New amendments allow Quran courses in Turkey

Children under the age of 12 will no longer be barred from attending Quran courses in the summer, according to a recent Cabinet decision that also broadened the powers of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate and expanded its staff.

“Quran courses are [to be] conducted in summer for [students] who complete their fifth grade in primary school under the oversight and supervision of the Education Ministry,” said a paragraph that was removed from the law on religious affairs by means of a statutory decree issued by the Cabinet.

According to the amendment, the director of the Religious Affairs Directorate will also be able to appoint some 40 “presidential muftis” (scholars of Islam) to be charged with a variety of tasks, including the organization of religious services abroad, defining the qualities of personnel who will be appointed in foreign countries and organizing international council meetings.

An official from the Religious Affairs Directorate, however, had told the Hürriyet Daily News on July 29 that the age restrictions in question were really for show and not strictly applied in practice in recent years.

The presidential müftis will also carry out other duties, such as conducting inspections and research both in Turkey and abroad, as well as carrying out operations pertaining to infrastructure and religious facilities that are used for the directorate’s activities abroad.

The age limit for attending directorate–run Quran courses in the summer was introduced in 1999, as a consequence of the Feb. 28 process, also known as Turkey’s post-modern coup when a military memorandum sparked turmoil that led to the resignation of the ruling Islamist coalition government in 1997. The turmoil lasted many months as the military carried out an overt campaign against Islamist ideas and ideology.


/Hurriyet Daily News/