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Saudi Gazette
03-07-2025
- General
- Saudi Gazette
Makkah Grand Mosque Friday sermon to be translated into 35 languages for first time on July 4
Saudi Gazette report MAKKAH — The Presidency of Religious Affairs at the Grand Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque announced that Friday sermon of tomorrow, July 4, at the Grand Mosque in Makkah will be translated into 35 languages for the first time. Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Sudais, head of the presidency, will deliver the sermon and lead the Juma prayer. Fahim Al-Hamid, general supervisor of media and communications at the Presidency of Religious Affairs, emphasized the presidency's commitment to translating the Friday sermon into multiple languages, serving as a bridge for communications between peoples and the exchange of cultures and civilizations. With live translations now available, Muslims around the world can connect with this sacred moment in their own languages, extending the reach of its powerful message to millions of the faithful.
The Print
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Print
Turkey's looking more like Pakistan every day. Blasphemy-obsessed, imprisoned by hatred
Though no one was killed in the violence, it is becoming clear that Turkey, once the progressive cultural powerhouse of the Middle East, is starting to look a little more like Pakistan each week. The country's septuagenarian ruler, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is even working to dismantle the constitution , which mandates that 'sacred religious feelings shall absolutely not be involved in state affairs and politics as required by the principle of secularism'. Earlier this week, police in Istanbul fired rubber bullets and tear gas into a mob seeking to attack a bar where staff of the magazine had retreated after the supposedly blasphemous cartoon went to print. The country's interior minister Ali Yerlikaya has promised legal action against the cartoonist, graphic designer, and editors of LeMan , vowing that 'these shameless individuals will be held accountable before the law'. The inferno lies below, a landscape made up of bombs, fire, and rubble. Their wings elevating them above the carnage, two angels—one bearing the name of the Prophet of Islam and the other of the Israelites—wish each other peace. The cartoon, published in the Turkish satirical magazine LeMan , is open to readings. Is it that those condemned to live in war can only discover their shared humanity after being liberated from life? Alternately, is it that the angels have abandoned their followers on earth, learning that piety cannot tame the savagery of the faithful? Extreme religious violence isn't unknown in Turkey. Thirty-seven people were burned to death in 1993 after mobs attacked a cultural festival of the Alevi sect, attended among others by the Turkish translator of Salman Rushdie's book, The Satanic Verses. The proscription of books, arrests of opposition leaders, and the repression of ethnic minorities have been an ugly feature of Turkey's republic. However, its social and cultural life remains highly sophisticated and liberal, and not just by the standards of the grim Middle East despotisms. Erdoğan's true legacy, the violence in Istanbul suggests, might be demolishing the foundations on which Turkey's pluralism has rested. Decline of the republic Kemal Atatürk's epoch-defining construction of republican Turkey from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire aimed to create a new civilisation that could negotiate the industrial world. The religious orders that wielded enormous influence in the imperial era were closed down in 1925. Far-reaching reforms were introduced on how men and women ought to dress, including the rejection of the traditional Fez cap and encouraging women to give up the Peçe (headscarf) and Çarşaf (a loose-fitting outer garment). In 1928, the Latin alphabet replaced the Arabic script, a tool to demolish the power of the clerical class. The same year, Islam was removed as the state religion. For Atatürk, it seemed that the reconstruction of Islam itself was necessary. So he established the Presidency of Religious Affairs to oversee religious affairs. The clergy were transformed into state employees, responsible for delivering sermons dictated by the authorities. Imams were ordered to allow musical instruments into mosques, and failing that, were provided with gramophones and records. Even the wearing of shoes inside mosques was encouraged. This state-enforced religion, scholar Nevzet Çelik noted in a thoughtful essay, brought about enormous transformation—but it also stifled the organic evolution of civic life and marked secularism with the taint of authoritarianism. As Atatürk's legacy faded, and Turkey became more shaped by Cold War anticommunism, religion became a language of protest for the peasantry and bourgeoisie. According to historian David Tonge, from 1980 onward, things began to come to a head. The faltering economy fed communal tensions. Fifty died in massacres in Çorum, where Turkish ultranationalists attacked Alevis. As Left-wing groups battled fascists on the streets, the fights claimed dozens of lives every day. The opposition politician Necmettin Erbakan used Islam to attack Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, calling for Turkey to be made an Islamic State. The military stepped in to end the chaos: Turkey woke up on 12 September 1980 to find itself under military rule. To some, this seemed just a passing phase. The country had, after all, been subjected to coups in 1960 and 1971. The Generals hadn't even troubled themselves to send out the tanks the second time, simply sending a memorandum to the parliament. Also read: Pakistan suffers violence of its own making. West's refusal to learn is even more tragic A change of destiny Led by General Kenan Evren, the National Security Council realised it needed to come to terms with the social forces sweeping Turkey. Though secularism continued to be promoted as a guiding principle, religious education was reintroduced in primary and secondary schools. The government of Prime Minister Turgut Özal, which was elected in 1983, also instrumentalised religion. His education minister Vehbi Dinçerler banned the teaching of evolution and instructed clerical schools to teach that Turks had been 'leaders in the rise and dissemination of Islam throughout the world'. Later, Özal became the first Prime Minister of Turkey to make the Hajj pilgrimage while in office, leading a delegation of several hundred Members of Parliament and senior civil servants. The opposition media, Tonge writes, savaged Özal, publishing pictures of him in his white, ritual ihram towels, contrasted with his wife in a cocktail dress, smoking one of her trademark cigars. Erbakan's rise to power in 1996 marked a further shift in political direction away from secularism. His first trip abroad was to Tehran, in defiance of the United States, and then to Libya. He also tried to launch a D8 group of Muslim nations, as an alternative to the West's G7 group of economically developed countries. The ban on female civil servants wearing the headscarf was removed. The Generals, concerned, presented Erbakan with 18 directives, 10 of which concerned the defence of secularism. Then, in April, the military declared reactionary Islam to be more dangerous to Turkey than Kurdish secessionists, or even wars. Television stations, radio broadcasters, and newspapers considered sympathetic to the Islamists were shut down. Also read: Chinese J-20 isn't just a fighter jet—it's a signal to US, Japan and India European departure From 1999, the European Union sought to stabilise its eastern frontiers by drawing Turkey into the transnational body. The demands for civil liberties and freedoms that were now placed on Turkey's military gutted the institution. Led by Erdoğan, the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) or Justice and Development Party, was founded in 2001, bringing together a disparate coalition of Islamists. To the world, however, the AKP presented itself as a pro-West, reformist, moderate, and neoliberal party. Europe and the United States bought the story. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared that the AKP was 'a government dedicated to pulling Turkey westward toward Europe'. President Barack Obama gushed about 'a model partnership' with Turkey. Erdoğan has also used the same language about Trump. The practice of AKP power, however, proved to be at odds with this image. For one, as the party faced growing competition from its rivals, it made increasing use of religion. 'Those with greater commitments to liberal democratic norms carried greater weight at the outset, only to lose their power and influence to electoralists,' political scientist Sebnem Gumuscu wrote in her book, Democracy or Authoritarianism. The signs of Erdoğan's commitment to Islamism became increasingly evident. The new school curriculum introduced in 2017 led to the removal of the theory of evolution and increased emphasis on religious values. The word 'jihad' was included as an essential part of Islam. And then, a year short of the centennial of the founding of the republic, he opened the Hagia Sofiya church for Islamic prayers, reversing Atatürk's decision to turn it into a museum, equally shared between the country's faiths. Erdoğan's beliefs are increasingly evident beyond Turkey's borders, too. The new regime in Syria has embraced Sharia as the basis of its laws, just as Erdoğan seeks in his homeland. He has also been accused of complicity in the killings of religious minorities. The rioting over the LeMan cartoon signals the rise of Turkey, diminished by its obsession with greatness, but a prisoner of resentment and hatred. This smaller, meaner Turkey, of the blasphemy rioter and sectarian killer, will be Erdoğan's legacy. Praveen Swami is Contributing Editor at ThePrint. His X handle is @praveenswami. Views are personal. (Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)
Saudi Gazette
19-06-2025
- Saudi Gazette
Smart screens guide worshippers at Prophet's Mosque in 23 languages
Saudi Gazette report MADINAH — The Presidency of Religious Affairs at the Prophet's Mosque offers numerous awareness-raising services to deliver religious and guidance messages to pilgrims through field personnel and modern technologies, as part of its efforts to enrich their experience during their visit to Madinah. The guidance provided to worshippers at the Prophet's Mosque during the post-Hajj season includes a set of smart enrichment services provided by the General Administration of Field Awareness at the Agency for Dawah and Guidance Affairs at the Presidency of Religious Affairs at the Prophet's Mosque. These services utilize smart interactive guidance screens distributed throughout the Prophet's Mosque, enabling visitors to download guidance and da'wah brochures onto their smartphones via an interactive barcode, enhancing their interactive experience. This is part of the agency's plans for digital transformation, which aims to enhance da'wah and guidance services digitally and technologically. Interactive screens represent a qualitative leap in delivering religious and guidance messages to the guests of God digitally, and are fed with diverse interactive enrichment content in 23 international languages.
DW
15-06-2025
- Politics
- DW
Turkish authority granted power to censor Quran translations – DW – 06/15/2025
Concerns about religious freedom in Turkey have been growing since early June, when a new law gave the Diyanet the right to ban translations of the Quran that do not comply with its interpretation of Islam. Turkey's Presidency of Religious Affairs, known as the Diyanet, is one of the country's most influential authorities. According to its own figures, it employs over 140,000 people and offers religious services in more than 100 countries. Founded in 1924, the Diyanet has reported directly to Islamic-conservative president Recep Tayyip Erdogan since 2018. Its annual budget of around €3 billion ($3.47 billion) also exceeds those of several ministries, including the Ministry of Interior. The Diyanet manages 90,000 mosques across the country, organizes Quran courses, cultural events and annual pilgrimages, and coordinates slaughters for the Feast of Sacrifice. It also trains imams and deploys them both at home and abroad. Its foundation is active in 150 countries and reaches millions of people through educational programs and scholarships worldwide. The Quran is written in Arabic. Translations are essential to making the text accessible to millions, including those in Turkey Image: Godong/Imago Images New authority over Quran translations In recent years, the Diyanet's powers have expanded. Most recently, a new law that went into effect on June 4 granted the authority to interpret translations of the Quran. If these "do not correspond to the basic characteristics of Islam," they may be banned. "Problematic copies" that have already been published can be confiscated and destroyed. This also applies to digital texts, audio, and video recordings online. Previously, President Erdogan had granted this authority by decree, which allowed the Diyanet to classify some translations as "untruthful." But the decree was struck down by the Constitutional Court. But the new law has ensured that the Diyanet's power would indeed be constitutional. Critics allege censorship In Muslim-majority countries, heads of state regularly invoke Islam to justify their actions. For example, in Iraq, the once secular Saddam Hussein used religious tenets to justify his autocratic measures and war with Iran. In Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been accused of using the push for more religious openness as an excuse to crack down on his political opponents. And as the Middle East Institute has noted, Erdogan's political party, the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, "maintains the loyalty of its base through a historical narrative of religion and nationalism." Now theologians critical of the government allege that Turkey's new law amounts to censorship, calling it state-enforced Islam that endangers religious freedom. For well-known theologian Sonmez Kutlu, it is a declaration of bankruptcy by the state. A country with over 100,000 Diyanet employees and more than 100 theology faculties should be able to protect the Quran from allegedly problematic translations via intellectual and scientific methods rather than bans, he says. He also warns that publications containing translated verses that allegedly "contradict the fundamental characteristics of Islam" could also lead to investigations and prosecutions. The Quran translation by Ihsan Eliacik has already been classified as 'problematic' and banned. Eliacik is one of the theologians who are critical of the Diyanet Image: ANKA Theologian Ihsan Eliacik sees the Diyanet's new authority as a fundamental violation of the faith. "In Islam, no institution is allowed to stand between people and Allah. However, the Diyanet's review of the Quran for 'truthfulness' does exactly that," he says. Eliacik's own translation of the Quran was previously banned by the Diyanet. He appealed to the Constitutional Court and won. But under the new legal provisions, taking action like this is no longer possible. Religious orders gain influence In recent years, Eliacik, Kutlu and other theologians critical of the government have repeatedly been the target of smear campaigns by pro-government brotherhoods and Islamist orders. Omer Ozsoy, theology professor at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, suspects the growing influence on the government from these religious orders is behind the new law. "These circles have been openly opposing academic, critical and pluralistic theology at Turkey's Islamic theological faculties for around a decade," Ozsoy says. He has observed how they "have been conducting systematic campaigns against high-profile theologians for some time." Ozsoy fears that the new law could be broadly applied with repressive and politically motivated interpretations. "Translator colleagues report that the Diyanet has already prepared to impound a total of 12 translations, including those by Mustafa Oztürk and Edip Yuksel," he adds. Opinion research institute KONDA reports that the proportion of people in Turkey who describe themselves as religious has fallen from 55% in 2018 to 46% today Image: Shady Al-Assar/ZUMA/picture alliance The role of translations The Quran is written in Arabic. Translations of Islam's holy book are essential to making the texts accessible to millions of people. However, they also contain interpretations, especially in the case of ambiguous words or passages, making them a sensitive topic. The importance of Quran translations in non-Arabic-speaking countries such as Turkey has increased in recent years. In the past, explained Ozsoy, "it was up to religious scholars to deal with the Quran." Today, however, things are different, he said. "Today, lay believers read the Quran directly and interpret it independently," adding that this is due to critical thinking and the emergence of various movements and social currents. According to Ozsoy, the number of Turkish Quran translations has increased in recent decades. Among the translators there are many without professional qualifications. This problem is widely discussed among experts and there is extensive academic literature on the subject. Observers suspect the influence of Islamist orders behind the new law. Here, President Erdogan visits the Ismail-Aga order in Istanbul in 2020 Image: ANKA More non-believers Religion has become a focal point of Turkish social discourse. Young people in particular are engaged in reading scripture and questioning many theories — a cause for concern within the government. President Erdogan has emphasized repeatedly that he wants to raise a "pious generation." However, recent studies by the opinion research institute KONDA show the opposite: The proportion of people who describe themselves as religious has fallen from 55% in 2018 to 46% now, while the proportion of atheists or non-believers has risen from 2% to 8% in the same period. This article was originally written in German.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Turkey fines Adidas $15,000 for pigskin shoes
Turkey has hit German sporting equipment giant Adidas with a fine of more than $15,000 for failing to inform customers that one of its flagship footwear models contained pigskin. The Muslim-majority country's advertising regulator slammed Adidas for describing its "Samba OG" trainers -- sported in recent years by models Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid -- as made from "real leather", without specifying it came from pigs. In a ruling seen by AFP on Thursday, it said the use of materials "contrary to the religious sensibilities of the majority of society must be clearly mentioned" in advertisements and product descriptions. The regulator fined the company 550,059 Turkish lira ($15,200). Contacted by AFP, Adidas admitted it had "updated" the specification on its website, without commenting on the fine. "Following an individual notification regarding a product description on our Turkish e-com website, we have updated the material specifications for the product accordingly," it said in a brief statement. In 2020, Turkey's Presidency of Religious Affairs ruled it was "not permissible to manufacture shoes or garments from pigskin or pigskin hair". "It is accepted by nearly all Muslim scholars that pigskin cannot be made pure by tanning or similar processes," it said. rba/burs-hmw/sbk
