Historic ijma meeting in İstanbul

İhsan Yılmaz
İhsan Yılmaz


Date posted: May 1, 2013

İHSAN YILMAZ

Last weekend, a meeting organized by the Yeni Ümit and Hira magazines and supported by the Hizmet movement aimed to elaborate on the issue of ijma, or consensus of Islamic scholars, and collective consciousness.

This two-day meeting was titled “Ijma as a Common Roadmap and Collective Awareness.” I very much wished to attend but since I was in the US, I could not. I sense that I have missed a historic event that will be described as one of the first few events that paved the way for the emergence of the ummah as a civilian theological, but not political, entity that is in tune with modern times. My reading of Islamic sources suggests that God will be pleased with an ummah that reconciles Islam’s unchangeable fundamentals with the needs and necessities of the time. Such meetings are essential for this purpose.

In the meeting, Islamic scholars, men and women, from 80 countries exchanged views about ijma. Among the speakers of the event were Professor Ahmed Abbâdi, Muhammed Saad Ebu Bekir, former Egyptian Mufti Professor Ali Gomaa, Professor İsam Beshiri, Professor Muhammad Imara, Islamic scholar Selmân Hussein en-Nedvî and Professor Nadia Mustafa of the University of Cairo. Fethullah Gülen and Rashid al-Ghannushi also sent messages to the event organizers saying they were unable to attend because of their poor health.

Yeni Ümit, published in Turkish by the Hizmet movement, is a monthly magazine on Islamic knowledge and literature. It reaches out to around 100,000 people every month. Renowned Islamic scholars Professor Hayrettin Karaman and Suat Yıldırım are among the members of the magazine’s advisory board. Hira, the other organizer, is another magazine published by Hizmet. Hira is published in Arabic. It reaches out to people in many Islamic countries. Among the contributors to Hira are many writers, thinkers and intellectuals from the Arab world. Its editor-in-chief, Nevzat Savas, was spot-on in explaining the purpose of the meeting when he said that the Islamic world has good and solid ideas, but Muslims have difficulties exchanging these ideas. I hope that this event becomes an annual meeting of Islamic scholars and will serve as a platform for exchanging not only Islamic theological and jurisprudential ideas but also thoughts on Muslims’ and all humanity’s pressing concerns.

It may not directly come to mind but ijma, or consensus of Islamic scholars, implies the diversity and plurality of opinions, or ijtihad, of Islamic scholars. Thanks to the concept of ikhtilaf, or agreeing to disagree, as long as an agreed Islamic methodology is followed and the fundamentals of the faith are respected, conflicting opinions are considered legitimate. These two concepts, ijtihad and ikhtilaf, have helped Islamic scholars to creatively contribute to the lives of Muslims. With the help of ijma, shared opinions made sure that a unity within diversity has also been maintained.

When Islamic scholars were free of state pressure, this civilian activity reached its peak and Islamic civilization gave birth to several genius minds. Whenever ulama accepted state positions and became civil servants of the state, ceasing to be civilian scholars, this activity stagnated. One of the fatal mistakes of the Ottomans was to make ulama civil servants who lost their, to use a modern term anachronistically, checks and balances function. As a result, political leaders in the Muslim world, with some notable and honorable exceptions, have become authoritarian rulers and have acted as if Judgment Day will never come. It is thus imperative that this initiative remains a civilian platform. Politicians’ involvement will also create doubts on the intentions of such meetings. As history has shown, politicians will try to make inroads at such events or will try to create alternative, parallel ones, but this must be denounced by the Islamic scholars who must not attend similar state or politician-sponsored events.

SourceToday’s Zaman, 1 May 2013


Related News

Bangladeshi scholar publishes book on Gülen

İBRAHIM SAĞIR, DHAKA A ceremony celebrating the publication of a book called “Introducing Fethullah Gülen to the Bengal and Beyond” by Professor Maimul Ahsan Khan was held at the Turkish Cultural Center in Dhaka on Saturday. Focused on the life, ideas and work of Gülen, who was selected as the world’s top intellectual by the […]

Turkish coup attempt: who is Fethullah Gülen?

The Turkish government, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has pointed the finger at Fethullah Gülen – also known as leader of the Hizmet movement – as the mastermind behind Friday’s attempted coup by the country’s military. But who is Gülen? We take a look at the Islamic cleric and how he has affected Erdoğan’s presidency

KADİP’s 1st international photography contest held for peace

The Intercultural Dialogue Platform (KADİP) of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) announced the winners of its very first international photography contest, “Peace in the frame,” at a gala on Tuesday night at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in İstanbul.

Alevi, Sunni businessmen will finance joint prayer complex

İLYAS KOÇ, ANKARA The first joint mosque-cemevi (Alevi house of worship) project in Turkey will be financed by businessmen from both parties, the head of the Hacı Bektaş Veli Culture, Education, Health and Research Foundation, Kemal Kaya, said on Thursday. The idea for such a project, which aims to strengthen will of peaceful coexistence, came […]

Are the Turkish Leader Erdogan’s Claims of Terrorist Coup Plotting to Be Believed?

It is hard to find a parallel for what has transpired in Turkey since last month’s failed coup without making comparison with the Nuremburg decrees of 1935 that legally ostracized Germany’s Jews and people of Jewish ancestry. Yet Nazi anti-Semitism had a clear and straight-forward rationale, while the popular furor in Turkey over the Hizmet bears the flavor of a personal grudge match between two one-time friends. No ideology. Just down and dirty, no holds barred.

Who put those 4.5 million dollars there?

It is fair to say that no government, no organization, no company, no social club could ignore and permit any attempt from within to destroy itself. Even in that case, it is up to independent courts to probe such a conspiracy, plot or coup attempt. It is up to the independent courts, free of political pressure, to investigate both suspicions of a coup attempt and suspicions over large-scale corruption.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

[Cafe Capital] Excessive attempts to manipulate people’s perceptions to backfire

Turkey Coup Attempt: Who is Fethullah Gülen, The Cleric Being Accused Of Orchestrating The Turmoil?

Former Norwegian PM: Our center takes same approach as Gülen

US Court Dismisses Turkey-backed Lawsuit against Fethullah Gülen

Somali students caring for the Soma orphans

Turkey Assails a Revered Islamic Moderate

Witch hunt and AKP’s legacy from Feb. 28

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News