I’m a practising Muslim and oppose secularism, says academic

January 22, 2024

I’m a practising Muslim and oppose secularism, says academic

PETALING JAYA: A US-based scholar who had a book launch cancelled and alleged mistreatment by the authorities has hit back at claims he is anti-Islam and a secularist.

Ahmet T Kuru also believes the ordeal he underwent during his short trip to Malaysia recently was due to political pressure emanating from Turkey.

In an interview with FMT, the director of Islamic and Arabic studies at the San Diego State University insisted he is a staunch defender of the religious rights of Muslims.

He also said the first book he authored was a critique of French and old Turkish secularism.

“I am a practising Muslim and so is my wife, who wears a headscarf. We both suffered the secular restrictions (while in Turkey),” he said.

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Kuru said his wife was overlooked for a job in a university because she wore a headscarf. He also said his refusal to consume alcohol was a “problem” for the “Turkish elite”.

“To label me a secularist reflects ignorance,” he said, adding that this was something new to him. Kuru said he is usually criticised by secularists for practising his Muslim faith.

He said that apart from receiving “thousands of likes and shares” on social media, some of the “anti-Islam” and “secularist” accusations made about him on social media also contained a more sinister message.

Some netizens also wrote, “Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un” (Indeed, we belong to Allah, and indeed, to Him we return), a phrase Kuru said is usually reserved for the dead.

He said both his wife and mother were apprehensive about his trip here, with the latter suggesting that he skip it altogether.

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“People were telling me: ’You are not welcome (in) Malaysia. Don’t come to Malaysia. I didn’t reply and just blocked them, but I was worried,” said Kuru, who went on to express his own reservations about coming to Malaysia on X (formerly Twitter) prior to the trip.

Kuru said the detention of his friend, Turkish scholar Mustafa Akyol, by religious authorities in 2017 was “another reason to be worried.”

Apart from having his book launch called off by the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia, Kuru also feared arrest by police following accusations he was a terrorist.

Police have since denied that Kuru was on their radar.

However, he subsequently uploaded a photograph of a “policeman” who questioned him prior to his departure from KLIA.

Kuru suspects that the ordeal he suffered here has to do with the politics in his native Turkey.

He said he has had to fend off accusations of being a Gulenist, a reference to members of an organisation branded as terrorists in Turkey, instead claiming he is a vocal critic of the movement.

He also admits to being critical of AKP, the ruling party in Turkey led by president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a man he once admired as a reformist.

These days he says he has “problems” with both AKP and the Gulenists.

“I am attacked by AKP who label me a Gulenist. And many Kemalists or Gulenists accuse me of being an AKP supporter.”

Kuru attributes the animosity shown towards him by members of the Turkish government to its “you are either with us or against us” stance.

“If you criticise the AKP they come after you as an enemy. They label you a Kurdist, Gulenist and even a CIA spy. It does not matter whether you are in Turkey or abroad.”