Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in 

the Liberal Age: 1798–1939 (1962. Reprint, Cambridge: 

Cambridge University Press, 1983), 222–244; Malcom 

H. Kerr, Islamic Reform: The Political and Legal Theories 

of Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida (Berkeley: Uni-

versity of California Press, 1966); Muhammad Rashid 

Rida, The Muhammadan Revelation. Translated by Yusuf 

DeLorenzo (Alexandria, Va.: Al-Saadawi Publications, 

1996); Emad Eldin Shahin, Through Muslim Eyes: M. 

Rashid Rida and the West (Herndon, Va.: International 

Institute of Islamic Thought, 1993).

Rashidun

  See a

bu

 b

akr

; a

li

 

ibn

 a

bi

 t

alib

; 

caliph

; u

mar

 

ibn

 

al

-k

hattab

; u

thman

 

ibn

 a

ffan

.

rasul

  See 

prophets

 

and

 

prophethood

.

rawza khavani

  See a

shura

.

ray

  See 

ijtihad

.

Refah Partisi

 

(Turkish: Welfare Party)

The Refah Partisi (RP) is the name of an Islamist 

political party that operated in t

Urkey

 from 

1983 to 1998. Soon after the Republic of Turkey 

was founded in 1923, its first president m

UstaFa

k

emal

 a

tatUrk

 (d. 1938) pushed through a series 

of reforms aimed at breaking the hold of Islam 

over the state and society. Historically, Turkey’s 

strong military has been a staunch defender of 

these secularist policies, and successive efforts to 

ease restrictions on Islamic education and wor-

ship starting in the 1950s have been met with 

military coups and the disbanding of political par-

ties oriented toward Islam. When single-party rule 

ended in 1950, the new Democrat Party began 

easing restrictions that had been imposed on 

Islamic 

edUcation

 and worship, but it was closed 

following the military coup of 1960.

The first explicitly Islamic parties (the National 

Order Party in 1971 and the National Salvation 

Party in 1980) were formed under the leadership 

of Necmettin Erbakan (b. 1926), but they were 

closed in the succeeding military coups.

Erbakan was himself banned from politics 

following a 1980 coup, but in 1983 Islamists 

K  582  

Rashidun

---

regrouped under a new party—Refah—of which 

Erbakan took control when his ban was lifted in 

1987. The party grew steadily in strength, sweep-

ing the local elections of 1994 and gaining impor-

tant mayorships, including i

stanbUl

 and Ankara. 

In the parliamentary elections of 1995, Refah won 

21.4 percent of the vote, a plurality, pressing other 

parties to join it to form a coalition. After much 

political wrangling, Refah managed to form a gov-

ernment in 1996, with Erbakan as the country’s 

first Islamist prime minister.

Refah’s success stemmed from its effective 

appeal to a segment of the Sunni population, 

which felt Turkey’s secular attitude had repressed 

Islam, but also to its populist and anticorruption 

discourse, and to its strong grass-roots organi-

zation, which distributed food and other basic 

necessities to the poor. Erbakan sought closer 

ties with countries such as i

ran

 and l

ibya

, and 

it openly supported the religious brotherhoods, 

which had been outlawed since 1925. These and 

other reform measures met with opposition from 

the military and the secular media, and, in 1997, 

under heavy pressure from the military, Erbakan 

resigned as prime minister. The Refah Party was 

closed in 1998, and Erbakan was again banned 

from politics.

Some Refah members resurfaced in the Fazilet 

(Virtue) Party, with a more Western orientation, 

focusing on 

democracy

, civil rights, and entrance 

into the European Union, but, despite its more 

moderate approach, Fazilet also ran into problems 

with the secularist forces, especially over the issue 

of 

Women

 wearing headscarves. In 2001 Fazilet 

was also closed down, after which a split occurred 

in its ranks. The younger, more moderate faction 

formed the AKP (Justice and Development Party). 

Refah Party members have subsequently worked 

with the Fazilet (Virtue) Party and the AKP (Jus-

tice and Development) Party, the latter of which 

won a majority of parliamentary seats in the 2002 

election, and it was able to form a government 

with Recep Tayyip Erdogan (b. 1954) as prime 

minister.

See also 

government

,  i

slamic

; 

hUman

 

rights

; 

i

slamism

; 

politics

 

and

 i

slam

; 

secUlarism

.

Mark Soileau