The Üsküdar Pact

I We will never ever have a vest. The essence of this method is this: We will be naked, we will be Muslim. The realization of the beauty that we were chosen to be instrumental to its occurrence will not refer to the demonstration of the virtue of a place through the clothes we wear. No beauty will in any way be intended for the virtue of our place. No matter what we do, we’ll do it because we are still living creatures because there are still things that we must do. There will be no vest that will make us proud, nor will we be working to serve one. The things we do will not be based on the requirements of taking on a role and being someone else. No matter what we do, we’ll do it since we know that we are burdened to live. We will do what we do, knowing that we have to do it, knowing that we have no choice but to do it. Then no pride will catch us. We will hustle to be chosen to be instrumental for a beauty that tries to flourish with all its glory so not only pride but nothing will catch us. We will be caught by the feeling of gratitude for being instrumental in beauty and accepting a duty. We won’t have a vest. So that our hearts would be protected from the sickness of scoring in the name of that vest. We will only wear our hearts so that what we do will be credited to it.



II We will not seek help from anyone other than Allah. Whoever feels the inevitability of spending in their name upon seeing, but also sees giving as inevitable if they wish to purify themselves. Whoever does not see their burden as a means of purification, then they do not deserve to find where to give or what to do. The finder is always the one who seeks. Therefore, we will seek and hope to meet those who seek. And so, we will not ask for help from anyone other than Allah. We will make it clear that we do not ask for help from anyone other than Allah. In the relationships of the tasks we undertake, we will remove commodities so much from being an element of our transactions, we will ignore it so much that equalizing wealth and respect in our community at any time will be impossible. There will be only one measure of respect: The beauty of morality. The most morally superior among us will deserve the most respect. When someone who has earned their identity through sheer wealth and has no other quality than their wealth, thus having faith in the power of material things, comes among us, we will not straighten ourselves, we will not look at them with our faces, we will not expect approval from them, we will not sanctify them lightly and with elegant humility. Only the person who is rich and deifies power will not receive respect from us. For this to remain so, we will not expect anything from anyone. We will trust only in the power of our prayer, we will not believe in the chain of causes. The ability to excel will be surrendered to the person among us who holds prayer in the highest regard. The respect among us will be given to the person who most deserves it, to that person of superior moral beauty.

III We will value each other. For us, the quality of an issue will be greater to the extent that it approaches the elegance of not even looking askance at wildflowers. Our sincerity will be given away by our meticulousness.  If we do not have the delicacy to tremble upon water, then all other stuff will go beyond our limitations. There will only be one criterion to highlight our limitations: The power of trembling upon the most delicate and protected beauty. Everything will stop once something fades between us. If one day the heart of the one us gets broken, everybody will quit everything. And nothing will restart until everyone starts to tremble upon that heart. This will happen because we want to spread goodness. Because you will know that the only condition for spreading goodness is that it is good. If it isn’t good none of us are. If it does not detain us from evil no one could detain none of us from evil. We will not fall into the hypocrisy of spreading goodness without being good within ourselves. Because we will know that even spreading goodness is for us to be good. Even while drinking water, we will seek Allah’s will by respecting the water. Just like this, the care we show for each other will be a way of praying for Allah. We will care for each other as much as the lightness of a fasting soul. We will never give up on meticulousness. We will not look askance even at wildflowers. Everything will start from our sensitivity towards each other.

IV We will remember Allah. Our prophet said continuing a conversation in which the name of Allah is not mentioned is like smelling the carcass of a donkey. We may become bad and unbelieving people at any time in our lives, this danger grows as our memory becomes impotent, and what we do and why it always becomes unclear. Therefore, we will keep remembering Allah. Because then we will know the only feeling that we will get will be the smell of the dead things. Stinkenness. The power of our memory will come with the ability to remember Allah. When we are about to do something, the first person among us who “Allah” comes to his mind will immediately say the name of Allah and remind others who we are. When one of us realizes that we have not remembered Allah for a long time, this person will immediately tear up this infidel moment with the name of Allah. And it will remind others of what is what, why we do what we do, and our purpose, by pointing to the purpose of existence of all beings.

V If they ask who we are, we’ll tell them we are Muslims. We’ll tell that with a tone of knowing that we are being superior to them since we are believers.

VI We will not backbite. Neither behind others nor behind us. We promise that our throat will not be wide, and our stomach will be made a sensitive sensor for us. Thus, our stomachs will always feel sick from chewing our brother’s flesh. We will be disgusted by this, we will never be able to stomach it. We’ll throw up once we witness one of us has been done this evil. We’ll throw this ugliness up out of spite, without consideration, without any care. We’ll take revenge. We will only respond to an emetic evil with the same amount. This way, one of us will be sure of the other’s hand and tongue. We will all be entrusted to each other and never betray our trust. 



VII We will not be good to be heroes. We will be good for Allah’s sake. The other one will care for one of us to go to heaven. If we once give up on the salvation of one of us, we will be considered to have given up on our own salvation.



VIII We will keep each other from evil. One day, if one of us witnesses the other’s mistake, will keep this a secret. And then he will have the courage to hurt the other one, destroy hypocritical kindness, and fight only for his salvation from that evil. If he doesn’t show this courage he will give up on his friend. With the need we feel for this contract, we will know that we are all subject to mistakes, we are all inevitably to make mistakes, so we all need that friend who will watch us from the outside with the clearest and most merciful eyes. Thus, while we are all looking for a friend, we are also looking for salvation from a mistake. To us “There is evil in all communities, wherever there are people.” realists will say. But no matter what happens, we will always be among those who believe that it will not happen like this. We will once again solve the mistakes that have been encountered for the millionth time among us, so that even if we feel bored and tired, we will have the will to never give up on what is beautiful, and we will be among those who believe in goodness until our death and always strive to make it valid on earth. We will not share the blasphemy of realism. If making mistakes is inevitable, having a friend will also be inevitable. One of us will aspire to be a means to the other’s prayer. We will uplift each other with magnificent simplicity and mystery. We won’t have insurance just because we have a friend. The only condition for us to be able to declare our own existence will be our will to prevent another from evil.



IX We will do good as if we were paying a debt. Because kindness is a debt, of course. We will do good because Allah has commanded us to do so, because we aspire to be a form on earth of someone else’s prayer being fulfilled by Allah, that is, with the expectation of this blessing, that is, with the longing to be deserving of being made a mere means, that is, because we are in need of doing it. Thus, we will do this knowing that Allah gave us everything we have, that one day it may be taken away from us, and that we need the goodness we do while paying the debt of existence. By carrying these thoughts, we will not catch the disease of goodness. We will not act in order to get carried away by the feeling of superiority that goodness makes us feel, to be free from all obligations with the power of this pleasurable sensation, and to achieve a feeling of relief. We will act for the sake of Allah. Being in a position to do good will show that we are indebted. Doing good will increase our debt because we were blessed with that goodness. As we do good, we will become indebted to Allah, and we will do good only to pay off a debt.

X We will allow goodness to be done to us. We will definitely receive something from whatever we give to someone in order to be protected from the disorders that plague a person by doing a favor to someone. So we will be equal. When we reach out to a friend, a family, a soul, or Allah’s people, the greatest favor we do will be to allow them to do us a favor. We will never excel at giving. We will always be equal. In order to equalize ourselves, we will sit at a table, hear a word, and be a guest. We will bow down at their feet because they give us the opportunity to do good. We will not be the ones who hold the right to do good.

XI When we see someone being oppressed, whether from among us or from outside, we will be with him.

XII We will be against the oppressor until the rights of the oppressed have gotten back from the oppressor. Until the rights of the oppressed have been given back to him we will be one with the oppressed as one-whole body.


XIII Until the sea wets a single feather, as long as the mountains of Sebir and Hira remain in their places, and until full equality is achieved, these articles will be valid.

XIV If we betray one of these articles once, we will return from that mistake. When the repetition of the mistake embodied a way of rejecting these words not as a mistake of our human judgment, then the name of this person will be invalidated through this agreement.

XV We will connect with these words and we will connect through these words.