Islamic Political Identity in Turkey

112 islamic political identity in turkeydiVerent conclusions concerning a particular issue. Although appeals to an “Islamicunderstanding and doctrines” are signiWcant, class, ideological, personal,and hermeneutical factors often lead to divergent conclusions not only amongIslamic groups but also within each one.The commercialization of Islamic knowledge through the media leads tocompetition and a search for new compelling and competitive voices. This competitionfacilitates the rationalization of Islamic arguments. The major consequenceof this commodiWcation of Islamic knowledge has been the diversiWcationand secularization of Islamic knowledge. The new Islamic media is connected tothe emergence of a new Islamic-oriented bourgeoisie.Vanguard of the Islamic Movement: Evolutionof an Islamic Intellectual ClassSince political and religious knowledge is embedded in interactive social relations,its production and control is the key to the intellectuals’ self-understanding.Because Islamic writings present many contradictory views on basic socialand political issues, one may raise the vital question of whether there is an Islamicdiscourse. Such contradictory positions often are reXected by the samethinkers at various stages of their thinking and reveal that “Islamic thought”can encompass a broad range of conXicting views and ideologies. I argue thatwhat makes a thinker or school of thought “Islamic” is simply the self-awarenessof a thinker as such and his or her claim to refer to some Islamic body ofdoctrine or text in formulating at least a part of his or her thought.The Islamic intellectuals of the second generation who reconstructed Islamas an integral component of Turkish identity (1950–1970s) and those who treatedit as an identity and a cognitive map (1970–1990s) share several characteristics.First, they were not trained formally in the manner of the ulema in the traditionalIslamic sciences (with the notable exception of Ali Bulaç). Second, theyall were shaped by modern urban issues and educated in modern universitieswhere Kemalism dominated. Third, they do not write strictly about religion orreligious issues but rather address contemporary political issues through Islamicconcepts; their writings Islamicize political issues; and they either speak aboutIslamic “civilization” or “Islamic political consciousness” but seldom about ritualand doctrine. Fourth, they are critical of the traditional ulema and feel that theylack the critical intellectual skills to tackle contemporary social and economicproblems.The term “modern Islamic intellectual” is commonly used in Turkish toindicate those who are “modern” in dealing with contemporary issues. They are“Islamic” because they seek to examine contemporary issues from an Islamicviewpoint; and they are “intellectuals” because, like secular intellectuals, theyalso are inspired by the critical thought of the West and Islam to critique theestablished political and social order. Islamic intellectuals act like cultural entrepreneursin the construction and externalization of an Islamic political consciousnessin Turkish society. One of the major sources of current Islamic