MehmetHilmi
Junior Member
Selamün Aleyküm dear brothers and sisters of turntoIslam.
For my whole life, I have lived in Turkey and America. My family wasn't super religious. No one had a long beard, we were ok with music, we had supported political parties, and many more. Still, we were Muslim. And I, especially, was raised with Islamic teachings. I learned how to read Arabic at an early age and managed to read the Quran and memorize a lot of surahs. When we moved to America, I continued Islamic education through Sunday schools and frequent visits to the Religious Turkish community (followers of Fethullah Gulen). I basically grew up on Mr. Gulen's teaching and views of Islam. However, as I grew older and I grew conscious of the Internet, I started searching for Islamic answers online. I am naturally a curious person, so I questioned many things about my life, for which I tried to find answers.
One thing that surprised me was how contradicting some of the informationI found online was to what I was raised with. While the Internet's Muslims declared that Instruments were Haram, the Turkish religous community embraced Sufi and Ottoman Classical Music. In fact, The Turkish Olympiads are an annual contest organized By Mr. Gulen's followers. In those Olympiads, children from around the world gather in Turkey for a song contest. None of the songs are against Islamic values. Neither would they tempt someone to do evil. They are all Turkish, and the contain many instruments, even the electric guitar. My question is this:
Would different interpretations of Islam be respected in an Ideal Islamic State? For instance, would a Muslim who does not believe music is Haram be allowed to become a musician?
For my whole life, I have lived in Turkey and America. My family wasn't super religious. No one had a long beard, we were ok with music, we had supported political parties, and many more. Still, we were Muslim. And I, especially, was raised with Islamic teachings. I learned how to read Arabic at an early age and managed to read the Quran and memorize a lot of surahs. When we moved to America, I continued Islamic education through Sunday schools and frequent visits to the Religious Turkish community (followers of Fethullah Gulen). I basically grew up on Mr. Gulen's teaching and views of Islam. However, as I grew older and I grew conscious of the Internet, I started searching for Islamic answers online. I am naturally a curious person, so I questioned many things about my life, for which I tried to find answers.
One thing that surprised me was how contradicting some of the informationI found online was to what I was raised with. While the Internet's Muslims declared that Instruments were Haram, the Turkish religous community embraced Sufi and Ottoman Classical Music. In fact, The Turkish Olympiads are an annual contest organized By Mr. Gulen's followers. In those Olympiads, children from around the world gather in Turkey for a song contest. None of the songs are against Islamic values. Neither would they tempt someone to do evil. They are all Turkish, and the contain many instruments, even the electric guitar. My question is this:
Would different interpretations of Islam be respected in an Ideal Islamic State? For instance, would a Muslim who does not believe music is Haram be allowed to become a musician?