Fanatical Nationalism and Racism Among the Turks Today

 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

وصلى الله على سيدنا ونبينا محمد وبارك وسلم

The recent disturbances in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in which Pakistani medical students were severely thrashed by locals points to the disease of fanatical nationalism and racism that has infected the Muslims of Central Asia (Turkestan) for some time now.

This region of the world is nominally Muslim as most of its people profess Islam, that too the orthodox Sunni Hanafi tradition within it. But decades under Soviet, Russian rule, which was socialist and atheist, resulted in the tragic secularization of the society.

After the collapse of the evil Soviet Union, a truly divine blessing from Allah Most High, attempts were made by the rest of the Ummah to reintegrate the former Soviet Republics of Central Asia into Islamdom. The Saudis and other Gulf Arab governments and philanthropists contributed much to facilitating an Islamic revival in the region.

But the rulers and elites of these Turkic Republics, who are remnants of the Soviet era, feared an Islamic revival and became agents of Iblis in enacting steps to curtail it. External signs of Islam especially the veil were strongly discouraged or even outright proscribed. The preaching and teaching of Islam became highly regulated and controlled by the State. The Russian Federation, till this day, plays a Satanic role pressuring the Turkic Republics of Central Asia to maintain their political secularism and cultural secularity, especially considering there remain in these States a significant minority of ethnic Russians. Neighboring China likewise wishes to pull the Turkic Republics of Central Asia into its own sphere of geopolitical and economic influence and therefore views a potential Islamic revival as a threat to its nefarious agenda.

Within these repressive and tyrannical Republics Wahhabism is used as a term of fright and a scare tactic to describe the Islamic revival for the purpose of warding it off. What is intended by Wahhabism is not merely the particular interpretation of Islam that was exported from Saudi Arabia, but in fact any conservative and strict approach to Sunni Islam which emphasizes the necessity of adhering to the Shari’ah and the Sunnah; practices like offering Salah five times daily, observing veil for ladies, and learning to read and understand the Quran.

While the population of the Central Asia Republics profess Sunni Islam, in reality, much of their practice of Islam is infused with pre-Islamic pagan spirituality like shamanism. Many others in this part of the world have become apostates in that they openly profess atheism or agnosticism.

Shaykh-ul-Islam, Ibn Taymiyah, encountered this strange phenomenon with those of the Mongols who outwardly converted to Islam yet retained their pre-Islamic attitudes and some pre-Islamic pagan practices. His series of fatawa or legal opinions on those Mongols may certainly apply today to segments of the professing Muslims of Central Asia, particularly their rulers and elites who openly act contrary to the interest of Islam. Allah Most High described a similar situation with the early Bedouin converts to Islam:

قَالَتِ الۡاَعۡرَابُ اٰمَنَّا ؕ قُلۡ لَّمۡ تُؤۡمِنُوۡا وَلٰکِنۡ قُوۡلُوۡۤا اَسۡلَمۡنَا وَلَمَّا یَدۡخُلِ الۡاِیۡمَانُ فِیۡ قُلُوۡبِکُمۡ

The Arabs of the desert say: We have believed. Say to them: You have not believed yet, but say rather: We have submitted; for faith has not yet entered into your hearts

(Surah 49, Ayah 14)

And this explains why bands of Kyrgyz goons viciously assaulted Pakistani and other Muslim foreign guests present in their country for studies. These are a nation in whose hearts Faith has not yet entered in totality and with establishment, rather, they are merely Muslims in that they outwardly profess Islam.

I see the Taliban in Afghanistan as a ray of Light in this region that has the potential to spread the sincere understanding and practice of the Faith north of its borders, into a place that is presently wrapped in darkness and ignorance. The contrast between the Taliban, and the conservative and zealous Pashtun population they come out of, with the totally secularized and non-observant Turks of Central Asia is stark. One can even say that Allah has blessed the Pashtuns with an external beauty in contrast to the Turks, whom the Prophet, peace be upon him, described as having:

صِغَارَ الأَعْيُنِ حُمْرَ الْوُجُوهِ ذُلْفَ الأُنُوفِ كَأَنَّ وُجُوهَهُمُ الْمَجَانُّ الْمُطَرَّقَةُ

Small eyes, reddish faces, flat noses, as if their faces were hammered shields

The history of the Turks is a history of warlike aggression, bloodshed, plunder, destruction, barbarism and savagery. And sadly it cannot be said that these deplorable qualities were erased from them when they outwardly embraced Islam. But instead of being humbled by their black history the Turks today have been captivated by the arrogance of nationalistic and racial supremacism. Like the Hindus of India, they have created a mythology surrounding their ancient past for the purpose of inculcating notions of national pride.