Ahmed Davudoğlu

Hadis Bilgini, Fıkıh Bilgini

Ölüm
07 Nisan, 1983
Eğitim
Al-Azhar University

Fiqhand hadith scholar (Born 1912, Shumnu / Bulgaria- Death 7 April 1983, Istanbul). His grandfather Dâvud Aga was a wrestler who reached the second degree together with Koca Yusuf. His father HasanAga was a poor peasant. Davudoğlu started primary school (“sıbyanmektebi”) at the age of six; the next year he enrolled in a village school founded for purposes of modern education. In 1924 he entered the Junior High School (“rüştiyemektebi”) opened in the neighbor village Ekizce. Upon graduating from this school he continued the Medresetü’n-Nüvvâb in Shumnu. He graduated from the high school department of this educational institute on the 1st of July 1933 and from its higher education department on the 25th of July 1936. The same year he was sent to Egypt by the Chief Mufti of Bulgaria for specialization training with two of his friends who ranked in. He graduated from Al-Azhar University and returned to his country (1942). First he was assigned to high school and higher education departments of Medresetü’n-Nüvvâb as an academic and after two years as a director (1944). During this assignment he struggled against the pressure of Shumnu communist rule and activities of anarchist students.

Davudoğlu was arrested in the beginning of May 1945 for establishing an organization of espionage to work for Turkey and referred to military court in Sofia. He served here prison about one month under heavy torture. Later he was sent to a concentration camp near to Rositsa town and was forced to work in a dam construction. He was set free on the 17th of November 1945 due to his sickness and returned to his duty. Davudoğlu after a while resigned from administration and returned to teaching. Meanwhile he was threatened by the commander of Shumnu militia with a life sentence because of his preaching during a rain prayer and intended to escape to Turkey; however he failed. Later with difficulty he obtained a passport and migrated to Turkey with his wife and two daughters on the 31st of December 1949.

AhmetDavudoğlu first lived with a relative. After a while he went to Istanbul and became an imam in the YedikuleKüçükefendi Mosque. Then he was assigned to travelling ministry. After preaching about eight months in Ankara, he was assigned to mufti of Orhangazi district in Bursa(7 January 1951), public service in Istanbul Fatih Library (29 June 1953) and after the transfer of this library to Süleymaniye (6 September 1956), service in Süleymaniye Library. During his assignment he also taught in IstanbulImam-HatipHigh School. On the 16th of November 1959 he joined the teaching cadre of Istanbul High Islamic Institute which started its educational activity in this year. He became an assistant principal on the 5th of February1960, a vice principal on the 7th of August 1962 and a principal on the 13thof March 1963. After his last public assignment in this institute until the 25th of December 1964, he taught Arabic language and literature lectures in the same place.

Because of making statements and indoctrination against laicism in his seminar of muftis organized by the directorate of religious affairs in 1966 inKonya, he was condemned by the Konya High Criminal Court to one year penal servitude, four months obligatory residence in Kırşehir and removal of public office on the 22nd of March 1968. He was discharged of public service on the 15th of March 1971 but his retirement rights were not granted. After completing his penalty, he continued his scientific research at home. On the 7th of April 1983 he passed away and inhumed into EyüpCemetery.

Aside from Turkish, Davudoğlu knew Arabic and Bulgarian. He is a devout, plain and modest, select Islamic scholar. He never made concessions from his beliefs. His father in law who had a close friendship with Shaykh-al-Islam Mustafa SabriEfen­di and who served as Head of Muftis of Bulgaria for a while; his being raised in an environment where there were severe intellectual struggles against some religious limitations in Atatürk period’s secular Turkey; and his encounter with similar implementations in Bulgaria and Egypt must have had a strong effect for his adoption of these ideas.

WORKS: 

Bulûğu’l-MerâmTercü­mesiveŞerhi: SelâmetYolları I-IV (This is the translation and interpretation of İbnHacer el-Askalanî’s“Bülûğu’l- merâm” concerning a hadith of judgment. 1965-1967), Sahîh-iMüslimTercemesiveŞerhi I-XI (This is the translation and interpretation of Müs­lim b. Haccâc’s famous hadith book “el-Câmicu’ş-sahih”. 1973-1980), Kur’ân-ıKerîmveİzahlıMeâli (1988), TibyânTefsiri I-IV (This is the reviewed version of SüleymanFahirBey’s simplification of Ayıntabî Mehmet Efendi’s Turkish interpretation titled “Tefsir-iTib­yân” 1980-1981), Reddü’l-muhtârale’d-Dürri’l-muhtâr I-XVIII (This is the translation of “Reddü’lmuhtâr” which is the famous work of İbnÂbidin about fiqh. With Mehmet Savaş and MazharTaşkesenlioğlu, 1982-1988), MültekaTercemesi I-II (This is the simplification of the translation and additions of Mehmet Mevköfatî to İb­rahim b. Muhammed el-Halebî’sfiqh work “Mülteka’l-ebhur” 1980-1983), DiniTamirDavasın­da Din Tahripçileri (This is a rejection of reformist Islamism stream 1974, 1978, 1980), ÖlümDahaGüzeldi (Memories, 1970, 1979).  

REFERENCE: Ahmet Davudoğlu / Selâmet Yolları (I, 1965) - Sahîh-i Müslim Tercü­mesi ve Şerhi (I, VII-1X, 1973) - Ölüm Daha Güzeldi (İstanbul 1979), Osman Keskioğlu / Bulgaristan’da Türkler (s. 96, 166, 1985), Osman Kılıç / Kader Kurbanı (s. 94-95, 178, 1989), İhsan Işık / Yazarlar Sözlüğü (1990, 1998) - Türkiye Yazarlar Ansiklopedisi (2001, 2004) – Encyclopedia of Turkish Authors (2005) - 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), Nihat Engin / “Davudoğlu, Ahmed - Son dönem fıkıh ve hadis âlimi” (TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi, c. 9, s. 52-53, 1994), Niyazi Hüseyin Bahtiyar / Balkanlar’da Türk Ünlüleri (1999, s.105-107), Büyük Alim Ahmed Davudoğlu Hocamızı Andık / Enver Baytan – Prof. Dr. Osman Öztürk – Katip Sezer – Prof. Dr. Hasan Akay (İslami Edebiyat (Nisan-Mayıs – Haziran 2012).

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