The New Ottomans

Sohbet by Shaykh Abdul Kerim al-Kibrisi
Wednesday, 13 Safar 1426
March 23, 2005

…”I am also watching that some people are unjustly attacking the Ottomans. No one has any right to attack the Ottomans. The Ottomans proved themselves, ruling for 700 years — and justly. If people don’t know how they ruled they just have to look from the end, 1923, until today, whatever happened between these dates. Then they will understand how many wrong things happened in this world today. There was only one nation. The westerners entered and they destroyed it and made it 45 different nations. That should be enough for us to understand how they have destroyed us.

When the Ottoman Empire was standing, it was impossible for them to enter and to separate us. The history is there even if we like it or not. They didn’t live for their egos, they lived for the Nation of Muhammad (asws), to make them to become better servants to Allah; and they lived to be pleasing Allah and His Prophet… So it is wrong for people to be attacking the Ottomans — the Ottoman Sultans especially, who were all in the different levels of sainthood. Not a single Ottoman Sultan came who was not a saint. They were all Beloved to Allah and they tried to do what Allah and His Prophet wanted them to do.

We believe they did what is for them — but we didn’t do what is for us; and we are finding it too easy today to attack those who stood very strongly against the unbelievers. Islam has reached to us because of them, because they stood strongly. Otherwise we wouldn’t even be Muslim today. That’s one thing. Also people must understand that attacking orsaying anything bad against those who tried their best for the safety of Islam, for the safety of other people, is not going to give them anything. It is just going to bring them down to lower stations, it is not going to bring anybody to give them high titles.

“These kinds of things should not happen among believers, especially among Osmanli Naks’i-Bendis. We are the ones that Grandshaykh has ordered to try to wake up the Ottoman way of living again. So many are not understanding that when you say “Ottoman,” it doesn’t mean Turk or Arab. If you are an Arab – you are Ottoman. If you are a Pakistani – you are Ottoman. If you are a Turk, you are Ottoman. If you are Boshnak, you are Ottoman. If you are British, you are Ottoman. If you are American, you are Ottoman. If you are from any other nation and you are accepting Islam, then you have to come under one flag, the Ottoman flag. What is so hard about that? Everyone is accepting to be American, but not accepting to be Ottoman. When you go to a Greek, he says “I am Greek-American.” Turks, “I am Turkish-American.” Italian, “Italian-American.” But no one is saying “I am Arab-Ottoman,” or “I am Turk-Ottoman,” or “I am this Ottoman.”…