MEHMET ALİ BİRAND
mab@hurriyet.com.tr
We made bogeymen of the imam hatip schools
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan devoted his speech on Tuesday to the imam hatip schools [religious vocational high schools], asking “Why don’t you like these schools?” After that, in a completely unnecessary move based entirely on politics, he asked a series of questions such as: “Is it because they do not educate terrorists?” His series of questions was very hard to understand and accept. I am not focusing on these questions, because it is unnecessary even to discuss them.
On the contrary, I want to answer the real question: “Why don’t you like these schools?” It’s a very good question. Why don’t we like them? Maybe it’s not that we “don’t like” them, but why do we keep our distance from them?
The reason is only too obvious.
Our generation considered religion education, Quran education and even Arabic prayers, beyond a certain limit, to be dangerous. We immediately associate them with reactionaryism. We were taught that these things would be the cause of the collapse of the secular system. The word “reactionary” (“irticacı” in Turkish) was coined during our era. Religion was a subject with which we preferred not to be too deeply involved. So were the love of Allah and respect for the Quran; we preferred our knowledge to be limited to knowing a few prayers.
That was the general atmosphere. We were raised that way.
This environment was significantly fed by the followers of late former prime minister and founder and leader of the National Salvation Party and later the Welfare Party, Necmettin Erbakan. They saw the imam hatip schools as their back yards. At their green (Islamic) flag rallies, they put forward students and graduates of the imam hatip schools. They told us they wanted to educate them differently.
In such confusion, we always kept our distance from the imam hatip schools. Even if it was not pronounced openly, the danger inherent in these schools was whispered in our ears.
I was raised in the Erenköy district of Istanbul. Our neighbors were the Topbaş family. They were a large and religious family. Their sons (Abidin and Osman Topbaş) were close friends of mine. They attended imam hatip schools. They received a much stricter education than I did. They had additional religious education. Even at that time, I remember realizing that they and I were not hugely different, and began questioning why such a distance existed between those schools and our lives.
Years have passed by but the fears of the secular segment of Turkish society have not entirely diminished. They still have a certain concern and anxiety. Even today, the concern is that all schools will become like imam hatip schools one day.
Still, we haven’t researched why some young people and their families prefer imam hatip schools. We do not try to understand them. We are in a strangely defensive mood. We have not recovered from the assumption that one day, the graduates of imam hatip schools will dominate all our lives and will reign over our daily activities.
I can now hear some of my readers saying, “What will happen when they are knocking at our door tomorrow?” These are the reactions that demonstrate that these fears still exist.
I am among those who do not believe that this country will one day be ruled by religious principles. I object to our restraining ourselves with unnecessary fears, and regarding those who think differently as enemies. You can, if you want to, continue this war you will not be able to win. I, now, believe in the new Turkey.
September/21/2012
American diplomats still use the mantra that
Turkey is a model for the Middle East. Alas, increasingly it seems that
the Middle East is the model for Turkey. According to Yeni Şafak, Turkey’s Islamist broadsheet, the number of students choosing madrasas over traditional high school grounded in Western and secular coursework has skyrocketed to 240,000.
The sharp rise in the number of those seeking a purely Islamist education follows the Turkish government’s watering down of entrance requirements for mainstream universities so that those without a basis in liberal arts could qualify for Turkey’s top schools.
Meanwhile, the Turkish government is also scrapping basic regulations on Quran schools. No longer will Turkey set age requirement initially put in place to stop indoctrination of very young children. Nor will Turkey enforce qualification regulations meant to keep out Saudi preachers who could indoctrinate hate rather than theology.
Alas, if the path to the future is through children’s education, then Turkey’s future appears less in line with Europe’s, and more with the Gulf Cooperation Council
Catitan Sut
Kedua artikel yang telah di 'paste' di atas menunjukkan pendidikan Islam tradisional di Turki masih mempunyai akar yang malar-hidup. Umpama di musim sejuk Turki, dari atas permukaan seolah-olah, pohon itu telah mati; bagaimanapun apabila tiba musim bunga, pohon yang kelihatan mati itu akan mengeluarkan pucuk dan seterusnya daun-daun akan merimbun semula. Subhanallah, ianya mengeluarkan bunga-bunga yang mewangi dan buah-buahnya yang manis ranum.
Seolah-olah sistem ini telah 'hibernate' dalam persembunyiannya untuk sekian masa. Ianya melalui fasal 'uzlah' yang agak panjang, sebelum ke tengah masyarakat semula. Tentunya sistem pendidikan yang sebegini tinggi daya-tahannya mempunyai keistimewaan dan daya-tarikan.
Infra-struktur bangunan madrasah (Imam Hatip) telah berubah dari bentuk asalnya di zaman sebelum Attarturk.Kini ianya lebih tersusun dengan gaya bangunan semasa. Bagaimanapun mata-pelajaran teras yang dijara di zaman lampau masih dikekalkan, dengan tambahan-tambahan yang dikira perlu untuk suasana semasa.
Kekuatan akar yang malar-hidup dalam masyarakat muslim Turki inilah yang memberi kekuatan kepada ummah di sana, bahkan kepada negara itu keseluruhannya. Pengalaman pahit yang terpaksa dilalui oleh ummah di sana tidak mampu mematikan akar yang kukuh ini. Mereka pernah dipaksa meninggalkan nilai-nilai agama demi cita-cita dan slogan pemimpin yang mahu memodenkan Turki, sehingga kepada memakai serban itu adalah suatu kesalahan undang-undang, mereka telah dipakaikan dengan topi tinggi eropah. Tulisan yang menggunakan huruf asal Arab dimansukhkan dan diganti dengan huruf rumi sehingga tulisan pada nesan raja-raja Uthmaniyyah dipahat semula menggunakan huruf rumi. Sejarah dan peradaban mereka yang begitu terserlah semenjak zaman Sultan Uthman pengasas Daulah Uthmaniyyah 600 tahun dipinggirkan demi cita-cita mahu diterima sebagai sebahagian daripada bangsa eropah yang maju.
Kekuatan ummah bertahan di zaman penekanan yang parah itu antara lain dapat dikesan kepada tokoh-tokoh dakwah yang tiada mengenal 'undur'. Mereka terus bertahan , berdiri tegak menongkah arus. Antara peribadi kemuncak di antara tokoh ini ialah Ustaz Badiuzzaman Said an-Nursi, Begitu juga dengan peribadi Syaikh Mahmud Effendi (hafizuhullah) syiakh Naqsyabandi yang masih aktif di Istanbul.
Antara rahsia ketahanan mereka ialah istiqamah mereka dalam menghidupkan amalan zikir. Aspek Risalah an-Nur yang kurang diberi perhatian oleh pengkaji luar ialah warisan wirid dan zikir yang dipusakai oleh murid-muridnya bersumberkan (bersanadkan) amalan harian Ustaz Badiuzzaman Said an-Nursi. Mereka terus menerus membawa amalan pembacaan Jauzan al-Kabir dan Nazam al-Jaljaluti dengan tekun.
Semoga kita dianugerahi Allah dengan rahsia ketahanan yang Allah telah anugerahkan kepada mereka yang Dia kasih.
[Gambar pelajar madrasah di zaman pemerentahan Uthmaniyyah di Turki, penampilan mereka tidak berbeza dengan penampilan pelajar pondok di rantau kita ]
Contentions
The Decline of Secular Education in Turkey
Michael Rubin
| @mrubin1971
08.16.2011
08.16.2011 The sharp rise in the number of those seeking a purely Islamist education follows the Turkish government’s watering down of entrance requirements for mainstream universities so that those without a basis in liberal arts could qualify for Turkey’s top schools.
Meanwhile, the Turkish government is also scrapping basic regulations on Quran schools. No longer will Turkey set age requirement initially put in place to stop indoctrination of very young children. Nor will Turkey enforce qualification regulations meant to keep out Saudi preachers who could indoctrinate hate rather than theology.
Alas, if the path to the future is through children’s education, then Turkey’s future appears less in line with Europe’s, and more with the Gulf Cooperation Council
Catitan Sut
Kedua artikel yang telah di 'paste' di atas menunjukkan pendidikan Islam tradisional di Turki masih mempunyai akar yang malar-hidup. Umpama di musim sejuk Turki, dari atas permukaan seolah-olah, pohon itu telah mati; bagaimanapun apabila tiba musim bunga, pohon yang kelihatan mati itu akan mengeluarkan pucuk dan seterusnya daun-daun akan merimbun semula. Subhanallah, ianya mengeluarkan bunga-bunga yang mewangi dan buah-buahnya yang manis ranum.
Seolah-olah sistem ini telah 'hibernate' dalam persembunyiannya untuk sekian masa. Ianya melalui fasal 'uzlah' yang agak panjang, sebelum ke tengah masyarakat semula. Tentunya sistem pendidikan yang sebegini tinggi daya-tahannya mempunyai keistimewaan dan daya-tarikan.
Infra-struktur bangunan madrasah (Imam Hatip) telah berubah dari bentuk asalnya di zaman sebelum Attarturk.Kini ianya lebih tersusun dengan gaya bangunan semasa. Bagaimanapun mata-pelajaran teras yang dijara di zaman lampau masih dikekalkan, dengan tambahan-tambahan yang dikira perlu untuk suasana semasa.
Kekuatan akar yang malar-hidup dalam masyarakat muslim Turki inilah yang memberi kekuatan kepada ummah di sana, bahkan kepada negara itu keseluruhannya. Pengalaman pahit yang terpaksa dilalui oleh ummah di sana tidak mampu mematikan akar yang kukuh ini. Mereka pernah dipaksa meninggalkan nilai-nilai agama demi cita-cita dan slogan pemimpin yang mahu memodenkan Turki, sehingga kepada memakai serban itu adalah suatu kesalahan undang-undang, mereka telah dipakaikan dengan topi tinggi eropah. Tulisan yang menggunakan huruf asal Arab dimansukhkan dan diganti dengan huruf rumi sehingga tulisan pada nesan raja-raja Uthmaniyyah dipahat semula menggunakan huruf rumi. Sejarah dan peradaban mereka yang begitu terserlah semenjak zaman Sultan Uthman pengasas Daulah Uthmaniyyah 600 tahun dipinggirkan demi cita-cita mahu diterima sebagai sebahagian daripada bangsa eropah yang maju.
Kekuatan ummah bertahan di zaman penekanan yang parah itu antara lain dapat dikesan kepada tokoh-tokoh dakwah yang tiada mengenal 'undur'. Mereka terus bertahan , berdiri tegak menongkah arus. Antara peribadi kemuncak di antara tokoh ini ialah Ustaz Badiuzzaman Said an-Nursi, Begitu juga dengan peribadi Syaikh Mahmud Effendi (hafizuhullah) syiakh Naqsyabandi yang masih aktif di Istanbul.
Antara rahsia ketahanan mereka ialah istiqamah mereka dalam menghidupkan amalan zikir. Aspek Risalah an-Nur yang kurang diberi perhatian oleh pengkaji luar ialah warisan wirid dan zikir yang dipusakai oleh murid-muridnya bersumberkan (bersanadkan) amalan harian Ustaz Badiuzzaman Said an-Nursi. Mereka terus menerus membawa amalan pembacaan Jauzan al-Kabir dan Nazam al-Jaljaluti dengan tekun.
Semoga kita dianugerahi Allah dengan rahsia ketahanan yang Allah telah anugerahkan kepada mereka yang Dia kasih.
[Gambar pelajar madrasah di zaman pemerentahan Uthmaniyyah di Turki, penampilan mereka tidak berbeza dengan penampilan pelajar pondok di rantau kita ]
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