Islam, May 1997

ISLAM IS ESSENTIAL

Prof. Dr. Halil NECATIOGLU

Something unimaginable, incomprehensible and very strange is happening in Turkey nowadays: A group of people consider Islam as a threat for the future of the government, the nation, the republic and the contemporary civilization. They feel highly uncomfortable from the revival of Islam in Turkey, its being practiced better, and its spread to the rest of the world. Some have even claimed that Islamic revival posed a greater danger than that of the separatist terrorists. Some people are ready to sacrifice the republican form of the government, democracy, and all of the acquired human rights for the sake of protecting the "revolutions" of 1920's without understanding of their spirit. They provoke the military to take over the administration; they attack the cabinet insolently. They totally disregard the parliament and violate the laws and the constitution. They create chaos, disorder and mischief in the country.

I know that it sounds like a nightmare, and you may say, "Come on now. Such an arrogance is not possible. You must be imagining or surmising negatively." That does not change the reality. These people have an ill intention of dividing the nation.

In Turkey some people who are not aware of the Constitution, laws, proper conduct, and the government tradition are in an attempt to terminate people in the name of government. They have no knowledge or experience of proper administrative sciences and sociology, nor do they regard their own religion, history and civilization. They are rude, intolerant, arrogant, disrespectful, and barbaric. Even some professors who spent half of their lives at the Bosphorus University and the other half in the United States complain about them and make fun of their shallow personalities.

Were Rumi, Yunus Emre, Haji Bayram, Abus-su'ud Efendi, and many alike bad people? Were they harmful the government? Did the Sutçu Imam of Marafl commit treachery? Didn't we fight in all of the battles, especially in the War of Independence, for the sake of Islam and get victories? Wasn't the first Turkish Grand National Assembly full of turbaned scholars and leaders? Aren't we proud of the martyrs and the veterans of the the wars in Korea and Cyprus? Weren't the brave men of our history -- Fatih Sultan Muhammad, Ghazi Evrenos, Khayruddin Pasha, Turgut Rais, and alike -- practicing Muslims?

Didn't Sulaiman the Magnificent, whom our government is very proud, conquer many places and have the Adhan chanted all over?

What is so bad about Imam-Khatib High Schools? aren't the most successful high school graduates from these schools? There are many Imam-Khatib School graduates among the cabinet members, representatives, chief directors of offices, professors and other occupations? Have you suffered any harm from them? I wish all of the young people learn their religion and ethics well first and become God-fearing citizen who are free from the ills of the modern societies.

Wouldn't it be better if the number of Qur'an courses and mosques increase and the number of bars, discos, gambling places and alike decrease? Wouldn't you like it if the gambling, drinking, adultery, bribery, theft, oppression, and alike are wiped off from the face of the earth?

The practicing Muslims pose no threat to the government or to the nation; on the contrary, the government and the nation are up on their shoulders. Without them, the country could have been divided into countless pieces.

I look around and observe that regardless of their educational degrees, people who have no religious education, who do not have the fear of God, and who do not believe in the judgement in the Hereafter have no positive contribution to the society. On the other hand, they commit homicide, take bribery, embezzle property, evade taxes, disturb the justice, tell lies, sell the country, burn the forests, destroy the environment, and work only for his own interests.

Compare the practicing Muslim mayors with the other mayors, and find out who are hardworking and trustworthy. Those who are at the positions of great responsibility must abandon the falsehood and outdated opinions and realize this fact: Islam is invaluable and necessary for the individual, family, society, nation, soldier, military, politics, government, treasury, economy, commerce, science, civilization, modernism, advancement and success in the race of civilizations not only in Turkey but also in all parts of the world. Is a necessary for this world as well as for the hereafter, for the present generations as well as for the generations to come.

If they love the nation, it suffices for them not be obstacles in our way. We ask of them nothing else. Didn't such semi-elite, pro-freedom writers, poets, agents, and traitors take the Ottomans to destructions while they claimed that they would save the country?