Abstract

Dār al-Qurʾāns, which were among the madrasas in the Ottoman period and where qirāʾāt was taught, turned into the Qur'āns schools after the law on unity of education, enacted on March 3, 1924. That was the end of the institutional entity of qirāʾāt education in Turkey. Afterwards, a number of qirāʾāt teachers kept performing this education by their individual efforts. Among these teachers, Osman Nuri Taşkent who was the former head-imam of Nuruosmaniye Mosque in Istanbul was assigned as a Qurʾān teacher in Adapazarı in 1936. This research aiming to address Taskent’s service as a public servant, his educational activities, and his role in the re-institutionalization of the qirāʾāt education is planned as a qualitative case study and carried out by document analysis and interview techniques. In conclusion, this study has demonstrated that (a) this school which aimed to be offered in Adapazarı was planned as qirāʾāt education school, (b) Taşkent was the responsible official teacher (c) 14 students graduated under his mentorship in Adapazarı, and (d) this institution was named as Dār al-Ḥuffāz of Adapazarı in his period. Moreover, it shows that after the leaving of Taşkent, this school maintained the education under the responsibility of Himmet Babalıoğlu who is one of the former students; however, the type of education changed and turned into a general Qur'āns chool.Summary: With the law of unified education which is a turning point in the history of Turkish education, all educational institutions were gathered under responsibility of the Ministry of Education. However, madrasas were closed approximately two months later, even though it was not included in the law. Along with the madrasas, Dār al-Qurrā that are the institutions performing education on the recitation, memorizing, and the principles ofreading the Qurʾān were also attempted to be closed with the similar understanding. However, the President of the Religious Affairs in this period opposed this attempt and these institutions turned into Qurʾān schools due to the insistences of the president that these institutions should maintain their education under the responsibility of the presidency of religious affairs. After this change, qirāʾāt education lost its institutional entity.Whether Dār al-Qurrās have been able to continue education since 1925 as Qurʾān schools is controversial. According to some researchers, the Qurʾān schools after this change were not closed as opposed to other religious institutions, imam hatip schools and Darülfünun Faculty of Theology, and continued their education. Another view is that these courses were officially opened for the first time in 1925, closed since 1929 with the alphabet revolution in 1928, but they restarted education in 1930 with the permission for limited locations in Anatolia and for some teachers in Istanbul. Another view is that the courses planned to be opened in ten places could not be activated due to some obstacles in 1925, but they could be opened after the closing of imam hatip schools after 1930.In some studies, it is stated that the qirāʾāt education, which lost its institutional existence with the conversion of Dār al-Qurrās to the Qurʾān schools, providing general Qurʾān education has been continued with individual efforts of some qirāʾāt teachers such as Serezli Ahmed Şükrü (d. 1932), Hamdi Efendi (d. 1939), Akrepoğlu Osman Nûrî Taşkent (d. 1942), Ömer Aköz (d. 1952), (Ayağıkesik) İsmail Hakkı Bayrı (d. 1972), Hasan Akkus (d. 1972) and Üsküdarlı Ali Efendi (d. 1976). In the same studies, it is also underlined that the science of qirāʾāt regained an institutional entity only after the attempts of Tayyar Altıkulaç in 1968, with the sending of the Diyanet to Aşıkkutlu, honorarily occupied with the science of qirāʾāt in Uğurlu town of Of. However, the fact that Osman Nuri Taşkent was appointed in 1936 as Qurʾān teacher in Adapazarı while he had been the chief-imam of the Istanbul Nuruosmaniye Mosque reveals that the efforts for the institutionalisation of the qirāʾāt education began much earlier.This research aiming to address Taskent’s service as a public servant, his educational activities, and his role in the re-institutionalization of the qirāʾāt education is planned as a qualitative case study. The main problem in the study is whether the appointment of Osman Nuri Taşkent, the chief-imam of the Istanbul Nuruosmaniye Mosque in 1936, as a Qurʾān teacher in Adapazarı is an attempt to establish an institution of qirāʾāt education in the early period of the republic, or not, and the some results are as follows:In the diploma that he awarded Himmet Babalıoğlu who one of his students in Adapazarı, Taşkent presented himself as assigned the teacher and tutor by Turkish Republic for those who want to memorize and learn the Qurʾān as well as to learn qirāʾāt according to books of Shātibiyya and Durra in Adapazarı. This statement shows that his main reason for the leaving Istanbul was qirāʾāt education. Before his appointment to Adapazarı in 1936, Taşkent was giving qirāʾāt education at the Nuruosmaniye Mosque. Accordingly, in his interview with Diyanet Magazine in 1989, Hızal who is one of previous students stated that he had received qirāʾāt education from Taşkent in Nuruosmaniye since the early 1930s. Moreover, in his ratification letter, he stated that Hızal got ratification for Taṣḥīḥ al-Ḥurūf on July 13th, 1933 and qirāʾāt on May 10th, 1935. These statements show that he was occupying with qirāʾāt education in Istanbul. In this case, it is not reasonable to assume that he was appointed in Adapazarı for general Qurʾān teaching.Some documents also clearly reveal that Taşkent went to Adapazarı for qirāʾāt education, and the education he provided there is about qirāʾāt. Six years after Taşkent left Adapazarı, the informative letter which the Adapazarı muftī of the period wrote to the Presidency of Religious Affairs is perhaps the most important document. According to this document, 14 students studied Taṣḥīḥ al-Ḥurūf in Adapazarı graduated under his mentorship. However, it should be immediately stated that “Taṣḥīḥ al-Ḥurūf” in this letter means qirāʾāt education in consideration of that Babalıoğlu and Hızal were among the 14 students. Because Babalıoğlu learned qirāʾāt all of them from Taşkent as in his diploma and Hızal received diploma of Taqrīb. Furthermore, Himmet Babalıoğlu and İsmail Uziş who were the students in Adapazarı submitted their petitions to ask the left position by Taşkent. These petitions are ones of the important documents proving that the process started with Taşkent in Adapazarı was qirāʾāt education. Accordingly, they both addressed their candidacy for Adapazarı Qurʾān teaching by emphasizing their qirāʾāt education and competence in this field.A clear answer may not be given to the question of "Is the appointment of Taşkent as a Qurʾān teacher in Adapazarı individually given to him or is an institution established there?" in the context of his departure. However, some correspondences show that this education was an institutional activity for his period. Then, when it is aimed to identify qirāʾāt education as an institution for its period, the title of “Dār al-Huffāz of Adapazarı” is used and Taşkent is described as “Adapazarı Qurʾān Teacher”. Additionally, as Adapazarı Qurʾān teaching had an institutional quality, one of his students, Himmet Babalıoğlu, was appointed to the relevant position after him.