Daily Times

Recently, Pakistan Television Network (PTV) launched the first episode of the famous Turkish drama series, Dirili?: Ertu?rul, in its Urdu-dubbed version, on Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s recommendation as a must-watch for the youth of the country. In a video message PM commented on learning about a culture of romance and history that is filled with Islamic values, and condemned the content from Bollywood, full of vulgarity aired in past three or four decades and it is badly affecting our children; while schools and drug culture were flourishing while sex and crimes that directly impacts our family system.

“… remember, the family system collapses when immorality rises in the society.”

The director of the digital for Turkish Radio & Television (TRT), Riyaad Minty, expressed his gratitude for the success and trending with more than 30 million views and over 600,000 subscribers on YouTube channel from Pakistan. PTV management thanked viewers for making it the Top Trend on Twitter Pakistan!

The remarkable popularity of the show being an instant hit can be subjected to the strategic launch on the first day of Ramadan. To gauge to masses, it is the prime season as families usually feast on their iftar meals, especially in COVID times lockdown and social distancing.

Islamophobia: To combat the rising global trend of Islamophobia, the trio of Turkey, Pakistan, and Malaysia, decided to launch an initiative focused on creating counternarrative against anti-Islamic manipulations and hateful stereotypes in the sphere of media posed by Islamophobia by producing content on Muslim heroes.

Through this drama, the nation is exploring the traumatic history, religious violence, tribal wars and nomads’ culture, and the power of Tawakul in our religious heroes

If promoting this show is the strategy to deal with Islamophobia, then why does it promote religious differences, hatred expressed as passion glorified by stunningly catchy Turkish OST? I am sure with such a busy schedule; PM must not have watched all the episodes of the show.

In that case, making such a strong statement is not very strategically well put. Is it? Considering Pakistan’s low digital literacy and unfair access to non-biased literature, not everyone can intellectually and mindfully watch it as a mindless entertainment. Evident by the posts and praises of the show on Social media, let alone the bashing on the Instagram accounts of lead actors.

Neutrality: National content must keep a neutral stance. With such endorsements during COVID lockdown, limited mobility, perhaps this is a way of specifying the masses by PM. Almost like the band on Titanic playing the violin while everyone prepares for death and drowning, but with religious rhetoric to it. Such tactics have been used by politicians and proven to be very influential in the contemporary world of politics that aims at convincing people to adore the sacred power in their life undertakings.

Linguistically, anti-Muslim bigotry is a more accurate term for racist discrimination that Muslims face in their daily lives. It is an ancient phenomenon, keeping prejudice at the heart of it. It has been happening for centuries, and this time it is termed as Islamophobia. If nothing else, this national cheerleading leads to the idea of collective catharsis at a societal level. PM has unknowingly handed over an outlet to the nation through which the negative forces accumulated in the form of aggression, hatred, and degrading the minorities can be released. Shaan Shahid’s stance around patriotism and national narratives on social media, highlights the intrinsic gaps and concerns with promotion of national and not the borrowed content, lack of funding and support, government policy, infrastructure, and rating driven content by local media.

Conquest to Conquer: Religious fights and achieving religious reform is about making changes in the given socio-cultural conditions and political interests at hand. We tend to believe that many of the conflicts in the history were religious in nature.

The disputes in Anatolia between Muslim Oghuz Turks, fighting invading Mongols, Christian Byzantines, Knights Templar Crusaders or the cycle of conspiracies within Kayis tribe while dealing with external enemies plotting Ertugruls annihilation – are conveniently framed in the language of religion, they are misunderstood as religious conflicts. But if we look closely at the religion as involving questions of identity, then only we can understand these conflicts appearing to be less heroic, faith-based war and more political or economic disputes which can be resolved.

Similarly, the on-going battle portrayed in these series between Shamanism, Christianity, and Islam is more rhetorical than real. There is, of course, a genuine and ideological struggle of Muslims in this series. The problem with ideological war is that it boosts the collective self-esteem of masses viciously to the level where they have the purpose of living in their lives.

However, for the sake of argument, can we see the Muslim engagement with Christianity and Shamanism as a remarkable impact in Central Asia? Was it a clash of civilization? Or was it just well-crafted strategy to win over the geographical power?

Who, then, is a real enemy in this ideological conflict?

Stories of Origin: Stories of origin are as predictive and constraining as they are explanatory. The narrative becomes a paradigm, and just as often, the stories we tell, determine what happens. Stories drawing the map of where we came from become the ones restrictive in nature in deciding where we can go from here. If yours is a story of victimization, you will live out your days a victim. If it’s a tale in which your race is superior to all others, evidence of your superiority will be visible. Persian author Juwayni had quoted a fugitive regarding the Mongol operations in 1219-22:

‘They came, they sapped, they burnt, they plundered, they slew, and they departed.’

There is undoubtedly irrefutable evidence of widespread massacre during Chinggis Khan’s campaigns of conquest. But many cities surrendered promptly, and their populations were spared, while some Muslim rulers, notably in southern Iran, accepted tributary status and thus ensured that entire regions and their inhabitants remained unharmed. Mongol efforts to rehabilitate devastated Muslim territories too began, in some instances, strikingly early; here, the means sometimes involved bringing in settlers from the Far East.

To revive Islamic Identity: Faith is a form of identity that is as vital as ethnicity, nationality, or race, resting on the understanding of religion as a human response to an existential imperative. This instinctual and visceral response is shaped not just by the sacred religious texts but also by the current socio-cultural contexts and stories in which people grapple with daily life. Religious stories, in this light, mean more than mere historical truths.

What really matters is the narrative we embrace and what stories we choose to tell shape our sense of the world and our generations.

Reviling in its biased portrayal of Ertugrul and Islamic history, the show has painted a considerable bullseye on Ertugrul’s character. A metaphorical hero now inevitably overtaken the real heroes who have human attributes, has a realistic estimation of situation, is less driven by the emotions, and more intellectual in his war tactics and political strategies. The heroic image and story of Ertugrul, however, need the bad guy; otherwise, there would be no story to tell.

But this is the logic of stories, not of real life. The confrontation between good and evil is never as absolute as it is re narrating the story. In hindsight, the story adapts bit by bit, expanding and contracting to accommodate the glorifies version of characters as it simplifies overtime. With Ertugrul, we have taken our cues from religious rhetoric, mixed in a blend of pop culture and drawing parallels with GOT, and spun an image that now has little resemblance to the person or figure who actually existed and more of an immortal god who helps us live our esteem vigorously.

Halal John Snow: Commonly labelled as the Turkish Game of Thrones, woven around 13th century Anatolia tells the story before the establishment of the Ottoman Empire and illustrates the struggle of Ertugrul Gazi, father of the empire’s first leader. I intend to draw this analogy that drawing parallel of Ertugrual as a Halal John Snow, a person who is neither a strategist nor emotionally intelligent. Uses emotions as instincts in a war and believes in Tawakul and almost nothing harms the character.

And let’s not forget, he also won the battles by luck!

Through this drama, the nation is exploring the traumatic history, religious violence, tribal wars and nomads’ culture, and the power of Tawakul in our religious heroes.

Not to forget, your religious hero is always a villain in someone else’s religion.

When your story is written by those in passionate opposition to everything you believe in, it will be, put it mildly, twisted. Every action, gesture, strategy becomes not only a suspect but is turned on its head. The wildest rumours are passed off as facts. Inconvenient facts are ignored or edited out, relegated to oblivion until all we are left with is not a real person but an image. A morality tale character, which is how Mongols will become the kind of Evil spirits if their times.

Is Ertugrul telling a story that arcs toward hatred, intolerant nation, or away from kindness, mutual respect, and tolerance? A tale of intractable foes locked in a power struggle is not going to end in the greater nation.

The writer is Advocate High Court