Title: Was Kemal Ataturk Right? Question: Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had his own special understanding of Islam. He wanted to bring about a revolution of progress in Turkey. For that purpose he changed the Azan from Arabic to Turkish and directed that the prayers should also be held in Turkish language. He also asked the people to adopt European dress and European culture as well as European political thoughts in addition to European science and technology in order to achieve progress at an accelerated rate. As Turkey had a central position in the Muslim Ummah at the time, so many other Muslim leaders of the time adopted Kemalism. Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan and M.A Jinnah of India being two examples of this trend in Muslim thought. Even now, Mr Musharraf has said publicly that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was his ideal. The Turkish army has taken it upon itself since then to ensure that Kemalism is enforced in Turkey. My question is that what is the position of Kemalism in the light of the Qur'an and Sunnah? Are Muslims allowed by Allah to adopt foreign cultures when they are subjugated through a cultural invasion? Can Muslims adopt alien political and economic systems when they are defeated (either psychologically or physically)? For example many Islamic scholars in Soviet Central Asia gave the fatwas that the socialist economic system was from Islam during Socialist rule. Kamran Vardag Answer: Please bear in mind that the reforms implemented by Kemal Ataturk were not restricted to those that you have mentioned. My following response is with reference only to the referred changes, not to the changes brought about by the Turk. As for altering the language of the Adan [1] to the local language, which is obviously more thoroughly understood and comprehended by the people hearing it, even though it cannot be termed as prohibited, yet I would personally not vote in its favor. The call to prayer in the Arabic language, even if it is not fully understood by all the listeners, yet it gives a universal standardization to its words. Today, In almost every part of the Muslim world, every Muslim - whether local or foreigner - can easily recognize the call to prayer because of its existing universal standardization. If every country was to promote delivering Adan in its local language, it would become almost impossible for any foreign Muslims visiting the country to distinguish between the call to prayer and a negligible public address. As for offering the prayers in one's local language, I would not have much of a difference with this idea, except for those words of the Sala'h , which are rendered loudly by the Imam. Barring these parts of the Sala'h , which are rendered loudly by the Imam, the remaining parts, which mostly consist of recitation of parts of the Qur'an, supplications and praises of the Almighty, may be offered in one's local language. In fact, I would strongly advocate that those people, who do not comprehend the Arabic language, should offer these parts of their prayers in the language, which they understand. Offering prayers without comprehension significantly reduces the spiritual effects of Sala'h and sometimes even reduces it to a mere ritual. As far as the parts of Sala'h , which are rendered loudly by the Imam are concerned, I would like to keep them in Arabic as - like the universal standardization of Adan - they give the Sala'h a universal standardization. Sala'h is offered by Muslim all over the world in almost the same fashion. I would personally like to keep it that way. As far as adopting and promoting values and norms of a different culture are concerned, it should not always be seen as something negative. Cultures and societies have always influenced others in various ways. With the development of effective communication media, this influence has increased to phenomenal proportions during the recent past. From a purely Muslim perspective, however, it is important that this influence should not instigate Muslims into bidding farewell to those of their cultural and social values, which are promoted by Islam. Similar is the case with Muslim's adopting some of the political and economic strategies and plans from other cultures, except where any of these strategies and/or plans is contrary to any of the directives of the Shari`ah or against any of the values promoted by Islam. As for emulating the more developed countries in science and technology, it is clearly an initial requirement for gaining a later edge over others in science and technology. If we aspire to achieve an edge over others in science and technology, as the Qur'an implicitly requires us to, we should first, at least, try to reach the level that those 'others' have already attained. Emulation, in this case, is obviously a shortcut to achieving the level that others have already achieved, as compared to trying to achieve this level on our own, starting from scratch. I hope this helps. Regards, Moiz Amjad November 4, 2001 [1] The call to prayers.