Mustafa Akyol: Faith versus tradition in Islam

Translator: Mirjana Kosic Reviewer: Mislav Ante Omazić - EFZG

Prije nekoliko sedmica

A few weeks ago, I had a chance to go to Saudi Arabia.

dobio sam priliku da posjetim Saudijsku Arabiju.

And the first thing I wanted to do as a Muslim

I prvo što sam kao Musliman želio da uradim

was to go to Mecca and visit the Kaaba,

bilo je da odem u Meccu i posjetim Kaabu,

the holiest shrine of Islam.

najsvetiji islamski hram.

And I did that; I put on my ritualistic dress,

I to sam i učinio; obukao sam svoju ritualnu odoru;

otišao do svete džamije;

I went to the holy mosque,

I did my prayers,

obavio svoju molitvu;

I observed all the rituals.

ispoštovao sve rituale.

U međuvremenu,

And meanwhile, besides all the spirituality,

pored sve te duhovnosti,

there was one mundane detail in the Kaaba

jedan posve običan detalj u Kaabi

that was pretty interesting for me:

mi se učinio veoma zanimljivim.

there was no separation of sexes.

Nije bilo odvajanja među polovima.

In other words, men and women were worshiping all together.

Drugim riječima, muškarci i žene

su se svi zajedno molili.

Bili su zajedno tokom hodočašća,

They were together while doing tawāf, the circular walk around the Kaaba.

hodanja u krug oko Kaabe.

They were together while praying.

Bili su zajedno dok se se molili.

And if you wonder why this is interesting at all,

I ako se pitate zbog čega je ovo uopšte zanimljivo,

morali biste vidjeti ostatak Saudijske Arabije,

you have to see the rest of Saudi Arabia,

because this a country which is strictly divided between the sexes.

jer je to zemlja

koja je strogo podjeljena između polova.

In other words:

Drugim riječima,

as men, you are simply not supposed to be in the same physical space

od vas, kao muškaraca, se jednostavno ne očekuje

da budete u istom fizičkom prostoru sa ženama.

with women.

And I noticed this in a very funny way.

A to sam primijetio na jako smiješan način.

I left the Kaaba to eat something in downtown Mecca.

Krenuo sam iz Kaabe

kako bih nešto pojeo u centru Mecce.

I headed to the nearest Burger King restaurant.

Uputio sam se ka najbližem Burger King restoranu.

I ušao sam --

And I went there -- I noticed that there was a male section,

i primijetio da postoji dio za muškarce,

which is carefully separated from the female section.

koji je pažljivo odvojen od ženskog dijela.

I had to pay, order and eat in the male section.

Morao sam platiti, naručiti i jesti u muškom dijelu.

"It's funny," I said to myself,

"Ovo je ludo", rekao sam sâm sebi,

"You can mingle with the opposite sex at the holy Kaaba,

"možeš se miješati sa suprotnim polom u svetoj Kaabi,

but not at the Burger King?"

ali ne u Burger King-u."

(Laughter)

Prilično ironično.

Quite, quite ironic.

Ironično, no mislim da istovremeno nešto i kazuje.

Ironic, and it's also, I think, quite telling,

because the Kaaba and the rituals around it

Zbog toga što su Kaaba i rituali koji se vrše oko nje

are relics from the earliest phase of Islam,

relikti iz najranije faze Islama,

that of prophet Muhammad.

iz doba proroka Muhammada.

And if there was a big emphasis at the time to separate men from women,

I da se u to vrijeme insistiralo

na odvajanju muškaraca od žena,

the rituals around the Kaaba could have been designed accordingly.

rituali oko Kaabe bi bili osmišljeni u skladu sa time.

But apparently, that was not an issue at the time.

No, očigledno je da u to vrijeme to nije bio problem.

Tako su nastali i rituali.

So the rituals came that way.

This is also, I think, confirmed by the fact

Mislim da je to također potvrđeno

činjenicom da je odvajanje žena

that the seclusion of women in creating a divided society

u stvaranju podijeljenog društva

is something that you also do not find in the Koran --

još jedna stvar koja se ne može naći u Kuranu,

samoj srži Islama --

the very core of Islam, the divine core of Islam --

božanskoj srži Islama

that all Muslims, equally myself, believe.

u koju svi Muslimani, kao i ja sam, vjeruju.

I mislim da nije slučajnost

And I think it's not an accident

that you don't find this idea in the very origin of Islam,

da se ta ideja ne može naći

u samom porijeklu Islama.

because many scholars who study the history of Islamic thought --

Zbog toga što mnogi učeni ljudi

koji izučavaju istoriju islamske misli --

Muslim scholars or Westerners --

Muslimani, kao i oni sa Zapada --

think that, actually, the practice of dividing men and women physically

smatraju da je zapravo

fizička podjela muškaraca i žena .

came as a later development in Islam,

postala dio prakse u kasnijem razvoju Islama,

as Muslims adopted some preexisting cultures

kako su Muslimani usvajali

neke od postojećih kultura i tradicija Srednjeg istoka.

and traditions of the Middle East.

Seclusion of women was actually a Byzantine and Persian practice,

Odvajanje žena se zapravo

praktikovalo u Vizantiji i Persiji,

a Muslimani su usvojili taj običaj

and Muslims adopted it and made it a part of their religion.

i učinili ga dijelom svoje religije.

Actually, this is just one example of a much larger phenomenon.

A ovo je zapravo tek jedan od primjera

mnogo većeg fenomena.

What we call today Islamic law, and especially Islamic culture --

Onog koji danas nazivamo islamskim zakonom, i naročito islamskom kulturom --

iako ih zapravo ima više;

and there are many Islamic cultures, actually;

islamska kultura u Saudijskoj Arabiji se značajno razlikuje

the one in Saudi Arabia is much different

od kulture u Istanbulu, odakle ja dolazim, ili u Turskoj.

from where I come from in Istanbul or Turkey.

But still, if you're going to speak about a Muslim culture,

Pa ipak,

ako ćemo govoriti o muslimanskoj kulturi,

this has a core: the divine message which began the religion.

ona ima srž, božansku poruku,

kojom je otpočela religija,

But then many traditions, perceptions, practices were added on top of it.

no tada su mnoge tradicije, percepcije,

kao i mnoge prakse pridodane na to.

And these were traditions of the Middle East medieval traditions.

A to su bili tradicije Srednjeg istoka – srednjovjekovne tradicije.

There are two important messages, or two lessons,

Dvije značajne poruke, ili dvije lekcije,

se mogu izvući iz te realnosti .

to take from that reality.

First of all, Muslims --

Prije svega, Muslimani --

pious, conservative, believing Muslims who want to be loyal to their religion --

pobožni, konzervativni, vjernici Muslimani koji žele biti odani svojoj religiji --

ne bi se trebali držati svega u svojoj kulturi,

should not cling onto everything in their culture,

thinking that that's divinely mandated.

i misliti da je to određeno božanskom nakanom.

Možda su neke od ovih tradicija loše

Maybe some things are bad traditions and they need to be changed.

i trebale bi se izmijeniti.

On the other hand, the Westerners who look at Islamic culture

S druge strane, Zapadnjaci

koji posmatraju islamsku kulturu

and see some troubling aspects

i u njoj vide neke zabrinjavajuće aspekte

should not readily conclude that this is what Islam ordains.

ne bi trebali da isuviše olako zaključuju da je to nešto što Islam određuje.

Maybe it's a Middle Eastern culture that became confused with Islam.

Možda je kultura Srednjeg istoka

pobrkana sa Islamom.

Na primjer, praksa ženskog obrezivanja.

There is a practice called female circumcision.

To je nešto što je užasno, prestrašno.

It's something terrible, horrible.

It is basically an operation to deprive women of sexual pleasure.

U suštini, to je operacija

kojom se ženama oduzima sposobnost seksualnog užitka.

And Westerners --

Zapadnjaci, Evropljani ili Amerikanci,

Europeans or Americans -- who didn't know about this before,

koji nisu znali ništa o ovome

[saw] this practice

suočili su se sa tom praksom

within some of the Muslim communities who migrated from North Africa.

u nekima od muslimanskih zajednica

koje se migrirale iz sjeverne Afrike.

And they've thought,

I pomislili su "Kakva užasna religija

"Oh, what a horrible religion that is, which ordains something like that."

da propisuje nešto takvo."

No, zapravo, ako razmislite o ženskom obrezivanju,

But when you look at female circumcision,

vidite da ono nema nikakve veze sa Islamom,

you see that it has nothing to do with Islam;

to je običaj koji se praktikovao u sjevernoj Africi,

it's just a North African practice which predates Islam.

još prije Islama.

It was there for thousands of years.

Tu je praktikovan hiljadama godina.

And, quite tellingly, some Muslims do practice it --

I sasvim sigurno, neki Muslimani praktikuju taj običaj.

Muslimani u sjevernoj Africi, ali ne na drugim mjestima.

the Muslims in North Africa, not in other places.

But also the non-Muslim communities of North Africa --

Međutim, poznato je da čak i ne-muslimanske zajednice u sjevernoj Africi --

Animisti, pa čak i neki Hrišćani

the animists, some Christians and even a Jewish tribe in North Africa --

i jedno jevrejsko pleme u sjevernoj Africi

vrše obrezivanje žena.

are known to practice female circumcision.

So what might look like a problem within Islamic faith

Znači, moglo bi se ispostaviti da je ono što se posmatra kao problem

u islamskoj vjeri

might turn out to be a tradition that Muslims have subscribed to.

zapravo tradicija

koju su Muslimani prihvatili.

The same thing can be said for honor killings,

Isto bi se moglo reći i za ubistva iz časti,

which is a recurrent theme in the Western media --

koja su vječna tema u Zapadnim medijima --

and which is, of course, a horrible tradition.

a koja, naravno, predstavljaju jednu strašnu tradiciju.

And we see, truly, in some Muslim communities, that tradition.

I mi uistinu vidimo da ta tradicija postoji u nekima od muslimanskih zajednica.

Ali i u ne-muslimanskim zajednicama Srednjeg istoka,

But in the non-Muslim communities of the Middle East,

kao i u nekim hrišćanskim zajednicama, istočnim zajednicama,

such as some Christian communities, Eastern communities,

nailazimo na istu praksu.

you see the same practice.

We had a tragic case of an honor killing

Imali smo tragičan slučaj ubistva iz časti

unutar tursko-jermenske zajednice

within Turkey's Armenian community just a few months ago.

prije svega nekoliko mjeseci.

Now, these are things about general culture,

No, ovo su pitanja opšte kulture,

but I'm also very much interested in political culture

dok sam ja također veoma zainteresovan za političku kulturu

and whether liberty and democracy is appreciated,

i da li se sloboda i demokratija cijene,

or whether there's an authoritarian political culture

ili je prisutna autoritarna politička kultura

in which the state is supposed to impose things on the citizens.

u kojoj se od države očekuje da građanima sve nameće.

Nije tajna

And it is no secret

that many Islamic movements in the Middle East

da mnogi islamski pokreti na Srednjem istoku

imaju sklonost ka autoritarizmu,

tend to be authoritarian,

and some of the so-called "Islamic regimes,"

a neki od takozvanih 'islamskih režima',

such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and the worst case, the Taliban in Afghanistan,

poput Saudijske Arabije, Irana

i kao najgori primjer Talibana u Afganistanu,

they are pretty authoritarian -- no doubt about that.

su poprilično autoritarni – u to nema sumnje.

Na primjer, u Saudijskoj Arabiji

For example, in Saudi Arabia,

there is a phenomenon called the religious police.

postoji fenomen koji se zove policija za religiju.

And the religious police imposes the supposed Islamic way of life

Ta policija nameće

tobožnji islamski način života,

on every citizen, by force --

svakome građaninu, silom --

like, women are forced to cover their heads --

npr. žene su primorane da pokrivaju glave --

nose hidžab, islamsko pokrivalo za glavu.

wear the hijab, the Islamic head cover.

To je nešto što je prilično autoritarno

Now that is pretty authoritarian,

i prema čemu sam jako kritičan.

and that's something I'm very much critical of.

Međutim, kada sam uvidjeo

But when I realized that the non-Muslim,

da se oni koji nisu Muslimani,

or the non-Islamic-minded actors in the same geography

ili nisu istomišljenici Islama u istom geografskom okruženju,

ponekad ponašaju na sličan način,

sometimes behaved similarly,

I realized that the problem maybe lies

shvatio sam da je problem možda

in the political culture of the whole region, not just Islam.

u političkoj kulturi cijelog regiona, ne samo Islama.

Let me give you an example: in Turkey, where I come from,

Daću vam jedan primjer: u Turskoj, odakle dolazim,

which is a very hyper-secular republic,

koja je jedna izuzetno sekularna republika,

until very recently, we used to have what I call "secularism police,"

sve donedavno

smo imali nešto što ja nazivam sekularističkom policijom

koja je čuvala univerzitete

which would guard the universities against veiled students.

od pokrivenih studentkinja.

In other words, they would force students to uncover their heads.

Drugim riječima, oni bi primoravali studentkinje

da otkriju glave.

And I think forcing people to uncover their head

A ja smatram da je prisiljavanje žena da otkriju glave

is as tyrannical as forcing them to cover it.

podjednako tiranski kao i prisiljavanje da ih pokriju.

To bi trebala biti odluka građana.

It should be the citizen's decision.

But when I saw that, I said,

No, kada sam to vidjeo, rekao sam,

"Maybe the problem is just an authoritarian culture in the region,

"Možda je problem

naprosto u autoritarnoj kulturi ovog regiona,

and some Muslims have been influenced by that.

i neki Muslimani su bili pod tim uticajem."

Ali i ljudi koji su po svojim ubjeđenjima sekularni se mogu naći pod tim uticajem.

But the secular-minded people can be influenced by that.

Maybe it's a problem of the political culture,

Možda je to problem političke kulture

i mi moramo razmisliti

and we have to think about how to change that political culture."

kako da promijenimo tu političku kulturu.

Now, these are some of the questions I had in mind a few years ago

Ovo su neka od pitanja

o kojima sam razmišljao prije nekoliko godina

when I sat down to write a book.

kada sam sjeo da napišem knjigu.

I said, "Well, I will do research

Rekao sam: "Pa dobro, sprovešću istraživanje

o tome kako je Islam zapravo postao ovo što je danas,

about how Islam actually came to be what it is today,

kojim putevima se išlo

and what roads were taken and what roads could have been taken."

a kojima se moglo ići."

Naslov knjige je 'Islam bez ekstrema: Borba Muslimana za slobodu.'

The name of the book is "Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty."

And as the subtitle suggests,

Kao što i sam podnaslov sugeriše,

I looked at Islamic tradition and the history of Islamic thought

posmatrao sam islamsku tradiciju i istoriju islamske misli

from the perspective of individual liberty,

iz perspektive pojedinačne slobode,

and I tried to find what are the strengths with regard to individual liberty.

i pokušao sam utvrditi koje su snažne strane

u vezi sa pojedinačnom slobodom.

And there are strengths in Islamic tradition.

Postoje jake strane u islamskoj tradiciji.

Islam zapravo, kao monoteistička religija,

Islam, actually, as a monotheistic religion,

which defined man as a responsible agent by itself,

koja definiše čovjeka kao odgovornog faktora samog po sebi,

created the idea of the individual in the Middle East,

stvorila je ideju o pojedincu na Srednjem istoku

i spasila ga od komunitarizma,

and saved it from the communitarianism, the collectivism of the tribe.

plemenskog kolektivizma.

You can derive many ideas from that.

Iz toga se može izvući mnogo ideja.

But besides that, I also saw problems within Islamic tradition.

No, pored toga, također sam uvidjeo probleme unutar islamske tradicije.

But one thing was curious:

Jedna stvar je bila neobična:

most of those problems turn out to be problems that emerged later,

ispostavilo se da većina ovih problema predstavlja probleme koji su se pojavili kasnije,

not from the very divine core of Islam, the Koran,

i to ne iz božanske srži Islama, Kurana,

but from, again, traditions and mentalities,

već opet iz tradicija i mentaliteta

ili tumačenja Kurana

or the interpretations of the Koran that Muslims made in the Middle Ages.

od strane Muslimana u srednjem vijeku.

Kuran, na primjer,

The Koran, for example, doesn't condone stoning.

ne osuđuje kamenovanje.

There is no punishment for apostasy.

Nema kazne za izdaju.

There is no punishment for personal sins like drinking.

Nema kazne za stvari lične prirode, poput konzumiranja alkohola.

Ove stvari koji čine islamski Zakon,

These things which make Islamic law,

the troubling aspects of Islamic law,

zabrinjavajući aspekti islamskog Zakona,

were developed into later interpretations of Islam.

kasnije su razvijeni u naknadna tumačenja Islama.

Which means that Muslims can, today,

Što znači da Muslimani danas mogu

look at those things and say,

pogledati na ove stvari i reći,

"Well, the core of our religion is here to stay with us.

"Pa dobro, suština naše religije

će ostati nepromijenjena.

It's our faith, and we will be loyal to it.

To je naša vjera i mi ćemo joj biti odani."

But we can change how it was interpreted,

Ali mi možemo izmijeniti sâmo tumačenje,

because it was interpreted according to the time

jer je vjera protumačena u skladu sa vremenom i miljeom srednjeg vijeka.

and milieu in the Middle Ages.

Sada živimo u drugačijem svijetu

Now we're living in a different world,

sa drugačijim vrijednostima i drugačijim političkim sistemima.

with different values and political systems."

Takvo tumačenje je sasvim moguće i ostvarivo.

That interpretation is quite possible and feasible.

Now, if I were the only person thinking that way,

Kada bih ja bio jedina osoba koja razmišlja na takav način,

we would be in trouble.

imali bismo problem.

But that's not the case at all.

Međutim, to uopšte nije slučaj.

Actually, from the 19th century on,

Zapravo, od 19. vijeka naovamo,

there's a whole revisionist, reformist -- whatever you call it -- tradition,

postoji cijela revizionistička, reformistička --

kako god da je nazovete --

tradicija,

a trend in Islamic thinking.

trend u islamskoj misli.

These were intellectuals or statesmen

To su bili intelektualci ili državnici

iz 19. vijeka, i kasnije 20. vijeka,

of the 19th century, and later, 20th century,

which looked at Europe, basically,

koji su zapravo posmatrali Evropu

and saw that Europe has many things to admire,

i shvatili da Evropa ima mnogo toga za divljenje,

like science and technology.

poput nauke i tehnologije.

But not just that; also democracy, parliament,

I ne samo to; također i demokratiju, parlament ,

ideju o predstavljanju,

the idea of representation,

the idea of equal citizenship.

ideju o jednakim pravima građana.

These Muslim thinkers, intellectuals and statesmen of the 19th century,

Ti muslimanski mislioci i intelektualci i državnici

iz 19. vijeka posmatrali su Evropu i vidjeli sve to.

looked at Europe, saw these things, and said,

Rekli su: "Zašto mi to nemamo?"

"Why don't we have these things?"

I potom su se osvrnuli na islamsku tradiciju,

And they looked back at Islamic tradition,

vidjeli su da postoje problematični aspekti,

and saw that there are problematic aspects,

but they're not the core of the religion, so maybe they can be re-understood,

ali oni ne čine suštinu religije, što znači da se mogu iznova shvatiti,

i da Kuran može da se iznova izuči

and the Koran can be reread in the modern world.

u suvremenom svijetu.

That trend is generally called Islamic modernism,

Taj trend

se generalno naziva islamskim modernizmom,

and it was advanced by intellectuals and statesmen,

a unaprijedili su ga intelektualci i državnici,

not just as an intellectual idea, though,

doduše ne samo kao intelektualnu ideju,

but also as a political program.

već i kao politički program.

And that's why, actually, in the 19th century,

I upravo zbog toga je u 19. vijeku

the Ottoman Empire, which then covered the whole Middle East,

Otomansko carstvo, koje je u to vrijeme zauzimalo cijeli Srednji istok,

sprovelo izuzetno značajne reforme --

made very important reforms --

reforms like giving Christians and Jews an equal citizenship status,

poput onih koje su Hrišćanima i Jevrejima

dale jednak status građana,

prihvatanja ustava,

accepting a constitution,

accepting a representative parliament,

prihvatanja reprezentativnog parlamenta,

advancing the idea of freedom of religion.

unaprjeđenje ideje slobode religije.

That's why the Ottoman Empire, in its last decades,

I stoga se Otomansko carstvo u svojim poslednji decenijama

turned into a proto-democracy, a constitutional monarchy,

pretvorilo u proto-demokratiju,

ustavnu monarhiju.

and freedom was a very important political value at the time.

A sloboda je u to vrijeme imala izuzetno značajnu političku vrijednost.

Similarly, in the Arab world,

Slično tome, u arapskom svijetu

there was what the great Arab historian Albert Hourani defines

je nastupilo ono što čuveni arapski istoričar Albert Hourani

definiše kao liberalno doba.

as the Liberal Age.

He has a book, "Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age,"

On je napisao knjigu "Arapska misao u liberalnom dobu".

A kao liberalno doba on definiše

and the Liberal Age, he defines as 19th century and early 20th century.

19. vijek i početak 20. vijeka.

Sasvim primjetno, ovo je bio trend koji je prevladavao

Quite notably, this was the dominant trend in the early 20th century

s početka 20. vijeka

among Islamic thinkers and statesmen and theologians.

među islamskim misliocima, državnicima i teolozima. .

But there is a very curious pattern in the rest of the 20th century,

Međutim, postoji jako zanimljiv obrazac

tokom ostatka 20. vijeka,

because we see a sharp decline in this Islamic modernist line.

gdje vidimo snažan pad

u toj islamskoj modernističkoj liniji.

And in place of that,

Umjesto toga,

what happens is that Islamism grows as an ideology which is authoritarian,

došlo je do jačanja Islamizma

kao autoritarne ideologije,

which is quite strident,

koja je prilično prodorna,

which is quite anti-Western,

prilično anti-zapadna

i koja želi oblikovati društvo

and which wants to shape society based on a utopian vision.

na osnovu utopističke vizije.

So Islamism is the problematic idea

Znači, Islamizam je problematična ideja

that really created a lot of problems in the 20th-century Islamic world.

koja je zapravo stvorila mnogo problema

u islamskom svijetu 20. vijeka.

And even the very extreme forms of Islamism

Čak su i veoma ekstremni vidovi Islamizma

led to terrorism in the name of Islam --

doveli do terorizma u ime Islama --

koji je zapravo praksa za koju smatram da je protiv Islama,

which is actually a practice that I think is against Islam,

but some, obviously, extremists, did not think that way.

međutim neki očigledno ekstremisti nisu mislili na isti način.

But there is a curious question:

No, javlja se zanimljivo pitanje:

If Islamic modernism was so popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries,

ako je islamski modernizam bio toliko popularan

u 19. i početkom 20. vijeka,

why did Islamism become so popular in the rest of the 20th century?

zašto je Islamizam postao tako popularan

kasnije tokom ostatka 20. vijeka?

Ovo je pitanje o kojem je, smatram,

And this is a question, I think, which needs to be discussed carefully.

potrebno pažljivo razgovarati.

In my book, I went into that question as well.

U svojoj knjizi sam se takođe bavio tim pitanjem.

And actually, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that.

Zapravo ne morate biti pretjerano pametni da biste to shvatili.

Just look at the political history of the 20th century,

Pogledajte samo političku istoriju 20. vijeka

i vidjećete da se mnogo toga jako promijenilo.

and you see things have changed a lot.

Kontekst je izmijenjen.

The contexts have changed.

In the 19th century,

U 19. vijeku,

when Muslims were looking at Europe as an example,

kada su se Muslimani ugledali na Evropu kao primjer,

they were independent; they were more self-confident.

bili su nezavisni i imali su mnogo više samopouzdanja.

In the early 20th century, with the fall of the Ottoman Empire,

Početkom 20. vijeka, padom Otomanskog carstva,

the whole Middle East was colonized.

cijeli Srednji istok je bio kolonizovan.

And when you have colonialization, what do you have?

A kada imate kolonizaciju, šta se dešava?

You have anti-colonialization.

Tada imate anti-kolonizaciju.

So Europe is not just an example now to emulate;

Znači, Evropa više nije uzor koji treba oponašati;

it's an enemy to fight and to resist.

već je neprijatelj protiv kojeg se treba boriti i kojemu se treba oduprijeti.

So there's a very sharp decline in liberal ideas in the Muslim world,

Došlo je do izuzetno oštrog opadanja

liberalne ideje u muslimanskom svijetu,

i ono što se vidi je defanzivnija,

and what you see is more of a defensive, rigid, reactionary strain,

kruća, reakcionistička crta,

which led to Arab socialism, Arab nationalism

koji je dovela do arapskog socijalizma, arapskog nacionalizma

and ultimately to the Islamist ideology.

i na koncu do islamske ideologije.

And when the colonial period ended,

Kada je kolonijalno doba okončalo,

what you had in place of that was generally secular dictators,

njega su zamijenili

uglavnom sekularni diktatori,

koji kažu da su oni zemlja,

which say they're a country,

but did not bring democracy to the country,

ali koji nisu donijeli demokratiju u zemlju,

and established their own dictatorship.

već su uspostavili sopstveno diktatorstvo.

And I think the West, at least some powers in the West,

Mislim da je Zapad, ili barem neke zapadne sile,

naročito Sjedinjene Države,

particularly the United States,

made the mistake of supporting those secular dictators,

pogriješile time što su dale podršku tim sekularnim diktatorima,

thinking that they were more helpful for their interests.

misleći da će oni biti od veće pomoći njihovim interesima.

But the fact that those dictators suppressed democracy in their country

No, činjenica da su ti diktatori

gušenjem demokratije u svojim zemljama

and suppressed Islamic groups in their country

i gušenjem islamskih grupa

actually made the Islamists much more strident.

zapravo učinili da Islamisti postanu mnogo glasniji.

Tako smo u 20. vijeku

So in the 20th century,

you had this vicious cycle in the Arab world,

imali ovaj začarani krug u arapskom svijetu

where you have a dictatorship suppressing its own people,

gdje su diktatorski režimi tlačili sopstveni narod,

including the Islamic pious,

uključujući i one pobožne,

and they're reacting in reactionary ways.

koji reaguju reakcionistički.

There was one country, though,

Doduše, samo jedna zemlja je

which was able to escape or stay away from that vicious cycle.

mogla pobjeći ili ostati izvan

tog začararanog kruga.

And that's the country where I come from, Turkey.

To je zemlja iz koje dolazim, Turska.

Turkey has never been colonized,

Turska nikada nije bila kolonizirana,

tako da se održala kao nezavisna nacija nakon pada Otomanskog carstva.

so it remained as an independent nation after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

To je jedna stvar koju treba upamtiti.

That's one thing to remember;

Oni nisu imali isto anti-kolonijalno ludilo

it did not share the same anti-colonial hype

koje možete naći u nekima od zemalja tog regiona.

that you can find in some other countries in the region.

Secondly, and most importantly,

Kao drugo, i još značajnije,

Turkey became a democracy

Turska je postala demokratijom

earlier than any of the countries we are talking about.

prije svih ovih zemalja o kojima smo govorili.

In 1950, Turkey had the first free and fair elections,

Turska je 1950. godine imala prve slobodne i pravedne izbore

kojima je okončan sekularni režim koji je bio više autokratski,

which ended the more autocratic secular regime,

which was in the beginning of Turkey.

što je označilo početak Turske.

And the pious Muslims in Turkey

Pobožni Muslimani u Turskoj

saw that they could change the political system by voting.

su vidjeli da glasanjem mogu izmijeniti politički sistem.

And they realized that democracy is something compatible with Islam,

I uvidjeli su da je demokratija nešto što je kompatibilno sa Islamom,

kompatibilno sa njihovim vrijednostima

compatible with their values,

and they've been supportive of democracy.

i stoga su snažno podržali demokratiju.

That's an experience

To je iskustvo

that not every other Muslim nation in the Middle East had,

koje muslimanske zemlje Srednjeg istoka

nisu imale sve do nedavno.

until very recently.

Secondly, in the past two decades,

Kao drugo, tokom poslednje dvije decenije,

thanks to globalization, thanks to the market economy,

zahvaljujući globalizaciji, zahvaljujući tržišnoj ekonomiji,

thanks to the rise of a middle class,

zahvaljujući usponu srednje klase,

we in Turkey see what I define as a rebirth of Islamic modernism.

mi u Turskoj vidimo

ono što ja nazivam ponovnim rođenjem islamskog modernizma.

Now, there's the more urban middle-class pious Muslims

Sada postoji urbanija srednja klasa pobožnih Muslimana

koji, ponovo, posmatraju svoju tradiciju

who, again, look at their tradition

i vide da u njoj postoje izvjesni problemi.

and see that there are some problems in the tradition,

I oni shvataju da se isto moraju promijeniti, moraju se dovoditi u pitanje i reformirati.

and understand that they need to be changed and questioned and reformed.

A kada pogledaju Evropu,

And they look at Europe, and see an example, again, to follow.

i opet vide primjer koji bi trebali slijediti.

They see an example, at least, to take some inspiration from.

Vide primjer iz kojeg, barem, mogu izvući neku inspiraciju.

Zbog toga proces EU,

That's why the EU process, Turkey's effort to join the EU,

napor Turske da se pridruži EU,

u Turskoj ima podršku

has been supported inside Turkey by the Islamic pious,

tih pobožnih sljedbenika Islama,

while some secular nationalists were against it.

dok su neke od sekularnih nacija protiv toga.

Well, that process has been a little bit blurred

No, taj proces je malo zamagljen

činjenicom da ni svi Evropljani ne pozdravljaju ulazak novih zemalja --

by the fact that not all Europeans are that welcoming,

no to je tema za drugu diskusiju.

but that's another discussion.

But the pro-EU sentiment in Turkey in the past decade

Ali pro-EU osjećanja u Turskoj su u poslednjoj deceniji

has become almost an Islamic cause and supported by the Islamic liberals

postala gotovo islamski slučaj,

koji podržavaju islamski liberali,

and the secular liberals as well, of course.

kao i sekularni liberali, naravno.

And thanks to that,

I zahvaljujući tome,

Turkey has been able to reasonably create a success story

Turska je je uspjela da na razuman način izgradi uspješnu priču

in which Islam and the most pious understandings of Islam

u kojoj su Islam i najpobožnija razumijevanja Islama

have become part of the democratic game,

postali dijelom demokratske igre,

and even contributes to the democratic and economic advance of the country.

i čak doprinose demokratskom i ekonomskom

napretku zemlje.

And this has been an inspiring example right now

I to je sada nadahnjujući primjer

za neke od islamskih pokreta

for some of the Islamic movements

ili neke od zemalja arapskog svijeta.

or some of the countries in the Arab world.

You must have all seen the Arab Spring,

Svi ste morali vidjeti arapsko proljeće

which began in Tunis and in Egypt.

koje je otpočelo u Tunisu i Egiptu.

Arab masses just revolted against their dictators.

I arapske mase koje su se pobunile protiv svojih diktatora.

koje su se pobunile protiv svojih diktatora.

They were asking for democracy; they were asking for freedom.

Tražili su demokratiju, tražili su slobodu.

I nisu se pretvorili u islamske babaroge

And they did not turn out to be the Islamist boogeyman

that the dictators were always using to justify their regime.

koje su diktatori koristili

kako bi opravdali svoje režime.

Rekli su „mi želimo slobodu, želimo demokratiju.

They said, "We want freedom; we want democracy.

We are Muslim believers,

Mi smo muslimanski vjernici,

but we want to be living as free people in free societies."

ali želimo živjeti kao slobodni ljudi u slobodnim društvima.“

Naravno, put će biti dug.

Of course, this is a long road.

Demokratija nije ostvarenje do kojeg se dolazi preko noći; .

Democracy is not an overnight achievement; it's a process.

ona je proces.

No, ovo je epoha koja obećava

But this is a promising era in the Muslim world.

u muslimanskom svijetu.

I ja vjerujem da islamski modernizam

And I believe that the Islamic modernism which began in the 19th century,

koji je otpočeo u 19. vijeku,

but which had a setback in the 20th century

ali koji je doživjeo zastoj u 20. vijeku

usljed političkih nevolja u muslimanskom svijetu,

because of the political troubles of the Muslim world,

sada doživljava preporod.

is having a rebirth.

I mislim da je poruka koja proizilazi iz toga

And I think the takeaway message from that would be that Islam,

da Islam,

despite some of the skeptics in the West,

uprkos nekim zapadnim skepticima,

has the potential in itself

ima potencijal u sebi

to create its own way to democracy, create its own way to liberalism,

da stvori sopstveni put ka demokratiji, da stvori sopstveni put ka liberalizmu,

create its own way to freedom.

sopstveni put ka slobodi.

They just should be allowed to work for that.

Samo im treba dopustiti da to i urade.

Hvala Vam mnogo.

Thanks so much.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)