Choosing between freedom and Islamism, August 26, 2014 , by Uzay Bulut "The book you are holding in your hand is a book of a new era marked for a more beautiful world. It is obvious that a more beautiful world cannot be achieved without a freer world. And to achieve a freer world, taboos must be broken. All kinds of chains that bind freedoms must be broken."
This excerpt is from the preface of the first edition of the book "This is Religion," by Turan Dursun.
Dursun's father was of
Turkish descent, and his mother, of Kurdish descent. Born in Turkey in
1934, he was a former mufti and imam and an open critic of Islam who
fought for a freer and more humane world despite pressures from the
state, the public, and even his own father, whose dream was to see him
become a devoted cleric.
Dursun was a
prestigious mufti in the cities where he worked. His progressiveness
and hard work were often covered by the national media, and he sometimes
wrote columns for national newspapers, as well. He was frequently
invited to official state ceremonies and was respected by the public.
He regularly visited villages to observe their problems, and tried to
offer solutions.
Because Dursun received
his education in madrassas (Muslim theological schools) and knew Arabic
well, he had a comprehensive knowledge of Islam's original source
documents -- the Quran, hadith, biographies and histories. And he had
something of crucial importance that most Muslim scholars lack: a
critical mind.
The Islamic religious
texts did not satisfy the depths of his mind. He had an incredible
passion for learning. Aside from his native languages, Turkish and
Kurdish, he learned Arabic, Circassian, and some French. He had a
strong interest in Greek philosophy, as well, and read Aristotle's
works when he was just 12.
"Knowledge is
accumulated in your mind to a point, and then a spark is emitted. But if
[your religion or ideology] is so deeply rooted in your culture and
conscious, it is hard to certainly face up to and distance yourself
from it. I always had a nature that revolted against the concept of God
and my disengagement from Islam took place in an evolutionary phase. I
had always argued with God. Then I repented. I thought, for example,
that if the Quran is the word of God, then why does it permit slavery?
Why does it tell some people that it is OK if they are slaves? I
thought that if [the Quran's author] was really Allah, he should have
abolished slavery and that he should not have declared some people
slaves and others free. But then I immediately abjured. I had always
been in a state of rebellion since my childhood," Dursun said in an
interview.
But his main estrangement from Islam happened when he compared the Quran with other religious books.
"Then I realized how
Muhammad transferred some of the writings of the Torah and Bible to the
Quran. I was so frustrated and angry. I could not live my childhood and
youth properly because of him. So many people can't live properly
because of him. So many people are sufferers of his disasters. So many
people know what's right as wrong and what's wrong as right because
they think the darkness that he chose exists. Human emotions and human
creations haven't progressed in many ways because of him. I have found
no disease, neither cancer nor AIDS, and no disaster more horrid than
the effects of that religion. And at that moment, I decided to start a
fight," Dursun said.
Dursun also gave up his job as a mufti, which he carried out for 14 years, to dedicate himself better to his cause. "I gave up my job to
be able to fight. I was on top of my career. I was not an ordinary
mufti. People knew and respected me. But I had to leave that job.
Because I thought that if I was to fight, I could not do that with my
current job because that would not be honest. I have always been
consistent. I never want a difference between what I think and what I
do."
Dursun said that he
first lost his faith in Muhammad, then he deeply thought about it,
reading extensively in anthropology, and in a few years time he lost
his faith in God, as well.
With these changes, Dursun's father and brothers were gradually estranged from him.
Then he started writing. His first problem was that no media outlet or publishing house wanted to publish his articles.
In the preface to "This
is Religion -- Part 1," he explained that period: "I tried so hard to
publish these articles. I rang many bells. My attempts continued for
months, if not years. They all turned me down. [These articles] daunted
even people known as 'progressives' or 'intellectuals.' Even when my
most moderate articles were presented to them, some of them said, 'They
can stone us to death if we publish them.' Some of them were even
scared of being bombed, let alone being stoned. Some of them responded
with the same rhetoric of tactician politicians: 'We respect the
religion. We do not support offending religious feelings.'
"Every time I was
turned down, I thought: If they can't risk offending feelings, how can
struggle against darkness be possible? Can new steps in the field of
civilization be taken without offending feelings? How can changes that
aim to reach a more beautiful, civilized, and humane world take place
without offending feelings? What novelty or reform has been introduced
without offending feelings? Have human beings not offended religious
feelings as they have changed themselves and the nature? I always
thought about these questions. But still found no entrance to our
'liberal' (!) printed press.
"So before our country
and the world, I would like to document this (situation) and blame the
'intellectuals' who function as stern wardens that are not very
different from the sovereigns of the oppressive regimes that they
accuse and as taps that prevent water required for liberation from
flowing," Dursun said.
Finally, Dursun was able to find a magazine to publish his articles and then a publishing house to print his books.
Among the many subjects
he wrote about were violence in Islam, Shariah law, the status of
women in Islam, the private life of Muhammad, contradictions in the
Quran, "Satanic verses" and the vengefulness of Islamists.
He also
focused on what he called "the unscientific and irrational matters in
the Quran." He wrote countless books and articles in the 1980s.
His son Abit Dursun
said that every single article his father wrote fell like a bombshell.
"My father heartily dealt with taboos that no one in Turkey had ever
dared discuss," he said.
Thus, Turan Dursun often received death threats and was exposed to verbal attacks.
"Even a fatwa
requiring my father's execution was proclaimed. Then the magazine for
which he wrote made a call to all Islamic scholars to join a debate
program on TV with my father. But none of them volunteered because they
knew that my father was one of the most outstanding scholars of Islam,
not only in Turkey but throughout the world. And my father was
fearless," said Abit Dursun.
Turan Dursun's
knowledge was great and so was his bravery. But he did not write to
harm, coerce, destroy or kill anyone. He had a cause, which he believed
was to enlighten and liberate people to create a better world, where
freedom and humanity would prevail. And his only weapon was the
eloquence of his pen.
But his opponents did
not share the same human values. As if to prove Dursun right about the
violence of Islamic teachings, they did not confine themselves to
verbal or psychological attacks.
At age 56, Dursun was brutally assassinated by two gunmen in front of his house in Istanbul on September 4, 1990.
After Dursun's murder, a
book titled "The Holy Terror of Hezbollah" was found on his bed.
Family members said that the book did not belong to Dursun and was left
on his bed as a message by the people who entered their house.
After Dursun was
murdered, plainclothes policemen took away many of his works, which he
had been in the process of preparing, including the 2,000 pages of his
Encyclopedia of the Quran, many of his manuscripts, articles, letters
and the fifth edition of his latest book.
"The police arrived in
our house 45 minutes later. The plainclothes policemen who had arrived
much earlier ransacked the whole house. As they left after seizing my
father's works, the uniformed policemen came. … We sought help from the
prosecutor's office later, but were not able to get those works back,"
his son said.
Dursun was opposed by
the police and the state, and was completely vulnerable. But he was
also abandoned by many of Turkey's intellectuals. Not everyone had his
courageous heart and his free mind, after all.
Abit Dursun delivered a
speech in his father's funeral: "Turan Dursun always said 'I am not
scared of darkness. I am scared of being scared. Because one who is
scared either dreads or becomes aggressive. Those who killed my father
viciously fired bullets at his back, without even daring to look him in
the eye," he said.
After Dursun's
assassination, his books sold tens of thousands of copies in Turkey. His
supporters have called him a "warrior of enlightenment" -- one of the
most well-deserved titles in history.
Dursun was killed years
ago, but the silence and indifference of the West -- the free world --
in the face of Islamism remains deafening.
The term "Islamphobia"
has been invented to muzzle the critics of Islam so that Islamists'
feelings will not be offended. Even genuine supporters of this term
must be well aware of the fact that the slightest, mildest criticism of
Islam can cause violent reactions from "peaceful" Islamists.
That is why Alan
Dershowitz was so right when he said, "The threat or fear of violence
should not become an excuse or justification for restricting freedom of
speech."
Why do we fear a
violent reaction from Muslims if we make any substantial critique of
Islam? Is Islam not a religion of peace, as many claim it to be?
"Islamophobia"
apologists should also answer these questions: What thoughts are
included and guaranteed within the scope of freedom of expression?
Which thoughts are free and which are banned? To what extent can one
criticize Islam and about what subjects must one be silent? Can we get a
list of do's and don't's, and if so, how would it contribute to human
progress?
The suppression of
criticism of Islam and Islamism aims to restrict the capacity of the
human mind. But we are no longer living in the seventh century. In the
21st century, one may not demand silence from free thinkers.
Uzay Bulut is a freelance journalist based in Ankara.
Link to source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=9759
