Every Line Ends in Water: A Life Held by Practice - Dr. Salih Sayilgan

Dr. Sayılgan's day starts before most people's. Fajr (morning prayer), then writing while his mind is fresh, then coffee, then ten pages of Quran, three hadiths, a few pages of the Risale-i Nur, and some lines of poetry. He calls it the thing that sets up the day.He grew up herding cows in a village in eastern Turkey, named by a Naqshbandi shaykh who came to visit when he was born. He went to boarding school in Konya, the city of Rumi. Then Istanbul, Estonia, a Christian seminary in Virginia, and eventually a Jesuit university in Washington, where he teaches a course called The Problem of God.He teaches that course because of a question he has spent a decade on: why is there suffering? In 2022 the question stopped being academic. His daughter Maryam was killed in a car accident weeks before her fourth birthday, while he was finishing a book on evil and suffering in Islam. He will tell you plainly that he has no answer. What he has is taslim, submission, and a practice that did not stop.We talk about Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, who wrote his life's work in exile and in prison, sometimes on matchboxes, and produced hope out of it. About what jihad actually means, and why Nursi called for the jihad of the pen. About why he says there is no word in any language for a parent who has lost a child. And about an Ottoman poem in which every single line ends with the word for water, and the water is the Prophet ﷺ.Man laysa lahu wird, laysa lahu wārid.CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction01:05 Ten pages, three hadiths, and a few lines of poetry03:19 Why he reads Nursi every day05:58 A village in eastern Turkey06:51 Boarding school in Konya, the city of Rumi07:44 Named by a shaykh09:47 Istanbul, Estonia, and a Christian seminary11:33 Why he chose religion13:37 Said Nursi: writing on matchboxes in prison15:59 Weakness as a starting point19:31 What jihad actually means21:35 The jihad of the pen24:14 Islam in America: visibility and reaction26:36 Why a cemetery matters31:19 Studying Christianity33:05 The Problem of God35:26 Maryam38:05 No word for a parent who lost a child40:09 Taslim: the call from the hospital42:30 A community that isn't afraid of death46:56 Following the Prophet ﷺ49:35 Imam Suyuti's treatise on losing a child51:39 "The Prophet is the one who raised me"53:43 Layla, Majnun, and seeing through another's eyes57:16 Every line ends in water