Enthusiastically sponsored by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and, officially, by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan,  Ghazi Ertugrul, the fictitious 13th century Turkish hero’s statue has come up in Lahore, riding horseback, with sword in hand. Competing with this statue at Marghazar Housing Scheme at Lahore’s Multan Road will be another one coming soon, and a road crossing named “Ghazi Ertugrul Chowk.”

Ertugrul is the main character of Dirilis: Ertuğrul, a highly popular Turkish television series that Imran Khan promotes to counter what he sees as Hollywood-Bollywood 'vulgarity' that he laments Pakistani audiences feeds on.

But Jamia Binoria, a Karachi-based Islamic theological institution, thinks that “the series contains messages of love that are unethical for Muslims and things people don’t necessarily need to know of.”

The liberal class, on the other hand, thinks this ‘revivalism’ is no answer to this century’s Islamophobia. Indeed, it promotes it – the protagonist, in his effort to rally the Turkish tribes, is shown in the very first of the 500 episodes as pitted against “the Christian and Byzantines whose bloodied bodies lie scattered here and thereafter every fight.” 

“The hero, Ertugrul Ghazi, not only beheads several Knight Templars but also former associates from his tribe, such as Kurdoglu Bey, who he suspects of disloyalty,” Pakistani scholar-writer Pervez Hoodbhoy points out in his critique entitled “Dangerous Delusions” (Dawn, June 6, 2020). 

The series lay no claim to history since available material is limited. In contrast to this “faked history”, if Turkey and its history have to be projected to the people of Pakistan, Peerbhoy says, there are Turkish scholars and theologians like Ali Qushgi, Taqi-al-Din, or Al-Jazari who have served Islam well.

This 2014 Turkish TV series has set viewership records and is reportedly seen in 65 countries. Over 40 million have watched it in Pakistan alone since the holy Ramadan month. With its rising popularity, its maker, Mehmet Bozdag, has welcomed production cooperation with Pakistan in a planned sequel.

'Muslim renaissance' or Islamic 'soft bomb'?

Indicating that this kind of entertainment can only promote revivalism in a society bedeviled by militancy, Peerbhoy asks: “Should we be surprised if IS (Islamic State)-like organisations find this inspirational? Is glorifying the sword glorifying Islam?”

Recalling that the Erdogan family repeatedly visited the locations where the series was filmed, Peerbhoy says: “I suspect Dirilis’s real goal is less about Islam and more to vent Turkish nostalgia for a long-lost empire.”    

The New York Times has dubbed the series “soft bomb”. But the impact seems hard and divisive, triggering a race for dominance in the Islamic world. This Turkish version of Islamic history billed as “Muslim renaissance.” stands seriously challenged by the Arab world. Historically, the Arabs were subjugated by the Ottoman Empire and remain unimpressed by the Caliphates’ past conquests of large parts of Europe, North Africa, and Central Asia. The Caliphate ended in 1920, post-World War 1. 

Saudi Arabia and the UAE, among others in the Gulf, have banned and condemned the Turkish series. Egyptian authorities have issued a fatwa decrying this “insidious attempt to re-impose Turkish tutelage” over Arab countries formerly under Ottoman rule.  Saudi Arabia is set to counter it with “Malik-e-Noor”, a series for which it has earmarked $ 40 million. Trailers have already been produced. “Though inadequate it does make the point: Arabs cannot celebrate Turkish imperialism,” Peerbhoy says.

Saudi Arabia, seeking to rally the support of the Sunni Muslims, ran a drama on one of its channels during Ramadan that sparked a debate on Arab-Israeli relationships considered a sensitive subject in the region.  

Whether Arab or Turkish, critics have asked if Pakistan is seeking its identity away from India out of which it was carved out in 1947. “Most people don’t like invaders, but Pakistan’s psyche is somehow special. Perhaps overwhelmed by Erdogan’s aggressive style, Prime Minister Khan proudly tweeted that Turks had ruled India for 600 years. Historians will raise their eyebrows — this is between quarter-true to half-true only. But it must be rare for a prime minister to hail imperial rule over his land.”

Popular even in India 

“Dirilis: Ertugrul” serial is supposedly popular among the Urdu-knowing Indian audiences as well.  While critics elsewhere have panned blood and pomp, writing in Muslimmirror.com (June 7, 2020), an Indian online journal, Mohammad Mahdi, a Class XII student-scholar, sees its “basic ideology based on the Sufi culture of Islam. It teaches how a man’s devotion to God can give him guidance and success. It also presents a more attractive view of the Islamic culture, especially for the young ones of the new generation who find themselves estranged from their roots.”

This Indian teenage scholar notes that the 600-year rule of the Caliphate ended due to a “lack of unity and education…. The Ummah which once prided in her history is now dependent on reminiscing about her past glory.”

‘But’, he asks: “does this very act of reminiscing, as the Diriliş: Ertuğrul’s overwhelming popularity is showering, really hold the possibility of rekindling the Caliphal dream?”

(The writer is President, Commonwealth Journalists Association.  The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at mahendraved07@gmail.com)