“The fifth attribute of the inheritors (of the earth) is being able to think freely and being respectful of freedom of thought. Being free and enjoying freedom are a significant depth of human willpower and a mysterious door through which one may set forth into the secrets of the self. One unable to set forth into that depth and unable to pass through that door can hardly be called human.”¹⁾

“… as we are drawing toward different worlds, taking both our own attitudes to others and our own selves and ambitions into account, we have to be more free-thinking and free-willed. We need those vast hearts who can embrace impartial free-thinking, who are open to knowledge, sciences and scientific research, and who can perceive the accord between the Qur’an and Sunnatullah (God’s unchanging way and practice from the beginning of the universe) in the vast spectrum from the universe to life. In the past individual geniuses undertook and carried out these great tasks. Today, however, they can only be fulfilled by a community which takes upon itself the missions of such men of genius.”²⁾

“Even though scientific principles were revealed through our own research, thanks to the high standing statures that grew up until the fifth century after the Hijra, in the following centuries the initiative was undertaken by the Westerners. They poured the sciences into different molds based on positivism, materialism and naturalism. Today, we cannot go beyond their terminology in our studies of different branches of science and continue our research within their patterns. Therefore, we cannot think differently. Our research does not lead us to the truth we look for. For this reason, Muslim scholars should once again adopt free-thinking as their principle and review all the acquisitions introduced in the name of science, starting from the beginning. In doing so, they must break free from attachment to the status quo and question everything. Because nothing new can be established without questioning. For this reason, we should assume that the information we have may be slightly wrong.”³⁾

“From the past up to the present, we have come to know myriads of people who have deceived naive masses into believing they are struggling for a sacred effort. They do this by basing their fanaticism on religious values. The numbers of the bigots who destroyed their surroundings in the name of advancement and modernity and tried to transform all others into copies of themselves are certainly not any fewer. Just as the former has nothing to do with true piety, the latter has no relation whatsoever with being progressive or being civilized. Both of these ominous groups are obstacles that have to be eliminated, obstacles that stand in the way of free-thinking, tolerance, sharing, and, in fact, the way of truly living as human beings. The probability is that humanity as a whole was going to suffer from these crude and aggressive persons until the very moment they were either enlightened or the moment they received their fair judgment from God.”⁴⁾

Mathematical Thinking

M. Fethullah Gülen, The Statue of Our Souls

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