Recent columns in the Turkish press praise jihad and martyrdom and yearn for a caliphate. Burhan Bozgeyik wrote on March 20, 2020: "Jihad is a valid ruling until the Day of Judgement. Jihad will not be abandoned... If the Muslims are unified, [the unbelievers] will all be like dogs at our door." Mustafa Kasadar wrote on February 10: "This ummah has gotten its dignity and honor from jihad and martyrdom." Muzaffer Dereli wrote on March 6: "If we get scared when war and jihad are mentioned, this shows the weakness of our faith."

Mustafa Çelik wrote on March 11: Democracy, which was imposed as an ideology after the abolition of the caliphate, is a dress of the Greek philosophers that was put on the Muslims... Governing without that which Allah has sent down is a cruelty composed of darkness... If Islam's state governs the world on its own, Allah will lift off of us the despicableness that is thought to be irremovable!" The government-issued sermon for February 28 said: "Our troops obey the call of our prophet to 'make jihad with your hands, your words, and your property.'"



From left to right: Burhan Bozgeyik, Mustafa Kasadar, Muzaffer Dereli, and Mustafa Çelik.

Following are translated excerpts from the columns and sermon.

"Jihad Is A Valid Ruling Until The Day Of Judgement – Jihad Will Not Be Abandoned... If The Muslims Are Unified, [The Unbelievers] Will All Be Like Dogs At Our Door "

In a March 20, 2020 column, Burhan Bozgeyik wrote: "There cannot be Islam without a state. There must be a state, an administrator of all Muslims. This is the truth. Allah's rulings will be dominant in all areas (the sayings and actions of Muhammad are included in these rulings). All Muslims will be brothers, will be united. A Muslim will never draw a weapon on another Muslim. Jihad is a valid ruling until the Day of Judgement. Jihad will not be abandoned. If jihad is abandoned, despicableness will come on its own. The unbelievers will be expelled from every handsbreadth of Muslim land... Let's say it outright: To hell with all of the cruel unbelievers who, in the language of the Quran, are all filth. If the Muslims are unified, they will all be like dogs at our door."[1]

"Our Troops Obey The Call Of Our Prophet To 'Make Jihad With Your Hands, Your Words, And Your Property'"

The February 28 Friday sermon issued by Turkey's Ministry of Religious Affairs read in part: "Our troops are always beside the oppressed against the tyrant. They are at the front for the good of the world, and they take cover in the name of humanity. They are on expedition to run to help those whose rights are taken from them. Our troops stand tall on their feet on the side of truth and against falsehood, having faith in the [Quran 17:81] verse 'And say: "Truth has come and falsehood has collapsed. Verily, falsehood is condemned to collapse.' Our troops run from victory to victory being bound from their hearts to the [Quran 3:139] verse: 'Do not become loose, do not be saddened. If you have faith, you will be superior.' Our troops obey the call of our prophet to 'make jihad with your hands, your words, and your property' and say 'stop' to the brazen raid of the enemy."[2] Turkey's Ministry of Religious Affairs, which prepares the sermons that are given each week at the country's 84,000 mosques, issued this sermon amid fighting in Idlib between the Turkish military and Turkish-backed jihadi factions on one side and the Syrian military on the other.

"This Ummah Has Gotten Its Dignity And Honor From Jihad And Martyrdom"

In a February 10 column, Mustafa Kasadar wrote: "This ummah has gotten its dignity and honor from jihad and martyrdom. This ummah, in the period when it burned and ignited as a whole with the longing for jihad martyrdom, it was the lord of the world. It gave shape and order to the whole world. But whenever it became a nation that was disgusted by death, that forgot the desire for martyrdom, and preferred the worldly life to the hereafter, that is when it fell from the summit and became the plaything of the non-Muslim nations...

"On this occasion we are commemorating with mercy all our martyrs and congratulating all of the civil society organizations, above all the Anadolu Gençlik Derneği (Anatolian Youth Assocatian, AGD) who are celebrating February as 'Martyrdom Month' and bringing jihad and martyrdom to the youth agenda once again. We commemorate with mercy and gratitude the jihad leaders 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam, Hassan Al-Banna, Abdullah Azzam, Ahmad Yassin, and Necmeddin Erbakan, who are the jihad teachers of our age. The path that will save the ummah from this despicableness today is clear. This path has been tried dozens of times before and every time, with this method, the ummah got up from the place to which it had fallen and reached the summit once again. That path is singular, and it is the construction of an ummah that desires jihad and martyrdom."[3]

"If We Get Scared When War And Jihad Are Mentioned, This Shows The Weakness Of Our Faith"

In a March 6 column, Muzaffer Dereli wrote: "Only hypocrites flee from war when it is necessary. To say: 'Do your worship, leave off jihad' is such a big sign of discord... After permission for war (jihad) came following the hijrah [i.e., migration], the hypocrites feared war with the enemy and they made the entreaty: 'If only this command came a little later.' Today, if we get scared when war and jihad are mentioned, this shows the weakness of our faith. Jihad is making war with [one's] life and property for Allah in the path of Allah. It is working and making effort with [one's] life, property, words, publications, and by other means to spread Allah's supreme name to the universe... When it is necessary, jihad is farz [obligatory] for believers, and the one who is prepared on this path is called a mujahid." Dereli ends his article with two poems about martyrdom and jihad.[4]

Mustafa Çelik wrote in a March 11 column: "The Rashidun Caliphate[5] is for Muslims a yardstick in government. In the absence of a caliphate, they repeatedly condemn the caliphate. In theology departments they are having doctoral work done to cancel the hadiths of the prophet concerning the caliphate. They are trying to make Muslims the enemy of the order that the prophet recommended. This is a danger as intense as the Day of Judgment. Those who fall into this danger will definitely fall into destruction. They do not know: The caliphate is innate nature,[6] can innate nature be forgotten? Man was created as a caliph. The caliphate entered the picture when man was created. The caliphate is part of the agenda wherever there are people. Because without the caliphate, man's innate nature cannot be satisfied. Those who dirty their minds with ideologies do not know this reality..."

"Democracy... Is A Dress Of The Greek Philosophers That Was Put On The Muslims... Governing Without That Which Allah Has Sent Down Is A Cruelty Composed Of Darkness"

"With the abolition of the caliphate, our world became darker. Never mind the people, [even] the leaves on the trees grew yellow. The poor, the destitute, the orphans, the parentless sought a master to protect and embrace them. In the absence of the caliphate, never mind enemies, brother strafed brother. Those fighting back without a caliphate and without a caliph, benefited the unbelievers more than the Muslims. The enemies of the caliphate took from us the possibility of being governed with our religion. They stole the sun from our eyes and the spring from our noses. In the absence of a caliphate, we experienced winters in the spring of our lives. It was as if we began our lives from the end...

"The abolition of the caliphate is an epic of sorrow. Democracy, which was imposed as an ideology after the abolition of the caliphate, is a dress of the Greek philosophers that was put on the Muslims. The abolition of the caliphate was a wedding of pleasure and joy for those who swallow the fire of ideologies... The ideology that, with the abolition of the caliphate, was put in front of and in place of Islam, is governance without that which Allah has sent down. Governing without that which Allah has sent down is a cruelty composed of darkness... They divided the single ummah into a thousand and one pieces. They made Muslims forget the caliphate, which is the recommendation of the prophet. If Islam's state governs the world on its own, Allah will lift off of us the despicableness that is thought to be irremovable!"[7]