Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: "Ramadan is a kind of self-calibration"

President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan underlined that Ramadan is a great time for the maturation of the soul, and noted that the reason that there is no great destruction in our culture is Ramadan although the anti-religious movements in the world have affected also Anatolia. Tarhan said, "The gatherings in Ramadan, Ramadan and Eid continued when there was not even sacred Friday. This has provided the cultural transfer, however, there is a risk now, that is, the globalization of the media has taken the transfer of culture from the hands of the family and given it to social media.".

President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan was the live broadcast guest of the program titled Sahur Bereketi with Dursun Ali Erzincanlı, which is broadcasted on TRT1. Tarhan made his remarks on 'Ramadan and Our Spirit World'.

"A human being needs a mental refuge"

Highlighting that people need a mental shelter, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said that "In an earthquake, in a pandemic, there are things that one can control and also there are things that cannot be controlled. There are things you can endure and there are things that your strength might not be enough. In such cases, man needs a mental refuge. Religion provides it, but it must be a religion that fits our mathematical minds. That religion is already the religion of monotheism. Therefore, a person feels peace and tranquility in such situations if there is such an understanding of religion and it is almost like to receive an advance payment given in this world. Thus, Ramadan is a very important month to reinforce this. A person who has a question mark in their mind about faith cannot focus on worship anyway. Just as one wants to improve in mathematics before focusing on mathematics, one must first know the multiplication table. A person who does not know it cannot explain high mathematics. After eliminating the questions in one's mind about the existence and unity of Allah, one begins to enjoy the prayers, and even when reading the Holy Qur’an, they will think as ‘What message does the creator of that universe give me?’. Thus, Ramadan is a kind of break in our lives. The phrase we recommend in mental health is to declare such a moratorium. A person abandons the routine work they did at a certain time in their life, and even this is called as a rule in innovation. If a person works for ten hours, let's say, one needs to think about working for an hour and a half in order to think about what they work for, to have a high level of interpretation. When a person does this, they do things they perform better and, in a way, they renew themselves, purify themselves.".

"It took the cultural transfer from the hands of the family and gave it to social media"

Prof. Nevzat Tarhan expressed that the culture of Ramadan has a risk of losing this climate after ten or twenty years. Tarhan said "As our master Sezai Karakoç said; ' Ramadan is a great time for the maturation of the soul.’. It has already been given to us in creation. There are so many anti-religious movements in the world. It affected us and Anatolia as well, however, despite of this, there was no great destruction. The reason for this is Ramadan in our culture. Those gatherings during Ramadan, Ramadan and Eid continued when there was not even a sacred Friday. This has done the cultural transfer. However, there is a risk now and that is, the globalization of the media. The globalization of social media took the transfer of culture from the hands of the family and gave it to social media. Maybe in ten or twenty years, we have a risk of losing the culture we have established, the culture of Ramadan, this climate, despite everything that has come. Therefore, we need to use social media and the Internet for this purpose.".

"There are deeds in this world but no accountability while there are no deeds but accountability after death"

Referring to the fact that accountability is a sense of responsibility towards Allah, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said "The exam in the world is not just today's exam but also it is a process, a journey. Life is a journey and, in this journey, we are given a discount like you know ones at the fair we are given a discount, or when selling books at the fair we are discounted when selling anything. Ramadan is also like this for spiritual trade, but it is for the afterlife because there are deeds in this world, but there is no accountability. While there are no deeds after death, there is accountability. Therefore, if we fill our destiny with good and beautiful deeds, behaviors and actions, this part of the scale will prevail when the end of his life comes. So, this is a spiritual trade because death is the only truth in the universe with no exception. There are no exceptions. There have never been any survivors who have escaped death. Therefore, it is also important for a person to remember that death is near when there is such a fact. It is a matter of the End Times. The Prophet says ‘In the End Times, Muslims will be like garbage on a water. They are going to be cluttered. There is a Vehn's disease.’ 'What is Vehn's disease?' they ask, he says; 'To fear death, to avoid and to love the world.' If there are these two diseases, it is the disease of Vehn, then Muslims have become Muslims of the End Times. There is worldism, secularism right now. Not in the philosophical sense, not in the political sense… Secularism is philosophically referred to as 'worldism' in the Turkish Language Institution. To live as if there is no after life, to live as if there is no Day of Reckoning. What does Fatiha say; 'Do you want to be one of the good or of the bad?' To say Yevmiddin is actually a day of reckoning. That is why it is not good intention that protects accountability from evil, not piety, but accountability, which protects man from evil. If piety and accountability do not go hand in hand, it is just a wardrobe Muslim. One lives it formally. A sense of accountability means a sense of responsibility to God.".

"Sincere intentions program our brain"

Noting that the human brain has a self-programming feature, Tarhan said "There is consciousness above our brain, and that consciousness dominates the brain. If a person willingly keeps fasting for someone else's sake, the brain is not convinced. For example, the brain does not secrete hunger hormones after 2-3 days have passed, and you do not feel hungry at noon because the brain programs itself to 'eat in the evening'. Our brain has self-programming. The intention that it programs the brain is, for example, believing that I will get up at four in the morning. You get up without setting the clock if you believe it. If you say, 'It does not matter whether I get up or not,' you will miss it because sincere intent programs the brain, and that intrinsic motivation is formed. There is an external motivation, as what others say such as 'come on’. Also, there is an internal motivation. Intrinsic motivation is related to the person's intense cravings. When it is desired, something is needed and when it is needed, self-activation occurs. The unused energy in the brain, all the spare energies, comes into play. If there is a high desire in the person, one feels the need to create. For example, if you want to make a horse drink water, you cannot make him drink even if you hit him on the head. When it is thirsty, it drinks the water voluntarily. You will make it desire to drink water. Desire is the need to want, and the need causes oneself to activate. The more fiercely there is desire, the more strongly the person uses the hidden potential in the brain that a person does not use.".

"Ramadan is a kind of self-calibration"

Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that human's own spiritual and material devices also need a calibration and said "Ramadan is a way of recognizing and rebuilding oneself, re-adjusting one's disrupted inner balances and inner sensibilities, in other words, calibrating oneself. If there is even a tool and you do not calibrate it once a year, it will fail after a while. Here, too, a person’s own spiritual tools and material tools need a calibration. Even besides Ramadan, there is a fasting diet in recent studies as fasting for a certain period of time related to hunger and satiety in the body. It is said this because it has a cultural dimension. In fact, our body has the advantage of renewing itself in the DNA due to the fasting in Ramadan, not only for our mental structure, but also for the brain; therefore, it makes our brain work differently.".

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)