Turkish pianist accused of insulting Islam

Fazıl Say, a Turkish pianist and composer with an international career who is facing a court case in Turkey for insulting Islam on account of reposting a message written by someone else on Twitter, has said, “It is unbelievable that it was made into a court case.”

In Say’s much-debated Twitter message, heaven’s promise of rivers of wine was likened to a tavern and its promise of virgins to a brothel. Speaking to The New York Times, he explained, “It referred to a poem by the 11th-century Persian poet Omar Khayyam.” But Murat Bardakçı, a well-seasoned scholar of Ottoman history and literature, maintained that, although the text Say retweeted might be present on the Internet with the author indicated as Omar Khayyam, there was actually no such verse among Khayyam’s work.

Defending himself, Say noted that he was only one of 165 people who shared the Tweet on the Islamic vision of paradise. “I just thought it was a funny allegory and retweeted the message,” he added. In another Tweet, this time written by him, Say made fun of a muezzin who rapidly delivered a call to prayer, asking whether the muezzin was in a hurry because he wanted to have a drink.

Say is accused of “publicly insulting religious values that are adopted by a part of the nation,” the Anatolia news agency said. The court case, in which he may be sentenced to up to 18 months in prison if convicted, is to begin on Oct. 18. <Cihan/Todays Zaman>

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