194. Today in 1920s Turkey: 4 August 1927 (Modernity and Vociferous Prayer)
Türkçe
Asri Çocuk!
Küçük İlham’ın beşinci sene-yi devriye tevellüdü. Misafirler, hediyeler ile gelmişler, çaylarını içip eğleniyorlardı… Bir aralık dışarıdan İlham’ın sesli yükseldi:
— Allah’ım, bana güzel bir bisiklet gönder!..
Misafirlerden biri kapıyı açıp sordu:
— Yavrum, niçin öyle yüksek sesle dua ediyorsun, Allah sağır mı?..
İlham, şeytani bir tebessümle:
— Hayır, dedi, Allah sağır değil ama, babamın kulakları ağır işitilir!..
English
Modern Child!
It was little İlham’s fifth birthday. Guests had come with their gifts and were drinking their tea and enjoying themselves… At one point İlham’s voice rung loudly from outside:
— Oh God, send me a nice bicycle!
One of the guests opened the door and asked:
— Child, why are praying in such a loud voice, is God deaf?
With a devilish smile, İlham said:
— No, God is not deaf, but my father is hard of hearing.
Comments:
This humorous bit is one of several short stories featured on this page. This publication, Akbaba was a satirical gazette whose readers came to expect and appreciate its witty anecdotes and cartoons. This short “joke” presents a manipulative and cunning child of only 5 years and frames his process as a “modern” one. In the anecdote we see that the child, while young, has already understood the ways of this world, namely, that his material needs are more visibly met by his father, not God. But being an appropriately “modern” person, this child knows that he must deliver or filter his superfluous and materialistic requests through a religious medium, that is, prayer.
This tactical medium of “wish advertising” in the form of loud public prayer performs two functions:
1. It advertises the child’s piousness to his audience (his father and birthday party guests), thus convincing everyone that he is worthy of receiving such a gift and
2. It plays to the ego of his father, who will see himself as God-like in his abilities to provide for his son.
Indeed, there is nothing more modern than self-promotion and a little self-serving publicity. In this way, the prayer, here, becomes mere corporeal performance rather than spiritual supplication.
