Speech by Turgay Aldemir, President of the Bülbülzade Foundation, at the Foundation Organization Units Consultation Iftar on March 7, 2026.
Our world and the Islamic geography are going through an extraordinary process. We are witnessing how multiple crises intertwining and following one another, and the strategies put forward by imperialist think tanks, strategy centers, and mind rooms drag the scattered people of the Islamic geography. Before one ends, several others emerge. Unless we ponder the question "If one of us lacks the mind to solve this, how can we solve it with a greater mind by adding two, three, five, a hundred, a thousand?" in the face of this century-long drifting, we will fail to resolve the issue.
We see this most clearly in the prophets of Allah. When Prophet Moses was given his mission, he said, "My Lord, give me my brother as a helper." The Prophet Muhammad asked for Umar. This path requires friends, companions, and diverse minds. We are people who need each other and complement one another. Today, we have gathered here to collectively think about the burden, possibilities, and responsibilities of the era we live in. Currently, what we do matters less than what we base it on, the world of meaning we speak from, and the kind of human, society, and future we envision. Our visions have become much more crucial. The era we are passing through promises us many things: speed, possibilities, connection, access, technology, visibility... However, the same era silently takes much greater things from us: our attention, our depth, our roots, our self-reflection, our words, and ultimately our meaning.
Therefore, what we need most today is simply more than just doing more activities. More programs, more content, and more visibility alone fall short of being a solution. The essential need is to bring a center of meaning to everything we do, build our work on a solid foundation of thought, and unite our horizons in a common search for truth. We know that the future of a society is built on more than just material means. What builds a society's future are its concepts, values, claims, memory, and sense of direction. If a society loses its words, it loses its thought. If it loses its thought, it loses its direction. If it loses its direction, it finds itself in a world defined by others. Therefore, our issue today is to produce words, concepts, and meaning, and to intervene in the era from our own center.
A MUSLIM CAN NEVER BE A SHALLOW PERSON WITHOUT DEPTH
My esteemed brothers and sisters,
I specifically need to draw attention to three issues here:
First is ontology. That is, our understanding of existence. What is a human? What is the world? What is life? Why do we exist on this earth? If the answers to these questions weaken, the direction is lost even with many activities. If we view humans merely as consuming, competing beings trying to be visible, our education, our volunteering, and our institutions will gradually become mechanical. We act, but there will be no impact. Our Prophet says, "A time will come when my ummah will be swept away in the face of life's rhythm and flow, like debris before the wind." People's greed for wealth and attachment to it make their burden heavier and turn us into shallow people without depth. A Muslim can never be a shallow person without depth. These environments are places to control our thinking. Are we thinking correctly? Most of us think we are reading things right by listening to our own voices in our own echo chambers. For 300 years, humanity severed its connection with existence, bonded with itself and objects, and became objectified. Its connection with the divine weakened. Martin Heidegger says, "Only a God can save us from this place humanity has fallen into." We, however, view humans as beings carrying meaning, assuming responsibility, seeking truth, and bearing trusts, rather than merely biological or physiological entities. This ontological perspective is the foundation of all our work. Because however you define humans is how you design educational processes and organizations, build society, and envision the future.
Second is epistemology. That is, our understanding of knowledge. Today, knowledge is everywhere, yet wisdom is scarce. Data is abundant, but meaning is scarce. Opinions are plentiful, yet contemplation is rare. Speed is high, but depth is shallow. The question we must ask here is: Are we merely transferring knowledge, or are we giving it meaning? Are we just providing information to the youth, or are we elevating them to a mental maturity capable of seeking the truth? Because if knowledge fails to meet values, it becomes instrumentalized. If it fails to meet wisdom, it loses its direction. For this reason, in our foundation's work, we must prioritize comprehension over memorization, contemplation over repetition, and understanding over slogans. Our volunteer is a person who works, thinks, questions, compares, and tries to make accurate judgments. Our Lord's warning here is highly decisive: "Do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart - about all those [one will be] questioned." (Al-Isra, 17/36)
Third is axiology. That is, our world of values. What are we working for? What do we consider valuable? How do we define success? If our center of values is weak, even the most beautiful works will eventually lose their spirit. For us, value means more than just getting results. For us, value lies in the morality of the means used to achieve the result. Because if the tools you use to change the world lack the morality of the world you want to build, what you eventually build will differ from you. Wael B. Hallaq explains this best: "In the last few centuries, Muslims are transforming into the world they are fighting and trying to change. They are becoming secularized. Because instead of connecting with existence moment by moment, they follow the footsteps of old, established connections." This is why sincerity, effort, loyalty, compassion, justice, equity, consultation, fidelity, and responsibility are our founding principles rather than mere moral ornaments. Our Prophet's saying, "Allah has prescribed ihsan (excellence) in everything," shows that we must put quality, care, and moral depth at the center of everything we do. (Muslim, Sayd, 57)
WE MUST PRODUCE OUR OWN CONCEPTS
My dear friends,
The period we are going through is simultaneously a period of meaning crisis. Most of the old concepts fall short of explaining today. Humans are changing, society is changing, communication methods are changing, youth is changing, technology is changing, and even our attention thresholds are changing. Yet we sometimes continue to think with zombie concepts. This distances us from both understanding reality and intervening in it. Therefore, one of the important tasks before the Bülbülzade Foundation today is to re-conceptualize the issues of this era based on our own civilization vision, alongside expanding service areas. The Prophet arrived in the midst of a crisis. The caste system, slavery, the burying of baby girls, the strong crushing the weak... The Prophet conceptualized through his practices. He said, "Superiority is in piety (taqwa)." He supported these concepts with practices. He taught them to his companions. He kept women and girls involved in everything. When I went to Sheikh Yassin's house in Gaza, his daughter apologized for arriving a bit late. She said, "I had a shift at the border." A woman standing guard at the Israeli border. We squeeze some things into objects. We made a conceptualization. While sweating in the Kurtuluş Forest, we said, "Reformation of the generation, reconstruction of the earth." We said, "The Smoking Hearth Family." Before that, we said, "Human Degradation." These are all positive conceptualizations.
It means turning into a school of thought and becoming the founder of an intellectual mind.
What does this mean?
This means seeing youth as subjects of possibility and resurrection, rather than just a risk group.
This means viewing education as the construction of personality and direction, rather than just a diploma process.
This means reading digitalization as a moral, psychological, and epistemic challenge, rather than just a set of technical tools.
This means seeing volunteering as a practice of discipline and civilization that humanizes people, rather than just a leisure activity.
The responsibility falling upon all of us here is immense. Because in this era, remaining a spectator is impossible. We will either be among those who construct meaning or become consumers of meanings produced by others. We will either think with our own concepts or get stuck in narrow molds presented to us. We will either transform volunteering into a movement of consciousness and resurrection or turn into a tired but ineffective crowd amid daily rush. Exactly at this point, the following principle of the Quran guides us: "Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves." (Ar-Ra'd, 13/11) That is, transformation is a matter of will, morality, and perseverance initiated from within, rather than a favor expected from the outside.
FUSION OF HORIZONS
Esteemed friends,
Today, I specifically want to state this strongly: Every field of work of the foundation is actually a civilization watch. Our brother working in education gives direction to the mind alongside teaching lessons. Our sibling putting effort into youth work builds belonging alongside organizing events. Our sibling interested in social assistance protects human dignity alongside meeting needs. Our sibling producing in the field of culture and arts keeps words, memory, and aesthetic sensitivity alive alongside making programs. Every single field is a realm of meaning and morality as much as it is a service area. For this reason, there must be a "fusion of horizons," as Gadamer puts it, among our working fields, alongside coordination. We must move beyond just being aware of each other, we must also share each other's intentions, language, goals, troubles, and directions. True friends are those who share the same world of meaning, rather than those who speak the same language. Because common effort wears out without a common goal. Common effort scatters without common meaning. Even if institutions grow, they will fail to deepen without a common horizon.
For the fusion of horizons, we need these three things:
First, a culture of consultation that truly listens to one another.
Second, permeability and experience sharing between fields.
Third, remembering that we are different sentences of the same grand story.
We cannot concern ourselves solely with the success of our own unit here. Because the structure we call a foundation amounts to more than the sum of disconnected activities. A foundation is the art of uniting heart, mind, and effort in a common direction.
WE NEED MAPS OF HOPE, BEYOND MAPS OF NEEDS
My precious brothers and sisters,
I also want to specifically emphasize critical thinking. Because critical thinking is necessary to build more solidly, rather than to destroy. If we fail to question our own methods, renew our own language, and honestly see our own shortcomings, we cannot improve. Structures that repeat themselves, sanctify their own comfort zones, and walk solely on habit will lose their impact over time. Therefore, being open to criticism, making self-reflection, and reviewing methods and techniques here represents institutional maturity, rather than a weakness. However, this criticism must refrain from producing despair. Because we must read crises as opportunities for reconstruction, alongside being subjects of complaint. The semantic crisis, representation crisis, education crisis, youth crisis, and meaning crisis experienced in the world today serve as a call for us to produce a new thought and a new will. Many philosophers state that the world is shrinking. Whoever produces a word for the problems of the world will shape the future. Those who are insensitive to the problems of the society they live in, hopeless, turning their backs on them and staying in their own ghettos have lost the chance to be a hope in that society. I believe many organized religious structures will be liquidated in the upcoming period. New generation structures will arrive. The path is open for people who place solution maps over problem maps, and hope maps over need maps. More than ever! This means our duty is to produce concepts, methods, models, and examples, rather than to complain. In this sense, the human being is our greatest possibility.
THE HUMAN IS A TRUST, A JEWEL, A TRAVELER
Dear friends,
Our civilization vision elevates the human, rather than objectifying them. In this vision, the human stands far above being a number, a profile, data, or a market element. The human is a trust, a jewel, a traveler. Therefore, in everything we do, we must touch the heart, mind, dignity, and future of the human. When we fall tired as volunteers, we must remember why we started. We must remember our roots even if we get tired. We must hold onto our goal even if we are delayed. Because great deeds require great patience. Deep works require deep loyalty. Lasting works require long efforts kneaded with sincerity. And we must remember that ihsan appears in action as well as in intention. The Messenger of Allah's definition of ihsan as "To worship Allah as if you see Him, for if you do not see Him, He sees you," shows that we must do our work with sincerity, care, and responsibility. (Bukhari, Tafsir, Luqman, 2)
Today, we must all ask ourselves this question together here:
What kind of future do we truly want to build?
What kind of youth do we dream of?
What kind of language are we constructing?
What kind of morality do we represent?
With what kind of understanding of knowledge are we acting?
Most importantly, are we truly able to put truth, justice, and compassion at the center of the things we do?
If we ask these questions seriously and produce their answers together, we will grow stronger as an idea, a morality, and a horizon movement, alongside being an institution.
THIS ERA IS THE ERA OF THOSE WHO POSSESS TRUTH AND VALUE
As I conclude my words, I would like to express this:
This era will belong to those who add depth to their words, rather than those who raise their voices. This era will belong to those who can add meaning to what they produce, rather than those who merely produce more. This era will belong to those who remain loyal to humans, truth, and values, rather than those who merely dominate technology. Therefore, let us turn our working areas into areas of wisdom, rather than just duty areas. Let us make our consultation a ground for common mind and common conscience, rather than just an organization. Let us offer direction to the youth, rather than just opportunities. Let us bring knowledge together with wisdom, effort with morality, endeavor with patience, and the institution with meaning. Let us rethink our concepts. Let us make our language fruitful again. Let us reconnect with our roots. Let us expand each other's horizons and multiply the morality, dignity, and hope carried by this foundation in every field we are in. Because the future will belong to those who think about it with truth, shoulder it with responsibility, and build it with determination, rather than those who merely wait for it. Let us also remember this: With the famous expression attributed to the Messenger of Allah, "The best of people is the one who is most beneficial to people." In this regard, volunteering serves as a morality of producing benefit for humanity, rather than just a duty.
May my Lord make our intentions pure, our efforts fruitful, and our path clear.
