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The Adhan in Turkey
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By
Sa'ad Abdul Majid
Translated by Abdelazim R. Abdelazim
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01/01/2004
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In
Turkey, the Adhan (the Muslim call to Prayer) is a peculiar world and a unique
story, whose chapters relate the traditions of the Ottoman palaces, the battle
of the people against secularism, and the details of an inveterate heritage of
musical keys.
The
Adhan is the call that notifies Muslims of Prayer times. The first Adhan was
performed in the first Hijri (Muslim) year (corresponding to 622 AD) or,
according to other accounts, in the second Hijri year (623 AD). `Abdullah
ibn Zayd ibn Tha`laba (may Allah be pleased with him), one of Prophet
Muhammad’s Companions, had dreamed the how-to of the first Adhan, which the
Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ratified after a Divine confirmation.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) instructed Abdullah to teach the
Adhan’s words to Bilal, whose voice was very sweet, and he was the first
Muslim to deliver the Adhan. It has since been an eternal melodic call, echoed
by the world until the Day of Judgment. The Turks have been one of the peoples
for whom Adhan has represented an aspect of their unity. In fact, the Turks are
the dramatis personae of the most interesting and strangest Adhan story in
history.
The
Turks and Adhan
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Panorama of Sultan Ahmed Square, Istanbul |
There
are few sources and references about the history of Adhan during the time of the
Saljuk Turks, founders of the first Turkish state in Anatolia (1070-1299 AD).
However, some of their religious monuments found in Konya, Kayseri, Sivas and
Nighda in Mid-Anatolia indicate that the Saljukis cared very much about the
Adhan ritual. This is inferred from their magnificent mosques with high minarets
and splendid decorations, and their schools for learning the Qur’an, the
Prophetic traditions (Hadith) and other religious sciences.
The
Turkish attention to Adhan, nevertheless, was more clearly crystallized in the
period of Ottoman rule, which lasted for about six centuries (1300-1923 AD). The
Ottoman Sultans, princes and even the Sultans’ wives and daughters paid great
attention and care to the Prayers’ Adhan. In cultural centers, like Istanbul,
Bursa, Konya and Izmir, Adhan had a special folkloric status known as Saraya
Ta’weeri or the Palace Key, performed during the holy month of Ramadan in the
mosques of the Sultans.
In
the government houses, the Sultans devoted a special department, the Adhan
Administration, whose job was to select sweet voices, teach them certain lessons
in music, and finally select the best for Adhan. The Palace Mosque’s muezzin
was given the title Pash Muezzin or Honcar Muezzin (senior muezzin) and he would
deliver Adhan on Fridays and during the Feasts in the great mosques that were
attended by the Sultans. The senior muezzin led a group of fifteen to thirty
muezzins, dubbed “Special Muezzins.”
The
Ottoman Sultans even consecrated charities for Adhan’s sake; for example, the
Sulmaniyya Mosque Charity (Istanbul) and the Yanni Jami` Charity of Khadijah
Torkhan Sultan (Istanbul). The following sentence is inscribed inside the
Sulmaniyya Mosque Charity, “It is requisite that a number of 24 muezzins be
appointed; each must be knowledgeable in the various musical keys and skillful
in the art of cue exchange and intonation… Each muezzin is to receive a daily
allowance of five Turkish aqajat.”
Inside
the Yanni Jami` Charity the following sentence is written, “Twelve muezzins
must be appointed to deliver Adhan for the five daily Prayer times, providing
that they are known for their integrity and religiousness and that each of them
is knowledgeable in the art of intonational keys and the science of time and
possesses strong lungs and fine voice… Each muezzin is to be paid a daily
allowance of 10 Turkish aqajat, and the distinguished ones are to be paid 12
aqajat.” The term “popular, or congregational, Adhan” refers to the kind
of Adhan delivered by more than one muezzin simultaneously, whether at the
palace mosques or at the grand mosques. The job “Head of Muezzins” was
introduced during the reign of Sultan Bayzid II (1481-1512 AD).
The
Adhan has long been the focus of many writers’ and poets’ interest across
all the phases of Turkish history until the present day. Of the great literary
persons who paid keen attention to Adhan are: Najeeb Faddel, Yahya Kamal, Ahmed
Hashim, Medhat Jamal Konttai, Aqa Gondooz, Khalida Nasrat Zurlotona, Farouk
Nafiz, Ali Olwi Qurujo and Saza’ee Karaqosh. All of them wrote about it in
their poetry and fiction.
The
Ordeal of Adhan
The
Turks delivered the Adhan in Arabic since they first embraced Islam in their
original homeland in Asia Minor, after the establishment of their first (Saljuk)
state in Anatolia and during the rule of their second (Ottoman) state, until the
period of the Turkish nationalist surge known as “Turkishization.” A team of
Turkish nationalists started the call to deliver Adhan in Turkish after the
issuance of the Second Bill of Conditions (the title given by the Turks to the
Second Constitution 1908-1918).
It
is likely that the Turkish writer Diyya’ Joc Alb was the first to call for
such an idea in 1918, after the fall of the Ottoman state and the Turkish
nationalist expansion in Salonika, in present-day Greece. The New Islamic
Encyclopedia (in Turkish) states, “In 1928, Ataturk asked Ismail Haqqi Baltagi
Oghlo, then a professor at the Divinities College, to insert into the
Reformation Bill an article (Third Article) asserting the necessity that
everything be in Turkish. On April 10, 1928, the Basic Formations Code was
issued, holding that ‘Islam is the State’s Religion’ and that ‘the
National Congress assumes the responsibility of enforcing the legislative
rulings.’”
In
1930, President Ataturk and Minister of Education Rashid Ghalib appointed nine
muezzins to deliver Adhan in Turkish, disregarding the violent popular
opposition. Ataturk even enjoined the police to supervise the delivery of Adhan
in Turkish and to punish the dissenters.
Al-Hafiz
Omar Bek Al-Saloniki is considered the first to have delivered Adhan in
Turkish—in the Soznaq key—at the Hessar Mosque in the coastal city of Izmir
in 1932. In 1933, after delivering Adhan in Arabic at the Mosque of Ulou, which
is located in the city of Bursa in mid-Anatolia, the muezzin Tobal Khalil was
savagely beaten and detained by the police. On receiving the news of this
incident, Ataturk discontinued his visit to Izmir, went to Bursa and stated to
the Turkish News Agency of Anatolia, “Such ignorant, narrow-minded people will
not go unpunished by the Republic… the question is less about religion than
about language.”
Until
1941, according to Provision no. 526/Code of Punishments, the judiciary and
police authorities inflicted the punishment of three-month imprisonment and
fine, on whoever delivered the Adhan in Arabic. After 1941, Sheik Kamal Bilau
Ughlo, head of the Tigani Sufi Order, and his successor, Abdul-Rahman Balgi were
the leaders of the campaign to deliver Adhan in Arabic. Many muezzins delivering
the Arabic Adhan had already been imprisoned, paid fines and/or were
hospitalized in lunatic asylums.
On
September 22, 1948, the Turkish Department of Religious Affairs issued the bold
fatwa (religious edict) that the Arabic Adhan is not against the law. In the
first free civil elections in Turkey, Adnan Mandris ran for public office
against Ataturk’s successor, Ismat Inono, focusing his electioneering on one
popular demand; abolishing Provision no. 526/Code of Punishments, which bans the
Arabic Adhan. Mandris crushed his opponent and formed the first civil government
whose first action was legitimizing the Arabic Adhan once more on June 6, 1950,
corresponding to the first of the holy month of Ramadan.
The
cinematic director Ismail Gotch and the screenwriter Omar Lotfi Matta, produced
a film titled Shizma (The Shoe), relating the story of the inhabitants of
Kasabat Turkia on the Black Sea coast, who resisted the Turkish Adhan and
challenged the local authorities until the return of the Arabic Adhan.
The
Keys of Adhan in Turkey
The
Turks have a special key for each Prayer’s Adhan and the keys, of Persian
origin, differ from one Adhan to the other. In Istanbul, the key for the Fajr
(Dawn) prayer is Dilikchen Azaran (Al-Saba); the keys for the Zhuhr (Noon)
Prayer are Raast and Hijaz; for the `Asr (Afternoon) Prayer, they are Biatti,
Ushaq and Hijaz; for the Maghrib (Sunset) Prayer, they are Hijaz, Raast, Sika
and Dujah. The `Isha’ (Evening) Prayer’s Adhan is delivered on the Hijaz,
Biatti, Ushaq, Raast and Nowa keys.
It
was also the custom in the city of Istanbul, that the prayer, “May God’s
blessing and peace be upon the Prophet Muhammad,” be recited by the muezzin
followed by a hymn of praise on the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)
before delivering the Prayer’s Adhan. The “blessing and peace” prayer
dedicated to the noble Prophet used also to be recited after the Adhan for the
Noon, Afternoon and Evening prayers. It is noteworthy to point out that the
muezzin delivered the Adhan in the key he was skilful at, not necessarily on one
of the previously mentioned keys. The city of Istanbul also witnessed the
“Double Adhan” performed by two muezzins by turns simultaneously—imitating
a style popular during the Umayyad era.
The
Most Famous of Turkish Muezzins
By
the end of the Ottoman period, both Al-Hafiz Jamal Effendi (Muezzin of the Walda
Sultan Mosque in Aaq Saray Square) and Al-Hafiz Sulayman Qarabajaq (Muezzin of
the Yanni Walda Sultan Mosque in Askadar Square), were the most famous
Double-Adhan deliverers. Both delivered the Adhan in the same key as the Friday
khateeb (the one who delivers the sermon) recited Qur’anic verses.
The
Ottoman government houses (Sarayat) used to host very famous musicians to teach
muezzins the delivery of Adhan in the different known keys. Of the eminent
musicians who worked in the Sultan’s Sarayat during the nineteenth century
were, Shaker Agha, Hamami Zada Ismail Da-da, Hajji Hashim Bek and Refa’at Bek.
In the early twentieth century, the most renowned muezzins in Istanbul included
Al-Hafiz Shawkat and Al-Hafiz Kamal (at the Sulaymanayya Mosque), Al-Hafiz
Sulayman (at the Yanni Walda Mosque in Askadar Square), Al-Hafiz Karim Aaq
Shahin (at the Mosque of Bayzid) and Al-Hafiz Jamal Effendi Al-Aqsara’ee (at
the Walda Sultan Mosque in Aqsara’ee Square).
As
the Turkish Department of Religious Affairs assumed responsibility of religious
issues, after the abolishment of the Ministry of Islamic Mortmains in 1926, the
Department has cherished the Ottoman custom of appointing a muezzin for each
mosque and observed the organization of muezzin training sessions and an annual
contest for the selection of muezzins. Consequently, an immeasurable group of
distinguished, sweet-voiced muezzins has emerged to deliver Adhan in the various
cities, regions and territories of Turkey. Bakir Biok Pash, Sherif Domann,
Al-Hafiz Murad and Muhammad Sefinsh are probably the most famous of them.
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