Diyanet Archives

Turkey’s top Diyanet Imam Ali Erbas preaches in United state Maryland mosque for more “madrasah” Video

January 15, 2018 By administrator

Turkey‘s top official Diyanet Imam Ali Erbas preaches in United state Maryland mosque that was built by Turkish gov’t funds over 100 Million dollar, says mosques should be turned into madrasah (Schools teaching Islam) & education centres across the United State of America.

Since 2010, the State Directorate for Religious Affairs has risen in prominence. Diyanet’s budget has quadrupled under the AKP, and the Directorate now issues fatwas on demand, as well as wading into political issues and backing up the AKP position. Moreover, Diyanet has drastically increased its Under the AKP, Diyanet has grown exponentially. In less than a decade, its budget has quadrupled to over $2 billion, and it employs over 120,000 people,.

Under the AKP, Diyanet has grown exponentially. In less than a decade, its budget has quadrupled to over $2 billion, and it employs over 120,000 people, making it one of Turkey’s largest state institutions – bigger than the Ministry of Interior.

Toilet paper has been declared “HALAL” by Turkey’s religious authority Diyanet,

April 9, 2015 By administrator

The use of toilet paper has been declared halal by Turkey’s religious authority Diyanet, after centuries of forbiddance by Islamic toilet etiquette.

The Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs has issued a fatwa (Muslim religious ruling) stating that it’s now acceptable to use toilet paper for personal hygiene, but only if water is nowhere to be found.

“If water cannot be found for cleansing, other cleaning materials can be used. Even though some sources deem paper to be unsuitable as a cleaning material, as it is an apparatus for writing, there is no problem in using toilet paper,” the ruling says, as reported by Hurriyet Daily News.

The previous prohibition on the use of toilet paper was established by Qadaahul Haajah, an extremely prohibitive set of rules detailing how and when Muslim should relieve themselves. The rules were conceived before the invention of toilet paper or toilet seats. While not compulsory, they are observed by many devout Muslims.

Among other things, the rules state that one should say a short prayer before and after going to the toilet, should not do your business standing up, and in fact should not take the trip to the loo at all unless absolutely necessary. For cleaning, one should use water, three stones, or one’s left hand.

Even before the latest relaxing of the rules, some hygiene product manufacturers were marketing “halal toilet paper” around the world – featuring labels of approval by local Muslim authorities. It is unclear how this falls in line with Qadaahul Haajah, but at least for Turkish Muslims, any inconsistencies have now been resolved.

Turkey angered as Austria bans foreign money for Muslim groups

February 26, 2015 By administrator

A sign leading to the Islamic Center mosque, (Photo: Reuters)

Austria’s parliament passed a law on Wednesday that seeks to regulate how Islam is administered, singling out its large Muslim minority for treatment not applied to any other religious group.

The “Law on Islam” bans foreign funding for Islamic organizations and requires any group claiming to represent Austrian Muslims to submit and use a standardized German translation of the Quran. report Zaman

The law met with little opposition from the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic population, was backed by Austria’s Catholic bishops and was grudgingly accepted by the main Muslim organization. But it upset Turkey’s state religious establishment.

“We want an Islam of the Austrian kind, and not one that is dominated by other countries,” said Sebastian Kurz, the 28-year-old conservative foreign minister –formally the minister for foreign affairs and integration — who is easily Austria’s most popular politician.

Austria’s half a million Muslims make up about 6 percent of the population and are overwhelmingly the families of Turkish migrant workers. Many of their imams are sent and financed by Turkey’s state Religious Affairs Directorate, the Diyanet.

Mehmet Görmez, head of the Diyanet, said before the law was passed that “with this draft legislation, religious freedoms in Austria will have fallen back a hundred years.”

Austria’s biggest Islamic organization, IGGiO, accepted the law, but its youth arm opposed it, as did the Turkish-financed Turkish-Islamic Union in Austria (ATIB), which runs many mosques and has vowed to challenge the bill in the Constitutional Court.

Luxury car purchased for Turkey’s top Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet)

December 13, 2014 By administrator

Nurettin Kurt – ISTANBUL

A luxury vehicle has been purchased to serve as the official car of Turkey’s top cleric, Hürriyet has learned.

Mehmet Görmez, the head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), will soon start using the Mercedes S500 sedan, which is worth 1 million Turkish Liras ($435,000). Moreover, 14 Toyota cars were bought for the Diyanet’s general directors, as well as 16 minibuses to serve the organization.

The institution announced Dec. 13 that the purchases were made from the coffers of the state, not by using citizens’ private donations for the Diyanet Foundation.

“All the vehicles mentioned in the news report were purchased through tenders conducted by the State Supply Office under the permissions granted by the Law of The Central Government’s 2014 Budget and within the knowledge of the Finance Ministry,” the Diyanet said in a written statement.

Turkey’s top religious office also said that the cost of the luxury car allotted for Görmez is “much lower,” without releasing the actual figure in the official documents.

Görmez was featured in international media when he met Pope Francis, who paid a historic visit to Turkey late last month. It was reported that Turkish authorities had refused the pope’s request for “a humble car” in Ankara on the grounds of security. In Istanbul, however, the pontiff had surprised many journalists by arriving in a “humble car” with a civilian traffic license plate.

December/13/2014

Turkey’s neo-ottoman architect Davutoğlu to build Balkans’ largest mosque in Tirana

October 27, 2014 By administrator

The new mosque will be able to host 4,500 worshipers at the same time, Diyanet officials have said. AA Photo

Turkey’s Directorate for Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has announced plans to build the largest mosque in the Balkans, in the Albanian capital Tirana, citing the low capacity in the city’s sole existing mosque.

Only 60 people are able to worship at the same time in the Et’hem Bey Mosque, despite the fact that 70 percent of Tirana’s population of over 300,000 is Muslim, İsmail Palakoğlu, the head of the Diyanet Foundation (TDV), told state-run Anadolu Agency on Oct. 27. Palakoğlu said they planned to build the new mosque on one hectare of land.

People are worshipping in the Tirana Square during holidays because the Et’hem Bey Mosque is not big enough, he said. “There is difficulty during rainy weather. But in the new mosque, which will have four minarets, 4,500 people will be able to pray,” he added.

Palakoğlu said the license procedure was still ongoing, but added that they planned to complete the construction of the mosque within two to three years.

Following Turkey’s presidential election in late August, incoming Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu brought the Diyanet under his subordination as part of reassignments in the new Cabinet. Though previously subordinated to another ministry, the Diyanet is the highest religious authority in Turkey, which despite being a Muslim majority country has been a secular state since the 1920s.

The TDV has been involved in a number of high profile activities abroad this year, paying the wages of imams in the flood-hit Bosnia and Herzegovina in addition to restoring mosques and other religious buildings that were damaged in the flood.