Islamic scholars and peace

Orhan Oğuz Gürbüz

The scholars referred to in the headline of this column may be expanded to include opinion leaders, philosophers, civil society volunteers, activists or the wise men who are equipped with general wisdom.

We all know that there is a growing reference in both Turkey and the world to the notion of peace. We all seek peace.

Clashes between civilizations, ethnic conflicts and ideological disagreements as well as other similar developments threaten the future of all humanity. The weakness of the scholars, wise men and opinion leaders that find general acceptance among the people or the indifference of the people to these figures should be one of our greatest problems. Peoples, societies and nations can gather together and resolve their disagreements through bridges of peace that the religious scholars have built.

We frequently hear reference to the founding fathers in the history of nations and science. In essence, the founding fathers of the nations are these scholars I am referring to. The willpower that sustained the process of independence in India via passive resistance was based on the axis of civil disobedience and pacifism.

Gandhi held a struggle for independence from the West; however, he did not open the gates for animosity towards the West after his victory. It was as if he was happy that he was killed by a Hindu because he said, “If the person who killed me were a Muslim, these communities would have fought for centuries because of me.” Gandhi never wanted a clash between Hindus and Muslims.

What sort of interruption would we have seen in history without the support of works by Thomas Paine, common sense and the rights of man to the American Declaration of Independence and struggle? Without the religious and philosophical sensitivity of Muhammad Iqbal, the national poet and thinker of Pakistan, how would it be possible to construct the nation around an ideal? Iqbal once told the Muslim delegation that came to hear his views that they should first declare they were not Muslim. These surprising and visionary remarks underline that Muslims have to be representative of their identity first. Unless the scholars lead us like a lighthouse, it will not be possible for us to find our way in such a chaotic and dark world. The scholars, acting like a bright mirror, call us to go through a process of self-criticism and behave ourselves.

Today, the İmralı settlement process that is being taken as a roadmap to peace should be reinterpreted from the correlation between scholars and peace. Remarks by Abdullah Öcalan, recently published by the Milliyet daily as the İmralı logs, have attracted great attention from the public. However, more importantly, these remarks were particularly offensive and disrespectful towards religious scholars and opinion leaders who have done a great service to humanity and the attainment of peace in Turkey, in particular the Southeast.

It was a great disappointment that the political parties, including the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the centrist and even conservative circles did not show an adequate reaction to the insulting remarks against Said Nursi and Fethullah Gülen. Would it have been possible to ensure that despite all provocations, the conservative Anatolian people had remained calm in this process without the remark, “Peace is in what is good, and what is good is in peace”?

It should be noted that the campaigns that have been raised for many years against the opinion leaders and religious scholars who have favored brotherhood and social cohesion have been the greatest obstacle to peace. Nations feel the need in the face of a local and global crisis to make use of integrative themes and figures and benefit from their power. The scholars are promoters of peace and voluntary guards, and they serve this function. They sometimes have to become popular, and sometimes, they have to remain silent actors and guide the people with milestones.

Of course, it is the political administration that will decide as to whether the wise men will serve to fill the conceptual void in this process or the content will be determined by concerns over public relations. But if we want peace, we need to rely on the influence of the scholars, the opinion leaders and wise men and to defend their dignity.

Published on Sunday's Zaman, 07 April 2013, Sunday