Why All Zealots and Blindly Religious People Must Read the Turkish Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
1 October
2022
Nowadays,
I'm re-reading the Turkish Nobel Laureate Ferit Orhan Pamuk's works which urge
readers to think in a neo-alternative manner without bringing in religion and
god. He himself is a cultural Muslim who associates the historical and cultural
identification with the religion while not belonging in personal connexion (this
is acceptable orthography of the word 'connection' in British English) to god.
Orhan Pamuk at the Rustaveli Theater, Georgia. [Wikimedia]
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Religion as
a socio-cultural tool is okay as it fulfils its primary purpose of binding
people together and gives an identity to an individual. But the moment it
assumes supernatural tones, undertones, overtures and a truckload of
superstitions and connects you to an imaginary power, it loses its cardinal
objective.
This is the
leitmotif of most of the works of Pamuk who's disturbed by increasing
religiosity of all organized faiths and particularly concerned about Islam's
relentless juggernaut towards self-destruction. Friday's suicide attack on
Kabul exam centre killing minimum 20 innocent people is yet another feather to
its (Islam’s) remarkable violent streak and spree in recent times. Yet, the
apologists of Islam will continue to assert that Islam is a religion of peace!
Perhaps, the word 'peace' means differently to these brainless zombies.
‘Humanity flourishes in a state of mutual
bonding.' Pamuk opined this during his speech at the Nobel Ceremony while
accepting world's most prestigious Literary Award in 2006. In one of his books,
a character says, “You’re a human. So, think of humans and let monks think of
gods and angels. "
This should
be the motto of all humans. Think of your fellow human beings for, there're
enough useless and workless people to think and fight over religious characters,
scriptures, gods and shrines.
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A
regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative
religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to
world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in
Islam, Islamic
Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia
in America, Muslim Women
in West, Islam Women
and Feminism