Özet:

Sezai Karakoç is no doubt one of the most prolific poets and thinkers of Turkey. He has authored many works (poems and essays) especially in the 1960s and 1970s. This study critically evaluates his famous work İslam Toplumunun Ekonomik Strüktürü [Economic Structure of Islamic Society] written in the late 1960s. The book is essentially a criticism of capitalism and communism. Based on his criticism of these systems, the author tries to show that Islam is a much better alternative. We should abstain from two possible mistakes when evaluating the works of poets, artists, scholars and thinkers: extreme glorification of the author or his/her work based on political, religious or ideological motives; or, going to the other extreme and despising or looking down on them through a retrospective reading by neglecting the social, political and historical conditions in which the work is produced. The right attitude is critically evaluating the work while appreciating the effort of the author. Economic Structure of Islamic Society was written during the Cold War where the so-called “the Generation 68” objected capitalist regimes through massive demonstrations, hopes for communism were still alive, and Turkey was trying to find herself a seat in the capitalist bloc. The main idea of the book, i.e. instead of emulating capitalist or communist models, we can develop our own “Islamic” model based on our historical background, is quite acceptable. However, in order to ground this idea, the book very often had recourse to wild generalizations and reductionism depicting a negative portrayal of the West via criticism of capitalism and communism. On the contrary, for the Muslim world it adopts wild generalizations to depict an ultra-positive portrayal. After critically evaluating the book, this article brings forward that the real choice is not between Islam and capitalism or communism, but rather between command system and free market system.