The most defining characteristic of the modern age is that humanity has changed not only the world it inhabits, but also the way it perceives itself. In a time when technology surrounds life and screens have become central to everyday existence, human beings increasingly establish their relationship with truth through images. This is not merely a technical transformation; it is also a moral, intellectual, and ontological rupture. "Dijital Çağda Hayâ Ahlakı: Beden Ülkesinde Gözün Darbesi" (which could be translated into English as "The Ethics of Modesty in the Digital Age: The Assault of the Eye in the Kingdom of the Body"), written by Mehmet Görmez, is a remarkable work that places this rupture at its center and analyzes the destruction caused by digital civilization through the conceptual framework of Islamic thought. Published by the Islamic Thought Institute, the book approaches one of the most significant issues of our age – the “crisis of perception” – not merely as a sociological problem, but as a direct intervention against human nature itself.
From its very title, the book establishes a powerful intellectual framework. The phrase “the assault of the eye in the kingdom of the body” vividly illustrates how modern humanity is surrounded by visual culture. Today, not only the human eye, but also the mind, heart and world of meaning are being reshaped under the domination of screens. While the digital age claims to offer limitless communication and visibility, it simultaneously transforms human beings into entities that constantly watch, are watched, display themselves and consume. Görmez does not interpret this new form of civilization merely through technological developments. Rather, he questions how it transforms human morality, the sense of privacy, the understanding of family, and the relationship with truth.
One of the most important aspects of the work is its engagement with the theory of the ethics of modesty developed by Taha Abdurrahman. In the modern world, the concept of modesty has often been narrowed and reduced to a mere personal feeling of shame. Throughout the book, however, modesty is treated as the central principle governing humanity’s relationship with God, society, nature and the self. Here, modesty is not simply a moral behavior. It is the metaphysical consciousness that makes a human being truly human. For this reason, one of the greatest destructions of the digital age is the erosion of the sense of modesty. A screen culture that constantly encourages visibility abolishes privacy, weakens dignity, and produces a new human model that defines personality through exposure. The book strikingly describes the “passion for watching, being watched, surveillance, and voyeurism” as revealing not only the individual weaknesses of the contemporary world, but also the spirit of the new civilization itself.
Görmez’s book does not limit itself to discussing the issue in the context of moral corruption. It fundamentally questions the modern conception of the human being. In particular, the emphasis on a “war against human nature” forms the main backbone of the work. The modern age dismantles the ancient understanding that viewed human beings as a unity of soul, body and self, reducing them instead to biological impulses and desires. This is why the book persistently emphasizes the relationship between body, soul, self, nature and innate disposition. Human beings are no longer regarded as carriers of truth, but as objects directed by consumer culture. The civilization of digital screens has become one of the most powerful instruments of this transformation. One of the central issues highlighted by Görmez emerges precisely here: while humanity believes it is controlling the world through technology, it is in fact losing its own perception.
The book’s approach to issues of family, veiling and gender is also highly striking. It argues that modernity’s tendency to define human beings solely through sexual impulses erodes both the institution of the family and humanity’s ontological wholeness. In the book, the family is not treated merely as a sociological structure, but as a divine trust inscribed into human nature. Likewise, the issue of veiling is not evaluated only within the framework of formal or juridical debates. Rather, it is interpreted in relation to modesty, aesthetics and the existential value of the human being. In this respect, the work moves contemporary discussions beyond superficial political polarizations and addresses them within a deeper civilizational perspective.
One of the strongest aspects of the book is that it does not criticize technology through a romantic longing for the past. The issue here is not the complete rejection of the screen, but questioning the domination that the screen establishes over human beings. The real problem of the digital age is not the existence of tools, but humanity’s loss of its own center within those tools. For this reason, Görmez’s text calls human beings back to truth, contemplation and spiritual perception. Emphasizing that within the culture of speed in the modern world, reaction has replaced reflection, information has replaced wisdom, and images have replaced depth, the work argues that human beings must once again remember their inner world.
In conclusion, "Dijital Çağda Hayâ Ahlakı: Beden Ülkesinde Gözün Darbesi" is a powerful intellectual study that evaluates one of the greatest crises of our age from the perspective of Islamic thought. In this work, Görmez not only explains the problems of digital culture but also proposes a moral and metaphysical horizon through which humanity may rediscover its own truth. In a period when technology surrounds human life, this book stands as an important call reminding humanity that it must learn once again to look not at the screen, but at truth itself.
