Transcript Understanding of Islam in Turkey

A different country,
a different practice
of Islam…
HALE ISIK
(Visiting Fulbright)
[email protected]
MAJOR
WORLD
RELIGIONS
Muslims in the World Today
MAJORITY:
Predominantly Muslim
Countries
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Albania
Afghanistan
Algeria
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Brunei
Chad
Eritrea
Egypt
Gambia
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Guinea
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jordan
Kuwait
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Lebanon
Libya
Maldives
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Malaysia
Mali
Mauritania
Morocco
Niger
Nigeria
Oman
Pakistan
Palestine
Qatar
Saudi
Arabia
• Senegal
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Sierra Leone
Somalia
Sudan
Syria
Tajikistan
• Turkey
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Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
United Arab
Emirates
• Yemen
These nations total
11,883,889 square miles (20.6% of the world's land area),
1.4 billion people (22% of the world's population),
• What are the fundamental
similarities between Islam,
Judaism and Christianity?
IslamAn Abrahamic Religion
 Muslims are strict monotheists.

They believe in the JudeoChristian God, which they call
Allah.

Muslims believe that the Torah
and the Bible, like the Qur’an,
is the word of God.
Peoples of the Book
The Prophetic Tradition
Adam
Noah
Abraham
Moses
Muslims believe
that the Quran
is God’s last
revelation
Jesus
Muhammad
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT
MUSLIM SOCIETIES?
Some preconceptions..
• Muslims become terrorists.
• Muslim men wear long robe like clothing have long
beards and wear something on their heads.
• Women have to cover themselves only their eyes can
show.
• As far as Sharia law is concerned, women are treated
as inferior then men.
• Men are more educated women take care of
housework and child care.
• The word of 2 women equal that of 1 man in court.
• Men can have up to 4 wives.
ACCURACY?
Understanding of
ISLAM in TURKEY
Where is Turkey?
What do you know about Turkey?
Geographically speaking where is
Turkey?
EUROPE>> TURKEY<< ASIA
Turkey is geographically, politically and officially
part of two continents - Europe and Asia.
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The historic palette of
Turkey is traced to Stone
Age settlements
constructed in 10,000 -7500
BC, and here, today,
unforgettable names like
Troy and the Trojan War,
Homer, Iliad and Odyssea,
Alexander the Great, the
Holy Roman Empire and
the Medieval Crusades,
House of Virgin Mary, St.
Nicholas
the Ottoman Empire
leap from the pages of its
ancient history, and many
relics and ruins of them still
stand for all to view.
ANATOLIA TIMELINE
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The Prehistoric period
The Hittite civilization
Urartian
Phrygian
Lydian
Hellenistic
The Roman
Byzantine
Seljuk
Ottoman Empire
• Turkish Republic
• HOW DO YOU PICTURE TURKEY?
– Deserts???
– People riding around in camels???
– Sand storms???
Here are some photos of
Islam's history in
Turkey
• By the end of the seventh century, conversion
to Islam had begun among the Turkishspeaking tribes, who were migrating westward
from Central Asia.
• By the 10th century Turks were Muslims.
• Turks settled in Anatolia following the defeat of
the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert
(1071).
• The conquest of the historic Byzantine capital
of Constantinople--which is now called Istanbul
in 1453 enabled the Ottomans to consolidate
their empire in Anatolia and Thrace and
expand...
• The OTTOMANS (1281 – 1922) later
revived the title of caliph* during the
reign of Sultan Selim.
• Justice was dispensed by religious
courts; in theory, the codified system of
sharia regulated all aspects of life, at
least for the Muslim subjects of the
empire.
• Religion was not forced on nonmuslims, they had total freedom to
practice Christianity, Judaism, etc.
former title for any of the religious and civil rulers of the Islamic world,
claiming succession from Muhammad
• Overrun, conquered, and
eventually lost by a a great
number of forces over history
since the beginning of time, the
modern country of Turkey
was founded in 1923 from the
Anatolian remnants of the
dissolved Ottoman Empire by
its national hero Mustafa
KEMAL, a charismatic
general later honored with the
title ATATURK, "Father of
the Turks."
Under his authoritarian (and
rather effective) leadership, the
country adopted wide-ranging
social, legal, and political
reforms.
1881-1938
Some more basic facts about
TURKEY..
• About 98% of the population is officially
Muslim, the majority of whom are Sunni. The
actual percentage of Muslims is slightly lower;
• the Government officially recognizes only three
minority religious communities--Greek
Orthodox Christians, Armenian Orthodox
Christians, and Jews--and counts the rest of
the population as Muslim, although other nonMuslim communities exist.
Some more basic facts..
• Turkey is the most “westernized” and
modern country in the Islamic world.
• Turks have no difference in the
governmental system with other
European/western countries which are also
secular.
• The secularization of Turkey started in the
society during the last years of Ottoman
Empire and it was the most prominent and
most controversial feature of Atatürk's
reforms.
• Under his leadership, the caliphate--office of the
successors to Muhammad, the supreme politicoreligious office of Islam, and symbol of the sultan's
claim to world leadership of all Muslims--was
abolished.
• The power of the religious authorities and
functionaries was reduced and eventually
eliminated.
• The religious foundations were nationalized, and
religious education was restricted and taken under
government control.
What was new about the NEW
“Turkish Republic”?
Under ATATURK’s Reform Laws:
AIM: to raise Turkish society above the level of contemporary civilization
and to safeguard the secular character of the Republic:
• Ottoman sultanate was abolished
• The caliphate, the religious office that Ottoman sultans had held
for four centuries was abolished
• Sharia law was abolished and a civil system of justice/law was
established.
• Unification of the Educational System (i.e co-ed);
– Ataturk ordered that all girls attend school. He said that in a modern
nation, men and women must be equal. Kemal also gave women the right
to vote (in 1930 before the right was given to French, Japanese,
Canadian or Swiss women) and take jobs in business and government.
• Ban of Fez and encouragement for wearing of Hats; (The fez is a
hat with a flat top and no brim.)
• Closure of Dervish Monasteries and Tombs, the Abolition of
the Office of Keeper of Tombs and the Abolition and
Prohibition of Certain Titles;
• The principle/law of civil marriage, religious marriages have no
legal standing,
• abandonment of the Islamic calendar in favor of the Gregorian
calendar
• Adoption and Application of the Turkish Alphabet (abolishment
of Arabic script under the language reform),
– Kemal introduced a western alphabet and ordered all newspapers,
books, and street signs printed in the new script. He traveled the
Turkish countryside with a blackboard and chalk to personally explain
how the letters should be pronounced.
• Prohibition of the Wearing of Certain traditional Garments ( i.e.
VEILs) at certain state/government buildings by officials, and
by students at all levels of education that had religious
associations.
• Atatürk and his colleagues also
attempted to Turkify Islam through
official encouragement.
– Using Turkish rather than Arabic at
devotions, substituting the Turkish word
Tanri for the Arabic word Allah, and
introducing Turkish for the daily calls to
prayer. 1933
• Transferring existing historical
buildings that have been used as
mosques to secular purposes.
– Most notably, the Hagia Sophia
(Justinian's sixth-century Christian
basilica, which had been converted into
a mosque by Mehmet II) was made a
museum in 1935. The effect of these
changes was to make religion, or more
correctly Sunni Islam, subject to the
control of a hostile state. Muftis and
imams (prayer leaders) were appointed
by the government, and religious
instruction was taken over by the
Ministry of National Education.
Articles from the Constitution of
the Turkish Republic say…
I. Form of the State
• ARTICLE 1. The Turkish state is a Republic.
II. Characteristics of the Republic
• ARTICLE 2. The Republic of Turkey is a democratic, secular and social
state governed by the rule of law; bearing in mind the concepts of public
peace, national solidarity and justice; respecting human rights; loyal to
the nationalism of Atatürk, and based on the fundamental tenets set forth
in the Preamble.
III. Integrity of the State, Official Language, Flag, National Anthem, and
Capital
• ARTICLE 3. The Turkish state, with its territory and nation, is an
indivisible entity. Its language is Turkish.
• Its flag, the form of which is prescribed by the relevant law, is composed
of a white crescent and star on a red background.
• Its national anthem is the “Independence March”.
• Its capital is Ankara.
• IV. Irrevocable Provisions
• ARTICLE 4. The provision of Article 1 of the Constitution establishing the
form of the state as a Republic, the provisions in Article 2 on the
characteristics of the Republic, and the provision of Article 3 shall not be
amended, nor shall their amendment be proposed.
Constitution contd..
ARTICLE 10. All individuals are equal without any
discrimination before the law, irrespective of
language, race, colour, sex, political opinion,
philosophical belief, religion and sect, or any such
considerations.
• Men and women have equal rights and the State is
responsible to implement these rights.
• No privilege shall be granted to any individual, family,
group or class.
What does this mean?
• The constitution asserts that Turkey is to be a
democracy. Hence, it places sovereignty in
the hands of the Turkish Grand National
Assembly, an elected body.
• Moreover, provisions asserting that Turkey is
a republic theoretically cannot be abolished.
Turkey is also legally a secular* state, due
to Article Two of its Constitution.
Secularism or Laicism is commonly defined as
the idea that “religion should not interfere with
or be integrated into the public affairs of a
society.”
Turkish identity over Muslim
identity
• Most Turks are Sunni Muslims; that is, they are
among the majority of Islamic believers.
• There are Shii and Alevi Muslim minorities as
well. Only 20% of Turkish Muslims look upon
themselves as Muslims first and citizens of the
Turkish Republic second;
• the other 80% see themselves as
Turkish citizens first, and count religion
as second, third or fourth identity.
Religious freedom and
Secularism
• The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and
the Government generally respects this right in
practice;
however, the Government imposes some restrictions on
Muslim and other religious groups and on Muslim
religious expression
• in government offices and
• state-run institutions,
• including universities, usually for the stated reason of
preserving the "secular state."
The Constitution establishes the country as a "secular state"
and provides for
• freedom of belief,
• freedom of worship, and
• the private dissemination of religious ideas.
• However, other constitutional provisions regarding the
integrity and existence of the secular state restrict these
rights. The Constitution prohibits discrimination on
religious grounds.
• The state bureaucracy and the military have played the
role of defending traditional Turkish secularism
throughout the history of the Republic.
• In some cases, elements of the bureaucracy have
opposed policies of the elected government on the
grounds that they threatened the secular state.
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