According
to the Syrian-German philosopher Bassam Tibi (1) there is a major difference
between islamism and islam, which is currently manifesting itself so dominantly
on the world stage. The first is a fourteen hundred year old religious-cultural
tradition, the second is a political religion that has disconnected itself from
tradition for the purpose of creating a new World order based on a totalitarian
ideology.
Contrary
to what Dutch politician Geert Wilders and islam-critics like Robert Spencer
belief, the islamic religion itself is not a totalitarian ideology, though many
westerners have this impression since the political islam, starting with the
foundation of the Islamic Brotherhood in Egypt 1928, is gaining influence in
the islamic world and the west.
Political-religious
indoctrination
The
AKP of Erdogan also has its roots in this movement, which becomes more apparent
every year with the policy of the ‘great leader’ of Turkey, who is not just
stimulating a ‘conservative-islamic’ revival, but who has his mind set on the
resurrection of the old Ottoman Empire, reestablishing the borders of a once
mighty civilization, followed by an expansion to the continent of Europe. By
reaching out to Turks in the ‘diaspora’, by stimulating them to have more
children by offering them all sorts of financial benefits and directly
influencing their voting-behaviour (with personal mail to voters in Germany and
the Netherlands advising them to vote AKP) (2), Erdogan is operating in the
field of political-religious indoctrination. Journalists in Turkey who
criticise his policy can no longer do their work safely, since they risk being
jailed on the accusation of ‘terrorism’ or espionage. They also risk being
beaten up by people sympathising with Erdogan’s politics. Critical newspapers
have been brought under the control of the gouvernment and their websites are
taken down. More and more Erdogan is turning into a despotic leader, with political
opponents saying ‘the word democracy is
not in his vocabulary’.
The
so-called ‘long arm of Ankara’ has become more threatening now then in the past,
where it represented mostly Turkish-nationalist influence. The Turkish
state-islam Dinayet was a product of Kemal Atatürk, who wished for a strong
separation of church and state in Turkey. Another Turkish organisation that is active
in Europe, Milli Görus, used to be the ideological opponent of Dinayet, but
since the rise to power of the very religious Erdogan, the two have been
growing closer. A consequence for Europe, is that Turkish influence in the diaspora will
become more religious in character, or to state it more precisely, wil be a
nationalistic-religious infiltration, rooted in political islam. Exactly how
threatening that is for Europe with its plural society en secular values has
been explained for many years by Bassam Tibi and in his book of 2012 Islamism and Islam he pays special
attention to the AKP of Erdogan.
The Hamas
Charter
Tibi
warns that politicians and policymakers should not be fooled by the fenomenon
that so-called ‘moderate’ islamists sometimes participate in elections,
pretending to embrace the democratic values that support them. When we read the
manifests that are the foundation of the Islamic Brotherhood in Egypt, or the
Hamas-charter (3) from the movement currently in power in Gaza, which is very
similar in content (as is the ideology of the political party of Erdogan), will
soon discover that democracy for these organisations is merely a means to an
end. The real goal is the domination of an islamic World order (nizam islami) that wil eventually replace
secular values.
Tibi
emphasizes he is not talking about mainstream-islam, which he describes as
‘islamic tradition’ (with different law schools, science, art, culture,
mysticism, philosophy), but the political islam that wants to force ‘Divine
rule’ upon the World, with no respect for ‘human creations’ such as democracy,
secularism en human rights. The most extreme examples of this ideology are al-Qaeda,
ISIL(Islamic State), al Shabaab and others that manifest themselves in a bloody
and brutal way by terrorist-attacks to reach their goals, but non-violent
islamists (who are greater in number) also have a totalitairian outcome
envisioned, and for that purpose engage in ‘doublespeak’. They seem to adjust
to a secular system of democratic principles and plural values, but their
ultimate goal is to abolish it. For example, before
entering government, Turkisch Prime Minister Erdogan said: "Democracy is like a train. We shall get
out when we arrive at the station we want."
Religious
madness
With
the AKP ruling Turey, it becomes harder every day for independent Turkish
journalists to do their work. On october 1, 2015 a news anchor of Turkish CNN,
Ahmet Hakan was beaten up by four men in front of his house, just weeks after
prosecutors launched an investigation into the paper’s owner, Doğan Media
Group, for alleged “terrorism propaganda“.(4) He is one of the few journalists in
Turkey today remaining openly critical about Erdogan and his party. Great
military parades that resemble those of fascist and communist leaders in recent
history, must demonstrate unity under an islamist-nationalist leadership of
Erdogan, slowly trying to transform Turkey in a kind of theocracy, which
horrifies Turks who believe in a separation of church and state and freedom of
speech. Turkey now gets another chance to negotiate EU-membership, not because
it qualifies for it on reasonable grounds, but out of necessity, because Europe
is unable to deal with a major refugeesproblem on its own. I personally would
rather welcome two or three times the number of refugees now coming to Europe
(under strict conditions for integration/ assimilation) then to have 80 million
Turks join Europe under the flag of Erdogans’ religious madness. There exists a
video showing one of
Erdogan’s speeches delivered during his term as Istanbul’s Mayor,
(1994-1998) where he says:
"You cannot
be both secular and a Muslim! You will either be a Muslim, or secular! When
both are together, they create reverse magnetism [i.e.they repel one another].
For them to exist together is not a possibility! Therefore, it is not possible
for a person who says "I am a Muslim" to go on and say "I am
secular, too." And why is that? Because Allah, the creator of the Muslim,
has absolute power and rule!" (5)
There is
no indication that Erdogan has since then changed his ideas on this topic, for
he is currently surrounded by islamist advisers en reads mainly islamist
newspapers. His advisor and foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu is also
an islamist, with neo-Ottoman ambitions that have alarmed the Americans,
especially by the ‘imperialistic tone’ of a 2010 speech he gave in Sarajevo where
he stated ‘that the Balkans, Caucasus and Middle East were all better
off when under Ottoman control or influence; peace and progress prevailed. Alas
the region has been ravaged by division and war ever since.... However, now
Turkey is back, ready to lead or even unite.’ Davutoglu: 'We will re-establish
this (Ottoman) Balkan'."(6)
Antisemitism
People
who are still in doubt whether islamism, of which Erdogan’s AKP is also an
offshoot, is really dangerous, should make study of the fenomenon of
antisemitism in de World of islam today. Bassam Tibi differentiates between two
sorts of antisemitism in his book Islamism
and Islam, the traditonal judeophobia (problems Mohammed encountered by
trying to make converts among the jewish tribes, and the reflection of his
struggle in several Koran -and hadith-passages), and the modern antisemitism,
that is often camouflaged as ‘antizionism’ (against zionist-politics) but in
reality for most islamists a strong jew-hatred. A shocking fact that is still
unknown to many people, is that the antisemitism of the Islamic Brotherhood, who
is providing the ideological basis for islamist-movements around the globe, is
rooted in -and modelled after the antisemitism of the nazi-party of Adolf
Hitler.
The
antisemitism of the islamists is older then the conflict between Israel and the
people of Palestine, and rises far above political tensions in the region. The
Islamic Brotherhood started twenty years before the founding of the state of
Israel. ‘The antisemitism of the Brotherhood’, says Tibi, ‘is of a cosmic scale
en represents a battle against the ‘Jew’ as eternally ‘evil’ looking for world
domination. The ‘Jew’ invented both communism and capitalism, to keep the world
devided and to gain worldwide control from ‘behind the curtains’, by using
christians (‘crusaders’) and ‘secret societies’ as their proxies, for the
purpose of preventing the islam to rule the world as the only true religon.
There are no
moderate totalitarian thinkers
This
great jewish conspiracy (naturally in cahoots with the Freemasons) is supposed
to be the real reason why islam in modern times is going through a crisis. It
has of course, nothing to do with the historical facts that tell us that the
World of islam has fallen asleep in de field of science since 1500, resulting
in a loss of militairy strength that changed the Ottoman Empire into colonial
territory, under the rule of European nations. No, there must be a dark cosmic
reason that is preventing the islam from ruling the world. Seyyed Qutb, the
ideologist of the Islamic Brotherhood, wrote in his book ‘Our struggle with the jews’:
“This is an
enduring war that will never end, because the Jews want no more and no less
than to exterminate the religion of Islam…Since Islam subdued them they are
unforgiving and fight furiously through conspriacies, intrigues, and also
through proxies who act in the darkness against all that Islam incorporates.” (7)
The
Islamic Brotherhood nowadays has renounced the violent behaviour from the past,
but it never changed its ideological structure. Different islamist-movements
who participate in elections to demonstrate a peaceful political strive, still
maintain their armed militias to intimidate their political opponents.
Western
political leaders
The Islamic
State
According
to Tibi there never existed an Islamic State (a romanticised image of Mohammed’s
rule over Medina), for the successive muslim empires had different forms of
gouvernment with different religious and philosophical ideologies. The fact that these empires were islamic did
not mean they represented a statemodel of islam or that shari’a-law was
executed by the gouvernment. Shari’a in traditonal sense means civil law, with
different outcomes in particular cases, according to the verdict of different
jurists, because muslimbelievers could always ask for a ‘second opinion’. It
was important in traditional Shari’a law to weigh carefully, after consulting
different theological en legal texts, and make a wise decision in a particular
case. There was no universal religious law imposed by the state. Ayatollah
Khomeini’s fatwa against Salman Rushdie in 1989 was already a political
invention of religious law says Belgium writer Lucas Catherine. Other
ayatollahs in Iran at the time protested against the fatwa because of its
non-traditional nature. Bassam Tibi therfore calls islamism an ‘invention of
traditon’, since this ideology is in theological, judicial and political sense
not traditional at all.
Erdogan’s
AKP is part of this political-religious fabrication, although it tries to
present itself as democratic. But intimidation of political opponents and
journalists, dubious statements made by Erdogan in the past about secularism and
how much he dislikes it, trying to influence votingbehaviour of muslims in
Europe and building a megalomaniac presidential palace in Ankara, show us that Erdogan is not an ordinary democrat, but a dangerous
demagogue with delusions of grandeur and a hidden agenda for Europe. The
‘creeping islamisation’ of Turkey, in the words of Turkisch-American analyst Zeyno
Baran, is happening before our eyes. The political leaders of Europe should
wake up from their dreams, because moderate islamism does not exist, just like
moderate nazi’s don’t exist. Antisemitism, the aversion towards secularism,
pluralism and democratic values are strong in both ideologies.
Sven Snijer
(5) A video clip of one of Prime Minister
Erdogan’s speeches delivered during his term as Istanbul’s Mayor, (1994-1998) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg3hkWCnA8c
