Recognized one of the ultimate reasons for the creation, Love is
one of the basic concepts in the Qur’an, too. However, social sciences as
philosophy, sociology, psychology, literature, and theology conduct many studies
and researches on the source and content of love and its influences on the
individual and society and elaborate the subject from many dimensions.

As we are speaking on the destructive effects of modernism upon
human being, we have to emphasize mostly the issue of the lost of value of the
concept of love. It becomes a value which is sought and needed to its existence
by the modern man abundantly. Remaining loveless in the modern era leads the
whole humanity to infelicity in our day, a fact signified by the contemporary
socio-psychological studies, when the communication debates reach its zenith. In
spite of the material satisfaction, the unhappy life of the modern man displays
the importance of the love realized as one of the keys to secure a happy life.

One of the biggest handicaps of humanity in our age seems to be
its estrangement to the love-centered relations such as the love to his Creator
within the daily responsibilities and occupations. Thus, its relation to the
family, society and other entities has been detracted. In our day, love mostly
lost its meaning. One reminds that word only within the words of a song, it is
only to be spoken, but not as a feeling which is transmitted to the heart and
real life. The invalidation of the essential character of love within the
private and social life promotes the unhappiness of individuals and society,
thus, people begin to look for happiness in the virtual worlds offered by
technology. While the effects of modernism, the technological developments and
globalization on love are being discussed, the role of the alienation of human
being to his nature should also be considered in this issue. From this point on,
Islam is a religion accepting love as one of the reasons of creation,
considering love as the direction of religion, and used the expression of Yunus
"I love the created beings due to the Creator" as a motto to love every being in
the name of their Creator. However, it is very strange that the members of such
a religion behave opposite to this understanding in all spheres of their
individual-family-social lives, which turns love to a nostalgic value.

We can remember the political affairs in our country in the last
years which is a good example of a political language that is far away from the
love perception can bring about tensions in the society. In this context,
Bediüzzaman’s idea on the reasons of being backward than Europe as "affection to
the enmity" needs to be drawn more attention. The social-psychological studies
should be done in order to understand the reasons for the social acceptance of
feelings like hate, hostility and enmity instead of love; of the publicization
of the conflict culture. Even, the widespread of departure from the honest
behaviors, treating only according to the self-interest should be considered
seriously. Another question can be the following: what kind of a social
psychology did produce the treatments that are incoherent with love: disliking
others, otherization, the acceptance of a life-style loaded with hate to the
inner and outer enemies.

We should also discuss the relationship of love with the
concepts of affection and clemency. Those three words occupy very important
place in human’s life. They seem to be very close to each other, but they have
different meanings and functions. Love as being a magical word has been kept
always in the foreground through centuries in religious and mundane level and
people turned to captivity under this concept. Clemency is a kind of love that
is sincere and unrequited mercy, feeling pity and grudging to others. From this
perspective, clemency play a wider and active role within the human interactions
that love and affection. Considering the connection of mystical "love" with the
Unity of Existence and the commentary by Bediüzzaman on this subject, we should
think about his choice of clemency but not love and try to find an answer how
can we interpret this from the perspective of Qur’an. What kinds of meaning are
attached to these concepts by the disciplines as mysticism, philosophy,
sociology and psychology?

We decided in our 101st issue the dossier subject as "love". We
try to study this subject within the conceptual framework of "love, affection,
affection to God, love, clemency, contemplation, worship, fear, hate, hostility,
peace, Divine Love, humane love, mysticism, Unity of Existence, tranquility,
happiness, Otherworld" and under the light of the following questions:

What is love and its content? What are the consequences of the
existence and dissemination of love among individuals and in the society with
its essential meaning? What is the role of love sociologically within the social
peace and tranquility? What are the end effects of a social structure composed
by love-focused individuals? How should we understand the concept of "love to
enmity" invented by Bediüzzaman as one of the reasons being backward? What kind
of an emotional state does stay behind the love on enmity and the insistence on
hostility, psychologically? What is the role of love from the perspective of
democratic constitutional regime? What is the importance for the society of a
democracy appropriated the language of love? What are the messages given to us
by the Prophet in this issue who is an example of love? What is the place of
love in the Tradition of Prophet? What is the approach of Bediüzzaman in his
works to the issue of love who has red the problems of our age very
appropriately? What should be the Qur’anic approach against the perspectives
after September 11 which assumes that Islam embraces violent elements and it is
a fear religion? What is the difference of Islamic approach to love from other
religions?

We leave the word to the content of our journal and hope to meet
you in our next issue with the dossier "The Language of Risâle-i Nur".