This 15th of July saw a significant impact on Turkey internally and in international political circles globally especially the White House, 10 Downing Street and the Kremlin.
A faction of the Turkish military staged a coup which is anticipated to have succeeded if the President had been arrested, had they had more power and support within the army or if their idea had roots among the people.
The rebel soldiers and army officers arrested the Chief of Military Staff and attempted to take control of the government. But this attempt failed apparently due to hastiness, improper co-ordination and planning by the engineers of the coup, and largely by the Muslims standing in opposition to the staged coup which was backed by an ultra-secular call. (The reasons for failure is another discussion though.) The perpetrators of the coup were apparently ultra-secularists carrying a neo-colonial agenda. Overall there was no khair (good) in this coup that would have only resulted in fitna and fasad (sedition and corruption).
Subsequent to the failed coup, thousands of soldiers have been detained, in addition to many top government officials being thrown out from their positions in judiciary, interior and foreign ministries.
An in depth analysis of the history of the evolution of Turkey as a nation state, its military, administrative and political structure would reveal that Turkey has never been an independent nation state in the true sense. Its military and political structure has been an arena of power struggle between Britain and America since its inception. Many coups and counter-coups shadow the political history of Turkey where either British or American favoring agents have been trying to gain influence. In present day, the allegiance of Turkish political and military leadership lies with America. And this year there was going to be a meeting of the Turkish Military High Council (YAS), planned for July, where it was expected that many high-ranking army officials would be removed and sent home. This is a meeting which occurs every year where other important decisions are made for example, promotion of upper military ranks, extension of tenures, issues of pensioners and other important decisions related to the Turkish armed forces. Unlike every year, the fear of being removed was very high especially among the army officials loyal to Britain. This fear of the risk of removal most apparently triggered a response from them before the council meeting. This response was in the form of a military coup intended to take over government before the council moves to retire them.
These British allied engineers of the coup failed to gain support from the rest of the army because many high-ranking officials hold allegiance to America, and some of them have been put into the position by direct American recommendation. Secondly, their idea and call of protection of liberty and human rights did not find a space in the public opinion. The sentiments of the people in Turkey lie with Islam, and this was evident in their ‘Takbeers’ and slogans of ‘Allahu Akbar’ when they confronted the coup. They came out to sacrifice on the call of Erdogan but we need to bear in mind that their support for Erdogan is only because of the Islamic garb that Erdogan wears over his secular personality and intentions.
After the coup failed, Erdogan moved swiftly and detained thousands of those involved in the coup. In addition, he went forward to capitalize on this opportunity and started eliminating any kind of opposition or rebellion that he sensed. Hence we see the removal of judges, top ranking administrative officials, and others. So the primary focus of Erdogan is now to remove any kind of British influence in the state government or military, while retaining the American agents among them.
There are definitely great lessons to be derived from this coup for the Ummah and the Dawah Carriers in their quest for revival and re-establishment of the Comprehensive Islamic System, the Khilafah (Caliphate):
- The Muslim armies have the ability to challenge the establishment and change the ruling order overnight. If they break the shackles and pledge their allegiance to the Deen of Islam instead of allegiance to the secular liberal rulers, they can definitely play the most significant role in changing the government order and the system, leading to the establishment of the Islamic System. Moreover, a move in the direction of Islam will have support from the Creator of mankind contrary to a move in the direction of secularism that is cursed by the Creator.
- The Public showed support to Erdogan because of whatever minimal Islamic credentials he has displayed outwardly. The Ummah has shown the willingness to come out and sacrifice for the sake of Islam just like in Egypt against Mubarak, or in Syria against Bashar. So imagine the support that the Ummah would show if some leader/group rises up to establish the comprehensive Islamic System. What is required from us as Dawah carriers is to carry the Dawah of comprehensive Islam to the Ummah, teaching them what the Islamic System actually means, and gather support from the Ummah for establishing Islam in the Muslim world.
- The reaction of the Western powers to this coup was notable. From the White House and 10 Downing street to Kremlin and the UN, everyone was frantically concerned and following up on what’s happening fearing that things may go out of their control or contrary to the Western policies in place. Britain though aware of who was behind the coup did not show active involvement because as earlier mentioned, this coup attempt was a hasty reaction to an apparently soon arriving risk.
This reaction was because they understand that a military coup is capable of changing the ruling order overnight if planned and guided properly. This is why they would always want things to steer in their favor. An insincere group claiming leadership does not cause much horror to them compared to a coup or similar action taken by a sincere group of people who have power, for example the Muslim armies.
Now, what is the best way forward for Turkey? The first option it has is that it utilizes this opportunity to remove all of the foreign influence and throws out the British, American, French or Russian influence in its ranks; then move towards the establishment of Islam in compliance with the general sentiments of the Ummah by taking support from the sincere in the military and take up the leadership of the Ummah liberating lands and implementing Islam in order to attain the pleasure of Allah.
The other choice is to stop midway after removing the British influence and continuing under American political, military and cultural hegemony. This would be as quoted by a notable scholar, “Half victory is not victory, it is a move towards the grave.”
There should be no doubt in our hearts as Muslims that the only way forward is the path of our leader, our beloved Muhammad ﷺ. And what was this path?
When Muhammad ﷺ moved to establish the Islamic System he started seeking support from the powerful fighter tribes of Arabia. During this seeking of support (Nussrah) he ﷺ met more than 15 tribes of Arabia (according to some historians it is 42 tribes) out of which some tribes rejected his idea, some offered conditional support and in the end unconditional support was offered by the two tribes, Aws and Khazraj tribes from Madina who had the independent setup of a state so as to implement the idea of Islam comprehensively and furthermore protect the Muslims and defend and even wage war if required.
The Aws and Khazraj tribes gave Bay’ah (pledge of allegiance) to Muhammad ﷺ and supported his Hijrah to Madina, where he ﷺ entered as the de facto ruler and took the ruling position immediately after Hijrah. A significant point to be noted here is that just before Hijrah Abdullah bin Ubai had planned several schemes to take leadership over the city of Madina, but the leaders of Aws and Khazraj secretly gave the Nussrah and leadership to Muhammad ﷺ.
Before Abdullah bin Ubai could react to this, Muhammad ﷺ had taken control of Madinah through what can be called a modern day ‘coup’ orchestrated by the people of power of Madina i.e. Aws and Khazraj.
Seeking military support for establishing Islamic Ideology is a Sunnah of Muhammad ﷺ and it is obligatory on the Ummah to seek Nussrah from today’s people of power.
The people of power in today’s Muslim world are the armies, and recent upheaval caused in Turkey by the latest coup attempt is a practical example of how the ruling order can be challenged.
These are few practical lessons that we should take from the recent incidents in Turkey. Through this I want to remind my brothers and sisters that we must continue on the Sunnah methodology to establish the Islamic System by carrying the Dawah of comprehensive Islam to the society, challenging the Kufr thoughts, ideas and systems and presenting Islam as an alternative system for life, alongside giving Da’wah to the people of power to give allegiance to the Deen of Allah, so that the Deen be established though which justice may prevail and all kinds of oppression put to an end, concluding in the pleasure of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and a great reward for us on Yaumul Qiyamah (Day of Judgment).
May Allah aid us and guide us Ameen.
أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُم مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْا مِن قَبْلِكُم مَّسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاءُ وَالضَّرَّاءُ وَزُلْزِلُوا حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ مَتَىٰ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ أَلَا إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللَّهِ قَرِيبٌ
“Or did you suppose that you would enter the Garden without facing the same as those who came before you? Poverty and illness afflicted them and they were shaken to the point that the Messenger and those who had iman with him said, ‘When is Allah’s help coming?’ Be assured that Allah’s help is very near.”
(Al-Baqarah, 2:214)
Allah knows best and with Him lies the Victory in the Dunya and the Akhirah.
Dr Faizaan Mehkary