The Imam Who Brought Sırrı Süreyya Önder and İhsan Eliaçık Together: Selman Bulut

Hilal Özdemir

We have lost Sırrı Süreyya Önder.

The fact that millions expressed their sorrow for Önder, that thousands from almost every segment of society attended the funeral ceremonies at the AKM and the mosque, and that state and government representatives attended the funeral of a DEM Party politician at a high level… In these respects, Sırrı Süreyya Önder’s funeral, which turned into a social movement, will be discussed for a long time.

The fact that, upon the will of Önder, who came from a socialist background, the funeral prayer was led by Islamist intellectual İhsan Eliaçık, and that figures from the government wing who reject Eliaçık’s ideas about Islam were forced to stand in line behind him, was another important message that deserves to be talked about.

So, why did Sırrı Süreyya Önder request that his funeral prayer be led by İhsan Eliaçık, and what does this mean?

We will seek the answer to these questions in the film İtirazım Var, which Sırrı Süreyya Önder co-wrote and which frequently references the views of İhsan Eliaçık.

Although the film Beynelmilel, which he wrote and directed, stands out in Sırrı Süreyya Önder’s filmography, İtirazım Var is important enough to be placed in a position of honor for the way it explains Önder’s perspective on religious issues. It is this perspective of the film that brought director Onur Ünlü and Sırrı Süreyya Önder together with İhsan Eliaçık.

The 2014 film stars Serkan Keskin, Hazal Kaya, Öner Erkan, and Osman Sonant.

The film begins with the Alevi-Bektashi devotional song (deyiş) 'Muhabbet Bağında Bir Gül Açıldı' (A Rose Bloomed in the Garden of Affection), the lyrics of which belong to Shah Hatayi (Shah Ismail), an important figure for the Alevi-Bektashi faith. By accompanying mosque imagery with an Alevi-Bektashi devotional song, the film strikingly presents in its first scene that it has a narrative outside of the established religious understanding and imam typology.

A rose bloomed in the garden of affection

I have a sorrow I would not trade for a thousand cures

My burden is the jewel of gems, I scatter coral

I have a sorrow I would not trade for a thousand cures

Mosque imam Selman Bulut is an 'extraordinary' religious official who studied anthropology, was a boxer, and later began working as an imam. One day, while leading prayer in the mosque, two gunshots are heard. Salih Kalyoncu, one of the people praying, loses his life. After the police collect evidence and leave the scene, Selman does not let this murder go and begins his own investigation.

Cihan Demir (Homicide Detective): They don't look too kindly on loan sharks in your congregation.

Selman Bulut: A loan shark? Who? Is Mr. Salih a loan shark? Mr. Salih is a hardware store owner. But he was coming to the mosque.

This dialogue in the film reminded me of the sentence by Lebanese author Amin Maalouf: 'People act as if they no longer need morality because they have a religion.' And the fact that the Alevi-Bektashi devotional song 'Eşrefoğlu Al Haberi' begins to play after this scene, and we hear the words, 'There are men whose bodies are fat, they perform ablution but do not become clean,' is like a summary of those who use religion for their own ambitions today and try to cleanse every evil they commit with religion...

“They ask you what they should spend (in the way of Allah). Say, ‘The excess beyond your needs…’”

Surah Al-Baqarah/ Verse 219

One of the impressive scenes in the film is the sermon compiled from an excerpt from author İhsan Eliaçık’s book Mülk Yazıları (Property Writings).

'Possessing more than one needs is forbidden (haram), it is theft. Gold and silver are used to establish hegemony over the poor. They are not being spent (infak). Property is being associated with partners (shirk). There is this insistence on the one-fortieth (zakat). There are those who move to wealthy neighborhoods so as not to sleep full while their neighbor is hungry. Well, do you know about the hungry and the poor on the street? What does the classical jurisprudence of this religion say about the 1 billion people wandering hungry on the streets of the earth?'

Although the film is based on a murder, at its core, it bravely exposes the dirty laundry of the order. The fact that the deceased Salih Kalyoncu was a loan shark and a child abuser, that police and people in state institutions were taking money from him, the safes where the ledgers recording the names of those who took money were kept, and the money games revolving around banks... Even though İtirazım Var was made in 2014, it remains relevant when we look at today’s relationships. As long as this order continues this way, the film İtirazım Var will continue to be one of the bedside films for a long time.

Sırrı Süreyya Önder, with the screenplays he wrote, the films he acted in, and the language of affection he established against the harsh face of politics, was the reason even people who did not share the same views as him could meet in the same sentiment.

Let us commemorate him once again with the film İtirazım Var, which sheds light on our present day after his passing...

News Source: 12punto

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