Why Did They Become Muslims

forfeit the industry and the trade of their own country to
foreigners. They became poor.
Continuous improvements in all areas are daily events in the
world. We have to follow them continuously, learn them, and
teach them. We should follow our ancestors, not only in industry
and technology, but also in religious and moral attitudes, and we
should raise believing and decent generations. Let us give you a
small example:
The Turks were universally known as invincible wrestlers.
Indeed, they always won the international wrestling
championships. In recent years, however, we have scarcely made
ourselves felt in the rings. Do you know why? Formerly,
Europeans did not know wrestling. They learned it from us,
improved it and perfected it, adding new and swift acts, new tricks,
and new techniques. On the other hand, we still insist on the old
styles, which we do not know, either. We have not yet been able to
examine the improvements in wrestling properly. Nor do we seem
to be willing to learn lessons from foreign wrestlers. So, owing to
the new techniques they have developed, they easily wrestle our
players to the ground. Therefore, we have to learn worldly
practices from people who know and do them better than we do.
A person who considers himself to be better than others in
everything is either an idiot or a megalomaniac.
Our religion has separated religious knowledge from scientific
knowledge. It has vehemently forbidden to make a slightest
alteration in religious teachings, in Islamic ethical principles, or in
the modes of worship. When it comes to worldly affairs and
scientific knowledge, however, Islam commands us to keep pace
with all the improvements, to learn and utilize all the new
inventions. The so-called intellectuals who seized power in the
Ottoman administration reversed this set of instructions. Falling
for the masonic ruses, they attempted to modify religious
teachings and to demolish the essentials of Islam. They closed
their eyes to the scientific improvements and new explorations
taking place in Europe. In fact, they martyred the progressiveminded
Ottoman emperors who intended to follow the time’s
scientific knowledge and modern technology. Quite deprived of
their personal initiatives in the hands of freemasons, they sought
progress in religious reforms and separatism. Astonishing to say,
the heinous attempts to pollute the pure religious teachings
became a trend among political parties and maintained its grip
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