Emotional Fraternity

“… emotional fraternity is essential, but never sufficient. The matter of fraternity and alliance rests upon volition rather than emotion and, to achieve it, one must be decisive, determined and diligent. The close friendship based on logic, which implies that unity of belief entails unity of society, is more salient than emotionalism in what makes believers love one another. For this reason, the Sage Bediüzzaman always taught us the logical aspects and dynamics of any matter at hand. He wrote, ‘Both of you serve the same One Creator, Sovereign, Object of Worship, Provider… so there are as many ties between you as there are Divine Names. Your Prophet, religion [Islam], and qibla are one and the same, and the number of such ties amount to almost a hundred.’¹⁾”²⁾

“… the level of fraternity found in the golden age (the Age of Happiness), where there was full sharing in both emotions and thought and in pain and pleasure, be regained? There is first a need for strong purification in order to form such fraternity. On this subject “emotional fraternity” is an important principle, but it is not enough. As is known, there is emotional fraternity among siblings, who come from the same parents, but they can fight with each other often over a simple inheritance issue; in fact, they can kill each other. Then the emotional fraternity that holds blood siblings together is not sufficient for establishing fraternity to the degree of the Companions. Plus in this broad a circle, everyone’s best interest, emotions and understanding, taste, temperament and nature are different, so that it is necessary to add elements of reason to the establishment of true brotherhood and sisterhood.”³⁾

“In the face of the external and internal enemies, who have fostered their hatred for centuries, we must be smart and rational, and at the same time, the unity and solidarity we seek, by transforming emotional fraternity into logical fraternity, must be fed with the good judgement of the age. Indeed, if we worship the same Creator, follow the same Prophet, believe the same Book, and are of the same land, it is illogical to fight.”⁴⁾

Other Languages

¹⁾

Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, The Letters, New Jersey: The Light, 2014, p. 283.

²⁾

M. Fethullah Gülen, Ümit Burcu (Kırık Testi-4), İstanbul: Nil Yayınları, 2011, pp. 51–52.

³⁾

M. Fethullah Gülen, Prizma-2, İstanbul: Nil Yayınları, 2011, p. 156.

⁴⁾

M. Fethullah Gülen, Prizma-3, İstanbul: Nil Yayınları, 2008, p. 223.