Time to seek our ’inner adult’
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 22, 2009 00:00
With all respect to head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs Ali Bardakoğlu, we must suggest he look atop the entryway at the next mosque he visits.
Probably, he will see in the tiling a "nazar boncuğu" the glass bead often wrongly described in English as the "evil eye." This blue and white amulet is found in many places in Turkey: cars, buses, residences and most places of Muslim worship. We see nothing dangerous about this. It is in fact a charming folk custom that has found its way into many other Mediterranean cultures. It has nothing, however, to do with Islam. It is a shamanistic amulet, derived from the worship practices of Central Asian Turks before their embrace of Islam.
The fact that this amulet greets the passengers entering any Turkish Airlines flight as you turn into the cabin has to our knowledge offended no one among THY’s leadership, whose piety we would never question.
We would ask those religious scholars concerned by the spread of such quasi-spiritual practices as yoga or transcendental meditation to stop by the main mosque in the coastal city of Samandağ, at the east edge of the Mediterranean. It will be visited on any given day by pious believers, lighting candles and placing them in a box of sand. Candles are not part of Islamic ritual. Except in Samandağ. We see this within the long tradition in Turkey of tolerance, sharing and mutual respect including a tradition of synthesis.
The editors of the Religious Affairs Directorate’s monthly magazine might take the topic up with their directorate-paid imams, who officiate at the open casket funeral rites sometimes practiced in villages along the Black Sea. This is an Orthodox-derived tradition, but we are not offended that it has become part of local Islamic ritual. They might wish to visit near Ordu on the Black Sea, an interesting hybrid house of worship. The top portion is a Sunni rite mosque, the bottom is a "cem evi," the worship venue for followers of Turkey’s Alevi tradition. This should be celebrated, not feared. That these two denominations have teamed up is for us a source of spiritual inspiration.
That so many diverse expressions of faith can be accommodated in Turkey, but that yoga is an "extremist" threat? Yes, yoga zealots or devotees of transcendental meditation can be annoying. Just as are the missionary-like zealots who want to sell us Amway cleaning products, the street pamphleteers peddling the promise of imminent revolution or the colleague who won’t stop talking about his/her discovery of vitamin supplements.
If a few soul-searching Turkish yuppies want to buy Ravi Shankar CDs and listen to them while seated in uncomfortable positions, or buy a secret Sanskrit "mantra" to improve their marriage, that’s their business. They can seek their "inner child." But Bardakoğlu should search for his "inner adult."
The fact that this amulet greets the passengers entering any Turkish Airlines flight as you turn into the cabin has to our knowledge offended no one among THY’s leadership, whose piety we would never question.
We would ask those religious scholars concerned by the spread of such quasi-spiritual practices as yoga or transcendental meditation to stop by the main mosque in the coastal city of Samandağ, at the east edge of the Mediterranean. It will be visited on any given day by pious believers, lighting candles and placing them in a box of sand. Candles are not part of Islamic ritual. Except in Samandağ. We see this within the long tradition in Turkey of tolerance, sharing and mutual respect including a tradition of synthesis.
The editors of the Religious Affairs Directorate’s monthly magazine might take the topic up with their directorate-paid imams, who officiate at the open casket funeral rites sometimes practiced in villages along the Black Sea. This is an Orthodox-derived tradition, but we are not offended that it has become part of local Islamic ritual. They might wish to visit near Ordu on the Black Sea, an interesting hybrid house of worship. The top portion is a Sunni rite mosque, the bottom is a "cem evi," the worship venue for followers of Turkey’s Alevi tradition. This should be celebrated, not feared. That these two denominations have teamed up is for us a source of spiritual inspiration.
That so many diverse expressions of faith can be accommodated in Turkey, but that yoga is an "extremist" threat? Yes, yoga zealots or devotees of transcendental meditation can be annoying. Just as are the missionary-like zealots who want to sell us Amway cleaning products, the street pamphleteers peddling the promise of imminent revolution or the colleague who won’t stop talking about his/her discovery of vitamin supplements.
If a few soul-searching Turkish yuppies want to buy Ravi Shankar CDs and listen to them while seated in uncomfortable positions, or buy a secret Sanskrit "mantra" to improve their marriage, that’s their business. They can seek their "inner child." But Bardakoğlu should search for his "inner adult."