It has always caught my attention… There is a sign at the entrances of Sufist educational institutions, or somewhere visible, written “Edep Ya Hu!”, which means “O Allah (swt), provide us with decency! ” On some signs, this phrase is written in Arabic script in Islamic calligraphy. What does “edep” (decency) mean? Why do Sufis attach special importance to decency? Why is so much emphasis placed on decency?
Yes, “edep” (decency or manners) means a lot to a person… “Decency” is a term that defines all the divine virtues that make man a mature human being. Decency purifies the human soul from bad behaviors that are even worse than animal behaviors. Decency is the beauty of behavior and the harmony of the “heart and behavior” of the perfect human being. It is the exaltation of morality. It is the state of the human being who has reached the fifth dimension by undergoing divine training.
Edep (decency) is a personality condition that arises from the passage of the human being through the training of Allah (swt), by acquiring the morality of Him and His distinguished messengers. The difference between people with and without decency is the difference between a mature person and a crude and coarse person. Decency transforms an unkind, greedy, greedy, selfish, harsh and rude, impatient and unreliable person, always in a hurry and anxious to continually pursue the desires of his ego, into a resigned, mature, supportive, generous, fair person, benevolent, patient, calm, serious, frank and pleasant person, who is not in a hurry and anxiety in his work. In short, a person with edep is the “real human being”. That person is the caliph of Allah (swt) on earth.
# Decency begins with obedience
Dear readers, decency begins with obedience. Obedience is a state of submission and surrender. Obedience is submitting to the wishes of others, acting according to their wishes and orders, submitting and submitting to them.
I am sure that as soon as you have read these lines a reaction has arisen in you. I am sure that you have begun to experience in your souls the spiritual difficulties that you will face when acting according to the wishes and orders of others. Imagining the things that annoy people in the real world will also be annoying when you imagine. In fact, the most difficult thing for a human being with personality to bear is being subject to other human beings. Because having a personality means, in a sense, having an opinion and a will, acting according to one’s own desires and being one’s own master. On the other hand, when you depend on others, you can feel humiliated, low and hurt in your personality. Therefore, many crude people get in a bad mood when they cannot do what they want and have to act according to the wishes of others. I said it in one of my previous articles that a good person and a bad person can be distinguished when that person’s wishes are not fulfilled. Many people are quite fine as long as you comply with their wishes, but once you disobey, they immediately take offense, they get angry with you, they start to look at you with the evil eye. They may even develop a grudge against you; they hate you and use abusive language. The reason for all this is the injury to the personality and the prohibition or limitation of owning oneself.
Dear readers; This damage to the personality, prohibiting and limiting one’s own independence, constitutes the essence of the training of the nafs (ego). The nafs-training is an education of the personality. More clearly, by removing the human personality that entices a person to do whatever he wants and to be his own master, which makes him commit all those inappropriate acts, and replacing it with a divine personality that is subject to the will of Allah (swt). . Only after that a person can become a mature person.
# A self-ordered person is a raw human being
A self-ordered person whose demands were not limited in any way in the childhood period and whose full desires were always satisfied is a raw human being. They try to do whatever they want. They always want their wishes and demands to be fulfilled. They never think of others. They begin to mature only when their desires are restricted or when they are forced to obey the wishes and wills of others. In our country (Turkey), a person is not considered to be mature even after graduating from university if he has not completed his military service and is not yet married. Indeed, the maturing effects of these two institutions, military and marriage, on people cannot be denied. The most important reason is that people naturally learn to be subject to the wishes of others in these institutions.
Therefore, the basis of good child training is to teach the child decency, that is, refrain from acting according to one’s own wishes but taking into account the needs of others, teaching the child to share with others and act according to the wishes of others. from time to time.
# disappearing
Dear readers,
An intellectual person has different thoughts, desires and wills than others. A person has a unique “personality” by achieving these differences. However, this situation leads a person to be independent of others; subject to the servile desires of him and the desires cause him to have problems. Such an egotistical personality will be a misfortune both for the person and for the society in which he lives, if he does not go through divine training and acquire divine virtues. Look around you and try to remember the incidents that occur. Many sad events that shake societies are made by such selfish personalities. A human being can only save himself, in the fifth dimension, by leaving his selfish personality and attaining salvation by acquiring the new selfless personality proposed by Allah (swt). A human being who voluntarily renounces his opinion and will, and who makes his human personality ineffective in his behavior, is called one in the “Fena” (disappearance) position in Sufism. This is a spiritual fade.
Fena (to disappear) is to renounce one’s own wishes and desires, that is, one’s own personality (ego). After a person renounces his own desires, he assumes the personality of the person to whom he is subject; it unites his own personality with that person’s personality because the person is not acting according to his own personality and wishes, but according to the wishes of the person to whom he is subject. In Tasawwuf education, this is called the “Fena” (non-existence) stage.
# Three levels of the “Fena” stage
“Fena” The position has three levels before reaching a state of full maturity:
In the first level, the person has to obey the wishes of Murshid-I Kamil to whom he depends and surrenders. This is called “Fena fish-Sheyh” situation, which means to disappear in Murshid-I Kamil. Dervish Yunus has expressed this state, as “We become servants at the gate of Taptuk…” At this stage, a person tries to carry out all the demands of the Sufi thinker.
Second, the person has to be subject to the wishes of Rasulullah, which is called “Fena fir-Rasul” (disappear in Rasulullah). At this stage, a person considers the way Rasulullah had lived and his deeds as an example and tries to follow his wishes exactly and try not to deviate even one millimeter from Rasulullah’s wishes.
Thirdly, a person has to surrender to the propositions, wishes and commands of Allah (swt), and that stage is called “Fena fillah”, which means to disappear into Allah (swt). A person in this position tries to learn all the proposals, wishes, orders and prohibitions of Allah (swt) in every detail and to be subject to Allah (swt) and tries not to deviate even one millimeter from the wishes of Allah (swt). A person at this stage wants everything, says everything and does everything for the sake of Allah (swt).
# Complete surrender
Therefore, the behavior of the person who is in a state of total surrender to Allah (swt) becomes completely in accordance with the wishes of Allah (swt). After this level, all the wishes emanating from that humble servant become the wish of Allah (swt), all his gazes become gazes with the divine light of Allah (swt), all his actions become behavior which complies with the morality of Allah (swt) and his messengers. In other words, the virtues of Allah Almighty begin to emerge in that humble servant. Allah (swt) becomes the eye that he sees, the ears that hear of that servant. Allah Almighty has expressed this state in a holy hadith as follows:
“Among the things that bring My servant closer to Me, the ones I love the most are the things I have done fard. When My servant does the supererogatory ibadat, he gets so close to Me that I love him very much. When I love him, I become his ear that hears, in his eye that sees, in his hand and in his foot that walks. I give him everything he wants. When he calls on me for help, I rescue him immediately.” (Bukhari, Rikak, 38) [1]
Dear readers, a person endowed with this mercy of Allah (swt) now reaches the peak of decency and maturity. Obviously, such a state can be reached after very hard self-training with the help of Allah (swt) and not everyone can be endowed with it. May Allah (swt) make us one of the perfectly mature people whose life will end in this state. May Allah (swt) grant us the security of faith in our last breaths.
To be entrusted to Allah.
