The month of May which we left behind always reminds us of the conquest. Conquest is spoken and will be more talked about. But the fact that conquest is a responsibility for a Muslim. It is therefore important to understand the conquest. Providing the opening of hearts to Islam gives us the original meaning of conquest. We must explain the conquest with the expedition to the hearts before linking it with the expedition to war. Only in this way, we can find the exact meaning of the conquest for humanity. The final result of the conquest is aimed at touching hearts.
The conquest of a land is not formed by military or political domination but by the thrust of the hearts. In other words, the conquest is the penetration of the heart, not the confiscation of soil. For this reason, four fundamental values must be dominated in the conquest geography. These values can be listed as safety, freedom, justice and compassion.
If you have a land, you must give a sense of trust to the people who live on the land. To remove the obstacles between you and the public, they must trust you. First of all, people want their life, property and generation to be protected. This is a very basic right and demand. The fulfillment of this herbal request will provide you with the confidence in people’s hearts.
Likewise, people want to live with their dignity. The most important value that protects human dignity is freedom. As long as you provide freedom for the people live in the land you have, they will be willing to live with you. This consent will soften the hearts against you.
The basic responsibility of a Muslim is to establish justice, no matter where and under what conditions. If you can establish justice in the land you have, the people who live there will have this land with you. It creates a common belonging. This brings a common sharing and a togetherness of heart.
Yet another value that is necessary to achieve the purpose of conquest is compassion. When you behave with compassion the residents will prefer you before others. The reason for the preference of the Muslim turban instead of the cardinal cone lies here. The compassionate approach enhances your sensation and open hearts.
We can see examples of this in the conquests of our history. For example the announcement made by the Prophet in the conquest of Mecca was “the one who is his/her home is the one who is in safety”. We see the same thing in the conquest of Jerusalem, in the conquest of Istanbul. Fort he inhabitants of the conquered lands, the first is to ensure the safety of life and property, not to intervene in their religion and beliefs, to establish the legal system for the establishment of justice and to treat people with compassion.
Conquests have been realized with these values which are dominated in the lands owned. The hearts of the people living in the conquered geography have opened a path with these values and they proceeded in this way and they were erected in the hearts of these people.
In the face of this, where the safety lefts its place to the chaos, the freedom to oppression and domination, the justice to the injustice and the persecution, the mercy to the cruelty, that means we are talking about occupation, not conquest. Because the conquest is made to revive the hearts while the occupation is made to kill the hearts. While the ultimate aim of the occupation is to conquer the land, the purpose of the conquest is to touch the hearts of the people who live in the land.