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Turkey Rejects "Moderate Islam"
Gatestone Institute ^ | November 30, 2017 at 4:00 am | Uzay Bulut

Posted on 12/01/2017 6:47:35 AM PST by Texas Fossil

At a conference on women's entrepreneurship, held in Ankara on November 9 and hosted by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rejected the concept of "moderate Islam". Referring to the vow by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- during the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh on Oct. 25 -- to turn his country into a bastion of "moderate Islam," Erdoğan said, "Islam cannot be either 'moderate' or 'not moderate.' Islam can only be one thing." He also claimed that the "patent of this concept originated in the West," which "really want[s] to weaken Islam."

Erdoğan has consistently communicated his thoughts about the term "moderate Islam" often used in the West to describe his Justice and Development Party (AKP). As early as 2007, he said: "These epithets of 'moderate Islam' are very ugly, it is disrespectful and an insult to our religion. There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that's it."

In keeping with Erdoğan's assertions, the Turkish government-funded Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) published in July a detailed 140-page report, which stated that Islam is "superior" to Judaism and Christianity, and that "interfaith dialogue is unacceptable."

The report focuses on the teachings and goals of the US-based Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gülen, whom the Turkish government accuses of orchestrating the attempted coup in July 2016. In the third chapter, the authors of the report slam Gülen for trying to "combine or equate Islam with Christianity" under the guise of dialogue. It says, in part:

"Gülen's claim that anyone who believes in the trinity of Christianity should not be immediately declared an unbeliever does not comply with Islam's Tawhid belief [oneness of Allah] in any way. It is obvious that such a claim, which is part of his interfaith activities, is nothing but an attempt to whitewash the trinity of Christianity and to make the trinity legitimate in the eyes of Muslims.

"When it comes to proving this perverted thought of his, he does not even back down from distorting the meaning of a Koranic verse. However, all Islamic scholars understand that the verse which says, 'They have certainly disbelieved who say, Allah is the third of three,' (Mâide 5/73) means that those who believe in the trinity are kafirs [infidels].

"His [Gülen's] statements that attempt to whitewash Christians against whom the Koran provides very harsh criticisms because of their opposition to Tawhid are unacceptable. For according to Islam, after Allah sent Islam as the last religion, Christianity lost its validity."

The report concludes:

"Islam is the last divine religion sent to the entire humanity. All of the former religions lost their validity when Prophet Mohammed, the last pearl of the sequence of prophets, was sent as a prophet and the Koran was sent as the last divine book. Hence, according to Islam, it is unacceptable to evaluate Islam on the same level as Judaism and Christianity and to engage in 'interfaith dialogue' by saying that former religions continue to be 'true religions.' To bring Islam, the last and only true religion, next to other religions does not comply with Islam's uniqueness and superiority in the eyes of Allah."

In other words, while many Western governments and Christian leaders consider Turkey a "moderate" ally, and include Islam in their interfaith activities, the powers-that-be in Ankara proudly declare Christians and all other non-Muslims to be kafirs, in accordance with Islamic doctrine.

To grasp the depth of this divide, one needs to understand the word kafir, and its significance to Muslims. Dr. Bill Warner, director of the Center for the Study of Political Islam (CSPI), explains:

"The usual translation of this Arabic word is unbeliever, but unbeliever is only a very small part of its meaning. It is the Koran that defines the word 'kafir' and it says the most terrible things can happen to them. The Koranic doctrine about kafirs says they are hated and are Satan's friends. Kafirs can be robbed, killed, tortured, raped, mocked, cursed, condemned and plotted against. The Koran does not have one good thing to say about kafirs...

"For over the last 1,400 years, 270 million kafirs have died as a result of the political doctrine of Islam. It is the biggest single source of suffering in the history of the world.

"The word kafir is the worst word in the human language. It is far worse than the n-word, because the n-word is a personal opinion, whereas, kafir is Allah's decree. Nearly two thirds of the Koran is devoted to the kafir. Islam is fixated on the kafir and the moderate Muslim thinks that you are a kafir. How moderate is that?"

It is ironic that Warner's assessment of a lack of "moderate" Islam is closer to Erdoğan's than to that of the Saudi crown prince. Whether Islam can be moderated or reformed, or whether Islamic societies can be secularized, is debatable.

According to Islamic doctrine, the Koran is the literal speech of omniscient Allah. The angel Gabriel coming down to Muhammad with the Koranic verses is a large portion of Islam and does not allow parts of the scripture to be changed or ignored. The Koran asserts that it is the final, perfect, and eternal message of Allah to the world, and that it has always been and will always remain unchanged. But Muslims as individuals can and should be encouraged to change their thinking for the better.

Yet even if it is not possible to achieve these aims fully, it is still worth the effort if some of the persecuted kafirs in the Muslim world can be protected from intolerance, oppression and bloodshed.

It is the political and religious leaders of Muslim communities, however, who need to lead such efforts. It is they who should be introducing reforms and promoting freedom and human rights for all.

Sadly, even when the president of an ostensibly "moderate" Muslim country such as Turkey abhors the mere mention of the word "moderate" in relation to Islam, this does not seem to prevent Western "progressive" elites from excusing violent Muslim rhetoric -- both in the name of multiculturalism and out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia." Never mind that Islam is the religion that sets itself apart from, and above, all others, or that leaders such as Erdoğan advance an ideology of subjugating and enslaving people of different faiths or political opinions. It is no wonder that Christianity, Judaism, and Yazidism have been virtually annihilated in Turkey, as they have in the rest of the Muslim world.



TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: islam; islamist; moderate; turkey
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Turkey abandoned all pretense of secular government upon the election of Erdogan the Islamist.

He was totally complicit with Obama's attempt to support the Jihadi's in Syria.

Some Muslim nations have moved away from the "Radical Islamists". Turkey is not one of them and states it directly.

1 posted on 12/01/2017 6:47:36 AM PST by Texas Fossil
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To: Texas Fossil
How weird. I reject "moderate islam" too. Along with all other forms of Islam.

Me and Turkey. Common ground.

2 posted on 12/01/2017 6:51:42 AM PST by bagster (Mama tried to raise me better.)
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To: Texas Fossil

Islam is evil.

It cannot be reformed.

Mad Mo made it so.


3 posted on 12/01/2017 6:53:13 AM PST by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizen Means Born Here Of Citizen Parents - Know Islam, No Peace -No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: Texas Fossil

turkey had the chance to join the modern world, but it rejected that possibility. turkey should not be trusted. turkey has two faces, a muzzy face, and a fake face that it shows civilized people. Europe is killing itself by aligning it self with turkey.


4 posted on 12/01/2017 6:57:59 AM PST by I want the USA back (It's Ok To Be White. White Lives Matter. White Guilt is Socially Constructed)
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To: Texas Fossil

Because there is, rightly, no such thing as ‘moderate Islam’ - we in the West are all infidels and, they can legally take whatever of ours they wish with no consequences outside of war - basis for the hijrah into Europe.

Turkey has, de facto, declared it is the enemy of modern civilization and all things Western.


5 posted on 12/01/2017 6:58:08 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: Texas Fossil
There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that's it.

Actually, I agree with him. All Islam is a call to violence.

The usual translation of this Arabic word is unbeliever, but unbeliever is only a very small part of its meaning. It is the Koran that defines the word 'kafir' and it says the most terrible things can happen to them. The Koranic doctrine about kafirs says they are hated and are Satan's friends. Kafirs can be robbed, killed, tortured, raped, mocked, cursed, condemned and plotted against.

And so let us import millions of people who think like this into the West. What could go wrong?

6 posted on 12/01/2017 6:59:06 AM PST by Petrosius
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To: Texas Fossil

NATO should kick Turkey out of the organization.What good is it to NATO when you have a potential adversary among your members?A wolf among the sheep.


7 posted on 12/01/2017 7:05:51 AM PST by puppypusher ( The World is going to the dogs.)
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To: Texas Fossil
This is why Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, insisted on a secular government-- backed up by the Army if necessary-- to control the malignant forces of Islam. He knew that Turkey could never be a responsible member of the family of nations if Mohammed was making the laws.
8 posted on 12/01/2017 7:08:35 AM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: Texas Fossil

With no moderation, Sharia law should be rejected by Western societies.
They are drawing the line in the sand.


9 posted on 12/01/2017 7:09:26 AM PST by Titus-Maximus (It doesn't matter who votes for whom, it only matters who counts the votes - Joe Stalin)
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To: Texas Fossil

“...Some Muslim Nations have moved away from the’Radical Islamists’....”
*********************************************
TAQIYYA — Whenever I hear a statement from a Muslim national leader saying they are “moderate”, the Muslim doctrine of “Taqiyya” (lying to infidels to advance Islam) comes to mind. Believe it at your own (and ours) peril.


10 posted on 12/01/2017 7:09:46 AM PST by House Atreides (BOYCOTT the NFL, its products and players 100% - PERMANENTLY)
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To: Petrosius; All

Christianity might have gone in the same direction as Islam but for Jesus’ admonition to love one’s enemies. The Koran makes no such claim. Rather, it condemns one’s enemies to unimaginable horror.
The only way to moderate Islam is to separate it into its components as culture, a political system, and a religion. It is its religious pretensions that create of Islam a cult of horror.
Rather than understand the revelation of Islam as the fullest expression of perfect Godly faith it should be understood for what it truly is, the final great gasp of Satan to undo the works of Christ. Islam is Satan’s finest work. It is the perfection of evil.


11 posted on 12/01/2017 7:16:13 AM PST by Louis Foxwell (S)
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To: Louis Foxwell

S


12 posted on 12/01/2017 7:18:13 AM PST by Louis Foxwell (Islam is SatanÂ’s finest work.)
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To: Texas Fossil

A civilized society must ban islam if it desires to remain civilized. Attachment of the ‘moderate’ label to islam has been used as a form of appeasement. But, as my tagline declares, appeasement never works.


13 posted on 12/01/2017 7:19:51 AM PST by lakecumberlandvet (Appeasement never works.)
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To: Texas Fossil

Time to kick Turkey out of NATO


14 posted on 12/01/2017 7:25:03 AM PST by drypowder
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To: Texas Fossil

I have a Muslim boss. He is better than most that I ever had. However, every now and then he takes his mask off of the “moderate muslim” myth. He commented how he and his family traveled through SC and GA and saw many many churches, and said that “there is too many.” I said, if they are can keep the doors open, then there is not.

He said that Christian and Jews in the Middle East all lived peacefully and Muslims. I said, how come there is so few. He simply said that they all converted to Islam. I said, “what about the Armenian Genocide.” He said “They are trouble makers.”

Anyway, you get the idea. Quite scary that he would believe that there are too many churches.


15 posted on 12/01/2017 7:42:26 AM PST by castlegreyskull
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To: castlegreyskull

Yes, I know about the problem. It is written into their book.

The ones who have not read it are not the problem.

Some who have read it know this is wrong and would change it. It has not taken hold in many places.

I have some Muslim friends, but I understand the reality of this. The author grew up in Turkey, she fully understands it.


16 posted on 12/01/2017 7:50:54 AM PST by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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To: PIF

Correct. Erdogan has actively engaged in war against the Free World, especially the EU simpletons.


17 posted on 12/01/2017 7:51:53 AM PST by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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To: I want the USA back

Correct. Political correctness will doom the EU.


18 posted on 12/01/2017 7:53:11 AM PST by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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To: Texas Fossil

I suspect a lot of Muslims are afraid to admit that they do not believe. Not because they fear for their eternal security of being wrong about it, but because they fear their families.


19 posted on 12/01/2017 7:53:12 AM PST by castlegreyskull
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To: Petrosius

It is done not by insanity but by design.

The enemies of the US have aligned with the Islamists to destroy the Free World.

Global Slavery is their aim.


20 posted on 12/01/2017 7:54:55 AM PST by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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