How was religion severed from God? Have you heard of the Melamis?

In The Essence of Christianity, Feuerbach reveals the spirit of our age in a single sentence.

“There is no doubt that our age prefers the image to the object, the copy to the original, the representation to the reality, the appearance to the essence… The only thing that is sacred for our age is illusion, and the only thing that is not sacred is truth.”

This description now encompasses not only culture, politics, or the media, but also religion. In a society where ostentation is the defining factor, it would be naive to expect religion to remain exempt from this. Today, religion has largely been placed at the service of the society of the spectacle. With its temples, rituals, pulpits, and crowds, the world of faith represents form rather than essence; image rather than morality; power rather than justice.

When we discuss this mentality of spectacle using religious literature, we encounter the concept of “riya” (hypocrisy/ostentation). The Encyclopedia of Islam defines riya as follows:

“Acting in a way that convinces others that one possesses superior qualities for worldly purposes, such as gaining prestige or securing benefits.”

In this case, worship, kindness, and charity are performed not for God, but for show. The goal is not to live the faith, but to turn it into a tool. Religion transforms into an instrument placed at the service of personal interests. We are currently at a stage where riya has ceased to be an individual moral problem and has become institutionalized. Worship, charity, aid, and morality have become things done for the display window, not for God. Here, religion is not the end, but the means; it is not faith, but capital.

Of course, this problem is not unique to our time.

The Melami movement, which emerged in the ninth century, was born precisely as an objection to this mentality. Melamism is a stance that opposes arrogance, ostentation, hypocrisy, and the objectification of religion. In the words of Yaşar Nuri Öztürk:

“Melamism is the Muhammadan art of banishing hypocrisy from religious life.”

This art is a protest against the politicization within Sufi orders and the transformation of religion into a show. It is the attitude of those who say, “Where there is hypocrisy, we are not.” They raise a flag against the craving for fame, self-admiration, and ostentation; they adopt these three attitudes as fundamental principles.

For this reason, Melamism rejects all objects and images associated with Sufi orders. There is no lodge, no robe, no spectacle of dhikr. A Melami is not known by these things. Moreover, even being known for one's piety is seen as a problem in itself. This is the most insidious form of hypocrisy. It is rumored that for this reason, Melamis would even break their fast during the month of Ramadan to avoid standing out for their piety, willing to pay the penalty (kaffarah). Because faith must remain between the human and God. This is a red line that cannot be crossed.

In a program, Dücane Cündioğlu is reminded of the phrase “I am a strange Melami dervish” and is asked: “Are you really one?”

The answer is clear: “Melamis do not say, ‘I am a Melami.’”

Because words are also a tool for spectacle. In Melamism, it is not the tongue that speaks, but life itself. Even life should not be visible. Depth must live within itself without surfacing.

Today, the sacred is dissolving; the essence is losing its meaning; religion is being converted into power, money, and material goods. Precisely for this reason, the value of the Melami attitude must be grasped anew. That which is used as a tool for ostentation loses its value; its meaning is emptied, its spirit dies. As Al-Kindi said:

“Whoever trades in something sells it; and what he sells is no longer his own. Whoever trades in religion has no religion.”

Indeed, it is so.