Article by Necip YILDIRIM
I wish I was living in the old times. My enemy would be standing in front of me, and I could look right into his eyes. He would also manly ride his horse on me, his sword in his hand shining in his armour yelling “I will kill thee”. Now, the enemy is everywhere. Occupied my home, car, pocket, ears, and mind. Under the bombardment of words, colours, and sounds. I am in the middle of intertwined quarrels, have no wish to be part of any. An occupied land. Mistakenly fallen in the wrong era. A field where lines are blurred, and all sides fickle. I am not allowed to hear myself think.
Thou deemest thyself rightful to be hopeless? Have thee opened your eyes in times of Jahiliya? Are thine fellow citizens prostrating handmade gods? Are baby girls being buried alive in thy town? Torture, tribulation, migration… Have thee undergone any of these? Be patient; yet do not forget: Patience is struggling, not resting in a corner.
When Dante was guided by the bookless Rome’s reckless poet Virgil to the corridors of hell; Rumi left for Konya to ornament his Masnavi by the eloquence of divine love. It was the age when Thomas Aquinas was trying to consolidate the Christian creed by Aristotelian philosophy. Abundant were then scholars in our land; building a civilization on love, morals, virtue, and wisdom. Alas, everything is messed up today. The biggest of harms come from amongst us.
Wasn’t it the same era when the whip of Mongols from the east, and Crusaders from the West were beating Muslim obliviousness? Oblivion will not go without punishment in any age! Do not words of old masters illuminate thy path today? Canst thou read their books? The light of the absolute truth has always existed. Art thou ready to concede? Beware of thyself. Preserve thine family: The founding stone of your civilization.
Thou badest me to marry: how? An ideal life has shaped in her mind. How can I compete with an abstract, and imaginative life formulated by the amalgamation of thousands of images, and videos that she has been watching? I can’t seem happy all the time. Is living to crop and share happy moments of life.
It’s easy to attribute all faults to them. Women wouldn’t be spoiled if men hadn’t lost their manhood. Were you man enough to leave the remote controller aside, and busy yourself with learning, and spirituality? You did all, and your family didn’t follow you?
Kids are spoiled. A sleepless generation emerged. We even go to our beds with smart devices. In the old times, we would be appreciated for learning, good morals, and wisdom. Today, kids acquire the best of satisfaction via virtual games. They are lost in videos, as if in rabbit holes. Minds are coded. A lonely, numb, distracted, bored, dispersed, disconnected, and in a void generation. How it is possible with a causeless youth? To love, and to be loved became ordinary, just like many other concepts.
If thou beholdest a mother; tell her “Hug your son often. Put his head on your shoulder. Grab his neck, pull his head, and mount it right in the centre of your chest. Comb his hair with your fingers. Hold his cheek with the sweatiest part of your palm. Try to feel with thine heart. Look into his eyes when he talks. Hug him the most when he expects the least. If he comes to you telling “Mother, I killed a man”. Kindly tell him, “You must have had a viable reason to do that”. Never judge him. Whenever his look falls onto your face; let it drown into an ocean of smile; wringing. Be his mother. Be himself.
Ah! If wives could approach their husbands in such a manner.
A life without social media is impossible! We are addicted. If we ever get separated from social media, we feel as if insane in hollow. The threshold is crossed. No chance of turning back. Not anymore. Time has accelerated. Years are minutes now. Trash contents are waiting in ambush to rob our time. How are we to protect our peace of mind?
The time kids consume on smart screens is not more than the time wasted by their parents. Children mirror their fathers. Had your son found you as a role model, would he follow clown-like shallow characters online. Thus, thou hast no right to complain. Could you leave your smartphone aside when it was necessary? Could you join your child in the playground? Had eye contact with him, feel him? Wishest thou salvation, start from thyself.
Exhibitionism has exploded. Thickened lips, thinned eyebrows, painted faces. Fake, unhuman. Bodies exhibited as if products on display for sale. In our moral kingdom, the women were the most secluded, and protected part of the castle.
Do you hesitate to share the clothes you wear, things you eat, and the places you visit? In the old times that thou cravest to return, people would refrain to eat in public, lest indigent would behold. In whatever form, the exhibited is always the nafs, the ego.
