Islamic Political Identity in Turkey

170 islamic political identity in turkeywith [their] very orderly clothing of suit with necktie, daily shavedface, almond moustache [badem bìyìk] and short and neatly cut hair.It is very rarely possible, if not impossible, to see a Nurcu smoking,or eating or drinking at fast-food places, sitting at the coVee-houses,and so on. 51The strong emphasis on appearance as an index of “modern” Islam is taken veryseriously by the Nurcus. Thus the RNK helps to develop a set of manners forthe people who gather together around a literate interpreter. In short, thedershane is a venue for social and cultural activities and interaction. Sincedershanes are important places, where the Nurcus meet, they become sites wherewealth and status are displayed. Which dershane a Nurcu attends aVects hisstanding and reXects his position in the larger Nur community. This Islamicsystem of ethics, which evolves from the structure of the dershane, stresses lifeas a garden of faith to be cultivated; and hard work and good manners constitutefeatures of congregational Nurcu brotherhood.Political and Economic Opportunity Spaces: Centrifugal PluralizationIn the 1980s and 1990s, the formation and expansion of new opportunity spacesin the market, education, and politics led to ongoing pluralization of the Nurmovement. By seeking to restore the lost unity and “authentic” interpretationof the RNK, each group inadvertently has deepened the division further. Newsocioeconomic changes motivate textually inspired interpretations that oVerdiverse entries into the text of Nursi. There are presently three major splintergroups—the community of Fethullah Gülen, the Yeni Asyacì, and the YeniNesilciler—as well as dozens of other small groups. In Anatolia, almost everytown has a reading circle and even competing circles in a single neighborhood.These groups constitute neither a political union nor a standard ideology ofpolitical Islam. Indeed, one of the main characteristics of the Islamic movementin Turkey is its fragmentation and pluralization. Having a common goal of raisingMuslim consciousness and an imagined “external other” are not enough toovercome the dynamics of fragmentation. Regional, ethnic, generational, andsocioeconomic loyalties permeate religious movements, providing the groundsfor fragmentation and improving the chances of shaping social and politicalspheres. Moreover, these Nur groups compete over state patronage, and thispolitical proximity also generates fragmentation.There is no institutional religious authority to produce a single reading ofthe Qur’an and hadith in Turkey. As groups increasingly become focused onprint, the conXict over interpretation becomes more vivid. As Muslims seek tobring Islamic principles into day-to-day practices to create coherence and makesense of them, they need to interpret these principles in the light of current ideasand challenging problems. This interpretation, in turn, produces divergent viewpoints,because individuals interpret the texts on the basis of their own personal