Islam Islam (Arabic: الإسلام al-’islām, pronounced [ʔislæːm] [note 1]) is the religion articulated by the Qur’an, a book considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of the single incomparable God (Arabic: الله, Allāh), and by the Islamic prophet Muhammad's demonstrations and real-life examples (called the Sunnah, is the largest religion of Turkey. More than 99 percent of the population is Muslim A Muslim , pronounced /ˈmʊslɪm/, is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah (Arabic: مسلمة). Literally, the word means "one who submits (to God)". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah, mostly Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest denomination of Islam. It is also referred to as Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘ah (Arabic: أهل السنة والجماعة "people of the example and the community") or Ahl as-Sunnah (Arabic: أهل السنة) for short. The word Sunni comes from the word Sunnah (Arabic: سنة), which means the. The Shia Shia Islam , is the second largest denomination of Islam, after Sunni Islam. The followers of Shia Islam are called Shi'as or Shi'ites Alevi The Alevi are a religious, sub-ethnic and cultural community in Turkey, numbering in the tens of millions. Alevism is considered one of the many sects of Islam. However, Alevi worship takes place in assembly houses (cemevi) rather than mosques. The ceremony (âyîn-i cem, or simply cem), features music and dance (semah). Unlike most other Muslim community, a distinct Muslim sect, make up 20 percent of the population. Christianity (Oriental Orthodoxy Oriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils — the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus. They rejected the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon . Hence, these Oriental Orthodox Churches are also called Old Oriental, Greek Orthodox The Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of the Orthodox Church, sharing a common cultural tradition and whose liturgy is traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament and Armenian Apostolic The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church. The Armenian Apostolic Church traces its origins to the missions of Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus in the 1) and Judaism Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts. Judaism presents itself as the covenantal relationship between the Children of Israel (later, the Jewish nation) and God are the other religions in practice, but the non-Muslim population declined in the early 2000s.[1][2][3][4]
Turkey is officially a secular state A secular state is a concept of secularism, whereby a state or country is officially neutral in matters of religion, neither supporting nor opposing any particular religious beliefs or practices. A secular state also treats all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and does not give preferential treatment for a citizen from a particular with no official religion since the constitutional amendment in 1924 and later strengthened in the Kemalist Ideology, alongside the Atatürk's reforms Atatürk's Reforms were a series of political, legal, cultural, social and economic reforms that were implemented to transform the young Republic of Turkey into a modern, democratic and secular nation-state. They were implemented under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in accordance with Kemalist ideology. The reform movement began with the and the appliance of laïcité In French, laïcité is a French concept of a secular society, connoting the absence of religious involvement in government affairs as well as absence of government involvement in religious affairs. Although, during the twentieth century, it evolved to mean equal treatment of all religions, more restrictive interpretation of the term is being by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, and founder of the Republic of Turkey as well as its first President at the end of 1937. To some Turks, Islam is an important part of Turkish life. Its application to join the EU The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community. With almost 500 million citizens, the EU combined generates an divided existing members, some of which questioned whether a Muslim country could fit in. Turkey accused its EU opponents of favouring a "Christian club".[5]
Beginning in the 1980s, the role of religion in the state has been a divisive issue, as influential factions challenged the complete secularization called for by Kemalism Kemalist Ideology, "Kemalism" or also known as the "Six Arrows" (Turkish: Altı Ok) is the principle that defines the basic characteristics of the Republic of Turkey. It was developed by the Turkish national movement and its leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Kemalist ideology, which found its expression in Atatürk's Reforms, and the observance of Islamic practices experienced a substantial revival. In the early 2000s, Islamic groups challenged the concept of the secular state with increasing vigor after the Erdoğan government had calmed the issue in 2003.
The secular nature of the Turkish republic is also strongly disputed[citation needed], as the state in reality provides huge advantages to the followers of the Sunni Islam, few to other Muslims (as Alevi and Shia), and discriminates all non-Muslims. Thousands of Sunni imams receive state salaries, whereas the other religions receive as good as nothing[citation needed], and whereas the Turkish Orthodox Christians are even prohibited in training their own clergy in Turkey[citation needed].
The fierce nationalism of the Sunni Muslims in Turkey includes frequent removal of any reference to this contentious issue of the privileges given by the Turkish state to their religion[citation needed].
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