Page 111 - The Importance of the Ahl Al-Sunnah

ADNAN OKTAR

preserves all entities at all times. The superior and excellent
attributes in His servants are His blessing and endowment.
In order for us to attain the infinite blessings of Paradise, its
endless joys and His approval and love, Allah commands us
to comply with the beloved Prophet (saas).”
“Adhere strictly to Allah’s commands and prohibitions for
so long as you live. I advise you to remember Allah constant-
ly, to seek shelter in Him, not to give your hearts to this
transitory world but to seek the infinite Hereafter, to pre-
pare yourselves for death and the solitude of the grave and
the Day of Judgment, to adhere tightly to the Prophet’s
(saas) Sunnah, to turn your faces away from bid`ah, and to
pray for the success of Muslims and for the defeat of apos-
tates and the enemies of the religion.” (From Mawlana
Khalid’s letter to a friend from Diyarbakir.)

Ahmad Dhiya al-Din Gumushkhanewi
Ahmad Dhiya al-Din Gumushkhanewi was born in
Gumushane in 1813. Brought to Trabzon when he was ten, he
began studying with the city’s scholars. When his older broth-
er was summoned for military service, he spent some time
working in commerce at his father’s side. In 1831, he settled in
Istanbul, despite his family’s opposition, where he continued his
studies. He influenced many prominent figures of the time,
among them Sultan Abd al-Hamid II, through his discourses.
Gumushkhanewi devoted twenty-eight years of his life to
writing books and preached Islam for sixteen years. Collecting
donations from his followers, who numbered more than 1 mil-
lion, he founded a joint “solidarity and investment fund,” which
he used to establish a printing press, a publishing house, four
separate libraries containing 18,000 books, and various founda-
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