Time and Place: Monday 09:30-12:30, DL019.

Lecturer: Feyzullah Yılmaz

Email: feyzullah.yilmaz@izu.edu.tr
Office: EG144.
Office Hours: Tuesday, 11:30-13:30.
 04.03.2019
 Rifa'a Rafi' al-Tahtawi (1801-1873)

 Khayr al-Din Tunisi (1820-1890)
 Bad government & Good
government
 Lack of freedom, autocracy.
 Freedom, citizenship, vatan,
(Homeland), Egypt
 What should be done? There
must be checks and balances:
Advisers (ulema) & The Law
(Sharia)
 To become a civilized country: 1)
moral virtues & 2) material
welfare
 1) Moral virtue comes from Islam.
2) Material welfare can be
achieved through sciences & can
be learned from Europe.
 The causes of the rise and decline of
states.
 Lack of freedom, justice and equality,
and existence of autocracy
 What should be done? No autocracy.
Limited government. Consultation
(Shura) with ayan and ulema & The
Law (Sharia and kanun)
 Justice, freedom, equality, Tanzimat
reforms, focuses on the Muslim
community as a whole.
 To become a civilized country, one
should learn from others – Europe.
 Learning from Europe does not make
us Christians.
 11.03.2019
 Jamal al-Din Afghani (1838-1897)
 The problem: The threat of Europe
and Muslims not knowing the true
Islam, and getting weak.
 Solution: Muslims should
understand the true Islam, and
then they will be strong again.
 Then, what is true Islam?
 Belief in a transcendent God
(against materialism)
 Importance of reason = modern
sciences should be learned.
 Action/living. Islam is not only
about worshipping God, but also
developing/building a civilization.
Muslims should develop socially,
politically and individually. They
should be united and in solidarity.
 Afghani’s opinion about learning
the modern sciences from Europe.

 Muhammed Abduh (1849-1905)
 The problem: Inner decay of the Muslim
World due to a wrong conception of
Islam.
 Solution: Muslims should understand the
true Islam, and then they will be strong
again.
 Causes of inner decay/decline?
 Loss of reason and loss of ijtihad.
 Newcomers to Islam – Turks. They didn’t
know Islam, so they just wanted to imitate
the law, and leave no space for the use of
reason and ijtihad.
 What should be done?
 Reinterpret their laws to adjust them to the
new circumstances and modern conditions.
 Learn the modern sciences from Europe.
 Abduh’s opinion about learning the
modern sciences from Europe.
 18.03.2019 (I)
 Namık Kemal (1840-1888)
 The problem: Bad government.
Why? Because government is not
based on freedom and justice.
 Solution: Good government.
How? By ensuring that the
government is based on freedom
and justice. How can this be
achieved? Through consultation
(shura) and constitution.
 When this is done all external and
internal threats will be
eliminated:
 Christians will stop making
allegations against the state;
 foreign intervention will stop
because now people are free, and
they are ruled justly;
 the officials will be accountable;
 people will trust the government.

 Ali Suavi (1839-1878)
 The problem: a) Bad government and b)
bad people.
 Three kinds of governments: monarchy
(sultanate), aristocracy (government of
notables), and democracy (government by
the people, equality). Monarchy and
aristocracy are bad, democracy is good. In
the early days of Islam, the form of
government was democracy.
 There is bad government today because
the people are bad. Bad people means
people who lack morals.
 Solution: First, there must be good people.
This can be done through education and
by refining our morals. After that, a good
government (democracy) can be
established. A government will satisfy
both the material needs and the moral
needs.
 18.03.2019 (II)
 Musa Kazım I (1858-1920)  Musa Kazım II (1858-1920)
 The problem: Bad government. Why?
  The problem: Muslim thinkers today are
Because government is not based on
justice, freedom and equality.
 Solution: Good government. What is it? A
government that is based on justice,
freedom and equality. This was the kind
of government in the Prophet’s and the
first four caliphs’ time. After them,
government turned into personal ruling.
 What should be done? We should return
to the origins, and again establish a good
government through consultation (shura)
and constitution. And when this is done:
 everything will be consulted with the
umma;
 people will be judged justly and equally.
 duties will be given to qulified people – to
people who have integrity, who are just and
competent.
not producing new knowledge anymore.
In the past they wrote books, produced
new knowledge on religious and non-
religious issues. They wrote on theology,
on philosophy. They defended religion
against Aristotelians, against materialists
and naturalists. How? By learning these
new sciences.
 The solution: Muslims thinkers today
first should learn the sciences of their
opponents – modern sciences. And then
defend Islam on the basis of these
sciences.
 When this is done, it will be possible to
review the theological books in
accordance with the needs of our time
and defend Islam.
 18.03.2019 (III)
 Ziya Gökalp (1876-1924)
 The problem: Is modern state
compatible with Christianity or
with Islam?
 Answer: Modern state is not
compatible with Christianity, but
with Islam.
 It is not compatible with
Christianity because Christianity
favors the religious community,
and does not care about the state.
Modern state emerged with
Protestantism because
Protestantism rejected
Christianity.
 Modern state is compatible with
Islam because Islam values both
religion and state.

 Halide Edip Adıvar (1884-1964)
 The problem: The prejudices of Western
writers against Turks and Islamic
societies. There is no democracy, no
secularism in Islam.
 Solution: Tries to correct prejudices by
making Turks a kind of exception. She
accepts the difficulty of reconciling Islam
with modernity due to its widespread
practice and rules, but claims that only
Turks who are close to Western values can
achieve it.
 When Turks became a Muslim, the
democratic side of their nature was
strengthened, for democracy is the
dominating aspect of Islam.
 Turks are also differnt from Arabs because
Turks used to be ruled by manmade laws in
their pre-Islamic period. When the Ottoman
Turks founded the Ottoman state, sultans
and governments continued to make laws
 25.03.2019
 Ali Abd al-Raziq (1887–1966)
 The problem: Is Islam both a
religion and a state? Was the
Prophet assigned by God both as a
messenger and also as a king,
ruler?
 Answer: God sent Islam as a
religion, not a state. He assigned
the Prophet as a messenger not as
a ruler/king.
 1) Religion and state have different
functions. Islam is a religion only,
not a state.
 2) If Islam was sent with an aim to
establish a state, there would be
more clear guidelines.
 3) The Prophet himself did not
leave a successor.
 4) God allowed people to decide
upon their form of government.

 Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865-1935)
 The problem: The caliphate is abolished in
1924. Abd al-Raziq argues that there is no
state in Islam. And that Islam is only a
religion. What should be done?
 Answer: He argues that Abd al-Raziq’s
ideas are mere innovation (bida). There
has always been a caliphate in Islam.
Now, there should be a new caliph.
Caliphate must be restored again.
 So, how can this be done? Who should be
the new caliph?
 The caliph should come from the Qurasyh
tribe.
 The caliph shold be a great mujtahid, and
for that he should know the Arabic
language.
 The caliphate should be in the holy places
(Mecca and Medina) of Islam – not in
Istanbul, or Ankara.
 01.04.2019


 Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938)

 The problem: The Muslim World is

weak. Also the Muslims are weak.
 What should be done? How should we
live? Individually and collectively.
 Individual Answer: We should live not
in a pessimistic, or optimistic way, but
in a melioristic way. Also, we should
strengthen our personality, our
individuality and become the perfect
man (insan-ı kâmil) «Virtue is power,
force, strength; evil is weakness.»
 Collective answer: Monarchy,
aristocracy, or democracy? We should
know that we are the source of power,
and we should accept our
responsibility to rule. We should
choose «spiritual democracy» which is
«a political regime of higher and
morally developed individuals.»