''İslam Mecmuası'' () was a biweekly political magazine which was published in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, Ottoman Empire, between 1914 and 1918. It is known as being one of the early publications which attempted to provide a synthesis of the

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

and

Islamism Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...

, and its motto was ''dinli bir hayat, hayatlı bir din'' (). It was sponsored by the

Committee of Union and Progress The Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress (CUP, also translated as the Society of Union and Progress; , French language, French: ''Union et Progrès'') was a revolutionary group, secret society, and political party, active between 1889 and 1926 ...

History and profile

''İslam Mecmuası'' was established in 1914 and financed by the Committee of Union and Progress. Its first issue was published on 12 February 1914. Kazanlı Halim Sabit served as its editor. The magazine came out biweekly and was headquartered in Constantinople. ''İslam Mecmuası'' had thirty-two pages, but then it was reduced to sixteen pages due to paper shortage during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. It was printed by different publishing houses throughout its existence. The magazine aimed at producing a synthesis of the nationalism and Islamism and at presenting a reformist and liberal version of Islam which would be much more compatible with modern lifestyles. Unlike other Islamist publications it focused on the social roles and functions of Islam. ''İslam Mecmuası'' published the announcement of

jihad ''Jihad'' (; ) is an Arabic word that means "exerting", "striving", or "struggling", particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God in Islam, God ...

in November 1914. It ceased publication on 30 October 1918 after producing a total of sixty-three issues.

Contributors

Notable contributors of ''İslam Mecmuası'' included

Ahmet Ağaoğlu Ahmet Ağaoğlu, also known as Ahmet Bey Ağaoğlu (; or Ahmet Akif Agaoglu (December 1869, Shusha – May 19, 1939, Istanbul) was a public and political figure of Azerbaijan and Turkey, thinker, publicist, educator, writer, Turkologist, and ...

, Besim Atalay,

Aka Gündüz Aka Gündüz (1886 – 7 November 1958) was a Turkish poet, composer and politician. He is most notable for having composed the Ankara Marşı (Ankara March). Early life and education Aka Gündüz was born as the son of the Major of the Ott ...

and

Ömer Seyfettin Ömer Seyfettin (11 March 1884, Gönen – 6 March 1920, Istanbul), was a Turkish writer from the late 19th to early 20th century, considered to be one of the greatest modern Turkish authors. His work is much praised for simplifying the Turkish ...

. They were from three different groups:

ulemas In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam. "Ulama ...

such as

Shaykh al-Islām Shaykh al-Islām (; ; , ''Sheykh-ol-Eslām''; , Sheikh''-ul-Islām''; , ) was used in the classical era as an honorific title for outstanding scholars of the Islamic sciences.Gerhard Böwering, Patricia Crone, Mahan Mirza, The Princeton Encyclope ...

Musa Kazım Efendi, İzmirli İsmail Hakkı and Şerafeddin Yaltıkaya, Islamic reformers such as

Şemsettin Günaltay Mehmet Şemsettin Günaltay (; 17 July 1883 – 19 October 1961) was a Turkish historian, politician, and Prime Minister of Turkey from 1949 to 1950. Biography Günaltay was born 1883 in the Kemaliye town of the Vilayet of Mamuret-ul-Az ...

and Halim Sabit, and pan-Turkists such as

Ziya Gökalp Mehmet Ziya Gökalp (born Mehmed Ziya, 23 March 1876 – 25 October 1924) was a Turkish sociologist, writer, poet, and politician. After the 1908 Young Turk Revolution that reinstated constitutionalism in the Ottoman Empire, he adopted the pen ...

and

Mehmet Fuat Köprülü Mehmet Fuat Köprülü (December 5, 1890 – June 28, 1966), also known as Köprülüzade Mehmed Fuad, was a highly influential Turkish sociologist, Turkologist, scholar, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of the Rep ...

. Contributors of ''İslam Mecmuası'' often confronted with the conservative Islamists whose media outlet was ''

Sebilürreşad ''Sebîlürreşâd'' (Turkish: Straight Path) was a Turkish print magazine created by Mehmet Akif Ersoy and Eşref Edip Fergan along with Ebül'ula Mardin as its lead writer in August 1908, to spread the idea of Islamism under the name of ''Sıra ...

'' journal. The debates were mostly about the reform in Islam and began just after the publication of Ziya Gökalp's article entitled ''Fıkıh ve İçtimaiyat'' (Ottoman Turkish: ''Fiqh and Sociology'') in ''İslam Mecmuası''. The tensions between two camps increased in 1915 when ''İslam Mecmuası'' openly supported the restrictions on the authority of the Shaykh al-Islām. ''İslam Mecmuası'' was the first publication in the Empire which introduced the views of

Ibn Taymiyyah Ibn Taymiyya (; 22 January 1263 – 26 September 1328)Ibn Taymiyya, Taqi al-Din Ahmad, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-959 was a Sunni Muslim ulama, ...

, a

Salafi The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a fundamentalist revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" is a self-designation, claiming a retu ...

thinker, through the articles of Şerafeddin Yaltıkaya.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:İslam Mecmuasi 1914 establishments in the Ottoman Empire 1918 disestablishments in the Ottoman Empire Committee of Union and Progress Defunct Islamic magazines Defunct magazines published in Istanbul Defunct political magazines published in Turkey Defunct Turkish-language magazines Magazines established in 1914 Magazines disestablished in 1918 Biweekly magazines published in Turkey Turkish nationalism Nationalist magazines Islamic magazines published in Turkey