The New Divine Comedy

By Bedrettin Simsek

A novel as divine as Dante's Divine Comedy and as diabolical as Goethe's Faust by Bedrettin Simsek, the banned author of Turkish literature. When it was published in 1998 under the title "The Discussion between an Atheist and a Cleric," Bedrettin Simsek and the publishing house were sentenced to two years in prison for insulting religious values. This sentence was suspended on the condition that they would not commit the same offense again. As a result, Bedrettin Simsek was ostracized from the literary world. Fearing the reaction of readers or punishment, publishers closed their doors to him. In the end, he was turned into a cursed writer, whose name no one would ever speak again..
 Reminiscent of a comic version of Dante's Divine Comedy and its antithesis, the work begins with an intellectual conflict between a dying atheist and a cleric, then takes the reader on a dizzying journey through the landscapes of Purgatory, Heaven, and Hell. By creating a post-mortem in which the sinners enter heaven first and the good can fall into hell, the book deserves the title "The New Divine Comedy. The work not only reveals the genius of Bedrettin Simsek, but also gives the reader an opportunity to understand the nature of the ban imposed on him for years in the literary and publishing circles of Turkey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bedrettin Şimşek
• Release date: Apr 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9786057362148

Book preview

1

Preamble

With his cassock on his back and his skullcap on his head, the cleric approached the dying man's bed.

Here, he said, it is time to die! Be brave, put aside your worries. Choose to save your soul for the new life that awaits you. Think that God wants back what He has given you.. Death is coming to rescue you from your enemy. So do not fear death, which will open the gates of paradise for you. Fear that at the moment when your soul is victorious, your body will make that victory meaningless. Do you hear me?

The dying patient nodded.

Cleric:

Death can give you a victory as well as defeat you. How will you face it then? What will you say to it? ''I have waited for this moment, longed for this moment. The moment I have been waiting for has finally come.. But why am I in despair, why can't I feel joy?' Will you say that? Or will you say, 'The world had captured me. It was very dear to me; what a pity! Now when death puts me on a throne, I lose treasure, because my defeat is sitting on that throne'. Is that what you will say? Then think of your sins. Think of the torment you will suffer for them. Do not fear death. It comes to save you from your enemy.. With death, a burden will be lifted from your back. Do you hear me?

The patient nodded again.

The cleric came closer and continued:

I was brought here by your wife and children because you insulted God behind your mother-in-law's back when she called you to pray. You told your wife that you had renounced your faith after living all your life as a good religious man, and you denied your religion in front of your children. Is this true, traitor!

The dying patient was silent.

The clergyman said, There! If you don't repent of your words, if you don't believe in God, if you don't give up your soul and call upon the name of God, if you don't say with your last breath, 'O Lord! I seek refuge in Your mercy for my blasphemy,' then you will die as an unclean person. Let me tell you what will happen then. When you are laid in the grave, two angels will come and interrogate you. Depending on the result of this interrogation, your grave will become either a garden from the gardens of paradise or a pit from the pits of hell. For as our great religious scholars say, the grave of the believers will be enlarged and filled with pleasant smells, while the unbelievers like you will be hit on the head with an iron hammer. They will scream so loudly that everyone will hear it except for human beings. Do you understand me?

The patient made a sign that he understood everything.

The clergyman said, Then believe before it is too late. Ask God for intercession. Tell him, 'O my God, I believe in you, I bow down before you'.

The patient was silent. The cleric said:

Go ahead, pray to your God, 'O my God, keep me out of your hell. Won't you speak?

Suddenly the patient began to moan.

Ah! he groaned. Will there be no peace and comfort for men on their deathbeds? Will these clerics frighten the man even as they send him to his grave? Will they follow him with such threats until his last breath?

The clergyman said angrily:

What! Are you still insulting? Are you not afraid of hell, or at least of the torment of the grave? Do you know what awaits those who do not believe in God in the grave? The earth will squeeze their bodies like a mangle so that they will not be able to move even in the greatest pain. A demon with a chain around his neck will rise from the earth and beat them with it. Their graves will be filled with fire even before they enter hell. A snake specially created for these tortures will sting them day and night. Scorpions will bite them with their poisonous fangs. Even if their bodies decay, a new one will be created and that body will be tortured. Imagine How terrifying the scene in the grave is. This is what will happen if you do not believe. Therefore, only the light of religion can guide you in that darkness.

The patient looked pensive for a moment.

What happens if I believe? he asked.

The clergyman said, his mouth watering:

Then you will be taken to heaven, that land of eternal youth and beauty, where there are rivers of honey and milk, musky wine, comfortable seats, a variety of ripe fruit, clothes of fine silk, trees with trunks of gold and branches of silver, mansions of pearls and rubies.

So, my faith in God will help me, will it?

Yes.

It is in my interest to believe in God?

How did you know?

If it is in the interest of believers to love God, how can God take their love seriously?

Excuse me?

Then aren't they offering their prayers as a bribe to God?

Shut up, impudent! Don't increase your torment in hell. If you don't think of yourself, at least think of your children. Why do you want to torment your wife? Just for the sake of your innocent mother-in-law, can't you say that there is a God? And what if there is? Then no matter how much you beat yourself up. So you won't see any harm in saying that you believe. But when you say you don't believe, even if you are right, you won't gain anything.

Even if God exists, what difference does it make? said the patient. Nothing. My decision remains the same. I believe there is no God.

Alas, you die in sin.

Then tell me, imam, what is God's purpose? To make his servants believe in him, or to dissuade them from sin?

Both. For those who have the fear of God in their hearts do not sin.

So the one who does not believe in God, even if he is good, will be considered to have committed a sin?

Not believing in God is the greatest sin.

But what if I don't believe that he is perfect?

Then try to repent for your sins without thinking of God.

How can I not repent? I have committed a grave sin, Father. I wasted my life believing in God, in religious delusions. Yes, I regret it. I regret having spent my whole life in such nonsense. I made a mistake, and you are asking me not to go back from that mistake. You are hindering me; you are trying to poison me.

How! When you should be asking for God's forgiveness.

Just when I have found the truth, I die prematurely. But now a door is opening before me, through which the perfect appears to me. I have never seen anything so clean, Father, and how dirty I am dying. So how can I not beat myself up? Life is entrusted to us. We must give it back in time. God expects us to waste it. I have wasted it. I have nothing left. Now nothing will return what I have lost, nothing will compensate me for my loss.

The clergyman became even more furious.

Oh! So you want to be buried like a heathen? Do you know what you will face in hell, let alone suffer in your grave until the Day of Judgment? May the scorpions and centipedes eat you! At least I wish you had died of diarrhea.

Calm down, imam, why do you get so angry when you see someone who doesn't believe in God?

Because this deep irreligion gives me the creeps. If you weren't sick, I would have put you in your place with a stick.

And I would answer you, if I commit a crime against God, is it for you to punish me? Who appointed you as God's lawyer?

The cleric rejoiced.

What, did you say God? See, even if you say He does not exist, you are actually admitting His existence. Then there is no problem! After all, that supreme being prefers the worst sinner to the best denier.

All right, as you wish, God exists. Now go.

The cleric grabbed the patient's collar tighter:

No, I will not leave until I see that you believe. It is my duty to save a soul in danger.

I don't understand.

What cleric has ever seen a heathen and not taught him a lesson? Would I miss this opportunity to do good deeds?

Oh, Rabbi, while you are trying to save me from hell, won't you fall into that hell?

Don't worry, nothing will happen to me.

What if the opposite happens, what if you go astray? Because I used to be like you, I used to believe in God naively, but now I have become like this.

Are you challenging me, infidel? Do you think you can defeat a wise old man like me, a man of faith whose sermons are famous all over the world, with your vile ideas? After all, you just said that God exists.

Yes, there is, but only as a product of our minds. That is what is terrible. A dream created by man dominates his life. That the dream he has at night continues during the day.

Suppose so, what's the harm?

Imagine a man who was born a pearl diver, father. He spends his whole life at sea, but he can't find a single one. He cannot know the value of a pearl; he cannot appreciate what he has not seen. Hasn't he spent his life in vain?

I will not deign to answer this question, but I will only say this. How sad it is to sin without having the right to complain at the end! What consoles the infernals is not that the door of forgiveness is open. That door will open again in the end. What comforts them is that they are allowed to complain. Because complaining can be a sign of repentance. The one who complains also asks for forgiveness. You poor, you deprive yourself of even this right. You are committing a crime. I dread to think what awaits you on the other side.

So I'm going to hell, am I?

Unless you ask for forgiveness.

So there will be justice on the other side?

No doubt.

Then for someone who has suffered from the injustice of the world, even if the place of justice is hell, it will be a place of salvation. Don't deceive me, Father. I have never seen justice in the world to see God in it. If I believed in God, it would seem horrible to me. If there were a God, I'd curse him every day. Good thing there isn't one. That way we don't have to hate him.

Wretch! May God help you; may He forgive you!

Oh Father, will God forgive me whom I accuse so much? Shall I ask Him to forgive me?

Even when you accuse God, don't you acknowledge his existence? Then think, what if God exists, what if you are wrong? Won't you have a shred of doubt in you? Won't you ask yourself, what have you lost if there is a God whom you now blindly reject?

Even if there is no God, shall we pretend that there is? Let's believe the lie, no need to search for the truth. Let us spend our lives chasing after a dream. Then why were we born?

Alas! You are sacrificing your eternity for something temporary. Even in death, you cannot leave the world. If your life hadn’t been wasted, if it had been so perfect, wouldn't you lose it again when you die? Don't love the world so much. Don't blame God for something you are going to lose anyway. Besides, there is no point in complaining that your life has been wasted. What would be the point of being sad about losing something that is already temporary?

Well, let's assume for a moment that you are right, then tell me, why can't God boast about what he calls his work? And then he requires his servants to believe in him?

Because gold and silver are not of equal value to everyone, and the world is the way it is because of the sins of people like you.

I understand from your answer that there are foolish servants of God.

Do not despise fools. A wise man can be led astray by another wise man. But a fool cannot be persuaded by all the wise men put together. That's why stupidity is also a virtue in its place.

Patient:

True. Only the fool is safe from the snares of thought. Where the wise man thinks, he will not think at all. He will be at ease; he will have no fight. He will not clash with himself, his desires will not tear him to pieces. His faith will remain intact because his mind is not working. Come on, confess, father. You are most comfortable when you don't think. When you think, you feel as if you have sinned.

After being silent for a while, the religious man said, Actually, I can't say you are wrong. I have seen so many people die, and even though they were ungodly, in the end they took refuge in God. Why? Because they had lost their mind. At the moment of death, they became stupid. They were chanting the name of God and saying stupid things. So they were in exactly the state that we want to see them in. Because that also gave us an opportunity to correct them. Just as a doctor needs people to be sick in order to work. That's why people have always shared the most precious moment of their lives, the moment of death, with a clergyman. Look at this and realize how precious we are, traitor! That is why when someone dies, there is always a priest present. He sends him off on his most important journey. If the clergyman arrives late and the patient dies in the meantime, he will at least enjoy it at the funeral. There is no cleric who would miss the opportunity to show himself in his flamboyant attire in the presence of the dead. The funeral is like a cleric's wedding ceremony. Like the bridegroom, he leads the way. He stands at the head of the tomb. Everyone looks into his mouth, even more interested in him than in the deceased. He is the protagonist of the funeral. He leads the cortege. He is the one who stops the procession. Now you say you don't want me to be with you at your funeral. What's a wedding without a groom, madman? No doubt God suffers the most when his servants become wise. But if a man is clever, what can He do? Even I, when I read the scriptures, can't keep my mind from wandering to irrelevant things, and I get so caught up in my thoughts that I end up confusing the prayers. That's why I read them aloud. What else do you think is the reason why preachers deliver their sermons as if they were scolding their listeners? It's not to make their voices heard, but to drive away the silly thoughts that come into their minds at that moment. Perhaps that's why worship requires so much repetition. Will God punish his servants for this? Even if we never say it, haven't some thoughts crossed our minds that put us in a difficult position? Could it be that thoughts similar to those of the skeptical haunt the pious? Even a pious person might not be able to restrain himself from laughing at some silly thought in a blessed moment. Would he have committed a sin? I don't think so. Since God has kept the door of the mind open, any mischievous wind can blow through it. The Lord Almighty should not blame us for this. There are many women who, while they are praying, think about what they have to cook that day. This daily problem is thus carried up to the court of God, where perhaps the angels discuss it among themselves. Does God forgive our weaknesses? Among all the nonsense that comes to our minds, are there no ideas that question the existence of God? Is it in man's power not to think what he does not want to think?

The clergyman, himself a frequent offender of these sins, said:

To tell you the truth, I have often thought such nonsense myself. It was obvious that the devil had inspired me. Fortunately, each time my faith was strengthened. Of course, it is our actions that God will judge. If He were to punish us for what we think, He would have no place to put His servants in hell. So whatever you say, even you have a chance to go to heaven. As long as what you do doesn't match what you think. I don't think God would be too hard on our weaknesses in the kitchen or in bed.

So, Father, we can't avoid the question of whether there is a God?

Of course there is.

But isn't it a sin to even ask this question?

The important thing is how you answer it. In the end, does doubt weaken your faith? Or does it strengthen it? Doubt can lead to certainty. It can make you want to believe more. Then doubt can also be a sign of faith.

I think differently. Inappropriate ideas flash through the brain like lightning in the sky. The thoughts that we banish from our minds are like buzzing flies. Those who fight them the most are the ones who get stung the most by them.

Still, it is a vice, not a sin.

But isn't sin always born out of weakness? Doesn't it give us an opportunity to defend ourselves, an opportunity for God to forgive us? What does God have to say when His servant claims to be weak?

I said no. We need to distinguish weakness from sin. Sin is that which God commands us not to do. Weakness, on the other hand, is something man does unintentionally that only offends God's will. The Almighty knows how frail His servants are and cannot be too persistent. This is the great forbearance of the Lord. Even He knows that human stubbornness cannot be overcome.

How is it, Father, to punish men for their sins while forgiving them for their weaknesses?

If even the most pious, the most devout, when alone, cannot help asking if there is a God, what can the Almighty do? In fact, he has solved this dilemma in two ways. First, by intimidating his servants; and second, by dazzling them. In this way, the honorable being has shown how prudent he is. He offered them heaven and hell. Hell deters the weak creature from evil, while heaven attracts him to good also because of his weakness.

Then weakness cannot be man's fault.

Perhaps? Because if man did not show weakness, he would not believe in God. That is why God first sees what the servant does. Does he go astray or does he manage to control himself? After all, weakness can turn into sin or it can be an opportunity for good. Aren't there good deeds that man does out of pride, just to be liked by others? For this adorable Supreme Being did not create His servants good or bad. He only made them independent of Himself by a free will.

Then, Father, the responsibility for the defects of creation may well be laid on the will.

More or less.

If He left everything to the will of His creatures, couldn't God have made them at least as intelligent as they were free?

No.

Why, Rabbi?

Then they wouldn't have believed in God. If they were more intelligent, they would immediately begin to doubt. Because the mind is skeptical by nature. It asks a lot of questions. If somebody is always asking questions, it is because he is not finding answers. This is very dangerous. Because he will constantly think. Nothing undermines faith more than thinking. It is easy for such a person to sin. But for a devotee, religion has already explained everything. He doesn't ask a question that doesn't have an answer in the holy books.

There it is, Father, the most basic fallacy on which all religions are based. You have explained it very well. You have just described man as a weak being; now you describe him as a strong one. But perhaps it is true; take evil out of man and God is left.

The state of the world cannot be an occasion for crime. Everything is a choice, and in the end he will choose either evil or good. Those who have little faith may say that their choice is difficult. Those who have a lot of faith, no matter how weak they are, will not deviate one iota from the truth. What do you mean, those who harm others will claim that they are weak when they have the power to do so?

What a pity, Mr. Imam! Don't you see that this description could eventually lead to God being blamed by His servants for their own sins? If it is the result of the will, then sin must be considered a defect of creation.

That is why it is said that God will forgive His servants if they repent, said the clergyman.

The patient said, That doesn't change the fact that God created man imperfectly. I mean, you can get me to accept that God exists, but you will never get me to accept that He is perfect.

Maybe, He created it that way on purpose? Isn't each person responsible for maturing himself? Only when he reaches perfection does God complete His work. Those who fail will be cast into hell; those who succeed will take their place in heaven.

So it is a crime that man cannot complete what God has left incomplete?

No. Even then God will forgive him. As long as he does not sin.

But what is man to do if his will does not make him strong? It seems to me that religions play such logical games to explain this complex issue. Man does not deliberately choose to sin. Because he has no idea of the consequences of his actions.. He cannot imagine them. In other words, sin is the result of a lack of imagination, not of faith. If the murderer had foreseen the pain he would inflict on his victim, he would have suffered as if he were dying himself. So sin is born out of a lack of emotion. This is a defect of creation. That is, it is a defect created by God Himself. For with how much imagination man is born, with that same imagination he dies. So God is responsible for man's sin. He must go to hell with him.

I never said he was perfect. I even said that man, as God created him, is imperfect. But He also gave him the ability to improve himself. Just as He did not deprive him of the possibility of destroying himself.

No, no! A person with imagination feels another person's pain in him. Therefore he cannot hurt anyone. But he who cannot imagine the pain he inflicts on others is also ignorant of himself. He has no hope. Here is the definition of sin. It is the most desperate state a person can be in. So it is not a lack of faith, but a lack of imagination. Because even those who have a lot of faith can lack imagination. This explains the state of mind of those who kill in the name of God. In short, Mr. Imam, if God existed, we would have to believe that some people are really evil. But those who do evil do not know what they are doing. Therefore, the Creator is responsible for the sins that people commit.

"The holy books tell us that not a leaf moves on the earth without God's will. It is not for us to argue about this. And it should not lead us to deny God. Because religions tell us to look for consolation in the hereafter. The world is transitory; it would not be right