Address to Our Heroic Soldiers

Volkan No: 107

26 Rebîülevvel 1327/ 4 Nisan 1325/ 17 April 1909

 

[This piece and the next one, parts of an address to the army during the events in April 1909 known as the 31st March Incident, induced eight mutinying regiments to obey their officers and return to barracks, greatly lessening the harm of the calamity.]

 

Noble soldiers of Islam! Mighty heroes who have twice saved this oppressed nation and sacred Islam from a terrible abyss! Your beauty and perfection lie in order and discipline. You demonstrated this perfectly at the time of greatest confusion. Yes, your life and strength lie in obedience. Display this sacred virtue before even your least officer. The honour of thirty million Ottomans and three hundred million Muslims is tied to your obedience. The banner of Divine Unity is in the hand of your courage, while the strength of those blessed hands of yours is obedience. Your officers are your compassionate fathers. Both the Qur’an, and Hadith, and wisdom and experience state that obedience to those in command who are rightful is obligatory.

You know that thirty million could not bring about two such revolutions in a hundred years. The true strength resulting from your obedience made the whole Islamic nation grateful to you. This honour may be confirmed now through obedience to your officers. The honour of Islam is also dependent on that obedience. I know that you did not get mixed up with it in order to save your officers -who are like your kind fathers- from responsibility. But the matter is finished now, so you should throw yourselves into their compassionate embrace. The Illustrious Shari‘a orders you to do this. For your officers have been charged with authority over you; for the benefit of the country and nation, and particularly to maintain discipline in the army, obedience to those charged with authority is obligatory. The Shari‘a of Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) will also be preserved through your obedience.

 

S a i d  N u r s i