"Alhamdulillah, we are Muslims, and our faith is the source of our purpose. We know that this world is not our true home, but a temporary place of trial. As we see our lives passing by swiftly like the wind, we feel even more strongly the need to perform sincere and diligent righteous deeds for the sake of the hereafter. We must do things that are beneficial to humanity before the opportunity passes; we must serve our religion and our fellow believers with all our means."
These were the words of the late Mahmud Es'ad Coşan Hocaefendi in the first sentences of the first editorial of the first issue of Islam Magazine published in 1983... His goal was the salvation of humanity...
Launched as a monthly magazine in September 1983, Islam made significant contributions to raising the level of science, culture, art, and thought among the people of our country for 15 years until June 1998. It took an interest in the situation of oppressed and disadvantaged people in various parts of the world and made great efforts to bring Muslims around the world into contact with Muslims in Turkey.
The late Mahmud Esad Coşan Hocaefendi considered the education and instruction of Muslims to be the most important issue and published the Islamic magazine with the aim of educating the wider community in this regard. The magazine quickly gained popularity and became a centre of culture, knowledge and wisdom.
Throughout his publishing career, Hocaefendi remained closely involved with the magazine, never neglecting to write his editorials despite his busy schedule. He regarded each editorial as a letter to the reader, addressing the evolving and changing conditions of the day without neglecting fundamental values, and skillfully and simply put into words topics that would remain fresh no matter when or where they were read.
Hocaefendi's style is effortless, simple, captivating, appealing to people of all levels of understanding, and completely unique. Words with similar and opposite meanings are strung together like pearls, and his writings are soothing to the reader.
The editorials published in the magazine have been included in this book in chronological order. Some articles deal with issues that were important at the time but have since lost their relevance. We believe that such articles will contribute significantly to understanding Hocaefendi's world of thought as a whole and to evaluating the conditions of that period.
The sources of the verses, hadiths, sayings of the wise, and poems that appear in the editorials and are not cited have been identified as much as possible and indicated in footnotes. Spelling differences in words and concepts in articles written over a long period of time have been eliminated to ensure consistency. A bibliography and a detailed index have been added at the end to facilitate the work of researchers.
The Islamic journal, which has opened up a new horizon for a wide audience with its popularity, influence, and the understanding it has brought forth, has produced an agenda in each issue without being carried away by events. When its editorials are read, it becomes clear how much the same message resonates today as it will in the future.
