Are atheists ‘sons of devil’?

One of Turkey’s answers to American “televangelists,” Islamic theologian Nihat Hatipoğlu, initiated a debate last week with his reckless remarks about atheists. Speaking on his popular TV show, he first said: “I do not believe that any atheist is negating God. Those who say so are lying. Because all of them say ‘Allah’ when they are in trouble.”

This was, of course, factually untrue. Because there are many consistent atheists in the world who do not say “Allah” even when they are in trouble. Had Hatipoğlu said this for lax theists who do believe in God but hardly think of Him unless they are in trouble, then maybe he would have a point.

But the real gibberish was in the second part of Hatipoğlu’s tirade. He said: “The atheists’ greatest father is the devil... [But] even the devil does not deny God... So the devil is purer than the atheists.”
In return, Turkey’s nascent Atheism Association issued a press release, saying that they believed in neither God nor the devil, so Hatipoğlu’s words were nonsense. They had a point.

(To be fair, we should note that Hatipoğlu tried to correct his words later. Speaking to Today’s Zaman, he said: “We love and respect atheists. My words have been distorted.”)

So, perhaps we should have forgotten about this incident. But I rather think such controversies should be scrutinized, in order to move beyond the childish arguments we sometime hear against atheism in the Muslim world — and perhaps the whole world of religious faith.

One point I would note is that when the Quran renounces the devil, in its allegorical language, it does not depict him as an atheist. The devil, as...