Çukurova Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi (ÇÜİFD)

Öz

Tanzimat is a period of the total change in the fields of administration, law, economy, and education as one of the consecutive stages of the efforts made to get out of the depressions of the Ottoman Empire in the last few centuries. The inability to produce a solution based on tradition or the Ancient Law (Kanun-ı Kadim) has led the State to take the other as a model. The point reached has necessitated the establishment of a new order with the understanding and interpretation of tradition, if not the state and society completely breaking away from tradition. The mean of this is the rearrangement of law and education under the responsibility of Mashīhat Instituation in the classical Ottoman administration and social structure. Therefore, at the center of the change movement that started with the Tanzimat was the redefinition of the duties and responsibilities of the İlmiyye organization. In this context, general education was taken out of the madrasah, a new education organization was established in the main cities and the provinces under the Ministry of Education (Nazaret-i Maarif), and new schools were opened in different fields. After the structuring of general education outside of the İlmiyye organization, the quality of education in the madrasas, which remained under the responsibility of Mashīhat, the understanding of education, the program and teaching methods, and madrasas' power to respond to the needs were discussed. The justifications put forward during debates shows that not only accusations of the opponents of tradition but that they have some valid reasons; it is seen that the number of members of the ilmiyya among those who participated in the determinations was not low at all. After the Tanzimat, the discussions about the madrasahs yielded results in time, and the madrasahs were reorganized within the maktab (school) structure with a new understanding. Abdülhamit II era was a term in which essential developments were recorded in our country's education field, and the new education system was developed. In such an environment, religious education was not left out of the developments in the field of education, and it was embodied in a new structure outside the madrasa, taking into account the discussions about it. In this context, high religious education had found a place in Darülfünûn that reopened in the Abdulhamit II era and excluded the traditional madrasa system. Although it returned to its former position for a short time in the Meşrutiyet II/Second Constitutional period, this situation did not last long, and with the establishment of the Republic, it returned to the university under the name of Faculty of Theology. The Ulûm-ı Âliye-i Diniye/Higher Religious Studies Faculty established in 1900 in the Abdulhamit II era is the first Theology Faculty in Turkey. The opening of the Faculty has led to essential changes in both religious education understanding and teaching of religious studies. The subjects like Philosophy and History of Religions were included in the faculty's curriculum sign different and broad viewpoints. The aim is not only to transfer existing knowledge but also to raise people who can produce solutions to current problems by highlighting the aspects of religion that are reflected in human and social life. On the other hand, establishing the Faculty is the first step to harmonizing the religious education system with the newly created general education system.The division of education into stages and the preparation of the program, registration and graduation in the institution, the measurement of success and the regulations related to the fields of employment have made the teaching more planned and regular. In the Meşrutiyet II (Second Constitutional) Period, it expanded further with the improvement of middle-grade madrasahs and formed the basis of the Divinity Faculties and Imam Hatip Schools (Prayer and Preachers Schools) in the Republican period.The study aims to provide information on the foundation of the Ulum-ı Âliye-i Diniye Faculty, where higher religious education took its place in the university structure of the Darülfünun for the first time in the country, its characteristics, and its effects on the following periods, based on the archive records of the period and legal regulations, and to make evaluations by introducing this educational institution. Thus, we hope to contribute to the formation of a realistic and consistent perspective on the emergence and development of today's secondary and higher religious education institutions in the historical process.