By Dr. Şerif Ali Tekalan

Medicine and social science are quite similar because both deal with humans as their principal focus. In medicine, it is critical that a person be normal and healthy. Since society is composed of individuals, a society made up of normal and healthy individuals will also be normal and healthy. Based on this fundamental premise, the structure and physiology of the human body, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of its deterioration, are nearly identical to the diagnosis and treatment of analogous occurrences in society. For example, inflammation in medicine has significant connections with social unrest, and cancer in medicine has significant similarities with anarchy in society, both in terms of causation, diagnosis, and therapy. These types of diagnoses and therapies are appropriate.

Degeneration and Regeneration

“Degeneration” occurs when the structures of tissues in a normal human body deteriorate owing to an incorrect diet, abuse, and other factors. A weight lifted unbalanced might alter a person’s spinal system, causing significant back discomfort. This is a deterioration of the spine. The cure aims to restore that structure to a state similar to normal through physical therapy and, if required, surgery, which is known as regeneration or “re-correction.” Regeneration refers to the process by which wounded skin heals itself. The process of regrowing injured or missing tissues and organs is known as regeneration.

Similarly, if the normal social structure is disrupted by abnormal interventions in social life (behaviors that are contrary to the way humans are created), society will degenerate to varying degrees depending on the importance and magnitude of the intervention. If a malfunction in the body is not repaired immediately, it will lead to more serious and difficult-to-treat illnesses. A person might deal with this issue for their entire life. A similar issue can occur in social settings. While a minor defect can be corrected instantly with the proper diagnosis and treatment, if left untreated, this problem in society can last for centuries, not just years. As a result, the society becomes dysfunctional and troubled. When people enter a vicious circle, they become miserable, and such a civilization scores last in the global development index.

Identifying and fixing these errors as soon as feasible using contemporary methods will save future generations while also setting an example for other communities worldwide. This is exactly what is happening around the globe right now. In circumstances where appropriate solutions are not identified in time, countries rank low in prioritizing real human values, resulting in a vicious cycle of accumulating issues. Escaping this spiral and becoming a respected society in the world will require substantial effort and hard work. Even when the appropriate course is adopted, returning to normal takes several generations. It is feasible for a corrupt, decadent society with lost human values to renew itself and achieve true human values through sincere efforts and regeneration. When human history is investigated, examples of both groups can be found, and this process is replete with examples of societies that can correct themselves (regeneration) in both directions, from normal to degenerate society and back.

Integration and Assimilation

The topic of integration is another illustration of the parallels between medicine and social events. Integration means that a structure, both as an individual and as a society, retains its identity while coexisting with other structures of a similar nature. Humans have been forced to migrate from their existing environments to other countries and communities with different languages, religions, colors, and ethnicities for various reasons since the beginning of time. This process is currently ongoing.

When this happens, integration is essential for a person to remain true to themselves, with their social customs and traditions, without offending others. They must respect the customs and traditions of the place they visit and engage in dialogue. Ignoring one’s cultural values (assimilation), changing them due to external pressures, or adopting the cultural values of a new environment is not desirable. Instead, accepting everyone in their unique situation should be the starting point.

This is where the true challenge of integration begins. People who are forced to leave their home nation for various reasons migrate to places where they are accepted and treated with dignity. In some ways, this resembles a guest-host situation. While the guest tries to maintain their own ways, the host must understand the predicament of these people, who were forced to flee their nation due to injustice and persecution, and take appropriate action. The guest-hosting process will take time. These people will become normal members of that community after two or three generations if their human features are preserved and both sides address the situation reasonably and gently. Many such examples can still be seen and experienced in the world today.

These host-guest relationships may necessitate greater initial sacrifices from the hosts. Throughout history, migrating people’s later contributions to the country to which they relocated have often far exceeded the initial contributions of the receiving countries, and this is likely to continue in the future.

When the issue is addressed within these frames, no circumstance is insurmountable for either party. As long as patience is maintained, these days will be marked by active patience and hope produced through hard labor and sweat. Future generations of migrant workers will learn integration without assimilation, live and contribute significantly to that society, just as they did before. These approaches are not a dream but a fact of social events. Humanity is the present-day manifestation of a wheel that has been rotating since its inception.

Embracing Challenges and Destiny

The essential issue here is for believers to have faith in destiny, stop looking back, and ask, “Yes, now we are at this stage of the test, what should we do and how should we proceed?” It is vital to accelerate our efforts to discover appropriate answers through internal deliberations and then to implement them. This is not the first or last time we have encountered such a situation. Similar events have occurred in the past, will occur in the future, and are currently taking place.

Life is difficult, but is anything in the world easy? To have a child, a mother patiently bears the child in her womb for nine months and ten days, then nurtures and supports the child through various forms of suffering and struggle, but continues to care for that child throughout their life. Every test contains unique questions and answers. The key is to effectively complete these exams.

We do not control our fate. Because belief in destiny is one of Islam’s six pillars, we will accept it and seek to overcome these challenges with the wisdom, thoughts, experience, and consultations that God has bestowed upon us.

In newly arrived countries, we will make friends with people of different religions, languages, and races based on our shared humanity. We will integrate without assimilation, embracing their beauty and sharing our own. Thus, in the future, a new world will arise from islands of peace built by future generations who embrace one another.

As His Holiness İbrahim Hakkı of Erzurum stated:

The evils of truth are good things Don’t think that they are good things Watching the wise moment Let’s see what happens to God
Whatever it is, it’s good.

Don’t say why it is like this, it is appropriate, it is like that, look at the end, God, let’s see what happens, whatever it is, it is beautiful.