''Sebîlürreşâd'' (Turkish: Straight Path) was a Turkish print magazine created by

Mehmet Akif Ersoy Mehmet Akif Ersoy (20 December 1873 – 27 December 1936) was a Turkish poet, writer, academic, politician, and the author of the Turkish National Anthem. Widely regarded as one of the premiere literary minds of his time, Ersoy is noted for h ...

and Eşref Edip Fergan along with Ebül'ula Mardin as its lead writer in August 1908, to spread the idea of

Islamism Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...

under the name of ''Sırat-ı Müstakim''.

History

The magazine was started with the title ''Sırat-ı Müstakim'' in 1908. It was a weekly Islamic magazine edited by Mehmet Akif, in which the Islamic thought established itself and the theses of the Islamist movement. After the 183rd issue published in 1912 it was renamed as ''Sebîlürreşâd''. Between 1908-1925, 641 issues were published. The magazine was the most important publication of the Islamist movement during the Second Constitution period (1908–1918). It published nearly all sections of '' Safahat'' written by Mehmet Akif. The magazine, which was closed in 1925 with the Takrir-i Sükûn (Law on the Maintenance Order in English), was restarted in May 1948 with the Turkish alphabet. It folded in 1966. Ebül‘ulâ Mardin, its manager, left the magazine when he became a deputy and then a professor, and the technical load and responsibility of the journal remained entirely of Eşref Edip. Due to the misunderstanding of a section in Ispartalı Hakkı's article titled "Akif and Safahat" on 11 May 1911, it was decided to be closed indefinitely by the customary administration, but once the situation was understood, it continued its publication without delay. The magazine, which initially remained neutral against political parties, changed this attitude after 1911. It was one of the publications which supported the

Independence movement Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of a ...

led by

Mustafa Kemal Mustafa () is one of the names of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in the Muslim world. Given name Moustafa * Moustafa A ...

. The magazine, which paid attention to maintain a publishing policy that is highly compatible with the state mechanism and not to be an element of sedition in the gentle environment of the war years, changed its attitude after the

abolition of the caliphate The Ottoman Caliphate, the world's last widely recognized caliphate, was abolished on 3 March 1924 (Rumi calendar, R.C. 1340) by decree of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The process was one of Atatürk's reforms following the replacemen ...

, the closure of madrasas within the framework of the Tevhîd-i Tedrîsat Law, and the abolition of the Ministry of Foundations. Under normal conditions, the magazine, which was published once a week and sixteen pages per week, did not use image materials such as photographs and pictures, except six issues. The magazine, published in Istanbul, was distributed to many regions of Anatolia. It was able to determine the agenda of Muslims in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. Among the authors of the weekly magazine were Abdülaziz Çaviş, Bereketzade İsmail Hakkı, Babanzade Ahmet Naim, Ferit Kam,

Mehmet Fahrettin Mehmed or Mehmet is the most common Turkish form of the Arabic male name Muhammad () (''Muhammed'' and ''Muhammet'' are also used, though considerably less) and gains its significance from being the name of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. Origina ...

, İsmail Hakkı of İzmir, Tâhirü'l-Mevlevî, Aksekili Ahmet Hamdi, Mehmet Şemsettin Günaltay,

İsmail Hakkı of Manastir In the biblical Book of Genesis, Ishmael (; ; ; ) is the first son of Abraham. His mother was Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah. He died at the age of 137. Traditionally, he is seen as the ancestor of the Arabs. Within Islam, Ishm ...

Mehmet Tahir of Bursa Mehmed or Mehmet is the most common Turkish form of the Arabic male name Muhammad () (''Muhammed'' and ''Muhammet'' are also used, though considerably less) and gains its significance from being the name of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. Origina ...

Yusuf Akçura Yusuf Akçura (; ; 2 December 1876 – 11 March 1935) was a prominent Turkish politician, writer and ideologist of ethnic Tatar origin. He developed into a prominent ideologue and advocate of Pan-Turkism during the early republican period, whos ...

and

Ahmet Ağaoğlu Ahmet Ağaoğlu, also known as Ahmet Bey Ağaoğlu (; or Ahmet Akif Agaoglu (December 1869, Shusha – May 19, 1939, Istanbul) was a public and political figure of Azerbaijan and Turkey, thinker, publicist, educator, writer, Turkologist, and ...

. The general policy of the magazine was about Islamic unity,

Islamic morality In Islam, morality in the sense of "non practical guidelines" or "specific norms or codes of behavior" for good doing (as opposed to Islamic ethics, ethical theory) are primarily based on the Quran and the Hadith – the central religious texts ...

, return to the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

and

Sunnah is the body of traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time supposedly saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations. Diff ...

, and the acquisition of only Europe's technology. In March 1951 leftist university students organized demonstrations protesting both ''Sebilürreşad'' and '' Büyük Doğu'' due to their religious approach and were arrested by the Turkish forces.

Spin offs

After 50 years, ''Sebîlürreşad'' started publishing by Fatih Bayhan in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

again on 14 August 2016. The magazine was published on the fourteenth day of each month until February 2017. As of March 2017, it started to appear on the 1st of each month and increased the number of pages to 56. In addition, six to eight articles in languages other than Turkish are included in each issue in the new period of ''Sebîlürreşad''. In the January 2017 issue of ''Sebîlürreşad'', the article of the 12th President,

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

, appeared for the first time.

References

External links

* 1908 establishments in the Ottoman Empire 1925 disestablishments in Turkey 2016 establishments in Turkey Conservatism in Turkey Conservative magazines Islamic magazines published in Turkey Magazines established in 1908 Magazines disestablished in 1925 Magazines established in 2016 Magazines published in Istanbul Magazines published in Ankara Monthly magazines published in Turkey Turkish-language magazines Weekly magazines published in Turkey Magazines established in 1948 Magazines disestablished in 1966 {{italic title