Religious scholar (B. 1846, Manastır – D. 1912, ?).
He was a member of family originally from Konya. His grandfather Abdülvehhap
Zaimî settled in Manastır thereby fleeing during Vaka-i Hayriye (the events
ended in the removal of Guild of Janissaries by Mahmut II). His father was District
Captain İbrahim Efendi and his family was known as Sancakdarzade. İsmail Hakkı
had primary education in Manastır and then continued his education in Istanbul.
He took Arabic courses from Mustafa Şevket Efendi in addition to attending the course
of Islamic sciences by Tikveşli Yusuf Ziyaeddin Efendi, the teacher of inner
peace courses and therefore got icazet (sufficiency, diploma). Afterwards,
including Hagia Sophia Mosque’s stand sheikh (a person who explains what preacher
said after the prayer), he got various ranks; he acted as the stand lecturer. He
preached in Dolmabahçe Valide Sultan, Süleymaniye, Blue Mosque and Hagia
Sophia. His preaches in Hagia Sophia Mosque attracted many audiences. On the other
hand, he was the Arabic teacher in Eyüp Military Secondary School, fiqh (Islamic
Law) teacher in Law School, akaid (principle that has to be believed) teacher
in Mühendishane-i Berrî-i Hümâyun (İstanbul Technical University), tafsir (Interpretation
of the Koran), hadith (the Prophet’s words) and kalam (the explanation of
principles of faith by using rational proofs) teacher in Mekteb-i Mülkiye (School
of Political Sciences).
İsmail Hakkı Bey was also a fiqh usûl-ü fıkıh
(science that is the original and foundation of information of Islamic Law) an
tafsir lecturer in İstanbul Darülfünûnu (University) in 1899. He was rewarded
with the Ottoman token from the forth rank due to his success in teaching post that
lasted twenty four years. He was elected to the Assembly of Notables on
December 16th, 1908 and while he was in charge, he went on a trip to
Rumelia with Sultan Reşat. He died at his house located at Anadoluhisarı
on December 5th, 1912, and his corpse was buried in
vicinity of Fatih Mosque.
İsmail Hakkı
Bey who knows Arabic, Farsi and Bulgarian had a rich culture and reached a
specific knowledge level. Articles were written in newspaper and periodicals
such as “Sebîlürreşâd”, “Tercümân-ı
Hakikat”, “Tasvîr-i Efkâr”, “Teşrih”, “İkdam” upon his
death. His son, Asım Arar was the private doctor of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and
his grandson İsmail Hakkı Arar was assigned as State, Justice and National
Education ministers in Republic period.
İsmail Hakkı Bey, who
lived in a period when westernization process gained speed in Turkey, tried to
answer objections put forward by Westerner writers about religion of Islam and
at the same time he advocated topics of marriage, divorce and Islamic dressing
and also advocated practical provisions such as reprisal and limit penalties.
He generally handled topics related to kalam (T.N. an Islamic science to proof
and explaining faith principles in a rational manner) in a classical frame and
explained he was connected to Matüridi (communion connected to el-Matüridi).
His works set partially example for scholars such as İsmail Hakkı
İzmirli and Ömer Nasuhi Bilmen.
His work named as “Tercümetü’r-Risâleti’l- Hamîdiyye (Beyyinât- ı Ahmediyye)” was
the translation and explanation of Hüseyin el-Cisr’s “er-Risâletü'l-Hamidiy-ye” and
it was published as four volumes after serialized in “Tercümârı-ı Hakikat”
newspaper. The forth volume was the explanation prophetical topics that were
mentioned in the other volumes and it was written by the writer himself. Ahmet
Gül, by simplifying the work, published it under the name of “Risâie-i
Hami-diyye” (Islam is the
religion of God and realness) (Istanbul 1973, 1980). His work named as “Hak
ve Hakikat” was written as a refutation for the work that was written
by Reinhart Pieter Anne Dozy and translated into Turkish by Abdullah Cevdet
with the name “Târih-i İslâmiyet”. Moreover, he translated a part of Nesemâtü’l-
eshâr fi medhi'n-nebiyyi’l-muhtâr”, an aesthetics book written by Abdülganî
en-Nablusî and annotated it… Nazif Ay prepared a postgraduate thesis by the name
of “Manastırlı İsmail Hakkı'nın İslâm Düşüncesindeki Yeri” (T.N. The Place of Manastırlı İsmail
Hakkı in Islamic Thought).
Hâce-i Lisân-ı Osmârıî (Istanbul 1294), Tercümetü’r-Risâleti’l- Hamîdiyye (Beyyinât-ı Ahmediyye, from Hüseyin el-Cisr’den, Istanbul 1307-1308, 1329), Ahkâm-ı Şehr-i Siyam (Istanbul 1309), Mevâhibü’r-rahmârı fiMenâkıbi’rı-Nu’mân (from İbn Hacer el-Heytemî, Istanbul 1310), Metâlib-i îrfâniyye ve İzâhât-ı Nûrıiyye (an annotation to the work by Hızır Bey titled el-Kasidetü’n-nûniyye, Istanbul 1312), Vesâilü'l-felâh fi mesâili'n-rıikâh (Istanbul 1313), Mevâidü’l-in’âm fi akâidi'l-İslâm (Istanbul 1314), Tefsir-i Sûre-i Yâsin (Istanbul 1316), Telhisü’l-kelâm fi berâ-hini akâidi’l-İslâm (Istanbul 1324), Mevâiz (Istanbul 1324, 1331), Şerhu’s-sadr bi-fezâili leyleti’l-kadr (Istanbul 1325), Kitâbü’l-vesâyâ ve’l- ferâiz (Istanbul 1326), Kosova Sahrâsı Mev’izası (Thessaloniki 1327), Usûl-i Fıkıh (Istanbul 1328), Hak ve Hakikat (Istanbul 1329), Mebâdi-i Fârisî, Füyûzâtü’l- meliki’l-allâm fi kerâmeti Abdisselâm (translated from Abdülkerim Bermutî), Şerhu Mi’yâri’l-adâle.
REFERENCE:
Bursalı Mehmet Tahir / Osmanlı
Müellifleri I (1915-1925, yeni bas. 1972), İbrahim
Alâeddin Gövsa / Türk Meşhurları (1946),
Bağdatlı İsmail Paşa / Hediyyetü’l-arifin I (Haz: İbnülemin
Mahmut Kemal İnal - Avni Aktuç (1955), Mücellidoğlu Ali Çankaya / Yeni Mülkiye Tarihi ve
Mülkiyeliler (c. II, 1968), Sadık
Albayrak / Son Devir Osmanlı Ulemâsı
(1980), Nazif Ay / Manastırlı İsmail
Hakkı’nın İslâm Düşüncesindeki Veri (Yüksek lisans tezi, 1995), Salih
Sabrî Yavuz / Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi (cilt: 27, s: 563, 564,
2003), İhsan Işık / Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye
Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006, gen. 2. bas. 2007) - Ünlü
Bilim Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 2, 2013) - Encyclopedia of
Turkey’s Famous People (2013).
