Was Mustafa Kemal Atatürk a Muslim?

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Ipek K Reloaded

Yes, he was a Muslim. How do we know? Because he declared so and that is enough to believe his words.

In Islam, we believe that the prayers should be made discreetly so maybe he did , maybe he didn't.I don't know and to be frank, I wouldn't care less. He was a great soldier and a leader.

Those were his roles, not the role of an Imam..

amada

There are no records of him praying etc, but there are records of him listening to prayers and cry.
Also he tried very hard to make people understand what Quran said and had it translated to Turkish. The Quran translated then is still considered the best translation to Turkish ever.
I'd say he was a believer. I don't think he prayed 5 times every day, but noone can know whether he prayed when he was alone or not and I know that when you feel you are Muslim, you are Muslim.
He was a great man, a great soldier, and a great leader. The Turkish people love and respect him no matter what.

EDIT
There is also evidence that at his time, Suudi Arabs were planning to demolish the tomb of the Prophet Muhammed because they were Vahabis, and according to them, impressive tombs should not be made. Ataturk prevented them . The tomb was not within the lands of Turkey, but Ataturk lost a lot of time and energy preventing it. Doesn't this show at least a strong bond with the Islamic religion ?

hanibal

This question looks like do you like chicken or not ... So ?

luckyman

You cannot ask someones religion or political wiew directly.This is not good manners.Besides the person that is been discussed here has passed away.
Some of you people,you take religion as a race.İt has nothing to do with race.Havent you seen the new playstation game ''Priest fighter 1 ''

İt s none of your business who is muslim and who s not and who goes to the mosque or not.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was a state s man.He thought seperating political and religious life would be better in order to avoid some jerks to exploit religion to influence the Turkish nation.POİNT.

Ataturk is one of our ancestors.He was an open minded person and he had a vision for the future.

Just some dorks couldnt follow it.Only heated themselves with his fire.
Now once again we are going to pump up this fire.Wait and see.

atrak

Aye, he start his education at a neighbored school for learn basic learning's ( like read - write ) and be able to read Koran. ( Şemsi Efendi Mektebi ) funny thing is his teacher was a "Donmeh/Donme" during this era. Basically he is a Muslim, no conservative nor fundamentalist but yes, he is a Muslim.

O.K .. how we can be sure about that?

Because he had astronomical power whereon the nation, let me give a example about this ..

Do u know what "caliph" is? ( Halife ) Prophet Mohammed's successor, a top priority for Islam world .. he banned Caliphate and send exile to him and his family .. just with a wish. He re - write the rules at one night.

As u see he had more than enough power to do something, but he won't to wish for change the religions .. because he is a Muslim too.

Imho we don't need more evidence about this ..

Ladybug Queen of Lazistan

yes he was a muslim

crazygirl158

Do you have to practice it to be of a religion? Do you have to do everyhting it requires? Do Christians in Europe and America practice their religion and then say they're Christians? I dont think so... I am a Muslim but I dont fully practice it.. I dont pray five times a day.. Oh, bummer! Ataturk was a Muslim, and he believed in God and his religion. Whether he did fully practice it or not does not involve me,that's a personal matter since praying in Islam is not something that should be bragged about.. It is his personal matter and whether he practiced his religion is not why he earned so much respect and love from the turkish people!

~La Vie En RoSe~

I guess some questions seem provocative. But I also understand people's curiosity about such matters, as watching Turkey from afar, from abroad, the news shows that Turkey is modern but also quite populated by practicing Muslims too. So, I think it's quite natural for the asker to enquire about the background of the father of modern Turkey, as everybody who has ever had the pleasure of acquainting themselves with a Turkish person knows, that Ataturk is revered as an idol by all its citizens. They (the asker) are probably trying to figure out, how did this person that united the whole of Turkey, form their bond with everyone within those borders. As we can see, the current government came into power because of a majority of practicing Muslims. I think the question is really saying, How does Ataturk's standards and ideas, fit in with the Turkey of today?

I am not familiar with such things as I do not follow politics closely here in Australia or anywhere else, but I guess I have some ideas about what I think should be just or fitting. I am open to ideas and knowledge as 1 way or the other, I gain nothing from taking a side anyway. I am a "neutral-passionate" :))) I just coined my own term for my political standpoint :p

The most fascinating thing I learned from this page was atrak's info about Donmeh. SO AWESOME! I am amazed by people's faith, spirit, passion, there inability to discard, to forget something they were taught and their willpower to keep it alive- living , breathing, making sure that, what in essence, is a set of ideas that became belief, keeps pulsating to live another day, another year, another generation. Its just so beautiful, isn't it? The human spirit? We all believe we are significantly different from each other, and we go about life in our own patterns. The more I peruse the Turkish section, the more I realise how little I know. I feel grateful to have access to such a resource, for how could I research something I did not even know existed?

Btw, I dont know the asker, I just thought some people were a little harsh on the person for asking a question, I'd hope that none of us in this forum would be accused of being a troll for simply being curious.

Keyser

i dont believe he was a practising muslim.i believe he accepted islam as his religion and if he was asked his religion he would say muslim.

i would say cultural muslim.

Oekaki

Everything we know about him suggests that he was a freethinker and a positivist (see the quotes below, for example), hence not a Muslim in the widely accepted sense of the word. Publicly, he did pretend to be religious when it suited him - after all, he was a politician trying to win over a deeply religious society. There's no way of knowing what he believed in the heart of his hearts.

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"I have no religion, and at times I wish all religions at the bottom of the sea. He is a weak ruler who needs religion to uphold his government; it is as if he would catch his people in a trap. My people are going to learn the principles of democracy, the dictates of truth and the teachings of science. Superstition must go. Let them worship as they will; every man can follow his own conscience, provided it does not interfere with sane reason or bid him against the liberty of his fellow-men."

Quoted in "Atatürk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey" by Andrew Mango. The author refers to "Turkey Today" by Grace Ellison (London: Hutchinson, 1928).

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"We do not consider our principles as dogmas contained in books that are said to come from heaven. We derive our inspiration, not from heaven, or from an unseen world, but directly from life."

Quoted in "Atatürk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey" by Andrew Mango

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Edit: If you give me enough thumbs-down, the quotes will magically change into "there is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his Messenger."

††«« ρυик ρяιиcεss »»††™

Ataturk: The Rebirth of a Nation
Lord Kinross, 1965

p. 437:

For Kemal, Islam and civilization were a contradiction in terms. "If only," he once said of the Turks, with a flash of cynical insight, "we could make them Christians!" His was not to be the reformed Islamic state for which the Faithful were waiting: it was to be a strictly lay state, with a centralized Government as strong as the Sultan's, backed by the army and run by his own intellectual bureaucracy.

he didnt believe in God...and hence was not Muslim!

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