Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “Modernism reduces people to a person who is focused on the nafs”
President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan was the guest of the monthly event organized by Ankara Culture and Education Foundation (AKEV). In the program titled "The Psychology of Nafs (self) and Sin", Tarhan said that modernism has reduced human beings to a person who is focused on the nafs at the moment, and pointed out that the nafs has no power of sanction. Stating that the nafs is one of the emotions that activate people, Tarhan pointed out that the nafs does not have the power of sanction, but only the feature of direction, misgiving, that is, advice, suggestion.
In the online program, President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan made remarkable shares about the nafs and sin in the meeting titled "Psychology of Nafs and Sin".
If there is a discipline of will, it is also the discipline for the nafs...
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan pointed out that the decision-making mechanism of the brain is referred to as the training of the will in both the Qur'an and Islamic morality and stated that "A person needs a castle to take refuge in after doing their best. That refuge is the Sunnah of the Prophet. Sunnah, in other words, what our guide teaches. I want to connect it a little bit with psychology to understand this. What is nafs? What is the devil? How does the person who does everything the nafs says and goes entirely after the desires of the nafs act? Before describing the nafs, it is necessary to analyze the will to see how some people are the characteristics of the person who fits the ego. What is the concept of willpower? We decide, or the most researched topic in psychology right now is, 'How do we decide?' Those who did the research on this received the Nobel Prize. How does one decide? It is such a great experiment and research area."
Stating that the word will was defined as a fuzzy concept in the books they study during their student years, Tarhan emphasized that the word ‘will’ was taught as a concept that psychology was not very interested in and that was outside the field of interest of psychology. Tarhan made the following remarks: "However, it is now understood that the decision-making mechanism of the human brain is ours, that is, in the Qur'an and in Islamic morality, it is referred to as the training of the will. In other words, if there is a discipline of will, there is a discipline of nafs. If there is no discipline of will, you ride on the horse of the nafs. You ride on the devil's horse. So, how do we decide on the word will here? You need to know it well. For this reason, being conscious comes as the first step. Our consciousness notices because there is not only one thing in man. A person does not just have a life. Not only has a soul, but man has consciousness."
"The nafs only has the power to direct, not the power to enforce"
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan, who mentioned that the nafs is like an engine, that is, like an energy source, mentioned that the nafs is only a feature of direction, that is, advice, suggestion. Tarhan stated that "One of the emotions that moves a person is the nafs. Eating, drinking, producing, as well as loving life, these are the motivations of the nafs. It is exquisite motivation. The desire to live, for example, is a desire that activates the human nafs. Thus, what is the role of the devil here? The devil has no power of sanction. The devil is not benevolent, but an evil being. Therefore, it has a duty to mislead man. Something comes to mind all the time. For example, the devil leads the nafs to do evil. Nafs is like an engine. The motor is like a source of energy. It directs people towards their nafs, directs their thoughts. The soul only has the property of directing, that is, advice, suggestion. There is no power of sanction.” Our will has six devices, one of which is conscience, Tarhan said that "Conscience teaches us what to do and not to do, what is good and what is bad. The devil leads to the nafs; however, conscience leads us to the soul. The soul also connects man to a connection to God. The program of the soul is like a computer program. We are in touch with a small part of them, but when you lead them to it, you are connected to the truth here."
Modernism reduces a human being to a person with a focus on the soul
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan underlined that modernism currently reduces human beings to only eating, drinking and reproducing. Tarhan said that "To be interested in the meaning dimension, to enjoy it and to activate oneself in that way are s a high feeling and a human characteristic. Now, modernism took this quality from human beings. It reduced man to just eating, drinking and reproducing. It returns to the era of ignorance. Modernism now reduces man to a person focused on the nafs. What is exquisite focused? It is to eat, to drink and to reproduce. In psychology, it is called Maslow's pyramid of psychosocial needs. At the lowest base of that pyramid, there are eating, drinking and reproducing. After that, there is trust, the need to trust. In other words, the need for shelter exists in other living things, it exists in human beings as well, but then there is social security. Physical trust exists in other living things, but social trust exists in human beings. The need to trust and be trusted, the need to love and be loved, the need to be valued. In the end, Maslow finishes this with the need for self-actualization. Beyond self-actualization, man also needs the search for meaning. The metacognitive genes are now being investigated. The search for meaning gene is being investigated. Tolstoy, for example says ‘I am looking for meaning that explains death.’ He cannot find it in Christianity, and he learns that it is in Islam."
The selfish person is destined to be alone anyway...
Pointing out that devil’s greatest weapon is arrogance, Tarhan stated that "The biggest reason for loneliness is the pursuit of pleasure alone and self-interest, being self-centered and thinking only of your own pleasures and think of your own interests. The selfish person is already destined to be alone. When alone people have power, when they have money, there are people around them; however, there are always different people. They turn around for power or for money. Such people are self-centered and narcissistic and see themselves as gods of the earth. The biggest organs of these people are their egos. The fate of these people is to be left alone because people love what they do. They do not like their personality. They are arrogant, they are snobbish, they always look down on others. They say, 'I am important, I am superior.' They make everyone lick their boots Al-Ghazali said, ‘If you put all the evil in a room, arrogance will open the door.’ Arrogance is indeed such a feeling that it is the greatest weapon of the devil, which feeds all evil. Jealousy, for example, is the devil's greatest weapon. It inflates the ego of man, praises it, glorifies it, inflates it, increases it, and then one starts to make compromises in order not to fall from there. He who makes compromises becomes a prisoner of the devil and evil.”
Our brain becomes the bridge between matter and meaning...
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan expressed that the brain is the intermediary organ between the world of matter and the world of meaning and said that "Our brain is the intermediary organ between the world of matter and the world of meaning. When we make decisions, our brain is like the electronic circuits in the computer, but our soul is like the program in the computer. If you take a program from a computer, not even a gram is not missing, and when a person dies, not even a gram does not decrease from their body, it is such a program, software. According to the arrangement of magnetic particles, the soul emerges. The soul program is circulating in our brains. That’s why, that the program of the soul is also part of the great meaning. Therefore, the soul is connected. Consciousness notices while the nafs wants. The devil directs the nafs; however, conscience directs the soul and helps the soul notice. The mind interprets, sets goals, and gives the command to act. The heart loves, and it makes you act. Our brain bridges between matter and meaning in such situations. The organ that decides is an organ called the mind. There is a mind above our brain. The mind is reserved for human beings, and there is no such organ as the mind in other living things."
Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)