Visiting Professor

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

KIRKHS-Usuluddin and Comparative Religion

ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN THE INTELLECUAL

PANORAMA OF TURKEYS HIGHER EDUCATION
Ottoman Heritage, Recent Developments and Challenges

OSMANLI (UTHMN)

THE OTTOMAN HERITAGE

Ottoman history cannot be separated from the general
history of Islamic civilization; as such it is just a period in the
history of this general Muslim achievement. For this reason I
shall refer to it as the Ottoman Period (al-ahd al-Uthmn).

Therefore, we will also take the Turkish experience in Islamic

education as part of this Islamic educational system.

TURKISH EXPERIENCE IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION

The roots of Islamic education applied by Turkish people
go back to the educational system established by the
Prophet in the first century of Islam. All the way from the
beginning Muslim societies paid highest regard for the
pursuit of knowledge ('ilm) as required by Islamic
principles of learning. Education, on the other hand was
regarded as a religious duty which belonged to the
community rather than the state. However, the state is
supposed to provide the necessary environment. For this
reason in the early period there were only two forms of
teaching; regular Qur'an schools, or maktab; and higher
schools of learning, madrasah. Both institutions were
financed privately by donations or waqf, pious
foundations throughout the Muslim world.

Turkish people inherited this system from the Ottoman

educational tradition through the Seljuk Turks of Anatolia; a
system which was established right from the very beginning days
of Islam. Medrese as a higher education institution is the
touchstone of this tradition. That is why as soon as the
Ottomans were able to perceive themselves as a self-sustained
state, they established a medrese; the first one being the Iznik
Medrese founded by Orhan Gazi in 1331. The chief professor of
this first medrese was the well-known philosopher, Dwud alQaysar, who was himself educated in a similar institution in
classical learning of Islam. Therefore, the Ottoman intellectual
history made a beginning as a continuation of the same tradition
that extended to them from the Abbasids, through the Saljuks.
But with the general course of the Ottoman history this system
was gradually transformed into an Ottoman milieu. As more
medreses were opened according to the needs of society, new
terminology concerning the intellectual system emerged.

THE OTTOMAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

The complete form of the Ottoman
intellectual training began, as is the case today,
from elementary school, called mekteb-i
sibyan, or simply mekteb and continued with
middle school, called medrese-i ibtidaiye.
What may be characterized today as higher
education began at tetimme medresesi and
continued at medrese-i semaniye, or sahn-i
seman, which can be classified as the true
university.

THE CURRICULUM OF THE OTTOMAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

The early education as elementary school began by teaching

reading and writing especially for the purpose of being able
to read the Quran. Besides these, some basic subjects such
as mathematics, essentials of Islam and general courses on
religion and morality were taught. As the student continued
his education he would be introduced to new subjects such as
Arabic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, logic, philosophy
(kalam), Quranic exegesis, hadith and fiqh (Islamic law,
jurisprudence and ethics). Natural and medical sciences were
usually not taught at medreses; they were taught at
specialized universities, which were established especially at
and after the time of Sulayman the Magnificent.

In the later periods this system was modified and

some other types of higher educational institutions
were added. But more radical changes were
introduced after the 18th century. These changes
were not only formal but they were concerned with
the contents of education as well.
This brought a major break from the classical
Islamic educational system. We need to explain this;
our question is why?

Negotiation of the Treaty of Karlowitz 1699

Pope XI. Innocentius in 1684 formed a Holy League in Europe against the
Ottomans: (German) Holy Roman Empire, the PolishLithuanian
Commonwealth, the Republic of Venice and Russia

It marks the end of Ottoman control in much of Central

Europe and the beginning of the phase of stagnation, with
first major territorial losses after centuries of expansion

After the eighteenth century new engineering schools were

also opened. This brought new conflicts into the Ottoman

intellectual life; since students were educated under different
schemes of thought. There came to exist in the society three

types of intellectuals. First, there were those who were

educated in the medrese system and were inclined to
legalistic or theological type of studies. Secondly, there were

those who were trained at mystic lodges and had an ascetic

mindset; and finally those who were trained at the newly
established universities who had a secularist mindset
belittling traditional learning. Later Ottoman thought was the
field mainly of this struggle between these three types of
mindsets. We shall try to examine more closely how this
development took place as this leads to present day Turkey.

The beginning of this transformation from classical Islamic

intellectualism to what is known today as modernization or
more radically Westernization can be seen first in a period
called in Ottoman history Lale Devri (The Tulip Period). The
Grand Vezir Damad brahim Paa (1718-1730) began the
construction of a large pleasure palace named, appropriately,
Sadabd (Place of Happiness) for the Sultan and his entourage.
It was built at one of the most beautiful places in Istanbul, on
the right tip of the Golden Horn. brahim Paa is also the first
Ottoman official to realize after the terrible defeats at the
Western military fronts that Europe was now more advanced in
certain fields of knowledge which the Ottomans lacked. He thus
began a series of reforms and re-organization. He sent
permanent ambassadors for the first time to major European
capitals. This way the European ways of living and culture also
began to infiltrate into Ottoman society.

At this time the printing press was already available for the nonMuslim subjects of the Ottomans and works in Hebrew, Greek,
Armenian, and Latin had been printed. Together with Sait Mehmet
Paa, brahim Mteferrika (1674-1745) initiated the establishment of
the first Turkish printing press in Istanbul. This helped in turn to
transmit many of the artifacts and ideas of the West into the empire.
The scribes, who feared the lose of their jobs and position in the
Ruling Class, at first strongly opposed this new invention. But the
eyhulislam issued a compromising fatwa, allowing the printing of all
books except the traditional religious books. Mteferrika was thus
free to print whatever he wanted on history, languages, mathematics,
geography, and the sciences. But with the insistence of brahim Paa
the very first works printed were maps of the Sea of Marmara and of
the Black Sea (1720-1725). Then until the death of brahim
Mteferrika in 1745, 16 works (in 20 volumes) were printed. Six of
these were on the exact sciences, and the rest were on history and
geography. brahim Paa also constructed a paper factory in 1746.

It is not difficult to infer that in the minds of the Ottoman

thinkers who read these newly published works a new
idea was gradually emerging:
They could survive only if they borrowed not only the
military sciences but also the geographic knowledge and
governmental techniques developed in the modern world.
This is clearly manifest in the publication of Katip elebis
Cihannuma which used a Latin work by Edmund
Pourchot (1651-1734) as a basis for discussing the
theories of Descartes on vortexes and those of Galileo on
physics, magnetism, and the compass. In 1732 he
brought together translations of several English and Latin
works under the title Fuyuzat-i Miknatisiye (The
Enlightenment of Magnetism), adding information on the
use of the compass.

ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN THE INTELLECUAL

PANORAMA OF TURKEYS HIGHER EDUCATION

Developments in the 19th century prepares the way for the Republican
times in the 20th century. The first changes were seen in the engineering
field. The traditional medrese system did not include technical subjects
and natural sciences. As a result as early as 1734 a school of engineering
was established in Istanbul. But the most comprehensive such schools
opened in order to train the military personnel in 1776 were called
Imperial Naval Engineering School (Mhendishane-i Bahr-i Hmayun) and
Imperial Land Engineering School (Mhendishane-i Berr-i Hmayun). These
military schools had mostly French officers and European textbooks
most of which were translated into Ottoman Turkish. Such new schools
with a totally different background brough a dilemma into the Ottoman
educational system. For, there were two types of intellectuals: one with a
traditional Islamic mind and the other a new Muslim mind filled with a
variety of Western perspective of world conceptions. In order to lessen
the gap between the two approaches Sultan Mahmud II (1801-1839)
introduced a whole scale reforms in the Ottoman educational system.

We thus see a notable number of higher schools established during the

reign of Sultan Mahmud II:
Schools of medicine, an Imperial School of Music and the Military Academy (Harbiye),
School of Law (Mekteb-i Ma'rif-i Adliye), School of Natural Sciences (Mekteb-i Ulm-u
Fenniye) and School of Literary Sciences (Mekteb-i Ulm-u Edebiyye)

But these newly established higher institutions of learning had

absolutely no relation whatsoever to the traditional education system at
lower levels. In fact elementary and middle education schools had
almost no changes at this early period of modernization. As a result
students coming from the traditional schools had difficulty to
understand the subjects at higher institutions. Therefore, eventually the
new higher schools gradually began to develop their own elementary
and secondary schools. At first the need was felt more at the higher
elementary level and as a result the so called Rushdiye Schools (adult
elementary schools) were established. For some time this fulfilled the
need of the newly established higher schools. The early elementary
schools, called mekteb-i sibyn continued to give its traditional education
of Quran and Islamic education as it used to give.

The period right after Sultan Mahmud II is known in

Ottoman history as the period of whole scale reforms
called Tanzimt (Abdulmecid I) (1839-1876).
The new outlook in the Tanzimat Period was emphasizing the
fact that the state is intimately concerned with education. As a
result a new department was established in the government in
1845 in order to control and administer education. At first this
department was called Provisional Board of Education
(Muwaqqat Ma'rif Meclisi) which was later named Ministry of
Public Schools (Mektib-i Umumiyye Nezareti). Thus the first
ministry of education was also established in the Muslim
world. This new state body introduced a set of regulations in
1846 to reorganize the entire educational system.

A new scheme was introduced with elementary school

called mekteb-i sibyan for children of ages 7-10 with four
grades; and secondary school called Rushdiye (Rdiye in
Turkish) as before with six grades for children between
ages 11-16. After the Rushdiye a student would choose any
higher school. Finally in 1869 the first Ottoman Education
Law was issued with a comprehensive reorganization of
the state school system. This law also allowed private
schools; as a result, many foreign schools and non-Muslim
educational institutions were opened. But the Ottoman
law did not allow mixed education of Muslims and nonMuslims. The public schools, on the other hand, were
designed as Sibyaniyye (elementary school), Rushdiye
(lower middle school), I'ddiyye (higher middle school)
and Sultniyye (high school).

Then came the institutions of higher learning such as

technical schools, engineering and military schools.
The first modern university organized in Western
fashion came into existence at this time with its
Ottoman-Arabic name Dr al-Funn (1900). The
Ottoman Education Law made education mandatory
for boys between ages 7-11 and for girls between ages
6-10. However, new Rushdiyes were established for
girls also if they wanted to continue for higher
education. As a result education became more
widespread throughout the community.

After the Tanzimat Period during the reign of Sultan

Abdulhamid II the number of schools increased
remarkably and thus the rate of literacy tripled. More
schools were established with this modern approach to
other provinces such as Damascus, Baghdad and
Lebanon. He further opened new schools of finance, fine
arts, commerce, engineering, veterinary services, police
and schools for the blind and deaf. After the rule of
Sultan Abdulhamid II the educational system experienced
more reforms of secularization which paved the way for
the official introduction of secularization during the
Republican Era when the Ankara government introduced
the Law of Unity of Education (Tevhid-i Tedrisat Kanunu)
in 1920.

This way all educational institutions were put under the control of
the Ministry of Education which closed all the traditional
medreses, the number of which was estimated to be around 500
with about 18.000 students. In order not to attract negative
reaction because medreses were considered as representing
Islamic education for the common people, the government
provisionally established new higher education schools called
faculty of theology (Dr al Funn, lahiyat Fakltesi) in Istanbul
and 26 new secondary schools for training religious personnel
such as imams and muftis. However when the new constitution
was introduced in 1928 Islam was no longer the official religion of
the state which was defined to be secular. The same year the
Arabic alphabet was replaced by the Latin alphabet used in
educational systems as well. As a result of these new
developments all Islamic schools were closed once again. This was
the period of religious subjugation especially during the Inonu
administration when no religious education at all was allowed.

Finally in 1950 when the new Democratic

Party came into power, the new government

began

to

allow

Islamic

education

by

establishing the secondary Islamic schools,

called imam khatib schools and higher

institutions of Islamic learning at the university

level. It is this system which came to the

present times with some slight changes.

HIGHER ISLAMIC EDUCATION

Today there are only universities representing this

kind of education. We can in this system single out
the lahiyat Faculties as representing Islamic
education, but actually in the true Islamic sense, we
are not supposed to make such a distinction; namely
just because ilahiyat colleges have the curricula of
classical Islamic sciences we consider them Islamic
and the other ones we do not because like the ilahiyat
colleges they do not have the curricula of classical
Islamic sciences . In this sense all education is Islamic.

[After] we moved to Bukhara a teacher of the Quran and a teacher of

literature were provided for me, and when I reached the age of ten I had
finished the Quran and many works in literature (al-adab), so that people
were greatly amazed at me. Then he [my father] sent me to a vegetable
seller who used Indian calculation and so I studied with him. I had devoted
myself to jurisprudence, with frequent visits to Ismail the Ascetic about it. I
was a skillful questioner, having become acquainted with the methods of
prosecution and the procedures of rebuttal in the manner which the
practitioners of it [jurisprudence] follow. Then I began to read the Isagoge
Logic under Abu Abd Allah al-Natili. As for Euclid I read the first five or six
figures under him; then I undertook the solution of the rest of the book in its
entirety by myself. Then I moved on to the Almagest, and when I had finished
its introductory sections and got to the geometrical figures, commentaries-in the natural sciences and metaphysics, and the gates of knowledge began
opening for me. Next I sought to learn medicine, and so I read the books
written on it. Medicine is not one of the difficult sciences. In addition I
devoted myself to jurisprudence and used to engage in legal disputations, at
that time being sixteen years old. Thus I mastered the logical, natural, and
mathematical sciences, and I had now reached the science metaphysics.
(Gohlman Translation)

MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

LIFE STRUCTURE
which is the worldview initially

The Initial Process of

Worldview Formation

EDUCATIONAL THEORY

I.
EARLY
EDUCATION

The Stage of Worldview

II.
ELEMENTARY
EDUCATION

The Stage of
Knowledge Structure

III.
MIDDLE
EDUCATION

SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTUAL
SCHEME

Scientific Stage

IV.
HIGHER
EDUCATION

SPECIFIC SCIENTIFIC
CONCEPTUAL SCHEME

Stage of Specialization

V.
GRADUATE
EDUCATION

WORLDVIEW

KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURE

Challenges and Future Prospects

The struggle for excellence in Islamic education in
the experience of Turkish people represents perhaps
the same experience throughout the Muslim world.
In this struggle Muslims are left between an old
system of Islamic education which is no longer able
to cope with the requirements of our time and a new
Western educational system built on solid ground
and a philosophy of its own worldview. If Muslims
adopt this new educational system they feel forced to
accept with it its philosophical requirements at the
same time. This necessarily brings the problem of
philosophical secularism into the educational
picture.

There seems to be only one way left: to develop a new

system of Islamic education for the future generations.
Unfortunately many Muslim intellectuals and government
policy makers in the Muslim world are not even aware of
the fact that without a well rounded philosophy of
Islamic education it is not possible to establish a system
of education; a philosophy of education that is built upon
the worldview of Islam, namely the Islamic vision of
reality and truth. This explains the fact that there is a dire
need for Muslim philosophers to work in this direction
until we come up with a philosophical expression of
reality and truth as depicted by the Quran and hadith. We
are hoping that on this basis we shall be able to establish
the Islamic philosophy of education.

Istanbul

THANK YOU VERY MUCH