Editorial

Throughout the history of mankind, the shape, priority and succession of
relations between the religion and state have been the subject of controversy.
Relations between religion and the state, which led to deep breaks and
conflicts in the West, continued in a generally high-tens dimension in the
Islamic world. Being sociological realities of our country the facts that
the religious formations and movements are causing high-tension in recent
years and the the relations of religion, politics, state are being dragged to a
process of questioning the existence of communities yielded a re-discussion
of the relation between all of them.
As a member of globalizing world, , the condition of the Islamic world
flourishing in the network of capitalism, the influence of the secularization
on the communities, the point that Political Islam advocating to change
the structure of society in a vertical manner, the possibilities of carrying
out a good relation between religion, state and community and how the
communities will return to their original position in the field of spirituality
are the questions to be solved in recent years.
One of the issues discussed in this context in recent years has been how
community-state relations will be conducted on the axis of rule of law and
justice. Today, the concept of the state of law, adopted as a principle by
many constitutions, is considered as an inseparable element of democracy.
According to this, the individuals have fundamental, indispensable rights
Religion-State And
Community Relations
Editorial
7
YAZ / 2017
and freedom those can not be violated by any person and institution. The
fact that the “state is subject to the law” means that it is equal with the
individuals in the face of the law and the citizens have to be be protected
against the state when necessary.
As being one of the four essentials of the Qur’an, Justice is also a concept
that particularly affects the historical process of mankind, and a point th
at the divine-books. In this respect, The two the principles expressing the
justice approach of the Qur’an “one can not be punished except for the
fault of one” and “The right of an innocent can not be canceled even for the
whole people” bring new explanations to the search for the “state of law”
centered on man.
The newer, up-to-date initiatives of the Islamic world, which have
undergone serious transformations over the last few centuries, are very
important for the future of mankind. The tradition of Islamic thought, which
brings peace to humanity with its past experience, has paved the way for
different formations with different reactions over the last two hundred years
due to the influence of western positivist and materialist movements and
regression psychology. Compassion, conversation and fraternity-centered
tradition of Islamic thought, give rise to war of violence and terrorism. The
anti-Islamic rhetoric that identifies Islam with violence is also supported
by conflicting images in the Islamic world, which, unfortunately, restricts
the movement of Islamic dynamics that will bring peace and harmony to
humanity. In this context, the Risale-i Nur movement, which flourishes on
a restricted and blocked ground in each area, is expected to be understood
as to reconstructe the universal pioneer of Islamic thought.
In the previous issue, we have already presented some of the papers
presented at the 12th Risale-i Nur Congress, titled “Relations between
religion, state annd communities on the Axis of Rule of Justice and Justice”,
held by the Risale-i Nur Institute. And in this issue, we also want to share
some of the papers presented at the congress.
We hope to be with you in the following issue on the topic of
“Medresetuzzehra”, which we have defined as a civilization project.