3 - The reformer says:

"A short while after the Era of Prosperity, Islam became a sharp weapon which would, for clearing the roads leading to silver armchairs [high positions], form heaps of dead people on both sides. In the combats in which Hadrat 'Ali fought for the caliphate, the Qur'an, the Holy Book of Allah, on the points of the spears of his opponents was used as a trick in the war. The Qur'an, which is right, was used as a means for winning the sovereignty cause, which was false."

Those combats were not for sovereignty. They were for the fulfillment of the commands of Islam. And unlike what the reformer says, the Qur'an was not used as a means for winning the war or sovereignty. Whatever each side did against the other was intended to find out what was right and to follow Islam, and Islam was not a weapon that would form heaps of corpses for clearing the roads leading to gilded silver armchairs, but it was a shield to stand against such a weapon. [Those Muslims who fought against Hadrat 'Ali (radi-Allahu 'anh were not sinful. 'Sin' means 'guilt committed against Allahu ta'ala', that is, 'breaking the rules of Islam.' They had not elected Hadrat 'Ali to be the Caliph.

Because they (radi-Allahu 'anhum) did not regard him the Caliph, they took up swords. If they had elected him it would have been a sin for them to oppose the Caliph. It was true that they erred even though they had put forth the religious proof of not selecting him the Caliph; yet is was an error of ijtihad and was intended to follow Islam.] Question: "Isn't Islam to make people attain happiness and to keep peace? Does it cause bloodshed to obey Islam?"

Answer: 'Ali's (radi-Allahu 'anh) Muslim opponents followed but erred in following Islam. bloodshed was the result of not following Islam but of the mistake they did when following Islam. Likewise, in the Battle of Uhud, many of the forty of the Prophet's ('alaihi 's-salam) companions whom he had ordered to block a pass had been martyred. Their death was not caused by their following Rasulullah's order but by the error of some of them in carrying out the order. Following Islam never harms anybody; it is always useful. It makes a person attain happiness. Disobeying Islam or going wrong while following it is harmful. The Muslims against whom Hadrat 'Ali declared war wanted to follow Islam but, in choosing the way Islam had shown for the accomplishment of that deed, they went wrong. Since they were the people loved and distinguished by Allah, their error was not a sin; the error in ijtihad was not sinful but thawab-deserving. It was more thawab-deserving than the worship of the good Muslims of later generations. It was said, "The right, good deeds of the good are like the errors of the distinguished." That is, the wrong deeds of the former are more useful, more valuable than the right deeds of the latter. For this reason, those who died from both sides were martyrs. They won the heavenly reward. Reading the corrupt history books written for political interest, for procuring what is mundane and the sentimental stories written by babas in Iran, the youth cannot comprehend the greatness of the Prophet's companions and they get wrong ideas fixed into their minds. For the benefit of youngsters who struggle to learn the beauty of Islamic faith, which is the cradle of today's civilization and which commands us to study on the matter and on the spirit, we prepared the Turkish books Hak Sozun Vesikalari and Ashab-i Kiram in order to tell them about the superiorities of the Prophet's companions. In these books, through sound documents which we had gathered from the most precious sources, we explained the lives of the Prophet's companions, their services to Islam and their love for one another. We think it would be proper to give some information here, too. Hadrat Qayyum ar-Rabbani Muhammad Mathum al-Faruqi as-Sirhindi (rahmat-Allahi 'alaih), the great Muslim scholar respected by and the qutb of the awliya' of his time, wrote in the twenty-second letter of the first volume of his Maktubat:

"Sonny! The end of this world is near. Things that darken the hearts have increased. Everybody is being dragged by these dark currents. At such a time as this, a hero who will bring back a sunnat and annihilate a bidat is urgently needed. Unless we are illuminated with the light of the Sunnat of Rasulullah (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam) we cannot get into the right path! Unless we follow the footsteps of the exalted Prophet, it will be in vain to try to escape calamities. Without following the Beloved Prophet of Allahu ta'ala, the happiness of advancing in the way of tasawwuf and love for Allahu ta'ala cannot be attained. Allahu ta'ala in the thirty-first ayat of the surat al 'Imran, tells His Beloved Prophet to tell others, 'If you love Allah, follow me! Allah loves those who follow me!' He who wants to attain happiness should follow, in everything he does, him (the Prophet) who is the greatest in the religion and in the world! He has to try to perform all his actions, 'ibadat , and trade as he did. In this world, those who try to be like the one dear to a person will seem lovely and beautiful to that person. This person will love and appreciate them much, too. Likewise, those who love the darling will always be loved. The enemies of the darling will also be enemies to the lover. For this reason, all the virtues visible or invisible can be attained by loving that exalted Prophet; this love is the gauge of perfection and improvement. Allahu ta'ala created His Prophet as the most beautiful, the best, the most lovable human being. In him, He accumulated every virtue, every kind of beauty and every superiority. All as-Sahabat al-kiram loved him. All their hearts burnt with love for him. It was the sweetest flavor for them to see his moon-like face and his luminous beauty. They sacrificed their lives and possessions out of the love for him. They loved him more than their lives and possessions, briefly, more than all that could be loved. Because they loved him excessively, they loved those who loved him. For this reason, they loved one another very much, too. They became hostile against those who could not understand his superiority or see his beauty and attain the happiness of loving him. Due to this love for him and for one another and their hostility for others, they earned the love and consent of Allah; they got promoted and became the most exalted, superior and respected human beings, since the major ta'at is to love the dears and dislike the enemies. Those who say that they love Allahu ta'ala have to be like the Sahabat al-kiram. One should also love those whom his dear loves, and feel hostility towards the enemies of his dear. This love and hostility does not happen out of one's desire for them. They result naturally. He is somewhat crazy in his love and hostility. For this reason it was said, 'Unless one is said to be crazy, his iman is not complete!' Those who do not have this craziness are deprived of loving. Unless there is hostility, there cannot be friendship! In order to be sincere in saying, 'I love,' it is necessary to be hostile against the enemies of the beloved. Our words should not be misunderstood! It should not be presumed that hostility against the Prophet's companions was for the same reason!

Some people say that, in order to love Hadrat 'Ali (radi-Allahu 'anh), it is necessary to bear hostility towards the greatest ones among the Sahabat al-kiram of the Prophet. This thought is quite wrong, since hostility should be felt towards the enemies of the beloved so that one may love. Enmity with his friends is unnecessary. Allah declares in the surat al-Fat'h that the Sahabat al-kiram were rahim to one another, that is, they loved one another. 'Rahim' means 'extremely and continuously merciful and mutually loving.' This ayat reports that the Sahabat al-kiram loved one another very much. In Arabic grammar, 'rahim' is a 'sifat mushabbaha', an adjective with a sense of continuity. For this reason, it is understood that this mutual love of great extent among the Sahabat al-kiram was continuous. This ayat shows that such evils as resentment, envy and hostility, which are incompatible with mercy and mutual love, could not exist among the Sahabat al-kiram. 'Among my umma, the most merciful to my umma is Abu Bakr,' was said in the Hadith ash-Sharif. Could it be possible that a person who was the most merciful of the umma bore ill-will and hostility against one of the umma?

"The Hadith says, 'Allahu ta'ala asked Musa ('alaihi 's-salam), "What did you do only for Me?" When he answered, "O Allah! For Thee, I performed salat, fasted, gave zakat and said dhikr," Allahu ta'ala said, "The salat you performed is the way leading you to Paradise; it was your duty as a human servant. Your fast will protect you against Hell. The zakat you gave will be a parasol over you on the Day of Judgement. Your dhikr will be light for you through the darkness of that day. What did you do for ME?" When he said, "O Allah! Tell me the thing which is for Thee!" Allahu ta'ala declared, "O Musa! Did you love those whom I loved and did you bear hostility against My enemies?" Musa ('alaihi 's-salam) realized that the most valuable thing to be done for Allahu ta'ala was al-hubbu fi'llah wal-bughdu fi'llah.' " It was true that in the Battle of Siffin Hadrat Muawiya (radi-Allahu 'anh) had the Qur'an al-karim attached to the points of spears and thus put an end to the bloodshed among Muslims. The fight had been stopped by the end of the first month of the new year, Muharram, 37 A.H. Messengers ran between the two sides to come to an agreement. When Muharram ended, Hadrat 'Ali (radi-Allahu 'anh) declared that the time was up and the rebellion had not been given up. First, Ashtar, who was on his side, came forward with his soldiers. The Damascenes went to meet him. Ashtar was one of the conspirators who had excited the 'Camel' Battle. Qisas-i Anbiya says, "In the 'Camel' Battle, there were twenty thousand people on the side of Hadrat 'Ali and thirty thousand of the opposite side. When they were about to come to an agreement, 'Abdullah ibn Saba', Malik Ashtar and other leaders of those who had martyred Hadrat 'Uthman (radi-Allahu 'anh), assembled one night and planned to commence the battle. They unexpectedly assaulted the opposite side. Those who were on the side of Hadrat 'Aisha (radi-Allahu 'anha) were bewildered at this sudden attack. Ashtar and his friends told Hadrat 'Ali (radi-Allahu 'anh) that the opposite side assaulted and they resisted." It is seen that 'Abdullah ibn Saba', a Jew, and his friends were the ones who incited both the battles and broke the agreements. In Siffin, Hadrat 'Ali attacked the Damascenes with all his soldiers and much blood was shed in few days. Selecting ten thousand people, he attacked again. Hashim, who carried his flag, attacked, too, continuously saying, "Oh those who love Allah! Come with me!" It was a very bloody combat. All Thursday night they fought until morning. And those who did not die were either wounded or exhausted. On Friday, Ashtar assaulted again, Muawiya and 'Amr ibn 'As (radi-Allahu 'anhuma), upon finding out that forty-five thousand Muslims on their side and twenty-five thousand on the opposite side had died, searched ways of preventing the shedding of fraternal blood and rescuing Muslims from this calamity. Hadrat 'Amr ibn 'As said, "Let's show them the Qur'an to tell them that Muslims are brothers." Hadrat Muawiya commanded to attach copies of the Qur'an on the points of spears. His soldiers cried out. "We call you to Allah's book," and the opponent soldiers saw the Qur'an and gave up fighting. Hadrat 'Ali summoned Ashtar, who was taken back from the battle by force. Agreement was settled.

Thus, the combats which lasted one hundred and ten days came to an end. The attachment of copies of the Qur'an on the points of spears prevented the shedding of the blood of thousands of Muslims. The great fire of instigation among Muslims was thus put out.