonstrate that the prophet is fully understood. Or perhaps the person may decide to take no action at all. In return, he automatically suffers the consequences of these actions. For this reason, the holy Muslim book, the Qur`an, states that: “In religion, there is no constraint placed upon any individual which demands that they should be forced to do something that they do not want to do.” What this means is that practising the religion in everyday life should never cause difficulties for anybody. In other words, no person can actually force another or interfere with their actions in any way as regards how the religious duties should be performed, simply because they have no right to do this. According to this particular verse in the Qur`an, it is not their responsibility. A person accepting what is written in the Qur’an should instinctively believe the meaning and the whole purpose of this special verse. This person should also realize that he has no right to apply force of any kind to people in order to make them practice the rules of the religion. This is because the main issue here has nothing to do with a forceful act. Let`s try to imagine for a moment that you are a kind person who possesses a certain amount of faith and belief, but that you don’t attend the Friday prayers which in the Islamic religion it is compulsory for all Muslim people to perform every Friday. Whatever excuse you might have, you are still someone who believes in Allah as well as the prophet and you accept that the Qur`an is the holy book of all truth. At this point, let’s take another example. For instance, what will happen if I try to make you go to the mosque to pray on Fridays and then tell you that if you don`t go there, I will punish you severely, so that you have to obey my instructions? You will go to the mosque to say your prayers, that`s for sure, but in reality, this act of yours is something you object to, so you will do it unwillingly and without liking it. Another example could be the case of fasting in the holy month of Ramadan. Similarly, I could ask you to observe this religious practice called fasting, something which you may have never performed before, simply because you do not approve of the idea of fasting. As can be seen from these examples, I have put pressure on you to get you to do things and you have done your prayers and have fasted. Your behaviour while doing these things in this way is simply hypocrisy. What this really means is that, before you met me, you were a person who had a certain belief in religion, but because I have now forced you and you were pressed and compelled into doing the things that I ordered you to do, you can easily become what Muslims call a `Hypocrite`, meaning that you are a liar, somebody who can not be trusted, because you are making up excuses in order to suit your own desires as you wish. The point, which needs to be understood here, is this; I have absolutely no right whatsoever to throw you into the state of hypocrisy when you could in fact be a devout believer. In fact, no one has the right to use any kind of force to make people practice any of the duties contained in religion. Says who? Of course, this is what is written in the Qur’an. The Qur’an suggests that people should find and illuminate their way to the ultimate truth through their own mental abilities and powers of reason. For this reason alone, Islam is a religion, which consists of a collection of important proposals, each of which has been made purely for our well being, and we must only carry out these proposed activities. In other words, people are being advised that whether they perform these religious duties or not, they will be the ones who have to face the situations which result from their actions. The person either acts upon these propositions or does nothing. In return, that person must suffer the consequences. So, as it can be seen, Islam requires each and every single individual to decide and perform every single act of faith by themselves while at the same time believing and being aware that there is a life after death. Once again, let’s try to understand. In religion, there is no such thing as forcing somebody to accept your views. On top of everything else, each of us is in a position to accept and believe in the holy prophet of Islam, and follow the path he offered us. So, personally speaking, you as an individual should not be a part of any religious group or be committed to any particular sect or follow their leader’s steps. Since religion does not demand anything like this from people, it also places no pressure on people to engage themselves in such activities. This is due to the simple fact that religion addresses itself only to those who can think with a clear mind and who can reason logically. It requires people to use their logic as well as their ability to think carefully. In other words, religion demands that each individual chooses and follows their own path for themselves. For this reason, everyone will find and grasp a particular meaning in the religious book of the Qur’an, depending on their ability or level of understanding. Likewise they will take note of the explanations and sayings of the prophet in a similar manner. As a result, they will study these rules carefully and eventually arrive at the best solution as to which direction they need to take. This is another way of saying that Islam, as well as the Holy Qur`an, strongly rejects the idea that people should not depend on others or be under the influence of anybody else until they actually know more about these people’s potential and personality. It is very much in favour of those people who can think clearly and use their reasoning so that they can follow a path appropriate for them. This is why we suggest that everybody should think about these matters as much as possible and make further research into the essence of these issues, and finally conduct an extensive study on the subject as a whole, so that they can choose and decide for themselves which course they should take in order to apply these principles to their own lives. Therefore, we are totally against supporting the idea that we represent a religious leader, belong to any particular sect, or happen to represent a holy person like a sheikh. We have no such title. Furthermore, we are not actually inviting people to come and join us. We are simply inviting people to understand the simple fact that they must use their minds and think logically so as to be able to see for themselves what kind of action they need to take to allow them to follow their own path. If this is the case, let’s take a moment to think about these facts. Let’s weigh up the religion in a more realistic manner. Where will this evaluation finally lead us? It will lead us to the state I’m going to talk about now. We know that the prophet was the person who provided us with all the advice necessary to deal with many issues, especially those relating to our living conditions in this present world and how we can cope with having to live in this system right now. He also made sure that all the advice he gave us fully suits our needs, regardless of what they might be. Furthermore, all of this advice fits in perfectly well with the order and system of our present universe. He pointed out that doing certain things will be to your advantage, and you will certainly reap the benefits of these things. If, however, you do not take my instructions into consideration and do something entirely different from what I said in the first place, then you will certainly experience some disappointment and distress on your part. One thing that we must absolutely be sure about is that the proposals mentioned in the Holy Qur`an and those pointed out to us by the holy prophet should never be regarded as being like a great big package containing many different items within it, each of which is wrapped together rather than individually. Each single item in this big package is a separate issue from the others, and must be dealt with individually since they all describe and point to different particular divisions in the religion. In other words, it is completely wrong to assume that we should either practice everything that’s mentioned in the religion or do nothing at all. This is a totally false assumption. As some of us are probably aware, there are numerous suggestions mentioned in the Qur`an. The Prayers, Fasting, Pilgrimage to Mecca, Speaking of the Truth as well as those acts which are forbidden in religion such as gambling, fornication or gossiping are some of the many suggestions which the Qur`an has pointed out to us. The more we carry out these things which are not forbidden, the more advantage we gain; the more we neglect them, the more we will suffer the consequences. Now, let’s take an example to illustrate this point. Imagine a person who is currently in the process of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan but who cannot perform his prayers. Well, fine, let him carry on with his fast. If he cannot perform his prayers, so be it. It is wrong to consider that just because the person cannot say his prayers, the fast should never take place. If someone tells him, `Because you are not performing your prayers, then you don’t need to do any fasting at all!’ this is totally wrong and is not even mentioned in the religion itself. Everybody will be able to perform as much as they can and they themselves will be the ones who suffer the consequences of the things they cannot do. What I mean is that we can never ever make judgements on behalf of Allah and we are not responsible for judging one another on behalf of Allah. Everybody will do what they will do and eventually the mechanism between himself and Allah will decide. But unfortunately, we cannot understand or find an explanation for any of the things. A very important part of our present times is women who wear headscarves. The holy prophet has explained to us what will be lost by those people who do not carry out their religious duties such as prayer, fasting and pilgrimage, duties which are crucially important for a human being. While these rules are very important, unfortunately some people have built their religious ideas on the basis that women should wear their headscarves. These people even make the point of emphasizing that a woman whose head is not covered is a nonbeliever and is not part of Islam. According to us, this interpretation is absolutely wrong. In the Qur`an there are verses for women on the subject of wearing headscarves. This is a kind of proposal made to women. But if a woman does not wear her headscarf, there is no such verse in the Qur`an stating what will happen nor is there an explanation given by the prophet Mohammad in this respect. Therefore, if a woman who has accepted the Muslim faith does not cover her head, we cannot pass comment on any of her actions. What she has done will be sorted out between herself and Allah, and the only thing that will happen is that which is decreed by Allah. For this woman, the greatest mistake will be to accept the following statement: "Because I do not wear my headscarf, I therefore do not need to perform my prayers!" If she cannot wear her headscarf, this is fine. But she can still perform her prayers, carry on fasting and can go on pilgrimage. She could wear her headscarf before praying and after her prayer has finished she can go out wearing her usual clothes. That woman can also go for Hajj, perform her pilgrimage duties there while still in that state of mind and after her return, she could carry on her life as normal, still wearing her usual clothes as she did before. If she does not wear her headscarf then this something that is between herself and Allah. If her head is not covered, this presents no obstacle to her and does not mean that she cannot perform her pilgrimage duties. I am saying very loudly and clearly that everybody has to assess their lives according to this. This is the fundamental principle in life: According to our dimension, the time that we actually live on Earth is a duration, which can be measured in seconds. Furthermore, the holy prophet says that people are all asleep, but they become awake as soon as they die. The life, which they lived out before they died, can be considered to be a dream. Living in this dream world, we are faced with the reality that in order to obtain the eternal afterlife, we must pay its price and build up its eternal possibilities whilst here. In this day and age, a fairly large part of our life has passed without us realizing these facts. We have wasted all our life in various activities during our teenage years, and particularly during middle age with our business affairs. We do not know how much time is left in front of us, maybe a very small amount. In today`s present conditions, a traffic accident can end our life in a flash. After this it is absolutely impossible to come back to this world once again. Therefore, whatever we do, we`ll do it over here. This is the kind of situation, which we can compare with this aspect of our lives; imagine that the room we are living in has caught fire and is burning. We will try to save whatever we can from this room, will not be bothered with or worried over the things that have burnt, we will simply try to save whatever is left behind. Now, saying that I cannot wear my headscarf and can therefore neglect everything is the greatest mistake of all. So, everyone should do whatever they can. Those who can go for Friday prayers go for Friday prayers; those who can perform one or two prayers in a day perform one or two prayers in a day. Obviously, those who can complete prayers five times a day are the best. But it is absolutely wrong to say that because I cannot do this five times a day, then there is no need for me to do it at all. If you cannot pray five times a day then pray four times. If you cannot pray four times then pray three times a day and if you still cannot do that much then at least in the mornings wash your hands and your feet so that you can at least complete the ablution. If you then do your two rakats; units of prayer before you leave your house, you would be able to complete at least one prayer cycle in a day. After all, it is better to do something even a little than not to do it at all. Lets illustrate this with an example. When you arrive at your workplace to open your shop you might say this to yourself: -"Today, I will earn about one hundred and fifty pounds or maybe ten pounds". Let us suppose that you manage to earn only ten percent of what you wanted to earn. You would probably say to yourself: - "No, this was not what I wanted, this is certainly not what I was aiming for”. Would you then turn it all down? Absolutely not. Whatever you earn for yourself is still a profit. Therefore, in this worldly life with its worldly struggles, do whatever you can whether you are a man or a woman, whether you are young or old. What has passed has passed. We have no time to waste with arguments left over from the past. The time we have in front of us is an unknown quantity, only a short duration. Let us try to put this time to good use as much as we possibly can. Let`s do whatever we can to turn this to our gain. In any case, to gain is better than to lose. This is why the main principle in religion is the fact that we should all do whatever we can, because we will not have another chance to come back to do the things we haven’t done. Why? It`s so simple. As we continue to live our life in this physical body of ours, we take in various foods from outside and these foods provide us with bioelectrical energy. This bioelectrical energy is a kind of microvolt energy containing electricity within itself and it provides the bioelectrical energy needed for our brain cells. With the power that this bioelectrical energy provides, the brain sends out a certain type of radiant wave. These radiant waves that the brain broadcasts produce our astral bodies that we call our spirits. All the capacity containing our knowledge, our ability to comprehend and the concept known as spiritual power, which exists in our souls as potential energy is transferred to our soul via the brain. From the moment the brain ceases to function, we begin to live our lives within the astral dimension, that is the area of the sun’s magnetic field as well that of the Earth, until the day of resurrection; all the time remaining fully conscious since our knowledge has been stored within our spirits. This period of time is referred in Islamic religion as the world of Barzakh which means the world hereafter. Once we pass into this sphere of life, there is no such thing as coming back to this world again, and because we will not get another chance to have a new brain, we will not be able to store new data in our spirits. It is for this reason that we must engage ourselves with certain activities aimed at securing our future. Now, let me try to get this point across in the simplest way. We perform something called the ablution. Whenever we perform this act, we may ask ourselves why it is that we do it. People who have old-fashioned traditions would consider it an act aimed at being clean. In fact, our Prophet performed this process with only a glass of water. Nowadays, in the hot countries of the Middle East, you can see that people perform their ablution using only a small amount of water contained in a tiny cup. With so little water, it is impossible to clean the whole body. What this means is that this kind of cleansing activity cannot possibly be a physical cleansing, as we would think. Well, if the ablution process is not for getting clean, then what is it for? If we think about this carefully, we know that the body absorbs oxygen from the world outside in the same way that it also absorbs water. As the body receives water and oxygen, the energy contained as H2O, hydrogen and oxygen atoms is transmitted to the nervous system. If the ablution is not performed for the purpose of generating electrical energy through rubbing the water onto the body, then what is the use of it? This is what one should think about. In the same way, the ablution performed with sand is meant to discharge the static energy from the body, which causes discomfort and stress in the brain. This clearly shows that each of these compulsory religious practices suggested to us is in fact associated with scientific, physical as well as a chemical realities which are all concerned with universal rules. There is also a different way of looking at this matter and its nature in that respect can be explained as follows: The omnipotent power who created the universe is referred to as Allah, both in the Qur’an as well as in the Islamic religion. This Supreme Being created everything, which exists in the universe with the attributes of the qualities of his names. For this reason, all the qualities that each one of us has come from the meanings, which are contained in the name Allah. In other words, for a human being to be a caliph in this world would mean that the meanings contained within the essence of the 99 names of Allah become manifested in that person, and this applies to all other living humans as well. Now that I have told you about a human being a caliph, I now wish to clarify another point. Listen carefully. In the Qur’anic verse, this reads as `We created human beings as caliphs on the face of this Earth`. With this statement no gender discrimination was meant. This means that both men and women are equal when it comes to being the caliph of Allah. Both of them have the maturity to become the caliphs of Allah. For this reason, one can never talk about a woman as a second degree being or as a second-class person when compared to a man. Because when Allah said that `We created you as the caliphs on the face of the Earth` he mentioned nothing about the differences between a man and a woman. With respect to the origin and the nature of men and women, they both have the same qualities when it comes to the subject of caliphate. After emphasizing this fact about the Qur`an and about Islam, I would like to go on and talk about this subject in a bit more detail. Because all of us happened to come into existence with the meanings of the names of Allah, not only do we possess the qualities of these names, such as Rahman (the All Merciful), Rahim (the All Beneficient), Melik (the Absolute Ruler), Quddus (the Pure One), but we also exist with the attributes of Allah`s divine essence. All of us are alive due to the fact that we have the quality of Allah`s Al Hayy (the Ever Living) attribute, and this is why we are living. Having the quality of the name of Allah we know as Alim, meaning ‘the One who knows everything in all of us’, we all have a conscious mind. We each also have the quality of the name of Allah known as willpower inside us which points to the quality of the attribute to our will. Therefore we all will the things in our consciousness and because each of us has this attribute of the almighty within us, we can make our wishes come true. This means that all of us exist with the divine essence and the qualities of the attributes of Allah. The Qur’an and the prophet have informed us of these names of Allah. But these names are not mentioned for the purpose of introducing us to the qualities of a God existing out there, far away from us; it is done simply for the purpose of defining the qualities of our existence as well as for defining the reality of our existence and making it known. As a matter of fact, the saying of the prophet, "He who knows himself knows his Lord", highlights this reality, which means that the more you know and identify these qualities in yourself, then this is how much you will be able to understand about the qualities of Allah which is the reality of yourself, your existence and the whole of the universe. In fact, no matter how much you know Allah with these qualities, it is still impossible to understand or be able to think about Allah with respect to his essence. Because of the infinity and limitlessness of his essence, he does not make it possible for those who have finite and limited comprehension to understand his essence. Therefore, as we all came into existence with his being and with the qualities of his divine essence, in reality each and every one of us is created with all of his qualities that he willed, and because we all happen to be his caliphs, we all deserve respect and love. For this reason, irrespective of our name, gender, colour, race, language and religion, we must show respect and love to every human being. Therefore, the existence behind all these things, such as name, colour, language, religion and race, is the creation that belongs to Allah. This shows that all these creations from which you turn your face away, or hate, or dislike, or consider unworthy are really just beings that rely on the existence of Allah. This is why, you behave in this way, and it goes directly to Allah. Obedience to Allah does not only mean touching the ground before you with your forehead, but also being able to acknowledge Him as the Absolute existence within every existing being and not keeping Him at a great distance. If we can come to this realization, we realize that we can never look down upon an Arabian, nor an Iranian, nor a Kurd, nor a Shia, nor a Sunni nor any other individual. Therefore, what should be important for us is that a human being is the caliph of Allah and no matter what race, gender, language or religion a person appears to be; we must do our utmost to show them our respect and love. Otherwise, we will pass blindly away from this world in a conditioned state of mind, completely unaware both of all those realities as well as of Allah. So this would eventually lead us to a state of complete suffering and torment. As a result of this, we would show no gratitude to the people we came into contact with since we would have been deprived of our own reality and would be totally ignorant of our own true nature. Therefore, we will pass away from this world unaware of these things, and as the saying goes, just as if we were inside a cocoon, which we cannot break out of. Either we will escape from this cocoon and fly away like a butterfly, or we will be unable to break out and within it we will sink beneath the surface of the boiling waters. Because of this we will not be able to turn into a butterfly since we will stay in our silkworm state. As a result, we will go up in flames just like a caterpillar inside silk. Being inside silk and unable to get out, hence, sinking down under the boiling water and burning with this cocoon must be an extremely unpleasant experience for the caterpillar. So, you inside the silk! Try to break out and fly away from your cocoon like a butterfly. Otherwise, the boiling water awaits you as you are going to be that caterpillar inside the cocoon. So, come on, use your commonsense and break out from your cocoon as quickly as possible. See the realities of life, listen to the speeches of the holy prophet, try to consider what he says and save your eternal life. Because those things which were proposed to you are in fact things which are essential for yourself. Neither Allah, the Prophet, the Holy Qur`an, nor I need you. You must think about what I tell you and evaluate what it is, if only to save your future. Otherwise, your regret will never ever be of any use to you. At present, there are five billion people living on the face of this Earth. If only it was possible to gather those five billion people onto an empty field, you would then have to take into consideration that your chance of finding and recognizing a person you know among these five billion people is one in five billion. With the incident known as death, you will leave this dimension and go to another dimension of life spent inside a grave. Here, you will continue to live your life for millions and millions of years till the day of resurrection. On this very day, all of these people would gather in one place. I wonder, how many of the things you valued most you would be able to see and to find, or be unable to find at all? Here, I said that with the incident known as death, you would go on living your life inside a grave. Now, I would like to briefly explain this subject. Soon after our bodily contact comes to an end with the incident known as death, we are put inside a grave while still in a state of total consciousness, which means that we can see the insects inside the grave, inside the soil and everything else around us. In the same way, we can hear voices coming from outside, but we cannot come out and leave our grave. The fact that the incidents you keep thinking about throughout the day automatically enter your dreams means that you will not be able to change these incidents in your dreams and therefore in your dreams you will go on living the natural consequences of these incidents which are constantly being stored in your brain on a daily basis. As it was stated: `In this world, people are asleep; they wake up when they die`. Therefore, you begin to live inside that grave, with the consequences of all of these things, which you lived through in the world, as well as with the things you valued most, took pride in and owned as yours. Because, after a while, the materialistic world completely disappears, the section of the grave containing soil also disappears, and therefore, you start to live inside the grave in a dimension of the spiritual world. For you to start living inside a grave in the dimension of the spiritual world means that the world in front of your very eyes is going to disappear completely and you will begin to live in a dimension occupied by the rays of sun. This means that you will clearly begin to see the sun and all the living things inside it. You will also be able to see all the other beings living within the dimension of all the stars in the galaxy. In religion, this particular event is explained as follows. When a person is dead and is lowered into a grave, a window opens on one side and that person sees Hell and everything within it. Again, a window opens on one side and the person sees Paradise and all it contains. In fact, in the eye of the spirit, there is no such concept as distance. Even if our eyes have a limit to their sight, they can still see as far as 50 metres, 100 metres or 1000 metres away, though the concept of distance for the eye of the spirit is lifted when a person passes into the world of graves. This person starts to see the radiant beings and the living things at the centre of the sun as if they were only a couple of meters away but are in fact 150 million kilometres away. Now, according to a calculation made by a friend of ours, his body, which weighs 70 kilograms at this present time, will actually weigh three hundred thousand kilograms on the sun. Again, there are some sayings (hadith) and explanations made by the holy prophet informing us that the bodies of the people who entered Hell would be amazingly gigantic in size. Yes, the person who has crossed into that dimension of the world of graves sees the sun, the living beings inside the sun and that environment. If he is one of those people who is meant to stay there for an indefinite period, he will then see that beautiful environment which he will not be able to go to and that tormenting environment he will have to go to. As a result of that, he will suffer a rather distressing and tormenting phase in his grave, just like a person who experiences a nightmare as he sleeps. If the opposite of this happens, meaning that the person will go to that beautiful environment we call paradise, he will be very peaceful and will be in this joyful state, for it will be an escape from that other eternal environment, and this will continue until Judgement Day. It is our understanding that Judgement Day is the phase following the destruction of the world by the sun after the sun has enlarged. At this present moment, the world forms a band of magnetic field with respect to its existence and the souls of people departing from it will live in this magnetic field. The magnetic field, which is within this band, is the band that surrounds what is called the world of graves and the world of Barzakh (Isthmus). As the phase of the sun`s growth approaches, the Sun will cause Mercury, Venus and the Earth to melt down, become vaporized and then disappear completely from their places. With this disappearance, the Van Allen radiation belt trapped in orbit around the world and surrounding it like a magnetic ring will come to an end, and when this happens the world`s magnetic gravitational field will be deactivated, which will cause all the people to come together on the sun`s platform. After this field has disappeared from its place, the end of the world will come, which we know as Judgement Day, and after that phase, the people will come to realize what they have done in their worldly lives and what these things have brought them with respect to that day`s conditions as well as the environment existing around themselves on that very same day, as well as what the rights and wrongs of their doings will bring them. All of these incidents referring to Judgement Day which were symbolically described by the sayings (hadiths) of the prophet are to be lived through by those who have done certain tasks and have achieved certain results amongst other people. In other words, they will come out from the environment of Hell and will pass on to an environment called Paradise to remain there forever. Others will come to rest inside that environment called the magnetic field of the sun. Our studies on the topic of Hell show that in reality the sun is Hell. Said-i Nursi, who talked about this matter in his book titled the Mektubat, which is a collection of letters, says that Hell lies at the centre of the Earth. This is his opinion. When we talk about this phenomenon with respect to our recent and scientific data then it has been proved for certain that the sun is going to swallow up and destroy the Earth. As this is the case in reality, then what must we do about this situation? Yes, what must we do? We come back again to where we started. In a sense, because we create our spirits for the afterlife with regards to one of our aspects and with regards to how our brain works at present, we must realize the value of our brain at its maximum level. For example, scientifically speaking, it has been found that everybody`s brain uses between approximately five and twelve percent of its total working capacity. Around ninety percent of the remaining capacity is inactive. So, whenever we say, “Let us meditate Allah”, what are we actually doing and why are we doing it? Let me explain this briefly. The most important thing for a human is zhikr, which is a form of meditation, because the phenomenon known as zhikr is not meant for the purpose of worshipping a God way above us. Just as I explained a while ago, it is a fact that we have come into existence through the qualities indicated by the various names of Allah. The meaning of these qualities, for example the name Rahman (the All Merciful), the name Rahim (the All Beneficient), the name Murid (the Will), the name Quddus (the Pure One), the name Fattah (the Opener) are present within our brains. How do they come to be there? Well, in the brain, there is neither a word nor a picture nor an image. In the brain, there is a certain vibration at a certain frequency for each meaning. The brain cells are in a state of constant electrical vibration. Every single thought in the brain creates a certain vibration and a certain electrical current between certain groups of cells. For the first time in the world, in one of our books entitled the Mysteries Of Man published in 1986, we wrote that the function of the zhikr is to stimulate electrical activity between certain cells. By means of word repetition, called the zhikr, the electrical activity between the cells is increased and the frequency from it is transmitted to other inactive cells by means of a transmitter. As a result, these inactive cells are activated by being programmed to the incoming frequency. Therefore, the zhikr increases the working capacity of the brain. After we wrote about this in the year 1986, the first development in the world was in America in 1993 where this subject was dealt with in an article in the December 1993 issue of the world`s number one scientific magazine, The Scientific American. In this article, the author wrote that brain cells become active when certain words are repeated, and by the repetition of words, certain cells in the brain become activated to increase their capacity. (The Scientific American magazine, December 1993 issue). Those who wish can read up on the subject in the aforementioned magazine. What I mean to say here is this: By performing zhikr, which means through repeating certain names of Allah, you can increase your brain capacity in such a way that you become equipped with the quality of the actual meanings of those words. For instance let us assume that you are meditating the name Murid, which is the third attribute from the seven main attributes of Allah’s essence pointing to the quality of the willpower of Allah. If you repeat this a certain number of times say, 1000, 2000 or 3000 every day, then after a certain period, say in a few months time, you will notice that your willpower is increasing. In addition to that, as soon as you start repeating the name Quddus, you will realize that you are experiencing some sort of purification within yourselves, you will give up your bad habits and realize that you are not simply made up of this physical body but that you are a conscious being. You will also realize that you are an eternal being which means that your life continues after death and the enhancement of this perception within you will grow more and more. As you can see, all of these meditations carried out by the repetition of certain words will increase and improve certain capacities in your brain. The more this capacity increases the more the meaning of that name will manifest itself in you. In return, you could recognize Allah in the direction indicated by the actual meaning of that particular name. In other words, your comprehension of Allah is linked to the extent to which you can find Him within yourselves. As well as in yourselves, the qualities, which are also manifest in others, are the names of Allah’s various qualities. Whereas, if we look into the matter with respect to improving ourselves rather than being dependent on our surroundings, we can see that meditation can increase our brain capacity and therefore develop the personality of the individual, so that these qualities can be transferred automatically by the brain to the soul, which in return will help us to obtain perfect souls with far better qualities and a greater degree of perfection. So, all of these activities that we carry out for our own personal benefit, like meditation or methods of worship such as Praying, Fasting, Pilgrimage to Hajj and so on, are aimed at building ourselves the best future and improving our living standards in the best possible manner in the dimension of the afterlife. Accordingly, by practising these activities we will improve and strengthen our astral body, a body to which we will have access in the life beyond our death. What’s more is that we will be able to grasp and more fully understand about Allah and his qualities in a much better way. The more we understand and familiarize ourselves with these, the more we will be able to lead our lives in that direction. Or we will ignore and be totally unaware of the fact that there is a God far away up there who we assume is in need of our actions. As a result of these thoughts, we will take no notice of this matter and therefore evaluate it by saying: “Well, he does not need what I do for him”. After that we will be faced with much harsher facts of life. During my speech, I have tried to explain to you as much as I can about some of the facts of life, why these facts were proposed as religion and the reasons why religion has arisen. I dont know if I have been helpful or not. But it is a most definite fact that even though these things I have told you about could be lacking something or be wrong in some way, you should do some research into this subject by referring to the original sources, think it over carefully and also study it thoroughly. Do not gamble your life away. Speaking of your life, I am talking about your eternal life. Compared to the real dimension as well as the real time, how many seconds have we lived in this world and how many more seconds do we have left to live? Do remember this. How many seconds of your life have gone by and how many seconds or milliseconds of it are left? Time is passing very quickly. The countdown has begun: fifty-nine, fifty-eight, fifty-seven, fifty-six. The time is counting down very quickly. So put these last remaining moments of your time to good use in an effective manner. Do some research into what I have told you and find out if it holds true or false; learn about its true nature. Put the remainder of your time to good use. According to the Qur`an and the prophet Mohammad, no human being can ever return to the world again to do those things that they didn’t do before and make up for their mistakes. All of these values over here will have absolutely no meaning at all as soon as you leave for the world hereafter. Therefore please try to think about these facts in a more realistic manner and make sure that you continue to live your lives with no regrets. Because, at this point of regret, you will never have the right to return again. May Allah grant and make it easy for all of us to evaluate the truth of life in such a way that we shall not be regretful. Keep well my friends... Glossary Of Terms Abu Bakr: The first of the Caliphs. Allah: The name of ‘God’ among Muslims. Originates from Arabic word Allah, contraction of Al-ilah ‘the god’. Alim: The Knower of all. Badr: The name of the first full military confrontation between the Muslim and the enemies of Allah. Berzakh: "The intervening space", but technically the term denotes the "World of Ideas" which is considered intermediary between the material or phenomenal world and the world of pure spirits as well as of God. Isthmus. Caliph: The chief Muslim civil and religious ruler, regarded as the successor of Muhammad. Caliphate: Origin, from Arabic kalifa meaning ‘deputy (of God) or meaning successor of ‘Mohammad’. Fattah: The Opener. Hadith: Sayings of the prophet Mohammad. Hajj: The Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca which takes place in the last month of the year, and which all Muslims are expected to make at least once during their lifetime. Jerrahpasha: A small town in the city of Istanbul. Kurd: A member of a mainly pastoral Islamic people living in Kurdistan. La ilaha illallah: There is no lord (worthy of worship) only (the One) Allah. Mektubat: Collection of letters compiled by Sufi Master Said-Nursi. Murid: Allah’s attribute of Will. Qu’ran: The Holy Muslim Book. Quddus: The Pure One. Ramadan: The ninth month of the Muslim year, during which strict fasting is observed from sunrise to sunset. Rahim: The All Beneficient. Rahman: The All Merciful. Rakat: An individual unit of prayer. Said-i Nursi: An Islamic scholar. Sheikh: An Arab leader, in particular the chief or head of an Arab tribe, family, or village. Shia: One of the two main branches of Islam, that rejects the first three Sunni caliphs and regards Ali, the fourth caliph, as Muhammad`s first true successor. Sunni: One of the two main branches of Islam, commonly described as orthodox, and differing from Shia in its understanding of the Sunna and in its acceptance of the first three caliphs. Van Allen Belt: Each of two regions of intense radiation partly surrounding the earth at heights of several thousand kilometres. Zhikr: Rememberance of Allah, Invocation.