---
title: "Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “Aid given with expectation of return is a type of usury”"
description: "Üsküdar Üniversitesi, Nevzat Tarhan, Ramadan, Our Mental Health, Fasting, Resilience Training, Inner Purification, Sense of Helplessness, Neuroscience, Modernism, Narcissism"
url: https://uha.com.tr/prof-dr-nevzat-tarhan-aid-given-with-expectation-of-return-is-a-type-of-usury
type: article
language: en
last_updated: 2026-02-25
category: haber
---

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# Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “Aid given with expectation of return is a type of usury”

## Bilgi

| Özellik | Değer |
|---------|-------|
| **Kategori** | haber |
| **Yayın Tarihi** | 2025-03-26 |
| **Güncelleme** | 2026-02-25 |
| **Kaynak** | [Üsküdar Haber Ajansı](https://uha.com.tr/prof-dr-nevzat-tarhan-aid-given-with-expectation-of-return-is-a-type-of-usury) |

## Özet

**Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan was a live broadcast guest on TVNET’s Ramadan program with Serdar Tuncer. Evaluating the topic of “Ramadan and Our Mental Health,” Tarhan pointed out that fasting is a resilience training, a month of inner purification. Noting that individuals who understand the feeling of helplessness during this period comprehend great power, Tarhan underlined that the value of good begins to be understood as the negative consequences of evil become apparent. Tarhan also stated that aid given with an expectation of return is a type of usury.**

## İçerik

## ![](https://cdn.uha.com.tr/content/images/screenshot-6-250326040349.png)

## **“A person who knows the feeling of helplessness understands great power”**

Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan spoke about the necessity of surrendering to Allah after relying on Him; “A person who knows the feeling of helplessness, the weakness of helplessness, understands great power. For this to happen, one must first believe, faith is required. Believing is not enough, tawhid (oneness of God) is required. There must be such a belief that if there is a power that knows everything, controls everything, with absolute knowledge, absolute will, absolute power, and absolute wisdom, it means it knows even what passes through my heart. It is closer to me than my jugular vein. There will be such a belief in tawhid. After tawhid, the person surrenders. After surrender, reliance on God (tawakkul) emerges. This was something mentioned in Bediüzzaman Hazretleri’s 23rd word. He says, ‘Faith necessitates tawhid, tawhid necessitates surrender, surrender necessitates reliance on God, and reliance on God necessitates happiness in both worlds.’ He means happiness in two worlds. Reliance on God is like giving power of attorney to Allah. For example, you give power of attorney to a lawyer. Since you’ve given the power of attorney, you must now trust them. For example, you board a plane, you’ve given power of attorney to the captain. If you don’t trust the captain, you can’t sleep, your sleep will be disturbed, your peace will be lost. After you rely on Allah, He is the One who knows and controls everything. Reliance on God is being able to give power of attorney, being able to surrender to Allah.”

![](https://cdn.uha.com.tr/content/images/screenshot-7-250326040520.png)

## **“You climb to the top with power, you stay at the top with justice”**

Tarhan noted that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between trust and love; “You climb to the top with power, but you stay at the top with justice. For there to be a trust relationship here, there must be fair sharing. That is, there must be a relationship based on equity. Islam exalts voluntary obedience. It ensures obedience based on love, not obedience based on fear. When that happens, it becomes sustainable. To be sustainable, it is absolutely necessary to establish a trust relationship. When there is affection, fear decreases, and trust increases. There is a cause-and-effect relationship between trust and love. Previously, the family was called a home of love; now we call it a home of trust. Sometimes there is love, but it is a selfish love. It enslaves the person it loves. It seeks a master-slave relationship. This love is self-serving, narcissistic love. That enslaving love causes more harm to the relationship. Therefore, love that includes empathy is more compassionate. That also builds trust. Think of a child. They fear their mother, cry, and then take refuge in her and relax. It's like that. Love and trust together.” he said.

## **The method of persuasion, conviction, and endearment should be used…**

Tarhan underlined that pressure, intimidation, and threats were adopted as methods with the Umayyads; “In the Holy Quran, we translate ‘taqwa’ as fear. In fact, it has a meaning like responsibility there. Currently, when ‘fear of Allah’ is mentioned, it is depicted as a punishing creator. In other words, it is necessary to conceive of God in a manner consistent with prophetic morality. There is no coercion in the life of the Messenger of Allah. On the contrary, for example, his tone of voice did not even rise in close relationships. Establishing order with the fear of Allah entered the literature more with the Umayyads. In fact, it does not originate from Islam. The Mesopotamian tradition adopted beating and violence as methods. Later, with the Umayyads, we adopted pressure, intimidation, and threat as methods. It is possible to get results by frightening people who do not understand words, but that method does not work in this age. In this age, the method of persuasion, conviction, and endearment should be used.” he stated.

## **“Neuroscience has overturned some dogmas of modernism”**

Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that capitalist culture adopted the glorification of selfishness as an ideology. Tarhan; “Neuroscience has currently overturned some dogmas of modernism. That is, modernism used to say, ‘You are important.’ For example, sometimes psychologists trained in America would come to us as couple therapists. When there was a problem, they would say, ‘Family is not sacred, you are sacred. Forget about marriage, your spouse, your children. Live your life,’ and they would glorify selfishness. Capitalist culture adopted this as an ideology. That is, it tries to present this globally as popular culture through social media and so on. When its flaws began to be seen, scientific movements began. In neuroscience, fields of science such as positive psychology, which proceeds by measurement, emerged. There is an experiment done on Buddhist monks. Brain imaging of Buddhist monks is taken. At the same time, pictures of burnt people are shown to an average American. When they see pictures of burnt people, areas related to stress and avoidance become active in the brain of an average American. Then the same thing is done to Buddhist monks. Areas related to helping others become active in their brains, and at the same time, areas related to happiness also become active. In other words, when that person helps someone else, the giver actually benefits. It secretes happiness hormones. For example, the emotion of compassion is a proven thing. The brain secretes happiness hormones. This is not such an abstract subject; it has a concrete equivalent in humans. In positive psychology applications, we provide gratitude training.”

## **“Aid given with expectation of return is a type of usury”**

Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan pointed out that as the negative consequences of evil become apparent, the value of good begins to be understood; “Aid given with an expectation of return is a type of usury. It is not in our culture. That is, if you do good, it should be selfless good. And you should expect the reward from Allah. That kind of culture of goodness has changed in us. We are currently experiencing such cultural shifts, but because we preserve our essence, as the bad consequences of evil become apparent, the value of good has begun to be understood. In aid activities, for example, to treat one's own narcissism, we must first treat and correct the narcissism within ourselves. What is narcissism? The style of sanctifying oneself, admiring oneself. Such a person will succeed in helping without showing themselves. If someone succeeds in quietly helping without showing it to anyone, it means they have scored a goal against their own narcissism. When you do charity publicly, it is exhibiting that charity. In such situations, the other party also feels oppressed. There is a critical word here, ‘intention’ is very important. We need to review our intentions when doing it. First, what is our intention? If our intention is good, there is a Hadith Qudsi, it says, ‘If you have good intentions and sincere efforts, I am your completer.’ That is, this is the word of Allah. Even if your intention is good, if you do it to get approval from others, to be applauded, it casts a shadow. But still, help is always a good thing.” he said.

## **When it becomes the sole superpower, it becomes tyrannical…**

Tarhan underlined that customs and traditions determine social boundaries as well as human relations; “There are limits set by laws, social norms. There are norms determined by tradition, custom, and justice. And there are conscientious norms. We had just graduated from GATA. There was a beautiful conference given by one of our gynecology professors. There, he said, ‘Children, you are all single, you will get married soon. When you get married, I have 3 pieces of advice for you. First, fear Allah; one who fears Allah does not do hidden evil. Second, be ashamed of people. One who does this does not do open evil. Third, the person you marry should not be stubborn; that’s enough, don’t investigate too much.’ It was truly a wonderfully wise thing. Stubborn people are individually self-centered. Just as customs and traditions determine social boundaries, they also determine human relations. It is said that when you go on a journey with a person, you understand what kind of person they are. You understand their true personality when they get angry. Even Professor Ayhan Songar, of blessed memory, said when Demirel became President; ‘You will see the real Demirel now.’ How does one become after gaining power from office? This also causes the suppressed emotions within a person to emerge in some way. The capitalist system, when it seizes power and becomes the sole superpower, becomes tyrannical.” he stated.

## **“Narcissistic societies cannot last long”**

Tarhan spoke about how people who can accept criticism as a gift can manage their narcissism; “In political narcissism, Rome is an example of this. The Roman Empire did not collapse due to external enemies but due to its own internal conflicts. Therefore, narcissistic societies cannot last long. When they gain power, ego wars begin among them. Therefore, setting limits, for example, during the constitutional debates in the late Ottoman period, when discussions were held about ‘Is constitutionalism permissible or not?’, regarding the establishment of the Chamber of Deputies, they said, ‘Opposition is the balance of justice.’ Opposition. That is, if a child at home says, ‘Father, not like that, let it be like this,’ and a person can accept a fair criticism as a gift, it means that person is managing their narcissism. It provides justice by saying, ‘Opposition is the balance of justice.’ Because even a well-intentioned person, when they gain power, unconsciously wants to eliminate the opposition. That is, they want to silence it. That is why it is said to acquire and gain friends who criticize you. If there is already a conscience within, there is no need for an external thing. If there is a guardian in one's conscience, if there is an inner voice in one's conscience, that inner voice will tell that person not to do it.”

## **“The normalization of evil has facilitated the work of dictators”**

Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that humans are masters at deceiving themselves, and that silence normalizes and spreads evil. Tarhan; “Regarding evil, humanity has made great technological progress thanks to civilization. We are in the age of communication. Why isn't evil decreasing in parallel? How does a person deceive himself? Humans are very skilled at deceiving themselves. This topic is one of the types of evil and is much debated. Especially after Hitler, social scientists debated it extensively. Philosophers who triggered the Age of Enlightenment came from Germany. From Immanuel Kant onwards, many came from there, a place that produced great scholars. How was it that something like Hitler could not be prevented or stopped? In this approach, beyond political manipulations, the concept of the normalization of evil emerged there. Someone is doing evil there. Some people turn a blind eye to evil for their own benefit. Dante even has a saying. In the Divine Comedy, he says, ‘The deepest part of hell is reserved for those who remain silent in the face of evil.’ He said this centuries ago. If a maid breaks something at home, she is punished; if the lady breaks it, it's an accident. In such situations, by not touching it, silence has normalized and widespread evil. This type of normalization of evil has facilitated the work of dictators. Therefore, what is done regarding evil should be evaluated.” he said.

## **“Fasting is an inner purification…”**

Tarhan noted that as a result of neglecting practices like resilience training, the 'evil part' within a person grows; “It is important to be able to discipline the evil part within us. To fight evil, first inner evil. For example, the greatest thing Ramadan brings us is inner purification. In fact, there are self-control muscles in the frontal region of our brain. Self-control in the brain’s frontal region is the captain’s bridge of the brain. Ramadan fasting, for example, is resilience training. There are two kinds of patience. One is patience against evils, misfortunes, and illnesses. Negative patience, and there is also positive patience. Delaying pleasure, delaying gratification. Being able to do something for a high goal and give up something else. Patience like a student studying for their graduation, staying up all night. The ‘disciplining the ego’ of a person, which we now call gratification postponement skill, or resilience training, when these practices are neglected, the evil part within a person grows. When the evil part grows, if there is power, it tries to devour everything. Western philosophy has always connected the limiting of power to an external power. For example, Germans sanctified laws, but they lack conscience. For example, Hitler was incredibly hardworking, working day and night. A tremendous, charismatic leader. The man who founded the German Empire. But he had no conscience. Even when the Soviets were about to enter Berlin, they said, ‘There will be war here. Many people will die. Let’s surrender.’ He said, ‘If they didn’t vote for me, I won’t surrender,’ and he committed suicide. That is, he had no mercy to that extent.” he stated.

## **“Capitalism is preparing people for Allah”**

Tarhan pointed out that Gaza has triggered a global conscience; “Why is evil in Gaza in this event? Gaza has triggered a tremendous global awakening, a global conscience. There is wisdom in destiny allowing the events in Gaza. This wisdom probably means that before the apocalypse, humanity will globally grasp the truth. Therefore, what is our role, what is our duty here? The most effective method of this era to explain the truth is the method of persuasion and conviction. A person who trusts their idea, who trusts the truth they hold, is not afraid to argue. Do we not trust the truths of the Quran? A person who trusts the truths of the Quran discusses in a free discussion environment, explains to the other side, and gets convinced. If not, they are obligated. The most beautiful method of struggle in this era is idea against idea and spiritual struggle through representation. To struggle through representation, through persuasion, conviction, and endearment. Ahmet Yesevi said; ‘It is our duty to find those with broken hearts.’ And indeed, those with broken hearts find Allah. In this era, globally, capitalism is constantly breaking people’s hearts. This is not the job of psychiatrists. Rest assured, this is the job of spiritual psychology, of spirituality. Capitalism is preparing people for Allah.”

[Video](https://www.youtube.com/embed/v9XlCWCxD2k)

## Akademik Referans

DOI: [https://doi.org/10.32739/uha.id.60118](https://doi.org/10.32739/uha.id.60118)

---

*Kaynak: [Üsküdar Haber Ajansı](https://uha.com.tr) — https://uha.com.tr/prof-dr-nevzat-tarhan-aid-given-with-expectation-of-return-is-a-type-of-usury*