Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was the first president of Turkey. He
was viewed by most Turks as a great leader who successfully transformed the new
Republic of Turkey into a modern nation.
However, his reform movement was a controversial issue to most Muslims.
His attempt to turkify the language of Islamic prayer and the call to prayer
was opposed by a great number of people. The abolishment of Turban and Fez
together with the promotion of uncover way of dressing to woman were question
marks to most Muslims although most Turks accepted those as modernand western. The
purpose of this paper is to understand different views on the attempts to
reforms by Mustafa Kemal in Turkey.
The very first step Mustafa Kemal took in his Kemalist
ideology was to make Turkey a modern and secular nation. Mustafa Kemal’s
definition of modernization is actually westernization. He believed that modernization necessarily entailed
Westernization and he established a policy of state secularism with a
constitution that separated the government from religion (Aydar, 2006). Since
the new Turkish government inherited the country from the Islamic Caliphate
Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal’s primary desire was to separate religion from
politics in order to westernize the country. He wants to erase the image of
Islam entirely from the Turks. The thesis that Aydar put forth was about the
reform attempts made by Mustafa Kemal and the reaction of people towards it. In
contrast, according to the article The Ottoman Empire and Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk, Heidy describes Mustafa Kemal as one of the greatest man in history.
Begin with the innocent thought that “A person should
understand what they are reciting when they pray”, soon became a movement to
reform Islam as a religion (Aydar, 2006). Mustafa Kemal desired to reform the worship in
Islam. He wanted to transform the language of the Muslim prayer which since
ever, was performed in Arabic, into Turkish. Indeed, it is known in Islam that slight
changes in the form and manner of worship is permitted (Aydar, 2006). This slight changes
are allowed especially for those who are ill, or travelling or elderly, however
changing the language of the prayer is unacceptable.
Mustafa Kemal started to reform the religion and change the
language of Adhan, the original form of the call of prayer and eventually the
prayer. All these kind of attempts although supported by some, it is displeased
by many Muslims. (Aydar, 2006). More than performing the prayer in Turkish,
there were some attempts to make a series of changes in the form of the prayer.
These attempts made in Turkey had not been seen at any time anywhere else in
the world (Aydar, 2006).
From my opinion, the idea of reforming Islam itself is uninviting.
As a religion, Islam should be perfect and no need to be reformed. If really
people believe that a religion comes from God, or inspired by God, reforming a
religion itself is not an option. If one said they believe in God, they must
also believe that God is perfect and anything comes from God must also be
perfect and cannot be changed. To some,
changing the language of the worship is appropriate, however Islam regard this
matter very seriously.
According to Aydar (2006):
In an Egyptian newspaper, el-Ahbar
al Misriyya, according to Arslan, after the action by the Ankara government,
the next step would be to remove the sajda, and ruku of the prayer and
then reduce the normal five daily prayer to one prayer, maybe even reducing it
so far as to be only performed
on Fridays. (p. 5)
In
Islam, every act of worship needs to be authentic and cannot be changed in any
matter. If in this matter Muslims are not sensitive and response positively by accepting
the change, it is possible that other attempts of reforming the method of
worship could be done, again. Muslims were asked by God to believe Muhammad as
a messenger. The teachings of Muhammad is inspired by God and must be obeyed. Muslims
are allowed to rethink Islam. However to reform Islam in terms of worship, is prohibited.
Muslims believe in God and do only what asked by God. God asked everyone to
perform prayer in Arabic but if a Muslim perform it in other language, it is
considered that the Muslim is not obeying the instruction of God but someone
else. For that reason, any change in the religion is prohibited.
As
a Muslim and coming from a non-Arab country, I totally understand why Islam
wants every Muslims to perform worship in Arabic. Though my native language is
not Arabic I do not wish to perform prayer in my mother tongue. It is true that
people will need to understand what they recite in prayer, but instead of
changing the system of Islam, why not encourage Muslims in the country to learn
Arabic. Learning Arabic to understand what we recite in prayer will not degrade
any other language. In fact, it is always better to learn both especially for a
country that wants to apply an open relationship with the other countries. If
everyone understand Arabic, anyone who come to Turkey and wanted to perform the
prayer, will not having any difficulties to understand Turkish language of
prayer and recitation. That explains why Islam ask every Muslims in the world,
regardless where they live and what language they speak everyday, to perform
worship in Arabic and not in their own official language: uniformity and
unification.
This justifies why other imams did not support Cemeleddin
in his approach. Rifat Borekci
comment concerning the Turkish translation of the Quran was not the same as the
Qur'an itself, and therefore any prayer that was performed in this manner was
not valid (Aydar, 2006). Though my official
language is Malay and not Arabic, I could not agree more with the statement
above. Arabic is a beautiful language and very specific in its explanation. I
could translate the Quran it my language but unfortunately, there will be
confusions and misunderstandings to the readers. People can get the picture of
the idea but could not necessarily get the real meaning of each verse if they
only read the translation of the Quran. In addition, the translation will
surely have my own interpretation of each verse.
Other attempts of reforming worship includes the idea that rows of seating was requested to be placed in
mosques and that people be allowed to enter the mosques with their shoes on,
musical instrument are allowed to be brought into the mosque and worship be
performed accompanied by music. However, only the recommendations by the commission concerning the language of
worship were accepted. (Aydar, 2006). I
wonder why Ataturk thought transforming the mosque into a church would help to
modernize the nation. If he wants to separate the religion from politics, why
would he need to transform a mosque into a church and add music in the worship?
Worship was meant to remember the Creator. If worship was added with music, how
would one really get connected and concentrate in prayer. Muslims perform
prayer as worship, not as an entertainment.
More than just the form of prayer and worship, since the new republic adopted “westernization’
as one of its primary principles, education was no longer linked to Islamic
education; it was now a secular educational system. References to Islam were
also eliminated and the sharia was replaced by man made laws. This new legal
system favored women in the sense that they were granted the right to vote,
they now had access to an education and better position in the public office. (Heidy,
2010, p.6)
Indeed, it is very pleasing that the new republic of Turkey
favored woman and give them equal right as men. However, in my opinion, a
country do not have to be westernized to give such rights to women. The right
of women was first given by Muhammad in early Islam in Mecca and Medina.
Therefore, to give right to women is not a western idea but an Islamic
principle. The right of education for women was nowhere in any religious
scripture but the Quran. The first Qur’anic verse revealed to Muhammad was
“Read”. In Islam, it is an obligation for every Muslim to get educated. It is
not because women were not allowed to work, in Islam, that most women are not
in the labor force. It is because, women in Islam were treated as a queen at
home and their duty is to take care of themselves and the family. It is the
duty of men to protect the family, to take care of the financial needs of the
family and to go out and work. That is why, when people talk about the freedom
of women to work, I personally think it is actually a freedom for men to force
women to do their job.
Other cultural changes includes
the encouragement for the Turks to wear western-style clothing were like the
abolishment of the turban and the fez. Unveiling was the modernizing intervention
on the bodies of women. Although veiling has never been prohibited in Turkey, the
government discouraged women from wearing it (Heidy, 2010). It was
believed that the headscarf would disappear as a result of urbanization.
However, the public visibility of the headscarf increased in the urban space in
years later. In my opinion, although most
people might think wearing headscarf and covering body is backward and
uncivilized, I would argue the other way around. I personally cover my hair and
body because I choose to. If people claim the abolishment of Hijab is liberation,
I would say the wearing of Hijab is the true liberation. Being confidently
around without the need to worry about being judged by my appearance is the
absolute freedom. When I speak, I want people to pay attention to my words, not
my body and hair. If I enter the labor force, I want people to accept me
because I have the skill and the intellect, not the way I look. If a country
want to be productive, then women should cover their bodies to avoid sexual
attraction. Giving women the equal right means, women should be respected by
the way they dress, not to be exploited to be half naked in public. Why is it
when men wearing suit and tie, literally covering most of their skin, they were
looked smart and modern, but when it comes to women, the less amount of skin
they cover, the modern they define her? Is that equal?
According to Heidy (2010), “Ataturk is now seen as one of the greatest man in history. The Turks
commemorate him every year.” (p. 6). Mustafa Kemal was called Ataturk which
means the father of Turkey because of his great contributions and the idea in
his reformations. The Turks believe Mustafa Kemal had successfully developed
the nation as the result of his secular view. However, his idea and development
was regarded as the reason for the falling of the Islamic Caliphate of Ottoman
Empire. Most Muslims blame him and the secular approach of the government for
the end of the Islamic Caliphate.
Islam was first came to bring peace, love and unity, then
destroyed by Ataturk. He turkified the language of worship by replacing the Arabic
language of prayer and the call to prayer by the Turkish language. This is
against Islam. His idea of nationalism corrupted the message of Islam about love
for everyone regardless their nationality, skin color, language and status.
Muslims from everywhere know the official language of Islam is Arabic and
united under the same language when they perform worship together in
congregation. Ataturk was trying so hard to run away from the Islamic image and
Ottoman Empire because he wants Turkey to be a powerful nation. In contrast,
Ottoman Empire was once the most powerful empire at its time, especially under
Suleiman the Magnificent. Istanbul became not only a political and
military capital, but because of its position at the junction of Europe,
Africa, and Asia, one of the great trade centers of the world. While under the
ruling of Mehmet, Christians were the largest group of the population and
coexistence was likely to be more efficient than conflict. People under the Ottoman
Empire were living in peace and success before they were ruled by corrupted
rulers. Ataturk tried to move into a
secular nation to modernize the country but in fact, it was proven that
implementing Islamic principle will make a better country.
Mustafa Kemal was a great nation reformist but his
attempt to reform Islam upset most Muslim around the world. He developed Turkey
as a modern nation with the religion of Islam as the price. He gives freedom
and right to women generally without realizing the fact that he was actually
encouraging Muslim women to become more immodest. He was trying to encourage
the Turkish identity by sacrificing the Muslim identity that the prior Muslims
were working hard for since the time of Muhammad. He ruined the sacred language
of the Quran by his idea of translating the Book of God into the language of
Turkish resulting the worship were made in that particular language and losses
it’s own meaning.
OBVIOUSLY, THIS IS A PAPER I WROTE FOR MY CLASS, I THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE IT HERE TOO.
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