Sallu ala Muhammad: welcome to Siirt

As the election date rapidly approaches, the incredible coordination in the campaign of the front opposing the AK Parti stands out. Some parties, especially the CHP, have based all their calculations on the HDP passing the threshold, and have virtually devoted themselves to channeling votes to the HDP instead of running their own campaigns and collecting votes for their own parties. The Doğan media and the Parallel media, in parallel with one another, are working together for the same strategic aim to make the HDP look like a party of Smurfs. Whatever image they try to give, the HDP in the East tries to act in keeping with its own essence and not to let its terror potential and its deeds be forgotten. Because it knows that if it leaves the slightest gap, the Kurdish people will slip from its hands through that gap.

By God, the campaign the HDP members are running does not consist only of displays of violence. They also do not neglect forms of violence by way of distortion of and slander against the truth. We watched with astonishment how the parallel media tried to turn into a goal the ball that they had picked out of the confusion regarding the FSA and the TIRs.

Before I had even fended off that attack, yesterday I faced another one. I found myself confronted by people who know nothing, near or far, of the meaning of salawat, and who are heedless and leagues away from the spirit of salawat, trying to teach me respect for the Prophet. This time what they tried to attribute to me was disrespect to the Prophet. They said that I had been disrespectful to the Prophet by singing a famous anonymous folk song that has been sung in Siirt since very old times and mentioning Erdoğan's name in it. Those who say this evidently know neither the folk song, nor what place it has within Siirt culture, nor the meaning of the folk song's words, which are performed in Arabic and Kurdish. There is nothing that can be explained to ignorant people who know nothing but are so categorical in their judgments. But I need to explain how ignorant and ridiculous they have made themselves look in front of those who know the real story.

The real story is this: "salli ala Muhammed" is one of the most famous folk songs of Siirt folklore. It is sung as a refrain at weddings and in halay dances. The main text is actually extremely simple, about stuffed vine leaves. It is a eulogy to the mixture of the stuffed vine leaves, and to the merits of the one who rolls them, the one who cooks them, and those who add the sumac. In between it continues with whatever the occasion of the wedding is, the story of it, marriage, circumcision, sending off to military service, and every kind of celebration, with praise of the person being celebrated and their relatives. Depending on the performer's literary talent, the content can change in every case. At the end of every 7-syllable sentence the words "salli ala Muhammed" are repeated. This is a beautiful tradition adopted in Siirt, perhaps so that joys and praises do not go to excess, or so that none of our loves overshadows love of the Prophet.

Whoever it is, whether the groom, the bride or the others being celebrated at the wedding, this refrain is repeated at the end of each line of praise said about them. The women dance the halay as they sing this folk song at weddings, varying and enriching it for half an hour to nearly an hour. A disrespect to the Prophet that had never been extracted from this folk song, sung perhaps for a hundred years in Siirt, a city of ulema, has now been extracted by my singing it. Why? Because Tayyip Erdoğan appears in it. Let me say at once that, in fact, in the form in which I sang it, it was not only Erdoğan's name that appeared in that song; the names of Ahmet Davutoğlu and of our Siirt candidates Haşim Taşkıran and Ali İlbaş appeared too.

It is also evident that the scoundrels who present the incident as if it were offering salawat to Erdoğan have not paid any attention at all to the words of the folk song. The salawat is not being offered to Erdoğan; it is offered to our Prophet. There is no disrespect to our Prophet here; on the contrary, there is the subtlest expression of respect for him. Even if any person is to be praised, it is first a matter of remembering him, the most deserving of praise, the noblest of creatures.

This folk song is a sign of how strongly folklore in Siirt has been blended with love of the Prophet. Over this incident some people are making even stranger remarks. There are those who say, what does salawat have to do with a folk song? First of all, the refrain is not a complete salawat; it is an invitation to offer salawat. It says "Offer salawat to the Messenger of God." Second, do we now need to explain that many kinds of dhikr are contained in many of our folk songs? In many Alevi folk songs, dhikr and folk song are intertwined.

In Siirt, salawat has been made part of everyday language. When any tense atmosphere arises, Siirtis say "salli ala Muhammed" to calm the atmosphere and to calm an angered person.

Thanks be to God, one of the things I know best is being balanced in praise and in criticism. Other than the Messenger of God, I have not attributed, nor will I attribute, to Erdoğan or to anyone else the kind of innocence or sanctity that some attribute to their own hocaefendi.

A world leader like Erdoğan, who has left his mark on the last 13 years of Turkey, of course deserves much praise. Remembering with gratitude the struggle he has waged, and appreciating the noble and resolute struggle he has waged, is a debt we all owe. But as with every servant of God, our praise of him of course has a limit. When praising him or any other human being, when seeing and acknowledging goodness in someone, offering salawat to our Prophet is simply a Muslim custom. This excess they see in Erdoğan, on the part of those who accept inviting people to offer salawat even when praising stuffed vine leaves, is merely an expression of hatred.

How would those who don't know, know? For those who might want to know a little more, I am thinking of presenting and singing that folk song in a broadcast as soon as possible.

Perhaps some people will get acquainted with the subtleties of the culture in Siirt, and become a little more decent.