The New Year issue

They want to completely destroy the last crumbs of hope we have tried so hard to protect until today, so that we may become their unquestioning servants.

With 2025 approaching, someone has pressed the button again.

The Islamist crowd is practically spewing hatred at those who want to celebrate the New Year.

It is always the same old story!

They claim a Muslim does not celebrate 'New Year' or 'Christmas,' that it is forbidden, a sin, and so on and so forth... 

For those who intend to celebrate, threats and insults are a dime a dozen. Supposedly, there is freedom of religion and conscience in this country—if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you... 

The Sheikh-ul-Islam came out in his Friday sermon at Hagia Sophia and said:

“Aspiring to figures from non-Islamic traditions that have no connection to our religion and civilization, dressing like them, and behaving like them is contrary to our faith and is wrong. The most illogical part of the matter is the desire to celebrate the birth of a Prophet who invited people to truth and reality in the context of certain baseless designations that are contrary to the values he brought. Therefore, any kind of entertainment and behavior that does not adhere to the measures of halal and haram and exceeds the boundaries of privacy is contrary to our faith and is a sin. Furthermore, for whatever reason, exchanging gifts with products sold by those who support the slaughter of innocents is a burden so heavy that it would make the bones of the martyrs of Gaza and all the martyrs who made these lands our homeland ache.”

Where do we even begin with these words!

At first glance, it may seem like nothing more than a phony critique of capitalism from the political Islamist mindset, but let us emphasize with a thick marker that there is actually a war being waged against the secular lifestyle.

Let us also ask the Sheikh-ul-Islam himself:

My friend, if that is the case, then why do you ride in an Audi or a Mercedes made by Germans, whose religion, culture, and civilization are different from yours; and furthermore, why do you squander and waste the taxes paid by this impoverished nation—which can barely feed itself—from their hard-earned, honest income?

Does it not say in Surah Al-A'raf, verse 31, 'Eat and drink, but do not be wasteful'?

Have you never even read the book you believe in!

I mean, are these not sins, but celebrating the New Year is?

Of course, when he takes the podium with a sword in his hand, he carefully mixes up apples and oranges as always; this way, he can both feed the people of my country a good line and leave himself room to wiggle out of potential backlash.

The government is doing everything in its power to consolidate its cultural hegemony and transform the public in line with its own mentality. 

How successful it has been since 2002 is debatable. However, it is a fact that despite the clear mismatch in the social fabric, it has consistently gained ground through pressure, threats, and blackmail!

For instance, the New Year's decorations we were accustomed to seeing on streets, in shops, malls, homes, and even schools in the early 2000s are no longer there.

The same goes for television channels...

Try finding a nice New Year's program, singers, folk artists, comedians, or the belly dancer who would appear when the clock struck midnight.

Yet, the issue has nothing to do with religion, faith, God, or the Quran.

Christmas is a Christian holiday.

In Turkey, there is no one else celebrating it anyway.

I am not talking about my fellow citizens who crowd into the Saint Antoine Church on Istiklal Avenue every December 24th just out of curiosity.

Open up Mr. Google and see what it says!

“Christmas is a Christian holiday celebrated annually, mostly on December 25th, to commemorate the birth of Jesus. It is also known as the Feast of the Nativity, the Holy Nativity, or the Feast of the Birth. Christmas is celebrated by the majority of Christians around the world on December 25th. In some countries, celebrations begin on Christmas Eve, December 24th, and continue until the end of December 25th. Some Eastern Orthodox churches, such as the Armenian Church, celebrate Christmas on January 6th, which corresponds to December 25th in the Julian calendar. In some countries where Christians are in the majority, the Christmas holiday is practically combined with the New Year's holiday.”

Anyone with enough intelligence to tie their shoelaces or manage to chew gum while walking can understand these sentences.

Moreover, the political Islamists' hostility toward Christmas is not even consistent with the Islamic values they so strongly defend. 

Fine, according to Islamic belief, there are issues with the current Bible, but what is your problem with Jesus?  

In the Quran, Jesus is mentioned a total of 180 times in 93 verses, either by his proper name or with titles such as "Son of Mary," "a spirit from God," or "the Word of God." Furthermore, Jesus is the prophet whose birth is described in the most detail in the Quran...

Now, there will be plenty of people coming up with meaningless excuses, blustering about how it's not like that, it's like this, but the question here is extremely simple:

Why would a Muslim harbor such great hatred for a prophet whose name is mentioned in exactly 93 verses of the Quran, the fundamental source of their faith?

It is either out of total ignorance or because they have politically rented out their mind, ideas, conscience, and faith...

There is no other explanation!

Even if they try to argue based on the fact that Western countries have combined Christmas holidays with the New Year for practical reasons, that is not how it is here. 

Let's come to Santa Claus. He is a universal figure... 

Just as Oğuz Aral's Avni became a global phenomenon, so did Santa Claus. 

Moreover, the fact that he is from Demre contributes to the country's tourism.

Then why are they so opposed to New Year's celebrations?

This is exactly where the rubber meets the road.

Because a new year means new hopes, new dreams, and new plans... 

Let's consider it a door opening toward the spring months as well.

It is merely a threshold on the calendar, yet people enter the new year having refreshed their hopes and dreams.

This is how it is all over the world...

Don't look too far; just look at the New Year messages—they are always filled with wishes for health, happiness, and prosperity. 

At the end of every sentence, there is inevitably a wish for all dreams to come true in the new year.

And this is precisely the problem the political Islamist mentality has with it!

They want to end our hopes, destroy our dreams, and take away  our happiness.

They cannot even tolerate the few hours we might find a little joy as we enter the new year.

The more unhappy and hopeless people are, the weaker their bond with life becomes, and the more they console themselves with the 72 virgins promised in the afterlife, the better it suits their agenda.

People who have not had their brains washed with Arabian fairy tales, who have not detached from the life they live, who have not given up on enjoying a few glasses of raki with close friends, who still chase hope and happiness while they are alive, and who do not give up on getting excited by a beautiful song or a lively folk tune, will be a serious threat to the Neo-Hamidian regime they have adorned with medieval mentality.

They are aware of this!

They think that people condemned to darkness will voluntarily serve this sick regime, which is why they keep piling on the pressure.

But when it comes to themselves, that is a different story, of course...

Go to the Christmas markets that open in almost every European city in the last week of the new year, and you will see our headscarved sisters who have come from Turkey for vacation along with their 'almond-mustached' husbands.

They light candles in grand cathedrals, film TikTok videos with Santa Claus, discreetly eat pork sausages with plenty of mustard, and drink mulled wine with cloves and cinnamon.

Let us not resort to the easy excuse that 'it is the bread of the poor' before concluding the piece; there is no point in being gloomy on the eve of the new year.

But let us end our piece by referencing the Roman thinker Seneca's words: 'As long as we are living, there is hope.'