Özet:

In Ottoman-Turkish society, the debates around the concepts of modernization and civilization have an important place in the thought of the 20th century. Within these discussions, it is noteworthy that Turkish national poet Mehmet Akif Ersoy presents Japan, which is an example of non-Western modernization, as an ideal model for Ottoman-Turkish modernization. Abdürresit İbrahim (1857-1944), who was influential in Turkish and Islamic geography with his activist identity and thoughts in the 19th and 20th centuries, had a great share in Akif's adoption of Japanese modernization as an ideal example of non-Western modernization. Abdürresit İbrahim is one of the important names that Turkish society raised as an intellectual, traveller, political leader and highbrow in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is also known as the name that introduced Islam to Japan. Abdürresit İbrahim visited Japan in the first half of 1909 and wanted to establish close relations between Japanese and Asian Muslims. Abdürresit İbrahim made a long journey starting in September 1908, covering Turkestan, Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria, China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Hejaz and Syria, and ending in Istanbul in 1910. Abdürresit İbrahim published this journey in two volumes in 1910-1913, under the name of Âlem-i İslâm ve Japonya’da İntişâr-ı İslâmiyet. The work is mostly about Japan. Abdürresit İbrahim idealizes the Japanese modernization in his work titled Âlem-i İslâm ve Japonya’da İntişâr-ı İslâmiyet (1910-1913), and his thoughts influence some Ottoman-Turkish intellectuals, Mehmet Akif, in particular. Having arrived in the Ottoman capital in 1910, İbrahim who was already a well-known Muslim traveller and activist, established close relations with Islamist intellectuals in Istanbul. The close relationship he built with Sırat-ı Müstakim journal and its staff, especially with Mehmet Akif, is an important example of this. The journal, Sırat-ı Müstakim, was one of the most important channels in which Abdürresit İbrahim sent his articles containing his impressions and experiences during his long journey (1908-1910). We can say that both the writings in Sırat-ı Müstakim and the Âlem-i İslâm ve Japonya’da İntişâr-ı İslâmiyet had a profound effect on Turkish intellectuals regarding Japanese modernization. Abdürreşit İbrahim tried to explain his travel observations and thoughts on the Islamic world through sermons and conferences organized by Sırat-ı Müstakim. Therefore, Abdürresit İbrahim is an important person in terms of his place in the development of Turkish-Japanese relations. He has a great influence on the formation of sympathy for Japan among the Turkish/Muslim peoples. The friendship that Akif developed with Abdürresit İbrahim brought along an intellectual influence as well. As a result of this influence, Akif presented the Japanese model as an example of non-Western modernity for Ottoman-Turkish modernization at a time (at the beginning of 20th century) when Ottoman-Turkish modernization, along with Westernization, occupied the agenda as an issue and was discussed. He noted that Japanese modernization was a good alternative that could be a source of inspiration within the framework of non-Western modernity. Akif’s thoughts inspired by Abdürresit İbrahim appear concretely in his poem named Süleymaniye Kürsüsünde (1912). While discussing the salvation remedies of the Islamic world in the poem, Japanese modernization was idealized as an example of non-Western modernization in relation to concepts such as civilization, Westernization, development and progress in the Ottoman-Turkish public opinion. It was stated that Turkish modernization can be realized by staying away from a completely imitative structure which is Western-centred, singular, and stuck in Western patterns and by preserving national identity and culture on the dynamics of Islamic civilization. In this regard, it was argued as a thesis that Japanese modernization can be taken as an example. Therefore, in discussions about Ottoman-Turkish modernization and civilization among Ottoman-Turkish intellectuals, and particularly in Mehmet Akif’s world of thought, it is necessary to take into account that the Japanese modernization is debated as an important role model. In this study, Japanese modernization as an example of non-Western modernization and the impact of Abdürresit İbrahim on Mehmet Akif are handled within the framework of Süleymaniye Kürsüsünde. The notion of ‘Japanese modernization’ in Akif is evaluated in relation to the concepts of ‘multiple modernities’ and ‘non-Western modernization’. The reflections of the concept of ‘multiple modernities’ in Akif’s world of thought are discussed and it is revealed that he presented Japanese modernization as an ideal example of ‘non-Western modernization’ for Ottoman-Turkish modernization.

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