Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
The Chief of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate, Ali Bardakoğlu, has issued an admirable statement about the prime minister's efforts to involve Turkey's religious authorities in political debate. Leave us out of the discussion, he said. We're happy to advise you how to get right with God, but making the law, that's your problem.
“Don’t leave the headscarf issue to us, let the politicians solve it through dialogue,” Bardakoğlu told daily Habertürk on Friday.
Erdoğan had previously called for a solution to the issue through the involvement of the Religious Affairs Directorate, a department within the Prime Ministry.
Bardakoğlu responded by saying the directorate does “not make statements on order.”
... “We can only comment on the religious aspect,” he said. “It is up to the government to draw the lines of personal freedom … Islam does not allow for the forcing of any beliefs or behavior upon people.”
It's a robust rebuke, and good for him. This is the voice of the highest Islamic authority in Turkey. A perusal of his writings--which discuss, among other things, the historic relationship between the secular state and the Religious Affairs Directorate, or diyanet--suggest that his commitment to the separation of mosque and state is long-standing, deeply considered, and deeply held.
I certainly don't agree with all of his views, and if you look for hints of sloppy thinking, you'll find them. But on the essential and allegedly theologically impossible point--the separation of mosque and state--he's quite solid, and he is no marginal figure.
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May '10
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
This is something that we keep hearing, but see too little of in practice. That such an important Turkish figure makes no bones about separating faith and government is great news, indeed! Thanks for sharing, Claire.
Jul '10
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
Another Susquatch Muslim © sighting?
Did they get photographs? Or plaster casts of his footprints?
Edited on Oct 16, 2010 at 2:48pmJul '10
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
Bless you for trying, Claire, and forgive me if I get the feeling that this MM Watch is like playing Where's Wally.
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
Kenneth: Another Susquatch Muslim © sighting?
Did they get photographs? Or plaster casts of his footprints? · Oct 16 at 2:17pm
Edited on Oct 16 at 02:48 pm
Would you like me to see if I can arrange for you to meet him via Skype conference, Kenneth? I bet I could make that happen. You could put all your questions to him, I'm sure. What do you say? I bet that would be an interesting special feature to post here.
Jul '10
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Kenneth: Another Susquatch Muslim © sighting?
Did they get photographs? Or plaster casts of his footprints? · Oct 16 at 2:17pm
Edited on Oct 16 at 02:48 pm
Would you like me to see if I can arrange for you to meet him via Skype conference, Kenneth? I bet I could make that happen. You could put all your questions to him, I'm sure. What do you say? I bet that would be an interesting special feature to post here. · Oct 16 at 3:16pm
That would be awesome. But my Turkish is, um, rusty....
Oct '10
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
Admirable indeed.
But this brings up a question for me, and pardon my newbiness if this has been hashed through before...but isn't the whole of Islam supposed to _include_ civil law?
Where's our 5.56 Bulgarian AK-toting chair-shredder?
Don't get me wrong...I'm happy that Bardakoğlu wants to keep a wall between mosque and state, but I've heard that there's a fine line between moderates and apostates (since they don't observe all of the Koran or the Hadith), and I fear it will only be a matter of time before someone "more halal than thou" will take the office.
Sep '10
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
Forget Kenneth, get him on the podcast for a real conversation.
I want to know how a Muslim in such a high position in Turkey can believe in the separation of mosque and state. Then I want to know if he fears for his life.
Sep '10
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
BTW Claire, thanks for your unique perspective on the boards and the podcast.
I have to admit that I sometimes wonder if there is some Stockholm syndrome going on because Turkey seems much more regressive according to other news sources.
Is Turkey truly taking a giant step backwards, or is there some glimmer of hope that the tide can be turned? Does the myth of the moderate Muslim really exist?
I think it's important to hear stories like this MMW, especially if it bucks the trend. Good job.
Jul '10
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
I agree that this is very positive. The niggling doubt in my mind is that guys like this - even if he is a major authority in Turkish Islam - is that he probably does not have the energy that the bad guys do. He makes reasonable statements. They cut heads off.
Claire, can you give us a sense of the actual impact this sort of statement would make for Turkish Muslims? Can he move his co-religionists to action in defense of this? Can his statements stand against the forceful energy of those less enlightened?
Jul '10
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
ConcernedCanadien: Forget Kenneth, get him on the podcast for a real conversation.
I want to know how a Muslim in such a high position in Turkey can believe in the separation of mosque and state. Then I want to know if he fears for his life. · Oct 16 at 4:42pm
Gee, I'm sure you didn't mean that the way it sounded.
But think about it: the Director would be rash to go on a podcast that's available web-wide and be candid about his views.
And if he listens to a few of the more, um, free-wheeling Ricochet podcasts, I can't imagine he would agree.
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
No worries, we've hashed through it before and will no doubt hash through it forever, but my point has been that it is not mere politically-correct toadying to say that Islam can be, and is, interpreted in ways so various that we need not fear no moderate interpretation is possible. We do need to fear that these interpretations are comparatively rare in the year 2010, and that the extremists are gaining ground.
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
Kenneth
ConcernedCanadien: I want to know how a Muslim in such a high position in Turkey can believe in the separation of mosque and state. Then I want to know if he fears for his life. · Oct 16 at 4:42pm
But think about it: the Director would be rash to go on a podcast that's available web-wide and be candid about his views.
And if he listens to a few of the more, um, free-wheeling Ricochet podcasts, I can't imagine he would agree. · Oct 16 at 7:10pm
His English is, I believe, flawless, and he's not fearful at all about expressing his views--he does it all the time, and his views are not marginal in Turkey at all. I'd be happy to invite him for a discussion. We'll probably hear that he doesn't have time, which is I'm sure true; he's a busy man. But he's quite committed to ideas such as "interfaith dialogue," and not just in name. So it's possible I could convince him. I'll ask him, if there's serious interest in the idea.
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
Patrick Shanahan: I agree that this is very positive. The niggling doubt in my mind is that guys like this - even if he is a major authority in Turkish Islam - is that he probably does not have the energy that the bad guys do. He makes reasonable statements. They cut heads off.
Claire, can you give us a sense of the actual impact this sort of statement would make for Turkish Muslims? Can he move his co-religionists to action in defense of this? Can his statements stand against the forceful energy of those less enlightened? · Oct 16 at 5:42pm
The Turks hunt down and ... neutralize, shall we say... the kind of people who commit beheadings with considerably more vigor than we do. We worry about things like giving them civilian trials; I don't think the Turkish security forces are constrained quite so much by these niceties. The threat to Turkey is not that active radicals will topple the state or intimidate its clergy; the threat is a very slow and gradual reorientation away from secularism and a change in its culture over a period of many years.
Jul '10
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Kenneth
His English is, I believe, flawless, and he's not fearful at all about expressing his views--he does it all the time, and his views are not marginal in Turkey at all. I'd be happy to invite him for a discussion. We'll probably hear that he doesn't have time, which is I'm sure true; he's a busy man. But he's quite committed to ideas such as "interfaith dialogue," and not just in name. So it's possible I could convince him. I'll ask him, if there's serious interest in the idea. · Oct 16 at 7:43pm
I'm seriously interested, but I would want to submit my questions to you first, out of respect to both you and to the Director. As you know, I tend to be rather blunt and would not wish to seem offensive. You're in a much better position to judge the distinction with regard to Turkish sensibilities.
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
He's not saying anything new, nor is he deviating from the position his office has historically held. This is a defense of the long-standing official position of the diyanet and it will, I expect, be extremely well-received, because most people here are fed-up to the eyeballs with efforts to politicize the headscarf issue (not just Erdogan's efforts, but the opposition's.) The statement is firm, but it won't come as a shock to anyone. He's defending the status quo.
Jul '10
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
Claire, have you been following Angela Merkel's statement that multi-culturalism in German has been a failure and that any immigrant who cannot immediately speak German is not welcome?
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
ConcernedCanadien: BTW Claire, thanks for your unique perspective on the boards and the podcast.
I have to admit that I sometimes wonder if there is some Stockholm syndrome going on because Turkey seems much more regressive according to other news sources.
Is Turkey truly taking a giant step backwards, or is there some glimmer of hope that the tide can be turned? Does the myth of the moderate Muslim really exist?
I think I'm probably also the source of the "regressive" stories. It's an extremely complicated country. There's tons of hope for Turkey.
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
ConcernedCanadien:
I want to know how a Muslim in such a high position in Turkey can believe in the separation of mosque and state. Then I want to know if he fears for his life. · Oct 16 at 4:42pm
He wouldn't at all fear for his life for saying this. The question--how a Muslim in a high position in Turkey can believe this--is historically interesting, and his own accounts are probably the best source to understand how, precisely, he sees this.
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
There have been similar statements from the Turkish side, too: Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bağış recently said,
Re: Moderate Muslim Watch: Ali Bardakoğlu
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Would you like me to see if I can arrange for you to meet him via Skype conference, Kenneth? I bet I could make that happen. You could put all your questions to him, I'm sure. What do you say? I bet that would be an interesting special feature to post here. · Oct 16 at 3:16pm
Actually, on reflection, "I bet I could make that happen" is probably overconfident: I have no idea if he uses Skype and would guess he probably doesn't. But I could submit a request to interview him.