Ali Erbaş appointed as President of Religious Affairs again

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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With a Presidential decision issued by ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and published in the Official Gazette today (September 17), President of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş has been appointed to the position again.

Erbaş has thanked Erdoğan for the appointment by sharing a message on social media, referring to the Presidency of Religious Affairs' "duty of enlightening the society about religion granted by the Constitution."

About Ali Erbaş

The President of Religious Affairs since September 2017.

Born in Ordu province in 1961, Erbaş graduated from the Sakarya Imam-Hatip Islamic vocational High School in 1980 and from the Marmara University's Faculty of Theology in 1984. He worked as a religious official at various mosques in İstanbul's Fatih district from 1982 to 1993.

He completed his MA studies at the Marmara University Faculty of Theology in 1987 and did his PhD at the same faculty in 1993. In the same year, he was appointed as an assistant professor to the Department of History of Religions of the Faculty of Theology of Sakarya University. He became an associate professor in 1998 and a professor in January 2005.

From the year 1997 to 2002, Ali Erbaş was the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Theology of Sakarya University while he became the Dean of the same faculty for two terms from 2006 to 2011.

In 2011, Erbaş was appointed to the Directorate General of Education Services of the Presidency of Religious Affairs. On June 8, 2017, he was appointed as the rector of Yalova University. On September 17, 2017, he was appointed as the head of the Presidency of Religious Affairs.

From hate speech to 'Good morning': Ali Erbaş

Since he came into office as the head of the Presidency of Religious Affairs in 2017, Erbaş has made the news with several statements about the issues that do not fall within the scope of his field of specialization:

• "In the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, people used to say things like 'May your morning be blessed'. They were similar to the expressions of 'good morning" and "good afternoon' used by some of us.
• "O humankind! Islam considers adultery to be one of the biggest harams [acts forbidden by religion]. It damns being from the Lut and homosexuality. What is the reason for this? Because it brings along diseases and rots the generation; its reason is this. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people are subjected to the HIV, which is caused by illicit and unmarried life, by this big haram called adultery in Islam. Let's struggle together to protect people from such evil."
• "There is a mindset of 'Let the faith not be on the street, in the neighborhood or in the city, but inside the human.' 'Let it be between the human and Allah, let it not be reflected in their houses, trade, politics, justice and judiciary...' As you see, they are causing quite a stir. 'Let clear those places from faith', so to speak. This thought is bringing the people to this point."
• "In the projects of the Housing Development Administration (TOKİ), the amount - except for the advance payment - is provided a loan by the public banks; the aim of the state in this indebtment is not to earn interest income but - on the contrary - it is to help the citizens having difficulty making payments to own a house. In that sense, as the state does not provide any other opportunities for buying houses in this practice of the TOKİ, it is permitted by religion to benefit from the project within the direction of the indicated intentions and aims.
• "In fact, the earthquake disaster is giving us a warning about both the world and the afterlife. It says, 'Build your houses and buildings strong. I may come anytime.' As for the afterlife... This is how doomsday will be. For this reason, take precautions for both the world and the afterlife. This is the lesson that we will take from the earthquake."

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(TP/SD)