The fact that the Directorate of Religious Affairs did not mention Atatürk’s name in the 30 August sermon turned into a controversy in a mosque in Gaziantep. A member of the congregation who asked the imam to recite Fatiha for Atatürk was detained because another member of the congregation said ‘Fatiha cannot be recited for the soul of an infidel’.
In Islamic religious terminology, an ‘infidel’ is a person who is considered to have apostatised by committing blasphemy or who has never been a Muslim.