The Role of State Policies in Modern Quranic Exegesis in Turkey: Case of Elmalılı Muhammed Hamdi Yazýr (18781942) and His Exegesis

• Authors: GÖKKIR BILAL
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper explores modern Turkeys political and intellectual attitudes and their reflections on Quranic studies in the example of Elmalılı Muhammed Hamdi Yazir (18781942) whose exegetical work has been widely and influentially circulated. The task of the exegesis in Turkish was offered by Diyanet Isleri Baskanligi (Presidency of Religious Affairs) to Yazir as a result of the parliamentary decision in 1926 just after the closing of the madrasas in 1924.The idea was that Islamic sources, at least at the level of basic knowledge should be made available to the people in their native language. Yazir began to work on exegesis of the Quran, Hak Dini Kuran Dili (The Religion of the Truth, The Language of the Quran) and completed in 1938. It might be seen that the exegesis was a product of secular governmental initiation with its control-oriented character. However, at the end it was revealed that Yazir resisted the politics in the favor of traditional Islamic understanding.

• Publisher: Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN
• Journal: Acta Asiatica Varsoviensia
• Year: 2012
• Issue: 25
• Pages: 133-145

Contributors

author

GÖKKIR BILAL