The current clash of secularism with Islam in the country that enjoys a place of primacy in the history of Muslims, is at the very least ironic, and at the worst tragic. Secularists have taken a view that Turkey can’t accept a President whose wife wears a headscarf, and who is known for ‘not missing’ his prayers. These secularists are misguided descendents of Ata Turk and Kemalists —- the creed he founded. It goes without saying that Ata Turk founded modern Turkey. He founded and built it on the ruins of the decadent Ottoman Empire which for over half a millennium had kept the flag of Islam high—so close to the doorsteps of Europe. But to hold Islam responsible for the decline of Ottoman power is a falsehood of highest order. On the contrary it was the dynamic spirit of Islam which powered the rise of Ottomans, and served as a fuel to the fierce passions (for progress, conquest and glory) that produced such immortal empire-builders as Sultan Mohammad, Sultan Murad, Sultan Salim and Sultan Suleiman.
It was when the Turks abandoned the dynamic spirit inherent in Islamic identity and started finding solace in the ritualized and degenerated version of Islamic beliefs, that the era of the Turkish decline began. Ata Turk’s radical revolt against ‘Islamic identity’ had no principled rationale, but was built on the simple maxim that to re-discover Turkish Glory it was essential to sever all links with the past.
At best Kemalism was a violent reaction to the decadent practices which had been adopted in the name of Islam. Let us acknowledge the great contribution Ata Turk made to the Muslim Revival, by fathering a progressive Muslim Nation under the convenient banner of secularism. But we are living in quite another era now. Islam has commenced its heroic fightback on the political map of the world. The growing popularity of Justice & Development Party (AKP) whose leaders the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul are, is a proof of how fast Turkey is readying itself for reclaiming its position of primacy in the World of the Crescent.
The Red Crescent of Turkey and the Green Crescent of Pakistan are destined to lead the resurgence of a Nation which has only one Leader — Mohammad (PBUH).
(This Column was first published on 10-05-2007)
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