22.07.2014
Reuters
Source: Daily Sabah
Comment: Although I agree with Mehmet Gormez about ISIS, there are many things in which I disagree. One of those things concerns the Khilafah. From this article it seems as if Mehmet Gormez has the position that the Khilafah does not have any validity.
My position is, that the Khilafah will be re-established by Allah-Himself- when and how He choices. Khilafah is not an obligation, but a blessing from Allah that we Muslims need to deserve. In sha'a Allah we will deserve it when we are no longer mixing faith with wrong.
Allah says in The Qur'an that those who do not mix faith with wrong will be in security and will be guided. What does this mean? (What does it mean to say that the glass is half full? It means that the glass is half empty.) It means that those who do mix faith with wrong will not be in security.
What is some of the major wrongs within The Islamic Nation? They include: making shirk with Allah (some of the ways that Muslims are making shirk with Allah is: taqlid and shrine worship); saying lies about Allah (which includes forbidding that which Allah has made lawful); and, fearing Allah's creatures.
Now, as far as The Turkish constitution is concerned the article says:
"The constitution enshrines the directorate's duty to uphold principles of secularism and national unity."
Secularism and national unity? What is this? Secularism is a Kufr way of life, and therefore is unacceptable in Islam. It is the directorate's duty to uphold principles of secularism...? Is it the duty of a Muslim to uphold Kufr? I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Shaitan.
Here is the article:
ISTANBUL –
The declaration of a "caliphate" by the Islamic State of
Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) militants in Iraq lacks legitimacy and their
death threats to Christians are a danger to civilization, head of
Turkey's Religious Affairs, the successor to the last caliph's most
senior imam, said.
ISIS, an armed group formerly allied to al Qaeda that has captured
swathes of territory across Iraq, last month declared its leader,
Ibrahim al-Baghdadi, "caliph" - the historical title last held by the
Turkish Ottoman sultan who ruled much of the Muslim world.
"Such declarations have no legitimacy whatsoever," Mehmet Görmez, head
of the Religious Affairs Directorate, the highest religious authority in
Turkey, which, although a majority Muslim country, has been a secular
state since the 1920s.
"Since the caliphate was abolished ... there have been movements that
think they can pull together the Muslim world by re-establishing a
caliphate, but they have nothing to do with reality, whether from a
political or legal perspective."
Görmez said death threats against non-Muslims made by the group, were hugely damaging.
"The statement made against Christians is truly awful. Islamic scholars
need to focus on this (because) an inability to peacefully sustain other
faiths and cultures heralds the collapse of a civilization," he told
Reuters in an interview.
Since ISIS's advance across northern Iraq in June, Christians have fled
the city of Mosul, where the militants are based, after they were given
the choice to convert, pay a religious tax or be executed.
Mosul's Christian community is one of the world's oldest, tracing its roots back two millennia.
'HISTORICAL TIES'
Görmez is in a unique position to question Baghdadi's claim to the
caliph's seat. His office was created in 1924 to replace the Ottoman
Sheikh al-Islam, the mufti with authority to confirm new sultans and who
also served as chief legal adviser.
"Its structure has changed greatly in modern times but its historical
ties, of course, continue," Görmez said, wearing a grey suit and tie and
running worry beads through his hand.
The caliphate itself was abolished in 1924, part of early modernising
efforts by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the secular Turkish
Republic on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire.
Today Görmez's department drafts the weekly sermon delivered at the
nation's 85,000 mosques, which it supervises. It also employs all of
Turkey's imams - Muslim preachers - who are technically civil servants
trained by the state.
The constitution enshrines the directorate's duty to uphold principles of secularism and national unity.
"The caliphate is erroneously viewed as a religious authority by
Westerners, who see it like a kind of papacy. But historically the
caliphate was a legal entity that accepted religious references. It was a
political authority," he said.
Muslims can no longer be unified under the rule of a single ruler like a
caliph but could emulate political blocs like the European Union,
aligning themselves along shared democratic values, Görmez said,
speaking after wrapping up an international conference in Istanbul that
brought together dozens of scholars from the Shi'ite and Sunni branches
of Islam.
Conflict between the two denominations has been blamed for much of the
recent bloodshed in Iraq and Syria, but Görmez said that economic and
social factors in areas were the root causes.
"After a century of occupation, dictatorial regimes and suppressed
identity, they are trying to express their vengeful anger and hatred by
appropriating religion," he said.
"The West looks for the roots of this terror and violence in religion,
but these are not the wars of the Middle Ages, which were truly
sectarian."
An average of 1,000 Muslims are killed each day around the world, mostly
due to internecine strife, he said. "Almost 90 percent of them are
killed by other Muslims, by their brothers.
"Muslims need not look beyond themselves for the causes of these
conflicts. They should be aware that ... global powers have a
responsibility but those are forces they cannot control."
Link: http://www.dailysabah.com/nation/2014/07/22/turkeys-top-religious-authority-calls-isis-caliphate-illegitimate.
No comments:
Post a Comment