519-520

It is well known to those who know my life: fifty-five years ago, when I was about twenty years old, I stayed at the residence of the late Governor ‘Umar Pasha in Bitlis for two years at his insistence and because of his great respect for ‘ilm. He had six daughters; three were younger, and the other three were older. Despite living in the same residence with them for two years, I could not identify and differentiate the three older ones from one another. I never paid them attention, nor did I know them. An ‘âlim came to visit me, and within two days, he could identify and differentiate between them. Everybody was surprised with this state of mine and asked me, “Why do you not look at them?”

I would tell them, “Protecting the dignity of ‘ilm prevents me from looking.”

Moreover, forty years ago, during a special Kâğıthane festival in Istanbul, thousands of immodestly dressed Greek and Armenian women and girls, as well as those from Istanbul, lined up around both sides of the Golden Thorn, all the way from the Bridge to Kâğıthane. At that time, the late member of parliament, Mullah Sayyid Taha and another member of parliament, Haji Ilyas and I were together on a boat; we were passing by those women. I was not aware. However, Mullah Taha and Haji Ilyas confessed after an hour of travelling on that boat that they had been testing me and were watching me in turn. They said, “We are amazed at your state; you did not look even once.”

I said, “I do not want to look because the consequences of unnecessary, temporary and sinful pleasures are pains and regrets.”