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A JOURNALIST'S VIEW ABOUT RAPE AND ISLAM
What makes a believer different from a non-believer is that a believer has faith in "the human which cannot be explained by nature only." Although I was not raised in an environment of any particular religious inclinations, I chose to be a Muslim believer because I thought humans were not simply "organisms"
 Kategori |
: CULTURE/ART/MAGAZINE |
 Yorum Sayısı |
: 0 |
 Okunma |
: 2008 |
 Tarih |
: 24.02.2011 |
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Down below you will find an interesting article by NURAY MERT about how some supporters of islamic belief relate rape with islamic faith. Ms. Mert is considered to be a reputable and liberal journalist with straight forward and modern ideas.
‘Organism’ and rape!
I’ve always been grateful to God because of my family. I wish every girl had a father like mine. I’ve never seen him interfering in our way of our dressing or in how I and other women in the family behave. When I gave the plate number of a car stalking me in the city of Trabzon to my father, he never asked, “What were you wearing?” He eagerly went after the issue and helped have the stalker arrested. We went to the police station together to issue a complaint.
My brother is a fine and extremely civilized man raised by that father. In fact, all the males in the family are gentlemen. Since this is my perception of men, I’d better confess that I have been kind of “insensitive” on women’s issues.
After being born into this world, it is impossible not to realize the fact that other women are not as fortunate as I am. So, I am deeply disappointed. But worse is that the society you are living in is developing in the opposite direction to prevent women from having such good fortune. Controversial remarks by Professor Orhan Çeker, head of the Department of Religious Studies at Selçuk University, in which he tried to find a correlation between “rape” and wearing revealing clothes, were disappointing enough. But worse was what Ali Bulaç of daily Zaman wrote the other day in his article, “Reactions of the organism.”
Bulaç resorted to “modern psychology” to explain that wearing low-cut dresses was not an “excuse” for rape but a “reason.” He made an attempt to explain that men are being sexually provoked by women, adding that “modern psychology is a science to measure up the reactions of an organism provoked by an external stimulant.” Bulaç accused some conservatives of criticizing Çeker and said, “They are heavily under feminist influences and the perspective of modern women.” He himself is unfortunately not aware that he is looking at the human reality through a dark, positivist window that he terms modern psychology.
Like ‘animals’
Apparently, people are simply “organisms” for Bulaç, who thinks that the believers have “norms such as those forbidden by religion” and that that is Islam’s criteria for looking at human beings. In other words, it as if God created humans as an organism and that if this organism is a believer, he acts morally, otherwise he is like an “animal!” According to Islam and all the Abrahamic religions, however, humans are “noble creatures,” and therefore responsible for their behavior. If a human does not act in a noble way, he could be lower than an animal, but he can never become an animal and cannot be counted as an animal.
A man saying “If he is a non-believer, he will act like an animal and this is a determination” fails to understand the meaning of being a “noble creature.” That’s all! A rapist doesn’t act like an animal but becomes a “wrong-doer” and the explanation of this “wrong-doing” is not the “reactions of an organism.” An animal is not capable of being a “wrong-doer,” either to itself or others.
Creation, nature and the self
Since humans and animals are not the same species, sexuality is only “partially” determined in a biological frame. Factors defining “sexuality” go beyond biological facts – irrespective of humans acting in line with religion or against it. Behaviors that are “forbidden by religion” cannot be justified as “human acts in accordance with a person’s nature,” as some conservatives put. None of “creation,” “nature,” or “flesh” means “complying with natural desires.” In fact, what makes a believer different from a non-believer is that a believer has faith in “the human which cannot be explained by nature only.” Although I was not raised in an environment of any particular religious inclinations, I chose to be a Muslim believer because I thought humans were not simply “organisms.” So, I started looking into things differently. I think I am very fortunate by doing so.
Shallow human
Unfortunately, in this day and age, an extremely mediocre “conservatism” and its shallow understanding of human and sexuality are being presented as Islamic faith. I believe this is what we should be concerned about the most in the name of Islam. Moreover, in order not to slip on such vile ground, it isn’t necessary for one to be a believer. It is enough to be aware of the complexity of sexuality and social relations.
Following a parliamentary petition for “the chemical castration of those who commit sexual crimes,” Yıldırım Türker of daily Radikal pointed out the mediocrity of a perspective reducing sexuality and rape to sexual organs only in his Feb. 14 article, “Castrated.”
Lastly, Bulaç termed such a “mean” understanding voiced by Professor Çeker as “straightforward religiosity.” Therefore, he implied that many other religious people think alike but for some reasons they try to tune down their remarks. That is to say, such an understanding is regarded as a “clear statement of being a pious” in a more widespread way than we think. We have become deeply saddened to learn this thanks to Bulaç.
* Nuray Mert is a columnist for daily Milliyet, in which this piece appeared Tuesday. It was translated into English by the Daily News staff.
My brother is a fine and extremely civilized man raised by that father. In fact, all the males in the family are gentlemen. Since this is my perception of men, I’d better confess that I have been kind of “insensitive” on women’s issues.
After being born into this world, it is impossible not to realize the fact that other women are not as fortunate as I am. So, I am deeply disappointed. But worse is that the society you are living in is developing in the opposite direction to prevent women from having such good fortune. Controversial remarks by Professor Orhan Çeker, head of the Department of Religious Studies at Selçuk University, in which he tried to find a correlation between “rape” and wearing revealing clothes, were disappointing enough. But worse was what Ali Bulaç of daily Zaman wrote the other day in his article, “Reactions of the organism.”
Bulaç resorted to “modern psychology” to explain that wearing low-cut dresses was not an “excuse” for rape but a “reason.” He made an attempt to explain that men are being sexually provoked by women, adding that “modern psychology is a science to measure up the reactions of an organism provoked by an external stimulant.” Bulaç accused some conservatives of criticizing Çeker and said, “They are heavily under feminist influences and the perspective of modern women.” He himself is unfortunately not aware that he is looking at the human reality through a dark, positivist window that he terms modern psychology.
Like ‘animals’
Apparently, people are simply “organisms” for Bulaç, who thinks that the believers have “norms such as those forbidden by religion” and that that is Islam’s criteria for looking at human beings. In other words, it as if God created humans as an organism and that if this organism is a believer, he acts morally, otherwise he is like an “animal!” According to Islam and all the Abrahamic religions, however, humans are “noble creatures,” and therefore responsible for their behavior. If a human does not act in a noble way, he could be lower than an animal, but he can never become an animal and cannot be counted as an animal.
A man saying “If he is a non-believer, he will act like an animal and this is a determination” fails to understand the meaning of being a “noble creature.” That’s all! A rapist doesn’t act like an animal but becomes a “wrong-doer” and the explanation of this “wrong-doing” is not the “reactions of an organism.” An animal is not capable of being a “wrong-doer,” either to itself or others.
Creation, nature and the self
Since humans and animals are not the same species, sexuality is only “partially” determined in a biological frame. Factors defining “sexuality” go beyond biological facts – irrespective of humans acting in line with religion or against it. Behaviors that are “forbidden by religion” cannot be justified as “human acts in accordance with a person’s nature,” as some conservatives put. None of “creation,” “nature,” or “flesh” means “complying with natural desires.” In fact, what makes a believer different from a non-believer is that a believer has faith in “the human which cannot be explained by nature only.” Although I was not raised in an environment of any particular religious inclinations, I chose to be a Muslim believer because I thought humans were not simply “organisms.” So, I started looking into things differently. I think I am very fortunate by doing so.
Shallow human
Unfortunately, in this day and age, an extremely mediocre “conservatism” and its shallow understanding of human and sexuality are being presented as Islamic faith. I believe this is what we should be concerned about the most in the name of Islam. Moreover, in order not to slip on such vile ground, it isn’t necessary for one to be a believer. It is enough to be aware of the complexity of sexuality and social relations.
Following a parliamentary petition for “the chemical castration of those who commit sexual crimes,” Yıldırım Türker of daily Radikal pointed out the mediocrity of a perspective reducing sexuality and rape to sexual organs only in his Feb. 14 article, “Castrated.”
Lastly, Bulaç termed such a “mean” understanding voiced by Professor Çeker as “straightforward religiosity.” Therefore, he implied that many other religious people think alike but for some reasons they try to tune down their remarks. That is to say, such an understanding is regarded as a “clear statement of being a pious” in a more widespread way than we think. We have become deeply saddened to learn this thanks to Bulaç.
* Nuray Mert is a columnist for daily Milliyet, in which this piece appeared Tuesday. It was translated into English by the Daily News staff.
‘Organism’ and rape!
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