Gülen slams pro-gov’t media for disseminating lies and blasphemy

Some of pro-government newspapers are pictures in this picture. (Photo: Today's Zaman)
Some of pro-government newspapers are pictures in this picture. (Photo: Today's Zaman)


Date posted: August 21, 2014

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen criticized on Monday the pro-government media in Turkey for spinning the truth and disseminating lies while trying to justify senior officials’ blasphemous remarks.

In a speech published on herkul.org, a website that usually broadcasts his speeches, Gülen said a true believer can never lie as lying is the characteristic of the non-believer.

“Just as not all of the characteristics of an individual Muslim necessarily reflect the teachings of Islam, not all of the qualities of a non-believer reflect the traits of unbelief,” he said.

Referring to fabricated stories published in the pro-government press, Gülen said those who spread lies through the media are committing more serious lies because false stories reach many people, confusing them further.

Gülen, who has inspired a worldwide religious network that defends peaceful coexistence through dialogue and education, has been targeted in a government-sponsored smear campaign that is harsher than the ones seen in past military coup periods.

On Feb. 28, 1997, the powerful military forced a coalition government to step down, citing claims of rising religious fundamentalism in the country. The Feb. 28 coup brought a series of severe restrictions on social life, including the expulsion of thousands of officers from the military for no reason at all and an unofficial but widely upheld ban on the wearing of headscarves at university campuses and in positions of public service.

Gülen suffered extensively at the hands of powerful figures and media of the Feb. 28 period. A number of lawsuits were filed against Gülen. However, he was acquitted of all charges and the Supreme Court of Appeals confirmed these acquittals in 2008.

Gülen and his Hizmet movement are being targeted in a major smear campaign again after Dec. 17, 2013, when a police operation exposed major corruption involving Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his family members and his business associates. Media organs owned and run by associates of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government have been publishing stories saying the scholar and his movement are part of a clandestine organization that is seeking to overthrow the government.

Erdoğan and some officials of his government have been raising similar claims and even insulting Gülen and the Hizmet movement. On various occasions, the prime minister has called Gülen a “false prophet,” a “fake saint” and a “bogus scholar.” He has called the Hizmet movement a “parallel state,” a “gang,” an “illegal organization” and “raving Hashashins” — referring to a historical order of assassins.

Blasphemous remarks

Gülen on Monday also harshly criticized what he called blasphemous remarks uttered by senior officials in Turkey.

“Even Orientalists never said such words about Islam,” he lamented, criticizing those who have scrambled to justify what these officials actually meant.

An audio recording leaked in March revealed former EU Affairs Minister and chief negotiator Egemen Bağış, who was forced to resign amid the graft scandal, mocking the Quran in a phone conversation with journalist Metehan Demir.

Demir acknowledged the content of the conversation and apologized, but Bağış denied the conversation, saying the tape was doctored.

Muslim scholars reacted to Bağış, saying the minister had committed blasphemy based on Islamic teachings that say a person making derogatory remarks about the holy book of Islam no longer has his or her faith and is no longer considered a Muslim.

In the recordings, a voice allegedly that of Bağış can be heard making jokes about the Quran, saying he “tosses” verses from the Quran onto Twitter every Friday, presumably in an effort to present himself as a religious person. He is also heard twisting the name of the second chapter of the Quran, “Surah Baqara,” calling it “makara,” which is related to Turkish expressions like “to pull a prank on someone,” “to joke around.” The combination “Baqara makara” also means that what is being talked about — in this instance, the second chapter of the Quran — is nonsense.

“Somebody said ‘makara’ about the words of God. Not even the Orientalists said such things about the Quran. Even Abu Jahl did not say such things,” said Gülen. Abu Jahl literally means Father of Ignorance, a name that is attributed to Amr ibn Hisham, the arch-enemy of Prophet Muhammad in Mecca in the early years of Islam.

Gülen also criticized Interior Minister Efkan Ala, without naming him, who claimed in July that although the Prophet Muhammad showed signs of pride after his conquest of Mecca, the AK Party avoids pride and attributes all its accomplishments to God.

Speaking at a pre-dawn meal prepared during the month of Ramadan, Ala told around 300 party members that they should avoid pride, adding that the Prophet Muhammad received a warning from God when he felt pride as he was entering Mecca after the city’s conquest.

“When our Prophet entered Mecca following its conquest, [he felt that] ‘we had to migrate from here, we have since returned and conquered Mecca, and people are converting to Islam in large groups.’ It is likely that he attributed some of this success to himself. We are the representatives of such a civilization and beliefs. It is normal for a person to feel some pride; it is human. But he [the Prophet] was immediately warned. ‘…Ask forgiveness of Him. Indeed, He is ever accepting of repentance’ [Quran 110:3]. So we do not attribute [successes] to ourselves. We don’t say we lifted the headscarf ban. We don’t say we put the Quran everywhere, including in military schools, in Turkey. We say God made all these changes possible and he tested us,” Ala said in his remarks.

Ala was rebuked by many scholars in Turkey on the grounds that all prophetic biographies and religious history books narrate how humble the Prophet was during his entrance into the holy city of Mecca through the city gates.

Gülen said the pro-government media’s justification of these disrespectful remarks and outright lies have in fact encouraged similar comments.

Source: Today's Zaman , August 18, 2014


Related News

Failed coup in Turkey hits Albany’s Turkish Cultural Center

A failed military coup in Turkey in July continues to reverberate locally with the layoff of the only paid employee at the Turkish Cultural Center of Albany and cuts in its programs, which include language and cooking classes.

FM Davutoğlu orders ambassadors to avoid Turkish Olympiads

With only a few months remaining before the 12th Turkish Language Olympiads, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has sent a message to Turkish ambassadors and diplomats serving abroad ordering them not to attend the overseas selections phase of the Olympiads, according to diplomatic sources.

Erdogan’s crackdown – Woman detained while showing newborn baby to jailed husband

S.Ö., whose husband was jailed a few weeks before she gave birth to a baby, was detained in Sakarya on March 8 when she went to Sakarya Prison to show him their newborn baby.

Police chiefs removed in four provinces across Turkey

The purges are thought to be an attempt to remove those the government believes are members of the Hizmet movement from public sector jobs.

You can’t achieve democracy through military coup – Islamic scholar

“Once again, the Turkish media, under government control or pressure, is circulating horrific rumours, this time about a supposed second coup attempt in the works, supposedly prepared by my sympathizers with the backing of the United States. Such rumours are unfounded and irresponsible,” Gülen said.

Purge-victim businessman dies of cancer days after being released from prison

Engin Erol, 41, a Turkish businessman who was jailed three years ago on allegations of membership in the Gülen group, died on Thursday evening in a hospital from cancer, which was not treated properly in the prison where he was held until the last stage of his illness.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Erdoğan gov’t threatened to ‘wipe TUSKON off market map,’ says chairman

Targeted by dictator, Turkish family seeks refuge in Albany

US professor urges Washington not to extradite Gülen to Turkey

Iftar Dinner at Manhattan’s Riverside Church

Editorial: Expulsion of Turk Teachers from Pakistan

Turkish charity Kimse Yok Mu represents Turkey at UN summit

MGK plan in action

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News