If you are sincere in your claim, go ahead!
Fact
This page is not an answer to a claim. It is the record of an invitation — and that invitation still stands.
In his talk, Alparslan Kuytul lists one by one the things said about him: an Iran supporter, a Shia, a Wahhabi, a takfiri, an ISIS supporter, outside Ahl al-Sunnah, an enemy of the orders, an enemy of Sufism. Then he addresses the same call to everyone who says them:
"If you are sure — and since you speak this way you must be sure — then come, I invite you. I will come, I will bring my wife, I will bring my children. You will bring yours. And then we will invoke the curse. We will say: whoever is lying, may their root wither."
The name of this call is mubahala: both sides come with their families and pray, "may the curse of God be upon whichever of us is lying". It appears in the Qur'an, in Surah Al Imran, in the dispute with the delegation from Najran.
One point must not be passed over. In the same talk Kuytul says plainly that he does not count his accusers as unbelievers: "I do not place them in the position of unbelievers, but I can invite them to this." So what is at hand is not a declaration of unbelief but a test of sincerity. That is the subject of this page as well: his answer to those who call him a takfiri is not to declare them unbelievers, but to ask whether they can stand behind their claims.
Why this invitation?
Because voicing an accusation costs nothing, while proving it takes effort. A sentence is formed, it reaches thousands, no one asks for its source. For the one who says it there is no price; for the one it is said about there may be detention, a closed association, a blocked conference.
The mubahala invitation exists precisely to remove this imbalance. It says to whoever puts the claim forward: can you stand behind what you said far enough to risk losing?
Kuytul has written down his own side in advance: if any one of these applies to him, he asks that his own root, his wife's and his children's, should wither.
The evidence is already out in the open
This invitation is not a challenge born of a lack of evidence. On the contrary, the documents have been out in the open for years and stand one by one on this site: police and MİT letters, inspection reports, decisions of non-prosecution and acquittal. Connection to a terrorist organisation, connection to FETÖ, takfirism, Shiism, being pro-Russian, enmity towards Sufism — the answer to every one of them is written down with its document.
This page is therefore not for those who have not seen the evidence. It is for those who go on saying the same thing although they have seen it. To them only one thing is said: since you are so sure, go ahead.
The recording of the talk belongs to 2016 or earlier; its exact date is not known. The text was transcribed from the video recording.
The talk in full
The text below is a transcription of the talk in the video. Only obvious slips introduced in transcription have been corrected; the sentences are left as they were.
Whoever calls us Iranian agents, or Shia, or Wahhabi, or takfiri, or ISIS supporters, or outside Ahl al-Sunnah, or says anything of the sort — I invite all of them. I invite them to the mutual invocation of the curse. If they are men, let them come and let us invoke it.
I say to them: if what you say is true of us… I will bring my wife and my children. Let such people come too, and bring their wives and children. This is a command the Qur'an gives concerning the People of the Book. I do not place them in the position of unbelievers, but I can invite them to this.
If you are certain — that we are Iranian agents, Shia, not Ahl al-Sunnah, enemies of the orders, enemies of Sufism, ISIS supporters, whatever else — if you are certain, and since you speak this way you must be certain, then come; I invite you. I will come, I will bring my wife, I will bring my children. You will bring yours. And then we will invoke the curse. We will say: let the root of whoever is lying be dried up.
If you stand by it, come. If any of these is true of us, may God dry up my root, my wife's and my children's. And you too, if you are certain of them: if Wahhabism, ISIS-support, Iranian allegiance, Shi'ism, being outside Ahl al-Sunnah — whatever you say — if these are in us, may God dry up your root? And if they are not, may God dry up your root? If they are, let Him dry up mine; if they are not, let Him dry up yours?
Go on, say yes. Go on, say amen. Come. You speak without knowing, you speak on other people's words. Here I am, and I say: these things are not here, and they never were. If you have one, name a single proof.
What is mubahala?
Mubahala is when two sides who cannot agree on a matter come together, bringing their families with them, and pray: "may the curse of God be upon whichever of us is lying." It appears in the Qur'an, in Surah Al Imran, at the end of the dispute with the delegation that came from Najran.
It is not a common practice in Turkey today, which is why the call strikes many people as harsh. Its harshness is not incidental: the whole meaning of mubahala is to make the cost of saying a claim equal to the cost of carrying it.
What does the invitation measure?
There is no court here, no expert witness, no document. Only one thing is being measured: the claimant's own confidence in what he says.
- If someone has called a man an "ISIS supporter" for years and genuinely believes it, nothing stands in the way of his accepting this invitation.
- If he says it without believing it, his not coming is itself the answer.
- If he says "such things are not done", then he is expected to apply the same measure to what he himself said: an accusation without evidence is not done either.
Kuytul has left himself no room: if even one of these attributes is true of him, he asks that his own root and his family be dried up. A prayer a man makes upon his own children is something the person who fits an accusation into a tweet has not reckoned with.
Go ahead
Years have passed. The accusations have gone on being repeated — and this while police letters, inspection reports and court decisions showing the opposite are in the open. The only thing this page says is this:
Since you are certain, since you go on saying the same thing despite every document — the invitation stands. Go ahead.
The same call, made to one particular person, is dealt with on a separate page. This page concerns the general invitation, addressed not to one person but to everyone who makes the accusation.