Ministry of Education defends a ‘reactionary’ book by Ensar
Turkey’s Ministry of Education has defended that the book of Ensar Foundation in which it is professed that ‘even babies must do namaz (Islamic prayer)’ and that ‘wearing nylon and thin layered outfits are forbidden’ is actually not wrong and its distribution to high school students is for the purpose of ‘rising awareness.’
SEBAHAT KARAKOYUN
sebahatkarakoyun@birgun.net / @ssenyaprak
Ministry of Education has argued in favor of a book by Ensar Foundation claiming that professions in the book, such as the ones where ‘even babies are deemed responsible to do namaz’ and ‘wearing nylon and thin layered clothes are considered forbidden in Islam’, are actually for ‘creating awareness’.
The book, titled as ‘Namaz: the Call for Resurrection’, has written on it Ahmet Bulut as the author and Ensar Vakfı as the publisher. As BirGün had earlier released a news article about distribution of the book to high school students in Çanakkale province, the subject matter was taken to the parliament by CHP Çanakkale MP Muharrem Erkek. Response of the Minister of Education İsmet Yılmaz came four months later.
In his written reply, Minister Yılmaz mentioned that the book was distributed to 9th graders by a ‘foundation’ during a ‘conference held to raise awareness prior to the birthday celebrations of prophet Mohammed’.
The books were given as ‘gifts’
Explaining in his written statement that the books were sent to schools by the District Office of the Ministry of Education to be handed out ‘as a gift’ for the participants of the conference, Minister Yılmaz also mentioned that the remaining books were returned to the Ministry of Education Directorate. Also asserting that the Ministry had not made any spending on the books, Yılmaz added the following remarks: “Since there is no warning, ban, or a prohibitive decision neither on the author nor on the book, there is no drawback for it to be distributed by the district directorate of the Ministry of Education; therefore, no examination or investigation has been done…”
Ministry: ‘The book does not contain hate speech’
CHP MP Muharrem Erkek also probed in his parliamentary question the purpose of the content of the book and said: “What exactly is aimed with such books that contain in its content advice for approaching certain parts of the society with anger and hate?” Answer of the Minister of Education Yılmaz for this question of Erkek was: “No such book which gives advice on approaching certain part of the society with anger and hate has ever been supported or allowed to be distributed by the district office of the education ministry.”
Parts from the book where there is discriminatory and hateful speech
Published by the foundation – Ensar Foundation - that has been widely mentioned after one of its teachers was found out to have molested 45 children Karaman, the book that the Minister of Education Yılmaz did not find ‘problematic’ has various parts where discriminatory and hateful expressions are used.
Some of those parts are:
‘It is only natural to be afraid of going against Allah’s commands. What kinds of disasters wait for the person who goes against the orders of even the great ones on this earth is also certain. Haven’t you seen the prisons? How quickly have you forgotten those who were executed? So, you should also fear Allah. You should not only stay away from going against any of Allah’s commands but also do your namaz (daily prayer) on time and in a proper way so that you won’t get punished!’
‘It is forbidden to go outside with a nylon or thin-layered outfit that would reveal the color of your skin. It not only causes your morals to get spoiled but also leads to unrest and mischief. Only those who want to quit being a human and desire to live like an animal would prefer wearing such outfits!’
‘A person that does not believe in namaz is not a Muslim. Just as marrying just person is not allowed, eating the food that he/she cooks is also not! But if the person is not in disbelief of namaz but does not do it only because of laziness, that person is still considered a Muslim, though with sins.’
‘Namaz should be given importance with families. All members of a family must be encouraged about namaz. From the youngest to the oldest, each member must have an awareness of namaz. Even the youngest of the family must be woken up for the morning prayer so that they would get used to it at an early age and not find it difficult when they grow up. I had once listened a story from our deceased Hodja: when a family that they were visiting in Saudi Arabia wakes up the baby in the crib for the morning prayer, our Hodja says ‘What do you want from the baby this early in the morning?’ The wife of the house says: ‘The child must get used to waking up this early.’’
‘Having mercy on the young ones in a wrong way leads to diseases that are impossible to reverse in the future.’