This text was translated from the Turkish original by AI; no person has reviewed it yet. The original is on the Turkish page.
A Turkish scholar and author; a public lecturer and professor.
He was born in 1875 in the village of Tophane in İskilip. His father was Mehmed Ali Ağa and his mother Nazlı Hanım. He was orphaned at six months and was raised by his grandfather Hasan Kethüdâ.
After his local studies he went to Istanbul despite his family's opposition. He completed his medrese studies in 1902, passed the ruûs examination, and in 1903 began teaching at the Fâtih Mosque. After graduating in 1905 from the Faculty of Theology of the Istanbul Dârülfünun he taught Arabic at Kabataş High School.
Because of his activities he was exiled to Bodrum by a şeyhülislâm; he then travelled to the Crimea and to Warsaw and returned after the proclamation of the Second Constitutional period. In 1910 he served as inspector of medreses; he wrote for journals such as Sebîlürreşâd and Beyânülhak. After the 31 March Incident he was imprisoned for a week. Following the assassination of Mahmud Şevket Pasha in 1913 he was exiled to Sinop, Çorum and Sungurlu for about eighteen months; the authorities later acknowledged his innocence.
In February 1919 he became vice-president of the Society of Professors under the presidency of Mustafa Sabri Efendi; when Sabri Efendi became şeyhülislâm he assumed the presidency of the society. In November 1919 the society took the name Teâlî-i İslâm Cemiyeti, published numerous works and opened branches throughout Anatolia.
His treatise Frenk Mukallidliği ve Şapka of 1924 was regarded as a text opposing the hat law. He was arrested on 7 December 1925 and tried before the Ankara Independence Court. Although he was at first acquitted, his detention continued; while the prosecutor demanded three years of hard labour, the court passed a sentence of death. On 4 February 1926 he was executed together with Ali Rızâ Efendi, the former mufti of Babaeski.
His Works — Mir'âtü'l-İslâm (1332), İslâm Yolu (1338), Tesettür-i Şer'î (1339), Dîn-i İslâm'da Men'-i Müskirât (1340) and Frenk Mukallidliği ve Şapka (1924), which was the subject of his trial.
Differing Scholarly Views
🔴 The record of the trial is inconsistent with itself. According to what the source gives: he was at first acquitted, yet his detention continued; and while the prosecutor demanded three years of hard labour, the court passed a sentence of death. The atlas leaves all three records as they stand and softens none of them in favour of another.
This record touches on a contested event of recent history. The atlas passes no judgement here; it conveys the information given by the source it has read. The legal and political assessment of the event is not the subject of this atlas (principles 3 and 6).
A later acknowledgement regarding an exile. Concerning his exile after 1913 the source records that the authorities later acknowledged his innocence.
Sources
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA) — Sadık Albayrak · vol. 22, pp. 583-584, entry “İSKİLİPLİ MEHMED ÂTIF EFENDİ”
The sources for this record are listed below (Mandatory Sources).
Spotted an error in this record? Suggest a correction with its source
Permanent ID: EA-Z-000113 · this address reaches the same record even if its name changes; use it when citing.
External records: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam article