Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK and MEVLANA

Mustafa Kemal Pasha was given the surname of "Atatürk" , meaning Father of Turks , for his military heroism, devotion to his people , and as founder of the Republic of Turkiye . He always stressed that the new republic must be secular , that religion would be a private matter , not to business of the State . But this is not the say that he didn't value religion , or that he had no personal Faith . It was 1 November , 1922 . That great leader and revolutionary took his place at the rostrum to address the Turkish Parliament . With flashing eyes he looked at the members and then began his speech with this sentence : "God is One , He is Great ." During the early years of the Republic he touched on the subject of religion a few times . First of all he saw that Islam had been diverted from its original purity by rulers and some religious leaders who had gone along with those rulers . It was Atatürk's sincere wish that the people no longer be taken in by the clerical garb which was often actually a cloak of ignorance . He was sure that the people were , like himself , ready to strenously reject political and religious leaders like these . As for Atatürk's feelings about Mevlana , while travelling to Konya , the city where Rumi lived , developed in spirituality , and was buried , he is quoted as saying , "Whenever I'm to come to this city I feel excitement inside.

The thoughts of Mevlana envelope me . He was a great genius , an innovator for all ages ." To Mustafa Kemal , Mevlana was a mighty reformer who had adapted Islam to the Turkish soul . Atatürk believed that Islam was actually a tolerant and modern religion which the Arabs had understood and applied according to their own physical conditions . He saw the Mevlevi turning in the Sema and approaching God with music and movement as the most natural statement of the Turkish mentality . The Prophet's definition of his religion was , "Morals . Morals . Morals ." Mevlana wrote , "Whatever there is in this world involving love , I'm there . Whatever there is in involving war , I'm not there ."And Atatürk expressed the idea thus: "Peace at home , peace in the world"