Ali Yakup Cenk？iler, Feyzullah Hadzibajric and Re-Thinking Tradition After Madrasa

This article investigates the changing relationship among teacher, student and the text after the closure of madrasa in relation to modernizing social and political variables. Specifically, it focuses on the activities of Ali Yakup Cenk？iler and Fejzullah Hadzibajric. There are certain differences between Turkey and Yugoslavia in the fields of religious education and state-religion relations, yet the experiences of Ali Yakup Cenk？iler and Fejzullah Hadzibajric bear striking resemblances. Turkey and Yugoslavia are the two countries where the Ottoman tradition prevailed over Islamic culture and institutional memory. Ali Yakup Cenk？iler and Fejzullah Hadzibajric were born in the Balkans during the 1910s and madrasas were still open in the region at that time. Both of them received madrasa education during the 1920s. Fejzullah Hadzibajric lived in Sarajevo, ran several courses and produced his works during the time of Tito’s Yugoslavia. He ran Masnawī classes and reached a large audience from different social background. Though he spent most of his life in Yugoslavia he paid visits to Turkey, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Whereas, Ali Yakup Cenk？iler was born and raised in Kosovo, but went to Egypt for higher education and completed his degree at al-Azhar University. After finishing his works in Egypt he did not return to Yugoslavia and moved to Turkey in 1957. He focused on Ihyā’ ‘ulūm al-dīn classes and spent nearly 20 years in teaching the same text. Despite difficult conditions of the time they sought to reach prominent scholars in the region. Both Cenkciler and Hadzibajric had a strong command in different languages, which helped them form connections with scholars, read classical texts and study manuscripts. They knew Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Bosnian and Albanian. It was also noteworthy that for a long period they worked in various libraries. Ali Yakup Cenkciler worked in a library in Cairo and Fejzullah Hadzibajric worked in Husrev Beg Library in Sarajevo. In that regard the texts they selected to study were obviously intentional choices. Their familiarity with the texts did not come from the training they received in the Theology Faculty but from the education they got outside the school. Both scholars were considered as the authority on Masnawī and Ihyā’. How they approached the transmission of Islamic knowledge in a secular context displays intriguing patterns. For instance, during the time Ali Yakup Cenckiler were running his courses there were only a limited number of students at Theology Faculties and Imam Hatip Schools. The content of education was