A prominent Turkish scholar has cautioned against attempts by the state to enforce piety on Muslims, saying preachers should instead adopt a more persuasive approach to encourage attendance at Friday prayers.
Mustafa Akyol, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a lecturer at Boston College, said coercion does not make Muslims more religious, citing Iran as a clear example of how state-imposed faith observances can backfire.
Akyol, author of several books on Islam, said certain segments of Iranian society reacted negatively to the state’s strict enforcement of religious norms.
“As a result, some have become atheists, deists or religiously indifferent people,” he told FMT.
Akyol said the Iranian regime has for several decades deployed its religious police, known as the “Gasht-e Ershad” (Guidance Patrol), to enforce gender segregation, mandate the hijab for women, and prohibit alcohol consumption.
While many Iranians willingly observed the rules out of sincere religious conviction, Akyol said millions of others reacted negatively.
In 2022, Iranian women publicly burned their hijabs in a widespread protest against the regime’s mandatory dress code and other authoritarian policies, he said.
Akyol was responding to news reports that Muslim men in Terengganu who skip Friday prayers without a valid excuse could face penalties of up to two years’ imprisonment, a RM3,000 fine, or both.
He said that while the Quran does indeed command Muslims to attend the weekly prayer, it does not stipulate any earthly punishment for those who absent themselves.
“If they perform their religious obligations due to the fear of the religious police, then these obligations lose their religious meaning,” he said.
Citing a well-known Islamic maxim, Akyol said: “The hypocrite is worse than the infidel.”
He said this was because Islam judges religious acts according to the “niyyah” (intention), with hypocrisy considered a grave sin.
Performing prayers without the intention to worship God is meaningless, he said, adding that even the Quran condemns those who pray “only to be seen”.
“So if Muslim states force people to pray, some people will be praying only to be seen.” Creating such hypocrisy must be avoided for the sake of Islam, as well as universal human rights and freedoms,” he said.
Akyol said there was no need for a “carrot or stick” approach to ensuring attendance at Friday prayers since Islam already promises salvation or damnation in the afterlife.
He called on Islamic scholars, preachers, teachers and parents to instead convey the “truths and beauties” of the faith more wisely and effectively.
If there is a concern that the young generation is drifting away from religion, then the solution, according to Akyol, does not lie in the issuance of threats, but in winning their hearts and minds.
“It is to preach and exemplify Islam in noble ways that will inspire people, so that they come to the mosque lovingly.”
