A Taha Abderrahmane wind in Turkey?

The renowned Maghrebi (Moroccan) thinker Taha Abdurrahman, whose books the Turkish reader began to get acquainted with only in the last 4-5 years (Pınar Yayınları), passed through Turkey like a wind last week with back-to-back lectures. At programs organized by the Islamic Thought Institute chaired by Prof. Dr. Mehmet Görmez, Abdurrahman first gave a lecture at ISAM in Istanbul under the title "How Do We Build an Original Islamic Philosophy?"; the next day in Ankara he gave a talk in the Conference Hall of Gazi University under the title "What Does Thinking as a Muslim Look Like?: Tafkir and Tafakkur." In the following days, he spoke at the Presidential National Library, and the next day, again in the Presidential conference hall, this time on Gaza, with the title "Absolute Evil and the Vigil of Thought on the Frontiers." The conversations he held in between, in his meetings with those concerned at the Islamic Thought Institute, were a bonus. Received during this visit by the President as well, Abdurrahman was presented with the "2024 IDE Great Thinker Award," conferred by the Islamic Thought Institute, by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz.

The first thing that may come to mind about the lectures of Taha Abdurrahman, whose books the Turkish reader got to know only four and a half years ago, is the extraordinary interest they received. For instance, the lecture hall at ISAM filled hours before the talk began. When the talk began, it was seen that many people were following the lecture standing, and that many people could not attend because they had not come early enough. For that reason the program's organizer, Mehmet Görmez Hoca, had to express at the start of his talk his astonishment at this interest. He even said that if he had foreseen it, he could have arranged a larger conference hall.

At the lecture at Gazi University as well, almost all the familiar faces from politics, bureaucracy and the intellectual world were present, and the hall again could not hold all the participants. True, the IDE had both translated the texts of the lectures into Turkish in advance and distributed them in a format that anyone could read, and the lectures could also be watched live on social media. But even this facility had not prevented people's desire to see a Muslim Thinker and witness his talk live. In my view this is an interesting situation that we need to try to understand somehow.

The side that we need to try to understand is that for a long time we have had no intellectual occasion that has gathered so many people at the same time to watch such a presentation in the field of Islamic thought. I have known Taha Abdurrahman for years, even before his works were translated into Turkish. He is one of the exceptional figures raised in the rich intellectual environment of the Maghreb who have managed to form a truly distinctive line of thought, a signature.

All the works of Muhammad Abed al-Jabri, who died recently and whose serious contributions to contemporary Islamic thought in Morocco cannot be ignored, were translated into Turkish much earlier. Abdullah Laroui, whose book "Historicism and Tradition: The Crisis of the Arab Intellectual" was published by Vadi Yayınları in the early nineties, but of whom, though he produced many works afterward, very few have been translated, is likewise one of the important names reflecting the originality and depth of the Moroccan intellectual milieu. Ahmed Raysuni, one of the important names of the maqasid school, who for a short period was also president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, and whose works, apart from a few short treatises (which also came out from Pınar Yayınları, the publisher of Taha Abdurrahman's works), have not been sufficiently translated into Turkish, is another name bearing witness to the depth of Islamic fiqh and thought in Morocco.

The extraordinary interest that I have witnessed Taha Abdurrahman receiving in Turkey undoubtedly needs to be read well. If we look at the good side, we can say that Turkey is more appreciative in showing thinkers the interest they deserve and giving them their due. Of course this interest cannot be reduced to such a simple reason. It has different dimensions as well. But before coming to them, let us mention while we are at it: unfortunately, in many parts of the Islamic world, let alone being valued, very valuable Islamic scholars are held in prisons just in case. Salman al-Awda, who made Islamic sciences and ethics beloved to the masses and who is not only a scholar but also a preacher and a man of movement, while he ought to be held in the highest esteem in all Islamic countries, is now in prison. Rached Ghannouchi, who has perhaps put into practice all the philosophical reflections Taha Abdurrahman has pursued on Islam and secularism, modernity, democracy and ethics, is still in prison despite being over eighty. Many more names, who should have been crowned in their own countries, are either in prison or in exile or virtually condemned to nonexistence in their own countries.

I find no clear sign that the interest Taha Abdurrahman has received in Turkey has to do with his thoughts and books having been read and embraced. I can say that most of those who came to his lectures have not read even one of his books, and that most have only heard his name and reputation and formed an impression of it. Even if so, this is not at all a situation to complain about. But we can say that what remains is to try to understand what this impression is and what people expect from a thinker, or in his own phrase, a mutafakkir.

While watching his talk in Ankara, next to me sat someone from Morocco who resides in Ankara. In the face of this interest that Taha Abdurrahman received, especially from politicians and the bureaucracy, he himself did not hide his astonishment. I asked him whether the Hoca receives this much interest in Morocco as well. In the hesitation of his answer there was an embarrassment, as if he now understood that they had not sufficiently appreciated his worth..

The interest shown and the value given in Turkey to this valuable Islamic thinker, whose own country's people do not sufficiently appreciate his worth, is undoubtedly, first of all, something to be proud of on behalf of Turkey. But where has our indifference to philosophy, thought, books, reading and culture, over which we have been beating our breasts all this time, gone?

Indeed, that the Taha Abdurrahman wind is not much repeated on the occasion of other names, lectures, and cultural and intellectual events, that this wind is being experienced as an exception, shows that the complaints about this indifference are not unjustified at all. So we come back to the start and repeat the question: What is the real motive behind the interest shown in Taha Abdurrahman? This is a question whose answer we can seek together. To be continued later.