As part of a debate following the introduction of the concept of jihad, or holy war, in the new national school curriculum, a deputy of the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy said it is useless to teach math to a child who does not know the concept of jihad.
AKP deputy Ahmet Hamdi Çamli, who used to be President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s driver, claimed that the concept of jihad is one of the main pillars of Islam. “Our Ministry of Education made a good decision,” said Çamli, who also serves on the parliamentary National Education Commission.
Meanwhile, the dean of the Islamic seminary at Ankara University, Professor Ismail Hakki Ünal, objected to the idea of including the concept of jihad among the five pillars of Islam. However, Çamli claimed that jihad precedes even prescribed prayers in Islam.
“When you look at the Ottoman sultans, almost none of them performed the Hajj because they didn’t want to stop engaging in jihad,” Çamli stated. “There is no use in teaching math to a child who does not know the concept of jihad,” Çamli said on Friday.
Last week, speaking during a press conference to introduce the new school curriculum in Ankara Minister of Education Ismet Yilmaz said: “Jihad is an element in our religion; it is in our religion… The duty of the Education Ministry is to teach every deserving concept correctly. It is also our job to correct things that are wrongly perceived, seen or taught.” [Turkish Minute] Read more
