Dinbu-1 Prof. Dr. Ilhan Arsel's Foreword

Many years ago one day, while working in my room in the Faculty, in a moment I wouldn't really want, the phone ranged. As I was in the process of shaping the Foreword and Preface sections of the book I was preparing, "Those Responsible for the Degeneracy in our Society: Clerics", because I feared that my mind could mess up and loose my mind state, I didn't want to answer the phone. From the source that was in front of me, I continued to pass on these words from Ataturk into the text:
"If you want to understand something from me about them (cleric outfitted, false religion scholars) is that I say, I am personally their enemy. Their one step in their personal way, isn't only against my own faith, not only my purpose, that step is a poisoned dagger… into my nation's heart. What me and my friends that share the same belief as I have would do is that to really SLAP that person who takes that step. I will tell you a word about this too: think for a second that there are no laws against these acts, and that there is left no constitutional council to supply these laws, if everyone against these wrong doings hold back and I was left alone, I WOULD STILL SLAP HIM." 1
When the telephone ranged again after a minute or two break, and in a cool manner I said: "I am listening". A voice gentle and low introduced himself from the other side: He said his name was Turan Dursun, he said he was working in TRT (Turkish national broadcasting agency), that he had read my publishings and my books, and that he wished to make an interview me, and to ask if I could take some time to meet him in a suitable time.
At those dates, as if I had a feeling that the Shari'a depreviaty was going to become as big as it is today, I would get too much support from my modern thinking readers, as I would get pointless letters from obscurantists and many swearing telephone calls about my columns on the subject of secularism, Ataturk's way and Sheri'a that were commonly published in, apart from my other books, in the newspapers and especially at Republic (Cumhuriyet, a Turkish newspaper). In fact, some of these would come to my room without a word, and they would swagger that my publishings were exaggerated; I would show them by showing them the sources of Shari'a, and slapping their faces with how ignorant they were, and they would shut up.
But this time I had a civilized voice in front of me that I wasn't very accustomed with, like it was afraid that it was busying me and thought it was disturbing me, was calling me. Probably my sixth sense took over, and we made up our minds on a date.
After I hanged up the phone I crossed up these sentences into the "Preface" section of my book: "The west owes it's development, improvement and civilization to stop the false-governing of the religious class and fallacies, to push them out of the world-business, by destroying its privileges and concerns. Between the world's most developed countries, social, technical and economic improvements, has come to this result, with many other reasons, but with most of them by eliminating nation's support and spoon feeding of the clergy class. The "real" intellectuals have taken importance while getting this result. To do the opposite in everything is our custom, so even in this enlightenment age, we still discourage Secularism and Democratic constitutions; things Ataturk saved us from (like a miracle). What the other countries consider as bad actions, we do whatever we can do to counteract them. We even create a class, that even not accepted by the Shari'a, the class of clerics, and we give unmatched privileges to this class, and place them everywhere in the Government sector. Throughout all the past centuries, we forget all the disasters caused by the clerics in the daily life, and we unleash them again upon our society."
As I was writing these sentences, I thought of the person's intentions that called me before. But I dropped to pen to my class as I'd heard the ring.

He came to my office at the time we decided. I relaxed a bit when I found a person with honesty and hospitality across his face. As he started talking, my ideal literally appeared in front of me, the ideal I have always created in my head through countless years of research and studies.

I must point out that, while I was gathering my way of thinking, I was always fascinated by how the west was successful in saving themselves from the 1500 years of dark ages by not letting the clerics have a hold of daily-business. On my road to enlightenment, how fascinated I was because of this, I was also very depressed when I thought about the Shari'a world that I was a member of, never had such things. Aside from the wise and the thinkers, but about the religious man, I couldn't stop thinking to myself: "Why don't we have an Abelard, why not a Nicholas, why like a Amaud De Brescia, or many like these, have never come to being in our societies?".

That Marcion, even in the first century of Christianity could strike at the clergyman by saying: "This world, which is full of evil, too far apart from perfect, has described the God as selfish, hostile, and that it governs the future of human destiny. It is certain that the belief in God must coincide with the way of the mind and be a subject of LOVE and so thus to make it a source for the human relationships."

That Abelard could give lecture on humanism to the clerics by saying: "Finding truth can only be accomplished by the way of MIND, not by the religious books; religious ideas must be based on mind. Only this can save the rulings in the religious books that oppose the mind and conscience. A "Fearful and Selfish" God must be replaced with a GOOD god to accomplish the love and brotherhood between all mankind."

That Nicholas, even he had the Cardinal rank, could shake the authority of clerics by saying: "It's a mistake to accept the religious books known as holy as source of truth".

That Amaud De Brescia, with him being a clergyman, has declared war on the authority and governance of the cleric class in the 12th century, has shone light on the lies and mischiefs of the clergy and because of this idealistic act, by Pope first, gathered the hostility of all the other clergy and sentenced to death in the year of 1155, was asked during the sentencing: "If you want to avoid death, change your idea, take back what you said", but had insisted that a man who is honored in his thoughts, even in the face of death, would never cease to say the truth, and said that he is ready to face the death for what he believes is the truth. This example he left to the humanity was an ideal for the generations that followed, those who have opposed the exploitation and frauds of the clergyman, followed him and those who were like him. That's why to all those who are cultured enough has this formula of Voltaire implanted somewhere in their brains since the 18th century: "That place where the MIND is free and has governance, that is not the place for the clergyman".

And the person idea I have tried to imagine for my own society, probably with a delay of hundreds of years, was talking in front of me like the likes of Marcion, or Nicholas or Arnaud De Brescia. If I haven't answered his phone, or by coming up with an empty excuse, I wouldn't had the chance to meet him. With time, I have understood how important and how priceless this chance is.

As we have finished our conversations and I left him, I could see my judgments, pre-cognitions about clergy were taking of to a new orbit. With that push, I added these sentences to my preface:

"This book… is written in order to point out the clergymans'… negativities, their guilts and that their insensitivities that push the society to the cliff. While doing this, we don't want to mean that between them, there are no HUMANISTS, WISE and INTELLECTUAL. But there is no real value in being optimistic that there are some of them who are like this. I believe that one day will come, those who dwell so low in numbers, will increase, and will try to give the society some positive things while believing the primitiveness of Shari'a."

But I didn't find this enough, so I had directed what follows to "Turan Dursun"s that I have wished would appear more, on the inside cover of my book:

" T.D.s are low on numbers in this society. Including being a clergy, they could lift themselves up from the mentality of Shari'a, and to do this they threw themselves in to the ocean of LOVE ON HUMANITY. They had believed in the SAVING MIRACLES of Ataturk and his revolutions. They had wrapped themselves in the necessity of re-judging of what they knew as the god and prophet orders by the way of MIND and to put back the Turks to those real properties and also the facts of 'undeniable mind'. To the Shari'a state that we are currently in, they don't put themselves in line with the 'Clergy man' that are 'against Ataturk and the enemies of civilization', and to tell the truth, they don't want themselves to be called as 'Clergy man'. This book is presented to them."

The publish date of my book is 1977. Since that date, I have always cherished in my happiness and hopes in my friend Turan's most great personality, his truthfulness and his courage in his fight against the LIE which is a 'Seven headed dragon'. Especially his deep knowledge in Shari'a and his ability to judge every problem through MIND, and him overtaking many adversaries from the clergy who are supposedly "Wise" (and some of them are labeled as professors or Docents), and showing them their true colors has been a great pleasure for me. We must also point out that, everything he writes about Shari'a, is a lesson to learn for every clergy.

I have no doubts that, with this great effect of Turan Dursun, our clergy won't take time in learning the real face of Shari'a and to judge it. For them, this will let them say "To reach the truth, we need MIND and secularism, not the way of Shari'a" by learning that MIND is the only way, and that the Islamic society's civilians are excluded from the truth because of the Shari'a education, and without any exception, that these countries are the most uncivilized, the most primitive, the most pour and certainly without any future, the main cause being primarily this. With another saying, they will all become another Turan Dursun. And then this society will realize the cliff they are about to be thrown and take a chance at rescuing themselves from the whirlpools of primitivism.

Prof. Dr. Ilhan Arsel.

1) Ataturk has said this in February of 1923. The sentences above are taken from Prof. Enver Ziya Karal's "Thoughts from Ataturk" (T. Is Bank publications, page 72).

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