By Mahmud Erol Kılıç,
Professor of Sufism at Marmara University
ISTANBUL
Trying to come up with answers to what happened on the night of July 15 through a series of political, intelligence-based, and journalistic analyses would mean dealing with only the "effect" side of the equation of "cause and effect." Yet there is the level of cause that precedes each effect, and a holistic analysis can never be achieved when the causes remain unknown. The level of causes is one that pertains to the main principles. Therefore, analyses to be made by scholars, and particularly scholars of Islamic theology, are much needed in this regard.
Here is what I mean: Modern mystic cults not affiliated with an authentic Islamic tradition are largely built upon the psycho-pathological fantasies of their leaders and the goodwill of the naive masses who believe them. When we say "mystic cults" – it should be carefully noted – we do not solely mean those with religious origins.
History has shown that certain ideologies may put on a similar, i.e. "a religious face,” and the reason for this is, ideologies are ultimately bound to fail to become all-encompassing unless they take on a religious / mystic character.
Since the human being and life are divine as of their origin, the human being cannot possibly internalize anything without making it into a religious/divine thing. This is to say, the human is a religious being (homo religious). That's why even if it is an irreligious movement, such as communism, or an anti-God thought like atheism, they cannot escape being sacralized by their adherents.
A most recent example of cult-turned-religious movements originally based on politics – a phenomenon we have often seen in many lands since the turn of the century – is the political ideology and state structure of North Korea. This phenomenon can be witnessed in a large number of areas such as football and music in addition to political ideologies. And in cases where the hierarchy of sacredness cannot be established safely and accurately, such structures begin to steal roles.
However, these acts of deification and "religification" cannot change the fact that there is only one true Deity, and there is only one true religion in His sight. "There is no god but Allah," and "Religion, in the sight of Allah, is Islam."
While this is the truth, it should not be forgotten that when the truth cannot be established properly, counterfeit creeds will fill the void, because there is no empty space in the universe.
Apart from ideologies, the history of religions is a fertile field generating such movements and leaders that are heretical. As we said above, as ideological movements ultimately take on religious qualities, some religious movements become politicized, turning into ideologies.
These deviant religious movements turning into a social problem becomes obvious when these structures extend their reach into the political sphere.
Movements, originally based on ideologies, that later take on religious qualities, and those originally based on a religion that later transmogrify into an ideology, converge at a certain point, which is that they arrogate to themselves the mission of saving the world.
Theodor Herlz's messianic Zionism, and Adolf Hitler's transformation of the mystic "White Eagle" movement into the Nazi ideology, are two important examples of such movements starting from opposite directions.
Our age has witnessed many such cult movements from the People's Temple movement of Jim Jones, whose members collectively committed suicide in Guyana in 1978, to the South Korean Moon movement.
When the fantasies, reveries, and delusions of a cult leader not only circulate among his adherents but turn into sci-fi-like scenarios, like taking over a state, and then the world, and even the universe, then the danger has reached a global scale. And particularly, if many other foreign powers have been harboring longstanding ambitions regarding the country whose administration this movement is trying to take over, the common interests of these two fractions lead them to act in a parallel manner over time.
But, for major operations, domestic elements are first manipulated as an advance vanguard, and as a Trojan horse, and through the door opened by this group, the second leg of the operation is launched, and from that moment on, more powerful players become insurgent, turning these breaches into a full-scale invasion after probably devouring the first group.
This country is one, for which many great powers still harbor aspirations: It is Turkey. That all foreign powers have been exerting great efforts to destroy the unity of this country since 1071, and especially since 1453 is no secret.
However, the newly-founded republic's persistence in making two particular mistakes – also two fashionable trends at the time – constitutes the basis of the batch of still persisting problems that we have been unable to uproot despite taking all sorts of measures.
The first of these problems is the Turkish-Kurdish issue that emerged when ethnic nationalism was established in the sphere of sanctity vacated by religion, and this problem continues to bleed, as it were.
The second is the batch of problems generated by the fact that religion has been cast out of the public and civil sphere, though it should have been internalized by being viewed as a normal philosophy of life.
If you create an army where it is impossible to observe basic religious duties – first and foremost, doing the five daily prayers – certain people will try and infiltrate that army and you will bitterly suffer the consequences.
Unless these two very significant issues cease to be problems as is required of modern perceptions regarding administration, Turkey cannot become normalized.
And indeed, with the exception of these two areas, Turkey has no major problems. And it is only natural that foreign intelligence services, who are perfectly aware of us having these two breaches of security, will be "investing" specifically in these two areas.
They are provoking unrest in Eastern Anatolia on the one hand, and in the religious sphere on the other.
It is very thought-provoking that they attempted to realize their objectives – which they have been unable to carry out in a direct manner in recent years – by making use of the utopian and fantastic aspirations of a religious community, whom we tried to describe above, and to whom the realization of such objectives is very suited, and about which they are enthusiastic.
On July 15, 2016, they wanted to finalize an operation, which they partially attempted to launch several times before, by trying to stage a bloody coup.
But, through the grace of God, the spiritual assistance of His invisible servants as well as the souls of passed saints, and with the valiant resistance of the people, they failed to stage a successful coup.
Nobody had even imagined that the madness of this heretical and treacherous group would go so far as to murder specially trained police officers, shopkeepers, students, hafizes (those who have committed the entire Quran to memory), imams, and dervishes. That they kill innocent people, and even, in a number of cases, themselves serves to demonstrate that this is entirely and solely a cult. They, themselves, have thus substantiated the metaphor of "Hashhâshî" (assassins) used about them.
Another detail we must not overlook is the following: the leader of this group has an obviously negative approach to our neighbor Iran and its sect, and this negativity has already been noted favorably by those manipulating them.
The required circumstances could be created in exactly this way. If these puppets had succeeded in taking over Turkey, the next plan of the masterminds behind them would be to provoke a war between Turkey and Iran (as I have always remarked but I could never make myself heard).
Thus, they were going reach their goal, whose consequences I don't want to even begin to think about, by pitting two great Muslim countries against each other and making them kill each other. I am convinced that we can handle our problems with our neighbor around the negotiating table.
However, there is an intellect over every intellect. And the Uppermost Intellect responded to this game with a game and the attempt came to naught.
All authentic traditions and peoples in Turkey took their part in this resistance to this occupation. It has turned out that this spineless, characterless, utterly shifty, fake, initiatic structure that has at times abused Sufi themes in search of legitimacy has no religious or spiritual aspect left.
Although they may have earned the favor of a certain number of sincere people by abusing such appealing themes at the beginning, they ended up becoming a plaything of international powers by eventually betraying the very people who supported them for so long.
This abject end is one from which all similar structures, and especially bogus Islamic communities and fake Sufi orders, should take a lesson. The noble children of our country have clung to their national resistance against any kind of operation with foreign origins. Every opposite faction – rightist/leftist, very religious/less religious, Turkish/Kurdish, Sunni/Alawi – has gathered together in this resistance.
Peace be on the masters of the tradition who have taught us "Jâmi'ul-azdâd"! There apparently is a metaphysical sphere where even opposites unite: we learned it from you.
This is what we learned from Rumi and Yunus Emre. Real dervishes, knowers of God, Sufis, and strivers (mujahids), who are equipped with this religious and national consciousness, participated in the defense of the country at the cost of their lives.
Now we are all like a single body. But in order to perpetuate this unity, we must act with a refined wisdom and a joy and enthusiasm stemming from the creed of Divine Unity. It should also be known that utterly shallow and incompetent hypocrites cannot possibly shoulder this weighty load.
Meanwhile, those reading into this atrocious incident solely from the perspective of their own predispositions and benefiting from it to attack the sublime institution of Sufism, the essential component of these lands, are slowly coming to light one by one.
And this emerges as a separate issue within this problem. The self-declared Islamic scholars peddling anti-Sufi ideas, who have no history in Anatolia, have gone so far as to question the notion of "obedience" as if they did not know the ayah in the Quran, "Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those vested with authority among you."
In defiance of the Quranic ayah, "They have hearts with which they do not reason,” so many confused scholars, cut off from the tradition, who claim, "If you replace your reason with your heart, this is what happens!” have set about making arbitrary judgments against Sufism.
And some bogus sheikhs have played into the hands of these so-called scholars. These writers, who have apparently forgotten that God's religion stands beside false religions, and the path of the All-Gracious (ar-Rahman) stands beside that of Satan, have again begun to conflate cults with genuine Sufi orders. Moreover, articles and columns, in which even Pythagoras, one of the greatest masters of philosophy, is accused of being a hashhâshî (assassin), have spread like poppy seeds. A complete mental chaos.
Consequently, this incident seems to have turned not only the political stability of our country but its world of ideas upside down.
Who knows, maybe everything will fall into place more safely thanks to all these baffling incidents. Let's hope that.
Remember that there used to be false prophets (mutanabbi), just like that, and there will always be false religious leaders (mutashayyikh). Do not scare us with them. Keep in mind that the counterfeit ones help demonstrate that there is truth and authenticity in that whose counterfeit has been made. If nobody is creating your counterfeit, then reconsider your real worth.
The spiritual patrons of this state, which was founded with the "breath of the saints of God,” have caught the latest impostor red-handed with the permission of God. The decisive moment for all those who adhered to this structure previously, with their pure and sincere feelings, has come with this latest incident. A believer is fooled only once. The second time indicates folly.
Normalization in the sphere of religion, one of the two areas required for the normalization of Turkey, will be achieved through the Islam of the saints and knowers of God, the founding fathers of these lands for seven centuries. Not the sect of the Shirazis, nor the sect Lawrence helped to found, nor the Pennsylvanian sect, stand any chance of surviving in these lands.
*Opinions expressed in this piece are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Anadolu Agency's editorial policy.
Translated by Ömer Çolakoğlu
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