You’ll need to register to access the link, I don’t particularly like the form of secularism Turkey practices (that is it’s rammed down your throat), but this article reflects a very different approach to religion, I’m hoping for some good comments on this thread.
http://www.thefridaytimes.com/_news6b.htm
Farrukh Saleem
The way Islam is interpreted in Turkey’s political life is rather unique
N 27 MARCH 1998, TURKEY’S powerful National Security Council (NSC) held a 6-hour top secret meeting. In the chair was President Süleyman Demirel and members, including Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, Ministers of Defence, Interior, Foreign Affairs plus the Chief of the General Staff and the commanders of Navy, Air Force, Coast Guards and Gendarmerie. At issue was Turkey’s parliamentary democracy and political Islam.
The way Islam is interpreted in Turkey’s political life is rather unique. Turkey’s mainstream politics has defined secularism as “total freedom of worship and faith.” What I learned from NSC’s meeting some five years ago is what I would like to share with my readers.
The Turkish view of Koranic verses seems to be that: “There are 6666 “ayets” (verses) in the Koran. Of this total, 6436 verses concern the rules of Islam and the creation of the world and the universe. They explain that there is only one God who is omnipotent, omnipresent. They call for high morality and virtuous conduct.” No one – Muslim, Christian or Jew – really has any problem with that.
The remaining 230 “ayets” (verses) are called “ukubat” and they are the penal code, civil rights, public and family matters and women’s rights. Then there are the five pillars of Islam; Kalima-e-Shihadat, Namaz, Ramadan, Zakat and Haj.The Turkish vision seems to be that “Every Muslim should observe and practise all these five principles. What happens if he or she doesn’t? Perhaps, nothing.” The real “beauty of Islam is that no one can monopolise Islam. That is to say, practitioners of these principles cannot say to non-practitioners that they are not Muslims. Nor can they claim that non-practitioners will go to Hell. Such a remark would be considered a sin, because only God knows who will go to Heaven and who to Hell…”
Then there are six tenets of “iman” (faith). It is said that “every Muslim should believe in the six principles shown in the prayer ‘Amentu’ (the equivalent of the Lord’s Prayer) which are: the Angels, Holy Books and Prophets of God; Doomsday; Life after death; Good and evil from God and There is only one God, Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet.”
No one really has any problems with these principles either as they are “very similar to Christianity and Judaism. No one objects to these rules which are very similar to Christianity and Judaism. As a matter of fact, the first item in the six tenets of faith calls for believing in the angels like Gabriel and several others, in the prophets including Jesus Christ and Moses and in the books of God which number four – the oldest being Zebur, which does not exist today, brought by the Prophet David. The others are Tevrad (Torah or the Old Testament), the Bible and the Koran. The Bible and Tevrad are as holy to a Muslim as the Koran, all being the verses of God.”
Back to 230 verses, and the NSC has taken pains in explaining that “Most of these rules do not conform to the modern law systems of the democratic western world and are not legally practised in Turkey…”
In Turkey, the civilian as well as the military members of the NSC seem to have reached a consensus that “the rules of the Koran about the universe, the other world (life after death), morality, faith and worship are all within God’s jurisdiction, that is within ‘Ýrade-i külliye’ (the Divine Will). But earthly matters come within ‘Ýrade-i Cüzie’ (the individual will). In this domain, God only shows the right path, but He Himself does not rule. If He had, the world would have been a much better place to live in without crime, sin or evil. The Koran affirms that a human being has its own individual will outside the Divine Will, so this domain should be regulated with modern legal concepts outside Shariat… Otherwise, Turkey would fall into the same plight as reigns in Algeria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and several other Islamic countries ruled by Shariat today. The rationale is that you cannot govern a changing world with the unchanging rules of the Koran. That is why God has left these earthly matters to the individual’s will and why the Koran says ‘Keep pace with time’.