ANKARA (Web Desk) – A Turkish professor at the University of Ankara’s School of Divinity has said that those who do not offer daily Islamic prayers as animals.
In a Ramazan show titled “Joy of Ramazan”, divinity professor Mustafa Askar said that out of all living beings only humans were able to touch the ground with their foreheads. He went on to conclude that humans were created in a “salah ergonomic” way, which is why we are commanded to do sujud (prostrate) in Salah (Islamic daily prayers).
He also said: “Salah is not done by animals and those humans who do not offer salah are also animals.”
Responding to Askar’s statement, Yasin Ceylan, who is a professor of philosophy at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University, said that accounts like Askar’s could be used by Islamic State militant group.
“If those who do not offer prayers are animals and killing an animal is not considered a murder, hence those who do not offer Islamic prayers can also be killed,” he said in a statement.
Reacting to public outcry over his statement, Mustafa Askar said that many of his words were distorted by his opponents. However, he has refused to withdraw his words, calling them a scholarly evaluation.
