President of Religious Affairs Erbaş comes together with national media representatives

President of Religious Affairs Prof. Dr. Ali Erbaş came together with Ankara representatives of national newspapers, television channels and agencies.

Giving a speech at the meeting held in the Presidency of Religious Affairs, President Erbaş made evaluations regarding the agenda with media representatives.

The attack on the Holy Quran in Sweden

President Erbaş made the followings statement regarding the attack on the Holy Quran in Sweden in the past days:

"I once again condemn the hostility against the Holy Qur'an. In the face of unlawful and inhuman treatment of the holy book of a religion, I condemn the authorities of the country that prefer to protect those who do not take precautions and who commit these ugly and provocative action. In this way, they have once again shown the world how hypocritical they are when it comes to respecting faiths.

I think that all intellectuals, activists, non-governmental organizations, media members and people with good sense who believe in law and human rights, who care about respect for faith and social peace in Europe should react and take the initiative against these open attacks on the sacred. It is a duty of humanity for all members of religions and faiths that value people properly to react in the same way. Otherwise, the individuals, groups and institutions in question will lose their credibility before Muslims and all the peoples of the world.”

Uttering that Muslims have no hostility to beliefs and sacred, President of Religious Affairs Erbaş said that Muslims have always behaved with kindness, compassion, and justice in the communities they have lived with, on the basis of the Holy Qur'an throughout history.

Expressing that the holy three months have begun as of today, President Erbaş said, “the time, as a matter of fact, is valuable with its every moment. However, there are times that offer Muslims a new opportunity for liveliness and motivation against the mundaneness that is likely to occur during their life journey. The holy three months mean and value to us in such a way.”

“The Holy Quran teaches the ways of good, beauty, justice and mercy”.

Remarking that the Holy Quran is a life guide, President Erbaş talked, “The Holy Quran introduces us to ourselves. It reminds us of our purpose of existence. It declares to us the principles of our relations with ourselves, the Almighty Allah (swt) and our environment. It teaches the ways of goodness, beauty, justice, and compassion. It inculcates that brotherhood, sharing, solidarity and the morality of living together are virtues. It suggests that freedom of belief, thought and conscience is a right for all; that human dignity is inviolable; and that fundamental rights and freedoms are sacred.”

“Healthy generation can only grow in a solid family home.”

Pointing out that family is in the centre of services of Presidency of Religious Affairs, President of Religious Affairs Erbaş continued his words as follows:

“The family is the essence and foundation of society. All the values that will keep a society alive are learned only in the family built on healthy and solid foundations. Virtuous individuals, healthy generations, balanced people, can only grow up in a solid family home. Love, respect, justice, compassion and all the values that make human beings superior among beings are internalized in the family home. For this reason, all our members guide the family peace of our nation with great devotion. Our Presidency develops social responsibility projects by standing against all kinds of violence that threaten the family, hurt and injure people and disregard the dignity of humanity.

Our Presidency carries out efforts to fight against violence, neglect and abuse, social media addiction, child marriages, suicide, and honour killings for all members of the family, especially women and children. It provides spiritual counselling and guidance services in social service institutions such as children's home and child support centre, women's guesthouse and nursing home."

“We are struggling to bring our young people together with our faith and civilization values”

Mentioning the youth works of Presidency of Religious Affairs, President of Religious Affairs Erbaş used the following expressions, “One of the areas that we give special importance to in our work is our youth services. We are struggling to reach our young people in a wide range of fields from secondary education to university, from non-governmental organizations to the business world and to bring them together with our faith and civilization values.”

Stating that future of a society is shaped in the hands of young people who are the most fundamental dynamic of that society, President of Religious Affairs Erbaş made the following statement, “Building a peaceful and secure future can only be carried out with a youth who is financially and spiritually equipped. This is one of the greatest riches of our country, we have 27 million students. There are 143 countries in the world with a population of less than 27 million. This is a great wealth for us, and it is important to raise these young people in the best way. For this purpose, as the Presidency of Religious Affairs, we are making various programs and carrying out projects.”

Pointing out that building a peaceful and secure future can only be carried out with a youth who is financially and spiritually equipped, President of Religious Affairs Erbaş talked as "For contributing to both the social and spiritual development of our young people, we are establishing 'Diyanat Youth Centres’ within the mosques in 81 provinces. From time to time, there are those who give negative news in the media, but it is not possible to understand indeed. What could be more normal than calling our young people to mosques and establishing youth centres next to our mosques? This should be supported and applauded. Who is offended by the young person going to the mosque? Do not we want our children to go to the mosques more?”

Stating that spiritual consultants, who are assigned in university dormitories by the Presidency of Religious Affairs, endeavour to be with our youth all the time, President of Religious Affairs Erbaş said, “Our biggest goal in this field is to raise our young people in a characteristic that is at peace with themselves, connected to their roots and values, and equipped with the knowledge and wisdom required by the age at the same time. For this reason, we carry out services with great effort for our young people to reach authentic religious information from the right sources and to internalize our civilization values. We are trying to create awareness and consciousness against undesirable and harmful currents so that they can protect themselves from all kinds of extremism.”

“We want to build a society that will set an example for all humanity in our 4-6 year children Quran courses”

Referring to the 4-6 years old children Quran courses of Presidency of Religious Affairs for, President Erbaş talked, “In our 4-6 year-Quran courses, we endeavour to transfer our national and spiritual values to future generations. In these courses, we bring our children together with our faith and civilization values. In order for them to develop a healthy religion and morality, we are trying to introduce them to the Holy Quran, the exemplary morality of our Beloved Prophet (saw), and the values of our religion. We want to build a society that will be an example to humanity within the framework of the life-giving principles of Islam and a beautiful future for our nation.

Addressing to the representatives of media, President Erbaş used the following expressions, “It is the common responsibility of all of us as members of this nation to work for the protection of the values that bring us together and to eliminate the evils that threaten our nation's existence. Our stance should always be on the side of goodness and beauty. I think that we should show special sensitivity to issues such as children, young people, families, and publications that concern areas such as faith, worship, and morality. Since the mistakes to be made in this regard open deep wounds in the minds and hearts of people and prepare the basis for problems that threaten the peace, safety and future of the society.”

“Our nation’s favour for hajj and umrah worship is admirable”

Giving information regarding the hajj period of this year, President Erbaş talked as “Prospective pilgrims, who will register for the first time to go to the Holy Land in 2023, begin to pre-register for the hajj on January 15. I hope they will continue to register until January 26 because we have made an innovation this year. Registrations are made through 'e-Government'. The favour of our beloved nation to Hajj and Umrah worship is admirable. We see that the number of applications for Hajj is increasing incrementally every year. We wish that we can take all our brothers and sisters whose hearts beat with the love of the Almighty Allah (swt), who are burning with the longing for the Kaaba and who are burning with the love of our Beloved Prophet (saw) to Holy Lands, but the physical conditions do not allow this.”

“Other countries would like to learn about our hajj lottery system”.

Remarking that hajj lottery system is prepared as the most appropriate and ideal application for equity, President Erbaş talked as “We determine our prospective pilgrims through a lottery system based on the coefficient. Coefficient means that the applicant enters the lottery once this year. Those who applied last year have won the right to draw lots 4 times, and those who applied 3 years ago have obtained the right to draw 9 times. At this point, when we tell the hajj managers of other countries about this issue, they want to learn from us about this system.”

Expressing that there were some restrictions arising from the pandemic regarding the hajj last three years, President Erbaş made the following evaluations, “Praise be to the Almighty Allah (swt), we have left all those troubles behind, and we will organize this year's hajj in a more comprehensive and well-attended manner. This year, we will host 83 thousand 430 prospective pilgrims including those over the age of 65 in the Holy Land, inshallah. May it conduce to the goodness of our nation in advance.”

President of Religious Affairs Erbaş was accompanied by Presidency of Religious Affairs Chairman of High Board of Religious Abdurrahman Haçkalı, Vice Presidents Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selim Argun, Dr. Burhan İşleyen, Prof. Dr. İbrahim Hilmi Karslı, Kadir Dinç, General Director of Religious Publications Dr. Fatih Kurt and Director of Guidance and Inspection Hasan Güçlü at the program.

Note:  The part where the questions of the press members are answered will be included in the second news.