Learning from the earthquake: Every test is an opportunity...

As a society, we are going through a great disaster and a very heavy test!

Every test is an opportunity; every opportunity is a test.

In this column, I would like to philosophically address the issue that this geological earthquake has a curative or healing aspect to spiritual earthquakes, through this possibility-test dialectic.

Let me speak in the language of the philosophy of history: History is the work of great formations in history, historical new beginnings, great destructions, extinctions, economic, political and cultural crises, at the same time.

New beginnings, in general, take place after great, heavy depressions throughout history. Societies or civilizations that face great destructions, disasters, wars, and upheavals can make a fresh start after facing the thing called disaster, the pain of life...

We can say that history is the child of pain. Only societies that experience pain can avoid being ruthless: suffering hinders their ruthlessness.

The pain experienced in the outer world makes it possible for a person to discover his inner world and to realize a deep, deep and long-term self-construction journey that will build his inner world.

All the great journeys that change the course of history first begin inside the person, in his inner world. A person who cannot build a world within himself will never be able to build a world outside. A society that cannot build itself cannot establish and present a livable world to humanity.

Great crises make it possible for people to see and taste themselves, the pain, sadness and joy of life. Pain provides a place and an opportunity that prevents cruelty.

If you destroy pain, you lay the building blocks for human cruelty. A person who does not taste pain cannot escape from being cruel. Pain gives us the opportunity to reflect on people, on life, on our world, on our problems and on truth. A painless life detaches people from life, dehumanizes them, depresses them and makes them ruthless.

Of course, it is not necessary to invite pain. It is necessary to understand pain with all its philosophical dimensions…

The truth we need to know philosophically is this: Life works through the dichotomy of good and bad, beautiful and ugly, right and wrong, light and dark.

What appears to us as "good" at first glance may not be "good" in absolute terms. Likewise, “bad” may not necessarily be “bad” in the absolute sense.

To speak in the language of mystics, there is no such thing as evil. There is bad looking, bad looking. Everything that Allah has created is actually good. What appears to be bad is to make the good appear.

If "bad" is seen as a favor of our Lord that shows us "good", mercy will manifest. Darkness can be seen as a light of mercy, a “hidden hand of mercy” of the Most Merciful, who shows us the light of our Lord and enables us to realize.

At least we are in a position to say this: How would we recognize light if there was no darkness, good if it were not bad, and right if it were not wrong?

The second point is here: Allah has endowed man with the will, power and knowledge that will distinguish between good and evil. At the same time, he has given the freedom to act in a way to know whether the crop that will come from here is good or bad. What a blessing! Gotta be thankful!

NEVER GET OVER THE “SPIRITUAL EARTHQUAKE”!

First of all, let's know this: Before this material earthquake happened, we had a spiritual earthquake already enough to our bones: Morality had been dissolved. Haram-halal measures had almost disappeared. Corruption in all areas and in all respects had reached its peak. The real earthquake, the real big earthquake that will destroy the society, the burning and destructive earthquake is this spiritual earthquake: The erosion, evaporation, disappearance of spiritual values.

No material earthquake can collapse a society that has not experienced a spiritual earthquake.

No earthquake can destroy a society that abides by the measures of haram and halal!

No earthquake can destroy a society that cares about the rights of the servant.

No earthquake can erase a society that has not lost its belief in the Hereafter.

The only or the strongest way to overcome a material earthquake is to be strong in terms of moral values and principles.

There are two things that this earthquake and this pain have taught or should teach us: A society that has eroded its moral values, lost its haram-halal dimensions, and thus became secularized, is destined to become “barbaric” as Hegel so well described. Hegel says in his famous book Philosophy of History that since spiritual values are eroded in secular societies, societies become barbaric as they become secular, and that Islam rescued humanity from this barbarization form.

As people and societies become more secular and lose the belief that they will be held to account, it is very difficult to prevent corruption and all kinds of immorality. The most terrifying example of this in an earthquake event is the construction of buildings by stealing materials, ignoring basic architectural-engineering principles, in a way that endanger human and social existence as well as the natural environment.

An architect who fears Allah and believes in the hereafter can never resort to theft, corruption and bribery. The secret behind Mimar Sinan's passing into history as an architect who built the strongest, strongest, most useful, most aesthetic and soulful cities and structures is that he clothed his professional principles, the principles of architecture, the good, beautiful and correct idea and understanding of Islam. It is the spirit blowing into the stone.

Allah does not humiliate the non-Muslim society, which pays attention to the haram-halal measures and the rights of the servant. However, a Muslim community that does not comply with the criteria of haram and halal will be punished by Allah in the most severe way.

The essence of the word: We should know how to learn from the disaster we experienced. We should be able to turn this heavy earthquake into an opportunity in order to build our cities as more humane, full of spirit, livable and aesthetic cities by complying with haram-halal measures, human rights and architectural professional principles.

Let's not forget: There is no other society in the world that has massacred its cities as much as we do and left them to the ruthlessness and soullessness of the soulless reinforced concrete terror. If the earthquake causes this fact to be seen, we will have learned one of the most important lessons we need to learn from the earthquake.

In tomorrow's column, I will write about how the earthquake brought to light the spirit of brotherhood and solidarity hidden in our suppressed cultural genes.