New Year's warning from the Diyanet: Protect yourselves

The Presidency of Religious Affairs' Friday sermon featured the topic of 'National and spiritual values'.

In the sermon delivered in mosques before Friday prayers, the following statement was recorded: "The fundamental element that makes nations strong and carries them into the future with confident steps is their adherence to their national and spiritual values. Nations that adopt the values of others instead of their own, and the symbols of others instead of their own, cannot stand. Societies that forget their own civilization and fall under the influence of foreign cultures lose their history, language, religion, and identity. Indeed, the warning of our Prophet (pbuh), 'Whoever resembles a people is one of them,' is of great importance for all of us. For this reason, emulating figures from non-Islamic traditions that have no connection to our religion and customs, dressing like them, or distributing gifts like them is contrary to our faith and is wrong."

The sermon, which stated that the birth of a prophet who invites people to truth and reality cannot be celebrated in a way that contradicts the values he brought, underscored that any form of entertainment or behavior that does not adhere to the measures of halal and haram and exceeds the boundaries of privacy is contrary to faith and is a sin.

'LET US PROTECT OURSELVES, OUR FAMILIES, OUR YOUTH, AND OUR CHILDREN'

The sermon concluded with the following sentences:

Exchanging gifts with products sold by those who support the killers of the innocent, for whatever reason, is a burden so heavy that it would ache the bones of all our martyrs, especially our martyrs in Gaza. Let us also never forget this: no entertainment or celebration, including New Year's Eve celebrations, can make haram acts such as alcohol, which is the mother of all evils; gambling, which destroys homes; adultery, which shakes the foundations of family and society; drugs, which disable the mind and will; and lotteries and other games of chance, which bring nothing but unhappiness, halal or legitimate. The reason why Muslims fall into these aforementioned wrongs that do not align with their values and beliefs is their worldliness and their distancing from divine measures. Our beloved Prophet (pbuh) warns us in this regard as follows: 'There will be those among you who will follow the customs of previous nations inch by inch, span by span. Even if they were to enter a lizard's hole, they would follow them into it.' Therefore, let us hold firmly to the values that make us who we are and keep us standing. Let us protect ourselves, our families, our youth, and our children from superstitious beliefs and incorrect attitudes and behaviors that have no place in our religion. Let us not forget that those who follow Allah and His Messenger in every state will attain peace in this world and eternal salvation in the hereafter.