When Islamic Practices Lose Their Spirit
Atatürk’s Westernization of Turkey
When Atatürk set out
to Westernize his country, he sought to erase every feature associated with
Islam, devoting all his efforts to this mission, with the West supporting his
endeavors.
His efforts ultimately bore fruit:
nearly all visible manifestations of Islam disappeared, with only a few
remaining. Turkey grew closer to the West, and Western culture came to dominate
the country. All of this took place within a relatively short period.
We have reason to reflect on this
Turkish experience, examine its lessons, and ask ourselves: How did Atatürk
succeed in achieving his objective? And how did he accomplish it so quickly?
Muhammad Qutb’s Explanation of Atatürk’s
Success
The answer can be found in many
writings by Islamic thinkers who undertook to analyze the Atatürk era. Their
interpretations and analyses have varied, but perhaps the explanation that is
most convincing to the mind is the one offered by Muhammad Qutb in his book Our
Contemporary Reality. In it, he draws attention to an extremely important
insight—one that readers may well conclude was the primary reason Atatürk
succeeded in achieving his objective.
At the time, the outward
manifestations of Islam among the Turks had lost their spirit, despite being
widespread. They had become practices performed as customs rather than acts of
worship: traditions inherited from their forefathers and parents. Consequently,
these practices no longer penetrated deeply into their souls or left an impact
on their hearts. They had become fragile, rootless, and weakened, lacking the
strength needed to withstand attempts to eliminate them. Ultimately, they were
swept away by the winds of Westernization that Satan blew through Atatürk.
When Acts of Worship Become Empty Rituals
As Qutb explained, the transformation
of worship into mere habit offers the best explanation for what happened to the
Turks under Atatürk. It also provides a sound explanation for the deeply
troubling contradiction we see among many Muslims today: they continue to
perform religious rites and observe them regularly, yet at the same time, they
do not hesitate to engage in numerous grave sins
that have become widespread among them, such as insulting religion, cheating,
deception, and lying.
For these people, acts of worship have become mere habits they perform with limbs detached from their hearts—movements devoid of spirit that leave no lasting impression on them and fail to instill the inner restraint needed to prevent them from committing forbidden acts and evils.
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