Anarchy and Terror

Anarchism is an instrument and philosophy of destruction definable
as the violent movements against the integrity of a society, and against the authority
and self-respect of a state. Anarchism has caused a lot of oppression, pain and
tears during the 20th century in a number of societies. It needs to be analyzed
multi-dimensionally due to the fact that it is a concept defining various political
philosophies, ideologies and social movements which defend to get rid of every types
of the social hierarchy.

Bediüzzaman remarked that 'this century has caused the total brutality of the
all of the previous centuries only in the one time'. While this century was passing
away, everybody hoped that the new century and millennium would bring up peace and
happiness for the whole world, but this did not happen, even from the start on.
After the attacks of the Twin towers just at the beginning of the century, terror
became the mostly spoken issue in the world's agenda. Following that, the connection
of the terror with the Islam, which contains love and peace at its core, and the
military attacks of USA with some other Western countries due to the excuse of terror
into the settled regions of Islam started new developments and discussions.

Today, terror, which seeks for the destruction of the existing order, is a common
issue in the whole world regardless of its shape and size. Despite, we notice that
the judicial and police measures against terror did not function in the many countries
of the world effectively. Even the powerful states can not defuse terror. Thus,
we should not disregard the main reasons of the terror and anarchy while discussing
the measures to be taken against them.

We might think that the dissatisfaction of the human soul lead to the spiritual
depression that causes to the anarchic tendencies, from the point of view of the
human personality and psychology alongside with sociological reasons. In this context,
Bediüzzaman puts forward the Risâle-i Nur as an Alexandrian barrier against the
anarchism, which he sees as a big threat from the outside. He attracts to this threat
our attention by saying 'the world experiences a very big crisis.' At this point,
he stresses the significance of the practice of the Islamic moral and beliefs.

Bediüzzaman explains five principles to get rid of anarchy as 'mercy, respect,
security, avoidance of religiously wrong deeds, and obedience'. Also, those principles
and his ideas to regulate the social life as 'positive manner' and 'protecting order'
become more important if we consider contemporary developments.

We consider all of these and dedicate our 94th issue to "anarchy and terror".
We plan to treat this subject in the conceptual framework of "anarchy, anarchism,
terror, instigation, order, stability, violence, law, religion, ethics, nihilism,
opposition, fundamentalism, holy war, socialism, communism, freedom, ultimate freedom,
materialism etc." and look for answers to the following questions.

What is anarchism? What does it aim to? What is the correlation between anarchy
and terror? How can be the variety of the anarchist philosophies explained? How
can we explain the change of the reasons of anarchy from society to society? Where
do we need to look for the reason and source of anarchy psychologically? What kind
of a human type and soul can be related to anarchy, psychologically? What are the
psychological and sociological reasons that force people to anarchy? Can we suppose
that some political and economic systems reinforce anarchy? What are the thoughts
by Bediüzzaman to prohibit anarchy? What is the role of the Risâle-i Nur by the
prevention of anarchy and terror? What is the impact of the weakness of the practice
of the Islamic beliefs and ethics upon the anarchy? Can we conceive of the protection
of the traditional and moral values as a precaution against terror? If we contemplate
relatively and consider anarchy not only as armed conflicts, but as a moral collapse
in the social structure, what kind of a picture do we get as a result? What kind
of a relationship can be attached between Islam-Anarchy; Islam-Terror? Is it possible
to talk of an Islamic terror? How can we interpret the verse of "…that whoever slays
a soul, unless it be for manslaughter or for mischief in the land, it is as though
he slew all men…" (Maide/32) against the violence and terror acts in the name of
Islam (Holy war)? How can we set up a relationship between anarchism and freedom?
Is it possible to reach the stage of an ultimate freedom as anarchists claim? What
is the relationship between the regulation and use of freedom(s) and anarchy? What
kind of a relationship does exist between the democracy and anarchy? What kind of
judicial and administrative measures has to be taken against the anarchy and terror
generally? How can we comment on the developments after 9/11? What are the impacts
of 9/11 upon Islam?

Nuri Çakır discusses anarchism as a philosophical trend referring to the ideas
of Bediüzzaman on the concepts of individual, society, state, freedom and stateless
society.

Ali Bakkal defines the concepts of anarchy and terror and then shows the reasons
for and remedies against the terror. He also remarks the sensitive points in the
struggle against terror.

Cemal Ağırman explains in his article the concepts of anarchy and terror and
investigates the relation between Islam and terror.

Ahmet Güç examines the contribution of the religion onto the world peace on the
conceptual basis of religion and peace.

Gökhan Bacık explains the concepts of anarchy, stability and legitimacy. He expresses
that anarchy emerges in the case of absence of legitimacy. He talks about the importance
of consent centered relationship between the state and citizen for the continuity
of the a stable atmosphere.

Ramazan Altıntaş emphasizes the corruption and chaos in the ethical values. According
to the author, this corruption alongside with anarchism causes to an Machiavellian
mentality, in which everything becomes acceptable to reach the goal.

We discuss in our reportage with Faruk Birtek the concept of anarchy. Birtek
differentiates anarchy and terror from each other, and defines anarchy as a history
of refusal. He also emphasizes the importance of justice together with the personal
rights and freedom in order to get rid of terror.

Abdullah Hakimoğlu's article exposes the reasons for and remedies against the
anarchy according to Said Nursi, which aims to extinguish the family, social and
state order.

Mücahit Bilici tells us the horrible story of the secret revolution which began
during the period of Ronald Reagan, but gives its mostly visible fruits during the
Presidency of Gorg W. Bush. His text clarifies the intellectual sources of the dominant
neo-conservative thought in America.

Furkan Aydıner discusses the negative views of Westerners after 9/11 and the
means to overcome and rescue from these views.

Şadi Eren mentions that misunderstanding of religious texts lead us to many serious
problems for the practice of religion. He shows us the misinterpreted verses and
traditions of the Prophet on the Holy war.

Musa Kazım Yılmaz discusses the Islamic methodology for the prohibition of Islam
and the ultimate goal of the anarchy in Turkey.

Ali Murat Yel studies the basic reasons of terrorism. Yel indicates the need
and significance of the examination of the circumstances which either prepare terrorism,
or make the emergence and efficiency of it possible, more deeply.

İsmail Taşpınar examines in his article "Christian Anarchists" who claim that
Christianity is based on its foundations to an 'anarchic' teaching.

Sadık Yalsızuçanlar disputes the disorder after the coup d'etat and argues that
this disorder is more 'anarchic' than the previous situation.

Mustafa Armağan accents two concepts, anarchy and anomie, and states that the
experiences in our country seem to be anomie rather than anarchy. He also takes
our attention to the rebellious dimension of our cultural atmosphere and indicates
the everyday appearances of this anomic situation.

Vehbi Karakaş attracts our attention into the chaotic situation in our society
and shows us the reasons and remedies of terrorism according to Bediüzzaman.

Abdünnasır Yiner presents us the biography of Hasan Sabbah who was the founder
of the Nizarî-İsmailî state and was very prominent figure during the Seljukid period
due to his association and assassinations.

***

Now, we want to give up our word and to invite you to the pages of our journal.
We hope we will meet again in our 95th issue with the subject of "Ethics".