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When bad things give way to good ones
by Kerim Balci
Today's Zaman
January 27, 2007
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/yazarDetay .do?haberno=3D101176
Turkish Muslim tradition abounds in stories with no historical
credibility but with fine morals to be learned. This one I love the
most. It happens that Omar, the second caliph, was sleeping in his bed
and was awakened by a foreigner shaking him awake. Omar was shocked to
see a stranger by his bedside calling him to wake up for the morning
prayer. "Who are you, in my bedroom?" asked Omar. "I am
Satan,"replied the stranger. "Why on earth Satan would wake me up for
the morning prayer?" Omar asked with skepticism. Satan explained:
"Yesterday you couldn't wake up for the morning prayer. But then, all
day long, you cried so sincerely and repented with such a broken heart
that I realized your penitence was more valuable to Allah than your
morning prayer. So, I didn't want you to miss one more morning prayer,
and cry and repent again." The moral of this story overlaps with the
Muslim belief that good things may stem from things we think to be
evil.
Turkey was shaken by the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink.
But an instantaneous outcry came from the souls of the nation
condemning the murder, condoling the family of Dink and his
co-patriots, sharing their sympathies with the minorities of this
country, to a point that one is tempted to say Dink's death served to
the betterment of Turkish-Armenian relations more than his life. This
is not naïve optimism about the future of relations, neither a hidden
nationalism trying to praise the Turkish public's response to the
murder while belittling the fact that Dink was slain at the hands of a
Turkish national. This is a realistic appraisal of the situation:
Turkish-Armenian relations will never be the same, and Hrant Dink's
death is going to start a new era not only in state level relations
but also at the level of interpersonal perceptions.
As I started with a parable, let me finish with another: Once a
caravan traveling through the deserts of Arabia came upon a lonely old
man left todie in the fierce conditions. The chieftain of the caravan
pitied the old man and took him into his caravan, giving the poor man
a camel to ride. Days passed and a group of robbers accosted the
caravan and took whatever valuables they had. Before leaving, the head
of the robbers asked if they had left anything behind. The old man
said something rather strange and told the robbers that the chieftain
of the caravan had a silk shirt under his coat. The robbers took that
shirt also. The chieftain was furious with the old man, who had
replied to his generosity with such treason. Eventually the caravan
reached a cityand heard at the gates of the city that some robbers
were caught, if they were one of those caravans robbed then they
should go and reclaim their affairs from the police. Upon hearing
this, the chieftain asked the old man the reason for his treason. The
wise man replied: "Son, the eyes of my heart are open. I realized that
these robbers had done so many bad things and aroused the anger of
Allah that, they only needed to rob only an extra silk shirt to be
punished by God. So I let them steal that extra shirt..."
Hrant Dink was that extra shirt. Hopefully the last "robbed" life to
arouse enough awareness and willingness to further democratize this
country, to fight ultra-nationalism, xenophobia, Turkish and Armenian
fascism, and allkinds of 'otherification' attempts imposed upon the
minorities...
27.01.2007
_k.balci@todayszaman .com_ (mailto:[email protected])
by Kerim Balci
Today's Zaman
January 27, 2007
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/yazarDetay .do?haberno=3D101176
Turkish Muslim tradition abounds in stories with no historical
credibility but with fine morals to be learned. This one I love the
most. It happens that Omar, the second caliph, was sleeping in his bed
and was awakened by a foreigner shaking him awake. Omar was shocked to
see a stranger by his bedside calling him to wake up for the morning
prayer. "Who are you, in my bedroom?" asked Omar. "I am
Satan,"replied the stranger. "Why on earth Satan would wake me up for
the morning prayer?" Omar asked with skepticism. Satan explained:
"Yesterday you couldn't wake up for the morning prayer. But then, all
day long, you cried so sincerely and repented with such a broken heart
that I realized your penitence was more valuable to Allah than your
morning prayer. So, I didn't want you to miss one more morning prayer,
and cry and repent again." The moral of this story overlaps with the
Muslim belief that good things may stem from things we think to be
evil.
Turkey was shaken by the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink.
But an instantaneous outcry came from the souls of the nation
condemning the murder, condoling the family of Dink and his
co-patriots, sharing their sympathies with the minorities of this
country, to a point that one is tempted to say Dink's death served to
the betterment of Turkish-Armenian relations more than his life. This
is not naïve optimism about the future of relations, neither a hidden
nationalism trying to praise the Turkish public's response to the
murder while belittling the fact that Dink was slain at the hands of a
Turkish national. This is a realistic appraisal of the situation:
Turkish-Armenian relations will never be the same, and Hrant Dink's
death is going to start a new era not only in state level relations
but also at the level of interpersonal perceptions.
As I started with a parable, let me finish with another: Once a
caravan traveling through the deserts of Arabia came upon a lonely old
man left todie in the fierce conditions. The chieftain of the caravan
pitied the old man and took him into his caravan, giving the poor man
a camel to ride. Days passed and a group of robbers accosted the
caravan and took whatever valuables they had. Before leaving, the head
of the robbers asked if they had left anything behind. The old man
said something rather strange and told the robbers that the chieftain
of the caravan had a silk shirt under his coat. The robbers took that
shirt also. The chieftain was furious with the old man, who had
replied to his generosity with such treason. Eventually the caravan
reached a cityand heard at the gates of the city that some robbers
were caught, if they were one of those caravans robbed then they
should go and reclaim their affairs from the police. Upon hearing
this, the chieftain asked the old man the reason for his treason. The
wise man replied: "Son, the eyes of my heart are open. I realized that
these robbers had done so many bad things and aroused the anger of
Allah that, they only needed to rob only an extra silk shirt to be
punished by God. So I let them steal that extra shirt..."
Hrant Dink was that extra shirt. Hopefully the last "robbed" life to
arouse enough awareness and willingness to further democratize this
country, to fight ultra-nationalism, xenophobia, Turkish and Armenian
fascism, and allkinds of 'otherification' attempts imposed upon the
minorities...
27.01.2007
_k.balci@todayszaman .com_ (mailto:[email protected])