2016 • Issue 2 Those Who Approach with Virtue, Return with Grace! EDEP Hosts its First and Interview with Second International Heba Raouf Islamic Studies “The philosophy of space is very important to understanding all Summer School social and political relations.” Second Annual Arabic Student Symposium Arabic Summer The Role of Fiqh in Program in Jordan Religious Life Eğitime Destek Programları Merkezi Center for Excellence in Education مركز التميّز العلمي 2016 - Issue: 2 Editor: Iffat Syed Address: Hırka-i Şerif Mah. Akseki Camii Sk. No:1 Fatih/İstanbul (the Muhafiz Konağı - next to Hırka-i Şerif Mosque) www.edepmerkezi.org • [email protected] • Phone: 0212 532 04 08 • Fax: 0212 532 04 07 Publisher: Limit Ofset: Litros Yolu 2. Matbacılar Sit. ZA13 Topkapı - Zeytinburnu / İstanbul • Tel: +90 212 567 45 35 Published annually. The authors alone are responsible for the content of their writings. From the Editor I was introduced to EDEP on a warm summer evening in early August. I had gathered with a group of academics from around the world for the welcome dinner of EDEP’s annual International Islamic Studies Summer School. Students, scholars and guests were received with the kind of hospitality and grace that embodies Istanbul. There was a contagious excitement in the air, as is often present at the beginning of any new course, but along with this expected sentiment, there was a certain awe upon the faces of the students. It was these very sentiments that I witnessed again upon the faces of new students on the first day of classes of the Fall semester. In fact, I have witnessed these emotions again and again upon the faces of guests who visit this remarkable institution. On that day in August, in the shade of the Hırka-i Şerif Mosque and its towering greenery, EDEP’s founder and president, Recep Senturk spoke fondly of the building’s role as the mansion of the guards of the Mantle of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings upon him. He spoke too of the role the institute has played in cultivating the minds of some of Turkey’s most exceptional students. Here was an institute that fostered the education of women, grounded students in the Islamic sciences, brought together leading researchers, developed both Arabic and English language skills and was now gathering academics from around the world for a unique intensive taught in Arabic. There certainly was reason to be awe-struck. In this second English edition of the EDEP Bulliten, we bring to you the stories that have inspired our students. These are the stories that have not only developed their skills, but have strengthened their resolve for learning, motivated them towards success and cultivated in them excellence in the path of seeking knowledge. Parallel to the work of the the guards of yesteryear, it is these stories of today’s EDEP students that embody the mission of guarding the inheritance of the Prophet Muhammad, end- less peace and blessings upon him. It is these stories that we have selected to share with you. We pray that they are a means of inspiration and resolve for you too. Iffat Syed Editor and English Teacher EDEP Why Did we Come to EDEP? / 4 Writing History at EDEP / 6 First Annual International Islamic Studies Summer School / 8 Second Annual International Islamic Studies Summer School / 12 Inteview with Dr. Heba Raouf / 16 Conference with Dr. Ayşe Esra Şahyar: The Role of Female Companions in the Transition from the Jahiliyya Period to Islam / 15 Conference with Dr. Murteza Bedir: The Role of Fiqh in Religious Life / 20 Experiences in America / 23 The Waqf Workshop / 25 Islamic Family Law Continues with “Mentor of Scholars,” Mehmet Savaş / 28 EDEP Hosts the Second Annual Arabic Student Symposium / 29 Interview with Dr. Murteza Bedir / 32 Jordan Arabic Summer Program / 41 A Rihla to Jordan / 43 Memories of Jordan / 46 A Journey of Reading & Learning in Konya / 49 Why Did We Come to EDEP Hatice Kübra Koca EDEP Student - Istanbul University Faculty of Law, Sophomore Upon the threshold of a place one is hoping ing, writer Oğuz Atay came to my aid with to enter, it is very jarring to be confront- his words: “I was a product of something, ed with the question: “Why did you come but I hadn’t even been able to understand here?” Ordinarily, such a question would my origin properly.” And so it was! I found shake one’s confidence and discourage one myself writing that I came here to under- from moving forward, but in applying to the stand my origin. For me, it was clear that EDEP program, something quite extraordi- we have a Divine origin, but I felt as though nary happened. When faced with this very I did not have sufficient knowledge of the question on the entrance application, my One who created us. We look around, lost motivation rose to a fever pitch and I con- and confused like a child separated from his tinued writing until the paper in front of mother at the market, but we are not as per- me was completely full. When I was apply- severant as that child. Instead of crying out 4 for help when we cannot find what we are pressing question? I have found myself con- seeking, we act as if we will never find it and templating this and similar such questions simply give up. that remain a burden on me: Did you think But why should I seek to know anything that you would be responsible for your acts more than the bare minimum that I need alone? No. You might be in the right, you for myself? Before I came to EDEP, this was might be good, but you will still be asked one of the main questions on my mind. If about falsehood and evil. You had the abil- God was only going to ask me about my ity to help, so why didn’t you? Why didn’t own deeds, and if I knew and fulfilled what you become a cure for the problems plagu- was required of me in terms of religious ing others? I made you a means for others practice, that should be enough. So why to find Me, so why did you laze around? should I become a scholar, an ‘aalimah? The friend who had encouraged me to apply to I came to EDEP in order to learn how to EDEP changed my way of thinking about fulfill my duties, so that when I am asked this completely. She pointed out that I am these questions, I am not bewildered. I have responsible for more than just myself and been here for four weeks and already I have that there are burdens upon my shoulders found more than I was seeking. I never that my soul carries without even realizing expected to become so close with my new it. This reminded me of the verses by Khalil community so fast. Don’t be surprised if Jibran: “A sinner could not sin were it not you find me writing poems for my teachers for the urge to sin hidden inside everyone.” and classmates in the upcoming bulletins. Though it may be hard for your heart to bear it, I will share these verses, too: In the hereafter, when I am asked where I spent my youth, I want to be able to point “The one who is murdered is not exempted to EDEP and say: “In this place, working to from accountability because he is murdered. achieve your pleasure (rıza).” There is more The one who is robbed is not free from re- than one way to do something and of course sponsibility for being robbed. everyone has their own destiny in different The pious one is not blameless for what the places, but I for one love the portion destiny sinner does. has allotted me. As my days pass in doing The one whose hands are clean is not, in re- the things that I love, I am reminded that I ality, innocent of the actions of the oppres- am alive and that this life is not a right, but sor.” a privilege and a gift. We must deserve the life that we were granted, and work towards Da’wah (or invitation to Islam) was one of fulfilling our responsibilities with the privi- the responsibilities that I neglected while leges granted to us: I was preoccupied with myself. Yet it was certain that Allah was going to ask me if I “To do is to be - had fulfilled my duty as was required of me. not doing simply to have done. Yes, as a Muslim I studied and represented something, but how would I answer this Not to do is death.” 5 Writing History at EDEP Şeyma Nur Temel EDEP Research Fellow - Şehir University Faculty of History, Master’s Student The title of this piece has a double meaning. The first, and perhaps more literal is that as a masters student in History, I have indeed spent much of the last year in one or another of EDEP’s classrooms working on my dissertation or in other words, literally writing history at EDEP. If EDEP achieves its goals, it is also quite possible for somebody looking at our present day to think that as an establishment striving to build bridges between traditional Islamic and modern education we are also writing, or more colloquially, making history at EDEP. EDEP is working to provide a generation of young scholars with a firm grounding in the Is- © Sergey Nivens - Fotolia.com 6 lamic scientific and intellectual tradition an awareness of the fact that the various as- with hopes that they can make meaningful pects of life are inter-connected and should contributions towards solving the problems be approached accordingly.