Ibrāhīm – Hybrid Learning

Şinasi, İbrahim

Batoota — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 16:18:28 +0000

Şinasi, İbrahim (5 August 1826 – 13 September 1871), Turkish journalist. Şinasi is one of the more enigmatic figures of Turkish intellectual history. Despite his role as the founding father of modern Turkish journalism and his basic contributions to the rise of a Turkish critique of society, information about his life is insufficient to paint a portrait of him as an intellectual.
Şinasi began his career in government during the first years of the Tanzimat, the era of reforms and modernization initiated by the Giilhane Rescript of 1839. Encouraged by a patron of modernization in the Ottoman Empire, he was sent as a government-funded student to Europe in 1849. He remained in France until 1853 and is known to have been acquainted with such personalities as Alphonse de Lamartine. After his return he was appointed to the Educational Committee, which was engaged in redrawing Ottoman educational institutions.
Although quite cautious in his intellectual stance, he seems to have antagonized higher officials and was dismissed. Reinstated and dismissed once more in 1863, he eventually went into self-exile in Paris, where he devoted himself to the study of literature and linguistics. He returned permanently to Istanbul in 1870, where he lived as a recluse in some financial need.
Şinasi’s major contribution to Ottoman/Turkish intellectual life was the Journal Tasvir-i efkdr (Interpreter of Ideas, founded in 1862). This was not the first newspaper in the Ottoman Empire; an Englishman named Churchill had published an earlier gazette, and in 1861 Sinasi and his friend Agah Efendi had jointly published the Terceiiman-i ahval (Interpreter of Events); however, Tasvir-i efkdr was the first newspaper that (though careful in its approach) expressed a critique of the state of Ottoman government and society in the modern media. Şinasi’s second dismissal from his employment in the central government was due to his timid libertarianism: “mentioning matters of state too often” was the cause of his downfall. An article by Şinasi explaining the principle of “no taxation without representation” appeared in the Tasvir-i efkdr the day before the order for his dismissal was drafted and may have been the proximate cause of it.
Şinasi is unanimously considered by historians of Turkish intellectual history to be the first advocate of “europeanization” in the Ottoman Empire, a somewhat different project than that of “modernization” voiced before him. His impact, however, stems from his development of a medium that expressed private views about the state of the empire. Until Şinasi and his use of journalism as a medium for influencing-and, in a way, creating-public opinion, schemes of modernization had been the result of official concern with reform. Şinasi represents a new trend in which government officials concerned with the fate of the empire began to form an intelligentsia often contradicting positions adopted by their superiors. In that sense, he may be seen as having laid the groundwork for the Young Ottomans.
Another of Şinasi’s important contributions may be described as “encyclopedism,” or the attempt to inform his readers of the new methods and the new branches of knowledge that flourished in Europe in his time. Natural law, the historical method, the history of pre Ottoman Turkey, and Buffon’s Histoire naturelle were some of the ideas that he took up in the pages of Tasvir-i efkdr. In one of his most celebrated poems Şinasi praised the author of the Giilhane Rescript, Mustafa ReŞid Pasha (Mustafa Reshid Pasha), for having brought “the European climate of opinion” to Turkey, and for having reminded the ruler of his responsibilities. In another, the achievements of a later grand vizier were compared to those of Plato and Newton.
Şinasi’s mention in the preface of Terciiman-i ahral that he was using a language directed to “the people in general” also represents an important watershed. By the nineteenth century Ottoman Turkish as the language of officials had become a complex and flowery idiom difficult for the majority of the population, who used a vernacular called “rough Turkish.” One of Şinasi’s aims was to transcend officialese; he thus began the trend described by Grand Vizier Said Pasha, himself a writer, as “journalistic Turkish.” This trend was further promoted by the Young Ottomans. The celebrated article by Ziya Pasha, “Siir ve Insa’ ” (Poetry and Prose), is a good example of the further developments that much later, in the 1930s, took a more radical turn toward the “purification” of Turkish by the removal of words with Arabic and Persian roots.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Akyuz, Kenan. “Sinasi’nin Fransadaki Ogrenimi ile ilgili Baz1 Belgeler,” Turk Dili 3 (1954): 379-405.
Dizdaroglu, Hikmet. ~inasi-Hayatt ve Eserleri. Istanbul, 1954.
Iskit, Server N. Tiirkiyede Matbuat Idareleri ve Politikalan. Istanbul,
1943
Rasim, Ahmad. Matbuat Tarihimize Methal. Istanbul, 1927.
SERIF MARDIN

IBRAHIM, ANWAR

Batoota — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 16:17:14 +0000

IBRAHIM, ANWAR (born 10 August 1947), Malaysian Muslim activist, thinker, and politician. Anwar was born at Cerok Tok Kun, Bukit Mertajam, Penang; both his parents were active in the United Malays National Organization (UMNO). He received a secular education and also, like most Malay children of the time, studied religion in the afternoon. While at the prestigious MalayCollege in Kuala Kangsar, Perak (1960-1966), Anwar became noted as an interscholastic debater and a school captain. He was also active in religious functions and read widely on Islam and society.

Anwar Ibrahim

As a student of Malay studies at the University of Malaya (1967-1970), he presided over the two major student organizations, the Persatuan Kebangsaan Pelajar-pelajar Islam Malaysia (PKPIM, National Union of Malaysian Students) and Persatuan Bahasa Melayu Universiti Malaya (PBMUM, Malay Language Society of the University of Malaya). Following the communal riots of 1969, Anwar and Dr. Mahathir Mohamed formed an alliance against Premier Tunku Abdul Rahman and pushed for Malay educational and economic rights. However, antipoverty demonstrations in Baling, Kedah in 1974 set them politically apart for some time.
The establishment of Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM) in 1971 made Anwar the most influential young leader of Malaysia. While earnestly calling for the islamization of Malaysian life and an integrated form of development, he also argued for justice, including safeguards for the rights of the non-Muslim population.
Through ABIM Anwar had extensive contacts with most Malaysian leaders, Muslim intellectuals, and activists at home and abroad; however, neither UMNO nor its Malay Muslim opponent PAS (Partai Islam SeMalaysia) was able to enlist Anwar, even though he shared some of the Islamic ideals of the PAS leadership. Meanwhile, Anwar concentrated on his school, Yayasan Anda, and on youth activities. His career was interrupted when he was detained for two years (1974-1976) without trial under the Internal Security Act following the Baling demonstrations. Nonetheless, on his release his popularity increased tremendously at home and abroad, so that the government could not simply ignore his stand on Islam and other issues. Hence joint programs on da’wah (missionary activity) and related issues were held with the cooperation of various government religious agencies. In 198o Anwar married Dr. Wan Azizah, a graduate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin.
As a thinker, Anwar has consistently stressed justice, an integrated form of development, and excellence in education and economic production. He is influenced by such intellectuals as Syed Naguib al-Attas, Isma’il alFaruqi, Yusuf al-Qardhawi, Hasan al-Turabi, Malik Bennabi, and Mohammad Natsir. He also shows familiarity with such varied writers as Ibn Khaldun, al-Ghazali, R. G. Collingwood, Malcolm X, Edward Said, and Francis Fukiyama.
Among his many activities, he has served as the leader of Malaysian Youth Council (1972), a member of United Nations Advisory Group on Youth (1973-1974) a representative of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) for Southeast Asia (1976-1982), and a cofounder of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), Washington, D.C.; he is presently chancellor of the International Islamic University (IIU) at Kuala Lumpur. His 1982 entry into UMNO on Mahathir’s invitation caused displeasure, especially among those who aspired to the party’s top posts; nonetheless, with charisma and determination, he has risen to lead UMNO’s youth wing and later to serve as one of its three vice presidents. Within the government, he rose rapidly to positions including deputy minister in the prime minister’s department; minister of youth, culture, and sports; agricultural minister; and education minister; in 1993 he was minister of finance. His efforts led to the establishment of such institutions as the Islamic Bank, IIU, the Curriculum for Islamic Civilization, and other Islamically oriented programs. With his success as the new deputy president of UMNO in the November 1993 party elections, most observers consider it likely that he will be Malaysia’s next prime minister.
[See also ABIM; Malaysia; United Malays National Organization.]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anwar Ibrahim. Menangani Perubahan. Kuala Lumpur, 1989. Berita Harian, 22 October, 6 November 1993
Borsuk, Richard. “Islamic Rising Cry.” Asiaweek (August 1979). Chandra Muzaffar. Islamic Resurgence in Malaysia. Petaling Jaya, 1987.
Morais, J. Victor. Anwar Ibrahim: Resolute in Leadership. Kuala Lumpur, 1983.
Risalah 6.6 (1980), 7.3 (1981), 8.1 (1982).
Sabda, S. “Anwar Ibrahim: Cita-cita Perjuangannya Lewat ABIM Sebelum Beliau Aktif Dalam Politik Lewat UMNO.” Al-Islam (May 1982).
Yusof Harun. UMNO Selepas Mahathir. Kuala Lumpur, 19go.
FADHLULLAH JAMIL