The 26th Doha International Book Fair is attracting many book-lovers from the region. Feyza Gumusluoglu spoke to Iskender Pala, a prominent Turkish Divan (Ottoman) poetry professor and author of bestselling novels, about his inspirations and latest work.
How did your journey start?
When I was in secondary school, I had read a Turkish classic by Peyami Safa; Dokuzuncu Hariciye Kogusu, it is a story of a sick boy. At that time I was sick, and I found myself in that book. It was the first book that had deeply impacted me. I came to realise that books are actually comforting, a book can even be a cure for an illness. Later on as I went to high school, I was already a young man who reads a lot. But the thing was, there were not many books at that time in Turkey. I was reading whatever I had found. In the year of 1973, the total number of books published in Turkey was only 62. Today, 620 books are published on a daily basis.
When did you write your first book?
After reading a lot by borrowing books from public libraries, I attempted to write my first ever long story, or a short novel, arrogantly, egotistically! Let me tell you the title of the book and you understand the rest: So Passed a Life. This was how I named the book. I was only 17!
What was the story about?
It was a tragic story of a young girl who was kidnapped and forced to be a beggar. I am glad I did not publish it that time! Apart from this book, I was writing down all the lyrics of songs that I hear of. I had lots of poetry notebooks by doing so.
Is writing a natural gift or learned skill?
Talent is not enough for one to be a writer or poet. The key is working hard. Yes, talent is important but it does not take you anywhere if you do not develop it. Actually, Allah gives talent to only hardworking people. If you think of the most talented people in the history, they are indeed very hardworking.
As an author of over 40 books, you should be working extremely hard then?
I work very hard. I publish a new book each year. In order to do so, I work on a regular basis, from 8.30am to 18.30pm in my office. I spend at least 250 days of a year without receiving any guest, only reading and writing. My book comes out in the first week of January each year. As I said, talent does not matter for being a good writer, it is all about hard work.
What is your latest book?
It is a biography of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), but in the form of a novel. It was extremely challenging for me. I had read over 40 books on his life. I did not read or write even one sentence without performing ablution. Because it is not about an ordinary person. When I write a book based on a historical figure, I always think that way: I will meet this person one day, in the hereafter. Sultan Salim (Ottoman Sultan), or Yunus Emre (Sufi poet) will be waiting for me.
The question is how they will welcome me. If I like to be warmly welcomed, everything I write has to be accurate. It becomes even more sensitive if this person is Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). I would like him to embrace me when I meet him, being pleased with what I have done. That is why I consider this book as a gift for him. When we visit someone, we bring a gift. Shall we not give him a gift in the hereafter? This is my gift. That is why I like one copy of this book to be buried with me, symbolically.
How did you overcome the challenges you mentioned?
It is very hard to write a novel about the Prophet. Because you need fiction in a novel, but the life of the Prophet is so straight and clear that leaves you no space for fiction. But I wanted to write his life as a novel. You need dialogue in a novel, but how are you going to do it when it comes to the Prophet? Because we know him saying “whoever attributes something to me that I did not say, let him take his place in Hell.” In order to overcome this challenge, I chose every word from the Hadith (narrations) carefully. I did not directly talk about the Prophet, but 40 people around him. Talking about him is same as looking directly at the sun; your eyes would be dazzled if you do so. Through the lives of those 40 people, I tried to write the story of the Prophet.
What was your main motivation for writing this book?
We are living in hard times, as Islam has been associated with terrorism and violence in the West. The only way to prevent is to know and learn more about our Prophet. He is our leader, our guide; when we learn and know him properly, we will start living a righteous life. When we start living a righteous life, harm, terror, violence will go away from us. There is nothing wrong in Islam, the problem is with people. In order to have a better knowledge of Islam, we should learn more from our Prophet as Muslims.
Do Muslims work hard enough to fight Islamophobia?
Unfortunately Muslims are so weak in promoting their religion. It will not take us anywhere to blame the US, France or Britain for damaging the image of Islam. We have to look at ourselves first, face our own mistakes. The question is how we are representing Islam. For instance, how many movies, or operas we have made on Islam as Muslims? During the Prophet’s time, “Masjid” (mosque) was a school, a meeting point, a workshop at the same time. Today people pray at specific times and then leave. If you separate the mosque from all of those, life and religion break apart from each other. But in reality, religion is a vital part of life.
Are there a lot of similarities between the Turkish and Arab literature?
Art was divine at the beginning. painting, sculpture, poetry, all arts were religion oriented, both in the East and the West. It had been fostered by church, or mosque. In the modern era, art has become secular in parallel with the states and people. Poets or song writers now tend to write about life, joy, excitement or love, instead of divine subjects. As a result, the Turkish and Arab literature do not have a lot in common today.
Lastly, do you think Internet changes people’s reading habits?
I think books are still essential, indispensable. But I also think internet is a big garbage filled with information. At the university where I teach, I forbid my students from doing their home works by using internet. People think finding information easily is the same as obtaining that information. No, internet only makes it easy to reach information, not to obtain it. Information on the internet is different than information on a book. In order to be a true intellectual, we need book in our hands, not iPad!
The Peninsula
