#5 The Spiritual Significance of Ertugrul & Ibn Arabi with Dr Reza Shah Kazemi
Summary
In this episode, Dr Reza Shah-Kazemi explores the symbolic imagery and spiritual significance of Ertuġrul and Ibn Arabi in the Turkish television series Resurrection: Ertuġrul, feeling into why it has touched the hearts of so many young Muslims all over the world. A commentary that considers how the mythology is built upon, or rather, woven around three poles: the mythos, Islam, and the Ottoman Empire. Through his insight, we can taste the quintessence of...
spiritual transformation. He provides a concise explanation of the Qur’anic verses of سورة الفتح Sura al Fatḥ, recited in the series, in relation to both one’s own spiritual journey and the seven most often repeated آيات (ayas) from the Holy Qur’an, السبع المثاني (al-Sabʿul al-Mathanī).
Saqib
Welcome Dr. Reza. It's wonderful to have you on our show today.
Dr Kazemi
Thank you very much for inviting me Saqib. It's an honor to be on your Ḥikmah project. And I really look forward to speaking about this fascinating subject that you have proposed.
Saqib
Dr. Reza, could you make sense of, or tell us what you felt when the first scene of the first episode of the first series that the scene where Wildemīr and Ertuġrul are beating a sword into shape, and doing ḏhikr at the same time? What's the spiritual significance of that scene?
Dr Kazemi
Now that's a very good question. I was very, very struck by that. That the series that lasts for hundreds and hundreds of episodes, I think it's 400 episodes or something that it should begin the first two minutes of these thousands of hours, should begin with this scene of the Wildemīr as you say, with Ertuġrul, beating into shape, this molten iron to make it into steel for a sword, and they're doing a kind of ذكر (ḏhikr), one of them bashing it and saying something like, حق الله (Haqq Allāh), the other one saying لا اله الا الله (Lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh), الله اكبر (Allāhu ʾAkbar), and they're going doing some kind of ḏhikr in unison, or beating or hammering this, this sword into shape. And then, as I remember, Ertuġrul says, when the Wildemīr takes the sword away, and puts it into whatever it is that he puts it into. Ertuġrul says, even the sword could not withstand ذكر الله (the ḏhikr of Allāh). It had to submit, you see, absolutely full of mystical and spiritual and operative significance. What I mean by operative is that the, you know, the fundamental core of Sufi practice, is —ذكر الله— the ḏhikr of Allāh and so beating this sword is beating the soul. It's hammering away at the soul with the ḏhikr. That's what the ḏhikr is doing, that's (what) the name of God is doing. Our soul is like that, for you, that steel, that iron that's being—that's being hit, the steel is coming out of it, it's being knocked into shape, it hurts. It's painful. But when Ertuġrul says that even this inanimate thing, this sword cannot take the ḏhikr even it has to submit. It's a symbol of the way in which we when we do the ḏhikr, when we're saying الله الله الله Allāh, Allāh, Allāh, it's the equivalent of a big hammer coming down on the نفس الامارة (nafs al-ʾammārah), the untamed nafs, that needs to be knocked into shape by the نفس اللوامه (nafs al-lawwāmah), the one that's blaming, saying, you know, you should not be doing this, you should be doing that, and you're going to be beaten but not with any words and any injunctions and any admonitions, you're going to be beaten into shape by one thing and one thing only, the Supreme Name, the name of God that will beat you into shape that will get you into order, that will make you submit. So that submission that point of surrender of submission that will make you a Muslim that will give you the Islam gives you the peace of النفس المطمئنة (an-nafs al-mutmaʾinna), the soul at peace in the Lord, that only comes after the nafs al-lawwāmah, the self accusing, the self blaming soul, has sufficiently knocked into shape the nafs al-ʾammārah, so that it submits. I'm just reminded here something that's relevant to the rest of the answer to this question the rest of the scene from الامام علي عليه السلام وكرم الله وجهه (ʾImam ʿAlī ʿalayhī as-salām wa karamaʿAllāha wajhahu), he said that God has made the ḏhikr إن الله سبحانه جعل الذكر جلاء القلوب (ʾInna Allāha jaʿalla dhikrʿahu jīlāʾan lil qulūb). God has made the ḏhikr a polish for the hearts by means of which they come to see after being blind, hear after being deaf, and yield, they submit, they become pliant after being resistant and rebellious. This is exactly the process that's being described here, symbolically through the beating into shape of a sword. Now that sword then becomes what? ذو الفقار Ḏhul-fiqār, symbolically speaking, once it's really knocked into shape, that sword is not just the symbol, but it's immediately mentioned by Ertuġrul within about 10 seconds of his statement that even the sword has to submit to the Divine Name. He's presented with a wonderful sword by the Wildemīr, he unsheathes it and he looks at it says well mashaʾllāh, I wonder how many of the enemy are going to fall? That how many of the unrighteous people, الظالم (the ẓālim), the tyrants are going to be felled by this sword, but then what does Ertuġrul say? لا فتى إلا علي لا سيف إلا ذو الفقار (la fata ʾillā ʿAlī la saif ʾillā ḏhul-fiqār).
Dr Kazemi
He actually says it the other way around, because there are two versions of this Ḥadīth and this is a حديث (Ḥadīth) from the Holy Prophet ﷺ (ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhī wa-ʾālihī wa-sallam) who said that he heard a voice a heavenly angel of the Battle of Uḥud (غزوة أحد) come down when ʾImam ʿAlī was defending the Prophet against these terrible waves of attacks after the the cowardice and worldliness of the archers from behind and they left their positions wanting the booty prematurely. Khalid ibn al-Walīd (r.a.) wheels around the Mountain of Uḥud with his troops and comes down from behind and ʾImam ʿAlī (a.s) is one of the great heroes who helps to save the day, and is on that battlefield, where the Prophet ﷺ said that he heard an angel, a heavenly voice saying لا فتى إلا علي لا سيف إلا ذو الفقار (La fata ʾillā ʿAlī la saif ʾillā ḏhul-fiqār), there is no chivalric youth, no hero, no young man except ʿAlī, and there is no sword except ذو الفقار (ḏhul-fiqār). And sometimes that Ḥadīth is the other way around, as it is in Ertuġrul where they say no, there's no sword, but ʾImam ʿAlī's (a.s.) sword, ḏhul-fiqār and there is no youth, no hero, no night, no chivalrous hero, but ʿAlī. So, there you have it, the very beginning of Ertuġrul, the whole of these thousands of hours of thrilling entertainment and spiritual upliftment and moral training of the soul, of the character, of marveling at these scenes of incredible courage, of almost superhuman strength, all coming from what? The same faith in God that ʿAlī ibn ʾAbī Ṭālib (a.s.) had that made him the hero per excellence of Islamic Society after the Prophet ﷺ. It was ʾImam ʿAlī (a.s.) who was the key transmitter, let's say, of the traditional فتوة (futtuwa) that came right through all of the pre-Islamic religions and particularly emblemized by Abraham (a.s) who was the person that the Prophet ﷺ who not only took on the idols and destroyed them but who was thrown into the fire as a punishment, and the fire was told to become cool for Abraham (a.s.). So Abraham (a.s.) is known as the sort of founding father of futtuwa, he stands for futtuwa and all the religious traditions, not just the Semitic ones. And ʾImam ʿAlī is the one who as it were concentrates that futtuwa tradition in his own person, and then transmits it all the way through, so that all these empires, the Ottomans, the Mughals, particularly after the Mongol devastation, all of the Islamic Empires were in one way or another reconstituted on the basis of the paradigm of the saintly, warrior, king, philosopher that ʿAlī ibn ʾAbī Ṭālib (a.s.) was. In one way or another, he was at the center of all of their efforts to reconstitute their legitimacy in the post-Mongol period. And that was because in the pre-Mongol period, he was at the heart of the futtuwa tradition, which is mentioned in a later episode. And in fact, it's when Ertuġrul is finally initiated into futtuwa. It's one of most powerful scenes in the whole series I think when he's actually initiated, he gets a shirt put on him, he receives the خرقة (khirqa), the mantle and he now is, after all those trials and tribulations he's been through, he's finally given the mantle of futtuwa and he's finally a فتى (fata) in the line of Imam ʿAlī (a.s.). That comes, I can't remember where season three or season four a very, very long way off but it starts—the seed of that is right there in the first two minutes, when he's given, and where he gives us, this tremendously significant statement.
Saqib
Dr. Reza, can you tell us about the Ottoman Empire and just to set the context and just to play devil's advocate isn't Ertuġrul all about nationalism?
Dr Kazemi
This Ertuġrul is one of the epic stories of our time. In its own way, it's comparable to the great epics of Homer, for example, at a touch the Mahabharata. Now this is an epic narrative, it's mythological. It's not supposed to be taken as historical truth. No one thinks that all these things actually happened. Most of the scenes are fabrications but fabrications from what? From the imagination of the creators of this extraordinary series. Based on certain historical evidence of the existence of a man called Ertuġrul who is the father of ʿOsmān, who is the founder of the Ottoman Empire (الإمبراطورية العثمانية). Now, these are all historical facts, but the mythological content is what really makes this series reach out across the centuries and touch the hearts of so many millions of young Muslims all over the world. And translated into all these different languages, and how many, how many series or dramas or documentaries or films or whatever could come close to the record of Ertuġrul? So there's something really powerful going on here, which goes far beyond any question of its mere historicity or lack thereof. It's a question of the way in which mythology has been built around. I suppose I would say three axes, three poles, around which the mythology is woven. First, there's the mythos, the axis the pole of, ofcourse Islam, the religion of Islam, and how the founding of the Ottoman Empire was the founding of a kind of resurrection of Islam in the post-Mongol period. That's why I think it's called resurrection Ertuġrul. It's all about the way in which through Ertuġrul and ʿOsmān, the founding of the Ottoman Empire, you saw Islam as it were, being resurrected from the ashes of the Mongol devastation, just as analogously you could say what's happening in India and the Mughals and in Persia, eventually under the Ilkhānids and so on. But the Ottomans, this is an Empire that was very different from the Mughals and from the Safavids because the Ottoman Empire was this massive, massive, multinational, multi-ethnic, multi-religious entity that survived for 500 plus years over half a millennium. And it's regarded by the historians as one of the most successful empires in history full stop. Successful in terms of administrative efficiency, and in terms of a certain level of tolerance and justice and acceptance of diversity that is unequaled, based on a monotheistic idea, not based on a polytheistic idea when anyone's religion goes, because anyone's God is just as good as anyone elses. This was a religion based on monotheism, one God, one religion, and at the same time accommodating all of these different religious traditions. So I mean, I know I'm straying from your question, but I just want to give a little bit of context to it. And since this is our first of hopefully six such discussions.
Dr Kazemi
I'd like to mention this point in particular, which is that some criticisms that have come to me from people about Ertuġrul about the series, is that it's very nationalistic. It's all about Turkish nationalism. And that's the second of the poles if you like. I said, Islam is the first pole of the axis around which the mythology comes. The second is the Turkish people, the Turkish character, the Turkish soul, the Turkmens. And the third pole, you might say, is the pole, the axis around which this mythology is woven, is the mythology or the pole of the archetype of the hero. Heroism, what does it mean to be a hero? Why Ertuġrul, why ʿOsmān? Now, what is it about these individuals that makes them heroes worthy of our veneration, worthy of our emulation, reaching out and asking us to respect and to be devoted to their example. So there's heroism, there's the Turkish character, and there is Islam. And these are poles which are very real. And that's why the mythologies that come out of them, have that, constantly carry with them a perfume of the reality which they are putting into mythological form. You get a perfume. That's why so many people from such a wide spectrum, from young children who are just excited by the—the tremendously dramatic scenes of their heroism and so on; the valour, the courage, so all the way to people like us discussing the spirituality and the metaphysics of what's being expressed, you know, that kind of range can only come from something that touches a chord, which links mythology, religion, and spirituality, heroism, and virtue and the soul and character all the way through to our own dynamic, our own vital concerns of our own here and now, what are we confronted with, and how can we use these extraordinary gifts of grace, of the religion, of an ethnicity of heroism, whatever it is that God has given us. How can we benefit from this and put it into practice? Now, just to go back to what I wanted to say about the extraordinary nature of the Ottoman Empire. One of the criticisms that has come to me is that this episode, this series is nationalistic. It promotes the Turkish nation and the greatness of the Turkish race, that it's racist, and that it's totally putting down totally denigrating the Christian religion because of the way the Crusaders are portrayed, and even the Mongols who are just seen as total savages and barbarians with no real religion no real culture. And so this is a kind of, you know, Turkish nationalistic thing. That's come to me and I would reject that on various grounds. And we can go into that in some detail; maybe now I should just quickly say the main refutation of that, is that if you take into account the other poles that I'm talking about the pole of character and heroism, and the pole of religion and Islam, then you can see that the particular Turkish genius is contextualized by something that transcends nation, race, and so on. What is it that transcends the nation and the race? On the one hand, the religion, and on the other hand, the character. And because it's all about good character, all about true courage, devotion, loyalty, reliability, total faith, doing one's duty to the best of one's ability, absolute humility, and all the other things that have come through this extraordinary series. That aspect, that character, is what the Prophet ﷺ (ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhī wa-ʾālihī wa-sallam) was referring to when he said in one of the most amazing Ḥadīths: إنما بعثت لأتمم مكارم الأخلاق ('īnnamā buʿithtu liʾutammima makārim al-ʾakhlaq). I was only raised up as a Prophet, I was only sent to you as a Prophet for the sake of completing or making perfect, making total the most noble traits of character, مكارم الأخلاق (makārim al-ʾakhlaq), the most noble traits of character nobility of character. That's the only reason I was sent to you as a Prophet.
Dr Kazemi
So this is one of the ways in which Ertuġrul, the series, helps us to see the absolutely central nature of character formation, development, and perfection according to the Prophetic paradigm, which takes in all possible perfections of soul, beauties of soul, beauties of heart. So, that is my immediate refutation of this notion that Ertuġrul is somehow promoting Turkish nationalism. No, it's promoting a great soul, a great character, what does it mean to have that and it's promoting the religion of Islam, which transcends tribalism. Now, as you may know, the Prophet also said ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhī wa ālihi wa sallam, that there is no عصبيّة (ʿaṣabiyya) in Islam, no tribalism. And yet, ʿaṣabiyya is the quality that Ibn Khaldūn says is what held societies together, group loyalty, group spirit. So how do we reconcile these two things? By saying that the tribalism that says that my tribe is right, without any possibility of denying its righteousness, or its value or whatever, my tribe right or wrong, it's that that's got to go, your tribal loyalty has to be subordinated to the Truth. And that's why one of the great things about Ertuġrul is that you see again, and again, the people who are not true to the tribe, are the ones who are taking Islam the least seriously as well. So tribalism clearly goes hand in hand in its negative sense, with a lack of piety, but when tribalism is allied to religion, then you get proper group spirit cohesiveness, and this is what the Ottoman Empire was based on. Group spirit that the—the janissaries for example, the backbone of the Ottoman Empire, the janissaries, were fiercely loyal to each other, they were all nearly all members of the Bektashi order, which goes back to Ḥāji Bektash in the 13th century, which in turn goes back to ʾImam Mūsa ul Khāẓim, the seventh Šhʿiite Imam, who plays a very important role in the articulation, the later articulation of this beautiful synthesis between Twelve Imam Šhʿiism and the cultural form that Islam took in the Ottoman Empire, all over the Ottoman Empire, you see this devotion to the 12, quote, Šhʿiite Imams, but they're not called Šhʿiites. They're just The Twelve Imams. They are the اهل البيت (ʾAhl al-Bayt). So you see, this very strongly emphasized both in Ertuġrul, the love of the ʾAhl al-Bayt, particularly ʾImam ʿAlī as when it comes to in response to your question in a minute.
Dr Kazemi
But also in the other program, the other series called Yūnus Emre, which has The Twelve Imams, and ʾImam ʿAlī in particular, again, running right the way through those series. So, that's how I would respond to the argument that this is somehow some nationalistic thing. It's not, it's about religion, it's about tribal and family cohesiveness within the framework defined by religion, and it's all about character development. So I just want to mention this one point about the tolerance of the Ottoman Empire, which streams forth from as it were, from the dream that ʿOsmān had, according to certain historical sources that ʿOsmān dreamt one night at the house of a Sufi, a Bāba, that a tree sprouted from his chest, and came all the way up, and that its shade went all the way from ِِِEast to West. And he told the Bāba this dream and the Bāba said this means that from your loins will spring an empire that will bring the shade of justice and peace and order to the whole world, East and West. And that's what happened, now this peace and justice and order that characterize the Ottoman Empire, more or less for over 500 years, that's a massive, massively important historical fact for the record, that for over 500 years, this multi-ethnic, multi-religious community functions so well, that, according to John Locke, the great founding father of liberal philosophy, in the West, he wrote his famous letter concerning toleration, in 1648, or something like that. And in that letter that he addressed to the princes of his time, remember, this is immediately after the 30 year war, that devastated Central Europe. Totally devastated it, it was Protestant, not just Protestant versus Catholic, but also Protestants against fellow Protestants, Catholics against Catholics, they're all fighting it out. And in certain parts of Germany, one in three people were killed. That was the mortality rate, one in every three people lost their lives, in certain parts of Germany, the Germanic principalities. So Locke wrote this letter as a kind of plea to the princes of his time to say, look, we have got to tolerate each other, we've got to tolerate our religious differences. Do you not think he said in his letter, this is not verbatim it's as I remember it, do you not think, he asks his princes, that the Turk will be laughing at us, when he sees us, savagely killing each other over our religion, and in his capital, of Constantinople, in his capital, it's possible for a Protestant or a Catholic or an Armenian, to build their church without any problems? Whereas we can't do the same in Europe. We will not tolerate each other's minor differences in religious faith in religious creed. But in Ottoman Turkey, under the—the Saracens, the Turks, the barbarians, we're all free to practice our religion. Do you not think the Turk will laugh at us? This was how John Locke put across the idea the necessity of tolerance by using the ultimate counter-example.
Saqib
That's wonderful Dr. Reza and I'm sure we'll continue more discussions of particular scenes from Ertuġrul and evaluate them on on all sorts of levels. But the one thing that I need to ask, absolutely essential is the role of Ibn ʿArabi. How he, how, what you think of his portrayal in the series and his significance with Ertuġrul.
Dr Kazemi
So in answer to your question about Ibn ʿArabi, it is, there's one episode in I think it's—it's in the second or the third season, when Ertuġrul is at a low ebb, and he sees that he's in terrible trouble, and he's depressed basically. And Ibn ʿArabi says to him: You are being tested. Look at the clothes that you're wearing and look at your sword. You've got leather. How do you think that leather came to be pliable enough for you to use as clothing? How do you think your sword—this goes back to what we were talking about—how do you think your sword was knocked into shape? Through repeated beatings, repeated beatings, and then it became pliable, then it becomes as Ertuġrul himself said, even the sword submits after sufficient ḏhikr and beating. So Ibn ʿArabi is kind of reminding us of what Ertuġrul said at the very beginning, by talking to him about his leather clothes and his steel sword. So he said, that's how—that's what's happening to you Ertuġrul, you are being tested, you are being beaten, you are being beaten into shape. Then Ertuġrul says, but all right that's me. But why my family, my friends, why are they going through such difficulties all because of me, my tribe. He says, Ibn ʿArabi says that existence is a maktab, it's a school. Existence as a matter of, I heard the Turkish, you know, I have to depend on the translation, ofcourse, but I heard the word maktab. So he's saying existence is a school. Everyone is a student, ṭalabeh, I heard that as well. Everyone is a student seeking from this school of existence. God is the only teacher, is what Ibn ʿArabi is saying to him. Existence is a school. Everybody is a student. God is the only teacher. God manifests His Names and His Qualities and تجلّی (tajallī), I also heard this word. That tajallī is one of the core concepts in Ibn ʿArabi's whole conceptual schema, and it's probably the central one. That there's nothing in existence that is not a manifestation. Now tajallī doesn't just mean manifestation. It means a self-revelation, a self-disclosure. So that it's not as if I produce for you something that I'm hiding under my robe and say, this is the pen. It's actually the equivalent of God disrobing himself and saying, well this is me, it's myself manifestation. But how do I manifest myself? Not through my Essence, which is impossible, but through my Names and Qualities, so that every single thing in existence is a tajallī, a self-revelation of the one and only reality of God. So he uses that, he says, God manifests His Names and Qualities through tajallī. And He puts all of us to the test. The word use here again, I heard it in the Turkish same in Persian and Arabic, امتحان (ʾimteḥān).
Dr Kazemi
You're, we're, all being put to the test. And there will be a combination of قهر (qahr) and لطف (lutf). Qahr is All-Crushing, All-Conquering Power. And Lutf is All-Loving Gentleness, the subtlety, the infinite subtlety of that love, which penetrates every single thing, but sometimes the manifestation of Qahr outweighs that of Lutf, as Ibn ʿArabi is saying here. That sometimes these manifestations of God will be according to His All-Crushing Power. And other times is All-Embracing Mercy. Whether qahr or lutf, whether it's رحمه (raḥma) he says or بلاء (balaʾ), it can be compassion and mercy, or it can be severe trial and testing. But all of them he says, there's the core of the teaching of the scene, all of these things are from Him. Everyone lives according to this test that God puts that individual through; every single one of us is going through this, this test all comes from Him. How do we pass the test? Ibn ʿArabi asks. He answers the question: by submitting to God. Exactly what Ertuġrul has said in the beginning of the series, that this sword, even the sword has to submit to the irresistible power of the invocation. So we pass our test by submitting to God, whether the manifestations around us and within us are dominated by His crushing power, or by his uplifting love, we have to submit to that test and then submit to Him and in submitting to Him, we pass the test. So everyone lives their own test. Then, once you've passed the test, he says, and you have submitted to God completely, then you will become Ertuġrul—he's now speaking to Ertuġrul directly, you will become the greatest warrior, the greatest hero, because submission implies the most sublime heroism. Once you have really submitted then your heroism is at the highest pitch of its possibility. With the depth of your submission goes the height of your heroism. That's what Ibn ʾArabi is implying. Then he also says that submission implies helping your brother, being good to other people, but always without forgetting God. And that's the element of ḏhikr that comes in at the end of this discourse that he has with Ertuġrul this very important point that goes right back to ḏhikr that all of this is possible. The submission, this elevation through submission, this heroism that will be given to you as a gift; and you must help your brother, but you must never forget God. So in all of your outward activities, however much you're dominated by your duty to do good to others, it will only have complete value if you're doing it in the remembrance of God. And then it will transform your virtuous action into a mode of spiritual elevation.
Saqib
Dr. Reza, can I, if possible, just ask one last question before we close our session today, given it's the closing, you started our session with reciting a particular passage of the Qurʾān. Could you just say why you chose that passage? And if it has any significance to our discussion today.
Dr Kazemi
Right, well, you see, yes, I recited the سورة الفاتحة (Surah al Fātiḥa), which is The Opening. And this Fātiḥa, this فتح (fatḥ) notion, is also very much in evidence in سورة الفتح (the Surah al Fatḥ). And it's those opening verses of the Surah al Fatiḥ, Surah of The Victory, (Surah of) The Opening. And remember that fatḥ is the singular of, of actually it's فتوح (futūḥ) is the singular and فتحات (futūḥat) is the plural. So fatḥ means a mystical opening, but it also means an outward military conquest. So the two things go hand in hand in the what's called the greater jihād, the جهاد الاكبر (jihād al-ʾakbar), the struggle against one's own soul, what we were talking about earlier, the nafs al-lawāmma, beating into shape the nafs al-ammārah.
Dr Kazemi
And, so I recited those verses, partly because it's a continuation of the idea of The Fātiḥa, The Opening, that which opens the way and but also because in the series of Ertuġrul, it comes in at least two places. And I hasten to add, I haven't seen anywhere near all of the episodes, I've only watched some of the first season and some of the second. I hope to watch as many as I can. But I've noticed that Ibn ʿArabi is reciting these verses in a dream, which Ertuġrul has in one place when he's, he's just as that he is again at the very low ebb, and he, he does his prayers, he does the ṣalāt. And then, after doing the ṣalāt, he goes into a form of ḏhikr, which is if I remember rightly, Ya Allāhu, Ya Raḥmān(u), Ya Raḥīm, Ya Kāf(i), no, Ya Shāfi, Ya Hādi. يا رحمان، يا رحيم، يا شافي، يا هادي (Ya Raḥmān, Ya Raḥīm, Ya Shāfi, Ya Hādi). And he's repeating this as a ḍhikr. And then he goes into the dream world. And he has a True Vision, a رقية (ruqyah). And in that vision, he's on a horse, white horse riding through the forest and he then hears, in Turkish, the translation of
إِنَّا فَتَحْنَا لَكَ فَتْحًا مُبِينًا * لِيَغْفِرَ لَكَ اللَّهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبِكَ وَمَا تَأَخَّرَ وَيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكَ وَيَهْدِيَكَ صِرَاطًا مُسْتَقِيمًا * وَيَنْصُرَكَ اللَّهُ نَصْرًا عَزِيزًا * هُوَ الَّذِي أَنْزَلَ السَّكِينَةَ فِي قُلُوبِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ لِيَزْدَادُوا إِيمَانًا مَعَ إِيمَانِهِمْ (القرآن الكريم، ٤-١: ٤٨)
ʾInnā Fataḥnā Laka Fatḥāan Mubīnā(an), LLiyaghfira Laka llāhu Mā Taqaddama Min Ḏhanbika Wa Mā Taʾakhkhara Wa Yutimma Niʿmatahu ʿAlayka Wa Yahdiyaka Ṣirāṭāan Mustaqīmā(an), Wa Yanṣuraka llāhu Naṣrāan ʿAzīzā(an), Huwa l-Laḏhī ʾAnzala s-Sakīnata Fī Qulūbi l-Muʾuminīna Liyazdādū ʾĪmānāan Maʿa ʾĪmānihim (48:1-4).
And it actually goes on. But this is all in Turkish translation. And he hears this voice resounding in the forest. And his horse rears up. And Ertuġrul is wondering where is this voice coming from, and then he sees Ibn ʿArabi. He joins him, they sit by the fire, and then Ibn ʿArabi gives him some wonderful spiritual advice. And then the other place that I remember this passage coming is when it's recited in Arabic. And it's the very last thing that you hear, virtually the last thing you hear, the very last episode of the last season. And it's beautifully recited in Arabic. And it’s as if this is the way open now; it's the end of this series, but the next episode in the story is the founding of the Ottoman Empire, the Great Fatḥ, the Conquest, both outward and inward. That's the implication. So that's the reason why I recited those verses.
Saqib
Dr. Reza, thank you. It's been an absolute pleasure and honor to have you and inshaʾllāh we look forward to more of these discussions in the coming future.