Our Dear Guests,

May the Mercy, Abundance and Peace of Allah be on you, His pleasant servants!

I praise Allah, the Creator of the universe, for He created us with Islam that is the greatest of the blessings.  Then He granted perfect beauties, intelligence, taste and vision for the imperfect servants.  He blessed them with the best of the food, clothing, dwelling places, transportation vehicles, and even the convention centers.

Our Lord!  Do not deprive us of Your blessings.  Do not let our nufus go astray.  Do not let us deviate from Your path.  Save us from laziness.  Make us love what You love.  Make us dislike what you dislike.  Complete your blessings on us as you promised for Your righteous servants.

And, prayers and peace be on the last of the prophets, our beloved Prophet, Muhammad Mustafa.

I welcome you all. You have honored us.  I am very happy, quite excited, and honored to see your sincerity and friendship.

I love each and every one of you for Allah.  The young, the elderly, those who are parents, and those who are children with bright and inquiring eyes...  May Almighty Allah love you all, too.

Tonight, we have gathered here to remember a friend of Allah.  My beloved leader, your beloved leader, Mahmud Es'ad Cosan rahimehullah became a martyr, along with his son-in-law Ali Yücel Uyarel, two years ago as a result of an ambiguous collision on Sunday, February 4, 2001.  On this day of memorial, I would like to recite some verses of the Qur'an that indicate the virtues of martyrdom and give glad tidings to my friends.

The longing that we have for him and for his stage has been fortified with our love, supported by his principles and view of life, and became a source of the elixir of life.  May the Firdaws Garden and the Beauty of Allah be granted for him as well as for us and those who have affection for us.

I am aware that this gathering and similar ones that are carried out at prime convention centers help us get closer and united, yet may be costly.  I am also aware that I might not carry out my responsibilities of conveyance, guidance and warning in a perfect way due to the fact that my life is limited and I would not know when I will leave this world.  I would like to minimize the costs of meetings and the risks of not fulfilling my responsibilities, as they should be.  I have planned some approaches and interpretations that will guide you and help you progress.  I would like to share some of these new, shocking, effective and fruitful approaches and interpretations with you here.

My dear and unselfish friends,

The first one is the Qur'an, the message sent to mankind by Allah through our beloved prophet Muhammad Mustafa.  We have given you a copy of the Qur'an that has an excellent Arabic calligraphy and a rare quality translation of its message in Turkish.

You may ask what is new and shocking about the Qur'an.  Let me explain:

I would like to introduce the Qur'an as a "Human User Manual" for the first time in the past 1400 some years. He best handbook, the perfect user manual is the Qur'an, for it explains the man how to live to achieve the purpose of his creation.  We see that the latest technological products, the digital and electronic devices are packaged with their user manuals that have the detailed information on how to use these products in the most efficient way. Similarly, we ought to provide this "Human User Manuel" for the whole mankind -- including the Americans, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Africans, the Russians, the British, the Turks, also those who committed treachery by corrupting the previous handbooks, the descendants of those who killed the messengers who brought the handbook, people in search of themselves, and those who are guided by the light of Allah -- and have them read it.  In brief, the Qur'an is the "Human User manual" that we have to provide for the entire mankind and for the generations to come.

The second new and effective approach is the establishment of the Commonsense Party (Sagduyu Partisi).  Some friends already know about its establishment.  Today I would like to share it with you.  The Commonsense Party has been established to state the truth and to defend it.  It is an attempt to provide benefit for the entire mankind.  For the time being, you may not be able to grasp well why it was necessary to establish a political party.  However, soon you may get a better understanding of the underlying reasons.

Sometimes we disagree with some leaders and their policies.  For instance, we oppose to the inequalities in the solution of the Cyprus problem by the people of Cyprus.  We also oppose to the one-sided, double-standarded and insolent approaches in the imposed war scenarios.  We have different interpretations of the issues.

We sympathize with our brothers in Eastern Turkistan who are deprived of their human rights and freedom.  We want the injustice to be stopped there.  We know that not only the flesh of the swine is haram, but also its milk. We know that doing things to please them and giving up some of our rights and advantages will not produce results unless we change our beliefs. We know that the absolute benefit and the true justice prevail only through our belief in Islam.

We know that the mankind needs commonsense.  Friends, may the Commonsense Party be good for all.

Thirdly, I would like to make a statement about myself to clarify the definitions, interpretations and expectations. I am a natural and true leader to be followed by only those who love me. The other attributions presumed about me are only meaningful only within the framework of my leadership. At the same time, I am a powerless brother of yours who invites and guides all of you in the competition of taqwa that is the best and the fairest of all beauty competitions.

My Dear Guests, I would like to have you focused on this shocking definition: "false deities."  Yes, it is "false deities." I invite first myself then you to struggle against the false deities persistently and continuously.  The most dangerous false deity is the nafs. We keep it in ourselves, nourish it and let it grow.  We fulfill its every desire and order as though it is a deity.  Often it looks like a friend, yet it is a hypocrite in cooperation with the evil and the devil.  It betrays us if it is not kept under control. It fools us with the fake reflections, attractions and beauties in the game of this life in which all players lose for sure.  It takes away our precious time. When it comes to a point where there is no return, when the monitor displays "Game Over," it laments, "I wish I were a handful of dirt."  Nay, then the return is only to the Day of Judgment.

My Brothers and Sisters with commonsense, Almighty Allah says:

Any authority or foundation, anything that takes you away from the path of Allah is a false deity.  May Almighty Allah give us the ability to discern the ugly faces hidden behind the make-up, the poison served in the precious containers.  May he strengthen our comprehension.

I know there is no stopping; I know there is not much time.  I feel so energized and happy.  I would like us to be very successful in everything we do.  I wish all my plans, intentions and desires be actualized right away.  My Lord!  Fix our feet on your path.  Grant us soon the good results that You favor in this world and in the hereafter.

My Friends,

We have prepared a Cultural Center project in Brisbane, Australia for the memory of my father Mahmud Es'ad Cosan.  I invite all of you to prepare better projects and to construct them.  I invite all of you to review the places that we dwell in, and design nature-friendly houses, workplaces, mosques, shopping centers, and gas stations.  I invite you to support one another and compete in doing such services.  I encourage you to set the world standards in compliance with our belief, to discover things, to acquire the fruitful knowledge, to pursue education, and push the limits in charitable deed in preparation for the hereafter.  I would like to have the truth, the beautiful, the just, and the useful to dominate and looked after.

I would like to have the hearts that are tarnished and callused with sins repent and make U-turns from the wrong directions to the Truth.

In brief, I invite you to love Allah.

Our Lord!  Open our way for good deeds.  Accept our prayers for Your Glorified Name.  Protect us from all kinds of dangers and evils that we may or may not know about.  Grant us all kinds of goodness and beauty that we may or may not know about.  Grant us success and victory.

February 4, 2003 / ISTANBUL