Badges Come and Go, Morality Endures

Human beings are strange creatures…
They believe in an idea, then defend that idea; after a while, they start defending not the idea itself but its representatives. As a little more time passes, they end up protecting not the truth but their own community.
Perhaps this is why, in Turkey, people are not fighting one another, but rather the fears and anger they have created about one another.
A significant proportion of those who claim to be anti-Kemalist are, in fact, not objecting to the Republic or the principle of secularism; rather, they are objecting to the mindset that, for a time, virtually sanctified secularism and turned it into a form of social engineering, viewing itself as superior to the people.
Some of those who keep their distance from Islam are not reacting against religion itself, but against the misguided representations that have stripped it of its moral and compassionate ethos, turning it into a tool for power, money and influence.
Meanwhile, some of those who call themselves nationalists may amplify their love for the nation through slogans, whilst neglecting justice, competence and trust.
Among those who speak of conservatism, there are those who are confused as to whether it is forms or values that should be preserved.
Just as there are those among those who speak of left-wing ideology who struggle to tolerate differing views whilst defending freedom, so too are there those among those who speak of right-wing ideology who push justice into the background whilst defending tradition.
In fact, people often object not to ideas themselves, but to the forms these ideas take when combined with arrogance.
For arrogance, whatever colour it is painted, remains the same arrogance.
Nurettin Topçu’s quest for morality and Sabahattin Ali’s emphasis on human conscience were not at odds with one another.
Cemil Meriç’s vision of civilisation and Âşık Veysel’s silent wisdom, expressed in the words ‘We are all children of this land’, were the voice of the same soil.
Socrates called upon people to come to terms with themselves.
Imam al-Ghazali stated that knowledge cannot save humanity unless it is crowned with morality.
Confucius sought virtue within the individual before seeking it in states.
Mevlânâ explained that the essence within a person radiates outwards.
Yunus Emre regarded cultivating a kind heart as superior to a thousand words.
Marcus Aurelius, despite being one of the world’s most powerful men, reminded himself of death every day.
Karl Marx opposed the devaluation of human beings through exploitation.
Adam Smith, on the other hand, believed that labour and production would enrich societies.
They followed different paths.
Yet the destination they all sought was the human being.
Perhaps the issue was never one of right-wing versus left-wing, progressive versus reactionary, secular versus religious, or nationalist versus conservative.
The real issue was morality.
For when morality is set aside;
Secularism can turn into oppression.
Religiosity into ostentation…
Nationalism into jingoism…
Conservatism into formalism…
Freedom into irresponsibility…
And equality can turn into new forms of inequality.
Ibn Khaldun states that it is justice, not power, that sustains states.
Al-Farabi explains that cities founded by people lacking virtue will not endure.
Nurettin Topçu, for his part, asserts that a nation’s true rise begins not with the economy but with morality.
Perhaps the whole matter is hidden in a single question:
Do you change when power comes into your hands?
When it comes to justice, can you apply the same standards to your own neighbourhood?
Can you remain honest even where no one is watching?
For when the command of God is fulfilled;
No titles will remain with us…
No applause…
No badges…
No slogans…
Neither the right will remain,
Nor the left…
Neither those ‘of us’,
Nor the ‘others’…
In a handful of earth, all that will remain beside a person are their deeds, their conscience and their morality.
Perhaps that is why;
Truth is not the exclusive property of any ideology.
And what elevates a person is not the label they bear, but the morality they uphold.