“In the most general sense, literature is a discipline that studies elegant, measured, and harmonious words uttered or written in verse or prose in a form that is congruent with the conditions of time and usually in compliance with the rules of the language. The Arabic word for literature is adab, which has a wider frame of connotation associated with good manners, gentleness, elegance, refinement, and perfection. It has often been interpreted in relation to a person’s lifestyle, conduct, and integrity and as a means to the flourishing of that person in spirituality and purification of the heart. In this sense, adab falls in the domain of books on ethics or of treatises on Sufism, and therefore it is not usually covered within the discipline of literature. Even so, drawing upon its semantic roots, it is possible to refer to an indirect connection between the two.”¹⁾

“Literature is the eloquent language of a nation’s spiritual make-up, world of ideas, and culture. Those who do not share this ‘language’ cannot understand each other, even if they belong to the same nation.”²⁾

“Meaning is the essential element in literature. Thus, words should be kept to a minimum while being rich and propound in meaning. Some people tend to explain their thoughts with similes, metaphors, allusions, allusive metaphors, and puns. However, the most meaningful word is to be sought in exuberant, inspired spirits, profound imaginations that embrace all existence, and believing, analyzing and synthesizing minds able to attain the vision of this world and the Hereafter as two faces of one truth.”³⁾

“Literature is the acquired mastery of language, feeling language in the inner world. When Imru’l-Qays wrote his famous poem “The Muallaqa”, he did not know the rules of language. All the principles were in his memory. A lot of people have written dissertations on his work.”⁴⁾

Rhetoric

M. Fethullah Gülen, “The Power of Literature”

Türkçe