Islam in a Tabloid Newspaper(<Special Issue>Islam and Religious Studies)

Abstract

Takvim is a Turkish newspaper which features sensational articles on crimes and gossip, and semi-nude pictures. However, unexpectedly, this paper also carries a daily column entitled "True Islam : Answers to Your Questions" by Zekeriya Beyaz, the former dean of the Divinity School at Marmara University. In this paper, I analyzed about 500 questions that appeared in this column between October 2000 and August 2001. The most frequently asked questions are on rituals, namely, ablution, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and animal sacrifice. Also, many questions are asked as to whether certain acts are sins or permitted. Since rituals are religious duties, it is a sin if they are not performed properly. Therefore, it can be said that more than half the questions are concerned with sins. This obsessive preoccupation with sins stems from the firm belief in punishment after death. Many questions reveal the vivid imagination of the common people concerning life after death and punishment in the grave. Also, many questions quote what imams have said. As other popular religious figures such as Sufis and folk magicians gradually disappeared, it seems that imams, who lead public prayers in the mosque and administer marriages and funerals, became the only authority the common people can consult on religious matters.