Davutoğlu, Diyanet, Kemalo-Islamism, Brainwashing

When Ahmet Davutoğlu was appointed as prime minister by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, pro-government media boasted that Davutoğlu did not assign Diyanet (the Directorate of the Religious Affairs [DİB]) to another minister but directly to himself since he wants to use Diyanet as a soft-power instrument in Turkey's global affairs and international relations.
It is obvious that Diyanet has a very special place in Davutoğlu's understanding. This means that he has to pay special attention to this organ of the state and spend some time reforming it. Even though I am not hopeful about this, it is still our duty to criticize the mistakes of Diyanet so that it can be reformed and democratized. Davutoğlu must read this week's Friday sermon and evaluate if it is a document compatible with spirit of Islam or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)!

Mentioning ISIL in this context is a little bit provocative and it is definitely an exaggeration but I want this piece to be an eye-opener for practicing Muslims. As I said I am not hopeful about Davutoğlu since as I have argued before, he is also a Kemalo-Islamist. In other words, he will refrain from using Diyanet as an Althusserian ideological apparatus for social engineering and brainwashing purposes. The Kemalists continued the Byzantine-Ottoman practice of subduing religion to the state and for this purpose, instead of completely detaching religion for the state affairs, they established Diyanet to control Islam.
Thus, non-Muslims in Turkey can organize their religious affairs autonomously from the state but practicing Muslims cannot open private or civilian mosques and they cannot get private or civilian religious education. All mosques are under the rule of the state and all preachers are state employees. Even the Friday sermons are written by the state, and preachers who are public officers are not trusted to write their locally sensitive, context-specific sermons. About 70 percent of Turkish male citizens attend Friday prayers and the state does not want to miss this excellent opportunity to brainwash its citizens in line with its ideological pretensions and Weltanschauung (Davutoğlu loves to use this term!).
There are several studies on this issue and I remember mention some of them here but let me focus on this Friday's sermon.

First and foremost, this Friday's sermon was a statist and nationalist one with an aim of inculcating the citizens with heroic, nationalist, pro-war values and spirit. Expressions such as blood, our ancestors, our enemies, protecting the country, paying the price of having this country, etc. were all over the text. The state (this actually means rulers) was sanctioned repeatedly and the believers were reminded that their daughters, mothers and wives would not be comfortable going out onto the streets if there was not the state. Would they be raped?
The authors of this text know very well how to manipulate the sensitivities of the people.
The text also mentioned something like, “Turkey has several enemies; they do not like Turkey; they want to undermine Turkey, etc.” I am not sure but the text seems also to be a reaction to The New York Times, among other things.

When we look at Islamic sources, mainly the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet, we clearly see that Islam, as other religions, is essentially about spirituality, self-discipline, being a good person, friendliness, forgiveness, morality, ethics, honesty, good manners, responsibility towards God, the universe, other creatures and human beings, etc. Despite all these, Diyanet's text never mentioned any of this. This is simply a distortion and misreading of religion.
Even the concluding prayer in the text suggests the mentality of the Kemalo-Islamist Diyanet: “May Allah protect our state and nation.” Why do we not mention our life, dignity, honor, rights, liberties, neighbors and families before the state? Which one is essential, the state or all the others?
The state is only a tool that may or may not protect our life, dignity, honor, rights, liberties, neighbors and families. What is more, there are many states on earth -- including the Turkish one -- that do not respect the dignity, honor, rights, liberties and freedoms of their own citizens, let alone non-citizens.
If Diyanet still loves when the believers pray for the state, it can formulate something like, “Allah devletimizi ıslah etsin” (May God reform and improve our state)!

İHSAN YILMAZ (Cihan/Today's Zaman)