It would have been surprising if the Diyanet had said anything else. Islamic tradition records that Muhammad consummated his marriage with (i.e., raped) Aisha when she was nine, and the resultant fact that child marriage is accepted in wide swaths of the Islamic world. Child marriage has abundant attestation in Islamic tradition and law. Turkey’s […]
Turkey: Top Islamic religious body tells women to accept violence at the hands of their husbands
Of course. The Qur’an teaches that men are superior to women and should beat those from whom they “fear disobedience”: “Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because Allah […]
Turkey’s Religious Affairs top dog: ‘Hagia Sophia shouldn’t only be place of worship,’ should be ‘a madrasa inside’
Training a new generation of jihadis and Islamic supremacists inside what was the foremost cathedral in Christendom for nearly a millennium — what could be more deliciously illustrative of the triumph and supremacy of Islam? “Turkey’s Top Imam Now Wants to Build an Islamic School at Hagia Sophia,” by Tasos Kokkinidis, Greek Reporter, July 12, […]
Turkey’s Diyanet: Schoolchildren leave Islam after reading the Koran
A prominent member of Turkey’s highest Islamic institution, the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), stated that children who read the Turkish translation of the Koran “start gravitating towards” atheism and deism, a belief in a non-interventionist creator. The statement was made by Professor Cağfer Karadaş during an interview with the pro-government newspaper Yeni Şafak on […]
In Turkey, Religious Authorities Get in the Way of Science (Part 1)
Like almost every other country in the world, Turkey has been hit with the coronavirus. And like other Muslim countries, in Turkey there has been a clash between religious authorities, unwilling to lock down shops, or mosques, or cities, and the medical specialists, who insist such measures are necessary. The latest report on the situation […]
Turkey’s Jihad in Syria
On February 28, the Turkish government-funded Anadolu Agency (AA) reported on the alleged takeover of a Syrian town by the Islamist “Free Syrian Army” (FSA). In the news report, the agency posted some images of the FSA fighters. A striking detail immediately attracted attention: on the arms and chests of some FSA fighters were logos […]
Turkey: Religious ministry has $11 billion budget to promote Islam, Christians have no legal way to build churches
Islamic law forbids the construction of new churches. Christians are “forbidden to ring church bells or display crosses, recite the Torah or Evangel aloud, or make public display of their funerals and feastdays, and are forbidden to build new churches” – Reliance of the Traveller o.11.5 (6,7) “Turkey Grows Role of Islam,” International Christian Concern, […]
Germany: Mosques pray for Erdogan’s military offensive against Kurds: “Allah, lead our glorious army to victory”
Mosques in Germany are praying for the Turkish army’s success as it wages a fierce military offensive against the U.S.-allied Kurdish forces and civilians in neighboring Syria, German newspaper Die Welt reported. The worshippers pray the victory verse: “Allah, Lead Our Glorious Army to Victory.” The backing from mosques in Germany comes days after Turkish […]
Turkey: Directorate of Religious Affairs considering banning imam from preaching because he sings rock music
Whenever I note that Islamic law forbids music (aside from nasheeds, a cappella songs encouraging jihad), I am excoriated as a greasy Islamophobe, but it’s nonetheless true: Hadith Qudsi 19:5: “The Prophet said that Allah commanded him to destroy all the musical instruments, idols, crosses and all the trappings of ignorance.” (The Hadith Qudsi, or […]
Turkey’s Religious Affairs top dog: “There is no such thing as German, French or European Islam”
This will come as a shock to the likes of Emmanuel Macron, with his confident plans to create a “French Islam,” but Macron will pay no heed. Erbaş, however, is backed up by the record of history. Throughout 1,400 years of Islam, there has never been a non-Muslim state in which a form of Islam […]
Turkey’s Religious Affairs top dog: Children who don’t study the Quran are close to Satan
Then when they read all that about “kill them wherever you find them” (Qur’an 2:191, 4:89, cf. 9:5), and “strike the necks” of the unbelievers (Qur’an 47:4), and that unbelievers are “the most vile of created beings” (Qur’an 98:6), and that Muslims should be “merciful to one another, ruthless to unbelievers” (Qur’an 48:29), and that […]
Turkey’s Religious Affairs chief: “Not correct to put the words of Islam and reform next to each other”
There are those in the West who are so confident in the prospects for reform in Islam that they take that confidence as an index of the reliability of various analysts: if one is not as sanguine as they are about the prospects for Islamic reform, they’re branded as “racist,” “bigoted” and “Islamophobic.” Those who […]
Netherlands: Sermon calling for jihad and martyrdom preached in at least one Turkish mosque
Yes, in a few years, the people who attend this mosque will be loyal, productive members of Dutch society. Won’t they? The Netherlands, and Europe is general, is teetering on the edge of the abyss. Here is the Turkish text of the sermon, and here is an English translation: “Jihad preaching in Hoorn,” by Silvan […]
Turks moving slowly in Afrin to avoid “causing even one person’s nose to bleed; after all, this is Islam’s order”
“Our Muslim soldiers are undertaking their fight in line with Islam’s principles. That is why they are moving slowly in Afrin. They are moving with the conscience of not causing even one person’s nose to bleed; after all, this is Islam’s order.” In reality, the Turks are moving slowly in Afrin because of mountains and […]
Turkey: 90,000 mosques pray Qur’anic “conquest” prayers calling on Muslims to be “ruthless against unbelievers”
Surah al-Fath is the 48th chapter of the Qur’an. It promises Muslims who wage jihad much material reward: “Allah has promised you much booty that you will take and has hastened for you this and withheld the hands of people from you – that it may be a sign for the believers and He may […]
Turkey’s directorate of religious affairs says that under Islamic law, girls as young as nine can marry
Islamic apologists in the West routinely deny that Muhammad consummated his marriage with (i.e., raped) Aisha when she was nine, and go through all sorts of contortions to deny the evidence of the texts, but the fact that child marriage is accepted in wide swaths of the Islamic world, even by the directorate of religious […]
Erdogan seizes 50 churches and monasteries, declares them Turkish state property
As Turkey continues its Islamization under Erdogan, it becomes increasingly hostile to Christians and Christianity. This fact should give pause to the fond and foolish purveyors of “Muslim-Christian dialogue” and Christian “outreach” to Muslims, but it won’t. “Erdogan Seizes 50 Syriac Churches and Monasteries, Declares Them Turkish State Property,” by Patrick Poole, PJ Media, June […]
Turkey says German mosque where men and women pray side by side “incompatible” with Islam
This mosque received a great deal of international publicity recently as heralding the advent of a new, modern, moderate Islam. As is always the case with genuine attempts at Islamic reform, however, it is receiving pushback from Islamic authorities who say it is inauthentic Islam. The Turkish authorities in this case are working from hadiths […]
Turkish Religious Affairs top dog: Islamic State causes as much damage as “Islamophobic” Muhammad cartoons
Let’s see. The Islamic State has murdered thousands upon thousands of people. Cartoons of Muhammad don’t kill anyone. Some Muslims decide to commit murder because of Muhammad cartoons, but if they decided to exercise some self-control and try to understand the lineaments of a free and pluralistic society, no one would get hurt at all […]
Qur’an-shaped cake has Turks irked, say bakers should have shirked
Don’t smirk. Here come Görmez’s clerks. For these students, trouble lurks. “There is no fun in Islam.” — Ayatollah Khomeini “Turkey fumes over Quran-shaped cake,” by Judah Ari Gross, Times of Israel, April 21, 2015: Turkish religious authorities have opened an investigation against Anatolian students for baking a cake in the shape of the Quran, […]