“The one who sleeps when her/his neighbor is hungry is not one of us”
All the members of the congregation were made to believe that they were gathered for the sake of Allah and that they were a community of people who thought they were running for the same goals and objectives. But was that really the case? Were these people rowing in the same boat, rowing the same current, really working under the same conditions?
Since the biggest aim of the congregation is to be an education movement and to raise people, therefore the first priority should be the (!) investments made in the student, right? Scholarships-charity-sacrifice-zakat… These collected funds had to be spent primarily on students. Because, while asking for a scholarship, it was tried to reach people’s hearts and pockets with the fatwa that it is permissible to give a scholarship to a student who studies knowledge if he has shoes made of gold.
Tradesmen, trustees, and those working in public institutions and community institutions had to give a certain amount of their earnings to the community in order to clear their wages and salaries(!). It was not his duty to think of the needy among his own family or relatives. His job was to run day and night for the Hizmet/ congregation he believed in and to work like everyone else to raise funds. Was there equality of opportunity in the congregation? Unfortunately not much.
Especially in big cities such as Istanbul-Ankara, the salaries of teachers and those working in the region were paid in full on time (including big city compensation differences). On the other hand, the salaries of those who served in the eastern provinces of our country were paid 3-5 months or even 1 year behind, and there was a congregation of dissatisfied people who struggled with the landlords instead of being a balm for the wound, and still had to ask their parents for money because they could not pay their bills.
When collective money could be found in a province, people who could not receive their salaries for months gathered together, and once again, they were asked to make sacrifices from the money they had the right to, and obligatory donations were made. How Does? Employees were automatically deducted from their salaries. You know, the Hizmet movement was a volunteer movement. In fact, compulsory volunteering (!) should have been the basis.
In these provincial provinces, the victimization was experienced by the lower cadres. While the brother of the province, the brothers of the region, the directors received their own rations completely (I exonerate the people who act justly in this matter), the lower ones (the commoners) were constantly exploited for the sake of Allah.
On the other hand, the criticisms made about escaping to luxury while constructing buildings for community institutions have always been heeded. Because community schools should have been respected. In this case, the first deduction was always the scholarships to be given to the students or the guidance money to be spent in the region (no conscientious person can deny such experiences).
Of course, there was also an item called “central payment”. What was this central payment, the percentage of the money collected in the province (!) determined by the center was delivered to the regional centers and finally to the central safe of Hodjaefendi. This was the most important priority, these payments were made before giving it to the student and the rest was distributed at the initiative of the Imams. The collected money was used as far as possible from its purpose.
So how was this situation with the privy/privacy units, known as the non-transparent wing of the Congregation? Do the same grievances occur in this part? Based on my own experience, my answer is no! I wonder if this is what it’s like to be a true cause union/fraternity? While people trying to carry out civil services in many rural areas were experiencing financial difficulties, the privy/privacy units and especially the elder brothers (!) who were in charge of the privy/privacy units could easily have different tastes of drinks and delicious food in their ivory towers. For this reason, privy/privacy units were also seen as an escape from civilian areas to prosperity. Of course, in this case, there was also a group of people who remained silent and did not question all the injustices and favoritism in privy/privacy units.
Has this situation in the Hizmet/congregation changed after July 15? Can humans really empathize anymore? My answer is unfortunately no! While there was a regular flow of money from home and abroad to those working in the privy/privacy units, the epics of the people who stayed in the regions continued to be told. We heard and watched the situation of people selling lemons in the market, having to work in constructions, trying to hold on to life by being porters. Of course, it wouldn’t even cross my mind to underestimate people in this situation. Because, in my opinion, there is no other income as sacred as the halal income that a person earns with his own sweat.
I find it very difficult for the brothers-people who tell about the grievances experienced here or share them with the communication channels used by the congregation, talking on the high pitch as if they saved the world or helped those people who were victims with a few posts on social media while sipping their coffee in their comfort zone. While people who were in private units during illegal escapes abroad were hosted in VIP forms and abducted, other people were left to their own solitude in the Meriç River and the Aegean Sea. I wonder how the money given to the smugglers in the illegal exits of the people in the private units will be accounted for? I also know that there are many people who will condemn me by saying that these actions are permissible while fleeing from persecution. Finally; I would like to ask a simple question to the administrators-members of the Hizmet/congregation who acted against the hadith given at the beginning of the article, in honor of the month of Ramadan, the sultan of the eleven months we are in. Will you be able to escape from your conscience as you escaped from Turkey? There is no escape from it…