Çilingir Sofrası 3 / Marifet ve İlim, İnci ve Mercan (with english subtitles)

0:01Pence-i Ali Aba can be seen in our own open hand, in Arabic letters.

0:06our open hand spells the word "Allah" in Arabic letters.

0:14The index finger is called "Shahadet Parmak" Don’t we call it that

0:18in our culture? This finger symbolizes Prophet Muhammed. Because he has brought the

0:24Light of Prophethood. Therefore we witness him.

0:28Next to him is his daughter Fatimatu Zehra and then there are Fatima’s sons

0:35Hz.Hasan and Hz.Hüseyin. Yes, but Here is

0:40someone who touches all of them, and that is Imam Ali symbolized by the thumb.

0:47That’s the Pence-i Ali Aba When we make a fist, it means Tevhid (unity)

0:52And the skin covering the hand is Salman al-Farisi See where symbols can take us?

0:58This, the fist symbolizes tevhid (unity) When we open our fist, it is tefrik (multiplicity)

1:03When it is Tevhid (unity) It is one Light, Divine Light and

1:09Denotes Beytullah Ehlibeyt (Prophet Muhammed and his family)

1:14If the Ali (the thumb) is not there, you cannot hold anything, you cannot pick anything.

1:19That’s the finger that builds all civilization.

1:25I remember hearing that The little finger is Hz. Huseyin.

1:29Because he was beheaded. And that’s why That finger is short.

1:35Sure, these are all stories.

1:39But they don’t Change the essence

1:45What I have been talking about earlier is the essence Ihlas (sincerity) and Islam (Submission) constitute the essence

1:51I am thinking that these are all related to the importance of the body. To be able to find in ourselves,

1:59in our body all aspects Of the spiritual journey (seyri suluk)

2:05Yes, exactly. Isn’t that true That we behold the symbolism

2:11Of the Ehlibeyt In our own hands

2:16That means to find them Inside our own selves, your own bodies

2:23And when you find them, To be certain of it,

2:28And to act them out, to manifest them in our actions. Yes, of course. Look, for example, in the past

2:33No one used prayer beads (tesbih). It came to us from India.

2:41I remember my parents and grandparents never used them.

2:44Instead they did zikr with their fingers. Because that served a different purpose, that is massage.

2:52In fact, the human hand represents the whole body.

2:58When they are stimulated, they activate certain organs, And they are therapeutic.

3:02They are acupuncture points. People in the Far East know this well. But it is so interesting

3:07There are 14 joints in one hand and 14 in the other, adding to 28. And the Qur’an is based on 28 letters.

3:15The more we open up a path, the more it gives birth to new inspirations.

3:22But our listeners might wonder

3:24What we are talking about, what this all means.

3:31They might be looking for a rational method or a doctrine. What we are enjoying here,

3:37This is what the people of marifet (direct perception, understanding) enjoy. We are not

3:43Trying to prove anything. When somebody becomes assertive

3:49People of marifet remain silent and say: "you are right too."

3:56Nasreddin Hodja has the best story about this.

4:01One day, Nasreddin Hodja is the judge at a hearing, and

4:05one person is accusing the other And the other is defending himself

4:10The hodja listens to the one who accuses the other and says to him: "you are right" Then the defendant speaks up and the hodja turns to him says

4:16"Allah Allah, You are right too!"

4:22Hodja’s wife says: why don’t you decide who is right?

4:27He turns to her says: "You are right too!"

4:30Now, the people of Marifet know that Hak (Justice - Allah’s Divine Name)

4:39manifests everywhere and in everything. That is why they say “you are right’ to all.

4:46But also, of course, each person is liable to the other and that involves Shariat or Law.

4:53That’s where Justice and Laws are needed. People of Marifet see “Hak’ everywhere

5:01But people of Shariat refer to the word of God in passing judgment .

5:06I am sorry but, could you please define ‘Marifet’?

5:12Those who are listening to us might wonder what we mean by ‘Marifet’.

5:18Now, when we say ‘Ilim”, we are talking about experiment or practice, as well as knowledge.

5:33In Ilim there are three things: Knowledge itself, the knower

5:40And the known.

5:44So When we say ‘Ilim’, it has an object,

5:54There is a ‘knower’, there is a method. Here, the knowledge that is derived is objective

6:00Knowledge, or rational knowledge, The knowledge of reality.

6:08On the other hand, we speak of ‘Marifet’. We should show the difference between

6:14‘Ilim’ and ‘Marifet’.

6:19Otherwise, it is not possible to explain the difference between them.

6:25Now we know what ‘Ilim is’. People of Marifet,

6:31people of Marifet are different in that they are concerned with human beings and they focus

6:36On the reasons, the excuses a person might have in evaluating him or her. They want to know their reasons for their behavior.

6:42Alim (a person of objective knowledge) doesn’t pay attention to the reasons, but focuses only on the action, the activity itself.

6:47He or she is not concerned with reasons. But is there to make sure that a person receives commensurate punishment for his/her action.

6:53People of marifet want to know why people act in a particular way.

6:59Did they have a problem in their childhood? What are their feelings right now?

7:03They are concerned with such questions and are like a mother who caresses her child. So let's think of them like a mother.

7:09Whereas the people of objective knowledge are like a father.

7:13Now you know there are several aspects to the concept of Marifet.

7:24So to understand Marifet, we need to bring them together. ‘Marifet’ needs to be investigated carefully.

7:29Here is something interesting.

7:34‘Marife’ means to know. But to know in the sense of ‘to understand’, To recognize.

7:41To recognize. You get to know a person,

7:44But to recognize him/her is a different thing. You may know a person using ‘Ilim’

7:49But you ‘recognize’ a person using ‘Marifet’ That means, you know that person’s spiritual state, the love, the affection, you are a friend of that person.

7:57But how can you objectively define love?

8:03Can you say I love someone so many kilos? Ilim is about measuring. But how can you measure love?

8:18- So there is no duality here. - Right, you can’t measure and therefore you move to ‘Marifet’.

8:24Both Marifet and Ilim involves knowing but marifet involves knowing through experience,

8:35whereas Ilim is about knowing through experimentation.

8:51Plato calls knowing through experience Phronesis,

8:56To become a master in a particular topic or area. You work hard and become a master.

9:02When people reach that state, they may be called "People of Marifet."

9:06There is also ‘Marifetullah’ There is ‘marifetullah’ in the nafsi mutmain (satisfied self)

9:16What does this mean? To be a a master in your area. Now we turn to Serhan who is a master in his field.

9:22So let’s see what he might say about ‘Pearls and Corals”

9:26He must have something to say. Let us see.

9:30As we had discussed earlier

9:34Hz. Hasan and Hz. Huseyin symbolized the pearl and coral. Here is a ‘dogus" (a divinely inspired song) composed by

9:43Teslim Abdal.

9:46Here it is.

10:05Serhan Yasdıman is performing a "Doğuş" from Teslim Abdal.

12:06Marifet is so beautiful.

12:15Teslim Abdal’s words really affected us. Check out his words.

12:20See, he doesn’t oblige us to do a huge amount of work. He just says, just feed someone hungry, or clothe someone who is naked, that’s all.

12:28This is real stuff, it is not to show off. For the people Marifet.

12:37It is very important to be sincere and to be against hypocrisy, Not to show off,

12:43But to do it for God’s sake. If you do something to show off to others,

12:50Then we know that self-interest is involved. You know this story, a man

12:58On the spiritual journey (seyri suluk) Begins to wonder at some stage of the journey,

13:07whether his activities, his worship, his work

13:15Were accepted by God. Or approved by God.

13:20He is curious So one day, after prayers, he sits down

13:25And starts to contemplate.

13:29All of a sudden, the curtain lifts

13:33And an angel appears. The angels signals ‘no’

13:41In other words, signals that his activities were not accepted.

13:48He immediately starts to cry

13:51And says, that he had read a hadith (Revelations to the Prophet)

13:55That if he provided a benefit to others, made a donation for every year,

14:00that he would be accepted by God. And he did that. How come, is this Hadith not true?

14:14He cries out, but the curtain has already closed.

14:19He becomes very sad and cries and cries Some time passes

14:25And

14:28He again requests an answer to his question and starts to contemplate. The curtain lifts and

14:35the same angel appears in the shape of a man.

14:39Just like how Gabriel appeared to the Prophet.

14:45Because spiritual beings can only be seen when they take a shape.

14:51So he sees the angel appearing in the shape of a man

14:58And this time the angel nods "yes"

15:01He says, stop, stop Just a few days ago you said, my activities were not approved

15:07And you signaled no. Since then I haven’t done

15:11anything new, anything different. What changed? Why am I accepted now?

15:18The angel starts to talk. He says, yes, the hadith is true

15:22If we do something that benefits others every year, God will accept us, it is true.

15:27But He didn’t accept yours. Because you put your name on every

15:34thing that you did or built. You were advertising yourself.

15:38You built a hospital and put your name on it. You built a fountain and put your name on it.

15:42You did this, you did that, And always put your name there.

15:48You didn’t do it for God but for your own nafs. That’s why you weren’t approved.

15:53Because you already got what you asked. Okay, but I haven’t done anything new.

15:58How come I am now approved by God?

16:04The angel says, yesterday You went by the river in a worried, sad state

16:09to do your ablutions for the morning prayer Yes, that’s true.

16:15You saw an ant on a leaf

16:24And you were worried that the ant might Fall in the river and drawn.

16:28You tried to rescue it But the river pushed it further away.

16:33You tried to retrieve it with your foot You don’t know how to swim so you were almost drowning.

16:41But finally you picked the ant up and put it on the ground. Yes, right.

16:48You were still going to write your name on the ant But it was too small so you couldn’t do it.

16:52That’s why you are now approved.

17:00What is this, this is Ihsan! Is it sincerity? No, this is Ihsan

17:06Yes, He was going to write his name on Every activity. But he had good intentions, and his work still benefited others.

17:13In return, God allowed him to do good By another, where he couldn’t write his name.

17:18Because he couldn’t write his name on the ant, he was approved.

17:25We call this Ihsan. We need to put out an effort. Without an effort, nothing is possible,

17:30but we are not owed anything because we are making an effort. But the good intentions in our effort, in our work will return to us as Ihsan.

17:37translated by Prof.Dr. Nükhet Kardam