An Analysis of Mehmed Zihni Efendi’s (d. 1332/1913) Ijazah and His Ustaz

Abstract

Mehmed Zihni Efendi (d. 1332/1913) was born, grew up, and passed away in
Istanbul and is one of the most famous late Ottoman scholars. He is also the author of
many scholarly works on Islamic sciences. Zihni Efendi had excellent services in the
publication of the Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim. As he wrote a book on Usul al-Fiqh
(The Methodology of Islamic Law), He also wrote a book explaining the principle of
Islam called Nimet-i Islam. This book was also very useful and attracted attention and
is still propagated. Among the various works he wrote in Turkish on teaching Arabic, al-
Muntakhab and al-Muqtadab broke new ground in their field and were used as textbooks
for years in İdadi (the general name of Ottoman middle schools) and Rüşdiye (the general
character of Ottoman high schools). His work al-Qawl al-Jayyid, in which he collected
the couplets as shawahid in rhetoric books and explained them in Turkish, is unique in
its field.
While doing my previous studies on Mehmed Zihni Efendi, I needed help finding
a document explaining the subject from whom he had studied and received his ijazah.
When I saw the ijazah of Muallim Hacı Zihni Efendi among his letters, I identified his
Ustaz. After giving brief information about ijazah in this article, I’ve stated some of my
thoughts about his ijazah and Ustaz.