"God Almighty"

Every person has the right to freedom of religion, which includes the freedom to change his or her religion and the freedom to manifest his or her religion in teaching, practice, worship and observance. Being able to worship and understand one's religion in one's mother tongue is one such freedom. Should the language of worship for Turkish people be Turkish, in which they understand every word, or Arabic, which they do not understand at all? Will worship in Turkish make people love religion and increase the number of believers, or will it alienate them from religion and reduce the number of regular congregations? 

With the Republic, many innovations were made in the legal system, social life, trade and economy, language and education that excluded Arab culture. The new state's goal of Westernization did not want to bypass the Arab influence on Islamic thought and life. The modernizing state in its modernization design had to modernize Islam as well. This was certainly not a policy of eradicating Islam, but rather a desire to carry Islam along with legal and social reforms within the scope of total modernization. 

Among those who discussed modernization, there were also those who thought that modernization was not possible with Islam. According to them, Islam was the biggest obstacle to any kind of development. This obstacle could be overcome by completely purging the state of religion or by converting to Christianity, the religion of Western civilization, but these were the views of a very minority group. 

There were different designs for the modernization of Islam. For example, building clean, neat mosques with benches and cupboards in which worship is done sitting down. In these mosques, people would sit in a civilized manner without taking off their shoes. 

Another idea was to use the national language in worship as a requirement of the nation state. No prayer or sermon would be in Arabic. Islam was to be Turkified and the Qur'an was to be translated into Turkish to create a national religion.

Since music is food for the soul, finding a place for music in religion could make worship more beautiful and inspiring, and facilitate the purification of the soul. Trained musicians and musical instruments would fulfill the public's need for a kind of contemplation, as in collective dhikr. In a mosque with an organ, an imam as a choir leader would spice up worship and modernization would be one step closer! 

The people who would provide religious education had to be modern and educated. There was a need for philosophical thought, so the education of religious educators was to be given special importance and highly qualified orators were to be trained. 

While some of these ideas were discredited, some practices that were thought to facilitate the transition to modern life were put into effect. 

In 1929, following the transition to Latin script, Arabic and Persian were removed from being taught in secondary schools. 

1 Imam Hatip Schools, which were opened in 29 centers in 1924 in order to train enlightened clergymen loyal to the Republic after the Law on Unification of Education, were closed in 1930 due to lack of funds, lack of students and lack of interest. 

The Istanbul Darülfünun Faculty of Theology, which was established by connecting the higher departments of the madrasas that were closed as a result of the unification of education, was also closed in 1933 and replaced by the Institute of Islamic Studies. 

"God is great" echoed from the minarets of Istanbul in January 1932. From then on, the call to prayer would be in Turkish, which was prepared by the Turkish Language Institute and given to the Directorate of Religious Affairs. The conservatory was also given the task of composing the Turkish call to prayer. On the pulpit, hafiz, dressed in suits instead of religious clothes, read the Friday sermon in Turkish. In early 1933, the Arabic call to prayer was replaced by the Turkish call to prayer. The call to prayer, salaahs, takbir and prayers were now recited in Turkish in all mosques across the country. 

Mustafa Kemal was in favor of worship in the mother tongue. "Just as a person addresses his mother in his mother tongue, he should address his God in his mother tongue," he said. Since the hearts and consciences of all Muslims were one, Allah Almighty would not prefer one nation over another nation, or the language of one nation over the language of another nation. At the same time, worshipping in one's own language would be more sincere and more serious and therefore more effective. Unless a person knows what he wants, what he says cannot be a prayer, but if he says it in Turkish and knows what he is saying, it will be a real prayer and his soul will feel pleasure from it. To oppose this was to lead Muslims into ignorance and fanaticism. 

In the same period, the Grand National Assembly allocated funds for the Turkishization of worship. The public would understand religious matters more accurately in their own language. The Qur'an and hadiths were to be translated into Turkish. After a long period of work, both the translation and the commentary were completed and published in 1935. 

However, the reforms in religion and life were not only not as well received by the society as other cultural and political reforms, but also caused feelings of hatred. 

One of these hate incidents took place in Menemen in 1930. A group of men with circular beards, turbans, turbans and robes, and their supporters, claiming to be protecting religion, responded by killing Ensign Mustafa Fehmi Kubilay, who had been assigned to disperse them. The state, determined to protect the gains of the Republic to the end, suppressed the events and sentenced thirty-seven people responsible to death. 

The winds of democracy that blew in the wake of the Second World War gave a wide freedom of expression to many schools of thought. Demands for the reinstatement of Islam were becoming more and more vigorous. In parliamentary debates, religious education was to be revitalized. This was an early harbinger of a change of policy in Turkey. 

In early 1949, religious education was reintroduced in Turkish schools. It was introduced as a voluntary 2-hour class on Saturday afternoon. A large majority of the population wholeheartedly supported these 2 practices. The limited number of professional religious educators made it necessary to take new measures in higher education. Subsequently, the doors of Imam Hatip courses, Imam Hatip Schools and the Faculty of Theology were reopened to all of Anatolia. 

In October 1950, it was decided that religious education would be compulsory. Parents of primary school children now had to petition their children not to participate in religious education, not to participate in it. 

The visibility of religion in society began to increase day by day. Religious officials were emboldened. Although citizens no longer wore turbans, they now wore skullcaps instead. Books and encyclopedias began to appear in bookstores, along with religious pamphlets and magazines, some of which were printed in Arabic and most of which were weakly scholarly and based only on anti-Western and anti-Christian sentiments. A significant number of citizens applied to become pilgrims. In 1950, 9,000 people went on pilgrimage. Although the state was not very sympathetic, the revival of the sects was evident. 

In the same period, the press began to cover themes inappropriately praising Islam with an inferiority complex. There were exaggerated reports that Ottoman religious scholars were very good republicans and republicans, including Mustafa Kemal, were very loyal Muslims. However, a reformist ideology towards Islam could not be created. 

The fact that religion played such an important role in society was of course not lost on politicians. All parties seeking political support, be they sects or religiously educated groups, took the approach of encouraging and tolerating existing religious movements for the sake of votes. If Mustafa Kemal's modernization design did not have a strong weight in the country, demands such as the reintroduction of the Arabic alphabet or the abolition of civil laws would have been voiced very loudly. 

There is a strong emphasis on Islam in Turkey that is too deeply rooted for people to set aside. However, for some Turkish people, this emphasis sometimes alternates between feelings of discomfort and contempt. 

Turkish people have to find a workable compromise between Islam and modernism. Leaving modern thought and life aside and designing a life under religious domination will block Mustafa Kemal's path to freedom and progress for the individual.