Witnessing the Last Half Century of the Science of Qiraah in Eskişehir: Qurra Hafiz Yaşar Tekeli

Abstract

The activities of teaching the differences of qiraat started in the period after the Prophet's death and have continued uninterruptedly until today. Various works have been written by Qiraat scholars for the continuity and spread of Qiraat education, and some methods have been developed to teach Qiraat differences in a systematic and easy way. As a result of the increasing demand for Qiraat education activities, special places were also allocated for this purpose in our civilization. In the years following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, the activities of Qiraat education lost the vitality of the Ottoman Empire and came to a halt. In 1968, official Qiraat education was resumed in our country. The first Qiraat education circle in Eskişehir was established in 1970 under the leadership of Mehmet Sarıcaoğlu. After the death of Mehmet Sarıcaoğlu in Eskişehir, Qiraat education was continued by his student Yaşar Tekeli until today, and a total of seventy-seven people received icâzet from him in eight periods. The Qur'anic activities, which have been carried out with great devotion under difficult conditions for many years, have made a very important contribution to the formation and spread of the Qur'an and Qur'anic culture in Eskişehir and to carry it to these days. Thus, Eskişehir has become one of the prominent cities in this field in Turkey thanks to the contributions of those who supported the activities of Qiraat education financially and spiritually, especially Mehmet Sarıcaoğlu and Yaşar Tekeli. No study has been conducted on the activities of Qiraat education in Eskişehir for half a century. For this reason, Eskisehir is not well known in terms of Qiraat education. Thanks to our study, the activities of Qiraat education in Eskişehir will be revealed. In this study, Yaşar Tekeli, who left his mark on the journey of Qiraat education in Eskişehir with his testimony of nearly half a century, and the qurra hafiz who grew up in the Qiraat education communities under his leadership have been recorded for the first time with academic rigor. In this respect, it is expected to be a source for future studies on the subject of Qiraat in Eskişehir. It was concluded that the vitality of Qiraat education in Eskişehir and the number of those who attended these courses and received icâzet were not small compared to other provinces. In this study, classical tafsirs, Qiraat books and the archive of Eskişehir Provincial Mufti's Office were utilized.  Interview method was used for the unwritten part. Information on the activities of Qiraat education in Eskişehir was obtained through an interview with Yaşar Tekeli.