Muslims' Monster

I am using the word “monster” in the sense Thomas Hobbes used it: Leviathan, as referred to in Phoenician mythology or the Old Testament.

This monster is a killer crocodile in the Nile River in mythology and the symbol of pagans in the Old Testament. A careful reading may lead us to conclude that the word "taghut" in the Quran is similar (yet in a broader context and meaning) to this notion (2/256). Hobbes incorporated Leviathan into the literature of politics. Hobbes accurately defined the emergence of the modern nation-state. Conservative politics, liberalism and socialism-Marxism are derivatives of Leviathan on the European continent.

There have been brutal caliphs, sultans and shahs who persecuted the people and violated laws in the history of Islam; however, there has never been a state in this world which, as a legal personality, infiltrated in all spheres of life and wanted to shape man to make him comply with its demands. Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf of the Umayyads murdered many people, but he has always been remembered as Hajjaj, the murderer.

The only goals in Islam are to preserve high ethical standards and to maintain justice. Even the cruelest rulers in the Islamic world have never thought to rule by ignoring Islamic rules and provisions, which can be taken today as principles of the supremacy of law. They tried to comply with Islamic provisions, violated laws or secured fatwas to justify their policies, because the most dangerous thing to do would be to eliminate the concrete provisions of Islam as regulators of social life and to pay greater emphasis upon religious rituals as the foundation of religion.

If they had attempted to redefine the state and power structures by abandoning the cause of saving the state as articulated by the first generation of Islamists, or establishing the state as formulated by the second generation of Islamists, the third generation of Islamists would have made extensive contributions to the political thinking of modern times. They did not do so; they came to power by owning up the state, which is essentially Leviathan. The monster of Muslims comes to life when it places greater emphasis upon the symbols and rituals of religion, whereas it lies on the peremptory policies of modern thinking in the practices of daily life.

Former Islamists, instead of dropping their Islamist claims and proceeding, concluded that they would rely on religious rituals but discard the concrete provisions of the religion. Of course, they justified their preference by a weak religious interpretation that basically stated Islamic provisions are not observed in a secular order because the domestic and external dynamics present obstacles.

However, it was also necessary to become stronger; greater strength was possible only if they came to power. Modern authority offers unilateral power and wealth. In this case, they decided to examine Islamic provisions but observe religious rituals while they were in power. Symbols and rituals preserve a link to religion and offer advantages against secular rivals.

The main factor that created Leviathan in Europe was the secularization of the state or authority vis-à-vis the church and religion, and its emergence as an autonomous entity. Socialism attempted to react to this monster in the name of the oppressed, but it created a greater monster. Liberalism wanted to restrict the power of the state in the name of law, but because its point of reference was rich people, society and the poor were sacrificed to the monster. Islamist political movements could have offered a solution; however, former Islamists who aimed to seize power revived Leviathan in their own rule by gaining autonomy vis-à-vis the provisions of religion.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky once said that everything is justified if there is no God. You would restrict the role of God to religious rituals and symbols and then justify everything. That is what would make a Muslim monster.

ALİ BULAÇ (Cihan/Today's Zaman)