Islam's Modernization in Turkey

Introduction

Westerners with a tradition of separation of church and state often have difficulty in seeing Islam as both a religion and a civilization (Aras, pp 23 - 29). The West has defined modernization as including state bureaucracy, urbanization, industrialization, mass media, role of women, mass economic developent, mass education, all-encompassing technology and, most recently, information processing. It also includes the tradition of secularism, which is anathema to many Muslims, even those who espouse other aspects of modernity (Ahmad, pp 89 - 94). Islam emphasizes universal truth that transcends historical events and individual ethnic events. There is no difference in the "verbatim word of god" between text and context. There may be differences in political, legal, philosophical, and theological interpretations, but basic adherence to the main precepts in the Quran and the Haditha (the sayings of the Prophet) remain (Cizre & Menderes, pp 309 - 332).

Finally, Islam contains prescriptions on c ommerce, law, government, and even etiquette. Other aspects of culture such as art, architecture, music, and dress have distinctive religious overtones. Until the last two centuries, there was no separation between religious law and civil/criminal law (Yavuz, pp 584 - 605). The oneness of church and state was typified by the Sharia—t he divine law of Islam that covered all ethical, legal, social, and ritualistic aspects of society. There were five schools of interpretation: the Maliki, Hanafi, Shafii, and Hanabali, by the majority Sunni and the Jafari followed by the Shia. The differences amo ng these schools were minimal. All followers of Islam belonged to a religious/legal/political community called the umma. As a result, Islam permeated the social institutions of society—economic, political, educational, and political — in Turkey as elsewhere (Heper, pp 75 - 89).

Islam also influenced military and political institutions. Islam permitted the slavery of n on-believers and slave armies such as the Mameluks, who ruled Egypt, and, for a time, Syria, first directly, and then under Ottoman Turkish overlordship, until the early 19lh century. In the 14th century, the Ottoman Turkish ruler took advantag of this Islamic ruling to initiate the practice of devisirme. Youths from Christian communities would be taken at a young age and trained as elite soldiers and administrators (Yavuz, pp 584 - 605). These "new troops" or janissaries became the back bone of the Ottoman military. Although technically slaves and the property of the sultan, they could convert to Islam and thereby gain legal status. Often, they rose to the rank of the commander or high administrator, and a few rose to the position of Grand Vizier, or Prime Minister (Ahmad, pp 89 - 94).

Discussion

Since the fall of the Roman Empire, history of western and eastern societies, developed in two different places. Period, or fanaticism, called the Dark Ages period (despite the fact that the Euro-centric historiography extend to the whole world) is only a period of Western history. Civil-Islamic periods of the Yeti's bright, experienced in the history section of coincide with the West's ignorance and confusion. 16. century, a Muslim ...