Ömer Nasuhi Bilmen (1883–1971) was a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

scholar of

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
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and

tafsir Tafsir ( ; ) refers to an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' (; plural: ). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding ...

, and the fifth president of the

Directorate of Religious Affairs Directorate may refer to: Contemporary *Directorates of the Scottish Government * Directorate-General, a type of specialised administrative body in the European Union * Directorate-General for External Security, the French external intelligence ag ...

of the Republic of Turkey. He is known for his expansive work on a concise manual on Islamic faith, worship and ethics called ''The Big Book of Islamic Catechism'' (''Büyük İslâm İlmihali'').

Early life and education

Bilmen was born in

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in 1883 (Rabi ul-Awwal 1300 Hijri, 1299 Rumi). His father was Haji Ahmed Efendi and his mother was Muhîbe Hanim. Upon his father's death when he was a child, he was raised under the patronage of his uncle Abdürrezzak İlmî Efendi at the Erzurum Ahmediyye Madrasa. He studied under his uncle and the

mufti A mufti (; , ) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion ('' fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatāwa'' have played an important role thro ...

of Erzurum, Narmanlı Hüseyin Efendi. When his two teachers died at close intervals, he moved to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

in 1908 and in 1909 started attending the classes of Tokatlı Şâkir Efendi, one of the

Fatih Mosque The Fatih Mosque (, "Conqueror's Mosque" in English language, English) is an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman mosque off Fevzi Paşa Caddesi in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. The original mosque was constructed between 1463 and 1470 on the site ...

lecturers. In addition, he passed the exam of Attorney General in 1912 and graduated from the School of Judges (''Medreset ul-Kudât'') he was attending in 1913.Ömer Nasuhi Bilmen Kimdir? - Who is Ömer Nasuhi Bilmen? (Turkish)
/ref> Ömer Nasuhi Bilmen knew Arabic and Persian, and together with Turkish wrote poetry in three languages. He also had a curiosity for French and learned enough to translate it.

Major works

Bilmen's major works are the following: * Hukūk-ı İslâmiyye ve Istılâhât-ı Fıkhiyye Kāmûsu * Büyük İslâm İlmihali * Kur’ân-ı Kerîm’in Türkçe Meâl-i Âlîsi ve Tefsiri (I-VIII, Istanbul 1963-1966) * Büyük Tefsir Tarihi (I-II, Ankara 1955-1961) * Kur’ân-ı Kerîm’den Dersler ve Öğütler (Istanbul 1947) * Sûre-i Fethin Türkçe Tefsiri İ‘tilâ-yı İslâm ile İstanbul Tarihçesi (Istanbul 1953, 1972) * Hikmet Goncaları. 500 hadisin tercüme ve izahını ihtiva etmektedir (Istanbul 1963) * Muvazzah İlm-i Kelâm (Istanbul 1955) * Mülehhas İlm-i Tevhid Akaid-i İslâmiye (Istanbul 1962, 1973) * Yüksek İslâm Ahlâkı (Istanbul 1949, 1964) * Dinî Bilgiler (Ankara 1959) Bilmen had his essays published in ''Beyânülhak'', ''Sırât-ı Müstakîm'' ve ''Sebîlürreşâd'' magazines, published a poetry book titled ''Nüzhetü’l Ervâh'' (Istanbul 1968) which he wrote in Persian and translated to Turkish, and published a novel, ''İki Şükûfe-i Taaşşuk'' (1904).Ahmet Selim Bilmen, p. 99-168

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilmen, Omar Nasuhi 1883 births 1971 deaths 20th-century Muslim scholars of Islam Hanafis Maturidis 20th-century essayists 20th-century Turkish poets Turkish essayists People from Erzurum Turkish male poets Turkish translators 20th-century novelists Turkish novelists 20th-century translators Islamic scholars from the Ottoman Empire