Pulpit, Mosque and Nation: Turkish Friday Sermons as Text and Ritual

305 Pages·2021·1.606 MB·English

by  Elisabeth Özdalga

PULPIT, MOSQUE AND NATION
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PULPIT, MOSQUE
AND NATION
Turkish Friday Sermons as Text and Ritual
Elisabeth Özdalga
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© Elisabeth Özdalga, 2022
Cover image: New Mosque (Yeni Camii), Eminönü, Istanbul, Turkey © Look-foto / LOOK-foto
Cover design: Andrew McColm
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
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ISBN 978 1 4744 8820 4 (hardback)
ISBN 978 1 4744 8823 5 (webready PDF)
ISBN 978 1 4744 8822 8 (epub)
The right of Elisabeth Özdalga to be identified as author of this work has been asserted
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Copyright and
Related Rights Regulations 2003 (SI No. 2498).
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
Note on Transliteration, Pronunciation and Translations x
Introduction: Pulpit under Red Banner 1
1 Th e Hutbe in Historical Perspective 17
2 Early Authorised Hutbe Collections: A Homiletic Tradition
under Secular State Control 42
3 Th e Signifi cance of Ritual: Liturgical Turkifi cation Contested 81
4 Preaching Brotherhood to an Unruly Nation 107
5 Diyanet in Search of Autonomy 148
6 Writing and Listening: Voices from Inside 165
7 Pulpit under Islamist Banner 206
Conclusions: Th e Secular Order Unhinged? 223
Appendix I Excerpts in the Original Turkish from Ahmet Hamdi
Akseki’s 1927–8 Hutbe Collection 234
Appendix II Hutbe Topics in Turkish and English from Ahmet
Hamdi Akseki’s 1936–7 Hutbe Collection 244
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vi | pulpit, mosque and nation
Appendix III Turkish Originals of Hutbes Selected from
Diyanet Gazetesi 1971–9 250
Appendix IV Economic Indicators and Diyanet Statistics in Tables 267
Bibliography 271
Index 281
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research analysed in this volume touches upon a variety of fi elds within
the humanities and social sciences. Th e interdisciplinary character of the
study has therefore involved contacts with scholars and individuals from a
wide range of institutions. To start with, I gratefully want to mention faculty
and staff at the Near Eastern Studies Department at Princeton University,
where I stayed as visiting fellow during the spring of 2015, and the univer-
sity’s renowned Firestone Library, which not only provides abundant col-
lections but also accommodating lending services. I also want to extend my
thanks to the Islamic Research Centre (İslam Araştırmaları Merkezi, İSAM)
in Istanbul, which arranged for access to Diyanet Gazetesi and other publi-
cations of central importance to the research. Likewise, as acting Chair of
the Department of Political Science at Bilkent University (2011–13), I took
advantage of this institution’s well-endowed library facilities. Special thanks
must go to the Department of Sociology and Work Science at Gothenburg
University, and particularly to the then Head of Department, Associate Pro-
fessor Jan Carle, for kindly providing offi ce space and other facilities during
a period when it was diffi cult to sustain research in Turkey. Apart from that,
the University Library in Gothenburg has continued to be a reliable source of
support, for which I am always grateful.
What has laid the groundwork for this study in the fi rst place, however,
is the generous funding aff orded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (Th e Central
vii
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viii | pulpit, mosque and nation
Bank Foundation for the Advancement of the Humanities and Social Sciences)
in Stockholm. I therefore owe this institution and the managing organisation,
the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, heartfelt thanks. I especially want
to express my appreciation to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Professor
Daniel Tarschys, Ambassador Kjell Anneling (treasurer), Research Offi cer Helin
Topal (Istanbul offi ce) and Controller Lena Andersson (Stockholm offi ce), all
four from the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, for their – in their diff erent
ways – assistance and encouragement.
Th roughout the project, I have been off ered opportunities to participate in
seminars and workshops organised by the Department of Cross-Cultural and
Regional Studies (Section for the History of Religions), University of Copen-
hagen. I am particularly grateful to Professor Catharina Raudvere, Associate
Professor Simon Stjernholm and Professor Jakob Skovgaard Petersen for their
interest and constructive feedback.
My appreciation also goes to Professor of Th eology Mehmet Aydın, who,
for several years, has kindly responded to my questions relating to Muslim
and Turkish homiletics, and who also read parts of the manuscript of this
book. Heartfelt thanks are also directed to those students and other audiences
who willingly took part in the interviews I conducted during the summer of
2014. My gratitude is especially directed to Professor Bünyamin Erul of the
Faculty of Th eology at Ankara University, who generously shared his views
on what Friday preaching is like in Turkey today. In addition, Professor Erul
kindly completed references missing in offi cial Friday sermon texts. I also want
to thank Professor Mehmet Sait Özervarlı, Department of Humanities and
Social Sciences, Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul, who, on various occa-
sions generously extended a hand of support, and Professor Necdet Subaşı for
providing valuable source material during various stages of the research.
Scholars who, at diff erent times, have helpfully commented on my work
are: Professor Göran Larsson and Researcher Claes Grinell at the Depart-
ment of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion at the University of
Gothenburg; Ingvild Flaskerud, Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Th eology,
University of Oslo, who hosted me for a whole day in the Norwegian capital
and generously shared her views on early drafts of the manuscript; my friend
and colleague of many years at the Department of Sociology, University of
Gothenburg, Rolf Törnqvist, who contributed straightforward and useful
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acknowledgements | ix
comments; and Senior Lecturer Ann-Kristin Jonasson from the Department
of Political Science of the same university, also a board member of the Swed-
ish Research Institute in Istanbul, who read and commented on the fi nal
draft, for which I am especially grateful.
Last, but not least, I want to express my appreciation to Allison Kanner-
Botan, PhD candidate in the Divinity School and the Department of Near
Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago, for her conscien-
tious translations from Turkish into English of the sermonising texts quoted
throughout the book. Many thanks also to Zehra Aydın, who carefully tran-
scribed the recorded interviews.
Elisabeth Özdalga
Gothenburg, April 2021
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